TRENTON, N.J. (1010 WINS) — Masks will be mandatory in New Jersey schools when students and teachers return in the fall, regardless of vaccination status, Gov. Phil Murphy said Friday.
The new mask policy, which takes effect on Monday, Aug. 9, will apply to indoor settings at public, private and parochial preschool, elementary and secondary schools, "with limited exceptions," Murphy said at a news briefing Friday.
“Due to the recent and rampant spread of the delta variant, the fact that no child under the age of 12 is yet eligible to be vaccinated, and the reality that too many older students and their parents remain unvaccinated, all students, educators, staff and visitors will be required to wear masks inside school buildings, regardless of vaccination status, for the start of the 2021-2022 academic year," Murphy said.
"This is not an announcement that gives any of us, or me personally, any pleasure," he added. “But as the school year approaches, and with the numbers rapidly increasing, it is the one that we need to make right now."
Exceptions to the policy will include the following, Murphy noted in a press release:
• When doing so would inhibit the individual’s health, such as when the individual is exposed to extreme heat indoors
• When the individual has trouble breathing, is unconscious, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to remove a face covering without assistance
• When a student’s documented medical condition or disability, as reflected in an Individualized Education Program (IEP) or Educational Plan pursuant to Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, precludes use of a face covering;When the individual is under two (2) years of age
• When an individual is engaged in an activity that cannot be performed while wearing a mask, such as eating and drinking or playing an instrument that would be obstructed by the face covering
• When the individual is engaged in high-intensity aerobic or anaerobic activity
• When a student is participating in high-intensity physical activities during a physical education class in a well-ventilated location and able to maintain a physical distance of six feet from all other individuals
• When wearing a face covering creates an unsafe condition in which to operate equipment or execute a task
Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend children wear masks in schools.
New York and Connecticut are leaving the decision in the hands of individual school districts.