Gov. Kathy Hochul, D-N.Y., said she was considering bringing back a ban on masks in her state to reduce crime, a proposal that was rejected by some social media accounts still fearful of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hochul spoke to CNN anchor Laura Coates on Wednesday night about potential measures she may take to reduce rampant crime in New York City, including reinstituting a previous mask ban. Jewish leaders have stated that the masks have made violent offenders less afraid to commit antisemitic hate crimes. 

“But I absolutely will go back and take a look at this and see whether it can be restored because it is frightening to people,” Hochul said of the mask ban.

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Coates brought Hochul on to talk about a 4% rise in antisemitic incidents throughout New York City. The anchor noted that the “tone” and the “aggressiveness” of the antisemitic crimes and vandalism “seem to have truly escalated and they are where commuters are and beyond.”

The governor described these acts as “textbook antisemitism” and that they “constitute hate crimes,” and touted her administration for reforming the bail laws so that suspects accused of committing hate crimes could be held on bail.

She added that her team listed “28 more offenses to our hate crime list,” “beefed up security at vulnerable places, particularly places of worship,” and worked to protect college campuses during commencement season. 

Coates then brought up the potential mask ban, stating, “There‘s also a call some have talked about – some Jewish leaders actually in New York are calling tonight for a mask ban, saying that covering faces allows protesters to have some level of anonymity to be more aggressive, to be more entitled to say what they want because they don‘t fear repercussion the same way.”

“Would you support that endeavor?” the anchor asked.

The governor began by noting that there used to be a mask ban “before the pandemic, that you couldn’t have a face covering that didn’t serve a purpose… The pandemic removed that from our state law.”

She continued, noting she “absolutely will go back and take a look at this.”

“You‘re sitting on a subway train and someone puts on a mask like this… you don‘t know if they‘re going to be committing a crime, they‘re going to have a gun or whether they‘re just going to be threatening, intimidating you because you are Jewish, which is exactly what happened the other day. Absolutely unacceptable in the state of New York,” Hochul said.

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Multiple accounts on social media apprehensive about COVID-19 voiced their displeasure with a potential mask ban. 

Public health commentator Dr. Lucky Tran posted, “UPDATE: NY Governor Kathy Hochul said on CNN last night that she is considering a ban on masks. @GovKathyHochul this is absolutely shameful! New York has suffered so much from COVID, and COVID is not over. We should be normalize[sic] and depoliticizing masks, not banning them.”

The account “COVID Advocacy NY” posted, “NY ACTION ALERT: @GovKathyHochul said on CNN that she is considering banning masks in NY. We need to all speak out against this!” 

The account also provided details for how to contact the governor or her team.

Health policy activist Myra Batchelder commented, “I just called and spoke with Gov Hochul’s staff. I urge New Yorkers to call and message her office today and urge her not to ban masks in NY! A mask ban will endanger people’s lives and health. We cannot ban masks in NY.”