Personal risk sensibilities are surpassing concerns over public health as Mayor Bill de Blasio seeks to reopen the economy, despite threats from Coronavirus variants. NYC Mayor's Office (YouTube/Fair Use)

de Blasio is reopening New York City without Coronavirus mutation surveillance for B.1.617, the double-variant from India

Experts now predict that the world will not be able to achieve herd immunity to the Coronavirus. In the face of mutant dangers, Mayor Bill de Blasio is ignoring the Indian double-variant in Genomic sequencing.

By Progress New York Staff

Updated 13 May 2021 13:45 Despite the devastating toll of the double-variant of the Coronavirus wreaking havoc in India, the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio (WFP-New York City) is keeping mum about conducting Genomic sequencing for the foreign mutation, designated as B.1.617. For this report, the press office supporting Mayor de Blasio refused to acknowledge that it was an act of “neglect” to fail to sequence for B.1.617 in New York City.

NYC Health, the Municipal health department, last reported Genomic sequencing on May 4 of a subset of virus specimens taken from New York City residents. NYC Health tracks five variants being monitored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (B.1.1.7, B.1.351, B.1.429, B.1.427, and P.1), in addition to three other variants being monitored by New York City health officials (B.1.526/B.1.526.2, B.1525, and P.2). But City health officials have not been tracking the B.1.617 double-variant from India.

In recent weeks, the B.1.617 double-variant has reportedly been detected in the San Francisco Bay AreaShelby County, Tennessee ; Clinton County, Michigan ; and Jefferson County, Ohio.

The oversight comes as the Coronavirus pandemic has been described as “changing too quickly,” given the emergence and spread of new variants and the decline in vaccination rates, leading to a reported loss of faith that global herd immunity might be achievable, according to a report published by the New York Times.

New reports have questioned whether the mayor and the governor were reopening the economy too soon.

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams (WFP-New York City) was highly critical of the easing of economic activity restrictions by Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY), according to a report published on Friday by the political magazine Web site, City & State. The success of the reopening would depend on whether New Yorkers continued to follow public health guidelines that recommended the wearing of masks and adhering to social distancing, Dr. Danielle Ompad, an associate professor of epidemiology at New York University, said for the City & State report. There was a sense that the public would change their behaviour in the face of changes in Government policy, Dr. Ompad said.

The emphasis to reopen the economy requires a change from focusing on public health to individual risk sensibilities, according to an essay by Joseph Allen, an associate public health professor at Harvard University, published in the Washington Post that was later cited in a CNN report.

Early in the Coronavirus pandemic, Mayor de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo were faulted for failing to condition the public to change their behaviour in order to contain the initial outbreak, according to a report published by the New Yorker magazine.

To promote the reopening of the economy, Mayor de Blasio has announced a tourism campaign to encourage travel to New York City, and Gov. Cuomo moved up the scheduled reopening from Mayor de Blasio’s proposed date of July 1 to May 19, according to reports. The moves fly in the face of past efforts by Gov. Cuomo to blame travel for the spread of the Coronavirus.

The de Blasio administration has, at times, been slow to adapt to changes or to release public health data. As reported by Progress New York, the de Blasio administration restored the release of Coronavirus testing data on March 24 after test positivity results began to approach 15 per cent. in some New York City zip codes. Gov. Cuomo has also faced scrutiny over the delayed release of Coronavirus data, particularly the death toll traced to nursing homes in New York State, which has become the reported subject of a Federal investigation.

The Government is responsible for mixed messaging on public health.

Concerns over B.1.617 have been ignored in New York City.

One comment

  1. Why should we expect transparency from de Blasio after 8 years of his corrupt recidivism of secrecy and obstruction. And why should we expect transparency or even competence from his health commissioner who hesitated to get vaccinated himself and wound up getting COVID himself?

    Let’s also mention how the Blaz is putting his constituents and visitors to the city health at risk by mandating open streets and bike boulevards in the hopes that people will gather in those areas.

    The Blaz is a sociopath

    #FreeJQLLC

    https://impunitycity.com/2021/04/01/open-letter-to-a-twitter-algorhitm/

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