Today marks one year since the first COVID-19 case was reported in New Jersey, and Teaneck, considered the epicenter of the pandemic in the Garden State, has a sense of normalcy along Cedar Avenue one year later. 

Residents living in Teaneck were among the first to face the virus head on because it was where the first cases were reported.

Holy Name Hospital, like so many others, would soon be overrun with patients, as hospitals began searching for ventilators. Soon, the town like every other would see it's restaurants and schools close. Teaneck Township Manager Dean Kazinci reflected on the first days of the pandemic. He was the first to make a drastic decision -- have residents self-quarantine.

"I had a lot of phone calls, people wanting information – answers which I couldn't provide,” says Kazinci. “I didn't have that information available to me.”

One year later, there is a sense of normalcy in the town, but residents are often reminded that the pandemic is not over yet.

Statewide, restaurants, barbershops and stores closed. Schools were forced to shut, forcing every student to learn a new term - "remote-learning."

But New Jersey seems to be turning a corner with the aid of the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines. Kazinci says he is proud that Teaneck now has its own vaccine center.

Kazinci says he thinks herd immunity will be achieved by the summer.