Gov. Phil Murphy says that New Jersey students will probably have to wear masks or face coverings if classes were to resume this school year.

“I would bet that the answer is ‘Yes,’ that we will be masked when the kids go back to school. That would be my personal guess,” Murphy said Friday during a COVID-19 media briefing.

The governor said that right now this is his personal opinion, but not a mandate.

Murphy said Thursday that schools would remain closed and learning would be done remotely until at least May 15.

“We have deliberately given ourselves another window of four weeks, so that is my answer today, based on what we all know today. But let’s see what that looks like when we make any other decisions,” Murphy said.

Last week Murphy urged all New Jerseyans to wear masks while going out in public to slow the spread of the coronavirus. New Jersey residents are required to wear facial coverings if they go out shopping at grocery stores, restaurants or other essential retail shops.

That decision came after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its findings that wearing masks in public could help prevent asymptomatic people from spreading the virus to other people.