12 JULY 15, 2021 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
The looming Delta threat
The COVID-19 pandemic is far
from over in New York City, as
too many New Yorkers are fi nding
out the hard way.
The Delta variant — a more contagious
and severe mutation of the virus that
stopped the world in its tracks last year
— is making the rounds in New York
City. More than 40 percent of new cases
reported in the fi ve boroughs, involve
patients who contracted the Delta variant
of COVID-19, according to the city
Health Department’s preliminary data.
Meanwhile, the city keeps on
reopening up aft er more than a year
of shutdowns and restrictions. Mask
mandates have been lifted in most
places. The spread of the Delta variant
threatens to put a serious dent in the
progress made in recent months, if not
upend it.
The good news is that more than
half of all New York City residents are
fully vaccinated against COVID-19. And
while vaccinated New Yorkers can still
contract the virus, the vaccine enables
their bodies to successfully fi ght it off
with few to no symptoms.
But unvaccinated New Yorkers
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Make sure you get vaccinated as the Delta variant of COVID-19 is making the rounds in New York City.
Photo via Getty Images
remain at the same level of risk of
serious illness or death that everyone
had before the vaccine came along. The
Delta variant looms a menacing threat
to their well-being — and it is attacking
unvaccinated people.
The numbers do not lie. The Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention reported
that nationally, 99.2 percent of
all COVID-19 deaths in June were of unvaccinated
Americans. The Delta variant
is spiking COVID-19 cases across
areas of the country where vaccination
rates are low, packing hospital rooms
with sick patients and again putting
frontline health care workers at risk
themselves.
In the latest NYC Health Department
data, 24 neighborhoods across the fi ve
boroughs have less than 40 percent of
their residents fully vaccinated against
COVID-19. These areas are particularly
vulnerable to the Delta variant, and the
city and state must quickly step up all
eff orts to get the vaccine in arms there.
The situation is no diff erent than a
menacing storm looming off the shore,
threatening to bring a life-threatening
storm surge that would wipe out
homes, businesses and lives. It’s not
too late to save the unvaccinated — but
that requires cooperation from the
unvaccinated.
We beg any New Yorker who hasn’t
already been fully vaccinated against
COVID-19 to do so now. Don’t let the
anti-vaccine rhetoric of fear-mongers
and political profi teers scare you to
death.
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