THE NYPD HAS HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR MASK OBSESSIVENESS, MANHATTANITES: NYC police want shoppers to remove masks before entering stores.

Face masks, once an essential Covid-19 protective measure, are now being worn by criminals to conceal their identities, according to New York police who are urging businesses to unmask customers before letting them in stores.

The recommendation is a 180-degree turn from mask-wearing norms at the onset of the pandemic. During peak periods of infection, federal agencies mandated mask-wearing in public places, while many businesses required customers to wear them on the premises.

Now, however, some businesses are banning customers from entering the premises with face masks on, saying the policy change is needed to identify thieves. And after numerous incidents, the New York Police Department is urging business owners to make shoppers remove their face masks and flash their features before being let in.

“We’re seeing far too often where people are coming up to our businesses, sometimes with masks and latex gloves, and they’re being buzzed in, they’re being allowed to enter into the store and then we have a robbery or some kind of property being stolen,” NYPD chief of department Jeffrey Maddrey said recently in an address to the local business community.

It’s good to see the NYPD is following the science these days, even if many New Yorkers have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of their Mass Formation Psychosis. Or as fellow Insta-co-blogger John Tierney wrote late last month: The Real Science on Masks: They Make No Difference.