Phil Murphy Ending New Jersey’s School Mask Mandate

By: Mike Catalini

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy will end a statewide mask mandate that was instituted to protect against COVID-19 in schools and child care centers, his office said Monday.

The end of the mandate goes into effect March 7 and comes as New Jersey’s caseload drops after an spike around the holidays fueled by the omicron variant.

The governor announced the development at a news conference Monday and also answered questions. It’s not clear, for example, if individual school districts could continue to require a mandate.

New Jersey was one of just a dozen states with mask mandates in schools, according to the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy.

The mandate has been in place since school resumed in person in September 2020, with Murphy renewing it before the start of the current school year and as recently as January. At the time, he didn’t specify how much longer the requirement could be in place.

The omicron fueled winter surge seems to be fading in most part of the United States.

The number of Americans in the hospital with COVID-19 has declined 24% since mid-January to about 111,000. New cases per day have also dropped by more than a half-million since mid-January, when they hit a peak of more than 800,000. Cases have been declining in 47 states in the last two weeks, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Deaths are still running high at more than 2,400 per day on average, the most since last winter, reflecting a lag between when victims become infected and when they die.

Murphy faced pressure from Republicans and some parents who have held rallies at the statehouse in support of rescinding the requirement. But the governor has had support from the influential New Jersey Education Association, the state’s biggest teachers union. A message seeking comment was left with the union.

Republicans claimed credit for pushing the governor to end the mandate. Murphy has said earlier that he wasn’t swayed by political pressure.

“Gov. Murphy will never admit that the pressure is getting to him, but it absolutely is,” Republican Senate Leader Steve Oroho said.

News that Murphy would end the mandate was first reported by The New York Times.

(AP)