New York school students are being forced to continue wearing facemasks.

Fox News reports that, although New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) is calling off her “mask-or-vaccine” mandate for indoor businesses, her mask mandate for schools will remain. 

As for why Hochul is calling off her indoor mask mandate, the answer, as she explained on Wednesday, is the dropoff in coronavirus numbers along with the increase in the vaccination rate.

That much makes sense. What Hochul had a much harder time explaining, however, was why she decided to keep the mask mandate for schools in effect.

Hochul explains (not really)

According to Fox News, “Hochul said she spoke to Dr. Anthony Fauci, healthcare leaders, business leaders, school superintendents, and teachers unions before making her decisions.” And, what Hochul said that she found is that the best way to keep schools open is to keep the mask mandate in effect.

Hochul was asked to explain the difference between this decision and her decision to call off the indoor mask mandate. She said that, whereas students are in “a very concentrated setting” without much freedom to move about, “adults can make their own decision.”

Hochul was not asked to explain the point of a school mask mandate in light of the fact that ordinary masks have been found to not be effective at stopping the spread of the coronavirus and in light of the fact that, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, 99.99 percent of children have survived the coronavirus.

Hochul, though, did go on to say that she plans on reassessing the school mask mandate following the upcoming school break and that there is a “strong possibility” that she might lift it soon.

“After the break, after we’ve had kids tested, we are going to make an assessment that first week in March,” she said.

Background

Given the dropoff in coronavirus numbers, a number of states have decided to call off their mask mandates, including their mask mandates for school children.

Among the most recent states to do so are New Jersey, Connecticut, and Delaware.

It is important to note, however, that many of these states are giving school districts the opportunity to proceed with a mask mandate of their own. So, it is very possible that in some areas of these states students will still be required to wear masks.