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New York City mayor Eric Adams (D.) on Monday instructed store owners to refuse entry to people wearing a face mask in an effort to crack down on masked robbers, three years after Democrats repealed a nearly 200-year-old city law that banned face masks in public. Robberies, burglaries, felony assaults, and other charges jumped 22 percent in 2022 compared with 2021, according to police data. Shoplifting complaints increased by 45 percent over the same period.

Criminals are capitalizing on COVID-19 masking to conceal their identities while shoplifting and assaulting owners, Adams argued.

"And when you see these mask-wearing people, oftentimes it's not about being fearful of the pandemic. It's fearful of the police catching [them] for their deeds," Adams said.