New York City Mayor Eric Adams has lifted most mask mandates and proof of vaccination requirements in the city recently, but he is still a nanny mayor. While adults are free to carry on with their everyday lives, Adams wants to continue to force 4-year-olds to wear masks.
Despite lifting other restrictions and touting “record-low numbers of infections,” Adams still wants to force children under the age of 5 to wear masks, requiring them for all programs contracted by the New York City Department of Education and in classrooms. Children, who are at less risk from COVID-19 than vaccinated adults, are once again being put last by a Democratic leader, as Adams masks them and declares New York City is “winning the fight” against COVID-19.
Masks will continue to be required for all settings with children under 5 years of age, including programs contracted by the New York City Department of Education with 3- and 4-year-old children as well as 3K and 4K classrooms in district schools.
— Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) March 4, 2022
Adams is boasting about lifting mandates while enforcing them on children, who suffer the most from them and benefit the least. There is no justification whatsoever for lifting mandates across the board while forcing 4-year-olds to continue to mask. And yet here we are because Adams thinks he knows what’s best for children regardless of what the science and data show.
.@nycmayor writes on his napkin “lift the mandates” and holds it up for the press pic.twitter.com/zOUuiYdaCb
— David Freedlander (@freedlander) March 7, 2022
Adams’s sympathy lies with people who are more put upon by COVID-19 restrictions, such as millionaire athletes. After all, it’s “unfair” that Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving (whose average salary is over $34 million) can only play in away games because of New York City’s vaccine requirement for employment. Adams, of course, could lift that policy and his mandatory masking of children whenever he wants. But he won’t because, like many other prominent members of his party, he’s unwilling to give up the powers seized due to COVID-19.
Adams has been in office for only two months and has shown he has no understanding of science, data, or public health. He has already failed New York City’s children, and his insistence on keeping them masked well into the future shows he will continue to put children last in every decision he makes. There is no excuse for this.
