New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio “strongly encouraged” fully-vaccinated citizens to wear masks indoors but stopped short of a mandate on Monday. This hasn’t gone down too well with City Councilmember Mark Levine, who is “baffled” by the Mayor’s hesitance to mandate masks amid a surge in COVID cases. 

“Everything we’re doing is based on data and science, but it’s also based on strategy. The overwhelming strategic thrust is vaccination, so we thought the right mix was to heavily focus on vaccination, continue to climb the ladder with more and more vaccine requirements in place, and to give a very clear message to all New Yorkers strongly recommending mask usage regardless of vaccination status. But we thought that was the right balance,” de Blasio said on Monday. 

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Levine thinks this recommendation is not enough. 

“I’m really baffled at this point,” said Levine. “We need to act on every front. We need to push aggressively for more vaccination, but we also need to make indoor public spaces safer by requiring, not just recommending, but requiring masking.”

Last month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance that people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID should wear masks indoors when in areas of “substantial” or “high” COVID transmission. 

All five boroughs in New York City are in areas of “substantial” or “high” transmission.

De Blasio and city health officials reportedly wanted to look at the research before taking a decision on how to apply that guidance to the five boroughs. 

“The vast majority of transmissions both in New York City and across the US is due to people who remain unvaccinated, but the data also did show it is possible for vaccinated people to spread the virus,” said Health Commissioner Dr. David Chokshi said, NBC New York reported.