Time to end mask mandate in town
The statewide school mask requirement continues into March.
Also, "School districts may still require masks if local officials choose, but there will be no statewide requirement."
Similarly, local governments can still choose how they wish to continue.
Gov. Murphy to end school mask mandate for N.J. next month - nj.com
what's the rush? Why not wait a couple of weeks? The infection rate in Essex County is still higher than it was last summer and fall. Is wearing a mask for the 10 minutes someone is in Greenway that much of an imposition? By the end of the month, the rate will likely be down to what it was in midsummer, and the mandate can go away then.
I appreciate SO dropping the mask mandate, following other NJ towns such as Asbury Park, Morristown, Princeton and New Brunswick. It made sense to implement during the peak omicron time but now that's history, so it makes sense to drop it. Get vaxxed, get boosted, live your life. The nanny state can't go on for perpetuity.
I liked this recent quote from the Democratic governor of KC re: COVID: “I just don’t think that government, frankly, has that much runway left, in terms of telling people what to do.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/us/us-covid-deaths.html?searchResultPosition=8
We still have residents (under age 5) who cannot get vaccinated. Hopefully, that will change. Until then, I would like to see the safest possible environment for them, including a mask mandate in indoor public spaces. Seniors and others at high risk of contracting COVID - 19, even after receiving a booster shot, feel a lot more comfortable venturing out of their homes for shopping and socialization with the mask mandate in place. I am glad the mask mandate remains in place for now and I hope others feel as I do.
how many more anti maskers and anti vaxxers have to die before so called adults see the light..and develop empathy and respect for others.....with anti mask and anti vax.....its all about ME, ME, ME....I don't want to wear a mask and I don't care about anyone around me....not the under 5's who can't get the vaccine yet, not the 5-17s that can't get the vaccine because their parents believe fake news over reality....not the people who don't benefit or can't get the vaccine like someone on chemo that would just destroy the immunity from the vaccine.
days after the state indoor mandate was lifted, I had an over grown princess brat without a mask practically standing on my heels at a check out line. We were the only 2 people in line...no reason she couldn't have stood 3-6 feet back...i didn't have a problem with her choice to not wear a mask, but she had to stand so close just because she felt entitled.....
100 years ago, the pandemic was official for 26 months, we are going on 23. under 5s should at least have the option for a vaccine soon, spring is coming and ventilation will improve when we can open windows....
we just need to be patient a little longer...ideally we keep masking and distancing among strangers at least until 6 weeks after under 5s have the option to vaccinate. That will give them time to get their 2nd shot and 2 weeks for it to be effective..but at minimum, hopefully, the under 5s are eligible to start the shots before we stop taking precautions.
i have immune dysfunction and other health issues...I am eligible for a 4th dose. Will you care when your tax dollars need to provide services for me when I get long covid and need in home care? I am barely functioning on my own as it is.....would you rather pay more in taxes just to stop wearing a mask.
while they are pushing N95/KN95/surgical, the numbers show that good cloth masks do provide some protection. It seems reasonable to use a cloth mask in a grocery store when you are not in a stagnant group and won't be standing near someone who is infected for an extended time
Smedley said:
I appreciate SO dropping the mask mandate, following other NJ towns such as Asbury Park, Morristown, Princeton and New Brunswick. It made sense to implement during the peak omicron time but now that's history, so it makes sense to drop it. Get vaxxed, get boosted, live your life. The nanny state can't go on for perpetuity.
I liked this recent quote from the Democratic governor of KC re: COVID: “I just don’t think that government, frankly, has that much runway left, in terms of telling people what to do.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/us/us-covid-deaths.html?searchResultPosition=8
Nanny state?
Sorry, but government has many rights to tell people what to do. That's the social contract.
Mask requirements do not rise to the level of "much runway left, in terms of telling people what to do.”
Is it nanny state when there is signage in restaurant and bar restrooms requiring staff to wash hands? What about the burden of having drivers to stop when kids enter and leave school buses? Or mandating that you not litter? Or not smoke in public venues? Oh, horrible nanny state.
