Mayor Adams on Friday announced the end of mask mandates for most public school kids starting next week — but he’s keeping the controversial requirement for the city’s youngest.
Children in kindergarten through 12th grade will no longer have to don face coverings indoors starting Monday, but early-education students aged 4 and under and those in day care centers will still have to mask up.
“When you look at those under 5, they were more likely to be hospitalized,” Adams asserted.
“People wanted to say ‘Let’s lift across the board’, but that’s not what the science was showing us. I know some people are concerned. I would rather people complain against me than . . . losing my babies in our city.”
Supporters of that argument note that there are no vaccines available for that age group.
Despite Adams’ claim, data collected by the American Academy of Pediatrics shows that just 0.1% to 1.5% of child COVID cases resulted in hospitalization and 0.00% to 0.01% resulted in deaths.
City Hall’s extension of masking for younger kids, which began under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, infuriated vocal parent groups who said the decision was bereft of both science and logic.
Parent activist Daniel Jampel pushed back on the argument that kids 5 and under were at heightened risk.
“It is a blatant lie that children under 5 have higher hospital rates,” Jampel said. “Anyone with a computer and the Internet can go to the CDC Web site and see that hospital rates for adults over 50 are orders of magnitude higher than kids under 5.”
Jampel and othersSome argue that obscuring the faces of city tots is damaging their basic development.
“It is unconscionable that New York City is standing by as this anti-child, anti-science policy is about to go into effect,” Jampel said.
Parents are planning to mass at City Hall Monday morning to rally against the mandate.
“We want to see the faces of our children, we want to see their smiles,” Adams said of lifting the requirement for K-to-12 kids.
“We want to see how happy they are. We want to see when they are feeling sad so that we can be there to comfort them.”
Other COVID-19 protocols for schools, including social distancing and daily screenings, will remain in place for now.
United Federation of Teachers chief Mike Mulgrew called Adams’ mask decision “responsible.”
‘This is the right time’
“Our doctors agree with the city’s medical experts that this is the right time to safely move from a mask mandate to an optional mask system,” Mulgrew said.
Adams also announced the end of other local COVID-19 mandates starting Monday.
The changes mean patrons at Big Apple restaurants, gyms and indoor venues — including theaters — will no longer have to show proof of vaccination in order to enter.
“The rates are now low enough that the mandatory program is no longer needed,” Adams said. “It’s time to open our city.”
Asked later if parades would be back this spring and summer, Adams said, “We have become so boring as a city. I want to become a city of excitement. We are looking to reinstate every parade, every festival, every block party. People need to get outdoors and enjoy our city again.”
Individual businesses can still decide to enforce their own rules.
