Staten Island Stubborn

When the history of COVID-19 finally appears in the history books, the summer of 2021 will be seen as the time when the pandemic, which could already be 100% over, got stuck in the mud.

Nearly 200 million Americans are fully vaccinated but now -- with the nasty Delta variant out there and huge swaths of the population refusing to get a shot -- we are backsliding. The infection rate is rising and, in some places, restrictions are being reimposed. We were making great progress but it's being put at risk, again, by stupid people, by the COVID deniers and vaccine refuseniks.

In NYC nearly 60% of the population is either fully vaccinated or has had at least one dose. But here, like everywhere else, there are pockets of recalcitrants who won't get vaccinated -- and it's spreading to the rest of the city.

And the biggest pocket is Staten Island.

The "forgotten borough" is making its presence known this summer by having vastly higher rates of unvaccinated and new COVID cases than the rest of the city. The politically conservative borough, our very own Alabama, has an arrogant "Don't Tread On Me!" stubborness and meanspiritedness that's keeping the pandemic going. These folks on Staten Island would rather die in order to "own the libs" than stay healthy and end this nightmare. They like making everyone else as miserable as they are.

It's cruelty personified -- and for, these stubborn people on Staten Island, that's the whole point.

So when the history of COVID-19 in NYC is written, and people wonder why NYC fell off the vaccine wagon, the finger can and should be firmly pointed to the city's smallest and most stubborn borough.