Hospitals in the Philadelphia area had a pretty quiet weekend, but now staff say they’re seeing a growing number of injuries, including many from falls on ice.

Susan Petrucelli was in the emergency department at Virtua Voorhees after falling on ice outside her home in South Jersey. 

“It all looked like snow, but it was all ice, it was all frozen over,” the 61-year-old said. “I  guess I just slipped and I went down and I hit my face on the side of my car.”

Fortunately, imaging showed no broken bones, but she has plenty of bruises.

“You could see the crack in the ice where my head hit,” Petrucelli said.

Dr. Alan Shubert with Virtual Health said injuries like this are common during winter weather. 

“Most of the time it’s wrists and ankles, people falling, and putting their hands out to catch themselves,” Shubert said. “Hip injuries and broken hips, the third most common thing we see.”

Shubert said people should be extra careful with the icy conditions expected to last for a while. 

“Try to have good footwear on, and avoid if you can, I think, the really icy areas and try to stick to the snow areas, that may be less slippery and give you more traction,” Shubert said.

Shoveling is also causing issues, he said. 

Three people in Lehigh County died shoveling during the storm, the coroner said. 

“We get anything as simple as kind of back strains from the shoveling to, unfortunately, as serious as people having heart attacks,” Shubert said.

The doctor said people who aren’t in good shape should not shovel snow, and even those who are in shape often suffer from achy backs, shoulders and legs.

“We recommend resting, using heat, using some ibuprofen or Tylenol,” Shubert said. 

Finally, Shubert said people should be careful with snow blowers, as hand injuries often happen when people try to clear them without turning them off. 

A South Jersey school district is being sued for allegedly refusing to release settlement agreements in lawsuits tied to sexual abuse by a former teacher now serving a prison sentence.

John Paff, who publishes the government-transparency site Transparency NJ, filed the public-records lawsuit against the Lawrence Township Board of Education after it denied his request for copies of settlement agreements in three civil cases.

Paff said he is seeking only the financial terms and believes victims’ names can be redacted.

“I don’t care about any of that,” Paff said. “I just want to know how much money [the school board] paid.”

He added that he routinely requests such agreements without issue.

“I ask for these settlement agreements routinely, like every week, and I get them without anybody ever denying them,” Paff said.

The underlying lawsuits stem from allegations that Derek Hildreth, a former Lawrence Township teacher and coach, sexually abused students in the late 1990s and early 2000s — allegations that led to criminal charges and a prison term.

Hildreth was sentenced in 2013 to 20 years in state prison under a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to four counts, including three first-degree aggravated sexual assault charges and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.

As part of the agreement, 29 additional charges were dismissed.

At least six victims were included in a 33-count indictment against Hildreth, who initially faced 30 years in state prison.

Hildreth is eligible for parole in 2028, according to New Jersey prison records.

The abuse spurred three lawsuits filed in 2012, 2017 and 2020.

Paff contends the settlement agreements in these cases are government records subject to disclosure under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act. In the lawsuit, he says the board rejected his request by citing exemptions for victims’ records.

In a written response to Paff, the district’s records official said the school board does not have a copy of the settlement from the 2020 lawsuit and that documents in the other two cases are protected by a non-disclosure clause and potentially, a confidentiality order.

The case asks a judge to decide whether settlement agreements resolving lawsuits against a public school district must be released under OPRA with appropriate redactions.

The school board did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A major winter storm that has already dumped a foot of heavy snow in some parts of New Jersey is expected to continue overnight, creating significant travel hazards for the Monday morning commute.

Winter storm warnings remain in effect until 1 p.m. Monday for nearly all New Jersey counties. The warning was canceled for Cape May County on Sunday evening after temperatures rose enough for a transition to rain.

“Wintry precipitation in its current form will continue through into the evening, then begin to wind down and end by around midnight or so,” the National Weather Service said. “Some guidance has hinted at some light snow occurring again Sunday night into early Monday morning before ending.”

Statewide temperatures will be well below freezing overnight, and any wet roads have high chance of refreezing, the weather service said.

“Monday morning will be very cold, in the low teens to mid 20s across the region,” the weather service said. “Roads and sidewalks will remain frozen or refreeze tonight, resulting in a hard slush or black ice.”

Hundreds of school districts throughout the state announced closures on Monday to dig out from the storm.

A state of emergency remains in effect for all 21 counties.

Ridgefield in Bergen County and Wayne in Passaic County both had reports of 12 inches of snow as of 5 p.m., according to the weather service.

A layer of ice between 0.10 to 0.25 inch remains a concern across a wider area along the I-95 corridor and areas just south and east.

Arctic air will remain in place with temperatures below freezing through next weekend with multiple cold fronts.

High temperatures will largely remain in the teens and 20s throughout the week, with low temperatures in the single digits to several degrees below zero.

Wind gusts are expected to reach 30 to 35 mph at times throughout the week, with wind chills ranging from the single digits to teens during the day and zero to minus 10 degrees at night in most areas.

With such a prolonged period of below-freezing temperatures, the new snow is not expected to melt much.

Aside from a slight chance of snow Thursday, dry weather is expected through the extended forecast period.

Current weather radar