Schools Can Extend Mask Mandate, But NJ Requirement Ends In March

NEW JERSEY — Gov. Phil Murphy confirmed that he will drop New Jersey's school mask mandate on March 7. But the state will allow individual school districts and day care centers to maintain masking requirements after that date.

People who choose to wear masks may continue to do so. Murphy will extend New Jersey's public health state of emergency for one more month to allow schools to make the adjustment.

"Balancing public health with getting back to some semblance of normalcy is not easy," Murphy said on social media Monday. "But we can responsibly take this step due to declining COVID numbers and growth in vaccinations."

Schools will receive updated guidance from the New Jersey Department of Health.

The New Jersey Education Association pushed last month for the state to maintain its school mask mandate amid the omicron variant's surge. The NJEA — the state's largest teachers union — expressed encouragement about the "rapid decline of COVID transmission in New Jersey."

But the NJEA urged state officials to continue following data and listening to public health experts, even if that means reimposing the mask mandate after March 7. The union also supported the decision to allow districts to continue mask regulations if they choose to do so.

"As of today, that data is trending strongly in the right direction, and we look forward to additional public health guidance supporting the move away from mandatory masking in schools," said a statement from NJEA leadership.

Schools in the state continue to see an increase in in-school transmission but an overall decline in cases among students and staff, according to the New Jersey Department of Health.

State officials reported 33 outbreaks in schools from Jan. 25-31, along with 398 cases among students and 57 infections among staff from in-school transmission in that time frame. In the prior week, state officials reported 26 school outbreaks, 252 student infections and 56 staff cases from in-school transmission.

But overall, cases among students and school employees have significantly declined. The state reported 6.01 cases per 1,000 students and 8.28 per 1,000 employees. The figures incorporate cases caught in and out of school.

"It is a reasonable assumption that cases will continue to decline in the near future," said Dr. Edward Lifshitz, the state health department's medical director.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still recommends universal masking everyone ages 2 and older in K-12 schools, regardless of vaccination status. New Jersey has often followed the CDC guidance throughout the pandemic. But Murphy felt confident rescinding the mask mandate because the omicron variant wave passed through New Jersey earlier than in most states.

"Our reality is a lot different than a lot of other states, because we were hit so early on," Murphy said.

Opposition and Support For School Masking

A group of pediatricians argued that mask mandates and other COVID-19 safety protocols in schools may not behoove students, in a report called Children, COVID, and the Urgency of Normal released Jan. 27. Read more: Group Of Doctors Asks Schools To Return To 'Normal' Amid COVID

Co-author Kristen Walsh, a pediatrician based in Mendham, told NorthJersey.com last week, "It's a paradox that our most highly vaccinated states currently have the most stringent rules in place for children."

Walsh noted that the rates of illness for the new omicron variant are declining.

Doctors did not at first know the effects of the variant, first seen in the United States three months ago.

However, variants such as delta and omicron are still around. In New Jersey in January, hospitals said they saw their highest rates of children hospitalized with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and four children have died of COVID-19 since Christmas.

The state has urged parents to talk to their own pediatrician about the right safety measures for their child.

While the push to end mask mandates in schools has strengthened in recent weeks, several polls have found a majority of Americans backing school mask requirements. Most recently, a New York Times poll from January found 68 percent of Americans backed requiring student masking to control the omicron variant's spread. A poll from December found 28 percent of surveyed adults supporting in-person schooling without masking during the COVID-19 spike, according to The McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State University.

But a petition backed by New Jersey State Senate Republicans called for Murphy to scale back pandemic protocols, including mask mandates in schools. The #GiveItBack petition has nearly 4,000 signatures as of 12:30 p.m. Monday.

“Parents want their rights to make masking decisions for their kids restored today, not next month,” state Sen. Kristin Corrado, a Republican, said in a news release. “Governor Murphy should Give It Back now. There’s no excuse to wait any longer.”

With reporting from Caren Lissner/Patch Staff.