A Staten Island judge on Friday struck down New York City’s mask mandate for toddlers, calling it “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable” and issuing a permanent injunction against it.
Mayor Eric Adams said the city would appeal and seek a stay of Judge Ralph Porzio’s ruling. Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said the city was not recommending that young kids ages 2-4 stop masking yet, and he sounded a broader note of caution too.
“Cases are definitively rising and it’s gotten our attention,” he said. “They will continue to rise over the next few weeks, and it’s likely that over these weeks, we will move into a different level of overall risk across the city.”
Vasan said he was “recommending” people wear masks in public, indoor settings.
Things have changed since the mayor first announced a plan on March 22 to make masks optional as of April 4 for the youngest kids. Positivity rates and case totals are rising, and transmission rates in the city are up 19% over that time.
The more critical metrics — hospitalizations and deaths — remain on the decline, and officials have said they don’t expect a new severe surge linked to BA.2. That said, the city is still erring on the side of caution.
Right now, the community COVID alert level citywide is low, under the new benchmark system Adams unveiled earlier this month. It doesn’t get any lower. So far, the risk level hasn’t changed since the school mandate lifted on March 7, which the mayor called a “great sign” as he declared it time to “peel back another layer.”
Kids younger than 2 have not been subject to mask mandates since the pandemic started.
It’s been called “stealth omicron” or “deltacron.” A new subvariant of the COVID-19 virus is making headlines, so we talked to NBC News medical correspondent Dr. John Torres to learn more. He explained how the variant “plagiarizes” from the Omicron and Delta variants that previously caused surges, and why this may not cause a new surge here in the U.S.
While BA.2 does appear to be “inherently more transmissible” than the original omicron strain, the World Health Organization has said, experts say they don’t expect it to trigger a major resurgence given high vaccination rates and so many people having been recently infected with the first omicron strain.
BA.2 is now the dominant COVID strain in both New York and America. Earlier this week, the feds authorized a second booster dose for millions more Americans to help stem the potential tide of new infections among the most vulnerable.
> THANK YOU, LESTER. >>> WHILE THE CDC IS LOOKING >>> WHILE THE CDC IS LOOKING UPGRADING ITS GUIDANCE ON MASKING, IT SAYS THAT ANY MASK IS REALLY BETTER THAN NO MASK AT ALL. BUT THOSE N95 MASKS NOW APPEAR TO BE THE BEST AT BLOCKING OUT COVID. THOSE ARE THE ONES THAT WERE ONCE RESERVED FOR MEDICAL STAFF ONCE RESERVED FOR MEDICAL STAFF AT THE HEIGHT OF THE PANDEMIC. NEWS 4u2019S CHRIS GLORIOSO GOT INSIDE A NEW JERSEY FACTORY WHERE PRODUCTION ON THOSE VERY WHERE PRODUCTION ON THOSE VERY MASKS IS NOW ON OVERDRIVE. >> WEu2019RE HIRING MORE PEOPLE. WEu2019RE FLYING IN MACHINERY. WEu2019RE FLYING IN MACHINERY. WEu2019RE FLYING IN SUPPLIES. >> Reporter: AT PROTECTIVE HEALTH GEAR IN PATERSON, THE CEO IS STRUGGLING TO KEEP UP WITH DEMAND. AROUND THANKSGIVING, WHEN OMICRON BECAME A HOUSEHOLD NAME, OMICRON BECAME A HOUSEHOLD NAME, RETAIL AND HOSPITAL CUSTOMERS STARTED PLACING THOUSANDS OF ORDERS FOR THESE N95s. IT HASNu2019T SLOWED DOWN IN SIX WEEKS. >> THE DEMAND FROM THE GENERAL CONSUMER, THE DEMAND