Fauci: Masks best way to protect children in schools
Dr. Anthony Fauci on Sunday said masks are key to preventing the spread of COVID-19 in schools. Credit: Pool / Jim Lo Scalzo via AP
Many Long Island students will return to the classroom this week with a statewide mask mandate in effect, a key to "protecting the children," the nation's top infectious disease expert said Sunday.
The state Department of Health late Friday mandated masks inside schools, following a directive from Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Several Long Island districts were already planning to require masks while others, such as Lindenhurst, planned to make them optional. Lindenhurst Superintendent Daniel Giordano said Saturday masks will now be required inside school buildings and optional outdoors.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said schools should require masks indoors and ensure everyone ages 12 and over is vaccinated.
"We want to get them back in the classroom," Fauci said Sunday on NBC’s "Meet The Press." "But we want to do it safely. And there is a safe way to do that."
Fauci said going against health guidance could harm students.
"When you try to get mandating of masks, there's pushback from certain authorities, which I feel is really unfortunate because it's going to really endanger the health of the children when we do that," Fauci said.
Protesters, many of them parents and children, march Sunday on Merrick Road in Massapequa against masks in schools. Credit: James Carbone
In Massapequa — where the school board will soon meet to discuss the new state mandate after initially planning to make masks optional — about 150 people, including parents and children, marched Sunday along Merrick Road to protest masks in schools.
On CNN Sunday, Fauci said a coronavirus vaccine mandate for eligible students —ages 12 and above — is a "good idea" after one California public school district became the first nationwide to do so.
Fauci, acknowledging "a lot of people will be pushing back against" requiring vaccinations against COVID-19, noted public schools have for decades required students to be inoculated against diseases like polio, measles and mumps.
"This would not be something new, requiring vaccinations for children to come to school," Fauci said on CNN's "State of the Union."
Hochul said she plans to pursue a vaccine requirement for teachers and staff with an option to test weekly instead, a policy similar to one recently announced by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Fauci’s comments came as the delta variant has caused COVID-19 cases to surge nationwide. Unvaccinated patients have accounted for the vast majority of those hospitalized for COVID-19 this summer or who died from the disease, according to health officials.
"What is going on now is both entirely predictable, but entirely preventable," Fauci told CNN, noting 80 million more people are eligible but remain unvaccinated. "We could turn this around and we could do it efficiently and quickly if we just get those people vaccinated."
On Long Island, the seven-day rolling average for positivity in testing was 4.31%. Nassau had 327 new cases, and Suffolk had 467. Eight people died, with four fatalities in each county.
About 53% of Long Island's 2.92 million residents are fully vaccinated, according to data from the state health department and U.S. Census Bureau.
Statewide, more than 2,140 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 and 27 died Saturday, Hochul said.
The U.S. death toll stands at over 637,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.
With James Carbone
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Rachelle Blidner covers Suffolk County government, politics and breaking news.
