"If you personally feel unsafe, absolutely wear it, but if you don't want to wear it, you should be allowed not to," said Tierra Dabbs.
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With a changing COVID landscape, New York officials feel now is the time to roll back the pandemic-era policy.
The State Department of Health issued the directive which is in line with CDC recommendations. The city is also on board.
Looking ahead, it is up to individual medical settings to make their own mask rules.
"I'm ready for the masks to come off," said nurse Jewel Smith.
But Smith, who has been nursing for 24 years, has mixed feelings - she was in the trenches at the height of COVID.
"That was the only thing we had in terms of securing our health, and now it's eased a little bit, but it's not as far as it's not here or never coming back," Smith added.
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A spokesperson for NYC Health and Hospitals says it plans to maintain its mask policy. The New York State Nurses Association calls the change 'bad policy which sends the wrong message.'
A committee at Mount Sinai plans to review the matter on Monday.
Alicia Lennartz was a patient in the ER on Saturday night when masks were mandatory.
"I don't feel it's necessary anymore," Lennartz said.
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