LOOKING BACK AT LONG & DARK COVID JOURNEY AS VAX RULE IS CANNED
One of the last COVID-era mandates — a vaccine requirement for city workers — officially came to an end Friday, marking a watershed moment for the city.
The lifted mandate, announced earlier in the week by Mayor Adams and rubber-stamped by the Board of Health Thursday, marks the end of one of the last-standing COVID restrictions, in not just the city, but the country. A statewide requirement that masks be worn in hospitals and healthcare setting will also be lifted, starting Sunday.
COVID, certainly, is still a problem, with about 13 New Yorkers dying of the virus per day, 65 people hospitalized and more than 1,300 new infections detected every day, according to Health Department data.
But the era of vaccine requirements, mask mandates and lockdowns is all but over.
Here’s a look back at the restrictions the city has been through, when they ended and how we got to this point.
March 15, 2020: Schools shut down
The city’s more than 1 million schoolkids — including around 114,000 homeless children — were sent home as schools shuttered, teachers prepared for virtual learning and parents scrambled for options for their kids.
The shutdown was supposed to last for just a few weeks.
“We will make a first attempt to restart our schools on Monday, April 20,” Mayor de Blasio said at the time.
“But I have to be honest, we are dealing with a lot of unknowns and a lot of challenges.”
It was a confusing time for parents, kids and teachers, and many feared children would fall behind in school. Years of the pandemic later, many of those fears came to fruition.
“I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Regina Alston, a mother of two in the South Bronx, told the Daily News at the time. “... I’m a working mother and child care is an issue for me. I rely on the school for child care so I can work.”
March 22, 2020: Lockdown
With New York the epicenter of the pandemic, facing about half of all COVID cases nationally, a statewide lockdown order was put into place.
It ordered New Yorkers to stay inside as much as possible, only leaving for grocery store visits and walks outside. This moment was marked by fear and uncertainty — hospitals were reaching the brink, long lines crowded testing sites and newly empty hotels were being looked at to turn into hospital rooms.
“When I talk about the most drastic action we can take, this is the most drastic action we can take,” Gov. Cuomo said as he ordered all “nonessential” businesses to shut down.
April 15, 2020: Statewide mask mandate
As COVID tore through the city and its death toll soared past 10,000, Cuomo imposed a measure to control the spread of the virus: masking.
“Stopping the spread is everything,” Cuomo announced at the time. “How can you not wear a mask when you’re going to come close to a person?”
New York, along with New Jersey and Maryland, was among the first states in the nation to put such a mandate into place.
Aug 17, 2021: Vaccine requirement for dining, gyms and other locations
A new mandate required workers and patrons to provide proof of at least partial vaccination to go inside restaurants, museums, gyms and entertainment venues.
The aggressive push, intended to boost the city’s lagging vaccination rates, was dubbed “Key to NYC Pass.” It launched in August. Restaurant and gym staff had to police their customers for proof of vaccination or face steep fines for violations.
The mandate pushed the onus of COVID mandate enforcement on business owners for the first time, sowing some strife between city government and customers and small businesses.
“With every restriction, it closes doors for certain people,” one gym owner said at the time.
“I understand the reasons behind it. I’m not saying it’s wrong ... [But] just when you think you’re getting somewhere, someone pushes the finish line away from you again and it’s fourth down all over again.”
Sept 13, 2021: City workers vaccine mandate takes effect
De Blasio gave the city’s 300,000 workers until mid-September to get the jab — or they would have to wear a mask indoors and take COVID tests weekly.
Employees who didn’t comply were fired.
The controversial policy was met with fierce and immediate opposition from the police and firefighter unions.
The unions contested the mandate in court and had a few victories, including an October judge ruling that the city should reinstate and give back pay to 16 Sanitation Department workers who were fired for refusing to get the vaccine.
In September, a Manhattan judge issued a similar ruling for a group of unvaccinated NYPD officers who were canned under similar circumstances.
