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Two dozen residents of the St. Joseph's Senior Home in Woodbridge tested positive and the rest were presumed positive, they said.
Several staffers took sick, as well, leaving three nuns to care for all those patients, said state officials who requested the transfer.
A caravan of buses were taking the residents 30 miles north to a CareOne facility in Whippany.
Although CareOne and the senior home had no prior relationship, both conferred with state and local officials to devise the plan.
CareOne operates 32 post-acute nursing and assisted-living facilities in New Jersey.
"The sisters told us on Friday that 12 of their employees were home, feeling ill with respiratory symptoms," New Jersey Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli said Tuesday.
"The sisters were working around the clock to take care of almost 90 residents,” Persichilli said. I don’t know how many were there, but when they called us, I can tell you that it was an extreme situation."
Persichilli said her department reached out to other long-term care facilities and connected with CareOne.
News4 New York got an aerial shot of people in heavy protective gear preparing the buses at St. Joseph’s Senior Home in Woodbridge.
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