Gov. Kathy Hochul appeared to soften her “mask-or-vax” stance Friday and hinted the edict could be lifted or altered for New York businesses next week amid plummeting COVID-19 infection rates.
The current mask order for businesses expires on Feb. 10. The mask mandate for schools expires on Feb. 21.
“We’ll be making some announcements in the short term as we see the numbers progressing,” Hochul said during a press briefing in Kingston.
Hochul is said to make an announcement this week ahead of the February 10th deadline.
Omicron numbers continue to decline dramatically over the last several weeks.
Today we’re seeing the lowest percent positivity since omicron was named a variant of concern: 3.52%!
This is great news in our fight against the virus, but we need to stay vigilant. Mask up, get tested, and if you haven’t yet, get vaccinated and boosted. https://t.co/ufSRDUYI0b
— Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) February 6, 2022
Meanwhile in NJ, Governor Phil Murphy is expected to announce today that he is lifting New Jersey’s school mask mandate starting next month. Murphy plans to announce that mandate will be lifted starting the second week of March. This is likely to give an added push for Governors like Kathy Kochul to want to do the same.
School mandates are also due to expire this week in Connecticut.
County Executive Bruce Blakeman once again pushed back and remains hopeful that the mandates will in fact expire. “Let children be children again! That’s my message to Gov. Hochul. She must lift student mask mandates this week, return personal decision-making and restore childhoods”.
