Murphy should not end mask mandate in schools and child care, N.J. Senate health chair says – NJ.com

The chairman of the state Senate’s health committee told NJ Advance Media on Thursday he sharply disagrees with Gov. Phil Murphy’s decision to lift New Jersey’s statewide coronavirus mask mandate inside schools and child care facilities next month.

State Sen. Joseph Vitale, D-Middlesex, said he’s especially irked Murphy, a fellow Democrat, is removing the requirement in child care centers because children under 5 are not eligible to be vaccinated yet and remain “exposed.”

“The world is different for children,” Vitale said in a phone interview. “And this removal of the mandate should not have happened at all.”

He also noted that Murphy is making the move despite the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continuing to recommend masks inside schools and child care.

“I don’t care what other states do,” he added. “I care what the CDC says. And they don’t think taking masks off in schools is a good idea.”

Murphy announced Monday that New Jersey will remove the mandate — one of the state’s last major COVID-19 restrictions — on March 7 as the recent omicron-driven surge in the pandemic continues to wane, with cases and hospitalizations dropping significantly. He hailed it as “a huge step back to normalcy for our kids.”

Individual schools, districts, and child care centers will still be allowed to require masks on their own if they choose. Otherwise, masks will be optional in those settings.

“We are not going to manage COVID to zero,” Murphy said. “We have to learn how to live with COVID as we move from a pandemic to an endemic phase of this virus.”

Vitale stressed the decision comes as slightly more than 1 in 4 of eligible children in the state are fully vaccinated, while 1 in 3 have received at least one shot, according to statistics from the state Department of Health.

When it comes to schools, the senator said, that vaccination rate is “not great, but it’s something.” Meanwhile, he argued, there is no vaccination rate at all in daycare because children under 5 aren’t eligible.

“My 4-year-old understands that and can tell any adult why it matters to her,” Vitale said. “Do we need a 4-year-old to send that message?”

Vitale noted he and his wife pulled their two young daughters out of daycare at the start of the pandemic and will not bring them back until there is a vaccine for kids their age.

A spokesman for Murphy’s office said Thursday the pandemic has “presented parents — especially parents of young children — with incredibly challenging circumstances.”

“However, with the rapid decline in cases and vaccinations expected to soon be available for children as young as six months old, the Governor believes that we are at a place where we can begin to give our kids a sense of normalcy and give school districts and childcare centers the ability to tailor masking and other COVID-19 mitigation policies to the unique circumstances in each community and needs of staff and students,” spokeswoman Alyana Alfaro said.

“Lifting the mask mandate does not bar mask wearing, and parents will be able to decide what is best for their individual family circumstances regarding masking for their children.”

A number of other states, including neighboring Connecticut, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, have made similar moves in recent days.

New Jersey is one of about a dozen U.S. states that still has a mask mandates in schools, according to the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy. Most are Democratic-leaning.

State Sen. Jon Bramnick, R-Union, said he agrees with Murphy’s decision, noting “most people are coming to the conclusion we will see this virus for a long time, and I’m not sure we can continue to treat it as a pandemic.”

A number of Republicans — who have long called for Murphy to lift the mandate, saying it has damaged children’s educations and mental health — even pushed the governor to remove the mandate now, without waiting four weeks.

At the same time, Murphy is facing blowback from Republicans in the wake of a New York Times report on Wednesday Murphy helped lead a coordinated effort among Democratic governors to peel back remaining restrictions in the wake of November’s elections.

Murphy — who has long said his pandemic decisions are based on science and data — won re-election by a closer-than-expected margin, and while Democrats retained control of the state Legislature, Republicans gained seven seats.

Murphy’s team arranged focus groups across the state to discover what was behind the results, and his advisers were surprised to find voters across the board were frustrated with coronavirus measures and craved normalcy, according to the report.

New Jersey did not announce the rollback of anymore restrictions for three months after the election as omicron caused COVID-19 numbers to surge. Murphy also declared a new public-health emergency last month in part to keep the school mandate in place during the wave.

But talk was revived as numbers began dropping again last month, the report said. Several governors then asked President Joe Biden, a Democrat, last week to provide clear guidance on how to move from crisis mode to learning how to live with the virus, according to the report. Murphy made Monday’s announcement when White House guidance didn’t come quickly enough, the report said.

Even though they have long supported removing masks in schools and other restrictions, some Republican lawmakers pounced on the Times report. They accused Murphy of playing politics with pandemic restrictions that have upended people’s lives and businesses for nearly two years.

“I’m not patting them on the back for politically realizing that arrogantly thumbing their nose at science and evidence was wrong,” state Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, R-Monmouth said. “Now because they realize it, they’re changing their tune. What we need is an apology for the arrogant delay in reducing restrictions.”

Murphy’s office declined to comment on the report Thursday.

The governor denied Monday that politics played a role in the mask decision. He told MSNBC on Thursday “we’re doing the best we can to manage a pandemic and to not declare victory but to say we can live with this responsibly.”

“We’re constantly trying to meet the moment, not undershoot it, not overshoot it,” Murphy added. “Easier said than done, but we think this gets us in the right place.”

Vitale, meanwhile, said despite what the focus groups may have found, only some of the public wants the school mask mandate gone — not all of the public.

“The squeaky wheel gets the grease,” the senator said. “There’s a silent majority of parents who still recognize the danger to children.”

Vitale also noted Republicans’ objections to coronavirus restrictions have been “uniformed, partisan, and dangerous.”

Murphy suggested Monday he has made previous COVID-19 decisions despite political risk. For example, he kept the state’s indoor mask mandate last year longer than the CDC recommended.

The governor argued he is breaking with the CDC on school masks because the “reality is dramatically different” in New Jersey than other states. He noted the Garden State was hit hard earlier by the omicron variant, and that means the latest wave is receding faster here than elsewhere.

Children are far less likely to get serious cases of COVID-19. But they can still pass it to older, more vulnerable people. Twelve children in New Jersey have died from coronavirus-related complications, four having died since Christmas.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him at @johnsb01.