How in the heck did Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Dr. Howard Zucker, state health commissioner, not see last Friday’s letter regarding mask mandates for schools to the CDC creating a boatload of confusion?

One didn’t need to be the Amazing Kreskin to see the mess Zucker’s letter was going to create, but Cuomo and Zucker sent the letter anyway saying that starting June 7 the state planned to make indoor mask use in schools encouraged, but not required, for students, campers, staff, teachers and counselors who are not vaccinated.

Of course, the letter quickly became public, prompting media outlets across the state to trumpet that the state’s mask mandate was ending on June 7 unless the CDC had data or science that contradicted the state’s new approach. Within 24 hours, school districts were being told by the state Health Department that nothing was actually changing except for outdoor mask wearing –which Cuomo had already announced in a news release earlier on Friday.

For as many times as state residents have heard the state is just “following the science” Zucker’s letter said nothing about why New York wanted to reverse the mask mandate in schools. And, if the state’s change was being driven by youth camps taking place in school buildings, why not just say nothing would change until June 28, when most schools have had their graduation ceremonies and school buildings are closed to the public unless there is a summer camp?

Parents were right to be upset and confused by the confusion Zucker caused this weekend. After more than a year of pandemic governance, there should be no such confusion. Cuomo and Zucker should know by now that words matter. Rather than proving any semblance of competence, all Cuomo and Zucker showed last weekend is they remain part of the gang that can’t shoot straight — and that hardly inspires confidence in any of their future pronouncements.