COVID-19: NYC Quote of the Day 2020-07-20

Monday, July 20, 2020, NYS Gov. Cuomo - Enforce the Law or We're Going to Have to Close Bars and Restaurants

We know enough about this virus. We know that there are inevitable consequences to our actions. If you have congregations of people, they are going to spread the virus. Now, many of these congregations tend to be young people and young people, as a general rule, believe they're super heroes. That's not a fact. You can get sick in your 20s. You can die in your 20s, people have. Even if you live by the theory of you're a super hero, you will take the virus and you will give it to someone else. Unless you live in a hermetically sealed bubble, you will go home and you will transfer to someone else who will transfer it to someone else, and you could kill someone. So from an aspect of any social responsibility at all, it's not just about you, it's about who you could infect and who you could hurt.

To the partiers who come out, I understand you've been inside for a long time. I understand you're young. I understand people like to socialize. I get that it's the summer. I get that the work environment is not as tough, so you have the flexibility to go out. I get all of that. I really do. But, I'm telling you it has to stop. And I'm telling you in plain, New York speak, as a born and bred New Yorker, it's stupid, what you're doing. Don't be stupid.

To the local governments, I've said repeatedly that the local governments are in charge of compliance and enforcement. If young people are going to come out and do something stupid, the local governments have to enforce the law. The police department has to enforce the law. And they are not doing it.

I will tell you what's going to happen. The bad restaurant and bar owners are going to make it worse for the good ones. Most restaurants and bars are complying, they're going through a very tough economic situation, but they're living by the rules. The bad ones who are exploiting the situation and breaking the law, by the way, this is not just morality, they're breaking the law, are going to make it bad for everyone. I'll tell you what's going to happen. We're going to have to roll back the opening plan. And we're going to have to close bars and restaurants.

So to local governments I say, you don't want to enforce the law because you think it's politically unpopular, and you don't want ot do something that's politically unpopular. I'll tell you what's more politically unpopular. When you're going to have to explain to the people why we had to close all bars and restaurants. That's going to be more politically difficult than telling the NYPD to do their job. This is not a point of sending out the police department to inform young people to wear a mask. They've heard that message. The police department is not there to inform them of mask compliance. Police departments have to enforce the law. That is the only line between anarchy and civilization.

One plus one still equals two, right, and there's a logical consequence of actions, and that's where we are.
Edited for redundancy, grammar, and emphasis
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