Masks on, masks off
Mask mandates were rolled back across Blue America last week as Democratic governors announced plans to end requirements for face coverings in businesses and schools, I reported last week in The Wall Street Journal with Allison Prang.
The first announcement came from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who won a closer-than-expected re-election last year. He said Monday that school mask requirements would be lifted on March 7; Democratic Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont set a slightly earlier date, adding pressure to Gov. Kathy Hochul, their neighbor in New York.
On Tuesday, she hosted a virtual summit with educational stakeholders and told them she wanted to see how case rates looked after February break. But Hochul, a Democrat who is seeking election to her first full term in November, announced on Wednesday that New York’s indoor mask-or-vax requirements for offices and businesses would expire on Thursday.
“The Covid clouds are parting,” she said.
In announcing the decision, Hochul displayed statistics showing the number of daily infections and the seven-day average positivity rate have now dipped below their levels in December, when the restrictions were first announced. She also said she wanted to see a higher vaccination rate among elementary-aged students before changing mask requirements for schools. An announcement on school masks will come in early March, she said.
As my colleagues Brianna Abbott and Jon Kamp reported, state health officials said there is no silver-bullet metric — and in many cases no stated thresholds — for making these decisions. But Hochul and other Democratic officials can observe shifting currents in the body politic, including in swing areas like Nassau County where Republicans gained ground last year and have been pushing to repeal masking requirements.
#UPSATATEAMERICA: We went out Friday evening for a Valentine’s date at Tara Kitchen in Schenectady and I can’t understate how wonderful it was. We sat at the bar, maybe six feet from the stove, and in addition to a delicious meal enjoyed watching chef/major-general Aneesa Waheed juggling a half-dozen simmering tagines, warming flatbread and keeping track of the details of each table off the top of her head. If you haven’t been, check them out. There are also locations in Troy and Guilderland.
COMING UP: New York City Mayor Eric Adams will travel to the Capitol on Monday to meet with his former colleagues in the state Legislature. New York Democrats will hold their nominating convention later in the week in Manhattan.
THE QUESTION: Adams was first elected to the New York state Senate in 2006. Who was the last New York City mayor to have previously served in the state Senate? Bonus: who was the last mayor to have served in the state Assembly?
Know the answer? Drop me a line at jimmy.vielkind@gmail.com. Or just write with thoughts, feedback or to say hi.
THE LAST ANSWER: Eliot Spitzer ran for New York City comptroller in 2013. He lost a Democratic primary to Scott Stringer.
(Go Bengals!)