Here’s what New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy just said about a new mask mandate

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy talks about the future of mask mandates after Los Angeles and Las Vegas reverted this weekend.
Here's what New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy just said about a new mask mandate

TRENTON, NJ – In light of announcements by Los Angeles and Las Vegas reimplementing mask mandates in those cities, Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey, a strong proponent of masks was asked if he intends to revert back.

This weekend, Los Angeles County brought back its mask mandate, but the sheriff there said he will not enforce the new mask mandate put in place by county officials saying their decision is not based on science.

As fa as New Jersey goes, the state on Monday reached a critical rate of transmission threshold that would empower Murphy to bring back his beloved face masks, but he says as of now, “We’re not there yet.”

“We continue to be comfortable with where we are but we watch this,” Murphy said. “We watch this like a hawk and our strong, strong, strong preference is to not go back.”

Murphy credits his administration’s effort to reach its vaccination goals and earlier said most of the people getting COVID-19 in New Jersey are unvaccinated.

“We are among the most vaccinated states in the country and that’s a huge positive we need more folks to get vaccinated,” Murphy added. “We are still doing many thousands of first vaccines a day…we need that to at least stay that way if not pick up…so our strong hope is that we can stay as we are.”