To all New York state residents: you must read this piece of legislation proposed by the New York Assembly. A new bill has been introduced. It is bill number A 416.

This bill will allow the governor and any public health official in the state to round up and detain you in a detention facility if you are potentially a case contact or carrier of a virus like COVID-19. This is a description of the bill itself, and I quote: “Assembly Bill A 416 relates to the removal of cases contacts and carriers of communicable diseases who are potentially dangerous to the public health.”

The bill states and I quote: “the provisions of this section shall be utilized in the event that the governor declares a state of emergency pertaining to the health of its residents due to an epidemic of any communicable disease.”

So basically, Gov. Cuomo declares an emergency in the state of New York. Assembly bill A 416 gives random unselected public health officials the power to basically put you in a detention camp even if you haven’t tested positive for the virus. The bill keeps going and I quote: “upon determining evidence the health of others is or may be endangered by a case contact or carrier or suspected case contact or carrier of a contagious disease that in the opinion of the governor after consultation with the commissioner may pose an imminent and significant threat to the public health resulting in severe morbidity or high mortality, the governor or delegee, including but not limited to the commissioner or the heads of local health departments may order the removal or detention of such person or a group of such identifying such reasonable specific description of the individuals or group being detained in a medical facility even if suspected of a virus.

It’s sickening.

Richard Makuch is a Dunkirk resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com