PATERSON, NJ – Paterson school district officials held a press conference inside International High School on Wednesday to stress the importance of masking up students in the new year.
Except, the officials were unmasked to deliver the message from inside the school.
When confronted by ABC News about why they took their masks off, one official said, because he’s boosted.
“Well, I took it off to speak,” Paterson’s Chief Health Officer Doctor Paul Persaud said, defending his action. “And I’m boosted.”
The CDC has confirmed COVID-19 vaccines and booster shots do not limit the spread of the virus, only that they can reduce the seriousness of the infection.
“I took it off to speak,” he added. “And we’re six feet apart.”
Persaud said the pandemic was not over, despite Governor Phil Murphy and President Joe Biden both declaring the pandemic as being over.
“The mindset that the pandemic is over…it’s not,” he said.
In March of 2022, Murphy declared the pandemic is now an endemic.
Paterson school children are now required to wear facemasks in school as of the start of the new year.