New York Will Require Masks At All Indoor Businesses That Don’t Have Vaccine Requirement

Gov. Kathy Hochul announced new COVID measures for New York Friday, implementing an indoor mask mandate for all businesses who don’t have a vaccine requirement in place, as the state encounters its most significant viral uptick in months across all core metrics (remember when the media made fun of Florida for this… good times). Refusing to comply with Friday’s order comes with a possible fine up to $1,000.

It comes a day after the Democrat announced nearly three dozen upstate New York hospitals had to suspend non-essential elective procedures to secure bed capacity, part of what she described as a preemptive strike to “fight this impending surge.”

According to NBC New York, starting Monday, patrons and staff across the state will be required to wear a mask at businesses and venues wear vaccines are not required for entry. This newest mandate, designed to combat increased virus spread at a time when people are spending more time indoors, will be in place through Jan. 15 when the state plans to re-evaluate its effectiveness.

Hochul cited the state’s increasing cases, decreasing hospital bed capacity and low vaccination rates in her decision to implement an updated statewide mandate. She said the state’s vaccination rate is not rising fast enough to match the spike in hospitalizations and infections — the number of New Yorkers fully vaccinated since Thanksgiving has risen by 2%, whereas the seven-day case rate and hospitalizations since the holiday are up 43% and 29%, respectively.

COVID-19 hospitalizations across the state – where 70% of the population are fully vaccinated – are at their highest levels since late April and have soared 86% in the last month alone, the latest data shows. Hochul and “health experts” say that’s a reflection of the still omnipresent grip of delta, which accounts for 99% of all genetically sequenced positive samples in New York — and the nation — and has been scientifically linked to more severe cases of infection.

Daily COVID deaths in the state topped 50 (54) on Thursday for the first time in months, while the daily caseload topped 12,400 for the first time since late January. The latter increase could be reflective of omicron’s spread throughout the state. Hochul and New York City leaders have said community transmission appears to be well underway. While just 20 cases statewide have been detected so far (13 of them in New York City), officials believe the actual number is significantly higher.

Those across-the-board upticks combined with the looming threat of holiday-related spikes warrant intense, early action, Hochul said.

The previously announced order to suspend elective surgeries is designed to ease capacity strains on hospitals as COVID-19 cases surge. It only applies to hospitals that have less than 10% bed capacity available, many of which are in areas where Hochul says lower vaccination rates correlate with the higher, concerning metrics.

“We continue to see an uptick in hospitalizations and this is a trend. You can draw a direct correlation between vaccination rates in an area and the number of hospitalizations,” Hochul said Thursday. “And we know it’s the indoors, the colder temperatures, but also the areas where people are more likely to be vaccinated.”

Hochul said the state will reassess the surgery pauses on Jan. 15 because she doesn’t want to order long-term changes in protocol without an end date or a set time to reevaluate the situation.