Nick Reisman reports for New York State of Politics that a Democratic candidate for governor cited politics, not science, when he said he would put an end to mandatory masking on public transit systems in New York state. Long Island Democrat Tom Suozzi is running for governor, and in an interview with WNYC on April 21 talked about political concerns, rather than mentioning scientific studies, when saying the mask mandate should end. "I would remove the mandates, I would leave it up to personal responsibility and I would do a lot better job of educating people about why they need to get vaccines and boosters and educating people about why masks are effective and if you're afraid, you should wear a mask," Suozzi said. "Nobody's listening, it's just based on your party.... We should get back to educating people." Currently the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends people, "Wear a mask in public places where there are a lot of people around." There is currently a large outbreak of new variants of COVID-19 in Central New York. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who Suozzi wants to replace, said the mask mandate will remain for now. "So we're going to continue, in the short term, again, for public transit, our correctional facilities, our nursing homes, health care settings, domestic violence centers, buses and train stations, let's just be smart about it," Hochul said. "You know, I think people do feel better when they're in public transit, sitting really close to somebody, to know that people are protected themselves. And again this is very much in the short term." Read more about this story at New York State of Politics