NY Public Transit Riders no Longer Need to Mask, Gov. Hochul Says

 By Yehudit Garmaise

For the first time since April 17, 2020, New Yorkers will no longer be required to wear masks while riding public transit: effective immediately.

New signs will be displayed throughout the state’s mass transit system so that riders know that while masks are encouraged, they are now considered optional, announced Gov. Kathy Hochul, who added that New Yorkers should take care to respect others’ masking choices.

“While the state’s Health Department continues to look out for [Covid] variants, we do believe we are in good shape right now: especially when New Yorkers [12 and older] take advantage of this booster, said the governor, who received her booster after her announcement.

“For the first time,” Mary Bassett, MD, the state’s health commissioner said, “we have a booster that is tailored to fight off the dominant variant that is circulating.

“Until now, we have gotten a lot of value out of a vaccine that was designed to address the initial variant that was identified in Wuhan, China.

“Now, we have a vaccine that is tailored toward the circulating variant, and we have a lot of confidence this vaccine will bring people a lot more protection.”

Everyone 12 and older who has gotten the first two Covid shots should get boosters, Dr. Bassett said.

“It doesn’t matter how many boosters you have had before. Every two months, New Yorkers should look into getting another shot.”

Too many boosters, however, have proven to be too much for some recipients, who have complained of the shots trigger gout and other inflammatory disorders and auto-immune diseases.

A moderate resolution likely will be one annual Covid shot that is given at the same time as the annual flu shot, White House coronavirus coordinator Ashish Jha said on Tuesday.

Continued Covid boosters, the governor said, are how “We will get back to not just a ‘new normal, but a ‘normal normal,’ and that is for what we are striving.”