Risk may be low when dealing with children alone. But some will be infected because they are not wearing masks, some will be hospitalized and some will die. You can't avoid that when you have millions of children. If you have 50 million children and the risk of getting sick with COVID is 1 in 1000 because of not wearing masks then we end with 50,000 sick kids, some hospitalized and some who may die.
The risk of running a kid over when a school bus lets them enter and leave was also low before they passed laws requiring motorists to stop. When the stop laws were passed was the public decrying nanny state? How dare you tell me to stop.
People were mature when smallpox and polio vaccines were mandated. Now we have an entitled childish public that decries common sense regulations as taking my freedom and as nanny state.
.
I can be swayed in either direction, but if the mask mandate was removed today, I would probably still mask up in the supermarket.
All said- we are on a really good path at the moment. For me - strain on the hospitals was the #1 concern. Here's the current levels. I say if we stay on this trend, then in a few weeks we should be good.
jamie said:
I can be swayed in either direction, but if the mask mandate was removed today, I would probably still mask up in the supermarket.
All said- we are on a really good path at the moment. For me - strain on the hospitals was the #1 concern. Here's the current levels. I say if we stay on this trend, then in a few weeks we should be good.
i would like to see kids without masks starting now because this is toughest on them but adults, as you say stores etc., Not a bad place to mask up if it can put a dent in transmission,
I feel like we’ve been here before. The shore is in sight and we’re coasting to the dock. Is it a good time to throw the oars overboard?
Per the Essex County report today, the vast majority of towns had zero new cases. A bunch of towns subtracted from their case totals. There must have been some kind of methodology change.
Also, per https://covidestim.org/, every state's transmission rate is well below 1. The rate shot up like a rocket during peak Omicron and seems to have dropped just as rapidly.
Who knows. This thing has gone in cycles and fooled us before but I'm going to be optimistic (but careful). I've been buying tix for live music shows months out on the hopeful assumption we are going to be in a good place. If I have to, I'll eat the tix. I think its more likely that shows will be postponed if we have another bad surge.
mrincredible said:
I feel like we’ve been here before. The shore is in sight and we’re coasting to the dock. Is it a good time to throw the oars overboard?
it's this. No one is suggesting we wear masks in perpetuity. The number of COVID cases in hospitals is still too high, but thankfully it's falling as rapidly as cases. That seems to be what people don't get -- mask mandates are not about protecting you or me. We've had the chance to be vaccinated and boosted if we want to protect ourselves. It's about all the people working in hospitals who are being overwhelmed. Let's give this another week or week and a half to let the hospitals get fully through this surge.
I'd like to see future mask mandates based on hospital admissions by county. That way there's a clear benchmark -- if Essex has admitted more than X number of COVID patients, we go back to masks until the rate falls below. But it's hard to ask people to adhere to the mandates when there's no obvious rationale.
ml1 said:
mrincredible said:
I feel like we’ve been here before. The shore is in sight and we’re coasting to the dock. Is it a good time to throw the oars overboard?
it's this. No one is suggesting we wear masks in perpetuity. The number of COVID cases in hospitals is still too high, but thankfully it's falling as rapidly as cases. That seems to be what people don't get -- mask mandates are not about protecting you or me. We've had the chance to be vaccinated and boosted if we want to protect ourselves. It's about all the people working in hospitals who are being overwhelmed. Let's give this another week or week and a half to let the hospitals get fully through this surge.
I'd like to see future mask mandates based on hospital admissions by county. That way there's a clear benchmark -- if Essex has admitted more than X number of COVID patients, we go back to masks until the rate falls below. But it's hard to ask people to adhere to the mandates when there's no obvious rationale.
well I just saw you NOT wearing a mask on Maplewood Ave.
Redfruit said:
ml1 said:
mrincredible said:
I feel like we’ve been here before. The shore is in sight and we’re coasting to the dock. Is it a good time to throw the oars overboard?
it's this. No one is suggesting we wear masks in perpetuity. The number of COVID cases in hospitals is still too high, but thankfully it's falling as rapidly as cases. That seems to be what people don't get -- mask mandates are not about protecting you or me. We've had the chance to be vaccinated and boosted if we want to protect ourselves. It's about all the people working in hospitals who are being overwhelmed. Let's give this another week or week and a half to let the hospitals get fully through this surge.
