BREAKING NEWS: About time! NYC Mayor Eric Adams will FINALLY drop the mask mandate for children under 5, starting next week
- From June 13, masks are optional for children under 5 years old
- Covid-19 infections fell by 26 percent between May 23 and June 5
- The World Health Organization has recommended that children under the age of five wear masks
- Adams has reached out to public health advisers, who have told him the rate of infection in this age group requires masking
- Studies have shown that masks can hinder children’s learning and development at such a young age
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced he would finally lift mask requirements for children under five after suffering crushing attacks from the city’s parents.
“During the current wave, schools have remained the safest places for our children, and starting Monday, June 13, we will be making masks optional for 2-4 year olds in all early childhood settings,” Adams said. “We continue to strongly encourage New Yorkers of all ages to continue wearing masks indoors, and we will continue to make masks available to any children or school staff who wish to continue wearing them.”
For months, parents across the city have approached the mayor at public events, urging him to drop the requirement.
The World Health Organization has recommended that children under the age of five wear masks.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has figured out a way to end the mask requirement for professional athletes before dropping the requirement for children
“I’m with the parents of New York City and New Yorkers can have confidence in this administration to continue to make the right public health decisions to protect our children,” Adams said Thursday.
The Health Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health, Dr. Ashwin Vasan said cases fell by 26 percent between May 23 and June 5.
“Since May 23, cases have been declining, giving us confidence that we have passed the peak and are moving to a safer environment,” Vasan said in a tweet.
Adams was ready to lift the rule on April 4, but the mayor instead extended the order as COVID-19 cases saw a spike in the city.
A state judge immediately overturned the perpetual mask rule, calling it “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable” and therefore “void and unenforceable”.
However, Adams successfully requested a stay of mandate to appeal the judge’s ruling.
On Thursday, the New York mayor promised that this time he would actually repeal the mandate.
“I’ve always said that science will lead us out of the pandemic and because we’ve been following the data that shows cases are steadily declining, we’ve beaten back the recent COVID-19 surge. New Yorkers got up when we needed them most and put us on the path to lowering risk,” Adams said.
Angry parents sought answers from the mayor, but Adams avoided meeting them while attending a variety of social events, including a party with Cara Delevingne at the new One Vanderbilt skyscraper and a trip to see Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick appears in the Broadway play Plaza Suite.
Adams was also spotted at the elite members-only club Zero Bond, where he hung out with supermodel Naomi Campbell and Grammy-winning singer Jon Batiste on April 28.
On the mayor’s most recent outing, he once again ran into the elite when he attended the Met Gala last week.
While Adams’ party stoked parents’ ire, the Vasan City Health Commissioner has also drawn backlash for supporting the mayor’s confinement policy and claiming the toddler mask mandate will remain in place “indefinitely”.
The comment prompted more than 100 parents to protest outside City Hall last month, while dozens of others demonstrated outside Vasan’s home, where they are said to have hurled death threats at the health commissioner.
The parents, who signed a letter last month, condemned the personal attacks on Vasan and hoped officials would be willing to meet with them after saying he would be happy to meet the parents Speak face to face in a non-hostile environment.
A parent posted a photo on Twitter of their young son making his own request on his face mask