Updated: Feb. 22, 2022, 8:29 a.m. | Published: Feb. 21, 2022, 7:40 p.m.
By Joseph Ostapiuk | jostapiuk@siadvance.com
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Republican officials and nearly 200 Staten Islanders rallied Monday afternoon to call for an end to coronavirus (COVID-19) mask mandates in city schools, sounding fervent opposition to the measure that has been the source of heated debate.
The protest, held at the Staten Island Republican headquarters in New Dorp, included GOP speakers from the city, state and federal levels and drew a raucous crowd, including young children, that urged for stronger actions to be taken against the directive.
“As a husband and a father, I feel your pain. I feel the frustration. I see what is wrong in the state of New York,” said state Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-South Shore). “We’re trying to use every tool in the toolbox, and one of those tools is to gather with our neighbors and have our voices heard.”
The rally began with audio testimonials from young children played from a speaker. The children voiced their displeasure with having to wear a mask in school. Complaints ranged from comfortability issues to lack of ability to understand others to an outright issue with governmental authority.
Attendees shouted chants, often lead by the rally’s youngest participants, saying, “let us breathe” and “no more masks.”
Speakers, including City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli (R-South Shore), noted strong opposition to the continued existence of the mandate and signaled stringent disapproval of the state’s handling of the pandemic.
“I’m not someone who goes to the governor’s mansion and takes a day off and does this,” said Borelli. “But, unfortunately, the one thing we can all say is that this pandemic and this governor and this mayor and the former governor and the former mayor, they’ve all made us, reasonable people … come out here on our day off to protest.”
“The most consistent thing our government has done,” added Borelli, “is be inconsistent.”
Gov. Kathy Hochul continued to draw the ire of the elected officials and the crowd alike for continuing to require children to wear masks in school. She recently said she would decide in the coming weeks whether or not to lift the state’s mandate.
However, even if Hochul does decide to end that requirement, it would mean little for New York City, since mask wearing in the five boroughs’ public schools is in place due to an existing executive order started under former Mayor Bill de Blasio, and continued by Mayor Eric Adams.
During a radio appearance late last month, the current mayor expressed no intention to lift the school’s mandate and expressed regret when a judge temporarily struck down the state mandate as unconstitutional. That decision was later effectively overturned in the New York Appellate Court, leaving the state mandates in place.
Since his comments, Adams has said little about the city school mandates.
Hocul and Adams’ offices did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella said the party is “trying to stand united, trying every tool in the toolbox to figure out a way to get those masks off these kids in school.”
“We are battling right now for the heart and soul of our country, of our state,” said Lee Zeldin, a Long Island congressman who is running for governor and called for residents to vote Hochul out in November.
“We have two year olds, three year olds and four year olds who have been forced to spend their entire day wearing masks,” said Zeldin, voicing concern for the social and mental development of children who are unable to see the faces of their classmates. “All COVID mandates should end today. They should have been ended a long time ago.”
Monday’s rally comes as COVID-19 metrics continue a stark downfall in New York City.
During the peak of the virulent omicron variant, pediatric hospitalizations increased rapidly throughout the five boroughs, but still remained relatively low. Just a handful of children were being treated on Staten Island in late December.
New Jersey’s governor, Phil Murphy, earlier this month announced an end to school mask mandates in the state in early March. That decision comes even though the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) continues to recommend masking in schools.
Children are far less likely to get serious cases of COVID-19, though those with underlying conditions are at a heightened risk. Additionally, children can be vectors for the virus and transmit it to more vulnerable people.
CDC data shows a minuscule number of children, relative to population, are hospitalized due to the disease, with even fewer deaths in the youngest age groups.
While tighter-fitting masks, like N95 respirator masks and KN95 masks, have shown effectiveness at reducing coronavirus transmission, looser cloth masks that are often used by children have been found highly ineffective at preventing the spread of the omicron strain.
Decrying a severe mismatch between Democratic and Republican lawmakers in New York — a source, he said, of mandates like the one that requires children to wear masks in class — Assemblyman Michael Tannousis (R-East Shore) said the governor’s seat is the “last stand” to alter the state’s trajectory.
“This is our only opportunity,” said Tannousis. “This is what’s going to make a difference.”
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/South Brooklyn) was one of the speakers who battled through a handful of heckling and vexed attendees at the rally, some of whom felt the party was not doing enough to push back against the mandates.
“I know you’re upset,” she told the protestors. “I know you’re frustrated. I’m frustrated too. We need to work together and be a team if we’re gonna fight what the Democrats are doing. That’s the bottom line.”