Searchable compilation of Press Conference Transcripts (non-COVID-related subjects deleted)
New York City Mayor de Blasio 2020-12-01 to 2021-12-28
Includes Also Brian Lehrer Show Transcripts and Q&A

2020-12-01 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. As we continue the fight against the coronavirus, we take a moment today to reflect today is World AIDS Day. We reflect on the decades – the decades-long fight of the AIDS pandemic.

So, today, we're going to talk about the moment we're in now, and it's a challenging moment. We are fighting with everything we've got against this second wave bearing down on us. But we have the tools to fight back in so many ways. And we particularly have to remember what we learned in the spring about who is most vulnerable and the special precautions that need to be taken when it comes to our seniors and folks with pre-existing conditions. So, we today are going to make very clear that new measures need to be taken to protect those who are most vulnerable. And our health commissioner will be issuing a public health notice to make clear the standards that we have to hold as the second wave bears down on us. Here to tell you about it, New York City's doctor, our Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And what you described is indeed what we're seeing, a marked increase in cases as well as hospitalizations due to COVID-19. This escalation unfortunately follows a tragically familiar pattern, cases grow, hospitalizations follow, and, sadly, too many result in critical illness or even death. Hospitals have reported more than 1,100 COVID patients. That's twice as many as were hospitalized less than three weeks ago and the highest number since early June. Every one of those hospitalizations represents a person, fighting to recover, a livelihood interrupted, and a household distraught. I know this because I've seen it with my own eyes. I remember the concern that I felt for my own primary care patients earlier this year, particularly those who are more susceptible to severe illness. I think about my young Dominican patient with type one diabetes and my older Bangladeshi patient with emphysema. And I know that some people face a much greater risk for severe illness from COVID-19. This includes people who are older or have underlying health conditions like cancer, heart disease, weakened immunity, obesity, sickle cell disease, diabetes, and others. These factors greatly increase the risk of poor outcomes and even death. That's why today I'm issuing a Commissioner's Notice that warns at-risk New Yorkers about the growth in COVID and that urges appropriate precautions. That means stopping nonessential activities, staying in as much as possible and avoiding social activities outside of your household. We'll be working with partner agencies, with community-based organizations, doctors, and others to distribute this notice.

But there's one thing that I want to say to all New Yorkers – a risk factor does not alone determine risk. Whether or not you are a senior or have one of these conditions, COVID-19 can infect you. It can cause serious illness and sometimes long-term symptoms and could spread from you to others who are at even greater risk. To invoke the great Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. And with that same historic lens today, does make me take stock of another mystery virus, which a generation ago was fast-spreading and about which our understanding changed by the day – HIV/AIDS. At that time too, there were people who stepped up and changed the world. And so, on World AIDS Day, I'd like to recognize what those heroes achieved in our ongoing fight against HIV. We are close to ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic. We must learn from that experience as we continue to hone our response to COVID-19. Foremost is the notion that it takes a whole community to beat back a pandemic. That's why the Commissioner's notice that I'm issuing today is just one step. We need you to carry the message forward to help protect at-risk New Yorkers.

I do want to conclude, Mr. Mayor with one final appeal to New Yorkers. While I am discouraging nonessential activities, medical care is essential, both for COVID – that includes testing for COVID – as well as for other conditions. Whether for diabetes or depression, it's important to keep seeking routine care and to go to clinics and hospitals when you need to. It is safe. That includes getting the safe, effective, lifesaving vaccine that we already have – the flu shot. It's still may be the most important one you ever get. Let's all roll up our sleeves for this next phase in our pandemic response. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Commissioner. Everyone, look, what you're hearing Dr. Chokshi say is we need you. We need you, if you're older, you have preexisting conditions to take additional precautions. We need you. We need you to go out and get that flu shot. If you haven't done it already. And we need you on another absolutely crucial mission for this city, because we need to keep people alive. And that is not only an issue when it comes to fighting the corona virus, it also is so crucial when it comes to anyone who ends up in a hospital and a moment literally of life and death and needs a blood transfusion. We need to make sure that that blood supply is there for all New Yorkers, any New Yorkers who need it in their hour of need. And people constantly ask me how they can help. I can't tell you how many times I've heard just every-day New Yorkers saying, I want to help, I want to do more, I want to help us over this crisis. Here's something everyone can do – you can get blood. And it makes such a difference. We have seen a market decrease in the blood supply, because, of course, there haven't been corporate blood drives and blood drives at colleges and all the things that used to – government offices – the things that used to make such a difference. But we have to come up with another way now, and it's going to come down to every one of you who can help, helping out. The current blood supplies down to just a few days – just a few days. This is really a very, very urgent situation. So, we need you. We need you to lend a hand, or, more accurately, to lend an arm and give blood. Everyone, the New York Blood Center is leading the way, as always, with a new campaign, Give Blood NYC, helping us to understand how important it is and how easy it is. And the goal here is to get 25,000 New Yorkers to give blood this month – 25,000 people this month so we can get that supply back up. And the good news is, not only is it the right thing to do, not only will you help save a life, and you're going to feel great inside that you did something so good, not only will you get a cookie and a juice box – one of the great fringe benefits of giving blood – but now you have an opportunity to also win some great prizes. The Blood Center is working with us and a lot of other great people to make this something that is life-saving, but also a lot of fun. And I'm talking about real good prizes, notwithstanding the travails of the New York Jets season – you could get coach club tickets – coaches club tickets to the home opener for the Jets next year. You can get a VIP tour of the Empire State Building and – Dr. Chokshi, do not listen to this prize – free Krispy Kreme donuts for a year. That is not approved by the Health Department, but the rest of us would really like that. So, anyone who wants to be a part of this great contest, you can go to nybc.org and sign up. And here to tell you about what it really means – and to talk about the extraordinary work of the folks at the Blood Center, who we depend on. They don't get the credit they deserve, but we depend on them every day. The President CEO of the New York Blood Center, Dr. Christopher Hillyer. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Hillyer. Again, thank you to you and all your colleagues. And really want to make sure people understand, there's a lot of folks looking out for us every day who we don't get to know so well, but we really need to thank the folks who work at the Blood Center who do so much for us. We're going to hear from another special guest. And she is an educator who serves our kids and if she was just here to tell you about her life of helping others and helping uplift our children, that would be powerful enough. But she's here to tell you about what it means to be someone who got one of those blood transfusions, what it means to be someone who really needs that help. And so, you can feel the impact of what you're going to do, what it means humanly to be there for your fellow New Yorker. So, my pleasure to introduce a great educator, someone we're so happy to have with us, Shatera Weaver. Welcome, Shatera. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Shatera. And thank you for telling your story, because it really is powerful and reminds people this is such a beautiful and important thing you can do for your fellow New Yorker. So, I want to thank Shatera. Thank Dr. Hillyer, everyone who's doing this good work. Thank you to all the folks who are donating the prizes, the companies and the folks who are really stepping up to make it something so appealing for New Yorkers to get involved. But really, we need you. So, we're going to start today, saying we need 25,000 people for the month of December. We're going to keep giving you updates to remind you how we're doing and how much we need. But everyone, you're going to feel so good after you give blood. Maybe not as much as spinach to Popeye – to use that great analogy – but you're going to feel good, because you're going to feel in your heart that you did something so good for your fellow New Yorker. 

And imagine, just that that few minutes of your life could save someone else's life. So, please, everyone, we need you now.

All right, let me go to our daily indicators. And again, this is another day where we have some results that are lower than recent days, meaning the number of tests that we are relying on is lower because we saw a reduction around the Thanksgiving weekend and the number of people being tested. So, we're going to give you the numbers, but with a bit of an asterisk that they're based on a lower sample size than usual. Okay. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, threshold 200 patients – today's report 132. Confirmed positivity rate, that continues to go up. We're watching that very carefully, 58 percent now. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, 550 cases is the threshold – of course, far beyond that now, 1,685 cases. And number three, percentage of the people testing city-wide positive for COVID-19, threshold five percent – today's report, 5.72 percent. So, that's a daily report. And, again, based on a lower sample size, but obviously something we're very concerned about. The more important number, even though also affected by a lower test numbers recently, lower amount of tests recently, but still on number that we are really concerned about, 4.14 percent. 

Let me say a few words in Spanish – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we will turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Christopher Hillyer from the New York Blood Center, by Dr. Mitch Katz, and by Senior Advisor, Dr. Jay Varma.

Mayor: And by Shatera – 

Moderator: And by Shatera – 

[Laughter] 

Moderator: First question today goes to Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Hey, good morning, everybody. How are you doing?

Mayor: Hey Katie, how are you doing today?

Question: Good, thanks. I'm just curious – I know you kind of added that asterisk to the daily indicators today. Do you know why there are – just for an explanation for those watching – why is it a smaller sample size? Is it a different methodology for taking this information? Or, what has changed, I guess, over the last few days that there's a different, smaller sample size. 

Mayor: Sure, it’s the holidays. It's from Thanksgiving Day through the weekend, just fewer people getting tested, because of, you know, being involved with family activities or whatever else it may be. So, we expect those numbers – they are starting to go back up again, but we had several days where the numbers were noticeably lower. The number of people being tested were noticeably meaningfully lower than previously we had seen. Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Great. And my second one is just about with the hospitalizations increasing, I know the City has been prepared, I guess, for what could be a second wave at some point, but if – I don't know if someone, Dr. Katz or Dr. Chokshi wants to speak a little bit about the City's preparation, especially now that there's larger advisories to the elderly and those with pre-existing conditions – just some of the preps being done. 

Mayor: Yeah. That’s a very, very important question. We're putting a lot of focus on that. Obviously, we've been working closely with the State and the plan the Governor put out yesterday is something we were involved in over the last week working on with the State, but the City, the public hospitals, H+H have been preparing now for many weeks for this possibility. I know the hospitals in Greater New York Hospital Association have as well. So. Dr. Katz, why don't you talk about some of the ways that you have been preparing for these additional cases and what you are doing, obviously, based on the lessons we learned from the spring.

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. So. as you say, we've been working on this for the last several weeks, so that if is a major increase in cases we are prepared to handle that. Right now. people should know that Health + Hospitals, our ICU is only about two-thirds full. So. we have a third capacity, same on the regular medical surgical wards, and we're not overwhelmed at any of our 11 hospitals. I've talked with my colleagues at health through the Greater New York Association, and all of the hospitals are right now prepared to take more patients if we need to.

In terms of preparation, what we've done is first, thank you, Mr. Mayor, you made sure months ago that we had three months of supplies for all of our personal protective equipment, what people call PPE. We have more than enough ventilators. We purchased a group over the summer, so equipment is a non-issue for us at this moment. We are well-prepared. We have prepared a number of spaces to be able to take care of people who have COVID by adding HEPA filters, into their rooms, creating negative pressure rooms, which suck the air out, and thereby suck the virus out and protect the health care workers from infection. We've added cameras and audio monitors to a variety of rooms so that patients can request things from their nurses and doctors, without anyone having to enter the room. If there are things we can answer questions or provide without putting anyone at risk, we want to do so. We've learned a lot about how to take care of this disease, providing people who are short of breath steroids makes a huge difference in shortens hospitalization, which is undoubtedly one of the reasons why we are not overwhelmed despite the growth of cases that we've seen. We've learned that patients do not all need to be intubated when they become short of breath. Many people can be cared for better by giving them a high flow of oxygen and they advise saving intubation only for those patients who absolutely need it. So, it's a combination of preparing our facilities and being able to better care for patients so that we do not become overwhelmed. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you, Mitch.

Moderator: Go ahead. The next is Bob Hennelly from the Chief Leader.

Question: Yes. Mr. Mayor, I just wanted to ask you why should members of Congress from districts and states poorer than New York vote for a billion-dollar bailout for New York City, New York State, and the MTA when this state has been back to Wall Street billions of dollars in rebates of a tax it’s had on its books since 1905, but stop collecting in the 1990s. I think that some have been [inaudible] estimates it's worth $19 billion a year – in that in the last decade alone, we've sent back $138 billion to the Goldman Sachs crowd? 

Mayor: Okay, Bob, I'm going to flip that. I'm going to answer it, but I just want to, I think I would order it a little bit differently. The first point is New York City and New York State send so much more money to the federal government than we ever get back, and that's been happening for decades and decades. For God's sake Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan used to do an annual report on how ridiculous the disparity was going back to the 70s and 80s. It continues to be an unacceptable disparity. We send so much out. We get so little back. So for the federal government, for the Congress to approve a stimulus, to help the whole country back on its feet, to help the whole country recover humanly and economically is the right thing to do. New York City is one of the leaders of the national economy, helping us back on our feet helps the entire country, and I say that again, helping us back on our feet helps the entire country. That is why the Congress should pass a stimulus. It's the right thing to do. It will spur on the economy. It will help people to survive these tough times.

Also, we deserve our fair share. We've never gotten it for half a century or more. We should get our fair share of resources, it's long overdue. But you also point out something really important, Bob – are we taxing the wealthy enough? No, the answer is simple, no. The wealthy are doing better and better during this pandemic. It's a shocking truth. You look at the stock market. You look at how the rich have literally gotten richer while everyone else is suffering. It was unacceptable, the status quo before the pandemic, it's worse now. There need to be higher taxes on the wealthy. The Stock Transfer Tax totally should be reconsidered and handled differently going forward because clearly Wall Street can afford to contribute more to New York City and New York State. So your question is very, very fair. I just think the ramifications are much broader than that one tax. I think Washington needs to help us because it's the right thing to do on many other levels as well. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: So since the earliest days of the state's public health crisis, Governor Cuomo has urged that public hospital systems like H+H and private hospitals operate as an integrated unit. Why shouldn't that be the model going forward? Since we know that the pre-existing fractured system resulted in so many poor people falling through the cracks in terms of the care they were getting? 

Mayor: Well, Bob, again, you ask a good and big question. I'm going to turn to Mitch because he's obviously on the front line of this. Look, I think that the core of your point is right, that we need to see as much of a team effort among our hospitals and that those hospitals that happen to have more resources, should be in the work of helping patients with the greatest needs. We did see, to be fair, some amazing teamwork during this crisis. When H+H needed help, Hospital for Special Surgery stepped up, Memorial Sloan Kettering stepped up. I want to thank them for really being there and working in that team effort, and it wasn't because of an order. It was something that they wanted to do to help each other out. But I think you're right, going forward. There's more ways to think of the whole hospital system as a team effort. So Dr. Katz you want to speak to that? 

President Katz: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think it's a wonderful point that we are stronger when we work together. When we level set across all of the hospital systems and that's very much the plan going forward. We're also going to be working actively with the fire department to allow patients to be transferred across borough lines, if necessary, when a part of the challenge we had in the first wave was that Central Queens was so disproportionately hit that it was difficult to transfer patients beyond any hospital in Queens because all of the hospitals in Queens were full. So, we're looking at much more as the City as a whole resource, as all of the systems as a whole resource, and I think that will make us stronger. Thank you. 

Mayor: Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Shant from the Daily News. 

Question: Yeah. Good morning, everyone. [Inaudible] ask about the Commissioner’s notice, first of all, when you, when it said that it applies to older New Yorkers, can you put like a more specific number on the age you might be talking about? And also, can you put the notice in context, is this, you know, going to – what happens after this? Should this be interpreted maybe as leading up to broader stay at home orders like we saw in the spring? 

Mayor: I'll have the Commissioner reiterate who he is focused on, who is in greatest need right now, and most vulnerable. I think, Shant, to the bigger question, we all have to work really hard right now in every way, the most – the smallest ways like wearing a mask and practice social distancing, and the bigger ways in terms of people not hosting bigger events and really making sure to keep people safe and protecting our elders, protecting people with pre-existing conditions. We have to do all those things. We have to do them intensely. If we are not successful in driving down these numbers soon, of course, there's the real possibility of much greater restrictions. So we have to do this work individually, if we want to avoid those restrictions. Dr. Chokshi you want to go over again, who you're focused on?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you, and thanks for the question, Shant. Specifically, in terms of age, what we know from the science is that for adults the older one is the greater your risk is so people in their sixties are at higher risk than people in their fifties. Same for folks in their seventies, eighties, et cetera. The commissioner's notice specifically refers to people above the age of 65, because we do see a significant increment in risk for seniors who are older than 65. But remember it also includes people who have other conditions that put them at risk to have the severe outcomes that we're really trying to prevent that lead to hospitalizations and more catastrophic outcomes as well. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Shant. 

Question: Yeah. Thanks for that. I also wanted to ask about testing for students. I understand that Pre-K and kindergarten students don't have to submit COVID testing consent forms. Could you and maybe Dr. Chokshi explain the rationale for that and say if there are any other measures being taken to assure the safety of Pre-K and kindergarten kids specifically? 

Mayor: Yeah. Dr. Chokshi can talk about the reality we've seen with kids that young because of obviously is different. Go ahead. 

Commissioner Chokshi: So the rationale for thinking about testing differently among younger kids is that we know the risk of transmission is lower among younger kids. This isn't to say that, you know, there aren't situations where they may need to get tested. It's still possible for a younger child to get infected with COVID-19, and if they develop symptoms you know, they should certainly get tested as well, but in terms of what we're doing with the more routine testing in schools, that's the rationale for the difference.

Mayor: Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Marcia from WCBS. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor and Dr. Chokshi. I have more questions about your directive for seniors to stay inside. I wonder are you going to provide any special services, helping seniors get food, helping seniors get to their medical appointments, anything that they might need so that they can find staying inside the safer alternative. 

Mayor: I’ll start and turn to Dr. Chokshi. Marcia, look, food right now, absolutely – we've had that from the very beginning, any senior who cannot get food themselves or have someone bring it to them and needs it delivered, we will do that for them for free. All they have to do is call 3-1-1 – that has been from the very beginning of this crisis. I've said we will not let any New Yorker go hungry, will not let any senior go hungry. Even if it means delivery right to their door, we'll make it happen.

In terms of medical appointments. I've spent enough time around Dr. Chokshi to know he's going to say one of the only exceptions to what he's saying is to make sure that people get the health care they need, and that is something sacred to make sure folks stay in touch with our medical professionals, and we will do anything we can of course, to support seniors and folks with pre-existing conditions, who need that help connecting with health care. Go ahead, doctor. 

Commissioner Chokshi: That's exactly right. Mr. Mayor, let me just take a step back to emphasize that the Commissioner's notice is specifically about avoiding non-essential activities. That means that essential activities, whether it's you know, someone going to the grocery store occasionally or as the Mayor said, you know, someone going to their medical appointments, which are very important those can and should continue. But it's nonessential activities that we really want to see curbed and curtailed as we see cases and now hospitalizations, you know, starting to increase. With all of that said, yes, we need to do everything that we can as a city, but also as neighbors, as family members to support people who are more at risk. So that includes, you know, the food delivery programs that the city has set up earlier, and that continue throughout the pandemic. 

There are ways to ensure that you have support, whether it's for transportation or getting a medications delivered to you, or are prescribed in a more convenient way. You can call 3-1-1 for assistance with those services as well, and then the final thing that I'll just say is that another essential activity is getting care for COVID-19. So if you are feeling symptoms you should get tested as quickly as possible, and certainly if you're feeling even worse you should seek care with your doctor or at an emergency room. 

Mayor: And one other obvious point, which has really changed a lot, Marcia, in the course of this crisis is the use of telehealth and Dr. Katz, I'd love you to jump in here. I know that it's something obviously helping the hospitals he was before, but we've seen in the crisis many new ways of using a telemedicine much more willingness of your patients to engage it. This is also a crucial way you can help seniors and folks with pre-existing conditions without them having to leave their homes. So, Dr. Katz, you want to speak about that? 

President Katz: You're absolutely right, Mr. Mayor. I see many of my primary care patients these days who televisits, especially if they're older or have co-morbidities, and we've learned a lot about sending people blood pressure cuffs, sending them oxygen saturation meters, sending them home with glucose testing kits so that people can actually do [inaudible] parts of the exam, and I know that it's not just Health + Hospitals that’s seen this explosion, that providers all over New York City and all of the hospital systems are prepared to see people in televisits with just the telephone. So people, if you're worried that, oh my goodness, I don't know how to use a laptop. I couldn't possibly that's okay. The phone works quite well in most cases. But for people who have the ability to use a laptop we can also do televisits. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Marcia.

Question: So, Mr. Mayor, a few weeks ago, you predicted that December 1st would be the day that – the demarcation of when there might be more orange zones or red zones or yellow zones, actually in New York City. I know you've seen the numbers continue to rise, the numbers are rising today. Do you have any prognostication about whether once the Thanksgiving numbers come in the next seven days or so whether you'll see more mini clusters zones and restrictions in New York City. 

Mayor: Look, this is something I've been talking to the Governor about. Our teams are talking constantly. The State obviously is focused on, you know, a micro-cluster approach. That's had a lot of impact clearly, and it's been effective in many cases. So I think what we're going to see is the state looking at the different areas in a targeted way. You look at the ZIP code data for the city that we put out. We see very different realities and very different parts of the city, but I certainly think there will be some more restrictions coming. If we continue to see these numbers, I don't have any doubt about that. I can't tell you exactly how and when, but I, you know, expect more to come, and again, if I know, I don't even have to say if – I know New Yorkers want to avoid more stringent restrictions, we all have to do everything we can do right now to do the hard work, to avoid those restrictions. That includes getting out there, getting tested, wearing a mask, all those things that Dr. Chokshi has been telling us to do. People have to be really devoted to that now or else we are certainly going to see more restrictions going forward.

Moderator: The next is Reuvain from Hamodia. 

Question: Good morning. It was the Mayor. I would like to follow-up with a question about special-ed students. You said yesterday on CNN that the middle and high school would not be opening until the new year. There are – I know District 75 will we opening soon, but there are a special-ed classes in these schools, but not a District 75. Are they students going to have to wait until the new year or will the special-ed classes be opening earlier? 

Mayor: It's a very important question. I appreciate it. I can tell you this much with District 75, we made the decision to do the opening across all grade levels. So, I want that to be really clear because everyone agrees all of our stakeholders, the State, the city, everyone agrees that kids with special needs, the in-person support is absolutely crucial. So, District 75 schools will be open across all grade levels. Your point is a very good one and we are looking right now at how quickly we can reach special needs kids at the middle school and high school level. I don't have an answer for you on that today, but we'll come back with that soon. I also want to emphasize our goal is to open up middle school first, as quickly as we can. But I think realistically, as I've said, that's not in the next few weeks, but I do think that's in January, and then after that to go to high school as well, but we need the testing capacity since we're much – at a much higher level of testing under our new plan, we need to make sure we can do that first properly for District 75, Pre-K, 3-K and K-to-5, and then we can build out to middle school next and then eventually to high school as well. Go ahead, Reuvain. 

Question: I have a question for the doctors, I've asked in the past about antibodies when they might be recognized as a people being immune and perhaps giving allowances to these people, just as if they had a vaccine. Generally, the answers I received or that, you know, we don't have complete information, we're eight months into this pandemic, I'm wondering, is there some point at which we might have some more information and people with antibodies might be treated like people with the vaccine eventually will be treated?

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, do you want to start? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sure. Thanks for that question, Reuvain. I would reiterate, you know, what we've said about this in the past. The science has not changed with respect to being able to say that someone who has had a positive antibody test should act any differently than someone who has not had a positive antibody test. The way that we think about antibody tests is they are tests of exposure and not necessarily tests of immunity. So most importantly, continuing to do the things that you would otherwise do, wearing your mask, making sure that you're distancing, washing your hands frequently, et cetera, those things all continue to apply. I do hope there will come a point where we understand more about immunity to COVID-19, where we can say things with more certainty about who is and is not protected. But with a vaccine on the horizon, I think that is the most likely destination, the most likely point at which we will be able to say that with more certainty. 

Mayor: Dr. Varma, you want to jump in on this? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: I guess the only other point I would make is there was a question about the timeline and I just want to make the point, we are all impatient and would love to have valid information right now, but eight months when it comes to understanding a new disease is actually a relatively short period. So we would love to have definitive information, but it is almost certainly going to take more time. 

Mayor: Dr. Varma, I think you would actually do a service to everyone because we're all still trying to recognize reality. We never heard of this disease a year ago, basically. What is the typical timeline just to give people some perspective? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. You know, what we're seeing right now is science moving at an incredibly fast pace and even though we're all impatient, this would normally take years to answer this type of question, and even then there would be still some uncertainty. And that's because of the simple fact, when we want to say how long are you protected? You can't speed up time. And the studies that you do in laboratories really don't give you a sense of how the body is going to maintain its immunity over time. We’re still learning things, for example, about measles which is a virus that we've had a vaccine for since the 1960s. 

Mayor: Very, very important point. Thank you, doctor. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is David Cruz from Gothamist.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?

Mayor: Good, David, how you been?

Question: Good, thanks for taking my questions. So, on the first question is the Archdiocese of New York filed a lawsuit against the city, claiming that the city is violating State law by not offering Catholic schools the same free COVID-19 testing provided to public schools. So why did the city file the appeal if there's a state law on the books that would grant Catholic schools the same access? 

Mayor: We believe the law is clear that it is not the city's obligation to provide the actual testing service. Our lawyers have looked at this carefully. Law Department has handled this from the beginning. Look, I've spoken to a Cardinal Dolan about this, it's something I fully understand the fact that folks in other school systems are urgently trying to protect their kids. I appreciate that. I know they are dealing with all the challenges we are. They have limited resources, but our obligation right now is to continue the process of having New York City public schools be open and healthy and safe. We're - we've got a huge number of kids to serve. We need all the resources that we have right now. What we're describing now, this weekly testing is going to take a huge amount of resources. It's the right thing to do. It's taking our gold standard we started with in terms of health and safety in our schools and adding even more and it's what's going to sustain us, but it takes an immense amount of resources. So, the law is clear that our obligation is to ensure that the facilities we run we're providing the testing to. For the types of schools, they have an obligation, but we'll help them. The Department of Health has been there for them the whole way through. We'll help them get the free test from the state. We'll help them learn the best ways to implement it. We'll give them a helping hand to every time we can. Go ahead, David. 

Question: And then your office hasn't released a racial demographic data of students who've opted for hybrid learning. So when can we expect to see that data? 

Mayor: If that data is collected in that fashion, I don't know the history, honestly, of Department of Education providing demographic data, but if they have it, we'll make sure it gets released soon. But again, I want to be careful because I'm not sure how that is handled in generally – excuse me, in general. But look, the bottom line here is remembering that our school system is about 80 percent kids of color and obviously in comparison to private schools and religious schools, New York City public schools overwhelmingly provide support for more kids who are working class and lower income. More immigrant kids, obviously a huge number of kids who tragically are in temporary housing. When we put the open opportunity out there for parents from the original surveys and the summer on through to the different opportunities to engage blended learning, it has been an absolutely available choice to all parents. And I want to emphasize this, I care deeply, my whole public life has been focused on the issue of fighting disparities, but I also want to really respect each parent's choice because I'm a parent too, I understand our public school parents, we many times have said the parents, this is what you feel is right. Whatever you want to do is what we will support. And we've made that open opportunity available from the beginning and obviously with the most recent opt-in period. And I think everyone who cares about disparity also has to respect the individual choices of parents who know what's best for themselves and their kids. Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Abu from Bangla Patrika.

Question: Hello?

Mayor: Hey Abu can you –

Question: Hi, how are you? 

Mayor: Hey, Abu, how you doing?

Question: Good how are you? 

Mayor: Good.

Question: Okay. My question is the –

Mayor: Wait, we need a lot more volume. Can we get our volume up there? 

Moderator: Abu, can you speak a little bit closer to the microphone please?

Mayor: Abu, can you hear us? I think we're going to have to come back unless –

Moderator: We may have lost Abu for now, we’ll have to come back.

Mayor: We’ll have to come back in a moment. Okay.

Moderator: The next we will do Arthur from FOX5.

Mayor: Good morning, everybody. Mr. Mayor. I was wondering since you've been collaborating with the Governor on approach here, what can you tell New Yorkers about the original plan of 10 days above three percent or five percent everyday? I forget what it was, but needing those 10 days before some more severe restrictions, is that still currently the plan, or could there be a scenario where the numbers go up so quickly that that plan is set aside and those those restrictions have to go into place more urgently? 

Mayor: Yeah, Arthur, I mean, obviously it's important you ask the State directly. We've had a number of conversations with them over the last few days. Everyone's focused on health and safety and also obviously focused on people's livelihoods. We're really aware of how much pain folks have gone through this year and how, you know, many, many families are struggling, working class families, low income families that need employment and small business owners, so we're trying to balance all these factors. As I said, the State obviously has focused on a micro-targeting approach. I think that's where they're going to be continuing to focus. As to the numbers again, that 10 consecutive day number is something they've used up to now. I'm not sure that's how they're going to continue to do it but we're going to continue to talk to them to figure out the best way to balance all these pieces. Go ahead, Arthur. 

Question: Another question is on street safety, there was a car after midnight on Monday in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn that went through a red light and slammed into a car. I don't know if you saw the video, the woman in the backseat of the Uber that he T-boned, the car was hit so hard that she ended up outside the vehicle being ejected from it. The driver, as is often the case, was not cited for anything and allowed to go home. Police say that they're investigating it. Given the fact that she's in critical condition in the hospital that he was seen on video camera speeding, going through a light and hitting that car, do you think in a year where we're seeing 15 percent more traffic related fatalities that this – there's a better message to send to drivers who drive recklessly in our streets and leave other New Yorkers in critical condition, if not worse? 

Mayor: Look, first, I want to be clear. I want to make sure I get the exact facts of what happened, but the broader point you're making is something I feel very strongly about. There's not clear enough, strong enough consequences in the law for drivers who hurt their fellow New Yorkers, or even killed their fellow New Yorkers. The law is still – I'm talking to all law, City, State, federal, everywhere, it's still too deferential to the automobile and the automobile driver. And especially if someone's under the influence and they harm someone, there needs to be real penalties for that. So I don't know the specifics and I'll find out right away, and if that something wasn't handled right here, we're obviously making sure that that's addressed immediately. But I think the bigger point is, I think we need stronger laws, harsher penalties, honestly, and it's something I've worked on with the NYPD. I want to see them NYPD constantly improve its enforcement and follow through that. Been a lot of good work by NYPD to make Vision Zero come alive. It never would have worked without NYPD but there's still more that we can do to tighten up enforcement, I'm quite clear about that. Go ahead. Do you have Abu back?

Moderator: We're going to go back to Abu.

Question: Hi, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Abu.

Question: Okay. Sorry that it was interrupted. So my question is you know, the South Asian community their involvement - the COVID is increasing [inaudible]. Hello? 

Mayor: Yeah, Abu, you're skipping in and out, but keep talking. Let's see if we can hear you.

Question: Hello, can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah keep talking.

Question: Okay. Yeah so they're - every Friday at the mosque has a lot of congregations, the Muslim community they're coming in the mosque, they are praying. So do you have any kind of guidelines for them, because of the [inaudible] increasing the disease and when people are coming to the mosque and, you know, some people there are expressing their concern. Do you have a suggestion for them? 

Mayor: Yeah, no, it's a very important question and thank you. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but just say everyone needs to be mindful about the precautions we have to take, especially indoors, especially in colder weather where more people are indoors and it all begins with the use of masks, especially this is such a crucial piece of the equation, but I want you to reflect on what Dr. Chokshi said today, that if someone is older or has those pre-existing conditions, being really, really careful not to do anything they don't have to do. And if they can worship at home or worship separately, there are so many virtues in that. So, Dr. Chokshi you want to speak that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks, Mr. Mayor, I think you covered the major points. I'll just add a couple of first, you know, I want to acknowledge that COVID-19 has affected South Asian communities in New York City significantly, particularly in parts of Queens, which is where where I live in Jackson Heights and where we know there are significant numbers of neighborhoods with many, many people of South Asian descent. Part of this is related to the topic of this morning, which is that COVID-19 has more severe effects on people who have chronic conditions, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, these are things that we know occur more frequently among South Asians as well, and that's why it is so important to follow the precautions that we've been talking about. I'll just reiterate the ones that are the most important, wearing your mask at all times, particularly indoors. If you do choose to to worship in a mosque or a temple, it's important to keep your mask on when you're doing that. It's also very important to six feet of distance and practice good hand hygiene. And then most importantly you know, for people to stay home if they're not feeling well, because that is how we know this virus spreads among people. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Abu. 

Question: And second question is the president said the vaccine for distribution by December, but as he mentioned that New York will not get the vaccine because of his kind of [inaudible]. Do you think it's going to be impact on the New York State and city people, because of the president’s decision? 

Mayor: Abu, that's a really important question and I'll let Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma speak to the conversations they've had with their health care colleagues on the federal level. I would remind you that President Trump even before he lost the election, constantly threatened New York City and other cities, you know, he said he would send in a federal troops and officers, that didn't happen. There would be these massive ICE raids, that didn't happen. He would cut off our funding, that didn't happen. Sometimes the court stopped them. Sometimes it was just words and campaign bluster that went nowhere. I do not believe that the responsible elements of the federal government are going to not send the vaccine to the biggest city in America and the place that was the original epicenter of the crisis. I just don't believe it. I think people are bluntly starting to transition right now to the new administration and doing what is the right thing to serve people and not listening to the evermore desperate voice of President Trump. So I think that's reality, but let me have the doctors speak to it because they are closer to the situation. Go ahead. 
Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I agree with your statement. You know, stated simply, I believe that New York City, as well as New York State, will get the COVID-19 vaccine at the same time that others around the country will get it and that's once the FDA has has determined that it passes muster, that it's authorized, that we do have a safe and effective vaccine. Our conversations with our federal counterparts, both at the CDC, as well as the federal Department of Health have all been very productive. They occur very frequently, certainly on a weekly basis, sometimes even on a daily basis. And similarly, we're in close contact with our State counterparts as well. And so everyone at all levels of government are working closely together to ensure that once we do have a safe and effective vaccine, which we hope will be within weeks, that that is delivered to New York city as soon as possible.

Mayor: Dr. Varma, you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: I only just to echo exactly what Dr. Chokshi said and that we also are professionally colleagues of many people who were on the COVID task force to the president-elect team, and can reassure you that these are all the highly seasoned to expert professionals who are fully committed to making sure that New York City not only gets the vaccine, but distributes it as quickly as possible.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Everyone, as we conclude, look I'm going to just end where I started, very, very poignant day, World AIDs Day, but also a day that reminds us of the power of people to fight back and reminds us that the voices that people matter so much here.

So, we're going to keep making those investments and we intend going forward to show this country and this world, what it looks like to have a city that is focused intensely on public health and to be that public health capital of the world, the place that not only experienced this pandemic at the epicenter in this country, but also took the lessons, built upon them, and now can teach others how to fight back and to avoid these kinds of challenges in the future. That's going to be so much of the mission of New York City in the future. So, we've got a challenge right now with a second way bearing down on us, but we will defeat it. We will have that vaccine soon. And then we get to the work of this city recovery and this city becoming an example to everyone else of how to persevere and prepare for the future. Thank you, everyone.

2020-12-02 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, good morning, everyone. This crisis has been tough on New Yorkers in so many ways. And we’ve really got to reflect now on the toll is taken not only in human lives – most importantly human lives and the health of our people – but also, people's livelihoods. So many folks have been struggling to make ends meet and are feeling the challenges now as a second wave is bearing down on us – particularly concerned about so many of our small businesses, mom and pop stores, neighborhood stores, multi-generational stores, places that we really cherish and we need them. We need them for the jobs they provide, all that they provide to our communities, the sense of identity. So much of what we feel about our city is really about our neighborhoods and our neighborhood stores. So, right now, we're focused on how we can help save these stores in this moment and help them through to the time we get the vaccine and we get past the coronavirus. And it's really part of the bigger discussion we need to have in the city about what our future looks like, what an equitable future looks like, what it looks like to learn the lessons of this crisis, to understand what the disparities that have been shown to us mean and what we need to do differently. 

So, we will recover. We will build back, but we will not repeat the status quo. We can't. We have to think differently, and that includes right down to the grassroots with our small businesses, because, in truth, a lot of businesses are struggling right now and folks who own those businesses are wondering if they can keep going. A lot of them, in fact, [inaudible] made the decision that it doesn't work for them anymore, but it may work for their employees to keep the business going. In many cases, it does work for their employees to keep the businesses going. And this is an option we have to turn to more and more in the city and all over this country, because employee-owned businesses create a tremendous reality of equity and fairness, of buy-in, of opportunity to create capital and have an ownership stake that changes the whole reality, particularly for working class folks and particularly in communities of color. This has been a real concern of our Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity and a focal point of how we can create a more just future for New York City. And so, today, we're launching Employee Ownership NYC. And I like when we announced something and you can tell immediately what it means. Employee Ownership NYC, this is going to be a systematic effort to ensure that employees have an opportunity to own. And that particularly in communities of color, we shift that painful reality where there hasn't been enough ownership and enough capital built and maintained in communities because of structural racism. We do something about it by literally changing the rules of the game, and the City right there, supporting this effort every step of the way. And we know what it means is that working people have more control over their lives. Consistently means that businesses can thrive, because the workers are fully invested, but they also get a better share of the wealth that they create. This is something I think is very powerful. We've got a video here to introduce this new concept. Let's look at the video. 

[Video plays in background] 

Mayor: What a powerful testimony and what a beautiful example of what it can mean for the folks who do the work to have that opportunity to own. And, again, remember they are invested in the business and making it work. And sometimes an owner or the family that owns a business has gotten to a point where it doesn't work for them to continue. But for the employees who feel it, who for whom it's so important to keep that business going a whole burst of energy and passion comes forward – you just saw it there – and good things happen for working people. 

Now, someone who has been working on this – literally his lifetime – this is a labor of love for him, for sure. And I've heard him over decades tell me about the power of employee ownership. And now, he is taking this model and making it come alive here in New York City, Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson.

Deputy Mayor Phillip J. Thompson, Strategic Policy Initiatives: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As we all know, many businesses have closed as a result of COVID-19, workers across the board have been hurt by this, but workers of color have been especially hard hit. Closures due to COVID-19 come on top of a looming wave of potential closures coming from aging business owners who want to retire. 85 percent of these aging business owners did not have a succession plan and 80 percent of those wanting to sell their businesses can't find a buyer. There's a real chance that these businesses will simply disappear and even more people will lose jobs.

Mayor: All right, everyone. Let's talk about something else that's absolutely crucial to not only in our present, but our future and our recovery, and that is our public schools. As everyone knows, we're bringing back public school instruction in-person, starting Monday for our K-to-five levels, K-to-five grades. We're coming back with a pre-K and 3-K, we're coming back with District 75 special needs programs. And we're going to keep going from there. But what I want to emphasize right now is the importance of everyone understanding how we're going to make this work as we bring school back. And, again, bring school back and then keep it back in session, because the model we're now working with is a sustainable model that will take us all the way to when the vaccine is here and we've been able to widely distribute it. So, crucial to this equation are the testing consent forms – we've talked about that a lot. I know the Department of Education is sending the information over and over to parents. Again, you go to mystudent.nyc if you have not yet signed up for your child to be tested. Testing is the key to keeping everyone safe in the school community. It's going to be weekly from now on, but we need every student to be signed up for testing or have a proper medical exemption. We need that now, because when we get to the first day of school, we're going to be having school for kids who are signed up for a testing. If they're not, the school is going to reach out to the family and say, you’ve got to rectify this right now or your child isn't able to attend school. I want to be very straightforward about that. Equally, we need the kids in school who are signed up for in-person learning and any family that signed up for in-person learning and does not actually intend for their child to be in school, we respect that, we want you then to be placed into the all-remote education approach so we can free up seats. We've talked about this many times, want to say it really clearly to all parents – if you are holding a seat in in-person learning, remember, we want to convert that now in as many schools as possible, as quickly as possible, to five days a week – five days a week, wherever possible, and as quickly as possible. Some schools that's going to take longer, some it'll take shorter period of time. Some schools will get to five days a week across the board. Some schools will have to do some kind of mix where some kids, the most needy kids, will get five days a week. Other kids will get as many days as possible. There will be a clear system of priority based on need to make sure the kids who need the support get the most get the most days. But it all hinges on this – parents, next week, if you're in one of those schools that's open. Your child is expected to be in school on the days that they are programmed to be in school. If in the course of your week your child doesn't show up, what the school is going to say to you is, this is your last chance, you have to show up during this week or have a legitimate excuse or communicate with the school what's going on. If you don't, the school is going to let you know that your child will be moved to all remote. So, I want to say this in a very straightforward way to parents. These seats are precious. Kids need these seats. A seat should not go unutilized. So, everyone, this as an opportunity to just declare your intentions and live by them. If you want your child in the school, your child needs to show up in school. If you don't want your child school, you want them in all remote – that's great, we can do that too. But, by the end of next week, we want to resolve this as much as humanly possible once and for all so we can then finish up reworking our schools to maximize the number of schools in five days a week and the number of kids who get to benefit from five days a week, or as close to it as possible.

Okay. Let's talk about our daily indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, threshold is 200 patients – today's report 146, with a 48.34 percent positivity level. Now, this is an example of an indicator we've been using for a long time. I'm going to say at the outset today, our health care team is looking at these indicators, looking at the way we present information given this second wave that's been bearing down on us. We're going to come back with an updated set of information – indicators and other information, going forward, because, obviously, the situation is changing rapidly. So, I'll go over this today, but I want to provide people a sense of that's coming soon. So, that's, again, number one in terms of hospitalization.

Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average threshold 550 cases, today's report 1,809 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, threshold five percent, today's report 4.76 percent is the daily. And then on a seven-day rolling average, 4.08 percent. So obviously these numbers have changed a lot very rapidly. We need to address that with everything we're doing in terms of protecting people, but we also need to address it in terms of how we present information and help people understand it and make sense of it. Okay, a few words in Spanish, and this goes back again to how we're going to support working people. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi all, we'll now begin our Q and A, with us today as Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson, Small Business Commissioner Jonnel Doris, State Senator Jamaal Bailey, First Deputy Commissioner of Health Torian Easterling, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that we'll go to Andrew from WNBC. 

Question: Hi, good morning everyone on the call. With regard to the schools and Mayor you said on Sunday and you reiterated today that you would like as many schools as possible to go to five-day in-person learning. We are hearing from principals at various schools across the city saying they just don't have the capacity and they're essentially going to stick with the same blended model they had before you closed down. Can you quantify at this point how many schools are going to go to five-day and whether it's realistic for parents to expect that to actually happen? 

Mayor: Yeah, look, I respect our principals for sure, but again, we're dealing with a policy of the City of New York and Department of Education. So I don't know what individual principals have said, but we are going to make sure that everyone's working from the same playbook here, Andrew, this is the decision of where we're going. Clearly most schools can get there because we just – we know how much space is available and we know how many kids have been actually showing up. That's why the week of December 7th is so important to once and for all resolve exactly which kids are planning to be –which families are planning to have their kids in the classroom and which are not. That's going to lead to a number that we fundamentally believe will be manageable in some schools, again, across the board, five days a week. In other schools, some kids will get five days a week, some kids might get less, but that will be done on the priority basis according to need. But what you're going to see in most schools is the presence of five-day-a-week education. I think most will have it for all kids. Some will have it for some kids, but it's going to become more and more the norm. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: Okay, the second question has to do with your seven-day rolling average which is now approaching five percent. I know that originally when the city had that three percent trigger to the schools, it was much more aggressive than the States trigger which was I believe nine percent, but the state has said five percent is a warning sign. Do we still – is there still a threshold at which despite your hope and intention to reopen schools, that it gets too high and you're not going to be able to do it? 

Mayor: Right now, we have seen the schools as the safest places in New York City. I mean we just have the evidence of it. So we'll follow State guidance for sure, but this is a new approach. As I said, we've talked about the previous three percent standard back in the summer, that standard made sense, but then we saw what actually happened in the schools. They became extraordinarily safe because the hard work of the entire school community, we saw extraordinarily low levels of positivity in testing in the schools. We're now adding even more testing and very obviously have a very rigorous situation room standard. So, this is what we're going to be doing for the duration, we'll follow any State guidance for sure, but I feel very confident about our ability to keep people in the school community safe. 

Moderator: Next is Nolan from The Post.

Question: Hey Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good Nolan, how you doing?

Question: I'm good. I want to follow up on Andrew's question. He asked if you guys had a tally of the number of schools that could go to five-day learning and you didn't provide a number, so I'm wondering, do you have one? 

Mayor: Again, Nolan that's – we're going through that right now with principals, we need to know the final count in some cases. There are honestly right now schools that are already able to be five-days on Monday. There are other schools that need that final count to get clarified. That's what we're going to get in the course of the next week when we see exactly every tile that shows up and we make very clear to parents, and I'm saying it very clearly to parents, DOE will be saying it clearly to parents, this week and next week, if your child doesn't show up next week, we're saying to you we're about to move your child into remote, unless you have a specific excuse or you make clear to us what's going on. And we respect, again, a lot of parents prefer remote. That's great. And the parents who prefer in-person, that's great, but you can't be betwixt in between. You have to choose. And so we'll know next week, once and for all what that number is going to be, and that will help the schools that still need to make those final decisions to have the exact numbers they need. Go ahead, Nolan. 

Question: It is there no tentative count ye? And on the question of remote learning, the Fairfax school system in Virginia said that they've seen the number of kids getting failing grades doubling year over year. They attribute that mostly to remote learning. We aren’t doing grades this year in the city public schools, but have we seen similar drop-offs in learning? And if so, should the city have invested more and its remote learning system? 

Mayor: Again, Nolan, I couldn't be clearer and the Chancellor couldn't be clearer that for so many kids, in-person learning is absolutely necessary and we know it's a challenging year. We know kids are not getting everything we could give them if everyone was in school, but we're going to provide the best possible education in person for those who choose it, and its hundreds of thousands of kids, which makes it, you know, right there one of the biggest school systems in the country, just the kids will be in-person, New York City, it would be one of the biggest school systems in the country alone, and we're constantly working to improve remote. But in pandemic conditions, we cannot do everything that we want to do. The goal here is to fight back this second wave, get people vaccinated as quickly as possible, I have a lot of confidence in our Department of Health’s ability to do it. Work to see if we can even get a lot more kids back in in-person learning before the school year is out and then of course go into September with the expectation that everyone will be back again in person. 

Moderator: Next is Rich from WCBS Radio.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?

Mayor: Good, Rich. How are you today?

Question: Well, I'm doing all right, you know. So these numbers look a little bit scary, don't they? I mean, are you – what do you think of them? And, and, and do you foresee, you know, more restrictions coming if if these numbers go over five percent? You said something about changing the metrics or changing the presentation, I didn't quite understand that if you could expand on that? 

Mayor: We want to give people a clear picture, given that the thresholds that we've set are now being approached or surpassed. We need to give people a clearer picture of where we're going from here. This is a new reality. This is not the same as what we experienced in the spring. I think this is the crux of the matter, Rich. We are very, very worried about this uptick in cases. There's a lot we need to do to address it. Our Health Commissioner couldn't have been clearer yesterday that if you are over 65 or have those pre-existing conditions, you really need to alter your lifestyle right away and not go out except for the most essential reasons. We're working with the State on everything else we're going to have to be doing. So, clearly, we have to address this, but at the same time, it's not like the spring because we're seeing such a different reality in the hospitals and thank God for that. And we need to protect them and maintain them, but we need to help express to people where we are now, which is different than where we were previously and we've seen that now time and again. We've seen it with the hospitalizations. We've seen it with the schools. We have different realities than what we came out of the spring assuming, and we need to express that better. Go ahead, Rich. 

Question: Okay. So, just in regard to testing, Mr. Mayor, are you tested regularly? And if so, how often? Were are you tested? At a clinic, a hospital, in your office, or how does it work? 

Mayor: I get tested typically at a Health + Hospitals facility and pretty much weekly now, and sometimes there's – sometimes something happens at city hall for a whole group of people, but typically I go to a Health + Hospitals facility. And by the way, I'm going to take this opportunity, Rich, to say people should get tested regularly. And so again, anyone who is not – there are people who've never been tested, please go out and get tested. Folks who are looking for a regular standard, once a month is a good standard for getting tested and we now have more ways to know where you can get tested, more places available, more information about where the waits are longer and shorter, and you get all that through calling 3-1-1 or going on the city website. 

Moderator: Next is Kala from PIX 11.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. 

Mayor: Yes, Kala, I did, how about you? 

Question: It was nice.

Mayor: I liked that. I liked that pause. 

Question: The Legal Aid Society has filed a lawsuit to get Wi-Fi and remote learning access to shelters across the city. I know earlier we had reported that, you know, the goal was the summer, but they're asking for January 4th, the first day back after the holidays for students in school. So what's your response and is this possible? 

Mayor: Look, it's a litigation matter, so I'll keep it broad, Kala. We are doing the thing that will have the impact right now for kids who are in shelter. We're going - we have gone before Thanksgiving comprehensively to every family, if they needed a device, they would get a device right away. But what we found overwhelmingly was families did have devices but needed sometimes different service, so we’ve switched internet providers. We sent tech support folks right out into the shelters. That's the way to address the right now question. To get these shelters all rewired is obviously a bigger job and one we're committed to, but that is something that we need to be realistic about the timeline and I'll leave it there, given that it's litigation matter. Go ahead. 

Question: All right. I know you just asked all parents to get their consent forms and this morning, do you have an update on the percentage or even a hard number of the consent forms that have been returned so far because kids are going back on Monday?

Mayor: Yeah, I don't have the exact number. I know the number has been consistently rising. I think we have to continue to get this message out intensely that it is a requirement for coming back to school. Again, you need a consent form on file, or you need to bring it with you, child needs to bring it with them when they arrive at school, whatever day they first go to school next week, or obviously a valid medical exemption from a health care professional. So, we're really getting this message out intensely, the numbers have continued to grow. I don't have the exact number, but I want to caution, Kala, I think a of parents are going to deal with this the day that their child first goes back and send them in with the form or go online the night before. I think we'll see a lot of activity right before kids first arrive in school. 

Moderator: Next is Henry from Bloomberg.

Question: Hello Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today?

Mayor: I'm doing well, Henry, how about you? 

Question: I'm doing pretty well. I'm hanging in there. I'll kick it back to this question of five-day-a-week schooling because it's so uncertain. And the –why does the number of kids who don't show up have any bearing or relationship to how many kids are going to be able to do five-day-a-week schooling? It would seem to me that if kids don't show up that should have no relation with the fact that a school should be able to accommodate five-day-a-week schooling. 

Mayor: Okay, fair question. But let me lay it out to you sort of from the ground level. So, right now, we know that on Monday there's a substantial number of schools that will be at five-day already, but we also know a number of other schools will need time to get their final alignment done. Why? Because every school, literally every school is different. The percentages we gave you, the numbers we give you, that's about a whole massive school system, but each school system had a different reality of how many parents chose in-person learning, blended learning versus remote. And then remember, we've been very open about the fact that we have really big number of students who never were quite fully in one or the other system. They hadn't signed up for all remote. They hadn't signed up for blended or they hadn't shown up even if they did sign up for blended. So, we've got a group of students that are still not really defined what their intention is. That's what we've got it resolved, because if you're in a school, let's say you're in a school that half the kids in theory will be coming in for in-person learning, and your classroom size is, you know, 35, 40 percent of what it was. That's a hard scenario to make work to go to five-day-a-week for everyone. But if in fact it turns out that a number of those kids really don't intend to come in, we can put them into all remote. That's really what they want. That's great. The number of kids going to be in-person becomes smaller and therefore more manageable. Now you can use your classroom size appropriately. You got to keep it at that classroom limit because the distancing, but now you can divide the kids in classrooms in a way that you can get everyone into five-day-a-week or in some schools, it will not be everyone in five-day-a-week, but it will still be a number of kids in five-day-a-week with priority given to kids with special needs and kids who have particular disadvantages, we want them to get the benefit of in-person learning the most. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Okay. Thank you for that answer. My second question has to do with the criteria, the three percent criteria, which has been scrapped, is there a tipping point in the community, of community spread where these rising percentages do create a risk that the schools will become infection vectors, even though they're not now, even though they appear safe now? When you have large percentages of the population, six percent, seven percent, eight percent, 12 percent testing positive, is there a tipping point where the schools actually become an infection vector and they're not a safe haven? 

Mayor: Look, I will say it this way, and then I'll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Easterling, the reality of our schools has been striking. So I'll be the layman, there'll be the actual doctors. The reality of our schools has been striking. We believe they could be safe. The numbers have been unbelievably favorable. Levels – low levels of coronavirus positivity that we literally couldn't have imagined, and that is because unlike almost any place else, the schools have had every conceivable health and safety measure layer one on top of the other, what I call that gold standard. Imagine a world in which literally everyone's wearing their mask all the time, kid and adult alike, that's our schools, cleaning every day, that's our schools, the ventilation work that was done, the distancing, all of these things plus constant testing, obviously the school population kids, educators, staff are tested much more frequently than almost any other part of our society. And you have a situation room, which is very meticulous about closing a classroom and closing a school when they need to be and bringing in Test and Trace to figure out after there's been a case what to do. This doesn't resemble any other part of our society. This is the most controlled and supported place in all of New York City. Now we're going to go to weekly testing and everyone has to have the testing consent form. This again just takes us even higher up the ladder of safety. So, I fully believe, Henry, the schools are going to have reality different than anything else around them. We're still, of course, going to abide by any State standards and we're going to watch the situation carefully, but we really are talking about a different reality than the rest of our society. Dr. Varma, then Dr. Easterling. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you for the question. I think one point I want to emphasize, which I think everybody knows, but it's just important to keep in mind is that, you know, the schools can't prevent people from getting infected outside the school. So if it's a student or a staff member somewhere else. So as community rates rise, as Henry is asking, there are going to be more infections that occur in people that they acquire outside the schools. So the best that we can do in our school system is to strengthen those lines of defense and as the Mayor noted, one of the additional lines of defense we're adding is going to be additional testing. And then when you combine that with the protocols that we have in the situation room, I think that we can be very confident that even though rates of infection will arise and even though more people might get diagnosed outside of school, the school itself can be a place where there are no outbreaks or that if there is a transmission occurs, it's very limited to somebody who had very close contact or a lapse in mask wearing or something, you know, normal disruptions in human behavior. And that's what we've seen so far and I think that's something that we'll continue to be able to do. 

Mayor: Dr. Easterling? 

First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Equity Officer Torian Easterling, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: I have nothing else. I think you and Dr. Varma covered it.

Mayor: Okay, great. Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more. So, with that, we're going to go back to Shant. 

Question: Yes, love second chances, thanks for that. I guess I wanted to follow up on Nolan and Andrew's question about the number of schools that may or may not be ready to go to five days a week. I mean, I guess we're not hearing a concrete number on that. Can you say why is that? Why can't we nail down a number? Like, can you, I mean – I’m trying to rearticulate the question, because I think it's important to lot of parents, like, what's the – you know, how many schools – you know, do you have a gut feeling on how many schools are ready to go five days a week? 

Mayor: Okay, Shant, I know it's New York City and we don't believe in patience here, but I'm going to ask people to be a little patient. There's a pandemic going on. We're dealing with a lot of variables here. It's as simple as this, truly – we're talking about hundreds of schools, obviously that'll be reopening, starting on Monday. A substantial number are ready to go to five-day right away, but others need to get more information to do that, because of the conversation I had with Henry, trying to lay out a school-by-school reality – we think we're going to have most of that information in the course of next week, because we're saying two things that affect the number of deeply. You got to have a consent form and you've got to actually show up, and this, Shant, I think is a very, very fair standard. Both of them are fair standards, but that second one – school has been open for months. If a child hasn't shown up or has only shown up very occasionally, it's right to say to the parent, as a matter of personal responsibility and respect for all other parents and kids, are you really going to use this seat or not? If you're going to use this seat, you got to start showing up regularly, just like you would during any other normal school year. If you're not going to use the seat, that's cool. We're going to put you into all remote. So that seat can be used constantly by a child who really needs it and wants to be there and a family that wants their child there. But again, it's going to take a couple of weeks to sort that out and with every school, once that equation is locked down, they'll do either all five-day, all kids, or the maximum number of kids five days to begin and give priority to the kids with greatest needs.

Moderator: Hard to follow that, but for our last question we’ll go to Narmeen from PIX 11. 

Question: Hi, good morning, everyone on the call. 

Mayor: Hey Narmeen, how are you? 

Question: I'm doing well, Mayor. Just locked my kids out of the bedroom, so I'm good.

Mayor: Well done, well done.

Question: Alright, well, I wanted to ask you what we're monitoring, obviously all the numbers in your daily indicators, but also on your map, your ZIP code by ZIP code, and I want to ask you specifically about communities in Breezy Point in Queens and Gravesend [inaudible] because I noticed they have particularly high numbers across the city, 8.47 and 8.88. I wonder if you or your team have any insight into what is going on there in particular, because I feel those numbers are pretty alarming? 

Mayor: Yeah. Look, I share your concern. I mean we're seeing different things in different places for sure. I am concerned that there's some, you know, some messages have gone out there about not wearing masks and I think that's dangerous, and I think these numbers growing are a warning sign to everyone that we really have to be careful about social distancing, about wearing masks, about protecting our elders, which is why our health commissioner made very clear, you know, our seniors and folks with preexisting conditions, diabetes, and heart disease, et cetera, need to actually change now what they're doing and not go out any longer, except for the most essential needs. I am concerned there are some communities where there's, you know, too many voices saying don't wear a mask and don't follow these rules, and that's going to put them in danger and the people they love and dangerous. So, I'm hoping that these rather shocking numbers are going to wake people up to the fact that we're all in this together and we all have to protect each other. Go ahead Narmeen. 

Question: Yeah, and just to follow up a bit, is there any more targeted effort in those particular communities for the reasons you spoke of, but also I want to touch on the hospitalizations. We talked about seniors yesterday and I just want to get an idea of ICU beds. Obviously, we are in a much better place than we in this spring, but are we seeing the trend stay within the parameters of what we saw in the spring in terms of are these seniors that are taking up most of the ICU beds, are these people with underlying conditions taking up the more serious cases in the hospitals right now? 

Mayor: Okay, on your first point, yes – there's – whenever we see an uptick in the community, there is a targeted effort to engage community leaders and community institutions who are the most trusted voices to engage faith leaders. Whenever we've seen an uptick and we saw this, for example, in Staten Island a few weeks ago tremendous outpouring of support from community leaders, elected officials, faith leaders, community institutions, telling people, you really got to take these mask rules seriously, and you got to go get tested, and we saw a really big uptick in both and so anywhere where we see a problem, the thing we do is go to the grassroots, go to the people who have the most influence, the most reach, and obviously provide as much testing as possible in nearby locations. On the question of the hospitals, I'll start and turn to Dr. Easterling and Dr. Varma. But Dr. Katz was on the press conference yesterday and said, you know, again, we take it the situation very seriously. We're watching very carefully, but we have seen something at least somewhat different so far in terms of not as many people going into the ICU. Thank God people not needing to go into intubation as frequently, and when they do in many cases, having a better result than last time. So, something's qualitatively different and quantitatively different this time, but we have to watch it very carefully because we've learned from this virus, there's an unpredictable reality that we constantly have to adjust for. Dr. Easterling, you want to speak to that? 

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Yes, thank you, sir. Thank you for the question. Just actually to the first question I did want to just also raise the point that we've also been working with community-based organizations to bring more testing to the area as well. So as the Mayor had mentioned, you know, we are continuing to do our [inaudible] engagement in community specifically where we're seeing a higher number of cases compared to the rest of the city. So it is important that we still have that on the ground game. Actually, just an hour ago, I was on a call with electeds from Brooklyn, talking to them about the importance of being vigilant around our effective prevention measures. So, we are continuing to engage in making sure that we have on the ground game, and then to the hospitalizations as the Mayor of also mentioned, we're continuing to monitor the trends. We are certainly seeing the trend going in the wrong direction, which is certainly concerning. We're also really looking at the type of cases we know that severe illness will certainly affect those who are older. Certainly, those who have chronic conditions, and I think that's what we're going to have to continue to monitor and see you know, how things play out as we move along. 

Mayor: Yeah, and let me say first of all thanks to Dr. Torian Easterling because he has spent a lot of time in these last few months, talking to those very community leaders and organizations and elected officials, I mentioned earlier, he's really been one of the key organizers of the effort to mobilize the grassroots, and I really appreciate that Dr. Easterling and second, the point about older folks and folks with pre-existing conditions, what Dr. Chokshi said yesterday, I think Narmeen, this is going to change the equation. I think when the Health Commissioner of New York City tells older New Yorkers and folks with preexisting conditions is time to stay home until we get this vaccine, and we can really turn this around. I think a lot of people are going to change their behavior based on what he's saying, and that is going to affect some of what we see in terms of hospitalizations. Dr. Varma, you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, I guess I would just emphasize again, the good news has been that as we have gotten better at diagnosing cases earlier and supporting people earlier, as the Mayor has highlighted, the proportion of people who ended up getting hospitalized and have severe outcomes has definitely gone down. But again, highlighting what Dr. Easterling and the Mayor has just said. The bad news of course, is that the people who are most at risk of that severe infection remain the same groups that have been in that situation before that is people who are elderly and with severe underlying conditions. So, it is very important to keep the guidance that Commissioner Chokshi announced yesterday. 

Mayor: Thank you. Well, listen, as we conclude today, everyone we obviously are extremely focused on making sure we're taking all the measures we need to protect New Yorkers, and we're focused every day, every hour. This has been the reality since March, for all of us here at City Hall, our healthcare leadership, for so many other people who work to protect us, our healthcare workers are first responders every day, every hour, since this began, we're focused on protecting people here and now, but we also need to start thinking more and more about the future, and I'll be talking about this more as we go into 2021, we have got to start building that sense of the future of this city as a place where we can keep people healthy. We can learn the lessons of this crisis, do things in a different way, address the disparities that this crisis has made very painfully clear, but also start to do transformative things, and so today we talked about something very exciting in terms of worker cooperatives, employee-owned businesses. This could be a transcendent part of the future of New York City – it’s something that we'll be focusing on as a way to create more fairness, to share wealth differently, to create a better, more sustainable for the city, and I say, very clearly, you know this city will work in the future. If it's a city that works for working people and employee ownership has going to be a crucial part of how we make it, a city that works for working people in a sustainable way. So that's the work ahead. It's powerful and exciting work. Even as we fight this crisis back, we needed to take a lot of hope and encouragement from what the future of this city can be, and every one of you will be part of building that future. Thanks, everyone.

2020-12-03 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Today, we want to focus on not just the fight against the coronavirus right now, but where we're going, how we're going to defeat this virus once and for all, rebuild this city, recover as a city, move forward and then have the ability to be a global leader in public health, based in fact, on the very experiences that we went through this year, the painful experiences we learned so much from, the innovations we created, the forces we marshaled together, the extraordinary ingenuity and energy that New Yorkers showed in addressing this crisis. That is also the beginning of building out a role as the global leader in public health and the place that people can look to from all over the country, all over the world to help ensure there won't be the next pandemic or, God forbid we're faced with a challenge, that we handle it a lot better based on the lessons we learned here.

So, we're going to talk about our plans for that future, and we're going to frame it, of course, with the reality that we're fighting an intense fight against the coronavirus right now, we'll talk about that, but that thank God the cavalry is coming. The vaccine is coming, starting this month, this month of December. In fact, just 12 days from now, we expect the first dosages to arrive, and we'll talk about that and how we're going to be distributing the vaccine here in this city quickly and effectively. But let's be clear. This whole crisis has taught us so much. It's taught us so much about the need to create, to do things that haven't been done before, to be willing to try new things and figure out what will work to recognize truths that were too often swept under the rug, including profound disparities that must be addressed head on. All of that has made us stronger, even though none of us wishes we went through any of this pain, any of these challenges, it has made us stronger and it's made us clear about what we have to do for the future.

I had a great example of this yesterday. I toured the Pandemic Response Lab. This is a brand-new facility. It was set up during the coronavirus crisis to help New York City respond to the challenge we faced, and it is absolutely extraordinary. This was created from scratch, using new approaches, new technology, taking some of the best minds in this city, in the business sector, universities, hospitals, bringing them together at the Alexandria Center to focus on solutions we needed right now, and we all know one of the biggest challenges was getting all those tests processed quickly. Remember, from the very beginning, I remember the first press conference we ever had about the coronavirus, the key point was testing, and today the key is still testing. But what we found is crisis is testing is only as good as your ability to process the results and process them quickly, and that's what the Pandemic Response Lab has been doing brilliantly – 20,000 individual tests a day being processed right now, the ability to get up to 30,000 soon, and then we're going to build beyond, and it's remarkable to see how effective this process is considering it was something only thrown together in the last few months. I really want to thank everyone at the pandemic response lab for their amazing effort, and this video will give you a sense of the work they are doing to protect all of us. 

[…] 

Mayor: So that gives you a flavor of the amazing work being done at the lab. This was put together so quickly and effectively, and this is again the spirit of this city, the ability of this city, and this is what makes us special, even irreplaceable in the national and global context. New York City can do things that no other place can do, and we learned that with the Pandemic Response Lab, but now we're going to go farther because the next step is to build something even bigger that will be about the future and protecting this city and every place in this country and this world from future challenges, and so today we're announcing the creation of the Pandemic Response Institute, housed here in New York City at the Alexandria Center to lead the world to the solutions that will protect us in the future.

Now, look, we know that research is necessary in an unprecedented way. We know that during this crisis, there was so much catching up that had to be done. That work can be done in many ways in advance, going forward. The training to prepare people for future challenges can be done – now that we know the depth of the challenge we can get ahead of it and we can prove it can be done right here in New York City. The fact that we have learned a lot more about how to detect outbreaks and manage them, but we have to go a lot farther – that can be done here in New York City. Creating a blueprint for addressing this kind of crisis and do it in a systematic way – that can be created right here in New York City. To tell you more about the Pandemic Response Institute and what it'll mean for the city and far beyond the city someone who has really shown tremendous vision in fighting the crisis here, but also in helping us to envision where we can go as a city, my senior advisor, Dr. Jay Varma. 

Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma: Great, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. On April 3rd, I boarded a plane in Ethiopia and flew to New York City to help respond to the most lethal crisis the city has ever faced. I remember arriving in New York and being struck by two feelings. First, how unsettling it was to see the storefronts closed, to hear the air pierced by the sound of sirens, to see people on the streets, masked, walking away from each other as much as possible. Second, I was also struck by how eerily familiar it all felt. I've responded to outbreaks all over the world, from Ebola in West Africa, to refugee camps in Thailand, and I'm unfortunately all too familiar with the devastating impact that epidemics can have on societies. In the work I've done throughout the world one principal message I've always tried to deliver is that public health, isn't an investment, it's not a cost. It's an investment in our physical safety, an investment in our economic prosperity, and an investment in justice, ensuring that health and opportunity are available to all, and that is why the Mayor's announcement today about a new Pandemic Response Institute is so important to the city, the country, and indeed the world. New York City had to fight its way back from one of the worst COVID outbreaks of any city in the world, and one of the ways it did that was through a partnership as you've just heard between government academia and the private sector to create the Pandemic Response Lab, and that lab has been the key that unlocked the Test and Trace Corps to prevent thousands of infections in the city, and the key that unlocked the safe reopening of our public school system.

The Pandemic Response Institute is an opportunity to expand beyond laboratory work, into training, research, innovation – into all of the areas we know were important for outbreaks: detection, investigation, management, and this will position the city as a leader in pandemic response and strengthen our infrastructure for future outbreaks. How do we forecast when an outbreak might emerge, just like we do the weather? How do we develop tests for COVID and other infections that you can use at home, like a pregnancy test? How do we develop PPE that's easier and safer for anyone to use? How do we develop and test vaccines even faster than what we've done with COVID? This Institute can bring together partners from all around the city to answer these questions, to spur innovation, and create new jobs and new business ventures.

To develop this Institute, the city will support its initial home at the Alexandria Center positioned right next to the Pandemic Response Lab. We'll be meeting with public health experts next month to further develop the strategy and focus for the Institute and then issue an RFP for partners to operate the Institute shortly thereafter, with a goal to select an organization to begin operating it in 2021. Central to all of this is really public and private partnership, bringing together the best from the city, from government, our universities, our biotech and technology centers and our civic organizations. Together, they can spur economic development, build a stronger workforce, and make New York City the public health capital of the world. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Varma, and look, this is going to be crucial to our future. It's going to be crucial to our ability to protect people. It's going to be – it's so important to the recovery of New York City to bringing back and building an even stronger base of jobs. This is part of what's going to make New York City great going forward. So thank you Dr. Varma, and thank you to all my colleagues to be a part of putting this initiative together.

All right, now let's talk about, as I said earlier, the cavalry is coming, let's talk about the vaccines. The moment we have all been waiting for is finally here. Vaccines are being approved. Vaccines are being shipped. We expect the first shipments as early as December 15th. That is 12 days from now, the Pfizer vaccine shipments, we expect to begin for New York City – Moderna shipments a week later on the 22nd. 

We are working closely with the State of New York on a distribution plan with an important focus on those who have the greatest need and need to get the vaccine in the first efforts. We're going to be working with the state to fine tune the approach. But what we all agree on is high risk health care workers, obviously absolutely crucial to protect those who protect all of us, and we know from a painful experience, how much have to focus on our nursing home residents and the good people who work in our nursing homes. So those will be among the top priorities, of course.

Now, over time there will be enough vaccine for everyone, but we're going to have to prioritize in waves to make sure that those in greatest need get the vaccine first. This will obviously take months, but we're going to focus on the people have the greatest needs. We're going to focus on those 27 neighborhoods that were most deeply affected by the coronavirus. We're going to certainly focus on folks who have borne the brunt, like people who live in public housing, but we're going to throughout this process, work on the fastest and most effective distribution because the faster we can move, and the more we can educate people, and the more we can get people involved, the more people who will be safe. Here to tell you about it representing our Health Department, which has a lot of powerful history, making sure that New Yorkers get vaccinated and protected, so leading this effort with a lot of tremendous expertise to support them, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. New York City, we don't make small plans. We think big, we build big, and we plan big, and the effort to vaccinate millions of New Yorkers in the months ahead will be, in a word, big. That is why we are calibrating our entire public health infrastructure to this project – this spans science, operations, data tracking, equity, and public communication. As the Mayor said, our first priority includes health care heroes. Those who cared for us in the worst moments of the pandemic and whom we continue to depend on now, as cases rise. The Mayor also highlighted the people most at risk, including residents and staff of nursing homes. Our goal is to ensure that a safe, effective vaccine gets to everyone who wants it. Doing so will require close coordination, yes, across the entire city, but also with the state and the federal government, and it also requires us to make sure that all New Yorkers have access to the latest information. 
That's why we're here today.

But the process of turning a vaccine into a vaccination will be a challenge, a formidable one. For example, storage requirements vary. The Pfizer vaccine requires ultra-cold storage and special freezers. The Moderna vaccine can be stored in regular freezers. So we're shoring up capacity for both to be prepared. The Health Department itself currently has the ability to receive, store, and ship up to 320,000 doses of ultra-cold, that's at -80 degrees Celsius, as well as millions of frozen vaccines. This is in addition to hospital capacity and over 50 hospitals have access to ultra-cold storage, or will have the special ultra-cold freezer delivered very soon, for a total citywide storage capacity of at least 1.5 million doses. But making sure that we're getting vaccine to the people who are at highest risk from COVID-19 requires data, and we will use our citywide immunization registry to monitor inventory and administration and help make sure everyone gets both of the doses. 

This registry is like the air traffic control of vaccine distribution. Thousands of health care providers are already enrolled in the registry and report vaccine doses such as for the flu shot. I think of this as the everyday miracle of routine vaccination that prevents so much suffering and already saves lives, but we will build upon this for the COVID-19 vaccine. The Health Department will track in real time communities that may have a low uptake of the vaccine and pivot to ensure that the vaccine is distributed equitably. Our existing public health infrastructure allows us to work closely with health care providers, community health centers, and independent pharmacies across the city. We will be providing everything from technical assistance to resources for storing and handling the vaccine. When we anticipate that more access is needed, we will quickly stand up temporary vaccine centers as well. For instance, these centers will be in pre-identified schools across the city and operated by the Health Department. They're staffed by trained Health Department employees, other City employees from other agencies, as well as Medical Reserve Corps volunteers. These sites would serve essential workers initially, but could be expanded to serve members of the general public getting vaccine to people rapidly and safely. The process is simple. Appointments are scheduled. Eligibility is assessed online and after affirming on the day of their appointment that they are symptom free. They can show up and receive a vaccination. In 2009 during the H1N1 influenza outbreak, the Health Department immunized tens of thousands of New Yorkers in temporary vaccine centers just like that one. At one site, almost 6,000 people were vaccinated in just two days. 

But this is a marathon, not a sprint. And there is a long, long road ahead of us. Building trust has to be integral to our preparation as integral as storage and inventory. So we will also be working closely with our partners, including community organizers, faith leaders, and local clinicians in the coming months. As we get more details, we will be sharing information widely with community partners and the general public through public forums, media availabilities, ad campaigns, and social media. As important as sharing information is, my commitment is also to listen to our community partners. To make sure we're doing everything we can possibly do to be worthy of the public's trust. And make it as easy as possible for everyone who wants a vaccine to get one. Public trust in the vaccine is essential. I think about what it takes to earn the trust of the patients I've cared for as a doctor, starting with listening, communicating the science and following up. We will bring that same approach rooted in humility, evidence, and compassion to our vaccination campaign. 

One last note, the media has been extremely important in helping to combat misinformation, whether it was dangerous myths about the measles vaccine or more recently herd immunity and the effectiveness of masks. I want to thank you for the work that you've done and ask for your partnership to report the scientific facts about vaccines and their safety. Together, we can take this step forward into the beginning of the end of this public health emergency. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Doctor. And everyone, Dr. Chokshi’s last point is so important. The trust that we're all going to need to have here, the information that people need and deserve. Again, thanks to our colleagues in the media. You're going to play a crucial role here, getting the information out. And we do want to get the truth out. We know there's been, unfortunately, a lot of misinformation about vaccines. But vaccines are going to be absolutely crucial to ending the coronavirus crisis once and for all. And we're going to need everyone to be a part of this, and we should be thankful too, to all those who participate in creating these vaccines. This has been an unprecedented effort. So, to all the scientists, all the companies that have been involved, to the health care leadership on all levels of government, this is something that took tremendous work in record time, really. And we should be thankful to all involved. 

Now, vaccination campaign will begin immediately. We're going to be talking about that regularly. It says to us that we will be able to turn the corner on the coronavirus, but in the meantime, we have a tremendous challenge. And we're going to go over our indicators now, which certainly illustrate what we have to deal with right now to get to that point where the vaccine is widely distributed. And we turn that bigger corner. So, let's go over to indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Threshold is 200 patients. Today's report, 174 patients. So, we see a serious increase there. Confirmed positivity level of 49.7 percent. I'm going to talk about all three indicators and then I want to give a summary. The number two is new reported cases on a seven-day average threshold, 550 cases today, 1,962. And number three, percentage of people testing city-wide positive for COVID-19. Threshold, five percent. Today's report the daily, 3.9 percent, but the seven-day rolling average has really increased, to 5.19 percent. So what does this tell us? Well, we have three indicators and we've talked about the importance of looking at all three. This is something we've had the conversation with the people of this city for months and months, that we use different indicators to tell us different things and to see if they are aligning. 

What we're now seeing more than we have seen in a long, long time, unfortunately, is these three indicators all moving in the wrong direction or having already in the case of the daily cases, moved greatly in the wrong direction. So it's quite clear at this point that this second wave unfortunately, is right upon us. We are seeing a different reality in the hospitals for sure than in the spring. And this is a very, very important point. Even though that number has gone up, it's still a very different reality in our hospitals than what we experienced in the spring. The ability of our hospitals to deal with patients is greatly improved. The ability of patients to survive this disease is greatly improved. We are not seeing the kind of stress on our ICU's anywhere near what we saw in the past. But we're extremely concerned and vigilant to make sure that we protect our hospitals and we can protect people's lives. So, this says, at this point, these indicators either have been unfortunately met or on the verge of being met. It's why we're going to come up with new information to help people understand what comes next. But it is clearly, clearly a message that everyone needs to take maximum precautions now. 

And I want to amplify what Dr. Chokshi said earlier in the week. If you're over 65, if you're someone with one of those preexisting conditions like diabetes or heart disease, you need to stay in to the maximum extent possible, except for the most essential needs. And everyone has to do the hard work of continuing to distance and wear masks and take all precautions. This is a very serious situation. We all have to be part of the solution. Okay. Let me do a few words in Spanish about the vaccine 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish:] 

With that we will turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know, name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma, by Deputy Mayor Vicki Bean, by EDC President James Patchett, by Dr. Mitch Katz, by Jeff Thamkittikasem, the Director of the Mayor's Office of Operations. First question today goes to Matt Chayes from Newsday. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Matt, how you been? 

Question: I've been all right, thank you for asking. What would you say to people in the suburbs who before the pandemic used to drive into the city, but now due to the Open Restaurants program and Open Streets program now find much less parking? Do you expect this situation – the, you know, the fewer parking spots to continue once the pandemic ends? 

Mayor: Yeah, because we're going to continue Open Streets and Open Restaurants. We're going to make it permanent. If that means there's less parking available, I think that's a perfectly fair trade-off because we know that Open Streets have been a tremendous boost to the spirits of people in the city and giving them a lot of good outdoor options. We know Open Restaurants have allowed you know, 100,000 or more employees to keep their jobs and kept thousands of businesses going. This needs to be a part of New York City's future. So we will sacrifice some parking to provide all those positive benefits to the people in New York City. 

Moderator: The next is Marcia from WCBS. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I want to wish you well. 

Mayor: Thank you, Marcia. 

Question: I have one question about the vaccine distribution. I'm sorry. I'm out of breath. I ran to get another pen. 

Mayor: Okay. That is fully acceptable. 

Question: So, I'm wondering in terms of the distribution – the plan because the Governor has said, excuse me, that nursing home patients and people who work there should be the first ones to get it. And if you add up the total universe, that's 215,000 people. Which is more than the 175,000 doses they're going to get. So, I wonder if they should take precedence or the people who are in the front lines, the first responders, the health care workers, the people who work in ICUs should go first? Because they're the ones that may be in direct contact with people who are sick? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. But Marcia, I think the simple answer is we're going to work closely with the State. Both those categories are the highest priority, literally. And remember the vaccine shipments are going to be coming in weekly. So, we're going to be quickly able to get more and more. But we have to get going right away. We'll figure out the top priorities with the State. And we'll get going. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: That's exactly right. There's a lot of agreement across the federal government, meaning the CDC, the State government, as well as local government about what that highest priority group should be. Just as the Mayor said, it encompasses high-risk health care workers. That includes people who are working as staff in long term care facilities. And then residents of those long term care facilities as well. The initial week to two weeks we will see, you know, more limited number of doses and there will be a plan with respect to exactly how those will be allocated. And that plan will be conducted in coordination with New York State as well. But as the supply increases we expect within a few short weeks that we would be able to cover everyone that is in that top priority group. 

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: The next is Bob Henley from the Chief Leader. 

Question: Yes. I just wanted to circle back on the question of vaccines because the FDNY has said that they anticipate having a certain number of as yet undetermined doses available for frontline responders, EMTs, FDNY EMTs who've been at a much higher risk. I think five times the risk of getting a severe infection then their firefighter colleagues. There is concern early on and we talked about this, you mentioned that there would be some, as did the Governor some independence by the considerable deep scientific bench in New York and New York City related to the vaccine. We have a Reuters report that Moderna investigators, five investigators working on Moderna trials said in interviews that commercial site investigators quickly felt the large portion of the 30,000-person study used to study their vaccine with white volunteers. If your experts could address the longstanding issues that we have when it comes to big pharma in terms of the engagement of communities of color? And there's a certain irony here that there could be a legacy issue here that it was developed without incorporating these communities? 

Mayor: Appreciate very much the question, Bob, because it's important that we look at disparity and bias throughout all aspects of our society, including in our health care system. And, certainly, big pharmaceutical companies need to be examined as well. What it means for the here and now let's find out from our health care leadership. Dr. Chokshi and then Dr. Varma. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. And thank you very much. I agree. It's a fundamentally important question that places equity really at the center of what we're trying to do in our response. And that includes vaccine distribution. Specifically related to the concerns that you're raising about the Moderna vaccine, as well as the Pfizer vaccine. We do have to see all of the data as it's shared. Right now we have some preliminary indications from what the companies have shared thus far. But there are reams and reams of scientific analysis that are undergoing extensive review first within the FDA, then by an independent advisory committee associated with the FDA. That will give us some, some very important information with respect to the specifics of what they've seen in the two large trials for these vaccines. 

One of the things that we will be looking for is exactly what you've pointed out. The racial and ethnic diversity of those trials that have been conducted. I will say one indication. One of the reasons the Moderna vaccine took a bit longer to complete is that the federal government asked them to ensure that there was greater racial and ethnic diversity represented among their trial participants, and so that was something that occurred in August and that Moderna adjusted their trial for. But I think the big picture here just not to lose it is that we need to ensure that rigorous, independent, scientific review, and we will also be taking a look at all of the data as it emerges publicly. 

Mayor: Thank you, doctor. Dr. Varma, you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, just to briefly emphasize, I think the point Dr. Chokshi and others have made all the – which is that, you know, there are some things we don't know about science and there's some things we know a lot about, and one of those is the fact that race doesn't determine the effectiveness of a vaccine but racism determines the ability to get vaccines to people and have people accept and use them. So it's going to be very important for the FDA and the independent review committees to review the data in detail to show the effectiveness across populations, but really our focus has to be making sure that we really earn the trust of communities, which have a very real reason to distrust medical interventions, and we feel strongly that once those scientific reviews are complete, our engagement with the community will help us make sure that vaccines get to those that need the most. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: Yeah, so I guess also just in terms of managing collective expectations, because I think that that's very important as we were hearing this idea of turning the corner on coronavirus because of the vaccines and from my reading of a lot of literature on this, it appears that we are still many, many months of having to have this discipline related to this consciousness about how we conduct ourselves and how our individual actions could have all kinds of ramifications to those around us. And I – aren't, you concerned that, that it in our kind of you know, 10 months into this, that we're being a little simplistic here and not really giving the public an accurate picture of the struggle we're going to be in for a while. 

Mayor: I think it's a great question, Bob, but I'll tell you, am I concerned – I'll tell you why I don't share the concern about what's being portrayed and how people are going to hear it. The –I'll start and my colleagues can add that. First of all, I am someone who firmly believes the way you motivate people to action is by hope. If people are hopeless, Bob, they do not act. If people are hopeless, they give up and they do not have any incentive to do tough and disciplined things. Right now I'd say I'm very proud of how New Yorkers have handled this crisis because overwhelmingly people are wearing masks and practicing distancing, and following the rules that we put out there. But it's always been in the context of being able to show that there was a real impact and that's how we went from being the epicenter to be one of the safest places in the country over the summer. We have a new challenge now. It’s really important for folks who have gone through so much or understandably feeling fatigued to see that there is light at the end of the tunnel. I think that sustains people and energizes people, but of course, it's going to take months before everyone who needs the vaccine gets it, many months. We need people to keep to all those smart precautions in the meantime.

One other point though, every person who gets successfully vaccinated changes the playing field. As vaccination becomes more and more common, it improves our ability to limit the virus. Remember also the millions of people obviously have had the disease already, and from what we've seen so far, thank God, are less vulnerable to being infected again, or having a negative impact from the disease. So we do have to put in context those realities and all the advances that have occurred in terms of the hospital approach, et cetera, and let people understand, more work to do, stay disciplined, stay focused, but the situation can and will improve with each month. I truly believe that. Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, just to emphasize what, what the Mayor has said, you know, there are lots of analogies to think about, but the reality is we just – we can't give up now. We have to fight and keep fighting, and then the vaccine is going to be here. You know, for – if you're, if you're playing baseball and, you know, you've got Mariano Rivera coming into the ninth inning, you don't stop adding just because you know you got a closer coming in. So keep that in mind. It's something that's very important and that's really the message we're giving people, and this is a season of hope, right? This is the season where people celebrate, this time celebrations will be different, they need to be safe but there is hope coming very, very soon. 

Mayor: Dr. Varma does not even understand the full implication of his analogy. I only will say the year 2004, we can talk about later, but Dr. Choksi you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I'll start with my own analogy actually, which is, you know, we've talked about the cavalry coming with respect to the vaccine, and that is true, although as the Mayor has said, it will take – it will take some time, but just because the cavalry is coming, it doesn't mean you put down your gun and stop shooting, right? So this is actually the most urgent time that we faced in weeks or months with respect to to fighting back the pandemic. It is critically important given the spread that we're seeing, given what we talked about earlier this week in terms of hospitalizations increasing as well, that we maintain our vigilance. So even as we do look ahead and we see that light at the end of the tunnel, now is the time to actually redouble our efforts and make sure that we do everything that we can to prevent as much suffering as possible before we're entering into that new reality. 

Mayor: Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Paul Berger from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor, can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah. Paul, how you doing?

Question: Good. Thank you. How are you?

Mayor: Good, good.

Question: I do just want to ask actually continuing the theme that you were discussing just now, you know, earlier on you talked about this second wave that was pretty much upon the city and how everyone has to be a part of the solution, just made me wonder, it seems like there isn't a day that goes by where we don't see examples of people flouting the rules and only last night we had the significant protests on Staten Island. I wonder, what does that tell you about people's willingness to comply with these rules in the coming months given the gravity of the situation the city faces?

Mayor: It's a very important question, Paul. Look, I want to separate when there's some ideological motivation and we do see that in some parts of the city, that's notable and that's a challenge and we really need local voices in communities where some are calling for folks not to wear masks or follow the rules, we need local voices to really step up and help us. But that is not most committed communities in New York City. The vast majority of communities in New York City are really honoring the rules. This is just fact, I mean, we've seen it in so many ways. The vast majority of New Yorkers are really honoring distancing and mask wearing in so many profound ways, and in the organized parts of the city, if you will, we've seen just tremendous adherence to safety rules, whether it's health care facilities, schools, businesses. So I don't want to get lost in what a few folks do when I see the vast majority really paying attention and buckling down. I also want to remind you that even though there was a protest, there was a particular bar in question, that bar is now closed because it was violating the rules. So clearly the rules are ultimately what matter here and they're being enforced. Fatigue is real, of course it's real, we're humans, but it's not stopping most New Yorkers from doing what they have to do and that's what matters. Go ahead, Paul. 

Question: I just wanted to turn actually to the research institute, could you just give us a few more details about it and in particular, I mean how much money given the budget crisis that you're facing does the city intend to invest in this? 

Mayor: Paul, we think this is a very important part of our future, it’s going to be part of the leading edge of New York City becoming the public health capital of the world. It's going to be absolutely shoulder to shoulder with a bigger strategy to grow our life sciences sector in this city, which has the potential to create hundreds of thousands of more jobs. So this is a very big deal to us and we're going to determine the level of investment needed to help support it. But I want to emphasize, and I'll turn to Dr. Varma to add, that there's a lot of resources out there in the private sector, in terms of research grants, et cetera, that are going to be following this exact subject matter. There's a lot of money that's going to flow in this direction. We need to be one of the places that receives those resources because we're best positioned to act on the matter at hand. Dr. Varma?

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, I would just – following up on what the Mayor's point is just now. There are a number of institutions around the world that have, you know, set models for how an organization like this can focus. You know, many of them are focused on very narrow areas. As the Mayor mentioned, there was almost certainly going to be more investment from governments in understanding the importance of health security and funding it. There's increasing interest from foundations, philanthropic organizations. And then we know of course business and industry, they're seeing this as an economic opportunity as well. Whoever thought before that, you know, investing in making face shields or building a new laboratory in a place that already has a lot of health capacity would actually be a profitable venture. So there's really an incredible opportunity where I think the public interest and the private interest all align around this issue. 

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Candice Choi from the AP. 

Question: Hi, thanks for taking the question. I have a two-part question, has the city identified where its first Pfizer shipments would go and if so can you give us a breakdown of how many are hospitals, nursing homes, or other locations?

Mayor: Doctor – okay go ahead – 

Question: And then the second part of the question is if the uptake isn't as high as expected at those places, is there a contingency plan for what to do with any leftover doses? 

Mayor: Okay so we will count that as two questions and I appreciate both questions. I don't think we're going to have a leftover problem. I think we can say that. I think there's going to be honestly tremendous need, tremendous interest and speed of execution. So I'll let Dr. Chokshi speak to it, but I honestly don't think that's going to be a problem, certainly not anytime soon, but if you could speak to both points doctor? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I'll take the second one first just to build on that. So the answer is yes. There is such a contingency plan, the citywide immunization registry that I described we'll be monitoring in real time exactly how doses are being distributed as well as the actual uptake of the vaccine. So for finding that there are places that are not able to use their initial allotments, we can shift around demand and then also shift around subsequent supply of the vaccine for future weeks. So that is an integral part of our planning for both the initial phases, as well as beyond that. With respect to to the first point with about where the initial tranche of Pfizer vaccine will go, there are some contingencies that you know, that I should be upfront about with respect to the prioritization that the federal government, the State government, and our local government are aligning around. Once that final prioritization is determined, then we can be much more precise in terms of sharing, you know, where that initial allotment will go.

But what I can tell you today is that we've been in constant contact with the 55 acute care and specialty hospitals that are in New York City. We understand the populations of high-risk health care workers at each of those hospitals. They have started placing orders within the citywide immunization registry and that's how the allotment will be determined. With respect to long-term care facilities, that's something that requires additional coordination because the federal government through the CDC will also be rolling out what it's calling the Long-Term Care Facility Pharmacy Program, this is in coordination with CVS and Walgreens, and that will be part of the way in which vaccine is distributed to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities. We will have visibility into that distribution as well through the citywide immunization registry and so the same way of monitoring supply and demand that I described before applies to those as well. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Christina Veiga from Chalkbeat.

Question: Hi, Mayor. Thanks for taking my question. I am wondering where or when you think teachers, public school teachers will be able to receive the vaccine? 

Mayor: Christina, really, really good question, and what we're doing right now is we're working through the prioritization schema. And we obviously want to focus after we deal with the single highest priority groups of folks and the most vulnerable folks, we're certainly going to be focusing on other public servants as well. Of course, thank God, you know, we know our schools are tremendously safe, that is proven, and educators who had pre-existing conditions were given medical exemptions. So we know they are protected. So we'll follow the priority schema that the federal government, State government put together and make sure we're always focusing on addressing disparities, but certainly our public servants are going to be important in our priorities as we get more and more vaccine. Go ahead, Christina. 

Question: Thanks and my second question is about testing. We know that COVID testing in schools is going to be really important for reopening, however, those in Learning Bridges sites I believe they're not being tested, CBOs – universal pre-K providers and CBOs are not doing random testing of staff, and I believe the DOEs Pre-K Center staff, not the students, but the staff are also not being tested. So I'm wondering why they've been left out and if there are plans to include them now in the next phase of reopening?

Mayor: Look, we are trying to expand testing across the board and we certainly want to encourage folks to get tested. We now have so many locations and so many communities, we want to do that constantly, and it's free for everyone, obviously. There's different realities with community-based organizations. Scale is something I’ve talked about a lot. There are much smaller programs, when you’re talking about Learning Bridges and when you're talking about the pre-K sites in community-based organizations, they're much smaller. They've been working, of course, to protect everyone in their facilities, but the scale of schools being bigger is where we've put the focus. But we're going to keep supporting all of them to get testing to them and to make sure they know where testing is available in their communities. Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Amanda Eisenberg from Politico. 

Question: Hi. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call.

Mayor: How are you doing, Amanda? 

Question: I'm good. Thank you for asking. So, I was hoping that you or one of your health experts could explain why this pandemic response isn't housed in the City’s Health Department, and that you're specifically looking at these private-public partnerships instead? 

Mayor: I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Varma. This is about something which I think could be very central to the future of the city and is not going to function as a city agency, but something that really will have national and global reach. And we want investment from the private sector, we want companies to be deeply involved, universities, hospital systems. This is a whole different type of endeavor and it is meant to maximize the energies of all those sectors and also to spur on the creation of a lot of jobs in this city in the private sector. So, it's not built to be a City agency. It's built to be something that I think has got to have a really big ramification for the future of our ability to protect people and our economy. Dr. Varma?

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. This isn’t a competitor to government services. There’s a really strong model throughout the world of entities that have been created for the purpose of pulling together resources from, from governments, from the private sector, from foundations and philanthropy to promote research, to also promote innovation, which is not – which is how you turn research into practice, and to also support training. And so, I think, you know, one of the things that we've learned in public health throughout the world is you really need a diverse ecosystem. You need – absolutely need to be built upon a foundation of a strong government public health service. You need private industry to be able to create and manufacture and innovate. And you need something that sits at the interface of those to do all those things. So, I think that's really why this institute is going to be really in that regard. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Amanda. 

Question: Great. Thank you. And then, my second question, I know you both touched upon it, specifically Dr. Varma, but in terms of equity and the vaccine, is there anything specific that you can talk about of how you're able to get buy-in from Black and Brown communities where there's been a history of medical abuse and distrust in those communities? Obviously, those neighborhoods have been hit really bad by the pandemic. But I think there is still some sort of historical distrust with government with vaccines, especially for Black and Brown New Yorkers. So, I wanted to know what strategies you're looking at to ensure that people are getting vaccinated and that they feel comfortable about it. 

Mayor: Yeah. Amanda, it’s a very powerful question. Thank you. And let's just talk about this head-on – there is tremendous distrust. Black and Brown New Yorkers have every reason to look at the history of American government and institutional racism and be concerned about unfairness and mistreatment. That is something we have to acknowledge and we have to act on and we have to change it. And I think it's different in New York City in some very important ways, because people of color in this city also have seen a series of changes happen in this city to address disparity. And, certainly, even in the context of the coronavirus, the overt acknowledgement of disparity followed by moving resources to communities that have been hardest hit, acknowledging these 27 neighborhoods have been hardest hit and saying they deserve to get priority in terms of vaccine distribution. Folks in public housing deserve priority. 

These statements say something about making sure that there is fairness, and we're not going to allow the vaccine just to go to the highest bidder, but to actually go to who needs it most. I think that will engender trust. I think working with community leaders, folks in communities of color want to hear from people they trust at the grassroots level. As Dr. Chokshi said, that's going to be a big part of what we do, building trust by working with voices who are trusted at the community level. So, this is a very real issue. I'm not going to be surprised at all if anyone who was hesitant at first, but we've got to prove by our actions that this is an equitable distribution of the vaccine. And we've got to keep addressing people's real medical concerns with trusted health care voices, both on the city level and the local level. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Varma, do you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. And thank you so much, Amanda, for the question, which I agree is core and fundamental to the success of our vaccine distribution program. We're going to make sure that equity, and particularly racial equity, are a key part of how we're addressing disparities that unfortunately we have seen play out in very tragic ways over the last few months. And so, to get to some of the specifics and to build on what the Mayor has already said about this first is, you know, I just think about how this plays out in the exam room when I'm taking care of my own patients and confronting the – you know, the historical legacy of distrust that colors much of the decision-making, you know, that that happens particularly in Black and Brown communities. And the most effective antidote is a trusted relationship. Those are not things that can be developed out of thin air. And so, as a government agency, you know, as the Health Department, our approach is to make sure that we're relying upon the relationships that already exist in communities – community-based organizations, you know, faith leaders, people who are looked to as trusted messengers and partnering with them, you know, having the humility to say, it's not just about the message that we deliver, but about the messenger, and sometimes that's about passing the baton to someone else with respect to delivering the message. But the other really important piece here that the Mayor also mentioned is that we have to think about it in a way that accounts for the places that we're talking about. This is where it gets very concrete, the priority neighborhoods that the Mayor has made a fundamental commitment as part of our COVID-19 response and making sure that we're using our data to track how things are going in those places and to direct more resources there when it when it is clear that that's what needs to happen. 

Mayor: Dr. Varma, anything to add?

Senior Advisor Varma: No – 

Mayor: Okay, great. Go ahead.

Moderator: Last question for today, who we believe is celebrating a birthday today, is Jillian Jonas from WBAI.

Mayor: Happy Birthday, Jillian.

Question: How did you know that? 

Mayor: It's this team – they do their research. Happy birthday to you. 

Question: Thank you. I didn't even think about it. So, the Politico reporter and the Wall Street Journal reporter already asked some of my questions, but I would like to know where will the Pandemic Response Institute be housed after 2021, because the PowerPoint just said 2021. And what is James Patchett’s specific role in all of this? 

Mayor: Well, James Patchett is with us, so I'll let him speak to that in a second. But – so, it'll be housed initially at the Alexandria Center. And then, depending on the results that we get back from the RFP process will determine if it's there or someplace else as the permanent home. But again, this is a kind of leading edge of something I think has been to be a very big piece of the city's future. And we’ve got to get it started right away in this moment and build it from there. James Patchett, why don't you talk about the vision of building out the vision and what your role is? 

President and CEO James Patchett, Economic Development Corporation: I'm pleased to be asked what my specific role is, thank you. So, just to further address the question that you initially asked – the location permanently will be determined based on the partners we identify. So, you can imagine this ultimately being co-located with another institution is looking to expand its efforts and focus on pandemic response, another research institution, another existing not-for-profit. We just want to ensure that we maximize the existing organizations in New York City and scale them up to have this expertise in pandemic response as we see a substantial economic development opportunity here. EDC has been working for the last four years to expand our life sciences ecosystem in New York City and we see a direct connection between the future of public health and pandemic response and life sciences. I think that pandemic response lab is a great example of that. They're using robotics from a Brooklyn-based company, partnering it with health expertise and research that was developed at NYU hospital, and turning it into a new company, specifically focused on pandemic response, but ultimately testing innovation generally and building it into a company that will, you know, at a minimum hire hundreds of New Yorkers, if not ultimately thousands. So, we see a direct connection in this and our role as long been the conduit to the private sector as a place where we can grow jobs and we'll continue to play that role here. 

Mayor: Thank you, James. And James, further – I mean, I want to give credit where credit is due to James Patchett and everyone at EDC, because all of the innovations we talked about yesterday during the tour, creating and producing ventilators here in New York City that hadn't been done, was done on a crisis emergency basis effectively, the PPE that were created here, all these emergency efforts to make New York City more self-sufficient in fighting the coronavirus were led by the Economic Development Corporation, working with universities, hospitals, companies, all over the city. That model has been extraordinarily effective. So, thank you to you, James, and your colleagues for leading the way on that.

With that, everyone, look, today, we're talking about some very good things. What the new institute will mean for the future New York City. The fact that we could have vaccine distribution and a vaccine arriving to us as early as 12 days from now – these are very, very positive developments. We're also talking about a gathering storm, a challenge we are facing with a rise in a number of cases that we take very, very seriously. The key is to keep fighting. The question earlier, you know, were people going to give up? Because they had hope. No, I think people are going to double down because they have hope. I think all of you, as New Yorkers, seeing that the light is at the end of the tunnel, it's going to encourage you to stay tough, to stay disciplined. We need that from you. And we're going through the holiday season and we're going to keep saying to folks, look, it's not a time to travel. It is not a time for big gatherings. Keep any gathering very small, very safe, distanced with masks. And for seniors, please, if you're over 65, do not do anything but go out for essential needs. If you have those preexisting conditions stay in, except for when you have to go out to deal with something essential. We've got to protect people, because now more than ever, that vaccine is coming, big changes are coming. It will take some months, there's no question, but let's double down on what has worked right now to get to that point where we will all be in a much safer reality. That's my request of all of you. And I’ve got to say with tremendous gratitude, New Yorkers have heard the call from our health care leaders and have acted on it every single time. And we need you to do it one more time to get through this final push to when we beat this disease. Thank you, everybody.

2020-12-04 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It’s the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, again, everyone. We begin this hour as usual on Fridays with our weekly Ask The Mayor call in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio, 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0 or a tweet a question, just use the hashtag, #AskTheMayor.Thanks, as always, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you very much, Brian. How you doing today? 

Lehrer: I'm doing all right. Thank you. You know, there was so much publicity around whether the city would pass the three percent average positivity rate last month, because that was the school closing threshold, did I see Mr. Mayor that now the city is about five percent? 

Mayor: You're right about that, Brian, and it's something we should all be very concerned about and I want to take this opportunity to really remind people that our Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi said earlier in the week, if you are over 65 years old and-or have those serious pre-existing conditions like diabetes and heart disease, we are really imploring folks to just stay in, not go out, not engage other folks, except for absolutely essential purposes like a medical appointment. It’s a real serious situation and we're working with the State now to figure out additional measures we have to take. The one thing I would say, just to talk about today's indicators, the one thing we still see, thank God, is the hospital admission situation and the intensive care unit situation is different than one would have expected and better than one would have expected here in the city. 134 hospital admissions today but we've been constantly monitoring, the hospital system is holding very well right now. ICU still have a substantial capacity and the hospital treatments for folks with COVID are definitely greatly improved from the spring. We're seeing many fewer people need ventilators. We're seeing more people on the ventilator come through okay. Thank God many fewer people passing away. So qualitatively a very different situation, but the numbers certainly are cause for real concern. 

Lehrer: You know, I read that Los Angeles County is now above 12 percent positivity up from 7 percent, just a week earlier, and they're doing things like roping off playgrounds again and closing even outdoor dining, like back in the spring, because they've passed a threshold of less than 15 percent ICU capacity. Are you considering anything like that for New York? I certainly heard you say that our ICU capacity, thank goodness, is okay right now. 

Mayor: Right, I've been talking to the Governor repeatedly about the challenges – and they're real – here in the city, and in fact, even more profound in some other parts of the State. We're talking about what measures need to be taken. Obviously, we will do whatever it takes to keep people safe at the same time we're very much focused on. The Governor talked a lot earlier in the week about the hospitalizations and that being the key thing to watch. So, we're balancing, you know, what measures we need to take, obviously real concern for folks’ livelihoods too, given that for so many working people now they have lost all the positive benefit that came from those stimulus checks earlier in the year, those checks have run out. There's no guarantee of a new stimulus yet. A lot of people desperately need whatever work they can to keep their families going, and so we're trying to balance all those factors, but this is literally a daily and sometimes multiple times a day conversation that I'm having with the Governor, my staff is having with his staff, to work out what steps need to be taken. 

Lehrer: So, you're not ruling out something as severe in a few weeks, maybe, as roping off the playgrounds again, which the city did do, not just Los Angeles earlier this year, right? 

Mayor: I want to be very careful in how I word it. We, again, we have a very different situation that when the one we had in the spring. We're going to look at a variety of measures. I don't want to rule in or rule out anything because we are having those conversations with the State and obviously ultimately they make the decision on most of this. So, let me get through those conversations a little more and I'll have more to say when we solidify the planning, but look, I think it's fair to say what I'm hearing from my health leadership. I know the Governor is hearing from his is, you know, this is a very serious situation and we're going to work together to figure out the measures we have to take. 

Lehrer: Let's take a phone call Angelina in Brooklyn, a pre-K teacher, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Angelina. 

Question: Hi, how are you, this is very exciting, hi Mr. Mayor, hi Brian –

Mayor: Hi, Angelina. How you doing?

Question: Good, I'm okay. So I'm a 3-K for All teacher in Queens, Jamaica, and my question is why haven't you been totally clear with the public, with the press, that the 3-K, pre-K kindergarten and District 75 students do not get tested? 

Mayor: Angelina, it is a difference there, I appreciate the question, it's an important question. Pre K, 3-K kids, three-year-olds, four-year-olds, obviously we have seen the least problem with the coronavirus and it's – you know, obviously we're concerned about that age level and what it takes to do testing and all, that's not what we've been doing. We have not seen a problem with that. We do test, and this is part of the new protocol going back into schools Monday, we will be testing K-5 kids. We will be testing District 75 kids. Every parent needs to have a consent form on file or have their child bring it with them next week to be able to attend school, and on top of that there's of course the opportunity for a medical exemption if a family believes there's a valid reason and it's confirmed by the DOE, but we from the beginning, believe in – our health care team has affirmed this, that the three-year-olds and four-year-olds were not the group of kids who needed to be tested. 

Lehrer: Angelina – 

Question: So, how do you feel about – I mean, what do you say? I have two questions, but this is just a continuation on the first one, because I know a lot of pre-K teachers are concerned, their students are coming back five days a week, we'll have about 13 students if the room capacity holds it, we'll have 13 students, and you know, how –what do you say to the pre-K teachers to make them actually feel better? And this is also going to be another question for the UFT that, you know, how – like, what are our protections now? Because we're going back to school five days a week with more kids and our kids aren't being tested and we're in a red zone area? 

Mayor: Yeah, well, Angelina, a couple of things, I would not start with the assumption of more kids. We believe that because we're going to say very, very consistently that everyone in the school system has to claim their seats now once and for all and that's next week, and I've been real blunt about this, and the Chancellor has too, any family that their child is signed up for in-person learning and the child doesn't show up next week, we're telling the family we're about to move them then to remote learning, unless they give us a clear explanation of why and a commitment of their child's going to start attending immediately. I think, Angelina, we have had a certain number of – a substantial number of tens of thousands of families who have been basically trying to hold a place for the future. We don't want that anymore. We can't have that. We need to get to five-day-a-week for as many families as possible or at least more days. So that's going to reduce the numbers I think a meaningfully. And the other thing to remember, Angelina, is that the amount of precautions in a New York City schools, this is literally the highest standard in the world, including everyone wearing a mask all the time and the constant cleaning, all the measures, the social distancing. We have facts now for two straight months of extraordinarily low levels of transmission in our schools, our schools are clearly safer. This is what our health care leaders say. Our schools are safer than pretty much any place else in New York City. So, I really think everyone in the school community can feel secure because so many measures are in place to protect everyone. 

Lehrer: Angelina, thank you so much for your call, please call us again. A follow-up you said that with the relatively small number of in-person learners, it's less than a third of all the kids in the system who've opted in, some schools might even be able to go five days a week and keep social distancing, but I've read that some principals are telling parents, even if they have the space, they don't have the budgets to hire enough teachers. They would need more teachers, I guess, for the in-person plus remote, is that a concern you're aware of? 

Mayor: I've heard those rumors and I want to make very clear to everyone in the Department of Education, to all our principals, all our educators, this is a decision that the Chancellor and I have made. It's not up for debate. We need to provide the most in-person instruction possible to our children. Our children have gone through so much this year. Those whose families choose to have the children in the classroom deserve the maximum number of days and we're prioritizing it. Any school where there are not enough seats for every child to go five days, the priority will go to special needs kids, to kids who are in shelter and temporary housing, to the kids who are in public housing, it will be prioritized by the economic and educational need. So this is something that has to happen. It can happen. The numbers speak for themselves. We already know there are schools, that right now we'll come back Monday with five-day-a-week for all their students. And in the course of the next few weeks, there'll be more and more.

And Brian, the crucial thing to recognize is once you take out the students who really haven't been attending and their parents are just in effect holding a seat or just not communicating with DOE at all, when you take those kids out of the equation, the numbers will go down. I wish they wouldn't, but they will. We know this and again, I say very clear to the parents, you have to give us that consent form to test or a medical excuse, otherwise we can't see the child who doesn't have one or the other of those things. The numbers will go down and we will have the opportunity because of the sheer numbers to seek kids five days a week. If a classroom was 24 kids, and now the classroom is eight or nine or ten kids because of social distancing, but the number of kids who you have in your school is 25 percent or 30 percent, 35 percent of what you had before. You can make that equation work. The math is straightforward. If we need to get some schools additional teachers, we will, we've been very clear and we can move substitutes, including substitute who previously were working in middle and high school who now are freed up for a period of time. So we’ll fill those needs, but we have to get this done. Parents need it, kids need it. 

Lehrer: Let's stay on the school [inaudible] and talk to Fazeen calling from Astoria, Fazeen you’re on WNYC with the Mayor.

Question: Hi good morning, Mayor and Brian Lehrer. I’m an avid listener to your show and I do have a question for the Mayor. So in regards to the consent form, the children returning on Monday must have this consent. My concern with the consent form is there is no alternative provided for your child to be tested through their doctor, through a pediatrician, or for the parent to be present at the time of the test. How come this alternative is not being presented otherwise, what you now have will more children who are currently in blended will now be removed from blended and switched to strictly online? 

Mayor: It's a fair question and what I'd say is this, we are happy to work with any parent to see if we can accommodate, but the bottom line of course, is we'd have to protect the health and safety of the whole school community and the testing has been quintessential to how we've been able to keep our schools safe. This is one of the reasons why New York City public schools are considered among the safest in the country right now, and as I said, our health leadership will tell you our school buildings are some of the safest places to be for anyone in New York City right now. So testing has been crucial to that. What I’d say is, if a parent says, look, I think there's a medical reason why my child shouldn't be tested. That's very clear. You can get an exemption.

The DOE has to approve it, but that's a very available path. Obviously the virtue of the consent form is it means that we can do the in-school testing as needed and it's done, and we know it happens. If you're dealing with a parent's personal pediatrician, for example, how and when does that happen becomes difficult, unwieldy, we can't have people not getting tested, but if a parent says I have a particular need, we of course will try and work with that parent to see how we can address that need. And that's something that's a conversation that should be had with the school, with a principal, assistant principal, parent coordinator at the school to see how we can work on that. 

Lehrer: Fazeem, I hope that answers your question, and let me follow up just on this notion that – I mean it's news, it's real right? That schools are reopening for pre-K, 3-K through five, plus District 75, special-ed, on Monday. But I've been told that at a Manhattan District Two meeting on Wednesday, Chancellor Carranza said schools in the state designated red and orange zones will not be part of Monday's reopening plan. So, that would be South shore of Staten Island and the only red or orange zone I think at the moment in the city is that, so can you confirm this? 

Mayor: Well, no, it's I – this is a little bit of a telephone game here I think Brian, because I don't know what happened at that meeting. I can tell you what the Chancellor and I said at the press conference on Sunday, when we announced this plan, which really should be the reference point. Next week, we intend to open schools in that orange zone area of Staten Island. We have some additional work to do. We haven't fixed the day yet. We will do that very quickly, obviously. But we still intend to move forward for next week. 

Lehrer: All right, how about Blair in Manhattan, you’re on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Blair. 

Question: Hello there Mr. Mayor. Question, with so many more people now driving to work to avoid mass transit, plus the dire need for revenue enhancement, along with it – we need to deal with the fact that 30 percent of New York car owners register their car elsewhere. Isn't it time to have a resident parking in New York City as we find in so many, many other United States cities? 

Lehrer: Resident only parking –

Mayor: Yeah, residential parking permits. It's a very good question. First I'd say, I appreciate you raising the point about folks who register out of state, which is really something people should not do, and we obviously have a pandemic going on, but this is something I would love to work with the state to break through once and for all, because it's just not fair to everyone else and, and deprives us of revenue we need, and it's obviously an attempt to evade, you know, New York State regulations.

But on the parking permits, we've looked at this several times, in the last seven years. So far, it seems to be complicated enough that, and there’s enough unintended consequences that certainly our transportation leadership and planners have not believed it ultimately works for New York City. It may be different now. So you raised an important point. I grew up with it, actually, in Massachusetts and it worked well, but I do think scale matters here in the context of New York City. It's harder to implement at this scale, but I'm going to go back and talk it through in light of the impact of the pandemic and see if our transportation team thinks it's time to evaluate that again. 

Lehrer: Thank you for your call. I've seen the priority list for vaccinations start with frontline medical workers and go next to people in nursing homes at risk and those congregate care facilities. What about people in jails and prisons? Shouldn't they be also high considering the outbreak rates there? 

Mayor: We’re watching that carefully. I looked at the numbers a couple of days ago to date, thank God we have seen a pretty steady situation, but we're concerned because of the physical setting to say the least. So to date, we have not been seeing a major problem in our city jails, but certainly since our correction workers, correction officers are essential workers, they would be in the priority group. The city and state are working on the exact delineation, but absolutely the most vulnerable folks are in nursing homes. Let's be clear if – anybody in our entire population – so nursing home workers, nursing home residents, crucial as well as everyone is the most sensitive healthcare workers, crucial, and we got to help and protect the people who help all of us, especially with the rates of infection going up. That's where you have to begin. There's a lot more healthcare workers, first responders that need to get vaccinated, of course. That group would include our correction officers. We've got to figure out the inmates in that mix too, and then the other big category to be really concerned about is the group of people. Dr. Chokshi is giving a due warning to, that anyone over 65 and folks – and/or folks who have those preexisting conditions have to be high up the list. So we're going to work through all those priorities, and as quick as we get it in, we're going to do the vaccine and we're going to turn it around. So I think we'll be able to make a lot of progress on all those priorities December, January, into February. 

Lehrer: Joe on Staten Island. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Joe. 

Question: Yes. Yeah, hi, Brian. Hi, your honor. You're probably aware of the contentious situation that's happening at Mac’s Grill about being closed down for flouting the COVID restrictions. The other nights at a protest, the Proud Boys showed up and also at this protest was Council Member Joe Borelli who spoke to the crowd without at all admonishing what is known nationwide as a hate group and potentially a terrorist group. Will there be any censure for Council Member Joe Borelli for participating in a rally with a known hate group?

Mayor: It's an important question because that is a hate group, and you know, this is a point where we need to put this era of hatred behind us, and obviously the people this country spoke clearly on Election Day that they're ready to put the hatred behind us. So no elected officials should be supporting or encouraging the Proud Boys. 

I don't know the details. So, I don't want to speak about the Councilman specifically – you're the first person actually to say to me that there may have been that presence at that gathering. We were obviously concerned to make very clear as you started that the law has to be followed and that that bar needs to be closed, but I will follow up to find out what happened there. I’m concerned, and obviously the bigger point you're raising is right. You know, we should all be not dependent at all on party affiliation. Everyone should be condemning what the Proud Boys stand for. 

Lehrer: How much pushback are you – well, not just pushback, but like what we saw at that restaurant, resistance in defiance of indoor dining restrictions are you expecting, or are you seeing right now? 

Mayor: Well, we're generally not, and we haven't from the beginning you know, this individual, this particular site, they obviously wanted to get publicity for themselves. They made a big deal of it, but they're shut down now. Let's be clear. Remember when we first had to – it’s sad, but when we first had to put the restrictions on bars and restaurants in the spring and the days after we had compliance officers out, we saw the overwhelming compliance. We've seen it ever since. The times when we've had to shut people down have been very few, and I think everyone's watching this situation, looking at these numbers. I expect whatever the rules become that they will overwhelmingly be honored. 

Lehrer: Here's a question via Twitter. What's the motivation – oh no, that's that was hers. Sorry, let me go back to my Twitter. Here it is.

Mayor: It’s live radio, Brian. Live radio, these things happen.

Lehrer: That's right. Thank you for understanding. Question from Twitter. Listener asks, please ask the Mayor why they haven't considered CUNY campuses as health system testing sites with priority appointments for faculty, staff, and students – 19 practically empty campuses as we are all working, teaching, learning remotely spread across all five boroughs? 

Mayor: That's a very good question. We had a lot of conversations with CUNY earlier on and CUNY is controlled by the State of New York, and my understanding is they made the decision that they wanted to keep their facilities – the potential to have them open to various points, and that's where we left it. In terms of testing sites. It's a great question that we obviously have, you know, we have over 200 testing sites all over the city and we're now, you know, our problem is much less sites than just pure testing capacity. We are working to get to a hundred thousand tests a day, but even with that, you know, there's so much demand right now, all over the city. I'll check and see if we need additional sites in the areas where the CUNY campuses are. I think that's a good question and worth another look. 

Lehrer: I've read that the Health + Hospitals Corporation testing sites do not have real time waiting times on a map. Like I believe some of the private sites do, is that true? And if so, can those be established? 

Mayor: So I'm going to get you the exact place to go online, but for our H + H facilities they now just this week have put up a system so that you can know what the wait time is at each testing site and people can make their plans accordingly, and I want to emphasize, as I say this to Health + Hospitals sites, the hospitals, and the clinics so it's 11 hospitals, 70 clinics have consistently had much less wait time than some of the other sites like CityMD. Again, we thank CityMD for what they're doing. This is not anything but appreciation for them, but a lot of them have had really, really long lines. H + H tend to have shorter lines and move faster. Everything's for free, of course, and so we're encouraging people to check that you can go to nychealthandhospitals.org, and you can get that up to date number on what's happening at each site, and then make your plans accordingly. 

Lehrer: Number meaning estimated waiting time? 

Mayor: Yes. They’ll literally show for various sites what the estimated waiting time is.

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, thanks as always talk to you next week.

Mayor: Thank you, Brian.

2020-12-07 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, I'll tell you something – I had a great start to my week and my Monday morning out at P.S./M.S. 5 in Port Morris in the Bronx. What a beautiful scene this morning of kids coming back to school filled with energy, filled with hope, ready to learn again. I’ve got to say to everyone at P.S./M.S. 5, great, great energy in that school. The school community was so welcoming to the kids. The parents were so happy and so relieved to have their kids going back to school. And Chancellor Carranza and I took time to speak with a lot of the kids and the parents and we just heard such simple, powerful messages about why kids want to be back in schools, why parents wanted them back in school, how important it was to all of them that this day had come. And a young second grader named Ethan, I asked him how he felt, and he said the simplest idea – he said, I like school. And I talked to a fourth grader named Martha, and I said, are you happy back in school? And she said, yeah. I said, why? And she said, I learn more. I learn more when I'm back in school. And this is why it's so important, our kids need to be back in the classroom. And I want to thank everyone who has worked so hard over these last weeks to get our kids back, to make sure that gold standard of health and safety we have is even stronger with the weekly testing. I want to thank all the parents who got their consent forms in, everyone – and at P.S./M.S. 5, the principal, Danielle Keane, the District Superintendent, Rafael Alvarez, who were with us today, thank you to both of you and your teams for the great work you did bringing back this great school. And it's just one example of what's happening all over the city today – 850 school buildings reopening today in New York City – 850 places where there's joy and there's hope again because kids are back in school.

Now, I want to say – parents, we need you. We need your help continuing to fill out those consent forms at P.S./M.S. 5 today, vast, vast majority of parents that filled out consent forms. Any parent who hasn't had the opportunity to do it – right there as they arrive and they were doing it, they were ready to see their kids get tested. They wanted to keep everyone safe. And at this school, they will be transitioning next week to five-day a week learning. And that's what's happening at schools all over the city in the coming weeks as more and more of them will be able to reach five days a week, some for every child, some for most kids. We're going to keep pushing to get that to be the maximum number of kids possible, getting that five-day a week learning.

So, this was the opportunity today to follow through on the commitment that we made when school began and the commitment we made when we had the temporarily closed school, that we would keep everyone safe. And, in fact, we would add even more health and safety measures to keep the school community safe. I have absolute confidence that our school communities are doing an amazing job, really looking out for each other. And with the face coverings, the ventilation, the social distancing, everything coming together to keep people safe, it's remarkable. The Chancellor and I went and visited a 3-K classroom, we visited a kindergarten classroom. The kids – it's so amazing, they immediately got back into the rhythm of being in school. They are adaptable. They are resilient. They love being in school. And everyone in the school community is keeping them safe and each other safe. So, this is a very good day for New York City. Now, again, 850 school buildings reopening this week. You've got a 3-K, pre-K, and K-to-five grades opening today. You've got District 75 special education programs, opening Thursday. Another announcement today, in Staten Island, the area of Staten Island with the orange zone, those schools will be reopening based on the new State guidance. Those schools will be reopening for, again, the levels we've talked about so far – 3-K, pre-K, K-to-five will be reopening Wednesday – this Wednesday, December 9th, in the orange zone. And then, District 75 programs right after on Thursday in that area. So, we're going to keep moving forward. We’re to keep everyone safe, that's the key. But, to everyone in the school community, you've done an amazing job. And the schools of this city are among the safest places to be. So, with the additional testing weekly, again, parents get that consent form in. Go to mystudent.nyc, get your consent form in. Every single student either needs a testing consent form in or needs a proper medical exemption. This is what's going to keep us off safe.

And speaking of keeping us all safe, let's talk about our indicators. I said a few days back that we are in a new reality here. First of all, the good news, we're in a new reality because the vaccine will be arriving in New York City in a matter of days and every week we're going to get more and more, and that's going to be making more and more impact. But we also have real challenges over these next few months with the colder weather, with the challenges we've seen with the numbers going up with the coronavirus. So, our indicators needed to be retooled to reflect what we're seeing now and to make sure we're giving people the fullest picture of what we're facing and clarity about where we need to be, going forward. So, we're going to go over these indicators. I'll go over them first and then I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, who will go into a little more detail.

So, first of all, as we've done in the past, the first is current hospital admissions. And what we're doing now is flipping the equation a little. Today's report is 144 patients that are going into the hospital. Where we need to be is under 200. We still are. Now, this number has obviously been going up in recent days. We need to keep emphasizing 200 is what we want to stay below. But a new indicator we're adding is the hospitalization rate per 100,000 citizens – per 100,000 residents, I should say, of New York City. New York State uses this approach as well, so we want to track with it. Today's number is 2.28 per 100,000. We want to get that under two per 100,000, going forward. Okay. Now, on current new cases, we're now going to be including probable cases, and this is important to give the fullest picture. So, we, in terms of the seven-day average of daily new cases, that number is 2,180 confirmed cases. And we want, of course – we're well past the number we want to be at, which is 550, but the new indicator is the probable cases. And that number today is 616 additional probable cases. Again, Dr. Chokshi will give you more of an insight into why we think it's important to note those probable cases as well. Number three, the positivity levels in the city – we're eliminating the single-day positivity number, because it's become less and less pertinent with the amount of testing we're doing now and the lag time of getting all the results. The much more appropriate number, the one we're getting the most information from is the seven-day rolling average. So, today's report on the seven-day rolling average is 4.98 percent. Obviously, where we want to be is under five percent. So, the idea is to constantly update these indicators so they can help you understand what's going on and what you need to do and how you can be part of fighting back this second wave. And here to explain why we're using this new approach, some of those been leading the way in the fight against the coronavirus, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You've heard me say before that data is the lifeblood of our COVID response, but data is also at the center of New Yorkers response. In order to act on that data, people must know the data for months. We've presented indicators that alert New Yorkers to COVID-19 trends, and shared more data on our public website than just about any other jurisdiction. And those numbers have driven necessary changes to our lives, both individually and collectively. We will continue to present daily indicators, but, as the Mayor said, we are going to make a few updates so that what we present every day is, number one, comprehensive; number two, stable; and number three, consistent. Today, we reported cases that were based on molecular, or PCR tests, which are the most dependable for a diagnosis of COVID-19. However, antigen tests, which check for a virus protein and can often return a result quickly are growingly used as a screening test for COVID-19.

I have to point out that there are some limitations to antigen tests compared to molecular tests. And if you have any questions about which one is right for you, please speak with your doctor about it. But because antigen tests have become more common and have improved over the last few weeks and months, we are adding antigen test results to our Health Department website. Positive antigen test results will be reported as probable cases, according to scientific standards, while PCR positives will continue to be reported as confirmed cases. The daily indicator will combine both of these – both confirmed and probable cases in a seven-day rolling average. These counts will ensure that we're keeping up with the science and making our data more complete. The second change, as the Mayor said, is the elimination of single-day percent positivity. We've all seen how weekends, weather, or holidays can alter testing patterns, which can result in fluctuations in daily percent positivity. So, moving forward, we'll focus on the seven-day average indicator, ensuring we get more stability. Our third change is to add per capita hospitalization rates to our current daily admissions indicator. New York State has a system for tracking total hospitalizations and we share the goal of returning hospitalization rates to below two per 100,000 residents on a seven-day average. And so, we're aligning those figures to ensure consistency.

Now, independent of the details of the methods, I want to make sure we don't miss the forest for the trees. The trends we are seeing across all indicators are worrisome. Our shared goal is to get back below the thresholds that we have set. And the actions we take are will get us closer. And last week, the CDC released a summary of 10 effective public health strategies for COVID-19 resurgence. These are steps that communities should focus on to address high levels of COVID-19 spread. These include universal use of masks, both indoors and outdoors, physical distancing and limiting contact, avoiding nonessential indoor spaces and crowded outdoor settings, increased testing diagnosis and isolation, prompt case investigation and contact tracing, safeguarding persons most at risk for severe illness or death, protecting essential workers, postponing travel, hand hygiene, increased ventilation, and cleaning and disinfection. And, finally, safe and effective vaccines. These are very consistent with the City's guidance over the last weeks and months, but now is the time to redouble our efforts and to turn science into the actions that we know can save lives. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Choksi. And look, I want to bring these pieces together really simply. This morning, I watched kids – little kids with a mask on, getting hand sanitizer for their hands, knowing that they had to follow rules, getting a temperature check. Look, if our children can do all these things, we all can do it right too. So, it's so important to listen to what Dr. Chokshi is saying, what the CDC is saying. For example, we all, again, love to see our families, our loved ones, our friends at the holidays, but this is not a time to travel. So, I'm going to keep saying it throughout the remainder of the holiday season, please do not make plans to travel. If you have plans, canceled them – stay local, stay in very small, careful, safe gatherings. Also, for anyone over 65, anyone with those preexisting health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and other serious conditions, or someone who has both change your ways and your habits – stay in, stay in a safe situation, only go out for the most essential needs. We've got to all take this really helpful guidance and live it for a few months as we fight back this second wave once and for all, and as the vaccine comes into the city more and more. So, this is our last big push we can get through soon to the point where more and more New Yorkers will be vaccinated and we turn the corner. Okay. A few words in Spanish – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Dr. Dave Chokshi, Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Rich Lamb from WCBS Radio. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call.

Mayor: How are you doing, Rich? 

Question: Good. So – I'm doing all right. You're characterizing this as our last big push, but how long do you think that last big push is going to last? And what is it going to consist of?

Mayor: I'll give you my view, Rich. I think we've got a few tough months ahead. I mean, we see these numbers, these indicators – December is going to be tough, January is going to be tough. I think the more work we do the more we can knock this down. And once we get past the holidays, obviously you're not going to have as many gatherings, which is helpful. But the real issue is getting the vaccine in, getting it to as many New Yorkers as possible. That's going to take months. I think the way to think about it is, December, January is going to be a lot of challenges, as we get into February and beyond it gets easier and easier. 

Moderator: Next is Shant from the Daily News.

Question: Yeah. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. On the school reopening – out of the 850 school buildings reopening this week, can you say how many of those are going to be offering in-person schooling all five days this week?

Mayor: I'm going to see if the Chancellor has exact numbers yet. Or if not, we can get them to you, Shant. What I do know is it will grow with each week. The example this morning in the Bronx, M.S./P.S. 5, they don't have the ability this week, but by next week, the principal believes they will be at five day for their kids. There's work to be done to get the final numbers right and get the staffing alignment right. For some schools that's this week, for some schools it's next week. You're going to see some schools it's going to take until the beginning of January, but what's clear is we're pushing every school to go in that direction. And of the schools, the vast majority can get to five-day-a-week, either for all their kids or for a lot of their kids. One more point, Shant. We're going to prioritize – again, for the schools that can't do five days a week for everyone, priority will go to kids with special needs, kids who are homeless, or in temporary housing, kids who live in public housing. We're going to be very clear about prioritizing the kids who need the help the most. Chancellor, can you speak to the numbers?

Chancellor Carranza: We don't have specific numbers just yet, but it's well over 150 schools today that are in full five days of instruction, but we will have much clearer numbers by tomorrow morning.

Mayor: Thank you, Chancellor. Go ahead, Shant.

Question: Yeah. Thanks for that. And just more broadly, on the coronavirus outbreak, I understand the State is doing some of its own retooling, re-evaluating the thresholds for closing down things like non-essential business. Given that the City has surpassed, you know, the initial three percent threshold for becoming an orange zone, what do you think – at what level do you think the City and State should do things like shut down non-essential businesses and indoor dining, etcetera?

Mayor: So, Shant, I've been having this conversation with the Governor over the last few days. Our health care teams have been talking as well. Everyone takes this situation really seriously. These indicators are troubling. The situation is definitely getting more serious. Look, I think it's as simple as this. If these numbers don't level off soon, then all options have to be on the table. That's the decision the State will ultimately make, but I think everyone is seeing the trend and very concerned. And again, if we don't see improvement soon, all options have to be on the table. 

Moderator: Next is Andrew from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. My first question has to do with the vaccine. So, we've been told December 15th. In terms of its arrival in New York City, can you paint us a better picture about exactly where it is, about exactly where it goes first, or is that something that you and the Governor still have to work out?

Mayor: A lot of work going on, Andrew, with the CDC, with the State to work out the final details, but I think Dr. Chokshi can certainly give you some of the sense of how this is going to work. And we're going to be updating you regularly as more of the details get firmed up. Go ahead, Doctor. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks Mr. Mayor, and thank you, Andrew, for the question. Yes, as the Mayor said, we still have some things that remain to be clarified, particularly from the federal level, with respect to authorization from the FDA for a safe and effective vaccine. We are anticipating that that is likely to happen as soon as this week for the first vaccine in the pipeline which is manufactured by Pfizer. That vaccine requires what's called ultra-cold storage. These are temperatures of minus 80 degrees Celsius. They require special freezers for storage. So, that is part of what determines where those vaccines will go. There are at least 44 sites across New York City, primarily hospitals, that are equipped for that ultra-cold storage. In total, there will be about 54 hospitals that will be able to access the vaccine from those 44 sites for the first phase of distribution which will be for high-risk health care workers, primarily within those hospitals.

Mayor: Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: Second question. Mayor, I don't know if you've seen any of the video or still images of people gathering for a glimpse of the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, but particularly on the Fifth Avenue side, over by Saks Fifth Avenue, there's obviously been a crowd over the weekend. They are outdoors, but not everyone is masked. And, in fact, we've seen videos of police having a tough time, convincing a group of folks who weren’t wearing masks to put them on. Is there any enforcement going on and how concerned are you when you see large groups unmasked at this point?

Mayor: Oh, tremendously concerned. I mean, I don't know what people need to hear to understand that putting on a mask is just basic to keeping everyone healthy and keeping you and your family healthy. So, of course, anytime we see that we're going to educate people, we're going to provide them with masks. We're not going to allow crowds to gather, obviously. So, I'll follow up with our team if we need to put additional measures into place. But look, the vast majority of New Yorkers have gotten the message and they're living it every day, the right way. But for those who haven't, we're going to have to aggressively make clear how important mask wearing is. It's the thing that's keeping you safe. And I think the CDC is doubling down on that now. Now that they are much freer to speak, they're making very clear how important it is for everyone to wear that mask.

Moderator: Next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. I have a question in regard to testing locations. I'd asked the Test and Trace Corps about this, but, you know, according to last week’s data the 11697 ZIP code has the highest by a lot. I think on the map, it doesn't even look red anymore. It looks like black. That's Breezy Point and Rockaway Point Roxbury. But the closest testing site is like four ZIP codes away. Is there any plans to, you know, I mean, it seems that when there were [inaudible] cases, there was a blitz of tests and there were more mobile testing sites? So, what is the plan? And is there a plan soon to add mobile testing site [inaudible] or anything nearby?

Mayor: Katie, thank you much for the question. Clearly that's a place that needs more testing, so we'll work to get that done right away. Dr. Long isn't here with us, but I can affirm that any place that we're seeing a higher amount of testing, or excuse me, a higher amount of infection and doesn't have testing nearby, we'll move the mobile vans into place or pop-ups or whatever it takes. So, we'll get to work on that right away. Go ahead.

Question: Thank you. And my second question is I feel a lot of concern coming from your announcement that you're going to kind of change and retool the indicators, just people sort of saying, well, now that the numbers are higher, you know, I guess conspiracy theorists, but I guess they have the right to question the change of indicators, particularly removing the daily average. I don't know if you wanted to shed a little bit of light to make sure that these figures will be reported accurately, and it's not just kind of moving the goalposts now that, you know, we're not beating back the three percent, that will make a lot of changes. If you just want to provide a little bit more clarity, either you or Dr. Chokshi to explain that –

Mayor: Sure. I think there's two things here. We saw, I mean, first of all, to all the conspiracy theorists out there, we’re portraying more information as we have confidence in it. And clearly the information continues to tell us we have a real challenge. So, I don't know where the conspiracy theorists go when we're giving more and more information and it's helping to show the extent of the challenge. What the daily was being, in some ways, hindered by was the amount of time it took to get the results in each day, not giving us as accurate a picture as we wanted first thing in the morning, and the seven-day being more consistently accurate and indicative. And then on the probables, that's all about what Dr. Chokshi said. The improvement in some of the testing that we thought was important now to reflect, that previously, it was more questionable because the quality of the testing was more of an open question. And Dr. Chokshi, why don't you speak to that?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, Sir. Thank you. And thanks for the question. As a Mayor said, this gives us a more comprehensive picture. But also, one that allows us to discern the trends over time in a more stable and consistent way. Specifically, about the testing, we know that antigen testing has become more common over the last few weeks, and we want to reflect that in our data, both in terms of the number of tests that are being done via molecular versus antigen tests, as well as when we see positive results, either on molecular or antigen tests. So, this is additive. It gives us a better sense of what's going on overall.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Next is Nolan from the New York Post. Good morning, everybody.

Mayor: Morning, Nolan. How you doing?

Question: I'm all right. How are you doing, Mr. Mayor?

Mayor: Good man.

Question: Back on the subject of schools. You guys are celebrating the return of elementary school kids to classrooms today. Is there a date for when middle school and high school students will be able to return to class? And secondly, on the topic of remote learning, I asked this last week, there have been reports out of two major Washington D.C. school districts that say the number of kids that are failing their classes or not getting sufficient instruction – that number has soared. Does the school system here have any metrics by which it's measuring the quality of the education kids are getting through remote learning? 

Mayor: Yeah. So, I'll be very quick because those are two very different questions. My goal is to get middle school back as quickly as possible. Practically, that means January. And then when we have that secured to move to high school. On the question of constant evaluation, yes, we do constant evaluation and constant efforts to improve remote learning. Chancellor, you want to speak to that? 

Chancellor Carranza: Sure. Mr. Mayor, you're absolutely right. That is a constant and consistently evolving process. Teachers are engaging with students. Principals are involved as well at monitoring the instructional delivery and what's happening both with in-person and with remote learning and blended learning. There are school grading policies that are in place and actively in place. We have not seen the kinds of disparate learning outcomes that you just referenced. And I'm in constant contact with my colleagues from across the country, other large urban school systems. And generally speaking, overall, we are seeing obviously with this very different kind of learning environment, that not all children are doing well in that learning environment. I'm very proud of our teachers in New York City, however, because they're working very hard to intervene when they see that students are either not doing well or not doing as well as they can do. So, we're being very active. But again, every phase of this pandemic has meant that it's an imperfect way of teaching and learning. And we just can't hardly wait to we're all back in person, 100 percent. 

Mayor: Amen. 

Moderator: We have time for two more. And first we'll go to Aundrea from WCBS. 

Question: Good morning. I wanted to follow up actually on that question. So has the Department of Education identified areas for improvement for the remote learning environment? 

Mayor: Well, I'll tell you one of the things, and I'll turn to the Chancellor. But one of the things Aundrea that we think is so important is that the more we can move to five day a week in the schools, we will then no longer have blended learning for kids who are attending in-person. We'll just have kids attending in-person. And then the other kids, of course, who choose – the families who choose remote, will be remote. So rather than having sort of three elements of our education system, we'll be able to make it two. That's going to make things a lot more straightforward. That's going to allow us to use our teaching talent more effectively. I think that's one of the things that's going to allow us to improve remote learning as well. Chancellor, go ahead. 

Chancellor Carranza: Yes, Mr. Mayor, I agree with that. I would also say that again as a process of continuous improvement, we're looking and developing more digital curriculum. We're capturing best practices from teachers out there that are doing exceptionally good work in this virtual learning space. We're also networking with not only schools across the city, but borough offices across the city, to have I would call them collaborative groups. Where teachers and educators are able to share best practices as well. On the device front we delivered over 60,000 devices. We are well on track to making sure that every student that's told us they need a device will have that device before we go on winter break. So, but I also think it's important to understand that parents, teachers, students, everyone is just exhausted. We had to transition into this new way of teaching and learning in a very short timeframe, a matter of days. And it hasn't relented since March. People are just tired. So, I can understand the frustration that folks feel believe me, everybody is feeling that. But as the Mayor has continued to say, there is tremendous hope on the horizon. And we need to push, be able to push through so we can get to a place that feels much more like what school usually feels like, the social interaction, the social, emotional learning, et cetera. 

Mayor: Excellent. Aundrea, go ahead. 

Question: And so, continuing with that. Is there a plan for maybe the summer or the fall to really start dealing with this substantial learning loss, especially in communities that – communities of color, low-income communities that are hardest hit? 

Mayor: Aundrea, you're reading our minds. We're going to have a lot more to say in the next week or two about those plans. Because clearly despite the heroic efforts and I mean it, heroic efforts of our educators, our parents, our students, there will be learning loss this year that has to be addressed. So we're going to start to talk about what that looks like and how we're going to go into September with a very aggressive plan to address that. And I am increasingly convinced that we will be back in-person in September across the board, five days a week, all kids. Again, I'm even seeing the possibility that as the vaccine distributes, we might be able to make some major, major improvements in the number of kids who can be in our schools in-person in this school year. But any way you slice it, we're going to have a lot more to say on that in the next few days. 

Moderator: Last, we'll go to Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing today?

Mayor: Doing well, Henry, how are you?

Question: I'm doing pretty well. You know, one question that has occurred to me since the get-go with remote learning is why hasn't the City Department of Education reached out to all of the talent in the city that produces programming for children, that produces all kinds of ways in which children every day are getting entertaining information that is, that's teaching them lessons? I mean, you're a fan of The Simpsons. The Simpsons actually has taught a generation or two of kids a lot about the world that they inhabit. And when I see and talk to teachers about how remote instruction is given in this city, it's so flat for many people. It's so – it lacks engagement for so many kids. And I'm just wondering why there wasn't a lot of attention paid to how to make kids want to run to their devices in the morning and watch what was going to appear on their tube for them to learn? 

Mayor: I am a fan of The Simpsons, and I think you're right that there's a hell of a lot of creative talent out there that can contribute. And Henry, first of all, I would say, I know this is an area we can do more. And we want to do, you know, even though we're in kind of a wartime condition, we got to constantly keep improving and bringing in more and more talent to help us do better. I agree with you. We want to make it as exciting and as engaging as possible. That said as I turn to the Chancellor, I'd say I have the very strong feeling that DOE has been working with educational experts and content experts to figure out since that sudden turn to remote back in March, how to make it as engaging as possible. And that is just a constant work in progress because it's a huge, huge endeavor. Chancellor, you want to speak to that? 

Chancellor Carranza: Yeah. So, again, understanding that there's always room for improvement. We actually have been doing that. We partnered with WIET and we produced a whole series of early childhood TV programming, where students got lessons and they had interactive activities. They even got to do physical activities with some of their favorite characters. That was completely produced in partnership with the DOE and with local artists. We've been partnering with community-based fine arts programs, our museums, our libraries you name it, we've been reaching out and partnering to get as much content in as much I would say child-friendly content as possible. The bottom line is that remote learning is not the ideal way for any child to learn. And there are always going to be limitations on remote learning, which is why we've really moved heaven and earth to create a safe learning environment for children in-person. That being said I also speak to lots of teachers and principals. And negative impression that you've conveyed Henry, I'm not questioning. But I'll tell you, I can tell you about a lot of teachers that have done really incredible things to make remote learning the engaging experience that you yourself have described. 

Mayor: Go ahead Henry. 

Question: Okay. Thank you for that answer. I guess the other question I had went to the City budget. Completely different discussion.

Mayor: You’ve got range, Henry. 

Question: It appears that the latest stimulus package is not really going to contain money for State and local governments to balance their budgets. Is this going to cause you to reevaluate and reassess how you're going to balance the 2022 budget? 

Mayor: Look, I'd say a couple of things real quick. I am very, very concerned about the situation with the stimulus. It's months and months overdue. Remembering that the House of Representatives acted, you know, six months ago. And it's crazy that we have not seen a further major stimulus. What's on the table can best be described, most charitably be described as a down payment. Well, certainly every city and state in America would take an infusion of help right now, but this could only be seen as a small beginning to what we really need. Which is a huge stimulus that would put us all back on our feet and move the economy forward and move the recovery. We're going to be building our budget, knowing that the stimulus is a question mark. We don't know if there's going to be a vote this week or before this Congress leaves session. We don't know what happens once Joe Biden becomes president. We have to take care of our own people as best we can and keep fighting for the best possible stimulus. But Henry, I think the reality is it's going to play out over time. What we do with the budget in January may be very different than what we do with the final part of the process in April and June. Because that's a long time and a lot opportunity for Joe Biden to do the work I know he wants to do to get us a better stimulus. So, the jury is certainly going to be out on that for a while. 

Everyone, look, let's finish up today with this point. It's a good day when kids are going back to school. It's a good day when you see those smiles and that joy. Kids even with a mask on, you could see the smiles because they were so happy to be back, to be back with their friends, with their teachers. Parents were so relieved to have them back. This is a good day for New York City. Even against a tough backdrop, a good day because New Yorkers are making things happen. And it's clear. We've heard the voices of parents. They want their kids back in school. We've heard the voices of our children. They want to be back in school. Our educators love being with the kids. And there was so much energy this morning, just seeing the joy in their eyes, the opportunity to be back with the kids as well. We need our schools open. We need to take care of our kids and we need to build our future. Even in the midst of this crisis, we need to constantly be working on our future. So, this is a good day. We got a lot more work to do to keep reopening our schools and always, always keep them healthy and safe. But this is part of how we bring back New York City. Thank you, everyone.

2020-12-08 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well, yesterday was such an important day for New York City as we reopened 850 public schools all over the city. And it was an exciting day and a day that went very smoothly. And I want to thank all the principals, all the teachers, the school staff, and, of course, our parents and kids – everyone who worked hard to make sure that school reopened well. Very important day for our city and for our families, and a reminder of how important our public schools are to this city today and to our future. And I got another reminder of that yesterday. I had a wonderful conversation with our next Treasury Secretary of the United States, Janet Yellen. And as she is an amazing person, an amazing example of someone who came out of this city, born and bred in Brooklyn, and went to Fort Hamilton High School. In fact, she was the valedictorian of her class at Fort Hamilton high school, now will be the first woman ever in the history of the United States to become our treasury secretary. And what a great example to all the public school kids of New York City about what your futures can bring when you see a product of our public schools go all the way to the high post, the crucial post of treasury secretary for this entire country. It's great to have another New Yorker in such an important position, but she's also going to inspire a whole generation of New Yorkers, particularly young woman, to see their potential. And she is another reminder of how important public education is an what a difference it makes in our society, that we provide for everyone for free the finest education so they can realize their potential.

So, everyone, now let's get to what has allowed us to have safe schools, what's that allowed us to achieve what so many people said couldn't be done. School buildings are, in fact, some of the very safest places to be in all of New York City. Why? Because of testing. We always say testing, testing, testing – it has worked time and again. It's been the difference-maker. And we want to remind people, whether it's in our schools or any place and the city, testing is key. So, Today is Get Tested Tuesday, and we're going to remind all New Yorkers how important it is to get tested. It's free. It's quick. It's easy. And it's crucial for you, for your family, for your whole city.

Now, we are 10 months into this crisis, but, for the first time, we really can see the end in sight. Why? Because the vaccine is coming next week. The vaccine will be here in New York City, because the vaccine is being produced in huge quantities for this city and for this whole country, because we've learned how to fight back against the coronavirus in so many ways, people are doing so much and doing it so well to keep the coronavirus in check. Our hospitals are doing such extraordinary work, learned such important lessons from the spring. So, this is the final phase of the war against the coronavirus. We have one more big battle ahead. We've got to get through January – December and January, into February. Listen, think of it this way – this is the last big battle before us and then the vaccine will be able to do it to work. So, everyone, when you think about how important it is to get through December, get through January into February, it's a reminder of how important testing is. Testing always has made the difference and it will again.

So, one of the things we are doing is reaching out in every part of the city to make sure people know the testing resources are available. There are more testing sites than ever in New York City. And, again, the test is the easiest it's ever been, it’s the quickest it's ever been. We want people to know it's there for them. So, our test and trace teams are out all over the city and particularly focusing this week on Washington Heights, on Harlem and East Harlem, and on Chinatown and the Lower East Side to spread the word. And here to tell you all about it, he's been doing a great job leading the Test and Trace Corps and building it up to the level it is today, Dr. Ted Long. 

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps.: Thank you, sir. Throughout the COVID crisis, the one thing that has remained constant is that New Yorkers care about keeping our city safe. We recently hit a new record – in a single day, more than 95,000 New Yorkers came out to get tested, to know their status, and to do their part, to stop the spread of the virus. Now, even though we're seeing a rise in the number of new cases every day, our contact tracing system is the strongest it's ever been, and it's powered by each of those new tests that we do every day with those 95,000 New Yorkers that came out to get tested. The real heroes here are our contact tracers. They're New Yorkers that cared deeply about keeping our city safe and protecting our city, and they're reaching over 90 percent of everybody testing positive across New York City and they're completing interviews with 80 percent of everybody testing positive, meaning we're getting all of the information we need in order to perform contact tracing. In addition to that, 98 percent of people that are cases or have tested positive – when we call you every day as part of our – if you're a part of our program, you confirm for us that you're making that sacrifice and that you're staying at home and that you're isolating and that you're doing your part to keep our cities safe.

Today, I want to tell you more about what we are doing to fight back against the coronavirus, as the Mayor said, in our final battle here. What we're doing in the Test and Trace Corps. is we're spreading rapid testing across New York City. In the last month alone, we've opened up more than 10 new rapid testing sites. That has doubled our rapid testing capacity, and we're now in all five boroughs. To walk you through what the experience is, you'll come to one of our rapid testing sites, you'll have your tests done. Within 15 minutes, you'll have your results. And then, if it's positive, we'll pair you up with one of our contact tracers to immediately perform contact tracing, or see who you may have exposed when you were contagious. We then reach out to those people you may have exposed that same day and offer to bring them in for testing immediately. Then, before you leave, we pair you up with one of our resource navigators who will talk to you about services we can offer it to help you get through this, like free food delivery, a free hotel stay, or even, for free, walking your dog if that's what it takes for you to stay home and to keep our cities safe. 

You should be proud of the number of New Yorkers that have come out to get tested to keep our city safe. To do your part, you can call 212-COVID-19 to find a testing site near you, or visit nyc.gov/COVIDtest to find a site near you as well. You can go to our Test and Trace Corps. Website, if you want to look at a detailed list of all of our sites, in addition with a detailed list of the exact wait times for each of the sites.

Now, as the Mayor said, today is Get Tested Tuesday in Manhattan. We're in Washington Heights, we’re in Harlem, East Harlem, Chinatown, and we're on the Lower East Side. Today, come out and get tested – it's always fast, easy, and free – and do your part to continue to keep our city safe. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Ted. And I want to just say, everyone who's part of the Test and Trace Corps. has been doing amazing work. And it's going to be more important than ever in this last push here as we go through the holidays and into the New Year. So, I want to thank you, Ted, for your leadership. We have a Dr. Amanda Johnson with us today, has been doing a great job with her team on the Take Care Initiative to make sure that when people need that help, it is there for them, whether they need to be in a hotel or need support at home, if they need to safely separate. So, all this help is available to New Yorkers when you need it for free. No one should ever feel they're alone and don't have a place to turn. The goal here is to keep everyone safe. 
When it turns out you need to safely separate, to know there's going to be a lot of support for you when you do that.

All right, now, that's testing – so important, but while we're fighting this important battle against the coronavirus, we have another challenge, and it's absolutely happened also because of the coronavirus, but it even has bigger ramifications, which is the challenge of our blood supply in New York City. This is for all types of medical challenges, and we've got to make sure our blood supplies kept up to protect New Yorkers. The coronavirus has knocked out a lot of the normal blood drives that happen in companies and government offices and colleges. That's not there. So, it's up to you. And last week we talked about this, how New Yorkers need to step up and help out. Now, look, the supply has been running low, so we together the Give Blood NYC campaign and, right away, New Yorkers have started to answer the call. We said we needed 25,000 blood donations this month – already 4,288 donors have stepped forward, which is fantastic. And almost 1,000 of them are new donors. I was very pleased to go to the New York Blood Center with Chirlane and donate blood last week. Everyone there is great. I want to emphasize the folks who work at the Blood Center really take care of you, then make it easy. It's such an important thing to do, and you get your free juice and cookies at the end. But what we need now is about 20,000 more New Yorkers to come forward. This is urgent. This is about directly and immediately saving lives, and you can make such a difference. We need 20,000 more New Yorkers to come forward by the end of this month, and we have some wonderful prizes we've put together to encourage people, and winners have already been selected, including Jessica from Queens, and Sheldon from Brooklyn, and Eileen from Manhattan. And Eileen won the New York City Parks package, which includes the fabulous social distancing towel. This is a big – a big favorite of the coronavirus era. So, look, we want people to help out and we're going to make sure that there's some wonderful prizes as part of it. So, everyone come forward and sign up at nybc.org/GiveBloodNYC. We really need you and we need you now.

Okay. Let's go to our indicators. Number one, current hospital admissions. So, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report is 161 patients. And, again, where we want to be is under 200 patients. So, today, a good number. Next, the next new indicator, which is the hospitalization rate per 100,000 people. Today's number is 2.30 per 100,000. Not where we want to be. We want to be under two per 100,000. Okay. Second indicator, current new cases. And now, we are including the probable cases, as we discussed yesterday – the probable cases along in this number. So, today's number, daily new cases, seven-day average – 2,624. Well over the number where we want to be, which is 550. So, we have a lot of work to do there. And the percentage of New York City residents testing positive for COVID-19. Now, this is just the seven-day rolling average here – today's report, 4.94 percent. Where we want to be as under five, so we're just there, but, obviously, this is a high number. We’ve got a lot of work to do to get that number back down.

I’ll say a few words in Spanish – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Ted Long, by Amanda Johnson, the Director of Take Care at the Test and Trace Corps., and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. The first question today, it goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing well today, Juliet. How are you? 

Question: I’m doing okay. Thank you. You know, I've been hearing from people who are afraid of the vaccine, because they think they're going to get COVID by taking it or that somehow it was rushed into approval, it isn't ready. How do you and your health experts plan to address misconceptions about the vaccine and correct the misinformation that's out there?

Mayor: Yeah, Juliet. It’s such an important question. Thank you. Look, I'm just going to say as a layman, I think there has been such an intensive worldwide effort to create this vaccine. It's historic. It's amazing how quickly it was done, but there’s also been a tremendous amount of scrutiny to make sure things were done right. And our health care leadership at the national, state and local level would not allow a vaccine to move forward if they did not have confidence in it. So, I think people should recognize this has been approved at multiple levels, and it's absolutely necessary to save lives. But let me have our three doctors jump in, so Dr. Varma, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Long in that order – if anything you want to add, go ahead. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much for the question. And we realized this is going to be an absolutely critical issue to make sure that people have the trust in receiving this vaccine, and also the follow-up. I think I’d probably focus on two issues. One is, what is the data showing us? And then, also, trying to help people understand a little bit about how this vaccine works. We're just now seeing the data that's been presented to the FDA, and there's a public hearing this week as well. Everything that I've seen so far from it reaffirms the original press releases that we saw from Pfizer, and is very much reassuring to us, both, obviously, about the safety of the vaccine, but, even more important, about its effectiveness. And we're certainly going to learn more in the public hearing this week. I think one way for people to think about this, this vaccine, is to think about it like it's a message in a bottle and it's getting injected into your body and yourself, take up that message in a bottle. They remove the message and the message tells yourself, you know, watch out for this intruder that's going to be calming. And there's really nothing in that message in a bottle that is dangerous. You know, it's really just a warning sign to your body's immune system to watch out. So, the more we can help people understand the science, as well as build their trust that we've reviewed the data ourselves, we're hopeful that this will have a big impact. 

Mayor: Dr. Johnson, do you want to add? You may be on mute. 

Director Amanda Johnson, Take Care New York: I couldn't agree more. I am here – hello – could not agree more with Dr. Varma. I really appreciate that plain language explanation. And, as I do with all of my patients in counseling them about the power of the vaccination, I’ll continue to do my part to ensure that people feel comfortable with this a real game-changer for our city and for the country. 

Mayor: Excellent. Dr. Long, do you want to add?

Executive Director Long: The only thing I would add is, as a primary care doctor, what I tell my patients is, I wouldn't ask you to do anything I wouldn't be willing to do myself. So, you can count on me receiving the vaccine after I've reviewed the evidence.

Mayor: Well, there you have it, Juliet. You have testimony from three doctors who are quite convinced. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Reema from Chalkbeat.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you today?

Mayor: Okay, Reema, how you doing today?

Question: I'm doing okay. Thanks for asking. So, my first question for you as you're, I'm sure familiar in July the Governor set a standard that would close all schools in any region where the positivity rate reached nine percent over seven days. You know, there's been a lot of change in guidance and, you know, lots of things have changed in New York City, but we've heard nothing about this rule recently. And so, I'm – you know, it seems very important. So, I'm wondering, what's your understanding of this rule? Will all of New York City's schools close again if the city reaches a nine percent positivity rate, which I assume would be based on the State numbers?

Mayor: Yeah, look, right now, we're obviously in constant discussion with the State over where everything is going. And the Governor laid out his winter plan, which I think had a lot of very important strategic ideas in it that we're all working with. But the goal here, of course, is never to get to that number and to use all the tools possible to protect people and make sure that we fight back the virus. The vaccine, you know, over the weeks ahead, is going to start to be a crucial part of that. But right now, I think the actions the Governor talked about yesterday, you know, the restrictions that seem very likely at this point and any other restrictions, I think everything has to be on the table to make sure we never approach that number. So, it is part of the State approach right now, but our goal is to never have it become part of our reality. Go ahead, Reema.

Question: Okay. And I just want to follow up and make sure we're totally clear. So, to your understanding that standard is still in effect. There's been no indication that that's changed, but – is that your understanding?

Mayor: That is my understanding, but again, thank God, we have a lot of tools to make sure that we don't get to that point.

Moderator: The next is Yoav from The City.

Question: Hi, everyone. I wanted to ask, you made a change yesterday to start including rapid testing in the city’s count. What were you doing before with rapid test results, whether they were positive or negative? Was there any element of that, that was factored into the city's numbers?

Mayor: Yoav, just a reminder, as I turned to Dr. Varma, that as we talked about – Dr. Chokshi talked about this yesterday – there was real concern about the quality and accuracy of the tests until recently where there's been some real improvements. So, we wanted to make sure that both the accuracy levels were there and also, they weren't being used as intensely until recently, and now they’ve become a much more pertinent piece of the equation. And that's what led us to the decision. But Dr. Varma, you can speak to this question.

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. Thank you for the question. So, the way we've been managing antigen test results is to consider them both at the level of the individual and then to see how we use it for our population data. So, at the individual level, our practice has really been the same since the beginning of this, which is that if you have a positive result, you are treated for the purposes of our case and contact investigations as a positive case. So, nothing at all changes. The Health Department gets that data, the Test and Trace Corps acts upon it. Everything is the same. What we do for our public data is the discussion that Dr. Chokshi went to yesterday, is we really needed to figure out how best to incorporate and analyze this data. It's actually a topic of a lot of discussion and debate among state and local health departments, among CDC. And we've chosen the approach the CDC recommends which is to classify them as probable cases, to report them separately. And then also when we report our test positivity data, to really restrict that to just the PCR or the nucleic acid amplification test results.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Yoav.

Question: Okay, thank you for that. My other question, there was a lawsuit filed on behalf of special education students last week. The concern there is that there are a significant number of students missing out on services that they're entitled to by law. And that currently there is no mechanism – kind of, there's no general mechanism for which they can seek to recoup those services other than going through the impartial hearing system individually, which would you know – and that system is already kind of logged jammed, and it would kind of be overwhelmed by all the people filing complaints. What they're seeking is kind of a broad City policy that would help address all these requests to get services that have been missed. And I'm wondering if you plan to create some kind of system for that, so that people don't – you know, aren't left to file those impartial hearing requests.

Mayor: Yeah, Yoav, I appreciate the question a lot, because look, I think parents with kids with special needs go through so much when there isn't a pandemic. They've gone through even more when there is a pandemic. By the same token, the pandemic has really thrown off our ability to provide the services the way we normally do. So, right now, obviously, District 75 schools are opening all over the city on Thursday. That's a really good thing. That's going to help so many parents of kids with special needs. Pre-K, 3-K, K-to-five open now all over the city, including a lot of schools that serve kids with special needs and inclusion programs and other approaches. So, for kids who are not in one of those kinds of schools, we do need to keep seeking additional solutions. We're going to have more to say on that soon. Definitely want to get help to them. It's just something we have to navigate in really complex ways given the challenges of this virus.

Moderator: The next is Narmeen from PIX.

Question: Good morning, Mayor. Good morning, everyone on the call.

Mayor: Hey, Narmeen, how are you?

Question: I'm doing well. Thank you. I want to first ask you about just general city data as we look at our COVID-19 infection rates. Staten Island, clearly with the highest number as a borough. I know you said you're in constant talks with the Governor. Is there any chance at all that we will not see the entire city face a scale back on something like indoor dining because of the actions, really, of one borough bringing down infection rate averages?

Mayor: Narmeen, look, it – I want to contest one part of that. We're definitely seeing some distressing numbers in Staten Island, that's for sure, but the problem goes far beyond Staten Island. The statement the Governor made yesterday, I think it makes clear we can expect in a matter of days new restrictions. No one's happy about it. I feel for the small businesses that might be affected and their employees, but this health situation has to be addressed. So, I do think we're going to see restrictions coming, and I think other restrictions have to be on the table so that we're ready to address whatever comes. At the same time, we got to do everything we can to be sensitive to the fact that we want people to have their livelihoods, we want people to have their jobs, obviously, but we've got to stop this new surge that we're facing. Because, again, this is the last big battle. I really believe this. We've got to stop the coronavirus here and get ourselves to the point where the vaccine is being distributed widely. And that's how we close this chapter and move forward to our recovery. So, I do expect restrictions in a matter of days and we'll, from there, see what else we have to do to keep people safe. Go ahead.

Question: Understood. Thank you. I want to next ask you, in regard to rapid testing – thank you for the clarification Dr. Varma and also to you, Mayor – but I have some questions. I mean, when it comes to some workplaces that are sending employees to get rapid tests in order to clear them for work, that can sometimes have them encountering other members of the public, I wonder if there's any data being kept in terms of cross-checking numbers, false positives, false negatives. Are we cross-checking them enough with the PCR data? Are people getting both? Can you break down how that information is really going to the person getting the test and we're making sure that the right people are going out to the public with a free and clear negative test? Does that make sense?

Mayor: I think so. I appreciate the question. Let me start with Dr. Long and then see if Dr. Varma or Dr. Johnson want to add anything.

Executive Director Long: Yeah. And I appreciate that question. So, what we've done at all of our rapid testing sites for the exact reasons that you're referring to, is we've done an exhaustive validation study of the new antigen test that we're using, which I talked about in some of our new sites, it's called the BinaxNOW test. Compared to our traditional gold standard PCR test. And we found good alignment between them. So, that's why if we have a positive result on one of our antigen tests, we treat that as a positive, we perform contact tracing. And it's because, to your point, with that cross-check, we've done that cross check against the PCR. So, we stand behind those tests as positive.

Mayor: Dr. Varma, Dr. Johnson want to add anything?

Senior Advisor Varma: Nothing else from me.

Director Johnson: No. Excellent response. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Amanda Eisenberg from Politico.

Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Amanda, how you been?

Question: I'm good. Thanks for asking. I wanted to get your thoughts on a funeral that was held in Brooklyn last night. It's another large funeral in the Satmar community. And so, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit more about, you know, it seems like there's often these large gatherings with thousands of people. And it seems to be, you know, another place where we're not seeing that public health guidance being followed. Can you talk a little bit more about this event and also, you know, what your administration is able to do to, kind of, stop these – I guess, stop people from not following public health measures?

Mayor: I appreciate that, Amanda. Look, first of all, that specific situation is still being investigated. We're still trying to get the full truth of what happened there, but let's go to the bigger picture. There've been some very disappointing moments and there's also been some good moments in that community, particularly when we were facing the challenge in Brooklyn a month or more ago. The Satmar community really led the way in terms of testing, which is what we needed to see a lot more of across Brooklyn and Queens. And they did a really good job with that. So, I don't think it's one thing or another. I agree with you, these large events are a real cause for concern. And we need to either see them be handled very differently with really clear limits and precautions or not happen at all. We're going to have that very clear dialogue with some of the community leadership. And if we don't see that, if we see another confirmed situation in which an inappropriate event is happening in that same building, then we're going to have to move to shut down the building once and for all, which is something no one wants, but that would be the next step if we see non-compliance. Go ahead.

Question: Great. And also, I wanted to – I lost my train of thought, I guess that happens occasionally –

Mayor: We can come back if you –

Question: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Do you need to come back? Or are you good?

Question: I would appreciate that. Thank you [inaudible] –

Mayor: We’ll give you a credit.

[Laughter]

Question: Thank you.

Mayor: We'll get to you in a few minutes. Okay.

Moderator: Next, we'll do Emily from NY1.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everyone.

Mayor: Hey, Emily.

Question: Mayor de Blasio, you said, per your conversations with Governor Cuomo, that there'll be a matter of days before some of these restrictions are put into effect, of closure of indoor dining, closure of nonessential businesses. Public Advocate Jumaane Williams wants these steps taken immediately. That's what he's asking the Governor to do now. What's the right move? What's the right timing? How urgent is this?

Mayor: Look, I think it's important based on the indicators that we're looking at, and I know the Governor and the State are watching these indicators all the time. It's important to recognize that we've gone through a really tough stretch here over the last few weeks. And unless there is some evidence that that is going to change rapidly, unfortunately restrictions are needed to protect us all. So, we're constantly talking to the State about this. I think everyone is aligned that we've got to stop this increase we're seeing. We've got to protect everyone in the city and particularly do that by protecting our hospitals. And we got to link up to the vaccine being distributed so that we can really turn the corner once and for all. So, I think there is urgency here and we're talking to the State daily, but I think what's clear is, you know, you're going to see these restrictions in a matter of days. Go ahead, Emily. 

Question: And may we hear more please about your conversation with Janet Yellen? What she said about any aid or assistance that the incoming Biden administration will bring to New York City? 

Mayor: It's – we'll keep the conversation private, but only say that I'm quite satisfied by the level of focus of the Biden administration on the need for a major stimulus. And I'm certainly clear that our new treasury secretary understands the importance of stimulus and understands what's going on in New York City and the challenges we face. The question before us right now, Emily is whether the Congress gets it? And every time the Congress starts to address stimulus they then veer away or they can't make up their mind on the most basic things like state and local aid. And if there is not state and local aid in a stimulus, it's not a stimulus. So I just want to be really clear. I have absolute confidence in the Biden administration. My problem is I'm struggling to have confidence in the Senate because I'm not seeing anything coherent. And the fact they're still debating whether there will be state and local aid means they literally could consider a stimulus that would do nothing to put cities and states back on their feet. Which means there won't be a recovery. I mean, I don't want to be dire, but I truly believe it. If cities and states can't provide basic services, there simply won't be a recovery. It's literally the opposite of what history has shown us is necessary to achieve an economic recovery. So that's where my fear is, all in the Senate right now. 

Moderator: We'll go back to Amanda. 

Mayor: Amanda? 

Question: Thank you guys. I appreciate it. 

Mayor:It's all right. 

Question: So, I wanted Mr. Mayor, you to weigh in on going back to kind of the Orthodox Jews coming to – some parts of the Orthodox Jews coming together and celebrating or grieving. I went to Borough Park on Election Day to talk to voters. And I spoke to a lot of Trump voters who compared the public health measures that are being put forth by yourself and the Governor, as you know, referenced to 1930s Germany and Kristallnacht. And when I tried to engage with them to kind of specify why they felt that way, I was struggling to have a conversation with them. And I was wondering how you feel like you're able to work with people who don't necessarily agree with what public measures are going into place? Especially in these Orthodox Jewish pockets where we have seen upticks while being culturally sensitive? And if that's something that's been on your radar or you know, how you're able to kind of work with people who might fundamentally disagree with how you're trying to deal with the crisis? 

Mayor: Wow. I appreciate the question Amanda. I'm really sad that you had that experience. So I just want to start with that. You know, we should all be really, really mindful about when we invoke history of one of the, literally the worst moments in the history of this world, the Holocaust. That is not history that should ever be invoked lightly. And anyone who can compare a public health measure to protect the lives of the community, to protect people's lives with something that was about repression and hatred and violence, it's just absolutely unacceptable. And I do think the point you started with Trump's supporters, I think unfortunately what's happened here is it's not like these ideas never existed before. It's not like people haven't been negative towards public health policies before or had frustration with government before. But this is something different. And I think we saw a real change in the four years that President Trump was part of the firmament here. I have very, very deep relationships in the Orthodox community. I've worked very closely with the community. I have a different political ideology than many of the people I work with, but we all still work together as friends and people who care about the common good of the community. I saw that change at least for some people in the course of these last few years. And it's sad because it's not the way things should be. So, I do think there's an ideological factor that's making things a lot harder. I don't believe that will go away on January 20th. I do believe it will change after January 20th. But really, we've just got to have a different conversation. Because this community was hit very hard by the coronavirus. And when we're out there trying to tell people how important it is to just take basic precautions and how we're trying to save the lives of their elders, that that should be heard as an act of goodwill. And I do think the vast majority of the people in the community do understand that Amanda, I want to be really clear about that. The vast majority of people I think understand we're all trying to save lives together. I think it is a few who are saying things like you heard. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. And the next is Emma from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. I think a lot of parents will now be watching this nine percent figure. I'm curious, do you think it makes sense to keep that nine percent sort of a threshold in effect if there are that many cases and are that many people testing positive, is that sort of a scary level in which schools actually should close? 

Mayor: I think it's a very important question, Emma. I think we have to look at what's happening in the schools. What we have seen is an extraordinarily healthy circumstance. The gold standard of health and safety measures we put together has worked in a way really, even beyond what we expected in the best-case scenario. It is now proven – here's the biggest school system in the country. This is the best proving ground you possibly could have. You know, at one point almost 1,600 schools were open. And what did we see? Because of all these measures, very, very few kids and staff testing positive, literally safest place to be in New York City. We're now going into a new approach with even more testing. Obviously primary focus is on the younger grades. And this is happening while we're seeing an uptick in the cases around us. We're going to be able to learn a lot from this. I think we're going to see once again incredibly safe schools and that's going to teach us what we need to know for how we go ahead. So that State standard is in place now. But I think we're going to have a real conversation with the State and with the public going forward based on the actual facts we learn from 850 schools being open over these coming weeks. I'm very hopeful from what I'm seeing that these extraordinary health and safety measures really now have proven there's a very, very effective way to do this for the duration. And I believe we're going to have our schools open all the way to the point where we link up with a widespread distribution of the vaccine and then can bring back more and more students consistently. 

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Jake Offenhartz from Gothamist. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey Jake, how you doing? 

Question: I'm doing okay. I heard you kind of float the idea of shutting down the Satmar building if things don't improve there. I feel like there has been a lot of conversations at this point, your warnings. Are you saying, if there's another big event, you're going to shut it down? Like, what does that, what does that entail? What's the marker there for you? 

Mayor: Jake this most recent situation is still under investigation. So, what we need to know in every case was were the State rules violated or not? That's really the essence that we've got to know. If we see a pattern of violation, that's what could lead to a full shutdown. But we've got to have facts. And we're also going to have a serious conversation with community leaders about why this keeps being a question mark instead of it being abundantly clear that things have to be handled very cautiously and carefully for this last phase of fighting the coronavirus? That we can't take chances. We got to have that clear conversation again, and then it's up to them to follow the rules that are quite obvious to all of us.

All right, everyone, look, just summarizing the point I've made today – and I think it's so important – we've got this last battle ahead. This month, December, next month, January, then you're going into February. By the time you get to February, you're going to start to see vaccine distribution really much more widely across the city, especially for the folks who need it the most. And then it grows from there. We have an opportunity to turn the corner once and for all on the coronavirus. And that's something every one of us has to be a part of. It's also a signal to us that we have to start thinking ahead of how we bring this city back, how we recover and how we go to new places as a city that makes us even stronger. So, this is a critical moment and everyone should feel invested in getting through these weeks ahead and turning the corner and then getting to the business of the recovery of this great city. Thanks, everybody.

2020-12-09 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Governor's Press Conference:

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you. Governor, plexiglass does not solve every problem. I just want to say, it's like – it's like duct tape, it solves a lot of things, but not everything.
[Laughter] 

But, Governor, look, I want to join with you emphatically in reminding our colleagues in Washington – what really happened here? If you are [inaudible] right that we [inaudible] federal government was not there for us. You know, we found out months and months later that the disease was already spread in New York City in February, when we had [inaudible] resources from the federal government – they wouldn't even let us do our own local testing when we were ready. They said, no, no, no, no. Think about the lives that were lost because the federal government was missing an action. And Governor, we all experienced – we were at those hospitals. I went to Elmhurst Hospital. I went to Bellevue Hospital. I talked to the families who lost their loved one. I went to public housing, I heard the pain of New Yorkers who felt this silent killer arriving. And they wondered how on earth this could have happened in America. But the truth is, our federal government did not warn us, did not prepare us, did not support us, even when we raised a warning – you did it, I did it. We begged for that testing. Couldn't get it.

So, is there anyone who wants to debate these facts? I don't think they’ll be able to. Is there anyone who wants to contest the fact that this state bore the brunt, that this city was the epicenter of the United States of America? In March and April, we went through the worst of this entire country [inaudible] ends up New Yorkers who are gone are lost forever. They can't be here with us to testify, but we testify in their memories, how much pain we went through. 

So, it's as simple as the way you laid it out. I'm going to amplify – state and local aid is absolutely necessary or else we are ignoring the pain and the death and the suffering that went on in this city, in this state. It’s literally an insult to the families who lost [inaudible] if our Congress does not give us the support we deserve. You have to have support for the State government. The State of New York is going through hell. We need a strong State of New York. I can say on behalf of all cities, towns, counties in New York State – we all need [inaudible] as well, we will not be able to stay on our feet, we will not be able to provide the services people need. Governor, people need the services more than ever. The vaccination, as you said, but all the other health care services, keeping our schools going for our kids, providing safety for our people. Folks need that more than ever. And if we can't provide those services, how on earth are we going to have a recovery? And this is the part that bothers me the most – the people who say they want a strong economy, they want to see America come back. How do you have a recovery? If cities and states are collapsing all around you, if you can't provide basic services, if you cut basic services you cut off the recovery. That is the bottom line here.

So, I know what we went through. I felt it, I lived it with my fellow New Yorkers. I know we deserve help to recover from a crisis we did not create. And our federal government did not [inaudible] I know states and cities and towns and counties will do our all if we're just given the opportunity to get back on our feet. I also know this city and this state, amongst the strongest engines of the American economy. Let's not leave this out of this discussion. If you want the United States of America to come back, you need New York City to come back. You need New York State to come back. In good times – and those good times, for as recently as February, we were leading the nation in a strong economy. Now, we've been hit back on our heels. Do you really think the United States of America is going to come back without New York City and New York State, returning to our full strength? It's not going to happen.

So, Governor, [inaudible] cause. I say to Washington, and we honor our Senators, our Congress members, but we need you guys now. We need you more than ever. We need you to tell our story and ensure we get just our fair share, that's all we're asking for, so we could come back strong for the people this city and this state. Thank you, Governor.

Own Press Conference:

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Last night, I got another reminder of the goodness of this season in Grand Army Plaza, lighting a tree to celebrate the holidays with Bishop DiMarzio and the Diocese of Brooklyn. The tree itself is spectacular and a joyous reminder of the Christmas season and the holiday season, and why we remember in the season to be there for each. There’s also an extraordinary sculpture, which I urge everyone to go see – amazing tribute to immigrants and what they mean to this city and this nation, and a reminder of the need to welcome and respect all people. Very moving gathering last night. And it is a reminder in this time of challenge, a challenge unlike any we've seen in the history of New York City, anything we've ever seen in our lives, that the most important thing is to be there for each other, to support each other, protect each other, to have compassion for each other regardless of who we are, where we come from. And that is what New York City has done during this crisis. I'm so proud of all New Yorkers, all of you, for the way you've handled this, the way you've looked out for each other.

Look, we've been through just the toughest time, but now we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. And I really want to emphasize that this is the last great battle we're going to go through these next few months, this last great battle against the coronavirus, because now the vaccine is literally just days away. The vaccine will change everything, but it'll take a lot of work to make sure the vaccine gets to everyone who needs it as quickly as possible. The good news is, every step along the way we hear better and better news about the vaccine. FDA has now released its analysis, which is a very positive one. This is being reviewed now further by FDA and CDC, but the good news is we see very promising results. And I want to emphasize to all New Yorkers, we're not just leaving it to Washington. Our extraordinary Health Department, our whole health care team is constantly analyzing the data as well related to the vaccine and we like what we see. And we are working every day to perfect the rollout plan, because, as the vaccine arrives, the goal is to get it to move quickly. And our Health Department is very well poised to do that because we have an extraordinary history of ensuring that New Yorkers are vaccinated over decades and decades. Our Health Department has led the way in making sure that people get the protection they need. So, here to give you an update, a lot of new information that’ll be, I think, very helpful to understand how the vaccination efforts are going to go and why we have confidence in the vaccines that are emerging, our Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Well, yesterday, we truly saw a shot heard round the world, as the United Kingdom's Margaret Keenan received the world's first approved COVID vaccine. We should all be inspired by her words afterwards – if I can do it, well, so can you. Every moment like this one represents a step forward in New York City and beyond, and I want to give everyone an update on what we can expect in the days ahead. Yesterday, the FDA made public the data Pfizer provided in their emergency-use authorization application, which offers promising information about the safety and efficacy of the Pfizer vaccine. The new COVID-19 MRNA vaccines, like the Pfizer vaccine, teach ourselves how to build immunity to the virus that causes COVID-19. MRNA does not affect or interact with a person's DNA and the cell breaks down and gets rid of the MRNA as soon as it is finished using that information.

Here are a few things that we've learned about the Pfizer vaccine. First, the vaccine is moderately effective within 10 to 14 days of the first dose, which is good news. But the second dose remains very important, because the two-dose vaccine is what was tested and found to be highly effective – that's that 95 percent – at preventing COVID-19. Second, the Pfizer vaccine worked across adult age groups, ethnicities, and people with underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes, obesity, and high blood pressure who participated in the trials. Third, there were side effects, but they were mild to moderate. They were more common after the second dose and they generally lasted one to two days. The most common side effects included pain at the injection site, fatigue, and headache. We will continue to update New Yorkers about this so that they know what to expect with a vaccination.

Now, over the next several weeks, there will be a lot of movement with the vaccine rollout. Tomorrow, an independent FDA advisory committee is scheduled to discuss authorization. The FDA could issue an emergency-use authorization as soon as Saturday. And, if so, on Sunday, a CDC advisory committee will also meet and vote on clinical guidance to accompany the vaccine rollout. If all goes according to plan, the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine would arrive in New York City as soon as next Tuesday on December 15th. Next week, a similar process will unfold for the Moderna vaccine, which could arrive a week or two after the Pfizer vaccine. Preparations are already underway to vaccinate our health care workers who are at the highest risk of exposure. We also give priority to long-term care facility staff and residents. And, in partnership with hospitals and clinicians, we are ensuring our systems are ready. We conducted a successful trial run of the entire COVID vaccine ordering process with Bronx Care from submitting the order all the way to the facility confirming receipt of the test package.

As we move forward with the COVID-19 vaccine and the coming weeks, we will keep New Yorkers informed. We will post vaccine information as we have it on the Health Department website at nyc.gov/covidvaccine. The vaccine is one step to protect New Yorkers, especially the health care heroes who have been tireless in keeping our friends, neighbors, and family members alive. I remember joining rounds with the teams on the Elmhurst COVID wards back in March and in the Bellevue ICU's in April as well. And it gives me hope that those extraordinarily dedicated colleagues will soon receive the vaccine. This remarkable scientific breakthrough also reminds me of the every-day miracle of vaccination and the protection it gives us against illnesses like the flu. As you wait for the COVID vaccine, it's not too late to protect yourself and your family against influenza. Get your flu shot today. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Chokshi. And thank you for reminding us of the heroism of our health care workers and the fact that you were there at the frontline in some of the places that were bearing the brunt, you understand very personally what extraordinary work our health care heroes did and how important it is to protect them, going forward. And, of course, then to protect all New Yorkers. The vaccine’s coming. As you can hear, our Health Department's ready. And these next weeks are going to be a challenge because of the rise in cases we're seeing, but they're also going to be inspiring, because we're going to see the fight back get even deeper against the coronavirus as more and more people get vaccinated. And, as you heard, even the first dose has a very important impact. So, there's really important news, good news here about how we fight back.

But now, let's talk about what we have to do even beyond the vaccine and what New Yorkers overwhelmingly have been doing, wearing the masks, practicing social distancing, avoiding gatherings, not holding those indoor gatherings, not traveling. We're going to keep talking about this throughout, but it's also important to talk about what allows you to be safe, the rules, the laws that protect you. Because, look, we're saying to people, if you're sick, don't go to work. If you're sick, protect yourself and others. Get the help you need. If you need the help of our Test and Trace Corps. and our Take Care Initiative, it's there for you for free. We want to support people, but we also want people to know, if you are sick, you should not have to fear for your job. You would not have – should not have to worry about whether your job's still going to be there or whether you can make ends meet. This is why in 2014, we passed the paid sick leave law, to protect the most fundamental rights of New Yorkers – to say, if you're sick, or a member of your family is sick, getting well really matters. We have to be there for you and support you. It can't be a choice between your health and your job, your health and your livelihood. We made that decision in 2014, that’s something I'm very proud of. One of the things we did that has a lasting impact for the city. We didn't know that there'd be a pandemic, but paid sick leave has taken on even greater meaning because of the pandemic. And I really want to thank everyone at our Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, who took the paid sick leave law and brought it to life and continue to make sure that people's rights are acknowledged. But this takes on other greater meaning in the middle of a pandemic. Here to tell you about this effort to protect people's rights and make sure that their health care truly comes first, my great pleasure to introduce our Commissioner for Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Lorelei Salas. 

Commissioner Lorelei Salas, Department of Consumer and Worker Protection: Thank you for making the time today to remind New Yorkers about such a saving benefit. Paid sick leave law saves lives. In fact, not only did you, under your leadership – did we get this great benefit for workers, but it was also extended several times to make it one of the most broad laws in the country, protecting workers. And, as recent as earlier this year, the State and federal governments finally recognize how critical this law is in fighting COVID. They passed their own protections. So, thank you to everyone. And we're all in this together, as the Mayor mentioned. We all need to fight this virus together.

A couple of things about the paid sick law. In New York City, the law gives you 40 hours of sick leave in addition to the State and federal leave laws. That means that you first need to use the State and federal laws if you have COVID, if you are having ordered to quarantine. You don't not do not need to use any other days. Now, the sick days under New York City are on top of that leave, and that is a very important reminder for New Yorkers. Now, we have been fighting to collect wages for workers, schools who were denied the sick leave, but it is much more important than collecting money. It is much more important that this benefit be actually available for workers. That is what we're looking for. We're seeking full compliance with this particular law. And we are here for you, we have investigators and attorneys who look into this law. We also have staff who are conducting a lot of outreach to businesses to make sure our small business owners understand their obligations under the law. Very important to notice – to know that under the City, the State, and the federal laws workers are protected against retaliation and the law is available to all workers, regardless of immigration status.

Most employers are doing the right thing, Mayor, but, recently, we had a couple of situations where workers were fired because they were sick and they tried to take, you know, enforce their rights. My office fought back. Those workers are back in their jobs with the same salary, the same hours that they had before and with the lost wages for those days where they lost what they were illegally fired. So, we have your back if you need to call us if you have questions or if you need to file complaints. But I want to mention just a couple of changes in our New York City law, as a result of some recent amendments in the State law. Very important to know that workers no longer have to wait in order to enjoy this benefit. So, new hires no longer have to wait. There used to be a waiting period before, but, again, because of COVID-19, that waiting period has gone away and you start accruing leave the moment you are hired. 

Another thing is that domestic workers are now treated the same as workers in any other industry. Domestic workers have the right to at least 40 hours of sick leave a year. It's, again, important to remind New Yorkers that the New York City law is very broad in its coverage. You can use it to take the flu shot. You will be able to use it to take your vaccine against COVID. You can use that to take care of yourself or your loved ones. You can also use it in situations in which the schools, the public schools are closed, and you need to take care of your kids, because there's a state of emergency, or even if your employer was ordered to shut down and you have leave that you have available to you. We have some changes again – and, as of January 1st, employers that are bigger, that have a 100 employees or more will be able – will have to give employees up to 56 hours of sick leave.

So. again, this is a law that we are prioritizing. My office takes it very seriously. We need to – you know, this is not about workers versus employers. It's about all of us being in this together in order to have a full recovery. We want to make sure that the law is being complied with. Call us with questions, with complaints. We have information on our website in many different languages. We are hosting a lot of round tables right now with the chambers of commerce and with worker organizations. You can call us at 3-1-1 and say paid safe and sick leave. Or, you can visit our website at nyc.gov/workers. And I just want to wish everyone the safest and healthiest holiday season. 

Mayor: Thank you so much. Thank you, Commissioner Salas. Thank you to you and your entire team, doing extraordinary work, protecting the rights of working people and consumers in this city. So, thank you for that great work. And, everyone, look, it's as simple as this. If you are sick, stay home. That is the best thing for you, your family, your city. We will protect your rights. If you're sick, stay home. If your child's sick, don't send your child to school. This is how we protect everyone. Look, if you're an employer – and I want to give credit, the vast majority of employers in this city have really shown a lot of compassion for their workers, and I thank you for that deeply. But listen, every employer needs to follow the rules, follow the law to protect working people. So, everyone, this is how we get through this together, recognizing the humanity in each of us and really respecting each person in the challenges they are facing. These laws are here to protect working people, to protect their families, protect their health.

Okay, let's go to today's indicators. Again, this is a new format we're using. Number one, current hospital admissions, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for a suspected COVID-19. – today's report is 196 patients. Now, again, our threshold is 200. We’re right up on that now. We’ve got to keep fighting back to get and stay under that threshold. It is so important. Again, our hospitals are doing a great job. They are using techniques and approaches that they learned from the spring that are much more effective now. So, hospitals are handling the challenges very, very well, and that's really important, but that number is still higher than we need it to be. We’ve got to push it back down. The new indicator we've added hospitalization rate per 100,000 people – 2.34 percent today. I'm sorry, 2.34 people per 100,000 today. That is still too high. We want to get under two. Number two, current new cases – now, this includes, again, the probable cases from the antigen tests as well as the confirmed cases. Today's number on a seven-day average, 2,738 – obviously, way too high. We want to get that back under 550. That's going to take time to say the least, but the vaccine is going to contribute greatly more and more in the weeks ahead to getting that number down. And number three, this is now the percentage of New York City residents tested positive on a seven-day rolling average. It's the only one we're now presenting the seven-day rolling average, the truest number – 4.81 percent today. We’ve got to be under five percent. Today, we are. We’ve got to work hard to keep pushing that number down.

A few words in Spanish – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Department of Worker and Consumer Protection Commissioner Lorelei Salas, and Senior Health Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Rich Lamb from WCBS Radio. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call.

Mayor: How are you doing today, Rich?

Question: I'm doing okay. So, those numbers look a little bit scary, but I'm just – there's kind of a story out there that the hospitals are beginning to run out of space. Is that – is that accurate?

Mayor: I'll say a general opening and turn to Dr. Chokshi. Look, I think hospitals are handling this new wave very well. That's the most important thing to know – lots of lessons learned from the spring, a lot of new approaches that are helping. But, clearly, the uptake has having an impact on them and we're working very closely with the State to make adjustments. I think the Governor and the plan he laid out – the winter plan – one of the things I really appreciated was the focus on seeing the whole health care system, different hospitals, working together to adjust their loads. So, I think space we have. I think we have to be really smart about how each hospital gets assigned patients and the staffing needs of each hospital. Those are the areas I'm concerned about. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: That's right, Mr. Mayor. I'll just add to it briefly to say, you know, we are concerned when we see particularly the cases go up, because that does turn into hospitalizations going up as well, and we are starting to see that in our indicators. Our hospitals have been planning and preparing for months. They have surge plans that allow them to use additional space. If they need additional ICU capacity, you know, that's part of those plans as well. But our shared goal should remain to do the things that we know can work to keep people from getting to the hospital threshold in the first place. And that's the bread and butter of our public health response that we've seen work over the last few months. The core four – getting tested; people staying home when they're feeling sick; wearing masks. And that's the most important thing that all of us can do to support our hospitals and health care workers. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Rich. 

Question: So, the second question is a little bit more specific. If we can get a few more specifics on the vaccine. I know the doctor did quite a bit of that, but I'm wondering, you know, will they be arriving by like truck or airplane or are you – and then they will go, what, from a central to, I think there was 44 hospitals, you said had the refrigeration that will allow this, and then what? Shipped on the little, you know, containers with dry ice or – how will that work, and will there be lines or appointments for this? I know what the health care workers undoubtedly, but you know, how will it work generally when it gets to the public? 

Mayor: Listen, Rich, it’s a great question. I think what you're saying to Dr. Chokshi is paint the picture as much as possible, how this is going to work and, Rich, I'll tell you up front, we're going to be doing that more and more each day, letting people have more and more of a picture of how this is going to go. I want to emphasize one thing before turning to the doctor, this is about priorities. So, we're going to make sure the vaccine gets distributed according to priority. And I want people to really hear that, I want all New Yorkers to hear it and respect it. Our health care workers, the frontline with the greatest vulnerability, our nursing home residents and staff, first responders, folks who are essential workers, folks who are most vulnerable, older folks and/or who have preexisting conditions. We really all have to respect those priorities. And our health care system’s going to be very rigorous about enforcing those priorities because it really matters that the people in greatest danger get the help first. With that, Dr. Chokshi, in terms of how it arrives, how are you going to distribute, paint that picture? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sure. Thank you for the question. I know this is on many people's minds, you know, how is it actually going to work? And let me paint the picture for what we know about next week. But also caveat it to say that things will evolve and change over time. and particularly as supply expands there be additional ways that that will turn vaccines into vaccinations. But let me start with next week. You know, our focus for next week is planning and preparing for that Pfizer vaccine that I described. Importantly, that vaccine has to be stored in what are called ultra-cold temperatures. So, when it's in transit that means it has to be in a special box that has dry ice to keep it at those ultra-cold temperatures. There's a temperature sensor in that box to make sure that it doesn't get too warm. And there's also a GPS tracker, so that the manufacturer knows exactly where each box is at different points in time. So, the way that it works is that the manufacturer, in this case Pfizer, generally from a facility in Kalamazoo, Michigan, from what we understand, will send these boxes out across the United States including to New York City. They'll be shipped via different ways. FedEx, UPS, sometimes airplanes, you know, sometimes trucks. And all of those will go directly to the hospitals that have ultra-cold storage in New York City. There are 44 of those that have the ultra-cold freezers this week that covers a total of 54 hospitals where the vaccine will actually be accessed next week. So, this actually eliminates any middlemen. It goes directly from the manufacturer to that place where it will be stored, the hospital where it will be stored. And from that point our hospital colleagues have been drilling and preparing to understand how it will be taken out of the box into the ultra-cold freezer and starting the process of actually unloading the vials to turn them into the injections that will eventually be vaccinations. So, that's the picture that I can paint at this point in time. And as we get more and more information, we'll be sure to share that with you. 

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you. 

Moderator: Next is Andrew from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor, and everyone on the call. We've seen that when it comes to COVID treatment some important folks like former Mayor Giuliani, President Trump have been able to access treatment that regular folks can't get. So, I'm wondering what assurances or promises you can make to New Yorkers that folks of influence won't jump the line and get the vaccine before those in the priority order. 

Mayor: Andrew, you're a wise man. We've had this conversation in the last 24 hours because I share that concern deeply. We will not allow people who are privileged to jump the line. We're not going to allow people to get the vaccine, unless it is their time to get the vaccine. So, for example, someone who does not have preexisting health conditions, someone who's younger, someone who's not a frontline health care worker or a first responder should not be getting the vaccine now. Their time will come. We've got to protect those who serve us and those who are most vulnerable. And we will enforce that rigorously. The whole health care system and the whole government reality, the federal, state, city government, everyone agrees on the priorities. And those priorities will be respected and enforced. So, I would say to anyone who thinks that they're privilege puts them ahead of other people in greater need, that's not going to happen in New York City. Go ahead. 

Question: On a different topic about schools. When you announced the decision to reopen, you said that schools would be providing five days of in-class learning. We got the percentage yesterday. I think it's 161 schools are offering it now. That's only 20 percent of the elementary schools that reopened. So, what do you say to parents about that? And are you concerned that you won't be able to deliver on what you said? 

Mayor: I'm not concerned about that because we will be able to deliver. I would say, first of all, Rome wasn't built in a day. We said, this is something that's going to be phased in over the coming weeks. We're retooling the whole situation based on first of all, the facts of this week, we're very, very clear. This is the week that anyone who is signed up for blended learning, current blended learning or hasn't declared what status they're in for their child, their child needs to show up in school this week. If they don't show in school this week, then we're going to reach out to the family and say, we're going to put you into all remote, unless you have something to tell us that would change that, we're going to assign your child to all remote. That's going to adjust the numbers for each school. 

Obviously, also, we've been very clear, every student has to have a consent form for testing or a medical exemption. This week, we're going to get the clear numbers that are going to allow us to make the adjustments in each school and get us in position to do five-day-a-week education. In some cases, some schools that's going to be for every single student. In other cases, it's going to be for a lot of students and there'll be prioritized according to which kids have the greatest need. It's going to – we have the schools that are there already this week. More schools will be in that position, the following week, and the following week, and then when we come back in January, we'll have the whole picture resolved. So, I'm very confident you're going to see schools with five-day-a-week education overwhelmingly in this city. Go ahead, or we did two. Okay, next one, sorry.

Moderator: Next is Nolan from the New York Post. 

Question: Good morning, everybody.

Mayor: Hey, Nolan. How you doing? 

Question: I’m well. A follow up in the vein of Andrew's question. In November you said that you were going to speak to the process by which kids will be able to pick their high schools soon. Said that it would come in the next week or two. You said that you're going to have an answer on it soon. You said that a decision needed to be made quickly. It's now the 9th of December. We still don't know how kids are going to pick their high schools, how the admissions process will work for screened high schools. When are we getting the plan? 

Mayor: This month. Obviously, Nolan, we had some additional challenges in the last few weeks that we have to focus on with the coronavirus, but this month we'll announce all the admissions approaches. Go ahead. 

Question: Yeah. I take that, you know, obviously it's been a heck of a year for everybody and a heck of a nine months, but there are a lot of parents who are very frustrated – but there are a lot of parents who were very frustrated about the fact that their kids are trying to figure out where they want to go to school and by all the delays. Can you speak to the frustrations of parents trying to figure out where their kids are going to go in September? 

Mayor: I have been through it myself in non-pandemic times. And I have to say to all parents, I understand the admissions process is filled with anxiety and concern even when there isn't a pandemic. Of course, people are feeling so much. We have to get it right, given that we're dealing with entirely different realities. And there's been many, many more challenges than during a normal school year. We'll announce the plans this month. We'll get to work. Everyone will be able to ultimately know their admissions decisions for their children in time. We want to get it done quickly. I do hear the concerns of parents. We’ll have the plan out this month. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Aundrea from WCBS. 

Mayor: Aundrea, are you there?

Moderator: Aundrea? Do we have you? 

Mayor: Aundrea? You may be on mute if you're out there. 

Moderator: We're going to go back to Aundrea. And next we're going to – and next we're going to try Dan Krauth from ABC-7. 

Question: Hi, Mayor. Good morning. Thank you for the question.

Mayor: My pleasure, Dan, how you doing?

Question: I'm doing well. Thank you, Sir. You mentioned contact tracing earlier. We've been trying to get some contact tracing information, our viewers want, in regards to where is this virus spreading? For example, bars, restaurants, gyms, et cetera. We reached out to NYC Health + Hospitals, and they referred us to the State who then referred us back to the hospital. And this has been going on for a few weeks now. Is this information you receive on a daily basis and why isn't this information released to the public regularly so families can help make healthy decisions? 

Mayor: Dan, listen, I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. I want to make sure we're clear. First of all, I'm sorry, if there was any situation where the information wasn't provided to you clearly. We'll fix that today. Dr. Long, who runs the Test and Trace Corps, has spoken to this issue repeatedly right here at this table. He's talked about the thing we've seen, the most identifiable piece of the puzzle has been from travel. We've seen some situations related to indoor gathering, some related to bars, restaurants, etcetera, but we've talked about, and the Governor has talked about, the main driver appears to be family settings, multi-generational homes, family gatherings, not so much being out in a community settings. However, all of this interrelates and not all of it is perfectly traceable. When there is a specific problem, if you said, well, hey, I want to know if a bar, a restaurant, a store in my community has had a problem, you'll know it because the Health Department follows up on that situation and if they determine that something has to be closed, they close it. So, you'd know, just like we have closed schools when we determined they need to be closed individually, stores, restaurants, that's what the Health Department does. So, Dr. Chokshi, maybe you can speak to that. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, you covered most of the high points. Let me just add two more from my perspective. First to build on the last thing that you said, it's exactly right. When we do, do investigations and we find that there are clusters we take action. That's the most important thing. Both at the level of the entity, whether it's a business or an organization, but also very importantly for the individuals who are involved because we know what it takes to break the chains of transmission of this virus, and that's to get people to isolate and quarantine as quickly as possible and supporting them in doing that. So, that's the first thing I would say. The second point is just to not – for us all, to not miss the forest for the trees here, with respect to the actions that we need to take. We know household spread, smaller social gatherings, larger gatherings, you know, outdoors and indoors, these are the things that both in New York City and around the world have contributed to the spread of the coronavirus. We have to avoid those things as much as possible but also make sure that we are wearing our masks particularly indoors as the weather has become colder and maintain our distance. We've said these things for months I know, but we have to maintain discipline because we're in a riskier environment as cases increase. So, it's actually the time for us to redouble our efforts in that vein. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Dan. 

Question: What is the success rate contact tracers have had citywide? I know you mentioned a number a week ago when we spoke last, but when it comes to reaching out to people in the city. 

Mayor: Dan, it’s actually been growing, it's been a high level of success and growing. Folks are being very responsive. We'll get you the exact latest number. Dr. Long spoke to it last week, in fact, or even a few days ago. We've been really impressed. We have the biggest strongest Test and Trace Corps in the country. Thousands and thousands of infections have been prevented. And this is really important to understand. Test and Trace is a great concept on so many levels, but let's go to the most basic impact it has. It stops infections from happening. When they go in and they determine that someplace has to be closed that means you are stopping that chain of infection. When they help someone to safely separate from the people around them, they're stopping that chain of infection. The incredible work that's being done with Take Care, to get folks into hotels or get them support so they can safely separate a home, that means they're not circulating with other folks. So Test and Trace has stopped thousands and thousands of infections from happening. We're seeing more and more New Yorkers engage Test and Trace, provide the information, help them find their contacts if they've been in close contact with someone. And, you know, it's really striking to me that people want help. We're seeing more people asking for that Take Care help, those hotels and those deliveries of food or medicine at home. Folks understand more and more that Test and Trace is there to help them. And they are engaging at a high number, but we'll get you the exact number. Go ahead. Back to – we still have Aundrea out there?

Moderator: We're going to try Aundrea?

Question: Hello. Can you hear me now?

Mayor: There you go, Aundrea. How are you doing?

Question: I’m great, thanks. Sorry about that earlier. Mr. Mayor, starting with you, during the spring your administration was criticized for not distributing information in a timely manner deep into communities of color that were hardest hit. So with that in mind, what is the specific plan to reach out to those same communities, especially immigrant communities to build trust about the vaccine and to convince people to get it?

Mayor: Aundrea, I want to say thank you. It's a great question. Important question. And I'll start and then turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi. First of all, I want to say when the virus came on in the beginning we were all trying to make sense of something that we'd never dealt with before on this scale. And our focus of course, was protecting human life and protecting the hospitals that went under immediate strain. We soon learned from experience just how horrible the impact of the disease was and how much disparity was reflected in the way the disease played out in our communities. The hospitals we focused on reinforcing were also those hospitals serving communities of color, serving immigrant communities. And thank God we shored them up and provided them help so they could make it through. And they did. But we learned how important it was to go out to communities and we started that right away. And that was one of the building blocks of the Test and Trace Corps. We now have a Test and Trace Corps of almost 5,000 people, hired from the communities most affected by the coronavirus, speaking the languages of those communities, working with community-based organizations that have the trust of the people. That's why Test and Trace has been so successful. So that point you make of how have we adjusted from what we've learned? We made those adjustments back in May and June and put this huge corps out in the field. And it's had a really important impact on keeping people educated, up-to-date, engaging them, getting them to testing. Of course, on top of that moving testing where it's needed most into communities who need it most and working with partners to make that happen. That's been a huge X factor here, positive X factor. So that's been the game plan.

Now, making sure people trust the vaccine. It's the same basic game plan, Aundrea. Heavy emphasis on being out in the communities, Test and Trace Corps, working with local health care providers, working with trusted community voices, working with faith leaders. But on top of that, we have some of the doubt that's been sowed about vaccines. We have to overcome that. That's going to take a lot of public information and showing people it works. And showing people that other people in their community are getting the vaccine and it's helping. That's the basic game plan. Let me let Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi jump in.

Senior Advisor Varma: Sure. I can start. Yeah, just really echo what the Mayor has said. We fully understand that trust is something that you earn, but that you can lose very easily. And you have to continuously work on earning it. As it relates to the work that we've done on contact tracing, this has been absolutely vital to us to understand what are the best ways to reach people who need services? And how do we counter misconception? We've learned that through all of our hyper-local responses in very diverse and different communities. And we're continuing to learn, with all of our partnerships that we have with community organizations. Now vaccines is one step above that because with the tests, of course you're just getting a specimen taken from your body. With a vaccine people are having something put into their body to prevent infection. So we know from a long history of having a very successful vaccine program in the city that we need to continuously work with people to understand what their concerns are. And speak to them honestly, and frankly about how those concerns are addressed. So we're going to continue to learn as we do this. And our partnership with communities is really the basis for all of it.

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you. Well, this is such an important question. And first, I just want to say Mr. Mayor, I appreciate your commitment and your passion for this. That has been very clear in your charge to us to make equity as important a pillar as the science and the operations of turning vaccines into vaccinations. And so it will be central to everything that we do in our vaccine rollout. There are three ways in which we're thinking about this. The three ways are access, uptake, and outcomes. So first with respect to access, just as Dr. Varma said, it's about ensuring that we meet patients where they are, in the neighborhoods and communities where they live. Including the priority neighborhoods that have been a focus of the Mayor and the administration. With respect to uptake. It is about making sure that we have the humility to recognize that people think about medicine and health care in different ways. And the humility also to rely on trusted messengers who already exist in those communities. And ultimately it's about outcomes, you know, making sure that vaccination leads to what we all are aiming toward in 2021. Which is the end to this terrible pandemic and to avoid all of the preventable suffering that we have seen.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Aundrea.

Question: So just to continue on with that, what could that look like? Does that mean that you're going to be asking pastors and community leaders to publicly get the vaccine or possibly offering the vaccine in community health centers and not just hospitals? More concretely what could that look like once it's available to the general public?

Mayor: I think you just described it beautifully. Yes. The answer is yes. There's going to be a heavy emphasis on working with community health providers. And yes when leaders, community leaders qualify, making sure – meaning that it's their priority group is up for the vaccine, making sure that their communities see them taking the vaccine. I think it's incumbent upon elected officials, leaders of all kinds when it's the right time, according to our health care leadership for us to get the vaccine according to the priorities. We have to do it. We have to show we believe in it. So absolutely you hit the nail on the head. In terms of the role of community health care providers, clinics, and individual providers in the distribution, why don't you help people understand some of the approach you're going to take?

Commissioner Chokshi: Absolutely and thank you. And I speak about this as someone who has practiced as a primary care doctor, you know for many years. The trust that you can build with patients by taking care of them in that longitudinal way is irreplaceable. And we have to rely on that with respect to what we're planning to do with the COVID-19 vaccine. Community health centers, the smaller you know, one and two doc practices where so many people continue to get their care. The places where people have built up relationships over time, that's where people are going to look to, to understand what does my nurse and my doctor think about this? And that's where we have to equip them, not just with the vaccine, but with the information and the messages that will make a difference in terms of getting it to the communities that will most benefit and the people who will also most benefit.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more. First, we're going to go to Katie from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hi, thank you, good morning. My first question, or actually both are related to the vaccine distributions. I'm curious, I know that obviously there's a standard of who is essential and who is prioritized. But then within that level of prioritization, how do you kind of figure out who gets it first? If there's an essential worker, I don't know, Mayor, if you kind of get a priority as the Mayor or other elected officials? I don't know if you'd explain that a little bit more?

Mayor: I'll start and pass the Dr. Chokshi. It's a good question, Katie. First of all, look, we know that the doses are going to come in and they're going to come in fast and furious. Let's be clear. We expect a lot to come in and come in quickly week after week. And we're talking about more than one type of vaccine, which is great, to give us more supply. The health care leadership are going to make the decisions. They're going to decide by categories and then work to quickly as humanly possible, reach everyone in that category. When you talk about for example, nursing homes. A number I've seen is about 100,000 being the universe of everyone who's in a nursing home as a resident, everyone who works in some form or capacity in a nursing home, in any kind of shift. When you add everyone up for New York City, it's about 100,000 people. That whole group of 100,000 people needs to be reached. We're going to move that very, very quickly. That's a very finite universe. So for elected officials and other leaders, the doctors will decide when it's our time. The important thing is to work through each category of people, but move it fast and then go onto the next priority category. Go ahead, Doctor.

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I'll just add one point on this, which is the prioritization is something that there is active conversation, but then also guidance from both the federal government through the CDC, as well as the State government. You know, with respect to the specifics of those different prioritization phases. Thus far the CDC advisory committee has issued recommendations for what's called Phase One A. As the Mayor has already described that covers high risk health care workers and long-term care facility staff and residents. But hasn't yet issued recommendations beyond that for the rest of Phase One, which will include essential workers and other people who are most susceptible to the virus. And so we will follow those conversations as they evolve and stay in close coordination across the multiple levels of government on this.

Mayor: Go ahead, Katie.

Question: Thanks. And my second question is, are there any New York City hospitals, particularly Health + Hospitals facilities that don't have the cold storage capacity? And are they in, you know, parts of the city I guess, where hospitals are known to be already at capacity?

Mayor: Dave will speak to that, but also the point about if the hospital doesn't have it, how you're supporting them in the same geographical area? Go ahead, Dave.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you for the question. So first all 11 of the New York City Health + Hospitals sites do have ultra cold freezers. So they will have the ability to store the Pfizer vaccine. The universe of acute care and specialty hospitals in New York City is a total of 55. 44 of them have the ultra cold freezers on site. Ten of them are part of systems or will otherwise have access to the vaccine through those 44 points. And there is one hospital that will not have access to the ultra cold freezer but is planning to start when the Moderna vaccine, the one that requires normal freezer storage is available. So we expect within the first few weeks of the rollout that all 55 hospitals will be able to start vaccinating.

Mayor: And Moderna is a week or two weeks behind Pfizer in terms of deliveries to New York City? Just confirm that?

Commissioner Chokshi: That's our understanding at this point, Sir. Yes.

Mayor: Right, but this month, for sure, from what we know.

Commissioner Chokshi: That's our understanding.

Mayor: Good. Okay, go ahead.

Moderator: Last, we'll go to Abu from BanglaPartika.

Question: Hello Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Abu. How are you?

Question: Good, thank you so much. Mayor, I have a question which is you know, as we know the New York City has a budget problem, but there is the minority business community, they're suffering because of the COVID. And is there any plan you have, near future or if we get the stimulus, to help or any kind of stimulus for the minority business or the people who are suffering you know, in terms of their business, because of the COVID?

Mayor: Yeah Abu, such an important question. Very quickly look, the stimulus has to be really substantial. It has to help people directly. It helps to help small business owners, help people who rent their apartments, help building owners. There's so many specific things that we need in that stimulus in addition to helping city and state governments to recover and continue to provide services. So we need a stimulus that is being talked about right now to include as much of that as possible. And then we need another much bigger stimulus when President Biden takes office, the president-elect takes office. So point one, but the second point is what we're doing through our Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity to maximize the amount of government resources going to the 27 communities that were hardest hit by COVID. Which are Asian communities, African American communities, Latino communities, immigrant communities, they all need to see additional support for businesses in those communities. And the efforts we make through our minority and women-owned business initiatives to move government spending to where it's needed most, is going to be a crucial part of that. So we have a number of things we've announced, more are coming to support those businesses and help them through to when the vaccine is fully distributed and our economy is coming back stronger. Go ahead.

Question: Second question is, you know, still the people are dying by COVID. And [inaudible] you know, they're having the funeral. And we are having to report that the people are going to funerals, they're infecting the other people. Do you have any specific message to the people who organize the funeral, how they can handle the funeral, how they control the crowd?

Mayor: I'll start and turn to Dr. Chokshi. Abu listen, any family that is in pain, that is mourning, that has lost a loved one, I understand. We all have that same impulse to gather together the way we normally would have. But we have to understand how much that could turn into something really bad for the people we love. And the last thing we want to do is mourn one loved one, and then end up putting another loved one in danger. So what I'd say to everyone, to the funeral homes, to the houses of worship, to the families is either hold off the memorial service until the vaccine has been distributed. Or if you are going to have a service, please very, very carefully observe the social distancing and the mask wearing. And keep the numbers very limited so everyone is safe. And you know that the loved one we've lost would have wanted that, they'd want everyone to be kept safe. So please follow those rules very, very carefully. Dr. Choksi you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir what you said is exactly right. I'll just acknowledge what a tragic you know, thing that families have to experience with respect to funeral services. We know this virus hitches a ride on relationships, and unfortunately doesn't respect even those settings that are so tragic. Yes, the most important thing is exactly what the Mayor advised with respect to, how to do a service safely. Which is to keep the numbers as small as possible, really limited you know, only to the family members that you can maintain a very rigorous distancing of at least six feet and ensure that people are wearing masks at all times. Those are the ways that we can prevent more suffering from coming from those settings.

Mayor: Thank you so much Doctor. Look, everyone, as we conclude today, let's be thankful that we have a scientific community and health care professionals who gathered together with extraordinary purpose and speed and created the vaccine we're discussing today. This really is historic. And even though we have been confronted with one of the worst crises in generations, we've been confronted with so much pain and suffering. We also have to recognize that we've seen one of the greatest responses from our health care community and our scientific community, creating this vaccine. This is something that's going to change lives and protect people very quickly, starting this month in this city. And we should take heart from that. It's also a reminder that none of us gets there alone. We're depending on those scientists and health care professionals, we depended on our health care heroes and our first responders in the height of this crisis. And we are depending on them again. But they're also depending on us, they're depending on us to wear that mask, to practice social distancing, to avoid those indoor gatherings, to not travel for the holidays. If you honor all the people who are serving you, you can serve them by following those basic smart guidelines and keeping each other safe. New Yorkers have done an amazing job. You really should be proud of how far we've come. One last big battle before we are able to defeat this scourge once and for all, but everyone needs to be a part of it. And I know you will be. Thanks, everybody.

2020-12-10 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, it is a season, a very special season and a time for us all to support each other, believe in each other. And today we prepare for Hanukkah and I want to wish a very Happy Hanukkah to all. This is a time to think about what the holiday tells us. And it talks all about light and hope and faith and perseverance. And it's a time when people support each other and show their love for each other. Obviously, this year, the gatherings have to be different. People have to watch out for each other. That's another way of celebrating the holiday and all the holidays this season. Watch out for each other, make sure you do your celebrations in a way that really is all about the health and the safety of everyone you love. But it's a special time, it's a time to celebrate. And what a perfect symmetry that Hanukkah comes just at the time when we expect the first shipments of a vaccine to give us hope, to shed light, to remind us that our persistence will be rewarded here in the city, and we will be turning the page in the months ahead.

And speaking of turning the page, kids are back in classrooms, turning the pages of their textbooks today. Another step forward for our schools. This week we have seen our younger kids come back to school, pre-K, 3-K, K-through-five. Today, our special education kids in District 75 come back to school. The Chancellor and I were in the South Bronx earlier in the week to see kids coming back, to see parents bringing them to school with such joy. Our educators also feeling such joy to see kids again. We continue to bring our kids back in a safe and smart way and, look, for our special education kids, it's so important for them to be back in the classroom with educators who love them, who care for them. So, this is another good day. And I want to say to all the families of kids in District 75, we have heard you. You said how important it is to have the support, to have the help of these caring professionals, and I’m very happy that kids in District 75 schools will be back in the classroom today.

Now, today, we want to talk about our classrooms, our kids, our families, our parents, our teachers, and what lies ahead because we have a lot more work to do in this school year, for sure. In fact, most of the school year still lies ahead of us. And we'll be talking about that constantly in the days and weeks ahead, but it's also time to start looking to the future. It's time to start thinking about what our city is going to be like as the vaccine is distributed more and more, what our schools are going to be like in the future, how we can address the needs of our kids and families. And it's time to really reckon with a challenge that we're seeing very, very clearly, which is a way that COVID has stood in the way of our kids' education. The fact that there has been learning loss and there will still be learning loss ahead that we have to compensate for and then overcome. In fact, clearly there will be a COVID achievement gap, and we have to close that COVID achievement gap. Today, we're going to outline a plan that will take us forward into the next school year and give us the tools to close that COVID achievement gap. It is absolutely essential.

Today, we will present a 2021 Student Achievement Plan. We want all New Yorkers to understand where we're going with our schools and the foundation, we’ll be laying through this school year to get ready for a very different school year that begins in September. In September, there will be a new normal. Let's be clear. Our approach will be based on everything we have learned through this very challenging time. But like with every crisis, we also in a crisis learn how to do new things and sometimes better things. We learn ways to serve our kids that are different and can reach them in a more individual manner. Our kids are going to need that individual help because they're overcoming so much. So, our 2021 Student Achievement Plan will lay out the ideas, the foundations of how we continue to improve the education of all children and build from there. But look, kids have gone through a lot. They have gone through a lot in terms of their education and the disruption to their education. They've gone through a lot emotionally, everything that's happened to them, to their families, to their community. And it's important to think about what has happened to our children. The Chancellor and I have talked about this a lot, the weight our kids are carrying that we must address. Again, that's both on the academic side and on the emotional side.

Let me give you an example. Think about a child in our schools. I'm just going to paint you a picture. Let's call him Robbie. He's a third-grade child. Last year, he's going to third grade, February, things are going great, and then the coronavirus hits. So, his school year gets cut short. He's dealing with a disruption that no child could ever expect, or even could easily comprehend. Doesn't get all that he would have gotten had school been continuing as normal last school year. He starts to fall behind. He starts to experience some of that learning loss. He's struggling a little bit more. And then Robbie, like so many other kids, may have had losses in his family. He may have seen loved ones, get sick, or even lose a loved one. He may have seen families around him lose a loved one. The disruption, the confusion, think of what this does to a young mind. And we're encouraging our kids all the time to be all they can be and reach their potential. But imagine a child who has experienced disruption after disruption, and the traumatic realities that this virus has wreaked on this city and on so many families. Robbie needs more than to just come back to school next year, with the same old approach. That's not going to cut it. Robbie needs a lot more support and help than he would have if there had not been the coronavirus. So, how do we go about that? We provide the tools. We need to make sure that the way we assess where Robbie is, academically is better than ever. And that we understand exactly what he needs. We need to make sure that our teachers have new tools, new training, have the ability to use digital approaches in new ways. And teachers are constantly experiencing that this year and they're doing amazing things.

And I want to just express my admiration for our educators who have had to innovate and innovate and innovate throughout this year. And they keep doing it and they learn new and better ways. Kids like Robbie are going to need that. They're going to need a very individualized approach. We know in a New York City public school classroom, 20, 24 kids, teachers do their best to reach each one, but they're going to need to do even more in this new normal and use the power of digital education to really individualize, tailor-make a plan for Robbie and for all other kids, to help them get the support they need and reach the heights they're capable of. All of these things have to happen. And our parents will need support too, because they'll need to understand how they can help their kids the best. And this is an area where there's long been a gap as well, the ability of our schools to fully engage our parents as academic partners. We're going to do that. We're doing it right now. We're going to build upon it with our Parent University, training parents how to be the best colleagues to teachers in the education of their child, how to help their child blossom.

And finally, we have to think about the mental health needs of our children and address the trauma they've gone through and bring new tools to bear as we go into the new school year. So, again, our mission is clear, for the child I've presented to you today, Robbie, and for every child, we have to be there for them in brand new ways. We have to close that COVID achievement gap, and we have to have a clear plan going into next school year to maximize achievement. Our schools are going to come back stronger than ever. I don't doubt it. Our 2021 Student Achievement Plan will give us the foundation to make sure that that approach reaches every single child. Here to give you the outline of where we'll be going in 2021 and the years ahead, our Chancellor, Richard Carranza.

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. When you put it in terms of Robbie, it brings it home to all of us. We're talking about our children. And while this past several months have been a whirlwind for all of us with constantly evolving public health guidance and a completely transformed school system. It's time that we think about recovery, literally looking up from the here and now and looking forward, where are we going? Every single educator and every single staff member supporting our schools and students has had their heads focused singularly on the work for months on end. With the first doses of the vaccine arriving next week, it's clearer than ever that we will return to a normalcy that is unlike the normal pre-COVID-19. Today, we want to look slightly further ahead and out of the immediate moment and into the path forward. We know that it will require a recovery period. And that's the vision and framework that we're sharing with you today. We have a lot of work to do alongside our brilliant educators and leaders across the Department of Education to build this out to completion. But today we begin by sharing how we'll get started.

We will improve teaching and learning and continue to bring back our students by number one, getting a baseline of what ground we lost with low stakes diagnostic assessment citywide and interim assessments throughout the school year to monitor progress and tailor learning. You can't know where to focus unless you know what to focus on. And that's the whole point of these formative assessments. Number two, increasing access to high-quality digital curriculum at every single school in our school system. Three, launching a one-stop digital learning hub. This will be a new learning management system phased in and developed and customized for New York City schools that houses lessons and tools, and that can be shared across the city to help students, their teachers, and families better understand how a student is progressing. Our teachers have done remarkable work during this pandemic, and we're going to capture that work that's been developed here in New York City and make it available for everyone. Number four, we're deepening our professional development for our teachers, so our educators have the training and tools to close the gaps. We're expanding our Parent University to continue supporting parents with the tools they need to support and deepen learning at home in their language. And number six, we're confronting the trauma and medical health crisis faced by our students through a citywide approach. This vision is rooted in healing and in learning because our students need both. We'll have more to share in the weeks and months to come, but we're clear-eyed about where we need to go. And we're looking forward to building this out.

And Mr. Mayor, if I could just add to Robbie's story, I want to tell you the story of Aashi. Aashi literally disappeared from the Department of Education when we transitioned to remote learning in March. We couldn't find her. We didn't know where she was. On the very first day of school on September 21st, she showed up at school and it turns out that her parents had both lost her jobs. They were evicted. She didn't have a device, they literally couch surfed, but she had heard that school was back in session and she showed up. And the principal that shared this story with me was so incredibly moved because she is not the only student that has undergone that kind of trauma. So, when we talk about trauma, that's the trauma we're talking about. Robbie and this Bengali student named Aashi, that's who we're fighting for. And thank you for leading us in that.

Mayor: Thank you so much to answer. And you could hear the heart in the Chancellor's voice when he told that story. This is exactly right. We understand our kids have been through so much. We talk, I talk to parents, I talk to educators, I hear what it's like for kids this year, everything they've been through. We have to be there for them, but I also have immense faith in the ability of our educators to reach our kids and in the strength and resiliency of our kids and their ability to reach their potential. If we're there for them every step along the way, we can figure out what each child needs to succeed and how to support them, that's what this is all about.

Now, look, this is all going to take a lot of hard work. I don't think anyone imagines anything different and New Yorkers are never afraid of hard work. Our educators have done amazing things in the course of this year, unprecedented things, but we're calling upon everyone who serves us to do that. And one of the other groups that has been absolutely outstanding in this crisis is our Test and Trace Corps. They have worked so hard. And remember, this was a brand-new organization, brand new approach had to be put together from scratch. Test and Trace Corps has done amazing work, reaching out deeply into the city to protect people and has helped us avoid thousands upon thousands of coronavirus infections. Well, here's an update – and you heard from Dr. Ted Long about a record that was set just earlier in the week, 95,000 – 95,000 New Yorkers got the coronavirus test on one day. We've never seen a number like that before. That's a really good sign, both of the reach of the Test and Trace Corps., encouraging people, the fact that so much testing has been made available successfully over the city, but the fact also that New Yorkers are hearing the message get tested. And particularly on Get Tested Tuesdays, people have been out there. 95,000 people on one day – well, that's extraordinary. Also, the week before Thanksgiving, half a million tests were given in a single week. These are the kind of numbers we dreamed of long ago that would really allow us to understand exactly what was happening and to protect the most people. Half a million New Yorkers in a single week got tested. We want to keep seeing that going forward. And I'm proud to tell you that now, based on a lot of innovations, including our extraordinary pandemic response lab – another thing that we started from scratch here in New York City, in the midst of this crisis, we now have a greater capacity to test New Yorkers than we've ever had before – 120,000 New Yorkers can now be tested in a single day. This is, again, a goal that seemed far away not that long ago, but we're here now – 120,000 people can be tested a single day.

Now, New Yorkers, the tests are out there – so many people ready to serve you. We can get you a quick turnaround time on those results. It's fast, it's easy. Get on out there and get tested. It will help this city to move forward, but, more importantly, it will protect you and your family and everyone you love.

Okay. Let's go over today's indicators. Number one, current hospital admissions – daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 185 patients. So, we're below that threshold of 200, but it's still a high number. We’re going to keep working to get that down. And on the hospitalization rate, today's number, 2.41 per 100,000 New Yorkers. We want to get that number under two, so more work to do there. Next, current new cases – again, this combines probable cases with confirmed cases. Daily number of new cases on a seven-day average, today is 2,614 – very high, very much surpassing the target where we want to be – 550. It's going to take us a while to get back there, but we will. And the daily update on the seven-day rolling average, percentage of New York City residents testing positive – today's report, 5.32 percent. Again, we want to be under five. We're dealing with a challenge right now. What's the answer? Get tested, wear a mask, practice social distancing, do not travel, avoid indoor gatherings. If we keep doing all of that, we are going to get this number back down, especially with the vaccine arriving in a matter of days.

A few words in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let’s turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Chancellor Carranza, by Dr. Ted Long, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. The first question today goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Juliet. How are you doing today?

Question: I'm fine. Thank you. So, on the education plan that you've just spelled out, are you and the Chancellor considering a remote learning component to this, given that you have had this experience already through this whole virus?

Mayor: Yeah. Juliet, thank you for the question. Look, the imperative here, the thing we feel so deeply as we must close the COVID achievement gap, and that's why right now we're building up a student achievement plan for 2021. It means making sure that when kids come back to school in September, we're ready to serve them academically and emotionally. It also means using digital approaches to reach kids in whole new ways. Look, think about a kid who has ground to make up – great things will happen in the classroom with their teacher, for sure, but there's still more to make up. The teacher now can use digital approaches to individualize the program, tailor make what each child needs. I mentioned that child, Robbie – Robbie's teacher can now say, okay, this is what we're going to do in a classroom, but I'm also going to give Robbie this very individualized plan that I want him to follow, and I'm going to bring his parents into it too, and get them involved in our Parent University to learn how they can support Robbie, because digital allows you to expand and extend upon what happens during the school day. So, we think it opens up a world of possibilities. Chancellor, do you want to add?

Chancellor Carranza: Sure. I will only add that the new normal that we're talking post-pandemic has really created some opportunities for us to individualize instruction and really tailor instruction for students in a way that we just didn't have the ability to do back in March. So, children will have devices. Children will have connectivity. Teachers have been building their capacity and being really innovative around how they're meeting the needs of students. We don't want that to go away once we have a vaccine, once we're all back in person, and we will never replace a well-trained caring teacher for any other device. But it now gives teachers another set of tools to individualize the instruction for students, and, in some cases, help to accelerate the learning for students in ways that we just didn't have. We really want to capture that and we want to make it part of our approach as we go forward.

Mayor: Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: Okay. Thank you. Well, given that the vaccine is on its way, what are your plans for returning city workers back to their offices?

Mayor: Juliet, that's something that we're going to need to deal with after a couple of things happen. First of all, the vaccine distribution really advances, and I'm very confident in the ability of our Health Department to distribute the vaccine effectively, and all of our health care partners. The real question is going to be how many doses do we get each week and our ability to make sure we constantly stay on that plan for distribution. I feel very good about it, but it will take time to play out. The second point will be what's happening with the coronavirus in general. We've seen the second wave bearing down on us now over weeks. This is obviously not a time to have people come back from remote work. We're going to keep them where they are. But as we see improvement in bringing down the infection rate, as we see improvement in terms of spreading out that vaccine, distributing that vaccine, then we'll start the plan for when to bring City workers back safely. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Leslie Brody from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hi, thanks for taking the question. I'm curious, please, if you could talk a bit more about this assessment and what type of test it will be, where kids will take it, how the parents will get the results, how it might be different from assessments that teachers regularly give to the kids? What kind of other information will we get? How long will it take? And how much will all this cost?

Mayor: Leslie, I think that was literally a six-part question. So, let me say at the outset, this is the foundation we're laying. This is the basic outline of the plan. In the weeks ahead, we're going to start to fill in a lot more of the details. So, we're not going to be able to answer every question today. We'll certainly have more to say on costs and timelines, etcetera. But I think the big point is important to make, the Chancellor and I are not fans of what happened in the previous administration here in the city, which was, I think, an obsessive focus on high stakes testing and a focus on testing that was counterproductive. We do not want to return to those days. We want to use assessments that help teachers to serve children and that give a clear baseline of where kids are at, especially after all the disruption they've been through, and help children and especially their parents to know what they need. Clearly, this is not high stakes testing. It's low stakes in the sense of it doesn't govern over all sorts of other decisions. What it does do is provide educators with information so they can make the adjustments and tailor make the approach for each child. That's what we're aiming to do. Chancellor?

Chancellor Carranza: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, Leslie, I'm just going to set a little bit of context here, because I do think it's an important question that you've asked. We're not talking about testing. Testing in the most traditional sense is summative. It's one point in time and once you get those results, you compare those results to another point in time. That's not what we're talking about. What we're talking about is formative assessment. And that means exactly what it says. We want to take a snapshot at regular points so that the information that is gathered, teachers can use that information to make decisions about where they need to intercede in the learning of the student. Of course, we know that students have a body of knowledge that they have to learn every year. Those are called State standards that they have to master. So, we need to know are third-grade students – is that child – is Robbie on track to master the third-grade standards, with enough time to be able to even exceed the third-grade standards? You can't do that unless you know where Robbie is. And the teacher has real information about what are the skills, the discrete skills that he or she needs to work with, with Robbie, to be able to get him back on track. Or, if he's already on track, how do we accelerate him even further? That's what we're talking about. Now, we know that across the city, many schools have many different kinds of formative assessments. So, what we're talking about is having some common assessments that we as a school system can look at and gauge where are students? Where do we need to make some additional investments? Where are those investments paying off? What additional resources do we need to bring to the table? How do we even use our existing resources in a much more strategic way? That's what we're talking about as we go forward.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Leslie.

Question: Thanks. I'm just curious if there are any particular types of assessments, there are lots of big companies out there that provide them. So, I think parents would be curious if you have some particular vendors in mind.

Mayor: Look, I'll start and pass the Chancellor. We want to build out this plan. You know, it's nine months basically until the opening of school in September 2021. We wanted to start to present to parents and the whole New York City community how we're going to be bringing back our schools strong. We have a lot of details to resolve, but we want people to see this process play out over months and months so they know adjust how able we're going to be in next fall to reach each child in very particular ways. So, Chancellor, in terms of the process you will go through to determine the right kind of assessments that our educators can use. Why don't you speak to that – just initial thoughts on that.

Chancellor Carranza: Sure. So, we're going to have a very robust – we already have a very robust process where we're bringing educators to the table, to actually look through and vet and get their thoughts about what is successful for them. That process will obviously involve lots of lots of affinity groups, lots of different grade levels, lots of different subject matters, but the goal here is to have something that is robust – an assessment that is also adaptable so that we can get a true gauge of where students are in their learning. And then, obviously, have conversations with our parents and our parent groups as well, as well as our community-based partners as well. Our union partners will also be very, very much involved with this as well. So, again, we want to have a robust process, but it's important for us that as we're looking ahead, that parents understand we want to know, because you need to know, where is your student and what is the plan for helping your student as they go forward.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Kala from PIX.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking my question. In regards to this assessment, I spoke with a parent this morning who just painted the most beautiful picture of her son who's non-verbal, special needs going back to D75, getting five days a week at Mickey Mantle, and she painted a picture of what he gets from school, and then when school closes what he doesn't get – and it is a huge difference. So, in regards to this assessment, where does D75 fit and how are you going to help those kids? God forbid have schools have to shut down again for them.

Mayor: Kala, such an important question. Thank you. And I really appreciate that you heard with real heart what that parent was telling you. We really have to be there for our kids, particularly our special needs kids, particularly our younger kids. So, I want to emphasize from the beginning, we have now reopened 3-K, pre-K, kindergarten through fifth grade, and District 75 special education programs all over the city – 850 schools. We intend to keep them open. We have now the tools to do that – tools we didn't have in the fall, but we now have that we know will work. And we're going to keep them open, particularly understanding the challenges of our special needs kids and parents. With that said, the assessments are something that are going to allow us to think of each child individually. Again, we are so concerned to understand what each child has been through and what they need. And then bring the help to them. And we're going to be talking about the additional mental health resources we'll bring to bear over time. But also this idea that digital education for a lot of kids, not all kids, but for a lot of kids, we’ll offer new avenues to augment what happens in school. So Chancellor, as to assessments in terms of District 75 kids, take it away.

Chancellor Carranza: Yes. I would say that if you look at in general, who are those teachers that have been really good about using formative assessments to tailor instruction? It's our special education teachers. This is bread and butter, what they do in terms of implementing the individual education plan, the IEP for a student. So, they're natural. So obviously we're going to be working very closely with those teachers to get their insight and their expertise as we look at a system-wide approach as we go forward. Now that being said, can you imagine the power of an individualized education plan for every student? Not that they are special education students, but just think about identifying the explicit skills that students need to work on and the plan that we have to help them achieve a mastery of that explicit skill. That's what we're talking about with the digital curriculum. That's what we're talking about when we talk about a one-stop digital learning hub. That's also what we're talking about when we talk about Parent University. That parents have the opportunity now to understand what is happening, how their students are being formatively assessed and what the plan is for them. And then how they can help support what is happening with their students in their own language. That's all part of what we're talking about.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Kala.

Question: And speaking of digital, I'm looking for a hard number? Where are we on devices at this point? I know the last number I think I heard was 60,000 still needed?

Mayor: Distribution, Chancellor? 350,000 so far from day one, right?

Chancellor Carranza: From day one, yes. So, we had approximately a little over 91,000 students that had indicated they needed devices when we started this school semester in September. We've distributed approximately 65,000 devices as of right now. And we are fully on track to make sure that all of the other students that have requested a device will have their device before winter break, which is December 23rd. So, we're well on our way to making sure every student has their device.

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Yoav from The City.

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor. The City Comptroller filed a lawsuit in an effort to get City Hall to provide documents relating to its response to the pandemic back in March, starting back in March. I'm wondering why the City has decided to fight that in court rather than just, you know, provide some of those documents?

Mayor: Yoav, we're in the middle of a pandemic. Our City health officials, everyone is out there fighting a crisis right now. That's where our focus is. Meanwhile, the Comptroller is trying to score political points and he's trying to further his mayoral campaign. That's all this is. So let's be clear, when we see a request that's about serving people's needs here and now, that's one thing. When we see someone trying a political stunt, that's another thing. Our focus is on addressing this pandemic right now. Go ahead Yoav.

Question: Well, at the same time as you say that, your people – you're dedicating resources to have a legal battle. You know, the same people fighting that legal battle could also be looking through the documents and providing them?

Mayor: Yoav, look again –

Question: Why did you choose that option?

Mayor: It's not as simple as that. And the bottom line here is we need to keep our focus on protecting the health of New Yorkers right now. That is clearly not the agenda the Comptroller has. So we're just not going to fall for it. Right now, we need everyone's focus on protecting people's lives. And that's what we're doing. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Christina Veiga from Chalkbeat.

Question: Hi, Mayor and Chancellor. Thanks for taking my question. My first is –

Mayor: How are you doing Christina?

Question: Can you hear me? My first is can you say whether you've considered a wide-scale tutoring program? I'm hearing a lot from you about personalized learning and that sort of thing. I'm not sure that there's a whole lot of evidence about how helpful that is for students. Meanwhile, we know that tutoring programs can be incredibly effective. And we know that the UK, for example, they are rolling out sort of a country-wide initiative to do that. So where does tutoring stand if at all in all of this? And what evidence do you have that a digital approach will be effective?

Mayor: I'll turn to the Chancellor. I’ll Just say, I'll speak as a layman and as a parent. I don't have any question in my mind that digital for many, many kids, gives them another avenue and a way to extend learning beyond the school day. And a way to in a targeted fashion, pursue the areas where they need more growth. I think it's another tool that teachers can use to expand upon the work that they do. I feel like that's pretty well established, but I'll let an expert speak to it. Tutoring is great as well. Don't get me wrong. But I do want to say, I think we have a lot of evidence, including since March of how digital can be really helpful to a lot of kids. Go ahead.

Chancellor Carranza: Yes. So, Christina, we're by no means excluding any possible opportunity to address the COVID achievement gap. So tutoring is absolutely being considered as one of the strategies that we will use to help students. That obviously means that we – there's a lot of work to do in terms of working with community-based organizations, working with our universities, working with our school-based communities, our community schools, et cetera. So there's a lot of groundwork that has to happen for a tutoring program. Not the least of which is we need the federal stimulus package to help to fund all of this. That being said there's just reams of research that show that digital interventions, digital strategies while used in conjunction with good pedagogy, good teaching can have some really incredible effects on the learning needs of students. Particularly students that have ground to makeup academically, and students that can help you know, really propel students forward in terms of enrichment activities as well. So we're not talking about one or the other, we're talking about all of it. Because all of our children are going to need as much as we can possibly get to them.

Mayor: Go ahead, Christina.

Question: Thanks. And my other question is sorry, taking notes here as well.

Mayor: We have the same problem sometimes Christina. We’re constantly taking notes in the middle of this, and sometimes forget where we just were. So I have empathy for you.

Question: My other question is – you know, I've totally lost my train of thought. I don't have another question.

Mayor: We’ll come back. We'll bring you back in a moment. Go ahead.

Moderator: We can come back to Christina. The next is Jessica Gould from WNYC.

Question: Hi. So, I wanted to hear a little bit more about the digital curriculum that you're mentioning, because we've heard you say so many times that remote learning really can't do what in-person learning does. But now to address the learning loss we're hearing that a major component will be digital. So, can you just help us square those two things?

Mayor: Jessica, thank you. I really appreciate that question because I totally believe that nothing is as good as in-person learning. And I also totally believe that because we have to close that COVID achievement gap, we're going to need new tools, additional tools. So, I think about the power of what a classroom teacher does. And the ability to reach kids in the hours those kids are with them. And then I think about what happens the rest of the day and the night and the weekend. And what I've felt long before the pandemic was we were leaving opportunity on the table to reach kids more deeply. If we could bring their parents more into the process, that’s why I'm so excited about Parent University as a way to really empower parents to be educational colleagues. Really helping the teachers to expand upon what happens during the school day. But also we've seen with our own eyes that digital can open up all sorts of possibilities for kids, that it will allow a child with the guidance of a teacher, to go farther in those other hours. And really expand upon their learning or focus on some areas where they need to do more work but the school day alone doesn't allow for that. It's based in in-person education, classroom education, and then you expand upon it with digital and many other tools. That's very different than an all remote structure. Which I have been honest about, and I've heard from so many parents and educators their frustrations with the imperfections of all remote. I agree. This is kind of the opposite, really when you think about it, Jessica. This is the foundation is in-person classroom learning. You then augment it and strengthen it academically with digital approaches on top of that. Chancellor.

Chancellor Carranza: Yeah, well done Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: I've been listening to you. I've been listening to the class Chancellor.

Chancellor Carranza: Yeah, Jessica. So, the only thing that I would add to this is that our goal here is not to replace what happens in the classroom, but to provide additional opportunities for the learning to continue. We want students to move from being digital users, to be digital learners. And in order to do that, we need high quality digital curriculum. And I think that sometimes gets lost, the high-quality point of it. So that we want to make sure that what our teachers, what our students, what our parents have access to is of the highest quality that we can all stand behind it and say, yes. For that student that wants to learn even in the evening hours and wants to really activate their intellectual curiosity, they have a way to do it. Because now they have a device and they have a high-quality digital curriculum that they can go farther with as well. You know, sometimes we get caught in talking about what's not working well. And that's important because we need to fix that. But I've also spoken to parents in a lot of town halls where parents have told me stories about how their children have blossomed, where they are learning when they want to learn in the evenings. And they're doing creative projects and they're doing investigations and they're going online and they're finding out more about a subject in a book that they've read about. That's the kind of intellectual curiosity that we want to spark. And that's why it's part of what the new normal will be to address the COVID achievement gap.

Mayor: Go ahead, Jessica.

Question: Sure. So, I also wanted to know where you're getting your guidance about how to overcome learning loss? What are the – who are the experts you're looking to? What are the other events? We've thought about Katrina, Hurricane Katrina before, but what are you drawing on?

Mayor: It's a great question. I'll just start and the Chancellor can speak with much greater expertise. But I think it's really good that you point out that there have been other moments where kids have really been put through so much and other places have had to think about both the academic needs and the emotional needs of our kids. But that said, I don't think there's anything that compares to the reality of the pandemic. Because it has played out now over two school years, because it has literally touched every single family, because the combination of the learning loss, but also the trauma that's been inflicted, and the uncertainty. I think it is particular. But what we do know is there will be a COVID achievement gap that needs to be filled. We know that right now. We need to close that gap and we will close that gap. We know we need a clear vision going into September 2021, a student achievement plan that will move the whole system to help kids come back really strong. We'll going to have to do extraordinary work next school year and every month in between this school year. So, we have some models we can learn from I'm certain, but I also think this is going to be built from a lot of what we've learned now. And a lot of what our educators have innovated just over the months of this year. Go ahead, Chancellor.

Chancellor Carranza: Yes. So Jessica I've lived it. I was superintendent in Houston during Hurricane Harvey and I saw the trauma firsthand. And the recovery from that doesn't happen in a month. It doesn't happen in a year. It doesn't even happen in two years. This is trauma. So that informs a lot of what we're thinking about in terms of a long-term plan. And why we're talking about this right now. This is where we're going. We're literally looking up and looking forward. This is where we're going. That being said, we're looking at where you would – where there's already been literature written about how to help students recover from traumatic experiences. So we're looking at the research. We're also looking and working with our university partners. We have some of the greatest universities right here in our backyard, in New York City. We're conferring with our university partners as well. But in fact, after this press conference, I'm jumping on my weekly call with the 72 largest school system leaders in America. And we have a weekly call where we are talking about this very issue. How are you addressing the learning loss? How are you doing it in your community? Who are you partnering with? What resources have you found? What strategies have you employed? What are you thinking about? How can we work together? So, this is really a collaborative approach that urban school system leaders from across the country are sharing resources, sharing thoughts, sharing research with each other. Because there is no playbook for this, this magnitude of trauma, there is no playbook for that. I will also add that we are also very much looking at what's happened across the world and looking at other countries and in how they've set up different kinds of approaches for helping students with the trauma. So, we're looking everywhere, and, and part of why we're talking about this now is that we want to make sure that our community knows and our parents know that while we're looking down and making sure that right now our children are safe and that our schools are working well, we're also looking forward and we want parents to be part of that conversation and have the knowledge to be partners with us. 

Mayor: Thank you. Do we have Christina again or someone else?

Moderator: We'll go back to Christina for a second question. 

Question: I am ready. Thank you. So, I'm wondering, is there also a plan for students with disabilities for them to get makeup services? I don't see anything in this plan about that, but I believe that that is mandated. 

Mayor: Absolutely. Yeah, go ahead Chancellor. 

Chancellor Carranza: Yeah, that doesn't – that's not part of this plan because that's already happening. So, we're already starting to work with our families of students with disabilities in terms of compensatory services. So, we're already working through that, and again, that's already in action. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Matt Chayes from Newsday. 

Question: Hi, good morning all— 

Mayor: How you doing, Matt?

Question: —hey, how are you? I heard that you guys are going to be administering these low stake tests in the future, but do you or the Chancellor have current quantifiable metrics you can share now to illustrate the extent of the learning loss? 

Mayor: It's an important question, Matt. We're going to be talking about that in the weeks to come, both what we are learning about the current reality of our children, but also the ways we're going to keep improving their education throughout this school year. Obviously crucial to that is what happened today. Schools reopening, and we want to keep them open for our youngest kids for our special needs kids and move increasingly to five-day-a-week instruction in-person, which is I think the single biggest thing we can do here and now to address learning loss and help kids to recover academically and emotionally. So, I think that's sort of the first and most important mission, but we're also going to be constantly talking about what we're doing to improve remote instruction as well, and to assess what's been lost. That is something that's work in progress that we will be reporting on along the way. Chancellor. 

Chancellor Carranza: Yeah, so, obviously people obviously think about grades as a metric for understanding how students are doing academically, but grades are very imperfect and they are not the truest way of actually knowing where a student's skill-set is, what they've mastered, what they haven't mastered, and then charting a course forward for what the plan will be to help them master the subject matter. So, we have literally hundreds of different formative assessments that are used by our schools across the city. What we're talking about is that's – we're not talking about getting rid of that. What we're talking about is how do we have some more common – formative assessments, so that not only teachers have more information, but we as a school system can have that pulse on where our students, where are they going and what, where do we need to support what schools are doing as we go forward? That's what we're talking about here is being able to build that infrastructure so that we have the information for teachers, but we also have information that we can use to help schools and teachers as they're meeting the needs of students.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Question: Another question on testing, but on COVID tests, and by the way, this isn't my second question and apologies. I was having router issues, but did I miss the daily metrics that you guys gave?

Mayor: You mean the indicators?

Question: Yeah.

Mayor: Yeah, no, we did them.

Question: Apologies, I'll go back and get them from staff. My question is to what extent do you see certain communities testing less, or at least discouraging getting tested to avoid a boost of the local positivity rate, and I'm not looking to hear about the longstanding relationships and how extensive your outreach efforts are, but I'm wondering from Dr. Varma and Dr. Long, whether there's any evidence of this sort of testing suppression? 

Mayor: I’ll turn to Dr. Long, but with this statement. I think we're seeing a couple of different things, so I'll be the layman's voice first. I think when we push the idea of testing, when we're out in communities and it's visible and reminding people, I think it does have an impact, and also when people understand that getting tested gives us the clearest view of what's happening. I think going into this crisis and throughout this crisis, there were some places where people thought, oh, getting testing was – getting tested was going to somehow lead to more restrictions. In fact, getting tested means we got an accurate picture of what's going on. A lot of times, it's the reason that restrictions weren't needed when we found out with more and more testing that the amount of spread had been reduced. We saw that in Sunset Park, Soundview. Eventually we saw that in Brooklyn over the last few months. So, as people have heard that and understood that, I think it is encouraged people. Also bluntly as testing has become easier, faster, I think all of these things are affecting the equation. There is some resistance still, obviously – I don't think it's quite the same as folks who have been resistant to masks possibly for ideological reasons, but I think there's some resistance we still have to overcome, but Dr. Long, you want to speak to this of whether you've seen any patterns out there in terms of response to testing? 

Director Long: Yeah, and I appreciate the question because it is an important one. In a nutshell, I would say, no, we're not seeing a lot of resistance to testing. As evidenced by what the Mayor said earlier, we just hit our record for the number of tests done in a single week, a half a million tests done in one week alone. People are getting that more testing equals better control, and what we do on our end is we do look community by community to see if there are any communities that are being undertested or that would benefit from more testing, and then we bring more resources in there, whether it's our mobile units, or if there are trusted doctors in those communities, we give those doctors our own rapid testing machines so that people can go to doctors that they trust and that they're used to going to. The result of all of that is that we're seeing more testing now than ever before, which I judge to be New Yorkers understanding that the value of testing to keep our city safe and doing their part to stop the spread of the virus. 

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Rich Lamb from WCBS 880. 

Question: Hey there, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call. 

Mayor: How's it going, Rich? 

Question: Fine, let me just get on my headset here. 

Mayor:We want you to have your headset on.

Moderator: Thanks. So, in regard to the schools and this new plan that you're talking about, is there any sense that, you know, the kids are like, I don't know – how – we don't have any immediate sense of how far behind they are. We just have a general idea that they're, that they're behind. Is that correct from what I've heard earlier? 

Mayor: I'll start and turn to the Chancellor. Rich, we know there will be a COVID achievement gap – we know this. How much, what it means for each child, these are things we're going to keep studying, keep assessing, but we know for sure much of last school year was disrupted, much of this school year there hasn't been as much in-person learning. Clearly, there's something we have to catch up from – we will. We also know, again, kids have been through a lot emotionally, and that's a different kind of reality that we have to address. So, I think what's crucial here is to acknowledge there's a COVID achievement gap that must be closed. We need a plan to maximize the achievement of our students. So, we put together a 2021 achievement plan to bring the strands together, and it's well in advance. We're nine months out from the opening of school in September 2021. But what we'll do over time is be able to give more specifics to that as we go through this school year and assess kids more and more. Go ahead, Chancellor. 

Chancellor Carranza: Yeah, so Rich let's just – we just want to be very, very clear that schools right now have a good idea of where their students are and where some of those gaps are. So, we're not talking about there is a lack of understanding that. What we're talking about is what is the macro universal plan for the Department of Education in the City of New York, as we look to the future and the next school year. That's really what we're talking about, and so in order to do that, schools know where their students are. I can tell you that in my meetings with principals and with others in the schools, actually working with students on a day-to-day basis they've been very clear that there's been some learning loss. There's been some opportunity loss. So, what we want to be able to do is organize ourselves and have a plan so that we can support what schools are doing, in some cases doing exceptionally well, and in other cases provide the support and resources necessary for schools to implement even more robust plans. That's really what we're talking about and why we're talking about it now. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Rich. 

Question: Okay, so, my question then would be a follow-up, which is I think I've heard the Chancellor say that you know, the remedy for this gap doesn't take a month. It doesn't take a year. It doesn't take two years in some cases. So, how successful is any program to try to make up the gap if you will. I mean, what's the experience on that? 

Mayor: Look, I'm going to make the sort of strategic statement and then the Chancellor can speak from his experience as an educator. Any time people suffer a setback, you know, can take time to overcome, but we also have lots of evidence of people overcoming a setback and then surpassing what was expected of them. We've got to think that way, Rich, this history of this city is filled with examples of when we were knocked down, but we got back up and then we went farther than people expected the city could go. The same as true for a child. One thing that's amazing about kids is their adaptability, their resiliency. You give them love, you give them support, you give them attention, they blossom, they move quickly. You give them new tools to work with. They'll use those tools. So, I think it is true to say overcoming such a crisis. It's not going to be an instant thing. It will take time for sure, and for some kids longer than others, but I don't want us to think that we're stuck in time, Rich. We're going to close that COVID achievement gap, and then we're going to surpass that's what we have to do. Our schools before COVID were reaching heights they had never reached before. We saw it with our graduation rate. We saw it with test results. We saw so many examples of this public schools doing better and better. We're going to pick up where we left off and build upon it. So, nothing’s static. It's how do we take new approaches and new tools and go farther than we could go before. Go ahead. Chancellor. 

Chancellor Carranza: Yeah, I will only add Rich that academics and trauma are two sides of the same coin. So, when we say – and the example that I gave about trauma, it was truly about the trauma. But I also know because I've walked classrooms in New York City for almost three years now, and I can tell you some of the finest educators, I've seen some of the finest pedagogy I've seen some of the most creative, innovative practices that seen, I've seen in the classrooms of New York city schools in every borough. So, I have tremendous faith that our teachers are going to tackle the COVID achievement gap, and they're going to take it on and they're going to make incredible strides with our children, and they're going to close that achievement gap, and that's not going to take them two years. It's not going to take them four years. They're going to take it on and they're taking it on right now.

But I also remember the children when I was in Houston post Hurricane Harvey that, you know, six months after Hurricane Harvey, when there was a rain shower and children heard rain falling on the roof, they absolutely were traumatized they started shaking because they remembered what that was like during that hurricane. That's the kind of emotional trauma that I'm talking about. Students can't learn their ABCs if they're traumatized and you have to do both at the same time. Some take a little longer, but the academics is already being addressed, now we just want to supercharge that as we go into the next school year. 

Mayor: Thank you very much Chancellor. I remember when the Chancellor and I had our first discussions of the experience he went through bringing the Houston schools back after Hurricane Harvey, it was very moving to me and something I'm very appreciative of. That was not easy to do. But this Chancellor did it and we all together are going to work to achieve this next approach to helping our kids in New York City and closing that COVID achievement gap.

Look, as we conclude today, again, Hanukkah is upon us. It is the season of light, the focus on the light and the goodness and the hope, and today, all across New York City, we are seeing the light in our classrooms. We're seeing that joy in the eyes of our children, as they learn again with their friends, with their teachers, we're seeing that light, the heart and the compassion our teachers bring the way they support and love our kids. That's happening again all over this city, 850 schools, and there's another kind of light the light at the end of the tunnel because in a matter of days, the vaccine will start arriving in New York City, and it will be the beginning of turning the page from the COVID era to a new and better future for this city. So, let this be a season of light for all of us. Thank you, everyone.

2020-12-11 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. You know, sometimes we say a moment is historic – maybe we use that word a little too much, but this actually is a historic moment. Over these next few days, as the vaccine arrives in New York City, we start the final phase of the battle against the coronavirus. We've all been through so much. People have fought so hard to get to this day, but it's here and we need to recognize the fact that the vaccine is coming, changes everything. It will allow us to end this pandemic. It will allow us to get on the road to recovery. And I am convinced that is a road that New Yorkers will travel quickly. We're going to recover quickly and get back on our feet and move forward. But it all begins with the vaccine and making sure that we are able to mobilize every resource of the City of New York to get the vaccine to people who need it most and to get that done quickly, effectively, efficiently. That's what we must do. And we must focus all our energies not only on ensuring this happens well and quickly, but that it happens equitably, it happens fairly, it happens according to the priorities that have been set for who needs this vaccine the most.

Look, this coronavirus crisis, it's been many things. One of the things that has been – it's shined a very clear sharp light on the unfairness, the inequality, the disparities that pervade our society. We saw what happened to Black communities, Latino communities, Asian communities in this crisis. We saw how people did not experience the coronavirus equally. It was all about the decades and decades before of health care inequality and economic inequality that brought out such painful disparities. We know the pain that families went through was magnified for so many families in this crisis because of these fundamental inequalities, and we need to confront them and overcome them. So, how we distribute this vaccine is part of righting those wrongs and that means prioritizing the 27 neighborhoods of this city that bore the brunt of this crisis – Black communities, Latino communities, Asian communities that went through the very worst and making sure that the folks in those communities who are most vulnerable get the vaccine early in the distribution.

Look, to get this done we're going to have to do things differently. And that's why months ago we created our Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity. This was a different approach than the City government has ever taken before. We said, let's empower those leaders in all our city agencies, leaders of color, leaders from the very communities most effected, people who literally live in the communities that bore the brunt and feel the lives of their neighbors and are there to make sure that we do things differently, that we address the disparities head on right now – not someday, right now. Taskforce in the truest sense of the word, a group of leaders, holding the entire government accountable from within in every single agency. And I want to thank all the members of the task force for their extraordinary and urgent efforts. I want to thank the Executive Director Sideya Sherman, for her outstanding leadership. She's here with us today. Thank you, Sideya, and everyone has been a part of this, because this is about government changing from within to serve every community in need. So, the task force will make sure that we have a fair and equitable distribution and the task force will work to build trust in communities. We know there is a trust gap. We know a lot of people are uncertain about the vaccine. We have to win people over and show them why it works, why it's real, why they can believe in it.

We're going to focus on the places where the need is greatest, not just in terms of the neighborhoods, but also in terms of public housing. We know that folks who live in NYCHA really bore the brunt of this crisis. We're going to make sure that the vaccine distribution focuses on them as well. So, this is going to be a Herculean effort and we're going to talk about the ways that we make this happen today. In terms of ensuring equity, we're going to turn to the leadership, the First Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Health, who also holds the title of Chief Equity Officer for the Department of Health. And he has put his whole career into ensuring health equity. And he's now going to help lead the way to make sure this vaccine distribution is equitable for all. My pleasure to bring forward Dr. Torian Easterling.

First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As we know, we've have been dealing with parallel pandemics – COVID-19, racial injustice, and social and economic instability. For decades, racist policies and unjust practices have left communities of color and low-income neighborhoods with limited resources and opportunities. Racism shaped so much of our lives from where we live to the medical care we receive, which makes equity crucial to this response. I'd like to say upfront, in order to reach communities, we must listen to communities, and that is what we're doing. Our vaccine planning is developing every day with feedback from community partners, in collaboration with Black, Brown, Indigenous, and Asian communities that were disproportionately affected by the pandemic and should be prioritized. We are partnering with more than 200 community organizations to earn the trust of the community, something that history has stripped of too many government entities.

Let me just say that I saw firsthand during the peak of the pandemic. People were dealing with sickness and death. People reached out to me directly, questions that they had about why and what are we dealing with? What is happening and why do we have people dying in our neighborhoods? We know people will have questions about this vaccine. I'm receiving these questions right now. Is it safe for me, for my family? When will I receive it? This is why relationships are so important. These relationships that we have are not starting from scratch. The bonds between us, the groups, the communities we serve have been active for over many years and they've even led vaccination drives not only with the flu vaccine, but with so many other resources. To give a sense of how these vaccinations events take place, we partner at local houses of worship, community centers, or other popular, easy to reach locations with onsite tables for vaccination, and other resources, such as food distribution and COVID-19 testing. We know that many New Yorkers have been impacted by the history of racism and harmed in medicine, research, and government. So, we don't expect them to come to us. Instead, we'll meet New Yorkers where they live. To provide easy access to the vaccine and to deliver preventative care, we will model the City's successful partnership with NYCHA to expand COVID-19 testing. This plan will include H + H clinics at NYCHA locations and other NYCHA sites to support vaccine distribution.

Further, we're going to need everyone. We're going to need every individual and organization to help be the ambassadors to bust myths and to share facts. So, we will be hosting virtual community conversations to share information on vaccine planning and to provide opportunities for community members to raise questions and concerns. We're going to implement a [inaudible] model for community partners to host webinars about COVID-19 vaccine and engage trusted messengers to deliver important information about the vaccine. We are already partnering with faith-based partners in the faith sector advisory and we will continue to do so.

Last June, as the Mayor had mentioned, when the coronavirus was devastating Black and Brown communities, City Hall created a task force on racial inclusion and equity, co-chaired by the First Lady and Deputy Mayor Thompson. To support vaccine efforts, the task force led by senior City leadership of color will continue to work hand-in-hand with communities to ensure residents that would need to be prioritized will receive the vaccine. We will promote transparency and address mistrust, the concerns around vaccine safety, and misinformation we know they exist. We will also monitor vaccine uptake and be prepared to act quickly. If areas are not getting vaccinated as much as the rest of the city, we will respond. We've recognized that there is no reopening without gaining your trust and helping New Yorkers make an informed decision about accepting the vaccine. And for that to happen, there must be healing in our communities. It has to be a partnership with a shared goal of recognizing and repairing a legacy that has compromised the health of too many New Yorkers. We will hold ourselves accountable for racial oppression within our systems. We will engage our people in organizations in New York to make New York safe. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Easterling. And thank you for your leadership and thank you to all the members of the task force who are going to make sure this is an equitable process. Now, everyone, we have so much to do in the coming days as the vaccine arrives in New York City. And again, one thing we do in New York City, we do things big. We're going to do a big, fast distribution of this vaccine. When it comes in, we're going to get it right out to the people who need it and keep going and going and going. As much vaccine as we get, we're going to get to the people as quickly as possible. To do that, we need a command center. And so, our Vaccine Command Center opens on Monday. The Vaccine Command Center is going to be the go-to location to make sure that the vaccine distribution is fast and effective and fair. The Vaccine Command Center is going to be the place where we see the whole picture, everything happening in the city, in every one of our health care providers and all the places where we're working with communities – one place that has the picture of the whole city, the air traffic control for the vaccination effort. This is unprecedented, because it's not just about logistics. It's about making sure we win public trust. It's about ensuring equity. It's about making sure there's a lot of information and transparency out there to get people involved, let them know what's happening, gain trust through transparency. That's what we have seen has worked throughout the coronavirus crisis. So, the Vaccine Command Center is going to be the indispensable piece of this equation. Now, we'll be putting out regular updates on the vaccinations, what's happening around the city, and the work that is being done through the Vaccine Command Center with all City agencies. It's not just Department of Health, it's not just Health + Hospitals. We're going to be working with Social Services, with NYCHA, with Department of Education, you name it. Every part of the City government is going to be a part of this. Obviously, our hospitals, community organizations, nonprofits, everyone's going to be in this together. But it will need an extraordinary kind of coordination and a forceful effort to make sure all the pieces come together.

Leading this effort and ensuring that this command center comes alive and becomes the difference-maker in the vaccination effort will be our Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services. And also, she is serving as co-chair for our Task Force for Racial Inclusion and Equity. My pleasure to introduce to you Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog.

Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog, Health and Human Services: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As the Mayor said, starting Monday, December 14th, the Vaccine Command Center will begin operations housed right across the street from City Hall at 253 Broadway. It will have a twofold focus, building trust through community outreach and engagement ahead of widespread vaccine distribution in the community and real-time reporting, troubleshooting, and communication as a vaccine is distributed. This multi-agency command center will react in real time as an air traffic control to the vaccine, with agencies from NYCHA, the Office of Emergency Management, to Community Affairs, all in the room together, working in real-time to problem solve any issues as they arise. An example of this could be, vaccines are not showing up to a certain community site. The command center would work directly with the provider on tracking down additional vaccines or directing patients to another location. Another example could be the command center, working with a partner on the ground to identify certain communities where trust in the vaccine might be low. We would shift resources and work directly with trusted community voices to not only educate, but build the infrastructure to give the vaccines.

An additional critical part of the command center will be transparency and reporting. We'll be reporting out the number of people getting vaccinated, breakdowns on borough, demographic age, and many more indicators, ensuring New Yorkers have up-to-date information and data, but also making sure we have an equitable distribution. While the command center will be focusing on all neighborhoods across the five boroughs, it will be paying particular attention to the 27 hardest hit neighborhoods. This means reaching out at the grassroots level to ensure New Yorkers know where the vaccine is being distributed and administered. Deputy Mayors and agencies across the administration are contributing staff to focus on maximizing our ability to provide information to all New Yorkers and our City workforce, and to maximize trust in our vaccine mobilization. The command center will pay a key part in our fight back against COVID-19, ensuring New Yorkers have faith and trust in the vaccine while creating a stronger, more equitable and healthier New York City. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Deputy Mayor. And I want everyone to know that Melanie Hartzog has been really one of the heroes of the City's fight against the coronavirus. Her previous role as our budget director, there was plenty to do in that role, but she also became one of the leading forces in pulling together the initiative to build up testing in this city and to ensure that we had what we needed. That crucial element of the equation that we were deprived of by the federal government to begin with has become, over time, one of the strong suits of New York City, having now a huge amount of testing available, and Melanie's one of the people who made that happen. So, thank you for that great effort and thank you for the leadership you're providing now as we opened the command center on Monday.

All right, with that, let me turn to our indicators today. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Unfortunately, this is the first day that we've seen this number go above the threshold – 205 patients admitted. Now, that's obviously very worrisome. The threshold is 200. We've been holding the line up to now, but this is a sign that the hospitalization issues becoming a bigger challenge and one that we're going to have to confront, all of us are going to have to be part of addressing. The hospitalization rate per 100,000 people, 2.48 today. We want to get that under two. So, again, that number has also gone up – that's worrisome. New cases – well, this one is one where we've been blunt that we've been way past the threshold for quite a while. Now, again, we're including probable and confirmed cases. Today's number on the seven-day average, 2,559 – a number that's way too high and that we have a lot of work to do to bring back down. And, finally, percentage of New York City residents testing positive on a seven-day rolling average – today's report, 5.35 percent. Again, we want to be under five percent. So, unfortunately, across the board, we see that these indicators have all unfortunately surpassed their thresholds. This is an indicator – this is a sign, I should say, of how deep this crisis is right now, how much work we have to do to fight back the coronavirus as we, thank God, implement the vaccination in the program that will change everything. This is a crucial moment – and I'm going to say it every chance I get – everyone has to be part of this. Everyone needs to wear your mask, practice social distancing. If you have travel plans, canceled them now. Stay home for the holidays. Stay close to the very few loved ones who are close by. This is what we need to do to get through this last push until the vaccine is more widely distributed and we turn the tide.

I'll do a few words in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog, First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling, Executive Director of the Task Force Sideya Sherman, Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma, and Dr. Mitchell Katz, CEO of Health + Hospitals. With that, we'll go to Andrew from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Can you walk us through a little more of the timeline of the next few days in terms of the vaccine? When exactly we expect some of these frontline health care workers to get their vaccines?

Mayor: Yeah, I'll turn to Dr. Easterling and our other doctors to say, we're going to be reporting as we have a final information, Andrew. We will keep you updated. I know everyone in this city is anxious to know more and our colleagues in the media, we want to keep you updated, but we need to lock down final facts in each case. What we can say, and it's in a matter of days, we'll be in a position to start giving the initial vaccines. Dr. Easterling?

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Absolutely correct, Mr. Mayor. Where we are right now, we have moved along in the phase – an independent committee has just looked at the data, I think, which is very promising, because we want to make sure that we are sharing information about the data. And, I think, as we're moving forward, the next step is getting the approval on our emergency use authorization, which we hope to be next week – this weekend, excuse me – and then, next week, really hoping that the vaccines are available. And so, the focus is really going to be vaccinating long-term care facilities, folks in nursing homes, as well as individuals who are working in high-risk settings. And so, I think the important part is that things are moving along, which is very promising.

Mayor: Amen. Dr. Varma, Dr. Katz, do you want to add anything?

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Nothing for me.

Mayor: Dr. Katz?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Just to say that the health care system is ready to start vaccinating the people at the highest risk of COVID who are working as heroes throughout our system. And we will be working closely with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to get them vaccine as soon as possible. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: [Inaudible] question is, our anticipation is that Governor Cuomo will soon announce that because the indicators have not stabilized on hospitalizations, he's going to order indoor dining in New York City closed. What is your message to New York City restaurant owners who haven't gotten a stimulus? Who haven't gotten any aid, and many of them may well go out of business over this next period of time where they're closed? What do you say to them?

Mayor: I feel tremendous empathy for restaurant owners. A lot of them are mom and pop businesses that put their lifetime into them. We want them to survive. We need them to survive. We need the – you know, as a result of indoor dining alone, we think almost a hundred thousand restaurant workers got their job back. Every single worker we care about. But, Andrew, at the same time, these numbers don't lie. Look at what we had today – for the first time, unfortunately, all three of our indicators are past their thresholds. That's a second wave. We have to fight it back to save lives and we have to fight it back to start our recovery. If the Governor announces restrictions, I support him a hundred percent because we have to protect against the worst. The worst is the vaccine just grows – excuse me, the virus just grows and grows, that more and more people get infected, our hospitals start to get stressed and then get to the point where they can't provide the service that people need. That puts lives in danger. I guarantee you, if that keeps happening, then it's going to be a lot longer time before we're able to recover economically. That puts those restaurants in much greater danger for the long-term. So, I feel for them, but sometimes it's smart to say, look, if you take an action, now you can stop much worse things from happening later, and thank God also for the restaurants, outdoor dining is now permanent, which is an option we did not have in the past, and obviously take-out and delivery, which New Yorkers have embraced and they're really working to support their local restaurants. So, I feel for them, but I also need – know in my heart we have got to stop the spread of this virus quickly to be able to turn this situation around.

Moderator: Next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal.

Mayor: Katie?

Question: Hi, good morning. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah. How are you doing?

Question: Good. Thanks. So, I have a question and it's I guess it's similar to what Andrew asked, but for the average essential worker listening at home, or, you know, waiting to hear details on how this will roll out. Can you give them anything? I mean, is it that they have to call the city? Does the city call them? Is there a master list of who is prioritized? just a little bit more detail on how it works when the vaccine arrives?

Mayor: The important thing, it's an important question, Katie. Thank you. The important thing to recognize is the initial categories and it's been true federal, state, local government. We all agree. The focus on the most vulnerable health care workers, the focus on folks who work in nursing homes, the focus on folks who live in nursing homes. That's certainly going to be where the first weeks of this vaccine priority are. Over time, there will be more and more distribution to other folks who work in health care settings, first responders, essential workers, folks who are over 65 and-or have preexisting conditions. This will play out week by week. So, I understand people are anxious for more information, but I can say essential workers will get instructions as it gets to be that time. We want to reach essential workers with this vaccine, but we got to do the highest priority folks first, but you're going to be hearing effectively daily updates on the status of the vaccine and who's next and how it's going work. People – I would never ask New Yorkers to be patient, we're not a patient people, but people should be confident the updates will keep coming, including very granular information about where people in each category can turn to get those vaccinations, but we don't have all that yet today. We do know where we're starting with those first categories. Go ahead.

Question: Thanks, and if the doctors on the call want to just talk a little bit about the outreach being done looking, you know, to educate people in the city who might have real or even not real concerns about the vaccine and everything that comes from it. You know, I think its reported, you've all seen a lot of people sharing this information and then unfortunately can spread pretty quickly. So, do you want to talk a little bit about that outreach all across the city on how to reach different communities who have doubt?

Mayor: Yeah, absolutely. Let me start with Dr. Varma, who has been down this road many times in his career and he and I have talked about it a lot. So, Dr. Varma, then Dr. Easterling, and Dr. Katz, anything they want to add, but to the question of how we, Dr. Varma, how we educate people about the vaccine and give people information that will instill trust. Could you speak to that from your experience?

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, thank you very much. We have a long experience working, you know, everywhere around the world, everywhere around the city in how to build trust in vaccinations. But first and most important thing is to obviously meet people where they are what are their, what is their language? What are their cultural experiences? What is their history? And combine that with what we know about the data, but the information that we have ourselves about the safety and effectiveness of these vaccines, there is a very large concern that we have that, you know, people are going to be very hesitant and refuse because of misinformation spreading, and we're absolutely sensitive to understanding why people might want to believe that information. There was a long history of the medical system not serving the needs correctly of people, particularly from Black and Brown communities. So, we have a lot of experience and understanding how we can take the data on what we know about safety right now, which is that these vaccines are both safe and effective and discuss them in a way that is culturally sensitive and also sensitive to the history of people's experiences. Through that approach. We have greatly increased influenza vaccinations this season and have some of the highest vaccine acceptance rates around the country for the routine vaccinations.

Mayor: As I said, I'm going to turn to Dr. Easterling and Dr. Katz. I also want to see after that, if Sideya Sherman wants to jump in on this question. So, Dr. Easterling.

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: I would just add that it's so important that communities and the public knows that we're going to be standing shoulder to shoulder with communities, and this is something that we're already doing currently and will continue to do as we are sharing information about the vaccine. We're hosting you know, summits with faith based organizations, our flu and faith summit with over 200 houses of worship across the city, several denominations talking about the vaccine, and this is a way that we can make sure that we're addressing this information in this trust, and we're already hearing about the key concern as I shared earlier. One of the key concerns is "is the vaccine safe for me" and we're addressing those questions, but we can also lean on the opportunity of working with organizations, activating them, making sure that they have the resources that they can do the outreach themselves, and we're also partnering with them in the communities that they're working in.

Mayor: And I want to note with appreciation that throughout these last months, Dr. Easterling has been in direct contact with community leaders, faith leaders, elected officials across all the communities in New York City and really been one of the bridges to the community leaders who needed that health information to be able to spread you know, honest, reliable facts out to communities, and thank you for that, doctor, that's been tremendously helpful. Dr. Katz, you want to add?

President Katz: Yes. Mr. Mayor, you can count on Health + Hospitals, which is the largest hospital system in our country and a very trusted provider of services to low-income people, to the Black and Brown communities, to immigrants. We take care of over a million people a year. We have 400,000 patients for whom we are the primary provider on an ongoing basis, and we will be vaccinating those people as the vaccine rolls out to New York City. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Sideya Sherman, do you want to add?

Executive Director Sideya Sherman, Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Wait, we can't hear you well enough. Hold on. Can you try again?

Executive Director Sherman: You hear me?

Mayor: Yeah.

Executive Director Sherman: You can hear me.

Mayor: Yeah.

Executive Director Sherman: Great. So, just to reiterate the points that were raised by the doctors we are really relying on community leaders, local stakeholders, to be the credible messengers on the ground. This is ongoing. This communication has existed since the start of the pandemic and it's continued, and it will be key to the strategy and ensuring that people feel safe and comfortable and know that the vaccine is accessible to them, and so that's a key piece of how the work would move forward, and obviously the leaders across the task force, many of whom come from the communities that were most impacted will be at the forefront of that.

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Michael from the Daily News.

Question: Morning guys.

Mayor: Hey, Michael, how are you doing?

Question: I'm good. Thanks for asking. Couple of questions. First, on – you know, you spoke about misinformation as far as the vaccine, and I realize this might be a bit lower on your priority list, but is there been any effort to track the spread of misinformation? Is there the sense that this is you know, kind of an intentional spread of misinformation or just something that organically happens to kind of years of distrust?

Mayor: Yeah, I would say, honest answer, we're not right now focused on a tracking effort. We know there's years and decades and centuries of mistrust that we're addressing. We also know there's an anti-vaxxer movement out there, but I think the best way to confront all that is with the facts. So, again, I want turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Easterling, just to talk about why the vaccine is reliable and how much vetting has been done, because this is what people need to hear. Dr. Varma.

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, I've been following the information from FDA and discussing extensively with my colleagues both here in the United States and around the world. Everything we know about the vaccine that is about to be authorized by the FDA is that it is both safe and effective, not just in helping people you know, who are of young age but across an entirely broad spectrum. Now I say all that also saying that we, it doesn't mean that we, we stopped looking for, for events. We know from the experience in the UK that a small, very small number of people with a history of very severe allergies can get an allergic reaction. So, we always need to be watching and always need to be careful, but I can say confidently that I, myself, my wife, who's a pediatrician, my kids who are all 16 and above. We'll all get the vaccine when it becomes our turn in line to get there, and, and I think that the quality of the data presentations that you saw in the past week not just from FDA and the companies, but then independent analysts and advice has really been exceptional, extraordinary, and so I think all eyes are watching and that's boosting all of our confidence in what we know right now.

Mayor: Thank you so much. Dr. Easterling.

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Yes, and I think to address misinformation we're certainly going to be leaning on our trusted messengers, and as the Mayor mentioned, I'm meeting with community leaders every day on a weekly basis, talking to them about how we're responding to the pandemic, and now I'm talking to them about the vaccine. I am letting them know very clearly that I am taking the vaccine, and I know that the vaccine is safe, given everything that Dr. Varma has just mentioned, and my family is also planning to take the vaccine when our place in line comes. So, I think that's going to really help address the misinformation, really making sure that individuals like myself, other providers, trusted messengers are out in the community, really talking to residents.

Mayor: And I want to note Michael, one more point [inaudible] I turned to the Deputy Mayor. I mean, part of why we are having a command center in place is of course, again, the massive logistical effort now, controlling the operational dynamics and making sure they're effective, but it's also to have a single point of contact where the information comes out, the confirmation that people what's happening, the consistent transparency and the troubleshooting. If we see places, for example, in this city where the concern or the distrust is causing people not to take the vaccine, we will have a targeted effort to reach deeper into the community, to restore that trust and give people the evidence and faith they need to engage. So, Deputy Mayor, could you speak a little bit about.

Deputy Mayor Hartzog: Sure, I will just add that in addition to all the work that Torian talked about in engaging CBOs, just want to remind everyone that there was a lot of concern at the height of the pandemic and trust – issues of trust, and we launched the Test and Trace Corps, and at that time, I think there was a general concern of one, if we could actually build out that level of infrastructure, but two, engage communities, meet them where they're at with their concerns around testing, where to go, is it safe to get tested? When we had a scarcity, how do we actually target who gets the testing? And now we're at a point where I think we've got a tremendous amount of infrastructure, trust. We've hired from communities as part of the Test and Trace Corps, and I think we will be leveraging all of that apparatus as we move forward with the command center in partnership with the Department of Health to actually build on that trust that we have as we move into this next phase of vaccinations.

Moderator: Next is Kala from PIX 11.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to go over the list of vaccination sites earlier. I believe you mentioned schools as a possible site. Is that still the case and how will that work? Like what would that look like?

Mayor: Kala, we're going to look at a whole range of options and, you know, I want to say that it is early in the process. I think it's important to recognize that the priorities we've talked about so far would be to focus on the most vulnerable frontline health care workers, nursing home residents, and workers, other health care workers, first responders, folks who are most vulnerable to the disease. Again, folks over 65 with preexisting conditions, we've got a lot of priorities we have to get through. We're certainly going to be looking down the line at schools and many other sites and ways to distribute the vaccine. But I want to caution that that is farther out. We got to first do the highest priority groups and the command center will be focusing on those priorities and building them out, and as I said, we're going to be giving you very, very regular updates on how each piece is going to go, but the schools are certainly farther down the line, given the other priorities. Go ahead, Kala.

Question: I had talked to some people yesterday who had mentioned that they would not get vaccinated because of their distrust in the government and the nation's history with vaccines, and particularly African-Americans. I know you've talked a bit about setting an example and going into certain neighborhoods and going to them, but how, if someone has such a strong opinion, especially of distrust, how do you break that to get through them?

Mayor: Kala, it's such an important question. Thank you, I think there's several ways. I'm going to turn to Dr. Easterling. After I say a few things, I, we, first of all, the distrust is real institutional racism, structural racism, the horrible complicity, often some members of the medical community in racist acts. I mean, there's a reason why people have this distrust that said we are here today, fighting this pandemic with leaders, from communities of color, playing key roles, people who are trying with every fiber in their being to change that history and create a new reality, and I do think folks who are distrustful will see the leaders, both of the citywide health effort, but also community leaders who they trust, who they know, who are confirming to them how important this is, and then I think as with everything else in human life, leading by example, as all of us are getting the vaccine, it will encourage people. As people talk to friends, neighbors, you know, folks in their family about the vaccine and had a good experience, it will encourage people, but it's going to take a lot of work to overcome that mistrust, and we intend to do that persistent work. Dr. Easterling.

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I would say just plainly we know that there are many reasons why individuals in the Black and Brown community, my own community, are distrustful of government distrust for the medical system. As the Mayor had mentioned, we know that there is a history of medical experimentation and racist practices in this country. We need to make sure that we have our leaders stepping out, such as myself. I know that the process that has been put in place has given me the reassurance that this vaccine is safe, that I'm going to take this vaccine, and I will be out talking with community leaders, community members, letting them know why I know that this vaccine is safe and that the process has really allowed us to understand the information. But we're also going to be activating messages. It's not just going to be me. It's going to be this entire city. We are activating our houses of worship. We're activating our community based organizations on a daily basis and this is the work that we have to do. This has to be a collective approach really to address the mistrust and really reassure New Yorkers why this vaccine is safe. Thank you.

Moderator: Next is Rich from WCBS Radio.

Question: Mr. Mayor, given the fact that there could be some – I mean, by the way, good morning. I'm sorry. I'm starting running into the question here –

Mayor: Rich, you never have to be sorry. You have fabulous manners. Good morning, how are you?

Question: Right. I'm okay. So I'm just wondering in regard to curing the doubts about the vaccine, you know your son Dante was a pretty effective spokesperson for you during the campaign. Is there any thought that the First Lady and Dante might be involved in this effort?

Mayor: Well, I won't speak for my adult son who will make his own decisions. We certainly, you know, Dante is a really thoughtful young man and if he wants to get involved, I would welcome it. I am certain Chirlane will be involved. She believes fundamentally it's important to go out and educate communities and lead by example. So again, when it's her turn, when it's my turn for the vaccine, we're going to do that very publicly to show people we have faith in it. Go ahead, Rich.

Question: And those numbers that you you mentioned today, I mean how would you characterize, you know, where the numbers have been going? I mean, are you surprised, is this coming from any particular place? Is it citywide? I know they've rolling average as citywide, but do you see spikes that are driving these numbers upwards in particular neighborhoods?

Mayor: Look Rich, I think first of all, we have a national problem right now. Obviously there's a huge uptick all over the country. This is now clearly a second wave in New York City that has reached every part of the city. True, there are some communities that the numbers are even higher, and I want to keep reminding people that is in some cases directly related to the use of masks or unwillingness to use masks, we really need everyone using masks. We need everyone going out and getting tested, but that said, overwhelmingly, we've got a citywide problem. So I've been talking regularly to the Governor. I spoke to him this morning. Our teams are talking all the time about what would be the appropriate measures to protect our hospitals, what are the appropriate measures to stop the spread, which restrictions will be needed? We are at a point where we got to realize that we've got to do everything in our power to turn this back and hold the line for the vaccine to do its work because every single additional New Yorker who gets the vaccine is one step in the right direction. So we could just stop this spread long enough to let the vaccine really come into play in a big way, that's when we turn the corner. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Yes. good morning all, good morning, Mr. Mayor. So I want to follow actually on [inaudible], you know being that you and the doctors on the panel today are saying that you will all publicly get the vaccine. Have you thought about recruiting let's say sports figures or people in the performance world, you know, notable people to do that as part of aim?

Mayor: I think that's a great point. Juliet, look, the first thing to say is this vaccine will be distributed equitably. So it doesn't matter how famous you are, how powerful you are, how rich you are, this is going to be given out in the order it's supposed to be given out. And again, that starts with frontline health care workers and nursing home residents and workers, not celebrities, not rich people, but that being said as notable New Yorkers get their moment in line, when their priority comes up, I think it's a great point. There are so many famous New Yorkers, iconic New Yorkers who are so devoted to the city and want to help us come back strong, I think a lot of them will be very willing to come forward and give people faith in this vaccine through their own example. So yes, that is an approach we're going to use for sure. But we're going to do it in a way that respects when each person is actually supposed to get the vaccine. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: Okay, and thank you. And also I guess I wanted to get a little more specific on how you will be informing people? Are you going to have, let's say meetings in NYCHA developments or giving out flyers or email blast? What – how directly are you contacting people about either, you know, convincing them this is safe or when it's their time for the vaccine?

Mayor: Let me turn to Sideya Sherman who has done extraordinary work at NYCHA and knows it so well and also the great work she's doing as the Executive Director of the task force, because this has been one of her areas of focus, how we reach deep into communities and get the word out, especially from trusted messengers. Sideya?

Executive Director Sherman: Sure, can everyone hear me?

Mayor: Yes.

Executive Director Sherman: Yes. Okay, great. So yeah, to the Mayor's point, we've – most of this communication has already started, we've been an ongoing communication with community-based organizations, tenant leaders throughout the pandemic, and that those conversations are starting to switch towards informing and educating people about the vaccine. And so we will use all the communication channels that we have at our disposal from robo calls to emails, to flyers, but we also have regular forums with tenant leaders for instance that are happening with Department of Health. And so those will continue as people get closer to their place in line. There will also obviously be direct communication to New Yorkers from the Health Department, from practitioners, and so we'll be working across agencies to make sure that we have consistent communication, consistent flyers and messaging. But we also will ensure that in the communities where we know we need an extra push that we're working with folks on the ground to help carry for us that message and to help amplify the information. And we also will be relying on, again, our tenant leaders, community leaders, to really be the trusted messengers, and also to give us the information we need to constantly adapt our distribution strategy, as well as our messaging.

Mayor: Yeah and two more points, Juliet, one, you know, we've been working deeply with faith communities, our Center for Community and Faith Partnerships doing extraordinary work. I'm a firm believer that we can reach the grassroots much better working with our faith partners, so there'll be a big piece of this. And then the Command Center. I want to note that one of the things that Deputy Mayor Hartzog and her team will be looking for all the time is where are those places where we need to reinforce, where we need to send in more folks to do outreach, we need to get more community leaders involved. If we're seeing a trust gap in a certain neighborhood, the Command Center is going to determine how to focus on that and get those vaccination levels up to make sure that everyone gets their fair share. Go ahead.

Moderator: For our last question, we'll go to Abu from Bangla Patrika –

Mayor: I don't know if your microphone is on. Abu?

Moderator: Abu.

Mayor: Okay.

Question: How are you?

Mayor: Hey Abu, how you doing?

Question: Good, how are you?

Mayor: Good, good.

Question: My question is when the vaccination is going to start, what could be changed a scenario, like that school will be – the students who are going to the school, the school is open for everyone and the you don't have to wear the mask. I mean, what are the rules when someone get the vaccination?

Mayor: So I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Easterling, look again, we're going to do this in phases, and we're going to be very public, very informative about who's up when and where it's going to happen and one thing or another, but in terms of how someone actually gets the vaccination, that when you get to the hospital or doctor's office, what happens next? Dr. Easterling, can you give us a little bit of that play-by-play?

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Sure, I think an important part to remember that we're going to be prioritizing certain groups right now, as the Mayor had just mentioned. Right now we're focusing on long-term care facilities and individuals who are working in high risk settings, and I think the important part to remember is that we're not out of the woods yet. Once the vaccine is administered to some of the groups, and obviously we're going to continue to expand and reach out to more communities, but we will still need to continue to wear a mask, keep six feet apart, and make sure that we are monitoring our own health because we're – we know that, you know, that the vaccine is going to protect individuals, but we just do not know how much it's going to really prevent the spread. And so I think it's going to be really important to make sure that folks understand that as we are rolling out our vaccine plan to continue to follow our core four and get tested as well.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz, Dr. Varma, again, give a little more of the flavor of how vaccination actually works person by person in a medical facility? Dr. Katz?

President Katz: Well, yes, for us, sir, there'll be two parts once there's vaccine available, we will be providing it to those people at highest risk in the hospital. So people who are intubating patients, which is where you insert a breathing tube, ICU nurses, respiratory therapists, and people who are at the highest risk of infection and we'll work our way down until we've vaccinated all of the people with patient facing functions. Beyond that, sir, we look forward and working with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to vaccinating all our patients starting in the same priority groups, as you've already stated. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma, I want you to make it very granular and real just what a vaccination is like, how it is like for the individual patient to go in and vaccinate. Just paint the picture for us.

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, no, absolutely. So I think when we get to the stage where vaccines are going to be more widely available, this is going to look for people somewhat similar to their regular experience getting a vaccine, whether it's themselves or the kids and maybe a little bit different because we're going to be expanding our efforts. So what you're going to be doing, is you're going to be either going to your regular medical provider, or you're going to be going to one of the special clinics that we're going to have set up for you to get vaccinated. You're going to have to fill out some basic information to describe your medical history. We need to make sure you don't have any reasons why we would be concerned about your risk. You'll then get some information, what's called the vaccine information sheet which describes what vaccine you're getting. It's going to describe any known side effects of the vaccine, what you should do if you develop any side effects, basically all of the information that you could ever want that'll be available to you in all of the languages that are common here in New York City. And then you will see your provider, and your provider will usually be a nurse or somebody who's authorized to provide vaccines, they'll go through the regular procedural, you'll roll down – roll up your sleeves, they'll use a little bit of of an alcohol rub or cleaning solution, and then you'll have your vaccine.

What people need to know that's important is that right now the vaccine needs to be given in two doses. So that will be the first time you get the vaccine and then after 21 days, three weeks or later, you'll be called back and you'll get reminders and you'll need to remind yourself to come back to get your second dose. We know there was some protection after the first dose, but the full protection really comes up to the second. And then it is possible for you to have some side effects like achiness in your arm, a low grade fever, to feel kind of tired, particularly after that second injection, but what we know right now is that is a sign that the vaccine is working. So it's important for you to be in touch with your doctor if you have any concerns, but those are also good signs that your body is responding the way it should.

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead, Abu.

Question: Second question is about [inaudible], you know, there is a lot of people didn't have jobs and they are not paying the rent and the recent executive order I think has expired as well. So if those people are evicted from the house or apartment, or do we –I mean, what is the next plan, or do you have any other option you are thinking about? The people who are unable to pay the rent or the people who are not - also the homeowner?

Mayor: Yes, Abu, such an important question. Listen, first of all, I think the greatest opportunity to address this issue comes through the stimulus process in Washington. There should be direct relief to renters who cannot afford to rent, that also would allow direct relief for people that own the buildings and, you know, need to pay mortgages. This is the kind of thing the federal government should be doing right now to help people survive this crisis and get back on their feet and foster recovery. The State and the City have worked together to avoid people being evicted who can't pay the rent. I always say, Abu, if someone can pay the rent, they should keep paying the rent. I want to make sure that the protections in place are reaching those who need them, who have had their income taken away, but there's obviously a lot of people who still have their income and should be paying their rent. But for the hundreds of thousands of folks who have been disrupted, their lives disrupted, their livelihoods disrupted by this crisis, the eviction moratoriums are crucial. The court system is obviously not acting on many evictions right now, which is a good thing. We need to keep those moratoriums in place and a grace period after the crisis abates.

Further, we need something else and I've been calling for this for months, I really hope the legislature will take this up and get it done, we need a new law that will allow for a payment plan structure, something that can be universally recognized so that if a tenant cannot afford the rent because they've been affected by the crisis, that they are allowed to stay in their apartment, when they finally have income, again, start paying rent again and start catching up on past rent over time in an acceptable plan, giving tenants the security they can stay in their apartment, giving landlords and security that eventually there'll be made whole. We need a structure like that to protect everyone. The thing we cannot have is anyone losing their apartment in the middle of a crisis through no fault of their own. We just can't let that happen. So we're going to keep working with the State to keep those protections in place.

Okay everyone, as we conclude, very simple, big moment for New York City, vaccine about to arrive, our Command Center up and running on Monday to distribute the vaccine, we are ready with a plan to ensure that that distribution will be equitable, will be fair, will be focused on the folks who need it most. Look, here is a moment that will turn the tide for New York City, but it's also a beginning of something bigger, it's the beginning of the recovery and rebirth of New York City. And as we create that recovery and rebirth, it also is a chance to disrupt a status quo that was in too many ways broken. All that distrust we've talked about has come from too many bad experiences, too much pain, too much discrimination, unfairness. We are not going to return to that status quo. So as we fight back the coronavirus and we show that that can be done in an equitable and fair manner with the voices of community truly heard and respected, that also provides a template for the New York City ahead. That has to be a better and fairer place for all and everyone will be a part of that work together. Thank you, everybody.

2020-12-11 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: So, right now, if you want to call and ask the Mayor a question 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280, or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag, #AsktheMayor. And good morning, Mr. Mayor, welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. How are you doing?

Lehrer: I'm doing all right. And I told everybody that you were later than usual because you were doing a news conference announcing vaccine protocols for the city now that it's been approved by the FDA. What can you tell us?

Mayor: Well, Brian, very important day for New York City because we expect a vaccine very, very shortly to start arriving in the city. We are setting up on Monday, a command center, a Vaccine Command Center that will control the distribution and the logistics, but also beyond that, the community outreach, the efforts to ensure equity and fairness in the distribution, the public information and transparency that I think is going to be crucial for people feeling more trust in the vaccine and in the process of distribution. This has to be fast and intense, this distribution effort, but it also must be fair. And today at the press conference, Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog, who's also a co-chair of our Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity, talked about how the command center will guarantee equitable distribution with a heavy focus on the 27 communities of color most affected by COVID in this city, and Dr. Torian Easterling, who's the First Deputy Commissioner for the Health Department and the Chief Equity Officer, talked about the kind of community outreach and trust-building that will be needed in African-American, Latino, and Asian communities, working with community leaders, working with faith leaders, public housing resident leaders, to really convince people that this is the right thing to do. We know there's a lot of distrust in communities of color toward government, and a lot of concern about the vaccine. Leaders of color in this administration, in this City government are going to be taking the lead, going out into communities, talking very personally about the fact that the vaccine is safe and that it is important to turning the tide on the coronavirus. And so today we laid out just how that operational work will happen, but also the work of equity and fairness.

Lehrer: So, there's that double-edged sword there that there's more distrust, presumably in communities of color in the medical establishment for all kinds of historical and present reasons that might dissuade people from taking a vaccine. At the same time, we know the COVID case and hospitalization and death racial disparities have been so stark, and people are wondering if there's going to be enough of a prioritization. So, I know you said something about that in what you just said but tell us more. How is that accounted for in determining who gets to be vaccinated early on?

Mayor: Well, first – to your first part of your point, Dr. Torian Easterling spoken as a Black man about that history of racial discrimination in American medicine. He talked about the horrible experimentation on the Black people that occurred over the years. That was another form of structural racism, that left a horrible legacy and distrust beyond any other kind of distrust that people have towards government [inaudible] trust in the medical community. And he took that head on and he said, look his job as First Deputy Health Commissioner is to show people that this vaccine is about solving a problem, about serving a community that's really borne the brunt and to make it very personal, he talked about he and his family would be taking the vaccine and he would be going out into communities to testify about its effectiveness and safety and getting more and more community allies on board. So, I think, Brian, it is about being blunt about that bad history and empowering leaders of color to lead the way to make sure that this distribution happens.

And we've been very clear, and I want to say it plainly, it doesn't matter if you're wealthy or famous, if you're a celebrity, you're not cutting the line in New York City when it comes to the vaccine distribution. The first level of distribution goes to frontline health care workers, a lot of whom are not highly paid people. This is the people who are protecting all of us and saving our lives and, obviously, nursing home residents and nursing home workers. And then the focus is on other health care workers, first responders, then on folks who are over 65 and/or have those preexisting serious medical conditions. And we're going to focus, as we start to go into those bigger categories, on communities of color that have borne the brunt, those 27 neighborhoods, Black and Latino and Asian, that bore the brunt of the crisis, we know where they are. That's where the first attention needs to be. So, our health leadership is very, very clear we're going to scrupulously monitor the distribution of this vaccine. Our command center is going to be watching constantly all the health care partners to make sure the priorities are being followed. And if we see any instances where they're not being followed that can be addressed immediately and with consequence because people have to have faith that this is being done equitably.

Lehrer: Let's take a call. Carolyn in Manhattan, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Carolyn.

Question: Yes. Hi. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yes, Carolyn. Yeah, we can hear.

Question: Thank you, Brian. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I want to ask about long-term care facilities for the disabled. Adults with developmental disabilities are at increased risk of death. They're in high risk settings, but they may be, you know, under the age of 65. And so, I want to know if they will be prioritized for the vaccine. These group homes were [inaudible] my sister lives in one and these group homes were decimated by the coronavirus this past spring. It really tore through their homes and a lot of people died from it. So, I want to know if they will be prioritized in this first round of vaccinations.

Mayor: Very glad you're asking the question, Carolyn, because I think you're raising a really important point that there's specific realities in those facilities that really make folks have a need for this vaccine. I'm glad you're saying it. I want to make sure we get the priorities right. I'm going to share this question with our health care leadership. They are working with the State and the federal government on those priorities. We're going to make sure that we account for where this is in the priority structure, but I hear you loud and clear. It has to be accounted for quickly. Will you please give your information to WNYC so that we can get back to you with an update once we get that clear answer.

Lehrer: Carolyn we'll take that contact info from you. Erica on Staten Island, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Erica.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, my question is this – why are we mandating that the children in our schools get tested? I know firemen aren't mandated. They come from different boroughs sometimes, different homes, and they're quite literally living together, and they don't have to get mandated. Hospital workers aren't mandated to get testing. Police officers. All these people who do shift work together, they're spending 12 hours together, and they aren't mandated to get testing. What are we doing to our kids here? My three-year-old has to get tested even though he's in a DOE program. And he said today, he said, mama, I don't ever want to get tested again. I just – I can't understand what we're doing and what the ramifications of this – what will this do to our kids in the future. Especially going forward, what are these kids supposed to say if a doctor or a coach or anyone in any institution touches their body inappropriately? You know, my message to my children has always been, nobody ever touches your body, nobody has the right to touch your body. So, this, what is happening, and I understand we're in a pandemic, but given what I said about all these other people who go into all these other buildings, I don't understand how to make it work in my head.

Mayor: Okay. Erica, heartfelt question. I appreciate it. And you know, I am a parent and certainly remember when my kids are young. So, look, first to the point about no one touches your body, a very important message. Obviously, in this case, we're talking about health care workers and we take very, very seriously the care and sensitivity they have to bring. But I just want to say, as a parent, no one touches your body, but health care professionals are the exception to that always because every single one of us in the course of our lives needs health care where a professional has to work with us directly. But I do appreciate very much your point, especially for a three-year-old, very young age. The testing mandate does not extend to 3-K, pre-K, and kindergarten. I want to make sure that's clear and for everyone else, the reason that it has been such an important – and so I should say one thing. Erica, please leave your information with WNYC because I don't know if you have a three-year-old why that is happening in the school, because that's not part of the mandate, but the – and we will fix that obviously.

But Erica, to the bigger point, the mandate of testing is one of the things that gave everybody confidence in our schools being safe. And we had it from the very beginning. We expanded on it as we've seen this uptick in the virus. One of the ways that we kept our schools going, 878 schools are open right this minute in New York City, is because we added additional testing. It has allowed us to use our situation room as the clearing house to know that each school was safe or that some action needed to be taken based on the testing, it happened quickly. New York City schools have been the gold standard of health and safety in this country. And we're open when a vast majority of major school systems, major cities in America are closed. And testing has been a big, big part of it. So, I would say to you, it is a very strategic act to use the testing as a way to show that we can keep schools safe, to make sure each school community is safe, to give confidence to parents, educators, staff. It's worked, but we do, as I said, exempt the youngest kids. And there are also medical exemptions for anyone who gets that from a doctor. So, I hear you loud and clear, but I think we are striking that balance.

Lehrer: What about the requirements for others who come in contact with people? She mentioned health care workers, for example.

Mayor: Again, the reality in each institution is they determine what is going to keep their people safe. Health care institutions go through all sorts of health protocols regularly. And we obviously trust our health care leadership to figure out what will keep their workers safe. Each place is different, but I want to emphasize – this is not, again, Brian. I want to be clear. This is not an academic comparative discussion. This is about real kids, real families, real educators, and staff. This is what has worked to make New York City public schools the safest in the nation. One could debate it all day long, but I want to go back to the facts. It's worked. Our schools are safe. They've been proven safe. That's what we aspire to and that's what we achieved.

Lehrer: So, let me follow up on her public school question with another public school question. Of course, the schools reopened this week for students up through elementary school and for special-ed students in District 75 schools. But the families who came back revealed again a stark disparity. As the New York Times reported it this week, "At every turn, Mr. de Blasio insisted that the city's most vulnerable children needed open schools, but there are nearly 12,000 more white children returning to public school buildings than Black students, even though there are many more Black students than white students in the system overall." So, my question is Mr. Mayor, how surprised or disturbed are you by this and what kind of policy response does that require?

Mayor: I think that's just not the whole story. That quote does not portray the larger reality. First of all, I want to serve all kids. I think we talk a lot about race. I want to talk about class as well. I want to serve kids of all – families of all income levels across the racial spectrum. You have kids from families who are disadvantaged in all sorts of ways. I want to serve everyone. But right now, in New York City public schools, about three-quarters of the kids attending class, are children of color, either African-American, Latino, or Asian. That's the fact. The way it has been presented, I know people love to get into their particular themes, but they're not portraying the reality. Seventy-five percent of the kids in our schools right now in-person are children of color. That's the fact.

Lehrer: A follow up. Robert in Queens, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Robert.

Question: Hi, can you hear me okay?

Lehrer: Yes, we can.

Mayor: Yes, Robert, how you doing?

Question: Hi, how are you?

Mayor: [Inaudible]

Question: Thank you for everything that you've been doing for the city in this crazy pandemic situation. But I got to tell you, I just heard you talk about, you know, being for the school and everything, but the principals are having a horrible time with it. I know because my wife's a principal and it's becoming increasingly more and more difficult for her to get her job done. And I'm a teacher also, and my principal's having a hard time with this, because there are certain groups of parents that want to dictate how the school should be run during this pandemic, with the setback that they don't – the schools don't have the money. They don't have the teaching staff for doing the remote and the in-school learning. And when a teacher and a parent go head to head, nobody wins. And you know that. The problem is, is that we can't seem to get a clear roadmap for everything. If there is no money for teachers and programs are being slashed and kicked back, and parents still want to have [inaudible] so they need help. And I'm in tears right now because I see it. And it's been going on for three months now, principals are doing a hell of a job, but they need help.

Mayor: Robert, thank you. I can tell you really are speaking from the heart and I appreciate it. And look, I just fundamentally believe in our New York City public schools. My kids went every single minute, from pre-K to 12th grade, to New York City public schools. I spent so much of the last few decades in school buildings. I totally believe in the abilities of our principals and our teachers. And they've been put through hell. I mean, let's start at the beginning. They have been put through hell. It's been incredibly difficult having to go all remote out of nowhere back in March, and then coming back and trying to get it right. But I want to tell you, Robert, look, New York City could have made a decision, which I think would have been the wrong one and the unfair one to our kids and families, we could've said, the simpler thing would be go all remote from the beginning. I think it would've been a huge mistake. That's what the vast majority of major cities in America did. You know, Los Angeles never has gotten open, for example, the whole time. We said, no, we needed in-person education. In-person education was going to make a huge difference because I believe in educators. I know if you get a child, even a few days a week, you are going to be able to reach them and shape them and support them in a way you could never do on a screen. And emotionally, children need the support of the caring, loving professionals in a school building and of each other that they get in the school building. And even in some –

Question: Right, but –

Mayor: – Some degree. So, look, just to finish the point. So that's why we believe that it was so fundamental to open, but we have been, from the beginning, hearing when the principals said more staffing was needed. And one, we've been sending in – we do have more staffing right this minute for principals who need it. There's constantly additional staffing being applied. But second, by going to five-day-a-week in as many places that we can, we're going to cut out – for so many kids, we're going to be cutting out the blended, remote piece, which was one of the challenging pieces. If we have more and more kids who were either in school five days a week, or at home all remote all the time, it's actually going to allow us to use our staff a lot better. And I think it's going to be better for teachers and principals alike.

Lehrer: Robert, I'll give you a very brief follow-up.

Question: Yes. Thank you, Brian. I understand what you're saying, Mr. Mayor. But the problem is, is that even when you have more staffing coming, there are certain programs that were put in place at schools that no longer have funding to get those programs up and running. And that's why a lot of these parents, I call them helicopter parents, want those programs, but there's no money for it. And if you [inaudible] teachers, then you have no teachers there, but the parents don't understand that. And they are clogging the system by the complaints and everything. You need to be more clear in telling them –

Lehrer: Robert, thank you. Thank you very much. Well, let me follow up on that this way, unless you want to say anything about that, I think it was –

Mayor: Very quickly, Brian. Very quickly. Robert is making an important point and I would say it to all my fellow parents. You do need to show sensitivity to everything that parents – excuse me, to everything that principals and teachers are going through. Parents do need to understand that principals and teachers are trying their damnedest under very adverse circumstances. But they also have to understand, yeah, there isn't everything that would be available in a normal school year because there's a pandemic. It will be over. We have a vaccine. It will be over – when we come back in September we're going to be largely back to normal. This is one very tough year. We're trying to get kids as much as we can, but Robert's right. It won't be everything people want, and people have to be understanding of each other and let's get the best we can for the kids under this circumstance.

Lehrer: We've got one minute left and let me slip in one other policy question. You've been for a millionaire's tax for a long time. Now the New York State Senate supermajority may actually pass one to help with the COVID fiscal crisis, but they're also considering a $3 per delivery surcharge on online deliveries, other than essentials like food to help save the MTA from fiscal disaster. Do you support that tax?

Mayor: No. I got to tell you that's unfortunately not a progressive tax. I support progressive taxation, a tax on millionaires and billionaires. Remember, Brian, shockingly, during this horrible COVID crisis Wall Street has been booming, the rich have gotten richer. It's time to ask them to pay their fair share. They haven't paid their fair share in decades. So, I'm thrilled that there's a super majority in the State Senate. I hope they get to work right away with the Assembly and pass a millionaire's tax and any other form of progressive taxation. But something that hits every single person out there, including struggling, working people, low-income people, folks who lost their jobs that are still – who need to get packages that could mean medicine, that could mean food, it can mean all sorts of things. No, that's the wrong way to go.

Lehrer: Thanks as always, Mr. Mayor, and thanks for laying out the new vaccine protocols with the breaking news that the vaccine is going to be approved today by the FDA. Obviously, we'll follow up and we always appreciate it. Talk to you next week.

Mayor: Take care, Brian.

2020-12-14 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. What a beautiful day in New York City today, what an amazing day, the day we have been waiting for, the day we dreamed of. A lot of people didn't know if this day would come. A lot of people doubted, but this day is here. The vaccine is here in New York City. The vaccine will be given out from this day forward. From this day forward, the vaccine will be distributed, and we will turn the tide on the coronavirus. This is a day to celebrate, and what a fitting beginning to the day that our health care heroes were in the spotlight, the folks who saw us through this whole crisis. What a good day that they're getting the respect they deserve for all they've done for us. So, the first person to get the shot here in New York City, the first person vaccinated, critical care nurse, Sandra Lindsay. And Sandra, boy, I was so impressed, Sandra didn't even flinch during that shot. But here she is, someone who has been protecting people in Queens, the epicenter of the crisis saving lives. How fitting that she was the first to get the vaccination. Well administered by Dr. Michelle Chester, Long Island Jewish Hospital in Queens, part of the Northwell system. And everyone, everyone in our health care system, we salute you. All our health care heroes, we thank you. We're going to protect you so you can protect all of us. So, what an amazing day and the vaccine is here, and it will be distributed starting today. You're going to start to see more and more people get it. Remember it starts to be effective even from the first vaccination and fully affected with the second.

So, we now begin, today, the largest vaccination effort in the history of New York City today is a historic day for many reasons. In New York City history, this will be remembered as the day where the largest mobilization ever was undertaken to protect the people of this city, the largest vaccination effort in our history. Now we're going to use every tool at our disposal. Our Vaccine Command Center will lead the way, every single City agency, every City employee will be a part of this to make sure that all New Yorkers are served. This is going to be a huge undertaking, but nowhere is there the ability and the strength and the know-how more than New York City to get something like this done. And particularly at our Health Department that has led the way over decades, generations, in doing vaccination on a large scale to protect the people of the city. Here to tell you more about it, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi –

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. We've said before that the cavalry is on the way. Good news, of course. But we must acknowledge that it is a slow and steady march. To start, let me try to break down the coming days based on what we know and what we don't yet know. So, here's what we know about the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. First, leading scientists have confirmed that it is a very good vaccine in terms of safety and ability to protect against COVID-19 illness. I, myself, have poured over the studies, including what was released last week. Second, the first New York City bound vaccine shipments departed from Kalamazoo, Michigan yesterday in special cartons, held at minus 70 degrees. They will travel via UPS and FedEx, both by truck and by plane. Third, Pfizer equipped the coolers with GPS enabled thermal sensors so the temperature can be monitored, and the vaccines tracked, to ensure they are received safely. If there are any problems with the shipments, Pfizer will notify us immediately. Fourth, our first vaccines are arriving today at five hospitals. That means that vaccines will become vaccinations today in New York City. Subsequent shipments are expected at 37 hospitals on Tuesday, and two more hospitals on Wednesday. Fifth, hospitals are ready and waiting for the vaccine. And after the initial vaccinations, the data will be reported to our citywide immunization registry within 24 hours of administration so we can securely keep track of who is getting the vaccine. Now, beyond the logistics, let me just take a moment to acknowledge what a remarkable and poignant milestone in our fight against COVID-19.

And now here are a few things that remain unknown. First, we don't yet know whether the Pfizer vaccine works for children under the age of 16. The FDA authorization was for ages 16 and up. Second, this week, the Moderna vaccine is expected to get a similar FDA review as the Pfizer vaccine did. We don't know the detailed results yet, but depending on them, the FDA's emergency authorization could come as soon as Friday. Third, we don't know our overall allotment of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for New York City over the coming months. But we have been told to plan for approximately 465,000 doses over weeks one, two, and three. Throughout the process, we will be communicating with hospitals to answer questions and share updated guidance. We will also be monitoring incoming data, preparing subsequent orders, and working with community partners to spread facts and foresight. 

While help is on the way, I'd like to add one thing. We remain in a state of emergency. If your house is on fire, you don't stay among the flames waiting for the fire department to arrive. You take the steps needed to stay safe. So, until every last ember is extinguished, we're asking you to stay safe by masking up, staying home if you feel ill, keeping your distance, washing your hands, and getting tested. We are still in this together. And the core four precautions are what will keep you, your friends, and your family healthy. When it's my turn, I look forward to rolling up my sleeves to receive the vaccine. Until then I'm taking heart in the fact that my hospital colleagues are getting one more layer of protection and I'll keep taking the steps that I can to protect them as well as others, particularly those who are at greatest risk. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Chokshi. And yes, our hospitals have been preparing for this day. The folks who protect all of us have been getting ready. Nowhere has that been more true than in our public hospitals and clinics, Health + Hospitals, we depend on so much in this city. And Health + Hospitals hospitals were bearing the brunt of this crisis during that time when we were the epicenter. They were going through some of the toughest realities. So, they know, they are battle veterans. They know how important it is to distribute this vaccine and get it right. Here to tell you about all the efforts being made in our public hospital system, CEO of Health + Hospitals, Dr. Mitch Katz.

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for your continued support of the public hospital system. Without you, I think several years ago, when Health + Hospitals was so close to financial ruin, there would be no Health + Hospitals system. But you saved it, and I think it's proven what a great investment that is, and it’s really risen to the occasion. I want people to understand how difficult it is to be a doctor or a nurse in the midst of a pandemic. You’re wearing all of your gear but you're still worried, is this infection going to come home with me, am I going to get sick, am I going to bring this infection home to my children, to my spouse? And then, all of a sudden, you're intubating a fellow nurse – your charge nurse, the nurse who kept you safe. You're intubating a fellow doctor. You work beside her for all the weeks of the pandemic, what a horrible, horrible thing. And I'm so pleased that everyone recognizes that the health care workers should be at the top of the list. They've done their job. They're continuing to do their job. They need to be protected. They need to be kept healthy so that they do not go out sick, but can be there for all of us if we should need their help at hospitalization. And we're very proud of Health + Hospitals being able to receive the vaccine, we've been preparing for it. We will be focusing in the first weeks on those people who are at the highest risk of being exposed to COVID in the hospital. Those are people who are working with patients who have a breathing tube. That breathing tube causes more virus to be in the air. Because of that, we want the nurses, the ICU nurses, the respiratory therapists, the anesthesiologist, the emergency room doctors, we want them to be vaccinated first. We look forward to with the Mayor and Dr. Chokshi to being part of the broader effort after we've done the health care workers to do the broad population of New York City.

There is no more trusted provider to the low-income communities of New York City than Health + Hospitals. We take care of over a million people a year – 400,000, choose us as their primary source of care. We are known in the immigrant communities as a safe place to be cared for, a place where you will not get crippling bills, a place where no one will report you, a place where if you're homeless and poor you'll be treated with dignity and respect. And we look forward to being part of that effort. And, Mr. Mayor, we agree – Dr. Chokshi and you – that until then, we'll all do our best to stay safe. 

Mayor: Amen. Amen. Thank you so much, Dr. Katz, to you and your whole team for everything you're doing to protect us. Hey, everyone, look, we, in this city, we're going to show the world once again what New York City can do. We're going to be distributing this vaccine quickly and effectively. We're also going to be doing it equitably. We're going to be doing it fairly for the folks who need it the most, for the neighborhoods that need it. The most our command center is going to lead the way to make sure things keep moving and that things are done the right way. But, in the meantime, just as we get this amazing, good news, we are dealing with this second wave here in New York City. We are not done yet with the coronavirus. So, let's celebrate today. Let's be hopeful. It is a shot of hope. Let's be clear, it's not just a shot in the medical sense, it's a shot of hope. But we have to keep fighting this virus in the meantime. So, we remain vigilant. We're going to have a tough December, a tough January. You heard the doctor say continue to take those precautions so that we can move forward.

Now, one of the precautions the State of New York made a decision, and I agree with that decision, was to tighten up some of our restrictions. And, as of this morning, indoor dining is no longer in effect in New York City for the foreseeable future. Again, the more we fight back against the disease, the more the vaccine is distributed, that situation will change, and sooner rather than later, I believe. But those restrictions are in effect now. Indoor dining is not happening, but outdoor dining continues, takeout and delivery continue. Look, the folks who work in our restaurant industry, they've been through hell, let's be clear. I feel for every one of them, I feel for the folks who created a restaurant with their bare hands, had an idea, made it happen, employed people. I feel for hundreds or thousands or more New Yorkers working in the industry right now, and so many more that used to. We've got to bring this industry back. We've got to bring back the restaurants we love, but it's going to take time. In the meantime, we’ve got to stay safe, because this second wave is very, very real. So, we need to protect each other. We need people to be alive so they can next year feel what it's like to go back to eating indoors and celebrating our holidays with our families. We’ve got to protect people now. And if we're really going to have that recovery we deserve, we need that stimulus. Still, no clear direction coming from Washington, but we're going to keep fighting for a stimulus that actually allows the small businesses in New York City to recover, and the renters in New York City to recover, and the people of New York city to recover, and our economy to come back. That's what we'll keep fighting for. That's what we need. We need it now and we're going to need it when Joe Biden steps into the White House as our president.

