24 THE QUEENS COURIER • JULY 1, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
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Title: Construction underway on borough-based jail in
Kew Gardens
Summary: The city is moving ahead with its
controversial borough-based prison in Kew Gardens. The
mayor announced that construction is underway for the
parking garage and community space alongside the new
jail.
Reach: 2,097 (as of 6/28/2021)
Emergency exit
New York’s COVID-19 state of
emergency is fi nally over as of June
24, about 16 months aft er Governor
Andrew Cuomo declared it in the
nascent stages of the Empire State’s
health crisis.
Th e 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 diffi cult would be a massive
understatement, but at long last,
we fi nally 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 fi rst
dose of the vaccine, and more than
half of people fully vaccinated. Millions
remain vulnerable to the virus and its
potentially catastrophic side eff ects.
Variants of COVID-19 remain a
major threat, too, as Cuomo reminded
New Yorkers during a press conference
last week. Th e 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, aft er all, that adapts to its
surroundings in order to survive. Th e
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.
Kevin Hagen/Pool via REUTERS
While New York’s COVID-19 state of emergency is fi nally over, it is still important to get vaccinated with the
threat of the disease still out there.
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