New York City Is Coming Back to Life

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New York City began fully reopening Wednesday, allowing vaccinated residents to largely shed their masks and businesses to return to full capacity with some restrictions.
Here's how some New Yorkers are responding to the milestone.

New York will lift its mask mandate on Wednesday for fully vaccinated people as Covid vaccinations approach 50% of the state’s residents and cases and hospitalizations ebb.

“All the arrows are now pointed in the right direction, so let’s get back to life,” said Governor Andrew Cuomo in a briefing on Monday. “We need to get the exuberance back, the excitement back.”

Cuomo called the easing of the mask mandate a “radical adjustment of rules and guidelines” and said the state took a couple of days to analyze the guidance and align it with its own. Masks will still be required at schools, public transit, correctional facilities and health-care settings.

New York’s mask policy change comes as the state fully lifts its capacity restrictions on Wednesday. It follows Maryland, Virginia, and many other states and businesses that changed their mask requirements after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance last week.

Other states are taking a more cautious approach. Neighboring New Jersey said it’s keeping its indoor mask mandate in place. California will stick with its rules for another month.

As more people are vaccinated and restrictions are lifted, New York wants to bring back some of its most high-profile large-scale events. New York City will once again host its famed marathon, whose 50,000 runners had made it the largest 26.2-mile (42-kilometer) race in the world, attracting people from around the globe and more than 1 million spectators.

This year, the Nov. 7 marathon will have 33,000 runners, or about two-thirds capacity. Registration opens on June 8.

Vaccinated-Only Events
Cuomo also announced the resumption of the Tribeca Film Festival, which will be held at Radio City Music Hall at 100% capacity. It will mark the first in-person film festival to take place in North American since the pandemic began. The music hall will be open solely for vaccinated individuals and the audience will not have to wear masks. Those rules will stand for all events at the iconic 5,500-person venue.

“The whole point of the CDC’s change is to show to people there are benefits to being vaccinated,” he said. “If I’m not vaccinated, I can’t go? That’s right.”

More than 46% of people in the city have received at least one shot, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker. The seven-day rate of hospitalization in the city has dropped to 1 per 100,000 residents, according to state data.

Event attendees will have to show their proof of vaccination via the state’s app, the Excelsior Pass, or by flashing their paper vaccination card.

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