NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- New York City issued a health advisory Friday urging all residents to wear high-quality masks indoors and in crowds outdoors.
The advisory issued by the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Ashwin Vasan, comes as city and state officials have been increasingly sounding the alarm about a viral “tripledemic” this winter of COVID-19, the flu and RSV.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week also recommended masks in all five boroughs of the city, with cases now “high.”
The city's advisory to wear masks is “especially important” for people who are or are meeting with those who are at increased risk of complications from COVID-19, the flu and RSV, including people 65 years and older and those with compromised immune systems.
Vasan said the city is seeing unusually high concurrent spikes of COVID-19 and other seasonal illnesses as the holiday season kicks off.
“The holiday season is about togetherness and there is a way to gather safely – even as respiratory viruses in our city are unusually high,” the commissioner said in a statement Friday.
“It starts with protecting yourself,” Vasan continued. “Vaccination and boosters are critical but so are common sense precautions like masking when indoors or among crowds and staying home if you don’t feel well. Also, get tested before getting together, and get treated quickly if you test positive. We want everyone to have a happy and – most of all – healthy holiday.”
On Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul joined state health officials for a press conference to warn about the potential for viral cases to spiral out of control this winter if people become too complacent.
“We are very concerned,” the state’s health commissioner, Dr. Mary Bassett, said as flu cases skyrocket, pediatric RSV patients strain hospital and COVID-19 continues to infect thousands statewide each day.
This week, Bassett sent a letter to educators across the state urging schools to require masks in schools again. The state dropped its mask mandate for schools in March.
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