Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin, one of several NY republicans running for Governor, in Jefferson Valley-Yorktown opposing mask mandate
The opposition by less than 30% of Westchester County residents to mask mandates for students in schools and now for any indoor activity and business, recently enacted by Governor Kathy Hochul, has resulted in comments at school board meetings and opposition by some elected officials.
Long Island Congressman Lee Zeldin, who is a republican candidate for Governor in 2022, made a stop on his statewide tour to Yorktown, to speak out against Gov. Hochul’s mask mandates. “In Westchester today, (Dec. 16), I joined Yorktown Supervisor Matthew Slater, Assemblyman Kevin Byrne, and other local elected officials, business owners, and residents to speak out against Gov. Hochul’s new statewide mask mandate. Businesses shouldn’t be forced to police their customers or fear fines,” said Zeldin, in the Jefferson Valley part of the Town of Yorktown.
“The only way to describe Governor Hochul’s approach to governing is consistently inconsistent. Day after day, she constantly moves the goal posts for New Yorkers, who are desperate for a return to normalcy and want the government to no longer assert so much authoritarian control over their daily lives and freedoms. I strongly oppose the Governor’s unilateral decision to impose a statewide mask mandate. I also oppose her threatening rhetoric and firing of essential workers and her recent order to end elective procedures at hospitals across the state. Access to vaccines and therapeutics is important, and so is medical freedom. We need leaders who value the freedoms of their constituents,” stated Zeldin, once the mandate was announced by Gov. Hochul.
Joining Zeldin at the announcement was Yorktown Supervisor Matt Slater. Slater had also criticized the decision to mandate masks, and to enforce that mandate in Westcheter County, and in Yorktown, while neighboring Putnam County is not enforcing the mandate.
In a letter to Gov. Hochul, Slater writes, “You have recently stated that counties can choose to enforce your indoor mask mandate. This is creating a disparity for municipalities like mine whose customers are going to neighboring counties that are choosing not to enforce it. It is disappointing to learn that some of our residents would choose to avoid our local stores and restaurants because of a mask mandate. I’m asking all our residents to support Yorktown and its local business owners, who do not deserve to be abandoned in the middle of the holiday shopping season.”
Other Yorktown residents claim just the opposite, and say that they are shopping in Yorktown, and that they want masks worn by all in the stores that they frequent.
Westchester County Executive George Latimer said, “Vaccinations and masks do not guarantee you won’t get COVID. But they reduce the chances you will. And they reduce the chance you’ll be seriously sick, hospitalized or die. Being unvaxxed and unmasked raises those odds. Period.
“I have no desire to order you to do anything; that is why Westchester imposed no mandate of any sort. But we have politicians who are trying to pander to extreme ideologues who willfully tell us to not mask and not to vaccinate. That is playing with people’s health for political gain. They should be ashamed …but they’re not.
“Have we forgotten how many people died while arguing against common sense – people like Herman Cain? A tragic and unnecessary loss of a life. Instead of focusing the debate on opposition to a mandate, they should be encouraging people to protect themselves and reduce the odds of illness.
“If Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity all got vaccinated, why should we be pandering to the fear of being vaxxed? And if doctors wear masks in the OR why should we conduct a holy war against masks? No one wants to wear a mask..we’re trying to survive a pandemic.
“Long after this election or that election is behind us, History will remember and write which leaders led with fear and ignorance and which ones told the truth about the risks.” said Latimer, who is recovering from a mild case of COVID at home under quarantine since Dec. 13.
