GOP blasts 6-year-old Ebola bill
Republican links draft to threat of detention camps for quarantine
New York conservatives continue to hammer a bill introduced six years ago that they’re holding up as proof that Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is pursuing detention camps in response to some New Yorkers’ unwillingness to quarantine for the coronavirus.
The long-dormant bill was introduced in 2015 by state Assemblyman
N. Nick Perry, Dbrooklyn, in response to the case of a nurse infected with Ebola who had refused to quarantine. The proposal never gained traction: No one co-sponsored the measure, which has remained stalled in the Assembly’s Health Committee; there is still no Senate bill mirroring it. Despite that lack of legislative progress, in recent weeks the bill has received widespread attention on conservative social media accounts as evidence of a brewing authoritarian plot.
As written, the bill would allow the executive branch to detain infected individuals and their contacts “in a medical facility or other appropriate facility” during a pandemic in order to protect the public’s health and safety. If the detention lasts longer than three days, the state would need a court order.
“This is straight up detention camp stuff in NY!” tweeted Liz Joy, a Republican who lost to U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-amsterdam, in November.
While there are several bills before the state Legislature that tackle vaccination issues related to the coronavirus pandemic, and there are elements of Perry’s
bill that could apply to the current public health crisis, the measure is not on the table.
Even the vaccination measures are up in the air as legislative sponsors have said the necessity of a vaccination mandate will be determined later this year when the COVID-19 vaccines are readily available to the general public. And, even then, any new laws will be based on whether a community is developing enough herd immunity.
Regardless, many Republicans continue to draw attention to the bill — including state GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy who on Monday blasted state Democrats and Cuomo for not condemning the bill outright, and demanded that Perry pull it from consideration.
“The fact that this bill was even drafted and introduced gives you an incredible insight into the totalitarian, Socialist mentality of New York Democrats,” Langworthy
said in a statement.
Cuomo’s senior advisor Rich Azzopardi said the administration wasn’t even aware of the bill until GOP critics brought it up. “We have real problems to focus on and I urge the crazy uncles who are fueling this cut-rate Qanon to knock it off and take a walk or something,” he said.
Perry noted that the bill hasn’t been actively pushed since the most recent Ebola threat ended, and he stressed that proper reading of the legislation indicates that its provisions do not trample on civil liberties.
“I am convinced that most smart Americans, faced with the deadly consequences of having a person who is a carrier of a very deadly virus roaming freely through any community, would support public action to contain such a person from contaminating and potentially bringing certain death to persons they have contact with,” Perry said in the statement.
He said he was open to amendments “that will improve the bill in regard to concerns to constitutional rights.”