WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES FEBRUARY 17, 2022 5
Hochul lets New York business mask mandate expire
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Governor Kathy Hochul announced
she will not extend
her statewide indoor mask
mandate aft er it expired last week
amid receding COVID-19 infection and
hospitalization rates.
Face coverings will still be required
in schools in the coming weeks as
Hochul wants to wait until aft er the
midwinter break to decide on whether
she will make changes to that rule.
“It is indeed a beautiful day here in
New York, as we see the storm clouds
are parting, as are the COVID clouds
parting,” Hochul said during a COVID
briefi ng on Feb. 9.
Local governments and businesses
can continue to keep mask rules if they
so choose, according to Hochul.
Masks will still be required at stateregulated
facilities, including nursing
homes, correctional facilities, homeless
shelters, schools, as well as public
transit and airports.
The governor’s mask-or-vaccine
mandate started on Dec. 13 requiring
people to don face coverings in all public
indoor settings except if businesses
or venues had a vaccine requirement.
The decision by the governor and
the state Department of Health came as
the fi rst cases of the more contagious
Omicron variant of COVID-19 were
detected in New York, fueling a steep
rise in cases and hospitalizations over
the holidays.
Infections rose to more than 90,000
a day in early January and hospitalizations
peaked at north of 12,000 a few
days later, but both numbers have
since dropped to 4,300 cases and 5,000
hospitalizations as of early February,
according to DOH.
Hochul twice extended her mandate’s
deadline to Feb. 10, but the rule
was challenged in court by opponents
who argued that DOH did not have the
authority to implement it.
The state Supreme Court on Long
Island overturned the mandate on Jan.
24, but an appellate court judge put a
stay on the lower court’s decision the
next day as the governor’s administration
sought an appeal.
The current masking requirement
for schools dates back to Hochul’s
fi rst day in offi ce in August and is set
to expire on Feb. 21, at the outset of the
midwinter break.
The governor met with education
and parent leaders in a closed-door
session and she wants to wait until
early March aft er the break before
making the fi nal call on that rule.
The state will send test kits to families
across the state before the break
and Hochul wants kids to get tested
the day aft er they come back and again
three days later.
By the end of the fi rst week back on
Friday, March 4, she will assess the
mask mandate based on positivity rates,
hospitalizations, vaccinations, and
“global trends” of the virus, she said before
making a call on whether to keep it,
saying that there is a “very strong possibility”
she will lift it if trends remain
similar to what they are now.
“Aft er the break, aft er we had kids
tested, we are going to make an assessment
that fi rst week in March based on
all the metrics,” she said.
Photo by Dean Moses
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