Okay. Quick update – obviously, as we continue so much important work, one of the really bright spots has been our public schools. Our kids are safe. Our educators and staff are safe. Learning is going on right now in New York City – 878 schools opened in the course of last week. We are going to make sure that those schools remain safe, but we're also going to systematically move those schools to five-day-a-week education for as many kids as possible in as many schools as possible. Each school will be different, but we're going to keep you updated each week on how that progress is going. So, we're one week into it. And this week we'll have about 250 schools where kids will be going five days a week, either all kids or most kids, or, at minimum, the priority kids we've talked about – kids who live in shelter, kids who live in public housing, kids with special needs. So, five-day-a-week education, growing week by week in New York City. You're going to be seeing a lot more as we move forward. We'll keep you updated. But, really, credit to our educators, credit to the staff, everyone working so hard to make sure our kids get as many days in school as possible.

All right, let's go over today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report is 185 patients. It’s under our threshold of 200, that's the good news, but it's still way too high and it's been a tough stretch lately, obviously. A new indicator that we have, the hospitalization rate per 100,000 people – 2.73 today. We want to get that under two. Second, we're going over every day now both the probable and confirmed cases of the coronavirus on a seven-day average. Today’s number, a very high number, 2,137. Again, we want to stay under 550. It's going to take us a long time to get back there, but we will. Number three, this is the percentage of New York City residents testing positive, seven-day rolling average – today's report, 5.5 percent. We want to get back under five and then keep going – lower, lower all the time – and the vaccine is going to be leading the way.

A few words in Spanish – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name of the outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, by Commissioner Deanne Criswell, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. The first question today will go to Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor.

Mayor: How are you going, Emma? 

Question: Can you tell us – hi, I'm good. So, can you tell us which other hospitals are going to be receiving the doses today and, you know, what your plans are for the rest of the day? 

Mayor: Sure, Emma. I'll start with my plans and pass to Dr. Chokshi to talk about distribution. And, as Dr Chokshi said, we'll always tell you what is confirmed, what we can say is absolutely fact. And, you know, when we are not certain yet of a specific detail, we're going to tell you that too, because this is going to be an ever-evolving situation in the coming days. So, I will say, in my case, I'll be at a hospital here in the city this afternoon to have another great moment where a New Yorker gets vaccinated, but those details are still coming together. We'll let you know as soon as that happens. Dr. Chokshi, let's make sure we give people that which we know, but also acknowledge that which we're still waiting to learn. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Absolutely, Mr. Mayor. What I can just add briefly to that is that we do know that vaccine shipment is on the way to five hospitals today with the remaining of the 54 that we expect to get vaccine to get their shipments either on Tuesday or a Wednesday. As we get more confirmation about precise deliveries, that's additional that we can share over time.

Mayor: Go ahead, Emma. 

Question: Thanks. And can you tell us a little bit about how you heard about its arrival? We heard that State officials were tracking the arrival of the vaccine through a UPS phone app. So, can you talk about how you learned the news and then maybe the emotion or how you felt when you were watching the vaccination take place today, if you watched it? 

Mayor: I did. Absolutely beautiful moment – a beautiful moment. Look, there was such – to me, it was not just a moment where hope was realized. I felt that deeply, like just the – when I saw, you know, normally we don't love needles, right? But this is a needle I'm very happy about. So, when I saw the needle go into the nurse's arm, I just felt this welling up of hope – an amazing sense of like, we actually are turning the corner, it's actually here. And it was extraordinary. It was amazing that she didn't flinch. That's a true professional. But, you know, to me, we were watching an incredibly historic moment and the beginning of something much better for this city and this country. Also, the sense of fairness, the sense of justice – that it was a health care worker who got the first shot, that the folks who went through such hell to protect all of us and often haven't really been given the full credit they deserve – you know, them getting the opportunity to be honored with the first shot made a lot of sense for me. I have often been in churches lately and I quote the scriptural point that's so deep, so powerful – the first shall be last and the last shall be first – to see folks who often don't get their due, honored with the first shot, that was really powerful.

So, with that, in terms of how we have been working with the State on information and the tracking, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I'll just add briefly, it certainly makes your heart swell just to think about what it means for people who have who have given of themselves to protect others now getting some protection for themselves as well. And with respect to the logistics of tracking, the way that it works is that we, as well as the State, are notified when shipments occur – that's from the Pfizer manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo. Once that happens, it's the hospitals that then take the ultimate, you know, information flow around precisely how a shipment makes it to the loading dock of their hospital. That information, of course, is something that has to remain secure. But we're in constant communication with hospitals to both them what they should expect and make sure that they have the plans in place to receive the vaccine appropriately. But they're also telling us as they receive it as well. 

Mayor: I just want to take one quick moment to recognize, you know, a lot of times people talk about the differences in our country. I think it's a moment to show appreciation for our fellow Americans who did the work to create this vaccine. And I want to shout out the folks who work in that factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan, that have gotten this ready for all the rest of us. The spotlight of the world is on Kalamazoo, Michigan, and they deserve our praise and appreciation. So, shout out to everyone in Kalamazoo. Thank you for what you're doing for all of us. 

Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Marcia from WCBS. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing today? A very historic day for New York City – 

Mayor: It's such a great day, Marcia. I'm floating on air today, let me tell you. 

Question: So, I wanted to – my first question is, I wanted to ask you about the indoor restaurants. How long do you think that the restaurants will have to remain closed for indoor dining, knowing that the holiday spread is such a huge issue? 

Mayor: Marcia, look, I think we all have it within our power to fight back this virus and overcome it in the weeks ahead, but they're going to be tough weeks. December and January will be very tough. We're looking at this constant growth of the disease and this second wave, it's really, really worrisome. So, this action that the State took was necessary. The Governor said in a New York Times interview over the weekend that we should prepare for the possibility of a full shutdown. I agree with that. We need to recognize that that may be coming and we've got to get ready for that now, because we cannot let this virus keep growing, especially at a moment where we are finally getting the vaccine and can turn the corner. So, I would say to you, I think December is very tough, January is tough. I think after that, we get a chance to really come back strong. Go ahead, Marcia. 

Question: So, my second question has to do with the outdoor dining. If you go and look at some of the outdoor dining facilities that people have put up, many of them have just a single door to get in or an air slit. And the State has said that you have to have at least two open sides to qualify for outdoor dining. So, my question to you is what is the City going to do in terms of inspecting these facilities and saying that they pass muster? Are you going to go out and tell people, hey, listen, this doesn't work, you have to open a window, you have to open a side? Are you going to give them citations? What's going to happen? 

Mayor: It’s been an ongoing effort to get every one of the outdoor dining establishments to make sure they’re in full compliance with law, they're healthy, they're safe. Restaurant owners have worked really hard with City agencies, Department of Health and others, to get it right. But remember, some are doing outdoor dining, others are following the rules of indoor dining and they have very few people in them. It depends on how they've set up. The important thing is to make sure that they follow all the State guidance and our folks will be there to make it happen. And we've gotten a lot of compliance. I want to be clear, there's still things that have to be made better, no question, but the restaurant owners and the restaurant staff have really been trying to work with us, because they know how important it is to keep people safe. 

Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Yes Mayor, good morning. And good morning to everyone on the call. We were fortunate enough to witness this shot here at LIJ on the eastern edge of Queens here today. I'm wondering how quickly do you think the other vaccinations can take place at this facility, at other New York City hospitals today? We have been hearing – last week, I think Mark Levine told us he thought it might be 200 people per facility per day? Do you have any better clarification on how quickly this can ramp up? 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, then Dr. Katz. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Andrew, for that question. Yes. It's a really important question because of course we want to make sure that the vaccine gets to as many people as quickly as possible. There are some considerations though. To do this safely, to do it in a way that makes sure that the health care systems themselves take into account some of the side effects that may affect staff as well. So, what we've been doing in discussion with our colleagues at hospitals is to make sure that they have a plan in place with respect to scheduling staggered appointments so that it's not people all from the same unit getting vaccinated on the same day. You know, little things make a big difference with the logistics here. For example, giving someone an appointment to get the vaccine the day before they're scheduled to have a day off. That's something that can make a big difference with respect to making sure that they do okay, you know, after they get that vaccination. So, with that said, the plan is for you know, the doses that are getting delivered over the next three days to be methodically and gradually used over the next week to a week and a half overall. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz. 

President Katz: I very much agree with what Dr. Chokshi has said. We should be – we'll be able to fully use our supply. In this first day, certainly everybody should focus on making sure that their process is done well, that it's done safely. This is a vaccine that the world has never seen before. There's never been an mRNA vaccine. It has to be taken care of in very special conditions. It can only be out of the freezer for a certain amount of time, but once the process is mechanized, I think it will start to go very fast. And I know Health + Hospitals, we've hired a whole group of nurses specifically to focus on giving vaccinations so that there is no delay. As soon as supply comes, we'll be able to immunize people. Thank you. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: Shifting gears to weather, the Department of Sanitation sent guidance that restaurants need to remove their outdoor space if there is 12 inches of snow in the forecast. And from what we're seeing right now, the forecast is right on the bubble in some areas for that. So, what is your recommendation to restaurants at this point with regard to the storm this week? 

Mayor: Look, we'll get out specific guidance through Emergency Management. I mean, right now it is on the bubble and I would not urge anyone to act yet until we get more clarity. We understand each restaurant's in a different situation. And it's really important to understand Andrew, the best of all worlds is when they have the ability to easily remove what they have built for outdoor dining. For some that's a lot harder than for others. But we also want to be clear that when we expect major snow it's in their interest in everyone's interest to clear away as much of their equipment as possible to facilitate the snow cleaning and protect their equipment. So, this one to me, we're still on the cusp right now. Emergency Management will get more information out next 24 hours and get a clearer picture. Let me see if our Commissioner of Emergency Management Deanne Criswell wants to add anything? 

Commissioner Deanne Criswell, Office of Emergency Management: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You're spot on. Right now, we’re still watching it. It looks like it's six to 12 inches. So, it's right on the cusp. And we are meeting with the National Weather Service three times a day to get updates and we'll get more definitive information out tomorrow to everybody on the exact steps that they need to take. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Emily from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, everyone. 

Mayor: How are you doing Emily? 

Question: I'm well, thank you very much. 

Mayor: Happy Vaccine Day! 

Question: Happy V Day. 

Mayor: V Day, right. 

Question: May I please ask you about the hard-hit communities that you discussed Friday, the ones you want to prioritize for vaccine distribution? I'm hearing what everyone's saying about getting limited quantities in the first couple of shipments, but what do we tell those communities about when they can expect to get the vaccine? How will they be able to access it? 

Mayor: Yeah. I want to turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma. But look, I think the key point, Emily, as we've said, very clearly, everyone said federal, state, local health care workers, frontline, most vulnerable, and nursing home staff, nursing home residents, that's where we're all focused first. We're going to be focusing on other health care workers, first responders. We're going to then be focusing on the most vulnerable people, folks over 65, folks with preexisting conditions or especially folks that have both. But when we do that we're going to really put emphasis on the 27 neighborhoods that were most hard hit by COVID, that's neighborhoods of color in this city, Black, Latino, Asian. And we're going to make sure that they get their fair share. That's the basic concept. But to give you a little more flavor of how that will play out, first Dr. Chokshi and then Dr. Varma. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And that's exactly right with respect to how we see this unfolding over the coming weeks and months. The priority is, as the Mayor just said is that the coming weeks we'll be focused on people who are at greatest risk and particularly at greatest risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 illness. We hope and plan that there will be enough vaccine supply in the early months of 2021 for us to start expanding the circle out beyond that. And that's where these considerations that we have made central to our plan around equity will really be brought to bear. So, a little bit more about the how, to your question. Well, what we know is that the most important thing with respect to making sure that people who are in those hard-hit neighborhoods actually get the vaccine, is to rely on the places that they already trust. Whether it's a relationship that they have with their primary care doctor or the local clinic or their local pharmacy. And so, we're going to rely on that for distribution. But also rely on trusted messengers in those communities to communicate about the vaccine. 

Mayor: Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah. I just wanted to touch on one aspect that Dr. Chokshi mentioned in his opening statement, which is there are things that we're waiting for also. And so, I think that today is an incredibly hopeful and exciting day because we have the first of our vaccines. But there are more vaccines coming. We know the Moderna vaccine, which is very similar to the Pfizer one is likely to get authorized very soon. There are evaluations of another US grown product, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. So, I think what's going to be important for communities throughout the city is to continue to listen to the updated guidance that they're getting. And as Dr Chokshi has mentioned, talk to your trusted health care providers because there's going to be a lot of information. It's going to be challenging to sift through at the time. We're going to do our best to constantly communicate and make it clear. But learning and trying to understand what's happening is going to be helpful so that when your turn in line comes, you're going to be ready to know about making the right decision for your own health. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Emily. 

Question: Thank you all. The second one, my second question is regarding safety measures at Rikers considering the surge. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez issued a letter to the DOC raising her concerns and asking what you're doing for the individuals there considering they're not sentenced to death by virus there? 

Mayor: Look Emily, it's an important question. And one where New York City has a very clear track record. And I worked very closely with our Correction team, our Health + Hospitals team that provides the health care at Rikers and other jails. And I want to thank Dr. Katz and all of his colleagues at Health + Hospitals who work in our Correction system. They don't get a lot of credit, but they deserve it because they do really good and important work. So, I thank them. As we were dealing with the first wave the great unknown, everyone was trying to make sense of this situation, this city made a bold decision. Working with DAs, working with the State, we ultimately had about 1,600 inmates come out of our jail system as a protective measure, given what was happening then. We are in a different situation now, thank God. Correctional health is in a much better position to address the virus because everyone's learned so much more. We have a lot of space that we are using because the population, particularly at Rikers went so low that we have a lot of available space. We're able to spread people out. We're screening anyone who comes in, whether employee or inmate to make sure that we know their situation. It's a much, much better situation now. That said, we're watching it very carefully. The last report I got Emily was the infection rate in our Correction system was lower than the infection rate for the whole city. But that said, we're watching carefully, we're preparing steps to make sure we can protect people and make moves as we get more information. 

Moderator: The next is Rich Lamb from WCBS 880. 

Question: Good morning. Congratulations, I guess Mr. Mayor and the team there. 

Mayor: Congratulations to everyone Rich. It's an amazing day for all of us. 

Question: And just an aside here. Did you know that Pfizer started in Brooklyn in 1849? 

Mayor: I did not know that. I know they're a great New York City company, but I didn't know that they go back that far. That's pretty amazing. So, it's a proud day for New York City leading the country again. 

Question: Yeah. So, this is yeah so true. So, this is an intramuscular shot from what I understand, not intravenous. And we've heard about this ultra-cold storage. So how cold is the vaccine when it's injected? And can you feel that? I mean, it's almost like one would think it's almost solid and the way it's, when it's at that low temperature or it must be frozen solid, yes? 

Mayor: I have to say before I turn to Dr. Chokshi. I was so impressed again by Sandra Lindsay who just didn't even blink when she got the shot in her shoulder there. Obviously, you did not see it in her reaction. It looked pretty smooth. But Dr. Chokshi talk to us about the temperature and what it feels like, et cetera? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sure. First Rich, thanks for that fun Pfizer fact. I wasn't aware of it either. 

Mayor: Fun Pfizer fact. That was very alliterative. Go ahead. 

Commissioner Chokshi: So, to return the favor with respect to the information about the temperature of the vaccine. You're right, when it's stored it's at ultra-cold temperatures. But it does get thawed before it's administered, you know, before it's injected as an intramuscular shot. So, generally, that will be at room temperature. It takes about 30 minutes for the vaccine to thaw from ultra-cold temperatures to room temperature if you just leave it out at room temperature. It takes about three hours for it to thaw from ultra-cold to placing it in a refrigerator. If it is placed in a refrigerator then when it's mixed for the shot it will further a thaw. So, you shouldn't experience any sensation of coldness upon getting the vaccine. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Rich. 

Question: Okay. And I'm just wondering if Dr. Katz can go over exactly who is getting the first shots and what the thinking is in regard to that? I heard something along those lines, but I wondered if we can know what the thinking – why people are in the most danger, who are the people? And what's the, you know, how does it work? 

President Katz: Certainly. So, the people in a hospital who were at the most danger are people who are doing procedures that aerosolized the virus, meaning send the virus particles into the air. That usually means there's some pressure. And the common instance of that is patients who were on a breathing tube, where a tube is placed down their throat in order to use a ventilator to push in air. And that causes air to be pushed out and the virus into the air. So, the people who most deal with those tubes are respiratory therapists, ICU nurses, which is I'm sure why Mr. Mayor, you saw the ICU nurse getting the vaccine today, emergency room physicians who intubate patients, those would be the people at highest risk and the ones we're doing first.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Jake Offenhartz at Gothamist. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Jake, how you been?

Question: I'm pretty good. You mentioned that the possibility of a full shutdown in the coming weeks and I was hoping you could kind of elaborate on what that would look like. Are we talking, you know, the same size shut down as we saw in March, something different your envisioning? I also know the chair of the City Council of Health Committee has mentioned, you know, calling for the closure of non-essential office spaces. So, are you at a point right now where you would recommend New Yorkers who don't need to go into an office, don't? 

Mayor: Yeah, look, Jake, first of all, this is a constant conversation that I'm having with the Governor, my team's having with the State all the time, and what is increasingly clear is that all forms of restrictions have to be on the table at this point. The Governor's quote in the Times I think said it exactly right, and the current rate we're going, you have to be ready now for a full shutdown, a pause like we had back at the end of the spring. And that is, I think, increasingly necessary just to break the back of the second wave, to stop this second wave from growing, to stop it from taking lives, to stop it from threatening our hospitals. So ,we're working carefully with the State. The State will ultimately make the decision. I certainly do agree that folks who don't need to be going into a workplace at this point should do as much as they can remotely. Again, I think there's a likelihood of more restrictions quite soon. So, folks should start making those adjustments now and get ready to work remotely if they can. Hopefully we're talking about restrictions only for a matter of weeks, but we have to be preparing ourselves mentally and, you know, practically for that possibility. Go ahead. 

Question: Okay, and on education you had mentioned there are 250 public schools where some of the neediest students ready to go five-days-a-week, and how many of these schools can all students go five-days-a-week? 

Mayor: We'll get you the updated numbers as they keep emerging. Jake, I think what's really important for everyone to understand is this is going to literally improve each week. So, this week going into next week, we have only a few days of school, and then everyone comes back on January 4th. You're going to see improvement throughout this week, on January 4th you're going to see a lot and improvement. My goal, the Chancellor's goal, maximum number of schools out of that 878 schools that are up and running, maximum number go to full five-day-a-week for all their kids, the next best category is five-day-a-week for most kids, and the next best category is five-day-a-week at least for the kids with greatest need. We're going to be able to do that I think very successfully across those 878 schools. In terms of exactly how many we'll get into each category, we'll know a lot more in the coming days, but I think the thing to envision is when we come back on January 4th you're going to see a big jump up of the number of schools that are doing five-day-a-week education, and we'll keep going from there. We'll keep improving upon it every week thereafter.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Amanda Eisenberg from Politico. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Happy vaccine day, Amanda, how are you?

Question: Happy vaccine day. I cried watching a video, so I'm very happy.

Mayor: I appreciate it. I think this is going to be a new question, do you cry when you watch vaccine videos? So, I think that shows you have a lot of heart. 

Question: Yeah. So, I wanted to ask you, my first question is when do you expect to get the vaccine within this priority schema considering Trump and his staffers are among the first to get to that? 

Mayor: The man who's going to make that decision is sitting right here. I really think it's important for public officials to follow the guidance of their health leadership. I will go by my priority status whenever that is, unless for any reason that health leadership determines otherwise. So, let me pass the question to the person will make the decision, Doctor Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor and I just want to say the Mayor has been very upfront and clear about about his wanting advice from me as a Health Commissioner from the rest of the health team about this very question and really it brings to bear issues of of fairness. And so, the Mayor will get the vaccine, you know, sort of as the prioritization is laid out over the coming weeks. Right now, as you know, the first priority is high risk hospital workers, as well as people who are in long-term care facilities, both residents and staff. So, it will be after that phase at some point that the Mayor will get his vaccine. I think the really important thing is when he does get it, the symbol that that shows with respect to confidence in the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine.

Mayor: Amen. Okay, go ahead, Amanda. 

Question: Great, thank you. And then my second question is in regards to the Satmar funeral, the New York Post wrote a couple of stories over the weekend. And so, I was wondering to find out what you're hoping to glean from your investigation that wasn't already available via photos and social media? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's a good question, Amanda, look, a lot of times the photos and social media give us a very partial view when we're talking about the potential of shutting down a building and not allowing anyone in, we want to make sure we get exactly right. I'll get an update on the investigation and we'll certainly make public what we found, but I think that, you know, we're, we're going to continue to talk to community leaders to make sure that they understand that these rules must be followed, and, if not, no one wants to shut down the building, but if we see that there hasn't been compliance, we will shut down the building. Go ahead.

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Gersh from Streetsblog. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you? Congratulations. 

Mayor: Congratulations to all, Gersh, and I want to see if there's a transportation related vaccine question here. I'm ready. 

Question: Well, there isn't really, but I will follow up on Marcia’s question, which was legitimate. So, as you know, we see these structures in the street now for the open restaurants, many of them have opaque sidewalls, meaning even though they remain setback from the intersections, car drivers can't see pedestrians and vice versa. So, I've asked DOT many times to document how many inspections it has done and how many restaurants have been cited for blocking view sheds that you guys put into the rules, and the only answer I've gotten is many. So, I'm wondering if you can instruct the DOT to provide the actual number of restaurants that have been cited for creating dangerous street conditions with walls that cannot be seen through and I'd love to get your comments on that? 

Mayor: No, look, I'm really glad you're raising it and, you know, Gersh, something I like to say when a journalist raises a point that helps us focus on things we need to do better or things we, you know, need to check up on, I find it very helpful. So, I want to thank you for that because I am a Vision Zero believer, and I'm also an outdoor dining believer, and open dining, open streets, it has been amazing step forward for the city, but it has to be safe. So, I will get you an answer because we do need to make sure that we've done that piece, right. We got to keep everyone safe while we're also trying to protect people's livelihoods and give people a real sense of this city able to recover soon. But I'll get you an answer on that. Go ahead. 

Question: Okay. And my second question, I will ask a COVID vaccine related transportation question. I'm able to do that, moving on the fly. You said the other day that you would obviously take the vaccine to demonstrate that it is safe. You're obviously excited about the vaccine. Given that study after study show that transit is also safe and the transit is really suffering because a lot of people think it's unsafe, maybe you would start riding transit, maybe for a week just to show that it's safe. And I know in the past you have said that such a Mayoral demonstration is “cheap symbolism”, but maybe in this case, it isn't, tell me what do you think? 

Mayor: Respectfully, old friend, you're, you're taking that quote out of context. That was a quote about a different matter which I did feel at the time, but this is a different matter. I agree with you it is important to let people know the subways are safe. I like the idea of having a period of time to really emphasize to people that they're safe by being out there. So, I accept that good idea, and we'll figure out when the right time to do that is, and we'll do it, and we will surely invite you along.

Everybody, as we conclude today, what an amazing day, let's just, you know, after everything we've been through, this whole year, and it has been a long, long year, we will not look back on 2020 fondly. However, let's give 2020 it's due in the midst of this horrible pandemic, an amazing human effort all over the world to come up with this vaccine and it was done in record time. And now everyone is putting their shoulder to the wheel to make sure that this vaccine gets to all the people in the city who need it as quickly as possible. Look, there's some justice in the fact that we were the epicenter where the first wave dealt with the brunt of this crisis and now we're going to be in the first wave of fighting back, getting this vaccine out as quickly or more quickly than any place else in the country. Protecting our people. New York City is going to show the whole world how quickly and well we can get this vaccine to the people that need it. But remember, vaccine is part of the answer. It's going to ultimately be the biggest part of the answer, but right now it still depends on you. We got one last big battle in December and January, we got to fight back this virus so we can give the vaccine time to do its work. So, everyone, please remember the masks, distancing, if you're traveling, don't travel, cancel your travel, stay close, small gatherings, help each other, and when the opportunity comes to get that vaccine, go get it. When it's your priority time, go get it. I'm going to do it, our health leadership's going to do it. We do all these things, right. We're going to get through this last fight and finally turn the page on the coronavirus. Thank you, everyone.

2020-12-15 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. I'm still kind of feeling the glow from yesterday. What an amazing day, what a relief after all the months we've been through. And you know, this was such an important day for our city yesterday. I'm going to talk about that. But I also want to say for our nation, here was a day when things really went right in America, where things really worked in America, and people pulled together in a common cause, and that is a good feeling to feel again. It was really good to see the shipments of the vaccine coming out of Kalamazoo, Michigan, going all over the country, everyone working together to protect their fellow Americans. It was really good to see that sense that we could actually have a positive moment together. Didn't matter which state you came from or what party you're in, people were just working together. It was good to see the electoral college function like normal. It was good to feel that we could do the things that we're good at, this country could do something big and ambitious, and show the world and show ourselves what we're capable of. So, yesterday was a really profound day, a very moving day. As it unfolded hour by hour, I felt an incredible sense of reassurance and hope, and it was good to see what it could mean for our future. Today, you know, we start the beginning of a new era. This is the time when we fight back against the coronavirus now with the vaccine in our arsenal. We, today, begin the work of ensuring that the vaccine reaches as many New Yorkers as possible, as quickly as possible.

And I got to tell you, this is about, of course, the power of this vaccine to save lives and protect people. But it's also about hope. It is not just a shot you take in the arm with a needle. It is a shot of hope. It is a reminder that the war against the coronavirus will soon be over. It's a reminder of what people can do when we work together. And being there at NYU Langone yesterday and seeing Nurse Manager Tara Easter get that shot, and she was cool in the saddle and she was positive about it. And she wanted to tell people how important it was to get the shot. But it was also really powerful talking to her about experiences she had in the spring, when she was in the thick of the fight against the coronavirus, and like everybody else in frontline health care work, trying to figure out what to do with this new, horrible scourge. She talked about how different it felt now, how much people had learned, how much people were working together to apply those lessons and protect each other, and how the vaccine, to her, felt like a turning of the corner for her and her colleagues, for the people at the front line, protecting all of us. So, I wanted to thank her for the way she talked about it, and the incredible work she and her colleagues had done. Also, Frank Baez, the RN, who gave the shot. What good people, doing such important work. 

Now they made history. They were part of those first – that first wave, those first New Yorkers to get the vaccine. And they will be the first of many. We have 73 health care workers who have already received their first dose in New York City. And today we're expecting almost 41,000 doses to be available at 42 hospitals across New York City. So, this is going to move very fast. We're going to talk about, in the course of the coming days, more and more vaccines coming in and from different companies as they get their approvals. So, this is going to really speed up. But what we've seen so far is our hospitals are ready. They have been waiting for this moment and preparing, and it's incredibly encouraging to see the vaccine here and see it go into action immediately. Now, we all felt that sense of relief as we saw our fellow New Yorkers get their shots, as we saw the vaccine actually come to life and it started to, for me, give me a sense of what's going to be in the future when we can actually start to come back together, we can gather with our families again, and hug our loved ones and restore so many of the things that we care about in our lives.

Now you can see that, you can see that light at the end of the tunnel, and we need as many New Yorkers as possible to get this vaccine to help us all move forward. But we know that to do that we have to build trust. We know that there's a lot of people who have gone through so much in this crisis. And there's a reason that people are feeling hesitant. It's not surprising. There's a reason there's a trust gap that needs to be addressed. The way to address that trust gap is to give people information, to show them the truth, to show them what works, to explain the whole reality, answer concerns, to bring forward voices that people really believe in, in their communities, to keep showing the evidence that the vaccine is proven to be safe and effective., that it's easy to receive, that it will be accessible in all communities, particularly the communities that bore the brunt of the coronavirus crisis. Those 27 neighborhoods, people of color in 27 neighborhoods in New York City who got the worst of the coronavirus, deserve their fair share of the vaccine. And we're going to make that a priority. 

So, we need to show that to people that, that equity, that fairness in the distribution will be there. Of course, we got to remind people it's easy to get this vaccine. It is free. And we've got to continue to express that in all the languages spoken in New York City in the community, at the grassroots, and particularly in voices that people trust and believe in. So, today we're gathered by three New Yorkers where I've – joined, I should say, by three New Yorkers who really are just tremendous examples of leaders, faith leaders, community leaders, who people trust, who they believe in, who have led communities in a way that people really see and feel, and folks who have given their whole lives to helping their fellow New Yorkers. These are the voices that will be heard the most. So, I want you to hear from these three extraordinary individuals. First from Southeast Queens, he is a great spiritual leader. I've had the joy of knowing him for many years, also a great leader for social justice, for the work he's done with the National Action Network and someone who is revered for all he does for the community. My pleasure to introduce, Reverend Phil Craig. 

[...] 

Reverend, thank you so much. I love that phrase, IVR. That's informed vaccine recipients. That's fantastic. And thank you, I agree with you and your suggestions are very powerful and I'm going to pursue them with our health team and make sure we get that information out. You're right, people just need straightforward answers to really basic questions. And the more answers, the more trust. So, thank you. I know you've given this a lot of thought. I know you really have your finger on the pulse of your congregation and your larger community in Southeast Queens. And we're going to be leaning on you to keep giving us that feedback and those suggestions so we can improve our approach all along. So, thank you very, very much. I want you to hear – thank you, God bless you. I want you to hear now from another great leader. I have the warmest feeling for him. I've worked with them closely for years on social justice issues like paid sick days and living wage. He has been a strong voice for the empowerment of the Latino community and all communities. And I remember years ago, having really thoughtful conversations with him on something we both are very interested in, which is liberation theology. This is a thinker and a leader and a doer both in the spiritual sense and as a community leader. My great honor to present Bishop Raymond Rivera from the Latino Pastoral Action Center. 

[...] 

Thank you so much, Bishop. Thank you for all you're doing. And listen, I really want to affirm the points. One, we are going to prioritize people exactly like you, who are older and, or have those pre-existing conditions. And I want you to please make sure you take all the right precautions until the day comes that you get the vaccine. We're going to prioritize, for sure, those 27 neighborhoods, Black, Latino, Asian neighborhoods that bore the brunt of the coronavirus. We're definitely going to put out all the information in multiple languages, but a heavy, heavy emphasis on Spanish, you're right, because so many of our fellow New Yorkers speak Spanish as their primary language. And we're going to do that with every possible tool to spread the word, but we need our faith partners to do that every day because, again, you're amongst the most trusted voices in the city. So, thank you. We will partner with you for sure. Lastly, everyone, I want you to hear from someone very special and some people deserve the title, a living legend, Bishop Hezekiah Walker is one of those people. A renowned spiritual leader. When I talk to people of faith around the city, his is one of the names that people hold in particular reverence. He is the pastor of the Love Fellowship Tabernacle in Brooklyn, and he's also beloved because of the way he has spread a beautiful, positive message, and a spiritual message through music. He is a Grammy award winning gospel artist as well, and renowned for all those elements of the amazing work he does in Brooklyn and far beyond. My great honor to present to you, Bishop Hezekiah Walker. 

[...] 

Thank you so much, Bishop. I think it was powerful. I appreciate – I know you always speak from the heart, but what I could hear in your voice, and I hope all New Yorkers could hear it too, was the honest pain of what we've seen over decades and centuries that bred that distrust, but also the hope that if we can give people that good information, answer those honest questions, and allow leaders of the community to speak from that place of knowledge you speak of, it's going to allow us to move forward and I really appreciate your willingness to be a leader in this effort. We have to – we, as the City government, and also our colleagues in the scientific and health community, we’ve got to get really good information out there and we’ve got to answer people’s questions. So, you’re calling us to such an important and noble mission and we’re going to answer that call. Thank you so much, Bishop. 

Everybody, you’ve heard from three renowned faith leaders who are going to a be key part of the effort to build trust and get that information out there. It’s another reminder, the day is coming when we will end this pandemic. The day is coming when we will turn the corner, but we all have to be a part of that solution. Leaders and people whose voices are heard and respected by everyday New Yorkers spreading good information, encouraging each other. In the meantime, doing all the basics, wearing the masks and washing our hands and practicing the social distancing and – I’m going to keep saying it – not traveling for the holidays, keeping those gatherings small for the holidays. We need to do all those things to give the time for the vaccine to be distributed so we can turn that corner once and for all. And I keep saying it, anyone who feels bad about the fact that these holidays won’t be the same as usual, if we do our job now together, next year the holidays will be great. We’ll all be back together. It's not long to wait. Let's do what we can do right now. 

And with that, let's turn to our indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID 19, today's report 160 patients, and we want to be at 200 or below. And that's a good day today. We are seeing a lot of uptick lately, but we're always happy to see a lower number. But the hospitalization rate is not good, 2.89 per 100,000. We want to be under two. So, that's an indicator of the bigger problem we're still facing, and we're going to be fighting for weeks now. Next update on current new cases, again, probable and confirmed together, this is on the seven-day average – today's number 2,813. Obviously, a huge number. We want to be under 550. It's going to take weeks and weeks to get back down there, but we will, especially now that we have the vaccine on our side. And number three, percentage of New York City residents tested positive, this is the seven-day rolling average, 5.51 percent. We need to get under five percent. Again, real work to do on that one. Now, let me give you a few words in Spanish – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that let's turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Reverend Phillip Craig, by Bishop Raymond Rivera, by Bishop Hezekiah Walker, by Dr. Dave Chokshi, by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma, by Dr. Mitchell Katz, and by Commissioner Deanne Criswell. First question today goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hey, good morning all. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: I’m feeling great, Juliet. What a good day, how you doing? 

Question: I'm doing fine. Thank you. My question regards the vaccine. I was wondering what the schedule is, as far as you know the rollout for the medical workers and the nursing home staff. How many weeks do you think that will take? And when do you think the general public will start getting the vaccine? 

Mayor: I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and it's such an important question, Juliet. Remember, as Dr. Katz said yesterday, this is the first time our medical institutions have ever dealt with a vaccine like this. So, they're quickly acclimating to it and figuring out the best way to work with it. So, the first days will take some warming up, but then you're going to see things go faster and faster. We also expect more and more shipments to be coming in, including from multiple companies. So, this is going to move quickly, but remember job one, frontline health care workers, nursing home staff, nursing home patients – that's going to take us December into January. We want to start getting it out to the communities as quickly as possible, but first we have to take care of the people who are most vulnerable and the people who take care of us. With that, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And that's exactly right with respect to the timeline. The focus for this week and next week will start with those high risk health care workers, particularly high-risk hospital workers, whom we're very much relying upon as we experience COVID hospitalizations go up. And then starting next week, we'll get to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, both staff as well as residents in those facilities, and then expand to other health care workers and other frontline workers very soon after that. So, that initial phase will take you know, at least a few weeks for us to get through. And then we'll start expanding the circle out after that. But for the part of your question about when this will get to the general public, so much does depend on the supply of vaccine that will be available. We should have a better sense of that by the end of this month or at the beginning of next month. And based on that you know, we're hoping by mid-2021 is when we would be able to vaccinate everyone in New York who wants it.

Mayor: And Juliet, I just want to make sure that last point is clear. We are going to move very aggressively. So the point about taking care of the folks at the highest priority, December going into January, and then building out from there. Obviously we're concerned about all health care workers, first responders, we're concerned about folks over 65, folks with pre-existing conditions, especially folks who have both. That's just going to go more and more each month. The last point that Dr. Chokshi made is, you know, when you get to the end of the spring, we'd like to have seen everybody in New York City vaccinated. That's our goal. But each month you'll see more and more people reached. And what that means is there's less and less place for the vaccine to spread. And that's going to start to make things safer for everyone. That every additional New Yorker gets vaccinated is one step closer to safety for all of us. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: Okay, great. Thank you. Police Commissioner Shea spoke on NY1 this morning, and he's saying the vaccines for the NYPD will not be required. Does this concern you? Is this City policy and will city workers be required to get the vaccine?

Mayor: Juliet we're going to continue to discuss that matter. But again, with everything we're doing with the vaccine, the best approach is to educate people and get them bought in, answer the questions. There's a lot of valid questions. The more this is voluntary, the better off we are. We're still talking about how we want to approach the City workforce, and there's different elements of the City workforce who do different things. But for now the approach is to focus on education and getting people to buy into this vaccine voluntarily.

Moderator: The next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hi, good morning Mayor de Blasio. My questions are about the forecasted snowstorm that is supposed to hit the city starting tomorrow and the structures for outdoor dining. I know that outdoor dining has been suspended by the Department of Sanitation because of the snow alert. But you spoke last night about some of these structures that have been built for outdoor dining. I know that some had been recommended to take the top – their roofs off, or whatever it may be. But I'm curious if it is a safety concern, why hasn't this been mandated? And is there any concern about plows maneuvering around, especially in some streets that are pretty tight already?

Mayor: Look, it’s an important question, Katie, but I'd say, you know, this is something we've tried to communicate clearly to the restaurant community. I talked to Deputy Mayor for Operations Laura Anglin yesterday, who has played a leading role in Open Streets and Open Restaurants. And, you know, we've been very clear to the restaurant community, that when we're getting a larger storm secure everything that could be secured. So obviously it doesn't blow around and it doesn't create a danger to anyone. And if you have the kind of outdoor dining setup that you can bring it all in, that's ideal. If you don't, if it's a restaurant that really has built something much more substantial, they can leave it there, but secure everything they can secure. Department of Sanitation has been for months and months preparing to work around the restaurant structures whenever needed. It's a new reality, but I think the priority is right, that we've said, look, we had to save people's livelihoods and jobs. That was worth a major, major focus. And certainly we can work around that with plowing. It'll take some extra creativity, but we can do that. So I think the restaurant world has heard loud and clear for tomorrow night. Bring in what you can bring in. If you really can't, we will certainly work around it. Go ahead, Katie.

Question: Okay. Yeah, To follow up, I don't know if anyone from the Department of Sanitation is on the call, but I just have a lot more questions. I know creativity can be used in a lot of instances, but looking at – you can't change the size of the street or some of these exterior buildings are pretty sturdy structures. And they've spent, restaurants have spent lots of money to build them. So I don't know if there's any other support being issued to restaurants? And if there's any – if you've spoken to the Department of Sanitation about the actual reality and feasibility of making tight turns with lots more things on the street?

Mayor: Again, Katie, this is a decision that was made quite a while back to support outdoor dining, with the understanding it would take a different approach to plowing. Bluntly that could be only a few times this year. I mean, last winter we saw almost no major snow. We don't know what this one's actually going to be in the end tomorrow. But you know, it could be something we need to address a few times in the course of the winter. But what we know now, we have smaller plows, you know pickup truck kind of plows that we can use in much tighter spaces. And we'll work with what's there. If it's a, I said very clearly, if it's a structure that cannot be easily brought in and it's going to stay out there, we're asking the restaurant owners to secure it to the best of their ability. And we know that Sanitation has been alerted to work around it. And I'm convinced we can make it work. May take a little more effort than normal, but we can make it work.

Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg.

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today?

Mayor: I'm doing well, Henry. How about you?

Question: I'm good. Thank you. I want to get back to the discussion about closing down a little bit of essential businesses. Have you had any contact with employers around the city? Do you have more details about when this will happen? You said after Christmas, might it be after New Year's? Any businesses that would be expanded as essential that weren't included in that universe originally?

Mayor: Okay. Henry, fair questions indeed. First of all, of course, the State of New York will make the final decisions here. I've been having this conversation repeatedly with the Governor. Our teams are talking. Any final guidance would be, you know, written and clear and include the answers to your questions. But look, here's what I think we're seeing. The Governor spoke about this in the Times interview the other day. Clearly these numbers that I went over a moment ago, they're going in the wrong direction. We are just on the verge of a huge breakthrough with the vaccine, but we're also dealing with a second wave. We got to beat it back. We got to protect lives, we've got to protect our hospitals. So I think, unfortunately I don't say it with anything but sorrow, but I do think it’s needed. We're going to need to do some kind of shutdown in the weeks ahead. Something that resembles the pause we were in in the spring. And I think it would be overwhelmingly what we saw then. There may be some adjustments Henry, but I think it's going to very much resemble what we saw in the spring, essential work only. And look, if we implement that, my nomination would be right after Christmas. If we implement that, with some good luck and hard work and with the vaccine starting to help us, you know, we could be out of that in a matter of weeks, but having stopped the worst of this surge. So lots still to be talked through. But that's an example of something that I think could help us a lot. Go ahead, Henry.

Question: Okay. Thank you for that, Mr. Mayor. Here's another question about the program that isolates or offers to isolate people in hotels. These numbers are rising. You know, they're in the hundreds now. The use of these hotels is comparatively minimal and I'm just wondering, is the City paying for vacant rooms? And is the City encouraging these people to isolate because that may be part of why these numbers are increasing? These people go home and they are contagious.

Mayor: Yeah, Henry clearly folks being in a home environment is a big challenge. That's why we've been so adamant about wanting folks to avoid larger gatherings at home. When there's a family with a lot of people in the same home or multi-generational, that presents real challenges. We've seen that throughout this crisis. The Take Care initiative as part of Test and Trace, and that's led by Dr. Amanda Johnson and she and her team, I think have done an amazing job, helping people to safely separate. You're right, most people choose not to take the hotel, even though it is being made available for free, with lots of support. Most people would rather be with their family. There's lots of ways to help people stay at their home, but still safely separate, get the support they need and be careful about the folks around them. And a lot of work is done to educate people on that, get them support, check in with them regularly. So that can work fine. I do think people should look at this hotel option. The quarantine period in the scheme of things is brief. If that's a better option, you know, we want people to take it and use it. There has been some uptick in that lately. But I think Henry the most essential answer to your question is that people generally want to stay home and I don't blame them. But what we want is everyone to really communicate with the Take Care folks, to get the most support possible and do that in the safest way possible.

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News.

Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor:Hey Michael, how you been?

Question: I'm good. A couple of questions. The first one is I think directed more to the health officials on the call today. On this Moderna vaccine, do we know if it will be – will we be able to use it on children under 16, pregnant women? Are there kind of key differences in the Moderna vaccine compared to the Pfizer one?

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Varma jump in.

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for the question. So the Moderna vaccine as people on the call may know, an initial FDA review of the science was published just a few minutes ago earlier this morning. And so we're pouring through some of the details of what was published. But let me tell you what we know right now, particularly emphasizing what's the same and what's different between the Moderna vaccine and the Pfizer vaccine. What's the same, and you know the most important point is that it does appear that the safety and the efficacy of the Moderna vaccine is very comparable to the Pfizer vaccine. And both are very good vaccines from that perspective. So that's the headline with respect to what we are seeing with respect to that FDA review. There are some important differences between the two vaccines. And let me just go through a handful of the points on that. First Moderna does not require storage in ultra cold temperatures. It can be stored at -20 degrees, that's in a normal freezer. And that will really help us to expand the places where Moderna can go. It also has a longer shelf life in the refrigerator once it's transferred from the freezer. It can stay in normal refrigeration for 30 days. And that will also help us you know, expand access once the Moderna vaccine is authorized. And then with respect to some of your other questions about the clinical characteristics, the Moderna vaccine was submitted for authorization only for ages 18 and up. That's another difference from the Pfizer vaccine which was already authorized for ages 16 and up. But neither will be authorized for children below the age of 16. And then finally, we will get some additional information in the coming days on the Moderna vaccine about special populations, including pregnant people, people who are immunocompromised, and others. And we'll be sure to keep the public posted on those points as well.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Varma, would you like to add?

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Nothing additional for me.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Michael.

Question: Thanks guys. The second question I have is on the schools. So we see that more than 120 school buildings were shut down yesterday for a day or more because of multiple COVID cases. And you know, City Health officials have said that, you know, there are concerns about keeping schools open amid high community spread. And there's been disruption in closing these buildings. So I'm wondering how you're kind of weighing these countervailing things? How are you weighing the concern as community spread continues? And does the situation room and the Test and Trace people have you know, the bandwidth to follow through on all these individual cases we're now seeing?

Mayor: Yeah, there's no question the bandwidth is there. And I want to thank everyone at the situation room and at Test and Trace. They've done a really amazing job supporting every school community. Remember that they're focused now on elementary schools and special education programs and pre-K, 3K. So about 878 schools is our universe. The information as of the end of yesterday was 41 were in a longer shut down, but again they will come out of that and keep going as we saw throughout the fall. So, you know, you're going to have some schools shut down at any given point. There's still a pandemic going on. Until we really can turn the corner on the second wave and get the vaccine out there you will have some school shutdowns. But the vast majority of schools are open and serving kids and doing an amazing job of keeping everyone safe. And we're testing constantly. So I have a lot of confidence in our school system and the ability of our health care team working with our educators to keep everyone safe. And the vast majority of schools every single day are open and supporting our kids and families.

Moderator: The next is Narmeen from PIX.

Question: Good morning, Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, Narmeen. How you doing?

Question: I'm doing well, thank you. I'm curious to know as you hear some of the faith leaders speak just earlier, what are some of the immediate points for you, that you see the City has some lapses in? Some places, some things that they mentioned that you feel the City needs to close the gap on in terms of getting the information out there in regards to the vaccine?

Mayor: Really good question Narmeen. I think it's kind of the thing we deal with every day that the government has to speak to the people, has to speak in a really clear, straightforward language. And really answer tough and fair questions. You heard from each of the faith leaders the kinds of questions that people have on their mind, you know, is it safe? You know, prove to me it's safe. Explain to me what this is really going to do and what the side effects may be, all of these kinds of things that people really need to understand. And they need to see proof that it works. And I think what's going to happen, this is kind of the way it always happens in these situations is you know, the very health care heroes that we're seeing get this vaccine in the last 24 hours, they're going to start telling their stories over the days ahead. And from what we've understood, most of them should have no side effects or very limited side effects, but have the great advantage of being protected. And as more and more people start to testify about that, I think it's going to give greater and greater comfort. More and more people will over time, know someone in their life who has taken the vaccine successfully. But we in government have to get that fact sheet out, that is the point that Dr. Craig, excuse me Reverend Craig made that, that fact sheet answering all those core questions and really listening to the questions that come up along the way and giving those clean answers, that's what's going to move people. Go ahead.

Question: Thank you for that Mayor. Also just sticking to that subject just a bit longer. We talked to several smaller community organizations that were kind of born out of the pandemic ones, mainly out of Bronx and Queens who really helped a lot of communities of color, a lot of ethnic groups get the resources that they felt the city lagged on when it came to food and such and even testing. Many of them have said that they've had found it difficult to connect with the city to help them even magnify their voices. What advice do you have to some of those smaller organizations to connect with the city more clearly? 

Mayor: We want to connect with them, Narmeen, and please share contact information with us so that we can get our team in touch with them. Look, I think for smaller organizations, it's not surprising that they may not have as many relationships in the city government, but we want to help them build them. We definitely want to help them get what they need to be effective. We need them, just like we reached out to a lot of smaller community groups in the census, they played an incredibly positive role in helping us achieve what we did in the census which was pretty miraculous during the pandemic, we got to do that again to make sure people get good, clear information about the vaccine, to make sure people get the help they need in addressing all the aspects of the crisis. So we want to connect with them. I would say on testing, we all struggled because there wasn't enough testing available for months and months in the beginning. One of the biggest problems in this whole crisis has been the lack of testing and particularly the lack of federal response on the testing. But when it comes to food, I just want to say, we have said from the beginning, no New Yorker will go hungry. We will make food available to anyone that needs it just by calling 3-1-1, we'll connect them to food. A lot of times that's been through schools that have those feeding programs, it's been direct delivery. So it hasn't necessarily gone through a smaller grassroots organization, but we still want to help those organizations get the food supply they need. So anyone that you're talking to connect them to us and we'll make sure we get them help. 

Moderator: The next is Alex Zimmerman from Chalkbeat.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Alex, how are you doing?

Question: I'm doing well. My first question is about enrollment in public schools. I'm wondering if you can provide the number of students who are enrolled in city public schools right now, or if you can commit to a timeline to providing that?

Mayor: Yeah, we can certainly get you updated information. We know this has been a year filled with disruption. We know some families left the city and are now coming back. We know some change the kind of schools they were going to. I think we're going to see a continued movement in our enrollment throughout the school. I think we get to September when people will be coming back in person, that's going to be a much more stable situation. But I'll talk to our colleagues at DOE and get you the latest numbers that we have. 

Question: Secondly, just a quick clarifying question. You mentioned there might be a need for another pause, does that include schools and sort of somewhat unrelatedly to the enrollment question, you know, typically in a school year of schools lose enrollment if they have to give back some of their budgets and it appears that that is happening, sort of in – through the typical process this school year. The principals’ union has raised some concerns about that and has sort of made the argument that schools should be held harmless, and you've obviously said that this school year and next school year are very high stakes school year. So I'm wondering whether you've considered reevaluating that policy and sort of how – and why you think school should be forced to relinquish money? 

Mayor: Yeah, I don't think – it's a fair concern, but I want to also say I'm not sure the union is presenting the whole reality. Alex, we have been really flexible with schools. We've had lots of issues where schools needed different staffing. We've helped them to get that staffing, we've helped them to have budget flexibility. We certainly want to be respectful of what schools have been through. So it's not – it's not business as usual. It is a different approach this year, and it's much more an effort to hear what each school needs and adjust to it. So that's the approach that we're taking. I spoke about this on the question of pause. I spoke about this on NY1 last night. Look, our schools are the safest places in New York City right now. Our health care leaders have said it, and I want to get Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi into this point. Right now we're seeing extraordinary success in keeping our schools safe. I want to keep them open. If we do have a pause that will be a decision the State makes, as I said, that could be as soon as right after Christmas, but the schools with all the layer upon layer of health and safety measures with this gold standard of health protections that we've put in place, schools can effectively keep serving kids and kids need it. And I think this is important to hear health care voices talk about why schools are safe, but also why kids need to be in school. Dr. Varma and then Dr. Chokshi? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Great. Thank you, Mayor. I think one of the things that we really committed ourselves to before the school year started was trying to take the best of all interventions that we know about around the world and combine them into a package. And then what we have seen with our data that we get from testing in schools, as well as the reporting of cases occurring in students and any staff outside of school, is that the schools are not increasing the rate of transmission. People's risk of getting infected, if you are a member of the school community, is either similar to, or in some situations, much less than it is for anybody else in the community. And that means basically what the schools aren't going to protect you from getting infected in the community necessarily, but we can reduce any transmission that might occur in those, through all those safety measures. And the other thing that I think that's critically important that the Mayor just mentioned is that health of course is more than just freedom from COVID. Right now we're in this pandemic, that is our highest priority, but there are tremendous health and social benefits that come from being in school, and I think the American Academy of Pediatrics statement on this issue that's been published before is probably really one of the most strongest and comprehensive statements from people who know, physicians who know about the importance of in-person schooling. So I do feel strongly that we can keep the school environment safe even while we have this pandemic region around us. 

Mayor: Go ahead, doctor – thank you – and go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll just add briefly, you know, Dr. Varma covered it very nicely. It boils down to safety and health and we've put in those rigorous protocols that Dr. Varma went over from the safety perspective. To add just one more layer on the health perspective, the reason that we as doctors, you know, as health professionals feel so strongly about this is that it is a worthy mission from the perspective of the health of children who are being served in schools. Everything that happens in schools from, of course the learning and the education itself, to some of the services that are provided both for mental health, as well as social services, schools should be thought of as as instruments of promoting health in our communities. And so that's why we have taken those pain staking steps to make them as safe as possible because they promote health. 

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Matt Troutman from Patch.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?

Mayor: I'm doing well. How you?

Question: Doing well. Okay, well, we have a major snowstorm coming and schools have more or less been back in session for just about a week or more. What are the logistics of a potential, you know, closure of in-person learning coming up and what's the likelihood? 

Mayor: Okay. Right now, as I've learned with the National Weather Service and predicting the weather, and I have a lot of respect for the National Weather Service, but we have been surprised many times with storms changing at the last moment or being more or less unexpected. So it's still early to make a final prediction. I'll bring in our Commissioner for Emergency Management, Dan Criswell in a second, but I'd say what I'm hearing is from Dan and others, not until later tomorrow, Wednesday, do we see the storm having much effect? So school day tomorrow, as of now, looks good. That goes to the open question about Thursday morning. Again, we're about to potentially experience something we've never experienced before in the history of New York City, which is if we did have a snow day, meaning kids couldn't physically go to school, we still have remote learning in place. Someone said to me the other day they felt kind of forlorn about the fact that it ends the snow day as we knew it as kids, when we look forward to a day off, yes, it's true that that's now going to be a thing of the past, that even when kids are home because of snow, they'll still be learning. And I'm kind of sad for the kids on the one hand, on the other hand we got a lot of learning that needs to be done, a lot of catching up. So it's the right thing to do. But right now I'd say Wednesday looks solid that we can have school as normal. Thursday, still we need to know more as we get closer and we'll certainly alert parents and families as quickly as we have a final determination. Commissioner Criswell, you want to jump in. 

Commissioner Deanne Criswell, Emergency Management: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes. Right now, you know, we are watching the weather closely and I am on the phone with the National Weather Service multiple times a day, and the Mayor is right. Wednesday looks good right now up until later in the afternoon, we are going to start to see some snow come in around the four o'clock, maybe evening rush hour. It'll be light. In the majority of this storm is going to happen in the evening hours and the overnight hours where we will see up to eight to 12 inches of snow with some heavy winds. And it will start to dissipate and move out by the morning rush hour, but we might see some lingering snow through the morning. So again, we're watching this closely, we're communicating with all of our city agencies so they can make the most effective decisions that they can. 

Mayor: Thank you, commissioner.

All right, everybody, as we conclude today, look, let's just take a second to appreciate, we're talking about the vaccine today, it's pretty miraculous what has happened here. Here's a disease, the coronavirus that basically a year ago we had not even heard of, had not been part of the human experience, became the dominant reality on the whole earth and caused such pain, such loss, and then scientists and health care leaders and governments all over the world really put everything they had into achieving a vaccine. And as some of our health care leaders said in the last few days, this normally would have taken years, in this case it took months and multiple companies came up with a safe, effective, vaccines based on what we've seen so far. And now we're going to be positioned to use them. In the very same year the coronavirus struck this country, the vaccine is available in this country. That's never been done like that before. And we need to really appreciate this moment, even though it's been a very painful, tough year. We got to celebrate here as this year, end something extraordinary that happened in our time to fight back and to help people.

So, we now need to do what we can do to take that extraordinary achievement put into action. So, I'm going to ask every New Yorker, work with us. If you need information, we're going to provide a lot, but also, you know, do whatever research you feel is right to get the answers you need, but let's get those answers out there. Let's get people comfortable. Let's get people engaged. Every single person that takes this vaccine, even for the first dose, it's helping to protect you against the coronavirus. If you're being protected, your family's being protected, your community is being protected, here's an opportunity to turn the corner. So, we're going to do everything we can to get the information out there to every community, in every language, in every way, and distribute this vaccine with extraordinary speed and effectiveness through our Command Center and make sure that distribution is equitable. Every one of us plays a part. Every one of you plays a part to make this work for all of New York City and I know we can do that together. Thanks, everybody.

2020-12-16 NYC Mayor de Blasio

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Good morning, everyone. We're going to get started in this amazing historic moment. So happy to be here and especially happy to welcome the Mayor. And I want you all to know that during the darkest moments in March and April I was on the telephone with the Mayor, 10:00 pm, 11:00 pm, midnight 1:00 am, 2:00 am. And what his concern is, tell me about Elmhurst, how much equipment do they need? What is the ventilator situation? How many patients are there? And the work was all about how do we get them the staff they need? How do we get them the supplies they need? He very much felt the pain of Elmhurst. I know he was here a number of times during that period. And I want to thank him deeply for that effort, for that caring. And how great that now we could be here to make the pain go away, to be able to protect the heroes of Elmhurst. So, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you. Thank you. I want to thank Dr. Mitch Katz, who really has seen through this whole crisis our extraordinary public hospital system, public clinic system. Health + Hospitals has borne the brunt of the coronavirus crisis. The men and women of H + H have done an amazing job fighting back this disease and deserve all the respect and appreciation in the world. And they had a great and persistent leader during it. So, Mitch, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you did for this city during this crisis. We're here at Elmhurst Hospital, a heroic place, a heroic place. A place where something extraordinary happened. One of the toughest battles anywhere in the United States of America against the coronavirus happened right here. But Elmhurst Hospital held. Elmhurst Hospital held the line, the men and women who worked here, the health care heroes did an extraordinary job against all odds. That's the story of Elmhurst Hospital. There's a lot to be proud of. You can clap for that. [Applause] 

Elmhurst Hospital has a lot to be proud of. Queens has a lot to be proud of. It is a great pleasure to be here with the new Borough President of Queens Donovan Richards, congratulations. [Applause] 

And Donovan you chose a good time to become borough president. [Laughter] 

Because we're celebrating such an important moment here. The first ever vaccination at a New York City public hospital. And there's no more fitting place than here. This is the place where it should be because this is the heroic place. I really want to emphasize that this is the heroic place. [Applause] 

And I will tell you for the rest of my life, when I hear the words Elmhurst Hospital, I'm going to think of heroes. And I'm going to think of a battle that was fought and won. That's what I'm going to remember. [Applause] 

So, Elmhurst is part of what I can say with assurance is the leading public health care system in America, H + H. And this is the first time we can say that for sure, can’t we? [Applause] 

And we're going to see the first vaccinations in an H + H facility. And the good news is you're going to be seeing more and more people every day getting vaccinated. In the last 48 hours since the vaccine arrived, over 1,600 health care workers have been vaccinated in New York City. That is a huge step forward. [Applause] 

Now, why are we here? We're here to honor our health care workers. We're here to honor Elmhurst Hospital. We're also here to talk about how important our public health care system has been in this year. I'll be blunt for a long time HHC, then Health + Hospitals were ignored in this city. They were too often put down, too often starved of funding. And a lot of folks, unfortunately thought of H + H as something that wasn't their business. And H + H struggled for years and years. Several years ago, before we ever heard the word coronavirus, we made a decision to invest in H + H. Billions of dollars to make sure our public health care system was strong. We made a decision that the future New York City depended on H + H. No, we did not have a crystal ball. We did not know there would be a pandemic. We knew people needed health care. And we knew it wouldn't happen without H + H. So, we spent billions of dollars. And let me tell you that is some of the best money we ever spent. Because we needed H + H more than we ever knew. 

And when that moment came, when literally the city was on a razor's edge, H + H was there for thousands and tens of thousands of New Yorkers. H + H held the line, H + H, Health + Hospitals saved New York City. [Applause] 

And in this next battle, and this will be the last great battle against the coronavirus, I'm happy to tell you. This will be the last great battle against the coronavirus, because the vaccine is here. We will need H + H again, to help us fight back and defeat the second wave but also because this is the place where so many people will get vaccinated. This is the place where neighborhoods will turn and will trust to come get that vaccination. So, it's all going to be happening here. And that's why we're here today to celebrate this important step. This crucial, wonderful moment. Let me say a few quick words in Spanish before this historic moment occurs. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish:] 

Let's make this pandemic part of our past. Let's get rid of it once and for all. And with that, I will now tell you we are so pleased to be here with Veronica Delgado, who is a lead physician's assistant in the Emergency Department. And William Kelly, a service aid in the Environmental Services Department. And to assist them, Dr. Eric Wei and Dr. Dave Chokshi. Dr. Eric Wei of H + H, Dr. Dave Chokshi, our Health Commissioner have stepped forward. And yet you have office jobs now, but you still know how to doctor. [Laughter] 

So, get ready for the big moment, everyone. 

[Commissioner Chokshi, Dr. Wei administer the first COVID vaccinations to H + H health care workers] 

[Applause] 

Mayor: Come on everyone, this is standing ovation, it doesn’t get better than this. [Applause] 

Mayor: We’re going to be here for all of your medical appointments. You all did a great job. [Applause] 

Moderator: [Inaudible] Q and A.

Mayor: All right, everyone. First of all, again, to William and Veronica, this is – it is not typical to have a hundred people in the room for your shot. So you both did an incredible job staying cool under pressure and thank you. Thank you. Not only for being an example to the whole city of the fact that this vaccine is so important and so safe, but thank you for being part of the Elmhurst family. This family of heroes has done so much. Let's thank them for all of them for all they do. [Applause]

Mayor: All right. We're going to take some questions. Yes? 

Question: Mayor, you talked about 1,600 health care workers vaccinated in the last two days. That means, and correct my math if I’m wrong, 800 a day, over the course of a month that would be 24,000.Don't you need to rapidly accelerate [inaudible] to make any kind of dent in the population, health care or otherwise?

Mayor: Yeah, Andrew, this was just day one, day two. Do not take that for a second as indication of where things are going. I’m going to have Dr. Chokshi speak to this, but you're going to see things expand very quickly. Our health care team had to obviously get to know this vaccine, get used to the details of how to handle it. But you're going to see a very, very rapid expansion and as soon as vaccine comes in, it is going to get distributed. It's going to get used very quickly. Dr. Chokshi do you want to add? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thanks very much, Mr. Mayor. Yes, just to add briefly to it, remember 37 hospitals received their first deliveries yesterday. Amazing to see. Many of them actually began their vaccinations yesterday as well. Many others will begin them today. So we do expect that clip to pick up, but remember just as what we emphasize with the vaccine is that it is safe and effective. We want the vaccination process also to be safe and effective, and people are making sure that the way the vaccine is transported and stored and all of the protocols are very rigorous, particularly in these early days. We want people to emphasize that. So there's not a single vaccine that is wasted, but we do expect those numbers to pick up. 

Question: Just a quick follow up. How high –what is the numbers you want to see in terms of their activity per day to begin making a difference? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Well, we will start to think about those goals with respect to vaccinations per day. So much of it depends on the supply of the vaccine that we received to New York City. But our general principle, particularly when the supply is very limited in these early days, is to try to get it as quickly as possible into people's arms so that they can start to build immunity.

Mayor: Yeah, Andrew, I really do appreciate the question because I think it's important we show people how much impact is going to have, but I want to be clear, right now it is – it comes in, it goes out, you know, as soon as it comes in, turn around, get to hospitals, get people the vaccinations they need. It's really about making the movement of this as quick as possible, over time and when we see all the different vaccines as we're waiting for the final approval on Moderna, I think Johnson and Johnson is out there, we'll have a sense of what our actual daily supply will be. But for now it's like as soon as it comes in, it goes right back out. Yes? 

Question: Can you talk about any side effects the first 1,600 people have had and – or maybe what you're hearing from around the country? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sure. well, the most important thing is that we have not heard of any serious adverse events, that means very serious side effects in New York City thus far. We are in contact with colleagues at the CDC, as well as other health departments around the country to make sure that we're understanding what they're seeing as well. Thankfully no serious adverse events have have been reported thus far. The side effects that are being experienced are the ones that were also seen in the studies for the vaccine, particularly some some pain at the injection site, you know, some fatigue, some muscle aches, generally those only lasts for the first 24 to 48 hours and are mostly mild side effects. 

Mayor: Where we're watching – hold on one second – we're watching William and Veronica very closely now, any real side effects so far? You're doing good. [Laughter]

They're both answering it looks good. Did you have a follow-up? 

Question: I did. It was a follow-up to Andrew's question. Is there any plan to publish a dashboard so that the public can see how many people are getting vaccinated every day?

Mayor: Yes, and that will be done by our Command Center. So that's going to be coming out in the next few days as those numbers get clear. Go ahead, Katie.

Question: Perhaps could Dr. Katz talk about the distribution of the vaccine within the city's public health hospital system? Is it equitable to that of private hospitals? Are there limits? Just to see – I know we saw NYU and Northwell get it on Monday. I'm just curious if there's a distribution – if there's an inequity within that? 

President Katz: Sure. Happy to answer. The very small number of hospitals, only about five, received it on Monday. The bulk of hospitals, including all the H + H hospitals, received it yesterday, and there are still a few that are receiving it today. So we were in the middle lodge tranche, and in terms of supply as the Mayor has said, ultimately, we need a much larger supply and we think that's going to come in in the next weeks, especially with the second vaccine likely to be approved. Right now, in terms of distribution, we're focusing on people in the highest risk areas, people who work in the emergency room or the ICU as these two great health care workers are, and they're also over 60, so that we're able to – which they may not be – but which – [Laughter] 

We want to get the highest risk people. I have to do two quick shout outs. Danielle DiBari has been – worked all weekend to set this up. She is our Chief Pharmacist, she put together protocols, all the sign-ins, and I can never pass Dr. Moshirpur is our Chief Medical Officer for 50 years at Elmhurst, 50 years. [Applause] 

Mayor: You've been working at Elmhurst for 50 years?

Jasmin Moshirpur, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes.

Mayor: That’s beautiful. [Applause] 

Go ahead, Katie.

Question: As a follow-up, can we have numbers, looking at Elmhurst specifically, how many health care workers here at Elmhurst will be vaccinated by the end of the day, by the end of the week, and so on? 

President Katz: What I can tell you is that from looking at the numbers, I believe we're going to vaccinate the whole hospital in three weeks, everyone in, in every single unit, just starting at the highest risk units.

Mayor: Okay. Who else? Yeah? 

Question: Mayor, I want to ask you since we are here at Elmhurst, and this was so much the epicenter of what we saw in the spring, how are we doing today as we see numbers slowly going up. Hospitalization rate here, particular capacity here, patient load, and just in general testing wise as well?

Mayor: Yeah. A couple of different things quickly. It's a mix for sure. The amount of testing is good news. You know, now we're going to have the capacity to be up to about 120,000 tests a day in New York City. We still need people to go get those tests. We have rigorous testing in the schools, obviously that's constant, but we need everyday New Yorkers to go get tested more. So that's an area where we can do better. Positivity levels too high. There's no question about it. I'll give you the update for the day with the indicators. Hold on. I may need that on another card, because I don't have indicators in front of you. We'll get that over one second, guys, just write out and hand over. But the point is today's indicators, the positivity levels too high. It's not going in the right direction. Hospitalizations are increasing. Our hospitals are doing a lot better, but, meaning they are better able to handle the coronavirus than they were obviously in the spring, but the hospitalizations keep increasing and I'm worried about that. So it's a reminder to all New Yorkers, we really need people to get tested. We need people to keep wearing the mask. We need people to not travel, keep gathering small, because there is increasing pressure on our hospitals.

And, you know, right now, as the Governor has said and I've said, if we don't see a turnaround, there will have to be deeper restrictions and it would potentially have to be a full pause. And if people want to avoid that, it's important to, like, really double down, get tested, wear a mask, don't travel, avoid the gatherings – that's the best way to fight back the virus, link up to the better times when we have the vaccine more fully distributed, and avoid any kind of shutdown. 

That's the only way we're going to do it, is if people really step up. In terms of hospitals, how they're doing – 

President Katz: I think the Mayor has covered the top lines. We have about a third capacity available, both the ICU and in the regular beds. So, we're in reasonable shape. Just to give people a sense of the numbers, all 11 hospitals together today have about 280 people with COVID. At our peak, we got to almost 4,000 last April. So, you know, 280 – you know, it still – it does strain the system. We haven't seen the huge drop in non-COVID patients that we saw in March and April, which we're happy about. We realize that there was tremendous care that was lost. People who were seriously sick stayed away from all hospitals in March and April, all the New York City hospitals experience the huge drop – that hasn't happened now. And so, we have to watch capacity closely. But we're being able to bring in additional nurses starting on Monday and we believe we'll be able to keep up with the increase in cases that the Mayor has spoken about.

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: I'll just add briefly in terms of, you know, what we're seeing with respect to the city-wide phenomena. It really echoes what Dr. Katz just went through, which is, certainly, we're concerned for the reasons the Mayor has laid out in terms of the increase in cases and percent positivity, because we know that that does lead to an increase in hospitalizations. But, thus far, hospitals are able to keep pace with that upsurge and it's up to us to blunt the curve further with respect to those key public health actions that will allow us to reduce the burden on our health care system.

Mayor: Okay. Who else? Yes? 

Question: Speaking of testing, is COVID-19 testing is going to [inaudible] resume tomorrow at noon. Are you concerned about having to take the testing offline for almost a day, given the weather related [inaudible] –

Mayor: Look, obviously, I wish we didn't have to, but this is just a smart precaution. I think it's going offline at two o'clock today.

President Katz: That's correct.

Mayor: Two o'clock, back at noon tomorrow – it's under 24 hours. I don't think it'll make a huge difference, obviously. But this is when it gets complicated, right? A snow storm coming – we want people to be safe. We want people to take precautions, because they need to take the storm seriously. We, obviously, always want to get people tested, but I think when it's a brief window like this it should have a limited impact. Go ahead. 

Question: Yes. And more about your vaccine distribution, understanding – you commented yesterday that you're not expecting the snow to have any impact on the vaccine rollout across the city. And just wanted to follow up on that a little bit more. I think we also got the update around 41,000 doses of the vaccine were available yesterday. It sounds like more and more [inaudible] on this daily. Can you give us a better sense of how many shipments you are expecting today? Tomorrow? For the next 48 hours? And how can you say that the snow is not going to impact that district? 

Mayor: Yeah. Fair questions all around. So, I want first frame it real quick – this vaccination effort is literally in its infancy. You know, we were not even sure until the end of Sunday, beginning of Monday, exactly when the arrivals would begin. So, we're just days into it. The hospitals are learning how to use the vaccine for the first time, as Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi had talked about – never had a vaccine like this before. You're going to see a constant ramping up. But, in the meantime, the question of the storm – what does it mean? Well, it's – you know, it's a storm, but it is a storm so far is still staying in a pretty limited range – that, kind of, eight inches to 12 inches range for a limited period of time this afternoon evening into early morning hours tomorrow. That doesn't change anything in a big way from what we're seeing. We expect to keep getting the deliveries and keeping able to turn around and get people vaccinate. Just, I think everyone, again, I never asked New Yorkers for patience, because we're not a patient people. I do ask people to recognize – there's no one with more motivation – literally, no one in New York City with more motivation to get these vaccinations to happen quickly than our health care workers and our health care leaders. They want to get this done. They're going to move this very, very aggressively. But the storm at this point does not present any meaningful change to our schedule.

Hey, real quick on the indicators, everyone. So, let me do this – hospitalizations for the day, the 195 new hospitalizations. COVID positivity, 56 percent among them. And then, the hospitalizations per 100,000 – that's at three now. So, that's gotten consistently higher. So, again, another example of why we do have a problem with these increasing hospitalizations and we’ve got to fight back against this. The new cases combined, confirming probable – excuse me, 2,785 – 2,785 – really big number, another cause for concern. Positivity on a seven-day average, 5.71 percent – so, higher than we want it to be. That number has not been shooting up, thank God, but it’s definitely higher than we need it to be. Who has not gone yet from the media? Let me see if anyone hasn't gone just for a second. Go ahead. 

Question: Hi. So, I just want to hear a little bit more about Veronica and William. You know, where [inaudible] what you're feeling [inaudible]

William Kelly: Well, right now, I feel good. [Laughter] 

Mayor: You look good – [Laughter] 

Mayor: You know, for someone over 60 – [Laughter] 

Question: What about your age – [Laughter] 

Unknown: You can lie – [Laughter] 

Question: [Inaudible] 

Kelly: You want to know my age? [Laughter] 

Mayor: Who’s asking? [Laughter] 

Question: What's your message to the community? What's your message to people who've been waiting for the vaccine?

Kelly: Well, I guess, everybody’s been waiting for so long, so that's why I wanted to do this.

Veronicas Delgado: I'm 65 – 

Mayor: You don't look it. [Laughter] 

Delgado: Yeah. I feel very privileged to be one of the first to get the vaccine. I know there are people that are more frontline and more deserving. So, my message is to the Mayor and everybody, I hope that everybody can be vaccinated quickly. And my message to non-health care providers is also, you have to do your own research and everybody has to make their own decisions, but not to be afraid of a vaccine and not to get information off of Facebook. [Laughter] [Applause] 

Mayor: You win – you win quote of the day award right there. Okay. We've all learned a valuable lesson. Okay. Last call – anyone who has not ask a question from the media? 

Okay. Final one – 

Question: Going off what we were just talking about a little bit of what [inaudible] getting your vaccine, can you talk about that feeling [inaudible] – 

Delgado: Quite frankly, I don't know a health care worker in this hospital who doesn’t want the vaccine [inaudible]. So [inaudible] people to want. What it feels like to me – first thing on Sunday, in the morning, after a very long dark and frightening night.

Mayor: Nicely said – 

Kelly: Well, to me, I want everybody to take the vaccine shot, you know? I mean, it's good to take it, things like that. So, I hope everybody takes the shot, you know, so we can all get back together. Any questions? [Laughter] 

Mayor: Thank you to Veronica and William. And, William, that last line is very powerful. Let everyone get the vaccine so we can all get back together. That's a beautiful thought – so we can all get back together. I also want you to know, William, Veronica, you've really done a great job today and we're going to reward you with a candy cane. [Laughter] 

This should become part of – hold up your candy cane so people know what I'm talking about. This should become part of the vaccine protocol. Okay? You get a candy cane with every vaccine, that will encourage people.

Everyone, congratulations. Elmhurst, well done. [Applause]

2020-12-17 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, the worst of the storm is passed and there's actually some sun peeking through the clouds this morning. So, that's a really good sign. We're going to talk about the storm in just a moment, but first I want to talk about yesterday – so meaningful, so powerful, so emotional – being at Elmhurst Hospital, the place that was the epicenter within the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis, the place that was hit hardest all in New York City. 10 months ago, Elmhurst Hospital, going through hell, but what strong people there at Elmhurst, what good people, the health care heroes who saw us through. How amazing to be there yesterday as the first health care workers in our public hospitals got their vaccine. Talk about an amazing turnaround that the vaccine, being given to the very same people who saved lives by the thousands 10 months ago. Two health care workers were the first to be vaccinated in all of our public hospitals, Veronica Delgado, who is a lead physician assistant in the emergency department, and, William Kelly, service aid in the environmental services department. They both were wonderful and they both spoke from the heart about how important it was for their fellow health care workers and all New Yorkers to get the vaccine. And William said something that just brought it all together. He said, I hope everybody takes the shot so we can all get back together. Think about that. That's the simplest most powerful explanation of why we need the vaccine, so we can all get back together. I want everyone to be thinking about that in the weeks and months ahead, about getting that vaccine and helping others, encouraging others to do it. It means we can turn the page and start to do the things we love and get back together with our family and friends the way we've missed so much. So, the approach we're going to take on this vaccine is really to amplify voices like Williams, folks in every neighborhood. We had some of our colleagues from the clergy on yesterday. You're going to be hearing from clergy. You're going to hear from elected officials, community leaders, and every-day New Yorkers talk about why the vaccine is important, why it's safe, why it's easy, why it's effective. We need to get the word out.

Now, we have just started in the last few days the vaccine effort. It's going to ramp up much more every single day, but here's the up-to-date number of people vaccinated in New York City – 5,200; new since yesterday morning, 3,565. These numbers are going to grow rapidly with each day as the approach to the vaccine gets refined more each day and more and more people are brought into play. So, again, first few days is going to be a slow and steady ramp-up, then you're going to see a takeoff. And, now, we have, so far, in New York City 42,900 doses have arrived. So, we have plenty of supply. We're going to be getting that out all over the city.

Now, at the same time, we’ve got to get people good information. Just as important as where the vaccine is, is making sure people understand it, they trust it, they get answers to their questions. We fight back misinformation. There's a lot of misinformation out there, we have to overcome that and we have to remind people of a situation we're living with. The virus keeps causing us a challenge. The rate of infection keeps going up in the city, hospitalizations keep going up. We've got a serious issue here. That's why we need the vaccine to fight the virus. But, in the meantime, we need everyone to do what you know how to do, the masks, the social distancing, no travel, no big gatherings, keep gathering small. These are the things we're going to need to do to keep fighting this virus. And a lot of people have said to me these last few days, we don't want to see another pause, we don't want to see another shutdown – nor do I, but if you don't want to see those things, do something about it. Cancel travel plans, keep the gathering small, wear the mask, do all the things that help us fight the virus so we can try and avoid some of those measures that none of us want to see.

Okay. Let's turn that outdoor dining. A lot of concern about making sure that the mom and pop restaurants out there and all the people who work in the dining industry had their jobs tonight, and so many people rooting for them. Here's the update – it's going to take a couple of different stages to get the final answer today. What we can say with assurance is that in Manhattan, right now – Manhattan did pretty well in this storm. In Manhattan, we're going to have outdoor dining up and running tonight. And, obviously, that's where a lot of the restaurants and jobs are. So, we can tell you right now through the great efforts of Sanitation Department, we'll have outdoor dining up and running in Manhattan tonight. For the other four boroughs, we're going to have an update by about one o'clock today. And it could be different by borough – obviously, different boroughs had different amount of snowfall, different conditions, different realities. We're going to speak to that later on today, after Sanitation has a chance to do some more assessment and come back with the latest updates. So, we will keep the public posted and we'll keep our colleagues in the restaurant industry posted as we get that information over the next few hours. 

Okay, let me go to our indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 174 patients. We want to be under 200 – today, we are. It's been a tough in some of the last few days, but at least that's a little bit better number for today. But the number that's not good, hospitalization rate per 100,000 – today's number is 3.06. We want to be under two, so that is not a good sign. New cases – this number keeps just getting bigger and bigger – probable cases and confirmed cases go to 2,739. We want to be under 550. We’ve got a long way to go and everyone needs to be a part of turning it around. And then, percentage of New York City residents testing positive on the seven-day rolling average – today’s report, six percent. Again, that's an unacceptable number. We need to get under five and keep going down for there. So, six percent is not acceptable. We’ve got a lot of work to do.

Okay. Let me do a few words in Spanish – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson, Commissioner of Emergency Management Deanne Criswell, Health + Hospitals CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Commissioner of Social Services Steve Banks, Deputy Mayor of Operations Laura Anglin, and Senior Advisor. Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Gloria from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Sounds like sounds like it could have been worse and it's not that bad, so I think everyone is feeling good about that.

Mayor: You are right. Go ahead. 

Question: Thank you. Mr. Mayor, I wanted if you have an update, I know you had to shut down COVID testing sites for the storm. When will they reopen? And did any of them sustain any sort of damage that might, I know cause some of them are outdoors? So, is there any damage to any of the testing sites and when can people expect to be back to get a test? 

Mayor: I'll start with what I know and then see if Dr. Katz or Dr. Chokshi knows anything different? I have not heard of any damage to a site, obviously mobile sites and sites we set up temporarily. They're easy to take down. I think that's what happened as far as I could tell. And the original concept yesterday was have them up and running at around 12 noon. I don't think anything has changed, Gloria. I think that's still true, but let me confirm and see if Dr. Katz or Dr. Chokshi want to add? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes, Mr. Mayor, you have it right. All the tents were taken down. I want to be clear that testing still went on in all our hospital emergency rooms. So that testing itself did not stop. And we do anticipate based on the weather and the site, that the sites will reopen sometime between noon and 2:00 pm this afternoon. 

Mayor: Okay, great. Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Rich from WCBS Radio. 

Question: Good morning. And well I guess it wasn't as bad as we thought it was going to be, so that's good, right? 

Mayor: Well, you know what? We finally catch a break around here, Rich. 

Question: Well, I'm wondering in regard to the vaccinations. You know, Britain indicated that they were – it was a slower rollout than they had hoped because it was a little more complicated than thought, than they had thought. Is the pace of getting the vaccines out everything that everybody wants at this point? I mean, I know you're talking about a continued acceleration, but are there any complications? 

Mayor:I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz. Rich, I'd say this is just the beginning of something that's going to be huge. And the first few days everyone's being methodical and careful to get it right, to really make sure they understand exactly how to handle this vaccine, which is unusual. It's different. We haven't had one like this before. But I think it's going to be just a steady, steady uptick. And when we really build out, we're going to be all over the city simultaneously serving all different kinds of New Yorkers. So, I think this is just a natural sort of steps it takes to get started. But Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, jump in. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And yes, you're exactly right. I was at Elmhurst yesterday morning. I was at my Maimonides in Brooklyn in the afternoon and Montefiore in the Bronx in the afternoon as well, checking in with their teams on the logistics. Checking in with their pharmacy teams about what they have to do to get the vaccine out of the vials, into syringes and into people's arms. Checking in with the medical teams, you know, to understand their protocols as well. And overall, everything is going as smoothly you know, across all of those dimensions. But as the Mayor said this is a complicated and you know, a dance that we want as well choreographed as possible. Given that it is a new vaccine, it's one that requires this ultra-cold storage and some special steps in handling as well. So overall things are going smoothly. I expect the pace of vaccination will start to tick up in the coming days as more appointments are able to be booked at several of the hospitals that I visited yesterday. They started their vaccination clinics as early as six o'clock in the morning and had a night shift going until midnight. And so, I think all of those things will result in additional health care workers getting vaccinated over the coming days. 

Mayor: Great. Go ahead, Dr. Katz. 

President Katz: I would just add, I think Dr. Chokshi did an excellent job. I just add that we're all very careful to not waste any of the vaccine. And it's because they're in multidose vials that can only be out of the freezer for short periods of time, that especially at the beginning, we have to be super careful. But you know, today for us is just, you know, the early part of day two. And we're going to start, you know, doing way, way more in the coming days as the procedures get easier and easier. 

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead. Rich. 

Question: And I was just wondering, I wondered yesterday. I thought I heard Dr. Katz say that they might get everybody vaccinated in his hospitals within three weeks. Is that true? And what about these adverse reactions we're hearing about, a couple of people up in the Alaska, apparently? Anything like that happening? 

Mayor: Dr. Katz, you speak to your hospitals and anything you want to say on that report from Alaska? And then if Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Varma want to jump in, they should as well. Go ahead, Dr. Katz. 

President Katz: I'll do the H + H and let Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma talk about the cases in Alaska. Yeah, we are committed to within three weeks getting everybody who was in the hospital vaccinated. We believe that we can do that. So, you can be sure it will happen. 

Mayor: And Mitch, just clarify for everyone, you're saying across your 11 hospitals? 

President Katz: Yes. All of the staff in all 11 hospitals will get vaccinated within three weeks. 

Mayor: Excellent. Excellent. Okay on the Alaska cases, go ahead, Dr. Chokshi, then Dr. Varma. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you. This is an important question, you know, with respect to the more serious side effects that may occur. But let me start with the big picture, which is that the Pfizer vaccine was shown in clinical trials to be safe and effective. It was reviewed by leading scientists at the FDA and the CDC. The study that was done, the big study of the Pfizer vaccine involved 44,000 people. And there were no serious safety concerns identified among those 44,000 people. However, it's possible that there could be some adverse reactions, including allergic reactions that can occur in very, very rare cases. We're talking about, you know, one in a million type of cases as the vaccine begins to be administered to more and more people. That's why we take extra precautions when the vaccine is being administered, including an observation period of at least 15 to 30 minutes. And the event that occurred in Alaska was actually during that observation period, which allowed her to get medical attention very quickly. We have not heard of any serious adverse reactions like that in New York City. Although we will continue to monitor for them and work in coordination with the CDC, which has a system for these types of serious side effects to be reported. And so we're checking in with them about it regularly as well. 

Mayor: Great, Dr. Varma? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Nothing else for me. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Marcia from WCBS. 

Question: Mr. Mayor my question has to do with the stimulus being negotiated in Washington right now. My understanding is that Senator Schumer and other officials from New York are trying to negotiate to get some money for New York City as a bridge to when they could get to the Biden administration, which might not happen until February or so. I wonder what kind of a bind that puts you in, in terms of developing your own budget? I think you have to have a fiscal plan sometime in January? Or are you planning on pushing that off as well to see what happens after the Biden administration takes office? 

Mayor: Very important question, Marcia, thank you. We're going to present the preliminary budget in January regardless of what happens with the stimulus. And we will adjust according to whether they have achieved something in the stimulus for this city or not. We'll show people what we have to do. But it's going to be based only on the facts as we have them. We're obviously going to make reference to the fact that there could be more stimulus. But I want to caution, part of why I'm so agitated about the current negotiations is I don't have a guarantee there's going to be another stimulus. We don't know what's going to happen in the elections in Georgia. We don't know what is going to happen in the Senate. We do know Mitch McConnell consistently has been standing in the way of aid to localities. So, there's cities, counties, states, and all over the country that are suffering. And Mitch McConnell keeps blocking help to them. And I'm very worried about that. So, I don't know when the next stimulus is. That's why I want to see this stimulus actually help us get back on our feet. But whatever comes of this, we will reflect the outcome in the January budget. And we're going to put a budget on the table that reflects the reality. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next we have Andrew from WNBC. 

Mayor: Andrew. Andrew, can you hear us? 

Moderator: Andrew, are you there? 

Mayor: I think he's there, but he's not hearing us. Andrew Siff, we can hear you. Can you hear us? 

Moderator: As Andrew braves the elements, we're going to Nolan from the New York Post. 

Mayor: That's live. That was exciting, dramatic audio of Andrew in the elements. Okay. We'll come back to him. Who we have now? Nolan? Okay. How are you doing Nolan? 

Question: Hi Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, but I'm not hearing you very loudly. Can we get that volume up? Try again Nolan. 

Question: Sure. Is this better? 

Mayor: There you go. There you go. 

Question: I’ll just yell. 

Mayor: No, don’t yell, you are all good. 

Question: Alright. So, to follow up on the questions about the stimulus. It doesn't look like there's going to be much in the way of aid for cities and states at this moment. You've banked your 2022 budget around getting a lot of aid. What's the plan if it doesn't show up? Mitch McConnell's answer to we need to plow the streets is cities and states should go bankrupt. Like what's your plan B if the aid doesn't show up? 

Mayor: Nolan, such an important question. Look, first of all, the current negotiations aren't over. So, I'm expressing my strong views, but I also want to be fair, it ain’t over till it's over. Second of all, I have no doubt in my mind that President Biden will work intensely for a real stimulus. He believes in state and local aid. He also knows a hell of a lot about how to get something done with the Senate. Third of all, we don't know what the results of the election in Georgia will be. So, what I'm going to do in January is present a budget based on all the facts. When I present that budget, we will know the results of the Georgia election. And we will know whether there has been a stimulus achieved by the end of this Congress right now. And we'll present what we got to do. We all know there's lots of tough options that we can turn to if we have to, but they would have horrible impact on the life of the city. You know, it would take away the services people need and the things we need to recover. But it's not time to project that yet. It's time to see what comes of this and then make the adjustments accordingly. Go ahead. 

Question: Secondly, with the stimulus package still in flux, you are asking Governor Cuomo and you've suggested to Governor Cuomo that it's time to impose additional restrictions at some point in the near future here in the city. Those restrictions would shut down outdoor dining. And with so many restaurants already hanging on by just the slimmest of threads, what can the City do to bolster restaurants if outdoor dining does close again? Is the City considering offering emergency loans through its bonding authority for instance? 

Mayor: Nolan we've been working with a whole lot of small businesses, including restaurants to get them loans that are available and other forms of assistance. And we'll keep doing that. There's a lot of businesses hurting, not just restaurants, a whole lot of businesses hurting. If look, the challenge we have now is let's go back to just the beginning here. Let's go back to the core of it. It's COVID. And the infection rate keeps rising. That's a big problem. That could lead to more and more stress on our hospitals. That's going to lead to more people losing their life. God forbid, but that's what's going to happen if we can't stop this. And it's going to end up shutting down the economy more and more anyway. So, what I'm saying and I've had this conversation with the Governor. And he and I've been very much of the same view on this. Is if we don't turn this around quickly, the restrictions are the thing that stopped the situation from getting worse. 

We know that from the spring, we know that from the fall in Brooklyn and Queens. The restriction stop the situation from getting worse and allow us to link up to when the vaccine has been spread around the community much more and reaches more and more people. So that's the thinking. But, no one wants restrictions. And I feel for every single small business and everyone who is depending on the job. Even under restrictions, of course, restaurants will continue to have takeout delivery as they did even in the spring in the worst of things. But look if we want to avoid restrictions, I'm going to keep saying it, if people want to avoid restrictions. I do. I want to avoid them. If you want to avoid them, anyone wants to avoid them, wear a mask, practice distancing, do not travel, do not have large gatherings, be tough, be disciplined. That's the best way of trying to avoid the restrictions and help us move forward until we get the vaccine to as many people as possible. Go ahead. 

Moderator: So, we're going to try Andrew Siff again. 

Mayor: Okay. Andrew? Andrew? Okay. It's happening again, winter interlude. Okay. 

Moderator: We hope Andrew's okay. But we're going to go to Melanie with the Wall Street Journal. 

Mayor: Tell Andrew to try someone else's phone because something's not working here. Well, let's come back to him. Who you got? 

Moderator: Melanie from the Wall Street Journal. 

Mayor: Melanie? 

Question: Good morning, this is that question – yes. Hello. 

Mayor: Hey, how you doing? 

Question: Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yeah. 

Question: Thank you so much. Good morning. This is a question for Dr. Katz. Is H + H planning to suspend elective surgeries, anytime, imminently, and if not, what are the benchmarks that would trigger the suspension? And then can you please give us an update on the surgeon flex planning for hospitals? The Governor has repeatedly said in recent weeks that hospitals need to create plans to make sure no one hospital is overwhelmed and his specifically cited H + H hospitals as needing to have those plans. 

President Katz: Yes, happy to answer all parts of that. So, I'm going to go backwards first in terms of level loading, which is something that we all agree with. Health + Hospitals has already level loaded over a hundred patients across our facilities so that none of our hospitals are overwhelmed – 

Mayor: Mitch, would you define – I'm sorry to interrupt – define that for everyone, just because that's a term you're used to using, but help people understand what it means. 

President Katz: Yes. Thank you, sir. My apologies. Level loading recognizes that patients go to the hospitals they trust, to the hospitals in their neighborhood. That's what happened with Elmhurst last March and April. It's the only major hospital in central Queens. That area of the city was harder hit than any area of the city in terms of early infection rates. Elmhurst being so well trusted in the immigrant black and Brown communities among low-income, uninsured people, so everybody went there. But the hospital then became too full and when that happens, what you want to do is to move patients from the hospital that is full to your other hospitals. It's not an easy procedure, especially if people are sick, it's not simple to move someone, especially if they're in respiratory distress. That was a major problem in March and April. Now it's easier because the patients that we're seeing are not as sick in general as they were in March and April, and we're moving them earlier in the process. So, we're making sure that every hospital maintains adequate reserve beds.

So, to answer the middle question we currently have occupancy about 65 percent in both ICU and in regular medical surgical beds. So, I – a third more patients than the patients we have, would easily fit in without opening any extraordinary spaces. And yes, we have suspended elective procedures. We've made it clear that the only surgeries that we will be doing are those surgeries where – that come in, emergently, such as car accidents or surgeries where somebody's health is directly affected such as when somebody has an infection secondary to gallstones and they're doing poorly because of the infection and the gallbladder has to come out. So, we're doing the necessary surgeries and the emergency surgeries, but we have – consistent with the Governor's request – we have canceled elective procedures and we do have the extra 25 percent capacity the state has asked us for. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Melanie. Melanie? 

Question: Can you – thank you so much for answering the question. So when did you suspend elective surgeries, is that a recent decision or is that an imminent decision?

Mayor: Go ahead, Mitch.

Question: No, it's already happened.

President Katz: It was – we worked on how it would the procedures over the weekends and they were canceled as of Tuesday of this week. 

Mayor: Thank you. Who's next?

Moderator: Next we're going to Reuvain from Hamodia.

Question: Good morning. I have a question for the doctors. Pfizer has announced that it is going to un-blind the study so that people who got the placebo can get the vaccine. I'm wondering whether you agree with this decision, does the study then lose the benefit of the two-year element and whether in New York people who were part of the study will jump the line - the ones that got the placebo will jump the line for the vaccine now? 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Varma, you want to take that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sure. I can start on that. Well first let me just acknowledge that we wouldn't be here with the safe and effective vaccine were it not for the volunteers in the study including volunteers who received the placebo. So, we should all acknowledge their dedicated contribution to advancing science for all of the rest of us. With respect to un-blinding the study, what I will say is that I think there are some complicated, you know, values that are at play here. Certainly, we want to make sure that that people that did contribute to the study in that way also received the vaccination at some point and to balance that against the benefits of, you know, additional follow-up and the scientific understanding that we can get. So, this is a conversation that is primarily being had between Pfizer and FDA officials, and I know they’ll be balancing the benefits and the harms in that way. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, I would just want to emphasize what Dr. Chokshi has just said about –really the courage of the people that participated in this clinical trial. When you participate in a clinical trial, you are making a sacrifice not for yourself specifically, but for the sake of society. You're choosing to the possibility of getting an injection that may have no benefit to you whatsoever, being monitored continuously over months and months without any guarantee that this is going to benefit you personally. So depending on the outcomes of what Pfizer and the FDA agree, I would never ever argue that these people are jumping the line. In fact, they took a courageous risk and there's a lot of ethical grounding in the notion that people who participated in a clinical trial and got the placebo should be among the first to receive a medication or a vaccine if they participated in a trial and it's known to be effective. 

Mayor: Well Argued. Thank you. Go ahead, Reuvain. 

Question: Okay. I also wanted to ask, I know it's hard to predict exactly how many companies will have vaccines and when they will, but is there a target date by which you expect all New Yorkers who want the vaccine to get it, to have it? 

Mayor: Look, I'll start and let the doctors jump in. I think the – a healthy way to think about this is between now and June, just to give you an initial sense. We would like to reach the maximum number of New Yorkers. Now, let's be honest. We know some New Yorkers, no matter what we say to them, will not choose to take the vaccine, but I do believe that number is going to be small. I think the more people see it working and the more they see family and friends take it, they see the positive impact on bringing down COVID, I think more and more people will want to. We're going to move aggressively, but I think if you're talking about millions upon millions of people and reaching the whole city pervasively, I think June is a good working assumption right this moment. That could obviously change as we go along and we can do it faster, we would love to. Doctors, anyone want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I'll just add to it briefly to say I think that that is right. The unknowns that Reuvain pointed out in his question are – will we have additional vaccines, we hope the second vaccine Moderna which is being considered by the FDA advisory committee as we speak, could be authorized as soon as tomorrow. And there are two other vaccines that are in advanced stages of clinical trials, and we'll get read out some of those, hopefully in the beginning of 2021. That really matters for us to understand just what our options are with respect to expanding vaccination. And then the second part is knowing the supply, even for the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which are most likely to be authorized this year and making sure that we have enough supply for New Yorkers. With those unknowns, the Mayor has given us a very clear charge which is to ensure that we're doing everything that we possibly can along two dimensions. The first is to make sure that vaccination is smooth and as rapid as possible, so that we expedite for people who do want the vaccine for them to get it as quickly as possible. And then the second is almost equally important, getting the word out, you know, spreading the messages about how important vaccination is, particularly to reach those communities and those people who may be initially hesitant to get the vaccine so that we can have those conversations and advance vaccination along that dimension as well.

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead.

Moderator: We're going to try Andrew Siff one more time. 

Mayor: Third time's the charm. Here we go, Andrew. 

Question: Yes, thank you folks for your patience. I was actually on the air broadcasting at 11 am for News 4 New York, and delightedly surprised to find out that you called on me. I'm happy to be joining you now. 

Mayor: Andrew, where were you? Because we were hearing like outdoor sounds. Where were you? 

Question: I was in Jackson Heights, Queens reporting on the fact that the children had to log-in and do their zoom school today and that they will be able to return to in-person school tomorrow. And also, seguing to my question here, reporting on some collapsing outdoor restaurant structures, this may have been asked, but I did wonder whether you've compiled sort of how much that has been a factor all across the city, structures that weren't taken down that got knocked down? Is DOT out helping folks with that, are restaurants on their own there, or what happens? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Deputy Mayor Anglin and Commissioner Grayson, but let me emphasize that first of all, I think we had a lot of communication to the restaurant community to get ready for the storm, bring in everything they could bring in. We got a lot of cooperation in that generally. We have not heard of many problems with those structures. So, if there are some, of course we want to try and be helpful in every way we can, but generally we didn't hear about a lot of problems, but Deputy Mayor, you start, and then Commissioner. 

Deputy Mayor Laura Anglin, Operations: Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We did track through the night and it looks like the structure is actually upheld pretty well. We did give clear guidance to try to keep them clean, especially at the tops with snow, removing snow from them. So, we certainly will work with Sanitation, DOT and SBS to help any restaurants that, you know, need assistance there, but we do not think that there was a lot of widespread damage.

Mayor: Go ahead, Commissioner.

Acting Commissioner Grayson: I concur with that. Right from the boots on the ground, as we drove past them, most of the restauranteurs that had outdoor dining structures that were tarped and based in roof or tinted roofs, they were removing them or leaving a stress point open for the accumulated weight. We did have some localized reporting. So, it didn't seem like a widespread problem and for the most part they held up. But I am sure that there are some throughout the city that we just may not know about at this time. 

Mayor: Okay. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: And then on the issue of whether there's a pause or a shutdown, you had been mentioning right after Christmas, the Governor yesterday talked about the possibility of January. I'm just wondering whether you've adjusted your own thinking timeline wise or whether you're still thinking it's right after Christmas. 

Mayor: Yeah. Look, I've been talking to our health care team throughout. Everyone's very concerned about the increase in the number of cases, we report it to every single day, very openly. The number of cases is too high. The, the infection levels too high. The number of hospitalizations is too high and unfortunately it's just growing. I don't like restrictions. None of us likes restrictions, but I think we need them sooner rather than later. So, we'll keep working with the State, they make the final decision, but I think it's something that has to be put into effect soon based on the very consistent information we're seeing, and certainly right after Christmas is a natural moment when the world kind of slows down a little bit. But we'll keep having that conversation with the state to figure out exactly how they want to proceed.

Mayor: Nicely said. Again, thank you very much, Commissioner, Hey, everybody, let's conclude with this important point. We're seeing New York City at our best. You know, here we are in the middle of a pandemic, and then here we got the biggest snow storm we've had in almost five years. A lot of other places would be thrown off the game, not in New York City. We just keep going and that's because of the strength and resiliency of New Yorker. So, I want to thank everyone. You keep fighting back. That's who we are as New Yorkers. I look around the city today, so many good public workers out there stepping up for their fellow New Yorker, Sanitation, doing an amazing job. City is coming back strong today. And as I said, the vaccine is being delivered to the hospitals. People are getting vaccinated today. It's amazing how much is happening all at once to bring this city back. So, I just always want to offer a vote of confidence and a real thank you to all New Yorkers, because you literally handle whatever is thrown at you, and that's the beauty of this place. So, everyone, let's get out there. Let's clean up. Let's stay safe and we're going to keep moving forward. Thanks, everybody.

2020-12-18 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: So, a lot to talk to Mayor de Blasio about as he joins us now. Mr. Mayor, welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, Brian. How are you doing today? 

Lehrer: I'm doing all right. Let's take a call, Trey in Brooklyn. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Trey. 

Question: Hi Brian. Thank you for this outlet. Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Good morning, Trey.

Question: My name is Trey. I'm a general manager of a restaurant in Brooklyn. Normally I staff about 80 people and can seat over a hundred people at a time. This week I have no dining customers and a staff of maybe 10 that I have shifts for. I would like to say a big thank you for the street feeding and making it permanent. Although, the real reason I'm calling is if there's an actual plan for this winter to provide security for the workers, many of whom we all know are immigrants and to help keep us open and working. Given that you've just shut down indoor dining, which by your own records, accounting for a whopping 1.43 percent of COVID tracked cases and was the fifth – the fifth leading place yet can't be bothered to tell us two, three, and four, and considering number one is house gatherings. We're in the middle of holiday season, and now you've taken away, the only semi-safe space to get together with friends and family and will only drive more people to each other's houses. What is the plan? You seem to just be holding us as leverage against the federal government that really isn't inclined to do any major changes? 

Mayor: Trey, thank you for the question. I know it's heartfelt. I know not – no one is holding you as leverage against the federal government. The federal government is not doing their job right now by giving us the kind of stimulus they deserve - we deserve – we are not getting a stimulus from them that we deserve, but it has nothing to do with the choices around indoor dining. That’s been determined by our health care leadership yet. Look, the State of New York makes these decisions and the State of New York, it refers to when you did the, you know, number one, number five, et cetera, that's based on a state analysis. City has a different assessment and our health care leadership has been absolutely consistent in saying, when you start to see this kind of increase in the level of infection in this city, which has been skyrocketing, hospitalizations have been skyrocketing that you have to put restrictions in place if you want to stop it from becoming something that becomes out of control. And unfortunately all over the world, indoor dining where people are together inside with masks off is one of the most sensitive and problematic realities. It doesn't always show up in the contact tracing. That's true, but it doesn't, on one level – that doesn't take away the facts that have been determined by research worldwide, that it is one of the drivers of exposure. And so, we don't want to see you suffer.

But we need to do this for a brief period of time and now we have the vaccine. I think the simple way to look at is, particularly if we can do larger restrictions, which we're talking to the State about right now, to stop this horrible momentum in terms of increase in infections. Do that for a certain number of weeks, which traditionally has been somewhere in the two to four-week range, and then come out of that with now the vaccine starting to be distributed out in communities -- that could be there once and for all. So, it is not a big, open-ended thing where you have to keep suffering. It is let's stop this infection increase and get the vaccine out there and then we take the big turn to the post-COVID era. I want to see you guys get back with indoor dining as quickly as possible and we have made – you're right – and thank you for saying, we have made the outdoor dining permanent. That's going to help a lot of restaurants. Takeout and delivery is going to keep going no matter what, but we just got to get you guys and all of us through the next month or two and then I really think it's a new reality. 

Lehrer: Jake, in Brooklyn – a high school teacher. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Jake.

Question: Hi. How are you?

Mayor: Hi, Jake. How are you doing? 

Question: I'm doing okay. I'm a high school teacher. Right now, I'm working probably two to three times what my normal hours would b1e pre-pandemic and a lot of that is because I have to call houses for children that aren't coming to Zoom class, students that aren't coming to their Zoom class, or students that are not handing in work. And, right now, I have about 50 percent of my students failing and it's just very difficult to talk to a parent or try to talk to a parent when Zoom classes aren't mandatory. And I understand that we have to give the kids some elbow room, because of everything that's going on. But I mean, Zoom classes aren't mandatory and they can make up the work, because we have a grade [inaudible] we give students that are failing to make up the work later on. It's just very difficult to say to a parent, hey, they can make this up later, but I need it – I would like it now. So, for the kids, a lot of them are failing because of – because there's a little bit too much elbow room. But I understand – I mean, could there be a policy where like, if you guys want the kids to pass, I understand, just tell them that and then we can go in and we can do checkups on the kids, we can make sure that they're doing okay. We can call them for those reasons and possibly get our day down as well, because, at this point in time, by giving an annex and saying you can make things up later on and telling parents that they don't have to come to Zoom, but we would like them to come to Zoom, it's almost like our time is being – is not being respected and that I'm working so many more hours. And like, for example, our time not being respected – sorry, I'm a little nervous – our time not being respected, like we were given a lengthy develop professional development on trauma for children to understand their trauma, and we weren't getting any time to do it – it's like, do it on your own time. Again, which I understand is something we should do, but a lot of the policy seems to be falling on us to try to figure it out. And a lot of it, when it's not working, it's hurting us and the students. Thank you. 

Mayor: Well, Jake, thank you. That's powerful and very honest. First, I think, in your question you're exhibiting something that I really want people to pause and feel, which is just how extraordinarily devoted educators are. I mean, it's incredibly tough what we ask you to do all the time, let alone what you're dealing with now. So, you know, I'm feeling just how tough your job is and I'm sad about that. And I would say a couple of things – one, you know, we could have said everyone passes. I don't think that would have been helpful. I think there has to be some sense of like, there's still consequences and accountability. I think that helps kids stay focused and I think parents want that. We've tried to do that. I do think we've got to tighten up the notion that kids should be attending at the time they should be attending, even though we do give some flexibility. We know there's situations like kids who have to help with the rest of their family and things that requires some more flexibility, because parents aren't home. We try to leave that flexibility, but we’ve got to tighten up the sense that kid should attend whenever humanly possible at the assigned time. So, your point, I really take to heart, how do we keep improving our reality? But then the other thing I think is really important to say to you is, that the plan that the Chancellor and I discussed last week, the 2021 Student Achievement Plan, which explicitly acknowledges there's going to be a COVID achievement gap and we have to go right at it, we're going to be talking more in the coming weeks about the components of that and the pieces that we can start this year, particularly using digital education to help kids recover ground, especially when we're back in-person. Look with the vaccine now starting to be distributed, this school year – there's a lot to play out in a good way. The majority of the school year is ahead. A year – a high school teacher – you know, there's going to be a day when high school comes back in person and that's going to help. We don't know when yet, but that's going to help you to support your kids in a much better way. And then, in September, you know, everyone's coming back and we have a chance to really start to make up the lost ground. Particularly, if we put additional supports in place, mental health supports, digital education supports, etcetera. So, I don't have a perfect answer for you except to say, please hang on. We need teachers like you. We need teachers who are that devoted. This situation will change in January and February, there was no question in my mind. We will turn around the current spread and the vaccine's going to play a profound role. We'll go into the spring and a different situation that will feel better and September will be night and day compared to what we're dealing with now. So, please hang on, and I'm going to follow up with the Chancellor. Please leave your information on WNYC, because I'd like the Chancellor and some of his team to talk to you about the things we can do to provide more support for teachers like you. So, thank you very much. 

Lehrer: Jake, hang on. We'll take your contact off the air. Mr. Mayor, you know, next Friday is Christmas. The Friday after that is New Years. So, we'll talk again in three weeks, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And, as you were saying to the caller, may 2021 be a very different year for the City of New York and for the world. 

Mayor: To you, Brian, and all your listeners, Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy New Year. I look forward – when we meet again in 2021, it will not be 2020, and that will be a great thing unto itself.

Lehrer: At least we can say that. Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Talk to you then. 

Mayor: Thank you, take care.

2020-12-18 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We have a lot to go over today.

The snow did not affect something that couldn't be more important – the number one topic right now, vaccine, and the distribution of vaccine. The snow did not affect the vaccine distribution and the vaccine schedule. Vaccines were administered as scheduled yesterday in health care facilities. New vaccinations since yesterday morning, almost 4,000 – number to-date, over 9,000. Again, this is a small beginning compared to where we will be going over the coming weeks. But what we're seeing is continued good results from these vaccinations process is going smoothly. It will take off and intensify in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime, we all are dealing with a real challenge, as our indicators make clear, and we all need to focus on wearing masks, on social distancing, avoiding gatherings, not having big family gatherings, not traveling – all of this matters and these indicators will continue to make clear why.

So, let's go over them. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID 19 – now, this is actually a pretty good report – today's report, 158 patients. More than we want, but well under the 200-patient threshold. That's good, but here's, what's not so good – the hospitalization rate per 100,000, now 3.1 percent. That's too high, we want to be under two. New cases, through the roof, honestly – 2,805 when you do probable and confirmed together. Way too high, we want to get under 550. We’ve got a lot of work to do there. And the percent positivity continues to increase, seven-day rolling average – the next indicator – is 6.16 percent – 6.16. That is way too high. We got to get under five. And, everyone, I will keep saying it – everyone has to participate. What you do makes a huge difference.

A few words in Spanish – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Chancellor Carranza, Dr. Katz, Acting Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson, Deputy Chancellor for Early Childhood and Student Enrollment Josh Wallack, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to Jill Jorgensen from NY1. 

Question: Last night there was some guidance issued by the SLA, regarding restaurants and bathroom access for patrons at restaurants who are dining outside, saying that they shouldn't be allowed indoors to use the bathroom. It seems that that policy changed pretty quickly after a bit of uproar from diners who might have to use the restroom. And I'm just hoping you can walk us through what the – what happened there? How that policy came to be put in place and then how it came to be changed so quickly. 

Mayor: Jill, I'll give you the clearest quote of the day. Every one of us needs to use the restroom sometimes. So, yeah, there's no question that was a mistake. I don't know the nuances of how it happened. It's just stupid. Obviously, people need to use the bathroom and, if you're patronizing a restaurant, you have a right to use the bathroom. That's been cleared up. That's been put out publicly that that was a mistake. Sometimes common sense has the rule today. So, to all New Yorkers who go to a restaurant – yes, you can use the bathroom. 

Moderator: A quick programming note. We're also joined today by DOHMH Deputy Commissioner Dr. Hillary Kunins. The next is Alison Kayden from PIX.

Question: Yes. Hi, Mr. Mayor. I just want to follow up on the restaurant regulations. I know it was walked back about using the bathroom, but what about restaurants that have backyard gardens or rooftop dining? You have to walk through the restaurant to get to those outdoor spaces. The current regulations as they are now does not allow for that. So, what happens to those restaurants? 

Mayor: Again, I'm going to speak from common sense. Clearly if you are trying to get to a rooftop or a garden, you've got to walk through someplace to do it. You should walk through and be allowed to walk through. You should be wearing your mask, practicing other safety measures. But that's just common sense. I'll again, let's be fair to everyone who’s trying to come up with these rules. It's all been against an ever-changing backdrop and there's a lot of complexity. And we all cannot wait for this vaccine to be widely distributed so we can go back to a much simpler situation. But if it's not clear in those rules, it should be made clear. Yes, of course you have to be able to walk through to get to the garden or the roof. Go ahead. 

Question: So, do you expect, I mean, do you expect new rules to be written up and put out, just so people have that for frame of reference? 

Mayor: Again, this is, remember this derives from the State. We've been working closely with the State anytime there's something that has to be resolved. I think the basic answer is yes. I do expect the State to clarify that. I have every reason to believe they will. We will certainly encourage them to get that out immediately and clearly.

Everybody, as we conclude, just to say this, we are called to do more and we’re called to address the inequalities that have been made even sharper by the coronavirus, but the good news is we can actually do it. I truly believe it. This is a city has been heroic during the coronavirus crisis, and it will be heroic and making the important changes, the tough changes, but the necessary changes to be a place of more equality and justice. That is our future. Thank you, everybody.

2020-12-21 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, today is something we don't look forward to, it's the first day of winter officially on the calendar and that makes it the shortest day of the year in terms of how much light we're going to have. So, it's the shortest day of the longest year we have ever been through 2020, but today is also a reminder 2020 is almost over, thank God, and we know that every day from this point on, it’ll get a little lighter in every sense. So that's the good news, we're getting ready for next year, we're getting ready for much better things ahead. But let me just comment upfront for a moment on something that isn't good news, and that's what's come out of Washington DC. I can't even call what the Congress has agreed to as stimulus. It's not a stimulus. It's a short-term survival plan. I'll give you that. There's some aid there that I certainly value for everyday New Yorkers, everyday Americans. It's something, but it's months late. It's billions short. It has no direct aid to localities. There's so much missing you can't call it a stimulus. A stimulus would actually stimulate the economy, help us move forward, help us recover. This doesn't do it. This barely helps us to tread water and from the point of view of New York City, and I know New York State's in the same boat, if we don't get substantial help, we cannot provide the services our people need. We can't keep the good people who serve our people employed. We cannot recover. So, if this is what Washington thinks is a stimulus, they sure don't understand what the people of New York need and people all over the country need. I have a lot of faith that President Joe Biden will make it right, and we're going to need something much bigger, much stronger going forward, but let's not kid ourselves. Something that doesn't help us get back on our feet just can't be called a stimulus.

Now that was bad news, but let's turn to good news now. Let's turn to the things that we can do because we do take care of our own people here in New York City, and we are now, thank God, dealing with a good reality, we're in a new era because the vaccine is here and everywhere I go in New York City I talk to people about the fact that the vaccine is here and it's really lifting spirits and has given people hope. So now it's time to focus on how we turn the page on the coronavirus, how we make 2021 a much better year, and that begins with what we need to do for our children. For so many of us, this is our heart, how we help our children, how we protect them, how we help them move forward, and our kids have been through so much. Let’s remember, every adult out there listening, you've been through so much in this horrible year, 2020, but our kids are going through so much in every sense, and it's harder for them to make sense of. They're going through trauma, they're going through a lot of pain and they need our help. And we have to make sure that help reaches every child, and we particularly need to focus on kids in the communities hardest hit by COVID. We always talk about those 27 neighborhoods in New York City that bore the brunt of the COVID crisis. African-American neighborhoods, Latino neighborhoods, Asian neighborhoods that really got hit so hard and all those disparities that came out. We talk about that to focus our energies, focus our attention on making sure we do what the people in those neighborhoods need and that they get the priority going forward. 
We've got to right the wrong by making them the priority.

So, that's what we will be doing as we go into 2021 as we go into the next school year, we talked over the last couple of weeks about our 2021 Student Achievement Plan, how we're going to close the COVID achievement gap, and we're going to do that for every child. We're going to particularly focus on those neighborhoods that have been hurting the most and the kids who need it the most. You know, I will tell you something pretty unusual that happened last few days, something I said a few days ago when we're talking about how we address fairness and equity in our schools, and we talked about how we create more diversity in our schools, how we address a segregated past and move forward, how we create fairness and justice. We talked about that on Friday, and Fox News apparently was very interested in that and they quoted one of the sentences that I said. I said that we needed to recognize if we were going to address all this structural inequality, structural racism, we would actually have to do things differently. And so here's the quote from Fox News summarizing, they said NYC Mayor sees the redistribution of wealth as an important factor toward ending structural racism education. I'm going to say it one more time in case Fox News is watching again, NYC Mayor sees the redistribution of wealth as an important factor towards ending structural racism in education. Exactly right. I don't get to say it very often, but Fox News got it exactly right. Amen. We are going to fight structural racism through redistribution. So Fox News, congratulations, fair and balanced coverage right there. In fact, if we think we're going to deal with structural racism and segregation without redistributing wealth, we're kidding ourselves.

We got to be real about nothing changes unless you put the resources behind it and that's what we're doing. We're going to make sure our kids have the support they need now, and especially in the new school year, when everyone comes back into the school buildings and that doesn't just mean the academic support, it means the emotional support as well. It means making sure the social factor is taken account of as well, social and emotional learning. That's something that a Chancellor's focused on. That's something the First Lady is focused on, but it takes on even more importance as we go into this new school year, September 2021, it'll be different than anything we've ever experienced in our lives. So we have to make sure that we are really looking out for our kids, that we're checking in on them to see what they need and if they need help, we're giving it to them. And this has been an idea that has long been a core notion of Thrive NYC. One of the foundational concepts of Thrive NYC is get their early, help people, particularly young people, early, provide the support, and if you find out there's a problem, you can do something about it. That's what Thrive has been all about. So here to tell you about this really important new initiative for all our public schools and the way it's going to reach all our school kids, the leading champion for providing mental health support to all the people of New York City, the person who brought us Thrive NYC, our First Lady Chirlane McCray. 

First Lady Chirlane McCray: Thank you, Bill, and good morning, everyone. I don't know if anyone can be happier than I am today to say we are bringing social, emotional, and academic behavioral screenings to New York City public schools. Yes, finally.

[First Lady McCray speaks in Spanish]

This is a huge moment. Our teams at the Department of Health, Department of Education, Health + Hospitals, and Thrive NYC have worked towards this day for a long time. And if you're a parent who sends your child to a pediatrician every year for a physical, you know, the preventive measures that are taken and peace of mind that comes with a regular checkup, but our nation has never put that same emphasis on engaging the whole child when it comes to education or prevention, when it comes to mental health. That means educators and families don't have as well of an assessment about what our children are doing and what they need. So think of these screenings as an expanded health checkup for students to learn how they are feeling, how they are getting along with friends and at home, even in the best of times, this is a best practice. Now, after COVID-19, it is critical than ever.

So, let me tell you about P.S. 89 in Queens, the borough that was earlier this year was the epicenter of the crisis. Dozens of P.S. 89 students back then reported COVID-19 had sickened or taken the lives of their loved ones. These children had lost grandparents, parents, their parents had lost jobs and they were isolated at home. Every New York City student will carry the experience of this past year in a different way. Some will be processing grief and have trouble focusing. Some will rejoice at being back in the classroom while others will feel uncomfortable. These screenings will help school staff create individual plans to move forward and help educators make sure that no child falls through the cracks. There are no grades, there are no labels or classifications associated with how these questions are asked, there is only learning how adults can offer the best support. We will begin with schools and the neighborhoods hit hardest by this crisis, but we want every student to benefit and we urge a federal stimulus that will help expand this support. Today's announcement, along with our social emotional learning and restorative justice curriculum and community schools reflects a generational shift in education to supporting the whole child socially, emotionally, and academically. New York City is leading the way because we know it's easier and less expensive to grow a healthy child than it is to mend a broken adult. There is no better investment than our young people and when our young people succeed our city succeeds. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you so much and, Chirlane, I can hear the passion and the joy in your voice. This is a vision that you've had and a lot of other good people have had for a long, long time, and now it will come to fruition starting in September, and we're going to be able to do so much good for so many children. This has been a labor of love for a lot of people. I want to thank our Deputy Chancellor for School, Climate, and Wellness, LaShawn Robinson, who's put her heart and soul into this work and has been one of the architects of so much of what we've done with social emotional learning. Also, someone who's really gotten under the hood and figured out how we could make this work in our schools, day after day, he's a former principal and he's been our Senior Advisor for Education, Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, thank you for the amazing work you've done. I know you truly, truly believe in this approach. Thank you for helping it come to life and I'd like to give you a chance to say a few words about why this is so important, Brandon. 

Senior Education Policy Advisor Brandon Cardet-Hernandez: Thank you so much Mayor de Blasio, First Lady McCray and Chancellor Carranza. You know, today is a historic day and one that is truly exciting for all of us educators and parents who understand the inextricable link between social and emotional wellbeing, mental health and academic success. See, New York City educators, we've always understood that our charge is not just to teach content and skills, but to make sure students have the academic, social, and emotional skills and tools that will allow them to thrive in college and in their careers. And to realize that incredible goal, we have to know our students, truly know them, as individuals and as individuals and as scholars, so that we can teach them their strengths and provide the supports in the areas where they need it. And it needs to be said, educators across the city had been doing just that for decades. And as a former New York City public school principal in the South Bronx and in New York City public school teacher, I know firsthand what it's like to have a student who needs additional supports and then grasping for a way to connect them to the care they deserve. I know firsthand the intense work that educators take on, analyzing and reflecting on how our students are doing and then making sure we aren't missing any signs that that might help us do our job better. And, today, we're launching something that'll make that charge, our charge of educating New York City students, the whole student, easier to realize.

In addition to expanding our partnership with H + H, we're launching 27 new community schools and neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic and hiring 150 new social workers to support those communities. And equally as exciting, in September, we're going to launch a simple screening tool, a social, emotional, and academic behavioral screener that that allows us to check in on the whole child, and, for some students, connect them to additional supports they need. It's an honor to be here today and to be able to bring these incredible resources to New York City students, families, and educators. Thank you so much.

Mayor: Thank you, Brandon. Thanks for all the great work you did on this initiative. And now, as I turned to the Chancellor, I want to say, when you have a Chancellor who really values this important work, it happens. And from the beginning, Chancellor Carranza has believed that social, emotional learning and a focus on mental health was necessary to reach our kids. That was true before the pandemic, and we did plenty of work on it before, but we've had so many really, really heartfelt conversations about what kids need now and how much greater it is and how we're going to have to do something truly universal to reach every child and support them. So, again, labor of love is the right phrase here. Chancellor, please let us hear from you about why this is so important.

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to thank our First Lady McCray, thank you for your passion. Brandon, as always, you bring it right down to the classroom and I want to thank you for that as well. I want to begin today by thanking all of the educators that are out in the field, that have been on the front lines of supporting our students' mental health and emotional wellbeing while also looking after your own families and yourselves as you've done. That they have gone above and beyond by taking the tools of trauma-informed education and social, emotional learning, and integrating them in new creative ways into remote learning and our re-imagined in-person learning. As we've charted our path forward out of COVID-19, we are here to take our students who needed the most first. That means driving support to schools in the 27 communities hardest hit by this pandemic with more critically important supports. This is not new – we're building on the foundations we've built through our Resilient Kids, Safe Schools and Bridge to Schools initiatives that were well underway prior to this global pandemic. Critically, we know community schools work and we in New York City are nationwide leaders in building community schools. We know what happens when schools are built on a foundation of community partnership and they have the resources necessary to address the unique needs of their communities. In community schools, we see higher graduation rates. In community schools, we see improved student achievement and we see decreases in chronic absenteeism and disciplinary incidents. I don't know about you, but that sounds exactly like the kinds of supports our students will need in a post COVID-19 educational environment.

By providing each of these hard-hit communities with additional community schools, we are partnering with our terrific community-based organizations who have done truly incredible work on behalf of our young people during this crisis in community schools and beyond, and investing in the long-term social, emotional academic success of students in these communities, we will do right by our students in our communities. As our First Lady mentioned, by using social emotional screens, we are providing a simple, effective tool for educators in schools to assess the general wellbeing of our students. With a parent's consent, these assessments will be used to target interventions and craft personalized care for individual students, helping them heal and flourish academically. In addition, it may be that once we do these screens the student is just fine and they're okay. That's fine too, but it's always important to know so that we know when to act. 

Paired with social, emotional screening, we are going to 150 additional social workers and expand our partnership with Health + Hospitals to provide the direct mental health care to students. This is an addition to the historic investments that have already been made in New York City. Not only does this ensure our students have access to another caring adult during the school day, but these experts will help educators identify and provide targeted intervention when necessary and appropriate. Our goal is to bring these supports city-wide, but to do what we need to do we need federal support. In the meantime, we will continue to double down on our core belief for our students to succeed academically. We must first need to make sure they're okay. Socially and emotionally.

[Chancellor Carranza speaks in Spanish]

Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Thank you very, very much Chancellor. And, everyone, one more note on education. We announced on Friday that the specialized high school exams were going to be happening in January. Want to remind all parents, all students that registration for those exams begins today. So, you can start registering literally today. The test administration will begin on January 27th. I want to encourage all young people and their parents who think this is the right choice for them to take that exam. This is a chance for everyone. We want to see as much diversity and inclusion in our specialized high schools as possible. So, everyone who's interested sign up today.

Okay. Now, let's turn to the health care front. Obviously, every hour, every day, the fight against COVID continues. And we now have the greatest tool we possibly could have, the vaccine. So, New York City is focused on getting that vaccine to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. Now, it's a brand-new vaccine. Our health care leaders, our health care workers are getting used to working with it. Obviously, it requires some very careful handling because of the ultra-cold storage, but New York City is moving rapidly to get the vaccine out and get people vaccinated. And, right now, based on the data we've received from the CDC, New York City is vaccinating people basically at twice the national average time. We're basically doing things twice as fast as the national average. In New York City, of the doses we have received, 42.2 percent – as of yesterday, 42.2 percent have been administered. Nationwide, it’s under 20 percent had been administered. We are going to keep speeding that up further and further. Our Vaccine Command Center is leading the way and they will provide regular updates on we're doing through their website, which is now live – nyc.gov/vaccinecommandcenter. So, thank you to everyone at the command center. I know they're working intensely to ensure we get the maximum impact from the vaccine. Right now, in New York City, we've had over 18,000 doses administered as of yesterday, that number again will grow rapidly. And good news – more good news – we have a second vaccine. The Moderna vaccine has been approved and will be shipping into New York City very soon. So, what we're seeing is safe and effective vaccines that are going to change the entire reality and help us turn the situation around. And now, not just one vaccine, but two, and we think more to come after that. So, there is some good news right there.

Now, everyone with the holidays upon us it is another time to remember how careful we have to be. It's great we have the vaccine, and with every passing week, with every passing month, that's going to make more and more impact. But the holidays, unfortunately – we love them, we love our family gatherings, we love seeing our loved ones, but the holidays create a danger too. We saw this over Thanksgiving. We all love gathering, but, unfortunately, despite all the warnings people gathered and in some cases didn't take all the precautions. We saw a spike in the number of cases after Thanksgiving. We're really concerned about Christmas and this whole holiday season – New Years – and this is a time where we really could see an intensive spike and we can't handle another spike, so we need to, for all of us, be careful. Everyone, please, you've got to – you've got to wear those masks, practice social distancing, keep those gathering small, do not travel. It's so important. And that would be true if it were not a new fact that there's a new strain of the virus that's been identified England. Even if it weren't for that, all of these warnings would be true. The new strain makes me even more worried about what might happen and how we have to guard against it. I just need everyone to understand, if we hang on for the next few months, if we do the right thing and we fight back, we can turn the corner on the coronavirus. We can avoid having to put into effect a lot more onerous restrictions – no one wants them. And, look, we're going to need help from the federal government, we're going to need help from the airline industry. It's really, in my view, it's time for a travel ban from Europe, given what we're seeing with this new strain, or, at minimum, a requirement that anyone getting on a plane has proof that they have a negative test if they're coming out of Europe. We need to be aggressive.

This is a decisive moment. If we get it right now, if we're careful during the holidays and we give time for the vaccine to be distributed, we really turn the corner. So, everyone, we need your full, full participation.

Now, let me go over today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 184 patients. So, that's below our 200 patient threshold, but not by much, so concerned continually about the situation in our hospitals. Our rate – hospitalization rate, 3.1 – excuse me, it’s 3.1 per 100,000 New Yorkers. That's too high, we want to get under two percent. That rate has continued to grow, and that's a problem. New cases on a seven-day average, combining the cases that we have – 2,802 is today's number. We want to be under 550. It's obvious, that's a very, very high number. We’ve got to bring it down. And then the update on the percentage of New York City residents testing positive, seven-day rolling average, 6.05 percent. We want to get back under five and go well below that. 6.05 percent today, we need to work harder, everyone.

A few words in Spanish, I'm going to go back to the important work that's being talked about today in education.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by First Lady Chirlane McCray, by Chancellor Carranza, by Deputy Chancellor for School, Climate, and Wellness LaShawn Robinson, by Senior Education Advisor Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, by Dr. Chokshi, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to Andrea from WCBS.

Question: Good morning, everyone. Happy holidays.

Mayor: Happy Holidays, Andrea. How are you doing?

Question: I’m great, thank you. First question is about the stimulus. Mr. Mayor, you talked about it not actually being a stimulus and the federal government has been pretty consistent in not giving the city what it needs. So, at what point does the city stop putting all of its hope and faith in the feds? And what's your plan financially, moving forward?

Mayor: Andrea, it’s such an important question. Look, let me be clear, I'm very happy that there'll be some additional support for every-day New Yorkers and every-day Americans. And there are certainly some good individual pieces in this, but it's not a stimulus. It leaves out state and local aid and will not help us back on our feet, won't help us restore our economy. It's a survival package. It's not a stimulus. So, my hope rests with President Joe Biden. He has been very clear. he wants a true stimulus. He wants a major stimulus that will energize the economy and support all of us. He knows so well after the experience – after the recession in 2008, that it would have been better to have had a bigger stimulus then. He learned that lesson, I know he will apply it. And so, we're going to see that play out in February and the months right after. That will give us time to make our final decisions on our budget that is due in June, but I'm very hopeful that President Biden is going to really resolve this situation and get us a true stimulus.

Go ahead, Andrea.

Question: Okay. The second question is switching gears to social emotional learning. Just like the plan to address learning loss, it doesn't begin until September. So, how do you reconcile that so many kids right now are falling through the gaps? And are you concerned that so many just maybe lost by the time these programs are available in September?

Mayor: Andrea, very important question. Thank you for it, because we need to realize how much trauma our kids have been through. I'll turn to the Chancellor and then see if the First Lady or any of our other colleagues want to add in. But I would say, first of all, I do not believe our children will be lost from this experience. I believe our children are strong and resilient, but they're really going to need our help. And when we see them in person daily, starting in September, we're going to be able to help them in the most profound way. So, we're laying that framework right now. In the meantime, I know our educators, our social workers, guidance counselors, principals, everyone is watching out for kids who have real needs right now and helping them get connected to the mental health services that are available in every school right now in one form or another, and that's Thrive – a piece of thrive that was so important for the beginning, to make sure that every school was connected to mental health services somehow. Our educators know they can tap into that and I know a lot of them are doing that work right now. Chancellor?

Chancellor Carranza: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Andrea, we're not waiting until September. This is already in place. We're already doing lots of work around social, emotional learning, trauma-informed pedagogy and practices. We've had literally thousands of teachers and principals that have been trained on what to look for and how to support students. We have our Bridge to School program, which has specifically trained our educators around identifying signs of trauma. So, we're not waiting. We're announcing today is that this is part of a systematic – systemic approach, hand in glove with the academic approach, the social, emotional trauma-informed approach to make sure that we are taking care of the whole child as we transition back. So, we're adding to what we're already doing and we're being as transparent as possible about letting parents know, because we get those questions all the time – what is going to be different for my child? So, we want to start previewing for parents, this is what we're going to add to what we're already doing to make sure that we are absolutely laser-focused on the whole child, academic and social-emotional.

Mayor: I want to see if you see if Chirlane, or LaShawn, or Brandon – want to add?

First Lady McCray: I think the Chancellor is exactly right. We are blessed to have launched social, emotional learning this curriculum that deals with children and their emotions last year. So, we were able to get many – thousands of teachers trained, and I'm sorry this pandemic happened, but we were actually well positioned to be able to deal with a lot of the outcomes in terms of how children are reacting to this crisis. So, we're well positioned. We're kind of, you know, ready for this – as ready as anyone could be for this kind of situation. So, the social, emotional curriculum is being delivered remotely in most cases. So, this gives us another tool. It's just another tool to help us assess where children are and be able to build on everything that we've already done.

Mayor: Let me see if LaShawn wants to add.

Deputy Chancellor for School Climate and Wellness LeShawn Robinson, Department of Education: That's right. The Chancellor and the First Lady are 100 percent on point. This school year, over 50,000 educators have completed the training and trauma-informed care. We are building upon existing investments and will continue to do this work to support our children and our educators who have also focused on their own social, emotional development through self-care as well this year.

Mayor: And such an important point, LaShawn, thank you. We care about all the people that work in our schools, our educators, our staff, they've been through so much too. And, you're right, the very same techniques that we have taught them to help kids also is part of making sure we're watching out for them as well. Brandon, do you want to add?

Senior Advisor Cardet-Hernandez: The only thing I'll say is, you know, this is building as well off of, obviously, work we were doing last school year, but also work that we did in our regional enrichment centers this summer, making social, emotional learning a priority there. And, again, as everyone has said, this is just the next step in a systematic – systemic way of thinking about how we are going to be doing school next year.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderatore: The next is Courtney Gross from NY1.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, how are you doing.

Question: Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah, how are you doing?

Question: Good. Thank you. I'm well, thank you. So, I wanted to talk also about the stimulus. Is your strategy going to change at all, given what we saw come out of Washington over the weekend? What kind of conversations do you expect to have with the new administration next year? And what is the doomsday scenario? And when do you make a decision on what that doomsday scenario or those budget cuts could be? I mean, you're going to need a preliminary budget, obviously, in January. How many layoffs are we looking at? What specifically are you asking for –

Mayor: Hold on, Courtney, this is becoming a multiple – multiple-part question. Let me try and get to the core of what you're asking. Listen, it's a very troubling reality, Courtney, that the stimulus involves no direct aid to New York City, or any other city or county or state in the country. That means that we're on our own again. When you think about the fact it was back in the spring that the House passed what was a real stimulus package, and we've waited, waited, waited, hoping and believing that something would happen and, you know, half a year has passed and now we get this – it's really a troubling situation. It means in January, we'll present a budget based on what we know and we'll show what the impact is of the absence of federal support. But the final decision will come in June, as it always does with the budget. And we're going to work very closely with the Biden administration to get a true stimulus. And there's plenty of time for the Biden administration and the Congress to act in the spring well before we make our final budget decisions. Go ahead.

Question: And then switching gears to the new vaccine, the Moderna vaccine, you said the city is expecting to receive it soon. Do you know when exactly? And how many doses we should be expecting to get and where those would be directed first?

Mayor: Thank you. And Dr. Chokshi, will give you an update on all of that.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you for the question. Yes, we're very excited about the Moderna vaccine coming to New York City. As you know, it was authorized by the FDA on a Friday of last week and the CDC formally recommended it over the weekend. And so, they started to get shipped across the country yesterday. We expect the Moderna vaccine to come to our city beginning today through Wednesday of this week. It will be a total of about 149,400 doses for this week. And the people who will be prioritized to receive the vaccine is laid out in the State prioritization guidance that primarily remains health care workers, including people in community health centers – that's the staff and community health centers – as well as our emergency medical services personnel.

Mayor: Go ahead.

Question: The next is Amy Zimmer from Chalkbeat.

Question: Thank you for taking my question. I wanted to ask about funding for the community school expansion program. So, I wanted to find out how much it's going to cost and how you're going to pay for it after cutting community schools this year.

Mayor: The bottom line is that what we have seen with this pandemic in particular, the calls upon us to do something differently, and what we're saying here is that we will make it a budget priority to provide this support in the 27 neighborhoods that were hardest hit by COVID. Whatever it takes, we're going to make it a budget priority even if it means we have to reduce spending in other areas. If we get the true federal stimulus, as the Chancellor laid out, we will then do this universally across all parts of the city. That's what we would strongly prefer, but we would need federal stimulus support to do that. So, you know, this is a situation, we’re now looking at everything that's happened this year and what our kids need, we have decided this is a budget priority and the best way to ensure that our kids are going to be well and able to learn in the new school year. Go ahead.

Question: And can you provide some more specifics about the mental health screenings? So, who will conduct them, how the people will be trained, and then what happens after a screening, if a child needs help?

Mayor: I'll start with the Chancellor and then everyone else can join in on any part of that. Go ahead.

Chancellor Carranza: Yes. So, the screening itself, it's very short. It's evidence-based, it's a questionnaire, less than five minutes. It's done by those who know the child the best in the school. So, it's a variety of people in school that can do the screening. Again, it's a “temperature check” of how the child is doing. We are blessed in New York City that we have an incredibly rich infrastructure called Thrive, where any New Yorker can get the support that they need. We obviously have a very strong partnership with Thrive. We have social workers that we've invested in. There's additional social workers that we will be bringing on board to help support this initiative as well. So, the whole point is that as there are signs that a child may need additional support, we will absolutely waste no time in connecting that child and their family with those additional supports. I also don't want it to be lost that this may also be a good opportunity for this questionnaire, this check, to indicate that the child is doing fine and that they're robust and that they're adapting well, and then that's okay too. But I think even that information is important for families to have as well, so that they know.

Mayor: Thank you. Go again to our First Lady and then LeShawn and Brandon, see if they want to add. Particularly on the note – particularly on the question of the kind of help we can provide to a child if that becomes a need.

First Lady McCray: Well, I want to emphasize what the Chancellor said that this questionnaire is a way of also pinpointing a child's strengths. And I think that's very important to note. We have a variety of resources for our children including the partnerships with community-based organizations that are in neighborhoods, our social workers. Some schools have in-house clinics, and, of course, the expansion with Health + Hospitals will make a huge difference as well. So, whatever the level of a child's needs, we'll be able to tend to whatever that is. We are very well positioned to handle children's behavioral health needs. And I should add that the social emotional learning curriculum is also a way that teachers can address a child's behavioral health needs just in the classroom every day through the coursework.

Mayor: LeShawn, in addition to anything else you want to add, why don't you refresh everyone's memory on the partnership with Health + Hospitals and the kind of services that could be available to a child through that?

Deputy Chancellor Robinson: Absolutely. I'll just add also, the screen is just a way to continue to build strong relationships with families and to deepen our work with students. The questions ask students about their thoughts and feelings about school, themselves, and their relationships with others. And support is readily available and on hand. We're deepening our support systems today through investing in community schools and adding social workers to our school communities. And the partnership with Health + Hospitals is critical, especially in our communities hardest hit by this pandemic, which will allow support in the Health + Hospitals clinic so that young people can be seen by clinicians, social workers, and other professionals inside of Health + Hospitals supporting the whole child with extended supports for families as well.

Mayor: And again, I want to emphasize that it depends on what each child needs, but if a child does need ongoing support, as LeShawn just indicated, you know, we have really tremendously dedicated professionals at Health + Hospitals who will be available, obviously for free, to provide that support on an ongoing basis. Brandon, do you want to add?

Senior Advisor Cardet-Hernandez: The only thing that I'll say is, you know, it's individual work and that's why we're going to take a minute, a few minutes to just check in individually with each kid to see what they need. For most of our students, as you said Mayor, you know, they're not going to have an additional need, but the check-in is just a really good way to show that we care. And for some students that may be an individual conversation with the caring adults, more social interaction with their peers, that the school helps structure, and then for probably the smallest group, it's going to be more support. And, you know, partnerships with H + H allow us to bring that support to reality.

Mayor: Thank you, Brandon. I want to note, you know, really to think about the individual nature of this, as you just said – the Chancellor and I were talking about this earlier. When we talked about closing the COVID achievement gap academically, we talked about how we're going to individually reach each child, how our educators are going to figure out what each child needs to make up for whatever learning loss. We're going to use some new tools like some of the new digital capacity we have to help individualize, tailor-make a program for each child academically. Think of this as the social emotional equivalent, where you can look at a child's situation, and if they have a particular need tailor-make a solution for that child to make sure they feel supported. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg.

Question: How are you doing today?

Mayor: Never a dull moment, Henry. That's all I can say. How you doing?

Question: Doing well. I'm short, it’s the shortest day of the year. So, this is my day.

[Laughter]

Mayor: I like that positive, positive attitude.

Question: You're a confirmed height-ist. So, I thought I would mention that.

Mayor: I'm going to – I'm going to argue with you on that charge. I love people of all heights. We're all in this together.

Question: All right. Well, I stick to my assertion.

[Laughter]

Is there [inaudible] data on how many infections – what the infection rate is in the schools these days? We don't seem to get that number – 

Mayor: Yeah. And we should put that out regularly. I'm glad you are raising that, Henry. So, I'll start and turn to Dr. Chokshi. The last I saw was based on the weekly testing. Remember we now are doing the highest level of testing we've done since school began – weekly testing in every single school. It's been very successful, both in the sense of the testing has been rigorous and available, but also because of what we're seeing. The number I saw a few days ago was 0.7 percent positivity, 0.7 percent. Again, in the city, we’re right now, we're around six percent positivity for the whole city. So, this really emphasizes the point that, arguably, the safest place to be in New York City is in one of our public schools right now. But Dr. Chokshi in terms of making that information available consistently, could you speak to that?

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly, Mr. Mayor. The information on cases and testing in schools is on the Department of Education's website. We can make sure to follow up with that link and make sure that it has all of the information that you're looking for, Henry.

Mayor: Great. 

Moderator: The next is Katie Honan from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey, good morning. My question, it goes back to today's announcement. And I wanted to ask, you know, [inaudible] I guess, about the timing of it, but there was a survey released, I think earlier this month, I don't remember, by parents of children with IEPs and various special needs that found that their services were really lacking when it came to blended learning, when it came to when they were getting their mandated services, and that kind of thing. So, how does an announcement like this morning’s square with the reality that a lot of families and students with special needs are facing where they are not getting the mandated amount of time with speech and OT, when they're not getting the services that even though they are legally allowed to, because of these challenges that we have now with the various kinds of learning?

Mayor: It's a very – it's a fair and important question, but also points out, the reason we're making this announcement now is to tell people where we are going. We have a lot of work to do now, but with – all of us have one hand tied behind our back because of the physical reality that's been imposed on us by COVID. Hopefully in the course, even of this school year, we're going to get some substantial relief from that as the vaccine progresses and be able to do better and better during the school year. But we know that the chance to make a more profound difference will come in September. That's why we first announced the academic plan to close the COVID achievement gap, but we're also doing the mirror image, social emotional plan to address the trauma and help kids to be able to get the support they need. And that's going to be so much more effective when everyone is back together in September. We wanted to lay out now what that vision is. To what we are trying to do in the meantime even with all the disadvantages, Chancellor and then LeShawn and Brandon, if they want to add, we could speak to sort of how we're doing our best in this circumstance to serve those kids with IEPs.

Chancellor Carranza: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, Katie, three things that I'll say then I'll hand off to LeShawn and Brandon. So, number one, this is about directionality. So, we're giving you a preview of coming attractions so that we're laying out what the vision is for September. And we're looking at this at a big scale because there is no bigger scale in America than New York City's public schools. So, it's important to understand where it is that we're going. So, this is about directionality. Now that should, in no way be conflated with the idea that we aren't doing anything right now. We are doing everything in our power to prioritize our most vulnerable students of whom students with disabilities are certainly part of that group. What's the evidence? Well, when we came back to in-person learning in September, we prioritized students in D75, students with IEPs. Over the summer when we were providing additional supports to students, especially even in our recs in the spring, we prioritized students with disabilities, in fact, finding very innovative ways to provide them with related services in person.

As we go forward, even currently, we're doing as creative and innovative as we can within the current environment that we have to provide students with the services that they need and that are mandated in their IEP, but we don't look at them as mandates. We look at them as the right thing to do for students in the best way we can. And the third thing that I would add to the answer to this question is that remember we're picking currently from a portfolio of imperfect choices. If we had our druthers, everyone would be inoculated, everyone – we would have the ability to come back to school in person, everybody five days a week, providing the kinds of services that we did prior to this COVID-19. We just aren't there. So, for us, it really gives us a whole portfolio of imperfect choices, and we're picking the least imperfect of those choices, but I have to give a lot of credit to those out in the field who have really been going above and beyond to make sure that those that need the services the most, our most vulnerable students, are being prioritized and are getting those services to the best of our ability, given our circumstances.

Mayor: Thank you. LeShawn or Brandon, do you want to add at all?

Deputy Commissioner Robinson: Yes. What I will add is that I have an opportunity to serve the children of the city in my professional capacities, and I am also the parent of one of our city's children as well. My son is a young person with an IEP and as a parent to have the school reach out for a wellness check, to have the school inquire about my son's social emotional being, and utilize the very practices that we have within the Bridge to School plan, to have the teacher talk about the focus on trauma supports in the school, and making sure that my son, a young person with an IEP, my son is a dyslexic young person, is focused on his social emotional wellbeing first and foremost, even before engaging in the academics has been comforting for my family and really helped my son to re-engage in school this year and has helped him navigate through this difficult time. We know that all children have been impacted and I approached this work first and foremost as a parent of a child in our school system and then as a professional. So, the work that we're doing around social emotional learning is a support for all children, especially our most vulnerable, like our young people with IEPs.

Mayor: Thank you very, very much. Brandon, do you want to add?

Senior Advisor Cardet-Hernandez: Nothing, thank you so much.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Katie.

Question: Thank you. My second question is a follow-up. You know, I recall this summer leading up to the school year, Mr. Mayor, you often said that the 2020-2021 school year would be the greatest in New York City history. It seems like there's now been a shift to September [inaudible]. Can you explain the difference? And can you also articulate a little bit better or clearer what is being done now, especially for teachers who are working with their students and families who are trying to make up for a lot of the challenges with kids that [inaudible] or at least March?

Mayor: Yeah. It's important. Katie, certainly my goal was to see something happen in this school year that was extraordinary. And, in fact, that has happened. It has been the most heroic school year in New York City history because of what our educators and staff and parents and students have done. Somehow keep forging ahead and finding a way to do things that almost no other school system in America has been able to do. New York City public schools opened, opened safely, continued to be safe and healthy throughout. And extraordinary innovation has taken place both in terms of health and safety and academically to keep things moving forward. So, it's been a heroic year for the New York City public schools, but I think you're right to say that the greatness I want to see us achieve really begins in September because we know that in September, we'll be able to have people back in person in a way that hasn't been possible on a sustained basis for so many parents and kids this year. So, what we're now building is a framework to do things, starting in September, we've never done before, to have pervasive social emotional support, pervasive access to mental health support when it's needed, universal screenings, but also on the academic side, the ability to individualize what every child needs and provide them with more instruction than ever before using new approaches. So, I am tremendously excited about what's going to happen starting in September, but I will a hundred percent affirm the heroism of what's been achieved this year.

Moderator: The next is Amanda from Politico.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Amanda. How you been?

Question: I'm good. Thank you. So, I wanted to follow up on several of my colleagues’ questions in regard to the social emotional program. So, I'm looking at my notes, it's the metrics that Thrive issued in like 2018, 2019, and the metrics include, you know, social, emotional learning within the Health Department, social emotional learning in pre-K, trauma services for families with young children. And I know several people have mentioned that this program builds on various initiatives that Thrive has done. However, Thrive has undergone some changes. There's been cuts to the program, programs removed. My first question is how is this program different than the other programs? And is it repetitive of previous programs that’ve been funded and since have been cut?

Mayor: Very important question. I'll turn to Chirlane but let me start with a quick frame. I remember the early meetings around Thrive and what was so shocking, this is going back years, is a recognition that there was no functioning mental health system in New York City. And obviously there is not in America. And Thrive came out of a series of discussions with the Health Department, Department of Education, and many others where it became abundantly clear, if we did not provide consistent access to mental health services, we could not help New Yorkers and we couldn't address a lot of the biggest challenges we face, so much of what our kids are going through, and also so many other social challenges that really derive from untreated mental illness. So, Thrive was created to do something that had never existed before. And from the beginning, there was a recognition we were going to take some of the best practices that were known around the world and create some of our own. And we knew some would prove themselves instantly. Some might take some more time, but we also took the chance that some new innovative approaches might prove not to be as effective as others, but we needed to try. We needed to do some experimentation to figure out what would work because it had never been done before. And whenever something's been identified as not good enough, it's been taken out of the program. What has been abundantly successful is social emotional learning, and any of the ways to identify the problem early and get help early. That's been the sort of magic formula in mental health when you identify a problem and connect people to mental health services early. And that unites a lot of the best elements of Thrive that have been most effective and most proven. So, certainly universal screenings in our schools is a – it speaks for itself. You're immediately helping to figure out what a kid needs and get it to them early in their life. And that opens up a world of positive possibilities. So, that's just some of the background, but to Chirlane, to talk about the specifics.

First Lady McCray: Thank you. The Mayor is exactly right that before Thrive most of our most of our services, our mental health services, were handled by the federal government or funded by the federal government and through the State. There really isn't a mental health system, a behavioral health system in this country. And there was a lack of coordination between health care providers and how these services were provided. So Thrive was launched five years ago, after 11 months of talking with people from all kinds of communities in addition to the Health Department and Health + Hospitals and professionals in the field. 11 months of talking to people about what was missing, what we needed to have for people all around the city. And what came out of those discussions was a set of principles. And I’ll only name two of them, change the culture because of the huge stigma that everyone felt around mental health. The fact that we couldn't even talk about it was a problem. And act early. And so social emotional learning was actually one of the first things that we wanted to launch, but we didn't have an infrastructure to build on. And what we've been doing over these years is actually getting ourselves to a place, getting our city to a place where we could actually launch the screening, the last year the curriculum, and that it would be embraced. It would be embraced and people would be invested in it and understand what it is we're trying to do. So social emotional learning is Thrive inspired. It is run by the Department of Education, one of our many agency partners. We have 12 agencies now that work directly with Thrive. But we want every agency actually to be able to deal with mental health in some way. We feel that the best way to provide mental health services is that there's no wrong door. That people, wherever they are, whether they're in the workplace, if they're in ACS or DOE, wherever they are, NYPD that they can get mental health services wherever they are. That's what we're moving to. And in this last year that we have we'll be building on that as much as we can. 

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Amanda. 

Question: Thank you. And then my follow-up question is the sounds pretty similar in terms of strategy to the postpartum depression screenings that were done at Health + Hospitals, became incorporated into Health + Hospitals policy. But when I spoke to people who have either received those screenings or providers, I was told that there's just a lack of resources. So if you get screened for postpartum depression, there's no place to send people or there are a few places to send people. How will this social emotional learning screener be different for kids? If they're getting screened and then it turns out that there are a few places to send them, slash does Health + Hospitals have pediatric programs that deal specifically with mental health issues in children? 

Mayor: All right, let me, let me start with a quick frame. I'll turn to Chirlane. And also Dr. Dave Chokshi who spent a substantial amount of time at Health + Hospitals, I think could help us with some of the response. Look, you're raising an absolutely crucial point. So the big frame is this, here's a country that does not have universal health care. Doesn't have Medicare for all. Here's a country that has stigmatized people had mental health challenges for generations. Women with postpartum depression have been made to feel bad about themselves, have been treated like there's something wrong with their character, even though they're dealing with an honest and organic mental health challenge. The backdrop here, Amanda is very troubling. People haven't had access to health care and especially they haven't had access to mental health care. And the whole societal construct is broken. So with Thrive the idea was to first de-stigmatize. Second, give people a place to turn. Whether it was 8-8-8-NYC-WELL, or in the example that you point out with Health + Hospitals to have actual screening, actual dialogue about postpartum depression. And engage a mom and make sure that she knew support was available. We find generally because it's New York City and there are a lot of wonderful providers that we can reach a whole lot of people with the next level of help. And certainly Health + Hospitals has a lot it can provide in terms of mental health support. Is it ubiquitous and perfect? No, but I would contest one part of the question a little bit. I think there are resources here compared to any place else in the country that are superior. And we are able to reach a whole lot of people. But if we truly had a national universal health strategy, we could do a whole lot more. Chirlane? 

First Lady McCray: Yeah, I would echo what the Mayor just said, is that we've made historic investments in this area. And there are places that people can turn. It may not be exactly what they want, but there are many, many places that they can turn for help. For example, NYC Well. People can call NYC Well and actually make an appointment while they're on the line with a therapist or appropriate mental health professional. We've made investments in Health + Hospitals. We're hiring social workers. We're doing as much as we can and want to do more. I'm praying for a stimulus so that we can complete our work. But there's no other city that guarantees health care like New York City. And with that guarantee of being able to get a primary care doctor even if you're undocumented comes the ability to actually be referred to a mental health professional as well. So no one, and I do mean no one, should have to go without mental health care in this city. 

Mayor: Yeah. And Amanda, before I turn to Dave Chokshi I mean, again, let's remember the role – guaranteed health care in this city, including NYC Care, which ensures that even someone undocumented can get health care for free, that also makes it a lot easier for folks to get mental health support or a mom's suffering postpartum depression to get help. It is not the same as if we had a full universal national health care system. That would be superior unquestionably. But I do want to note that once we put guaranteed health care into place, we change the reality, making it possible for everyone to know that they could access health care regardless of their income, regardless of their documentation status. So again, is there everything we want? No, but is there a lot for people to turn to? I truly believe that there are a lot of good options. Dr. Chokshi, you want to talk specifically about H + H and the way that support is provided when those screenings are done? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you very much. And thank you for this incredibly important question, Amanda and for inviting me to speak to it Mr. Mayor. I wanted to start by pulling out something that the First Lady said, which is this idea of no wrong door for care. And Health + Hospitals has really made considerable strides over the last few years to bring that notion to life. I had the privilege of helping with much of this work, which centered around the idea that people have relationships with their primary care doctor, with their pediatricians, with their obstetricians. And those are very important when we consider the best way to deliver mental health care as well. And so, the way that that's been done is to ensure that resources are embedded in the right places and clinics and in the hospital setting to actually make that real. So, for your specific question Amanda, which was about postpartum depression screening. One of the ways in which this has worked is that when someone does screen in a way that indicates that they need help with a mental health issue there are resources that are directly available. Through an evidence-based program known as Collaborative Care as well as other resources that have been embedded in Health + Hospitals in large part, thanks to Thrive NYC funding. That includes the social workers that the First Lady mentioned, but also other mental health clinicians who are trained to provide grief counseling for depression, anxiety, and other common mental health issues. So as the Mayor has said, there is more work to be done here. But starting with that notion of no wrong door and making it so that there are clear channels for people to be connected to the services that they need, are the principles that have been used.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Hello. Good morning. Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yes. You sound crystal clear Andrew. This is a step forward. 

Question: Great. I want to ask Mayor, on Friday, the Governor displayed sort of a surprising confidence in New York's ability to avoid a shutdown. And it seems to be a little bit of a disconnect from what we've heard from you and your health numbers? You're urging people to cancel their plans. You're alarmed by the seven-day positivity. And yet the Governor's take seems to be despite the increase in recent weeks, the hospital system can handle it. I'm wondering what's your response to that? 

Mayor: The Governor and I have talked about this a lot, Andrew. And he and I spoke this morning. The hospitalization reality, which he's focused on is of course, the single most important piece of the equation. And, you know, when he announced his vision related to hospitals, I joined him for that. And I thought he was right to say, what we learned in the spring was that our hospital system has to be able to handle what's thrown at it. Again, I affirm in New York City hospitals, including all our public hospitals did an extraordinary job in the spring under the worst possible circumstances, but they held. The question now, again, is, as we deal with the second wave, will our hospitals hold? Will they be able to provide high quality care? Will they be able to save lives? I'm convinced the answer is yes. And the Governor's right to say, that's the first consideration. But he's also said, and I've said that restrictions are still a very live option if we don't stop this spread. And that we need everyone to participate. So I don't want restrictions. I don't know anyone who wants restrictions, but we have to be ready for them. If we cannot stop the situation from getting a lot worse. And that means anyone that doesn't want restrictions should be wearing a mask, practicing, distancing, canceling their travel plans, having small gatherings only, helping us to stop this spread. So I think there's a lot of agreement on the basics here. I'm going to be watching very carefully. And if at any point my health leadership, and I feel that the situation is getting, taking a new turn and that we need to more urgently change and move to restrictions. We will call that out immediately. But right now, thank God, again, our hospitals are doing very well. And that's a credit to all the good people who work in them. Go ahead. Andrew. 

Question: At the start of this call today, you said you believe there should be a travel ban on, I will just, I'll get you to elaborate on what you think it should be? If this is just flights coming in from the UK or from other parts of Europe? And as an aspect of that, we expect the Governor to talk about this as well and say, this is the FAA’s job, the federal government. But if this is a really urgent situation, could you not send your own Health Department to JFK Airport and to do something much more aggressive with regard to the folks who are landing even today? 

Mayor: I really appreciate that question because I take a very stern view of this matter. And I'll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi on this as well. Andrew, I think, you know, this is something the Governor's talked about. I agree with him 100 percent you know, way back when, when this started. Trump administration put a travel ban effect for China. I thought that was the right thing to do, but they didn't do it for Europe. That was the huge mistake. And that's what left New York City vulnerable. Now you fall fast forward. I said a month or two ago, there should be a requirement for international and domestic travel that people prove they have a negative test result before getting on a plane. I think that's just common sense. I put that out there. Federal government was not interested in pursuing that. I think they should have then. I think they should do it now at minimum. But now that you're saying, here you have a new strain, apparently even more infectious developing in the UK, already spreading in Europe. I think the best solution is at least a temporary travel ban from all incoming, for all incoming flights from Europe and the UK, to protect us against an exacerbation of a second wave. Why on Earth wouldn't we put that temporary measure in effect? We can't do that, only the federal government could. At least have a requirement for a negative test before getting on a plane. I do not believe we have the independent ability, unfortunately, to turn people back or I would be doing it right this minute. But to the bigger challenge, Dr. Varma, then Dr. Chokshi to talk about this new strain and the challenges we face from it? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Great. Thank you very much for the question. This is a really concerning development. I've reviewed the evidence from the UK and concur with the assessment that there is a lot of uncertainty, but what we know right now is that the strain does appear to cause infections more readily. It does not appear to cause infections more seriously. That is your risk of having a severe outcome does not appear to be changed. There is of course, a lot more to learn. And we may modify those assessments over time. Now in terms of what we need to do here, I think the Mayor is absolutely correct that one of the things we in the global health community have learned is that restricting travel can be a very important way to slow the growth of new infections. I think it's unlikely that we could ever stop this strain or other strains from entering the US. But temporarily restricting travel can certainly do that. The longer-term strategy, however, is exactly as the Mayor has said. We need to really be adopting the measures that other countries around the world do, which is testing before departure, testing upon arrival. And then of course, you know, continuing to enforce the, not only the State requirements, but even having a federal requirement for isolation and quarantine. The last point I will make is really the big picture. And the big picture is how does this happen? Now we know viruses mutate. This virus probably adapts and you know, changes one or two times every month is what we know by its biology. The way we stop this virus from replicating and causing new mutations is to have fewer people infected with the virus. The virus doesn't mutate on its own in the wild, it mutates in human bodies. So, the only way that we can really prevent this virus from mutating into a more infectious strand here in the US, is to reduce the number of infections by all the measures that we've been talking about. 

Mayor: Amen, Dr. Chokshi, you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Dr. Varma covered all of the high points. The one that I'll just emphasize is how much this underlines the importance of quarantine associated with travel. We take this extremely seriously for the reasons that Dr. Varma has pointed out and because of the holidays we are worried about additional travel occurring over these coming days. It makes it all the more important. Our advice is do not travel, cancel your holiday plans. If for whatever reason it is absolutely unavoidable to travel, the importance of following the quarantine requirements becomes even more paramount. 

Mayor: Amen. Thank you very much. Go ahead.

Moderator: The last question for today goes to David Cruz from Gothamist.

Question: Hi Mr. Mayor. How are you doing? 

Mayor: Good, David. How you been?

Question: Pretty good. So there was a school in Park Slope, an elementary school in Park Slope that had tested only one of two cohorts since the randomized testing program began. And the teachers have explained that they’ve asked the testers to come on different days, but they've been ignored. And at least two other schools that I've spoken with have also experienced the same occurrence. And you've spoken about how rigorous testing is, though this doesn't appear so in at least these two cases. So, what could this months long oversight? 

Mayor: Okay. David, I appreciate the question and I really want to make sure – so first of all, please share the information with our team here, because any school that's not going through the right cohort approach, that's something we want to fix immediately. We can fix immediately. That could be as easy as just changing the days when the testing occurs. I would caution that the weekly testing has only been done recently. That's only since we came back a few weeks ago and put the weekly testing into place. So the months long, I want to be careful when you say that. That we get the facts, I would be surprised if it was something as long as that, but I want to see the facts and act on it. The bottom line is we will do that testing in every school every week. We want different people to the maximum extent possible each week, obviously. And that's what gives us the clearer picture of what's going on. What we do know is the positivity levels across all our schools have been really strikingly low, thank God. It’s a great credit to our school communities, but we need it to be always an accurate measure. So I'll ask Dr. Chokshi to follow up with his colleagues in the Test and Trace team and make sure in these individual cases that we adjust in any way we have to. Go ahead, David. David? Do we still have him? He's gone? Oh, he's on. David, you're there? He's on, but we can't hear him. It's a neat trick. I don't know if you’re mute? All right. Microphone trouble it is. Well, I'm going to conclude, unless you can use the miracle of technology to bring him back.

Moderator: We'll circle back to Dr. Chokshi. 

Mayor: No, I meant the journalist. 

Moderator: Oh, David Cruz. Can we hear you? 

Question: Yeah, I'm here now.

Mayor: There you go.

Question: Well, just want to say, a point of clarification for Park Slope, it's been happening since October. I know they had the monthly program, but it happened October, November and into December. So just want to make sure that that is noted. And unrelated question to that, regarding Times Square on New Year's Eve, what is being done to make sure people don't congregate? 

Mayor: A very good question. And you know, David, I liked the fact that your question involves the words New Year's Eve, because that means that 2020 is almost over. So, let me start with that. It's something we can all celebrate. You're exactly right. New Year's Eve this year is not a place, Times Square is not a place to congregate. We are going to get that message out intensely over the next days, set up a protocol to avoid people congregating. We'll have details on that soon. We have had honestly, pretty good success. I think Thanksgiving Day is a great example of that. Obviously, the Macy's parade, one of the biggest events all year in New York City. Again, thanks to Macy's for the way they handled it. And thanks to the NYPD and all the other City agencies that were involved. It managed to be something that was a really wonderful televised event that people could still feel the continuity and the emotion of it, but not a place where people gathered and that was achieved successfully there. We're going to use a model like that for New Year's Eve. So, details coming, but exactly the right idea. It will be on television. You'll still see the ball drop. But we're letting people know right now, it's not a place to be in-person.

Okay. Everyone, as we wrap up, look today what we talked about is really about people looking out for each other. New Yorkers have been amazing in 2020, truly amazing, having each other's backs, watching out for each other, helping each other through. When the heroic story of 2020 in New York City is written, it will be about the way New Yorkers were just there for each other. Well, what we announced today is about being there for our kids, being there for our parents. Making sure that if a child's going through distress, if they're feeling the effects of the trauma of this year, that we're recognizing it, we're talking to them about it and their family. We're helping them through. We're getting them the support they need. One of the powerful things that's been done over these years in New York City, and I really give our First Lady credit for this incessant work of de-stigmatizing, taking away any notion that if you're having a mental health challenge, there's something wrong with you. There isn't anything wrong with you. There never was anything wrong with someone who had a mental health challenge. It's part of human life. And we need to be able to talk about challenges. When we talk about them, we can act on them. So universal screening is going to allow us to really engage every child and connect with every family. And for any child who needs help, it's going to create an atmosphere where they feel good about the fact that they can talk about a problem and then help will be there. And that's how we move forward as a city, just being there for each other. We've all been through so much. We'll be talking about it for a long time. But what's most important is we're all going to help each other through. And very soon, we're going to be doing that in a brand new year. And we can't wait. Thank you, everybody.

2020-12-22 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, there is definitely good news in this world. Yesterday, we saw the first shipments of the Moderna vaccine arrive in New York City. So, this is really, really important. We already had the Pfizer vaccine now – a whole new second opportunity to keep people safe with the Moderna vaccine arriving. This is going to give us much more capacity, but it's also, again, a moment to appreciate the extraordinary effort that the scientific community undertook in the year 2020 to create these vaccines, to keep us safe – not one, but two now, and potentially more on the way. So, this is really miraculous. It's something to appreciate that these really safe, effective vaccines have been created. And they're going to allow us to move forward. They're going to allow us to turn the page once and for all on the coronavirus.

Now, we are underway with the leadership of our Vaccine Command Center, we’re underway in the largest vaccination campaign in New York City's history. This is going to be a huge logistical operation, but already you're seeing what New York City can do and how New York City sets a very high bar. We're already vaccinating people at twice the national average. There's a lot of focus, there's a lot of intensity in the approach to make sure the maximum people get vaccinated as quickly as possible. So, we need to do that – the logistics, the hospitals, the doctors, nurses, everything has to be coordinated through our command center, but we also have to educate people, we have to get people comfortable with the vaccine. Obviously, very importantly, President-elect Joe Biden got the vaccine yesterday and showed the world that. I think that was a great act and very important. What we're going to do every single day is educate New Yorkers about the importance of the vaccine and we're launching a new campaign to get the word out. 

It's [inaudible] very clearly, NYC Vaccine for All. The idea of this campaign is to let people know this is for everyone, this works for everyone. It will be free. It will be easy. It will be effective and safe. These are the messages that we have to get out – safe, free, easy. We're going to keep saying that over and over again. And we have so many community leaders who are stepping up making clear to people who listened to them, who trust them, that this is the right thing to do to protect every New Yorker, protect your families, protect yourself. We're going to not just talk about, we're going to show through evidence, through the testimony of New Yorkers, trusted, respected New Yorkers that this really works. And we're going to push back against misinformation. We know there will be misinformation. We know the rumor mill will be working overtime. We will the message out using all types of media and different languages, whatever it takes to help people understand that this is the difference maker. This vaccine is what will allow us to move forward. All the pain, all the suffering, all the loss can be defeated through this vaccine. That's what we want to get across and the best way to get the message across is for you to hear from every-day New Yorkers who have received the vaccine and so they can explain why it's so important to them and their families, why it's so important to you.

And so, we've got three folks who work at Health + Hospitals and our New York City public hospitals, and clinics who do such important work for all of us, who really are heroes for what they've done to protect their fellow New Yorkers. And we want them protected, but we want to hear their voices, because they made the choice to get the vaccine, and it's important for you to know why and what it means for you and your family. So, first let's hear from someone who helps every day the people of the Bronx, he works at North Central Bronx Hospital for our Health and Hospitals system – and we welcome Kevin Cruz. Welcome, Kevin. 

[…] 

Mayor: Kevin, I really, really appreciate that. And I think you – I think you just gave all the reasons in the world right there. I just think you spoke from the heart about what we saw, what we know. I really appreciate the point you made, people worry about side effects. We know the side effect of getting COVID and how horrible it can be. We know that that can lead to people losing their lives or lasting consequences. So, I want to thank you for putting it in real perspective, that this is something that people need to do and do it for yourself, do it for your family, but also do it for the health care heroes who were in harm's way, but fought through to save us. Kevin, thank you. That was very, very powerful. Thank you. And thank you for all you do.

Everyone – and I want you to hear from someone who does so much for us in Queens. Suja Mohan is the Director of Nursing for the Emergency Department at Queens Hospital. another place that was right in the epicenter of this crisis. Thank you for all you've done. And tell us what you think about this vaccine, Suja. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Suja. Thank you for all you have done through this pandemic to save lives, to help support all your colleagues. I know it's been really tough, but thank you for your leadership and thank you for your testimony today on how important this. I want you to hear from one more New Yorker, and this is someone who watches out for the people who do this crucial work, watches out for our health care workers, watches out for folks who are in hospitals and need solace and comfort and support. Very, very crucial that we recognize that all the members of the clergy who are there for people in their hour of need, help sustain us and have helped us sustain us through this horrible time. So, he does his good work at Coney Island Hospital, part of Health + Hospitals, a place that also really, really struggled and fought through the worst of the coronavirus crisis and really appreciate his leadership and his voice today. My great honor to introduce Rabbi Jonas Gruenzweig. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you. Rabbi, thank you so much. That's such a clear, powerful message. You don't want to get COVID-19 and you don't want to give it to anybody else. Well listen, everybody, the rabbi said about as clearly as you possibly could, this is why everyone should take this vaccine, because, Lord knows, you don't want to get this horrible disease and you certainly don't want to pass it onto those you love. So, we're going to keep giving you the opportunity to hear from your fellow New Yorkers in the weeks and months ahead to really understand why people believe in this vaccine and their own personal experience with it. I think that's going to be what's most compelling to people. I really want to thank all our guests today for all they do for us and for also helping New Yorkers to understand this vaccine and believe in it. 

All right, let's go over our indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report 193, 193 patients. We want to be under 200. We’re barely under 200. But again, the hospitalization rate per 100,000 is a problem – 3.09 per 100,000. We want to be under two. So, again, that number is too high. Case numbers continue to be astoundingly high. Today's number, on a seven-day average, 2,889 against a goal of 550. It speaks for itself. We have a lot of work to do. We got to bring that down. Now, the third indicator, percentage of New York City residents testing positive, seven-day rolling average today 5.88 percent. We want to be under five percent even. We have real work to do. 5.88 percent, a little lower than yesterday, but still higher than we need to be. A few words in Spanish – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi by, DOT Acting Commissioner Margaret Forgione, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. The first question today goes to Allison Kaden from PIX-11. 

Question: Good morning to you. I want to talk about holiday travel. My first question is, some New Yorkers may be listening, some New Yorkers probably aren't, whether that means getting in their cars, going to the airports, they're going to see friends, going to warm locations, going to family. They will eventually have to come back to New York City. What is your message to them? 

Mayor: Thank you, Allison. Couldn't be a more important topic. First my message, again, you heard it from Dr. Dave Chokshi, our Health Commissioner yesterday, if you have travel plans right now, cancel those travel plans if there's any way you can. Look, some people, I know it may be, literally, an emergency or something that they don't have a choice. If you have a choice, cancel your travel plans. Why? Because we finally have the vaccine. In a few months, it's going to be widespread. Things are going to be a lot safer. Postpone your travel to when it's safe, protect yourself, your family, your loved ones. But let's say someone says, ‘nope, I'm traveling no matter what.’ Okay. Then I say to them, you've got two choices. One, when you travel, of course, you have to maintain social distancing with people around you, wear your mask, do all the things we normally tell you to do. But if you're going to come back and expect to go on with your regular life, that's not going to happen unless you do exactly what the State rules say and you test while you're away and test negative and come back and within the stipulated period of time, test again and test negative. That's the only way you're not doing a quarantine. Right now, that's a two-week quarantine. And we will enforce that quarantine. We'll follow up with every traveler about the quarantine. We expect them to honor the quarantine. We'll help them, but if they don't honor the quarantine, there are serious financial penalties. And we need people to understand that we're not doing this for the fun of it. We're doing this to save lives. So, don't travel, ideally, but if you do travel, get ready to quarantine. Go ahead, Allison. 

Question: My follow-up question obviously is this concerning strain in the UK, a lot of travel between London and New York. We've been talking about this for a few days. Still, it doesn't seem like the federal government is in any rush to stop UK travel. Have you had any talks with the federal government, with our federal leaders, and what is your concern level? 

Mayor: My concern level is high, Allison, because we're looking at a new strain that is more infectious and simply makes the job harder, just when we're about to be able to turn the corner. So, I believe in a travel ban from Europe at this point, a temporary travel ban. I believe in, at minimum, if there's going to be travel requiring a negative test for anyone who gets on a plane. I'm going to be talking to a variety of federal leaders to try and get it done. Obviously, we have not seen much receptiveness from the Trump administration. We will keep trying, but if we can't get it done now, we're certainly going to try and get done under President Biden. But yeah, I'm worried just because it leads to more spread. Let me have Dr. Varma jump in here and just help people understand why this presents a new challenge. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I did want to just react to the comments that you made, which is that we have always known and been worried about travel as a threat to our ability to control this infection. So, the more that we can do to, you know, limit the amount of travel that's happening and for people who do travel, ensure effective testing before and after, as well as isolation and quarantine, the better we can do to slow the spread of this virus. Now specifically regarding this strain, what is most concerning to us is the fact – are really two things. One is the fact that the evidence from the UK is reasonably strong that this virus spreads more easily than other strains of the coronavirus. And so again, that means that our room for error is even less. Everything that we do to prevent infections, keeping distance, wearing mask, washing our hands, we need to be even more rigorous about. So that's one concern. The second concern is we are seeing other strains, not the same one, but similar types of strains emerging in other parts of the world, like in South Africa. And all of that again is an indication that the only way that we can really return back to some version of normal is to reduce the number of people infected. This virus mutates when it's inside humans. So, we need to keep it out of humans. And again, so it circles back to the same thing, really being very strict about all the precautions that we normally follow. And we're going to be looking very carefully for introductions of this virus here in the U. S. as well as the possible emergence of similar types of strains. It's something we need to be wary about. But we do have the tools to prevent this. We have a vaccine, and we have all of our individual measures. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Good morning, Michael. Are you ready for the holidays? 

Question: I am. I apologize, I've got the television on, in the background. I hope it's not too loud. I've got the kitty crowd control going. 

Mayor: We want to support you in your crowd control efforts. That's okay. 

Question: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. You've – a lot of people have asked you about when you get the vaccine and we've seen some elected officials getting it. I wanted to ask you another question about that. Once you do get the vaccine, what do you plan to do, I mean, differently when you get it? Do you see your behavior changing much? Are you going to be out and about doing things you haven't done since March? What do you got planned once you get it? 

Mayor: It's an important question. I think we all need to just keep being careful because it's the smart thing to do in this moment that we're all going through here. So, what I've found is that the basic health rules we've all been following make sense, and we want to keep everyone in that mindset until we really have widespread vaccination. Want to keep wearing those masks, keep the social distancing, the small gatherings, all those things until our health leadership says, okay, it's time to change now, it's time to relax and approach things differently. Look, we've said, we think it's going to be roughly until about June before we can get really, really widespread vaccination. I think every week is going to get better, Michael. But I'm saying, if you say, when you're really going to be pervasive in New York City, probably give or take June. I'd say from now to June, we should all keep to these basic precautions. And then we'll assess as we get to that point and we'll listen to our health care leadership. But in terms of how, and when I get the vaccine, I am ready, willing, and able. And Dr. Chokshi is going to tell me when it's my turn in line. 

Moderator: The next is Marla Diamond from WCBS 880. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Good morning. How you doing? 

Question: Good, how are you doing? 

Mayor: We are – I'm hanging in. Just a few more days to Christmas, so I'm feeling good. 

Question: I got a couple of middle schoolers here who are eager to get back to the classroom. Any guidance on that and on high schools, when you might give us some sense of when the older children will be going back to school? 

Mayor: I would like them back in school as quickly as possible. What I can tell you right now is we're going to look at middle school first and then high school. Right now, we got to fight back the second wave, obviously. We've got to get this vaccine distributed widely. We're going to start looking at January as a first opportunity for middle school, but it will all depend on what's happening with the larger health care reality and what our health care leadership is saying. So. we've got more work to do, but I am very anxious to get our middle schoolers back as you are. I can't give you a date yet. It's going to need some more time, but my goal is as soon as humanly possible. Go ahead. 

Question: And just to follow up on the vaccine, you mentioned at the beginning that you were very hopeful about the Moderna vaccine. Do you have any idea when that might be coming to New York City and who will be getting it? 

Mayor: Absolutely. And we have a lot of idea, and it's the fact that we, now – this is on the playing field right now, the Moderna vaccine, and that's huge. And Dr. Chokshi will go over with you, you know, the kind of number of doses we expect and the impact we think it's going to make. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and yes, I certainly share the excitement about that Moderna vaccine. A really important point that distinguishes it from the Pfizer vaccine is that it can be stored in regular freezers, which means that we can expand the points of access and distribution beyond places that just have that special ultra-cold freezer. In terms of the timeline for arrival and distribution – actually we got our first few doses of the Moderna vaccine yesterday, about 25,000 of the approximately 149,000 that we expect for this week have already arrived in New York City. Those along with the Pfizer doses that we're receiving as well, will continue to be distributed according to New York State prioritization guidance, which right now focuses on health care workers, particularly health care workers who are at highest risk, as well as nursing home staff and residents. And we're looking forward, as you heard from my amazing colleagues earlier in the call, we're looking forward to getting it to as many people as will benefit from it as quickly as possible. 

Mayor: Thank you, go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Dana Rubinstein from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey Dana, how are you? 

Question: Fine, thank you. So, you've stopped elective surgeries at HHC Hospitals. Case numbers are in your words, astoundingly high. Is the State waiting too long to shut down as it arguably did last time around? 

Mayor: Dana, it's such an important question and it is something we are all talking about every day. I've had numerous conversations with the Governor. My team, his team have been talking constantly. We have, I think, a complex situation here. The case numbers are astoundingly high. I don't like what I see one bit. I'm really worried. And we are seeing an impact on our hospitals. At the same time, we are seeing our hospitals handle these cases much, much better than in the spring and with much better outcomes. The Governor has presented a plan that really focuses on the hospital issue because that is the single most sensitive and crucial issue. And I agree that that's where you begin and we are seeing better outcomes in the hospitals. But there's also the worry that as the case numbers continue to grow, you have the challenge of the spread of this disease and the question of what will stop it? What will slow it down until we get the vaccine really, really to be widespread? And those bigger restrictions are the only tool we have. So, we keep assessing daily. We keep having the conversation with the State daily. And I think particularly if we see more stress on the hospital system that there is a likelihood you will then see those restrictions. Go ahead. 

Question: Thank you. And then secondly, does the extension of unemployment benefits in the new federal stimulus, does that impact your thoughts on the matter at all, given your concern about people being able to hold on to jobs? 

Mayor: It's a good question, but I'll tell you again – I really, you're asking the question with a whole heart. I try to urge people, not even to call it a stimulus, because it's not a stimulus. It is, you know, barely a survival plan. You know, it's short-term at best. It will not help us turn things around in a substantial way. The amount of direct aid, that's, I'm glad there's direct aid, but the amount of direct aid is so small that for many, many New Yorkers, people all over the country it is not going to make much difference. So no, it does not make me feel that, you know, Oh, that's going to tide people over or everyone's going to be okay. No, I do not feel that. I think we always are concerned about protecting people's livelihoods. I am. I'm really concerned about folks who are trying to save their jobs, save their businesses. That matters, but of course, what matters most is protecting people's lives. So, we're trying to balance all of that. But no, I don't think what happened in Washington gives me much solace. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Ben Evansky from Fox News. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, thank you for taking my question. First question, will you follow Joe Biden's remarks yesterday, give credit to President Trump's administration for getting the vaccine out in such a speedy way? 

Mayor: Yeah. Look, I have many, many criticisms of President Trump in general and specifically his handling of the coronavirus. But I've also been very comfortable saying when I think they did something right. During the worst of the crisis, March, April, May when the President himself and the people around him helped us to get some of the PPE we needed and supplies we needed, I made it a regular point to thank them and give them their due praise for the ways that they helped New York City. I'll also always say when they failed to help New York City. So, you know, in terms of getting the vaccine? Yes, I do think the President and his administration contributed substantially to getting a vaccine in this kind of timeframe. That's a really good thing. I would also say, you know, they dropped the ball profoundly in the beginning of this crisis and exacerbated it throughout with their actions, with their words. And also failed to provide us a stimulus which obviously the President could have been the difference maker on. But if you're saying, did they play a valuable role in getting us a vaccine quickly? Yes, I do believe that.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Yehudit it from Borough Park 24 News. 

Question: Hello. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing well. How are you? 

Question: Good, thank God. We want to wish you – we want to thank you for all your beautiful Hanukkah wishes last week. And also wish you happy holidays this week. 

Mayor: I appreciate that. I always appreciate – you have a good energy about you and I thank you for the good work you do. 

Question: Thank you. Thank you so much. You've talked a lot about loans, grants, and other help for small business owners. And you're asking New Yorkers to shop the city. And I know just speaking for myself, I think shopping online, especially with future lockdowns, it is going to be a really hard habit to break. And I think one thing that could really help as I speak to a lot of business owners in the community, are help with the websites because a lot of us are not so tech savvy. And that can be something that I think can really, instead of trying to compete against Amazon, I was wondering if the Small Business Services would ever be able to provide technically savvy people to help small businesses to create websites so that people can keep shopping online? Because I don't know if that's really going to be something that people can stop doing. 

Mayor: That's a really good point all around. First of all, I'm happy to tell you, yes, we're doing that already. But we should be doing a lot more. I want to take your point and run with it. I'm asking all New Yorkers, I know a lot of people are still doing holiday shopping. I certainly am. So I want to say that all New Yorkers shop local, shop your city. You, I hear your point about folks may be tempted to for health and other reasons do all their shopping online, but you can still shop from local stores online to the maximum extent humanly possible. But I think it's a really great point. So Small Business Services is already doing this, but I think they should do more and deeper into communities. I'm going to ask our Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris to follow up with you about how we can do a special outreach into Borough Park and other communities. But yeah, this is exactly something government can do to help people, provide that technical expertise, show people how to set up those websites. Let's keep these dollars right in the community. So, however you shop, shop local this holiday season. 

Moderator: Last question for today. It goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Yay. Happy holidays to all on the call. Merry Christmas, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Merry Christmas, Juliet. Hi. Have you done all your shopping? 

Question: No way. 

Mayor: Alright, I like that. That was a badge of honor right there. 

Question: Yes. You know what? I’m baking, I think people are getting home-baked goods. 

Mayor: That is the best present. 

Question: But that is not done yet either. 

Mayor: That's the gift of love Juliet. 

Question: Thank you. Thank you. Actually, I wanted to ask you about stimulus money or lack thereof? Because in the short term with your preliminary budget due next month, what are your plans for City services and personnel? Because Politico today is reporting that City agencies have to cut three percent. So, is that translating into service cuts, personnel cuts? 

Mayor: We have a big challenge ahead. What's happening now with our budget is we’re getting ready for a presentation in January. We're turning to all City agencies and saying you're going to have to find more savings. This is going to be a version of what we call a PEG which is an effort to get savings from every agency. What has been put out there initially is simply to get ideas and proposals back from agencies. It's not the final plan by any stretch. That will be developed for the presentation in January but then there's much, much more after January, you know, in April and June. The big X factor, what I hope and believe will happen, that President Biden will come in and really focus on a serious, large stimulus. But until we know that we have to prepare for the worst. So, this year's budget, Thank God we're doing okay from now until June, but next year is very, very tough. And that's why we're saying we have to be ready for anything and everything. We're going to ask every agency to put forward savings ideas. Unfortunately, we have again, talk about something, no one wants which is layoffs, but that's going to be part of the discussion again, unless we get federal or State help. So, it's a very sobering moment. And certainly, this bill, again, I will not call it a stimulus. This bill that was passed in Washington did not change the equation in any big way because it just didn't provide the kind of relief that we need to turn the corner. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay, so how long do you think you can hold off on layoffs? And if or when the stimulus money does come? What are your priorities with it? 

Mayor: So, first of all, so far, we've been able to avoid layoffs with a lot of help from labor, defraying some costs that we would have to spend this year. Some things we wouldn't have to address this year, and that's been immensely helpful. I want to thank our labor partners for that. And we've had some other revenue we were able to get. We’ve doing okay so far. But there's so many unknowns here. And there's revenue that we need that if we don't get could put layoffs and other cuts back on the table even for this year. But certainly, if we're talking about next year, starting the next fiscal year, starting in July, unfortunately it is a live possibility. Because there's so many missing pieces here. Over a $4 billion-hole, minimum going into July. And you know, I just want to put it in perspective Juliet in the spring, the House of Representatives passed a true stimulus, a true substantial muscular stimulus that would have helped cities and states get them back on their feet. That was the spring. Here we are now this week, we get something much, much less. It's really disappointing. And it just says to us, you know get ready because if we don't get help from the federal or State government, we're going to have to make some very, very tough choices, painful choices. And choices actually will make it harder for us to recover. I don't want to do that. I want to try and avoid that all costs but right now, you know, all options have to come back on the table because we haven't gotten the help we need. 

Everyone look, as I conclude and that was a sad note there, but I want to go back to the positive. Especially in this holiday season, the positive really comes from voices of our good colleagues at Health + Hospitals that you heard earlier. The incredible work they're doing, the people all over the city who were there for each other, who helped to save lives, who stood up, who just showed amazing compassion. I want to thank everyone who was there for us, every health care hero, every first responder. I had the opportunity yesterday to send out a thank you with Chirlane to all City employees that just do such good work. And you've all been heroic. I'm going to be using the word heroic a lot going forward, because that's the story of 2020 in New York City. And you all did that heroic work. And now here's another chance to be heroes. Let's go out there and get everyone vaccinated. Let's show the world how well we can do that here in New York City, how fast we can do it. How much we can protect each other with the vaccine. And look, we're going to keep telling people it is safe. It's easy, it's free. And when everyone gets vaccinated, the city moves forward. So, let's start building our future right now and get everyone in the game, off the bench, in the game, helping us move forward. Thank you, everybody.

2020-12-23 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, holidays are upon us and there's good news because of that. And people are getting ready to support each other and show their love for each other and give each other gifts. Well, the people of the council district in the Bronx, the 12th Council District have a gift this morning, they have a new Council Member. I want to congratulate Kevin Riley, who was just elected in the special election yesterday in the 12th District in the Bronx. So, congratulations to the people of the Bronx. And congratulations, Kevin. I look forward to working with you as we bring this city back in 2021. So, that's some good news. And definitely the good news is, no matter how tough this year has been, this year is almost over and we are focused more and more on our recovery, our renewal as a city. And a big part of that is going to be our small businesses that we love so much that are part of the heart and soul of this city. And yesterday, I went Christmas shopping, and I went to some great small businesses in Downtown Brooklyn at City Point, the McNally Jackson Bookstore, what an amazing place. McNally Jackson Bookstore is a great, independent community bookstore, a place that I love, I’ve got to tell you, because it just represents neighborhood and community, but also the incredible books they have from all over the world. There is something special when you support a community bookstore. You are doing a lot more than just helping out a small business and helping the people who own it and the people who work there. You are keeping an important New York City tradition alive. Community bookstores represent our communities, make sure that literature it represents all of us, is there for everyone to partake of. This is a crucial part of the personality of New York City. So, everyone, if you're still out there Christmas shopping, or even in the new year, let's make it a point when you're going to go out and buy a book, please go to a community bookstore. Great campaign that the folks at McNalley Jackson started and go to #boxedout and their message is, don't box out community bookstores, don't just have the big power players dominate the market for literature, focus on the little guys and the folks who have always kept independent viewpoints alive. So, please, everyone, want to just passionately urge you, if you’ve got some more shopping to do, go to a community bookstore.

Now, I saw some other great, great, great entrepreneurs, great community members yesterday at City Point in Brooklyn. I went to an offshoot of the Flatbush Caton Market. This is an amazing market that for years and years has been in Flatbush in Brooklyn. Folks from the Caribbean communities of Brooklyn made sure that there was a marketplace that really celebrated the Caribbean culture that's so strong in that part of Brooklyn. That market is being redeveloped. And so, the good folks from Flatbush Caton Market have a section of City Point where they're selling their Caribbean goods, beautiful things. I was honored to get some wonderful gifts there from my family, celebrating the Caribbean heritage of Chirlane’s family. So, thank you to everyone at Flatbush Caton Market. You've been a big part of what's great about Brooklyn and New York City, and I'm glad you're continuing and a great future ahead next year when the market comes back full time.

Also, had a wonderful conversation with a great New York success story. Her name is Tracey Boyce Mahia and the company she owns is Perry Boyce, named after family. And she just does some wonderful, wonderful work. She comes from an immigrant family from Guyana, created this business – fragrances, candles, just wonderful homemade organic products, beautiful stuff she's put together. But here's the kicker, she was really worried about this year, of course, and she was worried about whether her business would survive. And I talked to Tracey about what ended up happening and because she got this opportunity to be a part of the marketplace at City Point. She saw more and more people, new customers that wouldn't have known about her business before. She started a really thriving online business. She said at the beginning of this pandemic, she thought her business might not survive. Now, her sales have doubled this year compared to last year. Now, look, that's not every small business. We've lost precious small businesses that we love. We've lost small businesses that are part of our community, but there's also a lot of stories of people seeing an opportunity to reach new customers and customers coming out really with heart and passion to support small businesses. So, again, this is an opportunity, whether you live near City Point in Downtown Brooklyn, or any other place where there’s small businesses selling things for the holidays, you have a chance, every one of you to contribute to them staying strong, them sticking around for next year. Buy local, shop local.

One more story, and it's a great one. I met a man who really inspired me, his name is Maliksha [inaudible] and he was an arts professor at Kingsborough College in Brooklyn, but he lost his job because of COVID. But he had something else he was doing, I guess you could call it an art side hustle, because he was an artist himself and he was creating his own artwork. And now, he is out selling it at this local market in Brooklyn. And he – was just beautiful images of New York. He's an immigrant from Turkey, but he loves this city deeply and he wanted to portray his love for New York City. He's created really colorful, beautiful, heartfelt visions of New York City. So many good stories, but we have to keep these stories alive. So, again, there's still a lot of us shopping. I cannot tell a lie, I was still doing shopping as a yesterday. Most years, I go right up to the last point on the 24th of December. I think there's a lot of you out there probably in the same boat. Shop local. Go to the local stores if you feel comfortable that. And if you would rather shop online, then shop online, but directly from our local New York City stores. Let's keep that money in the community. Let's give them that boost.

All right, now, let's go back to the main event – every day we talk about COVID. We talk about the fight against COVID. And, obviously, you know, we talked about what our small businesses have been through, what all of us have been through, but now we have a different reality, because of the vaccine. And the news about the vaccine gets better every single day, literally does. We get more and more vaccine arriving every day. And we're seeing the positive impact of the vaccine being distributed every day. It's giving confidence to folks who received the vaccine. It's really moving us forward. There are so many people who need this vaccine and we're going to move very, very quickly to get that vaccine that everyone needs it. One of the examples – the best examples of who needs and deserves a vaccine, our health care heroes and our heroes at EMS – at Emergency Medical Service. Our EMTs, our paramedics, they did amazing work, really, really tough work, difficult work during the height of pandemic, and, of course, ever since. So, our EMS workers have been on the frontline since day one. We want to make sure they get vaccinated right away. We know that every time we get someone vaccinated, we're helping them in their family to be safe and we know that, that is peace of mind, that all those who serve us deserve. I spoke to a lot of EMS workers, paramedics, EMTs, and their officers when we were going through the worst of the pandemic. I went and saw the work they were doing, and I felt for them, because we were depending on them so deeply, they were giving it their all. So, I really want to thank each and every one of them – you did amazing work. This vaccine is now going to give you what I think is so important, both that health protection, but also that peace of mind. Because the vaccine is safe and effective, you're going to know that you're going to be okay.

So, the work of vaccination, we're going to go over it in a moment with our Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro. This is going to protect members of EMS, but, at the same time, as we are celebrating that we're going to be able to provide this protection, starting right away, it's a sad moment too, because, just last night, one of the good people at EMS, one of the people who serves us and protect us passed away. Her name, Evelyn Ford, an emergency medical technician – 27-year member of EMS. She went in in 1994, and she was working in the emergency medical dispatch unit. Very, very sad that, just now, as we finally get to turn the corner, the vaccine has finally arrived, we lose a good woman who served us so well for so long. She is the 12th member of FDNY, EMS to pass away from COVID and our hearts go out to her, her family, her children, a very, very tough moment for this family. A moment where we all remember those who serve us – our condolences to the family and we will be with you every step of the way going forward. 

With that, to talk about the extraordinary work of EMS and the measures starting today to protect all the members of EMS, I turn to our Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro. 

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro: Well, thank you, Mayor. As you said, what was going to be one of the few uplifting days that we've had this year as the vaccine rolls out to our EMS personnel today was saddened by the knowledge that Ms. Ford passed last night of COVID. And it really points to how important the vaccinations are to our members. We have had, in a department of 17,000 folks, close to 6,000 of them have had COVID over the past nine months. It's an incredible number. We have over 600 people right now on medical leave with COVID. So, there's no doubt that this comes at a very important time for us and we hope that we can vaccinate 450 people a day at three locations and start to bring this protection, this miracle that came to us and start to put COVID behind us. It's only a beginning. It's going to take quite a while, but we are very pleased that, today, members of EMS will begin getting vaccinated. This will continue throughout the next few weeks. And as more vaccine arrives and more becomes available to us, we hope to have our entire department vaccinated and protected at some point. So, that's where we are right now. 

Mayor: Thank you. And, Commissioner, I want to thank you. This has been the toughest of years and I think a lot of New Yorkers know this, but I want to emphasize Dan Nigro has served this city his whole adult life, like his father before him at FDNY. He was one of the folks who had to sustain the FDNY after 9/11. He was there on the scene and one of the people trying to do their damnedest to rebuild the FDNY after the horrible, painful losses of 9/11. And Dan has been, throughout this entire administration, leading the Fire Department with just tremendous heart and distinction. And I know this has been a really tough year. I know you feel it personally, Dan, but thank you to you and all the people who serve under you for keeping us safe this year.

And yes, today's a day where we turn the tide and we really make sure that this miracle – as you said, this is a miracle – this vaccine is a miracle – is put together a record time. It's going to save lives, starting right now. So, thank God, your members will start to get the vaccinations right away. And what we've heard from all of the good folks, our health care heroes at Health + Hospitals who have been getting the vaccine now over these last days, there’s just tremendous satisfaction – that they have had a good experience with the vaccine and that it gives them both that knowledge that they are safe, but also that peace of mind. So, we want to get that done for so many good people who serve us and then more and more New Yorkers every single day, going forward.

Now, look, as we get ready for the holidays – joyous, joyous time, even emits the pain we've been through. Joyous time because it signifies the end of this godforsaken year 2020, which we will not miss. But they're also warning signs that we have to acknowledge, because we are going through the second wave, because of this very troubling news we've gotten out of the United Kingdom about a new strain of the virus. We're getting warning signs all over the place that, even though, thank God, we have the vaccine, thank God, our hospitals are doing well, we are not out of the woods. So, let's talk about the holidays and what you have to do. First of all, I'm going to say it again. I know our Health Commissioner will say it a thousand times as well, if you don't have to travel, do not travel. Just cancel your travel plans. Stay local, stay safe. If you're doing any kind of gathering, keep it very small, keep it very safe. Practice distancing. Wear masks. One more time – we are in the final battle here, so all you have to do is get through these holidays. I believe, through January, it's still going to be tough. I'm very hopeful that February, we're going to start to see real, real improvement, especially because the vaccine will be distributed more every day. So, this is one last push, one last sacrifice, and then, next year, we get to bring back our traditions and gather again as we take each step to make safe. But to make sure that people understand, we have to have tough rules, especially if you do choose to travel. The State has very clear rules. If you travel, yes, there is a way to test while you're away and test when you come back and come out of the quarantine. But, otherwise, you are quarantining – that is the State law – and we will make sure that that quarantine is upheld. This is going to be the busiest travel time of the year. When you think about all these days up through New Years, intensive travel time. We need people not to travel. But, if they do, we're going to be very, very stringent about the rules. 

So, first of all, for folks coming in from the United Kingdom, we will have a new approach, given this new strain we're seeing there. Effective immediately, all travelers, literally every single traveler coming in from the United Kingdom will receive a Department of Health Commissioner's order, directing them to quarantine. This will be a personal and direct order to every single one of them telling them they must quarantine. And that will be given to all travelers beyond just those – I want to be clear – beyond anyone coming in just from the UK. Every traveler who comes into the city that we identify as someone coming into city or coming back to the city will also receive that Department of Health Commissioner's Order. Now, that will go out through certified mail. So, it will be going right to where people live, right to where they're staying. It’s going to be confirmed they got it and then people are going to be held responsible for following the quarantine. But, specifically, for folks coming in from the UK, given that particular concern, we're going to have Sheriff's deputies go to the home or the hotel of every single traveler coming in from the UK. So, when they arrive at the airport, they're going to have to fill out the form, notifying us that they are coming into New York City. We're going to provide them with that Commissioner's Order, but then there's going to be a follow-up direct home visit or hotel visit from the Sheriff's deputy to confirm that they are following the quarantine. Or, if they are not, they will be penalized. We cannot take chances with anyone who travels, particularly folks traveling in from the UK. So, to everyone, look, if you don't comply with the quarantine, that's $1,000 fine to begin, day-one. If you continue not to comply with the quarantine, it is $1,000 for each additional day. I want to really make sure I'm getting this point across. We don't want to penalize people. Everyone has been through hell this year. We don't want to, but, if you don't follow a quarantine, you're endangering everyone else in the city right as we're fighting the second wave. So, let's do it again. If you come in, you fill out the form, you follow the quarantine, God bless. If you violate quarantine, $1,000 for the first day. If you violate any day thereafter, $1,000 for each additional day. And we will collect those penalties. We are really serious about the fact that if you violate quarantine, you're creating a danger for everyone else. We're also going to have the Sheriff's deputies out in force. They've done amazing jobs. They will be at airports with our Test and Trace teams, making sure everyone fills out the appropriate form, everyone gets the information, everyone understands they're under a Commissioner’s Order – airports, train stations, bus depots, you name it. Also, Sheriff's Office, the deputies have been pulling over folks at highways coming into the city, that will continue. There's been over 10,000 car stops already. We are going to doing that intensively during this holiday season up through the weekend after January 1st. We need people to understand, if you're coming into the city from outside or you're returning, follow that quarantine. And the Sheriff's deputies are doing an amazing job. They have been a heroes of the fight against COVID. They will be out there in force. You will feel their presence. Listen to them, follow what they tell you to do, and that's how we're going to be safe. The best gift you can give the people you love is to keep them safe. The best gift you can give is to make sure that the people you love will be able to gather together next year in 2021. That only works if we all pay attention to what the doctors are telling us and follow these simple rules and stay safe.

Okay, let's do today’s indicators. One, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 224 patients. We want to be under 200, we are not. So, that's a bad sign. Also, hospitalization rate per 100,000 people – 3.19 people per 100,000 – 3.19 patients per 100,000. That is not good. We want to be under two. That is too high. Obviously, the next one, daily new cases of COVID-19 – seven-day average, way too high, 2,789 – way too high. We want to get back under 550 over time. And the current testing indicator, percentage in New York City residents testing positive – seven-day rolling average, 6.19 percent. We want to get back under five. We have a lot of work to do and these next weeks are going to be amongst the most challenging and we've got to really work hard to make sure that number does not keep growing.

Okay. Few words in Spanish – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and the outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Hi, all we'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Small Business Commissioner Jonnel Doris, FDNY Commissioner Dan Nigro, Sheriff Joe Fucito, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Gloria from NY1.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, Gloria. How are you doing? 

Question: Happy holidays to you and your family. 

Mayor: Happy holidays. How are you doing today? 

Question: Good. Thank you. I wanted to just follow up on this travel announcement that you are making. If you could just give us a little more detail. How is this – the State, what role are they playing here? And how is this going to work? This is, obviously for New Yorkers who are traveling internationally and coming back, and as well as the UK travelers, just wondering if you could go into it a little bit more. 

Mayor: Sure. I'll turn to Sheriff Joe Fucito in a moment just to say, look, we're working closely with the State of New York, with the Port Authority – a lot of cooperation throughout to make sure that when people come off a plane, it is abundantly clear they have to fill out the forms. That's been working real well. We're making real clear to people, these are orders from the Health Commissioner that they have to follow. And this UK piece, there's real urgency. You heard it from Dr. Varma yesterday, there's real urgency about what might happen if this strain gets introduced on a wide level here. So, we're going to be very, very aggressive about that. Under the Commissioner's health order, we have the power to be very aggressive about ensuring that people follow a quarantine. So, I'll turn to Sheriff Fucito to talk about those home visits that the Sheriff's deputies will be making for anyone coming in from the UK. And, again, really appreciate the work the Sheriff's office has done. And our Sheriff Joe Fucito, I think, has been a really amazing leader in this crisis, agile and quick, moving his folks around where they're needed most, and it's made a big difference in keeping the people in the city safe. Sheriff, tell us about this effort focused on the UK travelers. 

Can you hear us?

Sheriff Joseph Fucito: Good morning.

Mayor: There you go. 

Sheriff Fucito: Yeah. So, first of all, to answer the specific question of the reporter, the interaction with the State is the travel forms go to the State, and it's a partnership. The State relays the information to local government to handle the enforcement aspect of it. And, in these particular cases, travelers, particularly from the UK, are being identified at the airport by the Mayor's Office Travel Unit, they're the ones that are responsible for overseeing all of the type of traveler quarantine enforcement aspects. They are served – the individuals are served with a Commissioner health order that's regarding a mandatory quarantine, explaining what needs to be done. The travel unit follows up with the individuals, particularly if they need any assistance – you know, if they need housing, food, or anything that will help them through their quarantine. And then, of course, the enforcement portion of it is that they disobey the quarantine, Sheriff's deputies would be serving them notices of violation. Those notices of violation carry a $1,000 penalty. And for every day that you violate, it’s an additional $1,000. But the key steps are the sheriffs – deputy sheriffs will be serving you with a mandatory quarantine order, telling you that you have to obey the terms and conditions of the quarantine, and also telling you what services are available to you. That's just equally as important – what services the City of New York are providing for people in a quarantine. And then, obviously, if there's a disobedience of the quarantine, the enforcement aspects of it. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Joe. Go ahead, Gloria. 

Question: Okay. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, we've been getting some questions about the vaccine. We know that, right now, the effort is focused on health care workers and nursing home residents, but we've been getting questions from older New Yorkers who may not necessarily live in a nursing home, but are in that sort of same age bracket, same category of people who are at high risk. I know the State is helping to coordinate this, but is there anything you can tell our viewers at this point, what should people expect to do? Is this the kind of thing that they have to go through their primary care provider for? What's that part of the vaccine process going to look like? 

Mayor: We can give you an initial sense. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi in a moment, but listen, I think, Gloria, what we're trying to really communicate intensely is the way the prioritization is being done. So, remember, the CDC is issuing national guidelines. The State is deciding the specific rules for New York State. We're working with the State constantly. The focus from the beginning, this has been true national, state, local level, everyone's been in agreement, the folks that have the most crucial role in protecting everyone else need to be protected first. It's like the famous thing on the airline, put on your own mask so you can protect your child and put their mask on. You know, this is to protect the people who saved this city in the spring, but who we’re going to need again as we're fighting back this second wave. A lot of people who are vulnerable are in those nursing homes, as you said, they're a particular priority because that's been the single worst focal point of the crisis, it has been the nursing home. So, of course, that's a priority. And you're going to see more and more people reaching those high priority groups.

But first it's important to get everyone who serves us and is vulnerable because they come in contact so frequently with folks who have COVID or may have COVID, and then keep building from there. So, December is almost over. I think it's fair to say, January will be primarily about reaching all these people who serve us and nursing homes. As you move into February, we're going to start to get out more and more into the general population, February, obviously, into March. More and more into the general population, the folks who are most vulnerable, over 75, folks with pre-existing conditions or both. That's a very broad sketch. As I turn to Dr. Chokshi, Gloria, I want to say everything is in evolution. It will change because we're constantly working through the details with the State and because the supply could be greater or lesser at any given point, the supply of the vaccine, that's the thing we don't know entirely yet. So, there'll be adjustments, but I think that's a sort of good thumbnail sketch of where we're going. Dr. Chokshi, why don't you flesh that out a little.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Sure. Mr. Mayor. Well, actually you covered just about everything with respect to how we're seeing these initial phases of the rollout. I'll just reiterate one point, you know, to the question specifically about older New Yorkers and, and we'll acknowledge that I certainly understand, you know, as we think about our own grandparents, and I think about my patients who I've taken care of who are older, we want to do everything that we can to get the vaccine as quickly as possible to them to ensure that that they get protected as well. The CDC, over the course of this most recent weekend, did elaborate their recommendations for what's called Phase 1b. Remember we're in Phase 1a right now, which covers health care workers and nursing home staff and residents. The next phase, Phase 1b would include people who are older than the age of 75.

As the Mayor has said New York State will have to formalize a prioritization guidance related to that. And if they do, then those older New Yorkers would be part of that next phase known as 1b. So much of this does depend on the supply of vaccine that's available to us, both in terms of how quickly we're able to move as well as how broadly we're able to get it out to people. But one part of your question was where will New Yorkers, including older New Yorkers actually get vaccinated? And our goal is to have that happen in the places that New Yorkers already trust, whether it's their primary care doctor, a local community clinic, or a local pharmacy so that there's really no wrong door for accessing the vaccine when someone's turn does come up in the line.

Mayor: I want to hold you there one second, Dave, for a little further elaboration, but first I want to say, I really appreciate with Dr. Chokshi and the Health Department and the whole team at the Vaccine Command Center led by Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog and folks from all agencies that she has gathered together to make sure that the vaccine distribution goes well. The transparency has been great, and more and more information is going to be put out over time. I want to thank the Daily News Editorial Board for noting that that transparency was really helpful and important. And, Dave, thank you and your whole team because I know the Department of Health has really been very focused on getting information out about how quickly we're getting the vaccine out there. And we are moving about twice the national average right now distributing this vaccine. And that's fantastic, but to pick up one last piece of Gloria's question, Dave, you started to answer it for sure, but I want to just nail this point for people wondering. If someone's over 75 and they want to find out from their doctor when they might be up for the vaccine or how it works, would you urge people who have those questions to call their primary care physician or call their local clinic and just check in? Give that kind of very personal guidance.

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, thank you for mentioning that. I think it's a very important point because even as we're rolling out a vaccination, people do have a lot of questions, you know, we're fielding so many of them ourselves at the Health Department, but again, the most important thing is to have those questions answered by the clinicians, whether it's a doctor or a nurse or a pharmacist whom someone already trusts and has a relationship with. And so, I do encourage older New Yorkers and anyone else, you know, to educate yourselves with the resources that we're providing. But then if you do have additional questions now is a good time to start those conversations so that you're ready to get vaccinated when it is available to you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey, good morning, everyone. I have [inaudible] following up on [inaudible] question, and it's about the neighborhoods that are being prioritized by the city. I know there has been a lot of questions from people about how these neighborhoods were selected, some people feeling left out. So, could you explain – you know, I read the Health Department's executive summary on how this is being rolled out. It seems like a lot of factors go into it, but could you and the Health Commissioner explain for the public a little bit about how these neighborhoods were selected? Maybe it'll give a little clarity.

Mayor: Sure, and I appreciate the question, Katie. And that's going to be particularly pertinent as we go into those later phases the Commissioner just described. Obviously right now with a focus on health care workers, EMS, as we talked about today, nursing homes, and that's going to be across the board everywhere. When we start to get out into the general population, we want to make sure there's fairness here. We want to make sure there is more justice compared to the injustices we've seen in the past, and the disparities we saw that came out in COVID, particularly in the spring. So, 27 neighborhoods, these were determined with the Health Department and also our Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity representing all of our departments and leaders of color in all of our departments of the City. They are African-American, Latino, and Asian communities that bore the brunt of the COVID crisis. And we're going to make sure when we go to that broader public distribution that we prioritize the places hit hardest and where we have to do, I'm sure, a lot of work to gain people's trust and make sure people feel comfortable with the vaccine. We're going to have to double down on that work with community leaders and institutions as well. Dave, do you want to speak to that?

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I'll just add briefly that the focus on these 27 priority neighborhoods really reflects an intersection between what has happened over the past year and what has happened over decades with respect to systemic injustice and particularly systemic racism that unfortunately has affected certain places and some and certain communities more than others. So, it's a combination of looking at the data around who has borne the brunt of COVID-19 the worst over the last few months, along with a time back to understanding that more historical arc. And, of course, these two things are very much related. And that's how we got to those 27 priority neighborhoods. So, the other thing that I'll add is that even though that is a real focus of the broader efforts, as the Mayor mentioned, we will be doing this as a citywide effort. And so, the focus on the 27 priority neighborhoods will be, you know, a leading edge of what we hope to bring to every single neighborhood, every single borough across the entire city.

Mayor: Thank you, Dave. Go ahead, Katie.

Question: [Inaudible] I have to follow up, and [inaudible] a little bit here, because I'm still a little bit confused. I'll use Queens as an example, looking at this list, just because it's the borough I know the best. You include, for example, the 11694 ZIP code, which is a predominantly white neighborhood. You don't include neighborhoods like Elmhurst and East Elmhurst, which actually had, when you look at the death number a lot more. So, and when you read the executive summary that says other prioritizations including where central workers live and other issues and other criteria, it kind of doesn't square with what you're saying right here. So, is there a formula you can specify? Is there anything with the specifics because this doesn't really – people are really wondering why was my ZIP code left off when you were saying it's about racial equity, when that actually doesn't square away with the neighbors that you've listed.

Mayor: I'm going to start by saying we'll certainly – we'll give you the overview answer now. I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but I do want to say, Katie, we'll have folks go over with you today in detail, how the neighborhoods were determined because a lot of work and a lot of data went into that. I think it's fair to say even though there are clearly going to be communities that were hard hit that are multiple ethnicities, the basic reality in these 27 neighborhoods is these are the places that were hit the hardest and they are primarily neighborhoods of people of color. And a lot of them are immigrant neighborhoods or neighborhoods with folks who have lower incomes and less health care. That's the broad characterization. The fine tuning, we'll certainly go over with you. And if we find there's any place else that needs to be prioritized, we certainly are able to do that. But remember priority means priority. As Dave said, we're going to reach everyone, but we're trying to make sure the folks who are most vulnerable get the help first. And this is a way of identifying where there's particular vulnerability. Dave, do you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I don't have anything to add to that. We're happy to follow up on some of the details.

Mayor: Okay, great. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Andrew from WNBC.

Question: Good morning. Hope everyone is doing well. My first question has to do with the Fire Department and the COVID cases that the Commissioner referenced. Commissioner, and I don't know if the Mayor or the Health Department wants to weigh in on this as well, has the Fire Department done its own internal contact tracing? The 6,000 cases out of 17,000, somewhere in the 33 percent range and with 600 people out today on COVID, is the thought that those are from visits to people's homes, emergency response, or is the thought there that a lot of the cases spread in Fire Department break rooms and EMS squad houses because guys are basically sort of potted up with one another.

Mayor: Why don't we have Commissioner Nigro start and then if either Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Varma want to add anything on top of it, that's great. Commissioner.

Commissioner Nigro: I think the doctors will back me up on this, that just like all over society the spread has common in from many ways. I think the fact that it's such high numbers relates to our members constantly, over the past nine months, servicing sick individuals around our city and putting themselves at risk. They're also catching it from their coworkers, none of whom have the luxury of working from home, and they're getting it into their daily contact like others, you know, they they've to go to the store. They live with other folks in their homes. So, that combination of factors increased by the fact that day-in and day-out we're hands hands-on just like the hospital staffs with people with COVID as we've reached this number. Thankfully the vast majority of those people, with very few exceptions, have recovered fully and are back to work.

Mayor: Amen. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Varma do you want to add about the tracing of folks who work in public service?

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, the only thing that I'll add is that we know from contact tracing efforts more broadly that what Commissioner Nigro has mentioned with respect to the risk of exposure is very important, you know, in terms of people who we see unfortunately being more likely to get sick with COVID-19 and for all the reasons that the Commissioner mentioned that has been borne out in the data, people who have that greater risk of exposure do end up contracting COVID-19 at higher rates.

Mayor: Dr. Varma, do you want to add?

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah, just to reemphasize that this is one of the many reasons that the prioritization that's been proposed from CDC, you know, puts a strong emphasis on frontline workers, frontline essential workers. Even though they may be at a lower risk of a severe illness compared to somebody who's elderly they are at a very high risk for infection and we depend on them for our safety and security every day. So, vaccinating them is both the just thing to do as well as the thing that's necessary for keeping our society running safely and smoothly during this challenging time.

Mayor: Thank you. Doctor. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: Second question as we try to figure out exactly when the vulnerable population, 75 and up, get vaccinated, I thought I heard Dr. Chokshi say even at people's personal doctors, that that suggests, kind of, a vast distribution network, that certainly doesn't exist today. Is that really the goal that virtually everyone's doctor would have the vaccine in their office at some point?

Mayor: Let's emphasize, as – I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but Andrew, I want to really emphasize the difference between today and where we may be in a month, two months, three months. This is brand new, a brand new vaccine, different than what's ever been seen before. And everything's being worked through on the run here, rightfully. The priority right now is the kind of vaccinations that will happen in big, organized ways through health care institutions, etcetera, through EMS. Over time, it will decentralize more and more out into communities, including community clinics and other health care providers. But that is really important to emphasize. Even though we're moving rapidly, it will take time to get there. And the more decentralized the better, so long as it's obviously tightly coordinated and prioritized. But I want to emphasize, I think that's something that's several months down the line in practicality. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks Mr. Mayor, you said the most important point, which is what we're doing right now, we'll have to ramp up over the coming weeks and months, and again is dependent on the supply of the vaccine that we’re allocated from the federal government. Once we do get into those later phases, which as we've mentioned will be months down the road. We do want New Yorkers to be able to access the COVID-19 vaccine any place that they are already accessing routine vaccinations, whether it's the flu vaccine or the meningitis vaccine or the hepatitis vaccine. And so, we do want to use all of those existing channels because that's important, not just for the supply chain, you know, actually getting the vaccine into those points of access but again, because it matters so much for the notion of trust and leveraging the relationships that people already have with the clinicians in their communities.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Christina from Chalkbeat.

Question: Hi, Mayor. Thanks for taking my question. We continue to hear of delays and issues with the situation room when it comes to COVID cases in New York City schools. Councilman Mark Treyger tweeted that at one Brooklyn school, it's taken a week to get results back. Why is this still happening?

Mayor: Yeah. With all due respect to the council member, I'd like to see the facts of that case before I assume that's the whole story. But clearly – look, the situation room's been a great success, there's no question. Even folks who were dubious about the situation room have become huge fans of it. And I want to thank everyone, Commissioner Melanie La Rocca and everyone at the situation room, they've done an outstanding job. Now, as schools came back recently, we certainly saw the challenges of the second wave and more cases. We're going to make sure that any additional personnel the situation room needs or any additional training, whatever they need for folks, we're going to make sure we keep up with the challenge. And I am very hopeful that this situation will be greatly mitigated by the growing distribution of the vaccine. But I think the overall reality of the situation room has been – it has been very consistent, very effective. If there are individual cases that weren't handled well enough, we're going to address that individually. And we're also going to make sure if they need additional staffing, they get it. Go ahead, Christina.

Question: So, is it your position that they do need additional staffing? How are you going to make that determination? And when will those staff be brought on?

Mayor: [Inaudible] very clear, and when we staffed up originally, we learned by the first few weeks of operation, what level of staffing was needed. Given right now that we're seeing, of course, more cases out there – we’re in the middle of the second wave – my message to the folks in the situation room is if you need additional resources from agencies and we need to send more people over, you'll get them right away. Obviously, school will finish today and then not come back until January 4th. So, we have time in the intervening days. If they need any additions, we'll get them to them and be ready ahead of January 4th.

Moderator: Next is Steve from [inaudible] –

Question: Mr. Mayor, I hope you're doing all right, and everyone on the call. I wanted to follow up with a release we just got from [inaudible] about an allergic reaction that a health care worker had in receiving the vaccine. I know you're probably limited in what personal details you can provide, but just wanted to get a little more context if at all possible, on some of the characteristics of this [inaudible] anything unique about the situation, and also obviously [inaudible] want to provide context and say that, you know, one out of 30,000 isn’t necessarily with something that people should be freaking out about.

Mayor: Steve, thank you. Really important question. Thank you. I want to just, you know, I always like to give credit where credit is due. When a journalist says up front that they understand and appreciate why there are confidentiality rules, even though I know your job is to get as much information as possible and get it out to the world. I thank you for that sensitivity to the individual involved. So, I appreciate that a lot. Dr. Chokshi, with that important qualifier, what can you tell us? The more that you can tell us the better. But within the rules, what can you tell us about this case and what people should – whatever conclusions they should or should not draw from it?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and I echo your gratitude with respect to respecting the confidentiality of our fellow New Yorkers. So, for those who may not be as aware, let me just start with the big picture, which is that we have administered over 30,000 COVID-19 vaccinations in New York City. In recent days we did receive a single report of a serious adverse event in a health care worker. That was a significant allergic reaction that that person sustained. They were treated for it. They're now in stable condition and recovering. And what I would say about this with respect to the context is that vaccines, including the COVID 19 vaccine, are very safe in general. They do have side effects and occasionally those side effects include some uncommon allergic reactions.

We also know based on the clinical trials and, you know, reports of adverse effects in other jurisdictions that have happened, that these reactions are rare. But they've been reported with the Pfizer vaccine in recent days. So, there's a system in place to track these types of side effects. We do it in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control, the CDC. This is the first such event that was recorded in New York City. We'll continue to follow up on those events and make sure that we're taking it seriously, but also putting it in the context that you described, which is that this is uncommon, that the vaccines are very safe overall, and to make sure that we're updating all of our public health guidance accordingly.

So, here's what I would say with respect to New Yorkers who are wondering, what does this mean for me if I have allergies. For the vast, vast majority of people who have allergies, whether it's a food allergy or a seasonal allergy, the COVID 19 vaccine will be safe and effective for you. If you have a history of an allergic reaction to a previous vaccine or to any medicine that you've taken by injection, then it's important for you to have a conversation with your doctor before you get vaccinated. But again, for the vast, vast majority of people who have allergies that situation doesn't apply, and the COVID-19 vaccine will be safe and effective for those people and everyone else.

Mayor: And Steve, I want to note having been present at really celebratory moments where our health care heroes got the vaccine, and were excited to get the vaccine, I know the questionnaire that people are asked before they get the vaccine, and it includes the question, have you ever had an allergic reaction to medication or to a vaccination? So there really is a careful effort to see if there's any of that history there, but as someone who, myself, I have allergies, for sure, I can tell you I know the kind of allergies I have are not the kind we're talking about here, and I'm going to get this vaccine for sure. And why am I going to get it? Because I think it is so important that we protect ourselves and protect each other. And there's not a lot of things in life we necessarily feel are certain, but on this one, I'm feeling, this is certain. We have a vaccine that has been really intensively scrutinized. I don't think there's any vaccine in history. That's gotten as much attention and scrutiny all over the world, global health care experts, scientists looking at this constantly. It has been confirmed and confirmed and confirmed and confirmed. It is safe and effective. I want all New Yorkers to understand this, this vaccine is safe and effective. It will be available widely over the coming months. It will be given for free. Our health care leadership has looked at this with a fine-tooth comb. They're confident in it. I'm confident in it. This is going to be the difference maker. So we're going to keep giving people information all the time to help people get all the answers they have to really important and valid questions. But what we do know is it's safe and effective. Go ahead, Steve.

Question: Thanks. And I wanted to also follow up with something of philosophical question in the style of my colleague, Rich Lamb. I wanted to see, you know, what you've learned about yourself this year? Obviously it's a very reflective time and in an unprecedented year, I'm sure from your perspective and from all of our perspectives, what have you learned about yourself, your leadership style, the best qualities, your worst qualities, how would you reflect on this year?

Mayor: You can ask my wife about my worst qualities. She keeps a running list. No, it's been a very reflective time. One thing I'll tell you that I've learned, this is something Chirlane used to lecture me on all the time, that sleep really matters. And I've not been someone who's traditionally gotten enough sleep. And in the beginning of this crisis, it was crazy for all of us. I mean, we were working every single day, very long hours, no one was getting enough sleep. And I really saw that that had an impact. I mean, it makes it harder to fully think through things. And obviously we all get more emotional when we're tired. So, I learned the value of sleep for sure. But look, it's a big, big question, Steve. I'd only give you a very quick sort of synopsis. I look back on this year with just tremendous appreciation for the people who did the work this year to keep everyone else safe. I really do. That's what keeps coming through. And that's what keeps inspiring me. The good, the good in people that came out in 2020. And New Yorkers were just heroic. That's the only word for it. So, I feel a lot of gratitude. In terms of my own work this year. Look, I'm self-critical all the time. My colleagues will tell you that. I think in the beginning we were trying, I was trying to figure out how to communicate all the things that we needed to do, all the things we needed to address in this crisis. I now realize, I wish I had been able to communicate some things better. I wish we all had known some things more. But you look back and you say, wow, if we had just understood that better, if we had had that information and how much that could have helped, that's frustrating. And you know, again through that tiredness and that sense of like, you know, problem after problem after problem, trying to make sense of it. I think I've really reflected on that that leaders need to somehow step out of that fray. This job, as the one of the folks who's running is going to end up in it. And they're in for a very intense education. This job requires so much detail work. So much hands-on work across so many subject areas, that it sometimes makes it hard to think. And you got to stop and slow down and breathe and think. And so I've really learned that lesson. And so I'd say the things I need to do better that I've learned this year are sort of that ability to rise above the fray, get up to 30,000 feet. The ability to really think about are we communicating everything we need to communicate? But what I felt great about this year is the incredible heroic work of so many New Yorkers out there protecting each and every one of us, the people just day-to-day everyday New Yorkers looking out for each other. People in City Hall, I want to give a shout out to folks in City Hall and the folks in so many of our agencies leading the way. I mean, these folks, I just wish New Yorkers could see how hard my colleagues here work. And I drive them hard. But I also want to tell you, they're just amazing individuals. They've given their all this year. And I'm talking about people who have not stopped working for a day since March 1st. And I think it's hard for the public to understand Steve this. When you do this work, it is every hour, every day. It's never out of your mind. You don't take a break from it really. These folks have just kept going. They've been absolutely amazingly strong and focused. And that gives me a lot of heart too. So a lot more I could say. But I'm just proud of the people I work with. I'm proud that, you know, I've been able in some way to contribute to the city holding firm. And I am really optimistic about next year. And that's something I hope I'm communicating to people. I truly believe we're going to do amazing things in New York City in 2021. I feel that in my heart and that's something that makes me proud of the people of this city. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Abu from BanglaPatrika.

Question: Hello, Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Hey, Abu. How are you?

Question: Good. Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor. Mayor, my question is, since Biden elected as president, did you ever talk to him for the future plan, how he can help New York city?

Mayor: I am looking forward to that conversation for sure, Abu. The obvious truth is the president-elect has been very, very busy. I joined with some of my fellow mayors as part of a group discussion with the president-elect about what we needed in terms of stimulus, what strategies we needed to recover. That was a very good conversation with him and the vice president-elect. I thought they were focused on the right things and I thought they felt deeply for all of our cities. Look, the president-elect is from Wilmington, Delaware, vice president-elect is from San Francisco. They understand the life of cities. They're devoted to New York City and other cities. So that makes me feel good. Talked to a number of senior folks in the incoming administration to let them know what we need and how we want to work together. And I really am satisfied with those conversations. That everyone is on the same page. Go ahead Abu.

Question: The second question is, as you mentioned yesterday, about the New York City Vision Zero and all this stuff, which is a very good initiative. But as well, there is a lot of people since the COVID came, city was, you know, shut down, locked down, they've got a lot of tickets. I know few people, they call me yesterday since you had a press conference, that they have even $1,000 ticket. And that they are not able to pay this $1,000. They don't know what to do. What is the way – is there any, anything City’s thinking that, you know, the people who are in that kind of situation, if City can help them? Or any other you know, where they can get out from the situation?

Mayor: Look, Abu it obviously depends on the situation. We understand that people are in a horrible way financially, economically right now. And whenever people are experiencing a hardship, they should communicate. Communicate with the Department of Finance that handles the collection of those penalties. People can call 3-1-1and get connected to Department of Finance and have the conversation. You know, for those who are going to pay something and are having a problem, there often are payment plans and ways to address things. But let's be clear when we talk about Vision Zero, if you're getting one of those higher level tickets, that's because you did something that endangered other people's lives. I'm very firm about this point. If you are speeding, you are putting other people's lives in danger. That's why I always believe – I think about the child who might be crossing a street or the grandma or grandpa might be crossing the street and whose life might be in danger. I think about the people we've lost, who should be with us right now at the holidays. And I have no sympathy for people who speed. So if the ticket is because of speeding or a moving violation that endangered other people, folks need to understand there are consequences. Too often, motorists have felt like there weren't consequences, even when someone got killed. That's not acceptable. We've got to change the whole paradigm going forward, intensive consequences if you kill or injure someone. So that it pervades our culture and changes behavior, and people understand they have to be very responsible behind the wheel. So those kinds of offenses we're going to follow up on intensely. But if you're talking about other things, parking tickets, other things and someone's having a problem, of course contact the Department of Finance and they'll do anything they can to work with you. Go ahead.

Moderator: For our last question we will go to Yoav from The City.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. You said earlier today that in kind of touting the safety of the vaccine, that it was one of the most scrutinized vaccines, I don't know if you said ever, but among the most scrutinized vaccines in the world. I just wanted to check on that. I don't know if by scrutinize you mean studied. My understanding was because of the rush timeline that the typical studies were not conducted for these? I'm just wondering if perhaps one of the doctors can discuss this issue as well?

Mayor: I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi. I don't think in history, I'm not a medical historian, but I think I'm on firm ground here. I don't think in the history of this planet, there has been such focused attention, entire world, the entire scientific community, the entire medical community, the entire journalistic community on the development of a vaccine from the very beginning. The trials, the checks and balances, the different levels of review. I think the consistency of the response, and I'm saying as a layman, but I think it's pretty clear. To see the consistency of the response we've gotten to this vaccine across multiple levels of government, multiple governments around the world gives me tremendous confidence here. It's been intensely scrutinized and the checks and balances have been very strong and they keep coming back with the same answer. And I think you would say as a journalist too, when you check lots and lots of different sources and you get the same exact answer every time it gives you some confidence. So that's why I have confidence. Dr. Varma then Dr. Chokshi.

Senior Advisor Varma: Great. Thank you for the question. I want to really build upon what the Mayor has just said, which is that the level of scientific effort that has gone into creating these vaccines that are currently authorized as well as the ones that are in development right now is really an extraordinary accomplishment in the history of medicine. I can't really think of any example of where a disease was diagnosed and an intervention was developed this quickly. Now that obviously creates concerns for people about if it was done quickly, does that mean it was rushed? Does that mean it was unsafe? And what we know now, both from the data from the trials that has been done as well as now the real world data of tens of thousands of New Yorkers and even larger numbers nationally, is that this is a vaccine that is safe and based on the trials is likely to be effective. Now we also have to be humble. We also know that this disease has not been around very long. People have just gotten the vaccines, you know, small risks could turn up at some point in the future. But they have to be balanced against the very known risks of this infection. This is an infection that causes anywhere from, you know, five to 10 in 1,000 people to die. It causes hundreds of people out of a thousand to potentially get long term side effects. So when you balance these very, very small potential risks of say a severe allergic reaction against the known complications of this infection, I know which side I personally fall on. And I know the side that my wife and my kids will all fall on, which is to get the vaccine.

Mayor: Excellent. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you. And I very much appreciate the opportunity to provide some more insight on this. I agree with everything that Dr. Varma said. Will just add four additional facts briefly. First as the Mayor said there has been a lot of scrutiny on the studies that were performed not just here in the United States where the FDA itself, an independent review committee and many, many other external experts actually looked at the science and determined the safety and efficacy of these two vaccines, the Pfizer and Modrena vaccines. So, number one is that scrutiny both in the United States, as well as in Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, many other places around the world now. The second is the size of the trials was quite significant. For the Pfizer vaccine tt was over 44,000 participants. For the Moderna vaccine, over 30,000 participants. That size really matters for us to be able to discern the safety and efficacy profile of those two vaccines. The third fact is the duration of follow up for those studies. Each person who was enrolled in the trial and got the vaccination was followed up for a minimum of two months. And that was picked very deliberately because the vast majority of side effects that can occur would be caught in that two month window. And so both of them followed that rigorous protocol that we require of all good studies. And the fourth and final point is just to echo one thing that Dr. Varma said, which is the technology underlying these vaccines, which is known as mRNA technology. Although it is a remarkable feat of science that that technology was applied to develop this vaccine during the course of 2020, that technology has actually been in development for many years prior to that. Being refined, being tested. And that's why it was able to be applied so quickly during this year.

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you so much, Dr. Choksi, Dr. Varma. You can hear the passion in their voices, and these are two folks who have done an outstanding job protecting the people of this city this year. They know this vaccine is safe and effective. I know it. And this is something that's going to just help us all turn the page. And let's talk about turning the page. 2020 is almost over, thank God. We get to look forward to something better, and the vaccine is going to help us to make the transition to our renewal, to our recovery, to something much better in 2021. Look at this point, it’s a time for reflection. We get up to this point of the year – I cherish this time of year because actually we slow down a little bit. We think a little bit more. We get a little more appreciative of all our blessings and the people in our life. I am thankful to everyone who's done such good and important work this year to protect each other. I'm thankful to everyone I work with here at City Hall and across our City government.

I want to thank everyone. I want to just have a special moment to thank two people who have been just heroes throughout in my life and my work, our First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan and Deputy Mayor and Chief of staff, Emma Wolfe. These two folks have been the glue keeping things going for so much of what City Hall and City government does. So, I want to thank them both for their amazing work this year. I'm always thankful for my partner and the love of my life, our First Lady Chirlane McCray, who I think things through all the time with. And, you know, we go through all the challenges, all the troubles and all the good times. And I couldn't be more thankful. But I'm thankful for all of you, everyone who has been a part of just helping us through. And there's something better ahead.

We got a lot to talk about in the months ahead, but we're going to take a break for a few days with these press conferences. Everyone out there, get a chance to relax and spend time in small gatherings and zooms and, you know, being smart, being careful. But be with your loved ones in whatever way works. But stay local, stay safe, get ready for something better ahead. And this is, you know, a time of joy. A season of joy made more joyful by the fact that there is going to come that moment, if you have one of those calendars on the wall, you're going to be able to rip 2020 off the wall. It's going to feel so good. I am really looking forward to that moment. Everyone, a very, very merry Christmas, feliz Navidad, a happy Kwanzaa. I'm looking up ahead, happy Three Kings Day as well. All the wonderful communities of this city, whatever you celebrate, celebrate in a joyful way that 2020 is over and new and better things ahead.A happy New Year to all and a better year ahead. Thank you, everyone. And God bless you all.

2020-12-29 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, I hope everyone had a great Christmas, great holidays, really hope everyone got a chance to do something that you love to do with family and friends, even if it had to be on Zoom, and connected with the people you care about, had a chance to reflect on this long, difficult year. But the good news is just a few days left in 2020. 2021 is almost here. Now, for everyone, we talked a lot about travel and it's still going to be an issue up through next weekend. Want to continue to say if you don't need to travel don't, but if you did travel please make sure that you pay attention to these very important guidelines to keep everyone safe. So, if you traveled and you're tested while you were someplace else, and you're going to test again when you're here and test out, so you don't need a quarantine, that's great. If you follow those rules carefully, you'll be safe. But if you did not go through that plan, it's really important to follow the quarantine rules for your safety, for your family’s safety. And we make it simple through our Take Care initiative, providing you all the support you need. So, everyone please pay attention carefully to that guidance, follow it. And it's so important to get tested. If you – whatever you're doing, whether you traveled or you didn't get to travel, get tested.

This is going to be a theme even as we're talking about the vaccine finally being here, testing matters immensely. We got to stay focused on it. And we had a really impressive achievement on the 21st of December. Over 100,000 New Yorkers got tested on December 21st. We are continuing to expand testing in this city. This has been one of the great examples of New York City ingenuity, New York City drive. I want to thank everyone who's been a part of our Test and Trace team and all the folks at City Hall and all our agencies, who got together to make sure we could have the maximum amount of testing. We're going to keep building that number up. But over 100,000 New Yorkers were out there on December 21st. Let's keep going farther when it comes to testing. Now, we’re looking ahead to 2021, and the vaccine is going to be the crucial, positive game-changing reality of 2021. We are all excited that the vaccine is here. The results so far have been really great. We're going to continue to expand vaccine distribution. This is going to be the difference maker in 2021. Now, it's also going to be the thing that allows us to move forward as a city, let's be clear, providing that vaccine, distributing it as quickly and widely as possible. It is going to be the foundation for our recovery for this city coming back strong. 

So, this is going to be, without question, the largest vaccination effort in the history of New York City. It’s off to a strong start and it's going to build up more and more each week. We want to make sure that everyone understands the vaccine is safe, the vaccine is effective, the vaccine is free. And more and more people are realizing what a smart thing it is to get vaccinated. And we're going to be spreading that word. We've seen all over the world people showing up to get vaccinated. The results have been great. Last week in New York City on one day alone, on the 23rd, we had over 12,000 New Yorkers get vaccinated. And that's just a beginning. You're going to see so much more in the days ahead, as the vaccination effort really builds out. So, over 12,000 people got vaccinated on the 23rd – total, to date, 67,000-plus New Yorkers have been vaccinated and results, again, have been great. Now, there's going to be more and more people vaccinated, more categories are being approved by the State of New York so we can keep expanding the vaccination effort to more health care workers, more high risk people. We want to see that continue to build out every single day. And we're working with the State as they continue to refine those rules so we can go farther and farther. So, we talked about testing, we talked about the vaccine, and what the vaccine is going to mean to us, how crucial it's going to be.

But I want to remind you of another crucial health care reality we need to stay focused on. And we've talked about it several times in the month of December, and that is the importance of giving blood. This has been a tough year in so many ways and obviously blood drives have not been happening as usual, but New Yorkers really stepped up. We've, several times, made a public call for New Yorkers to come forward to help your fellow New Yorker, save lives. And almost 13,000 New Yorkers have done that in the month of December. We have another 2,000 scheduled for this week. We want to keep encouraging folks to come forward and give blood. It makes such a difference. Literally can save lives. And because so many of you did come forward. Here's the good news – the city's blood supply, the amount we have on hand, got down as low as three days’ supply. It is now 6.5 days. That is much better, much healthier, much safer. We are seeing the highest number of donations lately that we've seen since the beginning of the pandemic. So, New Yorkers, thank you. Thank you for showing up. Thank you for helping your fellow New Yorkers. We need you to keep doing that for the last few days of December and into January so we can protect people. The sites all over the city, open throughout this week, even some open on New Year's Day. You want to do a great new year's resolution, make a resolution to give blood and go out there and help someone in need. And you can sign up at NYBC.org/givebloodnyc. There are still prizes being given for people who sign up to give blood, and tickets to the Jets season opener are still up for grabs and the Jets are looking a little better lately so that's going to be a hot ticket. A lucky winner will be drawn in the sweepstakes on January 4th. So, get out there, give blood the next few days, and you might win those tickets to the Jets home openers, and you will definitely help save the life of a fellow New Yorker.

Okay, now I said, all the things we're doing are going to help us recover as a city, come back strong, the vaccination effort, leading the way that's going to be the game changer, New York City's going to recover, and we're going to recover because of the amazing spirit, the ingenuity, the drive, the entrepreneurship, that is just part of the DNA of this place. And that's particularly true when it comes to our local small businesses, our mom-and-pop stores, the businesses people built with their own hands, family businesses that make such a difference. We want to keep helping our local businesses in every way possible. So, our Open Storefronts program has been a key, new innovation to give people the opportunity to sell their wares out on the street, where a lot of people feel, of course, more comfortable shopping at this moment. I'm going to sign an executive order today, extending the Open Storefronts program through September 30th, 2021. And we're going to add stores and restaurants that sell pre-packaged foods. We want to allow restaurants and other food stores to get out there and make their products available for takeout right out there on the sidewalk. And we think that's going to help them as they continue to fight to survive in this tough environment. So, here to give you an update on why this is important, how it's going to work, our Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris.

Commissioner Jonnel Doris, Small Business Services: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm excited to join you once again to announce the extension of this program. Our small businesses have been doing everything they can throughout this year to stay afloat, to survive. And we've been there right there with them all along. It's reinforced, this pandemic, a direct connection to public health and our economy. We had to reimagine the way that we look at our public spaces, how we engage our small businesses, our community, customers to make our city come back stronger than ever. So, the extension of the Open Storefronts program will help our small businesses survive this pandemic. It allows, as the Mayor mentioned, the pre-packaged food for outdoors, helping restaurants – the 10,000-plus restaurants we have in our program, to participate in the Open Storefronts program and the new feature of the Open Storefronts program, allowing the use of sidewalk for restaurants to take outdoor operations and also allow them to do takeout from that particular location. This is fantastic news for our small businesses, particularly small business advocates, our BIDs, our chambers of commerce, and so many that we've been working with throughout the year as they brought this to our attention. Look, what we've done so far for these businesses, we have done educational training, seminars, reaching out to the 27,000 restaurants we have, also 220,000 small businesses we contact every single week, our interagency webinars that we do, and the like, and so, look, we will continue to do those. We'll make sure that small businesses know what's here for them, the resources they have, particularly this particular program which again is vital to our survival of our small businesses.

But we all have to play our part. And every time I have an opportunity, every time I get a chance, I want to remind New Yorkers to Shop Your City. This campaign is so important. We want you to engage your local businesses. We want you to go out and speak to them and talk to them about what it means to have their support. We need that right now, more than ever. And so, we want to remind everyone to Shop Your City, and to go and do your part. But also, we know we can't do it alone. We did have a federal stimulus, the PPP program, that came through – $284 million for small businesses. And we're going to help our small businesses connect to that funding. But we need more from our federal government. We did not get any funding for state and local governments, which mean we could have done so much more and do some creative things, but we need them to also pass the Restaurant Act to help us as we do creative things now. We need them to do more, and, also, complete forgiveness, particularly for those businesses in New York City, 87 percent of them who received $150,000 in those programs or less. So, look, the extension of this Open Storefronts program is a breath of fresh air for our small business community, but also it will bring a revitalization that we're looking – the resurgence of our city to come back stronger and better than ever. So, if you're interested as a small business out there to join this program, you can go to nyc.gov/openstorefronts. And, as always, if you need to contact SBS, you can by calling 888-SBS-4NYC. We've already received over 50,000 calls, helping small businesses during this critical time and we will be there for them, going forward. Mr. Mayor, thank you so much. And, everyone, please remember the shop your city. 

Mayor: Well said. Thank you, Commissioner. It's 888-SBS-4NYC. And, everyone, small business owners out there, if you need help accessing those new PPP programs and the federal government or any help, Small Business Services is here for you. They can tailor-make solutions. They can find you help of all sorts of different kinds. Thank you, Commissioner, to you and your team. I know this has been a labor of love for you. And, everyone, thank you – anyone who went shopping locally at the holiday season and focused on small businesses and neighborhood businesses, thank you. Thank you. It made a big difference. And please, just keep doing that throughout the year. So, now, with the Open Storefronts initiative extended, and it's going to be available to the food stores and the restaurants, it's going to be even easier to shop and get the things you need in your neighborhood in a healthy way. I want to encourage everyone to do that. And, with that, we are going to sign right now – I'm going to sign this executive order to extend the Open Storefronts program. 

[Mayor de Blasio signs Executive Order] 

Mayor: In this really painful difficult year 2020 people created. People created things that they didn't think of before that they didn't even know they could do before. We saw incredible strength. We saw incredible cooperation. We saw incredible ingenuity all over the city – our health care heroes, of course; the way small businesses helped each other out; so many people came forward in a spirit of charity and supported their fellow New Yorkers. That's what we've seen throughout 2020. That's what gives me so much faith in 2021, and the years beyond, the way New Yorkers handled 2020 really tells you everything you need to know about our people and our city. We also innovated right here at City Hall. We talked about the Open Storefronts program – obviously, Open Restaurants, Open Streets, whole new ways of doing things and there's got to be a lot more like that, going forward, because we found in crisis solutions that, ideally, we would've figured out when there wasn't a crisis, but the crisis gave us that transformative moment to do something different and better, and we need to build upon it. We also found new ways to deepen our commitment, to protecting our people. And in this crisis, we know so many people were trying to figure out a way to keep things going, find a way to keep their employment going, find a way to get around that they felt was safe. More and more people of course turned to cycling as an option, and one of the things that we focused on this year was creating protected bike lanes to really ensure that New Yorkers could cycle about the city in the safest way possible. I'm happy to tell you, we have a record number of new protected bike lanes this year. This year, in all five boroughs, we built 28 miles of protected bike lanes. That is just in the year 2020. And now, with that achievement, combining with what was done previously, 133 miles of protected bike lanes that we've built in the last seven years of this administration. 

So, this city continues to evolve and change. There's so much that we can do to make it a better city going forward. And we're going to be talking a lot about this in the coming weeks, the future of New York City. Again, we're not going back to a status quo, we are going forward to something better, something more sustainable, something more inclusive, something that will really help this city to grow together. That's what we'll be focused on as we enter into 2021 and this city rebuilds and recovers.

With that, let me turn to our indicators for the day. And I want to say up front, indicators are a little unusual because we, obviously, had different patterns of testing because of the holidays. So, the numbers – got a caution from Department of Health, we should take these numbers with a grain of salt, because they don't necessarily reflect the same trends as when we see more regular testing. But let me go over the numbers. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 182 patients. Again, we want to be under 200, so I'm glad it's under 200. I want to drive that number down a lot. And here's another reason why – hospitalization rate per 100,000 people, 3.93 percent. Very much too high, we want to get that under two – I should say three [inaudible] 3.93 people per 100,000. We want to get that under two. Number two, daily number of cases for COVID-19 on the seven-day average – today's number, 3,390 – very high number. We want to get under 550 – obviously, a long way to go to bring that back. And number three, current testing indicator and seven-day rolling average, again, affected by the unusual testing patterns last few days, but 7.45 percent is the number. The goal is to get back under five percent and go lower again.

Let me say a few words in Spanish – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that let's turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Small Business Commissioner Jonnel Doris, Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Ayana from PIX 11.

Question: Good morning, Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Ayana. How are you doing today?

Question: I'm doing really, really well. Would love to hear some details on the plan and timing to get the COVID-19 vaccine to the members of the NYPD. 

Mayor: Ayana, let me start and I'll turn to Commissioner Dave Chokshi. We want to continue to build out the vaccination effort rapidly. Now, this is something we do based on the State guidelines and we're in constant communication with the State about it. I think the more we can build out those priorities so that we can get to more and more people, the better. Right now, of course, the first focus has been on frontline health care workers and on folks in nursing homes and who work in nursing homes, and that's the right priority. But I want to see us get to our first responders as quickly as possible. So, we're waiting for that State guidance to be clarified. And, as soon as it is, we'll get that effort underway. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Sir, you covered all of the high points. We do have State guidance with respect to health care workers and nursing home staff and residents for this week, as well as next week. And as soon as there is additional State guidance elaborated, we'll be ready to continue vaccinating other people as quickly as possible.

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead, Ayana. 

Question: And so, once you get that State go-ahead to vaccinate NYPD officers, do you feel that there's enough of the stock of the vaccine to get them all vaccinated? 

Mayor: So, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, with simply this point, that what we're finding, of course, is the more authorization we get the more we can move our efforts quickly, because the more opportunities – it's organizationally a lot easier to reach people if you always have other people you can turn to who might want the vaccine. Now, that doesn't mean everyone wants it, Ayana. To be fair, this is a voluntary effort, and some people are still not choosing at this moment to take the vaccine. I think you're going to see more and more people want it as time goes by and they see the effectiveness and the safety of the vaccine. But, unquestionably, if we're given the authorization, we can move very quickly. Dr. Chokshi, go ahead. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, that's exactly right. I'll just add that we have gotten resupplies of the vaccine early this week, meaning yesterday, and we'll continue to get some additional deliveries today and tomorrow as well. And that will help us vaccinate as many people as possible in the groups that have already been prioritized. And then, we'll await further numbers from the federal government with respect to what our allotment will be for January. And I'm hopeful that for both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine, there will be sufficient supply for us to keep expanding as quickly as possible.

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead. 

Moderator: As a note, we're joined by Acting DOT Commissioner Margaret Forgione. Next, we'll go to Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? Happy New Year. 

Mayor: Happy New Year, Henry. It's almost here, our dreams are about to be realized.

Question: [Inaudible] a year for you, that’s for sure.

Mayor: A better year for all of us, brother.

Question: Okay, man. So, my question has to do with the pace of vaccination in the city. I was looking at some numbers, Israel has a population of 8.8 million, they started vaccinating on December 20th and they vaccinated 495,000 people so far. Yesterday, they vaccinated 115,000 people in a population of 8.8 million, covering some 300 – I'm sorry, you know, obviously a larger area than our 302 square miles. So, my question is, why is – understanding that we've gone through holidays here, but still we're living through an emergency, why is the pace of vaccination so much lower in this city than it is there? 

Mayor: First of all, I commend them. I don't know the details of what's happening in Israel, but I commend them. That sounds fantastic. I think we need to look at a variety of factors. First of all, the way the federal government mandates the process is very cautious, if you will, and that does add steps into the process that takes time. We need the State guidance in terms of the categories of people and the more that expands, the faster we can go. The fact is there has been real care getting used to this vaccine and figuring out the best way to implement it and I think that's been important in the first days to make sure everyone was comfortable and it was working right. But I want to see this vaccine campaign takeoff. I really do. And I think we're going to see that more in the coming days. I also think – I don't know about other countries and what level of hesitancy they have or don't have – I think we're going to see some initial hesitancy in some quarters, but I think the more people see folks in their life take the vaccine successfully and see it's safe, see it's effective, know it's for free, you're going to see more and more take up. So those are some of the factors we're dealing with, but I feel very confident this number is going to grow rapidly, especially as we get the authorization to go farther. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Okay, I just – I do want to say they do have very similar priorities that as we do in terms of who gets it first, but they appear to be going at a much more rapid pace than we are – 

Mayor: Just one second, I'll just say staying on your first question then I'll turn to Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi if they want to add anything. Look, throughout the crisis we have learned from other parts of the world, most notably when we put together the plan to reopen our schools, we borrowed health and safety measures from all over the world, we created that gold standard combining all sorts of measures into one. I want us to do the same obviously with vaccination. I want us to look around the world and see what's working, what approaches we can borrow and implement here. So this is just begun. It's going to take off, but Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, you want to add anything?

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Nothing else from me.

Mayor: Okay, Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Just to say, sir, that there's nobody more motivated than I am and that I know my colleagues are to have our vaccination rollout occur as quickly as is possible within the regulations and the supply constraints that the Mayor described. And the reason for that is simple, we know that every single vaccine that gets administered means we are one step closer to ending the pandemic, to preventing the suffering, you know, that we've all seen over the last few months. So, we're highly motivated to make sure that this occurs as expediently as possible. We do have to make sure that it occurs fairly and equitably with respect to the priority groups that have been rolled out, and also safely, you know, we want to make sure everything that's happened with respect to the degree of rigor around the safety and the efficacy of the vaccine actually translates into the real world as well. But as the Mayor said, you know, everything that we're doing to prepare for our vaccination campaign will mean that we're ready to expand our circle of vaccination as quickly as possible.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: All right. Thank you. My second question goes back to an issue that was discussed during your last briefing, which is the priority for different neighborhoods, disadvantaged neighborhoods, neighborhoods historically disenfranchised in terms of their health care and making them a priority in terms of getting the vaccine. And the fact that there are neighborhoods in the city which have much higher incidents of COVID, for example, Borough Park, 14 percent, Brighton Beach, Manhattan Beach – I'm going by the zip code data – 14 percent. Richmond Hill, an immigrant neighborhood, which I don't know has been identified, 13 percent. Bedford-Stuyvesant, five percent. So my question is, has your focus on these historically discriminated against neighborhoods have kind of made it difficult for you as a leader, as a governor, to connect with the people you're governing who may see this as, you know, a slight, obviously, you know, some of these Jewish neighborhoods are, you know, they're saying, hey, you took away our our right to congregate for religiously, now you're not giving us the vaccine when – where our neighborhoods are overrun by a virus. 

Mayor: Henry, I appreciate the question because – oh, go ahead. Go ahead. 

Question: What is your answer to those people who feel that you are not – that you're favoring one part of the population over them? 

Mayor: Okay, I appreciate the question because it's a chance to dispel any misunderstanding. No, we're trying to reach everyone. And I think that's been clear throughout the – when we talked about – let's go back before the vaccine, we had a challenge in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, that happens to be a Latino and Asian community. We had a challenge in Soundview in the Bronx that is more of a Latino community. We had a challenge in Southeast Queens, particularly in African-American community. We then had a challenge in Borough Park, a Jewish community. We went around wherever the challenge was and we addressed it with more testing, more outreach, more support. We had challenges in Brooklyn and Queens more broadly. We did a lot of on the groundwork and worked very closely with community leaders and I've said that community leaders were fantastic as partners helping us turn the tide and we did in Brooklyn and Queens. So, I think this is clearly about going wherever the need is and working with everybody.

The vaccine distribution, what we said about that I think has been pretty clear. I actually think most people get it quite clearly. The priorities are the ones starting with the federal standards and the State specific guidance that we focus on people across the board in greatest need, the frontline health care workers, the folks in nursing homes, and we build out from there across all communities. We've had to be really clear about the fact that the vaccine will not be distributed based on wealth or privilege, that is going to go where the problem has been greatest just as much any place else and we're going to make it a priority to make sure there is that fairness. And that's why we focus on the 27 neighborhoods that have borne the brunt of COVID. That's just a matter of fairness. It's not to exclude anyone, we're going to be rapidly providing vaccine in all neighborhoods. It’s to make sure the places that bore the brunt absolutely get their fair share and get the priority they deserve. So I don't get the sense, certainly with working with a lot of community members and leaders, that people are missing that concept. We want everyone to get vaccinated. We just want to make sure the neighborhoods that bore the brunt get their fair share and that's why we prioritize them. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Andrew from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor and everyone on the call. My question to you about the vaccination paces, what do you say to an 85 or a 90-year-old person who's at home, who's been told they've been prioritized, but they're feeling very anxious because they don't have specific guidance about what to do next. I know Dr. Chokshi said maybe a week or two ago that they can reach out to their doctor because eventually that might be the point of service, but do you have any specific advice to the huge elderly population about what they should be doing right now about getting a vaccine?

Mayor: Thank you, Andrew. Very, very important question and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. I just want everyone to understand that what is so important is to make sure that we first vaccinate the folks who are in greatest risk. Obviously, that's folks in nursing homes, we know that from painful experience and the folks who work there, and all of those frontline health care workers who we're all depending on who every day potentially exposed to COVID. So that's why we start there, but clearly in a matter of weeks, we'll be in a position to start reaching older New Yorkers who certainly are vulnerable and we want them to get that vaccine as quickly as possible. We're going to keep telling them it's safe and it’s effective and it’s free, and when that time comes, we're going to be constantly making clear how you get it. But I think you're right to say, we better start laying that groundwork now. So, Dr. Chokshi, you can start laying that groundwork now for older New Yorkers who are not yet in the priority categories waiting for that to happen in January and February, help them understand what they should be doing now to get information and get prepared. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, well, first let me just acknowledge I certainly understand the concern just from the human perspective. You know, as a doctor who has cared for many, many of our seniors here in New York, I understand the anxiety, the anticipation, about, you know, getting a vaccination now that we do have safe and effective vaccines available and we want to get them to our seniors as quickly as is possible. I would just add a couple of other points here. First is that as the Mayor has mentioned, we are rolling out a vaccination in our nursing homes already. New York City was at the very front of the line with respect to activating the National Pharmacy Program to begin vaccinating both residents and staff in our long-term care facility, including nursing homes. That started last week ahead of most other places around the rest of the country and that's something that brings me just a profound sense of hope that we will be able to start averting the suffering, you know, that we've seen in many of those places as quickly as possible.

To the question about what people who are older New Yorkers and are at home right now should be doing during this time. I encourage you to make sure that everyone is up to speed about the facts around the vaccine. Get your questions answered so that when the vaccine does become available more broadly, you'll know where to go, you'll have, you know, a list of things that you may want to discuss with your doctor already checked off and you're prepared to get the vaccine as soon as it's available. The final thing that I will convey, again, you know, out of a concern from seeing our cases and hospitalizations are continuing to be at worrisome levels is that we all have to do our part to protect older New Yorkers until that time comes, when all of them can get the protection from the vaccine. So doing all of the things that we've emphasized with our public health guidance is important, not just for ourselves, but to be able to protect our seniors in the coming weeks and months. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: Can have to do with the seven-day positivity, the numbers are above seven percent now pretty consistently and we haven't even factored in the post-Christmas gathering surge. How concerned are you that that number will above nine percent [inaudible] and essentially schools will not be able to reopen in-person? 

Mayor: I think I heard you, you were breaking up a little bit there, but I think I got the question, Andrew. Look, obviously everyone's watching and we should be watching for any effect from the holidays that will play out well into January. But when it comes to the school's issue, I want to go back to something I said back on December 8th, which is, you know, the State has the standards, the State sets those rules, the State has the numbers that they go by. We'll be working with them. We'll be making sure to monitor what's happening every step of the way. But, right now, I remain confident with all the work that's being done, our schools are extraordinarily safe. I've got now data for you based on just in the few weeks since we reopened in December. So, basically, December 7th to December 23rd, almost a 100,000 tests taken at New York City schools, positivity rate students, staff, everyone combined based on 100,000 tests, 0.68 percent. So, look at the amazing success that we've had in our schools keeping them safe. Clearly New York City public schools one of the safest places to be in all New York City. So, I'm confident that we can and should keep them open. But again, the State will make that ultimate decision based on State data and State standards. 

Moderator: Go ahead, next is Sydney from Gothamist.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking my question. I have a question on the vaccine priority groups and distribution as well. Just with the expected groups to be people who are at high risk of COVID or older people, I'm wondering, do we know what health conditions put someone at risk to be considered in a priority group? And the CDC recently set their advisory guidelines as an older person, meaning 75 and older, how does that play out at the city level and is the city waiting on guidance from the State to answer those questions specifically? 

Mayor: We turn to Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you for these important questions. Let me start with the first one, which is what are the underlying health conditions that put someone at a greater risk from COVID-19 and particularly from severe outcomes related to COVID-19. We do now have a fair amount of scientific evidence that has shown that people who do have a chronic health conditions, these are things like cancer, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, emphysema, heart conditions, sickle cell disease, those are, you know, a sampling of the conditions that that we worry about with respect to someone being at risk of severe outcomes and I do think that will be a similar list that the CDC takes into account when they determine prioritization for, you know, for people along with age, as well as risk of exposure, particularly for people who are frontline essential workers. 

And then the second part of your question is, you know, as you mentioned the CDC did issue some recommendations with respect to what's called phase 1-E. So, the second part of phase one in terms of prioritization and that included older adults above the age of 75, these are recommendations that the federal government makes then states have to – if you – their own prioritization guidance for. The State has not come out with formal guidance for phase 1-E yet, so we're still awaiting that as we think about what the next group will be beyond health care workers and nursing home staff and residents. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Sydney.

Question: Okay. And then my other question is for you, Mr. Mayor, as well as the Acting Commissioner Forgione. Given the city is on track to see one of the deadliest years with traffic fatalities and as the vaccine rolls out, we're going to see more people commuting again and moving about the city. I'm just wondering, given your bike lane announcement today around the numbers of how many bike lanes were put into place this year, what do you and the active Acing Commissioner plan to do in the coming year to make more progress on those – on Vision Zero goals, and would that include increasing the bike lane goals or more concrete efforts to make sure bike lanes are actually protected as intended in the first place?

Mayor: Thank you, Sydney, I'll start and I'll turn to the acting commissioner. Look, Vision Zero. Let me say at the beginning, it has been a very tough year. It's been a very tough year on so many levels, and it has been a tough year for lives we've lost, including the lives we've lost on our streets. We know there's been way too much speeding. We know we have to crack down on that in 2021. We also know that the more life starts to get back to something like normal. The better ability we'll have to do that, but it's also, to me, a call to arms that vision zero needs to keep expanding rapidly on every front, whether it's protected bike lanes or, or any type of bike lane, whether it's enforcement, whether it's the speed cameras, and obviously we're going to fight in Albany to get that expansion of the timing of the speed cameras. That's absolutely crucial. That's one of the things that's going to save lives the most. So, we have a very aggressive vision, zero agenda for 2021. Specifics will be forthcoming obviously. But I can tell you it's going to be a high priority. Commissioner, go ahead. 

Acting Commissioner Margaret Forgione, Department of Transportation: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As the Mayor said, this was a very bad year for Vision Zero, mainly due to increased speeding that we saw on our roadways with a reduced traffic. So next year as the Mayor has previously mentioned, we'll be working with the state legislature to look at having our cameras on 24/7. In addition, we'll be working to continue all of our lifesaving projects that we have seen do result in fewer injuries and fewer fatalities. We will continue with our protected bike lane work. We hope to do a little bit more than what we've done this year, and this was our best year ever as the Mayor said. So, all of these things combined we look to next year to having much better Vision Zero numbers than we had this year. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next, we'll go to Shant from the Daily News.

Question: Yeah. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for taking the call. I hear you, Mr. Mayor, talking about some of the positive developments related to the vaccinations, because I wanted to ask about another aspect of the outbreak. Don't enjoy bringing this up, but I do see on the city's COVID-19 data page, that the number of New Yorkers who have died from the virus surpassed 25,000 recently, the latest number appears to be 25,008. Any thoughts you can share on this? 

Mayor: It's incredibly painful, Shant. Look, every one of these people we've lost are part of our lives. Part of our family's part of our communities and all lost to a disease that about a year ago, we had never even heard of, and, you know, it's shocking, still, it's shocking. We can never get numb to just how horrible this has been, and I think the one thing it makes me feel in particular is resolved to protect every single New Yorker right now with this vaccine and to make sure people know it is safe and is effective and it's going to be available widely, and we need people to get it, to protect themselves and their families. I think that's – that's the thing we can do right now to honor those we've lost. Go ahead, Shant. 

Question: Yeah. Thank you for that. Switching gears to Albany, the state legislature passed strengthened protections from evictions, any comments on that? And is there anything else you want to see from Albany related to helping out New Yorkers financially with rent otherwise at this point? 

Mayor: Yeah. I mean, look, I really want to thank the legislature for the action they took. It's very, very important. You know, folks who have no income, haven't had income for months and months, no fault of their own. If people can't pay the rent, if they just don't have the money, we cannot allow them to be put out on the street. We need to keep a roof over their heads. So, I'm very, very appreciative that the legislature acted. We still need a real stimulus from Washington, and what we, I think need additionally from Albany is further action to help protect people. I've talked before about the payment plan idea to really give a long-term relief and stability to renters. So, they have the knowledge, they can stay in their apartment long-term if they can't afford to rent, now they can pay it in the future when they can. I would far prefer our true stimulus that, you know, put money directly in the hands of renters and landlords to make up anything that's happened. That wasn't any of their faults. But in the meantime if we at least get some kind of payment plan law to make sense of the years ahead, I think that would help, and it's just always state the common sense for those who are blessed enough to have income pay the rent. It's so important for those who don't, you should not be penalized. You should be allowed to stay in your home until life gets back to something more normal and people should have the ability to stay long-term and have a payment plan to make sense for them. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Steve from WCBS radio. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, hope you had a nice holiday. Just wanted to check – I'm about to head out to the FDNY’s first vaccine at their headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn, and you know, the story a few weeks back was that the union did a survey there and found 55 percent of members did not want the vaccine. I know it's a kind of a thorny issue to say whether it becomes mandatory or not, but what kind of becomes the outreach and the education to make sure you get more than 45 percent of the FDNY vaccinated? 

Mayor: Steve, look, I think we should really recognize, even in the last weeks we see in people's experience with the vaccine, very favorable outcomes. We see the word of mouth impact as people talk to the people in their lives about the experience they have, the vaccine that more and more folks are reassured. It's so clear that it is safe and effective, and the public opinion research is showing more and more people around the country are now saying they do want the vaccine. So I think you're going to see a change literally week by week, but our job is to make it available to all these heroes, all these folks who were there through the thick of this, and it's their choice. We do not have at this moment a plan to do anything but voluntary. We'll see how things play out, but that's the plan right now, but I do think you're going to see people get more and more comfortable with it with every passing week. Go ahead, Steve. 

Question: And also, just to follow up on these questions about the pace of vaccine distribution I know you said about 67,000 had been done up to this point. The Governor yesterday said that the city will have about 369,000 doses through this week. So obviously we start to see what those numbers, some concerns about popping up in some places. So just strictly from a logistical point of view, how do you avoid having some of those bottlenecks and having, you know, vaccines, hundreds of thousands of doses sitting on the shelves just simply because you can't get them out fast enough. 

Mayor: Yeah. Steve, we've got real work to do here, but I do not see that scenario taking place, honestly. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, I'd say it's this simple: again, I mentioned there are some specific federal rules that I think need to be examined to see how they can help us speed up the process. But the other question is just us having the ability to reach more and more constituencies, more and more people, and that's based on the state authorization, that's a conversation that's happening literally every day, every hour with the state to determine how quickly that expansion could happen. But I feel very confident. I've had this conversation in great detail with our healthcare team that as we get authorized to do more and more populations of people will be able to move very quickly. I do not see a time when we have a lot of supply hanging around. I think it's going to move very quickly from when we get it to when it is implemented. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, that's exactly right. Mr. Mayor. The pieces that we've already talked about, number one the supply of vaccine and then number two, making sure that the categories of eligibility are broadened out and done so rapidly. Those are the major things that we're looking at with respect to ensuring that this happens as quickly as possible with his which was one of our primary goals is as we've discussed. But one other element to this that I do want to mention particularly here in the early weeks, is that it's important to realize that the different access points for vaccination are all coming online in a phased way. So, we started in our first week with hospitals and making sure that the hospital workers are getting immunized that allows those hospitals to deliver the care that we need, but also to start to vaccinate beyond their staff, which we'll start to see in the coming weeks. 

Similarly, last week, community health centers known as federally qualified health centers started vaccinating their own staff. That means that whole set of clinics will come online as a set of access points more broadly for New Yorkers, and this week, now that we have the state go-ahead, a staff in urgent care centers will also be vaccinated. So then urgent care centers will also be able to vaccinate others. So, in these early weeks, it does take, you know, a bit of time for all of those access points to start coming online. But we're seeing that expand, and that will mean come January, we'll have a much broader set of bases that will be able to administer the vaccine. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: For our last question, we'll go to Reuvain from Hamodia.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor and happy new year.

Mayor: Happy new year.

Question: Thank you. Thank you. I just wanted to ask as in the coming weeks, as some people get the second dose of the vaccine, will any allowances be made for people who have had the vaccine, maybe though let's say stop wearing a mask or things like that? 

Mayor: I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi we've talked about this. Look, I think the important thing here is to think about this over the first six months of the new year. This is an initial estimate. Obviously, it will change as we get more information, but I think it's fair to say over these next six months we intend to see as, you know, wide swath of New York City vaccinated as humanly possible. We can reach all New Yorkers over that timeframe. We want to see people get comfortable with the vaccine and want to participate. But I think to say, you know, that six months’ window is what makes sense, and during that six months to realize that there was more and more people getting vaccinated, there's still going to be a lot of people are not yet vaccinated. The threat of the disease is very real. Obviously, we are concerned about what we saw come out of Great Britain in terms of a mutation of the disease. So we want to stay on guard. That is my preface to say, we want people to keep wearing their masks. We want them to keep practicing social distancing, and we want them to keep limiting travel, keeping gatherings very small. All of these rules make sense for the next six months, just to keep protecting each other until we are fully clear of this disease in terms of, you know, the impact it's having now. Dr. Varma, then Dr. Chokshi. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Great, thank you for the question, and I agree completely with what the Mayor just said. I mean, the way I like to think about it is that we have different layers of defense. You know, up until this moment, we've been using individual measures, wearing a mask, keeping your distance, washing your hands, and we've been using community restrictions and we've been using our Test and Trace score, which has this incredible milestone of a hundred thousand people tested on a single day. Now we have an additional line of defense, which is the vaccine. But it's the things we don't know are exactly what level of vaccination and what level of mask wearing, what level our restrictions is going to bring us to the level that we need, where people can go about their regular lives, and there's going to be very few or no deaths from this infection. 

So for the exact moment, right now, our recommendation is very strong, and this is the consensus everywhere that even if you've been vaccinated, you need to continue wearing a and continuing to maintain your distance. All of that may change in the future, as we learn more, both at the scientific level about how much and how long people maintain their protection, and as we learn more at this population level about what happens to our case rates and when we can start relaxing some of these defenses until we can get back to a period when we all feel like life is more normal. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Nothing to add, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Okay, great. Go ahead, Reuvain.

Question: Yeah. I just wanted to follow up on what Henry asked. Those 27 neighborhoods, so just to be clear, will they in any way to get priority as far as getting the vaccine, or is it only regarding like outreach and education? 

Mayor: No, it's making sure the vaccine gets to where it's needed most look Ravenna. I don't think you'll be shocked if I said historically when there's something like this that could have such a profound impact on people too often things went to people who had the most privilege, the most money did not go according to need. We're focused on – the most dire need has been in the communities hardest hit by COVID. So, we're going to make sure that communities get their fair share and are prioritized to make sure we can keep the maximum number of people safe, and we know where some of the greatest danger has been. The goal is to get every single person vaccinated, and we're going to be working with community groups, working with elected officials, working with community institutions to maximize that in every neighborhood. But we very much want to remember where the pain has been greatest, where the danger has been greatest to make sure that is reflected in how we prioritize.

Alright, everyone, look, as we conclude today, first I want to just say on a programming note, I'll be back in two days on Thursday for the last press conference of the year, and that will be a joyous moment because it means at that point, it will only be hours until 2020 is over. But look, I hope you're feeling what I'm feeling. We're going to turn the page on this godforsaken year. We're going to move forward. There's so much possibility ahead for this extraordinary city, for the people who have been heroic this year, fighting back COVID. Next year is going to be the year of recovery and rebirth and renaissance it's coming. So, I'll see you again one more time this year, and we'll start the countdown then as we get ready to say goodbye to 2020. Thanks, everyone.

2020-12-31 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning New York City. This day is finally here, in less than 14 hours, it will be 2021. I could not be happier. I bet a lot of you feel the same way. We are so ready to kick 2020 out the door. And I just am feeling totally energized that the new year is going to be here and great things are going to happen. Tonight is going to be very special. Don't believe any doubting Thomases that say because there's not going to be a million people or more in Times Square that it's not going to be special. It's going to be actually arguably the most special, the most poignant, the most moving New Year's Eve. Everyone, watch it on television, don't go down there. Watch from home. But it's going to be powerful and think about it. We're going to be honoring our health care heroes and first responders and folks who did amazing work this year. Folks from the Cure Violence movement who did great work this year. All out there, small group observing the festivities and enjoying the festivities. But they'll be the people we truly have in our hearts because they're the folks who saw us through this year.

But think about the performers too. Amazing cast of performers, New York City's own, the Bronx’s own Jennifer Lopez. That's for the Bronx. This is a great moment to have her highlighted as we bring in the new year. And my personal favorite, Gloria Gaynor will be singing, I will survive. I can't think of a more amazing, special and appropriate song for this occasion. I'm going to tell you, it's going to be very powerful, very special. Everyone, tune in. I guarantee you that Chirlane and I will push the button on time. In fact, we will be tempted to push the button early and start the new year early, but we will get there for sure. 2021, right around the corner. And we're going to do great things in 2021.

And I’m going to talk about that today. I want to start with the most important New Year's resolution I could possibly offer you in the month of January 2021, we will vaccinate a million New Yorkers. A million people we will reach in January. This city can do it. The amazing health care professionals of this city are ready. We are going to set up new sites all over the city on top of the many, many sites that are already operational, we're going to expand from our hospitals and our clinics to community clinics, to locations we'll set up all over the neighborhoods of the city. Our goal is to get to upwards of 250 locations citywide. This is going to be a massive effort. This is going to be part of the largest single vaccination effort in the history of New York City. It's going to take a lot of work. It's going to take tremendous urgency and focus. And we will need help from the federal government. We will need help from the State government. We will need help from the vaccine manufacturers, but we're making clear to the whole world, we can achieve a million vaccinations in January. We get that help, we'll make it happen. We have the ability to make it happen on the ground. And we are anxious to get it done. Look, President-elect Biden said it right. This whole country is behind the pace it needs to be. We're going to need to go faster to beat back the coronavirus, to restart our economy, to protect people's lives, to recover. We've got to go faster. New York City will lead the way. We have the will. We have the sense of urgency. We have the capacity. We have the know-how. This is a chance for New York City to shine. And help achieve the President-elect’s goal.

It is so clear that there's no reason, there's no reason for anything but urgency at this point. And that every single person we reach takes us one step closer to recovery. Now we are doing better than most of the country. That's the good news. But we're nowhere near where we need to be. 88,000 New Yorkers have been vaccinated so far. That's great. 88,000 people is nothing to sneeze at. But we need to go into overdrive now. We need every day to speed up and reach more and more people. And we're committed to doing that. So, we know that we have the ability. We're going to do this with a really decentralized grassroots effort. We're going to go all over the city. We are going to create new hubs of activity. So, number one, new COVID vaccine hubs will be created all around the city on top of the locations we have, Two, Test and Trace sites will start to be locations for vaccination as well. Test and Trace has been very successful reaching to every corner of the city, protecting people. We're going to take that same capacity, use it to help us achieve more vaccinations. And three, we're going to scale up the capacity of local organizations that can do this work. We have so many tremendous partners on the ground. So many community-based organizations that could be part of this. And have the ability to reach people, move people, motivate people. They are going to be a part of this in a big way.

So, all of this will be coordinated by our vaccine command center, lot of moving parts. But we can get it done again. Again, we need the federal government to be there with us, to be committed to this goal, to help us achieve it, to give us flexibility. We need the State government to work with us to keep this moving. We need the manufacturers to keep providing the doses. But that can be done. All those things can be done and we're going to make together, something very special happen here. What we will not allow to happen in New York City is for people to jump the line, use their wealth or their privilege to get vaccines that they should not be getting. We're already seeing this, unfortunately, around the country. Congressional staffers, jumping the line, even if they're not in a category that should be a priority. We're seeing pharmaceutical company executives jumping the line. We want the people who need the vaccine most to get it first. And we're going to stick to those priorities. And we're going to be aggressive about it. So, right now, of course, the focus on health care workers, the folks who have kept us safe, our heroes, who we need the most to keep safe, going forward. Focus on nursing home staff and residents. We're going to keep building out from there faster and faster. But we're going to make sure the distribution is based on equity and fairness. And as we get out into communities, that we focused on the communities hardest hit that unfortunately bore the brunt. They had the most cases, they had the most deaths and have the most need. So, we can do it in New York City, all of us together. And the person who's going to help us to lead the way with the incredible effort of his team, the Health Department, and they have a lot of great history, a lot of great success historically in vaccinations. Very, very proud to introduce on this auspicious day, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Well beating a virus is a team sport and we need every position on the field to come together. I saw this in such a poignant way yesterday when I visited a nursing home in my neighborhood in Queens. Residents and staff alike were getting vaccinated. I heard one resident say she couldn't wait to get her shot, but she asked her regular nurse to stay by her side while she was getting it for moral support. These are the small and large ways our health care heroes have quite literally moved the needle for the past couple of weeks. Resulting in over 88,000 vaccinations to date. But we will need to further accelerate our efforts to turn vaccines into vaccinations. One key to doing this as the Mayor mentioned is expanding points of access across our entire city. Our goal is to double the access points for vaccination within a month from hospitals to community health centers, to urgent care clinics, totaling at least 250 sites across the five boroughs.

Part of our strategy includes launching the first dedicated City vaccine hubs in the coming weeks. These are City operated vaccination clinics stood up rapidly as points of distribution in school gymnasiums and other sites. The first sites will launch in mid-January administering 45,000 doses per week with plans to expand over time if we get adequate supply of vaccine. We are picking the locations of these sites to help ensure access in our priority neighborhoods for the places and the people who have been hardest hit by this vicious virus, most often communities of color. In addition, the City has built an unprecedented testing apparatus through the Test and Trace Corps that can also be leveraged to administer vaccines at certain sites. Again, with a focus on hardest hit communities.

Finally, the most essential partners have always been community organizations. Activating them by providing nurses and pharmacists to vaccinate onsite, in communities will provide capacity for several tens of thousands of vaccinations per week by the end of January. This is the kind of thing we do every year during flu season, supporting events at churches and community centers. But this would be like our flu campaign in overdrive. Growing capacity through these initiatives, along with our existing hospital, clinic, and pharmacy infrastructure gets us to the ability to administer a total of one million doses by the end of January. I do want to specify that these are aggressive goals. And this historic vaccination campaign is a team sport as I mentioned. We'll need blocking and tackling to run at the pace that we want from a number of partners, but particularly our colleagues in State and federal government. Swiftly extending guidance on the populations eligible for vaccination is particularly important. From hospital workers and nursing homes to other health care workers, first responders and of course our seniors. And we need a sufficient supply of vaccine with a clear roadmap of what New York City can expect to receive from the federal government, not just for next week, but for the months ahead. But if these elements of the game plan come together, we can move fast and travel far.

Finally, we need New Yorkers themselves to choose to get vaccinated, but we'll help you by making sure your vaccine questions get answered, endeavoring to dispel misinformation, and doubling our access points to make it more convenient for you. Mr. Mayor, it's a particular honor for me to be able to join you on this last day of 2020. I wanted to conclude with some brief tailored messages. To my fellow health care workers, thank you so much for all you have done during this really tough year, but if you've gotten your vaccine, I have one more task for you, be sure to tell the story of why you got vaccinated and reach out to people who may still have unanswered questions. Our website nyc.gov/covidvaccine has the resources you need. To hospital leaders, COVID-19 is not taking the weekend off, so I strongly urge you to schedule vaccination clinics over the weekend, too. And to all New Yorkers, I remain quite concerned by the increase in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths across our beloved city. It's not too late to cancel your New Year's Eve gathering plans and stay safe by staying home. And finally, to the year 2020, good riddance. I'm looking forward to a better year ahead.

Mayor: Well said, Dave. Listen, I want to say to our Commissioner Dave Chokshi, thank you for your extraordinary work this year, for your team's amazing work, some of the other colleagues here as part of this press conference today, Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog, and Senior Advisor Jay Varma, and CEO of Health and Hospitals Mitch Katz, you've all been heroes this year. You really have been. You're all very modest people, so maybe I'm making you blush, but the fact is all of you have been heroes of 2020. All of you are going to be part of the history of this city, and you're going to be in the history books as people who made a tremendous positive difference for the people in New York City and your whole teams. Thank you, and I'm thanking you – I'm thanking you as individuals, but I'm also thanking you for the amazing teams you've assembled and the amazing work you've all done.

And listen, talking about team, I'm going to pick up right word Dave started, talking about team. This is going to be a team effort to reach one million vaccinations in January. We're going to work with the whole community. We’re going to work with the whole health care world. We're also going to call all city agencies to be part of this. So, as Dave mentioned, you know, you talk about a school gymnasium, Department of Education is going to be a part of this. Think about public housing, NYCHA, our community centers. We're going to be out there in NYCHA developments over the months ahead there are going to be a crucial piece of this as well. We are going to focus intensely on the communities that need help the most, communities that bore the brunt, and our public housing residents certainly bore the brunt of this crisis. So, in January and beyond, you're going to see this grow, be more and more grassroots, more and more people getting involved, leaders, agencies, institutions, parts of the community, you name it. This is going to be an extraordinary effort. I wanted to do a special thank you to the State of New York. We've been working really closely with our State partners over these last weeks, determining how to do something that's never been done before. This is a brand-new vaccine, brand new type of vaccine. We've had to be really smart and careful about getting it implemented. We're working well with the state to figure out the steps and we're working together to figure out how to do this as quickly as humanly possible. So, thank you to everyone in the State government who has worked so hard throughout this year, Governor Cuomo and his whole team, we appreciate all the work we've done together. And we are going to, together, find a way to push harder and we're all together going to push the federal government to do its share and the manufacturers to do their share, so we can really go into overdrive here.

All right, now, there’s a lot of good news, a lot of good news ahead. 2021 is going to be a good news year, but 2020 is going to go down in history as one of our saddest, toughest years, arguably the toughest year in the history of New York City. Thank God we all came through those of us who made it, but we got to remember those who didn't make it. We got to remember those we lost, and we've got to be there with their families every day. All the families who lost loved ones, my heart goes out to you. You're in our thoughts and prayers all the time. We know this has just been incredibly difficult to go through this pain without the chance to mourn in so many cases, without the chance to be with loved ones. So, it's important that we have a day of remembrance. It's important that we have a day going forward in the future of the city to always remember what happened in 2020, to remember those we lost, to honor them, to honor their families. And, of course, at the same time, remember all the heroism, all the people who did so much good to protect people. The day we lost our first New Yorker to COVID in this year was March 14th, 2020, next March 14th, 2021 will be a day of remembrance in New York City. We need to recognize 25,000 of our fellow New Yorkers gone. That's something we have to always mark going forward. And we got to remember them by one, being there for their families, by two, honoring those who did so much to try to save them and three, by working to make this city better all the time in their memory. So many we lost were victims of the disparities and inequality in our society and this is not a shocking statement to anyone who's been watching. So many people we lost had never gotten enough health care in their lives and didn't get their fair share no matter how hard they worked. So many people we lost were victims of still too much discrimination and racism in our society. We lost people of every background. We lost people of every income level. Every neighborhood, this tragically was a disease that affected everyone, but it did not affect everyone equally. So, on March 14th each year, we remember also the painful lessons we learned but it’s a time to rededicate ourselves to making a difference and changing things. A day to look back, but it will always also be a day to look forward and say, how can we do better so we never lose people again, and we have a city that is there for everyone going forward.

So before – I now move forward to what we do every single day, which is our daily indicators. I do want to take a moment since it's a very special time of year, obviously we've had holidays of many faith, traditions, Christmas, and Hanukkah, and so many important holidays that people have celebrated, so many times when people restored faith and hope. And we of course are looking forward to tonight and tomorrow, but here we are still in Kwanzaa, and it's so good to talk about Kwanzaa and the Kwanzaa principles. And this is something we're really highlighting this year. We're going to do in a very big way next year, because these principles say so much to us, so much positive, so much helpful, and that is really moves us forward and helps us think about where we need to go. Each – at the beginning of the day, the phrase Habari Gani, which means what's the news? And then the answer is the principle of that day, today is Kuumba, and that means creativity. And I want to celebrate the creativity of New Yorkers, the resourcefulness, the ingenuity of New Yorkers in the year 2020. It was unbelievable. The things people did this year to help each other. Talk about making a way where there was no way. In the year 2020, New Yorkers had to create like never before, whether you're talking about what our health care heroes have to do to protect people and save our hospital system and our first responders, what they had to do and the incredible challenges they overcame. Or you’re talking about the way this city ended up creating its own ventilators, its own PPE, its own processing labs for tests, things we didn't have before. We created them all here, New York City know-how and we did it in record time. That's what New York City is all about. And just the way people helped each other and the way people expressed their own personalities, their own hope, their own belief, whether it's the design of a face mask or the ways people celebrate and supported each other, the cultural activities put together to support people, give them hope. This was a year for creativity if there ever was one. So, a lot to be proud of when it comes to the creativity of our people and we're going to see it blossom in 2021.

Now we're going to go to our indicators. I'm going to, again, as we go through indicators, put a bit of a qualifier on that we've seen some pretty aberrant numbers the last few days. We obviously had the situation, a lot of people getting tested in advance of the holidays and then during the holidays test numbers were uneven, so you get a different kind of sample. But that being said, even though these numbers look somewhat skewed, they are still very cautionary and it’s important we focus on them. So, first, number one, daily number of people admitted to the New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 199 patients. Obviously, the goal was 200, so we're just there. We want to drive that down. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, still way too high, 3.93, we want to get that back under two. Number two, daily number of new cases for COVID-19 seven-day average, today's number 3,259, way too high against the goal of 550. And number three, percentage of New York City residents testing positive for COVID-19 seven-day rolling average, very high number today, 8.87 percent. Again, that is probably aberrant based on uneven testing with the holidays, but still cautionary and troublesome and something we need to focus on, something we all need to act on. We want to get that number below five percent and keep driving it down. So, what can you do? You just heard your doctor, the people's doctor, tell you if you're thinking about going to some kind of large holiday gathering, just don't do it. I will borrow from Nike and modify the phrase, just don't do it. It doesn't make sense. Next year, you'll be able to celebrate all you want if we get this right, but if people keep getting sick because of doing the wrong thing, it's not going to speed our days of recovery to say the least. So please avoid large gatherings tonight. Keep it small, keep it simple. Stay home, stay close. Let's be healthy. Let's help each other. A few words in Spanish.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that – and Feliz Aρo Nuevo while I'm at it. With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog, by Dr. Katz, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. The first question today goes to Hazel Sanchez from WCBS.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, Happy New Year to you.

Mayor: Happy New Year, Hazel, how you feel?

Question: I'm good. I'm good. You're launching an aggressive campaign to vaccinate New Yorkers in January. Why wasn't this kind of plan ready to be rolled out in December when you knew the vaccine would be arriving?

Mayor: Hazel, what we said from the beginning was we were going to get this right. Our doctors have spoken about this many times. This was a brand-new vaccine with realities we never experienced before, including the need for ultra-cold refrigeration and very tight standards about how it could be utilized. One of the things we're saying here is that we need the federal government to really be committed to speeding this process and looking at all those standards. We want everyone to be safe, but we have to have a focus on speed and urgency. So, the first weeks were about getting it right, making sure everything was safe and proper, but we knew we wanted to go a hell of a lot faster. So, I'm perfectly comfortable at the first weeks were about really testing to make sure everything worked right and you've seen the results. People have been getting these vaccinations safely, effectively. We've had very, very few side effects. We've had a very successful experience. We've shown the world that. Now it is time to take off. Now is time to race and we're ready to do it. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Matt Chayes from Newsday.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Happy New Year – early.

Mayor: Happy New Year, Matt. How you feel?

Question: I'm doing okay. How about yourself?

Mayor: I am ecstatic. Dreaming of this day.

Question: Excellent, you love to hear it. Under your NYC Vaccine for All campaign, will the vaccination itself be available to a person in one of those 27 neighborhoods at a greater rate, on a faster timeline, or in any different way whatsoever than a person not in those 27 neighborhoods? Yes or no?

Mayor: So, first let me frame it. We're going to follow, of course, the guidelines that originate with the federal government and then are codified by the State, and we're going to work with the State to keep expanding those guidelines constantly. So, to get to the point where we're talking about every-day people, senior citizens, folks with preexisting conditions, that still, of course, has to happen within the State guidelines. But we're going to work with the State to speed that along, because we want to be able to always jump ahead to the next group of people when we find there's more vaccine available. And we have gone through one group, we want to immediately move on to the next group. So, we need that State guidance to do that always. But the bottom line is, we're going to make sure that the priority neighborhoods get the vaccine when it is for the general public. They have to be the first wave because they're where the most people suffered, there were the most cases, there were the most deaths. By definition, that's where you need to protect people the most. Go ahead, Matt.

Question: I have another question, but I do need to stay on this one. You say that they have to be the first wave, will they be the first wave in New York City?

Mayor: Yeah, we’ve been saying that for weeks and weeks. Matt, let me flip the equation here – where else would you go, but where the need is greatest? Of course, when it comes to going out to the grassroots, we're going to go to the places that suffered the most and are still the most vulnerable. Absolutely. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Samantha Lehman from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor. And Happy New Year.

Mayor: Happy New Year. How are you doing today?

Question: I'm good. How are you?

Mayor: Couldn't be better.

Question: So, let me ask you on a personal note – I know you said that the new year's resolution was going to be to get those million vaccines next month, but on a personal note, do you have any resolutions?

Mayor: All I can tell you is I want to make 2021 an amazing year in New York City. I have so much energy right now, I'm going to burn my way to the finish line this year. And on December 31st, 2021, we're going to look back and say, we did amazing things in New York City in 2021. We turned the tide. We started our recovery. We reached people and protected people in ways never seen before. That's my resolution. I feel very, very confident we can do that. Look, a million is a big goal. I want to be clear about this, saying out loud – this was not something we did lightly – saying out loud, I'm going to say it again, our goal is to vaccinate 1 million New Yorkers in the month of January, 2021. That's a very big goal. That's a very tough goal. That's a very ambitious goal, but it's a necessary goal. And all we're saying to everyone else out there that we rely on is, join us and we can do it. We're going to drive and drive and drive and we're going to get this done. 

Moderator: The next is Erin from Politico.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Early Happy New Year.

Mayor: Happy New Year, Erin.

Question: I think we're all glad to have this year over with soon. I'm hoping you can just tell us a little more about how the logistics will work in terms of this vaccination campaign. For instance, if we're doing a million shots, what segment of the population do you expect that to get us up to? Will it be anyone over 65? Or, any essential worker? Or, where will that get us up to in the line? And is this going to be by appointment or is it just going to be people lined up? And, kind of, where the number's going to come from with, you know, I think you said 45,000 a week at the gymnasium type sites – that doesn't add up to a million. So, how are you going to –

Mayor: Hold on, Erin. You’ve got a lot going on there, let me try and pull out the core of what you’re saying. Suffice it to say our Vaccine Command Center will be constantly providing updates and that the specific, how each center will relate to the overall number, how the different categories – suffice it to say, you'll be hearing more and more about that with each day to come. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but I did not expect him to be able to give you the perfect chart of how all million will be done in January yet. I also want to say at the outset, it's a voluntary effort, meaning you will decide how many people in each category, depending on how many people volunteer in each category. The more people come forward among health care workers or first responders, the faster it goes in those groups. But if fewer people come forward, you move on to other groups. That's what we want to set up, the ability to keep moving to the next group. It is voluntary. I am hopeful, Erin, that as people see how successful this is how safe it is, how effective it is that classic word of mouth thing will happen – more and more people hear from people in their lives, more and more people want it. But we want the ability to jump ahead constantly to the next group. So, I can't tell you exactly which groups we’re going to cover, because it really depends on that uptake rate. But what I can say, as I turn to Dr. Chokshi, is the first priority remains – the folks who are most vulnerable, particularly in settings that have been dangerous, like nursing homes; the folks who serve us, who we need to stay safe so they can keep us safe. And then, as we work through all those categories, we start out into the general community for the folks who are most vulnerable. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, you said all of the high points. I'm just going to pull out a couple to elaborate on. One is, we're in what's called Phase One-A right now. As the Mayor mentioned, this is primarily health care workers, as well as nursing home staff and residents and those in other long-term care facilities. The estimate for New York City is that we actually have a million people just in those categories. And so, our goal of putting the 1 million for January is to be able to say we want everyone in that category who is eligible to get vaccinated to actually have the ability to get vaccinated. In order to do that, we do have to expand out the eligibility from where it is currently, which focuses on hospital workers as well as nursing home staff and residents. We want to get to other community-based health care workers, including home health workers, for example, and do that as rapidly as possible. And that's the other key point that the Mayor has already emphasized, which is for us to move quickly, as is our intent, we have to be able to expand the circle of eligibility swiftly as well so that we can match up the capacity that we have with that eligibility.

Mayor: You know, I want to also turn to Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog, who's done just outstanding work organizing the command center, the Vaccine Command Center, because one of the crucial things here is to constantly move with what's going on at the grassroots level and all of these locations. They have to all be tracked and we have to constantly make moves to reach deeper into each population, then go on to the next. So, in terms of the work of the command center and how we're structuring that, Deputy Mayor, why don't you jump in?

Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog, Health and Human Services: Sure. Good morning, sir. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yes.

Deputy Mayor Hartzog: Okay, good. Just wanted to answer the question a little bit more in detail, we have existing capacity per week for about 150,000 doses that's through hospitals system largely. What we're going to be doing over the course of January is actually doubling that capacity, growing to 300,000 by the end of January. And that includes three major components – our community vaccination partners, these are partners who contract – we contract with, they go into community-based organizations, as the Mayor talked about, in our hardest-hit communities and we can scale that capacity to a 100,000 per week. Then we have our own community hubs, that's another 45,000 per week [inaudible] on board. And then, our Test and Trace Corps. That's going to bring another 4,000. So, that's how we get to that overall doubling of capacity.

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you. Go ahead, Erin.

Question: Thank you. And then, I also just wanted to ask about – we have a story out today about the 219 – I'm sorry, 298 City employees who have died from the coronavirus, you know, disproportionately Black and Latino. And there have been, you know, a number of complaints that folks didn't feel that there were well-protected enough, obviously some of that dates back to the spring. But just wondering if there's anything more the City can be doing, especially with this second wave now underway to protect its own frontline workers?

Mayor: Yeah. We're absolutely adamant about protecting our folks. And, look, we lost so many people and that's why this day of remembrance is so necessary. But let's remember what happened, we all were here alone in New York City. We pleaded back in January for testing, we didn't have it. We didn't even know – we had no way of knowing that throughout February, the disease was already spreading widely in the city. We did not have testing capacity from the federal government. We did not have PPE from the federal government. We were left on our own and we did our damnedest to reach people and protect people. But I think history is going to show very clearly, you cannot deal with an international pandemic on a local level. You need support from the national government. And we lost people that, had that support been there, those folks would still be here today. So, it's horrible. But the minute we were able to get the information we needed, to get the testing we needed, get the PPE supply, we made sure that folks got what they needed and we've continued to build that. That’s why we have a reserve now where we have a lot of PPE in stock at all times and why we are constantly working to protect people, most especially by getting them vaccinated. And this brings us right to the urgency of this moment. We need to protect everyone, but we want to vaccinate as many of our frontline public workers as possible, as quickly as possible so they're safe and their families are safe. Go ahead.

Question: The next is Stacy from FOX 5.

Question: Hi. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. And Happy New Year.

Mayor: Happy New Year, Stacy. How are you doing?

Question: I'm well, thank you. Knowing that, you know, the city – you're laying out this plan to have a million vaccinated in the next month [inaudible] there's still this perception among a lot of health care workers, some of the private health care workers we've talked to, some dentists, even the NYPD, having their delay in the vaccine, that here in New York the vaccine is being delayed for these groups where they're seeing their colleagues, other dentists or other pediatricians in New Jersey or Connecticut getting the vaccine. And they're still waiting here not just to get it, but even to get an update on when they can get it. And knowing, you know, talking about group one-a about the health care workers and the nursing home staff and residents being able to get it in that group, and what about these other health care workers who still feel like the city is, you know, and the State perhaps is leaving them behind the curve?

Mayor: Yeah. Stacy, we're ready. We want to get this done immediately. I want to see all health care workers reached. I want to see all appropriate first responders reached. I mean, there's no question the more people we reach the faster, the better. It's just plain and simple. So, we need, again, that cooperation all around to just smooth this out and make it simple. But we have amazing capacity in this city. There's just, you know, the ability of New York City in general is legendary, but our health care world in particular showed us in 2020 they could do amazing things in the city. We have the tools, we simply need the right authorizations, and we need the supply of vaccine and we can make it work. So, everything you're talking about, that can be resolved in the month of January if we get the support we need. We have this very rigorous goal, and within that goal is the ability to reach a huge number of health care workers and first responders, and that's what I want to see happen. Go ahead.

Question: So, when you say the support we need, are you referring just to supply of the vaccine and perhaps for Dr. Chokshi will, you know, dentists and the private health care workers, pediatricians, or, you know, even you know, dermatologists, whatever it is, will those doctors being for sure included in the one million in January?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, thank you for the question, and, you know, allow me to answer it by starting with the fact that I'm a primary care doctor myself, and I know that people who have been practicing in the community, whether it's a pediatrician or a dermatologist you know, people have been taking care of patients over the last few months and doing so with a risk of exposure in delivering that care. So, I certainly understand the need for that prioritization. The state, earlier this week, did issue guidance saying that those community-based health care workers, independent providers are eligible for vaccinations starting next week, and so we are prepared to ensure that that those workers will have access to the vaccine beginning next week as well. That will ramp up to the other categories as they get approved by New York State. I mentioned, for example, home health care workers, the rest of the health care workforce, which totals well over half a million people across New York City, and so we want those categories to be expanded as quickly as possible, so that again, we can match up our capacity and get them vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Katie Honan from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey, good morning, everyone, and Happy New Year, Mayor de Blasio. It's your last year. How do you feel about that? Well, that's not my question, don't count that as a question. I'm just kidding.

Mayor: Katie, you caught yourself there, I’m impressed.

Question: Don't count that. I have much more important questions to ask. So the first one is to get the, using a sports metaphor, I'll take the [inaudible] is, focusing back on the priority zones that you've identified. Some people have criticized it because the list was formulated in the summer, and it doesn't take into account the second wave that we're we experienced in the fall and maybe continue to experience. So, will you be adding other places to this list or what's the plan there?

Mayor: Yeah, it's a great question, Katie. We're definitely going to look at a reality of the second wave too. Absolutely can add, I think we will add. We want to look at the whole picture. I will unfortunately remind all of us that what happened in the first wave, indescribably horrible, that the second wave has been worrisome, but nowhere near what we went through in the first wave, and we got to really understand that that first wave laid bare, where the vulnerabilities are and the amount of people we lost, and the fact that so much of it had to do with folks who had not had enough health care in their life historically. That's where the danger still is. So we got to keep focused on that, but absolutely, we're going to look at the neighborhoods and look at the priorities with all the latest data and we'll make revisions as needed. Go ahead.

Question: And my second question – can you, can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah, there you go.

Question: Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yep.

Question: Sorry. My second one is about this vaccination plan that you've announced particularly specifically the using school gymnasiums. Will these be in schools that are open or will be in schools that are closed, you know, middle school and high schools, and will that affect any kind of future reopening plan for these schools?

Mayor: Will not affect reopening plans. What we will do is obviously to be worked out over the coming days. But the fact is that we're going to use every and any space we need – that is a part of what the city government has and, you know, hospitals, local nonprofits, we're to use whatever we need, whatever it takes, and there's lots of ways to put this together in a way that both allows all the other operations to keep going around it, but allows us to get the vaccinations to people who need them. So, I'm confident we can strike that balance, but those details will be worked out in the coming days.

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Steve Burns from WCBS 880.

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor. Honored, I guess, to have the last questions of 2020 here. Happy New Year's Eve to you.

Mayor: It is a position of great honor, Steve. Happy New Year to you.

Question: Yes. Yes, it is. I'll try and do it justice. First on the vaccine distribution plan, where they've gone so far, hospitals, nursing homes are obviously controlled environments, but when you move them out to say a school or public housing lobby, a place where the public can access them, what goes into the verification of knowing that this person is eligible right now, they have the job they say they have a, so when you move it into those public spaces, how do you verify, you know, that this is someone who should be getting it right now?

Mayor: It's a good question, Steve, and look, I want to start and I'll pass the Dr. Chokshi by saying the idea of using whatever spaces will get us out in the communities at the right time, again, depending on the priorities, and as we get through one priority going on to the next, going on to the next, but the more we get to the grassroots, the more successful we're going to have reaching people. We have to do it in a way that works and, you know, think about – schools are in every community for example. If what we need to do is have people come in on the weekends to a school, we can do that. You know, if we find a certain case, we don't think the school day makes sense, we can still do vaccinations on a weekend. Public housing, again, you have community centers, we can dedicate space specifically for vaccination. So, I would just want everyone to hear the fact that this is only going to work if we get out to the grassroots, but we're going to do it in a way that is safe and smart now to the verification of people, and there are categories, I want to state the obvious as I pass to Dr. Chokshi anyone who has identification, including IDNYC has a birth date on it, and that tells you immediately one of the categories, that's going to be a priority, which is older folks. But for other types of priorities, conforming, Dr. Chokshi, can you give us a flavor of how you're going to do that?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you, and I'll just add a couple of points as well. The first is to build on what the Mayor said, you know, between hospitals and what we'll be doing out in the community, including at schools, there are many other access points that that are also controlled environments, whether they're urgent care centers or pharmacies. These are the places where the everyday miracle of vaccination happens, whether it's our influenza vaccines or vaccines for children, and so we're going to be taking advantage of all of those access points in between those two poles that are described.

With respect to eligibility screening. You know, I want to take a step back and just you know, speak to my fellow New Yorkers to say we all need to think about this, yes, as an issue of fairness and justice, but also just think about who is being prioritized and why. We want nursing home residents to be prioritized because we know they're most at risk. We know we want our health care workers prioritized because they are the ones that we're depending upon when we get sick, and this is an incredibly important message to have spread as widely as possible. So that people take that into account as they think about where their turn is in line. The state will have some additional requirements with respect to eligibility screening, which of course we'll be sure to follow, and that will you know, become more important as we expand out the categories, which we hope will happen as rapidly as possible.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Steve.

Question: Thanks, and on an entirely different topic, I'm sure you saw the Governor is allowing a limited number of fans to see the Buffalo Bills playoff game in a couple of weeks, and he said that could be a pilot for similar events in venues. Would you be on board if that kind of a pilot program were to be tested, say at Madison Square Garden, or a few months down the line at Yankee Stadium or Citi Field? would that be something you'd be open to?

Mayor: I'm pro-outdoors. Anti-indoors is my initial view of the world, and I think, I think I've listened to the teachings of Dr. Chokshi and I think he is said a thousand times to me and Dr. Varma and my other colleagues, Dr. Katz, etcetera -- outdoors, crucial difference from indoors, mask on crucial difference from not having a mask on. As I understand the plan. This is, you know, outdoors, plus distancing, plus mask, plus testing. That's a good, thorough plan. That's great, and I'm really happy for those Bills fans, and I think the Governor did the right thing because it's a thorough plan, but also, you know, as a fan, I can say 25 years is a long time to wait to get back to the playoffs. I know people in Buffalo are really, really excited at this moment. So, I think this has been done the right way, the careful way, but with indoors, I would be much more cautious until we get to the point where there's really very, very extensive vaccination. Now we want to make that again, happen very aggressively, but I think we got to walk before we run. Let's get people vaccinated. Then we can start talking about the future of indoor venues.

With that, everyone, look, we're New Yorkers. We're proud. We are often the center of the universe. Tonight, we're definitely the center of the universe. Eyes of the whole world will be on New York City tonight, and it's going to be a joyous night if ever there was one. Goodbye 2020, here comes something better: 2021. I know that when we look back, we're going to say, as painful as the year was New Yorkers should be proud. Everyone out there, you should be proud. This city showed the world how to be strong, how to be resilient, how to look out for each other. It was an incredible display of all that is good in New York City. 2021, we're going to show people what it looks like to recover to come back. We're going to do what New York City has done so many times before to show people, not just a comeback, but making things better than they were before. Fairer, stronger, more inclusive of all of us. We will do that in 2021. I'm not even saying we can do that. We will do that in 2021. That's who we are as New Yorkers. I have total faith in the people of this city. So, I cannot wait to get started. We are now just about 13 hours away. It's going to be amazing, and to everyone, a very, very Happy New Year, Feliz Aρo Nuevo a todos, [inaudible], any language you want to choose of all the languages spoken in this beautiful city, it all says the same thing: we are turning the page and going someplace better. Thank you, everybody.

2021-01-04 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Happy New Year. Welcome back. This is a great day, because it's a day that has the number 2021 in it. And I'm so excited that it is a new year. It is a better year already. Really great things are going to happen in New York City this year. So, everyone, look, this is a year we're going to have to do great things to recover, to come back strong. That's what new Yorkers do. This is a year where we have to do transformative work, work that is going to change the face of health care and public health, that's going to be crucial to what we need to do for fairness and equality and social justice. This is going to be a banner year, an extraordinary year, and it all begins with the biggest vaccination campaign in the history of New York City. I want people to be clear about this, we put down this goal of 1 million doses by the end of January. Why do we put down on this goal? Because we are convinced we need it and we can do it. And this is what is crucial to understand here, this is a moment where we're going to ask everyone to join together in the spirit of extraordinary efforts of the past. And we have this new poster that epitomizes this energy, hearkening back to the days of World War II. We're going to ask all New Yorkers to be part of this effort, every city agency, every hospital, every part of our society has to pull together to make these million vaccinations happen by the end of January, and then much, much more beyond. To get this done, we need help. We need flexibility from the State of New York. We need support from the federal government. We need the federal government to simplify the rules and to join us in making things move quicker. We need the manufacturers of the vaccine to keep delivering on schedule. There is so much that can be done if everyone acts in partnership. And I think that's what everyone's impulse is, that's the good news. This is part of a bigger reality with a vaccine that's truly historical – world historic how quickly this vaccine came together, how much the global scientific community worked together. But now, to actually implement the vaccine, we need federal government, State government, manufacturers, City government, everyone on the same page, and that's what we will create in the month of January. We need to move quickly. We need to move urgently.

Now, look, I want us to immediately get to work expanding the number of people, the kind of people who can get the vaccine. I want in the month of January, in the next few weeks, I want us start to vaccinate educators and school staff. I want to see us vaccinate first responders of all kinds – cops, firefighters, across the spectrum. We're focused right now on our health care heroes. We're focused on nursing homes, but during the month of January, we need to expand those categories. We need to reach many more people quickly, urgently, and it can be done. That cooperation at all levels of government can make it happen. There's going to be concern that this is such a crucial and important moment, can it be done? I know I'm going to get those questions today. Let me remind everyone of what we just did together in 2020. When this disease hit, we didn't have the testing capacity, and this city was thrown back on our heels, we all worked together, our hospitals held. We all worked together, we got the PPE we needed. And we couldn't find it elsewhere in the country, elsewhere in the world, we created our own. We all held together, we created the biggest Test and Trace Corps. in the United States of America. We all held together, we opened our schools when almost no other major city in America even dared to. We have a track record in New York City during this crisis that we take on big goals and we make it happen. So, you're going to see an intensive speed-up in the month of January, and, then, of course, beyond. But we're going to need everyone pulling together to achieve that outcome.

Now, we want to make sure that New York City gets our fair share of doses. And as we expand, as we give more and more doses, we need to make sure that the federal government keeps allotting for us the amount that we can actually use. Some places can use more and more quickly, other places can't – it all depends on the infrastructure they have, all depends on the approach. As we continue to speed up this process, we need the doses to be reserved for us. We need them to be delivered. That's something we're going to keep pushing for throughout. But what we do know, and this is progress, that, as of today, more categories of individuals have been approved by the State of New York for vaccination. That's good news and I thank the State for that. We want to keep expanding those categories. The more people that we can reach quickly, the better. The more options we have to spread out the effort and make sure that vaccinations happen where they’re most possible, the better off we will be. Remember, every single additional person who gets vaccinated – one more step towards defeating the coronavirus.

We're going to be doing a variety of things to expand sites where we will have, through our Department of Health, pop-up sites that will be focused on health care workers. We're going to have sites created by Health + Hospitals, our public health system. We're going to have vaccine hubs created and three of them will be open on Sunday. This is the shape of things to come. You're going to see a lot more like this, using public school buildings as hubs for a larger community. So, in Brooklyn at the Bushwick Educational Campus; Queens, at Hillcrest High School; the Bronx, at South Bronx Educational Campus. This starts Sunday. This is a model to start getting us to the grassroots where we can make so much impact. We want to make sure that whatever it takes logistically and whatever it takes in terms of community outreach, we're going to be able to get to this goal and then build from there. To tell you about how this is proceeding and how it will build in the weeks ahead, our Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. The new year does feel like a new door is opening. And as a city, we'll be opening our doors in the days ahead for even more facilities to get eligible New Yorkers vaccinated. And, this week, in another ray of hope, the first New York City health care workers will get their second dose of the COVID vaccine. But, as the Mayor said, we must do more together. Overall, our plan is to double the current capacity of about 125 sites where New Yorkers are being vaccinated today, to at least 250 sites by the end of the month. We anticipate getting to at least 160 access points by the end of this weekend. For instance, today, the Health Department is booking appointments for COVID-19 vaccine clinics at two locations in Manhattan for the next two weeks. On Wednesday, five Health + Hospital sites will start vaccinations for newly eligible health care workers, namely East New York and Cumberland in Brooklyn, Gouverneur in Manhattan, and Belvis, in Morrisania, in the Bronx.
The City is also connecting with small community providers in priority neighborhoods to connect them locally to available appointments at 16 community health centers and 15 Urgent Care sites. These are all in addition to the hospital sites that have already begun vaccine operations. At these new sites, we'll be ready to welcome newly eligible individuals, such as unaffiliated health care providers who don't have employer-based access to vaccines. These include not just nurses and doctors, but also phlebotomists, dentists, physical therapists, coroners, funeral workers, and staff at specialty clinics like dialysis centers. If you are one of those unaffiliated providers, you can find out how to get vaccinated by visiting nyc.gov/covidvaccine. Working through this weekend, we've also moved up the timeline for our city vaccine hubs, which will launch this coming weekend with three sites that have the capacity for thousands of vaccinations, ramping up over the following week. Health Department staff, other city staff, and the Medical Reserve Corps. will operate the site and we are ready to roll up our sleeves so that New Yorkers can roll up theirs for the shot.

Now, last week, you heard us set a bold goal for the end of January. This requires many factors to line up for it to be possible, including more flexible eligibility guidance, a consistent supply of the vaccine, and a quickened pace from private providers. We must do more together. As we continue to vaccinate health care workers and nursing home residents, New York City would also like to begin vaccinating our seniors, namely those over 75. The sooner we can get them protected, the sooner we will save lives. We also need the federal government to pick up the pace of vaccination through its programs, like the nursing home program operated by CVS and Walgreens. Just as I've asked of our hospitals, we need them working seven days a week and on holidays, which I should point out they did not do this past weekend. We all need these bold goals and to pull out all the stops in order to reach them.

I know it won't be easy for us or anyone else. I know that this is going to be an intense month as we scale up capacity to meet both eligibility and supply, even as we continue fighting back the second wave. We also want to make sure that New Yorkers can get their questions answered about who is eligible and other natural questions, like what kind of screening is required and how to book an appointment. You can do that by visiting our website nyc.gov/covidvaccine. And, of course, we'll be back here as well to share what we know with you, the media, so that New Yorkers get the latest on where to go and what to do to get vaccinated. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Chokshi. Everyone, let me make a couple of points really clear – what Dr. Chokshi is saying. First of all, to everyone, to all our partners, this is got to be a seven day a week, 24 seven reality, going forward. We understand that in the first few weeks there was tremendous caution and care about making sure people understood how to use the vaccine, the refrigeration issues, there was a lot of care to make sure things were done right and safely to make sure that we saw good responses from the folks who were vaccinated. All that happened. That's done. Now, from this point on, seven days a week, 24-seven has to be the attitude and the approach. We're going to do that in the public sector. We need our private sector partners to do the same. Second, essential workers, across the board – I mentioned first responders of all kinds, I mentioned schools, teachers, staff – all essential workers, all the people who have been the heroes throughout this process, we need to reach them and reach as many of them as possible in the month of January. We need that flexibility in the rules to allow us to do that. We're ready to keep expanding outward. With that flexibility, we can reach so many of those folks who did so much for us and who need this protection now so they can keep serving us and protect themselves and their families. So, that's the shape of things to come and that's what we want to see happen over these next days in New York City.

Okay. Now, let me go over to today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for COVID-19. Today's report, 234 patients. Obviously, we've gone by the 200-patient threshold. That's a real concern. Now, the overall situation in the hospitals, I went into great detail yesterday with our health care leadership on this. Hospitals still doing very well in New York City, still holding the line, have built out capacity, working closely with the State of New York. This has been a strong area, even though these numbers are too high and we want to drive them back down. So, hospitals holding, but numbers still worrisome. The hospitalization rate per 100,000 also worrisome – 4.07. We want that below two. So, that's an area we’ve got a lot of work to do. January, absolutely crucial month, coming off the holidays. We hope to see in the course of the month of January, downward pressure on these numbers as the effects of the holidays and the gatherings decrease. We also, obviously, hope to see downward pressure as more and more people get vaccinated. But these numbers are still too high, obviously. And the same for number two, daily number of cases – seven-day average 3,976 – that's confirmed and probable together. That's a very, very high number. We want to get under 550, ultimately. And then on the percent – number three, percentage of people testing positive city-wide, seven-day rolling average, huge number today, nine percent even. We obviously want to get back below five percent. We're going to push hard to get this number back down in the days and weeks ahead. Nothing will be more important than the vaccination effort to help us get there.

Okay, a few words in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, I’ll turned to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Health + Hospitals CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Emma from the New York Times.

Question: Hi. Good morning, Mayor. Happy New Year.

Mayor: Happy New Year, Emma. How are you feeling?

Question: I'm good. I'm good. So, to start out, it seems like you're sort of acknowledging today that the rollout of the vaccine hasn't been going as smoothly, as quickly as you would like. What specifically do you need from the State? What do you want them to greenlight in terms of the next population to get the vaccine?

