Face coverings are no longer required in mass transit after Governor Kathy Hochul lifted the nearly two-and-a-half-year-old COVID-19 pandemic mask mandate Wednesday.
The governor kept the rule up for four months after a federal judge struck down the order for masks in transit on a national level in April.
“We have to restore some normalcy to our lives,” the governor said during a COVID briefing in East Harlem on Sept. 7. “Masks are encouraged but optional.”
Hochul shifted the state’s public health guidance to a focus on individual choice, noting that New Yorkers should remain respectful of straphangers who still opt to still don the coverings.
