New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul announced today Wednesday that effective tomorrow, Thursday, February 10, 2022, the temporary indoor mask-or-vaccine mandate she enacted two months ago on December 10th, 2021 would be lifted, thanks to the pandemic trending in a good direction, thanks to adults getting vaccinated and boosted, and children beginning to get vaccinated. The Omicron variant seemed to have infected most everyone this winter, with the unvaccinated suffering the most, according to hospital stats in Dutchess County and around the country.

Counties, cities and businesses will be able to opt-in to the mask-or-vaccine requirement if they so choose. Schools will be assessed in March, though Superintendents in the Lower Hudson Council of School Superintendents sent a jointly signed a letter on 1/13/2022 to New York’s Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett urging the state to develop metrics for dropping the indoor masks, increase mental health services for students, and using PCR tests for the weekly testing of staff and students, as reported by LoHud.

Beacon City School District’s Superintendent Landhal told A Little Beacon Blog in January that the district is part of that group, but that he was not involved with writing the letter, saying he has been too busy. Dr. Landhal focuses on communicating directly with the community via regular robo-calls and emails about the changing requirements as they happen, to manage everyone’s expectations.

Masks Are Not Totally Done

In a nutshell, masks are not totally done, and the pandemic is not over. There is the BA.2 subvariant being watched in Denmark, India, South Africa, and other countries including the United States and Europe, as reported by several national news outlets. Doctors continue to urge people to get vaccinated and boosted.

Governor Hochul stated that masks will still be required In hospitals, nursing homes, shelters, transportation and other related entities.

Businesses, Counties and Cities are able to decide for themselves on what they want to do. Beacon’s Mayor Kyriacou robo-called the community with Governor Hochul’s announcement the day she made it, and encouraged Beaconites to respect the decisions of businesses, should they choose to continue masking up. He did not indicate a community-wide policy for Beacon. The last time he robo-called was to announce the arrival and location of a 3rd distribution of COVID-19 test kits. No call came for the 1st and 2nd distributions.

Dutchess County Executive Molinaro has been advocating for the indoor mask requirement to be lifted, and today issued a statement prior to Governor Hochul’s announcement, stating: “As Governor Hochul ponders lifting the mask mandate in New York, as so many other states have already announced, it must be done across the board, including in our schools and daycares. We know there is harm to our youngest learners, particularly those with disabilities, when forced to mask all day. As we move forward, rather than continued restrictions, we must aggressively open access to treatment and interventions to help those who do contract COVID recover quickly and fully.”

While the Governor maintained the indoor mandate for kids in school, she said it would be reevaluated in early march, after Mid-Winter break, based on public health data. As children as young as 4 have been conditioned to wear the mask, and feel comfortable in it, an effort of unconditioning their mindset in the current low-case environment would be needed for some who feel comfortable and safe wearing it, rather than ripping it off like a bandaid (though some kids would probably toss it in the air like a graduation cap).

According to Governor Hochul’s February 9, 2022 COVID Update, only 38% of kids aged 5-11 have been vaccinated with one dose. Thanks to volunteers, the Beacon City School District continues to hold vaccination clinics at its buildings. New York State is actively preparing for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to come online for children under 5 years old, according to Governor Hochul’s press release.

Vaccinations Continue To Be The #1 Way To Fight The Virus And Keep It At Bay

Governor Hochul announced today a “Winter Toolkit” that will focus on continuing to fight the virus. Included in it are 5 core areas:

• Protecting the most vulnerable New Yorkers.

• Increasing vaccinations and boosters.

• Strengthening our health care system.

• Empowering local leaders.

• Supporting individuals facing the long-term effects of COVID.

According to New York State’s press release: “New York State's mass vaccination and testing sites will remain open to ensure all eligible New Yorkers can access first, second, and third doses for themselves and their children.

“The State's #VaxForKids pop-up programming continues to expand with 63 new sites established today and 193 sites established to date. This effort brings the vaccine directly to parents, guardians, and their children at local schools, community centers, and destinations like farmer's markets to make getting vaccinated convenient and accessible for families.”

The COVID Numbers Are Trending Down In New York

According to Governor Hochul’s report, the 7 day average % positivity is going down. As of 2/8/2022, it was 3.67%. During the height of Omicron, it was 23.2% and nearly breaking the Dutchess County Dashboard. Today, the number of Active Cases in Dutchess County is 394, which is a lot lower than the 6,000+ it was during January 2022. In Beacon, the Active Case count is 16, also a relatively good number, as Beacon broke 100 in January. However, the Percent Positive for every 100,000 in Dutchess County is 22.47% which is high. In the Beacon City School District, case numbers have been much lower than the 20+ per day of positive students or staff we saw in January, and are down to the single digits.

For Now.

Like with the first time the mask mandate came down, all of this is dependent upon people getting vaccinated, surviving their case of COVID-19, and evolving with the virus. Protests like the truck situation in Ottawa Canada that has shut down an economy supply chain route is hurting people and the economy further.

You’ll need to continue bringing your mask with you on errands, as you respect (and not throw shade on) the decisions of individual businesses.