NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul plans to allow New York’s indoor mask mandate to expire on Thursday, two people with knowledge of her decision told the Daily News.
Hochul is expected to announce the news on Wednesday.
The mandate, which applies to businesses that do not have vaccination requirements, has been in effect for almost two months and kicked up controversy in conservative-leaning regions where authorities refused to enforce it.
The governor instituted the mask measure in response to the monsoon of omicron coronavirus cases that flooded the state as fall faded to winter.
Hochul twice extended the mandate, despite Republican ire and a court battle over whether she had the authority to impose the measure. A Nassau County judge ruled on Jan. 24 she did not, but a state appeals court granted a stay the next day.
On Tuesday, the state reported its lowest weeklong COVID case rate since Nov. 30, and a tally of patients in intensive care that had fallen to its lowest level since Dec. 20. But the state’s death toll still grew by 71.
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