Mayor: Yeah, this is crucial. Emma, thank you for the question. Look, we've been constantly working with the State, my team talking to the Governor's team. I've been talking to the Governor. Everyone wants to move urgently. No question about it, a lot of cooperation. Here's what we need to do. We've got the category one A, we're working on now, obviously highlighted by health care workers, folks in nursing homes, and folks who staff nursing homes. That's crucial and we're going intensely at that. But we need to get into one B right away. We need to focus on essential workers across the board. Like I said, a whole range of first responders. Obviously EMTs, paramedics have been crucial already. We got to go farther. Police, Fire, first responders across the board, Correction officers. We've got to get into teachers, school staff, the whole range of folks who are there at the frontline, all those essential workers who have been serving us, including folks in grocery stores, other essentially workers who have been a crucial part of this. We need to start moving into as many of those categories as possible in the next few weeks. And having that flexibility is going to allow us to speed up our effort. The more places we can go, the more options, the more we can make the logistics match up. Again. I want to go 24/7 with this, seven days a week obviously. Having more and more options allows us to do it. A lot of these folks rightfully are clamoring, give us a chance to get vaccinated. This is a way to do it. And as Dr Chokshi said, we want to start reaching out to those over 75, who are so vulnerable at the community level. So, if we can get not just one A, but one B immediately it gives us the flexibility to use the supply we have very efficiently, very effectively, very quickly. Go ahead Emma.

Question: And you talk about wanting to move it to 24/7 but why hasn't it been? This is something you knew is coming. You all have been preparing for weeks or months for the vaccination effort. Were people off for the holidays? Why has the first three weeks been so slow?

Mayor: Yeah, Emma, as I said, I think the reality that we have to be keenly aware of is first of all, our health care professionals are dealing with an entirely different vaccine. A vaccine they have never had before. The refrigeration requirements alone have caused a huge number of logistical challenges to get it right and learn how to work with the vaccine properly. The fact that there was a real public concern, a trust issue that had to be addressed, put a real premium on making sure the first few weeks were steady and careful and smart and effective. So, when I look at the first few weeks and I see what was, thank God, a very smooth rollout. Meaning the issues were addressed, the refrigeration was handled properly. The vaccine was handled properly. Those who got the vaccine had a good experience. Almost no instance of a negative reaction. That has allowed trust to build. That's allowed people to see and feel comfortable in the vaccine. Getting it right in the first few weeks was the trendsetter. And that's the thing that was going to give confidence. Now it's time to sprint. All that's been done, logistical groundwork has been laid in the last few weeks while that was being done. From this week on, I expect these numbers to increase intensely. So, this week, for example, previous to this week, about 100,000 vaccinations. In this week, I expect more than 100,000 vaccinations, just in this week. By the time you get to the end of the month, I expect us to be a clip of about 400,000 vaccinations a week. So, the groundwork is laid. Now it's time to put this into action on a 24/7 basis. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Happy New Year.

Mayor: Happy New Year Juliet. Are you ready for 2021?

Question: I am. I'm ready. I'm back in the saddle.

Mayor: Alright.

Question: Thank you. So, my question is, first of all, do you have the supply for a million vaccines this year – of this month? And also, there's been a proposal by Council member Mark Levine to open sites 24 hours. Is that on the table?

Mayor: Absolutely. I want to see 24 hours sites. I want to see, obviously from this point on seven days a week. Again, I understand that the first weeks had to be very careful because our health care professionals were dealing with something they had never dealt with before and they had to get it right. But from this point on, look, that's all behind us now. It's now time to sprint. Seven days a week, wherever possible, 24 hours a day. Everybody, everyone who could be a part of this needs to be a part of this. So, I am confident now that we have all that we need logistically. As you heard from Dr. Chokshi 160 sites by the end of this week, going up to 250 sites minimum by the end of January. That's a tremendous amount of projection capacity. And as for supply, we do not yet have the supply we need to get to a million. That's a crucial point, Juliet. We need the federal government to keep allocating supply to New York City. We need the manufacturers to keep producing it and delivering it. We have enough to get through this week and going into next week. We do not have enough to get through the whole month yet. And we need those deliveries. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: Okay. And switching gears, I know this is so important, vaccine is a priority. But what about an economic recovery plan for New York City? You know, there's so many empty storefronts, obviously restaurants are struggling, people are not working. Do you think you also need to roll out some idea of an economic recovery plan for New Yorkers so that they feel that there's a plan in place or at least a starting point? You know, as we start in the new year and as the vaccinations are getting rolled out?

Mayor: Absolutely Juliet, it's a crucial point. Look, first of all, nothing will help our recovery more than an extraordinary vaccination effort. You know, as I said over these last months was job one was fighting back the coronavirus. So, the economy could reopen, so we could recover. Overwhelmingly New York City has done very, very well. The summer was extraordinary, in the fall now into the winter, thank God we're still doing better than a lot of other parts of the country. And that's because of what New Yorkers have done, which has been heroic. But this vaccination drive is the key to our recovery. So that's job one. But what I'm going to do in the State of the City address is provide that vision of where we go from here on economic recovery as well. And we talked about a bit in September, the focus we're going to put on health care going forward as a huge growth area of our economy. But also, an area where New York City is going to provide particular leadership in the world because everything we've learned from this crisis. So yes, economic recovery plan, absolutely crucial. That'll be coming out this month, but it will be undergirded, the foundation of course, of anything that's really going to reach deep into our communities has to be this fast, effective vaccination effort.

Moderator: Next is Marcia from WCBS.

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today?

Mayor: I am a very happy person Marcia. It’s 2021. How are you?

Question: I'm good. Good and happy New Year. I hope we have a good year coming up. So my first question has to do with the vaccine. And I'm wondering why you're not having the vaccines being given out at CVS, Walgreens, and other drug stores that are easily accessible to people in the community?

Mayor: Well, I think that is the shape of things to come Marcia. I’ll turn to Dr. Chokshi. Because one of the things he referred to is the role that those outlets play in the federal program. And we love that, but we want to see a lot more of that. We haven't seen enough yet. That needs to be on a 24/7 basis. But over time, the vision is to go deeper and deeper to the grassroots, have more and more partners participating, especially as we're trying to reach in the community level, seniors and folks with pre-existing conditions. So, Dr. Chokshi, if you could reiterate the concern about the federal program and then go into the role, you see those pharmacies playing going forward?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you very much for the question. And that's exactly right. We expect pharmacies to be a pillar of our vaccination efforts. With respect to the federal program that the Mayor referred to, the federal government has contracted with CVS and Walgreens to roll out vaccination in nursing homes. We want the pace of that vaccination to accelerate rapidly. Because we know how lifesaving it is for as many people in nursing homes to get vaccinated as quickly as possible. Having CVS and Walgreens vaccinate in the communities across New York City, not just through that nursing home program, does also require some federal coordination. And we have been very aggressive in petitioning for New York City to be the very first place where that will be activated. Which I expect will happen as soon as, as next week. Beyond CVS and Walgreens and some of the other larger chain pharmacies like Rite Aid and others, those are all part of our plan for the next two to three weeks with respect to ramping up as many access points as possible. And I will make note that another very important piece of it is those independent pharmacies that exist in communities, particularly in the priority neighborhoods which will be very important to extend the reach of access to vaccination.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi. I want to amplify that point. Independent pharmacies, mom and pop pharmacies in communities that in many ways, depend on them even more than communities that have a lot more health care options available. A lot of places, the only place to turn is that independent pharmacy. And they've been there for their neighborhoods year after year, generation after generation in some cases. So, I want to thank all the independent pharmacists, all the folks that work in the independent pharmacies. We've needed you long, long time for things like flu shots and everyday help. But now we're going to need you to play a crucial role in the fight against COVID going forward. Go ahead, Marcia.

Question: So, my second question, Mr. Mayor, sort of switching, switching gears. Many schools decided to keep doing this learning remotely until after Martin Luther King weekend, giving families time to quarantine after the holiday break, if needed before returning to in-person learning. I'm wondering what went into the decision here to send New York City public school students back into the classroom today, instead of waiting two more weeks?

Mayor: We're confident based on the standards we put in place. So, let me just refresh everyone's memory. The holidays, of course, we've all had other better things to think about. But the testing initiative we put in place in December when schools came back – about 100,000 students, teachers, staff got tested across the entire school system. 100,000, the positivity level was 0.68 percent. Much, much lower than anything we're seeing anywhere else in New York City. So, the safest place to be in New York City of course, is our public schools. We see that and we know it's working and so we want – absolutely know our kids need to be in school. They need the benefits of in-person education. And a lot of families really wanted that for their kids. So, January 4th was the day we planned to come back and we're confident that this is the right way to go. And that testing starts again today. And it will be every school, every week to make sure everyone's safe. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Rich Lamb from WCBS Radio.

Question: Happy New Year, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call.

Mayor: Happy New Year, Rich. How do you feel?

Question: Well, I've been off for a couple of weeks. So, I feel good.

Mayor: You feel good. All right.

Question: So, I'm just wondering how much resistance are you getting to the vaccine? You know, have you done any kind of a survey to find out who's willing? I mean, I've run into people from plumbers to a dentist who says, you know, they really wonder about it. And they're – and you know, they're concerned. So, I'm wondering whether any kind of a survey has been done or whether there's any experience in the field to see that people are saying no?

Mayor: It's just such an important question, Rich. Thank you. Look, first of all, there's a lot of independent public opinion research that's been done. I think we're seeing here in New York all over the country is there was a lot of concern and mistrust a month or two ago. But that situation is starting to change rapidly as people are actually seeing folks get the vaccine, seeing that there's not a negative impact and that it is giving safety and protection. They're seeing what they needed to see. They needed to know it was safe. They needed to know it was effective. Obviously really important for people to know it's being given for free. It's quick, it's easy. So, folks have been seeing that with their own eyes, more and more people getting vaccinated. The word is spreading, word of mouth. People are hearing from family, friends, neighbors, that's going to magnify and magnify. So, we're quite confident. Now with that said, Rich, do I think there's going to be ten percent or 20 percent of the population for the next few months, that's going to be hesitant and not necessarily willing to be in the early wave? Yeah, of course. But that doesn't change the basic trajectory of what we're doing because we have so many people who are ready, willing, and able that we're going to have plenty of people to give the vaccine to. And the more we give the vaccine to, the more people who have a positive experience, the more people who will want it. Again, we need that flexibility to be able to have as many different people included as possible. But I don't think the quote unquote hesitancy issue is going to stop us from achieving our goals. Go ahead, Rich.

Question: So, just wondering, in regard to the possibility of you taking the vaccine as an example, or you and your family. Are you still going to whatever it is, wait your turn was the original phrase? Or do you think you ought to move it up and do it publicly?

Mayor: I think it is really important for public officials to show that we wait our turn like everyone else. Again, what we're seeing more and more is more and more acceptance, more and more desire for the vaccine. So, some of the hesitancy issues are starting to reduce. That's good news. But what I think is important is people see there'll be fairness and equality in the way that the vaccine is provided. So, there are folks who deserve it and need it more than me. Our first responders, our health care heroes, our seniors in nursing homes and the folks who work with them, all of our essential workers. And folks who are older and have pre-existing conditions. My view is the best thing to do is defer to those who need it most. And when my time comes, then I'm certainly going to be very public about it. But there's a lot of people already starting with the President-elect who have shown folks in this whole city, this whole country that it's safe. I think that message is being sent, you know, loud and clear.

Moderator: Next is Juan Manuel from NY1.

Question: Good morning Mr. Mayor, and Happy New Year.

Mayor: Feliz Aρo Nuevo, Juan Manuel.

Question: Muchas gracias. Feliz Aρo Nuevo. I want to start with just a clarification because you talked about how by the end of the January, you want a million vaccinations, and I'm guessing that means half a million New Yorkers vaccinated by the end of the month. But my question is now that we have the silver bullet, given the importance of vaccination, are you planning on including number of vaccines and the city’s possession, but at any given time and the number of doses distributed in your daily indicators?

Mayor: Yeah, I want everyone to understand exactly how this is progressing, Juan Manuel, and I want folks to understand the speed with which the increase is going to happen. That you're going to see again about 160 sites by the end of this week, going up to 250 sites, you're going to see this week, at least 100,000 or so doses given, going up to the end of the week, as you may end of the month, closer to 400,000 per week. So, we want to show that trajectory. What the concern is now, which is a very honest and real concern, you know, use every dose we have. I want to see that happen immediately, but I want to tell people what we're going to be talking about in a few weeks is not that in a few weeks we're going to be talking about where's our supply, where's the next supply coming from? We need the federal government to keep up with us. We need the manufacturers to keep up with us. That's the concern later in January, will they be able to meet our demand? So we definitely want to show those numbers and show everyone how it progresses in the course of the month. Go ahead.

Question: And yeah, just again, the half a million – million vaccinations or people, if you can clarify that and will lower priority New Yorkers have earlier access to the vaccine if higher priority New Yorkers refuse to get vaccinated? Is there a system in place for that? Because a lot of New Yorkers are already asking after three weeks of the vaccine being here in New York City, when is my turn coming?

Mayor: Yeah, and again, three weeks is a very brief period of time when our health care professionals are dealing with a brand new vaccine and making sure that they know how to use it properly, they know how to store it properly, that they understand that it can be used safely and they're doing it through real experience. That was a very, very important period of time to get everything right for now what will be an intensive push. But to your point, look, one, yes, we'll be giving second doses to our health care heroes and all the folks who are appropriate in that first category will continue to get second doses as we can do that, first doses for everyone else. We're going to be moving both those efforts simultaneously, and that makes all the sense in the world. The first dose gives you about 50 percent protection. The second dose, almost a hundred percent protection. The first dose immediately is a benefit, but we want that whenever we can, as quickly as possible close the loop, get that second dose to many people as possible. But in terms of categories of people, this is why we want the flexibility to have category 1A and 1B both authorized so we can move simultaneously. Wherever is the most effective, efficient place to go. If you think about a seven day a week, 24-7 effort might be that for example, on an overnight shift with our first responders is a great time to get people done who are right now in category 1B, and we're not allowed legally to give the vaccine to. I want to give them the vaccine right away. If I have that authorization, we can be doing that on overnight shifts as a way to be very, very efficient. So there's lots more we can do if we have both those categories approved. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Shant from the Daily News.

Question: Yeah. Good morning, everyone and Happy New Year—

Mayor: Happy New Year.

Question: Thank you, sir. So far, so good. Wanted to ask about the idea of getting to the point of 24-7 vaccinations. I know the city was planning to ask municipal workers to volunteer at the sites at schools and elsewhere. Can you give an update on how that's going? Also, you know, at least one councilman has called for the Medical Reserve Corps to be activated to get to the point of 24-7 vaccination. What would you say to that?

Mayor: I think that's great. I will have Dr. Chokshi talk about the public employees volunteering to be a part of it. But look, this is a “whatever it takes” situation, and again, Shant, I harken back to the other “whatever it takes” situations we've been through in less than a year, we had to save our hospitals and make sure they held during the early part of the crisis. That was whatever the hell it took. We were going to do it. We did. We had to get the PPE and when we didn't get it from the marketplace, we had to build our own. We did. We had to make sure we had a test and trace quarter could reach every corner of the city. We did. We had to open our public schools when a lot of other places didn't dare. We did. We're going to do this too. So, I want every hand on deck, and that means city employees. That means Medical Reserve, anybody and everyone who can help us get this done. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and that's exactly right. It's all hands on deck. We've already issued that call for city employees, and we've gotten a very robust response with respect to people who are interested. We're categorizing that and matching them up with our plan for those vaccine hubs that that I've described. Those vaccine hubs will also involve the Medical Reserve Corps which is a group of about 13,000 New York City personnel, nurses, doctors, other health care professionals, who will be a big part of the workforce for the city vaccine hubs as well. But as the Mayor said, that's just the start. If we need more manpower, there's nothing more important than this vaccination effort, and we'll seek whatever additional manpower we need to get it done.

Just one final note with respect to making sure that vaccination is happening across the entire day, several of the hospitals that I've already visited are doing a very late night and early morning vaccination. They found that that's actually the best way to maximize throughput for people who are either coming in to their night shift or leaving their night shift, and several of the hospitals have started overnight vaccination as well. I encourage as many hospitals as possible to ramp that up this week, if you haven't already.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Shant.

Question: Yeah, so another question about the vaccination hubs, three high schools starting this weekend, it sounds like there could be more schools utilized down the road. Obviously in-person learning isn't happening at high schools, but what can you say about safety for students and educators? If there's a scenario in which vaccinations are being given out simultaneously to the return of in-person learning, if that happens?

Mayor: Yeah, it's a good question, Shant. First of all, let's say, remember on weekends, of course, we don't have any overlap with our public schools so we can do that freely. You're right. middle school and high school right now. We were working on that plan. But job one is to get this vaccination effort going and to fight back this immediate wave we're having with the coronavirus, our hope and prayer is in the course of January, you're going to start to see the case numbers come down because of the effect of the holidays starting to reduce. But if we are not open in middle and high schools, they become a very, very effective option for us. There's a lot of other good community locations we can use. So, we're going to be mindful, always. We've got to keep our schools safe that are open. That's been a strong suit. That gold standard of health and safety measures has worked. The testing has worked. We're going to be very, very careful to keep the schools safe at all costs. We have a lot of other sites we can work with for sure. Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more. First, we'll go to James from PIX 11.

Question: Happy New Year, Mayor.

Mayor: James – there you go. Happy New Year, James. How you doing?

Question: Ah, great. Thank you, sir. I appreciate that you're taking my call. First, look, I'm a journalist. I'm not a mathematician. This is a follow-up on the NY1 call, though. You are still saying a million inoculations by the end of the month. The numbers that you've given though, they to my mind, don’t add up to one million. Are we saying it’s half a million people with two doses, or are you convinced that one million people will get both doses before February 1st?

Mayor: One million doses, one million doses. But remember, depending on when people get their first dose, there's a waiting period you have to go through before the time you can get your second dose. So it's not a choice of, is it one million people or as a half a million people it'll be something in between in terms of people number, but in terms of doses, it will be one million doses. That's the plan, and again, we need help from the federal government, simplifying the rules and ensuring our supply. We need the manufacturers to deliver. We need the state to give us flexibility. We can do it. We have the capacity. If we're going to be at 250 sites, I mean, you're, you may not think you're a mathematician, but I know you can do the math with me. If you're at 250 sites that is 4,000 – 4,000 vaccinations per site. Now we're not at 250 yet, but just put this in your mind or what gets you to a million? 4,000 vaccinations is something that can be done very quickly at an individual site. So we're going to have the physical build-out. We have an incredible infrastructure in this city, but we need the rules to be flexible and we need the supply to be guaranteed. 

Moderator: For our last question, we'll go to David from the Queens Daily Eagle.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, Happy New Year.

Mayor: Happy New Year. How are you doing David?

Question: Good, thank you. When will vaccines reach homeless shelters in supported housing sites? And what will that roll out look like for staff and residents?

Mayor: Again, we want to make sure that we're reaching folks in any kind of a group setting like that. Very important to keep people safe. Dr. Chokshi will go over the, the, where that falls in the scheme of things, but I want to keep emphasizing, this is another reason why we want the flexibility of having a, both categories, 1A and 1B, approved so that we can move expeditiously wherever the need is greatest and have the most options to be able to keep getting people vaccinated. Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thanks, David, for the question from the health perspective, this is certainly a concern of mine as well, with respect to making sure that people who are experiencing homeless as well as the staff who care for them are part of our vaccination plan. The current recommendation is that both staff and residents would be a part of phase 1B. So that's the phase directly after the current one that involves health care workers and nursing, home staff and residents, and we would support as the Mayor has said, moving as expeditiously as possible to opening up a phase 1B so that those people and others who are in that group can get vaccinated.

Mayor: Well, everyone, as we conclude today, look, I don't know about you, but I am feeling a ton of energy because of this new year. It is 2021. I hoped and prayed and dreamed we would get to this year. We are here. We now have a lot of momentum. We in New York City are going to do amazing things in 2021, and we're going to defeat the coronavirus, starting with the biggest vaccination effort in the history of New York City, and that goes into full gear right now. So this is a chance for us to protect people. It's a chance for us to start our recovery. It's a chance for us to show the world just how good New York City is, and we're going to remind people once again, why this is a very, very special place and that's going to be why our recovery happens as well, because the magic of New York City, once people are reminded, they will, once again, gravitate here, support us, invest in us. We will build, we will rebuild. It all starts now. So 2021 is going to be an amazing year let's show what New York City can do. Thank you, everyone.

2021-01-05 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Let me start by telling you a story and it’s a story of heroism, our health care heroes, our health care leaders, the folks on the ground and the folks who organize the massive effort to protect the people of this city, to save this city, to fight off one of the most difficult foes we've ever seen in our history, the coronavirus. Our health care heroes saw us through those horrible months of March and April, dealing with an absolutely unprecedented challenge. Our hospitals held, our public hospitals at Health + Hospitals did amazing work, all our hospitals around New York City, we honor the heroism, the folks who had everything thrown at them, but they held the line. They saved lives. And then as we move forward, there was challenge after challenge. We didn't have enough PPE in this city, we couldn't get PPE from anywhere in the world. Our federal government wasn't there for us, but we kept finding supplies anywhere we could. There were a lot of heroic efforts by New Yorkers in the government and beyond who made things happen and we partnered with the private sector, with the universities, with anyone who offered help to create PPE here in New York City, ventilators as well, whatever it took, we created a whole pandemic response lab in this city. All of these efforts came from the heroic desire of New Yorkers to protect and save New Yorkers and time and time again, they saved the day and I honor them for that. Then it came time to create what we knew would be key to fighting back, a Test and Trace Corp. We created the biggest, strongest Test and Trace Corp. in this nation. Our health care leaders, our health care workers did that, people contributed to make that work. Then it came time to open the nation's largest public school system, and once again, our health care leaders, our health care heroes, our health care workers were their working with educators and staff, together doing what many said was impossible. Not only opening the schools, making them the safest places in New York City.

This is a clear record of achievement and I want to speak up for our health care heroes, I want to speak up for our health care leadership and let everyone know how exceptionally they have performed. And I think it's about trusting the people who have actually done the work, trusting the people who have accomplished so much time and time again, trusting people who have devoted their whole lives to protecting and saving the lives of others. That's what we're doing here in the city and it has worked time and time again, and it will work again going forward as we mount the largest vaccination effort in the history of New York City. Trust is crucial and I want to express to everyone, I want express clearly my trust in our health care leaders and our health care workers, all the health care heroes, and I want to say very clearly, there are health care heroes in cities and counties all over New York State doing the exact same thing. They should be trusted – they need to be trusted too. They should be respected too. Look, all the people that frontline have done the work deserve our trust and respect, and we need to listen to them. We need to listen to them to know what will work. So, to all those City health officials all over the State of New York, all those county health officials, thank you for what you do. Let's all work together to vaccinate people and move forward.

Look, this is a moment for cooperation. This is a moment for trust. This is a moment for partnership. What we need is the freedom to vaccinate. We need to listen to our health care leaders and our health care workers who are saying, give us the flexibility to vaccinate more and more people, let us have the ability to do our jobs the right way, give them the freedom to vaccinate, and they will vaccinate thousands, and tens of thousands, then hundreds of thousands, then millions. What they don't need is to be shamed. What they don't need is more bureaucracy. What they don't need is the threat of fines. If the State of New York says, well, you get a million-dollar fine if you move too quickly and you get a $100,000 fine if you move too slowly, that doesn't get anyone anywhere. That just paralyzes people. Why don't we stop talking about fines and start talking about the freedom to vaccinate, letting the professionals do their jobs. So, we are going to move with every conceivable speed, capacity, creativity, flexibility to do what we can do, but we need help from the State government. We need help from the federal government and I'll speak to the federal piece as well, because there really are crucial things that we need from the federal government to make this work. But the bottom line is our health care leaders, our health care workers are doing the job every single hour of every day. And by the way, there's a lot of people that want the vaccine. There's also people who don't want the vaccine yet, and we need to be aware of that in our plans. And that's okay if they don't want it yet, we'll get them later. But right now, now we want to reach everyone who is ready, willing, and able to get vaccinated.

Here to tell you about the efforts of our public health care system, again, our public hospitals and clinics have been heroic. Our health care heroes throughout have sustained us. The investments we made years ago, we put hundreds of millions of dollars into Health + Hospitals to make it strong well before we ever heard of the coronavirus, those investments were worthy because our health care heroes were there for us. Pleasure to introduce the CEO of Health + Hospitals, Dr. Mitch Katz.

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Well, thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, and you know, our staff was so honored when you came, it will be three weeks tomorrow that you came to Elmhurst Hospital and we started vaccinating those health care heroes and we started, as the State has asked, with the people at the highest risk, those two people you remember, sir, were one worked in the ICU, one worked in the emergency department were people have breathing tubes, which put people at high risk. Both of them you'll remember were over 60 – 

Mayor: Yes.

President Katz: Right. So, we started very narrowly. But in these last three weeks, I'm happy to tell you, we have vaccinated everyone in all 11 hospitals who have patient care responsibilities, so they are protected. They can go and take care of their patients and know that they are not themselves going to fall ill to this illness. Now starting yesterday, the State gave us approval to vaccinate everybody in the hospitals. So, by the end of this week, sir, we are going to vaccinate everybody in the hospitals. All staff who want to be vaccinated, we are going to do it. I was pleased to follow in the footsteps of those two great heroes and get my own vaccine when we opened it up to outpatient doctors and when I see my patients this Wednesday, because it's been 10 days, I will know that I'm not going to transmit the virus to them and I can take care of them without the same worry that I'm going to bring home that virus to my family or elderly parents.

But there's so much more, sir, that we really want to do. We're going to be starting this week to take care of vaccinating the affiliated – excuse me – the unaffiliated physicians, that those are the physicians who worked so hard in the community. They are often taking care of patients from low socioeconomic areas. The dentist, the physical therapist, the home health care aides, the optometrists, we want to vaccinate all of those people so that they too can do their patient care work without worrying about getting infected themselves or worrying that they are going to transmit this virus to someone else. But I have to say, sir, what will make me most happy is when I can vaccinate my own patients. I have several patients who are over the age of 75 with diabetes and heart disease. I want to be able to vaccinate them. We have the ability to do it at our health centers and our hospitals. We simply need the approval from the State so that we can get going on these other groups. The health care heroes deserve to be first. They were at the greatest risk. They gave up – sadly – many of them gave up their lives in order to be able to care of the patients, but we next want to go to the highest risk people, which we know are elderly persons. I want to be able to do those patients in my patient panel who I'm the primary care doctor for. I want to do all of the patients of Health + Hospitals. I know the other hospitals want to be able to offer it to their patients. I think, t00, of my 98-year-old father, you know, World War II vet, my 93-year-old mother, I want them vaccinated. We are waiting our turn, of course, but I want that turn to come and I feel with your leadership, sir, we are ready. We are ready to do those people at greatest risk and we look forward to working with you in the coming weeks to see them vaccinated. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Katz, and what a beautiful story of Mitch Katz’s is 98-year-old dad, World War II hero – thank God, still with us. And, Mitch, I have really admired your devotion to your mom and dad, it’s something I love about you and appreciate about you. But, everyone, listen, his 98-year-old dad is not allowed to get the vaccine right now, that just doesn't make sense. Let's all work together. Let's create the flexibility. Again, give the city the freedom to vaccinate, give our health care heroes the freedom to vaccinate. So, if someone's 98, let's get them a vaccine. If someone's in one of Mitch Katz's hospitals and they're over 75, they should automatically have the right to be vaccinated. We can do more than one thing at once. We can focus on vaccinating all the health care heroes who want the vaccine, all the folks in nursing homes and who work at nursing homes who want the vaccine, while simultaneously expanding the categories, reaching folks over 75, reaching educators, reaching police officers, reaching all of the folks who we need to get the vaccine as quickly as possible. Look, it just is common sense, because we want to get the folks who want the vaccine, but there's a lot of people who are not yet ready. That's okay. Again, that's okay. But when we look at these numbers, we've got to keep in our minds the fact that there's still a substantial number of New Yorkers who are going to take a pass in the first round. That's another reason we need more flexibility, because if you've got a group of people you're authorized to give a vaccine to but a lot of them are not ready to do it and say no, you need to move on to the next group as quickly as possible. You can't be bogged down. That's why we need that greater freedom.

Okay. Now, the federal government – crucial, obviously, in this equation. And what we need the federal government to do is to clear the way, make things simpler, make them clearer, solve some of the problems that are bogging down this effort. I've said very clearly, Operation Warp Speed actually achieved something very, very important and crucial in working with the global scientific community to get these vaccines to all of us in record time. But we need that attitude of warp speed to now be about how quickly we vaccinate everyone. Other nations around the world are showing us great examples. We need federal leadership. I sent this letter to Vice President Mike Pence, and this is online so everyone can see it, and I said, look, we've got a challenge, because, right now, in New York City, we don't know when we're getting future shipments. We can't plan. We need to get a million doses done in the month of January. We don't know where those doses are coming from yet. We need the federal government to fully use the Defense Production Act to maximize production, to give us the most possible clarity about the schedule so we can plan accordingly. But beyond that, we need the government to do much more to make sure that nursing home residents and staff are vaccinated. They've created an initiative with pharmacies. That's great, but it's not moving quick enough. We need the federal government to step in. I sent a letter to Vice President Pence as the leader of Operation Ward Speed, but also the Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and the Director of the CDC Robert Redfield. We need all of them to help move these goals forward. So, the pharmacy effort has to be a lot stronger. On top of that, right now, there are real supports and real incentives for health care providers to provide testing, but not for them to provide vaccines. We need to clarify that, give them the same incentives, give them every reason to want to get vaccines to people in the priority areas. Finally, something the FDA can do – the FDA – I want to tell you, we've been working closely with the FDA and with Stephen Hahn who runs the FDA, has been a great partner. I want to thank him. But we need them to do something our health care leadership has been raising to me for days now. We need the FDA to give approval and to health care providers to pre-fill syringes so vaccination can go much more quickly. We can create a positive vaccination assembly line where a lot of people get vaccinate once because those syringes are ready. Right now, the FDA does not allow hospitals and health care providers to do that. They need to, to help us move. So, look, we can all work together. We can all get all these pieces worked through and work as one – federal, State, local government to get things done. That's the spirit we need to bring to this. So, what I hope we will see is clear answers from the federal government in these next few days. I know the current administration is leaving office in about two weeks, but there's still a lot of good they could do and help us to reach as many people as possible with the vaccine.

All right. Now, what are we going to do? Well, we're going to take a next step in our effort beyond hospitals and clinics and the sites that we've set up already, about 125 sites in New York City, going up to about 160 this week. We to start a new kind of site, a mass vaccination site. We want to create public sites where anyone in the appropriate categories can come 24-seven and get vaccinated. They'll be an all five boroughs. And look, we think if you create sites that anyone can come to any time, they know the vaccines free – I want to emphasize to all New Yorkers, the vaccine is free, it's safe, it's effective. Starting in a few days, these sites will be set up. And what you're going to see are a place where anyone can come any hour of the day, get a free vaccine, get it quickly. Sites will be, again, in all five boroughs, but we need State approval and support to move this effort. We have the capacity. We have the personnel. We need support. And I'm particularly thinking about those folks over 75, and, of course, I'm thinking about all of the essential workers, the public workers, the first responders, the educators, but also the grocery store workers, the folks who have been with us through this crisis, the folks who are at the frontline of help make sure we all get food; transit workers, the folks who bore the brunt of this crisis in so many ways, but we're there for us. I want it to be easy for all of them to get vaccinated. Again, with State support, with State approval, we can move that in a matter of days and open up a whole new front. Some of the sites – so, again, they'll be in all five boroughs. We'll be announcing sites as they’re ready, but some of the sites that are being planned right now – Brooklyn Army Terminal, the Annex Building in Sunset Park, Brooklyn; the Bathgate Industrial Park in the Bronx; La Marqueta in East Harlem. These will all be public sites, City-owned sites and we'll be getting details to you about exact schedules and locations as they come online. And again, this is in addition to all Health + Hospitals facilities, to the vaccine hubs that we've been setting up already, including in public school buildings and Department of Health pop-up sites. We're going to have capacity all over the five boroughs. We want to make it easy and quick and accessible to all.

Now, one more point, and this is a challenge we all face, which is while we've been ramping up the vaccine effort – and, again, we know the capacity of this city, because we saw it time and time again. We saw it with Test and Trace Corps. We saw it with opening schools. We know we can do it, but we've got a new foe now, this new variant that first was identified in the United Kingdom. We all should be worried about this. Thank God, not because it's more deadly, but because it does spread, unfortunately, even faster. We need the federal government to step up here and ban all travel from the United Kingdom to the United States of America. And I'm, obviously, specifically most concerned about the three airports serving New York City. It's time to stop the half measures. I mean, right now, you can still get on a plane in London, not even have proof that you have a negative test and merrily come over to New York City and spread the disease. Why? Why is that going on? Why still after all these challenges and problems is this madness still going on? This new variant is tremendously troubling. Let's have a travel ban right now – a travel ban from the United Kingdom to the United States to protect all of us. Buy us time to get the vaccinations done and protect people. But if we don't have a travel ban, then we're literally inviting this new, horrible variant in the door even more and that makes no sense. So, I call upon the federal government to act now while we can. The amount of inconvenience it causes to travelers pales in comparison to the danger this variant poses to all of us. Let's shut down that danger right now.

All right, today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 210 patients. Obviously, we want to be below 200. That number is still too high. Hospitalization rate 4.07 per 100,000, still too high. Again, that being said, hospitals are doing amazing work right now. Whether you're talking about public hospitals, independent hospitals, voluntary hospitals, they're all doing really extraordinary work. They're holding the line well. They have capacity. So, even with these daunting numbers, kudos to our health care workers, our health care leaders, our hospital systems for the great work they're doing. Number two, daily number of new cases of COVID-19 – today's number, 4,600 – excuse me, 4,064 – 4,064, way, way above where we want to be. And percentage of New York City residents testing positive, seven-day rolling average – today, 9.03 percent. Again, way above where we need to be. We need to turn that tide and the vaccine is the best way to do it.

A few words in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, by Dr. Long, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. The first question today, it goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Mayor, I want to drill down on your argument about flexibility from the State. Are you really making the case that the sole reason that City hospitals have not used all of their allotted vaccine is because you don't have the flexibility to vaccinate people outside the 1-A category?

Mayor: Andrew, I appreciate the question a lot. Look, there's two points here. First, we needed the freedom to vaccinate. We need to listen to our health care leaders. They are saying, give us freedom and flexibility and we'll be able to vaccinate a lot more people who are all high-priority people. But second, of course, we want to always do better, and that's why we're ramping up this effort. The first few weeks, we had to make sure that things were safe, that we really could use this vaccine properly – brand-new vaccine, brand-new reality, different refrigeration reality than we've ever had before, etcetera. We needed to make sure it was safe. We needed to make sure we could do it right. But now, we have got to sprint. So, that's on us. That's on me, personally. I take full responsibility. I know the health care leadership of this city does too. Within each category, we have to do the most possible. And I'll turn to Dr. Katz to emphasize this point off your question, Andrew, we cannot leave out of this discussion the point that there are a number of folks, even in the health care world, who do not yet choose to be vaccinated. So, I want to use up every single dose we have, but we can't give a dose to someone who is not willing to take it. That's part of the challenge here. Dr. Katz?

President Katz: Andrew, last week we walked through the hospitals, through all of the clinical areas and we told people who hadn't been vaccinated, come vaccinate now. We'll cover your patients. On work time, come vaccinate now. We've had amazing, amazing take-up from our physician staff. But among the nursing and support staff, as the Mayor has said, there are people who have justifiable concerns. They need some more time. They worry about the speed the vaccine was developed. They want some more time before they're ready to be vaccinated. So, yes, we have vaccinated at Health + Hospitals all of the clinical people who wish to be vaccinated. Starting yesterday, we were given approval to go broader, outside of the clinical areas, but still the critical functions of the hospital. And also, this week, we will be doing the unaffiliated providers. But by the end of last week, I had vaccinated all of those people in the clinical areas who wanted to be vaccinated at all 11 hospitals. And I know my colleagues in the other hospitals have done that as well.

Mayor: Andrew, again, I want to come back to the common sense here. I want to give the freedom to our health care workers to vaccinate everyone available in their facility at any given moment. So, for example, not just the frontline health care personnel, but everyone who works in the hospital is part of that hospital ecosystem. I want all of them to have the right to be vaccinated. I want everyone who is in a hospital and is over 75 years old to be vaccinated. Again, just think of the common sense here. You've got the vaccine, you've got the staff, you're in the hospital – everybody willing in that building at any given hour should get vaccinated. Let's loosen up these rules. Everyone is still a priority person, but this way we know we keep moving things forward. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: [Inaudible] square that answer with the Governor's statistics that show a hospital, for example, like New York Presbyterian, using 99 percent of its allotment?

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Katz and be clear. First of all, Health + Hospitals accepted allotment for many, many other providers far beyond Health + Hospitals. And, obviously, it takes time to get that vaccine out to each of them and for them to be able to use it. And, again, what we talked about here with the federal government, the rules for how you provide the vaccine are cumbersome. You literally cannot put the vaccine into syringes in advance, that slows everything down. We need these rules opened up too. So, Health + Hospitals has been taking in vaccine for lots of different folks and hasn't been able to vaccinate everyone they would like to. Obviously, those are challenges. Plus, some of their supply just came in. But we want to do better. So, Andrew, again, I accept full responsibility. I know Dr. Katz does too. We want to make sure that every dose is used, but we need some help and flexibility to do it. Dr. Katz, do you want to add?

President Katz: Yes. Andrew, the group of unaffiliated physicians and nurses and physical therapists in the community is 50,000 people. And that that group is going to be done in bulk by Health + Hospitals starting this week. So, that's why the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene moved the vaccine to us in preparation of us doing that this week. So, while the numerators that you saw are accurate, and I think both us and Presbyterian have done a great job of vaccinating the people in the highest risk, the denominator reflected this week's work, which we uniquely are doing.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Amanda from Politico.

Question: Good morning. How is everyone?

Mayor: Good, Amanda. Happy New Year to you.

Question: Happy New Year. So, I wanted to follow up on your mass vaccination site plans. So, in DC – Washington DC sent out a portal, saying to the public, if you would like to be vaccinated, please fill out this form saying who you are, what your job is, meaning like do you work at the bodega? Are you a cab driver? Are you a student? And if you have pre-existing conditions. And so, I was curious if New York has to start collecting that kind of data? One, to create an idea of what the demand will be for the average person. But then, two, to help with this mass vaccination plan, where, to your point earlier about making sure that the grocery store workers coming in, how would the average on health care worker who's staffing that vaccination site know whether or not I'm sneaking in versus somebody else who really is on the front line every day?

Mayor: That’s a great question, Amanda. Let me – I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz. We had this dialogue in detail yesterday about how the precertification – I'm going to use that phrase to answer your question – precertification has been the model that has been working in our hospitals and this is the right model for a general public effort as well. Exactly what you're saying, you want folks who do qualify to attest to the fact that they qualify to give the details to be all ready to go so when they come in to that center you just need to confirm identity, then go get vaccinated. So, it moves really, really quickly. But we do want that kind of precertification effort to make sure we're always getting the highest priority folks. Now, that being said, when you think about all of those grocery store workers, transit workers, all of the folks who serve in our schools, first responders, that's a whole lot of people. That's a category of almost a million people – that category 1-B. There are plenty of good New Yorkers would need the vaccine and we can get them into that kind of precertification model so we can move it quickly. Dr. Katz, you want to talk about how you've been doing it?

President Katz: Yes, Mr. Mayor. So, we have built a module that not only would allow people to, as the Mayor says, explain what their risks are, but it will also allow people to self-schedule for their appointments, which is critical. What you don't want – I know it’s happened in a few other areas of the country – is the phone lines go down, because so many people are trying to call at the same time. That's not efficient. What you want is the ability for most people who can use the computer to be able to do it online. We'll create a separate line for those people who really cannot use the computer. But the majority of people will be able to find someone who will go online and they will be able to not only put in their eligibility, but they'll be able to choose what site and what time. I mean, we do have to make sure that it's appointments so that we do not overcrowd any existing facility. I mean, that is one of the true challenges of COVID vaccination, is that we don't want to spread COVID while were vaccinating people to prevent COVID. So, we can't have a waiting room with 50 people in it. But that's why having an online scheduler so that people can choose the site, choose the time, we can control the number of people at any one time in any one site. With the Mayor's leadership, there is going to be a proliferation of sites. So, there'll be lots of choices where people can go, that will help us to spread out those people who need the vaccine so as not to spread COVID.

Mayor: Go ahead, Amanda.

Question: Great. Thank you for that. And then, my second question is around staffing. I understand that this plan hinges on getting approval from the State to move forward on this, but then also the feds to make sure that we're getting an adequate supply to keep up with the demand for the scheduling. Who do you think is going to staff these? I would imagine that there's going to be a period of time where the medical workers are treating COVID patients and may not be able to be vaccinated people. So, who's going to fill in those gaps?

Mayor: I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi about how we're going to use Health + Hospitals personnel, Department of Health personnel, and folks from the City government agencies across the board, the medical reserve, I mean, there's a lot of – the contract workers – there's lots of different ways to do it. They can give you some of the detail of that. But I think the point about an online system that gives you a clear sense of how many people are going to be where, that makes it very efficient. And remember, when you get to that kind of system, the staffing gets very efficient too, because if you know a certain number of people are coming, they're all pre-certified, you just need to check identity against the pre-certification. The actual vaccine, Amanda, is incredibly quick to give. It's like, you know, anyone who's gotten a flu shot in a pharmacy – it's a matter of a few minutes. And we had a conversation recently about, you know, what can an individual health care worker do in an hour, 25, 30 – even more people can be vaccinated, literally, one after another, after another if the rest of the structure is set up right. Not everyone who's there has to be a health care worker to make that work. The person checking folks in, obviously, can be someone who's not a health care worker. You do need doctors on site to watch people make sure they're okay. After they've gotten the vaccine, they do need to wait for a while just to see if there's any reaction. Thank God, overwhelmingly, we have not seen negative reaction in folks who received the vaccine almost without exception. But just to clarify, it is not necessarily a labor-intensive activity if you have a pre-certification model.So, on the different strands of staffing, we'll be turning to obviously Ted Long is here, Dr. Long, T2, Test and Trace is going to be a big part of it, huge group, 5,000 strong. They're going to be crucial as well. Dr. Katz then Dr. Chokshi. 

President Katz: So, let me start Amanda because I think it's a good question. People worry about with the hospitals having more patients with COVID, how will we be able to do it? And what we're lucky at is the challenge in staffing hospitals during COVID are the very highly skilled ICU nurses, highly skilled respiratory therapists, people who have studied intensivist physicians, people who have studied years to be good at what they are able to do. Fortunately, when it comes to vaccination, a large number of different professional people, registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses can give, physicians can give vaccine. People who are retired, who may not be ready to work on a hospital ward can give vaccines. As the Mayor has said, I think if all of the paperwork were done, and the only thing I had to do was to give – to wipe the person's shoulder off with alcohol, give the injection, take out the injection and put on a band aid. I'm sure I could do 40 people an hour. So then the goal is, but I need all the other things done. I need them to pre-register. I need them to, someone to check that the registration is correct. I need someone to lead them to my chair. I need somebody to prefill the syringe. I give the syringe. I need them, as the Mayor says, to have a place where they can be watched. But I think this is an operation that really can, if you break it into its parts, be done very efficiently. 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi again, on all picking up on Dr. Katz’s point. Efficiency is going to be crucial. Precertification will be crucial, but talk about the different strands of staffing we're going to bring together here. 

Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Absolutely Sir. This is something that we've been thinking about intensively. Before I get into some of the details to add to what Dr. Katz has said. I want to just start with the very big picture, which is there is virtually nothing that is more important than our COVID vaccination effort right now. So when it comes to staffing and ensuring that we have adequate staffing that's the approach that we're going to take to pull out all the stops to get the right people into the right places to administer vaccines. To build on what Dr. Katz has said in terms of, you know, the types of people that we need to do that, it really boils down to two groups. Clinical staff and nonclinical staff. And this is true, whether we're talking about the City's mass vaccination sites, our COVID vaccine hubs or any of the other places where people will be able to get a COVID vaccine in the coming days and weeks. On the clinical staff side, it's all of the people who do the everyday miracle of vaccination. Whether it's pharmacists or nurses that have been doing our seasonal influenza vaccination. But it's also pulling on the contracts that we have available to be able to ramp that up with respect to who can deliver a vaccine. And as the Mayor said, ensuring that the Health Department, Health + Hospitals, and all of the City's clinical resources are brought to bear on this as well. And then on the non-clinical staff side, these are people who do the flow monitoring, making sure that the paperwork is all right so that there is that very seamless process going through a clinic. And for that we can pull from an even broader pool with respect to City staff and many, many people who have raised their hands to help with this effort. The final thing that I'll say is that on the clinical side as well, the Medical Reserve Corps, this is a group of thousands of nurses, doctors, nurse practitioners whom we are in contact with specifically to help with the COVID vaccination effort. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Doctor. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Bob Henley from the Chief Leader 

Question: Happy New Year all. In interviewing Dr. Prezant, the FDNY’s top medical officer, I learned that we still do not know the degree to which the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine prevents asymptomatic transmission of this virus. And if it does for how long? Does that mean as a practical matter, those who get inoculated need to continue the masking and social distancing precautions? 

Mayor: Yeah. I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. Bob, great question. What I said this – I was asked this kind of question last week. That I want people to think about the first half of this year up through June as the time that we're going to be vaccinating again, every New Yorker who wants it. And that in the process, we want to maintain our good habits. We want to keep wearing masks. We want to keep the social distancing, keep the sense of caution and defense that we've had all along. Bob, look, let's realize, first of all, until you get more and more people vaccinated, obviously we still face the threat of the disease. Second, this new variant, huge curveball. So, we want people to just be in a smart, cautious, defensive posture for the first half of the year. Stick to those good habits because they work. And then when we've got a huge percentage of folks vaccinated and the whole situation around the country, hopefully is improved, that's a time we can think about going back to the kind of way we lived before. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: That's exactly right. Mr. Mayor. And the short answer to your good question is that yes, people do need to continue following all of those public health precautions that have worked over the last few months. Particularly continuing to wear their mask or face covering, continuing to socially distance, and making sure that you're washing your hands frequently. Another thing to just keep in mind about both vaccines is that they are two dose regimens. There is some immunity that's built up a few days after getting the first dose, but it takes until a few days after the second dose to get up to the levels of effectiveness that we have seen in the clinical studies. So throughout that period, but also beyond for the reasons that the Mayor has mentioned, it's going to be very important for us, both as individuals, whether you're vaccinated or not, as well as a community to keep doing the things that have worked for us. 

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: Okay. Yeah. And so, to the question I heard earlier, the division between nonclinical and clinical. At the Chief Leader we've been tracking the circumstances of people like Priscilla Carol who is a CWA 1180 member, coordinating manager, who died at Elmhurst Hospital, whose job was to hand out a mask. But you know, that those folks didn't necessarily get one. They're technically nonclinical. There's also like 983 Local DC 37, high pressure plant tenders who can be in the midst of the places that Dr. Katz’s staff is working. What effort is, is the City making to identify proactively these myriad of titles that may not be – that may be incidental on paper, but are central to how these institutions function? 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Bob. I appreciate that question. No one's incidental. No one in a hospital is a second-class citizen. We need to reach everyone who works in our hospitals, whether they're public hospitals, voluntary, independent, we need to reach them all. By the way, what's a better way to speed up vaccination than to make sure that every single human being who works in a hospital building and is ready to be vaccinated, actually gets the right to be vaccinated? So, I want Dr. Katz to talk about the experience that he's having, but just follow through the logic. If anyone's working in the hospital, they're helping us. If anyone's working in the hospital, they're supporting our health care heroes. If anyone's working in a hospital, they are putting themselves in some kind of proximity to folks with the coronavirus. Also, again, I want Dr. Katz to have the right to vaccinate anyone over 75, who comes into one of his hospitals or clinics for any reason at all. I don't care if they stubbed their toe. I want them to have the right to the vaccine if they're over 75. So, Dr. Katz, could you speak to that? 

President Katz: Bob. Thank you so much for always caring about Health + Hospitals employees. It makes me feel great. So, starting yesterday, I can now vaccinate everybody in the hospital as the Mayor has explained. And we will continue to walk through the hospital to make sure that everybody knows that vaccinations are available. They are right at the site, so people don't have to go anywhere. Although they also have the choice, if they wish to get vaccinated at a site that may be closer to their home. We allow that as well. And we allow people to go on their work time. So, we're doing everything possible to make sure that all of the people who work at any of our hospitals starting yesterday, when the State allowed us to move into this category are able to get vaccinated. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is David Cruz from Gothamist. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing? 

Mayor: Hey, David, happy New Year to you. 

Question: Happy New Year. So, we're getting reports of widespread vaccine hesitancy among hospital employees with as many as 70 to 80 percent of workers at some hospitals saying they're going to wait and see. So, what is the percentage of hesitant staffers in the City's hospital system and what are the efforts to turn that attitude around? 

Mayor: Excellent question, David. I'll start and obviously turn to Mitch. It's a real issue. And we got to look it in the eye. It's understandable after all the pain of 2020, that a lot of people are worried. And just in general, folks who have been through so much we've got to understand that we got to win trust for the vaccine. We've been talking about this now for weeks, winning trust for the vaccine, but the best way to do it of course, is by example. So many people have gotten the vaccine now who had a very good experience with it. It was safe, effective, free, fast, easy. The more people see that the more they feel it. I think you'll see that hesitancy reduce. But in the meantime, we're going to keep educating people, keep giving those positive examples, keep answering questions. People have a lot of questions. That's fair. We want to answer those questions. And Mitch can talk about how that's being done in Health + Hospitals. But again, it's crucial to now link that to the bigger picture. Let's choose a number. I think based on conversations with Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi, I would place that number over 30 percent. So, let's say at least a third of folks in general are still hesitant. That's another reason why you need more flexibility, because if I'm looking at a group of a thousand people and 300 or 400 of them are not yet ready to be vaccinated, I don't need a thousand doses for that group. I need to finish that group and go to the next group. And we've got to recognize that where there is willingness, that's where we need to lean in. And when there's not yet willingness, we'll come back right around. And ironically, David, the more people get vaccinated in any priority category, the more faith it will give everyone else. Dr. Katz? 

President Katz: I think the Mayor has explained it well, David. I know it's – at our facilities. It is not 70 percent. That that's too high. But I think around 30 percent is accurate. When I've talked to people, I think you have to, as the Mayor is explained, have empathy, and really think about what the experience has been of a Health + Hospital nurse over the last 10 months. How many times science has corrected itself? How many times it's turned out that there was some new wrinkle and they've gone through every day of that, right? Not everybody has to live the life of the nurse who's told today this is what works. And then tomorrow, oh no, we've learned something more. It's completely understandable with the new virus that every day we would be learning new things. But while we're learning new things, the nurses are actually working right? And they're trying to take care of their patients in the best way possible. So, is it at all surprising that people want a little bit more time to know that this too will not turn out to be wrong? Any time in health care, you adopt something new. There are always the early adopters, right? They can't wait to get it. They're at the top of the line. They want to do it. There will always be a few people who will never want to do it. But the vast majority of people, once you give them enough time, we'll agree to get a sensible intervention. And I have no doubt that after millions of people across the country are vaccinated, the safety record is shown. Months have gone by, consensus remains this vaccine is safe. People will go and get it. We don't need to harangue them at this moment. We can allow them the space they deserve for the heroic work they've done. 

Mayor: Amen.

Moderator: The next is Nolan from the Post. 

Question: Hi morning, everybody. 

Mayor: Happy New Year Nolan. How are you doing? 

Question: I'm all right, Mr. Mayor and happy New Year to you and to yours as well. I'm just trying to figure out exactly the source of the dispute between you and the Governor over the speed at which the city's public hospital system is administering vaccine? And we put some of these questions to Health + Hospitals yesterday. Didn't get much in the way of hard numbers back. So, I'd like to put them to you today to see if you have them? Which is roughly how many Health + Hospitals employees were eligible for vaccination before the expansion of group 1-A? And how many of them had received it at that point? 

Mayor: So, Nolan, again, I want to see us all move forward together. I want to be really clear about this. I want to work with the State. I want to work with the federal government. I think if we all work together, we're going to get somewhere. I am fully responsible for all the efforts of New York City government. I expect us to do better. I'm holding every one of my colleagues accountable and myself accountable. But I also know we do need the freedom and the flexibility to do this the best we can. So, as you heard, Dr. Katz say, once he got the authorization to do more people in his hospitals, he started that immediately. And that will be completed in a matter of days. It's simple when we have an authorization to do something, we can do it very quickly. But we also do need simpler rules from the federal government. That gets back to that point about the syringes. That right there would be a great difference maker, which is why we're appealing to the federal government on that. Mitch, you want to just fill in any specifics? 

President Katz: I think one of the misconceptions that people had is that the data that the Governor showed was about the percentage of eligible people who got vaccination. That wasn't what it was. It was the percent of doses. And as I explained earlier in the week, we took on a large number of doses yesterday in order to be able to do this week, the unaffiliated providers. I have every reason from my discussions with other health care leaders to know that we have done as well as the other hospitals in terms of vaccinating those people who are eligible. And again, I go back to last week, we walked through the hospital, all of the clinical areas where we're able to vaccinate. And told people we have empty slots that are available now, come while you are on work and get vaccinated. And it happens that not everybody is yet ready for that moment. 

Mayor: Go ahead Nolan. 

Question: I guess I posit those questions because the Governor's office is on the record to the Post this morning saying that those tabulations were for weeks one through three. They don't include the vaccines delivered for week four. I think this gets to why technical briefings are important, but that issue to the side. On January 1st, the city as a whole, injected only 148 people with shots on New Year's Day, only 148 people were given shots. The City controls one of the largest hospital systems in the city with Health + Hospitals. That's still just an average of 13 shots per hospital on that day. Why in the best case that the City's public hospital system deliver 13 shots per day on New Year's Day? 

Mayor: Nolan, very fair question. Let me say that we can't have another day like that ever again. There are no holidays. There are no nights. There are no weekends going forward. Everything has to be on a 24/7 basis. I do understand on a very human level that after a year of nonstop warfare, a lot of people were very tired and spent by the time they got to the holidays. But that's not an excuse. It should have been better on January 1st. And we certainly saw the same problem with the pharmacies under the federal program focused on nursing homes. There was a drop-off that holiday weekend that should not have happened. Going forward everyone's getting a clear message from me and I'm responsible. 24/7 everything is going, every day we're going to keep increasing the numbers. So, this week, our goal is to get to about 100,000 doses. And then each week thereafter increase. By the end of the month, I want to see us in all parts of New York City combined at about 400,000 doses a week. Again, these big public sites up and running. We need the support from the federal and State government and the manufacturers. But we're on a trajectory to be able to do hundreds of thousands of people a week and just keep growing from there. Everyone needs to feel that urgency. I certainly do. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey, good morning and Happy New Year, everybody, and Mayor de Blasio.

Mayor: Happy New Year, Katie. How are you doing?

Question: Oh, you know, I'm okay, hanging in. My question – I know there's a lot going on. Obviously, we have the vaccination rollout, lots of questions about that, but I'm hearing from lots of people that they're also very concerned about the rising case numbers. It seems like just yesterday, we were kind of stressed out about three percent and now we're over nine percent. So, I guess my question is your thoughts on the rising cases. I know, you know, you send out like a daily tweet with affirmations about hanging in there but is there anything more the City can be doing to keep case numbers down because it's very concerning. I think a lot of people are getting very nervous as these continue to go up. They're going up in schools and all that.

Mayor: Yeah, look, I understand why people are nervous and these numbers are very troubling. Let me say a couple of quick things and obviously to the question, what the City can do, will do, is doing. Katie, first of all, one area where there's been a lot of agreement between the State and the City – and I certainly agree with the Governor's approach on the hospitals – has been that we have seen amazingly good results from our hospitals whether public, whether voluntary, independent all over the state. Hospitals learned so much between the spring and the fall. They are handling these cases really, really well. So, thank God, even as we've seen increased hospitalizations, hospitals are having better results, helping people. I don't want to lose a single New Yorker, but what we have seen is many, many fewer people dying, many more people surviving coming right back out of the hospital, and lots of capacity in the hospitals. This is the big difference here that has obviously changed our assumptions about cases because we're seeing them handled so much better. Second, we've seen that New Yorkers are still doing so much of the right thing.

There's still so many people wearing masks, social distancing, taking the precautions. Dr. Chokshi has been really clear about older New Yorkers and New Yorkers with preexisting conditions needing to really be as isolated as possible. And I know people are heeding that, so that's important. So, the most vulnerable are, we have a lot of evidence, really listening and making those adjustments. Now we have the opportunity with the vaccine to change the entire environment. Again, we need support, we need flexibility, but this is going to be a game changer. So, the City continues intensively to do the outreach work. And, again, I think Dr. Long and everyone at Test and Trace. They're out there educating people all the time, mask distribution, they're out there following up on cases. And every time they follow up on a case, it limits the spread of the disease. So many people are participating effectively in quarantine efforts and safe separation. The testing, we've had the highest testing numbers we've ever had in the last few weeks, over a hundred thousand a day, one day recently, a number we could not have imagined. That’s deepening all the time. And, of course, an ever intensifying vaccination effort. You add all that up. I feel very good about where we're going to be a few weeks from now, particularly if we can go quickly and stay ahead of this variant, which is why I want that a travel ban in place.

Last point, Katie, we're all hopeful. I talked to Dr. Fauci about this. Everyone I've talked to agrees that there's a hope that at the latter part of January, that the impact of the holidays really will dissipate. So, all those gatherings, Christmas and New Year’s, etcetera whatever impact they may have had that that will be trailing off by the end of January, just as vaccine distribution is intensifying. That's the hope for how we continue to turn the corner here. Go ahead, Katie.

Question: Just to follow up, while I understand Thanksgiving and Christmas and other holidays around December are popular. I don't have much hope that people will stop gathering indoors. You could count a million different things between now and the summer in terms of gathering right [inaudible] where people want to go. So, my question is, I mean, the numbers don't add up to me and the timing doesn't add up to me, looking at the slow rate of our vaccinations here in the city and what will probably be a brutal winter. I guess, what can the City do to double to stop these rising cases? Because it is a huge concern. You're seeing more cases in the schools. You're seeing it at [inaudible] can the City do more than just, you know, tweeting out, keep it up?

Mayor: Again, Katie, I'm going to turn to Dr. Varma. I want to get him in the mix here on one of these pieces, because I think it's really important to remember how all the previous efforts have added up with what's happening now. Clearly, when we're tweeting encouragement to people, that's something that's actually really important to thank people for all they're doing. New Yorkers have been heroic, and they deserve thanks and encouragement, but what is so crucial is all the tangible efforts to keep schools safe, which have succeeded, all the amazing efforts in the hospitals to protect people which are succeeding more than ever before, all of the work of the Test and Trace Corps, all of the work of this vaccination effort, these are all really tangible high-impact things, and they're going to grow each day. Dr. Varma, I want you to speak to this point – we know in addition to the power of vaccine, even the first dose helps to protect people, we also have gotten probably between two and three million New Yorkers who have been exposed to the disease previously in the course of these last ten months, and that is an important piece of this equation as well. If that big a piece of the population has been exposed and is therefore, from everything we've seen scientifically so far, less vulnerable to having a new infection or particularly a harsh new infection, that really does affect the equation. That protects people inherently. And what we're concerned about, of course, first and foremost is saving lives. So, Dr. Varma, you've been at this the whole way through, could you please talk about that combination of the impact of vaccine, but combined with the impact of the millions of people having already been exposed?

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Yeah. Thank you very much for the question. I think that what – of course, none of us can predict what's going to happen over the future. And I just want to re-emphasize the most important points are the strong adherence to the measures that we know work well, the masks and the distance are absolutely critical, and then combining that with our testing and tracing. Those have been the reason why New York, while we've had a very severe and difficult resurgence, has not faced the same challenges that other places have. It’s clearly blunted our resurgence and kept things under better control. The Mayor's point is that – is a very important one to keep in mind as well too, because we now have another defense against this disease. We have the combination of a vaccine that specifically when it's targeted at people of highest risk, those who are 75 and older, those who are essential workers, is going to have an impact on reducing our disease.

Now you can combine that with what our estimates are of people who have been previously infected. Now this does get challenging because one of the big unknowns is how much immunity do people get from prior infection and how long does it last? What we think has happened is that probably somewhere on the order of about 25 percent of the population – and there's some, you know, range around that – had the COVID infection at some point since the epidemic started last year. Now we know that some percentage of that population is going to have protection against either a very severe infection or get infection at all. So, when you combine the people who have some measure of acquired immunity with the people who are vaccinated and all of our other measures, testing and tracing and masking, we are confident that we are going to get to a point in New York where we can start to progressively see decline. I think the real unknown and the thing I won't be able to put a finger on is, is that going to be at the end of this month, does that go into the end of February? It's going to depend on a lot of different factors, particularly maintaining adherence, speeding up vaccination, and continuing our testing and tracing.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Yoav from The City.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, you released – in September you released an outline of an economic recovery agenda and kind of promised more details in the weeks and months to come. I'm just wondering as it stands now what is the City's current economic recovery plan and how comprehensive is it?

Mayor: Yoav, we're going to talk a lot about the economic recovery in the month of January and the whole of 2021. The bottom line to me is I feel very, very positive about where the city's going to go in 2021 and beyond. We're already seeing some very promising signs, real investments coming into the city in our technology community, life sciences, a lot of what is going to indicate the future of New York City. I put forward a plan back in September with a focus on health to make New York City the public health capital of the world. I'm going to elaborate on that plan in the State of the City address. We've got a lot we're going to build up in 2021 that will set up our future economy. I think you also would agree the number one way to set up our future is to secure our present. And that means this intensive vaccination campaign to turn the corner on the coronavirus. But we're going to flesh out a detailed plan and not just a plan, a lot of very specific announcements that'll be happening this year about how we build our economy up, bring back jobs, and recover and move forward as a city. I'm very optimistic. Go ahead, Yoav.

Question: Well, just to follow up on that, I mean, we're ten months into the pandemic and the crisis, you know, for the industries like the service industry, the restaurants, the hotels, folks that rely on tourism, what is the current plan to help them other than hoping for assistance from the federal government?

Mayor: Well, a couple of things, Yoav. First of all, that assistance from the federal government is not just about hope, that's about fairness. That stimulus is something that's right for the whole nation. It's the way to have a recovery. That's why people came up with the phrase stimulus to stimulate the economy, to rebuild it, to bring it forward. That's what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did during the New Deal or else this country would have been devastated in a way it would not have recovered from for decades. So, we know intensive stimulus works, and we know we need one now, and we're quite clear Joe Biden is 100 percent committed to that. So that's not an ancillary thing that is central to bring it back to New York City and the entire country. Second, we see a whole host of industries that have continued to be strong even during this crisis and I believe will now get stronger in New York City, including the technology community and especially the life sciences community, which has been poised for a takeoff for several years. It is clearly going to benefit from all of the new research money that's going to be available, and New York City is going to be one of the places that does the most with that. But I think we can build even further upon that, become the public health capital of the world because of what's happened here. The fight that's been waged here, the lessons learned that are applicable to the whole world when it comes to fighting this pandemic. In terms of the hospitality industry, which is really hurting, and I feel for everyone who has been through so much this year, we've obviously proven that we could do something very different with the restaurant piece of the equation. About a hundred thousand jobs have been brought back through the Open Restaurants program. That's now going to be the permanent model. We're going to be working on ways to reinforce the rest of the hospitality industry, but it's not shocking to say that will take more time because that really requires the full securing of the health care situation locally and nationally, even internationally, so travel comes back, but there's so many other pieces of our economy that are strong and will be stronger. We're going to keep building all those pieces up and that's the plan I'll be laying out in the next few weeks.

Moderator: Last question today goes to Jeff Mays from the New York Times.

Question: Happy New Year, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Jeff, Happy New Year to you.

Question: Thanks, appreciate it. So, I just had a couple of questions. I'm wondering, you know, you made some remarks last night about arrogance in terms of the Governor and his remarks about [inaudible] people. I'm wondering if you could expand on that, what you mean by a little bit, and, you know, I guess my bigger question is, you know, you and the Governor have had conflict in the past. This is a public health crisis. You know, people are dying or getting infected every day. Why isn't it possible for you two just to sit down and work the situation out, present a united front and a way of moving forward that will get the most people vaccinated as quickly as possible? When was the last –

Mayor: Jeff, I think that's exactly the right approach. I have spoken with the Governor many times in recent weeks and totally believe that the City and State can do great things together. And I've said it more times than I can count, Jeff, the vast majority of times in this crisis the City and State have agreed, the Governor and I have agreed, we both have been cautious and careful in terms of health care issues, focused on science and data. And I've commended him for that, I think has been the right approach. Look, last night, Jeff, I let my emotions get the better of me because I really wanted to emphasize that our health care heroes were doing their job and they were worthy of respect and trust. And I really wanted to defend the people that I believe in. And I – you know, all of the folks I've been serving with in this crisis, Dr. Katz, Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Long, all the people that they work with on their teams, I've watched these folks work every single day since March 1st, literally tirelessly, to protect people and save lives. And so, you know, I felt that they were not being heard and understood, and I wanted to rise to their defense because I feel that very personally and all the health care heroes. I feel like our health care heroes have done everything we possibly could have asked of them and more, and we need to trust them. And so that's why I got my emotion up. Obviously, I don't intend to do that and that's something I want to avoid, but I think the goal is absolutely what you say, and that has been the functional reality. And I believe that when the Governor and I talk about things, we find a lot of common ground and our teams talk like every hour literally throughout.

So, the bottom line is New York City and New York State have fared a lot better in this crisis, look at the summer and the fall, since we were the epicenter. This city, this state have come a long, long way. And that typically has been where there's been cooperation and listening to each other and figuring out what's needed. So, when I'm calling out for more flexibility and the freedom to vaccinate it’s because of what I'm hearing from the people on the ground who do the work, and I'm just trying to stand up for them because I really think they know what's best. Go ahead, Jeff.

Question: Thank you for that answer. A different question on a different topic. I'm just wondering if we could get an update on the number of students that are still waiting for devices so that they can connect to remote learning. I think the last update we had was they were about 60,000 students. Do you have a current number?

Mayor: I will get you one today. My team will get it to you, Jeff. Deliveries have continued to come in. Look, the reality from the beginning is any student who needed a device we got one to, to the maximum supply we had. We then went for resupply, but because remote learning has been the norm all over the country, the supply has been really hard to come by. So, as it comes in, we get it right out to families directly. And then we've had families that have had problems with service, and we've been working with them directly, particularly with kids in shelter, just fix the service or get them new service, get them a different provider. That's been moving constantly. So, we'll get you an update on what's happened the last few weeks, but literally we're going to just keep ordering these devices. And these are really high quality, top of line, brand new devices being given for free to kids who need them. We'll just keep ordering until the demand is 100 percent satisfied. And the last thing I'll say, Jeff, is, look, Lord knows we wish we never experienced this pandemic, but in the course of this pandemic, we probably took one of the most profound actions ever to close the digital divide in New York City. It's now upwards of 350,000 kids, a third of a million kids, got a free device to use in their home. That's actually been a big step forward and it's going to be important for the future because we're going to rely on digital to augment education going forward. So, keeping kids – keeping them connected, making sure to have those devices, this is going to be a long-term part of what we do in this city.

All right, everyone, I'll just finish where I started my trust in our health care heroes, my belief in our health care leadership, the folks who have seen us through time and time again. Put aside politics, put aside personalities, you know, politicians come and go, but our doctors made a decision, our nurses made a decision decades ago in so many cases to serve us, to protect us, to put their lives on the line. And that's been particularly true during this crisis. We've lost health care heroes. They were at the front line. They were there doing the most extraordinarily difficult things. They were there when people were dying and their families weren't allowed to be in the room with them, but the health care heroes were, and they tried to comfort, they tried to do everything they could. Let's honor them and let's hear their voices. If they need more support, if they need more flexibility, if they're calling for that freedom to vaccinate, let's listen to them, let’s follow the people who actually know how to do this better than any of the rest of us. They've proven it time and time again in this crisis, they are the ultimate heroes. Thank you, everyone.

2021-01-06 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. I thought January 1st was a great day because 2020 was gone and 2021 was here. This may be an even better day. Thank you to the people of Georgia. Thank you for what you have done for the whole country. Thank you for what you’ve done for New York City. This is amazing. Absolutely amazing. Whole new world of possibilities opens up now for this city and for this country now that there will be 50 democratic US Senators. So, a warm, warm, congratulations on behalf of all New Yorkers to pastor Raphael Warnock, and to Jon Ossoff, you both did an amazing job getting out there and moving the people at Georgia. This is historic by every measure. I want to express my personal congratulations to both of you for all you’ve done. A special thank you and a special praise to Pastor Warnock, because as many people know he is of course the pastor at the famous and so important in our history, Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. But before that, he was the youth minister at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem. So, he has served New York City and New York City has put an imprint on him and that is for the good of all. But in making such profound history, Pastor Warnock and Jon Ossoff have done something great for this country and they've also proven Georgia making a statement to the world, sending an African American and a Jewish Senator to the us Senate, saying it's time that everyone be represented and we all work together. Beautiful, powerful statement, but that's just the beginning.

Now a new reality for this city, for this nation, in the leadership of the Senate with Chuck Schumer now poised to lead the US Senate. Brooklyn’s own, New York City's own Chuck Schumer could not be better for this city and for this nation and Chuck Schumer working, of course, with Vice President Kamala Harris will lead the Senate and allow us to finally get the support we need to fully recover and move forward as a city, as a nation. Senator Schumer has been tenacious defending the interests in New York City. He feels New York City in his heart, in his soul but he's also been a great leader for this whole country. So, congratulations, Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi, just reelected as speaker, I spoke to her yesterday and her commitment to a true stimulus is clear. Her commitment to the cities of America is clear. What an extraordinary thing that the people of Georgia have now created a situation where all of us can move forward, really get the kind of stimulus we need to recover. And I'm going to keep emphasizing when we say the word stimulus, not just a COVID relief or survival plan, which is what we've seen before, but stimulus, it means to stimulate the economy. It means to actually put us back on our feet and move us forward. That's what we need and that's what we're poised to get. I know President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris believe in it deeply. Of course, Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi have shown time and time again how much they believe in it. I'm looking forward to calling him Majority Leader Schumer soon, and that's going to be so good for all of us.

Well, everyone, we got some great news there. It's going to change everything. But in the meantime, we have so much work to do and what we're focused on every hour, every day, fighting the coronavirus, turning the tide, and that means making sure as many New Yorkers as possible are vaccinated as quickly as possible and we are sprinting to get this done. Now, look, what we have learned is the way out of this pandemic is to vaccinate and we need the freedom to vaccinate. This city needs the freedom to vaccinate the highest number of people possible and the most high priority people possible, and that's true in cities and towns and counties all over New York State. We need the freedom to vaccinate because with that freedom of flexibility, we can reach so many people. This is about reaching all the folks who want and need the vaccine and are ready and willing and able. And we've got to remember that in this discussion, the folks who will get the vaccine are the people willing to take the vaccine. We got to reach as many of them as possible. That's another reason we need the flexibility. You can't give the vaccine to someone who doesn't want it. You can only give it to someone willing and we've got to have the ability to reach the next willing person, the next one, the next one.

Now the good news is we've all been pushing for greater freedom of flexibility. We got some good news yesterday from the State and category 1-A, big category of high priority folks, was fully approved as of yesterday, giving us more freedom and flexibility. Now we can reach home health care workers, home health care aides, people who do such crucial work for families all over New York City. I know a lot of these home health care workers I've gotten to know them over the years, many of whom are represented by a local 1199 SEIU. I've known a number of folks who do this work for decades. I honor them and thank them for the work that they do. I remember when my mom was in her last days, the incredible people who helped her and made her comfortable and supported her. These folks do the Lord's work. They need to be vaccinated. Finally, as of yesterday, we've gotten the approval to vaccinate them and we're going to go intensely into that work, particularly through our Health + Hospitals locations. To all the home health workers, home health aides out there, please get vaccines right away. We are ready for you starting today. We want to make sure you get vaccinated. To all of the families who benefit from the love and support of these home health care workers, please let them know vaccination available through Health + Hospitals right now for free, fast, easy, safe, effective. So, having category 1-A open to us, that's a great step forward, but we want to go farther. We want to go farther. We want to make sure that we can reach everyone who needs this vaccine in a much deeper number of priority areas.

But again, let's dwell on what we got in this action yesterday from the State, it also, in addition to the home health aides, it also opens up our ability to provide vaccinations to some members of the NYPD and some members of our Department of Corrections team. That's very good news. We want to make sure that all of these frontline workers, folks who work directly with everyday New Yorkers, folks who do things like having to perform CPR or working in very close proximity, that they're going to get the opportunity to be vaccinated starting right now, starting today. This is a great step. I want to go even farther, but this is a great step. So, we now know about 25,000 NYPD personnel are now eligible. Vaccinations for those NYPD personnel will start today. That includes many of our patrol officers and officers who respond to 911 calls. Those vaccinations will be starting today via the NYPD, we expect that this moment roughly 10,000 officers to be vaccinated by Sunday, and we want to make that vaccine available to all within that 25,000 who are ready to take it. Again, I'm going to keep reminding everyone, a universe of 25,000 is not the same as 25,000 people who actually choose to get the vaccine. As we've been seeing to date the number of folks who are “hesitant” is between 30 and 40 percent in different categories. But what we want to do is get to everyone who's ready, willing, and able. We expect about 10,000 officers to be reached by Sunday. We're also going to intensely work to get our correction officers vaccinated, Correctional Health, run by H + H, is going to be doing that work again, starting today and throughout the week. This is further wind in our sails to get to our initial goal, which is to reach a 100,000 doses this week. And again, by the end of month, we want to be at the rate of 400,000 doses per week. And each time we get more freedom and flexibility, it helps us to speed things up and reach those goals more effectively and reach more people who are ready, willing, and able.

Okay, now let's talk about the next steps because it's so important, the ability to reach other people in need. So, my central concern right now is folks over 75. And you're going to hear from Dr. Chokshi in a moment, he's going to talk to you as a caring doctor, someone who sees patients, even though he's Health Commissioner, he still sees patients every day. He's going to talk to you about why reaching people over 75 matters from a medical point of view, but I'm going to talk to you from a human point of view, just directly as a layman. Look, folks over 75 are the most vulnerable in this crisis. Right now, we are not allowed to vaccinate them according to State rules. We need the freedom and flexibility so that we can start vaccinating folks over 75 right away, that freedom to vaccinate means reaching our seniors in need. Now, what we know is that this is an issue all over the country and the US Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams weighed in. They said that there's a challenge right around the country with different rules and with the fact that there's obviously a lot of people who are not yet willing to be vaccinated, that's why localities, cities, counties need the freedom to vaccinate as many people as possible within priority category. So, Dr. Adam says if the demand isn't there, states and governors should move quickly to other priority groups. It’s a very smart, common sense approach. Give us the freedom to go where the interest and the desire is over 75, let's get to them, let's get to all essential workers. I want to resize us again, all essential workers, whether you work in a grocery store, or whether you work in food service, or you're a police officer, or a firefighter, or an educator, we need to reach all those essential workers as quickly as possible. So we are looking for that freedom.

Now, in the meantime with the authorization we do have, we're moving aggressively. So, let's talk about our new 24/7 sites. These are going to be the mass vaccination sites, the mega sites that are going to allow us to do 24/7thousands of people in the day, two of them starting this weekend on Sunday, Brooklyn Army Terminal, Sunset Park, Brooklyn and Bathgate Industrial Park in the Bronx. Those two sites open Sunday, and they will continue to be open 24/7 from that point on, by reservation, we're going to talk about that. We need people to make appointments. We do not want long lines. We do want people pre-certified. These are the first two sites. Sites will be opening all five boroughs. In the coming days, we'll have announcements on that very soon, but I want to emphasize to everyone, all five boroughs will have these mega sites, 24/7 sites, and the more authorization and flexibility we get, the more different kinds of people can come into those sites whenever convenient to them, but we want it to be by reservation to make sure it's done right. Now for this weekend, also, as you're going to hear more from Dr. Chokshi, Health Department putting up its vaccination hubs. Now these are not 24/7, but they're during the busiest hours of the day, there'll be opening Sunday as well, Brooklyn at the Bushwick Educational Campus, Queens at Hillcrest High School, Bronx, the South Bronx Educational campus. These sites, again, you sign up for a time. You go to the DOH website, the Department of Health website to sign up that allows us to screen people, get people at the right time, make sure it goes fast and smoothly.

Everyone, look, we know our seniors need the ability – and again, I want to start pre-registering seniors as we go forward. We're going to have the announcement on that shortly. We're going to have the ability for seniors to register in advance online or by phone. A lot of seniors prefer phone. We'll have announcements on that shortly, but the key concern here is what we're seeing among folks over 75 and we have got to reach this population urgently, urgently. The story yesterday from the head of our Health + Hospital system, Dr. Mitch Katz, that his dad, 98-years-old and a World War II veteran can't be vaccinated because that priority has not been authorized by the State of New York. I understand there's a lot of challenges here. I understand there's a lot of good people that need to be vaccinated, but it seems to me a 98-year-old World War II vet deserves to be vaccinated right now today. Let's get that freedom. Let's get that freedom to vaccinate. Here to tell you about everything that the Health Department's doing, and a particular focus on our New Yorkers over 75 and the urgent need to serve them, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Well, in any outbreak, whether we're testing, tracing, treating, or vaccinating, the public health response requires us to follow where the virus moves so we can then respond to where the disease is present. Now, the data that we watch so closely is showing us alarming trends with cases and hospitalizations in adults over the age of 75. Over the past 30 days, six percent of all cases are among those 75 and up, but 30 percent of hospitalizations, and most tragically 58 percent of deaths are in person 75 and older. Percent positivity is increasing citywide, but particularly among that same group of individuals to almost 12 percent in the most recent week for people older than 75. Data from the Test and Trace Corps show that more than half of cases aged 75 and up are likely from community transmission and about 38 percent are from a close contact to a known case, usually household transmission. That means we all have a role to play in protecting our seniors. Just setting the numbers aside for a moment, each of us knows and has worried about an aging parent or a grandparent during this pandemic. We must do everything that we can for them, yes, in our families, but also as a city. That's why I believe that New Yorkers age 75 and older should be eligible for the vaccine as soon as possible. Several states have already prioritized older adults. To meet this, as a city, we are increasing our points of access for vaccinations, pulling out all the stops to expand our capacity, as you heard the Mayor say. This week alone, we've already added 25 points of access, spanning community clinics, Urgent Care sites, Health + Hospitals sites, and Health Department pop-up clinics as well. These are all for currently eligible populations to vaccinated. You can find all of these locations at nyc.gov/covidvaccine. And, as the Mayor also said, we'll launch additional sites, including our first three City vaccine hubs on Sunday. These will be sites set up at schools that can offer vaccinations by appointment to eligible New Yorkers with a capacity to serve at least 30,000 additional New Yorkers next week. And, starting January 16th, we'll ramp up to a total of 15 City vaccine hubs able to serve over 100,000 New Yorkers weekly.

These are the kinds of resources we're getting ready to serve New Yorkers. We also need the federal government to do its part, such as enabling pharmacy chains, such as CVS, Walgreens, and Rite Aid to deliver vaccinations in the community as well. And beyond capacity, we're prepared to reach our seniors in order to answer their questions and alert them to resources, that includes through direct mail, robocalls, and engagement through senior centers in partnership with the Department for the Aging and other City agencies. We will also ensure they are able to access vaccination, including people who may be disabled or find it hard to walk. The vaccine is not the only measure we can take to protect each other, especially seniors. That's why last month I issued a Commissioner's Advisory to at-risk New Yorkers, which applied to older adults and to people with underlying health conditions who are at increased risk. I want to make it clear that it also applies to caregivers and household members of these individuals to take all of the precautions that you can to protect them. This message is as urgent as it has ever been – avoid activities outside of the home, except for essential purposes, including medical care and other necessities. I'm asking New Yorkers to remain vigilant. Don't let the numbers make you numb, continue getting tested and practicing the core four – staying home if you feel sick or were exposed to COVID-19, washing your hands frequently, wearing a face covering, and keeping your distance. All of these measures will help us curb the spread of the virus, even as we do more each day to turn vaccines into vaccinations. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Chokshi. And thank you for really, really crucial work you're doing and your team at DOH is doing. And I just want everyone to hear the simple message, we need to reach New Yorkers over 75. We need to reach them now. So, look, to make sure people have information, the DOH website is going to be one of the go-to places. Folks looking for information, folks looking to confirm that you are eligible under our current rules or the rules that we hope will be approved very soon by the State, go to nyc.gov/covidvaccine – nyc.gov/covidvaccine. Again, we want to make sure people are constantly updated and we're going to start, pre-registration looking forward to those new categories being approved. We'll be doing that soon. We'll have an update on that as soon as that's ready. Also want to say, anyone who wants text alerts about a vaccine availability, you can text COVID-692-692 for updates and information – COVID-692-692.

Okay. Before we go to our indicators, another very good thing to talk about. And it's a joyous day for so many New Yorkers who celebrate Three Kings Day. Happy Three Kings day to all. This is a beautiful holiday, a holiday that's all about hope and faith and following the guiding star to someplace better. What could be a more powerful message as we fight back the coronavirus. Now, typically, we get to put together, as you see on your screen, beautiful celebrations. I've joined folks in East Harlem many times for extraordinary celebrations done by the East Harlem Community by El Museo Del Barrio and many others. It’s a really a powerful, beautiful holiday. We don't get to do the in-person parades and processions this year. We have to do things virtually, but the idea of the holiday is just as strong. And following the wise men, the wise voices that gave people hope in the past and remembering them and remembering the voices of wisdom today. And I would link it to the wisdom of the people of Georgia also, but it's a beautiful holiday. We're celebrating virtually this year. We'll be back together in person celebrating next year, I'm confident of that. Feliz dia de los Reyes Magos. Feliz dia de los Reyes Magos a todos.

Now, we will go to our indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 279 patients. That's a big jump, as you can see. Typically, obviously, we want to be under 200 patients. We've generally been right around that number in recent days, still too high, but this 279 is quite a jump. We are watching that very carefully. That said, hospitals are still doing an extraordinary job, lots of capacity available, great job handling patients. But, as you heard from Dr Chokshi, too many of those patients are folks over 75 who really are facing a profound danger. We've got to help them. We've got to get them vaccinated. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 4.21 percent – obviously, too high, got to drive that down. And the same with current new cases, daily new cases, seven-day average 3,845 – way too high. And the same with our current testing indicator, percentage of New York City residents tested positive, seven-day rolling average, 9.25 percent. We see what's happening. Obviously, the trend’s all around us. We’ve got to beat them back. We beat them back through vaccinating. We beat them back through following those really smart health habits that have done so much for us and really doubling down, because this is our last great battle against the coronavirus. We need one more push here and New Yorkers can do it. And, certainly, we are hopeful that as the impact of the holidays wears off over the next few weeks and there aren't the same kind of gatherings that we're going to see some improvement in those numbers naturally. But we have to do all of the above the turn of the tide.

A few words in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalists.

Moderator: We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Long, by Dr. Katz, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Oh, hey. Good morning, everybody. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How's it going?

Mayor: It's a very good day, Juliet. I am feeling bubbly today because of the results of Georgia.How are you today?

Question: Yes. Yes. I'm okay. Thank you very much. My first question involves, how do people sign up for the vaccine? You know, this is very nuts and bolts. You, in fact, had mentioned seniors like to do things on the phone and not online, and although there's websites, what do people need to do to find out what their category is when they're eligible and where they go for a form or online registration? How does this work?

Mayor: Okay. I’m going to start with Dr. Chokshi. I'm going to bring in Dr. Katz too, because I want to make sure we are over-communicating to the people of New York City both about the vaccinations that are available right now, for example, at our Health + Hospitals sites. And we talked about those home care workers, we want to get them vaccinated starting today. So, I'll have Dr. Katz talk about how people can access vaccinations through H + H. And Dr. Chokshi will talk about the information that's available via the Department of Health. And, again, with the Department of Health hubs opening up on Sunday, how that system is going to work. But the bigger plan, again, these 24-seven sites, many more sites all the time. By the end of this week, we're going to be around 160 sites all over the city, 250 by end of the month. What we really need to do is have a very active reservation system, phone and online, usable for everyone, including seniors who prefer phone, multiple languages. That's what we'll be announcing in the next few days, exactly how that will work. Looking forward to Sunday when people can start going to these larger sites. But, remember, only some people can go to those sites because of the current rules. I want to see if we can get that authorization right away, that flexibility right away to get to folks over 75. If we can get that authorization, we can start to vaccinate them immediately, and that's crucial. So, Dr. Chokshi first on where people can get information and how they can sign up if eligible now, and then Dr. Katz will talk in particular about the home health aides. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And they're really, you know, two fundamental questions. Number one is, am I eligible for a vaccination right now? And then, the second is, if I am eligible, where can I actually go and get vaccinated? For the first question, and as the Mayor has said, you know, we do have information on our website, it's nyc.gov/covidvaccine. But in the coming days, we'll also have additional information so that people can know if they are not yet eligible when they should expect to be able to get vaccinated as well. And then for the second question, if you are currently eligible to get vaccinated, we have all of the locations that I've described from the currently existing sites, which span hospitals and community health clinics and Urgent Care sites to the city sites that we're standing up, whether Health + Hospitals or the Health Department, and then, coming soon, those mass vaccination sites – all of those will also be taken together and put on the web. And I want to recognize whether it's an older New Yorker or someone who may not have as ready internet access, we have to push this information out through many other channels. You heard the Mayor talk about text messaging. We're going to use phone calls as well as robocalls as part of that. But equally importantly, we are spending day and night getting the information out to the places that people already trust, whether it's your own primary care doctor, whether it's the local clinic that you're used to going to, whether it's your church or another community organization. And so, we're going to make sure that as we get updates on a daily basis, all of that information is shared so that people can turn to multiple different sources to get their questions answered.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Dr. Katz?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: We're very happy to work collaboratively with our sister department in making these vaccines available. Right now, Mr. Mayor, you were talking about home care workers, which are so important. We want them to be safe. We want them to not get sick and to not be able to transmit virus to the people they care for. Right now, using the same website as the Commissioner has spoken of, nyc.gov/COVID, people cannot – who are in that group of home care workers can actually not only find out information, but they can schedule themselves for an appointment to come in to be vaccinated at one of our hospitals or outpatient sites. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. And I want to note, just as we're talking about the home care workers, who we depend on so much, and families all over the city just love and appreciate deeply – also want to speak up for our childcare workers, our childcare providers, they're also in that category waiting for approval. I know there's so many parents who would love nothing more than to see childcare workers given the approval to be vaccinated. Same, obviously, with our educators and school staff. There are so many people were right to vaccinate who are folks who are just crucial to our lives that are part of our extended family. I want to start reaching all of them. Go ahead, Julia.
Question: Okay. So just to follow up, I'm assuming that all of these locations – whatever they are, pop ups or the hub, you will still need to make an appointment and register to get there. Are you concerned, you know, people are just going to start showing up to get on line once they're eligible?

Mayor: Yeah, I am obviously. We need to get this reservation system out clearly to people. We need to show them it works. And look, we understand a lot of times in life, Juliet, the best way to convince people is to show it to them in action. It's going to be a lot easier when we have the next categories approved, because then we're going to be able to get a much broader population engaged. But really, when you think about it, the reservation system guarantees everyone the best possible experience. It means you're pre-certified so you go right through, you know the time you're supposed to be there, you're not waiting in line, you're not exposed to a lot of other people – that's in everyone's interest. And we're going to keep getting that message out and show people in action that it’s the way that works. We have a lot of sites, that's the good news. So, there's going to be a lot of good options for people. We can spread people out around a lot of sites. But the fact – the practice of going and getting that appointment is crucial to keeping everyone safe. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Michael Garland from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, Michael. Happy New Year.

Question: Happy New Year. So, I have a question on the 30 percent refusal rate among health care workers on the vaccine. Where – do you have a sense of why that is? Where is the skepticism coming from those people? And, you know, as far as the general public's concerned, if there's that kind of it seems like lack of trust, you know, why would the general public kind of – how do you expect the general public to react to that? Right? That you have 30 percent of health care workers at this point refusing the vaccine.

Mayor: Michael, very important question. Very fair question. First of all, be careful with the word refuse – I think there's a group of people all through our society who are ideologically anti-vaccine, that's not what we're primarily talking about here. We're talking about hesitancy, which means folks who want to wait a while for whatever combination of reasons. I'll turn to Dr. Katz, because he has been hearing directly from the many, many health care workers who work for him. Now, point-one, the vast majority are getting vaccinated. So, let's both put the facts in order – vast majority of health care workers are choosing to get vaccinated right away. If you're talking about public opinion, well, I'd say look at what the vast majority are doing. Second, I think some are just waiting. I think they feel confident in their own health and safety practices. They've been through this whole crisis, keeping themselves safe with the support of the PPE supplies and their hospital leadership. And I think it's natural that some people might say, hey, I think I'm okay the way I am. But, really, I think as with everything in life, the more vaccinations that occur, the more trust there will be. And that's why we just have to keep this process moving. Dr. Katz?

President Katz: Mr. Mayor, you've explained it well. I'd like to add a couple of details. Among our physician staff, we've had overwhelming desire to take the vaccine. So, among the physicians who are people who have looked closely at the science, we have very high take-up rates. I think the – when it comes to other staff, I think people have to understand that these are people who worked in the trenches for the last 10 months, taking care of one COVID patient after another. And it's not shocking that many of them feel like, hey, I got through this. Many of them actually got sick and know their antibody titers. Many of them feel like, well, if I didn't get sick after doing all of this, I'm not going to get sick. And to tie it to your earlier remarks, sir, who's really at the greatest risk? The people at the greatest risk are over 75 years old and have other – are younger and have other comorbid illnesses. It's tough work working in the hospitals. My staff generally are quite healthy and younger. I wish they would all get vaccinated. But I understand that they feel from this amazing experience they've had, they don't feel the same vulnerability. On the other hand, my patients with diabetes, with hypertension, with heart disease who are over 75, they really feel that vulnerability, and the data supports that, and that's why I so support what you're saying about getting them vaccinated.

Mayor: Thank you, doctor. Go ahead, Michael.

Question: So, the second question has to do with the Georgia elections. You know, we all know, you know, how much you you've talked about this stimulus and the need for that. I'm wondering, you know, if it appears to go the way it's going with two seats coming to the Democrats, what would you like to see us – as separate and apart from the stimulus – like to see happen as far as the agenda, moving forward. You know, are you for DC statehood? I mean, what's on your kind of wish list. I just use that as an example, but, you know, what would be like the top five things you'd like to see done apart from the stimulus?

Mayor: Yeah. I don’t know if have a perfect top five for you, Michael, but let me – let me put it in some kind of an immediate order, just a couple of things. Absolutely stimulus – serious stimulus. You know, take the New Deal model – and I know Joe Biden believes in this – a fast stimulus, February, ideally, that is about restoring our economy and helping us all recover. That's number one. Second, I would say, related, FEMA reimbursement should go to 100 percent for all the places in this country that were afflicted. It makes no sense in an international pandemic to make localities pay for the kinds of expenses that are supposed to be covered by FEMA. When localities have lost revenue, massive amounts of revenue because of this crisis. It’s just a ridiculous vicious circle. So, make that 100 percent FEMA reimbursement and apply it retroactively to the beginning of the crisis. Make cities and counties and states whole for what they've been through. So, those are particularly urgent matters. I'll certainly be talking about in the coming days a lot of other important actions that I think are needed, some that could be done administratively by the White House, some that will require to Congress.

Mayor: To say the least, comprehensive immigration reform and undoing so much of the damage that was done by President Trump. Focusing on climate change, so much has to be changed there, especially on the administration side. And I know President Biden will be entirely focused on that. There’s so many things we could talk about. I’m glad you mention DC statehood. I think it’s absolutely the right thing to do and it’s been long overdue. So there’s so much that can happen but everything begins with a real stimulus and that 100 percent FEMA reimbursement. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Rich Lamb from WCBS 880. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor and everybody on the call. Mr. Mayor just wondering, we've seen news out of South Africa that there is another COVID strain, which apparently has more mutations and people are really worried about whether or not the vaccines will have any effect on this – or they're worried about it anyway. They don't know that it won't. But it certainly seems that there's a lot of concerns. I wonder if the doctors can weigh in on that as well? 

Mayor: Thank you for the question, Rich. I’m going to turn to Dr. Varma. And then if any other doctors want to weigh in. But let me just say, look, while we are constantly monitoring any new strains and trying to understand the full ramification, one thing is still clear as a bell. Vaccinate the most people possible, particularly those who are most vulnerable and that's the folks over 75. So far, the vaccine appears to be effective with different variants. Rather than any of us sort of wait and worry about new variants, why don't we take the bull by the horns and go vaccinate everyone over 75 who is willing and protect them in advance? Dr. Varma? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you for the question. And I'll start by just reemphasizing what the Mayor just said. He's absolutely right. What we need to focus on most importantly is what we know right now. And what we know right now is that the vaccine is highly effective at preventing COVID infections here in the United States. It's very well studied now in tens of thousands of patients and obviously millions of doses that have now been provided throughout the country. So that's obviously the single most important priority, people who are eligible for the vaccine should be encouraged to get it as soon as they possibly can. You are absolutely right though, that we are very concerned. The more infections that occur in humans, the more likely it is the virus will mutate. You know, dogs bark, ducks quack, viruses mutate. That's what viruses do. And the single best way to prevent them from mutating is to stop their infections in humans. So, everything that we've been emphasizing about hand-washing, mask wearing, maintaining distance remains absolutely important. Now, this scenario that you're concerned about is what is certainly what a lot of scientists including myself are worried about for the long-term future. It is possible that this could end up as a virus very similar to influenza. But what did we do for influenza? We monitor these mutations and we update the vaccine regularly based on that. That is not a situation that we're in right now, but it is one that we are prepared to handle, I think as a scientific and public health community, if that becomes a possibility in the future. 

Mayor: Any of the other doctors want to add? Okay, go ahead. Rich. 

Question: Okay. So, I'm wondering, you know, Britain is really in lockdown now. And I'm wondering whether, is there any point at which you would foresee New York City going back into lockdown? I mean it's clear that the numbers are going up. Is there a trigger, is there a number, or is there a situation that would cause that? 

Mayor: Rich we're going to watch very carefully every day. Right now, I'd say I think the formulation that the State has put together and you'll remember I joined with Governor Cuomo when he put forward his vision around the focus on hospitalizations and what's going on in our hospital systems. I think that is still the essence of how we need to make our decisions. I every day go over to the hospitalization numbers with our team, ICU capacity, what we're seeing in the efficacy of our hospitals in terms of saving lives. So far, we've seen extraordinary success in all of our hospitals, public, voluntary, independent. Real worries about folks over 75 in particular, we're emphasizing that. And we're watching that situation very, very carefully. But overall, I would say our New York City hospitals across the board are doing very well. And if we can keep that momentum and keep doing the things we need to fight back this virus. And that means everyone taking the personal responsibility. New Yorkers have really done very well better than almost any place else in the country. The mask wearing alone is far superior to most places in the country. But also continue to rapidly vaccinate and expand these categories. I think we can get through January and I think February could be much better. But that is a day-to-day reality that we are monitoring. I want to be really clear, we are watching very carefully Rich. And so, I do not see additional restrictions today. But it's something we're going to be assessing every day. And obviously the State makes those ultimate decisions, something we're comparing notes with the State on frequently. 

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX 11. 

Question: Good morning Mr. Mayor and everyone on the call. And happy Three Kings Day. 

Mayor: Happy Three Kings Day to you, James. How you doing? 

Question: Great. Thank you very, very much. I appreciate you asking. Look, you have said that you're very hopeful that the City will reach, or maybe even surpass its vaccination goals going forward. But you've also said within the last week that it hadn't reached those goals up to this week. What assurances can you give that the City can reach those goals? And can you elaborate on the importance of entities like 1199SEIU in getting people registered and getting shots in arms for people like their members and other unions? 

Mayor: Yeah. Look, James, thank you. Very important question. I laid out at the beginning of the week, this core notion. That this week, our goal is 100,000 vaccinations. By the last week of January 400,000 vaccinations in a week, a million total for a month. I feel confident about those numbers. I think that every time we get more freedom and flexibility, we can do even better to ensure those numbers. So, the fact that the full category 1-A was approved yesterday by the State, that's allowed us today to start vaccinations at the NYPD. And in the course of this week, those officers who are eligible in the NYPD and Department of Correction we’ll be able to do a lot more this week with them than we would have if we didn't have that freedom. The fact that our home health care aides now are authorized, it makes so much sense. They are right there. No one more sensitive, no one more important to our families. That's going to allow us to do more. We're working closely with Local 1199SEIU. An organization I have the deepest connection to over decades. We want to make sure their members are reached. Everyone is ready for the vaccine. And that's why we've been close coordination with them about the availability of vaccines at H + H sites starting today. So, I think Local 1199 is going to play a crucial role in helping us really get a lot of people reached starting this week. And every time we get more freedom and flexibility, we get more organizations, allies to help us get the word out and to really help people get there. Remember some people need answers to their questions, James. They need, you know, understandably they want more information about the vaccine. Some people it's really logistical. Just understanding how to apply, understanding what's the right location for them. The more organizations, including labor unions that are helping us to do that, the better off we are.

Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: I'm doing very well Henry. How you feeling? 

Question: Doing good. I'm kind of a little a pandemic’ed out if you will. 

Mayor: I don’t think you're alone, Henry. I think we're all in that status, but we're going to move forward. 

Question: Okay. Very good. I'm going to ask you a little bit about this operation of building out these sites all over the city and at the same time restricting access to the vaccine. Even in your call for people over 75, that's still pretty restrictive when you've got a population of a whole bunch of people with kidney, chronic kidney conditions, and diabetes and asthma and everything else, a lot of at risk conditions that people could use that vaccine for. And I'm just wondering whether with all these facilities that you've got and all these restrictions on who can get the vaccine, whether we're facing a situation that's very similar to the hospital boat at the Hudson River? That you'll have a big cavern of facility and very few people using it. And at this point, I guess that's one part of my question. The other part is why are we hearing about these plans now? When the vaccine was something that the President was trumpeting up, if you will, for the last 10 months? We've known that a vaccine was coming by the end of the year or close to it. Why now are these plans being sprung upon us and being developed at the last minute? 

Mayor: Henry, these are exactly the kinds of plans that people need. They have to be done right. And the most important thing with the vaccine, in fact, we did not know until just days before it arrived, when it would definitively arrive. And what we did know was it was an entirely different vaccine than our health care community had dealt with before. That there had to be an emphasis on ensuring safety and ensuring that the vaccine could be implemented properly. We know if the first few weeks when the vaccine was focused on health care facilities and on nursing homes, if that rollout had not been done effectively, it would have made all the other work ahead much more difficult. So, there was a cautious approach in the first weeks to getting it right and really making sure the procedures worked, making sure people reacted well to it. And that was another great unknown, until you were giving it to large numbers of people. While in fact, we found that the vast majority of people had little or no reaction to it in a good way. That it was safe and effective. All of that had to be established. Now that having been done, we're now in the category of 100,000 people this week. And hundreds of thousands more in the weeks ahead. Very comfortable that we had to go through those stages to get it right. What we do have a problem with, I agree with you, is that the categories are still way too constrained. Look again, if we could get approval, which I would like as early as today for a phase 1-B, what does that achieve? Well, that puts another million or so people into play. That's all adults over 75, that's all essential workers. That's all educators and childcare providers. That's all first responders. That's a huge universe. You're not talking about cavernous facilities waiting for people. If you can put that additional million people into play, you’ve got a lot of folks who will want and need the vaccine right away. But I further agree with you, we should expand the categories to any folks with pre-existing conditions as quickly as possible. Because I think the difference now, Henry from even a few weeks ago is the recognition. We have a hesitancy issue, which we knew we would have to some extent, but we're seeing it in real life. So, categories, if a category is a million people, but only 600,000 are going to be willing, then it's really 600,000. And then you still have to deal with logistics and everything else and making sure people end up at the right place at the right time. You want ever expanding categories, but I'm right there with you. I think reaching folks with preexisting conditions is a very high priority. We should move to that quickly as well. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Okay. I guess related to that question is the issue of how are these people going to show up? I just, I think you've got all of these sites there. And there's not a – there doesn't seem to be much of a mechanism for getting people to these sites. And getting their reservations set up. There's, I just, I don't understand why you think that there will be a flood of people? You know, a 24/7 demand for these vaccines when there's been so little preparation of the population for getting to these sites? 

Mayor: Again, Henry we can't tell people something exists if it doesn't exist. So, we had to get – we'd been fighting obviously to just get phase 1-A fully authorized. That was only achieved yesterday. But the real action is in phase 1-B., the folks over 75 and all the essential workers. We are hoping for that approval, you know, in a matter of days. We're educating people right now to get ready. We're starting a reservation system right now so people can preregister. We're putting these sites up. I think there's going to be demand now. I think there will be a hell of lot of demand when we get to 1-B. But again, want to turn to Mitch Katz now, because I don't want you missing the fact that now that we've got flexibility example with home care workers, you're going to see potentially tens of thousands of folks in the next days, being able to go in and get vaccinated. And the system that's working through. So, Dr. Katz, could you reemphasize to Henry exactly how one of those now authorized home care workers goes about making their reservations? 

President Katz: Absolutely, sir. So, Henry on our sister agency’s website and nyc.gov/COVIDvaccine, there are the instructions on how to schedule yourself for an actual appointment. And as one of your colleagues talked about, we want to make sure that we don't have waiting rooms full of people or crowds or lines, which could further transmit COVID. And so it will all be done as an appointment system. But the great thing is people on that single site will be able to choose a wide variety of places. It can be near their home. It can be near their work. They'll be able to choose an exact time. They will come in and they’ll get vaccinated. All will be done safely with protective equipment. And we can handle these thousands and thousands of people. We look forward to it. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Gloria from NY1. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey Gloria. Happy New Year. 

Question: Thank you. Happy New Year to you as well. I wanted to ask you specifically about this authority that you are asking, especially with the numbers that Dr. Chokshi cited for folks 75 and up and the hospitalization rate. What is your understanding as of today about why the State isn't giving you this authority? Ad where are we in terms of supply? If the State were to say, okay, you can go ahead and start vaccinating people, 75 and up, do we actually have enough vaccine to do that at this point? 

Mayor: We have enough to start, but you raise a very important point, Gloria. We need and this is one of the things that I talked about yesterday with the letter to the federal government, to Vice President Pence and to the head of the CDC, and to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. If you're talking about this week, next week, we have a supply. If you're talking about later in January, we still don't have guarantees about what kind of supply we're going to have. And this is why when I said the million goal, I said from the beginning, we need federal, State and manufacturer cooperation to get it done. We need the federal government to really clarify that New York City will get enough doses to keep to that goal. It should be in everyone's interest to make that happen. And obviously we're in a position to move quickly and some places don't have as much infrastructure. So, we need those guarantees. But if you're talking about our ability to reach people over 75? If we were given the authorization today, can we reach hundreds of thousands of people in the next days with what we have? Yes, yes, we can. After the next week or two, we start to have a real challenge in terms of supply. Go ahead.

Question: Okay. Thank you. And I wanted to ask a question about, I know the category for health care workers has been expanded but has there been any discussion that there might be some health care workers within that category – you know we've heard from say a physical therapist and people who maybe are not immediately on that front line, who are now having access to the shot, and here you are talking about people who are older, home health aides. So, has there been a consideration to actually break out these categories even further to people who are really, really exposed?

Mayor: I'm a believer, Gloria, in broadening the categories, just like Henry's very good question about folks who are not over 75 but do have preexisting conditions. I want the broadest categories possible amongst priority people. I want the freedom to vaccinate. It's just – look, to me, if we have that freedom – again, I want to be real-world about this, take away 30 percent or 40 percent of people in each category who are not yet ready. And I want to use those words, not yet ready. I think a lot of them will be ready over time, but they're not yet ready. So, we got to be clear about the fact that there's going to be a lot of folks who will wait, a lot of folks who, even though we're saying it's here, it's ready, come get it, just logistically or otherwise, might not rush immediately to it. That's why having lots of options helps us continue to reach those who are ready, willing, and able right now. So, I'm very concerned about folks with pre-existing conditions, obviously concerned about anyone else in the broader health care field who's working closely, as you mentioned, a physical therapist great example, anyone who's working closely with patients and folks in need. So, what I want to see is constant expansion of these categories. As we expand the categories, we're going to see how people respond, and that's going to tell us how much farther we can go. And, obviously, again, we need to see that federal guarantee of our supply. We need to see the manufacturers deliver. But I would like to see a much more aggressive approach to flexibility and freedom to vaccinate. Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Matt Chayes from Newsday.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?

Mayor: I'm doing good, Matt, how are you?

Question: All right, thank you for asking. For Dr. Varma, to what extent is the virus transmitted via outdoor dining? And is there any evidence that banning outdoor dining, as has happened in California, could or has backfired by encouraging indoor gatherings in places like homes?

Mayor: Go ahead, Dr. Varma.

Senior Advisor Varma: Okay. Yeah, thanks for the question. Yeah, outdoor dining is an interesting challenge, I think. What we know about this virus is that the likelihood of transmission in the outdoor setting is very low. And that's because the virus can easily get diluted into the air and not transmit infection to other people. And that's why we here in New York have felt comfortable keeping outdoor dining open. I think the issue in California, it gets to this larger issue of, how do you prevent humans from interacting with other humans to reduce transmission of the virus. And I think the situation in California, similar to other places around the world, has gotten so severe that they felt incumbent to basically do anything they possibly could to reduce human interaction. Of course, you rightly point out that one of the balances that we have to take anytime restrictions are placed is allowing people to do things so that they can feel normal and human and have the regular activities we all do. And that's why I think like we've – one thing we've learned during this epidemic is that keeping outdoor spaces open like parks, allowing outdoor recreation is important because it is much safer and that's not something that we absolutely knew at the beginning of this epidemic.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Duncan Osborne from The Gay City News.

Question: Happy New Year, Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Duncan, how are you doing? Happy New Year.

Question: I'm fine. Thank you. I apologize for what may be seen as a gruesome question – but have you seen declines in 2020 particularly since we all started to lock down back in March in sexually transmitted infections in particular among men who have sex with men that might indicate you could at least come close to having to achieve a 50 percent reduction, you know, in so far as STIs are associated also with new HIV infections. Have you seen a decline in STIs that might predict a greater than, or near a 50 percent decline in HIV infections in 2020, which is what you're going to have to achieve to get your goal of 600?

Mayor: No, I appreciate the question and the bluntness of the question. And we believe in the goal. Again, 2020 extremely complex year, and one we're still assessing. I'll start with Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma who between them and their different times in the Health Department have been furthering this initiative. Also, if Dr. Katz or Dr. Long want to add anything on this, you're welcome. Dr. Choksi. 
Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you. This is another very important topic, and I just want to thank you for shining a light on all of the other ways in which health has been impacted as a result of the COVID pandemic. It's what we consider the reverberating effects or the parallel pandemics, you know, that are associated with COVID-19 and how it has changed the way that we interface with health care. But also, how other diseases have been affected during this time. To answer your specific question about sexually transmitted infections, we can get you the preliminary data, again, that we have for those numbers. There have been some declines, but the picture is more complicated because of the fact that in many cases care was interrupted during March and April. And so, people weren't getting tested as often for those sexually transmitted infections. The one other point that I will make is that this has been a focus for the Health Department and our public guidance with respect to encouraging safe sex practices during the COVID-19 era as well. We have information about that on our website, and we'll be happy to follow up with you on that point as well.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma.

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, just one other additional point on top of what Dr. Chokshi has said that I think once we're through this horrible time, once we're through this pandemic, one important outcome of this has been that as you can see from the Health Department website there is rapid COVID testing available at all of the sexual health clinics. One of the side benefits of that is that the instrument that is used for that rapid COVID testing, is the exact same instrument that was used at the Chelsea clinic to set up the quickie labs. So, we have the opportunity to really, you know, replicate that quickie lab experience throughout the city now. And that's a side benefit of investing in COVID is that it can ultimately used for other things and expand the ability for people to get really fast, quick and easy STI diagnosis onsite.

Mayor: I want to turn to – thank you. I want to turn to Dr. Katz, who was on the frontline at the beginning of the epidemic in San Francisco and I think it would be good to have a moment of reflection from you of just how far we've come and what we need to do to finish this mission, Dr. Katz.

President Katz: Thank you, Sir. I mean, I, of course, in my mind go back to the 1980s when I was a doctor in San Francisco taking care of people with HIV/AIDS and also an openly gay man where most of my friends and colleagues were infected and where funerals were a weekly occurrence. To be honest, I never thought I would live to see another epidemic. I thought I had lived through my epidemic already. COVID has brought us another epidemic, but it is incredibly gratifying to see the amazing work that's happened in New York City, along with San Francisco being the epicenters of the HIV epidemic. And it brings tears to my eyes to think of the people who don't have to go through the horrible pain that I saw among my friends and patients in the 1980s. It's amazing work and New York City should be so proud.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Well, everyone, as we conclude today just want to say on that, what's a powerful note to end on, but also a hopeful note that we have stared down adversity before and overcome, and we're in the process of doing that right now in New York City. But the way we do that, the way we fight back the coronavirus, the way we get back on our feet and recover is by vaccinating the maximum number of people and having the freedom to vaccinate. And I want to give a further update on sites that will be announced in addition to the sites you heard earlier. The larger sites, those mega sites, 24/7 – I talked about one in the Bronx and one in Brooklyn. I want to give an update that we are looking at two sites in Staten Island. There'll be one or the other, either Richmond Savings Bank Park, the ball field there, or it will be at the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. We'll have an update on that very shortly. Another potential Brooklyn site, MCU Park, the Cyclone stadium in Coney Island. Just giving you a sense of some of the, kind of, larger sites that will be available for these 24/7 operations. But again, they'll be all five boroughs. We'll have additional updates just the next few days, looking forward to those first two sites I mentioned, Bathgate in the Bronx and Brooklyn Army Terminal starting on Sunday, others coming online in the days immediately after.

And then in terms of the Health Department hubs, we talked about the three that are coming online this Sunday, Bushwick in Brooklyn, Hillcrest – Bushwick High School, Hillcrest High School, Queens, South Bronx High School campus in the Bronx. The following Saturday, not this Saturday, but the one after, additional sites include the Marta Valle campus in Manhattan and the Wadleigh I. S. 88 campus in Manhattan. In Brooklyn, Abraham Lincoln High School, Canarsie High School, George Washington High School. In Staten Island, Port Richmond High School and Staten Island Tech. In the Bronx, Walton High School and Adlai Stevenson. And in Queens, August Martin and Beach Channel. So, again, this situation where we're building out sites, it's going to happen constantly. We want this to be as easy as possible. We want to make sure that New Yorkers looking to get those vaccines have many options. And, again, the more people we can vaccinate the better, the more freedom and flexibility we have the better. Ultimately by the end of this month, 250 sites around the city, 400,000 New Yorkers being vaccinated per week, again, so long as we get that help from our federal partners, our state partners, and the vaccine manufacturers.

As we conclude, we have to go back to where we started today, the big news of the day, thank you to the people of Georgia. I want to just – we should send a free bagel to everyone in Georgia to thank them, from New York City to you because Georgia has done something amazing for the whole country. I now have confidence there will be a stimulus. I now have confidence we're going to have what we need to recover. So, this – we all on Election Day in November felt the momentousness. This is an amazing one, two punch that now we are feeling the bigger change we need to actually get the help, to get ourselves back on our feet, to recover, to fully recover for New York City and the whole metropolitan area to be the engine of the American economy again, and that all of our people can get back on their feet and move forward. Everyone will have that chance to finally move forward. So, what a momentous result and what a good day for New York City. Thank you, everyone.

2021-01-07 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I want to say good morning. I always say good morning, but it is such a challenging morning in this country right now. Everyone look, these next two weeks I think are going to be about as tense as a get as we just pray we get safely to the moment when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris take office. Yesterday morning, a lot of us were celebrating the victory in Georgia - the two victories in Georgia. I do think last night, a lot of people showed the good side of democracy by getting to that certification and a lot of folks show decency and the belief in the constitution, we should cling to that positive, but it's going to be a very tough two weeks and we're all going to have to stand up for our democracy.

All right, let's get back to our city. Look, whatever's going on in DC, we're going to just keep doing the work we need to do now to protect our people. We need to vaccinate the – right now, right now, we need to vaccinate all New Yorkers who are vulnerable, all New Yorkers who are high priority. Everyone who's willing. We need the freedom to vaccinate. Yesterday, I told you about a new State rules that come out that we interpreted, and we think very clearly, very appropriately, very legally, to mean that we could vaccinate our correction officers, that we could vaccinate our police officers who respond to 911 calls, who have to administer CPR, who have to administer Narcan to stop someone from overdosing. The folks who at any moment could be in very close, intimate proximity with another person, and obviously another person who could have COVID. We were ready to go and do a huge vaccination effort at Department of Correction and the NYPD. We were told by the State that they would not allow that. They are allowing a smaller percentage, several thousand and NYPD Medical Corps members, and we're going ahead with those vaccinations, but we really think the rules couldn't be clear. So I want to show you the City definition, the State definition on the screen to give you a clear sense of why we believed it was absolutely right to go ahead and vaccinate our patrol officers, so many of whom are ready, willing, and able to be vaccinated and we could vaccinate in a matter of days. Look at the definitions for yourself. I don't think it's at all gray, what patrol officers do. Of course, they have to be ready to perform CPR on a moment's notice. Of course, they have to be able to use lifesaving equipment and deal with any kind of emergency of any type. What is gray here?

So, there's the City's definition of who we want to vaccinate. There's the State's definition. Why don't we just resolve this and give the City of New York the freedom to vaccinate high priority people as we see fit so we can speed up the vaccination process. By the way, I know this is true all over the State of New York. I know of county executives, county public health officials are just asking for the freedom to vaccinate. We understand what we can do on the ground, in our own communities, give us that freedom because everyone agrees on one thing. We want the maximum number of high priority people vaccinated. Sometimes the federal government, the State government need to stand back and let local government do what it knows how to do best. This is one of those times. So, we get the freedom of vaccine, what I've said before, I want to get all of category 1-B approved. That means everyone over 75. That should be a decision today, authorizing that we can vaccinate everyone over 75 in New York City. You've heard from Dr. Chokshi that that's the most vulnerable group of people. We should be able to vaccinate them right now. All essential workers, first responders, food service, grocery, we've depended on them in this crisis, they've been heroes, childcare workers, educators, teachers, school staff. They all need to be vaccinated now.

So, that's what we're calling for and I know leaders all over the State of New York cities, towns, counties, all over the State in New York are calling for the exact same thing. So, I'm just hoping and praying the state government will hear our call, give us that freedom so we can move forward. In the meantime, what we do have finally is all of category 1-A approved. That's only been in the last couple of days and we have to fight just for that. But it does mean that there's more people who can be vaccinated, that's a good thing. So, for example, our home health care workers, our home health aides, folks who work, obviously, in hospitals and public health institutions. Folks who are in group living facilities or work in group living facilities. We want to vaccinate as many of these people as possible. Now, again, I said that won't be clear. Right now, a substantial percentage are not yet choosing to vaccinate. Probably a third or even more in some of these categories. That's another reason why we want the flexibility to keep going to wherever people are ready to be vaccinated. But for everyone in that category 1-A, let's get you vaccinated right away. So, there's vaccination drives in a lot of these institutional settings, but now we're going to be talking about all the sites around the city, many of which are open right now, some of which will start to open on Sunday, community sites, vaccine hubs, Department of Health, the mega sites that are being put up, the 24/7 sites, two of them this Sunday, more coming in the coming days. We want to make it easy for those in category 1-A to get the vaccination again, quick, free, safe, effective. So again, the two mega sites, Brooklyn Army Terminal, Bathgate in the Bronx opening Sunday 24/7. We're looking at additional sites, there going to be in all five boroughs. I talked about yesterday, some of the potential Staten Island sites, we'll have those nailed down and announced in the next couple of days. Queens Theater in Queens, very likely site, we're going to have that announced shortly, La Marqueta, East Harlem.

So the exact opening of each one, we will announce, but you're going to have these 24/7 sites in every borough. Okay, but right now, if you're in category 1-A, you want to get vaccinated, let's go through how you do that and the key thing to remember is where you get your reservation to be vaccinated, where you get your appointment. You go to nyc.gov/vaccinelocations, nyc.gov/vaccinelocations. This is the portal to getting your appointment. Now, you can go there now and get appointments at a number of sites. As we said, we started the week with 125 sites. We'll be up to about 160 or so by the end of the week. You can go online right now, Dr. Choksi is going to walk this through, sign up for any number of sites. Starting on Saturday, but we'll have the ability for people to sign up for the new mega sites that'll open Sunday, little bit more work was being done there to get that reservation system ready. But for right now, you can sign up at sites all over Saturday for the mega site.

Further, very common-sense point. We want the authorization to reach people over 75. I'll be the first to tell you there's a number of people over 75 who are not going to be as comfortable going online to make a reservation would rather do it by phone. Starting on Monday we’re launching a call center to take those calls. Now, again, this is an anticipation that the State will do the right thing and authorized category 1-B and let people over 75 get vaccinated. We're going to be ready on Monday for people to pick up the phone, call, get screened, make a reservation by phone, looking forward to the opportunity to do that. And the next week we'll add an additional tool, My Turn NYC, that's going to help people at any point they want to check in on their eligibility and the presumed timing of when they can get vaccinated. That's going to be a tool that anyone can get an update through. That'll be launching next week, we'll have more details on that, but right now we want to talk about people in category 1-A getting vaccinated today, tomorrow, Saturday, Sunday, here's how you do it. Dr. Chokshi, we welcome you, and you're going to go through it. You're out there – go through with us –walk us through from the point of view of the everyday New Yorker how you go ahead and make that appointment.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor and my first point that I want to make is to just build on what you've said, which is we have thousands of appointments currently available. So, if you are eligible, if you are a healthcare worker in any of the categories that the Mayor has described please navigate to this website, nyc.gov/vaccinelocations and that's your first step with respect to making sure that you can get an appointment, get your reservation for a vaccine. This is a simple three-step process that we have set up. So, number one is, go to nyc.gov/vaccinelocations. What you'll see is what's on the screen before you right now, a simple listing of who is eligible and also the locations by borough. So, that gets us to the second step, which is on the next slide, find a location in your borough. For example, if you live in the Bronx or if you work in the Bronx, these are all of the sites that are available to you right now, today, either to make an appointment online, or, you'll see in some of the descriptions that are listed here, there are phone numbers as well to be able to make an appointment. Each of them has dates and hours of operation listed so you can figure out when to go, if it's after work, before work, sometime during the day, if the weekend is more convenient for you. And many of these have evening hours as well. So, this is step two. And then the next slide is step three, which is actually making the appointment. Making the appointment happens through our scheduling app. So, you see an example of how we would make an appointment for the COVID Vaccine Hubs that the Mayor has mentioned or for the Health + Hospitals sites for unaffiliated health care workers. Both of them are simple. You navigate through some screens to fill out your own information, your contact information, you select a specific appointment slot, and that's it, you're done. So, those three steps, nyc.gov/vaccinelocations, number one; number two, find a location in your borough; and then, number three, make an appointment via these websites.

The only other thing that I would say is that there are just some small additional requirements from New York State – a screening form that has to be filled out and then bringing your proof of employment to the appointment. And so, if you follow those steps, you'll be able to get your COVID-19 vaccine, the safe free, easy vaccine that will help protect us, going forward. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi. So, everyone, look, again, go online. If you're in that category 1-A, you want to clarify you're in that category 1-A, just go on that website. You can make a reservation. You can make an appointment. We want to get everyone out there. We understand some people are hesitant. We understand people are looking for answers. You can also get information from the Department of Health. But the bottom line here is these vaccines are ready for you right now, even though we'd like to be able to get to a lot more people. Right now, there are New Yorkers who will be getting these vaccines. The sites are ready. You can get your appointment. Let's go. Once you get there, it's going to be very easy and it's free.

All right. As we do every day now, let's go to our indicators. Here's the latest we have. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for COVID-19 – today's report, 273 patients. Obviously, too high. Hospitalization rate, 4.28 per 100,000. But again, I'm having the conversation every single day with our health care leadership, hospital systems continue to do a great job handling the challenge. We're watching this every day, every hour carefully. But, thank God, they're doing very well with this challenge. New cases, today, 3,870 – way too high again. And percent positivity, seven-day rolling average 9.21 percent. All of these numbers we've got to fight down. Again, every one of you, every one of us can do it with what we do ourselves. And the vaccine is going to be a crucial part of the equation, another reason why we want the freedom to vaccinate.

Let me go – a few words in Spanish and we'll be back on the small business issue –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let us turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Small Business Commissioner Jonnel Doris, Dr. Ted Long, Executive Director of Test and Trace, Dr. Mitchell Katz, CEO of Health + Hospitals, Dr. Dave Chokshi, Health Commissioner, and our special guest, Grace. With that, we'll go to Dana Rubinstein from the New York Times.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, Dana. Happy New Year to you.

Question: Thanks. Happy New Year. Regarding vaccinations and the State rules surrounding them, history has shown that the Governor doesn't necessarily like to give you wins. Are you concerned that your calling them out so explicitly will backfire?

Mayor: Dana, let me go back to something Ed Cox used to say, which I really subscribed to. He said that for a Mayor of New York City, you have to defend our people and our interests. When a Governor does something right for New Yorkers, thank them, praise them. When the Governor does something that's not in New York City's interest, you’ve got to stand up and fight for New Yorkers. That's what I'm doing. We need the right to vaccinate. We need the freedom to vaccinate. I know this is something that's being felt all over the State of New York. County executives are saying this all over the State, Democrats and Republicans alike, county health officials – give us the freedom to vaccinate. So, you know, Dana, I appreciate the question. Obviously, one could attempt silence as a strategy when something's wrong, but, I think in this case, we would need to vaccinate people right now. And for weeks we appealed to the State to give us more flexibility and more freedom because that hasn't happened, It's important to raise the issue publicly so that we can actually get to people. Just think about people over 75. This is the part that drives me absolutely crazy. Right now, Mitch Katz’s story, his 98-year-old father. He's not legally allowed to vaccinate his 98-year-old father. Come on, give us the freedom to vaccinate.

Moderator: Next is Marcia from WCBS.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Happy New Year.

Mayor: Happy New Year, Marcia. Let's find a way to make it a happy new year.

Question: So, you were actually talking about the possibility of a happy new year yesterday with the selection with – with the election in Georgia and the selection of Chuck Schumer, hopefully as the Senate Majority Leader. So, my question to you is this, I know that you have a big want list and the Governor has a big want list. And you're hoping that the Senator can wave his magic wand and make all your budget problems go away. But my question is, is that realistic or will you still have to reign in some of your programs and do budget cuts because you're not going to get everything you want from Washington?

Mayor: We are absolutely going to have to take tough budget actions under any scenario. It's a very important question, Marcia. I thank you for it. First of all, Chuck Schumer will be the Senate Majority Leader, and that is incredibly good for America and for New York City. He is a proud New Yorker, proud Brooklynite. This is going to be an incredible moment in our history that one of our own reaches that position of power and importance in our nation. This is a really, really important moment. I'm, particularly as a Brooklynite, very, very proud. Chuck Schumer knows what he's doing. He's going to make great things happen for New York City. But the magnitude of the problem Marcia, is beyond the reach of any one leader right now. As we've said, you know, the initial estimates still hold about $9 billion in lost revenue and a long road back for our economy. We've made a lot of cuts. We've cut office, the Mayor's Office by about 12 percent in the last year. We took furloughs here in the Mayor's Office and management all over the City government. We're going to be making a lot more cuts. We're asking every agency to make cuts in the budget that I’ll announce next week. There is a PEG program which is an across the board cut program. All of that has to continue. We are far from out of the woods. So, I'm very hopeful there'll be a real stimulus, no doubt. And that stimulus must include local and state aid. But I also want to remind you while there hasn't been a stimulus the pressure keeps mounting. There's tremendous State cuts looming if they don't get a huge stimulus for the State of New York. So, no, we are – we have a lot more belt tightening to do. Go ahead, Marcia.

Question: So, I wonder if, if you have a wish list? Like if you could go to Chuck and say, these are my top three to five priorities, these are the places that I would love to see federal aid. What would be on your list? And do you think he is capable of waving his magic wand and making it happen for you?

Mayor: Okay. Well, you said Trump there, I assuming you meant Schumer from the previous question?I believe that yeah, as Majority Leader, I think Chuck Schumer will work with Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi to create a real stimulus. Not a survival plan or a COVID relief plan, but a stimulus to bring our economy back. And I am convinced he will include substantial state and local aid. That's what we need. When it will happen? We don't know. How much it will be? We don't know. But what I want is for the State of New York to be made whole and the City of New York to be made whole, because obviously what happens to the State affects all of us and vice versa. Also crucially want to see FEMA reimbursement go to 100 percent. This was an international pandemic. This is not something where localities should have to spend money they don't have on something that should have been the federal government's responsibility to begin with. We need to see that FEMA reimbursement go to 100 percent and go retroactively to the beginning of the crisis. Beyond there's many other important matters we could talk about, but I'm just staying real clear. We need a stimulus that makes us whole and gets our economy back on its feet. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Henry from Bloomberg.

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you doing this morning?

Mayor: Henry, quite a morning. It’s a very stark contrast to go from yesterday morning to this morning. But you know what we will, we will get to better days.

Question: I want to ask you if you can give some more clarity to this difference you have with the State over the distribution of the vaccines? Because there seems to be some confusion among some people about what the nature of this dispute is. The Governor seems to be saying all health care personnel must be inoculated first. And he doesn't want vaccines going to people who are not health care workers. You appear to be saying that because some health care workers are demurring to this or resisting it, there is vaccine leftover that isn't being used and should be used for other people who need it. Am I correct so far?

Mayor: I think broadly I would. I'm going to add, but finish your statement.

Question: So, my questions are number one, have all New York City health care personnel who want the vaccine, have they been inoculated? Or are there still health care personnel who must be inoculated who want the vaccine? And, therefore, is your request premature on this? And shouldn't you make this request when everyone has been inoculated?

Mayor: No.

Question: Okay.

Mayor: I'm going to lay it out. What I am saying is the same thing that county executives and county public health officials are saying all over the State of New York, Democrat and Republican, upstate, and downstate. When you see people agree who don't agree philosophically don't share a party, don't share a region, but are all saying the same thing that tells you something. Everyone is saying, we need the freedom to vaccinate because in the real world, what helps is to be able to reach anyone who's ready, willing, and able right now, and is high priority. It makes no sense if I've got someone over 75, who's vulnerable and is ready right now to be vaccinated, and I could be vaccinating them, there's no reason I shouldn't be doing that right now. If I've got an essential worker or first responder, who's ready right now. And we have really efficient ways to reach them because they're part of the government, we can organize within our agencies very efficiently. There's no reason to hold that back. The problem that we're seeing is when you're talking about a voluntary vaccination initiative and one where people have to present themselves to be vaccinated, it's not like pushing a button and doing something automatically. So, within category 1-A, all those health workers and other folks in congregate settings, you need the person to be willing. You need the person to be available and there to do it. If it's someone who you need a permission for, for example, certain seniors, a family member needs gives permission. If they don't give the permission, you can't give the vaccination if they're in a nursing home. So, the problem we have is we have been making the vaccine available. There are places like in Health + Hospitals, vaccines were made available. A lot of people have been getting it. Some have been choosing not to, as Dr. Katz talked about yesterday, Health + Hospitals has almost no one left to vaccinate at this point within its own employee base. Now they're working with unaffiliated health care organizations. But we could be reaching folks right this minute who are really vulnerable, 75 years old, 80 years old, 85 years old right now. Essential workers right now. And that's the best way to constantly use the supply of vaccine we have. It's the much saner way to maximize people being ready, willing, and able at all times, get the vaccine. One more point Henry. If you had a perfect world, it'd be like a constant assembly line. Just, it's once you have people pre-registered pre-certified it really only takes minutes. Dr. Katz said yesterday with the right setup, you can do 30 or even 40 people. A single vaccinator can do 30 or 40 people in an hour, but it takes having a pool of people ready, willing, and able at any given moment to get that vaccine. We have got to expand that pool to do this efficiently. Go ahead, Henry.

Question: Okay. Thank you. But I'm trying to understand the Governor on some level here other than that this is a clash of will. And to give the Governor maybe as much as he is due, isn't he saying that statewide, there may not be enough vaccine for every health worker so that if New York has already reached its level of inoculating health workers we shouldn't go onto the next tranche until the entire first tranche is completely served statewide? And if you have extra, give it up so that we can finish the job statewide?

Mayor: That’s not how the real world works Henry. I absolutely will dignify that I could see someone having that worldview and believing that that's the way to do things. But I'm going to quote my Aunt Yola passed away at the age of 95, a few years ago. And she used to always say, don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Right now, and I'm going to bring in Dr. Katz to speak about this. Because he can tell you about his own experience with his own health care workers. If you've got – if you had a world where everyone said I, 100 percent want the vaccine, just tell me where to be, I'll be there. I'll wait. I'm ready. Great. Then the Governor's theory would make a lot of sense. But on the ground, the world is different. Which is why you're hearing county executives, county public health officials, our own health officials here, and me saying, guess what? We're at the front line. You know, if like in war, the generals are back at the headquarters, we're at the frontline. At the frontline here's what we're seeing. A lot of people aren't ready to take the vaccine. There are some people adamantly opposed to taking the vaccine in those categories within 1-A. There's a lot of people who in theory are willing to take the vaccine, but getting them to show up is not an automatic thing. We've got now a pool of 50,000 or 60,000 home health aides that were just finally approved by the State in the last 48 hours. We're working with a union 1199 to maximize the number of them who get vaccinated next few days. Big, massive effort that doesn't guarantee people are going to make the choice to show up. We need them to show up to be vaccinated. So, in the real world, you know that you need freedom and flexibility, if you're really going to vaccinate a lot of people. You're saying, everyone's saying rightfully, let's get these numbers up. We all want to get the numbers up. Give us the freedom to vaccinate. I got a huge number of folks over 75, who would show up right now, if we would allow them to do it. The State won't allow it. I got a bunch of police officers who are ready right now. State won't allow it. Correction officers, State won't allow it. Go down the list, give us the freedom and we can move these numbers. And then you say, well, what about the vaccine supply? Look, we need the federal government and the manufacturers to keep that supply coming. But Henry, you know, if we're saying don't vaccinate quickly because we're not sure we're going to have a supply, then we're all screwed. I would argue vaccinate intensely quickly now and keep pushing for more supply. But don't have someone who's ready right now and willing told they can't, even though they're a high priority person. Dr. Katz, would you speak about the experience you're having?

President Katz: Yes, Mr. Mayor. And I think I can very much give people a sense of what it's like right on the hospital floor. So, when we opened vaccine slots, there was tremendous interest. We filled the first slots immediately. There were large numbers, especially of our physicians who wanted to get that vaccine right away. What then happened was as the days moved on we found that demand after all of those people who most wanted it past, the demand began to decrease. And we spent a lot of time walking through the hospital, encouraging people individually to come and get the vaccine on work time. We would take care of their patients, come with us. There's an appointment now. And what we learned is that a lot of people who've been doing this work for ten months felt, you know what? I have been a nurse taking care of COVID patients for ten months and I've either had COVID because of it. Or I feel that because I haven't gotten COVID, I must in some way be immune to it. And I'm just not ready. This vaccine has been rushed through. I'm worried about it. I would like some additional time. And so all of a sudden we now have appointments available and we don't have arms to give that injection to. We have posted all over all of our hospitals, the available times. Again, we have it on the website. We've talked to people individually. We've encouraged everyone. Everyone at Health + Hospitals who is eligible has been offered an appointment. And as the Mayor says, now we want to be able to move on to the other populations. We are scheduling right now unaffiliated physicians and nurses and optometrists, dentists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, other health care providers, midwives, we want them to come forward, and the home care aides, so important. And we want, as the Mayor has said, we want to vaccinate our own patients who are older than 75, who have very high likelihood that if they get COVID, they will get very sick. So I can assure you Henry, everybody at Health + Hospitals who wants to get vaccinated has that opportunity. But I still have thousands of slots available. I want to put that vaccine in the arms of people who need it. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very, very much, Mitch. I'm going to hammer that last point. If someone who is 75, 80, 85 is in one of Health + Hospitals facilities and wants the COVID vaccine, they are not allowed to get it right now by State rules. Just think about that. An 80-year-old at Bellevue right now says, could I please have the COVID vaccine? And the State's answer is no. It makes no sense. Whatever that person is in the hospital for, give them the vaccine right now. We have a chance to protect them right now. That's what we're trying to achieve.

Moderator: Next is Andrew from WNBC.

Question: Mayor, I'm going to follow up exactly on the point you just made. If it's a matter of life and death, and you have thousands of vaccines just sitting there. And you have 80-year-olds in Health + Hospital facilities right now, and you're convinced that on the matter of the law, you're correct. Why not vaccinate them and fight it out in court and save lives while you're waiting?

Mayor: Very fair question, Andrew. That's why when it came to the question of the first responders and I put up the slide earlier. We believe the definition that was put forward encompassed a substantial number of police officers who do that frontline work, including CPR, lifesaving work, direct work with people. The State told us explicitly yesterday afternoon, no. I made the announcement yesterday morning. I said, we've got a plan to get to 10,000 police officers by Sunday. The State said you can't do that. I don't find that acceptable. Clearly, we're trying to respect State law. But you know, if they put forward a broad definition, we're going to take that definition and try and be as open as we can with it to reach people. But we're being told explicitly, that's a violation of law. So, look, I'll certainly speak to the Law Department further because I think what's happening here makes no sense. I think the bottom line is we've got to save lives. And right now, who are the most vulnerable people? All of our doctors are saying it, the folks over 75, that's who's most vulnerable. Protecting health care workers, incredibly important priority, but who's most vulnerable, who unfortunately is in most danger, most possibility we may lose them? People over 75. Go ahead.

Question: In regard to the thousands of slots available right now, isn't that some – isn't some of that on the City's delay in getting the website up and running, the application process up and running, the hubs are not opening until Sunday. If all of this had been set up from day one with clear instructions for folks, two weeks before the vaccine arrived and an education process two weeks before the vaccine arrived, might you have thousands of more New Yorkers who've already been vaccinated at this point?

Mayor: Andrew, I’m going to say two things. One, that wouldn't solve the fundamental problem I'm raising, and that, again, county officials are raising in concert all over New York State. It doesn't work that way if you say, hey, we're going to limit the categories artificially and we have a high percentage of people who are not ready and willing, or maybe think they're ready, but just don't show up. It doesn't work that way. You need freedom from the beginning to reach a bigger pool of people. Just think about it again, if I've got a center that can do, for example, what we're starting on Sunday, 24/7, I need a pool of people who are willing, ready, and able to be there, to use up all the vaccine effectively. That is the core problem right now. We have the wrong rules. We need the freedom to vaccinate. Now, of course, this was complex, it took a lot to make sure that we were absolutely secure about how our health officials used – and our health care workers use the vaccine, the refrigeration issues. Everything had to be worked through to make sure we were 100 percent sure it would be safe, it would be effective, that we could distribute effectively. There were a lot of things that had to be worked out. Some of which, Andrew, could only be worked through when we actually had the vaccine to work with. Not theory, but practice. It had to be put through a practical trial. I'm always going to push myself and my team to do better. I'm sure there's some things we could have done better, but that's not the central problem here. The central problem here is we've got a huge number of people in need that we're not allowed to vaccinate. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Bob from the Chief Leader.

Question: Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Early on in the pandemic, the issue of at-home deaths from COVID was largely ignored yet for certain NYC civil service titles, we covered at the Chief Leader, it was a grim 24/7 reality. Such was a case for New York City detectives who lost six members who were required by law to document the circumstances of these at-home deaths, which meant they had to interact with families who'd been caring for loved ones with the virus and were at greater risk of infection. Wouldn’t these police officers face the same occupational risk as the clinicians who are graded 1-A for the purpose of getting the vaccination, who are in a setting that is – you know, a sterile hospital setting?

Mayor: Yeah, I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. He'll give you the medical answer. I'll give you the layman's answer. I think the answer is yes that any detective, any officer who's in that kind of intimate setting where the disease has been present, of course, I want them vaccinated. I want to protect them, and it doesn't make any sense to me that we're not allowed to, according to State law. Dr. Chokshi –

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. Mr. Mayor, I'll just add to that briefly to say that the way that we think about the priorities for vaccination overall are risk of exposure as well as risk of severe outcomes. You know, the risk of severe outcomes is one of the reasons that we really do want to move as quickly as possible to vaccinate older New Yorkers, particularly those above the age of 75. But the risk of exposure is the reason that we are vaccinating our health care workers but also our funeral workers, those emergency medical technicians and paramedics, and other parts of our first responder services who do have that greater risk of exposure. And I think that captures the example that you're describing as well.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. My questions are kind of follow ups to what my colleagues have asked. The first will be something that Andrew asks about the City's own preparation in getting ready for the vaccinations, when did the City start scoping out the places? I saw your spokesman tweet this week that you were looking at spaces. It seems like there should have been done weeks ago. So, if you want to just talk a little bit about when you all prepared to get a list of locations, because I think a lot of people say, why didn't the City have a list? Okay, here are the 50 places we're going to do it. These are the [inaudible] when they're going to open.

Mayor: Katie, I'll tell you a quick answer, but I am much more concerned that right now we vaccinate the maximum people possible and we don't have the freedom to do it, and we need it. As I said, we started the week with 125 locations, 125 locations. That's a lot of locations. And you heard Dr. Katz just now say, increasingly the problem is not having people willing to come forward and take the vaccine or not having them willing to show up, even if they want it, at the time and place where it's available, which is why we need a bigger pool. This is just plain logistics, but it's also about humanity. Folks over 75 right now want this vaccine and we're not allowed to give it to them. So, we have locations, 125 locations is a hell of a lot of locations and they're growing all the time. Go ahead, Katie.

Moderator: We have time for two more. First up is Sophia from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, Sophia. How are you?

Question: I'm doing okay. So, going back to the vaccination of the Corrections officers, given that jails are so dangerous for the spread of COVID and they're central to stopping it, is the plan going to move forward and, you know, the union’s cheering it on, what's going to happen on that regard?

Mayor: We don't have authorization from the State of New York to vaccinate our Correction officers. We need the freedom to vaccinate. Correction officers are clearly in a setting that makes them vulnerable. They deserve to be vaccinated immediately. So, we are waiting for that ability to just do – we could do it right in a way we have Correctional Health Service. They're ready to go. We can start vaccinating Correction officers in the next 24 hours, but we have been told explicitly by the State that we're not allowed to. Go ahead.
Question: Thank you. And then with the call for – the Governor calling on unions to prepare vaccination operational plans, and the UFT has said they are going to present a plan to the State on Friday for vaccinating teachers. What role do you see these unions playing in the distribution effort and what is the plan specifically for teachers?

Mayor: It's – Sophia, very good, important question. We welcome ideas from the UFT. I talked to Michael Mulgrew all the time. We welcome their support and encouragement of their members to get vaccinated. Clearly, we would set up the apparatus and the beauty of going and doing vaccinations in schools is it's exactly the same model we have with testing in schools. We are testing at every school in New York City every week. We would set up, in schools, a vaccination effort as quickly as we get the authorization to do it. Once again, I would like that authorization right now. I'd like to be given the right by the State of New York right now to start vaccinating educators and school staff. We have health personnel in every school. We have testing apparatuses going every week to every school. It's a layup to go into schools and start protecting our educators and our staff. I just want the freedom to do it, and I want to work closely with the UFT to maximize the number of members who would be willing to get vaccinated. Go ahead.

Moderator: For the last question, we'll go to Amanda from Politico.

Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Amanda, how are you?

Question: I'm doing well. Thank you. So, I wanted to follow up on Katie and Andrew's questions in regard to the preparation. So, I read an email from the City from late September to its Medical Reserve Corps, asking about who would be willing to start vaccinating people. So, if the emails were sent in September trying to recruit people, why has there been a delay [inaudible]?

Mayor: Amanda, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. Again, we have all of our current team, which is obviously first and foremost, a large number of staff at Health + Hospitals, there’s staff at the Department of Health, there's other City employees who are already a part of everything we're talking about with the sites, again, the 125 sites that we have now. But we knew we were going to need more and more talent, Medical Reserve Corps, contract staff. That effort's been going on for weeks. It continues to grow. As we're announcing more and more sites, obviously we have to have a staffing plan to go with. They were going from 125 sites to 250 sites. We were going to need more and more staffing. I've been talking to my colleagues daily. We're confident that we'll be able to keep developing that staffing. So, the bottom line here is this is going to be a big and growing endeavor, but we can't fuel the engine if we don't have the right to vaccinate folks over 75, first responders, educators, all the people that would allow us to make this so much more efficient. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to speak about that medical reserve group?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, Sir. Thank you. And thank you for the question. We have indeed been planning and preparing for months as that note to the Medical Reserve Corps in September indicates. We've made sure that the sites where we're setting up our New York City vaccine hubs were pre-identified, were screened to make sure that they would be appropriate for vaccination sites when we had the ability to scale up. So, that's on the space side. And on the staffing side, we've made sure whether it's Health Department staff, Medical Reserve Corps volunteers, other City staff, that we have a ready pipeline with respect to staffing for our vaccination sites as well. And now our task is to ensure that we match up the supply with that preparation and actually get New Yorkers so that we turn vaccines into vaccinations.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Amanda.

Question: Great. And that's a great segue for my second question, which is, I understand that you do not run the MTA, but the MTA is now, you know, not running between one and four. If we're going to be doing 24/7 mass vaccinations, what does that look like logistically if health care workers can't take the subway to get to these sites? What about people trying to get [inaudible]? Is this something that's been on your radar? Are you looking at other ways that the City can get people to and from, or is this going to be part of these stimulus talks to try to get more funding for the MTA?

Mayor: Obviously, huge issue in the stimulus is more support for the MTA. Absolutely, this is one of the reasons I'm so happy that Chuck Schumer will be the majority leader of the U. S. Senate, because I know he understands how crucial the MTA is. You're right, the State runs the MTA. They make decisions often their own way. What we care about here is, absolutely want to see transit workers vaccinated, want to make sure everyone else can get to vaccinations, want to make sure the MTA is kept on its feet. We are absolutely – the city runs on our subways and buses. We need that aid. But I will say that I have confidence that Senator Schumer will lead the way in making sure there's a true relief packet – package, I should say, a true relief package for the MTA and transit agencies all over the country. He gets it, that this is something that's absolutely needed. Thank you, everyone.

2021-01-08 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. All right, right back here in New York City. No matter what the hell is going on in Washington, and we continue to work every day and we've got a lot of work to do. And look, I'm going to talk again about the need to vaccinate New Yorkers over 75, our seniors, our elders, those we love who are in danger – the single most vulnerable population right this minute in New York City and the State of New York will not allow us to vaccinate them. This is really dangerous. If we can't vaccinate the people who are most danger, we're going to lose lives we did not need to lose. Let's change that now. How about all those people who serve us too? All the first responders, all the people who are essential workers we depend on – let's vaccinate them right now. We have been reaching out, and you heard from Dr. Katz yesterday, the day before, talking about the extensive efforts to reach out to health care workers some of whom absolutely want this vaccine – and we're going to keep making it available constantly – but there's also a lot of folks in category 1-A that had previously been approved who chose not to get the vaccine, or, even when it's available, they're saying, oh, not now, or I'm busy, or whatever. Let's be clear, access to the vaccine keeps growing. But many people within category 1-A are not choosing to take advantage of that access. So, that's fine. That's their right. But then why on earth would we not open up category 1-B? Why would we not help seniors who are the most vulnerable, even more vulnerable than so many of the folks in category 1-A? Let's focus on our seniors and let's focus on the people who save our lives every day and protect us and serve us – all those first responders and essential workers. 

Now, here's the thing that bothers me so deeply. Right this minute, we have 270,000 doses that we could be giving right now to New Yorkers over 75. You might ask, how many New Yorkers are over 75 years old who need this protection? About 560,000 people – 560,000 New Yorkers over 75. Well, over half-a-million right now who need this help – right now. And I believe, based on everything we've seen, this will be the category of people who want the vaccine the most. You're not going to see the same hesitancy you may have seen with younger folks or folks who have been working in the midst of this disease for months and months, and, as Dr. Katz described, may feel that they're pretty well protected as is. The folks who are most vulnerable are over 75. We know this, every one of our doctors has said it. This is the single most vulnerable category. This has been proven nationally, internationally. They have the most need and the most desire for the vaccine. They won't wait. We've got literally twice as many New Yorkers over 75 as the amount of vaccine we have in stocked right this minute. And yet we are not allowed by State law to give a single shot to a single New Yorker over 75. I guarantee you, if these standards are changed by the State, we are going to run through those 270,000 – excuse me, 270,000 doses very, very quickly. Again, we are given approval by the State, we will run through those 270,000 doses very quickly, because we will have so many seniors who need them, so many first responders and essential workers who need them and want them. And that's the crucial point, who actually wants to step up and get the vaccine. The freedom to vaccinate – the freedom to vaccinate, this is what it's all about. And you're seeing this all over the State of New York – we’re seeing county executives, public health officials all over the State in New York, saying please give us the freedom to vaccinate. There was a painful story in the Albany Times Union yesterday about county health officials having to throw away a vaccine, because they're not legally allowed to give it to the next category of people. It just makes no sense. So, let's fix this now.

Now, let's talk about the other most vulnerable category – single most vulnerable category of New Yorkers, not just over 75, folks in nursing homes. We know this – we know about the horrible tragedy we saw in the spring in our nursing homes. Everyone agrees, nothing's more important than vaccinating nursing home residents. That was supposed to be a federal responsibility under the original plan. Guess what? I know this won't shock a lot of you, the federal government isn't getting the job done. Dr. Chokshi talked about this days ago. It was supposed to happen through a federal initiative, working with CVS, Walgreens. It hasn't happened the way it needs to. The State said they're going to step in. That's great. We need action for the most vulnerable people who are in the nursing homes. Here's the numbers, according to the City Department of Health at this moment – in New York city, there's about 100,000 people overall either living in nursing homes or working in nursing homes. All of them are supposed to be highest priority. Right now, only 16,000 or so have been vaccinated – 16,000. There's an allotment of doses specifically for that population. That's about 54,000 through that original federal program. They're not being given out. Now, granted, maybe some people who live or work in nursing homes who don't want the shot right now, or there may be some people that you can't find a family member to authorize it for a senior who isn't making their own medical decisions. I'm sure there's some good reasons in some cases, but what we know is this is the most vulnerable population. And if total pool of 100,000 people with 54,000 doses available, only 16,000 have been done, something's wrong. Federal government, State government need to step up and move that piece of the equation because those are the single most vulnerable people in New York City.

So, we can make all this happen if we actually listen to the health care leaders who are talking about what it's going to take to make things happen on the ground. And this is the reality also, there's a difference between the theory and what actually happens on ground. There's a difference between what you originally think and what you find in practice. But, to be fair, even the federal government – CDC, Dr. Fauci from the beginning said that categories could overlap. 

You might have 1-A and 1-B going simultaneously, that you have to recognize that if there's not enough demand to logistically move the vaccine ideally, then move on to the next category. And the more people get it, the more people will be encouraged to get it. There is no reason to hold us back. There's no reason to stop the right to vaccinate. The freedom to vaccinate makes sense. That flexibility makes sense. And even the federal standards point in that direction, they have from day-one. Okay. We're just going to go out there, even with the constraints we have, even with the fact that we're only working within category 1-A – and even some of those folks within 1-A were just approved in the last few days – we're still going to do everything we can to get people to these sites, starting with the efforts we talked about yesterday, how you can go online, you can sign up for 125-plus sites. There’s going to be 160 – 160, excuse me, sites by the end of the week. But I want to focus on the sites, the mass vaccination sites, the mega sites that'll be open Sunday – Brooklyn Army Terminal and Bathgate in the Bronx. These sites, 24-seven, anyone can go to those with a reservation any hour of the day. Again, the City vaccine hubs, the Department of Health hubs also at Brooklyn, Bushwick Educational Campus; at Queens, Hillcrest High School; Bronx, South Bronx Educational Campus. We need a big push this weekend. We're doing pretty well this week. We're hitting our goals so far as of the end of Thursday. We want a big weekend. We want all those folks in category 1-A who have not been vaccinated and are willing – come on in, we can vaccinate you. Let's do this right now. But we also want to prepare for all of the folks who should be vaccinated – the seniors over 75, the essential workers, the first responders. Even though we're not allowed by State law yet, we want to be ready. So, on Monday, we're going to have five new sites up in anticipation of approval of phase 1-B. All over the State, people are asking for the freedom to vaccinate. I’ve got to believe at some point the State of New York's going to hear us. So, we're going to be ready on Monday with sites specifically for City workers to help our frontline essential workers, to help firefighters, police officers, Correction officers, to help essential workers we depend on. And these sites will be one in each borough, again, with a focus on City workers, essential workers, folks who will be authorized. We hope by then for category 1-B in the Bronx at Taft High School; in Brooklyn, at Wingate High School; in Manhattan, at Brandeis High School; Queens, John's Adam – John Adams High School; and in Staten Island at Susan Wagner High School. 

So, again, these sites specialized helping us really protect the folks who have been protecting us. Again, we are moving, adding sites, speeding up delivery. We are on track for our goals – 1 million doses in the month of January, 250 sites citywide in the month of January. Want to thank everyone who's helping to build this up, in a particular, a thanks today to everyone at SOMOS, an amazing network of community-based health care providers. They have played a crucial role in all of our efforts, our testing efforts in communities and schools, they're going to play a big role in our vaccination efforts. They're going to be helping to staff the sites in Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Manhattan focused on our central workers and City workers. Want to say thanks to Dr. Ramon Tallaj, and Dr. Henry Chen of SOMOS – two great leaders. Thank you for all you've done throughout this crisis. And thanks to your whole team – it's about a 2,500 primary care doctors and their teams all over neighborhoods in New York City. So, thanks to everyone at SOMOS, and we're going to need you once again. And I want to urge everyone who works in the SOMOS network, you're obviously qualified under 1-A. Let's get all of you vaccinated this weekend as well while you're helping so many other people.

Okay. Now, I mentioned the five sites, opening Monday in anticipation of approval of 1-B. And those sites, some run by SOMOS, two sites will be staffed by the Fire Department of New York City in Staten Island and Queens. Once again, the Fire Department, stepping up, helping to make sure that City workers are protected, obviously starting with the incredible first responders at the Fire Department. I want to thank the Fire Department for the role they're going to play. And I want to turn now, I want you to hear about why this is so important from our Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro. 

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You know, right after 9/11, almost 20 years ago, the department started with [inaudible] exercises to prepare us for certain emergencies. And at those exercises, we've been vaccinating our members against the flu. So, we've been doing vaccinations for quite a long time, and anticipating the vaccines release, we started planting early to vaccinate our own medical providers, and we began December 23rd at three locations in the Fire Department vaccinating our EMTs and paramedics and our CFR-D firefighters. It's been very efficient. It's going extremely well. And we are very happy to continue that process as part of this larger plan to begin vaccinating our fellow City workers. This department is ready, willing, and able to start on Monday. And we're hopeful that more and more of our fellow New Yorkers can receive the vaccine, and it'll help us end this terrible plague. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you, Commissioner. Again, thank you to you and your leadership and all of the men and women at the FDNY. Everyone has done an outstanding job throughout this horrible crisis. We want to protect the men and women who serve us. So, this is really going to help us. Thank you for your leadership in making this happen. Everyone, again, it's simple. Anyone in category 1-A, we want you to get vaccinated. If you're not ready, that's your choice, but if you are ready, we want to make it easy. It is fast. It is free. It is safe. It is effective. All you have to do, go to nyc.gov/vaccinelocations, nyc.gov/vaccinelocations. Yesterday, Dr. Chokshi went over exactly how easy it is to sign up sites all over the city. Please, if you're hearing this now and you are in category1-A, you are one of the people authorized to be vaccinated, go online right now, sign up. Let's get you vaccinated this weekend.

Okay, today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 256 patients. Too high, but again, hospitals doing well. I am watching very carefully, daily conversations with our hospital leadership. We are concerned we're going to watch this number constantly. We're going to watch the staffing levels constantly. So far, hospitals doing very well, but we are very, very focused, especially with the concern about the new variant. Hospitalization rate, again, too high, 4.33 per 100,000. Number two, daily number of cases – I'm sorry, daily new cases for COVID-19, seven-day average, 3,960. Way too high. And the current percentage of New York City residents testing positive, seven-day rolling average, 9.38 percent. Again, too high. The answer is keep doing all the smart things that protect us, that the Health Department has been telling us for months and months, but go get vaccinated if you're allowed now, and let's all push to get our seniors vaccinated. That's really going to be the most crucial piece of protecting our seniors, their lives, and it's also going to help us protect our hospital system because the folks who have needed the most care are those seniors over 75. Let's get them vaccinated, keep them home, keep them safe. That's going to help everyone. Okay, a few words in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let’s turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Commissioner Nigro, by Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to Rich Lamb from WCBS 880.

Question: Hi there to everybody on the call. Mr. Mayor, if the State is living in some alternate reality about these vaccinations, have you and the others you mentioned, county executives and health officials, have you thought about going public and just getting together with either a petition or a news conference or something to just go head-to-head about this?

Mayor: It's a very important question, Rich, and unfortunately, I think you framed it exactly right. There is some kind of alternate reality going on here because the facts on the ground couldn't be clear. When you've got county executives, upstate, downstate, Democrat, Republican you know, folks who never agree on anything, agreeing all with one voice, give us the freedom to vaccinate. That's got to tell you something. Everyone's out there making their voice heard. I think we have to just keep doing more and more and asking the public to join us and demand the freedom to vaccinate, demand that we help our seniors over 75, demand that we help our first responders and essential workers. So, Rich, I think everyone is raising their voice and we'll all work to do that more and more going forward because we've got to get this done.

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Michael, how you doing?

Question: All right. So, a couple of questions on the vaccines. You know, other states like New Jersey are providing it to police now. What are you hearing from, you know, folks in the NYPD about where this is going since, you know, your announcement Wednesday and yesterday, things have been in flux since then?

Mayor: I'm hearing tremendous frustration from police officers and leaders. I'm hearing tremendous frustration from seniors and folks who represent the interest of seniors. Everyone's beside themselves. Michael, no one understands why we're being held back from vaccinating people who are ready, willing, and able. Again, if we had a world where everyone in category 1-A, every second, the category got approved, people were lining up, they were energized, they're ready. That's one thing. We know a lot of people are choosing not to get vaccinated in category 1-A, and there's others who are still waiting and we want to do everything we can to reach them. But by the way, the group that needs it the most is that group in the nursing homes and the federal government and state governments still haven't gotten that done. That's the number one focus they should be focused on. Why don't they get that done and give us the freedom to vaccinate so we can go reach all the rest of the folks over 75, over half-a-million New Yorkers, reach our first responders, reach our essential workers. We're ready to do that right now. So, what am I hearing? I'm hearing tremendous frustration and anger from folks who want to get vaccinated and are being told by the State of New York they're not allowed to be vaccinated. Go ahead, Michael. 

Question: So, the second question has to do with your, you know, some of the rationale you shared yesterday, as far as your announcement Wednesday you know, about how the police were qualified to receive vaccines, you know, the 25,000 you referred to on Wednesday, because of you know, they provide CPR was one of the reasons included on that list. So, if that rationale applies, wouldn't have firefighters and teachers have been kind of included in that bucket as well as folks in Cuomo's administration that suggested?

Mayor: Michael –

Question: [Inaudible] –

Mayor: Go ahead.

Question: [Inaudible] guys, I guess –

Mayor: Say it again.

Question: So, why not – like when you made the announcement Wednesday, why not include like the firefighters and teachers instead of just having it be the police?

Mayor: Again, we got standards from the State. We put them up on the screen the other day. We got standards from the State. They made immediately clear to us that folks who on a very regular basis are called upon to provide CPR, to provide Narcan to stop an overdose, clearly qualified under the definition the State put forward. We looked at that and said, okay, we've already done EMS folks, EMTs, paramedics, who else qualifies? Clearly patrol officers in the NYPD qualify. This is something they do all the time. So, we said, great, let's go do them. Then we got a directive from the State – no, you're not allowed to provide the vaccine to NYPD officers. Listen, I'm going to say it again, Michael, really clearly. The State of New York said New York City is not allowed to provide the vaccine to NYPD officers even though they do provide CPR, they do provide Narcan, they put themselves on the line in very frontline ways to save lives. They're not allowed to be vaccinated. So, that just makes no sense whatsoever. The definitions, we put them up on the screen because they're almost identical and yet we got a specific directive telling us we couldn't do it. Go ahead, Michael.

Moderator: The next is Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call. So, to follow up with that, you mentioned yesterday that you were going to check in with the Law Department. So [inaudible] just from continuing or moving along and ahead and starting to vaccinate the elderly and the police officers, is there a fine attached to violating the law? Or could you deal with a legal challenge to this?

Mayor: Well, Juliet, we would like to solve this amicably in the spirit of helping our seniors and helping our first responders and helping our central workers. We're only asking for the freedom to vaccinate. I like to believe as more and more voices all over the city, all over the state are saying in chorus, give us the freedom to vaccinate that the State's going to get the message. So, we're still going to hold out hope that they'll do the right thing here. But what's not going to work is if they keep telling us we can't vaccinate when people are ready, willing, and able. So, for now, again, we're trying to get a breakthrough here, we’re trying to use reason, we're trying to use facts, and certainly the people are speaking. They want us to have the freedom to vaccinate.

Moderator: The next is Reuvain from Hamodia. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to ask you, last week you mentioned that you'd be taking another look at the neighborhoods that are considered hardest hit and are getting vaccine priority. I'm just wondering when you will reveal the new list and if you share the exact data that's going to be used in determining the new list? 

Mayor: Yeah. When we have that – we're obviously dealing with a lot of things at once, but we're certainly going to look at all the latest data, update as needed. Clearly let's talk Reuvain about folks over 75. And certainly, I know Hamodia and I know all the people who read Hamodia, communities that I have the honor of serving starting in the City Council. We want to make sure that in places like Borough Park that I served or Kensington, where there's lots of folks over 75, including Holocaust survivors over 75, they need the vaccine now, right now. We get the authorization from the State we're going to have, obviously I said, we're going to have 160 locations by the end of this week. And anyone who wants to sign up can sign up. So, I want to serve them. I know if we're given that freedom, we're going to be able to reach lots of people who are ready, willing, and able to take the vaccine. Go ahead Reuvain. 

Question: Staying on the subject of the elderly. Is there any plan for those who are disabled, whether they're elderly or not, and can't leave their homes to have vaccines brought to their homes? I know that there's an issue with the freezer. These vaccines can't be for too long out of the freezer. I don't know if there are freezer trucks or whatever, but does the City have any plan to vaccinate people who can’t leave their home unless they go in an ambulance? 

Mayor: Very important question. I appreciate you asking it. I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz and then Dr. Chokshi to comment about the planning they're doing. Obviously, a lot of people to reach in a lot of different ways but we want to figure a way to reach everyone according to their own needs, especially those over 75. Dr. Katz then Dr. Chokshi. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you so much for speaking for our patients who are over 75. It's a daily request that I get from patients that I see in my practice at Gouverneur who want to know, when are we getting vaccinated? We are stuck in our apartments. We are afraid to go out. We know that 75 and older people have a very high mortality to this disease. It's a very different equation and feeling for my elderly patients then it is for younger people who recognize that there's a balance of risk that they feel that they would be able if they got sick to get over it. My patients who are 75 and older don't have that sense at all. They have the sense that if they were to get this illness, they would die. And the epidemiology supports that they are much more likely to die. We recognize that there are people who are homebound. And we, Health + Hospitals has a home health care agency. And once we are allowed to go about caring for and giving vaccination to the 75 and older, we will utilize our home care agency and other home care aides. The vaccine, especially the Moderna vaccine, does not have the same requirements for the super freezer. We can imagine a scenario where we take up single vials in order to be able to give it to a patient and respect all of the rules about how long the medicine can be out of the refrigerator. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The only thing that I want to add is to highlight that the way that we want to expand access to vaccination starting with the flexibility that both the Mayor and Dr. Katz have described, will also become very physical and tangible as we expand out access points. So, making it so that we have additional access points that are conveniently located in people's neighborhoods, whether it's the community clinic or the pharmacy so that people are able to easily walk toward it. But then to your question, also making sure that there are solutions for people who may find it difficult to walk and ensuring that we use the right transportation services to help them if they're able to walk a little bit. But then finally getting to that last mile, we know that there are some people who are homebound, particularly some elderly people who are truly homebound for whom we will have to bring the vaccine to them. We are planning for that. There are complicated logistics because of the specifics of the vaccines and making sure that they stay stable and good during that transport process. But we have planned for that. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Nolan from the Post. 

Question: Good morning everybody. 

Mayor: Good morning Nolan. How you doing? 

Question: I'm hanging in there. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, man. 

Question: If we could go back to vaccines just quickly for a second. You've promised that you want to be distributing 400,000 vaccines a week across the city by the end of the month. The Governor says the entire state will be only getting 300,000 doses of vaccine per week. So, if you're promising 400,000 a week, promising just 300,000 a week across the entire state, how do you distribute 400,000 vaccines in a city when the State's only getting 300,000 doses? 

Mayor: The number is just too low and we have to fight for the supply we need Nolan. I said this – the day I said it was still in 2020 at that time. I said, we're going to do a million doses in January, but we need federal support, State support, and manufacturer support. Here's the bottom line. New York City has more ability to vaccinate than a lot of other places in the country. It's not a shock. It's obvious, a massive infrastructure here. We're being held back right now by State rules, but we have a huge infrastructure. The federal government, State government, the manufacturers should all together say, okay, if there's a place that could vaccinate a lot more people, get them more supply. Other places in the country it's going slower because they just don't have as much infrastructure. We feel for them. I want to see everyone everywhere, vaccinated for everyone's good. But if we have the ability to keep moving, keep building up, get us as much vaccine as we can use. It's in everyone's interest. I believe President-elect Joe Biden understands this. He has been calling out the fact that the Trump administration has been moving too slow. I believe when he takes over and in just days, he's going to push the entire apparatus to get the vaccine to where it can actually be used. So, we're standing by those numbers. If the vaccine’s there, we're going to be able to make it work. Go ahead. 

Question: The second piece of it is you were talking about the City's logistical prowess. You promised at various points that there would be a 24/7 vaccination spot in each borough. But days after making that promise and promising that those places would be open in just a few days, your administration's only cited spots in two boroughs. Why hasn't – why wasn't this logistical work done beforehand? And what does it say about the preparations? 

Mayor: Okay. Let's go over the logistical prowess of New York City. Our hospitals held when we were the epicenter of this crisis. We then became one of the safest places in the United States of America. We created PPE and ventilators, built them from scratch, created our own lab to process, test results. When we couldn't get enough from the marketplace, we created it. We created the biggest Test and Trace Corps in the country from scratch, ensuring that thousands and thousands of people didn't get infected. We opened the nation's largest school system when the vast majority of cities in this country didn't even dare to open. And our schools are the safest places in New York City. So, I feel very good about the logistical prowess of New York City. We have two mega sites open on Sunday, the Bronx and Brooklyn. The following week, the other three boroughs will have at least one mega site. We're going to keep building that out. But, right now, all of that pales in comparison to the fact that we don't have the right to vaccinate people over 75 or first responders or essential workers. Give us that right, you'll see plenty of logistical capacity played out and people getting the vaccine who need it and want it. 

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Kristen Dalton from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good. How are you doing? 

Question: I'm good. Thank you. I just had a question you know, about the Staten Island location you know, for the mass vaccination hub, mass vaccination site, rather. Two of the hubs that were already announced, the appointments booked up you know, before we were even able to publish a story about it. So, do you have any idea when you're going to be announcing a Staten Island location for the mass vaccination site? And what is the holdup? 

Mayor: We're going to have sites, 24/7 sites, mega sites in every borough next week. We're going to make the announcement in a very, very brief timeframe here, as soon as everything is solidified. And we want people to be able to take advantage of it. But remember, Kristin right now only folks in that 1-A category by State law are allowed to go. Now still, there's a lot of Staten Islanders who would qualify and hopefully a lot of them will take advantage of it. But what we really need is to combine those mega sites, and there will be one in Staten Island in a matter of days, with the authorization to vaccinate seniors over 75, first responders, essential workers. That's when we can really use those mega sites 24/7. And have a huge number of people really served quickly. That's what we aspire to do. But that announcement is coming very shortly. Go ahead. 

Question: Sure. And just you know, the hubs that have been announced so far and the sites are all primarily on the North Shore. And I know that you're looking you know, to focus on priority neighborhoods first, but is there any plan to expand maybe to the Mid Island or the South Shore section? 

Mayor: Yes, of course. We need sites all over Staten Island all over the five boroughs. So, remember we started this week with about 125 sites. We're going up to around 160 sites by the end of the week. But in the course of January, we're going up to 250 sites. Absolutely Mid Island, South Shore will be included. We want to make vaccination as easy as possible for as many Staten Islanders as possible. But again, right now we're all dressed up with nowhere to go. We have sites that can't be used the way they should be, because we don't have authorization from the State to serve seniors or first responders or essential workers. So, we'll keep putting up the sites all over the city. But we need the right and the freedom to vaccinate. 

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Dave Colon from Streetsblog. 

Question: Hello, what’s up Mr. Mayor? 

Mayor: Hey, Dave. How have you been? 

Question: Oh, great. I also wanted to talk about the vaccines because you're getting this 24/7 vaccination effort out, which is great. We all love that. But we do need to get people to the vaccination sites. And even though we all love the bus, there was this big NY1 story last month about how health care workers, early morning commute is twice as long on a bus as it was on a subway. So, I'm just wondering when are you, maybe one of your MTA board members you appointed, are going to start asking the Governor to restore overnight subway service so that health care workers can get to vexation sites, vaccine getters can go get poked in the arm? 

Mayor: Dave, that's a really important question. Seriously. I appreciate it because this is a discussion that is worthy. I'll tell you where I'm at. I think the effort to make it possible for people to return to the subways because they believed in the cleanliness and the healthiness of the subways, that late night cleaning has been a real success. This is something where the State and City really were on the same page, worked together. It's been a success. There's more to do. We're still in the thick of the COVID crisis. I would not end that policy. Now there's a day where obviously in the future, we need to go back to 24-hour service, but not now. We need those, that cleaning regimen in place. What I would say is the 24/7 system works obviously for lots and lots of people in lots of different ways. We're going to have a lot of demand. There's no question in my mind. But I think in the end we got to keep our subways a place that people are comfortable being as part of our recovery. And I would stick with the current plan. It's up to the State, but I would stick with the current plan. Go ahead, Dave. 

Question: And then there was one other public transportation thing because you did make a pledge to the people in New York, to a lesser extent the City Press Corps that you'd get around on public transportation for a week, at least? So just curious when it's going to happen, what’s the status of that is?

Mayor: Yeah, no, I want to do that and I want to do that quickly. As you can see, there's been a lot going on, but I definitely want to do it. And again, what I said is there's going to be a week where I'm going to put a lot of time in my travels into subways. I'm looking forward to that. And when we do it, we're going to do it very publicly because I want people to have confidence in the subway. So, we'll figure out that date and we'll announce it and welcome you to join us. 

Okay. Everybody, look, I'll conclude very simply. Think about the people in your life. Just think about the people in your life. Do you know someone over 75? I bet the vast majority of the answers, of course, yes. Maybe a grandparent, maybe an aunt or uncle, maybe mom or dad. Do you know someone in your life that you love and respect who's over 75? Is there someone you're worried about right now? I am. Almost everyone I know knows someone we're worried about because they're older. And they need our help. The State of New York needs to help them right now. State of New York is not allowing us to vaccinate those folks. It just doesn't make sense. They're the most vulnerable people in New York City. Let's help them. With the freedom to vaccinate we could literally, in a matter of days, reach thousands and thousands, tens of thousands of seniors. And then they would know they're safe. You would know they're safe. There's nothing more important. So, let's get the freedom of vaccination, let's get what we need. Let's get the freedom to vaccinate so we can move forward and fight back the coronavirus once and for all. Thank you, everybody.

2021-01-08 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: And now, as usual on Fridays, it's our weekly Ask the Mayor segment, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag #AskTheMayor. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Happy New Year. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. Happy New Year. And despite the bad we saw in Washington, our country's in a lot better shape than when we last spoke with a new president coming for sure and a Democratic Senate.

Lehrer: And you had to push this back by a few minutes from its usual time to here at 11:30 today, because you were holding a news conference. Did you make any policy announcement that people should hear you say as well around city?

Mayor: Yeah, what I announced is we are putting in place the apparatus on Sunday and Monday to begin vaccinating New Yorkers over 75, who are the most vulnerable New Yorkers. And first responders and essential workers. We announced the site that would be available and ready. But also had to acknowledge the State of New York will not legally allow us to vaccinate New Yorkers over 75 who are vulnerable nor essential workers. And we're just going to be ready on the assumption that the public outcry and the sheer facts and what our health care leaders are saying are finally going to break through to the State and that they're going to allow us to do this. So, we'll be ready on Sunday and Monday. But we're still fighting for the legal right. We're fighting for that freedom to vaccinate that we need.

Lehrer: And for people who don't know the background here, some of it is that some doses are apparently getting thrown away in some locations after frontline workers get their shots and the State won't let you give them to other people whose turn isn't officially here yet, like people 75 and up. So you said you're waiting for the State's permission and setting this up for Sunday or Monday to pressure them. Why not just do it? Like do it and ask for forgiveness later if you know what I mean, rather than ask for permission first?

Mayor: Look, I understand that. And I feel that, but here's the problem. I mean, as I understand some breaking news, just now that in the City of New Rochelle, which obviously was in the epicenter of the beginning of the crisis, they just proceeded to vaccinate first responders and essential workers. And the State of New York announced that they are fining that city and taking away their vaccine. Which is punitive, which is counterproductive, which is stopping vaccine from actually being used. You told that story, it's in the Albany Times Union is terrifying, of local health officials upstate having to throw away vaccine, even though they had people immediately available to take the vaccine because State law would have literally fined them a million dollars, doctors' licenses would have been threatened. This is, I mean talk about arbitrary and capricious. That the State has to relent here. They've created a situation that's creating fear and confusion and where doctors can't act, even when they know someone's vulnerable. But we are going to have the sites ready on the assumption that reason will win the day. And we will finally get that authorization from the State.

Lehrer: Let's take a phone call and I think it's related. Anthea in Manhattan. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Anthea.

Question: Hello. I know, I’m 89. My husband is 90. We live on our own and we need to be vaccinated. I want to know how – I've tried to look on the web but I'm legally blind so it's a bit difficult. I can only find appointments and things for health care workers. I need a phone number or website where I can really find out when we can be vaccinated as soon as possible?

Lehrer: We're going to give you that. We're going to give you that Anthea. Let me ask you one other question. Are you homebound or do you have the ability to go out to a vaccination site?

Question: We do both have the ability to get to – I'm legally blind, but I can get around. My husband is, he's okay. He can get around too.

Lehrer: You can go to a vaccination site, especially nearby I would presume. Mr. Mayor, can you help Anthea?

Mayor: Absolutely. Anthea, I'm very moved by what you're saying and exactly. This is exactly the point. You're 89 years old. We need to protect you. We need to vaccinate you. You should have the right to get vaccinated. The State has to approve it. But for everyone starting on Monday, we're going to have a phone number because we know there are seniors and others who need to make a reservation for vaccination, need to make an appointment by phone or for whom it's a lot easier to make it by phone. So, we're going to have a phone reservation system starting on Monday. And that is going to make it, I think a lot simpler. But right now, even with that system, unfortunately we're not legally allowed. It makes no sense. But I will say for all New Yorkers, if you qualify right now, because you're in that first category, health care workers or folks who live and work in nursing homes, et cetera, anyone can go to nyc.gov/vaccinelocations, nyc.gov/vaccinelocations to see all the locations. We started the week with 125 locations and are adding constantly. And the process for making an appointment. But I want to now go much farther. I want to be able to bring in everyone over 75, who wants the vaccine. Again, anyone can go to that website right now, to start knowing where the locations are. As soon as we get the authorization from the State, we're going to open up immediately to people over 75. And that phone system will be up and running on Monday.

Lehrer: Let me ask you about another point of priority. The US, I should say New York at the moment, is not prioritizing the jails and prisons, let's say just behind nursing homes, despite the rates of spread that have been associated with jails and prisons as congregate living facilities. Will you prioritize Rikers and other City jails higher than they have been?

Mayor: Unquestionably. If we get authorization from the State for what's called a phase 1-B, we’re going to make a high priority of reaching everyone in our jail system, our Correction officers, our inmates, we want to reach everyone. We've gotten a small narrow authorization to do high risk detainees. And we're vaccinating 457 high risk detainees right now. But we are not authorized to vaccinate Correction officers. We're not authorized to vaccinate the rest of the detainees. We want to do everyone. But we need the State to give us the legal right to do it.

Lehrer: Oded in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Oded. 

Question: Oh, hi. Good morning, Brian and hello, Mr. Mayor. Good morning and Happy New Year to you both.

Lehrer: Thank you.

Question: I'm –

Mayor: Happy New Year. How are you doing, Oded? 

Question: Good. Thank you. I wanted to ask you, Mr. Mayor, a question regarding the existing pause that continues on the issuance of the awards of New York City parks capital construction projects by both your office of budget and your office of contracts. New York City parks projects that have been funded years ago by mayors, including yourself, council people, borough presidents, state and federal elected officials, and are a part of your austerity budget continue to be withheld by your offices. And permission is not being granted to the Parks Department to proceed with this work. As a business owner, this affects our small company, our employees who are now on unemployment, their families, our suppliers, and the communities throughout the city that had been waiting for their local parks and playgrounds to be reconstructed and brought up to current safety standards. During a time when we've seen how important our outdoor spaces are, we know that outdoor construction is an industry that can be performed in a safe low-risk manner to prevent the spread of COVID and –

Lehrer: Oded, I'm going to jump in there because I hear you're reading from an extended script and people are going to have their eyes glaze over. But you get his question about those projects funding that have previously been approved, on hold, Mr. Mayor. So, what's your response? 

Mayor: Yeah, first, Brian, I want to thank you. I want – can I just urge all your listeners, when you're reading from a script, it actually – we all can tell, and it doesn't make the question as powerful. Just to speak from the heart. It will be so much easier, and I guarantee you, you'll get your point across better. But to the question, first of all, I oppose austerity as a philosophy, as a governing approach. So, I disagree with all due respect to Oded. I think that's an absolutely unacceptable characterization of what we're doing. This was not even close to that. This was absolutely worse than that. It was a cash flow crisis. When the height of the crisis in the spring with COVID New York City was running out of money in the sense of cash flow, it was that bad. We weren't getting federal support. Our expenses were skyrocketing and there was no end in sight. When you remember March and April, we didn't know if things weren't about to get a lot worse. So, we suspended certain capital projects simply because we weren't sure we would have the resources to keep going. We had to make decisions based on priority in terms of health and safety, and the most vital needs.

Your question is a really good one this week, because in the course of this week the world changed a lot. The elections in Georgia and the certification of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris changed the entire discussion. So, even though a new stimulus is not here yet, and we're going to have to fight for it, it still greatly improves our potential that we're going to get the relief we need and the actual stimulus we need so we can open up and speed up a lot of the projects that were on hold for really tangible specific reasons. So, we'll take a quick look at the parks. We'll get an update to the public on the park situation on how and when we can speed those up. But I do want to emphasize that if the results of the election of Georgia mean that there will be a stimulus relatively soon, it's going to allow us to do a lot of things that we haven't been able to do so far. 

Lehrer: Oded, thank you for your call. And let me follow up on what you just said this way, as I'm sure, you know, the City's Independent Budget Office released a report this week saying they don't see federal aid from the new Congress coming in time for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1st in the city. And that the city is still down about a half million jobs compared to before the pandemic and it'll take a few years to recover them. Assuming you agree with their premise, what budget savings, while meeting the needs of unemployed New Yorkers, are you prioritizing? 

Mayor: I don't agree with their premise. I thank you for asking. I don't agree with their premise. A lot of different items in that report. I think their projections on our economy are too conservative. I think there's an immense amount of pent-up demand that's about to be unleashed. And if we get a real stimulus soon, I think we can speed our recovery. But I also think our budget crisis is profound because we lost $9 billion in revenue. I also do not agree – I've spoken in the last 48 hours with Speaker Pelosi and now about to be Majority Leader Schumer – I do not agree that it is a given that there will not be a stimulus before the April 1st State budget or our April executive budget for the city. I think there's a very real possibility of a meaningful stimulus in February or March. So, we're going to adjust accordingly. I'm presenting a budget next week, preliminary budget. Obviously, we cannot guarantee a stimulus for that. So, we're going to talk about a world without a stimulus. But between then and when the State and the City take their next steps in the budget process, I think there's a decent chance of an actual true stimulus, a stimulus of real magnitude with city and state direct aid. 

Lehrer: Scott in the Bronx you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Scott. 

Question: Hello. Thank you. I pray for you both, Brian and Mr. Mayor. Thank you –

Mayor: Thank you, Scott. Thank you for that. 

Question: You're welcome. The question – I know you want to encourage people to use public transportation. On the buses, the COVID situation, please. How is the revamping of the ventilation system on the buses going? And also, would you please affirm that it's still the law, whether or not you're vaccinated, you still have to wear face coverings on the buses. 

Mayor: Yes, Scott, thank you. Very important point. On the ventilation. I cannot give you an accurate comment because the MTA runs the buses and that's a question we're going to have to get from the State and the MTA. But on the masks, I can give you a hundred percent because I've had this conversation with our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi, and he said it in fact, publicly, as I did this week. We want people to assume that from now through at least June, continue all of the precautions, wear the face mask, keep the social distancing, the constant cleaning until at least June, because we know the vaccination effort to really reach deeply into our city is going to take that long. We, again, we could right now be reaching the seniors over 75. We could right now be reaching essential workers. But to reach millions upon millions, we project is going to take us over several months into June. Until we get to that critical mass, we want everyone exercising these precautions. So, yes, it is the law. You go on a bus, you're wearing a mask. And you go into a store, you're wearing a mask. That is the law and that continues to be the law, even if someone has been vaccinated. It's the smart thing to do. 

Lehrer: You talked about the problem of the courts being closed because of COVID and we have a caller with a personal experience with that, I believe. Linda in Queens, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Linda. 

Question: Good morning, Brian. Thank you for taking my call. I'm a loyal, long-time listener and I have a [inaudible] with the Mayor when he came to the town hall in Queens. So, good morning to both of you. I have a major problem. The Mayor is the only one who can help me. I'm a senior citizen, a good worker in the community, and I was wrongfully arrested and, of course, they dismissed it. But the I have a transcript from the judge and the police are telling me that it's still in the system. It was dismissed over six months – six months ago. But when COVID came, the Police Department said it is not their job to get it out of the system, it's the court system. The court was closed, they’re not dealing with this, and they said I have an active order of protection against me and I can be arrested. I was wrongfully arrested four times, Mr. Mayor. And I am a senior citizen, and I was arrested, and I went to three courts. I need your help, please. 

Mayor: Yeah, Linda, I'm so sorry you have gone through that. And I want you right away to please give your information to WNYC. My team will follow up with you today. We're going to get our legal team to talk you directly. Anyone wrongfully arrested, anyone who was supposed to have their record erased, that has to happen even in the middle of COVID – that has to happen. You're absolutely right that there's a dangers that come with that inaccurate information still being in the system. So, we will get our lawyers to you today. They'll work with the Office of Court Administration, NYPD to fix this immediately. 

Lehrer: Great. Linda, hang on. We're going to get your contact information. I'm glad you got through. We've got about a minute and a half, Mr. Mayor, and I want to share some breaking news and get your reaction – the AP and the New York Times are reporting that President-elect Biden plans to release nearly all available vaccine doses in an attempt to speed delivery, calling it a sharp break from the Trump Administration's practice of holding back some of the vaccine. They say, they'll share more details next week. But from the reporting, this goes against the recommendation from the FDA. But a transition official, speaking anonymously says they will use the Defense Production Act, if necessary, to ensure enough doses are available. I guess the objection from the FDA is that they want to make sure that all the first doses get administered, or that people get their first and second doses. Do you have any reaction to this? I realize it's first blush.

Mayor: No, I do. First of all, I commend Vice President Biden – or, President-elect Biden – let’s get the right title here. President-elect Biden is doing the right thing here. You know, while the State in New York won't allow us to give vaccines that 75-year-old people and essential workers and first responders, you know, we're being held back from using the supply of vaccine we have. But if we had the freedom to vaccinate, we would be going through our supply very quickly. Literally, we could be out of vaccine by a week or 10 days from now. So, we need constant resupply. What we need is a lot of flexibility to vaccinate everyone who wants it who's still – these are all high-priority people and get that first dose to them, because the first dose provides a lot of protection. And then we'll keep going and getting the second dose after, but we got to protect people now. 

Lehrer: Thanks, as always, Mr. Mayor. Talk to you next week.

Mayor: Take care, Brian.

2021-01-11 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. We are starting a really important week in this city. We fought hard for the freedom to vaccinate. Now we have it. Starting today we can reach New Yorkers over 75 years old, the most vulnerable people, our seniors, our elders. We can reach them today. And we can reach so many of the people who serve us, our first responders, our essential workers. It's a very exciting moment, a very important moment, a lot of work to do now. We've gotten the freedom, now we have work to do to reach each and every person ready to get vaccinated. So, we have more and more sites opening up, including our 24/7 sites. And this is very exciting because there's a lot of people ready to get the vaccine, literally all hours of the day, and we'll be able to accommodate them in all five boroughs. So, yesterday I was in the Bronx, I saw the site at Bathgate. Great people at that site doing great work to make sure people have a good experience getting vaccinated. I talked to the folks who work there, I talked to some of the folks who had come for the vaccination. Everyone said an easy process, straightforward process, very much like when you get the flu shot, nothing more fancy than that. So, we're really excited that these 24/7 sites are starting to open up and you're going to see a lot more of that going forward. Now what we said for this last week was we needed to reach 100,000 doses, we had to vaccinate 100,000 people this last week. We got there – 101,799 doses given last week in this city, about as much as have been given all, previously, in December and the first days of January. So, we are now picking up the pace intensely. And for the week starting today, the goal is 175,000 New Yorkers, 175,000 doses given this week. We feel very good about that goal. We feel very good about our goal to vaccinate a million people in the course of the month of January.
So, the sites like Bronx, the Bathgate site yesterday, the Brooklyn site, Brooklyn Army Terminal, 24/7 starting today. I should tell you that the overnight appointments for tonight, starting from midnight, we already have 100 percent booking on the appointments at those two 24/7 sites between 12:00 AM and 4:00 AM. So, you can see New Yorkers are going to take advantage of this. The city that never sleeps, people are immediately grabbing those opportunities to get vaccinated. Now more 24/7 sites are coming. Tomorrow, Tuesday, 125 Worth Street, Lower Manhattan, Department of Health headquarters. That will be open tomorrow, 24/7. Vanderbilt Clinic, Staten Island, Wednesday – starting Wednesday, 24/7. And we will be adding a larger site on Staten Island the following week at the Empire Outlets. We'll have the details on that shortly, but for Staten Islanders, starting Wednesday, 24/7, Vanderbilt Clinic, and then going to the bigger site at the Empire Outlets. This Saturday in Queens – Corona, Queens Health + Hospitals site will be the first 24/7 site. Again, you're going to see these big sites start to build out more and more, but this is how we get started. And that's on top of all the sites that are already up and running. You're going to see sites expanding throughout the month of January and longer and longer hours at sites. So, we have a lot to do, but this will be a constant expansion. We're going to keep making sure as we do this work, that we make it faster and faster.

That was the experience we had with testing. The more we did, the faster we can make the process. That's the experience we're having already with vaccinations, but it will take time to get every site up to its maximum speed. So, we will hit that one million dose goal in the month of January. We feel very good about that and feel very good about the Biden administration focusing on more federal help for the vaccination effort. We appreciate that. Vice-president – or now President-elect Biden is absolutely correct. He's hitting – he's suggesting a really audacious goal for this country. I think that's exactly the right thing to do. He's pushing for a deeper federal role. We need that. And I support that and appreciate that, but I want to remind everyone the most important thing we need right now is for the federal government, State government, and manufacturers to help us to get the doses we need. We're accelerating. We're going to run out of doses in the next few weeks if we don't get more of a supply coming in. So, I want to be clear, it's really important people understand demand is going to be intense. This process is going to build every single day. Right now, we have doses. The problem in a few weeks is we will run out at the rate we're going to be going. We need the federal government to step up and the State government, manufacturers get us the doses we need.

Okay, now all of the sites we have are by appointment only, want to really emphasize that. Why are they by appointment only? One, we do not want long lines. Two, we want it to go smoothly so people have a time they can depend on. Three, we want to make sure that only folks who qualify are getting the vaccine. That's why the appointment process requires affirming why you are in one of those priority groups. It is not just like anyone just come on up, bang, we're going to give you a shot. No, there is a reason there has to be some information given. There's a reason there has to be some to make sure we get the right people. And again, the last thing we want to see as long lines. So, the appointment process is crucial. Now, anyone who's eligible, you can go online, new website I want to announce that is going to be even simpler to use nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, nyc.gov/vaccinefinder. You enter your address, and it gives you where the sites are closest to you and how to make a reservation. You proceed to make your reservation. Now, online obviously is great for a lot of people. You can see the map of where the sites are. You have a process of knowing what's available when. That works for a lot of people, but let's face it, the number one group we're concerned about is our elders, folks over 75 years old. Some of them are great online. Others really don't feel comfortable online. So, we need to have a phone reservation system as well. So, we're announcing that right now. And it is up and running 877-VAX-4NYC – 877-V-A-X-4NYC. So, that system is ready to receive calls, operating currently from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM each day. We'll be adding more and more staffing that will go to a 24-hour operation soon. Right now, we have 750 customer service representatives. And we'll scale that up as we go along.

Now, let's be clear, we expect a lot of demand. So, anyone who's calling that number obviously you're going to have some times when you may have to wait. We're asking people to be patient because there's going to be an immense amount of demand. Again, we'll keep adding capacity, but recognize that the first days there's going to be a lot of demand. If you don't get through immediately or the wait time is longer than you feel comfortable with, keep coming back to it. We're going to keep adding capacity. Now, we already know folks have been responding immediately even before we put the phone system up. 55,000 appointments are already booked for this week just through Saturday. So, 55,000 appointments already. And you're going to see that number move intensely in the course of this week. I want to thank everyone. A lot of folks have been working hard, building up these sites, and putting all the systems together, a lot of work to do ahead, but we know that we're going to be able to reach the folks who need this vaccine. And we're going to meet these goals. Here to tell you more about how this effort is building out our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi. 
Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to tell you a little bit about what I saw and heard during this very special weekend. At the South Bronx Educational Campus on Saturday, I saw a motivated team of Health Department staff and Medical Reserve Corps volunteers eager to welcome their first guests for vaccination. I met staff trained in checking appointments on tablets, saw markers laid down directing guests where to go, and observed tables stocked with PPE, alcohol wipes, and Sharps containers used to discard syringes. And yesterday thousands of our fellow New Yorkers poured through the doors at three high schools in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens and other sites across the city. These individuals saw up close what many of us will be experiencing over the coming months. They booked appointments. They presented their proof of eligibility at the door, went directly to be vaccinated, and afterwards stayed in an observation room for about 15 minutes to be monitored as well as to book a time for their second doses. They were then issued vaccine cards like this one.

I know it's a simple piece of paper, but it's one that will help us to turn the page on this pandemic. The whole process of turning a vaccine into a vaccination takes about 30 minutes. Since you need two doses that means that each of us is only an hour away from doing our part to beat back this pandemic. After one vaccination at Hillcrest High School in Queens, a medical assistant named Valeria Correa Gomez told a reporter that she took the vaccine to keep her friends and family safe. It's science, she said. I trust science. I love science. Valeria, I could not agree more.

At another vaccination site that I visited over the weekend, they told me they added Kleenex to the vaccination stations, because some people were crying tears of joy upon getting their shot. And indeed, it's hard not to get emotional as we think about what this vaccine means for our fellow New Yorkers. Today, another 50,000 appointments went online for vaccinations starting January 16th. I have a message specifically for New Yorkers 75 and older. If you have a regular provider or a hospital that you utilize for your care, reach out to them to coordinate care and see whether they can help to connect you to a vaccination. If not, we are excited to welcome you to one of our vaccine hubs. Call us at 877-VAX-4NYC – that's V-A-X-4NYC. We do ask New Yorkers to be patient with us as this program accelerates, appointments fill up fast and demand is high. But we promise more are coming, particularly if the federal government increases our supply of vaccine. We will do our part to open more of our doors in the days ahead, but we also need others to accelerate their programs. To that end, we implore our federal partners, working with CVS and Walgreens to pick up the pace for the nursing home vaccination program. They need to be vaccinating seven days a week, including weekends. With cases rising by the day, the urgency could not be greater. And to New Yorkers who are now eligible, including health care workers, people 75 and older, educators, and first responders, go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder to make an appointment today. This safe, free and easy vaccine is a shot in the arm for the whole city. We look forward to seeing you at one of our sites. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dave. And I really appreciate the emotion, the energy you described from your visit. And let me tell you something, that's what I saw at the Bathgate site in the Bronx. I saw folks who were excited to be getting the vaccine and I saw really great frontline health care workers there to help people make sure they got what they needed, excited to be helping so many of their New Yorkers fight back this disease once and for all. So, a lot going on now. Look, we made real progress by getting the approval of category 1-B so we could reach folks over 75, frontline essential workers, first responders – that's great. Now, we need to keep going, reach people as deeply as possible. We also need to work on some folks and helping out some folks who have special needs. I’m thinking about our home-bound seniors. And we're going to have an update on that in the next few days, an update on how we're going to reach our home-bound seniors. That's going to be a special effort to reach people in particular need who need the vaccine. And I want to be clear to everyone, if you are over 75, please go out and get that vaccine. Again, there's a lot of appointments available and some people are going to be looking for the exact right appointment for them, and it may take a few days, obviously. But the fact is, this is available to everyone over 75, regardless of where you live or your income or your health condition – everyone over 75 is welcome to get this vaccine now. And as our health care leaders have said repeatedly, single-most vulnerable group of people, the single biggest determinant of vulnerability is that age group over 75 – 75 and over, I'm sorry – 75 and over.So, let's just get out there and get the vaccine. It's going to be a smart thing to do. When you get the vaccine you're given immediately the date for your second dose – that reservation, that appointment is made right away. It's a very straightforward process. Again, safe, effective, fast, easy. So, everyone, please, this is a great opportunity to stay safe. And for you for your loved ones, this is something we want to make sure everyone gets who's ready.

We're going to keep building this out, as said, throughout the week. There will be constant updates on new capacity as being brought on. We, as New Yorkers, are not patient people. I only ask people to be a little patient with the fact that there's only so many slots available. That number is going to keep growing. So, 175,000 doses will be given this week. And then, it's going to go more the next week, more the week after that. And we know we'll be able to over time reach all New Yorkers.

Okay, let me give you the indicators for the day. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 247 patients. Obviously, too high. Hospitalization rate 4.62 per 100,000. So, again, these numbers continue to be a lot higher than we want. And, at the same time, our hospitals are doing an absolutely outstanding job handling the situation. We're watching that all the time. Again, at this moment, based on conversations with our health care leadership yesterday, hospital system continues to do well, thank God. Current new cases, today's number 4,904 – way too high, obviously. And then, the percent – number three, percentage of New York City residents testing positive on the seven-day rolling average, 8.8 – excuse me, 8.18 – 8.18 percent – also too high. Remember, everyone, if you can get vaccinated, get vaccinated. But in the meantime, keep practicing those safety – those smart safety rules. We want everyone to keep their masks on for months, I've said it – up until June is our minimum timeframe we're talking about keeping masks on, observe social distancing, avoid indoor gatherings. All these things so we can finish this mission once and for all.

A few words in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journal.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Long, Dr. Katz, by DoITT Commissioner Jesse Tisch, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. The first question today will go to Narmeen from PIX 11.

Question: Good morning, Mayor. Good morning to everyone on the call.

Mayor: Good morning, Narmeen. How are you doing?

Question: I'm doing well. Thank you. I want to ask you for us – I mean, a lot of the outreach or the way that are going to be setting up getting vaccines is digitally. I wonder for those who will be struggling with digital literacy here, we're talking so much about our senior population here, folks who might not be able to understand this language wise – I know you've discussed this at length in past press conferences, but how are we addressing that today? Because we understand from some vaccination sites, even this morning, that there has been some confusion, some folks who are just showing up without making those appointments. And it clearly shows a little bit of misunderstanding of how the process works.

Mayor: A very important question, Narmeen. So, again, we want to absolutely embrace seniors or anyone who's not comfortable online and prefers to make their reservation by phone. And they can do that at 877-VAX-4NYC – 877-VAX-4NYC. And that system is up and running, but you make a really good point, there's still going to be some folks who come to a site, maybe misunderstand the day, whatever it is. We want to do our best to manage that. We want to discourage people from just showing up. We want to discourage long lines, but we want to be responsive if someone shows up and handle them the best way possible. I'm going to turn to Dr. Ted Long, because we were just discussing this issue yesterday in the Bronx. And Ted, talk about the protocol that we'll use. If someone does show up, we're going to do our best to be helpful. But again, we do not want a situation where people think that the smartest thing to do is just show up. That's not going to be a great workable system. Go ahead, Dr. Long.

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps.: Yeah. Thank you, sir. So, if you show up to one of our sites, whether you have an appointment or not, one of the important things that we're doing is we have navigators that are going to go out there, going to talk you through whether you need to appointment or whether you have one, and they're going to help you to figure it out. That's one of the things we've learned from testing. We've been able to do 100,000 tests in New York City in a given day, and that's because we know how to work the line, we know how to help people. Right now, all of our visits or appointment based. But if you come and there is a line, you can count a navigator helping you. And if you don't have an appointment, we'll help you to make one.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Narmeen.

Question: Thank you, Mayor. And thank you, Dr. Long. My next question is on behalf of my colleague, Kala Rama, in regards to our education workers – we now know, obviously, phase 1-B includes them, but who's actually eligible in schools? We're trying to really narrow it down. There were some teachers who were saying they're remote and they don't believe that they will be prioritized, as the Chancellor has indicated, that the priority will be given to those in-person educators. So, if you can be more specific about the education workers, the breakdown as to when they can be vaccinated within those – that system in particular.

Mayor: Absolutely, Narmeen. I mean, look, we want to serve everyone. So, I want to be clear, to all our educators, all our school staff across the board, our goal over time is to vaccinate everyone. But in terms of whose first priority within that group, obviously we're concerned about the folks who are in schools, working in schools. That's the first priority. It makes sense. So, that's who we'll focus on. But the group that has been authorized, we want to support all educators, all school staff. It's really important. And recognizing the folks who want it – you know, some people are going to want the vaccine, other people are not. We want to get to folks who want the vaccine. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Mayor, good morning. And good morning to everyone on the call. My question to you is to what degree have we learned lessons from the dispute that just concluded with the State over opening up 1-B so it can be avoided for 1-C, because I'm sure that very, very soon, you're going to be hearing from folks who have underlying health conditions, family members who take care of family members at home who are not in 1-B. And you might get some indication soon about how much of this vaccine you're actually going to use. So, how quickly could you anticipate moving to the next group of folks on this list?

Mayor: It's a really good question. And I want to say, I do feel for anyone who has a pre-existing condition and is under 75 years old. I'm concerned about them for sure. That said, I want to remind everyone, just New Yorkers over 75 is about 560,000 people. Now, we can all count. We don't have the vaccine for 560,000 people in stock right now. So – and that's before you even talk about the health care heroes, first responders, essential workers. So, the reality is – we do have to recognize the reality that until we have sufficient vaccine, we're going to have to do this in stages. But I do want us to get it as quickly as we can to the next group. They're very needy. We want to help them. And I think you said the key thing, Andrew, let's see what demand levels are. I think one of my concerns in our experience in 1-A was we kept saying to the State, we need this flexibility right now. We see what's happening on the ground, we know we're going to have a problem if we don't have this flexibility. Now, we're going to watch how 1-B plays out. We're going to watch what happens with our seniors and our essential workers and our first responders. We're going to see what level of pickup there is here. We know already in the 1-A group that a lot of health care workers actually chose to take a pass in this first round. As we've said, that number is at least in the 30 to 40 percent range based on what we're seeing. Let's see over these coming days what happens with this new category? And if we see a lot of activity, then we're going to stay in 1-B for a period of time. If we don't see activity, then we start the discussion on where to go next. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: Part of the follow-up to that is one of the criticisms of your rollout and the State's rollout was that the infrastructure wasn't up and running, even though you knew for months, that the vaccine was coming. So, knowing that there will be a 1-C and beyond that, the general population of New York City to get the vaccine, how confident are you that the infrastructure for that will be ready the moment you need it to be?

Mayor: Andrew, again, I respect questions, I respect criticisms, they help us to do our job better, but I also respect reality. The fact is, we just vaccinated 100,000 people in a week. We're going to vaccinate 175,000 this week. We're going to do a million doses in the month of January. The question is not capacity at this point. The question is, are we going to have enough vaccine? That's what's going to happen in the month of January. So, let's be clear about the fact that all these good people putting this effort together are meeting demand. The question – and I said it from the day I told you there would be a million doses in January – the question is whether the federal government, State government, the manufacturers are going to be able to keep up with the amount of capacity that we put out there. We'll keep building, that's the bottom line. So long as there are the health care workers that we need to do this work, we'll keep building out, building out, building out. We'll go to the absolute maximum. Nothing's more important than getting this vaccine to people. But my great concern right now is, will the supply be there to match the demand and to match our capacity?

Moderator: The next is Jenna DeAngelis from WCBS.

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio.

Mayor: Good morning. How are you doing?

Question: I'm good. How are you?

Mayor: Never a dull moment, Jenna.

Question: Oh yeah, that's for sure. So, we're seeing vaccine sites open, and more coming as you announced, but how many people does the city actually have vaccines for? And when do you expect the next shipment to come?

Mayor: Right now, I’ll turn to Dr. Chokshi. We have been updating folks publicly on the supply we have on hand. Now, that supply keeps being reduced, obviously, as the numbers of folks vaccinated start accelerating. So, we have enough for this coming week for sure, enough to get into the next week, but if we keep accelerating the amount of shots we're giving, there's a point where we run out, unless we get a faster resupply. So we're good for this week. We're good for going into next week, but then it starts to become more of a question. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: That's exactly right, Mr. Mayor. We have approximately 230,000 doses on hand today in New York City. We expect to get an additional, about 100,000 doses delivered this week, generally those deliveries take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, so that gives us some modest resupply, but just as the Mayor said, because we are ramping up our operations so significantly, we are concerned about the numbers that we'll get resupplied from next week onward, and that's where we need the federal government both to be able to provide adequate supply, but also to give us those numbers far enough in advance so that we can plan it out with respect to our operations. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Jenna. 

Question: And you've been talking about this throughout this news conference, but for seniors who don't have internet or technology, how will the city reach out to them so they know there's a phone number to call or that a vaccine is even available to them at this point? 

Mayor: Excellent question. We're doing a big outreach effort and I would like to turn to Dr. Chokshi and then Dr. Long, because this is something we recognize, Jenna, from the beginning, it's great to have all these sites and it's great to have a phone number for people to call, but if they don't know about the phone number, it doesn't help them much. So, the way to address that is to go to all of the organizations that work with seniors to local leaders, elected officials, faith leaders, everyone who connects to seniors to get the message out that this is available. First, Dr. Chokshi then Dr. Long. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll just add a few details to the approach that you've described, and really my starting point on this is to think about the patients that I've taken care of who are older as well as my parents, other loved ones who are older to think about what they would need to be able to navigate to get this much needed vaccine. And so, we have to use many, many different approaches because people have different ways of accessing information and different levels of being able to connect with the resources that are available. We started with the website, we announced this phone number, 877-VAX-4NYC, today. We'll also be doing a more proactive outreach with robocalls to seniors to guide them to the places that they need to get to, including our hotline, you know, to be able to understand how to sign up for an appointment slot. But it's really important to know that even though we will be pulling out all of the stops as a city, the places that many older New Yorkers go to are the folks whom they trust, whether it's their family doctor, whether it's you know, the Meals on Wheels that they rely upon, whether it's friends or family members or caregivers. So equally we are partnering with all of those people, particularly through our colleagues at the Department for the Aging to ensure that they have the information they need to help connect seniors to resources as well. The final thing that I'll say is that we're making a concerted push with our our clinical colleagues and geriatrics. These are the people who have dedicated their careers, their lives to taking care of older people, and so we're going to be leveraging that network as well.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Long. 

Executive Director Long: Yeah, I would just add one point onto what Dr. Chokshi said, which is that one thing that unites all of our seniors together is we're all united in that we all have primary care relationships. So, we're really going out to our primary care providers and making this a community-based effort to get the word out through our trusted community health members, through our trusted doctors. That starts with both phone calls, but also being able to have our doctors armed with the right information. So, you'll talk about the importance and the safety of the vaccines. I'm a primary care doctor in the Bronx, so being at Bathgate for me yesterday, it was a little bit of an emotional experience. I have many patients 75 and above that have been eagerly waiting for the vaccine and it's my job as their doctor to educate them about it, get them to take it, and the overwhelming thought in my mind is they really – they deserve this and I'm so happy to be able to protect my patients now. 

Mayor: Amen. Thank you, Dr. Long. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Sydney Pereira from Gothamist. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Sydney.

Question: Thanks for taking my question.

Mayor: How you doing today? 

Question: I'm doing well today. Thank you. So, I wanted to bring up some issues with the website as well. I know you've talked a lot about digital literacy but people are bringing up - you know, local elected officials are bringing up – how there's various different websites, one with Health + Hospitals, one with the Department of Health and people are having trouble going through the lengthy questionnaires and also creating an account just to schedule an appointment. And I'm wondering if you would want to talk about any efforts to streamline the online system and to make it more simple. I know you've talked about the hotline, but is there any plans to just streamline these online systems to make it a little bit more clear on and more simple?

Mayor: Yeah, absolutely. Sydney, look, we absolutely want the simplest possible system. Folks who are going through a lot, we want them to have as easy an experience as possible making their appointments. That said there's really important information that is required by law, and we've got to get that right up front. So that's the balance point here. Unlike a situation, if we were doing something, just said anyone, everyone, come on down might be a much easier scenario, but by law we have to know certain information. We obviously have to get the fact that people fit in the priority situation that we're talking about now with 1-A and 1-B. So there are some challenges there, but what we do find as we put any system into play that we improve it as we go along based on customer feedback, so I'm certain that's going to happen here. I'm going to turn in a second to our Commissioner for the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, Commissioner Jessie Tish. But first to say, we do have now this one unified site, nyc.gov/vaccinefinder that will allow people a single point that they can go find the sites, make the appointment, but again, we'll keep improving it as we go along. Commissioner Tisch, you want to speak to that? 

Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications: Sure. Just to amplify what the Mayor said, the vaccine finder is intended to aggregate each provider’s locations and make that data available in one place to New Yorkers who want to look through multiple providers to see if an appointment is available. So, you can think of the vaccine finder really as a tool for information aggregation so that there's one place that they can look to see all of the providers who may have appointments available. That said each provider does manage its own schedules, its own registration, and its own appointments. So that's how the system works, that's how the vaccine finder works, puts all the data in one place. 

Mayor: And Commissioner speak to the point about how we make adjustments as we go along to improve the signup process as we get customer feedback. 

Commissioner Tisch: Sure, as we get – as the city gets customer feedback, we reach out to the various providers who manage their scheduling and appointments tools and we give them that feedback and ask for them to make the necessary or recommended updates to their sites. 

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you.

Moderator: The next is Juan Manuel from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Moderator: Good, Juan Manuel, how are you doing? 

Question: Very good, thank you. Mr. Mayor, you spent the whole last week asking the Governor to give you the freedom to vaccinate. The Governor finally relented on Friday. Do you feel vindicated and any significant number of doses that the city had and went bad during those days? 

Mayor: Juan Manuel, I heard from seniors all over New York City, from people who love their older loved ones that they desperately wanted to get them vaccinated. And the fight we waged last week, that was about our seniors. The fight we waged last week was to make sure our elders could be vaccinated and be safe. It was the right thing to do. The fact is when you think about them, when you think about our first responders, when you think about our essential workers, we needed the right to vaccinate them, and by the way, people all over New York State were saying the same thing. So now that we have that right, we can see immediately that's allowing us to reach so many more people more easily. It is really, really helpful. In terms of last part of your question, Dave, you want to take that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. Juan Manuel, thank you for the question, you know, with respect to doses of the vaccine that we're in city possession, no doses have expired or spoiled thus far. What it points to though is the importance of everyone having the flexibility and the broadening of eligibility to make sure that we can get shots in arms as quickly as possible. 

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: The next is Yehudit from Borough Park 24 News.

Question: Hello. Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, good morning. How you doing?

Question: Good. Very well. How about you? 

Mayor: I am feeling good this week because we have the freedom to vaccinate. 

Question: I know I'm so excited about that and previously you had mentioned prioritized neighborhoods for the vaccine, and I was wondering whether these mass vaccination sites supersede that previous idea – 

Mayor: Well— 

Question: Sorry.

Mayor: It's all right. Finish up. Go ahead.

Question: Well, I was just wondering if you, if you were still prioritizing the neighborhoods, there was just some confusion about what were the exact criteria in determining the prioritized neighborhoods?

Mayor: Sure. So, let's be clear on the approach we're taking is the most important way to think about it. The sites – you go online you're going to see all of the sites. Individuals make a choice, obviously to be vaccinated. The priority is about making sure the sites are where the problem was greatest, and you take an example that Bathgate site in the Bronx, right in an area that's suffered a lot during this crisis. We're going to make sure the sites really represent where the need is, but we also are going to do the outreach through community leaders, through clergy, through elected officials, grassroots organizations, to reach people in the neighborhoods that bore the brunt. Now, again, we want to reach everyone. So, you obviously report on Borough Park. Borough Park is a place that had a very tough time with the coronavirus. We want to make sure as many people in Borough Park as possible get vaccinated. So, I know you're spreading the news, but I want to, you know, and you know, I represented Borough Park in the City Council. I want to say to everyone in Borough Park, if you're over 75, go get vaccinated, and obviously we have sites in and around the community. We have a big site nearby at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, go out there and get vaccinated.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Bob Hennelly from the Chief Leader. 

Question: Yes. Good morning, Mayor. New York City as low as 300 frontline civil servants and close to 130 MTA employees to COVID. What is the city doing as an employer to study and learn about how it can help its essential workforce avoid infection for themselves and their families, particularly in light of the reality that the Trump administration’s OSHA has been MIA throughout the pandemic? 

Mayor: Bob, this is why I fought for the freedom to vaccinate, because the best thing we can do for our first responders and our essential workers, our public servants is to get them vaccinated and we didn't even have the right to do it last week, so now we do, thank God. Number one thing we can do is get as many of our public servants vaccinated as possible within the categories that have been approved, but we also need to take the kinds of steps that will protect people every day. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz, because both of them have been involved in the effort to protect public workers, and whether you're talking about the right PPE or the right training, we went through hell in the spring. We lost good people who serve us. We've got to do everything we can to protect people now. Dr. Chokshi you start and then Dr. Katz. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, and what you said is exactly right. What we have learned over the last few months with respect to protecting the people whom we rely upon for all of our services is that we have to have multiple layers of safety and protection. It starts with what we know each person has to do, what we call the core four of keeping one's distance, wearing your mask or face covering, washing your hands frequently, and staying home if you're sick. I know we've talked about this so many times, but actually having the diligence and the discipline to do that is a big part of what keeps our essential workers safe. But beyond that, we have to ensure that they have access to testing, which I'm very grateful that the Test and Trace Corps and other city sites have provided over the last few months, as the Mayor said, we now have a new layer of protection with access to the vaccine, which provides a safe way to get over 94 percent efficacy, that means protection from COVID-19 disease. And then finally for specific occupations, whether it's a health care worker or a transit worker, or one of the inspectors who works for me at the Health Department we ensure the right personal protective equipment to provide that final layer of protection as well. 

Mayor: Go ahead.

President Katz: I would just add, in our hospitals— 

Mayor: Dr. Katz, I’m sorry. Dr. Katz, go ahead. 

President Katz: In our hospitals, we make it easy for all of our staff to get vaccinated. We recognize that some people said last week we’re not quite ready, but we're continuing to provide information to them, and when they are ready, we will be able to vaccinate them. We're sending ambassadors, doctors and nurses who took the vaccine to talk to people who are reticent about getting vaccinated so that they have all the information and can make the right decision, and as the Mayor has talked about today, we're launching efforts throughout the city, such as vaccinating all of the officers of the Department of Corrections to make sure that we maximally protect all of our city workers. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you, Mitch. Go ahead.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Abu from Bangla Patrika. 

Question: [Inaudible] 

Mayor: Abu? Okay, hold on. We got a sound problem here. Hold on.

Question: Hello?

Mayor: Right. There you go, okay. 

Question: Mayor, good morning, and Happy New Year from the Bangladeshi community. 

Mayor: Happy New Year to you and to the entire community, Abu. 

Question: Thank you so much, Mayor. Mayor, my question is, you know, since COVID-19 happened in New York City, there's a lot of reports that people are leaving from New York City. Do you have any idea of what is the reason? Is the reason the economy or because of COVID and why the people are leaving from New York City? 

Mayor: Yeah, it’s an important question, Abu, but I would caution everyone not to draw conclusions yet because we just don't have conclusive information. We know some people have left temporarily. We know some people have left permanently. I'm quite certain as this crisis resolves in the coming month, you're going to see people come here as they have for generations and sense opportunity and a chance to be a part of New York City. So, I think for now it's a fluid situation. I think it's really important to remember that some of the folks who left have only done it temporarily and intend to come back as things get stronger. So, it's the kind of situation we're watching carefully, but way too early to draw conclusions on, and I also focus on, you know, whatever that group is, it's several hundred thousand people that are somewhere in the mix of temporarily away, or maybe they've gone permanently, but I'm much more concerned about the 8 million plus who have been here the whole time, who are part of this city, the lifeblood of the city, the heart and soul of this city, aren't going anywhere. Those are the folks who make New York City great, and those are the folks who are going to lead the recovery of New York City. Go ahead, Abu. 

Question: Thank you, and since you start the vaccination – distribution of the vaccination, there is a lot of community pharmacies, you know, instead of like, you know CVS or Walgreens or big other pharmacies, community pharmacies, like say about different communities have their own small pharmacies, would you allow them to vaccinate the people because people feel comfort to go to their own people and vaccinate? 

Mayor: Really good question, Abu. I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and we talked about this about a week ago. Yeah, we need everyone over time to be a part of this effort, and in fact, I want to thank all the neighborhood pharmacies, the independent pharmacies that play such an important role in this city that are crucial to giving health care to the people of New York City. The pharmacy I go to in my neighborhood in Brooklyn has been a lifeline for us, and I know millions of New Yorkers feel the same way. So, we do need them to be a part of this effort as it grows, as it builds. Dr. Chokshi, why don't you talk about what's up ahead with our independent pharmacies. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and thank you Abu for this very important question. You know, I live in Jackson Heights in Queens and I know how vital these neighborhood pharmacies or independent pharmacies are to providing health care for all the different populations in New York City. We have been making a concerted push over the last several weeks to ensure that independent pharmacies are part of our vaccination campaign. We do have to ensure that they are able to safely store and administer the vaccine so that none of the vaccine goes to waste. So, there are some requirements that those pharmacies have to ensure that they can follow. But the most important point is that we understand how important they are for everyday New Yorkers to be able to access vaccination, and as we continue to get more and more supply, you'll see more of those pharmacies being able to administer the vaccine.

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you, Dr. Chokshi. Everyone, as we conclude, look, very important week in this city. This is a week when we start to turn the tide against the coronavirus, because we have now the freedom to vaccinate. We have sites all over the city. You can get an appointment online. You can get an appointment by phone. Focus right now, special, intense focus on our seniors, our elders, the people we love, who need protection, we need to protect them. So, here's my plea to all New Yorkers: whoever you love, who's 75 or older, whoever it is in your life, grandmother, grandfather, father, mother, aunt, uncle, a friend, a coworker, whoever in your life is 75 or older, let's get them vaccinated, help them to get vaccinated. There've been good questions today about some seniors are not going to be comfortable going online, help them make the reservation online, help them with the phone system. The people you love need you to help make sure that they get what they need, and they've been there for us. I'm going to say something that's real obvious, but it bears reminding at all times, everyone wouldn't be here without our seniors. We wouldn't be here without our elders. The people who made everything else possible for us, let's be there for them. So, help them, show them how easy it is to get vaccinated, help them get the answers to their questions. Let's move forward and protect those we love in New York City. Thanks, everyone.

2021-01-12 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: All right. Good morning, everybody. So, yesterday, absolutely amazing – I was at vaccination sites in Queens, Hillcrest High School and the Police Academy in Queens. Unbelievable – people were so happy, so ready to be vaccinated. It meant so much to the folks who were waiting and hoping for this day to come. Well, now, it's here in New York City. We have won the freedom to vaccinate and we're reaching thousands and thousands of people already, our seniors over 75 and over, our first responders, our essential workers, our teachers and school staff, we're reaching them all right now. It is an incredible feeling. And what I heard in Queens was folks who were so happy to be vaccinated. They told me, particularly our elders. I met a woman who was 97-years-old, she told me what it meant to her to have that sense of security of comfort and confidence; talked to some of our first responders, our police officers about how it's going to make it so much easier for them to go out there, do their jobs, serve people, perform CPR, do all the things that saves lives. But also, they talked about how important it was to their families to know that they would be safe because they had been vaccinated. So, yesterday, a great, great day for the city, and just a beginning, so much more to come.

Now, let me tell you, what a day full of a sense of relief for people, but also a sense of hope that we are going to turn the corner once and for all on the coronavirus. Just yesterday in New York City, 26,528 doses given – 26,528 in one day. We are well on track for hitting our goal for this week of 175,000 vaccinations. And we're going to keep building every week from this point forward, it's going to grow and grow, and it's going to do so much good for New Yorkers and for ending this crisis. Now, the freedom to vaccinate is what allowed us to do this, and we're now going to take full, full advantage of that freedom and reach New Yorkers in every part of the five boroughs. I want to give you an update that in that category 1-B that we fought to have the right to use all the folks who are part of that 1-B category, New Yorkers who need the vaccine. We got an update from the State that, that now includes people who live and work in shelters – that's very important, we want to get right to work on those folks – but it also includes one part of this crucial, crucial part of our community, the folks who work in grocery stores who work with the public – supermarkets, folks who work the public. That's great. And we really are happy about that, but we want to go farther. We want to make sure that all the delivery workers who work in those stores get vaccinated. In fact, all delivery workers of all kinds should get vaccinated. They're coming in contact with so many people. They're serving us. We depend on them. They deserve the right to be vaccinated. We want the freedom to vaccinate delivery workers. We want the freedom to vaccinate folks who work in bodegas and delis. They're there, again, on the frontline, encountering so many people, making sure every neighborhood in New York City has the food it needs. They deserve the right to be vaccinated. So, we're asking the State to help us clarify the rules of 1-B so we can reach all kinds of delivery workers, deli workers, bodega workers, and keep everyone safe.

So, that's just a quick update, but now I have some really exciting news. It is amazin’ news, you might say. And it's such a welcome moment for the people of this city, particularly for the people in Queens – we are going to have a 24/7, mega-vaccination site at Citi Field. This is going to be fantastic. This is going to help so many people to get vaccinated. Now, I want to tell you, the Mets organization has stepped up to the plate to help us out. And I'm so grateful for that, I really appreciate the fact that the Mets wanted to do this. They wanted to be part of solving this problem and helping the Queens community and helping all of New York City. So, this site will be run by our City Health + Hospitals. Our professionals will be out there at Citi Field. Tremendous capacity – we'll be able to do between 5,000 and 7,000 vaccinations a day. And I want to be clear, we welcome Queens residents, we welcome all New Yorkers, we even welcome Yankees fans. There is no discrimination. So, it's going to be – obviously, it's a great site. It's an amazing place. It's easy to get to by the seven train. There's also plenty of parking for those who prefer to drive. This site will launch in the week of January 25th. So, it'll be here soon. We’ve got some last-minute work to do to get it ready, but it's going to be big. It's going to be a game-changer. And I want to thank everyone at the Mets organization, and that's President Sandy Alderson helped a lot to get this going – great partner. Thank you, Sandy. Thank you to everyone at the Mets. And now, we have a special guest here for our press conference, and he's someone who's generated a lot of excitement in New York City, because Mets fans are so ready for a new day for the New York Mets, but, also, I want to thank him, because he's immediately shown his commitment to the people in New York City by investing in small businesses and supporting small businesses that are really in need in Queens, and now by helping us to get this mega-vaccination site open. So, it was my pleasure to introduce the new owner of the Mets, Steve Cohen.

Steve Cohen: Thank you, Mayor. You know, when we heard about your initiative, I mean, we were just so excited to participate in this program. I mean, it’s so important. You know, we know the suffering that’s going on with COVID and any way the organization could help support this effort, we were going to do it. You know, we had talked about being involved in our communities and I can’t think of any way that’s more important than what this effort is. And so, you know, we can be reached by subways, by trains, by highway. We’re the intersection of Queens. And like the Mayor said, you know, we’ll vaccinated anybody in the New York area. The goal is to just the vaccine in people’s arms so we can get this crisis over with and get back to living a normal life. I really would look forward to that and I think everybody else would too, so thank you, Mayor, for coming to us. We’re happy to support your effort and let’s get – let’s look forward to one day having this crisis over with.

Mayor: Steve, I want to thank you. And first of all, I just want to say, I’m slipping into something more comfortable. I just want to say, let’s go Mets.

Cohen: You’re looking good there, Bill. Let’s go Mets.

Mayor: Let’s go Mets. Listen, Steve, thank you. And I want to tell you, you guys really – just great teamwork. You and your whole team immediately answer the call here, and I'm so thankful. And I also want to say there's tremendous excitement in this city, because it's clear you're committed to revitalizing the Mets, both in terms of their fortunes on the playing field, but also in terms of involvement in the community. And we talked earlier and I really appreciate it, I could hear loud and clear you want the Mets to be impact players in the borough of Queens and the whole city in terms of helping people. So, I just wanted you to speak about that for a moment. I was really appreciative for what I heard from you this morning. I thought it'd be great, if you could share some of that with all New Yorkers. 

Cohen: Well, you know, like I said, we're excited to be a part of the city and there's a lot more to do and we plan to do it. 

Mayor: I appreciate that so much, Steve. And, Steve, one thing, since I'm sure so many Mets fans would love to talk to about this, I'll just take the moment – Francisco Lindor, amazing acquisition. I assume you're as excited as you could be about that? 

Cohen: Yeah. I mean, you know, this is a difference-maker, and Carrasco is going to be also a real contributor to the Mets. And – listen, we're excited. We're so excited to land that the two of them, and hopefully this just the beginning of more good things to come.

Mayor: I am certain of it. Thank you very much for what you're doing for today.

Cohen: Thank you, Mayor. Alright. Good talking. See you.

Mayor: So, everyone, I'll resume my civilian role now. Look, this is amazing that we're going to have Citi Field, but it's just one of many, many other sites. And so, let me go over them as well. We now will have 24/7 vaccination sites, 24/7 mega sites at 125 Worth Street, Lower Manhattan – that's open today – 125 Worth Street. Tomorrow, Gotham Health Clinic, Vanderbilt Clinic, Staten Island, 24/7. Saturday, in Corona, Queens, Health + Hospitals clinic 24/7. So, we're going to be adding additional 24/7 sites. It's so important that we keep giving people the option every hour of the day and everywhere we can be. So, we have the sites in Brooklyn and the Bronx up already. We'll be adding. But, look, to make this work, we're going to need the help of the federal government, the State government, and the manufacturers to keep getting us the vaccine. I said very honestly yesterday, at the rate we're going – I mean, we did 26,000 doses yesterday. Do the math. At the rate we're going, we're going to be out in less than two weeks. We're going to be out of doses. So, we’ve a got huge amount of demand. We’ve got more and more sites all the time. We're going faster and faster. We're going to need the doses to keep this kind of effort going. So, we’re going to keep calling upon federal government, State government, manufacturers to make that happen.

In the meantime, anyone who wants to get an appointment, if you're one of the eligible folks, that means 1-A, 1-B, 75 and over, first responder, essential worker, educator, school staff, grocery store workers we were talking about, and, obviously, all the folks in the medical field in 1-A, anyone can make an appointment right this minute. Go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder – nyc.gov/vaccinefinder. And the phone reservation system up and running 877-VAX-4NYC – 877-VAX-4NYC. That system is open from 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM, seven days a week. That will be going to a 24-hour reservation system by the end of the week. So, later on this week, that will go to 24/7. Again, what's our goal? Month of January, 1 million doses, on target. Yesterday, a great day – we're on target to hit that goal.

Now, here's the thing, the sheer magnitude is so powerful here, just New Yorkers 75 and over, just that part of our community is about 560,000 people. And I truly believe the vast majority are going to want this vaccine. So, we have a lot to do. We're going to be focusing all over the city a massive outreach effort to reach them and connect them to the vaccine. We're going to do a special focus on public housing on NYCHA residents, tens of thousands of NYCHA residents are 75 and older. We're going to be reaching them. Now, to make sure we get this right, we brought together a group of leaders who focus on the needs of our elders, who focus on senior citizens and the best ways to reach and serve them. That's our 75-plus vaccine working group, and that is a group that's focused on outreach and education, connecting with seniors, helping to make sure people understand the vaccine and are ready to get it. We also, through that group, are working on a plan. We'll announce it later on this month on how we're going to reach home-bound seniors, a lot of work to do to make sure we reach them as well. That's going to take an extra effort. But, right now, we’ve gotten so many 75 and up New Yorkers who want the vaccine right now. We're focusing our outreach on the 27 hardest-hit neighborhoods from COVID. We're focusing on 12 major NYCHA developments with a very, very high proportion of seniors over 75. And we've got a lot of work to do, because it's great to have the sites and the phone number to sign up, but people have to know about it, understand it, be ready. So, leading the way in our outreach efforts for our seniors, and she does it with passion and true love for the seniors in New York City, our Commissioner for the Department for the Aging Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez. 

Commissioner Lorraine Cortιs-Vαzquez, Department for the Aging: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It is a great day for New Yorkers. It is a great day for the people over the age of 75. Think about your grandparents, your parents, the older people in your life. They've been through so much this year, living in isolation, away from you, away from the family, away from their friends, living in fear at risk that they or someone they love would be affected with this disease. And yesterday, older New Yorkers, everywhere, and the people who loved them, felt a sigh of relief. I can tell you, I am one of those. I have a 92-year-old mother. I am making sure that she gets her appointment soon. And, as a 70-year-old, I want all the 75-plus to get their vaccinations so that we can continue. For our neighbors 75 and over, the vaccine is here. Hope is here for you. Hope is here for your family. One step closer to seeing your family and friends and loved ones protected. One step closer to enjoying getting out of the house, enjoying your life without the fear of getting sick. 

At DFTA, we're working around the clock to ensure New Yorkers 75-plus get the information and assistance they need to receive the vaccine. We're here to spread the word. The vaccine is safe. The vaccine is free and it's easy to get in New York City. Our provider network over 290 participant organizations are making more than 60,000 calls per week to older adults, helping those who are eligible to register for the vaccine. We are holding virtual town halls, flooding the zones would mailers, flyers, posters and with our sister agencies in the city. We are working with our network of community-based agencies to make sure particularly, as the Mayor, said in those 27 districts, that – those neighborhoods that were the hardest-hit by this pandemic, and many of them in communities of color, that is an important aspect for us too. With our partners at NYCHA, with our partners in the senior housing community, with our partners, our advocates, the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, the Hispanic Federation, the Asian-American Pacific Islander Federation, AARP, JASA, and a whole host of other aging advocates were getting this vaccine information out. We're going to make sure that everyone who is eligible is registered and has an appointment. But most importantly, we want to let everyone know that this vaccine is safe. It is safe to have this. It is important for you, our community, and your families that we all get vaccinated. Help us do that, we are using trusted voices in our community. We need you to become a trusted voice in that community also. Help us get older adults vaccinated. This is an age-inclusive city, we want to make sure that everyone is vaccinated and we wanted to spread the word. Again, the vaccine is safe and easy to get. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Lorraine. Appreciate it. And want to thank you, and – listen, I really appreciate what you said about your mom, and I know you feel for her, and all seniors. Everyone, just like Lorraine said, she's going to make sure her mom gets vaccinated. Everyone, I wanted to tell you, when I was out there in Queens yesterday, a 97-year-old woman, Marcia, amazing woman from Southeast Queens, her son made sure she got the appointment, drove her to it, made sure that she could get everything she needed. She said it was great. She said everyone that took care of her – they saw that she needed help on the line. They got her up immediately to where she needed to be. We have navigators at these sites to make sure if someone is in any way in need of special help, that they get it. But look, for this to work, we’ve got to be there for the seniors in our lives. So, I'm saying to everyone, help out your family members, help out your neighbors, help out people you worship with. Whoever in your life is in that group, 75-years-old and older who wants to get this vaccine, let's go the extra mile to help them do it. Just go online with them, get on the phone, whatever works. We can make sure that folks get an appointment. And, as we're saying, more and more locations opening up all the time, longer and longer hours all the time, lots of opportunity to protect people. Please lend that helping hand to the seniors in your life. 

Commissioner Cortιs-Vαzquez: Can I just say the number in Spanish? 

Mayor: Please, Lorraine. Yes, go ahead. 

[Commissioner Cortιs-Vαzquez speaks in Spanish] 

Mayor: Beautifully said, Lorraine. I'm glad you did it. Thank you very, very much. And, again, thank you for your leadership. And to everyone at DFTA. I want to thank everyone at our Department for the Aging who’s been working so hard during this pandemic to serve our seniors. Our seniors have been the hardest hit and Department for the Aging and your whole team has been there for them. Thank you so much.

Okay. Let's go over our indicators for the day. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 196 patients. It’s actually below our threshold of 200, but still, of course, way too high. And the hospitalization rate, 4.60 per 100,000 – obviously, too high, lots of work to do. But as we've talked about day after day, hospitals doing a great job, they are holding well. They are serving people well. Number two, daily number of cases on a seven-day average, again, huge number today, 5,068, way above where we need to be, lots of work to do there, and the same with number three, percent of New York City residents testing positive seven-day rolling average, 8.15 percent. Everyone, we got to just keep buckling down. The vaccine, as you heard, we reached 26,000 people yesterday. This is going fast. We're going to reach more and more people, protect more and more people. You're going to see it start to have an impact on the case numbers and the percentages over time. It's going to take weeks and weeks for us to see that, but it will happen. In the meantime, we got to stay tough and disciplined, keep following those smart rules that keep us safe. That's how we get through this. A few words in Spanish. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

Now we're going to turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. We have with us today, Dr. Jay Varma, Dr. Ted Long and Lorraine Cortιs-Vαzquez, DFTA Commissioner. With that, we'll go to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor I have to tell you I'm a Yankee fan, but I think the news about Citi Field is great.

Mayor: Juliet, I know you always report the news in an unbiased fashion, so let's give a shout-out to the New York Mets today for stepping up. We're really happy about this. 

Question: Yes. Very cool. Congratulations. I think it's great. You know, I did want to ask first about yesterday, you mentioned services to get to homebound elderly. Is there any more information about that and how that would work? 

Mayor: Juliet, we're really concerned and this is going to take some real work to get this right, because right now, obviously what we're doing is focusing on reaching as many people as possible in these central locations, and we got a lot of work to do to make that as effective as it can be. If someone's homebound, that creates a real challenge we have to overcome. We're working right now on those plans. We're working with Department for the Aging and the advisory group we've put together. We're going to have an announcement on that very shortly. In some cases, someone – there might be cases where an individual can be brought to a hospital or a center for vaccination, other cases. Obviously, we have to send medical staff to them, but you can imagine that's going to take a lot of very precise work but we will have a plan on that shortly. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay, great. Now, also today, the AP is reporting that the Centers for Disease Control is expected to recommend opening up the vaccines to everyone older than 65 and to get them vaccines to more people by not holding back the second dose. Do you know anything more about that? And as far as accessibility, how would that work as far as the city getting more? 

Mayor: Yeah. You know, Juliet very important question. We have not gotten confirmation that that's what the Centers for Disease Control are going to do, and we certainly have not gotten confirmation about the kind of supply of vaccine. We're going to have a, so I want to see as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible, and I'm really worried about folks over 65, folks with pre-existing conditions. We want to get to them very quickly, but we have to have the doses to do it. Right now, with the current structure, and this is something a president like Biden's talked about that the federal structure is going way too slow in terms of getting vaccine to us, right now, we could run out by the end of next week. So, I definitely want to see over time the expansion of categories, but we've got to have a much bigger supply of vaccine and a much more reliable supply, if that's going to turn into something that actually reaches our seniors and people who need those shots. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Hey, good morning everybody, and let's go Mets. My question is about accessibility to the Citi Field site and then other sites across the city. Obviously, it's accessible by the 7 train and the Long Island Railroad, but that's not running overnight. I know you've supported the State's plan to continue stopping overnight service. I don't know if you would change that now that we have the possibility of a really accessible location, and then also, you know, I was at the Hillcrest site yesterday too, and I met a lot of seniors who had had trouble getting to Hillcrest high school. The parking is pretty bad. I don't know if there's any kind of city-wide initiatives to say let's organize buses or other transportation for people who are – who don't have as much accessibility to location sites so they can get vaccinated. 

Mayor: Yeah, I'll start and I'll turn to Lorraine. Definitely, that's the kind of thing we're looking at right now. I don't have a final details to tell you, but I can tell you we're working right now on the ways to support seniors, get into these sites to make transportation options available to them. Now, remember when you put a site in a neighborhood that supporting the people who live right by the site, that's supporting folks who can get there for mass transit, supporting people who drive. The more sites, the better, by definition, the more we spread out the sites, the better. There are a huge number of people live right near that Hillcrest site. But we want to make it easy for folks. We definitely – look someplace like Citi Field's amazing because you get the advantage of the mass transit and yeah, it doesn't run 24/7 for now, but the parking is fantastic too. So, a lot of people of course, will come by car or we'll create other ways to help them get there. I am certain that Citi Field site is going to be just doing a great, great impact for the city and for the people at Queens. But Lorraine, you want to talk about some of the initial thinking on how we can help get seniors to these sites. 

Commissioner Cortιs-Vαzquez: Thank you for the question. It's a very good question. We are, excuse me – we are right now looking at the contracts that we do have that provide transportation for older adults currently and repositioning some of those contracts so that they can be used for appointments for vaccination. We're also looking at the network of senior centers that also have vans and seeing if we can mobilize those. We are in the plans of developing a more comprehensive plan for alternate transportation for older adults, and also we're working closely with Access-A-Ride to make sure that we do that. So, once we have a fully developed plan that will be rolled out and make public. Thank you.

Mayor: Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Hey, thanks, and then my second question is just I've heard some small business owners and restaurant bar owners who obviously it's been, I guess more than a month now that they've been closed by the state, of course, but you supported that and they're just curious, what are the guidelines for when they can reopen? No one wants to be unsafe. No one wants to put people in diners, and then of course, employees of these places in danger, but I've heard some business owners who just want to know if there are any guidelines that they can – sorry, sorry, that was my nephew – if there are guidelines for when they can reopen and if so, if you've spoken to the state about it so they can actually have something to look forward to? 

Mayor: Yeah, look, we've been, obviously in this experience before with the reality indoor dining having been shut, and then it started to open up. I look forward to the day when it's going to reopen. I don't think that day is too far in the future, as we're now able to distribute the vaccine. I think it's really a matter of, as I've talked about, how much vaccine we get, how quickly and what the response is from New Yorkers. But I think since for example, restaurant owners have been through that experience before they understood when they were shut down, that the day would come and they were open again, they opened up at that 25 percent level, obviously did well with that. I think the knowledge of the kinds of things they have to do is clear. We'll go right back to that. But if there's any specific changes, we'll certainly be informing people and educating them well in advance. We want to make sure everyone is safe. That's the bottom line. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next, we'll go to Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? I guess you're doing pretty well with your with your Mets cap and— 

Mayor: I'm feeling good. Henry, I'm feeling good. It's like – this is a really good thing that a lot of people are going to get their vaccine to Citi Field. So, I'm excited about that. How you doing today? 

Question: I'm good. I was up at Bathgate yesterday and I couldn't get a handle on how many vaccinations they intend to give up there. It was pretty quiet. It was advertised at being at the industrial site. It wasn't at the industrial site and there was no signage at the industrial site, pointing people to where the vaccination site was about two and a half blocks away, and there was no subway stop nearby, and I've just, and now I see the Worth Street is coming online. That's not particularly close to a subway stop either, although it's closer than the Bronx location. So, I'm wondering, you know, why or how are you siting these places, and what's your expectation of how many shots you can produce in a 24-hour period in a site like a Bathgate or Worth Street? 

Mayor: Okay. Couple of different points that are going to be turned into Dr. Ted Long in a moment, he was with me at Bathgate on Sunday. I like to start by saying we were there with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr, we were there with the state new state assembly member who represents that immediate area, Chantel Jackson. They were extremely pleased to have the Bathgate site, and they said this was a community that really was hit hard by COVID a community that often is overlooked, and they thought it was very, very important that there was a site there to serve the Bronx community. So, I just want to say, having talked to people who live there and are connected to the community and the residents of community, they thought it made a lot of sense where it was.

In terms of your point about signage, I'll have Dr. Long up, if there's any confusion about the site, we should put up really clear, big signage about where the site is. If there's confusion about the other location, we put signage there to redirect. I'll have Dr. Long who’s very efficient and effective make sure that signage is up, but Henry, the other thing I'd say is, look, you go online, you see a variety of sites. We're talking here about the initial 24 /7 sites where keep adding them. But there's so many more sites all over the city in every kind of neighborhood, and there's going to be more and more. We're going to be up to 250 sites or more by the end of the month. So, I would say each of these plays a role but just assume there's going to be a constant expansion so we can reach as many people as possible, and I can tell you the, the sites are filling up constantly. Really the question is, can people get them, do they want it, is it working for them? Well, you know, people are voting with their feet. They're taking those appointments and the sites are filling all the time. Dr. Long. 

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps: Yeah. Thank you, sir. Henry, I appreciate the question. The first point I want to make is that we chose this site in part, because this was one of our testing sites. It was a very popular testing site, many, many people from the Bronx relied on this site to keep themselves and their families safe from COVID, and as a primary care doctor in the Bronx myself, I know my patients went this site and had a great experience, and the community identifies this particular site as a place where they can go for care related to COVID. As the Mayor said, people in the Bronx and people in New York City vote with their feet. Last night overnight, you know, from 12:00 AM to 4:00 AM all of our slots were taken by people in the Bronx because they identified this site as a site where they can come for everything is they need to keep their families safe. 

So, we've been successful testing there, we're going to be successful with the vaccine there. I just want to say, this is our first 24/7 site in the Bronx. We're going to do more, but nothing will stand in our way of getting our vaccines to New Yorkers, and in particular to New Yorkers 75 and above. As a doctor, I've been waiting for the day to give my patients this vaccine and whether they want to come at 2:00 AM or 2:00 PM, nothing will stand in my way of protecting my patients in the Bronx or our way to protect New Yorkers. Now they can come overnight.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Okay. Thank you. My second question is to do with – how are you going to – because there's a shortage of vaccine. I ran it to several people who are coming from outside the city. One couple in particular, came from Putnam County. The city has so much of an infrastructure for delivering vaccine, other counties don't. Are you concerned that the city will become a Mecca of vaccine tourism, if you will, and people will be coming into the city to get their vaccine, and of course, that will deplete the city supply and make it more difficult for city residents to get vaccine.

Mayor: Yeah, important question Henry. In fact, Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. raised this on Sunday when we were up at Bathgate absolutely a real concern, and the way to address that concern is the appointment process. Folks who live in the five boroughs, who are qualified under categories 1-A, 1-B, are, who are supposed to be getting these shots. There are obviously also people who live outside the five boroughs, but are part of our public service community. They work in our hospitals, they are police officers or firefighters, they're teachers. You know, obviously those people who serve us connect constantly with residents of the five boroughs. They also deserve the shot. But if someone is from outside, the five boroughs, is not a health care worker or a first responder or a teacher or an essential worker in New York City. They should not be getting a shot in New York City. They should be getting a shot at their local vaccination centers, whether it's Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland, Westchester, Putnam, anywhere. That's the break-up, and when you sign up, you're supposed to give a detailed enough information for us to be able to determine whether someone really qualifies to be at one of our sites. We're to be constantly screening, to make sure that that is followed. Henry it's the real world sometimes there'll be a miss and someone will get through who shouldn't have and wasn't in one of those categories, but the rule that's been laid down is everyone gets vaccinated at one of our sites has to be in those appropriate categories, and generally speaking, the reservation process is going to catch that. We'll also make sure there's tight follow-up at the sites. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next we'll go to Shant from the Daily News. 

Question: Yeah, good morning, everyone. I wanted to follow up on Juliet's question about the sort of expected federal guidance on vaccinating people aged 65 and older. I mean, my understanding for why some states have already done that is the median age for COVID related deaths is under 75 for black and Hispanic people. So, I mean, it just given how much you've emphasized addressing disparities in the COVID outbreak, why didn't you start or why didn't you initially call for the city to make the threshold for seniors, not 75, but 65? 

Mayor: For two reasons, Shant, the first is - remember I had to fight for the freedom to vaccinate those who are 75 and older. So let's be clear just a few days ago the State of New York was not even allowing me to vaccinate those in the single most vulnerable group, 75 and older. I'm glad we won that battle, but now again, 561,000 people, 75 and older, the single most vulnerable group. Why do I know that? Because our health care leadership across the board is saying this. I'm going to turn to Dr. Varma to elaborate on this. I want people to understand it. We're concerned about people over 65, over 55, we're concerned about people with preexisting conditions, all of these are areas of tremendous concern in all communities and you're right, communities of color have borne the brunt, but the single biggest determinant of vulnerability has been age and that's how we made the priority. And as I said before, until we get a much bigger supply of vaccine, we also know realistically that we're going to have a tough time just keeping up with the demand among the over 75 and the essential workers and public servants, unless we can get a much more reliable supply of vaccine. Dr. Varma, would you speak to why you and other health care leaders have really focused on this 75 and up group? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, for the question. There is no perfect answer to this question. You know, we're in a situation where we have a limited supply and we need to maximize the utility of that. So the decision that was made regarding using 75 as a cutoff was based on the recognition that people in that age group really do have the highest rate of death. It doesn't mean that a 74-year-old is absolutely protected and that 75-year-old is not. It's just that when you make public policy at such a large scale, you have to draw a cutoff point somewhere. So, you're absolutely correct, as the Mayor has been saying as well, that the more vaccine that becomes available, we need to expand it to more and more groups because we know as you have pointed out that people in the sixties and people younger than that who have preexisting medical conditions are also a very high risk too. But I do believe that the original decision to make a cut point at 75 and also to prioritize people in long-term care facilities was the right decision at that moment. But as we get more vaccine available, we absolutely need to continue to expand that so that everybody at risk, which is really ultimately all of us, get vaccinated. 

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Next is Reema from Chalkbeat.

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Reema, how you doing?

Question: Good, good. I'm doing well. So, my first question is about vaccines, now that they're available, you know, just in terms of schools, at what point do you think it becomes possible to offer five-times-a-week in person school to everyone and you know, how will you make that decision? What sort of public health factors will you consider when making that decision? 

Mayor: Yeah, that's one that would have to be made very carefully, and we would certainly want to make sure that it was the right time. Look, I remain hopeful that we are going to be able to bring a lot more kids back in the course of this current school year. Really want to see our middle school kids come back who have been waiting, but I think this will go in stages by definition. It will all come down to how much vaccine we get, how quickly we can distribute it, obviously how many people are willing to take the vaccine. You know, our educators and school staff so far, we're seeing a lot of interest in the vaccine, the more who get vaccinated, the better. So that's something we're going to be assessing constantly. I obviously want to see us push down the overall positivity level in this city. That's important but again, what we are seeing in our schools, and this is the good news, Reema, because we're testing, as you know, every single day and we're seeing great results still. Very, very few cases in our schools. Literally, our public schools are among the safest places to be in New York City right now. So that makes me hopeful, but we're going to need some time to figure out exactly what we can do. Go ahead and Rema. 

Question: Okay. I'm going to switch gears here to be SHSAT which is always a popular topic of conversation, as you know, so I'm wondering this year, obviously the SHSAT is going to go on and I'm just wondering, just given your previous stance on the test, did you ask the Governor or anyone in the legislature to do a waiver for the SHSAT this year just given how in-person instruction has been disrupted and how, you know, many kids are not actually going to buildings? And if you didn't ask for that or if you didn't talk to anyone in the legislature about that, why not? 

Mayor: Reema, that’s a good question. I mean, look, my views on that single test are well stated, well known. I think that there needs to be a re-examination of the way we're handling specialized high schools, because the ultimate result just isn't working and the status quo is broken. But to have that broader re-examination, there has to be a deep community process with all stakeholders to determine a better way forward. When the Department of Education looked at it this year they determined that they could make it happen. It was something they could do logistically, do safely, and that's why it proceeded to move forward. But the question of the future – the future, you know, this needs to be re-examined in a very thoughtful process to find a better way for the future. And I think if, if everyone's brought to the table together that can be achieved. Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more first, we'll go to Matt from Patch. Matt from Patch. 

Mayor: Matt, are you there? I'm not hearing Matt. Can you hear us? All right, you want to come back to Matt and see if we can get someone else?

Moderator: We're going to come back to Matt. We're going to go to Kristin from the Staten Island Advance? 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Kristin, how are you?

Question: I'm good. Thanks. I wanted to talk a little about the home bound seniors you mentioned. You said that might be a possibility of sending a nurse to them for vaccinations. There are tons of other people who are home bound, those with disabilities, chronic illnesses, autoimmune disease, will they also be considered for a possible at-home vaccination program?

Mayor: Yeah, Kristin, we need to get to everyone over time, but I want to emphasize that's going to be a really important effort, but also a difficult effort. We have to be honest about this. When you're bringing thousands of people into one center, you can obviously reach so many more people more effectively, and right now we're racing against time trying to get the most people possible vaccinated. You know, we've – but we have to have plans to go to those who truly cannot get out and I want to reach as many people as possible. That's going to take a lot of labor, you know, a lot of people power to make that happen. We're working on that right now, but job one was to reach the most people in the most vulnerable category, which is 75-years-old and older, as I saw yesterday at Hillcrest High School, plenty of folks in that category were right there in the room getting vaccinated and we know there'll be so many tens of thousands more in the coming days. So yes, absolutely, all those categories of people matter, it will depend on the rules the state puts down, but we want to reach all those folks. We want to come up with an apparatus to do it, but that is definitely going to take some time. Go ahead, Kristin. 

Question: Great. Thank you and I just want to go back to something you'd mentioned several weeks ago about what the city had planned to do with community-based organizations and faith leaders to help build trust in these Black and Brown communities, in these priority neighborhoods, can you tell me about what the city has done so far as far as outreach to kind of build that trust about getting vaccinated? 

Mayor: Yeah, I'll start and I'd like to turn to Dr. Long and then to our Aging Commissioner, Lorraine Cortez-Vasquez, for them to add, we've really engaged already a really strong cross section of elected officials, community leaders, faith leaders, community-based organizations by asking them to help spread the word about vaccination and help people feel comfortable and help build trust. You may have noticed a couple of weeks ago we brought on a group of ministers to speak directly to the people in New York City. We're going to be doing a lot of that kind of thing on a regular basis, citywide and locally. Trusted voices are difference makers. So, you'll see that in Staten Island, you'll see that in all five boroughs. Dr. Long, why don't you talk a little bit more about how that outreach and trust-building campaign is being built? 

Executive Director Long: Yeah, absolutely. I would actually say you hit the main points Mr. Mayor. From day one, trusted messengers have been our key strategy for getting the word out and building trust in both getting tested and now the vaccine. On the Test and Trace Corp side, we've worked with full – we we've contacted [inaudible] community-based organizations across New York City that have really been the backbone of guiding us about how to do outreach and working with us hand in hand to do that outreach. Today, we're actually in Staten Island working with community-based organizations in Staten Island for our Get Tested Tuesday. Moving forward we're going to continue to work with those and more community-based organizations and faith leaders to get the word out and to build the trust that we need to about the vaccine. And to be clear about it, this is the way that we need to build trust is by trusted messengers. There's no other way and we're fully committed to that. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Commissioner?

Commissioner Cortιs-Vαzquez: [Inaudible] the aging we're very forth – oops, thank you. At the Department for the Aging we're very fortunate that we have a vast network of aging providers who are trusted messengers. And so we're employing that vast network of organizations over 300 of them. But as the Mayor mentioned earlier, we have the 75 vaccines passport that we just assembled under the leadership of the Mayor which includes the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, the Asian American Pacific Islander Association, the Hispanic Federation, [inaudible] as well as Live On and that United Neighborhood Association – 

Mayor: AARP – 

Commissioner Cortιs-Vαzquez: AARP, of course, how - I would never forget AARP. They are trusted partners, they had – they, each of those organizations has an array of organizations that can also carry the message for us. It is very important, but there is no one like a family member who is the best trusted partner who can tell someone who is over 75 and call up and make the appointment for them. So we rely on every New Yorker, neighbor, and family member to help us become a trusted messenger. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Did we find Matt again?

Moderator: We didn't find Matt. We'll get him tomorrow. We're going to go to Kala from PIX 11.

Mayor: All right. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Kala you are pinch hitting. I'm extending the metaphor here. 

Question: Well, I appreciate it very much. So, I wanted to know, how do you guarantee a second dose in a timely manner? I've talked to a bunch of people who've already gotten the vaccine and they tell me when they have to get their second dose, you know, in a short amount of time. How do you get them their second dose with the shortage and then also continue with groups like 1-C in the future getting their first dose? How does that work, if you can elaborate on that?

Mayor: Yeah, I'll talk about the system, but I also think there's an honest dialogue happening around the world about what do you do when there's a short supply and how do you make a decision between first dose and second dose? Let me just say, just to give you an example already, we've gotten now 239,324, New Yorkers vaccinated. So, we're almost up at a quarter million right now, obviously today we will surpass a quarter million since this began. The overwhelming share of those folks, 216,000 are the first dose. So, you're going to see that continue that, you know, the first dose has got to be the predominant reality for a while, but the second dose is going to come into play more and more. It's three weeks later in the case that one of the vaccines, four weeks later in the case of the other. So long as we have supply, you know, we intend to obviously keep both efforts going, first dose and second dose, and people are getting a specific appointment. I'll have Dr. Long speak to that, but there is a question being asked around the world that if there is not enough supply, do you focus more on first dose because it does provide substantial protection unto itself. Dr. Long then Dr. Varma, could you speak to this? 

Executive Director Long: Yeah. So, the way it works, and I agree with what the Mayor said is exactly right. So, right now, we are scheduling appointments for the second dose for anybody getting the first dose. So, what happens is you come in, you register, and we actually make the appointment for the second dose before you even get the first dose to make sure it works for you and to make sure that you have a clear plan in place. We're going to continue doing that as the Mayor said, the dialogue continues, we're going to keep scheduling appointments for the second doses for anybody coming to our sites moving forward. 

Mayor: Okay and Dr. Varma, if you could just speak to the larger question and the discussion happening around the world about how to balance first and second dose? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, no, this is an incredibly challenging question and I, myself, and our health team here has been considering all of the issues at the same time. Here's what we know for sure. What we know for sure is that the two-dose vaccine strategy, either the Moderna or the Pfizer vaccine, is highly protective against getting infected. We know that during the limited period, and the limited number of patients that develop infection, during – between that first and second doses, either of those vaccines does provide some protection. I think that the consensus right now is that especially given the emergence of new strains of this virus, which so far appear to be covered by the vaccine but do presented additional risk, that we absolutely to stick to the strategy of making sure that every person gets two doses. Now, what may end up happening in practice, however, because of vaccine supply constraints is that some people get their vaccine delayed by a few days or a few weeks potentially in the worst case scenario. There does not appear to be any information from the clinical trials in which some people didn't receive their vaccines, for example, on that exact 21-day or 28-day mark. There doesn't seem to be any harm associated with it. In fact, we know from many vaccines around the world, that that type of strategy, which is called prime and boost, can still work and that lag time doesn't impact protection. So again, just to emphasize, we absolutely want people to get two doses. We absolutely want people to get two doses on time. There may be situations that evolve, such as those happening in UK, where people second dose does end up being delayed. If that happens, it's not harmful, but we want to make sure that that delay is as short as possible. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Kala. 

Question: Okay. Thanks for that information. And then to sort of continue Reema’s thought, I talked to a lot of educators yesterday who were getting their vaccine, everyone's super excited about it, they all have their appointments. However, the majority of them are remote learning instructors and the resounding question I had from them was, is the city, is the DOE tracking how many educators or the percent of educators getting vaccinated? And is there a percent that would reopen middle and high schools? 

Mayor: Great question. And again, we are real – I'm more anxious than anyone to reopen middle school, especially, and then eventually high school and to get more and more kids back. And I've said it before, if we have a very different health care situation we're going to reevaluate everything and certainly offer an opportunity for folks to come back who previously had been doing remote, but we're not there yet. We are course watching very carefully how many of our educators and school staff are getting vaccinated, but remember, this is just the beginning of a process that's going to play out over weeks. So the answer to your question, do I want to bring back middle school first, then high school? Absolutely. Do I think we're going to be able to do big things during this school year, bring back a lot of students? I absolutely do. I'm really encouraged, but I need that supply of vaccine and I need people to want to get vaccinated. Those are the two big X factors here that will help us determine how quickly we can go.

And we'll conclude on this point. Everyone, look, we got to fight hard. We fought hard for the freedom to vaccinate. We won it. We're going to have to fight hard to make sure the federal government, state government, and manufacturers deliver us enough vaccine so we can meet the demand. But in the meantime, every one of us can help. If there's a senior 75-years or older in your life, help them to sign up for the vaccine. If you're a first responder, an educator, school staff member, essential worker, come on out, get the vaccine. Everyone who gets vaccinated takes us one step closer to beating the coronavirus. So right now, I want to make sure we use every single dose as quickly as possible, but we're all going to have to fight together to make sure we get more and more and more doses so we can continue to keep the city safe. Thank you, everyone.

2021-01-13 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We've got a lot to talk about today, a lot of important news about the fight against the coronavirus here in New York City, and also important updates about how we are going to serve our school children this year and next year and beyond.

We're speeding up the process of giving vaccines all the time. Yesterday, 28,599 doses given. We are opening up mega sites, 24/7 mega sites. We talked yesterday about Citi Field, and again, thanks to the New York Mets for stepping up, that's fantastic. That's going to serve a lot of people. Well, we've heard back from the New York Yankees and we welcome them into the fold too. We're working with them now to work out a plan to use Yankee Stadium as well. And that's going to be great for the people of the Bronx. So, that plan is in motion. We'll announce it when the details have been worked through, but there's going to be more and more sites, not just the stadiums, but more sites of all kinds, more hours, reaching more people. And now anyone 65 years old or over does qualify. So, if you're 65 or over, regardless of your health situation, obviously you're vulnerable, we've talked about this before, you have the right to be vaccinated. You can sign up now. Now we're waiting for State guidance on another very important group of New Yorkers, folks who are immunocompromised. The State has not given us that formal guidance. So, to anyone who is younger than 65 and is immunocompromised just an update – once we get that guidance, we're going to put it out immediately. Folks under 65 at this hour do not qualify yet, but we're certain immunocompromised folks will in the coming days. As soon as we get the State guidance, we'll inform everyone. But if you're 65 or older, you qualify right now.

So, we have sites, as I said, 24/7 sites and sites with other hours, extended hours, all over the five boroughs. On the 24/7 sites yesterday, we opened the site at 125 Worth Street right here in the City Hall area, Lower Manhattan. Today, Staten Island, the Vanderbilt Clinic on Staten Island, open 24/7 from this point on. And again, more sites coming in Staten Island. Saturday, the Health + Hospitals Corona clinic in Queens will go to 24/7. And obviously, Citi Field will be right behind that. We're going to just keep building and building out capacity. And look, we're seeing the appointments booking up really fast. And we keep adding more appointments. So long as we have doses, we add more appointments every day. So, keep coming back. There will be times when all the appointments are taken up. When I look at this week and next week, the vast majority of appointments have already been booked, but whenever there's new appointments available, they go up online. So, keep coming back to it. But look, the key thing here is we need more vaccine. As we have set up this system and finally won the battle for the freedom to vaccinate New Yorkers, the inevitable has happened. Tens of thousands of folks who've come forward, wanting the vaccine rightfully, and we're going to provide it to them over the next few weeks. And then we're going to run out of vaccine.

I confirmed with our health care team yesterday that even with the normal supplies that we expect to have delivered next week, we will run out of vaccine at some point next week, unless we get a major new resupply because so many New Yorkers want the vaccine, and we have the ability to give it to them. What do we need? We need the federal government, the State government, and the manufacturers to step up and get us more supply immediately. Now, look, one question here, and this is a place again where President-elect Biden has been a strong, clear voice, and I thank him. He is pushing hard on the current administration to release more vaccine. He's calling for the release of the vaccine that was held back for second doses. I want to affirm President-elect Biden, he's right. All doses being held back by the federal government need to be released right now. Right now, we can use them right now. We can use – the same dose could be used for a first dose or a second dose. It doesn't matter, but holding back vaccine, when we have tens of thousands of New Yorkers ready to be vaccinated right now makes no sense at all. So, I'm calling on the federal government, release everything you can give us, we need it. And we need to speed up this system going forward because we're going to continue to build.
Our goal, 175,000 doses this week, we're going to hit that goal. And then we're going to a higher goal next week, a higher goal the week after that. We won't be able to meet those goals if we don't have the vaccine. So, again, everyone, I want everyone who's getting an appointment to understand there's a lot of demand, to be a little bit patient, to keep coming back until you get your appointment. But I have no patience for the federal government and the manufacturers. We need them to deliver a lot more, a lot more quickly because we can use it right now. If you're looking for an appointment again, go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, or go on the phone system, 877-VAX-4NYC. And again, that phone reservation system that's open currently 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM, seven days a week. That will go to 24/7 later this weekend. We'll give you an update as soon as we are at that 24/7 capacity, but again, our goal, and we're confident of this goal, a million doses in January. That's what we want to do, but we need the vaccine to do it.

All right. Let me shift gears now and talk about our schools, and vaccine, obviously has a lot to say about our schools too. A lot of our teachers and school staff are stepping up. They want the vaccine. That's great. The more we can vaccinate the quicker we can continue to bring back students to our schools. The Chancellor and I are very anxious to get more kids back in school, and it's going to be great to see more and more of our team vaccinated so we can do that. So that part's going well but let me give you some other good news. We said last month in December that we wanted to transform our schools as much as possible to five-day-a-week instruction. That it was so important for kids to get five -day-a-week instruction wherever possible, wherever the space allowed for it. That for parents, obviously for their lives, for their schedule, something parents desperately wanted. Here's an update almost every one of our 878 schools now is offering some amount of five-day-a-week instruction. Some cases it's all the kids all the time and other cases, it's a majority of the kids. Some schools, because of space and other reasons, they can't yet do a majority, but they're prioritizing kids in greatest need – kids who live in shelters, for example, or kids with special needs. That effort has gone really well.

So, I want to give you an update. Right now, we have 247 schools, 247 that are providing five-day-a-week instruction to all their students. I want you to hear this clearly – 247 schools providing five-day-a-week instruction to all their students. That means they have effectively gone back to normal for the students who signed up for in-person instruction. Now, to put that in perspective, that number of schools, that alone, those 247 schools would constitute alone the eighth largest school district in America. That's the magnitude of what's been achieved here in terms of returning to five-day-a-week instruction. And we want to build on that. We want to keep building that out. And obviously looking ahead as more and more of our teachers and staff get vaccinated, that's going to open up a world of possibility. So, we're excited about what's happened already, and we're excited about what will happen in the weeks ahead.

We're also extremely focused on making sure that this moment, this horrible moment of the coronavirus crisis, that some good comes out of it. Some transformation comes out of it. One of the most powerful examples of transformation has been the closing of the digital divide because in this crisis, and I want to give the Chancellor's team a lot of credit, when we had to go to remote, Chancellor Carranza and his team made a commitment to getting kids, not just devices that they could use for remote education, but the very best devices, the most current up-to-date high-quality devices. And that's what they proceeded to do in record time. I want to give you an update that now we have 450,000 devices have been delivered for free to the children in New York City, to help them with digital learning. 450,000 devices, 50,000 more on the way. And we're going to get those right to the kids who need them. This has been a very successful effort. The scale is unbelievable, and it's worked, and it will continue now through our schools. We're going to give the responsibility to each and every school to keep track of each family and what they need, make sure their devices are working, they have the right service, and if they need something else to get it for them. So, this is going to be an ongoing effort because digital education can be crucial not just this year. Next year we have our 2020 student achievement plan go into effect to close the COVID achievement gap, we need to make sure our kids have the right technology. Each school will follow through on that mission with each family.

Now another important update and this comes to the point about serving all kids the best way – announcement last night that we're sending forward to the PEP a plan that would have the gifted and talented test administered this spring in April as it has been done but that will be the last time the test is administered in this fashion. The gifted and talented test is the definition of a high stakes test. A single test that determines so much. This approach to testing is not something I believe in. It's not something the Chancellor believes in. It's something that has caused a lot of frustration for so many families. At this point in the year, a lot of families had already prepared. They were counting on the opportunity. We respect that. So, we'll go forward, but we will not be providing that test in the future. We need a much better approach to serving kids who have a lot of capacity. That's great. Some kids have a lot of talent. Some kids are ready to learn faster. But that's a lot of kids, a lot more than are benefiting currently from the very small amount of gifted and talented programs that exist.

You know, the Chancellor spoke about the fact that next year we're going to be doing a lot more individualized education for all kids. We're going to be using the new digital tools to allow teachers to do so much more. That's also going to allow us to reach kids with a lot of talent and tailor-make the approach for them. So, we're able to do some very new and more powerful things to help our kids and to help a lot more kids. I guarantee you, there's a hell of a lot more kids who have talents and abilities and the need for special opportunities than just the few who have been in gifted and talented to date. So, we're going to have an intensive public engagement process through the spring and into the summer to really work with stakeholders of all kinds, parents, elected officials, community leaders, obviously our PEP to think through what's the right approach for the future. It will not be a single test. And we think we have an opportunity to do something so much better that can reach so many more kids, but we're going to work closely with stakeholders to get this right. And then we'll announce the new approach by September.

Okay, let me give you an update on another topic. And this one is one we're all focused on. We are all concerned about how we bring New York City back and how we bring New York City back strong. By the way, everything we've talked about so far is part of that, getting the people in the city vaccinated, bringing back our schools strong in September, all of this is how we bring back New York City and have a strong recovery and make this city not only as great as it always has been, but even greater, because we're going to address a lot of the inequalities and disparities as part of our recovery. So, we know that to bring the city back, we have to bring back small business, and a lot of efforts have been underway to help small businesses survive and thrive ahead. But one of the key things was the fight that has been going on for months and months to get the federal government to actually provide direct support on a much higher level. In the recent legislation – again, won't call it stimulus, because it wasn't truly stimulus. It was COVID relief. In the recent COVID relief legislation, the Small Business Administration federally has now reopened the paycheck protection program. PPP, that reopened on Monday. Now, are loans. They're forgivable loans that support the notion of keeping workers on payroll. And this, now, has been an allocation of $284 billion for small businesses. We want and make sure every small business that wants to participate is able to. We want to make sure New York City gets its fair share. We want to make sure this process works for small business. So, our Department of Small Business Services has created an approach to help any small business service – excuse me, any small business owner who needs help getting through the process applying. We now can help them through our City Department of Small Business Services. We can help them in English, in Spanish, in Chinese, and other languages. There'll be an outreach effort to small business to let them know this help is available. And anyone who wants to be a part of it, we're calling it the Fair Share program, because we want New York City to get our fair share, we want our small businesses to get their fair share. Anyone who wants this assistance, small business owners who need this help, can go to nyc.gov/ppp, or you can call the Small Business Services hotline 888-SBS-4NYC. Want to make sure that help gets to people that need it. And, again, all of this contributes to our recovery, but nothing more important than getting the maximum number of people vaccinated as quickly as possible. We need the federal government to help us to do that. We need the manufacturers. We need the State. We need everyone to get us the vaccine we need, so we can do that.

And that brings us our indicators. Let me say at the outset, as I go into the indicators, I want to give an update. This is information that's just come forward. So, we've got the latest information on testing, and the State of New York has reported across the state 12 new cases of the coronavirus with the variant from the United Kingdom present. Two of those cases are New York City residents. One of whom traveled to the United Kingdom. Again, although I appreciate the federal government is finally acting to restrict who can get on international flight and require them to have a negative coronavirus test, that's not good enough. There should be an immediate travel ban from the United Kingdom to the United States. Here's proof positive, someone who is in the UK has brought the variant back here. We need that stopped. Flights from the United Kingdom should be canceled immediately by the federal government. So, two cases, obviously, they're being followed up on and supported, test and trace has engaged with them, and we'll keep people updated as we have more information.

Now, to the indicators. One, the daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 279 patients. Obviously, way too high. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 is 4.62. Again, amazingly, our hospitals continue to hold and do very well, but those numbers are daunting. We have a lot of work to do. Number one thing we can do is get people vaccinated. On current new cases, seven-day average 4,855 – also way too high. And the percentage of New York City residents who tested positive, seven-day rolling average 8.39 percent. We know what we have to do. We have to stay disciplined in the meantime, follow that smart health guidance we've gotten time and again, get vaccinated. And this is the last big battle against the coronavirus, we just need to be tough and to see our way through it.

A few words in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator:We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Chancellor Carranza, by Dr. Mitch Katz, by Dr. Dave Chokshi, by Dr. Ted Long, by Commissioner Jonnel Doris, by Corporation Counsel Jim Johnson, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma.Amanda Eisenberg from Politico.

Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Hey, Amanda, how are you doing?

Question: I'm well, thank you. So, I spoke with a 79-year-old yesterday. She lives in Manhattan. She took the subway to Bushwick to get vaccinated. When she arrived, she had an ID number and a confirmation for her appointment. It turned out that that information came from the state and not from the city who was running that site. So, she was in line. They moved her to a different line and again, she's 79, and the people who are working the site from the city, encouraged her to go home and resign up. She insisted that she waits and she had the appointment three hours later. She was able to go home with a vaccine, but no follow-up appointment for a second dose. I know Dr. Chokshi spoke a lot about some of the problems yesterday. I wanted to bring this to your attention and get your feedback on how do we avoid these things happening, especially with people who are older and might not be able to wait in line for three hours and have to stand on their feet?

Mayor: Yeah. First of all, I'm very sorry that happened to her, and we absolutely want to fix that. It’s first I've heard of anything like that, Amanda, that's not acceptable. We need to fix that, and if you'll be kind enough to make sure Dr. Chokshi’s team gets her contact info, we will definitely make sure she gets her appointment for the second shot. Thank God she did get the shot eventually. But no, look, if there's any problem like that, where someone legitimately signed up and we need to just cut through the red tape and get them the shot, we will get them the shot. That's the bottom line, and we'll look to see if there's anything we have to fix in terms of the systems. But what I'm hearing overwhelmingly as people are getting to the vaccination centers and getting their shot at the time and around the time when they were scheduled to do so. But I don't want to see someone like that turned away, obviously. We have to be smart, just get someone in need the shot they need. Go ahead.

Question: Great, thank you. And I also wanted to get back to this COVID variant strain that you mentioned earlier. So, we have two new cases in New York City. Are you hearing from your Health Department to sound the alarm bell about having people stay closer to home, maybe not travel to their office with the understanding that if this variant were to spread, something like what happened in the UK could happen here, where we have hundreds or thousands of people with this variant and the hospitals get overwhelmed again?

Mayor: It's a real concern, Amanda, I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma. I'm very concerned about this variant. This is why we need a travel ban immediately. Again, I appreciate that finally – and I've called for this months ago – there's federal action on ensuring that anyone who gets on a plane has a negative test, but in the case of the UK, that's literally not enough. We need those flights canceled and we needed a travel ban until the situation is greatly improved. I am very concerned about this variant. You know, we're just at a point now where we have an opportunity to turn the corner because of the vaccine, and now we have this new challenge. I would absolutely urge people who are vulnerable to be very, very careful. I’ll have Dr. Chokshi talk to this. Anyone who's older, anyone who has pre-existing conditions should really limit their movements, should only do the most essential things. With this new variant, it's another reminder if you're one of the folks who's vulnerable, don't take chances. Let's get you vaccinated, but until you have received both shots, don't do business as usual, stay safe, stay close to home. Dr. Chokshi, then Dr. Varma.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thanks Amanda for this important question. This variant which is known as the B117 variant, sometimes called the UK variant as well, we have heard, as you know, that the variant has been found around the world but increasingly now around the United States as well, there are over 10 states that are reported cases of that B117 variant. Given that we do have that increasing number of cases both in the US and elsewhere, on the one hand, it's not surprising that it has been identified in New York City, and I think my clear core message is that it should compel us to be even more vigilant about the precautions that we can take a vote to protect ourselves as well as to protect others.

The Mayor has spoken about this. You’ve certainly heard from me the importance of the five actions that all New Yorkers should be taking. That's staying home if you're ill, washing your hands frequently, getting tested, wearing a mask, as well as keeping your distance. Those become even more important when we do have this more infectious variant that is circulating. The other thing that I will say about it is that there's no evidence that this variant of the virus causes more severe illness or mortality. But the fact that it is more infectious means that it is all the more important for the people who are most vulnerable to those severe outcomes to take the steps that they need to protect themselves, and for all of the rest of us to do those five actions that I mentioned. I hope you hear that the urgency in my voice, because this is important to avoid further tragedy as we have seen over the last few months.

Mayor: Go ahead, doctor – thank you, and go ahead, Dr. Varma.

Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma: Yeah, thank you very much, and just to reemphasize what the Commissioner has just said: this is a very urgent and real concern, not just here in New York City throughout the United States and throughout the world, we're really in a race against this virus. We need to reduce the number of humans that are either infected with this virus, and in particular, those that are susceptible to it. That's how viruses get a foothold and mutate, by replicating inside humans and new variants like this emerge. So, in addition to what Dr. Chokshi has talked about in terms of the individual measures that people really need to double down on, we again want to reemphasize the importance that when your turn in line comes up to get vaccinated, it's important to do that. There was some theoretical concern that people who are immunocompromised and maybe, you know, more likely to have mutations arise, or people who are vulnerable, if they're more sick. So again, very important to prioritize them, to make sure they get vaccinated and protected and take re-emphasize what the Mayor has said as well, too. We are connected to the rest of this country. We need the rest of this country also to be taking restrictions and actions to keep infections down, and we need to limit our movement across those different places, both across the country and across the world, and anytime people do move, they need to make sure they're observing the rules about getting frequently tested and staying away from people for the recommended time.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: The next is Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Emma, how are you doing?

Question: I'm good. I'm good. My question is about the vaccine rollout. I've been hearing from a lot of people who are frustrated, trying to get an appointment. I helped my own father get an appointment in Texas recently and was quite aggravating. Are you worried that New Yorkers without online literacy or good internet who are working long hours and maybe don't have time to sit on a website and refresh it all day or call repeatedly, are you afraid that these people are going to get left behind?

Mayor: I'm definitely concerned, Emma, that the process, if it's a difficult one for people to engage, that we may have people get frustrated by it, definitely understand that, and we don't want to be difficult. In fact, we're working every day to make it smoother and quicker. We're going 24/7 with that hotline, and again, just so everyone hear it, 877-VAX-4NYC. That's going to be 24/7 by the end of the week. We started a week with 750 customer service reps on that line. We're going to keep adding, there is a wait time. That's for sure, but I want to emphasize we're not a patient people in New York City, but the wait time has been between 10 and 15 minutes on average, so it, you know, we want to bring that down, but it is something that people can generally manage. But this is all to me, that's the small part of the problem. When I think about what's going to frustrate people, it's most frustrating when there are no appointments available. And right now, if we don't get more vaccine, there literally will not be appointments available after the next couple of weeks. We must get resupplied on a much higher level. The more we get, the more we can expand our sites and the hours of our sites. So, I think that's the central question. Clearly, I agree with you, I do not want to see folks, especially some of the most vulnerable folks, lose faith and not go to the effort. So, we have to keep making it simpler all the time. But our deepest problem is we might have the most beautiful reservation system in the world, but no vaccine to go with it, and that's where the federal government, the state government and the manufacturers really need to step up. Go ahead.

Moderator: It's time for two more for today. The next is Jessica Gould from WNYC.

Question: Hey, I wanted to actually follow up on what Emma just said. I also am trying to help boomer parents navigate the systems. In addition to the phone line, is there a way to streamline the website so that you're not then asked to go one by one to all the different places and check their availability?

Mayor: Yeah. I'm going to call in Dr. Long on this one because he's been doing so much of the work in terms of how we're reaching out to communities and connecting with communities, and I think he has a really good sense of the people that we are serving, but yeah, I want to see it continue to streamline. We need to make this as simple as possible, understanding, Jessica, that because it's really important we ensure that the folks who are going to get the vaccine are qualified to get it, that they are New York City residents or people who work in public service in New York City, that they are within the right age groups, et cetera. That is always going to be a challenge because it requires a certain amount of questions to clarify that, and there are other legal requirements that have to be met according to the State. So, there is something there that's a challenge under any scenario, but we want to keep working to make the website experience smoother. Dr. Long, you want to speak to that?

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps: Yeah, it's a great question, and one of the things that's been very helpful to us is moving forward here. We've gotten a tremendous amount of feedback from New Yorkers about how to make this experience more streamlined for them, or for their parents, and what some of the barriers would be for them being able to schedule appointments. And I'll mention a couple of [inaudible] here that I've been taking notes on after talking with people, and this is what my patients tell me in the Bronx too, one, my patients that work at night, they want to get their vaccinations at night. So, to surmount that barrier, we now have 24/7 access to the vaccine in the Bronx and in Brooklyn, and this week in every single borough, today in Staten Island. And I'm proud of our ability to offer that to everybody, including my patients, to remove that barrier. In terms of the website and being able to schedule appointments, some of the things that we've heard about is, one, not everybody has the internet. And I have patients that are above 65 that have a flip phone, they do not have smartphones and they do not have internet, so I'm happy to be able to tell them now that they can call 877-VAX-4NYC, extended hours, hundreds of operators, and make their appointments over the phone, that helps them to remove that barrier that otherwise would this disallow them to be able to make an appointment.

Another thing we've heard feedback on is wanting to have a language access. So, we have a language line that's incorporated into the call center now, so we can speak to you in any language that you speak so that we can be able to out smelt that barrier and make the appointment for you. As we move forward, I hear you on the point around, can you see where there's more eligibility after you – or more access after you complete the eligibility screen? That's something we're making updates on now, and if you have more feedback, now is the time to tell us, and this goes to anybody listening to me now, we're completely committed to making this accessible to all New Yorkers. That's why we have 24/7 access, why we have a call center, why it speaks many languages, it's based on what you've told us. So, continue giving us good feedback and we're committed to make those changes. So, thank you.

Mayor: Thank you, doctor.

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Matt Troutman from Patch.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. I want to circle back –

Mayor: Hey, Matt.

Question: Hey how's it going?

Mayor: Good, how are you doing today?

Question: Not bad, not bad. Hey, I want to circle back to the UK variants. I want to get some more information about the cases specifically where these cases are within the city by like neighborhood level, any more information on like when these were identified and just anything at all.

Mayor: Great. Thank you, Dr. Chokshi you want speak to that?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, I'm happy to, sir. I'll start by saying that, you know, for individual cases of course we take protecting the confidentiality and privacy of individuals very seriously. So, there is some information that that we want to be able to respect an individual's confidentiality. But what I can say about the two cases, is that one is a resident of Manhattan, the other is a resident of Queens. Both were or originally diagnosed in late December with genetic sequencing, that's the special testing that's done to identify the variant, returning results just within the last few hours. And so those are some of the details that we can share, the other thing that I will say is that, it again, connects back to the importance of our public health guidance. You know, for those cases and their contacts, all of whom were handled appropriately through our testing and tracing system with respect to isolation and quarantine. All of the procedures that we have put in place, both for individuals, as well as for the public at large, become that much more important for us to redouble our commitment to. So, those are that – the five actions that I've already mentioned, but also for people to go and get tested and then to make sure that you are appropriately isolating if you're if you're diagnosed as a positive case or quarantining if you're found to be a close contact of a positive case.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Matt.

Question: Okay. I have a question from a colleague, now everyone's noted the impact of COVID on lower income communities. Now, Washington Heights and Inwood currently have the highest COVID rates in Manhattan, but they don't appear to be any city run vaccine hubs in those two neighborhoods, at least in the initial rollout. Are there any plans to bring those out?

Mayor: Yeah, let me turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Long. We absolutely, let me be clear, we have been building out sites constantly and we're building out the hours of sites and again, our central challenge is going to be lack of vaccine soon if we don't get a major new shipment. But I'm turning to Dr. Katz and Dr. Long, because both in terms of this vaccination effort and Test and Trace, but also the work of the Health + Hospitals does all the time, there's a very intense focus on Upper Manhattan. So, Dr. Katz, then Dr. Long, you want to speak to how we're going to make sure folks in those communities get served a vaccination.

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Yes. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, and as you say, Health + Hospitals has a long tradition of caring for the uninsured, the low-income, Black and Brown communities, minority communities, and we are going to keep expanding our sites so that we are able to reach everyone. Right now, both through the website and through the phone number, anyone can make an appointment at any of our existing sites. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Long?

Executive Director Long: Yeah, I would only add that as Dr. Katz said, through our 11 hospitals and now seven of our Gotham Community Health Centers, we're proud to be offering vaccinations across New York City. In particular, we're rolling out in Harlem at our site and [inaudible] community center vaccinations now and at Harlem Hospital, we've been delivering vaccinations as well.

Mayor: So, we’re going to keep building out that capacity all over the city. I really want to emphasize, this is a dynamic situation, Matt, where new operations are being set up constantly and a lot more is going to be coming very, very quickly. And as I conclude the day, everyone, again, I'm going to keep saying, I want everyone understand, we have more and more sites, more and more hours, lots of tremendous folks' medical personnel and others who are helping to make these centers run. I’ve been to several of them already, amazing operations, I've talked to the folks who went there and get vaccinated. They're so grateful and they also know they're really being cared for and supported by the people that work in these centers. That’s all the good news. The bad news is we're going to run out of vaccine if we don't get a major new shipment, what the federal government, State government current plan sending us a hundred thousand doses a week, that's not going to cut it. We already, this week, are planning on doing 175,000 doses, we're on track for that, more next week. We're on track for a million doses for the month. We need a bigger supply and we need it quickly and we need it to be reliable so we can really serve the people of the city. Thank you, everyone.

2021-01-15 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: Hello, again, everyone, and as usual to start the 11:00 hour on Fridays, it's time for our Ask the Mayor segment my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0 or tweet a question, just use the hashtag, #AskTheMayor. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian, how are you doing today?

Lehrer: I'm doing all right. Thank you. Malcolm on the Upper East Side, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Malcolm. 

Question: Hi, thank you for thinking about call. I don't want to take up too much of your time. I hate to be off-topic a little bit— 

Lehrer: It’s your topic. 

Question: —but, I do live in congregate housing, and out of 56 of us in one building I believe there was 17 of us who have tested positive to COVID-19. That's more than a fourth of us. My question would be, what is the schedule before we are able to start receiving vaccinations with people who live in congregate housing, or shelters, or something of that sort? 

Lehrer: Malcolm, you're a very humble guy, because you couldn't be more on topic with anything than a question like that. Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Exactly, Malcolm, please leave your information with WNYC. I want to make sure you know exactly when vaccination is going to happen. They have begun, we just got authorized. This is one – when I fought last week for the freedom to vaccinate, this is one of the groups of people I wanted to reach, folks in shelter. We finally got that authorization the last few days from the State of New York. We are beginning this week to vaccinate individuals who are living in shelter and congregate settings, and staff who work on their behalf. We're going to accelerate that into next week. So, I want to make sure that folks where you live are getting that vaccine. So, please, please give your information to WNYC. I do want to say to you though, to Malcolm, but to everyone, we have a fundamental problem now we are facing, and this is something I want to give you the most up-to-date numbers, Brian, because they are quite striking. Through yesterday, Thursday, we, for the week, vaccinated 125,000 people, between Monday and Thursday. Our goal is 175,000 for this week. At this rate, we're going to surpass that goal. To date, since a month ago, when we got the vaccine – 300,000 New Yorkers. This number is going up very quickly and we are running out of vaccine.

We're going to be – I'm giving this a formal – we've gotten the numbers. I checked them again last night, we will run out of vaccine next week in New York City, if there's not a very different approach from the federal government and the state government and the manufacturers. We're going to run out. You've seen the news, Brian, Mount Sinai Hospital, NYU Hospital, they are no longer taking appointments because they are out of vaccine. We have a fundamental problem here, and so many people need it, and so many people want it, and we're speeding up the process of getting people to vaccine, but we are not going to have enough vaccine by the end of next week, and we need maximum pressure on Washington and Albany, and on the manufacturers to deliver us hundreds of thousands of more doses, immediately. 

Lehrer: So, here's a related question from a listener on Twitter. Listener Corey writes, “Can we be sure that for each person who got the first dose this week, that they will get the second dose? I was told, I would receive a scheduling email and have not yet,” writes that listener. 

Mayor: Everybody who goes to one of our vaccine centers gets – if they will take a new appointment, they get an appointment for the second dose. In the case of one vaccine, that's three weeks later. In the case of the other, it's four weeks later meaning Pfizer, Moderna. So, one is three weeks. One is four weeks. So, we give anyone an appointment who will take that appointment, but the increasing problem now is there's not enough supply of vaccine to keep up with the first appointments, let alone the second appointments. 

Lehrer: And related to Malcolm's call, what about the homebound, sick and elderly people who don't live in congregate facilities, per se, as he says he does, but like the kinds of people who receive Meals on Wheels in their homes, they're not in institutions of any kind where the vaccines are being brought to them. They're at home, but there's currently no mechanism in place, as I understand it, to bring vaccines to the homes of people like that, even assuming the vaccines are available, and they would, in many cases be among the most medically vulnerable. Is there, or is that in the works? 

Mayor: Yes, it is in the works. We're working and we're going to be announcing shortly a variety of new approaches to help every senior, because now at this point, remember, folks 65 and up are authorized to get the vaccine by the state. We are going to have new announcements on ways we are getting seniors who have any possibility of leaving their home, to a vaccination center. But we know there are some homebound seniors who literally cannot leave. We're working out a way to serve them directly in their home. It is obviously very labor intensive. So it is a meticulous slower process when you have to go home by home or apartment by apartment, but we're going to get that done. We'll announce that shortly. You said the most important part though, Brian. The more fundamental problem is will there be vaccine to go with this effort to reach our homebound seniors? I want to emphasize; we will run out next week. I'm telling you at this rate, there will not be any doses left in the City of New York by the end of next week, if we don't get any major resupply. We've been getting resupply right now at a very paltry level of about 100,000 doses a week. I am telling you that we went through 125,000 in the first four days of this week. And our numbers are increasing every day of how many people we can vaccinate. Yesterday we did almost 34,000 people. That number is just going to keep going up. And if we don't get a serious supply, we're going to have to stop taking appointments just as happened at Mount Sinai Hospital and NYU Langone. That if there's no supply, we've got to freeze the appointment system. That would be insane after all the progress that has been made, setting up a system so people could actually get appointments, people are showing up nonstop. There's tons of appointments booked, everyone's ready. But if Washington and Albany and the manufacturers don't find a better way to get us vaccine, we're going to run out. And I would argue, I know there's all parts of the country that are suffering right now. But there's few places that can move the vaccine as quickly as we can. So the notion that the vaccine is in some parts of the country, going to wait prolonged periods of time before they have the ability to get it to people. Whereas we're speeding up every day. We should get the supply commensurate to our ability to give the vaccine. We're all Americans, everyone needs to be protected. And this, it just makes no sense that we're being starved of the supply we need when we're vaccinating at this high level. 

Lehrer: So are you saying that this is mostly a matter of policy and decision-making in Washington or even in Albany that says X amounts of vaccine go to New York City, Y amounts go to somewhere in Illinois, or wherever and they could snap their fingers and change that? 

Mayor: There's two points. There's some – your summary is largely correct. But the first point is, first of all, we are calling upon, I know the current administration won’t do it, but I'm certainly calling upon President-elect Biden and his administration starting next week, to end the practice of holding back the second doses and get them to us immediately. There's been a reserve approach previously. We need those second doses and we need the flexibility to use them immediately for everyone who needs to be vaccinated even for the first time. So right now the federal government has not moved that supply and they haven't given us that freedom. Second of all, yes there are parts of the country who are getting supplies, but can't use them as quickly as we can. I think until the supply increases much more nationally, go where the ability to vaccinate is strongest. Get the supply to where it can be implemented, not sit in a refrigerator somewhere, but be implemented. As soon as we get it in now, it's going right back out. It's going into people's arms. That's not true everywhere because they just don't have the infrastructure. So let us have the supply we need and as the manufacturers get more and more going – and by the way, new vaccines, you know, Johnson and Johnson now, it looks like it'll be a relatively soon that vaccine. That will increase supply. But why should New Yorkers not even be able to get an appointment for lack of supply when we know there is supply in this country not being used? 

Lehrer: Susanna you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi. 

Question: Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call, Brian. I'm a huge fan. Mr. Mayor, I own two restaurants now. I've owned one restaurant for 10 years in Harlem on a 117th street. And in December reopened the second one. They're both currently closed. For the first one delivery and to go wasn’t economically viable. We tried to keep the new one open because we had a small outdoor patio and we were using the individual plexiglass pods and our parking lane structure, which has four by four windows on both sides that open completely. And about a week and a half ago, the Health Department came by and said, you absolutely cannot have any guests inside unless an entire wall is completely open, it's considered indoor dining and you're not allowed to have any guests. So we said, okay, I guess it's not economically viable to have our second place open either. And we closed. Meanwhile, you know, not that I want anybody else to have the same – by the way the Health Department said if you use these again, there'll be a large fine and we can revoke your liquor license. So I wasn't going to take that risk. And I don't want anybody else to have those same troubles, but I see other people all over the city using the exact same pods and the parking lane structures that don't have an entire wall open. And they're operating and they're full. And it's been ten years of me owning a restaurant. My biggest hurdle has always been the City, the constant surprise inspections. Like it's a gotcha moment. And the constant fines and the constant regulations. One inspector will say one thing and another one will come a week later and say the opposite. But I've dealt with it because, you know, I love the city and I love, I love having a restaurant here. But now I'm closed and I've laid off 45 of my employees and I take their livelihoods as my own responsibility. And I take it really seriously. And it's breaking my heart. I gave out bags of food to some of my guys last week. And then I was in here yesterday painting and I got a note stuck in my door from the DOT saying, you need more reflective tape on your outdoor structure, you have 24 hours, or there could be a $1,000 fine. It feels as if you're trying, like purposely trying to kill small business in the city. I mean, this has been years of it, but the inconsistency and the constant every time I turn around, you know, an inspector in here. And can you imagine if you were in your office and you were doing five different things and somebody walked in and said, I have the power to make you stop what you're doing and have an inspection right now. So I'll stop speaking, but I guess my real issue is that I just, I'm on the Frederick Douglass Boulevard Alliance. I'm part of the New York City Hospitality Alliance. I speak for many restaurants when we feel like we're not having any support in these like super difficult economic times. And we're trying to keep our small businesses and our people employed and our streets clean and our tax revenue paid for. And we're just every time, I mean a $1,000 fine yesterday. I'm sorry. I'll stop that. That's my question. Where's the support? And where is the like, thought that, you know, we're not necessarily always going to be here? 

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor? 

Mayor: Susanna, first of all, please give your information to WNYC so we can fix the specific issues. I want to say, I appreciate you laying out everything you've been through. Because I don't want to see you or anyone else go through all that. I also will say that the effort to keep people safe whether it is to make sure there's ventilation in outdoor dining, which is the entire concept of outdoor dining, or to make sure that people are safe from the traffic around outdoor dining, those are really important efforts. They need to be done fairly. They need to be done in a way that gives you plenty of opportunity to address issues. There's been a lot of information put out on the way to keep people safe and the rules. So I want to affirm – I want, because I do feel like there's a little more to this story, not about your specific case, but the broader case. Our commitment to saving small businesses led us to outdoor dining. That's the whole point. We did Open Streets. We did Open Restaurants. We created an approach that never had been done before in New York City. It is now permanent. So you and every other restaurant owner knows you can use that space consistently for years to come. And that's going to be part of bringing us back. And I want you to do well. And I want your employees to have their job. We need that. But we got to keep people safe too. We have seen an incredibly intense increase in the number of coronavirus cases. We see more and more people going to the hospital. We see people losing their lives. This is serious stuff. So I care deeply about the restaurant industry, the people who work and the folks who built these restaurants from scratch. I want you to thrive, but we got to save lives too. So when someone says, Hey, you need ventilation or you need to make sure that the traffic can see your outdoor structure, that's important. But we got to do it in a way that's fair and not arbitrary. That gives you ample time to correct. We have been putting out a lot of information about how to get this stuff, right. We'll keep doing it. But in your case, I'll make sure senior people get to you today. Let's fix these situations. I want to fix them so you can keep going. And I believe there is a resolution we can find here. 

Lehrer: Susanna, thank you. We will take that contact information. And as we run out of time, Mr. Mayor, I do want to get one question in about, and let you say something about the preliminary City budget that you released yesterday for the fiscal year that begins July 1st. And it kind of reveals part of the shocking economic disparity that the pandemic has both caused and revealed. If I'm seeing this right, property tax revenue went down in the current fiscal year, but personal income tax and business tax revenue went up because investors and many professional class workers actually have done better during the pandemic than before. So how are you looking at the budget? Both in fiscal terms and in moral terms for what it reveals? 

Mayor: Year 2020 is the epitome of the old phrase, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It's quite troubling. It really is. I mean, for God's sake, wealthy people got so much more in this year. We did an update yesterday, 120 New York State billionaires increased their combined wealth by about $77 billion during the year 2020. So we need to tax the wealthy. This is my bottom line. Albany needs to get it together and tax the wealthy to avert the kinds of horrible cuts that could be coming to human services, to health care, to education. That is the tale of two cities that's happening in 2020 is unbelievable. We're trying to answer that in this budget, with all the tools we have by putting resources, redistributing wealth into the 27 neighborhoods that were most deeply affected by the coronavirus, that felt that horrible disparity, racially and economically that we saw in the coronavirus crisis. We're trying to redistribute wealth and services to them. But meanwhile, folks are getting wealthy during this crisis and they got a tax break a couple of years ago from Donald Trump. And Albany needs to right that wrong and make sure the wealthy in New York City and New York State pay their fair share in taxes. 

Lehrer: And that is the last word for today from Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mr. Mayor, we appreciate it as always. Talk to you next Friday. 

Mayor: Thank you very much Brian. Take care.

2021-01-19 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. It’s a great day, because in just a little more than 24 hours we'll be able to say President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris and so much is going to change for the better for this nation for this city. It's an exciting moment. And there are so many reasons to be excited, the one I want to focus on is President-elect Biden's very clear, powerful pledge to vaccinate Americans at a record rate. He's calling for 100 million doses to be given in his first 100 days. I commend him. That's the kind of goal we need. What a clear departure from what we have known. And that's the kind of commitment that's going to help us here in New York City to get the vaccine we need, because the central message today is we are vaccinating people faster and faster, it's getting better and better, and just now we are running out a vaccine and we need it desperately. A new president, I think, is going to make all the difference.

So, let's talk about what's going on with our vaccination effort here. It's extraordinary. Last week, we set a public goal of 175,000 vaccinations. We surpassed that goal this last week, ending Sunday, ending up the week was about 220,000 – over 220,000 vaccinations in New York City. So, the pace of vaccination is going faster and faster. Look, these numbers keep growing. What it meant – as of Sunday, that a New Yorker was being vaccinated every three seconds. That's what was happening in New York City. Every three seconds a New Yorker got vaccinated as of Sunday. As of today, since the beginning of the vaccination effort, 455,737 doses have been given here in New York City. Later today into tomorrow, we'll go get to half-a-million doses having been given since the beginning. Look, the good news is we have the ability to do this faster and faster. We're setting a goal for this week, assuming we have the vaccine – and I'll talk about that in a moment – if we have the vaccine we needed, we could vaccinate 300,000 people this week we're in right now – if we had the vaccine. The problem is, right now, we don't. So, right now, we had a small supply come in – today are coming in – today, 53,000 doses, leaving us with only 116,000 for the week ahead. Look, at the race we are going, we will begin to run out on Thursday – this Thursday, two days from now. And we will have literally nothing left to give as of Friday. What does that mean? It means if we don't get more vaccine quickly, a new supply of vaccine, we will have to cancel appointments and no longer give shots after Thursday for the remainder of the week at a lot of our sites. We will not get on the current schedule resupplied again until next Tuesday, which means for many of our sites we couldn't vaccinate again until the day after next Wednesday. This is crazy. This is not the way it should be. We have the ability to vaccinate a huge number of people. We need the vaccine to go with it.

So, right now, it is up to the federal government, it is up to the State, it's up to the manufacturers to do everything they can to get us the maximum supply, because we are proving that, literally, every passing day, we can reach more and more people. Again, I'm very hopeful the Biden Administration is going to fix a lot of this. They are just coming into office, of course, it's going to take time, but their commitment is there and I appreciate that deeply. Right now, in New York City, capacity, growing every day – four 24/7 sites open right now, 15 Health Department hubs, new 24-seven sites coming, including the Empire Outlets in Staten Island, a Citi Field, which we’ve talked about before. Yankee Stadium, coming soon – and we're excited about that. Thank you to the New York Yankees. But all of this is what we need, but it won't work without vaccine. There are so many people ready to be vaccinated. We need the vaccine to reach all the New Yorkers who, right now, are ready to put their arms out and get the shot.

Now, I want to talk about what it's going to take, going forward, to get this right. Supply, of course, but let's talk about the approach we need. So, we're putting forward today five principles that really should govern what we do from now on. If we're going to get this right, if we're going to make it fast and smooth and really hit the huge numbers we need over the coming months, these are the five principles that should govern our actions. One – supply, bottom line. Federal government and the manufacturers, working with the State, maximize the supply to New York City because we have shown a trajectory, we have shown what is going to be – what's going to be possible in terms of vaccinating – hundreds of thousands of people. Again, the goal this week, 300,000 people, we're confident we can make it if we have the vaccine. Next week, even more. Get us the vaccine. So, that's one. Two – if we put together more and more sites, the vaccine has to be there to meet the sites. So, the bottom line is, we want maximum sites, we want this to be as decentralized as possible, we want this to be as local as possible. That's what's going to encourage people. You know, we talked a while ago about all the hesitancy out there. Well, we see that hesitancy is reducing and more and more people want the vaccine, particularly older New Yorkers. But if it's hard to get to, that is going to slow things down. We want as many sites as possible, as local as possible. Number three, cut the red tape, keep the supply flowing. Federal government, State government have a variety rules. Some of those rules are making things go a lot slower than they have to. We have to reduce those bottlenecks. We don't need complexity. We need simplicity at a moment like this. So, the idea is, the better we know what kind of supply we're going to have that we can rely on, it is moving fast, we understand exactly what we can depend on, the more people we can vaccinate, the more lives we can save. Number four – again, the importance of localness. We want people to trust this process. If they're going to a local site, if they're going to a site staffed by local people, if local organizations are involved in that site, that is going to engender trust. So, hesitancy is clearly still out there. There's still trust issues that have to be addressed, but those issues get mitigated if more and more local people are involved, trusted people, trusted organizations and the site are of, and by, and for the community with community-based providers involved – that's the direction of the future. That's what's going to help us to reach millions and millions of New Yorkers. And then, number five, let's keep it simple – let's recognize that we need all of the folks who should be vaccinated to have the right to be vaccinated. We need the freedom to vaccinate a whole variety of people in the same site for just pure efficiency. And we also have some folks who still don't qualify. It just doesn't make sense. Let's look at our Sanitation workers – we absolutely depend on them, they've been heroes throughout the coronavirus crisis. I want to thank all the men and women of the Sanitation Department that you don't get the credit you deserve a lot of time, but I feel deeply for what you do. And I thank you every chance I get. You should have the right to be vaccinated. We need you. You should have the right to be vaccinated. We need you on the job. We need to protect you.

Okay. Before we wrap up here and turn to our indicators, just want to note, tonight, we're going to have a more somber moment all over the nation – 5:30 tonight, the COVID Memorial, where we're going to, all together, as Americans, remember those we've lost. This is something that President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris, asked everyone to participate in together as a show of unity and respect for those we've lost and for their families who are always in our thoughts and prayers. So, at 5:30 tonight, you're going to hear a church bells ringing all over the city. You're going to hear – you're going to see buildings lit up to memorialize those we've lost. I'm going out to the Statue of Liberty with Chirlane. We're going to have a ceremony there to remember the 25,000 of our fellow New Yorkers we've lost. And I think everyone out there, you know someone who we've lost or a family who lost someone – this has touched every one of us. So, tonight, let's join together in true unity and give our hearts to those families who have lost loved ones and never forget them and resolve to move forward as a city and a nation. 

Okay, let's go over today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's number is 255 patients. We know that is too high. And the hospitalization rate continues to grow 5.05 per 100,000. Again, despite this very real challenge New York City hospitals are doing remarkably well. They have learned so many important lessons in this crisis and continue to save lives in a remarkable fashion. But this does mean more and more pressure on our hospitals. It's something we're watching very closely. We're communicating with the State about closely. This is something to watch. This is, as the Governor has talked about the single most sensitive factor. We're going to keep an eye on that closely. New cases, daily number of cases – new cases of COVID-19 seven-day average, today's number. 5,009. A very, very high number. And then, current testing percentage of New York City residents testing positive, seven-day rolling average 8.23 percent. Again, way too high. Everybody we vaccinate, however, let's bring it back to where we started. Every single person we vaccinate changes the reality, and we're vaccinating the folks who are most vulnerable and most in greatest need. First, this is why the supply of vaccine is so crucial. With the numbers we're putting up now 300,000 people in a week, come on. That is a game changer. That starts to affect the overall environment, if we have the vaccine to go with it. So that's what we're going to talk about incessantly until we actually get the deliveries we need here in New York City. Few words in Spanish – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today, it goes to Narmeen from PIX 11. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor and to everyone on the call. How are you all doing? 

Mayor: Doing well, Narmeen. How are you doing today? 

Question: I'm doing well. Thank you. I wanted to ask you, specifically about the variance. The Governor talked yesterday about being in this foot race, a race to essentially get more people vaccinated as we start to identify more variants. While the State only has identified the UK variant, the South African and Brazilian variants also on our radar. And I'm curious to know what you and your health officials are most concerned with, with that being out there? What do we know about it? And what do we possibly do to understand it a bit better? 

Mayor: Thank you, Narmeen. Very important question. I'm going to turn to Dr. Varma first and then Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, as they want to add. Look, I think the first thing to understand is any variant that is more infectious, that spreads more quickly creates that race against time. That our numbers are just going to go higher and higher, which means more and more people are vulnerable unless we get more and more vaccine. So, when we're at the kind of pace we're going to be at this week, 300,000 New Yorkers in one week, and that number can keep growing in the following weeks, we actually have a legitimate chance to outrun the new variant. But if we don't intensely grow our supply of vaccine, we have a real challenge on our hands. Dr. Varma? Dr. Varma, are you on? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Thank you for the question. So, a couple of really key points here, the first to really emphasize and double down on what the Mayor just said. The single most important power we have against new strains of this virus is the power to prevent infection. And we have a couple of ways of doing that. The most powerful one we have right now is vaccination. So, if you are eligible to be vaccinated, we absolutely want you to be vaccinated. The second power is if you're waiting your turn to get vaccinated, you can do all of the things that we know work, wash your hands, watch your distance, wear a mask, and make sure you're getting tested frequently. So those things still remain very powerful. And we know this works because the only way that these new strains emerge is from infecting humans. So, the fewer humans that are infected, the fewer viruses, new strains will emerge. So that's really the single most important point. The second point to keep in mind is that we do need to make sure that we're increasing our monitoring of these strains. This is actually a very difficult technologically test to perform. And that's why all of the estimates you see from CDC and from other places, all emphasize that we know we're only capturing the tip of the iceberg. And we are working very hard in New York City, both at the city level with our academic partners and with the State to increase the knowledge that we have about these strains. And we'll continue to report out that information as we get it. But just to really emphasize that everything we know right now is that we can prevent it with vaccinations and with all of the measures that we know. And that's really the most important message. 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz, anything to add? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Nothing to add, sir. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: No, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Narmeen. 

Question: Sticking with the strains for just a moment. On the UK variant, there are UK studies showing that in terms of children, they can spread it a bit faster with the new strains. Does it force us to think a bit ahead on our schools? Just because we know it's out there and we should be future planning as much as possible when it comes to if it hits our schools? 

Mayor: Look, I think the – I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi who obviously focuses on this issue all day long. And I always like to remind everyone, his wife is an assistant principal in our schools so he thinks about this from a very, very personal perspective. What I would say is the achievement we've seen in our schools, the achievement of everyone that works in our school system, working with our health team to ensure that New York City public schools are the safest place in New York City, it continues to be true. We are testing every week, every school and the numbers keep showing extraordinary safety in our schools. That will continue no matter what, especially as more and more people are vaccinated, it will affect. Again, the overall environment in our favor if we can really put this vaccination effort into overdrive. So, I don't see anything right now that changes our trajectory on schools. We're always watching because this is about health and safety first. But as of now, we have not seen anything change and schools remain safe. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And you covered the most important points here, which is just as Dr. Varma said about the variants in general it makes it even more important for us to follow what we know has worked to interrupt the spread of COVID-19. That's true whether you're in a school, whether you're in a hospital, whether you're in the community. And those core public health precautions become even more important in the context of the variant. But the layers of safety that we have put in schools you know, starting with ensuring that face coverings are being worn, that people are keeping their distance. But then layering on testing, as well as making sure that people appropriately isolate and quarantine when it's indicated. All of that helps to ensure the safest environment possible. And now we're adding on another layer of protection which is ensuring that school staff are prioritized for vaccination. And we've seen just in the past week you know, thousands of educators who have lined up for vaccination as well. So, all of these things we'll have to continue redoubling our efforts on to achieve what is, you know, a race against time against these variants. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Juan Manuel from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good Juan Manuel. How are you doing today? 

Question: Very good. Thank you. So, Mr. Mayor, do you have any commitment from the incoming Biden administration when it comes to resupplying New York City with the appropriate number of doses of the vaccine? Or are you relying on Governor Cuomo on dealing with the federal government and the pharmaceutical companies to increase the number of vaccines allocated for New York? Because when we – when you warned people that the city is going to be running out of vaccine, who are you trying to send a message to? 

Mayor: Juan Manuel, everyone is the answer. The manufacturers, the federal government, the State government, everyone has to be a part of the solution. There've been a number of conversations with key members of the Biden team. What is most powerful is that they've made a public commitment to a hundred million doses in their first a hundred days. That unquestionably is going to help New York City. I believe that they want to use the Defense Production Act much more aggressively than the current administration in Washington has. That's what we need. We need every conceivable manufacturer who could be a part of this effort, maximizing the creation of the vaccine supply. So, so far what we're hearing from the Biden administration is very promising. We're going to keep working with them to turn it into action. Go ahead. 

Question: Today 344 public school buildings are closed due to multiple COVID cases in the building out of only about 850 elementary and District 75 schools that were open to begin with. This appears to be a record high since the City started to release this data. And it is a number that has been climbing steadily since schools reopened on January 4th. How concerned are you that these numbers will keep going up? What do you say to educators and parents who are worried about the safety of schools and to families frustrated at the unpredictability of these frequent and often last-minute closures? 

Mayor: First of all, the vast majority of our schools are open right now and have been since we came back in December. As someone who was a public-school parent, I certainly feel for all parents and all kids when there has to be a closure. Now, a number of those closures are very brief. They're 24 hours or 48 hours. Now the longest closure is 10 days because the rules changed with the CDC. No one likes it. And we want to be absolutely sure when that kind of closure has to happen, but we take a better safe than sorry approach here. And that is what has kept our schools the safest in the country and the schools being the safest place to be in New York City. So, from a health and safety perspective, this approach is working. We obviously look forward to the day soon when closures will be much less common because more and more people are vaccinated. As Dr. Chokshi said, thank God more and more of our educators and school staff are getting vaccinated. So, I do feel for parents, but I know we're going to make progress in the coming weeks as more and more people get vaccinated. 

Moderator: The next is Reuvain from Hamodia.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. My first question is for the doctors. The CDC says that vaccination should be offered to persons regardless of history of prior COVID infection. But it also says that since reinfection is uncommon in the 90 days after initial infection, people who had COVID may delay vaccination until near the end of this 90-day period. So, my question is considering you keep mentioning what a shortage we have of vaccines. Why not say that people who have had COVID recently should not be getting it now, even though the antibodies are not guaranteed, they're not guaranteed to give immunity forever, but we have to make choices now. And wouldn't it be smarter to say to people who have had COVID in recent months should not be getting vaccines while there's a shortage?

Mayor: Reuvain, that's a very fair question. I’m going to turn to Dr. Chokshi but let me just make a simple point. We have been trying to build up a fast efficient mechanism, and again, this last week ending Sunday, over 220,000 New Yorkers vaccinated this week, on track to do 300,000. We like having a very fast mechanism that doesn't throw up so many roadblocks to folks, and we are hopeful that as early as tomorrow, we're going to start to see changes in how the vaccine is distributed nationally that will allow us to stay on pace. But if we knew for the long-term that we were not going to have enough vaccine, I think we're going to have to reevaluate some of the approach. So, I think your question is very pertinent going forward. I hope we're not in that kind of scarcity dynamic for a prolonged period of time. Dr. Chokshi –

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. And that's exactly right with the big picture as you've laid it out. You know, the most important thing for us, even as we get through these initial days and weeks of the vaccination campaign is to think about the long-term as well where we want to get as many New Yorkers vaccinated as possible. And we have to set up our systems now to be able to meet that larger goal. Let me just fill in a couple of the clinical details with respect to your question, Reuvain. First, I want to make sure everyone knows that if you have recently been diagnosed with COVID-19, meaning you've had symptoms and, or a positive test, you should not get vaccinated while you continue to have symptoms or while you are in the 10-day isolation period. So, that's very important, and that is a period where we are not recommending that people get vaccinated. Beyond that point up to that 90-day window that you've mentioned, it is okay – we agree with the CDC recommendations to defer vaccination, but that's an individual choice as to whether to do it or not. And so, people can choose to get vaccinated during that period and this is really important when we connect it to that larger goal, which is to have a system that is as seamless as possible, that is as clear and simple as the Mayor has said, to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Mayor: Go ahead, Reuvain.

Question: So, as you open up the vaccine to more and more people I'd like to ask, Mr. Mayor, you said that you'd be taking another look at that list of the neighborhoods that were most affected by COVID. That list was made after the first wave and there were a lot of people in neighborhoods that were hard hit that were wondering why their neighbors are not on the list. I'm wondering when you will be issuing the updated list.

Mayor: Yeah. We're going to be talking about that later this week. Again, when you look at the most sensitive issues, obviously, number of cases and number of cases per capita, but also tragically the number of deaths, a lot of what was in that original list still holds, but we are definitely, in the process of the last weeks we've definitely been going through and updating. We'll talk about that later in the week. And the bottom line is we want to reach everyone. We want to make sure that folks who need it the most have it absolutely available, but we want to reach everybody. And we're going to be doing outreach in all communities. 

Okay, everyone, look, just finishing where we started – an extraordinary moment in just about 24 hours, a new administration in Washington, one that I think is going to be right there with us in fighting back the coronavirus. And an administration – I give Joe Biden a lot of credit – that's already put out an audacious goal, a hundred million doses will be given in the first hundred days. And New York City can help lead the way we just need the vaccine to do it. I want to hit that 300,000 goal this week. I want to reach 300,000 New Yorkers this week. I need the vaccine to do it. A week is a long time. If the vaccine arrives at any point later in the week, we will put it into action immediately. So, let's keep fighting to make sure we have the freedom to vaccinate, and the freedom to vaccinate now means having enough vaccine for all the folks who need it. Thanks, everyone.

2021-01-20 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, this day is finally here. Good morning, everyone. An amazing, amazing day. I don't know about you, but I am feeling an incredible sense of relief, a sense of hope, such joy for our nation, for our city, and just feeling so appreciative to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for, right now, today, starting to change this country and take us in a better direction. This is the definition of a new day dawning and a new era beginning, and it will be filled with justice and it will be filled with change that will really include everyone and respect everyone and an entirely different approach to fighting the coronavirus, which is exactly what we need. So, this day couldn't have come fast enough. It's finally here. We're going to go quickly through a few things today. I'm going to cover some ground quickly, get to questions because we all, I know, want to watch the inauguration ceremony. 

