By: Jack Madden

On June 15 Governor Cuomo removed all state restrictions on mask usage and businesses. Restaurants may operate
at full capacity, buildings do not have
to require temperature checks, movies may have full attendance in theaters and in public spaces masks are no longer required. This all comes on the heels of 70% of the state having received one dose of the vaccine giving them partial immunity. As Governor Cuomo put

it “life will return to as we know it.” However, this is not entirely true since businesses themselves may require masks for costumers since it is their personal choice to do so.

The changes in the Coronavirus policy may affect you in differing ways, for even if the governor says something, it may not actually occur. As an example, the local town pool will be open this summer, but will require attendees to being their own chairs, masks when not in the pool or at your chair, and designated sitting areas. This is nearly identical to the policy of last summer during the height of the pandemic.

On the other hand, I attended a swim meet last weekend, and none of the competitors who were fully vaccinated had to wear a mask, so I did not wear one. However, this was based on the honor policy making it difficult to be replicated for large concerts which do plan to go ahead such as Gov Ball. Other sports competitions across the nation are not requiring masks and have near full attendance, such as US

Gymnastics Championships and US Swimming Olympic Trials.

All these relaxing of restrictions will take time, and to return to full normalcy, it will take more New Yorkers to get fully vaccinated. That effort may
be daunting; however, Vermont just surpassed the 80% threshold for herd immunity of at least one dose for their population. This is a good signal to people in other states who are near the threshold, to show that life can and will return to normal.