EDITORIAL
EMERGENCY EXIT
HOW TO REACH US
TIMESLEDGER | Q 10 NS.COM | JULY 2-JULY 8, 2021
LITTLE NECK DOUGLASTON LIONS CLUB
CONDEMNS ANTI-ASIAN HATE CRIMES
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While New York’s COVID-19 state of emergency is finally over, it is still important to get vaccinated with the
threat of the disease still out there. Kevin Hagen/Pool via REUTERS
New York’s COVID-19 state of emergency is
finally over as of June 24, about 16 months
after Governor Andrew Cuomo declared it
in the nascent stages of the Empire State’s
health crisis.
The declaration came with a host of regulations
that mandated facial coverings, restricted
public capacities, closed businesses and mainly
kept people away from each other for fear of being
exposed to a fatal contagion. To describe the last
16 months as long and difficult would be a massive
understatement, but at long last, we finally have
reached the other side.
Make no mistake, COVID-19 remains a threat
to public health even with more than 70 percent
of state residents having received at least the first
dose of the vaccine, and more than half of people
fully vaccinated. Millions remain vulnerable to
the virus and its potentially catastrophic side
effects.
Variants of COVID-19 remain a major threat,
too, as Cuomo reminded New Yorkers during a
press conference last week. The delta variant is
set to become the dominant virus strain in America;
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
said it is much more contagious and potent than
“classic COVID-19.”
Getting vaccinated can help people avoid infection
from just about any COVID-19 strain to
date, including the delta variant, as studies have
shown. Yet avoiding the vaccine leaves one at risk
of getting the virus and exposing many others to
it. If enough people aren’t vaccinated, that will
create yet another health crisis.
It also opens the door for COVID-19 to continue
mutating; it is a living organism, after all, that
adapts to its surroundings in order to survive. The
day may come when the virus mutates to the point
where it becomes resistant to the vaccine — and
then we’re back to that dark, vulnerable place in
March 2020 when everyone was suddenly at risk,
and the city began closing down.
No one wants to go back to that.
Much like mask-wearing and social distancing
were at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, getting
vaccinated is a matter of public health. It’s a
mutual responsibility we all should share to ensure
that this virus is stopped, and that normal
life can continue to function.
As unpleasant as getting stuck in the arm and
feeling a brief fever or chill might be, it’s still a far
more palatable option than shutdowns and being
deathly ill in an isolated hospital bed.
The Little Neck Douglaston Lions Club, founded
in 1956, wishes to publicly express our
outrage with the recent wave of hate crimes
against Asian people in New York City.
We recognize our large local Asian community
for its many contributions to the social and economic
fabric of Little Neck/Douglaston. We stand in support
of them at this difficult time.
The Little Neck Douglaston Lions Club is part of
the Lions Club International, numbering 1.4 million
members in over 200 different countries or regions
worldwide.
The Lions’ motto is “We serve,” and we conduct
humanitarian work with people across religious and
racial/ethnic groups.
Bill Perry (outreach chair),
John F. Duane (president)
/NS.COM
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