New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said at a press conference Tuesday that New Yorkers should wear two masks until at least June as the city works to control the spread of COVID-19.

The mayor said that the city would consider changing mask guidance once it reaches an initial target of vaccinating 5 million residents against the novel coronavirus.

"Through June, keep doing exactly what you are doing," the mayor said. "Not just wear a mask, wear two."

"It may be that we continue that guidance for quite a while depending on what is going on," he added.

De Blasio's remarks come as the country's top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci, made similar recommendations weeks earlier while also saying that Americans could still be wearing masks into 2022.

“I mean, this is a physical covering to prevent droplets and virus to get in. So if you have a physical covering with one layer, and you put another layer on, it just makes common sense that it likely would be more effective,” Fauci said in late January.

A CDC study has found that double masking or wearing a tightly fitted mask reduces the risk of exposure to virus particles.

"We continue to recommend that masks should have two or more layers, completely cover your nose and mouth and fit snugly against your nose and the size of your face," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said earlier this month.