New Jersey’s K-12 mask mandate may finally be coming to an end, Save Jerseyans.
According to the New York Times, Murphy will announce an end to the long-standing mandate for students and staff on Monday afternoon. The change will reportedly take effect in the second week of March, but individual districts can decide to impose a masking rule if they choose.
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The Democat governor is likely to cite data point changes for his decision, but November’s election results likely played a larger role.
Murphy scraped by with a 3-point victory margin last year, and Democrats lost seven legislative seats among dozens of other local offices. One of the Dems who experienced a close call was State Senator Vin Gopal (D-11) who nevertheless lost both of his Assembly running mates to GOP challengers.
Gopal has agreed to co-sponsor a bill championed by state Senator Declan O’Scanlon to limit the governor’s emergency powers. The GOP has tried to do it numerous times through the pandemic, but this is the first time a Democrat is signed on.
What’s more, newly-minted Senate President Scutari told reporters last week that the legislature planned to revisit Murphy’s emergency powers.
Did Murphy see the writing on the wall and decide to make his most controversial continued emergency power a moot issue rather than risk a stinging rebuke from his own party? Maybe. So in a very real way, folks, you did make a difference at the polls in November even if your disappointment lingers.
