So we had a mask or vax requirement for businesses. It was an emergency temporary measure put in place literally two months ago and at this time we say that is the right decision to lift this mandate for indoor businesses and let counties, cities and businesses to make their own decisions on what they want to do with respect to mask or the vaccination requirement given the declining cases, given declining hospitalizations. That is why we feel comfortable to lift this in effect tomorrow. And I want to thank all the businesses and the county leaders and the health departments in places as far away as Erie County who did the right thing to help us get through this. I believe this has made a huge difference and it gives also patrons of businesses the comfort to know that they are safe when they went to these stores during our most vulnerable time when we saw those numbers literally off the charts and now those numbers are coming down and it is time to adapt. However, we want to make sure that every business knows this is your prerogative and individuals who want to continue wearing masks continue wearing masks. And I suspect when I walked the streets of new york city as I often do, I'm still going to see a lot of people wearing masks because they will feel safer. That is something that they are very, very welcome and encouraged to do. But in terms of having a requirement, it is being lifted as of tomorrow and so thank you to the business owners. It wasn't easy. You're always, I walked in a lot of restaurants showing here in new york city, my vaccination card and I just want to thank all of them, you know, for everything they did their part of the new york story and our response to this pandemic. They are an example of what leadership even in their own lives and in their own communities looks like and they stepped up and some of them, it wasn't pleasant. But I want to thank them because because of them, we were able to lift this at this time. Again, I will always always retain the flexibility to make adjustments if necessary. You know how I operate. I'm looking at data, looking at trends, looking at everything that's out there. But I also want to deal with the reality that we have a very good picture that has been painted over the last few weeks and particularly as we are approaching the expiration date of this temporary measure that's been in place now literally for two months. So let's talk about some places where it's still in effect. We are still going to continue for now. The requirement that state regulated healthcare facilities, I think that's very obvious of why we want to make sure our healthcare facilities are safe. Uh, there would be adult care facilities, nursing homes, correctional facilities, schools and childcare centers and I'll be talking about that in a minute, homeless shelters, domestic violence shelters as well as bus and train stations. Um, the federal government regulates the airports, the airplanes and trains like Amtrak's. So that is still under their jurisdiction, but also just know that those are more concentrated areas as well as the areas where people, we believe people are most vulnerable. I wanted to know this pandemic is not over, It is not over. That is why we're still gonna maintain protections for vulnerable populations in areas where people are very concentrated because I want people to feel safe. I want people to still feel safe when they come into the cities and go to their jobs that they're not going to contract this virus. And you're gonna hear a little bit about this from dr bass in a couple minutes, but a day doesn't go by where someone doesn't tell me they're also experiencing long covid long haul covid and this is devastating for people who want to get back to work. But I just have so many symptoms, they cannot. So so I want to just strike the right balance here and let people know that the time in our judgment based on all these metrics is correct to lift it for the requirement for businesses. But also there are vulnerabilities that we need to continue to protect until further progress is made. So that's important to know. Now ask me the most common question I get asked in the state of new york. I think enough when our school mask coming off, let's talk a little bit about history here, Located on August 17, 1 week before I was sworn in as your governor, I knew I needed to hear from the education field. I spoke to PTS school superintendents, principals, all the leaders, the leaders of the representatives of the teachers, parents, everybody, I said at the time and this was august, there was still talk that there were schools in our state and school districts, they were going to continue remote. I said, no, no, we have to get our Children back in schools. We went to that experiment. It served a limited purpose to keep some educational engagement going during the worst, worst months of this pandemic. But now we had started having vaccines available starting that summer for older kids. The numbers were looking better. And I said that these kids based on all the experts I've been talking to need to be back in a safe learning environment because the mental health effects and the isolation and the depression and all the other collateral damage that our students went through. We need to start healing and help the teachers who went through hell and back to do the very best they could while their own kids are being uh, learning at home on the kitchen table and they're trying to teach a classroom And the parents, everybody went through a lot and I said, what is the best way we can get our kids back in school and keep them open. Even though other parts of the country, they were thrown in the towel and saying, well, we'll just leave them all remote. We couldn't do that here in the state of new york. We value our kids, we value education. And I said, we have to make sure our schools are open. So after consulting with all these people, part of that whole education ecosystem, we decided that the safest way for the students, the teachers, the administrators, everyone who is part of that system. The safest way for them to return to school was to have a mask requirement. That's what we talked about before I was governor. We instituted in my first day in office and said that the era of remote learning is over except in extraordinary circumstances. And that was the whole genesis behind the mask mandate. So keeping kids safe, keeping them in school, that's still a priority. You know, it was just over the december holidays right afterwards you saw in places like Chicago, everybody's saying it has to be remote. We have to stay remote. No, we were smart, we got test kids out to everybody. We haven't, we gave an opportunity, people to find out who may be positive before they came back from break. We've been using really smart practices here to say no in new york state, our schools are open, so that's going to continue to be a priority. So what we want to do, we know there's another break coming up. Most of the public school students in the state. Uh, we'll be back the week after February 28 after they've had their winter break. Some of them may be traveling to other states, may be going to Disney World. I'm not sure where they're going, but they won't be in class for at least a week, 10 day period. So let's talk about when the kids come back even before that, let's make sure that there's test kits and we're giving them out right now. And I'm gonna talk about the extraordinary number of test kits we've amassed in a very short time, more than any state in the nation. And what are we doing with them? Getting them out to schools, getting them to parents get in the hands of people that can find out whether a child is positive before they come back. And that's how we stop the spread. So after this break, parents will have test kits for their Children. We want them to test the day after they come back and again three days later and let the school know if your child tests positive, keep them home. But by that friday, just a few days after the Children come back, we'll be able to look at those numbers, but not just those numbers. We're gonna be looking at everything we've looked at throughout this entire process that actually led us to today. We're gonna look at the cases per 100,000. We're gonna look at the percent positivity. We'll also keep an eye on hospital admissions and even pediatric admissions. What's happening with them? Are they continuing to decline? Which is a very good metric right now. Look at our vaccinations. It's just one of many factors to look at as well as we are going to be watching the global trends. We were forewarned about omicron the last time Throughout the fall. If you remember, even New York City's numbers were about 1% the entire fall and all of a sudden thanksgiving came a week later and it all broke loose. I'm not saying that's gonna happen. I pray it does not happen. But I do know that it would be negligent on our part not to be watching closely what is happening elsewhere as we calculate the best way to keep our Children in school and safe. Therefore after the break, after we had kids tested, we are going to make an assessment that first week in March based on all the metrics I've just described to you and look at that combined picture. There will not be one number that says yes or no is going to be an assessment of all these factors that have guided us throughout, guided us to the decision we made today and that will give me the comfort as well as the conversations I had yesterday. Uh just on a zoom call talking again. The school superintendents principals P. T. A. Leaders called all the teachers administrators, everybody who's part of that system. We solicited their input, their advice and I believe that they felt comfortable with this approach, that it's not reactive, it is thoughtful. It is based on everything we've been doing since day one and we've done it successfully.