Indoor Mask Mandate Could Be Back In New York

As positive cases of COVID-19 increase across the country, we could see the return of the indoor mask mandate here in New York.

We are already seeing the return of the indoor mask mandate in one major US city. As of next week, Philadelphia will require all residents to wear masks indoors at all restaurants, shops, offices, and other indoor public spaces. The city health department announced that businesses can opt to require proof of vaccination instead of requiring masks but they would have to enforce that policy themselves.

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New York State lifted the state's indoor mask policy for businesses this past February but the Governor stated that the state could re-instate the policy again if positive cases of COVID-19 increase across the state.

This past week there have been 3,666 positive cases of COVID-19 across the state out of 86,815 cases. Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 5,023,691 positive cases of COVID-19 in New York State.

There are several different variants of COVID-19 and according to the New York State's COVID-19 website, between March 27 and April 2, 2022, the CDC’s program for HHS Region 2 estimated 100% of samples were the Omicron variant.

There was a spike in positive cases in January and we are seeing a slight increase in positive cases across the state since the start of April.

The New York Department of Health still recommends that everyone get the COVID-19 vaccine and the booster if possible. Currently, anyone over the age of 50 or people with autoimmune issues can get a 2nd booster shot.

See where you can get the COVID-19 vaccine in New York HERE.