Gov. Phil Murphy is set to announce New Jersey will require students and staff members in kindergarten through 12th grade to wear masks after all at the start of the new school year due to the state’s rising COVID-19 numbers, NJ Advance Media has confirmed.
Murphy will unveil the new rules during a public event Friday, according to two sources with knowledge of the governor’s plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The governor announced in late June the state was planning not to have a statewide mandate for students and staff wear masks when the upcoming academic year begins and would instead leave it up to individual districts to determine their own rules on face coverings. He has been adamant that Garden State schools will resume full-day in-person instruction in the fall, with no virtual option.
Murphy said as recently as last week New Jersey still planned to have no statewide school mask requirements, but the governor has repeatedly said those plans could change if the state’s coronavirus figures get “dramatically” worse.
“I don’t want to go backward — that’s the last thing I want to do — but we’ll do what we have to do,” Murphy said July 22.
It’s unclear how this will affect school lunches when masks must be removed to eat. The governor is scheduled to be at an elementary school in East Brunswick on Friday afternoon for “a major public health announcement,” according to his schedule.
The decision is sure to be a polarizing one. Many parents and mask opponents are strongly against masking children in schools. But state Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, who chairs the Senate’s health committee, praised the move.
“This is the right call and safe call, even if it is unpopular with some,” Vitale told NJ Advance Media. “The surge of the delta variant has put us in a position where measures like this must be taken in order to ensure the safety of students, faculty and staff alike, while also achieving learning objectives.”
This comes after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced last month it’s recommending everyone in K-12 schools in America to wear masks as the delta variant drives up COVID-19 numbers across the country. The American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends face coverings. Plus, the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union — and a major Murphy supporter — has backed the CDC’s guidance on masks.
The CDC has said masks are necessary because children under the age of 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated in the U.S.
The agency also reversed course last month and recommended all people, including the fully vaccinated, wear masks indoors again in public places with “high” or “substantial” COVID-19 transmission rates. Of New Jersey’s 21 counties, only Warren doesn’t qualify.
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Murphy lifted New Jersey’s indoor mask mandate in May and has stopped short of re-installing one in the wake of the CDC’s recommendations, though the state is “strongly” recommending face coverings in indoor places considered “high risk.” He also said this week all options are “on the table” when it comes to fighting the recent spread.
This all comes as Murphy, a Democrat, is running for a second term in November.
His Republican opponent, former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, is among numerous GOP officials who are against mask mandates.
Opponents argue that children are much less likely to catch severe cases of the virus and making them wear masks in school is cruel. But officials stress it’s a broader issue of safety because children can still carry the virus and pass it to teachers and family members who are more vulnerable.
New Jersey on Thursday reported another 1,345 confirmed coronavirus cases, the most announced in one day in three months, as well as four additional confirmed deaths. The Garden State’s seven-day average for newly confirmed cases is now 1,068, up 35% from a week ago and 367% from a month ago.
Daily COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths remain well below the pandemic’s peaks, which officials say is largely because of the state’s relatively high vaccination rate. But hospitalizations have more than doubled over the last month, with 599 patients on Wednesday night.
Politico NJ was the first to report Murphy’s new school mask policy.
NJ Advance Media staff writer Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.
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Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com.
Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
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