Gov. Hochul Issues Mask Mandates for Students and Staff Inside All NY Public and Private Schools

     by Yehudit Garmaise

     The New York state Department of Health (DOH) announced on Friday that students, faculty, and staff will be required to wear masks inside all New York public and private school buildings.

     As of Thursday, 37% of all Department of Education (DOE) employees have not yet gotten their first shots. Of New York City’s public school teachers 28% have not yet gotten vaccinated, according to DOE data.

     Gov. Kathy Hochul’s “number one priority,” she said, “is getting children back to school and protecting the environment so they can learn safely.”

     The governor’s other priorities, she said, are to increase financial aid to New Yorkers, and “to change the culture in Albany to one that will make all New Yorkers proud.”

     “We have to keep our children safe,” she said, when she was sworn in as governor last Tuesday.

     On Thursday in Harlem, when Gov. Hochul announced that state Sen. Brian Benjamin would be serving as her lieutenant governor, she said serving as the state’s governor is “a very high honor” that is “still humbling to this very moment.”

     “The numbers [of those vaccinated] are good, but they are not great,” Gov. Hochul said. “This is the great state of New York: Let’s take those vaccination numbers and put them through the roof.

     “Let’s do it now. Let’s protect people.

     “Let’s start saving lives.”

     To ensure that “all the children in the state return to school,” “back to an environment that is nurturing and caring,” said Gov. Hochul, who is also launching COVID testing programs in schools. “We have to protect our children and our amazing teachers who have been showing up to be there for our children.

     “So, we are going to have a mask mandate. Get used to it, my friends.

     “I am going to make sure that all [school] environments are safe for our students, teachers, and administrators.”