New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio advised residents to wear not just one mask, but two masks, until at least June as the city works to control the spread of COVID-19, ABC News reports.
“Through June, keep doing exactly what you are doing,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. “Not just wear a mask, wear two. Social distancing, get tested monthly. If you do have a case in your home, have the person safely separate.”
De Blasio said, “June is when we want to hit 5 million New Yorkers fully vaccinated and June is the earliest we would even consider changing guidance around masks. It may be that we continue that guidance for quite a while depending on what is going on. We are very concerned about the variants — that’s a big X factor.”
“We cannot take our foot off the gas right now,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said.
“We now have the valuable new weapon in our arsenal, the vaccine, but we have to think about it as something that is an additional layer of protection — and that includes mask wearing,” Chokshi said, according to the ABC report.
“Two masks and higher grade masks should become more common among New Yorkers,” he said, adding that vaccinated New Yorkers should still wear masks, too.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, also made similar recommendations weeks earlier saying that Americans could still be wearing masks into 2022.