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Fog/Mist County executive, plaintiff respond to state appellate court decision on mask mandates
A crowd of over a hundred unmasked residents, parents and children gathered outside of the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building in Mineola Tuesday with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, demanding that the temporary school mask mandate be overturned.
Masks will remain in state schools for now, after the New York Appellate court granted a stay on the in-school mask requirement for businesses, stores and schools on Monday. The order will remain in place until the appeal is decided, and the state has until March 2 to file court papers.
On Jan. 24, New York State Supreme Court Judge Thomas Rademaker lifted the state’s mask order following legal action. But the state appealed, and a stay was issued a day later. Arguments in the Appellate Court began again on Jan. 28.
“I commend the Appellate Division, Second Department for granting a full stay to keep our masking regulations in place for the duration of our appeal,” Governor Kathy Hochul said in a press release Monday.
During the press conference in Mineola Tuesday, Blakeman provided an update on the appellate court’s decision.
“Unfortunately, we just heard from the Appellate Division,” he said. “...But, we’re not going to take another month of our kids being masked against the choice of their parents. We’re going to make our voices heard so that they hear us up in Albany.”
Blakeman called on Gov. Hochul to release the metrics she will use to lift the mask mandate. “Time and time again, we’ve asked the governor, ‘what are the metrics for ending the mask mandate?’ And we still haven’t gotten an answer, because there is no metric,” he said. “There is no science. This is all about control, and it's about parents not having the right to decide what is best for their children.”
Michael Demetriou of Bellmore, a plaintiff in the case, also spoke at the conference. He claimed that a legal decision had already been made. “The children won in court,” he said. “They did not burn down any buildings, they did not close down any businesses. They took the fight to court legally and they won.”
According to a study released by the Centers for Disease and Control, multi-layer cloth masks can block 50 to 70 percent of the release of respiratory particles into the environment. If worn properly, a surgical mask, such as a KN-95, can further prevent transmission.
The county executive last month signed three mask-related executive orders, including one that directed local school boards to vote on whether their districts should mandate mask use. However, shortly after the order was rolled out, New York State Education Department Commissioner Betty Rosa said that counties do not have the legal authority to require boards of education to vote on specific issues.
