Imposing a stricter measure to control the spread of the coronavirus, governor Andrew M. Cuomo said on Wednesday that he would start requiring people in New York to wear masks or face coverings in public whenever social distancing was not possible.
The order will take effect on Friday and will apply to people who are unable to keep six feet away from others in public settings, such as on a bus or subway, on a crowded sidewalk or inside a grocery store.
“Stopping the spread is everything,” Cuomo said during his daily briefing in Albany.
“How can you not wear a mask when you’re going to come close to a person?”
The new requirements are bound to make face coverings an inescapable and perhaps jarring sight in New York City for the foreseeable future. They could also introduce a level of mutual obligation and civic duty about wearing masks in public that is more firmly established in Asia than in the West.
Maryland also announced on Wednesday that it would require people to wear masks in public.
Cuomo said local governments would enforce the order, but he noted that riders without face coverings would not be ejected from public transit. The pandemic has devastated New York’s public transit system, with 59 workers having died of the virus and 2,269 testing positive for the infection. The state would consider issuing civil penalties to people who fail to abide by the order, but not criminal penalties: “You’re not going to go to jail for not wearing a mask,” Cuomo said.
Permitted face coverings include proper masks, as well as scarves or bandannas, the governor said.
A similar rule was issued in New Jersey last week.
The order, issued by governor Philip D. Murphy, made it mandatory for all people inside stores and other essential businesses to wear face coverings unless they are under two years old or have a medical condition that prevents them from wearing a mask.
Signs have popped up at stores throughout New Jersey warning customers that they will not be allowed in unless they cover their faces.
Some stores have taken a stronger stance, asking people without coverings to leave.