New York City art gallery owner Eli Klein is expressing his opposition to indoor mask mandates, saying “there has to be an end game.”
CNN’s John Berman pointed out on Friday that Klein really does not want to go back to masks indoors at his gallery. Klein explained, “It’s not just about my gallery. It’s about New York City generally.”
He argued, “It’s not just a mask. None of us have a problem just putting on a mask. It’s really much more than that. It’s a blueprint for indefinite government restrictions in New York.”
Acknowledging vaccines against COVID-19 have been available for months, Klein continued, “There has to be an end game. There has to be an off-ramp.”
Berman brought up the Delta variant and asked Klein whether that impacts his opinion of an indoor mask mandate.
“It’s something we should all take very seriously. … It doesn’t impact my view with respect to reimplementing restriction. The fact of the matter is that these vaccines are widely available. They’re extraordinarily effective,” Klein said.
Check out his comments below:
New York City art gallery owner Eli Klein says he is against a mask mandate indoors.
— CNN This Morning with Audie Cornish (@CNNThisMorning) July 30, 2021
"It's a blueprint for indefinite government restrictions in New York," he said. "We've had vaccines available … for many months. And there has to be an end game. There has to be an off ramp." pic.twitter.com/dyjr1a9dQV
He claimed reimplementing mask mandates in the city would “diminish tourism” and “crush businesses that have already been crushed.”
Klein later suggested mask restrictions “lead to every restriction.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended earlier this week that vaccinated individuals should wear masks indoors in places where transmission rates for COVID-19 are high.
Some lawmakers are speaking out about the issue, including Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas), as IJR reported.
“I think Americans are really sick of this. They’re over it. They’re not gonna comply, and you shouldn’t comply with any more lockdowns, with any more mandates, none of it,” Crenshaw said during a Fox News interview.
