NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- New York City will lift its mask mandate for children 2 to 4 years old in schools and daycare centers starting Monday, Mayor Eric Adams announced as his health commissioner said the city was “past the peak” of its current COVID-19 wave.
“Throughout the current wave, schools have remained the safest places for our children and beginning Monday, June 13, we will make masks optional for 2-4 year old children in all early childhood settings,” Adams said in a statement Thursday.
Masks are still “strongly recommended” indoors for New Yorkers of all ages, the mayor said, and the city will continue to make masks available for any child or school staff member who wishes to wear them in school.
Adams, who has faced some criticism for keeping the school mask mandate for toddlers in place, said the decision was made because the data shows COVID-19 cases are “steadily falling.”
“We’ve beaten back the latest COVID-19 surge,” he said.
The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Ashwin Vasan, said Thursday that after two months of sustained increases in COVID-19 transmission, “we are finally past the peak of this wave.”
“Cases have fallen since May 23, giving us confidence that we have passed the peak and we are heading into a safer environment,” Vasan tweeted.
Even as case rates fell 26% from May 23 to June 5, Vasan said the coronavirus should still be taken seriously and New Yorkers should continue to take precautions like masking indoors.
The mask mandate for kids under 5 years old was supposed to have been lifted about two months ago, but concerns over new variants kept the order in place.
New York City recorded 241 COVID-19-related deaths in May, up from 135 the previous month, but still far below the more than 1,040 who died in February and nearly 3,280 who died in January and during the peak of the omicron variant-driven wave.
Infection rates have remained steady over the last several weeks, with average weekly infections hovering around 3,500 new cases. The hospitalization rate has remained low and continued falling, according to state health data.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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