SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WBEN) A day after masks were lifted at the Buffalo and Niagara Falls airports and on local buses and rail, Governor Kathy Hochul did a 180.
During a Covid briefing in Syracuse on Wednesday, the governor announced that masks will continue to be required on public transportation in New York State.
"We're going to continue in the short term for public transit," said Hochul. "Let's just be smart about it. I think people do feel better when they're in public transit sitting really close to somebody, to know that people are protecting themselves. And again, this is very much in the short term," she added.
Hochul said the measure is necessary because of omicron subvariants and rising cases in the state. It applies to airports, buses and bus stations, trains and train stations, subways and subway stations.
Masks are also required in the following locations:
*State regulated health care settings
*State regulated adult care facilities and nursing homes
*Correctional facilities
*Domestic violence shelters
"If we hadn't seen these two variants, I suspect that we would have been able to say goodbye to masks in all settings," said the governor. "But we're starting to see cases and hospitalizations go up. We're going to get there. We will get there," she added."
Currently, the statewide average is 40 Covid cases per 100,000 people. Hochul said there are around 1,400 people currently hospitalized with the virus across the state. At the peak of the pandemic, there were more than 450 cases per 100,000.
New York City public transportation never dropped the mandate. But airports and bus stations throughout the rest of the state did lift mask restrictions on Tuesday.
Hochul took no questions at the briefing.
