Newly-elected Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said he will defy Governor Kathy Hochul’s statewide mask mandates, halting enforcement for indoor venues while calling on individual school boards to craft their own policies about face coverings.
“We don’t need people in Albany telling us what we should be doing in Nassau County,” Blakeman said at a press conference Thursday. “The message is: the wearing of masks is optional.”
The move will likely set up a legal stand-off between Blakeman and Hochul, who ordered a mask mandate for schools over the summer, and recently reinstated a rule requiring indoor businesses to require either vaccinations or masks.
(excerpt)
https://gothamist.com/news/nassau-county-exec-tells-schools-indoor-venues-end-mask-mandates