Health

Medical experts recommended that Gov. Kathy Hochul renew a mask mandate for public indoor places, if she gets the chance to do so after a court showdown on whether the requirement can stand there and in schools.

Thousands of students went back to class with their faces covered amid a bruising court battle over whether they must continue to do so during the COVID-19 pandemic. The next step in the court fight looms on Friday.

The scheme attempts to bilk consumers by offering COVID-19 tests provided by the federal government in exchange for personal and financial information, according to state consumer and health department officials.

The World Health Organization said there were 21 million new coronavirus cases reported globally last week, the highest weekly number of COVID-19 cases recorded since the pandemic began. The number of deaths was largely unchanged, at more than 50,000.

A judge's ruling overturned the mask mandate. Then a state appellate division judge suspended that ruling, meaning the mask mandate was back on. Students, parents and teachers tried to keep up.

"Remember before we had vaccines and boosters, all we had were masks, and we did a very good job," said Dr. David Battinelli, physician-in-chief at Northwell Health.

Nearly six in 10 small-business owners said they and their employees are negatively affected by the lack of affordable child care, according to poll conducted this month.

Pfizer has begun a study comparing its original COVID-19 vaccine with doses specially tweaked to match the hugely contagious omicron variant.

The state plans to appeal State Supreme Court Judge Thomas Rademaker's decision immediately, Gov. Kathy Hochul said, and the state education department said districts must continue to enforce the mask rule.

Gubernatorial hopeful Rep. Lee Zeldin said at the rally that people in other counties are "asking their leadership, 'Why don't you follow the lead of that courageous new county executive in Nassau County, Bruce Blakeman?'"