Schoolchildren from the Upper East Side to East New York will turn up to classrooms on Monday morning with nothing on their faces — except, perhaps, the remnants of a milk mustache.
In other words: Masks are now optional for public school children in New York City from kindergarten on up.
It is a day some have yearned for and others think has come too soon, triggered by the decision by Mayor Eric Adams to lift the mask mandate in New York City schools. The move came hours after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced she would lift the statewide mandate.
The New York City Department of Education said it will continue to require daily health screenings and that students returning from suspected coronavirus infections must wear masks for several days. In addition, the Department of Education strongly recommends that students or staff exposed to the virus wear face coverings, although it does not require them to do so.
Since the Omicron surge has been ebbing, pandemic restrictions have been lifted in many states, including New York, allowing local officials to make their own determinations on masks. In Connecticut, the decision was turned over to localities late last month, while in New Jersey, rules similar to New York’s go into effect today.
Like so many virus restriction rollbacks, this one has been met with an anxious mix of excitement, hope and concern.
While New York City has a vaccination rate that is above the national figure, rates among children have continued to lag, and are not consistent across schools.
A recent study from the New York State Department of Health found that, as with adults, most children hospitalized for or with Covid-19 were unvaccinated. The report also found that children ages 4 and younger, who are ineligible for coronavirus vaccines, were overrepresented among all pediatric hospitalizations. Masks will continue to be required for children ages 2 to 4 in kindergarten and preschool classrooms.
The United Federation of Teachers, which represents New York City public school educators, said on Friday that it supported the move to a system where masks are optional. President Michael Mulgrew called it “the responsible, thoughtful way to make our next transition.”
Even so, the union stressed the importance of maintaining a robust in-school and take-home testing program to ensure that the city, with more than one million children in its public schools, remained “on the right path.”
Some parents, public health experts, and local officials have said that it is too early to ease restrictions, and some have urged children and teachers to continue to wear masks.
With the statewide mandate gone, some districts began going maskless as early as last week.
The complicated mixture of emotions was on display at one Long Island school, where some parents and students celebrated bare faces, while others worried the change is premature.
“It feels like Covid is kind of over, even though it is not,” Jordan Goldberg, an 11-year-old fifth grader at Guggenheim Elementary School, told a Times reporter last week. “It feels like everyone just kind of gave up on it.”
