Gov. Hochul says it's too soon to tell when mask mandate will be lifted in schools
Governor Hochul says it's too soon to tell when mask mandate will be lifted in schools (WRGB)
ALBANY, NY (WRGB) — Gov. Kathy Hochul says there’s no estimate for when schools can stop requiring masks.
The question comes after Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf said earlier this week that he planned to drop the school mask mandate in mid-January. But on Wednesday, a court ruling overturned Wolf’s mask mandate. And then Wolf’s administration issued an appeal.
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Hochul responded to this topic on WNYW’s Good Day New York on Tuesday saying in part:
“If parents do the right thing all over the state, get their kids vaccinated. There will come a time when there's no reason to wear a mask, that every child is safe. But we need compliance. And in some communities it's stronger than others. So let's get the kids vaccinated. I don't have a date. I'm not going to prejudge this. There's no way I can know. I need to know how people are doing, are a lot of people getting vaccinated, or is there an early rush and then it plateaus and then half the kids in the class aren't protected. That's what I'm watching. I'm always driven by the numbers. So that's why I can’t say, “on this date, we're going to do X.”
School leaders CBS6 spoke with said they’ll follow the county health department’s recommendations.
Some Capital Region County health departments declined to comment on this. Albany County said it’s too soon to tell, and they’ll continue to look at the science and data to determine what’s best for the county residents.
