Gov. Cuomo says NY isn’t ready to follow federal advice on going maskless

Pandemic-weary New Yorkers had their hopes deflated Thursday when Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he wasn’t ready to ease the state’s mask mandate — even though the feds gave the green light for vaccinated Americans to finally show their faces and gather indoors again.

In a late-afternoon statement, Cuomo said he and Health Commissioner Howard Zucker had yet to decide if the Empire State would adopt newly announced guidelines from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “In New York, we have always relied on the facts and the science to guide us throughout the worst of this pandemic and in our successful reopening,” Cuomo said.