Some leading medical experts on Long Island said Monday it is time to lift a statewide mandate to wear masks in indoor public places this week, and the time for schools may be coming soon, too.
Gov. Kathy Hochul said she will be announcing her decision on the mandate for indoor public places on Wednesday, but is not ready to say what she will do on schools, calling it “premature.”
Hochul faces a deadline of this Thursday to end or extend the indoor mask mandate for public places and a Feb. 21 deadline on the schools.
Her update came as New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy announced on Monday that his state will be lifting its school mask mandate effective on March 7.
Hochul said it will be easier to lift the school mandate if more parents get their children vaccinated, so they have “that suit of armor they need to be protected.”
She singled out the 5- to 11-year-old age group, where about 30% have gotten two shots, compared to about 70% of 12- to 17-year-olds in the state, according to the CDC.
“I know we can do better than that,” she said. “I want to be optimistic, I am optimistic that we are trending in that direction” of ending the school mask mandate, “but I still need the time and I’m assessing.”
She added: “It’s just premature at this time to talk about it.”
Hochul added that “just weeks ago” hospitals throughout the state were “overwhelmed” with COVID-19 patients and a lack of staff.
Some medical experts said they support ending the mask mandate in indoor public places and that some businesses and customers are already ignoring the requirement, effectively moving on from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As cautious and generally as conservative and as pro-mask as I generally am, I do think that rates are dramatically lower,” said Dr. Bruce Farber, chief of public health and epidemiology for Northwell Health. “I do think it is time to react and open up in view of the data.”
“I really have no problem getting rid of the mask mandate in public spaces … because I think the trajectory is so much lower than it was before,” he said. “Assuming we are not going to continue these indefinitely, which I don’t think we have the political and the public support on them, I don’t have a problem with it.”
Martine Hackett, director of public health programs at Hofstra University, agreed with Farber.
Given the falling COVID-19 indicators, “I think it possibly is time for her to remove that indoor mask mandate,” Hackett said.
But Sean Clouston, an associate professor of public health at Stony Brook University, said he does not think the governor should completely lift the mandate, and instead favors a “stepped approach.”
He thinks it would be OK to allow big stores like Walmart and Target that have good air ventilation and plenty of space permitting for social distancing to drop the mandate starting Thursday.
But at other smaller businesses where people are packed together, he thinks it should remain in place longer.
“I still think masks are pretty easy to use and very effective,” he said. “I think we’d be remiss in dropping” the mandate immediately.
He also said that smaller locations such as restaurants should require patrons to show proof of vaccination before entering if the mask mandate is dropped.
New York City has instituted such a requirement for many indoor public places, but officials on Long Island have resisted doing so.
Farber said he expects the school mandate to be dropped in the coming weeks, too, though that situation is more complex.
“Personally, I would drag my feet a little bit with the schools,” Farber said. “I am concerned that even primary vaccination rates are very low in the 5- to 11-year-old group, and they are better but they are not phenomenal in the 12- to 18-year-old group.”
Hackett also said the time is likely coming to drop the school mask mandate, though probably in March as opposed to Feb. 21 since the cold weather may start to break next month, allowing for windows to be open and improved air circulation.
She said circumstances are significantly different than they were when the mandate was first imposed in 2020, pointing to the availability of the vaccine and more.
“I think we have to look at the time we’re in right now. A lot has changed since then,” she said.
Hackett added that the low vaccination rates among children remain a concern. Her sense is that situation won’t change unless the governor mandates the vaccine for schools, the same way shots for other diseases such as measles and chicken pox are required.
Clouston said the school mandate should not be dropped before April, also arguing for the benefit of warmer weather to cut back on potential viral transmission.
Children in New York have worn masks in schools since September 2020, when classes resumed in person following the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. In the spring of 2020, schools were shut down entirely for in-person instruction and went to remote learning.
Lifting the mask mandate will be a monumental move. Some young children have never seen the faces of classmates in school. But isolation rules could also shift, since now if a child is exposed to someone in school who is infected, often they do not have to stay out of school.
Check back for updates on this developing story.
Sign up to get text alerts about COVID-19 and other topics at newsday.com/text.
