Three workers at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens were transporting hundreds of thousands in dollars in cash on Saturday night when they were accosted by two gunmen, the police said. The thieves made off with more than $200,000, aided in part by surgical masks they wore to conceal their identities.

The masks, conspicuous items to wear at a racetrack, appear to have given the bandits cover among patrons who are increasingly wearing them as a protective measure against the coronavirus, people at the racetrack said on Sunday.

The three workers — a racetrack employee and two unarmed security guards — took the cash from gaming machines and were moving it to a safe upstairs as the racetrack was preparing to close on Saturday night, the police said.

The masked gunmen, dressed all in black, accosted the workers in a hallway and forced them into a room at gunpoint, the police said. The thieves confiscated the workers’ cellphones before fleeing with the cash.