The new health commissioner for New York City sparked outrage when he announced that children aged five and under should wear face masks indefinitely, conflicting with Mayor Eric Adams’ comments about masks.
During his first press conference as commissioner, Dr. Ashwin Vasan said young children should continue wearing masks because they’re not old enough to get vaccinated.
“I think it’s indefinite at this point,” he said. “People who have tried to predict the future in this pandemic have had egg on their face, and I’m not going to do that today”.
“As a father of a 2 1/2-year-old and two other older kids, I want to keep them as safe as possible,” Vasan added. “I would love nothing more than to send my son to daycare without a mask. But as a scientist, and as a doctor, and an epidemiologist, I want to keep him safe”.
Vasan’s comments angered New York parents who have to force their young children to keep wearing a mask.
On Thursday, Mayor Adams was confronted by parents demanding he reverse the mask mandate for toddlers. “I got this. They will be unmasked,” he said.
Earlier this month, New York state and city lifted school mask mandates. Every state has also lifted or announced plans to lift masking requirements in schools.
A new Omicron subvariant, BA.2, has been reported, with data saying it doesn’t seem to cause more severe illness but it is more transmissible.
“We’re keeping a close eye on the numbers, and we’ll continue to let you know what they tell us. At the same time, we know the increase in cases in other parts of the world can be worrisome,” said Vasan.
