(The Center Square) – Republicans are pressuring Gov. Phil Murphy to end all COVID-19 restrictions immediately, but the governor says ending restrictions isn’t like flipping a light switch.
Earlier this month, Murphy, a Democrat, signed Executive Order No. 288 to extend the state’s public health emergency for another 30 days. The governor has said he plans to let the emergency expire at that time.
However, Republicans are stepping up their campaign to end all restrictions immediately. They have noted the declaration gives Murphy the power to keep the school mask mandate in effect and release prisoners from the state’s prisons.
“The bottom line is that more than two years later, New Jerseyans are smart enough to know what they need to do to stay safe and healthy,” Assemblyman Christopher DePhillips, R-Bergen, said in a statement. “They don’t need bureaucrats telling them what they must and must not do.
“People want to make their own choices. They are done with masks, with testing, with compelled vaccinations, with all of it, Gov. Murphy’s knows this. His focus groups said so,” DePhillips added. “He needs to stop with the arbitrary timetable and end the mandates today.”
Murphy also announced he plans to end the statewide mask mandate in schools effective March 7. During a media briefing this week, Murphy indicated he believes the state is moving at a reasonable pace.
“There’s just no question about it. [March 7] is less than three weeks away for the school mask mandate,” Murphy said during the briefing. “We need to put guidance out; the guidance is complicated, so it’s not like you just flip a light switch, I think it’s fair to say.
“We want to make sure we’ve got guidance that meets the health realities but is also operational,” Murphy added. “We just think we’re proceeding at the pace that this merits. We are going from that pandemic to endemic.”
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