Fed-up parents tired of the Adams administration blowing them off over the city’s prolonged toddler mask mandate have called on the mayor to address their concerns by next week.
More than 200 fuming parents of toddlers signed on to a letter sent to city officials Thursday requesting a sit-down with Adams and Health Commissioner Ashwin Vassan by May 17.
“We write this letter because our hundreds of phone calls and emails, and our direct requests for meetings, have gone unanswered,” reads the missive, obtained by The Post.
“We are now publicly requesting a meeting, by May 17, with both Mayor Eric Adams and Commissioner Ashwin Vasan to discuss NYC’s Toddler Mask Mandate.”
The families pressed Vassan to follow through on comments he made in a recent Atlantic article that he would be glad to have a “good faith discussion” about the toddler mask mandate.
“We want to review the city’s analysis of how the benefits of covering the faces of babies who are still in diapers outweighs the harms,” read the letter. “We want to know why our young children continue to be masked even as every other resident of this city is given the option to unmask, regardless of vaccination status.”
Adams, in a Thursday night statement, said he’s eager to unmask the youngsters, but only when “the science says it is safe to do so.
“My team of health experts and I will continue to evaluate the data, day after day, and we will continue to communicate with New Yorkers with additional updates,” the mayor added.
Toddlers were set to go mask-optional in childcare and school-based facilities at the start of last month, but the decision was rescinded when cases of COVID-19 began to tick up again in the city.
Since the reverse course, parents have loudly protested the measure that they say puts kids under 5 years old on uneven footing with the rest of New York City students — who have been able to nix their masks since March.
Last week, toddlers were finally permitted to remove their masks outside, off school premises, including in public parks and on outdoor field trips.
The slower pace of rolling back COVID-19 restrictions for toddlers than other groups has put Vassan in the line of fire for parents’ frustrations — including some who have showed up at his home with hammers and baseball bats, he told The Atlantic.
Parents who signed the letter told The Post they are looking for civil dialogue, and blasted the tactic of protesting at the health commissioner’s home.
“We have not been outside Dr. Vasan’s house,” Tara Murphy, a mom and former preschool teacher in the West Village said of herself and the other signatories.
“We just want answers about why we don’t have a choice when the vaccine is not ready,” she said.
“The time is now — every little day counts,” Murphy added, noting her 4-year-old daughter “will have no memory of preschool without a mask.”
“It has become clear that we are masking our children like they are dogs wearing muzzles. The only thing they seem to prevent is kids from biting one another,” she said.
