Rulings aside, health experts reiterate: Masks are 'extremely important'

With the school mask mandate in legal limbo Tuesday, health experts reiterated the importance of wearing face coverings to minimize transmission of COVID-19.

"They are extremely important," said Dr. David Battinelli, physician-in-chief at Northwell Health. "Remember before we had vaccines and boosters, all we had were masks, and we did a very good job."

Late Monday, a Nassau County Supreme Court judge overturned the state’s mask mandate, leading some superintendents on Long Island to tell parents their children did not have to wear masks to school — at least on Tuesday. The mandate went back into effect later in the day after the state appealed the ruling.

The news that many Long Island students attended school unmasked Tuesday also brought a warning from the local chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, emphasizing the importance of masks in mitigating COVID-19.

"Masks remain an important component of the layered protection needed to prevent transmission of COVID among children inside schools," said Dr. Eve Meltzer Krief of Huntington Village Pediatrics, a member of the executive council of the Long Island-Brooklyn/Queens chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

She also pointed to the low number of children between ages 5 and 11 who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19: less than 26%.

Meltzer Krief said children are at risk from the prevalence of the highly transmissible omicron variant and the increase in pediatric hospitalizations. Some kids infected with COVID-19 also are at risk of developing the serious illness known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome, she said.

"Now is not the time to let our guard down," she said.

According to the CDC, COVID-19 spreads when an infected person breathes out droplets and very small particles that contain the virus. They can be breathed in by other people or land on their eyes, noses or mouth, the agency said.

Battinelli said high-quality masks, such as N95s, prevent the transmission of both airborne and droplet particles.

Droplet particles, basically those expended by coughing and sneezing, generally don’t travel more than 6 feet, he said. Airborne particles, however, can travel much farther on tiny specks of dust.

"Nothing prevents everything 100 percent," he said. "But N95s that are fit-tested, that really don’t let anything escape, can decrease the transmission."

The CDC has changed its stance on masks recently, suggesting that people use N95 mask/respirators that provide a tighter seal around the mouth and nose than cloth or surgical masks.

But N95s are more expensive and sometimes tougher to find than other masks. The federal government recently sent shipments of free N95s to be distributed at health centers and pharmacies around the country.

Martine Hackett, director of public health programs at Hofstra University, said she thinks a mandate for masks is a good idea under the current COVID-19 conditions.

"We are still dealing with the surge of the omicron variant and COVID cases and hospitalizations," Hackett said. "There are people who will say it’s relatively mild but that’s the difference in terms of thinking about a population and thinking about individuals. …From a public health perspective, this is what makes sense. From an individual perspective, you might not see that, but it doesn't mean that it's not true."

By Lisa L. Colangelo

lisa.colangelo@newsday.com@lisalcolangelo

Lisa joined Newsday as a staff writer in 2019. She previously worked at amNewYork, the New York Daily News and the Asbury Park Press covering politics, government and general assignment.