Commentary
It’s been nearly 11 months since the end of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s “Key to NYC” vaccine mandate and public-school masking requirements. And President Joe Biden recently announced an end to the pandemic-related state of emergency on May 11. Yet many private businesses, cultural institutions, and schools continue to cling to COVID-era restrictions.
The remnants of pandemic policies are hodgepodge and nonsensical, ranging from vaccine and mask mandates to testing and isolation. They do little to promote safety, but much to continue disruption.
Even though it is now widely accepted that vaccines don’t prevent transmission, some mandates persist. New York state has a teacher shortage, yet the city has fired nearly 2,000 unjabbed teachers and staff, thanks to the city’s vaccine mandate. It only today ended the mandate for city workers—but has no plans to rehire those fired….