Penn Station now sits at the center of the last, collapsing pocket of resistance to ending Covid theater. Formally speaking, masks are still required in the Long Island Railroad and New York City subway parts of the building under Kathy Hochul’s jurisdiction, but not in the Amtrak or New Jersey transit sections:
Amtrak says it’s following U.S. District Court Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle’s order striking down the Biden administration’s mandate to wear masks on public transit nationwide. Hochul maintains that masks are still required at train stations around the Empire State. NJ Transit’s mask-optional regulation only adds to the mask madness…A strict reading of the rules presents commuters with an absurd scenario: Riders must wear masks when they get off LIRR trains at Penn Station, but the mandate evaporates when they enter any other area of the maze-like train terminal.
“How can I be up here perfectly fine and safe without wearing a mask but go down there and not be?” griped construction laborer Brandon Lorensa as he refilled his e-cigarette at Penn Station’s LIRR concourse while waiting for his train to Hicksville. “Cops were walking up and down the train yesterday reminding us all to wear a mask,” said Lorensa, 31. “I don’t wear it on the train. It’s not like they ticket anyone. I’m fully vaxxed. I did my part.” Hochul — who controls the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates Long Island Rail Road and subway trains at Penn Station — said Wednesday masks will continue to be required in train stations throughout the state. MTA spokesman Tim Minton said masks are still required “on the Long Island Rail Road and inside station buildings, including the LIRR concourse at Penn Station.”
The rules are even more confusing across Eighth Ave. at Moynihan Train Hall. Both buildings have stairs to LIRR and Amtrak platforms — but Moynihan is run by a board consisting of the Empire State Development Corporation, Amtrak, the MTA and the real estate company Vornado. The confusion extends region-wide. Even the bi-state Port Authority of New York and New Jersey issued conflicting mask rules. Travelers at LaGuardia or Kennedy Airports must be masked, while those at Newark and Teterborough Airports across the river do not.
I was able to ride the LIRR and walk through Penn yesterday without a mask and was stopped by nobody, so the will to enforce any of this seems to have dissipated on the ground. Hochul is under fire from both parties in the state for this nonsense and is trying frantically to distinguish herself from Andrew Cuomo’s heavier-handed lockdowns. It is past time for Democratic politicians to end the pretense entirely.