New York’s indoor mask mandate for businesses is being lifted Thursday, but masking requirements will continue in New York’s schools through at least early March, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday.
The Democratic governor’s administration is ending the measure that required people wear masks in most indoor settings, unless the venue required proof of COVID-19 vaccination for entry. It had been set to expire Thursday.
New York’s mask mandate for businesses had been in place since Dec. 13, and its end marked yet another turning point in the nearly two-years long debate over public health measures intended to limit the spread of coronavirus.
“New Yorkers, this is what we’ve waited for; tremendous progress after two long years, and we’re not done, but this is trending in a very, very good direction,” Hochul said, adding local officials and businesses would still be allowed to enforce indoor mask mandates, if they choose.
“This fight is not over. We’re not surrendering. This is not disarmament,” Hochul added, noting New Yorkers who still want to voluntarily wear masks should continue to do so.
Further, a statewide mask mandate will remain in effect in New York for people in health care settings, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, childcare centers and mass transit, Hochul said, citing the lingering COVID-19 threat in certain high-density settings.
As for the politically charged policy fight over New York’s mask mandate for schools, which was scheduled to expire Feb. 21, Hochul said state officials would reassess the schools mask mandate in early March.
A state initiative to conduct COVID-19 testing of students as part of the return to classrooms following the February break, Hochul said, would provide crucial additional information about the risk factors involved in lifting the mask mandate in schools.
More: Not yet: Gov. Kathy Hochul not ready to lift mask mandate for schools, she tells officials
Why Hochul kept NY’s school mask mandate in place
Ultimately, the decision to renew or end the schools mask mandate in early March will be based on the latest COVID-19 data on infections, test positivity, hospitalizations and other factors, Hochul said.
“There will not be one number that says, ‘yes or no,'” Hochul added, noting state officials will work with educators in coming weeks on plans for potentially lifting the schools mask mandate.
Some lawmakers and parents, however, have urged Hochul to follow the example of a growing list of other states with Democratic governors, including New Jersey, that have either already lifted school mask mandates, or announced the measures will end by March 7.
Many Republican-led states have also either never imposed mask mandates for schools — or approved laws banning the measures — underscoring how politics have influenced authorities approach to the issue.
Hochul said she remained reluctant to lift New York’s school mask mandate in part due to the low COVID-19 vaccination rate among children ages 5 to 11, with just 38% of kids in the group receiving at least the first of Pfizer-BioNtech’s two-dose vaccine series as of Tuesday.
“This is all about looking out for the health of our children,” Hochul said Wednesday, asserting the mask mandate in schools in part helped New York limit outbreaks and sustain in-person learning this fall and winter.
The policy debate is unfolding as the recent winter COVID-19 surge fueled by the highly contagious omicron variant has receded across New York, with daily cases dropping to around 4,000 from a peak of about 90,000 on Jan. 7.
While the omicron variant proved to cause less severe illness than prior variants, the massive number of infections resulted in thousands of COVID-related hospitalizations.
And after the omicron variant became dominant in mid-December, New York’s COVID-related death toll in January was about 5,400, including 2,300 fatalities outside New York City, federal data show.
Many of the omicron-related deaths claimed the lives of unvaccinated New Yorkers, who still have between a 90% and 95.8% higher risk of being hospitalized with COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people, state data show.
Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett on Wednesday said children remained at a much lower risk of severe illness due to COVID-19 than adults, despite recent increases in pediatric hospitalizations due to the omicron variant.
Bassett added she supported the governor’s conclusion that current pandemic conditions warranted further review of the mask mandate in schools before lifting the measure, despite national debate among public health experts over the issue.
“This has become a polarized conversation even within the medical community,” Bassett said.
A total of 56 children ages 19 and younger have died due to COVID-19 in New York, while more than 12 million children nationally have tested positive for COVID during the pandemic, resulting in more than 37,000 related hospitalizations, according to state data and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Meanwhile, New York is also locked in a legal battle over its mask mandate after a state Supreme Court judge last month ruled it was unconstitutional. An appeals court issued a stay that kept the mandate in place during the appeals process, which could conclude in early March, court records show.
What lawmakers, educators say about NY’s mask mandates
Hochul’s plan to keep the mask mandate for schools while lifting it for businesses garnered mixed reactions from educators and lawmakers.
Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, a Republican who is running for Congress, called on Hochul to “end the mask mandate for all.”
“We know there is harm to our youngest learners, particularly those with disabilities, when forced to mask all day,” he said in a statement.
“As we move forward, rather than continued restrictions, we must aggressively open access to treatment and interventions to help those who do contract COVID recover quickly and fully,” he added.
Molinaro also called for an independent investigation of the New York’s pandemic response in the mold of the Moreland Commission probe of public corruption.
The state government “owes the families torn apart, businesses shuttered and lives lost a thorough review and investigation of pandemic response,” Molinaro said.
U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-Cold Spring, on Tuesday praised governors such as Hochul for beginning to roll back mask mandates. He asserted declining COVID-19 cases resulted in part from policies enacted by the Biden administration and Democratic leaders nationally.
Speaking during a press conference in Washington, D.C., Maloney said the Democratic plan for transitioning to a post-pandemic world includes making “sure people understand that they will be in a position to care for themselves and their families” and “that we trust parents to know best for their child and their schools.”
The moment, he added, is about “remembering the extraordinary losses we’ve suffered as a country and honoring the people who helped us through, but once again asserting that we will not let the pandemic run our lives.”
As for educators, some school officials on Tuesday voiced support for Hochul’s plan to reassess the mask mandate in March, but called on state officials to provide clear guidance on the timing and logistics of any plans connected to lifting the measure.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continued to recommend mask use in many public indoor settings. That included a recent study that found wearing a mask reduced the odds of testing COVID-19 positive, with the level of protection varying by the type of mask.
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David Robinson is the state health care reporter for the USA TODAY Network New York. He can be reached at drobinson@gannett.com and followed on Twitter: @DrobinsonLoHud
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