I'd like to see future mask mandates based on hospital admissions by county. That way there's a clear benchmark -- if Essex has admitted more than X number of COVID patients, we go back to masks until the rate falls below. But it's hard to ask people to adhere to the mandates when there's no obvious rationale.
well I just saw you NOT wearing a mask on Maplewood Ave.
maybe that's why you are so confused about this issue. Do you think there is a mandate to wear masks outdoors?
Masks on young kids in school don't make any difference at all in keeping them healthy. The children are not at risk. This is idiocy. We have hurt kids enough for nothing during this pandemic. Time to start thinking of what is best for them. Teachers can wear masks if it makes them feel better.
ml1 said:
Redfruit said:
ml1 said:
mrincredible said:
I feel like we’ve been here before. The shore is in sight and we’re coasting to the dock. Is it a good time to throw the oars overboard?
it's this. No one is suggesting we wear masks in perpetuity. The number of COVID cases in hospitals is still too high, but thankfully it's falling as rapidly as cases. That seems to be what people don't get -- mask mandates are not about protecting you or me. We've had the chance to be vaccinated and boosted if we want to protect ourselves. It's about all the people working in hospitals who are being overwhelmed. Let's give this another week or week and a half to let the hospitals get fully through this surge.
I'd like to see future mask mandates based on hospital admissions by county. That way there's a clear benchmark -- if Essex has admitted more than X number of COVID patients, we go back to masks until the rate falls below. But it's hard to ask people to adhere to the mandates when there's no obvious rationale.
well I just saw you NOT wearing a mask on Maplewood Ave.
maybe that's why you are so confused about this issue. Do you think there is a mandate to wear masks outdoors?
no, I just think you look so much better in a mask!
Redfruit said:
ml1 said:
Redfruit said:
ml1 said:
mrincredible said:
I feel like we’ve been here before. The shore is in sight and we’re coasting to the dock. Is it a good time to throw the oars overboard?
it's this. No one is suggesting we wear masks in perpetuity. The number of COVID cases in hospitals is still too high, but thankfully it's falling as rapidly as cases. That seems to be what people don't get -- mask mandates are not about protecting you or me. We've had the chance to be vaccinated and boosted if we want to protect ourselves. It's about all the people working in hospitals who are being overwhelmed. Let's give this another week or week and a half to let the hospitals get fully through this surge.
I'd like to see future mask mandates based on hospital admissions by county. That way there's a clear benchmark -- if Essex has admitted more than X number of COVID patients, we go back to masks until the rate falls below. But it's hard to ask people to adhere to the mandates when there's no obvious rationale.
well I just saw you NOT wearing a mask on Maplewood Ave.
maybe that's why you are so confused about this issue. Do you think there is a mandate to wear masks outdoors?
no, I just think you look so much better in a mask!
I've had some great masks during the pandemic. My current model is a black KN95, and the black really is a cool look. I've also had a run with Mets branded masks, a Stone Pony model, a Maplewoodstock, and even one that was a shout out to The Smithereens. They protect, and they make a statement.
I've tried to make sure that wearing a mask isn't boring.
notupset said:
Masks on young kids in school don't make any difference at all in keeping them healthy. The children are not at risk. This is idiocy. We have hurt kids enough for nothing during this pandemic. Time to start thinking of what is best for them. Teachers can wear masks if it makes them feel better.
meh.
If I have a choice of paying attention to some dude on the internet who claims not to be upset, and The Mayo Clinic, it's not much of a choice.
notupset said:
Masks on young kids in school don't make any difference at all in keeping them healthy. The children are not at risk. This is idiocy. We have hurt kids enough for nothing during this pandemic. Time to start thinking of what is best for them. Teachers can wear masks if it makes them feel better.
Once again, you seem upset.
