TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy’s state has the highest death rate per capita among any state in the United States, yet on Monday, Murphy felt the urge to call out Florida Governor Ron De Santis over his school mask choice policy.
De Santis has declared that wearing face masks to school is a personal choice, not a government mandate. In New Jersey, Murphy issued a mandate that will force all students and faculty to wear face masks when school returns in September.
Despite all of Murphy’s best efforts, masking, vaccine mandates, business closures and capacity restrictions, New Jersey still leads the country in COVID-19 deaths per capita.
As of August 19, 2021, New Jersey has 301 deaths per 100,000 residents. Florida’s deaths per 100,000 is 190, 110 below New Jersey.
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is also under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice over his handling of COVID-19 patients in nursing homes. In March of 2020, Murphy backed an order by his health commissioner, Judith Persichilli that forced nursing homes to take Covid positive patients that lead to outbreaks that killed thousands of elderly senior citizens and veterans.
On Monday, Murphy criticized “knucklehead” DeSantis for threatening to defund schools that enforce mask mandates.