Covid-19: Here's Percentage Of NYers Who Want To Wait Before Lifting School Mask Mandate

Siena College released the results of its latest poll, which found that 58 percent of New Yorkers would rather wait until early March to determine whether or not Gov. Kathy Hochul should lift the school mask mandate.

There is still a divide over the issue, the poll found: 74 percent of Democratic voters support Hochul's plan to keep the mask mandate in place until at least early March, while only 30 percent of Republicans back the move.

Independent voters are split with 54 percent in favor and 44 percent want it to end next week or believe it should have ended already. 

"Waiting to see data from early March before deciding to lift the school mask mandate – as opposed to lifting that mandate as schools reconvene next week or wishing it had been lifted previously – is how the majority of New Yorkers would like to proceed,” Siena College pollster Steven Greenberg said.

“The majority of virtually every demographic group agrees, though not Republicans and conservatives, who wish the mandate had ended already.”

Comparatively, 30 percent of New Yorkers said the mandate should have been lifted already, 10 percent wanted to wait until winter break was over for schools.

A total of 45 percent said the mandate should remain in place, while 31 percent said it should have ended earlier and 20 percent said it happened at the right time.

Greenberg added that, "while nearly two-thirds of voters without children at home support waiting for March data to decide on the school mask mandate, state and school officials face a ‘lose/lose’ proposition with their constituents most closely affected by this decision – regardless of the decision – since voters with children under 18 in their household are closely divided between waiting for data to decide and masks should have been off already."

The complete Siena College poll can be found here.

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