N.J. might drop school mask requirements in fall. ‘Our minds are open,’ Murphy says. – NJ.com

As a national debate rages over whether face coverings are still needed in classrooms to help fight the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Phil Murphy said Wednesday he’s open-minded about dropping New Jersey’s mask requirements in schools by the time the next academic year begins.

Asked by NJ Advance Media about that possibility, Murphy said his “guess” at “this moment in time” remains that the state will continue to require students and staff to wear masks in the fall. But, he said, “there is a chance” that could change.

“We put our guidance out — a full, thick booklet — in June of last year for what reopening would look like, and we tweaked it a number of times between June and September,” Murphy said after touring Bergenfield High School with U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “I’ll put on my epidemiological hat and say three months from now might as well be five lifetimes in a pandemic.”

“So the answer is: Absolutely. Our minds are open,” he added.

The comment comes about a week after Murphy said that even after the state ended its mask mandates in most public places, parents should prepare for their kids to continue to wear masks in school into the fall — when the vast majority of students will return to in-person learning. He has said masks may be still needed because vaccinations have only just begun for 12- to 15-year-olds and there is no authorized vaccine for children under 12 yet.

Cardona said Wednesday there’s “one thing that’s not negotiable” — that the federal government is expecting all students to have have the chance to learn in person.

But the U.S. education secretary noted his department will continue to work closely with health experts to “make sure we’re leading with health and safety of staff and students.”

“While I’d like to predict we’re gonna be able to reopen schools without masks in the fall, I’m gonna lean on my health expert partners … to make sure we maintain that level of confidence that’s needed to reopen our schools to make sure health and safety drive our decisions,” Cardona said.

New Jersey recently lifted its mask mandates in most places last month as COVID-19 numbers have plummeted while vaccinations continue — though there are exceptions. Among them: Face coverings are still required at school settings, daycare, and summer camps, both indoors and outdoors.

Murphy has said he’s following guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that says schools should still require masks for at least the remainder of this academic year.

Some parents and numerous Republicans have pushed the Democratic governor to unmask children in school, arguing it doesn’t make sense that they don’t have to wear masks in stores but do have to wear them in classrooms. State Sen. Joseph Pennachio, R-Morris, said lawmakers’ offices have been “deluged by calls from irate mothers and fathers who say they should be the ones making the decision whether their child wears a mask to school or to summer camp.”

“The mask requirement is harming our kids,” Pennachio said. “It’s voodoo science.”

At the same time, a coalition of Monmouth County school superintendents have called on Murphy and the state to give clear guidance to what protocols New Jersey schools should use in the fall because there has often been “confusing” and “contradictory” rules so far regarding masking, quarantine, and more.

MORE: Confusing school mask mandates aren’t our fault. We need consistency, N.J. superintendents say.

Plus, a petition circulated by state Senate Republicans calling for Murphy eliminate the mask requirements for children has drawn 10,000 signatures.

The governors of Iowa and Texas have signed laws banning schools from requiring masks for students or staff.

A new study from the CDC looked at COVID-19 infection rates across 169 K-5 schools in Georgia between Nov. 16 and Dec. 11. It found that the rates were 37% lower in schools with mask requirements for teachers and staff. But the difference between schools that did require students to wear masks and those that did not was not statistically significant.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s top infectious disease expert, told CNBC last month it’s possible for middle schools and high schools to ditch masks in the fall because those age groups are eligible for the vaccine.

CORONAVIRUS RESOURCES: Live map tracker | Newsletter | Homepage

In New Jersey, seven children under the age of 18 have died from COVID-19 during the outbreak out of 23,370 confirmed deaths in the state. But officials have stressed that children can still pass the virus to older and more vulnerable people.

Murphy has said his executive order allowing for virtual schooling in New Jersey during the pandemic will not be renewed beyond this academic year. That will officially end the state’s option for virtual learning in the fall.

The governor said Wednesday that districts serving more than 95% of the 1.4 million students across New Jersey now have at least some in-person instruction, while only seven districts in the state remain all-remote with only a few weeks left in the academic year. The number of all-remote districts has fallen steadily over the last several months.

Murphy and Cardona spent a half-hour Wednesday morning touring the high school in Bergenfield, where there is a mixture of in-person and remote classes five days a week.

During a roundtable discussion, Alyssa Campbell, a senior at the school, said she missed the routine of being in-person at school and that interacting with her classmates “really helps my education.”

Aurora Madera, another senior, agreed.

“I didn’t learn well over Zoom,” she told Murphy and Cardona. “It’s hard to stay motivated. I think it’s comforting to look over and see someone else as confused as you.”

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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.