NEW YORK — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul says the Nets are sending the right message by not allowing star guard Kyrie Irving to play or practice with his teammates.
Irving has refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19, and while he would have been available to practice at home and play on the road, the Nets have ruled him ineligible to be around his teammates at all — until either his vaccination status or the city’s vaccine mandate changes.
“I think the message is that the team itself supports vaccinations,” said Hochul, after delivering a speech at Barclays Center promoting the vaccine to kids under age 12. “The vast, vast, vast majority of their players are vaccinated, and they’re here to support making sure that members of the community are vaccinated. That’s the takeaway from today’s event.”
Unfortunately for the governor, her message was diluted by her own misunderstanding of New York City policy.
While Irving is ineligible to play at Barclays Center (or at Madison Square Garden) because of his vaccination status, unvaccinated players from opposing teams do not face the same limitations. Wizards star Bradley Beal, for example, is unvaccinated but played against the Nets at “The Clays” on Oct. 25. Beal also played in a preseason game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. And when the Denver Nuggets come to town (for the Knicks on Dec. 4 and the Nets on Dec. 19), the unvaccinated Michael Porter Jr. will be eligible to play.
While Irving continues to watch from a distance.
That is a discrepancy unvaccinated players have sought answers for, to no avail. Why is it that an unvaccinated player for another team can play at Madison Square Garden or Barclays Center, but Irving, the only unvaccinated player on either the Knicks or Nets, must be exiled from his teammates for his decision?
The New York Daily News asked Hochul that very question.
“I don’t have a statement on that,” she said, “because that’s a league policy.”
It’s not a league policy, however. It is an exemption granted by New York City Mayor de Blasio in his Key to NYC vaccine mandate, which says “professional athletes/members of professional sports teams who do not reside in NYC but enter the premises for the purpose of competing” do not need to be vaccinated to play in this city.
Nor do individuals accompanying those out-of-town athletes.
The governor did say, however, that the herd immunity rate continues to be a moving target. If a large enough majority of New Yorkers are vaccinated against COVID-19, a mandate may no longer be needed, as most of the community will be immune to the virus.
Hochul said at one time, they thought a 60% vaccination rate would be enough to pull the mandate. When they reached 60%, they thought 70% would be more appropriate.
As of Tuesday, the governor said 87.7% of New Yorkers over the age of 18 have gotten at least one shot, but there is no set percentage that the State has circled as its target for ending restrictions.
“We don’t have a magic number,” Hochul said. “We’re not going to pretend we do. That is something we’ll be relying on the (Centers for Disease Control) to tell us. But I’m very anxious to end the era of masking or to show a vaccination card to go get a burger at Shake Shack.
“That’s the world we live in right now, but I’m looking forward to being the governor who says it’s over. We’re just not there yet.”
