State Republicans believe that Gov. Phil Murphy should have gone further and moved quicker than March 7 when it comes to ending the school mask mandate.
North Jersey GOP lawmakers asserted the ultimate decision should not be made by the government but by parents; the emergency powers the governor has used should end; the governor was picking an arbitrary date based more on politics than science; and was a result of a new State Senate campaign.
“Gov. Murphy has ruled through emergency powers for far too long, and he’s taken away parents’ rights over all of their objections. He should give it all back now,” said State Sen. Anthony M. Bucco (R-25).
Ending School Mask Mandate
The mandate has been effective since the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, requiring students, staff and visitors to wear a face covering. Murphy in his announcement Feb. 7 said the move and the timeline was being made due to key health metrics continuing to move to better places after a Winter surge.
“Given the continued drop in new cases and hospitalizations, projections indicating a continued decline over the coming weeks, and the continued growth of vaccinations for our school-aged population, we believe that we can responsibly end the universal mask mandate,” said Murphy. “Thankfully, we have reached a point where we feel confident that we can take another step toward normalcy for our kids.”
Arbitrary Date
But the month long delay did not satisfy members of the 40th Legislative District. Assemblyman Christopher DePhillips is questioning why the action can not be done immediately.
“March 7th is an arbitrary date that doesn’t have scientific backing,” said DePhillips (R-40). “Why not end the mandate and all of the issues that go along with it today? What is the rationale behind a one-month delay?”
State Sen. Kristin Corrado (R-40) argued any decision for masking should be made by families and not the government.
“Parents want their rights to make masking decisions for their kids restored today, not next month,” said Corrado. “Gov. Murphy should ‘Give It Back’ now. There’s no excuse to wait any longer.”
Emergency Power Extension
Lawmakers further expressed their dismay that Murphy extended the Public Health Emergency another 30 days. The governor said the extension was needed in order to allow the state to continue vaccine distribution, vaccination or testing requirements in certain settings, the collection of COVID-19 data, and other critical components of the state’s COVID-19 response.
It was not an argument that Bucco was buying, stating Murphy has governed through executive action throughout the pandemic.
“By every metric, New Jersey’s COVID numbers have plummeted to the point that overbearing mandates and executive orders are completely unnecessary,” said the Morris County lawmaker. “Gov. Murphy should let the Public Health Emergency expire this week and give back the emergency powers and parental rights he has taken from New Jerseyans. There’s no justification to drag this on for another month while children continue to suffer both educationally and emotionally.”
DePhillips added “The legislature should have more input into decision making, because every legislator is more in tune to the concerns of the districts, teachers, parents and students we represent than any other state official. This never should have been a decision by one person, because in our democracy the legislature is a co-equal branch.”
Failed Mask Policy
Assembly members from the 39th, Robert Auth and DeAnne DeFuccio, commented the decision by Murphy is a continuation of a failed mask policy that has “done more harm than good.”
“Gov. Murphy has finally decided to take the muzzle off our children, but he should have never had that type of power in the first place,” said Auth. “His pandemic policies have been illogical and harmful, especially to schoolchildren who have needlessly suffered learning loss and endured mental health struggles.”
DeFuccio was dismayed that the New Jersey Department of Health did not have updated guidance for schools regarding social distancing or quarantining timelines when Murphy made the announcement.
“Details are important to parents, but Gov. Murphy has seemingly left those out …just as he has done to guardians and lawmakers during the state’s entire two-year pandemic response,” said the Assemblywoman. “While I think we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief that our innocent children will return to some sense of normalcy, the governor’s unilateral decisions will continue to have long-lasting consequences.”
Give it Back
State Senate Minority Leader Steven Oroho proclaimed the ending of the school mask mandate marks the first victory for the Give it Back campaign Senate Republicans announced late last week.
“Gov. Murphy will never admit that the pressure is getting to him, but it absolutely is,” said Oroho (R-24). “That’s why he rushed to make this announcement weeks before he actually plans on lifting the school mask mandate. It’s our first ‘Give It Back’ victory.”
The campaign is focused on such issues as taxes, emergency powers, parental rights, vaccine choice, economic freedom, and safe streets Republicans say Murphy has taken from residents that he must give back.
“‘Give It Back’ is a powerful message that New Jerseyans can rally around to force Gov. Murphy to give back everything he has taken from them over the past two years,” added the Sussex County lawmaker. “We forced him to give back parental rights, now we need to keep the pressure on to get him to give back everything else.”
