Bill de Blasio says NYPD officers who don't wear masks should 'face penalties' - six months after the statewide executive order was imposed

Bill de Blasio on Thursday failed to say how many NYPD officers have been fined for not wearing masks after he announced they should 'face penalties' for ignoring the mandate.

The mayor on Wednesday said he would start imposing fines on anyone who does not wear a mask in public after the city's COVID-19 infection rate rose above 3 per cent for the first time since June. 

He said penalties should also apply to police officers, many of whom have been spotted out and about without a face covering.

'Our officers should be held to the same standard as all citizens, all public standards,' he said in a press conference. 'If they don't, there should be penalties.'   

Bill de Blasio had said police officers should be 'held to the same standard as all citizens' and should face penalties for not wearing masks

The mayor on Thursday admitted he did not know how many cops have been penalized. NYPD officers have been spotted out and about without face coverings in recent months. Pictured: Cops at a Brooklyn protest on September 13

De Blasio's remarks comes six months after Governor Cuomo issued an executive order requiring all New York residents to wear masks when social distancing isn't possible.

It is a state law that while in public spaces, everyone over the age of two must wear a face covering or risk fines. 

Cuomo earlier this week also questioned why so few members of the NYPD were following the order.   

'Why don't the NYPD wear masks? What signal does that send?' the governor said on Tuesday.   

'Wearing a mask is the law, but the police officer who's supposed to enforce the law doesn't wear a mask.' 

During a press conference on Thursday, de Blasio failed to say how many cops have been fined so far and said he did not know exactly what penalty they would face. 

New York City 's COVID-19 infection rate has risen to 1.52 per cent as cases continue to spike in 10 zip codes in Brooklyn and Queens

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams hands out masks in the Borough Park neighborhood this week after the area, which has a high Orthodox Jewish population, reported a spike in COVID-19 cases

'There's obviously a range of disciplinary penalties that can be used by the NYPD for this particular offense. We'll get to that right away,' the mayor told reporters.

'They have to live up to the law and people need to see them living up to the law. So I want us to get those numbers out of how many people have been penalized. 

'Not because I take joy in it. I'd love it if not a single officer have to be penalized. And there are going to be times where officers literally have to have a mask off, particularly if they're eating or drinking.

'But if there's not a legitimate reason, they should have a mask on like everybody else. If they don't, there should be a penalty and you should see the results,' he said.

As coronavirus cases in the city begin to increase, De Blasio said he was going to aggressively crack down on people who flouted the rule and that cops will start issuing fines.

The seven-day infection rate average was 1.38 percent on Tuesday but has since climbed to 1.52 percent, the latest figures from Mayor Bill de Blasio showed on Thursday

New York City on Thursday recorded its highest daily new case average in at least a month with 394 coronavirus infections

The clusters in the 10 zip codes had caused the average citywide infection rate to rise, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Thursday

New York City on Thursday recorded its highest daily new case average in at least a month with 394 coronavirus infections. It is down from the average peak of more than 5,000 per day in April

First, they will offer people a free mask if they are not already wearing one. If they refuse, they will be fined, he said, without saying how much they would be fined. 

Cuomo previously told the MTA to issue fines of $50 to anyone on public transit who was not wearing a mask. It's unclear if that is as high as they will go. 

New York City's COVID-19 infection rate has risen to 1.52 per cent as cases continue to spike in 10 zip codes in Brooklyn and Queens.

The clusters in the 10 zip codes had caused the average citywide infection rate to rise, de Blasio said on Thursday. 

The seven-day infection rate average was 1.38 percent on Tuesday but has since climbed to 1.52 percent, the latest figures show.

New York City on Thursday recorded its highest daily new case average in at least a month with 394 coronavirus infections.  

The 10 zip codes in Brooklyn and Queens are now also part of the 20 hotspots zip codes across New York state that collectively have an average infection rate of 6.5 percent, Gov Andrew Cuomo said on Thursday. 

NYPD police officers wear masks in Times Square on September 22

Those 20 hotspot clusters have not resulted in a statewide spike in the infection rate, which is currently at 1.27 percent.  

Prior to the recent uptick in NYC, the positivity rate - which is the proportion of positive results out of the total number of tests performed - had long hovered around one percent.

According to authorities, the uptick in cases is occurring in Brooklyn neighborhoods with significant populations of Orthodox Jews and coincides with gatherings linked to the recent holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. 

The zip codes with the uptick in cases have accounted for about 25 percent of the city's new daily cases in the last two weeks. 

While NYC's positivity rates remain low compared to other major cities across the country, de Blasio said the uptick was concerning.   

The latest figures were released on a day when the final wave of students returned to schools across the city for in-person classes. 

De Blasio warned that he would shut schools down again if the average positivity rate across NYC exceeded 3 percent.