After nearly a year of caps, New Jersey is eliminating the group limits it installed in child-care classes to battle the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Phil Murphy announced Wednesday as vaccination continue to blunt COVID-19 numbers statewide.
Child care was originally closed for months at the start of the pandemic except for the children of essential workers. And class sizes have been limited since they reopened in June. Groups are currently capped at 15.
But Murphy said classes can now return to “their normal regulated limits.”
“We know how critical access to child care is for many working families, especially working moms, and restoring these limits to their pre-pandemic standard is an important piece of getting our economy back working for more parents as well as for peace of mind,” the governor said during his latest COVID-19 briefing in Trenton.
Masks, though, will still be required indoors and outdoors at child care facilities, even though Murphy signed an order to lift the state’s mask mandate in most public places starting Friday. Schools remain an exception to that change.
This comes as more and more people across the state return to work, with many needing daycare for their children.
Murphy also announced Wednesday he’ll rescinding part of a previous executive order requiring businesses and non-profits to allow for remote work and reduce the size of their on-site staffs to the minimum amount necessary. The governor said the goal is to allow “employers greater flexibility to bring employees back into in-person working environments.”
But Murphy said employers should still be flexible with employees — “particularly those who are juggling family obligations such as child care.”
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The state is set to remove many of its remaining COVID-19 restrictions over the next two weeks, including largely eliminating the indoor mask mandate and allowing restaurants, stores, and more to ditch social distancing regulations beginning Friday. The state will also end indoor gathering limits June 4.
But unvaccinated residents are still strongly encouraged to keep wearing face coverings, and masks will still be required indoors for everyone at a few places, including in schools, at youth summer camps, in child care settings, on public transportation, and more.
Republicans have repeatedly chided Murphy, a Democrat up for re-election this year, for keeping children in masks.
“New Jersey residents have been enduring this for 14 months,” state Sen. Christopher “Kip” Bateman, R-Somerset, said Wednesday. “They are confused, frustrated and fed up.”
Murphy has said masks in settings for children are still needed because kids under the age of 12 are not yet eligible to be vaccinated. He has also said guidance from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says schools should still require masks for at least the remainder of this academic year.
“These are not forever and always,” Murphy said Wednesday. “We will get to the place parents want to get to — we all want to get to — but we’re just not there yet.”
Dr. Eddy Bresnitz, medical advisor for the state’s COVID-19 response team, said he expects the CDC to revise its guidance on masking in summer camps soon.
“That might impact what we say for camps in New Jersey,” Bresnitz said.
In New Jersey, seven children under the age of 18 have died from COVID-19 during the outbreak out of 23,370 confirmed deaths in the state. But officials stress that they can still pass the virus to older and more vulnerable people.
This all comes as nearly 4 million people who live, work, or study in the have now been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 at New Jersey sites.
The state has set a goal of having 70% of New Jersey’s 6.9 million adults vaccinated by the end of June. About 57% have been fully vaccinated so far, while kids as young as 12 are now eligible to receive shots. More than 202,000 children between the ages of 12 and 17 have been vaccinated in New Jersey.
More than 4.8 million people have received at least their first dose at a New Jersey site — about 53% of the state’s 9.2 million residents.
The state’s seven-day average for new confirmed positive COVID-19 tests is now 448 — down 31% from a week ago and 80% from a month ago.
There were 641 COVID-19 patients hospitalized across the state as of Tuesday night — the lowest total since Oct. 9. Overall, hospitalizations for the virus are down 82% since the state’s second-wave peak of 3,873 patients on Dec. 22.
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Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com.