Dr. Ashwin Vasan cautioned on Friday that kids below 5 years outdated ought to proceed sporting masks as a result of they are not sufficiently old to get vaccinated.
The town’s new well being commissioner believes masks mandates for younger kids ought to be indefinitely maintained – a place in direct battle with Mayor Eric Adams, who lately claimed children wouldn’t should put on them for much longer.
Throughout his first press convention as commissioner, Dr. Ashwin Vasan cautioned on Friday that kids below 5 years outdated ought to proceed sporting masks as a result of they’re not sufficiently old to get vaccinated, in response to CBS Information. He additionally cited excessive hospital charges for younger kids with COVID-19.
“I believe it’s indefinite at this level,” Vasan mentioned. “Individuals who have tried to foretell the long run on this pandemic have had egg on their face, and I’m not going to do this at present.”
“As a father of a 2 1/2-year-old and two different older children, I need to preserve them as secure as doable,” he mentioned. “I might love nothing greater than to ship my son to daycare with no masks. However as a scientist, and as a physician, and an epidemiologist, I need to preserve him secure.”
Adams, who earlier this month lifted the metropolis’s Key2NYC vaccine mandate for eating and different indoor actions, appeared to have a distinct tackle Thursday.
When confronted by irate guardian demanding he reverse the masks mandate for toddlers, he insisted, “I received this. They are going to be unmasked.”
The renewed debate over masks comes whereas the brand new Omicron subvariant BA.2 continues to surge. Whereas it doesn’t appear to trigger extra extreme sickness, knowledge exhibits it’s extra transmissible.
“We’re maintaining a detailed eye on the numbers, and we’ll proceed to let what they inform us. On the similar time, we all know the rise in circumstances in different elements of the world could be worrisome,” Vasan mentioned.
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