NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- New York state health officials said this week that students should start wearing masks again indoors as the state faces a “complex challenge” this winter of a “tripledemic” of the flu, COVID-19 and RSV.
“In March 2022, the state ended the requirement for masks in schools as the Omicron COVID-19 surge subsided,” Dr. Mary Bassett, the state’s health commissioner, wrote in a letter to educators in a letter dated Monday.
Bassett noted that “schools across New York have successfully managed to return to in-person school operations, while navigating the continued threat of COVID-19.”
But she said the state now faces “a newly complex challenge.”
“A host of respiratory viruses, including influenza, RSV and COVID-19, have taken hold in our state and in most of our communities,” Bassett wrote.
“These viruses, while often manageable, can cause serious outcomes, especially for children,” she continued. “They have been straining our healthcare system and are taxing the availability of pediatric beds across New York.”
Bassett pointed to a surge in early flu cases this fall, as well as the continuing threat of COVID-19.
To help prevent the spread of viruses, the commissioner said officials should encourage their school communities to “wear a well-fitting, high-quality mask when in public indoor spaces.”
She also encouraged other measures like staying up-to-date with COVID-19 vaccines, washing hands, coughing into elbows instead of hands and staying home when sick or symptomatic.
At this point, officials are only recommending masks, not requiring them as they previously did in a mandate that proved controversial.
The recommendation came the same week that Gov. Kathy Hochul joined Bassett to express “extreme” concern about the potential “tripledemic” during the winter months.
Kids in particular are at risk for RSV, and an increase in pediatric cases has added strain to hospitals recently.
During a press conference Wednesday, Bassett noted kids haven’t built up their immune systems like usual due to coronavirus precautions.
“We’re coming out of a period when our children were really cloistered,” Bassett said. “They weren’t going to school. We were keeping them away from other people, even away from other children.”
“We’re just speculating that kids haven’t been exposed to many common viruses that they, in another time, would’ve been exposed to,” she said.
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