Mask mandate

A lawsuit brought against the Riverhead school district in 2022, complaining that the district's mask mandate violated students' civil rights, has been discontinued.

As long as a health care facility is located in a county where COVID-19 community transmission levels are not high, health care facilities may eliminate mask requirements, according to the new state guidance, which follows guidance already established by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Riverhead Central School District has been sued by two parents for requiring students to wear masks in schools after a Nassau judge last January ruled the State Health Department’s mask mandate “null, void and unenforceable as a matter of law.” The ruling never took effect due to an appellate court stay pending the state's appeal and was later made moot when the state lifted the mandate after the winter COVID surge subsided.