Last night on CNN, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she was looking into a ban on masks. She’s pitching this as a public safety measure. But we’re still in a pandemic. I wear a mask every time I ride the subway. She wants to criminalize my efforts to protect the health of me and my family and avoid long COVID? She wants to shut out thousands of immuno-compromised people from public life?
Banning masking would hurt people — even help kill them.
New Yorkers, please call your state assembly rep and senator and tell them to publicly condemn this unconscionable Hochul plan.
You can find your assembly rep here.
You can find your state senator here.
Here’s the key quote from the transcript: “There was a ban on masks before the pandemic that you couldn’t have face coverings that didn’t serve a purpose. For example, a surgical mask for someone who is elderly or ill — the pandemic removed that from our State Law. It was repealed at the time, but I absolutely will go back and take a look at this and see whether it can be restored because it is frightening to people.”
If you want to be generous, you could say that “face coverings that didn’t serve a purpose” could leave an exception for masking to prevent the spread of COVID. But I have no faith in Hochul to protect our rights to mask without infringing on our privacy (what, will we have to register and carry cards attesting to our health preferences and needs?) or right to protest, which I suspect is another huge target here.
Please call your reps if this disturbs you, and thank you.
Hat tip to Dr. Lucky Tran for posting about this on Bluesky.
