A masked subway rider in New YorkRichard B. Levine/Zuma

The day after the North Carolina legislature passed a bill restricting the use of masks, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul alarmed disability rights advocates when she announced that she was considering her own mask legislation. In an interview with CNN, Hochul indicated that such an effort to limit the use of face coverings would come in response to masked individuals “threatening or intimidating” Jewish people. Hochul’s proposal followed incidents of intimidation and vandalism, including a widely circulated video of anti-Israel protesters in a New York City subway car chanting, “Raise your hand if you’re a Zionist. This is your chance to get out.”

While Hochul indicated that masks could still be allowed if they “serve a purpose”—for example, “a surgical mask for someone who is elderly or ill”—her remarks prompted immediate concern, especially from immunocompromised people, those already living with Long Covid, and other vulnerable New Yorkers. The governor later said at a news........

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