NEW YORK — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul issued a statewide mask mandate on Friday, ordering face coverings in all New York businesses that do not require proof of vaccination, as the state grapples with a winter wave of cases that continues to stretch hospitals thin.
The mandate will enter force on Monday and last for at least a month, according to the governor’s office, and impact all public indoor spaces that lack the proof-of-jab measures.
It comes amid a pre-holiday surge in cases, and after the arrival of the fast-spreading omicron strain that has rippled across southern Africa and Europe.
Since Thanksgiving, the state’s seven-day average of cases has spiked by more than 40%, and hospitalizations have climbed by almost one-third, according to state data.
“I have warned for weeks that additional steps could be necessary, and now we are at that point based upon three metrics: Increasing cases, reduced hospital capacity, and insufficient vaccination rates in certain areas,” Hochul said in a statement.
After the discovery of omicron in New York a week ago, Hochul had faced scattered calls for a mask mandate. She shied away from the measure, instead focused on urging New Yorkers to get immunized and boosted with an extra shot.
But the rising tide of cases and increasingly packed hospital wings shifted the governor’s thinking. Western and northern sections of the state have been hit particularly hard by the wave.
“I share many New Yorkers’ frustration that we are not past this pandemic yet,” she said in a statement. “I want to thank the more than 80 percent of New Yorkers who have done the right thing to get fully vaccinated. If others will follow suit, these measures will no longer be necessary.”
____
