Statement From Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay

“Ending the school mask mandate is welcome news and an overdue victory for children and parents. It’s taken Gov. Hochul far too long to arrive at this decision. Minority members were calling for this step to be taken weeks ago, when other states had already started to unmask children and after the state Supreme Court struck down the mandate.

New York will always do better when common sense dictates policy and decision making, rather than politics.

While unnecessarily delayed, this decision is a positive development in our road back to normalcy, and I look forward to the end of mandates as New York continues to move forward.”