Effective immediately, school districts and child care settings will no longer have to require their unvaccinated employees to undergo routine COVID-19 testing. The ruling will also apply to state contractors beginning September 1st, 2022. Governor Phil Murphy signed this executive order into effect on August 15th stating, “Today’s executive order follows guidance from public health officials at the CDC regarding responsible steps states can take as we continue to adjust to the endemic reality of COVID-19. With children as young as six-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. As always, I encourage everyone to stay up-to-date on their vaccination and take other precautions as necessary to protect themselves and their loved ones from this virus.”
This executive order lifts the testing requirements put into place for school districts, child care settings, and state contractors via previous executive order numbers 253 [t.e2ma.net], 264 [t.e2ma.net], and 271 [t.e2ma.net], respectively. Nothing in the order prevents these settings from maintaining a vaccination or testing policy as they see fit going forward.
Schools and child care facilities will still be required to report vaccination and testing data to the Department of Health, as per Executive Directive No. 21-011 [t.e2ma.net], to allow the State to continue to monitor COVID-19 and make data-driven decisions to keep residents safe.
Covered workers in congregate care, health care, and correctional facility settings will still be required to be up-to-date on their COVID-19 vaccinations, including the first booster dose, as per prior executive orders. All full and part-time employees, contractors, and other individuals who work in covered facilities and settings, including individuals providing operational, custodial, or administrative support, are required to be up to date with their vaccination, including having received the first booster dose for which they are eligible. Those facilities and settings include:
Acute, pediatric, inpatient rehabilitation, and psychiatric hospitals, including specialty hospitals, and ambulatory surgical centers
Long-term care facilities, including the state veterans homes
Intermediate care facilities, including the state developmental centers
Residential detox, short term and long term residential substance abuse disorder treatment facilities, including children's residential treatment centers
Clinic-based settings like ambulatory care, urgent care clinics, dialysis centers, Federally Qualified Health Centers, family planning sites, and opioid treatment programs