Hoboken is the newest city in NJ to order the use of masks indoors – NBC New York (47)

Amid New Jersey’s highest COVID-19 cases, Hoboken became the state’s latest city Monday to establish an inland mask mandate.

The city’s Office of Emergency Management established a requirement for the use of masks in all indoor public spaces for anyone 2 years of age or older, with the exception of when they are actively eating or drinking.

Mayor Ravi Bhalla said the new measure, which takes effect Wednesday at 6:00 a.m., will help protect Hoboken’s most vulnerable residents and ensure businesses can stay open during the winter months.

The executive order will be lifted when the state’s positivity rate reaches 5% for an average of one week or when the city’s daily positive cases fall below the weekly average compared to the first week of November 2021, according to the advertisement.

As of Monday, New Jersey’s 7-day positivity rate was between 15 and 19.9%, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Hoboken Health Department reported that more than 611 residents tested positive in the past seven days, a record.

Mayor Bhalla himself also tested positive for COVID-19 on Christmas Day, he said, although the mayor, who is fully vaccinated and has the booster dose, only experienced mild symptoms.

“This shows that vaccines and boosters work. Protect your loved ones and get vaccinated and increase if you haven’t already,” he said.

Over the past week, several other New Jersey cities have also established indoor mask wearing mandates. Montclair Township, Village of South Orange and Newark, the largest city in the state, also require people to wear their masks in enclosed public spaces.

The move came as coronavirus cases, accelerated by the Omicron variant, across the state nearly tripled since early December.

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