Statewide mask mandate for New Jersey schools ending in March, governor's office says
CBSN
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will end a statewide mask mandate to protect against COVID-19 in schools and child care centers, his office said Monday. The requirement goes into effect March 7 and comes as New Jersey's caseload drops after a spike around the holidays fueled by the Omicron variant.
The governor is expected to announce the development and answer questions at a news conference Monday. Local school districts will continue to have the flexibility to require masking if needed, a state official familiar with the decision confirmed to CBS News.
New Jersey was one of just a dozen states with mask mandates in schools, according to the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.
The knock at the door came at nighttime on Mother's Day 2008 in Oregon, where Jessica Ellis' parents lived. It was around 9:20 p.m. and his wife, Linda, was already in bed; her father Steve Ellis told CBS News, that he thought someone let their animals out — but two soldiers in Class A uniforms were standing at the door.