New Jersey’s mask rules remain in place, at least for now, as Gov. Phil Murphy‘s administration reviews updated federal guidance saying Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer need to wear masks or practice social distancing both indoors and outdoors in most cases.
A little more than an hour after the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the update Thursday afternoon, Murphy’s office would not say whether the state will adopt the changes. Instead, a spokeswoman said only that state officials are still examining the guidelines.
“Governor Murphy and the New Jersey Department of Health are reviewing the new CDC guidance on masking requirements,” Alexandra Altman, a spokeswoman for Murphy’s office, said in a statement. “We continue to move forward in our efforts to vaccinate all willing and eligible individuals who live, work, or study in New Jersey.”
The Garden State currently requires all people to wear masks indoors in public and outdoors in public when you can’t socially distance — rules that have been in place for more than a year during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CDC’s new guidance is simply a recommendation. It would still be up to New Jersey’s government to comply with the changes. Murphy’s administration has often followed the CDC’s guidance in the past.
The new guidelines officially say “fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing a mask or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.”
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the CDC’s director, said those activities can be indoors or outdoors, large or small.
“If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you had stopped doing because of the pandemic,” Walensky added.
The guidelines still call for fully vaccinated Americans to wear masks in crowded indoor settings, such as buses, planes, hospitals, prisons, and homeless shelters. Plus, people who are immune-compromised are encouraged to speak with doctors before dropping masks.
Officials also noted that some business settings may still require masks, especially since some workers may remain unvaccinated.
Walensky said those who are not fully vaccinated should continue to wear masks indoors.
President Joe Biden touted this as “a great day for America” and a key milestone in the pandemic.
Thursday’s news comes just days before New Jersey is set to take a number of large steps to ease coronavirus restrictions Wednesday, including ending outdoor gathering limits and removing fixed, percentage-based indoor capacity limits for restaurants, gyms, retail stores, churches, and more. But under Murphy’s order, those establishments must still keep patrons and parties 6 feet away from each other, and people will still be required to wear masks indoors.
It’s unclear how Thursday’s announcement will affect those moves.
Asked if there’s any decision on what the new guidance means for the upcoming changes, Murphy’s office told NJ Advance Media: “Not at this time.”
Murphy has said the 6-foot caveat is based on CDC recommendations and he’d be willing to change it if the agency alters its guidance.
State Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean Jr., R-Union — New Jersey’s highest-ranking Republican state lawmaker — took to Twitter to call on Murphy to “follow the science” and the CDC’s “lead by immediately lifting all mask and social distancing requirements for vaccinated individuals both indoors and outdoors” in the state.
Walensky, the CDC director, said the agency’s new guidelines are based in science, citing three studies that show vaccines work. That includes a study from Israel, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, that found the vaccine was 97% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 and 86% effective against asymptomatic infection in more than 5,000 health care workers.
At least two of Murphy’s fellow Democratic governors, Oregon’s Kate Brown and Washington’s Jay Inslee, announced their states would adopt the guidelines.
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Appearing Thursday afternoon on MSNBC, Murphy was not asked if New Jersey will follow the CDC’s guidance.
The governor did say the state’s COVID-19 metrics are “going in the right direction” as vaccinations continue.
The state’s seven-day average for new confirmed positive COVID-19 tests has fallen to 869 — down 34% from a week ago and 69% from a month ago. That’s the lowest number since Oct. 17.
Meanwhile, there were 966 COVID-19 patients hospitalized across the state as of Wednesday night — the first time that number was below 1,000 since Oct. 26.
More than 3.57 million people who live, work, or study in the state have now been fully vaccinated against the virus at New Jersey sites, while another 164,121 residents have been vaccinated in other states.
The state has set a goal of having 70% of New Jersey’s adults vaccinated by the end of June. A little more than half of the state’s 6.9 million adults have now been fully vaccinated.
“We still have a ways to go, but the numbers are going in the right direction,” Murphy said during an interview Thursday afternoon on MSNBC. “And that allows us the confidence to say, ‘We can open this place up.’”
“How normal are we going to be this summer? I think it’s going to be pretty normal,” he added. “It probably won’t be entirely normal, but I think we’re gonna have a great summer in Jersey.”
Still, the state is seeking to ramp up vaccinations now that demand has decreased and many large municipalities — many with large minority populations — have vaccination rates under 40%.
Murphy said he will appear alongside actress and comedian Whoopi Goldberg — a West Orange resident — during a vaccination drive at noon Friday in the parking lot of the ShopRite in East Orange. There will be no appointment necessary to get the vaccine at the site.
New Jersey, a state of 9.2 million residents, has reported 25,906 residents have died from complications related to COVID-19 — including 23,258 confirmed deaths and 2,648 fatalities considered probable. The state has the most coronavirus deaths per capita among American states, largely driven by the early days of the pandemic, when the virus spread rapidly through the region.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.
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