FROM THE CONSUMER, THE DEMAND FROM THE HOSPITALS, THE DEMAND FROM DISTRIBUTORS, HAS JUST SKYROCKETED TO A LEVEL THAT WEu2019RE HAVING DIFFICULTY KEEPING UP WITH. >> Reporter: HERE THEYu2019RE ALREADY PRODUCING 70,000 MASKS A DAY. BUT THEYu2019RE RAMPING UP TO MORE THAN 110,000 PARTLY BECAUSE THE CDC IS EXPECTED TO PUBLISH NEW CDC IS EXPECTED TO PUBLISH NEW LANGUAGE HIGHLIGHTING THE WAY N95s PROTECT AGAINST OMICRON. >> RIGHT NOW WEu2019RE STRONGLY >> RIGHT NOW WEu2019RE STRONGLY CONSIDERING OPTIONS TO MAKE MORE HIGH QUALITY MASKS AVAILABLE TO ALL AMERICANS AND WEu2019LL CONTINUE TO FOLLOW THE SCIENCE HERE. >> Reporter: ACCORDING TO A RECENT STUDY BY OCCUPATIONAL RECENT STUDY BY OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY EXPERTS, AN UNINFECTED PERSON WEARING AN N95 CAN EXPECT 2.5 HOURS OF PROTECTION EVEN IN 2.5 HOURS OF PROTECTION EVEN IN CLOSE CONTACT WITH AN INFECTED PERSON WEARING NO MASK. THAT GOES UP TO FIVE HOURS OF THAT GOES UP TO FIVE HOURS OF PRODUCTION IF THE COVID POSITIVE PERSON IS WEARING A CLOTH OR SURGICAL MASK. AND IF BOTH ARE WEARING N0I995s, YOU CAN EXPECT A FULL DAY OF PROTECTION. >> WEu2019RE WORKING SEVEN DAYS A WEEK, 12-HOUR SHIFTS. >> Reporter: AS FACTORIES ACROSS >> Reporter: AS FACTORIES ACROSS THE NATION TRY TO MEET SOARING DEMAND FOR MASKS, THERE IS CONCERN ALL THIS DEMAND MIGHT FIZZLE IF OMICRON INFECTIONS AND FIZZLE IF OMICRON INFECTIONS AND HOSPITALIZATIONS START GOING DOWN. HERE IN PATERSON, THERE IS NO EVIDENCE OF THAT. >> WE ARE NOT SEEING A LEVELING OFF OF ORDERS AT ALL. ITu2019S SKYROCKETING. ITu2019S EXPONENTIAL. ITu2019S EXPONENTIAL. >> Reporter: AS FACTORIES LIKE THIS ONE IN PATERSON RAMP UP, THE HOPE IS IT WILL BECOME THE HOPE IS IT WILL BECOME EASIER FOR CONSUMERS TO FIND N95s ON THE RETAIL MARKET HERE IN PATERSON. THEYu2019RE NOT HAVING TROUBLE SOURCING MATERIALS IN THEIR SOURCING MATERIALS IN THEIR SUPPLY CHAIN BUT THEY SAY THEY ARE SUBJECT TO THE SAME TRUCKING PROBLEMS THE WHOLE COUNTRY HAS”,”video_id”:”1992347203541_476″,”video_length”:”155556″,”video_provider”:”mpx”,”short_video_excerpt”:””,”mpx_download_pid_mobile_low”:”Y_Fii7Ja3ls8″,”pid_streaming_web_mobile_low”:””,”mpx_download_pid_mobile_standard”:”znswC_u54_MY”,”pid_streaming_mobile_standard”:”AHNyIe4EyWH2″,”alleypack_schedule_unpublish”:””,”feed_remote_id”:”mpx_1992347203541″,”feed_thumbnail_url”:””}” data-livestream=”false” data-title=”Which Mask Protects Best Against COVID-19?” data-vidcid=”1:2:3493378″ data-vidurl=”https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/which-mask-protects-best-against-covid-19/3493378/” data-islead=”false” data-catnames=”{“1444″:”On Air”,”1445″:”As Seen On”,”64″:”News”,”680747″:”Coronavirus Pandemic”,”65″:”Local”}” data-tagnames=”{“659906″:”as seen on”,”734032″:”breakthrough infections”,”671842″:”Coronavirus”,”688082″:”coronavirus vaccine”,”677579″:”COVID-19″,”686540″:”face masks”,”792612″:”facemasks”,”691489″:”hospitalizations”,”727960″:”Kathy Hochul”,”701712″:”N95 masks”,”101″:”New York”,”107″:”New York City”,”840023″:”omicron symptoms”,”821358″:”Omicron Variant”}” data-customdata=”{“ContentPartner”:”None”,”Source”:”WEBFM”,”SyndicationAllowed”:”true”,”mSNVideoCategories”:”MSN Video v4 Connector-most watched news”,”mSNVideoContentSupplierID”:”NBC_Local”,”mSNVideoCountry”:”us”,”subtitle”:”nosubtitle”,”uploadedByTeam”:”1″,”youtubeChannel”:”None”}” data-autoplay=”false” data-cplay=”true”>
Which face mask protects best against COVID-19? Chris Glorioso heads to a factory to get the answer.
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