So, let me go to the most important topic, which is, of course, vaccinations and how we reach as many people as possible. I got good news and bad news. Normally, I'm the kind of person who likes bad news first, but in this case, I'm going to do the good news first because it's really good news. At some point today, very soon, we will pass half-a-million doses of the vaccine given in New York City since the vaccination effort began. Half-a-million New Yorkers will have today received the vaccination. And that is a sign of things to come. We're working on a goal of one million vaccinations this month. We can do it if we get enough vaccine. Just in the last 24 hours, almost 40,000 vaccinations given. So, the pace is gaining every day. We have a goal of 300,000 vaccinations this week, even more next week, but we need the vaccine to go with it. 

Look, on top of all the other challenges we now see a particular problem – the Moderna vaccine, those deliveries have been delayed. So, we already were feeling the stress of a shortage of vaccine. Now the situation has been made even worse. We need to think differently in this moment. Given that the overall supply is not what we need it to be, given that the Moderna deliveries have been delayed, we need to rethink the approach in this moment and be agile and be creative to address the challenge at hand. I've talked a lot about the freedom to vaccinate. The freedom to vaccinate now means being able to use those second doses that are being held in reserve. We need them now. Look, we know a lot of vaccine is being produced all over this country. We are very hopeful additional vaccines are going to come into play soon, but we've got folks right now who need help, who need to be protected. 

We need to save lives right now. And even the first dose provides around 50 percent protection from the coronavirus. If you're a senior citizen, if you're someone who's vulnerable, even that first dose means a whole lot to you and it's our job to protect you. So, the way to do that is to free up that supply of second doses, to not hold them in reserve for weeks, not keep them in a refrigerator, but put them in people's arms. We need the freedom to vaccinate, and that means we need the help of the federal government, of the new administration in Washington, the Biden administration. We need the help of the State. We need everyone to come together and agree, in this shortage dynamic, let's free up those second doses, keep the appointments going that have already been made, help people get that first dose, and then backfill with more supply in the coming days so that we can keep everything moving forward. 

What does it mean? Well, right now we've had to reschedule – this week, we've had to tell 23,000 New Yorkers who had an appointment this week that they will not be able to get that appointment for lack of supply. If we had the freedom to vaccinate, if we had those second doses free up, we could reach those 23,000 New Yorkers this week. We've got about 65,000 doses that we could put into play right away if we had that freedom. I think – it's a tough situation for everyone. And I really do appreciate how hard everyone at the federal government, State government’s working to try and resolve these very, very tough situations, but let's just acknowledge the shortage we're dealing with and let's be creative and let's do something to reach the most people as quickly as possible. And then, again, catch up in the days ahead. I know the Biden administration is going to intensify production. I have faith that the weeks ahead, we're going to see a whole different level of production of the vaccine happening. So, here's something we could be doing right now to reach more people. And Lord knows we did not want to be canceling more appointments. For folks for this week, we do not want to do that to New Yorkers.

All right, now, as we expand our vaccination effort, obviously everything contingent upon more and more supply being made available, but as I've said, many times, this vaccination effort is going to be focused on equity. And that's why we are focused on neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID, the place where unfortunately the most cases were and the most people died and the most need still exists. One group of folks who absolutely deserves priorities, New Yorkers who live in public housing. Folks in NYCHA developments bore the brunt of the coronavirus crisis. We want to focus on them, and we want to focus, of course, on seniors who live in public housing. So, we're issuing a goal today to vaccinate 50,000 senior citizens who live in public housing in New York City. We believe we can get to that 50,000 goal in the weeks ahead if there's enough vaccine. We know, I'm going to state the obvious, is that every senior who lives in public housing, we know there's still a lot of hesitancy in a lot of communities. We know we're going to have to do a lot of persuading, provide a lot of evidence, answer a lot of questions, show a lot of community leaders who are believers in the vaccine and come forward to show people they believe in it, they know it's safe, they'll take it themselves. Those things will help us over time, but a goal of 50,000 doses, 50,000 residents of public housing, this is the way that we want to start strong to show our commitment to folks who live in NYCHA. So, that effort is underway right now.

We've had sites at public housing developments, three sites over the weekend, really successful at Cassidy Houses on Staten Island, Polo Grounds in Manhattan, and Van Dyke Houses in Brooklyn. Together about 1,600 people were vaccinated. That's a great start. Again, our goal is 50,000 over the next few weeks as soon as we get the kinds of supplies we need. We're going to go out to the developments. But we're also going to help folks – if we can't have a site in a development, we're going to help folks in the development get to a vaccination site nearby. We're going to be providing transportation for seniors in public housing and seniors all over the city. And we have a variety of ways we'll do it. Our good friends at the Department for the Aging have a senior transport initiative. They'll be a big part of that. We have Taxi and Limousine drivers, TLC drivers, who will be a part of it. Hunter Ambulette will be a part of it. We've got a lot of partners to make sure that seniors who don't have another way to get to a vaccination site have an easy way to get it done. So, in some cases we're going to be going right to the NYCHA developments, and other cases we're going to get the seniors to a nearby clinic and vaccination center. But the bottom line is no one is more needy than our fellow New Yorkers who live in public housing. Those seniors need to be prioritized and we're going to reach 50,000 of them in the coming weeks.

Okay. With that – and again, we're going fast today because the inauguration, let me go through the indicators really quickly. Number one, the daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today’s report 284 patients, and the hospitalization rate per 100,000 – 5.08. The daily number of – number two, daily number of COVID cases, seven-day average, 4,692. And the current testing indicator on a seven-day rolling average, 8.53 percent. All too high, but a chance to turn that around now that we have a new administration that we know will speed the supply of vaccine to us. A few words in Spanish. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, by Department for the Aging Commissioner Lorraine Cortιs-Vαzquez, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, on this special day. 

Mayor: That is one way of saying it, Juliet. It's a fantastic day and a happy day for this whole country. How you doing? 

Question: Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you. So, I wanted to ask you, can you elaborate more on what this delay is for Moderna? Is it the federal shipments or is it just the manufacturer of it? What's going on with it? 

Mayor: Let me turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma, if they want to elaborate on what's going on with Moderna. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thanks, Juliet, for the question. Yes, we are disappointed, of course, by the delay in the Moderna vaccine shipments for New York City this week. The information that we have is that Moderna, the manufacturer, they partner with a distributor from the federal government. And it's the distributor that conveyed the delay. We had been expecting to get all of the doses of Moderna for New York City yesterday on Tuesday. And instead, they will be delivered over the course of today and tomorrow. It's a total of 103,400 doses that are affected. That includes 54,200 first doses and 49,200 second doses. So, that's the information that we have about it. We will receive the supply that was planned for New York City this week. But unfortunately, with that delay.

Mayor: Dr. Varma, anything to add?

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Nothing else from me. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay. Thank you. So, now you explained before that you have to reschedule appointments, what happens to people's second appointment? Are they just not being made or, you know, where is that? 

Mayor: I'll start and turn to Dr. Chokshi. Look, Juliet, we, absolutely of course want to make sure folks get that second shot. And a number of people have been given appointments, and we're very hopeful that the supply will keep increasing in the coming days, particularly with the efforts of the new administration in Washington. I think the bottom line here though, is we have a more immediate and profound problem that folks who were expecting their first appointment are now finding it has to be canceled and postponed. That's not acceptable. We've got to find a way to reach those folks. So, you know, for folks who are two weeks, three weeks down the line, supposed to get a second appointment, we're going to be very focused on that. But my concern right now is the folks who were expecting to go in today, tomorrow, and get their shot and now can't, this is why I think we need to really free up the second doses on hand now to serve the folks who are waiting right this moment, just to get some protection. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi on how we're scheduling second appointments going forward. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Juliet, the first thing I would start with is to make sure we're very clear that anyone who does have a second dose appointment scheduled in the coming days that appointment will remain, meaning that is not being rescheduled. People will get their second doses just as they have made the appointment to do over the next few days. The appointments that are being rescheduled for tomorrow and Friday are all first dose appointments. And they will all be rescheduled within the span of one week. So, those people will be able to get their first doses a few days later than anticipated. And then the final point is just to reiterate what the Mayor has said, which is we can continue to ensure that people get their second doses on the right schedule. For the Pfizer vaccine, that's around 21 days after getting the first dose and for the Moderna vaccine, that's around 28 days after getting the first dose. You know, it's the practice that when you get your first dose of the shot, virtually everyone is getting their second dose appointments scheduled at that same time. So, that can continue forward, and people will continue to get their second doses on schedule. But as the Mayor has said, we have a way to ensure that more people get their first doses sooner with the flexibility that he has described. 

Mayor: Yeah. And Juliet, just to finish the point. My frustration is a lot of vaccines, 65,000 doses sitting in a refrigerator on an artificial reserve when we need them right now. That's what I'm trying to solve for, and again, with the help of the federal government, the State government, we can do that. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. I have a question. I know Governor Cuomo said at some point that the State will go ahead and try to order the vaccine directly from the manufacturer. I don't know if that's something that the City has considered or looked at, just going, I guess, over the State and just going straight to the manufacturer on these vaccines. 

Mayor: Look, Katie, we desperately need the vaccine. We're also trying to work really closely with the federal government and State government. So, we'll consider all options, but right now I think the best solution is what I think the Biden administration is absolutely committed to, which is expanding supply using the Defense Production Act. We – you know, I don't think this is about people trying to grab you know, the crumbs off the table here. We need the supply expanded in a huge way, and I really believe that's what the Biden administration will do. Go ahead. 

Question: Thanks. And my second question is about some of the vaccine centers and the experiences of people who've been getting the vaccines at the City runs sites. I've heard mostly great things, but I've also heard from some people like yesterday, at Canarsie High School, there was a three-hour delay that seemed to be from staffing issues. So, I don't know if you know of the staffing levels, if there's fluctuation, some of these people are volunteers kind of ushering people in and out. Can you speak to any concerns with staffing at these centers? And especially three-hour delay seems pretty unacceptable when you consider the population of people getting the vaccine.

Mayor: Oh, absolutely, that's unacceptable. And thank you for the way you started the question, Katie. Overwhelmingly what I've heard from community leaders, elected officials and from my own visits to centers is that things have gone very, very smoothly. And there's tremendous appreciation, particularly from our seniors for the opportunity to get vaccinated, but any time something isn't working right, we need to fix it right away. That kind of delay is unacceptable. And if there was a staffing problem, obviously we can't let that happen again. I don't know that Canarsie site, which of our colleagues’ operations was running that whoever's that was, do you want to speak to that?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes sir. That's one of the Health Department sites. And thank you, you know, for raising the question we want to ensure the best experience possible for people who are getting vaccinated. And at the vast majority of our sites you know, that has been the case. I am aware that at a small number of sites yesterday there were longer lines including at Canarsie High School. What we did was we redirected staff from places where we were sufficiently staffed or overstaffed to be able to ensure a smoother flow at those other sites. The most important thing to keep in mind with respect to the staffing is that we have to ensure a sufficient number of the clinical staff on site. That's what helps to ensure a safe vaccination experience and that people are getting the vaccine in the timeframe, you know, that's required. We've also put in place a number of ways to usher to the front of the line, anyone who may be older or disabled to ensure that when lines do form, although we'll do everything that we can to avoid those lines, when they do form you know, the people who should be inside should sitting down, are given accommodations to do so.

Mayor: Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Joe Anuta from Politico.

Question: Good morning Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Good morning, Joe, how you doing?

Question: Not too bad. I'm just wondering if I could ask you about the Governor's budget presentation yesterday. He presented two scenarios based on varying federal aid. And I'm curious if OMB has crunched the numbers? And if you have a sense of how the State's budget will affect the city? I know there was a lot of uncertainty in your budget as well because we could see a lot of cuts from Albany?

Mayor: Yes, we are really concerned about it. And the bottom line is it's absolutely true the State has a massive need and the federal government has to make the State whole. If the State is not whole, that will lead to cuts to New York City and to cities and towns and counties all over New York State. And that's just something that we can't handle now after everything we've been through. So, yeah, the State is in desperate need and needs full relief from the stimulus, needs to be made whole for the revenue they've lost. Go ahead.

Question: But do you have any numbers about what the State budget means for the City? Like any cuts that you're already seeing? Because I know that the budget legislation was released pretty late last night. So, I'm curious if you have any –

Mayor: Yeah Joe, what we've seen already in this current fiscal year is a huge amount of money withheld by the State by simply not reimbursing us or sending a funding along. That all has to be resolved by the end of their fiscal year on April 1st. So no, we know it's real right now, but what I projected in my budget presentation was you could easily see cuts of $4 billion or more just from what the State has already talked about in terms of the need to cut localities if they don't get federal relief. So, we talked about the kind of hole we're trying to close for our budget, $5.25 billion. That's without any of those additional State cuts. We're projecting as much as $4 billion in additional cuts, additional budget gap if the State does not get relief.

Moderator: The next is Nolan Hicks from the Post.

Question: Hey, good morning everybody.

Mayor: Hey Nolan. How you doing?

Question: I'm all right. I was wondering if you could fill in some more the, sort of the blanks on the vaccine situation? Have you guys gotten any indication about why the supplies of vaccine have not ramped up over the last six weeks? Has [inaudible] that the country simply doesn't have a big enough share of the existing production and the existing production is as high as it can possibly go? Or are there lots of manufacturing hang ups that have slowed down the projected amounts of vaccine that we were supposed to get? Like, why are we getting as much vaccine this week as we got four weeks ago? That doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Mayor: Yeah, it does not make a lot of sense. Excellent question. I appreciate that question. And I'm going to start with Dr. Varma and then if Dr. Katz or Dr. Chokshi want to jump in. But here's my bottom line. You're exactly right. It should have been constant growth of supply. And from what I can see, it was the failure of the federal government to use the Defense Production Act to truly put the vaccination effort on a wartime footing. We know what a wartime footing looks like. We know how the normal rules of the game get changed in a moment of urgency and lots of manufacturers are brought into play. And there's ways of doing things just totally outside the box. When you're talking about millions of millions of people who need their lives saved. That didn't happen. This is too much business as usual. That's why I'm so appreciative that I'm going to call him President Biden now because it's just a few hours away, that he made so clear the goal of 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days. That clearly is the kind of goal that animates the action we need on the private sector side as well. Dr. Varma, you want to fill in the blank on what's going on with production as far as you know?

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. Happy to give as much as I can. I guess just a couple of the really critical points to understand, the first is that we have not had good visibility into this process right now. And so, our hope is really that with the new administration, that we will get a much better understanding of where the production capacity is right now and what it could potentially be. And as the Mayor notes, invoking the Defense Production Act is going to be absolutely critical because these two companies that are authorized right now are both US-based companies. And so therefore in theory you know, should be able to, to ramp up their production specifically for the US population. That's number one. Number two is in vaccine production is unfortunately much, much more complicated than producing a drug. It is an enormously complex process because what you're doing is you're injecting something directly into people. So just the standards for, for sterility and safety has to be very high. So, there may be limitations that we don't know about right now. And again, our hope is that with the administration change, that we're going to be learning a little bit more into what the window is on this. And then I think the third of course is getting back to the Mayor's critical point here about the freedom to vaccinate. We know that public health works most effectively when it is -- has local control and responsive to the needs of that population. And vaccine to date and even allocated by population across the state. And so again, our hope is that as we demonstrate our ability to vaccinate at a very high level, that will also result in us getting a fairer share probably of the vaccine that should be administered.

Mayor: Thank you, doctor. Either of the other doctors have anything to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, just to two points to add from my perspective. The first is to say that just as New York City has ramped up our capacity to administer, that has to be met with a ramping up of the supply. This is something that we rely on the federal government and manufacturers to be able to do. But given where we are with this pandemic, it is critically important for us to be able to match up that capacity with supply because we know it will save lives over the coming weeks. And then the second point is that as the Mayor has said, you know, we are hoping for a real change with respect to the visibility that we have into supply with the change in administration. In particular we have heard different things from the federal government and from the manufacturers, for example, about how many existing vaccine doses are available for shipping today or next week. And so, we are hoping in the next day or two to get more clarity from the federal government to be able to better plan for the supply that we can expect for New York City, not just next week but over the next month as well.

Mayor: Got it. Thank you. Go ahead Nolan.

Question: I guess I have, I have a two-part follow-up to sort of follow the two threads laid out by the doctors. Firstly, has anyone from the incoming administration or the outgoing administration provided any sort of explanation about what invoking the Defense Production Act would fix? Is there a shortage of needles, shortage of vials? What sort of pieces of the mass manufacturing piece of this do they hope to accelerate with that? And the second piece is I guess you know, you're talking about the freedom to vaccinate and moving the second doses into the first dose class. Don't you run the risk of not having second doses ready at the time if the supply chain isn't sorted in three or four weeks?

Mayor: On the second point, it's a very fair concern. I think it's crucial to understand, I'll let Dr Varma speak to this to both points. That the second dose we want to get as close to that assigned day as possible, but we do have some flexibility just in medical terms. But I think the most obvious answer on that point Nolan is we've got something right in front of us today. You know, the fact that we're going to have to cancel tens of thousands of appointments today, for folks who need a first dose, that's something we should avoid at all costs when we have 65,000 doses sitting on the shelf. My belief is that especially with the new administration and you're going to see some speeding up of supply. If it turns out that's going to take longer, we'll make adjustments. But what I can't make sense of is why we would have a huge supply just sitting there and folks unable to get even a first appointment. On the question of Defense Production Act, we have seen even in the midst of the last year, how the Defense Production Act really does change the speed of manufacturing of all sorts of things if it's fully invoked. Dr. Varma, will you speak to that as best you've heard from your colleagues in the Biden world? And a quick point on the second dose and the amount of flexibility about the exact day that folks get that?

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, so first on the topic of the Defense Production Act I will confess that I do not know every single step of the way in the production of each of these vaccines. These are incredibly complex manufacturing processes. But what I do know is that what the Defense Production Act allows you to do is to understand every single place along that supply chain that might be delaying things. And it can be quite remarkable when you look at the you know, look at the supply chains extensively, say for diagnostics. And even very, you know minor components that you wouldn't think should hold up the process can delay the process. So I think what we're really hoping for is by having a stronger federal control and insight into that process, that we can understand exactly where those delays are. And there will actually be more steps taken to address each of those. As it relates to the second dose, again the issue here is the ability to be flexible when necessary. All of us as physicians absolutely want to make sure that people get their second dose and they get that second dose according to the protocol that was studied. And the reason that's so important is we know that you only get full protection against this virus after you've gotten that second dose. And again, after about seven day to 10 days after that second dose. So that's the ideal scenario. But at the same time, we also know that there is benefit from even getting a single dose and that flexibility has to be available to us at the local level, to be able to make sure that we maximize the benefit for the maximum number of people. And so that may mean in some situations, allowing us like window period, which you get the vaccine. We know that window period is acceptable for two reasons. One, it was included in part of the protocols. In some of the protocols, they allowed a valid dose to be given up to seven days or even several weeks longer. And we know this from other vaccines as well, too. The delay is not good in terms of, you know, leaving you susceptible to less protection, but in terms of your long-term outcome, long-term protection, and a delay of additional week is not going to change your protection over the long-term. Vaccine remains effective after you get that second dose, even if it's delayed. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Kristen Dalton from the Staten Island Advance.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Kristen. How have you been?

Question: I'm good. Thanks. Just have wanted to build off of Katie's question earlier, regarding the long wait times. Hearing two, three hour waits at Port Richmond High School and Staten Island Tech over the last day, I know the doctor said that you guys might be redirecting staff, but is there any plan to just increase the number of staff that are administering the vaccines? 

Mayor: It's a great question. I appreciate it. And, again, I'm always thankful – I'll say thank you to you, Kristen, and also the Katie – when anyone tells us where there's a specific problem, a lot of times, obviously, our colleagues know about it and they're acting on it, but whenever the media raises a specific problem point, it helps us to pinpoint something we need to do better. I want to – as I turned to Dr. Chokshi for the answer on the Staten Island sites, I want to say, there's a difference between a wait that someone had their assigned time for their appointment, and they didn't get it at that time, and it was by the time they got their shot an hour later, or two hours later – we never want to see that – versus people got there early and there was a long line of folks waiting for their specific time. And a lot of folks are, of course, choosing to get there early to make sure that they have their place. We don't want to see lines. We want to see people stick to their appointed time, not just show up. But I do think some of the lines we're seeing are people just being extra cautious. So, Dr. Chokshi, to the specific situation on the Staten Island sites. And if we need additional staffing, Kristen, we absolutely can send more staffing to any site that needs it. That's absolutely the case. We just need to know the ones that need that reinforcement. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you very much. And thanks for this question. We've had over 60,000 people vaccinated just in the last few days across the 15 vaccine hubs – the City vaccine hubs that the Mayor has mentioned. Two of those are on Staten Island at the two sites that you mentioned. And we do know that, you know, so many thousands of people have gotten their first dose of vaccine there already. With respect to the lines – yes, as mentioned earlier, we are redirecting some staff to those sites, but we're also ensuring that we are pulling on all of the staff who are trained to be able to vaccinate people and getting them to the sites where we know that they're needed, including at those two Staten Island sites. So, that's not just nurses, but also pharmacists, EMT’s, other people who are trained as vaccinators and pulling from a number of different sources to ensure that we have enough staff to be able to do that part of the process. One other contributor that I'll mention that we do actively work on as well is, is ensuring that the eligibility verification process is as smooth as possible. There are, you know, several requirements, including State requirements that we do have to check and confirm to make sure that that people do meet the eligibility requirements. And we've already put in place a number of improvements in the process to try to streamline that and make it as quick as possible. And the final thing to say is just that we are committed to ensuring that people have as good an experience as possible. I visited several of the hubs myself, and it's so heartening to see that the vast majority of people are having a great experience and we'll keep working on the operations here to improve with every passing day. 

Mayor: Okay, Kristen, you've got to follow up, and then, I just got a note that the inauguration ceremonies are beginning, so we'll take one more after Kristin, just cut a little short today in light of the inauguration. Go ahead, Kristen. 

Question: Sure, and how is the shipment delay impacting sites opening? You had said earlier that the Empire Outlets mass site was supposed to open this week. And then I noticed yesterday, it said this month it was supposed to open. Is that the reason for the delay in opening? And do you know when Empire Outlets will open 24/7? 

Mayor: Kristen, we are definitely facing a challenge right now. We've got a lot of big sites ready to go and we want to provide 24/7 options to more and more people, but exactly as that was raining to hit its stride, we're having a massive supply problem. Again, I want to emphasize the numbers – last week, 220,000 plus doses given in New York City. This week's goal, 300,000. Next week, we're going to go beyond that if there’s supply. So, this effort's been growing, growing, growing, and right as we're getting to that point we have a supply breakdown. So, I'll turn to my colleagues on the exact timing of Empire Outlet, which of the doctors wants to speak to that? Who's got it guys? All right. I'm not getting an answer – Dr. Chokshi, you got that one? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, my understanding for Empire Outlet is that it could get stood up as soon as next week, but it is contingent on sufficient supply as you've mentioned. 

Mayor: Okay. So, Kristen, we'll get you the exact day. Hopefully, starting as early as today. And tomorrow, next day, we're going to get a whole clearer picture from the Biden administration of what kind of supply they'll be able to move and that will obviously allow us to finalize the plans for the next bigger sites.

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing? I guess you're pretty happy today. 

Mayor: I’m a very, very happy person, Henry. How are you? 

Question: I'm good. I'm good. Let me ask you this very specifically, the City website says the city has 940,825 shots, and that you've administered about 494,596 shots. Now, there are only 115,000 nursing home beds across New York State, and I believe you said that you strip out those numbers anyway in reporting how many shots you've given. So, where are these missing vaccinations? Why is there so many vaccinations that apparently haven't been given? 

Mayor: I'll let Dr. Chokshi and our other colleagues speak to that, but I think the central point is – no, I want to be clear, the numbers that are devoted to the nursing homes, that is a separate stream that we don't directly administer. So, it does count as doses for people in New York City, but it's not part of the set that we administer. We do show it as doses available for New York City. And that effort needs to keep moving and moving fast, obviously. But, remember, that we did 220,000 doses last week – goal is 300,000 doses this week, then separate all of the pieces going to the nursing homes and you see very quickly that number is – and very, very quickly that number dissipates. But I do understand why there's some confusion when you look at that. Dr. Chokshi, can you help Henry square that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I certainly can. And, Henry, our team will follow up with you on the precise counting here, but let me give you the top lines. First, the number of first doses that are remaining for New York City at this moment that have actually been physically delivered or will be over the course of today, and tomorrow is about 140,000 doses. And so, that's how you can see we're going to very rapidly work through that supply, which is a good thing. It means more New Yorkers will get vaccinated with their first dose, but we don't have enough for the pace that we are able to maintain and that we hope to maintain. Beyond that, there are about 250,000 doses that have been delivered to New York City, but they are marked as second doses, and so can only be used as second doses, according to that timeframe that's been described. And then the final point is to just clarify that, that total number of doses delivered, over 900,000, that does include the doses that are delivered to New York City for administration through the nursing home program. So, those doses are not available for New York City providers to administer, but since they're going to New York City residents, we do include it in that total number of doses delivered. So, I know the numbers are a bit complicated, but we can follow up with a precise accounting. The bottom line is that we have too little supply to be able to meet the demand that we want to for New York City. 

Mayor: Thank you, doctor. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: All right. Thank you for that. My second question has to do with the delay in the Moderna vaccine deliveries. How were you informed about this and what is the reason for the delay? Does it have to do with side effects that have been found with the vaccine? Why is there a delay in the supply and how were you informed that there's a delay in the supply? 

Mayor: I'm going to Dr. Varma, and if Dr. Choksi or Dr. Katz want to add, feel free. Go ahead, Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, actually I'll pass it to Dave, because I had not heard about the delay being related to allergic reactions. I know there was a concern about a single lot in California, but that has not affected our supply specifically. Dave, do you have other updates? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. I'm happy to clarify. So, first, let me start with clarifying the facts. The delay had nothing to do with that the lot in California that was associated with some of the reactions that Dr. Varma described, and, you know, it didn't have to do with anything else with respect to the quality of the vaccine. We were informed about it by the federal government, our partners at the CDC who we're in touch with multiple times a day, you know, with respect to understanding shipments and deliveries and exactly when we should expect them in New York City. So, that notification occurred, you know, according to the normal process that we have for that. Our best understanding is that this was purely a shipment issue. You know, whether it was a logistical challenge of making sure there was enough packing material or dry ice for the shipment, we don't have those details, but it appears that it was a logistical issue from the distributor of the vaccine that the federal government partners with. So, again, just to summarize it all in a bottom line, we expect that those vaccines are intact, they will be safe and effective as with all Moderna vaccines, and we'll get them for New York City over the course of today and tomorrow. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Chokshi. And, look, that last point as I wrap up here, everyone, and we all now get to watch an amazing historical moment with this inauguration – that last point is crucial, it gets back to what Dr. Varma was saying about the supply chain and the Defense Production Act, that it could be the dry ice, it could be the packing material, it could be the shipping, there are so many factors that could lead to delays. All of that has to be made much more coherent and that means strong federal control of the process that can only be achieved with real leadership in Washington and the use of Defense Production Act. I know, I feel in my bones that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and their team is going to take over this situation aggressively and make sense of this and increase our supply and give us a lot more clarity, and that's going to start literally over the next few days.

So, today, is a joyous day, because New Yorkers are going to be safer now, we're going to get a lot more help from the federal government now, we're going to get a lot more compassion and kindness and decency from the President of the United States. There's going to be a lot more hope. And when I think about that, that makes me feel really positive about this city and this country. I think we have a chance to regain a sense of common purpose and unity, that's really what we need at this moment in history. And Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are going to help us bring back that true American sense of us all being in this together. So, get ready for a great day, everybody. Thank you.

2021-01-21 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. I'm still floating on air from yesterday. What an amazing, amazing day for this country, for this city, for all of us. The inauguration was powerful, it was moving, it was hopeful. And I just want to thank Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for giving us all energy and hope again, and for just expressing beautiful, positive values, and a belief that we can heal and we can move forward. So, couldn't have been a better start to the new administration. I feel so much better about life being able to say President Biden, Vice President Harris, and it's not just about the good feelings, it's not just about the good values – the heart and soul – it's about what they are already doing. Really encouraged by what I see from the President's plan for fighting COVID and particularly his devotion to moving the supply, and that's what we need, is to get a much greater supply of the vaccine quickly. Thank God he is invoking the Defense Production Act. That's what we need, the most muscular possible approach to maximize the amount of supply, get it to here, to New York City, everywhere around the country, because we are running out of vaccine and we need more now. So, look, again, the good news is, in the meantime, we're giving every dose we can. We have passed the half-million mark. Since the beginning of our vaccination effort, over half-a-million New Yorkers have gotten a vaccine – that's great – gotten vaccinated – that's wonderful. Yesterday alone, a wonderful number, 45,000 New Yorkers were vaccinated yesterday. That number keeps growing all the time. We're going to be at 50,000 a day and more very soon if we have the vaccine to go with it. We have to. And I think it's just tremendously sad that as we have so many people who want the vaccine and so much ability to give the vaccine, what's happening? For lack of supply, we're actually having to cancel appointments. We need more vaccine and we need it now. And we're going to fight hard for it and work with everyone to get it done, because as soon as we have the kind of supply we need, we can take this number – these numbers to a whole new place. We can vaccinate vast numbers of New Yorkers quickly, so long as there's the supply.

Okay. Look, we're going to keep talking about that every single day, but something else we need to talk about all the time – I want to focus on now, more and more, I'm going to be talking a lot about this in the coming weeks – is how, as we vaccinate more New Yorkers, as we fight back the coronavirus, as we turn the page on COVID, how this city recovers and comes back strong. And it's not just that we are going to come back and restore so much of what was just less than a year ago. It's that we're going to find new strengths. We're going to find new possibilities. And yes, we were the epicenter of this COVID crisis. And we also were the place that learned many of the solutions more deeply than any place else and put them into action. Just look at what was done in this city – amazing work was done to create our own PPE, our own ventilators, our own lab capacity. And I want to thank everyone who was a part of those heroic efforts. Look at what we did, creating the biggest Test and Trace Corps. in the nation. Look at what we did, bringing back our public schools and keep themselves safe. We've got a lot we can show the nation and the world about what works, and we will be the public health capital of the world, because we have the ability and the skill, and the great talent, the great institutions in this city to make it all come together. And we have a mission – we have a mission we have to fulfill, not just for the city, but for everyone.

So, another big step today on our March to becoming the public health capital of the world – today, we announce $38 million in awards to build four new biotech centers in New York City. And this is a crucial part of New York City's economy, a crucial part of what we create in this city is in the area of life sciences, but so much more is about to happen. We're going to bring together some of the top researchers in the world and some of the top entrepreneurs in the world to intensify research and development, to come up with new treatments, to come up with solutions. And nowhere do you find that ability to create and solve problems more than in New York City? So, these awards are going to fantastic organizations, institutions in this city that do so much good that are so renowned – Columbia University, Montefiore-Einstein, the New York STEM Cell Foundation, and Rockefeller University. Each of these, again, think of the extraordinary talent and capacity of just one of these organizations, but they all are going to be a part of moving forward this work in New York City. It's incredibly exciting and it's going to take off.

And here to talk to you about it, someone who played such a crucial role in those extraordinary efforts I mentioned earlier, fighting back against COVID, creating our own capacity to fight COVID here in New York City. He and his team deserve a lot of credit. The President of the Economic Development Corporation of New York City, James Patchett.

President and CEO James Patchett, Economic Development Corporation: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I have to say, yesterday was a truly inspirational day – had the chance to watch the inauguration with my six-year-old son, and he said, dad, is the first time I've ever seen you cry. This must be really important. So, thank you for all the great work together.

From the industrial revolution to the digital revolution, New York City has always been at the leading edge of innovation, and life sciences is one of the fastest growing sectors of our economy. Today's announcement is proof that we will continue to be the center of innovation and where the world's major economic trends first take shape. In 2016, biotech companies raised $160 million in venture investment in New York City. And in the time since that number, we have reached more than a billion dollars in venture capital investing just last year in New York City life sciences companies – that's almost a 10-fold increase. We want to capitalize on this momentum and continue to maximize the number of cures created right here in New York City. There's an incredible amount of research that happens all across our city, which is fueled by over $2 billion in annual funding from the NIH. The new network of facilities that we're announcing today will accelerate the growth of companies that are inventing cutting edge cures to treat diseases and chronic conditions, further cementing New York City as a global life sciences capital.

These four fantastic institutions offer a diverse range of expertise that will leverage the talent of people all over New York. In Upper Manhattan, Columbia University will build a state-of-the-art lab that will support top and emerging scientists so they can transform promising treatments into new companies. In the Bronx, the Einstein College of Medicine will establish a new affordable cell manufacturing facility to help companies develop customized cure to address some of the most complicated diseases, those that are often untreatable. I'm also proud to say that this will be the City's first investment and we hope will be a burgeoning area of development in the Bronx. The New York City STEM Cell Foundation will establish its stent will expand its STEM cell research institute located on the West Side of Manhattan. This will allow for the continued growth of STEM cell-based therapies to target diseases that are also often untreatable, like glaucoma and Alzheimer's. At Rockefeller University, an institution that is world renowned for its work in all areas of science, but particularly for its work in the last year to help fight COVID-19, we'll establish a 26,000 state-of-the-art lab to help support young companies who are working on science from some of New York City's best institutions.

The scientific expertise that exists all across our institutions is a testament to the strength, resiliency, and the exceptionalism of New York City, and, of course, its people. Collectively, these efforts will be able to support local entrepreneurs, create good-paying jobs for New Yorkers, and build a safer, healthier New York for the future. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you so much, James – an amazing effort. And I want to emphasize to all New Yorkers, this is the future. This is about saving lives, protecting people, stopping the pandemics of the future, keeping people healthy. It's the most noble work, and thank you to Columbia, and Montefiore-Einstein, and the STEM Cell Foundation, and Rockefeller University. All of them do extraordinary work. And all of the researchers, all the academics, all the people who run those institutions are helping to create solutions. That's, you could think, just good enough. That's incredibly powerful, but I want to emphasize this is also how we revitalize our economy and create tens of thousands, ultimately hundreds of thousands of new jobs. And this is going to be something that comes so much of the identity of New York City, going forward. So, it's incredibly exciting and an important announcement today. Thank you, James.

Now, recovery – we're going to keep talking about it. We're going to focus on it constantly, because the momentum is growing all the time. Every single time a New Yorker gets vaccinated, every shot in the arm is another step towards our recovery. And the recovery is going to come with a lot of energy, a lot of activity, a lot of new jobs, a lot of jobs coming back, a lot of things we need. But it's not, again, just an effort to re-establish the status quo existed before the pandemic. That is not our mission. Our mission is to create something different and better. Our mission is to address inequity more deeply and create more opportunity for all. This is a crucial element of the right kind of recovery.

Now, today, we have a major announcement that will speed the kind of recovery that includes everyone. And that is that the New York City Acquisition Fund will now exclusively focus on minority- and women-owned businesses and community-based nonprofit developers. The idea here is that when we are investing, we're investing in minority- and women-owned businesses and community-based nonprofit developers that are the key partners in these projects, the majority stakeholders in these projects, the folks who are going to really own the result in every sense, and ensure the communities benefit and ensure that there's opportunity created. This is a different way of doing things. This $210 million fund, the whole idea was to create affordable housing. That unto itself is so important, but we want to make sure that as we're creating that affordable housing, we're supporting and empowering people in their own communities to make their own communities better and stronger. We want the wealth to go into the community and stay in the community, and build the community. This is a major change and one that's going to benefit so many good people and good efforts around the city. I want you to hear from someone who's been just a really fantastic example of what can happen if you empower community-based leaders to make a change. And she has built an extraordinary company that does such good work on the ground in this city. She's the founder and managing principal of DEVAR Development Partners – worked with her before and really admire her. My pleasure to introduce, Dewanna Williams.

[…]

Thank you. And Dewanna, thank you for what you're doing. It's just – you know, first of all, you're just a great New York City success story yourself, what you've built. But, second, you know, that that incredible development you're putting together in Bed-Stuy, that's the shape of things to come. You know, when you're creating housing for the community, along with so many things that folks in every community need, that's what we're going to be doing more and more of – community-based solutions, community-based leaders making a difference. I want to thank Commissioner Louise Carroll of HPD, and everyone HPD. I know it's a labor of love to you to support these efforts. And thank you for the great work you've done.

And, look, for everyone out there wants to understand this approach in this model, this is kind of the reverse of trickle-down economics. This is grassroots-up economics. This is about building community capacity, community wealth, getting dollars into neighborhoods and having them circulate in the neighborhood and strengthen neighborhoods. This is a model that has to be one of the foundations of a fair and just recovery. So, we're excited. And we're excited for the jobs are going to be created, the housing that's going to be created, is going to help create a much better city in the years ahead. So, thank you to all.

And now everyone, we're going to just finish off today's updates with what we do every day, the latest COVID indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. That number today, 257 patients, and the hospitalization rate per 100,000, 5.16. Current new cases, daily cases on a seven-day average, 4,541. And the current testing indicator, percentage of New York City residents testing positive, seven-day rolling average 8.83 percent. So, again, this all comes down to vaccine. I’m going to continually ask New Yorkers to be tough, to be disciplined, to keep doing the things that we know protect us in each other. But this is about how much vaccine we can get to people, half million doses given already. We could be at a million real quick, if we could just get the vaccine and then these numbers start to change significantly. Okay. Few words in Spanish going back on the vaccine topic again.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by EDC President James Patchett, by Dr. Chokshi, by First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan, by HPD Commissioner Louise Carroll, by Dr. Katz and by Senior Advisor Jay Varma. The first question today goes to James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call.

Mayor: How are you doing James?

Question: Thank you for asking. Great. Just great. I really appreciate the question and appreciate your taking my question. The first being look, President Biden activates the Defense Production Act today, which you referenced earlier today. How soon do you hope that that translates into having adequate supply to meet your vaccination goals, especially noting that clinics have had to shut down this week?

Mayor: James, number one question, thank you for that. I've been on the phone to members of the Biden administration. I know Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, Dr. Varma, everyone's been doing the same thing. We are seeking clear answers, and I want to be fair to the new Biden team, they just got in the door and they're finally getting the facts they have been asking for that they were not provided during the transition. I think it's going to take a few days to make – to get a clear picture of what vaccine is available and how they can move it around as best possible. So I think James, the first question is with the Biden team having total visibility on the vaccine picture of the country, what short-term moves they can make? I think the second question is the impact of the Defense Production Act. And understandably, that's going to take some time. But I think it will be powerful. Dr. Varma spoke yesterday about the fact that this is about fixing every link in the chain, the whole supply chain, all the different pieces that have to come together. Defense Production Act allows the United States government to utilize all the companies in that process and get them unified under a single plan. But I do think by definition, that will take weeks to have some of the effect we want. So, I think the big question right now is once they get a full picture, what can they do for us in the short term? Because we've made clear we're ready to vaccinate at a very high rate if we have the vaccine. 45,000 people in one day yesterday, that number is going to climb constantly. Go ahead, James.

Question: And I guess a related question, sort of more short term, what do you say to people whose vaccination appointments have been canceled? As you're saying, this isn't your fault. I mean, there's just not supply. Nonetheless some people are disappointed, surely. What do you say to them?

Mayor: I am disappointed for them and with them. I’m upset. It's not what should be happening. And look, I – this is sort of the last gasps of the Trump administration still playing out here. There were so many chances along the way for the previous president to use the Defense Production Act energetically. I don't understand why he kept hesitating. It's the strangest thing. But he never used it the right way. That was true, you go all the way back to the challenges we had in the very beginning on testing, right till today. I believe that President Biden is extraordinarily focused, will use the Defense Production Act, will get us every possible dose he can get us. So, for everyone who saw an appointment rescheduled, I feel for you because it's not fair to you. It shouldn't happen. But I also believe help is coming soon. And again, I never ask New Yorkers to be patient. We're not a patient people. I do ask people to have faith because we're vaccinating so quickly now. That as soon as we have vaccine, we can give people appointments quickly and get them vaccinated quickly and protect people. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. I have a question about vaccine data. Is the City going to release data about the ethnicity, the income level, the ZIP code of folks who are receiving the vaccine? At a mayoral forum this week, Eric Adams called on both you and Governor Cuomo to release data about the ethnicity of the people who are getting it, and whether they live in New York City.

Mayor: Yeah. I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi and I'm going to say, I believe that transparency is crucial. We look, there are definitely people from outside of New York City who have gotten vaccinated in New York City, but those have been people who serve us. Those are our firefighters, EMTs, you know paramedics, police officers, teachers, health care workers, doctors, nurses. If they live outside New York City, but they work in New York City and serve New Yorkers of course, I want to see them vaccinated. But I think we should put that information out. I also think we should put the demographic information out because we want to make sure there's equity. We know there's hesitancy issues community by community, but we want to make sure there's equity. And transparency always helps ensure equity. And as I turned to Dr. Chokshi, I say Health Department really deserves tremendous credit. They were amongst the in the nation to document the disparities of the coronavirus crisis and put a highlight on them. Not just, you know, send it off somewhere to some academic study, but really publicize the disparities and talk about what needed to be done. So, the Health Department really gets credit for using transparency as a tool to help force change. Dr. Chokshi want to speak about what we can do going forward to put out that data?

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Thank you very much. And thank you for acknowledging the Health Department’s work during that COVID-19 response. We have said before that the data is really the lifeblood of our response with respect to the actions that we take. But to reiterate what you've said, it's also very important with respect to the public sharing of data for the purposes of transparency and accountability. As we have started our vaccination campaign we're already one of the foremost jurisdictions with respect to the data that is being shared today. But in coming days, we do plan to share even more data including demographic information and other ways of ensuring that New Yorkers understand how the vaccination campaign is rolling out. We want to do this in a way that shows it by age, by geography. And to the extent that is possible with our data systems, race, ethnicity and other ways as well. So as soon as we do have solid, validated data that we can share with the public in that way, it's our commitment to begin pushing out more and more in the coming days and weeks.

Mayor: Thank you Doctor.

Moderator: The next is Bob Henley from the Chief Leader.

Question: Yes, sir. I just wanted to – in light of once you get the supply back up and running of the vaccine, this question is formed by that hope and prayer. A coalition of 9/11 World Trade Center first responder unions and civilian survivors want Governor Cuomo to expedite access to the COVID vaccine for World Trade Center 9/11 health program participants. Initial data indicates that the pandemic has been particularly devastating for this population, which includes young people who were among the 19,000 K through 12 students Mayor Giuliani sent back into dozens of public schools in the World Trade Center hot zone that included Lower Manhattan and Western Brooklyn.

Mayor: Look, Bob, it's so painful when you bring back that history. That was not government being honest with the people and folks were put in harm's way. So we obviously want to be there for all of them. Now I would separate those who are older versus those who are younger a bit, and I'll let Dr. Chokshi speak to this. We – anyone who is older should be prioritized for sure. And if for any reason they are not in one of the existing categories they should be. So we certainly have folks who we think still need to be added to the right now categories. And folks who experienced the effects of 9/11, I think should be among them. Now, the younger, the kids then who are still on the early side, if they're experiencing health impacts, then I would say they need to be in one of the next priority groups. If they're not, I think there'll be the question about what we've seen, how age is such a crucial determinant here. Dr. Chokshi, you want to speak to that?

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, you said it well. I don't have too much to add to that. For people who are older than the age of 65, they are in one of the priority groups and are eligible already. We are awaiting additional guidance about people who are younger than the age of 65 but may have an underlying health condition and exactly when they will be eligible for vaccination as well. As you said in laying out the question in the first place, all of this of course is contingent on sufficient supply for us to be able to vaccinate even those people who are already eligible. And we really need to ramp up supply much more significantly just to work through the currently eligible population.

Moderator: The next is Kayla Mamelak from FOX 5.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Kayla, how are you?

Question: Good, good. Quick question, just some clarification. You touched on this yesterday, but I'm just curious what the City's policy is on regarding the second dose? I know you said you didn't make any cancellations of appointments for the second dose, but is the city working under the policy that if somebody receives the first dose, a second dose is then put on hold for them, or are you giving out as many doses as possible, and then relying on the promise of new shipments? 

Mayor: It's a very important question, thank you. I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. We – look, right now in a very imperfect situation. We’re trying to get as many people their first dose, and then obviously looking forward to giving folks the second dose, but remember, depending on the vaccine, the second dose is either three or four weeks later. What we're trying to get help on and flexibility on is the ability – we have a lot of first doses needed, a lot of people wanting a first dose, and a whole supply of second doses sitting in reserve. I think it makes a lot more sense to give people a first dose use that supply of reserve to give people first dose and then get back-filled with future shipments. That's the flexibility we're trying to get, but right now we don't have that flexibility or we're canceling a lot of appointments, obviously, which is real sad and very frustrating for the folks who were looking forward to getting their first dose. 

Dr. Chokshi, you can talk about both the schedule for the second dose, and again, I think it – reiterating the point that the guidance on the second dose is we want to stay as close to the guidance as possible, but we also want to emphasize that if the second dose happens a little later than originally scheduled, it's still effective. Go ahead, Doctor. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and yes, I want to be very clear on this point because it's such an important one. First, if you have a second dose appointment that is scheduled in the coming days, it will be honored and there is enough vaccine for people to get their second dose. According to that schedule this is very important because we know that the efficacy, that over 94 percent efficacy in the trials, is for people who do get both doses of the vaccine. So, that's a critically important point, and I want to make sure for any New Yorker who has already gotten their first dose of vaccine, you should continue to plan to get your second dose, and those appointments in the coming days will certainly be honored. Those are not the appointments that have had to be rescheduled. 

So that's the first important point. The second one is, as the Mayor has said, we have had second doses delivered to New York City. In fact, there are about 30,000 second doses that will have been delivered to New York City. By the end of today the idea is that we can continue honoring our second dose appointments over the next few days and indeed for the next few weeks but be able to partially use that supply to administer more first doses of the vaccine with the idea that future supply would then be able to backfill our second doses over time. So, the bottom line is this: we want New Yorkers to get both the first dose and the second dose of the vaccine. We have a way to do that, that would still allow us to accelerate vaccination and particularly to get more first doses into the arms of New Yorkers, sooner. 

Mayor: Yeah, thank you, Doctor. I want to bring Dr. Varma in on that other point. You covered a lot of ground there, Dr. Chokshi. Dr. Varma, go back on the point we talked about yesterday. Again in an ideal world with enough supply, we want to give the second dose exactly on the perfect day, three or four weeks later. But if we need to vary that in the future by a few days, I think you articulating again, how that still provides protection going forward and is still a solution, is important for people to hear. Would you go over that again, Dr. Varma? 

Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma: Yeah, sure, happy to do that. So, to emphasize, the single most important reason to give the vaccine at either 21 days or 28 days is as Dr. Chokshi has said, that is the time at which you can then going forward, be fully protected. So, obviously we want to get you that full protection as quickly as possible. So, that's why getting into 21 or 28 days is ideal. The challenge of course, is that we know some people may miss their appointment because they have other issues that they have to encounter, or there may be the situation in the future where there are short term supply chain disruptions. We know that even if you get that second dose later than either the 21-day or the 28-day mark, it's still going to protect you after you get that dose, and we know that for two reasons, we know that because in the clinical trials, they did allow a window period. That window period varied anywhere from up to a week or even several weeks to allow people to get that dose and count it as a full dose, and we also know from other vaccines that the reason you give two doses is the second dose is a booster dose, and even if that dose does get delayed, you're still going to be protected. So, again, just to emphasize, we want to get a few on time because then we know you're going to be fully protected, but if there has to be a delay, it doesn't cause any harm in terms of your long-term protection. 

Mayor: And doctor just help everyone understand the – again, the first dose has an impact. We want everyone get that second dose, but just the pure impact of the first dose, the amount of protection it affords unto itself. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, so, this is an area where there's still a lot of learning going on. If you look very specifically at the trials that were done and the FDA reviewed, it looks like that first dose reduces your risk of getting an infection by around 50 percent. It varies a little bit from the vaccines, but that's kind of a good back of the envelope estimate. What we don't know is because the study wasn't designed to look at one dose, whether that's going to be true over the entire population. There are some reports now coming out of Israel, where they think that based on their real world experience, it may only be 30, 35 percent effective. Either way, we know that that first dose does provide some protection. But again, because the trials were designed, we really want that second dose, but a first dose obviously is better than nothing. 

Mayor: Thank you. One other point I want to make, and then we'll go back to Kayla for the second question, is that again, understanding the proportions of what we've given so far in New York City. First doses account for over 470,000 of the doses we've given, and second doses are now about 70,000 so far. So, again, 470,000 versus 70,000. Again, there's – and a lot of people got that first dose. We'll have to wait, still, two weeks, three weeks, even four weeks to be able to get that second dose, to even be able to qualify for that second dose. That is showing you some of the math about why it is so important to have the flexibility in the short term, to use whatever we have to give some protection to people and really hoping and believing that in the weeks ahead, we're going to see a much greater supply because of the efforts of President Biden. Go ahead, Kayla 

Question: Understood, and on that point regarding President Biden's executive orders made yesterday, do any of those with – in relation to coronavirus, help New York City, and if not, have you gotten any indication when the Defense Production Act would be enacted? Because my understanding is that would greatly help New York? 

Mayor: Yeah, no, I'll turn to Dr. Varma, but my strong belief is that the plan put forward by the President and his aggressive implementation the Defense Production Act is the single most important thing for New York City. That he has set this amazing, powerful goal of a hundred million doses in a hundred days for the nation, and he is using the tools available to him fully, and obviously has his hand on the wheel – that's what New York City needs. The ability to know what they can do, what the federal government can do with existing supply requires them to, I think, have a certain number of days to get the full picture, now that they're finally in charge, but I think the Defense Production Act is the single most important piece of the equation. Dr. Varma, do you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, just to emphasize again you know, we are very optimistic, that the new administration will have an impact on our supply of vaccine, and also on a whole other range of things, including testing, including travel regulations that we've been pushing for as well. But we also have to be realistic that all of these changes take time. The manufacturing process for a vaccine is incredibly complex. It's about as complex of an engineering processes you have in medicine. So, we also have to recognize that it may take some time until we get to that point. But we are incredibly optimistic because when you look at the report, it really does, you know, sort of the plan that they've released, it really does cover all of the important issues, and we know that because Commissioner Chokshi, Dr. Katz, and myself have been in touch with a lot of the advisors on that team, and have really made sure that they understand the real-world situation that we're facing, and so that makes sure that the policy is being enacted at the national level to benefit us. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Jenna DeAngelis from CBS. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. 

Mayor: Hey Jenna, how’ve you been? 

Question: I'm good. How are you? 

Mayor: I'm still floating on air from yesterday, so I'm doing good. 

Question: All right. My question is – this is regarding vaccines. The Biden administration announced it's not going to let New York buy directly from Pfizer. Since the vaccine doses are initially sent to the state, what kind of conversations are you having with the state right now to discuss how you can vaccinate New Yorkers now? 

Mayor: Jenna, it's a constant conversation. My health care colleagues are constantly working with the State. Our City Hall team is constantly working with the State. Look, the State and the City share the goal of maximally vaccinating New Yorkers. Everyone wants to vaccinate the most people as quickly as possible. There's no question about that. We truly believe that the more flexibility, the more ability to do that, but everyone's working together, and in constant dialogue. I think nothing fundamentally changes unless the vaccine supply is profoundly greater. Right now I want to just emphasize we this week said our goal is 300,000 vaccinations this week, and then it would go up next week. If we had the vaccine. No doubt in my mind that we can reach that number and go even substantially higher. This is just about getting the vaccine in our hands. We know how to implement it. We not implement it fast, a huge amount of demand. We just need the vaccine in our hands. 

Moderator: Last question for today, goes to Myles Miller from NBC. 

Question: Hey, how you doing Mr. Mayor? Good morning. 

Mayor: Hey, good morning. Myles. How you been? 

Question: I am doing well. I wanted to ask you about the Biden plan to inoculate a hundred million people in the hundred days. Given where we are right now with the city, and the fact that we're at a vaccination hub right now, that the doors are closed, do you actually believe that that is something that can be done? And secondly do you – when will these vaccination hubs be back online? 

Mayor: Yeah, I do believe it can be done Myles. This is all about leadership and setting a goal and, and enforcing it, but also providing what we need, which is just a really large, clear supply of vaccine. So, look at the trajectory over the last few days here. You know, as I said, yesterday, 45,000 doses in one day. We're going to be at 50,000 in a day, very shortly. We're going to keep climbing from there. When you can put up numbers like that you can move very, very rapidly. So, I think what's being learned all over the country is how to do this a lot faster, and there's tremendous commitment. It's all about supply, and the reliability of supply. We want those big sites to be up and running, and we want a lot of them to be 24/7. The demand is there. We have the staff, we have the sites, we just need the vaccine. Go ahead. 

Question: I also wanted to ask. Sorry, I asked when those vaccine hubs would be back online? 

Mayor: In terms of the hubs, again, we want to get everything to full bore, but we're struggling without vaccine, and we're obviously in a contradiction where you want to open something, but there's no vaccine to go with it. It sends kind of a false hope to people. So, we need some more security in the vaccines supply to really go into high gear. But Dr. Katz, and Dr. Chokshi, you want to give any updates on the 24-hour sites and the prominent sites we're talking about? Citi Field and Yankee Stadium and other prominent sites? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, I can start on the on the vaccine hubs and then pass it to Dr. Katz, and just as the Mayor has said, we are in a ready posture with respect to our vaccination capacity. We have, for the city sites, the Health Department’s seven clinics. That includes two 24-7 sites. Those are continuing in operation in an uninterrupted way. The 15 community vaccination hubs are temporarily not vaccinating, but we'll be ready to get those up and running as soon as our supply does pick up, and there are additional city sites as the Mayor has said which Dr. Katz can speak to as well. 

President Katz: Thank you, sir. Our community sites in the Bronx at Bathgate, in Brooklyn Army Terminal, in Staten Island at Vanderbilt are still running, but vaccine is running low and all of the appointments are filled through our supply. As with Dr. Chokshi, we look forward to having more vaccines so we can open up more appointments in the future and get more vaccine into New Yorker's arms. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. All right, everyone well, look. Here's what I think is abundantly clear. We really do have a new start today. It's just fantastic to see. It's not just again about a very powerful and moving inauguration ceremony or a stunning fireworks display, that’s not what matters most, obviously what matters most is the commitment to change, and you have seen it immediately from President Biden and Vice President Harris, the executive orders that they acted on yesterday, and the clear, strong plan to address COVID, which is the number one issue by far, and what we see is a commitment to be forceful and to move the vaccine supply in the way we need it. We also see a commitment to bringing people back together, in common cause, and this is really exciting to me to think about how much energy could be unleashed if people weren't fighting with each other all the time, how much artificial negativity has been created over the last four years, how much incitement and not just in the case of what happened at Capitol, but everyday incitement. When in fact we need a leader to calm and focus people on their more positive impulses and the ability to work together. That's what President Biden did powerfully yesterday, and he's doing it by his actions. So, I am very, very hopeful where this is going to take us, and I believe you can weed out some of the negativity and the noise and allow us to focus on our common need, which is to defeat COVID. I think you've got to see extraordinary energy unleashed in the next few weeks. That's going to help us turn the tide once and for all. Thank you, everyone.

2021-01-22 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. And as usual to start the 11 o'clock hour here on Fridays, it's time for our weekly Ask the Mayor segment, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio. At 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or you can tweet a question. We'll see it if you use the hashtag #AskTheMayor. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Hey, good morning, Brian. How are you doing?

Lehrer: I'm doing okay. Thank you. And you may have noticed that we've got a new president this week.

Mayor: Oh, really? Brian, tell me about that.

Lehrer: And a new Senate Majority Leader who happens to be Chuck from Brooklyn. What do you expect will change most concretely most quickly for the city?

Mayor: Yeah, I want to say just humanly, I think a lot of us, a lot of people listening would agree. It just feels entirely different to not have a president stoking division and hatred and undermining, you know, every form of progressive progress. And it's amazing. I mean, it was just – I feel I'm breathing easier literally. But on top of that, knowing as we address all these issues, COVID and everything else, we literally are going to get some kind of support from Washington, not constant interference. And on the tangible level, it's really two things. It's vaccine supply and vaccine flexibility is number one and stimulus is number two. I've already been talking to leaders in the Biden administration about both maximizing supply which clearly they want to do in very different ways than the Trump administration, but also giving us a lot more freedom and flexibility, particularly the ability to use our reserves of second doses right now to give people who need the first dose, that first opportunity to get some protection. That's on the front burner. And then stimulus, which Brian, I can't tell is that a month, is that two months, is it more? I don't know the exact timing. But what I do know is with Chuck Schumer as majority leader, the chances for a serious stimulus, like big enough to actually stimulate the economy, big enough to actually make cities and states substantially whole, is finally on the table now. And I've talked to Chuck Schumer about the need for a substantial amount of direct aid to go to New York City so that we can plug the budget gaps and start to recover. And I know he is tremendously devoted. So I'm really hopeful on that front, but until it happens, you know, we have a lot, we got to work through.

Lehrer: Austa in Manhattan, you are on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello Austa.

Question: Hello.

Mayor: Austa, can you hear us?

Question: Hi. Yes. Can you hear me?

Lehrer: Yes.

Mayor: Yeah. How you doing?

Question: Good. Good. Okay. So, my question is the Armory on 168th Street in Fort Washington is set up as a vaccination site. And it was my understanding that it was set up to provide for -- it's the only site in Northern Manhattan, which has been very hard to hit. And that it was to provide to a community that's been very hard hit. But in fact, it is only providing vaccinations for people who are patients of Columbia Presbyterian or their system. If you go onto their website and try to get in, and you don't have a Connect account, which is an account that patients have, it says, okay, if you don't have that set up this account. And you try to set up the account and it says, I don't recognize you. It just seems unethical for Columbia Presbyterian to only be treating their patients when this community is in such need.

Lehrer: You know, I think I might have an answer to that because I live kind of around there. And I know somebody who was not in their system, who went through what you just described, but did succeed in signing up, just joining that New York Presbyterian Connect system without a record there. And then they were able to try to sign up for appointments. So, I think you can actually do it without any prior relationship. But Mr. Mayor, do you have any information about that?

Mayor: Yeah, no. I appreciate Austa’s question because it gets to a bigger point. So, on the narrow point of this particular site, Austa please leave their information with WNYC. I want to follow up because I am concerned if a site's being run by any individual provider, they're supposed to open the doors wide, not end up excluding people. You're absolutely right. That's an area that was hit real hard. We need more vaccination capacity in Upper Manhattan. We of course have Harlem Hospital. But we are intending to add more sites. And this site is an important one and it needs to serve the maximum people. So, give your information, we're going to work to make sure that problem is fixed. But I think the bigger point is our goal is a very neighborhood-based approach to vaccination. We want vaccination sites in all sorts of facilities, schools, you know, armories, you name it, all over neighborhoods. We want to have vaccination sites in public housing developments. The only way this works and the only way this does not turn into an elitist exclusionary exercise is to bring vaccination to the people, particularly in the neighborhoods, hardest hit by COVID. Now, obviously we are nowhere near the supply we need to do that. But as a question of approach, a neighborhood-based site like this has to be inclusive of a neighborhood. And if it isn't, we have to intervene and fix that. And I'm going to move on that quickly.

Lehrer: To that point, I was reading in the last segment, which was all about vaccines. A Twitter thread from City Council Health Committee Chair Mark Levine, that starts there are alarming signs that covered vaccination in New York City is disproportionately leaving behind people of color. And the first thing he calls for is we need to see data on the racial breakdown of vaccinations. And we need to take action now he says to fix another egregious case of inequity in this pandemic. So, are you collecting data and would you collect data at his request on the racial breakdown of vaccinations?

Mayor: Well, I really respect the Council member and agree with him. But before his request, we already said yesterday, we're organizing that data and are going to put it out through our Health Department. This was a question actually at yesterday morning’s press conference. And I said, of course we want to be transparent because we want to drive an equity-based approach. And I want the transparency to keep everyone honest. And Commissioner Chokshi said Health Department is organizing that now. We'll put it out publicly. But the bigger point – I agree with Mark Levine on the bigger point. We have to understand there's a tremendous amount of hesitancy and mistrust, particularly in communities of color about the vaccine after the horrible history in this country and in the medical community of it, you know, experimentation on people of color and misuse of science. And just general distrust of government, which who can blame anyone for feeling? We need to reach especially deeply into the communities that were hit hardest by the coronavirus and simultaneously have the highest levels of mistrust. The way to do that is getting ever more local. Bringing in community groups that people trust and community leaders that people know. Speaking the language of the community. Sites right there in their immediate neighborhood. If this gets reduced to a small number of sites in places that are only being reached by folks who are already privileged, it's the exact opposite of what we need. So this is why the call from Austa is so important. The 168th Street site is crucially located for Washington Heights, but it needs to be open to all. And then we need to go even more local from there. So, if you're in Washington Heights and if you're in Inwood, there's places as nearby your exact home as possible. And that's what's going to help us gain trust and willingness to step forward.

Lehrer: Our reporter Fred Mogul has a story on Gothamist. Brownsville Hospital, I think it's Brookdale Hospital in Brownsville offers vaccinations without appointments to improve equitable access, outsiders take advantage. And it's about people coming in from higher income neighborhoods, I guess you'd say, whiter and higher income neighborhoods and maybe taking a lot of the slots that are intended to go to people in Brownsville. Are you aware of that? And would there be any solution to that?

Mayor: I want to get the details on that. And the specific, what they've specifically experienced. But I'm worried about this phenomenon. I really am. Part of why we have started doing vaccinations in public housing developments directly is to really encourage the people who need the help the most to get it. And to make it as accessible as possible, answer people's real questions and concerns. Again, have community leaders right there, clergy right there, you know, folks who are trusted. I think when we do that kind of approach where we're bringing the vaccine to people in every sense. And engaging them and really making sure that folks who are in the greatest danger, where did people die the most? Let's be, it's just such a painful reality, but let's be honest about it. People passed away disproportionately in lower income communities of color and immigrant communities. The dangers still exists in those communities. And that's where we need to vaccinate the most. So, having the sites in the communities and the appointments, actually the virtue of appointments is you can really help make sure it is folks from the surrounding community who are in the greatest need and the greatest danger. That said, of course, Brian, any, you know, the next question anyone might ask, well, what about, you know, folks who happen to be doing better economically, for example? I want them vaccinated too. We have sites all over. And we are – you know, our goal is at least 250 sites in the city, every kind of neighborhood. But my deep concern is if we don't saturate the areas where there's the greatest danger, that we lose lives that could've been saved.

Lehrer: Judith in Park Slope, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi Judith.

Mayor: Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call. The reason I'm calling is today's my birthday. I'm 79. I had my first Moderna on the 19th this week in Bushwick, they were lovely. And they were able to schedule a second appointment for me on February 16th. That day at home, I got an email confirming my appointment –

Lehrer: Whoops. You know, what? Her line completely dropped off. But I see from the notes –

Mayor: I didn't get to say happy birthday to her.

Lehrer: I think her question was going to be concern for getting the second dose on time with the shortage. Is that going to be an issue when we get to that point in the city in a few weeks?

Mayor: No. Very important question. So, first of all, I hope Judith is listening, has the radio on. Judith, happy birthday to you. Yeah, we are protecting those second dose appointments. This is a really important question, Brian. I want to make sure people understand when I say we need flexibility with the second doses, I want to explain how we do that while protecting the appointments. So, let's use her exact example. Her second dose appointment is February 16th. Today, January 22nd, obviously almost a month away. Right now, in New York City, we've got – the last count I had was about 65,000 doses being held for second dose applications that couldn't happen for two or three weeks. So, in effect, from my point of view, an artificial reserve that they're being held in a way that unfortunately keeps them from being used for first doses of folks who need some protection right away. Anyone who is 65 or over should get that first dose in principle, we want as many people as possible to get that first dose. It provides about 50 percent protection just from the first dose. What Dr. Varma explained yesterday, my senior advisor during our press conferences, the medical ideal is you get your second dose exactly on, you know, the three or four-week mark, depending on which vaccine you're using. But if it's a week later, for example, it was a week later beyond the ideal date or two weeks later, it doesn't change the basic equation. You still have had protection from the first dose in the meantime. Once you get the second dose, it is 100 percent, you know, effective just as it would have been a week earlier. When I say – it gives you everything that it would have for the long haul, whether you get it in her case on February 16th, or February 18th, or February 20th. And so what I want to make sure, and I hope you hear the egalitarianism in this point, I can't abide – I've talked to a lot of seniors who are just scared to death right now, honestly, of this disease. And the notion that we could be giving them a first dose right now. And then in the meantime, really I do believe the federal structure is going to come into gear and produce a lot more, we can back sell our supply and be ready to give those second doses. And we do plan to give them on schedule for everyone who's currently scheduled. I just think that's a much more decent and humanitarian approach than withholding doses from people who need them now.

Lehrer: You know, my producer who screened her call has another detail to add from what she originally said before she got on the air and it's fairly alarming. She said she had a second dose appointment for a specific date and just got an email that it was canceled. So, you can imagine how that feels when you're scheduled for that second dose, that should be delivered in a timely fashion. I heard what you said about there being some wiggle room in that medically, but is that the first you've heard of an actual cancellation of a second dose? 

Mayor: Yeah. Overwhelmingly, what I've seen is second dose appointments are made and kept. I think there may be cases where there's some movement where they say, ‘Hey, we had you for February 16th. We need to move it a few days.’ Again, same impact. You're going to get your second dose. And we are absolutely adamant that anyone who gets the first dose, we're going to make sure they get a second dose on the exact day or close to it. So, I wish we could get her contact information to make sure that we get her that rescheduling immediately. And if you're producer knows how to reach her or anything more about her, we want to get to her and work that out. 

Lehrer: We're going to try to find her. Rachel in Queens you’re on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Rachel. 

Question: Hi. 

Lehrer: Do we have you, Rachel? 

Question: Hi. Hello. 

Mayor: There you go. 

Lehrer: We have you now. 

Mayor: Hey. 

Question: Hi. Thank you so much for taking my call. My question is about the changes to admissions in middle schools this year, really all the schools, but I'm wondering why you waited until December 18th to announce that you were canceling all auditions for middle schools for the talent-based program? When there are children who have literally been preparing for years for schools that have 30 spots that are now going to be lottery-based, and how at the same time you could say that you didn't cancel the G&T exams because it would be unfair to four-year-olds who are preparing. 

Mayor: The reality of the middle school admissions is that it relies on things that we just don't have available. And that was the governing reality. There were not the same tests given by the State because of COVID. The grading situation has been thrown off. Look, I don't agree with – and I made that clear – I don't agree with the single test approach to anything. And this is the last time it's going to happen with a gifted and talented. It obviously doesn't require State standardized tests or, or grading history and all that. It's a different venue. But I don't agree with it and it's not going to happen anymore. But they are two very, very different things. I think the bottom line is we need to reevaluate all of this, both because COVID has thrown off the things that we used to depend on, but also because there's more and more questioning of whether the approach historically made sense or not, whether it really captured who kids are and their range of abilities and potential. And also, whether it was inadvertently exclusionary. We got to – this all now needs to be re-evaluated. 

Lehrer: Let me give Rachel a possible follow-up because, Rachel, did I hear you correctly? Are you talking about specific schools where there's an audition like with a musical instrument or something? 

Question: Exactly for dance or for acting or for musical instruments, when all of these children have been preparing for years to audition for talent programs. I'm not talking about testing. 

Lehrer: It's not about the G&T for academic admission to certain middle schools. It's – you understand the different categories, she's trying to raise, Mr. Mayor? 

Question: No, I appreciate it. I did not understand that nuance in the original question. I apologize. Rachel, would you please give your information to WNYC. I want to follow up on this. Obviously, the main body of what we were doing in the announcement on the screen schools was responding to the lack of State testing and the lack of grades that reflected anything like a normal reality. And, of course, everyone's trying to work through the bigger issues of how to do schools going forward in an equitable fashion, but the audition point I do take to heart and let me make sure I understand exactly what accommodation we're trying to make there and how we're going to address it going forward, because I do hear there's a difference there, and I want to get you a good answer. So, if you give your information to WNYC we'll get you a direct answer today. And Brian, I'll be happy to give you an update next week. 

Lehrer: Thank you very much. And, Mr. Mayor, thank you as always talk to you next week. 

Mayor: Thank you, Brian. Take care.

2021-01-25 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, this is the first full week of the new Biden administration, and I am very, very optimistic about what this new administration is going to mean for all of us here in New York City. I had the opportunity on Friday to participate in a panel the U.S Conference of Mayors sponsored Dr. Fauci, Dr. Vivek Murthy and I together, talking about what we need to do to vaccinate people quickly. And what is so clear now is the commitment of the Biden administration and the leading health experts in the administration to finding every conceivable way to get us more vaccine quickly. Now, we are waiting, in the course of this week, for more detailed information. This is what's on everybody's mind – when will the new administration be able to give us the game plan for specifically increasing the supply of vaccine? We don't have that yet today, but we do know they're supremely focused, they’re constantly communicating with us, they're looking for every conceivable way to make things move more quickly. And there's a real dialogue going on – that's one of the huge differences here. We're talking directly to the decision-makers about the kinds of things we need and the kinds of changes we could make to move the vaccination process more quickly. I'm very hopeful we're going to get answers, starting this week and in the weeks ahead that will fundamentally change the reality. And, on top of that, the fact that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine could be just a matter of weeks away, that's going to be a game-changer as well. So, again, more work to do – urgent and important week, but a lot of hope, because we have a new kind of leadership in Washington. 

Now, right here in New York City, what's the latest? Well, even though we don't have the supply of vaccine we need – we urgently need more supply, we urgently need more flexibility with the supply we have – the vaccination effort keeps moving forward. Right now, as of yesterday, the number of doses given in New York City, 628,831 since the beginning of the vaccination effort. Now, I've got to put this in perspective, 628,000 doses from the beginning – that is more people who have gotten a vaccination in New York City than the entire population of Louisville, Kentucky, which is the nation's 29th largest city. Just to show you a little bit of the perspective on how much is already happening. But this is just a small beginning compared to what we could do if we had the supply. And this is the frustrating part – right now, New York City has on-hand 19,000 first doses – 19,000 designated first doses. We're expecting 107,000 more in the next few days, the weekly resupply. But, again, look at that number, that doesn't even give us the beginning of what we need for a week. Again, we have a supply problem and we have a flexibility problem, because we can't access second doses that are being held in reserve for weeks ahead and use them now as first doses where there's such intense demand. So, we're working hard to get that flexibility, but, in the meantime, if there's not more supply and there's not more flexibility we keep having to either not provide new appointments or reschedule ones that exist – and that's not fair to anyone. We need the supply. We need the flexibility. 

Now, where will we be able to go when we have those things? When we have what we need, here's the latest based on experience we've had so far – New York City will be able to vaccinate half-a-million people a week as soon as we have the supply. This is an update based on the experience we've had so far and all of our projections. We're now confident – and it’s a staggering figure – we're able to do a half-a-million vaccinations per week if we have the supply and the flexibility. We said from the very beginning for this to work, we need the federal government, State government, the manufacturers to all do everything they can to help us. I'm saying it again, if we have the full partnership of our colleagues in government and the manufacturers, we can move vaccinations at a staggering level. But we need that help and we need it now. 

Look, we have mega sites like Citi Field and Yankee Stadium ready to go. We want to get those to be full-blown 24-hour operations, but we don't have the vaccine. We've got local neighborhood providers, folks who are at the frontline who can build trust, who can get folks from the neighborhood to come in, who speak their language ready to go. We want to have a really neighborhood-based approach to vaccination, decentralized right down to the grassroots. We could be doing that right now, but we don't have the supply. We need the supply and that flexibility of whatever we have on hand we can use for folks who need help immediately. That freedom to vaccinate means helping a senior citizen. Let me make this vivid, when I was out at Hillcrest High School in Queens, I talked to seniors. I talked to a woman who was 97 years old, her name was Marcia. For her, the first shot alone was life changing. She had lived in fear of the coronavirus for almost a year. Just getting that first shot, knowing that that gave her 50 percent protection, made a world of difference to her physically in terms of the protection, but emotionally as well – it gave her some peace of mind, it gave her some hope. I want to get that first shot to as many of our seniors as possible, but we need that flexibility to do it. So, we're going to fight to get it right. We're going to make sure we get our fair share of doses. And this is a message that we have to our colleagues in government – in New York City, we can move so fast. Please help us get the supply, because, I guarantee you, we can get it to people fast – fast or faster than any place else. When I'm telling you, we can do a half-million in a week, that is an indication of our confidence of how quickly we can implement if we have what we need. 

Now, again, last week we talked about five guiding principles that we know will allow us to move forward and do this the right way. And this, to me, is what's crucial, getting is to go fast and connecting with people at the grassroots. That's what's going to build trust. I guarantee, if people see leaders of their own community as part of the vaccination effort and sites in their own community they're familiar with, and organizations they know and trust, that's going to make the difference. That's what we'll build, so long as we have the supply to support it. 

Okay. Now, the vaccination effort is crucial to everything we're going to do. It is – the number-one concern right now is everyone's health and safety. That's why we need to vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible. But right behind that, we all need to make sure that New York City has a strong recovery, that we come back strong, that everything about this city becomes stronger in the course of 2021 – we bring back our economy, we bring back our jobs. 

Nothing's more important to that than getting everyone vaccinated. But as we build that effort and that recovery, there's a lot of things we need to keep doing to help our businesses in the meantime – our small businesses in particular, as they work to survive. And we know, when everyone's vaccinated, they're going to come roaring back, so many of them. But, right now, there's something we can do that's a great thing for our restaurant community. Remember, hundreds of thousands of folks work in restaurants that are part of the heart and soul of this city. And we want everyone to do what you can to help our local restaurants. So, we have a great opportunity this week, the first ever New York City Restaurant Week To Go. So, this is a great innovation, it starts today. Everyone knows Restaurant Week, a great promotion that was started years ago and really engaged people with the restaurants of the city – great deals, people got an opportunity to try out restaurants they never had before. Well, we're doing the same thing this year with a to-go twist. So, every participating restaurant will offer at least one takeout and delivery meal for cost of $20.21 – 2021. So, this is a great opportunity to have a great experience yourself, but also to help our restaurants. I want to thank everyone that NYC & Company, they've been doing great work, promoting our restaurant community. They waive the participation fees to make it easier. They've expanded the effort deeply into all five boroughs. This will now be, as a result, the biggest restaurant week in the 29-year history of this event. And that's actually quite amazing given what we've been through – more restaurants than ever, 571 restaurants will be part of Restaurant Week To Go. And that is everywhere in the city, from Sylvia's in Harlem to Denino's on Staten Island, here's a great opportunity. Anyone who wants to see all the participant restaurants go to nycgo.com – I'm sorry, nycgo.com/restaurant-week and check out the list, get out there, and go out to one of these restaurants and purchase from them, get the takeout and delivery from them, call in that order, make a difference, help them keep moving forward. Support your favorite places and find new favorite places too, and that'll be a good thing for everyone. 

Okay, let's go over today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 240 patients. And the hospitalization rate, 5.18 per 100,000. Okay. Current new cases – today's number, four – excuse me, 4,743. And number three, percentage of New York City residents testing positive on a seven-day rolling average, 8.44 percent. The bottom line on all of this is that we need to keep fighting while we're getting the vaccination supply we need. When you keep fighting, use the measures that work. We know – we know the masks, we know the social distancing works. New Yorkers have been heroic. We got to keep doing it while we get the vaccine supply and turn this whole situation around. 

A few words in Spanish – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today, it goes to Kala from PIX 11. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, I've got to talk about schools with you today. A Princeton professor shows that there was a 43 percent increase in COVID cases from five to 17-year-olds in the first half of January in New York City schools, based on her math. So, is this part of the reason why middle and high schools remain closed, because of this upward trend? 

Mayor: Kala, I appreciate the question. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but, no, that is not the reason. The reason is simply that, as we brought back schools, 878 schools, 3-K, pre-K, K-to-five, District 75 special-ED – 878 schools with weekly testing meant we had all the capacity that we had in testing thrown into those schools, and the result has been absolutely amazing. The schools are very, very safe. We have constant testing and a very, very low positivity number. So, it really was about the ability to bring schools back safely and keep them safe. We want to move next to bringing back our middle schools and then our high schools, but, obviously, there's more work to do on that front. But, no, it's not because we've seen a change in the numbers among our kids, but let me have Dr. Chokshi speak to the latest trends. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. Well, what I would add is that we know both in our own experience here in New York City, but also now with a growing evidence-base around schools around the country and around the world that when you do have the layers of protection that we have put in place – the masking, the distancing, the making sure people stay home if they're ill, the very frequent testing regimen that we have put in place – that schools are safe environments. And, importantly, anytime we talk about the health of our children and their families, that schools are health-promoting environments as well. So, all of that remains the case. And there is one thing that all of us can do as New Yorkers to help enable schools to remain as safe as possible, and that's to take those very same steps that I described out in our own communities to try to get our case numbers as low as possible. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Kala. 

Question: So, in regards to middle and high schools, just last week, the Chancellor at a town hall meeting said that there is a clear staffing shortage with so many teachers with their remote – teaching remotely, so there's not enough to be in the classroom. Testing is slightly overwhelmed, because of what's going on in elementary schools and D75, and, also, he simply pointed out that high school students, older students are better at remote learning. So, in the City's mind, what would it take for middle and high schools to reopen? I'm looking for specific criteria on what it would take for them to reopen before June. 

Mayor: Yeah. We're working on that right now. Look, the number one thing is the vaccination effort. The more and more New Yorkers who are vaccinated, you're going to see the positivity levels over time come down. The more and more educators and staff in the schools that are vaccinated, they become even that much safer. We need to keep advancing those efforts and we need the supply to do it. And we're going to keep building out a testing capacity as well, because that's the great guarantee in this process. But, right now, what we've found is the focus, of course, is vaccination. That's where we're putting the most profound resources. But I think the good news is that that's going to give us a picture pretty soon of what kind of schedule we can have to bring back, first, middle schools and then high schools. 

Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Shant from the Daily News. 

Question: Yeah. Good morning, everyone. I wanted to go back to vaccines and ask about the goal you, sort of, outlined a few weeks ago to do a million doses by the end of the month. I mean, you're describing hundreds of thousands of doses have been given out. It sounds like the City is not on track to meet that 1 million threshold. Any thoughts on that? I mean, was that sort of rhetorical statement or were you really hoping to achieve a million? 

Mayor: No, it was not rhetorical in the least. It was an absolutely factual statement. Let me give you some facts. So, the previous week – not last week, but the one before – we did over 220,000 vaccinations. That alone is more than the entire population of Salt Lake City. I like to give these perspective points. So, the week – not last week, the one before – 220,000 vaccinations. The week that just finished, our projection was 300,000. We we're absolutely confident we could hit that number. Now, we ended up at just under 200,000, because there was no supply. So, Shant, to put it in perspective, we could have reached at least additional 100,000 more New Yorkers last week of the supply had been there. 

Question: Yeah, thanks for that. I wanted to ask about a New York Times story over the weekend that noted 54 ZIP codes have had a seven-day positivity rate over 10 percent. I wanted to ask, are there any managers to get that under control while people are waiting for vaccines, such as potentially revisiting shutting down non-essential business or is that off the table? 

Mayor: Nothing's off the table. Everything's on the table, in fact. I appreciate the question, Shant, it's a really important one we need to talk about, everything's on the table. We are watching constantly, it's a daily conversation with our health care leadership, and me, and folks at City Hall. It's an ongoing conversation with the State. Right now, the most important part of the equation is what's happening in our hospitals. Our hospitals continue to do well. It's a real credit to our health care leadership. The lessons learned in March and April have been applied powerfully. The hospitals are doing remarkably well under the circumstance, but it's still a very dangerous moment, particularly because of the new variant. So, this is a daily conversation, all options on the table. But as of this moment, we're sticking to the current plan, and we also know that vaccination will eventually make a huge difference, and what gives me hope is we have a new administration, I think it would be much bolder about getting us supply and flexibility. Our capacity to vaccinate is greater than ever and we're quite secure about that half a million a week capacity now. When you add those two factors together, that's a lot, but also the Johnson and Johnson vaccine potentially just weeks away I think is a real game changer. So, this is why I believe we have the tools coming to turn the tide, but we're going to watch very carefully in the meantime. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Rich Lamb from WCBS 880. 

Question: Hi there, Mr. Mayor, and all on the call – 

Mayor: How are you doing, Rich? 

Question: I'm just – I'm doing all right, I’m doing okay. So, I'm just wondering in regard to the hospitals, how many, you know, ICU beds are left. We know that that's kind of the critical factor or do we have a handle on that at this point? 

Mayor: Yeah, I want to get a Dr. Katz into this part of the conversation and he can certainly give you a perspective beginning with our public hospitals, and then I'll ask Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma to comment, but what we're seeing so far, Rich, is hospitals handling the situation very well, and also learning one of the lessons we learned in the spring about the ability to add ICU beds as needed. But I think most important thing, Dr. Katz, if you could just help everyone understand what the experience has been this time that's different from last time and how that is affecting your supply of ICU beds and the approach you take? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Yes, sir. Thank you so much. So, as you say, sir, it's been very different this time around. To answer the explicit question about a third of our ICU beds are still available, not filled, and the way that happens is as we keep getting more patients in the hospital, we keep adding on beds and staffing those beds so that at all times we're able to take new patients who come in. We've been helped by the fact that while the numbers keep growing, they are growing in a very linear way, not in an exponential way. We've had no jumps as we did the first time around where in a matter of few hours, we would get 20 more patients. This has been very gradual every day, has brought a few more patients across our system, and I – besides our data, I review all of the hospital data across the city, and it's all the same picture of hospitals slowly growing in their number of patients, but able to increase their staff, open up new beds to maintain a proper level of open beds. And then finally the mortality rate is much, much lower than it was the first time around. We have less than 10 percent of patients who get hospitalized or succumbing to the illness while in the hospital, and that's because of better treatment, both drug treatment, better understanding of avoiding the ventilator unless it's absolutely necessary and using other methods of keeping people well oxygenated. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank, you, Dr. Chokshi you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Just to add briefly about the picture for for the whole city according to our most recent data, there are about 687 patients who are hospitalized in intensive care units across all of the city's hospitals, but we do still have a capacity in our ICUs. At least 20 percent of ICU beds remain available, and the reason that I say at least is to build on one of Dr. Katz's points, which is our hospitals do continue to have the ability to add additional surge capacity beyond the existing capacity that they have. The final point that I'll say is that we shouldn't lose sight of the humanity behind those numbers. Each of those 687 patients who is critically ill is someone who is struggling to breathe, who needs a considerable assistance to ensure that they're able to continue doing the basic functions, you know, that that each of us take for granted. And that's the role that all of us have to play, because the number of cases is connected to the number of hospitalizations, is connected to the number of people who are in our intensive care units. So, what each of us do and the public health actions that we've emphasized have a direct impact on those numbers. 

Mayor: Doctor, emphasize again your guidance that you've given publicly about how older New Yorkers and folks with preexisting conditions should comport themselves at this moment, particularly with the new variant? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, for the opportunity, and it's particularly important when we talk about the people who are in our intensive care units. These are the most at risk individuals whom we seek to protect through our guidance. That's why I issued a Commissioner's Advisory back in December focusing on older New Yorkers, those above the age of 65, as well as people who have underlying health conditions, people who have cancer or heart disease or kidney disease or diabetes, because we know now from the last several months of experience that those are the people who are most likely to have the severe outcomes that will land them in the hospital or in our intensive care units. So, what we advise for all of those people is to take extra precautions, all of the basic public health advice that we've given, but also to stay home as much as possible with the exception of essential work, medical care, and other things that are absolutely required for, you know, for people to go outside of their homes. The final thing that I'll say is that this applies also to caregivers for those more vulnerable individuals as well as household members to take extra precautions, because those are the things that we can do to save as many lives as possible. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Varma, you want to say anything about the hospital situation? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Nothing else for me. 

Mayor: Okay, great. Go ahead. Rich. 

Question: Okay, thank you very much for those many answers. So, I'm curious about the vaccine firms that are still out there. You mentioned J and J. I'm wondering what – how far do your doctors hear that they are away from approval and the other firms, and what would that mean in terms of the supply? What would it would a double it? Quadruple it? What would it mean? 

Mayor: Okay, fantastically important question, Rich. And I'm going to turn to Dr. Varma, but let me preface this, because this is a conversation we've been having now intensely over the last week, what exactly will it mean? First and most importantly, why the Johnson and Johnson is a game changer, it's a single shot. It's a single dose, does the whole job. So, the challenge, the logistics, the supply questions around two dose vaccines, this will be the first time we're dealing with a single shot vaccine. Second, you know, you think about just sure supply, you're bringing a whole another player onto the playing field, that gives us a chance to intensify supply exactly a moment where we deeply need it and in combination with the – what I'm absolutely certain is going to happen, the increasing supply because of the efforts of the Biden administration. So, all of these pieces could come together. I wish they were all here right now, but they could come together in a really favorable way. Jay in terms of more of the specifics about what we're seeing with Johnson and Johnson, potential timeline, and if there's any other vaccines on top of that on the horizon? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Great, thank you for the question. So, first, in regards to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you know, we're watching the same news that everybody else is closely to get insight into this. I mean, our best read is that the data is being analyzed right now, because some of the international sites like in South Africa have closed, and that our expectation is that that should be presented hopefully to be FDA very soon, and that we're kind of targeting for the end of February or early March to potentially receive a supply. As the Mayor has noted this, if it's as effective or even close to as effective as the two vaccines that we have right now, it'll be a tremendous game changer. The difference that the Mayor has noted between a two-dose vaccine and a one dose vaccine, it's absolutely enormous, it doesn't seem like a lot, but it really is. There are other handling issues related to this vaccine that also make it a lot easier. 

So, we're tremendously optimistic that if this vaccine becomes available, we'll be in a very different reality. We don't know the exact supply amount that's available, of course, but the expectation is again with any additional vaccine, it really does exponentially increase our abilities. In terms of other vaccines that are available, the other one that of course we want to see data for is the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. If people may know this vaccine is already approved and being used in the UK, in India, and in a number of other countries around the world. There was some challenges with the way the original trial was done, and so that's why we're waiting for the US FDA to complete the analysis – I'm sorry the company, and then eventually to submit to the US FDA analyses that were from patients enrolled in the United States. But again, if that vaccine gets approved and appears to sort of cross the threshold of effectiveness, we need, again, completely changes our dynamic, and we get to a point where eventually supply will be than demand, which is where we need to be. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: The next is Sam Raskin from The Post. 

Question: Hi, so when do you think we'll be able to get the data on the demographics of who has received the shot by borough, by race? I know Eric Adams and Scott Stringer among others have been – and other reporters – have been asking for that data, so what do you think we'll be able to receive that? 

Mayor: Yeah, I think they're all right, and we're going to have that data later on this week. I think it's absolutely crucial that we show the people of this city how this is going, and I think it's part of making sure that we act to address the disparities that have pervaded the COVID experience. So that's going to be later this week. Go ahead, Sam. 

Question: And then with vaccine appointments right now are that are pretty hard to come by, is there any plans to – before we get more supply – to consolidate the three different systems with which people are signing up for vaccine appointments? 

Mayor: Yeah, we've got to make this simpler. There's no doubt about it, Sam. Right now, of course, when you're dealing with health care, there's a lot of sensitivities, and as you know, there are legal issues that have to be addressed when people are signing up in terms of their eligibility. So, there are always going to be some challenges, but we got to make this situation simpler, make the process easier for everyone involved, and that's what we're working on right now. We'll have more to say on that shortly. 

Moderator: The next is Jake Offenhartz from Gothamist. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yeah. Jake, how are you doing? 

Question: I'm doing okay. I have a question for my colleague [inaudible]. You seem to be banking on the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, but the FDA, and its advisory committees, haven't scheduled a review date for that vaccine. So, what happens to this backup plan, if the J and J authorization doesn't happen until say March? 

Mayor: Well, I'm going to say this as the layman and then turned to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi. I think what we've seen so far with each of the vaccines has been you know, surprisingly good. Let's just put this in perspective, the fact that there even was a vaccine of any kind by December in the same year that the COVID crisis emerged is an absolute miracle. The fact that we now have two vaccines that are working well, let's put this in perspective. So I do start with the assumption that we're going to get to a good place with Johnson and Johnson, and that a single shot vaccine is a total game changer, whether it first shows up in New York City in February versus March is a very fair open question. But I think the overwhelming likelihood is we will see it and see it relatively soon. Dr. Varma, you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, no, thanks for the question. I mean, we understand the, the point of it, which is like, so what is the disaster scenario? What is the scenario in which we only have two vaccines for the rest of the year, and I think what we've learned with this disease is that we just have to adapt to where we are. 

Unfortunately, we're in a situation with a lot of uncertainty. We don't like it ourselves, and we know everybody else is facing that same challenge. So, we just have to keep managing based on what we know right now, and I think the things that we know right now lead us to be optimistic. The results from the Oxford AstraZeneca trial, for example, did show benefit above the 50 percent threshold that the FDA originally set as their bar for what an effective vaccine needs to be. So, even though it didn't reach the threshold of the Pfizer Moderna vaccine was still a better than what we would have expected a year ago, for example. 

With the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, we have two lines of evidence that it's likely to be effective. One is the data that the published already showing immune responses and showing high levels of immune reactivity and people in their original what's called “phase one and phase two” trials, and we also know that the vaccine is built on a platform of a very promising method that's being used in HIV vaccine development. So, we do have optimism and I don't think there really is a scenario that we need to plan for very limited vaccines in the distant future, just because there's so many things playing in and changing all at the same time. 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Well, first I agree with what Dr. Varma has said, and look, we are still in the midst of a pandemic and at the end of the day, we have to look for every single tool in our arsenal to be able to save lives at this moment. That's why we are looking to the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, and planning and preparing for it to become available so that as soon as it does, we are ready to get those shots into as many arms as possible. But it also underlines the urgency of the other thing that the Mayor has really called attention to, which is the supply of the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines. That is something that we, you know, the collective we, particularly the federal government, should be pushing forward, even as we look to the eventual authorization of hopefully one and potentially two additional vaccines down the road. As with everything, we will follow the science. We'll take a hard look at all of the data ourselves, make sure that we understand the FDA's review processes as well. But then be ready to leap into action. 

Moderator: We'll go to Kristin from the Staten Island Advance and then back to Amanda. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you today? 

Mayor: Good, Kristin, how you been? 

Question: I'm good. Thanks. About the vaccines. You know, you just said the 24/7 sites are postponing the opening, including Empire Outlets until the city has adequate supply. Is there a number – what does that supply number look like for you guys before you would open up those sites? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's a great question. Kristin, we need, obviously, the kind of supply that allows us to get to our goals. So, like I said, this last week we had publicly said we wanted to do 300,000 vaccinations. We only had supply for about 200,000. We want to go much faster. We want to go up to 400,000 quickly. We'll be able to get to 500,000 a week in February. That's the kind of supply level that will guarantee us we can have the big 24-hour sites. So, certainly we need more than we're getting now. We don't necessarily need all the way to get that half a million a week level to open the sites, but we need more than we're getting now. I don't have an exact number for you, but I can certainly say if we could have on hand at any time, enough to at least guarantee us, we could meet our weekly goals, that's when we could put this kind of site into action. Hopefully, that's real soon. 

Moderator: One more time. We're going to try Amanda Eisenberg from Politico. 

Question: I'm hoping this works. Can you hear me okay? 

Mayor: Sounding good so far. 

Question: Great. Well, thank you for taking my call, I guess third time's the charm. So, I wanted to talk to you a little bit about vaccine extra doses. So, I spoke to a woman who runs a city site and she was explaining that all of the vaccinators have their vials they open up, and at the end of the night, there might be a bunch of vials with like one or two doses left over, and so what she did was they took all of the vials and extracted the rest of the doses to vaccinate all of the workers who were helping out, and if people didn't want them to move on to the security guards, which is amazing, right? Because the goal is to vaccinate a million people this month. My question for you is what happens, you know, tomorrow what happens every day after, where you don't have that like extra base of people? And so I was hoping you could weigh in on what the contingency plans are when you have that, you know, small amount of doses left? 

Mayor: Yeah. Thank you. It's a great question. First of all, the woman who you talk about who ran that site, she did exactly the right thing, and I commend her as a leader for making sure that every dose was used. The state certainly has given us flexibility in situations. We want to make sure that we are able to use every single dose and the more that we can get flexibility and freedom to vaccinate, the more we're going to be able to use. So, Dr. Chokshi can talk to you about the exact protocols we're using in this case, but that's exactly the way we're thinking if there's any additional we want to get at people's arms right away. Go ahead, Doctor. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, that's right. Well, the most important point is the one that the Mayor made, which is that each dose is precious, and we have to ensure that we get those doses into the arms of people who deserve that protection. The specific protocols, first of all, you know, what this staff member did is precisely what we have put into place at our city sites, starting with people who have volunteered, and are taking care of New Yorkers who are coming in for vaccination, moving to other staff who are on site, and then the next phase of it is what we call a standby list, essentially having a list of people who meet the eligibility criteria. Some of them may be staff who could be scheduled for other shifts. Some of them may be eligible community members. Essentially having those standby lists ready so that at the end of the day we use all of those available doses. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Amanda. 

Question: Great, and that goes into my next question. So, earlier this month we saw a bunch of people run to the Brooklyn Army Terminal when there was information about, you know, 410 doses that might've been leftover. I interviewed one woman who came from Staten Island and she says, “look, I don't mind standing in line, and if I'm the 411th person, so be it. But I want the opportunity to be able to stand in line and hopefully get that extra dose.” Is that something that you're considering? I know that you are only able to vaccinate the people who the federal government or the state government allows in whatever timeframe, but can you talk a little bit more about the idea of these standby lines where people might feel like they have a chance of getting vaccinated versus kind of the omnipresent wait for getting an appointment? 

Mayor: Yeah. It’s a very fair question. I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi. I'll tell you it worries me, even though I hundred percent understand, because I've talked to the seniors in particular who just so urgently wanted this vaccination and it's literally feels to them like a matter of life and death, and we've got to serve them. We need the supply, we need the federal government, the state government, the manufacturers just buckle down, get us the supply, give us the flexibility to use it. That's the solution. I don't love the notion of people showing up for a line and having no guarantee you're going to get the vaccine. I don't like people being in lines together to begin with, unless there's a reason. I don't like the opportunity, you know, that seems like maybe there's going to be hope, but then there isn't, I don't like that reality. I don't think it's going to lead us to a good place. I think we got to solve the problem on the front end, but let me, let me hear the reflections from Dr. Katz and then Dr. Chokshi. 

President Katz: I agree with you, sir. We tried very hard to schedule the right number of people so that we can use every dose in the vile and to have a list of people as Dr. Chokshi mentioned who would be eligible. Having lines does mean the possibility of people being able to transmit COVID to each other, even if the line is socially distant, people had to get to that site, which might put them at risk. I think that it isn't the best way, but I, like you, sir, I certainly understand people's concern and desire to be vaccinated. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I would just briefly add that this is why we have such an emphasis on appointments. To be able to have you know, smoother flow through our sites and to maintain the physical distancing, to allow people to be protected. We shouldn't forget, you know, the seniors the other people who are at risk and eligible to be vaccinated right now, we do need to take those steps to continue protecting them, when they're leaving their homes even to get vaccinated. So, that's why it's critically important for us to maintain those protocols as we've been set up, and the final thing that I will say is that, you know, even as we do try to be as thoughtful and rigorous about, you know, the small number of extra doses as possible let's not lose sight of the big picture that the Mayor started today with, which is we need to have more supply so that we can schedule more appointments and get all of the people who are eligible vaccinated as quickly as possible. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, and just finishing, Amanda, I'm hearing your point loud and clear. We’ve got to be really smart about making sure that no dose goes to waste. I think Dr. Chokshi made the point about the contingency plans that each site needs to have to be ready to make a fast move if there are any leftover doses. We've got to be real tight about that. But again, we don't want to raise false hopes or have people standing on a long line for no reason. That's the balance we're trying to strike. 

But everyone, look, as we conclude today, it's real simple – supply, supply, supply. It's all about getting more vaccine and getting it quick, it's all about the new administration in Washington, breaking us out of the status quo that's not working for us. Here you have New York City ready of vaccinate at the rate of a half million New Yorkers a week, but we don't have the vaccine to go with it. A lot of other places in the country are ready to do so much more. We need our federal government to lead the way, push those manufacturers to do more. Use the Defense Production Act in new ways, break down whatever barriers and silos exist, because all that matters is getting vaccine in the arms of our senior citizens, our first responders, our teachers, all the people who need it. So, we're going to keep pushing for those changes. I'm hopeful, and I'm really happy to say we're ready to vaccinate at an extremely high level, really quick, and we're really hopeful that more vaccine is coming to us on the horizon. Thanks, everyone.

2021-01-26 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. We have a lot to talk about today. And, of course, we’re going to be talking about in a few minutes the situation with our vaccine supply and everything we're doing to fight COVID. 
 
All right. Now, I want to bring us back to the here and now, the fight against the coronavirus and the latest developments. Let me first give an update on New York City's effort. As of the end of yesterday, we had vaccinated 650,546 doses. So, we had provided 650,546 doses to the people of this city, that is more people than the total population of Portland, Oregon. We're going to keep giving you updates each day and compare with other places around the country just to give you scale. But it's literally as if we had vaccinated every single human being in Portland, Oregon. That's the scale we're working on now. We could be doing so much more. Right now, I need hundreds of thousands more doses per week. I know that in February we can reach a level of half-a-million vaccinations per week – per week, if we had the supply. 

Now, I'll just tell you over these last days my team and I have been constantly talking with members of the Biden administration. I'm always encouraged by those conversations, because I hear focus, and urgency, and creativity. As you heard, President Biden had upped the goal yesterday, I think that's fantastic and the right thing to do. This morning, I spoke with Jeff Zients, who is the White House COVID coordinator – always accessible and providing us a sense of where they're going, listening to our concerns. I'm very, very convinced that the commitment is there and we're going to see a lot of impact from the Biden White House. In the meantime, right now, we're dealing with the residue of what was left to us previously, and we have almost no supply to allow us to create new opportunities for people, new appointments for people. As of this morning, we have just about 7,700 doses on hand. But the bigger challenge here, I talked about it earlier this morning, is that we have doses that are waiting for that second dose use, but for over two weeks in the future. As of the end of yesterday, that number was almost 100,000 doses. We've got to make sense of this situation and we needed the help of all of our partners, because here's an opportunity to do something here now – just put those second doses into play, particularly when we know the Biden administration is going to move manufacturing of the vaccine more quickly, particularly when we know the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is coming, could just be weeks away. I really believe that when we move the second doses up and use them for first doses whenever possible, it just allows us to do the most essential thing, which is protect people. Fifty percent protection for a senior citizen is so much better than no protection at all. And again, spend some time with our seniors, and you hear this loud and clear – whenever I've talked to a senior about what this means to them, it's sounds obvious, but I'm going to say it, it's a matter of life and death. The fear that senior citizens have been living in for the last year is overwhelming. Even some protection matters so much to them, obviously medically as well as emotionally. We owe it to our seniors to use everything we've got and know that more supplies coming. So, we're going to keep fighting to do that, to make a difference for our seniors. 

Now, let's remember, and every person we vaccinate takes us one step closer to our recovery. It's as simple as that. Every person we vaccinate is another person who's not going to get this disease and that's what's going to move this city forward. So, every day we're looking for every way to speed this up, open up more sites, bring it to the people and that's essential. We need the most grassroots effort possible, the more decentralized, the more localized, the more neighborhood-based, the more trust there will be, the more impact, the more people we will reach, that's our game plan. All right, let me do one quick thing before we go to our indicators, we have some weather starting to hit us this morning. I always will say to people you're never sure what you're getting from mother nature. So, the initial reports have been pretty modest, but we've taken real precautions because many a time we get surprised by a sudden uptick in the amount of snow or the speed of a storm. So, national weather service has issued a winter weather advisory. We expect snow and sleet all day. We do expect slick conditions, icy conditions later on in the day. I really want to urge people if you don't need to drive today, don't, particularly the evening rush hour could be really slippery and difficult. I want to just urge folks, if you can stay home, stay home. If you can take mass transit, take mass transit. If you can get out earlier, if you have to get home it's going to get worse, obviously, as we get later into the day and evening. So, everyone, take precautious today. Alternate side parking is suspended today but outdoor dining will be going on. So, I'll make sure people get that, alternate side parking suspended. We expect this weather in the course of today, but it's not enough as of what we're seeing now to interfere with outdoor dining. So, outdoor dining will be open, but bundle up and stay warm out there. And then final point, everyone as always help your neighbors, New York City – people in New York City help each other. That's the beauty of this place. There's a senior citizen neighborhood or someone who really could use some help shoveling or any kind of help at all, as they go through this weather, please look out for it makes a huge, huge difference. 

Okay, let's talk about our indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 230 patients and the hospitalization rate per 100,000, 5.14. Current new cases, today's number on a seven-day average, 4,844. And number 3, percentage of New York City residents testing positive on a seven-day rolling average, 8.4 percent. Few words in Spanish. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

So, with that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist 

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A, as a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, by Chief Climate Policy Advisor Dan Zarrilli, by Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Oh, hi. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everyone. My first question, actually, Mr. Mayor, since you just mentioned outdoor dining, the Governor said New York City not ready yet for indoor dining. So, I was wondering, what have your conversations been like with the Governor about this and how are you – are you pushing to, or encouraging him to do something specific about indoor dining in New York City? 

Mayor: I appreciate that question a lot Juliet, because so many New Yorkers are really ready to support our local businesses and remind everyone it's Restaurant Week, but with a twist, it's Restaurant Week to Go this week, and please there are amazing deals out there and great opportunity to patronize our restaurants right now on delivery and takeout basis. But to Juliet's question, look, I think about the restaurants in my neighborhood, I think about the people work there, I would love to see them come back fully. I'd love to see more and more people employed. I'd love to see these businesses built up with people's hands make it through, but right now the central focus is health and safety. So, at this moment, we obviously still have way too many cases in the city. We have these new variants that we're watching really carefully. We're going to be governed by the data and the science. Right now, the data and the science tells us be careful. So, I will just say every conversation I've ever had with the Governor and his team, they are also entirely focused on the data and the science, and, you know, our goal of course, is to get people vaccinated and then the answer is clear, then we're in a position to reopen a lot of things. But right now, we got to be really careful about the numbers we're seeing. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay. Given that you just asked about variants, I have a question for you and for your health experts. There's been discussion about the variants and needing two masks, two double mask or better masks, what are your health experts’ thoughts on that? Is that advisable, should people be doing this? 

Mayor: Let me turn to Dr. Varma because we were just talking in detail last night about the new variants and what we know, and Dr. Varma, why don't you start with just a quick overview of what we know and don't know about the new variants at this point because there's obviously some alarm out there, we want to set that straight, and then you can speak to the double mask idea. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah, thank you very much for the question. We are very carefully monitoring the situation both here in New York City, as well as both nationally and globally. So, what we know is, as we've said before, that all viruses mutate, and they particularly have the opportunity to mutate when they're inside a human. So, the single best way we can prevent against these mutations is to prevent people from getting infected. The three strains that we are most concerned about and people have been tracking there are referred to by these very technical names, but people are also referring to them by the countries in which they were first detected, in the UK and South Africa and Brazil. What we know so far quite definitively is that these strains appear to be more infectious. That is one person is more likely to transmit infection to another person than the strains that have normally been circulating here in the United States. We are starting to see some evidence out of the UK that it may also be that some of these strains that are found in the UK may also be a little bit more dangerous. That is still preliminary information. It doesn't quite have the solid sort of founding of multiple different studies so were tracking it very carefully, but what's really most concerning is this infectiousness, because the more it can spread, the more people that are ultimately infected and the more complications you could have. We don't know for sure why these are more infectious. That's something that is still being evaluated and understood. 

So, in the meantime, your question about masks is very, very important and it's something we've actually been discussing actively. I think our current thinking right now, and we're going to hopefully be able to come out with some more strict guidance very soon on this is, that first of all, you should always wear a mask. You know, our single biggest problem is actually people not wearing any face covering outside of the home. So, we really, really want to emphasize to people the importance of wearing it correctly and consistently at all times. That's number one. And then number two, is if you have the opportunity to wear more than one mask, it is more likely that it's going to be helpful then it's going to be harmful. And in fact, myself, you know, I now am more starting to wear a surgical mask covered by a fabric mask. So that is really the current thinking that we have right now. That more is probably better, even though we don't know for sure why these new strains are more infections. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next we have Courtney Gross from NY1. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Courtney. How you been? 

Question: I’m good, thank you. I wanted to talk about the second dose issue and the way I'm interpreting your comments both this morning and Morning Joe on today, is that the pool of second doses that you have, the 100,000 or so, you say send them out right now, right? So, what do you say to the person who has an appointment two weeks from now to get that second dose? Are you basically telling people that you only need the one dose or that's better than nothing? 

Mayor: No – 

Question: Can you guarantee the second doses will happen? 

Mayor: Well, yeah. Listen, it's a very, very important question. Thank you for asking it because this is exactly the thing where you want to make sure people fully understand what's going on. We're absolutely committed to everyone getting their second dose, period. Everyone will get a second dose. Anyone who gets a first dose, we'll get a second dose. The question is timing in the context of the scarcity we're experiencing. So, the CDC last week said, a second dose, of course, the ideal is given exact day that you're first eligible for it, which depending on the vaccine is have three weeks or four weeks after your first dose. That's the perfect world. What we're seeing, Courtney, is we are not living in the perfect world right now. We are living in a world of total scarcity when it comes to this vaccine. So, the CDC said, if that second dose is even up to six weeks after it's perfect date, it's still entirely effective. You want to get it to people the first available moment, but if there is a small amount of lag, it's still entirely effective, Dr. Varma has spoken to that previously in these press conferences as well. So, I'm saying, so as of yesterday, we had almost 100,000 doses that could not be given for two weeks or more because there weren't enough people qualified yet that they'd gone the timeframe to be able to get a second dose. So, those doses, as I said almost a 100,000 at that point, were sitting in refrigerators that are going to have to wait for two weeks and then they get applied. I'm saying, let's use what we have now, because we obviously see more efforts being made to increase supply. We know Johnson and Johnson is coming, and even if we have to say to people, your second dose is going to be slightly delayed, it's still better to get a first dose in as many people's arms as possible to give them that 50 percent protection. That's what I'm arguing. Otherwise, what we're left with is a situation we can do very few vaccinations at all. We're just stuck right now because we don't have supply. Go ahead, Courtney. 

Question: And then what – you said, you talked to the White House this morning, so what kind of guarantee or indication from them did you get that there would actually be an increase of supply and then do you have numbers on how many doses the city is slated to get this week and how many cancellations you also had to do appointment wise? 

Mayor: I will turn to Dr. Chokshi on the latter point about what the numbers are looking at right now. If you – I'm just going to hold up a summary from Department of Health website, one of the things that I've done to clarify now, which is really important, is showing how many first doses are on hand, and as of this morning, fewer than 7,700 doses left, first doses, but over 200,000 second doses, including I said some that are way off – their use will be way off in the future. So, this is I think very, very helpful and clear. I’ll let Dr. Chokshi speak about the latest on the appointments. Look, obviously, Courtney, I want to respect conversations with the White House in terms of the specificity. They'll be making their announcements when they're ready. What I can say, just sort of compositing for you is, came away from the conversation very confident about the direction they're taking and confident that things are going to get better in the coming days. Dr. Chokshi you want to add on appointments and how many we've had to cancel? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Thank you. And so, for the specific question about how many first doses we're expecting this week, it's approximately 107,000 that we're expecting, those deliveries will occur over today and tomorrow and that will allow us to fulfill the appointments that have been scheduled through the course of this week. The goal, of course, is to not have to cancel or reschedule any appointments, but the fact of the matter is that if we have more supply, we would be able to schedule additional appointments beyond what we're expecting for this week. One of the important points here with respect to the conversation with the federal government is we know what our allocation is for this week. We'll find out either today or tomorrow what our allocation will be for next week, but for the planning purposes that the Mayor has described, we really need to know that for a far longer timeframe, to be able to plan out, prepare, and schedule appointments accordingly. 

Mayor: Amen. 

Moderator: The next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Hey, good morning, everyone, I did want to ask about the vaccine distribution, particularly with the second doses. Have you had to reschedule anyone's rescheduled appointments at any point? I know that there some people who were scheduled for sometime after last week, but I just don't know if you have that data. And then a follow-up to that is just asking about the percentage of non-New Yorkers who are getting it. Do you have any information on whether it's just people who don't work for the city? Obviously, lots of city employees live outside, but I don't know if you have that information? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi on the cancellation of appointments, what we've experienced the last week or two, and we'll get more detailed information out shortly on the composition in general. There's several things we'll be talking about and putting out publicly on the composition of who's been vaccinated. What I want to emphasize is, a lot of the people who serve us, who work in our hospitals in the five boroughs, who patrol our streets, who keep us safe from fire and emergencies, who work in our schools, a lot of those folks live outside the five boroughs, and from day one of the vaccination effort it's been clear that those folks who work for us, serve us, we want them vaccinated and we're ready to vaccinate them right here in New York City in addition to our own residents. That has been the central thrust. So, we'll get specific numbers, but of course, you're going to see in those numbers, it's been true from the beginning, substantial number of people who are not from the city, but who do serve the city and that's absolutely appropriate. Dr. Chokshi, again, clarifying on how it is gone with having to cancel or – postpone is a better word – postpone, reschedule certain appointments, including four second doses, just to give some kind of overview on that'd be helpful. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I'll be happy to and thank you for the question. I'll talk about it with respect to first dose appointments and then with respect to second dose appointments. For first dose appointments, there were some appointments that had to be rescheduled from the end of last week. Those are now all rescheduled for the end of this week and we have ensured that the supply that we're getting from the federal government this week will fulfill those appointments that have been scheduled. Those are just for city sites and specifically for the Health Department hubs that I'm referring to. We do know that other hospital systems and other places that are administering vaccine have had to reschedule some of their appointments as well, again, due to the supply issues. So, that's for first dose appointments and then briefly on second dose appointments, anyone who receives a first dose appointment either already has or will receive a second dose appointment. In the vast majority of cases, this is scheduled, you know, at the time of the first dose appointment, and when that doesn't happen for whatever reason, there are multiple safeguards in place to ensure that someone who has a first dose appointment will get a second dose appointment according to the right schedule. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Thanks, and my second question, you know, I know the last time it snowed in the city, a lot of the restaurant – well few, I don't want to say lot – but there were a decent amount of restaurants in the city had a little fun poking at, you know, the fact that active dining was still open given the weather conditions. Would you consider dining outside tonight? I don't know, show some solidarity for the restaurants. I know you're from New England that’s – you guys do that for fun, maybe hanging out in the snow? 

Mayor: Yeah, I have done outdoor dining in this kind of temperature and not a problem at all for me, I'm able to do it. Let me see about my schedule. Let me see if I can get some place and at least if I can't stay, maybe I can get some takeout or something, but this is perfectly good weather, and there's a lot of great outdoor dining set ups that have really kept people real warm and safe. They've done great. So, I encourage everyone have a winter adventure tonight. Go ahead. 

Question: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yeah, Andrew, how you doing? 

Question: Good. I wanted to just step back a couple of weeks to your daily drum beat when you were asking the state for the freedom to vaccinate relentlessly, and you prevailed to get them to open up to category 1-B, but at the time, what Governor Cuomo told us as far as his reluctance to do that was the moment he did it, we'd run out of vaccine, and sure enough, we ran out of vaccine. Does any part of you sort of regret that expansion before we have the supply to fulfill it? 

Mayor: No, not at all, Andrew. I appreciate the question. I'll tell you why I don't regret it. First of all, based on everything we understood at the time, we expected ever expanding supply. I think that is coming. I would have expected to see more evidence than it already, but I think it's coming. Second, we were seeing in a lot of the categories, those 1-A categories, real hesitancy. We had, you know, some places where we were expecting a lot of people want get vaccinated. We were getting 30 percent or 40 percent or 50 percent of those eligible who were passing on it. But meanwhile, we had seniors who felt literally their lives are in danger and they were right. Who wanted the vaccine right now, who are anxious for it, I am absolutely glad we fought for the freedom to vaccinate and every single senior who’s even gotten their first shot will tell you it was the right thing to do. Go ahead. 

Question: This follows up on Courtney and others who've asked about the second shot. You sound awfully confident at Johnson and Johnson, and other supplies are coming in. Do you not have concerns that if you do delay the second shot for folks who think they're getting it, that's some kind of an obstacle, an unanticipated problem, might then jeopardize the protection for folks who are counting on that second shot? 

Mayor: You have to always be concerned. Andrew. It would be irresponsible not to be worried, not to be concerned about any potential impact, but I'll tell you something. We've seen a trajectory already with these vaccines. The projected reality has come to pass very consistently. Dr. Varma spoke yesterday about Johnson and Johnson. Nothing's a sure thing in life, but we like what we're seeing, and we're very hopeful about it being a tight timeframe – literally, a matter of weeks before you start to see doses start to flow, and it's a single dose vaccine, which changes the entire discussion. I'm going by a real simple theory here, Andrew. I’ve got a whole lot of people who need a first dose. I've talked to people what that first dose means for them, how it makes them feel hope, how it makes them feel protected, and they in fact are protected. Even 50 percent protection is better than none to say the least. I don't think it's right to hold back the first dose from people who would be so appreciative, who would make so much of an impact on their life, when we know that we have a new administration in Washington that's going to speed supply and we have more vaccines coming, new vaccines coming, and ones that will be even faster and easier to use because it's a single dose. Why on earth would we hesitate? And we know it is safe, even if someone has to wait a bit for that second dose, that when they get it, it will have full, full impact. You could argue either side of it, but I feel passionately – I want to protect as many people as possible, and I'd rather give more people some protection, than fewer people all protection, because, again, talk to any senior citizen who feels vulnerable. I can't look up in the eye and say, hey, we could be giving you some help right now, but we're going to hold it back. It just doesn't make sense to me. 

Moderator: The next is Henry Goldman from Bloomberg. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: I’m doing okay, Henry? How are you doing in our winter wonderland today? 

Question: Doing pretty well. Hanging in there, looking forward to June-July, baseball season. 

Mayor: It's coming, Henry. 

Question: Let me ask you a question about the distribution – the demography of distribution. At the outset, there was a lot of emphasis on getting the vaccine to people who have been historically disenfranchised, disproportionately affected. How is the demography shaping up in terms of who's getting the vaccine in New York? Are these people being served or do we have a problem here? 

Mayor: Well, we're going to be providing the data later on this week, and I'll be getting a fuller briefing on that. What we know is we always have to focus efforts on the communities hardest hit by COVID. They are the most vulnerable communities in this city, for so many reasons – because of what we already learned painfully with their experience with COVID already, because these are also communities where people have gotten historically much less health care than they deserve. So, unquestionably, the data's going to continue to remind us of that fact, but we'll put out the specifics, and I think what is so crucial here is building trust. This is why I keep saying you cannot have a vaccination effort with, you know, just big central locations. That those are great, but that's not enough. You have to go deep into communities. If you're going to fight disparity? If you're going to make sure that people have real concerns about the vaccine, have those concerns answered? You have to go deep into communities, you have to get community organizations involved. You have to go, as we've been doing, right into public housing developments. You need clergy and community leaders – they are themselves encouraging people. That's how you fight the disparities. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Okay. When do you think the city will be able to get past the supply problem and really have a system that's running on all cylinders, where the vaccine supply is adequate and up to the task of running a 24/7 operation out of Citi Field, Yankee Stadium, et cetera? When is that going to— 

Mayor: Yeah, I'll tell you two answers that are both true, but are different parts of the equation. Our ability to hit half a million vaccinations per week: February, unquestionably. February, I'd say first or second week, but definitely February. The supply: I can't give you an exact date on the supply. I can tell you that if the federal government was able to either intensify supply, or improve delivery, or do some shifting of supply to where there are places with very fast distribution versus places with slower, and then, you know, backfill after that, that could make a huge difference, that might get us to the level we need. Certainly, Johnson & Johnson might get us to level we need, and that's potentially just a few weeks away. I don't have the perfect date when we have the supply to go with the half million per week rate. I know our capacity to go to a half million a week is in basically the next week or two. Go ahead, Henry – oh I'm sorry. We got both. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Kayla from FOX 5. 

Question: Hi, Mayor de Blasio. How are you? 

Mayor: Good Kayla, how’ve you been? 

Question: Good. My first question is piggybacking off of the first question about indoor dining. It sounds like you agree with Governor Cuomo, at this point – his stance on not allowing indoor dining in New York City just yet. But there are other regions in New York State, well, everywhere in New York State for that matter, with higher positivity rates that have been allowed indoor dining in some capacity, and they too are seeing their numbers come down. DC, another city that's starting to allow indoor dining at a 25 percent capacity. So, can you just clarify why you're still in favor of keeping those businesses closed? 

Mayor: Yeah. Kayla, thank you for the question. Again, let's go right back to the data and the science. You said the most important words. There are places that have seen their numbers come down and then they reopened indoor dining. That's exactly what we want. I want to see indoor dining reopened when it's safe. We’re obviously the biggest city in the country, incredibly densely packed place. We were the epicenter of this crisis. We lost tens of thousands of New Yorkers. We're going to be really careful and smart about when we let people get back together in close proximity with their masks off because they're eating and drinking, because this has been an issue all over the world. So, when the numbers come down, and we're confident that a staying down that is a great time to do it, but obviously we're not seeing that yet. I gave you the numbers earlier and we're worried about these new variants, so that that's what's on my mind. Go ahead, Kayla. 

Question: My second question is somewhat similar. It's about the wedding industry. A lot of people postponed their 2020 wedding to 2021 and are now wondering if they should be pushing their date. Second, maybe third time given the vaccine rollout has been somewhat messy, let's just say, I wonder if the city is considering ways to allow larger gatherings under conditions that there's maybe proof of vaccination, rapid testing. The uncertainty of course puts a bunch of industries in tough positions, catering, venues, florists, so forth. 

Mayor: I have very important question. What I'd say is, you know, I get why people are frustrated, obviously, because we all want this vaccination, you know, all over the country want to see vaccination move much, much more quickly for everyone's good. I got to say, sort of, from a perspective of appreciating things, I still want to note the fact that we got a vaccine in December was a miracle to begin with, and the fact that this country is approaching a million vaccinations a day is not a minor matter. That's still a really good thing. We got to go a lot faster, but to your point about weddings and all. Look, if we can have tools that will help us to give people the standards that will protect them. That's something I want to see us do, but I think we're not quite there yet, because again, we've got, unfortunately we've seen increases in cases in recent weeks, by a lot. A lot more people in the hospital. We have the new variants we're worrying about. I don't like the notion of us thinking about big gatherings indoors in that atmosphere. I think as things start to turn, we can do more and more to figure out how can we facilitate the right kind of gatherings. But the real answer, if someone said to me, in fact, someone did at my barbershop last week, they said “hey, I was planning a wedding for April. What should I do?” And I said, you know, I got to tell you, you're going to be a lot better off in the summer with the rate we're going with vaccination. I would not be planning a wedding for the spring, if I had the option to do it for the summer. Now, I understand folks want to get married and make cases as fast as possible. They might want to consider getting, you know, a civil or religious ceremony to become married, but doing the gathering, the party, the reception in the summer, that is just my commonsense advice, but we are going to look for ways to help once we see a real improvement in the health care situation. 

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Aundrea from WCBS. 

Question: Good morning. My first question is about homebound seniors. Council members and state lawmakers are going to be unveiling a plan later this afternoon. Where does the City's plan stand? And if there isn't one yet, are you at all open to hearing suggestions from the community? 

Mayor: Yeah, so I'll start and I will turn to Dr. Chokshi and then if Dr. Katz or Dr. Varma want to add. We're always open. Look, this is we're in the middle of a crisis, Aundrea. We are always open to good ideas, and over the last couple of weeks, we've talked about homebound seniors as a particular challenge. Now, for seniors who can get around, we announced different transportation options to help them get to vaccinations for seniors who didn't have their own transportation. I think that's going pretty well, but homebound seniors who literally need an individualized approach, you know, someone able to give the vaccine safely has to go to their home. That's obviously much more complex, takes a lot of labor, but we're devoted to getting it done, particularly as we get more vaccine. So, Dr. Chokshi will give you our latest thinking on that, and then we certainly look forward to the suggestions from the legislators. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, and this is such an important issue with respect to ensuring that we're getting vaccinations to some of the people who will most benefit from it. Certainly, I think about the patients that I've taken care of over the years who have limited mobility, or are fully homebound and it's particularly important for us to be able to serve them. As the Mayor has alluded to we're really thinking about this in three primary ways the first is ensuring that the sites that we set up, particularly city sites, but also working with other partners who are vaccinating to make them as accessible as possible setting up, you know, areas where people who find it difficult to walk or need a wheelchair are able to access those sites as easily as possible. That's number one. 

Number two, as the Mayor has said, is ensuring that we have transportation options for people who may be partially homebound or may require further assistance with respect to actually getting to a place where vaccine is delivered, and then the third part is acknowledging that there are some homebound seniors who will not be able to leave their homes and that means bringing the vaccine to them. We're actively planning for this, both in NYCHA developments, as well as more broadly to set up more mobile options for vaccination. We do have to be upfront about the fact that the vaccines that we have for them to remain safe and effective do have certain handling and transport requirements, and so of course we want to do it in a safe way, that still meets those access imperatives. Thank you. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Aundrea. 

Question: Second question is just to piggyback on the kind of the equity framework, when you're talking about going into communities, using clergy and stuff. Can we just go a little bit deeper about that? Because just because a site may open up in a hard-hit community does not necessarily mean that community are the ones that are getting the vaccine. People have been coming from all over the city to just try to get this coveted vaccine. What are you doing in terms of an information campaign? Are Zoom meetings happening? Are people knocking on doors? Is there something more personal happening to get to convince people? 

Mayor: Yeah, all of that has begun and will deepen. That's absolutely the approach. You know, our vaccine command center from the beginning, with the leadership of Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog, has been devoted to creating a grassroots effort with a heavy outreach component, literally down to things like the knocking on doors and the Zoom meetings, as you said. Town hall meetings via Zoom, getting the maximum amount of local community leadership upfront in the process. Using community health care providers, using community-based organizations to lead the way locally. There's going to be hesitancy. Look, I mean, we already know, we knew it from the beginning. There is a lot of hesitancy in general. That's not a news flash. Clearly the clear majority of New Yorkers want the vaccine, but there's still a lot of hesitancy in a variety of communities. We know that hesitancy is intensified in communities of color, where there's been mistrust and historical evidence of why people should feel mistrust because of things that happened that the government and the medical community did over the years, and did wrong because of institutional racism. That mistrust, unfortunately, comes from someplace real. 

But the answer to it is to just make the vaccine as easily available, widely available with as many community-trusted voices connected to it, and I think you're going to see a human thing happen, Aundrea, where folks will see someone they trust offering the vaccine or someone they trust getting the vaccine and that's going to encourage them, and it takes some time, but it creates kind of a virtuous cycle and things move forward. That's the basic game plan. Doctors Katz, Chokshi Varma, anything I left out that you want to add? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I think you covered it, sir. 

Mayor: Okay. I'm unless someone else jumps in, I'm going to assume I got it. Okay. Everyone, as we conclude today, look, we got a lot of work ahead, but I am really optimistic when it comes to our vaccine effort. Because as I said, I know when we get to full speed, half million vaccinations a week, it's going to have an amazing impact and a really quick impact on the people of this city, and I really do have confidence in administration of Washington that they're going to help us get it done. But, in the meantime, we remember there's a lot of other things we have to do. We have to get ready to bring this city back fully – our recovery ahead. New Yorkers should be proud of the way we can spark positive change and we can make a difference, and that's what we're going to keep doing. Thank you, everybody.

2021-01-27 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Of course, I want to talk about the really important announcement yesterday by President Biden, and it's a really hopeful announcement for this city and for this country.

So, speaking of getting our city safer, the reality, I'm so pleased to say, is that we're seeing real efforts in Washington D.C. to help us. And, boy, that's a refreshing thing to be able to say, because I couldn't say that for a long time in 2020. We got confusion, and we got backsliding, and we got a lack of owning responsibility, but now we're seeing the exact opposite – President Biden's owning the mission. He is giving us clear, clear indications of where he is going and that he wants to keep upping the bar, making this vaccination effort stronger and stronger all the time. Look, this new leadership is making a difference. We're getting a clear sense of where our country's going, what's going to happen to our supply, additional short-term supply, which we need, but, crucially, the President's decision to go ahead and order 200 million more doses of the vaccine and speed up this process – really good news for all of us. For New York City, what it means immediately, we'll be getting 30 percent more doses of the Moderna vaccine, starting next week. That means about 17,000 more doses each week for us. That means 17,000 more shots of hope, 17,000 more New Yorkers who are safer and are feeling that confidence and that sense of peace that comes with getting vaccinated, even just the first time, and knowing that things are going to be better. So, this is really, really important for us. And when you think about it – again, I'm the first to say, we're going to need a lot more than that, but I'm also really happy to get those 17,000 new doses. And I think about the senior citizens in my life, I think about the folks who work in my neighborhood, who protect all of us. I think of the folks in the grocery store. I think of the folks in the local hospital. I think of all the folks who need the vaccine. We're able to reach so many more because of what the President has done. That's tremendously helpful. And we're going to keep pushing for more beyond that. 

Just to give you a sense of where we stand now, as New York City, from the beginning of our vaccination effort, here's today's number – we have vaccinated 673,405 doses. We have provided 673,405 doses of the vaccine, since the beginning. To give you a perspective, that is more people than in the entire city of Detroit, Michigan. And this effort will keep growing so long as we have the supply. Now, what can we do about it? The supply – I've talked about several things that would help us go faster – more supply from the federal government and the manufacturers, more flexibility from the federal government, the State, the ability to use those second doses now that aren't going to be used until – you know, can't be used for weeks. Let's put them into play now. But there's one more thing I want to talk about – the ability of the federal government to use the Defense Production Act to expand production. Remember, Defense Production Act allows the federal government to act as if in wartime and say to private businesses and manufacturers, you're now serving the people, you're going to do what we need you to do 24-seven, whatever it takes. Here's a headline from yesterday's Wall Street Journal that, I think, puts up real point on what I'm saying. One of the most important pharmaceutical companies in the country, Merck, was working on their own vaccine. It did not succeed. But, clearly, they're a huge pharmaceutical company. They have the ability to produce a vaccine. They were trying to create their own. I think the federal government needs to use the Defense Production Act to say to Merck, and other pharmaceutical companies, we need you now to produce the existing vaccines from Moderna, from Pfizer, and, hopefully, soon from Johnson & Johnson. I know that when you hear that, it's like, well, that's not the way the private sector works. And what about patents? And what about profits? You know, all that stuff to be thrown out the window in the middle of this crisis. All that matters is vaccinating the most Americans as quickly as possible, bringing life back, saving lives, getting our economy back, recovering. All those normal rules, all the concepts of corporate propriety and profit should be thrown out the window. The federal government should simply say to Merck, this is what we need you to do. We need you to produce the vaccines we already have so we can speed the supply. Here's an obvious example, and I hope that the federal government acts forcefully. And you know what, if they do, we can talk about a whole new reality, because we now have proven that we can vaccinate 500,000 – we can give 500,000 doses a week if we had the supply. Let's innovate the new ways all over the country and get that supply in the hands of New York City and cities and towns and counties all over the country, and turn the page. 

Okay. Now, we all know when it comes to vaccination, there's the supply – the number-one problem, supply, supply, supply – but we also know there's also real hesitancy out there and people who need to hear from trusted voices. And, yesterday, we had a powerful gathering of faith leaders. This is something we do at the start of every year. We've historically done it in person. It was virtual this time. Cardinal Dolan started us off, and he's been such a great partner in the work we do, and so many other wonderful faith leaders were a part of this. And the number-one topic was making sure that congregants of all faiths had confidence in the test, addressing the hesitancy, overcoming the hesitancy, and really faith leaders are going to be some of the most powerful voices in this effort. And I said to all of them, we need you, because your congregants will listen and believe in you in a very special way. And I want to tell you, the faith leaders have always risen to the occasion. Throughout my experience as Mayor, I've called upon faith leaders to help the city and they've answered the call every single time in powerful ways. In this case, particularly, in communities of color, we all know there's a history of institutional racism that has to be overcome. There's distrust of the government and the medical field. We need to overcome that with a lot of information and a lot of clear answers, but especially the voices of trusted leaders from the community, and our faith leaders are really stepping up, and they're reminding us and all those out there, including the hesitant folks, that we have witnessed something of a miracle. Rabbi Joseph Potasnik talked about this yesterday in the gathering, that the vaccine, the speed with which it arrived is amazing to begin with, but it's also creating the miracle of healing, that we're going to see people heal, families heal, neighborhoods, heal, our city heal, our country heal before our very eyes. And what a moment of faith rewarded that will be. There are real issues to address, and one of the most obvious is our clergy are at the front lines all the time. They're helping families in distress. They're working with families to convince them of how important it is to take the vaccine. Unfortunately, sometimes they're comforting families who have lost loved ones. They're right there at the front line and they are vulnerable themselves and we need to support them. A suggestion in the gathering yesterday from Imam Tahir, of the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center in Staten Island, a great faith leader I've known for a long time – he said, hey, what about clergy? They need to be vaccinated too, so they can keep doing that frontline work. I agree. As the categories are expanded, and I think there are some areas where we need to expand right now and have the freedom to vaccinate clergy. I think that's a crucial example, because of the extraordinarily important work they do. Clergy members should be vaccinated. Folks in the criminal justice field, folks who are going to be jurors. We've talked about this before. We need jurors. We need jury trials. Again, jurors should be vaccinated. Prosecutors, folks preparing the cases, folks who work in the courthouses, so we can get the court system going – crucial to our safety. Folks who take us where we are going, our TLC licensed drivers; folks who keep the city clean, our Sanitation workers – there's other categories of folks who need to be vaccinated and we need to keep expanding those categories. And, of course, we need supply, supply, supply to go with it. So, again, really powerful yesterday to be with the faith leaders. And it gave me faith. It gave me hope that so many great people are out there protecting all of us by encouraging people to do the right thing and to support each other. 

Okay. Quick point before we go to indicators. So, last night – and I want to thank Katie Honan, of the Journal who suggested on a cold winter night, that'd be a good night for going to outdoor dining. And I didn't have enough time to sit down and really have a full meal, but I did want to patronize one of our restaurants and also emphasize that Restaurant Week is going on, but it's Restaurant Week To Go. So, I went up to Felice 83 on the Upper East Side. This – again, this is the first ever Restaurant Week To Go. And what a great restaurant that is. And they were ready for me, I want to thank the owner, Jacopo Giustiniani, and the manager, Flavio Forgione, for their great work. They have a great, great establishment. Now, they said something interesting last night. I was over there somewhere in the neighborhood of 8 o’clock, 8:30 PM. They said they had already done 100 takeout meals and it was because of Restaurant Week To Go, that there's a really incredible response to this. And so, everyone, look, I know there's people constantly saying, hey, how can I help my fellow New Yorker? What can I do? Here's a simple thing – help our restaurant industry, help our amazing restaurants, help the people who work in them and take advantage of a Restaurant Week To Go. $20 and 21 cents, you'll get an amazing deal. And if you want to see the list of restaurants, go to nycgo.com/restaurantweek. 

All right, quickly, our indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 279 patients. And hospitalization rate per 100,000 – 5.15. Number two, current new cases – today's number, 4,621. That's on a seven-day average. Number three, percentage of New York City residents who tested positive, seven-day rolling average – today’s report, 8.08%. And now, a few words in Spanish. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Ted Long, by Dr. Torian Easterling, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. The first question today, it goes to Narmeen from PIX 11. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Narmeen. How have you been? 

Question: I'm doing well. Thank you. I wanted to ask you about the second dose issue that – you've been bringing this up for a couple of weeks now, wanting those second doses to be released. At this point, you've had a number of conversations with the White House. Any more guidance? My understanding is that you do need federal approval to get those vaccines released as first doses. Again, you've been talking about it for a couple of weeks. Any idea whether this is a real possibility? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's definitely a real possibility, Narmeen, because the most important point was the healthcare guidance from the CDC, where they said, last week, knowing that we're dealing with a shortage, knowing we're dealing with scarcity all over the country, that, that second dose, we all want it given on the exact perfect day. Everyone would like everything to be perfect. But the CDC said, they're saying up to six weeks after that ideal day is still acceptable. They made that a formal advisory. And, as Dr. Varma has explained, once you get that second dose, it is fully effective. So, whether you get it on your perfect second dose day, or a day later, or a week later, or two weeks later, it does not change the effectiveness of the outcome. We, of course, want to be urgent. We're going to get everyone a second dose. We want it to be as close to the exact perfect day as possible. So, the CDC has acted. What I want to see is the next step from the federal government and State government to specifically direct localities to do that, to say we're in a scarcity dynamic, we're in a wartime reality – direct localities do that, make clear there is no penalty for using second-dose supplies that are slated for future times, getting them in play now. So, we need that clear sharp guidance, but there has been a major step in the right direction from the CDC. Go ahead, Narmeen. 

Question: Mayor, I also want to ask you about the Bronx. I spoke to the Bronx Borough President yesterday, and their infection rates continue to be the highest among our five boroughs, and he said that they need help. He says it's like a game of whack-a-mole is how he described it, as infection rates go up in one particular part of the Bronx, they try to target it with increased PEE, awareness, education campaigns, and then it pops up somewhere else. While we, thankfully, have the supply boost coming, eventually, how do we get a handle of not only just the Bronx, but like the New York Times report indicated more than 50 – about 54 ZIP codes that have these increasing rates. How do we get a handle of that? 

Mayor: Look, I'd say it's vaccine, vaccine, vaccine, and supply, supply, supply – and that's the ballgame right now. We are going to keep doing all the things we normally do, Narmeen, the intensive outreach, reminding people of the smart healthcare rules, the testing we're doing, all this stuff. And Dr. Chokshi has been really clear, if you're older and you have pre-existing conditions – either, or both – don't go out, stay in, really keep your activities minimal, and that's going to help. But the game changer, the only game changer is the vaccine. So, it's all about getting the supply and getting it to people need it and overcoming some of the hesitancy that's the ballgame. 

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Good morning, Michael. How’ve you been? 

Question: I'm good. How are you? 

Mayor: I'm hanging in brother. 

Question: We did a story a week, a week and a half ago about a shortage of rapid tests. I believe there's a national shortage in the chemical reagent used for these tests, which has affected the supply in the city. I want to say it's the Abbott Laboratories region, if I recall correctly. I was wondering if you, or, you know, one of your health advisors could talk to us about, you know, how many of these tests this is city have on hand now, and has this situation changed at all for the better, for the worse? Could you, kind of, give us a little more detail on what's going on with the rapid test supply? 

Mayor: So I'm going to turn to Dr. Long. but let me just say this: rapid tests are a good and important tool, but we've always known, originally there were concerns about accuracy. Then there would have been concerns about supply throughout. So, I look at it as we have a lot of tools, a lot of ways we're going to ultimately win this battle, but rapid tests – there's always been a bit of a challenge on the supply front. So, I just want to frame it and say, unfortunately, one way, this is not a new problem, Dr. Long, you want to give the latest? 

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps: Yeah, absolutely. So, the test you're referring to is the Abbott ID Now, which is a rapid PCR test. Anytime, in that situation where we have a lower supply, we bring in another type of test. So, what we're doing is in a different Abbot test called the Abbott Binaxnow test, which we have plenty of. We actually replenished since you wrote that article, the supply of our ID Now reagent too. So, we do not have a shortage of reagent now. Even further than that, we have 35 mobile units that are around the city. So, in addition to how we're doing testing in our brick-and-mortar sites, the bulk of our mobile units, we've now armed with rapid testing as well with the antigen tests. So, we have plenty of rapid tests or we're moving around the city now and people vote with their feet. In New York City, now, we're regularly doing more than 100,000 tests a day, PCR and rapid tests. So, we have the supply we need, and it's one of the most heartwarming things about my job is seeing New Yorkers seeing the value in this and coming out to get tested, to keep our city safe. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. The next is how Josefa from The City. 

Question: How are you? 

Mayor: Hey, Josefa. How are you? 

Question: Great, thank you. So, I'm following up on a story we wrote last night about a vaccination center in Washington Heights that was built to help members of the community that were hardest hit from the pandemic. As it turns out, it seemed that a lot of people from out of town, even out of the state, or are getting vaccinated at this site. So, I'm wondering what more could the City do to ensure that the folks who live in these neighborhoods who have been harder to hit by the coronavirus pandemic are getting access to vaccine, or what did it need from the state to make sure that some of these communities are able to get appointments? 

Mayor: Thank you, Josefa. That's a really crucial question, and I'm going to turn to Dr. Easterling, but first say: this issue was brought to my attention on Friday caller two WNYC and it's – I'm really troubled by what I'm hearing. I mean, here, you have a site in the middle of an incredibly hard hit neighborhood, a community largely of immigrants, a Latino community that was one of the places that bore the brunt of the COVID crisis. I want to see Columbia-Presbyterian do everything they can to reach the surrounding community. That should be the mandate. That should be the focus of that center period. There's plenty of people who want the vaccine in the community that's who the opportunity should be focused on. So, yes, it's a private institution and we'll certainly, you know, work with the state on this as well, but the whole idea of a successful vaccination effort must be community-based. It can't be that we're just having central sites that folks who might be more privileged are focusing on, it has to be deep into communities, neighborhood sites, trusted local providers and community people have to see those sites are really for them, and they're not being somehow left out of sites in their own community. So, this needs to be fixed right away. Dr. Easterling could you speak to either, if there has been any engagement with Columbia-Presbyterian about this site or, or what we could do to start to fix this situation? 

First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Absolutely. Thank you, Mayor. So, this site in Washington Heights, that's a state site, but we do know that the Washington Heights site with Presbyterian, they are looking at how they can really make sure that they're prioritizing the appointments for residents who do live in that area. But we also know that there are non-residents who do work in New York City, who are eligible for vaccinations in the city, and so we know that that is acceptable. But I think, you know, to the Mayor's point, we're going to really continue to work with our community-based organizations, our faith-based organizations, and this was the point that we brought up in our interface virtual breakfast yesterday, we need our partners, we need them to help with the messaging, and they're also helping to make sure that individuals can get scheduled for appointments and inform seniors, make sure that they're getting access to transportation if they need it. So, that type of partnership is really going to make sure that we're focusing on those neighborhoods that have been disproportionately impacted. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Josefa. 

Question: And do you have any update as to when we might be seeing the demographic data for the vaccine last night? Gothamist reported that the City had been posting some early data that shows stark racial disparities in excess. Why did the City stop or pull the data from their website? 

Mayor: Yeah, Josefa, I really want to emphasize to everyone. I have said many times in the last few days, literally, this data is being pulled together, finalized, it will come out in the next few days. Just to all of you, and all your colleagues, couldn't be clear, we're getting this data to you literally in a matter of days, but it has to be accurate, and part of what we saw in that initial data, it did not give a very complete or consistent picture. The data, as I understand it, that Gothamist had was from the first few days of vaccination, when the only category that could be vaccinated was one, health care workers, and what we saw was some absolute disparity, but it was disparity based on people's decisions. Health care workers were given broadly the not only the right to get vaccinated, but it was right there in their own facilities. A lot of people chose not to. Dr. Katz spoke about the experience in health and hospitals, hospitals, for example, that's someone's right. If they're not ready yet. So, that early experience is not at all indicative of what we've seen, however, as more and more vaccinations have happened, the hesitancy levels are going down. Also that early data did not involve community-based vaccination. Now, we've started in earnest doing community-based vaccination with seniors. It's a very different picture. So, clearly there are disparities we're going to have to address, and, clearly, we're going to deepen outreach, but I don't want a few days of early data when it was just one kind of worker to be mistaken for the larger reality. 

Moderator: The next is Nolan from the Post. 

Question: How are you? 

Mayor: Hey, Nolan. How’ve you been. 

Question: I’m alright. To follow-up on Josefa’s question, there's not only this instance of the site in Washington Heights, where apparently the website is only available – to get an appointment, it’s only in English, and the staff apparently only speaks English. There've also been complaints about the lack of translated materials for the City-run vaccination sites too. Local community activists on the Lower East Side have told us the materials are only available, properly translated in Spanish. There's no proper translation yet for Chinese and some of the other major languages here in the city. So, one does the City have the authority to order private hospitals and other facilities to make the materials available in other languages, and two, why is the City behind the ball and getting these materials available in languages other than English? 

Mayor: Alright, let me test the question with Dr. Easterling and Dr. Long. Obviously, between their two agencies, a lot of test sites that have a long – and by the way, Department of Health and Health + Hospitals have a long and really positive history of reaching out to all communities in all languages. So, I want to test, I want to ask them in a moment if what you're hearing, Nolan, is accurate and if it needs to be addressed and obviously if it does need to be addressed, we should do it forcefully, and we should ensure that every institution does the same. 

The Washington Heights site, if it's true that the appointments are not available in Spanish, that's mind boggling to me, and Dr. Easterling will follow up again with Columbia-Presbyterian and the state to get that resolved. But we want to make information available in every language. Our vaccine command center has among its many responsibilities and missions to make sure that vaccine distribution is equitable and effective on the ground and decentralized and grassroots, and that means using multiple languages. So, Dr. Easterling, Dr. Long, what can you tell us? 

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Yeah, you're absolutely correct, Mr. Mayor. So, we are making sure that we have staff on site to receive individuals will be able to respond to them in their languages, certainly English and Spanish. Our materials also being printed in English and Spanish, and so we can certainly follow up. If there are ways that we need to address the need to fill those gaps, we can certainly do that. Also, on our website, our frequently asked questions can be translated as well, in the top 13 languages. So, this is something that we certainly strive to do to make sure that we are being responsive to our diverse community. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Long. 

Executive Director Long: Yeah, what I would add to that, and I completely agree with everything. Dr. Easterling said is that we have our language line that we use every single day in New York City Health + Hospitals, that we'll use for the phone line that you call in Vax for NYC, to be interpreted to any language, and also staff on each of our sites have access to that same language line. That's the same language line that we use by the way, in my personal primary care practice in Morrisania in the Bronx. I have one patient, who I always think about when I think about the language line, she speaks a rare African dialect, and in her life, not many people can really communicate with her, because it's not a commonly spoken dialect, but every time she sees me, she smiles because she knows that the language line in my clinic will enable me to effectively communicate with her. Every person that comes to one of our sites or the calls, the phone line has that same access. Elmhurst Hospital is the most diverse hospital in the entire world. That's exactly what they use there to. So, New Yorkers coming in for vaccines calling us, or they're in person get the same quality care that we are world experts in in New York City Health + Hospitals. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. Nolan. 

Question: All right. So, just to clarify, because there are two separate health systems in the city – you have the public health system, and you have the private health system. Does the City have the authority to order private health systems to provide materials in multiple common languages in the city? Secondly, in terms of the public health system, we're told that completing the applications to get appointments, all the information you have to provide about your health care history, your insurance, whether or not you actually tick the boxes and you are eligible, and those applications are only available in English and Spanish and the best at the city's doing right now for other common languages in the city like French, French Creole, Chinese, Hebrew, Russian, et cetera, is a Google translate function that doesn't carry over to many of the application pieces. So, when will those applicants – so when will all the information you have to submit, when will those forms be available for the public health system in languages, other than English and Spanish. 

Mayor: Very good question though, and I really do appreciate it because we got to get this right, and it's a huge sprawling effort, but we got to make sure it is inclusive as possible. So, I'm going to open this up to whichever doctor and we have Dr. Varma as well. Whoever wants to start on the authority to require private health providers to provide information in other languages. I don't know, and we might have to check counsel on that one, but does any of the three doctors know if that can be a direct order or is that something we have to do through collaboration? It sounds like none of them are sure. We're going to come back— 

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: We don't have to do it through collaboration. Well, we've already been in touch with Presbyterian, and so we will follow up. 

Mayor: Okay. Thank you, Nolan, because that's one, if we don't have the ability to order it, we have to really very aggressively make sure and Torian, if you'll take the lead on this, that we're checking in with every hospital to make sure they're doing it. If they need some of our help doing it, we can do it. On the question of the forums, the sign-ups, the applications for appointments. They really do need to be in multiple languages as this grows out. So, again, any of the doctors have an update on that. How are we going to move beyond English and Spanish? And if not, we'll get back to Nolan with a more specific timeline. Does any one of you have an update? 

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: No, sir. No specific update at this time. We will follow up with Nolan to make sure that he also has an update. 

Executive Director Long: I would just – if I may, I would just add, Nolan, that this is one of the reasons why we set up the language line within our phone systems, so that if you have trouble completing the forums, you have a place you can go, you can call where somebody can help you to register for your appointments. And again, when you call that line, you have access to many, many different languages, and dialects. It’s the same thing I use to treat my patients in the Bronx. 

Mayor: No, I appreciate that. And that, that is not a minor matter, Ted, that's a great service. I know it's been incredibly helpful. Your example of the woman who is your patient is a great one, but Nolan’s raising an important point, and then I'll say, you know, you got to give credit where credit is due when the New York Post is right, there right. And this one he's right. This – the actual forms to sign up for the appointments need to be in languages other than just English and Spanish, if will really going to maximize access. So, we will get to work on fixing that. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Rich Lamb from WCBS 880. 

Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor. Good to talk to you and everybody on the line – 

Mayor: Rich, I'm going to interrupt you if you'll be so kind. I heard your news and I have to just take a moment before you're asked your questions, just to tell you, it is really been a privilege serving in public life with you and I mean it. You are just as good as it gets in journalism and you're someone with an incredibly good heart. I know you give a lot of time of yourself volunteering and helping outside your work, but you've really shown everyone, you know, a great example of a compassionate and decent approach to getting people the news they need and I really want to thank you, and I can tell you, you know, the people in New York City are going to miss you. 

Question: Well, I'm blushing, obviously, and thank you very much. I'm very humbled to have to, to have had this privileged status of being able to ask you questions and previous mayor's questions and to do the stories that came out of it. So, thanks for that. But I do have a question here, and it's about the vaccines. So, we know the – you know, the supply of the vaccine is the big issue, but why, you know, I haven't heard it explained why, you know, we heard everything beforehand, was it, oh, they're making millions of doses of this vaccine in advance, and once they pull the trigger, boom, here we go. What is it? The manufacturers? Is it the distribution network? And I know you know, the previous administration gets some blame, but what's happening right now? Why is it we can't get this thing rolling? 

Mayor: I'm going to give you my perspective and then, you know, Dr. Varma may have something to add because he's really watched this process carefully all over the world. Rich, my simple answer would be this, I'm going to say, and I have said before, give the Trump administration their share a credit for having sped the vaccine development process so that the vaccine that actually showed up in December, that's a pretty big deal. But what didn't happen throughout the whole crisis, including on testing and including on PPE was truly creating a national mobilization. I spoke to President Trump many times about this. I spoke publicly many times. I think the military should have been front and center. I think the Defense Production Act should have been used in the fullest. I think private companies should have been put on a public basis for the purpose of solving the greatest crisis arguably in American history. That didn't happen. And that example I gave earlier of Merck, how is it that a massive pharmaceutical company that was trying to make their own vaccine, they couldn't, they're just sitting there going on with their business doing other things when instead of being ordered to produce the vaccines we do have. I think there was a lack of assertiveness and ownership in the White House in the previous administration. There's a chance now to fix that. Joe Biden's moving in the right direction. Jay, you want to add anything? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, I mean, I'll just try to clarify a little bit on this. To be perfectly honest we don't have insight into which steps of the vaccine process are, you know, are resulting in certain delays, but to give you just some insight into this, these are just incredibly complex processes. First you have what's called the vaccine ingredients, which are all of the components that are needed to assemble and create the RNA that's used as well as the packaging around it, which is a fat package it's called lipid nanoparticles – 

Mayor: Okay, don't get – don't get in too deep here – Jay, I'm interrupting you. We don't need the whole history of vaccine. The bottom-line question is what could have been done to speed it up as best, you know? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, at this point, I'm not sure that there's anything that we know about what would have sped it up. My understanding is all of these US-based companies have really dedicated all of their resources to producing this and getting it into hands as quickly as possible. It's really about this last mile allocation from manufacturing point to where we need to distribute it. 

Mayor: Right. I think, and I do think, Rich, that's crucial. The supply chain issues obviously are very real, and again, I think the military is not being used sufficiently in that, but I keep coming back to if business, as usual, isn't working, then don't do business as usual. Get the other companies on a footing where they're serving the national interest at the direction of the federal government. That's what happens in war time and that's what should happen here. Go ahead, Rich. 

Question: Okay. And you know, I really neglected to thank you for your kind words, and I do appreciate them. One of my other question, is now it's my understanding and I didn't hear him say this, that Governor Cuomo has apparently ruled out the use of the second doses as first shots, and you're still appealing, I guess, to the federal authorities about this. And if they were to give you the green light, would you be able to go ahead with it the over the Governor's objections or you think that would be a problem? 

Mayor: I have not heard of a particularly specific statement from anyone at the State of this. They may have said it. I haven't heard it, but let me be clear, I'm saying this is not just for New York City. This should be for the whole country. I think the federal government should direct state governments and local governments to use second doses that are waiting, again, as of two days ago – I know the number changes every day – but as of two days ago, we had almost a hundred thousand doses waiting for at least two weeks to be administered, just sitting there in reserve. That's what I object to Rich. It doesn't make sense when we have tens of thousands of people who want to get vaccinated now, who want a first shot to give them some kind of protection. Think about the seniors in your life. Think about the people you love. The difference between getting a first shot versus getting zero, getting nothing. So, I think it should be a federal directive that second doses get put into play, particularly as we're seeing evidence that more and more production is coming, including soon Johnson and Johnson. Just makes sense to use everything you have now with backup coming soon. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Matt Chaye’s from Newsday. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and congratulations to Rich on his retirement. My question, my first one is, there instructions on the city's a frequently asked question webpage that that appear to conflict with your rules for who's eligible to be vaccinated at city sites. I'm quoting here, “if you are eligible for a vaccine based on your age, you must show proof of age and New York residency”, and other instructions on city web pages and your instructions at these briefings explicitly say that someone needs to be the city resident. So, what happens to some – well, first what's up with that? And then the second is what happens to someone who got a first dose from the city probably you shouldn't have, and are they, you know, out of luck for getting a second shot in the city? Like, what do you do with these people? 

Mayor: Yeah, I don’t want to govern by exception, Matt, it's a fair question, but I want to say, you know, the city provided sites, Health + Hospital sites, Department of Health sites, we are adamant, we are here to serve people live in the five boroughs and folks who happen to live outside the five boroughs, but serve us in hospitals, fire department, police department, education, you name it. That's our focus. These are public agencies here to serve the public. That's what we're going to do. The private hospitals obviously governed by state regulation. That's a more challenging situation. We have more work to do on this, but I would say the obvious, a private hospital in New York City should focus its efforts on people who live in the five boroughs and folks who serve us in the five boroughs because all the surrounding counties are getting their own allotments of the vaccine. Folks who live in other counties should go to the distribution sites in their counties and get their vaccine. That is the fairest outcome. But with the private hospitals, we have some more work to do for sure. Look, Matt, anyone who gets a first dose should not be deprived of a second dose, obviously, but I think the important thing, and that example from Columbia-Presbyterian in Washington Heights is crucial. We have got to be rigorous about making sure vaccine in New York City goes to the people of New York City. Go ahead. 

Question: On a related matter, we've spoken with youths who were volunteering their time to help older folks who are basically incapable of navigating this like opaque thicket of five websites and phone numbers and all that. To what extent are you looking to have helpers, whether young people or other volunteers, help all the older folks deal with navigating this bureaucracy? 

Mayor: I think it's a great question how we can continue to simplify the application process and we need to, and that work is going on now. I think it's also a great question whether we could get some kind of facilitator system going like you're suggesting whether it's younger people or city employees or whoever it is helping out. So, I'm going to take that as a very helpful suggestion, I thank you for it, Matt, and we'll come back quickly with an answer on that. 

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Chris Robbins from Gothamist. 

Question: Mayor, my first question is about high schools and middle school principals. They are awaiting guidance on when they can reopen for in-person learning. Some expected that to happen in February. When will you communicate a plan to them and how likely is it that they'll actually reopened for in person learning this semester? 

Mayor: So, I want to see schools continue to open up in this school year now through June, and then I am adamant that based on everything we're seeing now, we'll be able to come back full strength in September. The trajectory, Chris, is simple, we would start with middle school next, work our way up to high school. It will certainly take time. We need to make more progress with vaccine. We need to make more progress beating back the just the sheer number of cases and the question of the new variants, obviously need to expand testing capacity, but I want to see middle schools come back as soon as possible, and we will provide guidance during February for what that process will look like.

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to David Brand from the Queens Daily Eagle. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor – 

Mayor: Hey, David, how you been? 

Question: Good, thanks. At this point, when do you expect that everyone in New York City jails would be vaccinated or at least have access to the vaccines, and how will the city follow up with people if they're released or transferred before their second dose? 

Mayor: I don't think that – I don't think whoever's there liked your question, David. The guidance right now, as I understand it, and because correctional health is part of health and hospitals, Dr. Long may want to add. My understanding is we had about 500 folks in our jails, inmates, who were authorized to be vaccinated because they were high risk and that has been moving along steadily. There are certainly some of those folks choosing not to be vaccinated, just like we're seeing in our larger population. A second with correction officers and staff, that vaccination effort is ongoing. We're building that out quickly. Again, we're certainly seeing some people who are choosing not to be vaccinated. So, we're fully authorized to do officers and certain inmates, but not all inmates is the last guidance I heard. Ted, anything you want to add? 

Executive Director Long: No, thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. All right, everybody, just to say how important it is, how extraordinary it is, how wonderful it is to see what we saw yesterday. The President of the United States totally owning the situation, focused, leading, saying bluntly, clearly, we're going to keep expanding supply. We're going to make sure it gets down to the grassroots. That was a shot in the arm for all of us. This is how we move forward and our job here in New York City is to meet that moment. Every supply we get is going to be used right away, the more vaccine we get, the more people we can help. We can do half a million vaccinations a week. We are ready, willing, and able, and it is so nice, so powerful, so good to finally have a partner in Washington leading the way and helping us get the job done. So, something to celebrate today in our city. Thank you, everyone.

2021-01-28 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, good morning, everybody. Let me tell you, this month of January has been a time of tremendous transformation, and I'm very, very hopeful about the future of New York City. And I'm going to be talking about that tonight when I give my State of the City presentation. Why would I say January has been so extraordinary? For so many reasons. First of all, we got the hell out of 2020, and that is something we all wanted to do – just leave it behind. But then, we've seen the most amazing things happen in the course of January. Obviously, the vaccination, the miracle of the vaccine itself – even if we need more supply, the very fact that it's here is extraordinary; the fact that the election led to the new presidency of Joe Biden; the fact that the Senate is a Senate – a U.S. Senate that now is focused on the needs of the cities of this country. There are so many things that have happened just in the course of weeks that give us a tremendous opportunity to move forward. I'm optimistic about the future of this city. And I'm going to be a lot more optimistic when we get the federal stimulus we deserve. But I wanted to give you a quick sense of what we'll be talking about in the State of the City tonight. And the theme is so crucial and it's so basic, it is about recovery, bringing the city back, but doing it in a way that really includes everyone – a recovery for all of us. And those simple words express so much. This city will recover. I'm going to talk about why I am so convinced and what it means to have a recovery for all of us, to make sure that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past, that we do something different and better. We address the inequalities head-on. We use the strength and the power of the city to move forward, but do it in a smarter and better way. That's what a recovery for all of us means. 

Let's turn to the issue we deal with every single day, of course, the challenge of the coronavirus, and, specifically, the vaccine and the supply question. We are constantly fighting for more supply. This all comes down to this, everyone: supply, supply, supply. The City of New York, right now, we are abundantly clear – we will be able, with proper supply, with sufficient supply, we'll be able to vaccinate half a million people a week starting in February, but we need the supply. We’ve seen some good progress this week on the federal side, we need to see a lot more, and I'm going to keep pushing that we do even more creative things. I've talked about freeing up second doses that aren't going to be used for a while. I've talked about calling upon the federal government to use the Defense Production Act more aggressively to get all pharmaceutical companies involved in the effort to create more vaccine supply. We'll look for every opportunity to make an impact. 

We've also been working closely with the state, and pushing, and working together for anything that will free up more supply. One of the things I talked about last week was the long-term care facility plan – the specific supply of vaccine that had been held apart for long-term care facilities. Clearly some of that vaccine wasn't being used in the here and now, whether it was folks not being ready to accept vaccine yet, and who worked in those facilities or whatever other reason, it simply wasn't moving as fast as one would like. I asked the state to free up that supply, so that it could be used in the here and now. 18,000 doses have now been freed up, and I want to thank the state for that. That's going to help in the here and now to vaccinate more people, and I'm particularly thinking about those seniors for whom the vaccination is a life and death matter. So, 18,000 more doses now come into play immediately and thanks to the State of New York for the partnership on that, and look, we're going to make sure those doses are used in the communities hardest hit by the coronavirus. This is the crucial issue to make sure that we're prioritizing the places hardest hit. I will always say and remind people the vaccinations are available to all, but everyone has Americans has a choice in whether they want the vaccination or not, whether they want it now, whether they want it later. We respect that choice. But our job is to make the vaccine available, and encourage people, and inform people and to make sure that that work has done particularly in the places that borne the brunt of the crisis, and that's what we're going to do. 

Okay, now, let me give you a little update on how many people we have vaccinated today as of today. From the beginning of our effort, 699,524 New Yorkers have received vaccination or doses, I should say, I always want to put it in doses terms. That's the exact accurate – because some of those, not most, but some of those are second doses. So, 699,524 doses given, vaccinations given since this effort began. Since I like to make comparisons, here's your comparison today: that is more people than the total population of Boston, Massachusetts. So, that's fantastic that those folks have been reached. We want to reach so many more, so much more quickly, but since we have had some progress on the vaccine front, we have seen a little bit better news, obviously on the federal side, in terms of the Moderna vaccine, we're now able to take at least one more step towards the kind of real grassroots vaccination effort we want to have, and we're bringing back the 15 Department of Health vaccination hubs. Those have been incredibly effective, fast, efficient. I've heard just great feedback from folks who have gone to them. Those are going to come back. There's going to be some additional hours that we can put in play as we get more supply. This is going to be one of the pieces that really helps us pump up this effort. But again, we can't go to full strength until we have the supply, and when we do, then we get to go deep into neighborhoods, deep into the grassroots with the kind of vaccination effort that is convenient and encouraging to people, particularly in the neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID. 

Okay, let's talk about our indicators for the day, and I'm going to make sure that we highlight something that had been a part of our indicators for a long time and ended up being left out. We're going to put it back in cause it's an important piece of information for people to know. So, indicator number one, daily number of people in New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, that number today: 279 patients. But the point – this was really a prevalent question some months ago, back during the summer, was what percentage of those folks are COVID positive? Well, the most recent information, about 66 percent, and then the hospitalization rate, we'll go to that as well. The hospitalization rate: 5.15 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average: 4,621 cases. Number three, the percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, the seven-day rolling average: 8.08 percent. 

Okay, a few words in Spanish. Hold on. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll not begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. I'm not sure I follow the math in terms of getting to half a million vaccinations a week in February, based on the allocation that you're currently getting, and even with the 17 percent or 16 percent increase next week. How do you get anywhere even close to what you're shooting for unless there's some kind of dramatic increase that we're not currently seeing? 

Mayor: Yeah, Andrew, I appreciate the question, but I've known you a long time, so you won't take it personal, if I say, I don't want you thinking too small here, and just thinking in the moment. Goals are goals, visions are visions, plans are plans. We're not stuck in the moment right now. Our country is not providing us with enough vaccine, but we have a new President of the United States, just days into his administration, who's totally devoted to changing that situation. He is activated the Defense Production Act. He is already freeing up more supply. I am convinced you're going to see, and I've had multiple conversations with members of the Biden administration. You're going to see major changes in the supply reality in the coming weeks. I also know that the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is a double game changer. It could be here in a matter of weeks and it's single dose, changes the whole reality. So, I'm saying we are ready to give half a million vaccinations per week. We need the supply, but we're ready to do it. We're having all the pieces in place to do it, and I believe that supply of vaccine will grow constantly over the coming weeks. It has to, just based on the vision the president's put forward, he and his team have to find a way to make supply grow, and so I'm confident it's coming, and we better be ready for it. Go ahead. 

Question: Medical experts to weigh in on this, to clarify. Separate and apart from the extra doses, you've now identified with the state allotment in the nursing homes, how many doses are there each day at city sites that get discarded because for whatever reason, people aren't showing up for their appointments, or there's extra doses in the bottles, whatever it may be. We've seen reporting that there are waitlists at your Worth Street site, and people get last minute calls. So, what we're trying to get at here is, even with the scarcity right now, aren't you also discarding doses every single day. 

Mayor: I’ll turn to Dr. Katz, and then Dr. Chokshi, but I'll say this, Andrew. Obviously, our goal is to use every single dose and there's been clear contingency plans put in place to make sure that happens, and I know the health care professionals in these vaccination sites are adamant about wanting to use every dose. I'm sure sometimes things don't work as planned, but I know there's real commitment there. Dr. Katz, first talk about your sites, then Dr. Chokshi, talk about yours. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Mr. Mayor, you're absolutely right. We have not had a problem with having to waste doses. We maintain an appointment system, so we know how many people are coming in, how many vaccines we're going to get out of each vile, and then we book additional appointments. We look toward the end of the day, we figure out how much we have left for the rest of the day, and we get additional people who fit the criteria so that we don't miss any doses. Also, sir, of course, at the 24-hours centers that you have set up, that isn't even a problem because they can keep running all of the time, and that's why it was such a great idea to do 24-hour centers. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir, and thank you. That's exactly right. I'll just reiterate – the goal, of course, is to use every single possible dose that we can, because each shot brings us closer to our goal of beating back this terrible pandemic. The three ways in which we have operationalized this, as Dr. Katz alluded to, is number one, for any extra doses in vials. Number two, for the rare circumstances when someone doesn't show up for their appointment, and then number three at the end of the day, you know, when there are doses remaining in specific vials that have been open. So, those are the pool of extra doses that we always plan to match up eligible people to, and that's the standby or the wait list, and other means that we have to ensure that that we take advantage of every single dose. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: The next is Amanda from Politico. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Amanda, how you been? 

Question: I'm good. Thanks. I'm glad you could still hear me accomplishments throughout the pandemic. 

Mayor: Yes, Amanda. I think it's a metaphor for we went through a difficult time and now a new day is dawning. 

Question: I hope so. I wanted you to weigh in on a report that Attorney General Tish James released this morning that found that the state severely undercounted the number of nursing home deaths – by as much as 50 percent, that I think it's a number, so severely undercounted, and so I wanted you to weigh in, especially as there's been so many issues around data and how that works between the city and the state. So, I'd love to hear your thoughts. 

Mayor: Yeah, my first thought Amanda is a very human one. These are our loved ones we lost. You know, it's someone's grandma, someone's mother or father, aunt, or uncle. I mean, this is families missing someone dear to them, and, you know, for so many people, I talked to them. The fact that they – you know, people I've talked to people all over the city who have lost folks and they could not be with them. It made it much more horrible. So, this was just – you know, among all the other pain that we went through in 2020, this was arguably the very worst part of it. We have to make sense of this. We have to get the full truth, and we have to make sure it never ever happens again, nothing like this happens again, and we have to be honest about the numbers. I do want to give a lot of credit to colleagues in my administration, our health leadership. They've always strived to really put out not just the obvious numbers, but we've been talking about probable deaths and probable cases. I mean, we try to be as clear and honest as possible and I appreciate that. And I think that's the way we all have to understand this crisis and make sure nothing like that happens again. 

Moderator: The next is Kristen Dalton from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, Kristen. How are you? 

Question: I'm good, thanks. I wanted to ask you about the closure of the Mount Loretto Sportsplex Site that's supposed to happen mid-February. Has the city identified a permanent site that can replace it and will it have the rapid testing capabilities that the Mount Loretto site did have? 

Mayor: I need to get an update on that. Let me see if Commissioner Chokshi has that update. Do you happen to Dave? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, no, that is something that we can follow up on. 

Mayor: Okay, great. Kristen, I owe you an answer on that. We'll make sure to get that to you today. 

Question: Great, thank you. And the second question is about the 24/7 vax sites. You know, you said that last week the city would not open those sites until there was an adequate supply which you estimated to be about a week's worth? If you keep moving goalposts and how many vaccines the city wants to do in a week, do you think those sites will ever open, you know, you believe that that's really coming? 

Mayor: Oh, yeah. Of course. No, Kristen, look, I – as New Yorkers, we are not patient people and we also have a little bit of a cynical streak and that's part of what makes us great. But I want to assure people this is – we had a very good story, which is the City of New York was able to ramp up vaccination at the high point, we got close to a quarter million in a week. We proved to ourselves we could get as high as half a million in a week and that was the exact time when the supply started to lag instead of increasing. But that was before we learned the plans of President Biden that I'm absolutely convinced his vision will result in a lot more vaccine coming and again, huge difference maker reality when Johnson and Johnson comes, that vaccine comes in a matter of potentially just of weeks. So, we're going to get there. I don't have a doubt in my mind we're going to get there. We just don't know exactly what day. Definitely looking forward to the big 24-hour sites being up and running in addition to all of those neighborhoods sites. We need both, Kristin, we need the big 24-hour sites, those are going to work great for some people. The neighborhood sites are really where we're going to have the biggest impact and particularly making it convenient and giving people trust and faith in the process. So yes, it is coming, and we'll keep you posted as soon as we know when. 

Moderator: The next is Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody here on the call. Yesterday the Governor said he was going to reach out to you to have a conversation about indoor dining. Has that taken place and how do you plan to advise on indoor dining and how it can be viable? 

Mayor: Yeah, the Governor and I spoke yesterday morning. You know, I think the bottom-line here is I really do respect the State's role. The State has to make decisions. There's clearly a division of labor here. They make that decision. What I believe in is focusing on the data and the science, I know the Governor does too. What I also feel as a human being, as a New Yorker, of course I want our restaurants to come back strong. I – the restaurants are a big part of my life. I love our restaurant community. I think about the restaurants in my neighborhood that I miss going to, and I want to see them survive, and I want to see the people who work in the restaurants have their livelihoods. So, we all want to see indoor dining come back. It has to be governed by the data and the science. So, the State will make that decision. Look, we're all hoping we're on the verge of a much better situation with the coronavirus. We're all hoping the tide's about to turn, but we're going to keep a close eye on the actual indicators day by day, going forward, because we still have X-factors out there, like the variant that we have to be really, really careful about. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Dana from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, following up on that, would you eat indoors right now given the arrival of the new variant and its higher level of transmissibility? 

Mayor: Yeah, look, I would, because if indoor dining's brought back, I'm certain the State will do it with careful restrictions and our Health Department as the agency that does the enforcement is going to be really strong in doing that enforcement. So, if that's what comes to pass, certainly I would have confidence in it. Go ahead, Dana. 

Question: Thanks. And secondly, you know, there's been a series of stories about the Washington Heights Armory vaccination site and how though it was intended for underserved local communities, it was largely doling out vaccines to out of towners. Are you seeing other similar phenomenon at other State vaccination sites? 

Mayor: Let's just start with that and then I'll answer your question for sure. Dana, this just is exactly what should not happen. What happened in Washington Heights is the exact opposite of what we need. If a site is in a community, particularly a community hard hit by COVID, it should be all about reaching out to that community and bringing people in. I heard – I haven't confirmed it myself – but I heard the, the application for appointments was only in English, in a community where so many people speak Spanish, if that's true, that's ridiculous. So that's kind of the poster child of what not to do. I think the challenge is if a site is not community-based, of course it's not going to get the kind of the clientele, the folks coming to it, that we need to engage in this effort. So, if a site is based in a community hard hit by COVID and is reaching out to communities, that's going to make the difference. If it's not in the community hard hit by COVID or doesn't have that kind of outreach effort, it won't work as well. The only one I've heard very specific reports on is Washington Heights, Dana, but I want to emphasize, we all know bigger sites have a role to play, but the difference makers will be the very localized, community-based sites, that clinics, the H + H clinics, the clinics working in, you know, the clinics that community organizations have, the pop-up sites in public housing. That is where we have to go to make this effort work. 

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Abu from Bangla Patrika. 

Question: Hello, Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Abu, how you doing? 

Question: Good, good, how are you? 

Mayor: It’s fine. What's going on? 

Question: So, the [inaudible] second stimulus package, how the city will get the benefit and how the community will be benefited by this second stimulus? 

Mayor: The federal stimulus. I just – I missed the last words. Did you say the federal stimulus? 

Question: Yeah. How the, of benefit and how the community would be benefited by the second stimulus? 

Mayor: Yeah, and that's a great, great question. That's the – I was going to say the million-dollar question, I think it's the multi-billion-dollar question. So, look, the next stimulus has to be a real stimulus. What we saw a few months ago was more of a short term stop gap COVID relief plan. What we need now is a true stimulus that makes us whole, in terms of the city and the state's ability to provide services to people, that all sides direct aid for everyday New Yorkers. One of the things that Senator Schumer has been talking about is adding to that earlier $600 check, making it additional $1,400. That's the kind of direct aid we need to see. So, I think the answer to your question is the direct aid to everyday people, to small businesses, you know, that needs to be a part of it because people are still hurting and that money is good for families and it also does help stimulate the economy. The direct aid to the city government is absolutely crucial, so we can close our budget gaps, provide services, protect our workforce, that's how you recover. If the city is doing all the things that we need to do, opening our schools up strong in September, you know, making the city cleaner and safer, all the things that are the foundation for economic recovery, all that costs money. That's what we need to see in the next stimulus. 

So, everyone, just finishing where I began on the State of the City, again, airing tonight on our digital platforms, you can go to nyc.gov, and I really urge everyone to see the many new ideas and approaches that I'm going to outline tonight. This is a transformative moment. I really want to emphasize this. We understand that crisis sometimes just comes with pain, but crisis also can be the gateway to fundamental change, and I am convinced that 2021 will be a year of fundamental change and progress for New York City. And the message tonight is a recovery for all of us, not a recreation of the status quo pre-pandemic, not something where we just stay in place and we're stagnant, no, a recovery, progress, a recovery for all of us, for every community, including the communities hardest hit by COVID. Tonight, I'm going to lay out a range of new actions we're going to take, but they all come back to that central concept. The city is going to come back. This city has got to come back strong. It will be fair. It will be better. You're going to see amazing things happen in 2021 in New York City. Thank you, everyone.

2021-01-29 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, good morning, everyone. Good morning, and I'm really happy to tell you about the vision that I laid out last night in the State of the City. 

Now, let me go over just high points, real quick, the most important thing: getting this city vaccinated. That is the gateway to everything else, and so we set a goal. The only way you get anything done in life is to set a goal, and if you set a soft goal, an easy goal, you're not really fighting very hard. We're going for an aggressive goal – five million workers vaccinated by June. I am absolutely certain we can do it, so long as we have the vaccine, and I am more and more confident because actions of the Biden administration, because the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is coming, more and more confident that we will have what we need. I'm going to push hard on the federal government to get every pharmaceutical company in America into this work, because they're not right now, and the federal government needs to ensure that they are required to produce vaccine, whether they're the originator of the vaccine or not. So long as we have the supply, we can reach five million New Yorkers in June, get to a point of community immunity. Look, this is crucial that we now know we can do half a million vaccinations in a week. Supply is there. We're going to do something amazing.

We're going to bring back our city workforce in May and after, because obviously so many are on the job right now. But the folks who work in our offices and do so much important work, we want them back. We want to send a signal to this whole city we're moving forward. Want to see the private sector bring workforces back. We are going to have an entirely different situation as we proceed into the spring. By end of the spring, I think you're going to see something very different and we're going to have a great group of folks out there, our Vaccine For All Corps leading the way,

Now, a lot of different pieces matter, and one of the most crucial ones that matters to us for today, for our parents, for our families, for our future tomorrow are schools. One of the things that says most clearly we are back is our schools, and so in September, our schools come back fully. We focus on helping kids overcome that COVID achievement gap. Our 2021 student achievement plan focuses on the academic side, but also the emotional side, the mental health needs of our kids after everything they've been through, and we make transformative efforts starting this year, deepening efforts to diversify our schools, to build new leadership in our school system. This is going to be truly an extraordinary year for the New York City public schools. Look, our schools have proven already. They came back when so many other places couldn't and the safest places in New York City. That's all you need to know about the extraordinary ability of our New York City educators and our New York City school staff, and our parents and our kids. Everyone wants to be back and we're going to be back full strength in September.

The biggest piece of this vision of where we go in our future, how we recover economically, is the vision of becoming the public health capital of the world. We are perfectly poised to be that, and I literally mean perfectly. The finest universities, the finest hospitals, the finest researchers, entrepreneurs. We have all the component parts to supercharge our economy with a focus on public health, and we're going to take what we have achieved in this year, under very difficult conditions. What our Test and Trace Corps has achieved as just one example, turn it into a permanent Public Health Corps to do public health promotion at the community level. We're also going to build out the life sciences industry, which is crucial to our future. Tens of thousands of jobs, a place where we can shine like few places in the world, and I'll tell you something: a city people want to live in, a city people want to come to, is a city that's dynamic and energetic. We got that. That has talent and creativity and entrepreneurship. We got that. It's a city that also has to be fair and just. People all over the world want to live in a place that they can feel is someplace they belong, is someplace that listens, is someplace that cares, is someplace that is fair. That's what we're going to achieve, and some of the things we're going to do have never been done before in New York City. We're going to make permanent our task force on racial inclusion and equity. This is literally empowering people of color leaders in the city government to be a group of folks who achieve, in a sense, a conscience for the city government who are looking all the time at whether the city government is acting in the spirit of equity who identify the policies we need to implement right now, who make sure that it's actually happening.

All right, let's go to update. First of all, vaccine update. Like to tell you regularly, we all know we need, we all know what the central promise with vaccine – supply, supply, supply. We need a lot more. We need a lot more flexibility to use the supply well. But I still think it's important to see the progress that's being made. It is still the month of January. And here's our number from day one of our vaccination effort – 742,025 doses have been given in New York City, 742,000. That is more than the population of Washington, D. C. to give you perspective on just how vast this effort already is, but it's going to be so much more when we get the supply we need.

Okay to our indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for COVID-19, today's report, 286 patients. The positivity level, almost 70 percent, and the hospitalization rate, 5.19 per 100,000. Number two, number, I'm sorry – number two is the new reported cases on a seven-day average – bless you – today's report is 4,639 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 8.63 percent. To say the least, we've got to keep doing better. We've got to keep our guard up. We're worried about the variants out there. We got a lot more work to do, but it's all about vaccine. It's all about supply, supply, supply. Okay, a few words in Spanish –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, we will turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today that goes to Jen Peltz from the AP.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Jen, how you been?

Question: Okay, thanks. I wanted to ask, as you know, the Governor has suggested that he has an announcement forthcoming today on – for dining at restaurants in New York City. What do you think should happen?

Mayor: You know, I've spoken to the Governor over the last few days, several times, and again, this is the State's call. I know the State cares deeply as I do about data and science and getting this right. So, I continue to say, look, we're in an uncertain situation because of the new variants, because we don't yet have all the supply of vaccine we should. But I also know, and I really feel that folks who are trying to make a livelihood, trying to save their businesses, they're struggling, communities really are trying to support their local restaurants. So, the whole idea here is to try and strike the right balance. I know the Governor is trying to do it. So, whatever decision he makes, we're going to work with it. And the most important part is whenever we do move to indoor dining again, to do it safely, and our Department of Health will be leading the way in terms of doing the inspections and the follow-up to make sure things are handled safely. Go ahead, Jen.

Question: On the vaccination front, any update on when some of the sites that were closed might be able to reopen?

Mayor: Yeah. As you heard yesterday, some of those Department of Health hubs have opened, which is great because we've gotten some more supply, but we need a lot more supply. The bottom line here is we're going to judge by the supply we're getting. And obviously we are very hopeful because the Biden administration has said, they're going to actually create a system where you can see several weeks ahead and have a lot more reliability. That will allow us to be more definitive about the timelines. But once we have a more secure supply, we want to increase greatly the number of sites down into the grassroots. We want those 24/7 sites going. I'll just turn to Dr. Chokshi and see if he has any new breaking update on sites at this point. Doctor?

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Sir. And you covered all of the high points. Our operating model is a flexible one where we can ramp up sites, hours, days depending on the supply that we get. So, we do have eight of our Health Department clinics that are operating in addition to the 15 vaccine hubs. That's in addition to the Health + Hospitals sites that are operating as well. And all of them can continue to expand hours and appointments if we do get the additional supply that you've referred to.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Jen.

Moderator: [Inaudible] second question.

Mayor: Oh, I'm sorry. My apologies.

Moderator: The next is Bob Hennelly from the Chief Leader.

Question: Yes. Good morning. Yesterday the City Council passed a measure championed by City Council's Civil Service and Labor Chair Daneek Miller that would create a framework so that we could get a public and private sector essential workers on the same page and have a feedback loop in terms of COVID workplace protections. As you know, unions have been concerned up until the change of administration, OSHA has been missing an action. Is this another place where in New York City can lead the nation in terms of making sure that both private and public sector workers, regardless of immigration status have the best in terms of pandemic projections?

Mayor: Absolutely. I will tell you, first of all, our, you know, we – you remember, we changed the not only the name, but the focus of one of our city departments, it's now the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. This is something really important that we decided the New York City government, despite the work of OSHA, which historically has been good and important work, or the State, that we needed the New York City government to be actively involved in protecting working people at their workplaces. Department Consumer and Worker Protection has done great, aggressive work and certainly continues to during the pandemic and the comeback, the recovery. So yes, we need to be vigilant. I will say a lot of folks in the private sector, to their credit, have been really great about putting stringent protections in place. So, we've been doing it, obviously, in the public sector. We're going to really push hard to make the public – to make sure the private sector is right there with us.

Moderator: Next is Rich Lamb from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call.

Mayor: Hey, Rich, how are you doing today?

Question: Well, you know, the clock is ticking, what can I tell you.

Mayor: The clock ticking, but I hope you're appreciating the outpouring of feeling for you because you've earned it brother.

Question: You know, thanks so much, and I'm humbled by it. So, you know, just talking about the money from the federal government, what if it doesn't come or it doesn't come at least as much as you want, much as you've been hoping for. I mean it looks like the Republicans are sort of regrouping after what happened at the Capitol. It looks like there, you know, for instance, when they talk about support for looking at the President's responsibility there, it looks like everybody's sort of backing off a little bit. So, you worried about getting that bailout through if you will, if you want to call it a bailout?

Mayor: I am certainly – look in a 50-50 Senate, every vote matters to say the least, and doesn't surprise me. There are going to be folks trying to inhibit a true stimulus, but I think the American people want a real stimulus, again, not just a relief package, a real stimulus to get us back on our feet, and that includes helping work in people directly and that includes helping City and State government to be strong so we can serve people and lead the recovery. I think there's a tremendous amount of support. I think Joe Biden knows better than anyone on this planet that looking back after the recession, more stimulus would have helped a lot and he experienced it, and I think it's one of those cardinal rules for him, to go for a stronger, bigger stimulus. That's obviously the great lesson of the New Deal as well. So, I am very hopeful we'll get there, but Rich to your question, of course we have a plan B. You know, if the stimulus isn't happening because it's taking too long, we're going to have to make budget decisions in the meantime. If it's insufficient, we're going to have to do some things differently and not as well as we want to. But we will keep rolling with it. I think the most important thing now is just maximum pressure on the Senate to provide a true stimulus for this country. Go ahead.

Question: Okay, maybe I could follow up by that. And what would the plan B look like? I mean, it's obviously, it's not going to be pleasant, how bad will things be if this doesn't come through?

Mayor: Rich, look, when we did the preliminary budget a few weeks ago, we laid out a world in which we didn't have a stimulus and we showed the belt tightening that's happened already. We've obviously done a lot to reduce city spending. We did furloughs. We've done all sorts of things. We have a lot more we'd have to do depending on what happens and obviously the biggest concern is without a stimulus, the State has its own fiscal problems and they end up cutting us by billions more, that will take even more severe measures. So, we're ready. We obviously have been thinking about this and we're prepared for wherever this goes. If we don't get a real stimulus, you're talking then about the kind of reality where we – were going to have our recovery undercut, our ability to come back is going to be hurt deeply, people are going to suffer. If we don't get a real stimulus, there's not going to be a real recovery. That's the bottom line.

Moderator: The next is Reuvain from Hamodia.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. You said you'll be updating the list of what is now the 27 neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID since the original one was based on data from the spring. Most recently it was supposed to be done by last week, and now that didn't happen. So, I'd like to ask when exactly a list will be up to date and if your administration will share now, even before they released the new list, the exact formula that will be used in determining the list data metrics?

Mayor: I know you are focused on your topic. I admire that, and I know you're not patient, and that's makes you a true New Yorker. I want to be clear. I said, we would have that out this week. It's still this week. So, we're going to have that coming out soon, both the methodology, what it shows in terms of the areas of greatest need, how we're moving forward to ensure that our efforts to vaccinate focus on priority, but reach, obviously, everyone. We want to reach everyone. We're going to have aggressive outreach efforts and vaccination efforts in every community with a special focus and concern for the places that bore the brunt, where we saw the most deaths, where we see the least health care being provided historically. We'll lay it all out and plenty of opportunity to talk it through. Go ahead.

Question: Thanks for that. You said generally that the neighbors on that list will get vaccine priority. So, can you please be precise and say exactly what will be different about those neighborhoods as compared to other neighborhoods and exactly what way the priority over any of other neighborhood?

Mayor: Again, when we present the facts, we'll also present how we're going to address those facts and that's the time when we'll lay it out. The important thing is we're going to make sure everyone in this city has the opportunity to get vaccinated and again, my goal is five million New Yorkers vaccinated by June. That will put us in an entirely different reality. So long as the supplies there, we're going to have the ability to do it. Unquestionably, physically, we have extraordinary capacity right now. There is a hesitancy problem. Let's be clear in every community, there is a hesitancy problem. We're particularly seeing hesitancy in communities of color, and we're going to be talking about that. That's a real challenge, but we'll go over both the data, what it means and what it causes us to do in terms of action to address the challenges. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg.

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today?

Mayor: Good Henry. How you?

Question: I'm okay. Took me a little while to think about it.

Mayor: Yeah, I've got to say, you're the only one with the answer Henry.

Question: Pretty much. You've repeatedly pledged that the schools will be open for all in September. Do you anticipate that middle schools and high schools will be open by the time this school year ends? And if so, do you have a target date? What needs to happen for that to occur?

Mayor: I do anticipate they'll be coming back in this school year. As I said, yesterday, we're about to go into February, during February we'll put the plan on the table for middle schools and move on it as quickly as possible, but we'll make the plan public. Obviously, the big factors here are what's going on with the coronavirus, in general, what's going on with the variants, what's going on with the vaccine. We want to keep vaccinating teachers, and school staff, and we want to deepen that effort. But also, it's having enough testing capacity, and we're working on that right now to ensure that, as we keep building out and opening up more and more schools in the short-term, that we have the testing to go with it.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Nickel from CNN.

Question: Good morning, Mayor. Pleasure to meet you via WebEx.

Mayor: It is a pleasure, but I want to make sure I pronounce your name right. Let me hear it again.

Question: It's Nick-el

Mayor: Nickel, okay. I got you, Nickel.

Question: Yes, you've got it. Yeah, so I have some lawmakers and volunteers telling me that this vaccination site that recently opened in Washington Heights serve mostly white people from outside the city in its first two weeks of operating. Can you confirm this and address the concerns that local residents were left out of the process?

Mayor: Yeah, this is – it's outrageous, Nickel. And it's – you know, the more I learn about this, the angrier I get. As I understand it, here's Columbia Presbyterian, which is obviously a real important institution in the city, and a good one, and one we work with all the time, and generally very involved in the Washington Heights community. And the site was created with the State in New York, and somehow instead of focusing on the Latino community of Washington Heights, a place that really was hit hard by COVID, instead the approach was somehow conducive to folks from outside of the community coming and getting vaccinated, but not folks who live right there in Washington Heights – totally backwards. So, this is what not to do, Nickel – you know, do not create a big mega site divorced from the surrounding community that focuses only on people who have already the greatest access to health care. That's exactly the opposite of what we want to do. What we want to do is very grassroots. We want sites that reach deep into the community, work with community health care providers, work with organizations, work with clergy. We want to have sites in public housing. We're already doing that with great success in public housing developments, in our public health clinics all over the city, with trusted community leaders, speaking multiple languages – that vision is already operating, but we want to deepen it, because if you're not serving the people hardest hit by COVID, then it's not a real effort to stop this crisis. Go ahead, Nickel.

Question: Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Also, where does the city currently stand on the vaccine supply and its ability to vaccinate everyone who was eligible?

Mayor: Not where we want to be, Nickel. Again, I've said publicly and I fully – I says with total comfort. In February, we will be able to vaccinate at the rate of half-a-million vaccinations a week if we have the supply. We are nowhere near the supply we need. There was progress after the President Biden put out his plan. You can see the details of our supply on the Department of Health website, but we still need several hundred thousand more doses a week to really be able to reach the level that we need to reach to make an impact. So, we're constantly – whatever we get, we're moving. You know, we pushed the federal government for more supply, we got some more supply from them. We want to see a whole lot more than that. We pushed the State to free up some of the supply that was not being used as part of the long-term care facility program.

They're doing that, that's great. What else do we need? We need the freedom to vaccinate, which means loosening up federal and State – the notion of second doses, let's use the second dose supply that's waiting for weeks and put it into play right now to vaccinate people. And most importantly, what I'm going be talking about a lot – the federal government has the power to compel private pharmaceutical companies to create vaccine, even if it's not their brand, even if it's not their formula. This is a wartime dynamic. The federal government has to use all its power and the companies should say, of course, we want to participate, because we want to save lives. It's not about profit. This is about saving lives. That's the missing link in my view. Go ahead.

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Katie Honan from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mayor de Blasio.

Mayor: Hey.

Question: I wanted to ask – oh, hey, how are you doing?

Mayor: Good. How are you doing, Katie?

Question: I'm great. I'm great. I know you had said earlier this week that the city would be releasing the demographic data on vaccines by the end of the week, I guess technically it ends tomorrow, but do you know when we can anticipate that?

Mayor: Again, it's going to happen by the end of this week. People do have different interpretations I'm in the Monday to Sunday is a week school. Sometime in the next 48 hours or so we're going to have that out. We're still doing some final work to get that 100 percent ready, but that'll come out and we'll talk about what we're learning from that data and what we're going to be doing about it as well.

So, everybody, look, as we conclude today, I am very excited about what we're going to do in 2021. I just think we have a chance. After the heroic efforts of New Yorkers in 2020, we have a chance in 2021 to come back strong, to come back fairer, to come back better. That's what a recovery for all of us means. Anyone who has an opportunity, please look at the video we put out last night. I think it says so much about the people of this city, their commitment to bringing the city back, their love for this city. That's what's fueling this – New Yorkers love our city. New Yorkers know how to fight back, that's the difference-maker. We lay out a variety of specific elements of a vision that will bring the city back and bring us back fast and bring us back strong. Go to recoveryforall.nyc.gov for all the details. And I look forward to working with everyone this year as we bring New York city back. Thanks, everyone.

2021-01-29 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and it's time now for our weekly Ask the Mayor call-in, my questions in yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Ask the Mayor anything – well, give him some privacy, but mostly anything – at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or, you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag #Ask the Mayor. And, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. Thank you for those – you know, putting a little bit of guardrail on that. Thank you, I appreciate that.

[Laughter]

Lehrer: I see you gave your final State of the City speech last night. No guardrails on that. Eight out of eight before your term limited out. It was a prerecorded virtual address for people who didn't see it for these virtual times, and you announced some new and newsworthy things. So, let me take down some of those to begin today, and you can explain them to our listeners. At this time when the virus is so prevalent and new, more contagious strains are breaking out, you nonetheless announced a plan to bring the City workers back to their offices in person in May, which is really pretty soon, and this is something that I know the real estate industry has wanted you to do to model that it's okay to come back to all kinds of private companies, offices. We've talked about this before. So, for the City workers, is that a hope or an order? Or, how would you describe it for May?

Mayor: I really appreciate the question, because this is one of the heart-of-the-matter points, how we vaccinate enough people to bring back our economy fully and, obviously, the public sector needs to lead the way. Just a quick note for all of your listeners, the main message of the State of the City was a recovery for all of us, an inclusive recovery, a recovery that does not repeat the status quo of the past, that addresses the disparities that come up in the COVID crisis. And anyone who wants to see both the video, which is really about the people of New York City and how we recover this year and beyond, and the policy papers that go with it, you go to recoveryforall.nyc.gov. Again, recoveryforall.nyc.gov. But to your question, Brian – so, 5 million New Yorkers will be vaccinated by June under this plan, which creates a pervasive reality. That creates a dynamic of much greater community immunity and changes the whole possibility of comeback. We know we can do that, so long as we have supply, and I'm seeing some good signs about vaccine supply. But we know we can do it, because we've already proven that we have the capacity to get up to a half-million vaccinations per week. The City workers about – you know, a very strong percentage of our workforce right now, between 70 and 80 percent of our workforce is at their work right now, because of the nature of their work. They're at the front lines, serving the people in New York City. The folks that worked in offices who could do the work virtually, and anyone else doing remote work, they'll be coming back beginning in May, because it's time. We know we can vaccinate. We'll do specific vaccination drives related to public workers in work sites. But we know by then we'll have the capacity to reach people. And, also, it's how you bring back any public or private work site, and the schools are the great object lesson. You put right precautions in place – and we saw more from the CDC about this just this week, further proof at how safe schools have been when the right precautions are taken. We're going to do that in our public workplaces as well.

Lehrer: Kate, in Queens. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Kate.

Question: Hi, I have a question for the Mayor and a comment about [inaudible]. Mr. Mayor, I'm curious whether or not you're open to flexible work schedules for City workers who have proven during COVID that they can successfully work from home responsibly. We didn't have work from home policy prior to COVID. And then, regarding vaccines, I'd like to encourage you to further restrict where vaccines are available for folks. The way it currently works, or at least it seems to me, is that you're making vaccine appointments for folks with community centers for vulnerable populations, but then you're opening those appointments to folks like to the public at large, and then these vulnerable populations are competing with people, like myself, trying to find an appointment for their mother-in-law. And, for me, the ethical choice has already been made by the City as to whether or not I can book that appointment for my mother-in-law, because it's an open – appointment online. So, I'd like to encourage that you limit these appointments like happened at the armory. That's all.

Mayor: Thank you, Kate. I really appreciate – and I appreciate the way you phrase that. And, obviously, I can tell that you care very deeply about addressing the disparities that we're out there trying to overcome. It's a really important question, one we're working through as we speak. Look, we want everyone to get vaccinated, let's be clear. We're not trying to create barriers. We're trying to create an open door to vaccination. We're trying to maximize vaccination in the places that suffered the most. And we see in many cases a trust problem, a hesitancy problem in those very same communities that we have to address with local leaders, with voices that people trust, with lots of questions being answered, etcetera, and giving people comfort. So, there's a lot of moving parts here we have to try and make sense of in an equitable way and we'll certainly have a lot more to say on that as we give an update to the people the city on the data that we're finding in the vaccine effort.

On the flexible work schedule, it's a good question. I mean, look, I think my opening position here is we know that when people gather in a workplace there are things that happen better than happen remotely. We've certainly seen that in the course of this year in government. I've had many, many instances where I saw a lot more effectiveness when people could get in the room and meet together, even if that to be distanced, and wearing masks, and be smart about it, it still made a huge difference. So, I still prefer to get the City workforce fully back in person, but there will be a clear evaluation of where flexibility might make sense in the short-term and the long-term, because we have learned a lot in this experience. So, I would just start with saying, I think it's actually going to be everything from a morale boost, to an efficiency boost, to a creativity boost to get people back together. But we will think very carefully about, you know, how we want to deal with flexibility in the future based on what we've learned here.

Lehrer: A couple of follow ups on that. Will you require City workers to be vaccinated or disclose whether they've been vaccinated, if they're coming back, if they have to come back in person?

Mayor: Well, a couple of things real quick, Brian. Look, this is a policy we've announced and we're going to be flushing out the details between now and May, obviously. I said very clearly, I want to get City workers vaccinated. There'll be lots of ways to do that between now and then. But I also want to be clear, we're working in a context where the very precautions we put in place – and I'm going to use the schools as an example – clearly until recently we didn't have a vaccine. And yet the schools were amongst the safest places in New York City, because of all the other precautions. This is something – Dr. Jay Varma, who's my senior advisor on the COVID crisis, he's really been clear about this. From the international research, if you require people to wear masks all the time, if you clean all the time and you ventilate all the time and you do social distancing, it really limits the ability of the disease to spread and that's without even having vaccines [inaudible] –

Lehrer: Right, but we want [inaudible] –

Mayor: [Inaudible]

Lehrer: But you can't bring City workers back to the offices as they have existed in the past and the density with which people worked in those offices [inaudible] –

Mayor: NO, that's my point –

Lehrer: [Inaudible] Yes?

Mayor: No, no, wait, wait, wait. That's why I said very clearly with all the precautions appropriate to the moment. At some point, this coronavirus moment is going to pass, and we'll keep adjusting as we get more and more information. But if you said, let's say it was today, of course you're going to have all of those precautions that we're using in the schools and we use right now in City government offices, for the folks who are back, you would use all of the above. What we don't foresee at this moment, Brian, is a mandate that folks must be vaccinated, or somehow, you know, they are not allowed to do their work. That has not been where we've been. I haven't felt that's the right thing to do. I know a lot of the unions representing City workers have not favored that approach. I think when you combine an increasing level of vaccination with stringent precautions, that's what's going to make us able to handle this very smoothly. And then every day we get closer to that kind of critical mass point of community immunity that solves a lot of the bigger problems.

Lehrer: And to the caller's concern, and everybody's concerned about disparities, my understanding is the City has data on the disparities by race but has not released it. Is that still the case? And if so, why?

Mayor: I've answered this numerous times, including this morning. We're releasing it this week. We still have some more work to do to perfect it. There's a lot of information, including the challenge of folks who chose not to provide their demographic information. So, we're really trying to make sure we get this exactly right and with specific ideas of how we're going to follow up on it. So, that's coming out, as I said this morning, give or take the next 48 hours.

Lehrer: One more from our station's health editor, who just slipped me a question based on this new story this morning about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine phase three data, the company's vaccine can't establish herd immunity, is what I'm seeing. Its efficacy appears to be too low for that. You voiced excitement over this vaccine in the past, but seeing what you're seeing this morning, if you've gotten to it yet, is it worth the investment in the long-term?

Mayor: I don't have from our health team – I don't have a definitive report suggesting anything but that it will be a major contributor to what we have to do. So, you know, I want to look carefully. I want my health team to evaluate that information, but I don't want to jump the gun on that. So far, the notion of a single dose vaccine, and this is what two things separate Johnson & Johnson, one, the single dose not double, two a much easier refrigeration methodology, which means much more flexible use. You know, for example, we've had vaccination sites at public housing developments in the last week. They've been really successful. I want to do that all over. If you don't need a stringent refrigeration regime, that makes it a lot easier to be out there longer hours, etcetera. So, I'm very hopeful about Johnson & Johnson. We'll get a full evaluation. I'll be able to speak about that next week.

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, thanks as always. Talk to you next week.

Mayor: Thanks, Brian. Take care.

2021-02-01 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone.

We'll keep giving you updates on the storm. But now let me give you an update on the thing that we are focused on every day, which is getting people vaccinated, protecting people from the coronavirus. And, obviously, the first thing to say is that the storm is disrupting our vaccination effort and we need to keep people safe, we don't want folks, especially seniors, going out in unsafe conditions to get vaccinated. We know we can reschedule appointments very quickly, because, of course, we have supply. We're going to use the supply we have. Our problem is lack of supply. So, we can take the supply we have and distributed very quickly in the days to come and make sure everyone gets to the appointments. But it's not safe out there today, so vaccinations are canceled today. They're also going to be canceled tomorrow. Based on what we are seeing right now, we believe that tomorrow getting around the city will be difficult. It'll be icy, it’ll be treacherous. We do not want seniors, especially, out in those conditions. So, we're going to have vaccinations off for today and tomorrow – come back strong on Wednesday. We'll be able to catch up quickly, because, again, we have a vast amount of capacity. We don't have enough vaccine. So, we'll simply use the days later in the week crank up those schedules, get people rescheduled into those days. 

Okay. Now, let's talk about the vaccine effort overall. We ended up finishing January very strong. Here's our final number for the vaccination effort from the beginning when we started until the last day of January – 815,193 vaccinations given in New York City. Again, our goal had been a million. We would easily have made that goal, if we had the supply. That number, 815,000, more than the total population of Seattle, Washington, to give you perspective. But the bottom line is we don't have the supply we need. This situation gets less and less acceptable by the day. We have the capacity to vaccinate half-a-million New Yorkers a week and we're nowhere near that right now, because we don't have supply. We’ve got to do something different. So, let me talk about the approach that I think we need to move towards immediately. And this fits with the vision I've been talking about these last few days since the State of the City on Thursday, and I’m going to keep talking about how we build a recovery for all of us. 

A recovery for all of us, requires everyone to get vaccinated. A recovery for all of us means we speed the vaccination effort. By speeding the vaccination effort, we're protecting people and speeding up the reopening of our economy and our full recovery. We need the supply to do that. What's wrong with this picture? Well, the pharmaceutical industry, the biotech industry, all the pieces of the scientific community that could all be working together in a single project to manufacture the vaccines we already have, that's just not happening. I mean, think about it for a moment, there's two companies right now producing vaccine – two. And all of the other companies in America that have the ability to produce vaccine are not in the game. These companies need to step forward, offer their help to create and produce the Moderna vaccine, the Pfizer vaccine. There is no reason that we're living by traditional lines of corporate self-protection. There's no reason that profit is dominating this discussion instead of the needs of people. There's no reason that people are more concerned about patents than saving lives. I mean, whatever way you say, there's a reason for the status quo, when you think about for a moment, it does not make any sense. We need the federal government to step in and require these companies to all work in the common interest of the American people and immediately use their manufacturing capacity, their assembly lines to produce vaccine. You have some people out there saying, oh, you know, people aren't going to get vaccinated until the end of the year. That's totally unacceptable. The federal government needs to step forward, aggressively use the Defense Production Act, but the companies themselves could be stepping forward and saying, we'll immediately volunteer to do this. 

Let me give you a little example from history. In World War II – and this one points out how ridiculous the current situation is – in World War II or the entire war effort animated this country to stop Nazi-ism, stop fascism, save lives. Companies understood they had to step up, they had to do whatever it took. Aircraft engines were made by the company Pratt & Whitney. Ford motor company didn't make aircraft engines at all, but they stepped forward and said we'll take Pratt & Whitney's design and we'll create aircraft engines – doesn't matter if it's something we haven’t done before, we'll figure out how to do it for the war effort. I'm saying the companies that right now do – they already know how to make vaccines. They already do pharmaceuticals. They already do life sciences. We need those. We've identified 27 companies nationally that could all be part of this effort. We need Pfizer and Moderna to connect to those companies, share their plans and everyone to produce with a common goal and we need our federal government to lead the way. When we get the vaccine, we here in New York City, like so many other parts of the country, we have the infrastructure, we have the people ready to go, we can give the vaccine with extraordinary speed, but it all comes down to supply, supply, supply. And the status quo when it comes to supply right now, the status quo in this country is broken. We need to do something different and we need to do something different right away. 

All right let me go to the indicators for the day. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, that number is 180 patients. The confirmed positivity level 65.79 percent. And then the hospitalization rate 5.17 per 100,000. The new cases on a seven-day average, 4,509. And percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, today's seven-day rolling average percentage, 8.26 percent. We’ll do a few words in Spanish on the storm and everything we're facing with it. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A as a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by New York City Emergency Management Commissioner Deanne Criswell, by Sanitation Commissioner Ed Grayson, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today, it goes to Andrew Siff from NBC. 

Mayor: Andrew? Andrew Siff are you there? I really don't feel like he's there. Can you hear us? 

Moderator: We might not have Andrew. Let's try Andrew a little bit later. We'll go to Juan Manuel from NY1. 

Mayor: Juan Manuel? Okay. We are having technical difficulties. Who is out there? 

Question: Can you hear me now, Mr. Mayor? 

Mayor: Juan Manuel, how are you? 

Question: Mr. Mayor, you've been asking the federal government to push all these pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies to produce a vaccine. And you're telling the media and you're telling television viewers, but have you had any direct conversation with President Biden or any high official in his administration? And have you demanded that they take this step? 

Mayor: Yes, with key members of his administration and looking forward to deepening those conversations. This one to me is urgent, Juan Manuel. I understand, especially for a new administration, that's trying to deal with every problem simultaneously, that they have so much they're trying to deal with. They're trying to get the immediate supply moving under the current conditions. And I really respect their efforts. I think we have to acknowledge however that the status quo won't be able to work well enough under current conditions. It just can't, it's not President Biden's fault. It's what he was handed. We've got to break the mold here. We've got to do something very, very different. So, I'm certainly making this argument to federal colleagues. And you know, I believe they're looking at this question, but I'll let them of course speak for themselves. 

Moderator: Next. We're going to go back to Andrew Siff from NBC. 

Question: Good morning, everyone. Can you hear me? 

Mayor: There you go. You sound great, Andrew. 

Question: I'm glad that whatever technical glitches were happening have been rectified. My question has to do with the vaccine postponements today and tomorrow. How exactly does that work? Do the same sites where people were supposed to get their vaccine, squeeze them in within a day or two. Does it move back a week? You know there's anxiety out there, particularly people who've been waiting for weeks for their appointment only to have it canceled for today or tomorrow. 

Mayor: Of course, there's anxiety and look, anyone who was looking forward to getting vaccinated today or tomorrow, I really feel how frustrating it must be for all of you that this has gotten delayed. But everyone who has eyes to see. We're in the middle of a blizzard. It's not safe for people to be out in the blizzard. It's particularly not safe for seniors. We don't want someone going to try and get a vaccine to protect their health, and then end up, God forbid, in a horrible situation because of the snow. So, we're going to turn quickly to reschedule those appointments. Dr. Chokshi, you want to talk about how that's going to go? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thanks, Andrew, for the question. Yes, the way that this works is that wherever someone had their appointment, whether it was at a City site or another site, a hospital or a neighborhood clinic, they should get in touch with that place if they haven't already heard about their appointment getting rescheduled. In terms of the timeframe, it will vary a bit depending on the specific site. I do know that many sites still do have the ability to shift those appointments into later in the week. So, it will only be a postponement of a few days. And at the minority of sites, they may have to postpone it into next week. But the bottom line is many people have already been contacted about that rescheduling. And if someone has a question about their appointment for today or tomorrow, they should feel free to call the site where they have that appointment. 

Moderator: The next is Marcia from WCBS.

Question: Mr. Mayor, thank you for taking this call. My question has to do with your vaccine equity program. I know that you released numbers yesterday. I guess the question we have is when will we see true vaccine equity? What's your program going forward? 

Mayor: Marcia, we got a lot of work to do because it's a combination of, we need a hell of a lot more supply and we need to work on the real concerns about trust and hesitancy. This is going to take work. If we get a bigger supply, I think that's the single biggest difference maker, because what that means is in communities all over the city, people start to know more and more people in their life who have gotten vaccinated. That's going to be the biggest impact, that word of mouth. The spread of the news word of mouth is what's going to convince people to get vaccinated. My neighbor got vaccinated, they said it was okay. My aunt got vaccinated, she said it was okay. You know, someone I worship in church with got vaccinated, they said it was okay. That's what we need. We can't do that without a hell of a lot more supply. But in the meantime, what we're going to do is work to ensure that the supply is getting to the grassroots, getting to the, you know, the sites that people really know in their community, continuing to do a lot of communication with people in lots of different languages. We're going to keep working at it and I know we'll get there, but you know what? We'll always have one hand behind our back, tied behind our back, if we don't get the supply, that's the bottom line. 

Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing? Hanging in there? 

Mayor: It’s a winter wonderland, Henry, how you doing? 

[Laughter] 

Question: I'm doing well. I know you're going to be very disappointed about probably canceling Groundhog Day tomorrow. You're probably not going to be able to make that – 

Mayor: I am crushed, Henry. I am like – I have to take it off my schedule. I'm very upset about it. 

Question: All right. I also have to commend the Sanitation Department. They've plowed my son's street in Long Island City, Queens twice already. 

Mayor: There you go. Congratulations, Ed. 

Question: The demography of the vaccinations. If I'm not mistaken, you said that there was about a 40 percent rate of people not volunteering their ethnic or demographic identification. In light of that, how confident can you be in the data that you presented yesterday? 

Mayor: Look, two points, Henry, and then I'll ask Dr. Chokshi to weigh in. I feel like when you've got as many people as we do have the data for it, that's a lot of people that's a really big sample size. So, I think it tells us a lot and it certainly tells us there's a real disparity problem we have to address, but we got to get other people to provide that data more consistently. And I don't think it's so much just the individual not offering it. I think the providers need to do more to let people know how important it is to provide that information. So, Dr. Chokshi, why don't you talk about the HAN and remind me what the acronym stands for again, and the alert you put out and what it tells providers to do. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. And first I just wanted to reiterate the most important point, which is the one that you made which is that we have enough data to tell us that we need to be redoubling our efforts around addressing equity and particularly racial equity. So, we have the information that we need to take action today. We don't need to wait any longer to commit and recommit ourselves to that urgent imperative. And with that said, yes, there are some limitations to the data, particularly the percentage of people who are either declining to provide their race or ethnicity or for whom a provider isn't capturing that, so that we can see it in the system. 

For the second part of that we are putting out a HAN, which is a health alert notice. This is the way that we communicate with clinicians around New York City making very explicit what our obligations are with respect to reporting on race and ethnicity as part of our immunization efforts. We're also going to be working with those same clinicians about how to have those conversations with patients so that we capture more of that data as well. We do know from other states and cities around the country that are starting to collect this data, in most other places it's upward of 50 percent of the data points that are unknown race or ethnicity. In New York City, it's 40 percent but we have to get that number even lower so that we can have the best picture of what's happened. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Okay, thanks. On the restaurants reopening, I know this is a State decision but is there – 

Mayor: You're saying the – just Henry, to clarify, not the outdoor dining and whether it's on or off, you're saying indoor dining? 

Question: I'm sorry. Indoor dining. Did I say outdoor dining? Indoor dining. Is there anything that the board of health – I mean, if you have a true disagreement with the Governor on this, the city board of health has enormous plenary powers in the city. Are you just – do you just want to avoid a conflict with the State over this issue or is your power really limited by the State’s you know control over this issue? 

Mayor: Yeah, look, Henry, at this point because of the actions of the Legislature this is a decision the State makes, obviously we have to start having a conversation in New York State about when we're going to revert back to normal governance and let cities and towns and counties make decisions for themselves. But right now, this is a decision the State makes. We're going to be watching very carefully. We're really concerned about the variant – the new variants, I should say, plural – and what that could mean. And we're going to enforce the standards with a lot of energy because, really important that with indoor dining coming back, it be done safely and carefully. And the Department of Health will lead the way. So, our focus will be on the piece that we do control, which is the enforcement, getting that right. And we're certainly going to be really watching carefully as we, you know, watch to see what's happening with the virus in general, as we – there's a lot of unknown still out there. And we'll talk about what we're seeing, and we'll act on it accordingly. 

Moderator: The next is Shant from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, everyone. Hope everyone is staying warm. Had another vaccination question. Can you say what the City had been expecting in terms of its next shipment of doses for the week, and is this storm going to delay that? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi on the numbers, Shant. Clearly, I can say from the beginning, the numbers are extremely insufficient. We got a little bit of a boost from the announcement from President Biden, which we really appreciate, but they're still way off what we need. And so far, you know, with the storm situation, we're going to be concerned about any disruption, but that should be a very temporary disruption. And again, because we have so little supply, we will be catching up quickly. We have much more capacity than we have supply for. So, even if there's a little delay, it won't be long because we'll just fill in all the spaces we could be using. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to talk about specific numbers and if you have any specific reports on delays. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. We do not have any specific reports on delays as yet. We are actively monitoring that. We're in communication with both the federal government, as well as the manufacturers and the shipping companies to be alerted of any delays if they do occur over today and tomorrow. But thus far, our conversations indicate that they're planning to proceed with deliveries as they had been scheduled. With respect to the numbers, we're expecting about 150,000 first doses to be delivered across all New York City sites for this week. Most of those deliveries will occur today, tomorrow, and Wednesday. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Shant. 

Question: Yeah. Thanks for that. Other than that, I wanted to ask about a New York Times report about a number of high-level State Health Department officials resigning apparently amid a major rift with the Governor. I guess, for one thing, you've had any number of clashes with the Governor during the course of the pandemic. Can you sympathize with those State Health officials who have resigned? And also, with this level of dysfunction with the State Health Department, is that going to affect the handling of the pandemic in the city? 

Mayor: Well, I'm concerned obviously about that. Look, here's the bottom line Shant. Every leader in America should be listening to their health officials. It doesn't matter if you're a governor, a mayor, or president of the United States, every leader in America should be constantly consulting their health officials, weighing their analysis and their suggestions. The worst example we had during this pandemic, the what not to do example, is Donald Trump ignoring Dr. Fauci and ignoring all of the other key medical leaders and health leaders. Literally not talking to them or criticizing them publicly. That led to some of the worst mistakes and lives were lost. So, you have to, you have to encourage your health leaders to offer their views. I talk to my health leadership every day. We talk through a variety of issues every day. That's the way to do things if you're going to save lives. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Kristen from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Good morning Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Kristen, how are you doing? 

Question: Good, good. Hanging in there. 

Mayor: What are you seeing? Are you on Staten Island right now? 

Question: I am. I am. 

Mayor: What do you see? 

Question: I’m seeing a lot of cold white stuff. 

Mayor: Okay. Thank you for that very specific report. 

Question: Yeah, I do my best. But I wanted to talk to you about you know, weather contingency plans? I mean, excluding days like today, when there's just absolutely no way that people can get over to vaccination sites, you know, what if any plan does the City have for sites, you know, specifically like the Gotham Vanderbilt clinic where people are, you know, being vaccinated outside in a tent you know, on days like Friday when it was just frigid? 

Mayor: Go ahead I’m sorry. 

Question: I was just going to say is there any plan to, you know, on days like that to bring people indoors? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's a really good question. And obviously Kristin first and foremost, you know, I'm to keep reminding us in the spirit of hope that spring is around the corner. So, this kind of weather we're only dealing with for hopefully a few more weeks. But it's a really good question. And this is made tougher by the fact that we need to distance people. We would probably in the past in a lot of situations had a much easier time bringing people indoors. But we don't want to crowd a lot of people, especially indoors. So, it's a tough situation. I do think we have to keep trying to figure out how to make people as comfortable as possible and move lines as quickly as possible. Dr. Chokshi, you – I know that site is a Health + Hospitals site, but could you speak about the bigger philosophy that you're using and Dr. Katz and all your colleagues to keep lines moving, to keep people as warm as you can, bring them in when you can? What can you tell us? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, certainly. And I can tell you actually more specifically about my experience in Staten Island on Saturday. I was at one of our Health Department sites there with the vaccination effort. And just as you pointed out in your question, it was a very cold day. It was 16 degrees outside. And so, we made every effort, first to keep the line as short as possible. Our wait times were less than five minutes you know, for people who were queuing up. And we moved the line entirely indoors. You know, that is a site at Port Richmond High School where we had sufficient space to be able to create a line and move it indoors so that people could be more comfortable. So, I mean, every opportunity where we have to do that of course we will make it happen. In circumstances where lines get a little bit longer we will then prioritize, you know, our older New Yorkers, people who have limited mobility, rushing them to the front of the line, making sure they have a place to sit if they do have to wait for a few more minutes. So, all of those plans are in place. We're also making sure that the flow through the sites is maximized because that's what helps us keep the lines short in the first place. And doing things to ensure that we have indoor staging areas that allow us to continue with that distancing. We can follow up with some more specifics about the Vanderbilt site, but that's our general approach. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Kristen. 

Question: Great. And, you know, I just do want to add that we have heard that the lines overall have been shorter, you know. I haven't really been hearing about the two, three hour waits. So, you know, that is good, but 15 minutes and 16 degrees is still pretty cold. But now just a little bit more specific about the actual types of vaccines. The City Health Department told me the other day that all of the City vaccination hubs have the ability to store and distribute both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines. But all of the sites on the vaccine tracker show that the Moderna vaccine is specifically the one that is being administered. What City sites are using the Pfizer vaccine and you know, why isn't it being used more widely? 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you for the question. So, I would clarify it's for all City sites when we use that a bigger set of sites. That includes Health + Hospitals, as well as the Health Department sites, that includes both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Generally, it's at Health + Hospitals sites where, because there's a close affiliation with the hospital that they're more readily able to use the Pfizer vaccine which requires that ultra-cold storage. For the Health Department sites we're using primarily Moderna vaccine at this point. And if other vaccines get approved in the future, like the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, we would be able to administer that through Health Department sites as well. So, for your question, I would say we are using both vaccines at City sites. But, generally, it's split in that way to be able to ensure that the vaccine is safely stored and administered. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Last question today goes to Nolan from the Post. 

Question: Hey everybody, how are you doing? 

Mayor: Good Nolan. Are you enjoying the winter wonderland? 

Question: I am. Yeah, there are near white out conditions here in Crown Heights. I can't see across the street anymore, so that's exciting for me and the people tasked with clearing the walk to my building, which is thankfully not me. If we could just go back and talk a little bit about the vaccine real fast. I'm curious because we have gotten sort of two sets of breakdowns here. But we really don't have any base demographic information to compare it against. Does the City have an idea as to what the demographic makeup of the city is above 65? And does it have an idea as to what the demographic breakdown is for the first responders and the hospital workers who qualify under 1a and 1b? 

Mayor: Yeah. And what we're going to do – good questions Nolan. We're going to keep providing more information and more breakouts and more pieces of the population. As I said, I also want to start getting things down to the ZIP code level and to the vaccination site level. So this, it all takes time to get it right. And we also would like more of the providers to give us accurate information. But the more we can break it out the better. But your first point is a really important one. There is a demographic difference by age. I can tell you this much. So the city as a whole, again this is broad data and obviously things evolve even month to month. But here's the basics. The city as a whole 32 percent white, 29 percent Hispanic, 24 percent Black, 14 percent Asian. You saw the difference in the vaccination data compared to that baseline data. But to your point about age, there is some difference in age. When you do the category 18 to 64 years old and then separate categories, 65 years and up. 18 to 64 in this city is 31 percent white, 28, almost 29 percent Latino, 21 percent Black 15 percent Asian. When you do 65 and up, it's actually meaningfully different. 65 and up is 41 percent white, 22 percent Latino, 21 percent Black, 14 percent Asian. So, you do see some meaningful differences there for sure. But what we're going to do is keep trying to get more and better data, keep putting it out, going down to a more local level. We'll get the data out, obviously on the folks who serve us – first responders, teachers, health care workers. That data set is a different reality than the general population though. I want to be very clear about that. And that's a group of folks in specific professions, does not set up the same as the population overall for a variety of reasons. But we'll get you information on that for sure. Go ahead Nolan. 

Question: And secondly, just to follow on the questions about vaccines and who is getting the vaccines. There are more Anglo people who live outside of New York City who have gotten a vaccine here in the city, then people who are Black and live in the five boroughs. Is there something preventing the City from imposing residency restrictions on suburban New Yorkers coming into the city to get their shots on the private health systems? 

Mayor: It's a good question for sure. Yeah, there is and I want to talk about that for a moment, because it's important. But first let me say this – what we talked about yesterday, and I spoke with Dr. Chokshi and all of our colleagues in detail about this in the last few days, as we got ready for yesterday's announcement. We still based on the information we have, which we need, we need to perfect that information. But based on what we have, vast majority of the folks who got vaccinated and live outside the five boroughs are people who serve New York City. They are health care workers, teachers, school staff, police, officers, EMTs, paramedics, firefighters. We want all those people vaccinated. If that demographic reality looked different than New York City, we understand why, but most importantly, we wanted those people vaccinated. They serve all of us. They protect all of us. We need them vaccinated. But there's a different question, which I think you're getting at, which is folks who just individuals, who are 65 and older, and are looking to get vaccinated who come from outside the city and go to our hospitals for example, and get a vaccination. This is where we need to work with the State on the solution. I want to see everyone vaccinated in New York City, in the tri-state area. We want everyone vaccinated and we care for everyone. Obviously, you know, every single human being who's feeling vulnerable right now, every senior in particular, we need them to get vaccinated. We want them to get vaccinated. Their families are anxious for them. We want everyone to get served. But we know that vaccine has been distributed not just to the suburbs in New York State, but to Connecticut, to New Jersey. Obviously, you know, each of our suburban areas has gotten their own allotment and we really want to make sure that people who live in the suburbs to the maximum extent possible, live in other states to the maximum extent possible, get their vaccines where they live. So we can protect what we need to do for people here, particularly the most vulnerable people in the neighborhoods we were talking about yesterday. Who are in the places where the most people have died proportionally. I'm going to be just blunt about that, the most danger exists. So that's something we can only do with the State. But as we look at that situation we've got to think through the ramifications. And you know, right now the best information I have Nolan, is for example, about 29,000 of the doses were given to folks who live in New Jersey and Connecticut.

Now, again, some of those folks are public servants who serve us, is absolutely a fair and smart priority. But some of those I'm sure are just individuals who came in because they had an opportunity to get a dose. We respect them. We care for them, but we want to see folks get their doses where they live to the maximum extent possible for the good of all of us. 

Okay everybody, as we conclude today look, we got a lot we're facing, but we're going to get through it. We always do. We are going to get through it together. New Yorkers stand up for each other, protect each other. Look out today, please look out for your neighbors. Look out for people in your family who might need a little help. Please folks who are trying to shovel snow, it's going to be incessant. You heard Commissioner Grayson. This is going to be at some point – a great example of, you know, between the time you go to make a sandwich and eat the sandwich and look outside again, the snow will already piled up. So please be careful snow shoveling. If you're someone with any kind of health reality that's a challenge, or if you're older, take it slow. See if someone else can help you. We want people to be safe today and I can safely say tomorrow is going to be a better day. Thank you, everybody.

2021-02-02 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, good morning, everyone. 

Let me go to the number-one issue of the day – vaccine. So, obviously, everything we're going to do to recover as a city depends on the vaccine effort. We need supply badly. We'll keep talking about that, but let me give you an update on today and tomorrow how we're handling vaccination. So, overall, we said, today, we would not be having vaccination at most of our sites, because of concerns about the weather. And thankfully the storm ended up being a little less than expected, but, you know, when you make decisions like this, you have to be very, very careful about health and safety. We made a cautious choice. So, most sites are not open today. They'll be back strong tomorrow and we'll be able to catch up on appointments quickly. I wish we had so much supply that we would have to say, wow, we have so much to do. But unfortunately, in this case, because supply is limited, we'll be able to up on those appointments very quickly and then, once again, we will not have supply. 

Health + Hospitals, sites are open for vaccination today. They have been in touch with the folks who were scheduled. Obviously, hospitals and clinics are staying open all the time, no matter what. So, they're able to continue vaccination today, which is great. The latest number of vaccinations for the City of New York since we started the vaccination effort, 823,670. So, a great number, but a number that could be so much bigger if we had sufficient supply. I'm going to keep sounding the alarm here and keep saying we need a truly national effort. All of the companies in America that could be helping with the direction of federal government, truly national effort to radically increase the amount of vaccine supply in this country. It can be done. It was not done previously when we had a better chance last year, it can be done this year, and that's what I'm going to fight for. And if we can get that kind of true national mobilization, it will make a world of difference. We can be doing half-a-million in vaccinations per week – per week in the month of February, if we had the supply. Now, that being said, I really want to thank everyone out there. Who's running these vaccine sites, working at these vaccine sites, really doing an outstanding job to keep this process moving, even with the supply problem. 

So, this week, we have an update on our Department of Health vaccination hubs. And this is so important because what the Department of Health has done – just like Health + Hospitals – where are these hubs? They're in our communities. They're at the grassroots. They're where the people are and they’re where the people are who have the greatest need, including a lot of folks who have felt the disparities of this crisis the most. We believe in a grassroots approach to vaccination, decentralized down to the neighborhoods, down to the grassroots. What are we seeing? We're seeing amazing results. I was out at Hillcrest High School in Queens, a few weeks back, saw a great operation there. Those Department of Health hubs now at the grassroots have provided over 100,000 doses to New Yorkers. And that effort will grow intensely once we have the supply to go with it. That is how we get vaccine to the people that need it, we build trust, we fight disparity – is getting the vaccine to the grassroots. Congratulations to the Department of Health for really impressive numbers so far. 

Okay. Indicators today – number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 206 patients. This is a good report today. Now, again, I'm going to pause here for a moment and say, the daily reports are crucial, the big trends are more crucial. This is a good number. I'm happy to see this number, going in the right direction. I'm extremely concerned about the variants that we're seeing, the UK variant, Brazilian variants, South African variant. These are big open questions of what's coming next at us, but still very happy today. We see a better number – 206 patients, almost down to our threshold. Still a high level of confirmed positivity among those patients, 63.89 percent. In terms of hospitalization rate, 5.09 percent – I’m sorry, 5.09 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, that number today, 4,585. And number three, the percent of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's number 8.2 percent. 

A few words in Spanish – and this is about the snowstorm. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalists. 

Moderator: Hi all. We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Sanitation Commissioner Ed Grayson, Emergency Management Commissioner Deanne Criswell, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Health + Hospitals CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Bob from the Chief Leader. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call. Andy Slavitt, Senior Advisor to the White House, who's heading the COVID response, advised health care providers to tap into whatever reserve they've held back for the second dose to be used now. You mentioned last week that the CDC had helped out last week when they widened the window for the time between the first and second shot to six weeks. It's been reported that Governor Cuomo released 18,000 doses the City hand on-hand that fits this category. Now, with the alignment of the CDC and the Biden White House’s latest advisory. When will you see by more macro shifts so this becomes the standard? 

Mayor: Thank you, Bob. Really important question. And I have been talking to folks in the Biden Administration about this, and, obviously, speaking out publicly – we need to free up the second doses. It just does not make sense that they're being held back. More manufacturing is coming. I have absolute faith that the Biden Administration is going to speed the manufacturing process. I think we could go so much farther if there was a full national mobilization of the pharmaceutical industry and the biotech industry to produce a vaccine on a much faster, greater level. But, unquestionably, more is coming. Johnson & Johnson is coming. There's going to be a better situation just weeks ahead. So, it makes total sense to free up the second doses now. That additional guidance from the federal government is tremendously helpful. We need the State obviously to join us in freeing up those second doses and fully authorize the use of those second doses so we can put them into play immediately. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: Okay. So, also, in Washington, Senate Republicans are offering a much smaller COVID relief package in their initial conversation with President Biden that he's contemplating. We do see just now something crossed where Comptroller DiNapoli warned that there has been a ten percent drop off in sales tax revenue, much deeper than the six percent of the Great Recession. What is this? What is the risk here of going too small in terms of the granular impact that you would see? 

Mayor: Yeah, Bob, crucial question. Thank you. If there's not a true stimulus package, not a strong large stimulus package, there will not be a recovery. Let's just be clear about this. If they nickel and dime the next stimulus, there will not be a strong recovery. Unfortunately, we learned that lesson after 2008. The stimulus that was put together then was insufficient. The recovery took a whole long time, people suffered. We got one shot to do it right. And Joe Biden's fighting for a really substantial stimulus. It must include State and local aid. There's no way the economy recovers, there's no way we can serve people without the State and local aid. So, it really depends on whether the Republicans in the Senate want to see an economic recovery of this country and want to see people get back on their feet. If they want that, they must include State and local aid. If they don't care about working people, then they should keep doing what they're doing. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Oh, Hey, could you actually skip me and go to someone else? I'm sorry. Can I use my one pass? 

Mayor: You can use your pass for sure. We'll come back to you. 

Moderator: Next, we're going to go to Ariama from Kings County Politics. 

Mayor: Ariama? 

Question: Hi. Hello. 

Mayor: How are you doing? 

Question: Good morning [inaudible]. 

Mayor: Can we try again? We couldn't hear you that well. 

Question: Hello. 

Mayor: There you go. 

Question: Good morning. Hi. Ariama, Kings County Politics. How are you doing? 

Mayor: Good. How are you doing today? 

Question: Good. So really quickly I'll ask if you [inaudible]. 

Mayor: Now we're not hearing you well. We're not hearing you. We'll come back to you as well, because we're just not getting a clear connection. If you got another phone you could call in from try that. But let's, let's go ahead with someone else in the meantime. 

Moderator: We’ll come back to you. For now, we're going to go to Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: Good Henry. How are you? 

Question: I'm doing pretty well, thanks. I guess my first question would have to do with making sure that people of low income and immigrants are getting the message. What specifically is the City doing? How many languages are being used to get this message out? And how is it being, how was the message being disseminated? How are you going to combat this data that’s showing inequities and disparities? 

Mayor: You did not say the word vaccinations, I'm going to assume everything you said was about vaccination, correct? 

Question: Correct. But I did notice the same thing going on with testing earlier in the year, but yes, it's about vaccinations. 

Mayor: Yes. I will start and turn to both Commissioner Chokshi and Dr. Katz because both of them have really put intense effort into addressing disparities and making sure the services were available. So, what I'd say to begin, Henry first and foremost is where you choose as locations determine so much. If you just do, you know, big mega sites in, you know, areas away from grassroots communities, you're not going to get everyday New Yorkers. You're not going to get as many people of color. You're not going to get as many immigrants. If you really want to reach the people, go to the people. Which is why 60 percent of our vaccination sites are in the very same neighborhoods that bore the brunt of the COVID crisis. Those 33 neighborhoods we talked about on Sunday. So, location, location, location. Put the vaccination sites where people need them the most. Second, get out there with the community. This is what the vaccine command center is doing. Working with community leaders, clergy, grassroots organizations, neighborhood-based clinics to get the word out, to demystify, answer questions, lay concerns. And then yes, multiple languages, including the application form itself, now will be in ten languages, the application for appointments. Lots of outreach. We're going to do paid media in different languages. It takes all of that and then it does take some time. And I still contend that the number one factor here Henry is supply because if we had ample supply, those locations would be doing a lot more at this moment. And then more and more people would have people in their lives who got vaccinated. And that word of mouth would be the single most powerful element. I want Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz to talk a little more humanly, personally, about their experiences with what has worked with dispelling myths and helping people have confidence in addressing disparities. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. And thank you Henry for this very important question. You know, as the Mayor said we are very focused on access. But access in multiple meanings of that word. You know, I go back to one of the vaccine principles that the Mayor laid out, which is about meeting patients where they are. That means the specific locations of vaccination sites, but it also means ensuring access within the sites themselves. So, for example, we have a language access coordinator at each of our community vaccine hubs. We have all of our Vaccine For All materials translated in the 13 most common languages. And we also have additional access to over 180 languages through the language line, which is accessible both through our call center, as well as onsite at our vaccination sites. But to give you a little bit more of the individual perspective on it, I would just share, you know, my experience taking care of patients myself. So much boils down to the relationship that people already have with a trusted clinician, with a trusted faith leader. And so a linchpin of our approach is meeting patients where they are with respect to getting out into communities, into churches, into community organizations and having the humility to partner with them as we roll out this historic vaccination campaign. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yeah, I can build on what Dr. Chokshi has said because Health + Hospitals very proudly has taken care of New York City's immigrant populations, the Black and Brown communities, low-income people, uninsured people, the very people who we most wish to vaccinate, who have been so hurt by this pandemic. And so, what we are doing is we're not just waiting for people to make that appointment. We are actively calling people who are over the age of 65, especially if they also have comorbid problems. We're calling them in their language, by their clinician teams and asking them to come in and be vaccinated. And we're setting aside appointments for our own patients so that we know we're addressing the disparities that have been so troubling in this pandemic. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Okay. Far be it for me to make anybody uncomfortable here, but – 

Mayor: Go ahead Henry, make us uncomfortable. 

Question: All right. I'm interested in why Commissioner Grayson is still the acting commissioner? 

Mayor: Henry, I'm going to stop you, I'm going to stop you right there. He was named the full commissioner weeks ago, my friend. 

Question: Oh, okay. Thank you for that. That's my question. Go on to the next person. 

Mayor: No one's uncomfortable. He's doing a great job. Okay, go ahead. 

Moderator: We believe in second chances. So, we're going back to Katie Honan. 

Question: Thank you so much. I got to use my Henry Goldman pass. My first question is something the Governor was asked about yesterday, but do you think that restaurant workers should receive priority in getting the vaccine? Maybe be added to 1b or at least especially as we're going to be opening up indoor dining? 

Mayor: Yeah, absolutely. Look, the restaurant workers now are going to be in enclosed places with people eating and drinking. And every doctor on this line or any place else will say, that's an area of concern. We have to protect the people working in our restaurants. So now that the State has made this decision, it follows that we have to protect those workers and they should be added to the 1b category. Go ahead. 

Question: Thank you. I guess that's – are you asking the State on this and I don't know how you would – because I understand it's their qualifications. So, I don't know what the Mayor can do in this instance to advocate for that? 

Mayor: I just did. I just did advocate for it. And I think when I say these things publicly, it's duly noted in Albany. So, look again, these are folks who serve us, who we depend on, who in the course of one of their shifts will be in contact with multiple people. We need to protect them. So the State made a decision. Now follow through on the decision and add those folks to the 1b category. 

Moderator: Next is Nolan from the Post. 

Question: Good morning everybody. How are you? 

Mayor: Good morning, Nolan. How's things in Crown Heights today? 

Question: Snowed in. 

Mayor: All right. Well, have some hot chocolate and carry on. 

Question: Much like the rest of the city. Are there – what is best practice, what is the procedure for rebooking people? Like when you have a limited number of slots and when those slots are – 

Mayor: What – wait, what topic are we on? 

Question: Yep. So, back to vaccinations. 

Mayor: Okay, go ahead, go ahead. 

Question: [Inaudible] with the delays in shipments, there have been two or three weeks in a row where the City has had to reschedule a significant number of shots. Is there a procedure that's been laid out for how this should be done so people know what to expect? Is it, you get moved into the next week, on the same day, at the same time at the same facility, is it you're guaranteed the same spot, is it more random? Is there some sort of policy that's been developed around how rescheduling works at both Health + Hospitals and the Department of Health? 

Mayor: Yeah. Very, very good question. And again, you know, yes – and I’ll turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi to talk about it. It is a very fair question and a very frustrating topic because when we have this level of capacity, when we could be doing half a million vaccinations a week and we're constantly having to hold back, and we can't run the engine the way it should be run, it's very frustrating. Again, to the earlier question we need, the second doses freed up, that would give us more supply right now. We need a national mobilization to increase supply from all the pharmaceutical companies. But in the meantime, we're trying to make this as even and smart as possible. But without better guarantees on supply, there's unfortunately going to be these stop and start moments. Dr. Katz, then Dr. Chokshi talk about how you make those adjustments when you have to. 

President Katz: Thank you, sir. Fortunately, when people sign up for a vaccine, they put in their phone number or their email, or their text number. And so, we contact people individually because even if we were to reschedule them, we'd have to tell them when. There'd be no way they would know when they get rescheduled. So, what we typically do is we put people into the next available appointment, despite [inaudible] chose, because we find many people have chosen a specific geographic site because it's convenient to them. We put them into the next available appointment at that site, and then we reach out to them. And if they would like to choose a different site or that particular appointment is not good, we'll try to find them a different appointment. But our commitment is that we don't make new appointments for people until we've taken care of all of the people who have to be rescheduled. So, the people who get rescheduled, we know that it's upsetting, but our commitment to you is that we're going to get you a slot before we allow other people who haven't already made an appointment to book a slot. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Yes, it's the same protocol for Health Department sites as well with respect to rescheduling. There's a default path in terms of when that appointment is rescheduled to. We get in touch with people individually in order to communicate that. In some cases, people are unable to make that rescheduled date or time, and then we have options for them to take another slot if that's the case. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more. First is [inaudible] from WNYC. 

Question: Hi, Mayor. I have three questions, one on data, one on the vaccinations, and one on the variants. I don't know which one [inaudible] – 

Mayor: We got to question rules. So, turn it – give me one followed by a second. Go ahead. 

Question: Sure. Sure. Okay. So, first is about vaccines. So, it looks like about 4,000 doses were administered yesterday. I was wondering if any doses were lost due to people skipping their appointments, given that the doses were sort of handled in batches – 

Mayor: I'm going to check – hold on, hold on, that's one. Dr. Katz, I'm going to check with you on this. My understanding is yesterday since we had broadly postponed the appointments, that the one place that ended up still doing some vaccinations was H + H. And obviously you have all the refrigeration capacity there. So, I'm assuming you did not have a problem with any lost doses, but please clarify Dr. Katz. 

President Katz: That's correct, sir. We had no problem. We don't open the vial unless we know that we have the right number of people to use all of the vaccine. The vaccine is way too precious to us to risk losing any of it. 

Mayor: Okay. Go ahead with your next question. 

Question: You brought up the variants earlier. Public Health England released last night that the UK variant has picked up one of the mutations seen in the South African variant, one that might allow it to bypass the immune system. I was wondering if you could give us an update on how the City is tracking these variants, how many samples are being genetically sequenced per day? 

Mayor: Two things. Thank you, very important question. First, I’m going to ask Dr. Varma to speak about what we're seeing internationally, and then Dr. Chokshi to talk about the City's specific efforts to do the genomic sequencing and to analyze the samples we're getting. But I want to emphasize, to this very important question, we should all be deeply concerned about these variants. We, you know, everyone wants to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and again, we see some indicators of some improvement lately in terms of the overall situation, but these variants are tremendously dangerous, and a lot of things we don't know yet about them that could be particularly perilous. We don't know enough to say with assurance how they will respond to vaccine, how infectious, how deadly. There's so many open questions. This is why we need a national mobilization to create as much vaccine as possible to get as many people vaccinated as possible. Now that's – the best bet we have to protect people against the variants is to vaccinate as many people as possible. Even though we don't have all the answers, it's the one thing we know would truly help and it still needs to be achieved quickly or else you're going to have a huge number of unvaccinated people potentially endangered by these variants. I just want to put down that foundational point. Dr. Varma please help us with what we're seeing with the development of these variants around the world, then we'll go to Dr. Chokshi. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah, thank you for the question. We are closely monitoring the situation as it evolves throughout the world. And what we know is that, again, there are – some of these variants are particularly worrisome because not only are they more infectious but they may be a little more likely to reinfect people who were previously infected. So that is concerning and that's what's being reported out of the UK right now. This situation in the UK is there’s variants that have that additional mutation are actually fairly small proportion of all of the infections. So, while it's a worrisome sign, it doesn't represent an acute threat to their public health situation right now. I think a few points and just really worth emphasizing based on what the Mayor has said, first of all, we know that the single best way to protect against these variants is to reduce the number of people infected. 

So, repeating all of the things that we know are so important – we must reduce the number of infections through mask wearing, hand-washing, maintaining our distance, getting tested. Second, as the Mayor has noted, we desperately need to increase our vaccine supply and get more vaccines into people. Even though there was some concern that vaccines may be a little less effective with some of the variants, they are still effective. Your chances of being infected with the regular strain, or called the wild-type strain, are still the highest and [inaudible] is incredibly effective across the board, particularly in preventing hospitalization and death. So, absolutely important to keep pushing on the vaccinations. And I think, Dr. Chokshi, if you what talk a little bit about how we're monitoring for this in the city. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, thank you very much, Dr. Varma. First, I want to just echo what you and the Mayor have said about the degree of concern that we have for the variants. We are monitoring the situation very closely and carefully, learning from our public health colleagues around the world to understand, you know, what the implications are. But even as we clarify that understanding all of the actions that Dr. Varma laid out particularly around ramping up vaccination are things that we can do right now to mitigate the effects of those variants. With respect to the numbers that you asked about, we are doing hundreds of sequencing analyses each week for New York City residents. So, since January 1st it's been about 1,500 that have been done in New York City residents that occurs over a combination of New York City's own public health laboratory, the New York State public health laboratory, as well as some academic laboratories that are doing sequencing as well. And we have access to the results across those sites. We are significantly ramping up that capacity over the coming week, so that we have an additional lens into how the very answer evolving in New York City. And the final thing that I will say is that thus far we have identified 13 cases of the B117 variant – that's also known as the UK variant – and thus far we have not identified cases of the other variants. Although given that sequencing capacity, we'll be looking very closely and following that over the coming days and weeks. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. 

Moderator: Last, we'll go to Narmeen from PIX11. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor Good. How you been, Narmeen? 

Question: I'm doing okay. A little tired today from all the snow coverage but hanging in there. So, I wanted to ask you, I mean, going back a few months, you know, when we were looking and identifying the micro cluster zones in Brooklyn and Queens, and now looking back at our map again, I kind of noticed these old familiar neighborhoods popping back up again. I want to ask you how frustrating that might be for you to see. I know the focus is again on vaccinations, but what does it tell you about behavior in some communities bringing numbers back up? 

Mayor: Well, it's a great question, Narmeen, but I think there's more than one thing going on here. I mean, the biggest, most important point here, which I'm seeing more and more now is the lost opportunity last year to have established an approach to the vaccine that could have had us in a very situation – very different situation now. I mean, let's just think about this for a moment. In 2020, there was a chance to fully mobilize the industrial might of America, all the pharmaceutical companies, all the biotech companies to get them all ready to produce whatever vaccine proved effective. And you remember the day that we got the information that Pfizer had a good vaccine, the day we got the information Moderna had been approved. There was no federal effort by the previous administration to then link those achievements to other companies to maximize production. Even though we have plenty of examples from wartime of that very same approach being used. That was the lost opportunity. 

Now the new administration in Washington is going to have to play catch up because of what didn't happen in the past. If we had had the kind of supply of vaccine we needed, we'd be having an entirely different discussion because right now, hundreds of thousands more New Yorkers would have been vaccinated. But to your underlying question, look, I do see the problem. And it is frustrating that even though our doctors have given people such clear instruction and try to support people in so many ways, and we've had mask distribution and so many other things, there, of course, have been, people have been resisting it. But Narmeen, that's not the majority. The vast majority of New Yorkers have been wearing masks, have been practicing social distancing, and have been doing all those efforts to keep things working right. Look at our schools, you know, the safest places in New York City. Everyone in our school communities has worked so hard to keep them safe. Most New Yorkers are doing the right thing. But the difference maker here would be having the supply of vaccine we need. Go ahead, Narmeen. 

Question: Yeah. Last question – thank you for that – is in relation to the variants. Just a point of clarification, I know Dr. Chokshi just identified that we had 13 cases of the UK variant, but does this mean that we don't believe that the other variants are around, or do we think that they are somewhere in New York City, just have not been caught by our sequencing efforts yet? 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, start. And if Dr. Varma, if you want to add, feel free. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. Thank you. And thanks for this very important question, Narmeen. We should assume that there are other variants in New York City. We don't know for sure which of the other variants may already be among – within New York City. But given the degree of spread that we've seen including in the rest of the United States I do think that we have to assume that there is, you know, some degree of spread in New York City as well, but I would go back to the point that Dr. Varma has made, which is that that piece of information, although it's very important for us to do the sequencing, to understand this in detail, the actions that we can take, the core public health guidance, the need to ramp up vaccinations and ensure that our most vulnerable New Yorkers are getting vaccinated, all of those things remain just as urgent as they have always been. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma, do you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, just to emphasize that even if we haven't detected those specific strains, the number of infections in the United States creates an opportunity for either these strains that we've documented already or new strands to emerge. So, emphasizing what Dr. Chokshi said we're really in a race against the virus to get people vaccinated as fast as possible. And while we – while those of us waiting to get vaccinated, wait in line, do all the things that are necessary to prevent infection, because that is the best way, we can outrun the virus. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Varma. Everyone, as we conclude today, look, it's interesting, two very different things we're talking about today. A snowstorm came out of nowhere. One of the bigger storms we've seen in a long time, and of course the fight against the coronavirus, the biggest challenge of our time, the biggest crisis this city has ever faced. But what we see in both of these situations, one's just of the moment, the other one we've been dealing with for years, New Yorkers stepping up, doing the right thing, helping each other out, really listening to what needs to be done, and then doing it. So, again, a thank you, thank you to everyone in this city, for the way you handled yesterday, you stayed off the roads, you helped out our Sanitation Department, you looked out for your neighbors. Thank you. That same spirit is what's going to take us through this crisis, overcome the coronavirus and bring us back to a full recovery in New York City. So, I'll say what I've said more than once, I believe in the future in New York City, because I believe in New Yorkers, and you keep showing the world time and time again what you're made of and why we're going to come back strong. Thank you, everyone.

2021-02-03 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Okay, now, let's go to the main topic every single day, fighting the coronavirus and of course the vaccination effort. Now, let's be clear, the number one thing we can do to speed our recovery as a city, to overcome the coronavirus and move forward, is to get the maximum number of people vaccinated. So, this is what we focus on every hour, every day. The key here, today, is that our sites will be back up and running now that we've gotten past the storm. That's the vast majority of our sites. Now, some sites are not yet fully opened because of lack of supply, not because of the storm, because of lack of vaccine. This is a persistent problem, but those sites will be open tomorrow. So again, clear majority will be open today. Others open tomorrow. The storm results past, but the problem comes right back to the same one we've been talking about for weeks and weeks, supply, supply, supply. We have to get a better and more reliable supply to be able to take this effort up to where it belongs, which is half a million vaccinations per week. What have we done so far? 8,000 – excuse me – let me try again. We've done so far 837,292 doses since day one. That's really good. That is nothing compared to what we could be doing if we had the supply. 

So, we do continue to hear some promising signs, the Biden administration announced a five percent increase in supply to the State. They continue to find – I really commend the Biden administration to finding every way they can to keep adding supply. We see it happen steadily. That's going to help us a lot and of course we're very, very hopeful about the Johnson and Johnson vaccine as well. We also got some good news, I called upon the State to give us the freedom to vaccinate, to help us reach people who really need to be vaccinated. Obviously once the State made the decision to open up restaurants for indoor dining, again, on February 14th, it was clear to me that the folks that work in the restaurants deserve the right to be vaccinated. They were vulnerable. They needed the right to be vaccinated. The State agreed to let the city make that decision, and my decision is, yes, those folks deserve to be vaccinated, will like everybody, they'll have a chance to get appointments when so many other people trying to get appointments. But the important point is that right to be vaccinated, as we add supply, we'll be able to reach more and more people, and the State guidelines also allow us to do things I've been calling for before, reach folks who work in the taxi industry, for-hire vehicle drivers, TLC licensed drivers. They play a crucial role in the city. They have vulnerabilities in the work that they do. They have – they deserve, as well, that right. And of course, people who live in facilities for developmentally disabled people and those who work there. We want to reach more people. These are all new Yorkers who deserve the right to be vaccinated. 

Now, the real freedom to vaccinate means being able to use the second doses that right now are being held in reserve. It makes no sense. This is something I have been talking about all over the city. This is something I've talked to the Biden administration about. We need a clear national directive that states and cities should go ahead and use those second doses right now right now, not holding back for weeks ahead. Use them right now, so we can reach more and more people get them some protection. We need the freedom to vaccinate. We need a clear directive on the federal level. We need the State to be very clear, because right now the State rules do not allow us to use those second doses. We need the right to use them, especially because we're getting more and more assurances from the Biden ministration that increased supply is coming, all the more reason we should be using the second doses right now. So, we'll keep fighting for that freedom to vaccinate. 

So, number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 230 patients, with a confirmed positivity level of 67.8 percent. Hospitalization rate 5.03 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report, 4,009 cases. Number three, percentage of the people testing city-wide positive for COVID-19, today's report, seven-day rolling average, 8.09 percent. Few words in Spanish now – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that. Let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Commissioner Gutman, by First Deputy Commissioner Forgione, by Chief Strategy Officer Kim, by Commissioner Criswell, Commissioner Grayson, Dr. Katz, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today, it goes to Dave Evans from WABC. 

Question: Hey, Mayor. Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yeah, Dave, we haven't heard from you in a while. How are you doing? 

Question: I'm doing much better, a little time in the hospital, but I'll tell you later about that. 

Mayor: We're glad you're back. 

Question: It wasn't COVID, but I thought it was, but anyway. So, I wanted to ask you about our Health Commissioner, not to get into the nitty gritty, that's his business of him testing positive, but of all people, if he can test positive, I mean, he's very, very careful, and I think we're all trying to be very careful, but what can you say to reassure the public that we don't need to be extra worried because if the Health Commissioner can turn positive – test positive, then that doesn't bode well for all of us. 

Mayor: It's a really fair question, Dave, and look, I do want to assure, reassure everyone. And I want to tell you, you know, Dr. Chokshi has been doing absolutely amazing work and grueling work protecting all of us. But we're all human beings. There's always the possibility that COVID can reach us. It doesn't change the overall reality. Thank God, the vast majority of New Yorkers, obviously, including Dr. Chokshi, have been doing all the smart things we need to do. It's not a guarantee, but because so many people are doing the right thing, it's allowed us to fight this disease back in so many ways. So, I talked to Dr. Chokshi this morning, he's doing well, his family's doing well. Hopefully he'll be able to join us tomorrow as part of the press conference. But it's a reminder, you know, COVID is everywhere around us, but all of those smart precautions that we take, they do work. They're not perfect, but they work. And obviously the real solution here is to get everyone vaccinated. And as soon as we get that supply, that's exactly what we're going to do. Go ahead, Dave. 

Question: Second question, a different topic. The fact that waiters who are going to be able to, you know, sign up now for the vaccine, I think that's great and it's wonderful, but what do you tell the public when they look at this, and they say, okay, someone who is 60, 61, 62, who has a pre-existing condition, they can't get the vaccine, but now a healthy 25-year-old waiter who would recover, we presume fairly well from the virus, can get the vaccine? That doesn't seem wise.

Mayor: I think the reality is, Dave, we need to reach people who are in constant contact with other people, right. Think about it for a moment. We want to vaccinate everyone for their own good to protect them as an individual. We also want to vaccinate everyone to stop the spread of this disease. Indoor dining obviously involves people taking off their masks, eating, drinking, talking, laughing, you know there's vulnerability there. It's been proven time and time again around the world. The folks who serve them are going to come in contact with them constantly. And so, we have to recognize there's a vulnerability there and a potential for more spread of the disease that affects all of us. So, it does make sense for them to be vaccinated if they choose to. I imagine some will not choose to, but those who do choose to, should have that right. 

But what we need to address the whole problem is a hell of a lot more supply. And right now, very practically, the best thing that could happen is for the federal government and state government to say right now, hey, New York City can go ahead and use those second doses. Because if we could do that, we could reach a lot more of those senior citizens you're talking about. I fought for their freedom and their right to be vaccinated. We could be vaccinating a lot of seniors right this minute, if only we were given the right to use those second doses. 

Moderator: The next is Juan Manuel from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Juan Manuel. How are you? 

Question: Very good. Thank you. Had Health Commissioner Chokshi been vaccinated and any other members of your administration? And if not, why not given that a lot of New Yorkers are distrustful of the vaccine? 

Mayor: It's a great question. I'm going to start, I'll turn to Dr. Varma, who I know has been in touch with Dr. Chokshi today, and he may have the answer on his own vaccination, but I'll tell you what I've been doing. And it certainly seems to me most of the leaders of the administration had been doing is, yes, you make a good point, Juan Manuel, we want to show people that we have confidence in the vaccine. We'd take it ourselves, our families would take it, but there's another crucial factor here, which is respecting the priority process. So, I've said from the beginning, hey, you know, the people in this country got to watch President Biden, Vice President Harris getting their vaccine. They certainly have been given the very best examples of public officials coming forward and being ready, willing, and able to take the vaccine. We have to also show people there will be fairness here in this city. So, I don't qualify right now. And I think it's important to wait until I do qualify. In terms of Dr. Chokshi’s reality, which is a – his own reality. I don't know what he has done to date, but Dr. Varma, why don't you jump in if you have that answer or anything else you want to say? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah, no, thank you very much for the question. And just to re-emphasize what the Mayor had said, you know, this is a very – this is a disease that we're all extremely concerned about. And the news today obviously hits home about how risky it can be. This is actually exactly what the Mayor said. Dave and I have actually spoken several times about this issue, and we've been sort of choosing to wait our turn in line out of respect for other people while at the same time also trying to balance our risks because we – the two of us have not been in direct patient care responsibilities. So, Dave had been actually choosing to volunteer at vaccine clinics because one of the ways we as City employees become eligible for vaccination is by working a certain number of shifts. So, you know, we're having a lot of, you know, discussions ourselves about this topic right now, but again, we were trying to balance the ethics of us and where the prioritization should be in the line of vaccination. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Question: Mr. Mayor – I don't know if, Dr. Varma, that meant a yes or no for if Dr. Chokshi had been vaccinated or not, but I just wanted to follow up because you want to spend money on campaigns to encourage Black and Latino New Yorkers to get this vaccine. Why wouldn't you lead by example? Don’t you think that you and the First Lady getting vaccinated in front of the cameras might ease a lot of New Yorkers fears? 

Mayor: It's a very fair question, Juan Manuel. And, again, there's two important considerations here. We want to encourage people, reassure, to show that we have faith in the vaccine, but there's also the question of respecting the priorities. I want to make sure that every dose possible goes to our seniors and to our first responders and all the folks we depend on. They need it. By our rules, they need it more than I need it. So that's what I'm doing. The First Lady is in a different category than I'm at. So, she literally, according to the priorities laid out by the State, she qualifies differently than I do. But we're all waiting until our turn comes up. We think that the question of equity and fairness people – yeah, you're right, people need to see that folks they know, folks they trust and respect are getting the vaccine. They also need to know that the priorities are being respected and those who need it most are getting it first. So, we're always trying to balance those two factors. Again, I take reassurance from the fact that all New Yorkers, all Americans have seen the most prominent leaders in our country already get vaccinated live on TV. I think that's a lot of reassurance right there. 

Moderator: Next is Rich Lamb from WCBS 880. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call – 

Mayor: How are you doing, Rich? 

Question: Well, I'm doing – I'm doing all right. So, in regard to – so we don't have a really, a yes or no on whether Dr. Chokshi was vaccinated, at least not that I could discern there. Is that wise for a doctor who is actually, who has patients, and I thought all the medical personnel sort of were quantified to get the, you know, were entitled to get the vaccination? 

Mayor: Let me go back to Dr. Varma. You're absolutely right that folks who are seeing patients or working in vaccination centers are being vaccinated, had been vaccinated. And so, Dr. Varma, could you just clarify whether Dr. Chokshi to the best of your knowledge had been vaccinated or was planning on getting vaccinated, just what's your best understanding. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, no. So, just to clarify, Dave had not yet been vaccinated and he had a plan to get vaccinated after he had done the requisite number of shifts in the vaccine clinics, which is the criteria that we're using for all City employees who want to be vaccinated if they're not already in a priority group. 

Mayor: Right. So, again, Rich to amplify the point. This is a choice that we've all made that we think in a world where people need to see there's integrity in the process, it's really important for folks to see that everyone waited their turn and qualified in the appropriate manner. So, that's the choice that Dr Chokshi made. And, again, you know, I don't want to be disrespectful of his privacy or his family's privacy, we'll certainly have him speak for himself, hopefully as early as tomorrow. Go ahead, Rich. 

Question: Well, we wish him well, of course. And just wondering, there are questions as to whether or not the City has been adequately testing for corona variants. Do you have any information about that? 

Mayor: Let me turn back to Dr. Varma. I mean, this has been something we've been watching very carefully. The Department of Health has extensive capacity to do genomic sequencing, and obviously one of the strengths here in New York City and New York State that we have that capacity on the ground. So, go ahead. Jay, give an update on that. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. So, thank you for the question. And I can't even tell you how excited it makes me feel to hear the Mayor say the words, genomic sequencing. That’s actually an area that I've been personally [inaudible] – 

Mayor: Jay, whatever, whatever works for you, Jay. I'm glad that makes you happy, but I'd say you need to get out more Jay.

Senior Advisor Varma: Exactly. So, to be very straight forward, we are currently sequencing hundreds of specimens a day. Those specimens are getting sequenced at the City public health lab, the New York State public health lab, and several academic medical centers. In addition to that, we are working on a plan in collaboration with some of these different partners to actually increase that number from hundreds to thousands. And that process is actually beginning this week right now. So, we are going to have a very clear window, I think very soon into the proportion of cases that are due to these variants.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Stacey from FOX-5.

Question: Yes. Hi, Mr. Mayor. Question for Dr. Varma, following up on the question about the variants. Can you talk a little to why the City has been so behind, especially when it comes to other countries in sequencing these variants so far? And a little bit more specifically to what you're going to be doing, what the City's going to be doing to try to get the sequencing [inaudible] so you have better information sooner than later?

Senior Advisor Varma: I thank you for the question. I guess I would first challenge the premise that we're actually behind. You know, in New York City, we actually have a lot more capacity than the rest of the city laboratories and state laboratories around the country do. So in collaboration with New York State, New York City and New York State have continued to sequence really since sometime at least this summer, if not earlier than that. And so, you can see all that, it is on a publicly available database you can see. Now, is it as much as we would like to be? No, it hasn't. And I'll be very clear about that. The reason is because our single biggest challenge up until fairly recently, up until a few months ago was simply getting testing capacity. And as you know, New York City first prioritized and has been not just a national leader, but a global leader in the ability to have the regular tests, the PCR tests done. Now sequencing is an additional layer on top of that, that is incredibly complex and challenging to do. So, we really couldn't get to the stage of sequencing a large proportion of our specimen until we had all of the PCR capacity. So, I do feel like we are moving at the – in a very aggressive way to make sure both that we have monitored what's been going on up until now, but also can increase the level of monitoring to match the urgency of the threat.

Mayor: Thank you, Doctor. Go ahead, Stacy.

Question: And one last follow up on that. I mean, since the sequencing is at a lower capacity that you would like, not just in the city, but around the country. I mean, how confident are you Dr. Varma that, you know you got the UK variant here, but do you believe that we have lots of cases with the other variants we're hearing about elsewhere in the country, the South African variant, Brazilian variant and so forth?

Senior Advisor Varma: I think the safest thing to do is for us to plan on the assumption that there are a lot more cases of these variants than we know about. I mean, that is always the safest way to do your public health planning. And that's why you hear the Mayor, you hear all of us talking so aggressively, that the importance of all of these measures that we need to take. So, I think first of all, that's the safest assumption. The second is to actually get the exact measurement of that really does require an incredible expansion of sequencing capacity throughout the country. And as you've heard from the White House and from CDC, they're also working on the ability to do that as well. So, I do feel like we're going to have a much better way to pin down exactly which variants, how many there are, how often are they occurring? Very soon, but, but for planning purposes, it's safe for us to assume that this virus mutates. And even if it's not one of the variants that's known, it could be a new variant. And so, we need to act with that urgency to get vaccinated and to prevent infection.

Mayor: Thank you. Okay.

Moderator: Next we will go to Dana from the New York Times.

Mayor: Dana?

Question: Hi, Mr. – Hi. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah, how are you doing today?

Question: I'm okay. How are you doing?

Mayor: Hanging in there. No snow today. I'm happy, Dana.

Question: First regarding Dr. Chokshi. When was the last time you saw him? When was the last time Dr. Varma saw him? I mean, presumably aside from you two, he had a bunch of City government contacts. How many people are in quarantine?

Mayor: So, the – I have not seen him in-person for a while. So best of my understanding, it's not an issue for me, but contact tracing is going on now to ensure there is follow up on anyone he was in contact with. Dr. Katz, do you want to speak to that? Dr. Katz?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Oh, well so much of, so much of our government now as shown in this presser is done remotely. I mean, I think I've talked to Dave at least twice a day for the last several weeks. I can't remember the last time I was in the same room with him. So, I think, you know, we've been saved by our ability to communicate virtually throughout the city. But as you say, Mr. Mayor, we will do tracing because there were family issues as well, always. And he will be treated like any other contacts or any other positive person. And that would be how he would want it. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: We will try Juliet one more time.

Mayor: One more time.

Question: Okay. I'm here. Does this work?

Mayor: Juliet you have come back to life.

Question: Oh, hey, thank you. I don't know what happened, but thank you for trying again with me. I appreciate it. So my question, Mr. Mayor is how often are you tested given that you are not getting the vaccine at this time?

Mayor: Juliet, I'm now tested every week. I go to an H + H facility every week on a regular basis. Got tested over the weekend, came back negative I'm happy to say. And I'll be continuing to do that. Go ahead.

Question: And do you think that New Yorkers would really be offended if you and your top officials were vaccinated because you are out and about, and obviously your Health Commissioner is out and about and exposed to potential cases? And now that he has it. I get why you're saying you wanted to wait, but what is wrong with top City officials who are really dealing with the public and have to do their jobs for the public, what is the harm in having you all get the vaccine?

Mayor: Very fair question Juliet. Let me say two things. One – I'm absolutely confident about this vaccine. All the Health leadership of our team has said repeatedly. They believe in the vaccines we have. They either have gotten vaccinated or will get vaccinated. Their families will get vaccinated. I absolutely look forward to being vaccinated. All of that is clear. But I want to just tell you an easy story and I say easy because it couldn't be clearer. The story is when I went out to Hillcrest High School in Queens, one of the first sites we had open for vaccination. I talked to seniors, folks in their 70’s, folks in their 80s. I talked to Marcia who was 97 years old, lived her whole life in Southeast Queens, talked to me about her family. Talked to me about everything that happened in her life, told me that she lived in fear of this disease and was so excited to get vaccinated because she knew that from the moment she even got the first shot, she would have protection. Imagine 97 years old and willing to go to a vaccination center because it meant so much to her, just to have that reassurance, that she finally had some protection from this horrible scourge that's been with us for a whole year now. I think it is incumbent upon all of us who do not yet meet the criteria to defer to those in greater need. I don't want to get a vaccination when a senior citizen could be getting that vaccination or a first responder could be getting that vaccination. I want to defer to people who do that crucial work for all of us and to the people who are more vulnerable. That's a decision we've made and we're going to stick to that. But the real answer here, Juliet is supply, supply, supply. And I really believe the Biden administration is trying to fix that situation. But, right now, we need the federal government and the State government to give us the freedom to vaccinate. Tell us we can use those second doses so we can reach a lot more of those seniors like Marcia. We can give a lot more people reassurance that they're going to live through this crisis. We can give a lot more of their loved ones hope. That's what we need to focus on right now.

So, with that, everyone, look, I'll conclude by saying today is about the idea that's going to animate the entire year 2021 for this City in this administration, a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everyone.

2021-02-04 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

Okay, let's go to the topic we talk about every day, the fight against the coronavirus and the way we keep New Yorkers safe. And, look, the key here – I'm going to say it again – supply, supply, supply. We need more supply. We need every conceivable action by the federal government and the State government to increase our supply. I have spoken two leaders at the federal level about the need to change the approach to manufacturing the supply and the need to free up second doses. This is crucial. We need the flexibility to use doses that were designated for second doses to be able to use them right now for first doses, because so many New Yorkers need that first dose. I keep thinking of the seniors I've met, who are scared to death – and I am literally using that term accurately, they're scared to death. They are scared for their lives. They can't get a vaccination, because there's such a shortage of supply. It is just not right to withhold that supply from them. I've sent this letter to the State government today, making clear our desire to have the State formally allow New York City to use second doses as first doses, to use those doses that were designated only for second dose use to put them in play right now. We know more supply is coming. We know the Biden Administration is committed to increasing the supply every single week and month. We've seen it already. We've seen real results already. We know the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is coming. It makes no sense to hold back supply when people in desperate need could be getting that first vaccination right now and getting that 50 percent protection, which will make a world of difference – and a world of difference medically, but also a world of difference in terms of their heart and soul. They will have some reassurance, some hope that will reduce the fear they feel every day. This is the right thing to do. So, we need our federal and State partners to help us. 

In the meantime, very good news, working closely with the State, the City – the City, the State, SOMOS community care, the New York National Guard, and the New York Yankees have banded together to open the site at Yankee stadium, that will be open tomorrow – tomorrow. And, specifically, as a commitment to equity, that site will be for Bronx residents only. I want to really emphasize this, it’s something the City and State agree on strongly. We've got to do actions that will really support equity. The Bronx very hard hit – very hard hit by the COVID crisis. This site, this historic site, this amazing site will be for the people of the Bronx.

And so, we're really looking forward to that. 15,000 appointments will be available during the first week. And Bronx residents, if you want to get your vaccination at Yankee Stadium, you can go online – somosvaccinations.com – somosvaccinations.com, or call 8-3-3-SOMOSNY, and you can get your appointment. And we look forward to Bronxites, stepping up, getting vaccinated at a great, great location, and that will help us move forward. 

Now, in terms of overall vaccine effort, we had a little bit disruption because of the storm. Thank God, not much disruption. All appointments have been rescheduled. All our vaccination sites are moving again. The problem the sites are having, it was not mother nature, it's lack of supply. But to-date, New York City has administered 859,803 doses. Again, we could be doing so much more with supply. We could be doing half-a-million a week. But, you know, we'll take every piece of progress we can get. And, certainly, having this Yankee Stadium site up will be a game-changer. Yes, they wrote that line for me – I like it. 

Okay. Speaking of games, the Super Bowl. So, I'll give some good advice. I'm not a doctor, but I'll give some good advice. I know Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz will certainly amplify this advice. So, a lot of us really look forward each year to watching the Super Bowl. Typically, it's like one of the great party moments of the year. I’m sorry that this year is different, but I guarantee you this is the last year that we're going to be going through this, because the vaccine is here. But if you want to have a – you know, a huge Super Bowl party with lots of people together, having a great time, this is not the year for that. Next year will be the year for that. So, it's the same thing we said about the holidays. Please just protect each other, protect your family. Use common sense. If you're going to do a Super Bowl gathering, it should really be just the people immediately in your life. It should be a safe gathering. The last thing you want to do is to get together for the big game and someone gets sick as a result. So, we all know what happens – lots of people are indoors in close proximity and don't have their masks on, because they're eating and drinking. We’ve got to be careful. So, please, real simple advice – let's beat the coronavirus once and for all. Let's not allow it to keep spreading. Let's not let Super Bowl parties be the reason it keeps spreading. Keep your gatherings small and close. And then, next year, you're going to have the biggest party you've ever had, because we'll be past this, thank God. 

Okay. Today's indicators – one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, very high. I want to frame this – we believe this is because a number of people did not go into the hospital on Monday and Tuesday, because of the storm. And so, we're seeing sort of an exaggerated number, but we're going to watch that carefully to see if that's true. Today's report is 300 patients – a very high number. Confirmed positivity of 66.77 percent. Hospitalization rate is 4.74 per 100,000. New reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,627. And percentage of people testing positive citywide is on a seven-day rolling average, 8.48 percent. 

Let me say a few words in Spanish, and I'm going to focus especially for our friends in the Bronx, on the Yankee Stadium site. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi all, we’ll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is CCRB Chair Fred Davie, Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and Health + Hospitals CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz. With that, we'll go to Jen Peltz from the AP. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Jen. How are you doing? 

Question: Good. Thank you. Vaccination – you know, thinking about the period of mid-January when the City really accelerated the first doses. I think there was something like 327,000 people getting them over two weeks. Now, we're just near the point where second doses are due for everybody – you know, are you confident you're positioned to meet that demand? 

Mayor: Yeah. Good question, Jen. Thank you. Yes. The answer is absolutely yes. I want to start where you started, our high point was around 220,000 doses in a week. Again, we could be going to 500,000 this month in a week, if we had the supply. Our supply is – right now, it's about a third of what we could be doing. I just want people to understand, we're leaving about two-thirds of our capacity on the table right now, given the really small supply we're getting. So, this is very, very frustrating. But what I want to emphasize is, the CDC made clear over a week ago that second doses can appropriately be given anywhere between the ideal date, three or four weeks after the first dose, and up to six weeks later. We know – we've had this conversation here several times, Dr. Varma has spoken about this in detail – we know that once you get that second dose, it's totally effective. It does not matter if you were supposed to get your second dose on March 1st, and instead you get on March 20th. It does not change the effectiveness of that second dose. Now, of course, you say, well, everyone wants to get their second dose as quickly as possible. I agree, but I think it is morally crucial that everyone who needs a first dose get a first dose. And if someone needing a second dose wait a little longer, but still within those CDC guidelines, I think that is absolutely the right thing to do. So, we'll always make sure that we're keeping the supply necessary to keep up with those second doses. But I want to use the flexibility that CDC has offered so we can maximize first doses and initial protection for the maximum number of people, especially our seniors. Anyone out there with a senior you love, if it's your mom, your dad, your grandparents, your aunt, your uncle, I think you know what I'm saying right now. They are desperate to get any protection all. If that first dose gives them 50 percent protection, isn't it the moral thing to do to maximize the number of first doses? And then we'll double back on second doses, for sure, even if we stretch out the timeline a little bit. So, we'll protect the supply to make sure we can do it, but I'm asking the State to help us by giving us that freedom to vaccinate, giving us the freedom to use the second doses that right now are waiting on the shelf for prolonged periods of time. Let's put them in play right now. Let's protect our seniors and all the other folks who need help right now. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Emma from the New York Times.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. So, it’s sort of surreal, I have to say to see two of your top commissioners on this call who have gotten COVID recently. I was wondering if we could first hear from Dr. Chokshi and then Commissioner Shea sort of, how did you feel on your worst day? How are you doing and what lessons would you offer to New Yorkers who are still very anxious about this? Somethings are happening like reopening indoor dining and weddings. And I think a lot of us are still afraid to go to the grocery store. So, do you have any sort of lessons for us?

Mayor: That's a great – I really appreciate that question, Emma. You are the voice of the people today, because you're right. There's tremendous fear and concern out there. So, let's get some firsthand experience. Dr. Chokshi, you and I spoke yesterday. I hope you're feeling okay today. Tell us all how you're doing.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. And thanks Emma for the question, I am doing okay today. And you know, and I hope that, of course, that that remains the case. What I'll say from my own experience with COVID-19 is that it is a fresh reminder of a few things. First that all of us are susceptible to this virus. And you know, for me that is even more motivation to do everything that we can possibly do to try to interrupt and curb the spread of the disease. It's also a reminder that COVID doesn't just affect us as individuals. You know, for me, it was another reflection on the worry and the anxiety that comes with COVID-19 in terms of its effects on family members, you know, other people whom we care for so deeply. And that too is part of the reason that we've been working so hard to try to ensure that people are taking the precautions that they need to, to prevent the spread of the illness. But as the Mayor has really emphasized, encouraging people, particularly our most vulnerable New Yorkers to get vaccinated when their turn is up as well. And I guess the last thing that I would say, you know, just from my personal experience is that this is something that you know, that affects people's lives in so many different ways. Yes, in terms of physical health but also in terms of emotional health and mental health as well. And so, we have to make sure that our response to COVID is focused not just on the infection itself, but also on all of those reverberating effects. So, for me, you know, this has just been a, you know, a personal experience that has underlined all of those things that we've tried to do for the city as a whole.

Mayor: Thank you, Commissioner Shea, you want to talk about your experience?

Commissioner Shea: I feel like I've lost as you know, the month of January in many ways. Thanks for the question. I feel really good. I feel lucky and I feel blessed. I would say that in many ways, I think I probably had a mild case, complicated a little bit by asthma issues that, you know, going back to 9/11 related. But I feel really good right now. I took it slow. I headed the advice of the experts, the doctors. And you know, I actually, I think I said it publicly – I actually started to, a little toe in the water in terms of exercise this week. Very slow, still feel it a little bit, but I feel I'm past it. So, I really feel lucky. And to the other part of the question, I think you know, there's so many people to thank. And it reminds you of number one, how fragile life is. And number two, you know, we are a crazy city that we all love and 8.5 million people in the hustle and bustle, but it gets real small at times like this too. And how people rally around each other. And you know, whether it's offering to bring somebody food or, you know walk a dog or anything else, you know New Yorkers looking out for New Yorkers. I just love it. I think it really highlights the best of the world. And I think we need more of that and it's going to get us through. And, you know, in terms of the vaccinations, I echo, you know, the Mayor's thoughts there. The quicker we can – I'm proud of the work the NYPD has done on this front, helping New Yorkers. You know, we did a lot of work in NYCHA recently. NYPD you know, we are a unique job just to size. And we have X everything and we have X EMTs and we have X nurses and they stepped right in. And, you know, we do a lot of things pretty methodically and plans. And our medical division really you know, you're either exposed or you shine and they have shined throughout this entire process. So I thank them all.

Mayor: Amen.

Moderator: Next is Andrew from WNBC.

Question: Hope everyone on the call is doing well. I'd like to go back to Dr. Chokshi. Dr., to the degree that you're comfortable, how do you think you contradicted COVID?

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi. Hold on.

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes.

Mayor: There we go.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks for the question Andrew. So, in my case it was a family member who developed symptoms of COVID-19 before I did. That led our whole family to get tested. I found out that I tested positive on Tuesday evening. And then I developed symptoms after that. So, most likely this was a case of household transmission.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: Another question for Dr. Chokshi. And the Mayor weighed in on this yesterday and Dr. Varma did about your decision to not get vaccinated. When a lot of people heard that as much as they would applaud your unselfishness there, as far as we understand, you double qualify. You're a doctor and you're volunteering in vaccination sites. And I can't imagine anyone in the New York audience who would hear that Health Commissioner, Dr. Chokshi got vaccinated -- oh my goodness, he's jumping the line. Quite the contrary. I'm just wondering if you have any sort of second thoughts about not getting vaccinated? And what your current plan is?

Commissioner Chokshi: Well, thanks for the opportunity to speak to this as well. And first I want to stay as clearly and unequivocally as I possibly can, that I will get vaccinated once I recover. And Andrew, as you have heard me say many times, COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective, and lifesaving. And that's the most important message that I have for my fellow New Yorkers. For my own case, you know, I hadn't felt quite right getting vaccinated while we still had such limited supply. And particularly when there were so many more vulnerable people who still needed to get vaccinated themselves. As you pointed out, I was doing shifts at our Health Department vaccine hubs and had planned to get my first dose, once more New Yorkers had been able to get theirs.

Mayor: Well, thank you. Dr. Chokshi. And Andrew, I think you can hear, Dr. Chokshi is a really noble human being, a very good man. And he obviously did something selfless in deciding other people needed the vaccine more than him. And I admire that. But obviously I'm very heartened to hear he will be getting it soon given the importance of his role. And he'll be protected going forward. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: I have two questions. The first and I hope the Health Commissioner can maybe speak to this, but you know, looking broadly at the numbers, they continue to remain steady or at least go down. I know hospitalizations are up today, but you said that's a special case. Is there any data that backs up that this is due to vaccinations? I know we don't have widespread vaccinations, but I don't know if there's any correlation between, you know, not seeing that large post-holiday spike and vaccinations or any information you have?

Mayor: Dave?

Question: Thanks, Katie for the question. And the short answer is no. We don't have evidence yet that any decline in cases or hospitalizations is due to vaccination yet. We do know at the individual level people who are getting vaccinated, of course, you know, that confers protection for them. But for us to really start to see population level effects will require a much higher level of vaccination. Which we do hope to be able to achieve in the coming weeks and months. Of course, if we have sufficient supply for that. So, in terms of what we're seeing, you know, with respect to cases appearing as they're plateauing and potentially even declining, it's likely due to other factors. Including the decline from the post-holiday spike, as you mentioned. And potentially, you know, some other factors that remain to be clarified. The final thing that I'll say on this is that we cannot become complacent in the face of looking at the numbers. With the presence of the new variants, I remain quite concerned that cases could go back up in the coming weeks and months. And so, all of the things that we've been talking about, the public health precautions that we have to take to curb the spread, as well as encouraging vaccination, these are all critically important for us to try to make this downward trajectory, something that is sustained for New York City.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Katie.

Question: Thanks. And my second question, Mayor de Blasio on Sunday, you had noted that the City would work to improve the, I guess vaccination appointment website? You said it was kind of cumbersome or bad, I forget what word you used. And now it seems with the introduction of the Yankee stadium site, we've introduced a third website. Right, we have the City to make an appointment, the State to make an appointment, and now the SOMOS Community Care. I'm just curious how that improvement is going? And if there's someone taking a lead on it, are they addressing usability issues or doing any UX testing? I'm just curious about the process of improving that process?

Mayor: Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. We're going to have an announcement on that shortly. The lead is our Information Technology Commissioner Jessie Tisch who’s very aggressive and very resourceful. And wants to see the user experience greatly improved. As we said, applications in multiple languages, just a simpler process requiring less upfront information, making clear whether there are appointments or not at the beginning to help people understand. We definitely need to improve it. So, we'll have an update on that very shortly. This Yankee Stadium site, you're right, it's a separate approach. But it is very specific. It is this joint effort between City and State, SOMOS. And because SOMOS is the provider and because it's only for Bronx residents in this case, it is a specific way to apply. It is not something we put into the city-wide pool because it's actually a targeted effort to address disparity by getting more and more Bronx residents to get vaccinated.

Moderator: Next is Dan from WABC.

Question: Good morning, Mayor. Thank you so much for taking my question.

Mayor: How are you doing today, Dan?

Question: I'm doing well. Thank you, sir. I have a fairly quick question for you. Earlier this week, you released the racial breakdown for who's getting vaccinated, but unlike some of the previous information that your office has released it was fairly general. It didn't have ages on it or ZIP codes from where those people were getting vaccinated and where they lived. Why haven't you released more specifics, so we know who's getting vaccinated and who's not? 

Mayor: It's an important question, Dan. I said, Sunday, we will be doing that. Data collection, I just want to confirm – data collection, making sure it's accurate, getting it in as much real time as possible is its own very extensive effort. And, obviously, to date, the central concern has been speeding up the vaccination process, getting more and more sites online, finding ways to get more vaccine, reaching deeper into communities. Data's crucial, but I want to be clear that we've tried to prioritize actually getting the results to people and data does take real work to make sure it's accurate. But the next steps will be to provide it by ZIP code, as you indicated, and then I want to get it down over time to the actual site level so we can see what's happening in real time site by site, meaning each vaccination center. So, our team will get you an update on that and the timeline on that. But we do look forward to providing that data soon. Go ahead, Dan. 

Question: Another quick question. The Chair of the Health Department had suggested, you know, just a few months ago, census workers were going door to door in the community, educating people about the census and the importance of getting counted. He's questioning why we're not doing something similar when it comes to vaccinating people in our most diverse communities. We have this new vaccination site in the Bronx, do you see something like the census idea happening or anything else in the future that could help make sure that people in our most vulnerable are getting vaccinated? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's an important question, Dan. It is the approach that we have been building from the beginning. That's what our Vaccine Command Center focuses on is ensuring that we work on equity with a real grassroots organizing approach. There will be everything from a texting campaign, door to door, paid media, you name it, the whole range of approaches. We’re going to be saying more on that soon, but I want to see if Dr. Katz or Dr. Chokshi want to add on some of the specifics of how we're doing that grassroots outreach. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Mr. Mayor, I think you've covered the issue. What we know is that people who are reticent to get the vaccine need to be approached in small groups. People are not going to change their minds based on large town halls or webinars or auditoriums. People are going to want to be vaccinated because they're talking one-on-one or in very small groups with other people who have been vaccinated already. And so, I think the City's effort is right to focus on reaching out to people. It may be door to door, but it also may be small community groups in order to be able to convince people that they want to be vaccinated and also to help people who have access issues to solve those problems. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi – 

Commissioner Chokshi: Just to add briefly, sir, to say we will use every single channel that is available to us to conduct this outreach. That means telephonically, using print mailers, working with community groups, faith leaders, in many cases, yes, doing some door-to-door outreach as well, particularly for example when we're reaching out to fellow New Yorkers who live in NYCHA housing. So, the effort here is one that is all hands-on deck and there will be no wrong door with respect to someone who wants to access information about vaccination, but also the ways in which we're proactively pushing that information out as well. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more. First, we’ll go to Erin from Politico. 

Question: Okay, thanks. My question is for Commissioner Chokshi. Just kind of wondering now that you've been, you know, on the other side of it personally, if you can tell us a little bit about your experience with the contact tracing process, have you heard from a tracer, you know, have you gotten any information there, and also where are you quarantining? Maybe it might not be relevant if your family has already had it, but did you consider using the hotel program or where are you isolated? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks very much. Yes, I'm isolating at home, you know, with family members who are also isolating due to COVID-19. And, so, you know, like so many other households in New York City who have had this experience, this is something that we're going to get through together, taking care of one another. And with respect to contact tracing, yes, I've been contacted by the Test and Trace Corps. I've had, truly, a terrific experience interacting with them. They reached out to me on a timely basis. They asked me a number of questions, you know, the routine contact tracing script, and handled it not just professionally, but also with a lot of compassion. So, I'm grateful to the Test and Trace Corps for everything that they're doing, not just to ensure that I and my family are taken care of but also others, you know, who are at risk of exposure are reached out to expeditiously so that they can quarantine and get tested as well. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Last, we'll go to Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: Doing well, Henry, how about you? 

Question: I am okay. I wish this wasn't happening, but it is. 

Mayor: That is a – that was a very fine summary. We all feel that. 

[Laughter] 

Question: Right. I want to ask you, you know, the Governor's health commissioner, Howard Zucker, just released a letter in which he takes issue with your position on second doses. And he specifically says that his guidance that he's received from the CDC definitively says, no, don't use a second dose. And he – just to quote this letter, which is addressed to you, he says your suggestion that a brief delay of people receiving second doses would be acceptable, does raise a caution flag. People have worked very hard to get a vaccination appointment, and there is much public anxiety that second doses will not be available on their appointment date. So, it's – I guess I would like you to respond to this letter. Maybe it's unfair because you haven't seen it, but the State's position on this is, number one, the CDC has not given any sort of approval about this. And, you know, they say that a brief delay might, you know – it's open to dispute. The science is unclear as to whether this might have an effect on the vaccine's ability to make people immune. So, in light of the difficulties that the City has had just getting appointments for a first appointment together, in terms of the software, why would you press the City or the State or the feds to free up the second doses? 

Mayor: You know, Henry, just talk to someone who has not yet had a first dose, talk to a grandmother who is waiting for any protection at all and can't get it. Talk to family members who are scared to death for their elders. And it's abundantly clear. It's just not right to withhold second doses we could be using right now. What we know is that when you get a first dose, you get some protection. This has been confirmed constantly by the medical community. You get some protection. How do we say we're going to leave hundreds of thousands of people with no protection at all, and focus those doses only on people who already have gotten some protection when we know that we can get them to the second dose, we can ensure that the supply is there, we can make sure when they get that second dose, we know it will be effective, but in the meantime, we can help so many more people. 

The idea of away, people who need help, who need to be protected, it makes no sense to me. So, I've talked to a number of people in the Biden administration, I think there's a lot of understanding that with the absence of supply, Henry – and this is the single most important point, we would not be having this conversation if we have ample supply. We're in a war time dynamic. We don't have enough supply. People are suffering, people are scared, and they are vulnerable. We don't have the ideal we wish we had. If you don't have the ideal, you make adjustments according to reality. Reality is we need to free up those second doses and protect people. That's the bottom line. Go ahead. 

Question: Okay. I do have a second question, but I would just say that if the supply is the problem and you're giving up second doses, you're creating a supply problem for the second [inaudible] – 

Mayor: Henry, I know you have another question, but I got we've – I've said it a bunch of times, I really have. We have specific evidence of growing supply up ahead. The actions the Biden administration has taken already, which have led to supply increases tangibly, factually, the fact that the Biden administration is taking foundational efforts to speed up supply overall, the fact that Johnson & Johnson is coming. These are actual things we know that mean the situation in March is going to be better than the situation in February. That's my whole point. If we had no information about what the supply would be in March, different discussion. We know there will be more supply. How are we withholding doses from people now, when we know that some relief is coming up ahead, it just doesn't make sense. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: All right. Thank you for that. My second question is really kind of questioning the prioritization of vaccination locations by historical discrimination and disparities of medical treatment. There's sort of a growing consensus among some public health officials that you should really target these vaccination centers at the places where there's the most incidents of COVID. For example, Yankee Stadium would be an appropriate place because the Bronx has the highest rate of infection of all the boroughs per hundred thousand. But to center in on locations on the basis of historical discrimination, rather than places such as maybe Breezy Point or other ZIP codes, where the infection rate is so much higher than average, why not locate these centers at – the analogy would be a fire, go into the fire, try to get as close to the center, the hotspot of the fire to put out the fire rather than, you know, picking and choosing the places where the fire is not necessarily the hottest? Go for the places – go for the hot spots. 

Mayor: Henry, I appreciate – your questions are always heartfelt and honest. I just disagree with the analogy because the fire – we've seen where the fire is and unfortunately, the way we understand where the fire is worst is, where have we seen people die. I just have to make it as plain as that – and I'll turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi. But the history of this horrible virus and what has done to our people is what governed over the prioritization. So, 60 percent of our vaccination sites are in the places where people suffered the most. And when we saw – I said this the other day, when we first saw that disparity data from the Department of Health back in the spring, I remember that day very, very clearly. And I just had a chill go up my spine because it was almost the exact same map we had known for decades as the map of health disparities, the map of poverty, it was exactly the same almost to the letter. 

And what it meant was that folks who had not gotten enough health care in their lives cause in this country, health care goes to those who have the most money, not to everyone equally, folks who had not gotten enough health care were particularly vulnerable. Immigrants who had not gotten health care, where they came from in many cases, were vulnerable. Multi-generational families, and that often meant families with more limited resources, two and three generations together in a home, families that were doubled up and tripled up, which correlated strongly to who didn't have a lot of money, which unfortunately also correlated strongly to race. This is where we saw this disease run rampant. And so, in determining the priority of vaccination, the question was, how do we save the most lives? How do we save the most lives? And that's what all of the data that went into the prioritization really focused on. Where do the vaccinations help us the most to save lives and stop the spread of this disease? Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi, why don't you weigh in? Dr. Katz – 

President Katz: I think you've said it well. We want to be able to vaccinate to save lives. We look forward very much to the day that there is enough vaccine that we can follow, as you had set us out, Mr. Mayor, for a million doses in a single month. If we could do that, we could really make a huge difference. We have the infrastructure to make that happen. We want to, for every neighborhood, figure out what are the barriers in that neighborhood. We know that good public health is always based on cultural understandings, figuring out what are the key leaders in that community who are listened to, and figuring out what the right languages, what the right media is. And as Dr. Chokshi has said, we're committed to using all of the avenues to get people vaccinated. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi – 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, I agree, what you said, Mr. Mayor, as well as Dr. Katz. And, Henry, you know, the way in which we've thought about that prioritization is really to look at health and social factors that create a disproportionate impact from COVID-19. And as the Mayor has said, unfortunately, we have the evidence from 2020 to understand where, and – 

Mayor: We got most of it. 

Commissioner Chokshi: [Inaudible] – 

Mayor: Okay. Yeah, Dave, we're losing your transmission, but we got the central point. And thank you very, very much. And again, Dr. Dave Chokshi, we wish you a very speedy recovery. Everyone, as we conclude today, look, it's all about equity and fairness in everything we do. This is how we create a better city. This is how we build a recovery that will be strong and lasting. Whether you're talking about making sure that everyone gets vaccinated, or whether you're talking about bringing police and community together for the safety of everyone, this is the city we have to create. And I'm very optimistic that 2021 is going to be a transformative year. There is so much energy right now focused on getting it right, learning lessons, including really tough lessons, talking about things we didn't always talk about the right way, or we didn't talk about honestly enough. But we are talking about it now. We're making more changes than ever before. And this is going to be looked back on – 2020 is going to be looked back on as a year where big and lasting changes happened and that transformation really did occur and people saw that it can happen. That's what excites me about this year ahead. Thank you, everybody.

2021-02-05 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It’s the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. And we begin this Friday, 11 o'clock hour as usual with our weekly Ask The Mayor segment, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio. Our Ask The Mayor lines are open at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag #AskTheMayor. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. How you doing?

Lehrer: I'm doing okay. Thank you. And let me start it with what looks like good news and bad news about Opening Day at Yankee Stadium today.

Mayor: A different kind of Opening Day.

Lehrer: Absolutely. Opening Day for the COVID vaccine supersite that is only for people who live in the Bronx. And from what I'm seeing, the good news is that they have thousands of appointments available. The bad news is that means there are thousands of unclaimed appointments. How does it look to you?

Mayor: Oh, I think it's going to be extraordinary. I'll be up at Yankee Stadium shortly. We're going to have a wonderful celebration of this site opening up. And I'm going to be joined by one of the great Yankees of all time, Mariano Rivera, who's going to really help us to get the message out to the people of the Bronx in multiple languages, that it's so important to get vaccinated. And we really want to make sure that this is for the people of the Bronx. This is for folks who have been hit very hard by COVID. This is for folks who haven't been able to get appointments previously. So there are still appointments remaining, I want to emphasize that. I'm sure they will go very fast, but anyone who wants one of those appointments who is a Bronx resident only, can go to somosvaccinations.com. That's S-O-M-O-Svaccinations.com or 1-8-3-3-SOMOS-NY. And this center will be open every day at Yankee Stadium, 8:00 am to 8:00 pm. As we get more supply, we're going to expand those hours, go to 24/7 eventually. But there are appointments available. I'm sure there'll be snapped up quickly, but people should take advantage of this opportunity for all Bronxites to get vaccinated.

Lehrer: You've cited, of course, vaccine hesitancy as a reason for disparities in COVID-19 vaccine coverage, especially for people of color. But we're wondering if a bigger issue might still be signing up for appointments? Like what's the City doing to help those with weak internet access or poor technology skills to work with the appointment websites?

Mayor: Well, not only the points you raise about access to the internet and skills with the internet, but also there's language issues. And for a lot of seniors, they're just not comfortable going online. So, anyone who qualifies, so folks 65 and up, and the folks who qualify in those essential worker and public service categories can call 8-7-7-VAX-4-NYC. So, it's 8-7-7-V-A-X-4-N-Y-C, and make an appointment on the phone in multiple languages. We are improving the website. And so, the website experience now is better because it clarifies where there are open appointments available. Doesn't make people go through as much upfront, makes it simpler in that way. And again, our plan is ten languages in which people can directly apply with the applications themselves for appointments in those languages. And of course, in other languages available through translation service, all for free, of course. But we're going to make further improvements to the website to make it more user-friendly. And we'll have definitely more to say on that in the next few days.

Lehrer: Emil in Fresh Meadows, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Emil.

Question: Hi I'm a 69-year-old male who's also a cancer survivor. I've been trying for over three weeks to get an appointment using your website and the phone. Website is crashing, the phone an hour and a half hold, and then they hang up. Finally getting an appointment with New York State at Jones Beach for tomorrow morning. Why do I have to travel 30 miles each way to go get an appointment for a vaccine when I live in New York City? You mentioned that you opened up 17 pop-up centers throughout the city. None of them, none of them are in Northeast Queens. That includes Fresh Meadows and Bayside and White Stone and Little Neck and Douglaston. We have people here that also need the vaccine and we're not getting anything. The closest place to get a vaccine is Hillcrest High School, and they never have appointments. So why don't you consider Northeast Queens and try to get that improvement on the website which is impossible, and the phone calls? To get through on that phone number that you gave, you have an hour and a half wait until you finally get to speak to somebody, if you get to speak to somebody at all.

Lehrer: Emil, thank you. Mr. Mayor?

Mayor: Thank you. Emil, look thank you for everything you're saying, because we have to continue to do better. That's the bottom line. I do want to make sure that folks in Northeast Queens get served better. There are more sites coming. Emil, right now we would be doing three times as many vaccinations a week or more if we had enough supply. And we'd got to put this in perspective, Emil and Brian, that we are still being starved of supply. I've called upon the federal government to demand that the other pharmaceutical companies help Moderna and help Pfizer. That's still an area where we could see a lot more progress. I've called upon the federal government, the State government to let us use second doses now and backfill the supply in the coming weeks. The things that would allow us to speed up, we need more help. And we want to have more sites and we want to serve Northeast Queens better, and other parts of the city. We have focused the sites on where the sheer horrible impact of the coronavirus was the very worst, where the most people died, where we saw the most suffering and the most potential new suffering if we don't get people vaccinated. But we want to serve everyone. Emil, waiting an hour and a half on the phone, certainly not acceptable at all. And I've been monitoring what's going on with the phone line. Most people are having a much faster experience in that. I'm very sorry you had that experience. And I'll follow up to find out if we have to add more customer service reps or whatever it is, we will do that immediately. But we need to get everyone served and we have to keep just doing a better job, more sites, better customer service, et cetera.

Lehrer: And there is the Citi Field. We mentioned Yankee Stadium, also Citi Field supersite, which is near all those neighborhoods that he mentioned about to open. Do you have a date on that?

Mayor: We're getting an exact date on Citi Field. It again, Citi Field would be up already if we had had the supply. So this is what's so frustrating. New York City could be doing half a million vaccinations per week right now. We just don't get the supply. And so my goal is to see a lot of these sites go to 24 hours. And then to go deeper into any community that doesn't have enough sites. We could be doing so much on the ground right now, but we just are not getting all the help we need. And again, two things I think could really make a difference – getting the entire pharmaceutical industry to participate in the vaccination production. That's something that I think is an area of tremendous possibility and getting that greater freedom to vaccinate with the second doses, we need State and federal help to get that done.

Lehrer: And one more up on that. The City promised to release data this week outlining where vaccine recipients live by ZIP code. Is that data still coming?

Mayor: No, it's – I’m going to be very clear. I'm the person who made the promise. I said, we will do ZIP code data. And I did not say it's ready this week. I got to find out the day it will be ready. And we'll publicly announce when we'll have it by. This data, there's a lot to be done to get it right on all this. That's why we wanted to make sure first to give the citywide data, which I announced on Sunday. Obviously, very sobering. Points out there are real disparities that we need to overcome. And one of the ways we're going to overcome those disparities in vaccination is with targeted efforts like we're doing today at Yankee Stadium. That's just for Bronx residents. That's a part of the way to bring greater equity. But we will be publishing ZIP code data so people can see exactly how vaccination is going. And I'll get you a date for sure on when that's going to be.

Lehrer: We had a call-in this week for taxi and rideshare drivers now that they've been put on the vaccine eligible list, about how they protected themselves so far and acknowledging the context of the already devastating pre-pandemic finances for so many yellow cab medallion owners, because of all the competition from the app companies, et cetera, crashing their market value. And we got a call from the driver named Dorothy from Brooklyn, who had a question for you that I couldn't answer. So, we invited Dorothy to call back today for Ask The Mayor and she did. So, Dorothy, hello again. And here you go. You're on with the Mayor.

Question: Yes. Good morning, Brian. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. It's been a pleasure for me to talk to you today. My name is Dorothy, as Brian said, and I'm 64 years old. I have lost all my retirement and I cannot make more than a minimum wage as a [inaudible] driver. The only thing I have is debt. You promised to help Mr. Mayor. And in August, you said, if the White House and Congress changed, you will work with our union for debt forgiveness. The Comptroller said it would only costs the $75 million over the 20 years. So the City with a [inaudible] budget of $90 billion. The Democrats won like you said [inaudible]. Please don't tell us the City's given us free bankruptcy advice. [Inaudible] is an insult. We want debt forgiveness. And you can help make it happen. When will you keep your promise to us? Not the TLC, we want and need City Hall [inaudible]. Mr. Mayor I know you are in the end of your term, I’m asking you to make it as a legacy. Please thousands, thousands of old people, older than me are suffering right now with no money, no food, no health care, no housing. [Inaudible] it’s about to collapse on us because of the debt –

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, debt relief for taxi drivers. Let me get you an answer. Dorothy. Mr. Mayor?

Mayor: Dorothy, thank you so much. And Brian, very, very appreciative that you got Dorothy on so I could hear from her directly. And I feel immediately for Dorothy because she's going through so much and it's just horrible. And the story of how all this happened is a very painful one. And I think the bottom line is we've got to find some way to help. We haven't been able to up to now because of everything else. Because of the fact that we've been in horrible financial straits as a city. But I think the possibility now is much better. Dorothy's point is really well taken. We have a much better situation in Washington that very well might give us the resources to do something better and help these drivers. Look, we fought to get these drivers minimum wage. They didn't have it before. We fought against the for-hire vehicle companies, the Ubers and Lyfts who I think were acting oppressively towards working people. There’s been a lot of things we tried to do to get people relief. But I hear Dorothy loud and clear. If we get money from the Congress, I want to find a way to help these drivers. I don't have a specific proposal yet. I want to be very clear. There's different options out there, but if I'm going to embrace one, I have to be absolutely convinced it will work. But it hinges on getting the relief we need. And I do think that that’s a real possibility now for the first time. I mean the election in Georgia opened the door to the kind of stimulus that could finally give us the ability to help these drivers the way they deserve. So that is something I hope to have more news on once we see what really happens in Washington, if we're going to get a true stimulus that helps us back on our feet. So we can help deserving working people like these TLC drivers.

Lehrer: This question was in play before the pandemic caused the fiscal crisis. Why didn't you do it then rather than now? Wait for help that may or may not be coming from Washington?

Mayor: You know, Brian, there were proposals over time. Proposals that would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars or more. Some proposals were in the billions. The original sin here really is because of lack of regulation of the lending. That's what got these drivers in this horrible situation. The lending was regulated by the federal government and the State government. And we only found out too late, how bad the situation was. But we were not in a position to afford that kind of relief. It just was always true. And I appealed to the federal government for relief for these drivers, State government. We could not get that. And now look again, if we get the kind of stimulus that gives us real resources, I want to do whatever I can to help these drivers. But this is a very painful, complex history. And it's not as simple as we could just write a check and make it go away. We need much more in terms of help to be able to address this. But I want to, I feel for them, I want to find a way to help them.

Lehrer: Jacqueline in Bed-Stuy. You’re on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Jacqueline.

Question: Hi there. I am currently working as both a contact tracer and a case investigator. And first I want to share two things I have learned from this job, which I do largely with immigrant populations and not in English. And then ask what you can do. The two things I have learned are that a huge number of people who have tested positive in poorer communities actually don't know that they shouldn't be walking around. They tell me, I'm fine. And don't realize that they have a communicable disease. They are not watching cable TV, listening to this show, anything like that. Secondly, a lot of people simply can't skip work if they're feeling fine. They don't have the means. I doubt that the programs we have in place are replacing their salary. What can be done? I think a lot of the immigrant communities we're dealing with, the undocumented, that's not a question we ask them. [Inaudible] lack of information, you know, and I think sometimes I think flyers throughout those neighborhoods saying, did you know, if you test positive, you actually can communicate COVID – I'm concerned with these poorest immigrant communities. And I think there just must be some kind of informational thing that could be done? And how could salary be replaced if you are working off the books?

Mayor: So, okay. That last piece was very, very important to clarify. Jacqueline, please leave the information with WNYC because I want our Test and Trace leadership to follow up with you and hear about these experiences so we can do everything we can to reach people better. Jacqueline, are you part of our Test and Trace program? Are you saying that that's where you're working as a contact tracer?

Question: Yes. So, essentially I’m working for a health company under the auspices of New York City Health + Hospitals. Yes, as a temporary pandemic job, basically.

Mayor: And thank you for doing that work. It's very, very important. I hear the frustration, but I know every time you're talking to people, it's giving a much greater chance that people will get educated, will get the support they need. Look, first of all, paid sick leave is a crucial point here. For folks who do have a kind of job, who's on the books, paid sick leave will cover them between what the City has done, what the State's done, for just a period of quarantine, which is now per the CDC 10 days. It used to be 14, it's now 10 days. Paid sick leave covers that timeframe. So, people should not have any loss of income. They should be very comfortable taking the time they need to quarantine. If someone's working off the books, I agree with you, that's a challenging situation. And we got to see if we can find better solutions. And I want the leadership at Test and Trace to talk to you about that and see how we can address that. For the folks who don't know that it's a danger to be out there if they are infected, this is a real challenge because there is misinformation, there's lack of information. You're right. You know, some people watch cable news all day, some people never see cable news. But this is why Test and Trace is so important because trusted voices, including a lot of neighborhood voices and people speaking to people in their own language, is part of educating people as to the dangers and letting them know if they live in a multi-generational home, we'll get them – they can stay in a hotel for the 10 days for free, or if they need to stay in their home, we'll get them food, we'll get them medicine. This is what Test and Trace, and particularly the Take Care initiative within Test and Trace, is all about, is helping people understand how they can navigate and be safe. But we know, constantly, we have to educate people better. So, this is helpful, and Jacqueline let's follow up with you and see what we can learn from your experiences. 

Lehrer: And she mentioned people who don't have the ability to take a day off from work even when they're sick or if they're feeling well, but they may be contagious. I think that also plays into the disparity in who's getting vaccines. And I wonder if there's a way for the City to help those who might have jobs that are not flexible enough, mostly low-income people, you know, to take a number of hours off and make an appointment to go to Yankee Stadium or somewhere to get a vaccine. 

Mayor: Well, it's a real interesting question, Brian – is there a different kind of approach or a different kind of incentive? We've talked about this but haven't found really the right way to do it yet. Again, the paid sick leave I know is tremendously helpful for a lot of folks. And because we have, you know, more and more places, flexible hours that would be outside of the work hours, that helps. But to be very clear, blunt, the lack of supply is screwing up all of this, because if we had supply of the vaccine, we'd be 24 hours all over the place. We would be deep, deep, deep into a variety of communities. Right now, 60 percent of our vaccination sites are in the communities hardest hit by COVID, primarily African-American, Latino, and Asian communities that really bore the brunt. But we can't run them on the hours we need to, that would help so many working people. But I will definitely go back to our team, our health leadership, and see if there is something particularly for folks who might be undocumented or might be working off the books that we can do to incentivize vaccination. 

Lehrer: Later today, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, and as I understand it, all of the leading mayoral candidates, will be coming together for a joint news conference calling on you to drastically reduce or altogether suspend ballot petitioning. And for people who don't know, that's the process of collecting thousands of signatures from eligible, in this case, democratic voters, in order to secure a spot on the mayoral democratic primary ballot. The Governor signed a law last week that reduced the number of signatures required and the amount of time people would need to be out collecting them. But that change still means thousands of volunteers will still need to be out trying to engage in non-socially distance interactions just to obtain signatures so their candidates can get on the ballot. And they want you to take emergency action to drastically reduce or eliminate the signature gathering process while the pandemic is going on in the primary season. Will you do that? 

Mayor: So, first of all, the whole approach here should be based on health and safety. The point you raised about the Governor signing the law, to the best of my understanding I'll go double-check, Brian, but the only way we could cancel that kind of in-person petitioning is with State law. What I want to see is a different approach to the maximum extent possible, again, focused on health and safety. You got to have something to determine who gets on the ballot. There has to be some measure of grassroots support for a candidate to get on the ballot. I think that's fair. There's lots of ways that could be done potentially including online. So, I very much would like to see a change here because we're in the middle of a pandemic, but I am not certain that's something I can do alone. I'll get you a better, clearer answer. But I think that requires State law. 

Lehrer: And another question about schooling in Brooklyn, but of a more general nature, via Twitter. This question says, “School opening issue is a practical and moral emergency. You need to ask the Mayor about the teachers at my Brooklyn middle school and high school want a plan, get vaccines, want to teach in person. The Mayor and the Chancellor needs to step up, give a plan, undo unique and unreasonable two-case rule.” I guess that means two cases and a school temporarily closes. Is that it? 

Mayor: Yeah. Well, it's not as simple as that because there are a variety of conditions. There are certain circumstances, not all, but there are certain circumstances where two cases can lead to a closure for 10 days. Because again, remember the standard is now 10 days. But what happens first is if those cases are identified by the Test and Trace Corps, there’s a temporary closure to determine what the full facts are. And sometimes two cases do not lead to a longer closure, sometimes they do. But I hear loud and clear that policy is being re-evaluated, obviously, because we need to improve our ability to get it exactly right. I've said a few days back, we're going to have an announcement this month about the next steps with reopening schools for this school year. And our first focus of course will be on middle school, and as soon as we have that plan ready, we will be announced. 

Lehrer: Yeah. In the news today, Mr. Mayor, there are now two lawsuits on behalf of incarcerated New Yorkers, some at Rikers, suing the State for allowing residents of nursing homes and shelters to get vaccinated while denying similar eligibility to incarcerated people who they say should be treated like other folks who are in congregate living situations based on the risk. Will you satisfy that demand for City jail inmates without a day in court? 

Mayor: Again, Brian we've – forgive me for being a broken record – we got to be honest and clear about what the State of New York decides here. The State of New York has taken upon itself extraordinary powers. A lot of people are asking the question right now in Albany if it's time for that to change as we start to come out of this crisis, I do think restoring local control so we can make our own decisions would really help here. But on this example, the State decides that. There's a small number of folks in our correction system, folks who are incarcerated, who have particular high risk, I think it's about 500 who were authorized to be vaccinated. A number of them wanted to be, a number of them did not choose to be vaccinated. Correction officers are being vaccinated, but like every other New Yorker, there are some who want to be, there are some who do not want to be. We do need to start reaching the larger population but that's something that the State has to decide. 

And then once we get that authorization, we'll go to the effort of reaching those who are incarcerated, but do not be surprised once again, if a number of those individuals choose not to take the vaccine. We're seeing this across the whole city. Even in our public health system, the employees of our public health system – the original vaccination drives that went on for weeks – about 50 percent chose not to get vaccinated, even though it was free, it was available at their work site, they were encouraged. I think there is a hesitancy issue. That is another part of this puzzle. It will take time to overcome, but I am convinced with each passing week and month, more and more people will choose to as they see others around them getting vaccinated. 

Lehrer: But in the meantime, do you want to lend your voice as a matter of politics to those calling on the State, since you said it's up to the State to offer the vaccines to people who are incarcerated, you want to make that call right here? 

Mayor: I would make that call with one important note. It should be according to need. There are folks who are vulnerable because of pre-existing conditions, age, et cetera. Those folks who are incarcerated, I absolutely want to prioritize. Folks who are not as vulnerable. I'm right now concerned about our seniors who are very vulnerable. So, I would say on that one, I think it should be according to need, not simply across the board. 

Lehrer: So, the congregate living itself doesn’t impose enough of a risk like it does in other congregate living situations, in your opinion? 

Mayor: Of course, there's risk, but the question here – I care deeply for all people, really. And if someone happens to be incarcerated, they're still a human being. We want to protect them. But I want to emphasize what the health care professionals are saying. The greatest risks right now in New York City still are for those 65 and over particularly 75 and over. Those are the folks who are in the greatest danger. And while we have this kind of supply problem, I do have to keep everyone focused on getting, to the maximum extent possible, to the folks in greatest danger. 

Lehrer: Do you want to stay two minutes over to hear some good news and with some good news that shows that the Ask the Mayor call-in and what you tell people can be effective? Leslie – 

Mayor: Anytime there's good news, I'll stick around. 

Lehrer: Leslie, in the Bronx, you'll be our last caller today with the Mayor. Hi. 

Question: Yes, I have good news. While I was listening to this program, I went onto the website for the Yankee Stadium vaccine, and I went through the whole website and I scheduled myself for an appointment for a vaccine on February 10th. So, it works. You just have to make sure – 

Mayor: Leslie, what neighborhood are you in? 

Question: I'm in the Bronx, in Riverdale. 

Mayor: I love it. I love it. What do – give people advice. What do you need? You said you have to make sure, what? 

Question: You have your insurance card with you, because the website requires that you put down the number on your insurance card, what insurance you have. And it only gives you like four minutes to fill out the form. So, have your insurance information with you before you start filling out the form – 

Lehrer: Leslie, thank you. But that opens up a can of worms. What if you're not insured, Mr. Mayor? 

Mayor: Well, I don't have the website up in front of me, but obviously there are people not insured. And I will say, Brian, really important for all your listeners to remember – we guarantee health care here in New York City, anyone who cannot get insurance on the exchange can get an NYC Care card, can get health care for free or very reduced costs through our Health + Hospital system. No one should be without health care [inaudible] 3-1-1 – 

Lehrer: Right, but do you really need health insurance information to sign up – 

Mayor: No, you do not – you do not need health insurance to get vaccinated. It is for free, even if people do not have health insurance. So, I have not seen the portion of the application Leslie's talking about. What I'd say to everyone is go online, make your appointment, if you do not have a health insurance card, you're still going to get an appointment. If there's any question, call the phone line and you can get additional help that way, because want to make sure that anyone who has any problem, if you can't resolve your problems online – again for the Bronx site at Yankee Stadium, that's 833-SOMOSNY. For other sites, that’s 877-VAX4NYC. So, you can always get questions answered there. But no, we are going to vaccinate people regardless if they have insurance unquestionably. 

Lehrer: Thanks as always Mr. Mayor, talk to you next week. 

Mayor: Thanks, Brian.

2021-02-08 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. So, as we now enter into another week, it's time to talk about the thing we're going to be talking about every single week, which is how to bring the city back, bring the city back strong, a recovery for all of us. This is what we have to build here in this city. And obviously it begins with making sure we get the most people vaccinated as quickly as possible. Now we need more help from the federal government. That is clear. We need more help from the State government, that is clear, but we're going to keep vaccinating. We're going to keep reaching New Yorkers. We're going to keep making it easier and easier, going down to the grassroots where the people are. So, we continue to create more and more vaccination opportunities around the five boroughs. Friday, Yankee Stadium was unbelievable, just wonderful to be there in the Bronx at a site dedicated to the people of the Bronx, to make sure that folks who were amongst the hardest hit in New York City had the opportunity to get vaccinated. Friday was Opening Say for vaccination at Yankee Stadium. It was exciting. A lot of people, really ready to get vaccinated. We've seen really high demand there and we are going to keep making sure there's more and more appointments at that site in the Bronx. But now we have to keep going, reach deeply into all the boroughs.

