EDITORIAL
A PLAN, AT LONG
LAST
You can mark Jan. 21, 2021, as the date in which
the country finally began the great turnaround
against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Though the virus continues running rampant
and killing thousands nationwide, last Thursday
marked the real beginning of the end of this health crisis
because of the actions of President Joe Biden.
The new president signed a number of executive orders
which, effectively, nationalize the pandemic before
us — something that needed to happen when it first arrived
in America last year, but that Biden’s predecessor
never cared enough to accomplish.
The biggest order that Biden signed is the enactment
of the Defense Production Act, which mobilizes the entire
country — public and private industries alike — to
make whatever is necessary to stop the disease in its
tracks, including vaccine production and distribution.
For New York City and state, the vaccine situation
is dire. The city’s vaccine hubs have closed because the
supply isn’t there to meet the high demand.
COVID-19 cases, meanwhile, continue to be very
high, though they have leveled off following the holiday
surge. Numbers remain high in Brooklyn and Queens,
though. Over a seven-day period between Jan. 15 and
Jan. 20, approximately 352 New York City residents
lost their lives to COVID-19, according to data from the
governor’s office. But 238 of those fatalities occurred in
Brooklyn and Queens, both of which were hard hit during
the first wave of the pandemic last spring.
And the presence of the more-infectious variant of
COVID-19 detected in Europe looms a menacing threat
that could cause yet another surge if left unchecked.
Meanwhile, there are reports of millions of COVID-
19 doses nationwide still in storage that have yet to be
distributed largely due to local and state disconnects
with the federal government.
But those disconnects were the byproduct of the previous
administration’s failure to chart a united front
against COVID-19 from the start — and leaving most of
the response to the individual states. That caused more
problems resulting from the lack of uniformity in mission
and scale, and it resulted in the United States becoming
the global epicenter of the pandemic.
Biden’s executive orders finally put the responsibility
for handling this health crisis where it should
have been from the start: in the hands of the federal
government.
While there’s a long way to go, at least now we have
a path forward to victory — and a president who wants
what’s best for New York and America.
HOW TO REACH US
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.12 COM | JAN. 29-FEB. 4, 2021
NE QUEENS IS NOT A TRANSIT DESERT
Recent newspaper stories
revealed that the nonprofit
Samaritan Village will
be opening a 75-bed facility
for homeless senior women.
It would be located at the old
Pride of Judea Community Services
building located on 243-02
Northern Blvd., two blocks east
of Douglaston Parkway.
I don’t disagree with the concerns
raised by local residents
and members of Community
Board 11 about the lack of consultation
on the part of City Hall
for this facility. I do, however,
disagree with one argument
that some opponents are using,
claiming that the neighborhood
is “a transit desert.” The facts
do not bear this out.
There is frequent service on
the Q12 City Line bus running
along Northern Boulevard. This
travels from the City Line to the
Main Street Flushing subway
station. Bus stops are within
a block of the proposed facility
site. The Douglaston LIRR
station just off of Douglaston
Parkway is a five-minute walk
away. The Nassau Inter County
Express (NICE) N20G bus drops
off people westbound traveling
toward Flushing and picks up
passengers eastbound toward
the Great Neck LIRR station.
You should always question
anyone who refers to northeast
Queens as a “transit desert.” It
is simply not true.
Larry Penner,
Great Neck
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The enactment of the Defense Production Act will play a big role in vaccine production and distribution.
File photo by Carlo Allegri/REUTERS
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