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Educators who met with Gov. Hochul expect school mask mandates to continue

Despite plummeting case numbers and decisions by several other states to relax them, educators who met with Gov. Hochul expect school mask mandates to continue.

BUFFALO, N.Y. — While many expect NY Governor Kathy Hochul to announce an end to the state's mask mandate for businesses and perhaps other indoor places on Wednesday, she is not expected to lift the mask mandate for schools, at least not for some time, according to some who met the governor on Tuesday. 

Hochul met virtually, and behind closed doors, with about 20 school superintendents, principals, school board members, and PTA reps to discuss issues including mask mandates. 

Among them was Erie Niagara School Superintendents Association President Mike Cornell, who told 2 On Your Side, that while he was appreciative for the governor's ear, the vibe he got from the conversation may come as a disappointment to those who want the mask mandates in school to end now, as they have already in several other states. 

"I didn't hear anything that gives me a great deal of confidence that the mask mandate for schools is going to be allowed to expire on Feb. 21," said Cornell. "I think that was clear to everybody who was in that meeting today."

Earlier on Tuesday, during a budget hearing with the state's health commissioner Mary Bassett, several lawmakers asked her when she thought the mask mandate for schools could expire.

However, Bassett stated that there has been no decision made on when it might end, despite the fact that the number of cases and hospitalizations has plummeted in recent weeks. 

"Since the start of the pandemic the regulatory goalposts have never stopped moving," said NYS Senator Edward Rath, a Republican who represents a district in Western New York.

What are we waiting for?

"In many ways, these government-based decisions can hardly be considered science-based, as there's no quantifiable metric in which we can reach back to everyday normal life," said Rath.

Rath is especially concerned about the continued imposition of masks for children, the age group least likely to be seriously sickened by the virus, at a time when a large number of more vulnerable adults in the state, especially the elderly, have been vaccinated.

Rath was not alone in questioning the health commissioner as to when the state might end its school mask mandate, which data shows did not prevent a seasonal spike in cases from occurring just after the 2021 holiday season.

"We say that this is all based on science, but it's more difficult to keep explaining to our constituents when neighboring states are starting to lift their mask mandates including for school kids," said NYS Senator John Liu, a Democrat who represents a district in New York City. "So, please consider that," he said.

Educators: Don't tie lifting of mask mandate to vaccination rates

Governor Hochul has expressed several times her disappointment with the COVID vaccination rate among school-aged children.

While she has called for making COVID-19 shots a requirement to attend school, this has led to speculation that she may tie the end of school mask mandates to vaccination rates.

Perhaps anticipating this, she was cautioned against this by the education partners she met with.

They included Dr. Phyliss Harrington, President of the New York State Council of School Superintendents. 

"Dr. Harrington was very clear in cautioning the governor against using vaccination rates as a metric for whether or not the mass mandate should be lifted," said Cornell. "And there are a lot of reasons."

Cornell described the use of a vaccination rate as a way, or as a metric for removing the mass mandate, as 'tricky.'

"First of all, before the childhood vaccine was even available, the Kaiser Family Foundation surveyed families across the country to see how they felt about vaccinating their young children," explained Cornell. "The data showed about 1/3rd would run out and have their children vaccinated right away. 1/3rd would wait a year or two, and 1/3rd of families said that they would never have a child vaccinated for COVID-19 which shouldn't be especially surprising because the vaccine is still new. You're also talking about a disease that seriously impacts far less than 1% of children."

Cornell further noted the current vaccination rate among school-aged children of about 35% falls right in line with what the data collected by the Kaiser Family Foundation had indicated would happen.

"If you tie lifting the masking requirement to vaccination rate, it could also be seen by families as coercive or an attempt to use the lifting of the mask mandate as a way to get people to vaccinate their children when they might not otherwise do it. It also doesn't recognize the immunity conferred on the several hundred thousand children around the state who had COVID in the last 30 to 45 days. And I think many families would recognize that there is some immunity conferred on their children because they had COVID and would not run right out and have their child vaccinated." 

As for Erie County's mask mandate? 

On Tuesday, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz issued a series of comments on the governor's expected update tomorrow. One sentiment Poloncarz honed in on was the need for consistency:

Erie County is prepared to follow the lead of Governor Hochul as she updates the public on New York State’s stance on masking in tomorrow’s announcement. If the Governor rescinds the statewide mandate on masks, Erie County will follow suit and my Emergency Order issued on November 23, 2021, requiring masking in public facilities will be allowed to lapse and Dr. Burstein’s Commissioner’s Order on the same will be rescinded in alignment with the state’s position. If the governor should continue her statewide mask requirement, we shall follow suit and continue our requirement for consistency with the state’s rules.

However, as it pertains to county buildings, Poloncarz had this to say:

If the governor should rescind her statewide mandate on masks, in order to ensure a safe working environment for county employees and our guests, the Emergency Order issued by me on July 29, 2021, requiring masks to be worn by all employees and guests in county-owned facilities shall be continued through the end of the month of February, at which time we will reconsider the need for such requirement based on the then designation of whether the county is at a low, moderate, substantial or high risk of COVID transmission, as those terms are defined by the CDC.  

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