All employees, vendors must wear masks at Saratoga Race Course, NYRA says
Mike Goodwin
Aug. 22, 2021 Updated: Aug. 23, 2021 7:54 a.m.
NYRA Security member Liam Dreyer wears a face mask as he works the entry gate near the Whitney entrance at the Saratoga Race Course on Sunday Aug 22, 2021.
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The New York Racing Association on Sunday required that all employees and vendors at the track to wear masks or other face coverings amid the local and statewide increase in coronavirus cases. Malathaat with jockey John Velazquez wins the 141st running of The Alabama at the Saratoga Race Course on Saturday.
The New York Racing Association on Sunday required that all employees and vendors at the track wear masks or other face coverings amid the local and statewide increase in coronavirus cases. In this photograph, trainer Todd Pletcher wears a mask Saturday at the race course after coming off quarantine for COVID-19.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — All employees of the New York Racing Association must wear masks at Saratoga Race Course.
The policy will apply to all vendors at the track too, NYRA spokesman Pat McKena said Sunday.
Face coverings already were required for all NYRA employees who worked indoors and interacted with the public.
The decision to broaden the requirement on Sunday was made amid an increase of corornavirus cases "in Saratoga, throughout the region and across the state," McKenna said.
"In light of that, NYRA updated its policies," he said.
When the meet started in July, unvaccinated workers were required to wear the masks and NYRA opted to alter the plan to include the indoor employees two weeks ago.
Over the past two weeks, coronavirus cases and hospitalizations have nearly doubled in the Capital Region, returning to levels last seen in April, a Times Union analysis of local data shows.
Officials in the eight-county region reported 256 average cases of the virus a day as of Friday, up 97 percent from 130 just two weeks earlier. The last time the region averaged that many cases was early April. Since then, cases dropped to a low of just 4.9 average daily infections in early July only to start climbing again as the highly contagious delta variant spread throughout the state.
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Mike Goodwin has been a stock broker, garbage man, and a house painter. He has been a journalist since 1995 and the Times Union has been his home since 2002. As a city desk editor, he's on the front lines of newsgathering for the Capital Region's newspaper. Think you have an interesting story? Contact him at mgoodwin@timesunion.com or 518-454-5465.