Reminder: You Still Need to Wear a Mask on the Subway

As you’ve likely heard by now, this week the Transportation Security Administration lifted the mask mandate on planes and other public transportation, following a ruling from a federal judge in Florida who determined that the CDC had overstepped its authority. A number of airlines, including United, American and Delta, are making masks optional for passengers and employees. But, here in the city, the Metropolitan Transit Authority has not lifted the mask mandate on New York’s public transit systems, including buses and subways, so you’ll still have to mask up on your commute. (And pandemic or no pandemic, you might want to anyway!)

While official case numbers are nowhere near what they were during December and January’s Omicron spike, Covid cases and positivity have ticked up quite a bit over the last few weeks as New York battles the Omicron subvariant BA.2. Hospitalizations have also increased slightly according to city data, though the death rate remains very low.