And look, so far, an update on the numbers – we have so far provided vaccinations, 997,844 vaccinations from day one, 997,844 doses so far. That is more than the entire population of Austin, Texas, which is the 11th largest city in America. So again, even with the supply problems, vaccination effort keeps growing. But if we have the supply, we could do amazing things. We could be vaccinating half a million people a week, if we have the supply. And we are going to keep fighting for the supply.

In the meantime, building out sites – an exciting announcement that on Wednesday. Citi Field is going to be open as a site. Citi Field, this is one that we’ve been hoping for, for a long time, get up and running. I want to thank the Mets. This is going to be great for the people of Queens. The focus will be on residents of the borough of Queens. There'll also be a special vaccination effort at Citi Field because they have a huge parking lot there for TLC drivers. So, these are folks who we all depend on, Taxi and Limousine Commission, licensed drivers. We need them to help us get around this city. They're vulnerable. We want to make sure that there are specific appointments set aside for them. Also, food service workers, folks we depend on. Folks who really have taken care of us and were there throughout this whole crisis. There'll be special appointments for TLC licensed drivers and food service workers from all over the five boroughs can go to Citi Field for appointments. And of course, again, a preference and a focus on the people of Queens to make sure we reach deep into that borough that was hit so hard by the coronavirus. So, Citi Field opens this coming Wednesday, 10 am. And we're going to continue to build out, but we need supply. We need supply to keep making these efforts go farther and farther. Okay. Now the goal here with the Citi Field site and certainly the Yankee Stadium site is to get them to 24/7. Make sure we can get as many people in. We know a lot of people want those late night, early morning hours. We want to make sure that there's more and more opportunities for people, but we need the supply. In the meantime, anyone who wants to go to the Citi Field site, get vaccinated there. You can go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder or call 8-7-7-VAX-4-NYC.

Now when we talk about recovery for all of us, when we talk about the city coming back strong, so much of it depends on our public schools. And our public schools have done amazing work throughout this crisis. Our educators, our school staff, everyone has really stepped up. And our public schools coming back strong is going to be one of the foundations of everything that happens going forward. And I'm very pleased to announce that for our children in the middle grades, grades six to eight, you are coming back to school in-person for all who were signed up for in-person education. It's going to start up again Thursday, February 25th. And we're really excited about that. We know kids are ready to come back. Teachers and staff are excited to see the kids again. Teachers and staff will come in on the 24th to get ready. And then in-person education for kids at the middle grades, grades six to eight, up and running Thursday, February 25th. This is going to be great for New York City. And a lot of work has gone into this to make sure we are ready. And of course, to always put health and safety first. And here to tell you about it, and he'll be telling you about really the amazing efforts that he and his team have undertaken to get this right and keep us bringing back schools, our Chancellor, Richard Carranza.

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I am so excited that we're able to announce a return for middle school students today. Our educators have done an incredible job supporting students remotely, but as we've said from the beginning, nothing can replace in-person learning and the support that our students receive in-person. We're so thrilled to be able to provide that. And I won't come – it won't come without additional support because we will not compromise on safety. We're hiring additional staff to support our situation room in responding quickly to schools. We're adding teams to conduct weekly testing in middle schools, as well as continued weekly testing in all of our elementary schools. We're also prioritizing in-person staff returning to work for vaccine access at City hubs from February 12th through the 21st and over mid-winter recess. It's been a year like no other, and I'm so grateful for the resilience and persistence of our students, our staff, and our families. I can't wait to see our middle-grade students return to their buildings in just a couple of weeks.

I'd also like to remind families of another exciting opportunity. Beginning February 24th, 3K and Pre-K for All applications are open. Families can apply online at myschools.nyc or over the phone at 7-1-8-9-3-5-2-0-0-9. Very briefly in Spanish –

[Chancellor Carranza speaks in Spanish:]

With that, Mr. Mayor I’ll turn it back over to you.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Chancellor. And Chancellor, thanks to you and your team. I am thinking back fondly, remember we went to visit a school in the – we went to one in the Bronx and one in Brooklyn. And we were looking at the preparations for school to begin. I remember very vividly at the school in Brooklyn, the custodial team showing us all the PPE they had ready, all the cleaning they were doing. We saw this all over the five boroughs when we visited. The folks in our schools, the administrators, the educators, the staff, the custodial teams, everyone really worked hard to create a gold standard for health and safety for our schools. We literally borrowed the best ideas and the best practices from around the world, our medical team working with our team at the Department of Education, our schools have been remarkably safe, in fact, the safest places in New York City. It's been just something outstanding and that's why we know it's time to bring back our middle grade kids now. And I know our children are ready, our parents are ready for kids to be back in school. So, we're really excited about this.

Okay. Now, a lot of things happening, and we're going to keep making progress all throughout 2021, because we need a recovery for all of us. And recovery for all of us means bringing back everything that makes New York City great. And that course means supporting our arts and culture, supporting the artists and the cultural community who are part of the lifeblood of this city. We are the greatest city in the world in large measure because art and culture runs through the veins of the city like no other place on earth. And we are so proud of that. We got to bring this community back strong. It's been hit really hard by COVID. Whether you're talking about the biggest cultural institutions, down to the smallest community-based cultural nonprofit, it's been really tough. And we particularly need to bring back that most vibrant element of our culture, which is live performance, live theater, nightlife, music, concerts, all those things need to start coming back. And so, really important new development, that there's help from the federal government. I know, our senator, Chuck Schumer, fought hard for this to make sure there was money specifically in COVID relief packages to help live performance spaces and other cultural spaces. And we have to make sure that those folks on the ground get the aid that they need. We have to make sure that New York City cultural institutions get the help they need as part of the comeback. So, we are going to make sure we do an outreach effort to help our cultural institutions here in the city. We're going to go over some of the ways we're going to do that with our Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment. This is part of a wonderful initiative we're calling Curtains Up NYC. And I want you to feel the energy of that, Curtains Up NYC means we're coming back. It means our cultural sector, but it also means the whole city coming back, because all of the city is a stage – we can all agree on that. So, we're going to go over the details, but anyone who can qualify and interested in qualifying for this funding, can go to nyc.gov/curtainsupNYC. And here to tell you more about this new federal aid and the way we're going to help get it to New York City institutions, the Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Anne del Castillo. 

Commissioner Anne del Castillo, Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment: Thank you. And thank you, Mayor de Blasio for pushing for this legislation and for your support in launching Curtains Up NYC. As the Mayor said, arts and entertainment are the heart of New York City. They're what make us a global capital and they're what fuel our local economy – $150 billion in economic output, half-a-million jobs. Live venues, in particular, are a critical piece of our creative community and have arguably been among the hardest hit. They were the first to close and, in all likelihood, they will be the last to open. The impact of these closings though extends far beyond the stages on which these performances take place. Live performance, whether in a nightclub, a music theater, or a theater generate roughly $15 billion in economic activity – it's why people come to New York City. On average last year, 65 percent – not last year, two years ago, 65 percent of our theater audiences were visitors to New York City. And when people go to see shows, they typically also go to dinner, grab a cocktail, grab a coffee, stop by shops in the neighborhood. Our film office is located in Midtown Manhattan, where, on a typical day, I would see throngs of people in restaurants, coffee shops, souvenir shops. So, when live performance goes, the neighborhood shuts down. And that's why we all thought so hard for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grants – the Mayor, our agency partners, the New York Independent Venue Association, and our colleagues at the federal level. But I personally know how critical this funding is. Before I joined City government, I worked in arts and entertainment for over 25 years, largely as a producer and fundraiser, and I know how difficult it is to apply for these grants. And that's why my agency and the Department of Small Business Services created Curtains Up NYC, to help ensure that every single federal dollar possible goes to our venues here in New York City – live venues, theater club, theaters clubs, performing arts spaces, theatrical producers, talent representatives, movie theaters – we want to give them the assistance they need to put forward the strongest application, and, importantly, be first in line. People can sign up today so that they are ready to apply as soon as the applications go up. Information is available at nyc.gov/curtainsupNYC. We hope you'll help us spread the word and thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Anne. And, look, everyone, this is part of how we come back strong. So, we're going to work hard to make sure that New York City culture institutions get the help that they need, and they can get back strong, bring people back to work, help neighborhoods come back to life. And you know what? People are going to see it and people are going to start gravitating back to New York City, because of everything we have here. It's going to all come alive in 2021, and that's going to be exciting to be a part of. 

Okay, let's now go to our indicators for the day. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report is 220 patients. We have a 71.43 percent confirmed positivity level. And the hospitalization rate, 5.07 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,491 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive city-wide for COVID – today, on a seven-day rolling average, the percentage is 8.28 percent. 

A few words in Spanish, and I want to go back to the announcement earlier about the Citi Field site opening up for vaccinations. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we'll turn to our colleagues and the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Chancellor Carranza, by Commissioner del Castillo, Commissioner Grayson, Commissioner Criswell, Commissioner Doris, Dr. Katz, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to Jessica Gould from WNYC. 

Question: Hi, so it's great to see that you're prioritizing middle school educators for the vaccinations. But in the case that it's only the first shot, there's a delay before it protects them. And so, what are you going to say to educators who are going to be asked to go back before they're fully vaccinated? 

Mayor: I'll start and the Chancellor can join me. Look, I say that because of the incredible efforts of everyone in our school system, our schools are amongst the safest places in all of New York City. Again, that gold standard of health and safety measures has really worked consistently. So, we know that everyone will be going into an environment that is safe. We'll be having lots of extra effort as it starts out to make sure everything is working right. But it's been proven time and time again. Chancellor? 

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza: Yes, sir. I would only add that. You know, just look at the data, and the data is really very, very clear that these are safe environments. We continue to work very closely with our colleagues in the Health Department, Test and Trace, Health + Hospitals. We also have added additional air purifiers in every middle school. So, we're up and running. We're ready to go. And what I would say to educators is, just continue to follow the guidance that's been put out. If you do that, we will continue to have this safe environment for not only our students, but those that serve our students. 

Mayor: Go ahead. 

Question: In terms of the variants though – I mean, I'm hearing that what has been safe before, what has worked before may not be working as precautions against these variants that are so much more contagious. So, again, to these educators who are concerned about going back with the looming exponential increase of these variants, can you respond to that? 

Mayor: Yeah. Jessica, I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Jay Varma, because we've talked about this a lot. Obviously, we take the variants very seriously, to say the least. But we also know that the same measures, those foundational efforts to keep people safe, work – the social distancing, the constant cleaning, the ventilation – all of the things – the mask wearing. I mean, you know, these are things done so consistently in our schools, more than pretty much any place else in the city, and we know that works. So, I think we've got a situation here where if – look, if everyone were doing the things we were doing in our schools, the whole situation in the city would be different and better. But, Dr. Varma, why don't you speak to that question? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you for the question. And I would just really echo actually what the Mayor has just said. We are – first of all, we are obviously very concerned. We want to continue to be as vigilant as we possibly can both to control transmission among the strains that are, you know, present and dominant right now, as well as any new strains that might emerge. Now, I know a lot of the concern extends to what happened in Europe, where schools were kept open during the peak of their epidemic and then after these new variant strains took over, they ended up closing their school system. And I think it's important to understand, as the Mayor has just said, but just to be very explicit about it, there were no European countries adopting the same rigorous approach that we have adopted here. That means universal masking, regardless of age, universal maintaining of physical distance, aggressive symptom screening, all of the ventilation improvements that you've seen. And now, this additional layer that we've added, which is the weekly testing regimen combined with vigorous contact racing. So, when you combine all those things together, there really isn't a comparison to what's going on other places. And then, of course, we are going to continue to see the additional added benefit of people getting back needed. We know that it takes time for people to build immunity, but the existing measures we have, have proven safe and I anticipate we'll continue to prove safe. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: As a programming note, we're also joined by Dr. Ted Long. The next is Shant from the Daily News. 

Question: Yeah. Good morning, everyone. On the middle schools, I was wondering if you can say how many are going to go back to in-person learning five days week right out the gate. And if you don't have a specific number, can you give a ballpark? Like, 50 percent? A different percent? Thanks. 

Mayor: Thank you. Very important questions, Shant. I'm going to start, I’ll turn to the Chancellor. We discussed this on Friday and I wish I could quote the exact numbers, but I was struck immediately by the extent to which right away we'll have a number of middle schools at five days a week, either for the whole school community or for at least a majority. Now, this is something that keeps evolving as we get a clearer sense of which kids really intend – which parents really choose to have their kids in school in person. Those who want in-person education, we want to get it to them as many days a week as possible. Ideally, five days a week. Those who don't, you know, are not sure about it – you know, then remote education is right for them. But we will certainly have a number of schools doing five day a week for a very big chunk of their student community and we want to keep building that out. Chancellor, do you want to speak to that? 

Chancellor Carranza: Yes, sir. So, of the 471 middle schools, we fully expect that half will be able to open their doors on the 25th, offering a five-day-a-week instruction to their students. And we know that the other middle schools are going to continue to program and reprogram to get to the goal of having five-day-a-week. In the rare occasions or the occasions where perhaps space just isn't available, we will continue to prioritize vulnerable groups of students, including students with disabilities, students in temporary housing, multilingual learners, etcetera, so that even in a school that is not fully five days a week, the most vulnerable student populations can receive five-day-a-week instruction. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Shant. 

Question: Yeah. Thanks for that. So, on testing, you were mentioning, you know, weekly testing at middle schools. Can you say if you're doing anything to boost testing supplies? And also, I know Chancellor Carranza said that the Situation Room would get additional staffers. Can you share some more detail on that? 

Mayor: Yeah, we can get you very specific facts. But the testing capacity, we've been building it up throughout. I'll turn to Dr. Long, if he wants to talk a little about that, but we have been building it up throughout. And the Situation Room, which has been absolutely crucial – and this is another one of the models here – Dr. Varma was talking about the models we developed here in New York City that borrowed from different ideas around the world. We also created some of our own, and the Situation Room is an example of that. And I want to thank everyone who's been a part of the Situation Room, especially its leader, Commissioner Melanie La Rocca, who has done a fantastic job. That's something that we created here. That's a homegrown idea that really helped to move quickly whenever there was a case in the school, working with Test and Trace Corps. And we're going to keep building up the staffing of the Situation Room to make sure it's always there for folks. But we do have the capacity. What we found by doing – this, sort of, learning by doing – is that we can constantly increase the capacity to meet our needs. Dr. Long, do you want to speak to that? 

Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace: Yeah. Thank you, sir. I think you covered all the key points. I'll just emphasize that, across the board, we've been building our testing capacity. In fact, across the city now, we've been able to reach approximately 120,000 tests in a given day. So, we've built the capacity across the city and we're applying all those same tools to the schools. And we're 100 percent confident that we have the capacity that we need to keep our students and our teachers safe, which is always our highest priority. So, thanks, Shant. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: The next is Matt Chayes from Newsday. 

Question: Hey. Good morning, all. Thanks for taking the questions. The first is a practical one – what proof is going to be required for food service workers who work off the books and want to get a vaccine in Citi Field – I mean, can anyone just show up and say, hey, I'm a food service worker, I work off the books and don't have any proof? 

Mayor: No, of course not. It's a good question, Matt. No, we want to make sure that people really do have proof. This is something that's – you know, when we're providing a focused, priority effort to help some of the most essential workers and people we've depended on, we’ve got to make sure it's actually the folks who have done the work. And so, we're going to obviously have some checks and balances in place on that. Among our colleagues, if someone has a handy answer on how that's going to work, Dr. Varma, Dr. Katz, Dr. Long, if one of you have an answer or else, we'll get it to Matt right after. Someone want to comment? Okay, we're going to get to Matt right after. Go ahead Matt. 

Question: Okay, I'm looking forward. Another question, in December the Health Commissioner issued an advisory telling people who are 65 plus or who otherwise vulnerable to COVID to stay home and away from others, if possible. So, do you plan on modifying that advisory – excuse me – modifying that advisory in any way to account for those who are vaccinated? And then second, relatedly, there are older people who are isolating due to worries of getting the virus themselves, once they're vaccinated, can this population ease up in any way on the most extreme measures that are aimed at them? How about two people who are vaccinated? Can they relax a little bit? I'm not asking that they can throw – 

Mayor: That’s a lot of – a lot of pieces. Let me try – 

Question: And I need to ask this part because I want you to answer it, you know, the right way – 

Mayor: Yeah, yeah, but again, my friend, let us try and answer the bigger picture. We'll have plenty of time to keep working on these issues, I assure you, but let – you're asking a really important foundational question. Let's try and get to the core question. I'll start and then turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Varma. Really important question, how do people comport themselves even after they are initially vaccinated, fully vaccinated, other people in their home are vaccinated, very, very important. What I want to emphasize as a layman and then the doctors will talk from their perspective is, we need to be careful in this atmosphere where – still a lot of folks dealing with COVID out there - we need to not let down our guard. And so, keeping to masks, keeping to social distancing until we really get to a critical mass point is crucial, and then that's something that we'll be talking about very openly as we lead up to it, what it looks like to reach that critical mass point and then how people might change their behavior. But until we get a well down the road, and certainly no earlier than June, we've got to stick to the same kind of precautions we have now. Dr. Katz, Dr. Varma, you want to speak to it? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I'd like to Mr. Mayor, I fully agree with you, but I also want to extoll the efficacy of the vaccine, and I think it's important that people understand that getting vaccinated really does matter and will bring us back. So, since doctors often disagree, I want to tell the reporter the advice I give to my 98-year-old father and my 93-year-old mother, they are going to get their second vaccine this week, and I've told them that 10 days after they have gotten their second vaccine, their older son and older daughter who have - they haven't been able to visit with because they are a part of separate households can now come and see them, and that they can see other friends of theirs who have been vaccinated. But that when they go out, they still need to wear a mask and use other precautions. So, I think we want to give people both the sense of protection and the sense of hope that vaccination really is going to return New York City back to the amazing, dynamic place it is. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you, Jay, you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, I would just say that this is a situation where we're going to have to have people understand that we have a recommendation for today and we're going to have a recommendation so it's going to change probably in the very near future. At the exact moment, you know, echoing what the Mayor had said, you know, we're in a situation that is still dynamic. Lots of people are still either not vaccinated or just about to get their first dose. It does take 10 to 14 days after that second dose to develop immunity. They're still emerging information in a new vaccine coming. So, at the current time, we really do recommend that people continue to observe all the things that we're recommending, but it is very likely in the near future when more people are vaccinated and disease rates have come down, we can alter our recommendations. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Rich Lamb from WCBS 880. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call. 

Mayor: Hey, Rich, how you doing today? 

Question: Okay. So, I'm just wondering what changed in the middle schools. Why now? Why is it okay now to reopen them? You know, now I say, but the 25th? What were the factors that went into the decision here and why not the high schools? 

Mayor: Yeah, so we're certainly going to look at high schools next. High schools, I want to get our high school kids back during the course of the current school year, but there's going to be more work needed. High schools are a more complex situation, but it's certainly our goal to do that, and we'll have more to say on that going forward. But for middle school, we just we had the pieces we needed. We had the testing capacity built out. We had the ability to build out a situation room. We've seen how effective the health and safety measures have been in the schools. They continue to be effective, but it's also for our kids, and I'll speak to this, you know, I think it's important that we dwell on this for a minute, so I'll ask the Chancellor and Dr. Varma to speak about this too. Our kids need to be in school. Those, again, those families that choose to have kids in school, our kids really benefit emotionally, intellectually, and even in terms of their physical health, getting out to school, being in the school community, being somewhere where there's caring adults who can help them out in so many ways, and a lot of kids have not done well with their isolation and need a chance to be back in the school community, and we're convinced we can do it safely. So, this is why it's the right time. Chancellor? 

Chancellor Carranza: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, the perverse nature of the social isolation that the Mayor spoke of for students, it's real, and it really is having an impact on students. I've heard from number of families and educators that have talked to, to me about the fact that their students are suffering. So, at every conceivable opportunity, when we can do this safely, and we can, as the Mayor's talked about, the capacity we've built and the ability to bring students back, we're going to do it. And that's what's changed is we've built capacity and we continue to build capacity. But we also have this very deep-seated desire to make sure that, that the isolation and the harm of not being with other human beings that our children have suffered with, that we can start in doing that and we can get them back safely in-person, that's why we're doing that. 

Mayor: And Dr. Varma, you want to speak to the situation? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Sure. Yeah, as both the doctor, as well as a parent of three kids who attended New York City public schools for six years, I just have to really emphasize just the value of schools for health overall. It's emotional health, its mental health, its physical health, and everything we do in life is about balancing risks. And so, we have seen a risk of COVID, we know how real and dangerous it is, and we've developed a model to reduce that risk. What we haven't done is figure out a model to reduce isolation and the mental and emotional and physical harm from being separated. And so, as the Chancellor and the Mayor has said, the best approach to that is to bring kids back to in-person schooling, and we only do that when we found a way to reduce and manage the risk of COVID, which we have developed a very successful model for doing. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Rich. 

Question: So, a different topic here. So, given, you know, the massive problems that we've seen in regard to the supply of the vaccine, are you still a firm believer in the idea of making those second doses first doses? Or do you see that there could be some problems there? 

Mayor: No, I am a firm believer in that, Rich, I'll tell you why. You know, I've been in regular touch with leaders of the Biden administration working on their COVID effort, and I do believe there's so many, just very specific indications that our supply will grow over time. Very, you know, one that's been very, very public is the fact that the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will be here in a matter of weeks. So, we have assurances that are believable, that are tangible, that we'll have more and more supply. Given that fact, that we can put that into our approach to making sure a second doses will be available and given that it's clear that some flexibility around the timing of a second doses is acceptable medically. It just makes sense to focus on first doses. The protection they provide them, this is what I think is not getting enough attention in the public discussion, the first dose provides immediate protection. Is it perfect protection? No, but it provides substantial protection to folks who are really vulnerable, particularly seniors, and I'm also very aware of what it means to them emotionally. And I look – our seniors have been here throughout their lives, making everything possible for all the rest of us. A lot of them have really worked hard. A lot of them have suffered a lot during this crisis, making sure every single one of them possible gets a first dose should be an imperative for all of us, and we know the second doses will be there in short order. But holding back, artificially, I think is a fundamental mistake. I think it's a strategic mistake and I think it's unfair to the seniors who have done so much for all of us. 

Moderator: The next is Christina Veiga from Chalkbeat. 

Question: Hi, Mayor and Chancellor, thanks for taking my question. I really want to push and go back to the situation room. We keep hearing that there is the capacity there, but it seems like you're saying it will be built up. I'm wondering if the capacity – and you also were not able to provide any specific details on what the staffing levels are, so can you talk about how many more tests are we talking about going on weekly in middle schools and what does the capacity look like for that? And is the staffing already in place for a beefed-up situation room, or is that still something that's being worked on? 

Mayor: No, Christina, staff has been hired in anticipation of students in the middle grades coming back. They're being trained now and prepared, but again, the situation room already has hundreds of folks doing the work and they've proven to be very, very effective at it. So, we can get you the exact hiring figures and all, but we're quite confident that we have the capacity. On the question of the testing, again, we're doing something you're not seeing any place else, weekly testing in all our schools and we're doing the exact same thing in the middle grades. So, the testing capacity is there. It has been built up over time. I'll let Dr. Long speak to it. But remember, week after week New York City has been adding testing capacity in general, and we have the capacity now to devote specifically to middle schools. Go ahead, Dr. Long. 

Executive Director Long: Yeah, no, that's a great question. So, specifically in the situation room, first, we are building our capacity there and we have a clear idea of how many staff we'll need. I'll give you an example of that. So, we brought on 27 more tracers, are we bringing on another 35 that we'll need before the situation room can accommodate middle schools going live, and we have a clear plan for that. So, we know what the numbers are there and we're hiring appropriately. On the testing side, as the Mayor said, we've been building up our capacity and we look at the number of teams that need to be at each school in order to do the weekly testing per school and we have the teams already set up. We're very confident we can do it. Across the city we're doing 120,000 tests on our good days. So, we're ready. 

Mayor: Yeah, and I want to emphasize that Christina, 120,000 tests per day, when you add everything we're doing citywide. So, this capacity is a very different situation that even a few months ago, the testing capacity has really built up intensely. We have our pandemic response lab doing a lot of our processing. That was a homegrown lab here in New York City to speed the processing of tests. So, we're in a situation now where we can do a lot more testing than we used to and that's another one of the reasons why we're ready to go with the middle grades. Go ahead, Christina. 

Question: Thanks, and my second question is, you've said a number of times that you're aiming for a full reopening of schools in the fall and I'm wondering if you can define what that means. Does that mean everybody going five-days-a-week or does it mean something different and will there still be an option for all remote next fall? 

Mayor: We've got a lot of work to do to get the details together, Christina, but I would say your initial assumption is exactly right. Five-day-a-week education in-person, because remember our goal right now is by June to have reached five million New Yorkers vaccinated, and we have the supply, unquestionably we can do that because we can vaccinate half-a-million people a week now. So that's June, you know, school doesn't start until September. If we're an environment where the city is overwhelmingly vaccinated, we're able to bring school back as it was, you know, same physical proportion, the same number of kids in classrooms. We're able to do that kind of thing and we'll keep other important precautions in place, obviously. But the goal is five-day-a-week education for our kids. As we get closer, we'll determine, of course, if there's a remote piece needed as well that will have everything to do with what's happening in the general situation with COVID and what parents are looking for, but we have to be able to welcome back every family, every student that wants to learn in-person by September, that's the bottom-line. Chancellor, you want to speak to this? 

Chancellor Carranza: Yes, sir. So, what I would add, Christina, is that our goal is to have in-person learning, as a Mayor has stated, but I think this whole notion of virtual learning, remote learning, electronic distance learning, that's going to stay with us well beyond the end of the pandemic because it does also provide students with an opportunity to enhance their learning, personalize their learning, do some self-directed investigation. Think of the power of a group of five students being able to work on a project, and instead of having to be in one place together, they could do it on Google classroom in the evening. So, it creates these opportunities as well to really accelerate and enhance instruction. So, we're looking at it and the Mayor and I have announced our plan for recovery. We're looking at this being a component of what the new normal looks like post-pandemic in a good way, not to replace in-person learning, but to keep the best parts of what we really built in terms of capacity and keep that going into the future.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Kala from PIX11.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Happy Monday to you.

Mayor: Happy Monday, Kala. How are you? 

Question: Good, thanks. So, I want to know if students would be given another chance to opt in this year? 

Mayor: A very important question, Kala, thank you for that. Right now, remember for the middle grades, we had just done an opt in period back in November. So those opt-ins will be honored. Unfortunately, because everything happening with COVID and those kids were not able to come back in person yet, but now they will. So that opt in will be honored now. In terms of further opt-in, opt-ins, it will depend on the overall situation with COVID. We're hopeful that we could see, you know, a really positive trend here, and if we get to see a very different situation with vaccinations, with the overall case numbers, et cetera, that would be the occasion to put another opt-in into play, but we're not there yet. Go ahead, Kala.

Question: I also wanted to know how long do teachers’ medical accommodations last. So, when we're talking about next year already, and you say that you want to open up full strength, five days a week, what about the teachers who chose not to get vaccinated, or who just haven't had time because of shortages through the summer, and they're not ready to go back in September. And, also what about the parents who don't feel like their kids would be safe in school still? Because the reality is 70 percent of students are still remote learning, right?

Mayor: Yeah, and Kala, let me I'll turn to the Chancellor also, but let me just say: it's February, and September is a long way away, in light of, you know, what we're dealing with, with COVID. And again, the goal is, as part of our recovery effort, by June have five million New Yorkers vaccinated. That's an entirely different reality. We're always going to be sensitive to families that might still have concerns, to educators and staff that might still have concerns. We're going to really work on that, but we have a lot of time to work that out. The bottom line now is we need to recover. We need to bring this city back. We need our schools back full strength, and everything we're seeing now, including the extraordinary commitment of the Biden administration to moving more and more vaccine to cities all over the country. You know, everything we're seeing says that we'll be in an entirely different situation, even by the end of the spring and the beginning of the summer, let alone by September. So, a lot to work out, and a lot of people we want to hear from, and a lot of people we want to consult with, but I feel confident we can bring the pieces together. Chancellor.

Chancellor Carranza: Yes, sir. You're absolutely right. So, the medical accommodations are the exemptions that are in place currently. There is no plan to sunset those this school year, they will remain in place for the remainder of this school year. With all of the looming good news that the Mayor has talked about in terms of vaccination, and the commitment of the federal government to help us, that only looks better and better. But, like every single aspect of this pandemic, we're going to let the facts and the science drive our decisions. So, there is a long time until September. So, depending on what's happening with the virus, what's happening with the vaccines, what's happening with us generally and broader in the community, those circumstances will drive any decisions on policy changes. But, it's way too early to think about that right now.

Mayor: Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Debralee from the Manhattan Times.

Question: Hey, good morning. Can everyone hear me?

Mayor: Yes, Debralee. We haven't heard from you in a while. How are you doing?

Question: Glad to be connected. All as well. I wanted to follow up, Mr. Mayor, on something that's been discussed in the last few weeks, and that's about the city data you’ve been showing, some of the stark racial disparities among our groups in terms of the vaccination rates that the city itself is putting out. And I wanted to discuss with you and have here from your, your panel, how you feel that the City is handling it now, and specifically when you look at some of the screening questionnaires and some of the online portals, they specifically ask for health insurance information, and even though that is a prerequisite for the vaccine, it seems that as a screening protocol, that in fact may be disproportionately affecting the very communities you're trying to reach. Can you speak to that and see how that might be rectified, particularly when the calls and the online systems tend to be beset with delays?

Mayor: That's a really good question, Debralee, and I appreciate it. So, let me start, and then my colleagues can jump in – my health care colleagues. Look, we do not want to give people information that might be misleading. So, I think this is something that's come up before about whether we need to change the message in the application process. Asking for health insurance information if people have is understandable, but you're right, if it in any way suggests that people can't get the vaccine without health insurance, that's a real problem, because that is not the truth that you can get the vaccine regardless of whether you have health insurance. And we obviously want to make sure people do get health insurance, and I'll start with Dr. Katz in a second, and he can remind everyone about the fact that NYC Care is available to folks who don't qualify for other insurance. But look, the equity effort starts with having 60 percent of the vaccination centers in communities of color, in the places that were hardest hit by COVID, and we want to move more and more of the outreach to the places where we're seeing hesitancy and do a – we're doing a big grassroots effort. We want on keep deepening that. But I take very seriously that if something in the application form is throwing people off, that we have to address that there. So, Dr. Katz, could you speak to that and to, again, the access to health support for anyone who needs it, and then if any of the other doctors— 

President Katz: Sure, Mr. Mayor, and thanks to you, and launching NYC Care, we are able to offer everyone in New York City who isn't insured a primary care doctor, a place that they can get care and assurance that they will never get bills that they cannot afford due to getting health care, and as you say, sir, we at Health + Hospitals, having insurance is never a barrier for getting care and people know that. I mean, if you go back to the start of the epidemic of COVID, why was Elmhurst so filled with patients with COVID? Because immigrants knew that they could go to Elmhurst and be cared for despite not having despite their immigration status, they knew that they would be welcomed and taken care of. So, you know, for us this is a major issue we have not heard complaints about insurance in part because we make it very clear that yes, if you have insurance, we take the insurance information. If you don't have insurance, you have the same access as anyone else to the care. So, I don't think that at least in the health and hospital system or in our city public health system the insurance issue has been a barrier. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Varma, Dr. Long, you want to add? Okay, go ahead, Debralee.

Question: I just want to be quick. Can you hear me now?

Mayor: Yes.

Question: Great. So just as a quick rejoinder to that, I wanted to make clear that while HHC might necessarily have a built-in constituent base that understand its policies, I'm speaking specifically for the online portal, including the SOMOS vaccinations that were set up for everyone, but for the Bronx residents. It's a required field, as it stands now, and so as a result, if you don't have that information, you're essentially not able to get past that space. Now, if you punch in a variable. You, you can sort of work around it, but if you don't know what it shows up by the consistently required field, which just allows for you to continue. So, I wonder if there might be more information that can be put out regarding - in regards to that, because it is in fact, a disincentive

And no, it's really fair point, and we're going to get to work on this immediately. We talked to folks from SOMOS about this on Friday, and they affirmed publicly that they're going to vaccinate people regardless of insurance coverage. But I hear you loud and clear – if people receive it when they're applying as required field, and they can't get around it, or they don't think they can get around it, then it is creating a disincentive. We don't want that. So, we'll work with the folks of SOMOS, and any other providers to make sure that that application doesn't seem to be excluding people. We can't have that. We need everyone to get vaccinated. We need everyone to feel comfortable getting vaccinated. It's free, it's available to all. So, this is a good catch and thank you for raising it. We will definitely get that fixed.

Moderator: Last question today goes to Abu from Bangla Patrika.

Question: Hello, Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Abu. How are you feeling?

Question: Good. Thank you so much. My question is the – do you have any idea or any plan that when the city that, where the vaccination and everything is going, the infection rate is going in the lower, away from the city could be in a different shape, or normal life?

Mayor: Wow. Big, very big question, Abu. Look, I think the smart thing to say is we need to take this one step at a time. While I projected in the State of the City that we will be bringing our public employees back who are not currently at work sites. They'll come back, starting in May. That in June, we'll reach five million vaccinations, so long as we have the supply of vaccine. I think you're going to see a constant reenergizing of our economy. So, a lot is going to happen, and obviously, as we just talked about reopening the schools fully in September, but we want at the same time, emphasize – let's keep the smart precautions in place because they've been working, they've been helping, and we're going to listen to our health care leaders who are going to follow the data and science.

So I think it's too early to project, you know, “normalcy.” I've said publicly, I know our health care leaders have to, let's think about from now to June, keeping all the different precautions we're living with in place to really get this right, and then we'll be talking before we get to June about the changes we can make, restrictions that can start to come off. But I think if you're talking about our economy coming back, our life coming back, I think you're thinking about this summer and fall. You're going to see a real intensive uptick, but if you're talking about not having any of the precautions in place, that's something we have to be really smart and careful about how we do that, and we'll be led by our health care leadership on that. Go ahead, Abu.

Question: The second question is the Biden administration – they're thinking to help about, as you know in this country, about 12 million undocumented people living here, to give them a path for legalization. So, if anything happened and how New York City would help the people who want to apply for the application and other stuff.

Mayor: Yeah, I am very excited that we're having an actual national conversation about comprehensive immigration reform, and I think this is the time to get it done, and President Biden's the right leader to get it to make it happen. You have, and I talked about this a lot in recent years, you know, 11-12 million people who are part of the fabric of our country. We've got to stop this madness of acting like they don't exist and, and going without a solution, there should be a pathway to citizenship for the folks who are here, and once that becomes federal policy, New York City will reach out throughout immigrant communities to help people to achieve that pathway to citizenship. Our Office of Immigrant Affairs, very energetically, actively connected to the grassroots, working with so many wonderful organizations that help immigrants. We're going to be front and center getting this done.

We already saw with IDNYC, the ability to serve immigrant communities, including folks who are currently undocumented. We see with NYC Care, we just talked about the ability to help folks, even if they're undocumented, to get health care coverage we've been doing this. We know how to do this. Give us comprehensive immigration reform, and New York City will lead the way in terms of helping people on that pathway to citizenship right away.

All right, everyone. As we conclude today, look, again, we're going to be constantly throughout this year. Talk about what recovery looks like, and we know it has to be a recovery for all of us, and today really great examples of how we bring our city back, the strong vaccination effort, going right down to the grassroots, the effort to help our cultural institutions come back strong, bringing back our middle grade kids, and that's going to be so exciting and bring it back to school across the board in September. These are the building blocks are the building blocks to recovery, but they're also the building blocks to a recovery that is equitable, that is fair. That helps us go farther, helps us become an even better city. So, 2021 is going to be a very exciting year, and today is further evidence of the shape of things to come. Thank you, everyone.

2021-02-10 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, good afternoon, everybody. We're starting a little different time today because I just came from Citi Field, I’m going to talk about that in a moment, how important that new effort is out in Queens. But first I want to talk about something very personal and something important for a lot of people who are worried about whether to go and get vaccinated, and so it couldn't be more personal for me. My wife Chirlane got vaccinated yesterday at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, and Chirlane wanted to send a message to folks who are hesitant, to folks who are unsure about the vaccine. That it’s something that's important to do, it’s something you can trust, it’s something that will give you safety and protection. She said something – I just want to read this quote because it really says so much to me. She said, “we want to do this for our families, we want to do this for our loved ones, and of course we want to do it for our city.” That's the spirit that we want to get across to everyone here, that by going out there, getting vaccinated you're going to help move us all forward, but especially protect yourself, protect your family. So, Chirlane is someone who has dealt with some real health challenges over the years. She told me it was an incredible feeling of relief to get that first vaccination, and she wants people to know it's safe. It's the right thing to do. She also was really appreciative to everyone at Kings County Hospital and everyone at Health + Hospitals for the way that they treat everyone that comes there with compassion, and support them, and answers their questions, lets them know that, you know, they will be supported and helped throughout. She had a great experience and I want to urge everyone else to know that that experience is there for you too. 
 
Now, as I mentioned, went to Citi Field earlier today. This is really moving to me, really hopeful sign opening day, but not opening day for baseball yet, but opening day for vaccination at Citi Field, and great energy. I got to tell you, you know, being out there seeing everyone from the Mets, I'm really appreciative to Steve Cohen, everyone at the Mets for opening up Citi Field, for their commitment to doing this. But, just talking to folks who came there to get vaccinated, the good experience they had, the excitement they had of being able to get vaccinated in their own borough. This site is for the people at Queens. There's also a special effort we're making for folks who drive taxis, for-hire vehicles, folks in food service, we want to make sure that some of those vulnerable folks among us get that opportunity. 
 
So, Citi Field's just opened, it's going to be building up more all the time. We're going to get it to a 24/7 basis. That's our goal starting next week. But, look, as of next week, we'll be able to do thousands of doses a week. But what I really want to see us do is get Citi Field to full strength. This site being run by our Health + Hospitals team – this site can do 5,000 vaccinations a day, 35,000 vaccinations a week, 24/7, but we need the supply. So, I know this'll be an encouragement to the people at Queens. The folks I talked to who came there to be vaccinated were just so excited to be a Citi Field. It was a place that they love to be at, a place they trust, a place that makes them feel good and hopeful. This is the beginning of something much bigger. 
 
Now, look, vaccination is the key to recovery. Vaccination is the key to bringing us back, and it's also crucial to having a recovery for all of us. When we talk about recovery for all of us, it is about equity. It's about making sure that everyone gets the opportunity to move forward in the city, and it certainly is epitomized by having centers like Yankee Stadium, like Citi Field, specifically devoted to serving people in the community. That Citi Field site just, you go a mile away from there. You're going to be at some of the hardest hit areas in the city during the coronavirus crisis. It is really important to realize when we put these sites in communities, it makes a huge difference for people and we've got to reach people at the grassroots. That's going to be the difference maker. 
 
Now, when we talk about reaching people in need, I want to tell you about a very moving discussion I was part of last night, a group of leaders in the Orthodox Jewish community gathered with me at Gracie Mansion to talk about issues in the community. There there's definitely still issues of hesitancy around the vaccine, but there's also a lot of seniors who desperately want the vaccine, and we need to reach them, and the most pointed part of the discussion revolved around seniors, who literally experienced one of the most horrific events in world history. Holocaust survivors, people who went through that totally destructive, horrible moment in history, and survived and carried on and kept their faith. Amazing people. I met with Holocaust survivors before the pandemic, and was so struck by their spirit, by the way that they kept moving forward, despite everything they experienced, and for so many people, the presence of Holocaust survivors in our city is a reminder of just how recently that history took place, and we've got to be there for these people, and I got to tell you if you talk to someone who tells you what it was like to be in one of the camps – I've had people roll up their sleeves, show me the tattoo from being in a concentration camp. It's an experience that is searing. So, we're going to initiate an effort right away to make sure that Holocaust survivors get vaccinated. We're going to partner with a number of organizations in the Jewish community, and I want to particularly thank Rabbi Michael Miller and Jewish Community Relations Council of New York City who are going to help us bring together organizations in all five boroughs, so we can have a special effort to reach these New Yorkers who have been through so much, but who still by their very perseverance give us so much hope. 
 
Okay, let's talk about what we do every day, where we stand. So, from the beginning of our vaccination effort, we have asked, we have provided this many doses, 1,071,393. That's how many doses have been given from the beginning. We need to give so many more. Everyone's frustrated that there isn't more vaccine available. It's clear we have to do something different, and this city needs its own supply, a direct supply from the federal government we can depend on, we need fewer rules, fewer red tape, less red tape to hold us back. We need more flexibility. We could be doing so much more. I've talked about the fact that we need more pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies helping to create the vaccine. We need more flexibility around the use of second doses. We just need a direct supply. You know why – New York City is not only covering all of our people. Folks are coming in from the suburbs, in from even other states to get vaccinated in New York City. Our allotment needs to reflect that. The federal government, the state government need to reflect the fact that we are covering a lot of other people's needs too. But really what we need is just direct that seen supply and greater vaccine supply, so we can reach so many more people. The capacity is there. The will is there. The ability is there. People want it, but we need more supply, and this is what I'll be fighting for every single day. 
 
Now, as we get more supply, we're going to create more and more sites. One of the next sites we're going to be announcing, we’ll have the exact date and hours very soon, the Empire Outlets and Staten Island, that site will be opening soon. It will be devoted to the people of Staten Island. Want people to know they can go there, and again, the goal is to get that to be as quickly as possible, a 24/7 site with an ample supply of vaccine. Another site that is very exciting to anticipate. It's one we want to partner with the state of New York on, and make a central site for the people of Brooklyn. Of course, talking about Barclays Center. A great conversation yesterday with John Abbamondi, the CEO of BSE Global, that’s the company that owns the Nets and the Barclays Center. They're raring to go. They want to make Barclays Center a great site for Brooklyn. Again, this should be a Brooklyn only site. There should be a site that really helps us reach deep into the communities of Brooklyn, including places where we're seeing a lot of vaccine hesitancy and we need to do a lot better, and that's a lot of communities that are near the Barclays Center. So, we're going to be working with the state, working with the Barclays Center and the Bets to figure out how we can move forward. Again, we want to see these sites up and running ideally on a 24/7 basis with the kind of supplier support them. We know these are places that are attractive to people, and the fact that it'll be devoted to Brooklyn residents, and then the Empire Outlets case devoted to Staten Island residents. That's the kind of thing that will make a difference and get people to want to come there and help overcome the hesitancy. But it only works if we have supply. We're the largest city in America, 8.5 million people, we would be the 12th largest state in the country by population. We need a direct supply from the federal government so we can get the job done, reduce the red tape, speed up the process, get vaccine in the arms of New York. 
 
Alright. So, look, even as we talk about fighting back the coronavirus with a vaccination effort, let's remember that the folks are going through so many challenges beyond COVID itself. COVID has created a lot of other challenges, and one of the biggest problems we found in this last year was folks didn't have enough food to eat, lost their livelihood, lost their support systems, needed help. What have we done? We've said every New Yorker will get the help they need. No New Yorker will go hungry. We will do whatever it takes. We created the Get Food program. People have learned to rely on it, trust it. It's made a huge difference and now a milestone to report to you, and it's a milestone that is a sad one, when you think about it, that the need is so great, but I'm also proud of all the people who did such hard work to get food to New Yorkers in need, and we should be very appreciative and proud of our city employees, and nonprofit organizations, and community people who all believed it was their mission to make sure no New Yorker went hungry. The milestone we've reached is we provide 200 million emergency meals since the beginning of the pandemic, 200 million meals for free to people who needed them. It's a staggering number and, and there's been so many elements of this, the grab and go sites in our schools, the delivery to homebound New Yorkers direct to their door. All the pieces have come together to make a difference. We've got to do more. This crisis is not over. People are still hurting to say the least, we need that federal stimulus. We're hoping and praying for that. But, in the meantime, we've got to keep moving forward. We're talking to the City Council right now about how to increase support for food pantry soup kitchens. We're working on another $25 million and support because we need to make sure every New Yorker gets what they need. 
 
Alright, for anyone who does need food, a reminder, call 3-1-1. If you need to know where there are sites in your neighborhood, if you need to find the grab and go sites at the schools, if you need delivery directly to you, you can call 3-1-1, or you can go to nyc.gov/getfood and find the sites in your community. Again, to all the city employees, everyone who has stepped up. Thanks to everyone who's done such great work. The folks at Sanitation Department who have stepped up played a really important role here. Thank you to the community-based partners, community-based organizations, the charities, everyone's done outstanding work and we're going to keep doing it until this crisis is over. 
 
Okay, let's go over our daily indicators. Here we go. Number one, daily number of people admitted in New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report: 265 patients, confirmed positivity level 62.5 percent, and the hospitalization rate 5.21 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on the seven-day average, today’s report: 3,859 cases, and number three, number of percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, today's report: seven-day rolling average 8.48 percent. Okay, a few words in Spanish, and again, the topic of course will be vaccines. 
 
[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 
 
With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 
 
Moderator: Hi, all we'll now begin our Q and A. With us today is Dr. Ted Long, Executive Director of the Test and Trace Corps, Dr. Dave Chokshi, Health Commissioner, Director of the Mayor's Office for Food Policy, Kate McKenzie, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Juan Manuel from NY1. 
 
Question: Good morning – good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, and that's a great teleprompter that you have now. 
 
Mayor: Say again, you like the teleprompter? 
 
Question: Yeah, that's a really good teleprompter that you have right now. 
 
Mayor: Well, we're always innovating Juan Manuel. 
 
Question: That's really good. Mr. Mayor, you're asking for a direct supply of vaccine to cut the red tape. Is it that you're having issues with the state, with Governor Cuomo? You don't think the city is being treated fairly, or you don't think the state is managing the supply in an efficient way? 
 
Mayor: Look, Juan Manuel, first of all, if you just simplify the process and just get direct supply in New York City, it's just going to speed everything up. It's going to simplify everything. We also know we're carrying a disproportionate share of the burden. Our job is to vaccinate everyone in New York City, but we also have a lot of people coming in from the suburbs, even New Jersey and Connecticut to get vaccinated, but our supply we get from the state doesn't reflect that reality. We're not getting our fair share. I think it would be a lot simpler if we just got a direct allotment from the federal government, making clear that the actual number we needed, just – we could depend on it, we know it's coming and then we get to work. Because right now we finally have the freedom to vaccinate on a bigger level, meaning the categories of people most in need. Everyone now has been approved. We're ready to go. We have a huge number of sites, hundreds of sites, but we need the consistency to know exactly how much vaccine we're going to have, and that we can just put it into play, where it's needed most. That's going to make things quicker and better for everyone. Go ahead, Juan. Manuel. 
 
Question: I saw your press conference at Citi Field today and it was a little bit confusing – and I'm sure I wasn't the only viewer a little bit confused – the fact that right now if someone living in Queens wants to get an appointment at Citi Field, there are no appointments available. Is it wise to keep opening up vaccination centers when there's so little supply in the city? And the way to get an appointment is through a multiple number of websites, something that has been proven to be extremely cumbersome and confusing to many New Yorkers? 
 
Mayor: It's a really good question but look it – I would love it if we could take all of the different health care systems and networks and providers and put them entirely under the sponsorship of the city and have just one website for everyone, and we could mandate that, that would be wonderful. That would be ideal, but that's not how things work. These are all individual providers. We have to do our best to simplify the process even while people are working with different systems and we're working all the time to try and get everyone to simplify the approach. The reason it was important to open up Citi Field is, one, to say to residents of Queens, you need to get vaccinated, especially folks who are hesitant, here's a great place to get vaccinated. It's going to be going to a 24/7 basis soon. It's going to be doing thousands of vaccinations a week, but again, with enough supply, we get our fair share of supply, we'll be going to 5,000 vaccinations a day, 35,000 vaccinations a week at Citi Field. That makes a whole lot of sense, and there's tremendous need in the borough Queens, and with food service workers and taxi drivers. So yeah, we got to start getting this engine up to a much higher level, but we need the supply to really take it where it needs to go. 
 
Moderator: Next is Michael from the Daily News. 
 
Question: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. 
 
Mayor: Hey Michael, you had [inaudible] delay there. How are you doing? 
 
Question: I'm good. So, I have a couple of questions and I want to – excuse me if the premise is off here, I'm just kind of going on what I'm seeing. The Governor announced these two new sites today, one in Jamaica and one at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. And, you know, given your announcement today at Citi Field, it seems like what he announced, and what you announce would kind of dovetail given the fact that at Citi it's kind of starting out slowly and you have plans to ramp up in the future. I mean, it would have seemed to make sense that the doses that are going to this – your college site in Jamaica, could've, you know, been purposed to Citi Field. So, I guess the question I'm leading up to is, did you guys coordinate at all on this? What's going on as far as that goes? It would seem to make sense that there would have been some coordination between you guys on this. Maybe there was it wasn't able to happen. 
 
Mayor: Michael, first of all, I think those sites are great. I think it's great that there's going to be a site at Medgar Evers and at York. That's fantastic. We need more – we need just more supply, more sites, more reach deep into communities, more efforts to overcome the hesitancy, more ways to make it simple. The city could be doing a lot more if we would get our fair share of vaccine, if we would get it on a reliable basis, we could be doing a lot more. We could be doing it more quickly. That's what we want to do. I respect anything and everything the State does, but I'm trying to get to a simpler approach for the city where we simply get a direct allotment and then we can make the choices within it about where the need is greatest. We know our people we're closest to the ground. It's time, I've said it and others are saying around the state, we got to go back more to what we have historically done, which is let localities figure out what's right for localities, cities, towns, counties around the State. It's time to get back to letting them do what's right for their own people. We know what's best for our people and where the need is greatest, but anything in the meantime the State is doing that reaches especially in communities where there's great need. I applaud it. Go ahead, Michael. 
 
Question: The other question I had has to do with this announcement that I think it's on February 23rd, sports venues will open, and you know, with these variants floating around and you know, all the kind of anxiety that's created, I think – do you think this is a wise move to open sports venues at, you know, later this month with given, you know, the variants and the danger they might pose? 
 
Mayor: Look, Michael, I think first of all, it can be done safely with a lot of precautions, but we have to keep a really careful eye on the situation. We have to always be led by the data and science. It has to be health and safety first. If you're talking about a really limited audience and a lot of precautions right now, I think that can work, but we got to keep watching to see how things develop. Look, I'm someone who believes sports has a really big impact on all of us. It really gives people a lot of hope. I've been thrilled to see sports coming back and to feel like something they latch onto as we fight our way past the coronavirus and, you know, the Brooklyn Nets are really exciting story this year. So, the fact that they will be having, you know, an audience I think is something that people are going to appreciate a lot. But we got to watch carefully to your question, we got to watch carefully each step along the way and be led by the data and science and what is telling us as things develop. 
 
Moderator: Go ahead. Next is Jillian from WBAI. 
 
Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 
 
Mayor: Good, Jillian. How you been? 
 
Question: I’m okay. I'm okay. I'm glad you started at Citi Field finally. 
 
Mayor: Let me tell it was very refreshing. It let me, I had, I had a very complex experience on Friday. This was very refreshing. 
 
Question: Well, did you wear a Mets cap? 
 
Mayor: Of course. 
 
Question: Okay. I haven't seen it yet. 
 
Mayor: I mean, Mr. And Mrs. Met next to me, it was a rich Met experience. 
 
Question: Well, you've got the full thing. I wanted to point out that the New York Dolls were just nominated for the class of 2021 into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and that's a big deal, they were a breakthrough, groundbreaking. And so, we should all be proud of that – 
 
Mayor: You know your history – you know your history, Jillian. They were a really important band that helped bring us a lot of amazing music and a lot of the punk movement and other things that came in here. 
 
Question: Absolutely – 
 
Mayor: Yep. 
 
Question: Absolutely. They were a predecessor's punk, one of the many. So, my first question to change topics is there's been a series of taxi driver rallies at City Hall, including one today, demanding medallion debt forgiveness. I know you know about that, but this is especially important because of the city's role in the way they colluded with banks to inflate the value of the medallion, that was mostly during the Bloomberg administration, and this is while they were opening the flood gates for app-based drivers with no regulations. So, they really – they're really hard up, you know what's happening in the taxi industry. The Taxi Alliance in a post-COVID survey where they found that 90 percent had active loans and 83 percent were food insecure or close. I mean, they're really hurting. They have a restructuring plan that the Comptroller signed off on and I just wanted to know – what do you think you're going to do? They said that you are pushing a plan that's kind of not very fair and its more lender friendly, and so I just wanted to know what you've thought about, if anything? 
 
Mayor: Thank you. I appreciate your question and it's a very thorough question. I want to say I think you're right to say there were mistakes made or choices made that weren't good choices, but I remind you of the regulation of the industry, and the lending practices, and the brokers came from the federal government, the State government, not the city. When we came in and saw what was happening with the medallions and with the lives of taxi drivers, we stopped the medallion sales after my first year and it's been a very, very painful episode. It really has been. I feel so bad for so many families that just saw their life's work destroyed. We've tried to find ways to help drivers, but we need something bigger that is not something the city can do directly, but with stimulus funding, I think there's a real chance to do something, and I'm really encouraged by what I'm seeing now in the Senate and the House. If we can get, you know, the kind of stimulus support we deserve, I think it opens the door to coming up with a solution to help taxi drivers and the families who have suffered so much. So, that's to me, the gateway to getting something done and, you know, I'll speak more to a specific approach, but we need to see if we actually are going to get that stimulus support we deserve. Go ahead. 
 
Question: Yeah, they said that you said you were waiting for the stimulus. So, my other question is related to the Orthodox Jewish community, and it's not to take away at all from what you said about the Holocaust survivors and having them vaccinated, but a couple of days ago the Sheriff busted a biker party in East New York that had about 200 people not following COVID regulations. And you're asked a few weeks ago about how there are these micro clusters glowing – growing, sorry, in the same communities over and over again. In mid-January, there was a giant Hasidic wedding in Brooklyn that was organized on the q.t., thousands attended. It was packed, there was no social distancing, no mask wearing, there were pictures and videos that showed all this. The Sheriff had said that they didn't move in because there were multiple entrances, there were tarps obscuring their vision, but also because there's this loosening of a religious exemption, but the picture far show that, you know, the religious exemptions are out the window in this case. So, there's this newspaper called Times of Israel, and I've not heard of it, but they said – they called this the latest example of the city communities lack of compliance and yet another example of it willing to keep secret violations of public health guidelines. So, whether this is correct or not, there's a perception that you've been somewhat lenient with the Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish communities. So, I wanted to know what's the difference between the two situations and going forward, what are you going to do differently? 
 
Mayor: Yeah, I think – I appreciate you saying perception, but I think it depends on who you talk to. There's plenty of people I think would take the opposite view. We're to do one thing and one thing consistently, particularly with the really strong efforts of the Sheriff's Office and they deserve a lot of credit. Wherever there have been illegal gatherings, whether you're talking in communities in Brooklyn, whether you're talking in Staten Island or all over New York City, the Sheriff's Office has been there to break things up, to send people home, and to levy the appropriate fines and penalties, that has happened in all communities. It will continue to happen. I am hoping that people understand that they're creating a danger to everyone involved when there's a large gathering and if there's large gatherings, there will be penalties. If there's a consistent pattern of a large gathering at a site, we will shut down the site, and we've said that ever since that incident Williamsburg and you're right, it was obviously planned to evade detection, but we've made very clear to the folks involved if there's ever something like that again at that site, we will simply shut that site down once and for all. 
 
Moderator: Next is Gersh from Streetsblog. 
 
Question: How are you doing, Mr. Mayor? 
 
Mayor: I am doing well, Gersh, because of our mutual love of baseball and softball. I can tell you I felt the feeling today at Citi Field. 
 
Question: I thought you were going to say our mutual love of the subway, because I understand you took a nice ride out to Citi Field on the subway. 
 
Mayor: I do love the subway too and I said to folks, the reporters who were with me, that I will look forward to January 1st when I will just be a full-time subway rider. It's going to be refreshing. 
 
Question: Fair enough. So, I wanted to go back a little bit to something you announced during the week, or talked at least about, Open Culture, the Open Culture Street Program. The DOT put out a list which was mandated by the Council earlier this month of about 110 Open Culture streets, yet only 10 of those streets were segments that were already on existing Open Streets, where there are already, you know, massive volunteer efforts to secure those roadways and keep the cars off of them. So, some people in the cultural community and in the Open Streets community worried that now you've got an entirely new and potentially even bigger volunteer effort needed to open and close the Open Culture streets, running parallel with the open streets. And so, I wonder if you could just talk to me about why you guys made the decision to come up with this entirely new list and include so few existing open streets? 
 
Mayor: Yeah, it's a fair question, Gersh, and we'll certainly have the folks who have been involved in that DOT and cultural fairs, and I'll get you a more detailed answer. But look, I like the all of the above approach here. Open Streets have been incredibly successful and we're going to make them permanent and we're going to look for ways to expand, obviously, where we've combined Open Restaurants, Open Streets, that's been extraordinary, or as we might say today, a home run and the notion of making spaces available for cultural performances for the community as part of our recovery for everyone is really, really exciting to me. I think you're right, sometimes the best location might be overlapping in existing Open Streets, sometimes it might be a different kind of location, but all of these approaches are going to help us have a strong recovery and engage people at the community level. So, we'll follow up with you on the details, but I really think this is going to be an exciting new element of life in this city as we come back.
 
Moderator: Next is Sophia from Gothamist. 
 
Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 
 
Mayor: Good, Sophia. How are you doing? 
 
Question: Good. These 24-hour vaccination sites, it seems difficult to get to them when the subway service hasn't been returned [inaudible] 24/7 service. And with the weather, and the snowstorms, and the pandemic, and having homeless people shut out of the stations is – continues to be a concern. When do you think 24/7 subway service should be reinstated? 

Mayor: I think it should be reinstated, but not yet. I think right now we're still bringing back the city. Look, my goal is to vaccinate 5 million New Yorkers by June. If I get the supply, we can do it. And this is another example – God bless the federal and State government, if they just give us the supply, we'll take care of it. We can get 5 million people vaccinated by June. That's going to be crucial to the recovery of New York City. I want to get to a point where we have seen how we handle these variants, we are certain about the trajectory we're on, and we see a lot more people vaccinated. And then, the day going to come where it makes sense to go back to 24/7 subway service. I don't get to make the decision. It's the State, obviously, that makes that decision, but I will say, I'll give voice for 24/7 service when we are certain that we've reached the right point both on a health level and in terms of our recovery. Go ahead, Sophia. 

Question: Thank you. And then we wanted to ask about – with indoor dining returning this week, and then the announcement from the Governor that stadiums can reopen. It seems that the people who will be working at these stadiums and restaurants probably won't have the vaccine. Are you worried about that? And are you going to be indoors this weekend? 

Mayor: I am worried for the folks who work particularly in restaurants. The arenas, you know, obviously, that's more occasional when there are games, and there’s more space. But restaurants are more confined spaces, people have their mask off a lot of times, unlike an arena where you’re expected to have the mask on the vast majority time. I'm worried for folks who serve us in restaurants, who we depend on, working people who are struggling to make ends meet and need that job. We want to keep them safe. And that's why I definitely fought for them to have the right be vaccinated. We don't have enough supply to get everyone as quickly as we should. We’ve just got to get more supply. I will, at some point, be out there with indoor dining, I don't know exactly schedule yet. But what I'll do for sure is, when I do it, I'm going to let the media know so you can join me. But my central concern right now is that we educate the folks who work in restaurants, we do the kinds of inspections to keep them safe, we keep remaining restaurant owners and ensuring that they’re taking the measures to keep everyone safe, and we, more and more, getting that folks who work in response vaccinate as well. 

Moderator: Next is Reuvain from Hamodia. 

Question: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. I'd just like to ask you, yesterday, a federal judge threw out the restrictions on houses of worship in red and orange zones, saying they were unconstitutional. So, I just wanted to ask if you were going to toss all the fines that you gave houses of worship and, if any houses of worship have paid fines, [inaudible] returned money? 

Mayor: It's a fair question. I need to talk to the Law Department about what we think of that decision and how we’re going to proceed, and the State is going to proceed on that. We need houses of worship and everyone to think about health and safety first, and whatever happens in the court system, it doesn't change the fact that we've got to be careful. And the precautions that – a lot of house of worship did this, the vast majority of houses worship did this – they limited number of people, made people wear masks, a lot of smart precautions. We cannot let our guard down, especially with variants out there. So, that's my central concern right now, to keep working with clergy and the faith community to keep people safe. Go ahead. 

Question: Yeah, well it appears you're not committing to respecting the court’s decision of throwing out fines, but I do want to move onto a second question. When you released the list of 33 hard-hit neighborhoods that are getting vaccine priority, a couple of elected officials, including [inaudible] and Councilman Yeger, pointed out that their communities were very hard-hit, so much so that the Governor created these special zones just for these communities, which had a lot of very intense focus for a couple of months with high COVID rates. And they say that they’re not on the list of highest-hit communities either. The lockdown was unjustified or they should be on the list – what is your response? 

Mayor: My response is, we want to reach everyone. We want to vaccinate everyone. If you look at where vaccination sites are – and when I met with leaders of the Orthodox Jewish community yesterday, we talked about sites that are right there in communities right now, in Crown Heights, in Flatbush, in the Rockaways, in Williamsburg. The sites are there. We need much more vaccine so we can reach people. When we look at the 33 neighborhoods, they do include a number of key neighborhoods with Orthodox Jewish communities. We want to reach everyone. And I’m particularly concerned about Holocaust survivors who are vulnerable. Obviously, if you’re a Holocaust survivor, you're much older. They are vulnerable. They need our help right now and that's why we're going to be doing this very special focused effort to get as many of them vaccinate as quickly as possible as well. But the goal here is to reach everyone while also recognizing that what we learned, particularly, in the worst moments of this crisis and March, April is, some neighborhoods in the city had a particularly horrible experience, lost a huge number of people, and still don't have the health care support they need. And we've got to focus as well on getting the vaccine there and overcoming the hesitancy that a lot of communities feel on top of it. 

Moderator: We have time for two more. First, we'll go to Nolan from the Post. 

Question: Hey. Good morning, everybody. It’s good afternoon – my apologies. 

Mayor: Nolan – Nolan, look at the clock, brother. 

Question: This is what happens when I only have six cups of coffee instead seven. I wanted to ask you a question about the vaccine signup. You've promised that the City would take a second effort at making the form more simpler, but getting computer systems to talk to each other. The two departments doing the City’s vaccine efforts have three separate computer systems, which New Yorkers need to navigate in order to set up accounts and different appointments. What progress has made on that point? Is there a deadline for getting these computer systems to talk to each other? If so, when is it? If not, why not? 

Mayor: There is progress. We're going to have a further announcement on that soon. Can't give you exact day yet, but it will be soon. But I want to see constant improvement in the experience people having when they sign up for an application – excuse me, sign up for an appointment. Look, in the beginning, we had very different systems. We got a lot of customer feedback. We've changed a lot of the approaches to make them simpler. We've added – you and I talked about this, and I thank you for bringing up – we've added different languages for the appointment application. We made it clear where there are doses, where there are not, so people don't put too much time into pursuing a site where are no doses. There's some real progress, but I want it to keep getting simpler. So, we will have more to say on this soon. 

Question: Okay. [Inaudible] excuse me, my apologies. After you left Citi Field today, there were a group of people who went up to talked to an official from Test and Trace, trying to get appointments in order to get vaccinated. You said that people who arrived at Citi Field wouldn’t be able to be vaccinated, but they can set up an appointment so they can come back at some point future point in time and get a shot. Unfortunately, there were no appointments to be given, and there were a lot of people were very frustrated, and the scene got a little tense at points. Can you like, how do you prevent this, sort of, chaos in the future? And when you say folks who are going to these testing plants in order to get registered for vaccines, because that's how they can do it fast, and they’re being turned away because they can’t even get an appointment. 

Mayor: First of all, respectfully, I was there. It was not chaos. It was folks who really want appointment and needed to be shown how to get one. This is a situation that needs to be addressed by us getting the supply we deserve. And it just comes back to this, New York City is doing more than our fair share right now. We're vaccinating the folks in New York City, we're vaccinating folks from suburbs, we're vaccinating folks from other states – we need more vaccine. I don't mind helping other people, but we need a greater share of vaccine than we're getting. We need a direct allotment from federal government so we can do our job. We have an extraordinary ability in this city to vaccinate people. We could be doing a half-million vaccinations per week. It's time to speed this up and we need more help from the federal government, State government to do it. But we said from day-one, Nolan, with any vaccination site, do not just show up. We've said this repeatedly in multiple languages, we’re going to keep saying it – don't just show up. We don't want lines. We don't want people just speculating, hoping they can get in. Signed up. And if there's not an available appointment immediately, we’re going to keep adding more appointments. And I never expect New Yorkers to be patient, but I do need people to hear that we've got over a million doses given already. It will speed up more, more, as we get more supply. And the best thing to do is keep going online or keep calling that number to get an appointment. That's the right way to do it. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Last, we'll go to Debralee from Manhattan Times. 

Question: [Inaudible] everyone. Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Hey, Debralee. How are you? 

Question: Well, unfortunately, spent the morning at Citi Field. I regret that for you – 

[Laughter] 

Mayor: That’s an editorial comment there, Debralee. 

[Laughter] 

Question: Well, it is the Manhattan Times and the Bronx Free Press, to be fair. 

Mayor: That’s it. 

Question: That said, [inaudible] concern is being voiced by parents, you know, who are concerned, certainly, about what the return of the school year will look like in the fall. But I'd like you to discuss what you expect will be the policies around vaccinations for children and if, in fact, it will be a policy, going forward, a requirement, as part of the vaccination profile of public school students in NYC. 

Mayor: So, thank you for the question, Debralee. And it's true that, you know, September is a long way away and a lot will happen between now and then, and I expect it to be generally very good news between now and then. What we know is our schools have been amongst the safest places in New York City. What we know as we created a gold standard of health and safety approaches that have worked consistently from the beginning. And those approaches are continue until the time that our health care leaders say it's okay to relax them. So, we don't start with assumptions around vaccination. We also don't know yet when the vaccines are going to be right for kids. Right now, they're not available for kids. We start with the assumption that we're going to make decisions based on the data and the science with our health care leaders every step of the way. But we've already proven schools to be safe. And, by September, I think you’re going to see such a high percent of New Yorkers vaccinated that we'll be in a totally different environment and a much better environment for all of us. Go ahead. 

Question: All right. Well, separately, I wanted to have you share with us how [inaudible] the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity, has been involved thus far in the vaccine, the [inaudible] around vaccine and distribution. Moreover, [inaudible] that they’re going to be taking on for the latter part of your administration this year, specifically? 

Mayor: Yeah. Thank you. The Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity has done really an outstanding job. And when we presented the data that we're seeing about vaccination, we did that with the executive director of the taskforce, Sideya Sherman, and Dr. Torian Easterling, the First Deputy Commissioner of Health Department, and it showed her vividly the disparities that happen so far in vaccination, and the changes that need to make to make sure that vaccination efforts are as consistent as humanly possible across all communities. And we laid out some of the building blocks of how to do that. The taskforce has been crucial in determining the best approach and going out into committees and listening to people as to what they need to hear. And we know there's a huge hesitancy problem. We've seen a lot evidence of hesitancy in Black and Latino communities. We know we need a lot more dialogue. We know we keep having to have people come forward and show it safe, as the First Lady did yesterday. But this is going to be ongoing, and I truly believe, Debralee, that the best way to solve the hesitancy problem and to create more consistency and equality in vaccination effort is to get the kind of supply we need, because then we can create momentum. We’re going to be able to really have ample supply in communities at the grassroots, lots of really committee-based centers and sites with community-based organizations, helping to lead them with the names and faces people know. And then, more and more people in everyone's lives, getting vaccinated, creates momentum, creates trust. I want a world in which there's never a need to ever delay an appointment and people can feel real confidence that the vaccine is there for them. So, that's how we overcome the disparities as well over these next few months. 

All right, with that, everybody, look – today, an example, again, going out into the communities of this city, making the vaccine available, letting people know it's safe, letting people know it’s for them, overcoming that hesitancy. What we saw in Citi Field today, just talk to people about the vaccine, just listen to the relief. Every time I go to people who are just about to get that vaccine, or just gotten it, I say – what does it feel like? They talk about relief. They talk about the freedom of knowing they're turning the corner. Their family is going to be safer. This is what we have to do for millions of New Yorkers, but we need the supply to do that. And we need the freedom to vaccinate so we can move this city forward. And that's how we build a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everybody.

2021-02-12 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, again, everyone, and as usual at this time on Fridays, it's time for our weekly Ask the Mayor segment – my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or you can tweet a question watch our Twitter feed go by, just use the hashtag #AskTheMayor so we can easily spot it, and good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. How are you doing? 

Lehrer: I'm doing okay, thank you, and let's get right to vaccine distribution, which we were talking about in a previous segment, and the opening of Citi Field as a supersite in Queens. It opened, from what I've seen, without a super supply, and people were frustrated that if they showed up, they couldn't sign up, they needed to go to their phones or their computers and hope there were slots. You were trying to remedy that. Has any of that changed as of this morning? 

Mayor: Yeah, absolutely. First of all, what we've been saying throughout this crisis is the important thing is to go online or go to the phones to make those appointments. We really don't want people showing up, waiting in a line to make an appointment. That's not the effective way to do things. We want to keep people safe. We want to avoid lines. That's why the whole idea is to do everything by appointment. Folks who did show up that first day were engaged by navigators from Health + Hospitals to get them an appointment. As far as I heard, the vast majority were locked in for an upcoming appointment. But look, here's the deal with Citi Field. It starting small next week, it goes to 4,000 appointments per week, but we want to go to the 35,000 per week. We can do 5,000 people a day at Citi Field. If we get the supply from the federal government and the state, and right now we are not getting what we need. I think given that we're not getting our fair share where the City of New York is vaccinating people who live in New York City, but also from our allotment, a lot of people from outside of New York City are getting their vaccine. The State needs to increase the allotment to New York City to compensate for that reality, and really the best solution would be for the federal government to do a direct allocation to New York City. Just reduce the red tape and the confusion and give us the most we can get each week. Because right now we are at the point where we could be doing 400,000 – 500,000 vaccinations per week, if we just had the supply. 

Lehrer: If you're opening more sites and super sites and bringing more people into eligibility, without appreciably a faster pace of doses arriving yet, is that just going to make things more frustrating and at the same time harder for the 65-plus New Yorkers, and teachers, and others who already qualify, but couldn't find slots in many cases? 

Mayor: Look, I think it's the more egalitarian approach to say for folks who are truly in need, folks with preexisting conditions, folks who are 65 years old and older, and obviously our frontline essential workers to give maximum opportunity. We know there's still a lot of people, Brian, who has had the opportunity and chose not to get vaccinated. That's still a very real trend. But for those who are eligible and want it, I think giving an equality of opportunity is the right thing to do, but we need supply, and so right now – I mean the truth is we are, each week, getting somewhat more supply and we're going to see a huge bump when Johnson and Johnson vaccines arrive, which are also single dose. So, that's been increased efficiency and that's really a matter of weeks now, and I've been talking to the Biden team and there's no question, each week effectively, will get better. I think March will be a lot better than February. So, we know we – and we are banking, I think, very substantively on an increase in supply, but there's still things that could be done right now to simplify the process. Direct allotment from the federal government would simplify the process, reducing a lot of the red tape that we've experienced and lack of flexibility from the federal government or State, the ability to use second doses now, knowing that more supply is coming, a greater supply each week is coming. So, I think it's right to invite people in, but I think the federal government and State government can do more to speed this process up for us. 

Lehrer: Before we go to the phones, all this opening of things, restaurants today, then on February 23rd, per the Governor, outdoor stadiums, indoor arenas like Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden at limited capacity. Bad timing with the variants expected to run rampant in America over the next few months? 

Mayor: Very important question, Brian, I mean that, you know, in the deepest sense, open question. We need to keep our eyes focused on the data and the science. I talk to my health care team every day about what they're seeing, not only in New York City, but what they're seeing around the country around the world. We're deeply concerned about these variants. They're the X-factor right now. So, the jury is still out and we have to be able to make quick decisions. If we see a problem. Today, we can make those decisions work there, the state's decisions, but we'll implement them and make sure it's being done safely. But you know, each week we got to watch to see if we need to vary the approach. 

Lehrer: One follow up on this, and I'm curious how much you grapple with, you know, how much to open, how much to close, even beyond the details of what we just discussed? Like, I know you're a baseball fan. I don’t know if you're a tennis fan, but I was watching Serena Williams’ determined comeback at the Australian Open last night, very gritty performance when she didn't have her best stuff, but there was a subplot. They announced during the match that starting today, they will stop allowing fans into the stadium, and there will be a general lockdown in Melbourne area with a real five-day stay at home order beyond what we've ever done, as I understand it in this country. Why? Because there was a small outbreak of the British variant. As the AP reports there today, the outbreak has only at most 13 people, and they're pretty much locking down Melbourne, Australia for the next five days. What do you think when you see something like that? 

Mayor: I think every place is different. Every place has had a very different experience. I also think, you know, they're a very big island and they have a different interconnection to the rest of the world, and more sensitivity perhaps to what the numbers should be. But look, let's talk about this specific reality of the variant with a note – on a sports note, anyone who wants to praise Tom Brady for agelessness, better praise Serena Williams for agelessness too. I mean, she's just unbelievable. 

Lehrer: Her opponent last night was half her age. 

Mayor: Yeah, I mean, come on. This is a, I think it's such an extraordinary display, not just grit, but determination and refusing to lose, refusing to age. So, God bless her. 

Lehrer: And welcome folks to Sports Talk 93.9, but go ahead. 

Mayor: That's right. I – that's our next show, Brian. That's, we'll start that next year. But look, I, as a fan, I'm very much a baseball fan, I'm a basketball fan. I mean, I think there's a way to bring people back safely. But again, you have to watch constantly for things that might change. So, the folks in Australia, I respect that they make different decisions based on the data and the science, and if they see a threat, they make an alteration. We're watching these variants really closely, and, you know, I talked to my health team about it, Brian. There's a couple of things we know, and a lot we don't know. We know they're more contagious. We fear in some cases, they could be more deadly, but that, that is not proven yet. We believe the vaccines are effective against them broadly, but still need more information. There's a big question here. So, I think it's fine to say let's take some incremental steps because we do need to continue our recovery. I’m going to talk about all year is a recovery for all of us, an equitable recovery for New York City. We're going to be moving vaccination intensely. I want five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. I want to see our economy come back. But if at any point the data and the science suggests we have to take a different tack for a period of time, we’ve got to be willing to acknowledge that and act. It really means listening to the health care leadership. 

Lehrer: Question from Twitter. Listener Jenny asks “I’m a teacher who can't get a vaccine appointment. I'm being called back into the building, which would be fine, but I feel unprotected. Mayor and Carranza,” the Chancellor, “said we would have priority. Not feeling prioritized.” What can you tell that teacher? 

Mayor: Well, we'd love to get Jenny's information and help make sure she knows where she can get one of those prioritized appointments, especially during the school vacation week. We'll have thousands of appointments available for teachers and school staff. But I also want to remind everyone our schools are amongst the safest places in the entire city. I look at the data daily on positivity levels for COVID in our schools. It's extraordinarily low. We're testing every school every week, whether someone is vaccinated or not, they're going to be safe in our schools. And obviously, you know, tens of thousands of teachers and staff have been teaching the whole way through since September, in a very safe environment. Much safer, bluntly, than many other places in New York City. So, I can assure Jenny, that first of all, we’ll help her in every way to get prioritized testing opportunities, but second, she'll be going into an atmosphere that's literally the gold standard of health and safety in the city. 

Lehrer: And Jenny, if you're still listening, we're going to direct message you from Twitter, via Twitter, and get your contact information, if you want to share it privately with us. And we will pass it along to the Mayor's Office as the Mayor invited us to do. Another one from Twitter. Listener asks, “are there any jobs for nonmedical folks at the mass vaccination sites? Out of work hospitality workers with computer, event, and people's skills want to know and how to apply. Hard to figure out.” Are there such jobs at the mass vaccination sites? 

Mayor: There has been an effort and we can get the details to you, and certainly the listener, please pass along their information, we'll connect them to it. There's an effort to hire thousands of vaccinators, and folks can do that work, because there's different roles. Some of it is directly giving the vaccine and some is the work around the process where folks with hospitality background could be really well suited to it. So yes, just like we hired thousands of people into the Test and Trace Corps, we are hiring thousands of people for the vaccination effort. We'd love to see if your listener would be a good fit. 

Lehrer: Chris, in Richwood you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Chris. 

Question: Hi, Brian. Hi, Mr. Mayor. Thanks so much for taking my call. I have recently moved because of loud neighbors. And I ended up in an apartment that has even louder neighbors and paper-thin walls. It's an apartment that was renovated quite recently, all the walls were taken down and rebuilt as many buildings in my neighborhood. And I can hear everything that's happening at my neighbor's apartment. And they are pretty loud. They also just like me, they work from home. They're photographers so they work at all times a day and night. And I have a home office. And at this point I can’t use the home office because I can’t work there. They can hear my conversations. I can hear theirs. I can't sleep because they work at night. And I've been trying everything to solve this problem. I've contacted all agencies, tenants’ rights agencies, tenant lawyers, the DOB, pretty much everyone that I could and nobody can help me. 

Lehrer: Let me get you a response. And Mr. Mayor, some things never changed in New York, even in pandemic and insurrectionist times. Violations, potentially of the noise code by neighbors. Can we help Chris? 

Mayor: Yeah. Chris, I'm very sorry you're going through that. And especially because on top of the pandemic and a lot more people working from home, you know, it just adds to the stresses that everyone's already been through. And you've obviously been through, so I'm sorry you're going through that. Our tenant protection office can certainly try to help. I mean, sometimes we'd be able to mediate situations like this and figure out solutions with folks. And if, of course, there's any violation of law, we would act on that too. So, if you give your information to WNYC, our tenant protection office will follow up with you and hopefully we can find some way to improve your situation. 

Lehrer: Do you know what the general city guidelines are or law? I mean, you can't stop somebody from living in the apartment next door, but when does it become a violation? 

Mayor: I cannot pretend to tell you the exact chapter and verse. I think, you know, some of this is common sense. If a neighbor is really being disrespectful of someone's rights you know, we know, again, there's the opportunity sometimes to mediate, sometimes if you're dealing with a good and thoughtful landlord, they step in and try and help address the situation too. But there are situations where there are noise code violations, where something's egregious enough, you know, it might enter into some kind of violation. So yeah, I think the bottom line is let's see if we can mediate in this case. And if someone's having this problem, you know, again, our tenant protection folks will always try to see if we can find a solution. 

Lehrer: Felicia, in Ozone Park, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Felicia. 

Question: Hi. Good morning. My name is Felicia [Inaudible]. I'm a daughter of a taxi driver. My father has been a taxi driver for 32 years. He's done all the right things. He's paid his mortgage, his taxi fees – excuse me. He’s an aging immigrant and he will never be able to retire because of the City’s negligence. We now have 83 days left before the United States Bankruptcy Court takes our home because we have to file for bankruptcy because we were unable to pay our medallion. 950 medallion owners have filed for bankruptcy. This is not the first time this has happened. And this is not the last time. You said we needed federal relief and federal relief is possible with the stimulus bill which needs to include a plan to pass Congressman Meeks’s bill, House Bill 5617, for tax exemption on medallion debt forgiveness. Senator Schumer has pledged his leadership to involve the medallion – to be involved in the medallion debt crisis to fix it. And this has already been approved by Attorney General James and our Comptroller Scott Stringer, for passing the Taxi Workers Alliance plan. So really my question is, will you commit to using stimulus relief like you said? We need federal relief to provide debt relief for taxi drivers and commit to the plan built by New York Taxi Workers Alliance. Because I have 83 days before I'm unhoused with my family, and this will happen to many more families. So, we need an answer from you, Mr. Mayor. We need you to find the courage and the moral will to step forward and provide relief today. 

Mayor: Felicia, I want to say first, I'm hearing deeply what you and your family are going through. It sounds horrifying, and I don't want to see anyone go through that. I really don't. It’s no lack of will. There have been plans put forward over time that were far beyond what the City could do. And that's why I said, if we're really going to have relief, this was not, I disagree with one point. The mistake here, the most profound mistake was the loose lending rules. Those were federal rules, those were State rules. That was their oversight. It was not the City of New York. I just need to say that. But it doesn't change the human reality. The human reality is unacceptable. And we've tried to take a number of steps to help taxi drivers, but we haven't had the resources to do it right. The stimulus would give us that. Absolutely, we get stimulus dollars, we're going to be able to do something to help taxi drivers. The specific plan – I need to give you an answer, whether we think that plan is the right approach or a different one. But we will do that quickly. And I am hopeful, more hopeful than I've been in a long time about stimulus dollars getting here. Because we're really seeing finally, some action in the Congress. In your particular case, Felicia, please give your information to WNYC because I would like both our tenant protection team and Taxi and Limousine to see if there's anything we can do to intervene to forestall what's happening to you and your family. Because there's other tools available that we can bring to bear to help. So please let us see if we can do something right now to help you. But yes, look, I am very hopeful that we're going to get the kind of stimulus that will allow us to do a specific plan to help taxi drivers. I want to, I believe in it, but I need the resources to do it. 

Lehrer: And there's no way – and Felicia, hang on and we will take your contact off the air. So maybe you can help this one person, but you know we get calls all the time for you from taxi drivers, in this case, a taxi driver's daughter. Is there no way to put a higher priority? I don't know what you would cut. I admit that, but on the funds that the City has for these stories of desperation, through no fault of their own, so many drivers are losing their life savings? 

Mayor: I appreciate your whole frame there, Brian. Because again, I want to help them. I've talked to a lot of taxi drivers and have heard about what their families have been through. It is horrifying. Taking the resources we have, which are profoundly limited. We've lost $10.5 billion in City revenue in this crisis, we have greater needs than ever to provide health and safety and food to people who are hungry. The demands of the City are extraordinarily intense and we have no guarantee yet on the stimulus. That's why it's been really hard to say we're going to be a position to bail out individuals. I want to find a way to help. The different plans out there, most of the plans I saw previously were hundreds of millions of dollars, even into the billions. We just can't do that. I know there's a newer plan that suggests it could be done for a lot less. I want to get an answer on that. See if we can get that done. But the most important thing is if we have stimulus money, then we're finally in a position to help these drivers. 

Lehrer: We may, Mr. Mayor, have our youngest Ask the Mayor caller ever teed up next. It looks like we have sixth grader, Liz, in Crown Heights calling in. Liz, you're on WNYC, hello? 

Question: Hello. 

Lehrer: Hey there. You're on the air with the Mayor. 

Question: Hi. 

Mayor: How are you doing, Liz? 

Lehrer: Go ahead and ask your question. 

Question: I’m good. So, my question is when are you going to get Wi-Fi for kids that don't have access to Wi-Fi? 

Mayor: It's a great question. I want to make sure you give your information to WNYC. If you're one of those kids, we can do that right away. We have been constantly bringing in more and more devices, iPads, and other devices. We're now getting up to the point of about 400,000 we've distributed. If any family needs service or different service than they have now so that the kids can, you know, participate in digital learning, we're getting them the service. We're doing all this for free for families who need it. So, if your family needs it, Liz, we want to get it to you right away. 

Lehrer: Liz, I gather from my screener that you're advocating for others. Do you want to describe to the Mayor and to everybody, the situation that you're aware of? 

Question: So, there's actually like, there's not like a ton of kids in my grade, but there are a few kids in my grade who haven't been able to attend like, the Zoom meetings. I mean the Google Meet meetings because they just don't have Wi-Fi. Like their parents can't pay for Wi-Fi or it's just, they're not in a place where they have Wi-Fi. So yeah, but I came up with a couple of things that – like I came up with the list of things that we could maybe do to get Wi-Fi for other kids. And some of my suggestions are put routers in school buses because since a lot of kids aren't going to school and even though schools are starting to open back up, there are still going to be tons of buses that, school buses that aren't going to be used so we could put routers in school buses. And put them in neighborhoods that don't usually have access to Wi-Fi. Another suggestion is we could set up Wi-Fi spots where maybe in like buildings that aren't being used, we could set up like, just space for kids to come in and use Wi-Fi, social distance, if their home doesn't have access to Wi-Fi. 

Lehrer: Future mayor Liz, in Crown Heights. 

Mayor: Yeah Liz, that's very good. Hey Liz, which school do you go to? 

Question: I go to Brooklyn Green School. 

Mayor: Brooklyn Green School, where's that? 

Question: District 16. 

Mayor: District 16, excellent. These are great ideas, Liz. I know folks have been thinking about different ways to get Wi-Fi service all over. But Liz, really, it would help us a lot if you could make sure the kids in your school and their families just get the information to WNYC or they can call 3-1-1. We not only will give the devices, we'll make sure the services are there so that families can get connected. And again, the cost is taken care of by the City, the service, the devices, we cover those costs. So, any kid who hasn't yet been connected, we'll find a way, one way or another. But I really love your suggestions. I really appreciate your looking out for the other kids in your school. 

Lehrer: Liz, thank you so much. Before we run out of time and we almost are running out of time, but I want to get your reaction if we have time. The Cuomo nursing home story, first reported by the New York Post. Here is a Politico description of it that the Post reported that Cuomo aide, Melissa de Rosa, told Democratic State Legislators in a meeting on Wednesday that the administration quote, froze when asked to release data about the number of nursing home residents who had died of COVID-19. A March directive from Cuomo calling on nursing homes to admit patients who tested positive for the coronavirus has been blamed for contributing to high death rates. So, what's your judgment of anything that Governor Cuomo did as this story is developing? 

Mayor: It's a really disturbing report. It's very troubling. We've got to know more. We now need a full accounting of what happened. Think about seniors, who their lives were in the balance and their families, you know, just desperate to get them the help they needed. We need to know exactly what happened here. We need to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. 

Lehrer: Thanks as always Mr. Mayor. Hope you and Chirlane have a happy Valentine's Day and I'll talk to you next week. 

Mayor: We will. And thank you and happy Valentine's Day to all the listeners of WNYC.

2021-02-16 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning. Good morning, everybody. So, we start a new week – well, we had a holiday yesterday, so we started a new week now. And we also celebrate something really wonderful in this city, and that’s Lunar New Year. So, happy Lunar New Year to everyone who’s out there celebrating. And it is a really important moment to appreciate the people this city, to appreciate the cultures of this city, to celebrate with people who have been through so much. Our Asian-American communities have had a very, very tough time. In 2020, they not only experienced all the other challenges that everyone all over the city did with the coronavirus. Asian-American communities suffered tremendous amount of discrimination. And what's most painful is to think back that some of that hatred, some of that discrimination literally was emanating out of our federal government in Washington D.C., and going all over the country and making things worse. Thank God that's not happening anymore. But our Asian-American community suffered early on in the coronavirus crisis. In the very beginning, people stopped going to stores and restaurants in Asian communities, which was wrong, which was something that hobbled the community even more economically. So, all of the pain that people have been through – 2020 is a year to put behind us, but the discrimination must be battled in 2021. It is unacceptable and will not be tolerated in New York City. Any discrimination against Asian-American New Yorkers will not be tolerated. 

So, we look forward to something better in 2021, the Year of the Ox. And a great symbol of strength, and intelligence, and perseverance – these are the qualities that will come out all over the city and in all the communities of the city, and we're going to see it strong in Asian-American communities in 2021, a time of renewal, a time of prosperity, a time of hope. So, happy Lunar New Year to all. 

Okay. Now, here's something else we can celebrate, and it's really powerful that, notwithstanding all the challenges and all the things that aren't the way they should be, and the support we're still trying to get from the federal and State government, this city keeps moving forward on vaccination. Last week was actually our best week ever for vaccination since vaccinations began in December. We had a record number of doses given last week, 317,227. And we had our single best vaccination day ever since this whole effort began. Last Thursday, the 11th of February, 55,339 vaccinations given in one day – that's a really positive sign. It is proof we, right now, could be doing half-a-million vaccinations each week if only we were given the supply. We need more help from the federal government. We need the federal government to help us get us more supply, get supply directly to New York City. We need the State government to give us the flexibility we need. We need our fair share of vaccine. We are not getting our fair share of vaccine in this city right now. We've got about 45 percent of the State's vaccine sent to New York City, when, in fact, we're performing about 53 percent of the vaccinations. If we got our fair share of the State allotment, that would be at least 25,000 more vaccinations per week we could be doing. So, we need that addressed quickly so we can keep speeding up this effort. 

Now, here's where we are overall from day-one – we've administered 1,336,382 doses. That – I love to do my comparisons – is more than the entire population of San Jose, California, which is the 10th largest city in the country. And other important facts – very important facts, that 1,336,000 vaccinations so far means that more than 10 percent of the adults in New York City have had at least one dose. I want to say that again, more than 10 percent of adult New Yorkers have had at least one dose of the vaccine. I remind everyone that, literally, in a matter of weeks, we'll be able to start working with a single dose vaccine when Johnson & Johnson comes into play. That's going to speed up the effort a lot more. But still, a good measure of what we have been doing. And we could do so much more. 

So, what does vaccine mean? It means a sense of hope. It means peace of mind. It means protection for every-day New Yorkers. And vaccinations on the widest possible scale are the foundation of a recovery – a recovery for all of us. This is what we need in this city. And we can only have that recovery for all of us, if we can continue to expand vaccination. We're ready in New York City. We need the help from the federal and State government. So, what we're doing though is continuing to dig down to the grassroots, focus our vaccination efforts on places that need the help. And so, one of the key new efforts is a focus on communities that still are not seeing the levels of vaccination we want to see, and particularly some of the most important and vulnerable members of communities, and this means our home health aides. We're going to be focusing a new center in Brooklyn on home health aides. We all – so many families depend on home health aides. Their health and wellbeing is paramount to all of us. They deserve the opportunity to be vaccinated, given the important work they do. So, opening on Wednesday in Brooklyn, at Teachers Prep High School, a vaccination center focused on the immediate surrounding communities, Brownsville and East New York, two of the communities that we want to do so much more to reach with vaccination, but also a special center for hardworking home health aides. I want to thank the folks at Capsule who are joining with us to create this center. We're going to be doing a lot of grassroots outreach to draw people from Brownsville and East New York to this center right in their community, and to get the help that they need and deserve. And grassroots outreach, grassroots leadership is going to be key to getting this done. 

Also – that’s Wednesday. Now, on Thursday, we're opening a major vaccination center in Staten Island at the Empire Outlets. We've been talking about this for a while. It's opening up Thursday. I want to thank Northwell Health for helping us get this up and running and for the work they'll do to operate it. And this site will serve Staten Island residents only. We want to make a major push in Staten Island. Obviously, Staten Island had a very, very difficult experience with the coronavirus in recent months. We want to get out there and get people vaccinated at much higher levels. 

Okay. Now, on Friday, I talked about something else we're doing. I want to go into it more now, reaching not just seniors – we know how much we've got to reach our elders, but I'm particularly concerned about our homebound seniors. Seniors – our loved ones, our grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles – our loved ones who cannot leave their building or cannot even leave their apartment in some cases, they need a special focused vaccination effort. So, we're going to do a number of things to reach them. And think about what they've been through – think about what these seniors have been through this year. The isolation – not being able to see their children or grandchildren, not being with their family when they felt the most fear and vulnerability, missing birthdays and anniversaries. It's been a horrible year for everyone this last year, but our seniors have in many ways felt the most isolated, and we've got to do more to reach them, give them freedom again, allow them to breathe a sigh of relief by getting vaccinated. So, we're going to go straight to them. We had an example on the focus – of us focused on seniors on Friday. I was at Sheepshead-Nostrand Houses in Brooklyn, and this was an effort to go right to public housing, to a NYCHA development, to reach seniors who live in public housing. Let me tell you, there was such energy in the room at that community center, seniors who wanted to get vaccinations – they were so happy it was right in their own community, right in their own development. And it gave them hope that they could have that kind of support right in their community from people they knew. And you'll see on your screen, I had a really powerful conversation with a woman named Eva, and her story was beautiful – classic New York City story. She came here at the age of 19 from North Carolina, part of the great migration to New York City. She built a life here. Her family came here. And then, the coronavirus hit and she was scared and she wasn't sure what to do. And she knew the vaccinations were out there, but she was hesitant. So, I said, Eva, you're here, you got vaccinated, why did you make the decision ultimately? She said, my sister went ahead and got vaccinated. She lives in Brooklyn, too. She got vaccinated. When I saw she got vaccinated and went, okay – I felt ready to get vaccinated. Her sister, by the way, is 95 years old. So, I love the notion of the 95-year-old sister blazing the trail to convince her younger sister it was okay to do. A beautiful family story, but now Eva's on her way to being protected. We want to do that for everyone. 

So, let's talk about how we're going to reach home-bound seniors. First, as that, Johnson & Johnson vaccine comes into play, that's a single dose, it requires less refrigeration. It's easier to use, easier to transport. We're going to use that Johnson & Johnson vaccine to reach homebound, seniors, literally sending medical personnel, trained folks to individual apartments. That's going to take a lot of work and it will certainly take time, but there's tens of thousands of seniors who need that direct support in their own home. We're going to be doing that with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Second, we'll have vaccine clinics at retirement communities. We've mentioned on Friday – I mentioned two, Warbasse and Morningside Heights, two communities where there's a lot of seniors in big buildings. We're going to set up vaccination centers right there in the building. For folks who really can't get beyond their building, it's going to be super convenient, easy for them to use, and we'll be expanding that effort. And then, three – home health aides, crucial part of the equation. Their safety, their family's safety is paramount, but they also go into the homes of those who are homebound. Protecting home health aides means we're protecting homebound seniors as well. We have an immediate goal to do 25,000 vaccinations of home health aides over the next 30 days. And then, continue to build that out. So, this is the kind of effort we need to get down to the grassroots and get to folks who need help the most. 

Now, in everything we're doing, there's a focus on the grassroots, the communities. We believe in having as many vaccination sites as possible, as deeply into communities as possible. That's how we fight disparity. That's how we address the horrible inequities we've seen throughout this crisis. We want to be guided by data. We want clear information that helps us always to target our efforts to the folks who need the help the most, to the places that have borne the brunt. The amazing work of our Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity has led to a clear definition of where the danger is greatest and where the outreach efforts have to be deepest, where the mistrust has to be overcome. This is what's allowing us to mount an effort that will turn the tide on these disparities. But it's really important that we use the data to constantly tell us how to refine our efforts. So, as we saw the disparities, one of the things we did was we overcompensated by putting most of our City vaccination sites in the very same communities that suffered the most from the coronavirus. So, 77 percent of our City vaccination sites are in those 33 neighborhoods we talked about that the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity determined. I want you to hear about that effort and specifically about the new information we're releasing today, ZIP code by ZIP code, showing what the vaccination rates are in this city, showing the disparities we still have to overcome, allowing us to target our efforts. Again, the taskforce has done an amazing job. And one of the leading members of the taskforce and also our First Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Health is here with us, I welcome Dr. Torian Easterling. 

First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Last week, I was honored and humbled to join my fellow New Yorkers and received the COVID-19 vaccine at Canarsie High School in Brooklyn. The day before I received my vaccine, I volunteered at the Canarsie High School vaccine hub and met so many New Yorkers who are grateful for receiving their first dose. One family I've met was a couple who were both in their 80s, who both took Spanish and were accompanied by their granddaughter. The granddaughter mentioned how important this vaccine was for her grandparents to protect themselves, but also to help encourage her parents, her aunts, and uncles to feel confident about getting the vaccine when they become eligible. 

There are many reasons why getting this vaccine is important. When I received my first – my first dose, I thought about my fellow healthcare workers and public health colleagues who have been serving on the front lines and protecting our communities against this virus during this year. I also reflect on the lives lost because of this pandemic, especially in communities of color, and the work we still have ahead to reverse health disparities that have persisted in neighborhoods like Canarsie for far too long. 

You have heard us say many times that data is the lifeblood of the Health Department's COVID-19 emergency response. From the beginning of the outbreak, the Health Department has used a data-driven public health model to push against disparities. We monitor data on COVID-19 testing and positivity, but we also track data on poverty, health insurance, and housing conditions. Because all of these factors fueled the wide health disparities that we have seen before, during, and likely after COVID-19. Now, we have new data to present on vaccinations by ZIP code. The figures published today show the scale of the challenge in front of us. Just as we’ve seen, there’s much smaller proportion of vaccines going to Black and Brown New Yorkers. We see these geographic disparities bearing out as well. 

Staten Island and Manhattan had the highest vaccination rates, while the South Bronx, parts of Central Queens and Central Brooklyn lag behind. The ZIP code data provides not only a map of where New Yorkers are being vaccinated, but also a roadmap to our COVID response. In recent weeks, we've launched mass vaccination sites at Citi Field and Yankee Stadium, sites that are reserved for the residents of those boroughs. These join our 15 Health Department vaccination hubs at local schools and other clinics, like the Corona clinic, which operates 24-hours a day. 

Beyond the neighborhood hubs, we are launching hyper-local efforts. Last week, as you heard, the Mayor and I visited an on-site vaccination clinic set up at Sheepshead-Nostrand Houses, that was reaching hundreds of seniors. And we are increasing outreach in communities to raise awareness about the vaccine and ensure residents receive needed resources and services, some of which the Mayor has already mentioned. And recently, in recent weeks, we’ve had multiple town halls and consultations with community members, forging valuable partnerships that will bring us closer to a more equitable vaccine fall campaign. And we're seeing some of those gaps narrow as we reach more New Yorkers, while acknowledging that there is still much more to do. With more supply, we can even do more for New York City communities. We're hopeful that in the weeks ahead, New Yorkers living in areas with fewer health care resources will see even more of us as we fight to ensure that the vaccine is truly for all. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Easterling. And thank you and everyone on the taskforce for your amazing efforts. Look, this is about addressing inequality, doing something very tangible about it. This effort will not stop. We are going to go deeper and deeper into communities to ensure there's equity. This is how we create a recovery for all of us. That recovery for all of us is based on 5 million New Yorkers being fully vaccinated by June, and reaching deep into every community, dispelling whatever mistrust or hesitancy is out there, overcoming it for the good of all, for the protection of all, but also so we can all come back together in this city and be strong by the end of this spring. That's what I intend to see us do. And I know we can – I know we can. I'm telling you, the numbers we saw from last week alone in terms of vaccinations prove that we can keep going higher and higher so long as we have that supply. And we'll keep fighting for our fair share of the vaccine supply. 

Let me go over today's indicators now. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, that number is 213 patients. Confirmed positivity level – excuse me, 62.16 percent. Hospitalization rate, 4.73 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s number, 3,668 cases. Number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's percentage on a seven-day rolling average, 7.07 percent. A few words in Spanish – and, again, this is on vaccines, particularly for our seniors and homebound folks.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Equity Officer Dr. Torian Easterling, by Dr. Katz, by Executive Director of the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity Sideya Sherman, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today, it goes to Rich Lamb from WCBS 880. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Good morning, Rich. How are you doing? 

Question: Well, I’m doing okay. 

Mayor: How many days – how many days until retirement, brother? 

Question: It's a week from Friday. 

Mayor: Well, definitely – definitely let me know when you're asking your last official mayoral question. 

[Laughter] 

Question: Okay, I'll do that. This isn't it though. So, just had a quick look at the data, because it came out just before you're going on the air here – or, going into your meeting. Doesn't the data indicate that your strategy or your tactics in regard to putting those – putting the centers in hard to hit neighborhoods doesn't appear to be working at least certainly as well as you want it to? 

Mayor: We definitely want to go a lot deeper. I'll start and I’ll turn to Dr. Easterling. I think we need to humanize what we're hearing out there, give you a real flavor of what it's going to take to address these inequities. Look, when it comes to vaccination, the challenge here is that the folks who already have been doing very well in our society also happened to be folks who had a high level of confidence in the vaccine and a tremendous ability to get out there and go wherever it took. We have been trying to address that with a lot of education, a lot of grassroots support and validation for the vaccine and continually pushing the vaccine down to the grassroots, out into communities, more and more centers where people are, like this new center we're talking about for Brownsville and East New York. These efforts continually make a difference. We see more and more people getting comfortable. We have a real distrust problem we have to overcome. So, the very communities that need help the most, Rich, are the where there's the highest distrust. And we've just got to be aggressive and consistent to overcome that. I have no doubt we will, but the other thing that's hindering us is lack of supply. We don't get to create the momentum, which – and that story I told you about Eva, is a really strong indicator to me. The vaccine was available for her sister. Once her sister took it – her 95-year-old sister took it, that’s what convinced Eva it was okay. People need to see it – the very most important people in their lives, the people that trust the most getting the vaccine, but that only happens if you have sufficient supply to create that momentum and that buy-in. So, we definitely have a ways to go on that front. But, Dr. Easterling, if you could talk about overcoming hesitancy and what you're seeing works and what more we need to do. 

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I cannot agree with you more, having our sites in the neighborhoods that have been disproportionately impacted, neighborhoods that we know where Black and Brown communities have been dealing with long standing health inequities, has been really, really powerful. I mean, the stories that we both shared today really speak to the volumes of really being able to connect with residents and be able to show them that we're here for them. I think, but – really, the important part is not just earning the trust just around vaccines, but also making sure that our communities know that we're out here to really serve them. And that's the work that we've been doing, not only having the access points, but answering the questions, working with our community-based organizations. So, in partnering with CDOs and our faith-based organizations we're able to really ensure that we're able to get appointments to individuals in the neighborhoods, and those are the ways that we can really, you know, get over this hump by showing that our residents that we're out here to serve them. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Rich. 

Question: All right, and let's go to the variants. What – did the variants have been detected in New York City? I mean there was some criticism that there hasn't been enough testing to figure that out, and has that been ramped up and what has been discovered if your doctors on the call have any idea? 

Mayor: I want to get Dr. Varma in this because he's been looking at the whole global situation and obviously Dr. Easterling as well, because we depend on Department of Health to do that genomic sequencing and help us identify what we're seeing in New York City. I would tell you, and we talked about this I think a week or two ago, New York City, New York State actually are blessed with some of the best capacity locally to do this kind of investigation and determine what we're seeing. So, I would say we actually are in a very strong position and we're constantly watching for the presence of variants, but also what it means. So far it is not changing, Rich, our strategy because so far, we see the vaccine being effective based on the information we have now and the strategy is still get the maximum people vaccinated as quickly as humanly possible, particularly in the communities most vulnerable. So just to give you an update on what we're seeing with the variants and how we go about doing that assessment, Dr. Varma, and then Dr. Easterling. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great, thank you very much for the question. This is something that we're watching very closely as the Mayor has said. So just in turn – we'll start with the global situation and then for the local situation. As we know there are – this is a virus that mutates, like all viruses do, and some of these mutations have been shown to change the characteristics of this virus. What we've seen, and what we've been most concerned about, is the B117 variant, which has been referred to as the variant that originally detected in the UK, and that has been increasing in frequency now around the world, as well as here in the United States. That variance is concerning, number one, because it appears to be much more infectious, that is if I'm infected, I'm more likely to infect other people. And there is increasing data from the UK also showing that it is potentially more lethal, that you may have a higher risk of dying, potentially, if you were infected. Again, we're still trying to verify and understand that, but it's best to always err on the side of caution. What we've done here in New York City is that we have increased capacity at every different level in addition to the already very large capacity that the New York State laboratory has, we've actively been increasing capacity here at our city laboratory, we've increased our partnership in collaboration with our pandemic response laboratory, and we're having regular meetings and conversations with our academic partners who have the capacity. As people know, this is a very specialized form of testing, so it's not the type of thing that you can get at your regular commercial laboratory, and so we are looking very actively in tracking the emergence of these variants. We have not seen yet any of the other variants that people are concerned about. The variant that was first detected in South Africa and the variants detected in Brazil. It doesn't mean they couldn't occur here as we saw from the news yesterday about a Connecticut resident and of course we're going to continue to be very vigilant in our pursuit of those infections and in our control of them. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Easterling? 

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Yes. Thank you again for the question. You know, as you've already heard, we know that viruses can mutate and change, but I think what's really important and while we are ramping up our vaccine distribution, is that we cannot change our precautions. We really need to continue to follow the core four. Yes, we are seeing improvement in some of our data, but we are certainly concerned about the variants and you've already heard this from Dr. Varma. So, I think we just really want to underscore that all New Yorkers should continue to follow a core four, getting tested, and as you know, for core four, wearing a mask properly over your nose, covering your mouth, making sure that you're practicing good hand hygiene, keeping your distance and staying home if you're sick. 

Mayor: Yeah. I want to emphasize that, Rich. The presence of the variant says do more, not less, you know, even again, as we see some improvements in our overall indicators it's still a race against time, get the most people vaccinated, but also as Dr. Easterling said, just no one let down your guard. Keep doing the smart things to protect. That's also the smart way to address any variants that we find in our communities. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is David Evans from WABC. 

Question: Hey Mayor, can you hear me? 

Mayor: Hey, Dave, how you doing? 

Question: I'm doing fine. Hey, I wanted to ask you and you know me well enough to know that I'm not a pessimistic person, but I'm looking at these figures that you talked about today, and I think it's great that we see 1.3 million people vaccinated so far. And I think the goal of 5 million by June is great. But if you just do the math, I mean, there's a lot more than 5 million people who are going to be eligible for this vaccine in New York and at this rate, if we don't pick up the rate, we're talking October, November, this fall, before we see enough people vaccinated. The rate has got to pick up, doesn't it? 

Mayor: Yeah, the supply has to pick up. It's not a rate problem. So, let's put together two key facts. We, you know, you saw, we did 330,000 last week, we could be doing half a million per week, right now. Right now. Give us a supply. That's exactly what we'll do. We have the centers, we have the staffing, give us the supply - and that's my message to the federal and State government – give us a supply and we'll do half a million per week, 2 million per month. Now that's with a two-dose reality, even with that we could still hit the June goal, but we're about to get reinforcements with a single dose vaccine from Johnson and Johnson. That's going to greatly improve the situation. So, based on the capacity we have at this moment, this is not even theoretical one-day capacity, Dave, this is this hour, this moment, we have the capacity to do half a million a week, that would get us to five million people fully vaccinated by June so long as we have the supply. I am hopeful, supply has increased meaningfully in recent weeks. We needed to jump up in March and April to allow us to get to that goal. But again, a whole new vaccine coming into play is a very big deal. I think Johnson and Johnson is going to be a difference maker here. Go ahead, Dave. 

Question: All right. Well, my other question has to do with – I mean, I became eligible yesterday, because I have a comorbidity, a heart condition, and when I spent much of the weekend trying to sign up for anywhere and I finally got through late on Sunday night and it scheduled to date in April, and to me, that just seemed crazy. Now by a total fluke, yesterday, I was visiting my doctor, he gave me the vaccine, so I got my first dose. I felt like I had won the lotto, very happy, but I got lucky. And I just think that there are probably hundreds of thousands, if not millions of folks out there who are going to get lucky and who are going to be like I was when it first said, oh yeah, you qualify in April, six weeks away for someone with a heart condition. That just seems, it just – it seems nutty. 

Mayor: It does. Dave, I feel horrible for anyone who confronts that reality. This is why we need the supply, and we need much more flexibility. The things I've been talking about, the federal government really pushing the pharmaceutical industry across the board to produce more, not just the two or three companies, freeing up second doses, we know more vaccines has been coming each week, higher levels each week, free up those second doses so we can reach more people right now, rather than holding them back. Giving us our fair share. Like I said, right now, what we're getting from the State of New York, about 45 percent of what the State has overall, but we're providing about 53 percent of the vaccinations. We need to get our fair share. That would be about 25,000 more vaccinations per week, for you and for so many other people, that would have meant a quicker appointment. We need all of these things to happen because we have the ability to reach so many people quickly. Can we do all five million people there? You're right, there's about five million people who qualify right now with the most recent changes. That's a rough estimate about five million New Yorkers qualify. We can't do them all overnight. No New Yorker expects that, but if we're moving along at a clip of a half million a week, and particularly a lot of those are single dose vaccinations, this situation changes very quickly and we absolutely can reach that goal of five million people by June. And one more point, Dave, every single person that gets vaccinated, even the first dose as you've received, that person is safer. You're safer today than you were before that dose and the whole community gets safer with each additional vaccination because it does reduce the impact of this disease. So, we just got to keep powering through, but we need help from the federal government, we need help from the State government. 

Moderator: The next is Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey, how you doing? 

Question: Good. I'm looking through the data now and in East New York, only three percent of residents got one shot, and you know, so this data is pretty damning. And again, you know, you sort of ran on the tale of two cities, when you look at this data, do you feel like there was a failure on your part? 

Mayor: No, Emma, I think we got a lot of work to do, and I'll say it really openly. I mean, I understand people like to ask those kinds of questions, but I think it's really important to understand what we all are seeing and how we're addressing it. A lot of this is about underlying painful disparities to begin with and inequalities to begin with. Folks who have more privilege are best able to navigate this process, folks who have more confidence in the vaccine are going to go to more effort to get it. The hesitancy, the distrust is exactly where we need to reach people the most and it's a painful kind of double jeopardy. I want Dr. Easterling to talk about some of the experiences he's had in the conversations he's had, but I I'll tell, no we've been hearing hesitancy and distrust related to the vaccine from the very beginning, we have to overcome it. It is going to be – have to be meticulous, persistent work. But if you look at what we could control, we were able to put the centers in the vaccine in the places where the need was greatest, do a huge outreach effort around it. We can't sustain the way we need to until we get a much better supply and I guarantee you, if we can get up to that half million a week level, it's going to increase our ability to address disparity because it will create more momentum in the places needed most. But no, we've designed this effort to address disparity, but we need supply, and we need time to win people's trust and comfort with the vaccine. Dr. Easterling? 

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Thank you, Mayor. Yeah, I think the important points here, what we've already done, and you've heard, a lot of what we've done, particularly in places like East New York and in Brownsville, the partnerships are critical, the outreach and engagement is really, really important. I joined a community conversation that was led by Council Member Inez Barron as well as community board five chair Mr. A.T. Mitchell, as well as the District Manager Ms. Melinda Perkins. They're really getting out there, but when you hear the questions and the concerns, you know that this is more than just an access issue. This is really about addressing the concerns and the questions, and we know that what we're hearing is there are questions around timeline and the science and how quickly the vaccine has been developed. We know that there are going to have to be multiple touch points with the community, and they have been clear about that. And so, we are committed. We've already done two town halls just in East New York alone, and we're committed to doing more, but also making sure that our community partners are there leading as the messengers and not always just government being a part of those conversations. And I do think we're going to begin to see more of individuals who are saying no, or maybe, moving towards the yes. And I think that's going to be really important. This is going to take time and patience, and that's what we're hearing very loudly and clearly. 

Mayor: Torian, I think it would just help if you just literally say some of the questions you've heard and some of the doubts like in the way people are expressing them. 

First Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Absolutely. So, the questions that we've heard really just, are there concerns around fertility. And so, we really have to address concerns. Does the vaccine cause fertility concerns for both women and men? And we have been very clear that there is no evidence, that the science does not support that there are any fertility concerns. Largely we're hearing about concerns around the development, the timeline of the vaccine. There've been no shortcuts. And the science is very clear that the vaccines are safe and effective, that we know that the science is really supporting the effectiveness of both the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine and also for the Johnson & Johnson, as it is promising of what we're seeing already. And then I think what we're also being pushed to really understand about how are we bringing the vaccines into the communities and support it through our H + H colleagues there at Gotham Health, which is in East New York. And as you've already heard from the Mayor that we are working with Capsule to stand up the Teachers Prep High School. These are ways that we are really showing the community that we're bringing the vaccines to them. And as well as you already know, the NYCHA developments there in Brownsville, really working with tenant association leaders to make sure that we're bringing the vaccines to the community. We're tracking all of these concerns and making sure that we're getting out front addressing misinformation, but also making sure that the communities have a lot of this information, which is on our website. 

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: The next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Hey, good morning, everybody. My question for you, Mayor de Blasio and anyone else who can help, is do you have data that shows where the eligible people for the vaccine live, especially when we initially had the vaccinations, when there were such strict eligibility – teachers, firefighters, police officers – because, you know, obviously recognizing the long standing and widespread health disparity here within the city and access issues. When I see Breezy Point has a higher percentage of vaccinations, I think, okay, well, a lot of cops and firefighters lived there and teachers, you know, that makes sense. So, is that data available? And do you have it? 

Mayor: I'll start, and Dr. Easterling can add in. We don't have the level of data that would be ideal, meaning we just don't have easily available how each ZIP code breaks out, according to where public employees live, for example. But we know enough to come to the conclusion you just came to that we certainly have a sense of what broader communities have a lot of public servants in them, for example, who are in the groups that qualify. We have a sense of what communities have more senior citizens proportionally. But really in the end, the simple, straightforward way to think about this is we want to see much greater consistency among communities. It's early. You know, it's really only been a matter of weeks that there's been wide-scale vaccine distribution. But as we go forward, we want to see these communities really substantially even out. And that's going to take the kinds of approaches that Dr. Easterling has been talking about, just going to the grassroots where the need is greatest. Dr. Easterling, I don't know if you want to add anything about what we can say about the nature of each community. 

First Deputy Commissioner Easterling: You know, the only thing I would add because the Mayor – you’re absolutely correct, there are some limitations. But in addition, I think we are, now that the eligible – populations for individuals with underlying chronic conditions are now eligible, we can say where neighborhoods that we know have high rates of premature mortality that experienced long-standing health inequities due to health outcomes. And so, we can begin to direct our attention, making sure, as you've heard from the Mayor, that we are getting to our seniors, but also making sure that we're getting to individuals with high rates of underlying chronic conditions. 

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Kristin from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Kristin, how you doing? 

Question: I'm good. I'm good. You announced the Empire Outlets today, because you knew I was going to ask you about it, right? 

Mayor: We’re one step ahead of you, Kristin. 

Question: I appreciate that. So, I want to ask you, the South Shore of Staten Island lost – or is losing its only City-run testing site at Mt. Loretto and there's still no City-run vaccine hub on the South Shore. Does the City have any plans to replace that testing site with a permanent one and also add a permanent vaccine site to the South Shore? 

Mayor: Yeah. Thank you for the question. I don't remember if it was you or someone asked me a few days ago – we definitely intend as part of the build out of more vaccine sites around the city, we intend to get one into the South Shore for sure. And we want to make sure that testing is always available. You know, even though so much of the focus is on vaccine now testing remains a crucial part of the strategy. So, yes and yes, we'll figure out if that's the same facility or different. And we'll have an announcement on that soon. Go ahead. 

Question: And I just have a question about the vaccine ZIP code data that was released. Could you talk a little bit about how it was compiled? Is the data just City Health Department and Health + Hospitals data or other facilities like Advantage Care physicians and other private run sites that are vaccinating? Is that counted in the data as well? You know, and how can we be sure that the numbers are reflective of the residents of that ZIP code? 

Mayor: In terms of methodology, I'll turn to Dr. Easterling and if any of his colleagues want to add. You start, Doctor. 

First Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Thank you for the question. This builds on years of infrastructure that we have around our immunization registry. As you may know, we have a citywide immunization registry that requires not only our City sites, but all providers to input anyone that is being vaccinated in New York City. And that includes individuals who are employers, who do not live in New York City. And so, you are going to see the full universe of individuals who are being vaccinated at any location in New York City, and the denominators is the adult population for that ZIP code. And so, this does again, just to be sure, this includes all individuals, all adults who are being vaccinated in New York City, who are eligible. 

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you. 

Moderator: Last question for today. It goes to Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, Henry. 

Question: Long time no see. 

Mayor: I hope you had – it's good talking to you. Hope you had a good weekend. 

Question: I did indeed. How about you? 

Mayor: I support Monday holidays. 

[Laughter] 

That's my strong position. 

Question: Well, let me ask you a question on a different subject, which is the plight of hotels and restaurants who are really getting whacked in the pandemic. Last week I did a story about hotels that are in arrears on their property taxes. And as you probably know, when you're a hotel or a commercial property you pay 18 percent interest on that late payment. And so, hotels that are already getting slammed are now going deeper and deeper in debt. And this could have a lasting impact on the tourist industry should it ever come back to the levels that you expect and want it to. So, the question I have for you is, are you ready to impose or grant a moratorium on the – or actually eliminate this 18 percent interest and just charge these hotels for the property tax that that's due? That's what they want. 

Mayor: Yeah. I got to examine that one, Henry. Look, everyone's gone through so much. We want to always be creative in how we address this situation. But we also have to make sure that we continue to get the revenue we need to serve the people of this city. And we talked about last week, we have reached 200 million free meals that we've given to New Yorkers in need since the crisis began. All the costs it’s taken to keep people healthy, the vaccine efforts, everything bringing back schools, you know, we always have to be mindful of where are these resources coming from, especially where we still have a question mark on a stimulus. But I'm going to look at this issue. I do care a lot about the hospitality industry. I want them to come back strong. I do believe fundamentally, Henry, that you're going to see a beginning of a comeback this year, especially if we can hit this goal, which I believe we can with the right supply, getting five million people vaccinated by June. I think you're going to see this summer, in fact, a lot of people coming to visit New York City. But this will grow back. We're New York City, people from all over the world want to come here, they will be coming back, and it won't be that long from now. I fundamentally believe that, but we got to protect the hospitality industry. So, we'll look at all options and I'll have more to say on that soon. 

Question: Okay. Well, they may not have too many places to stay if these places keep going out of business. The second question I have is the data disparity between the State of New York and the City of New York. This has been a constant theme throughout the pandemic. And all anyone has to do is look at the positivity rate as you calculate it in the city, which is still over seven percent, and the positivity rate as the State calculates it, which is over four percent. So, there's like a three percentage point difference. And in light of the controversy going on with nursing home data and everything else, how do we have credible – how do we give credibility to these numbers when they're so disparate and they actually have a risk of affecting public policy? So, is – whose numbers are funny, the State’s or the City’s? 

Mayor: I appreciate your straightforward question. I'm going to say it differently. You obviously are not surprised by that. We have faith in our numbers. I'll turn to Dr. Easterling and then Dr. Varma, Dr. Katz, anything they want to add. We take a data and science driven approach to protecting the people in New York City. The Department of Health, to their great credit, have been scrupulous and careful about getting the data and science right. They've been very transparent. One of the first places in America to talk about the disparities in the original cases was in the New York City Department of Health. One of the first places to ever [inaudible] clearly what's really happening with vaccination and document that disparities that have to be overcome, New York City Department of Health. We showed ZIP code data of where we were seeing case levels. As you remember at a certain point, the State asked us to stop doing that. We have resumed that. 

We really believe that more and more transparent data is best. So, the City of New York, and particularly New York City Department of Health, have long since proven that we believe in being transparent, even when it presents really difficult information, even when it causes a lot of questions, we believe in being transparent. I can't speak to the intricacies of the State's process. We think that our numbers are the truest numbers related to what's happening in New York City. And they're just unadulterated. They're pure, real numbers, not based on lots of different formulas and recalculations. They're the real thing. So, if our numbers show tougher situations, it’s because there is a tougher situation. We want to be honest with people about it and not sweep it under the rug. We want to have the conversation out in the open because it will help us to make right decisions. It'll help people to actually have faith in the process. Dr. Easterling, you want to speak to why we have faith in our numbers, and then if your colleagues want to jump in. 

First Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Yeah, I think, you know, the only thing I'll add here, and we do have faith in our numbers, but we've also been very upfront that the methodology differs of how we're looking at the data in the state. But I think the more important part, and what I hope that you will report and what we've said to New Yorkers, is that the trends are still going in the same direction and the concern is there. And so, the precautions that we've clearly stated that we really need New Yorkers to continue to make sure that they're following the core four and getting tested while our vaccine rollout is happening. And that's what's important here to make sure that this is informing our operations. And the way that we see the data we are responding to the need and making sure that we're getting to the most vulnerable. 

Mayor: Dr. Varma, Dr. Katz, you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Sure. Just to add on to what the Mayor and Dr. Easterling have said. You know, we spent a tremendous amount of time. We have incredibly highly trained epidemiologists who spend time pouring over this information and debating intensively both at the technical level and then kind of at the leadership level among us about what is the right way to present data based on the science, based on expert judgment. So, we – just to re-echo this comment that everything we do is driven by the data and really driven by an expert consensus of how best to present it. And just for – related to the test positivity, we've discussed this issue before. I would also advise people, you know, the CDC has just put out a guidance on schools that includes test positivity as one of the criteria to look at. And you can see that the guidance that they give on how to calculate it is exactly aligned with the methodology that we here in the City use. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz, 

President Katz: I have full faith in the data that the City is providing. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Well said, sir. Thank you. All right, everyone, as we conclude today, look, really, it comes from the point you just heard, people have to have faith in the information they're getting. I learned a long time ago when you're saying to folks, ‘Hey, here's some inconvenient truth, but we really believe it is the truth’ that actually wins people's confidence. So, the data that we've put out throughout this crisis has shown things that are everything we hope to be and things that were not everything we hope they would be, but we're trying to be really straightforward about what's going on so we can solve problems. It's really about helping every New Yorker to understand so they feel comfortable. And this is this point again about gaining trust. It's understandable that a lot of folks are not yet sure about the vaccine. You heard Dr. Easterling talk about the conversations he had with folks in East New York. 

If folks aren't sure, they're going to have questions. You don't ignore the questions. You answer the questions. If folks aren't ready now, you don't give up on them. You say, well, maybe as you get more experienced with it, you'll see what's happening. You're going to feel more comfortable. But we don't ever stop. When I was at Sheepshead Nostrand Houses in Brooklyn on Friday, I met a man named Gamal and he's in his fifties, and he had gotten his vaccination there in that community center right there in his neighborhood. And he said to me, ‘I have to be honest with you, I've never been vaccinated before’. And I said, ‘Oh, you mean you haven't gotten the coronavirus vaccine yet?’ He's like, ‘No, I've never been vaccinated my entire life before.’ And I said to him, ‘Why now, then? If you've never been vaccinated your whole life, why?’ And he said, ‘Because I'm really worried about this disease and I came to a place here that I could trust.’ And it was clear that he was getting the kind of support and the kind of information that would make a difference for him. There's a lot more people like him in this city we have to reach, but we do it with compassion and understanding, openness, respect for their concerns. That's how we actually move forward and address these disparities. That honest dialogue is what's going to take us forward and what's going to allow us to vaccinate five million New Yorkers by June and have a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everyone.

2021-02-17 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well, we're going to talk today about the most important way that we bring this city back, the most important part of a recovery for all of us, and that is vaccinations. And here's the bottom line, every single time we're running into the same challenge – we need supply, we need more vaccine so we can make a difference for the people of this city. Everything comes down to one simple issue – supply, supply, supply. Remember, in the beginning, for months and months, it was testing, testing, testing? Now, it is supply, supply, supply. We need more vaccine. And it's been really frustrating, because we are not getting the amount of vaccine we need and it would make all the difference in the world. 

So, let's at least acknowledge happily that a number of people have gotten vaccinated. Here's the latest for New York City – as of today, 1,365,956 doses of vaccine have been given. That is, for comparison, more than the total population of Dallas, Texas, the ninth largest – ninth largest city in the United States of America, and a place that's got a lot more snow than we do right now. So, the fact is that the vaccine effort keeps growing all the time, but the supply is not growing the way we need it to. Now, right now, we have a particular challenge, we've got fewer than 30,000 first doses on hand right now. That means we're going to run out today, tomorrow. We're going to run out of what we have now. Once again, we're in this ridiculous situation where we have massive ability to give people vaccination, we could be doing hundreds of thousands of more each week, and we're running out of vaccine because we're not getting what we need. We need the federal government, we need the State government, we need the manufacturers to step up, produce more, make it easier for us to get it, give us our fair share, make the rules simpler. But, right now, we're running out again. And, on top of that, we've got the weather problem. All over the nation, there's huge storms that are now causing delays in shipments. So, I've been updated this morning on the fact that we unfortunately do expect vaccine to be delayed – shipments of vaccine that we were expecting by yesterday, today, to be delayed. That means we're going to have to hold back appointments that New Yorkers need, because the vaccine isn't arriving. Based on the information I've gotten now, as many as 30-35,000 appointments or more might not be scheduled, because we don't have vaccine. So, appointments we would have been putting up available to people right now, we have to hold them back because the vaccine hasn't arrived.

This is going to be so frustrating for so many New Yorkers who are just so anxious to get this vaccine. And, again, if you spend any time when someone has been vaccinated, particularly our seniors and our oldest seniors, the feeling of relief it gives them, the sense of peace of mind, the hope it gives them that this horrible chapter may soon be coming to an end for them, where they’ll be safe – every single dose matters. But, once again, more delays, because we're not getting the vaccine we need. 

Now, I'm glad that at the new administration in Washington is aiming high. From the very beginning, Joe Biden said, they're going to increase production, put strong goals out there, that's exactly the right thing to do. But we need to get half-a-million doses delivered to New York City every week so we can reach our goals. And we have a specific plan to fully vaccinate 5 million New Yorkers by June, that's what will really give us a recovery, but we're going to need a hell of a lot more support to make that happen. When you get 5 million people vaccinated, you can imagine what it means – this city will fully come to life. 5 million people vaccinated means we are really turning the corner on this disease and we can bring back our economy and our life strong. Can't do it without supply. And, once again, let me go over the things that would help us. First of all, we need our fair share of the vaccine. The federal allocation to New York City is indirect, because it still has to require approvals from the State of New York. That's slowing things down in many ways. We need direct allocation in New York City, meaning direct supply and no strings attached. Let New York City, let our Health Department, let Health + Hospitals do what they need to do, and know how to do, and vaccinate people much more quickly without the red tape, without the confusion. And there needs to be a recognition by both the federal government and the State government that we are typically vaccinating about – 20 percent of the people who we vaccinated are from the suburbs and surrounding states. And we don't begrudge them that, a lot of them are people who serve us here in New York City, but our allocation should be bigger to account for that. And I talked about it yesterday, the State sends us 45 percent of the vaccine they get when we're actually vaccinating more like 53 percent of the folks getting vaccinated in the state. We've got to get our fair share. That could mean tens of thousands of more doses each week. And we need it direct and without so many strings attached. 

Second, the freedom to vaccinate. We've talked about this so many times. We need to be able to vaccinate wherever will work, much more of a grassroots focus. We've had these disagreements with the State where they say this center should be only for one type of worker, and another center for another – no, we need lots of grassroots locations where we can reach every-day people, particularly in the communities hardest hit. Maximum number of smaller locations, not just big mega sites, they play a role, but we need the freedom to have the smaller locations and a reliable supply of vaccine and not have the constant changing of rules that has held us back. Give us the local control that we can use to speed the vaccination effort. 

Number three, once again, the pharmaceutical companies, where are they? I've been talking about this for weeks and weeks, I still haven't heard a great answer. The pharmaceutical company in America, except for the three that are now involved in vaccines, where are the rest of them? Why are they not stepping forward, offering their assembly lines? We need to see the full use of the Defense Production Act and all the other tools that allow the federal government to dictate the terms in wartime conditions, compulsory licensing laws, all of the tools that allow the federal government to say we're in an emergency here, we're not doing business as usual, every company needs to be a part of it. And the federal government has the ability to direct what is in the public interest. We need more of that. We do not need business as usual in the pharmaceutical sector, which we all know has made it share mistakes in the past. How about they actually step forward and do what's in the common good, put people over profits, volunteer to help in this war time effort. We need more pressure to make that happen. And if we do that, this is the way we get to that half-million vaccinations a week that would transform this city in a matter of a few months. 

Okay. That's the overview on the number-one issue – supply, supply, supply. Now, let's talk about how we continue to try and make better the effort to allow people to get vaccinated, get those appointments. We want to constantly improve that effort. And, obviously, the online tools that we have, something we've been working on from the beginning. What's important is to constantly listen to the feedback we're getting from those we serve and improve our services. In the beginning, for example, we realized that just having appointments online was not going to be enough. That's why we had a phone option, especially for seniors as well. But we've constantly improved, and now the latest update today, if you go to nyc.gov/four – excuse me, I said that wrong – nyc.gov/vax4nyc – vax4nyc – what you'll find is a simpler approach to scheduling, now available in 10 languages. This was an important point raised by our colleagues in the media, that folks needed to have the whole application process in their language and the most prominent languages in the city. So, the whole application is in 10 languages. We've been using this approach now over the last few weeks. It's been running smoothly without glitches. The average time to an appointment is only three or four minutes. So, this is a streamlined approach. We're going to be bringing all the different providers who are now working with the city – and I can't speak for every private hospital, I can't speak for every pharmacy company, but I can speak for the entities that are choosing to partner with the City of New York as we open new sites – Northwell Health, Hospital for Special Surgery, Capsule Pharmacy – these are some of the health care providers who are opening sites with the City of New York. They're agreeing to be part of this website to make things move more smoothly, so there's a more unified approach. And we're asking all the vaccination providers to use our site so that more and more things get centralized and simplified. So, the other site that we have been using, which has been very productive, nyc.gov/vaccinefinder shows locations, and then people can go from there to the sign-up process. That is a tool that people are using. We're constantly working to improve each tool, so they're simpler and people have a better experience. And we're listening to the customer feedback and making adjustments. Now, the problem we confront always is, it is something very frustrating when supply keeps changing and we can't create that steadiness, that momentum that people want to feel. So, again, the signup process will go so much better if we had ample supply, stating the obvious. But this is what we need, this is what we're going to fight for, and this is what will give us a recovery for all of us, when we truly have the supply we need. 

Okay. As we talk about recovery, talk about bringing back all the pieces that make New York City so great – obviously, our restaurant industry. We love our restaurants. We care about them. They're part of our identity, and our culture, and hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers depend on them for employment as well. We've been doing a lot of things this last year to help the restaurant industry. We also want to make sure we are keeping everyone safe – the customers, the folks who work in restaurants. Number-one job as we find our way out of this pandemic, keep everyone safe. So, with indoor dining back at 25 percent capacity, we want to focus on the right way to go about indoor dining, the right way as someone who's going to enjoy indoor dining with your family, with your friends, how to do it safely, but also the right way to protect the people who work there, protect the folks who have kept fighting through, kept those restaurants going. We owe it to them to make sure we watch out for their health and safety too. Here to talk more about the rules for the road, if you will, for indoor dining, my senior advisor, Dr. Jay Varma. 

Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. We know that the best defense against COVID is a vaccine in your arm. But while our supplies remain limited, we know that the next best defense is to be armed with information, information you can use to reduce your risk getting COVID. And so, that's why we talk every day about the importance of masks, about maintaining physical distance, hand hygiene, and getting tested frequently. As public health officials, we know how important restaurants are to New York City. There are stories of joy, of culture, of income for so many of us. They're one of the features that make this city really so special. Now that the State has opened up indoor dining, we want to make sure New Yorkers are armed with information. If you choose to eat at a restaurant indoors, we encourage you to follow the tips that you see here are tips for safe indoor dining. And, as the Mayor has said, this is important not just for your own health and safety, but for the health and safety of all of the New Yorkers who work at our restaurants. 

So, let's go through some of those tips. Before you go out, keep the size of your group small, consider limiting it to only people in your family or in a pod or a bubble, if you have one. Confirm that everyone in your group has no COVID-like symptoms and no one's been exposed, no one's a close contact of somebody with COVID. Encourage everyone in your group to get tested. You can go to our City website and find sites all over the city that are free, accessible, and fast to get tested, including rapid point of care tests you can get for that same day. When you're at the restaurant, make sure it's observing city and State rules for how to make sure dining is safe. Those include making sure it's not too crowded indoors. Remember, capacity is restricted to 25 percent. Make sure you see employees wearing their face mask consistently and correctly. Make sure the tables are spaced apart, they need to be at least six feet apart from each other. And make sure there are no self-serve buffets being used. Wear your face cover, except when you're actively eating or drinking. And you make sure to put it on when your server comes to your table. Wash your hands before you eat and after you use the bathroom – those are good rules not just for COVID, but for all times. And maintain distance as much as you can from other patrons, stay at your table as much as you can. And after you dine, keep it a record of where you went, when you went – where you went, who you went with. If you end up getting COVID, you want to have that information ready to give to your contact tracer. And then, make sure you're getting tested frequently. We recommend people get tested as often as once a month. And, as we mentioned, there are plenty of sites around the city where you can make that happen. Thanks. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Jay – appreciate all that clarity, and it's really important. Look, our health team, I want to thank them. They've really helped the people in New York City to know the best way to handle all the challenges of this crisis. Our health leadership, and I talk to them every single day, they've guided us well with the, kind of, news you can use, real guidance for your lives. And here are really great tips that Jay has provided on how to go about indoor dining the right way. So, thank you very, very much. 

Okay, let's go to our daily indicators now. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 255 patients, confirmed positivity, 66.42 percent. And hospitalization rate 4.62 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 3,321 cases. Number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average 7.04 percent. Okay, let me say a few words in Spanish, I'm going back to the main topic, vaccines – supply, supply, supply.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish:]

With that, we'll turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Hi all. We will now begin our Q and A. With us today is Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma, OEM Commissioner Deanne Criswell, Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson, DoITT Commissioner Jessie Tisch, CEO of Health + Hospitals Dr. Mitchell Katz, and First Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Torian Easterling. With that, we'll go to Juan Manuel from NY1.

Question: Good morning Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good Juan Manuel, how are you?

Question: Very good. Thank you. Related to education, Mr. Mayor yesterday, the State Education Department issued new guidance saying school districts cannot require students to consent to COVID testing in order to attend class in-person. That's been New York City's policy for weeks. Those without permission slips have been moved to remote learning. Does new State guidance apply to New York City? And will the City now allow those students to attend in-person?

Mayor: Thank you, Juan Manuel, really important question. Look, first of all, we set the gold standard for health and safety. We literally took the best approaches from around the world. They have worked. It's incredible how safe our New York City public schools are. It's incredible how low the rate of COVID is. You know, that's working, the famous New York phrase, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. You know, we have the right approach now. So, when that initial information came out for the State Department of Education, we were surprised and there's been a good dialogue since then. I'm confident that we'll be able to continue our current practice. It has been working. It's the right way to do things. So, I want to stick to the rules that we have now, and I feel good about the fact that we'll be able to do that.

Moderator: Next is Christina from Chalkbeat.

Question: Hi Mayor. Thanks for taking my question. I wanted to follow up on the testing and consent issue. You've said and the Education Department has said that the City is working to modify the State guidance. So, can you just expand on what that would actually look like? Is New York City looking for an exemption? Was this guidance put out too soon? Like what exactly is the City seeking from the State?

Mayor: Christina, we've been working closely on so many issues with the State Department of Education. It's been a very, very good working relationship. We were surprised by this, especially because we have a very successful approach here that's made such a good impact and has been recognized all over the country as a success. So we've been in dialogue with them since yesterday and saying, look, we have something that works. We need to keep doing it. I think that's being heard. And we're working out the right approach, but I believe what will happen is we'll be able to keep doing exactly what we're doing now with the consent forms. Because again, it's been working, it's been keeping kids safe. It's been keeping families safe, educators, staff – this is working. We want to stick with it. And I think we'll get to that point with the State Education Department.

Question: Parents have made decisions about whether or not to opt into in-person learning based on whether they would have to consent to testing for their children. Will there be another opt-in period for those parents who were wary of having their kids tested in school?

Mayor: Again, I'm starting off – I'm going to answer that in two ways. I believe we'll work things through with the State Department of Education so we will continue our current practice. Therefore, there would not be a new opt-in because we would be continuing our current practice. Down the line, if the health situation, the COVID situation intensely improves, particularly we're able to get the vaccine we need and vaccinate people at the level that we're capable of, I think there's a possibility of an opt-in later on in this school year. Because we might be able to do things very differently within our schools based on high levels of vaccination in the city as a whole. So, you know, stay tuned for that. We're not ready to say that yet, but that's still a possibility if we're able to do what we are hoping to do with vaccinations overall.

Moderator: Next is Ariama from Kings County Politics.

Question: Hello. Hi, good morning.

Mayor: How are you, Ariama?

Question: I'm good. My question, I just wanted to clarify, is the vaccine shipment going to be delayed because of the weather problems here or in Texas?

Mayor: A great question on this specific location. I mean, it's obviously a national problem what's happening with the weather. And it is you know, gumming up supply lines all over the country. So, it's the national weather situation. I don't know the exact states that are having the biggest impact. We can get that to you. What I do know is our vaccine shipments are being delayed, which is really frustrating because people are waiting right now to set up appointments. I do know that initially it looks like 30,000 or 35,000 appointments will have to be held back and not scheduled, while we see if we can get these shipments in. So, this is now a real challenge on top of everything else we're facing. We're watching it hour to hour. And we'll keep updating everyone as we get clarity on when those shipments will arrive. Go ahead, Ariama.

Question: Actually, that was my main question. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Next we have Mike from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Mike, how are you doing, man?

Question: I’m all right. So, on the issue of the State dictate on vaccinations – or on testing excuse me. You said you had productive conversations with the State on this. Can you give us a little more detail on that? I mean, it seems that what they're saying is contradicting what the City's doing. And the City intends to continue doing what it's doing. So, I mean, it seems like you guys are at loggerheads here. What are the productive conversations that are taking place now, given that reality?

Mayor: I mean, I understand the question I really do. But I want to suggest something maybe revelatory here. It doesn't have to be loggerheads, you know, we have a very positive, productive relationship with the State Department of Education. We work with them daily on a whole host of issues. They're doing a lot, we're doing a lot, sometimes something moves and people recognize there needs to be more dialogue. So, when we saw this come out, we said, hey, we want to make sure you're clear about what we're doing, why we think it's working. We think this is the right approach, considering the success we've had. I think they're hearing that, we're working together to resolve the issue. Again, I feel confident we'll get to a good place. Sometimes people just need to communicate and go over the details and can end up with a good workable solution. I think this'll be one of those cases.

Moderator: Next is Ayana from PIX 11.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you doing?

Mayor: I'm doing well, Ayana. How are you today?

Question: I am excellent, thank you. So, there is a City Council hearing taking a look at possibly creating one universal COVID-19 vaccination appointment system. What are your thoughts on consolidating the process? Is that something that should happen? Is it just too difficult to do? Or is the system working the way it is?

Mayor: It's a great question, Ayana. I'd say this, in a perfect world where all the different organizations involved, we're all part of one, let's say one government or one approach, it would be great if everything was seamless and interconnected, meaning all the private hospitals, all the public hospitals, all the pharmacy companies, you know, all the health care providers, City MD, you name it. If everyone was under one umbrella, that would be great. That's just not how our health care system is organized. And when you think about the complexities, each company, each entity has their own systems for keeping records. People's individual personal medical records and appointment schedules and all, it is complicated. And I've pushed our team, Health Department, Health + Hospitals, everyone, simplify, simplify. But they have made a really fair point, that the long before COVID, we have a health system based on private and public entities that are all different. You can get them on the same page on some of the scheduling. You can get them to volunteer, to agree to some common approaches, but you can't just flick a switch and everyone's on the same exact system. So, I think given that limitation, we've been able to make some steady improvements. I want to keep doing better. But look, as I said earlier, we've got a really impressive number of people who have been vaccinated already. I'll quote the number again, 1,365,000 vaccinations have happened really in the course of weeks. A lot of people are finding online and on the phone, the ability to get the appointment. But we got to keep making it better. So, I think the answer is we'll get closer to a unified system. The announcement I made today about a number of entities agreeing to use this new approach is helpful. I don't think we'll get to nirvana of everyone being exactly on the same system. Go ahead, Ayana.

Question: Thank you. And I have a question from one of my colleagues. At a recent town hall, Schools Chancellor said that suicide rates among New York City students are on the rise. Do you have any information or numbers on that? And do you know what's being done to address that?

Mayor: Ayana, we are very about this. We've seen several suicides in recent weeks of public school kids. That is very, very painful. And I'm speaking now, not only as mayor, but as a parent. The fact that these kids have gone through this crisis, the trauma they've felt, many kids have lost, loved ones. Many kids are feeling really isolated in the absence of, you know, the regular rhythms of their life. And particularly the absence of school for some of them. This is why it's imperative we bring back school as quickly as possible. So, you know, middle school starts next week. We want to get on with the work of bringing back high school. As I said earlier, I am hopeful that the health care situation improves enough that we can do another opt-in period later on in this school year. And then most especially, September, we have to come back 100 percent, in-person, strong. In the meantime, we're trying to make sure, you know, every school under this administration, that every school has mental health services now available to them. That wasn't true in the past. Now, every single school has mental health services that they can plug kids into. We're trying to make sure that guidance counselors, social workers, principals, everyone's thinking about if there's a child with a mental health need that we're speeding those services and supports to them right now. But it's really – it's not easy when kids aren't in-person and that's what's causing so much of the problem here and it's painful, but we really are trying to help every child. But the best thing we can do is just get more and more kids back in the school as quickly as possible.

Moderator: Next is Matt from Patch. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing? 

Mayor: Good, Matt. How are you doing today? 

Question: Not bad, not bad. Hey, I want to circle back to the COVID vaccination data that you released yesterday that goes by ZIP code. I think it's fair to say that it showed some pretty significant disparities in how the vaccine is being distributed, but it doesn't tell – it's still incomplete. What I'm talking about is it doesn't include demographic information such as race or age. Why doesn't it? 

Mayor: So, let me start. And then I'll turn to Dr. Easterling who has been intimately involved in the efforts to create an equity framework and also put together data that really shows us what's going on. When we put out the broad data, a couple of weeks back for the city, we acknowledged that we're having a central problem of a lot of people are not indicating a race or ethnicity, and a lot of providers are not doing all they could do to ask race and ethnicity, and we are working hard to improve that. So, one part of the problem here is there's a lot of folks who have been vaccinated we don't have accurate data for, to begin with. The second is just constantly trying to get more and more refined data, make sure it's accurate, get it out publicly. We just wanted to make sure we constantly take new steps forward. So, showing the ZIP code data was something we wanted to do, and then we can keep refining it from there. So, Dr. Easterling, in terms of both getting more and more accurate information on race and ethnicity, juxtaposing it with ZIP code data, what can you tell us about the next steps? 

First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: You're absolutely right. Mr. Mayor. I think, you know, we've been working really hard to make sure that we put out as much information, being transparent is part of our equity approach, which has been front and center from the very beginning. I'll just say, you know, one, we do have race, ethnicity data, which is aggregate citywide, and that does tell us an important story. And so, I think it's really important to know that yes, the data shows the gaps, but it also shows how we [inaudible] our COVID response. When we look at the neighborhood level, I think we also have to be mindful that there are limitations because when we drill down to the neighborhood level, numbers could be smaller. So due to those limitations, we also want to be mindful of how we're presenting very small numbers at the ZIP code level. And so that's really why we – how we're thinking about the data that we present. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: For our last question. We'll go to Reuvain from Hamodia. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I'd like to ask you about the ZIP code data released yesterday. It shows certain areas, minority areas, other areas, including those that I cover, have lower vaccination rates than others. So, my question is, do we know why this is? Is it because there are fewer vaccination sites? Is it anti-vaxxer sentiment or it's just because some of these areas were hit quite hard and a lot of people have antibodies and don't feel an urgency to get a vaccine? 

Mayor: I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Easterling. But with this point, I think you did a good job there covering some of the challenges. The vaccination centers are spread out all over the city. We're going to keep building more out. The number one problem has been lack of supply and not being able to have as many appointments and as consistent an approach to appointments as we would have if we had supply. I think that's been the single biggest factor. But why do you see differences among areas? I do think it largely correlates to where people are convinced that they want the vaccine versus where there's hesitancy or distrust. There is anti-vaxxer sentiment in some communities. There is a sense in some communities that they don't need the vaccine, there's overt distrust in some communities of the vaccine and the medical sector. So, it – that is really, to me, a huge part of what we're seeing here, but Dr. Katz, and then Dr. Easterling, why don't you speak to this? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Well, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Part of why we know there’s vaccine hesitancy in communities of color is among the health care workers and other people working in hospitals, there is no access issue. People can arrive, get their vaccine, and all on work time because it is part of their job. And yet we've seen tremendous disparities in terms of people feeling that they're not yet ready to get vaccinated. Important to note that very few people say, no, I won't be vaccinated. What they generally say is I don't want to be the first. One woman cheerfully said, “I sent my husband, we'll see what happens.” I think people want to, you know, see how this goes. There is, as you say, Mr. Mayor, a number of people in communities of color who were so hard hit, who were infected or who feel that they got through the infection and don't feel that same sense of urgency because they feel like they survived it. So, I think all of these things play a role. I very much believe as supply broadens and as time goes on, and there are millions of New Yorkers vaccinated, the other people will come along with us. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Dr. Easterling. 

First Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Yeah. Thank you for the question. And just to build on the points that the Mayor and Dr. Katz have already mentioned, you know, the access points that we have, we've looked intensely at the neighborhoods. And so, some of the neighborhoods that you're pointing out, we were intentional in really identifying sites, and we're continuing to work to identify additional sites in those areas. In addition, we're working with the providers in those locations. We know that individuals want to go to their providers. They want to go to their pharmacies. And so that's really important to really get to address a lot of the hesitancy, because you're able to really talk to your own provider in your pharmacy, to pharmacists to answer those questions. But I do want to just address this hesitancy, and what our work is building confidence around the vaccine. 

One, we have to really address trust. In that trust is what is the work that we do. You know, I joined another town hall yesterday in Queens with the borough president and a lot of the community leaders. The number one question that I received is, will this vaccine harm me? I had to continually respond to community residents and affirm that this vaccine is safe, and it is effective. But that is going to have to be the work that we have to do. Continue to show up, be present, but also to respond to these questions, even if it takes five, six, ten times, and that's what we're committed to doing. And that's the second part, is the trustworthiness. And that's what we're doing by our town halls and our conversations that we do now on a nightly basis with so many different leaders across the city. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Very helpful, Doctor. Thank you very much everyone. As we conclude today, I want to go back to the fight against the coronavirus and what we need most. We need more vaccine. This is really the last great battle in the fight against the coronavirus. When we get five million New Yorkers vaccinated by June, it will be a whole different reality in this city. This is the last big fight, but we need reinforcements. We've been begging for reinforcements. We haven't gotten them yet. We need a steady supply of vaccine, and we need a greater supply of vaccine. When we get that, we get to transform life in this city. 

I’m going to remind people again, each and every week lately we're giving 100,000, 200,000 fewer doses than we want to, than we are able to, if we only had the supply. New York City can be doing half a million vaccinations per week if we were just given the supply, we need by the manufacturers, the federal government, the State government. It is time to change things, switch things up, get us what we need so we can win this last great battle. Bring this city back fully. That's what all New Yorkers want, and that's what we're ready to do. Thank you, everybody.

2021-02-18 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, good morning, everybody. Another wintry day in our city. Thank God, New York City is getting a lot less than so many other parts of the country, but we take it seriously, always, and we are ready.

Sanitation is out in force already, bringing the streets, salting, getting ready to do more and more plowing. Alternate Side Parking suspended through Saturday, so leave your car where it is. A lot of things, the good news is, will remain open. Vaccine sites will remain open. Testing sites will remain open. Food distribution sites will remain open, because the storm, even though we take it seriously, so far, not too bad. What we are going to shut down just for today is the roadway element of the outdoor dining, not the sidewalk part. The sidewalk part is fine. So, I want to make sure this is really clear – indoor dining, 25 percent capacity is open. Sidewalk dining is open. The only thing that's closed for today, and today only, is the roadway element of outdoor dining. And, again, based on what we're seeing now, everything should be fine for outdoor dining for tomorrow, full strength.

We know mother nature throws us curve balls sometimes. So, we're going to be vigilant and keep updating you. But the number-one message, the clearest message, the simplest message is, stay off the roads, use mass transit or stay home, if you can, that way Sanitation can do their job and we'll come back tomorrow in strong shape.

Now, I mentioned dining, so I want to talk about a great experience I had yesterday in Chinatown, here in Manhattan – an opportunity to experience indoor dining again. And it's really wonderful to have the experience of being in a restaurant, a family-owned restaurant owned now for two generations with a chef who loves what he does. It was really a great experience. I went to Hwa Yuan Szechuan restaurant in Chinatown. Chef Chen Lien Tang – great personality, energetic, loves what he does, passionate about the food he creates, so happy that his restaurant has made it through and will continue to thrive. We talked about indoor dining. We also talked about outdoor dining, how that's going to now be a permanent part of New York City's future. And it's exciting for a lot of folks who own restaurants and work in restaurants to know that outdoor dining will be permanent. And the warm months – it’s hard to believe today, at this hour, but spring is just around the corner. Outdoor dining is going to be all over New York City and help us as part of our strong recovery for all of us. So, I'm excited to see that. But I had a great experience yesterday. And look, it's a reminder of a couple of things – it's a reminder of the strength and resiliency of our Asian-American communities, the businesses that people built – so many immigrants who built businesses up with their own hands, you know, from scratch, amazing family stories of perseverance. We’re wishing everyone a happy Lunar New Year – and it's also a reminder of the strength of the communities of the city that celebrate Lunar New Year. And what a great example I saw yesterday. So, we need these small businesses to survive. They're part of who we are and a part of our identity as New York City, part of what makes us great. And we're going to do everything we can, particularly if get the kind of stimulus that we deserve, to pass it along a lot of those resources to small businesses, help them stay strong for that big recovery that's coming this summer, this fall in this city.

Now, what do we need to recover? First and foremost, vaccine. I've talked about lately, we used to talk months ago about our number-one problem, our number-one challenge – testing, testing testing. It's now really clear, it's about vaccine. It's about supply, supply, supply. We do not have enough vaccine coming from the manufacturers, the federal government, the State government. We're not getting what we need. It's holding us back. The more we get, the more we can do. On top of that, we've had a weather problem. The weather all over the country, everyone knows, it's horrible weather – vast amount of the country affected, has caused real delays. This is a real problem. We've lost a couple of days in terms of vaccine supply. We are hopeful that by tomorrow, our supply will be replenished and we can get back on track. But, as everyone knows, 30-35,000 appointments have to be held back – never liked doing that. We don't want to do that. We need supply so that we can keep giving people the support they need and get the shots in people's arms so we can protect them. We had to postpone, as a result of the weather and the supply not arriving, two new sites, but they'll both be up tomorrow – Martin Van Buren High School in Queens and the Empire Outlets on Staten Island, both will be open tomorrow. We are going to shift supply around as we need to, but we, again, are hoping that by tomorrow our supply will be back to where it was normally. That's still way less than we need. I want to emphasize, normal is not enough. Status quo is not enough. But hopefully, we will get those that supply in. Now, as of today, just to give you update, we're just about at 1.4 million doses given from the beginning of this process – 1.4 million vaccinations, but we could make that number move a lot quicker if we could get the supply we need. 

Now, we also know we're dealing with a profound equity issue, a disparity issue. And the way to deal with that is to educate folks, get information out, answer questions that people have who are hesitant to go out into communities, to put the vaccination centers where the need is greatest. 77 percent of the City-run vaccination centers are in the communities hardest hit by COVID. But we're also going to the people door-to-door. And this is so important, throughout this administration, one of the things I'm very proud is our teams have believed in this hands-on, door-to-door approach. You saw it originally back in 2014, when we initiated Pre-K for All. We didn't just say, hey, there's pre-K seats – good luck. We went out into communities. We had community organizers, people supported by the City government to go out, go door-to-door, talk to people at parks, at playgrounds, barbershops, beauty salons, PTA meetings, whatever it took to get the message out, to answers people's questions, and get people engaged. We did it again to great effect last year with the Census initiative. Amazing – in the middle of pandemic, this city had as good a response to the Census as it did 10 years ago, when there was no pandemic. That was about getting out in the communities, going door-to-door, going to where people are. That's what works. So, right now, we have 250 canvassers on the ground out there, focusing on the communities that have been hardest hit by COVID, communities of color that have borne the brunt. And this is particularly true for public housing. We have a special focus in this outreach effort on public housing and in the areas around where we have these community-based vaccination sites, because we want people to know it's there for them. Our Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity has led the way on this effort. They made very clear that it wasn't enough just to put up sites, that we had to go out to the people. So, literally, we have canvassers out there answering questions, giving people the education they need, but also signing them up right then and there for appointments, right at their door, right there making sure that seniors in particular get the appointments they need and making sure for the folks who, you know, are having any trouble navigating the application process, or have any trouble going online, the door-to-door folks, the canvassers are there to literally help them, make sure to get that appointment, sign them up on the spot. So, a really great initiative. I want you to hear more about it from the Chief Equity Officer of the City's Test and Trace Corps., Annabel Palma. 

Chief Equity Officer Annabel Palma, NYC Test and Trace Corps.: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I'll elaborate on the words you just said and the work that the Test and Trace Corps. is doing to help New Yorkers in the hardest-hit areas. Of course, we have created teams of canvassers, like you mentioned. These are canvassers, learning from what we did with the Census, they are in the community, they are they are part of the community, they are directly connecting with individuals to educate them on how to navigate the system, to get an appointment for vaccination. Let's also understand the importance of getting that vaccine, especially our senior population. These are our trusted messengers. These are individuals, again, who are part of the community. Their mission and their work is extremely important. It's all about promoting vaccination location, the facts on the vaccines, scheduling and confirming appointments. We want to make sure that every New Yorker gets a vaccine as soon as supply allows. And we're doing this by conducting door-to-door operations, by conducting robocalls. Just this week, we were able to make [inaudible] robocalls to NYCHA residents and we were able to send out about 3.3 million postcards to all residential addresses. This is imperative to reach New Yorkers without internet access, but especially our senior population and those who are homebound, who have – who we have noted have had the most difficulty accessing the vaccine appointment. 

We continue our efforts to work with our community partners, our trusted messengers in the community, through our CBO partnerships. And we are doing everything we can to make to make New Yorkers feel confident that they can get this vaccine, that they do have access to that this vaccine. And this work could not happen had we not had the partnerships that we have and the work that – and the work that's being done through the taskforce. I am especially excited to see how people are responding once we're connecting with them one-on-one. And you and I have been out in the community, and we have done some canvasing when we visited sites, and we know all too well how much New Yorkers appreciate that one-on-one connection, especially those who have language barriers. And, in this case, we are able to connect directly with individuals in their language that they understand that these services are there for them. 

A few words in Spanish – 

[Chief Equity Officer Palma speaks in Spanish] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Annabel. Annabel, I really appreciate what you're doing, what everyone at Test and Trace is doing, the hands-on outreach. And I've seen you out there yourself, I know you know a lot about going out into communities, going door-to-door, talking to people. I've seen you answer the questions and get people to help they need. So, thank you to you and all your colleagues. 

And, everyone, look, we're going to do this work to get people vaccinated. We need that supply, but we're going to incessantly work to get people vaccinated, get answers to their questions, and get us to a whole new place – 5 million New Yorkers vaccinated by June. This is our goal. We absolutely can meet this goal if we have supply. 5 million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June, that's how we create a recovery for all of us. That's the key. 

In the meantime, we have to protect ourselves. Our Department of Health has done a great job, educating New Yorkers on the things that work. So, we know that even as the vaccine is here, that the need to keep wearing the masks is paramount – crucial. It's amazing how, of all the things that we've learned in this crisis, maybe the most profound is the power of a mask. You know, even one of these paper masks makes a huge difference. But what we're saying today is, time to double up – two masks are better than one, make it a double. So, this is what more and more the science is telling us, more protection from two masks. The Department of Health wants to educate New Yorkers on this, this is based on CDC guidance. And what's clear is, masks have been a big part of what's protected – two are better than one. Here with all of the expertise to back up that statement, and welcome back in-person, our Health Commissioner – strong and healthy – Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. And I'm really glad to be back and full steam ahead for our important work to keep New Yorkers safe and healthy. So, thank you. For months, face coverings have been an indispensable tool to shield yourself from COVID. Masks are now a part of our daily lives and help us safely face the world. We see every-day New Yorkers wearing them in grocery stores, on the subway, at home, in schools, and in our houses of worship. This is all to keep one another safe. Today, as the Mayor said, the Health Department is updating our guidance on face coverings, following recently announced guidance from the CDC as well. I want to be very clear, the single most important thing remains wearing a face covering consistently and properly so that it covers both your nose and your mouth, and you wear it both indoors and outdoors. 

Here's some other important recommendations that are part of our guidance. First, tight makes right – make sure the face covering fits snugly against the sides of the face, without slipping. A snug fit will prevent you from breathing in or breathing out air droplets that may contain the virus. So, when you're choosing a specific mask, look for features that keep the face covering tight. For example, nose wires, tightly woven fabric, and face masks with fitters or braces. If it helps you can knot the ear loops or fold and tuck unneeded material under the mask to prevent air from getting in and also from escaping. I also do want to clarify that we do not recommend face coverings with an exhalation valve, because these masks allow air to escape when you're breathing out. Second, two is better than one – using two masks is more effective at stopping the spread of the virus. To double mask, use a cloth face covering over a disposable mask, not two disposable masks. Two of the disposable masks will not improve fit. Allow me to demonstrate with my own mask. This is the disposable mask, and this is my cloth face covering – adjust it so that it's fully covering your nose and mouth and so that you have this nose piece pressed against the bridge of your nose to ensure a snug fit. Third, for those who are 65 or older and people with underlying medical conditions, such as diabetes, obesity, or hypertension, consider using a higher grade mask, like an KN-95. This also applies to household members and caregivers of people who are sick. Make sure not to confuse KN-95 with N-95. Again, this is a KN-95 mask, you can tell by its distinctive appearance. It has this metal strip against the nose bridge and it has ear loops as well. And this is the N-95 mask. Usually, it has two of these bands that go against the back of the head. It also does have this nose strip and it's made of a slightly thicker material as well. N-95s should still be used in health care settings. Fourth, wear your face covering at home if you live with someone who tested positive for COVID-19 or were recently exposed to someone with the virus. Regardless of the mask you choose, I want to emphasize that we need to continue to follow the public health precautions we know work, staying home if you're sick, keeping your hands clean, staying six feet apart and getting tested regularly. Particularly with the new virus variants, our public health precautions are that much more important, both to protect ourselves and others. Finally, when it's your turn, roll up your sleeves and get the safe, effective lifesaving vaccine. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dave. Dave, you did a good job modeling there. Thank you. It's really good to show people exactly what you mean. I appreciate that. And everyone look, New Yorkers have done something amazing this year with a lot, a lot of challenges, but the simple act of wearing a mask has been a revelation. It's been extraordinary, and it's become as typical for people in New York City as getting a coffee and bagel in the morning, and that's a really good thing. That's part of why we've been able to protect so many people. That's part of why New York City came back so strong in the summer and fall compared to so much of the country. We got to keep doing it. We got to keep doing it. This is the key, masks have made a huge difference, we got to stick with it. 

Now, I got to give you some additional updates now, before I go to indicators, because we've just received more information, unfortunately, I wish I could tell you it was good news, but the breaking news here is not good news about the delivery schedule. Literally, since I started this press conference, we've gotten an update that we now hope the initial deliveries of the supply of vaccine that we've been waiting on and we'll start tomorrow, but it could go into Saturday. We now think we might not get our new first doses for this week until Sunday. So again, normally we're talking about – that's doses we get on Tuesday or Wednesday, we may not get the first doses until Sunday. So, unfortunately more delays because of the storm because the deliveries are not arriving. In fact, a vast majority of the resupply we expected for this week has not shipped from the factories yet. So, as we're getting updates, they're not going in the right direction. Hopefully, this weather will pass in the next couple of days all over the country and that's going to allow things to get back on track, but unfortunately further delays and that does have ramification for one of our sites. I mentioned two sites specifically that were delayed. Unfortunately, the Martin van Buren site now will be further delayed until Sunday at the earliest because of this new information. Again, I'm not happy to have to give you this news, but this is the latest, however, the Empire site, Empire Outlet, Staten Island, will still open tomorrow. We're just shifting supply around. We'll make sure that is up and running tomorrow. 

But this is the situation we're in. It's been too hand to mouth in general, and then it's been made even worse by the storm. This is why we need a series of changes. We need to get the rest of the pharmaceutical industry into the act, so we see more vaccine produced quicker. We need direct – direct shipments of the vaccine to New York City, no strings attached. We need fewer rules from the State government holding us back, more local control, so we can at least use the vaccine we have more effectively. We need to free up the second doses. There are so many things that we could be doing right now to get tens of thousands more people vaccinate, but unfortunately, Mother Nature now is causing us the most immediate problem with these supply delays and we of course will overcome them and keep moving forward. 

Indicators for day, number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for COVID-19, today's report 262 patients, 57.09 percent confirmed positivity. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 4.42. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report 3,216. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19, today's report, also seven-day rolling average is 7.17 percent. Let me say a few words in Spanish, going back to the topic of today's snowstorm and how we're going to navigate it together. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all we'll now begin our Q-and-A, with us today's Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Emergency Management Commissioner Deanne Criswell, Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson, Chief Equity Officer of the Test and Trace Corps Annabel Palma, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Sonia from 1010 WINS. 

Mayor: Sonia? Sonia are you out there? 

Question: Yes, can you hear me? 

Mayor: There you go. How are you doing today? 

Question: Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yes. How are you doing? 

Question: Hi I'm well, thank you. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, good. 

Question: Very well, thank you. Has there been progress on a universal app or website that can help people find vaccines that access all the portals, State, City, pharmacies, et cetera? 

Mayor: Progress, but we talked about this in detail yesterday, Sonia. I don't want to give the false hope that we can get all these different companies and organizations exactly on the same page, because we talked about yesterday, hospital systems, pharmacy companies, city government agencies, getting them all to do exactly the same thing, that's not happening. But what we're able to do is get a lot more of them working on the same system that the city has created, I went into some of the details about that yesterday. So, more and more New Yorkers will find that they're working with one system and still on top of that, you can get the locations that have supply across all the different providers who are providing vaccine through the city website. It's not perfect, but we continue to improve it. We now have the application in 10 different languages. We've simplified the process. We've done more obviously to show people if they're applying, that they are actually applying someplace that has appointments and we'll keep improving it. And of course, for a lot of people, the online approach won't be good enough, that's why we have the phone option. And then on top of that, we're going out into communities that need help the most, looking for seniors who are needing help, getting those appointments, and literally making the appointment at their doorstep with our canvassers out there. So, these are the kinds of things we're doing to move the process forward. Go ahead, Sonia. 

Question: And you mentioned vaccine deliveries, maybe someone on the call can address this, we had a call from someone who was online with other seniors this morning waiting for a couple of hours in the cold, in the snow at August Martin High School in Queens, and they were told that the vaccine, the actual delivery was delayed. Does anybody know about this? 

Mayor: I’ll turn to Dr. Chokshi on that. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. We do know vaccine deliveries are delayed as the Mayor has mentioned, however, at our sites and this includes at August Martin High School, the the principal number of appointments particularly for today is for people who are getting their second dose of vaccine, and there should be no effect of the delivery delays on second dose appointments. So, we can look into this specific situation at August Martin, but my message for New Yorkers is if you have an appointment that has been scheduled for today, vaccine sites do remain open, and we will continue to communicate with New Yorkers as things change on the ground. 

Mayor: Yeah, and Sonia, thank you again, I'm always going to thank colleagues in the media when you bring up things that we need to know and act on. Thank you for bringing up the situation August Martin High School, the Commissioner will go get that addressed and fixed immediately. But, really important to note that we don't schedule new appointments that we don't have supply. So, just amplifying the point the Commissioner made, if an appointment is scheduled, it means there's supply to go with it. The fact that we've had to stop scheduling appointments is because we saw the supply was not coming for the week as expected. But the ones that are scheduled as the Commissioner said, there is vaccine to go with them, thank God. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Marcia from WCBS. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wonder how you're doing today? 

Mayor: I am doing well in our winter wonderland, Marcia, how are you doing? 

Question: Well, I'm in a winter wonderland myself, but unfortunately my question doesn't have to do with the winter. It has to do with what's going on in the State with the nursing home investigation. I wonder if you think there should be an investigation of what's going on with the nursing homes, and if you think that members of the Cuomo administration may have mishandled it? 

Mayor: There clearly needs to be a full investigation. We're talking about thousands of people who were lost, our seniors, our elders, families that still don't know the truth and the questions that need to be answered to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. There absolutely has to be a full investigation. 

Question: So, another question that has come up has to do with the conversation that the Governor had with Assemblyman Ron Kim who says that he was threatened by Governor Cuomo. I wonder if you think that, you know, there's a dispute that Kim says he was threatened, the Governor’s people say he wasn't. I wonder who you believe, and if you personally have experienced any tough conversations with Governor Cuomo? 

Mayor: Many times. I believe Ron Kim. First of all, you can just see by what he's saying, it's from the heart, and it was a very painful experience for him. I believe him and he did not deserve to be treated that way and I admire him for coming forward and telling him exactly what happened. 

Moderator: Next is Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: We're fighting, Henry. We're fighting our way - we got the snow, we got the vaccine shortage, but whatever, it's not going to stop us, Henry. How you doing? 

Question: All right. Very good. I'm doing well, thanks. I wanted to ask you to explain a little bit more detail what you mean by these priority areas. I know you've spent a lot of time discussing this and explaining it, but if you're in one of these areas, what are you receiving differently for being in this area? How has the city treating these areas differently? And I guess I'm assuming that we're talking about 33 areas and what data specifically do you take into consideration to determine that these are priority areas? 

Mayor: Thank you. It's an important question, Henry. Now I will say, I feel like we've really talked about this a lot, so I'll just summarize at this point. I'll turn to Dave for anything he wants to add, but look, what we know is where folks suffered the most., and if we had to be very cold about it, we would say where did we lose the most of our fellow New Yorkers? Where did folks disproportionately die from this disease because of historic problems? Immigrants who came from places where they didn't get a lot of health care, folks who couldn't get their share of health care because they didn't have the kind of money to afford it in a country that still doles out health care according to wealth. We understand where the historic disparities are, and we saw a huge overlap from the beginning with where the worst impact of COVID was. So, those facts were all put together into an approach and the 33 neighborhoods were determined. What does it mean? It means a huge amount of outreach, real special efforts to educate people in dispel distrust, because, Henry, those are often the very same neighborhoods where there was the most distrust and the most hesitancy. Folks who are actually most vulnerable are also the most distrustful of the vaccine. Horrible catch-22. The outreach efforts are focused to address that, the placement of the vaccine centers to make sure the folks in greatest danger have vaccine centers near them, the door-to-door effort we talked about today, literally going, for example, in a public housing building to a senior’s door, helping to convince them the vaccine makes sense for them, and then making the appointment for them right then and there. These are the kinds of things that go with that priority focus. Dave, you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. You covered all of high points. I'll just elaborate on a couple of elements. First, if I had to boil down what we looked at to be able to identify the task force neighborhoods, it's the health and social factors that lead to preventable suffering, and based on looking at that, we've identified those 33 neighborhoods that deserve an even more concerted focus, and as the Mayor has said, this takes a few different forms that are primarily around allocation, access, and outreach. With respect to allocation of vaccine, this means not just at our city sites, but also working with the community health centers and the independent pharmacies that exist in those neighborhoods. With respect to access, as the Mayor mentioned in his remarks, three quarters of all city sites are in one of those 33 neighborhoods, and that shows our commitment to meeting people where they are with respect to access to vaccine. And the final piece of it is outreach, having the conversations, the human-to-human conversations that that Annabel Palma described, door to door canvassing, reaching out to people via phone calls, having town halls, all of those things that we know will help connect people to vaccination and get their questions answered. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: All right. Well, I'm going to follow up on that question a little bit, because I'm trying to correlate the ZIP code data with the vaccine allocation. There's a column on your ZIP code data that says priority, and does that mean that the ZIP code lies within the priority area, one of those 33 areas or is – does it mean something else? 

Mayor: Go ahead, Dave. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sure, Henry, we can follow up with, you know, a more detailed conversation about this. There are two ways in which the task force neighborhoods are denoted in the ZIP code data. The first is if you actually click on a particular ZIP code, it will tell you whether one is a taskforce neighborhood or not, and then it sounds like you're actually downloading some of the data behind the map where there's also a column that shows that. But we'll be happy to walk through precisely what the different columns mean so that you have a clearer understanding of it. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Next is Matt from Newsday. 

Question: Hey, good morning. How are you, Mr. Mayor? 

Mayor: Good Matt. How you been? 

Question: I’m all right. I'm wondering if you've ever surreptitiously recorded the call with the Governor. If you have, are you're willing to release those? 

Mayor: No, I have not. Go ahead. 

Question: And then the second question is a lot of folks who progressive as well think that the criticism of the Governor related to the nursing homes is a right wing hit. Can you address that? 

Mayor: I think it's a question of families who lost loved ones and the fact that clearly, we weren't given the whole truth and we've got to figure out how to protect people going forward. No, I don't think it's coming from one side of the spectrum or another. I think it's a concern we're hearing from the families who lost their loved ones and across the spectrum. 

Moderator: Next is Michael from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: How are you, Michael?

Question: I'm all right. So, you know, this battle between Ron Kim and Cuomo now we're witnessing, I'm struggling to find the word for it. And I'm wondering if you could help me, I mean, would you describe this as a vendetta? Does it rise to the level of that sort of description? I mean, you know what we've observed here between the Governor and Kim seems pretty personal. I was wondering, you know, based on the experiences you had with the Governor, how you kind of characterize it?

Mayor: Look, I'm not here to provide the analysis of the situation. I will say this – that you know, someone being bullied is not acceptable. And Ron Kim was trying to raise real concerns and honest concerns on behalf of families in this city, in this state who have lost loved ones. And that deserves respect and he wasn't given respect. That's what I would say.

Question: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. My second question is a similar topic, same topic, basically. I mean, you've known the Governor for quite some time and you know, I'm paraphrasing a bit, but from what you said earlier this morning, this sort of behavior, I think you view as typical of him, you referred to calls you'd been on with him before. Why do you think this is given your experience, your kind of longtime relationship with the Governor? Why does he tend to treat people in these ways, his partners in government?

Mayor: Oh, I don't think it’s just – Michael, I don't think it's just government. I mean, I think, you know, a number of your colleagues in the media will tell you about calls where they were berated and belittled. It's something that a lot of people in New York State have known about for a long time. I can't get into the why, that's a deeper question. I can only say it's a very unfortunate and inappropriate way to treat people. And again, Ron Kim, I believe him. It was important that he expressed his whole truth and people should respect him for that. And he refused to be intimidated and I give him credit for that.

Moderator: Next is Erin from Politico.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I want to ask about the new mask guidance that was given out. Particularly the idea that people should be wearing KN95 masks. Just wondering – I don't think they're necessarily widely available. I think you can get them on Amazon. I know the Mayor is not a fan of shopping on Amazon, but is there any plans to sort of actually distribute these and get these out to people? Or if not, are there any tips on, you know, if you just heard on this briefing, Oh, I'm supposed to wear a KN95 now, where do I get one?

Mayor: First of all, Erin, thank you for – you got your history right. Yes, I prefer people to buy local and not via Amazon. That is a true statement. But obviously we want to protect people and if they need a KN95, we want to make sure that they get what they need. Dave, why don't you talk about the level of availability? And again, specify who you think needs a KN95 versus a regular double mask approach?

Commissioner Chokshi: Absolutely, sir. And thank you for these important questions. Yeah. So, allow me to clarify first for, you know, the vast majority of New Yorkers, most important thing, wear a mask, wear it consistently and properly covering your nose and mouth, snug fit. The double masking helps with all of that because it ensures you have enough layers and it ensures that you do have that snug fit when you're wearing it. And we do think that double masking provides a higher level of protection that is comparable to some of the higher-grade masks. With that said, if you're a New Yorker who's particularly at risk, meaning at risk of severe outcomes, because you're older or you have an underlying health condition, or you're at risk because of the exposure that you have, then it is worth considering wearing a higher grade mask. The KN95, again, I'll just show it. This is an example of a KN95 mask, is just one of the higher-grade masks that are available for New Yorkers. Another example is a KF94, for example. These are now more widely available including in local stores. And people should be able to readily access them. We are as a city, as we have been doing over the last few months, going to make sure that we distribute masks that will be disposable masks, cloth masks and in some cases, higher grade masks as well, to supplement that availability across the city.

Mayor: Hey, Dave, I don't know if you had this at your fingertips, but can you describe the kinds of stores that would typically have the KN95?

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly, sir. The kinds of stores that will have KN95s, you can check your local pharmacies in particular. They often have a range of different masks that are available. And then just, you know, general stores, sometimes supermarkets and bodegas will have masks available as well.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: We have time for two more. First, we'll go to Abu from Bangla Patrika.

Question: Hello, Mayor. Good morning.

Mayor: Good morning, Abu. How you been?

Question: Good. It’s already snowing here in Long Island City.

Mayor: All right. Well, hopefully this may be the last one of the season. I'm knocking wood. Let's hope for the best.

Question: Yes. And having Bangladeshi style tea in the home.

Mayor: Very good. You’re thinking of someplace warmer. I like it.

Question: Yes. All right Mayor. The first question is about the distribution of the vaccine in community pharmacy. So, I asked before about the same question, is there a decision that has been made when the community pharmacy could distribute the, you know, I mean vaccinate the community people?

Mayor: Yeah. I want to say, I feel passionately about the community-based pharmacies. Again, everyone, these are the family run pharmacies, not the chains, the independent pharmacies. That for so many of us, including my family for decades, we've depended, not on big chains, but on the family-run – family-run pharmacy in our neighborhood where we got great care, great attention. People knew our name. People knew our family. This is part of the lifeblood in New York City. These independent pharmacies have been a big part of the solution for a long time on things like flu shots. It played an important role in testing. We need them to play an important role going forward on everything we need to do to fight this pandemic. Dr. Chokshi, talk about what role they will play.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And you described very well the role that independent or community-based pharmacies play as anchors in particular neighborhoods. And we want to leverage that, to take advantage of that as a very important partnership for our vaccination campaign. Already, thousands of New Yorkers have been vaccinated at community pharmacies, that's across the five boroughs. But we would like to broaden that out much further. We've taken steps to enroll as many of those independent pharmacies as possible, so that when we do have additional supply, we'll be able to direct it to those pharmacies so they can vaccinate even more people. Right now, the limiting part of this remains supply. And as soon as that does open up, you'll be seeing much more vaccination happening through those channels.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Abu.

Question: Okay. Second question [inaudible] because the COVID and other situation, the minority business, especially the restaurant business is, you know, in the worst situation. Is there any programs that you will take to promote their businesses who are dying?

Mayor: Yeah, look, this is so important. We have to bring back our restaurants strong. When I talk about a recovery for all of us, it means right down to the grassroots. It means neighborhood restaurants, family restaurants that people love, that are part of the community's identity. For so many New Yorkers, you know, from all over the world a neighborhood restaurant is a place where you stay connected to your culture and the things that really bring you that warmth and that hope. So, we've got to protect them. What we're going to do, you know, first of all, as I've said, we really look forward to providing more support. We want to give tax breaks to small businesses. That will depend – the amount we can do will depend very much on what kind of stimulus we get. And when, and if we get a stimulus. We want to do things like the Open Restaurants approach. That's permanent now. We want to make sure as many, you know, 10,000 restaurants plus are in Open Restaurants. There's a lot more that could be a part of that now that's permanent and warm weather is just around the corner. That can be a big part of bringing restaurants back and making them strong. There's so much we want to do to support them. Our Small Business Services team has done a great job working with individual restaurants on whatever their needs are. We need to bring them back. We're going to do a lot to support – and the big thing I'd say also about the recovery is when we get five million people vaccinated by June, if we have the supply obviously, you're going to see this summer, a huge amount of activity in this city. You're going to see New Yorkers coming out and patronizing those restaurants, like never before. You're going to see folks who would have been traveling instead spending their money in their neighborhoods at those restaurants. You're even going to see people start to come in from not just the suburbs, but from around the country, as we get safer and safer, ready to have a good time again. And where are they going to go? They're going to go to New York City because we're going to be one of the safest places in the country. So, we got a lot planned for this summer and beyond to bring back our restaurant industry strong.

Moderator: Last, we'll go to [inaudible] from WNYC.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: I'm doing great. I want to make sure I pronounce your name, right. Is it [inaudible]?

Question: Yeah [inaudible] like Akon or like pecan, if you want.

Mayor: You have great analogies there. Thank you.

Question: My question is about vaccines. We reached out to your office and your Health Department for data on how many vaccine doses have already been distributed and administered at each of the City's vaccine sites. The Health Department said that the supply by provider is not something we are publishing. That's a quote. May I ask why this information is being withheld when it's essential for determining whether there's fair access to doses across your vaccine sites?

Mayor: Yeah, I would – thank you for the question. It's an important question. I would just urge a modification of the word withheld. I don't believe we should withhold it. I think it's been a challenge getting absolutely accurate data out. And, you know, when we put out the information on disparity, we wanted to make sure we had it right. As you remember, when we did the citywide disparity information on vaccination, we still had hundreds of thousands of doses that we didn't know the ethnicity or background of the people involved because they hadn't offered it or weren't asked it properly. We put out the ZIP code data the other day. But again, we have some information, we don't have perfect information. But I think it's right to go the next step and show what's happening site by site. So, I'd be happy to see us do that, but I think it's fair to say it takes time and we have to make sure it's accurate. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I think you covered all the high points here. We have through the vaccination campaign, successively provided more and more data. Not just for the purposes of being transparent, which is a responsibility that we take very seriously. But to be able to share that data so that New Yorkers are armed with the information they need to know where to go to get vaccinated. And to understand how the campaign is rolling out. So, you'll continue to see us share additional data with time just as you have been. We always do take pains to ensure that it is accurate and valid and contextualized before we share anything publicly.

Mayor: Yeah. And to finish the point [inaudible] first of all, I give Dave and everyone at the Health Department, a lot of credit. The Health Department of New York City was among the first in the United States of America to say, hey, this COVID crisis is also a disparity crisis and an inequality crisis. I remember vividly when I was first shown the map, the information the Department of Health had brought together, and it's so painfully overlapped with the historic map of where poverty was in New York City. And no one hesitated to put that out and start a national conversation about the disparities of COVID. One of the places that began was right here with a report from the Department of Health at the very beginning of the crisis. When we got into vaccination, one of the first places to document from the government side, that there was a disparity crisis in vaccination was the New York City Department of Health and putting out that data openly. And now down to the ZIP code level. You're absolutely right. We should do it down to the site level. And we will. So, I'm making that commitment to you. I think it's the absolute right thing to do. We have to make sure it's accurate though. And, but I absolutely want to see more and more information. Because that openness, that transparency helps the people, it helps the media to say, okay, is this working? Is that working? It helps us to get the tough questions we should get to make sure we're protecting people's lives. So good question. I appreciate the question. And the answer is we will be releasing that data, excuse me. And we'll let you know, as soon as possible when that will be.

To finish up today, everyone, look, again, coming back to old reliable – the masks, but now asking everyone to double up. This has been the difference maker. But you know what the mask doesn't put itself on you. You know, you have to do it and you have. New Yorkers have been amazing in this crisis. Really, I can't say enough what a heroic effort, the people of this City have made. It's worked. It's allowed us to fight back time and time again. Remember, we came back from the horrible reality of being the epicenter. We became one of the safest places in the country. We built the biggest Test and Trace Corps in the country. We brought our schools back, when most cities in America didn't dare to try. Our schools – more and more kids are coming back. Next Thursday, middle school, coming back. We're going to go farther from there. It all comes down to focus and discipline and the strength of New Yorkers. Get those masks on. Keep them on. The day is going to come where we're able to remove them and have a different kind of life again. But let's let the doctors tell us when that day is. In the meantime, let's protect each other. Thank you, everyone.

2021-02-19 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. And now as usual on Fridays, it's our weekly Ask the Mayor segment, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0 or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag, #askthemayor. It's only 12 of your 280 characters. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. Happy Lunar New Year. 

Lehrer: And same to you. Do you have a favorite dish that you eat for Lunar New Year? 

Mayor: I don't have a favorite dish, but I had a really wonderful experience at a Szechuan restaurant in Chinatown a few days ago as part of celebrating Lunar New Year. And I urge all your listeners to get out there and help out our neighborhood restaurants and celebrate by ordering from them or going to them and help them keep going. 

Lehrer: Absolutely, by the way, I don't know if you heard the end of our last segment on introverts and extroverts coping with the pandemic lifestyle, but do you think you have to be a big extrovert in order to be a politician and run for office and shake everybody's hands in normal times and stuff like that? 

Mayor: There's definitely been some introverts who turned out to be great leaders, but I would say – I’m going to put a little twist on it. I think this is a little cheesy perhaps, but it's true. You have to love people. You have to want to be with people. I was out at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens this morning, and we were doing a Lunar New Year food drive, giving out food to folks from Queens communities who needed food at this time of year. And there was a joy, everyone helping each other out and folks from Elmhurst, you know, helping out the surrounding community. And I love being in that kind of situation where you're surrounded by folks in this, sort of, common cause, everyone in it for the right reasons. You got to love that kind of stuff to some extent. You got to love being out there with the people, if you really want to hear them. And I think that's the most important part. It’s not just shaking hands and winning votes. If you're going to understand how to govern, you actually have to experience what people are going through and hear them. And if you're too much of an introvert, that's hard to do. 

Lehrer: And I want to ask you about, kind of, the most serious possible side of people's different abilities to cope with this kind of lifestyle. And I know you've been talking about this already. It's the heartbreaking stat in the news this week, that five New York City public school students have committed suicide this year. That's more than all of last school year when the number was four. And it's only February now with four more months of the school year to go. I know you want to talk about this. What would you like to say? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's – so I'm a parent and I, you know, I'm just thinking what a child must be going through, how much pain, how much confusion, how much fear leads to that moment, how many things that they need to express that aren't being expressed because there's no outlet, how much isolation that a child is feeling, how horrible and painful that is, and what it means in this moment, because kids have been cut off from what they need, what allows them to cope and have hope. And so, what we're recognizing more and more is we got to reopen schools. You know, we have middle schools coming back Thursday. I want to see high schools come back. I want to see more kids coming back to school. We have to come back full in September, but here's the thing we also have to do that we've never done in our history before. And this is one of the concepts we take from Thrive NYC. We're going to do mental health screening for all the kids in New York City public schools when they come back in September. We need every child to get the kind of screening that says if the trauma they've gone through – and for most kids, it has been trauma, for some, thank God, less – but a lot of kids have been through nothing short of trauma. They will need more support. Some of them will need a lot of support, will need to be, you know, have an opportunity to go into therapy, if that's what's right for them. And we have a plan to provide that for children who need it. But we got to be honest that this crisis should totally change our understanding of mental health because it now has to be brought out in the open. It has to be clear. Kids have been put through so much, but haven't had a place to turn for help because the vast majority haven't been in a school with loving, caring professionals who can notice the problems and address them. We've got to change that, starting now, but especially when we do universal mental health screening in September. 

Lehrer: What about now? Because universal mental health screening in September is that far away. And while there's still so much remote learning that increases anxiety and depression and the Wall Street Journal article on this this week also mentioned obsessive compulsive disorders being seen as on the rise. And as we discussed even suicide risk, what is the City doing to provide extra counseling or other prevention efforts, especially for kids whose families can't afford outside therapists? 

Mayor: Very important. Anyone who needs help, we will get them all the help we can for free. You know, we have guaranteed health care in New York City. Remember that we have NYC Care and that includes mental health services. This is something, Brian, that has never gotten the attention it deserves. But I really want people to understand in this city, anyone who could not afford health insurance, we will get them either an insurance plan or we'll give them the NYC card – NYC Care card so they can get direct health care, including mental health services. And anyone who feels right now that they don't know where to turn and they need to be connected to mental health services can call 888-NYC-WELL. Right this minute, 24 hours a day, multiple languages, 888-NYC-WELL. And get a trained counselor who then will determine with you, whether it's for you or for a loved one, the next step, and ensure that you get that connection, you get that appointment to connect you to the services. So, in the schools we provided mental health services for every school in New York City. I know teachers, social workers, we've added a lot of social workers, we're going to add a lot more September. They're trying now to reach kids, but they're hindered because it all has to be done remotely. And a lot of kids and families are not responding because it's all remote. So, we're trying to reach everyone we can. But I'm going to say to all your listeners, if you know a child in crisis and you don't know where to turn for mental health services, we can get that child help for free through 888-NYC-WELL. 

Lehrer: Ophere in the Bronx, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Ophere. 

Question: Hi. How are you? I'm the PTA president of P. S. 108. And I have a question regarding the extension of the school. So, just before COVID hit us there was a plan approved to expand to build more classes in school and [inaudible] demand a need for a middle school in Morris Park in the Bronx, and we have an annex. We gathered more than a thousand signatures and I attended many community meetings as well as talked to Councilman Gjonaj, who was supporting us. And we are not sure what to do next. So, we need guidance. How can we influence to extend our school from K-to-five to K-to-eight? 

Mayor: So, Ophere, thank you very, very much for the question. Please give your information to WNYC. I want to make sure that someone senior from the School Construction Authority speaks to you today to see where we are in the planning to address the issues in Morris park. We've been building new classrooms, new school buildings, new seats constantly. And even though COVID did slow us down a bit, we're putting that plan back on track because there's a lot of communities that really are experiencing historically, a lot of overcrowding. Now again, when you have everyone dealing with a different reality this year, but in September, I want school back full strength. And so, we need to keep adding school seats in the places where there's the most demand. We'll have them follow up with you and figure out what the plan is to get more help to your community.

Lehrer: Another schools question from listener Medina on Twitter. It says – oh, sorry. No, you know what? I think I clicked on the wrong – that's not actually a question. All right, I'm going to come back to the one I was looking for –

Mayor: This is live radio, isn't Brian?

Lehrer: This is live radio. I apologize. You know, and we get a lot of Twitter messages coming in through the show and sometimes you click on one and it turns out to be the one next to it. Valene in Park Slope, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Valene.

Question: Hi. Thank you so much. Mr. Mayor, I would love to know if you have any plans to expand the Open Storefronts program to something similar to the Open Restaurants program, allowing service spaces to build permanent outdoor structures on the street? I am the owner of Private Picasso's, a kids' art studio in Park Slope, Brooklyn. And we would really benefit from a safe, outdoor option to operate our program. This would not only create a safe environment for our customers, but also for our staff.

Mayor: Valene, thank you very much for that question. Look, I think Open Storefronts is a very good idea. We've only had it for a brief period of time. And there hasn't been a lot of uptake yet, but obviously it's also been the colder month. We are looking at how to best use that going forward. I'm certainly very open to something permanent there. But we need to figure out, you know the right way to do it. I love the notion of New Yorkers using our public space differently. We've had a, like truly revelatory experience with Open Restaurants and Open Streets. And particularly the combination of the two has been amazing. And you may have seen like Fifth Avenue, parts of Fifth Avenue in Park Slope during the summer were just unbelievable. And it's the kind of thing that needs some work. I am very hopeful we can – oh, go ahead. Go ahead.

Question: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off. Sorry. No, my studio is on Fifth Avenue and we definitely took advantage as much as we could of the Open Streets program. But the problem with that is, you know, that would literally require my business and my staff to bring our art studio outside and bring it back inside each day. That is very time consuming and we have limited staff right now. So, I think what restaurants have been allowed to do has been phenomenal. And I think there's so many of us who need in-person interaction with our customers to really have our business survive this pandemic. You know, and operating limited indoors and even the Open Streets doesn't really help us. And the Open Storefront program, I know it's just the beginning of it. But it's very strict requirements. I know where I am on Fifth and Carroll, my sidewalk is barely eight feet door to the street. So, I can't even apply for that program, even if I wanted to, even if I wanted to take on the extra added like responsibility, of bringing everything outdoors each day and bringing it back indoors each night.

Mayor: That's really helpful, truly very helpful feedback on what you experienced. Valene, would you give your information please to WNYC? I'd like folks from our team to – if you'd be kind enough, you know, use your experience as something to learn from as we think about the next steps here. But I would say I really appreciate the call because I do think it's time we think – if we learned a lot positive from Open Restaurants and Open Streets, where do we go next? And we've been talking about more car-free streets, more pedestrian plazas, lots of things I think are the future of the city. And, that I've learned from experience, really work even beyond our wildest dreams. And I think there's a lot more we can do with small business and Open Storefronts. So, please give your information and we want to learn from what you experienced to make sure we do this right going forward.

Lehrer: Here's that tweet I thought I was clicking on before. The question is, will there be more opportunities to opt-in for public school blended option? When the school year started, we were told there would be multiple opportunities to opt-in. And then told in November, in November, there would be just one opportunity. Anything you can tell that parent?

Mayor: Yeah. And Brian simply, and again, I've had my kids in public school the whole way through, so I can remember exactly what it felt like to deal with all of the challenges. We saw a really challenging reality for our kids, because a lot of people were holding seats and not using them. And that meant a lot of kids could not be in school as many days as they needed to be. And that's why we changed the rule to be very clear that there was one chance for folks to get in, but then you had to actually use your child's seat. And we still have a problem with some folks not sending their kid to school, but wanting to hold a seat. That's just not something we're going to do. So, what we want is every seat is used – if someone has opted-in, in the past, all those opt-ins back from November will be honored at the middle school and high school level. Obviously, grade school and the elementary school as well. But you got to send your child to school regularly. If you're not sending your child's school regularly, you really should be in remote. And then we can take that seat and use it to give other children more days in school. Which is really the fair thing to do. But Brian, as to where we go from here? So middle school opens Thursday. Next step will be to find a way to open high school. That's going to take some real work, but I believe we can do it. And then as the health care situation, I hope and believe improves, I do see the possibility of another opt-in. But it will require a really, substantial improvement in the health care situation. We're still dealing with the challenge of the variants. We still are not getting the vaccine supply we need. I mean, we've now done over 1.4 million vaccinations. That's the good news. But we could have done a hell of a lot more if we had sufficient supply. So, for us – excuse me – for us to know that we've turned a bigger corner so we can do a new opt-in and approach schools differently, that's going to take some serious progress before we get to that point. 

Lehrer: On the vaccine rollout, I know supply is the biggest issue, but for the supply we have, why can't there be a unified sign-up system? To set this up Let me play part of a phone call we got earlier in the week from a listener named Jack in Long Island City talking about his experience. He's in – he's 90 years old. 

Question: So, I start with a locator and then I fill out a form and then I look at the sites and they say, you know, this place is two miles away, of course there's no appointments. When I see an appointment, by the time I get filled out and everything else, I'm behind. I'm like the woman who you spoke of when you started the show. It it's just – 

Lehrer: It’s a mess – 

Question: It’s just a shell game. 

Lehrer: A shell game, and so Jack suggested a plan. 

Question: I just want to get a place in line and wait and be registered and not play dodge ball with these people. It's the design of the system. I'd appreciate some help, but the main thing is my grandson could design a system that would take care of what my problem is, instead of go playing these games and losing out and, you know, not being lucky on the tongue – just get me a number and I'll wait until it comes up. 

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, your reaction, why can't there be a centralized system where Jack and everybody else can just take a number and wait until it comes up? 

Mayor: Well, first of all, I really feel – I mean, you could hear in Jack's voice he is in pain and fearful and worried, and I feel for him and we don't want that. We want him to have a much better experience and look, there's been 1.4 million vaccinations without even the supply we needed, if we had had the supply again, it would be much, much more. I was at Elmhurst Hospital this morning and folks were coming up to me, seniors from the Elmhurst community, telling me they had gotten vaccinated successfully saying how good the process had been for them. So, clearly there are a lot of people making appointments and getting through. We're also going out door to door now in public housing, in the city in the communities hit hardest by COVID and we're literally signing people up at their door, on an iPad, just making it real simple for anyone who is having challenges on navigating. But look, in the end, Jack has a point. I'm not for a moment negating his point and I'm going to go back and see is there some way, but I think what I'm going to find is this fundamental problem. We do not have a universal health care system. I'm someone who believes in universal health care. We created guaranteed health care in New York City for people that need it, which is good, which is better than any other city in America, but it's not universal health care where we have a single unified approach as a nation. 

So, the problem I have, Brian, is I got different hospitals, all with their own systems of medical records. I've got pharmacies, I've got urgent cares, and then I've got the public health system, everyone has different systems, I cannot legally require them to all to use the same system. That is just not something in the city's power. So, we created nyc.gov/vaccinefinder so at least people could find out where there were appointments and then click onto those systems. We have a new approach that we've done now with a lot of the publicly supported sites, even when private providers join us in setting up those sites, they now have to do a unified system with us. So, that's nyc.gov/vax4nyc, V-A-X-number four-NYC. That system now is one-stop shopping, meaning you can go in and have a unified approach to a much larger universe of sites. Anyone who can't do online well enough can go to 877-VAX-4NYC and do this over the phone. But what I agree with everyone who’s saying, could we have a single, absolutely unified website that was accurate and consistent? I would love nothing more. That would mean having a single health care system that was unified and consistent. The waiting list idea though is very interesting to me, whether that's another way to go about this, and is there some way we could do that, that unifies the different systems? I'm going to look into that and I appreciate that suggestion. 

Lehrer: By the way, our wonderful listeners after Jack called in earlier in the week, somebody called in and volunteered to help him get an appointment, and they did, I am told, so I wish we could do that for everybody, but he happened to get on the air and then a lot of people were concerned about Jack, in particular in Long Island City, and somebody was able to help him get an appointment. Listeners, I thought you would like to know that. Follow up question from a health desk, are you worried about ramping up vaccine sites too fast? If the supply doesn't show up, it may lead to confusion and frustration, and if a supply does come as a slow trickle, do you have any thoughts on how to keep people motivated towards seeking the vaccine? And I'll add that maybe this relates – you tell me – to Mount Sinai having to cancel a lot of first dose appointments that were scheduled for this week because they said the city had redirected those doses to other places. 

Mayor: Yeah, well, no. What happened – that's not the whole story – what happened was there was a huge mega storm all over the United States of America which knocked down shipments and supply for this week for New York City. We've been talking about this all week. We were expecting, you know, over a 100,000 doses earlier in the week and we still haven't gotten everything we expect and everything's been disrupted by the storm, but I'll tell you why it is very good to have as many sites as we have because of we're going to get people vaccinated, particularly those who are hesitant, if we're going to fight the disparities and reach the communities hardest hit by COVID, communities of color all over the city, you need the most decentralized, localized grassroots approach possible. So, having a lot of sites is very good for connecting to people where they are. The fact is the day's coming soon where the Johnson and Johnson vaccine will arrive, single dose, totally different, better reality, needs a lot less refrigeration. The supply is going to pick up in March. I think it's going to particularly jump up in April. I think it's right to have the sites up and running. 

The goal, Brian, we're absolutely ready to do half a million vaccinations a week. So, all of the infrastructure is there. We can crank it. We can pick a lot of places 24/7. If we have the supply, we could do amazing things, get five million people vaccinated by June in this city. But here's what it’s going to take, the federal government has to push the pharmaceutical industry harder, they're not doing enough there. The pharmaceutical industry is not doing enough, only three companies involved, many more should be involved here. The State government has to stop interfering in so many of the day-to-day details of how we do vaccination. It has slowed us down repeatedly. We need to be able to use the second doses now because we know a lot more supply is coming. We still have, you know, tens of thousands of doses we can't use every single day because of State rules and federal approaches that are keeping us from vaccinating people. So, I want to have a lot of capacity. I want a lot more freedom to vaccinate and I guarantee you, we can reach a lot more people quickly. 

Lehrer: All right, we have about a minute left. I see you spoke yesterday about Governor Cuomo's nursing home deaths cover-up scandal and his alleged bullying of Assemblyman Ron Kim, do you agree with cam and some of his colleagues that the Governor is guilty of obstruction of justice as defined by federal law? 

Mayor: Look, I believe Ron Kim when he talks about what he experienced and I believe that has to be a really full investigation here because something happened that potentially means folks who lost their lives, family members were lost who could have been saved, and there has not been a reckoning and we – the State of New York hasn't even acknowledged what they need to do differently and we're still in this crisis. So, there needs to be a full investigation and then there needs to be real action. 

Lehrer: Should the Governor be impeached or resigned – or resign over obstruction of justice? 

Mayor: Again, I am not the investigators. I'm not the Justice Department. Let them determine through a real investigation what happened. Let the Legislature determine what needs to change in the way the State has governed. Certainly, the emergency powers need to be revoked so we can get back to normal democratic governance in this State, and I guarantee you, again, that would help us to vaccinate a lot more people if we actually could get back the control of how we protect our own people. 

Lehrer: Thanks, as always, Mr. Mayor, talk to you next week. 

Mayor: Thank you, Brian.

2021-02-23 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, good morning, everyone. So, I'm going to be talking about our recovery effort constantly, a recovery for all of us, recovery has to reach every neighborhood, every New Yorker, really move us all forward together. And yesterday I had a wonderful experience in the Rockaways, Far Rockaway. The crucial, crucial moment in the development and the redevelopment of the Far Rockaways, an exciting new development, new on Beach 21st street, hundreds of affordable apartments, brand new building, beautiful building, hundreds of affordable apartments. Space for local small businesses. This is a big step. This is something that's been in the making for years, but the fact that we're topping off the building now, the fact that new development is being achieved in Far Rockaway, a community that's been hit so hard by COVID, but was hit really hard by Hurricane Sandy years before, the Rockaways often have not gotten the respect and attention they deserve. We've tried to change that in this administration with ferry service, with a lot of investment in affordable housing and economic development. But yesterday was one of those joyous moments where you saw the city starting to come back to life. And these new apartments are going to mean so much for folks from the community, for folks who need affordable housing, working people who are the backbone of New York City. So, this was something really good to see. And it is exemplary of making sure this recovery truly is for all of us. A lot of people are talking about Midtown, Manhattan. I care about Midtown, Manhattan. I want it to come back strong. But for years and years, people weren't talking about Far Rockaway and the Rockaways and Queens and you know, the other parts of the city, not just Midtown, Manhattan. We got to make this a recovery for all five boroughs. We got to make this a recovery for working people in neighborhoods. And we can. 

And we talked yesterday about such important developments, our new Recovery Czar, Lorraine Grillo, the extraordinarily exciting new investments at Kennedy Airport that will reach the Southeast Queens community. This is the shape of things to come. When I talk about a recovery for all of us, you're going to be hearing constant announcements of how New York City is going to come back, come back strong, come back better. And you'll be seeing me all over the five boroughs making those announcements. It's an exciting time. 

But to get to that recovery, we need to keep focusing on vaccination. Now we talked yesterday, we've really got setback for almost a whole week with the shipments being delayed because of the winter storms around the country. We now, are getting those shipments. And we're looking forward to getting the regular shipments we would have for this week. So, I'm hoping, even though we lost some time, we're going to be playing some strong catch up this week. And I'm hoping for a week where we really put up some great numbers. But remember, the whole question is always supply, supply, supply. Federal government, State government sends us the supply, gives us the flexibility, we can do so much more. We are on track – I've been asked this, and I want to affirm. We can reach five million vaccinations. We can reach five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. We confirmed it yet again yesterday, went through the numbers. So long as the supply is consistent and then starts to grow week by week. And that's what the federal government is telling us will happen. But we need to see it. We need to see it soon. 

So, where are we at now? Since the beginning of our vaccination effort, 1,547,983 vaccinations given in New York City. Well over 1.5 million. That is more than the entire population of San Antonio, Texas, which is now the seventh largest city in the United States. So, if this effort keeps moving and moving, we're going to keep telling you the milestones as we hit them. And I'm looking forward to the day when we tell you five million New Yorkers have been fully vaccinated. 

Now, another important milestone today, we want to talk about from our Test and Trace team. And Test and Trace has done a remarkable job. The strongest, biggest Test and Trace team in the entire United States. The model that has really proven how powerful this approach can be, stopping thousands and thousands of infections from happening by safely separating people and supporting people. Now, an exciting part of this initiative has been the Take Care initiative. Take Care is all about getting people to help they need, whether they safely separate in a hotel or in their home. Everyone involved in Take Care has done an amazing job. A special thanks to the leader of the effort, Dr. Amanda Johnson for her leadership, the whole team she's assembled. Milestone today, 10,000 New Yorkers, 10,000 have sought help in those free hotel spaces. We've talked about people who needed to get away from families, in many cases, large families, multi-generational families. They needed a chance to get over their infection away from their loved ones so they could safely separate. They could ensure that their loved ones didn't get infected. 10,000 New Yorkers have now taken advantage of that hotel initiative. They know they're safe, they're getting food, they're getting medicine. They're getting the help they need. They know their families are safe. So, kudos to everyone at Test and Trace and specifically the Take Care group for what you have achieved. And it's a reminder that even though we see some promising signs, we've got to stay vigilant. We can never be complacent when it comes to the coronavirus. I think we've had enough twists and turns to know the coronavirus is a wily enemy. So, we got to keep doing the things that work. If God forbid you are infected, follow those – that guidance from Test and Trace Corps. Make sure that you do things the right way, if you need to isolate, you need to safely separate. But for everyone, every-day reminders, the masks, now double masking, making sure that we practice those basic precautions. Getting tested regularly still makes a huge difference. New York City has been remarkable. New Yorkers have been remarkable doing these things. It's part of why we've had the ability to fight back this disease in so many ways. But we got to keep doing it. 

Okay, let's go over indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to the New York City – to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 233 patients. Confirmed positivity level, 70.71 percent. Hospitalization rate, 4.06 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,254 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report, on seven-day rolling average, 7.32 percent. Let me say a few words in Spanish on the topic that's always on our mind, the vaccines. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today, we have Deputy Inspector of the Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Task Force Stewart Loo, Executive Director of the Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes Deborah Lauter, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. We’re also joined by Dr. Ted Long, Executive Director of the Test and Trace Corps. Emma from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. So, I'm wondering – I was looking at the stats in terms of the cases falling across the country and they're not falling as fast in New York. Can you talk about why the cases are still pretty high here despite being one of the worst place hit early on? 

Mayor: Yeah, I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi. Emma, you frame it right, that the most extraordinary thing to me was the sharp, sharp juxtaposition between the first few months, March, April into May and then the way June, July, August into September went where we went from unquestionably epicenter in the country to one of the safest places in the country. I think that has very much to do with the way New Yorkers handled this. I really credit everyday New Yorkers for the discipline and, you know, the mask wearing, the social distancing, listening to our health leadership. They really did. They acted on it. I went all over the city. I saw how much people were listening and acting on the guidance from our health leadership. But we also know we're a really tough place in terms of just how many people here, the density of this city, the fact that no matter how hard we're fighting, there's still a legacy of lots of poverty and lots of folks who didn't get health care for generations. So, there's challenges for sure, but I feel very good about our ability to turn it around with intensive vaccination if we can get supply. I think one of our strengths is going to be our ability to implement vaccine quickly. Again, right now we are absolutely certain we could do over half a million vaccinations a week. So, I think that's going to be one of our strengths compared to some other places in the country. But let me turn to the – now, the experts Dr. Varma then Dr. Chokshi, what would you say to Emma's question? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great, thank you very much for the question, because this gets to, you know, a lot of the issues that the Mayor has just talked about, which is that, you know, of course we know that New York City is a more vulnerable place, density of population, historical injustice like racism and poverty. There were a couple of technical issues though that I think that are worth considering. The first is that we know from this disease and all infectious diseases that simply counting cases can be a little bit problematic as comparison figure, for reference, you know, New York City continues to perform more testing per capita than any other place really in the country of similar size and, and larger than more places do on the world. So, by definition, you're going to end up counting more cases, so that's why we also look at, you know, percent positivity. And we see also that our percent positivity has continued to decline, although maybe not as precipitous as it has in some other places, and so that gets to the issue that by case counts, I'm not sure that's always the best metric to compare us to but looking at test positivity we continue to see the same positive trends that other places have as well, and I do anticipate that will continue as we move forward. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you very much. Yes, I just wanted to add, you know, with respect to looking at the trajectory of cases we have declined, you know, compared to our peak which was in early January where we were seeing a seven-day average of over 6,000 new cases a day and so that has come down significantly, and the numbers that we're seeing in recent days are closer to where we were in early December with respect to total number of cases. We do of course want to drive down these case numbers even further, as both the Mayor and Dr. Varma have said, and we have a strategy to be able to do that which involves taking the things that we know have worked, those core public health preventative measures, strengthening them where we can, particularly, for example, with the mask guidance that the Health Department released last week and also ramping up vaccination as quickly as possible. The final thing to say is that we are keeping a close eye on the new variants and how they may be affecting transmission and it makes all of those preventative measures that much more important. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next, we'll go to Ariana from Kings County Politics. 

Question: Hi, good morning. 

Mayor: How are you, Ariana? 

Question: I'm good. My first question, I've just [inaudible] back to the quarantine hotels. I was wondering if the city is going to plan on attracting more tourism once the COVID-19 crisis kind of fades or would you consider reusing those spaces for residential purposes or to battle the homelessness crisis? 

Mayor: So, I would say this to you, Ariana, we, first of all, the immediate issue of making sure if someone needs to safely separate, they can get a hotel room for free, we're going to continue that so long as we're in the COVID. Second of all, I really do believe you're going to see a strong comeback in the city economically starting this summer, and that you're going to see tourism actually start to revive in this summer, this fall in a meaningful way, but it'll take a while to get back, of course, to its full strength. So, I think a lot of hotels will start to fill up over time, you know, for their normal business, but we generally do not think hotels are part of the solution to homelessness. What we want to do is get, of course, more and more people into permanent affordable housing, it's about I think 150,000 folks that we've been able to get permanent affordable housing for who had been homeless over the last seven years. We don't want to use hotels where we're paying by the night, we want purpose-built shelters. That's the plan I put forward three years ago and that we're acting on. So, I think that last point, you know, would there be some effort and turn some hotels into a residential housing, some combination of affordable housing, market rate housing? Open to that, but only if that's done through the regular land use process at the local level, that's the best way to do that.

Moderator: Next is Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor – 

Mayor: Hello – 

Question: How are you doing this morning? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, Henry, how are you today? 

Question: I am hanging in there. We're about to get to March, but there we go. I've got a question for you about the Recoveries Czar that you have appointed. What is her first job going to be specifically, her first task? What is she going to be – what is she doing now? 

Mayor: So, Lorraine Grillo will be running a weekly war room starting this week, all Deputy Mayors, key agency heads, I’ll participate, and we're going to now take the major strands that have been initiated and intensify them, really, speed them up, coordinate them, come up with a series of major announcements. Her job is to supercharge this recovery. A lot of the building blocks are there. A lot of things have been moving from months, but we got to put into higher gear, so she’ll lead that war room, and she'll start making a series of announcements on additional steps in recovery over the weeks ahead. 

Question: Okay, thank you. I wanted to go over some of this data. I've been visiting some senior housing sites and the common complaint is that, you know, what you've heard is that the internet is prohibitive to them, a lot of people can't get through on the internet, and they're all asking why doesn't the city just come to us? We've got, you know, 150 here, we've got 230 there, why doesn't the city just set up shop in our social room, which we can't use now because of COVID, and give us shots? So why doesn't – instead of you establishing a site and demanding that people make appointments, why don't you bring the vaccine to people and have people line up and get a shot in the arm, and that would solve that problem? 

Mayor: Okay, I understand the impulse, and I can tell you, we're certainly going to be doing some of that, but I want to caution on the just lineup, get a shot in the arm. We really have to be careful. Part of why appointments have been really important to make, Henry, is to make sure that folks are getting vaccinated who are ready to be vaccinated, making sure they qualify, of course, but also making sure there are not other reasons health-wise et. cetera, where they should not be vaccinated, making sure their questions are answered in advance. I don't want a lot of lines of people sort of starting from scratch. I don't want to have a lot of people congregating. I want what we have, and I'll have Dr. Chokshi speak to this. The efficient thing, we've seen this with Department of Health sites, where the answers are given as much as possible advance, so when people arrive, they move through quickly. We do not want long lines. We do not want people, you know, congregating. We want to help people move through quickly. That's about everyone's health and safety, but absolutely, we announced this actually a week ago, Friday, that we'll be going to – what's often called naturally occurring retirement communities – will be going into buildings that are senior buildings and setting up vaccination sites. We need a hell of a lot more supply to do that on the scale we want to, but we absolutely will be doing that as we build up more supply. I think that's an important part of the strategy. Now, so far, the centers we have, Henry – they're working nonstop, every appointment's being filled. So, clearly seniors and everyone fill up those appointments constantly, getting to them, having a good experience, but as we get supply, we want to go more and more and more grassroots, right to building lobbies, building community rooms and vaccinate people on the spot, but with an appointment process. Dr. Chokshi, you want to speak to that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you very much. Well to start, you know, put simply this is such an urgent priority for us because we know that vaccinating our older New Yorkers will save lives and prevent suffering. That's why we have really centered making sure that we're meeting seniors where they are as a core part of our overall vaccination campaign. We've done this in a number of different ways, as the Mayor has already alluded to. First, we're working with our health care partners for them to reach out to their older patients because we know many of our seniors trust their family doctors, they trust the clinics that they've been going to, they know how to navigate them and get to them, so we're working very closely with them to to actualize that part of the plan. The second thing is we have a number of transportation options that are available to bring seniors to the sites that have been set up. But the third part, which is perhaps the most important, is this idea of meeting patients where they are and that involves increasing access, bringing onsite vaccination clinics to places like the naturally occurring retirement communities that the Mayor has mentioned, but also to NYCHA developments and housing preservation and development buildings where we know they're a high concentration of seniors. So, we've already undertaken that. We've gotten great feedback about those visits and those sites, and as supply continues to ramp up, we will expand that further. 

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Amanda from Politico. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, Amanda, how you been? 

Question: I'm good. Thank you. So, I wanted to get your thoughts on Johnson and Johnson's testimony earlier this morning. They said that they're going to ship 20 million single dose vaccines by the end of March, and so I wanted to know, have you been in conversation with the feds or at the company itself about what share of those vaccines will come to New York City and how that plays into the city's overall strategy for vaccinating five million people? 

Mayor: Yeah, I'll turn to Dr. Varma, but what I'm going to say upfront, we've been talking constantly with federal officials and it's been a very productive positive, conversation and very, very different from what we used to experience, but we've been wanting and pushing for more definition about specific numbers each week, each month, so we can hit our five million vaccination goal. So, certainly, I've been saying for weeks, I think Johnson and Johnson is going to be the difference maker because it's single dose, easier refrigeration standards, I think this is what will supercharge our effort. In terms of getting very precisely what we expect from New York City, I'm still waiting to hear that report, but I'm very hopeful about this new development. Dr. Varma? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, just to echo what the Mayor has been saying, you know, clearly supply continues to be the single most important issue and that supply is dictated by the federal government and then, of course, by the manufacturers themselves. So, you know, we're still learning what the allocations are going to be because as you know, the J and J vaccine is just being considered this week in front of the FDA, so we're looking forward to seeing the data, both the data that's analyzed completely by J and J because all we have up until now was the press release. And second, the independent analysis that's done by the FDA. If everything falls in line with what we anticipate it will show, which is that these vaccines, even with a single dose are highly effective at preventing hospitalizations and deaths, then this is just great news. And then the next big challenge becomes the one that we've been talking about all the time, which is supply, and of course we're kind of at the whims of what the federal government is able to allocate to New York City specifically, as well as of course what the manufacturers can actually produce themselves. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Amanda. 

Question: Great. Thank you, and then also this is more of an anecdotal question, but I've been seeing an increase in people not wearing masks, and I've been overhearing people saying “well, I’m vaccinated, so like, why should I be wearing a mask?” Which, you know, personally, I'm infuriates myself. I want to know what the city strategy is for implementing these public health measures as more people get vaccinated. Are there specific things that you're looking to do to, you know, educate people around their risk of transmission as we vaccinate more people? 

A hundred percent a really great question. I appreciate that. Amanda, I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi, but let me say this. We've been projecting this one for weeks and weeks too. We want everyone to stay – first of all, June's when we want to hit five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated, and June is the earliest we would even consider changing guidance around masks. It may be that we continue that guidance for quite a while, depending on what's going on. We're very concerned about the variants, for example, that's a big x-factor. But I think a good way for New Yorkers to think about now is for the first half of this year, from now through June, keep doing exactly what you're doing, not just wear a mask, wear two, social distancing, you know, all the precautions – get tested monthly. If you do have a case in your home, have the person safely separate. We want to keep all those precautions in place to guard against the variants, to help us consolidate our progress, to give time for this vaccination effort to catch up with the larger reality and really create a new dynamic of the city. 

When we get closer to June, we'll update the guidance depending on what we're seeing, but I think it’s really important for people not to let their guard down, and Dr. Chokshi will tell you that even when you're vaccinated, you know, you have to have concern for everyone around you. So, I would say anyone vaccinated, keep wearing that mask as part – and it's also just the culture. We want everyone to remember that the mask wearing culture has been part of what turned the corner for us, and we got to keep it that way until this is finally defeated. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes, we cannot take our foot off of the gas, right now. We remain in a position where we're concerned about the number of cases that we're seeing each day. We are concerned about the new variants as well, and we now have this valuable new weapon in our arsenal, the vaccine, but we have to think about it as something that is an additional layer of protection to all of the things that we know have already worked, and that includes mask wearing. That's why you heard in our guidance last week that we are actually doubling down on ensuring that New Yorkers are wearing masks. The most important thing remains that people wear them consistently and properly covering their nose and mouth, both indoors and outdoors. But we also suggested that two masks and higher-grade masks should become more common among New Yorkers as well, and specifically with respect to wearing your mask after you've been vaccinated, remember it takes time for immunity to build up that's one important reason, but then even after you've been fully vaccinated and have full immunity we don't know enough about the spread of the virus. Even when someone doesn't experience symptoms after they've been vaccinated and for all these reasons, it will remain important for us to keep wearing masks in the coming weeks and likely in the coming months as well. 

Mayor: Hey, one more thing I want to note to everyone. I want to get Dr. Ted long into this. It's really important, again, in that same vein, don't let your guard down, that anyone who gets a positive test engages with Test and Trace Corps, if they need to safely separate, they receive the services – we talked about this milestone today, 10,000 New Yorkers who have used those free hotels to keep their families safe. But Dr. Long, remind everyone of how to connect with Test and Trace and how to get that service if they need that for their family. 

Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps.: Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Well, first and foremost, we want you to connect with us, but we also will connect with you. Right now, for Test and Trace, as we're seeing the number of cases come down, we're continuing to reach a higher proportion of every single new case than any other jurisdiction in the country. If you want to reach out to us now, for anything that you need, including a free hotel stay call 2-1-2-COVID-19, and remember, we're going to reach you as well. We're completing the interviews with almost 80 percent of every single new case across New York City. So, New Yorkers are trusting us, and we will continue to do our good work to drive cases down, but you can also call us at 2-1-2-COVID-19 anytime. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, doctor. 

Moderator: Last, we'll go to Sydney from Gothamist. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking my question. 

Mayor: How are you, Sydney? 

Question: I'm doing well. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, thanks. 

Question: Great. So, I wanted to ask about the program that the city hopes to implement if Johnson and Johnson vaccine is authorized for homebound seniors. Just given that review is this week, could you share with us more details on what that program would look like if Johnson and Johnson vaccine it's authorized and how quickly would the city be ready to stand up that program for homebound seniors? And how are you getting touch, getting in touch with those, those particular older adults? 

Mayor: Yeah, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long. Look, the Health Department, Health + Hospitals, everyone's going to work together. The announcement we made, you know, the three parts Dr. Chokshi talked about, the focus on the naturally [inaudible] retirement communities where we'll have the vaccination centers right there in the buildings, the effort to reach home health aides, who have such a profound impact on the health and wellbeing of homebound seniors. The aides need to be protected, that also helps protect the seniors. But the big piece we want to get to is the literally in-home vaccination of folks who cannot leave their home. That really requires a Johnson and Johnson vaccine. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Long, you want to talk about how your agencies are going to help marshal the forces to do that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I'll be happy to and thank you. This is an area that we have been actively planning for because we know how important it is for individuals who are vulnerable by virtue of being home-bound to get this additional protection from vaccination as well. We've been working with a number of different agencies and clinicians who have the experience of already taking care of people in their homes. For example, home-based primary care clinicians, as well as visiting nurses who already provide, you know, many healthcare services in people's homes. We have to join that existing infrastructure with what we learn about the Johnson and Johnson vaccine. As Dr. Varma alluded to earlier, there are still some questions about the vaccine itself with respect to storage and handling requirements which will emerge once the company submits all of the data to either Food and Drug Administration. So, once we bring those two halves together, we will be ready to very rapidly do the door to door or in-home vaccination for homebound seniors over the month – we hope in March, if everything goes according to plan with the FDA, and to do that based on the supply that we're allocated from the federal government. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Long, you want to add? 

Director Long: Yeah, I think Dr. Chokshi hit all the key points. The only thing I would add is that to help us build towards that, we are continuing to expand our mobile fleet, where we are going to be bringing vaccines as we currently are today to communities and then going beyond there, and otherwise I agree with everything Dr. Chokshi said. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody.

2021-02-24 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well, I am very excited that tomorrow our New York City public schools, our middle schools will be reopening. And once we reopen, we are going the distance and we're looking forward to September when all our kids are going to be back. This is really an important moment, bringing back our middle school kids, getting them in the classroom, giving them an opportunity to learn from talented, committed, passionate educators. People who really care about what they're doing. School staff that cares for them, looks out for them, looks out for their academic needs, looks out for their emotional needs as well. This is why it's so important to have kids back. So middle school kids come back tomorrow. And that's going to be great. And it's a reminder of why it is right to have kids in school. This is a discussion happening all over the country. Let me be as clear as I could be, kids need to be back in school as quickly as possible. And it is so good for them, for their health and wellbeing for families. Hey, remember the spring? Remember all of the dislocation, all the pain caused by school not being there? Remember how many families struggled, trying to make it work? Remember our educators trying somehow to put together a remote system, learning, distance learning. And again, God bless our educators and our school staff and everyone at the Department of Education, they did it in the spring. They came up with something that had never been done before. But no one thinks that compares to in-person learning. So, we're moving forward, bringing our middle school kids back tomorrow. And then we want to go farther and we want to get ready for a really, really great September when everyone's back. 

And the reason this has worked is because we set the highest standards in this nation. A lot of cities didn't even dare to reopen their schools. We said, we're going to do it. It's the New York way. We're going to do great things. We're going to do what other people don't dare to do, but we're going to do it by setting the highest standards. So, we took the very best ideas from around the world, the highest health and safety standards, we created a single gold standard. And what's amazing is the New York City example is now being lauded all over the country as the way to open schools. In fact, so much so that the Centers for Disease Control, when they put out their school guidelines, they borrowed heavily from the New York City approach. And what we did here in New York City, what we proved here in New York City became the foundation for the national standards. 

Let's go over those CDC guidelines to give you a sense of how they connect. Number one, here are the key strategies the CDC says all school systems in America should be doing. Number one, universal and correct use of masks, universal use of masks, kids and adults alike. Check, we did that. Number two, physical distancing in all elements of the school. We did that. Number three, hand washing and respiratory etiquette. We did that, hand sanitizer everywhere. We did that from the very beginning. We keep doing that. Number four, clean and well-ventilated spaces, constant cleanings, careful attention to ventilation. We did that. And number five, focus on contact tracing, when necessary using quarantining. We'd done that from the beginning with the biggest Test and Trace Corps in America. That's been doing an amazing job. And with our situation room and thanks to everyone in the situation room for the incredible work you've done, making sure that there is an issue in a school, it's addressed right away. What we did became the gold standard for the entire United States of America. And we're very proud. I'm proud of all the people who did that work. Now, we got to keep going. And it means continuing to do testing at the highest level anywhere, weekly testing, all schools. Obviously, getting more and more folks in the schools vaccinated over time. But we have proven it works because New York City public schools are the safest places to be in New York City right now. And the numbers keep proving it. 

Now, today we hit an important milestone and this commitment to testing, something a lot of other school systems didn't do. We said we would do testing constantly. Today, in our public schools, we'll get to the 500,000th test of a student or staff member. 500,000, half a million tests have been given in our New York City public schools since the beginning of the school year. That commitment to testing has been one of the reasons the schools have been so safe. And we believe in it and we know it makes a huge difference. I want to thank everyone who's been involved in the testing in the schools. I want to thank everyone who's helped us get it done. We worked closely with our union partners. We've educated and reached out to parents and we've gotten a great response. And so, testing is one of the reasons that gold standard works. And we're going to keep building on that. So, school coming back tomorrow, another step forward in this recovery. And remember, a recovery of New York City requires our public schools to come back strong. A recovery for all of us means our public schools are there for our kids in every community. That's why I am adamant our public schools need to be fully opened in September. 

Okay. Let me give you an update obviously, on vaccines. We talk about it every day. This is the crucial piece of the equation. We still lack supply. It's the constant story, but I do believe things are starting to get better. And I'm really, really hopeful about what we're hearing about the Johnson and Johnson supply, which could make a huge difference for us even as early as the month of March. But let me give you an update on the numbers, as of today vaccinations given in New York City from day one, 1,578,362 doses. And again, we're ready to take that up to a much higher level quickly, so long as we get that supply. Now, when it comes to vaccination, we're focused on equity. We're focused on making sure that people who have been in the neighborhoods that suffered the most from COVID, get access to the vaccination, get the support they need the information they need, the answers they need, the outreach they need. 75 percent of our City-run vaccination sites are in the priority neighborhoods. The ones that bore the brunt of COVID, the ones where we saw the most death and devastation. That's where we're focusing. And we're seeing really good results. More and more people choosing to get vaccinated because the sites are right there in the community being run by people from the community, which gives people faith. It gives them trust in the process. We really focused on public housing and in NYCHA, we've had already, 19 vaccination sites. I was out at Red Hook Houses in Brooklyn on Sunday, great operation there. I saw really, really happy people. People were happy to be helping their neighbors, who were in that vaccination site, running it. And folks from Red Hook Houses, residents who came right there in their own community, got vaccinated, believed in it. Now they're going to tell their neighbors, their family, their friends, how important it is to get vaccinated. This is how we build up momentum. And all of the folks who have been vaccinated, we're going to be bringing them back for their second doses right there in the community, at those same sites. So, this is something I'm really excited about. It's making a big difference. We're adding more sites later this week, seven more sites in public housing later this week. And we're going to continue expanding deeper and deeper into New York City public housing, reaching people who need help the most. 

And I want to affirm, even though we had a setback last week from the weather, we can reach our goal, five million New Yorkers, fully vaccinated by June. We can reach that goal so long as we get the supply. 

Now, New York City is coming back. New York City is coming back strong. There is no question about it. And we see all sorts of signs of the comeback. We see it really starting to take shape. Here's one I love, and this is breaking news, we've heard about just in the last day. And it really grabs at the heart of a lot of New Yorkers because some New York institutions, some New York icons are special to us. And one of them is the legendary department store Century 21. Century 21 bore the brunt of this, a pandemic like so many other retail stores, they were going through so much. And we mourned when we heard that Century 21 wouldn't be around. But now Century 21 is making a New York City come back. Century 21 is coming back. And I want to thank the Gindi family who have owned Century 21 for generations, who love this city who have created something so special for New Yorkers. This is really a part of life in this city. People love Century 21. They get great deals and not just New Yorkers. People come from all over the world. So, I love that when they announced that they're coming back, and it will take a while for it all to be put together. But when they announced that they were 100 percent coming back, they said something simple at Century 21. And we should all listen to this simple idea. They said, never count out a New Yorker, never count out a New Yorker. So, Century 21 was down, but got back up. And here to tell you about it, he's got a great New York story himself. Marc Benitez, I'm going to introduce him. He was born and raised in the Bronx. He went to work for Century 21 straight out of college, worked his way up through the ranks, loves the store, loves this city. He is now the President of Century 21 stores. And he's here to tell us about the good news, my pleasure to introduce Marc Benitez. 

[…] 
 
Mayor: Excellent. Thank you so much, Mark. Hey, Mark, we are just so happy for you and the Gindi family and everyone at Century 21. Thank you. Thank you for believing in New York City. Thank you for being New York strong and coming back no matter what. You know, there's going to be a lot of New Yorkers who can't wait to walk through the door of Century 21 again. And I have said to people, when we get past the immediate challenge of COVID, when we get 5 million people vaccinated by June, you're going to see a whole lot happening in this city. You're going to see an explosion of pent-up demand, New Yorkers going out all over the city, spending their money to help New York City come back. And then you're going to start to see visitors come back and you're going to see people wanting to be here and the life of this city coming back more and more in 2021. So, what good news. Thank you, Mark. And thank you, everyone at Century 21 for showing us that New York City is coming back strong.

All right, everyone, let's go over today's indicators. Number one, daily number – excuse me, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 275 patients with a confirmed positivity level of 64.83 percent. And the hospitalization rate, 4.10 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,241. Number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report, on a seven-day rolling average, 7.15 percent.
 
A few words in Spanish – and I'm going to talk about where I started, middle schools reopening tomorrow. 
 
[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 
 
With that, we're going to turn to our colleagues in the media.
 
Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Chancellor Carranza, by Dr. Katz, by Dr. Long, by Jeff Thamkittikasem, the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Operations, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. We'll go to Juliet from 1010 WINS.
 
Mayor: Juliet?
 
Question: Hello?
 
Mayor: Hey, how are you doing, Juliet? 
 
Question: Oh, okay. I didn't hear that you came to me. I'm sorry about that. Thank you. Yesterday, Mr. Mayor, the Health Department issued a report – about 59 cases of the U.K. variant strain and that the City is looking for an additional vendor to expand the City's capacity to sequence specimens. So, can you talk more about this rise in cases and your concerns?
 
Mayor: Yeah. Thank you, Juliet. And I'll turn to Dr. Varma, but let me just say at the outset, we're very concerned about the variants. We're talking about it all the time, focusing on it all the time here at City Hall. But the most important question is the strategy and the strategy remains the same – get people vaccinated. Everything we're seeing so far about the variants tells us that vaccination is still the best tool, the best – you know, the best defense is a good offense. The offense is vaccination. So, even though we see more of it, it does not change the approach to what will work. Go ahead, Jay.
 
Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma: Thank you very much for the question. Yeah, so, as we announced yesterday, we actually have built the capacity to monitor this threat. And that's really important news. We've been working on this very aggressively with different partners and we're continuing to expand that capacity so that we make sure that we have as much of a window into this problem as possible. As we've learned, we can only respond to a problem when we're tracking it accurately, and what we announced yesterday was that the current estimate is that about six percent of cases in the city are due to the B117 or UK variant, and it's important to note that that percentage of course is higher than we would like, but it has been stable for two straight weeks. So, that gives us optimism, you know, cautious optimism that we can still outrun it with all of the prevention measures, and of course the most important prevention measure, which is vaccination. We do need to remain vigilant. We've seen in other countries such as Denmark that the rate of these infections can stay at a low level and then suddenly increase. So, of course we need to continue to track it, and that's why we will continue to issue these reports weekly and also build our capacity so that if the threat does grow, we can also measure it as accurately as possible. 
 
Moderator: The next is Narmeen from PIX 11. 
 
Question: Hi Mayor. How are you? 
 
Mayor: Hey Narmeen, how you been? 

Question: I'm well. I do want to ask you first about what I've learned is a fairly new step, I believe in the Health + Hospital's site, when preregistering for COVID test, it requires a signing off of a waiver where a test taker will have to bear financial responsibility for the test. I'm summarizing the wording there, but are you worried that this once again is another deterrent for people. If people are asked to pay for a test that we understand to be free, and I can provide your team with the documentation or the screen grab that I received from someone who filled out this preregistration. 
 
Mayor: Narmeen, thank you. As I said earlier, I appreciate when a journalist brings something to our attention that needs to be addressed and resolved. We had an issue, you know, a couple of weeks back about the way applications for vaccination were being presented for some sites to suggest people needed health insurance when they don't. Obviously, vaccinations are available people, whether they have health insurance or not, and the same with testing and it's free. So, anything that might be misleading or confusing we have to address, I don't know about the specific situation you're talking to. I definitely want you to share it with our teams so we can address it. But I want to see if Dr. Mitch Katz has anything he wants to say about this. 
 
President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Well, I very much appreciate you're raising it. I'm not aware of that, and I know as policy if someone has insurance, we do want to bill the insurance because that enables us to have more money to take care of people who don't have insurance, but we do not bill individuals for the COVID tests, and I'm sorry to hear that the screen itself is confusing. I would guess that what it was trying to say was if you have insurance, here is where you put in the insurance again, because we are trying to bill insurance, but we are not trying to bill people, but I'm happy to look at that screenshot. I appreciate it, and we'll resolve the issue. 
 
Mayor: Yeah, that's really important, Narmeen. Where people have insurance, of course, we want the insurance plans to pay for whatever is possible. That's appropriate. That's the way to do it, but never in a way that would discourage anyone from getting a test, and anyone who does not have insurance is absolutely welcomed to get a test. They do not need insurance. They will not be charged, anyway you slice it, but let's, let's take your information and we'll work to fix that. 
 
Moderator: The next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 
 
Question: Hey, good morning. Mayor de Blasio my question for you – you answered this yesterday, but I just wanted to maybe take another swing at it, and it's about the COVID cases in New York City which obviously there's been a drop around the country. But we're not seeing such a drop here within the city. We're just trying to figure out how or why, is it because we're testing more? I don't know if there's anything more you can share with us about this trend that is happening around the country, but not so much here within New York City? 
 
Mayor: I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Varma. I think we're testing more, so we're portraying the full reality more accurately than a lot of places. We're one of the most densely populated places in the entire country, and that does facilitate the transmission of the disease, and we have a historic challenge of folks who have not had enough access to healthcare for generations and communities that have suffered from poverty and that exacerbates the vulnerability. So, those, I think are our realities that make us different, but it's why we have to fight that much harder, maintain strict standards, constant testing, deepening vaccination, to overcome it. Go ahead, Dr. Varma. 
 
Senior Advisor Varma: Thank you for the interest in this – yeah, thank you for the interest in this question. I think we have to keep in mind that we have actually had a pretty pronounced drop in the number of infections that we have. Despite us having, you know, one of the highest per-capita testing rates, anywhere in the world. We've seen, I think over 30, 35 percent drop in the number of cases on our seven-day average since the beginning of January we've also seen a progressive decline in our hospitalizations and deaths. One of the reasons possibly why the rate of decline may not be as steep as it is in other places has to do with the issues that the Mayor has just highlighted, this is an inherently more vulnerable place. We have people living in dense situations, a lot of crowding in houses. A lot of crowding, obviously in our communities combined with all of the historical forces of racism and poverty and injustice that continue to be reasons and explanations for why New York City was the hardest hit during the first wave. So, I think if there has been a less of a decline than other places, I would guess it largely has to do with the fact that once COVID gets entrenched here it does take a little bit longer to get out, and that's why our Test and Trace Corps is so essential, and why all of these prevention measures and vaccinations continue to be so important. 
 
Mayor: And I want to emphasize that the testing has just constantly expanded. One of the unsung heroes of the New York City testing effort is on with us today, and I want to shout them out and thank them. Our Director of Operations, Jeff Thamkittikasem, who has really done remarkable work with his team, expanding testing constantly for the people in New York City and making it something you could get all over the city and for free, and obviously, Dr. Ted Long, Test and Trace Corps, they've done an amazing job. I mean, we've really gone the extra mile to get people testing, but it's going to show you the larger truth, and this is part of the things we've said. Some people have said our numbers appear to be more rigorous, more conservative, whatever, name you want to say. I like that our numbers show us a full truth. I like that we're being transparent about it. It keeps our guard up and it tells us how much we have to fight to make sure we get things done right. But, you know, as Dr. Varma said, we clearly see improvement. Now we got to sustain that improvement in the face of the variants. Go ahead, Katie. 
 
Question: Thank you, and my second question is also about the testing. Can you speak a little bit about how the testing and tracing war room, I guess, for schools, how you've ramped that up to prepare for middle school, and then how much more needs to be done to facilitate the opening of high schools at whatever point within the next few weeks, whatever that decision is? 
 
Mayor: Yeah, I’m going to turn to Jeff on this one, but with a preface to say that it's been remarkable, the systematic approach now being taken to the expansion of testing. The systematic approach being taken to the expansion of the situation room, and I want to thank Buildings Commissioner Melanie La Rocca, who's done an outstanding job with her team building out that situation room. That's something that is not typical around the country. It's a model, another thing that's being now emulated in other places. But we know that we have the testing capacity for middle school starting tomorrow, every school being tested weekly, and we will have the same for high school. I can confirm that to you now, Katie, that that capacity has been built and will be ready for when we reopen high school, and Jeff, why don't you give a flavor of how that's been done? 
 
Director Jeff Thamkittikasem, Mayor’s Office of Operations: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I agree wholeheartedly with all that you’ve said. I think the big issue, the big point here is that it has been a whole city effort. Our effort to expand testing across the city has really enabled us to kind of grow what we can do in the schools. We've not only had the ability to create our own lab here in New York that can process tens and thousands of tests, but also, we have great partners with other labs. So, we've been able to expand the number of teams that can go to every location and with turnarounds that are within a day and a day and a half of return. Similarly, we've already increased the number of staff in our situation rooms to account for the expansion of our testing, and as the Mayor said, we have already planned out what we're going to do with high school on the testing side and are continuing to grow that so that we're ready. As the Mayor said, we will have the capacity for that. We have identified it. We just have to put in place. 
 
Mayor: Thank you very much. 

Moderator: The next is Stacey from FOX-5.

Question: Hi can you –

Mayor: Hey, Stacey, can you hear us? Stacey? One more time. Stacey, are you out there? Okay, we’ll have to come back to Stacey.

Moderator: Stacey, we’ll have to come back. We’ll go to Nolan from The Post.

Mayor: Nolan, I don't hear anything.

Question: Oh, there it is –

Mayor: There we go. Good morning, Nolan.

Question: Good morning, everybody. How are you?

Mayor: Good, how you doing man?

Question: I'm all right. I just like to start with following up on one of Richard's questions about reopening high schools, you've consistently said that vaccinations are a key to getting the city school system reopened and back to full strength by September, you have a figure for the number of teachers who have been vaccinated yet?

Mayor: We’ll get that out. We have – that's an ever-growing figure. That's something we'll be reporting publicly, and I feel very good about that effort. We've been working closely with the unions but a reminder that long before we even had the vaccine available, we had proven the safety of New York City public schools because of the gold standard we've set and that remains true. So, we're going to keep bringing our schools back and keep vaccinating more and more people at the same time. Go ahead.

Question: All right, and, you know, you talked a little bit about how you won't opine on what you think the Governor should do. Do you think the state would be better off under different leadership than it is now?

Mayor: Look, again, I'm not here to get into a political discussion. I've obviously said there needs to be a full investigation of what happened with this nursing home scandal. It's again let's go to the most important factor, thousands of lives were lost. We don't yet have a full accounting of what happened. We need the truth, the families who lost their loved ones deserve the truth, and we have to make sure it never happens again in the State of New York. So, that's what I think is important here, but the fact is, to me it’s not the season for politics right now. It's the focus I have is on getting this city to move forward, fostering a recovery. That's what I'm focused on. And just, Nolan, I've been handed a note, we'll get you more exact figures, but so far, I'm told about 30,000 is the accurate number about, 30,000 educators have been vaccinated, but we'll get you a specific update on that.

Moderator: We'll have time for two more for today. The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. To the serious topic of vaccination. Unless I missed it, did you not mention the new mega sites opening today at your college and Medgar Evers College today? You may have mentioned it off the top, but I'm wondering how concerned you are that they're at last check, were still hundreds, if not thousands of appointments available at these sites and whether even though they're State and federally run, they could use a boost from the Mayor's office in terms of reminding folks in these communities to sign up for these slots.

Mayor: Yeah, I do not have the latest on the sign up levels. I have to tell you, Andrew, every time every time vaccinations have been available in this city for now several months, they get snapped up. So, I really don't believe there will be a lack of demand, but certainly I encourage folks in southeast Queens go to York College, sign up for appointments, obviously, but go to York College for vaccination and folks in Central Brooklyn, go to Medgar Evers College, I think that's great. We want to make sure that is bringing more vaccine into the city. The key concern I had was that the federal government was giving us more to do those and not, you know, just shifting resources around. But, no, definitely I encourage people to use those sites, every single bit helps. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: My question has to do with what happens to folks after they've been fully vaccinated. There's been some speculation and discussion about whether people can still test positive weeks after being vaccinated a second time, and other questions about whether the key to reopening involves events where you show some type of proof you've been vaccinated. So, I'm wondering maybe Dr. Varma or Dr. Katz would want to weigh in on this, but do you think folks who have been fully vaccinated can bypass being tested, to go, for example, to a sporting event or a concert or a show?

Mayor: Let's go to Dr. Varma and Dr. Katz and get your views on that.

Senior Advisor Varma: Great. No, thank you very much for this question. I think it's actually really important for us to understand. One of the reasons we haven't changed our policy recommendations right now is we have to remember that the vast majority of the population is not yet vaccinated. So, it's not yet realistic to think that we could relax our requirements whether it goes – relates to testing or to masks until we have a larger number percentage of the population vaccinated, but you're absolutely correct. Once individuals are vaccinated and we have a large enough number of people vaccinated, it will be possible for us to change the procedures that people need to follow and the precautionary measures.
 
To get to some of the very specific scientific questions you're asking, we are confident that vaccination will reduce transmission and will reduce the likelihood that you get infected. What is the uncertainty right now is how much, and is that true in every single person? So, that's still an area of uncertainty that we need to resolve before we answer that question. The second issue is how effective are vaccines and that is a question that we actually know the answer to right now, and the most powerful data we have, including what's being presented right now in front of the FDA for Johnson and Johnson, is that vaccines prevent hospitalizations and prevent deaths, and they don't just do it a little bit. They do it a lot. So, I do think we're going to get to a world where we are going to change our recommendations for testing and masking. But it's once we get to a higher level of vaccination.

Mayor: Dr. Katz, do you want to add?

President Katz: I'll add more from the, how it affects individuals. So, I think Dr. Varma did very well on the population level. I think when it comes to individuals, people will make good decisions understanding the benefits of vaccination. So, I'm looking forward to this Saturday, my elderly parents will get to see my two older siblings, both of whom were over 65. They haven't been together for over a year because of COVID, but now all four of them who were are over 65 have been vaccinated and they can be together, and they will be together, you know, without their masks so that they can really appreciate one another. That is though different than all of us going to Madison Square Garden. So, I think that, you know, as people are vaccinated and can be with other vaccinated people, medicine and public health never provide a 100 percent guarantees of anything, but overwhelmingly these are vaccines that prevent both disease and transmission, and I think people can start making sensible decisions to reconnect with other vaccinated people in the coming weeks. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you, and Mitch, I'm very happy for you and your family. That's a beautiful story and that's, you know, that just says it all about the power of vaccination to bring people back together and move us forward. Thank you for that. Okay, I think, do we have Stacey now?

Moderator: We should have Stacey back for our last question for today.

Question: Thank you, sorry about that. I, that's just when I stepped in the elevator. Mr. Mayor, in terms of the middle schools reopening tomorrow and the two-case rule, I know it's something you said would be revisited. A lot of parents say, well, just even if you're open middle schools, they're not even that competent their kids will have that much in-person learning at the schools will continue to close with two unrelated cases. So, will – is that something that will be revisited? What is the status?

Mayor: Yeah, it is being revisited for sure. We have an ever-changing situation. One thing we know Stacey about COVID from the first moment we ever heard of it until now, we constantly learn new things, constantly having changing dynamics. We got to move with the times and with information. So, clearly our schools have been safe, and I think the abundance of caution was a correct approach in the beginning, but now our kids need to be in school. We're seeing the need – our children needed emotionally, academically, for their health, for their mental health, we've seen suicides, which is so painful. Kids need to be back in school and we got to create a reality where we open up schools, keep them open, get them – more and more kids back, make it possible for schools to remain open, not be on open-end shuts so much. So, we're going to figure out the best way to do that, but I think from this moment on, and notwithstanding the fears and concerns we have about the variant, which is real, the goal is to constantly have schools open more and more and more, and then in September 100 percent full strength. Go ahead, Stacey.

Question: To follow up on that. Could you say at all that there's a chance that rule could be dropped soon, and also, could you give high school parents any assurance that their kids will have some kind of in-person learning before the end of this school year?

Mayor: So, on the rule, it's something we're working on right now to figure out the best way to handle that. I'm not going to say something until it's done. Clearly, we're reevaluating that, we want to find a way to handle things that focuses on health and safety first, but keeps kids in school more, and we'll have more to say on that soon. On high school, again, I expect the next few weeks to be able to give you a sense of the way forward. I am very hopeful, given everything we're seeing, that we can get high school back and get it back relatively soon. It’s something I absolutely want to do in this school year we're in right now.

Okay, everybody, here's the bottom line. We see some real progress here. We see some progress fighting this disease every single day, tens of thousands more New Yorkers getting vaccinated, but the day's coming soon where it shouldn't just be tens of thousands of New Yorkers being vaccinated, we get the supply we need, it could be more like almost a 100,000 New Yorkers a day getting vaccinated. So, when we get that supply, it will be transcended, but anywhere you slice it, our recovery has already begun. Bringing back middle school tomorrow is another great sign, New York City's coming back, coming back strong. There is so much energy waiting to be unleashed. So, I know we're going to have a strong recovery. It's going to be a recovery for all of us, and tomorrow is going to be another one of those days, I look forward to being out there tomorrow morning greeting the middle school kids coming back, another step on our road back to the New York City, the strong vibrant New York City we all know and love. Thank you, everyone.

2021-02-25 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well, it is truly a beautiful day in New York City. It's beautiful and sunny outside, but I am so happy today because I was just up in the Bronx, seeing kids coming back to school. Middle school kids coming back, what an exciting moment, such good energy. Everyone, so happy to be back in school, middle school now back all over the city. So, today I was at Leaders of Tomorrow Middle School in the Bronx. I got to tell you, whether you are talking about parents, kids, teachers, educators, staff, everyone wanted to be back in the building. Everyone wanted to be together. Everyone wanted to be there for the kids. So, it was wonderful to see the energy and the hope and the understanding that this is part of how we move forward. This is part of how we come back. 

And I talked to some of the kids and I love – I know this as a parent, a lot of times you'll get those one-word answers. So, I said to them, you know, how do you feel? [Inaudible] good? Are you ready? Yes. But a couple of kids, I said, Hey, tell me why are you happy about coming back to school? And they said, they really didn't like, you know, just doing remote learning. I asked a young man named Joshua, what do you think of remote learning? He looks at me. He says, boring. And – no, I'm sorry. That's a different young woman [inaudible] said that, boring. I looked at Joshua. I said, why do you not like remote so much? And he said, because it's weird. And I just love these kids saying it just wasn't what gave them what they needed. What they needed was to be with their friends. What they needed was to be with their teachers, to get the warmth, to get the energy, we were in a classroom with Ms. Cottineau, And Ms. Cottineau was just full of energy. And she asked the kids what was bringing them joy today? And so, we all said to her, what brings you joy? And she said, what brings me joy is being back in the classroom with the kids. I want to be here. It feels right. And she just said, it is literally a feeling of joy to be able to educate our kids. 

So, that's what we saw today. And again, I know lots and lots of parents are also feeling relief today. It's been a lot for them to have to cover all the bases at once. Finally, our middle school parents getting a little bit of relief. Big, important day from New York City. And our Chancellor feels this to his core. He and I have been at all the opening days together. And every one of them just feels so special. So I want you to hear, because the Chancellor has been working so hard with his team to get middle school back. And we're going to go farther in the months ahead. I want you to hear from our Chancellor Richard Carranza. 

Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It was truly a pleasure to be at Leaders of Tomorrow Middle School this morning to see that energy that you talk about. And before I say anything else, I also want to thank Principal Joe Biernat who had just a well-oiled machine this morning. Students getting tested or the temperatures taken, consent forms, everything in place. So, thank you, Principal Biernat. It was exciting to welcome our middle school students back to their classrooms today. When we were at Leaders of Tomorrow Middle School in the Bronx this morning, even behind the masks, there was such joy and excitement on the faces of our students. It's an important reminder of why it's so critical that we open our schools for in-person learning as soon as it's safe to do. And none of this would have been possible without our dedicated school staff who have done a tremendous job supporting students remotely. From the educators that are teaching lessons in-person and remotely, to the staff who make sure buildings are ready, to families for their continued perseverance and flexibility. I'll tell you that you could have eaten off of the floors at that middle school. They looked beautiful. 

And of course, to our middle schoolers themselves, who have done such an amazing job of learning from home for the first half of this school year. You are incredible. And we are very proud of you. We've come a long way together since the fall. And we reopened District 75 schools, our elementary schools, moving the majority of our students to in-person learning five days a week. And now we're beating back the virus. Over 30,000 of our educators have received a vaccine. And that number is increasing every day. The CDC recently adopted the same health and safety standards that we in New York City have had in place since September. Together, we wrote the playbook for delivering a safe and supportive education for our children. And we're not stopping now. Yesterday we reached half a million COVID tests administered in New York City schools. And the latest weekly positivity rate in our schools is 0.58 percent. So, as the Mayor has said on many occasions, we can truly say the safest indoor locations in the City of New York are in the classrooms of the New York City Department of Education. We've ramped up capacity by hiring additional staff to support our situation room and adding teams to conduct weekly testing in our middle and elementary schools. We will continue to provide the safest learning environment possible for students, educators, and staff. 

[Chancellor Carranza speaks in Spanish] 

With that, sir, I'll turn it back to you. 

Mayor: In every language, it is joyous, Chancellor. And thank you so much. Just an update, everyone, and this is just a wonderful, wonderful report. Breaking news, as of this morning in New York City, 1,203 schools are open today. Open and serving our kids and moving this city forward. 1,203 schools open right this moment. 

Okay, let's go to what we focus on every single day, which is bringing this city back, a recovery for all of us. And that means getting everyone vaccinated, getting to that five million New Yorker vaccination point. I know we can do it. We can get five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. And one of the big reasons is the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is coming. This is very exciting. One dose, easier to use. We should be seeing a substantial amount of it in March. That's going to make a big difference. Where are we right now? From day one, the number of vaccinations administered, here we go, 1,614,585 doses. That is more than the entire population of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which is the sixth largest city in America. So, you can see every day, this number just keeps climbing, climbing. We get the supply we need, we can take off. Now, we had a tough week last week because the storm, delayed shipments of the supply of vaccine. But a lot has now come in. So, we're going to blitz this week. This is going to be a very intense weekend. We're actually adding capacity at a lot of our sites because we have extra vaccine now for this week. So, we're adding overnight shifts at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, at the Bathgate site in the Bronx, at Citi Field in Queens. We're doubling the number of appointments at some of the key sites in communities where we're focusing on fighting disparity, at Teacher's Prep and at Martin Van Buren High Schools. We're opening new pop-up sites in communities that need more outreach. 

And particularly for our seniors, so we have a seniors-only site, El Caribe in Mill Basin, Brooklyn. And we're focusing on faith communities, getting faith communities to help us get their congregants and communities involved again, particularly seniors. So, we have a site that'll be opening this weekend at First Corinthians Baptist Church in East Harlem. So, a lot going on. Test and Trace will be operating the First Corinthian site. That'll be Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM. So, for residents of Harlem, want to make sure you know that site is going to be up and running. And we want people to go right away. If you need the vaccine, go to nyc.gov/vax4NYC, nyc.gov/V-A-X-4-NYC. Let's get people signed up because we know, we know we have the capacity to reach so many people, every single person. I'll tell you yesterday, I was in Jackson Heights in Queens, people kept coming up to me, seniors saying they had gotten the first shot, they had gotten the second shot. It changed their lives. The joy, the comfort, the relief, it's happening for more and more New Yorkers. Let's get out there and get the word out. The vaccinations can happen right now, here in this city for so many people. 
 
Now, we're doing a lot of partnerships to reach people at the community level, particularly in communities that have been hit hardest by the coronavirus. Communities that also we're seeing a lot of hesitancy. We need to overcome the hesitancy, give people answers, give them faith, get them vaccinated to protect them, particularly seniors. So, today we are announcing a partnership with the National Action Network and Choose Health Life. And what we'll be doing – Reverend Sharpton is really helping to lead the way in getting a number of faith communities and faith organizations to help us create these popup sites on the ground. This will be happening where we have planned to initially – you know, you have 10 sites, we're going to keep building from there. But now, we're talking about how we build trust – community leaders, faith leaders that people know, and trust, and like, and believe, that's how you do it. Reverend Sharpton himself is putting his arm where his mouth is. He is out there himself, making sure that people know that he's getting vaccinated, that everyone can have faith in this vaccine. And, look, again, we understand the hesitancy. We understand the history. We understand why folks are not necessarily ready in the first instance, but what we see more and more is that word-of-mouth impact, when people have someone in their family who gets vaccinated, it gives them more faith. Someone in their community, a neighbor, someone they work with – there are so many instances, I've been hearing more and more where people say they got vaccinated because someone they knew and trusted already got vaccinated ahead of them and it worked okay for them. But also, voices people know and trust make a huge difference. From the beginning, we've said we need clergy to be a really big part of this. Clergy voices – and I know we've worked so closely with clergy in this administration on a host of issues, on mental health, on reaching communities to get parents involved with pre-K and 3-K, you name it. Clergy has been crucial to all we do. But one of the things we found is that people listen to their faith leaders, they have a special belief and respect for their faith leaders. So, we're going to bring faith communities more and more into this process as we go forward. And I want everyone to know that we don't for a moment [inaudible] that if someone's distrustful, if someone has questions, if someone has concerns, that's not something to disrespect. That's something to hear and answer, reassure, give evidence. And, again, particularly powerful when folks are able to come forward and say, look, I'm going to be doing it myself, I have faith in it, I respect this process, that makes a world of difference. 

Okay. Let's go on to a couple of things. I want to do our indicators and then I want to do a special reminder, because we have an important day tomorrow, so I want to make sure people know about this, because Purim is coming up, but first let me do the indicators – 

[Inaudible] 

Wait, hold on one second. We're having a little technical issue here. Are we ready for the – 

[Inaudible] 

Not yet. Okay. We’ll come back whenever you guys are ready. Okay. So, the indicators for today. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 259 patients. Confirmed positivity, 67.9 percent. And our hospitalization rate, 4.15 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,158 cases. Number three, percentage of people are testing citywide positive for COVID-19 – today's report, seven-day rolling average, 7.12 percent. 

Again, special a day tomorrow – tonight and tomorrow, the celebration of Purim. I want to make sure that folks know as we celebrate, this is a wonderful, joyous holiday in the Jewish community. It is all about a celebration of life. It is a joyous time. It is a time to focus on the deliverance from evil. It is a time when people really get to celebrate and enjoy, but we also have to be smart and careful. People historically have gathered for Purim, done a big party, but this is a different year. And I want to thank all the community leaders and particularly the community leaders that focus on health care, like Hatzolah Ambulance Corps., who are getting the word out that of course people can and should celebrate Purim, but they can do it safely. Be smart about how big the size of group is, be smart about staying close to family members and not having the big gatherings that are typical. Having a happy and safe Purim, that's what we're urging everyone. So, a happy Purim to everyone. Let's keep everyone safe. And when it comes to keeping people safe, our very important priority we've had in our vaccination effort is to focus on some of the New Yorkers who need vaccination the most, because they have gone through so much in their lives. Holocaust survivors – we have a special focused effort to vaccinate Holocaust survivors. We're getting more and more people each day. We're working with a number of organizations in the community. I want to thank all the organizations who have been a part of this effort. We're reaching people who have been through so much. We want to make sure they are safe. So, we'll continue to deepen that effort and we’re going to reach each and every one of the folks who need the help. 

Okay. At some point we're going to have an additional guest beam in – hold on, getting a note. Okay. Just a moment. Let me do first the Spanish for today. And this goes back to the topic I started with on middle schools. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

I want to emphasize that in English. My thanks to the teachers, the educators, the school staff, to the parents, to everyone who has helped us bring middle school back and it’s going to help us go farther. A great thanks to our Chancellor and the whole team at the Department of Education who have believed all along, no matter how big the challenge is we would overcome them. And yes, Chancellor, New York City public schools are the safest places to be in New York City right now. 

Okay. So, now – we do not have our special guest yet. 

[Inaudible] 

Now we have our special guest. Okay. So, I talked earlier about National Action Network, Reverend Sharpton, and the fact that he is not only helping us to create these new vaccine sites and to bring more and more clergy into the vaccine effort, but that he is going the next step and showing people how important it is to get vaccinated by getting vaccinated himself and talking about the experience and why it's safe and why it's smart for people to protect themselves and their families. So, Reverend Sharpton, I believe you're up at Harlem Hospital today. Is that right? 

Reverend Al Sharpton: Yes, I am in Harlem Hospital. I have just been vaccinated. I have around 10 pastors with me. I'm putting my shirt back on from being vaccinated, and the pastors are from all the different parts of the city, including my pastor in Brooklyn, Dr. Adolphus Lacey, and Pastor Canaan, all of them here with me. And Mr. Mayor, I talked yesterday with the vice president, Kamala Harris, who is going in Washington D.C. today to a pharmacy where they are trying to start bringing vaccines right to the pharmacy. So, I told her, at the same day she's going to the pharmacies, we're doing this in the city with you and the efforts to reach out, because we want to set an example to our community. We've demanded and have rallied, saying that we want to have the same access to COVID-19 testing and vaccines as other communities. Now, that we are beginning to get that we have to set the examples to go with the vaccine. We do not need to be the Donald Trumps of this community, questioning the science. We need to follow the science. We need to do what it says. I know all of the conspiracy theories, I've looked through them. Tuskegee was letting people suffer and not get shots – it’s keeping the penicillin away. This is the opposite of that. I trust [inaudible] and the Black doctors that were involved. So, I'm here saying, I cannot afford not to take the shot. 

Mayor: That's so helpful to hear, Reverend Sharpton. And thank you. And I want to just ask you, because I think this is one of the things that people always need to hear. Why did you personally choose to have the shot? And how does it feel right this minute? 

Reverend Sharpton: I personally took the shot because I feel two things. One, that you've got to be sure that your loved ones and the people you're around are not risking themselves being around you, because you're playing some jaded game of Russian roulette, saying I may be still negative, I may not be. And that's not fair to your loved ones, even if you want to do that to yourself. And secondly, is that I wanted to set an example. I think those of us that are in public ought to set a public example, and I didn't want to tell people go do something that I was not going to do myself. And, right now, I'm feeling I'm feeling very well. I don't feel any kind of after effects at all, as of yet. 

Mayor: Excellent. And I really want to thank you, Rev. Your message is so important for people to hear. I want to thank everyone at Harlem Hospital, one of the great medical institutions of this entire city with such an extraordinary history. I know they took good care of you today and they’re ready to take care of everybody else who is going to come in and get that vaccine. Rev, thank you so much for joining us. And we’ve got to spread this message everywhere. We’ve got to tell people how important it is. And thank you for helping us to create these sites in the community with clergy, that's going to make a huge difference. 

Reverend Sharpton: Thank you. 

Mayor: All right. God bless. Okay, everyone, let's go to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Chancellor Carranza, by Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today, it goes to Gloria from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey, Gloria. How are you doing today? 

Question: I'm doing well. Thank you. How are you? 

Mayor: Good. Thank you. I wanted to follow up on a story that my colleague, Alyssa Paolicelli, did this week. We went to some of the sites that have opened up recently, particularly the ones in Brownsville and East New York that were set up to give priority to home health aides and people who live in the area. And we actually found after visiting twice that some of the people that were receiving shots were from outside of the communities, many of them were not home health aides. And so, I wondered if there's any kind of a follow-up that the City is doing or anything that the City can do to ensure that the sites that you're setting up that are supposed to be targeting specific people, whether it's seniors or home health aides, or people of color who live in these neighborhoods that have been affected, are actually getting those shots and that it's not other people coming from other neighborhoods to have their vaccinations there. 

Mayor: Thank you. It's a really important question. I appreciate it, because it's something we work on every day, Gloria. We give priority to make sure we're reaching people in greatest need. And we work on every day, making sure those priorities are adhered to. We obviously don't turn away people who need the shot and are from other communities, but we want to really get those priorities to be the focus. So, I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi so they can tell you about the way we do that constant work to make sure the priorities are adhered to. Dr. Katz? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Yeah. Sir, thank you so much. And you've said it very well. The goal of setting up these centers is to make sure that we are able to vaccinate people who were doing these vital services and that we reach all sections of the community. We know right now there's a lot of pent-up demand and a lot of different people wanting to be vaccinated. And we all have to remember the goal is to vaccinate everyone, as you have said. There's no bad vaccination, but we do want to work hard to prioritize the people who most need it and get them vaccinated as quickly as possible. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. What I would add is, just to acknowledge that access is the first step. Putting our sites in the places where we know people will most benefit in the neighborhoods that have been hardest hit, this has been very important to us, and the Mayor has charged us with doing that across New York City. But we know that that is only the first step, and so we're also working closely each day with community-based organizations, with faith leaders, as you heard today, and with the associations that represent home care workers and nurses and others when it comes to more specifically targeting certain sites. So, we'll keep working on that each day so that tomorrow is better than today. 

Mayor: Amen.

Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing today? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, Henry. Starting my day with kids coming back to school, it does not get better than that, honestly. 

Question: Well, that's good to hear. I wanted to ask you about the choice of certain ZIP codes as priority ZIP codes versus not priority ZIP codes, because when you look at the City data – and I admit, I'm looking at data that's about a week old – you see certain neighborhoods that have very low vaccination rates, like Hell's Kitchen, or Rosedale, Queens, or Laurelton-Rosedale that are not priority areas. East Williamsburg in Williamsburg, these are low vaccination-rate areas, and they're not high priority areas, according to the City – Crown Heights, Brooklyn. And I'm just wondering why there's little – Borough Park is another one, Crown Heights – why there isn't a connection – why there is a disconnect between some of these neighborhoods that have very low vaccination rates and they're not high priority neighborhoods for vaccine sites? 

Mayor: Henry, I appreciate the question, but I don't want there to be a misinterpretation of the work that's going on. Crown Heights is a great example. We have a Health Department vaccination site in Crown Heights. The fact is when we defined, based on everything we experienced with this entire coronavirus crisis, the sharp disparities, where we had lost the most fellow New Yorkers, where the impact had been the most horrible, and on top of that, the history of poverty and other challenges, that's where we put the focus. To get out there with not full total resources that we'd like to have yet, we don't have the supply we'd like to have, but with the supply, we do have trying to make sure we focus on the places where the impact was the worst, because that's where you have to do the most work to protect lives. But at the same time, all the communities that you're talking about, we have ongoing efforts to reach and vaccination sites in and around those communities, and this is just the beginning. When we get the supply we need, we will be doing half a million vaccinations a day. We will be adding sites more and more - deeper into communities. I'd like to go beyond half a million vaccinations a day, and I think we can do that. So, we're still some weeks away from having the kind of supply we deserve, but there's no question in my mind, we're reaching all of the communities you named in different ways, and we're going to be able to do a lot more when we have supply. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Okay. But I just would like to also say there are neighborhoods with very high vaccination rates that are high priority neighborhoods, according to where you're citing vaccination efforts like Rockaway Park or Manhattan Valley. But, let me move on to my next question, because you've answered it to as fully as you want to answer it. The decision to partly open movie theaters and expand wedding capacity and banquets, et cetera, et cetera. I know it's a State decision, but you know, this is a very densely populated city and we've got these variants coming that apparently are overcoming vaccines, that the vaccine isn't necessarily very effective against some of these variants, particularly the one that's been found in New York City, and they're about more than 50 cases so far. Isn't this concerning to you and the health officials in New York City, and is there any discussion between the city and state about maybe holding off on congregating in this manner? 

Mayor: I'm definitely concerned about the variants and I'm going to turn to Dr. Varma to speak to that. Henry, look, you're right. The State is making these decisions. I think we should go back to normal governance. I've said that very clearly. I hope the legislature will act to return normal governance to New York City so that we can make more of these decisions for our own people. But so long as the State is making the decisions, we're going to do everything we can to ensure people are safe, to make sure there's proper inspections, proper protocols, and we're going to watch very carefully, and if we see from the data and the science, that things are not working out, I'm going to say it out loud. I'm going to make sure that it's very clear that people in New York City, if we see any of these moves, not working, having unintended consequences, we're going to do something about it. But where I would not agree with you is on your characterization of the impact of the vaccine on the variant. I actually think, in general, the research keeps coming back that the vaccines do have the impact we hope for, and that's something we need to stay focused on. So, Dr. Varma, could you speak to that? 

Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma: Yeah, thank you very much. I really want to echo what the Mayor's last comment is. You know, there's, there's a gap, unfortunately in scientific reporting that's going on publicly. People are translating findings that people find in the laboratory, like there is this mutation in this virus into an outcome of the human. We really don't know enough about human immunity to draw those direct conclusions. That's why we do clinical trials. That's why we collect data continuously, and what we see from trial after trial, including all of the data from Johnson & Johnson, is that the two vaccines that are authorized in the US, the J&J vaccine, which is likely to be authorized, are incredibly effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths. The two things that we're most concerned about protecting against, and they do that in multiple different places. The J&J vaccine, for example, studied in the US, in South Africa, in Brazil, three locations, three different types of genetic variants that are circulating commonly. So, I really do want to emphasize what the Mayor has said, both about the importance of regular preventive measures, and getting vaccinated. These vaccines are very effective at preventing people from getting sick. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: The next is Sydney Pereira from Gothamist. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I also have a question about this new variant. I guess I'm wondering if you and the other health officials could speak to what New Yorkers should think and feel when they're reading this news, and like what it means for how they should act in their day-to-day life, based on what we know particularly about this new variant that researchers from Caltech and Columbia are reporting, and yes, that's the question. 

Mayor: Yeah, obviously we just have seen those reports and I think it's important we put them in perspective. I want Dr. Varma to do that. So, both speak to the more recent report, but also your very good question. How should New Yorkers think about in terms of their daily life? Dr. Varma? 

Senior Advisor Varma: So, let's start with the second point first since that is really – the most single most important message that New Yorkers need to hear is that we need you to continue to do all of the things that we've been doing. We realized this is painful and difficult, but persistence is really important. Follow the guidance on masks, particularly the guidance on potentially wearing two masks if you don't have a well-fitting mask. Maintain your distance, wash your hands, get tested, and when your turn comes up, get vaccinated. That is the single most important message that every New Yorker should have. 

Now, the second thing, and this is where it gets more complicated, is that when you read this news you need to be a little skeptical of everything you read. Not all variants are a public health concern. Some variants are just, that they're variants. They're just a little bit different. Some variants are variants of interest. They have changes in their structure that might change the virus’s property, and some variants are variants of what we call public health concern. They have these mutations, and we have enough data to show that they change, whether the virus is more infectious, whether it's more lethal, whether it can change immunity, something out. 

So, right now, at least for the report that we hear, you know, we have from Columbia, we need to just consider this a variant of interest, something that the interesting that we need to follow in track, but it doesn't change anything about our public health concern. We need more data in studies to understand that, and then finally, I would just make a call that we, we definitely want all of our academic partners to be working closely with us, sharing their data, sharing their findings, because this is a challenging battle, and public health is a team activity, and we really do want all team members to be working together. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Sydney. 

Question: Thank you, and could you, Dr. Varma, and the Mayor, and whoever else wants to answer this question speak to like what the city is now going to do as far as further researching this new variant and then like what – is this going to be? Another one the sequencing lab is looking at, and yeah, what are the kind of the next steps for finding out more about this to determine like, if it is a public health concern or remains more just a variant of interest like you were saying, Dr. Varma. 

Mayor: Yeah, and Sydney, I'm going to turn to Jay to just finish this point through, but look, I think it's understandable – back to everyday New Yorkers, it's understandable. People hear variant, it is a cause for concern, of course, and there's something about it that's unknown and that gets people worried. I don't blame anyone who's feeling that way, but I want to really take the essence of what Dr. Varma is saying here until there's evidence that tells us that a variant is not handled well by vaccine, for example, or a variant has different impacts. We shouldn't assume the worst. We should say, we need the full truth. We need the facts, because so far, the experience with the variants has been even where there's been some proof of being more transmissible, for example, it has not changed. The reality has not changed. The impact of the disease is not changed our ability to fight the disease with the vaccine and all the other measures we take. So, I just, I want to demystify a little bit until there's hard facts. Stay the course, use the strategies that are working, but Dr. Varma, you want to finish out that question? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, no, absolutely, and just to emphasize, we have been working incredibly intensively on improving our ability to detect these new strains. The City Health Department’s laboratory has been working non-stop. We have our pandemic response laboratory, and we have all of these academic partners who have been working well with us. So, we are able to detect and track this new strain that's been reported, and we'll continue to follow it. We have the ability also to now collect information about those patients and to understand better whether or not they have different features or outcomes and do our Test and Trace Corps, which is the best performing Test and Trace Corps in the country – has the ability to also [inaudible] you know, if somebody was infected, did they spread it to other people more often than something else? And that's really the key here. You need to piece together three pieces of information, the virus, what you study in the lab, what happens to the person who gets sick and may be hospitalized, and then what happens to all of their contacts, and that's really what our Health Department, our Test and Trace Corps and all our laboratories are really well-designed to do. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hello, Michael, how are you? 

Question: I'm good. So, I’ve got another question on these variants. Can you talk about, or the top health officials on the call, how prevalent these new variants are that were reported in the times yesterday? Where we're seeing clusters of them throughout the city? And is there any evidence to indicate that these variants are what is causing the infection rate in the city to remain – I know it's going down, but it's not going down at the same rate as other parts of the state in the country, and I was wondering if there's any indication that the variants are responsible in some way or another for that? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. But just to say, we talked about this a couple of times this week our difference from the rest of the country, besides the fact that we're one of the most densely populated places in the country, and that certainly is a place where the coronavirus has more impact. Obviously, you know, the poverty that adds to the challenges, but really, it's also that we're testing much more than almost any place, and so we're getting a truer measure of what's happening. I would dare say in a lot of parts of the country, the data is a little more questionable because it just isn't as much testing going on. So, again, we believe in a lot of testing, we believe in a lot of transparency, but that may seem to present a number higher, when in fact, I suspect we're not seeing the whole picture of how high the rates are in some other places. That's my preface – now to Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and just to answer the specific questions, first. No, you know, we don't have any evidence at this point that the variants are, you know, that this New York variant that the one five, two six is what is contributing to the trajectory of cases, which we should emphasize, continue to decrease. We also don't have any evidence at this point that the variant is concentrated in certain parts of the city, and I want to just take the opportunity to emphasize some of the big picture here, because that's what we have to hang on to. The science around this is just less established compared to other variants, like the UK variant, which we are tracking very closely as well, and so as we get the information from these new studies, you know, while they are important, as Dr. Varma said, they remain quite exploratory with respect to the real-world effects, and that's the most important thing from the public health perspective. Whether it's a new strain that spreads more easily or causes more severe illness or reduces vaccine effectiveness, we have no indication that that's the case yet. So, we'll continue to collaborate with our partners on those important scientific questions, but we shouldn't let our scientific understanding outpace, what we know works today with respect to public health precautions. 

Mayor: Amen.

Moderator: The next is Reema from Chalkbeat. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, everyone on the call, how are you doing? 

Mayor: Good Reema, were you with us this morning? 

Question: I was not, no, but I did sort of take pictures and I will say that first day schools are always – it's always joyous to see kids going back. 

Mayor: Amen. 

Question: So, my first question is about middle schools. You know, middle schoolers have been out of buildings longer than their elementary school peers and their D75 peers, and same with high schoolers, they're still not back. And we know that – you know, because of they've been out of buildings, is there any effort to gauge where they are now that they're back, both academically and socio-emotionally right now? I know that the administration is working out a plan for next year, but are there any extra supports or plans right now to see where those children are? 

Mayor: The answer is certainly, yes. I'll turn to the Chancellor. We're really excited about what we'll be doing in the fall with academic screening for all the kids and mental health screening, but that work, obviously has been continuing this year, even though with the challenge of remote, we all know we can’t do it as well as we can in person. It's great to have the kids back because it will allow for, right now, the ability to get a better take on what's going on with them and to help them right now. So, Chancellor, could you speak to that? 

Chancellor Carranza: Yes, sir. So, Reema, in addition to obviously all of the work that our teachers continue to do remotely and in-person to gauge where students are academically in their trajectory, we also have provided a number of resources to teachers as well that will help them to assess not only the academic status of their students, but also the social, emotional status of their students, screeners, we've trained thousands of teachers already. We continue to train teachers. We've trained principals that will only ramp up as we plan for return in the fall. That being said, teachers know their students best, so, I can't tell you how many of the schools that I've visited, both in-person and through a virtual platform in which teachers are conducting these kinds of inquiries into where are you in terms of learning for students, but also where are you in terms of how are you feeling? What’s bothering you? What do you like? The Mayor and I observed today one of those activities where they spun virtually a wheel, roulette, and then it landed on a question and the question happened to be what brings you joy. Now, during this pandemic, obviously, we've all had to deal with the trauma of the pandemic, but just giving a student the opportunity to flip the question, instead of what are you dealing with into what brings you joy, allowed children and adults to actually express what does bring them joy, which connects them to again the better parts of the social, emotional landscape in their classroom. So, there are a number of things that teachers are doing, and schools are doing and it looks different in every school, but every school, every community, every classroom knows their children better than anyone else and our hope is to build on that and give a super structure, if you will, as we return to fall. 

Mayor: Amen.

Moderator: We have time for two more today. And the next is Reuvain from Chalkbeat – from Hamodia. 

Mayor: Okay. You've changed his outlet – 

Question: I thought I got a new job for a minute. Good morning, Mr. Mayor – 

Mayor: How are you doing? You have range you have Reuvain. You could go anywhere and be great. 

Question: Thank you. Thank you. I hope my boss is not listening, but I have a question about the delivery of vaccines to homebound seniors. I know you've been talking for a while about how you look forward to the Johnson & Johnson, this way you could only bring one – you know, you could just have one shot instead of two. But the Johnson & Johnson vaccine has been shown to be considerably less effective than Pfizer and Moderna. These home-bound seniors are, you know, presumably at a lot more risk if they catch COVID, they often have comorbidities and such. So, isn't it a risk here that we're giving them something less effective? 

Mayor: No, I really don't believe that's the case. I want to turn to Dr. Katz. What matters most when we're vaccinating a senior is to protect their life, to protect against any potential they could lose their life to COVID, to protect against the worst impacts of COVID, to protect against hospitalization. From everything I’ve heard from our medical team, Johnson & Johnson vaccine does that well, it does it with one dose only, does it with much less refrigeration, so it's exactly the right kind of vaccine to go to buildings where seniors are and do that one-on-one vaccination. Now, I would argue it’s exactly what we do need. Dr. Katz, could you speak to that? 

President Katz: I only wish Mr. Mayor I could give you an honorary medical degree for your answer to that question. Absolutely, what we, as doctors, as New Yorkers care about is preventing serious hospitalization and deaths, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is every bit as good as the Pfizer and Moderna at preventing those serious outcomes. And the fact that it's a single dose and that it does not need special refrigeration will make it so easy. I can't wait until March when I'm vaccinating my patients at Gouverneur with that vaccine, I have full confidence in it. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Reuvain. 

Question: Correct me if I'm wrong, but the studies have been shown with Pfizer and Moderna that even – specifically Pfizer, that even one shot is something like 85 percent effective, which is, again, more than the one shot from Johnson & Johnson. So, if we're doing – once we want to say that for the seniors and want to do one shot, wouldn't the single Pfizer, Moderna shot be at least, if not more effective than the single J & J shot. 

Mayor: Appreciate the question. I'm going to give Dr. Varma this one, because again, I do hear the various comparisons and we keep learning about each vaccine, but I want to emphasize when you have the ability, especially with homebound seniors, to get to them in their home, in their apartment, which is very hard to do with a vaccine that requires intensive refrigeration, but much easier to do with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Again, think about the mission you, you raise the mission very rightfully. We want to get to home bound seniors, including some of our Holocaust survivors who are home bound, seniors. We have a vaccine that will protect their lives and it's the right one for that mission and we're going to go home by home. But Dr. Varma on the comparative efficacy, could you give the explanation? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, no, thank you for the question. And I know this is also going to be challenging because you're going to read news stories about the effectiveness of a single dose. You know, those are all derived from evaluations that are occurring in real time from the UK, from Israel, and they are useful and important. You know, it does become a real challenge, there was a public health recommendation, what is our standard of certainty and because vaccines are being given to healthy people and people already have enough concerns about, you know, whether this is dangerous in some way to them. You know, we feel really strongly that right now were going to have the capacity to vaccinate people, we should follow the current guidance from FDA and CDC, which is to give two full doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine, and assuming the J & J vaccine gets approved and then authorized in the next few days to give them that single dose. If we learn more information to change that recommendation, we will certainly apply it. But yeah, we feel very comfortable with the fact that using the J & J vaccine for home bound seniors, based on the data that's presented so far, is going to protect them just as well as the other vaccines as well. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Ben Evansky from Fox News. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, thank you for taking my question. A question on schools, given that the last opt-in was offered in November when we still didn't have the vaccine, given the positive progress, now we do have a vaccine. Do you think that opt-in should be offered or when will another option be offered to parents?

Mayor: That's a great question. Look, let's do things a little bit in sequence. Right now, job one, today, bring back middle schools, bring them back strong, 1,200 schools open in New York City. That's fantastic. Next step is to move to bring them back high school. We are also watching for that turning point, which I really hope we'll see soon, whereas vaccination levels rise, and case levels decline, we might see a much better health care situation. We might then be in a point where we could do a new opt-in and bring more kids back, but we're not there yet. We have to get evidence that we're there and we are obviously are watching these variants in particular, which are still in the X-factor here. So, I would say to you, middle school today, high school soon, and then the hope for the window to open for another opt-in during this school year, and of course, what we're all more and more focused on coming back strong in September where every single child who wants to be in school can be accommodated in school. That's our goal and I really do believe we're going to reach that goal. 

And I'll conclude with that point. Look, seeing kids back in school today, again, really just gives you hope. You can start to see the city, what it's going to look like when we bring things back. It's such an important moment for kids. It's such an important moment for families. This is one step, one powerful step on the road back, and what's clear to me, anytime, I’m out in a community, as I was today in the Bronx, talk at folks in neighborhoods, they are ready for New York. City's great comeback, and they're going to make it happen. New Yorkers are going to make it happen. New Yorkers are raring to go and today is another step forward. So, congratulations, everyone. Thank you.

2021-02-26 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Every day, I'm going to be talking to you about what we need to do to move this city forward. Every day, I'm going to be talking to you about a recovery for all of us, how we reach every part of this city and keep moving forward. 

We're going to, in a few moments, turn to our colleagues in the media. But as we usually do, I want to spend a moment on a couple of other important matters and especially the ongoing effort to get the supply of vaccine we need. I'm going to say it, I'm going to say it, and I keep saying it – supply, supply, supply. This is what we need. I'm talking to folks in the White House regularly. Our team is constantly talking at the federal level, state level. We're working with colleagues in the Congress to get us more supply. And look, again, even though we have not had the supply we deserve and need, we keep making progress. As of today, from day one, 1,675,556 vaccinations in New York City. That is a very good thing, but we can be doing so much more. Yesterday we set a record, and this is encouraging because it's a sign of what could be, if we were given the supply – 61,971 vaccinations just yesterday. Do the math. I keep saying we could be at half-a-million or more than half-a-million per week if we had the supply. Here's further evidence. We keep building up and building up, let's get the supply we deserve so we can really move this forward and bring this city back strong. Five million people, five million New Yorkers need to be fully vaccinated by June. That's our goal and we can make that goal happen. 

Now, while we work to bring our city back, I keep saying a recovery for all of us. That is not just a statement of economics. Yes, we need economic justice, we need a recovery that brings all New Yorkers into that recovery, but we need social and racial justice too. And one of the things that we're seeing, which is particularly troubling, is as we're finally starting to turn the corner, we're seeing an uptick in hatred directed at Asian-American New Yorkers, and this is thoroughly unacceptable, and we will not stand for it. We will fight it. A few days ago, I gathered some leaders of the Asian communities of this city, including Congressmember Grace Meng, and the head of the Asian American Federation, Jo-Ann Yoo. And we spoke about hate crimes. We spoke about discrimination, how to fight it in this city. We need everyone to be a part of this, and I know the vast majority of New Yorkers will join us. But even as we're sounding the alarm and calling for people to band together to stop hate, we had a horrible incident yesterday, a horrible act of violence against an Asian-American man out of nowhere, just pure hatred. The suspect has been apprehended, but we're hoping and praying for this man as he fights for his life. What an injustice on every level. This community has been through so much and suffered so much discrimination during the COVID era, continue to see these acts of justice. So, we need to stand up together. We have to stop Asian hate. Tomorrow at one o'clock a Federal Plaza, there's a rally. I'll be there. And I'm encouraging all New Yorkers who can, to support this effort in any and every way, because we have to stop Asian hate. We have to stop these attacks on a community that is part of the heart and soul of New York City. So, please everyone let's stand together. That's what will move us forward. 

Okay, let me do the indicators for the day. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 280 patients. 63 percent confirmed positivity level, hospitalization rate 4.14 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report 3,183 cases. Number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, today's report seven-day rolling average, 6.86 percent. Do a few words in Spanish about our new Chancellor. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all we'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, our new Chancellor Meisha Porter, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to James from PIX-11. 

Question: Hey, good morning. Happy Friday to everyone on the call. Thanks for taking my call. 

Mayor: Happy Friday, James. How you doing today? 

Question: You know what, really well, thank you. It's a beautiful day in New York. Every day is a beautiful day, but particularly today, it's lovely. Thank you. We have reports of wait times of up to five hours at the Citi Field vaccination site, and similar wait times at the Bathgate site in the Bronx. What's being done to shorten those wait times and what guarantees can you give to people that they won't have to stand in the cold, especially in overnight periods of time for lengthy periods of time like this? 

Mayor: You know, James, I thank you for bringing this forward. Again, I'm going to always make it a point to thank journalists who alert us to a problem. Sometimes when I hear there’s concern about wait times, I want to emphasize there's a problem that needs to be fixed at a center. And it's been rare. Really the good news is most of these centers, most of the vaccination centers have been moving pretty smoothly, but sometimes there's a problem at a center we have to address immediately. I'm going to today, right after this, look at what's happening at Citi Field and Bathgate. Other times I want to caution, James, folks are getting there very early out of an abundance of caution, even though they have an assigned scheduled time for vaccination, and that time overwhelmingly is when it happens. So, I got to find out exactly what's happening here. Dr. Chokshi, I don't know if you have any specific report on these sites, but obviously as I turned to Dr. Chokshi, I'll say, James, not acceptable that anyone will wait that long even if it weren't cold weather, especially not in the cold weather. So, whatever needs to be done, we're going to fix that. These are very big, effective sites. I've seen them both in action. We will make sure those wait times are addressed. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add anything? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: All right, thank you, sir. And as you said, we will follow up with our colleagues, of course, who are operating those sites. I do know that they've expanded capacity significantly with respect to the number of appointments over the last few days because of the supply that we have been able to get. And in the last 48 hours, I know they have increased staff concomitantly to try to address some of these wait times. So, we will follow up on all of those things. 

Mayor: I'm going to connect what Dr. Chokshi said to our education theme today because he had an SAT word there, concomitantly. Concomitantly. That's not what I – we allowed a whole lot, not sure I’ll ever – we'll get through it. So, I don't try. Okay. Thank you, everyone.

2021-02-26 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It’s Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and now as usual on Fridays, it's our weekly “Ask The Mayor” segment – my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag #AskTheMayor. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. How are you doing today? 

Lehrer: I'm doing okay, thank you, and we've been reporting on the departure of Chancellor Carranza, and I know he's saying he resigned because he needs time to grieve for the 11 family members, 11, oh my goodness, and friends, he lost this year to COVID, and was emotional about that at the news conference, but there are reports that it was also over his desire to desegregate the schools and that you aren't going fast enough down that road for him. What will you say about that? 

Mayor: Totally inaccurate. Just blatantly inaccurate. This is a man who's been through hell this last year, and he and I talked about it many times and, you know, he chose today to make it public, but this has been going on for a long time. It has almost been impossible to imagine, as he has told me, each time another family member was lost. Each time a childhood friend was lost. It has taken a huge toll, but he kept going somehow, and I admire it, but he also, you know, to his credit, was able to bring out that he was really suffering, and he had been through a trauma, a repeated trauma, and he needed to get away from the stress and the intensity of this job, and just have time to grieve and address what he was going through. That was his choice to bring that forward, and it was his choice to take this action, and we, you know, talked it through a number of times and he said, really, this is the time I have to do this, and, you know, we were able to have tremendous continuity because his successor Meisha Ross Porter is someone he actually elevated to Executive Superintendent for the Bronx. So, there'll be a really clear handoff here. 

But look, on the question of change that we've tried to create. I just have to say this quickly, the Chancellor and I fundamentally both agree in changing education in this city, in the name of equity, which is why we tried to change the specialized high school admissions. We put a lot out there to try and get that done. That was rejected by Albany. I think that was a huge mistake. Specialized high schools are just not representative of the city. We have been changing a number of things. Our school diversity advisory group offered a whole host of recommendations. We implemented almost every one of them immediately. The one we needed more work on was Gifted and Talented. We've announced that that old system is going to be phased out immediately in September. There'll be a brand-new system, much more inclusive. We're changing "screen schools," it’s been an area of real concern, we've already announced changes, more are coming. We've agreed, intensely on what we need to do. We sometimes have to figure out how to do it, and everyone had different opinions around the table of how to do it, but we all have agreed on the direction and we've moved in that direction consistently. 

Lehrer: Talk about the replacement for Chancellor Carranza, Meisha Porter. 

Mayor: Meisha Ross Porter, amazing New York City story, and she will make history as the first African American woman to be chancellor of the nation's largest school system. She is a born and bred New Yorker, started out in Southeast Queens, moved to the Bronx in her youth, and decided she would become a teacher like her mom and her aunt before her, and then decided she would be a teacher in the Bronx where the need was greatest, and she never sought to go any place, but where kids were having the greatest struggles, and experiencing the horrible challenges of economic injustice and structural racism – she wanted to be there, so she built her whole career in the Bronx. She was seen early on as a rising star, became a renowned principal of a school that she helped to start as part of the Urban Assembly Initiative. And then Chancellor Farina, my first Chancellor saw her talent, and made her a superintendent. My second Chancellor Richard Carranza made her Executive Superintendent in charge of all the schools in the Bronx, and Brian, you'll appreciate this. If you just took the schools and the students in the Bronx, and it was its own school system, it would be alone, one of the largest school systems in America, and Meisha Ross Porter has done an amazing job running our schools in the Bronx. So, she's ready, and she comes in with a really strong sense of social justice, but also, she's been an academic star. She's helped improve graduation rates. She's helped close the achievement gap and bring up students of color. She's shown consistently that she can get academic results and move social justice, simultaneously. 

Lehrer: So, one more question on this before we go to the phones. Middle schools reopened for hybrid-learning yesterday, as you know, and I see you also hinted that you might open another opt-in for kids who had previously chosen remote-only. People who have wanted more opt-in periods all along so they can make personal judgements based on changing conditions just as the City and State make policy-level judgements based on changing conditions, and I'm told that at the news conference this morning, Incoming Chancellor Porter said she's ready to go on high schools. So, what can you tell us about high schools and a new opt-in window? 

Mayor: Yeah, and you said something powerful there, as I answer the question, I want to just note your frame, Brian, that, you know, people want maximum personal choice, and at the same time we as leaders have to think about, you know, the whole collective. We have to think about the whole city. So, I'm someone who my kids went to New York City public schools. I understand parents would like choice at all times, but in the middle of a crisis and a pandemic, we've had to create some ground rules that made sense. So, here's what I can say: high schools, we're going to have a plan to reopen high schools, and you'll be hearing about that very soon. Our new Chancellor is adamant that kids need to be back in school. She adamantly wants to open high schools as quickly as possible and wants to see the entire system back in September, and I know she will achieve that. 

In terms of opt-in what I've said publicly, and I want to make it real clear is I would love to do it, but we're not there yet. Another opt-in window would require some additional improvement in the health care situation and obviously the ability to accommodate more kids in the buildings. We are not there yet. Now, important – one more fact – important point yesterday, in addition to opening middle schools, we had our highest day for vaccinations ever— 

Lehrer: Multiple high school teachers have told me they feel that they are more at risk than the lower grade teachers, because the high school students will always take off their masks as soon as they leave the school building. 

Mayor: Well, I've asked our healthcare leadership, consistently – Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, you know, is it time to take the next step and bring back high school? They absolutely adamantly believe it is because of the level of vaccinations. As I said – yesterday, 61,000 people were vaccinated in New York City, highest number we've ever had in a single day, because we know there's going to be more and more vaccinations with each passing week, and I mean, the rate’s going to increase steadily. We do see the level of coronavirus starting to go down in the city, substantially. So, but more importantly, the gold standard we've set in the schools. We've proven we keep schools safe, those same standards of course work for high school students, they've worked for adults, for God's sakes, in all of our schools. That's why we've seen such safety for all the teachers and staff in our schools. So, now it's time. We are definitely ready. 

Lehrer: Lauren, in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi Lauren. 

Question: Hey Brian. I spoke to you a few times over the pandemic and I'm a really big fan. Hi, Mr. Mayor, I've lived in New York for ten years and I have to say there's something to the pandemic has been less than optimal. In the last nine months I've lost my grandmother and aunt to COVID-19. Last Monday, I felt slightly under the weather with body aches and began to isolate and fears that I had COVID although I do not have a known exposure. I continued to isolate and tested Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday, because luckily my insurance covers testing at 100 percent and any hospitalization I might need. I received negative tests on all PCRs until the Thursday’s tests, which I only received back on Saturday. The new policy for stadiums that would have allowed me to attend an event at Barclays or Madison Square Garden and potentially in fact, 10,000 people that weekend while actually being positive for COVID despite having many negative PCRs, luckily I didn't and remained isolated. And on Tuesday I was actually hospitalized due to neurological symptoms and saw a man die and many other sick people getting treatment in our hospitals from our amazing health care workers who are also experiencing PTSD to the pandemic. Why are you – why is the window going to be 72 hours for this test to allow people to congregate in the tens of thousands. This goes against what we know about COVID, infection, and how testing works as you can hear from my study – from my one-person study and probably all of the data you have here. 

Lehrer: Well, Lauren, thank you so much. And just for our listeners, when she refers to 72 hours, I think people will be allowed into these facilities as long as they've tested negative for COVID in the last 72 hours and so, in addition to everything else in her story, Mr. Mayor, she's asking is that too big a window of time to be safe? 

Mayor: Okay. First of all, most importantly, Lauren, I'm so sorry, you know, everything you just said what the losses you've had in your family, but also everything that you've been through and, and you're right, and you've seen a lot of trauma there. This is an everyday thing we have to grapple with. This is something that's happening with so many New Yorkers. So, to your question, look I will frame this by saying I believe in local control and local decision making and we don't have that right now in the State of New York. The State of New York made this decision about the stadium. We are going to do everything we can to implement it safely. Now, to be fair, there are some real safeguards in place in terms of social distancing, mask wearing, people only being in their own groups. You know, there's a lot in place, and I know each of the sports facilities and the entertainment venues are all taken really seriously the safety standards. But this was a decision made by the State, what I've said is we're going to watch this very carefully and we're going to be led by the data and science, and if it's working, that's great, and it's not working, we're going to be very vocal about it. I'm certainly – I've had to challenge the State so many times in this crisis. I'll do it again if I have to. But, you know, we are hoping that with all the precautions put in place that this is the right and safe way to do things and we'll know a lot more, obviously, as we go along. 

Lehrer: Christine in Kensington, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi Christine. 

Question: Hi, my name is Christine. I am an essential worker working in a non-profit that deals with people with, you know, mental health issues and things like that, and so we were able to get our first vaccine in January. Yesterday my second vaccine was moved from George Westinghouse in Flatbush Avenue to the 49 Flatbush Avenue Extension location. I arrived at a quarter to one for my two o'clock appointment. The lines were going all the way around the block, all the way around Flatbush Avenue –Tillery around the corner, six blocks away, and they were not honoring appointment times. You know, I got a manager there who said they're coming first come, first serve, and I'm like, this is my second shot. I need to get this one in a certain amount of time, and you know, I had to get on the back of this line. So needless to say, I didn't, because it was going to be over three hours. I later find out that a friend took her father to Abraham Lincoln High School down on Ocean Parkway and also had a several hours wait and another friend went to the Army Terminal also with a several hours wait. Is there some reason why people that were getting second shots were getting mixed in maybe with the first shots yesterday? 

Mayor: It's an important question and I'm concerned for sure about what you're saying. Christine, what site was that where you said they said first come, first serve, because that is not the way things are supposed to be done. Where was that? 

Question: Okay. My location was 49 Flatbush Avenue Extension, which was a New York Health and Hospital appointment. They were not even escorting the elderly people with canes and walkers to get to the front of the line. They were also waiting on this big, long line. You know, and to be told by a POD manager there that they're letting people come first come, first serve was really disturbing. 

Mayor: Yeah, it is disturbing. Okay, this is first of all, I want to thank you for raising this because I got to hear things exactly as they are, and this is not acceptable. First of all, no one should ever be saying first come, first serve. That's not how it works. It's by appointment. We have said from the very first moment, I said as recently as, again, this week that everything has to be appointment, by appointment, or we would have huge lines that are not good for people's health and wellbeing. So, I need to find out if someone is doing the wrong thing there and I assure you it will be corrected, and they will be corrected quickly. We should be escorting folks who are dealing with special challenges, particularly elderly folks, or anyone with a special need. We should be escorting them in and assisting. That's been the standard. So, I want to know what's going on at this site. We'll address it aggressively, but in general, to the point about lines, we do not want long lines and say the least. We do not want people to be put through that, especially in cold weather. We want it, in fact, the whole idea of the appointment systems to avoid the lines. Some people are coming very early on purpose, and that is creating a problem with the lines because – and I understand why people doing it because they want to be very, very safe – but that is one of the things is contributing, even where we have things moving very smoothly with the scheduled times, a lot of folks are coming hours early just to be sure. But no, I got deal with this site and I will, I'll follow up with the folks involved to make sure we correct it. And, Christine, please, if you're having any trouble getting your second shot, please leave your information with WNYC and our team will follow up with you today and make sure you get that appointment. 

Lehrer: Another vaccination question. I'm sure you know the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is under FDA review today. It might get emergency use authorization very soon. That vaccine is said to be 89 percent effective against severe disease, which would be more or less on par with Pfizer and Madonna, but the efficacy drops by a quarter for moderate disease, which can lead to chronic or long-haul symptoms. I know you've pledged to release general data on how many vaccine doses are going to each of the city sites. Will you also release once the Johnson & Johnson presumably begins to be distributed how many Pfizer, Moderna, and J & J doses are going to each site so that we know everyone has equal access to what they might consider the best vaccine? Is there a question of equity in your mind if the J & J vaccine comes out and it is somewhat less effective? 

Mayor: No, the honest truth is known, and I feel that because of the conversations I've had with our health care leadership who are adamant that for the purpose of what really matters, keeping people alive, the stopping people from having the most serious impact from COVID, keeping people out of the hospital, that Johnson & Johnson is proving to be just as good as Moderna or Pfizer. So, we're making real life decisions here about how to protect people and the notion that, from everything we're seeing so far, you're right, there's additional approvals going on right now, but our doctors are adamant that any effort to portray Johnson & Johnson as lesser is misguided because of the whole job one here is to save lives and protect people from ending up in the hospital, or, you know, - 

Lehrer: Even if it allows moderate disease that are short of hospitalization? 

Mayor: Yes, because we are – look, it's a wartime dynamic. Johnson & Johnson, this is a single shot vaccine. So, we're getting more done more quickly for folks. And it does not require as much refrigeration, which means we're going to be able to get it to a lot of places and use it more effectively. No, this is – in a wartime dynamic our job is to save lives and our job is to protect. I guarantee you, I've talked to a lot of senior citizens and I fought for their right to be vaccinated, and they have told me how much fear they lived in, but once they even got the first shot, which is presumably about 50 percent efficacy with Pfizer, Moderna, just the first shot, knowing there was some protection meant the world of difference. Johnson & Johnson is going to give people a lot of protection. So, I don't want people being – my humble, but blunt advice is, you know, don't replace your own personal judgment for the judgment of doctors. Our doctors are being really clear and really consistent that this is going to work and work on the things that matter most. And we've got to get people vaccinated – 

Lehrer: And one other – 

Mayor: So, we'll be using it. We're certainly happy to be transparent about how and when we're using it, but we're going to be using it because it's going to allow us to vaccinate a lot more people. 

Lehrer: One other health care equity question relevant to the caller from Kensington, sent in by a health care worker who lives in a hard hit part of the city says, ‘why not open up the vaccines to all people of all ages in the largely Black and Brown and hard hit communities, maybe by ZIP code, that way we might be able to get herd immunity quicker where we most need it, partly because more people in those communities will be vaccinated plain and simple. And partly because as more people get it, they'll spread the word about how to get access. And it might also reduce vaccine hesitancy as the word spreads.’ Have you ever thought about doing it that way? 

Mayor: Thought about it, but don't agree that it's the right approach. Look, I want to say to your caller that the underlying concept that people will be moved by word of mouth, I agree with entirely. There is definitely a kind of momentum question of as more and more people in the community get vaccinated and have a good experience with it, they talk to their friends, neighbors, family members, people start to have more faith. That is true. Herd immunity, I am far less sold on from having talked to our health care leadership throughout, who certainly do not buy into the notion that that's achievable anytime soon, given the sheer numbers. But I think the most important point, to answer the question, Brian, is we have a massive amount of demand, growing amount of demand in communities of color, amongst the folks who are already eligible. Remember, now about five million New Yorkers are eligible because once we took all the folks in the first categories of public servants and health care workers, and then you added all folks 65 and older, and then you added everyone with serious pre-existing conditions, it's now added up to most New Yorkers are eligible. It's going to be quite a while before we can meet that demand. And what we're seeing in African-American and Latino communities in particular is demand is steadily increasing. So, we've got lots and lots of people who want the vaccination, especially among the seniors. I think it's a better approach to address that demand. That will also create momentum, that will also create word of mouth. And then as we've made more success there, start to open it up to more and more communities, and more and more age groups. 

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, thanks as always. Have a great weekend. Talk to you next week. 

Mayor: Take care, Brian.

2021-03-01 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, this is a day for reflection. One year ago, today, we had our first confirmed COVID case here in New York City, the first person in New York City that we knew had the coronavirus. And it's amazing – this has been the longest year in the history of this city. Longest year, the toughest year, and a year where there was so much that we had to overcome together. New Yorkers had to together – band together, find a way to deal with an enemy that we knew so little about in the beginning, and we are still learning about. But what I reflect on after the year is the heroism of New Yorkers, I reflect on the strength of New Yorkers, the fact that this city came back time and time again, overcame this virus in so many ways. We still have a fight ahead, but this is the last great battle against the coronavirus right now. And right now, we are fighting back, and we are winning. We will win in this city because people are doing the right thing. Folks are coming out in huge numbers to get vaccinated. Folks are still getting tested, which we need. Folks who are still wearing the masks, practicing social distancing. We're going to do this together. We're going to overcome this disease once and for all. 

I have to tell you that everywhere I turn I see tremendous examples of people helping each other and helping to bring this city back. The recovery is coming. It's going to be a recovery for all of us, and that's going to be based on the principles of equity. And that's also true in the vaccine drive. We're going to make sure everyone is served, including the communities hit hardest by COVID. We're going to make sure everyone is included, no one is left out. And I saw that powerfully on Saturday at First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem, extraordinary community institution that does so much good for the community, now going the next step, going the extra mile, and setting up right there, in the church, a vaccination center. And I was there with Pastor Mike Waldron and his amazing team. I saw something beautiful. I saw people who feel trust in First Corinthian come out, because they knew there was a vaccination center there they could believe in. And I talked to folks who were getting vaccinated. I wanted to understand, you know, if they had felt hesitancy and what made them comfortable. And everyone said it’s because it was at a church they knew and believed in that they felt more comfortable, but it was interesting. Everyone had their personal story. 

I talked to a woman named Joyce. She was there with her home health aide, Viola. And they both had some hesitation, but they decided the best way to resolve it was to go together and both get vaccinated together. And they said it was easy. They said it was not painful, simple. They decided it was the right thing to do. They felt their decision was right. You know, because once they got vaccinated, they felt very good about the experience. And I talked to two people, two sisters, Wanda and Diane, and they admitted to me, they were really hesitant, and they were not sure at all they were going to get vaccinated. But they said they heard one voice, the truest voice, telling them it was important. Their 83-year-old mom said, “Hey, I got vaccinated. You should too. I want the whole family to get back together. I want everyone to be okay, you should go get vaccinated.” So, these two women, two wonderful women, they heard their mom's voice. They showed up at First Corinthian, they got vaccinated, and they were also really satisfied with the experience. So, this is what's going to make a difference. As more and more people get vaccinated that word-of-mouth is going to travel. That confidence is going to build, and it's going to allow us to go farther and farther to address inequity and build trust and really make sure everyone is vaccinated. So, this today was an example of the shape of things to come. More and more sites at the grassroots in community institutions people believe in. 

I also have good news about the sheer speed with which we can vaccinate people because Friday we set a new record in New York City. Over 76,000 New Yorkers were vaccinated on Friday. 76,000 people in one day. That is the most we've ever done in a single day. And that proves the point that I've been saying all along about where we could get going. Last week was our best week ever, 338,000 vaccinations, but we could get all the way to half-a-million a week and more. Clearly, the infrastructure's there. Clearly, there's plenty of people who want to get vaccinated. We have the staffing. We have everything we need except the supply. Now, it has been getting better and it will get better in the coming weeks, but I'm not going to be satisfied until we're vaccinating at least half-a-million New Yorkers a week. Here's the update as of today – and it is good news that we're closing in on the two million mark – since the beginning of the vaccination effort, 1,944,673 doses have been given, more than the entire population of Phoenix, Arizona, which is the fifth largest city in America. So, these numbers are really adding up, closing in on two million vaccinations given from day one. Our goal, five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. That goal is in reach, unquestionably. And with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine about to arrive literally in a matter of days before we start to receive Johnson & Johnson vaccine, I am more confident than ever that we can hit that five million mark by June. Now we still need more help from the federal government. We still need more help from the State government. We still need more help from the manufacturers to make sure the supply is consistent, to make sure it grows, to make sure that red tape is cut, and we have the freedom to vaccinate. 

And we've got to fight disparities, which means more grassroots vaccination centers getting more of the vaccine and recognizing the limitations of some of the big sites that have existed previously. Unless they are targeted properly, these big sites do not actually help us improve equity and fight disparity. Unfortunately, unless they're targeted properly, they could exacerbate disparity and the numbers we have now from the big State-run sites, the Javits Center site, 42 percent of the shots going to non-city residents; the Aqueduct site, 75 percent of the shots going to non-city residents. So, look, I want everyone to get vaccinated. I want everyone in the tri-state area to get vaccinated. Everyone in the suburbs to get vaccinated. We need – we're all in this together. We all connect to each other. I want to see that happen, but I want to be clear that in terms of New York City, these sites do not perform what we hope to see, which was more and more focused on equity. But what does work – unquestionably, what does work is the grassroots sites like we saw First Corinthian, like we've seen at public housing, senior centers, and more and more of this type of approach go right down to the community. The one of the – sites we've had at high schools all over the city and obviously the sites that we've targeted, Yankee Stadium targeted for Bronx residents, Citi Field targeted for Queens residents, taxi drivers, food service workers. Empire Outlets targeted for Staten Island residents. These approaches work. So, going forward more and more of the vaccine to the sites meant for people from each borough to the sites down to the grass roots in communities. That's what's going to help us achieve more and more equity. 

Now, whenever I talk about a recovery for all of us, it means bringing back and every element of this city. And obviously the foundation is vaccinating five million New Yorkers by June, but there's so many things we have to start doing right now to bring back our livelihoods, to bring back our energy, our vitality as a city. And this is a city that builds things. That's one of the things that's truest about New York City. We build things. We keep building, we never stop building. It's one of the things that makes us great. So, we are going to get fully back to work with a host of major construction projects, capital projects that will build the future of this city that will make life better for generations to come. And will employ a lot of people in the meantime. The City is restarting, as of today, $17 billion in major capital projects. $17 billion that will change lives and communities all over the five boroughs. We need to get school construction going again. You know what, kids are going to be back in September, full strength. We’ll be ready. Lots of communities still experience overcrowding in schools. That's going to be the reality again in a few short months. So, we got to get back to work building more school capacity in the communities that need it most. We got to get back to work building and preserving affordable housing. The future of New York City depends on working New Yorkers, having someplace to live that they can afford. We're going to get back to it. We already have the biggest affordable housing plan in the history of New York City on target. Amazingly through the pandemic continues on target. And another congratulations to everyone that our Housing Department, HPD, and our Housing Development Corporation and Economic Development Corporation, Deputy Mayor Vicki Been and her team. They have kept this effort on target, even in the hardest hit moment in the city's history, the most difficult time to keep building affordable housing. It keeps going. We're going to now double down on that. 

Coastal resiliency, fighting climate change, protecting our communities. We're getting back to work on that. Improving our city streets, creating safety, Vision Zero, deepening our efforts there. And, of course, one of the places we've come to love even more during the pandemic, our parks, continuing our investments in our parks. So, that $17 billion is going to make a huge impact and help New York City come back strong. I want you to hear more about this from the leader who is making sure that – you heard a lot of different pieces there; they all have to come together. The chorus has to sing together. The symphony has to play together. The conductor of the symphony, our new Recovery Czar, Lorraine Grillo. 

Senior Advisor Lorraine Grillo: Thank you, Mayor. I promise not to sing. 

[Laughter] 

Okay. This is really truly great news for the city and great news for the dozens of contractors who work on City projects. So, as someone who's spent 27 years of my life working in this industry with design professionals and construction professionals, I have really firsthand knowledge of how devastating this pandemic has been to so many architects, engineers, and construction professionals. I've been especially concerned for MWB/E contractors, small contractors who've struggled over the last year with these – when these projects were paused. This is going to give them an opportunity to put them back to work and give them the opportunity to rehire staff. So, by the end of March, as the Mayor said, more than 1,700 projects will have been given the green light to restart. Planning and procurement will resume citywide on everything from, as the Mayor said, new schools, major library projects, protecting cyclists and pedestrians as part of the Vision Zero initiative, to upgrading parks, repairing and replacing and upgrading sewer and wastewater management infrastructure. It's just really a great opportunity. And I would like to especially thank the Office of Management and Budget for working so hard to find a way to make this happen. This is exactly what's needed to bring this city back and make this a recovery for all of us. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you so much. And thank you Lorraine for everything you're doing to supercharge this recovery a lot to come. You know, we had our first war room meeting on a Friday. Deputy mayors and key figures from City Hall and from the agencies, everyone's ready to go with Lorraine's leadership. And we're going to give you constant reports on what's going on, because a lot's going to be going on. And you're going to see a lot of it in ways that really show you how fast, how intensely the city can come back. Because that's who we are as New Yorkers. We are comeback artists for sure. And we're going to show it again. And I want to talk about – speaking of artists – I want to talk about artistic community or cultural community theater, dance, music, so many of the things that are part of who we are, part of our identity, part of what makes New York City great, part of our life in this city. And so, our Open Culture initiative is going to bring culture back to our streets. 

Now, look, we know for now it's important to stay outdoors. So, you’re going to see live performances outdoors at about 200 locations around the city, some of the greatest artists in the world of all kinds, dancers, musicians, everyone performing out in the streets of New York City, in the parks of New York City bringing culture back to life in the city. It's going to be safe. It's going to be socially distanced. It's going to be done the right way, but it's also going to be the beginning of a resurgence, a renaissance of culture in this city. And it's going to be exciting to see it coming back more and more. Now, we're inviting cultural institutions, dance troops, theaters, everyone – apply to be a part of this extraordinary program. We want your performances to be seen. We want the great artistic contributors to each of these wonderful organizations to come out and get the accolades they deserve and a chance to work again. Applications open up today at 12, noon. So, if you are an artist, a cultural institution, a venue, please apply nyc.gov/openculture. Let's get started, let's do this. It's going to be an exciting spring, summer ahead. And let's face it, this is so important. It's so important for the artists who, you know, even in good times, a lot of artists struggle to make ends meet, the pandemic's been very tough on the cultural community. Let's give our artists a chance to get their livelihoods back. Let's get a chance to see these beautiful performances that so much to us, but let's also realize this is going to boost morale. This is going to energize the people of this city to see the things that we love again. So, this is an exciting, exciting moment for us all. 

Now, as we start March, we recognize this is another moment to reflect, not just because it's the one-year anniversary of everything we've been through, but March every month, every March, excuse me, every March is Women's History Month. And New York City has a powerful history, a powerful lesson to teach in terms of women's leadership, not just in recent years, but for generations. And we've got to keep adding to our understanding of that history. And we need to do that in particular in our New York City public school curriculum. So, we will be more and more addressing the contributions of women to our city in our public-school curriculum. Obviously, this effort will be led by our new Schools Chancellor, Meisha Ross Porter, who is a history-maker herself. And we're going to look at extraordinary figures who haven't been given enough attention and understanding. Examples – Emily Roebling, the woman who ensured that the Brooklyn Bridge got built. If it weren't for her contributions, one of the great iconic sites in this city would not exist. Shirley Chisholm, first Black woman elected to Congress, a trailblazer, someone who changed the assumptions of what leadership could be. And we're feeling that today, all over the city and country, because she helped lead the way. Dr. Elizabeth Blackwell, the nation's first woman doctor right here in New York City. She provided free health care to New York City's immigrants, someone who was way ahead of the curve in terms of understanding how we need to value and cherish those who join us and become part of us. So, we're going to keep ensuring that that history gets celebrated, but we're going to live in the present too, and do the work we need to do to bring back the jobs that women in New York City have lost. Remember a disproportionate number of the jobs lost in this pandemic were held by women. As we recover, as we bring back our economy, we do the actions that Lorraine was talking about that are going to help us revive, we need to make sure there is fairness and equality in those jobs coming back to women who lost them and making sure our economy is for everyone, a recovery for all of us. 

