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The
Democratic governor intends to let the mask mandate, which has
been challenged in court, expire rather than seeking to renew
it, the newspaper said, citing three individuals briefed on the
move.
It remains unclear whether Hochul's administration would renew
or drop a separate compulsory masking rule in New York public
schools that is due to lapse in two weeks.
Representatives for the governor did not immediately respond to
a Reuters request for comment.
Hochul called the general mask mandate temporary when she
imposed it Dec. 31 as the highly contagious Omicron variant
threatened to strain healthcare systems.
Officials in several other Democratic-led states - New Jersey,
California, Connecticut, Delaware and Oregon - announced on
Monday that they were lifting mask mandates for schools and
other public settings in the coming weeks.
In all those instances, authorities cited the receding
Omicron-fueled wave of COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and
deaths that began sweeping the United States during the year-end
2021 holiday season.
But U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told Reuters on Tuesday that with
cases still high nationwide, "now is not the moment" to drop
mask mandates in schools and other public places.
The relaxation of masking rules signals an inclination by
politicians to take pandemic-weary residents off an emergency
footing and shift toward treating the virus as part of everyday
life.
A New York state judge struck down Hochul's mask mandate last
month, ruling she had overstepped her authority.
But an appeals court judge stayed that decision the next day,
keeping it intact while the case remained under judicial review.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles, additional reporting
by Costas Pitas; Editing by Leslie Adler and Gerry Doyle)
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