New Jersey to drop school mask mandate in March, Gov. Murphy says
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is set to finally drop his school mask mandate from next month — as New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul face pressure to do the same.
Murphy will officially announce the elimination of his mandate requiring students and teachers to wear masks on Monday afternoon, administration officials told NorthJersey.com.
School officials will be in charge of deciding whether masks will still be required when the statewide mandate is lifted on March 7, the officials said.
The Democratic governor’s pending announcement comes a month after he renewed his mask mandate in schools as the Omicron variant was driving up COVID case numbers and hospitalizations.
Mask mandates in schools have become a controversial issue nationwide amid the pandemic.
Adams and Hochul have been facing mounting calls to do away with the Empire State’s own mandate that requires children to mask up in classrooms.
Hizzoner faced backlash on social media Sunday after a photo emerged of him without a mask in an NYC restaurant — just two weeks after he insisted face coverings would remain in schools for now.
While Adams was not breaking any state or city rules by going maskless inside the Bronx Little Italy restaurant, critics argued it was hypocritical to force kids to still don face coverings in school.
“Masks for thee but NOT for ME: NYC Mayor Eric Adams, already a disappointment and proof that New Yorkers can’t vote responsibly, is caught maskless days after doubling down on the mask mandate for schools. Cover that hypocritical cake hole, Mr. Mayor!” one Twitter user said.
“Democrats are mocking and laughing at you while putting your children through hell. There’s no other way to describe it anymore except pure evil,” another Twitter user wrote alongside the photo of Adams.
New York’s statewide mask mandate for schools is set to expire on Feb. 21 and Hochul hasn’t publicly indicated whether she intends to make any changes.
The Big Apple has its own mask mandates — and Adams doubled down as recently as Jan. 25, saying he considers mandating masks a way to keep city schools open.
“We believe that it’s allowing us to keep our schools open, as part of our overall safety plan,” Adams told 1010 WINS last month.
“Many people wanted schools to close, I was very clear that I was not going to close. Our children need to be in schools. It’s the safest place for children and we’re going to continue to have the mandate in place.”