Okay. Now let's go to today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 233 patients, with a confirmed positivity level of 64.73 percent. Hospitalization rate, 4.33 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today's report, 3,358 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19, today's report, seven-day rolling average, 6.13 percent. A few words in Spanish, back on our vaccination effort – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Recovery Czar Lorraine Grillo, by Dr. Chokshi, by Finance Commissioner Jacques Jiha, by Dr. Katz, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. Hazel from WCBS. 

Question: Good Monday morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Hazel. How have you been? 

Question: Good, good. Earlier you spoke about focusing on equity when it came to the vaccines. I wanted to talk to you about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. It's one shot, 66 percent protective compared to 90 plus protection with the other vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna. So, will you be using these Johnson & Johnson vaccines for homebound seniors and harder to reach communities? And if so, how will you address some of the concerns of people in these marginalized communities, who may think they're getting an inferior product? 

Mayor: I really appreciate the question, Hazel. I think there's a lot of misinformation out there that we have to overcome. So, I'm going to start, and then let the doctors say what they feel passionately about this – we've had this conversation. They thoroughly believe in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. I thoroughly believe in it. The fact is the focus has to be on saving lives. And the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will save lives. I'm going to turn to Dr. Varma first. And then if Dr. Katz or Dr. Chokshi want to add. But simple point, we don't have enough vaccine. Every day someone's not vaccinated, they're in danger. When they are vaccinated, they're protected. We're about to get a lot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and it's a single dose. One and done. Once you're vaccinated, you're protected. It makes so much sense to use it. And I'm really worried that people are going to get the wrong understanding of it and then hesitate to get vaccinated exactly when we need them most to get vaccinated. The only way we're going to reach homebound seniors is with a vaccine that does not require as much refrigeration and is easier to use. Those homebound seniors, our elders, they need to be vaccinated. So, we got to encourage people, not discourage them. And that's why getting the truth out is so important. So, Dr. Varma, let us hear what you feel? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah, no, thank you very much for the question. And we do understand this is going to be a communication challenge. So, I want to start with the single most important message. The single most important message is that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is 100 percent protective against people dying from COVID. And it is almost 100 percent protective against people being hospitalized. It basically has the exact same effectiveness that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines do against people being hospitalized and dying. So, if you want to prevent the severe complications of COVID, which is what we all want for ourselves and our loved ones, take the first vaccine you have available. Because they all do exactly the same thing. One of the reasons that the vaccines show slightly different numbers, when you look at all sorts of different metrics is because the J & J vaccine was actually at a disadvantage. It was conducted at a time later when we started to have new variants of this disease. And it was specifically conducted in, in countries, including Brazil and South Africa, which we know have a high incidence of these variants. So, when you look at the sort of minor outcomes, it was always going to look like it performed a little worse. But again, just to get to the single most important point, when it comes to preventing hospitalizations and deaths, it is extremely effective and just as effective as the other ones. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, you want to add anything? Dr. Katz, can you hear us? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I think Jay did such a great job. I, you know, I can only say that I believe very much our hospitals will see decreases in the number of hospitalized patients and deaths if people take the first vaccine that they have available. And that I totally agree that the Johnson & Johnson product was at a disadvantage compared to the others. And so, I intend to recommend it for my patients, especially my homebound patients. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes. Thank you. The bottom line for New York City and for our fellow New Yorkers is that we have another safe and effective vaccine that will save lives. And as we've mentioned, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is easier to ship and to store and to use. And that's an unmitigated positive thing. That means we can reach more people with a vaccine that will save lives. 

Mayor: Yeah. And one more point, Hazel, you get one shot and you're done. You don't have to worry about when is your next appointment going to be? Or is it going to be a delay in the supply as we saw, you know, a week ago with the storm? I like very much, the notion that someone gets a single shot and then they know they're protected. I would certainly happily myself, when my time comes, I'd be very happy to take the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and know that I was covered with one shot.

Moderator: The next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. I have a question for you given, you know, this is the one-year anniversary of the first reported COVID case in the city. I wanted to see if you could opine a bit, apologies for my colleagues if you go on too long, but I guess I’m looking back on the past year, if you could maybe look at three things that you would change about the City's handling just, I guess reflecting a bit the last 12 months? 

Mayor: I will try and keep it brief. It's a huge conversation, but I'll just try and keep it brief right now. The number one thing to know about this crisis is the difference would have been testing. If we had had testing, we would have known that the disease was already here in February. We literally – no one understood it because we had no evidence. That's the biggest difference maker here. That's the most painful part of this. That we pleaded back on January 24th, 2020 for testing from the federal government. It never came. I'd say the second thing is that the action in terms of shelter-in-place. I called for it obviously, the State resisted. That was a huge mistake. We should have done it immediately. Thank God it happened, but it should have been done immediately. And then the third thing I'd say is the vaccine, it's a miracle it's here. It really is. But I think from the beginning, there was a lost opportunity in 2020 to use the Defense Production Act fully. And really have the entire pharmaceutical industry involved. And I think that framed this whole crisis. If we had all had a lot more information, we could have done things differently. But I've talked to a lot of folks around the country and one of the themes that keeps coming back, because when you're dealing with an international pandemic, you can only truly defeat it with national leadership. And that was not there from day one. Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Thank you. And speaking of the vaccine, I know that there is this data showing the percentage of non-New York City residents getting vaccinated at places like Javits and Aqueduct in Queens. But do we know how many New York City residents are going to like a Jones Beach or something? Just to show that maybe because of the lack of supply and the lack of closer vaccination centers, maybe some New York City residents did also have to travel? If there's kind of a back and forth there? 
 
Mayor: Yeah. And that could be to some degree, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi to see if he has any specific evidence of that. But I think what's important here is to recognize that the sites that are not focused on the immediate area always run this risk of there being some disparity. Again, I want to see everyone vaccinated in the city, in the suburbs, in the tri-state area – that's good for all of us. But as we're fighting these disparities, we need more transparency about what's going on to make sure that we're making the adjustments. And I think the biggest adjustments keep pushing the vaccine to the grassroots, because that's proven to be the best way to fight disparity. But Dr. Chokshi, you speak to whether we have any data on the question Katie is asking? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. No, we don't have a specific data regarding non-New York City sites serving New York City residents. But what I can tell you is, in our conversations with other large cities around the country it is, you know, a broader phenomenon with respect to places like New York City, having so many people who come into the city for vaccination. And that's why it's so important, as the Mayor has said several times, that we get our fair share of the allocation so that we can keep pace, and, most importantly, get as many New York City residents vaccinated as quickly as possible. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: The next is Kristin from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing well Kristin. And I want to give credit where credit is due, thank you for raising concerns about the Vanderbilt Clinic. And I spoke to Dr. Katz, and my understanding is now that a tent has been put up to make it more comfortable for folks waiting there for their vaccination and you are the person who sounded the alarm. So, thank you for that. 

Question: I appreciate that. So, you know, I wanted to talk to you about these priority neighborhoods last month. You announced that they’re – they were expanding. Now, there was 33 instead of 27, and that Port Richmond was added to that list, along with St. George and Stapleton. However, Port Richmond isn't listed on the City's website when you go to the priority neighborhoods, and I'm hearing from residents that do live in Port Richmond in the 10302 and the 10310 ZIP codes, that they have not been able to make vaccination appointments, because they're told that Port Richmond is not a priority neighborhood. And I was just wondering if you were aware and if there was a reason why that maybe Port Richmond isn't on the list? 

Mayor: I'm going to have Dr. Chokshi speak to the initial question of why it wouldn't be listed on the website, etcetera. But I want to confirm, no one should be telling anyone that there's not an appointment for them because it's not in a priority neighborhood. We've been over this so many times, but let me do it again. When we say priority neighborhoods, it means that's where we have to make an extra effort to get people vaccinated, because that's where the danger has been greatest. Again, it's very straightforward – where did people die the most? If I could be painfully blunt, where did people die the most? Where is there the most poverty? Where has been the least access to health care? This is how the 33 neighborhoods were determined, based on longstanding historical trends and what we've seen in the last year. It means we make an extra effort to reach the places where people are in greatest danger, but, obviously, people from every neighborhood are accessing the vaccine and we want that – that's why we have almost 2 million doses so far. It's been every part of the city. There are sites all over the city and we're expanding as we get more supply, finally, we're looking to build out more local sites. So, no one should be telling someone, you know, you don't get a vaccine because you're not in a priority neighborhood. For example, Empire Outlets, where you and I were the other day, is any Staten Islander from anywhere. So, I'd like to know who said that, because it's just not accurate. But to the question, Dr. Chokshi, about the website and all, can you speak to that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I'll be happy to. My understanding is that Port Richmond is on the website with respect to the list of priority neighborhoods. We can make sure that that's true across different sites and follow up with respect to the specific site that you're looking at. And I will just add, it's one of the reasons – you know, Port Richmond in particular – one of the reasons that the City has really focused on these neighborhoods in locating our vaccination sites. And so, for example, we have a Health Department site at Port Richmond High School. I actually did a shift there myself a few weeks back and I can tell you that I saw with my own eyes that there were many people from that surrounding area, that neighborhood who were coming in to get vaccinated. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Kristin. 

Question: Thank you so much. And then, wanted to talk to you about opening schools, you know, in the fall. I heard that some high schools may have contracts with the City to continue their COVID testing and – or their vaccinations through October. Schools, obviously, you know, start in September. So, you know, could you just talk about any contracts that the City has with high school buildings and when those contracts would be up and if it would cause any complications to the reopening effort? 

Mayor: Yeah. I mean the priority is going to be schools. So, if we have a school site – I mean, when you say contracts, I think you mean with the providers doing the work in the schools and we would simply move the location. And we've done that already with middle schools. So, same providers still providing whether you're talking testing or vaccinations in the community as needed, but just different locations, other public or private sites. But no, we intend to be back fully in September and any current activity that needs to be moved out to accommodate school coming back, the priority will be reopening schools fully in September. 

Moderator: The next is Jacob from The Forward. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: I’m doing well, Jacob. How have you been? 

Question: Doing great. So, you described the news on the vaccination as exciting, and you set a goal for 5 million vaccinations at June. In June – in the end of June, there's primaries for your successor. Do you feel that if you reach that goal and 5 million [inaudible] and the city sort of gets back – a little back to normal, that, that will [inaudible] your legacy when it comes to handling this pandemic and also dismiss this criticism of some of these candidates, criticizing your approach or saying that you failed in this crisis? 

Mayor: Look, all candidates criticize – it's as old as time itself. But the people know best and the people are experiencing the results of everything we're doing – the fact that there's been 2 million vaccinations now, even though we, for so long, have struggled to get enough supply. We have to struggle and fight for the freedom to vaccinate, but we fought those fights and won, and the people see that, they know it. All those seniors who have gotten vaccinated now know it's because I fought for them and the City fought for them. Folks who go to the vaccination centers consistently say, they know they're being well cared for. You're going to see a vibrant recovery this year against all odds. And even last year, you saw us fight back from being epicenter, to being so safe by the summer. You saw us create the biggest Test and Trace Corps. in America. 
You saw us bring back our public schools when major cities around the country didn't even dare to. I mean, the record's pretty clear and I think people know it. So, I never get too worried about what folks are doing to try and get themselves elected. I care about, are the people getting what they need, and more and more we're able to reach people and get them the help they need. Obviously, food as well, Jacob. You know, you saw the other day, 200 million meals delivered. We made sure that no one went hungry in this city. That's what we're here to do, that's what matters.

Okay. Everybody, as we conclude today – look, this city has an amazing ability. After this incredibly difficult year, this city has an amazing ability to come back strong. There's just no place on earth that has that get-up-off-the-mat approach like New York City. And I always say, it's not how many times you're knocked down, it’s how many times you get back up. New York City is getting back up and getting back up quickly right now. You see the life in the city. You see the energy in this city. You see people getting ready for things to reopen on a big scale. We're going to get those 5 million people vaccinated by June. Every day, we get more and more evidence, almost 2 million vaccinations already as of today. What we have now is a chance to do something historic, bring this city back strong, but also address the mistakes of the past. It's a transformative moment. They only come around once every generation or two. This is our moment. Every day I get more evidence of that. So, when we talk about a recovery for all of us, we say it, I say it, because I believe it. I believe we can do it now. I believe it's all of us, it's our time, it's our moment in history to do that, and we will. Thank you, everybody.

2021-03-02 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well in our battle against the coronavirus, we have an important milestone we marked today, and this is another example of what New York City can do to fight back against COVID, the strength of New Yorkers, the ability of New Yorkers to get things done. As of today, we have surpassed two million vaccinations since the beginning of our effort, the exact number 2,024,601 doses have been administered since we began, and the very beginning we had very little supply, but we knew the vaccine would be the difference maker. It was a shot of hope and now it's two million shots of hope that have been given and so much more to come. Look, I said weeks ago, we could hit five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. This is further proof we're on target, we can get it done, so long as we get that supply. Well, I've said from the beginning, we need the manufacturers, we need the federal government, we need the State government to help us get it done. Get us the supply, free us up, free us to vaccinate, cut the red tape, give us local control, this is the way forward. 
 
Now, back in January, I think it was January 26th, I said, look, we need the federal government to use the Defense Production Act, we need to get all the pharmaceutical companies in America into this effort. Three companies only is not the way to defeat this virus, three companies only is not how we overcome COVID this year and into the future, nor how America leads the world and serve the rest of the world in fighting this virus. And talk about further proof that we're all interconnected, if this virus is raging at one part of the world, we know it will eventually reach us. So, actually getting everyone vaccinated everywhere is in America's interest, in New York City's interest. That's where I said, let's get all the companies who can participate involved, and at that point specifically, I said, look at Merck, giant pharmaceutical, they tried to make their own vaccine, couldn't, they were moving on to other things. At that point, weeks ago, I said, hey, let's get them to participate in creating the vaccine. Well today the White House is announcing that that is in fact what is happening, that Merck will cooperate and partner with Johnson & Johnson to greatly expand their production capacity so we can get more vaccines. We can get what we need, supply, supply, supply. This is an example of getting it right and as a result of this partnership, now, the projection is a 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine available nationwide by June. What a difference that would make, what a difference that will make here, but let's not stop there. I'm going to appeal again to the pharmaceutical industry, to the federal government, go farther, use the defense production act even more, bring more companies into this, we'll be at this all year into next year in this country, globally, let's defeat COVID as quickly as possible. We need every company to be a part of this effort. 
 
Okay, now, the sheer numbers are crucial. Everything runs through the question of supply. Our ability to recover depends on supply, a recovery for all of us, a fair, equitable recovery depends on supply. Fighting disparity requires supply. We need to build momentum up in the communities that have suffered the most and then hit hardest by COVID. We've got to get supply of vaccine to these communities so more and more people get vaccinated, then tell their family, their friends, their neighbors, their coworkers, and that builds trust, and then more and more people come forward. That's what we need, and so the supply will allow us to do all these things. But even without the supply we fully need, we're focused on equity every day, and we're focused on getting the supply where it's needed most. Today we make a major announcement. A part of this city, a really wonderful part of this city, built by working people for working people, Co-Op City in the Bronx, some place that I feel is an example of the goodness in New York City, a place for every kind of person, a place where people work together, literally a co-op. That cooperative spirit is strong in Co-Op City and Co-Op City has not had its own vaccination site until now. Today we announce that a new site will be open on Thursday in Co-Op City and let's face it, the Bronx has been very hard hit by the COVID crisis. Hospitals in the Bronx were amongst the hardest hit in the entire city. Communities felt deep, deep losses from the coronavirus in the Bronx. The Bronx is too often overlooked. We can't let that happen. So, we're going to bring the vaccine to the people of the Bronx, to the people Co-Op City. This is going to be a key part of reaching that five-million-person goal by June. 
 
I want to thank my colleagues in government who pushed hard for this to happen, and I want you to hear from a couple of them now, and first a man who's really made his voice heard during this crisis on this call for equity, and specifically reached out to me and said, Co-Op City needs our help and we're doing it because we'd heard his call for help and justice. Great pleasure to introduce Congress Member Jamaal Bowman. 
 
[…] 
 
Thank you so much, Congress Member, thank you for being such a strong voice for equity, not only in terms of the coronavirus but on so many other fronts as well, we're going to keep working with you because I keep saying a recovery for all of us means doing things differently, not repeating the status quo that existed before COVID, but doing something very different, and you've been such a powerful voice for that. And I look forward to seeing you in a few days up in Co-Op City as we celebrate this step forward, and I want to bring in another voice who's been fighting for equity for the Bronx, and to make sure that we're there for the people of the Bronx who have been so hard hit, and not only is he fighting for that in the Bronx, he also fights in Albany to protect the Bronx and New York City, and he's been right there with us in our efforts to make sure that the State provides us our fair share. And I'm going to keep talking about this, New York City is still not getting our fair share of the vaccine, we need it, and the Bronx in particular needs it. So, it's my great pleasure to introduce State Senator Jamaal Bailey. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Senator. And, you know, you said an important point there at the end – when people see the vaccine site in their community, some place they know, some place they trust, it encourages people to come forward and encourages people to feel more comfortable, and they know they'll get answers from people they know in their own community. That's what we’ve got to do more and more of. My goal is to get this vaccination effort to the grassroots more and more all the time. That's how we're going to reach the incredible numbers that we're shooting for to make sure we can bring back the city strong. So, thank you, Senator. Also, special thanks to a new Council Member from the community, from Co-Op City and the surrounding area, Kevin – surrounding area, Kevin Riley, thank you. You've been working hard already to make sure the vaccine reaches the people of your district. So, thank you. 

And, everyone, look, the good news is we see steady progress on the vaccine supply. We need a lot more, I want to see a lot more progress, but we definitely keep seeing improvement each week. That's really good news. The good news is we obviously see some progress in terms of the case numbers and the positivity. But we keep cautioning, we’ve got to know a lot more about the variance. The variants are the X-factor here. I don't want people to think of the variants as something bigger than they are. I don't want people to give them mythological powers, but I do want us be sober and clear about the variants. We need to know more. We need to constantly tell you what we learn. So, New York City continues to deepen our efforts to test and evaluate the variants. We are doing that more than any other city in the nation. We're going to intensify our capacity for doing that testing. In fact, we plan to quadruple our capacity in the month of March, because we need more and better data and the public needs more and better data. And we've said from the beginning, the coronavirus, unlike the vast majority of crises we deal with, this is literally ever-changing. I can't remember a single week where it was the same as the week before – everything changes all the time when you're battling the coronavirus, that's a particular challenge. But the answer is more research, more facts, more data, more science, more transparency, and that's what helps people to understand, and to feel comfortable, and to believe that we can move forward together. 

So, now, we're going to hear from Dr. Varma. There'll be a more detailed technical briefing. So, for our colleagues in the media, if you have a lot of detailed questions, you'll certainly have that opportunity after this press availability to talk in greater detail with Dr. Varma. But I want the public as a whole to hear what he has to say, because he has an incredible ability to make things plain and clear for all of us, and it's something I value greatly, and he's done a great service to this city. So, to tell us about the latest on the variants, and sort of to frame the larger discussion about the variants, Dr. Jay Varma. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. There's been a lot of discussion in the media about the danger of variants and people are worried very naturally whether or not they should be doing something different. It's a very reasonable thing to worry about. There may be a day when we have to do something different because of this. But, right now, so far, the answer is clear, there's nothing different that we need people to do in New York. The single most important message is that don't change what you're doing right now, keep wearing a well-fitting mask, even consider wearing two masks, maintain distance, wash your hands, get tested, and when your turn comes ready, get vaccinated. This is the same message being delivered in the U.K., South Africa, and Brazil, the places where you've heard about variants being widespread. You know, when the news about new variants in New York City was reported last year, my college-aged daughter asked me is the vaccine still going to work, you know, when it's my turn to get vaccinated? I have a friend from college who's now a medical school professor who texted me and said, is it true that these variants are all over New York City and our vaccines don't work anymore? So, I want to be really clear – everything we know about the virus and our vaccines right now says getting vaccinated is the single best way to prevent getting severe illness and dying from this virus. And it's the single best path all of us have together to get back to doing the things we love. 

Now, here in New York City, we're testing for these variants more than any other city in the country. And we're not just tracking the spread of the variants that we know about. We're also testing so that we can find new ones that might emerge in the future. Specifically, we have the capacity to sequence over 2,000 specimens a week at our pandemic response laboratory and our City Health Department laboratory. And we have the capacity that's being quadrupled of that just in those City laboratories alone. In addition to that, we have all of the tremendous academic partners who are now ramping up their testing as well. And we're really the only city or state in the country that's continuously reporting estimates about how common these are. And you'll hear more about that during the technical briefing afterwards. 

So, I really just want to emphasize to everybody that, you know, we're studying these actively. We're all hoping and wishing together that we don't want to find anything too alarming, but we assure you that we're going to tell you what we know, what we don't know, what we're working to do to find out, and whether anything should change in what you're doing, even if it's difficult. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Varma. And, everyone, look, we're going to constantly report what we learn. We believe that is the single best thing we can do. Dr. Varma is going to constantly give updates – Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz – you're going to hear exactly what's going on. But what we can tell you right now, all those basics work, and getting vaccinated works, and getting tested works. And so, we remind everyone, I'm going to say it again – it’s Get Tested Tuesday. It's a great reminder, every Tuesday, if you haven't been tested in the last month, get tested. It is one of the ways we protect New Yorkers. Why? Because it gives us a lot of information. But for you, it tells you, if you test positive that you can turn to our test and taste – Test and Trace Corps. The Test and Trace Corps. is there for you, can help you safely separate, if you need, from your household, can get you the support you need, the guidance you need, connect you with medical support, whatever it is. We’ve got to keep testing, because that is a key part of how we know the next steps to take person-by-person and as a city. So, please, everyone, just make it a point – if you haven't been tested once a month, it's free, it's easy, let's keep doing that. 

Okay. Now, when we talk about the way forward, it's always, first and foremost, vaccines and a central question always with vaccine is supply, supply, supply. But we do see improvement, as we see improvement on the supply front, it's a reminder, we've got to reach all the folks we really need to be reaching and for very strategic reasons. Look, there are so many people who support us, take care of us, make things happen for all of us. They need to be protected. Not all of them have been made eligible. So, I'm calling upon the State of New York to update the eligibility once again. There are folks who need to be included – our Sanitation workers, who have been heroes, just did amazing jobs during the snowstorms. We depend on them. We need them to be healthy. We need to protect them. They should be included. Also, looking at the folks who go out there and protect our health and wellbeing all the time – City inspectors from variety of departments, go out and protect us, make sure things work, make sure things are safe – they need to be protected. The folks that literally protect our lives – by the way, not so long from now, it's going to be warm weather again, we're going to need our lifeguards back. We need to start training them now. They need to be protected. All of these types of New Yorkers, all these categories should be on the State list of those eligible for vaccination. 

Further, we need to do more to make the city safe to turn the page from 2020. That means getting our court system back. Our court system is still not functioning, that is holding back the entire justice system. What should we do? Vaccinate. Vaccinate everyone who works in the courtrooms. Vaccinate the court officers. Vaccinate the district attorney’s staff. Vaccinate everyone who serves on a jury. If you're willing to serve on a jury, thank you, God bless you, but you should know you'll be safe. The best way to do that, if you're coming into work on a jury, you get vaccinated and you know you're going to be safe. This will allow us all to be safe, because our justice system can come back strong. But the State of New York is not keeping up with the need to update this category, to update these eligibility categories. So, calling on the State, do the right thing, give these folks the ability to vaccinate and to be vaccinated. Give us the freedom to vaccinate. Give us the freedom to vaccinate sanitation workers. Give us the freedom to vaccinate the folks who work in our court system and those who serve on juries. Give us that freedom and we can move this city forward. 

All right, everybody, let's go over today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 211 patients. And I'm going to just stop there and note, despite the qualifiers we're talking about today, and our focus constantly on the data and the science, well here's data – this number is actually getting close to that 200 threshold that we say is the key indicator we're looking for. Actually, this number is finally getting back down there, that's a good sign. But on the other fronts with hospital admissions, 65 percent confirmed positive, that's still high. Hospitalization rate, 4.3 per 100,000, that's still high. So, we're watching all that carefully. New reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,558 cases. And percent of people positive tested citywide for COVID-19 – today's report, seven-day rolling average, 6.09 percent. Also good to see that number, but a long way to go for sure. 

Okay. A few words in Spanish, again, on the topic of vaccines – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Senior Adviser Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, and Dr. Ted Long. First question today goes to Sophia from Gothamist. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. To what the program for homebound seniors will look like, now that the Johnson & Johnson vaccines are arriving – how quickly do you think the City will be ready to stand up at program? What's the scope of the outreach? Are you targeting specific neighborhoods? 

Mayor: Yeah. So, I'll start and turn to our medical colleagues. Sophia, look, this is one of the very best uses for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, because it's single-shot, which is so important. It means, you know, one and done, and that particularly is important for protecting homebound seniors. They cannot get to vaccination appointments. It has to come to them. So, getting it done in one dose is particularly important. Also, it's just an easier vaccine to use requires less refrigeration. So, we're going to devote a lot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to the homebound senior initiative. We're getting to the point we'll be able to start that very quickly. It's very labor intensive. So, I want to caution, it will take time, because it's, literally, you know, have someone trained, going to each and every home and apartment, but we'll be able to that out this month. And let me turn to – I know that I have Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, Dr. Long, who wants to start on this? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Sir, I'm happy to start on it and I'll pick up where you left off, which is that we've been planning for this, of course, with respect to being able to use the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for our homebound seniors. And I'm so heartened that some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers will get this added layer of protection. It is something that is logistically complicated, but we're committed to doing it in the coming days. We expect to get the initial part of our Johnson & Johnson supply later this week, it could be as soon as Wednesday or Thursday. And very soon after that, we will be ready to start deploying the vaccine to actually reach our homebound seniors. That overall process will take a matter of weeks, but we aim to start as soon as possible once we have the vaccine in hand and we work through the protocols to deliver it safety. 

Mayor: Dr. Katz or Dr. Long, anything to add? 

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps.: This is Dr. Long. The only thing I would quickly add is, again, this is an incredibly important population. I literally have been, as a primary care doctor, counting the days until we received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, to be life-saving for this population of New Yorkers. We’ve been planning this for weeks, we will execute it as quickly as possible. And, as Dr. Chokshi said, we're heartened that we have this ability to keep our New Yorkers safe. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Emma from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, good morning Mayor. So, there's been some debate over whether the workers who are doing emergency food distribution delivery should be included in the vaccine. And it sounds like there might be some movement, but mutual aid group volunteers still aren’t included. Can you talk about whether you would support adding them to the other essential workers you mentioned? 

Mayor: Oh, Emma 100 percent. People who are feeding their fellow New Yorkers, keeping people alive must be protected. First of all, I say, thank you to all of the folks who are providing food to people, really going out there, putting themselves on the line to do it. It’s not easy work, does involve risk. We need to be there for them. So, I'm calling upon the State to fully authorize the vaccination for everyone who's providing food to their fellow New Yorkers. Go ahead, Emma. 

Question: And then I wanted to ask about Governor Cuomo. He's sort of been in hiding for the last few days, and he's not in public talking about the pandemic response. Does that sort of hurt your ability to reach the public? Does it hurt your ability to work together on the pandemic response? Should he go back to holding in-person events? 

Mayor: I think all leaders have to answer tough questions from the media, regardless of whether it's convenient. The fact is the work we have to do right now is what matters. Fighting COVID, bringing the City back, bringing the State back. That's the work we all need to be focused on. Now, I would say at the same time, a way to move everything forward is to restore local control. It should not be all in the hands of one person and we're getting a real object lesson for that right now, Emma. If you put too much power in one person's hands, bad things happen. We need local control back all over the state. We have extraordinary health leadership in cities and counties all over the state who need to be re-empowered to protect their people. We need the freedom to vaccinate. We should not have to go hat in hand to Albany for every little change in the vaccination rules. When we know those folks providing food need to be vaccinated. Our Sanitation workers need to be vaccinated. The folks who would serve on juries and help us restore the justice system need to be vaccinated. But the State of New York will not allow me to vaccinate those folks. That's broken. Give us back local control. That's how we move forward. 

Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, everyone on the call. I'm actually up in Albany right now. And what I wanted to ask is sort of as a follow up to what Emma was just asking. You're saying, we need the State to give us control on vaccinations. Do you not have this handled at the staff level? Or can you not have Commissioner Chokshi call Commissioner Zucker to make that happen? You actually need Governor Cuomo himself to pick up the phone? As a practical matter is his crisis right now, imperiling something as simple as permission from the State Health Department? 

Mayor: Andrew, look, in a normal government where there would be respect for the health professionals and they would have the freedom to do their work, we'd be having a different discussion. I think it's well documented that the health leadership in Albany is very tightly controlled by the Governor. And so, we've asked for the freedom to vaccinate many times. You remember, I had to fight to get senior citizens the freedom to be vaccinated. I had to fight for our first responders to be vaccinated. To me, what should happen at this point is the health care leaders at the State level should have more ability to make these decisions with us. But the best way to get things done is to give localities the right to make their own decisions. We've been doing this for a year. We've been doing this for a year. We know plenty – I don't know anyone in this nation at this point who knows more than Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, Dr. Long. They've been at the frontline of the crisis from the beginning. Give us the ability to make our own decisions. And local control, just restoring normal governance would do that. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: My colleague Marc Santia, is in Connecticut and he's hearing from their largest hospitals and vaccination centers that people are passing on Johnson & Johnson appointments and holding out for Moderna or Pfizer based on their perception that the J & J vaccine is a second class vaccine. It's not as effective. It's not as good. So, I'm wondering if you and your health officials could respond to that? If you're hearing from that concern – if you're hearing that concern in New York as well? And would you yourself get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to perhaps show folks that there's a no drop in efficacy there? 

Mayor: Yeah. I want to say that very clearly. Thank you for the question, Andrew. I plan on getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. I want to show people it's the right choice. And I, for one look forward to only getting one shot rather than two. Not because I can't handle shots, but because of the schedule and everything else. When you get it done once and you're done, it is so much better for everyone's lives. We have people who aren't showing up for their second shot. That's a problem if it takes two shots to be effective. But when you get one shot and it's done and you're protected, your life is protected. You're not going to end up in the hospital. That's the name of the game. So, I'll be choosing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. I want you to hear from Dr. Varma and Dr. Katz. And I want – Dr. Varma, can give you, you know, the big picture. I want Dr. Katz to talk as someone who is serving patients right now and governing over the biggest public health system in America, why people should have faith in Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Dr. Varma? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Great. No, thank you. This is a really important question, Andrew. And it's one that we've been worried about really from the beginning. Because you know, the results from the Pfizer and Moderna studies were really incredible. And it's going to be hard to always replicate those in everything that you see. But I really want to emphasize the most critical point. You know, one of the issues that we get with these variants emerging is the virus does evolve. And when you do these studies, you know, they measure kind of two different end points. So, one is people who get mild illness. And one is people who get severe illness and have to be hospitalized and die. Now, what really has worried us about COVID and it was what shut down the world and cost so much of us distress, isn't the mild illness. You know, we get coughs and colds and things all the time. What really has devastated our societies and killed so many people is, are these severe outcomes. So, what is it that we know about these vaccines? They stop those severe outcomes. They are powerful at doing it. It doesn't matter whether you get Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, or Moderna, the results are absolutely clear. Once you get vaccinated and you wait a few weeks for your body to build up that system, there are basically close to zero hospitalizations and absolutely zero deaths. So, what we need to do about this virus is stop it from making people seriously ill, stop it from overrunning our health system, stop it from killing people. And all three vaccines do that equally. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes. I intend to start recommending my patients get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine as soon as it's available in our facilities. I like the idea that they will get one vaccine and they will be protected. We have had issues with people who have planned for a second vaccine and then something comes up and they're not able to do it this way. I know that I've gotten that vaccine into their body and they will be protected. And as Dr. Varma says, they will be protected against the thing we worry about, which is that people will die of this illness. And just knowing every time we give someone that Johnson & Johnson shot, that I will not have to worry about them dying or will not have to worry about them coming back for that second shot, will give me tremendous peace of mind as a doctor. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Narmeen from PIX 11. 

Question: Hi, good morning everyone. I wanted to ask following up a bit more on Andrew Siff’s question there. I'm glad he asked it in regards to J & J because it's something that we are also hearing from community groups in particular in the Bronx and in Queens. Some misinformation out there is that J & J is being saved for their communities because one, it can be spread out, but also the efficacy levels being low, gives them more mistrust over the vaccine. Can you again, emphasize the education that's going out in those particular communities explaining the differences in the vaccines? 

Mayor: Yeah. And I'll turn now, I want to keep turning to this great lineup we have. So, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long in a moment. Narmeen, thank you. It's such an important question. The bottom line is we need everybody vaccinated. Whatever allows us to get people vaccinated the quickest is what's right for you as a New Yorker, it's what's for your family, for your community. There've been so many concerns that there are hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people trying to get a vaccine. And then we say, here's a new vaccine. Here's a way to reach more people. And then some voices out there saying, Oh, well, that' vaccine is different. We should keep waiting. That makes no sense. Why would you wait when you can get protected right now? And with one single dose, be protected against the worst effects of this disease, it makes no sense to delay. So, I think it's our job to keep educating people. I think there's going to be many, many New Yorkers who say, I'm going to do the smart thing. I'm going to get the first vaccine available. Whatever is the first one available, is the right one for me. And we're going to keep spreading the word that this is the way to get protected immediately. And our job is to reach as many people – remember, how do you stop the coronavirus’s grip on our lives? By getting more and more people vaccinated. Every additional person being vaccinated is another step to defeat the coronavirus. So, we've got to fight this misinformation for the good of all of us. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And yes, let's go back to the facts. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is safe, it's effective, it's lifesaving. That's why the FDA and the CDC have authorized it. And it gives us one more tool. So, we now have three vaccines that are safe, effective, and lifesaving. Across all of the scientific studies that were done, across those three vaccines, over a hundred thousand people who were in those studies, not a single person who received a vaccine died from COVID-19. And that's why we're really emphasizing the protective effect of all of the vaccines, including Johnson & Johnson. Our message is simple: the best vaccine to get is the one that you can get now because the sooner you get it, the sooner you'll have protection against this terrible illness. And with respect to getting the message out, I do want to enlist all of you as partners in combating that misinformation that you've described. The City will pull out all of the stops as we have with respect to knocking on doors to spread the message, we've sent out hundreds of thousands of print mailers. We're making phone calls, we're having conversations in communities to engage the people that folks in neighborhoods already trust. And all of this is so important because we have to make our public health messages more contagious than the virus itself. 

Mayor: Well said, Doctor. Dr. Long, you want to add? 

Executive Director Long: Yeah, I would add, I believe in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. As a primary care doctor in the Bronx, I will be telling my patients moving forward that I recommend that they received the Johnson & Johnson vaccines. They have chaotic lives, and I know how hard it's been for them to come in and get tested once a month. And being able to get the vaccine only once and know that they're protected and that will help to protect our families goes an incredibly long way. In terms of other things that we're going to be doing, our outreach teams – today's Get Tested Tuesday. You could think of this as Get Tested and Get Vaccinated Tuesdays. We're going to be getting the word out as we talk about the importance of testing, given where we are currently emerging from our second wave, equally more important to get vaccinated as well. So, our teams are going to be spreading education of the facts out there. And finally, we're going to continue to work with our community-based organization, or CBO partners. We've been in lock-step at every step of the way on the testing side. That's how we've been able to be at more than 400 testing locations. They are the trusted messengers that my patients in the Bronx listen to and that New Yorkers listen to. We're going to be sharing the truth out there, which is that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine prevents what matters, deaths and hospitalizations. And again, I believe in it. 

Mayor: Thank you. And I want to just requote Dr. Chokshi, Narmeen. I think that said it all. The best vaccine you can get is the one you can get now. I think that says it perfectly. Go ahead, Narmeen. 

Question: I think that might appear on a graphic for you tomorrow. 

Mayor: There you go. 

Question: So, a question for you in regard to our vaccination hubs, you've been doing a lot of these pop-up, the more grassroots hubs. I'm curious to know if you have any idea, as far as how quickly they're filling up. Are they filling up as quickly as you'd like, are there ones that are not just, you know, if you can categorize them kind of one to ten, if you will? 

Mayor: If ten is, they fill up really, really quickly, I would give it an 11. I mean, it's unbelievable. Every place I go, I was out at Red Hook Houses in Brooklyn, Sheepshead Bay Nostrand Houses in Southern Brooklyn, I was at First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem. Every place says the second they put the appointments up, they fill up, period. And we're finding that all over the city, huge amounts of demand. And Narmeen, importantly, demand levels are going up steadily in communities of color because trust is growing as more and more people get the vaccine. I told the story yesterday, it was a story I love, of two women at First Corinthian who were hesitant. And talk about word of mouth advertising. The person who convinced them to go get vaccinated is their 83-year-old mother who had got vaccinated herself and said it was okay. And that she wanted the family back together again, and that people had to get vaccinated so they could see each other again, that's going to be repeated over and over and over again. So, I think we're going to see just steady increase in demand, but yes, talk about if you build it, they will come. The second we put up appointments, they get snapped up everywhere. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Steve Burns from WCBS 880. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Steve, how you been? 

Question: I'm good. I appreciate you calling on me even though I'm not Rich Lamb. 

[Laughter] 

Mayor: You know what? No, one's perfect, right? 

Question: Yeah, no one's perfect. I promise I won't ask too many questions about the City seal here. 

Mayor: Okay. You can – but you're filling big shoes, but we welcome you. 

Question: I appreciate that. First of all, I wanted to go back to some of the previous questions around your communications with the Governor's office. If that's gotten any more challenging since the scandals that have broken out. I mean, I wanted to give one example. I reached out to the Governor's office yesterday, following what you had said about the Javits and Aqueduct shots that were being given out to non-city residents. And the response I got from the Governor's office was, “the Mayor's argument doesn't make sense, we won’t let the Mayor's petty politics distract from our goal.” Do you see it getting at all more challenging to interact with the Governor's office and make plans with the Governor's office when you have so much extraneous other things happening in his realm right now? 

Mayor: Steve, we've had challenges with the Governor's office for seven years. It's nothing new. But there are still plenty of people on the staff level who talk to each other, keep it professional, keep things moving. Certainly, in all the State agencies, departments, City departments, people are talking to each other all the time. You know, this too shall pass and we're all going to keep moving. On something like that topic though, that response is the petty part. Look, we're saying we have factual data driven evidence of a problem here. We've got these big mega sites, Javits and Aqueduct. They are serving a lot of people who don't come from New York City. I want those people vaccinated too, but the answer is, give us more vaccine. If New York City is expected to cover our people, plus folks from the suburbs, plus folks including from New Jersey and Connecticut, we will serve anybody and everyone, but give us our fair share of vaccine. Don't give us too little vaccine and then expect us to handle people from the city and outside the city. So, we just want to be honest, we're trying to fight the inequities here. We're trying to reach five million New Yorkers vaccinated by June. We're not getting our fair share of vaccine from the State, and it's important to put those facts forward. But we'll keep working with anybody and everybody in Albany and also with the Legislature to make sure things get done. We'll do that no matter what. Go ahead, Steve. 

Question: All right, appreciate that. Secondly, you touched on it a bit yesterday in terms of reaching the anniversary of when things really started to get hairy here. And a year ago today you were in, what we all know is an alarmingly crowded conference room, with the Governor talking about the first reported case. And obviously there are some lines that stick out here. “This is something we can handle together, go about your business, we can do very fine tuned work with any more positive cases that we see.” I mean, just hearing what was said at that press conference a year ago today, obviously so much we didn't know then that we know now, but what goes through your mind as you think back to that day? 

Mayor: What goes through my mind – I appreciate you raising it, Steve. It's really important for us to understand what happened here. It was January 24th, I think last year, that I called upon the federal government to immediately get us the testing we needed and to authorize us to do our own local testing for the coronavirus. That request was ignored by the Trump administration. The greatest sin in this whole process was that the federal government under Donald Trump ignored the crisis, diminished the crisis, and didn't do the thing that any other president would have done, which is declare a state of emergency, get the testing out to the local levels, really focus on where the danger was. And, of course, you know, the president was very quick to cancel flights from China, but not flights from Europe. And our problem was flights from Europe. So, what we now know, when you go back to March 2nd, we had gotten our first case the day before, we had no idea because we didn't have testing that the disease had already spread thoroughly in the month of February. We – I certainly was trying to keep people in this city safe and also protect people's livelihoods with what we thought was a containable situation. But we didn't have what we needed to, to address an international pandemic. And that's a never again. I hope, truly hope, that this lesson is learned once and for all. Our federal government's going to have to do a lot more to protect us in the future. And when we talk about New York City's role in the future. I've talked about us being the public health capital of the world. We learned the toughest lessons. We came up with some of the best solutions. We have the talent to help make sure that this nation never goes through another pandemic like this. And people don't suffer like this before, but that effort to prepare for the future has to start very soon. That's what I learned from this. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everybody. Regarding Johnson & Johnson, do you know how much vaccine you're getting and how or where it would be distributed? I know you mentioned the senior program, but are you exclusively going to put J&J vaccine to that or where else it go? 

Mayor: I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. Juliet, we're going to do more than one thing with that vaccine and hopefully, again, the numbers are going to add up quickly, especially with this new plan for Johnson & Johnson to work with Merck. The home-bound seniors are a special priority for us. These are folks who really deserve the help, need the help. Again, these are our grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles. These are people who are alone and need to be protected, but it's also very labor intensive. So, it will take a lot of time to fully reach folks. In the meantime, we have massive demand at these centers we've set up all over the neighborhoods. So, we'll balance the use with both. But my understanding is it's a fairly limited supply to begin, but later in the month we think we start to see real numbers. Dr. Chokshi could you give us your specific understanding at this moment?  

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I'll be happy to and thank you for the question. We are very excited about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine arriving to New York City. But as the Mayor said it's a relatively small supply to start. It will be about 70,000 doses that are available for us, over the first two-week period. That's the first two weeks in March. And it will remain quite limited, we understand, through the middle of March before picking up significantly, we hope by the end of the month. And I'll just add one more note to what the Mayor has said with respect to our priorities. You know, our focus remains on both people who are most vulnerable to the disease. And we're excited about using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to get to some of the people who have been harder to reach, including homebound seniors, but also keeping a laser focus on other older adults across New York City who may have, you know, problems with mobility, who may find it difficult to get to some of our other vaccination sites, and particularly keeping equity at the center of where we are bringing vaccine as well as our vaccination sites. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay. Thank you. Actually, baseball is starting next month. Yay. 

Mayor: Yay – 

[Laughter] 

Question: How are you going to handle, you know, the vaccination sites at Citi Field and Yankee Stadium when baseball resumes, because fans are going to be able to come back and, you know, the season will be underway? 

Mayor: Yeah. First of all, at this moment, I agree with you, but I want to remind you, everything is determined by the data and the science. And I know Major League Baseball feels the same way. So, I assume they will be back pretty much on schedule, but we have to get there and there's still X-factors out there. But let's say they are back. And let's say they have fans, obviously, it's still going to be a limit on the number of fans. And, of course, the way baseball schedules work, some days the teams are in town, some days they're on the road. So, we're going to work with the Yankees, with the Mets to figure out what works. And if it means that sometimes the centers are closed, we'll work with that. If it means there's different hours, we'll work with that. The goal will be to have those vaccination centers up as intensely as possible, longest hours possible, most days possible, but we'll work with them. And what we certainly know is we've got a huge amount of additional capacity right now. But we know – remember on a Friday, Juliet, we got to 76,000 vaccinations in one day, 76,000 in one day. That is further proof we can be at a half-million a day or more even. So, if you say one of those stadiums is not available on a certain date, we can move that capacity to plenty of other locations. Those appointments will be snapped up. It will not change our overall ability to reach people. We can get to five million New Yorkers vaccinated by June, regardless of the baseball schedule. But I'm very, very happy baseball's back because it's one of the things I think is going to give us a lot of heart and a lot of energy and keep people going, keep morale high as we fight our way back and we recover in this city. 

Moderator: Last question today goes to Debralee from the Manhattan Times and Bronx Free Press. 

Question: Hey, good morning, everyone. Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yeah, Debralee, how have you been? 

Question: I'm well, thank you. And good morning to all, Mr. Mayor. I want to speak to some of the concerns expressed by TLC-licensed drivers, the independent drivers in accessing some of the mass vaccination sites and even just some of the regular sites. You know, they've spoken to the need to have drive-by or drive-in vaccination opportunities. Do you see that as something, particularly with the J&J vaccine coming onto the market, as something that the City can move to? 

Mayor: Well, I wouldn't say drive-by, I would say drive-in. I mean, there's still a process around getting vaccinated, including, you know, getting screened and confirmed and then the waiting period after to make sure people are okay. And that still needs to be done in the right settings. Citi Field's a great example, and we do have preference for TLC drivers at Citi Field where there's ample parking and the capacity to do as much as 35,000 vaccinations a week so long as we get supply. So, we will certainly keep working with the community of drivers to identify the best locations for them. I do want to prioritize them. They perform a crucial service to our city, but I'd say right now that's a great example of a – excuse me – a go-to location. Obviously, Yankee Stadium, another great example. And we're going to keep adding more. As we get vaccine, we'll be adding more and more locations, including locations that have more and more parking, which I think will be great for our drivers. 

Okay. Everyone, first of all, just a fact update. I said – when I was trying to say half-a-million doses a week, and I have been told I accidentally said, ‘in the day.’ That would be really cool, but, no, I meant a week. I've been saying that throughout, my apology. But what we have confirmed, by the 76,000 vaccinations we did on Friday – again, do the math, 76 times seven. We can do 500 million vaccinations in a week. Going forward, I think we can do even more than that. So, that's exciting. But look, it all comes down to supply. And today's news, this is from the Associated Press. I love this headline. This is where I was talking about in the end of January, but I love the way they say it. “Merck to Help Produce Rival J&J's COVID Vaccine.” This was the whole point. What kind of – where is their rivalry anymore in the middle of a global pandemic? It shouldn't be business as usual. It shouldn't be who's making the most profit or who holds a patent so they can dominate the market. No, this is that time for the federal government to use the Defense Production Act fully, and for all the pharmaceutical companies of America to voluntarily come forward. For God's sakes, people's lives are being lost. This is a global pandemic. It will not be fully defeated in the next few months. Around the world, we'll be fighting this fight this year into next year. But if we don't defeat the coronavirus everywhere, it's a threat to people anywhere.

So, this is a great step forward. This proves it can be done, but we need to go much farther. You actually have to act like it's war time, because guess what it is, it's a different kind of enemy. It's actually an enemy that is killing more Americans than many of our biggest wars put together. So, today's a good step forward. I'm glad Merck is participating. I'm glad we're proving it can be done, but now let's go a lot farther and get the entire pharmaceutical industry to contribute to defeating the coronavirus once and for all. And if we get that, we get that supply that's what's going to fuel the speediest recovery possible and a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everyone.

2021-03-03 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. We continue to intensely vaccinate, to get out there around neighborhoods all over the city, getting vaccinations done, making sure New Yorkers are protected. As we said yesterday, we're now over two million vaccinations since we began the effort, and the effort is speeding up all the time. So, here's today's number from the beginning, 2,064,479 doses have been given, and we're hearing great news from Washington, obviously, yesterday, we talked about the fact that the federal government worked to make sure that more pharmaceutical companies are getting into the work of creating the vaccine. The thing we need, the most supply, supply, supply, Merck, we heard yesterday going to be working with Johnson & Johnson. We need to see a lot more of that. This is a kind of thing that will help us intensely. President Biden letting us all know that the vaccine supply will be very strong by May. That's going to help us to achieve our goal five million New Yorkers vaccinated by June. So, looking good, but we need to keep pushing on manufacturers, federal government, State government to give us what we need. We still need a lot more local control. We still need a lot more flexibility. We still need more freedom to vaccinate. We still need to make sure that New York City and cities all over the country get their allotments from the federal government directly without state interference and can just go ahead and do the work more quickly. That's what we want to do. We want to make sure we get our fair share because as we've talked about in recent days, we are happy to make sure that people from the entire metropolitan area get vaccinated at our major hospitals, for example, in this city. But then we need a lot more vaccine for the people of New York City if we're going to do that. We're not getting our fair share from the State of New York and that needs to be addressed. 

So, making lot progress, more to do but what's happening is clear, people want the vaccine more and more, and we are more and more able to get it to them. 500,000 vaccinations per week. Yes, we can do that. We can do more than that and we can definitely hit our goal of five million people fully vaccinated by June. Now, we keep building this effort and we're getting some great help from CUNY. I want to thank everyone at the City University, working with us, working with Health + Hospitals, a great partnership, a thousand nursing students will now be joining our vaccination effort, great reinforcements, and we're so thankful for their contribution. These students will be assigned to hospitals and clinics all over the city. They’ll be supervised by faculty but they're going to be able to help us build what is now by far the biggest vaccination effort in New York City history. It's going to keep growing and this is a great step for that effort. So, thank you CUNY. 

Okay, let's go to our indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 276 patients. Confirmed positivity, 63.6. And the hospitalization rate, 4.21 per 100,000. New reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,395 cases. And number three, percentage of the people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report, on a seven-day rolling average, 6.3 percent. 

Let me say a few words in Spanish about 5G and broadband access. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is DoITT Commissioner Jesse Tisch, Chief Technology Officer John Paul Farmer, Health + Hospital CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Juan from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing good. How are you doing, Juan-Manuel? 

Question: Very good. Thank you. President Biden said yesterday that he expects to have a vaccine for every adult in the U.S. by May. But you are saying now that in the city that you are on track to hit 5 million vaccines by June. Is it then that you think that it will take until the end of the summer or early fall to vaccinate all New York City adults? 

Mayor: It's a great question. I spoke to the White House COVID coordinator yesterday, and I want to be clear, they're very hopeful about their ability to meet the goals that you just described. But that is a difference between it being produced and getting everywhere it needs to be. There's still, you know, a certain amount of time it takes to distribute, et cetera. I am certain we can hit 5 million vaccinated by June. If we get more supply quicker, we can go farther than that. There's no question we can do 500,000 vaccinations in a week. I think it's increasingly clear we can surpass that substantially in a week. So, I am very confident about 5 million. If it's here, we're going to keep expanding capacity. I mean, that's the bottom line. If there's more and more vaccine here, we will keep building out capacity. And I think demand will keep increasing as people get more and more comfortable. So, the I'm saying, 5 million, definite. If we have more supply available, we will use it. I don't have a doubt in my mind.

Moderator: Next is Matt from Newsday. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. For you and Dr. Chokshi, yesterday regarding the Johnson & Johnson door-to-door distribution, the doctor said that the City plans to, “keep equity at the center of where we were bringing the vaccine, as well as our vaccination sites.” So, for the first round, what percentage of the door knockers are going to those 33 neighborhoods that you've identified out of how many neighborhoods total in the city? 

Mayor: Yeah. Let me speak to that as we have it this moment. And Dr. Katz and Dr. Varma can add. First of all, what we're focused on – when you say the door-to-door, I want to make sure it's clear. It's the home-bound seniors, Matt, that we're focused on. Because clearly the best way to distribute vaccine is in vaccine centers. Except if someone literally can't get to one. So, that's where we have a plan we're developing now that we'll be announcing in more detail for home-bound seniors using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, because it's much more portable. And, obviously, if you're a home-bound senior, if you can get it done in one shot, that makes a lot more sense. You do not have the option of going out and getting your second shot. The focus, first and foremost, will be on neighborhoods, a greatest need, those 33 neighborhoods. So, that's the basic outline, but we will be filling in more details in the coming days. Dr. Katz or Dr. Varma, anything you want to add? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I think you covered it, sir. 

Mayor: Okay, good. Go ahead, Matt. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Nothing from me. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Question: Sure. So, I got to follow up with a yes or a no. So, overall, under the plan that Dr. Chokshi described yesterday, will the senior of color be more likely to get a door knock from a vaccinator than a senior who is white? 

Mayor: Yeah, Matt, I really do respect your yes and no format, but I – again, I want to say to you, one, we're going to present a more detailed plan. Two, we're going to home-bound seniors of all backgrounds. The goal is to reach every home-bound senior who wants to be vaccinated, and is ready to be vaccinated, of every different background in the city. All of our efforts try to make sure that we focus on the places where the danger is greatest, and that is those 33 communities, but we're going to be getting home-bound seniors across all communities with this effort. Go ahead. 

Moderator: As a programming note, we're also joined by Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson. Next is Sydney from Gothamist. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey, Sydney, how are you doing? 

Question: Good. Good. So, I want to ask about a couple of things. I'll start with vaccines. The State is starting to administer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at the Javits Center and where, by the way, there were people waiting hours and hours on line to get vaccinated, two things. I'm wondering, what do you think of the decision to administer Johnson & Johnson vaccines at the Javits Center and where will the City use its Johnson & Johnson vaccines? Then when will that – when will those start to be administered? I know they're supposed to arrive today. And I'm also wondering if you saw the long lines and had any thoughts on that happening at the State site. 

Mayor: Yeah. I don't know about the specifics of those long lines. I'll see if Dr. Katz or Dr. Varma want to add anything on that, but on the bigger point, the amount of Johnson & Johnson vaccine we're getting in the short term is going to be very small, but we expect a lot more later in the month. We're going to be, as we build up the home-bound senior effort, that's going to be a priority for that use of that vaccine because you literally can't use the other vaccines for that. Again, we talked about this yesterday. I'm very confident in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. I will be getting it myself in a very public way to help show people that I have full confidence in it. I know our health care team has full confidence. But I'd say, Sydney, what we want to do is as we build up the effort to reach home-bound, seniors, devote whatever it takes to that, they're very vulnerable, but it's also a very labor-intensive process. It's slower by definition. You've got to literally send someone to each and every apartment or home, we'll reserve as much as we can for that. The rest of it we'll be using as part of our general effort. Dr. Katz, Dr. Varma, do you want to add? 

President Katz: Just that I – I can't speak to the line at Javits, but I know at both the Health + Hospital sites and the DOHMH sites who work very hard to try to keep the lines to a manageable amount, to make sure people have seats if they have to wait, they're waiting socially distance so that there's no risk of people exposing one another to COVID while waiting for a vaccine. And I look forward – we believe that we're going to receive our Johnson & Johnson supply on tomorrow, Thursday. And we will look for using it for those patients, especially as you described, sir, who are home-bound, people who want it done will make a huge difference. Thank you. 

Mayor: Dr. Varma, do you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: I guess the only point I would just try to keep reemphasizing is that you know, we really want to steer away from this notion that getting one brand of vaccine is going to be demonstrably different than getting another brand of vaccine. You know, I would really hope that the story would be about, you know, 24-hour access at Javits Center, as opposed to, if you come at this time, you're getting this brand versus another time you're getting another. And the reason to really emphasize that is that as we keep saying, when you look at the outcomes that we care about the most, severe illness and death, all three vaccines that are authorized by the FDA have the exact same impact on those. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. And look, again, Sydney, thank you for the question about the Javits Center. I mean, we often have questions about State-run facilities, and we don't get a lot of answers from the State. And this is another example of why we need local control, because if vaccinations are being given in New York City, we want full visibility into what's happening. We want full ability to make sure that New Yorkers benefit the most. The fair share point, again, I'm happy to see anyone vaccinated from anywhere, everyone in the metropolitan area, we're all interconnected, but if New York City is going to be asked to vaccinate a lot of folks from suburbs, New Jersey, Connecticut, then give us a hell of a lot more vaccine. That has to be reflected in the federal allotment, which needs to grow for New York City, and in the way the State manages it. And the best way to do that is to restore local control.

Moderator: Next. We'll go to Matt from Patch. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing? 

Mayor: Good, Matt, how you been? 

Question: Not bad, not bad. I have a question from a colleague, it involves East Harlem. As you know, it's the worst part of Manhattan in terms of COVID, but the City hasn't opened any City run vaccine hubs there. Now you promised a hub at La Marqueta but that has never materialized. Local council member is looking for answers and still hasn't received it. So, can you explain what happened with the La Marqueta site? And are there any plans to focus on East Harlem in particular?

Mayor: Definitely plans to further focus on East Harlem. I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz, who has two facilities, obviously two big facilities in Metropolitan and Harlem Hospital that serve the community in different ways and other facilities as well. The La Marqueta site, I need to get an update on that. You're exactly right. It was part of the original vision. We've got to figure out either how to get that done quickly because we are going to be constantly expanding vaccination capacity and sites all over the city. So, we either need to get that into play or replace that concept very clearly with additional capacity. So, it's a very fair question. I want to get you a strong answer today. But let me see if Dr. Katz has anything to add?

President Katz: Sir, I'd just like to say that Metropolitan has been doing vaccinations in East Harlem. And we're hoping that with the expansion of supply, we will be able to markedly increase the number of vaccinations. The staff at Met are very motivated and look forward to vaccinating more of their patients and neighbors in East Harlem. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Matt.

Question: I just want to shift kind of more broadly over to Upper Manhattan and vaccine access there. There's been repeated calls for more vaccine hubs, more mega site type of places. Now vaccination rates across Manhattan are way better than in the city, but Upper Manhattan still lags behind. With the rise of this new NYC variant, do you think that there should be more focus on Upper Manhattan, especially because this variant seems to be more prevalent there?

Mayor: I want to do two things, Matt. One in a second, I’ll turn to Dr. Varma because I really think we have to demystify this idea of a New York variant and explain what we know and what we don't know about it. And also, remind everyone of the bigger story about what variants are and are not. So, I'll do that in a second with Dr. Varma. But the answer on Upper Manhattan – clearly more need and we need to keep expanding. You know, we have had sites and again, we have Harlem Hospital. We have the Armory – sites, every site, if there's enough supply, almost every site can either add hours, add capacity. There's endless ability to add if we have supply, we still haven't had the kind of supply breakthrough we need. We obviously had a reality last week where we got two weeks’ worth of supply in one week, because we had a week knocked out by the storm. That's one of the reasons we got to our all-time highest day last Friday, 76,000 doses. But we've never had a week where we even came close to our 500,000 doses a week capacity. And that capacity is actually continuing to grow. So, what I would say to you is when we actually start to get more and more supply, you will see more centers. You will see longer hours, more people getting vaccinated at centers. Upper Manhattan will absolutely be a priority. Now, Dr. Varma, the New York variant quote, unquote. And just again, a reminder on the truth of variants. Go ahead.

Senior Advisor Varma: Great. Thank you very much for the question. Yeah. I want to first touch on the question that was asked about sort of geographic location. So, as everybody knows we had researchers from Columbia last week that reported that there was a strain of the coronavirus that they had found in testing that was done at Columbia. And then when you look at data that we have subsequently looked at, you see that strain certainly in other parts of New York City and other parts of New York State. There was no evidence so far that this is localized to any one particular area of Manhattan. We have teams of epidemiologists right now, who are combing through laboratory records, medical records, contact tracing records, so that we can understand more about the distribution. And even more important, how much we need to be worried about this. We are concerned, not just about this variant, but all of the ones that are circulating because it's just a reminder that we continue to need to be persistent about all of the things that we know prevent infection – wearing a well-fitting mask, possibly wearing two if that helps fit better, washing your hands, getting tested, keeping distance, and of course, getting vaccinated as soon as possible.

Mayor: But Jay, follow through that point, the concern that there's a New York variant and that it might be more present in Manhattan. We take everything seriously, but I want again, demystify what that means in terms of our decision making at this point.

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. I want to really emphasize this doesn't change any of the things that we are doing right now. Because again, we need to understand how these viruses evolve, because there may be a time when we need to do something different, but that time is not right now. Whether you're in Manhattan or any of the other boroughs of the city, we continue to want you to do the things that we know are important. And particularly when it comes to vaccination, we need to really emphasize that everything we know about vaccines and these variants is that getting vaccinated is the single best way to prevent yourself from getting severe illness and death. So, we want to make sure because there is, I think a real concern that it's important for people to understand that there are risks out there, but when those risks are amplified, they can tend to make people freeze or not take behaviors that we know are important. And we know things like vaccines and prevention measures continue to be important regardless of where you are in the city.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.

Moderator: Last, we'll go to Erin from Politico.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. You've been talking a bit about needing local control restored. And as you know, yesterday, the Legislature announced a deal to repeal the Governor's emergency powers. There are some caveats to that existing order staying in place. He can still modify them. So, I'm just wondering, do you think that that is sufficient? Or do you think that there needs to be more action as far as restoring local control?

Mayor: Erin, I think it's the beginning. I think the goal has to be full local control, normal governance. We've got to start recovering. We've got to start moving forward and localities have to regain our power to do that. We cannot have a full recovery if we don't have our power, as we had it before. On top of that, as we see Albany's having its own challenges, that's exactly the moment to re-empower localities where their strength and stability to get things done. So, what I'm hearing out of Albany from the Legislature, definitely moving in the right direction, but we should ultimately go farther. Go ahead, Erin.

Question: Okay. Thanks. And then you know, if you were to get some of the City's normal authority back – I know you've talked about expanding vaccine eligibility, but aside from that, are there other specific policies that the Governor has put in place as part of the pandemic management that you would change with regular order restored?

Mayor: Yeah, the whole – it's not just vaccine eligibility, it’s the approach to vaccine distribution. The State, the Governor has continually preferred these mega sites over community-based sites. I've said clearly that is exacerbating the disparity problem. The information we gave you about Javits and Aqueduct proves that so much of what's happening in those places is not even benefiting New York City residents, let alone people in the 33 communities hardest hit by COVID, that are immigrant and people of color communities. So again, I'm fine with any effort that helps vaccinate everyone in the tri-state area. But I want to be honest about what's happening here. The State has not made the kind of focus on addressing disparity we need to. The way to do that is to oversupply grassroots sites in communities of color and to give New York City its fair share if we're going to be -- we're going to be vaccinating folks from outside the city on top of all the people in the city, we need a hell of a lot more of the share of the vaccine. We can't do that with the current structure because the State arbitrarily makes decisions about supply. The more local control is restored, the more we can create equity. I think that's the bottom line.

Thank you, everybody.

2021-03-04 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, we have good news to start off the morning – Johnson & Johnson vaccine arriving in New York City today. We're very happy to say, doses have already arrived. And this is really important for our fight against the coronavirus. Here's the first vaccine to require only one dose to be effective – one and done. This is going to revolutionize our approach to getting people vaccinated. We have a goal of 5 million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. This new development is going to help us do that a lot better. So, the vaccine is here – as our health care team has said, safe, effective. As always, the vaccine is fast, it's free. I look forward myself to getting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And I love, love, love what Dr. Chokshi said yesterday – the best vaccine is the one you can get now – the best vaccine is the one that is available to protect you and your family. 

Now, we're going to be using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine immediately to help homebound seniors. And I want to thank everyone at the FDNY. Thank you, Commissioner Nigro, and everyone at FDNY for stepping up immediately to help us vaccinate homebound seniors. FDNY has a fantastic medical capacity. They're bringing that into play, starting today at Co-Op City in the Bronx, and, starting tomorrow, Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, going to naturally occurring retirement communities, places where a lot of seniors live and some of them, sadly, are homebound and need that help, literally, house by house, apartment by apartment. That's what we're going to be doing. So, right now, outreach is being made, doors are being knocked on. Seniors who need this vaccination in their home are being identified and they're going to be reached, starting today. And that effort will grow as supply increases. 

We'll get all the details out shortly, but as I mentioned the other day, and our Health Commissioner mentioned, the initial supply of Johnson & Johnson vaccine is very limited, but we expect a large supply later in the month. But this is still a big step forward and it is a good time to talk about where we stand on the overall vaccination effort. As of today, we have provided 2,104,004 vaccinations from day-one. This rate will increase, so long as we have supply. So, we've heard some really good news the last few days on supply, but the key thing is we need the supply in hand. I'm very happy to hear the projections coming out of Washington. I really appreciate what the Biden Administration is doing, but I need it in-hand as quickly as possible with as few strings attached. Again, we need our fair share of the vaccine, which we have been not been getting from the State of New York. We need less bureaucracy, more freedom vaccinate, and we need the supply in-hand. We haven’t had a single week where we could hit the number that we're able to hit, which is at least half-a-million vaccinations a week. We haven't had a single week we could do it, because we didn't have the supply. Every week where we get at least half-a-million doses, we will vaccinate at least half-a-million New Yorkers. And I think we can go farther than that in a week, but we need the supply to show up. Again today, a step in the right direction and an important moment.

Okay. Let's do our indicators for today. And I'll just comment on this first one, because again, it is notable. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Now this number again, will go up and down each day, but this is now the second day this week where we've gotten close to our threshold again, and to the possibility of going below our threshold, that's a good sign. We are not out of the woods, but that's a good sign. Today's report, 212 patients, confirmed positivity, 63.35 percent. Hospitalization rate 4.24 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average today's report, 3,270 cases. Number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, seven-day rolling average, today's report 6.4 percent. I’ll say a few words in Spanish. And this is going back to the original topic of vaccines. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q and A. With us today is Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, Deputy Commissioner Matt Fraser, Deputy Inspector Jessica Corey. On WebEx we have FDNY Commissioner Dan Nigro, DFTA Commissioner Lorraine Cortιs-Vαzquez, CEO of Health + Hospitals Dr. Mitchell Katz, DOH Commissioner Dave Chokshi – Dr. Dave Chokshi, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Hazel from WCBS. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks so much for taking my question. 

Mayor: How are you doing, Hazel? 

Question: Good. Good. We've spoken to the family of a woman by the name of Gladys Leddy in Washington Heights. She's 87 years old, has Alzheimer's, Diabetes. She's non-communicative and homebound. Now, her family is so desperate to get her vaccinated because leaving home for her is not an option. They've really struggled to even get an appointment. So, if you are a homebound senior now, or a family member of a homebound senior, how do you get that senior on the list for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine? 

Mayor: So, we're just starting the effort now. I'm going to, we have with us our Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro, and our Commissioner for the Aging Lorraine Cortιs-Vαzquez. Everyone is coordinating to set up a specific path to get as many homebound seniors vaccinated as possible. Now, again, we're getting a small number of doses to begin, but a lot more later in the month. But what we're going to be do – is moving, do – is to move area by area. So, we're starting with Co-Op City, which is an area, obviously 40,000 or more people in one place. We can get a lot done there. As I mentioned, Brighton Beach will be next. We're going to moving around to different areas. Commissioner Nigro or Commissioner Cortιs-Vαzquez, you want to add anything about the next steps or how people can get information? And again, Hazel, we will be announcing further details shortly on the sign-up process. But Commissioner Nigro or Commissioner Cortιs-Vαzquez, you want to add? Okay. So, may be muted. 

Commissioner Lorraine Cortιs-Vαzquez, Department for the Aging: Yes. I’d be more than happy to. Thank you very much. And thank you for the question. We have about 20,000 homebound older adults. And we are just planning a rollout with the support of the Fire Department, which we're really grateful for this partnership. How we are identifying them through either home care agencies, home delivered meals programs, and we're calling those families and making arrangements for them to schedule an appointment and get the vaccine delivery by the police – I mean, by the Fire Department, I'm sorry about that. And we're also working through our senior adult providers. There are about [inaudible] 28 of them throughout the city and who are all identifying individuals who have difficulty leaving their homes. And who, what we call, are unable to be transported out. So, that is how we're doing it. If you need further information, please feel free to contact me. And I will make sure that we get your mother connected to – or get that family’s mother connected to a local agency so that we can schedule an appointment as immediately as possible. What we do is, and Commissioner Nigro, you can take it from here, is the Fire Department gets a list of individuals and then they go out and actually vaccinate those individuals placed on the roster. I leave it to you, Commissioner Nigro. 

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro: Lorraine, I think you explained it quite well. We will get the list from your folks. So, there's actually two, two separate ways here. The one that the Mayor explained, which is a location in Co-Op City. And then there will be mobile units in which a nurse will arrive at locations where people cannot leave their home or their apartment and we will do the vaccinations in that manner. So, as we move forward, we'll certainly advertise more and more how any of these homebound folks can get in touch with us and ensure that they get vaccinated as they should. 

Mayor: That's great. Thank you, both Commissioners and Hazel, thank you for raising the concern on behalf of that family. And we'll make sure our team follows up with you today so we can make sure that she gets vaccinated quickly. And I appreciate you advocating for that family. Okay. 

Moderator: Next is Kristen from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Kristen. How you been? 

Question: I'm good. I'm good. So, on the vaccine front. Now that we've gotten Johnson & Johnson vaccines, I know you said it was a small amount, can you tell me the total number of vaccine doses – that’s Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer that the City is now getting weekly? 

Mayor: Yes, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but let me just give you an update because I've gotten a further detail in the last minutes. We have now 16,300 doses of Johnson & Johnson in hand, 8,000 more in transit. I don't have the exact arrival date. For the first two weeks, we expect it to be something like 71,000. But again, that's very helpful, but much less than we expect to see later toward the end of the month. We hope that will be a much, much bigger number. But that's going to be helpful. Even 71,000 moves us forward. It doesn't get us where we need to be, which is a total of, you know, half a million or more doses per week that we can fully utilize, all different vaccines together. But Dr. Chokshi, can you talk about what this puts us on a rate for how many doses we'll have available this week? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. I'll be happy to. And as you said, Johnson & Johnson is a bit of a different situation than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines with respect to supply. So, Johnson & Johnson for the first two weeks, that's this week and next week, we expect about 71,000 doses, total, as the Mayor mentioned. We think that through the middle of March it will be a relatively low number with respect to Johnson & Johnson doses before picking up in terms of supply by the end of March. And then moving to Pfizer and Moderna, we're getting about 190,000 first doses for New York City, between those two vaccines. It's split between them and we're getting slightly more Pfizer than Moderna overall. So, we hope those numbers will also pick up over the weeks in March and then really have a more significant uptick in April. 

Mayor: Dave, could you give us roughly what you think your grand total for the week will be for this week? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. So, that would be about 190,000 first doses of Pfizer and Moderna. And we expect about 30,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson through the weekend. So, that would be a total of about 220,000 first doses acknowledging that Johnson & Johnson is only a one-dose vaccine. And then there are some additional second doses as well for people who are slated to receive them this week. 

Mayor: Thank you. So, everyone, the last thing I want to say, which is New York City's moving forward. We've got momentum. We've got momentum in our vaccination effort. We have well over two million vaccinations and that's going to grow rapidly. We've got momentum in bringing our economy back. As I said, we're on track to get to 4.5 million jobs in the city by the end of the year. We've got momentum in deepening public safety, great work of the men and women of the NYPD, more and more engagement with communities, deepening neighborhood policing, and more reforms to come as well. So, this is a city on the move, and I guarantee you, you're going to see amazing things happen in 2021. And you're going to see a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everyone.

2021-03-05 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. And now it's time for our Friday Ask The Mayor call in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or you can tweet a question, use the hashtag #AskTheMayor. We will watch our Twitter feed go by for good questions. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. How are you doing?

Lehrer: I'm doing okay. Thank you. And let me start with a very practical question about vaccine distribution. You said the arrival of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine will allow you to go door-to-door to home-bound seniors. Where does that stand as of right now? And how can those seniors sign up?

Mayor: We're going to get the signup process out very shortly. What we're doing to begin Brian, is we are focused on Co-Op City in the Bronx, which is over 40,000-person community with a huge number of seniors, including home-bound seniors. So, we know there's a lot of people we can reach quickly there. We're also going to be in Brighton Beach right away. That's another place where we have a lot of buildings where we know we can reach people. And what we're doing is about to announce – we just have a few pieces we have to sort out, a sign-up process. What's great here is a number of parts of the City are working together, Department for the Aging helping to lead the way with the Health Department. And the Fire Department is actually providing the medical personnel who are going out, and this is literally, you have to go apartment by apartment, home by home and do this one-on-one. So, it is – it takes time, it's labor intensive. But now that we're starting to get the Johnson & Johnson doses, we're going to be able to do it. And very shortly, we'll be providing people a way to sign up all over the city.

Lehrer: And it's the lack of refrigeration requirements, like the Pfizer and Moderna, I know they are different from each other as well, but Johnson & Johnson is even less so, that allows you to do this as I understand it. When you say the medical personnel, are people going to hang around for 15 minutes in each case after somebody gets a shot? Because that's what people are doing when they go places to get their shots, they're supposed to stay there for 15 minutes to make sure they don't have an allergic reaction.

Mayor: Yeah, that is my understanding. And we'll certainly, as we talk to people about the signup process and how it's going to work, we'll address that. But that's certainly my understanding. We want to make sure everything's safe, especially for home-bound seniors, who obviously are folks dealing with real health challenges. But you're right, what you said before Brian. Because Johnson & Johnson does not require the same rigorous level of refrigeration, you know, we can take it out into a community and use it effectively. The other thing that's really important for everyone to know, and this is why I'm going to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine when my time comes. But particularly for home-bound seniors, the fact that it's one shot does the entire job means that you know it's done. Obviously, a home-bound senior cannot get out for a second shot. They would have to wait for someone to bring it to them. I really like the notion of anyone knowing that the first shot has taken care of the entire mission. And that's something we'll be talking about a lot. And we really – you know, again, it'll take us time to get to every home-bound senior, but that's what our goal is, is to reach everyone who needs it and wants to have it.

Lehrer: You know there's a, COVID variant now being called the New York variant because it was discovered here first. And it might be more transmissible, and we don't know yet if it evades the vaccines at all. But are you seeing case or hospitalization numbers that would indicate this variant is either a big deal or kind of media hype?

Mayor: Yeah. Right now, I – first of all, I talked to Dr. Chokshi about this yesterday. No one should prejudge. And he believes by not too far into next week, we'll have much more definitive information about it. But here's where we should avoid any possibility of hype or misunderstanding or alarm. Let's talk about our numbers for today. The city's overall positivity level today, seven-day average is 5.8 percent. It hasn't been that low in quite a while. And the hospitalization is 221. So, getting close again to our threshold of 200. It has been going down steadily. This is really interesting to see these numbers – the confirmed positivity level among our hospitalizations was under 40 percent. Again, we have not seen that in a while. I would say if we're looking at trend lines? No, we are seeing in fact an improved situation. But we're going to get a full report out to the public on what the Department of Health has learned as it's analyzed this new variant. The most important thing I can say, definitively, that across all the variants that have been out there, Britain and South Africa, et cetera, our Health team consistently says the vaccines are working against the variants and the single best defense is to go out and get vaccinated.

Lehrer: Jacob in Queens, you're on WNYC with Mayor de Blasio. Hi Jacob.

Question: Yeah. Hi. Hello, Mr. Mayor. I had my second Moderna shot yesterday. And my question was I travel abroad quite a bit. I have relatives in several countries and is there any way to get some kind of vaccine passport, something that can be – you can show some kind of foreign authority, hey look I'm kosher?

Mayor: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Jacob. This is something we're working on right now. You know, trying to determine the best way – we, of course want to really respect people's privacy. But you're right, there's situations, particularly with travel where it might be very helpful to have a clear certified example of the fact that you've been vaccinated. So, we're working on right now, the best way to address that. And we will have more to say on that, I think next week. We got to help people to be able to navigate what will be a much better world. I want to get five million people vaccinated fully by June. I think we're well on track to do that. Last week, last Friday, we had our biggest vaccination day since it began. We got 76,000 people vaccinated in one day. So, as long as we get supply, this is going to take off. We still need more supply. But you're right, we got to have a way as more and more people get vaccinated for it to be confirmed in ways that people need. And we'll be working to work that out quickly.

Lehrer: Gary, in Manhattan, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Gary.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I have two teenage children who have not been in that public high schools in a year. Private schools are open. Gyms are open, now movie theaters are open. The toll on their lives in every way has been immeasurable. They are suffering. They are withdrawn. They are not in, they are not outside. They're not socializing. The CDC, the experts say, open the schools. Can you commit to a date when the high schools will be open? Thank you.

Mayor: Gary, thank you. Thank you. Thank you for the question. I feel your passion. And I'm a parent, I absolutely want to see kids back in school. We did have high school opened in October and part of November. But of course, we then had a huge uptick in the positivity and the disease. And we have to deal with that. We are going to bring back high schools. How and when, we're going to have an announcement next week on the details. And I am very hopeful that we are going to be able to continue to build up the number of kids coming back in the schools. Remember, we've got right now where the next – you know, we had middle school start last week, it's been very successful. I'm looking forward to high school. Then the question, can we bring even more kids back in, in the course of the school year? Which will depend on what happens with the disease and the vaccinations. And then September where I want literally every kid to be able to come back to every school. So, this has got to move aggressively. But, Gary, you're right. I mean, kids have gone through hell here and it's not healthy for kids to be out of school. That's the bottom line.

Lehrer: We have a question on Twitter from a listener who wants to – who says all families deserve info about the plan for September. What can you tell us specifically about that plan?

Mayor: Well, I just had a long meeting with our new Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter and her team on this very question. And what I can tell you is we intend to be able to accommodate every single child, every family that wants their child back in school in September. It is our expectation we can accommodate everyone in-person, five days a week. The fact is a lot's going to happen because it's a long way from now from March to September. And a lot could happen – good or bad or mixed with the coronavirus. But my hope is that we have advanced so far by September that there's literally no one who wants to be remote anymore. I have to be honest that I think even if we have advanced a lot, there will be parents who still won't be ready, won't be comfortable. My expectation is we'll have to have a remote option. But we – I think there's only two realistic pieces here, a full five day a week calendar for kids in-person. And then a pure remote option for families that just won't be ready at that point. But I do not foresee blended being a part of the equation anymore. I think we've got to get kids in school maximum number, five days a week. That's the vision we're working on.

Lehrer: And here's more of that Twitter user’s question. That's kind of a follow-up to what you just said. This person writes, what would he say to parents who are leaving New York City schools for private or other options, because we have no September plan and the two-case rule? So, what about the two-case rule in this scenario that you just laid out? Because I think it's something like if there are two cases close enough together in one school building, then everybody has to go from home for a while?

Mayor: Yeah. It's a little more complex than that. But what it means is if there's two cases that cannot be traced in such a fashion to a specific cause, that it might mean there's more widespread distribution of the coronavirus in the building. That's what causes a shutdown. That rule is being re-evaluated as we speak. Because we continue to see improvement in fighting the coronavirus, more and more people vaccinated. Well over, you know, we're over 2.1 million people vaccinated now. You know, there's a lot moving and changing and of course the schools have been just absolutely consistently safe throughout – extraordinarily low amount of coronavirus positivity in the schools. So, when you think about all of that, we're going to keep looking at that two-case rule and figuring out what we can do, but that's now. September is going to be a whole new ball game. So, I would say to your core question Brian, and I'm saying this as a parent. I would say to anyone, okay, if you believe in New York City public schools, if you want a great public school education for your child for free, here's what I'll tell you about September. And I know that our new Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter believes in this 110 percent. We will be fully open in September. There will be five day a week instruction for everyone, period. We of course will have to have health and safety rules depending on what's going on with the coronavirus. But there'll be an entire reset as we figure out where we stand. And we'll work with all the stakeholders, we'll work with our Health team especially, to determine what the ground rules need to be in that new environment in September. But I expect September to be a much, much improved environment compared to now. So, folks who are trying to judge September, according to today's reality are making a mistake. Public school will be available for all in-person in September. That's the plan.

Lehrer: I have another two-case rule question that comes from a story in Bklyner about whether it's too rigid? Like particularly there's a school called K280, pre-K in the Bishop Ford complex shared with two middle schools. It's a big campus compound in Windsor Terrace. And the pre-K kids are now shut out for ten days because there was one case there, but the other one in the middle school that they don't share air with at all, in a fairly distant wing of the building, from what I gather. Have you seen stories like that or have new thoughts about co-located schools where the two groups are very physically separated and the two-case rule?

Mayor: Yeah, I think that's an area that we're absolutely reevaluating. That needs to be reconsidered in light of what we're seeing, because that takes the underlying concept. And I think in some ways misses the point. The underlying concept was if there is spread in a school, if we can't rule it out, we have to be cautious. And, of course, that was a standard – to be fair to everyone, that was a standard built in August and September for a very different reality than what we're facing now. A time when we did not know if and when we would get the vaccine, for example. We're in a very different reality now. So, we're continuing to open up the schools. We're continuing to make changes. This is being reevaluated as we speak. We'll have more to say on it, but I do want to emphasize to people, don't presume. I mean, I want to be open and honest. Don't presume where we are in the beginning of March is the same place we're going to be in April or May. And certainly not the same place we're going to be in September.

Lehrer: And here's a caller who hopes to be in high school next fall. Samuel in Brooklyn, an eighth grader. Samuel you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Thanks for calling in.

Question: Hi.

Lehrer: Hey there.

Mayor: Hi Samuel. How are you doing?

Question: I'm good. How are you?

Mayor: Good, good.

Question: So, I am calling because I'm a homeschooled eighth grader. I'm applying to public school for high school. And I just found out from the high school enrollment office three days after the applications were due, that my grades can't be entered into the system. So, I can't ever have a chance of being accepted into a screened high school that requires grades for entry. There are 10,000 homeschooled children who this affects, and it limits my choices by a hundred schools, over a hundred schools. And I believe that this is unacceptable and it's discriminatory against homeschool children. And I ask you, how is this fair?

Mayor: I appreciate the question, Samuel. This is the first, literally the first I've ever heard of this problem. Please give your information to WNYC. I'm sure there's some way to address this. And let's see if what you're giving us an example will help us find a solution. Because obviously I do not want to see anyone left out. So, give us your information and someone will follow up with you today. And then we'll figure out, you know, from your example, what we need to do in general.

Lehrer: The State Legislature is rescinding some of the Governor's pandemic emergency powers. So, for example, as I understand it, he can still order the City to open or close schools or restaurants or whatever, or distribute vaccines in a certain order, but the public, and now you as mayor, get to express your opinion in a more formal way before he can make any such decree. If I'm understanding what I'm reading correctly. I'm curious if that's your understanding of what's changed. And if you think that's good, bad, or neutral for the city. 

Mayor: I think your summary is pretty accurate. I would add, of course, the notion that it empowers localities to go back to the normal process of creating their own executive orders on issues that we have to deal with, but it's – look, it's a step in the right direction. I do appreciate the action the Legislature is taking. I think it will help us, but it is not full local control. It's not normal governance, and we need to get back to it as quickly as possible. We're not done with the pandemic, but we are rapidly coming out of it. And democracy is democracy. You know, our government system was set up to empower localities to manage the reality of our people's lives. And we need that restored, especially given the dysfunction in Albany and given the mistakes the Governor has made. I mean, that moment, again, where I had to fight for the freedom to vaccinate was very telling. We knew that the vaccination process was dysfunctional because we couldn't reach so many people who needed it, and we couldn't create a viable agile system if we were not allowed, for example, to vaccinate people over 65. It just didn't work. But that was a long drawn out fight with Albany. If we had local control again, that would have been done instantly and a lot more would have been vaccinated earlier. 

Lehrer: Dale in the East Village you’re on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Dale. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Brian. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Good morning. How are you doing today? 

Question: Okay. I'm calling in because, with the Open Restaurants program, which you know, I think we all agree was it was a great idea to get restaurants and bars a chance to make it through the pandemic, but at the same time for people like me, and there's a lot throughout the neighborhood who live across the street or above the restaurants, the noise from diners and outdoor music has become a real problem where there was none until the program got created. So, with that in mind, just a couple of quick questions it seems that there were program guidelines, prohibiting outdoor music, but no one on my block is following them. So, are there guidelines and how can we get them enforced? Because calling 3-1-1 for music, you know, issues, I haven't gotten any results from that. And just, secondly you know, just the general noise from diners can get really loud too. And as the economy recovers and restaurants get back on their feet, is there any chance the City can reevaluate the permanent status of Open Streets? Because right now I kind of feel trapped by things and can't afford to move to get away from the noise. 

Mayor: Yeah. Listen, thank you for raising this and we don't want anyone feeling what you're feeling. We want to make sure there's a balance struck. I'm going to ask our Nightlife Office to follow up with you. And if you please give your information to WNYC, they have – the Nightlife Office has a really good track record of mediating and coming up with solutions. Look, we do believe, I believe, a hundred percent in Open Restaurants and Open Streets. This is something we're making permanent. I believe it's a really valuable part of our future and we learned it in crisis, but it's something we will be able to use in much better times to make the city you know, a more vibrant place. But I hear you loud and clear. I totally understand, because I've experienced it too, over the years. You know, it's very alienating when you feel there's too much noise and it's not being addressed. And that's why our Nightlife Office was created to go in and mediate. If we have to bring enforcement, of course we will. But a lot of times, if we say to a restaurant or a diner, we say, look, you have a problem with your neighbors and you got to find a balance point, they'd get it. And they want to be good neighbors and they don't want the danger of penalties. So, let's see if we can resolve your case, but I want to affirm to everyone the future of New York City is continuing the Open Restaurants program and the Open Streets program. It is going to be part of what brings us back and we need a strong recovery. It's going to be a very important part of that recovery. 

Lehrer: Does that require any specific additions to the noise code for these circumstances? Because I do get these calls fairly frequently from different parts of the city. People who didn't have this noise problem before understanding that we need Open Restaurants and Open Streets, especially in the pandemic, but having a noise problem that they didn't have in their apartments. 

Mayor: I don't know of a specific change that there needs to be made in the noise code. I think this is about, and it's our obligation as a City government to keep moving with the changes, doing the right kind of education of the business owners, the right kind of mediation with the Nightlife Office, the right kind of enforcement, if that's what's needed. I really think we can do that. I think this is such a positive thing. And you know, right now we already know that Open Restaurants brought back about a hundred thousand jobs. It's just so important to the city and by the way, it's a beautiful thing. It's brought additional life and vibrancy. That's going to continue and be true well beyond the pandemic, but it has to be balanced like everything else in this beautiful crowded place. So, we have to keep perfecting our strategy. And if we have to add something to the law, we will. But I think right now we have the tools we need to address the problem. 

Lehrer: Last thing, Mr. Mayor, then we're out of time. Today, movie theaters in New York City can reopen at 25 percent capacity, as you know. You've been critical of the Texas plan to allow reopening of everything to a hundred percent capacity. And yet people are still debating New York too fast, too slow. Depends who you ask. There's some skepticism about movie theaters coming back at 25 percent today, for example, in light of the variants. Would you feel safe going to the movies or sending your kids today? 

Mayor: You know, let me – quick frame, I'll be very fast. I think that this all needs to be done with the decisions of our health leadership, all based on data and science. And I worry anytime it's anything other than that. And certainly, Texas is the poster child for doing it the wrong way. I have a wait-and-see approach on the question of how much things are being expanded. These are decisions made by the State, not by the City. We're going to be watching very carefully. We're obviously concerned about the variants. We're going to be updating the public on them. So, the jury's out on this to me of whether, you know, this is the right amount or where we go from here. Look, in the end, one thing I guarantee is once it's a State decision, it's our job to do our best to make it safe and to send out the health inspectors and others, to try and make it safe. So, I have confidence that our inspectors are doing their job and, on that level, I would participate out of confidence in them. But that doesn't mean that it's necessarily the right thing to do going forward, if the evidence proves otherwise. 

Lehrer: Thanks as always, Mr. Mayor. Talk to you next week. 

Mayor: Take care, Brian.

2021-03-08 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Happy Monday. And it is a happy Monday because we have a lot of good news today. It's really a particularly good news day. So, first of all, thank God, the U.S. Senate has acted on the stimulus. And I want to begin at the beginning by thanking the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, our own Chuck Schumer, who played such a pivotal role in bringing this stimulus together. Tremendous, thanks to him. Thanks to President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, everyone in the U.S. Senate who stood up for the people of this country and certainly for the people of New York. Every senator who voted for this deserves our praise. Thanks to Senator Gillibrand and all the senators who made this happen, because look, this is the decisive moment we've been waiting for. Now, we know it has to go back to the House. We know it has to go to the President for signature, but this was a great hurdle. Now we can finally start to imagine what a full recovery looks like because we have the missing piece. Now, we have the one thing that was held back from us for months and months and months when it was needed most. And it's amazing when you think of just the few weeks that Joe Biden's been in office the few weeks that Chuck Schumer has been Majority Leader of the Senate, what a momentous achievement, so quickly, so powerfully. So, this now supercharges our recovery. This is the thing we needed. So, that's tremendously good news. And we'll be talking about it more in the days ahead as we wait, of course, for it to be 100 percent signed, sealed, and delivered with the President's signature. So, that's great. 

We had a great weekend in our vaccination effort. Again, this is the largest vaccination effort in the history of New York City. Well over 100,000 New Yorkers got vaccinated this weekend. A lot of times weekends are slower. But this was a strong weekend for vaccination and an indicator of the shape of things to come, that we've got more and more capacity. We still need that supply. I'm going to say it every time, supply, supply, supply. This is still the piece that we really need from Washington. We still need more help from Washington. We still need more help from Albany. We still need more help from the manufacturers. But our capacity keeps growing, strong weekend. Where does that bring us to now? Since the beginning of our vaccination effort 2,325,811 doses have been given. Again, I love to give context. That is more than the total population of Houston, Texas, the fourth largest city in America. So, this effort is just growing and growing. But if get the supply we need, it goes to a higher, higher, higher level. At least half a million vaccinations a week, when we get the supply we need. 

And I'll tell you, I had a great experience in Co-Op City in the Bronx on Saturday, amazing vaccination center, that's been set up there by the Department of Health, tremendous enthusiasm. And real interesting, a lot of folks saying now they're ready. Now they want to get vaccinated. They had hesitation before, but now they're ready. And actually Dr. Dave Chokshi and I went around, talked to a lot of people getting vaccinated. One of the most consistent things we heard is people want the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because it's one dose and you're done. Now, we were using Johnson & Johnson up in the Bronx, a lot of energy around the fact that after one shot, you're safe and you can go forward. So, I think you're going to see this vaccination effort take off more and more, but we need that supply. 

Now, as we think about vaccinations, we are focused on the folks who are most vulnerable always, our seniors, folks with pre-existing conditions. But some of the folks who are the very most vulnerable are homebound seniors. And we have been creating a plan to reach them. But what we really needed was the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Because think about it, if you're a homebound senior, think about someone who cannot get out of the house, think about their loved ones and the fear and anxiety they have for them. And they just want them to be protected. Finally, we have a vaccine that can do that in one shot. And a vaccine that's actually flexible enough that we can use even going door-to-door in a building and not have to worry about the refrigeration issues and everything we've dealt with before. So, finally we have the vaccine we need, we've started right away reaching homebound seniors. We began up in Co-Op City, an immediate effort, a tremendous appreciation up there from seniors and their families. We've now gone to Brighton Beach, Far Rockaway. 

This effort is going to continue across the five boroughs very rapidly. Now this week, it builds up. Next week, we go to fuller strength and we will be doing at least 1,200 vaccinations a week. Now this remember, is meticulous. It's door-to-door, one patient at a time, a team has to go in and they need to stay to make sure someone reacts well to the shot. So, it takes a lot of time and energy. We want to get this number up constantly. We'd like to see that get up closer to 3,000 per week as we go along. The providers, we're working with Northwell, Mount Sinai, Montefiore are all doing great work. Our goal is to reach all homebound seniors, all homebound seniors in this city who want to be vaccinated between this month and next month. So, over the next seven weeks or so, we believe we can reach every single one. And I want folks who want to get vaccinated who are homebound or their loved ones who want to set up the appointment for them, you can go to our normal vaccination application, sign up places to 8-8 – excuse me, to 8-7-7-VAX-4-NYC, 8-7-7-VAX-4-NYC, or online vax4nyc.nyc.gov. Go to those sites. You'll see if you need the specific support for someone homebound, how to sign up for it. But again, we're working with community-based organizations. We're working with senior centers, we are working in naturally occurring retirement communities. We believe we can reach literally every homebound senior. And we welcome anyone who needs the vaccine to come forward. And we are going to come to your door and give you the protection you need. 

Okay. Now let's talk about where we go from here. When I talk about a recovery for all of us, it means a recovery that reaches every part of New York City, every family, regardless of income, regardless of race, regardless of neighborhood, regardless of ZIP code, we need a recovery that reaches everyone. And there is nothing more essential to our recovery than bringing back our public schools. This is the essence of why New York City is great, our public schools. Families depend on them. Everything revolves around our public schools. So, we're moving aggressively to bring our schools back now and fully in September. I'm going to turn to Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter in a moment, and you'll hear her focus and enthusiasm for bringing back schools. 

But first, let me give you some really important announcements. Obviously, we've had kids in younger grades in school throughout this year. When most cities in America didn't dare to try. We've had our schools open in a variety of forms throughout the year. Heavy focus on younger grades, heavy focus on kids with special needs, brought our middle schools back very successfully, recently. Now it's time to take the next steps. So, high school – high schools will reopen on Monday, March 22nd in New York City. And we're really excited about this. We are ready to go. We have all the pieces we need to bring high school back and bring it back strong. And of course, to bring it back safely. Why do we know this? Because we set the gold standard for the nation and our rules became the blueprint for the Centers for Disease Control, for the CDC’s own plan for bringing back schools. 

So, that's exciting unto itself. I told you we had a lot of good news today. That's good news, but here comes some more good news – school sports. We're bringing back school sports. So PSAL, Public School Athletic League, we're going to bring back all sports with strict safety protocols. So, let me get it right, everyone. All sports – I want you all to hear it, all sports, but with strict safety protocols, with a phase-in to make sure our student athletes are ready, to make sure it's done safely, a heavy emphasis on moving sports outdoors so everyone is safe. And we're going to extend our seasons into the summer. We're going to go all the way to August, to give kids who have missed out on sports, a chance to catch up and have a much better experience. So, this is really exciting. Now parents, I’m going to say to you upfront, we need to understand that this is for the kids. And even though I was, for years and years, a sports parent. I love going to the games. This is not that kind of situation, because we can't have big crowds. We have to protect everyone. So, this is about giving the kids a chance to participate. And then as things get healthier and healthier in this city, we'll be able to open it up even more. 

But look, the last thing I want to say is, think about our kids. Think about our high school kids. So, you know, not long ago, I had two kids in high school. And I can tell you that in normal times for kids in high school, it's really tough, right? It's a, it's a formative time in life. It's a time of a lot of excitement, but also a lot of challenges, a lot of emotions, kids worried about where they fit in, worried about their future. That's normal times. But then you put a pandemic into it. Think about what our kids have gone through? For the first time in generations, their lives, entirely disrupted. Think about the kids who haven't seen their friends for a year. Think about the kids who have been suffering emotionally and are worried. Think about the children we've lost to suicide. There are so many reasons that we need to bring our kids back. There are so many reasons we need them to be back where loving, caring, adults, trained professionals are there to support them. Think about that child that right now is feeling a little hopeless and lonely, what it’s going to mean for them on Monday, March 22nd, when they walk back through the door of their high school, see their friends, see their teachers, and have hope again. That's what this is all about. Here to tell you about these great developments, our Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter. 

Incoming Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Let me just get in the room all the way. Here we go. Good morning, everyone. So, first of all, thank you, Mr. Mayor. And over the past week, I've been saying to everyone that my priority as Chancellor is to open, open, open. And I am thrilled that we are making good on that with today's announcement. As the parent of a 10th grader, I can tell you firsthand how exciting it is that we are reopening high schools on March 22nd and resuming PSAL programming in early April. My daughter is over the moon about being able to reconnect with her teachers in-person, reunite with her friends, and just to be able to walk the halls of her high school, sit at her desk in a classroom, and rejoin the amazing learning community at Frederick Douglas Academy. My Jayden, along with up to 55,000 high schoolers will be doing the same. And beginning March 18th, our teachers and staff members will enter their buildings and start preparing classrooms. 

With a 0.57 positivity rate, our schools that are safest place to be, and we are ready to reopen schools for our high schoolers. Approximately half of our high schools will be offering in-person learning five-days-a-week to all or a majority of their students. And we will continue to ramp that up the same way we did with the elementary and middle schools. We will also be bringing back all sports in April and offering additional PSAL opportunities throughout the summer. My email and social media have been flooded with this request and I'm so happy we are able to make this announcement today. To all the coaches who have emailed me, I thank you for your deep commitment to getting back with your athletes. Our coaches know, as we all do, that, this is so essential not only for academics, but also for mental health. Sports in particular provide a much-needed outlet for our kids and they have been without that for nearly a year at this point. Having important offerings and opportunities, like sports, that are driven by student interest, we can expect to see students more engaged and excelling in academics. And we are going to continue with what we know works, weekly in-person testing for our students, educators, and staff, and now our student athletes as well, 30-day supply of PPE, nightly deep cleanings, mandated social distancing, and mask wearing, and support and monitoring from our situation room. This is a proven approach to safety and the CDC recently released guidance that mimics our approach to reopening since September. None of this – absolutely none of this would be possible without our school staff and educators, the hardest working people out there. They have the greatest responsibility of making sure our District 75 schools, elementary schools, and middle schools reopen safely. And now, we're going to do the same, preparing our high schools, fields, and courts for high schools and sports to begin. We are so grateful to them and we are grateful to our families who have continued to be patient and flexible. 

So, thank you all. I'm truly honored to be taken the helm during such a promising time. Let's go. Let's do this. We are ready. And with that, I'll turn it back to you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Chancellor. And Chancellor, I can hear your enthusiasm. And I know we're going to do this, and do it well, and do it quickly – get our kids back, get them back in the classroom, get them back on the playing field, bring our city back. And the Chancellor and I are going to be talking about September more and more as well. And I want this to be loud and clear. We are bringing our schools back fully in September, period. I want everyone to understand everything is working, all systems go to bring our schools back 100 percent in September. So, this is a major, major step. And that's going to be an amazing day when we bring our kids back fully and we can just feel the city moving forward. But I'm really happy, we can celebrate this step today, Monday, March 22nd, a very big day for New York City. 

Okay. Let's talk about another important day. And this is a day that's a somber day. This is a day that we need to reflect. It's coming up on Sunday – on this Sunday, March 14th, the one-year anniversary from the day that we lost the first New Yorker to COVID. And we're going to mark Sunday with a COVID Day of Remembrance. We're going to mark Sunday with a sense of respect and love for the families who have lost loved ones in this crisis. We're going to remember the people we've lost. We're going to hold them close. But it's also a time to think about everything that this city has gone through and the strength, and the compassion, the love that New Yorkers have shown. So, on that day, we're going to have a memorial that really focuses on the memories of the people no longer here. I want to offer to everyone, family members, neighbors, coworkers, those who lost someone you love, someone you remember in your heart. If you want to submit a loved one's name and their photo to be part of the ceremony – we're going to be putting up many photos of our loved ones – you can do that, nyc.gov/COVIDMemorial. And Sunday at 7:45 PM, the ceremony will commence and you can watch it live nyc.gov/COVIDMemorial and on all the social media channels of the Mayor's Office. We constantly talk about moving forward and our recovery, but we've got to take time to remember the people we've lost and everything they gave to us and everything we owe to their families as we come back together. This year has taught us the power of New Yorkers standing together and the compassion of New Yorkers for each other. We're going to need that, going forward. But we can't move forward until we remember the people who meant so much to us. 

Okay. Let me go over today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today’s report, 207 patients. Confirmed positivity of 64.68 percent. Hospitalization rate, 3.97 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,213 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive city-wide for COVID-19, on a seven-day rolling average, 6.23 percent. A few words in Spanish on the topic of reopening our high schools. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Chancellor Ross Porter, by Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, Commissioner Dan Negro, by Michael Ognibene, the COO of the Department for the Aging, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today, it goes to Juan Manuel from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey, Juan Manuel. How have you been? 

Question: Very good. Thank you. So, about high schools – you're saying are going to be reopening it on March 22nd. Only 55,000 students, about 20 percent of the high school population will be able to attend in-person. With more and more people being vaccinated, are you considering adding another opt-in period for students? 

Mayor: Yes. Juan Manuel, we're not there yet. It's a conversation I had yesterday with the Chancellor and with our Health Commissioner, but the day may come. We are all going to focus on the data and the science. This is a decision that would be made carefully with our health leadership. And we are very concerned about the variants, as we've discussed, but it certainly is possible that the health situation in the city continues to improve, positively levels go down, vaccination levels go up, and we may have the possibility before the school year is over of doing another opt-in. So, that's something we're looking to, but we're not there yet. In the meantime, we want to bring back all the kids we can for a high school right now, and, for the maximum number of those kids, give them five-day-a-week instruction.

Moderator: The next is Alex Zimmerman from Chalkbeat. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Alex. How have you been? 

Question: I’m well. I just wanted to follow up on that question about the opt-in window. And was just curious, is it just the variants that are causing concern here? Or are there other reasons why, you know, there can't be a new opt-in window for high schools? You know, there's still a few months left here in the school year. There’s still a bunch of time. And, you know, I've been talking a lot to people who, you know, understandably feel like they've been locked into a decision that they made, you know, months and months ago when the virus situation was pretty different. 

Mayor: Okay. I'm going to break that down a little bit. Alex, first of all, we gave parents an opportunity at beginning of the school year, then we gave them another opportunity to opt in. But we said we had to get some final decisions from people, because we needed to give the kids who wanted to be in school, the parents who wanted to have their kids in school, we needed to give them as many days in school as possible, and that's how we structured things. Now, when you say, is it just the variants, I want to be careful you're not underestimating what you're saying here. Variants are a big question for us. Positivity levels, still higher than we want them to be. Case levels, still higher than we want to be. We cannot take this disease lightly. We sure as hell have learned that. It's just too early. And this is what our health care leadership says clearly, it's too early to make that decision. But we'd certainly love to get there. There's a lot of time left on the clock – there's most of March, all of April, all of May, all of June, there's a lot of time. But we're not going to do it until we're sure we are safe and that's going to be the bottom line. The health and safety first, that's what's made our schools so safe all along. Go ahead, Alex. 

Question: So, this might be a question best directed at incoming Chancellor Porter. But given that just the vast, vast majority of students are learning remotely every day, and, you know, that has obviously been the case for about a year now, what is the status of the City's efforts to improve remote instruction? You know, we've had almost no press conferences in the last year about what's being done on remote instruction. And so, I'm curious, you know, what the City is doing and whether you have any plans to improve remote instruction for the rest of the year? 

Mayor: I'll just say one thing before turning to the Chancellor, Alex. We've talked about it in so many press conferences, in fact – the fact that there's been constant effort on a systemwide level, but also school by school, teacher by teacher to improve the remote experience all the time. It never stops. There's an absolute commitment to improving it. But we also have said honestly, there's a lot that educators cannot do remotely the same or as well as they normally do. So, I don't know an educator who is not trying to make it better, but I also know that what we really need is to get our kids back in September. That will be the difference maker. Go ahead, Chancellor. 

Chancellor Ross Porter: Thank you. And so, I would just say that we are definitely looking at how to leverage what we've learned from remote instruction to bring into our classrooms. But I would agree with the Mayor, I think that the best instruction is that between a student and a teacher in a classroom. But we’re definitely leaning into the lessons that we've learned from remote instruction and thinking about ways to leverage remote instruction as an innovative practice as we move into the next school year. 

Moderator: The next is Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, Juliet. How was your weekend? 

Question: Good. Busy. And it was great that the weather was fantastic. Thank you for asking. What I wanted to ask you about were these variants that we're talking about. What more do we know about the New York variant? And yesterday, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a former FDA Commissioner spoke about two New York variants. What can you tell us about that? 

Mayor: Okay. And I think we were going to keep doing our variant tutorial, too, because it's really important to put in perspective that variants come with the territory and they need to be taken seriously, but we want to make sure people understand what they are and what they're not. First, Dr. Varma, a little bit of the big picture. And then, Dr. Chokshi on the research that's being done on the New York variant and anything new we're learning, including any new developments, new variants, and the timeline that we'll be able to get more information on. Dr. Varma, go ahead. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much for the question. And yeah, since this is a very complex topic, I'll just give a little bit of brief background. I mean, as we know, viruses mutate all the time, that's just what viruses do as they're in the human bodies and that's why the single biggest priority is to prevent people from getting infected, prevention through the ways that we know, hand-washing masks, distance, getting tested, and then prevention through the most important intervention, which is getting vaccinated when it's your turn. There've been – these mutations arise all the time, and that's why it's going to continue to be confusing and get even more confusing. But what we know so far is that, again, the methods that we have all have an effect on reducing infections. So, it's very important for people to be aware of variants, because they do present a future risk. It is possible we may need to give new guidance in the future. But, right now, we really need people to double down on what they're doing. In terms of the variants that were reported – that were first identified here in New York City, we are currently actively researching those. I'll pass over to Dr. Chokshi in a moment to give you an update and when we're going to give you more information. But what we know right now is, again, all of the interventions that we can take are critically important, but that the only way that we can prevent these variants from becoming a problem is really doubling down on all of those interventions aggressively. And I'll stop there and pass the Dr. Chokshi to give you an update about where we're at with the evaluation of what the public health impact is of the variants that have been found in New York City. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Dr. Varma. And you explained it well with respect to the big picture around variants. As we've spoken about before, there are three variants of concern that we know about from what has been investigated globally about the coronavirus. That's the B117, or UK variant, the B1351, or South African variant, and the P1, or Brazilian variant. We are – we've been actively looking for all three of those, and we issue weekly reports about our findings with respect to those three variants of concern, and we'll do that according to the regular cadence later this week. Also, later this week, we do anticipate having some more information to share about the science that's being done around the B1526 variant, which is sometimes known as the New York variant, as well. The disease detectives here at the Health Department have been working around the clock to figure out some of the key questions about that variant, such as whether it's more contagious and spreads more easily, and whether it changes the nature of the illness caused by the virus that causes COVID-19. So, this is all happening on an hour to hour, day by day basis. But we plan to share at least some of the initial findings with the public later this week. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Yeah, okay. So, to follow up on that, so it – have you identified, or have there been a second variant identified, and also, when everyone goes back to school, as you anticipate in September, do you plan on continuing social distancing and classrooms and mask wearing? 

Mayor: Okay. Those are very different questions but let me see if I can quickly get through that. Dave – I'll speak to the schools piece. Dave, just on the is there a second new occurrence in New York? Would you just speak to that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sure, sir, I'll be happy to. So, there are multiple, you know, different variants that are being identified around the country and around the world. So, Juliet, I'm not sure what the second variant is specifically that you're referring to. We do know that the B1526 variant that is mentioned, some of them have a particular mutation that is concerning and some of them do not. So, perhaps those are the two flavors of that particular variant that Dr. Gottlieb was referring to. But we'll have more details on all of this later this week with respect to what we're finding about that and the other variants. 

Mayor: Thank you, and Juliet, the simple answer to your question is, look, we want every kid back in school in-person. We know some kids, some parents may not be ready for that. I would expect at this point, we're certainly going to need a remote piece as well, but the goal is to just have kids in school or just remote, no attempt at a blended-remote, which was really challenging, and look, I think it would be a much, much better situation by September. I expect to see five million New Yorkers vaccinated fully by June. That's our goal. We are on pace for that goal. Even more, by the time you get to September, I expect to see this disease beat back, you know, very, very far. Able to do a lot of things we can't do now. So, I do not expect the same exact rules as we have now, but I expect a lot of smart health and safety measures to be in place in September. 

Moderator: Go ahead. The next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Hi, good morning. My question is about – you mentioned the COVID Day of Remembrance on Sunday, and I've seen, you have some reporting and some people discussing that the city doesn't yet seem to have plans for a permanent memorial to the victims of COVID. You know, Sunday obviously is the first reported death day, but I'm sure people would perhaps want a permanent space. So, do you have any information you can share any plans? I know the state may have something going on, but what the city is looking to do for something more permanent? 

Mayor: We absolutely want to have a permanent memorial and a place that people can gather and remember their loved ones. We don't have a specific plan yet. Obviously, we're still fighting this battle right now. But in the months ahead, we'll develop that plan and start acting on it. It's very important for people who need to grieve, and that will go on for years, to have a place where they can. Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Thank you, and I have an education related question in regard to its policies for quarantine for, you know, people who've traveled or perhaps have been exposed. I don't know. I know the CDC has updated the length of quarantine. But I don't know if the DOE has. So, can you speak – I don't know if [inaudible] the interim Chancellor – incoming Chancellor wants to discuss a little bit about any of those changes pertaining to the quarantine policy? 

Mayor: That's really the – our health team, the Chancellor can speak to as well, but it's really our health team that – when the CDC went to 10 days, we moved to the 10-day standard. It's really as simple as that. Dr. Chokshi, you want to speak to that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I don't have anything to add. That's correct. 

Mayor: Simple and clear. Okay, thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, Henry. How are you? 

Question: I'm doing well, thank you. Congratulations on students returning in March. I think you're owed congratulations on that. 

Mayor: Everyone, Henry. Everyone in the schools who's making it happen. They get the congratulations but thank you. 

Question: With the students returning, I mean, you mentioned the stress that they've been under for the past year, and you've talked about emotional supports being in place in September. Now, you've got a situation where these kids are returning this month. How prepared is the city to support these students emotionally now? 

Mayor: Yeah, a great question. Thank you, Henry. This is something I feel very passionately about, as a parent, having some sense of what kids are going through now and how intense and challenging it has been, we got to be there for them. I'll turn to the Chancellor, but I'll just say upfront. Our educators love their kids and our guidance counselors, social workers, you know, everyone in the school community wants to be there for the kids that they feel a deep connection to, and so in fact, finally being able to have them come back and support them and check in on them, and if they need more help knowing we now, you know, as part of Thrive, every school in New York City has access to mental health services. That was not true in the past – it is now. even more intensive mental health support if a child needs it through Health + Hospitals. So, I think for kids coming back, they're going to see that the adults in the building are very attuned to their mental health needs and ready to support them. Go ahead, Chancellor. 

Chancellor Ross Porter: I would absolutely agree with that, and I just want to thank all of the teachers, principals, counselors and all of our community schools supports – all of the supports that have been really being thoughtful about how we wrap around social-emotional services as our students reenter the building, and I have to say that this isn't a reenter the building moment. It's something our schools have been doing all along. It's something we've been really conscious and thoughtful about – that in this moment, that we will all thrust into, completely unexpectedly, that we had to, in order to teach our students really meet them, where they were both socially and emotionally, deal with the trauma that we are all facing, but especially how it's impacting our students, and so we are looking forward to welcoming them back. That will be a part of being a stabilizing force for students, but we are very clear about the needs to meet them where they are both social emotionally in order to bring them where we know they will be and can academically. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Okay, I was hoping maybe there'd be something a little bit more specific on that, but I'll accept that as the answer. Let me ask you this. There are going to be seniors coming back in March. They're going to be juniors coming back. They've got futures ahead of them, college, graduation first. How are you going to make sure that these kids are on track to first of all, graduate credibly and go to college credibly? How are you supporting them in those issues? 

Mayor: Let me speak to that, and I’ll turn to the Chancellor. But before we do that, I want to double back on the mental health piece. I think – Chancellor, look, you've been teacher, and principal, and superintendent. Now, Chancellor, I think everyone would benefit from a little bit of the ground level view of what a teacher, or a principal, or a social worker would do as a child returns to school. If they see in their dialogue with a child that there's an issue or problem, or a child, you know, says they need help. I think if you could just give people a little bit of the real life of what happens next and how educators in school communities support a child with a mental health need – I think it would, it would help explain what's about to happen. 

Chancellor Ross Porter: Sure, certainly. So, first of all, I will say that our schools have already been engaging in ensuring that we have advisory in our schools, that students are getting one-to-one check-ins with an advisor. Our counselors have been superheroes, really monitoring and students, just emotional health and wellness. We have social-emotional assessments that we're going to be using to leverage, to just check in on where our families are, our students are, as we think forward to the school year. But there are so many things that are happening specifically in schools. Again, advisory – again, academic planning, our college advisors are meeting with our students now to help map out their college application process, which they are full into, and doing the same for our 11th graders as we prepare for next year. So, there are very many things happening in our schools to really connect directly one-to-one with students, to see where they are and to think about the path to where they want to go. 

Mayor: Yeah, and I'll finish it and see if there's anything else on the specific graduation point. But let me, let me just say this to wrap it together, Henry. Look, again, you spend time in New York City public schools. I spent a lot of time in our public schools. You've got a lot of very caring professionals who feel a deep connection to the kids and responsibility for the kids, and they know – they know if a child's struggling. They know if a child has dealt with trauma. They know if a child had a loss in the family. They're for how they can support that child, and now the, again, they have much more access to mental health services, and if it's situation that requires more support, they know they can turn to those specific mental health professionals, and principals have been trained in that too. To get a sense of if there's a child in their school that needs additional help, that is playing out in every school right now and has been throughout the year. 

But to your question about graduation – two things I think have changed to compensate for the extraordinary dislocation of the pandemic. We've stretched out the timeframe. So, we're using not just the time up until June, we're using July, we're using August, if we need to for some kids and the reality and the possibilities created by digital education. We've lost a lot because a lot of kids aren't in person, but we've gained something in that we can do a lot of flexible and creative things with digital education to help keep them on track. So, Chancellor, if you could pick this piece up again, I think what would be helpful for people to hear about is your commitment, and the DOE’s commitment to making sure that every child who is planning on graduating was planning on graduating, gets there. Every child planning on going to higher education can stay on track. I think understanding the extra efforts that are being made all the way up to August to make sure that still happens. Why don't you run through that, Chancellor? 

Chancellor Ross Porter: Yeah, sure. So, that work doesn't stop and hasn't stopped. Guidance counselors, and college advisors, our community schools partners are meeting one-to-one with students to develop their college plan, and that is from soup to nuts. That is from the application process, which happened already to application – financial aid application processes, to how are we connecting our schools directly with the schools that they will be attending, again, in this remote space. And so, all of those things will continue to happen in a more intense way because we all – we have been, you know, removed from the in-person way in which we've done things, and as students come back to school, we'll be able to do that at a deeper level. We know so many of our students are excited about the next level of their education, but they've also been worried about what that means in this time. We are also really working with our CUNY and SUNY partners. Those are great and have always been amazing options for our students, and so as folks, as young people start to rethink, you know, how far they want to go, we're working to identify and partner and make sure our students land in those places that in some cases may be closer to their home. And so really having a comprehensive conversation with students about where they are now different than maybe where they were a year ago in terms of their plans but making sure that they land in the places that are going to get them where they want to go. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX-11. 

Question: Thank you, good morning, Mayor, and everyone on the call. I appreciate your taking my question. 

Mayor: How's it going today, James? 

Question: It's going pretty well, thank you. It's a start of a good week. You said that athletics – school athletics will reopen with proper safety and health protocols without elaborating it. If you would, please, can you give us more details about what those safety and health protocols are and how they relate to the ones that you intend to use in the classroom as high schools reopen? 
 
Mayor: Yeah, I mean there – look, I'll start, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and again, reminding people that Dr. Chokshi is not only a parent, his wife is an assistant principal, so he really, really understands our public schools, but I'd say the key is gold standard everything we do, in the classroom or in athletics, we're going to apply the gold standard. That means taking the best health and safety practices from around the nation, around the world and combining them. So, for example, our kids that participate will be wearing masks while they go through their athletic activities. We're not going to have crowds and audiences. Certainly not initially, maybe that will change over time, and we're going to do a lot of the indoor activities are going to move outdoors where it's safer. Those are examples of how we make it work. We know because we've been able to keep the schools so safe, we know what works, we're going to apply it here as well. Dr. Chokshi. 
 
Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. You covered it. I'll just elaborate briefly. We know that the layers of safety that we've put in place are the most effective way to curb the spread of the coronavirus. So that's the core four. That means masking, distancing, washing your hands, staying home if you're feeling ill, on top of that, we add getting tested regularly as well. And then the final important piece, you know, specifically for school sports is to really avoid indoor gathering. So indoor gathering can be avoided by one, making sure that as much as possible is actually happening outdoors, and then there will be specific prohibitions on, for example, the use of locker rooms and other ways where we know that if people are congregating indoors, it would facilitate the spread of the virus. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 
 
Moderator: The next is Erin from Politico. 
 
Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, with regards to the Governor, the legislature went through with voting to repeal or their version of a repeal of the Governor's emergency powers, what exactly would you like to see happen next on that front as far as restoring local control? 
 
Mayor: Thank you, a really important question. I'd say, look, I appreciate the action the legislature took, it is definitely a step in the right direction, but I think we should go to full restoration of local control. We've got more work to do to fight COVID, but we're certainly moving in the right direction as a City, as a State, as a nation. It's time to restore the democratic process fully, it's time to restore local governance. There's a reason for hundreds of years we've had an approach to governance that gave such ability of local governments to control their own affairs and protect the lives of our own people because we're closest to the ground. So, we really need to get back to that especially while Albany is going through some turbulence, it's especially important to re-empower localities. We're strong, we're stable. We're moving forward. Go ahead. 
 
Moderator: Last question for today goes to Arthur Chi'en from FOX-5. 
 
Question: Hi, good morning, everybody. Hope everyone's well, my first question is – 
 
Mayor: Hey, how you doing Arthur? 
 
Question: I'm doing great. Thank you, Mayor. I was wondering if you would answer this and maybe one of the doctors too, in terms of taking a look at what the future looks like, what the, what the likelihood is the resurgence given the fact that numbers that went down or plateauing, and even as you've vaccinated over two million new Yorkers are positivity rates still at 6.23. So, based on the data that you see so far, what does our future look like in particular with respect to whether or not we face a resurgence? 
 
Mayor: Well, I want to get Dr. Katz into this, and of course welcome Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi as well. I think the important point here is that we know what works. We have consistently determined the best ways to keep people safe and when we tell the people in New York City, what matters, they really overwhelmingly listen and act accordingly. That's why we're able to keep reopening schools more and more, for example, because everyone heard the guidance and acted on it. Our parents, our students, our teachers, our staff, everyone's been doing the right thing, and that's one of the things that's distinguished in New York City in the last year, why we've had such a strong situation overall is that New Yorkers have really answered the call. So, I'm confident we can keep moving forward, but we do take the variant seriously, and we know it ain't over 'till it's over, but I want to hear from Dr. Katz, because he has a very direct finger on the pulse running the nation's largest public health care system that we do see, of course, real changes as the vaccinations are happening. We do see the reality in the hospitals changing. Dr. Katz, you want to speak to that. 
 
President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes. Thank you so much, sir, and I share your optimism and here is why. While we have not seen any further dramatic drops on the case numbers, which have plateaued, we've seen a huge, huge drops in serious hospitalizations and deaths among nursing home occupants and other elderly persons. The vaccines are working exactly as we said, they are extremely effective at preventing serious disease and death, which is the thing that, of course, we most worry about. So, I feel very hopeful. We need, as you said sir, to maintain the core four, the variants may make the virus more transmissible which means that unvaccinated people are at greater risk of getting infected, but because we are successfully vaccinating those who are most vulnerable, the people over 65, those with underlying illness, I have great optimism about the future. Thank you, sir. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, anything you want to add? 
 
Senior Advisor Varma. This is Jay. I will just say that, you know, I concur with Dr. Katz that the future is very optimistic. I think the reason you continue to hear caution from all of us, of course, is that we're still at a, you know, tense moment. We have the virus evolving and trying to challenge our defenses, but we now have the vaccines, which as Dr. Katz said, are showing a remarkable effectiveness at bringing down severe illness and death, particularly among those people who are most vulnerable. So, it is a tense time, of course, because we don't have the supply of vaccine that we really want and so I do think that things will change dramatically once we get to a situation where we have, you know, a complete abundance of vaccine. We will also have the advantage of seasonal temperature changes to help benefit us as well. But we still do have to persist for the next several weeks until we get to those places where we actually have the upper hand on the virus as opposed to kind of a constant, tense battle. 
 
Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi, anything to add? 
 
Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor, just briefly. You know, I would say that we are at a juncture where we want to see cases and hospitalizations plunging rather than plateauing. And that's why, just as my colleagues have said, we can't let our foot off of the gas right now, and instead to recommit to those things that have worked as we allow vaccines to take their course. 
 
Moderator: Go ahead, Arthur. 
 
Question: Okay. Thank you, guys. And last question is, we've seen some lines build up and not just at the state sites, but then at the city sites we've seen, and you yourself has talked about how you've tried to address any problem spots to try to fix a problem. Given the fact that if there's overcrowding at a city site, that people are they're scheduled to come back exactly at 21 days or four weeks for the Moderna shot, how do you fix that problem so that when the, you know – when the massive number of people who overburdened a particular site on a certain day, when they're coming back for their second shot where we know that it's going to be smoother? 
 
Mayor: It's a good question and what I'd say is, you know, every week our team has learned more and more about how to do this right and how to build the capacity. Again, right now we are absolutely confident we could do a half million shots in a week and it looks like we can do substantially more. So, we can always be expanding capacity and more sites, we want to add sites, we just added Co-Op City in the Bronx, major site, you're going to see a lot more like that as we get supply, and that helps spread out the, you know, the demand more so that people do not have to deal with this many delays, but I'd like Dr. Katz to speak to this on a sort of operational, logistical level how we balance second doses, people coming back, versus first doses and make sure that we cannot have lines, and Dr. Katz, as you speak to it, one of the challenges of course, is folks wanting to be really careful in showing up super early for their appointments, which we don't want to encourage. We don't want a lot of folks waiting in line and they can have confidence in their schedule but talk about how you balance the logistical needs of second dose versus first dose. 
 
President Katz: Sure, sir. Thank you so much. Well, it is easier for us to balance second doses because we know ahead of time, part of the challenge on the first doses since the start of vaccination efforts is that each week, we learn from the State what our allotment is and how many vaccines are going to which sites, the first doses, which makes it extremely difficult to plan schedules significantly in advance since each we have a different number of vaccines going to different sites. When it comes to second doses, it's very predictable because a second dose will always follow a first dose, and so we know exactly when the person needs to be vaccinated and we can space that out throughout the day so that we don't have a clump of people all at one time. Also, if we know that we have a lot of second doses that day, we'll make fewer first dose appointments at that same time so that people do not wait. To say more about the other two issues, you mentioned, we have had an issue with people coming three and four hours early for their appointments, and it's hard for us – to be in does guarantee a line. If people are coming earlier than their appointments, they are going to clump in line. What we have been doing is we have people walking through the line, identifying people who are older or disabled and need a chair, need a warmer place to sit, and accommodating them so that they are not uncomfortable while we are vaccinating everyone. Thank you, sir. 
 
Mayor: Thank you very much, Mitch. And Arthur, thank you for raising the concern. I want to say to you and your colleagues in the media, it always helps us – if you learn of a site where there's a particular problem, we need to act on it quickly. Obviously, we have our own quality control approach, but we always appreciate when our colleagues in the media identify something that needs to be addressed, we will do it right away. In the vein, also giving credit where credit is due, want to thank folks on the line from the fire department, of course, Commissioner Nigro is with us and the Chief Operating Officer, Michael Ognibene from Department for the Aging. This amazing homebound effort, something that has not been done before, fire departments been leading the way, Department for the Aging is leading the way, I want to thank you both and thank all your colleagues. This is truly a labor of love going out there to protect our homebound seniors, going literally house to house, apartment, to apartment, and we're going to do that this month and next month, and our goal is to reach every single senior who wants the vaccine. 
 
And look, as we wrap up today, I think this is an example. This is the New York City way of doing things. We're going the extra mile. We're, we're going to reach everyone. We don't leave anyone out. We believe we can do it and then we prove we can do it. You know, we said we could put together a vaccination effort that would reach five million people fully by June. We are on track now, and if we got the supply, we might even surprise you and get there early. We said we could reopen schools, open them at the beginning, keep them open, continue to open up after even problems. We bring back our kids and then we're going to have a full reopening in September. This is the New York City way. This is why our recovery is going to be so strong. So, I said at the beginning, it's a good day, and it's an amazing day having the news from Washington about the stimulus. But the best news is always right here in New York City. The incredible effort of New Yorkers talk about can do attitude, that's what you've seen throughout this whole crisis. That's what's going to be the key, the key to bring us back. That's why it's going to be a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everybody.

2021-03-09 NYS Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. So, the vaccine effort continues and it's stronger every day, reaching New Yorkers in every part of the five boroughs, making sure people are vaccinated, part of our goal to fully vaccinate five million New Yorkers by June, and we are well on our way. And I want everyone to remember, we have more capacity in this city to vaccinate people than we have supply. We keep pushing and pushing the federal government, State government, manufacturers to get us more supply because we could be vaccinating half-a-million people a week easily at this point. We can even do more going forward. But where are we today? Well, we had a good week last week, 340,000 vaccinations last week. That’s strong, that’s solid. We want to do a lot more each week, but here's where we are overall at this point. From the very beginning of the vaccination effort, there've been 2,405,191 vaccinations. So, this is building and building, but we're ready to take off and take it to the next level. 

Now to continue to build up our vaccination effort, we're bringing on board more and more good New Yorkers to help us in this effort. Folks who want to serve their fellow New Yorkers, folks from the communities most affected by COVID, who want to give back, who want to help make sure that people get vaccinated and know it's okay, know it's safe, see people that look like them, see their neighbors helping in the vaccination process. That's what I saw in Co-op City on Saturday when I was up in the Bronx and this is what works. So, our Vaccine for All Corps continues to grow. This idea of bringing in everyday New Yorkers to help in this work, hiring thousands of people to help build the vaccination effort is exactly what we need to do to take it to the next level. So, our Vaccine for All Corps will be hiring 2,000 New Yorkers right away and putting them to work at vaccine sites all over the city. We're hiring directly from the community, particularly places where we need more and more neighborhood people to be involved in the vaccination effort and where people need the economic opportunity. We’ll be hiring in the Bronx. We'll be hiring in the Rockaways. We'll be hiring Staten Island. All over the city, in the 33 neighborhoods that are hardest hit, have been hardest hit by COVID, focused hiring there in particular. So, anyone who is interested in this opportunity to be part of our Vaccine for All Corps, you can see the jobs that are available by going to nyc.gov/vaccinejobs. And we welcome – we welcome New Yorkers to join this crucial effort to bring our city back. 

All right, let's talk about today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 217 patients. Confirmed positivity level, 67.37 percent. Hospitalization rate, 3.93 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,367 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID – today's report, seven-day rolling average 6.06 percent. 

I'm going to say a few words in Spanish, and the topic is our taxi drivers and the relief we're going to provide them. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi all, we'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is TLC Commissioner Jarmoszuk, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, CEO of Health + Hospitals Dr. Mitchell Katz, Co-Chair of the Board of Correction Stanley Richard, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Kristen from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you today? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, Kristen, how are you? 

Question: I'm good, thanks. I was hoping you could talk a little bit more about the homebound vaccination effort. I know you have repeatedly said that it is for seniors, but one of your staffers said that it's not just for seniors, it's for all city residents who are homebound. And I've spoken to some people who are home bound due to various disabilities, they tried to register, and they were told that they're not yet eligible because it is only for seniors right now. So, I was hoping you could just clarify that a little bit and say, you know, is it for all homebound people? And if it isn't when the effort will be expanded? 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Very important question, Kristen. I appreciate it. I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi, but just emphasizing, look, the State has approved a range of people for vaccination in general, obviously 65 and up, folks with serious pre-existing conditions, and we're working within whatever parameters the State has created. As you know, I'm hoping increasingly we'll be given local control of the situation so we can set the rules right for our community. But I also want to make sure that the website and the phone line give people the opportunity to sign up who are homebound for reason within the existing rules, obviously, but no, not just seniors, anyone who qualifies and is homebound we want to reach. So, Dr. Chokshi could you speak to that? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and that's exactly right. The program will serve anyone who is homebound and eligible for vaccination in the early days, you know, the early stages, we are prioritizing our outreach for older homebound individuals, people who are above the age of 65, particularly because we have a relatively limited supply of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to begin, but as that expands, and in the coming days and weeks, and the timeline that the Mayor laid out yesterday, that will certainly extend to other homebound individuals as well. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Kristen. 

Question: Alright, thank you so much. And I want to talk to you about vaccine appointments. A lot of appointments were rescheduled on Staten Island the last few days including on Sunday, I spoke with a couple who showed up for their 10 pm appointment and the vaccination site was closed. There were about a dozen other people there who had not received cancellations, you know, notifications from the city. So, I was just wondering if you could talk about what the supply issue has been this week, you know, and how many vaccines did the city receive out of how many it was supposed to that that caused these cancellations? 

Mayor: What site was that? 

Question: That was the Gotham Vanderbilt Clinic. 

Mayor: Okay. I'm going to separate the two questions. I'm going to go Dr. Katz first on if he does know specifically what happened at Vanderbilt, that obviously is not acceptable and not what we want to see happen. And then Dr. Chokshi can talk about our supply levels. Dr. Katz, you start. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes, thank you, sir. And I have to start on sort of say with an apology because I have previously heard this issue and the reporter's question is correct. We ran out of vaccine at Vanderbilt, which is not our fault, but it is our fault, and that people were not given correct phone calls to tell them that they – that their appointment was canceled. We are currently working on rescheduling, all those people and I profoundly apologize to anybody who went to that site and did not get a call ahead of time canceling it. On the supply issue, sir, I think this is what you've talked about the need for local control. One of the challenges we face is that every week we get an unknown number of vaccines to each site on a particular day from the State distribution. Until that day, we don't know how many vaccines we're getting or to which site, and then we are meant to use them as rapidly as possible. This is what plan - what keeps us from making cogent plans that ideally, we would do weeks ahead on setting schedules, making sure that everybody who has had to be rescheduled is quickly rescheduled, but I can never reschedule anyone until I have the vaccine in hand., and I never know until it arrives how many injections I'm going to have. So, you know, this is why you keep calling correctly for more local control. But again, I'll close with apologizing to anyone who went to that Vanderbilt site on Sunday and wasn't told their appointment was canceled. 

Mayor: Hey Mitch – thank you very much, Mitch. And I know when you say that you mean it and I appreciate, but very quickly, can you give any sense how quickly we can get those folks back in and give them their vaccinations? 

President Katz: We are – we have already begun to call them, sir, because I was alerted to the problem Monday morning. So, I know yesterday they began to call, and I will check and see today how many people they've been able to reach. 

Mayor: All right, but since it's a small number of people, I just want to state the obvious, we should be able to reach everyone today, and I assume we can accommodate them today or tomorrow. I mean, they deserve preference if they were bumped previously. Right? 

President Katz: Absolutely, absolutely. 

Mayor: And Kristen will be our watchdog to make sure that happens, and thank you Kristin again for raising an important issue and helping us correct problems, and Dr. Chokshi on overall supply. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. Just to add briefly, our overall supply last week was about 200,000 first doses of vaccine that were delivered to New York City as a whole for this week. It's a slight increase to about 205,000 doses, those were first doses that will be delivered between today and tomorrow. And for last week, all of the supply that was supposed to be delivered was delivered, but as Dr. Katz has mentioned, we need a longer window, a longer road to be able to say, we know we're going to get this allotment for this week, this allotment for the subsequent weeks as well, so that we can plan out appointments in in a way that better serves New Yorkers. 

Mayor: And last point, just Kristen, to put it in perspective, you know, I told you last week was 340,000. We absolutely could be doing 500,000. So, you know, we are between 150,000 and 200,000 doses short each week of where we could be. And I've had this conversation with White House officials. You know, it's just a simple number. If you – if between the federal government, state government manufacturers today, they gave us 200,000 additional doses for this week, we would use them all up. That's the scale, that's the gap, but once that gap gets closed, our numbers are going to shoot upwards because we have the capacity now and we're adding to it with our Vaccine for All Corps as we speak. Go ahead. 
Moderator: Next is Andrew from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and all on the call. I'm going to follow up with that and ask a question about – we've got a tip about appointments at Bellevue, at a vaccination site there that I believe in the last few days’ people were showing up for say a three o'clock appointment and they weren't getting vaccinated until 6 pm. I'm wondering if you think that's going to become more of the norm as vaccine supply rises, but maybe we don't have enough vaccinators or what might the explanation be for a three-hour week? 

Mayor: Well, it shouldn't be a three-hour wait in terms of – we, again, we know some people are showing up very early, just abundance of caution, but when it comes time for someone's scheduled appointment, it should happen on time or very close to it. I'll let Dr. Katz speak to that. But again, Andrew, it's not lack of capacity. I want to be abundantly clear. We could be doing a lot more vaccinations right this minute, and we're adding 2,000 more members of our vaccination team to get ready for when we do have finally more vaccine coming in. Look, I've told you I want to do 500,000 vaccinations a week. I think we can go beyond that substantially. So, we're building capacity. I want to have new centers open in communities that don't have them yet. I want to have centers that are not 24 hours and can be go to the 24 hours. There's lots we could do if we had supply, but the problem is supply, supply, supply, it's not capacity here, it's supply. But Dr. Katz to the Bellevue situation, can you speak to that? 

President Kat: Yes, sir. I'll have to check. I have not heard that report. I've been by the Bellevue Center several times and there was no line the times that I went. It is one of our major sites. I am glad that it is an inside site with a large waiting room, so at least I know people were not outside waiting, but I don't – I can't explain – I will check right after this call and find out why there was such a long wait. Certainly, we are having an issue as we spoke on the previous call of people arriving several hours earlier, and so if it's a popular time and multiple people come, and we have been trying to accommodate people. We have not been sending people home who come earlier and if this problem continues, we may have to reach that point where we tell people, I'm sorry, you have to go home, your appointment isn't for multiple hours. We've been doing our best because we don't like people coming and going because of the exposures. Once they're there, we try to accommodate them, but if that's resulting in longer wait times for people who had an appointment and came at their appointment, that's a problem, sir. So, I will work on it today. 

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Next is Narmeen from PIX 11. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good Narmeen, how’ve you been? 

Question: I'm doing well, thank you. You've talked a number of times about the importance of mom-and-pop pharmacies and the need to include them in the vaccination rollout. However, I wanted to bring to light a couple of issues we've learned about a couple of local pharmacies –Rossi Pharmacy in particular, we had a lengthy conversation with them out of Brooklyn. They get about 200 vaccinations or vaccines rather a week, but they've found it difficult to fill appointments. They say they are not showing up on city and state sites when people search to book appointments. They've had to resort to cold calling themselves, and walking out into the neighborhood to bring folks in. They are restrained by that 65 plus category, and can't openly vaccinate all eligibility categories, and I just want to get your reaction. Should it be even happening this way? And I do want to add that this one particular pharmacy has found a way to partner up with a mutual aid organization to get their vaccine doses out to a senior center to make sure they get used properly. 

Mayor: Well, a very thoughtful and important question, Narmeen. I thank you for it. I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi. He and I have talked about this several times and I've talked to community pharmacists about how much they want to be in this work and how much we need them in this work, especially in a lot of communities where an independent community pharmacy is one of the central ways that people get their health care. The challenge again is supply, supply, supply. We have not had enough supply and to the extent we've had supply, we've tried to use it in the places where we thought we could have the biggest impact, which is in the community vaccination sites. But the goal as we get more supplies, get more and more to the community, independent pharmacies, as to the question of whether they can be accessed to those appointments via our website and all, that's a great question. Dr. Chokshi, you want to speak to that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you so much, and I'll start by just emphasizing how much we believe in independent pharmacies, also known as community pharmacies, as a linchpin to our vaccination efforts. We know from, you know, the neighborhoods that we ourselves all live in how important they are to the health care infrastructure in a particular area. Already tens of thousands of doses have been administered through independent pharmacies across New York City. But as the Mayor has said, with additional supply, we can do much, much more beyond that in the coming weeks and months. For any pharmacy who wants to be listed on the website, which is nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, we make that available. So, I'm happy to have our team follow up with the specific pharmacy that you've mentioned. And the last point that I want to make is just to maybe frame a part of your question a bit differently in saying that, you know, pharmacies calling their own clients, their customers is isn't so much of a cold call. That's actually what we want them to be doing because that's where people are used to going for their health care. So, that's something that we're actually encouraging pharmacies and particularly independent pharmacies to do because it leverages the trust that already exists in communities. 

Mayor: And look, Narmeen – thank you, Doctor – Narmeen, this all goes back to the central concept: we need the freedom to vaccinate. Give us the ability here in New York City to control our own destiny, and we're going to lean more into those independent community pharmacies. We want to give them as much freedom and flexibility as possible because that's where so many people go for their health care. So, you know, we need supply, and we need the freedom to vaccinate and that's going to help us provide vaccine to these independent community pharmacies. Go ahead, Narmeen. 

Question: Thank you so much for that answer, and I do want to emphasize this pharmacist in particular says he sees the need in his community. When they find out that he has vaccines, they're happy to come to him and learn more about the vaccine, even when they've been hesitant. So, thank you again for that answer.

Moderator: We have time for two more. First, we'll go to Ariama from Kings County Politics. 

Question: Hi, good morning. 

Mayor: Hi, Ariana, how are you doing? 

Question: Ariama, with an M, sir. 

Mayor: Oh, I’m sorry, say it again? 

Question: Ariama. 

Mayor: I’m going to get it right – Ariama. 

Question: Yep, thank you. Awesome. Just to go back to the vaccine update, what's the hiring process going to be like for the neighborhood job? 

Mayor: Excellent question, and we, again, we want to really encourage people who want to be part of this, you know, I think heroic vaccination effort to come forward and we're focusing on the 33 communities hardest hit by COVID. I'm going to turn to – I don't know if Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz has most of the details, which one of you would like to speak to it? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I'm happy to start, thank you, and you're exactly right. The focus on this is to serve communities through vaccination by actually hiring from the communities that have been hardest hit, and so the jobs are being posted at nyc.gov/vaccinejobs where it also walks through the precise process of applying for a job. But almost as important is the recruitment that we'll bring to bear working with community-based organizations, and I'm really grateful to the small business services for organizing this effort as a whole leveraging their connections with organizations, with respect to actually recruiting from those communities. Once that happens, there are a range of jobs. Some are nonclinical that require no health care experience. Others are clinical: for example, the people who are actually administering the vaccines, and so there's a process to get the best qualified candidates to rise to the top and actually get matched with the jobs that are available. 

Mayor: Thank you, everybody.

2021-03-10 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. You know, what we've been talking about now for months is the fact that New York City needs the freedom to vaccinate, that New York City can do so much for our people if we simply have the right to do what we know we need to do. Oftentimes we ran into roadblocks, sometimes at the federal level, sometimes with the vaccine manufacturers, often with the State of New York. What we really need is the ability to control our own destiny, because here we have some of the finest public health professionals anywhere in the country, we have massive capacity in terms of being able to vaccinate people right down to the neighborhood level all over the city. But what we need is the freedom to vaccinate, and we've been fighting for that freedom now for weeks and weeks. We have some good news today. Once again, finally, Albany has heard us and we have new eligibility rules for New Yorkers 60 years old now and older – you can get vaccinated. That's good news for so many hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. And for government workers who interact with the public, who work with the public directly, you can now get vaccinated – makes a lot of sense, should have happened a long time ago, now it's here. 

But, really important, we finally are out from under bureaucratic State rules that stopped us from vaccinating people in all the different vaccination sites. Literally, the State had rules that said if you walked into one site, you couldn't get vaccinated unless you were from one category or another. If you were a public worker, you couldn't get vaccinated at one site. If you were over 65, you couldn't get vaccinated at another site. Only certain people could go to certain sites – it didn't work. And we kept saying to the State it’s not working. Let us use all sites for all eligible people to make sure we get the most people covered and come up with the easiest simplest system. Well, finally, the State has relented and now we have the freedom to vaccinate and use every one of our hundreds of sites to reach everyone who qualifies. That's going to make things a lot simpler. And I always think about this from the perspective of an every-day New Yorker who just wants this to be simple. They want to protect themselves and their family, they're ready to get vaccinated, they want it to be straightforward. Finally, this decision will allow us to do things in an easier, more straightforward manner. And this is just going to help us continue to vaccinate more and more New Yorkers. 

Now, of course, what do we need? We need more supply, supply, supply – still our number-one problem. Right now, we're getting less than we need by a lot – something like 150,000 to 200,000 doses per week less than what we actually could use. That problem has to be solved by the manufacturers, by the federal government, by the State government. We need local control. We need to have the ability to make our own decisions so we can make vaccination go as effectively as possible. These decisions from the State we've got, finally, we would have made those decisions weeks and weeks ago and made this simpler. There's a lot of other things like that. Let's get local control. And then, we need to keep reaching people who are not yet eligible. How on earth are our Sanitation workers not eligible? How on earth are folks who work in our court system not eligible? And jurors? And prosecutors? The people we need to bring back our criminal justice system, they're not eligible to be vaccinated. That makes zero sense – zero. Give us the freedom to vaccinate and we can do so many things to bring this city back strong. 

With that said, the good news is the vaccination effort continues non-stop. Even with the roadblocks, we keep going. And today – as of today, from the beginning of our vaccination effort, we have provided 2,448,892 vaccinations – a great number, but it could be so much bigger if we get the help we need.  

Okay. Now, let's talk about an issue that's on everyone's mind, and this is the question of the virus and the variants of the virus. Now, look, you've seen a lot of reporting on this, and some of it's clear, and some of it's not so clear. You've seen a lot of folks theorizing and some of it's grounded and some of it is not. I want to start this by saying, let's focus on the data and the science. Let's focus on what we know for sure, versus what some people fear, or what is not yet proven. Variants come with the territory. You're going to hear from our health care leadership today, and I give them great credit for being able to take complex scientific matters and break it down into plain English. But one of the things we know is, variants are not a new concept, they're part of the reality, and there's ways to address them. The most important thing is to understand what the variants mean and what they don't mean. And, so far, thank God, what we're finding is the variants are not posing the worst kind of problems that we might fear. For example, a variant that is more deadly – we're not seeing that. A variant that's vaccine resistant – we're not seeing that. What we are seeing is variants that are more infectious and therefore spread the disease more, and that's a real issue. But the good news is we have the strategies to fight back – all those basic things all of you have been doing, what New Yorkers had done so well, the social distancing, the face coverings, it works. It works against the variants, too. And what works the most? Vaccination. That's the number-one weapon in the war against these variants – is vaccination, just like it is and has been from the beginning in this war against the coronavirus. So, we are going to continue to explain, to demystify, to clarify, and to provide new information as soon as we get it. When we have hard facts, one of the things our health care team has done really well is immediately reporting to the people in New York City when we have new information, but it's always going to be based on the facts. So, to give you an update on research being done here in the city on these variants and what they mean for us, I want you to hear from two people, starting with my senior advisor, Dr. Jay Varma. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. You know, we've learned a lot in the past week about the situation of variants in New York City, and we've seen new scientific studies regarding the variants and the interaction with vaccines. So, I want to give you a summary of what we know right now about COVID variants in New York City. First, the most important message – keep doing what you're doing. Scientific studies in the real world, lived experience of places like the U.K. and South Africa that have had widespread distribution of the variants all keep telling us that the single most important thing is to do the things we already do, just do them as diligently as we possibly can. That means wearing a well-fitting mask, maintaining distance, washing your hands, getting tested, and, very importantly, when your turn comes up, getting vaccinated. Here in New York City, we're testing for COVID and testing for these variants and reporting about them, you know, more thoroughly than any other place in the country. We're really the only city or state that's reporting weekly estimates about how prevalent these variants are here in the city. So, what have we learned in the past week? Unfortunately, we have found that the new variants of COVID-19 are continuing to spread. And when you combine the variant of concern B-117 – the one first reported in the U.K. – and the new variant of interest B-1526, that was first reported here in New York – together, these new variants account for 51 percent of all cases that we have in this city right now. So, for the variant of interest B-1526 that was reported here first in New York, our preliminary analysis indicates that it is probably more infectious than older strains of the virus – you know, what I referred last week to COVID-classic. It may be similar in infectiousness to the B-117, the U.K. strain, but we're not certain about this yet. We need to understand and study it more. 

Very important – our preliminary analysis does not show that this new strain, B-11526, causes more severe illness or reduces the effectiveness of vaccines. It's important to emphasize, of course, that this is preliminary. We're working closely with our academic partners, with our neighboring states, with CDC to collect and analyze more data. And we'll continue to update you with what we know, what we don't know, what we're doing about it, and what you should do about it, even if it's difficult. I want to turn now to Commissioner Chokshi to review the New York City data in more detail. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor and Dr. Varma. As the City's doctor, I want to see cases and hospitalizations plunging rather than plateauing, and vaccinations skyrocketing with enough supply. But viruses are wily, they adapt and change, which affects what circulates in our communities. As Dr. Varma described, a majority of samples that recently underwent specialized genetic testing now represent new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19. The B-1526 variant in particular is increasing in prevalence across New York City, representing about 39 percent of all samples sequenced by the pandemic response lab during the most recent week with full data, compared to 31 percent the week prior. The increasing prevalence suggests that the B-1526 variant is a more infectious variant. Our disease detectives at the Health Department will continue working to understand the characteristics of this and other variants. The B-117 strain, sometimes known as the U.K. variant, which also spreads more easily, has increased to 12 percent of samples analyzed in the most recent week, up from eight percent the prior week. No additional cases of the B-1351 or P-1 variants were found in the most recent week of data. All of this information, now including data on the B-1526 variant will be shared with New Yorkers on the Health Department's website. 

But let's not get lost in the alphabet soup of variants. Let's break down what this means for New Yorkers. First, you don't need a special test to see if you have a variant, but it is important to get tested, particularly if you've been exposed to someone with COVID-19 or have symptoms yourself. Second, the variants have been detected in samples from across New York City and indeed in other states as well. That means we need all New Yorkers to pay attention to this, not just those who live in a particular neighborhood or borough. Third, we know the virus is a formidable foe, but we also know what has worked to curb its spread, and that's true for the new variants too. It's the safe six – masking, distancing, hand washing, getting tested, staying home if you're feeling ill, and getting vaccinated when it's your turn. In the match between vaccines and variants, let's not give the variants the upper hand. We must recommit to these public health precautions. Think of it like checking your safety belt and adjusting your mirrors in your car as you head into a winding road. And, Mr. Mayor, I'm hopeful that it will be the last leg of our journey through this pandemic. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Chokshi. I liked your analogy there, the car, the journey – very good. And you're right, it's the kind of way we think about things all the time. We all think about putting on our seatbelt in the car. Those safe six principles are exactly what we all need to follow. And New Yorkers have been great, folks have been getting tested in record numbers. Folks obviously are getting vaccinated and we see more and more people want the vaccine. And we look forward to giving it to them as soon as we get more supply. So, New Yorkers always respond to these powerful messages. So, I want to thank Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi for giving us that update. 

Okay. Now, let's go to another really important topic, and this is about our recovery. And I talk about recovery all the time as the way to bring this city forward, but it has to be a recovery for all of us. It has to be a recovery that reaches every neighborhood, every part of the city, every New Yorker. This is what we believe in – not a recovery, just for those who have done very well, a recovery for all of us. Now, that means helping our small businesses, because our small businesses – they encapsulate so much of what's great about this city. Mom and pop stores, neighborhood stores, community stores, multi-generational stores, part of our identity, part of what makes our neighborhoods great, so much of what gives people their livelihood. We have to save our small businesses. And the good news is we continue to see more relief coming in from the federal government. Obviously, the new stimulus is tremendously helpful, but even before – the PPP program and other types of direct relief. But what's important now is making sure that New York City small businesses get their fair share, because it's great that the relief is out there, but it doesn't work unless it actually reaches the people who need it most. And, again, there's bureaucracy, there's challenges to overcome. And we're talking about small businesses that have so much on their plate already, that are just trying to keep the doors open, just trying to keep things going. Even though they want the help a lot of times, it's hard for them to navigate. That's why our Department of Small Business services here in this city is stepping up to make it easier and to lend a helping hand to our small businesses. Here to give you an update, Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris. 

Commissioner Jonnel Doris, Department of Small Business Services: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I am always fired up to hear you talk about recovery for all of us, because that's exactly what we're doing at SBS. Community by community, block by block, small business by small business, our economic recovery will come from the ground up. I want to tell you a little bit about a New Yorker I recently met, Charles Lin, at his restaurant. Four years ago, he reached out to the SBS team to fulfill his dream to be a restaurant owner and open his business. He had a great business plan when we helped him launch L&C Grill, the signature Japanese BBQ restaurant in Flushing. This past year has been really trying for him in so many ways. As an Asian-American, he has personally experienced discrimination. Like so many other business owners, he lost customers. And above all, he cares deeply about the livelihoods of his 14 employees. Not one day has been easy, but Charles always tells us he is still fighting – he is still fighting. That is the story of all small businesses in our city. And our team wakes up every day, fighting to help them get the support they deserve. 

Since the pandemic began, we connected over 5,000 local businesses to $135 million in funding, including Charles Lin, who was awarded $100,000 to keep L&C Grill running. We launched the Fair Share NYC in January, a special effort to support mom and pops and minority small businesses, places that were structurally excluded from the first round of PPP. To-date, we have connected over 300 businesses to over $17.5 million – 70 percent of them in the outer boroughs and 73 percent minority businesses. We gave our own City grants to community-based organizations to support our small businesses, so far awarding $750,000. But even as we round the corner on vaccines, businesses are still hanging by a thread. That's why today we're going even further. First, we'll award more grants to community organizations, bringing our total to $900,000 in our hardest-hit communities. I'm also proud to announce phase three of our COVID-19 strategic impact grants will be open this coming Monday, and it will bring our total to $1.1 million to 54 communities. And, remember, everyone, the federal relief is still available, as the Mayor said. You have until March 31st to apply for this round of PPP funding. Any questions at all, please call us at 888-SBS-4NYC and we'll walk you through it. 55,000 businesses have already connected with us on the hotline. 

Thanks to the Biden administration, there's lot more to come. The American Rescue Plan app is going to be huge for New York City and our small businesses. Nationwide, they're adding $7.25 billion to the PPP program, and, more importantly, $28.6 billion to our struggling restaurants. What city deserves it more than the food capital of the world? It will save jobs of the working people who staffed them, and it will keep the heart and soul of our neighborhoods alive. As soon as that funding is ready, we at SBS will stand ready to help you apply, along with dozens of other tools and one-on-one support services. Again, if you need support, need help from our fair share campaign or anything, if you're a small business out there, we are here to help you and support you. Our number is 888-SBS-4NYC. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Commissioner. I want to emphasize this to everyone, because this timeline is really intense. And I'm going to ask small business owners, spread the word among all your friends and colleagues, local chambers of commerce. Our friends in the media, please spread the word. Everyone out there, if you know a small business owner, make sure they know that they want to access that federal funding it's really important to get their application in by next week so that they are dealing with a lender and they're all set up to get ahead of this deadline at the end of the month. So, really, the true deadline is next week. We want to make sure people take full advantage. So, small business owners, again, any questions at all, in multiple languages, call 888-SBS-4NYC, or go to nyc.gov/PPP. 

Okay. Let's go to today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 243 patients. Confirmed positivity level of 64.14 percent. Hospitalization rate, 3.89 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 3,196. And number three, percentage of the people testing positive citywide for COVID, today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 6.23 percent. I'll do a few words now in Spanish on the topic of the new vaccine eligibility rules. 
 
[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 
 
With that, we will turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 
 
Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Commissioner Doris, by Senior Advisor Varma, by Dr. Katz and by Dr. Ted Long. First question today, it goes to Erin from Politico. 
 
Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking my question. I wanted to ask about the former Health Commissioner Barbot appears in a new documentary in which she says that some of the warnings she gave early in the pandemic about, you know, the severity of was going on weren't listened to, and that delays in closures costs thousands of lives. I know there's been some dispute as to what she was advocating and when. I'm wondering, if you can tell us what happened there and what is your response to her new allegations? 
 
Mayor: I haven't seen the whole interview. I've gotten a summary of it, Erin. It's just not accurate. What I needed from my health leadership was clear analysis and clear recommendations, and I didn't get that. That situation's a lot better now, thank God, and I commend our health leadership now for the way they're handling every new development, you know, clearly and decisively. But I'll give you a clear, clear example, Erin, I'm the person who, based on advice I got from folks other than our Health Commissioner, called for shelter in place, which I think was one of the most important elements of the strategy. So that's what really happened and my concern there was, of course, that the State of New York could have acted on it immediately and chose to push away that recommendation when they should have embraced it. But thank God we finally got there. Go ahead, Erin. 
 
Question: All right, thanks. And then second question is about these variants. I'm just wondering if you can put in some context the fact that these are more than half of cases. I understand it doesn't change anything for personal behavior, but what does it mean just as far as the spread of the disease and whether it can be contained, you know, before we get everyone vaccinated, it's sort of that race between the vaccines and the spread, you know, what is the significance of these new figures? 
 
Mayor: I'll give you my quick layman's version. I want to bring Dr. Katz into this too because I think he has a very powerful perspective as someone leading the nation's largest public health system in terms of what we're seeing on the ground. I think it is for sure, Erin, a race against time, meaning that every additional person we get vaccinated, that's the single most important thing we can do to get ahead of these variants. But at the same time, we see some really promising news because as more and more people are being vaccinated, we're almost at 2.5 million vaccinations now, that's serious stuff and we are seeing the impact that's having, thank God, at the hospital level, for example. So, Dr. Katz, you want to speak to that? 
 
President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes, thank you, sir. I mean, when I look at the data, what I think is most notable is that while variants have been increasing, the deaths and serious hospitalizations have been decreasing. And the way that I understand that is that we have been very good about vaccinating those people at greatest risk. So, the most dramatic in mortality and serious hospitalization are in the nursing homes, which were also where we saw the highest death rates last March and April. So, because we've been able to vaccinate those people at highest risk and because of the vaccine is working against the variants we are seeing major drops in deaths and hospitalizations, like all of your health team, and like you, sir, I'm concerned about the transmission, that the fact that it's more transmissible and that we, because of supply, can't vaccinate all the younger people and all the people who don't have underlying illness. But I am very pleased to see how the deaths are decreasing and the serious hospitalizations are decreasing despite the fact that the variants are increasing. Thank you, sir. 
 
Mayor: Thank you, and Erin, I'd say, you know, our job is to constantly update the public as Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi are doing today with any new developments we see. And if in fact we see new realities with the variants that would change our strategy or change the way that we educate folks about what to do, we're going to do that right away. But I think the most important thing that you can take away from today's presentation is that the basic steps people are taking to protect themselves work and they need to keep doing it and not stop. I think, Erin, this is crucial, don't let up, keep wearing your mask, don't let up. I’ve – we’ve said, we've all said, the health leadership has said expect to be wearing your mask until at least June as we work to get five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated. So, I think it's keep doing what works, keep getting vaccinated, and we'll keep updating people if anything changes. 
 
Moderator: The next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 
 
Question: Hi, good morning, everybody. For the health professionals here, looking at these variants, particularly the ones that are – that spread faster than and are more transmissible than COVID. I mean, could you predict, or could you foresee some further restrictions, like we had a year ago to stem that spread, or I don't know if there's anything that you're being discussed in case it gets to that point. 
 
Senior Advisor Varma: No, thank you very much for the question. I mean, I think it's important to recognize and keep acknowledging the fact that, you know, the viruses are going to continue to evolve. That's how viruses fight us. They fight us through evolution and we fight back against the virus using science and the science on this is very clear that if we take all of those individual precautions that are necessary and we get vaccinated, we can win. You are absolutely correct that, you know, when we are in times of stress on our health care system, when we see people dying at higher numbers, there are times when public health restrictions are necessary. Right now, I think we all feel quite strongly that if we can keep the persistent behavior that's necessary and get the vaccines, we can get to a very good moment and that's what the Mayor keeps talking about, getting five million vaccinated and getting ahead of it. So, you know, we're always aware, we're the ones always giving sort of pessimistic advice and guidance and having lots of vigorous debate. So, I mean, I think what's been great so far has been that we get our voices heard and we talk about those issues, but right now we feel strongly that keeping persistent on what we're supposed to do and getting vaccinated is really the best path forward. 
 
Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, you want to add? 
 
Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. And Dr. Varma is exactly right. What I would add is that in addition to the individual behavior safeguards that we've talked about and that we've repeated, you know, for months, that has to be wedded to how we start to think about, you know, how we interact going forward as well. The layers of safety that we've put into place for the most common places where people are gathering, those remain very important, and they start with those same individual safeguards. But I would add to it that we also have to make sure that we are not moving too quickly with respect to the large gatherings that we've advised against and other things that we know would facilitate the increased spread of the virus. So, let's keep our foot on the gas so that we can so that we can finally turn the corner on this pandemic. 
 
Mayor: Another driving analogy. Okay, go ahead. Kate. 
 
Question: Lots of driving analogies. I hope Gersh isn’t listening. 
 
Mayor: Don't tell Gersh. Don’t tell Gersh. 
 
Question: I also wanted to ask, I know some people have complained - parents have said that the standard that we have for public schools now, the two-case rule, they think, you know, that's too restrictive. I don't know if anyone from the DOE is on the call, but I don't know if you have any - has there been any discussion about loosening those restrictions to keep more schools open? You know, I've heard from parents who schools –their children's schools to close, you know, six times or something since they reopened [inaudible] talk about that 
. 
Mayor: Yeah, we are absolutely re-evaluating that rule and we've been doing a lot of different things with schools lately, you know, one piece after another, but that is definitely, you know, on the table now, a re-evaluation of that rule, working with our health care team, and we'll have more to say on that in the coming days, but we got a little more work to do on that. Go ahead. 
 
Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg. 
 
Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 
 
Mayor: I'm doing well, Henry. It's a beautiful day in New York City. How are you? 
 
Question: I'm good. I'm good. It's spring training. 
 
Mayor: Yes. It doesn't get better than that. 
 
Question: Right. You mentioned these at the outset, you know, the loosening up of the rules for vaccination, the opening up of these rules. Do you think that this is related to the Governors weakening political position that he is listening to local government a little bit more than he has in the past or is compelled really to kind of loosen up? 
 
Mayor: It's an important question, Henry, I’ll just say it very simply. These are the kinds of things the Governor should have done a long time ago. If it takes multiple scandals to get him to finally hear the voices of people at the grassroots and to respect local leaders, well that's a sad commentary. But what's important is we're finally getting some of the changes we need, but what we truly need is local control. We need to go back to normal governance. We are moving rapidly towards a recovery. We cannot keep the democratic process suspended. We've got to resume normal governance. Go ahead, Henry. 
 
Question: Okay. Thank you. My other question has to do with the stubbornness of these numbers. I mean, everybody – I was in the city this weekend, several places going around the city, I saw almost everyone wearing a mask. People seem to be complying, as you say, with these six precautions, more vaccinations every week, why are these numbers so stubborn where the infection rate remains above six percent, et cetera, et cetera? 
 
Mayor: Yeah, it's a great question. I'll just start and turn to Dr. Chokshi, the – I think there's evidence of what's going on in the presentation today, because while we all have been waging a successful battle against the coronavirus with vaccination and all these other steps, the coronavirus that has come up with these new variations which create an additional challenge. But what's really important is to go back to what Dr. Katz said, yeah, numbers remain high in terms of cases, but outcomes are changing substantially, fewer hospitalizations, fewer serious hospitalizations, fewer deaths. And I will think that pattern, if that continues and I do believe it will, that's the game changer, and also just the sheer rate of vaccination, you're talking about hundreds of thousands of people a week. We could be doing so much more if we have the supply. When we really get to full speed, when we're doing half a million or more people a week, you can see how the vice closes on the coronavirus. But I think the simple answer would be, as we've been making progress, the variants have sped the transmission, but thank God, not so much the negative outcomes. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 
 
Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I'll just add briefly, look, just as viruses evolve, so must we, and that's why we've done things in recent weeks like updated our mask guidance, ensuring that people are wearing enough layers, making sure that they have a snug fit against the face. Double masking as a way of adding additional protection as well, and the vaccine gives us, as the Mayor has said, the most important new tool in our fight against the coronavirus. So yes, you know, the numbers may be stubborn, but I think New Yorkers are more stubborn than the virus, and if we keep doing the things that we know have worked then I do believe that the numbers will fall further. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 
 
Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. 
 
Question: Mr. Mayor, how you doing today? 
 
Mayor: I'm feeling good, Andrew. I know you're a baseball fan too. It's getting closer by the day, Andrew. 
 
Question: Yes. My dad has expressed an interest in going to a baseball game at one of your newfound favorite stadiums, and that would be Yankee Stadium. 
 
Mayor: You're going a little far with that statement, but I do appreciate the history of the franchise and I wish them well, and I'm very hopeful that because it's outdoors, you will see fans coming back more and more as we go along. Again, when I think what we've learned in this whole era is outdoors better than indoors and masks work, and so that is a good sign for folks getting to be in the stands this year. Go ahead, Andrew. 
 
Question: Indeed. On the vaccine front, I believe it was yesterday that Senator Schumer talked about the likelihood that at some point will be a federal standard for eligibility and you might just have it open for all where people line up in cities around the country, including New York. How close do you think we are to essentially open eligibility for the vaccine? 
 
Mayor: I’m going to speak as the layman, and then bring Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi into it. Not yet would be my answer. I think right now our rough estimate is we've got a vaccination universe with all of the eligibility that exists right now, more than half of all New York City residents are eligible, you know, four to five million people, and it's going to take a substantial amount of time to get all of that covered, and I think the level of interest and willingness to get vaccinated is going up all the time. But this obviously includes the most vulnerable people, folks who are older, folks with pre-existing conditions. So, I don't think open vaccination happens in March. I don't think it happens in April. Maybe May, June would be my layman sense, but let's see what the experts think. 
 
Senior Advisor Varma: Sure, I'll just very briefly then hand it back to Dr. Chokshi. I would concur with the Mayor. I mean, that is the exact scenario that we want. We want to be in a situation where supply exceeds demand because at that point we get to the point where we can start to let people go back to the lives that are somewhat similar to what they had before. But I think based on everything we know about supply right now, I think the earliest we would estimate that that would happen would be probably sometime in May or towards the end of May. That would be really the earliest upper limit of it. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Well, first let me just start by saying that I really look forward to this day when we will be able to offer every New Yorker who wants a vaccine, the chance to get vaccinated. So, it needs to happen as soon as possible, and we have a real sense of urgency of making sure that particularly our federal colleagues know that. But as the Mayor and Dr. Varma have said eligibility flows from supply, and so the conversations that are having at a federal level also have to ensure that the supply picks up. So, if supply does increase through the course of April, as we are expecting, then then I agree that, you know, May is the month that we should look toward for every New Yorker who wants a vaccine to get one. 

One final point, if I may, which is that we're not going to rest on our laurels until then, for people who remain to get vaccinated because of eligibility. There are so many important things that can happen, particularly answering their questions about the vaccine. Whether it's through the public communication that we're doing, or for them to have conversations with their family doctor, there's a lot that can happen in these intervening weeks to get people prepared so that when their turn comes, they will be ready to get vaccinated. 

Mayor: And Andrew, I'll finish this point where we started. We started with spring training, so let me put it in the context of the spring. I believe before the spring is over, all New Yorkers will be eligible to get vaccinated. I think that's the central point. The day is coming soon when all New Yorkers will be eligible. In the meantime, let's reach the folks in greatest need and let's get the supply we need so we can really hit the numbers we could be hitting right now. Half a million a week, or even more. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Abu from Bangla Patrika. 

Question: Hello, Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, Abu. How’ve you been? 

Question: Good. Thank you so much, thank you. Mayor, my question is about the community pharmacy, where the vaccine supposed to distribute it in Astoria, Long Island City. I know there’s a South Asian pharmacy, I spoke to them – the Astoria pharmacy, and they told me about two weeks ago, the vaccine is – the pharmacy got about a hundred vaccines. It's finished within two days and they're waiting for the supply, but there’s no supply? 

Mayor: Yeah. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but this is the problem we're having all across the board. Abu, we don't have the supply that we need. Again, I want to emphasize, we need about 150,000 to 200,000 more doses a week to be able to reach the capacity we have, and we really want those independent community pharmacies to be a part of this in a bigger way, because they provide health care to so many people and they're trusted, but we need the supply. That's the fundamental problem. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: You're exactly right, Mr. Mayor. We are we're looking forward to being able to get more doses to independent pharmacies because we know how embedded they are in neighborhoods. They're the places that people already rely on for so much of their health care. So, we've been working very closely to prepare them, to be able to safely store and administer the vaccine, and now all we need is the supply to really ramp up their ability to reach the New Yorkers that we all want to. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX 11. 

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. 

Mayor: How are you, James? 

Question: I appreciate your asking. I'm great. As you said, it is a beautiful day in New York. 

Mayor: I like your positive attitude. 

Question: I appreciate that. Well, I'd like to go with this. You mentioned, and so did, Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi, that viruses continue to evolve. This week, the drug company Merck has released results of its trials of a COVID treatment drug called Molnupiravir. It's a pill shown to significantly reduce symptoms among people who contracted the virus, keeping them out of hospitals and helping to prevent them from spreading the disease. Is the City aware of this trial drug, and is it considering using it at all? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Varma first then Dr. Chokshi, but I want to say, I commend you for even being able to pronounce this new drug. It was a very impressive effort. Go ahead, Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Great. No, thank you very much. The simple answer is we don't really have any great antiviral agents right now that make a big difference in the outcome. You know, Remdesivir has been evaluated, and in some trials has shown benefit. As you note, there was a tremendous amount of research, however, going into this area because we, we really have to grapple with the fact that this virus isn't going away from the world. There are going to be way too many people around the world who remain unvaccinated. The virus also has the ability to hide out in animals and other places. So, we need to have all the weapons that we can possibly have available to us, and that's why research as you're reporting right now for Merck, and I know research that the U S is funding is going to be really important. The first line of defense is always going to be prevention, but we know that some people are still potentially going to get infected in the future too, and so having new treatments available is important, and we continue to evaluate all of the scientific literature and work with all of our academic partners to make sure that gets translated into practice once it's been proven. 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, that's exactly right, and with respect to Molnupiravir specifically, we are aware of that study. It remains to be confirmed in the large, you know, phase three trials that have to be done for anything that eventually gets FDA authorization or approval. So, we'll look forward to following those scientific findings to figure out whether it can truly benefit New Yorkers. 

One other thing that I will say is that there are other treatments that are available, as Dr. Varma has alluded to, and one that people may not know about as commonly are monoclonal antibody treatments, and so if you're someone who has been recently diagnosed with COVID-19, particularly if you have underlying health conditions or older, please do speak with your doctor about the treatments that are available to you. 

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Reuven Blau from The City. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking my question. I really appreciate it. 

Mayor: How are you doing, Reuven? 

Question: Good, good. How are you? 

Mayor: Good. Hanging in. 

Question: So, just sticking on the Correction theme, we have a story today detailing how there are three deaths related to inmates or detainees who passed away shortly after their release, and they're not actually being counted in, you know, the COVID deaths in the Department of Correction, because technically they were kind of shortly after custody. You know, similar thing happened, we know regarding the nursing homes and you had asked, you know – called for a federal probe into the numbers and the stats. Do you think, you know, that kind of stuff should be taken here? 

Mayor: It's a very, very different situation than the nursing homes to say the least, and what we've seen with the nursing homes is deeply troubling with systematic efforts to cover up obviously huge mistakes. Here, we have an accounting that I want to get, right, and I appreciate the question. I'm instructing the Department of Correction to go back and look at not just inmates, who God forbid passed away in custody, but anyone who passed away in the time immediately after. I want the whole truth and we'll provide it all publicly. What I do know is measures were taken immediately when we saw the extent of this crisis to protect folks who are incarcerated, and we particularly focused on getting folks released, which was not unfortunately an automatic process. We had to work with the state, we have to work with prosecutors, but we managed to get between 1,500 and 1,600 inmates released to protect everyone. But I want a full accounting quickly of what happened with anyone who was released so that we see the whole picture and we'll make sure to make that public, go ahead. 

Question: Again, sticking on the Department of Correction theme. One of the things they do is they use logbooks. They just manually kind of mark statistics in these logbooks, and it's been kind of a long point of contention for years, about how they feel like – people in the Department feel that that has limited sort of the public access to statistics and also enables members of the Department to kind of fudge information. Do you think that, you know, it's that the time has come to end this practice of using literally just sort of manual logbooks to mark routine instances in the Department? 

Mayor: I don't know the specifics of how data is tracked. I know the department has more and more used data in the way it makes us decisions. I know a lot of modernization has happened particularly via the leadership of Commissioner Brann, but I will check into what's going on with law books, and if it's something that can be computerized or done better, I think it's a valid question. We'll get you an answer back on that. 

Moderator: Last question for today. It goes to Luis Diaz from New Yorkled. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, it's been some time. 

Mayor: How are you, how you been Luis? 

Question: I've been around, I've been around. Thank you. After connecting with someone on your team, it's my understanding that street fairs might not take place until summer, if at all— 

Mayor: Say it again, I'm sorry. 

Question: I’m sorry. After connecting with someone on your team, it's my understanding that street fears might not take place until summer if at all. It’s also my understanding that without these fairs, dozens of nonprofits, BIDs and other local organizations won’t benefit monetarily and otherwise, as they normally would as sponsors of these events. Not to mention the many hundreds of participating merchants and other personnel who just like New York City storefronts, restaurants, and other businesses need to make a living. Any thoughts on that, Mr. Mayor? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's something we need to look at. We start from a cautious place, Luis, that bigger gatherings where people are not distanced continue to be a concern, and even though we're hopeful, as you can hear from today's report, we have an X-factor with the variants that we're watching very closely. So, right now I would say we would be going slow when it comes to street fairs. I don't think it means that the discussion is over by any stretch. We'll know a lot more in the next month or two we'll know a lot more as we see what happens with supply, whether we can hit, which I really want to do hit this goal of 5 million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. The more we get done, the more that we can bring back, although many things we're going to bring back will come with still substantial restrictions. So, I would say the jury is out Luis. Right now, we can't say we're ready to do it, but I wouldn't rule it out for later in the summer.

Okay, everyone would that look, I'm going to talk about where we started today with the discussion around the vaccine and the variants and say simply this: we continue to make progress in this city, and the reason we're making progress is because of all of you, the people in New York City have been heroic. People in New York City have heard when Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Varma, Dr. Katz speak to them – they listen. All of you listen, and it makes all the difference. So, when you hear about the variants, it's right to be concerned and it's right to want more information, and we're going to continue to provide that information. But what's most important is to hear what our health care leaders are saying. Practice those simple precautions, get tested regularly, get the vaccine as soon as you can. That's what makes a difference, and look, New Yorkers – since we had the baseball analogy earlier, I'll say it again. New Yorkers have a great batting average when it comes to fighting this disease, New Yorkers have been amongst the very best people in this country at listening to the guidance, putting it into action, and protecting each other. So, let's keep doing that for these next few months. This is a final, big battle against the coronavirus, and I am absolutely certain that we're going to overcome it and win in the end. Thank you, everybody.

2021-03-11 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Let's talk about good news. Let's talk about the stimulus. Let's talk about something that's going to change all of our lives for the better. Stimulus equals recovery. That's the way to think about it, if we did not have the stimulus, we could not have a full recovery, but now it's here. The Senate has acted. The House has acted. Take stock of this moment, everyone, because it's extraordinary. The biggest action by the federal government for the people of this country since the New Deal. The single biggest – an extraordinary action, the single biggest move to bring us forward, to give everyone opportunity, to bring everyone back. You know, my wife, Chirlane, said six or seven months ago, think about three things that are going to determine our future – the election, the vaccine, the stimulus. One by one, we have seen these crucial actions change our lives for the better. The election has given us the kind of leadership that can move us forward. The vaccine is here, it's working. As soon as we get more supply, everything changes, and the stimulus is literally as good as anyone could have imagined in terms of the ability to bring our country back, our state back, our city back. 

So, we need to have a moment to appreciate all that has been achieved here, and we have to appreciate how it happened, because it didn't happen on its own. It happened because people did the hard work and I'm going to, in a moment, introduce the man who I think deserves immense praise for many of these pieces coming together. Let's just take stock again in what this stimulus means: almost $6 billion in direct local aid for New York City, helping us to finally overcome the massive revenue loss and to serve our people, keep our workforce strong, bring our city back. Over $6 billion to the MTA, so mass transit can recover. $1,400 checks for people who need them – direct payments to New Yorkers who need to get back on their feet. This is game-changing, and that's just part of what's happened here. There's a huge initiative to cut childhood poverty in half nationwide. There's funding for vaccines, funding for schools, funding to bring our schools back strong in September, funding to help our restaurants survive and thrive, and the wonderful initiative Save our Stages, which I know was a particular labor of love for Senator Schumer, bringing back Broadway, Off-Broadway – so much of the culture that makes New York City great. So, before I introduce him, I'm only going to say one more thing. It takes leaders. We would not have the majority in the US Senate that agreed to the stimulus if it weren't for the leadership of Chuck Schumer. We would not have a stimulus this good, this strong, if it were not for the Majority Leader and what he did served the entire nation, but he always, always remembers where he comes from. He remembers Brooklyn and the whole City of New York. He remembers New York State. He was there for us when we needed it. If he was not there, this would not have happened. I want to be abundantly clear. We are celebrating the kind of stimulus we needed, and it happened because Chuck Schumer was the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate. So, my honor to introduce New York's own Senator Chuck Schumer. 

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer: Well, thank you Mayor. And thank you for those very kind words. And let me thank you, this was a team effort and the Mayor can tell you every couple of days, I'd call him, and I’d say, do you know a mayor in this state? Can you get them to call his or her senator? Do you know a mayor in even in this Republican state, can you get them to call his or her senator? And the Mayor was always there, working always. So, there's a lot of credit that goes around, but Mayor de Blasio, anytime I'd call him, it could have been around midnight because we thought, “Oh boy, this senator is wavering. Get someone to call them,” and we had a grassroots organization of mayors, not just from big cities, like New York, but from little villages and towns across the country. So, Mayor thank you for helping make this happen, and we're so glad it did. What I say to New Yorkers very simply is help is on the way. People will get their $1,400 checks. Kids, young kids will get more $3000 and $3600. That's a great thing. Vaccines – I'm going to talk more about vaccines at the end here in a minute, but there are going to be many more vaccines available, much more quickly. Help is on the way. There's money for the MTA, there's money to open our schools, and there is money for the City of New York, and with the Mayor's help guidance, and a little bit of prodding, we made sure that money doesn't come through Albany. It goes directly to the City, because when Albany gets the money, sometimes the City doesn't see all of it. So, here we are, and the State is getting more than enough money to deal with their problems as well, but the City of New York gets over $6 billion, and what that means is that our workers who were, through no fault of the cities, but because of the loss in revenues will continue to be working on the job, picking up the garbage, and doing health care, and driving the buses and everything else, money for the MTA, et cetera. 

But I have a little announcement, Mayor, on vaccines, which is going to be great, great news for New York. I'm announcing a brand-new vaccine supercharge for New York, that's coming from the federal government. That means more vaccines for New York and many more New York sites to administer. I've been working with the President and with the Mayor on the issue of vaccines because we all want more, and now there's light at the end of the COVID tunnel. And that light is centered on access to a free vaccine for all New Yorkers, no copayments, no – the insurance company telling you, you got to pay them this or that. No deductibles. So, I can tell you right here, there are going to be more vaccines and better access to vaccine sites, and it's on the way veer via this supercharge effort that will utilize New York's community health centers as federally-funded vaccine sites. They're going to be more than a hundred new vaccine sites set up across New York and a big administration of the shot supply. They will coordinate with the City. The Mayor has been doing a very good job at getting vaccines out, but now there'll be more of them and more sites and more federal help to do it. More access, more shots, a quicker recovery. That's what we want. The CHC sites will be federally funded. There'll be organized by the Department of Health and Human Services in a huge expansion. 

Remember, one of the biggest issues with getting people vaccinated has been accessed, especially in underserved and disadvantaged communities, communities of color, and they're going to get special, special attention. You and I have heard numerous stories of people having to travel too long to get a vaccine or being turned away because they didn't have enough vaccines, hampering our ability to recover from the pandemic and return to normal. Well, with this new vaccine announcement of more vaccines and more sites, New York is going to be well on the road to recovery. It's something to celebrate. I thank President Biden for spearheading this effort. I thank Mayor de Blasio for working so well with the federal government, and this is great news for our city. This is something in addition to the big bill that we passed, that the Mayor was so nice to mention. So, thank you, Mayor de Blasio, we'll continue to work together to get New York healthy and on the road to recovery, and one final point. 

Like you, Mr. Mayor, I have no doubt New York will bounce back. I've been involved in helping New York through all of our crises, whether it was 9/11 or the Financial Crisis or Sandy, in each case, the naysayers said New York’s finished – we're never finished. People love New York. People want to come and live in New York from around the country and around the globe and New Yorkers – we love New York. I couldn't live anywhere else. A particular preference for Brooklyn, but the other four boroughs are great too. 

Mayor: That was beautifully said, Senator, I share your exact sentiment and Senator, thank you because your voice rings true to New Yorkers and to the whole nation. New York is coming back strong. History tells it, the heart and soul of New Yorkers tells it. Thank you for the help with vaccines. Senator, more is more and getting us that help and getting it down to the grassroots is so important. Thank you for everything you're doing, and I look forward to teaming up with you again soon. I know the infrastructure bill is coming. We're all going to work together and we're going to mobilize all those mayors again, at your signal to help get the kind of support we need to keep building this nation. 

Leader Schumer: If we get a massive infrastructure bill, it can help build our mass transit, build out our mass transit, build out our highways, and one other thing, and this, we have some money for this already, but Trump, of course, in his infinite nastiness held it back. But Gateway is going to be coming soon too, and that'll create jobs that make sure that you can get under the tunnels from New Jersey to Manhattan, which helps our economy, our New York economy, our New York/New Jersey economy grow. So, thanks for everything, Mayor and on to doing more things, to help New York together. 

Mayor: Amen. Thank you, Senator. Good job. Thank you. Everyone, look, I mean, how inspiring is that? The majority leader of the United States Senate, a son of Brooklyn, who loves this city so deeply and is going to bat for us every day – and this amazing stimulus. And now, he's already beginning to work on infrastructure, which we need so deeply – infrastructure investments to bring this city back stronger, the Gateway Tunnel is going to make a huge difference. But remember what he said, he didn't just look out for the State of New York – that's his job, he did that well – but he looked out for the City of New York. He made sure there was direct aid to localities, that it was not interfered with, that we're getting our fair share. I mean, absolutely amazing effort by Senator Schumer. We could not have asked for more. I mean, it's breathtaking. So, it makes a difference who's in charge and we are blessed to have our majority leader, Chuck Schumer, doing this work for us. 

Okay. Everybody, I’m thrilled to hear the new announcement that we are going to get even more vaccine, because Lord knows we need it. I've been talking about the fact that we are between 150,000 and 200,000 doses short of what we need right now. We have a lot more capacity to give the vaccine than we're getting. But Senator Schumer's announcement that this new effort focused on communities, focused on community-based health clinics, that's the kind of thing we need more of – get the vaccine to the grassroots to all communities. That's going to help us a lot. And even with the challenges we have now, another milestone we've reached, we have surpassed 2.5 million doses since the beginning of this effort. So, here's the number today, since the beginning, 2,574,854 vaccinations have been given. And that's an amazing figure, it's growing constantly, and it's going to get supercharged with the effort the Senator talked about and as we get more and more supply. So, things – I mean, it's so inspiring to see so many things moving in the right direction. We're ready to do a whole lot more. It's about supply, supply, supply. So, today's announcement from the Senator, a step in the right direction for sure. 

Okay. Now, as we move forward – and you can feel it – go around the city, go around the neighborhoods in the city, you can feel that things are moving. You can feel that it was our opening up [inaudible] already. It's going to be a very exciting spring, even more exciting summer and fall in this city. So much is going to happen. We always look forward as New Yorkers. We always create the next thing, that's who we are. But there's a great lesson from history that we have to always hold close, which is you have to remember where you came from, you have to remember the people got you there, and you have to remember those we lost, because we would not be anything without them. So, all the families out there who lost a loved one to COVID, this whole city stands with you. We have to remember them. We have to remember them as individuals, what they meant to us, the love they gave us, the support, how they nurtured all of us. But we also have to remember what they did for the whole city. So, we're having a COVID Day of Remembrance this Sunday. And this will be of course the one-year anniversary of the first COVID death recorded in New York City, a ceremony to remember, a ceremony to appreciate those who we lost and to support their families – begins this Sunday, live at 7:45 PM. You could watch it nyc.gov/covidmemorial and all our Mayor's Office social channels. And if you want to submit a loved one's name and photo for the ceremony, please go to nyc.gov/covidmemorial. We want to put up images of New Yorkers from all over the five boroughs who we lost so we remember them, so we appreciate them. And again, let's stand in solidarity with their families not just today, but all the way forward. 

Okay, let's go over today's indicators. Number-one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 202 patients, that's quite striking. Again, there are variations by day, we know that. We need to see much bigger trend lines to affirm something. But, as Dr. Mitch Katz talked about yesterday, and he runs the nation's largest public hospital system, something good is happening for sure. We are almost back down to that threshold that we want to be below, 200 patients a day – so, 202. Confirmed positivity, 63.88 percent. Hospitalization rate – today, 3.78 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,108 cases. Number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 6.35 percent. 

I’ll talk in Spanish for just a few moments on the stimulus and how much it means to all of us. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Health + Hospitals CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we're going to Roger from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hi, Mayor. Good morning. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Roger. How have you been? 

Question: I'm good. Thank you. So, today, is actually the official anniversary of when this was declared a pandemic. [Inaudible] walk us back to your thought process at the time. What were you expecting? Did you expect it to be as bad as it was? You know, what contingencies, you know, did you think at that time would be needed? And, you know, what has surprised you from what you thought about at the time to what's happened? 

Mayor: Yeah. It's such an important question, Roger. I will tell you, you know, recognizing now that we, New York City, but I have to say cities all over the country, we were not given the most important tool we needed, which was the testing. So, we couldn't see what was happening, because we didn't have the tools, and the only place we could get that was from the federal government. It's like flying a plane without radar. You know, we didn't see, because we couldn't see. And that is so painful to think about now. You know, in those first days, everyone hoped there was a way to contain it. But now, we know, you know, the extent of what was happening that was so deep. And so, yeah, everyone's first impulse was, how can we control this? How can we contain it? How can we save lives right now? But I look back now and realize, you know, we were – there was a tsunami about to hit us and we couldn't even see it because we just didn't have the testing. Go ahead, Roger. 

Question: Yeah. Did you ever for a moment consider or think that New York City might become the center of this outbreak? 

Mayor: You know, Roger, if you think about it now and you look back on everything that happened, you know, I guess you could say there were some things that would make us particularly vulnerable, clearly. But, at the time, you know, we just didn't even have the most basic information And that, to me, is what's striking. you know, the whole scientific community – I remember this – you know, trying to understand from so many different voices what was happening, but the constant refrain, even from the most learned folks was we don't know a lot about this disease. And that was, of course, very painful and very challenging. I think what's striking to me is how New Yorkers responded. I think there were missed opportunities, for sure. And, obviously, one of the things that pains me the most is when I called for shelter in place, you know, that's when there should have been shelter in place. And if I had had local control, there would have been shelter in place and I think that would have really helped, I think that would have saved lives, and the State of New York would not agree. But, really, when you think about it, the people did everything we asked of them. When we said shelter in place, people did it. When we said wears masks, people did it, and social distancing, and helping their neighbors, and our health care heroes who did everything and then some. I mean, the big story here is the heroism of New Yorkers, and that even when we went from having no problem to being the epicenter, the way people responded and save lives and brought each other through it – that's the big story here. 

Moderator: Next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Oh, Hey. How are you? Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. 

Mayor: You’re surprised, Katie? How are you? 

Question: I am surprised, I'm out of turn. I just wanted to ask you, do you have any more details on exactly when – especially these federal vaccines will come to us and what we can expect? 

Mayor: Well, not enough detail is the truth, Katie. Again, I'm waiting for – what I want from the federal government is a week-by-week specific chart that shows a steady increase. We don't have that yet. We have seen some meaningful improvement, but, you know, as I've talked about – the team about this very topic yesterday and said, when can we get to our full capacity of at least half-a-million vaccinations per week? Right now, we have no indication that will happen in March, and we don't even have a guarantee that will happen in April. So, I want more details on the federal government. I want them to speed up. I'm really happy that, you know, I called for more pharmaceutical companies to be involved, I wish that had been done more aggressively, but at least Merck has now involved, working with Johnson & Johnson. I still want to see the supply increase more intensely. And I want more local control. You know, I want us to get our fair share, which we're still not getting, and the State is still interfering with that. But I can safely say that I don't see the situation improving markedly in March. I'm hoping at some point in April, it does. Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Thanks. And I wanted to ask, I know you had said in your State of the City that you are hoping for May for a City offices to sort – for people to return. I wanted to know if that is still on track? I know some of the unions had expressed some concern, because of the lack of vaccinations. So, are we still on track? We, collectively, as a city, not me, but is the City still on track for the return to offices around May? 

Mayor: Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely, Katie. We are – absolutely. Look, the situation is getting better and better all the time. You can see it in the daily indicators. You can see it with the number of folks being vaccinated. The City's getting safer all the time. Yes, we're going to bring back – and remember, 80 percent of our workforce is on the job right now, because most of them do frontline work, but the 20 percent that work in office settings, in particular, they'll be coming back in May. We’ll be working closely with the unions. We’ll be focusing on health and safety. But, absolutely, we're going to get that done. 

Moderator: Next we'll go to Shant from the Daily News. 

Question: Yeah, good morning, Mr. Mayor. I'm hearing that, you know, details are still being worked out regarding Senator Schumer's announcement, but I was wondering if you have a sense of how many of the hundred community health center sites statewide will be specifically in the city? 
 
Mayor: I'll turn to – I don't know if Dr. Varma, Dr. Katz have a specific update. I don't have that Shant, but we'll get you that, what I can safely say is we have a very impressive roster of community-based clinics in this city and if that's the methodology New York City should do very well, and obviously the need is so great here, and the Senator understands that. So, I'm hopeful that's going to be a case of fair share. Let me see if Dr. Varma, Dr. Katz, anything you can add on those numbers? 
 
Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Nothing specifically for me, but I would just sort of echo your comment that, you know, the way we get a vaccine to turned into vaccinations is by people being in, you know, at the community level, people that they trust, particularly trusted providers. So, providing community-based organizations with vaccine is going to be one more further step to us building trust, advancing equity, and of course, getting to the opening that we all want to have. 
 
Mayor: Excellent. Thank you, Dr. Katz, anything to add? 
 
President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: No, I think you guys have covered it very well. Thank you, sir. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Shant. 
 
Question: Yeah, I guess as a follow-up I was wondering if you can put Senator Schumer's announcement in the context of the city’s kind of struggle to get vaccines to communities of color. I mean, do you see this development as, I don't know, the secret sauce, the solution to making sure the vaccine distribution is more equitable? 
 
Mayor: Shant, obviously, let me say the first thing, there's not going to be one solution. It’s a series of things that will be the solution, but I would also say the situation is changing on the ground before this announcement. What we're seeing is that gap is closing, that we're seeing more and more equity more and more parity in the vaccinations. I was struck when I was at Co-Op City last Saturday, almost exclusively people of color are being vaccinated there, tremendous energy and enthusiasm, people saying in many cases, they had been hesitant, they were not any longer. And interestingly, particularly because it was the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, it was a brand name they knew and it was one shot only, that was actually very encouraging. A number of people raise that proactively, which was pleasing. But look, we're definitely starting to make some real progress on equity in vaccination. This announcement from Senator Schumer will help us, when he says supercharge, that's exactly the right concept. This will get more and more vaccine where we want it the most in terms of addressing those disparities and reaching people in greatest needs. We'll get you all the details, but unquestionably it will help us move the work of equality. Go ahead. 
 
Moderator: Next, we'll go to Emily from NY1. 
 
Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor. 
 
Mayor: Hey Emily, how you been? 
 
Question: I'm well, thanks. Hope you're well, too. Have you made your own vaccination plan? 
 
Mayor: I don't have a specific plan, but I, as I've said publicly before, I do look forward to being vaccinated specifically with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. I want to show people I have total confidence in it as do our medical leaders, health care leaders, and the new category for public employees or public facing is one that obviously connects with the work I do. So, at some point after that day occurs, I'll get vaccinated. We'll get you the details when we have them. Go ahead, Emily. 
 
Question: Yeah, and maybe we'll be back at City Hall for in-person pressers after you get vaccinated too. 
 
Moderator: Next is Jillian from WBAI. 
 
Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 
 
Mayor: Good Jillian. How have you been? 
 
Question: I'm fine. Thank you. Speaking of vaccine accessibility, you were recently asked a question by someone from the Staten Island Advance about the homebound vaccination program and it was ascertained that it's not exclusive for seniors. So, I contacted some people I know in the disabled community activists, and they didn't know that they were eligible for that program. So, if they don't know and they're on the front line, how can someone less informed know? And then there's the disabled community who are not necessarily homebound, but there are so many obstacles literally and figuratively to getting vaccinations. I mean, think about getting to the Javits Center and how difficult that is if you have a disability. And so, then you think about New York City being extremely inaccessible, one of the most in the city – I mean, sorry, in the country and then were rife with ADA violations. So, have you considered teaming up with groups like the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, the Brooklyn Center, Disability in Action, give them resources to do outreach? They already have an infrastructure, something similar to the way the city came up with assorted community-based facilities so that they can reach out because the office for [inaudible] is so small. It doesn't have, you know, the ability to do something like this on a big scale, and so reverse it and let the organizations reach out and at least let them know which vaccine sites are accessible, because imagine going to one, right? It's not accessible, and you didn’t know – 
 
Mayor: So, Jillian, Jillian, no, I fully get your point and I agree with it. I'm going to speak to our Commissioner for the Office for People with Disabilities, Victor Calise, has done an outstanding job involving and engaging leaders all over the city to reach folks with disabilities. I think you're exactly right. There's more we need to do to let people know that the homebound vaccinations are available. Now, what we know about the homebound vaccinations and I thank everyone at the FDNY and Department for the Aging who's doing this work. It is very labor intensive and painstaking because you have to send a team of people to an individual home or apartment and it takes time, obviously, including the waiting period after the vaccine. So, it means it will take weeks. We – our goal is to get all this done with anyone homebound by through March and into April. So really what we have to make sure is that the folks who need that the most get, that folks who can go to a center to get to a center, and we're setting up centers in places that are really convenient for folks. But I think you're right. We need to do a deeper outreach to all the organizations leaders who represent people with disabilities and listen to them about the best ways to get this done. So, I take that suggestion to heart and I appreciate it, and commissioner Calise will act on that.
 
Moderator: Next. We'll go to Yehudit it from Boro 24 News. 
 
Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 
 
Mayor: I'm good. You heard it, but Avery keeps saying the name of your publication wrong. It is Boro Park 24. Isn't it? 
 
Question: Yeah, it’s 24. 
 
Mayor: Thanks. 
 
Question: All right. Well, thank you. I apologize about losing the line a few days ago. Thank you so much for taking the question. 
 
Mayor: Of course. 
 
Question: I have a question – yeah, thank you. I have a question from the grassroots of Brooklyn, where Senator Schumer's from. So, last week I spoke to the principal and creator of a beautiful girls’ elementary school in Borough Park. And this principal told me that he was receiving many calls from other Brooklyn principals who had just received an email from the New York City Department of Education, which was offering eligibility for funding for 3-K and Pre-K to schools in ZIP codes that were considered, quote those hardest hit by COVID. So, of course, after only Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods were the only in the city to have such serious COVID positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths that in the fall, they were the only ones to be called red zones with intense restrictions and loss of funding from any schools. The principals of the Orthodox Jewish schools were confused as to why after being previously considered by the City and State, quote so hard hit by COVID, that now several months later, not one of their ZIP codes was included in the New York City's Department of Education list of eligibility for funding that would allow in this rabbi's words, thousands and thousands of Jewish children should be able to go to 3-K and Pre-K who otherwise wouldn't. So, I was just wondering whether you knew anything about this and whether you found the exclusion of Orthodox Jewish ZIP codes to be fair and equitable in a recovery for all of us? 

Mayor: Yehudit, first of all, thank you for saying a recovery for all of us. You are accurately connecting with my message to all New Yorkers and it does have to be at recovery for all of us. I'm very proud of the fact that when we created Pre-K and then expanded to 3-K, I said from the very beginning that we needed to include religious schools, community-based organizations, you know, charter schools, everyone. And that is part of why Pre-K and 3-K works so well. And the fact is – you will, I believe you know this history, but I want to say it publicly, that in the beginning, there was a lot of concern in the yeshiva community about whether we could make it work. And a lot of painstaking work was done by City Hall officials, DOE working in listening to the yeshiva community to figure out what would work. And that's why we got to a place where we have a thriving Pre-K and 3-K approach in the yeshiva community. So, I'm 100 percent committed to that. The specific letter you're referring to, I haven't seen, but I want you to know that we want to make sure everyone is included in Pre-K and 3-K as always. And I want you to know that when we talk about the priorities – I don't think it's right to say, look what happened in September, October, and that's how we made all our decisions. No, the priorities were based on the whole year of experience and decades of previous history and fact, and data. So, in fact, the communities where we saw, unfortunately, the most deaths, the most consistently negative health outcomes and the least access to health care are those 33 communities. But that does not stop us from making sure that everyone is included in Pre-K and 3-K. So, I'll have our team follow up with you to get you all the facts about how we intend to involve everyone. But I really don't want people hearing a dissonance and a falsehood here. The fact that we're prioritizing the places where there's the greatest danger and the greatest need does not mean we don't simultaneously have a plan to reach everyone. Because we intend to vaccinate everyone. And we intend to include everyone in key initiatives like Pre-K and 3-K, and we intend to include everyone in the recovery. Go ahead, Yehudit. 
 
Question: Thank you. And then that is such great news about this supercharge of vaccines. Thank God for that. So, while the mass vaccination centers are amazing and vaccinating so many people, in terms of making things easier for the elderly and people like many in Orthodox neighborhoods, who would maybe just feel more comfortable getting vaccinated in their own neighborhoods, maybe last week or the week before Doctors Chokshi and Katz mentioned the possibility of setting up small vaccination pods in neighborhoods so that people could get their shots in small local settings. And so, I was wondering are the health clinics that Senator Schumer mentioned, or perhaps the houses of worship that Governor Cuomo mentioned the other day that might be available to be set up as vaccination sites? What was meant by vaccination pods? And if you could tell anything more about any further plans in the horizon for these vaccination pods in local neighborhoods? 
 
Mayor: Yeah, look, I'm a believer in getting vaccination down to the grass roots 100 percent. And we've started to more and more, make it more and more local. And that works. What we need is supply. Yehudit, the – not just the mega sites, but sort of the typical Department of Health site or Health + Hospitals site, they're very efficient. They can reach a lot of people quickly. That's obviously the first goal is to get the most people vaccinated. We're over 2.5 million vaccinations. That's goal one, but I agree with you that a lot of people will come forward if it gets more local and it's provided by trusted local providers. So, that's what we want to do more and more, but we again, we got to get more supply to do that. Right now, typical week, we're 150,000 to 200,000 doses short of where we should be, if we were really given our fair share. As we get more, you're going to see more and more localized sites. And I agree with you. I think that's going to give people comfort and get more and more people to come out. 
 
Moderator: With a bruised ego, we'll go on to our last reporter who is [inaudible] from WNYC. 
 
Question: How's it going? How's it going, Mr. Mayor? 
 
Mayor: I’m doing well, [inaudible] I think – I really appreciate Avery Cohen's public acknowledgement of her mistake. And we believe in redemption here at City Hall. So, Avery, you're going to get it right the next time. 
 
Question: So, I wanted to go back to the topic of Governor Cuomo. So, he's just announced that quarantines for domestic travelers visiting New York will no longer be required starting April 1st. Do you and your health officials feel the city is ready for that policy change? Are things potentially moving too fast? And how will you judge that? 
 
Mayor: Well again, thank you for the question. I believe in local control. And here's another case where New York City was not consulted, even though, you know, we're one of the biggest cities in the world and 43 percent of the state's population, we were not consulted. Of course, I have concerns about this. You know, I think the introduction of the virus from outside has been one of the biggest and toughest X-factors in this whole crisis and something we worry about very much going forward. So, I will analyze it with our health team before I give you a more detailed response. But since we have Dr. Varma and Dr. Katz with us, I welcome their initial thinking on this matter. Dr. Varma? 
 
Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. Thank you very much for the question. Yeah, we – I think what we really need to remember and focus on are the, you know comments that all of our health leadership have been giving over the past few weeks. Which is that there is tremendous progress being made. We have an incredible tool available to us, which is vaccines. But at the same time, we're still at a very tenuous point. As we discussed during our conference, our press conference yesterday, we now have 51 percent of the cases of the city due to new strains of this virus that are more infectious. So, we do feel really strongly that it's important for us to be as cautious as we possibly can. And we know that one of the ways to help reduce infections is to limit the amount of travel that's going in and out of the city. And also, when people do travel to take extra precautions, like being tested before and being tested after. And we think that that really does, is really an important measure to keep in place until we get to a place where a far greater percentage of our population is vaccinated. 
 
Mayor: Dr. Katz, you want to add? 
 
President Katz: I would just agree that especially with the variants, we want to limit how they move through our country. And that therefore having people be going without any quarantine is worrisome to me. I think maybe looking toward the issue of people who are vaccinated may be a different group of people. And just as the CDC has recently changed guidance if you're fully vaccinated, I think there may be a role here for having different policies based on whether or not people are fully vaccinated. Thank you. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead [inaudible]. 
 
Question: Yeah. So, my second question is about COVID in schools. And I wanted to salute Dr. Varma and his team for the study that they put out this week. It was pretty good. But Mayor, you've said you would revisit the two-case protocol that shuts down a school building because students have said it makes for a constant, for constant uncertainty and stress. But the teachers union says they won't back away from the two case thresholds. So, what can you tell us about updating that protocol? 
 
Mayor: That we're evaluating it right now. I'm concerned that parents and kids are having a lot of disruption to their education, that we see schools closing more than we, I think, should see them closing. The basic protections are absolutely necessary. The testing, the situation room, the intense use of Test and Trace Corps. And there are certainly situations where schools need that 10-day shutdown, no question. But we have to make sure it is not artificial. And so, we're reevaluating that rule. Of course, we're talking to the union, of course, most importantly, listening to our health care leaders. And we'll have more to say on that. But we got to always strike a balance. And remember it is also referencing the information we continue to get. We keep learning about this disease. We keep learning about how to address it. But one thing we've learned for sure is New York City public schools are extraordinarily safe. And simultaneously the number of people getting vaccinated citywide is growing intensely every single day. That's exactly the time to reevaluate and that's what we're doing now. 

Okay. Everyone we'll conclude today. Simple point, stimulus equals recovery. Thank God, it's here. The stimulus is the green light for a full recovery for New York City. So, I talk about recovery for all of us. The one missing element was a stimulus to get us back on our feet. But thanks to President Biden and Senator Schumer and so many other good people, it's finally here. I cannot wait to see President Biden take out his pen and sign that bill, and it ushers in a whole new and better time for New York City. So, something to celebrate today. Thank you, everyone.

2021-03-12 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. I hope you all got to see President Biden's speech last night. Absolutely extraordinary, honest, filled with empathy, and filled with direction for the future. I really appreciate President Biden's leadership because he's giving us clear goals, being honest about the challenges we face, but he's giving us a sense of direction that we didn't have last year so often, and now we're getting, and that's tremendously helpful. And obviously the huge news that the President signed the stimulus, the single biggest shot in the arm for the American people since the New Deal. And this is going to change everything. This is going to make recovery possible. This is the bottom line. Stimulus equals recovery. Now it's here. Tremendous, tremendous moment. We also, here in New York City, we're hearing loud and clear the President's vision of how we move forward, how we speed the process of vaccinating our people, reopening our economy, bringing ourselves forward. I agree entirely with the President that we need to move aggressively. Obviously, what we're missing is the supply. We need the vaccine – supply, supply, supply. I'll keep saying it, but the President put forward an extraordinary goal, and one I agree with – May 1st to open up vaccination to everyone. I think that's exactly the right thing to do. That's going to help us to have, you know, the best approach to vaccination when all adults know that they are eligible. So, we're ready to go, but we need the supply. Now as to what's happened to date, again progress keeps being made, not as much as we could make if we had more supply, but still great, great results. Since the beginning of this process, beginning of the vaccination effort, 2,636,645 vaccinations have been given in New York City. We really look forward to that number jumping up a lot more when we get an even bigger supply. 

Now, other news yesterday, I'm not so happy about. The State of New York announced an end of the quarantine requirement for travelers as of April 1st. I don't know if that's the State's idea of an April Fool's joke, but it's absolutely the wrong thing to do. It's reckless. It doesn't help us with our recovery. Look, if you say someone is vaccinated, they can fly, they can visit, of course. But if someone's not vaccinated, what's so hard about following the same process that has been followed to date. This is what our health care leaders believe makes sense. Go through the normal testing process, and if you need the quarantine, you need the quarantine. That's what keeps us all safe. So, I think that decision by the State is reckless. I think it should be re-evaluated because we're making progress. Let's not undermine it, especially at a time where we're worried about the variants that are out there. 

Okay. Just going to go over our daily indicators, as we do in all of our gatherings each morning. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 208 patients. We have a low confirmed positivity rate today, that's good, but, again, there are sometimes daily fluctuations in the data – 37.73 percent. Hospitalization rate, 3.76 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 3,039 cases. Number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 6.31 percent. 

Just going to say a few words in Spanish on the topic of the police reforms. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Commissioner Shea, by Jennifer Jones Austin, Arva Rice, Wes Moore, Dr. Chokshi, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Mr. Mayor. Good morning. Good morning to everyone on the call. On the subject of vaccines, based on the president's instruction from last night, that all American adults be eligible by May 1st, which seems to move the timeline up. You'll recall I asked about this earlier in the week. How do you make that happen in terms of supply versus eligibility? And could it even happen before May 1st? 

Mayor: Look when you asked, I think it was you, Andrew, asked the question what our health care team and I responded was we thought that open eligibility would be May or June. So, it's really, thankfully not that different. I'd say I think May 1st is a great time to open it up. I think the president's right. It will make things on one level simpler because everyone will know they're eligible and of course the State was holding us back from being able to vaccinate anyone at any site, that's been overcome now, thank God, but another example of why we need local control. But the bottom line here is, if we have the supply, we keep moving forward, and if on May 1st we're able to vaccinate everyone, we'll make it work. We're ready to do that right now, but we need the supply. We cannot reach our potential if we don't get a hell of a lot more supply. Again, every week we're short about 150,000 to 200,000 doses. We need that addressed. We need the state to give us our fair share. We need the federal government and the manufacturers to speed the distribution, and then we can absolutely get the job done. 

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX-11. 

Question: Hey, good morning. Happy Friday. 

Mayor: Happy Friday, James. How are you? 

Question: Not bad. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, and hello to everyone on the call. You would call the Governor’s suspension of the quarantine order a possible April fool's joke, if I got that right? That it could be harmful to New York City residents and needs to be reconsidered. Will you just elaborate on why it could be harmful to the residents of the city and how you want it to be reconsidered or do you actually want it to be fully reversed, even though it seems like a done deal? 

Mayor: I don't think anything in Albany is a done deal right now. I think a lot of things are changing rapidly in Albany and anything could be reversed that was done wrong. I'm going to turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi. I mean, we were all surprised, in fact, shocked when we heard this. It makes no sense to relax such a fundamental standard when we're still fighting this war and we got the variants on top of that. So, let me have the doctors do the talking, Dr. Varma? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Sure. Thank you very much for the question. You know, we feel really strongly that, you know, we need every weapon on our side to fight back against the coronavirus. As we keep reporting, the virus is using evolution on its side to develop new variants, new ways to be more infectious. So, we need all of the tools that we have available to us, and one of the tools that we know work is testing and tracing, and the reason these quarantine rules are beneficial to us is that they serve as a really critical reminder to people who are traveling to other places around the country, around the world, that they need to be tested before they get on a plane. They need to be tested after they get off that plane and are at home and they need to stay isolated until they're confirmed that they haven't acquired COVID during that time. Throughout this epidemic, we've seen the travel associated cases have represented anywhere from five to ten percent of all of the cases that we see here in New York City. That may not seem like a lot, but as we know with this disease, even one case can lead to an outbreak and spread. So, we need really everything on our side at this point as we continue in this sort of tense fight that we have right now with the virus. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Thank you. I will just add briefly that the reason that it's particularly important, you know, to maintain travel quarantine, we just have to look around the world and around the country to see the cases, you know, do continue to be a problem in other jurisdictions as well. You know, there are major COVID-19 outbreaks occurring in parts of Europe, in parts of South America, and there are, you know, greater proportions of certain variants seen in other parts of the United States, as well as around the world as well. So, this has been a critical tool in our fight, as Dr. Varma has mentioned, and now is just the time for us to be recommitting and redoubling our efforts when that the idea that we could turn the corner on the pandemic is finally in our sight. 

Mayor: Amen.

Moderator: The next is Emily from NY 1. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. In addition to the very need for more supply when it comes to the COVID vaccine, what else does the city need to carry out President Biden's edict, for lack of a better word, that that all adults have access beginning in May. 

Mayor: That's really it. It’s the supply, Emily. We've got the locations, in fact, we're adding more locations, we've got the vaccinators, we're building up our Vaccine for All Corps. We're ready right now to be doing over a half a million vaccines a week. I think that number is going to climb higher. I think when we get the full supply we deserve. We're going to go well beyond a half million vaccinations a week. Just one thing missing, supply, supply, supply, we get the supply, we'll be able to handle it even with every adult being eligible. 

Moderator: The next is Allan Villafaρa from Telemundo. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. de Blasio, how are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing well. How are you? 

Question: Very good. Thank you so much. Well, last night President Biden said that every American must help to put and to this pandemic. Last week a Doctor Fauci said that the new corona variant [inaudible] in the Washington Heights area. Do you have a message here for the residents in this area, especially Latinos? 

Mayor: My message is that we are all in this together. We do all need to participate in defeating the virus. The president spoke passionately and earnestly. Every single one of us has to keep doing the smart things, not one but two masks whenever possible, and the social distancing, and realizing not to let our guard down. But we also, it's our obligation as the city to ensure that vaccination and testing is provided with special emphasis in the communities hardest hit by COVID like Washington Heights. And so, we will be expanding vaccination efforts in Washington Heights as part of what we're going to do in the weeks ahead as we get more supply of the vaccine. Dr. Chokshi, if you want to add, feel free. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I'll just add briefly. You know, we know that Latino New Yorkers in many ways have born so much suffering and the brunt of this pandemic over the last few months. And so, the message that I would add to the Mayors is that this is such an important time for us to ensure that we take all of the public health precautions that we know work, masking, distancing, hand washing, staying home when you're ill, getting tested and getting vaccinated when it's your turn. This is our chance, you know, particularly for those communities Washington Heights, but more broadly, you know, across all of New York City for us to take matters into our own hands so that we can finally recover and get back to a semblance of a normal life. 

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead. 

Question: Do you have a plan for when and where there will be new vaccination centers when more vaccines have reached the city? 

Mayor: Yes. 

Question: Is there a plan ready? 

Mayor: Well, the way we are doing it is continuing to add sites as we're getting more and more vaccine. We're looking for any place where there may be a greater need in terms of the geography. So, Washington Heights and Inwood, for example, I'll let Dr. Chokshi speak to this, but we literally had a conference call the other day, and one of the places we were talking about is Washington Heights and Inwood as an area where we need additional locations. But the good news is we found it. We can put a location together very quickly now. The Department of Health and Health + Hospitals have gotten very expert at doing this. We have the staffing. We know how to do it. So, when we see an area that needs more intensive vaccination effort, we will add additional locations as we get supply. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to speak to specifically Washington Heights and Inwood? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you so much. Yes, Washington Heights and Inwood is an area that we're very actively looking at with respect to, you know, city runs sites that will supplement some of the infrastructure that's already there, particularly pharmacies and community clinics that are already vaccinating in that area. So, stay tuned for more about, you know, when and exactly where those sites will be. But it will be part of a broader strategy, you know, just in the last week, we've also opened up sites in Co-Op City in the Bronx, as well as in Bedford-Stuyvesant to serve the local populations there as well. We're going to continue doing more of this with respect to city sites, but also partnering with those community health centers, independent pharmacies, and the other places that we know people already trust in their neighborhoods. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Last question from today goes to Henry from Bloomberg.

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you doing this Friday morning?

Mayor: It's Friday morning. Happy Friday, Henry. It's been a very long week, but here in New York City, we keep moving forward, my friend. How are you doing?

Question: Doing good. It’s the weekend, watch a little baseball. Can't get better than that.

Mayor: Amen.

Question: But let me ask you a couple of difficult questions, if you will. It's not going to come as any surprise to you, but we have a story out about the inequities in delivering vaccine. If you're on the Upper East Side, you've got a great chance. If you're in Harlem, not so much. This, you know. But in our reporting, we found many people in communities of color or heavily immigrant communities where residents or Council members or Assembly members, people who have deep ties in the community say the City is invisible despite your efforts. They don't see anything in multi-languages. They don't think they're not seeing leafleting. They're not seeing these canvassers that you're talking about. And they all point to this invisibility as part of the problem in getting more participation in these neighborhoods. What do you say to them?

Mayor: I always listen, Henry. I'll say something, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi as well. I always listen to critiques and if people say we're not seeing enough outreach, then we have to do more outreach. I'm not even going to contest. I'm not going to tell someone that they saw – you know, they saw something they didn't see, right? But I would say to you, the numbers are speaking for themselves. Over 2.6 million of vaccinations as of today. The fact is we do see steady progress in reducing inequity. We are seeing that all over the city. The places where we are setting up additional sites, focusing on communities of color and immigrant communities, those appointments are being filled nonstop. There's no lack of people who want the appointments, they are filling up and it's creating more equity. Certainly, the door-to-door efforts have helped immensely, signing up people, particularly seniors, right there at the door. I've been to the sites. So, I've seen two of my own eyes. I saw what I saw in Red Hook at Red Hook Houses. I saw what I saw in Nostrand Houses in Southern Brooklyn. I saw what I saw at Co-Op City. It's obviously happening. But if we need to do more outreach, we simply will in as many languages as it takes. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And I'll start just with a brief recap of the outreach efforts that we have done acknowledging that much work remains and we remain so committed to our equity goals in the vaccination campaign. But on any given day, we have about 300 canvassers out doing door-knocking and getting the word out about vaccination. We've had over 1,250 events since the beginning of our Vaccine For All campaign, town halls, small gatherings with neighborhood organizations and with elected officials as well. We've now knocked on thousands of doors thus far. We've passed out hundreds of thousands of leaflets really targeting both our task force neighborhoods as well as seniors. And we've made millions of phone calls you know, to people also targeting those same demographics. Particularly with seniors as the Mayor has mentioned, we really focused on our NYCHA houses, as well as the naturally occurring retirement communities in partnership with the Department for the Aging. So, these are some of the efforts that are underway. We aim for this to continue to grow, particularly as supply increases because we want to reach into every corner, every neighborhood because we believe so urgently, that getting people vaccinated will save lives.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Henry.

Question: I don't want to dwell on this too much, but the numbers do speak for themselves. You've got a 41 percent rate of participation on the Upper East Side. It's about 11 percent in Central Harlem. So, I don't doubt the sincerity and the vigor with which you are approaching this thing, but as of March 9th, those are the numbers. And it would appear from those numbers that even more has to be done, as you say.

Mayor: Henry, let me hold you up a second. I've got to say, I know your comment was sincere and I'm going to certainly recognize your next question. But I just have to say, really respecting you are very thorough and concerned, but I'm going to say, please be objective. There is a intensive difference in many communities on, at this point, still trust levels and hesitancy levels. I think we've made real progress, but no one's saying that gap has been closed. So, it is not just about where the sites are. The sites that the City has set up are overwhelmingly in communities of color, in those 33 communities where the need and the danger is greatest. So, the physical reality is the sites are there. The people hired to do the vaccinating come from the communities. That's crucial. The outreach efforts are multiple language, there's door to door, all of that needs more. But let's also be clear that we see real differences between communities demographically, and I'd say possibly the single biggest indicator has been income, of who's ready, willing, and able to take the vaccine versus who still is hesitating. That's been true up until recently. I think it's starting to change. But we – you look at those composite figures, you can't leave that piece out of the equation. All right.

Question: Well, I need to follow up what you just said because I agree completely with it. The data shows it, we've poured over the data. If you have a car, if you've got more income, more mobility, all of those things, all of those things are true, but yet I don't think it's fair to these people, these immigrants and these poor people or minority people to say it's all about distrust and you know, confusion –

Mayor: Henry, move to your next question because I did not say confusion. It's people's choices, choices, brother. People are making choices and respect the fact that some people are ready and some are not. And our job is to educate and make the vaccine available. And that's what we're doing. But look, what we 100 percent agree on is a hell of a lot more to do. And the thing that will help us the most is supply, honestly. So, we can create a lot more momentum.

Question: But I need to push back in this respect, which is that a lot of these people in the community, when they hear you talk this way, they think that what you're blaming them for not participating. And they're saying, no, there are institutional or structural problems with the delivery of this vaccine or the outreach, that's not reaching these people. That it's not just hesitation.

Mayor: Henry, I have immense respect for the communities we're serving. And this is why we are doing a huge outreach effort, multiple languages, why we're putting the vaccination centers where we are. And people are making their own choices and we have to keep doing better and we will. Absolute and total respect. And no, I'm not in the least suggesting there's something wrong with someone who is hesitant. We're going to overcome it, but we need the supply to do it.

Thank you, everyone.

2021-03-12 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: And we just have 15 minutes for Ask the Mayor this week because of his schedule and our membership drive schedule. But listeners, it’s still my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio. So, get your mayor calls in. I'm just going to ask you to be really short and to the point today, so we can get to you still, as many of you as we can. 646-435-7280. And our mayor lines are already full. That's obviously not the same as our pledge drive number. Or you can tweet a question using the hashtag, #AsktheMayor. And hi, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Hey there, Brian, how you doing? 

Lehrer: Good. Can I get your reaction, real quick, to President Biden directing all the states to open vaccines to all adults by May 1st, specifically, is it good or bad or neutral for vaccine equity in the city, in your opinion? 

Mayor: It's good for vaccine clarity and simplicity. I mean, I think having a simple rule, everyone knows if you're 18 or over you're eligible has real advantages. By May 1st, I mean, right now today, we're about 2.6 million vaccinations since day one. So, you know, we'll go through all of March, all of April. We're going to be at a much higher number. I think it's a pretty sane time to go to that new standard. 

Lehrer: Let's take a phone call right away and let's see, how about Jeff in Park Slope with a COVID-related question. Jeff. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello. 

Question: Good morning, Brian. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. First of all, really quickly, I want to say thank you, Mr. Mayor, for what you've done throughout this whole COVID thing. Really, we all appreciate it. I want to ask about long-term COVID care. Experts say about ten percent of people who get COVID wound up with long-hauler. I'm one of them. I got sick on March 21st of last year, almost a year later I'm still dealing with a slew of medical issues and I can't find resources. There's not a lot of ready resources through the City, neither Health + Hospitals website nor of the Department of Health website have a tab for long haulers. And like, it's very confusing. Most doctors don't even know how to treat it. I've seen more doctors in the past two months than I have previous 15 years. 

Lehrer: And so, is your question, is the City going to provide certain health resources for long haulers? 

Question: Yeah, I think – well, I think they need, even if it's just information, a portal where people can get information because there's so much confusion and we have such medical expertise, I think since we got hit so hard so early, we have 75,000 people in this city who have this without a lot of guidance of where to go or how to even interpret what this is. 

Lehrer: Jeff, Jeff, I'm going to leave it there and get a response from the Mayor. Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: It's a really important point. Jeff, thank you very much for raising it. Please, first of all, will you please, Jeff, give your information to WNYC because I'd like our medical folks to follow up with you and make sure we can connect you to the efforts we have. We started a new initiative called COVID Centers of Excellence through Health + Hospitals, our public health system, exactly to focus on folks with lasting impact from COVID, to get them concentrated support from different specialists. We're really concerned about this. So, I think you're right though, we got to do a better job and I'll make sure we focus on it in the next few weeks in our public work, telling folks who are still experiencing impact, where they can turn for help, getting them information. I think your point about a portal is real smart. But definitely, we do have services available through Health + Hospitals and we'd like to connect you to them. 

Lehrer: All right, hang on Jeff. We'll take your contact information. Hopefully, the Mayor will help. That's so terrible, a year of having COVID, said he got it on March 21st. So, long haulers, we hear you. Let me ask you a question about high schools reopening the week before spring break. Many people fear that spring break itself will include a lot of travel and touch off new outbreaks right afterwards. So, why not wait until two weeks after spring break when that would have played out rather than risk opening the high schools and having many of them shut right down again? 

Mayor: Well, first of all, the reason to move quickly is that our high school students need – deeply need to be reconnected to teachers and mental health professionals and get the support that is available only in the school building and they're clamoring for it. I mean, parents want their kids back in school. Kids desperately want to be back with their friends, but also to get the help that they get in the school building. And there's a lot of caring, you know, professionals in the school building. You cannot replicate that online. So, it's really important even just to get kids back for a few days, that we would in that week, matters. For some kids, it's been a long, long time. But vis-a-vis spring break, look, I think it's still a matter where our schools are literally the safest places in New York City. I look at the test results every day from our schools. We're testing literally every school every week. A stunning consistency, Brian, very, very low incidents of COVID in our schools. And I'm convinced with all the precautions taken that even after a spring break, you're still going to see these [inaudible] and we saw it by the way after the holidays, we've seen it after every break. The same thing, the numbers in schools are extraordinarily consistent. 

Lehrer: Also, I heard a stat that something like 80 percent of high school families have chosen all remote, anyway, up until now. I don't know if that's the exact number, but will you open more opt-in or one more opt-in period for the home stretch of the school year? 

Mayor: Well, there's definitely still a lot of school year left. There's all the rest of March, all of April, all of May, all of June. Right now, what we want to do is get high school back, maximize the number of kids who are in five-day-a-week classes. And that's what most kids will be seeing. And then see if it's time for an opt-in based on what's happening with COVID. If, you know, there's a bad scenario, which we worry about if the variants have too much of a negative impact, but there's a good scenario where the vaccination levels continue to rise constantly as we get more supply. 2.6 million vaccinations, again, given already in New York City. That's going to jump up as we get supply. If things got a lot safer, that's when I want to do an opt-in for this year, 

Lehrer: Megan, in Midtown you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Megan. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I'm going to try to make this quick. I just got my first job in a restaurant since last March and I felt very unsafe because I was breaking every rule that I was told to follow, to keep myself safe from COVID. So, I went home, I immediately started looking for appointments and the only appointment in all five boroughs and in parts of upper New York were only at commercial pharmacies. Commercial pharmacies aren't allowed to give restaurant workers the vaccine, and I just don't understand why there's this push to get more and more indoor dining, more and more unmasked people sitting in one room for hours at a time, every single day, open. And yet there's not an equal push to get restaurant workers vaccinated. And I've been looking for a week now and there's still no appointments available for me, even though I've been coming in contact with strangers, every single shift without masks on. 

Mayor: I appreciate that question a lot, Meghan, and I'm sorry that you're having that experience. Look, we're trying to change that by getting control back to this city for these kinds of decisions. These decisions have been made in Albany. I think a lot of them have been made inconsistently like, the very fact that you can only go some places for vaccine and not others makes no sense. I want everyone who is eligible to be able to get their vaccination, any place that is providing vaccine. I'm still fighting with the State over that. The State made the decision to reopen dining the way they did. Our job is to try and make it safe with inspections and other actions. But I'm really concerned, especially with the variants out there. So, please, give your information to WNYC. We will certainly, you know, help to find the right locations for you. 
And we – you know, we've got protect restaurant workers. We depend on this community. It's a big part of New York City and we’ve got do it safely. And I'd say to all the restaurant owners and managers out there – you know, if you see unsafe practices, you've got to do something about it. You know, we have clear guidance for all the folks going to eat at restaurants, keep your mask on the [inaudible] amount of time when you're not dining, put your mask on if you get up to go to the restroom or anything else. You know, we need people to follow this guidance to protect everyone, including the folks who do the work, and that's something we'll be doing inspections on and enforcement on. 

Lehrer: And I know you haven't been happy in general with some of the State-dictated pace of reopening. I saw you didn't like Governor Cuomo declaring that out-of-state travelers to New York won't have to quarantine upon arrival anymore, starting in April. So, let me ask you a bigger-picture question about that. You've been talking a lot to me in recent weeks and elsewhere about local control. So, do you think with Cuomo being politically weak right now, there's an opening to get substantially more local control through the Legislature? And I don't mean just on COVID – you and past mayors, I don't have to tell you, are frustrated all the time that the City can't make its own rent control policies, its own standardized testing policies, its own progressive taxation policies like you'd like to do. Even our own traffic laws, like how many speed cameras near schools, need State approval. So, is this an opportunity for pushing more control by the City over its own quality of life? 

Mayor: Really important question and big-picture question, Brian. I appreciate it. I do think it is. I think – you know, I've said it's a neo-colonial reality that one of the greatest cities in the world still can't make such fundamental decisions on their own. You know, we are not given that right. It makes no sense. We're 43 percent of the entire state's population right here in the five boroughs. If we want stronger rent laws, if we want to tax the wealthy at a higher level, we deserve the right to do that. And, certainly, if we want to protect our people – and we have a great Department of Health, great Health + Hospitals corporation – they say, hey, we need to do some of these things differently and the State stands in our way of protecting our own people. So, I do think it's a time for re-examination. My hope is the Legislature is willing to make some of those changes, but this is also something that we need to follow through on in the months and years ahead. If New York City is going to be able to reach our full potential, we cannot – you know, it makes no sense that every little thing needs approval in Albany. That's not the way forward. 

Lehrer: Arnold, in Astoria, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Arnold. 

Question: Hello. Brian Lehrer, I love you. Mayor de Blasio, I love you, just not as much as Brian Lehrer. I work in the Broadway community – 
[Laughter] 

Question: It's a high bar – so, you know. And I work in the Broadway community, I'm a casting director, and so many of us on social media talk so much about how all that's going on with vaccine distributions and the difficulties and some of the chaos – I took my 94-year-old mother to be vaccinated and it was a little bit chaotic there. How – if you've got a few Broadway stage managers or Broadway casting directors or people whose expertise is controlling crowds, making appointments, moving people in and out – you see a Broadway show cast, we've been through thousands of people to select those people, very organized, very efficiently. And I just want to remind you, as we went to NYU at the same time together, and I remembered you – tall, curly hair, down at the [inaudible] ticket center – I want to remind you that that resource exists for you and for no one else in the world, and please tap into it in the weeks and months ahead where we're all at a work, we're all looking to contribute and to help the Broadway Relief Project happened. It was extraordinary. There's a documentary about that coming out tomorrow. And we're here for you. 

Mayor: Thank you. I'll be quick, Arnold. First of all, few are as loved as Brian Lehrer. So, I just take no offense if I don't reach his level. But to my fellow NYU alumni – 

Lehrer: I’ll put that on my resume. 

Mayor: Yes, please do. Arnold, please give your information to WNYC, I'd love to talk to you, because I appreciate what you're saying and I also love to connect with people from our youth at NYU. But, look, I think it's a great point. I think there's a lot of people with expertise who we should be bringing in more. We're getting there on vaccination, but, clearly, we can do some things better, so I would welcome the help. And, you're right, like, who knows more about filling a room and, you know, and then un-filling a room than the folks on Broadway. And I thought you were going to ask about, you know, Broadway coming back, Off-Broadway coming back. I'm increasingly optimistic that we're going to see, you know, a clear plan where we talking with folks in the Broadway community about that so people can get their jobs back, because I really think things are trending in the right direction. But listen, please give your information to WNYC and I look forward to talking to you about how we can bring the community more into this work. 

Lehrer: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. As always, talk to you next week. 

Mayor: Take care, Brian.

2021-03-15 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. I hope you got to watch the memorial last night, last night marked a year since we lost the first New Yorker to COVID and it was an extraordinarily moving memorial. I want to thank everyone who was a part of it because it really spoke to the love we have, the love we have for those we've lost, what they meant to us, what they still mean to us, and the strength of our families, but the fact that our families need our love and support too. There was a chance to really focus on them, focus on those who are carrying on. And it was also a beautiful tribute to this city, to the goodness of the people of this city, the compassion, the way people were there for each other throughout the COVID crisis last year. So, thank you. Thank you to everyone who was a part of it. Thank you to the family members who sent photos of your loved ones in that were projected onto the Brooklyn Bridge. It was absolutely extraordinary. I've seen many great things in this city, but this was a particularly moving moment to see one of our great iconic places in this city filled with the faces of beloved New Yorkers. It was very, very powerful, and we think about those we've lost, and we carry on. We think about those we've lost, and we're inspired by them. We have a lot of pain. I talked about that last night, we have a lot of pain, but we also have a lot of joy because we knew them and what they gave us matters so much. 

But let me now talk about strength and resiliency and the stories of people who somehow survived. And this case, I'm going to talk about our efforts to vaccinate people, but it connects to one of the most horrifying moments in the history of humanity, the Holocaust. Yesterday, I was in Brooklyn, in Borough Park, and I saw an incredible effort to vaccinate Holocaust survivors and extraordinary community effort to reach people in need, to help them to reach folks who had been through so much and now needed help at this moment in their lives and the person you see on your screen, Cilia Jankowicz. I have to tell you, I was just immediately moved, deeply moved, but also mesmerized by her story. This wonderful, beautiful woman filled with joy for the fact that she is alive, filled with appreciation for all the people who help her and take care of her, filled with faith, and there was a sparkle in her eyes, but let me tell you about Cilia. She is 97 years old and we had a wonderful conversation, and she was present and focused on every detail of what was happening around her at the age of 97. But she started talking about her life and she talked about being confined in Auschwitz. She talked about literally encountering Dr. Josef Mengele, one of the most horrifying figures of one of the worst moments in human history, and knowing every moment of every day, she might not come out alive, but thank God she did. And she talked about the joy she felt when she was free, she talked about her determination to carry on. 

And imagine if after everything she had been through, it was COVID that – after all of her history, COVID had come to take her, but no, because of the great doctors and nurses and community members who said we're going to reach Holocaust survivors, Cilia got her vaccination yesterday. And this was an initiative of the City of New York to say we're going to reach all Holocaust survivors, including those who are homebound. And I got to tell you, I came away from this meeting, this moment with – just filled with hope and appreciation for a human strength and resilience and faith. Just remarkable. And also, a reminder that anyone who thinks history is behind us, it's not, we are still learning these painful lessons and every moment we have to overcome.  So, thank you to everyone in Borough Park and everyone around the city who is vaccinating Cilia and others who need this help so much. 

Now, speaking of vaccination, look, we continue to make progress. I'm always going to say the thing we need is supply, supply, supply, but we are making some progress for sure. The Biden administration every day is getting better at getting us supply and we appreciate that, they are so focused on increasing supply rapidly. Also, the stimulus is going to make a huge impact in every part of our lives, but a lot of that stimulus money is supporting vaccination efforts. So, to date, in New York City from the beginning of our effort, there've been 2,827,346 vaccinations. That is more than the total population of Chicago, extraordinary effort, and it's going to take off as soon as we get the supply we need. But one of the things we're going to focus on is the painstaking work, literally apartment by apartment, house by house, the work of reaching the homebound, those New Yorkers who cannot leave their home and need the vaccine, whether they are senior citizens or they are disabled, whatever the reason, we will reach them. Our goal is to reach everyone homebound who wants to be vaccinated by the end of April and anyone who is ready to be vaccinated, please, go to vax4nyc.nyc.gov, and there is special section there for anyone who needs the homebound service. Again, this is for seniors, for folks with disabilities, anyone who needs it, we want to be there for, and I want you to hear from someone who has done so much to help people with disabilities, who has been a champion, an advocate, but has really worked the leavers of government to do more and more to reach people, and he's helping us to put together this initiative so we can ensure that literally everyone who needs the service will get it. My pleasure to introduce our Commissioner for the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities, Victor Calise. 

Commissioner Victor Calise, Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Appreciate your leadership through this difficult time, and I really want to put a special love to the people of New York City and everyone that has lost someone. I know how difficult it is during these times to be cooped up in your house and then see people pass away. It's definitely difficult. And I also want to thank the City of New York, the workers of the City of New York. We have done so much. We've had so many initiatives to make sure that we're taking care of the people of New York City, and I don't want to forget about the workers, the sanitation workers, people in Media and Entertainment, the Department of Citywide Administration and Services, Department of Transportation, Parks, and Department of Health, because we've done so much, and we've been here from the beginning, and I want to thank the MTA workers for everything that they do to move everyone around so we can help everyone. 

And what have we been doing? The Mayor's Office of people with Disabilities has been here since the start of pandemic, and we've heavily been involved in the city's COVID-19 response, to ensure that equitable and inclusive response is for people with disabilities. We have connected our community partners with protective equipment. We have ensured that communication from the Mayor have been captioned and include American sign language. We have also had our digital accessibility coordinator check all of the Department of Health online content to ensure it is screen readable and accessible for people with disabilities. We've seen that this hasn’t happened in any other places in the country, and we wanted to make sure that it happens here. And most importantly, we have kept in constant contact with the community to understand the issues that we may be overlooking. This work has continued with the city's extensive outreach plan for vaccine distribution. Our office has been working with the Vaccine Command Center to address issues that we have heard from the disability community surrounding accessibility and communication. There is more work to be done, but we have come a long way. Most recently, we have been excited and encouraged by the approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and subsequent outreach plan to vaccinate both seniors and people with disabilities in their home. I'm going to say that again, to vaccinate both seniors and people with disabilities in their home. We have been messaging this information out throughout our network of disability advocates and community-based organizations. We are in the process of reaching out to our own list of individuals with disabilities unable to leave their home and getting them connected to this program. As I said, we have more work to do, but with increased access to vaccines, things are becoming more promising by the day. 

On the first Friday of every month at 1:00 PM, my office has a virtual meeting with the disability community to share the latest information on the COVID-19 response. In addition, we open the floor to listen to community concerns and questions. I invite anyone from the disability community who is not part of these meetings already to join us. Registration is available on our website at nyc.gov/disability-coronavirus. Our next virtual meeting is Friday, April 2nd, at 1:00 PM. Once again, registration is available on our website at nyc.gov/disability-coronavirus. You can also call us at 212-788-2830. If you are deaf and prefer to communicate directly in American sign language, call our ASL direct video phone at 646-396-5830. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you, Commissioner. Thank you for the great work you and your team have done throughout this crisis, helping so many New Yorkers. And, everyone, help keeps coming in, and this is what we are so moved by, things getting better. A lot of challenges ahead, but things are getting better. And one of the examples of help arriving was the fact that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is here. This is a game-changer. It's a vaccine that's a lot easier for us to use and it only takes one dose. And I'm looking forward to getting it myself very soon, but first I want you to hear from someone who just got vaccinated himself. And he got his shot on Friday and I think he can give you a little bit of an expert opinion on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, our Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. And yes, last Friday, it was my turn to roll up my sleeve and get vaccinated against COVID-19. As the City's doctor, this moment was especially meaningful for me. I thought about my neighbors, my fellow health care workers, and all of the New Yorkers whom we have lost to this devastating illness over the past year. I also felt hope. Even though I'm grateful for the protection that vaccination offers me, like so many others who have already been vaccinated, I was thinking about what it means for my loved ones as well, like my young daughter who hasn't seen her grandparents in over a year. And with every vaccination, as a city, we advance a little further and the virus is forced to give up more ground. The vaccine I received was the one dose J & J vaccine. I had some mild arm pain, fatigue, and a headache about 24 hours after getting the shot, but they had all resolved within about 48 hours. 

Now, each member of the City's health leadership on this conference has received a different brand of vaccine. Dr. Katz received Pfizer, Dr. Varma received Moderna, and I got the J & J shot – this is a personal illustration of what each of us has said publicly, all of the authorized vaccines are safe, effective, and lifesaving. All of them offer strong protection from severe illness. So, the best vaccine is the one that you can get now. 

Last week, we saw eligibility expand to New Yorkers 60 and older. And on Wednesday, public-facing government employees, not-for-profit workers and building service workers will become eligible. To them, I say, the sooner you get vaccinated, the sooner you are protected from COVID-19 and protecting others from infection. This also goes for New Yorkers who had COVID-19, like I did. Get vaccinated once you've recovered. This is because we don't know precisely how long natural immunity lasts and vaccination almost certainly offers additional protection. 

Finally, for those New Yorkers who have already been vaccinated, I have some doctor's orders for you as well. Please share your story about why you got vaccinated with your family members, your neighbors, and those in your temple, church, or synagogue. I'm counting on you to create a snowball effect for vaccination, even as we head into the warmer months of spring and summer. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Commissioner. Everyone, everything we're doing is to protect New Yorkers and also to bring our city back strong, to create a recovery. And this has to be a recovery for all of us, this has to be a time where we address a lot of the mistakes of the past and we move forward together. And a recovery for all of us means not just bringing back jobs or getting people vaccinated. A recovery for all of us means creating safe communities, creating communities where everyone feels supported, everyone feels respected. Now, this takes us to such an important topic, the work of improving safety at the grassroots with the people, by community members. Policing matters, but the work of community members matters crucially and it needs to be elevated and uplifted. It needs to be more a part of the solution. I had a long talk with our Public Advocate Jumaane Williams a week or two ago, and we talked about different ways of re-imagining policing, going forward. And I appreciated the different ideas, the different concepts he brought to the table as he thought about the reforms we need. And one of the things he talked to me about was the Advance Peace Model, a really powerful idea of reaching young people in a different way, in a more sustainable way, and helping to move young people away from any involvement with gun violence and helping them on a better path. But it takes a deeper commitment to do that. So, today, I'm announcing that we're going to begin acting on this idea presented by the Public Advocate. We're going to implement a pilot program using the Advance Peace Model. And I'm very, very hopeful this will be something that has a profound impact, and we can prove its impact here and then expand it. I want you to hear from the Public Advocate about why this is so important and how this is going to work. And I welcome Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much. I really appreciate what you said, Public Advocate. The – I agree with you, the way out of a crisis is through investment, not austerity. That's an absolute governing principle for me as well and I thank you for advancing this point, because the Advance Peace Model – I think you're absolutely right, this has tremendous potential in this city, and we have to start it, and we have to start it aggressively. We'll be in the five precincts. And if it does follow the pattern, as the Public Advocate said, of the Crisis Management System and Cure Violence, you'll see this expand rapidly and have a huge impact. So, I really want to give the Public Advocate credit for bringing this to the fore and working with his team and so many other stakeholders to get this model ready for New York City. And now, we will implement it. 

Now, to hear more about why this matters someone I really admire who's done extraordinary work in the community. I want to give him and all of his colleagues credit for just extraordinary improvements and changes that have happened in the Queensbridge community and other places where he's worked, perfecting the model of Cure Violence and showing that community-based solutions can make a huge impact. So, he is in fact one of the co-founders of the New York City Crisis Management System, and also Executive Director of the community – of Community Capacity Development. My pleasure introduced K. Bane. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much. And again, K. Bane and I have worked closely together, and he's been one of the people has shown me the power of all these models, and I appreciate that deeply. We are seeing community-based solutions like we've never seen before in this city, but we have to invest in them. And so, this investment in the Advance Peace Model, I think, is going to be a big difference-maker and it's a beginning of something I predict will become much bigger and will help save a lot of lives in this city. 

All right, everyone let's conclude with our indicators. And today's indicators are number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Now, today we have some interesting numbers – again, every day is subject to some variations that may be indicative or may not, but it's notable. We have for the first time in a long time, a number well below our threshold, 154 patients. Confirmed positivity level of 60.59 percent. Hospitalization rate 3.68 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today's report, 3,123 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19Today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 6.16 percent. I'm going to do a few words in Spanish, going back to the earlier topic of vaccinations for homebound New Yorkers.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, we'll turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Hi, we'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Health Commissioner Chokshi, MOPD Commissioner Calise, DFTA Commissioner Lorraine Cortιs-Vαzquez, FDNY Commissioner Dan Nigro, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma, and First Lady McCray. With that we'll go to Marcia from WCBS.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing on this bright Monday morning?

Mayor: I like your positive sunny optimism, Marcia. I'm doing well. How about you?

Question: Okay. You know, the sun. It's nice. It's a great day. So, my question to you is this, when was the last time you spoke to Governor Cuomo? I know that there's been a lot of important issues from vaccinations to indoor dining, all kinds of things that would have to do with the city's recovery. And I wonder when the last time you spoke to him was? And what you talked about?

Mayor: Weeks ago. I know we were talking about COVID, specifically some element of the vaccination effort. And look, as I've said, our teams – no matter what's going on in Albany, our teams keep talking and working together the best possible. And our health care teams as well with the Albany health care team. And we're all going to keep moving forward. But that said what's happening in Albany is making it harder to get things done. And that's why I think change is needed there. Go ahead, Marcia.

Question: Well, I guess the big concern now is that the budget is two weeks away. And are you at all worried about the role the Governor will be able to play in terms of making you know, negotiating with the Legislature?

Mayor: I think the Legislature is going to be the lead in this process. I think the Governor is in crisis and his crisis has become a distraction to the whole state. But thank God, the Legislature is strong and moving forward. And I have a lot of faith in Speaker Heastie and Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins to get the job done.

Moderator: Next is Juan Manuel from NY1.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Juan Manuel. How are you doing today?

Question: I’m very good. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, now that President Biden, when asked about whether Governor Cuomo should resign, has said we should wait for the investigation, giving the Governor some breathing room. And now that it's been reported that the person in charge of the vaccination effort in the State is calling county officials, gauging support for Governor Cuomo do you think that what you've said about the Governor in the last few days could end up harming New York City and its vaccination efforts? Do you fear any sort of retaliation?

Mayor: Juan Manuel, what we've heard about the Governor and his team trying to link vaccine supply to political support, that is the definition of corruption. It is disgusting. It is dangerous. There are lives on the line and it cannot be tolerated. There needs to be now a full investigation of that on top of the investigation of the nursing home scandal, the investigation of the sexual harassment and molestation. There needs to be investigation of what happened with the Tappan Zee Bridge, but now on top of it, there needs to be an investigation of why a senior official in the Governor's Office clearly tried to link vaccine supply to political support. And I'll tell you something, he better not call me because I'll tell him what he can do with that. No, it's unacceptable and we are not going to stand for it. And if we see any effort to reduce the vaccine supply to New York City as political retribution, we will bring it right out in the open. Go ahead, Juan Manuel.

Question: Thank you Mr. Mayor. And looking at the indicators today, it looks pretty good for the City. A positivity rate right now, 3.16 percent. Is it now that after being so worried about this so-called New York City variant for the last couple of weeks, is it maybe that that New York City variant is not as dangerous as initially thought?

Mayor: Well, I'd say this Juan Manuel. First of all, you know, we go by our Health Department indicators. So, our positivity rate is a different one than what you noted, but clearly there's progress. And when you're getting close to three million vaccinations, of course that's going to have an impact and you're going to see a lot more in the weeks ahead. So, I am hopeful. As our health care team has said, there's still a lot we need to learn about the variants. But so far everything we've seen suggests that the vaccinations are the best way to stop the impact of the variants. And our goal is just to get everyone vaccinated as quickly as possible. I wouldn't get overconfident Juan Manuel. I wouldn't say we know everything we need to know. We're going to remain vigilant. But we know what the game plan is. Get everyone vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Moderator: Next is Jacob from The Forward.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: How are you doing Jacob?

Question: I'm doing great. You visited yesterday a vaccination site that serves Holocaust survivors. Would you mind to share your experience speaking to the people and seeing the operation?

Mayor: Thank you, Jacob. Incredibly moving. First of all, I talked a lot of the doctors, nurses, the staff running this incredible center and their commitment to all their patients and particularly to the Holocaust survivors was beautiful, just beautiful. Just incredible sense of, they understood exactly how important it was to reach people and particularly to be part of healing. Because what Holocaust survivors went through, one of the worst episodes in human history and their survival is one of the signs of hope for humanity. And every time I've talked to a Holocaust survivor, I come away sobered and saddened. But also somehow inspired because every single one I've talked to has a story of faith and perseverance. And they're still here. And the people who oppress them are gone and history has renounced them. So, it was very moving, particularly with Cilia Jankowicz. I mean, there's just light in her eyes, 97 years old, lived through Auschwitz, confronted Dr. Mengele. I mean, I couldn't believe what I was hearing, except I knew it was true. And again, I felt like that history was way too close to us. And we need to remember that history, whether it means recognizing the danger of anti-Semitism that lurks in this nation and around the world. Or whether it means recognizing the danger of any effort to take away democracy, which we all know is alive and well. I put everything in perspective, but thank God she's alive and thank God she's vaccinated. And now she'll be safe. Go ahead, Jacob.

Question: So, we are marking now the anniversary to the outbreak. You, on television said that Governor Cuomo was a little late to issue certain guidelines on lockdown. Looking back, I know we are probably chewing the same gum, but looking back do you have some reflections on how you responded earlier to the outbreak, especially responding to the outbreak in the Brooklyn Orthodox community?

Mayor: Jacob, look, I'll just say there's so much to think about particularly the people we lost. So much that could have been different had we had the testing we needed, had we had a federal government providing leadership. But I'm very pained by that moment where, you know, I saw the evidence. And I heard from people, including people from outside New York City and outside the government, you know, really pointed out the power of shelter-in-place. And when I called for it, the Governor would not even listen. He wouldn't even consider it. I mean, he literally called it imprisoning New Yorkers. It was a horrible moment. And an example of the arbitrariness of this Governor that has had a horrible consequence for everyday New Yorkers. But then later, as you said, we had the real challenges and in Brooklyn and Queens. I look back on that. And I really appreciate that even though there were a lot of tough conversations and a lot that people had to do to find common ground, we did find common ground. Community leaders in Brooklyn, Queens really stepped forward, made sure people were getting tested, really emphasized mask wearing. And it made a huge impact. And it's an example of in the end, the way to attack COVID and to address some of the other problems is with the community, is listening and engaging the community. And I think that was a good moment ultimately.

Moderator: We have time for two more. First, we'll go to Caroline from Gothamist. 

Question: Hi, thank you. Mr. Mayor, first of all, I am interested in a study that came out last week that found that it is safe to have students distancing three feet in schools rather than six feet. And I'm wondering if this is something the city is taking into consideration, and if this could allow all students to return to school five days a week. 

Mayor: Yeah, I'm going to start, and I'll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi because we have all been discussing this idea for quite a while, and this new study is important. There's no definitive answer yet from everything I've heard, but what it does tell us is it's something we need to start thinking about especially because we are making real progress against this disease. The number of vaccinations is just moving constantly upward. We're talking about, you know, a typical day, we're getting 50,000, 60,000 or more people vaccinated. That's having an impact. We're watching the variants closely, but I got to tell you, the overall trajectory looks very good right now. So, people have asked me, would we consider an opt-in? We are certainly going to consider one, but we need to see the health care situation really get stronger to get to that point. But obviously then that will beg the question of distancing as well. So, we're examining this closely right now. Let me just get a quick comment from Dr. Varma then Dr. Chokshi. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much for the question. Yes. So, first as it regards to this specific study it's absolutely additional useful information. I do think there are some important limitations because it was, you know, comparing large areas which may or may not have had identical measures in place, but it does point to what we were increasing in the learning, which is that the school settings, in which careful measures are applied, it can be conducted, it can have safe in-person learning. And we also know that children, particularly young children, are less likely to be the source of outbreaks than older adults. So, we're eagerly awaiting a further analysis of this. We've been in regular communication, for example, with CDC, which is doing a number of studies particularly in laboratory settings to try to define this. And once the evidence becomes stronger, we do hope to look at ways that we can make in-person learning more available and more like the way it has been in the past. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. I agree with Dr. Varma’s assessment of this study and we'll just add that what has characterized our approach to opening schools in the COVID-19 era from the beginning has been a commitment to rigorous health and safety standards. And the Mayor has charged us to continue doing that. And so, we interpret any new evidence in that context, one additional factor that will make a difference in the coming weeks and months is vaccination. Particularly because we know that it will curb spread further within, you know, adults who are in the school setting. So, we'll take all of those factors into consideration. But always with the focus on the health and safety of students, which importantly also has to take into account the health benefits of in-person schooling. So, those are the things that we'll be looking at to evaluate the evidence in the coming weeks. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Caroline. 

Question: Thank you. Yeah, because I've heard a lot of, you know, frustration. I think we've heard a lot of frustration from people about schools, you know, opening and closing. And I think there's some hope maybe resulting from that study. But I have another question about the fact that so many more New Yorkers will become eligible for the vaccine this week. I heard, you know, the figure is 80 percent of New Yorkers statewide will be eligible after this new phase. So, I'm wondering, does the City have the vaccine supply and staff in place and other things it needs to meet that demand? 

Mayor: Yeah, let me, first of all, say, okay, before this most recent one, it was already over five million New York City residents who were eligible, 76 percent of our adult population. I have to get the latest count with these additional categories. But clearly, we can say now, you know, a vast majority of New York City adults are now eligible. And I agree with President Biden entirely, May 1st, everyone becomes eligible. I think that's a great plan. Do we have the vaccine centers? Yes. Do we have the space and even more space available as needed? Yes. Do we have the staffing? Yes. And we're adding 2,000 more members of our Vaccine for all Corps. What are we missing? There's one thing and one thing only, supply. Right this minute this week we will be, give or take, 200,000 doses below the supply level that we could provide to the people of this city. If we had 200,000 more doses dropped on us this week, we could use them all. So, Caroline, we have the capacity, we've had the capacity now for many weeks. It is just about supply. And if that gets worked out both with greater supply coming from the manufacturers and the federal government and getting our fair share from the State, we can just really, really move forward intensely because we're ready. Go ahead. 

Moderator: For our last question. We'll go to Alexa from News 12. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you today? 

Mayor: I'm doing well. Alexa, how you been? 

Question: I'm good. Thank you. So, another question on vaccines for you. The 24-hour pilot program at the mass vaccination sites has stopped. Can you tell us if it was successful when it was running and if it just stopped because of supply? 

Mayor: Well, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but I'll say, look, we have a couple of different things we need to achieve simultaneously. We've got to get the vaccines out into all communities, particularly the communities hardest hit by COVID. We've got to fight disparity. We've got to have the most grassroots effort possible. So, the more local centers you can have, particularly in trusted neighborhood institutions, the better off you are. But the bottom line is the supply problem. If we had supply, we would be running, I think, a number of places 24/7 because there was clearly a lot of demand. So, I'd say it worked, but it only works if you have a huge amount of supply. So, to me, this goes back to the central problem. I also think the biggest sites, you know, the ones that the State put together, Javits Center and Aqueduct, the problem we found there was that they were – those sites were not reaching enough New York City residents and they were not helping us fight disparity. So, this is again why, where we have 24-hour sites that are in the right places, it really makes a difference. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And first I'll just start by clarifying that the City sites that are running 24/7 those will continue running on that 24/7 schedule. My understanding is that the Javits Center, which is run by the State, may be reducing its schedule to not be operating 24 hours a day. But what we have found is that as the Mayor was saying, it's so important for us to have a reach of our vaccination campaign, both in terms of space, getting into the neighborhoods and the communities through the trusted institutions where people get their health care, but also in terms of time. We know that particularly for essential workers, having hours early in the morning, late in the day, and overnight those are critically important as well to ensure that people are able to access vaccination in a way that is convenient for them. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Alexa. 

Question: We're seeing the Javits Center is going to take away some of its overnights, but what about Yankee Stadium? Is it also going to have less appointments? 

Mayor: What about – say again where. 

Question: Yankee Stadium, because that's like in the Bronx, which was a hard-hit community because of COVID. 

Mayor: Yeah, again, what the State is doing is its own thing. And then again, you won't be surprised if I can't comment for the State of New York, they make their own decisions. I often don't agree. But the Bronx operation was put together by the City and State working with the extraordinary organization, SOMOS, that has been doing great work. And that's a place I think absolutely a 24-hour approach works in, exactly for what you said. The Bronx is a place hit so hard by COVID, we need to reach people nonstop, lots of health care workers, lots of folks who work the night shift, and one thing other, who would benefit from a 24/7approach. So, Dr. Chokshi, do you want to speak to anything latest, information about Yankee Stadium? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I don't have any more updated information than that. We'll just say again, when we have the supply, we are committed to expanding days of the week, hours of the day, whatever it takes to get shots into arms as quickly as possible. 

Mayor: I want Dr. Chokshi to repeat one important thing. What is the best vaccine, Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: The best vaccine is the one that you can get now. 

Commissioner Calise: Mr. Mayor, can I say something about – 

Mayor: Of course, Commissioner Calise. 

Commissioner Calise: So, I just want to say on the vaccine sites, our office has been doing a tremendous amount of work to ensure accessibility is there. We've heard some feedback from the community about seating for people that may need it. We've been working on that, have implemented that in areas as well. I've had the fortunate ability to get the vaccine, for my underlying condition, so I am happy and grateful that I'm able to do that. I encourage every person with a disability to get it because our lives depend on it. And the people at the vaccine sites and the accessibility is there. And like the Mayor said, we have the ability to do it. I am confident in the people of New York City to be able to get this throughout and – through, everybody for everybody, because we are the City of New York and we get things done. 

Mayor: Amen. And you are a true New Yorker, sir. I can hear it. Everybody for everybody. Let me tell you, that really summarizes beautifully everything we're talking about today, but also the very moving moments we had last night at the memorial, because so many of the stories we heard was about – were about people being there for each other, everybody for everybody. And that's how we'll come back. That's how we'll come back. There's a lot of places in this country and this world where people look to New York City, they have a lot of respect for New York City, they look up to New York City, but sometimes maybe they think New Yorkers are a little bit cold, but you know what, I always say New Yorkers have hearts of gold and New Yorkers are amongst the most compassionate people anywhere in the world, and people who really look out for each other. So, that's how we come back. That's who we are. Thank you, everybody.

2021-03-16 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Last week, we had our best week yet for vaccinations in New York City, 370,000 vaccinations given last week. The number keeps rising. It's not where we want to be, and need to be, and can be, which is over half-a-million a week, but it's progress. And what we need – I think you're going to guess what I'm about to say – supply, supply, supply. We could be doing so much more if we had more supply and we're working closely with the Biden administration to get that done, and we appreciate every, every step – they have been increasing the supply steadily. We need as much as we can get our hands on. But the good news is, the numbers really are mounting. Today, we will surpass 3 million vaccinations in New York City from the beginning of this effort. The official number as of this morning, 2,976,162 – great, great progress. We’ll pass 3 million today. We'll keep going. We are well on our way to our goal of 5 million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. That's got to happen, so long as we get the supply. 

All right, everyone, let's go over to the indicators for today. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report – and this is a good one – 177 patients. So, again, it is too early to draw final conclusions, but we see in the last few days, and you can see it there on your screen, we're down below the threshold for the first time in a long time. That is very good news. Let's keep working together to keep it that way. It's everyone's business to stick to the guidance that's been working so we can keep pushing this number down. The confirmed positivity level, 63.54 percent. The hospitalization rate 3.64 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 2,236 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19 – today's report, on a seven-day rolling average, 6.40 percent. 

Let me say a few words in Spanish. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let’s turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, by Commissioner Cecile Noel, of the Mayor's Office to End Domestic Violence and Gender-Based Discrimination, and by Ashe McGovern, the Executive Director of the New York City Unity Project, and, finally, by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today, it goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, Juliet. How are you doing? 

Question: I’m okay, thank you. The other day – or, you've been saying actually in the past couple of days that Governor Cuomo is holding up your effort to fight COVID, he's literally in the way. How is he holding up your effort and how is he in the way? 

Mayor: First of all, Juliet, the same things we've talked about, we keep calling for, I keep calling for – the freedom to vaccinate. Let me give you an example, I think we should be vaccinating everyone who serves on a jury, all court workers, everyone who serves in a prosecutor's office, so we can restart our criminal justice system and make the city safer. I've been calling for that. We can't get support from the State on that. We're not getting our fair share of vaccine, even though we're vaccinating so many people from the suburbs, even from Connecticut, New Jersey. We should be getting more vaccine from the State. In so many ways, we're just not getting a response. That's why we need local control so we can move this effort forward. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: So, then, do you think there is a way then to work with the federal government directly if you want vaccine? Why does it – why does it all have to get funneled through the State if you don't think that's working for you? 

Mayor: Juliet, great question. In fact, mayors all over the country are raising this exact concern to the Biden administration. I'll give you a great example, I spoke with Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms of Atlanta, a huge important city. She has a governor who will not cooperate with her, who doesn't tell her what's going on with the vaccine effort, and it's extremely frustrating when she knows she could be reaching so many more people. And also, like here, Atlanta is not getting their fair share of vaccine. We've appealed, many of us, as mayors, to the Biden administration to change the rules, to provide vaccine directly and without strings attached to major cities, which have, you know, large health departments, public hospital systems, etcetera, so that we can cut out the middle person and get to work vaccinating more people and do it more quickly, more effectively. So, that's exactly what I'd like to see. 

Moderator: The next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. I wanted to ask you and your health professionals here on the line. You know, the city's positivity rate has been at around, you know, six to seven. I know you've talked about this, but the idea of pushing that down might be a challenge. I know that's concerning for people, you know, as more students return to class, you see classes, school shuttering because of cases. I've heard from people who were just very concerned that we can't get below the six percent positivity rate. What can you say to reassure them about this rate? And what do you think can actually be done to get it down? You know, back last fall, we were all looking at three percent as a benchmark, and now we're double that. So, what do you think can be done? 

Mayor: I’ll start and I'll turn to some of my colleagues, Katie. I want to give you an example of the past 24 hours in our schools, almost 10,000 tests conducted across New York City public schools. 15 cases confirmed positive. So, 0.16 positivity rate. I mean, that's astoundingly low and it's just been very, very consistent. Schools are consistently safe because of the gold standard of health and safety measures we put together to keep them safe. But to the bigger point about the positivity level, I am hopeful that you'll start to see that number go down. We're almost at three million vaccinations. It's going to keep happening, we are going to keep building that vaccination effort. That's going to keep constraining the disease. We just have to stay ahead of these variants. But I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful you're going to see more progress and you're certainly seeing progress in terms of reduced hospitalizations and thank God, reduced deaths. Let me turn to Dr. Chokshi to just give a quick additional comment, then if either of our colleagues Dr. Varma or Dr. Katz wants to join in? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And yes, you're absolutely right in pointing out that the things that affect our percent positivity, but also our cases, hospitalizations and deaths, we have to think about you know, the tug of war that we're in with respect to those numbers. And there are so many things that we know work to drive them down. The core public health precautions that you've heard us talk about, getting tested, and of course, getting vaccinated as well. The new variants, particularly because they are more infectious, more transmissible, that is likely contributing to the fact that they're not coming down as quickly as we would like. But that's precisely why we have to recommit those things and drive them down further. I will point out when we look at hospitalizations and deaths, we're seeing more promising signals that those are starting to decline. But as you've heard me say before, now is not the time for us to let up on our efforts. We have to ensure that we drive everything down together in concert. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma or Dr. Katz, anything to add? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I would just add sir, that I think the vaccination efforts we've done have been thus far, primarily focused on older people and on people with underlying illnesses. And so that's why you're seeing those dramatic reductions in hospitalizations and deaths that Dr. Chokshi has talked about. In order to see more reduction in infections, we need to get, as you are helping us to, to vaccinate all of the people in New York, the younger adults who are very active. They're doing their jobs, they're taking care of their families, which then raise a lot of opportunities with the virus, especially if there are variants, can transmit. So, I think getting everybody vaccinated will make a huge difference. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma, anything to add? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Just briefly on the issue of schools, I think, you know, as we've said, many times, we've had to learn as we're doing throughout this epidemic, and that's been a challenge for us. It's been a challenge for the community. And I think to emphasize, you know, what the Mayor has said, one of the things that we have learned is that even when the positivity rate is high in the community, we can create enough layers of defense for our schools, just like we do in hospitals to make sure that the transmission rate is low. And we've proven that we could do that even through very difficult months in December. And we do anticipate, especially as vaccines rollout and positivity [inaudible] decline that we can continue to keep our schools safe through those measures. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Thanks. And I wanted to ask you, and Dr. Katz, you know, Mayor de Blasio, you've been very critical of Governor Cuomo's decisions around nursing homes last spring at the peak of COVID. But the City had placed a hospital at Coler on Roosevelt Island, which part of the building is a nursing home and the rest was a closed hospital. There were residents of the hospital who said that there was no quarantine between COVID patients and people who lived in the nursing home. And that, you know, people died in that nursing home. And it's actually still been difficult getting a firm number of who died at that nursing home. So, I'm curious if you think that that was the right call, knowing we needed hospital space last year, but putting it in the same building that housed a nursing home, since you've been so critical of Governor Cuomo? That's sort of, you know, something according to some people who live there, bad things happened to that nursing home because of the hospital that was placed there inside. So, if you just wanted to speak to that a little bit? 

Mayor: Yeah. I want to speak to that. Thank you for the question, Katie. First of all, again, this goes back to the whole reality from the moment the Governor put forward his emergency plan and took away local control, we were all dealing with decisions he made, whether they were right or wrong. And we all didn't have – localities, including New York City didn't have the freedom to do things the way we would have done them. But beyond that, I would say the experience of Coler was very, very different than what you saw at other nursing homes. And Dr. Katz can speak to it. We've talked about it. There was a tremendous effort made to protect people and because it is a City facility, we were able to do things differently than how the State regulated nursing homes handled things. Dr. Katz, you want to speak to that? 

President Katz: Yeah. I want to speak very clearly about how different our strategy was at Coler. Instead of returning patients who were sick to a nursing home, we used a completely separate building, right? Remember that Coler was built as a public hospital. It was a huge hospital. And the part that we use as a nursing care facility is a very small proportion of that total building. And rather than return sick patients to Coler, were they could infect other patients, we did construction on a completely separate part, with a separate entrance, separate staff, separate elevators. And we made sure that we were able, therefore to protect our patients. And the number of serious illnesses and deaths at Coler was much, much smaller and due to our having created a separate facility on that same site. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Emma from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. My first question is about summer school. There's been growing calls to open it up to families, to make up for the educational losses of the last year. Are you considering making it optional for all families? 

Mayor: This is something we're looking at right now. Emma. As you heard our Chancellor, Meisha Ross Porter talked about wanting to reach every child who needs help this summer. I think it's fair to say some families are going to very much want it and some families will not. We also have to think about our educators who have been working non-stop under very, very tough conditions, you know, going back to March, 2020. But I think the direction is right. We want to reach as many kids as needed. We're working on that plan right now. We'll have more to say on that in the next few weeks. And obviously the stimulus money now gives us some options for new ways to help kids and families. Go ahead, Emma. 

Question: This next question might sound a little bit self-interested but I do think it's an important policy question. So, D.C. announced yesterday that they're allowing journalists to become eligible for vaccines this month. Many of us are gathering news in-person. So, I'm curious, you know, the CDC recommended in Phase 1C, a bunch of different industries – housing construction, information technology, energy, law, media. So, do you think that those categories – that it should be opened up to those categories? I know it's a State decision. 

Mayor: Yeah. Clearly members of the media are out there in communities and are vulnerable. Of course, they should be vaccinated. And this is another example of why fight for the freedom to vaccinate. I don't understand how the State has made its decisions. I don't know why we still have so many categories of folks who have been left out. I've talked in recent days about Sanitation workers. I just talked about folks who work in our court system and jurors who serve on juries. I mean, there's no rhyme or reason here. Certainly, members of the media should be vaccinated. I think President Biden has it right, May 1st is a great time to open up to all adults. But in the meantime, as these pinpoint decisions are being made, I think they should keep up with reality more. And we should obviously include some of the groups of folks who we rely on the most and are most vulnerable. 

Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. There is a protest planned today outside City Hall led by yoga instructors, fitness instructors, others who teach indoor fitness classes, who are wondering at this phase of the game, why they haven't been able to resume that type of instruction? So, I'm wondering if you could respond to that and maybe your medical team could answer data-based on why that activity is still considered risky when all the folks in the class would be masked? 

Mayor: Yeah, thank you, Andrew. I care about the people who do that work and I appreciate the work and it's about keeping us all healthy and fit. But it also comes with particular vulnerabilities, particular problems. That's not true of many, many other things that people do. And I've had this conversation with the health team and they remain very consistent saying not yet. So, I'll let you hear from them in this case. Dr. Chokshi followed by Dr. Varma. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And yes, you know, our goal overall with any activity when we're trying to determine COVID-19 risk is particularly to look at those where people are indoors, perhaps unable to wear a mask consistently or have the mask, you know, get wet. And also in groups. You know, those are the settings where we have seen COVID-19 spread. And those are the factors that facilitate that spread. So, that's what goes into our decision-making about specific activities. 

Mayor: And Dr. Varma, you could give us, as you often do, perspective national and international on why there is a body of evidence that these kinds of settings are the areas to be most concerned about, especially while we're still facing the challenge of variants. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. What we've seen unfortunately, is if you look at outbreaks that have been reported around the world, there's one very notable one in South Korea. There's another one in Japan. And there are more recently, have been reports from the United States about outbreaks in group fitness centers. Like any type of setting, there are certainly ways to try to make things safer. But we also know that there are certain activities as Dr. Chokshi has mentioned, that make it really difficult to make it completely safe. And a lot of that has to do with people in close proximity breathing heavily and the likelihood that masks may fail because they get wet or because they come off of people. And so we're really factoring in the experience from around the world and around the country, as well as what we know about sort of the inherent risk of certain activities. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: Thank you, Connecticut, on April 5th is planning to change its vaccine eligibility to everyone 16 and older. Is it reasonable to expect that New York should match that if not on the exact date, but somewhere around then? Or based on our current supply, is that simply unreasonable to expect? 

Mayor: I think President Biden has it, right. I think May 1st is a better time to do that. Because given the relative lack of supply, Andrew staying focused on those who are most vulnerable, our seniors and folks with preexisting conditions and essential workers, I think it makes sense to stay that way for the remainder of March and April. And then on May 1st to open up to everyone. 

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey Michael, how you been? 

Question: All right. 

Mayor: That sounds really inspiring, Michael. 

Question: Yeah. You know, I'm trying, I'm trying. The question, and I apologize in advance if it takes a while for me to get to my point, and I don't normally bring in kind of my personal experience to ask questions, but I was at the 168th Street train station, subway station, this weekend, and I was walking off the platform. You know, there were probably a third to a fourth of the people on the platform without masks. I walked up to the second tier, there are three police officers talking on the second tier. I walked out of the turnstile. Someone asked me for some change. I said, no. They spit in my face. I walked back to the police and I told them what happened. And, you know, they looked and they didn't find the guy. And I said, you know, I'm going to get going. And, you know, I bring up not because ‘woe is me’ right. I bring it up because if this is something that's happening, kind of on, you know, a day just taking the train, I'd imagine it's happening for other people. So, what I'm leading up to is I wanted to ask you, if you could explain – you know, you'd said yesterday that everything the city's doing is to protect New Yorkers. What is the city doing to protect New Yorkers, you know, in the subway system as far as, you know, making sure people are wearing masks? I mean, this isn't the first time I've noticed people without masks, you know, when taking the train. And two, preventing situations where, you know, you have people getting spit at, walking out of the train station.

Mayor: Well, first of all, Michael, I'm sorry you experienced that because no one should. And I know it must be very unsettling and it can be dangerous, obviously, if someone does that to another person. I would say when it comes to masks, we've had a lot of success going out and just giving away free masks and having people out there. And we'll redouble that. Subway ridership is going up. We saw last Thursday, the highest point since the beginning of the pandemic for subway ridership. If that means we need to redouble our efforts on mask distribution, we'll do that. But I can say, in reports I've gotten and also my own experience, that I do think the vast majority of people in subways are wearing masks, but it's good to keep reinforcing it and keep giving out free masks. 

As to the individual who did that to you. That was horrible and that was wrong. And I'm sorry, the cops, in that case, weren't able to find them. But the fact that you went out there and there were police officers there is an indication of exactly what we are doing, to answer your concern. We're making sure there's a lot more presence. It's now over 500, closer to 600 more officers in the subway system. And we're going to keep making those adjustments, keep making whatever investment we need to, to make sure that we can keep people safe in the subways. So, that's my answer to you. I think that we've proven time again, this is what precision policing is all about. If you see a specific problem, apply the resources to it and change it. And we will do that again in the subways. Absolutely. 

Moderator: The next is Erin from Politico. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. On vaccines – with all the complaints you have about the eligibility from the Governor, you know, have you ever considered just kind of taking matters into your own hands on some of this local control stuff and just saying, you know what, we're going to vaccinate the people we think need to be vaccinated and, you know, come for us if you need to. 

Mayor: Look, Erin, we've talked about this before in press conferences. Because remember that point where I was fighting for the freedom to vaccinate for seniors, for police officers, firefighters, EMT, and paramedics, educators, it was getting ridiculous. It went on for days and days. And we certainly did consider the option of just going ahead and doing it. Look, we try to respect the different branches of government, the different levels of government. Sometimes it's really hard to do when you see ridiculous and arbitrary actions. And I've seen them from Governor Cuomo, and I saw them constantly from President Trump. So, we're trying to work within the structures we're given. I think now we have an opportunity for potential change because as I said, mayors around the country are demanding direct allocation with no strings attached with the freedom to vaccinate at the local level. And we'll work with the Biden administration on that. So, that to me would be the best way to solve this problem. 

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Kristin from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you today? 

Mayor: Good, Kristin, how you been? 

Question: I'm good. Thanks. So, I wanted to ask you a little bit more about the homebound vaccination efforts. You had tweeted out a link yesterday telling people who were homebound that they could make an appointment. However, it's still the same interest form that's already been up. So, are people able to make an appointment for a specific day and a specific time, or is the City still only using the interest form and just collecting names? And what's the timeline between somebody filling out that form and actually getting a day and a time for them to be vaccinated? 

Mayor: Thank you for the question, Kristin. Obviously, we need people to know when the help is coming to them, we're going to their home so it's a different reality. We need to have it organized and scheduled. In terms of how it works, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz to speak to the specifics. But the idea here is to have people sign up, get clear from the response when they will get the help, and to turn that around quickly, because our goal is to reach everyone homebound, who has not been reached already by other providers and who is willing to be vaccinated, we want to reach everyone by the end of April. So, it's very important to get quick turnaround time and make sure we follow through. Dr. Chokshi then Dr. Katz, anything you want to add about the mechanics of how this works. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. And thank you for this very important question about homebound seniors. The way that it works is that once a person or a family submits the information on the form that is taken in and we go through a process essentially reaching back out to that person or caregiver asking some additional questions about the person's status, you know, ensuring that they are homebound and then working through the process of scheduling. We do that based on both the capacity that we have to deliver these in-home vaccinations, which as the Mayor described yesterday is ramping up quickly as well as the supply of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Thus far, I do know that hundreds of those calls have been made and will continue in the coming days to reach out to everyone who has submitted their information through the form to get them lined up on the timeframe that the Mayor has set out. 

Mayor: Dr. Katz, you want to add? Dr. Katz? All right. We don't hear him. Okay, go ahead, Kristin. 

Question: Yeah. And also, just on the homebound front, you know, a lot of different City agencies have a different definition of what homebound means. In some instances, it's a person doesn't have the ability to leave the house at all. In other instances, homebound might mean they can't leave the house without difficulty or without certain transportation needs. So, I was hoping you could explain in this particular instance what exactly the City's definition of homebound is. 

Mayor: I will start, Kristin, as a layman and then Dr. Chokshi can give you a little more expert answer, but look, our first concern is for folks who literally cannot leave the house, have no other possible option. That's job one, is to reach them. There are folks who leave with some difficulty. In some cases, we're reaching them in naturally occurring retirement communities, right there in the lobbies of their buildings. That's one of the things we're working on now where we can get a lot more people vaccinated that way than going apartment by apartment. Some people, again, have some difficulty, but can get to a vaccination center. So, we're going to reach those who need it, but particularly focused on those who literally don't have any other choice. That's the first priority. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. You covered the high points. I'll just elaborate briefly to say that the people who are the focus of in-home vaccination for the early parts of our efforts are indeed people who are completely homebound meaning that they cannot leave the home even with a very significant amount of assistance and transportation. So, that is our initial focus and for others who may, you know, have considerable and taxing effort to be able to leave the home we are arranging other options, particularly transportation. We've already done thousands of rides bringing people from their homes to vaccination centers and working with all of the different providers, whether it's visiting doctors and nurses or home health aides, to ensure that people have the support that they need, if they are – you know, if they have limited mobility, but are able to walk around the corner to a pharmacy or a few more blocks to a vaccination site. So, our goal is to cover that full spectrum of needs for people who find it difficult to leave the home. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Gersh from Streetsblog. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: I am well, Gersh. Spring is almost here. We'll all be back on the softball fields. 

Question: I do have it on good authority that spring is indeed coming apparently by Sunday. But anyway, I want to talk to you about why spring is important, because as you know, you've announced last year that your Open Streets program would be permanent. You know, and since then the DOT has conducted multiple community workshops in some of the neighborhoods that would be most affected by this. And I don't know if you've watched any of those workshops, but a lot of them boil down to basically gripe sessions from car owners who are generally wealthier than their non-car owning neighbors. And the agency, the DOT has declared that 34th Avenue, for example, in Jackson Heights is your gold standard. Yet the agency has not presented a plan for ensuring what that permanent Open Streets is going to look like. So, that sort of suggests that mayoral leadership is needed. So, tell us what your vision is for a permanent Open Street. Is that like a car-free plaza? Is that like only a summertime thing? What do you want from your gold standard Open Street? 

Mayor: Well, I like your use of gold standard there, because I think, Gersh, we've all done something really extraordinary in the last year in this city. And I thank you. And I thank lots of advocates who saw the opportunity and we took some work to figure out how to do it right, but we really got to a good place with Open Streets. I think there'll be different approaches for different places. Some might be more temporary, some more permanent, some bigger, some smaller, but I think the idea is that Open Streets are going to be a big part of the future of New York City. In some cases, absolutely, we'll have a permanent pedestrian plaza. In other cases, it might be different times of the week. So, what I like is the idea of tailoring it to each neighborhood. I hear you loud and clear, and I respect those who own cars. I'm not surprised that there are complaints, but this is for the greater good. This is for the greater good. This is about creating communities that work for everyone and encourage people to be outside and benefit folks who can't afford a car. So, we're going to keep expanding, but it will really be done neighborhood by neighborhood, depending on the specific needs of each neighborhood. Go ahead, Gersh. 

Question: Okay. Interesting. And, you know, as a follow-up, Mr. Mayor, you're already saying that you like when reporters make you aware of circumstances that you might not be aware of. So, I got one for you. We’ve actually learned that there are multiple community groups, now these are not business improvement districts, these are just community groups, that are actually raising money on GoFundMe and other charity platforms to help raise money to operate their Open Street, which is kind of a bizarre circumstance because Open Streets are, by definition, public space, you know, carved out by you and your administration and Department of Transportation for the benefit of the communities like you just said a minute ago. So, it's weird to me because if a community is raising money to help set up its Open Street, that raises the possibility that communities with substantial means like the Upper West Side of Manhattan, for example, might be able to raise money to keep their Open Street going, whereas another community that might not have the means to do so, wouldn't be able to do that. So, that's kind of a weird thing. You ran as a mayor to fight the tale of two cities. So, where do you stand on what I just told you? 

Mayor: I think we have to recognize that until a week ago, we were dealing with a situation of tremendous financial scarcity and limits. And in that context community groups stepping forward and doing whatever they could to support the efforts made sense. I think now we have a chance to reevaluate because of the stimulus funding and see if there's some ways we can provide more support. I can't say yet exactly what that will be, because as you can imagine, Gersh, the moment we have these new resources we have immense need and demand that we have to address and all the previous deficits we're trying to make up. But I think it's a fair question. I really do. I want to make sure that Open Streets reach every kind of community and that the financial realities of community groups don't hold them back from being able to participate. So, we obviously have to look at solutions there, whether it's public funding or foundation funding or whatever it may be to ensure that Open Streets is something for everyone and for every kind of community. So, it's a fair concern, thank you for raising it. And we're going to follow up on that and get you an update. 

Thank you, everyone.

2021-03-17 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. And Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone. I want to talk about the celebration this morning, which was very powerful and filled with hope. This is a St. Patrick's Day like no other. Everyone who was this morning, very early, around 6:30 AM, holding a version of the traditional pray. This is a pray that goes back over 260 years. The St Patrick's Day Parade goes back before the founding of the republic. It's an amazing tradition. And it's a tradition that has been in so many ways stressed and challenged by the pandemic, and yet it has survived very, very modestly last year. And this year, a little bit bigger, a little bit better, and people could feel that sense keeping the tradition alive, keeping the history alive, but on the way to something much, much better, which is next year, where I think literally millions will be on Fifth Avenue to salute the marchers and to celebrate the day as we all come back together. But this was a very special moment, because it was about preserving that tradition and I think everyone felt that they were keepers of the tradition. And there was a sense that, you know, this is the gateway to spring, this is the gateway to renewal, that this parade today, small though it was, marked the beginning of something better and the world changing for the better for all of us. 

Now, there are so many amazing Irish-Americans in this city and so many who have contributed so much. I want to salute one today who I'd hoped would be here to receive his honor in person, but, unfortunately, for some medical reasons, could not. But he is a living legend – Malachy McCourt is someone who, if you know him, if you have heard him on the radio, if you have met him and heard his energy, his brilliance, his wit, you do not forget it. And he has an amazing story, born in Brooklyn, but raised in Ireland, came back here and did just about every job in the world, including longshoreman, dishwasher, actor, writer, and, yes, gold smuggler – that's one I want to know more about – but particularly became famous as a radio host and a storyteller and someone who captured so much of the Irish-American experience, but also believed in a society that included everyone, respected everyone – a voice for respect, for a multicultural society, for a society that really could be for everyone. That's what I think of when I think of his incredible presence and his voice in this city. So, Malachy is not able to be with us. He had a fall recently. He needed to watch this on television. So, I'm really happy you're out there with your wife of 56 years, Diana, and blessed by five children, nine grandchildren, and one great grandchild on the way. That's pretty good. And so, this proclamation, I was hoping to hand it to you, but I'm going to hold it up for you, Malachy. Today, I proclaim Wednesday, March 17th, 2021 in the City of New York as Malachy McCourt Day. Congratulations. 

So, let's talk about some other good news and go to what we talk about every single day, vaccinations. We finally have more freedom to vaccinate. And I'd like total freedom to vaccinate, I'd like the City of New York to have absolute local control so we can get the job done. But we're making progress, we're getting some greater freedom. A recent decision by the State of New York so that public-facing government workers are now eligible for the vaccine. This is important. We fought for this. We're finally getting it. And it's going to help us reach people who serve us and do so much for us. But again, we could do so much more if we had more freedom to vaccinate, and if we had more supply. Everything comes down to supply and we're going to keep fighting to get the supply we need and we deserve. In the meantime, we have passed the 3 million mark in terms of vaccinations from day-one. So, as of this moment, 3,019,434 vaccinations have been given in the City of New York. That number is growing intensely every day. That's really good news. 

Now, we have focused our vaccination efforts in so many ways to reach neighborhoods hardest hit by the coronavirus, to reach people who are most vulnerable – our seniors, folks with pre-existing conditions. One of our particular efforts has been to reach folks who went through some of the most horrifying events in history – Holocaust survivors. And I had the honor of being with some of them yesterday in Coney Island at a wonderful Passover food distribution organized by the Jewish Community Council of Coney Island, amazing organization. Rabbi Weiner, and everyone there, I appreciate the great work you do. And I had a conversation that just deeply moved me – 95-year-old woman, Sarah Teichman, born in Poland, her family and she ended up in the Bergen-Belsen camp. She told me about her experiences. She told me what she went through and she told me what life was like when she was freed and how she came to this country and found here in New York City everything she hoped and dreamed of. She got vaccinated through our special effort to reach Holocaust survivors. And the joy she was feeling was so powerful, knowing she was safe. And just the sense of history, I met another amazing woman, Frederica [inaudible] 82 years old, lived in the Warsaw ghetto in the years of Nazi occupation and was smuggled out of the ghetto as a young child in a potato sack and gotten to freedom. And when you meet these incredible people who went through so much and now who we’re working to help in so many ways, it's a reminder of the resiliency of the human spirit and the strength of all people, but particularly New Yorkers. And it's very life-affirming to know folks that went through so much are here with us alive, well, filled with life and hope – an amazing, amazing experience. 

All right, now, let's talk about what we do in this city today and the way we look to the future when it comes to protecting New Yorkers, when it comes to making sure people are safe from many, many challenges, and from the unexpected. This is why we have an emergency management system here in this city to get us ready for anything. Really extraordinary professionals who prepare for the unexpected, who are ready for anything that we get from mother nature or any other challenge that may exist. And our emergency management team has been led with extraordinary ability over the last few years by Commissioner Deanne Criswell, someone who did so much to help this city through the pandemic. And I'm really happy to say her extraordinary achievements were noted in Washington D.C. and President Biden has nominated her to be the next FEMA administrator for the entire country. And we're so proud of Deanne and know that once she is confirmed by the Senate, she'll take over that role immediately. And we know she'll be a great friend and ally to New York City in that new role. But we also understand that emergency management is something we work on every single day and we need to be ready for the moment when Commissioner Criswell becomes Federal Administrator Criswell. And so, today, I'm announcing the person who will take over this really important role and will step in as our next Emergency Management Commissioner, and he is someone who has served New York City for a long time in a lot of different ways and really has shown his love for this city and his commitment. John Scrivani, is someone who by every definition a true New Yorker – fourth generation Staten Islander, and has worked in so many parts of the City government to help people, including Emergency Management, including the NYPD, and been here and served during some of our toughest times in our history – 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy, and even came back to the City to help us as we struggled with the pandemic. He has been a leader of emergency management in the State of Virginia, so he has dealt with a host of challenges on a statewide level as well. He brings experience and wisdom and a great depth of knowledge of how to prepare. And this is something we're going to work on more and more, preparing for anything and everything. That's the kind of leader we need, a true New Yorker, who's going to help us into the future. My pleasure to introduce to you John Scrivani. 

Incoming Commissioner John Scrivani, Office of Emergency Management: Thank you, sir. Good morning, and happy St. Patrick's Day. Thank you, Mayor de Blasio and Deputy Mayor Anglin for the opportunity to come back to New York City, my hometown, and serve as the next Commissioner of Emergency Management. I'm looking forward to continuing the exceptional work that Commissioner Criswell has put in motion and, once again, serve the great people of New York City as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. I've devoted my career to serving my fellow citizens in good times and in times of crisis. I have wonderful memories of working parades, major sporting events here in New York City as a member of the NYPD and the Office of Emergency Management. But I've also had more than my share of heartbreak, as the Mayor mentioned, during Hurricane Sandy and 9/11. 

I've seen the worst that can happen, but I've always brought out the best in us – but it's always brought back the best in us. The strength and resilience of my fellow New Yorkers always gives me hope and this is no different. Last year, I came back to New York City to help this great city during the height of the pandemic. And, today, the Mayor is inviting me to return to finish the job. As the Mayor mentioned, my work in Virginia on hurricane preparedness, on natural disaster preparedness, implementing the know-your-zone, similar to what New York City did years ago, and working on mass evacuation will only help me bring that skill here back to the city from doing it at the statewide level. 

Public service has been a tradition in the Scrivani family with multiple generations, working for our City agencies over the last 100 years. My mother's family came to this city, originally from Sicily, and I am, as the Mayor mentioned, fourth-generation Staten Islander. I cherish this opportunity to, once again, return to my hometown with my wife, Michelle, and my children, Jack, Emilia, and Leo, who are here today with us. I'm also looking forward to rejoining the New York City Emergency Management team and, once again, working side by side with many of my former colleagues as we help our city recover from one of the worst years we've ever seen. 

New Yorkers have had to go through so much over the last year. They deserve to get their city back, and back swiftly, and safely as possible, and to be truly prepared for the future. I am thankful that Mayor de Blasio is entrusting me with this important role. I look forward to helping New York City continue to prepare, recover, and respond. When New York City needs me, I'll be there. Mayor de Blasio, thank you again for your confidence in me. And I'm ready to hit the ground running. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you, John. And welcome. I should say, welcome back. And to the Scrivani family, we're very happy for you and thank you for also being a part of this really wonderful moment. All right, everyone, let's do the indicators for today. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 234 patients. Confirmed positivity level, 46.99 percent. And hospitalization rate of 3.68 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on the seven-day average – today's report, 3,001 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report, seven-day rolling average, 6.44 percent. 

A few words in Spanish, and we're going to go back to the topic of the new vaccine eligibility and freedom to vaccinate. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's take questions from our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is our next OEM Commissioner, John Scrivani, Dr. Chokshi, Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma, and Dr. Mitchell Katz, CEO of Health + Hospitals. With that, we'll go to Steve from WCBS Radio. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Happy St. Patrick's Day to you. 

Mayor: Happy St. Patrick's Day, Steve. How are you doing today? 

Question: I’m all right. I appreciate it. First question relates to testing. I know we're kind of entering a new phase of the pandemic here, but both data-wise and anecdotally, I think we're seeing a decrease in the amount of people going out to get tested. Anecdotally, I can tell you, I was at a City MD last night in Park Slope and they said, so few people are going out to get tests now that their usual five-day turnaround is now down to around two days. So, I wanted to see if that presents any new challenges in, kind of, placing a benchmark on where we are in the pandemic, figuring out, you know, where the spread might be? Just, in general, what kind of an effect less testing has on us right now? 

Mayor: It's a great question, Steve. I appreciate it. At least there's a silver lining with the turnaround time, but no, you're raising a really good point that we need people to get tested. And it's understandable if there's a little more confidence that things are getting better, people might let down their guard. That's exactly what we have to guard against. Vigilance is what's gotten us this far and we have to keep with it. So, I'm going to let Dr Chokshi speak to this, but definitely we need people to keep getting tested. We'll encourage folks once a month, on a regular basis. And, obviously, if folks are symptomatic, so that we can make our whole test and trace operation work, we can protect people. Dr. Chokshi, why don’t you to speak to it? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thanks Mr. Mayor, and thank you so much for this important question. As the Mayor has said, testing remains a cornerstone of our approach to curbing the spread of COVID-19. That remains true even as we ramp up our vaccination campaign. And so, I want to hear – I want all New Yorkers to hear it from us that it remains important to get tested. And particularly if you're at higher risk to get tested frequently. We aren't seeing yet, a major down tick in the data with respect to the total number of tests happening. That's both PCR and antigen tests, although we are monitoring that closely. And our message remains the same, which is we do encourage testing because it can help us break the chains of transmission for COVID-19. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Steve. 

Question: Thanks for that. And on a related note, Friday's a big day for indoor dining, both in the five boroughs and region wide. New York City goes up to 50 percent, suburbs going up to 75 percent. Connecticut goes up to 100 percent. I know the city didn't really have much of a say in that, it came down from the State. Is that a move to 50 percent that you would have made if you had the choice? And relatedly, does it concern you at all to see 75 percent outside of the city, 100 percent in Connecticut given where we are right now? 

Mayor: Steve, look, I think there should be local control. I think these decisions should be made locally. I really think we have the best sense of what works for our own people on all these issues. On the freedom to vaccinate, and on what standards to hold to keep our people safe. But the State has made that decision. Now it's our job to implement it as safely as possible with inspections, with education for – excuse me, restaurant owners and managers, for customers. What's really important – Dr. Chokshi put out great guidance to restaurant goers, to make sure to follow the right approaches to keep everyone safe, including the people that do the work in the restaurants, who we really are concerned about. They're in contact with lots and lots of customers all day long. We want to keep the restaurant workers safe. So, you know, I want to focus on what we can do. And what we can do is implement this effectively, but also be very vigilant watching the impact of it, collecting the data, watching to see if there's any trends that come from it that we're concerned about. And if there are, we're certainly going to talk about that publicly. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next we'll go to James from PIX 11. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. 

Mayor: Hey James, how have you been? 

Question: I appreciate your asking. Not bad at all. Thank you. And Happy St. Patrick's Day from an African American Irishman. 

Mayor: There you go. You're covering all the bases today. 

Question: But I actually am of Irish descent, just for the record. Thanks. My first question look, the Governor is in the city today at an African American church, promoting vaccinations. Now that there is greater freedom, as you say, for vaccinations of people in the city, how do you feel about the Governor's support, especially with him making his appeals for more vaccinations made in African American settings? Might that be exploitative even? 

Mayor: Well, I'd say it more broadly. I think the question here is how we get to the truth. And I don't think photo ops obscure the truth. I think in the end there's going to be a number of investigations. And we need everyone who has information to come forward and we need to find out what really happened. And I think, unfortunately, we're going to find a lot of things that are very troubling. So, I don't think all the photo ops in the world can mask that reality. I think you raise a good point though, James. You know, if it is an effort to distract, you know, that's unfortunate, but I don't think anyone's going to fall for that.

Moderator: Next, we'll go to Juan Manuel from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Juan Manuel. How are you? 

Question: Very good. That was a really early parade this morning. I don't know if you have any details – I mean, now it's a different situation from last year. Do you have any thoughts, any plans on parade season in the City of New York this year? 

Mayor: Well, clearly, we're not there yet. This was obviously a very, very small version of the St Patrick's parade, which is one of the biggest parades in the country in a normal year. But this was about keeping the tradition alive. And I really respect that. The folks who had put so much of their heart and soul into the parade wanted to make sure there was an unbroken connection to 260 years plus of history, and that did occur today. But in terms of the full-scale parades we’re used to? Look, it's conceivable later on in the year and the fall maybe, maybe. I certainly think you'll see them back next year. But what I've said is first of all, we're going to do all our decisions based on the data and the science. Our health team is going to be a part of making every decision about whether we're able to handle bigger events. And we're certainly not there yet. And second, when we believe we're coming up to the point where parades can start to occur again on a larger scale, the first parade is going to be one to honor our health care heroes and our first responders. And that will go down the Canyon of Heroes and really be a moment for this city to thank the folks who saw us through this pandemic. Go ahead, Juan Manuel. 

Question: You keep talking, Mr. Mayor about talking to the federal government about giving you the freedom to vaccinate, more freedom from the State to do your own way of vaccinations. Have you had any clear signs from the federal government that the federal government is willing, or the President is willing to give you that and to give New York City that? And I think you're a front facing government worker. Are you getting your Johnson & Johnson shot anytime soon? 

Mayor: Yes. On this – the two very different questions, but yes, as I've said publicly before, I'm going to get vaccinated soon. And will be getting the Johnson & Johnson shot. And I look forward to that and I want people to know it is safe and I'm going to prove it with my own arm. But to the Biden administration, look mayors all over the country are, are engaged in a dialogue with the Biden administration right now on increasing local control, increasing direct allocation without strings attached, to localities around the city, particularly the bigger localities with large health care departments and public health systems. Because it's quite clear that we've seen everything from states interfering, to states not providing transparency and information to localities or just being ineffective. And we know cities know how to do this work. We're where the rubber hits the road. So, those conversations with the Biden administration have been happening with a lot of mayors around the country. I've been a part of those as well. And I see some progress. I don't, they haven't made a decision yet, but I am hopeful. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Nolan from the Post. 

Question: Good morning, everybody. 

Mayor: Nolan, can you hear us? You sound a little lower than normal. 

Question: Yes. 

Mayor: There you go. How’s it going? 

Question: Yes, I can hear you. Can you hear me? I'm all right. All right. Good. I'm glad this is working. Just to the top of the schools reopening here for a second, you put a lot of emphasis on getting kids back in the classroom. And I – you know, some colleagues both at the Post and at other papers in the city have had their kids return. And I'm sort of curious as to how in this – how in your mind this qualifies as reopening? So, one former colleague has a ninth grader whose kid is going back to school. Their student’s first day, ninth grader I think I said, is April 5th. They're only getting two days a week of in-person instruction and it's only in front of a screen and there will be no teacher in the classroom. How was that reopening and how are kids benefiting from it? 

Mayor: Well, Nolan, please share with our team that specific school information, because I want to look into that. Look, we said when announced the reopening of high schools, that most of our high schools are going to do either five day a week instruction for all their kids, or for most of their kids. And they're going to prioritize where – where that's not possible, prioritize five days for the kids that need it most. But increasingly we've seen this across elementary school, middle school, you'll see it with high school. We've been moving to a model where kids are in school a lot more days. And then what we want obviously is the maximum time with teachers instructing them in the traditional manner. There are some times particularly the high school level because of specialized topics and the reality of the pandemic, where a kid could be in school and be doing some work online, but we want the maximum work possible being done, of course, with a teacher instructing them as per usual. So, I think you're going to see more and more progress each week. And I am very hopeful that as the situation improves, it's going to give us more options of how to get more kids back into school. Go ahead, Nolan. 

Question: Right. But I guess I still don't really understand how putting kids back, you know, if the schedule holds my former colleague, Melissa Katz's kid will be in school for all of 20 days for the rest of the school year and with no in-person instruction. And so, I'm wondering again, how that really constitutes any sort of reopening? Beyond the sort of getting the doors back open? 

Mayor: Again, respectfully. I want to know the details from the DOE of that. The fact is the vast majority of kids are getting a lot of in-person instruction when they're in school, if not exclusively in-person instruction. That certainly is what we want and what we need. Kids being in the school building means that teachers and guidance counselors, principals, everyone is there connecting with them, making sure they have the help they need. That is extraordinarily valuable. And any number of days where kids are getting that help and support in a really, you know, warm, positive atmosphere, is really good for kids. So, I want to see the most kids getting the most days. But whatever number of days can be managed, depending on the reality school, all of it helps. And then in September, we intend to be full strength, all kids who are ready to be back in the classroom will be accommodated. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Oh, Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? Happy St. Patrick's Day. 

Mayor: Happy St. Patrick's Day. How are you doing? 

Question: Yes, I'm good. Thank you. So, you know, you've talked about wanting to get five million New Yorkers vaccinated by, you know, end of May, early June. So, to what end, what do you hope to trigger or change when you hit that milestone? 

Mayor: Well, I'll speak to this and I'd like to get our doctors into the mix here. I'll start with Dr. Varma and then if Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz want to add in. Look, we talked a lot about this, what would be a number that would really be transcendent for the city? What would really change things in terms of a number of vaccinations? And we all agreed that five million fully vaccinated New Yorkers out of 8.5 million would be a sea change from what we have been experiencing. Obviously right now the vaccine is for adults. So, if you're talking about five million vaccinated New Yorkers, you're talking about the vast majority of adults. And it's going to allow us to do more and start to move past some of the restrictions and bring back much more of the life of the city. So, that's why we thought that number was so important. And I'm very, very pleased to tell you we're on track for that number right now. But Dr. Varma, why don't you speak a little bit about what that would mean for the city, health wise? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great, thank you very much for the question. This is an enormously important question that I think people all over the country and all over the world are struggling with. You know, what is the point at which we feel that our vaccination coverage is high enough, that we can get to a point where, you know, people can go back to a world in which they feel close to normal? We basically, focusing on two major issues. One is bringing the rate of disease down, particularly severe disease down because we know that there are going to continue to be people, particularly children, who are not eligible for vaccination. So, that's number one. So, we need to get to a level where we have better epidemic control. But then number two, we need to get to a point where vaccine supplies, you know, greatly exceeds demand, so that any adult who hasn't gotten vaccinated yet, and, you know, maybe they have some concerns, maybe they're waiting for it. Maybe they just can't get it. Vaccine supply is abundant, so that anybody who decides to get vaccinated can simply go to a pharmacy or their local doctor and get vaccinated. So, I think once we get to those two points, where supply greatly exceeds demand and the rate of disease is low enough that we don't have to worry about people who are unvaccinated, particularly children, being at very high risk. We're at a stage where there's a lot of possibilities for really reopening dramatically. And I think that's where the Mayor and all of us have settled on this target of at least five million vaccines and a point somewhere in the very near future, because we think disease rates will be down. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz, anything you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I'll just add briefly you know, we set this bold goal of five million people getting vaccinated by June for some simple reasons. One, it will save lives. Two, it will save livelihoods, and three beyond you know, those effects on physical health and the economy, it's so important from the mental health perspective as well, because we know the toll that isolation you know, separation from our loved ones, all of the things that we've had to do to stay safe over the last few months, those exact their toll as well. So, it will have major benefits for the mental health of New Yorkers as well. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz, anything to add? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Nothing to add. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead Juliet. 

Question: Okay, great. Thank you. So, as far as getting vaccines to people in neighborhoods in need, you know, there are a lot of these volunteer organizations that are reaching out and, or, you know, putting together or helping people to get to access, whether it's a website or a signup sheet. Is the City working with any of these groups so that they are going to people rather than having people go to a site or go to a website? Is there any work being done with the City and some of these volunteer groups? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's an interesting question. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but let me just say, you know, what we've tried to do with our Vaccine Command Centers is really stay connected to the grassroots. We're working with community-based organizations, faith organizations, elected officials, you name it, to spread the word, to get people vaccinated, to address the hesitancy. And you know, more and more we're setting up vaccine sites in different community settings. But I think it's an interesting point, if community organizations want to help sign people up or in some way, you know, add a piece to the equation that we don't have now, it's something we'd be very open to if we can figure out the right way to do it. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This is a core part of our outreach efforts with the first back to embedding in neighborhoods and communities and reaching the people whom we most need to reach. We are already working with dozens of community-based organizations. You know, often these are – these are smaller organizations, but the ones that have been working for years or decades in specific communities, and we partner with them, you know, on all of our efforts. As the Mayor mentioned, this is all coordinated through the Vaccine Command Center, under the leadership of Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog. And we're always looking to expand the avenues that we have to partner with community groups, because we believe this is truly an all-hands-on deck moment that requires not just a whole of government approach but everyone in the city banding together for it. 

Mayor: Yeah. And Juliet, one of the things we're doing more and more is, you know, the door-to-door canvassing, particularly with seniors. We've done this really successfully in public housing. We’re going to keep expanding that because obviously a lot of seniors are not as comfortable signing up for the vaccine online. We do have the phone option, but there's nothing better than someone being right there in front of them saying, “Are you ready to get vaccinated? Great. Let's set up the appointment right here with you.” So, that canvassing effort’s been good. We want to keep expanding that as well. 

Moderator: We'll go to Abu from Bangla Patrika. 

Question: Hello, Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Abu. How are you doing? 

Question: Good. Thank you so much. The first question is we have a television in our community, Bengali community, which is called Time Television. And then every night the doctors came to show, talk about the virus and other stuff. And there's a medication called Ivermectin is getting popular and a lot of people are getting benefits. People who are infected, they're taking this medication and they're getting benefit out of it. So, I want to have any kind of comment on this, on this medication. I very much – 

Mayor: Okay. I'm going to turn to Dr. Varma and then if either of the other doctors wants to join in. Are you familiar with this medication, Dr. Varma? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yes, I am. And I think it's very important that we make it a very clear message that this is a medication that has absolutely no effect whatsoever on the treatment of COVID-19. Unfortunately, you know, as we've seen throughout this epidemic there have been many people that have tried to sort of take advantage of our scientific uncertainty and to promote medications that may or may not have an impact and calling them wonder drugs. And we need to be very clear that this is a medication that has known potentially dangerous side effects and has no proven benefits for the treatment of COVID-19. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz, anything to add? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I would just add, sir, I fully agree with Dr. Varma that this has actually been studied and shown not to have any impact. So, it's not just that we don't know, it's that it’s been looked at, and it does not in fact improve the health of people with COVID. 

Mayor: Thank you. Okay. Go ahead, Abu. 

Question: And then there is – the second question is, there's a lot of other variants coming. CNN has reported today that is – could be dangerous and more contagious. What is New York City thinking about, and what is the focus or any idea that, what is next on a contagious new variant? 

Mayor: Yeah, I'll turn to Dr. Varma. Look, we've really tried hard, Abu, to educate people to understand variants are a part of the reality, not just with this disease, but other diseases as well. The fact is there's a lot of concern for sure, but as we've seen them play out, it has not been the kind of outcomes that tell us that we need to change our strategy. You know, Dr. Varma can speak to this. We saw the challenge in South Africa. Now it appears the case levels are going down there quite a bit. There was concern that the variants might not respond to the vaccine. So far, we're not seeing that. There was a concern they may be more deadly. So far, we're not seeing that, but we want to keep vigilant and they clearly are more infectious, which is keeping our case numbers high. But I think this is about not – it's about demystifying the variants, not letting people see more in them than there is, but constantly updating as we get new information. Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. Great. Thank you very much. I think the Mayor summarized these issues very well because they are really quite complex. You know, first we are concerned. You know, we know the virus has the ability to fight back against it, through the power of evolution. It can – the selection and it can try to become more infectious over time, and in some situations, become more dangerous to people. So that is a concern. Second, we've seen that concern play out in many parts of the world that the Mayor noted. Most of these variants tend to be more infectious. Some of them have shown to be more deadly. The one in New York that seems most dominant right now from our preliminary analysis, does appear to be more infectious, but does not appear to be more deadly. And then third, and really this is really the most important point to keep emphasizing over and over again, nothing that we've seen so far changes our strategy. Our strategy has to be based on all of the things that we know prevent infection, wearing a mask, well-fitting masks, washing your hands, keeping your distance, getting tested often, and when your turn’s up, getting vaccinated, because we have seen that the vaccine can be effective, in fact, perfectly effective, in some situations maybe a little bit less, but all the time protecting you against severe illness and death against these variants. 

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Okay, everyone, as we wrap up today, I just want to go back to the joyous part of this morning. The really wonderful moment celebrating St. Patrick's Day, because it, yeah, it's the beginning of something bigger. You can just feel it this morning, the sense that we are consistently moving towards bringing our city back towards a recovery for all of us. And there was a great energy this morning, also celebrating that extraordinary New York City tradition, that is people coming here from all over the world and making New York City even greater. That is the experience of Irish Americans, again, going back hundreds of years to when the parade was started, even before the Declaration of Independence. And the contribution of Irish Americans has been outstanding to this city. But it's still a contribution that's growing as people continue to come here from Ireland and from countries all around the world. So, that's who we are as New Yorkers. We keep rejuvenating. We keep coming up with new ways of doing things. That's our personality, that's in our DNA, and that's why we're going to have a recovery for all of us, because you cannot hold New York City down. The best and the most energetic and creative people from all over the world have made New York City what it is, and we're not stopping now. Thank you, everybody.

2021-03-18 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, every day we talk about vaccine and the vaccination effort, so that time has come. Now, first, let me give you the overview. The overview today is a very good one. Again, we have passed 3 million vaccinations from day-one and the number is climbing rapidly. Today, as of this moment, we have had 3,077,584 vaccinations. And we'll add one more right now on the way to getting 5 million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. I am really confident about that goal, so long as we keep getting the supply. And, obviously, we're pushing hard for more and more supply all the time, but this goal, we're on track, and it's going to be a fundamental change for the city when 5 million adult New Yorkers are fully vaccinated. 

Now, today, we're focusing on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. I've been talking about it. Dr. Chokshi has been talking about it. Dr. Katz, Dr. Varma, everyone saying the same thing – the Johnson & Johnson vaccine – the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is safe and effective. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is easier for our health care community to use, because it requires less refrigeration. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine takes only one dose and you're done. And I remember when I was up in Co-Op City a week or two ago, talking to residents there who were looking forward to the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, because they wanted to do one-and-done. They were happy it was only one dose. And a bunch of people said to me, they know the brand name Johnson & Johnson, they're familiar with it, actually made them comforted. They knew the baby powder and so many other things, and they were comfortable with it. So, I want to quote Dr. Chokshi before he steps forward, because he had, I think, the quote of the year when he said in an answer to folks wondering about different vaccines and how and when to get vaccinated. He said, the best vaccine is the one you can get now. The best vaccine is the one you can get in your arm as quickly as possible to protect yourself and your family and your community. 

So, let's do that right now. Dr. Chokshi? 

Mayor: It's good that we're giving you practice here, so you remember how to do this. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, indeed. All right, sir, just a little prick – 

[Mayor de Blasio receives Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine] 

Mayor: Okay. Doctor, you have to tell me when you're going to give me the shot, though. 

[Laughter] 

I mean, this is going on a long time. Just give me a warning when you're about to give me the shot, okay? 

Commissioner Chokshi: We're all done, sir. 

Mayor: Very good. All right. 

[Applause] 

Mayor: Thank you. Thank you, team. 

Commissioner Chokshi: And just a little bandage for you. 

Mayor: I'm going to get live commentary now. First of all, you're very good at that. You should be Health Commissioner. 

[Laughter] 

So, I'm, like, amazed. I've gotten flu shots, obviously – this, really, I could barely feel it. I'm not joking here, that was great. Well done. 

Commissioner Chokshi: I forgot some of the most important parts, sir – your vaccination card. 

Mayor: Okay. There it is. I'm official joining the 3 million now. 

Commissioner Chokshi: And a pen. 

Mayor: I thank you. I'll put it right here above my other symbol. So, that was easy. So, I want to tell everyone, that's really easy. I can now attest personally. For anyone, if you've had a flu shot or anything like that, it's really, really the same. It’s just done – you feel it for a second, then it's over. And we will report on the next 24 hours. Very normal people to have a little bit of a reaction for the first 24 hours, as with a flu shot and other vaccines. But a great feeling when you know you've been vaccinated and you can protect your loved ones and your family and your whole community. So, thank you doctor. Well done. 

And everyone, again, I have total faith in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, that's why it's now in my arm. I totally believe that this is a safe, effective way to protect ourselves and we need it, because we need the supply, and we need the ability to get people done with a single shot. So, this is what makes a huge difference for all of us. 

Okay. Let's go to our indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Okay, today's report, again, below that threshold. Now, again, we have a long way to go. We’ve got to see a much longer trend line, but this is good, 194 patients. Confirmed positivity rate, again, this varies a lot by day, but encouraging – 33.01 percent. Hospitalization rate – today, 3.7 per 100,000 – getting better. And then, on new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 2,592 cases. And percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 6.42 percent. 

Okay. I'm going to say a few words in Spanish, and the topic is the topic of the day, the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by First Lady McCray, by Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, Thrive NYC Executive Director Susan Herman, the Director of Citywide Events Ellyn Canfield, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today, it goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, everyone. And Mayor, hope your arm doesn't hurt too much after that shot. My question is my first question rather is, yesterday Governor Cuomo announced that indoor fitness classes, yoga, dance, and boutique fitness could resume in New York City next week. Was your Health Department notified in advance of that announcement? And if your health officials could weigh in on how it is that on Tuesday, they told us that those classes could not safely resume, that now we're told on Wednesday that they can safely resume?

Mayor: Well, Andrew, you are identifying a mystery that we all should focus on. The State of New York continues to make decisions without consulting the City of New York or our health experts or any locality. And this is why we need local control. It's just troubling to me that our health care team has said very clearly, this is not what they would have done. And the State just doesn't care. I put out a statement and said, we're going to do best to implement this rule safely because the State has the legal right to do it. But it's not what we would have done. And on top of it, I want to ask a question. Is this being done because of what the data and science is telling us, or is this being done for political reasons? Because it sure as hell looks like a lot of these decisions are being made by the Governor because of his political needs. So, that's my statement. As to the specific, were they consulted, what do they think of it? Let me turn to Dr. Chokshi and then Dr. Varma.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We were not consulted on this specific decision and as the Mayor has said this is an area where we've expressed concerns about the risk of spread of COVID-19, particularly because it's an activity that combines being indoors, being in groups, and not being able to easily and consistently wear masks that don't get wet. And for all of those reasons you know, we had expressed concerns about it. Now, as the Mayor has said as well, we will take all appropriate health and safety safeguards to reduce the risk when indoor fitness classes are allowed to resume on Monday.

Mayor: Yeah, and Dr. Varma if you’d speak to this too. Again, with the – you look at the national picture, the international picture. There's a reason we have not thought this made sense. Could you speak to that?

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Yeah. Just to reiterate to people, this is an important area where people need to be careful. We have seen data from outbreaks here in the United States, as well as internationally. Some of these very large outbreaks because of fitness class, of course can, can involve a large number of people in the same place together. And so, this is an area where people need to be extremely careful because we have very clear evidence of events around the country and around the world. So, we'd really advise people if they are going to participate in this activity since the State is now allowing it, to make sure they follow all the precautions that we've talked about, similar to indoor dining. Make sure you're getting tested regularly. Make sure you're adhering to all the precautions when you're there. Make sure everybody in the class and the facility itself is keeping with the precautions, particularly regarding distancing and making sure everybody adheres to masks. And then of course, getting tested frequently because that's going to be important. And then finally, maybe keep a record of all the places you've been, because if you do test positive your contact tracers are going to want to know about it so they can notify the facility.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Doctor. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: But to be clear Mayor, and to the medical professionals, isn't what the State is saying is that these sites can open next week, but they don't have to? And do you not have the authority as Mayor or as Health Commissioner, if you have true medical and scientific concerns about this, to prevent them from opening?

Mayor: Look I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. Andrew, again the State of New York usurped local control, local power, took away the normal democratic process at the beginning of this crisis. It has not been restored. It's clear as a bell. Talk to if you want, we'll have our legal team talk to you about exactly why it is the way it is. But it's not right. This is a decision that should have either been made carefully in consultation with the health leadership in New York City, or should have been one where the State deferred to New York City where we are 43 percent of the state's population, we are eight and a half million people, give me a break. We would be a huge state unto ourselves. This is not something the State should have done without us. But legally they do have the right, whether I agree with it or not. Go ahead, Doctor.

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes sir. What I would add is as the city's doctor is for people who are thinking about whether or not to participate in higher risk activities, please consider that carefully. We remain in a period where we shouldn't be throwing caution to the wind. You know, we still do have a risk of COVID-19 spread. And so, everyone can make the individual decisions. We've talked about the smart decisions that one can make to protect oneself from risk and participating in high-risk activities is part of that. And I would say that's particularly to be emphasized for anyone who is at risk of severe outcomes, if you're older or if you have an underlying health condition.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Shant from the Daily News.

Question: Yeah. Good morning everyone. And congratulations, Mr. Mayor on getting vaccinated.

Mayor: And Shant, I want to give you extra credit for being an intrepid reporter. You were there at 6:30 in the morning yesterday. I was impressed.

Question: Yeah, thank you. I wouldn't have missed, very different vibe this year, of course. So, yeah, as far as the vaccination goes, Governor Cuomo got vaccinated yesterday in Harlem. You're getting vaccinated today. Did your decision to get the shot today, have anything to do with the Governor's decision yesterday?

