New York lifts mask mandate for public transit, correctional facilities, shelters

ALBANY, N.Y. —- New Yorkers are no longer required, but still encouraged, to wear masks on subway trains, correctional facilities, detention centers and homeless shelters, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday.

Key context: The ending of the state’s facial covering requirement for public transportation and certain congregant settings — some of the last pandemic-era restrictions still in place in the state — comes amid a decline in Covid-19 cases and as the Hochul administration looks to lure more New Yorkers and visitors back to New York City.

The transit mask mandate was one of the last ones in the nation.

Masks, however, must still be worn in health care settings and adult care facilities, including nursing homes. Signs will be posted in transit centers to encourage mask use, but also note they are optional.

What they said: “We have to restore some normalcy to our lives,” Hochul announced during a late-morning event in New York City. “Starting today, the Department of Health will be issuing new guidance regarding masks based on the CDC guidance. Masks will be optional.”

The governor said the decision to lift the mask mandate was based on the stabilization of Covid rates in the state. Health Commissioner Mary Bassett added that nursing homes and health care facilities are still requiring facial coverings due to the risks of Covid spread in such settings.

“This is to protect everyone in a health care facility, where we know there will be people infected,” she said. "The same goes for nursing homes."

Background: The announcement came just one day after Hochul said her administration was considering whether to end the public transportation facial covering requirement. “We’ll be talking about making some announcements on that very shortly,” she told reporters at Penn Station Tuesday when asked if she was considering spiking the mandate.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority still required masks to be worn at indoor train stations and on subways, the commuter rail, buses and paratransit vehicles, even though the state had ended similar mandates for other sectors and compliance with the policy had declined. A court order ended the federal public transportation mask mandate in April. Hochul said at the time that the MTA would still require masks “in accordance with the [Department of Health’s] determination.”

Aside from public transportation conveyances and transportation hubs, the state had required masks to be worn in health care facilities, adult care facilities, correctional facilities and detention centers, and homeless and other shelters.

The announcement Wednesday also comes as the Democratic governor is seeking a full term in November and has been knocked by Republican foes for retaining any Covid safety mandates.

By the numbers: Hochul said her decisions are based on the data, and New York reported a seven-day average of about 19 Covid cases per 100,000 population both statewide and in New York City as of Tuesday — about half of the rates reported just over a month ago.

But while Covid cases have dropped in recent weeks, public health officials have raised concerns that the virus could see a resurgence this fall as it has in previous years.

Hochul urged New Yorkers to get vaccinated and boosted against Covid, and she received her Omicron booster shot Wednesday in front of reporters at Boriken Neighborhood Health Center in New York City to encourage New Yorkers to do the same. The vaccine, which was developed to target Covid’s Omicron subvariants, is now available at local health care providers after being approved by the CDC in recent days.

“Having a booster shot tailored to a specific variant is significant,” she told reporters. “It's the first time that we've been able to achieve that. And that makes me very hopeful that this will be an extraordinarily effective booster shot.”