State mask mandates for public transit and other areas will remain

ROCHESTER N.Y. (WHEC) — Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday that, despite the Federal Court ruling, mask mandates will remain in place on public transit.

The state’s mask mandate for correctional facilities, nursing homes, shelters, and state-regulated healthcare settings will also remain, she announced at SUNY Upstate in Syracuse.

Hochul said that the state is tracking the two subvariants of concern of the omicron variant. She is encouraging all eligible New Yorkers to get their second booster.

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Although the numbers are not anywhere near where they were in January, there is an uptick in COVID cases, Hochul said, though because people are using home test kits, there is no way to get an exact count of the number of COVID cases in the state.

In addition, Hochul spoke about the funding in the state budget for increasing the pay for frontline workers and home health workers. The nurse manager at SUNY Upstate spoke about what ICU units were like during COVID-19 surges and spoke in support of the state’s $1.2 billion in funding for frontline healthcare workers.

Another issue on the governor’s mind was an uptick in violence across New York. Hochul said she would be holding a summit on violence while she’s in Syracuse.