Daily Data
The cumulative number of confirmed coronavirus cases in New Jersey as of Feb. 10 was 1,849,171 with 2,654 total new PCR cases. There were 697 probable cases, bringing the cumulative total of antigen tests to 290,323. The total number of individual cases for the state is 2,139,494.
As for those that have passed, the state reported 81 confirmed deaths, bringing that total to 29,323. The state listed probable deaths at 2,937, bringing the overall total to 32,260. State officials noted 26 deaths occurred in the last 24 hours of reporting that have not yet been lab confirmed.
For North Jersey counties on Feb. 10, Bergen had a total of 323 new confirmed cases and 101 new probable cases, Essex 259 new cases and 24 new probable case, Hudson 308 new cases and 22 new probable cases, Morris 143 new confirmed cases and 22 new probable cases, Passaic 164 new cases and 23 new probable cases, Sussex 50 new cases and one new probable case, and Warren 20 new cases and seven new probable cases.
Of the total confirmed deaths in North Jersey, Essex County has the most with 3,209, followed by Bergen at 3,038, Hudson with 2,446, Passaic at 2,081, Morris at 1,204, Sussex at 361, and Warren County at 303.
In regards to probable deaths reported Feb. 7, Bergen has 321, Essex has 310, Morris has 284, Hudson has 223, Passaic has 203, Sussex has 82 and Warren has 27.
State Testing
As for the rate of transmission reported Feb. 10, it remained at 0.51 from 0.54 a day before. The daily rate of infections from those tested Feb. 5 was 9.5%; by region, the rate was 8.6% in the North, 9.3% in the Central region and 12.2% in the South.
The state’s dashboard had a count of 1,708 patients hospitalized as all 71 hospitals in the Garden State filed reports Feb. 10. By region, there were 673 in the North, 580 in the Central and 455 in the South. Of those hospitalized, 327 are in intensive care units and 212 on ventilators. A total of 264 patients were discharged in the last 24 hour reporting period.
Officials have continually cited transmission rate, hospitalizations, intensive care units, ventilators and positivity rate as health data they rely on to track how the coronavirus is being contained in New Jersey, guiding them in determining when restrictions have to be tightened or lifted.
Long-term Care Facilities
Health officials noted 549 long-term care facilities are currently reporting at least one case of COVID-19, accounting for a total of 26,748 of the cases, broken down between 12,349 residents and 14,399 staff.
Cumulatively, 2,357 long-term care facilities have reported an outbreak infecting 46,177 residents and 37,538 staff, for a total of 83,834.
The state’s official death total will now be reported as those that are lab confirmed, sits at 9,127 on Feb. 10. The facilities are reporting to the state 8,461 residents deaths and 149 staff deaths.
Vaccine Distribution
The number of COVID-19 vaccines administered in New Jersey totaled 13,551,880 in-state, plus an additional 553,178 administered out-of-state for a grand total of 14,105,058 as of Feb. 10.
Of those who have received the vaccine, 6,449,030 received their second dose or the one jab Johnson & Johnson dose in state and another 221,538 out of state, bringing those fully vaccinated to 6,670,568. With just under 8.5 million eligible in New Jersey to be vaccinated, 77% are fully vaccinated and 91% have received at least one dose.
State officials reported boosters and third shots of 1,532,888 for Pfizer and 1,274,295 for Moderna. A total of 61,247 New Jerseyans have received their Johnson & Johnson booster shot. Overall, 2,868,430 have received a booster or third shot. Overall, 51% of the 5.6 million of those eligible have received their booster.
In North Jersey, Bergen County has 708,003 residents fully vaccinated, Essex 573,627, Hudson 513,934, Morris 379,855, Passaic 348,939, Sussex 91,061, and Warren 59,195.
School Outbreaks
According to the state dashboard with 63.6% of all New Jersey schools reporting, new student cases totaled 6,457 and new staff cases 1,536 in the last week as of Jan. 30. Cumulatively, 130,820 cases have been reported— 102,237 students and 28,583 staffers.
In regards to outbreaks related to in-school transmissions as of Feb. 8, the state has tracked 484 school outbreaks and 3,255 cases linked to those outbreaks since the 2021/2022 school year starting Aug. 7, up 19 outbreaks and 117 cases from the week previous.
