Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday said if more children get vaccinated against COVID-19, it may speed up the timeline for dropping a statewide mandate for masks inside schools.
The governor faces a Feb. 21 expiration date to either extend or end the mandate. The decision will be based on data, she said, including vaccination levels — which are lagging among 5- to 11-year-olds.
“We are getting there, but I would love to see that trend line of younger children more vaccinated as we start making decisions about schools, and that’s something we get asked a lot about, when are masks coming off in schools … I am also watching vaccination rates,” she said at a news briefing in Kingston that focused on a winter storm upstate.
“So, that’s a message to all parents and school leaders and teachers and influencers: that the more children we have vaccinated, the safer they’ll be when they go to school” when the state drops the mask mandate, Hochul said. Ending the mandate is a goal “we are striving for — but we’re just not there yet.”
“Let’s know that there is a very safe way to get there, and that is getting more kids vaccinated,” she added.
While nearly 70% of children ages 12 to 17 in the state have received two vaccine shots, only 29% of 5- to 11-year-olds have, according to the CDC.
On Long Island, those figures are 68% and 24.3%.
“Our focus is really to have your younger siblings do what you did, teenagers, and let’s get them vaccinated,” Hochul said.
Medical experts on Long Island this week said the vaccination levels for teenagers is a hopeful development, and that the record-breaking omicron surge prompted many parents to get their children inoculated.
They said they hope more of the younger children start getting the shots, too.
“I think that the omicron variant and the tidal wave of diagnoses we saw, especially in children, was a wake-up call for many parents to get those sleeves rolled up and get their kids vaccinated,” said Dr. Matthew Harris, medical director of the Northwell Health vaccine program and a pediatric emergency doctor at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park.
The omicron surge is fading, but is not over, Hochul said. On Thursday, 110 people in the state died of causes linked to the virus. The state logged 7,559 new cases of the virus, a vast drop from the record 90,132 in early January, but still substantially above lows as recently as October when they were below 3,000.
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