Why All Doom And Gloom, Lee Zeldin?

Op Ed: Why All Doom and Gloom, Lee Zeldin?

September 26, 2021

 In a recent campaign release Lee Zeldin complains that government vaccine mandates wrongly violate the liberty of Americans and are bad for the economy.  He is wrong, he knows it, and his message is dangerous to the health, wellbeing and economic recovery of our state and our nation. Do not believe Lee Zeldin’s tall tale of doom and gloom!

Friday night past I was stopped at the 62^nd Street exit off the Queensboro Bridge on my walk to a lovely exhibition at the United Nations.  After I made a comment through my protective mask about the futility of horn honking in the traffic jam, a masked young woman next to me responded that she came to New York two months prior and thought the traffic terrible.  I shared my unexpected gratitude seeing New York’s traffic return after the devastating experience of empty suburban and city streets during the height of the COVID 19 pandemic.

Thanks to the development and availability of the vaccine against the coronavirus, New York’s vitality has returned.  Restaurants that barely survived the pandemic along with those that are newly opened or reopened are filled to the brim with happy people.  The streets, the parks and stores are bustling with New Yorkers and tourists alike.

And it isn’t only New York that is returning.  Last spring and summer our family, like many, cancelled travel and leisure activities.  This summer I returned to the beaches of North Carolina and spent a glorious week scuba diving with five dive friends.  Recently I attended a weekend long music festival on a New Jersey beach with 37,000 other guests.

New York City has mandated proof of vaccination for indoor dining; my dive boat required proof of vaccination to board; and the New Jersey concert venue required proof of vaccination or a negative COVID 19 test.  My observation is most people are willing to take the vaccine and wear a mask to safely return to the day to day life we missed so much.  And because of that willingness, our economy, our city and state, and our country is making progress toward recovery.  

There have been many United States Supreme Court cases upholding the power of the state to mandate vaccines to protect the public health.  In a landmark 1905 case, Jacobson v Massachusetts, the Court pointed out the dangers and the unfairness of an individual defying government mandates believing that his or her individual liberty must prevail over the public interest when it said, “We are not prepared to hold that a minority, residing or remaining in any city or town where smallpox is prevalent, … may thus defy the will of its constituted authorities, acting in good faith for all, under the legislative sanction of the State. If such be the privilege of a minority, then a like privilege would belong to each individual of the community, and the spectacle would be presented of the welfare and safety of an entire population being subordinated to the notions of a single individual who chooses to remain a part of that population.”

We can’t afford to let Lee Zeldin subordinate the welfare and safety of our great state to his tall tale of gloom and doom!

Elaine Turley is an attorney who lives in Smithtown with her husband and family.  She is the former chairperson of the Smithtown Democratic Committee.