Straw,
Not sure if you are aware, but people are able to see when you self-like your own quote. I read your post and thought: "There's only one person I can think of who would find that post funny.... and... yep... I guessed correctly."
sprout said:
Straw,
Not sure if you are aware, but people are able to see when you self-like your own quote. I read your post and thought: "There's only one person I can think of who would find that post funny.... and... yep... I guessed correctly."
it’s now up to two likes!
That said, I guess it's always a good thing when your spouse shares your sense of humor.
sprout said:
That said, I guess it's always a good thing when your spouse shares your sense of humor.
sprout said:
That said, I guess it's always a good thing when your spouse shares your sense of humor.
You're assuming that someone isn't just using his spouse's log-in.
RTrent said:
Smedley said:
I appreciate SO dropping the mask mandate, following other NJ towns such as Asbury Park, Morristown, Princeton and New Brunswick. It made sense to implement during the peak omicron time but now that's history, so it makes sense to drop it. Get vaxxed, get boosted, live your life. The nanny state can't go on for perpetuity.
I liked this recent quote from the Democratic governor of KC re: COVID: “I just don’t think that government, frankly, has that much runway left, in terms of telling people what to do.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/04/us/us-covid-deaths.html?searchResultPosition=8
Nanny state?
Sorry, but government has many rights to tell people what to do. That's the social contract.
Mask requirements do not rise to the level of "much runway left, in terms of telling people what to do.”
Is it nanny state when there is signage in restaurant and bar restrooms requiring staff to wash hands? What about the burden of having drivers to stop when kids enter and leave school buses? Or mandating that you not litter? Or not smoke in public venues? Oh, horrible nanny state.
Risk may be low when dealing with children alone. But some will be infected because they are not wearing masks, some will be hospitalized and some will die. You can't avoid that when you have millions of children. If you have 50 million children and the risk of getting sick with COVID is 1 in 1000 because of not wearing masks then we end with 50,000 sick kids, some hospitalized and some who may die.
The risk of running a kid over when a school bus lets them enter and leave was also low before they passed laws requiring motorists to stop. When the stop laws were passed was the public decrying nanny state? How dare you tell me to stop.
People were mature when smallpox and polio vaccines were mandated. Now we have an entitled childish public that decries common sense regulations as taking my freedom and as nanny state.
.
Of course the government has many rights to tell people what to do. You citing a number of sensible laws is a straw man, because I’m not arguing that laws requiring vehicles to stop behind a school bus, or laws that prohibit littering, make a nanny state.
But there’s a point when government overreaches in telling people what to do and creates a nanny state. Many people including myself believe continuing mask mandates at this time is this type of overreach. Apparently you disagree.
notupset said:
Masks on young kids in school don't make any difference at all in keeping them healthy. The children are not at risk. This is idiocy. We have hurt kids enough for nothing during this pandemic. Time to start thinking of what is best for them. Teachers can wear masks if it makes them feel better.
thanks for discrediting yourself. there have been over 1000 pediatric deaths in the US. And MANY more that became seriously ill and may be permanently disabled because of covid
and not only that, children can pick up covid and transmit it to more vulnerable people
Smedley said:
Of course the government has many rights to tell people what to do. You citing a number of sensible laws is a straw man, because I’m not arguing that laws requiring vehicles to stop behind a school bus, or laws that prohibit littering, make a nanny state.
But there’s a point when government overreaches in telling people what to do and creates a nanny state. Many people including myself believe continuing mask mandates at this time is this type of overreach. Apparently you disagree.
The mask mandates are not to protect you from yourself. They are meant to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed.
So that if any of us breaks a leg or has a heart attack, there is capacity for us in a hospital.
jmitw said:
thanks for discrediting yourself. there have been over 1000 pediatric deaths in the US. And MANY more that became seriously ill and may be permanently disabled because of covid
and not only that, children can pick up covid and transmit it to more vulnerable people
There have been about 10 deaths of children who had no underlying medical conditions - Virtually all children who have died with covid had serious illnesses.
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Now that even Murphy has seen the light, time for Maplewood to get rid of mask mandate? Heard South Orange did...(PS if Maplewood already did this it was about time and apologies for the post