Lt. Gov. Hochul Anticipates Statewide Mask Requirement in Schools this Fall

    Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who is set to take over as the governor of New York on Tuesday, Aug. 24, said today that she anticipates requiring masks in school, which starts within weeks. 

    Today after Hochul was asked whether the state’s legislature needed to be called to a special session to approve a statewide mask mandate in schools, she only said that the issue needed to be addressed in the coming days. 

    Hochul, who met with parents and teacher representatives, yesterday, reported that they believed that masks will be necessary for in-person learning in the fall. 

     “Everyone is calling for this,” said Hochul, who added that the mask mandate will be universal and statewide. “And it also is something that was supported by 99% of the stakeholders on the call yesterday, actually probably 100%.”

     Mayor Bill de Blasio, with whom Hochul met today to discuss fighting back against COVID and back-to-school issues, also supports mask requirements in his plan for all New York City public school students to return to in-person classrooms with no remote option this fall.

    In a late summer push to get schoolchildren who are older than 12 vaccinated to before they return to school, Mayor de Blasio has been promoting his “Vax to School” program, although vaccination, which he many times has said is preferable and safer than masking, is not mandatory for adolescents to return to school in New York City.

     “We are making sure that we reach the kids of this city and that we get everyone ready for school, the right way: starting with vaccination,” said the mayor this morning, although he did not answer questions about whether teachers would be required to get vaccinated before heading back to classrooms in a few weeks.