NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ – Assemblywoman Beth Sawyer is urging Rutgers University to end all Covid mandates, stating that they are unrealistic and unnecessary. Sawyer argues that other higher education institutions have already dropped their mandates and the federal public health emergency is set to sunset on May 11th. Although Rutgers updated their guidelines on March 17th, requiring proof of vaccination for students, staff, contractors, and others, they will no longer require self-testing for the virus for those with medical or religious exemptions. However, the university will still provide up to two test kits per student per week while supplies last.
Sawyer pointed out that daily reported Covid cases are down 92%, deaths have declined 80%, and new hospitalizations are down more than 80% since the Omicron peak in January 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. She also cited a January 2023 New England Journal of Medicine correspondence which states that the bivalent mRNA shots, originally developed to combat the original and Omicron BA.4/BA.5 strains, offer no protection against today’s prominent strains, BQ1 and BQ1.1. Sawyer believes that Rutgers should follow the example of Ivy League universities like Penn and Princeton and state schools like the University of Maryland, which have withdrawn their mandates.
Sawyer also argues that studies have shown that the shots may pose net harm to otherwise healthy young adults, especially men, with the risks of developing myocarditis or pericarditis far outweighing any risk of students succumbing to Covid. The argument that the mRNA technology prevented transmission and protected immunocompromised peers or at-risk staff ultimately proved false.
Rutgers moved to remote instruction on March 17th, 2020, and resumed on-campus learning at the end of January 2022. The university imposed mandatory masking in classrooms during the spring semester, which was lifted for fall 2022 but briefly reimposed when three faculty unions argued that individual educators should be allowed to require masks in their classrooms. The Public Employee Relations Commission ultimately rejected those unions’ arguments.
Sawyer concluded that Rutgers needs to embrace reality and drop the mandates to maintain its stellar reputation as a first-rate institution. She believes that they are unnecessary and only harm the public while destroying trust in institutions.