BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz announced the county will follow New York State's lead and lift its mask mandate for all public indoor settings Thursday.
The mask mandate went into place for all public indoor settings in Erie County on November 23, 2021 in response to rising COVID-19 numbers.
Statewide, the mask mandate went into place for all businesses and venues on December 13, 2021 in response to what the state called a "winter surge" in COVID-19 rates.
Wednesday, Governor Kathy Hochul cited several categories of COVID-19 data and announced the state will lift its mask mandate for businesses and venues as of Thursday.
Poloncarz said the county will follow the state's lead and lift its mask mandate for businesses and public locations effective Thursday, but the mandate will remain in place for all employees and guests at county-owned facilities through February. Conditions will then be reviewed to determine if the order for county-owned facilities can be lifted in March, according to the county executive.
You can read a full statement from Poloncarz below:
New COVID cases and hospitalizations have dropped precipitously. In fact, less than 10% of all current hospital patients were admitted for COVID. Now that @GovKathyHochul has lifted her mask requirement for businesses, we will as well for public locations, effective tomorrow. 1/3
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) February 9, 2022
While Erie Co.'s mask requirement for public locations is lifted, masks must still be worn by all county employees and our guests in county buildings through February. We will review conditions then to determine whether this county building order can be lifted for March. 2/3
— Mark Poloncarz (@markpoloncarz) February 9, 2022
