Mask mandate kicks in statewide; counties not rushing to enforce penalties

Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, a Republican, said a top Hochul official told him and other county executives on a phone call Friday that counties were not even expected to enforce the order during the first two weeks. The state has not said that publicly.

Further, according to Molinaro, counties were told not to divert public local dollars to enforcement of the mandate – which the Hochul order also did not reveal. Her administration told Molinaro and others that the state would not get involved in enforcement, and that localities could not use local police to ensure the orders are carried out.

“It leaves us in limbo," said Molinaro, president of the New York State County Executives’ Association.

But Hochul, in a news conference in Manhattan, insisted she did speak with the New York State Association of Counties prior to making her announcement Friday. She said she got no “push back” from county leaders.

Molinaro said that was not the case in a conference call he had after Hochul’s public announcement with other county leaders from the Hudson Valley and a top Hochul advisor. He would not reveal the name of the Hochul adviser.

Molinaro, who ran for governor in 2018 and is running for Congress in 2022, said the Hochul mask policy is “massively broader” than what was characterized to county leaders Friday.

Effectively, he said, it’s a vaccine mandate “with an escape hatch: masks.” Molinaro said state officials made that very point Friday during briefings with county executives.

The Hochul order requires everyone over the age of 2 to wear a mask in every indoor setting, except private residences. But if a business or other entity has in place a proof of vaccination policy in which anyone entering a facility is fully vaccinated, the mask mandate does not apply.

From Erie County to New York City, local officials Monday were not rushing out to issue fines to businesses based on the new Hochul order. In part, that’s because health agencies are stretched thin – and have been since the pandemic’s appearance in March 2020 in New York State – and simply don’t have the staff to take up a mask enforcement effort.

The association representing health departments said Monday that localities are focused on working with businesses to support their efforts to implement the mask mandate.

“The last thing we want to do is to issue violations or fine entities. We believe the majority want to do the right thing and comply, and we will help point them in the right direction to bring down case counts," said Sarah Ravenhall, executive director of the New York Association of County Health Officials.

Ravenhall noted that nearly every local health department is concerned they can’t take on additional workload, whether because of Covid-19 strains, overworked staffers leaving their jobs or what she said have been cuts by the state of more than $150 million in local health agency spending the past decade.

By Monday afternoon, Erie County officials said no fines have been issued for mask violations – either the previous county-imposed one or the new state order that permits fines up to $1,000 per violation against a business. People who refuse to wear a mask indoors face no fines.

“Our public health sanitarians’ primary focus right now is education for facility owners and operators," said Kara Kane, a spokeswoman for the Erie County health department.

Kane said the agency’s environmental health staff has been following up on complaints with investigations and site visits, and thousands of informational letters have been sent to facilities about the county’s emergency mask orders. An in-person visit by county sanitarians to places of business in Buffalo is being expanded to the rest of the county.

“The overwhelming, on-the-ground response from owners and operators has been positive and appreciative. They want their employees, customers and clients to be safe and healthy. That’s our shared goal," Kane said.

In Albany County, home to among the highest vaccination rates in the state, a spot check Monday found most staff and employees masking up. At a post office and convenience store, workers were not confronting customers without masks. Many shops had new signs on doors saying everyone needed to wear masks.

At one hardware store 10 miles from the state Capitol, a notice on the front door said the shop is being “forced to comply” with “the governor’s new mandate with everyone wearing masks indoors in an effort to keep everyone safe.” It added: “Please understand we do not have the ability to check everyone’s vaccine status at the door or put our staff in harm’s way. Thank you for understanding.”

Hochul sought to get attention on other matters Monday. She held an hour-long event in Manhattan to announce a multi-billion dollar construction project at JFK Airport in Queens. When it was over, she took nine questions from reporters; seven were about the new mask mandate.

“We have left this to the counties to enforce. Counties can choose not to enforce. We hope the counties will enforce it," Hochul said of what she called a “very minor infringement” upon New Yorkers compared to 2020 lockdowns and other Covid-19 restrictions.

Hochul defended putting the enforcement burden for on local health agencies, and that some county leaders are “grateful” for the statewide mandate that gave them “air cover” from Albany in requiring masks in indoor settings.

The Democratic governor also said the order shows the state can be “flexible” with the mandate. For example, it permits personal care businesses to let patrons temporarily take off their masks to get their beard trimmed.

Hochul said her administration also reached out to counties when she was first contemplating the mask order, and that there is a “strong partnership” between her administration and localities. Ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo took more of a top-down approach to the Covid-19 response, imposing statewide rules and not letting localities, for the most part, run their own response efforts.

Hazel Crampton-Hays, a Hochul spokeswoman, said Hochul and top advisers have increased coordination efforts with localities, including holding regular briefings. She noted that Hochul for weeks has been warning of more responses by the state if Covid-19 numbers kept rising.

“The governor’s priorities are protecting New Yorkers and protecting the economy, and we will continue working with local leaders at every level as we encourage them to prioritize the same," Crampton-Hays said.

Mark LaVigne, deputy director of the state Association of Counties, said the Hochul administration let the group know about the outlines of the mask mandate Friday morning prior to the governor’s announcement. He said that over time for the rest of the day Friday, the details of the order “became more and more clear.”

“The goal remains the same for everybody: to protect New Yorkers," LaVigne said, which includes pushing vaccination numbers higher, increasing testing availability and contact tracing.

“So, the question for counties becomes how best to allocate the resources … and whether they have the capacity to enforce this state mandate," he said.

He added: “We’re hoping the public and businesses do what they need to do to protect themselves, their neighbors and their communities.”

An array of counties have said they will not enforce the mandate because they don’t believe it will work or they oppose such mandates on people and that they are engaged in other efforts, including trying to get more New Yorkers vaccinated.

Hochul said her mask order is “in the best interest of public health” that is intended to halt the rise of Covid-19 cases – and deaths and hospitalizations that are especially hitting upstate regions hard – and is not nearly as draconian as closing down offices or schools or shops and restaurants.

“I will never let that happen to this state," she said of a return to broad social lockdowns.