PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy Monday said given the surge of COVID-19 cases, students and staff in New Jersey schools and daycare facilities will be required to wear masks “for the foreseeable future.”
Murphy’s statement comes as the legislature decides whether to extend some of the governor’s emergency powers, which were set to expire Tuesday.
“Unequivocally the mask mandate in schools will continue for the foreseeable future,” Murphy said Monday at a COVID-19 briefing in Trenton.
"Not forever and always, but we cannot responsibly in the teeth of this tsunami change gears on this.”
Murphy didn’t say whether he would continue the mask mandate by declaring another public health emergency, or whether he expected to reach an agreement with lawmakers to extend his emergency power.
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Murphy last week asked the legislature for a 90-day extension of some of his emergency powers.
While that request received a cool reception, Murphy said at Monday’s COVID-19 briefing that he was having “good conversations” with legislative leaders.
“I don’t have a specific construct for you, but we’re working very cooperatively with the legislative leadership to make sure that we’ve got a good pathway forward particularly given the overwhelming tsunami that we’re dealing with,” Murphy said.
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New Jersey’s largest teachers union issued a statement supporting a continued mask mandate.
“Everyone is eager for the day that masks and other COVID-19 safety measures are no longer necessary and the best way to achieve that is for New Jersey to continue following all of the school safety measures currently recommended for schools, including masking, social distancing and vaccination for all who are eligible,” said the New Jersey Education Association in a statement.
The debate takes place as the omicron variant pushed hospitalizations to 6,000, the highest point since April of 2020.
State health commissioner Judy Persichilli said state modeling predicted 8,000 hospitalizations, just short of the all-time high, by the end of the third week in January.
Persichilli said the state now predicts 20,000 to 30,000 new daily cases through the end of the month.
