NEW YORK (Reuters) -Incoming New York Governor Kathy Hochul said on Sunday that she supported mask mandates for children in school as a necessary safety step for helping New York get through a new wave of COVID-19 infections.
Hochul, speaking in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” program, said masks for kids in schools was “something that I believe has to occur” for the safety of children, teachers, school administrators, and the wider community. She added however that she would remain flexible and consider all options as the circumstances of the pandemic continue to change.
Hochul will be completing the unexpired term of Andrew Cuomo, who is stepping down later this month after the state’s attorney general found he unlawfully sexually harassed 11 women and presided over a toxic workplace.
Hochul said that she intended to work out a strategy for boosting the vaccination rate together with current New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and the incoming mayor, widely expected to be Democratic nominee Eric Adams.
“You have smart people, I have smart people, how about doing it together and not in competition?” Hochul said of her attitude toward the city’s executive, in stark contrast with Cuomo, who publicly feuded with de Blasio for years.
The United States is experiencing a new surge in the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by the more infectious Delta variant and dipping vaccination rates.
(Reporting by Julia HarteEditing by Chizu Nomiyama and Sonya Hepinstall)
