What to Know
- One of the last mask mandates in force for New York will come to an end this weekend, just before the three-year anniversary of when the first known cases of COVID-19 were detected in the state.
- State health officials announced Friday the end of mandatory masks and face coverings inside health care facilities effective February 12. The updated guidance, they said, is in line with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Facilities such as nursing homes, hospitals, home health care agencies and hospices, and diagnostic and treatment centers had been required to enforce mask use.
NEW YORK — One of the last mask mandates in effect for New York will come to an end this weekend, just before the three-year anniversary of when the first known cases of COVID-19 were detected in the state.
State health officials announced Friday the end of mandatory masks and face coverings inside health care facilities effective February 12. The updated guidance, they said, is in line with recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“The pandemic is not over, but we are moving toward a transition. As we do, and with safer and more effective vaccines, treatments, and more, we can eliminate the state’s requirement for mask use in healthcare settings as operators now they develop and implement their own facility-specific plans, consistent with federal CDC guidance and the level of transmission in their areas,” Acting State Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said in a statement.
Facilities such as nursing homes, hospitals, home health care agencies and hospices, and diagnostic and treatment centers had been required to enforce mask use.
In Friday’s announcement, the state notes that an increase in transmission could trigger the return of mandatory masking if recommended by the CDC.
Few, if any, mask mandates remain in or out of state as lawmakers roll back protections as the pandemic prepares to enter a fourth year.
On the same day as the state’s announcement, New York City’s vaccination mandate for city workers was expiring. His policy, one of the strictest in the country, no longer requires vaccinations for incoming workers.
