A Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) logo is displayed on the side of a subway train in Manhattan, New York on June 2, 2021.
Ed Jones | AFP | Getty Images
New Yorkers are no longer required to wear masks on mass transit, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday.
Hochul said the decision to lift the mandate is based on declining infections, hospitalizations and the availability of new boosters that the target the dominant omicron subvariant BA.5.
“We do believe that we’re in a good place right now, especially if New Yorkers take advantage of this booster. That is how we get back to not just a new normal, but a normal normal, and that is what we’re striving for,” Hochul said during a news conference.
New York instituted mask mandates on public transit more than two years ago when the city was the epicenter of Covid in the U.S. Many New Yorkers started ignoring the mandate in the spring after near universal compliance early in the pandemic.
Masks are still required in nursing homes and hospitals, Hochul said.
New York State Health Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett said the omicron boosters are expected to provide better protection against infection since the shots now match the dominant variant, though there’s no data on the effectiveness of the shots yet.
Covd hospitalizations in New York have declined more than 80% since the peak of the omicron surge in January.
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