Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday she will make an announcement Wednesday on the future of New York's mask and vaccine mandates that have been in place since December.
"We are trending in a very, very good direction," Hochul said, noting that the statewide Covid-19 infection rate was 4.2% Sunday, a rate not seen since early November.
"Gov. Hochul and the Department of Health remain committed to doing everything possible to keep children, teachers and staff safe, and our schools open," a Hochul spokesman said Saturday.
The mandate requires all people in buildings that are not private residences to wear face masks unless the venue requires everyone to be vaccinated. It is scheduled to expire Thursday. A mask mandate in schools is set to expire Feb. 21. Hochul is getting a steady stream of pleas from educators and parents to lift the mask mandate in schools.
The drumbeat got louder Monday when the governors of New Jersey and Delaware announced that mask mandates in their schools will end next month.
"I'm going to continue to head in that direction. We're hoping to get to that," Hochul said. "I've said that for weeks. That is our goal."
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Western New York’s Covid-19 case count, which shot above 3,500 in mid-January, has plunged below 800. Hospitalizations are falling, too. Is it possible that soon masks may no longer be part of our daily existence?
And the executive director of the New York State Council of School Superintendents wants the state to announce metrics for removing mandates.
“A theme we have repeatedly stressed to state officials is that thoughtful changes to their policies could help sustain public acceptance of whatever requirements that remain necessary or might become necessary as our circumstances change,” Charles Dedrick said in a statement.
Hochul said she is in contact with the heads of large hospitals to check capacity and will be meeting with school superintendents Tuesday.
"I have a lot of metrics I'm examining right now," the governor said. "That doesn't mean we won't get to that place."
One of the metrics the state is looking at is vaccination rates, and Hochul said she wants to see the vaccination rate increase for 5-to 11-year-olds. She again asked parents to get their children vaccinated.
The agreement allows the 10-year-old boy to return to school Feb. 7 wearing a face shield. He will be provided bus transportation and will attend all classes with various safety protocols.
About 37% of 5-to 11-year-olds had one dose of the vaccine, and 29% were fully vaccinated by Sunday, according to the state Health Department. For 12- to 17-year-olds, 76% have had one shot, and 68% were fully vaccinated.
Not having to wear face masks will go a long way toward returning schooling to the fall of 2019, when no one had heard of Covid-19, and students laughed and joked when they ate lunch sitting next to each other in the cafeteria. But it's not the only thing that will get schools back to normal.
"It really means getting back to a pre-pandemic way of life," said Tarja Parssinen, a Clarence parent and member of Western New York Education Alliance. "I do think the pressure is on for New York State to reassess these things."
The group has been calling for a return to normalcy that would include the elimination of:
• School closures connected to Covid-19.
• Quarantines for close contacts in schools and day care facilities.
• Restrictions on extracurricular activities.
• Mask mandates.
• Asymptomatic testing for children.
"Your recognition of the need to move schools from the emergency phase of Covid-19 to a time when the presence of the virus no longer completely disrupts the school experience is both refreshing and essential," states a letter signed by 38 school superintendents in Erie and Niagara counties.
"I think we can really move forward with removing the masks in a safe way now that the numbers are falling and kids have had an opportunity to be vaccinated," Parssinen said. "I think parents would feel better if they just knew there was a plan."
That's what the state Council of School Superintendents told state Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett in a letter last week.
"The critical issue with mandatory masking in schools at this moment is the urgent need for school leaders and parents to know the plan moving forward with concrete assurances from the state," the letter states.
The superintendents said the state should provide clear guidance on mask requirements, as well as how and when the requirements will evolve.
"The best way to do this is to provide reasonable, understandable, and achievable metrics based on recommendations from medical professionals for when masking rules will eventually be changed," the letter said. "Absent this clarity, families might assume that current rules and regulations will continue in perpetuity."
