Governor Murphy has said the statewide school mask mandate will be lifted March 7, but said the decision on what to do locally will be the decision of the Perth Amboy School District. Local school officials will have the power to decide whether to keep mask mandates for students, teachers and staff.  This decision comes at a time when it is reported that nearly 2 of 3 NJ kids have not received COVID vaccine. The CDC currently does not recommend lifting indoor public mask mandates.

Its been reported that the Omicron variant has been particularly lethal to people over 75, the unvaccinated and the medically vulnerable, according to doctors and public health officials. That was true in Perth Amboy. In January, 4000 people had covid and 29 covid deaths were reported and the case and death toll continued to rise higher into February. Countless stories of people with compromised immune systems who had weeks of illness. The transmission rate has dropped to .5 and the cases have dropped as well, as the variant went its course.

The PAPS website has no current updates on covid numbers or plans for masks or efforts to increase student vaccination numbers. School were remote in Perth Amboy until January 31 2022 due to covid and the district said it was following the county health department guidance.