New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday that face masks will no longer be required on mass public transit.

The big picture: New York will now resemble other mass transit systems across the country, which changed their own COVID-19 face mask rules after a federal judge overturned the nationwide mask mandate for transportation, the New York Times reports.

Driving the news: Hochul announced the decision Wednesday, saying masks will be "optional in some places where they had previously been required."

State of play: New York's COVID-19 infections have been dropping and remain stable, Bloomberg reports.

Flashback: Hochul had been expected to change the COVID requirements for months now, NBC New York reports.