Photo Courtesy of Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office
“I’m going to make the right decisions for our city, so our children are safe, our families are safe, and we can get our city back up and operating,” Mayor Adams said.
By Michael V. Cusenza
If COVID numbers continue to show a low level of risk masks will be optional for 2- to 4-year-old students in schools and in daycare starting April 4, Mayor Eric Adams announced Tuesday.
“We are continuing our serious moment of peeling back the mask off the faces of our people as we start the process of getting our city really back to the level of normality that I am going to do in a very safe and a very strategic way so that we can get the city up and operating with no reverting back to the days when COVID controlled our lives. I always stated that we were going to follow the numbers and follow the science,” Adams said. “So we want to see our babies’ faces. I said this over and over again. But the enthusiasm of seeing our babies’ faces, speaking with parents in the street—I kept and will continue to say we have to do this right and get this right. And our children want to see the faces of their loved ones. Every call that I receive from parents of two to four-years-olds, they say, ‘Can you do it right away?’ I get another call from parents who are in school or daycare with the children saying, ‘Can you please don’t do it.’ So let’s not think that this argument or this conversation is one-sided. It is not. We’re getting a large number of parents that are saying please don’t take the mask off the children in school. We’re getting a large number that is saying, ‘Please take the mask off.’ So the only way you do it right is to follow the science and follow the numbers. And that is what we’re doing. It takes a lot of discipline to do so because this is a city where New Yorkers are not afraid to tell you what they think about you. And so you have to be willing to be thick-skinned enough to do what’s right for this city. And so since we removed the mask mandate for K-12 students, our percent of positivity has remained low, which is a great sign that we are moving at the right pace and doing the right thing. And so now it’s time to peel back another layer in this entire initiative.
“Many of you have heard the opinions on this conversation,” Adams added. “But we have to get it right. And it’s imperative that we do so. I can’t have my city and our city closed down again. I cannot see the real issues around our children dealing with a hospitalization. We’ve had this uncertainty, and the most prudent, thoughtful, meticulous individuals who are moving at the right pace, history is going to be kind to. And I’m going to be among them because I’m going to make the right decisions for our city, so our children are safe, our families are safe, and we can get our city back up and operating.”
