NY Gov. Kathy Hochul reinstates statewide indoor mask mandate amid Omicron spread, but venues requiring proof of vaccination will be exempt

• In an effort to thwart the COVID-19 Omicron variant, New York is bringing back its indoor mask mandate.
• Gov. Kathy Hochul made the announcement on Friday morning.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday made her biggest COVID-19 policy announcement since taking office.

Starting December 13, New York's indoor mask mandate will be reinstated through January 15, 2021, "after which the State will re-evaluate based on current conditions," she said in a statement.

Notably, Hochul said that businesses and venues already requiring proof of vaccination for entry will be exempt from the mask requirement.

In New York City, such a mandate is already in place for bars and restaurants as well as other venues such as gyms, and outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio recently announced plans to extend it beyond municipal workplaces into the private sector.

"We shouldn't have reached the point where we are confronted with a winter surge, especially with the vaccine at our disposal, and I share many New Yorkers' frustration that we are not past this pandemic yet," Hochul said, citing an uptick in hospitalizations — particularly in the more rural areas of Upstate New York — and urging more New Yorkers to get vaccinated.

Later on Friday morning at an event held at the Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center in Manhattan, Hochul praised New York City for keeping its caseload and hospitalization numbers low.

"But the rest of the state now has a wakeup call," she said, emphasizing that the mask mandate is a preemptive measure to avoid any school or business closures down the road.

The crux of New York's problem comes down to the diverging states of the pandemic in the Big Apple compared to Upstate.

Statewide, 92.1% of the population over the age of 18 has had at least one vaccine dose, while 69.3% of the total population — including children — is fully vaccinated. However, several Upstate counties have less than half of their residents getting their first dose.

While hospitalizations across the Five Boroughs have remained low, Upstate has seen a surge in its hospitalization rate.

The Finger Lakes region, for example, had its hospitalization rate jump from 2.9% on Nov. 10 to 4.9% by Dec. 7.

Hochul has not used her executive authority to install a proof of vaccination mandate like the one in New York City as Upstate counties have continually lagged behind in their vaccination rates.

On top of the vaccination and hospitalization issues north of the Big Apple, several Upstate hospitals have been dealing with staffing shortages, leading Hochul to suspend elective surgeries at seven hospitals in Western New York and enact a policy where others will have to suspend them if they cross a threshold of less than 10% staffed bed capacity.

In Hochul's news release announcing the new mandate, acting Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett outlined the need to take preemptive measures against what she described as a "winter surge."

"Community spread requires a community-minded solution, as the Omicron variant emerges and the overwhelmingly dominant Delta variant continues to circulate," Bassett wrote in a statement. "We have the tools we need to protect against the virus - and now we must ensure we use them. There are tools each individual can use, and there are actions we can take as government.

"Getting vaccinated protects you, and wearing a mask is how we will better protect each other," she continued. "Both vaccination and mask-wearing are needed to slow this COVID-19 winter surge."