New Jersey and Hawaii are the only states left in the country that have an indoor mask mandate for fully vaccinated people.
Gov. Phil Murphy said on Monday that more New Jerseyans need to get vaccinated before he will left that mandate. He says that it could be weeks before the indoor mask mandate is lifted.
Hawaii Gov. David Ige gave similar reasons for keeping his state’s mandate. Ige said in an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that the majority of Hawaiians are not fully vaccinated.
"We're going to keep the mask mandate in place. We are monitoring the vaccination rollout, and when we get at that appropriate level, where more of our community is fully vaccinated, you know then I think we can consider changes to the mask mandate,” Ige said.
New Jersey is the densest state in the nation. Hawaii ranks 13th. New Jersey has more than 9 million residents compared to just over 1.4 million in Hawaii.
New Jersey health officials say that the goal is to have 70% of adults in the state fully vaccinated against COVID-19.