The Lifting of the Indoor Mask Mandate for NYC Public Schools
Recently, mask mandates have been lifted in New York City public schools for students older than five years old.
Jadyn Sinclair ’25 chooses to continue to wear her mask at Bronx Science.
It feels like just yesterday that we were taking online classes in the middle of the global Coronavirus pandemic. Many schools nationwide reopened for in-person classes last September 2021, with mask mandates and vaccine initiatives present, especially in the Northeast. Whether or not schools would open was a huge topic of controversy at that time. Now, students and parents are divided on another issue, the lifting of mask mandates in New York City and in many other school districts across the country.
On Friday, March 4th, 2022, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that the indoor mask mandate for public schools was to be lifted the following Monday, March 7th, 2022. This came after New York State Governor Kathy Hochul announced that the statewide school mask mandate was to be lifted on March 2nd, 2022. These decisions were met with sighs of relief from many New Yorkers who are wearying of over two years of pandemic restrictions. However, others are concerned with the possibility of higher COVID-19 case count numbers in the weeks to come (with the rise of the new Omicron variant BA.2) and question the timing of getting rid of the mask mandate.
Opinions vary on whether New York City is making the right decision in lifting the mask mandate. Hopefully, the COVID-19 numbers will decrease in the months to come, so that people from across the city can mostly return to their old ways of life.
On Friday, March 4th, 2022, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that the indoor mask mandate for public schools was to be lifted the following Monday, March 7th, 2022.
Victoria Diaz is an Editor-in-Chief for ‘The Science Survey'. She believes that journalism is important in its ability to share ideas and knowledge with...