NEW YORK — New York’s statewide mask mandate will end Thursday, two months after it was first announced, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Wednesday, but a mandate in schools is set to remain in effect until early March.
Hochul, who has pushed parents to improve childhood vaccination rates, said she would make an assessment on the school mandate in the first week of March.
She said the approach to masking in schools — a political lightning rod — would be thoughtful and not “reactive.” More than 60% of New Yorkers ages 5 to 11 have not been fully vaccinated, according to state data.
But Hochul still hailed plunging virus rates across the state, saying the “trends are very, very positive.”
“It is indeed a beautiful day in New York,” the governor said in Manhattan, where the temperature climbed to 40 degrees as the state COVID-19 test positivity rate dipped to 3.7%. “This is what we’ve been waiting for,” Hochul said. “Tremendous progress after two long years.”
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