People in New Jersey no longer have to wear a mask in places like hospitals and doctor’s offices where health care is given.
On April 3, Gov. Phil Murphy quietly signed an order that took away the need for COVID-19 testing in health care and gathering places.
But facilities can still require masks if they want to, and people can still cover their faces in health care centers if they want to.
Murphy said that the mask rule will be lifted when he was on News 12 on Monday and was asked about the mask mandate in healthcare settings.
Murphy said, “We have taken away these orders.”
On the COVID-19 page for the state, it says that face masks are no longer needed in most indoor and outdoor places.
But the Department of Health says you should wear a face mask if you have COVID-19 symptoms, tested positive, were recently around someone with COVID-19, or live in a county with “high” COVID community levels.
The governor said that the decision to stop requiring masks in healthcare places comes as the number of people with COVID in New Jersey keeps going down by a lot.
On Friday, the state said there were another 382 cases, but there were no new proven deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also thinks that the virus is not very common in any of New Jersey’s 21 counties.
The recently signed new executive order also gets rid of the testing requirements that were put in place by previous executive orders for employees in both settings who were not up-to-date on COVID vaccinations. It also gets rid of the need for workers in congregate care settings to get vaccinated.
Some approved psychiatric community homes, correctional facilities, group homes, and day programs for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities are examples of places where people live together.
Long-term care facilities, psychiatric and specialty hospitals, long-term residential treatment centers for people with drug abuse disorders, clinic-based settings, adult medical day care programs, and family planning sites are all types of health care settings.
Executive Order 294 will still require health care workers to show proof that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19. This is to protect the more vulnerable people they care for.
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