Masks Off At Local Malls; Impatience Grows Over School Mandate

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — On the first day that New York State lifted its winter pandemic surge mask-or-vaxx mandate for businesses, businesses and local officials have dropped masking requirements — with cautions for customers and residents.

Tarrytown officials sent out a notice that masks will be optional, but said "people who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 should still wear masks inside village facilities at all times."

The Palisades Center in Rockland County and the Poughkeepsie Galleria in Dutchess County have lifted their masking requirement but reminded patrons that individual businesses could still ask customers to wear them. SEE: Poughkeepsie Galleria To Lift Mask Requirement.

"We are very pleased that the State of New York and the surrounding region continue to make progress rebounding from the pandemic. Hats off to all those who have done their part in bringing the difficulties of the past two years closer to an end and to all of our guests who have been fully vaccinated," said the Pyramid Management Group in a statement.

The mask-or-vaxx rule was instituted to keep businesses open while keeping employees and customers safe during the winter coronavirus surge, which hit record levels in early January. There has been a 93 percent drop in new cases in New York, now at 6,000 compared with 90,000 a month ago; and a 63 percent drop in hospitalizations, from 12,000 hospitalized COVID-19 patients on Jan. 12.

New Yorkers do still have to wear masks elsewhere — on mass transit, in school and in health care and adult care facilities, nursing homes and daycare centers. Federal rules still require masks in airports. SEE: NY Keeps School Mask Mandate, Lifts Business Vaxx-Or-Mask Rule

State officials' decision to not end the school mask mandate Feb. 21 as originally set, but instead to ask families to test their kids twice at the end of the upcoming winter break as part of an early-March review, made impatient parents and students more frustrated. About 45 students at Ballston Spa High School in upstate New York went to school maskless in protest Thursday, according to News10.com.

"I’m just not hopeful anymore. We have been lied to and misled so many times by Albany," Putnam County parent Christopher Harrigan told Patch. "As for testing, children should not have to 'prove' they are healthy to attend school. That is a terrible precedent to set and we will not be testing healthy, asymptomatic children to soothe the irrational fears of the decision-makers in the school system."

Parents aren't the only ones who are impatient. The Harrison and Rye City school boards in Westchester County called on residents to petition Gov. Kathy Hochul, state legislators and the New York State Departments of Health and Education for changes to mask requirements by Feb. 21 as part of a three-pronged approach:

• Link mask requirements to viral transmission levels and test positivity rates in schools/districts. Only require masks if transmission levels are deemed 'high' by the local Department of Health. Note this pertains to the positivity rate in schools/districts since in-school transmission rates have been well below county and community averages.
• Continue to provide adequate COVID-19 testing resources to schools so they can offer weekly COVID tests to faculty, staff, and students whose parents provide consent.
• Increase funding for mental health support for students. Districts require ongoing, sustained resources to address the wide range of mental health needs of children and staff that have emerged or been exacerbated by the pandemic.

In Putnam County, Moms For Liberty has started a letter-writing campaign for kids to put pressure on school boards there, Harrigan said.

"We are asking students of all ages to write or draw how they feel about masks and the restrictions that go along with COVID mitigation policies," Harrigan said. "Dances and field trips that were canceled or other things that they can’t do that they could do before COVid. Letters can be anonymous and we will present them to the board. We will be also asking kids to speak at the next board meeting on Feb 17.

"We do not want to ban masks, we want the ability to have a choice in this decision, like the parents in 34 other states around the country have. Parents don’t need to justify why we do not want our children to wear a mask," he said. "Mandatory masking has been in place for two school years, it’s now time for that decision to be left up to the parents."