(Bloomberg) -- New York City will no longer require people to show proof of vaccination to eat indoors, attend the theater or go to the gym, Mayor Eric Adams announced on Friday. Starting on March 7, schools will also lift their indoor mask mandates as Covid-19 cases recede from their January peak during the omicron surge.
“It's time to open our city and get our economy back operating,” Adams said during an announcement staged in the middle of Times Square in Manhattan.
The city will also launch a new color-coded Covid system to alert New Yorkers to local risk levels. It will “give New Yorkers a road map for how to mitigate their own risk,” said outgoing Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi. “While this Covid-19 wave is ebbing, we can't yet say the pandemic is ending. We still have more work to do.”
In schools, students will decide whether they want to wear masks indoors, joining hundreds of other districts that implemented “mask-optional” policies in lieu of mandates.
New York state lifted its school mask mandate on March 2. Adams said the city was on track to follow suit, barring a spike in cases. The district reported 99 cases among students and 45 among staff on March 2.
Children and staff in child care settings that cater to students under the age of 5, who are still ineligible for vaccines, will still be required to wear masks, according to earlier guidance sent to schools from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Earlier: New York to Drop Virus Restrictions in City and Around State
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