School mask mandates to be lifted in New Jersey

A mandate on mask wearing in New Jersey schools will come to an end from next month following an announcement by the state’s Democrat governor.

Phillip Murphy, who as governor of the eastern US state imposed Covid restrictions on classrooms two years ago, was reported as saying the emergency measures would soon come to an end.

He toldThe New York Times in an interview on Sunday that he had timed the mandate being lifted with the arrival of warmer weather, which would allow schools to proper ventilate classrooms.

“It isn’t July Fourth, but it gets you into a marginally better weather period,” said the governor, who described the rolling back of Covid restrictions as a “huge step toward normalcy”.

It comes amid fierce calls from Republicans and the right to drop mandates on mask wearing in classrooms across the US, with the wave of Delta and Omicron variants of the virus coming to and end.

As have parents been opposed to long-running measures in schools, with tense exchanges at school board meetings going viral last year.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention meanwhile says that 80 per cent of Americans aged five and above have now received one dose of a Covid vaccine – although only 42 per cent are boosted – which gives a greater guarantee of less severe illness.

New Jersey has been among 11 US states that had made masks mandatory for all students, and will now be among a handful who are rolling back those measures. Those restrictions had affected some of the most populous areas of the US.

As were the Democrat governors of New York and Connecticut considering following suit last week, with statements acknowledging it was right to now be evaluating if masks should be still be imposed.

Pennsylvania, another Democrat-run state, has been ahead of those and has already reminded a mask mandate for his state. Calls on Monday were made for New York to act.