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Some New Yorkers still aren't getting the whole mask thing, so Governor Andrew Cuomo and his daughter, Mariah, are holding a challenge for the best public service announcement to help the "one percent" of people who aren't wearing them.
The contest, which Cuomo announced on Tuesday during his daily briefing, asks the public to come up with a 30-second ad about the importance of wearing a mask in public, including information on the new requirement, the health reasons and social responsibility behind it.
New Yorkers will pick from the five best, which Mariah and Department of Health officials will choose, and then the winning ad will be run on TV and online by the state—all of it will be at no cost to taxpayers, Cuomo said. Mariah is volunteering her time.
Just visit wearamask.ny.gov and use the tags #NewYorkTough, @nygovcuomo and @GovernorAndrewCuomo when you upload your video to social media.
During the briefing, Cuomo said he doesn't understand why there is still a percentage of people in New York who don't wear masks.
"Just wear a mask, it's the smart thing to do—it's also the right thing to do," he said. "It's not about you, it's about my health. You wear a mask to protect me, I wear a mask to protect you. Wearing a mask is not the greatest intrusion. I cannot understand why people think it's such a burden to wear a mask. 99 percent of the people do it—it's the one percent of the people who don't do it. That's who we're talking about."
He said that Mariah suggested that it could be the way he communicates that could be the problem and was the one to come up with the video challenge.
"I have no doubt I am guilty that I am a bad communicator," he added. "I'm open-minded and understand my weaknesses and flaws. Maybe we could have an ad that communicates this better than I have been able to communicate to date."
He also took a moment to take a small jab at Mariah's boyfriend again:
"The boyfriend could try to submit a possible ad for consideration, the boyfriend will lose ... he could submit an ad because I'm still governor."
And we all groan.
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