Gov. Phil Murphy announced that 13 children in New Jersey have been hospitalized with COVID-19, two of them in the intensive care unit. Speaking Monday at his regular coronavirus briefing, Murphy dared critics to scoff at the data by calling them “only.”
“When they say ‘only,’ they are saying they’re perfectly willing to accept children landing in the ICU or dying from COVID,” said Murphy, who again urged parents to get their 12- to 17-year-olds vaccinated against the disease; the highly-infectious delta variant of the coronavirus pushed COVID-19 infections above 71,000 among children across the U.S. at the end of July.
Murphy again defended the mask mandate he reimposed on students and staff when school resumes in fall and he said his administration is considering requiring staff and teachers to get vaccinated.
