New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Tuesday that masks for 2-4-year-old kids will be optional in schools and daycares starting April 4, but he said that the private sector vaccine mandate, which is impacting professional athletes in the city, remains for now.
“Right now, we’re going to take some complaints. But when this is all said and done, people are going to realize this is a thoughtful administration and we got it right. So, baseball, basketball, businesses, all of those things, they have to wait until that layer comes. And right now, we’re announcing just our 2-4-year-olds,” Adams said at a press conference on Tuesday.
“Believe it or not, a lot of our businesses, they love the mandates,” Adams continued. “When I speak to a lot of my businesses, getting people back into the office, that mandate is allowing them to feel safe in the office. For those who feel they would rather the vaccine mandate to be in place. But again, we’re going to do it in layers. And when we feel that it’s the right time to look at that — if we do so at all — because the work environment is an important environment. We’re going to make that determination. We’re not there yet.”
Nets, Yanks, Mets fans – based on this from a few mins ago from @NYCMayor, doesn’t look good for unvaxed to play
“If we feel it’s the right time to look at that…if we do so AT ALL…we will make that determination. We are not there yet”
He also says many biz like the mandates pic.twitter.com/0CuYYwni83
— Gunz (@TheGunzShow) March 22, 2022
Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving has been unable to play in Nets home games for the entirety of the 2021-2022 NBA season, and unvaccinated members of the Yankees and the Mets will not be allowed to play in their home market during the 2022 MLB regular season.
On Monday, Brooklyn All-Star Kevin Durant said that Irving was “frustrated” about his inability to play in Brooklyn’s home games. The Nets have 10 games remaining in their regular season, in which Irving will only be allowed to play in three games.
“He’s frustrated in not being able to play,” Durant said, according to ESPN. “He figured this stuff would be rolled back by now, we’d be way past this. But it’s the situation we’re in, we got to deal with it, he’s got to deal with it. Trusting that it’ll get figured out there soon. I have no clue what may happen, but I’m just trusting that things will work itself out. But I’m sure he misses playing in front of a home crowd and the home crowd, vice versa, they miss him. So hopefully we get it figured out soon.”
Last week, Durant teed off on Adams, calling on the mayor to “figure this out” when it comes to Irving’s plight.
“It’s ridiculous,” Durant said, “I don’t understand it at all. There’s a few people in our arena that’s unvaxxed, right? They lifted all of that in our arena, right? So I don’t get it … I don’t get it. It just feels like at this point now, somebody’s trying to make a statement or a point to flex their authority. But everybody out here is looking for attention and that’s what I feel like the mayor wants right now, is some attention. But he’ll figure it out soon. He better.”
“But it just didn’t make any sense,” Durant continued. “There’s unvaxxed people in this building already. We got a guy who can come in the building, I guess, are they fearing our safety? I don’t get it. We’re all confused. Pretty much everybody in the world is confused at this point. Early on in the season people didn’t understand what was going on, but now it just looks stupid. So hopefully, Eric, you got to figure this out.”
Brooklyn’s title chances will take a major hit if Irving is only allowed to be a part-time player come playoff time. The Nets are currently in the 8th spot in the Eastern Conference, winners of six of their last seven games.
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers, and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].