Incoming New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Thursday children should wear masks in school to stop the spread of COVID-19, though it is unclear whether she would have the power to issue a mandate.
“My view is people and children and everyone in a school environment will be wearing masks,” Lt. Gov. Hochul said on NBC’s “Today Show,” adding that as she doesn’t have the authority to make that decision.
“I believe that there’ll end up being mask mandates,” Hochul said. On the TV program, she also said she planned to run for governor next year.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who said Tuesday he was resigning in 14 days, issued COVID-19-related mandates during the pandemic under emergency powers granted to him by the state legislature, but those powers have expired.
In wading into the mask debate, Hochul enters an arena with sharply divided opinions, including on Long Island. Suffolk County has issued guidance that all students and staff should be masked when classes resume, while Nassau County has said each district should make its own decision.
Some parents vociferously oppose masks, saying it infringes on their personal freedoms. Many doctors say decisions on masking should be left to medical experts not school officials and politicians, and that masks are critical to helping stop the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.
Some school districts on Long Island including Syosset and Roosevelt have already announced they would mandate masks when classes resume, while others, including Commack and Middle Count, have suggested they would make masks optional.
Many districts are expected to announce their plans over the next two weeks.
Hochul stressed that she would work with school district officials as well as parents and teachers on the issue.
“I’m watching those numbers like a hawk,” she said, adding that she will be flexible and make policy based on the data as it evolves.
She said she would draw on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and all available COVID-19 data. “Also, we need be talking to the school districts as well,” she added. “That hasn’t happened in the past and it’s the way I think it should be. To find out what’s their anxiety. Why there’s any objection to this.”
Suffolk County released a statement late Monday saying the county recommends schools follow CDC guidance, which says students should wear masks when school resumes in the next few weeks.
“Mask guidance remains unchanged from the end of the prior school year in June 2021 consistent with CDC recommendations,” the county said in a statement from Health Commissioner Dr. Gregson H. Pigott and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone.
“Per existing CDC guidance, all students, staff, and visitors must wear masks indoors regardless of vaccination status. Mask wearing is not required outdoors.”
But Nassau County officials are not advising schools on the mask issue.
In a statement issued Friday, Nassau County Executive Laura Curran said: “While the State Department of Health seems to have abandoned their responsibility to provide COVID-19 guidance to our school districts, I have been in contact with school administrators and parents to help address any confusion.
“I firmly believe that the decision for masks and other public health protocols in our schools and facilities is best left in the hands of the individual school districts who know their students, faculty, parents and community best.”
Dr. Eve Meltzer Krief, a pediatrician in Huntington who is also a local representative of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said this week that “school district superintendents have no place in making the public health decisions that affect the health and well-being of the children. Those decisions should be made by public health experts and pediatricians.”
She added: “We demand that the school districts mask the children,” a position taken nationwide by the academy.
Last week, New York Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker announced that, with the state disaster emergency over, “school districts are reestablished as the controlling entity for schools. Schools and school districts should develop plans to open in-person in the fall as safely as possible, and I recommend following guidance from the CDC and local health departments.”
State Commissioner of Education Betty A. Rosa asked Zucker to reconsider, noting the health department has “statutory responsibilities” to protect the public health.
With AP
