Indoor mask rules are back as cases surge
Justices won't block vaccine mandate for health workers
NEW YORK» A mask mandate for shops and other indoor spaces in New York state took effect Monday as officials confront a surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday that masks would be required in all indoor public places unless the businesses or venues implement a vaccine requirement. The rule will last at least until Jan. 15, and enforcement is in the hands of local counties.
But Republicans in a few counties, including Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, Putnam County Executive MaryEllen Odell and Rockland County Executive Ed Day, have said they won’t redirect local health department resources to enforce the mandate.
Still, Hochul said Monday she hopes and expects most local health departments to enforce the mandate. She urged help from reluctant county executives who are also asking the state for help with addressing rising hospitalizations.
“It’s a very simple temporary measure which is driven by our need to get this under control,” Hochul said.
Under the mandate, businesses can either require proof of vaccination for entry or ensure all patrons two years and older wear a mask. Violators could face civil and criminal penalties, including a maximum fine of $1,000.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would implement the mandate in a “cooperative way” with an emphasis on educating and working with business owners.
“We don’t want to penalize people unless there is overt resistance and unwillingness to cooperate, and that’s very, very rare,” de Blasio said at news briefing.
At the Farmhouse Tap + Tavern in Altamont outside of Albany, operators told customers they were opting for a mask policy.
“This goes for everyone at the bar or a table. Once you’re seated, you’re more than welcome to take your mask off,” the restaurant posted on Facebook. “We feel this is a lot easier, and less invasive than asking guests to share their vaccination status with us.”
Although past polls have shown many New Yorkers support mask mandates, some Republican elected officials have said educating the public would be a better use of resources than enforcing a mask mandate.
New York enacted a mask mandate at the be
ginning of the pandemic in April 2020 that ended in June 2021 for vaccinated individuals.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court refused Monday to halt a COVID-19 vaccine requirement for health care workers in New York that does not offer an exemption for religious reasons.
The court acted on emergency appeals filed by doctors, nurses and other medical workers who say they are being forced to choose between their jobs and religious beliefs.
As is typical in such appeals, the court did not explain its order, although it has similarly refused to get in the way of vaccine mandates elsewhere.
Justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. “Now, thousands of New York healthcare workers face the loss of their jobs and eligibility for unemployment benefits,” Gorsuch wrote in a 14-page opinion that Alito joined.
New York is one of just three states, along with Maine and Rhode Island, that do not accommodate health care workers who object to the vaccine on religious grounds.
The court had previously turned away health care workers in Maine, who filed a similar challenge, with the same three justices in dissent.
As of Oct. 19, roughly 90% of health care workers were fully vaccinated and most of the rest had received one of two doses, the state told the high court. Fewer than 2% of nursing home, adult care facility and hospital workers had sought a religious exemption, the state said.
In his dissent, Gorsuch drew a link between the health care workers and the World War II-era Jehovah’s Witnesses schoolchildren who refused on religious grounds to stand and salute the American flag for the Pledge of Allegiance.
The court at first refused to intervene when a public school in Pennsylvania expelled the children. But three years later, the justices overruled the earlier case in a landmark decision that declared schools couldn’t force students to salute the flag or recite the pledge.
“Today, our Nation faces not a world war but a pandemic. Like wars, though, pandemics often produce demanding new social rules aimed at protecting collective interests — and with those rules can come fear and anger at individuals unable to conform for religious reasons,” Gorsuch wrote.