Riverhead schools will return to ‘mask optional’ as soon as governor lifts school mandate: superintendent tells families

Following long-awaited new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control Friday on when Americans should wear masks to protect themselves against COVID-19, the Riverhead school superintendent said the district will return to a “mask optional“ policy as soon as the governor lifts the universal mask mandate for K-12 schools in New York.

“My intention is to have the district revert back to mask optional when the governor lifts the mandate,“ Riverhead School Superintendent August Tornatore told district families in a recorded phone call Friday. “We will continue to seek guidance from the state regarding COVID-19 protocols when the district reverts back to mask optional,” Tornatore said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul in a statement Friday night said state health officials are evaluating the CDC’s new guidance and will update the state on “potential changes” to the school mask mandate resulting from the new guidance.

Hochul, who earlier this month lifted the mask requirement for indoor public spaces, extended the mask mandate in schools until after the winter break. That would allow health officials the opportunity to reevaluate COVID-19 infection levels when students return to school, Hochul said.

The CDC’s new guidance is based on key metrics at a county level, including COVID hospitalization rates, local hospital capacity and community immunity levels based on vaccination or prior infection. Using those metrics, the CDC designates individual counties as low, medium or high risk from COVID-19.

Under the new metrics, Suffolk County is currently designated low risk. (Check county risk levels.)

In low-risk counties, individuals should wear a mask based on their personal preference, informed by their personal level of risk, the CDC’s guidance states.

Where a county is designated as medium risk, individuals who are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe illness should talk to their healthcare providers about additional precautions, such as wearing masks or respirators indoors in public.

In medium-risk counties, those who live with or have social contact with someone at high risk for severe illness should consider testing themselves for infection before getting together and wearing a mask when indoors with them, the CDC said.

In counties where the risk is high, people should wear a well-fitting mask indoors in public, regardless of vaccination status or individual risk, including in K-12 schools and other community settings, the CDC’s new guidance said.

People in high-risk counties who are immunocompromised or at high risk for severe illness should wear a mask or respirator that provides them with greater protection, the CDC said.

Regardless of a county’s risk designation, people with symptoms, a positive test, or exposure to someone with COVID-19 should wear a mask, the CDC said.

Under the new CDC guidance, about 63% of U.S. counties — home to more than 70% of Americans — are currently designated low or medium risk.

In New York State, 33 counties, including all counties in the Long Island, New York City and Mid-Hudson regions, are currently designated low risk, according to the CDC website.

Eighteen counties in New York are designated medium risk: Broome, Cayuga, Chautauqua, Chemung, Cortland, Erie, Essex, Genesee, Jefferson, Lewis, Livingston, Niagara, Onondaga, Orleans, Rensselaer, Schuyler, Steuben and Wyoming,

Eleven N.Y. counties are currently in the high-risk category: Clinton, Franklin, Monroe, Ontario, Oswego, Seneca, St. Lawrence, Tioga, Tompkins, Wayne and Yates counties.