Photo by marco fileccia
After the announcements from New Jersey and Delaware on Monday, Connecticut recently placed an objective to ease school mask mandates.
The easing guidelines are an indication that the three Northeastern states are modifying how they battle the COVID-19 pandemic as the Omicron cases plummet.
Ned Lamont, governor at Connecticut, advised Monday that the state would conclude the mask mandate statewide on February 28, which is the earliest date among the three states.
The Democratic governor stated that it would depend on the local leaders such as mayors or superintendents, to formulate their own implementation on mask mandates after the state mandate is eased.
In a press conference, Lamont said, “Today with boosters, given vaccines, given the N95 masks, you are in a better position to keep yourself safe.”
Early Monday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy said that the Garden State will ease its school mask mandate for students and employees starting March 7. But the district is still in control of implementing mask requirements to avoid an upsurge of cases.
In a tweet, Murphy said, “Balancing public health with getting back to some semblance of normalcy is not easy. But we can responsibly take this step due to declining COVID numbers and growth in vaccinations.”
Early in the pandemic, New Jersey was one of the worst-hit states. Murphy carried out numerous strict public health measures to prevent further spread of the virus, gathering both compliments and disapproval for the invasive methods to prevent COVID-19 spread.
Employees and students still have a say in deciding to wear masks in schools where they aren’t mandated.
Delaware Governor John Carney announced that the state’s indoor mask requirement for K-12 schools, private or public, and childcare facilities will be concluded on March 31. On Friday, the universal mask mandate’s validity ceases.
The date would allow enough time for districts and schools to regard local masking mandates and enable the state to upgrade its quarantine and contact tracing protocols.
In a statement, Carney said, “We’re in a much better place than we were several weeks ago in the middle of the Omicron surge of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.”
“I want to be clear about this point — COVID is still circulating in our communities. And the virus still poses a risk of serious illness, particularly among those who are not up to date on their vaccinations,” he further stated. “But we have the tools to keep ourselves and each other safe.”
