What a difference a week makes. New Jersey’s governor, Philip D. Murphy, announced on Monday that residents fully vaccinated against the coronavirus would no longer be required to wear masks inside stores, casinos and other indoor venues starting Friday. But it also comes just a week after Mr. Murphy, a Democrat running for re-election, offered a full-throated defense of his decision to retain the state’s yearlong indoor mask mandate until more people were vaccinated. Andrew M. Cuomo adopted the federal guidance for New York — was applauded by a national food workers’ union as “life saving” but panned by his Republican foes. “I don’t know how we can expect workers to tell who is vaccinated from who isn’t, and it is unfair to put the burden on business owners and frontline employees to police every patron,” Mr. Murphy said last Monday.

Source: New York Times May 24, 2021 18:54 UTC