Kathy Hochul, governor of New York, is in New York to speak at a news conference.
Unless the businesses or venues already have a vaccine requirement in place, Kathy Hochul announced a statewide mask mandate for all indoor public places.
The state will assess its effectiveness based on Covid-19 conditions after the new mandate goes into effect.
Civil and criminal penalties will be brought with a maximum fine of $1000 for each violation. The mandate will be enforced by local health departments.
The governor has been fighting the spread of the new variant of omicron, which has been confirmed in at least 20 cases across the state. During the holiday season when family and friends are spending more time indoors, the measure serves as an added layer of mitigation.
Hochul said in a press release that he was taking temporary measures to accomplish this. We shouldn't have reached the point where we are confronted with a winter surge, especially with the vaccine at our disposal, and I share many New Yorkers' frustration that we are not past this pandemic yet.
According to the press release, the decision was based on the state's weekly seven-day case rate and increasing hospitalization numbers. The statewide seven-day average has gone up by 43% and hospitalizations have gone up by 29% since Thanksgiving.
More than 80% of New Yorkers have been fully vaccined, thanks to a 2% increase in state vaccination rates since the Thanksgiving weekend. She noted that the tick is not fast enough to completely curb the spread of the virus, particularly among communities with low vaccination coverage.
Hochul said in the press release that he warned for weeks that additional steps could be necessary, and that the mask mandate would no longer be necessary.