De Blasio similarly ordered the city’s public hospital and health workers to either get vaccinated or undergo weekly tests starting in early August.
Dec 14, 2021: Indoor COVID vaccine mandate are expanded to cover kids
Mayor de Blasio announced that 5- through 11-year-olds would need to show proof of at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to participate in the same indoor restaurants, entertainment and fitness activities covered by the “Key to NYC” program.
“This is something that’s going to keep kids safe and families safe,” de Blasio said. “As long as they’ve gotten that first dose by Dec. 14, they can continue to participate in indoor dining, entertainment, all these great things.”
Dec 27, 2021: A private sector vaccine mandate is put into place
Amid an Omicron surge and just five days before he left office, de Blasio instated the nation’s first vaccine mandate for private-sector workers. It applied to roughly 184,000 businesses.
Unlike the public sector mandate, it did not give unvaccinated employees the option to get tested regularly to opt out.
“I am 110% convinced this was the right thing to do and remains the right thing to do, particularly with the ferocity of omicron,” de Blasio said. “And I don’t know if there’s going to be another variant behind it, but I do know our best defense is to get everyone vaccinated and mandates have worked.”
Feb 10, 2022: Statewide mask mandate lifted
With deaths on the decline due to growing vaccination rates, Gov. Hochul announced the end of the statewide masking requirement. This decision marked a turning point for New York’s COVID response.
Some exceptions, like public transit, homeless shelters and health care settings, remained.
March 7, 2022: End of vaccine mandate
Almost exactly two years after the pandemic began, NYC closed the book on the vaccine mandate for private businesses, following a dropped statewide mandate by Hochul the previous month. Mayor Adams also ended masking in schools.
“This is truly an Arnold Schwarzenegger moment. We’ll be back,” Adams said in a Times Square press conference announcing The News. The upbeat announcement came with the hopes that the milestone end of the mandates would mean a revitalization of the city’s economy.
In schools, parents, teachers and kids approached unmasking with caution.
“We’re not ready yet ... it felt abrupt to me,” said Jennifer Rau, mom of an elementary-schooler. “We decided as a family to take a couple weeks and see how it goes.”
Shortly after, Adams also lifted the vaccine requirement for performers and athletes, exempting unvaccinated athletes like basketball star Kyrie Irving.
Sept 7, 2022: Mask mandate for public transit, other public facilities lifted
Hochul dropped the mask mandate that had been in place on the city’s trains, buses and boats for more than two years, although even a quick ride on the MTA showed that many had already long cast aside their masks.
Mask mandates were also dropped for homeless shelters, detention centers and correctional facilities, but stayed put in hospitals, nursing homes, and adult care facilities.
New York’s public transit mandate was one of the last holdouts of its kind in the country after a Florida judge struck down a federal COVID-19 travel mask mandate in April 2022.
November 1, 2022: End of private employer vaccine mandate
Adams announced that the city would end its vaccine mandate for private employers, passing on the choice of whether or not to enforce vaccinations to private businesses. At that time, the mandate for high school student athletes to be vaccinated was also dropped.
. Opponents of vaccine mandates criticized Adams for letting private sector workers off the hook but keeping the requirement in place for the public sector.
Adams said the end of the two mandates would provide “flexibility” for vaccines, but still encouraged New Yorkers to get their booster shots, which haven’t been seriously enforced by the city and have a low uptake rate.
for dining, gyms and entertainment venues; Masks in schools are no longer required
Feb 10, 2023: Vaccine mandate for public employees lifted
The highly controversial vaccine mandate for city employees was lifted Friday. Adams received praise from Republicans for ending the vaccine mandate.
The rule was one of the city’s last COVID restrictions. Over his first year in office, Adams scrapped most other vaccine and mask requirements, arguing that scaling back the precautions will boost the city’s economy.
“We’re grateful that we can now, as we leave the emergency phase of the pandemic, modify more of the rules that have gotten us to this point,” Dr. Ashwin Vasan, Adams’ health commissioner, said.