Mayor Doesn't See End of Children's Mask Mandate, Adams Wants to See Kids’ Smiles

By Yehudit Garmaise

Now that 5 to 11-year-old children can get vaccinated, many in the city are asking at what point young New Yorkers will no longer have to wear masks in school.

“I would keep the masks in place at least in the short term because they really worked and because the kids have adapted to them well, the adults have adapted to them well,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Thursday. “We do have the colder weather coming. That's a concern.”

Dave Chokshi, MD, the city’s health commissioner agreed that the city should “resist the temptation to throw caution to the wind too quickly.”

As New York’s younger children begin to get their shots, Dr. Chokshi said, “We are bringing on board a very, very important additional layer of protection with vaccination for five- to 11-year-olds," but cautioned it will take some time "to get a sufficient number of kids vaccinated."

This morning, however, on CNN’s State of the Union, Mayor-elect Eric Adams said, “If we can find a safe way to do it, I look forward to getting rid of the mask [mandates],” when he assumes office on Jan. 1.

Adams said that he fears that masks are stopping students from making friends and interacting with others normally.

“Part of the socialization of a child is that smile,” Adams said. “Not being able to see the smiles of our children has a major impact.

“But it must be done with the science, so we don’t go back to closing our city down.”

Adams also told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that he wants to readdress how the city approaches vaccine mandates.

“We need to make sure that we speak to the credible messengers on the ground: those are the union leaders, and we saw today that the mayor was successful in coming to an agreement with union leaders after having a conversation.

“That is how we get this resolved.”

Religious vaccine exemptions are one aspect of vaccine mandates that Adams said he would like to revisit.

For parents who have chosen not to get their children vaccinated for religious reasons, “we cannot all of a sudden change that rule,” if parents have adhered to religious restrictions for “20-something years, then we have to respect that.”

With 92% of the city workers vaccinated, the mandate “clearly successful and keeping New Yorkers safe, Blitzer pointed out: “So why revisit it?”

Incongruously, the mayor-elect said, “We should re-visit the mandate because we have been successful. What is stopping the last 8%? Let’s find out."