Mask Mandate Ends For This NJ Town Monday As COVID Cases Decline

PRINCETON, NJ — Princeton has decided not the extend mask mandates after it's set to expire on Jan. 31, officials announced. The decision was made due to the rapid decline in cases.

As of Jan. 24, Princeton saw 126 positive COVID-19 cases in the past seven days and 313 cases in the past 14 days.

Health Officer Jeff Grosser recently told Patch that the municipality could likely continue to see a decrease in cases “with minor quick increases due to various community clusters.”

“While cases may be retreating, as a community we need to continue to keep in mind it is flu season, we are still seeing COVID cases at higher levels than ever before in the pandemic, so we should continue to use the tools we have relied on throughout the pandemic moving ahead,” he said.

He reminded residents to “continue to stay active, eat healthy, get sleep.”

Princeton reinstated a mask mandate on Jan. 13, when COVID-19 cases were surging across the municipality and the state.

Within a matter of weeks, municipalities like East Orange, Hoboken, Maplewood, Morristown, Newark and Asbury Park also began enforcing mask mandates. Montclair's indoor mask mandate has already been extended through the spring. Read more: Montclair Extends Mask Mandate Until Spring, But Adds Exemptions

According to Asbury Park's mask mandate, face masks are required in all indoor public settings including:

• Government facilities
• Restaurants
• Bars
• Gyms
• Dance studios
• Recreation facilities
• Retail stores
• Cafes
• Supermarkets
• Convenience stores
• Places of worship
• Commercial establishments
• Salons
• Barbershops
• Banks
• Healthcare facilities
• Hotels

Employees and customers in these public spaces are required to wear face masks at all times except when:

• Actively eating or drinking or when socially distanced at least six feet apart from all others for an extended period of time (such as in an office setting when seated at desks)
• Performing for an audience
• Conducting worship services

"By having more people wear masks indoors, we hope to reduce the spread and keep people out of hospitals to minimize the strain on our healthcare system and potentially save lives," said Asbury Park Mayor John Moor in a statement earlier this month. "Our goal is to shorten the time it will take to get back to some kind of normalcy without negatively impacting our local businesses and residents in their daily lives."

Meanwhile, three cases of the new omicron subvariant have been detected in New Jersey, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said Thursday afternoon. Read More: 'Stealth Omicron' Subvariant Detected In NJ

The subvariant of omicron, known as BA.2, is also dubbed "stealth omicron" because its particular genetic traits make it harder to detect, and evidence suggested it will spread even more quickly than its infamous parent.

However, this new subvariant is not considered a variant of concern, according to the World Health Organization.

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