NEW JERSEY — Gov. Phil Murphy’s K-12 mask mandate officially expires Jan. 11 and, despite the fact that New Jersey cases are skyrocketing, he has not yet asked the Legislature to extend it.
The governor needs to get the state Legislature’s approval to extend the school mask mandate because in June, he formally ended the COVID-19 public state of emergency.
In order to extend the K-12 mask mandate:
“He would have to either come to the Legislature, or declare another state of emergency, which he could do by using the spike in cases as an excuse,” said state Sen. Declan O’Scanlon, a Republican from Monmouth County. “I’m hopeful he won’t.”
New Jersey continues to log its highest case numbers since the pandemic first began, recording 27,975 new cases the day before New Year’s Eve, and 34 COVID-related deaths.
When Murphy discontinued the state of emergency this past summer, he allowed several…
