New York City parents of children under five have furiously condemned rules forcing their little ones to mask-up when the rest of the city will be liberated from COVID-19 restrictions.
On Wednesday, Mayor Eric Adams announced that Big Apple public school children aged five and up will no longer be forced to wear face covering as the infection rate in the city has plummeted to 671 cases a day. That is an 11.6 per cent drop from the week before, with just 1.8 per cent of all tests now coming back positive.
The only exception to that will be children under the age of five, who are not currently eligible for the vaccine, with day care providers also ordered to enforce face masks. That comes even though just 307 children aged between 0 and four have died of COVID in the whole of the US since the pandemic began in spring 2020, according to the latest CDC data.
The school positivity rate is .18 percent, Adams said Friday. Thousands have since signed a Change.org petition taking aim at the seemingly unending rule.
It contains a letter addressed to New York Health Commissioner Dr Mary T Bassett, and links to articles which back up the petitions’ point.
The authors write: ‘The national conversation around mandatory masking is now shifting to acknowledge the development, mental and social detriments these policies are causing children right now.
A Change.org petition presented in the form of a letter to NY’s health commissioner is calling for an end to masking for children aged four and under at preschools, nurseries and daycares
‘In fact, the World Health Organization has never recommended masks for children under 5 years old and only limited circumstances for children under 11.
‘We ask you to join surrounding states and end mandatory masking in schools and daycares now. ALL children but especially those with speech delays, learning disabilities, social anxieties, sensory issues and on the spectrum deserve better.’
The letter adds: ‘There are now growing calls for children to learn with optional masking, as there is no clear evidence to show that masking children indefinitely has curbed this pandemic and kept schools “safe.”
‘With most adults now vaccinated, our state of New York boasts an 84.3% completed vaccination series, the time is now to advocate for children who remain naturally protected against severe illness and death from COVID-19.’
One NYC mom, Daniela Jampel, 38, of Washington Heights in Manhattan, told DailyMail.com the new mask policy flies in the face of common sense and will create a series of ‘mini-police states’ and a culture of ‘petty tyrants.’
Daniela Jampel, pictured here with her family, called on parents in New York City to reach out to Mayor Eric Adams to express their outrage about the requirements that kids under 5 continue to wear masks
Jampel, who has been outspoken about keeping schools open during the pandemic because of the lower threat that the virus poses to kids, said that she caught wind of the mayor’s pediatric mask mandate earlier in the week.
‘I was outraged, I was so disappointed, I was really flummoxed at how the only place that you have to mask is in their day care Pre-K or Three-K classrooms, it makes no sense,’ she said.
Jampel said that it makes her question the Adams’ judgement, after he was elected on the back of promises to be a more moderate Democrat mayor than his predecessor Bill de Blasio.
‘I though we were getting a more moderate politician, someone who is more common sense and pragmatic approach to the city. Someone who wanted to open the city back up,’ she said. ‘Masking kids who are under five years old and no one else? It’s certainly not a turn-the-page-on-COVID politician.
She said that her three daughters, aged eight, four and and six months, have grown used to wearing masks all the time and sometimes get nervous not wearing them.
Angry mom Daniela Jampel says that kids don’t remember the days when masks weren’t worn in school. ‘We’ve normalized something that is not normal’
‘We’ve normalized something that’s not normal,’ she said. ‘My four-year-old has never gone to school without a mask, she can’t conceive of it.’
She said that she’s very comfortable with the risks that her kids would take on not wearing a mask indoors because she doesn’t believe they’re effective.
‘It does not concern me at all,’ Jampel, who’s a lawyer. ‘Kids are at an incredibly low risk. If you look at the data an unvaccinated two to five-year-old is the lowest risk even a vaccinated adult.’
A February study by the American Academy of Pediatricians found that children under five accounted for .026 percent of Covid-19 deaths in the US, three states reported no deaths in that age group.
The World Health Organization agrees with Jampel about mask mandates.
‘In general, children aged five years and under should not be required to wear masks,’ according to the global health group’s website. ‘This advice is based on the safety and overall interest of the child and the capacity to appropriately use a mask with minimal assistance.’
Jampel has seen this ‘capacity to appropriately use a mask’ first hand.
‘They don’t wear them properly. They’re constantly fidgeting They’re below their chin,’ she said. ‘My daughter comes home and her mask is soaking wet because she’s been licking all day. It’s disgusting.’
At her four-year-old’s city-run Three-K program the children and the child care workers must be masked except for 45 minutes during nap time.
Last year, she said, she watched a video of a class birthday party in which the kids were sitting around a table prepared to eat cake.
Jampel with one of her daughters. She says facemasks for kids do more harm than good
‘They’re sitting around a tiny table, six to a table, singing Happy Birth Day and shouting at each other,’ she said. ‘It’s ridiculous.’
For her four-year-old’s birthday party, Jampel said, the girls did gymnastics with their masks on.
‘Then they went into another room and ate pizza with their masks off,’ she said. ‘Where’s the logic in that.’
She said that there are long-effects on the city’s culture.
‘What we’re doing is creating a mini police states,’ she said. ‘We’re creating a class of petty tyrants and we’re teaching kids that they’re dirty.’
Jampel is pictured speaking at a rally against school closures in November 2020
When Mayor Adams announced that kids under five would still be required to wear masks, Jampel took to Twitter to encourage like-minded moms and dads to let their outrage be known to city officials.
‘I am furious over the Mayor’s anti-science, anti-child policy of requiring NYC children under 5 to continue masking as literally everyone else in the world is able to remove their masks,’ she posted, adding the number for the City Hall press office so that they could let their opinions be known.
Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin, a Republican running for New York governor, pointed out that learning is impaired for kids who are masked in school.
‘This is child abuse’ Zeldin tweeted. ‘Many kids under 5 are still learning how to speak and NYC wants them to do so where the teacher can’t see the child’s face and the child can’t see the teacher’s face. These little kids can’t get this time back. It’s a totally asinine policy.’
Kristen Walsh, 47, a pediatrician based in New Jersey, has been urging public officials to weigh the plusses of masking tykes against the drawbacks.
The New York City infection rate has dropped to city has plummeted to 671 cases a day. That is an 11.6 per cent drop from the week before, with just 1.8 per cent of all tests of tests now coming back positive
‘I call it “Covid exceptionalism,” she said. ‘Ethically we’re looking at this from the wrong side. We have to make sure that benefits of the intervention outweigh the harm.’
She said that studies show that socio-emotional development for children in this early stage of development is inhibited by not being able to see their friends’ faces and their teachers’ faces.
‘Omicron is a threat to young children on par with seasonal ailments that we deal with all the time,’ Walsh said.
‘We have no proof that masking two to five year-olds slows the community spread, where’s the proof that it protects them.’
On Friday, the mayor announced that ‘New York City has its groove back,’ lifting vaccine passport requirements across the five boroughs.
“I’ve said time and time again that the numbers and science will guide us as we continue to recover and rebuild,’ he said at a press conference. ‘Now New York City is back, and vaccinations are why we’re back. New Yorkers should be getting out and enjoying our amazing city. The fight may not be over, but we’re clearly winning the war. We are open for business.’
