Medical experts on Thursday recommended that Gov. Kathy Hochul renew a mask mandate for schools and public indoor places, if she gets the chance to do so after a court showdown Friday on whether the requirement can stand
The mask mandate for indoor public places including restaurants, stores, theaters and gyms expires Tuesday, and medical experts on Long Island said it is too soon to drop it amid the record-breaking COVID-19 omicron surge. The emergency regulation for schools is due to expire on Feb. 21.
“Masking in indoor spaces remains an important tool while community (COVID-19) rates remain high,” said Dr. David Hirschwerk, medical director of North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset and an infectious disease expert.
“Even though our rates have come down dramatically, they are still somewhat elevated and so I still see value” in keeping the mandate intact until the rates drop more, he said.
Sean Clouston, an associate professor of public health at Stony Brook University, said there is a danger of the declining numbers reversing themselves and setting off a new surge if the mandate is lifted too quickly.
“We could easily just start a new wave with everybody taking their masks off and acting with abandon,” he said. “I think it’s a little bit premature.”
“We are not anywhere near out of the woods,” he added.
Hochul has said she will likely announce her decision on the mandate for general indoor public places on Monday, the day before it is set to expire. She has not indicated which way she will go.
“Now I am so looking forward to the day to say these are history, we don’t have to do this any longer,” Hochul said Tuesday in Syracuse. “All of us are. I don’t want to keep any requirements for safety in place a day longer than necessary. But I will not do it a day before we can do it safely. And that is my commitment.”
Hirschwerk said he could foresee dropping the mandate some time in February if the numbers continue to go down.
“It’s not something that should last forever and we should all feel very good about how rapidly the rates are coming down,” he said. “We’re on a really good trajectory and it’s sensible to keep that momentum going before making any significant changes. But I think you can be very optimistic that we’re getting to the point where removing it is going to be sensible.”
Clouston, however, warned that we need to see the numbers drop to at least half of what they currently are before ending the mandate.
Omicron “is very capable of transmitting and as we’ve seen over the last month, it is very capable of putting people in the hospital and of causing mortality,” he said. “When people are told to wear a mask not everybody does, but some people do. But if you say everybody can take it off, it’s as though it’s safe, and it’s really not right now.”
Clouston said it is hard to quantify how any lack of enforcement and compliance with the mandate on Long Island has affected the omicron surge, but he argued that having the mandate helped keep numbers more under control than not having it.
Hochul is under pressure from all sides on the masking issue, with some parents especially demanding that they be eliminated in schools.
State Supreme Court Judge Thomas Rademaker on Monday ruled in Mineola that the state’s mandate for masks in schools and indoor public places is illegal because it should have gone through the legislature rather than Hochul and the state Department of Health imposing it.
That led to dozens of school districts on Long Island declaring Tuesday a mask-optional day — the first time many students went to school without a face covering since the pandemic began.
The state obtained a “stay” or temporary suspension of the ruling Tuesday afternoon, so the mandate was back in place for school on Wednesday — though not after two days of widespread confusion in districts over how to handle the rapidly changing situation.
The state and the plaintiffs in the case, a group of parents, must present their arguments to the state Appellate Court by 10 a.m. Friday. A decision on whether the mandate stands or not is expected next week, court officials said.
Legal experts say Rademaker’s ruling faces long odds, since previous court decisions dating back nearly a century have upheld state agencies’ authority to make regulations that carry the weight of law.
The school mandate expires Feb. 21, so even if the court rules in her favor and no further appeal is heard, Hochul will have to decide on the regulation again soon.
Nassau registered 1,051 new daily cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, Suffolk had 1,171 and the state had 17,305.
Statewide, 134 people died on Wednesday of causes linked to the virus. Nassau and Suffolk each had 8 COVID-19 fatalities.
Long Island’s seven-day average for positivity continued to decline, hitting 9.95%, while the statewide average was 8.50%.
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 fell by 594, to 8,741.
With Yancey Roy and Dandan Zou
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