BUFFALO, N.Y. (WBEN) - Students and teachers at Buffalo Public Schools will be wearing masks for the foreseeable future.
"The virus will have to be gone," Superintendent Kriner Cash said when asked what it would take for the district to end the masking rules. "It will have to be solved for that to happen. No plans at all that we would remove those masks according to the guidelines for the Erie County Department of Health, the state department of health, and then our own board and administrative policies and guidelines."
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz and Governor Kathy Hochul last month directed their respective health departments to require masks to be worn in all public schools, meaning schools, including the region's other districts, don't have much of a say to oppose any mandate.
Cash said he's following the advice of medical experts, including BPS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Dennis Kuo and NIH Director Dr. Anthony Fauci.
"This is like deja vu from last year," Cash said. "We were hoping by now it subsided, but as you can see, we are in the middle of a high-risk zone today in Western New York in Buffalo. That's why we will continue to protect our children and keep them safe through mask wear. There is very good evidence masks help tamp the spread of disease but they certainly don't eradicate it."
The superintendent wants Governor Hochul to mandate vaccines for all school staff who work with children because he believes they should be considered frontline workers. Currently, teachers and other school employees must submit to a weekly COVID-19 test unless they show proof of vaccination. Cash said the district will be opening health clinics and vaccination sites at their community schools with the hope of increasing the vaccination rate locally.
"This is what we're offering to do," Cash said. "This is what we want to do. But we really need this to become a state mandate for it to have the most effectiveness and the most consistency."
More than 80% of adults in New York have received at least one dose of the vaccine. 61% of children age 12 and older have had at least one dose.
There are no immediate plans by Governor Hochul to mandate a vaccine for children. She said it's an option but understands parents are anxious about vaccinating their children.
"I want to encourage parents to understand the science and the data that should lead them to the same conclusion we all have," Hochul said. "This is the best thing you can do for your child if you want to protect them from this virus. Children have not been hit as hard as adults, particularly the elderly. We also don't have enough knowledge to know the long-term effects if they do contract the virus...If these numbers go up again and we have to figure out a way to contain that...I'm not letting the state go back there again. I will take more actions if necessary."
