NYC Private Sector COVID-19 Jab Mandate & Toddler Mask Mandate ‘Indefinite,’ According to City’s New Health Commissioner

New York City’s private sector COVID-19 jab mandate and mask mandate for toddlers are “indefinite at this point,” according to the city’s new health commissioner.

“People who have tried to predict what will happen in this future for this pandemic have repeatedly found egg on their face, as they say. And I’m not going to do that here today,” said Dr. Ashwin Vasan.

NYC Indefinitely Extends Vaccine Mandate for Employers, School Mask Mandate for Toddlershttps://t.co/z4K8dGbs9V

— Teachers for Choice (@teacher_choice) March 21, 2022

Per Yahoo News:

“I would love for me to sit here and say, I can give you a date or a data point for when we would lift those things,” he added. “Right now, we are in a low risk environment, and we will continue to evaluate that data.”

On March 2, New York State lifted its school mask mandate for kids ages five and up, keeping the requirement for those younger. Last week, however, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the end was in sight for kids under five, promising to suspend the mask rule for them if Covid-19 cases remained low.

“If we don’t have a spike, we’re going to lift for your babies as well,” Adams said during a press briefing. “I want them taking their masks off.”

Vasan’s update Friday seems to fly in the face of that pledge, as he said public school students under five must continue to wear masks given the fact that they’re not yet eligible for the vaccine, despite the fact that young kids face extremely low risk of developing severe Covid-19 infections. New York City has supposedly experienced an increase in Omicron over the past few days. The city’s health department has been monitoring the BA.2 subvariant, which accounts for about 30 percent of cases.

Vasan’s announcement angered New York parents who demanded Mayor Eric Adams reverse the mask mandate for toddlers.

CBS News reported:

On Thursday, Adams was confronted by angry parents demanding he reverse the mask mandate for toddlers and told them, “I got this. They will be unmasked.”

Parents who spoke to CBS2’s Thalia Perez shared that sentiment.

“We don’t want to wear them. And we have immune systems. This is what we’re designed to do. We’ll fight it,” Middle Village resident Francesca Amodeo said.

“Children under 5 should be able to breathe and have fresh air, not stay with masks indoors all day long,” Middle Village resident Andrea Cornea said.

"I'll take care of it. They'll be unmasked." https://t.co/flgnropRoq

— Ben Max (@TweetBenMax) March 17, 2022

New York parents protested on Sunday for Mayor Adams to end the abusive toddler mask mandate.

More than 100 parents and kids amassed near City Hall to demand that Mayor Eric Adams "unmask our toddlers'' at a protest of the mask mandate for children age 4 and under…. https://t.co/H1DhiKcXNk

— SkyNet Platforms: #TheBrain (@SkyNetPlatform) March 20, 2022

The New York Post commented:

More than 100 parents and  their kids packed City Hall Park on Sunday to rally against Mayor Eric Adams’ mask mandate for children ages 4 and younger  — demanding the city “unmask our toddlers.”

The protest was the just latest example of the vehement pushback from Big Apple parents who want City Hall to do away with the regulation on youngsters, given  local plummeting COVID-19 rates and high vaccination levels among the much more vulnerable older set.

“[The mandate] is not following the science. This is making a mockery of the science. This is playing us for fools,’’ said rally-goer Daniela Jampel, a 38-year-old mother of three, including a 4-year-old in public pre-K, from Washington Heights.

“New York state recognizes the science. Everywhere else in New York state — 10 miles away in Nassau County, 10 miles away in Westchester County — toddlers are allowed to take off their masks along with their older brothers and sisters,’’ she said.