“This executive order ensures that our COVID-19 vaccination requirements for covered workers in medical and high-risk congregate settings are able to properly keep themselves and those whom they care for safe,” the governor said in a statement accompanying the order.

The hotel has implemented new cleaning and disinfection processes for guests’ comfort.

On Feb. 17, Mayor Ras Baraka said that declines in both delta and omicron justified loosening some restrictions, but nonetheless “we are not at the end of the pandemic.”

The move marks the 17th continuation since the first declaration in March 2020. However, the governor said not to expect restrictions like those seen at the pandemic's onset: “Have fun," he said. "No reason to ban anything.”

As many as 250,000 Garden State residents could be affected by new guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor that advises how states can avoid the claw backs.

The extension will allow the K-12 school mask mandate to stay in place until March 7, with the goal of lifting the orders at that time.

Mayor Ras Baraka said his executive order requiring patrons of restaurants, bars, gyms, theaters and the like to show proof of vaccination for admittance will last until mid-February.

“It was completely shocking to discover at the beginning of the pandemic — when New Jersey was hit so hard and our hospitals were in desperate need of masks and ventilators — that we had no way of knowing the quantity, location, or production of these supplies,” the bill’s main sponsor, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, said in a prepared statement.

Despite leading the national average, New Jersey’s recovery was complicated by the omicron variant that hit the nation in December, slowing job growth that month.

According to a new report from Alignable, companies in the Garden State say they've made less gains amid the variant than business owners in any other state.

The Garden State's unemployment rate dipped to 6.3% in December, lagging behind the national average of 3.9%.

“The omicron tsunami has washed across our state,” the governor said Tuesday during the first public appearance of his second term. “We are no longer going to look past those who continue to put their colleagues … and those who are their responsibility in danger of COVID. That has to stop.”