New York school mask mandate will be lifted Wednesday

NEW YORK -- New York's statewide school mask mandate will come to an end on Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday.

The state's mandate will be lifted, but local officials may choose to continue requiring masks indoors, Hochul said.

"Given the decline in our rates, our hospitalizations, strong vaccination rates and the CDC guidance, my friends, the day has come," Hochul said. "We'll be lifting the statewide mask requirement in schools, and that will be effective this Wednesday, March 2."

"I think it's a long time coming and it's worth a shot," parent Jesse Feldman told CBS2's Thalia Perez on Sunday night.

Mayor Eric Adams announcing that as long as COVID numbers keep dropping in New York City, he would eliminate public school mask mandates on March 7.

Catholic schools in the city will lift the face covering rule on this Wednesday.

"We believe that by Wednesday we'll be able to have a situation where we'll have the lifting of the mask requirement and children, that includes children who are in child care centers, ages 2 and up who are covered right now," Hochul said.

The governor added parents will still have the option of sending children to school wearing a mask and staff can also choose to wear one.

Mihala Sando has a son in public school and is not sure about ditching mask wearing altogether.

"I'm still wearing. He's still wearing. So, we don't know yet how to feel," Sando said.

Her son, Henry, is 8 years old and in the third grade.

"Pretty much, I don't feel that safe. It's just when COVID is over I will feel safe when everyone takes the vaccine, and that's what everybody should do out there," Henry Sando said.

New York's COVID positivity rate is at its lowest point since the winter Omicron surge started, Hochul said. Cases have been dropping for the last month and a half.

"We're at our lowest point in pediatric cases since July of 2021, and that was before the school year started. So this has been our trend over this school year," Hochul said. "So as you can all see, looking at the data and the evidence that we follow, that we are in a much, much better place."

Out of the nation's largest states, New York has the highest or second-highest vaccination rate in key age groups (5-11, 12-17 and 18+), according to the governor.

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