New York will lift its statewide school mask mandate later this week, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Sunday. “My friends, the day has come,” the governor said, citing the drop in pediatric COVID-19 cases and recent CDC guidance classifying much of New York as “low risk” for infections. She emphasized that the decision to end the mandate on Wednesday, March 2, had been made in consultation with both public health and education officials, and said leaders at the local level would retain the flexibility to impose their own mandates and other measures. Hochul also said parents and guardians could exercise their own judgment in sending their children to school with masks. The state, she added, would not tolerate “any bullying, ostracization, or harassment of any individual who chooses to still wear a mask.” Mayor Eric Adams said hours after Hochul’s statement that New York City’s indoor school mask mandate would remain in place through the end of the week, when officials would “evaluate the numbers and make a final announcement.”