On Wednesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul lifted the statewide indoor mask mandate she imposed on Dec. 13, 2021. She cited the downward trend of infections as the reason for the mandate being lifted and seemed to credit the mask mandate with making it possible.
“Why is all this happening? Because New Yorkers and businesses stepped up and did the right thing,” Hochul claimed. “And I will always be grateful for them for being the reason these numbers have been declining.”
This is, of course, not true. Hochul’s mandate was left to the counties to enforce, and most counties ultimately refused to enforce it, citing a lack of resources or objections to the policy. Hochul chose not to force counties to comply with the mask mandate, so ultimately it came down to individual choice. Since the mandate went into effect, I’ve gone out in public many times—always maskless. On the first day I tried this, I had no problems. Overall, despite the mandate, I managed to go about my business the past two months without any issues, save for one incident at a pharmacy and another at the checkout line in a supermarket.
So the mandate has had virtually no impact on me. But as a side sport, I’ve made a point to observe how many people in various public places have been masked.
In the early days, most people wore their masks. There were maybe a few people (myself included) who didn’t bother wearing masks. Over time, as more people learned they could go maskless without getting in trouble, the number of maskless patriots gradually increased. It almost seemed like social factors played a more significant role than the state mandate. Often in public, I’d see people who had a face mask on, but it was pulled under their chin—as if they had a mask on, but once they saw others maskless, they would pull it down.
Without a doubt, in the past couple of months, I’ve seen more people wearing masks incorrectly than at any other point during the pandemic—as if they were more concerned about perception and not so much about COVID.
On Thursday, the first day the mandate was no longer in effect, I went out to see how things were different. Would people ditch the masks?
Many did. Whereas mask-wearing seemed to fluctuate between 70% and 95% the past couple of months, this week it was much closer to 50%. And many people who wore masks were wearing them incorrectly, with their noses uncovered or even their mouths exposed.
I suspect that a clear majority of shoppers will have ditched the masks by Monday. People need time to be aware that the mandate is gone and to see others ditch their masks first.
Hochul may be seeing her lifting the mandate as a victory of the policy, but COVID cases are down nationwide, not just in New York but even in red states like Texas and Florida, which did have mask mandates. COVID is running its course, and her mask mandate was just as useless on Wednesday as it was the first day it was in effect.
