The request from the bodega owners (and NYPD) was not that customers "drop" their masks, but that they lower them temporarily upon entering so they can be identified:
But of course Adams, who appears not to grasp the ongoing risks that the pandemic poses to some individuals, has to morph this message into something else ("stop wearing masks, committing crimes"), as if to optimize for divisiveness. Per the NYT:
Mr. Adams’s suggestion is sure to draw the ire of those who remain committed to masking in public as Covid persists, as well as those with health conditions that put them at an elevated risk of severe illness if they were to be infected with the coronavirus
https://gothamist.com/news/nyc-bodega-workers-ask-customers-...
But of course Adams, who appears not to grasp the ongoing risks that the pandemic poses to some individuals, has to morph this message into something else ("stop wearing masks, committing crimes"), as if to optimize for divisiveness. Per the NYT:
Mr. Adams’s suggestion is sure to draw the ire of those who remain committed to masking in public as Covid persists, as well as those with health conditions that put them at an elevated risk of severe illness if they were to be infected with the coronavirus