Eric Adams goes to the Gala
It felt like healing for a moment -- running into acquaintances, seeing some bars and restaurants restored to former glory and 2019 levels of attendance. But in the air was that "too good to be true" feeling in a post-covid New York world. While someone in a group still echoes a chorus of "covid is still out there," it's finally gotten to the point when things feel good again in New York. "Why would I leave?" I then have to ask, "Well, what will they subjugate us to next?" There's a pattern in paternalistic behavior. The power the city and many levels of government have experienced out of the collective state of fear is insidious and unchecked.
Amid all this, I've had a hunch that the official NYC Covid threat meter would be raised -- which it was -- on Monday. Hints have frequently been foreshadowing in pandemic governance. "Oh, we're not doing anything just yet, but if the numbers keep being numbers, we'll make everyone wear funny hats for more laughs." So if the hints hold, indoor masking returns in New York City.
The belief in the effectiveness of masks is alive and well at this stage (incredibly). They are 100% effective at muffling speech, rendering people emotionless in outward appearance while projecting a sense of protection, cooperation, and collective misery. I find the act submissive.
"We continue to recommend that everyone wear their mask at all times, particularly when they are indoors," announced New York's 1st Deputy Health Commissioner on an NBC 4 New York report on Monday, May 2. New Yorkers often take things literally, so I imagine some folks at home in bed at night masked upon hearing this expert medical advice, which is both unspecific and cruel. Everyone's risk factors and personal health issues vary. But I am no doctor, so please don't confuse this for "information" of any flavor. I can offer my impressions and perspective. I know plenty of people who reuse masks in a rather unsanitary way, but the act still conveys the idea of protection.
[Update on 5/5/2022, more hints of bringing back masking and vaccine checks from NBC 4]
As I write this from the outdoor seating of a Bushwick, Brooklyn coffee shop, I notice more people again walking alone, outside, masked. If someone wants to wear a mask, that's up to them. But it's downright irritating to impose it on others.
While walking in the city, I frequently observe an obnoxious gesture from someone masked passing on the sidewalk; a pinching motion on typically an N95 or blue medical mask with their bare hands with an unknown amount of bacterial flora on the epidermal surface. Or alternatively, by tugging on the elastic strings suggestively at someone not participating in the outdoor masking theater production.
If I have to go into a business that asks to wear a mask, I will wear one. But when presented with a similar one with no such protocol, I go there. I also avoid places with the NYC blue "vaccinated only" signs that some establishments still have in their front window or door despite that rule being lifted (at least for the moment) for continuing to support such a measure.
But masks are more surface material, a precursor for the demand that you instill your body with something more invasive and life-changing.
New York City still has a private worker vaccine mandate in effect. It's May 2022. The long-term effects of the earliest vaccine campaign participants are still undetermined. And the effectiveness of the treatments is up for debate in my non-medical opinion. Mayor Eric Adams has made hypocritical exemptions. These were most likely an attempt to assuage frequent criticism of him regarding the treatment of popular NBA and MLB sports figures, such as Kyrie Irving. Why not just remove the unethical mandate?
Mayor Adams has established himself as more a socialite than an effective leader. Adams attended the Met Gala 2022 with his girlfriend on Monday, May 2, when the city raised its Covid threat level from low to medium.
Of note was his jacket made by a local artist intended to advocate against gun violence, which has ironically increased under Adams’s term. But why attend such a big social event if his own Department of Health hints at indoor masking while raising Covid threat levels. He recently recovered from Covid, so maybe he felt safer after overcoming the illness. I have some questions for this Mayor. Do you want me to be concerned (like a Department you oversee) about the rising cases? If so, why are you attending this event (and unmasked)? Will your jacket end gun violence as it proclaims? And while Kyrie can now play (though still unvaccinated), you are unwilling to treat the average New Yorker or members of NYPD and FDNY with the same level of respect for medical outcomes.
New York's private worker mandate is an affront to bodily autonomy. People can opt out, but legally they are barred from working in person without proof of a specific vaccination -- unless from outside the city or a prominent sports figure with an exemption. I am not sure who this is serving other than companies with their vaccine mandates, legally shielded from lawsuits resulting from those (rare) adverse events that result from people participating to keep their job because of the discriminatory practice. Mayor Adams has had plenty of opportunities to rescind the very late in term DeBlasio edict. The hypocrisy in his decisions defines his character as mayor.
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Enjoyed your NY photos, especially the first one; made me nostalgic.
Been hearing what a hellhole NY is now, with anyone who can afford to leave leaving.
So that's why your photos are good.
Shame that street smart New Yorkers are such mask wearing wimps though.
One of the local theatre trusts in town, that staff and book the non union part of the staff, has lifted their requirements for patrons. Yay! Cool! But uhhhh....stagehands still gotta show proof to work many of the houses, including the big touring house in town (show proof equaling your papers are already on file with the venue). #maskuphelp