New York mask mandate back on starting Monday
NEW YORK — Facing a winter surge in COVID-19 infections, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday that masks will be required in all indoor public places unless the businesses or venues implement a vaccine requirement.
Hochul said the decision to reinstitute a mask mandate was based on the rising number of cases and hospitalizations, which have been especially pronounced in parts of upstate New York.
New York enacted a mask mandate at the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020 that lasted more than a year. The new mask mandate applies to both patrons and staff and will be in effect from Monday to Jan. 15, after which the state will reevaluate.
“We’re entering a time of uncertainty and we could either plateau here or our cases could get out of control,” Hochul warned at a public appearance in New York City.
New York joins several states with similar indoor mask mandates, including Washington, Oregon, Illinois, New Mexico, Nevada and Hawaii.
The state recorded more than 68,000 positive tests for the virus in the seven-day period that ended Wednesday. That’s the most in any seven-day stretch since the start of February. The surge is especially pronounced in some areas of upstate New York, which has accounted for nearly three-fourths of confirmed COVID-19 deaths in hospitals since August.
Short article, no more at link: https://poststar.com/news/local/new-york-mask-mandate-back-on-starting-monday/article_d1f00fc3-11e2-50fc-8912-acfe8518ad6b.html
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There are those who will challenge it in stores and businesses. Back when it was first in effect, and it was enforced, I rarely saw any problems. But now that most people have gotten used to going anywhere without masks, there will invariably be those who will object. The signs on entrances say that they were going with "the honor system," that only the unvaccinated were still required to be masked, but good luck with that. I wish that they hadn't given people 6 months to get used to going maskless (especially during the summer when I saw license plates from as far way as Florida, South Carolina, Alabama and Utah!) but I'm grateful that they finally reinstated it. 
Which was literally packed with tourists - from all over - during the summer. When I drove up north (the main road goes right through the Village), I saw license plates from states as far away as Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah(!) and the people packed the streets with rarely a mask in sight. 
The crowds are gone now and, as of Monday, every entrance of every store, grocery, gas station, etc., has a sign requiring masks to enter, but not everyone is complying yet and I don't know who is expected to enforce the mandate. I stopped at a small grocery late Monday to pick up a couple of things and the only other customer I saw checking out was a maskless woman - and they can't expect the lone girl at the checkout to be the enforcer. 
People got used to wearing masks the first time around, but then came "tourist season." Last year everything was closed down, this summer everything opened with a vengeance. The local paper reports Covid cases - and deaths - for this county and the nearest one (Washington) on the front page and the news is not good. 
