EDITORIAL
MASKS DOWN, SLEEVES UP
Back on May 13, the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention issued new guidance which
indicated that people who are fully vaccinated
against COVID-19 no longer have to worry
about wearing masks in most public places.
It apparently took Governor Andrew Cuomo the
weekend to process this before finally announcing
on May 17 that New York would adopt the mandate
two days later.
If you’re a New Yorker, and you’ve been fully vaccinated
for COVID-19, you can go about life without
a mask except if you’re riding public transportation
or in congregate settings like hospitals or doctor’s
offices.
But if you haven’t been vaccinated yet, you’ll still
need to wear the mask indefinitely. So many of the
people who protested the mask mandate in the first
place and didn’t bother complying with it probably
don’t care too much about the change.
For more than a year, New York state mandated
that everyone wear masks when out in public, following
the science which showed that COVID-19 was
at its most communicable through coughing, sneezing
and spittle.
A small yet boisterous minority of people protested
this mandate as a violation of one’s freedom. They
had, in fact, abandoned personal responsibility at a
time of a worldwide health emergency — foregoing
a sense of the common good in favor of indulging
themselves.
The mask mandate was never tyranny. It was a
temporary solution to a dangerous problem in society.
And with COVID-19 rates plummeting, the vaccine
getting into millions of arms and the science
showing just how protected vaccinated people are,
the time had come to make the change.
Now, as the city reopens, so do large venues with
large numbers of seats for fully vaccinated New
Yorkers. Life is returning to something close to a
pre-pandemic normal. We’re finally in a position to
get beyond this pandemic, but only if we all share
the responsibility together of protecting ourselves
and each other from this virus.
So if you haven’t already done so, we remind you
again: Get the COVID-19 vaccine. It’s safe, and it
works. It has gotten us to the point of fully reopening,
and it will keep us from ever taking a step backward
into the deadly abyss.
We owe it to ourselves to do everything we can to
stop COVID-19 in its tracks for good. This vaccine is
the way to do it.
HOW TO REACH US
TIMESLEDGER | Q 16 NS.COM | MAY 21-MAY 27, 2021
A NEW PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The 2021 Pledge of Allegiance should be the following:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands,
one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all, and I will do everything I can to ensure
that the former president never again gets anywhere near the Oval Office.”
Robert Berger,
Bellerose
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Fully vaccinated New Yorkers are be able to do most anything in New York state without wearing a mask as of
Wednesday, May 19, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo. Photo courtesy of Cuomo’s offi ce via Flickr
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