As summer approaches and the school year begins, Eric Adams is standing firm on his contentious mask rule for children under the age of five.
The mayor of New York City, speaking to reporters this week, offered no indication of when the city might repeal the controversial directive, which affects children aged two to four in city public schools.
On April 4, when he removed regulations for the remainder of the students, Adams agreed to waive the mask rule, but he later canceled it after cases began to rise again around the city.
Infection rates and cases have dropped dramatically in the city since then, and parents are blaming the former NYPD police captain for refusing to overturn the advise.
‘I want to remove the masks as soon as possible and see our babies’ faces,’ Adams, 61, said when questioned about it by The New York Post on Wednesday.
‘As we move into the next phase of the epidemic, we are prepared, not terrified,’ the mayor told the daily.
‘My team of health professionals and I are continuing to evaluate the data day by day, and we will continue to provide fresh information to New Yorkers.’
A COVID vaccine is not available for this age group, and the World Health Organization has never suggested masking young children.
The children, most of whom are in preschool, are being compelled to continue wearing the covers because they are too young to be vaccinated, according to Adams.
Meanwhile, Adams has been photographed without a mask, rubbing shoulders with prominent officials and celebrities, while the children are forced to follow the Draconian edict, much to the chagrin of their parents.
Bronx mom Danielle Pollack, whose three-year-old daughter two-year-old son fall into the affected age group, told The Post that she is disappointed in the mayor’s inaction, despite supporting him in last year’s election.
‘As a New York resident, I voted for Adams because his whole platform was that he would get things back to normal,’ she said. ‘It’s just been really frustrating, because it seems like Mayor Adams is doing nothing about it, [and] won’t even give a timeline.’
Meanwhile, the last day of classes, June 27, is rapidly approaching – putting further pressure on the former police captain to come to a decision.
‘It feels like Mayor Adams and [Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin] Vasan aren’t moving at all,’ Pollack told the outlet. ‘There has been no update on what will be available in the summer, which is really upsetting as a parent and makes me wonder if New York City is the ideal place to raise my family.’
‘My kid has worn a mask for the entire time she has been at school,’ she continued. ‘I never would’ve guessed my kid would be beginning at the same school in the fall, and I never would’ve guessed it would be an issue of whether or not he would have to wear a mask.’
In a statement last month, Adams said he would be willing to lift the mandate only when ‘the science says it is safe to do so’ – despite studies showing kids under five are not at a serious risk to COVID, and the recent decrease in cases seen across the country.
‘My team of health experts and I will continue to evaluate the data, day after day, and we will continue to communicate with New Yorkers with additional updates,’ he said at the time – not commenting on the policy since.
Parents like Pollack are now asking to be briefed what exactly the city is doing in regards to that decision, as the school year comes to a close.
Tara Murphy, a mother and former preschool teacher in the West Village, says parents want a clear response from the city – instead of continuing to be ignored.
‘The time is now – every little day counts,’ Murphy told the last month, noting her four-year-old daughter ‘will have no memory of preschool without a mask.’
‘It has become clear that we are masking our children like they are dogs wearing muzzles,’ she added. ‘The only thing they seem to prevent is kids from biting one another.’
Part of the frustration stems from the fact that the toddlers are the only group facing the mask mandates in schools, as those 5 and up were free to remove their masks since April.
Last month, toddlers were allowed to remove their mask outdoors, including in public parks and field trips, but the masking in school restriction remains intact.
Adams was poised to lift the rule on April 4, but the mayor instead extended the order as COVID-19 cases saw a slight uptick in the city during its winter months, which tapered down almost immediately after he
A state judge immediately struck down the indefinite mask rule, calling it ‘arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable’ and therefore ‘void and unenforceable.’
Adams, however, successfully requested a stay on the mandate to pursue an appeal on the judge’s ruling.
More than 200 parents infuriated parents have since sought answers from Adams, signing a letter in May demanding the mayor and his health commissioner, Ashwin Vasan, hold a sit-down with them to discuss the mandate.
Adams, however, has avoided any such meetings and has deflected questions from the press regarding the ongoing guidance – despite attending a plethora of social events maskless himself, including a party with Cara Delevingne at the new One Vanderbilt skyscraper, and a trip to see Sarah Jessica Parker and her husband Matthew Broderick appear in Broadway play Plaza Suite.
In the letter, parents demanded answers as to the mayor’s plans on the mandate.
‘We want to review the city’s analysis of how the benefits of covering the faces of babies who are still in diapers outweighs the harms,’ read the letter. ‘We want to know why our young children continue to be masked even as every other resident of this city is given the option to unmask, regardless of vaccination status.’
And while Adams’ partying and inaction only fueled parents ire, City Health Commissioner Vasan has also drawn backlash for backing the mayor’s restriction policies and claiming in April that the toddler mask mandate will stay ‘indefinitely.’
The comment caused more than 100 parents to protest outside City Hall while dozens of others held demonstrations outside Vasan’s home where they allegedly hurled death threats at the health commissioner.
The clash over lingering mask mandates comes as New York City continues to see a a decrease in COVID -19 cases, after seeing a slight uptick in recent months.
The city’s weeklong COVID case rate has tumbled every day for the past two weeks, dropping to its lowest level in more than a month, the governor’s office said Tuesday. On Wednesday the city reported a new low of just under 2,700 cases a day.
The figure serves as the lowest amount of cases in the Big Apple since early April, when Adams went back on losing the mandate.
Meanwhile, Pfizer-BioNTech announced Wednesday it has asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize the use of its COVID-19 vaccine for young children under five – giving hope to parents and tots dealing with the restrictions.
Pfizer is recommending two doses be given to the ignored age group, administered three weeks apart. Those shots would be just three micrograms each – one-tenth the dose given to adults.
Its advisory group, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, is already scheduled to meet on June 15 to offer guidance on pediatric doses – and if the group recommends the use of the vaccine on the young children, the FDA could clear the way for doses within a few days.
The FDA will now consider both requests, NBC News reports, and will review the applicable data. It could grant the emergency authorization later this month.
However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would still need to sign off on the doses before they could be administered.
The White House’s chief Covid coordinator said Thursday that the jabs for the kids could be available as early June 21 if applications for the shots are approved by regulators in the coming weeks.
COVID cases, meanwhile, remain mild in young children.
Multiple studies have shown young children are not at serious risk from Covid-19.
Data from from American Academy of Pediatrics shows children accounted for about 19 percent of all COVID cases, but less than 0.26% of cases resulted in death.
A study from October found that around half of pediatric Covid cases are asymptomatic, and that was before the more mild Omicron variant became dominant in the U.S.
Hospitalizations of pediatric COVID patients are also rare.
A study in February, found the Pfizer vaccine was only 12% effective at preventing Omicron in five- to 11- year-olds.
The main argument in favor of vaccinating children is to prevent them from spreading the virus but researchers from University of Berlin found, on average, children release less Covid particles into the air.
Experts believe people who release lower amounts of aerosol particles when speaking have smaller viral loads, which also means they do not spread the virus at the same level.
