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Celebrities remind New York City subway riders to wear their masks

Riders will hear 25 stars who are New York natives tell them to cover their noses with their masks and to socially distance.
People walk off of a subway train at a Brooklyn station on Nov. 18, 2020 in New York City.
People walk off of a subway train at a Brooklyn station Nov. 18, 2020, in New York City.Spencer Platt / Getty Images file

New York City residents will be hearing the voices of celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg and Jerry Seinfeld starting this week on the city's subways and buses.

Voices of more than 25 celebrity natives will be heard throughout the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, reminding riders to wear their masks and practice social distancing. The campaign was spearheaded by the filmmaker Nicolas Heller, also known as New York Nico, who uses his social media accounts to profile local New Yorkers.

"Starting February 12th, you will be hearing over 20 new voices representing the @mta on subway platforms and buses all over NYC," he tweeted. "Thank you so much to everyone who volunteered their time to this. It has been my most ambitious project yet."

Celebrities including Fran Lebowitz, Desus Nice, Bowen Yang, Young M.A., and The Kid Mero will make announcements on various train lines. Some riders will also hear the actor Awkwafina, who voiced alerts for the 7 train in January 2020.

Several of the celebrities in a video also encouraged New Yorkers to wear their masks the correct way and do their part to help end the spread of Covid-19.

New York City became the fourth state to record 1 million Covid-19 cases at the beginning of the year. As of Friday, New York has 1,519,340 cases, according to NBC News' count.