26
COURIER LIFE, MARCH 25-31, 2022
BY ETHAN STARK-MILLER
Mayor Eric Adams announced
March 14 that the city
would lift the mask mandate for
children under five years of age
next month, provided COVID-19
cases remain low.
The announcement means
that youngsters between the
ages of 2 and 4 will no longer
be required to wear face masks
in school and daycare settings
come April 4.
“We are continuing our serious
moment of peeling back the
masks off the faces of our people
as we continue the process of getting
our city really back to a level
of normality,” Adams said. “We
want to see our baby’s faces, I’ve
said this over and over again.
And our children want to see the
faces of their loved ones.”
Parents will still have the option
to have their children between
2 and 4 continue to wear
masks in school and daycare.
Adams said that after removing
masks for K-12 students two
weeks ago, the administration
wanted to wait two more incubation
periods before removing the
mandate for 2 to 4 year-olds.
“It’s now been two weeks
since we removed the mask mandate
for K-12 public school children,
and our percent positivity
in schools has, thankfully, remained
low,” Adams said. “Each
day, we review the data, and if we
continue to see low levels of risk,
then, on Monday, April 4, we will
make masks optional for 2-4 year
old children in schools and daycare
settings. This will allow us
sufficient time to evaluate the
numbers and make sound decisions
for our youngest New Yorkers.
We must get this right for the
health of our kids, and I refuse to
Kids can unmask starting April 4, Mayor Eric Adams announced March 22. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office
jeopardize their safety by rushing
a decision.”
However, Adams said, the decision
is contingent on where
COVID case numbers are in two
weeks. Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the
city’s new health commissioner,
said they’ll carefully watch the
numbers over the next two weeks
and may have to adjust if they are
higher than current levels before
or after April 4.
In response to a reporter’s
question about why the decision
to lift this mask mandate is being
made now, as the new COVID
BA.2 subvariant is on the rise,
Vasan said they’re currently not
seeing evidence that severe illness
from the variant is tied to
any age group.
“At this point, we’re very concerned
about the long-term effects
of COVID in everyone,” Vasan
said. “We’re concerned about
the long term effects in our children,
and we’re constantly monitoring
them. Right now overall
risk remains low. Overall cases
in children remain low. Hospitalizations
in children remain low,
which is giving us comfort to
make this decision at this point.”
Masks off!
Mayor lifts mask mandate for
children between 2 and 4
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