The Democratic leaders of both Long Island counties have joined with dozens of Republican officials around the state to defy Gov. Kathy Hochul’s private-sector mask mandate — and boost the ranks of renegade county governments to nearly two-thirds the total.
“While we will not be actively enforcing the mandate, we will respond to complaints and assist businesses with education and compliance however we can,” Democratic Nassau County Executive Laura Curran told The Post on Friday.
Curran’s comment came after Republican Bruce Blakeman, who beat her in November, said he would refuse to enforce the mask mandate once he’s sworn in on Jan. 1.
Democratic Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone also said Thursday that he wouldn’t engage in “hard enforcement” of the order.
Hochul’s controversial mandate calls on all businesses that don’t require proof of vaccination against COVID-19 to make employees, customers and visitors wear masks indoors.
Companies that don’t comply face fines of up to $1,000 per violation.
Among the Big Apple’s five northern suburbs, only Westchester County has said it will crack down on violators — although in extremely vague and gentle terms.
Democratic Westchester County Executive George Latimer — who tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday after receiving two doses of vaccine — said officials would enforce Hochul’s mandate “to the best of our ability and with great discretion and understanding,” the Yonkers Times reported Thursday.
Latimer’s office didn’t immediately respond Friday when asked what measures it was taking.
City Hall also didn’t immediately elaborate on outgoing Mayor de Blasio’s Thursday pledge that “we’ll have inspectors going out full force starting as early as tomorrow to make sure there’s a high level of compliance.”
A Post tally on Friday showed that leaders of 37 of the 57 counties outside New York City — or 64.9 percent — have said they won’t enforce Hochul’s order, with many citing a lack of resources.
During a Friday appearance on CNN, Hochul accused the renegade county executives of violating their “oath of office, which we all take, which is to protect the people of our state.”
“They choose not to, but they also have to take a quick look at what’s going on in their own hospitals and the people are getting sick that they represent,” she said.
“And I hope that everyone will come around to realize that even people who are vaccinated really should be still wearing a mask right now because we are seeing more breakthrough cases.”
Hochul also said that businesses without vaccination policies, “particularly outside of New York City,” should “just require everyone to wear a mask.”
“It’s not a big deal to wear a mask,” she said.
“We’re asking people to just follow that simple rule and keep themselves and their family safe.”
The governor’s comments came a day after she tried to downplay the extent of the opposition from local government leaders, “I think we’re focusing on a few outlier counties who have declared their resistance.”
“The vast majority are following it,” she claimed, despite the numbers showing otherwise.
Earlier in the week, Hochul also all but admitted she could have exempted New York City because of its low rate of disease transmission and de Blasio’s private-sector vaccination mandate, which takes effect Dec. 27.
In response to a reporter’s question, Hochul conceded that “there’s very little difference between what we’re doing and what New York City has already done.”
US Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Long Island), who is challenging Hochul in next year’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, said Friday that her “lack of executive experience and lack of leadership is creating confusion and is dangerously ineffective.”
“It’s not just Long Island – it’s throughout the state, it’s dozens of counties! It’s really a breakdown in order. It’s not good for society that the governor’s guidance is being ignored,” he said.
“It appears the governor is floundering on efforts to address what she has deemed a crisis.”
During a Q&A with reporters on Monday, Suozzi said he favored “a much more dramatic marketing campaign” to encourage mask-wearing.
“The challenge is it’s not being delivered in a comprehensive way and sold to the public,” he added.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.