Children in New York City showed great joy on Monday after being able to behold the full faces of their smiling pals for the first time in years.
“It was surprising to see my classmates without a mask,” said a Stuyvesant High School student named Tasnim. “You see them in a new light. When you see only the top of their face it becomes part of their personality.”
As New York City dropped a mask mandate for kindergarten through 12th graders, many students ripped their masks off. However, some students chose to keep their facial coverings.
In other to split the difference, some children cautiously tucked their masks under their chins.
“People have been gearing up for this for a while saying ‘What do you look like without your mask?’” said a Stuyvesant freshman. “It’s been a whole thing for the past two weeks.”
Students at PS 165 on the Upper West Side brightened their beautiful faces on Monday under an unseasonably warm winter sun.
An 8-year-old kid, Noah Vera, marveled at his maskless friends and joyfully said “It was nice to see each other’s faces again,” he said. The removal of masks has hugely improved communication across the board, another student said.
Another 8-year-old student, Meison Horie, also observed that “You can actually breathe when you’re playing in the playground and it’s much easier to talk to your friends and teachers.” Horie said she began wearing a mask in first grade and ever since then, she has been waiting for the rule to change.
Roughly one out of ten kids opted to keep their masks on, a survey of the PS 165 playground showed.
A 9-year-old student, Kalei Olaes, said about three out of twelve kids chose to still wear masks in his class and that their choices were respected, according to the New York Post.
