Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie went maskless inside an Albany store on Monday – and was chewed out by a patron for the display that came less than two weeks after he tested positive for COVID-19.
Heastie, the top Democrat in the state legislature’s lower chamber, admitted the apparent slip-up in a post to Twitter.
“After a long ride to Albany, I dashed into the store and I mistakenly left my mask in the car,” Heastie wrote.
“A patron was right to call me out. Thank you to him for reminding me that we all need to mask up,” he said.
It wasn’t immediately clear what store Heastie stopped at, or whether the business has a vaccination requirement.
If there was no vaccine requirement, Heastie violated a statewide mandate by failing to wear a face covering.
After testing positive for the coronavirus on Jan. 5, Heastie went into quarantine and missed Gov. Kathy Hochul’s first state of the state address.
Heastie is not the only prominent Democrat in the state to get caught without a mask at an indoor establishment in the Capital Region.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was recently filmed strolling maskless inside Latham restaurant Innovo Kitchen in Latham – drawing the ire from the eatery’s manager.
“Gillibrand is part of the system that put the mask mandate in place. She thinks she’s above the law,” manager John La Posta had told The Post.