NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — The rise of the highly-contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 has some city officials urging Mayor Bill de Blasio and the health department to reconsider issuing a new indoor mask mandate.
"Delta is so contagious that you see rising cases, and then a few weeks later you see rising hospitalizations, then even deaths," said City Councilmember Mark Levine, chair of the council's health committee and Democratic nominee for Manhattan Borough President.
He's worried the city could be headed for another difficult chapter in the pandemic as the Delta variant now accounts for 69% of the cases that are being sequenced.
"I'd like to see us do what Los Angeles did, which is recommend again that everyone wear masks in crowded indoor settings," Levine said. "Mask solidarity is a really important goal and we've had it through much of this pandemic, the sense that we're all in this together, we're all going to wear our mask, and so we all do it."
During his daily morning briefing Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said a mask mandate won't stop the spread, but vaccines will.
"Let's address the problem by getting more people vaccinated and going right at it and knocking down this variant," de Blasio said. "A mask doesn't arrest the progress of the variant, vaccination does."
De Blasio said last week that he is not considering new restrictions, noting hospitalizations, so far, have stayed low.
Levine belives New York City should require everyone to mask up indoors regardless of vaccination status.
"As soon as you start making it optional there's really no way to tell who's vaccinated and who's not. It's why you see so few people now wearing masks in many of these settings," Levine said.
Dr. Dave Chokshi, the city's health commissioner, notes masks are still required in some indoor settings, including public transit, schools and health care facilities.
Thirty percent of adults in New York City remain unvaccinated.