New Jersey is expected to drop its indoor mask mandates ahead of Memorial Day weekend, according to nj.com. By next Friday, May 28, the Garden State will likely no longer be the only holdout in the tri-state area when it comes to adopting the CDC’s mask guidance. The announcement that vaccinated individuals will no longer be required to wear masks in restaurants, stores and other indoor spaces could come as early as Monday.
A source within Governor Phil Murphy’s office said Friday that the indoor mask mandate would be lifted ahead of the holiday weekend. This comes after Murphy saying earlier that he would wait until more people in the state had been vaccinated.
Murphy has kept New Jersey as one of the few states where masks are still mandated in most indoor settings, despite the numbers looking so encouraging and different advice from the CDC.
“While we have made tremendous progress, we are not out of the woods yet,” Murphy said Monday. “The majority of New Jerseyans are still unvaccinated and we’re not checking anyone’s vaccine status at the door when you go to the supermarket or to a hardware store, for instance,” Murphy said Monday. “I don’t know how we can expect workers to tell who is vaccinated from who isn’t — and it is unfair to put the burden on business owners and frontline employees to police every patron.”
Murphy did acknowledge some progress and the travel advisory for NJ was lifted earlier this week. The state also recently lifted capacity limits for many indoor activities.