Looking Back: NJ’s Mask Mandate Issued One Year Ago Today

New Jersey has officially been wearing face masks for one year.

It's hard to believe it, but today (April 8) actually marks one year since New Jerseyians were required to start wearing face masks.

Governor Phil Murphy signed an executive order on April 8, 2020, requiring all persons in public places to wear a face covering.

So, yeah, it's been one year since we've been wearing face masks. Have you gotten used to it in that time?

Of course, if you'll recall... nothing was really open at this point one year ago. Essential retailers were basically the only public places that were open. We couldn't even go to the mall.

So it basically meant we had to start wearing masks inside a grocery store or pharmacy as COVID-19 spread throughout the state (and country).

And, of course, you'll also probably recall that there was a serious shortage of face masks. So the CDC was urging Americans to use cloth masks (or whatever was available) to make sure that any remaining N95 masks would be available for healthcare workers on the frontline.

In case you forgot, by the way, the anniversary of the "face masks" in Pennsylvania wasn't far behind. That anniversary is next week.

Pennsylvania's Governor Tom Wolf signed that state's mask mandate into order on April 15. It officially went into effect at 8 p.m. on Sunday, April 19. Though, I personally noticed many Pennsylvanians wearing masks ahead of that deadline.