The director of a New York daycare center lambasted Governor Kathy Hochul Tuesday on “Fox and Friends,” criticizing the state’s sweeping new mask mandate that forces children as young as 2-years-old to wear masks while in a childcare facility.
Michelle Smith, executive director of TLC Adventures in Child Care, told Fox host Brian Kilmeade that the mandate “doesn’t make sense.”
“It’s very difficult to make a 2-year-old comply and wear a mask … I think that there’s a compromise that we can come to at an age, possibly four years old, that understand this,” she continued.
She also expressed concerns that Hochul’s policy is driving away customers. “I have many parents who have decided to withdraw from the facility in the interim, hoping that there’s a change in the government policy,” Smith said. (RELATED: ‘Radical Agenda’: Arizona Attorney General Slams Biden Administration Over School Mask Mandate Threats)
“I have some that are holding out, possibly for a week, and have notified me that if this continues with our 2 and 3-year-olds, they will be withdrawing,” she told Kilmeade. “So it’s a lot of uncertainty for us. … Her mandates are hurting our business and I’m scared for what the future will bring,” Smith added.
She went on to discuss how many of her customers feel that their “rights” as parents “have been taken” and alluded to the devastating effect these mandates have on the mental states of small children and toddlers, saying that there have been “a lot of tears.” (RELATED: MANDEL: End Mask Mandates At School And Give Rights Back To The Parents)
Hochul announced the mask mandate Wednesday. The policy requires that masks be worn at all times inside any childcare facilities regardless of vaccination status.