HV Officials Respond Variously To Holiday Mask, Vaccine Mandates

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Many officials are furious about New York's new monthlong vaccine-or-mask mandate for all businesses and public venues announced Friday by Gov. Kathy Hochul, but some reactions were more tempered.

"We have seen this movie before," Rockland County Executive Ed Day said in a statement. "Again, and despite reassurances from Governor Hochul after she took office that she would not govern via press conference and would foster and welcome discussion with County Executives today we saw a return to the prior Governor’s playbook."

State Sen. Mike Martucci called it a cynical move after Attorney General Letitia James dropped out of the race for governor.

State Assemblyman Mike Lawler called Hochul "Comrade Kathy."

Day said he and other County Executives from the Mid-Hudson region were invited onto a call with the governor’s staff Friday afternoon, but they were unable to provide detailed information about the newly announced requirement other than that the first week it is in effect should be used for education and not enforcement.

Local health departments are being asked to enforce these requirements that masks be worn in all indoor public places unless businesses or venues implement a vaccine requirement. A violation of any provision of this measure is subject to all civil and criminal penalties, including a maximum fine of $1,000 for each violation.

Hochul said action was necessary to address the winter surge comes as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise statewide to be in alignment with the CDC's recommendations for communities with substantial and high transmission. SEE: New COVID-19 Mandates For New York As Surge Hits Hudson Valley.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer said Westchester would comply, pointing out that it was "far less restrictive than a shutdown of our businesses.

"Westchester County will do our professional best to enforce this mask provision. At this point, this is the best move to protect the health of New Yorkers, and to protect the health of the New York State economy," he said. "it is an action that shows leadership and restraint."

But Martucci said challenged the idea that the move was based on science and accused politicians like Hochul of using the crisis to scare and control people.

While Hochul said the mandate will be reevaluated on Jan. 15, Day said she left out what metrics would be used.

"All of these details and more should have been provided to counties ahead of a public announcement so that we could prepare for any actions our staff is expected to take and so that we could in turn provide this information to our local businesses and residents," he said. "Once again, we are left fielding questions from our citizens that have no answers; an incredibly frustrating situation caused solely by poor communication from New York State and Governor Hochul."

He said he could not in good conscience redirect the Rockland Health Department to change their focus from the vaccination effort which entailed six clinics over the last two weeks that administered 141 vaccine doses and 1,244 booster doses. "Especially with the 5–11-year-old cohort needing vaccinations and the 16–17-year-old cohort having just been approved to receive boosters. That would be utterly reckless," he said.

He also told the governor’s staff that Rockland cannot and will not enforce the requirement as it currently stands, Day said. "How do you enforce something that’s based on a press release that does not contain adequate information and explanation?"

Meanwhile, Assemblyman Mike Lawler said "Comrade Kathy needs to cool it with her mandates as we seek to dig ourselves out of the hole that COVID has left many in."

Lawler said more than 90 percent of New York residents were vaccinated, which is inaccurate. As of Dec. 9, 69.3 percent of the population (including 81.3 percent of the population 18+) has a completed vaccination series, according to CDC data on the state's coronavirus website, though 79.7 percent of the population has had 1 dose, including 92.1 percent of the population 18 and older.

Lawler blamed the crowding in upstate hospitals on the state's vaccine mandate for healthcare workers. Hochul's position is that no one should catch COVID-19 from someone supposed to care for their health.

"The fact is that Kathy Hochul's concerns around hospital capacity are a result of her own making. Her vaccine mandate for healthcare workers cost thousands of our frontline heroes their jobs and reduced hospital capacity in regions all across the state," Lawler said. "Using hospital capacity as one of the reasons for this new mandate is absurd, as it was another mandate that led to this situation."

Jim Calvin, President of the New York Association of Convenience Stores, had another angle of concern: violence by maddened anti-maskers.

"Checking the vaccination status of everyone stopping in for their morning coffee would make convenience stores 'inconvenience' stores. On the other hand, past experience has shown that when our stores are thrust into the role of mask police, bad things can and do happen, including sporadic violence directed at employees just trying to do their job," he said in a statement. "For now, we ask the cooperation of our valued customers as we strive to implement this policy in a manner that keeps our stores accessible and our team members safe. And we hope our state leaders will reconsider the wisdom of potentially placing our essential workers in harm's way."

However, officials at the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union said they thought the monthlong mandate would help keep their workers safe.

"Grocery, pharmacy and retail workers are at high risk of exposure to COVID-19 because they have public-facing jobs. And many are essential workers at stores we have relied on throughout the pandemic," said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the RWDSU. "They are in contact with hundreds of people every day – and in some places, workers may be in contact with more than a thousand people a day. Today’s announcement by Governor Hochul will help keep our members safe as well as the general public. We support these measures, and we know they will save lives.

“We urge employers to responsibly enforce mask policies in coordination with State Government authorities. Let us be clear, it is the employers' responsibility - and not that of their workers - to tell people to leave a store if they are not wearing face masks.”