Even Dr. Anthony Fauci now says COVID’s “pandemic phase” is over. Here in the city, cases, hospitalizations and deaths are falling after a tiny recent uptick.

So it’s even more clearly than ever time to liberate the last group of New Yorkers still forced to wear masks: schoolchildren under 5. 

That they have been forced to wear masks at all up to now is nothing short of monstrous. These kids have lowest COVID risk of all age groups. Of 991,000-plus US COVID deaths since the pandemic began, only 126 have been 1- to 4-year-olds, typically tots with significant comorbidities. 

Nor have schools ever been significant vectors of transmission. Months of consistent data show this. Mayor Eric Adams himself has repeatedly admitted it’s true. 

And there’s zero data to indicate that broad-scale mask mandates have done any good against COVID.

Masks also do real, and likely lasting, damage to little kids. The Post’s own reporting shows younger students across the city suffering from emotional and learning problems as a result of constant masking.

Even our worse-than-useless CDC admits that not letting kids see faces is bad in its (insanely still not updated) masking guidance for early-childhood education. “To facilitate learning and social and emotional development,” it advises, “consider having staff wear a clear mask or cloth mask with a clear panel when interacting with young children.” 

Adams claims he is “at the mercy” of his health team on unmasking toddlers; he’s standing by the advisers who backed him up when he kept all schools open despite the surge in January.

But why does health czar Ashwin Vasan want to keep young kids masked indefinitely? He claims he’s just being a scientist — yet this flies in the face of what the science actually says. 

Nothing justifies forcing kids that young to mask. This is simply cruelty to the powerless. 

Just do it, Mr. Mayor: Free all the smiles.