“At a certain point, you’ve got to open up.”

So said Phil Murphy today after his expected announcement that the indoor mask mandate ends Friday for those who are vaccinated.

It sounds simple, but there are a number of complications here.

In an election year, one has to do with politics, notwithstanding the governor’s repeated assertions that he thinks only about real science, not political science.

New Jersey, as we know, was one of the few states to retain its indoor mask mandate contrary to recent CDC guidelines.

So the governor was asked if his sudden switch amounted to “buckling” under to pressure.

As has been his custom, he dismissed succumbing to any type of political pressure.

“We are proud of the fact we have always been guided by science,” he said at the start of his briefing today.

But he also acknowledged the reality of being one of the few states to retain its indoor mask mandate.

He reasoned that people living in, say, Jersey City, who don’t want to walk into a restaurant masked-up can just take the PATH train to Manhattan and dine there; ditto for people living across the Delaware from Pennsylvania.

That combined with positive metrics regarding rate of transmission, ventilator use and other measuring points clearly influenced the governor.

But as was stressed today, the mask mandate will end only for those vaccinated.

Last week, he said he didn’t want bartenders and store clerks to become some type of “vaccine police” and ask the unmasked if they have gotten their shots.

Murphy still doesn’t want that to happen, so let’s usher in the honor system.

The governor said he’s counting on people to do the right thing. By that he means to only enter a store without a mask if you have been vaccinated.

Won’t some people lie?

“I expect they’ll be a minority of people who will do that,” Murphy acknowledged.

Here’s another complication.

Suppose vaccinated people still want to wear a mask?

No problem, he said.

And continuing in that vein, the governor said the state will not tolerate businesses that proclaim themselves to be “mask free.” He said business owners who try to “bully” customers into not wearing masks will face penalties, although he said he doesn’t know yet what they will be. (Businesses by the way also retain the right to impose a mask mandate if they want).

As an overview, the governor boasted that New Jersey has never rescinded an “opening up” decision, suggesting this vindicates the state’s approach over the past 14 months.

“We did not act in a knee-jerk fashion,” he said.

Now that things are getting back to normal, the governor warned. “Lifting the mask mandate is not a license to be a knucklehead.”

If you’re keeping score at home, that’s a word he hasn’t used in some time.