News 12NY judge CANCELS state's 'unconstitutional' indoor mask mandate ruling after Governor Hochul 'overstepped her authority'
A New York judge has struck down the state's mask mandate one week before it was due to expire, ruling the governor did not have authority to impose the rule without approval from the state legislature.
The mandate was reintroduced by Governor Kathy Hochul in December 2021, but state legislators had ruled in March that New York was no longer under a state of emergency, limiting her and the health commissioner's powers.
This meant the new measures forcing New Yorkers to wear masks in all indoor spaces, which carried fines of up to $1,000 for those who did not comply, were unenforceable and are now void, Judge Thomas Rademaker has ruled.
It was latest setback for executive branch officials at state and federal levels after much legal wrangling over the issue of mask mandates in different states.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court also blocked President Joe Biden's vaccination-or-testing mandate for large businesses.
Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, vowed to fight back, saying in a statement, 'We strongly disagree with this ruling, and we are pursuing every option to reverse this immediately'
Covid cases have plummeted in New York in recent weeks after surging to record highs at the start of the month
A judge in Texas last week ruled that Biden could not require federal employees to be vaccinated.
Hochul, a Democrat, vowed to fight back, saying in a statement: 'We strongly disagree with this ruling, and we are pursuing every option to reverse this immediately.'
'My responsibility as Governor is to protect New Yorkers throughout this public health crisis, and these measures help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and save lives,' Hochul said.
She reintroduced the mandate in December amid a surge in Covid cases, forcing residents to wear a mask in indoor public spaces unless business have their own vaccine requirement.
The requirements in New York state, home to around 20 million people, include wearing masks in schools, on public transit and other public indoor spaces.
When Hochul imposed the rule on December 31, she called it temporary. She later extended the original expiration date of January 15 until February 1, with those not obeying risking fines and civil and criminal penalties.
Disagreements and court action over mandates in a number of states have become a flashpoint of the pandemic response in the United States, often dividing Democrats and Republicans.
Hochul declared her own state of emergency almost immediately after the World Health Organization named Omicron as a variant of concern on November 26.
At the time, New York state's seven-day average of new daily cases was around 6,400. That number rapidly rose until peaking at 73,815 on January 10. It has since fallen to about a third of that.
Rademaker wrote that his ruling is not intended in any way to question or otherwise opine on the efficacy, need, or requirement of masks as a means or tool in dealing with the COVID-19 virus, but that 'enacting any laws to this end is entrusted solely to the State Legislature.'
Hochul's Democrats hold large majorities in both houses of the New York state legislature.
The judge's ruling comes amid an ongoing nationwide row about continuing Covid restrictions and mask mandates.
In the Loudoun County School District - which has been plagued by scandal after scandal over critical race theory-inspired 'equity' lessons and transgender issues - schools prevented pupils from going into their classrooms if they were not wearing a facemask on Monday.
Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin had signed an executive action within hours of him taking office on January that aimed to let parents opt out of school mask mandates.
The order was supposed to take effect on Monday but confusion has swirled over the implications since then.
His instructions were either interpreted differently by some districts or plainly ignored with schools continuing to keep pre-existing mask mandates in place for students.
Republican Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed an executive order within hours of entering office rescinding mask mandates for schools from Monday, but it appears the policy has been met with confusion
Some districts interpreted the order as being at odds with a state law that deals with COVID-19 mitigation in schools.
Meanwhile earlier this month, California extended its indoor mask mandate until February 15.
The original mandate came into force on December 15 last year and was meant to end in just nine days on January 15.
But Californians will now be made to continue wearing masks in all indoor spaces even if they have received their vaccines.
In Florida, Governor Ron DeSantis imposed a state ban on imposing mask mandates, but some schools defied the order.
The Republican ruled only parents can decide whether or not their children wear masks to school.
It comes as Dr Scott Gottlieb, former director of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and current board member at Pfizer, says that the declining cases should be a signal to officials that it is time to start lifting mask mandates across the country.
'I think certainly on the east coast where you see cases declining dramatically we need to be willing to lean in and do that very soon I think as conditions improve we have to be willing to relax some of these measures with the same speed that we put them in place,' he told CNBC's The Squawk Box.
'We haven't described clear goalposts for when we're gonna withdraw a lot of these measures and the two most contentious things right now in the U.S. are the masks among children in schools and the vaccine mandates,' he said.
He added that in order for people to comply by Covid rules, health officials need to 'have a flexible doctrine' that changes as the situation of the pandemic does.
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