Businesses are awaiting guidance on new mask-wearing rules for New York as some lawmakers are calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to back the federal government's new recommendations. 

Albany Restaurant Association President Jason Pierce said eateries and bars are poised for a comeback as COVID-19 pandemic guidelines are eased and more people are vaccinated. 

"We expect, fully expect, the restaurant business is going to explode these new guidelines and easing of restrictions, as it should," Pierce said Friday morning. 

But questions remain over what the reopening will look like as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks in public. Pierce, the owner of Savoy on Lark in Albany, said businesses are waiting for New York officials to act.

For now, the existing mask rules remain in effect in the state.

"Restaurant owners don't want to get involved in the politics of mask-wearing," Pierce said. "They simply want to follow all of the rules and they want to accommodate every guest as they possibly can."

Cuomo's office on Thursday announced state health officials are reviewing the new mask guidelines by the CDC — a review that comes as the state is moving toward a broader reopening next Wednesday. An announcement on the future of New York's mask guidelines could come as soon as Monday. 

"We have more customers on an average night that want to sit on our restaurant than we can actually accommodate," Pierce said. "So if we can create zones in the restaurant where vaccinated individuals can sit in closer proximity, then more people can go out and enjoy our restaurant and others, and I think they'll do just that." 

Some Republican lawmakers like state Sen. Mike Martucci urged Cuomo to back the new mask rules for vaccinated people. 

"The CDC is the leading health organization in the United States of America and is clearly making those recommendations based on science and data," he said. 

Mask-wearing has become politically divisive during the pandemic, but Martucci urged New Yorkers to be respectful. 

"That masks is not a political statement from my perspective," he said. "But it's really a statement about how they feel about their individual health, and we need to look at it as nothing more than that."