New Yorkers who are vaccinated against Covid-19 will no longer have to wear masks in most places starting Wednesday.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo made the announcement during a late morning news conference May 17 held on the stage of the Radio City Music Hall. Rather than facing the more than 5,900 empty seats in the theater, Cuomo and his associates were seated so that they could be photographed with the empty hall as a backdrop.
Cuomo said that on May 19, almost all of the Covid-19 restrictions affecting business that had been put into place would be lifted. However, since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s guidance is directed at people who have been vaccinated, restrictions such as social distancing will remain in effect for gatherings of people have not been vaccinated.
“I expect there are going to be a lot of people who are not just going to click a switch and be over this,” Cuomo said. “There will be a lot of people wearing masks going forward.”
Masks will still be required on public transit, in health care facilities, nursing homes, homeless shelters, schools and prisons.
“We have to get New York City back,” Cuomo said. “That is a more complicated equation that it suggests. The obvious is open the businesses, open the offices, restaurants but that”™s not enough. You also have to deal with the fact of where New Yorkers are now and the damage that has been done by Covid. Damage has been done to schoolchildren; damage had been done to businesses.”
Cuomo said that businesses and other privately owned facilities can impose their own rules to continue mask use and social distancing if they desire. The new CDC guidance states that people who are fully vaccinated do not need to wear masks outdoors or indoors. However, the CDC said that masks still should be use in confined places such as trains, buses and airplanes.
Cuomo said that when Radio City Music Hall reopens, the current plan is to operate at 100% capacity with audience members who have been fully vaccinated. Cuomo also said that the Tribeca Film Festival would take place at Pier 76 in Manhattan and would require all audience members to be fully vaccinated.
Cuomo announced that the Radio City Music Hall will host the closing night of Tribecca Film Festival June 19 with a 100% vaccinated, mask-free audience.
Attending Cuomo”™s announcement was James Dolan, executive chairman and CEO of Madison Square Garden Entertainment, Madison Square Garden Sports and MSG Networks. In addition to owning the New York Knicks and Rangers, Dolan”™s companies own the Music Hall and the Beacon Theatre on Manhattan’s Upper West Side..
“This is what we”™ve been waiting for New York, to bring the culture back, to bring the spirit back to New York,” Dolan said. “I actually started this morning, started making phone calls to book concerts at our venues that we anticipate will make for a blockbuster summer. We didn”™t think this was going to happen. We were really planning on a blockbuster fall.”
Dolan said that for Knicks playoff games they are planning to have 13,000 fans for each game in Madison Square Garden, with the majority in sections reserved for those who have been vaccinated.
Cuomo said that New Yorkers can use their vaccination cards as proof of vaccination or a digital Excelsior Pass that can be obtained from the state and displayed on a cellphone.
