December, 2021: MTA Chief Customer Officer Sarah Meyer, NYC Transit Interim President Craig Cipriano and MTA Chief Safety Officer Patrick Warren handing out free masks to customers in the subway system. Photo credit: Jessie Mislavsky / MTA
Governor Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday that “Starting today, masks will be optional in some places where they had previously been required, including on mass transit.”
This message was echoed by the MTA itself, which shared some signage you can expect to see on your forthcoming commutes:
Beginning today, masks are encouraged but optional on @NYCTSubway, @NYCTBus, @LIRR and @MetroNorth. pic.twitter.com/BMOea8nE67
— MTA (@MTA) September 7, 2022
In addition to mass transit, “places like shelters, correctional facilities [and] detention centers” will have mask-optional policies statewide, Hochul said at her Wednesday briefing.
“I want to thank everyone who’s been complying on our transit system for 28 months … a long time. I know for many it became second nature but it’s always been a visible reminder that something is not normal here. And it was there for the right reason: it protected health. And now we’re in a far different place than we had been as we continue to watch the trend — this is not a one-day snapshot — this is watching the trends and we’re seeing a stabilization of those numbers.”
Not that many people are wearing them anyway.
Hopefully this will help in November.
A terrible mayor who supports DA Alvin Bragg. She’s only changing the policy for the election, after it she’ll keep our kids in masks in schools.
Wearing a mask on a partially crowded subway car only to remove it in a packed bar never made much sense anyway. Glad we’re making the move back toward reason. (or at a minimum reacting to mass public flouting of mask mandates.) Covid can be managed with vaccinations & a bit of common sense.
Well the idea was to protect the people that WEREN’T going into bars but who would likely be exposed to those who are while they were just trying to get to work.