New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is standing alone in his insistence that vaccinated residents in the Garden State still need to be wearing masks indoors, despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent guidance to the contrary. And it’s not just Republicans who are piling on the criticism, MSNBC isn’t even sure what he’s doing.
Co-host Mika Brzezinski said Murphy’s position makes New Jersey the only state in the Northeast to break from the CDC. The Democrat has argued the state is not in the clear just yet.
Here's Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy defending his decision to contravene CDC guidance by keeping New Jersey's mask mandate in place even for fully vaccinated people.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 18, 2021
Just two months ago, governors who refused to obey CDC guidance were vilified:https://t.co/GhuRnBgAEQ
"Follow the science," co-host Joe Scarborough said. "I mean, if we're telling governors to follow the CDC for a year when Donald Trump's president of the United States, shouldn't they follow the CDC guidance when Joe Biden's president of the United States?"
Co-host Willie Geist also pointed out the high percentage of residents in the state who’ve gotten at least one dose.
“The numbers in New Jersey are pretty good, so this is a curious move by Governor Murphy,” Geist said. “He really does stand alone. He's not working with Governor Cuomo or Lamont in Connecticut anymore on this. He's looking and saying, ‘I don't think we're out of the woods.’ But if you look at the numbers, if this isn't out of the woods, it's hard to see where it would be."
He went on to wish him luck as beachgoers flock to the Jersey Shore for Memorial Day weekend.
As of Monday, more than 3.7 million people in the state were fully vaccinated. Murphy, however, has made it his goal to reach 4.7 million fully vaccinated residents by the end of June.