Masks To Be Optional In Livingston Schools Starting March 7: Superintendent – Patch.com
LIVINGSTON, NJ — Livingston Superintendent of Schools Dr. Matthew Block said Friday that the school district “intends” to be mask-optional as of March 7.
Following New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy’s announcement on Monday that districts can decide on mask mandates as of that date, various districts have debated the possibilities.
Block said in a video message Friday:
“In the next couple of weeks we will receive new guidelines from the New Jersey Department of Health or NJDOH outlining all of the parameters of this new mask-optional guideline. As has been our process in the past, when there are significant changes to Covid guidelines, we meet with our local Physicians Panel and the Livingston Department of Health. We did so this week. We do not have all of the information yet, but based on the information we do have, Livingston Public Schools intends to be mask-optional as of March 7, 2022.”
He added, “The health professionals we consult with were very supportive of the district moving to a mask-optional protocol beginning on March 7th. They based their recommendations on the current state of the pandemic: the transmission rate is now .5 and going down; new cases are low; many people in Livingston have been vaccinated; and hospitalizations are down significantly.”
“The health advisors expressed the likelihood that these measures will improve even more by March 7th, and mentioned that the warmer weather will help as well.”
He noted, “Nonetheless, while we hope we never need to do so again, there could be a need at some time in the future to return to masking … For individuals who have specific health concerns, the health panel expressed a belief that optionally wearing a high-quality well-fitting mask can be protective against a virus even if others in a space are not wearing a mask.”
Around Essex County, districts have given varied responses to the state’s change:
- The South Orange-Maplewood district has not made a decision and will be looking at local COVID data before they decide, that district said in a public statement on Tuesday.
- Millburn announced Friday that they will make masks optional starting March 7.
As of Thursday, according to the county of Essex, there were 15 new COVID cases confirmed since the day before in Livingston, and a death toll of 100 from COVID since the start of the pandemic.
People can get information about Essex County testing, vaccines, and boosters here.
Children And COVID
Children are less likely to get seriously ill with COVID than adults. However, the CDC has called children losing a parent to COVID a “hidden pandemic.” And some parents and children have experienced long COVID, as one North Jersey mom shared last year.
The state of New Jersey is urging parents to talk to their own pediatrician about the right safety measures for their child. The state also says four children have died of the virus in New Jersey since Christmas.
Children under 5 cannot yet get vaccinated for the virus.
Cases have started to come down in North Jersey since spiking in late December and January.
In New Jersey as of Thursday, the state’s 71 hospitals said they were treating 1,708 patients
for COVID, 212 of those requiring breathing help from ventilators. A week ago, on Friday, Feb. 4, the state’s hospitals were treating 2,409 patients who tested positive for COVID. Of those patients, 294 were on ventilators.
Those numbers were nearly half of what was reported two weeks before that. On Friday, Jan. 21, the state’s 71 hospitals reported that they were treating 4,826 COVID positive patients. At the time, 511 patients were getting breathing help from a ventilator.
For comparison’s sake, back in September 2021, 124 people were on ventilators in New Jersey hospitals.