About Face (Coverings)

The Governor of New Jersey, Phil Murphy, has announced that, effective tomorrow, vaccinated New Jerseyans don't have to wear face coverings, or "FCs" as I call them here, in indoor public spaces.  Murphy says we've made enough progress against COVID that folks in this state who have gotten the vaccine can breathe easily, since the vaccine protects them quite well from this airborne virus.  Obviously, there are exceptions, such as public transit venues (railway stations, airports), because the federal mandate requiring FCs for mass transit stays in effect through September 13, and medical facilities - hospitals, clinics, office buildings with doctors' practices.  But you'll be able to literally show your face in public in other indoor public spaces.

 

Except where you can't. It's quite possible and even likely that many local FC mandates will remain in place.  Needless to say, several counties - like Essex County, where Newark, a COVID hot spot, is located - could keep its FC mandate, and some towns might do the same.  And of course, some businesses - especially supermarkets, where cleanliness is important - might keep them as well.  It will be like when New Jersey passed a law allowing a right turn on a red light, which began in 1977, to cut down on idling.  Pretty soon you saw more intersections where no right turn on red was allowed than intersections where it was, or so it seemed.  My point here is that the exceptions to the repeal of the dreaded Executive Order 122 will, for awhile, be more the rule.

Other states in the Northeast have already dropped their FC mandates - including New York.  But people who still feel uncomfortable doffing their FCs may continue wearing them.  It's inevitable that in overcrowded New York City, many people, like in New Jersey, will probably wear their FCs even when they don't have to.

Especially when their job requires it. 😆