New York Recommends Masking as COVID, Flu Surge

New York health officials are encouraging hospitals, health facilities and nursing homes in the state to bring back masking as COVID-19 cases surge in the Empire State.

The state’s health department released a joint statement from James McDonald, M.D., state health commissioner, and Ashwin Vasan, M.D., New York City health chief, asking for face coverings to return on Monday.

“The New York State and New York City Departments of Health are reporting an increase in hospitalizations associated with COVID and Flu, and we are also still seeing a significant number of infections from RSV,” they wrote. 

“With all three major respiratory viruses currently circulating at these levels, today we support health care providers, hospitals, and nursing homes doing everything they can to protect patients and their workforce, and recommend that health care and residential facilities advocate strongly for the use of masks within their facility to prevent transmission and ensure a healthy workforce.”

State officials reported 3,308 COVID-related hospitalizations during the week that ended on January 8. It is the third consecutive week with more than 3,000 hospitalizations. Before this period, the last time more than 3,000 hospitalizations were recorded statewide during a single week was in January 2023.

New York state also recorded more than 30,000 flu cases and more than 2,000 hospitalizations caused by the virus during the first week of the new year. While both figures are approximately the same as they were this time last year, figures are rising, while they were on a decline in January 2023.

Last week, Dr. Vasan put a mask mandate in place for all New York City-owned hospitals, as the Big Apple deals with a surge of its own. The city logged 2,131 new COVID cases and 98 deaths linked to the virus during the final week of 2023.