As the month of August rolls around and another new school year is weeks away, the globe is still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Not just COVID, but a new delta variant has been causing issues across the United States, forcing many businesses and companies to reinstate a mask mandate.
On Friday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed an executive order to require masks for everyone in schools.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf followed that up with a statement saying he would not institute a mask mandate for the state himself.
Gov. Wolf is instead going to leave it up to the districts across the state.
“I think the school districts of Pennsylvania have to decide what they want to do,” Gov. Wolf said. “I think the CDC guidelines say ‘strongly recommended’ that schools do that. They’re not mandating it, and neither am I.”
The Pennsylvania Department of Education will provided a set of recommendations, but it will not feature a mask mandate.
This statement from Wolf comes within the same day that he continued to urge all Pennsylvanians over the age of 12 to receive the COVID vaccine.
“Please, if you haven’t had time to get vaccinated, make time. Vaccines are effective, safe, free and available.”