Vaccinated NYers Strongly Recommended To Wear Mask Indoors: Mayor

NEW YORK, NY — Vaccinated New Yorkers are strongly encouraged to wear masks in indoor public settings given new data about the more-contagious delta variant, city officials announced.

New York City has updated its mask guidance to include a "strong recommendation" that even fully vaccinated city dwellers should wear their masks when they are in public indoors, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi said Monday. Unvaccinated New Yorkers are already required to wear masks in outdoor and indoor public settings.

"If you don’t know the people you’re around, you’re not sure if they’re vaccinated or not, or you know they're unvaccinated, it's absolutely crucial to wear a mask even if you are vaccinated," de Blasio said.

The new guidance comes after Centers for Disease Control and Prevention findings that the delta variant, which is now the dominant strain of COVID-19 in New York City, can "spread even more easily than was previously thought," Chokshi said.

Those at higher risk should consider wearing two masks or using a higher-grade mask like an N95, Chokshi added.

CDC officials recently recommended that vaccinated people resume wearing masks indoors in virus hotspots. According to internal documents obtained by the Washington Post, the health experts believe the delta variant is as contagious as chickenpox.

The agency found that "breakthrough infections," or those in vaccinated people, may be as transmissible as those in unvaccinated people, according to the documents. The CDC has always expected some breakthrough infections and note that COVID-19 vaccines are still highly effective at preventing serious illness and death, according to the reports.

Both de Blasio and Chokshi said vaccination is still the city's main focus in fighting the new strain.

Despite vaccine mandates and incentives, the number of daily vaccinations has continued to drop, recently hitting the lowest number since February, according to city health department data.

New York City most recently started a $100 incentive to encourage New Yorkers to get vaccinated and has put in place a vaccination-or-testing mandate for city government workers. A vaccine mandate for new hires in city government was announced Monday.

The city will start a $1.3-million ad push this week to encourage children 12 years and older to get vaccinated before the start of the school year, according to de Blasio.

"Vaccines are the closest thing we have to a knockout punch," Chokshi said Monday.