FEBRUARY 2022 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 13
COVER FEATURE
WAVE CRESTS, SECOND ANNIVERSARY LOOMS
mandate — and Hochul chastising several
local school districts for following
through on Blakeman’s invitation to lift
the mask mandates — a Nassau Supreme
Court judge struck down Hochul’s rule
on Jan. 24, one week before it was due
to expire. The next day, an appeals court
judge granted a stay in an appeal over
mask mandates, keeping the rule in effect
during the legal process, said New
York Attorney General Letitia James,
whose office had filed the motion to stay
the ruling. Justice Robert Miller of the
state appeals court temporarily blocked
the lower-court ruling, siding with the
state.
The requirements include wearing
masks in schools, on public transit and
in other public indoor spaces. Disagreements
and court action over mask mandates
in a number of states have become
a flashpoint of the pandemic response
nationwide, often dividing Democrats
and Republicans. Earlier this month, the
U.S. Supreme Court blocked President
Joe Biden’s vaccination-or-testing mandate
for large businesses.
Nassau Judge Thomas Rademaker ruled
that the governor overstepped her authority
in imposing a rule that needed
to have been passed by the state Legislature.
Multiple local school districts said
masks were optional on Jan. 25 until
the stay was put in effect, causing widespread
confusion.
“We strongly disagree with this ruling,
and we are pursuing every option to reverse
this immediately,” Hochul said.
She had declared a state of emergency
almost immediately after the World
Health Organization named Omicron
as a variant of concern on Nov. 26, 2021.
The school order was issued on her first
day in office in August.
When Hochul imposed the rule on Dec.
31, she called it temporary. She later extended
the original expiration date of
Jan. 15 to Feb. 1.
Long Island had a 9% seven-day average
percentage of positive Covid-19 test results
reported over the three-day period
ending on Jan. 26, the most recent date
for which state health data was available
as of press time. That was down from a
high of more than 26% in the first week
of January.
Suffolk reported more than 5,000 Covid
19 cases in a single day in early January,
but that figure dropped to less than
1,000 by the end of the month. Bellone
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. (Photo by Ed Shin)
said the demand for testing at community
based sites has decreased as a result.
“That has now started to come down as
we have seen the numbers come back
down,” he said. “We have peaked, which
is a very good thing.”
But even as Covid-19 cases drop and hospitalizations
show signs of plateauing in
hard-hit pockets of the United States, the
still-rising death toll from the Omicron
variant highlights the trail of loss that
follows every virus surge.
Coronavirus deaths hit an 11-month high
on Jan. 23 nationwide, climbing 11% in
the past week when compared to the prior
week, according to a Reuters analysis.
Covid-19 fatalities are a lagging indicator,
meaning their numbers usually
rise a few weeks after new cases and
hospitalizations.
The Omicron death toll has now surpassed
the height of deaths caused by
the more severe Delta variant when the
seven-day average peaked at 2,078 on
Sept. 23 last year. An average of 2,200
people a day, mostly unvaccinated, are
now dying due to Omicron.
That is still below the peak of 3,300 lives
lost a day during the surge in January
2021 as vaccines were just being rolled
out.
“It will be a while until we see (a) decrease
in death as very sick people with
Covid remain hospitalized for a long
time,” said Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor
of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia
University in New York City.
“It’s certainly reached its peak in certain
regions of the country,” Dr. Anthony Fauci,
the nation’s top infectious disease official,
said in an interview with MSNBC on
Monday. “I believe that in the next few
weeks we will see – as a country – that
it is all turning around.”
On Jan. 24, the head of the World Health
Organization (WHO) warned that it was
dangerous to assume Omicron would
herald the end of Covid-19’s most acute
phase, and exhorted nations to stay focused
to beat the pandemic.
“I want to thank New Yorkers for doing
the right thing to get where we are in
fighting this winter surge,” Hochul said.
“However, this isn’t the time to take our
foot off the gas. Let’s keep using the tools
– the vaccine, the booster and masking
up – to further bring the numbers down
and keep our vulnerable loved ones safe
from this virus.”
-With Briana Bonfiglio and Reuters
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
