Today, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said he is lifting his state mandate on wearing face masks in public and private indoor settings as of Friday, May 28th. There are many caveats in the governor’s plan, however.
“We are proud of the fact that we have always been guided by the science, the data, the facts, and the actions that we’re taking today are true to that,” the Governor said. “We had always targeted Memorial Day as the date of when we’ll start our path back to a fully open New Jersey. We have always been consciously optimistic.”
Murphy said individual businesses and entities may require that their guests or employees require face masks. Indoor workplaces are to continue following their health and safety protocol. Healthcare facilities, long term care facilities, correctional facilities, and homeless shelters will still require face masks for employees, residents and guests.
The mask mandate will remain for airplane buses, train,s and other public forms of transportation as well as transportation hubs. Facemasks will be required in public-facing state offices such as the Motor Vehicle Commission.
Mask mandates will remain in the public and private school settings statewide. This change will not extend to child care facilities, youth camps, public or private pre-schools or elementary and secondary schools. We’re still not there yet.
“These requirements will be strictly endorsed,” Murphy said.
The governor also warned residents of ‘mask shaming’, saying there will be zero tolerance for any acts of bullying or shaming people who wear masks or prohibiting access to masked individuals.