Why wait a month to end the mask mandate?

That was the initial response of Republican state Sen. Mike Testa. He’s probably not alone.

During the back and forth over the mask mandate in recent months, Gov. Phil Murphy said more than once that it was not “forever and always.”  Along those lines, he also said that the mandate was something that could be lifted pretty quickly.

That’s easy to understand. You have to wear a mask on Tuesday, but you don’t need to wear one on Wednesday.

But that isn’t happening. Eliminating the student mask mandate is going to take a month to implement.

Answering why the month delay is needed, the governor and other state health officials made two broad points.

One was that no one truly knows what’s going to happen with COVID. All metrics, including cases and hospitalizations, are going down, but will that continue?

That suggests that the mandate may be re-imposed if the virus spikes in the next few weeks.

The other reason for the delay is schools may need time to cope with the change. That includes devising ways – without masks – to keep students safe.

It also gives schools time to decide what they want to do.

The governor said the state is ending the mask mandate, but that individual districts can still require masking if they want.

It was pointed out that the federal CDC still recommends masks in schools.

Murphy said the state has been in “virtual lockstep” with the CDC. But he also said that the Omicron variant already has spiked in New Jersey and now seems to be receding.

As always, Murphy said his pandemic-related moves have nothing to do with politics, but the politics swirling around the mask mandate can’t be ignored.

The anger was palpable among a few hundred protesters last August when Murphy announced the school mask mandate for this school year in Middlesex County. That was a day in which some protesters chased and cursed the governor’s SUV as he exited the area.

Republican opposition to kids in masks continued throughout the gubernatorial campaign. No surprise there.

But with COVID numbers declining in recent weeks, even some Democrats have begun to believe the time has come to “get back to normal.”

So don’t be surprised if Murphy continues to get criticism for lifting the mandate on March 7 – and not tomorrow.

The governor didn’t seem concerned about that.

Instead, he relished the good news of the day.

“This is a big step, … a step we can take responsibly.” he said.