Health & Fitness
Indoor Mask Mandate Ends In South Brunswick
The Township has not renewed the mandate which expired Jan. 31. COVID hospitalization has fallen, but test positivity rate is still high.
SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ — The Township has not renewed the indoor mask mandate which expired on Jan. 31, officials confirmed.
South Brunswick joins Princeton and East Brunswick in not renewing the indoor mask mandates, as the areas have seen a decline in reported COVID-19 cases and an easing at hospitals and emergency rooms.
On Dec. 31, South Brunswick issued an indoor mask mandate after health officials saw a spike in COVID-19 cases, caused by the omicron variant.
Find out what's happening in South Brunswickfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
At the time, the school district too went virtual. The mitigation led to South Brunswick reporting lower case numbers the past few weeks. In the past 24 hours, South Brunswick reported 56 COVID-19 cases.
Across Middlesex County, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients has fallen, but the test positivity rate still remains very high. The COVID-19 activity report for the week ending Jan. 22, places Middlesex County at “high” risk for coronavirus transmission.
Find out what's happening in South Brunswickfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
As COVID-19 cases spiked in January, many municipalities like East Orange, Hoboken, Maplewood, Morristown, Newark and Asbury Park enforced 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
Meanwhile, three cases of the new omicron subvariant have been detected in New Jersey, a spokesperson for the Department of Health said. 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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