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New York City grocery stores and supermarkets should “require” customers to wear face coverings while shopping during the coronavirus pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.

The new guidance recommends that grocery stores require shoppers to wear face coverings “when they come in,” and added that the stores should put up signage making that mandate clear.

“That is legal and appropriate,” de Blasio said during a conference call with reporters. “This will help everyone to remember when they’re in that kind of space it’s so important to protect each other.”

The mayor said that anyone who will not comply with wearing a facial covering “should not be allowed in,” and noted that stores “have a right to have those rules in place.”

If there’s a problem, the mayor continued, “The NYPD will help and all a store owner has to do is call 311 to get that help.”

“We will back up those stores,” de Blasio added. “We need to keep each other safe. We need to keep these grocery and supermarket workers safe. That’s the smart thing to do.”

Sanitation Department head Kathryn Garica, the city’s newly appointed “food czar,” added, “We will support grocery stores that require their customers to wear face coverings.”

De Blasio also thanked grocery store workers and called them “unsung heroes” for being on the front lines during the city’s battle against the virus.

Meanwhile, Hizzoner announced a $170 million initiative to feed every New Yorker in need.

Half a million New Yorkers “have lost their livelihood in just the last few weeks and money’s running out,” de Blasio said, as he vowed that the city “will not allow any New Yorker to go hungry.”

“We will not let anyone go without food,” de Blasio said.

The mayor explained that before the coronavirus crisis, there were 1.2 million “food insecure” New Yorkers, a number that included one in every five children.

“This crisis is now adding to that number of people who are food insecure every day because literally people are running out of money every day,” he said. “We expect it to grow.”

Since mid-March, when the city got “in the thick of this crisis,” 4.5 million free meals have been served to New Yorkers by the city, said de Blasio, who added that during the month of April, 10 million meals will be provided to New Yorkers in need.

“We’re ready to do even more in May,” the mayor said.

The $170 million plan includes a $50 million investment in an emergency food reserve for the city, which means the city will have 18 million meals in reserve, said de Blasio.

The mayor said the city is not only feeding hungry New Yorkers, but it’s putting “people to work.”

The city has registered 11,000 TLC-licensed drivers “to deliver food to people in the greatest need,” de Blasio said.

“They’re being paid by the shift,” de Blasio said. “This is something that’s gonna have a huge positive effect on the people doing the work.”