NEWARK, NJ – Governor Murphy himself has declared the COVID-19 pandemic emergency over and the federal government mask mandate for air travel has been ended. This weekend Murphy and his wife Tammy boarded a plane to Ireland and masked up while boarding.
While boarding the plane, the Murphys stopped to take a selfie, announcing their trip to Ireland, and the right’s heads literally exploded.
That action sent New Jersey’s establishment Republicans into a firestorm calling the move unnecessary pandemic virtue signaling and political theater. The Murphys are heading to Ireland and boarded an Aer Lingus (Irish Airlines) plane.
Some called the Murphy photo op anti-science and claimed the Murphys were still clinging on to a moment in the past where the face mask was the uniform of the progressive left.
But why were the Murphys wearing a mask when both are fully vaccinated, boosted, and have had COVID-19 recently enough, where they also have natural immunity? Sounds like some sort of twisted far-left plot hatched from the office of Dr. Anthony Fauci himself, right?
We’d be the first ones to criticize the far-left Governor for virtue-signaling if that was truly the case, but it turns out the photo may be less politically motivated than the never-Trump NJ GOP establishment insiders are trying to portray tonight.
It turns out, their airline of choice, Irish-based Aer Lingus, doesn’t care what the U.S. CDC, Governor Murphy, or local health officials have to say on the matter; they are still requiring all of their passengers to mask up. The airline isn’t budging from its current policy. In fact, in order to fly maskless aboard Aer Lingus, the airline requires a medical certificate signed by a doctor.
That’s their policy and while we’re sure the Murphy’s were quite content with abiding by the policy, the governor has said that while the mask mandates have ended, everyone needs to be civil and courteous to not shame those who continue to wear them.
The anti-Trumpsters over at the New Jersey GOP can do much better, like focusing on real issues affecting the state such as New Jersey having the highest foreclosure rate in America fueled in part by the prolonged and draconian Murphy pandemic shutdown.