The city's teachers' union also agreed with the decision to lift the mask mandate for children ages 2-4 in 3K, pre-K, and day care settings.
John Angelillo/UPI/Shutterstockfor New York City children likely to be lifted by Mayor Eric Adams in early April, both proponents and opponents of the mandate said the end of the policy seems inevitable.
“I think reopening – and unmasking and everything – is an unstoppable tidal wave. Nobody's going to be able to get in front of it and make this stop, because I think there's just too many people demanding it,” said Dr. Jesse Hackell, the head of the state American Academy of Pediatrics’s Chapter 3, which covers Manhattan, the Bronx and Westchester.
The mayor’s updated policy has the approval of the United Federation of Teachers union, which sent out a short statement. “Since we removed the mask mandate for K-12 students, our percent of positivity has remained low, which is a great sign that we are moving at the right pace and doing the right thing. And so now it's time to peel back another layer in this entire initiative,” Adams said.