Rick Karlin is reporting at Capitol Confidential on Thu., Feb. 25, a state appellate court upheld the state Health Department’s 2013 order that health care workers get flu shots or wear masks around patients, once the flu is declared to be prevalent, or widespread in New York. The union representing public sector nurses and other health care providers sued, contending the rule amounted to administrative overreach on the part of the Health Department. Some of the health care workers did not like the idea of flu vaccinations or being forced to wear the masks. The court sided with the Health Department regulation. The flu this year was declared widespread in early February so the mask rule is now in effect. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential, a Times Union blog.