New Jersey is dropping its COVID testing requirements for school districts and child care facilities, in line with recent changes in CDC guidance, the governor's office said Monday.
The change applies immediately, Gov. Phil Murphy's office said. But while the state requirement is being eliminated, districts and day cares can still have their own mandatory testing or vaccination policies.
"With children as young as 6 months old now eligible for vaccines and millions of New Jerseyans vaccinated and boosted, more of our residents are safe from severe illness due to COVID-19," Murphy said in a statement.
According to the state's latest data, just under 18% of all COVID-19 cases in New Jersey to date were in kids 17 and younger.
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Case counts have been steadily dropped the last few weeks, and are now down to levels since in mid-March, after the end of the late 2021/early 2022 omicron variant wave.
