Kusnierz faulted & defends County not enforcing NY mask mandate

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

Saratoga County’s decision not to enforce New York State’s new Covid mask mandate was criticized by a supervisor from Saratoga Springs and defended by Todd Kusnierz, the Moreau Town Supervisor who chairs the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors.

Mr. Kusnierz told The Chronicle, “Since Saratoga County came out and announced our position on the mask mandate, 37 upstate counties have come out against it. That’s out of 57 counties in upstate, 65 percent, and this is bipartisan opposition as well. At least a couple of those counties are run by Democrats.”

Saratoga County board member Tara Gaston of Saratoga Springs faulted the county’s statement as “essentially an ‘FU’ to the governor,” the Albany Times-Union reported. “The language was inflammatory, wrong-sided and inaccurate.” Ms. Gaston was quoted.

Asked about it, Mr. Kusnierz characterized her opposition as “sour grapes,” after he removed her as chair of the heath committee earlier this year. His own claim: “I committed to making the county’s response to Covid our top priority when I was elected chairman and she obstructed that.”

Mr. Kusnierz is a Republican. Ms. Gaston is a Democrat. Mr. Kusnierz said he was speaking for the full board when he issued the statement against the mask-or-vaccination mandate.

“As the Governor said herself, she doesn’t think the mandate is enforceable. If there is no intent to enforce, they they’re merely making a recommendation.”

As to the notoriety his statement has garnered, Mr. Kusnierz says, “Some say that means we are anti-mask. Nothing is further from the truth.

“We have 51 hard-working individuals in our health department. Every single one is focused on getting vaccinations and boosters into the arms of our residents. There’s no fat left over to enforce a mask mandate.

“We know last week the Omicron variant was only 2 percent of cases in New York. In one week, that jumped to 13 percent. Now there are no cases in Saratoga County, but we know it is coming. To redirect public health resources away from vaccinations and boosters would be a disservice to the residents of the county.”

Copyright © 2021 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved