Governor Kathy Hochul holds a briefing on COVID 19 and Monkeypox on Aug. 22. (Courtesy of Office of Governor Kathy Hochul)

ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul further eased pandemic mandates Wednesday by declaring those who use public transit systems or airports or enter correctional facilities and homeless shelters no longer have to don facial coverings.

But some 28 months after COVID-19 vaccines first became available in New York, Hochul is sticking to controversial emergency powers stemming from her declaration of a disaster emergency. She has embraced the emergency powers even as the Centers for Disease Control moved to relax COVID restrictions before New York followed suit.

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“Basic accountability”

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Good government groups and some lawmakers are taking issue with her decision, noting the disaster declaration has limited the ability of the state comptroller’s office to scrutinize certain contracts, while Hochul has the authority to rule by executive fiat without having to run some policies through the state Legislature.

Rachael Fauss, senior research analyst for Reinvent Albany, a government watchdog group, said she sees no justification for the continued extension of Hochul’s emergency powers.

“The comptroller is supposed to be making sure the public gets a good deal from these contracts and that there isn’t any corruption, but the executive order prevents that” for some state contracts, Fauss said.

“This is really basic accountability.”

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Expires next Monday

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Hochul’s latest declaration of a disaster emergency was issued Aug. 13. It expires next Monday. Hochul could extend it another month, or she could just let it expire. Either way, lawmakers are watching her moves from the sidelines.

Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay, R-Pulaski, said the fact New York remains in a state of emergency at a time when the governor has pulled back on most mask mandates is “ridiculous.”

“Government can function effectively without executive orders from Gov. Hochul and without side-stepping the Legislature and Comptroller’s oversight,” Barclay said.

Several of the announcements of shifts in pandemic guidance have been made in the New York City region, providing Hochul with an avalanche of publicity at a time when she is seeking to convince voters to back her in the Nov. 8 general election. Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-Long Island, her opponent, has been among the critics of Hochul’s reliance on a disaster declaration to manage the pandemic. Zeldin has also insisted the mask mandates be lifted.

Hochul aides opted to not directly respond to the new criticism, pointing instead to a statement the governor made Aug. 22, when she indicated she would evaluate the need for the executive order this month after new data emerges.

“Let’s just get through the opening of schools,” Hochul said then. “Let’s just get through more people coming back to work after Labor Day and then assess our numbers at the time.”

State data released Wednesday put the number of patients being treated for COVID-19 infections at New York hospitals at 2,225, including 1,024 newly admitted patients.

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New booster

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State officials and pharmacies also announced the availability of new bivalent vaccine boosters designed to combat the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 variants of the infection. The new Moderna booster is available to persons 18 years of age or older, with the Pfizer BioNTech booster for individuals age 12 or older.

Dr. Mary Bassett, the state health commissioner, said the arrival of the new booster doses is expected to aid in the effort to protect New Yorkers from the variant strains of the virus.

“These bivalent boosters for the first time are tailored to a circulating variant,” Bassett said. “I encourage all eligible New Yorkers to take advantage of this advance and contact their health provider, visit the local pharmacy, or call their county health department to get this booster as soon as possible.”

Bassett also voiced optimism. “I’m confident we are going into a winter where we will be able to contain COVID,” she said.

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COVID mandates

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The state’s mask mandates remain in place at health care facilities and nursing homes.

COVID-19 deaths continue to mount nationally, with the daily toll of fatalities hovering at about 450. Since the pandemic began in early 2020, the U.S. has recorded more than 1 million deaths from the contagion.

Sen. Peter Oberacker, R-Otsego County, said the latest data as well as Hochul’s own actions indicate that there is no longer a basis for the governor’s emergency powers.

“We’re all seeing this for what it really is, and that is a way of controlling or trying to control the populace,” Oberacker said. He said as New Yorkers become skeptical of Hochul’s mandates, the governor runs the risk of becoming “the boy who cried wolf,” diminishing her ability to credibly lead should a more pressing emergency arise.

Hochul suggested canceling the mask mandate was made possible by “major declines” in the number of people sent to hospitals for COVID-19 infections.

“We have to restore some normalcy to our lives,” she told reporters at a community health center in East Harlem.