JUNE 2021 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 13
IN THE NEWS
THE MASK OFF? GREAT DEBATE
People listen as New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference on Covid-19 vaccination at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood
on April 12, 2021. (Michael M. Santiago/Pool via REUTERS)
BY BRIANA BONFIGLIO
While most customers who walked
into Soul Brew in Bellmore wore face
masks on May 19, the day that fully
Covid-19-vaccinated New Yorkers
could ditch their face coverings in most
places, Nassau County Health Commissioner
Dr. Larry Eisenstein, who is fully
vaccinated, did not.
Eisenstein weighed in on why he
dropped the mask while stopping
for breakfast before a meeting that
morning.
“For people who are fully vaccinated —
fully vaccinated, and that’s a key thing —
we know that the risk is relatively very,
very low, of severe outcome or dying of
Covid,” he says. “If I’m in a crowd, I’ll be
wearing a mask. If I’m on an airplane,
I’ll definitely be wearing a mask. If I’m
sitting in a restaurant, I’m not wearing
a mask — I’m fully vaccinated.”
The Centers for Diseases Control and
Prevention (CDC) announced its updated
mask guidance for vaccinated
individuals a week prior, recommending
that the face coverings still be
worn in places such as public transportation
and healthcare facilities.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced May
17 that New York would adopt those
guidelines.
Since then, there has been a divide between
people across the country who
believe masks should still be worn and
those who think ditching them is long
overdue. Only a few people at Soul Brew
ditched their masks on May 19, and Eisenstein
says that different people will
have different risk tolerances when
confronted with the question of what
they’ll decide going forward.
“For people who want to completely
eradicate Covid, they want everybody to
be wearing a mask all the time,” he says.
“But there are consequences to that —
there are psychological consequences,
there are business consequences. Other
people aren’t afraid at all of Covid, they
think there shouldn’t be any masks at
all.
“Everybody has to do what makes them
comfortable,” he adds, noting that he
doesn’t mind wearing a mask and
keeps it in his shirt pocket for when he
needs it. “I do think there’s a sense of
achievement and liberation that we’ve
reached this point, but we’re not out of
the woods and everybody should still
be smart about it.”
The mask mandate was lifted 399 days
after New York became the first state to
enact a mandate of its kind, according to
a statement that Cuomo issued.
“The steps we’re taking today don’t
mean that Covid has been officially
relegated to the history books,” Cuomo
said. “We need to stay vigilant, continue
to follow the safety guidelines in place,
and help every single eligible New Yorker
get vaccinated, so that we can finally
reach that light at the end of the tunnel.”
“Everybody has to do what makes them
comfortable,” says Dr. Larry Eisenstein.
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