Outbreaks are defined as three or more laboratory confirmed COVID-19 cases among students or staff with onsets within a 14 day period, linked within the school setting, do not share a household, and were not identified as close contacts of each other in another setting during standard case investigation or contact tracing.
For North Jersey in the new report, Bergen County has 55 confirmed outbreaks with 304 cases, Morris County has 40 confirmed outbreaks with 241 cases, Essex County has 31 confirmed outbreaks with 225 cases, Passaic County has 22 confirmed outbreaks with 188 cases, Sussex has 34 confirmed outbreaks with 183 cases, Hudson County has 19 confirmed outbreaks with 92 cases and Warren County has two confirmed outbreaks with 15 cases.
Years of Gov. Murphy’s autocratic rule is very frightening. Is this where we are headed? How is it our legislature has been left out of the process. Thus depriving many voices of our (we the people) elected officials who represent many New Jersey residents. I grew up in New Jersey, I love NJ, I have raised my family here, but I am seriously concerned. No one person should have such power. It is against what we stand for. Whatever your beliefs about his decisions, our government is based on a checks and balances. How can this happen? This needs to be addressed legally so it can never happen again.
Sorry I just left a message but I wanted to add. I have watched many of the press conferences during this pandemic crisis. Gov. Murphy constantly gives “non answers” to questions by reporters or just avoids them. Some of his favorite quotes when asked questions he doesn’t want to answer are “we have no color on that” God we hope so” “sooner than later is what I predict” “We are just not there yet” (despite science). His practices and policies and behavior has caused a big divide in NJ and I voted for him!! So disappointed. We need a legislative solution
Some Republicans won’t be happy unless more people get sick and die, especially the frail, elderly and chronically ill. After all, these folks cost too much money to keep alive. Virtually every health expert in the world is saying it’s too soon to drop mask mandates and other mitigation measures. What is wrong with parents that they think that their kids will be scarred by wearing a piece of paper/cloth over their faces?
Have Republicans failed to read the scientific studies that say that proper mask wearing using N95/KN95 masks are 83% effective at preventing infections? Do Republicans even know that at least 10% of children end up with long COVID symptoms, which often emerge months after their initial infection, and which cause severe disability and learning loss? How many Republicans have allowed their kids to visit grandma and grandpa maskless, only to infect them and kill them? Judging by the number of times I’ve heard that someone’s mom/dad died, but that the family can’t even attend the funeral because everyone’s sick with COVID, I’m betting a lot of deaths were caused by removing kids’ masks.
Masks dont work at all. Masks have no effect
You must have been living under a rock
In the entire US in 2 year only 800 children have died from covid out of 70 million children
You have no idea what you are talking about
Masks have no effect on the spread on covid
NONE
NADA
In sweden they NEVER masked children and they had ONE death out of 1.8 million kid
Masks don’t work because you say so, Dirk? So all of the peer reviewed studies are wrong, and you, oh, emptier of bedpans, are right? Your death numbers are way off, but in any event, there’s more to worry about than death, alone. Long Covid and MIS cause significant disability and suffering.
Masks dont work at all. Masks have no effect
You must have been living under a rock
In the entire US in 2 year only 800 children have died from covid out of 70 million children
You have no idea what you are talking about
Masks have no effect on the spread on covid
NONE
NADA
In sweden they NEVER masked children and they had ONE death out of 1.8 million kids
https://www.justfacts.com/news_face_masks_deadly_falsehoods
Governor Phil Murphy has done a Great job thus far, so his judgement on Mask’s should be respected!! However, I hope that this Pandemic has Edjumcated ALL Schools to the practice 0f wearing Mask’s when Student’s, Teacher’s & 0ther School’s Staff have Cold’s, Flu’s or’n 0ther comunicable infections; 0r’n perhaps they 0ught to just Stay at Home for’n the Durations.. Mask’s Do Protect 0ther’s & it’s time to stop being so Selfish & show some considerations for’n 0ther’s!! I knowed this ain’t the American Way, but let’s do it for’n the Gipper & let’s Try!!//
Masking Monsieur’s, Maybe we ought to tell the Doctors that Masks don’t work!! So they won’t need to wear Masks when operating & maybe Gloves also!! Now If’n true; That’s a Good Point!! Just think 0f how much money’s could be saved here & maybe passed down to those patients as well..//