New York Lifts School Mask Mandate Effective Monday

NEW YORK — Effective Monday, New York will allow school districts to waive the mask mandate for students, teachers and staff inside school buildings.

In a letter Friday to Dr. Rochelle P. Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state Health Commission Howard Zucker said mask usage will be strongly encouraged indoors, but not required.

He said the use of masks will not be enforced unless the CDC advises the state before Monday of contrary data or science.

Zucker said New York was striving for consistency across and between settings with similar risk levels and populations.

He said the current CDC guidance for kindergarten through 12th grade recommends a requirement for consistent use of masks by all students, teachers and staff.

"There is no distinction between mask wearing for indoor versus outdoor activities (except for a vague reference to sports) and it does not address vaccinated individuals," Zucker said in his letter.

He pointed out that the CDC guidance for youth camps encouraged mask use indoors for people who are not fully vaccinated, while saying that people don't need to wear masks, regardless of vaccination status, outdoors.

In addition, Zucker said that the CDC advised people who are fully vaccinated don't need to wear masks either indoors or outdoors.

The new policy will align school and camp mask guidance, the state said.

• Indoors, mask use will be strongly encouraged but not required for students, campers and staff/teachers/counselors who are not fully vaccinated.
• Outdoors, masks are not required; students, campers and staff/teachers/counselors who are not fully vaccinated are "encouraged" to wear masks in certain higher-risk circumstances.
• Both indoors and outdoors, students, campers and staff who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear masks.
• Schools and camps may choose to implement stricter standards.

The new guidance from the state came on a day when the seven-day statewide positivity rate fell to 0.56 percent from the post-holiday peak of 7.94 percent on Jan. 4, the governor's office said.

New York's average positivity rate is the lowest of any state in the country for the third consecutive day, per Johns Hopkins University.

New York State United Teachers President Andy Pallotta called the news released on a Friday afternoon that masks will now be optional for both vaccinated and unvaccinated people in schools starting Monday "whiplash-inducing," especially so with only three weeks remaining in the 2020-21 school year.

“Short of any additional guidance from the state or the CDC before Monday, we implore school districts to closely evaluate local conditions and connect with their educators and parents to decide the best course of action for protecting their school community,” he said.