Mayor: No, Shant. As soon as the new guidance came out for public facing public officials, I decided it was the right time. Obviously, I qualified and I really wanted to promote the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And do it in a very visible way to make sure people know it's safe. I think it's important for people to see I have total confidence in it, our Health Commissioner has total confidence in it. He got it too. And we want to spread that word.

Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg. 

Mayor: Henry? 

Question: I'm sorry, here I am. 

Mayor: There you go. How are you doing? 

Question: I'm doing well. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, man. 

Question: My question has to do with my inability to question or interview people in the situation room who are evaluating the safety of the schools. I've been trying to do this now for probably three months. I don't like advertising the story that I'm interested in pursuing, but it's reached the point where the press offices at the Health Department, the Department of Education, they all tell me I can't do this, and I'm not aware of any national security interests or any other public safety interest that would preclude me from discussing these issues of public import with people whose tax money is paying for their salary. Can you explain to me why they are somehow sacrosanct and unreachable and unaccountable to the news media? 

Mayor: I'm not going to explain that to you. I'm going to say we'll set up an interview for you with our Buildings Commissioner, Melanie La Rocca, who has done a brilliant job running the situation room. I think it makes total sense. We are very proud of the work that's been done there. It has helped us keep the nation's largest school system up and running and safe. The situation room is one of the biggest innovations that was part of this gold standard of health and safety elements that made New York City public schools the envy of the nation. We created the situation room. That was a brand-new idea. It's been working. Commissioner La Rocca has done an amazing job. We'll make sure you can interview her and some of the other people who participate. 

Moderator: Next is Emma from the New York Times. 

Mayor: Emma? 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. Sorry about that. I wanted to ask, first of all, about the vaccine. How do you feel emotionally right now? Have you been worried about getting the virus? How do you sort of, do you feel a sense of relief? 

Mayor: I definitely feel a sense of relief. Also, I have been not so worried, but someone very close to me who may be on this panel has been constantly telling me that it's really important to not delay because this is something that – you know, I'm out there with people all the time. And I wanted to really wait for a while because I thought it was important. But now that we've had three million vaccinations and the new standards came out for public officials, I think it really made sense. Yeah, of course, I feel relief. Even though I felt confident in all the health and safety measures that Dr. Chokshi taught me to use, and I've been using them, got my double mask right here, Doctor – 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you. 

Mayor: I do feel immense relief and the fact that it's only one shot, I think this is really a great feeling and not having a wonder, you know, when's the next one and what's going to happen in the meantime. I feel a lot of relief now. Go ahead, Emma. 

Question: Thanks. And then I was on our New York Times website today and, you know, it says very clearly, no large city is faring worse right now than New York City. And I'm sort of worried that people are letting their guard down. I'm curious, are you worried that people are letting their guard down and would you do an indoor fitness class right now? 

Mayor: Oh, no. I would not do an indoor fitness class, and we do not agree with the State's decision. I am worried about people letting their guard down, but I think in general, New Yorkers are hanging pretty tough and sticking with the standards. I've been watching, our health teams have been watching them. We were worried about keeping vigilant. We don't want overconfidence, but I think in general, New Yorkers went through hell and have not forgotten it and are being careful and cautious. To your statistical point, Emma, look, we are one of the most densely populated places in America. We carry the burden of history in terms of there being way too much poverty, way too many people who didn't get the health care they deserved for decades. There's reason why – there's reasons why this place is a tougher environment than a lot of other parts of the country. But I have to look at the progress that this city has made and say, that needs to be put in context too. We’re obviously driving back this disease in a very, very difficult environment. I give our health team a lot of credit. I give every-day New Yorkers, a lot of credit. You can see the numbers moving and you can see the triumph of what's been done with our public schools and how safe they are. So yes, that number is on the website and I respect the methodology, but I think there's a bigger story to tell. 

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Sophia Chang from Gothamist. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and congratulations on the vaccine. 

Mayor: Thank you, Sophia. How are you doing? 

Question: I'm good. I wanted to ask you about this possible revision of the CDC guidance for classrooms and distancing. If they revise it down to three feet as sufficient, is that going to affect how you and the Department of Education will approach reopening plans or plans right now for schools? 

Mayor: Absolutely. Sophia, I would say we're working – I just had a long meeting yesterday with Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter and her senior team. We are planning for September on the assumption that we will invite back all children. I think the six months between now and September is going to be a sea change time. I think you're going to see an extraordinarily different reality by September, starting with the fact that we're going to get five million adult New Yorkers vaccinated by June. So, we're preparing for every child to come back whose family is ready to have them back. I also know maybe some families will not be yet and we'll have a plan for them as well. But as to the here and now, Sophia, we're starting the planning now to be ready for the possibility that the CDC will change the standard. If there is a change from six feet to three feet, for example, that will absolutely be the reason for an opt-in because we would want to give more kids a chance to get back into school quickly. So, we're getting ready for that possibility now. Go ahead, Sophia. 

Question: So, if the CDC changes its policy, you would open opt-in this semester for families? And also do you have data, numbers of how many teachers have been vaccinated thus far? Because it sounds like the UFT numbers are a little bit different from what we hear from the City-run vaccination sites. 

Mayor: On the first point we are preparing, we're not announcing anything yet because we still need more information. We're preparing for the possibility of a new opt-in for this current school year, but we need more information. We need to be really clear that we can do it in a healthy and safe way, but we have to start the preparation now. It's the middle of March and, you know, there's three-and-a-half months left in the school year. That's a lot, but there's also lead time that would be involved in something like this. Tell me, I'm sorry, the second part of the question, Sophia was about teachers, teacher vaccinations? 

Question: Yes.

Mayor: Okay. So, the last information I got was now at least a week or two old, was over 30,000 members of UFT and CSA pedagogues. But that number we all agree is low, including the unions would agree is low because there's a number of educators who have gotten vaccinated on their own, but not necessarily reported back. There's no obligatory system if you're an educator for reporting back that you've been vaccinated. We want to keep working on that because we need the information to be helpful to us. But I think it's safe to say a very high percentage already have gotten vaccinated, more getting vaccinated all the time. But as you saw our extraordinary safety record, the health and safety record that has been achieved and our public schools happen before there even were vaccinations available to educators. So, that situation is only going to get better as more and more educators and school staff get vaccinated. Go ahead.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Allan Villafana from Telemundo.

Question: Good morning, Mayor. How are you? How are you feeling about the injection? The shot? 

Mayor: I am feeling very good, Allan. Everything's feeling good. Dr. Chokshi is very, very effective at giving the shot. I barely felt it at all honestly. 

Question: Oh, good, good, good, good. Mayor, first of all, what are you going to do with your vaccination card? Are you going to use it for traveling or, I mean that piece of paper that the doctor gives you? Yes. Thank you. 

[Laughter] 

Mayor: Yes. I assume – it says, I'm going to read it to you. It says it's from the CDC and it says, “Please keep this record.” And I think it is important for people to keep the record handy for a lot of reasons. Obviously, one of the things we're all working on is how to have an effective system for people being able to show that they've been vaccinated because I think that's going to be very helpful to our reopening efforts. So, we're working on that now, but the most important thing is for everyone to get out and get vaccinated. And this is why I'm talking about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine today, because this is the game changer. First of all, it's going to change our supply intensely. We've needed so much more supply. This is going to allow us to get a lot more supply. And second, one dose and you're done. It's literally going to take half as much effort for us to reach people now. And this is what puts us on that pathway to five million adults vaccinated by June. Go ahead, Allan. 

Question: We have found that there’s people in the Latino community, that for a certain reason they don't want to have – they don't want to be vaccinated especially among 65 and over. Is there something you want to tell them? 

Mayor: Well, I want to get the doctors to tell them what they want them to hear. I'll start, but then I'm going to ask each of our doctors to offer their own statement. But Allan, this is why I'd say, to all New Yorkers and to all seniors and to all members of the Latino community, let's help each other, let's move forward together. I know that people care deeply to protect their families. Well, the number one thing you do when you get vaccinated, you are protecting everyone in your home and you're also able to see your children, your grandchildren, whoever it is in your life you love, you're able to see them again. It makes all the sense in the world. Now the doctors will tell you why it's safe. I know it's safe because it's in my arm. I made that choice. I was comfortable doing it based on all the research that I had done, but I want you to hear from the doctors. So, I'll go to Doctor – let's get Dr. Katz in first because he hasn't had a chance yet. Dr. Katz then Dr. Varma, and we'll close with Dr. Chokshi. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And these are conversations I have every week in my primary care clinic at Gouverneur. Almost all of the patients I take care of are people of color, African Americans, monolingual Spanish speakers, Asians. And it's not at all unusual for a patient to say to me, no, I don't want to get the vaccine. And I think what's important is then to not immediately jump to explaining the science but to openly talk to them about where they are. A question that I often ask my patients who said they don't want to be vaccinated is tell me what would make you more or less likely to get vaccinated. Right. And I ask it in that way because I want to be neutral. I want to go where they are, to start where they are, and really probe, well, what has caused them to feel that way. And then if you ask it in a completely open way, people will tell you what the issue is for them. And I listened to that issue. And then I tell them that I feel that they would be safer. And as you say, Mr. Mayor, their family would be safer if they're vaccinated. And I find that if, as a doctor, I'm giving them that recommendation, many of them then say that they'll take it. Some of them say I'm still not ready. And I'm like, that's okay. You'll tell me when you're ready. So, I think being very open, supporting people where they are is key to getting everyone vaccinated. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, no, I think Dr. Katz has really elegantly expressed how important it is for each of us, whether we're physicians, whether they're family members, whether they're work colleagues to be an ambassador and to be sensitive to people's concerns. People are concerned because this is unusual, that is entirely appropriate. Their concerned because information changes a lot. You know, we're constantly getting updated. We're – that's always a challenge for us, so that's a challenge for them. So, I think Dr. Katz has really explained how important it is to really understand people's concerns. But the two messages that I find most powerful, maybe not necessarily at the one-on-one level, but sort of across the community are really for people to focus on, this is the single best way to prevent severe illness and death. And we know that all of the vaccines that are authorized are equally as protective at preventing severe illness and deaths. So that's a message about protection, how you protect yourself. And the second is vaccines are the surest way back, path to the world we all want to be in, where we get to hug our loved ones, spend time with our friends, go to activities that we really love. So, a message really about community and how we can get back to normal. So, I think at the big population level, those are important, but Dr. Katz has really highlighted how important it is for us to also understand people's very real and appropriate fears and do our best to understand them and try to address them.

Mayor: Thank you. And Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes sir, I'll just try to pull it together by saying we have a simple message, the COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective, and they save lives.

[Commissioner Chokshi speaks in Spanish]

That's why we have chosen to get vaccinated for ourselves, for our loved ones and for our city.

Mayor: Well said, in multiple languages, Dr. Chokshi. And look, as we conclude today, I think anyone, any New Yorker who has concerns, has questions they need answered, we want to answer your questions. We want to hear you. And we want to respond to you. Our Health Department, Health + Hospitals, everyone's out there. No question is wrong. We want to hear all the questions, but we also want folks who need that information, need that reassurance to get it so we can move forward. Johnson & Johnson vaccine, this alone changes the situation. It helps us move forward. I'll give you reports every day on how I'm doing, but I can tell you I took the shot because I have total confidence in it. And I believe that if people get all the facts, they're going to want to get vaccinated, they're specifically going to want the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, and that's what's going to move us forward. Thank you, everybody.

2021-03-19 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It’s Brian Lehrer on WNYC. And if it's Friday, it's Ask the Mayor day, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag, #AskTheMayor. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. How are you doing?

Lehrer: I'm doing all right. How are you doing? I know you've got your Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine yesterday. How are you doing with side effects?

Mayor: Thank you for asking. A little bit of soreness, but nothing, nothing that bad. And I really wanted to get the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to send a message that it's safe and it's effective. And also, it's only one dose. And I got to tell you, Brian, this is something I think more and more people are connecting to. I was up in Co-Op City in the Bronx talking to senior citizens who said they actually were waiting for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because they wanted only one shot. And it was a brand they were familiar with. And my experience with it was great. I'm feeling good.

Lehrer: From the COVID trackers that I look at, seems like the city has hit a plateau on the way down from the last surge over the last two weeks. Still more than 60 people a day on average dying from COVID in the city. And we see the numbers really spiking again in Michigan and some other places that are being called canaries in the coal mine for here and the whole country. How would you describe the race between the vaccines and the variants in New York City as of today?

Mayor: Well, this is a conversation I have daily with our health care leadership and we think we're winning this race right now, really. You know, a typical day, let's say 50,000 vaccinations. That's a very, very steady pace. That's something that actually will pick up a lot when we finally get the supply we need. And you can see it on the overall trend line. Cases are going down. Thank God, deaths have gone down. Hospitalizations have gone down. We're not out of the woods because of the variants. But everything we're seeing, the vaccines are effective against the very intense – just the sheer number. I mean, we're now well past three million vaccinations in New York City from the beginning of our effort. So, I think we're winning. But we're going to be very vigilant and watch the data every day and make adjustments as we go along.

Lehrer: Let me ask you about some breaking news. I'm sure you've heard this before you came on, the CDC just revised the recommendations for distancing in schools from six feet of separation between kids, to three feet, assuming everybody's wearing masks. That means more students should, at least in theory, be able to attend in-person classes. So, are you going to implement that CDC guideline as New York City public school policy? And if so, will that mean that there will be another opt-in period for choosing in-person learning? Or more days for kids in hybrid? Have you gotten your mind around this yet?

Mayor: Well, I'll tell you something, I'm very happy to hear this news. We're evaluating it right now. It's literally breaking. We did not expect to hear this so quickly from the CDC and we need to see the actual documents, the actual standards. As I mentioned yesterday in my press conference, we are already in a planning process for the possibility that we have a health situation that allows us to do those kinds of changes. And we are preparing for the possibility, but we're not there yet, for the possibility of an opt-in. But we're looking forward to seeing this guidance today, getting some answers from CDC directly. And then we'll have more to say on it because if it does work for us, we'll obviously want to move quickly.

Lehrer: Let's take a call from a teacher as a segue from that. Tyson in the Tremont section of the Bronx. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi Tyson.

Question: Hi Brian. Hi Mayor. I'm a teacher and for the second year in a row, I'm very upset that you and the Board of Education are taking away our spring break. We worked very hard, you know we deserve this break, and we need to have it back.

Lehrer: Is that true? Is spring break canceled, Mr. Mayor?

Mayor: Oh, there's been a number of variations to – I don't – from everything I understand, I want to always be careful if there's something I don't understand. There's been a bunch of variations to the calendar because of COVID. But there's also been a consistent effort to make sure there was downtime. So, I'm not sure I accept – I respect Tyson. I respect his work and I appreciate his work, but I don't think it's fair to say it the way he said it. But let's get – Tyson, please leave your information for WNYC and we'll have a senior person at DOE call you and clarify things.

Lehrer: Tyson, thank you. Well, next week is spring break in some places. In New York, the school news is high school buildings will reopen for in-person classes starting Monday. And you know, Mr. Mayor, and this is kind of a follow-up on my question about the CDC guidelines. But I get tweets throughout the day now, from parents who want a new chance to opt-in. They say, it's not really a reopening if the only kids who can go back in-person are those who had chosen opt-in status way back last November. Are you ready to announce anything?

Mayor: As I said Brian, no, not yet, because we have to see exactly what the CDC is saying. This is a surprise. I think it's a good surprise. But I have to tell you, if you had asked me 48 hours ago, 24 hours ago, would the CDC take this action now? It was not on anyone's radar as something definitive coming down so quickly. So, we need to understand exactly what it means, what it means for us specifically. There's a lot to work through. If we were, if we were able to do a opt-in, there's a lot we have to work out logistically. There's a lot we have to work out in terms of staffing. We do obviously have to work with the unions. We need the time to create an opt-in period. There's a lot to do. So, I'm excited by this news and I'm hopeful, but I can't announce anything formally until we see the specific guidance. And as soon as we really have the details, then I'll speak to the people in the city about it.

Lehrer: And my producer, who is a New York City public school mom, says there is spring break. And it's the week of March 29th, just in case we confused a lot of people out there.

Mayor: Yeah, I was confused by the question. And I'm glad – thank your producer because I thought that was not an accurate question. But I tried to make sure there was something that I wasn't missing here. So, thank you to the producer.

Lehrer: Ed in Manhattan, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Ed.

Question: Yes. Mayor Thank you so much. And Brian, thank you for your time today. I'm going to bring it back to the New York variants and all that that incurs. Including the Caltech study, the Columbia study, that it's around this area especially. And Dr. Fauci and Dr. Gottlieb's concerns. And here's where I'm feeling about this and whether this can be done on a federal level, state level, city level. Yes, your honor. Mayor, I know you're trying to open up more vaccine centers. My feeling is, and I don't know if you can do this legally or politically, can we just lower the age within the Washington Heights, Inwood area? I mean, you have the remarkable you know, the New York Presbyterian, with the Armory and the set up like that. And I know you're doing pop-up centers and I know you're doing a Johnson & Johnson. But we need to lower the age because there's so many people that wish to get it. And I don't know if that can be done legally then also, I know you're waiting for the amount of vaccination that you can get from the feds. But I feel like we're not really attacking this in a year of dealing with this across the world and attacking variants and being more precise is what I'm saying. So, my question is, can we find some ways to lower the age and let a greater group of people get vaccinated within the Washington Heights, Inwood area? Thank you.

Lehrer: And other hotspots. I was just going to say in other hotspots.

Mayor: The question that I think is a fair one, because it's about a place that was hit very hard by COVID and, you know, being really – going the extra mile to protect people. But here's my answer. One, the supply. We have two fundamental problems, a lack of supply, which is something we need help from both the federal government and manufacturers on. And then a lack of freedom to use the supply, which is something we need help from the federal government and the State government on because we do not have the flexibility we need, nor are we getting our fair share of the vaccine within the State of New York. So, there are things that could happen right now with the existing supply to give us more so we could reach more people. But until that happens, we are really hamstrung. We're between 150,000 to 200,000 doses less than our capacity to give the vaccine shots at this point each week.

So, it's a really staggering gap and we have to get that answer by the federal and State government. But to the question of changing the age, I would say not yet, because what we're finding is the hesitancy levels are going down markedly. And so, every appointment we put up gets filled up and I really do want to make sure we reach seniors and folks with pre-existing conditions. They are the most vulnerable. They are the folks who are in the greatest danger. So, so long as those appointments are snapped up in Washington Heights or anywhere else, I think we should stick with the current criteria. I agree with President Biden, May 1st is a good time to make the shift to all ages, but right now it's about who's in the greatest need and danger and how we help them first. 

Lehrer: You've accused Governor Cuomo of going on a tear of reopening announcements to – tell me if this is a fair characterization of your accusation – to make people feel good about him, just as his scandals are swirling, more indoor dining, larger indoor gatherings, fitness classes, even though they're usually more tightly crowded than gyms, all these things in recent days. My question for you is, Cuomo may be many things, but do you really think he would play that fast and loose with people's health and people's lives? 

Mayor: Well, he clearly did with the nursing homes. I mean, you did characterize my remarks effectively, and I appreciate that, Brian. But with the nursing homes, clearly – look decisions were made that were dangerous to people's health and wellbeing. Thousands of people were lost, and the Governor and the State had the audacity to cover up the information. I think there's a huge question here of what was really motivating that. And I think there's many factors that need to be looked at. And I understand the federal investigators are looking at campaign contributions from the nursing home industry, from the hospital industry, things that may have been very much on the Governor's mind as he was making decisions. So, is he capable of making decisions that are that crass and that political and about his personal needs? 110 percent. 

Lehrer: Are you saying that not just the coverup, but the original policy of moving, recovering nursing home patients out of hospitals back to their nursing homes was done knowing that it could be fatal for some people because he was getting donations from maybe the hospitals lobby? 

Mayor: I – you know, the famous phrase from Watergate, Brian, follow the money. I am heartened to see the federal investigators, the FBI, is doing that exact work right now. They are following the trail of millions of dollars over the years of campaign contributions from the nursing home industry, from the big hospital systems to see what impact that had. I will remind you the Governor's top political aide went to federal prison for corruption and bribery. There's a history of corruption in Albany and the Governor has been a central part of it. So, I think we need to understand that, but do I think he makes these decisions for political reasons constantly? Yes. I mean, our health care leadership said do not open up these fitness classes. These are doctors who have spent their whole life in public health, trying to save people's lives. They said, this is small spaces, indoors, people either with no mask or masks on that had gotten wet from perspiration, a heavy – you know, heavy breath. This exactly what you don't want, if you want to stop COVID, especially with the variants around. Our health care leadership is abundantly clear, don't do that. The Governor took back the power for us to decide and did it. And I think for very political reasons, just to – anything he could do to get anyone to like him. And I think it's dangerous and this is why we need local control because I'm listening to health care leaders. We all know he doesn't listen to his health care leaders. I'm listening to the health care leaders and they say that was a real dangerous decision. 

Lehrer: Let me ask you a follow up question to what we discussed before about high school buildings reopening on Monday. We're getting a few different versions of this on Twitter. Here's one that pertains to a particular high school. “Can you address why my son's return to high school. Edward R. Murrow High School will not involve live instruction. All students will sit in their classroom on their laptops while teachers work remotely. High school reopening is a farce.” Your reaction. 

Mayor: Yeah, I'm glad to hear the question because I think it's not the whole story by any stretch. And I'd love to get that individual connected to folks at the Department of Education, who can go over how things are going to be handled. Here's the bigger reality. We want every student to be in-person with an educator being taught, you know, the traditional way, as much as humanly possible. At the high school level, there's a particular complexity because a lot of students, particularly as we're moving towards graduation, need very specific courses to meet the graduation requirements. And sometimes, especially with so many teachers out on medical accommodation, it can't be done in person that has to be done remotely. But what we're trying to maximize – 

Lehrer: Thirty seconds, just [inaudible] – 

Mayor: Maximize in-person education, some remote sometimes, but still surrounded by professional educators and folks who are going to support those students. It's a much better reality than a child just learning remotely from home. 

Lehrer: Thanks, as always, Mr. Mayor. I hope you continue to have a relatively easy ride after your shot yesterday. And I'll talk to you next week. 

Mayor: Thanks very much, Brian.

2021-03-22 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, a great start to the day today because this morning all across the five boroughs in New York City, our high schools reopened. And what a good feeling? What a good sign? What a hopeful sign about our future? I had the joy of being this morning in the Bronx at the School for Law, Government, and Justice, which happens to be the school that our Chancellor was principal of for many years. And she'll speak to that in a moment. What a joyous homecoming for the Chancellor, but also to see teenagers just so ready to be back in school, you know, happy to be back with their friends, happy to be back with their teachers, a really supportive, warm school community. Where you know that every single day that a child is in that building with those teachers, with that staff, they're getting love, support, and getting the kind of incredible gifts that educators can give to kids. So, high school back all over New York City today, and that is a very, very good thing. 

Now I have to thank everyone at the school for their warm welcome, especially Principal Johanie Hernandez. Incredible school community, one of 488 high schools reopening today. And most of our schools are providing five day a week instruction either for all their students or a majority of their students. And that's something we continue to add onto because we want as many kids as possible in that five days a week status. Now we talked about on Friday, very important new development from the CDC, the new guidelines related to school reopening. And the new opt-in, so opt-in for all grades – and I'm going to explain this carefully. We're going to do an opt-in for all grades, even though only some of them will be ready to open in the near term, we want to ask parents and kids across all grade levels, if they want to come back when the opportunity arises. So, the opt-in process will begin this Wednesday, March 24th, and it will go through Wednesday, April 7th. Again, what we can say for sure, based on everything we know now, and we all know with the coronavirus things can change, but based on everything we know now, we intend to have the opt-in period and then honor those who want to opt back in, bring those kids back during the month, April, by the end of April. For 3K, pre-K, elementary school, and District 75 special-ed, up through the elementary level. We still have more work to do for middle and high school. We're still not sure about those timelines. But as I said, the opt-in will include middle and high school students so we know what their intentions are, and then we'll be able to provide more information as we get more guidance. And as we see the overall situation evolve. Very exciting, I know so many parents, I know the Chancellor will speak to this. I've heard from parents, she's heard from parents, so many parents who want the opportunity to send their kids back. That opportunity has now arrived. Here to talk about that and our wonderful morning in the Bronx, our Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter. 

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Good morning. I'm so excited. What an exciting morning in the Bronx? It was great to be back at my homeschool, the Bronx School Full of Government and Justice. I'm so proud of the work that Principal Hernandez is doing to continue to advance social justice issues. We got to visit classrooms where our students were talking about the anti-Asian hate that's been happening across the city and the things that they can do specifically to address it, both in their school, in the community and across the city. It was wonderful to be greeted by our students and founding staff member Brenda Tucker, who's an amazing guidance counselor at LGJ and it's just great to see the work continuing there. And so, congratulations LGJ, you know, I love you. And it was wonderful, wonderful to be home. I spent 18 years as a teacher, assistant principal, and principal at Law and Government. And just looking forward to all the great work you all continue to do. 

What this morning reminded me of though, is why it's important to open our doors. And why that guidance from the CDC is so critical for what we need to do for students across New York City. And it was an even more critical reminder of why we need to open the opt-in window now so that schools can start planning for the opportunity to welcome more students in. This weekend, I spent time with the Principal’s Advisory Council, going over some of the details about reopening and I will continue to have conversations with principals and school staff. Because we know grounding this decision in health and safety is a priority. This morning, we let principals know about the opt-in window for all families, that will open this Wednesday. And it will stay open for two weeks to give everyone who wants a chance to sign up to return, an opportunity to do so. I just want to remind folks though that our first opening is going to be for elementary schools, but we want to give principals the time to plan. That's why the opt-in window is opening for all. I'm so excited to begin this process and we'll be also sending out messages to families to let them know how they can sign up on Wednesday. And schools will let you know as well, because all of my conversations over the weekend and this morning, were with people – people, school staff, teachers, principals, who were excited to continue to get more students in. And it was great to see students in class this morning. Remember, we want every single child who wants to attend school in-person to have the opportunity to do so. 

And as we shared last week, there is a lot to do to get ready to do that. And we are clear about that. But thanks to our hard-working school staff, and I got to see some of them this morning at LGJ, Marlon, our custodian and Francisco, who've been keeping the building clean, just amazing. Linda from our cafeteria who continued to give out breakfasts this morning, Velez our school safety agent, who's always the first one to greet every student and was the first one to greet me this morning. In, all across the city, our SSAs, crossing guards, our assistant principals at LGJ this morning, who were holding down the fort and just doing great work to keep things going. I want to thank all of you because I know how much you've done to get our schools open, to get students in classrooms. 

Our school communities have been through so much this year. And that's why the Mayor said we will be holding schools harmless for register losses this year. And I can tell you, there are a lot of schools who are really excited about that. And we look forward to doing that for school communities, because we know how important the work is that we need to do. We were able to recently receive the federal stimulus funding. And as a former principal, I know what a huge relief this will be for our school leaders who have the opportunity to be forgiven the debt based on the register loss. And I'm happy we can do this for them, but more importantly, what this will do for our students during this most challenging time. Again, today was a great day to start the day opening high schools and opening up at my homeschool LGJ in the Bronx. You all continue to do great work. Thank you to DeeDee for all – my little swag bag. I'm rocking the LGJ mask this morning and just, you know, you all have just continued to do great work. And I know you will, as we go on. This is what we're going to continue to see. We're going to continue to see students and teachers reuniting in classrooms. And we're going to continue to see vaccination numbers rise so we can beat back the virus. We can get all of our students back in school. And the Mayor this morning got to find out that I'm a grand principal, because we are so proud of the legacy of LGJ, that Latoya Taylor’s daughter is a student along with Terrence Davis’s son. So, there's so many legacy students at LGJ, and it speaks to the work happening not only at LGJ, but the work great teachers, principals and schools are doing across the city. And remember, as we make these moves and move into these moments, we will always keep health and safety at top of mind. And with that, I'm going to turn it back over to the Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, grand principal. I'd never heard that phrase before. So, I've got a new one for the lexicon. And I love the joy you were feeling being back in your school again. And the joy people in the school felt seeing your success. It was really, really beautiful this morning. And now Chancellor, you actually read my mind because I was going to make the announcement related to school funding. So, I want to fill in that blank now because we've heard so much concern on this issue. And I particularly want to say the City Council has been focused on the issue. And I want to thank Speaker Corey Johnson who has raised this very directly, the need to hear the concerns of school communities about the funding that normally would be lost as part of the registration process, depending on what level of enrollment the school had. The DOE had taken some measures to try and relieve some of that loss, but there still was a real challenge there. Speaker Johnson and the City Council asked us to re-examine the situation. And we have done that. And obviously in the meantime, we've also gotten the stimulus funding, which is tremendously helpful. So, we will now return to these schools, the money that they would have had to give back to the DOE budget. That's $130 million that now will be returned to these 877 schools. We will make them whole. And again, heard the concerns from the schools, heard the concerns from Speaker Johnson and the Council, and this is something we're able to do now. And the good news is, this money going back to the schools means more money for additional teachers, substitutes for tutoring, for social and emotional learning, for anything the school community needs as part of this crucial moment, bringing schools back and addressing the learning loss. We have to close that COVID achievement gap. We have to reach kids academically and emotionally. So very, very happy to say we are going to leave those resources with the schools. 

Okay. I'm going to just spend a moment on what we do every day, the vaccine and the indicators. In terms of vaccinations, the effort continues to move strongly. We heard very good news at the end of the week about additional supply coming in April. Thanks to the Biden administration, we a very substantial increase in our vaccine supply in April. That's going to help us immensely. We want to increase the number of vaccinations we're doing every week. We are ready. But, as of today, from day-one, we're almost to 3.3 million. The exact number, 3,295,812 vaccinations from day-one. And now, as to the indicators, I want to give you an update. We're not doing the full indicators today, because we are having a technical data issue with the State of New York. We are trying to resolve it, getting the information to be 100 percent accurate. So, today, we're just going to focus on the hospital piece of our indicators and hopefully that situation will be resolved by tomorrow. So, it's simply, indicator number one, number of people daily admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 194 patients. That's a better number again than we've seen in recent months. That's a step in the right direction. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 – 3.63. And, again, we'll hopefully, by tomorrow, have the overall indicators corrected. 

A few words in Spanish. And again, what we talked about at the beginning of the press conference, the focus on young people and opportunities for young people and bringing back schools. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we will turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Deputy Commissioner of the Youth Workforce Valerie Mulligan, Dr. Chokshi, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today, it goes to Derek Waller from WABC. 

Question: Hi, good morning. I have two questions, one about COVID and one about schools. I'll start with the schools. And I understand that – obviously, the UFT held their own event in Hell's Kitchen this morning, welcoming back students and the teachers. On Friday, they sent a statement out to the press that said, once again, the Mayor is at [inaudible] directive without any input from the union. I'm curious if you spent any time over the weekend, kind of, smoothing things over with them and getting their input about this opt-in period? 

Mayor: Derek, look, we are just starting this. What's abundantly clear, the CDC rules give us an opportunity to opt in and get kids back. And we have said – the Chancellor and I have said adamantly, we want more kids back in school. Here's our chance to do it. We've been working closely with our health team. Everyone agrees this is something we can and should do. So, of course, we'll be consulting with the unions and all stakeholders in terms of determining exactly how to do it. It's still going to take weeks until any kids come back into a classroom who aren't there already. So, we absolutely will be consulting throughout, and that has worked well for us. But, in the end, we're making all our decisions based on the needs of our kids and families and on the data and science, knowing that it is healthy and safe to bring folks back and that's what the CDC has affirmed. Go ahead, Derek. 

Question: And my second question has to do with this New York variant of COVID. And over the weekend, the former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, he said that he was – there was some concern that, you know, people who've already recovered from coronavirus could be reinfected or people who've been vaccinated could be reinfected. Could someone speak to that? And, you know, is that something that's being looked at? 

Mayor: Yeah. Let me turn to first Dr. Varma, then Dr. Chokshi to speak to that. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much for the question. So, it's important to highlight a couple of important things that we know and what we don't know. What we know right now is the same thing that we've been discussing before, which is that there is no change in our recommendations for people regarding new variants. The same things that work for regular strains of COVID also will work against the variants right now. That means maintaining distance, washing your hands, wearing a mask, getting tested frequently, and getting vaccinated with the first available vaccine that you have. There is concern, absolutely, that some variants, including the strains that are now more common here in New York City may be less responsive to vaccines, or you have less protection from prior infection. We have not seen that so far in our data. We have been analyzing it continuously and I think Commissioner Chokshi can go through some of it, looking at people who had previous infection that was confirmed, looking at people who had previous antibody positive results. It doesn't mean that that might not happen, but we have not found it at all and we've been looking very aggressively and actively, and we will be revealing, you know, and reporting data as we find it. And if we do find anything concerning that changes what we do, we will absolutely be the first ones to let you know. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes. Thank you. And just to build on what Dr. Varma has said, what we do know about the B-1526 variant, which was first identified here in New York City, is that it does appear to be more infectious than other strands of the virus. But for the other questions specifically, does it cause more severe disease? Is it more prone to re-infection? And are vaccines less effective against that variant of the virus? We do not yet have enough information to be able to answer those questions definitively. I do want to assure all New Yorkers that these are things that we are looking at very carefully, because it's very important for us to be able to answer those questions. Thus far, we do not have any evidence that indicates that it causes more severe disease, or leads to reinfection, or will reduce the effectiveness or vaccines. But we will continue to investigate this and keep the public updated on our findings. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Erin from Politico. 
 
Question: Mr. Mayor, I just wanted to ask about – when you referenced the CDC guidance and talking about during this new opt-in period, so are you in fact going to reduce the amount of distance to three feet within the schools? And if so, does that also shake up, you know, the number of days that students will be able to attend if they're already in-person and everything like that? 
 
Mayor: So, I'll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi to speak to the guidance. We want to obviously have the maximum number of kids back that we can do safely. We're going to follow the CDC guidance, but we are devoted to honoring whatever kids have now. So, if the kid, for example, now has five days a week, they'll continue to get that. As we bring in more kids to the maximum extent possible, we'd like them to be five-days-a-week. Some schools that will be more possible than other schools, really depends on the space situation and that school, and how many kids are already in. But our goal is maximum number of kids back, maximum number of days per child. To how we're going to handle the three feet and what the guidance says Dr. Varma, then Dr. Chokshi. 
 
Senior Advisor Varma: Great, thank you very much for the question. You know, we were very excited to read the new guidance from CDC and even more important to see the fact that it's been developed based on very extensive studies that have been done in very diverse school districts, demonstrating that you can hold classrooms and conduct them safely when you adopt these types of measures. So, we are going to do everything we possibly can, as the Mayor has said, to get as many kids back in school and maximize their health and safety. So, a couple of important points. We've already established that we can conduct in-person schooling safely and as we know, we have adopted a gold standard that has been, you know, uniformly effective. But we also know that we do need to get more kids back in school, because health is not just about preventing COVID, it's about all of the other social and emotional development that occurs in a school setting. So, we're going to do everything we possibly can to ensure that we maintain the health and safety standards that we have set, and then include the adopting a three-feet standard in the schools, and then where there are settings where we need to shift the six feet such as when children are eating, we're going to do everything we can to possibly make that happen. 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi? 
 
Commissioner Chokshi: Nothing to add on that, sir. 
 
Mayor: Great. Go ahead, Erin. 
 
Question: Thanks, and then – Governor Murphy in New Jersey this morning said that they're essentially going to pause the reopening, they're not doing any more steps because of their high case levels. New York, as you've mentioned before, has had similarly high case levels, and I know you've been somewhat critical of the way Governor Cuomo has been approaching these decisions. So, I'm just wondering, do you think that the Governor should be changing course and kind of pausing these reopenings the way New Jersey is doing? 
 
Mayor: Yeah, Erin, I think it's time to reassess for sure. A good example is with indoor dining, you know, in the city now getting up to 50 percent, certainly we got to stop there. That would be my strong view while we see what happens with these variants and the overall situation. You know, obviously we have a real disagreement with the State on the fitness classes. You've heard from Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi about that. But indoor dining is an example of something that let's stay at the level we're at now and not having any further expansion until we get a lot more information about these variants and see how we do. So, we're going to be watching, we're going to be talking about the data constantly, and if we see something else that we think needs to be adjusted, I will certainly – and the doctors will be very, very public about it. Go ahead. 
 
Moderator: The next is Jessica Gould from WNYC. 
 
Question: Hi, good morning. This is for Chancellor Porter. I know you said that you spoke to Principals Council over the weekend. What kinds of concerns, logistical or otherwise, did you hear from them about the new opt-in period? And why not talk to them before the announcement? And I'll just mention a couple that I've heard of concerns, ICT classes and the, you know, students eating in the classroom and needing to be six feet apart, curious how we can bridge those concerns. 
 
Chancellor Porter: So, the principals overwhelmingly this weekend were excited about the possibility and had similar concerns in my conversations. They had mostly about eating and common spaces, and they were really interested in continuing to be about part of the conversation going forward. But, you know, they had heard the news from the CDC at the same time that we heard the news, and so they were wondering what it meant as well. And so, I think that there was a level of excitement about knowing they could start thinking forward, but also creating a clear pathway to have conversations and answer questions that they have going forward. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Jessica. 
 
Question: And as we referred to the opening of high schools, many parents reach out to us and say that their kids will continue to do remote learning in school buildings. I know you've talked about this before, but I'm wondering if there's a sense of how staffing can be adjusted, particularly now that more teachers have been vaccinated so that more students can have in-person teaching in schools, in high schools. 
 
Mayor: Great question. I'll turn to the Chancellor, Jessica, but I'd say, look, we are definitely – we see opportunity opening up here. You know, the last number I had again for educators who's been vaccinated is over 40,000, and that number we believe is lower than the real number, because we haven't heard back from all educators who got vaccinated. So, we've got a really high percentage of our educators vaccinated. That's great. And the new CDC guidance opens up opportunity for us. So, I do think we'll be able to do some things differently and better at going forward, but, you know, what we've said about high school students in particular, in some cases, yes, they may be in a classroom doing remote work from that classroom, but that is not the norm. And even in that context, as I saw today in the Bronx, they're surrounded by educators, they're surrounded by supportive adults. There's a lot of you know, help there available for them. It's a whole different reality than sitting in your apartment alone. But yeah, to the basic question you're asking, I think we're going to be able to do a lot of things better now. Chancellor, you want to add? 
 
Chancellor Porter: Yeah, we are continuing to be in conversations about how we can bring folks back who are vaccinated and want to come back, and we've had interest in that from staff members, but also just want to honor that the decision around whether they be in-person or remote is a personal family decision. And so, we want to open the doors safely and give parents all the information they need to have to make those decisions, but we want to honor that it is their decision to make. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 
 
Moderator: The next is Nolan from The Post. 
 
Question: Hey, good morning, everybody. 
 
Mayor: Hey, Nolan. How are you doing? 
 
Question: I'm all right, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 
 
Mayor: Good. 
 
Question: So, the follow up on the school's questions, you keep saying that it doesn't seem to be a common experience for kids to be in class without teachers teaching them in-person, and I know you've gotten a bunch of questions about this over the last week. I know my inbox has been flooded with complaints from parents about this, parents with kids as LaGuardia, kids at Bronx Science, kids at Russell Sage Middle School in Forest Hills, kids at the Academy of the Americas in Long Island City, to name four, again, of the schools represented in the 30 or 40 emails I got in the course of a single day about this. So, I'm wondering where's the disconnect between what you're representing as the reopening and what parents and students are getting? 
 
Mayor: Well, you know, we're talking about many tens of thousands of students, so I don't disrespect at all the 30 emails you've gotten, but I would say, and I'll turn to the Chancellor who, you know, understands this system deeply and everything she's done over 20 years. What we are seeing consistently is again, at the high school level, in some cases, yes, it's happening, and I think we'll be able to address it better now because of some of the changes that we're talking about. But the norm always is kids taught by teachers as per usual, and even when a child, because of a specialized subject or whatever it may be, needs to do remote from the classroom, it's still a superior situation to that child being at home. I think I've answered it before, and I believe that's the honest and right answer. Chancellor? 
 
Chancellor Porter: Yeah, I – you know, our priority is to make sure our students are surrounded by caring adults. This has been a difficult transition, the immediate shift to remote learning and then, you know, getting back into school. And so, the priority is to make sure students are surrounded by caring adults, but also that they are receiving the instruction from the content area teachers that they need remote or in-person and our teachers across schools are working in partnership to make sure that that happens. 
 
Mayor: Go ahead, Nolan. 
 
Question: Is City Hall getting briefed on the percentage of classes where there's actually a teacher providing in-person instruction. If so, can you provide those stats? 
 
Mayor: Yeah, we'll get you a sense of what we are hearing, but it's changing constantly as we make adjustments. And again, I'm satisfied that every school is maximizing in-person learning and when they have to use remote for students, they do, but it's still a superior situation to that student being at home. Go ahead. 
 
Moderator: The next is Juliet from 1010 WINS. 
 
Question: Yeah, hi. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everyone. So I did want to follow up with the school question also. What about the spacing and the distancing, even with the new CDC guideline for three feet, how are you planning to do that? If more children opt-in and if let's say most kids come back, where are you putting everybody if you need still the space? 
 
Mayor: Well, I'll start Juliet and turn to the Chancellor. Look, I, you know, if you go to the schools, what you're seeing in the schools now is the original precautions taken for COVID. And I think you've probably toured some of the schools and seen this. A New York City classroom that used to have 20 plus kids is set up for eight kids, nine kids, ten kids, whatever it may be. And yet, on top of that, we know in some schools, even those seats have not been fully utilized every day. And so, we know we have available space by definition, but everything's been set up for a six-foot standard. We know a single teacher can serve eight kids or ten kids or 16 kids or 18 kids, we know the teachers used to having a room full of kids. So, I think that the commonsense piece of this Juliet is that we have such artificially low classroom size that we know we can do a lot more with the teachers who are already in the schools and can accommodate a lot more kids, and we know a lot more kids would benefit. Chancellor? 
 
Chancellor Porter: Yeah, the Mayor is correct in his analysis of the current situation in schools. We haven't had every student that we could potentially have in-person be in-person. We also have been doing an analysis anticipating the potential three feet, and so we're happy to bring more specific details around what that looks like, but we are very confident that we are prepared to accept more students in classes, based on a three-foot rule, even at this moment with the six-foot requirement based on the number of students who actually have returned to school. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Juliet. 
 
Question: Okay. Thank you. And my next question regards the variants. You just spoke of concern with it and whether or not restaurants should be increasing capacity, but is there any more data or science that we can look at in reviewing the variants? I know Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma just said they don't see anything at this point in time of, you know, further infection rates or problems after the vaccine, but is there more that can be looked at as far as studying these variants to find out if in fact that's the case? 
 
Mayor: Yeah, let me start as the layman and I'll turn to Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi. Juliet, I think for all of us this last year, it's been incredibly frustrating to be dealing with a disease that humanity didn't even know existed, you know, not much more than a year ago and is simply under examined. I mean, there's just not enough information about the coronavirus. There hasn't been enough time to study everything about it. And so, when you get the variants on top of that, the scientific community is always playing catch up. And I think what the doctors constantly say, we talk all the time, and they say to me is, look, this is what we know so far. We're not going to judge too much based on very preliminary information, but as we get more definitive studies, we make better conclusions. I think the answer to your question is we're going to learn more literally every day, but at least we have seen some trends so far that tell us we can beat these variants if we continue to aggressively get people vaccinated, but we got to take them seriously. They do pose a threat. Dr. Varma, then Dr. Chokshi. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, no, thank you very much for the question, and I really want to echo some of the things that the Mayor has highlighted there. You know, first of all, we are concerned. You know, one of the reasons we see this you know, very high plateau or very slow decline here in New York is due to these variants. As we've said earlier in this press conference, we know that these variants that are here present in New York City are more infectious. That is, you know, one person is more likely to infect another person, and that is a very strong reason for why we continue to have a very high rates of disease. So, we are concerned about them. The second is that, you know, we also have to make decisions based on the information we have today, and as the Mayor has said, you know, the pace of science is generally years or decades. But we don't have that luxury right now. So, we have to make decisions based on what we think the best available evidence we have at any given moment, and also be humble and honest, that information may change, and we may have to change our recommendations. 

Everything we've seen so far indicates that all of the measures that we take to protect against sort of the original strains or the classic strains of COVID work against these new variants. There are some indications that some variants respond a little less effectively to vaccination, but they still appear to be effective enough, you know, far above the threshold that the NIH and other people have said. So, we really do feel strongly that we need to continue the most important measures that we know work right now, and we'll continue to evaluate information, and if we learn more change our recommendations accordingly. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor, and, you know, I'll start by saying that as the Mayor has said now is not the time to throw caution to the wind. You know, we have made progress in our fight against COVID-19, and so now is the time to redouble our efforts, particularly now that we have vaccination as such an important tool in our arsenal. 

With respect to the situation around the variants, you know, we now have evidence that the three original variants of concern – that's the B117, and B1351, and P1 variants, the ones that were originally identified in the UK, South Africa and Brazil, each of them has now been identified in New York City residents along with the B1526, which was first identified here in New York City. So, these are all things that we know, that we've been able to discern from the investigation that we do, which proceeds in the laboratory. It proceeds in our clinics and hospitals, and also with respect to the epidemiologic studies. At the end of the day, all of that knowledge has to be translated into the real-world effects, and those get back to what Dr. Varma has said, which is we have to recommit to the things that have worked to slow the spread of COVID-19: masking, distancing, hand washing, staying home if you're ill, getting tested, and getting vaccinated when it's your turn, and if we do those things then I hope that very soon, we'll be able to finally turn the corner on this pandemic. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Kristin Dalton from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Good morning with the Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Kristin, how you been? 

Question: I'm good. I'm good. Just building off of some of the other questions, parts of Staten Island do have a high infection rate that is close to 15 percent. Is there any chance that the City could begin implementing restrictions again, should the positivity rate get really high and, you know, what, what would it take for the City to do that? 

Mayor: Kristin, it's an important question. We're watching this all the time. I don't want to do theoreticals, because I don't think that does justice to the subject. I'd say it this way. We need to get everyone vaccinated. We can get vaccinate as quickly as possible. That is the one piece of the equation we fully control, and that is you know, a firm's specific reality once someone's vaccinated, they're vaccinated changes the whole reality. So, that's what we need to do and constantly reiterate the precautions that people need to take, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi in a moment and he can do that. You know, those simple precautions and people need to be smart about travel. We don't want to see, you know, folks thinking that travel is no longer filled with challenges because it is, and we need to be careful about that. So, I'd say, Kristin, we want to keep doing the things that have been working, but if we see a turn, if we see the numbers going in the wrong direction, if we see particularly the number of folks in hospitals going up and-or the number of folks we're losing going up, those are different realities, and then we would put different options back on the table. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just to build on it briefly, you know, in addition to those individual precautions that I've mentioned you know, with respect to masking distancing, et cetera you know, some epidemiologists call this the phenomenon of sharing indoor air. You know, those are the things that we need to try to avoid, particularly when risk is high in certain places. So, that means any gatherings, you know, that are indoors, particularly when masks are unable to be worn consistently and properly, and particularly when the group size is larger, those are the places where we start to get worried about a much higher risk of transmission. So, there are steps that each of us can take to protect ourselves, and part of it is in making smart decisions, particularly as we navigate through this phase of the pandemic. 

Mayor: Yeah, I want to get Dr. Varma in this too, because obviously we're seeing an uptick and travel the country and, Dr. Varma, there's a right way and a wrong way to go about travel. Could you speak to just guiding New Yorkers will understandably, you know, will be traveling a little more now in some cases, particularly to see family after a long time, but could you guide folks on the right way to do that, please? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, no, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, you know, and as we continue to caution that you know, the best vacations are those that are held close to home right now until we get to the other side of this epidemic. For those who do have to travel, because we know how important it is to stay connected with family and loved ones. There are really some important things. First of all, if you have any symptoms at all, or you've been exposed, you know, please recognize that you are at very high risk of transmitting to other people and follow public health guidelines and stay home. It may involve canceling plane tickets that you spent a lot of money on or a vacation you were planning, but if you are sick, if you've recently been exposed, it's really critical to stay home, that's number one. 

Number two is get tested before you travel, because we know that even if you don't have symptoms, you may be in that early stage of disease or one of those people that never developed symptoms, and so you need to know your status before you go, and that applies to you and all of your family members regardless of their age. The next is if you are at a travel or a crowded place, try to keep your distance from other people, make sure you're wearing a well-fitting mask. In some situations, wearing two masks and medical surgical masks covered by a fabric mask is important. Keep it on at all times, and really importantly once you're on your way back to New York we'd really readvise you in what you strongly to get tested both before you leave, as soon as, and also when you return back, we know that the quarantine rules in New York will be changing, but we still think it's important for people to observe those that, that guidance that exists, which involves staying home when you return, and making sure you get tested at least on day three after you. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Kristin. 

Question: Thank you so much, everybody, and about vaccines. Senator Schumer announced, you know, now New York is going to be getting over one million vaccines per week, beginning, sometime in April. What is the City's timeline for making places like Empire Outlets and the Gotham Vanderbilt Clinic that we're supposed to be 24-hour vaccination sites, bringing them up to full capacity? 

Mayor: Yeah, we are getting more supply, and that's what we've been needing. So, we do intend to see Empire go to 24/7 in the next week or two, and I've got to check on Vanderbilt, the exact timeline, but this has really been the issue, just getting the steady supply. There's a number of sites that are well-suited to 24/7 so long as we can get enough supply. So, you should expect that with Empire for sure. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Yehudit from Boro Park 24 News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing good, Yehudit. They got the whole title of the publication in this time. Did you see that? 

Question: Yay. Thank God. So, 11 days ago, I mentioned that not one Jewish ZIP code was included in those that the New York City Department of Education selected as those hardest hit by COVID and therefore were eligible to apply for 3-K and Pre-K that begins on July 1st. You said you hadn't seen the email and that you would get back to me considering – to consider adding in the ZIP codes of the Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods. So, I sent your Press Office the DOE letters, and however, I, nor the many school principals in the Jewish neighborhoods have heard any updates on whether our ZIP codes will be included in what the DOE is considering hardest hit by COVID, which of course was a designation that was definitely the case in the era of the red zones just months ago. So, while we have heard that the DOE has pushed back the deadline to apply for the request for proposals from tomorrow to March 31st, which is in nine days. I'm wondering whether you Mr. Mayor, can please take action and add the Jewish ZIP code to the list of eligible ZIP codes for the DOE fund. 

Mayor: Okay, we lost you a little at the end, but I certainly understand the question you know, Yehudit, the answer is, and I have looked into this that there's going to be additional opportunities for the achievers to apply. There's multiple strands going on here of how we're approaching Pre-K and 3-K. There was a special focus on some of the communities hardest hit by COVID. That's true, but there's many other elements of what we're doing with Pre-K and 3-K. So, the bottom-line question here is will yeshivas still have additional opportunities to apply to participate in Pre-K and 3-K? The answer is yes, and I will have Deputy Chancellor of the Department of Education Josh Wallack, who's one of the early architects of Pre-K and 3-K, I will have him talk to you directly to clarify the new opportunities that will exist for yeshivas and for other providers as well, to apply all over the city.

All right, well, everyone, as we conclude today, I want to just end where we started, which is with our children, our families, bringing our kids back to school. It's so amazing. I've had the opportunity now to be at schools as young people have come back and the relief, the relief that parents feel, the joy that kids feel, the satisfaction that educators and staff feel. Everyone wants. The same thing we want. Our kids back in school. It is where they belong. It's where they can get the help they deserve and the love and the support they deserve. It's where we move the city forward, and I'm really, really happy to say that things are every day moving in the right direction in terms of bringing kids back more and more for this school year, and it's starting really strong in September with every child back in school who's ready to be back. This is one of the single most important things we can do for the whole city, but really for the kids and for their parents. It's precious. It's a chance to start moving forward. It's a chance to start moving on with their life that the lives have been on hold in so many ways. It's a chance to start addressing the pain they've been through. It’s a chance to start closing that COVID achievement gap and moving us forward. It's an exciting time. So, we're going to do everything it takes to bring our kids back the right way, and that's going to help to move this whole city forward. Thank you, everyone.

2021-03-23 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. We have a lot to talk about today and it's all about how we bring back New York City. It's all about our recovery, but it's about a recovery for all of us. And this is about how to do something very different. Bring the greatest city in the world back, but bring it back with equity, with fairness, with a commitment to changing the status quo that existed before the pandemic. So, a lot to talk about, but let me start with our vaccination effort, which continues to grow stronger. The update today, as of this morning, there've been 3,411,492 vaccinations. So, this effort continues to grow strong. And updates today, of course, from this point on all New Yorkers 50 years old and up will be eligible for vaccination. We're ready to receive folks who are ready to get vaccinated all over the city. We have sites in neighborhoods all across the five boroughs. Good news in the vein of freedom to vaccinate, something that we keep talking about the need for more local control, more local democracy, more freedom to vaccinate – pharmacies now being given a lot more freedom to vaccinate different types of New Yorkers, including folks with underlying conditions. We want to see more of that flexibility going forward. And of course, very good news from Washington on supply. We're expecting a major boost in our vaccine supply starting in the first week of April. So, that's real soon, and that's going to be crucial to really pumping up the vaccinations and getting us to our goal – five million New Yorkers, fully vaccinated by June. 

Now I talked about in the State of the City that we in this city, we are ready to come back in so many ways. Our City workforce is going to be coming back. The folks who are not already working in frontline positions, which is the vast majority of our City workers, the folks who work in offices will begin to return on May 3rd. And we're going to have strict safety measures in place. We're going to use all of the tools that we've learned about distancing, about ventilation, the right way to allow workspaces. We're going to make it safe, but we need our City workers back in their offices where they can do the most to help their fellow New Yorkers. And it's also going to send a powerful message about this city moving forward. A lot of work going on in the next few weeks, working with the municipal labor movement, make sure we get things right, and we are devoted to health and safety in all things. But this is an important step for the city and it's another other important step on the way to the full recovery of New York City. And I can feel that coming, you see more and more evidence every day of the decisions people are making. We in the public sector, but also folks in the private sector and individuals making the decision to stay in New York, invest in New York, grow in New York City. This has happening more and more. So, May 3rd is going to be an important step along the way. 

All right, let's go over indicators for the day. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 203 patients. Confirmed positivity level 56.28 percent. Hospitalization rate, 3.63 per 100,000. New reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report 3,334 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 5.91 percent. So, again, some good news in the reports today, but we want to keep working at every single day until we finally get COVID out of our lives. 

All right, a few words in Spanish. We're going to go back to the Racial Justice Commission for this. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is our Commission Chair Jennifer Jones Austin, Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson, Deputy Mayor Laura Anglin, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, CEO of Health and Hospitals Dr. Mitchell Katz, Marcos Soler at the Mayor's Office for Criminal Justice. And, with that, we'll go to Alison from PIX-11. 

Question: Good morning to you. Two questions for you this morning. First is, City workers heading back to the office, starting in May. What about the workers where there's vaccine hesitancy? Obviously, you cannot force them to get a vaccine. Some of these workers will be returning to call centers, which are pretty crowded, forward-facing, dealing with clients. How are you handling this? Because there will be people who returned who have not been vaccinated yet. And also, I know Mr. Garrido from DC 37 was on this earlier, if he wants to weigh in too. 

Mayor: Yeah. He doesn't happen to be on the call right now, but let me speak to this issue. We're doing this with a health and safety-first perspective. Deputy Mayor Laura Anglin has been leading the way, developing this approach, working with municipal labor and, of course, constantly consulting with our health care leadership. So I would say, yeah, there's going to be a lot of people who are vaccinated coming back to work, and there'll be some who are not, but the approach will be focused on distancing, on ventilation, on all the tools that we know keep people safe and we're going to bring back the workforce, which I think is going to help improve the impact for all New Yorkers, but do it in a way that is safe. There's no question we can do both at once. Go ahead, Alison. 

Question: Yes. Also, obviously the Governor announced 50+ now eligible for the vaccine. The State seems to have skipped over some forward-facing frontline workers in 1-C, namely construction workers, journalists, your thoughts on the fact that, you know, workers who can't stay home, must go out and do their jobs have not been included? 

Mayor: Allison, such an important issue. Journalists to me are the epitome of workers who should have the right to get vaccinated. You're in constant contact with people, you provide the essential service, people need information, they need the news, it makes no sense. So, look, the fact is we should have the freedom to vaccinate. It should be a local decision. We've got to restore democracy in the State of New York. We got to give back the power to cities, to counties, to decide what makes sense to do to reach our own people. So, the State rules from the very beginning have been uneven and sometimes incoherent. But what I know is there's a lot of folks who constantly out there serving other people, coming in contact, they deserve the right to be vaccinated. We're ready to vaccinate them. I want the freedom to vaccinate them so we can get the job done. 

Moderator: As a programming note. We're also joined by Dr. Jay Varma. Next, we'll go to Juan Manuel from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Juan. Manuel. How are you? 

Question: Very good. Thank you. I listened to you this morning on MSNBC. You spoke about how tourists should be coming to New York this summer. What's the plan? I mean, who do you want to come to the city? From where? And where are they going to stay? We know that many hotels are still part of the COVID-19 effort, either housing homeless New Yorkers, or maybe being used also for the tracing program. How is this going work? 

Mayor: No, the vast majority of our hotels are not being used for any of those things, and folks in the hotel industry in fact have been expressing their commitment to New York and they're starting to get more and more travelers coming, more and more tourists and business travelers. Done the right way, that's going to be hugely important for our comeback. So, it has to be with a focus on health and safety first, always. But clearly, there's going to be so much this summer and fall happening in New York City. Okay, we're going to get five million people vaccinated by June. We're going to be a city that gets safer all the time. We've talked about the incredible cultural events we're going to have this summer, particularly outdoors. I think there's going to be a lot that people want to come experience and we can do it safely. Go ahead, Juan Manuel. 

Question: And now that you have been vaccinated and your wife, the First Lady, has been vaccinated as well. I'm wondering, how has your behavior changed? Are you doing anything differently or expecting to do anything differently in the coming days? Because that's what all New Yorkers are hoping, right? To get vaccinated so they can just live life a little fuller. I don't know if you have anything to share. 

Mayor: I want to actually emphasize how we have to stay vigilant and focused in doing the smart things that will help us fully move past this crisis. But I want to do one additional point to the previous question. Juan Manuel, I think another reason why a lot of people are to come to New York City this summer and this fall is because they will know it's safe. I think you're going to see a lot less international travel. I think there's some parts of the country where people will look at the lack of rules and lack of focus on health and safety and not be comfortable going there. I think we're going to be one of the places that people say, okay, that's a place that's focused on health and safety, there's a lot of great things to do, let's choose New York City this summer. I think you're going to see a lot of that. But to the question you raised. Now, I want to emphasize, everyone, yeah, I got vaccinated, Chirlane got vaccinated. We're still wearing masks. We're going to keep wearing masks. We're going to keep practicing all. I mean, I use hand sanitizer all the time. We’re going to do all these things Dr. Chokshi talks about, we're going to stick to those rules, and I've said many times, all New Yorkers should assume until at least June, we should stick with everything we're doing. I do believe we'll get the five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. I think that's going to be a game changer, but we got to stay vigilant. You know, we want to make sure we finish this mission. So, I'm not changing my basic approach, and I urge everyone get vaccinated and then keep to the rules that have worked. Before you know it, we’ll be in the second half of the year and then we'll be in a position to reconsider and see if we can do things a little differently. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next, we'll go to Emma from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. My question is about return to work for city employees. So, on a March 18th presentation on return to work from the city's Department of Citywide Administrative Services, that agency leaders should encourage face coverings to be worn at all times. Is there a legal policy or a rationale for using the word encourage instead of requiring masks? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Deputy Mayor Laura Anglin, we definitely believe that people should be wearing face coverings in all appropriate times. There are people who work in settings where there's really no one around them, we want to be clear about that, and that is a somewhat different reality, but we're going to be clear with folks that especially are coming into close contact that you need to have a mask on. Deputy Mayor Anglin, you want to speak to that? 

Deputy Mayor Laura Anglin: Yeah, no, I agree with that, sir. If an employee cannot socially distance, they will be required to wear a face mask. 

Mayor: Great. Thank you.

Moderator: Next is Andrea from WCBS. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thank you so much for taking my call. My question, I should say. Forgive me if I missed this in the beginning, but what percentage of the city workforce will be back May 3rd, and will there be exemptions for people who have health concerns or childcare issues? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Deputy Mayor Anglin on some of the details, but I'll say Andrea, the – about right now, about 80 percent of the city workforce is at their work sites because the vast majority of what we do in the city of course is frontline work, whether it's health care, public safety, education, you name it. The folks who work in office settings are the ones overwhelmingly coming back beginning on May 3rd, and we're going to work with people, obviously, but we do believe, I believe this strongly, that when folks come back in person, it's going to allow us to achieve more. Certainly, we know that there's a certain amount of teamwork and creativity that comes from people being back together. It's really important for us to continue as we go through this crucial recovery year to get people back. But we will work with folks who have particular needs. Deputy Mayor Anglin, you want to speak to that?

Deputy Mayor Anglin: Yeah, no, I appreciate that, sir. So, we clearly will be working with employees as we bring them back starting May 3rd. We will be doing staggered schedules, you know, making sure that people are in the office sometimes, working remotely sometimes, so that we can ensure that we have enough space to keep our employees safe. And with that flexibility, hopefully employees will be able to deal with remote learning for school and blended learning for school and be able to manage that as well. 

Mayor: Great. Thank you. Go ahead, Andrea. 

Question: Thank you. And my other question, I know you've advocated for a slower reopening in certain sectors in the state, I'm curious why now you feel like it's good to bring the office workers back, May 3rd, why now? 

Mayor: Different realities that I think need to be handled different. It's a great question, Andrea. I – look, I believe we have proven, for example, with our schools we have the gold standard of health and safety, and now we have the CDC saying even further we can bring back more kids to our schools. And in fact, what our health care leaders always say, that's in the interest of health of our children and our families, mental health, physical health, to get them back in school. I think with our public workforce, we need them to come back to their offices. We'll make more impact that way. We'll serve more people that way. I think they'll send a powerful message to the city about our comeback as well, but there are some areas that need to be handled differently. Obviously, our health care team vehemently disagreed with the Governor and the State of New York on reopening fitness classes, which are very different than schools, very different than offices. Why? Because people are in the middle of exertion, physical exertion, they're expending a lot of a breath. They're not, in some cases going to be wearing masks, we all know that, or they're going to have masks that have gotten wet and are not effective. They're in small, enclosed spaces, that did not make sense, and I hope that we'll be reconsidered. Equally, I’ve said the other day, we've gone far enough on indoor dining. Thank God, you know, one thing I'm very proud of, we have outdoor dining for every restaurant that wants to take advantage of it. We’re – there's takeout and delivery and restaurants up to 50 percent. That's enough to keep everyone safe. Again, a setting where people take off their mask because they're eating and drinking, special limits and carrier needs to be taken there, while we see what happens with the next weeks as we deal with some outstanding questions like the variants. So, it really depends on the specific activity and how you can apply the health and safety measures to it. That's my quick overview. I just want to see if Dr. Chokshi wants to add anything? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Sir, nothing to add to what you've said. 

Mayor: Okay, great. Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more. First, we'll go to Steve from WCBS Radio. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Steve, how you been? 

Question: I’m alright. First on the return to work here. I take it, there's some amount of signaling and messaging here as well to New York's larger business community that it would be okay to bring their workers back as well, that the city is doing it. How amenable or flexible do you think they'll be, given we just saw the Partnership for New York City survey saying half of workers still won't be back by September, still going to be a lot of hybrid working, if you will, going forward. How flexible do you think, and do you hope, New York's broader workforce will be based on what the city is doing here? 

Mayor: It’s a great question, Steve, first of all, I mean, we saw in the news earlier today about Morgan Stanley bringing back a lot of its workforce. You're seeing more and more of these announcements. I think we should separate the question of, you know, blending and hybrid of in-office and remote work. I think you are going to see every company approach that differently, how much they need their folks full-time in the office, part-time in the office, some days, other days, you know, that every different company is going to work out. Let's put that question aside. I think the question I would focus on that you raise is, are folks ready to start bringing back the workforce in whatever way makes sense, as quickly as possible? I certainly want to encourage that. We're going to have five million people vaccinated by June. I think for a lot of companies they'll make that decision to act in the next few months. I think a lot of other companies are going to wait until September as the natural inflection point with schools coming back fully, et cetera. But what we do see is this issue is now on the front burner, Steve. Companies are now seeing it's time to come back. It's time to recognize that there's progress happening, and it's going to help companies to do their work, and it's going to help surrounding communities to have those workers back and it's going to help small businesses. So, I think you're going to see a lot more of that in the coming next few months.

Moderator: Last, we'll go to Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: Hey, Henry, how you been? 

Question: I'm good. My question, it has to do with the stubbornness again of these positivity rates and infection rates, and it seems out of whack with this sense of optimism and reopening. We had Scott Gottlieb pointing out that there are all these ZIP codes with over 15 percent positivity in New York City. I counted 30 with 10 percent or more or rounding off 10 percent or more. So, given this state of affairs and the fact that the data is still coming in slow, we're three days behind instead of two, why isn't there a greater sense of concern and worry that the infection rates are not coming down as sharply as you would think they should be? 

Mayor: It's a – I know your questions with a full heart Henry, but I do think there's an editorial component. There's plenty of concern, plenty of vigilance, and I don't know anyone who worries more all day long than our health care team. I'm going to turn to them, I'll turn to in order and in just a second, Dr. Varma, Dr. Katz, Dr. Chokshi, but I want you to hear from them the way they're seeing the current situation. We are watching all that data all the time, and we're listening to different voices. Although, as you know, Henry, there's different voices in the medical field and in academia that have different views and you take each one in, but you can't treat anyone as gospel. I think that the three health care leaders that you hear every day from this gathering have led us through this war with extreme ability, and I really appreciate all their efforts and I would summarize it this way: everyone's watching the data constantly. There's a strong sense of vigilance. There's real concern about the variants, but we do see progress unquestionably, and we also are watching the steady pace of vaccination. We know it's about to uptick intensely and we believe that's the most critical factor. So, we're making decisions about what can be moved with all that in mind, but we're also saying some areas where we don't think there should be changes or needs to be a different approach. So, it's really, I think pretty fine-tuned, but let me do in order. Dr. Varma, then Dr. Katz, then Dr. Chokshi on each have their own view of the state of play. Go ahead, Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma: Yeah, thank you very much for the question Henry and I think I would just really try to emphasize, I mean, we speak on these press conferences every day, and if there is a one thing that we are absolutely consistent in, is that we are deeply concerned about the fact that the rates of infection have not declined as dramatically as they should be. It's the reason we raise caution about people participating in indoor activities, it’s the reason we released, you know, a very extensive guidance on how to die in safely for people that choose indoor dining, and the reason we keep emphasizing how important it is for people to be observing the importance of masks, distancing, hand-washing and frequent testing, and then of course, getting vaccinated as soon as possible. 

Now, that is absolutely what we're concerned about right now, and we think that there's a real critical importance for people to maintain that vigilance over the next several weeks and possibly a bit longer. At the same time, we also know the effectiveness of these vaccines. We know the effectiveness from clinical trials. We know the effective this from real world lived experience looking at the UK, looking at Israel, looking at other selected datasets where individual populations have been vaccinated. So, we also know that even though we need to be incredibly persistent right now, there is promise on the horizon, and so it certainly does make sense to plan for a future that will be better while at the same time also recognizing that you need a plan B – if things don't go the way you want, you need to redirect, and so that's the way we're looking at it right now, and I just really do want to emphasize that we want people to get the message that now is not the time to let up. But there will be a time, some point in the future and we have a pathway to get there. 

Mayor: Thank you, go ahead, Dr. Katz. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yeah. Dr. Varma has done such a great job. I don't have a lot to add other than to say that there's been unanimity among your health experts. We talk to each other every day, we support each other. We believe in the work we're doing together. I'm very pleased to see decreases in the number of deaths and decreases in the number of patients who are seriously ill and require ventilation, and I believe that is because of the success of the vaccines. I believe that once we're able to vaccinate the entire population you'll see that the cases themselves begin to decrease more dramatically, but as a physician, of course, the thing I'm most worried about is losing life or people having prolonged hospitalization, and I'm glad that the vaccines are so effective at preventing that, even when there are variants the vaccines still are effective at decreasing the severity of this disease. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you, and now, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, thank you, and thanks for the question Henry which I appreciate you know, what I would just add is that this is not something inexorable that is happening to us. This is something that we as New York City have a lot of agency with respect to how we can continue the fight against COVID-19. All of the things that you've heard us say that we know works with respect to beating back the virus masking distancing, handwashing, getting tested, getting vaccinated when it's your turn. Those are the things that will help us in what is ultimately, you know, a tug of war between nature and New Yorkers, and in that match, I'm going to bet on New Yorkers because we've shown that we can do the things that do work with respect to curbing the spread of COVID-19. Now is the time for us to recommit to do that, to hold on so that we can make that the homestretch of what has been a marathon for the city. 

Mayor: The very quotable Dr. Dave Chokshi – tug of war between nature and New Yorkers, we're betting on New Yorkers. Thank you, I agree, Dr. Chokshi, and look, as we conclude today, everyone – I'm betting on New Yorkers too. I'm betting on New Yorkers all the time, and that is a bet that we win regularly. I believe we're in a position now to bring this city back and bring it back better, truly better. Thank you.

2021-03-24 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, good news on the vaccination front, the number of vaccinations in this city continues to climb and thank God for that. Right now, we are almost at three-and-a-half million vaccinations since the beginning of our effort. The official number as of this morning, 3,455,877 vaccinations. We're going to, I think, likely surpass 3.5 million in the course of this day. And this is what it's all about, getting more and more New Yorkers vaccinated. We're seeing a great response out there. More and more people want to be vaccinated. There's less hesitancy – even though there's some for sure, there's less. And more and more sites around the city. And these ideas go together. The more sites you have, the more you get to the grassroots with the vaccination effort, the more community organizations and community leaders are involved, the more people trust the vaccine and are ready to come forward and get vaccinated themselves. And that's good for all of us because we need to hit our goal, five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. That is crucial to a recovery for all of us, that we get as many people vaccinated as possible, as quickly as possible.

So, one of the things we're focused on is working with houses of worship. Obviously, people have a deep sense of connection to the houses of worship in their lives and their communities. And we have pop-up vaccination sites at a number of houses of worship. We've been doing this over the last few weeks. We've found really, really great success and great efforts by the faith communities to reach out to their congregations and get people to come in, really reaching people who previously hadn't heard the message about vaccination or hadn't got all the answers they wanted. Now they're getting those answers and they're coming forward. So, this week we'll have vaccination sites at Leviticus Church of God in Queens, at the Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Brooklyn, and First Corinthian Baptist Church in Manhattan. And we're going to continue to expand this effort across different faiths, different houses of worship because it's working. This is a key part of our grassroots effort. In addition to all the other things we're doing and folks going door to door, signing up seniors for the vaccine, the many, many grassroots efforts that are working, you're going to see a lot more of it in the weeks ahead. 
 
And with that, let me talk about today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report is 248 patients. Confirmed positivity level of 54.09 percent. Hospitalization rate, 3.79 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,282. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 6.36 percent. I'm going to say a few words in Spanish back on 3-K. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Chancellor Porter, by Josh Wallack, the Deputy Chancellor for Early Childhood and Enrollment, by Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. Sydney Pereira from Gothamist. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Minor. So, this morning Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and Councilman Mark Levine, you know, held a press conference calling for the Governor to slow down the reopening, and not move forward on some of the specific April changes that are coming with sports arenas, and arts and entertainment venues. I know you've expressed similar concerns about how quickly the state is moving on to the opening, but I'm wondering like what specifically do you have to say about the reopenings coming in April with sports arenas, and arts and entertainment venues, and is there anything the City could do to scale back or, or I guess encourage residents to not go along with the Governor's reopening decisions. I know that you, you can't override the Governor's decisions here, but I'm wondering what else could you do with the reopening decisions you do disagree with? 

Mayor: Sydney, I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi. The – look, first, this is just such a clear example of why we need local control. We have some of the best health leaders in all of America right here in New York City, and they've been consistently clear about the fact that there are some things that can be done safely and other things that can't be at this point, especially while we still have the real questions about the variance. The State of New York should really defer to the health leadership in New York City on these matters. Once they make a decision to your bigger point, Sydney, it's hard to tell people this is how you should, or shouldn't respond to a decision by your own state government. But I think what we do consistently is say, we're going to implement the decision in our own way, which means a lot of public education on how to go about things the right way, a lot of inspections obviously, and educating folks in each facility about the right way to do things. But where we have a particular concern right now is the fitness classes, which is I think the epitome of what not to do because it's people involved in, you know, intensive exercise, letting out their breath, you know, in the middle of exercise, either not wearing a mask in some cases or the mask that's gotten wet and therefore is compromised. And that just doesn't make sense, and additionally, you know, throwing down the caution that we should not go past 50 percent with indoor dining. Those are two that really concerned me, and we're going to keep, as we see each decision looming, talking about what we think makes sense, and if we think any decision that was previously made is no longer tenable because of the health care environment we'll speak to that as well. Dr. Varma, you want to comment? 

Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma: Just to echo the comments that you've made. You know, we obviously have – there's the challenge of who regulates what things are open or not, and so from our perspective as health leaders you know, if we can't change sort of the regulatory environment or who's making decisions about what's open or not, we have to focus on, what's also really important, which is educating New Yorkers about the best way to reduce their risk, and that's why every morning you hear and you see our public announcements, you know, really focusing on those really critical measures that we all know are so important. So, we would like to be in a setting where we have full local control, as the Mayor said, over identifying what did they high-risk setting and how to regulate its operations. But in the absence of that, we want to make sure that New Yorkers have the most critical information because we are still at this very tenuous time right now, where we need to be fighting with all we have, and that includes getting vaccination because there really is a prospect for things to improve in the very near future. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thank you for the question, and yes, you know, you have heard some of our concerns with respect to the fact that we remain in that time where we have to be cautious and careful when it comes to COVID risk. We've talked about some of the things that contribute to risk and how we can lessen it. Outdoors is better than indoors, situations where you're able to wear a mask consistently and properly are better than those where you are not, and smaller groups are better than larger groups. So, those are the things that we urge our fellow New Yorkers to take into consideration when they're thinking about their own risk, and as you've heard me say before, this is particularly true for people who may be at greater risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19. If you're older, if you have an underlying health condition, or if you have someone in your household who meets those criteria as well. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Sydney. 

Question: Thank you. I have another question about schools from my colleagues. You know, my colleagues are getting reports of high schoolers who are sitting in classrooms and watching a remote, you know, an instructor remotely or virtually, and just with this new opt-in window and kind of the new three, three-foot rule guidance. I'm wondering if the Department of Education and you are confident enough in staffing to provide an actual classroom experience you know, going forward. 

Mayor: It's a really good question to me, I would say, first of all, we’ve talked about this very question yesterday at our meeting with senior members of the DOE leadership, and the Chancellor and I talked through this point. I think it's important to say that the concerns about kids being in a classroom and doing remote work, well first important to say, even before the pandemic, sometimes kids were a classroom doing online work, but much more germane to the current question. This doesn't really, from what we're aware of – it is not really a pertinent issue in elementary school or middle school. It's a pertinent issue in some high schools, and it tends to be the biggest high schools and the high schools that have the most comprehensive curriculum, because that's where you have some of the problem. Having a teacher available who has the particular subject background, and that's of course affected by how many teachers are on accommodation right now and not available in-person. 

So, there are some issues, but they're navigable issues, and it does not take away from the fact that a child is in school with the support of caring adults, professional educators, guidance, counselors, you name it, I'll turn to the Chancellor, but just say to the question of where we go from here, clearly, we have classrooms with a teacher in the classroom that could handle a lot more kids. The six-feet rule create a real artificial reality where classrooms were very, very small size and we undoubtedly can accommodate a lot more kids, just as we are now with the staffing we have now, and if we have to make some additional staffing adjustments or additions, we will, but I do think we have to keep in mind that the substantial number of teachers working from home because of accommodations is really at the core of some of this. Go ahead, Chancellor. 

Chancellor Porter: Yeah, I would agree with the Mayor. I would also add that each school is working through their specific programming issues, but I also want to acknowledge that, you know, what is happening in those cases is that there is an adult in the room, working with a partner teacher, and I just want to acknowledge that our teachers are really working in partnership and collaboration when the specific content area, teachers not in the room, to ensure that our students are getting the support that they need. Listen, I'm a high school parent, my own, my own child Jayden is back in 10th grade, and she was so excited about just being back in school, just connecting with her teachers, just connecting with her classmates, and so part of this is about socialization, but we understand the need to ensure that we are wrapping ourselves around our students you know, and getting them back in school and to the Mayor's point, our lowest numbers are actually in high school, and so we feel confident that we'll be able to support more families coming back in. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Erin from Politico. 

Question: Hi, Mr. – excuse me. Hi, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask about the Open Streets program. We had a story this week that a quarter of the open streets that were originally opened have since been closed and, you know, taken back by cars for a variety of reasons. Some because they rely on volunteers who just didn't really have the bandwidth to keep it up. Some because you know, cars were just kind of not respecting the restrictions. So, I’m basically just wondering, you know, with your promise to make the program permanent and expand it, you know, is there anything you can do to make sure that the streets, once they do open, are actually, you know, can continue for the long-term? 

Mayor: Yeah. Thank you, Erin. I think obviously, you know, the winter weather also affected the equation in terms of people wanting to be out, but yeah, we – look, we want to go back as we're getting ready for a warmer weather again, figure out the right places for open streets, the right number. Yeah, we do need – there's a certain amount of staffing that goes with them, that has to happen. We’ve got to sort that out. But I think we also found with everything we do, some places worked really great. Most places worked great. Some places didn't work as well as planned and, you know, new options will be looked at, but I'm very confident that Open Streets is going to be a big part of this year in New York City and the future. It was an incredibly positive experience and we just got to keep improving it and fine tuning it as we go along. Go ahead, Erin. 

Question: Thanks, and then I want to follow up on your announcement about city workers coming back to the office yesterday and clarify something because the unions in some others have expressed concerns about, you know, needing better safety regulations to make sure it's done safely. With regards to masks, I believe that you said, oh, well, there are some people who are just, you know, off by themselves and, and not around anyone, and so they won't have to wear a mask, but with respect, I think we're mostly talking about office workers here because the front line of people are already in person. So, if you're understanding where you are in an office, and there are other people in the office and the desks are six feet apart, do you have to wear your mask? Is that mandatory or not? And if not, why not? 

Mayor: No, it is mandatory. And we needed to do a better job of clarifying that, I'm glad you raised it and we'll make sure the written guidance is really clear. People have to wear a mask in the offices period. We were referring to the fact there are some aberrant situations where, you know, you could have a late shift or something where there's very few people around, but the basic rule is clear. Folks coming back, city workers coming back to serve the city, we want to keep them safe, we want to keep each other safe, of course they have to wear masks. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Matt Chayes from Newsday. 

Question: Hey, good morning, all. How are you doing? 

Mayor: Good. How are you today? 

Question: I'm doing okay. Thanks for asking. Dr. Chokshi, under the door-to-door vaccination plan you described for the J & J shot, will a senior of color be more likely to get a door knock from a vaccinator than a senior who's white? 

Mayor: So, before Dr. Chokshi goes and I'll turn to him. Matt, I know you like to ask these yes and no questions, I just want to affirm first of all, it's not just someone knocks on your door and says, hey, I have a needle here. It’s a - we do the appointments, obviously. We encourage people to get vaccinated. We have door to door efforts to sign people up, and a lot of people are signing up on their own or their loved ones are. As with everything we're focusing our efforts on where COVID hit hardest, which was in communities of color, but it is about individual willingness to sign up, and that's the X-factor. You can't mandate. You're not saying to someone we're going to vaccinate your, whether you want or not. It's about who chooses at this point to be vaccinated, and that is something that's open to people of all backgrounds. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks, Mr. Mayor, I'll just build briefly on what you said. You know, first and foremost this is about outreach and making sure that we are getting people through our canvassing, through our phone calls, through all of the different channels that we have to engage, you know, the people who will most benefit from vaccination, and that includes through our homebound program. Specifically, for people who are homebound, you know, this involves collaboration and outreach with NYCHA, with our Department for the Aging, including naturally occurring retirement communities. So, we do take very seriously our obligation to ensure that we're maximizing access through that type of outreach, and as the Mayor has emphasized, not just today, but over the course of our vaccination campaign, that includes putting the hardest hit neighborhoods and particularly communities of color at the center of our efforts. I'll just add one more note to this as a doctor, which is that unfortunately, you know, when you think about the people who are homebound, who are disabled or may have less mobility because of chronic conditions like diabetes or cardiovascular disease, unfortunately those burdens have disproportionately been born by communities of color as well. It's one of the reasons that we felt so strongly about bringing vaccination to people who are unable to come to the sites that we have set up. 

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Juan Manuel from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Juan Manuel, how you been? 

Question: Very good. Thank you, a couple of days ago, you had some issues with the indicators, some trouble with the state data. Is that now resolved? And also, you tell us again why the numbers the State is providing for New York City, in terms of COVID 19 cases, not cases by positivity numbers and stuff like that, why are they so different from the cities? 

Mayor: Sure. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, and yes, the technical issues, the data issues have been resolved. He can speak to that, but to the bigger point, look, I think this fits perfectly Juan Manuel with the question of restoring democracy, restoring local control. You know, I always appreciate, and I like to remember the people who for each of us in our lives made so many things possible, and one of those people for me was Deputy Mayor Bill Lynch, who I worked for about 30 years ago in this building, and he would always say, God bless the child who has his own. We in New York City, we have to have our own information. We have to have our own data. We have to protect our own people. The CDC today, Juan Manuel, we can respect the professionalism, we can respect the objectivity, there is not political interference, but we all know during the Trump administration, a lot of times that the health care leadership was being compromised and threatened and limited. So, we didn't even know if federal information was accurate. The State of New York has their own methodology, and we don't always agree that it's the most rigorous methodology. Sometimes I am concerned that it might be a more subjective methodology, or there might be political considerations in the data. We want the data to tell us the whole truth. We want to be led by the data and science. So, the New York City Department of Health, which is respected all over the country, has a rigorous methodology, and we believe that is the most accurate read of what's happening in New York City, and we're going to stick by it, because if we have the facts, we can protect our people, but we're not going to depend on anyone else to understand the facts of New York City, we'll do that for ourselves. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, and yes, first on the technical issue, I will confirm that that has been resolved. The daily indicators and the vaccination data on our website are being refreshed this morning as per the usual schedule, and the rest of our public website will be refreshed on this afternoon, which is also our regular cadence. So, we've worked through those issues that were originally, you know, a problem with some of the state data coming through to us, and so that is all resolved. It gives me a chance to say how grateful I am to the Health Department's data team, which has been working night and day throughout this pandemic in particular, to give us what you've heard me characterize as the lifeblood of our COVID-19 response. Everyone from the Mayor on down and looks at these indicators, not just daily, but sometimes multiple times a day, so that we can understand the trajectory of this pandemic and make the critical decisions to protect New Yorkers based on that data. And just as was said we will always follow the most rigorous scientific standards in figuring out how to analyze the data and communicate it to New Yorkers. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Juan Manuel. 

Question: So just to be clear, Mr. Mayor, do you or your health department think Governor Cuomo, or his health department, are cooking the numbers? 

Mayor: I would say, and I'll let Dr. Chokshi speak for himself, I would say I believe our numbers are more accurate and more consistent, and I know our numbers are based on objective science and I can't say that about the State. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, and, you know, I can't speak for the State Health Department, of course. I would take a step back and just make it clear that when we look at the trends, you know, with respect to cases, percent positivity, hospitalizations, those are the things that are most important to follow. And you know, despite some of the nuances and the differences between the data, those trends often tell a very similar story, and so that's what we should focus on to make those critical decisions that I mentioned. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Last question today goes to Nolan from The Post. 

Question: Hey, good morning, everybody. 

Mayor: How are you doing, Nolan? 

Question: I'm all right, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good day, Nolan, it’s a good day. I was with three-year-olds and four-year-olds, I'm feeling hopeful. 

Question: That's good to hear. You have – you've been asked if the Department of Education would be able to report how many kids are actually getting in-person instruction in city schools, you've said that number is constantly changing, so it doesn't make sense to release it. The City releases all kinds of stats that are regularly updated, whether it's the testing stats for coronavirus or crime stats from the New York City Police Department, or even attendance stats from city schools. So, what's the holdup in telling the public just how many kids are actually getting in-person instruction with schools reopened? 

Mayor: No, Nolan, look, it's a good question. I want to make sure, yeah, I think first of all, yes, we should get more information out on this, but we should make sure it's accurate in what is literally an ever-changing environment with our schools. But what we can do is this, as I said, this from everything I've seen is not an issue at the elementary school level or the middle school level in a meaningful way. It is a problem with larger high schools in particular. We talked about this at Department of Education yesterday how to get more comprehensive data together on this and how to continue to address it. If it's a subject expert who's at home on accommodation but are needed to teach that subject in the school, of course that child is going to learn online, even if they're in the classroom. But, as you heard the Chancellor say, with the support of a teacher in the classroom as well. But whatever specifics we can pull together to give you and others a sense of exactly the shape of this, we should do that. And that's something I'm happy to see us do. Go ahead. 

Question: Secondly, your administration has made changes to the city's transportation infrastructure a hallmark of your recovery and reopening vision. You've promised at one point to help encourage people to get back on the subway, to help encourage people to start riding again, you said you would ride yourself, now you're vaccinated. You haven't taken your promised week of subway trips yet. Do you plan to do that? And secondly, your Department of Transportation has promised to overhaul how bikes can use the Brooklyn Bridge by July, will you promise to ride whatever bike infrastructure exists on the Brooklyn Bridge by the end of July? 

Mayor: Yes, and yes, I will happily. I'm really looking forward because we need that change on the Brooklyn Bridge. Looking forward to that day and I will happily participate on a bike for sure. And yes, the subway trips, I'm looking forward to that too, and it's something I think is important. We obviously saw last week the highest ridership in the subways we've seen since the beginning of the pandemic. I think you're going to see more and more people coming back. I want to encourage it and certainly we'll be out there showing that, so we'll schedule that soon.

Thank you, everybody.

2021-03-25 NYS Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, every day, every day I talk about a recovery for all of us. And that recovery starts with getting New Yorkers vaccinated, that starts with getting as many New Yorkers vaccinated as quickly as possible. Our goal, five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. We are on track for that goal. And another good milestone today, we have surpassed 3.5 million vaccinations in New York City since the beginning. More than 3.5 million doses given, number is climbing steadily all the time. So, the exact number, 3,537,937 vaccinations since day one. And I want to thank all New Yorkers who are part of the vaccination effort. You're doing amazing work, everyone right down to all the wonderful grassroots sites we've been talking about in public housing developments, houses of worship, community centers. Everyone is a part of this effort. You're doing something amazing, largest vaccination effort in the history of New York City growing every single day. And that's going to help bring us back.

Because New York City never stops. We just keep going no matter what, that's who we are. And there is a great saying in the theater, I'm going to borrow from this now – there's a great saying in the theater, the show must go on. And the show will go on, on Broadway and off-Broadway when we get to the fall. And we're so excited about that. But the work we have to do now to get the theater community ready, to make sure that this extraordinarily wonderful and important industry is good to go for the fall, we've got to do that now. Six months from now, it's a long time and the world's going to be, I think, a much better place by the time we get to September. But we've got to lay the groundwork for a strong comeback for Broadway and off-Broadway. Our theater community needs it. These are folks who have given their heart and soul to creativity, to making New York City great, to making Broadway, the envy of the world. They deserve it. They deserve the opportunity to come back and do what they love, but our city needs it too. It's part of our identity. It's part of who we are. It's part of what people love about New York City here and all around the world. And it is so important to our future. 100,000 jobs in our theater industry, an economic impact of $15 billion a year. We need it back on every level. And the hope that comes with live performance, the hope that comes from our cultural community. This is also absolutely crucial. This is going to be a year to turn things around. And our artists, our performers, our cultural community are going to lead the way and encourage people and inspire the people. So, it's time to raise the curtain and bring Broadway back.

So, the next four weeks we'll be setting up dedicated vaccination sites specifically for the theater community, the theater industry. They will be staffed by workers from the theater industry. We're going to make sure it's right where people are used to going, right in the heart of the Theater District. We're also going to have a mobile unit that will serve off-Broadway theaters. It's so important to make sure that people are getting vaccinated now, as we look forward to the fall. Also, to make sure that testing is available on an ongoing basis, so there will be pop-up testing sites at and near theaters on Broadway and off-Broadway.

Now we're working with the Broadway community now to develop the plans to make the reopening go smoothly. One of the things we need is a crowd management plan. The City will be actively engaged in helping theaters to manage crowds before and after shows. We're going to have an active presence, working with the theater community to make sure that goes smoothly as well. So, we’ll – the City of New York, we'll do the vaccinations, we'll do the testing. We'll help with the crowd management, working with the theaters. We'll do everything in our power to bring Broadway and off-Broadway back strong, but we need some help. We need some help from the State of New York. So, I'm calling upon the State to please quickly issue clear guidance for theater workers in terms of masks usage, in terms of how we use proof of vaccination or proof of negative testing, to help ensure that everyone can work and that crowds can come back in the fall. These tools are necessary. They can only be put in action by State measures. And we need that. We need clear delineation on how to keep workers and performers safe. We need a clear approach for identifying spectators, audience who have been vaccinated. We obviously we, the City and the State as well, must work closely with the unions who represent the theater community and all the people do the work to make the shows come together.

So, we need the State to do this. If for any reason, the State isn't, we'll propose our own ideas to the State because it's important to get this right. There's a long lead time for Broadway shows to come back. This is why it's so important to be talking about this today in March, looking ahead to September, to put together a Broadway show is a huge endeavor. And we've talked to a lot of folks in the Broadway community and they say time is the most important factor. They need guidance now so they can be back in force, in the fall helping to spark and lead the comeback in New York City. So, let's do the work now so we can have an amazing Broadway come back in the fall.

Now I want you to hear from some of the voices of the theater community, what this means to them, what it means to all the people that they work with and to this extraordinary part of our city, we all love. First an actor, a director, an educator, has been on stage for over 50 years. He appeared in The Wiz, in Ain't Misbehavin’, The Full Monty, and Hadestown. Quite impressive. A Tony winner, a Grammy winner, and an Emmy winner. It's my pleasure to introduce Andrι De Shields

[…] 

Mayor: Exactly right, it's the perfect metaphor for what we all have to do together this year. And I thank you, Andre – thank you so much for sharing your reflection here. What an example of why we need the theater community back. They need their stages back for the good of all of us. And I want you to hear from another accomplished actor, Brooklyn-born and bred, and someone who has graced the Broadway stage. Most recently, you saw him on Broadway as Aladdin. Here to share why it's so important to bring Broadway back, my pleasure, introduce Telly Leung.

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Telly. And, as a Brooklynite, you make me proud. And I’ve got to tell you – I’ve got to tell you, I love when you say heal the soul, because it's true. You know, as you were talking, Telly, I was thinking about the moments that I have been in a theater and just entranced and just captivated in a moment. I'm particularly thinking back to one of the – I thought, the most extraordinary performances on Broadway in the last few decades, Fela! – the show Fela!. I happened to see it with Patti LaBelle in it. And I remember just being transported. And I think the healing of the soul, as you said, Telly is exactly what happens. In those few hours, you find something inside yourself sometimes you didn't even know was there, and that's because of all of you, the actors and everyone who makes that show come together and uplifts us. We need that healing. We need that ability to transform more than ever this year. So, Broadway needs to come back and we will move heaven and earth to bring Broadway back.

All right, let's talk about another important part of our recovery for all of us. And this is an example of how a horrible, painful time in 2020, also became transformative, because we all started to rethink our approach in the context of crisis. And last year, we re-imagined the streets of New York City, and it was based in crisis, but it became an awakening of something much greater, something that we could do not only today, but for our future. The Open Streets Initiative and the Open Restaurants initiative as well – and, most amazingly, when the two came together – transformed this city. At a the time when people needed hope, they needed to see the life and energy of New York City, Open Streets, Open Restaurants gave New Yorkers that energy. It's one of the biggest changes to New York City streetscape since the initiation of the subway. I mean, this is really a profound change for the city to open up and to use our streets differently and to be out with each other, connecting with each other. So, we made the decision after the experience in 2020 to make Open Streets permanent, to take this inspiration and make it part of who we will be for years and years to come. Today, we are opening applications for the Open Streets program, and we're welcoming community organizations all over the city to join into this effort. It's very easy, straightforward application process, go to nyc.gov/openstreets. And we want to have lots and lots of participation in every kind of community, every ZIP code all over the city. We want people to come forward with your applications, because we can do something amazing. And we are going to ensure that it's even better in 2021 than in 2020. We have a chance now to learn from some of the things we did in 2020 and improve upon this amazing, amazing initiative.

So, as Open Streets are determined, we'll keep rolling them out one after another. And here to tell you about it, and I know he truly loves this initiative and what it means for our city, and he's helping to innovate new approaches at our Department of Transportation, our Commissioner Hank Gutman.

Commissioner Hank Gutman, Department of Transportation: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And thank you for including us in what is already such an inspirational day of announcements. Spring is here and we are excited that the Open Streets program is getting back into full swing as we work to make this hugely popular program even better in 2021 than it was in 2020. While some of our Open Streets never stopped operating, today, we'll be laying out the new guidelines for community partners who want to apply this season to manage an Open Streets project. And, as the Mayor's reminded us, this project was born of the need we, as a city, we, as people had during the pandemic to have safe and open spaces in which we could spend our time and socially distance. Building on programs that were already in place from our shared street projects and our temporary street closure programs, this city last year created the leading Open Streets program in the nation – the leading, by any measure. It's hard – this program was so successful that it's actually hard to imagine, going forward, New York City without it. And the good news, as the Mayor just said is, we don't have to, because the program is here to stay. And what we're doing is building off of the success, building off of the experience last year to make it better and stronger for this year so that New Yorkers can gather safely, can support their local businesses and restaurants safely as this city and the nation recovers from the pandemic.

As the Mayor noted, you'll see some changes. The signage will be better. We're replacing the wooden barricades with French barricades. And we are increasing our support for our community partners. Today, we're introducing the new application. You can find it, as the Mayor said, and it's worth repeating, nyc.gov/openstreets. It's a simple application. It won't take much time. But the point of the process is to make sure that we can serve better those community partners who are making the Open Streets program work. Another point worth emphasizing is that we are mindful of the fact and focused on the fact that not all communities necessarily have readily available the resources to partner with us in this program. We are planning to address that. So, again, don't let that deter you from applying. The instructions are online and we are working hard to make sure that no community, no neighborhood is left behind in this program. One note to emphasize, the application process is for both the new communities and the new participants as well as the old. So, even if you've been in the program, we'd like you to reapply so that we have the vital information, and, again, can better serve you as we move forward.

Last point is, a key part of this program is that the Open Streets serve and reflect the interests and needs of the communities in which they are located. This is why the community involvement is so important. There's no single cookie-cutter approach. There's no one-size-fits-all. There's no format for this that's being imposed by City Hall or the DOT or anybody else. These are your open streets. This is your program. Our purpose is to serve you better and making sure that we provide the mechanism for these programs to succeed and thrive, building on the success of last year. I just want to give a quick shout out and thank you to one of my deputy commissioners, Eric Beaton, and his team, and all the dedicated women and men at the department of transformation – and, today, it's not a mistake, it is the department of transformation, who are working so hard to transform our streets to better serve the people of this city. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you to all New Yorkers. Thank you to everybody who's participating in the program and I look forward to seeing you at our open streets. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Hank. And thank you to you and all your colleagues. This is going to be even better in 2021, and we are very, very excited about it. And I want you to hear from some leaders who have helped to build this initiative, because, remember, it's something that we didn't have, and it had to be created from scratch in 2020. It took powerful community voices who believed that we could do something different and who listened to the grassroots and helped us innovate solutions. One of them represents a community where there's so much passion and energy to create, and that's in the Lower East Side, and all the surrounding communities in the East Village, and so many other parts of her district, a place we associate with great innovations. It's my pleasure to introduce Council Member Carlina Rivera.

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you, Council Member. You have a lot to be proud of. You are one of the folks who saw this vision early on and believed it could actually work, even in the midst of crisis. You were right. I think it's important to give credit where credit was due. You were right. And we were able to take your idea and the good work of so many folks at the community level and build something amazing. So, thank you for being one of the really great thinkers and innovators who brought us this idea and allowed it now to become a permanent part of New York City. And we're absolutely going to work closely with you to make sure we keep building it, going forward. And I want to say, everyone, we were going to be joined by the Transportation Chairman in the City Council, Ydanis Rodriguez, who's done extraordinary work on Open Streets and so many other issues, but, unfortunately, we're having a little bit of a technical issue, so he's not able to join us. But I do want to thank Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez for the important role he's played as well on Open Streets and so many other important transportation issues.
 
All right, now, let's do our indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 today's report, 224 patients, a confirmed positivity level 57.81 percent. Hospitalization rate 3.79 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, 3,280. Number three, percentage of the people testing citywide positive for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 6.20 percent. I want to say a few words in Spanish going back to all of the things that we're doing to bring back our theater community and our open streets. 
 
[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 
 
With that, let’s turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 
 
Moderator: Hi all we'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today as Deputy Mayor Vicki Been, Commissioner Hank Gutman, First Deputy Commissioner Forgione, Commissioner Castillo, Dr. Ted Long, and Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Dan from WABC. 
 
Question: Hi, Mayor. Good morning. Thank you so much for taking my call. 
 
Mayor: Good morning, Dan, how you doing? 
 
Question: I'm doing well, sir. Thank you so much. I'm doing an update in regards to the hotels that are housing the homeless throughout the city. When the pandemics first started, of course, the city acted quickly to separate them from [inaudible] shelters and put them in [inaudible] hotels, more than 12,000 people. Here we are at a point where people are getting vaccinated and a lot of people who live near these hotels who claim that some of them had been problematic in their communities are wondering when they will be leaving the neighborhoods and going back to “normal”. What would you have to say to them when they could be going back to shelters? 
 
Mayor: Yes. Thanks for the question. The answer is, we've said from the beginning, this was a temporary measure. We in fact very much want to get out of hotels as quickly as we can. We need to make sure it's safe, that has everything to do with the guidance we get from our health care leadership, and obviously how many people we can get vaccinated. But yes, absolutely the goal is to leave the hotels, go back to the traditional shelters, and I think we'll have a much better picture on that in the next month or two as we see the overall health care situation and the vaccination effort deepens. Go ahead, Dan. 
 
Question: Vaccinations, we spoke earlier about Broadway workers getting vaccinated. What is the plan to vaccinate the homeless? Because essentially if they are vaccinated, they would be able to go back to shelters relatively safely. 
 
Mayor: Yeah, and in fact, Dan, vaccination of the homeless has been going on for weeks and weeks now. So, that's very good news. Now, as you know people come in and out of shelter at different times, so we have not yet been able to reach everyone, but that is certainly one of the positive factors here. We are reaching more and more homeless folks, for their safety, for everyone's safety, and that is going to be a big part of how we can start to move out of the hotels at the right time. 
 
Moderator: Next is Juliet from 1010 WINS. 
 
Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 
 
Mayor: I'm doing well, Juliet. I am excited today as we make our come back on Broadway. 
 
Question: Yes, fantastic and all good luck with that. So, my question is about that. Do you have a target date as to when shows could – or some shows at least could resume? And what else do you think needs to go into getting everything up to speed? 
 
Mayor: Juliet, a really, really crucial question. So, we've been talking to the Broadway community and for a while now the vision has been to bring shows back in September. Obviously that all depends on getting these pieces, right, but this is why I'm talking about it again in March six months ahead, because the lead time to bring back a show is really extensive. And that's one of the things we've heard most from the Broadway leadership is they need answers now to be able to get the shows back as early as September. The vaccination effort will start in April, so we'll have plenty of time to reach a lot of folks in the Broadway community. The actors and the folks who work behind the scenes who make the shows happen, everyone we want to reach. So, I feel very good about September. We just need to do the work now and we need some more of that guidance and clarity from the state so we can lock it in. Go ahead, Juliet. 
 
Question: Okay. So, since I know you rely and you need to rely on the State at this point, if you didn't have to, what would you do on not only regarding let's say Broadway, what else would you change as far as having your local control and what would you do differently? 
 
Mayor: Juliet, I, you know, I've talked about this a number of times, there are folks right now who are not eligible for vaccination that I would make a priority right now. I've talked for example, about everyone related to the criminal justice system and the court system. I'd like to get all the vaccines so we can get trials back. I'd like to get jurors vaccinated, so we get trials back so we could get our justice system running again. So, I would change some of the approach to vaccination. As Dr. Varma has said, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz the – some of the recent decisions, particularly on things like fitness classes we wouldn't have made. There's different examples, but in this case with Broadway, it's about the clear guidance on the mask usage on the vaccinations and the testing. Again, if the State's ready to do that, that's great. If they're not, we'll present a vision and just ask the State to approve it so we can keep moving forward. We need to just answer the questions that the folks who put on the shows and run the theaters have, so they can actually envision bringing all of the folks who do the work back, doing the rehearsals, having the audiences come back, we need to check down that list of questions so they're ready to go. 
 
Moderator: We're going to try Steve again from WCBS Radio. 
 
Question: Hey, is this working now? 
 
Mayor: Yeah, Steve, how you doing? 
 
Question: Good. You think a year into this, I could have this figured out, but I'll get there. 
 
Mayor: We're all learning together, Steve. We're all learning. 
 
Question: Yes, first on the Open Streets. I wanted to double back and check, you mentioned more community resources heading to some of the places that may not have that kind of bandwidth to run this kind of thing itself. I know last year, one of the big sticking points was NYPD involvement, and that was basically the reason why Council Member Rivera had to introduce her bill in the first place. So, wanted to see what those community resources are, and if you're thinking as has changed at this point about how saturated these spaces need to be with police officers? 
 
Mayor: Yeah, Steve, at the beginning, we really were dealing with the great unknown and trying to make sure – remember those first months we were profoundly concerned about not creating new gathering places when we were trying to encourage people to keep social distancing. Plus, we were concerned about any danger that might be posed by traffic, et cetera. So, we had to figure it out, but now I think we have a model that's really been proven, and as Commissioner Gutman said, we want to make sure it's accessible to all communities. So, we're working now with the Council on what's the right way to provide resources so that we can get every kind of community involved. We definitely need sponsorship, and one of the things that is necessary to make this work, is there's got to be an organization whether a public or a community organization, you know, involved at the site to make sure it runs smoothly. But I think we got a lot of organizations that want to do that, and we're going to try and figure out how to best help them do it. Go ahead, Steve. 
 
Question: Thanks, and following up on that, do you foresee the overall mileage total of Open Streets going any further than where it was last year? I know a lot of advocates have called on making this more of a network of Open Streets and having them be connected and having it be basically a pathway across the city that people can take without having to deal with cars. Do you foresee larger changes to what the overall network is going to look like and how big it could get? 
 
Mayor: Steve, I’ll turn to Commissioner Gutman. What I'll say is we had an idea that started out, a new idea last year that grew in the course of the year, really proved itself. This year we expect to have an even better approach. We want to see where this takes us. I think there's definitely room for more. How much more and how it balances all the other needs of the city – we still have a lot to work through, but clearly, you know, we ended up with the biggest program in the nation and it worked. So, that says to me there's more we can do. Commissioner? 
 
Commissioner Gutman: Yeah, no, I would second that, and I guess the only thing I would add is in part, this will be a function of the appetite of the respective communities. If people apply and have an interest and they are on the streets where we can make it work, we're going to do it. So, the size will be in part, in large part, the principal part, a reaction to the demand by all of the respective neighborhoods. There's no set limit we have in mind. 
 
Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 
 
Moderator: Next, we'll go to Henry from Bloomberg. 
 
Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing today? 
 
Mayor: I am doing well on this misty day, Henry. How are you? 
 
Question: I'm good. I got to congratulate you. You're skiing downhill here a little bit with a Broadway opening. It's got to be kind of exhilarating. 
 
Mayor: It is. Come back – the city's coming back. It's a good feeling, man. 
 
Question: But you know, I called the Broadway League and they were surprised by your announcement. They hadn't announced September, and they hadn't been notified by you that this was going to happen, and I'm just wondering if there's a little bit of a disconnect or lack of communication that you would one would think that the Broadway League would have been consulted and brought in on this. 
 
Mayor: Well, we've been talking with them and other leaders of the Broadway community for months now, and this reflects the issues they've raised. We wanted everyone to know that we're ready to do our part and the vaccination efforts ready to begin next month. Again, I think everyone's waiting on more guidance from the state so we can put all the pieces together. But no, we want to see this community come back and we know the Broadway community wants to come back. We need to fill in these last blanks so it can happen? Go ahead, Henry. 
 
Question: Well, you know, you've got some pretty heavy health talent surrounding you right now. What is the view of Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi about what needs to be done to open Broadway theaters? Do people need to sit socially distanced? Do people need to wear masks in the theater? Will there be food and drink offered in the theater? Questions of that sort. Have you done any thinking along these lines in advance? 
 
Mayor: Certainly some of the pieces, and Henry we've got Dr. Varma and Dr. Long, I'll turn to them both. I'll say, look, part of what, and I remember the earliest conversations months ago we had with the Broadway community – the number one factor that kept being emphasized to us was time. That is not like some of the other reopenings that we've seen, where it was a relatively quick ramp-up. The Broadway community once they commit to a show, the amount of technical work needs to be done, the rehearsals and all those months and months of preparation. That's why it is so important to lock these things down right now, and I say that because I truly believe between today in March and that date in September, when I believe you'll start to see shows open up almost, six months. I think we have a profoundly different health situation just on the strength of vaccination alone. But in terms of fine tuning, as you're raising good points, fine tuning each of the protocols – Dr. Varma, you were on that original call. We did I think it must've been at least six months ago. Why don't you offer your thoughts on what we need to do to make sure this goes right six months from now in September? 
 
Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, great, no, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, and as you referenced, we did have a conversation together with the Broadway League and I'm pleased that we, at that time, had predicted that there was a possibility that probably we could be back by September and it looks like we're probably on track for that. I think a couple of points that are really critical. The first is, as the Mayor has noted, the reason to work on these announcements now is because of the long lead time. It's not because we think that people can have, we can have a large indoor gathering right now. So, I just want to really emphasize this isn’t an indication for people to have large indoor gatherings right now. So, the main criteria are really going to be number one, is there widespread availability of vaccines, such that the supply greatly exceeds demand? So, anybody who wants one, has access to it, has the information that they need, and it's widely available, whether it's a pharmacy or their doctor's office or whatever trusted provider they want. That's number one, and then number two is we do have to bring disease, transmission rates down considerably from where they are right now, because we know that some people will remain unprotected. It's unlikely that that kids will have access widespread vaccination that time period, and we're going to also figure out a way to make sure that disease rates are down as well. Now, once those two things are in place, I think what will ultimately happen, although this really has to be worked out is going to be some combination of testing, as well as vaccination, as well as some protocols to make sure that we can manage, and identify, and keep ill people out. What those specific actions are going to be is going to really depend on where we are with [inaudible]. 
 
Mayor: Yeah, and just to pull that piece together, I mean, one of the other things we heard months ago, and it's been reiterated since is that Broadway only works with a substantial audience. So, we need to find, you know, to get to the point of reopening, we need the health and safety measures in place to allow for an appropriate audience size that actually makes it possible to mount these extraordinary shows, and again, you know, we'll figure out whatever appropriate measures have to be taken in the beginning. Those will evolve over time, the most important part is getting the most people in the Broadway community vaccinated quickly. That's sort of, to me, the foundation of everything else we need to do. 
 
Moderator: We have time for two more. First, we'll go to Andrew from WNBC. 
 
Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Mayor, on the new allegations that Governor Cuomo directed a doctor with the Health Department to deliver special COVID tests at a time when they were scarce to the public. Had you heard anything about that before? And what is your take on what should happen as a result? 
 
Mayor: I had not heard about that before, Andrew. It's another matter that needs to be looked into obviously, but as much as it raises real concerns, this pales in comparison to the nursing home scandal – the fact that there was a cover-up there, the fact that thousands of people died and we still don't know why. Obviously the sexual harassment charges, I mean, there's so much that needs to be looked at here, and we need the truth. But my first concern is for those families who lost loved ones who still don't have the answers, and I think that's the thing we have to really get to as quickly as possible. Go ahead, Andrew. 
 
Question: I'm just wondering though, you know, is there perhaps an overcorrection in terms of people forgetting what things were like in March of last year, there was a mad scramble to get anybody tested. If the State had a handful of this technology at their fingertips, do you see a problem with VIPs, with state officials, with family members getting access to those tests? 
 
Mayor: It all depends on how it was done. I heard about, you know, state troopers being involved. I mean, something like that would raise real eyebrows obviously, and real concerns. So, it needs to be looked at Andrew, but again, let's put things in perspective. That's meaningful, but what's most meaningful is getting the truth about what happened with the nursing homes, because we don't know what happened. We don't have the truth. We don't know the extent of the cover-up. We don't know if it was motivated by campaign contributions. We don't know what happened. We just know thousands of people died and we've got to get the truth 
 
Moderator: Last, we'll go to Nolan from the Post. 
 
Question: Okay, good morning, everybody. 
 
Mayor: Hey Nolan, how you doing? 
 
Question: I'm all right, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 
 
Mayor: Good. 
 
Question: And on a point of clarification. Yesterday, Erin pointed out that the bike lanes were supposed to open by the end of the year and not by July. So, I want to admit the mistake and apologize for it. 
 
Mayor: You mean Brooklyn Bridge, right? 
 
Question: Yes, the Brooklyn Bridge bike lane. But I hope you'll still come out for a bike ride when it's when it's finished, if it's finished. 
 
Mayor: I’ll give you a rain check. I look forward, it will be finished, and I look forward to riding and Commissioner Gutman will join me. 
 
Commissioner Gutman: Absolutely. 
 
Mayor: All right, go ahead. Nolan. 
 
Commissioner Gutman: But I won’t wear spandex. 
 
Mayor: No spandex, sorry. 
 
Question: The visual, I will – on the Broadway reopening. Does the city have a similar plan for off-Broadway venues, particularly those not in Manhattan, like St. Anne's Warehouse, and what is the plan for Lincoln Center in terms of the Ballet, the Opera, the Philharmonic. Is there a plan for all the performing arts venues on the Upper West Side? 
 
Mayor: I'll start, and then I want to turn to Deputy Commissioner – excuse me, Deputy Mayor Vicki Been and Commissioner – I combined their titles – and Commissioner Anne del Castillo, because Deputy Mayor Been and Commissioner del Castillo have been really working intensely on the issue of the reopening of our theaters and our theater community, and I know this is a labor of love for both of them. So, I want to get them into this discussion. What I'd say Nolan is we want to take this template and use it to bring back our theater community broadly. Broadway is, you know, obviously the leading edge and means so much to the people of this city and it's just globally important, but we care a lot about off-Broadway, which is why we're doing that mobile vaccination effort as well, and we certainly want to reach other theaters because the whole theater community is crucial to the comeback in New York City. So, to speak to that first Deputy Mayor Been. 
 
Deputy Mayor Vicki Been, Housing and Economic Development: Thanks, Nolan for the question. Yes, we working with live performances all over the city to identify what they need, where would be best to have vaccine or testing centers, whether the mobile vans are the best idea, you know, for them, all of those things. We're talking broadly across the five boroughs. Very excited about bringing live performances back all across the city, and we hope that we'll be able to bring some of those, especially the smaller venues back even faster, so. 
 
Mayor: Commissioner del Castillo. Commissioner, are you there? Maybe you're muted. Maybe you're not muted. 
 
Commissioner Anne del Castillo, Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment: I’m here. Yes, sorry, sir. Thank you. Yes, you know, when we're talking Broadway, it's all part of the New York City theater ecosystem, and you know, live venues as of April 1st, will be able to open. Smaller venues can open April 1st and April 2nd, larger venues can open. So, really this is part of being able to provide them with guidance. That's why we need the guidance so that we can support the reopening. We know that there are some theater companies and live performances that are ready to go, but really just need additional guidance on how they stage their performances, how they move audiences through those spaces, and so that is really what where we're pushing for here. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Nolan. 
 
Question: So, you don't have the power to make – I'm sorry, is this – I don't know if this is back on. Anyways, I was going to say you don't have the power to make actors, dancers, musicians stagehands eligible for vaccination. I just want to sort of put an explanation point in this. You're calling for the Governor to do that, and basically the whole point of building these facilities or making, setting up these mobile vaccination and testing sites near Broadway is to basically force the Governor's hand on it. That's your – that's what you're trying to do? 
 
Mayor: Well, Nolan, I think you a little over interpreted there. First of all, the vast majority of adults in New York City are eligible right now. We want to make vaccination accessible to the Broadway community by putting the centers, putting actual vaccination efforts right in their community, run by members of the Broadway community. It is a variation on what we've said with all the other efforts around the city. The best way to get people connected to vaccination is with leaders and organizations that they know and trust. So, we want to get the Broadway community involved and the off-Broadway community in vaccinating their own folks by definition, a very high percentage of whom are eligible right now. 

We also know that in just a matter of four or five weeks at latest, everyone will be eligible. I won't be surprised of that even is sooner, but certainly by May 1st, per the decision made by President Biden. I think it was a good decision. We want vaccination to be rolling now in April and beyond because we’ve got a lot of people to vaccinate in the entire theater community, and we want them all vaccinated well ahead of September when we foresee the reopening. So, that's what we're trying to achieve here, and I think, I think this is going to be really important. At this moment, everyone who's preparing to reopen anything wants to know they're going to be supported and wants to know that there's going to be help, and that's what we're saying to the Broadway community and the City of New York. We'll be there for you. We will provide the vaccination effort. We'll help you with a lot of the pieces you're trying to navigate right now. We have great health leadership who can help advise the Broadway community. We can bring all these pieces together and bring Broadway back strong for the fall. 
 
And as we conclude today, everyone, we’ve got some news here which really, really fits what we're talking about today. Really appreciate this, President Biden has, to his great credit, been setting very high goals for the country and his leadership is making a huge amount of difference. Look, I got to tell you we keep moving forward every day now because we have a president who is leading from the front. We have a president who is making important decisions, bold decisions, pushing everyone to go farther, getting us the vaccine [inaudible] and setting the bar high for everyone, and that is making a huge difference. So, we just heard the President announced that the goal will be for this country 200 million vaccinations in the President's first 100 days. He started out just weeks ago with a goal of 100 million vaccinations in 100 days. He's now doubled that to 200 million in a hundred days. This is exactly what we need to see, and this is why I'm really feeling very, very confident about our recovery, a recovery for all of us. You're going to see it come alive this spring, into the summer. I predict a really wonderful summer in New York City with a lot more outdoor activity – jobs coming back, the economy coming back, the life of the city coming back. And then September: our schools come back in full, Broadway comes back and this city writes a story for the ages. The comeback in New York City will be one of the greatest moments in our history, and everyone will be an actor on that stage. Thank you, everybody.

2021-03-26 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Time now for our weekly Ask the Mayor segment, Fridays at the 11 o'clock hour – my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, or you can tweet a question, use the hashtag, Ask the Mayor and we will not miss it. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. Whoops. Do we have the Mayor?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: That's my mistake. I was on mute. Good morning, Brian, how you doing today?

Lehrer: Unmute yourself, Mr. Mayor, unmute yourself.

Mayor: I know that's the bane of this whole period of history is the mute button. So, I figured it out today.

Lehrer: Let's begin on unmuting Broadway, where you're hoping for stages to reopen in September. What's the plan?

Mayor: Well, look, I'm really excited about bringing Broadway back, Brian, and I think it's going to be one of the things that is going to be most energizing for the city and create the most sense of hope and possibility. We love theater in New York City. We need it back – about a hundred thousand people work in the theater community, and we're going to start vaccinating the Broadway community starting next month in April, and it helps the theaters determined the best way to handle bringing crowds in and out. When people come back, September is the target date. We're working with the Broadway community of some shows might even be able to start earlier, but a lot of them need a lot of lead time cause of rehearsals and, you know, designing sets, et cetera. But we think this is going to be a key part of New York City's comeback. We need some help from the State, as per usual, clarifying their rules or granting us the local right to do it ourselves, which I would strongly prefer. But look, I think this is going to be amazing and certainly six months from now, and remember that September is, you know, six months away. We believe the health situation in the city will be so greatly improved that will really facilitate this. I fully expect to get five million adults vaccinated by June and then even a hell of a lot more people vaccinated by September and be ready to reopen broadly.

Lehrer: Well, if you did have control rather than the State, what rules would you impose for a safe Broadway theater reopening?

Mayor: Well, for example, we think that mask wearing makes a lot of sense. Obviously, actors are a different matter, but for the folks in the audience, that's a good requirement. We think having a very clear delineated plan for identifying if people have been vaccinated or have been tested negative in the preceding three days is a great way to facilitate audiences and having the kinds of sizes of audiences that Broadway needs to come back because they have to have a full theater to make it viable. Obviously, we're also going to help them with rapid testing on-site as needed. So, we just want all of these rules clarified like every other industry for Broadway to start making major investments and putting things in motion. They need as much clear as possible and that's what we want to get done for them.

Lehrer: So there's that, and you made news this week with your announcement that you'll start requiring municipal office workers to return to their desks beginning in May staggered, but last week you were on the show, basically accusing Governor Cuomo of murder for reopening things too quickly at this time with too many unknowns about the variants. So, are you sending mixed messages by calling city workers back to their desks?

Mayor: Not at all, and I did not accuse him of – Brian, come on – that's not what I said. I said it was a mistake to make any of the decisions about reopening for political needs and obviously his political needs are vast right now, and the decision around the fitness classes, our health team here deeply disagreed with that. That's what I was talking about. Making a decision where you're talking about folks who are in small spaces, indoors either some cases without masks on other cases with masks on, but they will get wet by definition and that compromises them. I mean, this is the kind of thing our health care team has said. There's no reason to be doing this now, and that's the kind of decision, I think, did not make sense. Having city workers come back into highly controlled settings that are part of the government where we can mandate a whole host of health and safety measures and stick to them as an entirely different matter, and I think it's good for getting the work of the people done and for bringing the city back.

Lehrer: One more thing on that, then we'll go to some calls. We had, on yesterday's show, Henry Garrido, the president of the biggest municipal workers union, DC 37, and he said, one concern is that members of the public be required to wear masks when they come into city offices to do whatever business. Will you require that?

Mayor: Oh yeah. I think that makes total sense. We want to protect everyone, and you know, one of the things our health team, Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz have been saying from the beginning is don't think about taking off our masks until, you know, at least June, if not later. This has been part of why we've been able to hold the line of this city and we've got to stick with it. So, I definitely want to see masks on our employees, and I want to see masks on the folks who come seeking their help.

Lehrer: Erin in Woodside, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Erin.

Question: Hi, thank you for taking my call. I wanted to – I know that – first, I wanted to thank the Mayor for all the efforts he's made to get students, as many students as possible, into New York City public school classrooms. They know a lot of the situations haven't been perfect, but I also know that a lot of good things have been happening in classrooms. So, I thank you. But I also wanted to use this platform to call attention to an issue that's been completely under the radar and that's that New York City charter school students, many of them have not had the option to set foot in a classroom for over a year, and these schools were created to serve and support many of the most vulnerable communities, and I feel like they've served children with special needs, English language learners, children from underprivileged communities, and I worry so much about these schools that they're in areas where parents feel marginalized and feel powerless to make changes. I'm concerned that these schools are run by leaders who appear to be made to be able to make decisions unilaterally like heads of private companies. But, you know, the problem is they're making those decisions that affect how taxpayer money is being used and they affect a lot of vulnerable people, and nobody's talking about it.

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Yeah, Erin, this is really important what you're saying, and I'm really glad you're raising it. First of all, thank you for what you said at the beginning about our efforts to get more and more kids back to school, and I do want to give you an update, Brian, this is some breaking news for you, that as of 5:00 pm yesterday, we had almost 25,000 kids already signing up to opt back in. So, this is just after literally, that was after two days of the opt-in process. So that's, to me a real interesting sign about the energy of parents and kids who want to come back to our schools and that process is going to go until April 7th. So, a reminder to all parents, you know, who are considering opt in, you have until April 7th, obviously we assume this is the last opt-in opportunity of the year, and any parent who wants to opt in can go to schools.nyc.gov to do that. But to Erin's point, the larger point, it's a very important discussion that we should have. Again, we had a very vibrant discussion in 2013 in the mayoral campaign about what made sense for charter schools and traditional public schools going forward, and I agree, I think that the decision to go all remote that many of the charter networks did was a mistake. But I agree with Erin's point, they have the ability – the way State law works – they have the ability to make that decision independently, I think there should be more accountability.

Lehrer: Even though they are public schools technically using public tax money as Erin points out. On the number that you just announced regarding opt-ins, 25,000, I don't have this stat in front of me, maybe you know it, but isn't it something like 700,000 students whose families had chosen all remote learning for them so far. So, if so, what does that 25,000 represent?

Mayor: Well, it represents two days of a 14-day opt-in window, and I don't want to conjecture, you know, sometimes when you do something like an opt-in, it's very intense in the beginning and then trails off, other times people really focus only in the last few days when there's a deadline and you see big numbers at the end. I can't tell you what the trend line will be. I can tell you that 25,000 kids in two days certainly means something in terms of the real interest and we'll be able to serve 25,000 more kids with in-person education, and that's a big deal. We, as New Yorkers, Brian, we're a little bit jaded about numbers because everything around you is so big, to me, it makes my heart really feel good that 25,000 more kids will get the benefit of in-person education in April and May and June, and I think it will help prepare them for next year. But I think a lot of parents are going to want to come back, and then I absolutely believe, you know, there'll be hundreds of thousands of kids who are not ready and their families are not ready until September. I think we'll see that too, but we're glad that we can thanks to the new CDC rules, give parents this opportunity.

Lehrer: Frederick in Kew Gardens, a city worker, he says, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Frederick.

Question: Good morning, Brian. Good morning, Mayor. I want to preface my comments by saying that I'm really excited that at some point I'm going to be back in offices working with my coworkers, but I want to say that, especially after you said about Governor Cuomo, that these shouldn't be made for political purposes. The dialogue around this discussion feels like it's being made for the benefit of real estate, bringing office work – showing that like office workers should be back in these spaces and not out of scientifically grounded, best interests for the employees and the City of New York and to reduce the spread of [inaudible] new variants that may not respond to the virus. That's my comment. Thank you, Brian, for taking my call.

Lehrer: Thank you very much.

Mayor: Thank you.

Lehrer: And for listeners, context on this, Mr. Mayor, I would just add that –

Mayor: Yeah, please.

Lehrer: The commercial real estate industry has been pushing you to do this, bring city office workers back as quickly as possible to signal to all their tenants in their private Manhattan office buildings that they should go back and presumably keep those office buildings, rents, and property values high. So, why shouldn't somebody see this as more pro landlord, less pro-worker of a mandate?

Mayor: Yeah, well that's with all due respect, Brian, that's really reductionist. The real estate industry was pushing that months and months and months ago. And I said, when we believed it was the right thing to do, and the safe thing to do is when we do it. And for months, I said, we're not ready yet. We decided health care team and I, at the time I did my State of the City remarks that we would be ready by May. I gave the State of the City in January and we said, it's going to take till May, but by May, we are convinced we could do it right. And with all the health and safety measures, and you've seen with our schools, when you layer on masks and distancing and proper ventilation and all the other measures of cleaning, you can keep an environment very, very safe, and we can do that in our public offices.

But to Frederick's point, and I appreciate that Frederick prefaced with his excitement of coming back to work, and I appreciate your work as a public servant Frederick, we know we're going to get more done for people if folks are back in our offices. I can say that about City Hall. I can say that about every place. That they're having folks come back and person is going to make our work better, and we're here to serve people and it's time to do it because we can do it safely. That is a far cry from what the State did, for example, with the fitness classes, which again, the doctor said wholesale, that makes no sense. That's a mistake. That's dangerous, versus a public office setting where you can really control the environment, put all sorts of public health and safety measures into place, and do it the right way. We don't get to control what happens in an individual fitness class. We sure as hell do get to control what happens in our own public offices. So, I really think there's a world of difference here. We're going to do this in a way that's safe. And if anything changes in the overall environment with COVID, you know, on everything, we're going to keep reassessing and make decisions based on the data and the science.

Lehrer: How much permanent remote work do you plan to allow for city workers who have shown they can be as productive from home and prefer that option. Henry Garrido, the union leader for city employees, said on the show yesterday that in many cases the workers have been more productive from home. So, I guess the question is how much will you make permanent the option of – for some of them to do that, if they can do their jobs from home?

Mayor: Yeah, that's an important question, Brian, it's one we're looking at carefully. I would say, you know, we're open to some flexibility going forward, but it has to be done very carefully. I do agree there's times when people can be very productive from home, but I think overwhelmingly our experience has shown that people are most productive and most collegial, when they're in-person. I think a lot gets lost in translation in remote work. So, and again, our customers, the people in this city are going to want to do a lot of the things in-person and talk to a real human being in-person. That's a lot of the work that happens in our offices about serving people in need. So, you know, I want to be careful about that. I don't have a blanket statement for you. I will say, we're going to look at it, and we're open to some new approaches. But there's a world of difference between what can be done in-person and what can be done remotely. I still think that's important to keep front and center.

Lehrer: Thanks as always, Mr. Mayor, have a good weekend. Talk to you next week.

Mayor: Thank you. Take care now.

2021-03-29 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. It's a beautiful Monday morning in New York City, and it is a hopeful time, because we keep moving forward with our vaccination effort. This is the key to everything in terms of our comeback, getting the maximum number of New Yorkers vaccinated. Great news over the weekend, we started a huge effort with DC 37, AFSCME – a partnership with a union who represent so many of our City workers in a focused effort. To reach City workers, we were out at Citi Field. I want to thank Steve Cohen, and the Mets – everyone in the Mets organization, great partners in the vaccination effort. DC 37, Henry Garrido, and your whole team, thank you. This is a focused effort to reach City workers, those who serve us, make sure their vaccinated. We have a dedicated hotline for members of DC 37 and specific appointments that are being reserved for them. And this is key to bring them back our full workforce so they can do all that they do for us to keep the city moving forward. 

Now, as of today, this is just the folks we know about for sure, over 130,000 City employees have received a shot – 130,000. We know many more have received a vaccination that still hasn't been reported yet. We're looking forward to our City employees coming back to offices beginning on May 3rd, and we're going to have a focused effort from now until then to get the maximum number vaccinated, including, as we start folks back at their work sites, onsite vaccination efforts right there where they work. So, this is a big part of our recovery, bringing our City workforce back in full so they can serve us, help us all move forward. And this is part of what a recovery for all of us looks like – maximizing vaccination, everywhere we can, every way we can. 

Now, we have good news – that, last week, we set a new record for vaccinations. This is a great number. Number of doses reported last week, 478,000. Now, if you talk about a recovery for all of us, this is exactly what we've been saying we wanted to be able to do to reach that half-million a week number. We are right on the verge of it – 478,000 vaccinations last week in New York City, and we're ready to do more. We just need the supply. It's all about supply, supply, supply. We are proving every day, we've got the capacity, we've got the demand. We've got a great team of people out there vaccinating. We've got the sites. Get us supply and we can fly. 

So, here's the latest – from the beginning of the vaccination effort, we have now provided 3,840,976 vaccinations. We will be hitting 4 million this week, and this is really a fantastic progress. Special thanks to everyone at Department of Health, their hubs are now, combined, over half-a-million vaccinations they've provided alone. So, this is all moving the right direction. Supply is the key issue. We do expect a major boost in the federal supply soon, and that's going to allow us to get to whole new levels and move this thing forward. We are well on our way to our goal 5 million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. So, good news we're seeing just in the last few days. 

Now, to make the vaccination effort work, to make sure it is fully reaching the folks who are in the greatest danger, to address the inequalities that we saw come out in the coronavirus crisis, to focus on racial equity, we're making sure that the vaccination sites more and more are getting to the grassroots, more and more sites across the five boroughs at public housing developments, in houses of worship, at community centers. You see the new sites now on your screen that we've put together that are coming online now, including senior centers, community centers, you name it, but places where people have a deep connection and where they sense that they will be taken care of, where they feel trust. Those grassroots sites are going to make all the difference both in terms of reaching many, many thousands more New Yorkers, but also ensuring that there's equity in the process. So, a lot of new sites opening up. We're very excited about that. And we're looking forward to the supply coming in to match these new sites more and more. 

Now, our Asian-American communities have gone through so much. From the beginning, our Asian-American communities bore the brunt of this crisis in so many ways. Even before the worst hit New York City, we saw discrimination against Asian-Americans. We saw people avoiding Asian-American businesses, hurting their livelihood. And then we saw the coronavirus crisis last spring hit Asian-American communities very hard. Now, we see these horrible hate crimes and disgusting displays a bias. We've got a band together to stop Asian hate. We've got to support our Asian-American brothers and sisters in this moment, but we also have to recognize the challenge of COVID is still bearing down on Asian communities all over New York City. So, we are making a special effort to intensify vaccination efforts in Asian communities. Last week, a great example of this, we launched a vaccination site at the Korean Community Services Center in Northeast Queens. This is a site that does great work for the community and a site where a lot of people in the community trust and know the good people there, a site that's going to encourage people to come forward and get vaccinated. And I want to thank all of the community leaders, starting with Congress Member Grace Meng, who advocated for this site. Members of Congress, the Legislature, City Council, all pushing, let's get this site up and running. Well, now, it is up and running. Thank you for your advocacy. And Congress Member Meng believes in this site so much that she went there to get her coronavirus vaccination. And I believe we have Congress Member Grace Meng live from Korean Community Services in Queens. Congress Member, are you there? 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you. And, Congress Member, thank you. You've been a great partner and you constantly stay in touch, helping us all to know what we can do that will serve the community. And thank you also for being one of the leading voices not only in the city, but in the nation, standing up to the horrible hate attacks. Thank you for your leadership. And I know because of your leadership and so many other people standing up and we're going to – we're going to move forward together in solidarity with Asian communities. So, thank you very, very much. 

Congress Member Grace Meng: Thank you so much. 

Mayor: Well, everyone, you know, there's an example of – you know, the more of these grassroots sites we create, the more people are going to come forward to get vaccinated, the more comfortable they’re going to be. And, as the supply grows, this is so exciting to know we can get deeper and deeper to the grassroots. So, there's an example today of we know this is going to mean thousands more people get vaccinated and we're going to keep going, building more and more at the local level. 

Okay, let's go over today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report – it's a good one – 189 patients. Confirmed positivity is fairly high, 73.47 percent. Hospitalization rate, 3.99 per 100,000. So, kind of a mixed bag there. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 3,641 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19 – today's a report on a seven-day rolling average, 6.19 percent. 

I want to say a few words in Spanish on the vaccination effort. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Health Commissioner Chokshi, Dr. Jay Varma, and Dr. Ted Long. With that, we'll go to James from PIX-11. 

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Thanks for taking my call. 

Mayor: How are you doing, James? 

Question: You know, great – as you said, it is a beautiful day in New York, despite the high winds. First, allow me to ask this – this morning, the federal government extended the eviction moratorium that was set to expire at the beginning of April through June. Can you talk about how this can affect New York tenants to allow them to stay in their homes and also how it might affect New York property owners who are still possibly not collecting rents and what the city can do for both of those entities once this moratorium runs out? 

Mayor: It's an important question, James. And, look, first, I'd say – the moratorium, I'm glad it's been extended, and it should continue to be extended so long as we are still in the throes of a crisis and so many people are still not back to work. I'm really hopeful that the economy is going to move forward energetically in the course of this year. We expect hundreds of thousands of jobs to come back in New York City this year. So, I do think we're going to see change quickly. But, until we're really there, you've got thousands and thousands of people that just have – they just can't afford the rent, they just don't have an option. Obviously, I've said it many times, if you can afford to pay your rent, you should, because the folks who are trying to keep the buildings up do need the resources to do that. But if you can't pay, you can't pay, and we want to make sure people get to stay in their apartments. So, keeping the moratoriums in place long enough for folks to actually get their incomes back as crucial. What we can do is make sure that everyone gets full advantage of the different types of stimulus funding that are available. So, we're constantly working with people, whether it's tenants, or small businesses, you name it to make sure they get everything that is due to them. We can also help if there is ever a situation where someone is being wrongly evicted, they can call 3-1-1 and we can provide legal support. We're going to try and work through this, working with everyone involved. But I think the important thing is, keep people in their apartments. And one of the things I've called for on the State level is create legislation to – create a payment plan system where tenants who want to stay long-term, you know, want to make their commitments whole, that they have a way of doing a long-term payment plan so they can pay back rent over time and not ever have to worry about losing their apartment. Go ahead, James. 

Question: Thank you, Mayor. And back on the COVID front for a bit – first of all, congratulations on the number of vaccinations. But New York State – we're about to cross an unpleasant milestone, right, of 50,000 coronavirus deaths, and New York is second in the nation for highest number of coronavirus infections per capita. Can you talk about this contrast between getting more people vaccinated yet having this persistently high number, that may even be rising, of people with the virus? 

Mayor: It's a real important question, James. And look, first of all, it's been such a painful experience for all New Yorkers. This is a very somber milestone as you note, for the State of New York, 50,000 New Yorkers lost. I think it's a reminder to us to take this disease very seriously. I think it's a reminder to us that this isn't over yet, to follow the data and the science, to follow the precautions that health care leaders have been consistently telling us to follow, to not loosen up the wrong way. You know, we see in some other parts of the country, once again, decisions being made that are not about data and science. We got to make sure that decisions in New York are always made about by adherence to the data and the science. So, it's painful, but we do know what we have to do from this point on. We got to get the maximum number of people vaccinated, and we got to stick to the smart guidance that the doctors have given us until we're absolutely sure we've turned the corner. 

Moderator: Next is Kristen from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Kristen. How’ve you been? 

Question: I'm good. Thank you. Wanted to just talk about the announcement you just made. You know, I noticed that Staten Island is the only borough that isn't getting a new vaccination site this week. The other four boroughs are. And the South Shore is still without a City-run vaccination site. Can Staten Island expect one? 

Mayor: Absolutely. We have been working, our health team working with the Borough President and others to identify a South Shore site. We will have a South Shore site, absolutely. This is, as I've said to Kristen, supply, we are still not getting the supply we would like, but as supply continues to grow, we're going to go more and more to the grassroots. So, you can definitely expect additional sites all over the city, including Staten Island. And Kristen, just an update, just want to make sure I'm giving you the whole picture to your question about sites on Staten Island. The Ocean Breeze site went up last week, so that's going to reach more Staten Islanders. And at the Empire Outlets, we're expanding the number of doses we can provide. And that expansion will happen this week. So, we'll get you the details on that. But definitely more and more doses will be provided at Staten Island. And again, soon we will have that South Shore site as well. 

Moderator: Go ahead. Next is Shant from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey, Shant. 

Question: I wanted to ask about – hey, how are you? 

Mayor: Good. How are you doing? 

Question: Oh, hanging in there, hanging in there. I wanted to ask about vaccine eligibility, which is something you've obviously talked about a lot. The New York Times reported over – [inaudible] over the weekend that New York is one of the last states that hasn't yet provided a timeline for reaching universal vaccine eligibility by the May 1st deadline that the Biden administration has asked for. I wanted to ask, has your office had any communication at all with Governor Cuomo about that? And what do you make of the apparent delay that's going on? 

Mayor: We've heard from the State about the specific moves they've made, like the decision to set the bar at 50 years old, for example. Have not heard a clear timeline on going to pure universal. I still think – I think President Biden's right. I think May 1st is the right time to do that so that we can really focus as much energy as possible on folks in greatest need, seniors, folks with pre-existing conditions throughout the month of April. But whatever decision the State makes we're going to work with it. What I would say is a galling omission that has to be addressed right now is the fact that we have a profound need in this city, in this state to bring our court system back. We still do not have the right to vaccinate, the freedom to vaccinate jurors. And this is something I've been talking about for months. The State should right away give New York City the freedom to vaccinate jurors who are coming to serve in trials, so that we can restart our justice system. And we've got to show people that they will be safe. And obviously all the court officers, the DAs, everyone who serves in the court system, but I'm particularly concerned that jurors are not covered. And they should be covered immediately. Because this is one of the things that would help us achieve greater safety for the city overall, to get the justice system back up and running. So, that's a piece I think should be addressed very specifically immediately. But again, whatever decision the State makes on the bigger timeline we'll be ready. You can see the capacity is growing all the time here in the city. We'll be ready either way. 

Moderator: Next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you doing? 

Mayor: Good, Katie. How you been? 

Question: Good, not bad. 

Mayor: Did you enjoy Mr. and Mrs. Met? 

Question: Yes, I did. I only say them briefly and I still don't know if they've been vaccinated. We haven't been able to find out, I don't know what eligibility mascots are in. But my first question is about a reopening plan for City workers. There've been concerns from some City workers and even union leaders like Henry Garrido, who was at the Citi Field event on Saturday, who were concerned about the plan. Mainly how offices can be safe? What's been done? What hasn't been done inside offices? And as my colleague James noted with cases rising. So, would the City consider an official telework plan or any other kind of flexible schedule for employees? I know there is not currently a teleworking plan. 

Mayor: The way I would say it, Katie is we're going to take all the lessons we've learned from all the work that's happening in the City government, including the schools, and apply them to offices. So, there'll be distancing, mask wearing, cleaning, ventilation efforts. All of that will be happening, obviously a consistent effort to get people vaccinated. It's going to be a highly controlled atmosphere. And we will put limits on who, you know, how many people should be in the space at any given time. We do not have a formal telework policy. It is something that we're going to look at. But I think the crucial point is we're going to bring back people in a way that follows the rules that our health team has laid out for how to keep a workspace safe.

Moderator: Next is Amanda from Politico. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Hey Amanda, how you been? 

Question: I’m good. Thank you. I wanted to follow up on Shant’s question. So, last week, Scott Stringer and Mark Levine had proposed a plan that would call on lifting the eligibility for all New Yorkers in your 33 high-impact neighborhoods, to get those people vaccinated kind of ahead of the May 1st deadline to have everyone vaccinated. And I had asked them what power does the City have? And they had said they wanted the City to back them up on this and then go to the State. And so I was wondering if you've reviewed that plan or if you have any thoughts on trying to prioritize these neighborhoods before, you know, all New Yorkers can get vaccinated? 

Mayor: I'll certainly look at that plan and I appreciate very much the spirit in which it's offered. I would only caution that we've got a huge amount of demand in the 33 neighborhoods that we have delineated as where the impact of COVID was the harshest. We're seeing constant demand. What we're seeing is seniors and folks with pre-existing conditions. So much demand right now we obviously cannot keep up with it with the supply we have. So, the point I would make is, I do want us to keep focused on those who are most vulnerable first. But this is an interesting suggestion. It's a meaningful suggestion. We're certainly going to assess it. Go ahead, Amanda. 

Question: Great. Thank you. And then my second question is around vaccine passports. New York State rolled out something called an Excelsior Pass. And the idea is that it's a kind of a digital QRC code saying I got vaccinated, here it is. And I think it's supposed to help with reopening the economy. And I was curious what the City is planning with these vaccine passports, if there's any plans moving forward? I know Madison Square Garden, I think April 1st is going to say, you can show your vaccine card. And I wanted to know if there's some sort of like strategy around how these vaccine passports could work in the city? 

Mayor: Yeah. I'll start and I’ll turn to Dr. Varma on this because obviously this is something we've looked at what's happening around the world on this. Look, there's something there that could be really helpful. We have to see how it works in practice obviously, and make sure it functions well consistently. But the notion of having a way to verify could certainly be helpful for bringing back businesses, for events. But I think it's a little too soon to see – a little too soon to say how much it can be used and how much impact it would make. I think it's a step in the right direction, but we got to give it a little time. Dr. Varma, do you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah. Thank you very much for the question. And I concur with the Mayor that there's a couple of things all combined together. First of all, I do think that we're going to have to get to a world where there's proof of vaccination required for certain activities or events, and the best way to have that proof of vaccination would be to have it digitized. It's just going to be quite simply much easier for the person who has to verify vaccination status to use a digital technology, as opposed to examining paper records. The second is those vaccination whether you call them passports or certificates, would also have to be accompanied by some way to verify testing status as well, because we know some people won't be tested and the only way to – I'm sorry, it won't be vaccinated, and so the only way to ensure that those access rights are maintained and can work for people is to also have a pathway that allows for proof of a negative test. 

And so, I think that the New York State application has a tremendous number of opportunities in that regard. I think some of the challenges are that we know that those systems right now only work if you receive all of your services within New York State or within a laboratory that contributes to New York State. So, there really is a tremendous need for there to be federal standards for this. Because what we're going to know is, again, New York City thrives because it is the center of a large metropolitan area. And so, unless it can communicate with all of those other systems, it's going to take some time. So, I would say that it's definitely a step in the right direction. We are optimistic that these will become useful in the future. But we also really need federal standards so that this can be a system that can be applied to people that come to New York City, regardless of where they come from. 

Mayor: Thank you, Jay.

Moderator: We have time for two more. First, we'll go to David from Telemundo. 

Question: Hi. Good morning, Mayor. This is David Rodriguez from Telemundo 47. 

Mayor: Good morning, David. How are you? 

Question: Good, good. Happy Monday. 

Mayor: Yes, thank you. 

Question: During this week I know so many people are doing plans due to Holy week. At this point we have some cases, we still have to be cautious with that. I want to know which is your advice to the New Yorkers today, because we want to continue the fight against COVID-19 and, we don't want to have some more cases after this week. So, I want to see what’s your reaction about that. 

Mayor: Thank you, David. It's such an important question. I'm going to start, and I'm going to turn to someone with the same name, Dave Chokshi, in just a second for him to amplify as the city's doctor. But, David, you're asking such an important question. Look, everyone, we know it's Holy week. It's a very powerful, special time. Families gather, folks are looking forward to Easter. It's so important to understand, this is the last time we're going to be dealing with COVID the way we have for the last year. Every day we're making progress, but we're not there yet. It's still going to take some months to get as many people vaccinated as we need to, and really turn things around. So, during this holiday time, everyone should focus on safety. Still keep the gathering small, observe social distancing, wear a mask. Remember if you want to make sure it's a happy holiday, protect your loved ones. And if you want big gatherings again, I guarantee you'll be able to have them in just a year. So, it's just really about remembering we're still in the middle of this battle. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I really appreciate the way that you're framing this, and we'll just add, this is a week of reflection for so many, particularly as we continue to mark the one-year anniversaries of so much tragedy and suffering. And in order to honor that as well as what this week represents to so many people, I do hope that our advice will be taken to heart to try to prevent as much of that suffering going forward as well. Our practical advice revolves around what you've heard me talk about as the safe six – masking, maintaining a physical distance, hand-washing, staying home if you're ill, getting tested, and getting vaccinated when it's your turn. I'll just add a few notes to that that are particularly important as we continue to watch cases and the new variants with concern. 

First, as the Mayor has said, outdoors is always better than indoors. So, if you do want to have some type of event or gathering, outdoors will always be safer. Similarly, places and spaces where you can wear your mask consistently and properly, those are the ones that will also help ensure safety. And finally, smaller is better. Stay within your household as much as possible. You know, stay in groups that are in the single digits, you know, with respect to people who are getting together. And let's not forget the fact that testing has helped us ensure safety as well. So, keep getting tested this week and in the weeks to come. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. 

Moderator: Last, we'll go to Sonia from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, following up on something you just mentioned a short time ago, the freedom to vaccinate jurors. How could that work? Obviously, vaccine doesn't take effect right away, so that would require some planning. And if that planning can't happen should a qualifier for serving on a jury right now be haven't been vaccinated. 

Mayor: Look, Sonia, I think this is really about making it clear that we can have a court system that functions effectively. I mean right now so much of the courts are shut down and that's hurting all of our efforts to keep New York City safe. You're right that there is a lag time, but it's not a long time. With the Johnson & Johnson shot, you're talking about two weeks after the shot, you know, it takes full effect. And if we started to have a very specific effort to get anyone who hasn't yet been vaccinated, vaccinated, so they could serve on a jury, it would incentivize people, honestly, to serve. So, we're ready to, you know, put together the resources to make it happen. We want to work with the Office of Court Administration, but I think if you had it, it would really give people every reason to feel comfortable serving on a jury. And that's what we want right now. Go ahead, Sonia. 

Question: Thank you. And any update on how well the first week back at school went for high schoolers who returned and is there any data yet as far as testing? 

Mayor: Sonia, we had a great week, very smooth, tons of enthusiasm. I was out there with the Chancellor at her old school on the first day, and just incredible energy among the students and adults alike, the whole week went really well. Testing numbers we saw throughout the week, very consistent with what we've seen previously, really great numbers. And again, one of the safest places to be in all of New York City is in our public schools. And I want to thank everyone who continues to make that the wonderful reality in our schools. 

So, everyone, look, as we conclude today, I just want to emphasize for everyone, if you have not gotten vaccinated, as you could see, you heard this extraordinary number for this last week, we got very close to reaching half a million New Yorkers in one week. Going forward, we're going to be reaching even more. So, more and more people are coming forward, getting vaccinated. They're having a good experience. I talk to people all the time, including when I was at Citi Field on Saturday. And what people say consistently is the same thing. It was easy. It was fast. The folks who work at the vaccination sites are great, they're kind, they're compassionate. They make it a good experience. Please, if you have not yet been vaccinated, make a plan to get vaccinated. More and more locations are opening up all the time. More and more vaccine becoming available. It's getting easier. It's getting faster. Please do something good for yourself, for your family, for your neighborhood, for your city. Make a plan to get vaccinated. And that's how we all move forward. Thank you, everybody.

2021-03-30 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning everyone, and let me tell you, I started my morning on a very inspirational note. I was out in Brooklyn with the folks who are doing amazing work reaching homebound New Yorkers who need to be vaccinated. The nurses, the health care heroes, the FDNY leading the way organizing the effort, TLC drivers, want to thank all the taxi drivers who are a part of this heroic effort. It's amazing to see so many people committed to reaching homebound New Yorkers, folks who cannot get out of their homes, who are vulnerable, and what I said to these heroes this morning was you are reaching the most vulnerable New Yorkers. You're reaching the folks who are most scared, and their families are scared for them because they can't leave their home, but they deal with the threat of the coronavirus. They needed to know that somehow help would come and now help is arriving to really save lives. So, I just expressed my gratitude. These great folks are going literally home by home, apartment by apartment, making sure folks are vaccinated, spending time with them, making sure they're okay. I heard some of the stories from the nurses, just the sheer gratitude that seniors and other homebound folks felt that someone remembered them, someone cared about them, and went out of their way to show up. And this has been already an extraordinary effort, thousands, over 3,200 homebound New Yorkers have been vaccinated. We've made contact with thousands and thousands more to set up appointments, and throughout the month of April, we'll be out there going to people's homes, getting them vaccinated, helping make sure that everyone needs service in their home, gets it. And for other seniors and other folks getting them to vaccination centers or even bringing vaccination to the lobby of their buildings in some of the major senior buildings. We've got a variety of approaches, but they're all for the same goal, to reach everyone who needs a vaccination, everyone is ready for vaccination, particularly those who are most vulnerable. So, again, thank you FDNY, thank you to all the nurses, thank you to the TLC drivers. You're doing something amazing. 

Now, let me give you another amazing point on the overall vaccination numbers to date. We are damn close to the four million mark for vaccinations to date. As of this morning, 3,958,318 vaccinations have been given in New York City, and the number keeps growing constantly. We also are ready because we have the capacity. We have the vaccinators ready. We still need a hell of a lot more supply, I'll keep saying, but we're ready for the new rules that the State has determined. So, starting today, New Yorkers 30-years-old and up will be able to make appointments to be vaccinated on April 6th next week, that will expand to all New Yorkers 16-years-old and up. So, we will be ready. We believe in the freedom to vaccinate, but we need the supply. That is always going to be the message. We're hopeful in April the supply numbers are going to really go up and that's going to be fantastic. Again, well on our way to the goal of five million adult New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. 

Now, more and more good people and more and more companies, more and more nonprofits, so many organizations coming forward to help in the vaccination effort. And today I want to talk about a company that's really stepping forward to help make vaccination happening for their fellow New Yorkers. But I want to start by saying they're also investing in New York City. I really appreciate that. I mentioned this earlier this month that Google has made a decision – on top of a lot of previous investment in New York City – has made a decision to invest another $250 million expanding their footprint in New York City. We're really happy about that. We're really appreciative. That means more and more jobs from New Yorkers. That's going to help create a recovery for all of us. This kind of commitment to New York City is powerful, especially because we know the tech community has been crucial to what makes New York City great. And the tech community has done a great job of spreading out all over the five boroughs and hiring a New Yorkers from all walks of life, and I think the tech community is going to be a big part of our recovery, but also the tech community is committed to the vaccination effort, and Google is doing something very important, a new partnership between Google and the Hudson Guild to reach some of New Yorkers in greatest need, and this is residents of public housing. A new vaccination site will be set up on the West Side of Manhattan for residents of NYCHA buildings, for residents of Fulton Houses and Chelsea Elliot Houses specifically. They will get the priority. The site will be open next week, and that's wonderful onto itself that Google is making a priority of helping public housing residents, some of the folks who have been most vulnerable to the coronavirus, I want to express my appreciation for that. Also, Google's committing a million dollars to help the city to advertise a new vaccination sites that we keep bringing out, that we are doing more and more at the grassroots. This is going to be crucial, more and more grassroots vaccination sites means more and more New Yorkers feel comfortable getting vaccinated, easier places for people to get to, Google's going to help us get the word out. I want you to hear from the Chief Health Officer from Google, and I want to express again my gratitude on behalf of all New Yorkers, this is going to help us immensely. My pleasure to welcome, Dr. Karen DeSalvo. 

[…] 

Thank you so much, Dr. Desalvo, and I want to thank you, you're right that we have to meet people where they are, and that means getting them the information they need answering the questions. A lot of people have fair, legitimate questions, and they need people to listen and to answer, but also making vaccine available right where they live. That's been a difference maker. So, thank you. Really appreciate your commitment. Thank you to Google. Thank you to Hudson Guild. And doctor, I think you'd agree, on our path to five million fully vaccinated New Yorkers, it's one person at a time, and every person we reach helps us reach the next. So, can't thank you enough. 

Okay, let's go to today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 186 patients. That's a good number. Again, we'll keep watching that closely, but that's a good number today. Confirmed positivity, 54.64 percent. Hospitalization rate, 3.94 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on seven-day average – today's report, 3,591 cases. Number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19 – today's report, on a seven-day rolling average, 6.15 percent. 

Let me do a few words in Spanish, and I want to go back to the topic of spring cleanup. This is a topic that's going to make us all happy. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all. We’ll now begin out Q-and-A. With us today is Commissioner Grayson, Commissioner Chokshi, Dr. Jay Varma, and Dr. Ted Long. With that, we'll go to Juan Manuel from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Juan Manuel. How have you been? 

Question: Very good. Thank you. Mayoral Candidate Andrew Yang is asking you to save most of the federal stimulus funds – about 70 percent of those funds for the next administration. What are your thoughts, your reaction to that? 

Mayor: I'd say a couple of things, Juan Manuel. First of all, the way the stimulus funding is structured, it is doled out some this year, some a year from now. So, it's structured to be released over time. The other thing I'd say is, the nature of stimulus – I'm someone who believes we've learned the lesson of history. When in distress, use stimulus to bring things back, to recover, to stimulate the economy and move us forward. So, we need to use the resources we have now to really get New York City back on its feet. That recovery has to happen very strongly in 2021, to set up a better 2022 and 2023. So, we'll be careful, as always. We'll be fiscally responsible, as always. But the nature of a stimulus is to stimulate a recovery.

Moderator: Next is Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, Juliet. How are you? 

Question: I'm okay. Thank you. You know, I wanted to ask about variants and re-infection rates. Are Health Department officials measuring that at all? Or what role the variants are playing in reinfection rates? 

Mayor: It's a very good question, Juliet. And, boy, this is a question that goes back to early on in this crisis. I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma. We still know that there's a lot we don't know about COVID – remember, that COVID is still a very, very new disease in the human experience. And this question of reinfection has been one for months and months we've all been talking through. I think what we can say is that we don't see a lot of evidence of reinfection from the beginning of this crisis. And we also can say that we're always concerned about variants, but that's still, to this hour, the number-one fact about variants that the vaccines do work in addressing the variants. And the number-one thing we can do is get the most people vaccinated. So, those are some basic truths, but I would also say the science keeps developing, literally, you know, week-by-week, day-by-day, and we'll keep adjusting as we get more information and talking about it as we get more information. With that, let me turn to Dr. Chokshi first. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. And you covered the high points exactly right. What we know both from our experience, as well as the science that is evolved around the world is that reinfection is possible, but it appears to be relatively rare, at least based on our understanding thus far. There are some of the variants, particularly the B-1351 and P-1 variant, those are the ones first identified in South Africa and Brazil, respectively, that do appear to be able to evade our immune response more so than some of the other variants of the virus. And so, that's something that we are following closely and there appears to be evidence that people who get those variants are more at risk of reinfection, even if they've had COVID-19 in the past. With all of that said, you know, based on our own observation here in New York City, including the variant that was first identified here in the city, we're not seeing a greater likelihood of reinfection from that particular variant or the likelihood of reinfection growing over time. So, this is something that we're continuing to follow very closely, and we'll keep everyone updated if our understanding changes. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Dr. Varma? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Yeah, thank you very much for this important question. I think Dr. Chokshi and the Mayor covered a lot of the important issues. I think there's two that I just want to go into just briefly, a little bit more detail about. One is what Dr. Chokshi said about the analyses that we're doing. Just to reassure you, this is an analysis that the team at the Health Department and we as the, sort of, health care leadership review weekly. We look and compare percentage of cases that either had a prior antibody test before, or had a prior PCR test before, because we really do want to understand better about these areas and whether or not they are more likely to cause reinfection and people [inaudible] before. And as Dr. Chokshi has said, we don't see that signal in our analyses to-date, but it's something we need to continue to analyze, because there have been reports from other parts of the world that new variants do cause that problem. And then, the second point that I would raise is that we're starting to learn a lot more from laboratory studies also to really emphasize why vaccination is so important. It does appear that when you look at the data from the – at least from what we know now from the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines, is that it really does increase both the quantity and quality of your immune response. That is, you have more protection, you know, for any given virus and it also covers a broader range of viruses. So, it's really just another reason why we really want people to get immunity through vaccination and not through infection. 

Mayor: Great. Thank you. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay, great. Thank you. My other question involves just people who are trying to access the online portal to get the appointment. I'm just hearing from people that it's still very difficult. Is there any way to work that out or get out the kinks or streamline it? You know, you have to sort of re-do or re-put in your information every time you want to make the appointment. Is there any way that that can be sort of logged in, so that it doesn't have to be repeated again? 

Mayor: It's a really good question. It's something I have raised – great minds think alike, Juliet. I've raised this too. I, again, do appreciate that everyone in our team has been trying to work this through with the huge disadvantage of trying to bring a lot of different health care providers together into one system, and that's been part of the challenge here. If it was all just one agency, this would be a whole different discussion, but it's made complex by the fact that we're using so many different providers in so many different places. 

I want to remind everyone – I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, who can speak a little more to this – but I want to remind everyone, you can go to vax4nyc.nyc.gov, and that's how you can book a reservation for an appointment, or you can call 877-VAX-4NYC, and again, it's not perfect by any stretch, but we've had almost four million vaccinations. So, something is working for a lot of people, thank God. But Dr. Chokshi, we obviously are continuing to try and update and improve and Juliet's point is well-taken, make it easier for people and less repetitive. What can you tell us about those efforts? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thanks Juliet for this important question. Our goal is indeed for today to be a better experience than yesterday and for tomorrow to be even better than today, and I'm very grateful to our information technology colleagues who have really made strides over the last several weeks to make it a more seamless experience, not just the ease of being able to book an appointment, but language access, you know, ensuring that that it is available to New Yorkers who speak a different language other than English, and also to people who may be less internet proficient, and so that call center number that the mayor mentioned, 877-VAX-4NYC, is another really important part of it. We continue to bring on more providers onto the central scheduling platform that our, IT colleagues have been able to build, and that that really does help eliminate some of the redundancy that you're alluding to, and we'll continue to seek ways to capture information from people who are trying to book an appointment so that they're able to get matched up with an appointment when one becomes available. So, stay tuned for some other enhancements related to that in the coming days and weeks. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Next is Arthur from FOX 5. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. I hope everybody is well. My question is regarding COVID. The City went from the worst numbers in the country, and through the hard work of everyone, including your office went to the one of the best infection rates in the country, and now again, we're falling back to being one of the worst, and while we're asking people to redouble their efforts, the weather's getting warmer. People don't like wearing masks. We're seeing a lot of people without masks, both in the subway system, a higher percentage of them, and on the street. Is the City prepared to do what it needs to do to encourage better behavior, whether it's real consequences for people not wearing masks, because sometimes just asking apparently is not enough? 

Mayor: Look, I think it's a fair question, Arthur. But I would like to recognize the same realities that brought New York City back from being the epicenter. They still exist. Meaning the vast majority of New Yorkers are observing the guidance that they've been given by the health care leadership. Folks – I understand there's a lot of fatigue having been through this crisis, but I still want to note how many people are following the rules are trying to protect each other and are getting vaccinated, and this is the number one piece. You know, today at the point where we're almost at four million vaccinations, we will get to the five million fully vaccinated New Yorkers by June. That's the number one factor here, continuing to expand vaccination, getting more supply, getting people who were previously hesitant in, and we definitely see a reduction in the hesitancy Arthur, and that's crucial more and more people willing to get vaccinated. So, I think we can redouble a number of our efforts to educate people, to distribute masks. There's a lot we can do before we think about adding additional consequences. I think it's about the positive tools, getting people vaccinated, educating people, getting the masks out there, and we're going to continue to do that. 

Moderator: Next is Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: I am doing well, Henry. How’ve you been? 

Question: I am good. Baseball season is just days away. 

Mayor: Days away. It's palpable. It's in the air, Henry. 

Question: The Red Sox first loss of the season just days away. 

Mayor: Ouch, Henry. That's awfully personal, Henry. Let's just be a – what's the word I'm looking for – a good loser, a good winner, not a sore winner, whatever it is. 

Question: All right. Well, my first question is really, you know, these numbers are very stubborn on infection rates, positivity. I've asked this question a million times and others have too, but has the City's priorities shifted toward really caring about hospitalization and death rather than looking at the numbers of cases and the positivity rate? Are those indicators really kind of falling by the wayside, as vaccinations increase? What is the reality here? 

Mayor: It's a great question. You know, you have raised it and I think I felt like we spoke to this over time, but it's good to come back to it. I think there was a, and I’ll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi, and I also will get Dr. Long in this because of the experience that we're seeing in Health + Hospitals, which is really, really important to your question. 

Henry, simply put, job one has been to save lives, from the very beginning. We knew in the beginning what we didn't know, right? COVID was so new, the approaches in the hospitals just weren't ready and the immense stress on the hospital system, and, and we were trying with everything we could to just keep the hospital system able to tend to people and save lives. But when we got a year later to the point where the hospitals, the medical world had really learned a lot more about how to address COVID, we saw a very different reality. We saw people go into the hospital and come out alive much more often, thank God, and we did see the number of deaths go down and we saw very, very different reality, and that's the most important thing, is saving lives. We take seriously the case numbers, for sure. We want to drive them down, and the best tool to drive him down is vaccination, and then the next best thing is all the following all the guidance that that health team has given. That still is overwhelmingly what New Yorkers are doing. So, I think we take both seriously, but undoubtedly, we start with, you know, saving lives and avoiding the kinds of hospitalizations that mean someone's going through a really, really tough time. So, Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Long, just let's do lightning round, but give your quick responses. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, I mean, this is obviously – it's a very hard and difficult topic to discuss, but let me just say a few really quick points. One is, you know, Henry, as you know, none of these indicators is absolutely perfect and that's why we have always emphasized the importance of looking at all of them together, and as you note, this is –we are at a very high plateau that we want to get down from, and there are ways to get down from that, and one is to make sure that people continue to do all of those personal measures that are important. Number two, they get vaccinated when it's their turn, and number three, they continue to get tested and to observe you know, the precautions, if they do take risks or, you know, enter into the situation where they're traveling or something to continue to emphasize those precautions, particularly in those higher risk scenarios. 

I think the second point is that, you know, one of the most effective ways that we can prevent death is through vaccination. I think what has really been consistent throughout all of the different vaccines has been the remarkable impact that they have on hospitalizations and deaths. So, we absolutely to continue to prevent infection through all the methods that we know, but we also know that the vaccines are going to be very effective at that more severe outcome. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll just add briefly you know, as the Mayor said, our job at the end of the day is to save lives and prevent suffering, and that's why we do look at hospitalizations and deaths so closely and carefully and deploy all of the strategies that Dr. Varma mentioned to try to prevent those numbers from rising, and you know, we see the numbers every morning. We think about them not just as epidemiologists or, you know, from the mathematical perspective, but the very human suffering that is behind each of the 2,600 people who are hospitalized across New York City as of today. But that leads to the other part of your question, which is we do look at cases and test positivity because those are also related to avoidable suffering that we are trying to prevent. Cases and test positivity in particular, are often the leading indicator, meaning we have a beat on what's happening sooner when we see the trajectory of those numbers. So, we look at all of them together but they inform, at the end of the day, the strategy that we have to try to avoid those outcomes that we take so seriously. 

Mayor: Thank you, and Dr. Long, you can speak for what's happening in the hospitals directly. 

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test & Trace Corps: Yeah, thank you, sir. So, Henry going back to the last March and April, I was on the front lines of our hospitals where we quadrupled the size of our ICU's. We cannot go back to that. So, what we've done here, with respect to the second wave in the city, is we've sought to delay and diminish the number of cases that we're seeing here in the second wave, if you will, and that's resulted in us being able to save lives, but also importantly, to Dr. Chokshi's point, keeping our hospitals going so they can continue to provide the excellent care that we know that they can. Through our second wave, we actually have had in New York City, one third fewer per capita that's of New Yorkers think compared to the rest of the country, and that's because again, New Yorkers came together, wore their masks. 96 percent of the time we're reaching every single new case from a contact-tracing perspective. 
Now we’re doing more testing than almost any other country in the world. Those things came together to delay the onset of our second wave, diminish its peak, and that resulted in saving lives, and in particular, by keeping our hospitals going. You walk into the door of any of our hospitals now at Health + Hospitals, it looks different than it did last March and April. And it will continue to look different because of what New Yorkers do and are willing to sacrifice every day. Now, on a note of cases, I just want to make the point that it's not an issue of whether cases are more important than hospitalizations and deaths, but rather it's Dr. Chokshi’s point, they serve a different purpose. Where we see cases going up, that enables us to strategically deploy our resources. We see cases going up, testing going down in the community. I, and Test and Trace, have 40 mobile units, all of which have rapid testing capabilities. 20, soon to be 40 mobile units, with vaccines. We can deploy our resources where we need to, and that also helps us to break chains of transmission and save lives. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you, Ted. 

Moderator: Next is Nolan from the Post. 

Question: Hey, good morning everybody. 

Mayor: Hey, Nolan, how you been? 

Question: I'm alright, excited that the designated hitter will not be returning to the National League. 

Mayor: Oh, Nolan, Nolan, wait a minute. That's too controversial. Come on, be a modernist, Nolan. 

Question: No, baseball should be played the way God intended it. 

[Laughter] 

You have repeatedly promised to release data about how many kids are getting in-person education in city schools. You declared that the Post reporting on the subject isn’t accurate, even though it was based on documents we obtained from the DOE. So, when are you going to put these reports out? 

Mayor: As we get information. Again, we'll – you're talking about a couple of different things. What I talked about the other day was the attendance levels, where that report was not accurate. But on the question that you've raised previously also about the different types of education happening in schools, as we get information, we'll put it out. I'm very comfortable with that. Go ahead, Nolan. 

Question: All right. So, there's still no deadline there for putting out that information. Why won’t you set one? And then on a separate and unrelated topic, which gets back to sort of the high plateau of the coronavirus levels, you have said, and the health experts here have said, that one of the reasons that the levels are elevated is because we've been relaxing those restrictions. Typically, which restrictions do you guys feel have been the most responsible, the lifting of which restrictions you do you feel are the most responsible for keeping the case level elevated? 

Mayor: Nolan, I'd say it simply, I don’t – I think it is less about just relaxing restrictions and more we're all concerned that people are fatigued and that, obviously, there's going to be a temptation to not follow the rules as closely as possible, or in some cases to be overconfident once one is vaccinated. That's why we keep saying, we want people to at least through June stick to all the simple rules, the mask wearing, the social distancing, et cetera. On the restrictions concerns, I've been vocal as has our health care leadership. We think the decision on the fitness classes was a mistake. Been very clear we should not go farther on indoor dining. 50 percent is enough for the foreseeable future. And we'll watch a number of the other decisions about gatherings and gathering places. We're going to watch those very closely. So, I think in all of these cases we want to watch what the data is telling us. We want to see what Test and Trace is seeing, and if we think something needs to be further adjusted, we'll say it. Go ahead.

Moderator: Last, we'll go to Gersh from Streetsblog. 

Question: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I appreciate again, playing the cleanup role here. Your discussion of the designated hitter rule is appalling to me and I share Nolan's concerns about that. And I hope [inaudible] – 

Mayor: Wait a minute, Gersh, you're a traditionalist? 

Question: Yes, am. Yes, I am. I do not believe that designated hitter role should play a role in modern baseball. 

Mayor: Gersh. I will – we'll get to the topic at hand, but I'm saying if you want an automatic out every nine hitters, that's your choice. If that's what you want, God bless you. 

Question: Part of the game, part of the game. 

[Laughter] 

Anyway. So, I've got to go to a different topic though, not the designated hitter rule though, I’m still stunned by that. So, Manhattan Borough Pres– this is going back to Open Streets. I spoke to Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer yesterday, and she had put out a report about a week ago called the Future of Open Streets, which strongly argues that the City needs to do more than what you did last week, which was basically announcing new application process, but that you actually need to redesign many of these Open Streets so they don't need volunteers, that maybe the barriers are retractable for example, or they’re simply remapped as park land so they can be rebuilt into linear parks. She's got one on Pleasant Avenue that she says is the best in the city. Obviously, the people on 34th Avenue in Queens, beg to differ. Their Open Streets is [inaudible] all day long. So, what do you think about the idea of actually – because we've talked about this, Mr. Mayor, of actually taking a few of these Open Streets and making real demonstration projects in the form of, you know, extensively parks that work for people all the time, rather than just moving gates all day long? 

Mayor: Well, Gersh, I would say, look, one, although I understand what you're saying, I would say Open Streets have been extraordinary. I don't think it's something we should minimize. Yeah, there's logistics that have to go with it, but you know, it's an idea that's really worked. And in the current form, it's offered a lot of opportunity for people to be outdoors and have a very positive experience. But it also offers us some flexibility. I think we're going to be looking more and more at the future of the city in terms of having as much open space as possible. Sometimes it's going to be done in a temporary way. Sometimes it will be done in a permanent way. We should look at all of it. But what we do know is a lot of changes are happening in the streetscape and that's for the good. Open Streets have worked. Open Restaurants have worked. More and more, we're going to be using our space differently. This is a beginning, but I think there's lots of potential going forward. So, we're looking at a lot of options and I will not make news before it's time, but we continue to look at a lot of different options. 

And with that, everybody, look, you know, we started out talking about making this city cleaner and greener. All of these pieces actually are connecting nicely. What we're doing with Open Streets, what we're going to be doing with congestion pricing. All of this is about a greener city, for sure, a healthier city, but also, we want a cleaner city. So, I'm going to say what I have said before, always remember the unsung heroes out there. When you see someone from the Sanitation Department, thank them for the amazing work they do for us every day. They often don't get the credit they deserve, but we rely on them, thank them. And also, you're going to see a lot more in our cleanliness efforts, community cleanups, litter basket collections, City Cleanup, Corps coming. This is going to be a big part of bringing the city back and a big part of A Recovery for All of Us. Thank you, everyone.

2021-03-31 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. I want to talk to you about the latest vaccination update. And I've said that when we talk about a recovery for all of us, the number one element of the recovery is to ensure the maximum number of vaccinations as quickly as possible. So today, good news, we have passed the four million vaccination mark. Over four million vaccinations have been given in New York City since this effort began. The exact number, 4,058,854 doses have been given. And I've always tried to give you some context of how that compares to the total population of major American cities, when we started doing this toward the end of January, we talked about surpassing the total population of Boston. Then we talked about other cities along the way, Phoenix, Houston, Chicago, some of the biggest cities in the country. Well, here's the comparison now. We have now surpassed four million vaccinations, that's more vaccinations than the total population of Los Angeles, California, to give you a sheer sense of the extent here, because we're New Yorkers, sometimes we hear big numbers, and it kind of goes right by us because we're so used to doing everything big around here. Think about that though, as many doses given as the total population of L.A., and we're going to be going farther, going forward, we'll start comparing to state populations since we've run out of other cities to compare. Now, the good news is we continue to expand our capacity, more and more sites coming online, more and more grassroots sites, more staff, everything's clicking, we need the supply. So, I'm going to keep hammering away on this point. We need the supply. We need the flexibility so we can reach our goal and we will reach our goal, five million fully vaccinated New Yorkers by June. So, this is the way forward. 
 
All right, we're going to go to what we talk about every single day, our indicators and our fight against the coronavirus. So, first, number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 237 patients. Confirmed positivity level, 61.48 percent. Hospitalization rate, 3.83 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,461 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report, on a seven-day rolling average, 5.93 percent. Now, I want to say a few words in Spanish, and I'm going to go back to the police reform we just discussed. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Ted Long, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. Sydney Pereira from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I want to ask about vaccine equity among Black and Latino New Yorkers. The gaps, the racial gaps in vaccinations have improved slightly for Latino and Black residents in the city, but still not by that much. It's like three or four percent. And I'm wondering, in Philadelphia there was an implementation of walk-in appointments at the FEMA vaccine sites. And early results show that that improved the diversity of who was getting vaccinated. I know there's some walk-in options for older New Yorkers at City sites, but do you think more vaccines sites should move towards walk-in options to address racial equity issues with the vaccination rollout? And if so, which ones? And obviously there are State sites. So, I'm wondering if you've talked to the State you know, the Governor and State health officials about this issue to speed up closing these racial gaps?

Mayor: Thank you for the question Sydney. It's something we talk about all the time, we care about deeply. There is definitely progress. There's progress because we put the overwhelming majority of the vaccination sites in the communities that were hit hardest by COVID and where people of color and immigrant New Yorkers could best access vaccination and with community-based organizations, with houses of worship. That's made a huge difference. We're going to keep deepening that strategy as we get more and more supply. So, that really, to me is the number one thing. We're also seeing hesitancy start to reduce. We all know Sydney, there was a big difference in hesitancy levels between white New Yorkers and New Yorkers of color. We are seeing that now, start that gap to close. We're seeing less and less hesitancy in communities of color, especially as people experience the vaccine, members of their family, neighbors, et cetera, have a good experience. So, I'm very hopeful on the overall.

We are experimenting now, a pilot program with the walk-up vaccinations focusing on the oldest New Yorkers. But I think your point is well taken. If we see this approach starting to work, it's something we'd be open to doing more in a targeted manner. But we're – we have to pilot it first. Because there are always concerns about making sure it works effectively, that it doesn't end up with long lines. You don't want that for a lot of reasons. So yes, we're going to pilot it and see if it could be helpful. And yes, we are going to see if it might contribute to achieving more equity as well.

Moderator: The next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Katie. How are you doing?

Question: Oh, you know, not bad. I wanted to ask if you have any information or any specifics again on this May 3rd reopening? I've heard from multiple City employees who say, what you're saying on TV is not what they're seeing. The infrastructure improvements, the HVAC improvements, do you have a cost estimate? I know that we have that when schools were kind of retrofitted to allow for schools. But do you know how much the City has spent so far on these infrastructure improvements to allow for cleaning and particularly air flow in – once employees return?

Mayor: Katie, it's a great question. I will make sure that our team gets you – I don't have it at my fingertips, but gets you the latest. Now it's to be fair, we've learned so much about how to do this. And I think our office settings are places where we – it's a very straightforward approach. You know, how many people you want in one place, everyone keeping on their mask, making sure the ventilation is good, making sure there's regular cleaning. We have a pretty good game plan. And we're still talking another five weeks or so until folks start to come back. But we'll get you a sense of the costs involved and how it's progressing. But I feel very confident we can do this safely. Go ahead, Katie.

Question: And following up on that, I know you said you've learned so much from the schools reopening, so will there be like we've seen in schools, a situation room? Is there a policy on closures if someone at an office, if there's more than one positive case? Will there be weekly testing? Just more information on that?

Mayor: Yeah, and we will be saying a lot more as it gets closer. I think the central point – it’s a great question, is we of course want a clear mechanism and a well coordinated mechanism for ensuring if there's anything that needs to be addressed, that is done promptly. Situation room was created for a very different reality with 1,600 schools and, you know, very, very challenging logistics. Again, our City office buildings, that's a much more finite universe. So, we'll talk about how we're going to handle those individual situations. But I think it's a very good point you're raising and we will go through it in one of the press conferences, laying out the details of how we're approaching it as it gets closer.

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call.

Mayor: Good morning, James. How you've been?

Question: Not bad, thank you. Not bad. And I appreciate you taking my call. This may be something of a follow-up to the previous question. Look, Pfizer is now saying that it has 100 percent efficacy for vaccines for children, age 12 to 15. And there are trials going on for children six months to 12 years old. With this new information, how might that impact the full reopening of schools? Maybe even without the three feet social distancing or with it, but if you could say what preparations you all are making noting that there is this new information and more expected to come out regarding vaccination for children?

Mayor: I think this news from Pfizer falls under the category of it's all good. I mean, this is really great to hear. It just gives us more tools and more ability to keep moving forward. I'm going to turn to Dr. Varma, who's been very deeply involved in all of our efforts around schools from the beginning. But let me say it this way. You know, I think what this means is we're just going to see more and more people vaccinated as we go forward, particularly looking to September. There's still a lot to be done, you know getting through the whole approval process and then vaccination starting to happen is its own reality. But every time we hear that vaccinations work with another age group or that new vaccines are coming, anything that gives us more capacity helps us move forward. But we already know James, our schools are the safest places to be in New York City right now. And that was true before there was widespread vaccination. So, it only will get better with more and more vaccination. And we are already planning for September to bring all our kids back, for everyone who's ready to come back. But this'll, you know, as this progresses, it just makes it better. Dr. Varma?

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much for the question. And just to echo what the Mayor has said about the results. You know, these are ultimately verified when they're presented to the FDA. This is just extraordinary news. I mean, to be quite frank, I literally almost dropped my phone when I saw how impressive the data was that Pfizer released. It's amazing and incredibly important news. And it's important for a couple of reasons. One, you know, the long-term quest is us for it to get to a level where a large enough percentage of the population is protected so that we can go back to living the way we normally can. And so, anytime we can expand the group of people that's eligible, that’s just absolutely great news for all of us. Number two, as you know, it's going to have a really big and important impact on our schools. It may be challenging of course, for this current school year. Again, remember that you know, first of all, the vaccine data has to be presented to the FDA. They have to authorize it. Then people have to be willing to accept it. And then of course there is that timeline, it takes about three weeks between your first and second dose, and then at least another two weeks for you to, for you to take effect. So, we are looking, I think probably more at the summer for us to really accrue the benefits, kind of as a whole society and then of course, as it relates to our schools. But absolutely this is really tremendous news, and it may have a really important impact on what happens with school protocols in the fall. I think we're just going to have to wait and see you know, as we get all the final data and as we pull it all together, what that exactly means.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, James.

Question: Congratulations for passing the four million threshold for dosages. But can you put this in terms of people? I mean, how many New Yorkers are fully vaccinated? How much further do you have to go? And also knowing what you do about supply, how soon might we realistically see every New Yorker who is eligible and wants to get vaccinated, actually get the vaccine?

Mayor: Okay. So, James, first of all, we are going to start talking more and more about how we are moving toward our goal of five million fully vaccinated New Yorkers by June. To date, of course one of the challenges has been the difference between the folks who take the two-dose approach and those who take the one dose with Johnson & Johnson. But we're going to increasingly capture that information and provide it so you can track our progress. The overall reality is we're confident, absolutely confident about hitting that five million mark in June. Now where is the natural end point potentially? And I'll get Dr. Varma to weigh in here too. I think we have seen that, first of all, supply wise, we unquestionably, we proved it last week. We can do half a million doses a week. We can probably do substantially more than that. So long as we have supply, we'll just keep expanding. We're hearing good things about the April supply levels. We're hearing that there could be really extraordinary supply in May. So, that says to me, going into May, going into June, it's going to be easier and easier for people to get a shot. Where do we get to a point where there's more shots than people want them? I don't know yet. I think my hope is that hesitancy keeps decreasing and as supply increases, more and more people get the shot more and more people know people who got the shot, it went well. They think, hey, maybe it's time for me to do it. You know, hesitancy goes down, down, down. There's always another person to give a shot to. My sense is that we'll continue certainly through the summer. But let's hear Dr. Varma’s assessment.

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, I actually, I concur exactly with the Mayor. I mean, I think what we know from vaccine programs that go back many decades here in the United States and the experience overseas is that you know, getting good acceptance of a vaccine is not an immediate process. We, you know, obviously we've all been through this incredibly traumatic time that none of us have ever experienced our life. So, we are seeing really good uptake right now. It gets everybody to understand, this is a way to protect yourself. This is the way for us to all get back out of this. But we also know that people have appropriate questions. They are skeptical for any of the number of reasons. And we know this with all vaccines that it does take time to get to that point. So, I think as the Mayor has noted, five million I think it's a very good, acceptable target for us to think about a time when enough of the population is protected, that our health system is safe. That the number of people who are at risk of dying has declined dramatically. And we will start to see lower levels of disease. So, I think that's a really good sort of intermediate end point. And then the longer-term end point is to work on hesitancy over time. And it's going to take all of us to do that. You know, we have to be vaccine ambassadors ourselves because there's going to be friends and family members that have questions and we need to show them, well, we got vaccinated, this is why. What are your concerns? And us, try to address them on an individual basis and continue to do that at a population level.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Odalys Molina from Telemundo.

Question: Oh, hello. I'm sorry.

Mayor: Odalys, can you hear us?

Question: Yes. Hi Mayor. How are you doing? I'm surprised.

Mayor: How are you doing?

Question: Thank you so much for – I'm doing great Mayor. I'm doing great. I have a question for you, and this is regarding, this is regarding the vaccine. About the vaccination, how will the program or protocol will work for those 16 years and older to get vaccinated starting in April? Could you go over that?

Mayor: Yes, absolutely. I'll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Long. So, you're right. Next week, in fact folks 16 and up will qualify. And you know, I think that even though it's going to be a new group of people, it doesn't change the basics of the process. So, Dr. Varma, Dr. Long, you want to speak to that?

Executive Director Ted Long, Test and Trace Corps.: Sure. I appreciate the question. It's really important for everybody to know and feel comfortable with how to make appointments. So, the same way that today, if you are eligible, you can go to our website or to call our number, VAX4NYC. Those opportunities will be made available the same way for people 16 and above when they're eligible for the vaccine next week. One thing I'll note is that the Pfizer vaccine is the one that is available for people 16 and above. So, when you call or go on our website, it's clearly demarcated, which sites have that vaccine in case you're 16 or 17 years old, so you can know what site you should be going to.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Odalys.

Question: There are talks about the fourth wave due to the increase of the new numbers of COVID cases in the nation, plus a different variant reported. What is the plan for New York City looking ahead? Can you talk a little bit about that or share more information?

Mayor: Yeah. Odalys, look I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Varma. We take the situation very seriously. And again, what we decided long ago is the only way to make decisions is by being led by the data and the science. We are watching these numbers every day, every hour to discern what kind of moves we need to make. Overall look, thank God we have seen the situation in the hospitals improve markedly. We've seen fewer deaths, but we're still really concerned about number of cases. We're still really concerned about the impact of the variants. So, we adjust constantly. Where I would keep saying there is a concern, is some of the decisions that the State is making. I think some of them are premature. Certainly, the fitness classes were an example of that. I'm concerned about the decision that they made about indoor athletics for colleges. Again, we think athletics should be focused on outdoor activities for the foreseeable future while we see how the variants play out. So, I think there's some decisions that are taking us a little too quickly into areas that, it is just premature. That would be my concern. But I think if we stay careful and cautious, we can navigate this because the pace of vaccination is so intense. That's the good news. And we think it's going to jump up a lot in April as more supply comes. Dr. Varma, do you want to add?

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, thank you very much. I, you know, to echo what the Mayor has said, you know, we are still in you know, coming down off this second wave of ours. And unfortunately, we are not seeing the declines that we really want to see. So, we remain very concerned. I think our health care system has proven to be incredibly resilient. But what our real concern is people getting sick and people dying. And we need to do everything we possibly can to prevent that. Vaccines are the most powerful tool to achieve that. But they take time. It takes time to receive the vaccines. It takes time for your body's immune system to be fully protected. So, in that interim period, we have to double down on all of the measures that we've been taking for this past year. The reason it's called pandemic fatigue is because it is hard. It's hard for all of us emotionally, physically to stay in this. But we need people to keep wearing masks, getting tested, maintaining distance, washing their hands, and staying away from others. If they happen to have symptoms. There is a very real possibility that you know, we can be completely out of this you know, within another six to eight weeks of very aggressive vaccination. But we do run a risk of having a resurgence if we relax some of those measures of safety that we know work so well.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Abu from Bangla Patrika. 

Question: Hello, Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Hey, Abu. How you been? 

Question: Good. Thank you so much for, you know, asking. Mayor, I have a question which is about the first, about the vaccine that the people who are taking the vaccine, took the vaccine, but they are still infected. And, you know, people have questioned whether which one is good, which one is bad. Is there any definition of the Johnson, Moderna and you know, the other [inaudible] any kind of difference? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Varma with this statement, Abu. I don't think there is such thing as a perfect scenario here. The notion of the vaccines is to greatly reduce the risk of being infected as particularly the risk of the worst outcomes. That's where the vaccines have been outstanding and consistent, but they are not perfect. And I think that needs to be understood and from what I've seen, they all perform the most important function, which is guarding against serious medical issues and particularly protecting people against death. So, Dr. Varma, take it from there. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. So, as the Mayor has discussed, there are basically two main ways that we consider a vaccine to be effective. Number one, does it protect you from getting severely ill, being hospitalized, and dying? And the second measure is, does it protect you from transmitting infection to other people? On the first question, we know the answer and we know it for all three vaccines. They are extremely effective at protecting you from being hospitalized or dying. And we know this from the studies that have been done, and we know this from the real-world experience here in the United States and in many other countries overseas. So, our recommendation remains the same. The best vaccine is the one that you can get right now. So, whatever vaccine option you're given, take it. It's not about a brand, it's about the outcome. The second question is one that public health people are still continuing to study, but we're seeing really good news. So, the second question is, does it protect you from not potentially infecting other people? And we've seen a study that came out from the CDC this week that is really tremendous news. It looks at the first two vaccines, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines and shows that they are incredibly effective at stopping people from getting the infection, even without symptoms, and transmitting it to other people. So, I think we're going to probably eventually see very similar data for J & J and can be quite confident again that the best vaccine to get is the one that's available to you right now. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Last question for today is from Yehudit Borough Park 24 News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: I am doing very well, Yehudit. I hope you are having A Zissen Pesach. 

Question: Oh, I am. Thank you so much for the beautiful wishes and everyone in our house started to say that because of you. Thank you. So, it's such great news about increased vaccination and eligibility and vaccinating four million New Yorkers and Drs. Chokshi, Katz, and Easterling have addressed, in press conferences and conference calls, many of the misinformation that I still hear such as that the vaccine affects fertility, it was rushed or somehow dangerous. And, of course, we all on this call value news as a way to spread truthful information and fight misinformation. I was wondering if you would consider launching more vaccine information to fight hesitancy on mediums that people who are hesitant are perhaps more likely to believe such as WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, and other forms of social media, and maybe also have a greater variety of religious leaders to publicly take the vaccine. 

Mayor: I think those are great ideas. We have had some religious leaders take the vaccine, but I agree with you. We need to do more. In fact, one of the things, your timing is impeccable, Yehudit, because one of the things you're going to see starting this week and the next few weeks is more and more of the vaccine centers being in a diverse group of houses of worship and in their community facilities. So, synagogues, mosques, temples, all sorts of different places, but I think you're right about having more religious leaders join us and expressing their confidence in the vaccine. I think the more places that we have the vaccine distributed the better, and I agree with you more and more emphasis on social media, and we're going to be making a lot of emphasis on community and ethnic media as well. 

I think this is a more is more kind of equation, Yehudit, that we need to just keep patiently explaining, answering questions, showing how much faith there is, including from trusted people in each community. But I'll tell you the good news is we are seeing the tide turning. I mean, all of the public polling is showing it, but also our experience on the ground. More and more people coming forward and there's less and less hesitancy. And I'll finally say this, when I talk to people, I go to the vaccine centers and I talk to people and many people, and I say, did you feel some hesitancy, were you worried? A lot of people start by saying at first, I was, I wanted to see how it went for a while, I wanted to see, you know, if some other people that I knew got it. But that momentum now is shifting, more and more people getting vaccinated more and more people feeling comfortable. So, that is definitely the good news. 

Thank you, everybody.

2021-04-01 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, good morning, everyone. It may be cloudy outside, but a lot of us have a real warm and sunny feeling in our hearts today, because it's opening day for the baseball season. That is so wonderful. It is another moment to feel good, to feel a feeling of rebirth and recovery of the city moving forward, life moving forward. This would be a great day any year, but it especially feels great this year to have Opening Day happen, to have it happen on time.

Now, Opening Day is good news, as we said, but it's not the only good news. We have some great news in terms of continued progress on vaccinations. Today's number is, again, really climbing all the time – 4,134,399 vaccinations given from day-one. And we are expecting a lot more supply soon, that's what we need. In the meantime, we're focusing on equity, we're focusing on bringing vaccinations to the grassroots, and that's why you're going to see a lot more sites as part of our effort to reach public housing residents. So, these popup sites in different developments have been incredibly effective. We're going to be doing a lot more this weekend. So, in the Bronx at Castle Hill Houses and Forest Community Center; in Brooklyn, at Van Dyke Community Center; Manhattan, St. Nicholas Houses, Johnson Houses, Gompers Community Center; Queens, Jacob Reese Community Center. We're going to continue to deepen this grassroots effort. We find it is what helps people feel comfortable with vaccination, is if it's in their own development in their own community. So, you’re going to see a lot more of that, a lot happening this weekend. 

Now, in continuing our effort for equity. We continue to move resources where they’re needed most. And, yesterday, I was out in Brownsville, Brooklyn, a community that has been through so much and has rarely gotten its fair share. And we're trying to right a wrong yesterday by investing in Brownsville, an amazing renovation at Betsy Head Park, a historic park in Brownsville – a $30 million effort that's going to do so much to help the Brownsville community move forward and help our whole recovery. So, focusing on open space is a big part of the recovery for all of us. And, today, I'm pleased to announce something that's going to be great for New Yorkers all over the five boroughs, especially for Brooklynites, we have good news, because we're announcing that Governor's Island will be reopening for visitors on May 1st. And Governor's Island, absolutely beautiful, a jewel of New York City. Last year, the opening was delayed because of COVID. This year, we're able to open on time – that's good news. And, for the first time, the Governor's Island ferries will have two stops in Brooklyn for the weekend service that'll be provided – Brooklyn Bridge Park and Red Hook. And we want to make sure that people have access to Governor's Island, and we talk about a recovery for all of us, we mean all of us. We want to make sure that folks can get to a beautiful place like Governor's Island. So, for a public housing residents, the ferry rides will be free; for seniors, free; children, free; anyone with an IDNYC card, the rides will be free. We want to make sure people get to experience the wonder of Governor's Island. We're all looking forward to a beautiful spring and summer, and part of our recovery will be enjoying everything about this city again, especially outdoors. So, this is good news all around. 

Okay. This week, an important time of year for so many New Yorkers. It's Holy Week. For people of Christian faith, this is an extraordinarily important, deeply felt time of year. It's Passover – I wish a Zissen Pesach to all members of the Jewish community. It's a special time, a very important time. It's an important time in terms of faith. It's an important time in terms of family. And, as everyone's planning their gatherings, especially their Easter gatherings, I want to wish everyone a very happy Easter, and a time of renewal and hope and rebirth, but it's also a time to be safe, because we love this time of year, and we love when our family's gather, but we’ve got to do it the right way. Remember, I know it's been tough, I know 2020 was extraordinarily tough. We miss so many of our traditions and rituals. We missed the big family gatherings. I have such beautiful memories of Easter gatherings in my family, one of the most beautiful times a year. But this is the last time we have to go through this, because we will beat COVID once and for all during 2021, and then, in 2022, all of our gatherings can go back to what they were. And I can't wait for that. I know you all feel the same way, but, this year, let's focus on safety, because we want everyone who's with us this year to still be with us next year. So, we’ve got to focus on the safety of our family members, particularly our elders. Here to give you tips for any family gatherings, everything you do this special time of year, the City's doctor, Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. And I want to first extend warm holiday wishes to all those who are celebrating this weekend. Whether you're celebrating Passover or Easter, I wish you a joyful, but, most importantly, a healthy holiday. To make it the safest that it can possibly be, I urge you to follow some very simple but important advice. If you are going to have a gathering, keep it small, optimally limited to members of your own household and keep it outdoors, if at all possible. I know we all want to celebrate with our families and with our loved ones, we all want to be united again, and we will be soon, but our unity in the fight against COVID is the most important thing right now. And, remember, that the virus hitches a ride on our relationships. If you do choose to celebrate in-person, please wear a snug fitting face covering and keep distance. 

This is particularly important to protect older adults and other people who may be more vulnerable. Fully vaccinated people can gather with other fully vaccinated people with fewer precautions, but, remember, most people remain unvaccinated and you are not considered fully vaccinated until 14 days after your last dose. 

Many New Yorkers are marking painful one-year anniversaries of those dark days last spring. Let's do everything we can to ensure that the future is indeed brighter than that past. So, even though we are all tired, now is not the time to let our guard down. Since we're in the midst of March Madness let me try to put it this way – you don't playing defense until that last buzzer sounds. The next few weeks will be an absolutely crucial time in this public health crisis. We're seeing a worryingly high level of cases. And, as we reported yesterday, new variants are making up an increasing share of those cases – over 70 percent of all specimens sequenced for the most recent week. 

As the weather gets nicer, our vaccine supply increases, and our historic vaccination campaign ramps up to an even higher level, we must continue to follow the public health guidance we've been talking about for so long. Wear a mask, maintain distance from those who are not in your household, stay home if you're sick, wash your hands, get tested regularly, and get the vaccine when you are eligible. Stay safe and happy holidays. Back to you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Chokshi – really appreciate the advice you're giving everyone. Everyone, have beautiful holidays. I want it to be a special time for all New Yorkers, but let's keep safe. And I like your analogy, your March Madness analogy – play until the final buzzer sounds – excellent advice to all of us. 

All right, let's talk about our indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 194 patients. Again, that's a good sign, but long way to go. Confirmed positivity, 59.8 percent. Hospitalization rate, 3.84 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 3,491 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 6.64 percent. 

Okay, we're going to do a few words in Spanish, and we'll talk about the guidance that we're giving for the holidays, how to keep families safe. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Long, by Claire Newman, the President and CEO of the Trust for Governor's Island, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to Roger Stern from 1010 WINS. 

Mayor: Roger? Roger, can you hear us? 

Moderator: We'll go back to Roger. First question today goes to Marcia Kramer from WCBS. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, long time no speak. How are you doing today? 

Mayor: I’m doing well, Marcia. How are you doing? 

Question: I'm doing great. I'm doing great. My question today is about the homeless and what your administration plans to do as we come back from COVID. What plans do you have for opening homeless shelter [inaudible] from homeless shelters to permanent housing and getting them the mental help they so desperately need? 

Mayor: It's such an important question, Marcia. Thank you. We absolutely are planning to, first of all, ensure that folks who have been in hotels go back into shelter settings, because shelter settings are where people can get the proper mental health support. So, we will be doing that the first available opportunity. Continuing to deepen efforts to address mental health challenges as we find them. We have more and more teams we put together that can do rapid response with anyone who is seriously mentally ill. We'll be talking about that a lot more in the coming days. I want to say, everyone – Health Department, Health + Hospitals has been working in coordination with Homeless Services to make sure that any situation where someone is troubled, that they get assessed quickly and they get the mental health services they need. This is an ongoing challenge, but we're going to throw everything we’ve got at it. Go ahead, Marcia. 

Question: I just wonder if you have plans to open sort of assisted living housing where the homeless can live in apartments, but also get social services and mental health that they need? And how large a scope is it? Did your original homeless – helping the homeless plan have to be put on the shelf because of COVID and will you be able to revive it before too long? 

Mayor: That's a great question. Thank you, Marcia. No, the plan that we put forward a few months before COVID hit, the Journey Home Plan is active. We are implementing it as we speak. In fact, during COVID we found, even with the challenge of COVID, that we were able to get hundreds and hundreds of homeless people off the streets and get them into shelter and keep them in the shelter with the Safe Haven approach, with the closing of the subways at night, which was very productive, with sending out outreach workers – and outreach workers were heroic. Even in the midst of COVID, they went out, they engaged homeless folks, they got them in – that continues and we're now going to be able to ramp that up a lot more as we are fighting back COVID. And supportive housing, what you referred to a moment ago – housing for folks who have been homeless, who have mental health problems, who need services. We've been expanding supportive housing, even as COVID continued. We put together a plan for 15,000 supportive housing apartments. That plan is moving and it's now going to be able to move a lot quicker as we recover. So, all of those efforts are going to deepen. We need them all. And this is part of, I think, an important part of our recovery. 

Moderator: Still waiting on Roger, so we're going to go to Kristin Dalton from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask you about appointments. So, it looks like there are some restrictions on the vaccine finder websites, specifically the Ocean Breeze location, which says appointments are restricted by age and ZIP code. I know that residents, you know, 30 and over are now eligible and as well as the announcement that New Yorkers can go to any location. So, I'm just wondering why there is still some restrictions for appointments? 

Mayor: I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long. Kristin, we want to make access as easy and universal as possible, but I also want to note, and I think the doctors will back me up, we are still most concerned about those who are oldest and those who have pre-existing conditions. Those are still the most vulnerable folks. So, whenever there is a preference given for older folks, for example, that's for purely medical reasons. And we're also, of course, trying to address many of the areas where we've seen COVID hit the hardest and have the most devastating results. So, that's why we find some of those preference structures are important, but the real goal Kristin is to just have more and more supply and go deeper and deeper into communities, to Staten Island and all communities, with more and more hours and be able to reach more people. We still don't have anywhere near the supply we need, and so that's why it's important to keep some of our focus on the folks who are most vulnerable. Dr. Chokshi? 
 
Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, well, the Mayor said it well and covered the important points here. First, it's important to understand that eligibility has widened quite a bit, so there are now millions of New Yorkers who are eligible for vaccination. And remember it, that's a great thing because we want as many people to get vaccinated as possible. But second, just as the Mayor has said, we do know that vaccination is most important for people who are most at risk, either because they are older or have some other type of medical vulnerability to severe COVID-19 disease or because they come from a neighborhood that has been hardest hit during pandemic. And so, we are doing these things to ensure that people are adequately prioritized according to those health and equity considerations. The final thing that I'll say is, that despite that, we do want to make sure that not a single appointment goes to waste. So, if we're finding that that appointments are not being booked, then those do get opened up to a broader tranches of eligibility so that every single dose of vaccine gets into someone's arm as soon as possible. 
 
Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Long. You want to add? 
 
Executive Director Ted Long, Test and Trace Corps.: Yeah, I would just add that we have a focus on ensuring that we can remove all barriers to vaccinate as many of our seniors as possible. Right now, you mentioned age, we have a new walkup program at our City Field, Bathgate, and Brooklyn Army Terminal sites where if you're 75 or above, you don't even need an appointment. You can come anytime, they're open 24/7. You can even bring an escort with you, and if that escort is eligible, we'll vaccinate both of you, no appointment needed. We're going to continue that focus because it is so important to vaccinate our most vulnerable New Yorkers and to tear down every single barrier in order to accomplish that as quickly and safely as possible. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Kristin. 
 
Question: Great. Thank you so much. And I wanted to ask about an update for the timeline of the mass vaccination site at Empire Outlets. I know you said that the supply would be increasing. You know, we haven't really seen anything yet this week. And to Dr. Long's point, you know, is Empire Outlets a good candidate for maybe a 75 and older walk-up site as that supply increases? 
 
Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long whoever has the best update on the timeline. We – again, we intend to do more for sure with Empire Outlets, it's a great site. As we're getting more supply, we want to make sure there is more and more appointments. And so, I'll just say that – and I'll say on the walk-up point, Kristin, is we're piloting it now in just a few locations. Really want to see if it will work and encourage seniors to get appointments who haven't gotten them yet. We are also watching carefully to make sure we don't end up with a different kind of problem, which is lines, and you've raised good concerns about lines and putting seniors in a tough situation, and obviously we're concerned about people being close proximity. So, we're piloting over these next few days to decide where to go. If we think it'll work, then we'll talk about how far we want to go with it. And which sites would be the best, but in terms of the build-out of more appointments at Empire, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Long, who wants to speak to that? 
 
Commissioner Choskhi: Yes. I can start briefly, sir. Just to say that that appointments are contingent on a supply, as the Mayor has said, we are here on the first day of April and April is the month we do expect a significant uptick in the supply allocated to us from the federal government. Over the last couple of weeks, we've seen more modest increases, and we expect by the end of the month for those increases in supply to get much more significant for New York City. As that additional vaccine comes in, we will ramp up appointment availability at Empire Outlets and other sites. So, I expect you'll start seeing a noticeable difference by the middle of the month, and then a market difference by the end of the month. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. 
 
Moderator: Next, we'll go – 
 
Mayor: Wait, what do you got, do you have Roger? 
 
Executive Director Long: Can I talk to them real fast? 
 
Mayor: Oh, Ted, go ahead. I'm sorry, Ted, go ahead. 
 
Executive Director Long: Just to be clear, and I appreciate your advocacy for Staten Island, Empire Outlets is open now, and as Dr. Chokshi said, we're going to be ramping up as we get more supply over the next two weeks. But it is open which we're very excited about because this is such an important thing for Staten Island, and I appreciate your suggestion about having us consider walk-ups and empire outlets too. So, we will consider that. Thank you. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 
 
Moderator: Next we go back to Roger Stern from 1010 WINS. 
 
Question: Hi Mayor, good afternoon – good morning, I should say, how are you doing? 
 
Mayor: I'm doing good, Roger. How you doing? 
 
Question: I'm great. I have two questions involving the vaccine, one of them is the controversial issue of vaccine passports. How do you feel about them, especially when it comes to reopening Broadway, being able to have more people in movie theaters and sporting events? 
 
Mayor: Yeah, I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Varma. I think that passports could be an important part of our recovery. We got to get it right. We've got to respect people's privacy. We got to make sure that the system is accurate. There's definitely more to be worked through, but I think there'll be part of the solution. I think rapid testing is part of the solution, as well. In fact, Dr. Varma and I spoke to a wide range of leaders of the Broadway community and the theater and cultural community a few days ago, and this is one of the things that's really exciting to people, these different tools that are going to help them bring back audiences and when the time comes, and I'm really looking forward to September in particular, bring back larger audiences because you'll be able to know exactly who's been vaccinated or who just got a test and tested negative. Dr. Varma. You want to speak to that? 
 
Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah, I would echo exactly what the Mayor has said. You know, we know that it's going to be really important to achieve the recovery for all of us, that people feel safe. They feel as if the places that they're going indoors that we've been telling them for so long to avoid doing are actually going to be places where they can go back and return and enjoy the activities that they've had for us. And so, part of that assurance includes a verification that people are either in immune through vaccination, or if they haven't been vaccinated, that they show evidence that they are not infected, such as through the use of a rapid test. I don't think these are going to be required everywhere, but it certainly makes sense for private businesses to require these as a way to ensure that when we return everybody back to these shared indoor spaces that those activities can be done in a way that is enjoyable and productive and not at risk of transmitting infection. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Roger. 
 
Question: Yeah. The other question is, for people who are vaccinated and want to socialize with other people who are vaccinated, the guidance is still fairly restricted [inaudible] people in your home, that may reduce the incentive for people to get the vaccine. People were reluctant to get it. Should the guidance be more liberal when it comes to contact between vaccinated people? 
 
Mayor: You came in and out a little bit there, sound quality wise. Dr. Chokshi, did you hear it well enough to answer? 
 
Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, I believe I did. The question, sir, was about how we should think about people who are vaccinated interacting with other people who are vaccinated. It's an important question, and you know, I want to be candid that we expect these guidelines to change over time. As more and more people get vaccinated, and we see the protection that that affords, I do think that, you know, you'll start to see some relax relaxation of the guidelines further. But there are some very important provisos that I want to make sure to communicate as part of this. First, is the notion of being fully vaccinated, that means you're either 14 days after your second dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, or 14 days after your J&J vaccine. So, it's not the case that you're considered vaccinated or protected just a few days after getting the first dose of any of the vaccines. That's important to keep in mind. The second part of it is, remember, part of getting vaccinated is not just about protecting yourself. It's about protecting others the same way that we have encouraged people to wear masks, both to protect themselves as well as others, it’s how we should be thinking about vaccination as well. And right now, particularly with the level of transmission where it is in New York City, it is very important for all of us, including people who have been vaccinated, to continue following the precautions that we're advising. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 
 
Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg. 
 
Question: Well, Mr. Mayor, you going to Yankee Stadium today? That's not my question, but I'm going to ask it. 
 
Mayor: We will not count that question. No, everything's virtual they're doing today, except for folks who are just going to enjoy the game. So, there's no ceremony I'll be a part of, but I am happy they're back. 
 
Question: Well, I want to get back to this question of passports because it's becoming a bit of a political football with some people, mainly Republicans, questioning whether government should be making these rules that would dictate people's behavior and, you know, kind of insist that they be vaccinated. And their argument is that it creates a kind of, two classes of people, those who are, and those who aren't. And I'm just wondering where you stand on that, should this be a decision of private businesses, office buildings, restaurants, theaters, arenas, or should government actually be making these regulations? 
 
Mayor: I'll start, and I want to get Dr. Varma back in. Look, Henry, this is something – it is definitely complex. We got to think it through. I think we're still at a phase now where our most foundational concerns are getting people vaccinated and making sure people stick to the smart guidance that keeps them safe and really reinforcing that and acting on that. But look, I see the passport approach as another tool. I think it's one of many tools and I respect folks who choose not to get vaccinated, and we'll work with that as well. But I think particularly for some private sector settings, it could be a really valuable tool. I think government has a role to play in setting it up and making it work. But again, I wouldn't make it more than it is. I think the most important thing is to get people vaccinated, get people to follow healthy habits, put smart health and safety measures in place in all parts of our society as we fight our way out of this. Go ahead, Dr. Varma. 
 
Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, I would concur with what the Mayor has said, and I agree that there's a lot of specifics about the things that need to be taken to be addressed. So, let's go through just a couple of critical issues. First of all, I don't think we should be requiring that people show proof of vaccination until vaccines are widely available to everybody, and that includes, you know, right now, we – you know, our biggest issue is supply right now. And so we need to get to a point where, you know, vaccines are widely abundant, available, and people all have been reached and given the information they need to make an informed decision. So that's number one. Number two, as the Mayor said, I do think we need to think carefully about what the role of government is in this versus what the role of the private sector is in this. I think it's absolutely critical for government to assist in making sure that there are standards, that there's uniform and fair application of these when they're used. 
 
But we also need – and I think related to that – we also need to make sure that that is not the only pathway for you to receive services. Again, an alternative pathway, it's similar to what we do in health care facilities, where all health care providers in inpatient facilities are required to get the influenza vaccination every year, and if they choose not to get that vaccine, they have to follow a certain protective measures, and in some situations even have to have identification attached to their ID badge. I'm not saying that that's what we would do in this situation, but I'm just saying that there's a model that can be followed for these things. So, I think we're going to have to adjudicate this obviously with the court of public opinion, with the laws of our country, but I do think it is a pathway that needs to be strongly considered. Because again, it's going to be very important for people to have the assurance that when they participate in activities that we have been telling them for over a year are very high risk, that there is actually a way to do those activities that ensures that they are actually more likely to be safe than to be harmed. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Henry. Henry? 
 
Question: My next question has to do with the city's role in opening up theaters. It's kind of related to this passport question because central to it is the confidence that an audience might have in attending a theater. Is the city going to assist theaters in any way in controlling the audience or weeding out the audience through vaccination, or helping theaters financially get ready for reopening all of these buildings that have been shut for months, or is it really on the theaters and they will use whatever federal assistance has been, you know, created through these stimulus funds? 
 
Mayor: We're going to be active participants helping the theater community to come back. Obviously, the announcement last week, Henry, that we are going to provide vaccination centers and mobile vaccination specifically aimed at the theater community, the cultural community, we're doing that proactively. We're going to help them figure out crowd management. We're going to provide medical advice and support as they're figuring out their plans. We're certainly looking at ways that we can be helpful materially. I think you're right, the federal aid is crucial, but there's other things that we might be able to do. This is exactly why we had a, a really big kind of summit meeting with members of the cultural community leadership, to think through these approaches. And again, for what we're ultimately talking about, Broadway – using Broadway as an example – coming back full strength, you know, that's September or so that we're looking at now. There is a lot of time to do that work and plan together, but we need them to come back. We absolutely need them to come back. So, we're going to be shoulder to shoulder. We're going to partner with them to get it done. 
 
Moderator: The next is Matt Chayes from Newsday. 
 
Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. So, I got two today for Dr. Varma. The first is why are states like Arizona, Mississippi, Texas, which dropped mask mandates and lifted gathering restrictions, all trending down in infections and other metrics, and yet we've plateaued. In Texas’s case, the mandates were dropped almost three weeks ago. So, what falsifiable evidence would you need to say – to see that we're doing something – that they're doing something right, but New York isn't doing? 

Mayor: Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, no, it's a great question. It, it requires a much longer answer than we can do during this press conference, but I really want to be very clear because this issue keeps coming up. If there was a simple preventative measure other than vaccinations available for COVID, then we would have figured it out. But what we have said repeatedly over and over again, is that the best way to prevent COVID, before we had vaccines, and even until everybody gets vaccinated, is multiple interventions done together, all of which are imperfect, that all need to be added up together. So, if you want to answer the question, the way you phrased it as like a falsifiable hypothesis, you have to account for every single factor that relates to COVID transmission. One of those is not just the policies on mask wearing, but it's where are people wearing them, what people are actually wearing them, and how frequently they're using it. So, that's masks, but you also have to account for distance, which includes the density of your population. You have to account for frequency of hand-washing, because we know some things can be transmitted by person to person. You have to account for ventilation, you have to account for climate conditions. So, there are many, many factors that determine why some populations have higher rates than others, and then you have to also get into the much more complicated questions about the completeness of testing, and recording, and reporting of all of those things, and we know for example, that in New York, we test per capita [inaudible] talk about separately, you know, higher than any other jurisdiction on a regular basis. So, I, you know, I'll stop there because it's much harder to answer. But basically, the answer is to say, I know it would be nice to be able to give a simple answer that says, locations are going down here, and they're not going there – therefore it's due to a policy. No, that's not actually the case. You need to have much, much deeper information so, we know that. 

Mayor: I think that is before we go back to Matt, Dr. Varma, I think that's a fantastic answer, and I think that last point we are going out of our way to test a lot of people and be very transparent with the results. I think a big question in other parts of the country is: are we seeing the whole picture, given the level of testing? Are we actually getting the whole truth or not? Go ahead, Matt. 

Question: Well, before you get to the second question, I would love to hear the more complete answer offline. But onto the second one, which steps or components in the ordinary FDA approval process are missing for the coronavirus vaccines to be approved by the FDA, with regard to safety, not durability beyond an emergency authorization use, and if nothing, why haven't the vaccines has been approved yet? 

Mayor: Which vaccines? I want to make sure we're not missing you, Matt. What are you saying specifically? 

Question: All over. 

Mayor: Okay, go ahead, Dr. Varma. 

Question: Moderna. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, what Matt’s getting at is the difference between an emergency use authorization versus an approval, and there are basically – as you note that all of the steps that were used for authorization can also be used for approval. I confessed that I actually don't know all of the regulatory differences that are needed. My understanding has generally been that there is a larger packet of information that is needed for the, first of all, for the approval process, and second of all, a longer term of follow-up in terms of the vaccines themselves. But we can look into that to get you the exact information, but yes, there is a distinction between these vaccines are officially authorized by the FDA. They are not yet officially approved. 

Mayor: Thank you, go ahead. 

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Gersh from Streetsblog. 

Question: Well, Mr. Mayor, thank you for taking me clean-up again. I do have a serious question today. So, this morning, Comptroller Stringer sent a letter to the MTA, kind of demanding that the MTA ensure that these contractors who've been providing all this subway cleaning overnight – you know, there was a report that they are not being paid prevailing wages and they're not having benefits the same way a union contractor would with the MTA. So, I think you've addressed the issue of the need for the cleanliness in the subway, and that certainly understood, but the workers' rights here. I wonder if you could address that a little bit, I'm sure you probably – I'd like to think you share Comptroller Stringer’s concerns for workers' rights. 

Mayor: Oh, I deeply care about workers' rights. It's something I've worked on for years and I want to make sure everyone is treated fairly, safely, fairly compensated, especially people doing such vital work to protect the rest of us. I haven't seen the report. I don't know the details, but I would say clearly the decision, which I strongly supported, to have some hours when the subway was shut down during the COVID crisis, to clean the subways better, to help people feel safer, come back to the subways because our future is mass transit. There's no question. That was a very good initiative, and the folks who did the work did something wonderful for all of us. So, they deserve fairness. But that is an example of a decision that worked and that's going to help us as part of our recovery. 

And so I will conclude today with this, that, you know, this week and particularly this weekend coming up, you know, a time to focus on renewal, a time to focus on rebirth. This is – if ever there was a week, that's a metaphor for recovery it's this one. The spiritual importance of this week and, of course, for so many of us Opening Day of baseball as well. It all points in one direction. We're coming back and we're coming back and we're going to come back together. We're going to make sure this is a recovery for all of us. It is a very exciting time. It's a very hopeful time, but everyone please stay safe. Be there for each other. Do the thing that New Yorkers do, be compassionate and kind to each other, support each other. Let's go through this week, keep it safe and let's move forward to a recovery for this city. Thank you, everyone.

2021-04-02 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It’s the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone and if it’s Friday, it’s Ask the Mayor day, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio. Our phones are open at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. For your questions for the Mayor, 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag, #AskTheMayor. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.
 
Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. And I have some breaking COVID news for you. 
 
Lehrer: I'm all ears. 
 
Mayor: Breaking news – new records set yesterday for vaccinations in New York City, 93,380 vaccinations yesterday, Thursday. That's the most by far that's been achieved in a single day. Very good sign for the future. One other piece of news, we can now confirm that we have 65,000 Department of Education employees who have been vaccinated. 
 
Lehrer: I guess those are all good trends. Looking at the vaccine data, it looks like the number of vaccine takers might've peaked though in early March, March 1st from the numbers I'm seeing showed a seven-day average of about 50,000 people taking first doses a day. Now I'm seeing it as 32,000. So, what does that mean? 
 
Mayor: Well, I wouldn't read into that any lack of demand. Demand is absolutely skyrocketing. The reality is you've got first doses and second doses, so more and more people are now coming in for a second dose. We obviously have to reserve those doses and that takes up a bigger piece of each day. But what we're finding, especially as eligibility has been expanding, is just, we put appointments up, they get snapped up immediately. We are seeing less hesitancy for sure, particularly in communities of color where there was some real issues with hesitancy originally, we're definitely seeing improvement there. So, I think we're going to be able to fill every appointment we have for months to come. 
 
Lehrer: And at the same time, I'm looking at the New York Times COVID tracker for New York City, cases are up 22 percent in the last two weeks, deaths are up a couple of percentage points. There were nearly 200 new hospitalizations for COVID in the city yesterday. I saw in another report, 200 is considered a danger marker toward the potential for overload, and you're calling for people not to get together in crowds for Easter, I understand. So where are we today, vaccinations aside, in terms of the state of the virus in the city? 
 
Mayor: Well, first of all, very important question. I'd say I won't put vaccinations aside because vaccinations obviously are going to change those numbers rapidly over time. But I would say this first of all, on gatherings for Easter, for a Passover, everything we're saying the same thing our health leadership is saying, please, one more time, keep it small, keep it safe, social distancing, mask wearing when you're not eating. This is the last time we have to do this. This is the last year we'll deal with this, by next year people can gather together as normal. So, please let's really protect each other one more time. But to the overall numbers, the hospitalization numbers, the one we are particularly concerned about, that actually, Brian, over the last few weeks, we've had a number of days where we're below 200, that had not been true for quite a while. So that trend has been a little more favorable because we're starting to get back down to the area we need to be. Overall, we've seen, you know, a sea change compared to what we saw a year ago in terms of the ability of hospitals to handle these cases. So, I'd say we do see the pressure of the variants, that some of what you're referring to. Absolutely. We take that very seriously, but I think in the end, as we are particularly able to do more vaccination, so this is why this number this morning, the 93,000 from yesterday, is so important. We really can outrace the variants if we keep expanding the number of vaccinations. 
 
Lehrer: Tell me again the – I know you wanted to highlight the Department of Education numbers. So, tell us again about the teachers’ numbers and remind us, do teachers and DOE staff have to identify that they're teachers when they sign-up so you can really know how many teachers are getting vaccinated? 
 
Mayor: Well, in fact, we believe there are a lot more than this number. This is just the number we've been able to document. It is all educators and staff combined, 65,000 confirmed vaccinations, but we do believe there's a substantial number beyond that. And so that's a really, really good sign. We have about 110,000 staff total in our buildings now. So, you know, this as we're making tremendous progress in terms of getting DOE employees vaccinated. 
 
Lehrer: Well, is there a way to distinguish between private school teachers and New York City public school teachers in that number? 
 
Mayor: This is DOE – I want to be very clear – this is New York City Department of Education. 65,000 is just our department of education employees, educators, and staff. 
 
Lehrer: So, does this have specific implications for – to what degree the public school has reopened between now and the end of the year or in September? 
 
Mayor: I think it helps. We already know that the CDC has said we can change the approach, go from that six-foot rule to that three-foot rule. That's what we're planning on. We have an opt-in period right now for parents to choose to have their kids come back if they want to, that's going to go through next Wednesday. And the CDC guidance is what's crucial here. We’re waiting for the State of New York to speak to it, but the guidance is based on the evidence that has been found in schools all over the country of how to keep schools safe. This is just an additional, very, very positive factor, when you get this higher percentage of the adults in the buildings vaccinated. That is a game changer. One of the things Dr. Jay Varma, my senior advisor, did a scholarly journal article a few weeks back that pointed out about 80 percent of infections in schools were coming from the adults in the schools. And when you get adults vaccinated on this high of level, it fundamentally changed the reality. On top of that, we already had persistently low levels of COVID in our schools now for months. So, this is a real good sign. 
 
Lehrer: Question in this ballpark from the listener on Twitter. Mama Mommy – okay. This tweeter is going as “Mama Mommy Mom”. So, we know at this person's role is, and the tweet says, we can't let the Mayor go today without asking about the two-case rule. It's been two months that he's thinking about it, please ask the mayor, says, Mama Mommy Mom. And I guess that's the rule that with two cases, even unrelated in a building, the school closes, and a lot of parents remain very frustrated by that. 
 
Mayor: Now I understand their frustrations and to be fair there's different types of rules depending on whether there is a relationship with the cases or not, and that's what our health team put together to protect everyone. But look, again, we see a very different reality now because of a very high level of vaccination which is fantastic because everything that we've been able to prove about how to keep schools safe, really with a gold standard of health and safety measures. So, next week we'll have an update on the two-case rule, we're doing a little more work with our health team on the right way to approach things, but we will have an update on that next week. 
 
Lehrer: I saw Eliza Shapiro, the Times education reporter, speculating the union is very much against changing the two-case rule, and for families worried about in-person schooling, they're worried if they do with it, that this won't convince those families to come back. Can you come at only the part of that? 
 
Mayor: Well, I'm not going to speak for the union. I would say to the question of family's comfort. First of all, that's a very individual decision, and I know some families are going to want to wait until September when we plan on having everyone back who is ready to come back. But I do think a lot of families are looking at the current situation, they see how safe the schools have been, we want to get them all the information possible. It’s why I think it's important for families to understand just how many people have now been vaccinated in the schools, and I think that's the most important factor. For those open to coming back, and there are certainly some who are just generically not open, I respect that, but for those open to coming back, I think what they're looking at is can we continue to prove the health and safety levels in the school. I think the evidence has been overwhelming. Now, you know, high level of vaccination of schools, and the CDC guidance and the CDC guidance was based on the new CDC, not the previous one which we sometimes had to question, but Joe Biden’s CDC, looking at the evidence from all over the country and seeing how consistently clear it has been that schools can be kept very, very safe with the right measures, and those are the measures we're using here. 
 
Lehrer: Let's go next to Noah in Nassau County, but a city worker. Noah, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. 

Question: Hi, Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good Noah, how’re you doing? 

Question: Good. So, I am a municipal worker, working at an agency for the city, obviously, and I'm just wondering why is it that City Hall is having municipal workers return to the office although there is the possibility of another surge and is City Hall reevaluating the May 3rd date for that return, and also my agency specifically, much of the work that we do is still being done remotely, and there's really no need for us to be in the office. I understand that at some point you'll want to have us back in the office, as I do agree with that, but I just think now is a little bit too early, and in my agency specifically, there's a lot of growing concern with the May 3rd return date. Further, state workers don't have to go back until July 2nd. So, was just wondering if you could maybe expand on this and if City Hall’s maybe re-evaluating the May 3rd start date? Thanks. 

Mayor: Thank you, Noah, and thank you for the work you do on behalf of the people this city. Look, we have been making all these decisions based on the data, based on the science with our health care team and what we learned in the schools and what we've learned, you know, anywhere public employees are working, is if you put the right health and safety measures in place, that's what matters. So, we are planning on bringing folks back beginning May 3rd. We'll constantly watch what's happening for sure. We're always watching to see if anything comes up. That changes the approach. But right now, I feel very comfortable because we're going to have all of the elements that work so clearly in the schools, mask-wearing, distancing, constant cleaning, you know, proper ventilation, et cetera, and you know, we are confident. The City workplaces, we control them, obviously. A lot of the concern I've had over time is when you're talking about places where the public sector can't reach in, or doesn't know what's happening, and people unfortunately take liberties and don't follow the rules. In our own workplaces, we can guarantee that things are done the right way, and I do believe that people do better work when they come back together, even with restrictions, and that's been my experience. Look, I've been at City Hall the whole time. I could not do what I do to say at least remotely, my job's a little different perhaps than many others, but I know the folks who've been at City Hall throughout. We get a lot of what we need to do for the people done because we do interact in person. That makes a huge difference, but we do it safely. 

Lehrer: Well, let me ask you kind of a follow-up question. Mayoral candidate Andrew Yang spoke to a business group yesterday, as you probably saw and proposed a commuter incentive to come back to offices in person for the private sector, the opposite of a commuter tax, which progressives usually want to impose on people coming to the city for their livelihoods if they don't live here, because they use city services a lot, but pay their taxes to their bedroom communities. So, Andrew Yang wants the opposite of a commuter tax because he says, like you say, that the City's recovery depends on people going back to office work in person. So, he wants to pay commuters to come back to their office jobs in the city. Do you support that concept? 

Mayor: I am surprised at that concept. I have not seen this specific proposal, so I'll just be careful not to speak in detail until I do, but I'm surprised at it. I think the more essential way to approach things is to continue to vaccinate folks, continue to prove the models that work for safety, to keep the City reopening the things that we can reopen safely. We talked about Broadway last week, had a tremendous excitement about that. That's a little ways down the line, but we're going to reopen Broadway safely. We're going to bring back our theater and cultural community. A lot of it will be outdoors this summer, but by with Broadway, by September, back indoors. So, I think it is recreating the life of the city and continuing to deepen the vaccinations. That's really the best way to get people back. I think that's what's going to work most, fundamentally. 

Lehrer: By the way, we have some breaking news from the CDC. I wonder if I can get a spontaneous comment from you regarding how you think this might or should affect people's travel plans to or from New York. This is from the Washington Post's write-up just out, for domestic travel people who are two weeks past their final shot, do not need to get a coronavirus test before after their trips and do not need to self-quarantine after travel. That means grandparents who were fully vaccinated can fly to visit their grandchildren without getting a coronavirus test or self-quarantine, provided they follow the other recommendations, recommended public health measures, such as wearing masks on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation. Do you have a comment on that, and how it might relate to your interest in tourism returning to New York, for example? 

Mayor: Yeah, I think, you know, my, my first impression, I want to see all the details, but my first impression is that's sensible to say that folks who have been fully vaccinated we can treat differently, and I think it, in fact, the good news about that is it rewards vaccination, which is what we want to see. We want everyone to realize the power of vaccination. I think right now we know that the polling shows it and just our own experience. The vast majority of people do want to be vaccinated and are working hard to get vaccinated. But I think the more people understand that vaccination is the way to travel, the way to getting back to work, et cetera, the better off we'll be, because there's still a certain number of people who need to be motivated. This kind of rule. I think hearing it, first blush, sounds sensible. 

Lehrer: Do you want tourists to hold off for a while on coming to Times Square and other crowded places in New York? 

Mayor: Well, first of all, I want us to be careful about crowding overall for the foreseeable future, and you know, I think there's been a lot of good measures in place to avoid crowding at some of the places that historically it's happened, and we need to keep doing that, but do I want tourists to come back? Of course, and more and more you know, right now we have over four million vaccinations have happened in this city, and as you heard, you know, with 93,000 yesterday alone, you know, rapidly increasing, you're going to see that have more and more effect, and certainly folks coming here fall in the right health and safety guidance but coming here and participating in the city makes a lot of sense. I think you're going to see a lot this summer. My prediction, Brian, is that this summer you're going to see a huge amount of domestic tourism directed to New York City, folks are not going to be traveling as much internationally that are going to want some place that they feel good about, and I think, you know, we're, we're going to hit that goal of five million fully vaccinated, New Yorkers by June by summer. I think it's going to be verifiable that this is a place you can come and do a lot of great activities, a lot of great outdoor, cultural activities, outdoor dining, and a lot of other things and be safe, and so I think it'll be a big part of our recovery. 

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, can you stay on to help one 85-year-old homebound person, who just called in and is having trouble getting access to a shot? 

Mayor: Absolutely. 

Lehrer: Ilene in Greenwich Village. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Ilene. 

Question: Hi, Brian. Hi, Mayor. Thank you very much. Yes, I did the – called the vaccine command center, the [inaudible] number on March 17th, and they told me they took my name and phone number and told me that somebody would be calling. And indeed, on the 26th, someone, and here's the question, from the Public Engagement Unit or who said she was from that and may have been legit, took more information, date of birth, and so forth and said, the Fire Department would be calling me within two weeks, which this is just about. My concern is not so much access because this may come to pass, but I get all the seniors yet, a lot of scam calls that are targeted specifically at infirmities, age, health. I get false Medicare, false Walgreens, and so what can be done in terms of the agency and in terms of the seniors themselves to identify – this is a phone, I don't have internet. 

Lehrer: I understand, and I have to cut in for time Ilene, but I just want to be clear. You think you are on the way to getting that shot, coming to your home, as there is a program for seniors in your circumstance, you think you're going – that's going to work? 

Question: It may. My question is about the authenticity of the call and how to verify it? 

Lehrer: Yeah, I understand. The calls are so rampant, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Yeah, no, Ilene’s making a very good point. First of all, Ilene, please give your information to WNYC at the end of this call so that we can make sure that you get your vaccination quickly. The Vaccine Command Center and the Public Engagement Unit, those are real places, real pieces of the city government. Those are all legit, and in fact, I was with the medical personnel, the nurses, and the folks from the fire department just a few days ago, as they were going out, fanning out all over the city, go into people's homes to do these in-person vaccinations. They – it is painstaking. It does take a lot of time to reach everyone because they literally have to go to each department, each home, and take time with each person, but they are moving steadily through thousands and thousands of people who need in-person, in-home vaccination. So, yes, help is coming, and we will make sure you get an appointment right away. 

Lehrer: And the scam calls come in constantly, which I guess was her main point. Is there anything more the city can do? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's a great question, and I will pursue that. I think the bottom line is, you know, we'll try and figure out a way that our folks can identify themselves, in a way that is clarifying. But I would say everyone should be, you know, I think many, many seniors are aware of this. Be really careful when people are offering you something and asking you for your personal information and anything related to money, obviously. Well trying to figure out the right way to get our message across and confirm it. It might be smart to send a follow-up letter or something like that that will help to confirm. But the most important thing is even while we're trying to deal with the issue of the scams, the work has happening and thousands of bound, seniors and other folks who are homebound are getting the vaccinations right in their homes. 

Lehrer: Well, maybe one of these days I'll respond to one of these scam calls and do it on the air, and you can give me somebody from law enforcement to listen in and we'll bust somebody live on the radio. We'll see. 

Mayor: You want a live bust, I'm impressed. You have a sense for the dramatic, Brian. 

Lehrer: Thank you, as always, Mr. Mayor, talk to you next week. Happy Easter. 

Mayor: Happy Easter. Take care now.

2021-04-05 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, good morning, everyone. It is a beautiful day in New York City. And I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend for so many of you celebrating such an important holiday time. I hope you had a great time with your family, with your loved ones, and everyone kept safe. And we begin a new week and we begin a new week with really wonderful news. In the battle against COVID, we know the most powerful tool we have is vaccination. And this last Friday, we set a new record, Friday, April 2nd, record setting day. On Friday, we provided 100,669 vaccinations in New York City, in the five boroughs. Really striking number showing just how much capacity has been built, how much reach we now have into neighborhoods all over the city, showing the great work our health care heroes are doing, our vaccinators are doing. 100,000 plus vaccinations on Friday and for last week, a new record as well, for the whole week, 524,520 doses given in one week. So, for quite a while now, I've been saying we could break half a million a week if we had the supply. Well, guess what? We got the supply and we have now surpassed half a million doses in a week and we can go farther. So, this is really, really striking. And it shows what is possible. Just Friday, Saturday, Sunday alone was 270,000 doses. I mean, this is amazing stuff. The number of people being vaccinated now in New York City skyrocketing, and more good news ahead as more supplies coming. 

So, where do we stand now? Well, to date, we have given 4,462,022 vaccinations. That is more vaccinations than there are people in the State of Oregon. I told you, I ran out of cities to compare too. Now we're comparing to states. And again, it is proof it has always been about supply, supply, supply. Well, we have some good news there too. We expect a big increase in the amount of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, an additional 77,000 doses a week are coming. That's going to help us immensely. And we're reaching folks with Johnson & Johnson vaccine. I got it. Dr. Chokshi got it. It's one and done. And we love that. We're reaching a lot of people who it's particularly important to reach with that vaccine. So, we're going out into communities, pop-up locations, at public housing, houses of worship, obviously are homebound program, which has been fantastic, has reached homebound seniors and other folks who are homebound with the one shot. one and done. So, we're continuing to expand all over the city. 

So, you're going to see a number of sites up this week, new sites. Again, we're finding this approach works, to go to the grassroots, to have sites – whether it’s in public libraries, YMCA, you see some of the new sites here, the great collaboration we're doing with Google and the Hudson Guild. But also, again, public housing sites have been very, very popular to put up those doses – I mean those appointments, they get snapped up right away. The sites at houses of worship, we will be doing more and more of those across all faiths. This approach is really working. So, expect to see a lot more of it. And we are well on our way, especially given the incredible success this last week – well, on our way to our goal of five million fully vaccinated adults in New York City by June, very, very exciting news here. 

Okay. Now something else exciting is kids have come back to school today from spring break. And we now have more students in classrooms than any city. It's something that has been wonderful to see, that despite it all our kids are so happy to be back in school. Parents want them back in school, educators and staff have done a remarkable job making it work. We, because of the new rules provided by the CDC, we created a new opt-in window. And I want to update you on the opt-in window that this is again something that a lot of families were asking for, one more chance to opt-in. I want to emphasize this will be the last opportunity to opt-in for this school year, going through now through June. And we originally said the opt-in deadline would be until the end of this Wednesday. We're going to extend it to Friday because we have some new information that I think will be important to parents. And we want to give them an opportunity to hear this and let it factor into their decisions. 

The most important point from day one of reopening our schools way back in September, was to make sure they were safe for everyone in the school community. Health and safety first, that gold standard that we talked about. Literally looking at the best and most effective approaches to health and safety all over the world, combining them into one gold standard, applying it here. That has worked. And we did things that we saw nowhere else. Like setting up a situation room to monitor the situation and act in each and every instance. We also have had tremendous success with vaccination, not only the overall numbers I just told you about, but as I talked about on Friday, over 65,000 school employees have been vaccinated. And we think that number is actually substantially bigger. Those are just the ones we know about. We think there's more who we just haven't heard the report on yet, but who have been vaccinated. So, when you think about all the health and safety measures that are put in place, they've been so effective. And when you think about the vaccination effort that now has reached so deeply into school communities, we looked at all these facts. 

We looked at the data, we looked at the science and we have come to the conclusion it's time for a change. For this reason, we will be replacing the two-case rule. And in the coming days, we will be announcing a replacement rule. And then that will be implemented. We want to let parents know about this because we know for a lot of parents, this will be important to their decision. They are looking for the opportunity to get their kids back in school, but they'd like more stability in the schedule. They want to make sure schools are going to be open. We wanted to give parents this information today and give them the rest of the week until the end of Friday to make a decision on whether they want to opt-in. We're going to work with the unions that represent all school employees, the educators and school staff on the new rule. And again, we will be announcing that new rule and then implementing it in the coming days. As always, we will monitor the situation very carefully with our situation room, with our Department of Health, always focusing on health and safety. This is why our schools have been exceptional throughout. 

So, I want you to hear from the Chancellor and from our Health Commissioner, talking about what it means to parents to have the opportunity to come back into school, what it means to keep our schools safe, what we have learned about how to keep them safe and the amazing success that New York City has had with keeping our schools safe. First talking as an educator, but also as a parent herself, our Chancellor, Meisha Ross Porter. 

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Thank you, Mayor de Blasio and welcome back from spring break to all of our collective DOE families. During my first couple of weeks as Chancellor, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit schools all over the five boroughs. I saw the multilayered gold standard approach to health and safety for myself. I did temperature checks at the door and thanked our school safety agents for monitoring the protocols. I thanked our custodial staff who are doing deep cleanings every day. And thanked our kitchen staff for continuing to feed our families during this time. I also saw the diligent mask wearing and social distancing amongst school staff. I saw for myself that our schools are safe. 

And I also heard one request over and over again from parents, from teachers, from principals, from families all over New York City – improve the stability and consistency of instruction by changing the two-case rule. I heard this again from everyone. And I'm so happy today that we are answering the call. As the Mayor said, we will have more to share in the coming days regarding this change. However, speaking as an educator, the consistency will do wonders for instruction. Without interruptions due to building closures, teachers will be able to continue to connect more deeply with their students and better understand their academic needs. As a parent, there will be more consistency of in-person instruction as we allow for more stability in our system. I know what it means to have to make quick adjustments. I know what it means to have to adapt overnight and find childcare. And so, this is important for parents as they make decisions about sending their children to school. And it means our older students who are often looking after and helping taking care of their younger siblings can be more consistent in their instruction regularly as a result of this change. We've seen the studies, consulted with medical experts, and based this change from on guidance from the CDC. We will continue with universal mask usage, social distancing, weekly testing, and quick intervention by the situation room to quarantine classrooms in schools when needed. 

I know that frequent closures because of the old policy, have made many families wary of in-person learning, opting instead for the consistency of remote learning. So, we are extending, as the Mayor said, the opt-in window from this Wednesday to Friday, April 9th. We want families to have more time to consider returning back to our classrooms. And we want you to have the time to make these decisions in a timely matter. And in the meantime, we will continue to closely monitor the advice of our medical experts. We will continue to stay deeply connected to the science around this pandemic, but the tides have changed and we're looking forward to bringing more consistency to our schools and to our classrooms. And with that, I'll turn it back to the Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Chancellor. And thank you, I appreciate deeply how much you go out there and listen to parents, to educators, to staff, but also the kids, because I know it's a passion for you to listen to the kids directly. And so many of our children want to be in school, want to be learning what their friends, want to learn from the educators who care so much about them. We want to make sure that happens for everyone for whom that's the right choice. 

And now, to speak about the health reality in our schools and the meticulous work that's been done and why we keep learning and making adjustments as we get more and more information, more data from these exceptional efforts – our Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. As a doctor, I'm accustomed to making the most important decisions about tests, treatments, and other medical interventions by carefully weighing the risks against the benefits and by rooting those decisions in the most rigorous scientific evidence, which often gets updated and refined over time. Both of those clinical considerations were fundamental to our approach to safe schools over the last few months. Our starting point was that opening schools is a profoundly worthy mission, not just because of the educational benefits, but also because of the many health benefits for children and families. Leading with science is how New York City was able to lead the nation in demonstrating that children can learn in-person while keeping transmission of COVID-19 low. Based on over 700,000 tests conducted to-date, the cumulative positivity rate in schools is 0.57 percent. Our schools remained safe even as we battled through a second wave this fall and winter, which demonstrates that we can protect staff and students even when there is significant community transmission. 

The way to beat COVID is not by closing schools excessively, but by suppressing transmission, both inside and outside of schools through a focus on the fundamentals, handwashing, distancing, ventilation, masking, testing, and getting vaccinated. This last step, vaccination, is the most powerful added protection. Back in January, New York was one of the first jurisdictions to make education staff eligible for the vaccine. And to-date, as the Mayor has mentioned, over 65,000 DOE staff have at least one shot. We also know that fully vaccinated people are at lower risk of transmitting infection. So, when adults in school are vaccinated, children in school are even safer. For all of these reasons, there is clear net benefit to revising the two-case threshold for school closures. We recognize that repeated closures result in social, emotional, and educational harm to kids and families. Our aim is to strike the right balance while retaining our gold standard of stringent safety measures for schools. 

Now, one final note, as eligibility opens even wider this week, namely to those over the age of 16, I want to encourage everyone to get the vaccine. Appointments are opening up almost every day now. Check nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, or call 877-VAX-4NYC. We now have more than 500 sites open to the public on the vaccine finder. These include vaccine hubs, local clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, community health centers, and others. More supply and, therefore, more appointments are on the way, so check back often. The enthusiasm for vaccination has been a source of inspiration and sharing your story with your family member or neighbor will encourage even more New Yorkers to get their shot. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Commissioner. And everyone, look, that last point that Dr. Chokshi made – the enthusiasm, the energy out there. We put these appointments up last week, they got snapped up – over half-a-million. More and more people getting vaccinated is making it easier for yet more beyond to be vaccinated, because that word of mouth – we've been saying now for months – has proven to be true. When someone in your life gets vaccinated, they have a good experience, they spread the word, more and more people willing. We're seeing hesitancy going down. We're seeing willingness to get vaccinated going up. These appointments are being snapped up and how exciting that we're finally getting something like the supply that we need. I'd sure like to see even more than that, because we've proven we can go well beyond half-a-million a week now, but it's finally turning the corner, and, boy, the demand is sure there. 

So, now, let me go over to indicators for today. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 183 patients. That's a good number. We're watching every day, but that is definitely a number we like to see, one of the lowest in quite a while. Confirmed positivity, 61.38 percent. And hospitalization rate, 3.63 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,170 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19 – today's report, on the seven-day rolling average, 6.55 percent. 

Just say a few words in Spanish on the topic of our schools – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, I’ll turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all. We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today as Chancellor Porter, Commissioner Chokshi, Dr. Ted Long, and Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Emily from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio, and everyone on the call. 

Mayor: Good morning, Emily. How are you? 

Question: I'm well. Thank you very much. I hope you are too. May have a hint or a sneak peek at what you're considering as a replacement for that two-case rule? And will it be announced before that Friday opt-in deadline? 

Mayor: Emily, I like the very earnest attempt – we'll give you the private sneak peek here, live on television. And I like that. Now, Emily, we got a little more work to do on the new rule. I can certainly say, the two-case rule will be gone, and we're working on what we think is a new rule. We do want to talk to all of the organizations, the unions that represent the folks who work in our schools, and we want to go over the evidence we have with them and talk about what the new rule should be, and then we'll have that announcement in the coming days. But look, what we do know is moving off two cases is going to lead to schools being open much more consistently. That we can say with assurance – all the models we've done proved that anything different than the two-case rule will lead to greater consistency in schools being open. Go ahead, Emily. 

Question: And the new rule will come before the opt-in deadline on Friday, for parents to consider? 

Mayor: Again, Emily, we're working that out. I don't want to say the exact date yet – very soon, one way or another. But what I think I can say this, having talked to a lot of parents, and I know the Chancellor has as well – a lot of parents have said to us, the two-case rule obviously has led to an extraordinary number of closures. We know that any other standard will lead to a lot fewer closures. That's what parents want to know, that it will not be this approach, it will be something different and something that will lead to fewer closures – that, I can guarantee. As quickly as we have it nailed down, we will announce it. 

Moderator: Next is Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everyone. How are you? 

Mayor: Very well. Hope you had a good Easter, Juliet. 

Question: Yes, I did. Thank you. And you? 

Mayor: Very nice. Thank you. Very mellow. 

Question: Yes, the same. My question involves Broadway. The St. James Theatre held an invitation-only event the other night with Nathan Lane and Savion Glover as sort of a test run for some kind of Broadway reopening. Do you think more theaters can do limited or smaller shows on a test run basis with public audience? 

Mayor: Look, we want to work with the Broadway community and the cultural community in general to bring them back strong. And I think, for some, these smaller gatherings make sense. For some, it really only makes sense to come back when they have a bigger audience. Whether that means going outdoors, you know, in the warm months, or, what we've talked about with a lot of the Broadway theaters, it looks like September when we can really bring back a full audience with the right precautions in place. I think we're – you know, we're ready to work with whatever model works. I went on Friday to help kick off a very, very powerful show, Blindness, at the theater up in Union Square – the Daryl Roth Theatre – and it's amazing how much it means to people, to the folks in the cultural community to finally get back to work and do what they love and do what means so much to all of us. But also, I talked a lot of the audience that was waiting in line, and it was just incredibly important to them to be coming back, feeling live performance again as part of the real identity in New York City. So, we want to see that happen and we want to see it happen safely. And whatever way works for a theater, they can do it safely, we'll be right there with them to help make it happen. And, starting this month, we'll be doing the vaccination center for the Broadway community and mobile vaccinations for the off-Broadway community to help move that all along. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Andrew from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. 

Mayor: Good morning, Andrew. How are you? 

Question: I'm okay, thanks. I wanted to ask, I haven't heard your concerns lately about the pace of reopening. We have seen spikes in other states, we have seen alarming spikes in other countries based on variants. Tonight at 11:00 PM, the curfew lifts in places like the gyms, and [inaudible] – 

Moderator: Andrew, are you there? 

Mayor: I think I can answer the beginning of his question, because I got enough there, but see if you can get him back for a second question. Andrew, we're going to hope to – 

Question: [Inaudible] 

Mayor: Oh, there you go. There you go. 

Question: Yeah. [Inaudible] are we concerned about the pace of reopening and are you [inaudible]? 

Mayor: All right. Well, go ahead. We're going to take that part of the question and move with that, and I'll get Dr. Chokshi in this in a second, and then let's see if you guys can get Andrew to stabilize for his second question. Stay still, Andrew. Whatever you're doing, stop moving around. 

Okay. Of course, I'm concerned about the pace reopening. We need to get it right and it should be led by the data and the science. So, for example, there are things that can be done with a lot of precautions, a lot of health and safety measures, a lot of supervision – those I absolutely want to see happen. And we just talked about the cultural community, they're being very careful and responsible the way they're coming back. A lot of this is going to be outdoors in the meantime, careful limits. That's exactly what we want – heavy emphasis on vaccination. There've been some decisions that I think the State has made that were a mistake, the fitness class is an obvious one. I'm concerned about the collegiate sports going back to indoors. I don't see why that is necessary at this point. So, I think it is important to, like, really be careful and take it one step at a time, because doing the things that we are doing now are the right things that we can control properly, I would not want us to go farther than that until we make sure we're on the right track. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And just picking up where you left off, if the question is, are we concerned – then, you know, our experience with COVID-19 leads to a clear answer – yes, we have to remain concerned. We have to remain vigilant all the more so because we have a chance to be in the home stretch of this marathon, because of vaccination. And the places where we are the most concerned are what we have consistently messaged over the last few weeks and the last few months. We know outdoors is safer than indoors. We know that places where people are not able to wear a mask consistently and properly are higher risk activities. And we know that larger gatherings confer more risks than smaller gatherings. So, those are the activities where we really have to ensure that we remain cautious and methodical with respect to reopening. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. Andrew, are you back? Andrew? Andrew, Andrew? Try again, Andrew. What – I have no idea what kind of device you're on, Andrew, try again. Andrew, I would urge you – take someone else's phone and call in. No, no Andrew. 

Moderator: Andrew, we're going to try to come back to you. 

Mayor: We’ll try and get you for another one. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 

Mayor: All right, Katie, can you hear us? 

Question: I hope you can hear me. I – can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yes, you are not on Andrew's phone. So, it's working. 

Question: I hope Andrew gets, I don't know, Fios or something. My question – I have two education questions. For the Chancellor, the first is about the summer. What is the summer school for Chapter 683, which is for D75 students, what is that going to look like? Fully blended, I mean, fully in school or blended, or will there be a remote option for parents? 

Chancellor Porter: Was that about District 75 students? I didn't hear part of it. 

Mayor: Katie, you meant District 75 students, right? 

Chancellor Porter: Yep, yep – 

Question: Yeah. Chapter 683, I think it's called. Yeah. 

Chancellor Porter: So, we are going to support them 12 months as we have. We're still working through our summer plans. We are looking to have some in-person, some remote options based on what families need. So, more to come on that one. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Thanks. And my second education question is related to accommodations given to teachers. Could you explain if there were additional accommodations given at certain points of the year? Why, if someone had been in school – and just explain the process. And would there be any point where you could retract an accommodation for a teacher for any reason? 

Chancellor Porter: So, the accommodations are an open process, and it is connected to a medical request in most cases. We have not looked to retract any accommodations because we want to make sure that we are keeping people healthy, safe, and well. We are looking and having conversations with our union partners about what that means as we go into next year, particularly as more and more vaccines become available. As the doctor said, the more adults are vaccinated, the safer our community is, and we've done an amazing job to make the vaccinations available across the city to DOE employees. And so, that's what we're looking forward to. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead and – 

Moderator: We’re going to try Andrew Siff. 

Mayor: We're going to try and get done. Okay. Andrew, can you hear us? 

Question: I'm here. I'm here. Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Much better, Andrew. 

Question: You know, I would credit Avery Cohen with the enhanced audio for this call. So, whatever you're paying her Mayor, you should double it. 

Mayor: Okay. Right away. 

[Laughter] 

Question: All right. So, my second question is, you've said for weeks and weeks supply, supply, supply. If you only had supply, you could reach the pace. You now have finally reached that benchmark that you've talked about. I'm wondering if you and your health team have, believe it or not, discussed the likely threshold in a few weeks where you might reach the point where you have, I hesitate to say, too much supply, but where you reached the point where you're literally having to go into communities, imploring people to get vaccinated, because you have it at hundreds and hundreds of sites and not enough people have signed up for appointments. Have you put a guesstimate on when that date might be when it switches to more supply than demand? 

Mayor: I will start as the layman and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long. Boy, Andrew, would I like to have that problem. So, first of all, let me start with that. 

[Laughter] 

We spent so many weeks not having the supply we needed, that if we had too much supply that would be a very good problem to have. But I do not personally anticipate that problem in the short term. I know there was some talk about May being, kind of, a tipping around the country. But I see demand going up here constantly. And I'll – you know, I'll believe it when I see it, that we have too much supply. Right now, I'm like, send me all the supply you got. We have plenty of demand, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. And, you know, like you I very much look forward to the day when we have enough supply to actually meet the very robust demand that we continue to see. To answer the question, I do think that that day will come, and I think most likely, it is in May here in New York City as well. But what I'll add is that we have not been, you know, resting on our laurels by any means when it comes to ensuring that we're ready for that day as well. Over the last several months we have done so much in partnership with trusted messengers in communities, whether faith leaders or community-based organizations, to have the conversations that people need to have to change minds and get people ready for vaccination, answering the questions they may have about specific vaccines answering the questions that they have about side-effects and what the benefits of vaccination are. So, even as we look ahead to that day in May, what we're going to do throughout April as well is continue to have those community conversations so that demand is as strong as possible as we approach that point. 

Mayor: Dr. Long. 

Executive Director Ted Long, Test and Trace Corps.: Yeah. I agree with everything that Dr. Chokshi said. And I would add three points around the issue of, we're planning ahead now to make sure that we can get through to all of the New Yorkers that are most vulnerable, whether you're an older New Yorker or whether you live in one of our communities that's been most highly impacted by the coronavirus. So, three additional things that we're doing now that will carry forward, that will help us to achieve that goal of bringing people in, especially those that need to be brought in the most. Number one, we have canvassers that are on the ground every day now that have now helped to arrange 50,000 vaccine appointments for people in the Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity neighborhoods. Number two, through our Test and Trace Corps data, we have information on where all of our cases in contact are. So, we're looking at people that are, again, those older New Yorkers or people that live in the most highly impacted neighborhoods proactively calling them and bringing them in for vaccines, which has been highly effective. And we'll continue to do that when supply outpaces demand. And then number three is we've now, you know, continued our walk up pilot for New Yorkers that are 75 or above, at our three Test and Trace Corps sites. We've done more than 500 vaccines since we made this announcement last week. It's clearly something that is helping New Yorkers that they're prioritizing. We're going to continue all of these efforts to make sure that we get as many New Yorkers vaccinated as quickly as possible and save lives. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Derick from WABC. 

Question: Hey, good morning. I just – I wanted to ask well, a couple of questions [inaudible] – 

[Laughter] 

The first question just has to do with the schools. And I'd like to know – I'm curious how many schools are currently closed because of this two-case rule? 

Mayor: Well, I can tell you that the vast, vast majority of schools are open. That's the good news Derick, I'll give you the number I have now. What I have for today is 1,481 schools are open. So, we can get you the exact number. Some are closed temporarily for review, but others are closed for the longer timeframe, but again, not all of them because of the two-case rule, let's be really clear about that. The two-case rule only applies in certain instances. There's other reasons why a school gets closed. So, that's the overall number today. But what we can say is this, we know that the two-case rule has led to a number of schools being closed, that it could have been kept open. We want to come up with a rule that we think makes more sense. Unquestionably, more schools will be open as a result of the new rule. That we can say with assurance. Go ahead, Derick. 

Question: Next question just has to do with the data, with the COVID data. And, obviously, it looks like the trend is going in the right direction. You have cases going down, hospitalizations decreasing. It looks like the trend, at least. Is that indication that the vaccines are starting to take hold and, you know, we're moving potentially into the homestretch of this? 

Mayor: I will start, let me get Dr. Varma into this. I would say, Derick, I like your optimism and I'm an optimistic person, too. So, I certainly see some real progress there, but I also think clearly, it's too early to draw conclusions. Dr. Chokshi just made the point, you know, throughout the coronavirus era, we have learned, you know, there's a lot, we need to keep learning and the data and the science, if you stick it, good things happen, but that means the data changes every day, every week you pay attention to it. What I would say is I think we're winning the race against the coronavirus. I think we are, especially with the numbers we saw last week, getting over half a million New Yorkers vaccinated last week. That's how you win the race against the coronavirus and the variants. It is just massive vaccination. So last week we showed what's possible, but the ball game is definitely not over. Go ahead, Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much. Yeah, and I would concur that, you know, based on the data that we have right now, we aren’t seeing any worsening in our outcomes, and that is an important, good sign because we have seen that variants have taken over and become the most common strains here in New York City. Under normal conditions, without a vaccine, that would have led to another wave, a third wave. And because of the incredible work that New Yorkers had done coming out to get vaccinated, we've been able to hold our levels at a level that we don't like to be at but you have to remember what it could be like if we didn't have those vaccines. So, I do think that we really do have the possibility to make tremendous progress over the next four to eight weeks. If we continue this pace of vaccinations that we've seen this week, we're going to be at a level where the vast majority of New Yorkers have some form of protection, and we're going to also, you know, have the headwinds of better weather and other things. But again, to just reemphasize the point that Commissioner Chokshi and others have made, and the Mayor has made, that doesn't mean we can let up now. So, it's really critical and important that people continue to observe those precautions. And I would particularly flag the fact that, you know, this past week has been an important holiday for many people, whether for spring break or for religious reasons, and that almost certainly led to people gathering in potentially places that were risky. So, we do have to be prepared and encourage people to make sure they get tested this week and make sure they continue to observe those precautions because we know how important that is. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Amanda from Politico. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Hey, Amanda, how you been? 

Question: I'm doing well. Thank you. So, I've been hearing anecdotally that people who go to a New York City Health + Hospitals or Health Departments site for a vaccine are having trouble making their second appointment. And they're finding that they're able to go to a pharmacy instead like a CVS. So, I was wondering if that presents any problems in terms of, like, logistics with the vaccine supply and, you know, making sure you have enough doses for the second dose, [inaudible] people are coming. So that's like, that's – so, I just wanted to check that [inaudible] – 

Mayor: I appreciate the question. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long since you mentioned each of their agencies. But Amanda, look, I am not hearing that for whatever it's worth. We talk about this, you know, multiple times a day. I am not hearing that we're having a problem with making the second dose appointments. But let me have the two doctors speak to it. As to the question, if you go one place and get your first and go another place to get your second, does the overall system make adjustments for that? I think the broad answer is yes, because we're talking about massive volume here, and I think those kind of individual actions can be easily accounted for, but let's have the doctor speak to both of those points. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And Amanda, yes, we have not heard that problem that you're referring to and we would – 

Mayor: I'm sorry to interrupt. Amanda, we would definitely like information about if you're hearing specific sites, as I often say to members of the media, we appreciate it when you help us see problems that need to be addressed. So, please let our team know if it is about specific sites. Go ahead, Dave. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Yes. And that's exactly right. Please do give us any information that you have, and we'll be sure to follow up on it. You know, I've been out at our sites myself, several of them, and have not heard about that particular challenge. So, we'll be taking a deeper look at it. I have, for what it's worth heard, the opposite problem, which is that there have been some challenges in scheduling second dose appointments at some pharmacies. And those patients are coming to Health Department and Health + Hospitals sites to get their second doses, which, of course, we accept so that people can complete their vaccination series. But regardless of the particulars, the second point that the Mayor said is exactly right. We have ways in our systems to be able to track second doses including in cases when people get them from different sites to ensure that people complete their vaccination series. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Long. 

Executive Director Long: Yeah. Amanda, I appreciate you raising this. We definitely have not heard this at New York City Health + Hospitals or at our Test and Trace sites. I agree with everything that Dr. Chokshi said in terms of how we've set up our system, but feedback is really helpful. So, if you don't mind, you know how to reach us, we'd love to hear where you're hearing that so that we can look into it ourselves. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Amanda. 

Question: Great. Thank you all. And then, Dr. Long, I wanted to follow up with you on your previous comments regarding the 50,000 appointments that are being made. Can you elaborate a little bit more, because I know that there's been volunteer groups who are going into certain communities, especially in Queens where there's so many languages being spoken, to really help people who might struggle with the forms to fill out to go get the vaccine? But I'm wondering if you could elaborate a little bit more on, like, what exactly is going on in terms of sending people into these neighborhoods to get people vaccinated and kind of the Test and Trace Corps’ role. Is it shifting a little bit now that we're focusing more on vaccines or are they still contact tracing, like they were at, you know, at the peak of last spring? 

Director Long: Yeah, thanks. Two great questions there. So, the first is on how we're approaching the vaccine effort, may have referenced what we're doing with canvassers. So, one of the things that we've learned from testing is that if you just build a testing site, that's not enough to get people through the door, and especially to get people that are the most vulnerable through the door. We've learned that with our, for example, our hyper-local effort in Sunset Park, where we are, and we're able to, by having trusted messengers and working with community-based organizations, get enough people through the door for testing that we drove down to percent that were testing positive by two-thirds, and we did the exact same thing in Soundview, but if it wasn't for our engagement with community-based organizations who people in those communities trusted and other trusted messengers, we would not have succeeded. We're taking those principles that we've learned through the coronavirus, and working with the Department of Health to apply them now for vaccines. 

So, in particular, I shared with you the number that 50,000 appointments have been made through our canvasser efforts, which again are our team members that go into our communities, the specific communities where we know we have the most vulnerable people, and focus on bringing people in to get tested and the way that literally can save their lives. In addition to that, we also work with community-based organizations, houses of worship, trusted leaders in all of our communities, and I would actually argue that that's the secret ingredient to all of our success with testing, doing more per capita testing than any other country, pretty much in the world, with the exception of some of the smaller European countries, and I think it's, what's making us successful in the vaccine effort as well— 

Mayor: Ted, I want you to just clarify one thing, when you say we're doing more testing in countries, I think you're saying New York City is doing more testing than – not the United States of America as a whole. Could you clarify that? 

Director Long: Yes, I'm speaking as a citizen of New York City. Yes, New York City has more per capita testing and has for a long time and almost any other country in the world. Some of the exceptions are like Luxembourg I think does a bit more, Slovakia— 

Mayor: Damn, Luxembourg. Ted, you’ve got to beat Luxembourg. 

Director Long: We'll double our efforts sir. With respect to contact tracing, Amanda, I appreciate you asking about that. So, our 4,000-strong contact tracers are continuing to be in full force. We've been reaching our data from two weeks ago, 96 percent of every single new case in New York City, complete interviews with warden, 80 percent of all of the new cases in New York City, and we use all that data to have a forward-looking break chain of transmission, but also have a backwards look and see where we were, our sources of infection are now. Specific people, locations. We have a model that helps us to deploy our resources, and that's how we decide where we put our testing units, helps us decide where we put our accelerated contact tracing models, and that's something that we're willing to continue doing a full force. We won't stop every chain of transmission we break is a potential life saved. You can count on us. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Time for two more first, we'll go to James from PIX 11. 

Question: All right, I guess that makes me the penultimate. 

Mayor: You are the penultimate – very good, the King's English. How are you today, James? 

Question: Great. Thank you, and I hope you and everyone on the call are well. 

Mayor: Absolutely. So what's on your mind today? 

Question: Alright, well, an education question here for you and for the Chancellor as well, perhaps. Look, the majority of students still in public school are learning from home. With the changes that you're talking about today, this change in the two-person rule, the two-case rule. What kind of numbers of registrations do you hope to see for in-person instruction after Friday, after this new deadline for the rest of the school year? 

Mayor: James, I'll start and I'll turn to the Chancellor. I mean, look, so again, I want to emphasize we're going to extend a Friday and this, you know, this will be the last opt-in just looking at the calendar. You know, we've got April, May, June left in this school year and for kids to benefit from the time in-person, this would be the last opt-in, and I really think it's a matter for each parent and child to decide. We did want to clarify this because we heard from so many parents that they were really concerned about the two-case rule and they wanted clarity. They wanted to know if their child came back, it would be a more stable schedule, a more consistent schedule. So, we wanted to say, yes, it will be we're changing this rule because we can do it safely, and we want you to have that stability for the remaining three months of the school year. But it is a very individual choice and there's no wrong choices, whatever a parent and child feel is right for them. We know a lot of kids would benefit from being back in the classroom. But they have to feel that's right for them. Chancellor. 

Chancellor Porter: Yeah. I agree with the Mayor. I think it is a decision that families have to make. There's not a number connected to it, but I think what is connected to it is more consistency of in-person instruction, and for families who are grappling day to day with “do I want to opt-in or not opt-in” knowing that the two-case rule is going to be addressed and they will have an opportunity to be in class on a more regular and consistent basis will help inform the decision that families make. 

Mayor: Go ahead, James. 

Question: Okay, well, I'll switch gears. Casinos, gyms, a variety of other venues, get their curfews revoked as of today. This will be abolished. What, if anything, does that mean for the New York City economy and what are your thoughts about it not applying to restaurants and bars? 

Mayor: Well, I will express my concern and let me let Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma into this. Look, I think the concepts around time, and I'll speak as a layman, they can speak as the doctors, that the later you go, behavior can be affected, and I think one of the things that's really clear is we need people to be conscientious. You know, we're in this home stretch, battling COVID, we need people to be disciplined and conscientious. I think it's fair to say there's a variety of situations in which people are not as disciplined or conscientious, and I think when it gets later in day, when they're more tired, certainly, you know, if they've had a drink or one thing or another there's different realities. So, I'm someone who thinks keeping some limits on is smart while we're in this final battle against COVID. So, I certainly have some concerns, but let me turn it to the doctors to tell you their assessment. 

Commissioner Chokshi: I think you're right, Mr. Mayor, and, you know, as you've heard from us time and time again this is the time for us to not abandon the things that have worked for us during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s particularly important right now when we still see a relatively high level of cases, but we have a chance to bend that curve downward. So, my message to my fellow New Yorkers is a simple one. Let's keep doing the things that we know have worked over the last few months, and let's take particular caution with those activities where it's harder to wear a mask consistently and properly, or where you may have lost some inhibitions because, you know, you've had a drink or two, or if you're in an environment where there's a lot of shouting or physical exertion, which we know also facilitates the spread of the virus. So, now is the time for us to be smart so that we can finally turn the corner on this devastating pandemic. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. Oh, I'm sorry, Dr. Varma. You want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Nothing else from me? 

Mayor: Okay, go ahead. 

Moderator: Last, we'll go to Nolan from the Post. 

Question: Hey, good morning, everybody. 

Mayor: Hey, Nolan. How was your weekend? 

Question: It was good. How about those Baltimore Orioles? 

Mayor: God, Nolan. You know, I'm impressed that you're paying close attention to a painful subject like that. Yes, God blessed the Baltimore Orioles. They won fair and square. How about those Toronto Blue Jays, Nolan? 

Question: If I rooted for the Yankees that would hurt. I had a question, back to schools for a second. You've given parents a couple of extra days to up their kids back into in-person learning based on changes that you have yet to announce to the two-case rule in city schools. How are parents supposed to make that decision when you haven't even announced what the new rule is? Why should they have faith in this process? 

Mayor: It's going to be more than two, and therefore they can have faith that the problem really had been as we experienced, as the data kept coming back, that the two-case rule didn't make sense anymore, and I've talked to lots of parents. I was a public school parent. I don't think they're out there with, you know, banners saying they want it to be X number of cases or Y number of cases. I think what folks feel and they're right, is that the two-case rule had outlived its usefulness. So, it will be gone. There will be a new rule in place soon. What it means is schools will be open more and more consistently. That's what parents want to know. You know, that's the conversation I've had with that's the conversation the Chancellor's had. So, we're telling people – that is a given, and as soon as the final details are worked out, we'll fill in the blank some more. Go ahead, Nolan. 

Question: Yeah. Secondly, we've done a bunch of stories highlighting the disparities in vaccine access and in vaccine distribution across the city, where public and private distributors, the bulk of them are in Manhattan, south of a 110th street. The most vaccinated ZIP codes in the city are also typically in Manhattan, south of a 110th street, and just today to pull up the chart again, the least vaccinated ZIP codes in the city are typically ZIP codes listed on your list of priority neighborhoods and also places where you guys have made a number of announcements about trying to improve access. So, I'm wondering what isn't happening, right? So, why is Far Rockaway, why is Hunts Point, why is Bed-Stuy, why is Crown Heights, why is Brownsville – why are all these neighborhoods still, three months into this, still at the bottom of the list when it comes to, you know, places where shots are making it into arms? 

Mayor: It's a good question. I will start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. Nolan, I think the pattern we saw in the beginning is still is a fundamental issue here, although I think it's getting better. In the beginning, we saw a huge skew in terms of willingness to be vaccinated, and it cut very much along income lines and ethnic lines. That again, I think that difference is closing over time, and we want to do everything to help close it more, and I believe when we get into the height of vaccination, which will be, you know, this month, next month, June, as we really are getting ample supply, I think you're going to see that gap close more and more, but there has been a disparity in willingness and all the other challenges that go with an unequal society folks who have a lot of benefits have had a better time accessing, and that's something we have to be honest about. But our job is to overcome that, to go out in communities, to create grassroots sites, to do the door-to-door efforts, to do homebound seniors, all the things that we think will help to bring more fairness, equality to the process, and over time, I do think it will even up quite a bit. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and, and yes, I also very much appreciate this question because we have striven to make our vaccination campaign one that is not just safe and swift, but also equitable, and we have made strides particularly with respect to race and place in terms of closing the gaps that do exist. But I'll be the first one to tell you that we still have work to do a lot of that as you've pointed out has focused on improving access, and those 500 sites that are now publicly available, as I mentioned, is emblematic of making sure that people are able to get vaccinated, not just at a hospital or not at a mass vaccination site but at their local doctor's office at a pharmacy as well, and we've also as Dr. Long mentioned, invested a lot in outreach, but you will see us double down even further in the coming weeks in making sure that we are getting out into neighborhoods and communities to spread the word about vaccination, and our commitment is to continue closing those gaps. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Doctor. Well, as we conclude the day everyone, look, we are in a race. There's no question about it. We are trying to outrun COVID and the variants and make sure the city can move forward, and I can say today, we're winning that race because the amazing news from last week, over half a million New Yorkers vaccinated last week alone, and on Friday, over a hundred thousand in one day, proving that there's so much capacity out there so long as we get the supply. And we're also more hopeful in April, in May, we'll finally be getting the supply we've needed. This is a very exciting moment because we can turn the corner. We can outrun these variants, but it depends on you. Everyone who has not yet been vaccinated, going out there and getting vaccinated as quickly as possible. The standards are now going to be opened up as of this week for everyone, very clear, very straightforward. Now it's up to you to go out there and get vaccinated. Also, remember sometimes if you're already vaccinated, the best thing you can do is help someone else, someone else in your life and your family, someone you care about might need a little help getting to a vaccination site or help signing up for the appointment. You can help make the difference. So, New Yorkers have been heroic, it’s the exact right word, heroic in fighting COVID over the last year. Here's one more chance to be heroes to beat back this disease. Make sure everyone gets vaccinated and bring the city back strong. Thank you, everybody.

2021-04-06 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well, some really good things are happening now in our battle against COVID. I am really, really excited, because last week we passed the milestone we have been waiting for – more than half-a-million vaccinations in a week. We proved it could be done. It is the shape things to come. We expect more weeks like that, going forward. And that is supercharging our vaccination effort, and that is how we win the race against the variants – more and more and more vaccination, this is the X-factor. And when you're reaching more than half-a-million people a week, that is a game-changer. Now, let's give you the numbers. As of this moment, we have vaccinated – we have provided vaccines – 4, 601,756 vaccines to-date. Vaccinations, more than 4.5 million vaccinations to-date and climbing steadily. To give you perspective – I always love to give comparisons – that is more vaccinations than there are people in the entire State of Kentucky. 

So, now that we finally have supply and that we finally are able to reach more and more people, we want to make sure we're reaching those in greatest need, and that still remains our oldest seniors. So, we've had a pilot initiative last few days for seniors age 75 years old and up, where they could simply walk up to some of our biggest sites and get an appointment right away – not have to make an appointment online or to call in, but just literally walk up, get an appointment. That has proven to be really effective. It's really encouraging seniors to come out who previously didn't come out, so we want to do more. So, we're now expanding from three sites that was part of our pilot program to 25 sites – 25 City-run sites all over the five boroughs. We'll have walk-up opportunities for senior 75 years old and up to come in, get a vaccination right away. This is the group we need to reach the most. This is a tactic that we know is working. It's been working around the country too. So, we're going to be doing more of this – 25 sites, lots more outreach to the oldest New Yorkers. And we will be setting aside appointments at all our City-run sites, Health Department, H + H sites for seniors, because we really need to focus on the folks who are the most vulnerable. 

And at the same time, today, of course, marks the beginning of a universal eligibility for anyone 16 years old and older. That's good, because it will make things simpler in many ways and, obviously, we want to see everyone get vaccinated. The more supply we get, the easier it will be. So, we still need to keep pushing this to the federal government, to the manufacturers, to the State. We still need supply, supply, supply, but things are really getting better. Now, with a universal approach, we look forward to reaching people of all ages. And one of the best parts of more supply is more Johnson & Johnson vaccine. This is the one I got myself. I believe in it. It's been proven to be effective and it's one dose – one and done. It is so much simpler, particularly for reaching folks who are hardest to reach and are amongst the most vulnerable in the city. So, I'm talking about folks – for example, homeless folks, folks who are undocumented, folks who have particular needs. We need to make sure, when we do reach them, that the single dose gets the whole job done. 

So, one of the new approaches that we're using is a mobile vaccination bus. And this bus is really exciting. It's going to be a game-changer as well. We can do up to 200 vaccinations per day through this bus. This is an approach that's really going to help us reach a lot of people who are being missed so far, but this will take the vaccinations right to them. First week of this effort, we're going to focus on restaurant workers and restaurant delivery workers. These are folks who have been heroic during this whole pandemic. They have been making sure New Yorkers are fed. They've been out there. They've been vulnerable. Obviously, a number of them happen to be undocumented folks. We need to reach them. So, the bus will be, starting tomorrow, in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. And this is a great partnership with a wonderful organization, ROAR, which stands for Relief Opportunities for All Restaurants. I want to thank everyone at ROAR for the great work you're doing, helping, working people through the toughest of times. Thank you. This bus is going to make a difference. It's another new approach. We're going to keep innovating new approaches. We just talked about the walkup appointments for the oldest seniors. Now, this bus, and new approaches all the time to reach deeper and deeper into communities. 

I want you to see this bus. I want you to understand what it feels like to get vaccinated there. So, we're going to our morning briefing correspondent, Dr. Ted Long live on location. The bus is outside City Hall and Dr. Long is going to give us a tour. Take it away, Dr. Ted Long. 

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps.: Thank you, sir. I'm excited to be here today to announce the first of its kind mobile vaccine bus. This bus will be the latest addition to our mobile vaccine fleet, which currently has 20 vans driving around New York City today. This bus will tear down barriers to getting vaccinated by bringing the vaccine hundreds of doses a day, literally to your doorstep. Now, come inside. Let me show you around. 

So, as you can see here, you come in the entrance here, if you're a patient. And then, there's going to be six exam rooms so that we can be doing six vaccines at any given moment here. Each of the exam rooms is safely separated by six feet between. And, as you can see here, this is where you'll register as a patient. And then, these are two of the exam rooms here. One of our vaccinators will sit here or here, having an iPad. And then, the patient will sit here and receive the vaccine. This is our refrigerator here, where we keep all of the vaccine. And between these six vaccinators, we'll be able to 200 vaccines in a single day through this bus. Also, importantly, as we tear down old barriers for New Yorkers to get vaccinated, I want to show you this here, which is our ADA Hoyer lift, which allows us to give the vaccine to any New Yorker that's interested in coming onto our bus here. 

Now, for tomorrow, we're going to be going live in Sunset Park. In addition to everything that I've shown you here, in Sunset Park we're going to have in-person staff that speak multiple languages. They're going to speak English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Cantonese, all in Sunset Park tomorrow. Starting tomorrow, we're going to have a focus on restaurant workers and restaurant delivery workers. Now, with this new mobile bus that we could drive anywhere in the city, plus our 20 mobile vans that we have today, New York City's vaccine effort is truly on the move. Thank you, sir. Back to you. 

Mayor: Dr. Ted Long, I liked that ending. On the move – exactly right. Thank you, Ted. And thank you to everyone who's a part of this effort. A special thank you to Promobile Kitchen, who's the bus operator. Thanks for their efforts here. And Daybreak Medical, they'll be providing the medical support. Thank you to everyone. This is an exciting new effort. It's going to reach a lot of people and we're going to keep innovating and finding new approaches.  

All right, let me turn to something else that is crucial to our recovery. And I talk about a recovery for all of us. It begins with the vaccination efforts, right? A best way to foster our recovery is to hit that goal – 5 million adults vaccinated in New York City by June. But then, a recovery for all of us means bringing people back to work, creating fairness and equity, getting this city ready to take off again, to get to where we were before the pandemic, and then go farther.

All right, let's go to today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, good number, 176 patients. So, again, we're watching every day and we're not drawing any conclusions until we get a lot more data, but that at least is a good number. Confirmed positivity – 58.24 percent. Hospitalization rate, 3.59 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,193 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 6.63 percent. 

A few words in Spanish, and this is about the City Cleanup Corps. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Ted Long, by Chancellor Porter, by Amy Peterson from the Mayor's Office of Housing Recovery Operations, by Dr. Chokshi, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to Steve Burns from WCBS 880. 

Question: Hi. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Hey, Steve. How are you doing? 

Question: I'm good. Dr. Long has got a future as a reporter if he wants a far less well-paying job. 

Mayor: Dr. Long is a very enthusiastic reporter, you're right about that. 

Question: Yep. I know the overall vaccination goal for a while has been five million by June. If I'm not mistaken, given the pace right now, you can hit five million next week. So, what is going to be changing it once we do cross that line? I mean, what does that signify for the city? And could we be seeing any broader changes once we hit that big goal? 

Mayor: Again, that's vaccinations that were over 4.5 million vaccinations, but remember, most of those are folks who need two doses. So, what we're saying is five million fully vaccinated New Yorkers by June. We're obviously well on the way to that. But remember there is that wait period with Pfizer, Moderna, three or four weeks until second dose, and we have to make sure people get their second dose. So, very confident we will hit the five million in June. If we can go even faster and get even more, of course we want to, but job one is to hit that goal because I think that is one of those critical mass points, and this is something I worked with the – our health care leadership on, what would be an amount of full vaccinations that would be a game changer for New York City. We agreed at five million would make a huge difference, New York City residents fully vaccinated by June, and we're going to do it.

Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing? 

Mayor: I’m good, Henry, how you been? 

Question: I'm good. Very good. Thank you. My question, I guess, has to do with the unions concern about schools that a lot of the new infections are occurring in young people, they're occurring in school age people, partly probably because they're not vaccinated, but for the teacher's union and other people who are in the schools, they think this raises the risk that the schools could still be a vector for infection despite how well the schools have been able to prevent that from happening. What is your view on that? 

Mayor: Well, I'll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi, but I would say this just to put in perspective. I'm really struck by what Dr. Chokshi said yesterday, after 700,000 tests in our public schools. I think the composite figure was 0.57 percent positivity. That's just night and day compared to, you know, everything else happening in New York City. I mean, they have been the safest places in the city, continually, well before people were vaccinated. Further, we now know that over 65,000 school employees have been vaccinated, and more getting vaccinated every day. So, even with the challenge of the variants, I think we are clearly doing very well in the schools, and in fact, our position gets stronger all the time as more and more people get vaccinated. So, I would say, I think regardless of some recent developments, that fundamental formula still holds very, very true, but first Dr. Varma then Dr. Chokshi. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much. I would echo really the points that the Mayor has made. So, first of all we went through a difficult second wave in January where we peaked at over 6,000 cases a day, and during that time, we were able to demonstrate that all of the measures that we use to protect adults and children in schools continued to be effective. So, we know that our defensive measures, our methods to prevent infections, can work even when there's high levels of community transmission. The second is, as the Mayor has rightly pointed out, we have now added the single most powerful layer of defense, and I would strongly encourage any adult – or really anybody now, 16 and older, that participates in in-person learning in some way, to get vaccinated. That is the single most powerful layer of defense that we could have to help protect against you know, people getting severely ill. And I think a related point to that is from our detailed analysis of cases from October through December, over 80 percent – or I'm sorry, approximately 80 percent of the incidents that involve transmission occurring in the school setting involved an adult being the index case. So, yet another way to prevent and make our schools safer is to protect adults from infection through vaccination, and we know vaccine isn't a 100 percent effective at protecting adults from being infected, but it is tremendously effective. So again, I would really lean into the importance of one, our defensive protective measures have worked, and second of all, we now have this additional layer of vaccination. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Mr. Mayor, I'll just add that we are following the numbers very closely, not just that 0.57 percent test positivity rate that you mentioned, but also looking at cases and test positivity among children across New York City as a whole. When we look at those case rates and that test positivity, even as we do see the variants increase in the city, those have held stable. We are not seeing increases in the burden of cases or the positivity rate among people age zero to 17. So that's something that we will continue to follow closely, but Dr. Varma made the most important point, which is that we do know that vaccination of school staff will help because the cases that we do see within the school setting are predominantly brought in by adults. So, this gives us a very important layer of protection that we think can make our schools even safer for in-person learning. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Kemberly from WABC. 

Question: Hi, Mayor. How are you doing? 

Mayor: Good, Kemberly. How are you? 

Question: Good. Second dose yesterday, Pfizer, HSS. All is good. 

Mayor: Congratulations. It's going to be a bright future for you. Congratulations. 

Question: Thank you. So, I have a sort of COVID-related question. Many of the restaurants in New York City, to their credit hustled during the cold months, late fall, winter, and came up when you opened up some of the streets for structures and so forth. They really hustled and came up with creative ways so that people could eat outside when it was colder – some of the greenhouses, some of the wooden structures, really fantastic. Well, today, it's what going to be 70 soon. We're heading into 80 and 90. You can't sit in those for obvious reasons when it's getting warmer. So, few restaurant owners have asked me, please ask the city, what should we do with them? We didn't really have room to store them. Should we sell them? We invested a lot of money in these structures. They're not the collapsible kinds, and from my understanding is this area say the curb side in the street, the one lane they are going to, that's going to remain, that they will have that space. So, they're asking me to ask you, please, you know, what do we do? Help us figure this out? 

Mayor: Well, that's a great question, Kemberly. Thank you. First of all, the point you said at the end there is the most important point. We have made the Open Restaurants program permanent. It's been a huge success. It has, I think, really improved the city, something that came out of crisis, but proved to be a really good thing. It excites people to do outdoor dining in a whole new way, and by the way, for the restaurants, it gives them a lot more opportunity to bring in customers and to survive this pandemic and thrive, and that's going to be now true for years and years to come. Even when we get past the pandemic and they can fill up their inside, on especially nicer weather they're going to want to have the outdoors full up. So, what we need to do is work with them on just modifying those structures. Some of them, if they've got a structure that's just for winter and they want to bring it in and store it until next winter, that actually might make a lot of sense. But if they want to keep the same structure in place, we can work with them on the right way to modify it so it's more open and airy, and they keep that structure there because that space is now theirs to use if they want to use it, and I think the vast majority of restaurants will want to use it because it's a great opportunity for them. So, we'll work with them on how to modify that appropriately. Go ahead. 

Question: Would that be a case where you would say, I'm just throwing this out here, some [inaudible] house somewhere in the city, in the outer boroughs maybe, or somewhere where there's space and you could provide free rental place, a spot for them to store in for the winter, and then they could come back in the summer – in the summer, store, come back in the winter and get it. 

Mayor: We'll look at, you know, a variety of options. I think what's going to be most typical, Kemberly is that they'll modify what they have. I think, you know, with some smart work together, we can figure that out, and so that, that would be my first instinct, but we'll look at different options to see what will help them. We want them, we want them to come back strong for sure. 

Okay, with that, everyone, look, what I appreciate deeply, and I want to always thank New Yorkers because the way we move forward is with all of you. The fact that we got to over half a million vaccinations last week, the fact that we had over a hundred thousand vaccinations on Friday alone is because you came out. New Yorkers are doing an amazing job, responding to the opportunity to be vaccinated, and you're doing something even more. You're helping other people get vaccinated, your loved ones, people in your life who need a little bit of help, need a ride, need a little help signing up. You've been doing that. We need you to keep doing that. Especially now, the vaccination is open to the age groups that qualify. That's a major, major moment. We want to keep building on this. This is part of how we recover. It takes everyone's involvement, and I mentioned earlier, something really new and exciting. Our City Cleanup Corps is a great opportunity for folks who are looking for work and looking to contribute to the City's rebirth. Here's a way to do it. You can start signing up for those jobs today. It all comes together in the idea of a recovery for all of us so much happening in this city where we're moving forward. Everyone has a role to play in that, and I want to thank everyone. Who's helping New York City come back. Thanks, everybody.

2021-03-07 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well, I got to tell you, I'm really seeing amazing things happening all over this city. Last night, I had a wonderful experience. For the first time in 13 months, one of our most cherished cultural institutions, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, BAM – BAM had its first live performance in 13 months at the skating rink in Prospect Park. It was just beautiful, an amazing performance, a performance by a troop from Montreal. The group is called Le Patin Libre. It's an amazing use of skating as a form of dance, as a form of expression. And the energy and the excitement of everyone who was there, seeing our cultural life come back, seeing, on a beautiful spring evening, a live performance again, and it was done beautifully. Everything was safe and carefully handled by BAM and everyone at Prospect Park. I thank them, I thank them for that. But look, everyone, this is how we come back. This is what a recovery for all of us means, to have our cultural life back, to have the things that we feel, and we care about that mean so much to us. And I want to thank the performers. I want to thank everyone at BAM, because this is so important to the recovery of this city. So, a really magical performance. Anyone who's able, I urge you to go. It's something very, very special. 

And today we're going to be able to share, thankfully, a lot of good news. This morning's briefing is filled with some really good updates. And first and foremost, our continued progress on vaccination. So, as you know, last week, over a half-a-million vaccinations in New York City last Friday, over a hundred thousand in one day, supply, finally starting to come in. So, the numbers are really moving now. So, since the very beginning, there've been 4,673,627 vaccinations in New York City, more vaccinations than there are people in the state of Louisiana altogether. So, I love seeing this progress. We're well on our way to the goal, five million fully vaccinated Adults in New York City by June. And we're going to keep doing more and more to reach every New Yorker, to address disparity, to give people trust in the system, and that really, to me, is about grassroots sites. These pop-up sites have been incredibly helpful. So, we're announcing a group of additional pop-up sites all over the city. And these are sites that community members know, that they believe in, they feel a connection to, and it’s having a huge impact – sites in public housing, at community centers, at senior centers, sites in houses of worship, sites in community organizations that are known and trusted. It's making a huge difference. So, this is the shape of things to come, as we're finally getting the supply we need, more and more of these grassroots sites, reaching deeper and deeper into communities, and the numbers are just going to keep going up and up and up. 

Okay, now let's talk about all of us, because this is important, and this is a tough topic but one where we're going to do more and more to address the needs of a lot of New Yorkers who are still suffering from COVID. And when we say all of us, it means not forgetting that even though a number of people had COVID and the disease in the first instance passed, a lot of New Yorkers are still feeling the effects of COVID months and months later. And we've got to help them. We've got to make sure that folks who are still experiencing negative symptoms, having really tough aftereffects of COVID, that we're there for them. And just like everything else with COVID, we see tremendous disparities, that folks who are feeling these aftereffects are particularly feeling in communities that have been suffering the most – in the immigrant communities, in communities of color and lower income communities. The places where COVID hit hardest, people are feeling these effects the longest. We've got to keep working to help everyone who needs ongoing help. 

And that's why we created our COVID Centers of Excellence. These are centers focused on holistic care for folks who are going to need it for months and even years ahead. There's two open already, Tremont in the Bronx, Roosevelt in Queens, the Bushwick site in Brooklyn coming in July, specifically focused on the hardest hit communities. And we want to provide help to all New Yorkers who are experiencing this need. So, today we're announcing something very important, an Aftercare program for folks who are still suffering. Our extraordinary Test and Trace Corps has really done miraculous work reaching all over the city, helping people, stopping the spread of disease, but also helping people with all of their needs, physical and mental health care needs, food, all sorts of support. And so, Test and Trace is exactly the right place to turn for the ongoing care that's going to be needed for New Yorkers who are still suffering. I want you to hear about this initiative. It's so important. And our central message today is, we're going to be there with our fellow New Yorkers for as long as it takes. And leading this effort – and she's done a fantastic job leading the Take Care initiative at Test and Trace, which has helped so many people to safely separate, so many families to be safe, so many people to feel loved and supported even as they're going through COVID – my pleasure introduced Dr. Amanda Johnson. 

Director Amanda Johnson, Take Care New York: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And good morning, New Yorkers. Today, it's with great pride that I tell you about a new resource being offered by the New York City’s Test and Trace Corps Take Care program to help those who are now living with the effects of long COVID. As you may have heard, long COVID is a collection of symptoms that develops either during or following a period of confirmed or suspected case of COVID-19 and can continue for weeks and even months afterward. It's estimated that at least ten percent of individuals who have been infected with COVID-19 will go on to develop long COVID. I may have mentioned this before, but even before there was the COVID-19 pandemic, I've been a primary care doctor working at a community health center based in Harlem. April of 2021 looks very different than April of 2020 did. But not a week goes by that my patients are not touched and affected by the long-lasting impacts of COVID-19. 

I have individuals who are months out from their acute infection of COVID-19 and are still stricken with shortness of breath, chest discomfort, with lightheadedness, with cough, anxiety, depression, confusion that they didn't have before their infection. Things that were taken for granted before they became infected with COVID-19 like showering, getting up to go to the bathroom, dressing, preparing meals, leave them exhausted. Many work in jobs that require quite a bit of physical labor, as can be expected, and they worry about what it would be like to go back to work while they're still feeling so ill. And at the same time, they are incredibly scared of what will happen to them if they don't go back to work. For that reason, we are bringing you the Aftercare program as part of Test and Trace because I know that my patients don't represent a unique experience, and this is happening in thousands of households across New York. 

So, Aftercare connects Test and Trace clients who have ongoing health and social needs to a full range of resources and referrals related to long COVID. This program starts today. We're going to be reaching out to a group of former Test and Trace COVID-19 cases who indicated that they were still experiencing symptoms toward the end of their isolation period. And through text messaging, we're going to be connecting them to a wide range of resources to support them in their experience with long COVID. These resources fall into four primary categories, physical health, mental health, financial supports, and community supports. Examples include referrals and connections to our COVID-19 Centers of Excellence, as well as other post-COVID clinics across New York City, diagnostic testing, primary care referrals, virtual support group, support for accessing paid sick leave, as well as educational resources related to pacing and energy conservation so that people are able to get through their day to day. 

We know that long COVID can look different for each individual. And for that reason, people will be able to choose the resources that are most relevant to them through the Aftercare program. We came up with our initial set of resources to offer based on our conversations with advocates in the field of long COVID, many of whom are patients themselves, as well as other local stakeholders in this area. But we recognize that this is an active and emerging area of ongoing research. As we learn more about long COVID, what it entails, what to expect, how people are affected and what the best treatments are, we're continuing to enhance and personalize the range of resources that we're able to offer individuals who are living with long COVID. Aftercare and its resources are just one more step in our move toward a fair recovery for all New Yorkers so that we can deliver support to the communities that have been most affected by COVID-19. Thank you very much for your time, and I'm going to pass it back to you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Johnson. And look, everyone, this is such an important initiative. I thank Dr. Johnson and everyone at Test and Trace for this really important work. Look, we got to be there for people and we're still learning a lot about COVID. But the important thing is to recognize, a lot of New Yorkers are still suffering. We can help them. We will help them regardless of ability to pay, regardless of documentation status. Very important to say that this is – look, Test and Trace as part of Health + Hospitals and this has been absolutely the credo of Health + Hospitals all along, here to help New Yorkers no matter what. So, we're going to be there for folks as we move forward. And look, the good news, of course, is we continue to beat the variants, beat COVID with mass amounts of vaccination, we continue to take real steps towards our recovery. But as we do that, as we focus on a recovery for all of us, we've got to remember who is still suffering from COVID and stay by them no matter what it takes and that's what we're going to do. 

Okay. Now, I said there was some things today to highlight and obviously very good news in the State budget, very good news on the continued vaccination levels going up and up and up. Very good news seeing our cultural institutions come back, our live performances come back, a lot of good news. Before I go to the indicators for today, I've got some more good news because even though it's still spring, summer is just around the corner. You can start to feel it. And so, I'm very, very pleased to announce that this summer, all eight New York City public beaches will be open and will be open on time on Memorial Day weekend, starting Saturday, May 29th. And 48 outdoor public pools will be open after the last day of school, that next day or a few days later, Saturday the 26th of June. Saturday, the 26th of June, 48 public pools will be open, outdoor pools. I’ll note that five of our outdoor pools are undergoing major rehab so they will not be open, but the other 48 will be on time. We're going back to the schedule that we had for years and years. And that is a very good sign. Look, last year, we had to delay the openings with public beaches, we had to limit the number of outdoor public pools. This year we get to do what is great for the families of this city, the kids of the city, have them all open. It's outdoors. It's exactly where we want people to be. It's a great way for the families of New York City to spend their summer. 

Now we're going to do it the right way, which means yes, there will be health and safety measures in place. There will be smart restrictions. There'll be rules. Whenever possible, outside the water, of course, we want people to keep their masks on, etcetera, but it's going to be a wonderful summer in New York City. Lots of outdoor activities, outdoor pools, beaches, cultural events. This summer New York City is going to come alive. This is going to be crucial to a recovery for all of us, and we're going to have a safe summer and we're going to have a fun summer, and this is your reminder that you can do both at the same time. So, we’re going to use my whole wingspan here – this means summer's coming, public beaches, public pools, but we're going to do it the safe way. A little bit of social distancing, never hurt anyone. So, good news ahead. 

Now let's talk about the indicators for today. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 238 patients confirmed positivity level 58.61percent. Hospitalization rate, well we don't have this number today because we normally get it from the state dashboard and it has not been updated because of some technical issues. So, we’ll have that for you tomorrow. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 2,991 cases. Number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 6.52 percent. 

Going to say a few words in Spanish, and I'm going to go back to a topic that everyone cares about, the fact that the beaches and pools will be opening on time. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi, all we'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Dr. Amanda Johnson, Commissioner Chokshi, Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma, Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver and Health + Hospitals CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz. Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you doing? 

Mayor: I'm doing okay, Katie. How are you? 

Question: Well, you know, excited about the beaches opening up on time. My question for you is about actually after the summer, looking ahead. Can you guarantee that every New York City public school next year will be open for five days of in-person learning? 

Mayor: Based on what we know now? Absolutely. I'm going to put a little bit of asterisk and I think we've all been humbled by COVID that there's things we don't know and things that change beyond anyone's expectation, but I feel very confident based on what we know now, Katie, we're going to have five million people, five million adults vaccinated by June, and then we're going to just keep going. I will not be surprised by September if that number is closer to six million. The measures we put in place in schools have absolutely worked. Everyone sees it. Parents want to come back. Yeah, we're going to be open five days a week for every kid who wants to be in school. Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Thanks, and I guess bringing it back to summer. I know last summer there were restrictions on the beach. Obviously, social distancing measures. I think a masks mandate. Will there be those rules again this summer, or will there be some sort of a change to the rules where people have to, you know, continue to wear masks on the beach or whatever they did last summer? 

Mayor: Look, I think things are evolving Katie. Obviously, as more and more people get vaccinated, and I do think that's going to start to drive down the case count for sure. I won't be surprised if over the course of the summer there's ways of doing things differently and you know, giving people a little more freedom, but look, the rules in place – last I've heard certainly the rules in place that the State set for last summer continue. I think that's smart for now. But we still have a ways to go until beaches and pools open and we're going to constantly watch the data and the science, and if things continue to improve, you know, hopefully we can relax some of those rules further. 

Moderator: Next is Andrew from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and all on the call. Topic of vaccines and walk-ins at the 25 sites where 75 plus can now walk-in, what is it that you and your health team are hearing from communities about why seniors have not responded in the numbers you had hoped for? Is it a lack of tech savvy? Is it vaccine hesitancy? What is it that has impelled you to move to this step where seniors can just walk in? 

Mayor: I think you hit the nail on the head. Andrew, I think we definitely think some of it is hesitancy, some of it is not being as comfortable navigating the sign-up process. We want to make it as simple as possible and this seems to be working, and we've looked at some examples around the country where it's worked as well. So, this – I think this could be really, profoundly important. We'll do walk-up vaccinations for folks 75 years and older. As we do that more and more places, we'll get a good idea if it's working, and we'll keep expanding as it is. But even in places where we're using other approaches, we're reserving appointments for seniors, we're going door to door. We have folks canvassing door to door to seniors, particularly in public housing, signing them up directly for vaccination. I think you're going to see more and more progress with seniors, but this is an approach that makes sense. I certainly can relate and say, you know, if someone said to me, hey, you just have to walk up, that is simpler, and I think a lot of seniors will therefore like that option. 

Moderator: Next to Sydney from Gothamist. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. And turning back to summer – the summer news, which you seemed to officially start the countdown to summer this morning. I want to ask, I know the city had previously done, like set up pools and dumpster bins on Open Streets several years ago, and I'm wondering if the city would – plans to do that again, just with like Open Streets, being so much more expanded now with COVID, would you bring that type of program back this summer?

Mayor: I think that’s a great thing for us to look at because we want to maximize outdoor summer options. So, look having the public polls back, the outdoor pools, is going to be so important. Having the beaches back, Open Streets, Open Restaurants, cultural events outdoors, you're going to have a lot going on, but it's a big city. So, if we can get the most out Open Streets we want to. So, we're certainly going to look at that option and see if that's something we can do as well. I want folks to really be able to enjoy the outdoors in New York City this summer. 

Moderator: Next is Reuvain from Hamodia. 
 
Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, I'd like to ask you about the tax hike on the wealthy in the budget. Do you have any fear that this will cause more wealthy people to leave than during the pandemic? 

Mayor: I really do not, Reuvain. First of all, it bears remembering that just a few years ago wealthy people got one of the biggest tax cuts they had ever gotten from President Trump. This simply covers back some of that ground. The wealthy have not been paying their fair share in taxes for decades, then they got a massive tax cut from Trump. Now the State of New York is creating a little more fairness. So, I think wealthy people are going to be quite fine, obviously, I've said it, and it is a fact, that wealthy people have done very well during the pandemic while so many other people were suffering. Stock market's been booming. The question really is what determines behavior and I've seen lots of studies that say marginal changes in taxation do not affect the decision-making of the vast majority of wealthy people. They are going to stay in New York City because they want to be in New York City, because they liked the life that's available to them in New York City, because they can make a lot more money in New York City than a lot of other places because it's one of the global capitals of every industry. So, I really think that's what matters here and the money that will come from this new taxation is going to make New York City and even better place to live, because it's going to mean we're investing in the city, making it a place that works for everyone. I really think the legislature has done the right thing and I think the negative predictions will not come true. Go ahead, Reuvain. 

Question: If taxes are raised in New York to – making it be the highest tax state for those earners and you don't think that they may choose to live or make their primary residency one of the other 49 states? 

Mayor: Again, I've talked to a lot of people who've done very well, and I've asked them over years and years, why are they in New York City? First of all, because they have an unparalleled opportunity to make money here. People have been very honest with me about that, that they can achieve things in New York City they can't achieve any place else. Even in a world where there's more remote activity, there's still nothing like New York City. We have every major industry represented here. It's one of the global economic capitals. People can achieve things here they can’t achieve any place else. That's not changing at all. In fact, I think we're going to come back even stronger after this crisis because some of our strengths are going to come to the fore. I think we will become the public health capital of the world. I think you're going to see our life sciences industry take off because of the billions and billions of dollars of investment in life sciences looking for a new home. They're going to find that home here in New York City. 

I think people choose to be here because of what's available here, that's not available other places, and I asked our Office of Management and Budget, over the last few years, look at millionaires who have left New York City and billionaires who have left New York City - look at the millionaires and billionaires who have moved into New York City, and they said to me well, those numbers kind of even out, but what's really interesting is the number of millionaires who are created in New York City – people who become millionaires in New York City, because there's so much opportunity here and that is going to flourish again, and that's going to be one of the reasons that people stay here and new people come here. 

Moderator: Next is Amanda from Politico. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, Amanda. How about you? 

Question: I'm doing well. I'm enjoying the nice weather, thank you for asking. So, I wanted to loop back to some of the health care stuff that we talked about earlier with this Aftercare program, I'm trying to get a better understanding of kind of what's the cost-benefit for New Yorkers who are going to be enrolling in these programs and how Health + Hospitals might be able to leverage what they're learning through these programs to kind of help guide medical care moving forward. So, I was hoping your health officials could talk a little bit more about, you know, like are there trials going on with these people? Kind of like, how is this going to help move New York City Health + Hospitals in terms of better understanding COVID? 

Mayor: And I'll start with Dr. Johnson in a moment, and then I'll turn to Dr. Katz, but I'd say you're raising a really good frame here because it's a combination of helping people, helping them deal with what they're experiencing and doing it holistically because as Dr. Johnson said, folks are experiencing a wide range of symptoms, but it's also learning in the process, what we can do. Dr. Katz spoke eloquently and I imagine he'll make this parallel of the difference between a year ago, what was happening in hospitals versus now the amount of learning that happened in the last year in terms of dealing with COVID patients when they first arrive. I think you're going to see a parallel experience with long COVID, that we're going to learn a lot more about how we can support people and address their problems. Let me turn to Dr. Johnson, then Dr. Katz. 

Director Johnson: So, thank you so much for your question, Amanda. So, one thing that I do want to make clear is that the reason that the Aftercare program exists is that first and foremost, we want to serve the New Yorkers who have been hardest hit by the pandemic, and so being able to actually engage with them on what their experience has been with long COVID, what have been the symptoms, what has been the economic impact for them, what have been the family consequences for them? It's going to enhance our understanding of what these programs should look like and where the gaps are. Where do we need to advocate for additional resources that don't exist today, or for which people who have long COVID are ineligible. So, that is one really important part of the learning that's going to enhance our programming. You also bring up and did not miss what I said about the ongoing research in the area of long COVID. So, the post-acute COVID syndrome is something that is only beginning to acquire a definition in some understanding of the medical community. But we're far from having a complete understanding of what this really means. 

Through the aftercare program, people who want to participate in a virtual support group can have access to participate in both national state and local trials, if that is what they choose, but let's remember how people have been impacted by COVID-19 in our city and across the country. We don't want this to be coercive. We don't want people to feel that they must participate in any kind of research study in order to gain access to some of the resources that we're able to offer. So, while we will facilitate participation in research studies to the extent that people want to, it's not a requirement of participating in the program and we'll just learn by virtue of being able to actually work with these patients on a day to day, week to week, month to month basis. I will also offer Dr. Katz or Dr. Chokshi the opportunity to weigh in, but we're really excited about what this means in terms of being able to serve New Yorkers through our program, as well as contribute to the larger body of knowledge about long COVID. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz. 

President Katz: I think Dr. Johnson has always just done a good job. We're very pleased with your support, Mr. Mayor, you know, we've been able to open up two Centers of Excellence at Roosevelt and Tremont sites, and soon to open the Bushwick site. These are areas of the city that have been particularly hard hit, where we were going to have now have the ability to really meet people where they are to figure out what are their symptoms. As Dr. Johnson was explaining, there’s a very wide range of symptoms that people have from respiratory symptoms, which require excellent radiologic equipment and techniques that we have at the centers, to more mental health, stress issues that people are experiencing. So, we're going to be working with patients, figuring out where they are, what their symptoms are, and then treating those symptoms. While it may not be yet clear that there's a single pill to take a long COVID, it's very unlikely that that will be true. As physicians, we do know how to treat the symptoms that are disabling people, and that will be our focus. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Amanda. 

Question: Thank you so much, and Dr. Johnson, thank you for clarifying the fact that it's not, you're a patient, you want that care, you don't have to be enrolled in trials. That was one of my questions, thank you. 

I just had a quick follow-up for Dr. Katz. During your last public meeting, your CFO is talking about the cost of these programs. It seems pretty low in terms of, you know, what's needed for infrastructure and for staff to keep these programs up and running. Is there a certain timeline that you're looking at to keep Centers of Excellence up, considering there's very little that we know about how long patients who were experiencing long COVID symptoms will have it for? I just trying to get a sense of what you're looking at for the future. 

President Katz: Sure, thank you. We'll keep the centers open as long as there are patients who need them, and then, I mean, even beyond that, if we're lucky enough to be able to completely, you know, move beyond people with long COVID symptoms, we'll want to focus on the things that contributed to this COVID pandemic, which are uncontrolled hypertension, uncontrolled diabetes, helping people to be the right weight to get enough exercise so that they're not at greater risk. So, there there's a lot that we can do to make people healthier and to prevent future pandemics, and we'll use the centers for those things as well. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more first. We'll go to Marla from WCBS Radio. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey Marla, how are you today? 

Question: Good. How are you doing? 

Mayor: Good, good. 

Question: It's become a divisive issue in the U.S. and been talked about for the past few days. Some states are supporting vaccine passports, including New York. Now, I'm wondering if you would support a mandatory vaccine passport for tourists once they begin flowing in and maybe New Yorkers to even attend indoor sporting or entertainment events? 

Mayor: You know, Marla, it, it is a divisive issue, and I think we should all sort of pause and take a breath on this look at why it's troubling to folks. Put aside the politicization of the issue for a moment. I think there is an understandable tension here between sort of the greater public good in terms of health and wellbeing, but also individual rights, and this is kind of a historic American challenge. I'm someone who believes that we need to be smart about not asking people to do something unless it's absolutely necessary. So, I generally don't think, you know, mandatory vaccination for example, is a good idea. I think voluntary is good, but with a very, very intensive public education effort and a lot of outreach and making it easy for people, making it free for people, those kinds of things. And I think the passport idea is a very good idea. People need to know their information will be secure. They need to know their privacy will not be invaded, and I think there are some situations that are more sensitive than others. For example, I believe folks who go on an airplane should have to provide evidence of vaccination or having a negative recent test. That to me would be a common-sense measure of you're putting a whole lot of people in a steel tube and sending them up in the air for hours on end. But I would say it's a different standard if you're talking about an outdoor event or something like that. So, I think this is something we can all work together to figure out a balance point on. There's a place for these passports, but there do need to be some checks and balances as well. Go ahead, Marla. 

Question: And you spoke about the $2 billion fund to assist undocumented immigrants and others who could not apply for a pandemic relief. Could you – do you know how many New Yorkers would benefit, how much they would get? Is this a one-time sort of check that we'll be going to them and when will they get this relief? 

Mayor: I don't have all those details and my team will follow up and we'll obviously get information from the legislature. What I'd say is how many people benefit? Well, first of all, we know there's about a half-a-million undocumented New Yorkers here in this city, who are part of our communities, who are part of the life of the city, who contribute a lot to the city, who are part of our economy - a half a million people, I would say a huge number of people and they have not gotten the same help that other folks got during this crisis. My understanding is it is limited term. It is, you know, another part of thinking in terms of stimulus and relief. But I think it's going to really help families get back on their feet and help us with our recovery. That's why I commend the legislature for doing it. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Last, we’ll go to Nolan from the Post. 

Question: Hey, good morning everybody. 

Mayor: Good morning, Nolan. How are you doing? 

Question: I'm alright, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Alright. 

Question: I would circle back to the question that Juliet led off with. You promised you would ride the subway to restore confidence and to people that it's safe to be there, both in terms of the vaccine and in terms of concerns about crime and violence on the subway. You've yet to make those subway rides. Why? 

Mayor: Well, I have been out on the subway for sure, and some of your colleagues were with me Nolan, but I'm going to be doing it in a more systematic manner. There's obviously been a lot going on lately we've been dealing with, but I will simply ask the team to set a date and announce it so you guys will know is happening and you're welcome to come along. 

Everyone look, as we conclude today, here's the good news, and then what is all of us –the responsibility for all of us to follow through. The good news is New York City is coming back. The good news is there's extraordinary things happening all over the city. The good news is the things we love about this place, the life, the energy, the arts, the culture, the food, all of the amazing events – you're going to be seeing more and more of that. This is going to be a great summer in New York City. Beaches open, outdoor pools open – a lot to enjoy this year, but what do we have to do? We have to keep it safe. We have to do all the right things to make sure we have the summer we want to have. That means getting out there, getting vaccinated. It means wearing the mask. It's such an important thing to do. The doctors keep telling us these masks have been miracle workers. Let's keep using them, keep observing the social distancing. We are winning the battle against COVID, but it's still another battle we got to finish. So, let's do the right thing now so, we can have the summer we all deserve, and New Yorkers, you have been amazing. You have been heroic every time we say we need help you answer the call. One last push, and then we can have a summer that we really can enjoy together. Thank you, everyone.

2021-03-08 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Yesterday another sign of the rebirth of New York City, another sign of a recovery for all of us, the comeback happening in this city. And so many New Yorkers are involved in bringing the city back. But what you're seeing, especially these last few weeks, is our cultural community stepping forward with so much passion and energy, our artists, our performers who want to make this city live again, vibrant again. We talk about that great phrase from the theater, the show must go on. Well, the show will go on in New York City and you're seeing it more and more every day. So, Lincoln Center, first live performance, the Restart Stages at Lincoln Center, so exciting. The New York Philharmonic was there. It was a beautiful concert on a beautiful day, a symbol of our comeback. And I want to thank Lincoln Center. They focused the first concert on thanking our health care heroes. So, the audience was made up of health care workers who have been part of the fight against COVID and who saw the city through. And Lincoln Center is focused on a recovery for all of us, on a recovery with equity. And I thank them for that commitment. But it was just beautiful to hear the live music again, one of the greatest philharmonics anywhere in the world. And it was a special, special moment and a sign of many more things to come. There's going to be an extraordinary amount of outdoor performance this year in New York City. So, get ready for an amazing summer. 

Now, let me give you an update on vaccinations. The effort continues to grow every day, which is fantastic. We're getting near the five million vaccination mark. Of course, our overall goal is five million fully vaccinated New Yorkers by June. But in terms of individual doses, today a very good number, 4,738,246 doses since the beginning of the vaccination effort. More doses than there are people in the state of Louisiana, the home state of our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi. You've done – you've made Louisiana proud. Now, everyone, we're really focused on our seniors. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Varma, our whole team said at the very beginning, the number one most vulnerable group is our seniors, particularly our oldest seniors. So, again, for seniors 75 years old and up, we're doing walk up appointments now. And this has proven to be very popular, very effective, really helpful for the seniors. We're going to expand it even further, even more than we talked about yesterday. Now we're going from the original three sites to 26 sites around the city where a senior can walk up, get an appointment right away, get vaccinated, but we're adding something more because a lot of seniors need someone to come with them, a loved one, a companion, an aid, someone to come with them. Guess what? The companion now can also get vaccinated on the spot. So, if you are 75 years or older and you come with a companion, both of you will be guaranteed to be vaccinated right there at that site, no appointment necessary. Just walk up. This is going to really encourage seniors to come out. We want to really get to every senior we can. And again, we continue to do a lot more outreach to seniors. We're going to keep doing that as long as it takes. We continue to set aside appointments for seniors at all our vaccination sites. This is so important. We're going to stick with it until the job is done. 

All right, now another absolutely crucial part of a recovery for all of us is bringing back our public schools now and then we'll be talking soon about what we're going to do this summer. And then we'll be talking more about what we're going to do in September. But our public schools are the anchor of everything that happens in New York City. And I say that proudly as a New York City public school parent, when my kids went to school. We continue to bring our schools back and they continue to be safe because of the extraordinary efforts of our educators, our staff, our parents, our kids, our health care professionals. We set a gold standard from the beginning. We said we would take the best health care practices from around the world, apply all of them in the New York City public schools. It has worked. They're the safest places to be in New York City, literally. And we want to keep getting more and more kids back. And what we heard from parents is they wanted to come back, but they were really concerned about the school schedules, they're really concerned about the instability in those schedules, unpredictability, and they wanted to know that we could keep everyone safe, first and foremost, but also have a more stable and consistent schedule. And so earlier this week, I announced the end of the two-case closure rule. 

Today, we're going to be talking about the new rule that will be in place that will help to keep schools open while simultaneously keeping them safe at all times. So, for individual classrooms, we'll still have a very strict closure rule. One confirmed case means going remote. After ten days, the classroom comes back. For the entire school, if there are two cases or three cases in a week that will lead to an increase in testing, but not a closure, if there's four or more cases and they're in different classrooms and can be traced to a known exposure within the school, that's when there'll be a closure and our health care team will speak more about this in a moment. Again, in every instance where there's any kind of closure, after ten days of school is back open. So, this will help us to have more consistency in school attendance and schedules, keep strong health and safety standards. Our situation room, as always, will be monitoring closely. And we worked with the unions who represent the folks who educate our kids and take care of our kids, the educators and staff of our schools – we worked with the unions to work through these issues, to find an approach that would really focus on health and safety for all adults and children alike. Thank God we now have over 65,000 adults that have been vaccinated in our schools. That's a great step, but we really worked together with the unions to figure out the right approach going forward. And there's a lot more we'll be doing with the unions and with all the stakeholders in the school community to ensure additional supports for our kids, both academically and in terms of their emotional needs, their mental health needs, because we're going to be asking a lot of our educators and our school staff as school comes back. We need to be there for them too, providing the proper supports so that kids and families have what they need, and we can have an extraordinary school year ahead particularly when we start in September. 

So, we'll have more to say on that, but in the meantime, I want you to hear from our Chancellor and our Health Commissioner, of what this means, this new approach. And the Chancellor, again, has been doing a wonderful job and when she speaks about this, she speaks as Chancellor, she speaks as a lifelong educator, as a product of New York City public schools, and as a New York City public school parent, simultaneously. Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter. 

