TRENTON, NJ – Things are getting back to normal in New Jersey and this week, Governor Phil Murphy announced positive news about the state’s school systems. The levels of COVID-19 in school districts statewide are back to pre-omicron levels after a nearly two-month-long spike in December and January.
“These are all cases regardless of whether it was in-school transmission or not, and you can see the overall infection rates continue their downward trend and are now back roughly to where they were pre-Omicron,” Murphy said. “Looking specifically at incidences of in-school transmission, while we take every single one of these cases with the utmost seriousness, we feel equally good about these overall numbers, especially as we begin gaming out the lifting of the in-school mask mandate, which is now less than three weeks away on March 7th.”
On March 7th, Murphy will end the universal school mask mandate, but some cities across the state are opting to continue the mandates locally.
Next week, the Murphy administration is expected to release school COVID-19 guidance regarding the end of the mask mandate.
“The school guidance, I think probably next week is what we’re looking at,” Murphy said.