New Jersey lifts indoor mask mandate for fully vaccinated people on Friday
TRENTON - People fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in New Jersey are no longer required to wear a face mask in most indoor settings and do not have to maintain six feet of social distancing.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Monday announced he would repeal the state's indoor mask mandate for fully vaccinated people on Friday to fall in line with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's updated guidance.
There will be certain settings that will still require masks to be worn, including healthcare facilities, long-term care homes, correctional facilities, and homeless shelters.
Masks will also be mandated still in childcare centers, youth summer camps, all preschool programs, and elementary and secondary schools.
People riding public transportation, including buses, subways and airplanes, must remain masked. Bus terminals and airports will also uphold mask mandates.
"Lifting the mask mandate is simply acknowledging how far we’ve come together and that, together, we’ll cross the finish line," Gov. Murphy wrote on Twitter.
Just in time for Memorial Day Weekend, New Jersey will also lift its social distancing requirement both indoors and outdoors. The Garden State is scheduled to peel back more of its coronavirus restrictions, including limits on indoor gatherings, in June.
New Jersey has gone from among the top states with the most cases per capita in the country earlier this year to the bottom half of states with new coronavirus cases. To date, New Jersey reports more than 4.5M people with at least one dose, and nearly 4M are fully vaccinated.
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