NY Keeps School Mask Mandate, Lifts Business Vaxx-Or-Mask Rule

New York's school mask mandate will remain in effect until at least early March, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday.

She did lift the mask-or-vaccination mandate for all indoor public spaces in New York as of Thursday. Businesses and local municipalities will be able to keep the mandate in place, if they wish.

Though there has been a 93 percent drop in new coronavirus cases in New York, now at 6,000 compared with 90,000 a month ago; and a 63 percent drop in COVID-19 hospitalizations has taken place, with 4,600 now hospitalized compared with 12,000 on Jan. 12, "This pandemic is not over," Hochul said during her COVID briefing.

She admitted the No. 1 question she hears is when mask are coming off for kids in schools. She reminded residents that when the school mask mandate was instituted, the alternative on the table was remote education, but she wanted to get kids back to school — safely.

Now with the winter recess coming up at the end of February, many families could be traveling, she said. When the children come back, test kits will be handed out; parents are asked to test kids on their first day back and then again three days later; if kids test positive, they should be kept home.

On March 4, state officials will re-evaluate, looking at the rates of pediatric cases, hospitalizations and vaccinations. Hochul said that if kids come back to school and the numbers are still low on March 4, there was "a very strong possibility" that the mandate could be lifted on March 7.

The continuation infuriated some parents and officials.

"It's galling that our children are still being stifled by a school mask mandate," said Assemblyman Mike Lawler (R,C,I,SAM-Pearl River), arguing that they are being lifted in New Jersey and Connecticut.

In New Jersey, the school mask mandate will be lifted March 7, Gov. Phil Murphy said. In Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont announced that the mandate would be lifted Feb. 28.

Mask mandate opponents called for a statewide protest Friday, asking people to stop at 11 a.m., even closing businesses, skipping work and pulling kids from school, to rally at one of 10 locations. The Hudson Valley rally will take place in front of Westchester Supreme and County Court in White Plains.

The parents' group Moms for Liberty Putnam County started a new letter-writing campaign with the promise that they would be read at board meetings in the county.

A group called Health Freedom Westchester announced Operation Boardwalk, a workshop Tuesday to train parents to oppose school boards "mandating medical interventions" for children using "a powerful approach that has been working in Ohio and other states."

Orange County Executive Marc Molinaro went even further, calling the state's entire pandemic response into question.

"New York owes the families torn apart, businesses shuttered and lives lost a thorough review and investigation of the state's pandemic response," he said. "The establishment of a Moreland-style commission would provide transparency, accountability, and go a long way toward respecting those who live on with much loss and restoring credibility. We call on Governor Hochul to end mask mandates for all and convene a commission to begin a thorough review."

Mask and test mandates will also remain in effect for other places with vulnerable people or in densely populated settings including nursing homes, correctional facilities, homeless and domestic violence shelters, and on public transportation, Hochul said. Federal rules still require masks in airports.

Meanwhile, legal proceedings are continuing over the school mask mandate, allowed to remain in effect after an appeals court judge issued a stay following a Nassau County Supreme Court judge's ruling that the mask protocols were unconstitutional. Hochul said Wednesday she felt confident the state would be victorious. "We will demonstrate in a court of law that New York State has the power to protect the residents of New York."