Studying mask class

Hochul talks of mandates in visit to Qns.

Public schools in New York State may yet see a mask-wearing mandate for the start of the academic year, said Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul while visiting a school in Corona, Queens, on Wednesday.

Hochul, who’s set to become the state’s top executive following Gov. Cuomo’s sudden resignation last week, said the state Health Department has the power to call for mandatory mask usage at public schools.

That appeared to mark a shift from her previous comments emphasizing she supports such a measure, but doesn’t have the power to implement it on her own.

“Mask mandates is something that the Department of Health has the authority to call for. They have that authority now, and I will assess whether or not we’ll know whether that’s been called for,” Hochul told reporters during a visit to an elementary school.

“But I believe that we’ll need mask mandates for children to go back to schools, and that’ll have to be universal and be statewide,” she added.

Mayor de Blasio has said he plans to keep a mask mandate for all students and teachers when public schools reopen on Sept. 13.

On congestion pricing — a proposal to charge drivers for entering Manhattan from 60th St. to the Battery — Hochul remained noncommittal.

She said she’s meeting with the MTA to discuss the issue.

De Blasio has bristled at the MTA’s claims it will take 16 months to do a required environmental assessment of congestion pricing, which the state Legislature passed in 2019. The policy was intended to generate hundreds of millions of dollars for the struggling subway system.

Congestion pricing had been expected to come up when Hochul met with the mayor on Tuesday.

At a Wednesday press conference at City Hall, Hizzoner praised his conversation with Hochul as “sane,” implying a contrast with Cuomo, with whom de Blasio feuded for years.

The incoming governor smiled when told of the remark at the PS 143 Louis Armstrong elementary school.

“I think we’re going to have different approaches,” Hochul said, comparing herself to Cuomo. “And I’m just really honored that the mayor called me sane. That’s good.”

Incoming Gov. Kathy Hochul (right) joins city Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter (left) at Public School 143 in Queens on Wednesday. She said the state has the authority to issue a mask mandate for schools, but she has not yet committed to that move.