Gov. Hochul: New York to implement indoor mask mandate for public places, or require vaccination

[brooklynite]

Source: WUTR

NEW YORK CITY (WROC) — Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday that due to rising COVID-19 rates statewide, masks will be required to be worn in all indoor public places unless businesses or venues implement a vaccine requirement.

“We are entering a time of uncertainty,” Gov. Hochul said Friday morning while speaking at the Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center at Goddard Riverside in New York City. “We can either plateau here or our cases can escalate beyond control. We are heading in an upward direction that I find is no longer sustainable.”

According to state officials, this determination is based on the state’s weekly seven-day case rate as well as increasing hospitalizations. The new business and venue requirements extend to both patrons and staff.

This measure is effective Dec. 13, 2021 until Jan. 15, 2022, after which the state will re-evaluate based on current conditions.

Read more: https://www.cnyhomepage.com/community/health/coronavirus/gov-hochul-new-york-to-implement-indoor-mask-mandate-for-public-places-or-require-vaccination/

[Quakerfriend]

1. Good-but, mask plus proof of vaccination would

be even better.

[Bev54]

4. Exactly, that is what we have in our city in Canada. Require both.

[paleotn]

2. Take note, Governor Scott.

We're trying to do the same here across the lake from NY. But for all of Scott's good points, and their are many, he still labors under the Republican fallacy that people will do the right thing by their own free will. That the vast majority of humans will make rational choices on their own. Sorry, but enough to cause a serious problem simply won't. Thus, the rational among us sometimes have to impose rationality on the rest.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. We have had an indoor mask mandate in place here in Philly

since August. This has generally kept us in the under 5% positivity rate since and even recently, with the uptick, we are now only flirting with the 5% corresponding to the post-Thanksgiving surge, but are still nowhere near the rest of the state that is averaging in the 9% - 10% positivity range (or higher recently).

In fact, there are rumors that we might put in a vaccine mandate for the riskiest spots.

Philly could require proof of vaccination for indoor dining, like New York

by Max Marin and Laura McCrystal
Updated Dec 9, 2021


Philadelphia officials are considering implementing a COVID-19 vaccine mandate at all indoor dining establishments, requiring both patrons and employees to show proof of vaccination, according to two sources briefed on the matter. The proposed mandate would bring Philly closer in line with cities like New York and San Francisco that have required proof of vaccination since August for entry at restaurants and indoor events.

According to sources who were briefed by Philadelphia officials this week, the mandate would likely include standard exemptions for religious and medical reasons, as well as for children under 5. It remains unclear if the proposed change is part of a larger vaccine mandate shake-up, or isolated to restaurants. Sources said restaurant owners had logistical concerns about the mandate. Officials didn’t confirm or deny any information about plans for a mandate.

The policy change, which sources said could be announced next week and take effect later this month, would come as the city faces a surge in new cases of COVID-19 and as the omicron variant spreads across the country. Philadelphia currently has its highest case count since the spring, with an average of 463 new cases per day. There were 366 coronavirus patients in Philadelphia hospitals as of Thursday; that number was fewer than 200 in mid-November.

“The city continues to consider strategies to address rising cases and hospitalizations,” Kevin Lessard, a spokesperson for Mayor Jim Kenney, said Thursday. “We ask the public to continue following the Department of Public Health’s COVID-19 guidance: getting vaccinated and boosted, wearing a mask (and double-masking in crowded and indoor settings), getting tested, and staying home if you’re sick.”

https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-vaccine-mandate-proposal-indoor-dining-events-20211209.html

[Tree-Hugger]

5. And they are doing fine

I no longer live within the city, but I'm here often. My home neighborhood is in Philly Trump country and you'd expect that masks would be an issue. However, every one seems to be doing fine - no fights, no bitching. I'm here several times a week handling bullshit with my dad's estate and I frequent local businesses for hoagie, etc. They're surviving with their mask mandate.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. Even with the few non-compliant and the chin-guard wearers

I think they have found somewhere around 80% compliance at indoors facilities and that has really helped to keep the rates tamped down here.

Sadly, since I live near and often shop in Montgomery County (that has no mask mandate), stepping across the border is like a whole other world of the unmasked. I normally double-mask but I know the next time I go there, I will be moving even faster in and out of the stores there (normally hit a state store, a Wawa, and a supermarket there and also buy gas there - the 2% less sales tax helps).

[Tree-Hugger]

8. I'm in MontCo

We're in a small light blue area....supposedly. Our mask compliance here is sorta okay, but not as good as Philly. We also have a very loud group of moms who are screaming and fighting constantly about their poor children being forced to wear masks in school. 🙄 If we drive just a few miles away it gets redder and less masked. I have friends who work in local hospitals and they are overwhelmed.

Philly has been less stressful in that regard. I truly though my Trump neighborhood would be up in arms and that business owners would be "bravely" defying orders, but I was wrong. They even adjusted quickly to the plastic bag ban. Go Philly!

[BumRushDaShow]

10. "We also have a very loud group of moms who are screaming and fighting constantly"

Those are the idiots following the loon Joe Gale.

Be on guard for real now because the PA state Supreme Court just upheld the lower court ruling about mandating masking in schools (from the state level) - that was the breaking I heard on the radio about 15 minutes ago.

Have been trying to find some news report web link (sigh) but here is the ruling (PDF) - https://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Supreme/out/J-86-2021pco%20-%20104981865154346467.pdf?cb=1

[J- 86-2021] - ORDER
PER CURIAM DECIDED: December 10, 2021

AND NOW, this 10th day of December, 2021, the Commonwealth Court’s decision
is AFFIRMED. This Court’s Order dated November 30, 2021, granting the emergency
application to reinstate the automatic supersedeas, is VACATED.

Opinion to follow.

Justice Saylor did not participate in the consideration or decision of this matter.

ETA2 - Inky finally put up an article -

Pa. Supreme Court strikes down school mask mandate as Wolf administration loses appeal

by Maddie Hanna
Published 18 minutes ago


The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Friday struck down the school mask mandate imposed by the administration of Gov. Tom Wolf, affirming a lower court ruling that said state health officials lacked the authority to set the requirement.

In an order, the high court said it had vacated an order that allowed the mask mandate to remain in place while the Wolf administration appealed the Commonwealth Court ruling. It did not immediately issue an opinion, but promised one would be coming.

During oral arguments Wednesday, some justices seemed skeptical of the administration’s position that masking was a form of “modified quarantine” permitted under existing state law and regulations.

The plaintiffs who brought the case, Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman (R., Centre) and other parents, had argued that Acting Health Secretary Alison Beam erred in not following a formal process to create a new regulation when she imposed the masking requirement this fall.

This is a developing story.

Published Dec. 10, 2021

https://www.inquirer.com/news/pa-school-mask-mandate-supreme-court-lawsuit-20211210.html

I know the mandate was going to "expire" in January (post-holidays) in order to revert to "local" control...

[Tree-Hugger]

11. And you know what's stupid?

Wolf was letting the mandate expire in a few weeks anyway. This is all taxpayer-funded political theater for the GOP.

I am hoping our district holds strong and makes the right decision. Our school board is all blue, but they have received death threats this past year over masks and virtual school.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. Exactly!

Wolf was trying to get the state past what would be a holiday spike (still to come) and then move on from there now that children 5 - 11 can get a vaccine (which is going to take awhile to get them done).

[Cryptoad]

6. Bravo,,,,

Vax or stay at home,,,,,Freedumb!

[Polybius]

9. So the staff at restaurants can still walk around maskless

What utter bullshit.