TRENTON, N.J. – Maybe it’s better late than never that Gov. Phil Murphy—one of only two holdouts in the entire country, the other being Hawaii’s Gov. David Ige—finally decided to lift most of the state’s indoor and outdoor mask mandates, effective May 28. While the science declares it’s safe for vaccinated adults to go maskless in time for Memorial Day weekend, most of the state’s 1.3 million children will finish the school year masked.
“It’s an outrage for our caucus and for parents across the state,” Dunn (R-Morris) said. “To these mothers and fathers out there: we see you, we hear you, and we’re fighting to end this senseless mask mandate for our children.”
The governor announced Monday the state was lifting most of its masking and social distancing requirements for vaccinated persons Friday. Covid-19 vaccines have emergency authorize use for those 12 and older.
However, the lift conspicuously omitted “child care centers and facilities, youth summer camps, and public, private, and parochial preschool program premises and elementary and secondary schools, including charter and renaissance schools,” according to the governor’s press release. He cited CDC guidelines for keeping preschoolers and students in masks.
According to the N.J. Department of Health, 15 persons under the age of 25 died from Covid-19 in 2020.