NYC parents file lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court to overturn school mask mandate for children under 5 as city drops ALL vaccine mandates and face coverings for children over the age of five
- About a dozen New York City parents plan to file a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court today seeking to overturn the mask mandate for children under 5
- The mandate was the only Big Apple coronavirus restriction not lifted last week, when Mayor Eric Adams that public school students over 5 could ditch masking
- The parents plan to argue in court that the city must pass a law justifying the need to continue the mandate for children under 5
A group of frustrated New York City parents plan to file a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court today seeking to overturn the mask mandate for children under 5, which was the only coronavirus restriction that the Big Apple didn’t lift last week.
Mayor Eric Adams confirmed last Wednesday that the United States’ most populous city would remove its mandates requiring masks for public school children aged five and proof of vaccination to dine out or enter entertainment venues.
About a dozen parents from throughout the five boroughs plan to argue in court that the city must pass a law justifying the need to continue requiring such a ‘harmful’ mandate, reported the New York Daily News reported.
‘These aren’t just dress-code policies that have no impact on someone’s life. For many of us, this is something we find harmful for our children. We want to have the choice whether to do it or not,’ the group’s attorney, Michael Chessa, told the news outlet.
About a dozen New York City parents plan to file a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court today seeking to overturn the mask mandate for children under 5
The parents plan to argue in court that the city must pass a law justifying the need to continue the mandate for children under 5
Mayor Eric Adams confirmed last Wednesday that the United States’ most populous city would remove its mandates requiring masks for public school children aged five and proof of vaccination to dine out or enter entertainment venues
‘If the Department of Health sees fit to put these into place, then they have to bring them to the City Council and the City Council has to say, “OK, we’re going to pass these city laws,” ‘ added Chessa, who is a former Brooklyn assistant district attorney.
The change in mask policy came last week, as the infection rate in the city plummeted to 671 cases a day. That is an 11.6% drop from the week before, with just 1.8% of all tests now coming back positive. The school positivity rate is 0.18%, Adams said Friday.
The decision to force children under 5 to continue wearing masks comes even though just 307 children aged between 0 and four have died of COVID in the whole of the US since the pandemic began in spring 2020, according to the latest CDC data.
Chessa, who has a 3-year-old daughter and 15-year-old boy in public schools, said that he and the parents joining the lawsuit are not against wearing masks.
‘Nothing I am doing is anti-mask. All I am doing is pro-choice. I am just pushing this so that parents have the choice to do what they want,’ he told the New York Daily News.
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