New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is expected to announce Monday he will no longer require students and school staff to wear masks as of March 7, a notable pivot in a blue state that was hit hard by COVID-19 early on and wielded societal mandates against the virus.
Local school officials will be able to keep mask rules in place for students, teachers and staff if they want to, according to NorthJersey.com.
Mr. Murphy, a Democrat, is making the change as governors take stock of an easing omicron crisis and decide it is time to relent on divisive mandates and try to live with the virus.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, removed a school mask mandate last month and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul recently hinted she would ease up on a mask mandate that expires Feb. 10 and has faced headwinds in court.
“We’ll be making some announcements in the short term as we see the numbers progressing,” Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, said at a press conference last week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that people wear high-grade, well-fitting masks in public indoor spaces within geographic areas with substantial or high transmission of the virus.
Yet objections to mask mandates, particularly in schools, have sparked vociferous fights. Some parents say face coverings are impeding their kids’ social development.
Republican governors in states like Florida and Texas banned school mask mandates months ago, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, signed an order allowing parents to choose whether they mask their school children shortly after he was inaugurated last month.
The order sparked legal fights with school districts who say he didn’t have the authority to get rid of the preexisting mandate.
Mr. Murphy is making a change two years after New Jersey became the epicenter of the emerging pandemic alongside New York City in spring 2020.
The Garden State lost 360 people per 100,000 of its population to the virus, giving it one of the worst deaths rates in the country during the pandemic.
For more information, visit The Washington Times COVID-19 resource page.
