Residents of Elmhurst, Queens, one of the city’s neighborhoods hardest hit by Covid-19 during the early months of the pandemic, were particularly wary. Neha Shah, 25, was concerned about her diabetic father and said she had tried to avoid crowded restaurants and cafes.
“I just feel like it’s for public safety,” Ms Shah said. “I don’t think it’s okay for them to be deposed.”
For Emily Suardy, a barista at Furman’s Coffee in Brooklyn, masks couldn’t come off fast enough. They made work in her small coffee shop hot and uncomfortable, and she felt safe in her daily life as she and her colleagues, friends and family had been vaccinated.
Even if there is a spike in positive Covid-19 cases or if another variant emerges, she said she would be reluctant to go back to masking inside unless the city reinstates its mandate.
“I’m really tired of it,” Mrs. Suardy said. “If it’s not mandatory, I won’t use it.”
That was not the case with one of New York’s most famous recovering Covid-19 patients, Broadway icon Patti LuPone.
For two years, Ms. LuPone said she had taken every precaution. But as Omicron faded, she said, she’d gone out and gotten a little lax about wearing masks. Then, late last month, she tested positive for a performance of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” and had to leave the theater.
For 10 days, Ms. LuPone had to isolate a woman who was having lunch alone in her apartment because she was suffering from flu-like symptoms and fatigue.
