September 7, 2022

Masks Are Now Optional on New York City Transit

Anthony Behar/Sipa USA/AP

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If you ride the bus or take the train in New York City, you can say goodbye to your mask.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced today that masks are no longer required on mass transit, marking the end of an era for one of the last nationwide.

Compliance was already low, and some New Yorkers say the change won’t make much of a difference. Still, others are concerned that the state has been too quick to let its guard down with the virus still circulating.

Hochul has also caught flak for the public messaging campaign accompanying the announcement. The “mask optional” signs are a play off a previous ad campaign that encouraged proper mask usage.

The decision brings New York in line with the federal government, whose nationwide airplane and public transit mask mandate was overturned in April. Now, will San Francisco be next?

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We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

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