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Gov. Kathy Hochul has scrapped the mask-wearing edict for anyone entering hospitals and nursing homes — evidence that health officials believe that the deadly COVID-19 pandemic has faded as a strong public health threat.
“We are in a period of transition … COVID is a treatable, preventable disease,” said acting state Health Commissioner James McDonald in announcing the change.
The mask mandate for health facilities is over, effective this Sunday, Feb. 12.
McDonald on Thursday told members of the state policymaking board — the Public Health and Health Planning Council — that he would not ask them to vote to renew the mask-wearing mandate as a public health emergency rule, as officials had in the past.
“It allows us to shift from blanket mandates to an approach in which we provide people with the information and tools they need to protect themselves,” McDonald said. “We’ve given health care facilities and the general public the information they need to protect themselves.”
The mandate covered staff, patients and visitors in hospitals and nursing homes and other medical facilities — regardless of vaccination status.
McDonald said COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths are steadily dropping nearly three years after the devastating initial outbreak, and after the Omicron variant walloped New York a year ago.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lifted its masking guidance for health care facilities last fall.
McDonald is urging operators of medical facilities to follow CDC guidance and craft their own rules for mask-wearing based on case levels.
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The health care industry is on board.
“We are not opposed to the mask mandate expiring. New York’s hospitals are well prepared to use their vast expertise and experience to make masking decisions that are in the best safety interests of their patients and workforce,” said Greater NY Hospital Association spokesman Brian Conway. “And they’ll make those decisions on a daily basis based on a variety of factors, including community transmission rates.”
“Ending the mask mandate was overdue,” said Vivian Zayas, co-founder of Voices for Seniors, a group that advocates for nursing home residents.
The elimination of the mask-wearing mandate in health care facilities was first reported by Politico.
Both the state and city also had already eliminated COVID-19 vaccination requirements.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced this week the end of the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for municipal workers, and is giving employees who were fired for refusing to get jabbed an opportunity to reapply for their jobs starting today — albeit without back pay and no guarantees of any seniority or returning to the same post..
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