Buffalo, NY (WBEN) A local attorney says he plans on suing over the latest mask mandate issued by Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz.
Attorney Corey Hogan says the latest emergency orders "are the latest in an attempt by government officials, from Governor Hochul all the way down to Erie County politicians, to control the way in which individuals live their respective lives, and business owners operate their respective businesses, far after the threat of any alleged emergency arising out of the prior COVID-19 pandemic has subsided and dissipated, and nowhere is this more clear than the fact that the State Disaster Emergency expired on or about June 25, 2021."
Hogan says he has received calls from hundreds of local businesses, trying to figure out how to challenge the order. "As a result, our clients are left with no choice but to prepare a lawsuit to challenge the issuance of Emergency Orders on multiple legal grounds," says Hogan.
Hogan contends there is no evidence COVID-19 is being transmitted in any of the facilities subject to the orders. "The only publicly available information demonstrates that 1.43% of transmission takes place in restaurants, 0.06% of transmission takes place in gyms, and 0.14% of transmission takes place in hair salons and other personal care service businesses. This is the State of New York's own data – this was released on December 11, 2020, and despite our office's efforts through a variety of legal avenues under FOIL to obtain more up-to-date information over the course of the last year, the State of New York has refused to provide it," notes Hogan.
"We call on Erie County to publicly release that information so that our clients can be made aware of how, if at all, the operation of their respective businesses allegedly contributes to the spread of COVID-19."
Hogan adds the orders are vague and contradictory.
"Erie County has asserted that: "WHEREAS, the [CDC] currently recommends wearing masks based upon evidence indicating that fully vaccinated individuals, infected with the Delta Variant of COVID-19 after vaccination, are contagious and able to spread the virus to others." However, Erie County later provides that: "Any business who voluntarily implements a 100% COVID-19 vaccination requirement for entry into their facility shall be exempt from the masking requirements herein." This begs the question: if it is true that fully vaccinated individuals can still be contagious and spread the virus to others, why is there an exemption for businesses that impose a vaccination requirement?
Furthermore, why is there not a similar exemption for businesses whose patrons can prove that they have natural immunity to and from COVID-19? Neither Public Health Law § 308, nor Executive Law § 24(1), have ever been used in such a way as to impose these types of mandates upon such a broad swath of citizens, particularly when there is no longer any legitimate threat to the public health based upon the continued falling death rates throughout New York State, which as always, are concentrated in individuals over the age of 60 (i.e., approximately 80%) that have an average of at least 3 other negative health conditions," says Hogan.
Hogan says the orders are "arbitrary, capricious, irrational, illogical, and wholesale abuse of authority."
