New Jersey dropped its statewide mask mandate in most places a little more than a month ago amid increasing vaccinations and plummeting COVID-19 numbers.
Now, the rapid spread of the Delta variant of the virus has prompted new — and sometimes conflicting — guidance on face coverings in various parts of the globe. The World Health Organization recently urged all people — even vaccinated ones — to wear masks. Los Angeles County issued the same recommendation. And Israel reinstated its face covering requirements.
In America, however, the director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reaffirmed the agency’s recommendation that vaccinated people don’t need to wear masks in most settings because they are protected against variants.
So what about New Jersey? Gov. Phil Murphy was asked Wednesday if the Delta variant could lead to him to reinstall mask mandates here.
“I hope we don’t have to go back,” Murphy said. “We would not have taken the steps we’ve taken with any expectation that we would have to go backward.”
“If we have to, we will, clearly,” he added. “We’ll continue to monitor the data points that we’ve talked about every time we’ve been at this table for the past 16 months, and right now it’s hard to argue anything other than we are in really good shape, and we just hope it stays that way.”
“The Delta variant is not just an American challenge, it’s a New Jersey challenge — especially, again, if you’re not vaccinated,” the governor said.
One caveat: When Murphy signed a law last month ending New Jersey’s public-health emergency over the pandemic, it included a stipulation that the governor could not institute mask mandates that are more strict than the CDC, unless there is a major uptick in the state’s numbers. And the CDC is not recommending a return to masks for vaccinated people, though the agency does encourage unvaccinated people to wear face coverings.
“If you are vaccinated, you are safe from the variants that are circulating here in the United States,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said on NBC’s “Today” this week, adding that the WHO is dealing with a worldwide situation where far fewer people are vaccinated in other countries compared to the America.
New Jersey, an early coronavirus epicenter and home to the most COVID-19 deaths per capita in the U.S., has seen its numbers fall to record lows, though state officials said case numbers have plateaued of late and there has been an increase in Delta variant cases.
But they note New Jersey has one of the nation’s highest vaccination rates — with close to 70% of its adult population vaccinated — and that has helped prevent the kind of Delta outbreaks that have occurred in other states.
“Vaccination rates are our friend,” said Dr. Christina Tan, the state’s epidemiologist.
The vaccines are on top of any natural immunity people may have because they caught COVID-19 and survived.
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Stephanie Silvera, an epidemiologist and public health professor at Montclair State University, agreed that New Jersey as a state is doing well “compared to places like Mississippi.”
But she noted there are parts of the state that have much lower vaccination rates.
“As a state overall, do we need to have a mask mandate? Maybe not,” Silvera said. “But at a county level or municipal level, we need to be really mindful we are not completely protected or not protected equally.”
Officials say the Delta variant is spreading quickest among unvaccinated people. They say it’s not impossible for vaccinated people to contract the variant, though they are far less likely to be hospitalized or die.
Still, Silvera stressed that vaccinated people who catch these so-called breakthrough cases can still transmit the virus to unvaccinated people.
“We all still need to be concerned about that,” she said.
Silvera also noted that children are a target for the variant because people under 12 are not eligible to be vaccinated in the U.S. yet.
Murphy announced Monday that New Jersey will not require students or staff to wear masks in school when the next academic year begins and instead will leave it up to individual districts whether to implement their own mask mandates.
But that could change. The governor noted the plan is contingent on there not being any “dramatic” deterioration in the state’s COVID-19 metrics.
“The virus dictates the terms, not us,” Murphy said Wednesday on his radio show.
Officials stress the best way to protect yourself and the state is to get vaccinated.
“Do it for your health and the health and safety of your family,” Murphy said. “Better to be safe than sorry.”
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.