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Thank you, Mayor de Blasio. And I'm excited, in all of those roles, to be announcing the changes today. Our entire community – from custodians, school safety workers, teachers, and just really want to thank the situation room – has put in a tremendous amount of work and effort to make sure our schools are safe for both students and staff. And we know the multi-tiered gold [inaudible] standard approach to health and safety is working. We have said since the beginning of this pandemic, that we will make science-driven adjustments as our public health experts learn more about this disease and how it impacts our schools. Following the guidance from the CDC and our own public health experts we can now confidently make updates to our closure policies and adapt to deliver a more targeted, precise response to situations in our school communities. 

As the Mayor said, schools will only close if there are four or more cases in different classrooms in a school within seven days, that can be traced to exposure inside the school. Additionally, this rule applies to individual schools as opposed to the entire building. If cases are reported, an investigation takes place, but the whole school does not need to close for 24 hours while that is ongoing. And I know all of the parents along with me are shouting a big hooray for that. To be clear, classroom quarantines will continue if a positive case is identified in a classroom. We must still assume that everyone is a close contact in this case. To keep school safe, we are going to continue to lean on our partners at the situation room and Test and Trace. In-school testing has kept us safe all year, and it will continue to keep us safe going forward, allowing us to make smart, informed decisions about closures. In the event that over seven days there are two or three positive cases in different classrooms, weekly random testing will double to 40 percent of the staff and students in the school. 

As I said on Monday, this consistency will do wonders for families, students, teachers, and principals. We've seen the studies, consulted with medical experts, and based this change on guidance from the CDC. And we've heard the voices of our school communities calling for increased stability around in-person learning as long as we can do so safely. This is exactly what this change represents. Fewer closures mean consistency and stability for students, staff, families, and more days in classrooms for New York City's children. And I happen to know one, little Jayden's going to be really excited about that. This change will go into effect on Monday. We will continue with universal mask usage, social distancing, weekly testing, and quick intervention by the situation room to quarantine classes and schools when needed. And we now have an added layer of protection, over 65,000 DOE employees vaccinated, and those numbers are growing every day. We know this policy will mean a lot to families, to students, and to all of our school communities. That is why we're also extending the opt-in period, for families to come back to in-person instruction, until Friday. Again, the deadline to opt-in is tomorrow. And you can do that by visiting our website or calling 3-1-1. And we look forward to welcoming you back to school. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Chancellor. And thank you for giving everyone a really clear update on the changes and how we're going to move forward together. I want you to hear from our Health Commissioner. He is not only our Health Commissioner, not only a parent, but also happens to be married to a New York City public school assistant principal. So, he cares deeply about health and safety in our schools. And he's been working with us closely on this new approach. My pleasure to introduce Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thanks so much, Mr. Mayor. And that's right as the city's doctor, as a parent, and as the husband of an educator there's nothing more important to me than keeping our youngest New Yorkers safe. As long as COVID is still in our city, we must remain disciplined about keeping the virus from spreading. But the good news is that when it comes to schools, we have proven to be able to do just that. When our multiple layers of public health precautions are followed – masking, ventilation, distancing, testing – the virus does not spread easily in schools. As every parent knows, closures also put stress on the entire household. Our goal will always be to keep schools open as much as possible by keeping them safe. We will continue to have the most rigorous measures of any public school system in the nation, our classroom and school closure rules will remain stricter than the CDC’s recommendation. So, today's new policy strikes the right balance to keep our kids and educators safe. And getting more and more New Yorkers vaccinated will fuel this and other virtuous cycles promoting health. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Chokshi. I'm going to actually ask the Chancellor if you have that website ready? If not, I'll – I think we put it up on the screen. Did we put up on the screen, the website for parents to opt-in? Yes, there it is. Okay, Chancellor, we're good. Up on the screen, again, is the website. I want to remind all parents you have until the end of the day tomorrow, the end of the day tomorrow, for the opt-in if you want your kids to come back to in-person learning. And, again, we're going to – we're asking parents across all grade levels to let us know your preferences. We are starting with elementary school, obviously, still waiting for the final sign off from the State, but we're getting ready to go. And we'll be having more to say soon on middle and high school going forward. But the bottom line here is, if you want your kids back in in-person learning and they're fully remote now, this is the last chance to do it. We don't anticipate another opt-in from this point on. So, I want to be really clear with parents, until the end of the day tomorrow, Friday, this should be the last chance to opt-in for this school year up until June. Final statement, I'll make because parents ask me all the time and I like to keep saying it, our goal and our belief is that we will be back full strength in September. Every child who wants to be in school will be able to be in school five days a week. Everything we're seeing now points us in that direction. And we're particularly thrilled with the level of vaccination we're now seeing in the city, which is going to make it possible. We're absolutely confident in our goal, five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated in June. So, we're moving forward. And if you want to opt-in, here's your chance.

Okay. Now everyone on a somber note, and this is important before I go to indicators in just a second. Today is Yom HaShoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day. And Yom HaShoah is a very somber time and a time for reflection and a time for memory, and memory that teaches us something. If you've been, as I have been, to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, extraordinarily powerful, painful experience, but it speaks to not just a sense of long ago history, but how much we need to learn the lessons still and act on them, how much anti-Semitism is still way too strong in this country and in this world, how much we have to be there for those who have suffered from the Holocaust, and how we have to fight the scourge of anti-Semitism with all our hearts all the time. New York City has the distinction – or several distinctions. One, more Jewish people live in New York City than any city in the world, within the city limits in New York City, even more than Tel Aviv or Jerusalem. And New York City is a home to more Holocaust survivors than any place outside of Israel. We remember these Holocaust survivors constantly, and we have had a dedicated, focused effort to get them vaccinated, to protect them. We've been working very closely with the Claims Conference and the Jewish Community Relations Council, and a number of other organizations. I want to thank all of them for their tremendous partnership in helping us achieve this. More than 2,700 vaccinations so far of Holocaust survivors and more to come. 

And the last thing I want to say about this is when I spoke with some of the survivors at the vaccination sites and at other sites where they were getting support, it was so striking to me that this history is so recent, and this keeps making me realize how much we all have to do together, how much we have to fight hate in all its forms. And we're seeing this horrible hatred directed at the Asian-American community. All hatred must be stopped because hatred towards one community is a threat to all communities. But I spoke with a woman, Cilia Jankowicz, 97 years old. You see a picture of her there. She survived Auschwitz. We had an amazing conversation full of faith and energy. She is so happy to be alive, happy that people are helping her. She kept her faith even after she survived the horrors of Auschwitz. I met Sarah Teichman, who survived the Bergen-Belsen camp, the same thing, full of life and energy and hope. I met Fryderyka Shabry, who survived only because her mother smuggled her out of the Warsaw Ghetto in a potato sack as a small child. And when you hear these amazing stories of strength, resiliency, survival, it's inspiring, but it's also a reminder to us that the work of fighting anti-Semitism and the work of fighting hatred continues. And it's not long ago history, it's history that should tell us what we need to do right now. 

Okay, let's turn to the indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 200 patients exactly – that's right at the threshold and we want to get under that threshold consistently, confirmed positivity 54.03 percent, hospitalization rate 3.53 per 100,000. New reported cases on a seven-day average today's report, 2,904 cases. Percentage of people testing positive city-wide for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 6.32 percent. A few words in Spanish on the new rules related to schools being open. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we will turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Chancellor Porter, by Dr. Mitchell Katz, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to Aundrea from WCBS. 

Question: Good morning. 

Mayor: Hi, Aundrea. How you doing? 

Question: Great. I'm great. So, before children were not as impacted by COVID when compared to adults, but now with the emergence of these variants, especially the one that originated in the UK, we're seeing a surge in cases among kids. So, how is a school system factoring in these new developments during this push to bring more students back to school in-person? 

Mayor: I'm going to turn to Dr. Jay Varma. I want you to know that topic is something we've talked about a lot, and Dr. Varma has been monitoring the situation all around the world. In fact, he did a scholarly paper on the experiences we've had in New York City that have helped us to understand how to keep schools safe. So, he can give you a sense of how we're looking at those trends and addressing them. Dr. Varma – 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great, thank you very much for the question. And, you know, to reiterate what we've said many times before, you know, we are concerned about the evolution of the virus, the emergence of new variants and how they can impact our city. From everything we have done so far involved in – in our school system, we have shown that despite the surge of the second wave, we were able to keep schools safe during that time. And I think it's because we adopted this gold standard approach at the beginning of the year. Now, what this change allows us to do is to end the era of disruptive 24-hour closures. You know, we've documented the harm that can occur from disrupting the social, emotional, and educational development of children. And we're balancing that with the data that we've learned from over 700,000 tests, hundreds of case investigations, and really the close partnership with our colleagues in the union and with families. So, I do feel confident that we can continue to apply very rigorous safety standards that will keep our schools safe, even though the virus is, you know, fighting back by evolving and changing. And, of course, to always emphasize the fact that we are grounded in data and science, if new things emerge, new information emerges, we're always going to adjust our protocols to match and maximize health and safety. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Aundrea. 

Question: Second question is just for clarification, because under one of the parameters, it was saying that contact tracing has to be linked to the school before a certain action is taken. Can you explain that? Because contact tracing isn't an exact science, right? So, can you explain that and kind of what the tiers are and what it will take for schools to close and how you're making sure if there are positive cases in the school, you're going to keep students and the staff safe? 

Mayor: Yeah. And let me just say on these technical questions – it’s a very valid question. I'm going to turn to Dr. Varma because he's been deeply, deeply involved in all of our conversations and calls on this topic. If Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz have anything they want to add, just speak up each time if you want to jump in. Dr. Varma, take that first. 

Senior Advisor Varma: So, you're exactly right. A lot of what we do in public health is – what we are doing is we are taking science and we're applying it in the real world. And then the challenge, of course, is that it is imperfect. And that's actually one of the important reasons why we are changing the rules because it is extremely difficult to know, with a hundred percent certainty, where every single case got their infection. What we've learned from our investigations, of course, is that oftentimes, you know, people have had potentially many exposures during the periods in which they might've gotten infected. Now that said we also know that because our school community is a sort of more regulated setting, you know, people are going to those places on a very regular basis [inaudible] large number of our cases of course, there are in children also, and their activities are closely monitored unlike, say, an adult who may not know all the places that they've been, we are able to take that information and to draw reasonable conclusions. And so, that's why we have this criteria that we put in there that we have to have traced their exposure to the school. And it has to have occurred in multiple different places around the school – so, that is four or more classrooms – for us to make the very difficult decision to actually move the entire school to remote learning. So, we recognize that there are imperfections in this and that some of this is an art. But we also feel like we've gained enough experience and knowledge that we can do this in a way that is safe and ensure stability. 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I just wanted to emphasize one of the things that Dr. Varma said about this, which is what this represents overall is really a stepped approach with respect to health and safety. The baseline is those multiple layers of protection that we've talked about, that applies to every child, every school. And then we can bring to bear additional interventions, starting with greater testing but then moving on to quarantining classrooms when that's necessary and then ultimately quarantining schools as well. And we move along that spectrum depending on the level of transmission that we see. That's our overall approach to making sure that the intensity of our intervention is matched up to what we're actually seeing with respect to the virus. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Reema from Chalkbeat. 

Question: Hi everyone. How's it going today? 

Mayor: Good Reema. How are you doing? 

Question: Good. Good. I'm glad to hear details on the two-case rule. So happy about that. 

Mayor: We told you they’d be soon coming. 

Question: Yeah, well, you know. Okay, so someone already asked this, but I wanted to just follow up I believe Aundrea from CBS asked this, but when we're talking about tracing exposure to classrooms, Dr. Varma said that, of course, like, you have to consider real world circumstances and that someone may have been exposed elsewhere. So, I'm curious if you have a situation where a child may have been exposed in the class and in the school. But it's also possible they could have been exposed at home or somewhere else – in that case, what would happen? Would that person count as like having potentially gotten it at the school, and that would count as someone towards the building closure? 

Mayor: Go ahead, Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Great, thank you very much. You're absolutely right, and unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to give you a precise formula for this, because as we've mentioned before, it really depends on how we weight different pieces of evidence. You know, let's use the example that you gave. If the child did have an exposure in their home, that is a close family member was a known, confirmed case, then we would assume that that case is linked to that household, and that's because we know that household transmission is the single strongest risk factor for getting this infection. Now, if the situation was different. In fact, we knew that for example, in the classroom that there had been or I'm sorry, or an afterschool activity or, or something other related to the school, there had been an exposure there, but there were no documented exposures in any other situation, because we know some children, you know, really only spend time in their homes and in the school, we would be more inclined to implicate the school as that source. But the reality is there is no specific precise formula. It's the reason we have extremely well-trained staff from the Health Department, from the Test and Trace Corps, and from the school system, all working together in a situation room, so they can adjudicate these cases on a case-by-case basis. 

Mayor: Yeah, and Reema, look this has been an ongoing effort, and when we talked about yesterday, the fact that as Dr. Katz has talked about the medical community has learned so much in the last year, dealing with COVID, no one would have ever wanted this challenge, but what they've taken on the challenge learned a lot, made a lot of adjustments they're able to deal with COVID a lot better. Test and Trace Corps has been extraordinary, and you know, they got started in June. They've learned so much in most of the year, they've been here. They've been able to figure out how to address things better and better through experience. But one thing we know is the very, very low level of infection in the schools was striking. And whatever else was happening in the larger community, the level of infection of in schools stayed very, very low, and we brought back middle school, we brought back high school, it just stayed low, and we believe it's all those measures that we put in place. But now a huge X-Factor: 65,000 adults vaccinated, I think that number could be substantially more than just as people we haven't gotten the report on and more gain vaccinated all the time. So, all of this was factored into thinking about how we could make changes that would keep schools open more often, but also be safe. Go ahead, Reema. 

Question: So, my second question is about the number threshold. I've talked to some public health experts and epidemiologists who looked at the rule before it was changed today and thought it was conservative, but also that a numerical threshold doesn't really make sense. That it's more about doing individual investigations in classrooms, which it sounds like that's part of some of the city is going to be doing and perhaps has been doing. But can you explain the rationale behind having this, you know, this number four as a threshold versus just something else? 

Mayor: Yeah. Reema I'll start and turn to Dr. Varma. Anything that Dr. Katz or Dr. Chokshi want to add, obviously again, just raise your hand. Our standard was arguably the most conservative in the nation and served well, but also had some unintended consequences, and that again was a standard set at the very beginning when we had to find our way, remember we opened our public schools in this city when a few major cities dared to try, but we knew we could do it safely. We've proven that. We've also seen that we've had a number of developments now helping us like vaccination, but by any measure, our standards were extraordinarily conservative, and even this new standard is much more conservative than some of the national guidance. So, we do feel though it strikes a good balance. Dr. Varma? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, thank you very much for the question, and the simple reality is that in an ideal world, every situation could be managed on a case-by-case basis. You'd be able to accumulate all of the information and be able to make a decision rapidly with all of that. But the reality is that we're dealing with the largest diverse and most complex school system in the country. We have you know, lots of, of investigations that occur and need to happen rapidly so that we can get information to staff and to families as quickly as possible. Because anytime there are cases, there are people appropriately concerned and worried about their potential risk. So, we do have to balance the epidemiologic science which says exactly as you have noted that every situation should be managed on its own with a very real world need to actually be able to get decisions made quickly that we can transmit information to different audiences rapidly, and we can make the interventions, we need to reduce the risk of an outbreak occurring. So, yes, in an ideal world, we would be able to manage everything on a case-by-case basis, but we also have to balance how we can do this efficiently and appropriately as best we can, and we feel quite strongly that we're really able to strike that balance. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Katherine Fung from WNYC. 

Question: Hi, I have a question about how the classroom quarantine will work in upper grades where students switch classes, if there is one case. Does that mean that the sixth, perhaps like the multiple classes that a student is in would be shut down would have to quarantine? 

Mayor: Katherine, I'll turn to Dr. Varma, but just want to make sure I understand when you, you're saying, for example, high schools where kids need to take more specialized classes and move around a little more. Is that what you're saying? 

Question: Right, like if they move around to four different classrooms a day, does that mean that all four teachers in all four classrooms would then have to quarantine? 

Mayor: Go ahead, Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, this is actually what we have as our current rule right now. Is that if a person was in a shared classroom space for somebody, then they are considered a close contact, and this is a conservative definition, but it is one that we chose because of the primacy of health and safety, and so it is true that in situations where somebody was in multiple different classrooms, all of those classrooms would be considered exposed. It's one of the reasons that pods are so important, particularly in the younger years, but obviously it becomes much more difficult to maintain as kids advance in their education and need to get specialized classroom instruction. 

Mayor: Yeah, and I appreciate the answer. And Katherine, again, reminding you that we have an x-factor here we didn't have when we started, which is, you know, the vast number of adults who have been vaccinated and how that's going to help us. And Dr. Varma very quickly, just remind everyone, from the study you did how much of the transmission in schools was adults versus kids? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yes, correct. So, we did a detailed investigation involving very complex analysis from October through December of all the cases in our schools, and we found that 78 percent of the events in which there was likely transmission in the school, the original case of the index case wasn't adult. So, either a staff person transmitting to another staff person or a staff transmitting to a child, and this very much aligns with what we've seen in studies done throughout the United States, as well as the UK, Germany, Australia, and many other settings, which is that while it is true, that children can, can bring in infections into school and even cause outbreaks the majority of the time that there are transmission events they are introduced by adults, and so that's one of the reasons it's so important for us to have vaccinations for adults. 

Mayor: So, yeah, Katherine, that was a big part of our thinking, that knowing that based on a lot of research locally, all obviously before there were vaccinations, now 65,000 vaccinations. That's a game changer. Go ahead, Katherine. 

Question: Thank you. So, the CDC calls for basing COVID policy for schools on the number of cases per a hundred thousand residents. So, for example, based on that guidance indoor sports should currently be canceled on Staten Island. So, why doesn't the City just move to a case-rate style policy? 

Mayor: Well, just to say real quick and I'll turn to Dr. Varma on this – we really believe in the outdoor sports in terms of city [inaudible] be any confusion between what the State has said about college sports. We are doing outdoor sports with public schools, and we think that's smart and safe for the foreseeable future. But to that standard question, Dr. Varma, speak to that. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. I'm not sure I fully understand the question but let me try to explain. So, CDC uses – has a matrix to decide you know, what safety measures schools should have based on two factors. One is the number of cases per 100,000, and the second is based on the test positivity. Now, because New York City does more testing per capita than any other very large jurisdiction. We always have a discrepancy where we fall the moderate risk criteria based on test positivity, but we fall into the high-risk category because we document and confirm so many cases. So, you know, we continue to adopt very rigid safety measures that really meet and exceed the CDC guidance and those aligned with what CDC recommends in that high-risk case threshold, and in terms of, of public school sports, as the Mayor has noted, we feel very strongly that outdoor sports are something that benefits students and can be done safely but we are concerned about indoor sports activities. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. 

Mayor: Good morning, Andrew. How are you doing good? 

Question: Good – 

Mayor: Do you have a better phone? 

Question: Yes, yes, it is. You know, thanks to technology, crystal clear. My question about the, the two-case rule and maybe the Chancellor has this information, what we would hear from parents when they were upset with this rule is that it would happen over and over at certain schools. I'm wondering, did the DOE keep track of where this was happening most often? And is there sort of any special initiative to address what happened to the parents in those areas? 

Mayor: Well, let me just start and, I’ll turn to the Chancellor, yes, of course, I mean this is what the situation room is all about. Of course, everything's been tracked. We believe this new approach is going to keep everyone safe, but also keep schools open a lot more steadily through April, May, June. So, I think the fact that we've been tracking helps us to understand how everything played out, but we really do believe this will overwhelmingly – overwhelmingly – I want to be really clear about that, Andrew, that we think the vast majority of closures won't happen anymore under this approach, but we still can keep people safe. In terms of the impact on those school communities and how principals and educators have compensated when there are closures, the Chancellor can speak to that. 

Chancellor Porter: Yeah, so I'll say first of all, the closures are public and posted on our website, and I think that, you know, one of the things that's been important all along is that we work in partnership with our health and safety partners to make these decisions, but our schools have been prepared to shift to remote learning as they did at the start of this pandemic and have continued to provide remote instruction to students when there have been closures. But today's announcement is really exciting for all of the reasons that you've said, and it will bring stability to our system in those places where families felt like there were more closures more often than not this, this eliminates that in some ways, in a lot of ways, but also is really grounded in identifying where we are as a city and a state and having the ability to make this shift based on health and science. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. 

Commissioner Choskshi: Mr. Mayor, I’d like to add. 

Mayor: Yes, Dr. Chokshi, please. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Briefly a couple of points to add to what the Chancellor has said. First, the era of disruptive 24-hour closures is over. That's one of the things that that the new policy gets us to. The second is we're bringing to bear what we know has worked over the last several months, which is increased testing. That gives us such a powerful tool both to have visibility into what's happening in our schools, but then also, finally, to take action when necessary and our ability to quarantine classrooms and close contacts really allows us to interrupt the spread before it gets too far. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: Then my second question also has to do with education, and I apologize if I missed any aspect of this earlier, but when you reopened schools a couple of weeks ago, you said the goal was for five-day-a-week in as many places as possible. From what we hear, there are still many, many, many schools where it's the blended model. The parents have been told there isn't room to do five days a week. Has the new CDC guidance about three feet of separation been factored into these schools? And are you still pushing to expand to five-day-a-week, in person, during this school year? 

Mayor: Yeah, good question, Andrew. Yes, I'll start, and if the the Chancellor wants to add. Yes, five days a week is the goal everywhere it could possibly happen, point one. Point two, we continue to add five-day-a-week capacity all the time because there's constant efforts by principals and teachers to either open up new space or use space differently, or sometimes students move to remote and that changes things. So, there's lots of different moving parts, but we're always looking to add five-day-a-week capacity, even down to child by child, every additional child you can get to five days a week is better. Majority of our schools are at either five-day-a-week all kids or five-day-a-week majority of kids. There are definitely schools that are not, we continue to try and work with them. Some of them have insurmountable space situations, but we continue to work with them. Last point on the CDC guidance, we are preparing to implement it, but we are waiting on the State of New York to give us formal guidance. We'll have more to say in the coming days on what we're hearing from the State and how we're going to proceed. The opt-in is to give us the information when everything is clear and ready to go, we can act on it for the thousands and thousands of parents who are ready to opt-in with their kids. But the bottom line is if we do have more space, flexibility, that also is going to help us get more kids to five-day-a-week. Chancellor? 

Chancellor Porter: I will just agree with the Mayor and say yes, five days a week, and I think he did a really great job of outlining that there are some places where we're targeting specific groups of students. There are some places where we can do it all five days for all students and schools are working on what works in their community, but we are pushing forward to get as many students in person five days a week as possible. 

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you. 

Okay, everyone, as we conclude, I just want to offer a thanks because the conversation we're having today about our schools gets back to a core reality. Our schools opened starting in September. We had challenges. We had ups and downs, but we opened our schools and we kept moving forward our schools. And that's because of our educators, that's because of our school staff, that's because of the leadership of our Department of Education, that's because of our health care professionals, Test and Trace Corps, situation room, a lot of people gave their all and very, very long hours. I want all New Yorkers to understand this. Your public servants have been working nonstop since March last year, many of them with no break, many of them working longer hours than they ever worked in their lives to protect you and serve you and serve your kids. It's been a heroic effort. I want to thank all of them. And now with this new rule today, we're convinced we will have the same extraordinary safety that our schools have had while having more time in school for our kids. I know every day, every hour in school helps a child move forward, particularly after the trauma they've been through. Being around loving, caring professionals who are there for them makes all the difference. And so, everyone, it's an important point to recognize that we're going to make sure our kids get what they need. We're going to see them through this crisis and today's announcement is going to help us do it. Thanks, everybody.

2021-04-09 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It’s Brian Lehrer on WNYC. And time now for our weekly Ask the Mayor call in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag #AskTheMayor. And yes, it'll be kind of truncated today as a – hey, a ceremonial reopening of Coney Island has to happen on its own schedule. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. I want you to know I'm sitting here at P.S. 90 in Coney Island, just steps away from the Cyclone. And I am honored to have been one of the first riders on the Cyclone. And the rides are open at Coney Island. It's an amazing feeling as part of the rebirth of the city. And I have one other piece of news for you, which is yesterday in New York City, we set a record 104,600 vaccinations in one day in New York City, which is more vaccinations than there are total people in the City of Albany, New York. It's like we vaccinated a whole city in one day.

Lehrer: Is that the first day over 100,000?

Mayor: It is the first day – we broke 100,000 once before, but now we've broken it by substantially more. So, this is the shape of things to come. I think you're going to see in the weeks ahead, a half million a week, even more, 600,000 a week or more as we get more and more supply. And the demand has been really amazing, especially now that everyone is eligible.

Lehrer: Well, I thought maybe you'd be doing Ask The Mayor from the roller coaster. That would have been an experiment.

Mayor: I could do that. You’d get very dramatic responses, Brian.

Lehrer: Yes. Well, let's say this is just a metaphorical roller coaster ride, not a literal one every Friday. There's a lot of education news today. So, let me get to some of that with you. Today is the last day for the families who've been choosing all remote learning for their kids to opt back in for the rest of the school year. And for our listeners’ context, the large majority of students had been previously opting out. How many are opting back in?

Mayor: So, today's going to be the decisive day and it’s really important for parents to know you have until the end of the day to day to opt-in. We announced obviously that the two-case rule has been ended, a new rule in place that will allow schools to stay open much more consistently and still be safe. So, we expect there will be a decent amount of activity today. But right now, we're well over 40,000 opt-ins. But we'll have the final number on Monday when we get a chance to really add up everything that comes in today.

Lehrer: I saw though that registration for any kind of kindergarten for the fall in the public schools is down by 12 percent compared to this year. Is that more privileged parents leaving or deciding on private school? Or parents of any means deciding on homeschooling for now because it's all so complicated? What do you make of that 12 percent drop in registering kids for kindergarten?

Mayor: I think it's too early to really judge what it means, honestly. I think what you're going to see is the recovery is going to move very quickly. The economy is going to come back and we're seeing amazing facts about the economic comeback already, thanks in large measure to the stimulus. You're obviously seeing the vaccination rate is astoundingly fast now. And I think you're going to see case levels go down. So, I expect Brian, a lot of people who have been away, are coming back. I expect a lot of people who are not sure what they wanted to do in terms of their kids' education will solidify their plans. And of course, families can sign up for kindergarten, you know, all through the spring, all through the summer. And in fact, some cities – excuse me, some families even sign up, you know, September, October. So, I think we will see a lot of folks come back in the course of the coming months. We are ready. New York City public schools, I want to emphasize this, will be fully open in September. We are assuming that every single child can be in school five days a week based on everything we know now.

Lehrer: Anne in Park Slope. You’re on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello Anne.

Question: Hey Brian. Hey, Mayor de Blasio. How are you gentlemen doing today?

Lehrer: Okay, thank you.

Mayor: Very well, Anne. My head’s spinning a little from the Cyclone but otherwise very well. How are you?

Question: Well, glad you and Luna Park are out there and having a great time. I'm calling because I have a situation. I applied for the New York State COVID Rent Relief extension back in December. And after many emails and delivering of paperwork, I qualified and was granted an award at the end of February. It took – I was told to wait two weeks for the funds to get disbursed to my landlord. They were not dispersed. I called, they said that there was a backlog and to keep trying. And back on March 24th, this program shut down. I cannot find anyone to help me get these funds to my landlord. Brad Lander sent me on to Robert Carroll and I'm assuming they're working on this. But I can't get a warm body. And I know I'm not alone in this. I'm hearing that a lot of people who qualified for rent relief in this second program, have not been able to get their funds to their landlord. And I don't know where to go to for help for this?

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, is this the first you've heard of this since Anne says she knows a number of people having the same problem?

Mayor: Yeah. And part because if I'm hearing correctly, this is the State funding stream that somehow the State is not getting to people. And I'm always confused by the State of New York, but we're going to help Anne anyway. So, Anne, will you please give your information to WNYC? We'll have our Tenant Protection Office follow up with you. I have to imagine there's a way to get this corrected. If the money was allocated, it still should be available. We'll work with you to find a solution.

Lehrer: Good. Anne, you hold on too. We'll take your contact information. Speaking of being confused by the State of New York, the State budget got passed this week, as of course, you know. And we and others have been discussing the details. And one factor was that with the federal COVID relief bill money, Albany no longer had a deficit to close. Is the same now true of the City for its budget year, which begins July 1st?

Mayor: Well, we're so much better shape, thank God, because of the stimulus and because of the actions – I really want to give the State legislature credit and Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Carl Heastie really deserve credit here. I mean, they did something incredibly important by raising taxes on the wealthy, finally ensuring that the wealthy would pay more than their fair share of taxes and then devoting that money largely to our kids and families and honoring the Campaign for Fiscal Equity, a court decision from years ago, State had ignored it for years and years, multiple governors that ignored it, and now the State legislature took charge and New York City is going to get its fair share of education funding finally. So, we're in much better shape. In two weeks, I'm going to be presenting the formal city budget to the people of the city, to the City Council, and that will reflect all of the changes, but we're in so much better shape than we were before. 

Lehrer: Well, how do you convince wealthier New Yorkers who may have left the city for pandemic reasons to come back, especially in light of the new tax rates – if they're really that wealthy, we are talking about people who make a million dollars a year or more under that no impact – but you want them here too paying their city taxes as well as their State taxes. And is it related to the job you have to convince reluctant families that the schools are safe to send their kids into either to return for this school year or to register for kindergarten? 

Mayor: Well, I'd say it's a little different. I mean, look, Brian, I think for this year a lot of families – it's a very personal decision – a lot of families have sort of the groove they're in now and remote and they want to keep it that way. Other families really want to get their kids back in-person learning with teachers and experiencing being with friends again and all, it really depends on the family. But September everyone will be welcome back five days a week, and I think that is crucial for the entire recovery of the city and things are moving really well, but New York City public schools have been the safest places in New York City, and that's going to help make everything else work. 

But to the wealthy, look, this is a great place to live for everyone. There are so many people, including folks who've done really well, who just – this is the place they want to be because everything that's here, the cultural community, the restaurants, that every industry is here, for those looking to build their careers and their businesses, there's no place better to do it. So yeah, there's higher taxes, and that also means a lot more investment in things like education and culture and things that people want, and I think a lot of wealthy people understand that. But remember also, Brian, they got a massive tax cut from Donald Trump just a few years ago and they've been benefiting from that and many other previous tax cuts. So, I don't think there's anything that's happened here that's going to fundamentally change the decisions of most people who have done well. 

Lehrer: We've just got 30 seconds left, can you give me a quick take on vaccine passports being itself, the Excelsior Pass from the State? I see the Daily News describes you as giving a kind of qualified support to the Excelsior Pass, 30 seconds. 

Mayor: 30 seconds? I think passports will play an important role and I understand why not everyone wants one and I understand the privacy concerns, but I think they will help. So, magic bullet, no. Part of the solution, yes. 

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, thanks as always stay safe out there. I hope your stomach settles down after your ride on the roller coaster and talk to you next week. 

Mayor: Sooner or later. Thank you, Brian.

2021-04-12 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, it's a little gray outside, but I have some positive sunny news today, because we have a major milestone that we have surpassed in the city – over 5 million vaccinations have been given since the start of our effort – over 5 million doses in the arms of New Yorkers. This is a really good thing. And it's a moment to really express our appreciation. I want to express my personal appreciation to all the folks who have done this extraordinarily important vaccination work – everyone at Department of Health and Health + Hospitals, all the vaccinators, all the team members who are out there making these sites work for people. It's been a labor of love and they've gotten a long way now. Now, that's 5 million doses of the vaccine that keeps us well on target for our overall goal, 5 million fully vaccinated New Yorkers in June. 
 
We had good news also last week. I announced on Friday that we had a record-breaking day on Thursday, our highest number of vaccinations since it began – over 104,000 vaccinations on Thursday alone. So, more vaccinations in New York City this last Thursday than there are people in the city of Albany. It gives you a sense of the sheer extent of this effort. More breaking news, last week, we actually set a record for a week in New York City – 553, 342 doses in one week. So, for a long time, we've been saying we could beat half-a-million doses a week. We have now that goal and surpassed it, and we're going to keep going, and I'm really excited about where we can go going forward if we have the supply. And, obviously, we've seen some issues with the Johnson & Johnson supply – that's going to be a problem in the weeks ahead. But, overall, supply has been growing. We need it to keep growing so we can meet our goal. But, great news – 553,000 doses given the last week alone. 
 
Now, where do we stand overall? Since the beginning of our vaccination effort 5,106,027 doses have been given, more doses than the total population of the State of Alabama. And more sites opening all over the five boroughs – these grassroots sites are really working, they’re getting a lot of folks to come in. We're excited about it. Senior centers, houses of worship, public housing, all of these sites are really working well and we continue to listen for where we need additional sites. I know there was a concern to get additional sites in Staten Island. We have a site now opening at the Staten Island Mall. I want to thank Assembly Member Michael Cusick, who advocated for that site and helped us to find the right place. We're going to continue to add sites as we get supply. But the more it's been a grassroots effort, the better it is going. 
 
Now, talking about new sites, we're really excited about today, because we're going to be kicking off a new site in Times Square. And this is focusing on our cultural community that means so much to us. Listen, New York City is all about arts and culture. New York City's identity, what makes us great, one of the things that stands out is our extraordinary cultural community. And we talked about our Broadway and off-Broadway communities, our theater communities, we set up the vaccination site for them. This is how a recovery for all of us works, to bring back the entire city to ensure that everything that makes New York City great is coming together. 
 
Now, we know that another crucial part of our cultural community is film and television. And film and TV are coming back strong in New York City right now. You go around the city, you see filming happening all over. The film and TV industries over recent years came back to New York City in a huge way. We did a lot to foster and support that effort. Now, they're coming back strong and this is going to be important to our recovery. On Thursday, Chirlane and I had a great visit to the set of Nora from Queens. We met with Nora Lum, otherwise known as Awkwafina, and the all the other actors and the whole team that put together that remarkable show. If you have not watched it, it is amazing, and Chirlane and I are big devotees of this show. And Awkwafina, an extraordinary, extraordinary talent and a graduate of New York City public schools. I talked to her about her whole history in the public schools. She started rattling off all the public schools she went to from elementary school all the way to LaGuardia High School. And it's great to see someone who came from our schools do so well. And she's totally devoted to New York City, as is her whole team. So, this is great that film and TV are coming back. We want a film and TV community to be part of our vaccination effort as well. So, we're going to welcome them to join the vaccination center in Times Square. We want to make sure that the film and TV industry comes back stronger all the time. Vaccinations will play a key role. We want to make it easy for the actors and the producers and the crews, everyone in the film and TV industry get vaccinated. So, Times Square site will also be made available to them. We're working with the unions in the film and TV industry, the industry itself, the companies involved. We're going to have dedicated appointments set aside for folks from film and TV. And this is going to help this industry come back. But, much more important, it's part of the lifeblood of our city as part of just what makes us special. 
 
And so many great talents are right here, so many great new who are thriving in the film and TV industry. And I want you to hear from one of them. She is a native New Yorker and she has, with her great New York City spirit, been successful in TV and film, on the stage throughout a career in Law & Order: SVU, and ER, and Marvel's Daredevil, and I want to particularly shout her out for her work in Star Trek: Picard. And Chirlane and I are Trekkies, so we have been very devoted to all the different iterations of Star Trek. And Michelle Herd is an extraordinary actor, but she also helped to save the entire known galaxy at a crucial moment in Star Trek: Picard. So, I really think – you know, I thank a lot of people when they join us in these morning gatherings, but few of them have saved the galaxy. So, Michelle, just wanted to do a special shout out – all sentient beings thank you for that act of courage and heroism. My pleasure to introduce Michelle Herd. 
 
[…] 
 
Mayor: Thank you so much, Michelle. And I want to thank you on behalf of all New York City. You make us very, very proud – a New Yorker who has done so much good. Also, I believe the Federation's a real thing, so I want to thank you on behalf of the Federation as well. 
 
[Laughter] 
 
Now, I want to bring forward another actor, someone who serves the entire community as Executive Vice President and New City President for SAG-AFTRA, representing over 160,000 actors, dancers, and singers. And that's – that's a lot of people to represent and people who are going to help bring this city back, and a great union now. In addition, Rebecca Damon, of course, as an actor herself, she's been a voiceover performer and appeared on Guiding Light, and As the World Turns, and One Life to Live – venerable shows, indeed. We welcome you, Rebecca. 
 
[…] 
 
Mayor: Thank you so much, Rebecca. Thank you for all you do representing these good people. And I agree with you, the union jobs in film and TV, and so many other folks that you represent, these are really good quality jobs, exactly what we need as New York City comes back. We also need to make sure that people will be safe and protected, that's why the vaccination really, really matters. I also want to note, Rebecca mentioned binge-watching – a lot of us have been binge-watching, it's true. Chirlane and I just finished binge watching, for the second time, the amazing HBO series Beforeigners, I strongly recommend it. But we never would have probably done that in normal times. So, wish we never had a pandemic, but we have caught up on a lot of culture in these last months. The site that we have in Times Square is going to be crucial to, as we originally said, the Broadway community. It's going to be now crucial to the film and TV community as well. And I'll be up there at the vaccine site – the vaccination site later on today to kick it off. And we're going to have a very special guest join us for this important moment. So, we're really looking forward to that. 
 
Now, obviously, New York City is coming back, and arts and culture are crucial to New York City's comeback. Film and TV industry, theater – all of this is crucial. I'm going to keep talking about it, because I'm proud of New York City. I'm proud of the way New Yorkers come back. I'm proud of the spirit of New Yorkers, fought their way through this pandemic no matter what, and now are bringing back this city, and we're going to bring back this city stronger than ever, literally. There has been some criticism from our friends at Fox News that, somehow, I have been a cheerleader for my city. And I want to say to everyone at Fox News, I'm not going to apologize for celebrating New York City. It's an amazing place. It's the greatest city in the world. It's going through a beautiful Renaissance right now. So, to my friends at Fox, I know you like to present a dire picture of this city, but you don't understand New York City perhaps. This is a place of incredible heart and resiliency. We're coming back strong. We have some challenges, we overcome them – that's what we do. But I can tell you something, I'm going to celebrate each and every victory by and for New Yorkers, every step along the way. And that's something we all should do. 
 
Okay. Speaking of a victory, let's talk about our opt-in for schools that was just completed on Friday. We talked last week about our new plan for keeping schools open safely with fewer closures and making it work for everyone in the school community. The focus, as always, health and safety first, also a more stable schedule for our kids and families, because they deserve that. And we know – we know from experience how safe our schools are. We set a gold standard of health and safety measures that would work, and they have – safest place to be in New York City is our schools. Friday was the last day for opt-in. The final numbers are now in. We have just over 50,000 students who have opted in for in-person learning again across all grade levels. And we're going to make sure we can accommodate. We know we can, we'll accommodate all those kids. So, I want to emphasize that the plan is that 50,000-plus kids have opted in, they are all welcome back. And they will be welcomed back – our kids who have opted in will be welcomed back to school on Monday, April 26th. Everything will be ready for them, regardless of grade level. Obviously, there's been changes in the CDC guidance for elementary school that we are implementing, but even with the existing six-foot rule in middle schools and high schools we’ll be able to accommodate the kids who want to come back. So, this'll be all grades. Opt-ins will be honored starting on Monday the 26th. And we're really excited for the kids who have chosen to come back, for the families who have chosen to come back. We're really excited to have the opportunity for them to have in-person learning again – obviously, the highest and best form of education – and this will help them to come back strong this year and preparing for next year when we're going to welcome back all our kids. 
 
Okay. Now, let's talk about one of the communities of our city, this very special moment for the Muslim community tonight, the holy month of Ramadan begins. It is a time of reflection and it's a time of faith, a time where people really think about their family and their community. And we want to support the Muslim community in this special time, but especially as we all fight COVID together. So, on Saturday, I was at a pop-up vaccination site at Al-Masjidu Adam in the Bronx, a great turnout of people from the community. And the site is open to everyone, was obviously particularly important for members of the Muslim community in the Bronx to have a place that they were familiar with and connected to. But the site welcomes everyone in a part of the Bronx very hard hit by COVID. So, it was a great – a great step. I want to thank everyone who was a part of putting together this site, and you're going to see more, like them like this site in mosques and Muslim community centers around the city. And we're going to be working with all faiths, all houses of worship, because we found this has been really effective way to get more people to come in and be vaccinated in a setting that they trust and feel comfortable in. So, good news for the Muslim community. I want to wish Ramadan Mubarak to all our Muslim brothers and sisters this very special time. 
 
Okay, let's go over today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, very good, 167 patients. One of the lowest we've seen in quite a while and I hope that's a sign of things to come. The confirmed positivity level, 57.89 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 is 3.12. Again, that's getting lower. That's a good thing. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 2,773 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today’s report – again, we see some good signs all around in these numbers – today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 5.27 percent. Let me say a few words in Spanish both about the announcement on the schools opt-in and our focus on bringing back our cultural community. 
 
[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 
 
With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 
 
Moderator: Hi, all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Commissioner Chokshi, Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma, Chancellor Porter, Health + Hospitals CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz, and MOME Commissioner de Castillo. With that, Samantha from 1010 Wins. 
 
Question: Hi. Can you hear me? 
 
Mayor: Yes, Samantha, how are you doing? 
 
Question: I’m good, how are you? Thanks. So, currently I'd like to know – I guess this is for a Chancellor Porter – how many teachers or what percentage of teachers are still remote due to health exemptions, and will it be an issue with 50,000 kids coming back? If there is a large amount, will that affect in-person learning and will the DOE make vaccinated teachers who had a health exemption come back? 
 
Mayor: I'll start Samantha and I'll pass to the Chancellor. 50,000 kids coming back is wonderful and we feel very confident we can accommodate them well with the folks we have now. So, I really want to emphasize that we feel very good about our ability to bring kids back, get them a great education in-person, maximize the number of kids that will be going five days a week with the team that we have now. With that, I'll turn to the Chancellor. 
 
Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Yeah, I agree. Thank you. I agree with the Mayor, we feel quite confident that with the team we have in place now, we can accommodate the families that have chosen to opt-in. Our goal has been to get as many students back in as want to, which is why we opened the opt-in window. And we look forward to welcoming them back into our communities, but also working with schools to ensure that we can get as many kids in for five days a week as possible. 
 
Mayor: Go ahead, Samantha. 
 
Question: Will this affect how many days, you know, if some kids are going like five days now or four days, will it reduce the amount of days for some students? Have you looked at the logistics on that? 
 
Mayor: Yeah, I'll start, and I'll turn to the Chancellor again. No, any child who's in school right now, their days will remain the same. If we can increase the number of days, we will. Our goal is to continue getting more kids, more days. Chancellor. 
 
Chancellor Porter: Correct. Yeah. We – it's our expectation that the student will remain in the program that was created for them. And as we bring more students in, we hope to get as many of them in five days a week. But without interrupting the current schedules that exist for students today. 
 
Mayor: Go ahead. 
 
Moderator: Next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal. 
 
Question: Hey, Mayor de Blasio. How are you doing? 
 
Mayor: Good, Katie. How you been? 
 
Question: I've been good. I've been great. Got to ride my Cyclone after you on Friday. And I got your photo as a keepsake, so it's one of my prized possessions now. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Do you have the – do you have the same bruises I have? 
 
[Laughter] 
 
Question: It was – I got my photo too, and I look very, very terrified. It gets scarier every year. I’ve been riding it since I was a kid writing, and it only gets worse. But my question is not about the Cyclone. It's actually following up on Samantha's question. I knew she asked specifically how many teachers have received health accommodations, and that wasn’t answered. So, I'm curious if you have that number, Chancellor Porter, and I guess when will there be a reset? Will next year, there will never be an option for remote teaching? Could you just explain that a little bit, for those on health accommodations? 
 
Mayor: I’ll start, and I'll pass to the Chancellor. I’ll see if the Chancellor has the exact number. If she does great, if not, we'll certainly get it to you. Look, next year is a very different reality, Katie. We are really, really looking forward to September. We're well on the way to getting a huge number of people vaccinated. I think September is going to be an entirely different environment. So, we'll be resetting all the rules as we go into the next school year. Go ahead, Chancellor. 
 
Chancellor Porter: Yes, we have about 28,000 teachers on an accommodation, and to the Mayor's point we're working to reset for next year. We are in a very different place than we were a year ago today. And so, we're looking forward to resetting what our system looks like with our staff members coming back. 
 
Mayor: Go ahead, Katie. 
 
Question: Thanks. And you know, someone asked me this question this morning, but I said, I'd ask on their behalf. Do you know when the City's Marriage Bureau will reopen for in-person weddings? 
 
Mayor: I don't, but we will get you that answer today. It's certainly, you know, with the right restrictions in place, I assume we can do that. Let me just see if Dr. Chokshi happens to know that answer. Do you, Dr. Chokshi? 
 
Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Sir, I don't know the answer, but we'll be happy to look into it. 
 
Mayor: Okay. We will get you that answer, Katie. And we obviously want to give people that opportunity with a smart approach, but we – it's a good question. We will get you a good answer. 
 
Moderator: Next is James from PIX11. 
 
Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Thanks for taking my call. 
 
Mayor: How are you doing today, James? 
 
Question: I'm doing well. And let me point out also that SAG-AFTRA also represents television and radio journalists, including many people on the call. Just want to make that clear. 
 
Mayor: I did not know that honestly, and I'm glad to hear that. And obviously we want to accommodate everyone from the TV and film community at that vaccination site. So, if you haven't gotten a vaccination, come on down. If you haven't gotten vaccinated, come on down, James. 
 
Question: Okay. And everyone on the call, heads up. And I have gotten vaccinated. Thank you. And now to the question, regarding the opt-in for in-person learning, it's 50,000 to 51,000 students, can you just react to that number? I mean, it does still mean that hundreds and hundreds of thousands of students are – and their families – are choosing to not go in-person. 51,000 people, 51,000 students. How much of an endorsement of the safety of in-person learning is this actually? 
 
Mayor: It's a really good question, James, but I want to say, first of all, you are a true New Yorker that 51,000 kids doesn't seem like a lot to you. 51,000 kids is more than the size of many large school systems in urban America. So, it's a lot of kids. Now, what do I think is going on here? My view, and I'll get the Chancellor in this too – my view is, a lot of parents were really focused on the schedule question. They had gotten into a schedule that worked for them with remote. The kids had gotten used to, and liked the teachers they had, and they didn't want to disrupt that. I think that's where most parents were at. I think there's a growing understanding that's been going on for months that schools are very, very safe. I don't think that's the problem here. I think it's about what works with people's lives. And, you know, for some parents, it was just so important, their kids really needed that in-person connection again. And that was the number one factor. And that's – I think those are the parents, those are the kids who opted in. But for others, you know, especially because it's late in the school year, I think they wanted the continuity they had. Go ahead, Chancellor. Do you want to comment on that? 
 
Chancellor Porter: Yeah, I agree. You know, we really wanted this opportunity to give parents an option to opt back in, should they want to. But we always respected the decisions that parents were making at this time. And to the Mayor's point, families have adjusted to a schedule and didn't want to have further disruption, but there were families who saw this as an opportunity to get back in and to get in for more days. And so, we're looking forward to welcoming all of our students back in person, all 50,000 of them. 
 
Mayor: Excellent. Thank you. Go ahead, James. 
 
Question: Talk about – I mean, but let's note then that there's still some 700,000, at least 700,000 students, that are choosing to not be in-person. Those families, what do you have to say to them regarding next year? Some are still expressing concern, especially noting that by September, it's not clear that children will be able to be vaccinated. It's still expressing concern about health and safety despite the low numbers that you cite regarding infection. They're still concerned. What can you do to increase their feeling comfortable sending their kids back in the fall? 
 
Mayor: James, it’s a really important question, and I'm going to start and turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi. I'm going to start as a parent. You know, my kids went to New York City public schools the whole way through, health and safety of your kids is the number one consideration for all parents, unquestionably. We're in the beginning of April still. By the beginning of September, you're going to see such widespread vaccination in this city. And I really believe you're going to see a very low level of cases citywide, and I think it's going to be an entirely different environment. We're going to continue so many of the measures that have worked in our schools. I think the vast majority of parents are going to want their kids back in school five days a week. And that's what we're planning on. We're preparing for the possibility that some parents may still want remote, but I think the idea here is it's one or the other, either a kid's in school five days a week period, or they’re remote five days a week, no more blended. I don't think we'll have any need for that. And I think when the schedule is clear and consistent, and there's ample evidence of the health and safety, the vast majority of parents will want their kids back in school. I truly believe that. Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, do you want to comment? 
 
Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Sure. Yeah, I can go first. Thank you, and Mr. Mayor, for the question. I first want to say that we fully understand why some parents may feel more comfortable having their kids continue in remote learning. We are still in the middle of a very difficult fight against this epidemic, and there are many people that still remain quite concerned. So, I do think the single most important thing we can do to build confidence is to control the epidemic. So, that means everybody persisting with all of these critical measures, like wearing masks, keeping distanced, washing their hands, getting tested, and then even getting vaccinated as soon as they can. And I think if we continue to do all the things, I am quite optimistic that during the summer months, we're going to see our disease rates dropped quite dramatically. And I think that's going to really increase people's confidence that New York can control this epidemic successfully and keep their school safe. So, I think that's the single most important thing. I think related to that, we need to continue the open dialogue that, you know, the Chancellor and her team have already started, and I've had the privilege to participate in many community discussions and need to understand what the remaining concerns are and do our best to address them. But I do think that it's going to be a very changing situation over the next couple of months, where we're going to see the epidemic under increasing control. We're going to see more availability, eligibility for vaccines, but we also need to continue to listen and try to understand and address the concerns of people who still are worried later on. 
 
Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi. 
 
Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. And I agree with what Dr. Varma has said. I just want to underline one point, which is that the reason that we have brought to bear these multiple layers of safety and precautions to keep schools as safe as possible is not just for the educational benefit that we know flows from keeping schools open, by keeping them safe, but also because of the health benefits that come along with opening schools as well. Certainly, for the health of the children who are being served in the schools but also there are these reverberating effects for the health of families as well. The stress, you know, that so many parents have felt over the last year. These are very worthy missions for us to take on with respect to keeping schools open by keeping them safe. 
 
Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 
 
Moderator: Next is Michael from the Daily News. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey Michael, how you been? 

Question: I'm doing okay. The question I had, and this might be something for the Chancellor as well. Is the City, is the Department of Education getting any indication that you know, more teachers are lining up to retire after, you know, like a very difficult year? I know, you know, earlier, last year we saw more police putting in papers. Are we seeing any trends as far as the Department of Education goes with teachers saying, you know, I'm ready to put in my papers? 

Mayor: I'll turn to the Chancellor. I have not been hearing that to date Michael, but the Chancellor can tell you what she knows or we can get you a follow-up. Look, it's been a very tough year, but there's also tremendous commitment amongst our educators to their kids. I think people are really looking forward to schools coming back in-person in September. And a lot of educators deeply miss the experience of being directly connected to kids the way they were before. So, I think we've got a lot of folks who will be committed for the long haul. And there's also a whole new generation coming up that would love to teach in the New York City public schools. But Chancellor, do you have any numbers on that? 

Chancellor Porter: Yes. Retirements are down over 20 percent from last year. And resignations are down almost 43 percent compared to the year prior. And to your point, folks have been really showing up and, you know, so super dedicated and committed to our schools and to our students. We've also been thinking prior to the pandemic about how to build our pipeline programs because we knew we had a wave of potential retirements coming and that's pre-pandemic. So, we continue to do that work and looking forward to build our recruitment opportunities going forward. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more. First we'll go to Alex from Chalkbeat. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. My first question was just I know that you all have reported on the number of students who have opted back in to in-person learning, but the DOE has not said how many students are actually showing up to buildings on a regular basis. We know how many are eligible, we don't know how many are actually going into buildings. I'm wondering if that's a piece of information that you can commit to releasing? 

Mayor: Yeah, Alex, absolutely. Whatever we have in the way of accurate and up-to-date information, I want to get out there. We understand kids and families are going through a lot. There are and the Chancellor's talked to me a lot about this and I'll let her go next, that families are seeing all sorts of disruptions and older kids having to take care of younger kids, a whole host of things that are not like what we see in normal years. So, we have seen some variation over time, for sure. But we also know that the vast majority of kids who are signed up for in-person are participating very intensely and it means so much to them. There's no question. The in-person means so much in the middle of what we're going through now. Chancellor, you want to speak to that? 

Chancellor Porter: Sure. I'll just say, we know that that's been a question and our team is preparing numbers to share around what attendance has been, what it's looked like. And the Mayor's correct. We've been very clear that we need to work with our families, as this a difficult time and our older students are supporting their brothers and sisters at home also. Our average daily attendance rate across the city is 89.3 percent. And that is what in-person students. And so again, we're happy to get more information, but that's where we are at this moment. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Alex. 

Question: Yeah, just want to, I just want to note though that that doesn't actually tell us how many students are coming in or have come in multiple times to the building. So, I appreciate that attendance figure, but the data I'm actually interested in is like the number of students who have come into buildings two or more times this year. But to a second point, I just wanted to clarify –the move to three feet in elementary schools, will that be all elementary schools? Or will that be just some elementary schools that you know, don't have the space to maintain six feet? Can you just clarify, like which campuses will be three feet versus six feet? 

Mayor: Sure, Alex. First of all we're going to go through a process with each school that has kids opting in. There'll be a process working with the school community, working with the parents to determine the way forward so everyone's informed and a part of it, gets to offer their input. There are definitely schools and the Chancellor will certainly add but let me just set it up. There are definitely schools where – elementary schools, where we can keep everything at six feet and accommodate the kids who have opted in. And that's ideal. Where we can do that, we certainly want to do that. We're going to be working things out, looking forward to the 26th. We have two weeks to get everything ready. And you know, we really think we'll make it work under any situation. We can keep it at six feet, that's great. If we're moving to three feet, we'll obviously do it in a way that's safe. Chancellor, you want to add? 

Chancellor Porter: Yes. I'll just add really quickly, we know every school has an individual need, as it relates to the numbers that have changed. For some schools, just even with the number of students who have opted back in, they have fine at six feet. There are a few schools that we need to look at and they're going to be working with their families, they are going to be working with community, there is going to be an engagement process to discuss that. But our goal is to get the students back into school. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Last, we'll go to Henry from Bloomberg. 

Mayor: Henry. Henry? Henry, are you there? 

Moderator: Henry, do we have you? We don't seem to have, Henry. 

Mayor: Who do you have? Let's give Henry one more chance and then go to someone else. If we don't have Henry, we'll get him tomorrow. Henry, are you out there? Who else do you got? 

Moderator: Henry, we owe you a question tomorrow. We're going to go to Steve from WCBS Radio. 

Question: Hey, happy Monday, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Happy Monday, Steve. It’s a good day. We're making something happen today. 

Question: Yes. Yes. First on schools, and I wanted to follow up on some of these numbers here. Kind of a follow-up to James's question, I guess. Knowing that this was a big roller coaster ride to get here, there were spats with – not, yeah, not notwithstanding what happened on Friday. 

Mayor: That’s right. You give me flashbacks, Steve. 

Question: You know, you went through a lot with the union, with the State, with parents to get to this point where we know that for the remainder of this school year, it's going to be about a third of city students that'll be having some in-person experience. Is that the number you expected at the outset of this? And, you know, would you have gone through [inaudible] that would be the number here at the end? 

Mayor: Yes, Steve. Look, I think this whole year has taught us that, you know, when you're dealing with constant unpredictability and everyone trying to do their best to make sense of a really tough situation, you shouldn't have an expectation. You should just try – and you know, what we try to do is give parents and kids options, hear what they needed and do our best to respond to it. What I felt strongly from the beginning, Steve, was schools had to be open. That there were a lot of kids who really needed to be in school in-person. There's a lot of parents who really, really wanted it. And again, let's remember as New Yorkers, we get a little jaded to numbers. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of kids. By any measure, a huge part of our city and a precious part of our city. So, the fact that we were able to help hundreds of thousands of kids to get in-person learning and all the support that comes with it. Because remember, it's not just sitting in a classroom, it is the support you get from educators, from social workers, from guidance counselors, it's a community. And a lot of kids were hurting and their families were going through so much and kids lost family members and they needed that love and that support. So, the fact that we made it available from the beginning, even with the imperfections along the way, I think that's what we were really called to do. To help families and kids have that opportunity. And it didn't work for everyone and that's fine. But what it has done is for hundreds of thousands of kids and hundreds of thousands of families, it gave them a lifeline during this crisis. It also taught us how to prepare to bring back school for everyone in September. And that's another really big silver lining here. So, you know, I'm content that we offered the opportunity several times for kids to come back. This is the group of families that want their kids back. And now our job is to serve them for the next few months as best we can. And then in summer, we're going to have a lot more to say on that as soon too, to open up the doors wide this summer for kids who want that support as well.

Okay, everyone, look, as we conclude today remembering we've got a long road ahead and we will come out of this crisis, but what is so powerful to see is New Yorkers coming forward, helping each other, helping to bring this city back and getting vaccinated. So, today we're able to tell you over five million vaccinations from the beginning, a lot more to come. You want to bring your city back? Go out and get vaccinated. We need you. We have more and more vaccination centers than ever. It's easier than ever. It's free. Get vaccinated and participate in the comeback in New York City. And it's going to be an amazing story what happens in 2021. We need everyone to be a part of it. Thank you, everyone.

2021-04-14 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. It's a beautiful day out there. And I want to let you know we're starting early today. But let's get into the things we're doing right now to bring this city back. And that always begins with vaccination. So, the most important thing we can do to bring New York City back is to continue to deepen our very strong vaccination effort all over the city. So, right now, we've – well over five million doses have been given from the beginning and we're going to keep going no matter what. We have over 600 sites now, vaccinating New Yorkers down to the grassroots, every neighborhood continuing to build out more and more sites. And last week records set, over 100,000 doses last Thursday, 104,000 last week, biggest week we've ever had. 550,000 doses given in one week. So, really important, positive things happening. But let's be blunt yesterday, we were thrown a curveball. The news about Johnson & Johnson, which I hope and believe will be a very temporary pause. But yesterday we were thrown a curve ball and our job is to hit that ball out of the park anyway, to just keep going, keep moving forward. New Yorkers do that no matter what, the vaccination effort has built and grown, no matter what. And we're going to keep building it. And here to talk about that and here to talk about the latest on the Johnson & Johnson situation, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. As the city's doctor, I like to tell New Yorkers what I would say to my own patients. When it comes to vaccines, there are no bad questions. My starting point in answering them is empathy followed by the facts. Over the last 24 hours, we have fielded a lot of questions about the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. You could say, indeed, Mr. Mayor, yesterday was a curveball, but it's a pitch that we look for. Adverse events are reported to a national database precisely so that we can monitor for patterns that call for greater study, which is what the federal government is doing right now. This monitoring acts as a highly sensitive warning system. The decision to pause means our government is following the science and making safety the utmost priority, a position we strongly agree with. Vaccines usually carry a small risk of side effects, but it's also important to keep in mind the other side of the equation, to remember that authorized vaccines protect us from diseases that threaten us so much more. 

While our federal partners are doing their due diligence, the pause in administering the J&J vaccine will have some impact on our operations. First, the vast majority of New Yorkers who booked appointments for the J&J vaccine will keep the same appointment and receive Pfizer or Moderna instead. Second, we did have to reschedule about 4,000 people yesterday. Those New Yorkers received messages about new appointments for later this week. Third, the homebound program is suspended through this Sunday. We are currently working on rescheduling appointments and helping to arrange transport to a nearby vaccine site by taxi or by ambulette, where that's possible. 

Now, for New Yorkers like me and like the Mayor who received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, I do want to assure you that it is extremely unlikely you will experience anything like the adverse events that have been reported. If you experience symptoms like severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks of having received the Johnson & Johnson vaccination, please do call your doctor. But to put a new twist on an old idiom, we may have more to fear from fear itself. The vaccines are life-saving and here in New York City, we are starting to see them have the real-world benefit that has been observed in Israel, the United Kingdom, and elsewhere. Consider the example of older adults who were prioritized earlier and receive vaccinations at nursing homes and in community. As more of these New Yorkers were vaccinated over 61 percent of our seniors have received at least one dose, we are starting to see hospitalizations drop. 

The average rate of admissions into hospitals for COVID-like illness among those 65 and older has fallen by 51 percent since mid-January compared to 29 percent for those under 65. But we should not mistake progress for victory. This virus has shown us time and again, just how deadly it can be. We have to keep that in the front of our minds, even as we follow the science on the safety of vaccines. So, check nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, or call 877-VAX-4NYC to make an appointment. We now have over 600 sites open to the public on the vaccine finder. These include vaccine hubs, community clinics, hospitals, and pharmacies. And I'm pleased to report that 99 percent of New Yorkers now live within one mile of a vaccination site. So, with vaccinations, face coverings, and keeping our distance, we can control this virus and recover as a city. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Chokshi and I want to focus on a point that the Commissioner made, the hospitalization among seniors is going down intensely and that's such good news. The folks who are the most vulnerable, many, many fewer are ending up in the hospital because of the vaccine. So, yeah, we have challenges along the way, but what's been proven now very, very clearly is the power of this vaccine to protect our seniors, to protect everyone, but particularly those who are most vulnerable, and we are seeing really powerful evidence in terms of reduction of hospitalization. So, yeah, there's always more to do, but this is working and we're going to double down our efforts to reach every New Yorker who's ready to be vaccinated. Now, where do we stand overall, to give you the update on the number of doses administered from the beginning, 5,328,696 doses from the very beginning. You want a comparison? Here it is. That is more than there are people in the entire State of South Carolina. And this vaccination effort is going to continue to grow and it's going to be what brings us back as a city. And, yes, we are on track to our goal, five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated in June. 

Okay. Now, this is all about how we bring our city back. It's about a recovery, but you know what I'm going to say, it's a recovery for all of us is what we need, a recovery that really reaches every part of the city, every New Yorker, and is a recovery that helps us do things differently than we did in the past. Yesterday, we talked about something new and different and powerful, a different approach to helping our young people. Summer Rising, not summer school like we used to know, something much more inclusive and inviting and something for all children that's going to help them, not just through this summer where we really need to address their deep needs and help them make that great comeback as we go to school again in September, but that's something that's going to be around permanently, making summers something much more wonderful for a lot of kids and for free. 

Well, now let's talk about our seniors because a recovery for all of us has to involve our children has to involve our seniors, has to involve our families, has to involve everyone. Our seniors have been through so much. You know, they're our grandparents, they're our mothers, our fathers, our aunts, our uncles. They've been through so much and they've been the most vulnerable in this crisis. And then to make things worse, they haven't been able to be with the people they love so much of the time, they haven't been able to hug their grandchildren and take the joy from being around their families. And the way to overcome that, of course, is to get everyone vaccinated. But we also need to realize we've got to do a lot more for our seniors now and for the future. And we've got to reach them in new ways. And there's lots of communities where there's just not enough support available to our seniors. 

So, today we announce a new vision for seniors, and it is a bold plan to take us someplace we've never been before, a different approach to helping our seniors, particularly in some of the communities where there's the fewest services. Our Community Care Plan is a five-year plan that focuses on universal and equitable access to services, 25 additional sites around the city, whether it be services or whether it be senior centers, a variety of approaches, and helping to ensure that when seniors need a range of support and services, it's there for them. This is a $50 million investment in the people who made New York City great, the people who gave us life and gave us the opportunities to do all that we do today, and they deserve our help. And we had to do it in a different way. And this is another case where the pandemic led us to rethink the approach and do things in a way that will reach seniors more deeply. Here to tell you about it is someone who worked so intensely to create this plan, it has been a labor of love for her, for sure. And I know she's excited to share it with us, our Commissioner for the Department for the Aging, Lorraine Cortιs-Vαzquez. 

Commissioner Lorraine Cortιs-Vαzquez, Department for the Aging: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, thank you, that we've got to this day. It's a great day for New York. So, not only as Commissioner, but also as an adult woman, caring for my 92-year-old mother, I have faced the challenges that many New Yorkers and families have in making sure that the family receives the support they need with dignity in their homes, in their communities, and to avoid institutionalization. Simply put they're not enough services, in-home services, to support the growing number of older adults with the community assistance that they need. The pandemic highlighted the detrimental effects that living in an institution had on both adults, older adults, and their families. Study after study has indicated that older adult health and mental health fare much better if the older adult lives at home, rather than institutions. We need to shift to a Community Care Plan and this Mayor has done. 

This is the first phase of a five-year plan. No, for those of you who may not know, there are 1.7 million older New Yorkers, one in five older New Yorkers, I mean, New Yorkers are over the age of 60, and that's going to grow in the next decades. This five-year plan, this Community Care Plan with this initial investment will lay the foundation needed to build on and expand the current network of services and resources so that we can make sure that older adults live with their friends, their neighbors, and participate in their religious community. As the Mayor said, this initial investment will add 25 senior centers or what we call Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities, NORCs, in underserved communities with large growing aging populations. For clarification, senior centers and Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities are the community foundation where older adults receive health and social services, wellness activities. They're essential to every community in this city. The Community Care Plan enables us to have many more of those throughout this city. We'll also provide additional staff and transportation services for those older adults who live in hard-to-reach neighborhoods. They can go and keep their appointments with their doctors, and we'll also help them with shopping assistance. We also build, as the Mayor said, we build on the lessons learned during this pandemic where we had to pivot thousands and thousands of educational, cultural, and wellbeing services to a virtual model. It will build on that experience. 

In years two to five, it expands home care, home delivered meals, case management services to meet the growing number of older adults. It would also include a robust outreach plan to expand services to many more older New Yorkers. During this pandemic, we found 125,000 older adults who had lived independently, did not require services, who had to raise their hand and say, I'm in need. And those individuals continue to need services. This plan will incorporate those adults. This plan is groundbreaking. It is future forward and benefits everyone, older adults, families, and you, all New Yorkers since all of us will eventually reach the age when we need supports to remain in our homes and live with dignity and respect, the respect that all New Yorkers deserve. I want to thank you, Mr. Mayor. I can't thank you enough for laying the groundwork. This is a major breakthrough. The dollars that you are investing change the culture of New York, but also changes the City of New York and its individuals. As usual, New York City is ahead of the curve and paves the way so that New York is an age-inclusive city where people can reside with dignity. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Lorraine. And Commissioner, I just want you to, I can tell, as you're speaking, I know this is something you've really devoted yourself to making sure that we reach seniors better, making sure we reach a lot of seniors who are being left out, and who needed to be reached in their own languages, through their own cultures. This is really exciting to know that we're going to be able to reach our seniors in a whole new way. And it’s another way that we recovered together. The most powerful idea is all the generations working together. What we did yesterday with Summer Rising, what we're doing today reaching seniors in many more communities, they all go together. Now, Commissioner Cortιs-Vαzquez worked so hard on this plan and she and her team deserve a lot of credit and they feel deeply about it. But I can also tell you something, there is no one more passionate on this topic than our next speaker, because I've talked to her not ten times or a dozen times or a few dozen times, I would say I've talked to her hundreds of times about her passionate views on serving our seniors. And she is an extraordinary advocate for seniors, not only in her district in Lower Manhattan, but all over the City of New York. So, I am very pleased to bring forward the Chair of the Committee on Aging in the City Council, Council Member Margaret Chin. Welcome. 

[...] 

Mayor: Thank you so much. And Council Member, I want to tell you, seriously, I make – we make fun, you and I joke around a lot, but you have really been an incredibly effective advocate. Because whenever I see you coming, even if it's 100 feet away, I know what it's about to happen. I know what you're about to say, you make me – you're my conscience. You make me think about, are we doing enough for our seniors today? And today is a day we can definitely say we're doing a lot for our seniors. And I want to thank you. I know your term is coming to an end, and I just want to thank you for a lifetime of service to the people of Lower Manhattan, but also to this whole city. You've been an extraordinary champion for seniors and a very effective one. So, I want to thank you for that. 

Council Member Margaret Chin: Thank you, Mayor. I am going to enjoy all the services that New York City has to offer. 

Mayor: Yes, we'll make sure they're ready for you. But the other point that the Council Member - 

Council Member Chin: But this is truly the year of the senior. We keep talking about the year of the senior, Mayor you finally made it to this strong, healthy year for the seniors. 

Mayor: I thank you. I will say Commissioner, for the last eight years, Margaret Chin has said every year is the year of the senior. So, she's very consistent. But the Council Member made a crucial point also, aging in place, helping our seniors to stay in their homes, stay in their apartments, stay with their families, stay in their community, especially after the horrible situation we've seen with the nursing homes last year. It is time to reevaluate our whole approach as a society, federal level, state level, local level. And this is the kind of new initiative that will help us to help seniors age in place and live the right way. And not have only a nursing home as an option. So, this is a good step forward. Thank you, Council Member. 

Council Member Chin: Thank you. 

Mayor: All right, everyone let's do indicators today. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, good number today, 174 patients. Confirmed positivity, 55.49 percent. And hospitalization rate, this is striking again. This picks up on what Commissioner Chokshi was saying. This is the lowest I've seen in quite a while, 2.99 per 100,000. We still have a way to go to get below the threshold, but very good trajectory as you can see there, downward trajectory on the hospitalization rate. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report 2,637 cases. Also a good downward trajectory. We want to keep that going. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19. Again, we like what we see today. Today's report on a seven-day rolling average 5.30 percent. So everyone, we have a long way to go. We all know that. But look, once again, a number that's getting close to that threshold that we want to get below and stay below. So, we're really seeing some movement. It's all because of the vaccinations and the smart things that New Yorkers still do – the wearing the masks, practicing the social distancing, stick with it because it's working. Okay. Few words in Spanish, and I want to talk about the new Community Care initiative for our seniors. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that. Let's turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi all. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Commissioner Chokshi, DFTA Commissioner Cortιs-Vαzquez, Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. With that, we'll go to Courtney from NY1. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Courtney. How have you been? 

Question: I'm good. Thank you. First question is on the J&J fallout. I'm slightly confused because yesterday you all said that New Yorkers who'd been scheduled for J&J vaccines would be rescheduled. And I understand the 4,000 appointments that were scheduled for yesterday were rescheduled or in the process of being rescheduled. But now you're saying people who have appointments for J&J later in the week are just going to keep them and get a different vaccine? So, if I'm a New Yorker that has an appointment for this afternoon, what do I do? 

Mayor: I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. I don't know – we weren't as articulate as we should have been yesterday. But no, the point all along has been to, I think we tried to say yesterday, keep getting people appointments and the vaccines that are available now, obviously proven effective, Moderna, Pfizer. We're just going to keep getting people to those appointments. And then as soon as we get an all clear on the J&J, we'll start using that again. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks Mr. Mayor. And you're exactly right. Our first preference of course, is to honor appointments as they're already scheduled. So, for the vast majority of people who had been planned to get the J&J vaccine this week, they're keeping their appointment as is and just getting the different vaccine, either Pfizer or Moderna. So, either we have communicated with people about that shift to a different vaccine. Or if someone has any questions, they're always welcome to call the specific vaccine site, to get some clarity. There are some people, as you mentioned for whom particularly if they had appointments yesterday, we've had to reschedule them to a different time or a different place. In those cases, those notifications have gone out with both the new appointment information along with a phone number or a contact if someone has any questions about that new appointment. 

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: As a programming note, we're joined by Dr. Katz. Next we'll go to Shant from the Daily News. 

Question: Yeah. Good morning, everyone. Wanted to ask a COVID question. The Times did an analysis that very starkly illustrates how the B.1.526 and B.1.1.7 variants have come to be the dominant strains in the city. That's something that you and Dr. Chokshi have spoken a lot about, but could we just hear your latest thoughts on what the implications of that rise in those two strains is for the City's efforts to return to normalcy? 

Mayor: I'll just say something quickly and then turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi. Shant, it's a very, very important question. It's one of the most important questions we can be asking ourselves. The – clearly the variants, you know, have created a dynamic where we've had to work even harder. If the variants hadn't existed, I think we'd be in a much better position. And we are concerned certainly in case of one variant of the particular negative effects it has. That said, we've talked about this analogy for a while now, you know, running a race, you know, having a race against the variants. I think we're winning that race right now. And you look at numbers I just went over with the indicators, we are winning that race right now. We got to keep going and we got to keep our guard up. But the strategy remains the same. Vaccination works. That part is clear. And that's where we just have to put all of our efforts to once and for all beat them back. Dr. Varma, then Dr. Chokshi? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much for the question, Shant. I think, you know, the Mayor has really summarized kind of the critical issues here. We have known for several months ever since you know, November, December when the U.K. started flagging the emergence of a more infectious strain that we would be at risk of having that here. And the good news about all this is that the same measures that we use to prevent the sort of classic strains of COVID, also work against these strains. You just have to be more diligent about using them. And that's why we've been so strident in our morning conferences about really emphasizing the importance of wearing a well-fitting mask, potentially wearing two, continue to do all of the safety measures. And as the Mayor has just highlighted, getting vaccinated. We continue to evaluate our data closely. Obviously, this is not the first time that, you know, the virus has mutated. Viruses mutate all the time. That's what they do. And it won't be the last time. And so that's why it's really important for us to continue all of these measures. Particularly getting vaccinated, particularly getting tested. And we can assure you that we're continuing to analyze this data daily to make sure that we don't need to change. You know, if we find in the future that you know, something has to be done differently, we're going to let you know. But everything we see right now points to keep up what we're doing, get vaccinated, and we're going to get through this. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I'll just add the Health Department put out a summary report on the current situation with respect to the variants in New York City. One of the major findings is that the two variants that you mentioned in your question, B.1.1.7, first identified in the United Kingdom, and B.1.526, associated with New York. Those two variants now represent about three quarters of all specimens that are being sequenced in New York City. And put simply these variants do make our job harder because they are more infectious. And you know, because it's part of the reason that we haven't seen cases plunging as much as we would like. With all of that said, we are making progress and I'll just underline the points that both the Mayor and Dr. Varma have made which are encapsulated in the safe six of what we're advising New Yorkers – masking, distancing, staying home if you're not feeling well, washing your hands, getting tested, this is particularly important, even now with vaccination, and then finally getting vaccinated when you're able to. 

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Next is Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everyone. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Juliet? How have you been? 

Question: I'm okay, thank you. My question is on behalf of a 1010 WINS listener who has been very persistent about this. And so, I'd like to ask you, based on the fact that you're talking about aid to seniors, when can, or will senior centers open? 

Mayor: Okay. I'm going to turn to the Commissioner in a moment. And, Juliet, I was missing some of your words. I think you used different phones or different – different technology, different times. So, I'm just letting you know we had a little trouble hearing you here today. So, senior centers are obviously so important. I've spent a lot of time in senior centers, as every good elected official does, and I know they're part of the glue of the life of seniors. But, obviously, last year, we also had to be particularly careful to protect our seniors. They were the most vulnerable New Yorkers. And the last thing we want to do is congregate people in small spaces together. Now, thank God, the situation's improving, so we're working on the next steps, going forward. Commissioner, give us an update. 

Commissioner Cortes-Vazquez: I think you said it rather well, sir. We have been working daily with the Department of Health. Science will lead our decision, always. We’re very, very hopeful given that 64 percent of older adults have received the first dose. And we're very hopeful that they're – the decline of hospitalization amongst this population has also given us a pathway. But size will dictate this. And my partner in this is Dr. Chokshi, and we've been working diligently on this. We believe that we will soon be talking about a plan. It will not be a reopening as Margaret Chin asks me every day, and every other older New Yorker asked me every day – when am I going to be able to go back? But as we phased it before the shutdown, we will phase a reopening in the same way. So, we will see some information soon. 

Mayor: Thank you. Thank you very much. Doctor, you want to add, or you’re good? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Just to add briefly, sir, if I may, to say – first, we know how important senior centers are, particularly to support the health of our seniors. But the point that I really want to make is that there's one thing that we can all do to help accelerate the timeline, not just for reopening senior centers, but so many other things, and that's to help people get vaccinated. So, I would say, you know, for your listener, but for everyone who's out there, if you know a senior who hasn't been vaccinated yet, please reach out to them. We're accepting walk-ins for those 75 and older at 26 City sites. And so, all you have to do is bring them to one of those sites and we will get them vaccinated on the very same day. So, everything that we can do to accelerate progress in our vaccination campaign is tied to the reopening of the city. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Sydney from Gothamist. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I had a question about Johnson & Johnson and the curveball that you spoke about at the beginning of the press conference. Just given so many people are kind of processing this news and may just be looking at the top line and the headlines, just because they're too busy to get into the details and the weeds of what this really means. And because there is a concern that this pause is going to make people reluctant or confused, maybe, even, if they that they don't have the right details. I'm wondering, what proactive work is the City Health Department is doing to try to combat that and make sure that the materials and information in different languages is really getting to people on the ground, like getting to CBOs to distribute that information, you know, kind of immediately. Is there a proactive work to turn that around quickly for people who aren't watching these press conferences? 

Mayor: Yeah. Sydney, very important question. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi in a second. I just want to say, first of all, you know, you watch the news hour-to-hour, minute-to-minute. I think it's fair to say the vast majority of people, you know, get some news some of the time. And so, I think the fact that this has no implication for the Moderna vaccine or the Pfizer vaccine is the most important thing to say. We have two vaccines that have now been in play for months and months. You know, over a hundred million Americans vaccinated with almost no negative effects. I think that's the big story here and we have to keep reminding people, we’re just moving forward with those vaccines. We also have to say very clearly, we really need the federal government to resolve this J & J situation quickly. It was very frustrating. We understand abundance of caution. Basing their decision on, I think, it's six or seven individual cases – I get abundance of caution, but, you know, we really need to keep vaccinating people. So, it's incumbent upon the federal government to come back with a quick answer on the J & J situation, because that's really what people need to hear the most. But yes, I think, that said, with those points made, I think you're absolutely right. The more we can inform people, the more we can proactively remind them of which vaccines we're using and that they are safe, answer their questions, the better off we're going to be, and yes, in multiple languages. So, Dr. Choksi, talk about those efforts. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You covered all of the high points. What I would say is that, first, our bottom-line message remains the same. The vaccines against COVID-19 are safe, effective, and lifesaving, and we have two that we continue to use, Pfizer and Moderna, for that purpose. And vaccines remain the most important tool that we have in our arsenal against COVID-19. As new information does emerge, particularly from the review by the FDA and the CDC, we will make the appropriate updates to our materials, both for the public as well as for clinicians, for doctors, and other health care providers around the city. We've already started to do that. We have dozens of town halls and other events each day to keep people informed. We have sent out notifications to the thousands of providers who are already administering vaccination, that happened yesterday. And I'm really glad that you pointed out the point about language, because we do take pains to translate all of our materials into the dozens of most common languages spoken around New York City. So, this is a critical moment for us with respect to further building vaccine confidence. And so, we'll pull out all the stops with respect to communicating to all New Yorkers about what we know and how that's changing. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Sydney. 

Question: Thank you. Thank you. And I have brought this up before, but I am wondering if the City is still planning to release data on where vaccine doses are going – like, which sites. Now that we're four months into the rollout, I'm wondering if the City still plans to do that and if you have a more clear timeline from the last time I asked about this? 

Mayor: Yeah. I mean, I understand there's so much going on and data is takes real effort, but I've said for a while now I want us to get past the ZIP-code level and show how we're distributing among sites. It changes a lot. A lot of adjustments are made according to need and supply, and we're obviously setting up lots of new sites and pop-up sites, but I think it's just helpful to show how we're distributing vaccine. Dr. Chokshi, can you talk about when we can get that out? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor. This is something that we're continuing to analyze the data on. We have a sense of, of course, how vaccine is being allocated within larger systems. We have to figure out, you know, precisely how that's distributed across sites within the system. But we can tell you right now that, you know, the major places where vaccines are being distributed remain our community-based clinics, our vaccine hubs, and other City, you know, mass vaccination sites, pharmacies, and private doctor's offices as well. So, with respect to, you know, that specific data, that is something that we can continue to compile and analyze and share in the coming days and weeks. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Last, we'll go to Andrew from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning. It is still morning, isn’t it, Mayor? 

Mayor: It’s definitely morning, Andrew. 

[Laughter] 

Okay. Andrew, I want to know something your life that you’re questing whether it’s morning. Were you up late, Andrew? 

Question: It’s just work. 24 hours a day, seven days a week – it's work, Mayor. 

Mayor: Okay. Good comeback. 

Question: Here's the first question – on the homebound seniors initiative, beyond Sunday, is there a contingency plan after that if this pause ends up lasting longer than anticipated? 

Mayor: Well, I'm going to start by saying – and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but I'm going to start by saying we really need the federal government to move quickly. This is – again, this is a big curveball based on very few cases. I do respect the concept of abundance of caution, but now it's incumbent upon the federal government to come to us decisions quickly and give us instruction so we can get to work. I believe they feel that urgency. The bottom line is, getting Johnson & Johnson back in play with whatever appropriate guidance is the best solution. That's the best way to do the homebound work. It's very hard to do the homebound effort with a vaccine that takes two doses. If we had to, we would start that approach. But, right now, I think it's fair to say, plan-A is what we still want to get back to. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, you're exactly right, Mr. Mayor. The only thing that I'll add is that, you know, so much depends on the results of the federal review of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but we expect to have some clarity about what that yields within the next two to three days. You know, I anticipate by the end of the week, we will have a more firm answers about how we can proceed. And so, our plan for homebound seniors, which we are so passionate about will depend on what we find from that. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: The question, you may recall, it was last week I asked when you thought we'd reached that point where the supply outstripped the demand, and both you and Dr. Chokshi thought maybe that would be in May. But based on your highlighting today that you have 600 vaccine sites and that there's plenty of Moderna and Pfizer to fill these Johnson & Johnson appointments, and that folks are getting appointments right now pretty much by searching the vaccine finder, have we already reached that point where now supply outstrips demand? 

Mayor: No. And Andrew, listen, I appreciate your intellectual curiosity, but I would say, geez, I'd love to have a press conference where we talked about, you know, no one needs a shot anymore and we're all done here. We're not going to be having that press conference anytime soon. Every appointment we put up gets taken and gets taken quickly. There's no question in my mind, we're going to hit this goal and we’ve got to get this Johnson & Johnson thing worked out. Both Johnson & Johnson things – the factory issue too. But we're going to hit this goal, 5 million New Yorkers vaccinated in June. But that still leaves, you know, millions more people we'd like to reach. Now, some of them are kids, and that's its own issue, developing the vaccine for kids, younger kids. But I think the next frontier, if you will, is deepening our efforts to overcome the hesitancy that still exists. 

And I'll finish on this, Andrew, and also conclude this morning with this – I've seen extraordinary progress, convincing people that vaccines work for them. You can see the numbers are changing all the time. A lot of folks who were hesitant are now willing. They're talking to people in their life who had a good experience with the vaccine. They're seeing the positive impact the vaccine is having. So, more and more people coming forward. But we know there's still a lot of New Yorkers we have to reach, particularly in communities of color with positive outreach, not just waiting for them to come forward. And, yesterday, I was up at 125th Street, and out on the street with our Public Engagement Unit and the Test and Trace Corps., both of whom deserve a lot of credit – I want to give a shout out to Test and Trace Corps. and Public Engagement Unit for the incredible work you do, going out to people, connecting with them, getting them to help they need. I talked to three people right there on the corner who were not vaccinated, who, when we got into a conversation, they were willing to go over and sign up right then and there. They all happened to be younger. They all happen to be people of color, who hadn't heard what they needed to hear about why it was okay to do. They needed some encouragement. They needed some support. And then when they had a conversation, there was someone right there with, you know, an iPad ready to sign them up. They're ready to go. We're going to have to do that with hundreds of thousands of people, just go to them, connect with them, make it easy, answer the questions. But we can do that. So, I think you're going to see this effort go full bore through May, into June, and beyond, because we want to reach every single New Yorker we can. And that's how we create a recovery for all of us, really making sure that everyone gets the answers and support they need so they get vaccinated, so they're safe, so their families are safe, so we bring this city back. Thank you, everybody.

2021-04-15 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Let's talk about vaccine update. We're all waiting to hear more, of course, the federal government's analysis of the Johnson & Johnson situation. It's clearly slowed us down a little bit, but not much. We are going to keep moving forward. We’re just going to roll right past this. We've got other supply that's actually increased for Moderna and Pfizer. That's great. So, it doesn't change our game plan, doesn't change our approach, and as always, we adapt to whatever's thrown at us and we overcome it. That is the New York City way, and we've shown it time and time again in this crisis. So, we're going to continue and go into the grassroots, opening new sites, reaching more and more communities that need close locations, nearby locations, where they can access this vaccine. The more sites we open, the more going on grassroots and more impact it's having. So, it's wonderful to say, now that 99 percent of New Yorkers live within one mile of a vaccine site, 99 percent, and we're not done yet. We'll be adding more sites, pop-up sites of all kinds, houses of worship, public housing sites, community centers, non-profits you name it. We're going to keep going the more supply, the better, and we still are not getting our fair share of supply when they'll keep fighting for it, but we're making progress. Here's the number to date – it's a great number – since the very beginning of this process: 5,409,174 vaccinations. So, New York City keeps moving forward. 

Now, we had to, throughout this entire crisis, learn and adapt change, find new approaches and the strength and the resiliency of New Yorkers came through, the talent of New Yorkers, the ability to constantly create, even under the most adverse circumstances, and we learned so much, and what we learned is now going to be crucial to our recovery and our future. When I talk about recovery for all of us, it means taking the lessons we learned from COVID and applying them and acting on them. It means fighting disparity and doing things very differently. It also means learning lessons from the things we had to do that now tell us ways we can move forward. We know that our future – so much of our future will be about health care. We know New York City has some of the most extraordinary health care talent, some of the greatest institutions anywhere in the world, and we know that we are destined to become something greater, the public health capital of the world. That's what we should aspire to be, and we could be that we can be the place that helps to teach the whole rest of the world, how to give public health to the people, reach the people at the grassroots, how to prevent disease, how to stop the next pandemic, or how to respond if, God forbid, we ever faced one again. We need to build out our life sciences industry, which has been something that has been on the verge now for several years, but this is going to be the moment – billions of dollars, private dollars and public dollars, will be flowing into life sciences in the next few years. New York City has to be well-positioned to capture that, and we're going to make a series of actions and investments to achieve that. We have a future in health care, in life sciences, that adds so much to our city and will add so many jobs as well, and one of the examples from this crisis that taught us so much was the Pandemic Response Lab. That was absolutely crucial in our response to COVID and the strategy that came out of that for a Pandemic Response Institute, something that permanent, that would help solidify our position as a leader in the world in fighting disease. 

Today, we announced the next step in expanding the Institute, taking this idea, putting it into action, we'll be taking applications for the long-term growth of the Institute, building it out, making it a crucial part of our health infrastructure. This will involve a $20 million investment, and this is the gateway to our future. As someone who has been absolutely crucial building out this vision, and he speaks about it with great knowledge and great passion, and you hear from him every single day, my senior advisor, Dr. Jay Varma. 

Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma: Great. thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, and I just want to express my thanks for your enthusiasm for the life sciences. As somebody who spent his life professional life working on preventing illness and promoting health. It's really amazing to be in a place where we're kind of embracing this new era of biology and tying it into the recovery for all of us. You know, the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we all see the world for government and society. One of the most enduring lessons is that public needs to be considered an investment and not a cost. It's an investment in our physical safety, an investment in our economic prosperity, and an investment in justice, ensuring that health and opportunity are available for all of us, and that is why the Mayor's announcement today about the Pandemic Response Institute is really so important to the city, to the country, and indeed the world. New York City had to fight its way back from one of the worst COVID epidemics in the world, and one of the ways it did that was through a partnership between government, universities, and the private sector to create the Pandemic Response Lab, and that lab has been the key that unlocked the Test and Trace Corps, to prevent thousands of New Yorkers from getting infected, and the key that unlocked the safe reopening of our public school system. And in January, the City, co-hosted a meeting with the Rockefeller Foundation that included some of the leading health and community experts from here in New York City, and some of the world's foremost experts in public health, and the resounding message from that meeting was that the City should invest in a new entity that brings in all of society approach to pandemic, preparedness and response. 

We need to think of preparedness as something that we do every day, aligning private industry, academia, community groups, and government, to ensure that we're always prepared to prevent and respond to the next threat to our health. Specifically, the Pandemic Response Institute will focus on advancing research, training, and innovation in how we detect, investigate and manage outbreaks, and crucially, the Institute will center its preparedness work on racial equity and the needs of impacted community and all its efforts. Specifically, it's going to work on ensuring that all New Yorkers received the information that they need to make decisions, particularly during emergencies, enabling all New Yorkers to access the health solutions that they need and helping all New Yorkers and sectors build their capacities to prepare and respond to future public health crises. 

You know, a recovery for all of us, as the Mayor has said, aspires to make New York City the public health capital of the world. By investing in this new Institute, the city can really bring together the best from government, our universities, our biotech, and technology sectors and our civic organizations, and together they can spur economic development, build a stronger workforce, and truly ensure that New York City can beat back any health threats it faces in the future. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, and again, Jay Varma, thank you for being one of the sparkplugs of this whole idea, and everyone – listen, for a long time, this City, for generations just kept growing, and then we saw that we had to have more of a vision of where we would go, and one thing I appreciate about the work done by the Bloomberg administration is they focused on the growth of our technology community, and that really was fantastic. It's now about 350,000 jobs in the tech ecosystem in this city, and it's been growing as you've heard recently, major announcements from tech firms that have to have more of a presence in New York. Well, that took a lot of government support to make sure that that happened. We are doing the same thing now for life sciences and for this even the larger concept of being the public health capital of the world, and when we say public health capital of the world, it means leaning into life sciences, but it also means leaning into public health, taking what we learned with the Test and Trace Corps and making it a public health quarter, reach deep into the grassroots, creating strategies for educating the public on health care, addressing the long-term impact of COVID as we're doing, for example, with our Centers of Excellence. 

Look, there is a shifting happening here. There is a moment of change, obviously, because of this pandemic, we can't ignore it. We have to embrace it and get into a futuristic mindset, and here's an opportunity for New York City to add a whole new portfolio to everything that's great about this place, and that's what we intend to do.

All right, everybody, let's do today's indicators. And, today, we have some – again, some good, good signs here. We are far from out of the woods, but I do like to see good news. And it's – it's been a good number of days now. We've seen it. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 164 patients. That is a really good number, well below our threshold. Confirmed positivity, 64.12 percent. Hospitalization rate, also some real progress there, 2.86 per 100,000. So, we're starting to move down towards that threshold as well. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 2,407 cases. Number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – again, getting close to a threshold here as well – seven-day rolling average, number is 5.26 percent. So, something good is happening. You know what I'm going to say next – keep your guard up, keep vigilant, keep doing the good work that you're doing as New Yorkers, wearing the mask, practicing the distancing, being smart, being careful and getting vaccinated. It's really fantastic that so many people going out there, anyone who's not yet got vaccinated time to sign up. 

Okay. A few words in Spanish, and I want to go back to the topic of how we overcome the pandemic and build a future where this city helps lead the world in health care. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma; Dr. Dave Chokshi, Commissioner of DOHMH; Commissioner of the Department of Design and Construction, Jamie Torres Springer; the Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver; the Director of the Mayor's Office of Resiliency Jainey Bavishi; and the Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff of the Economic Development Corporation James Katz. First question today goes to James Ford from PIX11. 

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. 

Mayor: How are you today, James? 

Question: Great. Thank you very much. Hope you're well. 

Mayor: Yes, indeed. 

Question: Glad to hear it. Let's begin with this, the Governor raised the curfew on restaurants and bars starting next week, as I'm sure you know, from 11:00 PM to midnight. Meanwhile, a variety of restaurant or bar owners are saying that no curfew should be in place. Despite this change, I'm wondering if you could comment about the curfew as it stands as a midnight curfew and what effect a curfew has on New York nightlife and the economy, and how you feel on this issue? 

Mayor: I'm immediately reminded of one of those sayings. I used to hear a lot when I was a kid – slow but steady wins the race. I think when it comes to fighting COVID, we have to be really smart about how we relax restrictions. We still are dealing with a huge challenge with the variants. We, obviously, are really concerned about making sure we have enough supply of vaccine. There's real questions still, as much as I'm very, very happy with what we've seen these last days and I'm hopeful. Take it step-by-step. So, I would be careful about going too far in any one jump. When we see an adjustment like this, let's see how it goes for a little bit. Let's see what happens out there. Let's make sure that we're making decisions based on the data and the science. And data and science means, you need to give a little time to see how things work. To the other piece of your question, James – look, our restaurants, our nightlife industry, absolutely crucial to the future of the city. We look forward to bringing them back really fully over time – the keyword, over time. Let's first beat COVID and continue step by step to bring back these industries. I think you're going to see a lot of progress by the summer, I really do. And then, we look forward to the day when we can open up more and more. And I think we're going to get there, but let's get it right the first time would be my argument. Go ahead, James. 

Question: Also, you mentioned that the City has gotten an increase in Moderna and Pfizer doses and intends to continue to open new vaccination sites. The additional doses, is this anything beyond what you all have reported in the last day or two? Is this brand new, additional doses? And can you provide more information about additional vaccination sites, some specifics on that? 

Mayor: Yeah. I'll turn to Dr. Choksi. I'll say, James, we constantly have been adding sites, some permanent, some pop-up, but they've all been working. It's been amazing how much it's helping to increase a demand and particularly in communities that bore the brunt of COVID and where we've seen hesitancy. The real grassroots sites are helping us to overcome the hesitancy. So, we're going to keep using that strategy. And we've been, with each of our morning press conferences, announcing a number of sites and putting them out. We'll constantly update you. Again, vaccine supply is kind of a week-by-week thing. But we have seen, at times, including recently, some increases in Moderna and Pfizer, and that's helpful, particularly with the J & J vaccine on hold right now. Dr. Chokshi, you want to speak to that? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Thank you very much. And you're exactly right – you know, this week we had about 210,000 first doses of Pfizer and Moderna delivered to New York City. And over the next two weeks we expect that weekly number to increase slightly on the order of 10,000 to 20,000 additional first doses per week. This is important for the reasons the Mayor has mentioned, with respect to ensuring that we can meet a demand for vaccination and keep up the remarkable pace of vaccination that we have had. And the other part of it is just to emphasize that we continued to expand access. We now have over 600 sites that are open to the public listed on nyc.gov/vaccinefinder. And that means, 99 percent of all New Yorkers live within one mile of one of those sites. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Next is Katie Honan from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Hey. Good morning, everybody. How are you, Mr. Mayor? 

Mayor: I’m doing well, Katie. How have you been? 

Question: I've been great. My question – I guess, it’s sort of a part-two to James' question, and it's about the idea of vaccine supply. I know that a lot of people who are spending their lives making appointments for people – have noticed there's more and more appointments available, and this is great, but it also could signal that perhaps there is a leveling off or a ceiling reached in terms of New Yorkers seeking to get vaccinated. I know the City does a lot of outreach, they're doing all this stuff to make sure that people are getting vaccinated, but maybe you and the health commissioner, especially, can talk about that next phase, and if that actually is alarming to the City, if there are fewer appointments being made, or perhaps there's just so many of these appointments that even though we haven't reached the numbers of vaccinated people we'd like. 

Mayor: I appreciate the question. No, I am – I feel great about the fact there's lots of appointments available and are easier for people. I mean, for God sakes, we spent weeks and weeks where there was such intense demand and people had to wait quite a while in many cases, and no one liked that. I am so much happier with a situation where people can get an appointment quickly. And it's unquestionably going to help us address some of the hesitancy issues or something that maybe isn't quite hesitancy, Katie, but it's just folks who are pretty much convinced, but, you know, is it going to be easy? Is it going to be hard to do? Is it nearby? Is it not nearby? You know, the more you make it easy, and simple, and close the more people who will get engaged. So, no – I would say if we're in a situation for the months ahead, and particularly thinking up until June, when we want to get to that 5 million New Yorkers vaccinated – if it's, you can go online and get an appointment anytime, that's the ideal, that's fantastic. Definitely seeing a decline in hesitancy, but we've got a lot more outreach work to do. And that's what we're deepening right now, because we think there's a whole other wave of people we can now get to, especially as it becomes easier to get an appointment. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thanks, Katie, for this important question. I agree with the Mayor in the description that it's a good thing that now, you know, appointments that were being snapped up literally within seconds of them being posted, there's now a longer window – you know, not too long – hours, or, in some cases, you know, a day or two, before they get filled. And that's very important actually to ensure that we are reaching the people that we want to reach them with respect to vaccination and not just the people who are most technologically savvy in actually accessing the appointment. To that end, I would also emphasize that we're making appointments available through a number of different means beyond the websites. So, for example, 877-VAX-4NYC is the phone number that people can call. We have appointments that are set aside and being booked through that phone number. And we do continue to see, you know, healthy demand from that channel, as well as many others as well. And the last part of what I want to say is, just to emphasize that, as a city, we do not consider demand a static phenomenon. It's something that we have taken great care to influence along three dimensions, which I think of as access, outreach, and confidence. With respect to access, as you've heard us say, our focus is on meeting patients where they are, expanding the number of sites, expanding our mobile options, and really getting out into communities to offer vaccination. That's paired with the outreach plank, which is all of the work that we do to engage with faith leaders, community-based organizations, and all of the boots-on-the-ground outreach, including the hundreds of canvassers who are out helping book appointments each day. I'm very grateful to our Test and Trace colleagues for that piece of it. And the final one is confidence. This is about putting out science-based information, answering the questions that New Yorkers have about vaccination, and then, very importantly, encouraging everyone who has already been vaccinated to share their stories with a neighbor, with someone who is in your church, or your synagogue, or your temple, congregation, so that we can create a virtuous cycle of vaccination. Thank you.

Moderator: The next is Bob Hennelly from the Chief Leader. 

Question: Yes. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. The Chief Leader is reporting this week, informed by statistics that we got from the FDNY that, as of April 8th, less than 50 percent of EMTs and firefighters are vaccinated with their first round. This has to be informed by the fact that thousands of them have already had a bout with COVID, and the way that people navigate this has to be based on personal advice they’re receiving from their internist. But can you talk about the challenge here, because after what happened with J & J, folks, in particularly health care are – you know, the CDC has been kind of like in terms of guidance like an Etch-a-Sketch. Can you understand their hesitancy, and can you address it in terms of how that squares with the public messaging about the need for everyone to be vaccinated? 

Mayor: Yeah. I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Varma. I think – let me just speak about the Fire Department, and then I want Dr. Varma to sort of speak to the hesitancy question, particularly based on news that people are seeing now. I think it's really important, Bob, to recognize that now it's been, you know, a couple of months that we've been doing vaccinations for all of our employees in the Fire Department. So, it's been available to a lot of people, obviously. And I think it's natural that some people, you know, are the first wave – they want to get vaccinated right away. Some people are very wait-and-see, or don't feel it's particularly necessary. We've seen that a lot of health care folks, they just don't think it's necessary. Maybe they've had it already or they just think it's not something that is going to be a challenge for them. So, we’ve got to respect this as an individual choice. Our job is to just make it easy for people, make it available, answer questions, answer concerns. But I do think the same you'll see with Fire Department, with health care, you just see more and more people over time, because the more people in their lives that get it and it helps, and the more that people want to sort of go back to normal life, I think organically it will move more and more. Jay? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Great. Thank you very much for the question. And this is really one of the biggest challenges that we face in all immunization programs. And I think it's just important to keep it in context, it's not unique to COVID. Similar to the question that Katie asked earlier about increasing appointments available. We know that they're always going to be two extremes. They're going to be people who are kind of enthusiasts, early adopters, who are going to get vaccinated as soon as you can, you know, count me and my family members among that group. You have another group which are people who are more likely to refuse and resist. But in the middle, you have a big, big spectrum of people. And we know from all of our vaccine campaigns, regardless of whether it's the HPV vaccine or the measles vaccine, that you need to meet people where they are, you need to show them empathy, listen to their concerns, understand their concerns, and then try to address that with facts. And what we know, particularly based on the experience over the past few days with the J&J vaccine, is that we have one of the most incredible safety systems in the world for assessing risks and benefits associated with vaccines. 

You know, for those of you who listened to the presentations yesterday, like I did, what you saw is incredibly dedicated people who are working all the time to make sure that our vaccines are safe. And I realize it's alarming people see, there's an event that occurs that therefore the vaccine isn't safe. But what I hear and what we really want to hope people do here is that no, it means we're watching for everything. And even the slightest signal, even if it's an incredibly rare risk, like we're seeing here events that occur no more than one in probably 150,000 to 200,000 within a select group, and probably more than one in a million for everybody who got these vaccines, we're watching for those things. And it is challenging for people to understand risk in their everyday lives. And we do want to do everything we can. 

So, our hope is, as the Mayor has just said, that as people see others get vaccinated and as they realize, you know, how safe these are and we give them the facts and information that they need, that they're going to choose to make this. I think the only last point I want to make really quickly is just the one about prior infection. The reason that we really want people to get vaccinated, even if they had an infection in the past, is that we know from the studies that are being done right now, vaccine provides you additional protection, in other words, it boosts your immune response, and it provides additional protection against new variants. So, if you've been infected in the past with an old or a classic strain of COVID, you may not be as well protected against these newer strains, but we've seen from the early data from Pfizer and Moderna, that these do provide that additional protection. So, there is added value to getting vaccinated. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: [Inaudible] about them, but I have been vaccinated. So, I'm with the program. Just to follow up, I do want to commend – your administration has been accessible through this and particularly Dr. Katz, very accessible in difficult circumstances. But I had been getting a hard time with getting the data on the level of vaccination compliance within H+H. Back when Governor Cuomo was in his interest, [inaudible] to make a big deal of it, he was beating the drum on this. But I’ve had access to Dr. Katz for the last few days. I haven't gotten anywhere, trying to get that update about where we are, because we really can't figure out where we're going, if we don't know where we are in terms of this data. So, if someone could intervene from your office to get it, I appreciate it. 

Mayor: It shall be done, Bob. We'll get them on the phone with you. And I think we've made some progress, but I think that it's the same thing we're seeing in a lot of the health care world, there are still a lot of folks who just are saying, I don't need it or not now. And, you know, that's fine on one level. So long as there are still literally millions of people who need this vaccine and people keep coming forward constantly, that's what we're seeing, I don't mind that some people need a little more time or need a little more information or need to see other people in their life who had a positive experience. We're going to get there. I do think what you're going to see is more and more progress and it becomes more and more of the common thing to do. But yeah, one of the things we reported from the beginning was ironically, in the health care sector, we saw a pretty high percentage of people was like, I just don't need it or I'm going to wait until later. And I think time will really be the key factor there. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you doing? Can you hear me? 

Mayor: I can hear you loud and clear, Henry. I'm doing well. How about you? 

Question: Doing pretty well, thank you. I guess my question goes back to the problems we're having with the J&J vaccine, and I'm trying to get numbers on how many places have been shut down. What is the extent of the disruption? You seem to be playing it down. saying, we'll make it up with Moderna and Pfizer, but there are places where you can't go in with refrigerated product. And I'm just wondering how much of a significant problem that poses in bringing the vaccine to people who needed that one-shot vaccine. 

Mayor: Yeah, I'll start and turn to Dave, Henry, the reason that I think we're taking this in some stride is, first of all, we fully expect we're going to get more answers in the next few days. So, we see this as a temporary reality. Second, you will remember that we had real ups and downs with the J&J supply. So, you know, we had an initial shipment then we had a few weeks when it was really low, then it came up for a while. Then the problem happened in Baltimore. So, I think in truth, we have never gotten used to having a big J&J supply. So, the absence of it does not feel that different yet. Where it's most problematic is with the homebound vaccinations. It really was particularly well-suited to that effort. And without that we're left with a much more cumbersome approach. Hopefully we can overcome that when we get the new guidance from the CDC. So, I don't think it's had a huge numerical impact, nor do I expect it will in the long run. Go ahead, Dave. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you very much, sir. I'll just add three points to what you've said. First, is to clarify to Henry that the other vaccines are able to be refrigerated as well but only for shorter periods of time, than the J&J vaccine, but that does allow us to store them in places where you only have a refrigerator and not a freezer or one of the special freezers that's required for ultra-cold storage. The second point is that we have sought to minimize the disruption as the Mayor has said. We've very quickly shifted our sites that were offering a solely J&J vaccine to Moderna for the most part or Pfizer in some cases. And so, that's how we've been able to ensure that we're honoring the vast majority of appointments that were already scheduled for this week.

And I’ll also underlying the point the Mayor said, which is that this does coincide with a period where we had relatively low Johnson & Johnson supply. And certainly, compared to the supply that we have for the other vaccines. Now, the third point to make is that, this is not to minimize that that the pause on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine does have an effect. And it's why I do urge, you know, my federal counterparts to ensure that they are proceeding with all expedience possible because each day matters, particularly for some of the most vulnerable populations that we're serving, people who are physically vulnerable, such as the homebound population, people who are socially vulnerable such as people experiencing homelessness, as well as people who are medically vulnerable, such as those who were able to vaccinate upon discharge from the hospital with one shot. So, the J&J vaccine is one that we hope will be back in commission very soon for those reasons as well. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: We'll have time for two more for today. The next is Amanda from Politico. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Amanda. How you been? 

Question: I’m doing well, thank you. I wanted to go back to my colleague’s earlier comments around vaccines. And I wanted to follow up with something Dr. Varma said, which is the City wants to meet people where they are. And so I wanted to know with the City having vaccinated about three million people, you know, partially or fully out of an eight million population, at what point does the City say, we're going to just do walk-in sites. And say, you know what? Like people should be able to just go in, get the vaccine and maybe meet people where they are once you get through all of the vaccine eager New Yorkers who have gotten their shots? 

Mayor: So, it's a great question, Amanda. I want to give both Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi a shot at that. Wait, that was a pun. A shot of that. Got that Jay? Wasn't that good? 

[Laughter] 

So, what I'd say, Amanda is, you know, right now we have a really good situation where appointments are booked constantly. People show up, they get their shots, we avoid long lines, it's organized. I think this is something I would stick with as a general rule. And the – what we've been doing more and more lately is creating the walk-in for the oldest New Yorkers who are really still the people that need it the most. I think it's a really fair question. Is there a sort of transitional moment where you go to walk-in across the board? I would say from my – I'm not the doctor here, but from my gut, this is a little early for us to be thinking about that. But I think the day could well come and that would be a step forward when it's the right time. Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. So, just Amanda briefly, and then I think the Commissioner will have a little bit more detail because he handles much more of the operational aspects of this. From a strategy perspective – absolutely. What we – the turning points for when we can start seeing us come out of this are going to be not only just the number of people vaccinated, but really very importantly, the fact that anybody could get vaccinated who's eligible at any time, without any friction at all. What we want it to be is that you can simply walk into your neighborhood pharmacy or your nearest doctor's office, or a City operated site and get vaccinated. And those are really going to be the critical turning points for when we can say that, you know, we're into a next phase of reopening. So, that absolutely is the aspiration. You know, echoing what the Mayor has said, we're definitely not there yet, because even though there are more appointments available, it doesn't mean that, you know, this system is completely frictionless yet. You know, again, it needs to get to a point where there are really so many abundant appointments that we could say it doesn't really matter. We can handle them at any site. So, let me turn to the Commissioner. 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you very much. And yes, this is certainly an important question. And one that we have been thinking about. I'll start by saying that we have expanded our walk-in options. We started at just a handful of sites and then last week expanded to 26 City-run sites that offer walk-in appointments to anyone who is 75 or older. And that includes a companion who can accompany them to the appointment. We do want to continue getting the word out about that so that we can get more and more of our seniors vaccinated and protected. We shared information yesterday that showed the very tangible effects of vaccination for older adults thus far. But we can't mistake that progress for victory. And we have to ensure that as many of our seniors get vaccinated as possible. With respect to expanding further – yes, we'll have to do this in a methodical way over time. One of the ways that we've been able to maximize throughput at our sites has been by ensuring that people have appointments, they know when to show up so we can manage smaller lines, maintain distance, and get people through the vaccination process as efficiently as possible. So, we have to balance that with any strategy where we increase walk-ins. But I do think that you'll start to see more and more of that in the coming weeks. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Amanda. 

Question: Great. Thank you all. So, I have another question kind of about different groups of people. So, obviously the study has been focused on racial equity, which is clearly a big issue and making sure that we're able to get it done. I've personally noticed anecdotally, that there are a lot of like young white people who are, maybe are more libertarian. They really don't want the government telling them [inaudible]. And I've convinced friends to get it just because I want to watch the world-class Knicks at Madison Square Garden. They need a vaccine for that. So, I wanted to ask, is the City aware of any trendlines with maybe people who have resources, who are more hesitant to get vaccinated? And do you see that, sort of cohort as you know, a big challenge or a new hurdle in terms of making sure we're getting as many people vaccinated as possible and minimizing risk? 

Mayor: What I heard in this question is that you believe the Knicks have what it takes this year. And I admire that. To your question, I'm only going to offer one point as the non-doctor, then Dr. Varma, Dr. Choksi. I do think that there is a larger phenomenon with younger folks, historically, when you're talking about vaccine, when you're talking about health insurance, have a little bit more of a sense of invincibility. And you know, that various challenges out there or something they can just handle or overcome, or it's not going to affect them, whatever it is. I think some of that is out there. So, that I think is probably one of the factors affecting the equation. But in terms of whether we see specific evidence around that demographic, Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, go ahead. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. So, Amanda. No, thank you very much for the question. I think it's very challenging for us to know about specific pockets right now. Because as the Commissioner has noted there are still gaps in the high priority groups. So, we haven't necessarily been looking at, at specific lower risk groups to see where their hesitancy or reluctance might come from. But we certainly know this, again from, not just from COVID, but from all vaccine experiences. And a lot of it gets to what the Mayor has talked about. That sense of invincibility, that sense that I don't necessarily need another layer of protection in my life. And we have to recognize that this is not a problem that gets solved a week by week. You know, we're still very early in our vaccine campaign, although it seems like it's been forever because COVID seems like it's lasting forever. Sometimes this process takes not just weeks or months, it takes years. And so, I think actually the point you raised is really one of the most critical ones, which is that component of peer pressure. You know, that sense that, well, if you want to come to my party, I want you to be vaccinated in the future. Or if you want to – we all want to go to a sports event together, we should be vaccinated. That's going to have a big influence. We're also seeing now that there are several universities around the country that are going to be mandating vaccines. That's not something that we're advocating for, but it's not something we're necessarily opposed to either. I think you are increasingly going to see vaccine verification systems. That whether it's large sporting events or some other place put in, and I think all of those together will also have an added benefit. But of course, building on the basic principles that we've already talked about, which is empathy, listening to people, understanding their concerns, and also addressing them with facts. There are going to be other forms that are eventually going to push people to get, to want to get vaccinated. 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Briefly, I would just add that our vaccine equity efforts remain laser-focused on age, race, and place. Ensuring that our older adults are getting vaccinated, that we're looking to specific race and ethnicity data, particularly Black and Latino New Yorkers who continue to need to get vaccinated at higher rates than what we're seeing right now. And then with respect to place, making sure we're looking both at boroughs, ZIP codes, and then neighborhoods to understand where we need to continue focusing all of our efforts. So, we still have work to do along those dimensions, but this is a fundamental pillar of how we gauge our own success with the vaccination campaign. The last thing is just to echo what Dr. Varma said about peer pressure. The way that I think about it is each of us who have been vaccinated thus far, we have to share our stories. We have to ensure that those spread more quickly than the virus spreads itself. And that's how we're going to turn the tide on this pandemic. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Last question for today. It goes to Abu from Bangla Patrika. 

Question: Hello. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Abu. How have you been? 

Question: Good, thank you so much. My question is you know, since Johnsons have the controversy and the problem, so the people who have been vaccinated by Johnson & Johnson, they are concerned whether this vaccine is working or not? Or what they have to do for the future protection? 

Mayor: Wait, you're saying they're concerned if they had it already, are you saying? 

Question: Yes. 

Mayor: Okay. Dr. Varma? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. Great. Thank you for the question. So, the current guidance is the following. So first of all, if you got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you don't need to be worried about your protection. The effectiveness of the vaccine against preventing infection and particularly severe illness and death remains what we thought to be, very, very high. In terms of concerns about your own safety. The current recommendation is that if you got the vaccine more than three weeks ago, you're very far out of the window where we would be concerned about this very rare and unusual side effect. If you got the vaccine within the past three weeks, we want you to keep in mind that there are some very severe symptoms. That if you develop these symptoms that you should immediately contact your doctor or seek out an emergency department. Those symptoms are a severe headache. They are the sudden difficulty in breathing, a sudden swelling in your leg that's unusual and different, and sudden and very severe abdominal pain. So, those are the types of symptoms that people would need to look out for. But I really do want to emphasize this is an extremely rare event. And so, we do want you to pay attention to your health but you shouldn't be unnecessarily fearful that you might develop an effect. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Abu. 

Question: Okay. The second question is, is there any new incubator medication you are using for the COVID patients? 

Mayor: You're saying to treat patients? 

Question: Yes. Right. 

Mayor: All right. I'll give that one to Dr. Varma again. 

Senior Advisor Varma: No, thank you very much for the question. There is nothing new in the past sort of several weeks. There is a tremendous amount of research that is going on right now. We are now seeing new studies looking at not just treating people with the illness, but people who've been exposed and ways to prevent them from getting there. So, I am quite confident that within the next year, we are going to see better approaches to treating this disease. But I would emphasize also that we have already gotten quite a lot better. You know, the physicians themselves have gotten much more skilled at understanding what works and what doesn't work. And we've seen very good clinical trials, both done here in the United States and overseas, to show us most importantly things that don't work. Because one of the things we learn in medicine is that we need to focus on doing no harm. And I know there's a lot of rumors that spread through communities about if I take this anti-parasitic medication or this anti-malarial drug, maybe that'll work. I really do want to emphasize to people that our physicians here in New York City have gotten very skilled. And if you're trying to take something and they recommend not to take it, please do listen to them because it is important that you take what is known to work and not just something that you hope might work. 

Mayor: That is very powerful advice. And thank you. Voice of wisdom, Dr. Jay Varma. Thank you. Hey, as we conclude today, look, I think this is a perfect point to summarize everything on that. We've learned a lot in this crisis. And one of the things that really shows the character of a person or a place is, do you learn? Do you learn from your experiences? Do you grow? We've been doing that. So, this city keeps learning from this very, very big challenge we've been through. But it's what's going to give us a lot of strength going forward, a lot of knowledge, a lot of ability. That's why we can become the public health capital of the world. That's why we're going to do the things to keep ourselves safe for the future. And again, even out of this painful experience, I end up with even more hope for the future of New York City. Thank you, everybody.

2021-04-16 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. And now it's time for our weekly Ask the Mayor segment, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or you can tweet a question, use the hashtag #AsktheMayor and we'll watch that Twitter thread go by. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. How are you doing today?

Lehrer: I'm doing well. Thank you. And let me begin on the impact of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause on public health in the city. I believe I heard you say this week that there's enough Pfizer and Moderna supply to go around. But also, that the pause would slow down the shots at home program for homebound elderly and disabled New Yorkers because the Johnson & Johnson is best for that. So, can you be as specific as you can, about how large that effect is in the short run? And how the City is compensating given the refrigeration requirements of the Pfizer and Moderna?

Mayor: Yeah. Very important question. Thank you for it. First of all, overall picture – really important to note. So, you know, a week ago I told you we had set a record last Thursday, 104,000 vaccinations. So, to give you a comparison, even with this Johnson & Johnson challenge, the fact we had to pull all of it immediately for, you know, temporarily. Yesterday was 94,000 vaccinations in the city. So, that's still a really healthy number. And that clearly keeps us well above our weekly goal. We want to be doing a half million vaccinations a week or more going forward. So, so far, the effect is limited. You're right, the homebound pro program is where's the biggest impact. Now, remember from the beginning, we said the number of people who wanted to be vaccinated and needed that, that, you know, service right to their apartment, right to their home. We didn't have a final number because we needed to see who came forward and was willing. But we figured it was somewhere in the neighborhood up to 15,000 people, looked like to be the top possibility. So, right now we definitely have thousands more people we want to get to. I think what we're going to find out here. This is what our health care leadership is saying, Brian, that they don't know what the CDC will do ultimately and the FDA, but they think the likeliest outcome will be some kind of limitation on Johnson & Johnson. Meaning it could be used for a number of people, but other people, they would urge to use other you know, Moderna, Pfizer. If that's the guidance and if the guidance is clear that it's still okay for seniors, we would go back to using Johnson & Johnson for the homebound. If it is the guidance that we should not use Johnson & Johnson for seniors, then we'll go to Moderna and we'll go to Pfizer. But remember that will then take a more cumbersome process with a second shot. And it will just take longer obviously to reach everyone.

Lehrer: I see the good news that COVID hospitalizations among senior citizens in the city are down about 50 percent compared to January. Just as around 60 percent of senior citizen New Yorkers have been vaccinated. Good evidence of vaccine effectiveness. But I also see that the site TurboVax, which helps people find vaccine appointments, says their traffic is down around 70 percent. Which Mr. TurboVax speculates might mean supply has already caught up with demand in the city. And we may be entering a new phase where vaccine hesitancy is the much bigger issue than vaccine availability. So, I'm curious how much you see it that way and what your best strategies are now for addressing vaccine hesitancy in a next phase way?

Mayor: I definitely am concerned about vaccine hesitancy, but I would say two things that sort of jumped to me. One, we're not having a problem at all, filling our appointments. I mean, that number I just gave you from yesterday, 94,000 is, you know, that's still one of our all time, best days we've ever had. So, we are filling the appointments. The difference really is – the difference been going online and being totally frustrated, you can't get an appointment anywhere, you know, and struggling. Versus going online and actually there is an appointment readily available. We like, I like the current situation a lot better. I actually think it's encouraging people who were hesitant or just, you know, were put off by the inconvenience, that now it's easy. And I actually think it's going to help us reach a lot of people we weren't reaching. To the larger hesitancy reality. We have definitely seen a shift and I've been talking to leaders all over the city, particularly in communities of color, who all are saying, and we're seeing it at our vaccine sites, less hesitancy all the time, more and more people coming forward. Clearly related to how pervasive vaccination is becoming. So, more and more people are hearing from their neighbors, their family, their friends, that it is okay, and that is encouraging folks to come forward. But I think the next frontier, if you will, is to deepen our efforts in communities of color at the grassroots, more NYCHA vaccination drives, community centers, more going into houses of worship of all faiths. This is what's working and I think this is what helps us overcome hesitancy as we go forward.

Lehrer: Alfred on the Lower East Side, you're on WNYC with Mayor de Blasio. Hi, Alfred.

Question: Hi Brian. Thanks for taking my call. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. I am a City worker. And I, as well as I would say, most of my colleagues at my agency are concerned about the timeline for City employees returning to work. I understand that the data, the COVID data's going in the right direction, vaccinations are up and that's all really encouraging. But by virtually every milestone that the City has set for itself, testing, positivity rate, new cases, hospitalizations, we haven't met any of the milestones that we met last summer, at which point it started, you know, things started to be safe for things to open back up. And a lot of my colleagues, myself included, we kind of feel like, like Guinea pigs. And we're basically two weeks out from when City employees are supposed to return to work. And I, for my agency, at least we've received no guidance on the rationale behind why it's happening in May before a lot of the milestones have been met. Who's going to return to work? I mean, it's really close to when things are, you know, when we're supposed to return to work. We haven't – we've received virtually no communication on what that return looks like. And I, and a lot of us are scared. You know, we don't know – a lot of us have long commutes to our agencies. A colleague of mine on my team, she's Chinese and she's afraid to get on the train to go to work because of all the rise in anti-Asian crime. And she doesn't, she doesn't want to go back to work. And so, there are just so many factors that I think people are really kind of scratching their heads as to why there's such a rush? I understand we want the city to get back to normal. I want that. I want New York City thriving again. But, you know, we kind of feel like Guinea pigs a little bit in this move to get the city back to work. And, you know, I just, I'm nervous without any guidance or rationale, like two weeks ahead of when we're supposed to return to work.

Lehrer: And I can say Mr. Mayor, we're getting quite a number of contacts from City employees with similar questions and concerns about that return-to-work date on the phones and on Twitter today.

Mayor: Well, here's what I'd say. And I appreciate the question from Alfred for sure. And, you know, I want to start with the fact that I value the work that City workers do. And this is why he's talking about what's the rationale? Let me, let me offer it from the beginning. And then I definitely want to talk about the health and safety reality. You know, about 80 percent of our City workers are at frontline jobs right now. And they went through extraordinary challenges. In many cases, Health + Hospitals, police, fire, you name it. Folks who are at the frontline throughout, continue to be. Our schools obviously have an open throughout, have been very, very successful as an example of safety and serving kids who really needed the help. And we've got a lot of work to do to bring this city back. And we need our City employees that work in offices to come back because we need to do more work and better work to serve the people of the city to bring this city back. It's, you know, this is the recovery moment. This is our one chance to get recovery, right. And I can tell you having been at City Hall the whole time that we do so much better, we get so much more done, we communicate so much better. We think so much better when people are in-person, at least part of the time. So, that is why it's so important to bring people back. And what's going to happen because of distancing is, you know, people will come back some days and work remotely other days. But it's going to help us get more done for the people of this city. And it will be done safely because we've proven in so many of our City workplaces, we can do this safely and we've proven it in our schools. And there's a very extensive health and safety plan that each agency has put together. And, you know, I think Alfred makes a good point, if that's not being communicated well enough to the employees, we've got to do better. But I mean, let's also talk about vaccination over 130,000 City employees have gotten vaccinated. There's obviously vaccination available now to anyone who needs it. Whether it's Alfred, or anyone else can go to vax4nyc.nyc.gov and get an appointment this minute. So, anyone who is concerned should definitely take that additional step. But the final point, Brian is what Alfred was saying about where do we stand? So, let's talk about today's indicators. You know, the positivity level for New York City today is 5.35 percent, which is just above the threshold of five percent. That you know, we, our health care team says you've got below five percent, you're in a very stable situation. We're right on the verge of that. Our hospitalization number for the day is 168. That's well below the threshold. You know, in fact, the data and the science is telling us, this is exactly the right time to bring people back. And our health care leaders have been deeply involved in the effort to decide when our City employees in the officers should come back and how to do it. So, I'm confident we can do this very, very safely.

Lehrer: But if you are a head of the private sector in this respect, are you calling on more private sector companies to bring their workers back to Midtown and Downtown office buildings?

Mayor: I definitely think it's time for people to come back. I think the private sector has learned how to do it safely too. And certainly we're sharing, our health team is talking to a lot of folks in the private sector about the right ways to do things, the right ventilation, right PPE, distancing, cleaning, mask wearing, it works. I mean, this is what you know, Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz have just said this over and over. When you apply all those standards, you are inherently safer than any place else. And that's what we're going to be doing in the City offices. And that's what the private sector can be doing and is doing already in the places that have come back. But I definitely think this is part of New York City coming back for all of us. People need their livelihoods back. Hundreds of thousands of people still don't have their jobs back. This is how we achieve it. But most importantly, from public sector point of view, we have a lot to do to help people who have been through so much. And that's part of the healing of this city too. The public sector, reaching people in need, making sure they're getting all the support they need. And that moves us forward.

Lehrer: Joel in Greenpoint, you’re on WNYC with Mayor de Blasio. Hi, Joel. 

Question: Hi, Brian. Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, before I start, I just want to say that I listen to you every week and I respect the difficulty of your job and I do not envy your position, so thank you. I have comment and a question regarding your plans and stance on an issue. I'm an owner of a small bar restaurant in North Brooklyn. Everyone knows that our industry has been decimated this past year, but I don't believe that in general people understand to what extent. I’ve grown to despise the word pivot. We never pivoted. We shut off the engine. We dismantled the vehicle. We rebuilt the machine to succeed in a new environment. We made immense structural changes to our business model in order to survive and a large part of what has allowed to make the structural change is the Open Restaurants Program, and I thank you for that. What has allowed us the freedom and opportunity to invest in the Open Restaurants Program, is you stated many times, that it's here to stay and it will be a permanent program. I learned this week that the program in fact has an end date of September 30th, if the program ends, I believe it would be a death knell for our industry. It will signal that the expectation of both public and of our government leaders is that where you're now supposed to survive on a business model that died in March of 2020, and it may never exist again. I'd like to ask if you will publicly pledge to have a permanent program in place prior to the end date, or can you promise that this date will be extended if the city is unable to develop guidelines for a permanent program before September 30th? 

Mayor: Yeah, and Joel, thank you for the question, because if there's confusion out there, which obviously there is, we got to address it. No, I've been really, really public about the fact that both Open Streets and Open Restaurants will be permanent. There's some things we have to finalize legally, legislatively to get everything in place, but, you know, I've been trying to say this now for months and a month, both will be permanent. You can bank on the programs being permanent. Now with Open Streets, some streets work, and some didn't. So, there's times when they've been moved, you know, some communities said, hey, this one didn't work out, or we found it was not the right location, there was a better location, that kind of thing, that variation will happen. But Open Streets as a concept is locked in going forward. Open Restaurants as is, you can put the, you know, the seats out on the sidewalk or in the curb, obviously with some restrictions like a bus stop, a fire hydrant, whatever it may be, that is permanent. You know, you can invest in whatever you want to do for the outdoor element under Open Restaurants with the assurance it will be permanent year after year, and it's been incredible success. And I want to thank you and, you know, everyone else who fought their way through COVID because restaurants, bars, so much that kept the city going and now we're going to be part of our recovery, and I'm really excited because I actually think out of crisis, we're going to see something incredibly good and beautiful of like the streets of New York City coming alive and outdoor dining being an extraordinary thing this summer. So, that is permanent. Please give your information to WNYC so we can work with you to make sure that anything you need to build out, what you're trying to do is clear, and you know, you can get that done and keep employing people and keep doing something great for the neighborhood. 

Lehrer: Joel, thanks. We'll take your contact information if you want to leave it. Let me see if I can do a couple of quick things with you before you go. One, we're getting a number of tweets from public school parents who ask, I'll read one of them as an example, of what's going on with three-foot guidance in schools. Department of Education has pulled down guidance from the website. Schools reporting, they're being told, they must pause planning. Is that being changed? Anything you know about that? Because we're getting a number of these. 

Mayor: Yeah, I'll make sure it's real clear. So, on the 26th, a week from this coming Monday, everyone who opted-in, it’s about 51,000 kids opted-in, they'll come to school. In middle school and high school, they'll come to school as the same six-foot standard. In elementary school, it'll be six feet and a lot of places because they can have all those kids come back and still maintain the six feet, which ideal. Where three feet is necessary, it's now appropriate and it's legal and it's verified by both the CDC and the State, we want to do a process with each school to figure out, you know, where that makes sense, which classrooms that make sense, the right way to do it. So, we're doing that process now, and I’m aptly confident that will all happen in time. So, what people can count on is if you're opting back in, you'll come in on the 26th and there'll be a seat for you. 

Lehrer: Thanks as always Mr. Mayor, talk to you next week. 

Mayor: Take care now, Brian.

2021-04-19 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. It is a really beautiful day in New York City today. And we have some really good news today, and I want to start with something I experienced last night that was just wonderful. I went and greeted the audience at the show, A Perfect Crime. And this is important, this is momentous, because here was an example of the shape of things to come – the theater coming back in New York City. A show that has been running since 1987, longest play ever in New York City history, a show that kept going after 9/11, after the Great Recession, but got held back for the first time by COVID. And the actors had not been on the stage since March 15th, 2020, and now, for the first time, they were coming back, and there was such energy in the audience. Careful, smart plan in place – [inaudible] and everyone associated with the show worked with Actors’ Equity to come up with a safe and smart plan for the actors, for the audience. I want to thank Actors’ Equity for their commitment to bringing this show back, but doing it the right way. And that's so important, because the energy that folks were feeling about the theater coming back, it was palpable, but there was also a sense that this was the trailblazer show, that this show would help pave the way for so many other shows to come back off-Broadway and on-Broadway this fall. So, this really was one of those moments where you could feel New York City really deepening our comeback. And when the arts come back, New York City comes back. When the theater comes back, New York City comes back, and I got to see it with my own eyes last night. And I hope many of you will get out there and support indoor and outdoor cultural performances throughout the spring and summer to help bring our cultural community back. 

Now, let me talk about where we stand on vaccination, because nothing will help us come back more than vaccinating more and more New Yorkers. And here's a good-news moment as well, last Friday, just a few days ago, we set the all-time record for New York City for a single day since we started these vaccinations months ago. We hit our highest number of vaccinations for a single day on Friday, 106,527 vaccinations in one day – in one day. Really strong effort. And that brings our total now to 5,746,378 vaccinations given to-date. Now, we have more to do. So, we see this system is working – lots and lots of vaccination sites, over 600 around the city. The grassroots sites are working, people want vaccination in their own neighborhood, places they know. Now, we are going to go farther and farther to reach more and more people and make this a key to our recovery. One of the things we did over the weekend, and we're really excited about it, was provide walkup appointments for anyone 50 years old or older – very different approach to what we did previously, but one we're increasingly excited about. We had more than 30 sites around the city, and we are very hopeful that this is also the shape of things to come, that walk-up vaccination will be more and more possible, because what could be easier than that? This is something we're working on, we're experimenting with, but we certainly hope to expand, going forward. And again, great that it's happening at so many sites right now for so many New Yorkers.  

Now, again, if previously you didn't get vaccinated, because it was hard to get an appointment – thank God, now it's easy to get an appointment. So, now, is the time. If you were hesitating because you thought it was inconvenient, too much of a hassle, now is the time to go out and get vaccinated. And you can do it – it's straightforward, it's easy, go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder. Or, if you prefer to talk to someone on the phone, you can go to 877-VAX-4NYC. But whatever you do, make an appointment today.  

Now, as I said, we are continuing to open up more and more sites. More sites is unquestionably – one of the things we've found, the more sites, the better; the more sites, the more comfortable people get. So, we have an exciting new site to announce today. And I've been trying to work with different ways to phrase this – different ideas thrown around – I would say it's a whale of an announcement. Or, perhaps we are whale-coming this new site. It is the American Museum of Natural History – really exciting new site. Literally, you can get vaccinated directly below the blue whale. And this will be for everyone, but particular focus to begin with on public housing residents, on cultural workers, members of DC 37, AFSCME who work in cultural institutions, museum staffs. We want to reach all these folks who we depend on to bring back our cultural community. And this is an exciting new effort. And I guarantee you, a lot of people are going to say that's where I want to get vaccinated. So, here to tell you more about it – and I'm so thankful for her leadership and for the museum, becoming our partner in this effort, the President of the American Museum of Natural History Ellen Futter. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Ellen. And, Ellen, first of all, I want to see the really, really, really big syringe you guys use to vaccinate the whale. Okay. I think you’ve got to show that at some point. But, seriously, thank you, you always – every time the City of New York needs you, personally, or needs the museum, you are there. And you really had provided a beautiful example, a template of what it means for a cultural institution to be part of the community. And I think you're right, this'll be one of those moments that people will look at and say, look how everyone pulled together in common cause. And that's why, even though we've been through so much, this will be seen as a heroic time in New York City's history. So, Ellen, thank you to you and all your team for this really wonderful contribution to our effort. 

But as they say in late night advertising, but wait, there's more. And our indicators today also offer some really good news and I will note that because of a technical issue, the information we're going to give it is from the 16th. So, there's a little bit lagged and we're working with the State to resolve this issue, but it's accurate information from that day and it tells us a lot now. Now, again, long way to go, not out of the woods yet, we got to keep being smart and we got to keep getting everyone vaccinated, but here's today's numbers.   
  
Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 163 patients, again below the threshold, and you can see by the graph up there on the screen, we have been below the threshold numerous days. That's a really good sign. Confirmed positivity, 56.98 percent. Hospitalization rate also has continued to go down, 2.71 per 100,000. So, that's looking good. New cases – new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 2,384 cases. So, we've seen improvement there. But here's a really important one, number three, percentage of people tested city-wide positive for COVID 19, this is the number we've watched the most, and on a seven-day rolling average, this number now coming down again, today's report 4.19 percent – excuse me, 9-1 percent – 4.91 percent. This, I don't know if that is up on the screen, but it should be. But today's report takes us below that threshold of five percent. You can see it there now. Below the five percent threshold for the first time in a long time, and that is a profoundly good sign. So, I know everyone's been working really hard. Let's keep working. Let's just run and COVID out of this town once and for all, but I hope everyone there can see the fruits of your labors because things are really starting to change.   
  
Okay. A few words in Spanish, I'm going to go back to equity and fair student funding  
  
[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]   
  
With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.  
  
Moderator: Hi, all, we'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Ben Furnas, the new Director of the NYC Office of Climate and Sustainability, Health Commissioner Dr. Chokshi, Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma, and Health + Hospitals CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz, and of course Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter.  With that, we'll go to Andrew from WNBC.  
  
Mayor: Andrew? I don't hear anything. Andrew?  
  
Question: Oh, good morning. Avery said my name, the name – the name had gone away when Avery [inaudible]. So, now I know it’s me –  
  
Mayor: Andrew, alright. We're ready for you.  
  
Question: Okay, the question is about the walk-in vaccine sites. The question is you have opened up sites in all five boroughs where people 50 and older can walk in, what is stopping from going walk in at every single site as of now.   
  
Mayor: We're looking at that right now, Andrew, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz. We wanted to test this out. The goal here, of course, is to make vaccination as convenient as possible. We want to welcome people to it, and I think honestly, convenience has been one of the issues and the more convenient it gets, the easier it will be for people to make that choice. But we also want to be careful about not having big lines, not having other situations that would create challenges. Obviously, we don't want people waiting a long time. So, we've been testing it, expanding the tests, so far so good, and we're looking to see if we can go farther. Dr. Chokshi?  
  
Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Mr. Mayor, and just to add, yes, we had a great weekend expanding our walk-in efforts, over 3,000 people vaccinated at city sites, taking advantage of that walk-in option, and you're going to be seeing more and more of this in the days ahead, with respect to improving access to vaccination, making it easier and easier for people to get vaccinated.  
  
Mayor: Amen. Dr. Katz, would you like to add?   
  
President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: We already Health + Hospitals allow when patients have visits on the same day, we enable them to go down and get vaccinated at our centers. So, we very much believe that making it easy is a great way to get all New Yorkers vaccinated. Thank you, sir. 
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew.  
  
Question: Second question has to do with schools, and since Chancellor is there, maybe she can clarify this. On Friday, there were principals sending letters to parents saying this three-foot rule may not happen, expanding five days on the 26th may not happen, as a result there's a lot of confusion out there about whether on April 26th, you are essentially going to five days a week citywide, so maybe the chancellor can –   
  
Mayor: Let me, let me start and I'll turn to the Chancellor, look –  
  
Question: [Inaudible] next week.   
  
Mayor: Yeah, Andrew, first of all, I haven't seen these letters you refer to, but I want to emphasize, we want clear and consistent communications with our parents. What we're saying, very clearly, is for the kids in middle and high school are coming in, that's still the six-foot rule. That's according to the CDC, but we can accommodate those new kids coming in from the opt-in, and we want as many as possible to be five days a week. For kids in elementary school, what's going to happen in some schools, they can do six feet and still achieve five days a week and accommodate every kid. That's great. Where three feet's necessary, that's absolutely appropriate to do. We want school communities to talk to their parents to work out plans, make sure they're smart, obviously work with the folks who are employed in the schools, but we're quite clear. That's what we're going to do wherever it's needed. It's not needed in every elementary school, but where it's needed, we're going to do it. Chancellor?  
  
Chancellor Porter: Yep. So, I just want to clarify there were five schools where that came up and it was incorrect. We're working towards welcoming back the 51,000 families that have opted back in to in-person learning on the 26th. We're also going to be working with our unit union partners. As the Mayor stated, there are many schools that can welcome the students back with – at the six-foot requirement. There are a few schools that will need to move it to three feet, and so we're working with our union partners to do walk-throughs and engage our families around what that will mean for each individual school. We are sending more guidance on an information to schools throughout this week and we're sending out information and guidance last week, but that was miscommunication. We are working towards welcoming our families back into school.  
  
Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.  
  
Moderator: Next, we'll go to Jessica from WNYC.   
  
Question: Hi, thanks for taking my call. Also on schools, I just wanted to know if you have an update on the demographics of those who have opted-in, plus the new 51,000 kids, and how many will be five days exactly?   
  
Mayor: So, Jessica I'll turn to the Chancellor and if we have demographics right now, we'll share them or else we'll get them to you as soon as we have them. But the goal here, which has been a constant goal, is keep evolving the five days a week for as many kids as possible. So, that work never stopped happening. Obviously in the elementary schools, having new opportunities around the three feet rule will help in some places. But the message has been from the beginning and continues, when I say from the beginning, once we decided to move to five feet – excuse me, to move to five days. I can do. Once we started moving to five days, we've been telling schools, keep working to get more and more and more kids to five days, and we’re hopeful that we're going to be able to do a lot more of that for the 26th. Go ahead, Chancellor.  
  
Chancellor Porter: Yes, that is correct. We are continuing to work for more and more students to be in school, five days a week, that work doesn't stop, schools and figuring that out every single day. We don't have demographic fixed right now because we're still working through the data, but happy to share once we have it all sorted out.  
  
Mayor: Thank you, go ahead Jessica.  
  
Question: Okay. Thanks, and are you seeing any more signs at this point of decreasing demand for vaccines?  
  
Mayor: Jessica, I would say, you know, look at Friday. We had our highest day ever since the vaccination effort began, 106,000. That's a really good sign, but I do think we're going to have to do more, we've talked about this over the last week or two, more to attract people going forward. The folks most ready to be vaccinated have been vaccinated. Now, we're getting into more and more folks who need a little more encouragement, need it to be a little easier, or need some more answers to feel comfortable, and that's why we're experimenting with things like the walk-ins and a much greater grassroots outreach effort, particularly in communities that need it most. So, I think this is a chance now to reach a whole another group of people, and that's what we're going to be very focused on.  
  
Moderator: Next, we'll go to Michael from the Daily News.  
  
Question: Morning guys.   
  
Mayor: Hey Michael, how are you doing?   
  
Question: I’m doing okay. How are you?   
  
Mayor: Good. Good. You sound tired, Michael. You sound tired. What's that about?  
  
Question: Oh God, it was a long weekend, Mr. Mayor –  
  
Mayor: I won't, I won't ask further questions. I'm leaving it there.   
  
Question: [Inaudible], soccer, dance, so you know, I'm chauffeuring kids around a lot this weekend. I wanted to ask you about the Johnson & Johnson situation and, you know, what that means for the city's vaccine rollout now and what you foresee it meaning for the continued vaccine rollout – vaccination rollout, you know, two, three, four weeks out. What's kind of the read on that at the moment.  
  
Mayor: Look, what we need is fast resolution on this, Michael, and I'm very hopeful by the end of the week we'll get that from the federal government. The thing we need is answers, and I'm not going to be surprised at all if they put some specific guidance or restrictions on who gets Johnson & Johnson and who doesn't, that's fine, we can work with that, but we just need answers. And I think once we get answers that will help everything to keep moving forward. We definitely would rather have it in the lineup in a big way, because it allows us to do a lot of things better, obviously starting with the homebound program. So, I'm hopeful that we'll have a resolution we can work with by the end of the week. Go ahead, Michael.  
  
Question: Thanks. The other question I had has to do with the story that I believe came out last week, you know, the possibility that Pfizer said something about doing booster shots and, you know, this is for the medical professionals here today. I'm wondering, you know if that comes to pass, how would that play out exactly. If I got Pfizer shots, would I have to get a Pfizer booster shot? Would I be able to get a Moderna booster shot? Can you, I guess, talk a bit about how the booster shot situation would play out if that kind of comes to pass?   
  
Mayor: Yeah, I’ll turn to Dr. Varma, but just as the nonmedical person say, just to demystify me, booster shots are something that have been part of the medical community for a long time, and obviously something like flu shots, we're supposed to get them every year. So, I don't think this is going to be particularly challenging as a concept. I think there's a difference between breaking the back of COVID right now in a crisis, and then what we do going forward to manage. But in terms of your specific question about can you use different brands as it were, let's ask Dr. Varma.  
  
Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great, thank you very much for the question. I want to start with a couple of really critical background points. The first is that we know that the current vaccines work, they are incredibly effective at preventing infections and even more important preventing severe illness and death. That's number one. The second is we’re learning is that based on the trials that were started last year and what Pfizer and Moderna have reported publicly is that the vaccine duration of protection lasts right now for at least six months, and that maybe longer, we don't have a time machine so we can't accelerate, you know, knowing how long they're going to be at work, but we know that they're going to last for quite some time. So, those are two really important pieces of information because it means people should get back to me right now. They shouldn't wait. And they shouldn't be worried about the degree of protection that they're going to get.  
  
Now, it is absolutely true that the way the body's immune system works, whether you're talking about a polio vaccine or a flu vaccine or tetanus shots, is that the more times your body is exposed to a protective vaccine, the better it gets at responding to that. And we also know that this virus has a tendency to evolve and mutate. So, it is certainly reasonable to anticipate that at some point in the future, we will need some type of booster vaccine. I, myself, recently in the past couple of years has had to get a booster polio vaccine when I was working in Africa. Typhoid, meningitis vaccines, it's very common to do. We don't know the details that you're asking about, which is, will we need them? When will we need them? What brands of vaccine that we're going to need? But I would say that, you know, we know that at least for the mRNA vaccine, the Pfizer and Medina, it's very likely that you won't have to stay allied to one specific brand, but of course, there are studies being done right now to look at sort of mixing and matching across different versions.   
  
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.  
  
Moderator: Next is Stacey from FOX-5.   
  
Question: Hi. Yes. Good morning. Can you guys hear me?   
  
Mayor: Yeah, Stacey, how are you doing today?   
  
Question: Good, thanks. Back to the vaccines and, you know, the fact that there are all these appointments available. Now you can get same day appointments at a lot of places. I know, you know, someone already asked about whether you see this as decrease in demand. I mean, do you think that the pause in Johnson & Johnson has, you know, caused some people to think twice about making their appointments and that that's part of the reason we're seeing all these open appointments now and maybe not the rush to get the shots? 

Mayor: Yeah. Stacy look, the development with Johnson & Johnson sure didn't help, that's for sure. But it's – I think it's too soon to tell. I think we had months where people were, you know, just struggling to get an appointment and eventually the day was going to come where it became less of a struggle, and that's a good thing, right? We like the fact that people can get appointments readily, and I would argue the fact that we had our highest ever day for vaccinations is directly related to the fact that it became easier and more convenient. So, that's – I think the good news here outweighs the bad. The good news is that folks can finally get appointments when it works for them. When they feel ready, you know, in a more convenient location, we want that, and as we experiment with the walk-ups, that continues to be a good approach. We'll keep expanding that. But I also think that the answers on Johnson & Johnson will help a lot. I think if, as we predict by the end of the week, we'll get some clear answers. People will acclimate those answers move forward. So, I think this is a question we'll have a much better take on, you know, by the end of April. Go ahead.  

Moderator: Next is Steve from WCBS Radio. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: Good, Steve, how you been?  

Question: I’m alright. I wanted to take kind of another angle at the question Stacy just asked knowing that we have reached this kind of inflection point where supply is now meeting demand. We didn't really know when this would happen. It's coming at a point where only about 45 percent of New Yorkers are vaccinated. Does that at all concern you, that this is where we've kind of hit that point where, you know, it is getting a little bit easier to get an appointment, but that may show either some hesitancy or just people that aren't interested when we only have less than half of the city vaccinated at this point. 

Mayor: Steve, I would tell you, I've been obviously studying this issue daily now for months. I think there is a lot more to play out here. People are just, in the last few days, getting used to the idea that appointments would be easily available. A lot of the appointment sites are brand new. People are just getting word of them. Again, the walkup dynamic could change things profoundly, and we're going to get some answers on Johnson & Johnson. I think there's a lot more to play out. I also think, you know, unquestionably, more sites, more local sites help, more outreach helps, and more word of mouth helps from people who've had a positive experience. So, I'm out there all the time, talking to New Yorkers, I hear much more enthusiasm for getting vaccinated than I did months ago, many fewer people questioning. Now, I think it's less about questioning, more about just making the appointment, connect to the person, and we have a lot of tools to do that. Go ahead, Steve. 

Question: Thank you very much, and just a point of clarification. I don’t know if you want to count this as a formal question or not, do we know when the Natural History Museum site is going to be opening up? 

Mayor: Friday is when the American Museum of Natural History opens up and we're excited about that.  

Moderator: We'll go to Alex from Chalkbeat. 

Question: Hey everyone. My question, I know you addressed a little bit the miscommunication that happened last week with respect to the move to three-feet, but I'm sort of wondering more broadly, like why schools don't have detailed guidance in hand yet. I mean, this is happening in a few days. I know that some principals are really frustrated that, you know, these big announcements happen, and then there aren't really details about how they're supposed to implement it until just a few days before the day that students are returning. So, I'm just wondering like why their principals don't have detailed guidance right now so that they can plan for more students to return to their schools?  

Mayor: Well, I’m going to turn to the Chancellor. I'm not sure I share that assumption. I mean that the vast majority of what we need to do for health and safety is the guidance that people have had for months and have been acting on. Again, and the vast majority of schools are not moving to three-feet because they don't need to. But those who need to it is about resetting rooms. It's, you know, there's some pretty straightforward things that need to be done, and I think that principals and superintendents are pretty aware of how to make those changes. So, I would just be a little more positive about the ability of our educators to adjust when they see something coming, you know, weeks ahead. But Chancellor, why don't you speak to the guidance that’s been given? 

Chancellor Porter: Yeah, so we – first of all, we acknowledged from the beginning that every school community is different and would approach this moment differently, and we also weren't rushing schools to three-feet, but wanting to leverage three-feet and in places in which it would help us get more schools to five days a week in person for students as possible, and so we took a survey of all schools and are working directly with schools and our union partners that need to go to three-feet so we can follow the guidance from the State, but also make sure we're working with, again with individual schools based on the need to go to three-feet. Many, many, many other schools are just welcoming students back in at the six-foot requirement. So, we're just working with schools based on the need, based on the requirement, and based on the guidance that we've all received from the State. 

Mayor: Excellent, thank you. 

And with that, as we conclude today, look today's the day when we're able to thankfully offer a lot of good news for this city, but it's really because we talk about people's efforts and efforts have changed in this city. It's really been working thing we're talking about today with the fair student funding is an example, 20 years ago, people started that movement for fair student funding. State Senator Robert Jackson, my former colleague from the City Council marched all the way to Albany and walked the whole way with activists to fight for fair student funding for New York City public schools. There were good days and bad days over the last 20 years, but mostly it felt like it was going to be a dream denied or dream deferred. Now it is a dream realized because the activists and the folks who believe in change never gave up. So, I'm a believer that people should stick with it, do it peacefully, but stick with it. Cause it, it makes a huge difference, and today we celebrate a real example of that progress. Thank you, everybody.

2021-04-20 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. It is a beautiful, sunny day in New York City. And this is the perfect day to get vaccinated. If you have not yet gotten vaccinated, there is no time like the present. And now at over 30 vaccination sites, all around the city, City-run vaccination sites you can simply walk up, get a vaccination right away if you are 50 years old or older. So, please this is as convenient as it gets. And again, this is an approach we're going to be using more and more. And appointments at all the other sites, there's over 600 sites now around the city. Talk about getting to the grassroots. We have sites everywhere. Appointments are now finally after months and months of challenges, easy to get. This is exactly the right time to go out and get vaccinated. And we know that getting more and more New Yorkers vaccinated is the key to recovery. 
  
So, where do we stand today? From the beginning of our effort, 5,843,222 vaccinations. Amazing number, more vaccinations than the entire population of the State of Wisconsin. So, this is really becoming a bigger and bigger number all the time. And now is the perfect time to add to that number yourself. Now, as I said, we've been opening many new sites and more are coming. I announced yesterday, a wonderful new site at the Museum of Natural History. That's going to be a great one. We have additional sites going live this week. Including a large capacity site coming up soon and a number of pop-up sites in the Rockaways. So, the Rockway is a place that always deserves attention. And historically hasn't gotten its fair share. We're making sure there's lots of options for residents of the Rockaways. So, you'll see pop-up sites in the coming days in public housing, for example. And then a large capacity site coming up in a few days. Also, in Queens innovative new approach at the airport at JFK, a vaccination site for airport employees. We want to make it easy for people to get vaccinated. Sometimes the best place to reach people of course is where they work. So, a new site opening at JFK to reach airport employees. We're going to look under every stone. We're going to go everywhere we can to make sure everyone gets vaccinated. 

I've got my indicators next. So, I'm going to do all three indicators and I'm going to say a few words in Spanish. Okay. Indicator number one – now, today, again, like yesterday, we have some real progress and I want to highlight this. We are far from out of the woods, I'll keep saying it, but we see really good numbers today. So, number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 161 patients. Again, well below our threshold. That's great. Confirmed positivity, 52.35 percent. And today's hospitalization rate, 2.65 per 100,000. So, that number is going down too. We're very happy about that. New reported cases on a seven-day average, that number now is 2,233 cases. Again, you see steady decline there. That's fantastic. And again, always the most important percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19 – today's number, on a seven-day rolling average, 4.67 percent. Squarely below that threshold of five percent we set a long, long time ago. So, that is definitely good news. Let me say a few words in Spanish, and going back to Safe Summer NYC – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

Before we go to our colleagues in the media – 

Moderator: We'll go to Q-and-A.  

Mayor: So, now, we're going to go to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.  

Moderator: We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Chief Rodney Harrison, by Dr. Chokshi, by Corporation Counsel Jim Johnson, by Ben Furnas, the Director of the Office of Climate and Sustainability, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to James Ford from PIX11. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. It's very exciting to be first.  

Mayor: You are the lead-off hitter, James. A position of honor. 

[Laughter] 

Question: Well, I greatly appreciate it. You just did the indicators and I'd love to just get maybe some more reactions from you. Here we are two days in a row below the five percent threshold for seven-day rolling averages for infections, to what do you attribute that? And is – while it's worth noting that pleasant weather allows more people, like myself, to be outdoors, how much is that part of the improving picture? And what are your concerns for the later months of the year when weather gets more harsh and people, including school children, will be back indoors more? 

Mayor: I'll give you my very quick summary, James, then we'll get Dr. Varma into this. I think it proves the power of vaccination, first and foremost. We're talking now, as you see, we're getting close to six million vaccinations – that is such a huge number that, unquestionably, that is changing the trajectory. And it is a clear message, the more vaccinations, the better. If we want to get out of this crisis, go get vaccinated, period. I think on top of that, people are being real smart. Continue to wear their masks and I'll keep saying it, at least through June, stick with the mask, stick with the social distancing, people are still being smart and cautious and that's helping us. And then all the extraordinary efforts that people are making, starting with everyone in our schools, which have been the safest places in the city, all the constant focused on health and safety. That's been the difference maker. Dr. Varma, you want to add.  
  
Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah. Thank you, James, for the question, and I will say that we are very cautiously optimistic about the numbers that we see. You know, we had looked at different scenarios and our real concern was that when the variants take hole that we might see a third wave and we have been, you know, pleased to see now that we're actually heading in the exact right direction. You know, over the past two weeks, we've seen an over 25 percent decline in all of the major things that we follow, case numbers, test positivity, hospitalization and, you know, I can't give unfortunately a clean answer to say it's any one thing. As the Mayor has noted, it's really a combination of things that have all come down to the same facts, New Yorkers are doing the things they need to do. They're continuing to wear masks, particularly indoors. They're continuing to get tested at high levels, again we're seeing 70 to 80,000 tests being done on average in any given day. They're continuing to stay home when they're sick except for needed medical services, and they're getting vaccinated. And now we know that we have the supply that we need to get people to get vaccinated, anybody 16 and above should be getting in and getting those vaccines right now. So, we are optimistic that if we continue all of these things, individual measures, we continue our testing and tracing, we continue vaccinations, that we're going to continue to drive case numbers down, and then we will, as the Mayor has said, you know, sometime in June and onward, we can start looking at and really reopening our society and relaxing some of those measures. But now is not the time to relax.  
  
Mayor: Yeah, and James, look, it's also just following the data and the science. And one thing that has been really consistent in a city is we've made the decisions based on the data and the science. Some other places didn't do that. They really got burned. We continue to do that. And it, it really proves to be the right way. 
  
Moderator: The next is Matt Troutman from Patch.   
  
Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking my call. How are you doing?   
  
Mayor: Good, Matt. How have you been?   
  
Question: Well, hoping to get outside and enjoy this weather.   
  
Mayor: You have that opportunity. Take it, Matt.  
  
Question: Yeah, we'll see when that happens. My question, it relates to the Homebound Senior Vaccination Program. Obviously, it's on pause or was on pause because of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, but recently a council member tweeted out that is going to – it is restarting but with the Moderna vaccine. I hadn't seen anything official on it. Obviously, I might've missed something, but has it been restarted and has it been restarted with Moderna?
  
Mayor: Okay, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi in just a second to say this, first of all yes, the answer – first the answer is yes, it has been restarted with Moderna, but we have not made a final judgment on where we're going because we expect by the end of the week clarity from the federal government on Johnson & Johnson. And I've been pretty open about this, and I think Dr. Fauci has been very clear about it. You know, we expect resolution soon, most likely resolution is some restrictions or limits on who gets Johnson & Johnson, but still allowing for plenty of people to be able to receive it safely. In that instance, the best thing to do would be go back to Johnson & Johnson for the homebound, because it's by far the more usable option and better option for homebound folks. It's one shot and done. But we need that answer. In the meantime, we're starting to use Moderna to see how that goes and to give us something to keep the effort moving in the meantime, those folks of course will need a second shot later on. Dr. Chokshi, you want to add?  
  
Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Just to build on what you've said. That homebound program encompasses a range of different providers of vaccination. There are – there's the city program, which includes some contracted providers, and then there are private providers who also do in-home vaccination. We know that some of the providers within both groups are starting to use Moderna in large part because we've gained experience with respect to the stability and the storage and the handling of the Moderna vaccine, and so some in-home vaccination is occurring with Moderna due to those developments. But as the Mayor has said, Johnson & Johnson vaccine offers a host of advantages, particularly given that it's one dose, it's easier to store, and it is more stable and easier to handle as well. So, we'll await the decision this Friday, and make a sort of the longer-term plan with respect to homebound vaccination based on that. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.  

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Ariama from Kings County Politics.  

Mayor: Ariama, can you hear us?  

Question: Hi. Good morning. Almost afternoon. End on a lighter note today for you guys.  

Mayor: How you doing? 

Question: I'm good. I'm good. My editor in New York, very cheekily wanted to know what your 4/20 plans were, Mr. Mayor? 

Mayor: I do understand the reference. No plans, Ariama, that behind a long, long time ago. I’ll tell you, I'm very open about it. Tried it a few times when I was a student at NYU, just didn't work for me. Here I am. So, nothing dramatic today, but it is happening now for the first time where we have legalization the State of New York, so that is progress. Go ahead, Ariama. 

Question: That was my main question, and I’m good.  

Mayor: Okay, thank you. Well, that's a good note to end on. We ended on a high point, everybody. Come on, folks, you loved it. I know they loved it here in the room and they thought that was incredibly inventive. Now, look as we conclude the day, everyone just where I was a moment ago, I'm going to end there. I'm excited about what we're going to be able to do in this city this year, the way we're going to bring this city back, the way we're going to create a recovery for all of us, and that's going to include safety, because of recovery for all of us has to include safety, but it has to be achieved by all of us. It is the community-based solutions that are going to be the most lasting and building that bond between police and community that are really going to help us get there. So, that's what we're going to do for this summer of 2021. Thank you everybody.

2021-04-21 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Let's talk about what we talk about every single day. How would we bring this city back and the crucial role of vaccination in bringing this city back? Again, everyone, I want you to take this personally, you can help bring back New York City. You can be part of our recovery through the simple act of getting vaccinated. To all of the people out there have been waiting for a moment where it got easier. That's this moment right now. It's easy now. Literally – it's easy to get an appointment, go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, or you can call 8-7-7-VAX-4NYC. You get an appointment quickly. It's the best it's ever been. And more and more we're using the walkup approach. Currently it's for folks 50 years old and older, at 30-plus City vaccination sites. We're looking to expand that effort. And we'll have more to say on that soon. But what could be easier than just walking in and getting the shot? We're going to have more and more sites near where you live, more and more pop-up sites at houses of worship and public housing. It's going to be easier and easier. And we're taking the vaccine to you, the bus. The vaccine bus is on the move. It’ll be in Chinatown the next days. And then after that in Astoria, Queens. And the vaccine bus is the kind of approach that we're really excited about because anything that brings the vaccine to the people, makes it easy, makes it visible is helpful. So, this is one of the approaches we're going to use more and more. So, as we continue to move forward, we're going to continue to innovate and make vaccination as easy and convenient as possible. To date 5,890,423 doses have been given. That's extraordinary. And that work continues every single day. 

A recovery for all of us certainly means bringing back every facet of this city, the life, the energy, the vibrancy – of course, the jobs. And we have been, throughout the last months, talking about all the things we're bringing back – arts and culture, flourishing again in New York City. It's really exciting to see it grow before our eyes. Sports is back. Outdoor dining and indoor dining. So many things are moving forward in this city. And, obviously, our schools open, and we're looking forward to every child being back in school in September. These are all the building blocks of bringing back this city, but another important piece has been missing. And you're starting to see that change, and we want to supercharge that change – we want to bring tourism back. Tourism has been an important part of life in this city, an important part of our economy. Hundreds of thousands of jobs depend on tourism. And think about it, think about the taxi driver who benefits from tourism, think about the folks who work in our hotels, think about the restaurant workers, think about everyone in the cultural community, Broadway and the museums, all the places that get so many of their customers from tourism. We want them all to thrive again. It's not going to happen overnight, we know that. But it will happen, I don't have any doubt at all. 400,000 jobs connected to tourism before the pandemic, they will come back. We are absolutely certain that New York City will get all our jobs back and then proceed to set new records for jobs, going forward.  

But these things don't happen on their own, so we have to make sure we spark it and we energize this effort. So, today, we're going to spark our economic recovery with a new $30 million marketing campaign to bring back the tourists and to bring back all that they do to invest in this city to bring back the jobs. The campaign's called New York City Reawakens – and that's exactly what's happening. I'll tell you, when I go around this city, people keep commenting on how they see more and more activity, more and more energy. New York city is reawakening. We need to celebrate it. We need to let people know we're open for business. It's safe. Come here, join this amazing moment. Come to this city that's been so heroic during this crisis. This'll be the largest-ever campaign to promote tourism in New York City. And it will remind people, this is the place to be. There's no place else like it in the world. It's the greatest city in the world for a reason and you can experience so many amazing things here. We're going to remind people and they will come back. If we build it, they will come – that's my quote of the day.  

I want you to hear from the man who's spearheading this effort. He's done amazing work. Throughout the course of this administration, I've admired the work of Fred Dickson, leading NYC & Company, helping us set all-time records for tourism, because of his amazing efforts and his team, letting the world know why New York City is so special. Their messages have been heard literally in every corner of the world and they will be again. My pleasure introduce the CEO of NYC & Company, Fred Dickson. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Fred. And, Fred, seriously, what you and your team had done for years, you don't get many chances to hear our appreciation. You just do the work and you've brought in millions and millions of tourists to the city. And so many people have thrived so many businesses, so many jobs because of the work that you and your team. So, I just want to thank you on behalf of 8.5 million New Yorkers for such successful efforts. And this is a great example – you know exactly what to do, because you've proven it year after year. You now have the resources to go out there and I don't have a doubt in my mind that, yeah, there's a lot of competition, there's a lot of great places to go – there's only one New York City. And the more people get reminded, the more they're going to come right here. So, thank you, Fred to you and your team for all you're doing. 

All right. Now, what does it mean? What does it mean to bring tourism back? Well, we wanted you to hear from someone who really understands this very personally. He is in New York City legend – I don't think that's too strong a term. And he has thrived in the city and he has built businesses and he is employed so many people. And yeah, a lot of New Yorkers enjoy the amazing work he does, but people come literally from all over the world. And so, I thought if you're going to understand the power of bringing back tourism, what it means to the city, let's hear from someone who has been beloved and for whom tourists travel a long, long way to experience his magical restaurants. My pleasure to introduce the legendary chef, Daniel Boulud. 

[…] 

Mayor: Chef, I want to tell you, I really appreciate your just total belief in this city, and I've seen it so many times, and I love it. And I remember when we were together last year at the ribbon cutting for the One Vanderbilt building right next to grand central station. And I was really struck when you spoke, because you talked about the new restaurant there in the building that you're opening this year, and you said it with certainty. It was at a very tough moment. It was, you know, last year at a really tough time. And I was so happy that One Vanderbilt was opening, but your hope and your certainty gave me hope. And I want to thank you for just being so fantastically committed to New York City. 

David Boulud: Mr. Mayor, in about a month we are opening Le Pavilion, the new restaurant at One Vanderbilt and [inaudible] that will also initiate the fact that tourists want to come back to discover this restaurant and many other restaurants. I have colleagues opening small restaurants and I hear that there are chefs coming to New York City who want to open restaurants. So, New York City has always attracted young talent and always attracted creativity and ambition. And I think anyone with ambitious and creative should join us in New York City because it’s going to be exciting.    

Mayor: Chef, I have one more question. When I have the joy of visiting you and Le Pavilion is open, what is the number-one thing I should eat from that menu? 

Boulud: Vegetable. We're going to have a vegetable-centric menu, but also seafood. Local vegetables, and, of course, local seafood. We’re in the most amazing coast for seafood here in New York. And so, there'll be a focus on that. And, of course, some other wonderful items like some beautiful meat. But vegetables and seafood will be the focus – that keeps you healthy, happy, [inaudible] by being you know, New York-centric with ingredients. And making the local farmers and the local fishermen work also. 

Mayor: That's beautiful. Well, Chef, thank you. I look forward to joining you there. And congratulations to you. And thank you for joining us today, because your enthusiasm is always infectious. So, it's great to share it with the people of New York City. Thank you so much, Chef. Merci beaucoup. 

All right. Now as every day, let's go to indicators and again today again, we're all going to put all the disclaimers on. We got a long way to go. We got a lot of work to do, but again, today we see some good news. So, here are the indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 162 patients. Again, well below the threshold. Confirmed positivity, 52.69 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 2.64. So, we keep moving that rate down. We want to get below two and we're making progress. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 2,063 cases. So again, nice steady downward line there. We like to look at that. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 on a seven-day rolling average, today's report 4.83 percent. Now several days below the threshold, we want to keep driving downward, but these are definitely good signs. Okay. I'm going to say a few words now in Spanish, going to go back to the efforts to bring back tourism strong in this city.   

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]   

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.  

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Dr. Mitchell Katz, President and CEO of Health + Hospitals, Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma, and Ben Furnas, Director of Mayor's Office of Climate and Sustainability. First up, we have Juan Manuel from NY1.   

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?   

Mayor: Good, Juan Manual, how are you doing today?   

Question: Very good. Thank you. Regarding your announcement on tourism, what do you think the city should do when it comes to tourists visiting the city? Should they bring – and I know that this is that this might be a State decision, but do you think these tourists coming to the city should bring a negative test or they should be already vaccinated or would the city now that so many New Yorkers are already vaccinated, should the city – would the city start an effort to provide vaccines to people visiting New York City?  

Mayor: Good questions. I'll try and keep it simple. Look I think what's obvious is a lot of tourism is already being driven by people who have gotten vaccinated, by folks – that's the number one I think of what's happening here. And obviously I think a lot of people are being smart if they haven't yet been vaccinated to get tested. That's certainly what we want to see to the maximum extent possible, get vaccinated wherever you are. It's a great door opener to travel. As for our ability to serve people here, look, we still have a lot of people to serve right here in this city. As you know, folks have been getting vaccinated in New York City from the suburbs, from Connecticut, from New Jersey from the very beginning. So that's not a news flash. It's a good question, how we want to handle and support tourists going forward. I'm hoping we'll have the ability to do that, but right now job one is to focus on the millions of New Yorkers who still need to get vaccinated. That's the best thing for everyone. Go ahead, Juan Manual.   

Question: And are you getting worried at the fact that right now it's so easy to get a vaccine and you still have a lot of New Yorkers that apparently are not getting an appointment or they're [inaudible] going to one of those sites, if they're over 50, and walking in and getting vaccinated? Is it given the fact that we are still getting at least 2,000 cases, that's the seven-day average of new cases? Are you concerned that maybe there are some New Yorkers right now that they just don't want to get the shot?  

Mayor: I'd say a couple of different things, Juan Manual, so right now, as of today, we've got about 3.2 million adults in this city who have received at least one dose. I think people have received one dose, obviously overwhelmingly are going to get the second dose. I think a lot more people are now coming forward to get vaccinated who haven't been vaccinated yet at all, because it's getting easy, finally. This is a really new phenomenon, you know, a week ago or a little more, it was really, really hard to get an appointment. So, we've only gone a matter of days where it's finally easy to get an appointment, and we're seeing that that is helping a lot of people to finally come forward. The outreach efforts where everything we try, we find works, more grassroots sites works, door to door works, not having the need to have an appointment, just walk up, works. We're just going to apply those approaches more and more and more. So, there's plenty of people out there that we can and will reach. I'm very, very confident we'll be able to get a lot more people. And the fact that it's easier is going to actually help us a lot. Go ahead.   

Moderator: Next. We have Sydney from Gothamist.   

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to follow up on what you spoke about yesterday, I believe with the switch to Moderna for the Homebound Vaccination Program, and I – my understanding is the mobile vaccine bus will also be using Moderna until we learn more about what will happen with the Johnson & Johnson option. And I'm wondering how has the city expanding the cold chain around that? Basically, just the storage systems to make that – those programs work with Moderna and has of the city purchased the ultra-cold portable coolers that were used to transport vaccines in West Africa?  

Mayor: Dr. Katz or Dr. Varma who wants that one?  

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I'm happy to start, sir, just to clarify that with Moderna vaccine while you have to keep it frozen storage while waiting, if you're going to use it within six hours, it does not require that intense, frozen storage. So, we're able to take a vile, plan the number of visits we're going to have within a six-hour period, and use all of the vaccine and therefore not require the super freezer procedures. Thank you, sir.   

Mayor: Thank you. Sydney, does that answer your question?  

Question: I think so. I guess I'm just wondering like how the switch to Moderna is happening given there was so much talk around how Moderna and Pfizer were just not an option before, and we were waiting on Johnson & Johnson, So, I'm just kind of wondering how –  

Mayor: Yeah, I got it now. I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Varma. I think I'm getting this right as a layman, but Dr. Varma will be my expert witness here. Sidney, I think Johnson & Johnson is more usable, the refrigeration issue, but most especially the one shot and that made it particularly helpful for the homebound program, and still, we hope will. Again, because we still anticipate by the end of the week, getting some guidance that will allow us to use it again with whatever appropriate, you know, warnings or restrictions. But I want to tell you, I was up in a Co-Op City in the Bronx, and I was talking to folks when we opened up that center there, that vaccination center who came, it was really striking to me. These are exactly the folks we wanted to reach. Working class folks, city employees, everyday New Yorkers, overwhelmingly people of color, and a number of folks in individual conversations said to me, oh, I'm here because it's one dose. I didn't want to deal with two doses. I just wanted to get it once and get it out of the way. And the Johnson & Johnson actually turned out to be a real selling point there. So, I think it's really valuable as a tool because it's easier, but also because it's going to be more appealing to people. And for the homebound, it’s just immensely better to not have to come back a second time because it takes so much effort to do the homebound, and it's so much better for the folks involved just to get at once. Jay, you want to add?  

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah, I would just add, just to give Sydney a little bit more technical information, you know, there have been some changes in the way Moderna vaccine needs to be handled, what we refer to as un-punctured vials and they can be stored at refrigeration temperatures for up to 30 days and don't require that ultra-cold storage. So, the main challenge has been that, you know, we designed our homebound program according to the J&J requirements. Because of course it is much more flexible overall not just the single dose, but also the routine storage and handling, and so it did take us a little while to adjust our procedures to manage how we're going to administer the Moderna vaccine. But we are able to do that now, and I hope to continue to increase the numbers regularly. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Next, we have Yehudit from Boro Park 24.  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: Good. How are you doing today?  

Question: Good. Thank you. So, in Borough Park, there are low vaccination rates, partly because a great part of our population are young children, but also because there are WhatsApp messages, robocalls and flyers circulating with vaccine misinformation. I was wondering whether you, Dr. Varma, or Dr. Katz have any specific plans to fight fire with fire and provide more accurate information with accurate, reassuring, positive, encouraging vaccine information on WhatsApp, robocalls, and flyers, and also perhaps getting local rabbis and community leaders to help spread the message? 

Mayor: I think that's a very, very important point, and I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz, who has spent a lot of time talking to leaders and members of the Orthodox community and who is a proud son of Brooklyn who's had a lot of personal connection to the community, and I think you're right. We've got to do more. We saw this with measles a couple of years ago, a lot of misinformation, we got to fight back the misinformation. The way we did it then was with community voices and with healthcare professionals from the community. So, I think it's time to do that again. Dr. Katz, you want to speak to that? 

President Katz: Yes, sir. Thank you so much. I appreciate the question and the sentiment behind it. The rabbinic has been very responsible. In fact, they've censored some of their own members who suggested that vaccines were not a good idea, because of a basic tenant of Judaism is protection of life, and protection of your community in the vaccine does both of those things. So, I think the overwhelming view of rabbis is that this is a very important intervention to have and we'll, following what the Mayor has said, we will double our efforts to counter the misinformation. Thank you. 

Moderator: Next, we have Henry Goldman from Bloomberg.  

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: I am doing well, Henry, how are you? 

Question: I'm doing okay. You seem to be in a much happier frame of mind these days.  

Mayor: Well, there's a lot of good stuff happening and a lot of people are working together. Those are the kinds of things that make me happy, Henry. 

Question: All right, well, that's a reasonable response. On the tourism front, the challenges to the tourism industry are not to be underestimated, I'm sure you realize that. One of the major problems that hotels face is actually paying their property tax bills when their effective occupancy rate is so low, much lower than it takes to actually break even. They've been asking the administration for a moratorium on paying their property tax and avoiding the 18 – the enormous – I'm not sure what the interest rate, it’s very high, it's like paying a credit card bill – you are late on your property taxes and so far they have not had any success in persuading, the administration about this. So, where does the administration stand on giving these hotels property tax relief, or at least the moratorium on paying this bill and certainly not paying the interest rate on the late payment of the tax? 

Mayor: Yeah. Henry look, I'll make it simple. We're certainly talking with industry. We're looking at ways that we can be helpful, but we're also mindful that we got to keep moving the city forward and that, you know, what we do with one industry, you know, we have to think about parallels with other industries. So, this one's not, you know, just to sort of snap your fingers. We have to think about this one some more, but we are talking to the industry. We do hear their concern and we'll have more to say on it, you know, in a little while.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Abu from Bangla Patrika.  

Mayor: Wait, he's almost here. 

Question: Hello? 

Mayor: Hello, how are you?  

Question: Hi, Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: Good, good.  

Question: Okay. Any update of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine?  

Mayor: Okay, I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Varma. From what I understand, Abu, I think that the greatest likelihood is by the end of this calendar week, some kind of guidance from the federal government, and I think it'll be either some warnings or maybe some age restrictions, but what it will say to us, I'm hoping, and I believe is that we can use Johnson & Johnson widely. Again, we certainly would greatly benefit from having it back as part of our effort to reach so many more New Yorkers. That's what I think, I'm not guaranteeing that, but that's just what I think the tea leaves are telling us, but you'll now hear a more educated response from Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Well, Mr. Mayor, I think you actually summarized it quite well. The CDC Advisory Committee is meeting tomorrow to discuss the latest updates on this, and we are hopeful that they will make a recommendation to continue using the vaccine, potentially either with increased education of people, so that during their informed consent process, they know about potential risks or possibly with some restrictions based on either age or gender. We have heard recently this past week that the European Medicines Agency has gone forward with permitting the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to be used, with only additional education of people receiving the vaccine. So, we are hopeful that we'll get more information by the end of this week and they can restart using it where appropriate. 

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you, Dr. Varma, and listen, as we conclude, I think the key point again is, you know, we have, for the first time, a wonderful reality in this city where anyone who wants to get vaccinated can get it quickly and easily. I remember during all those months where people were struggling to get appointments, the many valid questions, the frustrations, you know, people were saying, oh my God, it's so hard to get an appointment. This is really difficult, and they were right, and we all worked together to maximize the supply and get the freedom to vaccinate from the State and set up more and more vaccination centers, and then we got to that very good day last week, where it started to get easy to appointments, and I, for one I'm really, really happy about that, because I think that will bring in hundreds of thousands of folks who were waiting for it to get easier and needed it to be a little bit easier, and from there more and more people will keep reaching them at the grassroots, and that's going to continue to build this recovery. So, everyone, do your part. If you haven't yet done it now is the perfect time, go out and get vaccinated.

2021-04-22 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Every day, first, we'll go to what we talk about every day, which is the fight against COVID. And my hope and prayer is as this year progresses, we'll be able to talk less about COVID and more about the future. But right now, we still have to win this battle against COVID once and for all. And that means getting vaccinated, it is the key. So, the good news is more and more vaccination sites. The good news is more and more outreach efforts, making it easier and easier, more and more places where you just walk up. We're going to have a lot more to say on that in the coming days. But let's give you today's number – since the beginning of the vaccination effort, 5,943,896 doses given. That’s almost six million doses now. So, again, New York City keeps moving forward and you're going to see in the indicators later on, what an impact vaccination is making. Because the indicators keep getting better and better each day. So, let's stick with it.  
  
With that, we turn to some more good news, because, again – I'll always preface by saying, we’ve got a long way to go, we’ve got a lot of work to do, but the indicators continue to be really, really promising. So, let's go over them. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 167 patients. Confirmed positivity down to 44.57 percent. And hospitalization rate, 2.59 per 100,000. So, we want to keep driving that down below two, but real progress in recent days for sure. Now, number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 1,964 cases. Look at that graph, that is really good to see. This is very promising. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report, on a seven-day rolling average, the lowest we've seen in a long, long time, 4.54 percent. Why? Because of vaccination – because of vaccination. Because we're almost at 6 million vaccinations given in the City of New York. It is working. You can see the cause and effect really clearly here. And what am I going to tell you next? Go get vaccinated. If you haven't yet, it’s the perfect time to do it, because you can help us drive back COVID and push it out of this city and get our life back to a better place. So, vaccinations working, indicators move in the right direction – very, very promising news we're seeing.   
  
Okay. A few words in Spanish. I'm going to go back to the day we are celebrating today, Earth Day, with my green tie. Very, very fashion appropriate today.   
  
[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]  
  
With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.  

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by a Chancellor Porter, by Commissioner Grayson, by Corporation Council Jim Johnson, by the Director of the Mayor's Office of Climate and Sustainability Ben Furnas, by Dr. Chokshi, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to Katie from the Wall Street Journal.   
   
Question: Hello? Hello. Can you hear me?    
   
Mayor: Hey, yeah, Katie, how you doing today?   
   
Question: I'm doing great. Thank you. They still have you talking to a garbage can, that will be a gift that keeps on giving. It's going bring to lot of laughs. Thank you for that.   
   
Mayor: I’m glad you see deeper symbolism in it.   
   
Question: No, we just put it up to Twitter. We'll see what happens. My first question is a little bit unrelated. It's actually for the Chancellor. I don't know if she could answer remotely while she's on a remote work out there on the bus, but it's about I know –    
   
Mayor: Well, Katie, just to let you – I'm sorry to interrupt, that the Chancellor is not on remote at this moment – She is? She is. Okay, go ahead, Katie.   
   
Question: Great, so I know you've been pushing Summer Youth Employment, but my question is specifically geared to students within District 75 who have variant challenges, and they have usual special accommodations at CBOs and other places for support. So, is there any guidance on – I know a lot of the students because of COVID they've lost their seats to do this work learning and especially for summer employment, so is there any update or guidance regarding District 75 community-based work programs which have been halted because of COVID?   
   
Mayor: It’s a really, really good question, and I'll turn to the Chancellor, but Katie, we’re saying we're every day reconstructing coming out of the pandemic and going back and seeing what we can restart. So, I appreciate this question because it's something we need to focus on. I do know that the Chancellor's approach is very universal, the most universal approach to summer we've ever seen. What we're talking about this summer for general education kids in special education kids is the most comprehensive approach to summer programming and support for kids and families in the history of department education. So, it certainly should include a variety of ways of helping special ed kids. Chancellor, you want to speak to this question?   
   
Question: Sure. Good morning, everyone. And Katie, I made it off the bus. It was so exciting this morning. We are working to ensure that all of our students have access to some work, but to your question, we really want to make sure that our special education students, our District 75 students get all of the supports and resources. Particularly to your question about the work-based learning, we'll come back to you with that. We're still working out the details of our summer program but expanding work opportunities is a critical part of that.   
   
Mayor: Thank you.   
  
Moderator: The next is Marcia from WCBS.   
   
Question: Mr. Mayor, I have noticed that you have changed. You ride the Cyclone, and you wear a Yankee hat. You talk to bins.   
   
[Laughter]   
   
You talk about the Electric Slide. I'm wondering what has changed your mood? Is it the fact that you see the end of the tunnel, light at the end of the tunnel because of COVID? Is it because you no longer feel you're under the thumb of Governor Cuomo? And by the way, can you do the electric slide?   
   
Mayor: Marcia, that’s a very controversial question. I have had a rich exposure to Electric Slide, but I'd need to – I'd need some practice, but I've been in a lot of rooms where Electric Slide was being done. So, I have a great – I love that song, and I'm a fan for sure. The Yankee cap thing was once in a lifetime. Let's just be clear about that. That's a – that was a patriotic moment. I was very appreciative to Yankees. I did it. I want to tell you Marcia, I don't know if you caught this nuance that day, but, you know, everyone knows I grew up in Massachusetts a Red Sox fan, and one of the most horrifying moments in Red Sox history was Aaron Boone's homerun in 2003. And so, I put on the Yankee cap and the first thing that I saw after putting on the Yankee cap was Aaron Boone, like, literally, himself, right across me saying, hey that looks really good on you. And I said to him, you're making it even worse. So, it's a – that was once in a lifetime.    
   
But Marcia look, the reason – there may be more than one reason, but I'll tell you the number one reason to me is the city's coming back, and we went through something incredibly tough and painful. And I got a lot of empathy in me, and I felt the pain of the people of this city, and it was very, very tough last year. And then this year has been just joyous because we're coming back and people are like, you know, just helping each other out and optimistic and doing great things and making things happen, and it just feels like a joy to be a part of it. So, that to me is the number one reason, we're living in a really special moment in the history of city, and this is going to be the greatest comeback in New York City history, and that's what's giving me a lot of new energy for sure. Go ahead, Marcia.   
   
Question: So, given the fact that you're thrilled about COVID and the fact that we seem to be coming out of it, my question has to do with masking. Do you see a point when you can say to people, you don't have to wear your masks outdoors anymore, and do you think it's something that you could hold out as sort of a carrot to get people to get vaccinated? That if you all get vaccinated, if we reach a certain number, then you don't have to wear masks when you go to outdoor events. Do you see that happening and is there a timeframe?   
   
Mayor: I think that's a really good point, Marcia. The – first of all, what I've said, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Varma, Dr. Katz, we've all said the same thing. Let's start with the assumption that we’re going to hold the line through June. June's the date that we've set to hit our vaccination goal. June is, you know, one of those times in the year that we're used to sort of a reset moment every year as we get to the end of school, beginning of summer and all. We want to hold the line through June. So, we'll keep, you know, the masks on and we'll do all the things we need to do. After that we'll be able to reassess. And I think you're right, that one of the things we can say to people is, if you want to get rid of the masks, if you want to get rid of the social distancing, if you want to get rid of the restrictions, go get vaccinated. And we're going to have to keep masks and restrictions in place until we're a 100 percent sure we're out of the woods, and the best way to know where out of the woods is to see those vaccination numbers go up and up and up, because you've seen already just with the number of people vaccinated so far is just pushing down COVID and pushing down the cases and making the city safer. So, I think you make a good point. I think there is an incentive in that, and we'll keep making that point clear to people.   
   
Moderator: The next is Jessica Gould from WNYC.  
  
Question: Hi, thanks. This is for Chancellor Porter. I know that the decision to have the standardized state test came from the federal government. But we're hearing about repeat passages from previous tests in the ELA test this year, as well as some schools that only have like a handful of kids coming in. I've heard of some schools where nobody has opted in. So, I was just wondering how that impacts to what extent the test will be used for admissions or anything else in the coming year. Do you have an answer about how the test will be used this year?  
  
Mayor: Chancellor? Could you hear that?  
  
Chancellor Porter: Yep. I heard it. So, we, you know, the state is looking into the, they, they are responsible for the creation of the test and we're responsible for the administration of the test, which we've done. As far as admissions for next year, you know, this has been a very different year as it was last year, and, and we believe that the test cannot be a single measure appoint missions, and obviously this year, it can't be as well, and so we're looking at multiple measures to make admissions decisions and more information to come on back.  
Thank you very much.
  
Moderator:  Last question for today goes to Alex Zimmerman from Chalkbeat.   
  
Question: Hi everyone. My first question is for the Chancellor. You know, I wanted to follow up on a line questioning that Jessica Gould was asking about. You know, obviously we've seen these reports that many of the questions on the state tests are being recycled, and that students I've seen them before, and so taken together with, you know, other aspects of the test that have obviously changed this year, including the fact that they're completely optional, like, do you think the tests are going to mean anything? Like, will they convey any important information to you as, as the leader of this system?  
  
Mayor: I'll start and turn to the Chancellor. I’ll just say, I think it's an extremely aberrant situation this year. I think you're right to point that out, Alex. This – we’ve never had a situation like this, it's obviously because of the pandemic. Yeah, I think we're going to see it as different than anything we've dealt with before and, you know, make judgements accordingly. Go ahead, Chancellor.  
  
Chancellor Porter: No, I agree with the Mayor, you know, we are in a very, very different time and in this moment, and so the test will give us information that we will use to inform how we support students. Families made decisions about taking the test because they wanted that information, and so we look forward to supporting them and using the information again, as we make decisions about how to support student learning.  
  
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Alex.  
  
Question: Yeah. My second question is just about sort of looking ahead to the fall. Obviously as a supermajority of parents are still learning remotely and there are lots of big questions about what remote learning could look like next year and how many families will choose that if it's offered. I'm just wondering if the Chancellor can give an update on the City's thinking in terms of what that remote option would look like, whether it would be run centrally, whether it would be sort of individual schools’ responsibility to run it, and just whether there'll be any sort of like parent or school engagement from the DOE on what that looks like. It's a question a lot of people have, and, and also just a tiny follow-up to the last question too, is just, do you know how many students have opted into state tests?  
  
Mayor: Okay. on that one, I don't, if the Chancellor does, she'll let you know, but we'll keep you posted on that. But to the bigger point, your timing is impeccable Alex, because the Chancellor and I were just having an animated discussion yesterday at the DOE cabinet meeting about what we see for September, and I'm going to start and turn to the Chancellor. Look, we're making a lot of progress now because of the high level of vaccination, we're seeing real progress, the data and the science are speaking to us. You know, the cases are plummeting. Thank God. We're not out of the woods. The variants are still out there. I'll give all the qualifiers. I know Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi are listening, that they will insist rightfully on those qualifiers, but overall, we're making a lot of progress and, you know, a huge number of people getting vaccinated each week.  
  
It is too early to be able to tell you everything about September, but I can tell you this much. We want every child back in the classroom and we're planning on every child being back in the classroom, and, you know, a lot could happen between now and September, and we don't want to speak for all parents. We know that some of them may still have tremendous sensitivity and concern, and we're going to work with that. But the goal, the thing we're planning on is if every single one of our children – million children's showed up on opening day of school, that we would be ready to accommodate them, and we're going to do whatever it takes to be able to give them a safe, positive environment. Chancellor.  
  
Chancellor Porter: So, I'll start backwards and say that the test data about who's testing today is not public. It is a process, and we'll have that information at the conclusion of the testing period. I am also a parent who has to make the decision about September, and I am really looking forward to having my daughter be back in school, full time. That's what I hope for our system. That's what we're working towards. But again, we're always going to ground ourselves in putting health and safety first. We've made a lot of progress, got a lot of vaccines in arms, and so our goal and our move forward is thinking about reopening our system in a new way that, you know, really ensures that our students feel affirmed and welcomed back and sees themselves in the curriculum. We absolutely will be engaging families. As a parent myself, I know how important it is to have parents at the table as we make these decisions, and we're already starting internally to have conversations about what returns should be and will be for our system, and I look forward to many, many, many more animated conversations with the Mayor about that, because this is, this is the most important thing for the city to do right now.  
  
Mayor: And I want to emphasize we are animated because we were in fierce agreement. We want, and we're planning on every child coming back. That really is the goal, and I'm telling you, based on what we're seeing these last few days on the COVID indicators, it's a realizable dream. I really believe that a lot more to do.   
  
Hey, as we conclude, I just want to see if can the camera go to this other chair for a moment. I just want to make a point about, you know, the bin really let us down. The bin asked for an opportunity to speak and then just you know – I mean, I, yeah, you can bear silent witness if you want, but I just thought that was really a lost opportunity. So, to Ben Furnas, Climate Sustainability Director, just want to thank you. I know you would never do that to us.  
  
Director Furnas: I would not, sir.   
  
Mayor: I know you care. I mean the bin, what was that? Okay. So, I just want to say, you know –  
  
Director Furnas: I for one am incredibly excited to have the brown bins back. I don’t know if that means I'm on Team Bin, but –  
  
Mayor: Okay. I'm fine with that. But, Ben, I just want to say is the last time I allow an inanimate object to speak to one of my press conferences. Okay. I think I've learned something valuable today. I hope it's less than all of you as well. Thank you. Take care, everyone.

2021-04-23 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well, we start today with some really good news. Another important milestone in our vaccination effort, reaching so many New Yorkers more and more every day. So as of today, over six million vaccinations have been given in the City of New York since we began. We're just going to keep moving forward no matter what, because you're going to see the indicators later on today. They really, really look good. And this has been more and more of a good pattern. Why do we see constant improvement in COVID situation? Because of vaccinations, because of over six million vaccinations to date, you can just see the cause and effect right there. What's the exact number? 6,004,406 vaccinations today.

Now we want to do a lot more. We want to get everyone in who hasn't been vaccinated yet. We want to make it simple. We want to encourage people and let's face it, convenience matters to New Yorkers. We're getting busier and busier again. Life in the city is coming back, including the fact that we're the busiest place in the whole country. So, we want to make it simple for folks. So, I'm going to go over a couple of things we're doing today and calling on others to do, to simplify the vaccination process and get more and more people to come in. First of all, all City-runs sites, as of now, will be open to all New Yorkers, regardless of any geographic restrictions that existed previously. We want to make it simple. You can go to any City-run site, Health + Hospitals, Department of Health, any site, you can go there and get a shot, doesn't matter where you live. Second, all City-run sites will be open for walk-ins as of today for all sites for all age levels. So, you can just walk up and get vaccinated if you're 16 years old or older for the sites using Pfizer, 18 years old and older at the sites using Moderna.

We did a walk-up pilot project focusing on the oldest New Yorkers. We saw really good results. Lot of people said it was the reason they came and got vaccinated, that it was a lot simpler for them. And we did not have the kinds of lines we were worried about that might be a problem. So, we're quite confident we could accommodate a much higher volume of walk-ins. So, we're going to make that universal at all the City-run sites again, for all ages. Third, we're encouraging community health centers, including the federally supported health centers to allow walk-ins. We think this approach is exactly right for this point as we continue to move forward. So, we want them to do that. And fourth, we're urging private health care providers to reach out to their patients very specifically, not just emails, but reach out one by one, personal contact, encourage folks to get vaccinated. Let them know that it's free. Let them know it's safe, let them know it's effective. Let them know it's easier than ever. That – we're it all over the city, that personal contact, whether it's knocking on the door, or seeing someone on the street and telling them there's a vaccination center right nearby, the same with health care providers that people know and trust. We think that personal contact is going to make a huge difference. So, this is how we bring our city back. I want to keep encouraging everyone, go out there and get vaccinated if you have not already. It's simpler than ever. And if you want to find a site for today and walk-up and get that vaccination, you can go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, or call 8-7-7-VAX-4NYC. Now you want to recovery? Get vaccinated. It's as simple as that. This is what will bring us forward. This is what will create a recovery for all of us. The most possible people getting vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Okay. Now talk about recovery for all of us. Who's been heroic during this whole fight against COVID? Of course. our health care heroes, of course, our first responders. So, many everyday New Yorkers who did incredible acts of kindness for each other. But also. our nonprofits. This is the city in America that has the most and the strongest and the best nonprofits out there. Community-based organizations that we depend on to do so much to help our community. They have shown so much heart, so much grit in this crisis. They have been absolutely indispensable. So, I want to say I've taken the occasion over the months to thank lots of different folks. I want to thank everyone who works for community-based organizations, everyone who works in the social service nonprofits, and all the other nonprofits that help New Yorkers. You do such good and important work. And you've been heroes in this whole crisis. And you're a big reason why New York City is coming back. Now it's time for us to help you because what you've done, if a family needed food, you were there for them. If folks needed mental health support, you were there for them. If folks were struggling to figure out how to make sense and get information about this pandemic and make the right decisions, you were there for them. There's so many ways that nonprofits saw people through this crisis.

So, today we announce a major initiative, and this is something that the City Council has really focused on as well. We've been working with them on this. And I want to thank Speaker Corey Johnson for his constant focus on the needs of nonprofits. And really. we're talking here about the basics, the overhead, the infrastructure nonprofits, so they can keep going. It doesn't happen if they don't have those basic resources. So, today we announce $120 million investment in New York City's nonprofits for this fiscal year and next fiscal year, to help them continue to keep the city's safety net strong. We need it. We need it more than ever. This is the indirect costs that nonprofits have that are so basic to their operations – the rent, the information systems, administration, all the things that they can't do without. If they're going to be there for people, if they are going to be there at the frontline of their neighborhoods, these indirect costs, these infrastructure costs really count for a lot. So, we want to put our money where our mouth is, $120 million to help them stay strong as the City comes back.

Now, I have to tell you that New York City innovated this approach of focusing on the fundamental needs of our nonprofits, because we depend on them so much. And we've been leading the country in recognizing that this is how you keep the safety nets strong. This is how you create a lot of jobs, grassroots, local jobs for people. And this is how working families know that they're going to have someone to turn to in their neighborhood who can help them. So again, thanks to the City Council, Speaker Johnson, and everyone in the Council who focused on this. And I want you to hear from one Council Member in particular, this has been a passion for her. It's an issue that doesn't get enough attention. And so, she has made sure it got attention and has continued to bring this forward and represents a neighborhood that has some of the most amazing nonprofits and community-based organizations in the whole city. But I can safely say this issue wouldn't have gotten the attention it deserved, if not for her strong voice. My pleasure to introduce Council Member Helen Rosenthal.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you, Council Member. All right. We talk about recovery for all of us, and that means the grassroots – it means the grassroots in our communities with the neighborhood organizations. But we all know, when we think about our neighborhoods and what we love, and how we identify our neighborhoods, the character, the charm, the things, the life, the vibrancy, what do we think of? One of the things we always think of is our community small businesses, the mom and pop stores, the stores and the restaurants that have been there for generations that are part of our identity. If we're going to have New York City back the way we need it to be back, we have to be there for small businesses. A recovery for all of us must include small businesses and a recovery for all of us has to take us someplace better than we were before the pandemic and that means focusing especially on small businesses in the hardest-hit communities, the communities that bore the brunt of COVID, bringing them back, keeping them strong, helping them thrive and grow for the future.

So, we know – we saw – to coin a phrase – we saw a tale of two cities during the pandemic. Wall Street did great. The stock market did great. Small businesses suffered deeply. A lot of them didn't make it. A lot of them are now hanging on by a thread, but we found ways to help. And one of the things we did, which clearly worked was the Open Restaurants program, that brought back about 100,000 jobs and it proved that with just a little bit of help a lot could happen for small business. Obviously, what Joe Biden has done, and Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, everyone, to get help from the federal level – the State Legislature stepped up recently, Carl Heastie, Andrea Stewart-Cousins – there's a lot more help coming, but we know there's still so much more needed. So, focusing today on the needs of small business and how we bring them back. It's the backbone of our city. Small business has to work for New York City to work. So, we're announcing some major new direct support to small businesses, a combination of different approaches that total over $155 million that will go directly to small business as grants and direct support with a special focus on communities of color, immigrant communities, communities hardest hit by COVID.

A lot of different pieces that you're going to hear about in a moment. I want to shout out one in particular that's really been effective and sometimes it was threatened, but it's been saved. And one of the champions of this was Council Member Mark Levine. I want to give him a special shout out for his strong advocacy. The Commercial Lease Legal Assistance program to help small businesses that needed that legal assistance to keep going. This has proven to be really effective and I want to thank the Council Member for making it a priority. And it's something you're going to hear about now as the kind of thing we're going to be doing, going forward, including a lot just plain direct support, direct grants to small businesses. Here to tell you about it, someone who is undoubtedly passionate about this topic, and has been out there in the community of the city, talking to small business owners and helping them through this – our Commissioner for Small Business Services, Jonnel Doris.

Commissioner Jonnel Doris, Small Business Services: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's an honor to wake up every day to fight for our small businesses. And as a former small business owner myself, I know firsthand the challenges that it takes to start and run a business. Every entrepreneur knows, building a business, taking on risks, working hard, putting in long nights was difficult before the pandemic much less after and now – during and after the pandemic. And we at SBS have been their strongest ally. And today, we have some amazing news – really good news [inaudible] small businesses around the city and job seekers with a new investment of $155 million to help small businesses recover and train New Yorkers for the economy of tomorrow.
First, we are providing more financial relief and [inaudible] a brand-new $100 million small business loan fund and a $100 million dollar program for businesses that were unable to relieve – to get access to relief, and over $10 million in new funding for free legal help in our commercial lease assistance program, as the Mayor mentioned. These programs will focus on low-moderate income businesses in the hardest hit communities and also help our beloved businesses in the arts, entertainment, recreation, and food services. These are the businesses that draw visitors from all the world, making New York City a world-class attraction, but have been completely shuttered. We are revitalizing our commercial quarters also with an additional $1.2 million investment in our Avenue NYC program, bringing it to $2.6 million so that we can energize community organizations as they help small businesses recover during this vital time.

Second, we are providing more help as you reopen. We are investing in additional $5 million to make New York City the friendliest place to start and grow a business by creating a one-stop shop GPS for small business owners, guiding them through the process of getting their doors open and eliminating anxiety and roadblocks.

Third, we're provided more support for workers in the new economy ahead. The pandemic has created this economy put in sectors like health care and technology at the forefront of our recovery. So, we're investing in our most precious resources, the workers who keep the city growing, and our businesses running. We'll do this by boosting our training and apprenticeship programs with close to $6 million. And to prepare New Yorkers for jobs in areas like web development, nursing, and [inaudible] building. And most importantly, we are making sure that folks who are underrepresented in the workforce get their fair share of these opportunities.

To conclude, it is said that everything that is done in the world is done by hope. There are over 240,000 small businesses in the city who made their dreams a reality with infinite hope. They are the model of the New York grit and determination, and the reason why we are keeping our hope alive even now. With all the support that is coming in the days, weeks, and months ahead, let's keep our small businesses in our city strong. And we continue more than ever right now to build a recovery for all of us. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Commissioner. I love what you said – everything done in the world has done by hope. It's true. And we not only hope that our small businesses are going to recover, we're going to be there for them. And you're going to see an amazing comeback of our small businesses this year in New York City. I'm going to tell you something else that makes me hopeful and makes me proud and makes me happy. Something we're happy to talk about today that just happened yesterday. Our own Deanne Criswell, who has been our amazing Emergency Management Commissioner over these last years, she was confirmed yesterday by the U.S. Congress as the new federal FEMA Administrator. What amazing work she did here. One of the heroes of the COVID crisis in New York City, one of the leaders of the fight-back, helped us see our way through this incredible unprecedented crisis.

I'll tell you about Deanne, you saw it a lot of times when she was part of these press conferences – cool in the saddle at all times, just clear-headed, a leader, a strategist who helped us figure out even a thorniest problems. And I got to tell you, I'm proud that one of our own here in New York City has now been elevated to lead all emergency management efforts of the federal government for the entire nation. That makes me feel really, really proud. And Deanne, I think you're out there, I just want to say a profound thank you on behalf of the people in New York City. We're going to miss you, but we know you're just a phone call away and, you know, we know you're going to be looking out for us, and that means a lot to this city as we come back. But just so proud of all you achieved here and so proud of your new role. So, I just wanted to thank you publicly and give you a chance to say a formal goodbye or fare thee well to the people of New York City.

Commissioner Deanne Criswell, Emergency Management: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Just making sure you can hear me? All right. Great. You know, it's really has been a true honor to serve in New York City and lead the nations really preeminent emergency management agency that has an exceptional team of public servants for the last almost two years. And I'd also like to thank President Biden for nominated me to be the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, as well as the U.S. Senate for confirming me yesterday for this very important role. You know, after the last two years, we've experienced a variety of emergencies here in New York City. You know, just a few weeks into my tenure here, we had the blackout in Manhattan, plunged into darkness. And then that was quickly followed by a heat wave that we had not seen in many years – record heat wave, which brought even more power outages across the city. And I was really impressed and I immediately witnessed how the City employees come together, how New Yorkers come out to help New Yorkers, and I'm proud to say that I was able to serve here as your Commissioner for the last two years.

You know, the last year itself though – you know, we've been focused on leading the City's response to COVID 19 pandemic and, happily, we're now aiding in the City's largest vaccination efforts in history. And I think it's such an important part of the recovery that we're going to see not only here in New York City, but across the nation. And we all have a responsibility to make sure that every American gets vaccinated so we can move on to that road to recovery. And even during the pandemic with all that we were doing, we also faced the impacts from coastal storm Isaias, summer heat, and then we had an incredibly snowy start to our year this year. And again, and again, the women and the men here at New York City Emergency Management, they rose to the occasion. They have worked day and night to support New Yorkers. And they constantly amaze me with their knowledge, with their professionalism, and with their dedication to helping the people of the city. And I'm incredibly proud, again, to have been able to be part of this. And as I move on to FEMA and to work to help all Americans, I will forever be grateful for the opportunity that you gave me, Mr. Mayor. I know that I'm leaving you in good hands, and John Scrivani is going to do a fantastic job to continue leading this incredible agency. And I just wanted to one, thank you again for this opportunity, and thank New Yorkers for making my time here so memorable.

Mayor: Well, Deanne, listen – I remember when we first spoke during the interview a few years ago, and I said it will not be dull. And I love that you gave – you gave the list of –

Commissioner Criswell: It was not wrong.

Mayor: I wasn't lying, right? You gave the list of all the interesting things that happened [inaudible], but we did not expect what we got thrown last year, but you really handled it with just extraordinary poise and focus. And we could not have gotten through COVID without you. So, we're going to miss you a lot, but thank you. And, as you said, your successor, John Scrivani, coming on duty today. And you did a great job working with John on a very smooth transition. So, until we meet again, I think is the right phrase. And thank you again from the bottom of my heart.

Commissioner Criswell: Thank you, sir.

Mayor: All right, everyone, let's go to indicators. And we have more good news today. Again, we've got to earn it every day and we got a long road ahead, but we definitely have good news and that's just really clearly because of where I started, over 6 million vaccinations from day-one, it is clearly having an effect. So, here we go. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for a suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 155 patients, well below the threshold. Confirmed positivity has gone down to 40.76 percent. And the hospitalization per 100,000 is at 2.55, that's been going down steadily. We want to get below the threshold of two – but, again, those are really good to see. And also, number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 1,835 cases. I mean, look at that graph, it just is everything we were hoping for it. We've got to sustain it. We've got to keep driving it down, but that's fantastic. And, as we always say, the one that's the ultimate measure – number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19 – today's report, on seven-day rolling average, 4.45 percent. So, now, even more below that five percent threshold we set a long time ago. That number is great and declining, and we want to keep it declining. Guess what? Go get vaccinated.

So, a few words in Spanish – and the topic is getting vaccinated.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, we will turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Commissioner Doris, by Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, and by Senior Advisor, Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to Marla Diamond from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, Marla. How are you today?

Question: Great. We're right at the Museum of Natural History under the blue whale this morning. I wanted to find out –

Mayor: That's the place to be.

Question: I know, I'm telling you, it's very popular. Although, I have to say, that we haven't seen that many people this morning and there are still dozens of open appointments. So, I wanted to find out if this will now be a walkup site as well for 16-plus, because this morning we were told it was appointment only. And will the City be offering other incentives or sweeteners or fun places to be vaccinated to lure in those that are hesitant to get a vaccine?

Mayor: Definitely, Marla, we are going to be, we're going to make it fun and we're going to make it easy, and we're going to make it exciting in lots of ways and, and a lot more to say on that in the coming weeks. This is an example – I really do think a lot of people are going to just love sort of the special moment, the novelty value of getting vaccinated under the blue whale and something you can talk about for the rest of your life, as a good news story. But we got to keep looking for every way that attracts people, and I said, you know, I really think some of this is just making it convenient, making it fun, making it easy.

As for that site, Dr. Chokshi will update us on that. You know, with a lot of the sites, we've all been working with this appointment approach for a long time, and it obviously worked. We are looking to transition in many cases to a walk-up, but it really depends on the site and what works for each site flow. So, for that site, Dr. Chokshi, do you know if there is a walk-up plan for that site yet? Or what are we looking at there?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. The American Museum of Natural History is also a walk-up site so all eligible New Yorkers can walk in starting today to get vaccinated at that site as well. I'll be there later today, as I believe you will be as well, Mr. Mayor, we're looking forward to it, and I just want to add one thing to what you've said, which is in addition to those places that really capture the imagination of New Yorkers to get vaccinated, we're also going to site more and more in places where we know people already frequent. We opened up a new site in the Queens Center Mall last Friday because we know there's a lot of foot traffic in that area as well. That's also one of our walk-up sites, and so we're going to be reaching more and more New Yorkers in the places that they already are.

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead, Marla.

Question: So I'm wondering, you know, we've got a lot of vaccine out there and seems like, you know, demand is kind of dried up. Have you sent any of the unused vaccines elsewhere, and can New York sort of keep these and keep them frozen indefinitely or, you know, is there a shelf life?

Mayor: Yeah, and I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz to explain just how long-lasting the supply is so long as it's properly kept, but listen, Marla, I do understand really, I understand that we all think in terms of trends, I just would be a little careful to overstate the trend. It was a week or two ago where it was really hard to get an appointment. I'm really happy it has become easy to get an appointment. This is what we wished for all along, and this is what's going to encourage a lot of people. I think there are hundreds of thousands of people who will happily get a vaccination when it's easy, and the fact that it's easy now is something we embrace and we want to make it fun and inviting. We're certainly hanging on to all the vaccine we have because we're going to have millions of people still to reach, and you never know what happens with supplies, so you always want to have some reserves. So, no everything we got, we're going to be using for sure. As to how long it keeps, Dr. Katz, please educate us.

President Katz: Thank you, sir, and thanks for all the effort you've put in to get us to this space. I know I have a lot of patients who are ready to get vaccinated, but they need it to be, as you say, easy and convenient and connected to their doctor, and I'm certain in the next few weeks, we're going to be able to vaccinate them. To the specific question while the vaccine is in the freezer, there really is no problem with spoilage. The shelf life is, is in the order of months and we will use it way before then. I think what people are thinking of is that once you puncture a vial, you need to use that vaccine within a six-hour period for the vaccines we have, and so we're very careful that when we puncture a vial, that we have enough people to give that dose to make sure that we do not waste it, but it for the vaccine that is in our freezer, sir, it's quite safe and we'll be using it in the next weeks to come. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor and to everyone on the call and happy Friday.

Mayor: Happy Friday, James. A lot to celebrate just because it's Friday.

Question: Absolutely, and many other things. I'm trying to just get a sense of this and this may follow Marla's question in some way. I mean, are we, the fact that there is universal walk-in now, does this mean we are at a point where supply has met demand or might we even be above that, like where we might have oversupply, especially noting that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine may get the green light to be off-pause as early as today?

Mayor: Yeah. No, I don't think that's the, I mean, it's a great question, James, but I don't think that's the whole story. First of all, you're right. We need the answer on Johnson & Johnson. I think it'll be a helpful answer, clarifying that we can move forward. But then, you know, that's, that's the theory. The reality is there's not a lot of supply of Johnson & Johnson being produced right now. So, you know, you obviously know there's issues in the Baltimore factory and all that. So, I don't – you know, I think getting the green light on Johnson & Johnson will be good for everyone to get clarity, to feel a little more comfortable, to understand what's going on. I don't think we're going to have a lot of doses to be able to use in the short term with Johnson & Johnson. What I do think is the, we shouldn't overstate the moment. Right now, supply and demand have come into much better balanced than they were before we spent months with way too much demand to meet the supply we had. It is again, wonderful to have even a few weeks where there's enough supply, but there's a long road ahead, and we have to understand that if we're going to make sure the variants don't come back and keep this progress, we've got to keep getting vaccinated, and I think as we tell more and more people, the direct relationship between vaccination and the fact that the city is getting safer and we're going to be able to open up more. I think people will want to get vaccinated. I think a lot of people just want it to be convenient and easy. A lot of people have questions they want answered. They're going to get those answers, including from, as Dr. Chokshi said, they're their own personal doctor who will now have more ability to get vaccine directly, or their local community pharmacist. So, I think we should assume for the next few weeks, we're going to have ample supply. But let's be clear. We intend to reach millions more people, and I think the more new approaches we bring in the more people will want to come forward. Go ahead, James.

Question: Thank you for that also, and forgive me, if you've mentioned this in the past few days but you have encouraged greater tourism for the tourism sector to come back to New York City. I'm wondering what concerns you might have if any of people coming into the city who aren't vaccinated or for that matter, don't want to be vaccinated, as you've pointed out, and as federal officials have pointed out, vaccination hesitancy looks to be our next big challenge. What concerns do you have that people who are vaccination hesitant will come to New York as tourists?

Mayor: Let me put it this way. I mean, you know, President Biden very proudly announced the reaching the 200 million vaccination mark that's astounding in and of itself, how many Americans have been reached, and I think there's a very high correlation, James, between the folks who are choosing to travel and the fact that they've been vaccinated. I think a lot of people didn't feel comfortable traveling until they were vaccinated. So, I do not fear a disproportionate impact if you will. I think you're going to see, amongst travelers, a propensity to having gotten vaccinated, but we want to just keep encouraging it in every way here and all around the country, and I think it will add up over time. I just think we're going to see constant growth of the number of people vaccinated. What matters most is are we driving back this disease, and so far, because of relentless vaccination efforts, the answer is, yes, we're driving back to this disease. You can see it clearly in the indicators. We're going to keep doing that. I think visitors are going to come more as we get into the summer. So, we still got a few more months. We're going to get a lot more people vaccinated. I think a lot more people around the country are going to get vaccinated. So, at this moment, I don't think that is a pressing concern, but as with everything else, we're going to keep a close eye and watch the variants, watch the data, watch the science, and make adjustments as we go along.

Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. If Johnson & Johnson ends it's pause today, how quickly would the City resume using it, and what would that look like? Would it go right back into the homebound seniors as soon as today or tomorrow?

Mayor: It's a really good question, Andrew, and I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz. Let me say, I hope we do get a really clear answer because it is a vaccine that really allows us to do a lot of things we need to do to protect people, particularly the homebound seniors, and as someone who got it myself, you know, I believe in it and I want to get it back in the lineup.

In terms of how quickly we can make that adjustment, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, what can you tell us?

Commissioner Chokshi: Sure, Mr. Mayor, I'm happy to start. We are, of course, following this very closely. We're planning for you know, different eventualities coming out of the CDC Advisory Committee's recommendation, and of course the hoped-for outcome is that we will be able to resume using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. With respect to the timeframe. Some of this is contingent on exactly what is determined by the federal government's review. But operationally we will be ready, you know, as soon as tomorrow to resume using the Johnson & Johnson vaccine depending on exactly what that outcome is. It may take one or two more days depending on those nuances but we'll be ready with our operational plans as soon as tomorrow.

Mayor: Excellent. Dr. Katz?

President Katz: I would agree with Dr. Chokshi. Depending upon what the exact guidance is, we have supply, we believe that there are patient groups for whom the one-and-done is particularly attractive and who are not concerned about these very small risks and recognize the tremendous protection that the vaccine provides, and so we will be able if it's a go ahead today to be vaccinating them tomorrow, using this vaccine with, of course, full disclosure to everybody about what has been found. So, people get to make their own choices.

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew

Question: Mayor, former President Trump told the New York Post that the vaccine is a great thing and people should take advantage of it. I'm wondering, given the audience that he still commands, how valuable you think that message might be?

Mayor: I think it's really valuable. I'm glad he did that. We've got to speak to everyone. We've got to tell everyone is so important to get vaccinated and including folks who have had doubts. I don't think we, my belief in life, let alone, when it comes to dealing with COVID is don't give up on people, keep talking to them, keep the dialogue open. So, definitely that's helpful.

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Michael, how've you been?

Question: I'm good. I'm good. First question I want to ask you as far as the city's goal to get New Yorkers vaccinated, it's five million through June, I believe, right? Okay. So, how many New Yorkers are fully vaccinated at this point? And, and are we on pace to reach that goal? Like where are we with that?

Mayor: Yeah, we can reach that goal. Look, we had obviously a curve ball the last couple of weeks with Johnson & Johnson, and that wasn't part of the plan, and it wasn't helpful, but we can still reach the goal. So, the numbers today are roughly 2.2 million fully vaccinated, 3.3 million have received at least one dose. So, obviously, we expect the vast majority of folks who got at least one does to follow through. When you look at our five million goal, if you look at it in terms of the folks with one dose, we're almost two thirds of the way there. So, I feel really good that, you know, if we get the clarity on Johnson & Johnson and we continue to get supplied, and right now everyone's saying, oh, supply's not a problem. I'm a little bit more jaded. Like I want to make sure it's not a problem a month from now or two months from now, but if we continue to get steady supply and no other curve balls, we can hit that goal.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Emily from NY1.

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio, and everyone on this call. James asked about vaccine hesitant tourists. I want to ask you about some of the vaccine hesitant New Yorkers that I had been meeting around the city as I cover the mayoral race. Does the city's plans for reopening factor in a certain percentage or number of residents and citizens who don't want to get the shot?

Mayor: Well, look, Emily, we anticipated, you know a goal of five million out of 8.5 million people. Obviously, some of that is kids, and we don't yet have vaccine for younger kids, but, you know, I think that number was a sensible number from the beginning, because from the point of view of our health leadership, if you got to five million vaccinations you fundamentally changed the health care reality. You really made it hard for COVID to exist in this city. It does not require every single human being to be vaccinated as great as that would be. But, you know, I think we always knew there would be a certain level of hesitancy. What I think we're seeing is two things, Emily, our reduction in hesitancy from the beginning, and more and more people as Dr. Katz was pointing out who are not hesitant and some sort of ideological level, they just want it to be very convenient and it wasn't convenient enough for them before and now we sort of opened up a new reality where it's going to be really, really easy to get. And we're going to make it fun, we're going to make it easy, we're going to do all sorts of things. So, look, we're going to keep moving toward that five million number, and I think that's an amazing number. As I said, if you go by first dose, we're almost two thirds of the way to that number. So, I'm really hopeful about that.

Moderator: The last question for today goes to Sonia Rincon from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, we received a release from your office today about workers returning to their offices in greater numbers. I don't the last time you were asked this question, but any idea when these daily briefings might be held in person again?

Mayor: Not yet Sonia. I mean, look, as we've said we still have a ways to go. I want to, you know, health care leaders and I have been real clear, keep your masks on, certainly through at least June, continue to social distancing. We obviously want to get more and more people vaccinated. I think this setting has really helped us to get a lot of information out to New Yorkers in a great way, and it's obviously allowed us to bring the voices of a really broad range of the media into this, and, you know, it's a lot of questions each week, which is good and healthy. So, I think it's a good format as we go along, we'll figure out where to go from there.

But look, everyone, as we conclude, bottom line is, you know, it – you can see, you can feel so much more energy, so much more activity in this city and more confidence and more hope, but it is directly related to the fact that there's been more than six million vaccinations, which is just an amazing figure. And we said from the beginning of this would be the greatest vaccination effort in New York City history, it's living up to that, but we got a long way to go. So, I'm going over to the Museum of Natural History later today. I'm going to try and figure out how the hell they got that vaccine up to the whale there. I really want to understand that. That's like engineering feat, I'm going to have a lot of questions on that. But come on over to the Museum of Natural History today or any day, come and get vaccinated in a totally amazing, memorable place. You'll be able to tell your children, you'll be able to tell your grandchildren, and you'll be safe, and that's what matters. Thank you, everyone.
2021-04-23 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It’s Brian Lehrer on WNYC. And now it's time for our Friday, Ask the Mayor call-in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag, #AskTheMayor. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. How are you doing today? 

Lehrer: I'm doing great. Thank you. And we've spoken our last hour. Some of the people listening now, were listening then about the news you broke this morning about vaccines. Anybody 16 years or older can now walk in without an appointment to any City-run vaccination site. And one of the things that came up was that it's going to be confusing for some people, because the Governor announced this week that anybody 60, 6-0 years and older can walk in without an appointment to a State-run vaccination site. And people are like, I don't know what a City-run site is compared to a State-run site. So, help us out here. 

Mayor: Yeah, no, look, it's a very fair concern. And I think we've all along since recognized that different levels of government aren't always doing the same exact thing. But here's what is the way through it. Anyone who wants to find a site, a City-run site, you can go to vaccinefinder.nyc.gov. If you prefer to go on the phone, 8-7-7-VAX-4NYC. The Health + Hospital sites, that's our public hospital system and Department of Health sites are the ones where you can just walk up at any age. And there's, you know, dozens and dozens of them around the city. And you know, we're encouraging more and more of the other health care providers to start to do this approach too. Because we tried it. We really got great results. We've seen great results in other parts of the country that have tried the walk-up approach. The convenience makes all the difference. And you know what? New Yorkers are going back to being the busiest people in America. There is a hell of a lot more activity now. And let's face it. New Yorkers will do things if it's easy and if it's harder, they tend not to. We want to make it really, really easy. And the City sites are going to lead the way in that. 

Lehrer: Do you still think that the City can meet its goal of five million vaccinated people by June? Because one of the things that I've seen is that even as there's more accessibility, according to Health Department data, the number of people getting their first shots is declining. 

Mayor: Well, let me go over the exact numbers because I do think we can get to five million. Look, we got a curve ball thrown the last few weeks with what the federal government did with Johnson & Johnson. That was not part of our plan. It didn't help at all. But we still have two full months to go. And we finally have a situation where we have enough supply. And it's easy to get an appointment. And a lot of people were discouraged in those times where it was very hard to find an open appointment. I think this is going to be so much better. And a lot of folks who, it's not about hesitancy, it's really about convenience. They'll just come forward and say, here are the numbers. I mean, right now we've got 2.2 million fully vaccinated adults. 3.3 million if you look at folks, who've gotten at least one dose. So, you know, the folks who have gotten at least one dose overwhelmingly will get a second. I mean, right there, that puts you at about two thirds of our goal. You know, that's 3.3 million follow through, the ones who still need the second dose follow through, you're right there, about two thirds of the way to the five million goal. We've got 600 sites, it's free. It's, you know, we're doing all sorts of amazing community outreach activities today. I'm going up to the Museum of Natural History. You know, that that is now a walk-up site, get vaccinated under the whale. I mean, it's a pretty amazing experience. And we're going to do a lot of things like that, that are going to be really compelling and positive, fun. And you know, the Broadway site that we set up, it's now reached thousands of people from the theater and film and TV communities. We're going to be doing a lot more of that. And I think it's going to make a difference. 

Lehrer: Osa, in Queens. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Osa. 

Question: Hello. Thank you for taking my call. Mr. Mayor, I am a parent of three Success Academy scholars. And on this same show in 2019, you promised me specifically that you would find us a permanent space in Southeast Queens for middle school. You give us a space – a temporary space for one year, but, in 2019, due to the pandemic, we were not able to attend school in this space. Fast forward to 2021, we are being required – well, City agencies, we're required to go back to work now in the buildings – in our respective buildings. And you have not said anything concerning the permanent space for our middle school that you promised. So, my question to you, Mr. Mayor, is where am I supposed to send my children when I do return to work as a City employee? 

Mayor: So, Osa, you're right. So, I remember it about – years ago, we found a space for that time. I don't have the update on the space situation for this coming September. I know – I think I know that this is right, that Success Academy has chosen to go remote for the entire school year, this year. So, obviously, it's moot, but for September as the issue. If you'll give your information to WNYC I'll have our folks follow up with you directly and give you an update. You know, we obviously work with every charter organization either find space in a public school building where appropriate, or they get State funding and City funding to find alternative space if there's not one in a public school building. And, overwhelmingly, charter organizations have been able to find what they need. So, we'll give you an update on what's happening in the case of your school and certainly work with you and fellow parents to get this resolved. 

Lehrer: And I think she raised a second issue there, as a City worker. And I know that your office has now sent out a message about the City's plans to reopen its offices in conjunction with many City office workers being required to come back, starting May 3rd. Will the City continue to allow city workers to work from home if their children are not back in school or daycare full-time? 

Mayor: Brian, where we have a really clear standard for our City workers, and I want make that clear to you, but I want to give you some breaking news that we have updated numbers on vaccinations among City workers. At this point, we've got 146,000 City workers fully vaccinated. 180,000 of them received at least one dose. You know, the fact is, the vast majority of our workers, it's about 80 percent are actually back at their jobs, right this minute. The folks we're bringing back are in the offices, and we believe it's going to really ensure that they can do a better service to the people of the city. We just know that remote has not been as effective in so many cases as having people in person, but it will be with all the social distancing and safety measures, and often on a rotating basis – some days in the office, some days out. But no, we need people to come back. Individual supervisors will always work with folks that there's a particularly extraordinary situation, but this is, you know, one approach for all City workers. The 80 percent have been at their posts, in fact, during the worst of the pandemic, our health care heroes, first responders, obviously so many educators— 

Lehrer: The people who work in the field, who are not in, in office jobs, but the specific question here is from— 

Mayor: But this is a consistency point. You know, people of all incomes, people of all types of profession, and we need everyone back to serve the people, and we're treating all types of workers with the same equality and the same respect. I think that has to be remembered here.  

Lehrer: But the question that we've been getting from a number of listeners, and I think Osa from Queens was asking a version of this question, is if the schools are not open for five-day-a-week classes in-person for their kids, then how could they be required to go back five days a week to their jobs? 

Mayor: Again, you know, let's be clear just to make sure everyone's hearing for September Chancellor Porter and I've been 100 percent clear— 

Lehrer: Well for May? 

Mayor: —all kids welcomed back. No, I just want to make sure, because there's been confusion at this point, all kids back five days a week in September. Now, what we've been having is more and more schools have been moving to five days a week in fact, because of the opt-in and because of the three feet rule that the CDC approved for elementary schools in this case, a lot more schools starting Monday, will be going to five days a week right now. So, we've got a much better situation for five days a week. As I said, a lot of our city workers coming back will be only coming back certain days because of social distancing and will work with anyone to do our best to balance their needs. But there's lots of opportunities being provided. You know, whether it's five-day-a-week school, whether it's childcare opportunities, a lot has been provided, obviously for free. I'm convinced that for now through the end of June we can accommodate people, and then starting in the beginning of July, we have first time ever a summer program through our schools, open to all for free all grade levels. So, in the summer months there will be – and those are five-day-a-week options in many cases, that will be available to all parents, and that's going to be a different part of the equation as well. 

Lehrer: Karen on Staten Island, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello?  

Question: Oh, hello, Brian. Long time listener, first time caller. Mr. Mayor, thank you so much. My name is Karen. I work for Farewelling, a New York City-based company that helps families plan a memorial service after they've lost a loved one. We're working with a family now in Staten Island who lost their son in January. They were unable to have a funeral then because of COVID. He was an avid fisherman and his favorite spot was in Gateway National Park. So they really want to have a small memorial there on his birthday weekend in May, we've contacted the Park authorities and they've denied our request due to COVID, but outdoor events are permitted all over the city and state now, and since people can even gather inside for dining at restaurants, we can't understand why in a vast outdoor public space, we can't help this grieving family having a small, personal tribute of just 20 to 30 people to honor their son. We're hoping that your team, Mr. Mayor can help us help the family by granting our permit.  

Mayor: Well, thank you, Karen, and please give your information to WNYC. I definitely want to help you, and I think your case here makes a lot of sense. This family has been through so much and there's nothing worse than losing a child, and if they have a vision of how they want to remember their child and obviously, you know, celebrate his life, we should try and help them do it, and I think you're making a really good point. So, we will work with you and the folks from the National Park Service and see if we can get this done because I do feel for the family and thank you for all you're doing to help them. 

Lehrer: We have about a minute left. One more reopening question. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer says it's time to reopen senior centers in the city that the older population is sufficiently vaccinated by now, and we know how to do safe spacing indoors, she says, enough that they can start up again. Do you agree? 

Mayor: We're getting there. You know, this is something I've talked to the Health Commissioner about and talked to our Commissioner for the Aging Lorraine Cortιs-Vαzquez, and they're working closely, and I think it’s – we're getting closer. It's still overwhelmingly the most vulnerable population. We are not out of the woods on COVID. We are not out of the woods on the variance. So, I think from the Health Department point of view, they'd like a little more time and a little more progress, but I don't think it's too far off. So, more to say on it soon. 

Lehrer: Alright, and to repeat the breaking news from this morning from you – all city-run vaccination sites will now be open for people without an appointment, 16 years of age and up. How can people find out again, which are the city-run sites? 

Mayor: So, for the City-run sites you can go to a vaccinefinder.nyc.gov.  

Lehrer: Thanks as always, Mr. Mayor. Have a good weekend and talk to you next week.  

Mayor: Thanks so much, Brian.

2021-04-27 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We always have to remember the people who do so much for us, who protect us, who are there for us no matter what. We saw that throughout the pandemic. Amazing, amazing efforts by our first responders, our health care heroes, so many people who are selfless and put their lives on the line and were just there for us every step along the way, and that's why it was so important to be there for them and help them get vaccinated. That's why we fought for the freedom to vaccinate, making sure that our first responders, our health care heroes, so many people who serve us got vaccinated, and we now continue that effort to reach everyone, whether they're a public servant or an everyday New Yorker, just continuing to deepen the vaccination effort every single day, because that's what will beat back COVID, and you're going to see again today in the indicators continued evidence of the power of vaccination.   

So, as of today, in this city, from the very beginning, 6,249,262 vaccinations from day one, more vaccinations than there are people in the entire state of Maryland. This is a really impressive number. We have to keep it going and that's why with all the City-run sites, Department of Health sites, Health + Hospital sites, we've made them walk-in sites. Now it's really easy to get vaccinated, more than it's been almost the entire time. So, everyone, if you haven't done it yet, now is the time, and it's going to help the city move forward. Anyone looking for where they can get vaccinated, go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, or call 8-7-7-VAX-4NYC. The important thing is to do it today. Go get vaccinated today if you have not. Literally just walk up to one of our sites, get vaccinated today. If you can't do it today, at least make an appointment for a day ahead, so you know it’s going to happen. This will make such a difference for yourself, for your family, for this whole city.    

Everyone – okay, we're going to now turn to our indicators. And, again, as I’ve said when we were talking about vaccinations earlier – look, we keep seeing progress. Progress is never guaranteed, everyone. We know that. We've been through so much together in the last year-plus. But we also know that every time New York City has come roaring back in its fight against COVID it's because everyone got involved. Remember, we went through the hell of last spring and then we came back so strong in the summer, because people did so much to help themselves and everyone around them be safe. Well, the version of that right now is going out there and getting vaccinated, because we can see as the vaccinations continue to grow COVID continues to recede. The numbers related to COVID, the indicators get better and better all the time – direct causal relationship to the level of vaccination in this town. So, everyone, if you haven't done it yet, this is a good day to get vaccinated.  

And here are the indicators. Number one, daily number of people at New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, very good, 140 patients. Well below the threshold. Confirmed positivity level 42.45 percent. Hospitalization rate today continues to go down. We want to get below two per 100,000 – we're at 2.24. So, we're getting really close to getting below that threshold as well. And then, new reported cases on a seven-day average, also seen a lot of progress there – today's report 1,603. So, you see that steady downward trend. We want to keep that going. And, most importantly, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 on a seven-day rolling average, 3.50 percent. Again, look at that line, straight downward. Let's keep it going, everyone.   

Okay, a few words in Spanish – and this is about the support we're going to provide our young people with their mental health needs in our schools.   

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]  

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.  

Moderator: Good morning, we will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by the First Lady of New York City Chirlane McCray, Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, Deputy Chancellor for School, Climate, and Wellness LaShawn Robinson, Senior Advisor and Director of Thrive NYC Susan Herman, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma, and President and CEO of Health + Hospitals Dr. Mitchell Katz. We have Andrew Siff from NBC New York.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. My first question has to do with the CDC guidance that we're getting today from President Biden this afternoon. By most accounts, the crux of the guidance will be that vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks outdoors. So, first of all, Mayor, will you stop wearing a mask outdoors immediately? And from your health team, how concerned are you that the message might lead to many people to not mask up at all? And how do you account for this?  

Mayor: Really appreciate the question, Andrew. First of all, look, I think President Biden has done an extraordinary job increasing the amount of vaccine, getting people in this whole country to understand how we come together to fight COVID, it's been so refreshing. Obviously, the numbers speak for themselves – how many people have been vaccinated on his watch? And also, just that we are hearing guidance that we can believe in from him. You know, obviously Dr. Fauci is allowed to say what he actually thinks now, the CDC has been professionalized again, there's so many good things happening. This guidance, we do anticipate exactly what you said. We can certainly work with that, because we've said all along the difference between outdoor and indoor is really so much of this ball game. And so, outdoor is a much, much better situation. But what I'd say, Andrew, is, I think it will be the choice of each New Yorker what they're more comfortable with outdoors. So, the federal government is saying you don't have to, I think a lot of people will still choose to, or, at least, a lot of the time will choose to. I expect a lot of time, I will for sure, but it will depend on the circumstance. And so, I think it's a new approach we can definitely work with. What we do want to focus on intensely is keeping people in the habit of wearing the masks indoors, at least for the next couple of months. We've talked about June as an important turning point moment. I think people should anticipate keeping those masks on indoors, certainly during May and June. And then we'll reassess from there. I'll just turn to Dr. Varma to see if he has anything he wants to add to my overview there? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: No, thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I think you hit all the important points. I would just say, you know, first of all, we do – we need to wait and see exactly what the guidance is. You know, and so we're eagerly anticipating it. We do concur of course, that vaccinated people are at very low risk of transmitting infection to other people. And then when you add in the fact that transmission outdoors is far less likely than indoors, that certainly adds up to a logical recommendation. I think one of the challenges that we face here in New York of course is that our environment is very different than most parts of the United States, where people driving cars, and they're not walking on a crowded busy street around other people. So, we also have to factor in things like norms, you know, politeness, getting people habituated with the fact that they still need a mask if they're going to be entering an indoor setting as well, too. So, we look forward to reviewing the guidance in detail and seeing how best to apply it in New York. 

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Next we have James Ford from PIX 11. 

Mayor: James? 

Question: Thanks for taking my call. 

Mayor: Hey. 

Question: Do you hear me okay? 

Mayor: Yeah. How are you doing today? 

Question: Okay, I'm doing okay. This is a sort of a follow-up to Andrew's question and maybe a bit to Dr. Varma’s comments. Can you elaborate? We're still waiting for the official CDC guidance, but we all have a sense of what's going to be said. Can you maybe elaborate on what the city is likely to recommend to people in outdoor spaces that may be heavily attended? I mean, this is, we are unique in New York, right? So, anywhere from outdoor observation decks to protests or people attending outdoor concerts or waiting in line for the bus, or to get into the grocery store. What – will there be any kind of changes to recommendations for masking and for that matter, social distancing going forward, where there's a lot of people outdoors together? 

Mayor: Yeah. It's a great question, James. Look again, first, we'll wait to see the federal guidance in specific. But I want to really amplify your point. I think you're raising a really important point. We are different. We are one of the most densely populated places in the whole country. People here learned through the pain we went through, to be smart, to be cautious. We want to keep that instinct alive. So, I think if the guidance is you don't have to wear a mask, we're certainly going to remind people it's still great to wear a mask whenever you can, including outdoors. It's going to be, if I understand this guidance, you know, the idea is that it's more of a choice. But I'd say in the context exactly what you said, if you're in a crowded place, if there's a lot of activity, that's a great time to keep wearing a mask. So, we are going to also watch as always the data and the science. Because this is the guidance we're getting today, and we hope things get better and better and better. And I'm really hopeful they will. If at any point something changes, we got to address what we see from the data and science and make adjustments. But my advice to folks is if you're in a crowded situation, indoors or outdoors, it's always smart. Why not abundance of caution? Wearing a mask is always a good idea. Go ahead, James. 

Question: And the health care – yep. Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yeah, there you go. 

Question: You hear me, okay. 

Mayor: Yeah. 

Question: Okay. I was also curious if any of the health care professionals had anything to add to that? 

Mayor: Let's ask the health care professionals. We'll start with Dr. Varma and then see if Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz have anything to add. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Sure. I think the only other thing that I would try to really emphasize here is that we're still in the middle of a very severe epidemic. You know, we are incredibly excited about declines that we're seeing. You know, we're seeing about 20 percent declines week over week in cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. But we still have far too many people suffering from this infection. So, we need to continue a lot of the efforts that we're doing until we get to a much lower rate of disease. And that is important when you factor in the guidance. Because, you know, vaccines are incredibly effective, but if you're surrounded by people that are coughing on you, they can overcome that effectiveness. Now of course that is much less likely to occur in an outdoor setting compared to an indoor setting, but that's one of the other factors that we're considering here. I think as our disease rates go down and once they get to a much lower level, that's when we as health professionals are going to feel a lot more comfortable changing our guidance for both outdoor settings and then ultimately for indoor settings. Again, all dependent on the rate of disease in the population. 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz, anything to add? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. I'll just add two points briefly. The first is to say as you and Dr. Varma have, let's make sure that we see what the actual CDC guidance is. You know, we expect that it will involve not just masking requirements in the context of people who are fully vaccinated, but there's a component of ensuring that that people are distancing as well. So, it's really about the interaction between those three things, mask use, someone who's fully vaccinated, and then the distance that they maintain outside. Which leads to the second point, which is to build on something that the Mayor has said. Even if it's not required to wear a mask outdoors, it will still be reasonable and rational for someone to do it, even when they're fully vaccinated. So, we should use common sense and keep up masks in situations where there are more people and less ability to maintain distance. The rule of thumb that I say is anytime you're close enough to be breathing in someone else's air you know, that's a situation where you should strongly consider keeping your mask on. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, anything to add? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I would say out of sort of a personal feeling since, you know, not all of these things have to be worked out. When I was by the beautiful Hudson River over the weekend, sitting with a friend of mine who was vaccinated, I felt very comfortable taking off my mask. There was no one near us. We had distance. When I walked to work on the crowded Broadway, I wear my mask. People are walking very close to me there. I feel like there is, as Dr. Chokshi said, the possibility of someone coughing on me or someone breathing on me. And even though I feel very good about the vaccine, we know it's not 100 percent. And I think most New Yorkers are very sensible and will make decisions like that. 

Mayor: That is – you made it very real life there. Thank you. Dr. Katz. That was news you can use. Okay, next. 

Moderator: Next we have Michael Gartland from the Daily News. 

Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey, Michael, how are you doing? 

Question: I’m all right. I wanted to ask you about this report Stringer's office put out today. I'm not sure if you've seen it yet, about the City's payments to global medical supply group for ventilators. And I mean, based on what I've read so far it appears the City basically got scammed out of several million dollars and is still trying to call back close to $2 million. And, you know, reading what is in this report, it seemed pretty obvious that this is – and I understand, you know, we were in a huge crisis at the time, but it seems like there are a lot of red flags here. And Stringer is talking about going back to the old procurement rules. And I'm wondering, you know, is the City going to be able to get back this money? Looking back, are there things the City should have done to – where the City could have better avoided this sort of predicament? 

Mayor: So, Michael first of all, have not seen the report. Second of all, I'm sure that real efforts are going to be made, intense efforts are going to be made to get the money back. And we'll get you an update on that. But to the bigger questions having lived through every minute of the crisis from a command perspective, we had a team of folks scouring the world, trying to find us equipment and supplies. It was literally, hour to hour, minute to minute thing, trying to get enough ventilators to save lives. And it was not business as usual. With all due respect to the Comptroller, you know, that's doesn't reflect what it was really like to be in the middle of a kind of war time dynamic, a crisis dynamic, trying with everything we had to find ventilators to save lives, where they were almost nowhere to be found. And we had to take calculated risks. I think the folks who did this work were smart. They were careful. But their number one job was to save lives. And overwhelmingly they achieved, I think some miraculous outcomes. I mean there were points when it looked like there was just no way in the world we would get the ventilators we needed. Our team managed to find a way and to actually find a way to produce ventilators in New York City, which was extraordinary. There were times we were this close to running out of PPE. They did extraordinary, unbelievable things to find supplies all over the world. And on top of that, built PPE supplies right here in New York City, which we hadn't done before. No, I think in the real-world conditions, the most important thing was that the supplies and equipment were there in time and the lives were saved.

Moderator: Next, we have Jessica Gould from WNYC.  

Question: Hi, everyone. Thanks for taking my call. Mr. Mayor, as you know, the Times reported a significant portion of Americans are skipping a second dose, and we wanted to know if that's true for New York City. And maybe relatedly, sources have told our health desk that the City sites are now offering second shots to people who got their first shots at non-City providers. So, we were wondering if that's an effort to address the issue with second shots. 

Mayor: Let me give you the facts as I have them, Jessica, and then turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz for what they're seeing through their operations. I do want to say the intrepid Bill Neidhardt, always concerned to do fact checking, handed me a note. It is, ‘Living a life of Illusion’ by Joe Walsh. Obviously collaborated with the Eagles in his heyday. Thank you, Bill, for always getting the facts right. Okay. Here's what we have, Jessica. Right now, fully vaccinated from New York City, about 2.3 million. And then folks who have received that one dose at least is 3.4 million which is a 52 percent of adult New Yorkers. Now, the last I checked in the last few days, we were seeing pretty steady results with a second dose appointments. And we definitely want to keep it that way. And there are situations where sometimes people get a second dose somewhere different than where they got the first dose and we can work with that under the right circumstances, certainly. But, you know, our goal here is to keep reminding people to get that second dose however works best. We're going to accommodate them and keep this progress moving because we still can get to the goals we need. And clearly, it's helping us drive back COVID markedly. But in terms of what we're seeing, especially in recent days, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, what can you tell us about folks getting second doses?  

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir, I'm happy to start on that. You know, the article that was mentioned reported a national average of about eight percent of people who are missing their second doses. For New York City based on our data, we are doing significantly better than that, it appears that less than five percent of people are missing their second doses within the 42-day window that's recommended for the follow-up with the second dose. So, we are doing significantly better. However, we're not resting on our laurels with respect to making sure that every single person who is due for a second dose is reached out to. We use multiple channels, text messages, phone calls, and that's on top of the system that we have in place to ensure that people leave their first dose of the vaccine with an appointment for that second dose. So, those are the systems that we have in place. We'll continue to track those numbers. And I just want to add from the, you know, from the clinical perspective, how important it is to get that second dose of vaccination, because that is what gets us to the full immunity that vaccination affords, and that's a critical part of making sure that we turn the corner on the pandemic.   

Mayor: Thank you. And Dr. Katz, what are you seeing in your operation?  

President Katz: As Dr. Chokshi said, New Yorkers are very good at getting stuff done, right. That's part of the nature of a New Yorker, right. We get stuff done and our numbers are much better than the national numbers. And I'd also point out we don't believe that if someone gets that second shot beyond the 42-day period, we don't think there's harm in that, but we, of course, want them protected as soon as possible. But sometimes people have a legitimate reason. They may not be able to get it within that window. And we keep up in terms of calling them, texting them, writing to them to get them in for that second shot. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you, Mitch. I like your quote, “we get stuff done.” I think that is a perfect summary of what's good about New York City. Go ahead, Jessica.

Question: Okay. If you can get a second shot at a City site, if you haven't gotten one there, your first one there, including walk-ins.

Mayor: We'll it's an important clarification. Dr. Chokshi, obviously we're going to accommodate anyone who needs a second shot. Can you talk about sort of the right way to go about it? If someone is seeking a second shot, they got their first shot, even in another state, or they got it another center, but they want to get their second shot at a City location, clarify the right way to go about that.  

Commissioner Chokshi: Well, you said it exactly right, Sir. You know, we want people to keep their second dose appointments, if they've already made them, go back to the same place where they got their first shot optimally. But if for whatever reason people need to get their second dose and they don't have an appointment, they got it elsewhere, you know, we will accommodate them at City sites either as walk-ins or there is an option, you know, through the website to request that type of appointment.  

Mayor: And Dr. Chokshi one more, just because again, the news you can use is so important to people in clarifying this – if someone walks into one of your locations or one of Mitch's Health + Hospital locations and says, ‘I got a first shot before, I got Moderna, I got Pfizer,’ do they to show any proof of it, is it just verbal is sufficient? What do they need to be able to make the match with the right second dose?  

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks. This is an important question, sir. We need one of two things. Either there has to be a vaccination record in our system that we can access, or the person has to have their CDC vaccination card on hand. And the reason this is so important is that we do want to make sure that a sufficient number of days has passed between the first dose and the second dose. And so, we have to ascertain exactly what the date of the first dose was through one of those means. But as long as that has happened, then people will be accommodated for the second dose.  

Mayor: Dr. Katz, is your approach the same at H + H?  

President Katz: Yes, sir. We will do our best to accommodate people, but we do – as Dr. Chokshi said, it's important for safety to document where the first vaccine was and to make sure you're giving the correct second shot.  

Mayor: Excellent. Jessica, thank you for asking for the clarification, because it was important for us to get that out to folks.

Question: Great. That was extremely helpful.

Moderator: The next question goes to Steve Burns from WCBS 880.  

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor.   

Mayor: Good morning, Steve. How are you doing today?   

Question: All right. I wanted to follow up on Michael's question regarding the comptroller's report. I understand you haven't seen it yet, so you may not be able to go into too much detail, but one of the recommendations was for your office to go back to normal procurement rules. Given that we're no longer in that crisis war-time dynamic that you described, why are usual procurement rules still suspended?  

Mayor: Yeah, I'll get you an update, Steve. First of all, to say our procurement rules have a lot of value to them, but they are inherently – they create a lot of slowness. There's no question about it, a lot of checks and counter checks. And in a crisis atmosphere, you've got to figure out how to move things quickly. And there are still elements of this equation that we still have to act quickly on. We're still in a very dynamic situation. The COVID crisis is not over. But that said there still are checks and balances that are maintained at all times. So, let's get you the exact way the rules are being applied now, but I want to caution the first thing we have to do is defeat this crisis. We're going to do it in a smart way. We're always going to be careful with the public's money, but we've got to defeat COVID and we cannot let bureaucratic standards stand in the way of that. I really want to emphasize that.

Thank you, everyone.

2021-04-28 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. So, the biggest vaccination effort in the history of New York City continues to move forward and we need everyone to be a part of it. This is how we bring New York City back. So, as of today, there have been 6,333,274 vaccinations. That's an amazing number and we want that number to just keep growing all the time. Today is the day to go out and get vaccinated if you have not already. Obviously, the City sites, now all walk-in sights. It's easy. If you prefer to make an appointment or you want to go to one of the other sites, nyc.gov/vaccinefinder to find sites all over the city or call 877-VAX-4NYC. So, it is literally the easiest it's ever been to get vaccinated. We need everyone to get in this so we can reach our goals and we can move this city forward. And you can see – we'll go over it indicators later on, they are getting better and better. It is because so many of you have gotten vaccinated. This is a matter of doing the right thing for yourself, your family, your city. If you haven't done it yet, it's time.  

Now, we want to make it even easier. So, we are calling upon pharmacies and community health centers to start a walk-in approach as well. Every pharmacy out there, every community health center, I'm calling on you to immediately start having walk-in vaccinations. This is something that will help everyone to get vaccinated. We know a lot of this is about convenience. The simpler it becomes, the more New Yorkers will get vaccinated. So, let's do that right away. And to the doctors out there, you're our most trusted voices. We need you. We need you to urge patients to get the shot. We need you to reach out to your patients personally. If they have not yet been vaccinated, tell them why it's important, to answer their questions and concerns. That patient-doctor relationship makes all the difference and could be a key part, and will be, I’m certain, a key part of moving us forward. Here to tell you more about why this is a crucial piece of our strategy, our Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. When I think about what moves someone in all matters of health, there's no reference point in my life as profound as the conversation between clinicians and patients. In my experience, often it involves waiting through a fog of uncertainty with our patients, building a trust that grows gradually by being there with them for difficult and for happy moments. Sometimes this happens in unexpected ways. I think of two of my patients, a husband and a wife, whom I had been taking care of for years prior to COVID. The husband had multiple chronic illnesses, including emphysema and diabetes, and was in a vicious cycle of shortness of breath, leading to poor blood sugar control, leading to hospitalizations for both. Our primary care team saw him like clockwork every few weeks, focusing first on his breathing, which allowed him to get back to being more physically active, and to bring his diabetes and to better control. Showing up at the bedside when he was hospitalized, our team finally getting to some relief of his symptoms and not least demonstrating reliability with his insurance paperwork, all helped me forge trust not just with him, but also with his wife. She was more skeptical of medical care but felt our concern for her husband. So, it felt like a major victory when she signed up for a checkup with me as well, and more so when we discovered some health issues that we could treat early. 

That's steady building of trust, accompanying our patients through thick and thin, as with my patient and her husband – it's the very heart of patient care. And that's why today we are encouraging nurses, pharmacists, therapists, doulas, and doctors to reach out to their patients to encourage them to be vaccinated. Yesterday, I sent a personal letter to thousands of local providers, asking them to speak with their patients, their loved ones, and the community about the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. No one is better positioned than they are to answer New Yorkers’ questions with empathy followed by the facts. Their strong recommendation is the most critical factor when someone is on the fence about getting the vaccine. To reach those clinicians and healers, we will follow our letter with additional outreach, including webinars, advertising, and partnerships with professional associations. 

So, to any provider who is watching this, we need you. You are a critical voice in our Vaccine for All campaign. Go to nyc.gov/vaccinetalks to learn more. And let's all keep these conversations flowing at the proverbial dinner table, in the pews, on your social feeds, and at your Zoom book club. You are an ambassador to your networks. You may be the most trusted messenger in your community. So, share your vaccination message and make it spread faster than the virus. It boils down to this, Mr. Mayor – share your story, save a life. Together, we can save lives and prevent further suffering. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you so much. And moving faster than the virus, that's exactly what our vaccination effort is doing. And you can see by the numbers. And, Dr. Chokshi, thank you for reminding everyone that they can be a part of this. And please, anyone, if you have questions about vaccination, you can talk to your doctor. You can talk to a clinician at the City of New York and get answers. But, most importantly, let's keep moving forward. Let's get vaccinated for the good of the city, for a healthy city. 

Okay. Let's now do what we do every day, go over our indicators. And, as I previewed, good news again today, real progress. Why? Because people are getting vaccinated. Dave, why? 

Commissioner Chokshi: People are getting vaccinated.  

Mayor: People are getting vaccinated. Dave agrees with me. Okay. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 148 patients. Confirmed positivity, 40.82 percent. So, again, well below the threshold. Now, here's another one – very positive and interesting – hospitalization rate is down today to 2.14 per 100,000. We want to get it below two. Look at that nice, steady downward line – really, really positive, really hopeful. Indicator number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 1,471 cases. Again, straight downward, let's keep going. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, today’s report on a seven-day rolling average, 3.39 percent. I want that line to keep racing downward and it can be done. We've proven it can be done by this extraordinary number of vaccinations so far, let's finish the mission and you can help today by going out and getting vaccinated yourself. Okay, a few works in Spanish, and I'm going to go back now to the efforts to help people with mental health challenges, reach all New Yorkers who need mental health support.  

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]  

With that, we will turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.  

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Chief Democracy Officer Laura Wood, by ThriveNYC Director Susan Herman, by Dr. Katz, by acting Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Myla Harrison, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today goes to David Rodriguez from Telemundo.  

Question: Hello. Hi. Good morning, Mayor. Good morning to everyone.   

Mayor: How are you doing David?   

Question: I'm doing great. Happy Wednesday. Hope everyone goes well. Today I have a question for you because I want to have more information about what happened yesterday. I know yesterday in the morning we talked about the new guidelines from CDC, but now that we have the official announcement, I want to see, Mayor, at this time, we see your recommendation, New York City will adopt immediately, these new guidelines?  

Mayor: Yeah, I'll start. And I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. David, look, the guidelines make sense. And we certainly respect the extraordinary work of the CDC. What I’d say is we have to look at the guidelines carefully. They say, if someone's fully vaccinated, they can approach some things differently outdoors. But there's still caution if people are in crowded spaces and, obviously, if someone is not fully vaccinated, I think they’d need to continue to take careful precautions. I think it still comes back to the central point we've talked about for a while. We have to keep our guard up. We have to keep vigilant. We have to keep practicing smart approaches because we want to end this crisis once and for all. And we can certainly do that within this guidance. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.  

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I agree with you the starting point is we should recognize that these are guidelines that are really for people who are fully vaccinated. Remember that means 14 days after receiving your last dose of the vaccination. But what they highlight is that once someone is fully vaccinated, there are very tangible benefits because of the safety that vaccination confers particularly when someone is outdoors. As with any federal guidelines, we have to apply them to our local situation. And one of the things that we spoke about yesterday is that in New York City it is more common to encounter a lot of people, even in an outdoor space. So, even for fully vaccinated people, although we agree with the idea that you are at much lower risk when you're outdoors, when you are in a place that is crowded, when there are more people, when there's less ability to distance it remains reasonable and rational to keep your mask on in that situation. But the bottom line is fully vaccinated people, we're finding out more and more about the safety that, that confers, and this is yet another incentive for people to go and get vaccinated.   

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX11.  

Question: Good morning. Thanks for taking my call.   

Mayor: How are you doing today, James?   

Question: No, I appreciate the question, Mr. Mayor. I'm doing great. It's a beautiful day. How are you doing, sir?  

Mayor: It's going to be almost 80 degrees, James. Get ready. We're all going to sweat today.  

Question: I'm actually looking forward to that. Believe it or not. Well, here's my question. What message do you have for both drug store chains and independent pharmacies regarding walk-in vaccinations, and what message do you have for people in the communities that they serve on this topic?  

Mayor: Yeah, it's time for walk-ins everywhere. James, it worked. We saw it was working around the country. We tried it here at a number of our City sites and we wanted to see if there would be, you know, big lines or there'd be challenges logistically. We found it was fine. We found it was easy. So, we're doing walk-in sites everywhere. I want pharmacies to be walk-in, I want every place possible that can handle it to do walk-in appointments. It's so much easier. James, I had the amazing experience at the Museum of Natural History on the Upper West Side. And people are so happy to be there and they love the convenience of just being able to walk in. I want to remind all New Yorkers, if you love that place, go over there, walk in, get a vaccination – an extraordinary, exciting place. So, this is the way forward and it can be done. And Dave, why don't you specifically speak about doctors and the way they can facilitate folks coming in and getting vaccinated through them?  

Commissioner Chokshi: Absolutely, sir. First, I'll just echo what you said. The time is now. We have to make vaccination as easy as a walk in the park. And that's what we've done at dozens of City sites. For people who are looking to understand where you can walk in at City sites, go to nyc.gov/vcc, and you'll find that list of sites, but we have to broaden that approach particularly to the large retail pharmacies, CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Costco. You know, they also have to move in this direction with respect to walk-ins. And with respect to your question, sir, about doctor's offices, I know that many community health centers are working to make a walk-in option available to them. And equally importantly is ensuring that they have the chance to set their patients up with vaccination either onsite or easily to make an appointment at one of the City sites. So, as part of our push to engage clinicians, including doctors, our hotline 877-VAX-4NYC now includes an option when you just press two, you'll get to an operator specifically for a doctor or another clinician, and they'll be able to help you make an appointment for your patient swiftly and easily.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, James.  

Question: And we clearly see numbers generally coming down regarding COVID and coronavirus, but what concerns do you have if any, that as these numbers continue to decline that people won't get vaccinated and won't take any variety of precautions that still are important.  

Mayor: Well, really important question, James. I'll tell you I'm hopeful because just the sheer numbers continue to support the goals we've set. I mean, 6.3 million plus vaccinations. We see, you know, continued every day, you know, big numbers coming in. The new sites are helping, the walk-in approach is helping, making it more convenient. I think what Dr. Chokshi said is really what we've come to realize. We may have, all of us, mistaken hesitancy for lack of convenience. There is definitely hesitancy too. There's definitely some people just don't want to get the shot right now or maybe ever, but I think as we've made it more and more convenient, sort of incentivized folks more, we're seeing lots of folks coming forward. So, I'm really hopeful about that. I think people do understand that there's a direct connection between beating COVID and getting vaccinated. So, the numbers are proving the point. You know, I think folks have gotten used to wearing the masks and understand that it's a precaution that protects you. And I think a lot of people are going to stick with that for a while until we really turn the corner. So, in the scheme of things, I feel very good about how New Yorkers are going to respond to all of this.  

Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC.  

Question: Good morning. How are you?  

Mayor: Good. But you sound a little low there. Let's see if we can get your volume up.   

Question: Okay. Oh, can you hear me? Okay.  

Mayor: You're skipping a little bit, but come on, Andrew. Let's get it together here, man. Let's try again. Andrew? Yeah. We're not moving the right direction here. Andrew, can you hear us?  

Question: [Inaudible] back to me? I hear you. Can you hear me?   

Mayor: Okay. There you go.   

Question: Hello? Can you hear me? Okay. Mayor, on the topic of vaccines and trying to reach your five million New Yorkers vaccinated by June 1st goal. You had been saying for a long time that the issue was supply, supply, supply. But now you have the supply, and we can still hear some concerns on your part, that the goal is not certain. And I'm wondering whether the demand dropped faster than you anticipated? Or what it might be that that has led to such a slowing at this point?

Mayor: Andrew, I want to clarify for you and all your colleagues. June, not June 1st. I said the goal was to get it done in June, which means to me by the end of June. And let me give you the update right now. We've got towards that five million goal, almost half the folks we need to get to 50 percent are fully vaccinated, 2.3 million. But we have almost 70 percent who have received at least one dose. And that's real important because as Dr Chokshi reported yesterday, New Yorkers overwhelmingly are following through on the second dose. So, it's still April, almost 70 percent have gotten one dose. That means the vast majority of them will follow through. And we see continued new folks coming in the door all the time, especially as we're making vaccination more convenient. So, I still feel good. It will obviously, you know, depend on several factors. We want to get that Johnson & Johnson supply back. We don't have a lot of new supply coming of that yet. That speeds things up a lot when you have Johnson & Johnson. But we're still working on that goal. And I think it's a reachable goal.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Juliet. How are you doing today?

Question: Good. I'm okay. Well, actually I wanted to ask you about vaccines, but I have to tell you, there is a City-site in Times Square, that's opened just last week and it's actually the first City-site in the Midtown area. So, that's great. But in true Time Square fashion, there was somebody outside, I don't know if she was a nurse or a physician's assistant wearing, you know, the white medical coat, you know, actually hawking the vaccine. It was really something. She was saying, come on in, you know, come on in and get it. And it was great. She was really asking anybody on the street to come and get the vaccine.

Mayor: I love that.

Question: So, I thought you should know that.

Mayor: We need to do more of that. We've got to find her and thank her, but I think that's going to be a new job title for the City government, vaccine hawker. Okay. That's a new title.

Question: So, in that vein though, there's still hesitancy. In fact, you know, I'm hearing about nursing homes and assisted living facilities where a lot of people are still not getting the vaccine. So, is there any way to incentivize people to get it? I don't know what that means, you know, time off or money? Or I know you're telling people to do walk-ins and get them closer to a vaccine locations. But what else do you think you can do to get people to get the vaccine?

Mayor: I'll offer my view. And then I want to give Dr. Varma and Dr. Katz an opportunity to get into today's presentation with their views. Juliet, I think it's a couple of different things. I think convenience, I think up until now, because of the scarcity of supply, because we were trying to reach as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, you know, everything was through centers, appointments, and all. Making it convenient, I think this will be the number one difference maker. Because I certainly have come across many, many people who had no objection to getting the vaccine. They just didn't get around to it. Or they thought it was a hassle. It's real interesting, when I was at the Museum of Natural History on Friday, I went up and down the rows of people who had gotten the shot and asked them what motivated them all? Everyone was like, you know, this sounded cool. You know, or this sounded easy. And I think we want to first and foremost, make it easy to walk-in, City centers, pharmacies, you know, all of these places that people turn to in their neighborhood ideally. The second I would say is, I agree with you that there's incentives that can make sense. And we're certainly looking at it. A small, but a great example is the Museum of Natural History saying everyone who comes here to get vaccinated gets four free admissions. So, you can go there and then you can bring your whole family to the museum. That kind of thing we want to do more and more of. Obviously, I participated in a very exciting incentive system with Krispy Kreme donuts. That's all it took for me to want to be vaccinated. So, I think those things, you're right, those things matter. And we want to start creating more and more of them. Dr. Varma, then Dr. Katz, anything you want to add?

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: I would just build on what you've said, Mr. Mayor. Which is that the single most important thing right now is to make it just incredibly convenient for people to get vaccinated. You know, there are quite a number of people who would be willing to get vaccinated but they're not going to go out of the way to just get out. And that's what we see. And we know this was a lot of vaccine programs, flu vaccine is really probably the classic example. You need to have it widely available at your pharmacies at your doctor's office, anywhere you might be going for another reason and incidentally have that as an option. The second is those places have to be able to provide information and to actively encourage it. We know that a lot of people, not only do they want the convenience, but they do have some questions. And they would like to hear an answer from somebody that they trust. Somebody that is either personal to them or in their neighborhoods where they have some established relationship and bond. And so, we need people to be at those places who can also answer those questions. I also just want to signal a little bit of what you got at, which is the question about health care facilities. We have seen now through reports from CDC about outbreaks that have occurred in places like nursing homes. Where some staff have chosen to go un-vaccinated and there is going to be a time in the future where a vaccination or proof of immunity and or proof of infection has to be established as well. We're not at that point yet because we do want to make sure this is convenient. We want to make sure people have the information. But we do need to understand that in certain settings, it's going to be important for people to be vaccinated, not just for their own health, but for the health of the people that they're paid to protect.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, you want to add?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I would just add sir, that health care workers are a very special group. I mean, I think everyone has to understand what they went through over the last year. The level of trauma that people experienced, how in order to go to work in a pre-vaccination world, you had to overcome your tremendous fear of COVID. Many people, not health care workers, they were able to stay home or protect themselves until they got vaccinated. Health care workers, not true. They had to go not only to work, but often into the rooms of people with COVID and that creates a particular dynamic where a certain number of people may feel they are immune, they are protected. They engaged in certain homeopathic or religious rituals and that protected them through this horrible year. We're doing a lot of work talking to people. I don't want to say educating because they know the issues. It's more of an emotional issue than it's a knowledge basis. But we have done in the past sort of fun sweepstakes around getting the flu vaccine. And I think now that there is sufficient supply for everyone, we're going to move to some of those other ways. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Doctor. As we conclude today, recovery. So, recovery for all of us, guess what? It means a recovery for all of us. And it means addressing everyone's needs, including the challenges that have been created by the trauma of the COVID crisis. Whether it's the clubhouses or the mobile teams, so many of these different approaches that make such a difference. We're going to reach people. And this is the New York City way – compassionate, caring, going to where people are, speaking to them in their own language, reaching people in their own neighborhood. This'll make a huge difference. This is how we create a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everybody.

2021-04-29 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well, good news today. As we move forward with a recovery for all of us, it's time to set a goal for a full reopening of New York City. And that goal is July 1st. We are ready to bring New York City back fully on July 1st, all systems go, because you've earned it. We're going to keep working hard every day to make this city safer and safer. But what you have done – every day New Yorkers, what you have done is the reason I can make this announcement today, because you've gone out, you've gotten vaccinated, you've done so much to fight through this crisis. Now, we can see that light at the end of the tunnel. What does it mean? It means we get to go back to so many of the things we love. It means so many jobs get to come back. And, soon, it means that the things that make New York City special will be clearer than ever this summer. This is going to be the summer of New York City. We're all going to get to enjoy the city again and people are going to flock here from all over the country to be a part of this amazing moment in New York City.

It means going to stores – and anyone who wants to shop at a store, can go to a store again. It means bars and restaurants being able to come back, bring back so many of their employees, serve so many more customers. It means so many of our cultural events being open again, theaters coming back, so many of the things that we cherish. And what it means for every-day working people, for all those cooks, and waiters, and bartenders, and folks that work in the kitchen – for the small business owners, the folks who built up their businesses for years and years and have fought to survive. For every-day people, for our artists and our performers, it means a chance to do what you are so great at again, and a chance to bring joy to so many other New Yorkers. So, this is going to be an amazing summer. And I can't tell you – I just – I am so excited. I don't have words to say it enough. I am so excited that we'll be able to come back strong.

Now, what do we have to do? We have to keep getting vaccinated. The reason I'm able to make this announcement today – and we have poured over the data. We have, as always, focused on the data and the science. And we now can set this goal because we've been moving forward constantly – more and more vaccinations, fewer and fewer infections, thank God. But we’ve got to keep doing that, everyone. Everyone who hasn't yet been vaccinated, come forward now. This is the time. This is the right moment. It's easier than ever. It's simple. It's convenient. Let's keep moving with vaccinations. Let's keep being smart about all those basic, smart health care measures we've been taught by our health care heroes. We can do this. July 1st – we’ve all got a little bit of work to do, but we can get there together.

Now, this is all about a recovery for all of us. And we have been building up our recovery effort in so many ways, and that includes bringing together extraordinarily talented people to help us with our recovery. A recovery means so many things. One of the things certainly includes is bringing back jobs, bringing back businesses, making New York City vibrant as it was before the pandemic, and then going even farther than that. I want to emphasize, we want to get as vibrant as we were before the pandemic, and then go even farther – even more jobs, even stronger economy, an even better life, even more equality. That's the goal.

To help us lead this effort, I'm so excited to bring on a new member of this extraordinary recovery team. And he is a New York City legend, one of the greatest entrepreneurs in New York City history. He has done things that people see as definitional of what's great about New York City. His sensibilities, I've always admired. He believes in equality. He believes in inclusion. He believes in an economy that works for every-day working people. And he's brought so much joy to New Yorkers and he's helped in the revitalization of the city, going back to the 1980s, when he created the iconic Union Square Cafι. At a time when Union Square was a place that was struggling, Danny Meyer was one of the people that turned it around and that started a lot of other turnarounds in New York City that helped to make us strong. He went on to remake the New York City dining scene – Gramercy Tavern, The Modern, and, of course, Shake Shack – beloved by all. And so, we need that spirit. We need that innovation. We need that energy. We need that sense of hope. So, I'm so happy to announce that Danny Meyer will be the new chair for the New York City Economic Development Corporation board. The EDC, we depend on to spark economic activity and growth and create jobs, and Danny Meyer will provide a lot of the vision and the energy to get us there. And I want to now bring them to you with a lot of joy that he is going to help us lead the way back. My pleasure to introduce Danny Meyer.

Chairman Danny Meyer, Board of Directors, Economic Development Corporation: Thank you so much, Mayor de Blasio. This is – it's a big honor, it's a big responsibility, and I've pledge to bring every ounce of care to the task of doing everything we can to help bring back New York. The recovery is happening. It's amazing confluence that I get to have the opportunity to be presented by you on the very day that you announced this morning that New York would be open on July 1. We could not be more excited and grateful. And I share your sentiment that New Yorkers are really the ones to thank. People have been so incredibly careful and thoughtful over this past year, and we deserve this moment. Now, I've made a career out of trying to turn challenges into opportunities, and we have a big challenge right now. New York is a city that thrives when people are together. This is a city that is built on people wanting to live closely together, to work closely together, to be live audiences, to be performers, and those are the very things that have been unsafe to do during the pandemic. But now, we're going to be able to bring that back.

It will be a big challenge. It'll especially be a big challenge, because we need to hire a lot of people very, very quickly in the city. There are also a lot of people who are seeking jobs at this moment in history. So, one of my hopes is that the city can be an agent to help connect job seekers with those who want to hire, because we are in for one of the biggest recoveries ever. And I truly believe that hospitality, the way we make people feel in the city, is what's going to lead the way. So, thank you for this appointment. And I will do the very, very best I can with the EDC.

Mayor: Well, Danny, thank you so much. I have total confidence in you. I've watched your work. I've enjoyed the benefits of what you have done by going to some of your amazing restaurants. I've seen the ethic you have created, the atmosphere you’ve created, the approach – it's positive, it's hopeful, always – and that's exactly what we need now. And I love what you said, turning challenges into opportunities. This is an extraordinary opportunity moment for New York City. So, we need your leadership. We need your strong voice. And I think your point about how the city can help connect those looking for jobs to all the jobs that are about to blossom now, that's a great initiative that we'll work on together. We believe there'll be at least 400,000 jobs coming back this calendar year and we need to connect great people to great jobs. So, thank you. Thank you for your leadership. It's really important to New York City that you're giving of yourself at this moment. And I can't thank you enough.

All right. Now, guess what? How do we move forward? I think you know where I'm going – vaccines. Vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate. We have been getting to where we are today, this amazing moment, because everyone's been doing what they needed to do. What's the number today? 6,427,404 vaccinations to-date. A number – it’s just constantly growing. People are showing up. They're showing up for their second appointments or they’re showing up for their first appointments. We need to keep the momentum going. This is exactly how we get to the full reopening we're all looking forward to. So, remember, every one, if you have not gotten vaccinated, today is the perfect day. Go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, or call 877-VAX-4NYC. And listen, it let's make it personal, it really matters what each person does. So, if you're watching right now and you just haven't gotten around to it, make an appointment right now, or just walk in at dozens and dozens of City sites all over the city. Let's get this done today, because that's, what's going to help us get to this amazing opportunity July 1st.

A new announcement today, for all City-sponsored vaccination sites, we will be providing mental health check-ins for everyone who's been vaccinated. If you go to a City-sponsored site after you've gotten your shot, there’ll be outreach workers there to check in with you to see if you have any mental health concerns you want to talk about. If you need any mental health support, if you want to get more information, or if you need a follow-up appointment, we're going to be at our City-sponsored vaccination sites, helping hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers in the coming weeks by giving them a free vaccination. Let's go the extra mile – let's check in, let's see how they're doing. And if they are going through mental health challenges, as so many people are in this crisis, let's make sure that they get that next step, that they get the help they need, that they get connected to it right then and there. That'll be happening at all City-sponsored vaccination sites.

Second, a huge outreach effort to let New Yorkers know, after everything they've been through a COVID, that help is there for them. We're going to be using all the tools we have in multiple languages in all communities to let people know that mental health services are there for them, and whenever they need it to be free, it will be there for them for free.

Our indicators for today. And this is one of the best we have seen in months and months. So, a good day and further proof why we are now poised for a full reopening of New York City. Indicator number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, look with your own eyes. Today's report, 97 patients. Look at that line go down and down. Confirmed positivity level 53.06 percent. Hospitalization rate, we are on the verge of going below the threshold at 2.1 per 100,000. We want to get below two and it looks very, very good at this moment. We just all got to keep doing what we know what to do. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today’s report, and again, look at that downward slope – today's report 1,354 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 3.18 percent and declining.

And I will say, keep it declining because what is 100 percent clear is vaccination has worked. Let's get out there and keep it going. Every single day, tens of thousands of people are going out and getting vaccinated, getting their first shots, getting their second shots. If you have not yet done so you should be one of them today. And help move us forward. Few words in Spanish, and I want to talk about what we just discussed Mental Health for All, which is of such concern to the community.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder we are joined by the First Lady of New York City Chirlane McCray; Susan Herman, Director of ThriveNYC; Dr. Dave Chokshi, Commissioner of Health; Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of Health + Hospitals; and Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Advisor on public health. We will begin with Hazel from CBS New York.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Hazel. How are you doing today?

Question: Good. This is very good news to hear, the city opening up. That being said though, will there be any kind of vaccination requirements or proof of vaccination before you enter restaurants, bars, theaters? Because obviously not everybody will be vaccinated, so obviously there'll be concerns of still a virus spread?
 
Mayor: Yeah. Hazel look, first the big picture here is the work we'll do over the next two months to get so many more New Yorkers vaccinated. The best thing we can do is build that strong foundation and the numbers keep coming in strong. We got to keep doing that. As Dr Varma said yesterday, there certainly will be particular institutions that may choose to have rules around vaccination or testing or rapid testing. That's to me obvious, but I think the big picture point here is to build up a situation over the next two months, where we're coming into the reopening as strongly as possible, as many people vaccinated as possible. And then constantly watch the data as we always do, make adjustments, and just be smart. There's still going to be plenty of people, for example, who will choose to wear a mask in certain situations. That's a great choice. I think New Yorkers will make the adjustment as we go along. Go ahead, Hazel.

Question: What kind of conversations have you had with the Governor about the City's plans to fully reopen in July?

Mayor: I have not. And I think the best way to proceed here is to set out the City's vision. We're going to work with the federal government. We're going to work with the State government, but it's quite clear. You just saw the indicators. You've seen the numbers of vaccination. It's quite clear it's time to set a goal and move on that goal. So, we'll work with all the other levels of government, but we've got to keep moving toward a goal at this point.

Moderator: Next we have Shant from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Definitely big news today. I guess I just wanted to ask you know, if I'm understanding correctly, basically all businesses and other kinds of – basically every part of life, you want to have reopened 100 percent capacity starting in July. But can you say what kind of safety measures will still be in place? For instance, will the City still advise people to observe social distancing, that kind of thing?

Mayor: Shant, it’s obviously two months away and we're going to be led by the data and the science. So, this decision after weeks of discussions with the health care team, we decided this is the right goal. We have the evidence now that really makes clear this is the right goal. We will make adjustments as we go along. If we, you know, think it's important to advise people to carry on certain practices, we will. I am convinced bluntly that many New Yorkers will still want to use their mask at a lot of times, just on a voluntary basis. But this is the right goal. Now job one, get people vaccinated. And then second, as we see more and more data, we'll make adjustments as we get closer. Go ahead, Shant.

Question: Yeah. So, and given that, you know, things are still in the works, can you say what at this point you and your team are doing to, I don't know, I guess, you know, queuing off of Hazel's question – give New Yorkers peace of mind when they go for indoor dining, to a gym, what have you, are you thinking of things like utilizing the State vaccine passport? Any thoughts at all about, you know, some kind of certification system?

Mayor: We're looking at that for sure. And again, I think some institutions are going to choose to do that. I think it'll make sense in some places, certainly some private businesses may do that. Other places that may not make as much sense. The key is to get people vaccinated. So really, you know, when you think about today, 6.4 million vaccinations, growing all the time. This is the single most important thing for all of us to do. And what we need to do – and we've signaled this, but we'll have a lot more to say in the next few days, Shant – is create more incentives for vaccination, make it even more convenient for people, reach even deeper into the grassroots. That's the best way to set up a very positive experience for July 1st. But in terms of how different institutions may approach it, we've got plenty of time to work with them on what makes sense for them.

Moderator: Next. We have Marla from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mayor and everyone else on the call. I wanted to ask about schools. Despite teachers being vaccinated, there appears to be a shortage of them qualified to provide in-person instruction to students, resulting in students learning on computers in the classrooms. You’ve said repeatedly that New York will offer five-day a week, full time instruction in September, but how can you assure that there will be enough teachers to accomplish that? And if teachers are vaccinated, why aren't you mandating that they returned to the classroom so, you know, more kids can get in more than one-day a week in some of the larger high schools?

Mayor: Yeah. Marla, First of all, the five-day a week approach has become prevalent throughout our school system. There are some schools that just because of the number of kids that came back, have had do a different schedule. But five-day a week has more and more become the norm. Especially in the elementary schools where now we're able to go to three feet. Look, the bottom line is we are well, well into the school year at this point. We've got kids on schedules, many of them remote. We've got teachers aligned to do that. We've set the pattern now for this school year. We had obviously, more than 50,000 kids come back on Monday. That's great. Now we are turning our focus to the summer with Summer Rising, which will be universal. I want to emphasize, never be never before done in the history of New York City. That any child that wants a summer opportunity, academic, cultural recreation altogether for free, can get it. And then September. All children will be welcome back. We'll have our full teaching core. We have lots of lots of teachers we're recruiting on top of that. Lots of people want to come be a part of this comeback. So, I feel very confident that we'll have the personnel we need going forward. Go ahead Marla.

Question: Okay. So, will the Department of Education be offering a remote option for families in the fall who want it? And if so, who will be teaching those remote kids?

Mayor: Well, Marla, it's a fair question for sure. I'm going to lean on the fact that it's April 29th. And, you know, opening day of school is after Labor Day obviously, but what the Chancellor and I both feel is we want the maximum number of kids back in person and we're planning for literally the ability to have every single child back. Let's see how we continue to make progress on COVID. I think the world could be a very different reality in the next few months, and I think it's going to be a lot better, but the goal is to be able to accommodate every single child.

Moderator: Next, we have Katie from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. I guess as a follow-up to that question, other’s questions. So, I'd read, I believe in Chalkbeat, that the UFT representative said teachers will still be allowed medical accommodations next year. This was granted because of COVID. Can you explain why and would that not, would a teacher – if a teacher requires a medical accommodation because of COVID when there are vaccinations and lower rates, would that not then have someone go on disability? Can you explain why the accommodations will be extended to the next school year?

Mayor: Yeah. I don't want to make a – I don't know who you spoke with. I want to make sure we are accurate. The accommodation system was structured for this school year in the atmosphere of a COVID crisis. We are clearly coming out of that crisis. Next school year is a different reality. We'll have a different approach. We'll have more to say on that as we get closer, but no, the rules that were in place were for this school year. Go ahead, Katie.

Question: Great. Thank you. I guess, you know, going back to this reopening plan, I know Monday is when City workers are set to return to offices. How – could you just update a little bit on what's been done and what's been going on in preparation for that because I know that there was some pushback for that to begin.

Mayor: Yeah. We have a huge number of City workers who have gotten vaccinated now. That's the first thing to know. We have, obviously, proven over and over again that we have the tools to keep people safe. The best example remains our public schools. We're all – you know that gold standard of different health and safety measures worked, continues to work. We keep bringing back more and more kids. It keeps working. We have applied a lot of those same exact measures to our public offices. There'll be a lot of cleaning, a lot of smart efforts to keep people safe, mask wearing, obviously, you know, different numbers of people at different times. There'll be a rotation system. I'm very confident that folks that will be able to come back safely. And by coming back, they'll be able to serve New Yorkers better and we need to start sprinting now as part of this recovery. We need to bring New York City back strong for everyone. And clearly, we have the ability to do that by getting our City workforce back.

Moderator: Next, we have Sophia from WNYC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Good morning. How are you doing Sophia?

Question: I'm good. Thank you. I am asking a follow-up to the questions about the medical accommodations especially with the declared reopening of the schools on July 1st. You know, there's been some pushback that this is conveniently after school’s end date, and whether the UFT and medical accommodations that are in place right now have played a role in that timeline.

Mayor: No, obviously not the goal here is to prepare this city for a full reopening. We know that's going to take some work and we'll take work for different businesses and institutions to get ready for that. But it's also time to keep getting more and more people vaccinated. I said a long time ago, back in January, our goal was to get five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by the end of June, we're still working on that goal. This synergizes perfectly with that. But we're actually seeing even better indicators now. And, again, this is the data and the science talking, we're seeing better indicators in terms of health care than we even expected at this point. And this is the power of vaccination. When you do 6.4 million vaccinations, you're going to see an impact and we're seeing it, but we'll have even more time to get ready and go much deeper between now and July 1st. Go ahead, Sophia.

Question: Great. Actually, that leads me to my next question, which is that – so the vaccination campaign has reached millions of people, but it's still concentrated in high-income areas and predominantly white neighborhoods. If the demand for walk-up appointments or the vaccine buses continues to drop, are you going to think about moving that reopening date from July 1st? There's been about a decline of a hundred thousand shots last week, relative to the week before.

Mayor: Sophia, first of all, we've had some aberrant realities the last few weeks, we all know, because of Johnson & Johnson. That was a clear curve ball that slowed us down some. But we got a lot of other interesting evidence that didn't slow us down much. As you heard from Dr. Chokshi yesterday, the rate at which people are getting their second shots is much better here in New York City than around the country. That's a really good sign. About 95 percent of people are showing up for their second shots when they should. That's amazing. That's positive. When you look at our efforts towards our goal, we're almost at the halfway point in terms of the five million, but very importantly, when it comes to the first dose, we're over 70 percent to goal in terms of New Yorkers who have had at least one dose. And because almost everyone that gets the first dose is getting a second dose, that means we're going to keep moving aggressively on that goal. We do need to do more work in the communities hardest hit by COVID. But what I'm finding is the more we make vaccination convenient, the better we're doing. And a lot of the folks who need it the most are some of the hardest working people in New York City who've got two jobs and three jobs and struggle to make ends meet, and they need this to be as convenient as possible. So, the more we're able to do walk-ins and community-based organizations, houses of worship. This constantly is moving the needle and we'll be doing a lot more of that going forward.

Moderator: Next, we have Courtney from NY1.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you?
 
Mayor: Good, Courtney. How you been?

Question: Good. Thank you. So, also on the reopening, I mean, I understand that you need State approval. What specifically do you need the State to approve considering I guess the balance of power in Albany has shifted a little bit and thinking of the State, do you also need the subways to come back 24/7 in order to really make New York back the way it used to be?

Mayor: Two great questions. So, look, Courtney, I think that was one of the greatest understatements I've heard all year, the – “the balance of power has shifted a little in Albany.” I think the balance of power shifted a lot in Albany. I think the Legislature is running the State of New York and thank God for it. I have a lot of faith in Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Carl Heastie, and they did literally the best budget we have seen in the history of New York State, as far as I'm concerned, certainly in the last generation. They have made clear by their actions, the last few days, that they are restoring this state to normal democracy. They are bringing back democratic norms in New York State and canceling some of the arbitrary decisions by the Governor. What we need is a full restoration of democracy while the Legislature is still in session. That is the way to help us move everything we have to do for a full recovery. So, to me, that would solve a lot of the questions and concerns here. I believe they're moving in that direction. That's what I think will be pivotal. Go ahead, Courtney.

Question: Oh, sorry, just on the subway closure again. When do you need the subway to come back?
 
Mayor: So, subways I have long believed we should get back to 24/7 at the right time. I think July 1st is the right time. I think the cleanup effort has been outstanding. This is an area where the City and State have been in agreement. The cleanup effort really helped, having the closure for several hours really helped make people more comfortable coming back to the subways. It clearly helped us. In fact, one of the things the City pushed hard was for the State to realize that the right kind of closures could help us address homelessness more productively. And it has, you know, many, many homeless folks out of the subways into shelter and they stayed in shelter and that's credit to everyone at the Department of Homeless Services, all the outreach workers. So, that's been really good, and I think that should continue for a while as we consolidate our gains. But when we talk about a full recovery, July 1st, I'm very comfortable that's a great time to bring the subways back 24/7.

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. The next one goes to Henry from Bloomberg.

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today?

Mayor: It's a good day, Henry. How are you? It's a good day for me, it's not a good day for Jacob deGrom. But it's a good day for me. How are you, Henry?

Question: Ouch, it's true. It's not a good day for Jacob deGrom. It's a good day for me. I'd like to ask you another question about New York City opening because despite the difference in the balance of power and everything else, the Governor's powers still reside, especially the decrees that he issued. They still stand according to the Legislature's vote. So, July 1 is really a goal, is it not, especially considering that Broadway is not going to be open and you know, it's – what's your response?

Mayor: Henry, first of all, I would say this – Broadway has been clear from the beginning that it takes a lot of lead time to put together big elaborate productions. And they've said September for a while, although there are some shows that I think that some of the smaller, more intimate shows, we might be looking more like July, August, and we'll move heaven and earth to help them get that done. And we've been supporting Broadway with the vaccinations, which has been really, really effective. But Broadway's a very important piece of the equation, very emotionally important to us all, but the vast majority of other parts of our life and our economy, we'll certainly be able to get up and running full strength or close to full strength by July 1st. You know, you talked about restaurants, talked about retail stores, cultural venues. I assure you they can make it happen by July 1st.

My point about the State of New York, I think we see the handwriting on the wall. The Legislature is reducing the Governor's emergency powers constantly. I think they're going to do some more of that. I'd like to see them take the whole big step and just bring us back to normal democracy so we can make these decisions and move forward properly. But mainly I think the people are going to want it, Henry. I think this is a goal that makes sense. It made sense to our health care team, the data, the science speak to it, the number of vaccinations speak to it. I think the people are going to say it's time to come back fully. And July 1st is a really fair date that we can make happen. Go ahead, Henry.
 
Question: Okay. Thank you. The other question I have is that there have been these persistent reports, these tweets, these complaints to me from teachers that the infection rates in schools are higher than seems to be reported. There seems to be a disconnect between what's being publicly reported about virus infections in schools and what the reality is on the ground. Is there a way that the City could actually identify where viruses are occurring in schools and the amount of cases in these schools that are being reported?

Mayor: Yeah, Henry, look, there's a lot of transparency out there. We'll connect you with it, so you see it, constantly putting out information. Let me give you the last 24 hours, for example. Tests conducted in schools, 12,738. Positive cases, 46. That is a 0.37 percent positivity level. This has been very, very consistent for months that we've been in that kind of range. We put out a lot of information for the system school by school. So, connect you to that. But no, one thing I am quite certain about, there's incredible rigor, give a lot of credit to our Test and Trace team, a lot of credit to the folks in the situation room. They have been very exacting about the data and our health care leaders will tell you the data keeps coming back with extraordinary consistency, proving how safe our schools are.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Erin from Politico.

Question: Mr. Mayor, thanks for taking my question. You made a couple of references with this reopening plan to, you know, some people are still going to want to be wearing masks. I just want it to be clear, do you anticipate – does your plan include still having the mask mandate in place or are you intending to have it lifted at that point?

Mayor: You know, another organic piece of this, Erin, and the health care team and I've been saying this since January, is that we want people to assume to keep your mask on through June. Our hope was that we would see tremendous progress on vaccination and in terms of our larger health care data. We're seeing that progress right now, which is fantastic and a credit to all New Yorkers and especially a credit to our health care leaders and everyone who runs the vaccination centers. I mean, there's something working here, but we've always said to people keep doing what you're doing through June. And I think that's still really where we are. It's really good advice. And then after June, I think we're going to be in a position to do some things differently. I still think a lot of New Yorkers personally want to choose to wear the masks a lot, but for the foreseeable future, absolutely we want to stick with it.

Today, everyone, just as we wrap up, look, let's think about what we've all achieved together. And I really want to emphasize if you hear full reopening in New York City and that makes you feel good, then you should be feeling good about yourself because you did it, the people of this city did it. We went through the toughest times. We were the epicenter of this crisis for months last year. We've been through a lot of pain, a lot of loss. But people have done the right thing over and over and over again. I always get folks who have asked me questions – well, someone didn't do the right thing, or I see someone not following the rules. You know what I always say? What I see every day is the vast majority of New Yorkers out there doing the right thing, doing the hard work, sticking with it, helping each other out. That's been the story. This has been a hero city and people should feel really good about the fact that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. So, we are beating COVID right now, but we got to finish the job. You know what I'm about to say, go get vaccinated. Thank you, everybody.

2021-04-30 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. And now, it is time for our weekly Ask the Mayor call-in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag #AsktheMayor. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. Whoops, I can't hear the Mayor – 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning. I forgot that mute button. Good morning, Brian. How are you doing today? 

Lehrer: Good. How about you? 

Mayor: Good. Good. Thank you. 

Lehrer: I'm sure you want to talk about reopening the city fully on July 1st. But I'd like to ask you first about the controversial reopening that you've ordered for Monday, the 80,000 City workers with office jobs who can no longer work from home full time starting Monday. And we keep getting contacted by City workers who think this is wrong for various reasons, and even question your motives. So, my first question on this is, I know they're only going in a few days a week to prevent too many people from being in the office at once, but why require them to come in at all while we still have community spread and variants? I know the numbers are going down, but there's still reportedly so much evidence that many people have been more productive at home as well, they argue? 

Mayor: Okay. That is just not what we have found. We do not find that people are more productive at home. We find that people are more productive in the workplace and we are public servants. We are here to help people to get through this crisis and to help the city recover. I have been at City Hall every day since March 1st. A lot of my colleagues have, 80 percent of City workers have been at their posts, even in the toughest times. No, people need to come back because we have work to do, to bring this city back. The facts, according to our health care leadership, not people reading articles, but the actual leaders who have seen us through this crisis – looking at our indicators today, Brian, positivity level, now just above three percent plummeting, hospital admissions plummeting, hospitalization rate is now at two percent – excuse me, at two per 100,000. That means we are at the threshold now that we've been trying to get to. a 6.5 million vaccinations in New York City. No, it's a very, very different circumstance than it was. And our health care leaders are clear, this is the right time for folks to come back. And we got a lot of work to do. And we're going to take a lot of smart precautions. I have some little bit of breaking news that's related for you. And it is the parallel to our public schools. As of today, we will have performed one million COVID tests in our public schools, one million. And here is the latest positivity level based on the testing yesterday, 0.34 percent. That's highly pertinent because we're using the same exact strategies to keep city offices safe as we have used successfully in our public schools. 

Lehrer: And so, will teachers be required to go back to their classrooms as part of this? Because we keep hearing from parents and students themselves who talk about being frustrated as they returned, that they're doing zoom in a room? They're in the classroom, the teacher is at home. 

Mayor: Again, we set a pattern for this year. We had an opt-in period, over 50,000 new students came in on Monday. We have obviously a huge number of teachers and school staff in schools. We have people that were on medical accommodation going back a long way. And remote learning that's been structured for families now for months and months. The basic reality is the opt-in told us that families made a choice. Most of them wanted to stay with what they had out of continuity, understandable. But in September we're going to open schools fully. There's no question now based on everything we're seeing, we'll be able to have every child back, have all our educators back and school staff. But the bottom line is look, the reason I announced the July 1st date for full reopening is because of the data and the science. It's 100 percent clear now. When you get 6.5 million vaccinations done and tens of thousands more each and every day, we now are winning the race against COVID and the variants. And we got to act like it. We've got to own the moment and get out there and bring this city back. 

Lehrer: So, when you say fully reopen on July 1st, does that mean fully, fully – no capacity limits on restaurants, 20,000 people in Madison Square Garden, every piece of indoor gym equipment occupied, no more six feet, Carnegie Hall filled to the rafters with older classical music listeners? All of that? 

Mayor: That is literally the goal. There obviously could be some particular exceptions depending on what the data and the science tells us. Right now, we're seeing absolutely consistent, striking progress directly, causally related to the vast number of vaccinations. So, the simple message to all New Yorkers, if you have not gotten vaccinated, it's the time right now. It is easier than ever. And if you like this idea of a full reopening, I think the vast majority of New Yorkers do, go out and get vaccinated if you haven't already. Go to vax4nyc.nyc.gov for a location, or you can call 8-7-7-VAX-4-NYC, locations all over the city. I want to particularly urge your listeners, Brian to experience what I experienced at the American Museum of Natural History. Get vaccinated under the whale, memorable – experience you will remember your whole life. And you’ll get free fur admissions to the museum in the bargain. We're going to be doing a lot more of those kinds of exciting opportunities and incentives. But so long as we keep moving on vaccination, we have the real potential to have everything open, full strength. 

Lehrer: We have a Twitter question on exactly that. So, I'll throw that one in first. Listener writes where is the street level, aggressive public info campaign on vaccines? Seems DOE posters, Department of Education posters for Pre-K for All and Community Education Council elections all over the place, but zero about vaccines, hashtag #AsktheMayor. 

Mayor: I think that’s a damn good point. I mean, obviously there's a little bit of a difference Pre-K for All is something that built up over years. But yeah, there are a lot of posters out for those Community Education Council elections, and that's a good thing. I think that's a really fair point that we can do better on. We're going to be doing a lot of advertising, multiple languages, community ethnic media, a digital campaign. But I think that's right. The street level kind of postering and visibility also helps. Especially at this next phase where I think it's about helping people to get vaccinated who are perfectly open to it, but want it to be easy, want it to be convenient. For the first time in the last few weeks it has been. I think that's a good suggestion and we will take that suggestion up for sure. 

Lehrer: You know, mayoral candidate, Ray McGuire, proposed giving – I believe it's giving each new vaccinated people going forward, I don't think this would be retroactive. But since we're in the, you know, harder to reach or harder to convince people at this point, give each new one a hundred bucks. Good idea? 

Mayor: You know I'm not sure. I understand the impulse. I think that adds up very quickly. But we're going to look at different kinds of incentives. We definitely, where I would agree with him is we need incentives, whether it's the opportunity at the American Museum of Natural History or all sorts of other kinds of incentives. Whether that one's the right one, I want to think about that some more. 

Lehrer: On the reopening. I know Governor Cuomo just likes to mess with you, but does he have a point – I can say that as – 

Mayor: You are a truth teller, Brian. 

Lehrer: I can say that as a matter of report, it's not opinion. But does he have a point when he says we cannot know here on April 30th, what conditions will be like on July 1st? I'll give you these examples. Oregon and Washington State, just re-imposed restrictions because they have hospitalizations up by 15 percent and 18 percent over the last two weeks, not to mention the resurgences we're seeing in some other countries. So, how can you say today what will be with this changeable virus two months from tomorrow? 

Mayor: Brian, by that standard, we would never set a goal for anything because anything could change in the world. I think here we have facts on our side. We have 6.5 million vaccinations. The rate of vaccination continues to be strong. Folks are coming for their second doses very consistently in New York City. My goal is five million fully-vaccinated New Yorkers by the end of June, right now, 70.7 percent have received at least one dose – in terms of my progress towards that goal, 70.7 percent have received at least one dose. I feel great about the trajectory we're on for a vaccination. The health care indicators are speaking clearly. Our health care team analyzed all this and said, look, we can do this on this timeline. It gives us a lot of time to go out and get people vaccinated and get ready. But the Governor legendarily, doesn't talk to his health care team, doesn't trust health care professionals. A lot of them have left because they realized he wasn't even seeking their guidance, and he, you know, if he wants to make decisions based on the data and the science, that's what we're doing here, and then we're saying we need goals. We need to keep this recovery going, but in a smart and careful way, and if the data and science tells us something else, we have to make an adjustment, well, we certainly know how to do that.  

Lehrer: Listener on the reopening tweets. “How about Excelsior Pass-only days at city attractions like museums,” and so for people who don't know what the Excelsior pass is, it's another way of asking what about some days at museums and other attractions where you only get in if you're vaccinated or prove a test?  

Mayor: I think that's an interesting idea, Brian. I think what you're going to see is private institutions, businesses, or maybe cultural institutions, theaters. I'm not going to be surprised at all. If they determined they want standards like that, proof of vaccination and-or proof of a recent negative COVID test, or maybe rapid testing on the scene. I think that's going to be one of the tools that helps us to have a full reopening. I think it'll be more of use in some places, certain types of locations more than others, but I think it's a real interesting tool. So, that's a helpful suggestion we're certainly going to look at.  

Lehrer: And on the reopening or the mandatory return to work for city office workers on Monday, to what degree is this about sending a message to other employers, to bring their workers back in order to help get more people eating at restaurants and shopping in the business districts again, for the sake of the larger economy?  

Mayor: The reason to do this again, Brian, you know, very important to note, 180,000 city employees have been vaccinated very important to know that 80 percent of the workforce is right now at their jobs and has been through the height of the pandemic. We've got to do the work to bring the city back. I will have this discussion with anyone. Anytime in person is more effective, more efficient, there's more collaboration, there's more creativity. As a manager, night and day when I'm dealing with people in person then via Zoom, and we've got a lot of work to do. We've got to bring back the city strong. So, that's the reason. We can just do more for people. I do think, you know, others in the private sector will see it as an important indicator that there will be more activity around those buildings will help small businesses. Undoubtedly, I think it'll help bring back jobs and save jobs, but the reason to do it is the quality of the work and the fact that we're starting to come out of this pandemic and it's time to start owning the recovery.  

Lehrer: And so, one question about how, because somebody wrote to me that the City has been inconsistent with its guidance and failed to monitor whether or not the various agencies are complying with best practices, and they say complicating the situation is the reality that thousands of city workers worked in leased office spaces. So, let me unpack that and ask you two questions. How will you monitor and enforce best safety protocols once they go back Monday and two, how are you controlling ventilation and other conditions in spaces that are leased that the City doesn't own?  

Mayor: Okay, fair questions, and what I'd say is the, the strengths of the approach. One, as I said, based on what we saw in the public schools, which has been literally extraordinary and proven over and over again – a million tests to confirm how safe the schools have been. We're taking the exact same methodologies, applying them here. I announced this in January. So, agencies have had so much time to get ready. You know, that really, I mean, they've had January, February, March, April to get ready and to put these measures in place, whether they're in a leased building or whether they're in the city building, and the fact is that, you know, the guidance has been put out to the agencies and employees. It's a very meticulous plan. What I'm sure you're going to get people who say, you know, being either cynical or not having heard all the information that there has been something they don't like, but what we have is a clear track record here of the models that work and that's, what's been applied very carefully, and as you said, at the beginning, Brian folks are going to be in for part of the time in most settings, not all the time, and there's going to be distancing on top of masks, on top of cleaning, on top of ventilation. It will be a safe environment.  

Brian, one other note on the previous question for city employees who want to get the whole guide, there's an extensive guide to be office reopening, can go to nyc.gov/DCAS – Department of Citywide Administrative Services. So, it's nyc.gov/DCAS, and can see the whole carefully organized guide as to how the openings being handled.  

Lehrer: Thanks, as always, Mr. Mayor. Have a good weekend. Talk to you next week.   

Mayor: Thanks a lot, Brian.

2021-05-03 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well, it was a beautiful weekend in New York City this weekend – and so much going on, and so many signs of the City coming back – a lot of energy, a lot of activity. Really, you could feel what's happening, that COVID is going down, COVID rates going down, vaccine rates going up, people doing more and more things out and about in this city.

Okay, now let's turn to what we do every single day. We talk about our vaccination effort, the biggest in the history of New York City. Where we stand, a great number today. As of today, from the very beginning of this effort, 6,630,935 doses given – extraordinary. And there is no better time – there literally has not been ever a better time to get vaccinated than now. It is the easiest it's ever been. The walk-ins at so many of the City-sponsored sites make it really easy. A lot more, great sites being set up all the time. A lot of wonderful opportunities to go and get vaccinated in your community. If you want to know where to go, go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder or call 877-VAX-4NYC. Now, look, I know ever since I talked about the July 1st reopening, there's been tremendous positive feedback, a lot of energy, a lot of hope. You can do something to make sure that we reopened strong, go out and get vaccinated. It has literally never been easier.  

All right, now, today's an important day. Today is one of those turning-point moments, another example of New York City coming back strong as the rest of our City workforce has been working remotely starts to come back to the offices. Now, of course, I want to start by saying a profound thanks to the 80 percent of the City workforce that has been working throughout this crisis, bravely, strongly with tremendous compassion and effectiveness to protect all of us, serve all of us, no matter what. Now, it's time for the folks who work in the offices to come back – about 80,000 city workers coming back to the offices. City Hall is abuzz today. It's a great feeling. I have been at City Hall throughout the pandemic, as have many of my colleagues. But for the first time in, you know, a year-plus, we really have the spirit and the energy of this place back. And it's a great feeling and it's going to help us do so much more. This is why we are doing this, so we can serve New Yorkers better, because when we're all together we get more done for the people. 

So, we see the comeback and full swing in so many ways, here's another example of it. And the way it works is always to focus on the health and wellbeing of the people who do the work. Now, we put together a guide for all of the City agencies. It's available online. Anyone who wants to know more about the myriad of health and safety measures are being taken. You could look at this extraordinary guide – nyc.gov/returntooffice, available for you to see all the work that's gone into this, the screenings that are being done constantly, obviously the massive vaccination effort, the social distancing rules, the barriers that have been set up, the cleanings, the mask wearing, you, name it. We learned from our schools how to do things right and we're doing the same approach in our offices. And we are confident it's going to work. And also, so many City workers got vaccinated. We want to keep encouraging all City workers, if you haven't gotten vaccinated yet, this is the perfect time to do it. But it's exciting to have our whole workforce coming back so we can serve all of you so much better.  

Okay. Now, talk about exciting – today's indicators. This is my kind of report and it's been such a good pattern lately. Remember, we’ve got to keep earning it. We got to keep doing what we have to do to make sure this stays this way. I think you'll like this report. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – look at that graph. Today's report, 95 patients – keeps going down. We want to keep pushing it down well, well, well below the threshold. Confirmed positivity of 40 percent, even. And hospitalization rate, we were just at the edge a few days ago, we are now well below the threshold – 1.76 per 100,000. That's great news. Okay. New reported cases – number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – also, look at that, keeps going down. Today's report, 1,202 cases. And number three, percentage of the people testing positive citywide for COVID-19. Today's report, on a seven-day rolling average, 2.78 – a great number. This is my all-time favorite graph, just want to see that go lower, lower, lower all the time. So, get vaccinated. Be smart. This is the time.  

All right. A few words in Spanish about the return of our City workforce and our city’s comeback.  

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turned to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi and by Dr. Katz. First question today goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and to everyone on the call. My first question has to do with the reaction from DC 37 to the reopening today. Henry Garrido, saying that this has been haphazard, that there's inconsistency across the agencies. Some agencies are bringing everyone back every day, others once a week, it doesn't make sense, and makes clear everyone is guessing. What is your response to Henry's concern here? And how do you address that?

Mayor: I have a lot of respect for Henry and obviously a lot of respect for the men and women of DC 37. And we've been in constant contact with him and with the union. And each agency has been going through its own careful work with its workforce. There is a single unified approach, Andrew, right here. It is consistent there's differences in each office, that's true because some offices have more space, some offices have less space. But no, I'm quite satisfied. It's been a careful consultative approach. And it's working. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: Second question has to do with the resumption of 24/7 service in the subways, whenever that may be. The question is what happens to the homeless population? As you know, in addition to the deep cleaning on the subways, this has been a way to get homeless folks who have slept on, particularly the E train and others off the service and out into other locations, whether it's shelters or onto the streets. Do you have a plan ready on day one to deal with the change in the homeless pattern as soon as subways go back to 24/7?

Mayor: Yeah. Andrew. It's a great question. I just want to affirm to you, we have been doing this work. our incredible outreach workers have been doing this work for years. And you know, when we appeal to the MTA, to approach this differently, last year, we were really looking at the end of lines, the terminuses for certain subway lines. We want a different approach there. It turned into a bigger discussion about having the hours with the shutdown. I think it has been very positive and productive in many ways. But we all knew eventually of course, it would go back to a 24 hour service. We still want to approach those terminus stations in a smart manner, careful coordination between MTA, NYPD, Department of Homeless Services. And we have definitely found – the outreach effort is working. Constantly offering shelter is working, a huge number of folks have come in out of the subways into shelter and stayed in shelter. It really comes down to a lot of outreach at the right places at the right times, and we'll certainly be ready for that.

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call.

Mayor: Hey, James. How you doing today?

Question: I always appreciate you asking and I'm actually doing pretty well. Thank you. I appreciate that. Just going back to your comments earlier today, you said that the 80,000 employees have been doing great work during the pandemic. But you also said that they can work more effectively in-person. You've also said in past presentations that the same precautions used effectively at schools are being used at City offices to keep workers safe. But at many schools, teachers and other professionals are getting personal health accommodations. Why not have more personal health accommodations for the 80,000 other City employees? And are they working more effectively in-person or could they work just as effectively at home?

Mayor: There’s no question in my mind, people get a lot more done in-person. There's a lot more teamwork. There's a lot more creativity. From a managerial point of view, you can do a much better job coordinating people, making sure you get results. We need this, this is part of our recovery. We need it, obviously anyone with a particular need can and does talk to their supervisor and we work with that. But look again, let's remember that 80 percent of our public workforce has been at their post doing this work throughout. And doing incredible work for us. And this is a chance to now take it to the next level, get a lot more done for the people at a point where we have to really spur a strong recovery for this city. Go ahead, James.

Question: Thank you for that. Also, Pfizer saying that they may get FDA approval for their vaccine for people ages 12 to 15, possibly as early as today. And they are saying at the latest before the week is over. What impact could that have on our city and specifically on the education system for New York?

Mayor: My message is, it's all good. That is going to help a lot. I mean, just to every additional person, whether they're a young person or an adult who gets vaccinated the more, the better. So, that’s really good news. We're ready to keep, you know, making sure that anyone who needs to get vaccinated can. Because we have finally, after so many months we have supply. We have so many locations. We have the vaccinators, we have the strongest outreach effort we've ever had. So, that's really good news. And as soon as we get the go ahead, we'll make the adjustments and we'll get going.

Moderator: The next is Bob Henley from the Chief Leader.

Question: Yes, Mr. Mayor thanks for having this call today as always. I, one of the things that Henry pointed out though, was that his indication is that the vaccination rate is a quote – for starters we are only aware of 34 percent of our workforce being vaccinated. And that tracks with reporting the Chief has done that shows that the Fire Department is at 50 percent for firefighters, below that for EMTs, the Department of Education is at 50 percent as is New York City Health + Hospitals. So, can you explain what's going on here, in terms of it doesn't seem to be fitting with the broader narrative you have that vaccines are paving the path for us to come back so early?

Mayor: I disagree, Bob respectfully. We got over 180,000 City workers who have been vaccinated at least one dose. Obviously, everyone who gets one, almost every single person goes and gets the second. I think we're on a pretty strong pace there. The bottom line is just look at what's happening with COVID. Obviously, the impact of this extraordinary number of vaccinations, because we know even a single vaccination out of two makes an impact. It's driving back COVID, the city is getting safer and safer literally every day, you see the reports. On top of that extraordinary precautions are being taken. And I want to turn to Dr. Chokshi because he's really been the leader in this, in so many ways, structuring all the pieces that we need to keep people safe. And I often talk about the schools and Dr. Chokshi’s wife happens to be an assistant principal in our public schools. He worked intensely to figure out that layering upon layering of approaches. And that entire approach is being used also in our offices to keep people safe. So, Dr. Chokshi – I think if you could talk about the combination of the health and safety measures, the reduction in the amount of COVID. And then on top of that vaccination, which we didn't have, obviously when we first opened the schools. How all that comes together to keep our City workplaces safe. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, sir. And you, you covered the framework of it. So, I'll just get into some of the details. The linchpin to keeping any setting safe whether it's schools or workplaces or health care settings has been that layered approach, that the Mayor has alluded to. That's using you know, the interventions that we know have worked, for example, masking and distancing, ensuring that we have adequate ventilation, making sure that people are washing their hands and have access to hand sanitizer to keep their hands clean. And then frequent testing as something that we were able to layer on over the last several months. And now we have perhaps the most important part of our arsenal with respect to health and safety, which is vaccination. This provides protection both for the individual who's vaccinated, of course, but growingly, as we see more and more people getting vaccinated across New York City that gives us more chances to break the chains of transmission of the virus as well. And that is certainly you know, part of the explanation for why we were seeing cases dropping, as well as hospitalizations and indicator of severe illness dropping as well. So, we have to bring to bear that layered approach in everything that we're doing, stay committed to it. But then make sure that people have ready access and encouragement to get vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Bob.

Question: Yeah. So, in terms of I guess one of the things that – our reality is that the City of New York has, I don't know how many, but I'd like your office to find out if you could, how many workers, City employees, civil servants actually work on premises that belong to private landlords? And I was wondering what level of due diligence have you had in terms of checking with granularity, considering that close to 400 civil servants have died during the pandemic – what levels of certification have you done about all of those HVAC and ventilation systems in those private buildings, have some very connected people that, you know, get rents from the City?

Mayor: Bob, look, first of all, we would just, I want to affirm, we care about the people who do this work, and that's why we've been encouraging vaccination and making it easy. We're going to have vaccination at work sites. There's so many things going on to protect people. And we all feel those we've lost, we all feel their loss and it motivates us to keep moving the city forward and protecting people. And whether it is in a private building or one of the ones we own, we'll get you the facts. Obviously, a lot of our workers are in buildings that are City owned. But any place where it's a private building, we're working, we have been working for months with that building to ensure that the pieces are in place. And all the layers we just talked about. I mean, again, we know if you've got masks on, if you've got a cleaning going on, if you've got distancing, on top of the extraordinary level of vaccination that now exists, people are going to be a hell of a lot safer. And that's what we're going to keep doing. And we'll keep checking, of course the supervisors know they have to keep checking. And if there's any concerns we want to hear about, we want to fix it and address it. But I'm confident starting right here at City Hall, that we are going to be able to keep people really safe.

Moderator: The next is Stacy from FOX 5.

Question: Thank you. Can you guys hear me?

Mayor: Yeah. Stacy, how you doing?

Question: Hi. Good. Good morning. Just following up on the questions about the City employees and the vaccines and knowing some of these percentages, right? One of the unions says is 34 percent, teachers 50 percent. You know, these City workers have had the opportunity to get vaccinated. So, we have to assume that many in the percentage that have not gotten the vaccines do not want to. So, I'm wondering, you know, and Dr. Chokshi said encouragement, we know there's ease of access now. What more can you do, can the City do? Have you thought about incentivizing for employees who don't want to get vaccinated to try to bring the numbers up because it seems like we're not, you know, getting to that mass level that we really need for herd immunity?

Mayor: Yeah, important question Stacey. Look, first of all, are we thinking about incentivizing? Absolutely, across the board – city employees, but also people in general. Different forms of incentives – we're going to be saying more on that in the coming days, but I definitely think we've gotten to a point where more incentives are helpful, and also just the fact that it is the easiest it's ever been. Remember just a few short weeks ago, it was not easy. Now with, finally, the ability to do walk-ins and easier approaches, I think a lot of people were just waiting until it got convenient, are now going to come forward, and there were some people waiting to see evidence that things went smoothly and they have, I think you'll just see more and more people as a result. You know, the herd immunity, I think what we find is sort of, from my point of view as a doctor, functional immunity, is what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a situation where enough people are vaccinated to keep the numbers down in terms of COVID, help us come back fully.

What we're seeing in recent days really exemplifies that. The COVID rates are plummeting, thank God. Vaccinations are at a real strong level. We're working hard to get to that 5 million by the end of June. But I like where we are in the scheme of things and we definitely want to continue to make it easier to continue to make it fun, make it something people want to do. Go ahead, Stacey.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Katie Honan from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Katie. How you been?

Question: I've been doing great. My first question, I, you know, everyone was asking about the return to offices and I know in the past, when there have been stories critical of you for how much time you are not spending at City Hall, and, and when you were running for president in particular, I know a lot of times you said, “well, you know, I have a phone I can work from anywhere.” This was a quote you gave to the New York Times, and before COVID, you said that there were actually fewer interruptions for you working out of Gracie Mansion as opposed to working out of City Hall that it's a place filled with a lot of interruptions and distractions. So, was there a shift in your thinking in remote work for yourself and then other people, I don't know if you kind of had an evolution in terms of the most ideal working situation for City employees because you yourself had a different view of it?

Mayor: Katie, I appreciate the question, but I think there's some apples and oranges here. As the person who has to make decisions all day long by definition, I'm moving around the city, I'm working out of different places. I have different kinds of meetings that need different kinds of approaches. We're not talking about the same thing as what we're dealing with here. What I have absolutely found in the context of this crisis is we have lost something without having people in person, and we need to bring people back together. It allows for so much more creativity, so much more teamwork. We had, you know, City Hall for years and years and years, it was so easy for people to connect and communicate, and then that got disrupted by COVID. It's so much better now that more and more people are coming back. So that's, you know, we learned from this experience, it's really crucial to have people in the same place where they can connect with each other. Go ahead, Katie.

Question: And this one's that I'd asked it a few weeks ago, but all the lovebirds around the city keep asking me, when will the City's Marriage Bureau be open for in-person weddings so they can get on with their lives and get married?

Mayor: Yeah, I'm really glad you asked again, and I must admit, I told people to follow up and get me an answer and I did not get the answer I requested. So, Katie, you have helpfully helped the city government to remember, we need a clear answer and we need it quickly. Obviously, look, we want to get everything back by July 1st, but when it comes to the lovebirds, we'd like to help them even sooner. So, let me get you a quick update on that in the course of today.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Steve Burns from WCBS 880.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. We're coming to you from City Hall Park with a lot of construction, so, I hope you can hear me alright?

Mayor: Yeah, you're good, Steve, how you doing?

Question: I'm alright. Appreciate you taking the time. First question regards the – I want to get your health experts input on this a little bit, New York Times article this morning that discussed we may never reach herd immunity entirely. We'll be dealing with COVID for several years to come. The goal essentially is just to manage it. I wanted to see what kind of implications that new route might have for New York City and its multiyear recovery we could be looking at.

Mayor: Hey, Steve, I’ll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz, but I'm just going to say to you, I think for a long time, we've all understood that COVID will become – if all continues at this pace, will become like the flu or other diseases that we're used to seasonally and we'll have to deal with it, but we can deal with it, and that, thank God, the thing that works. There's one game plan here get vaccinated, and that's the best way forward, even if COVID is going to be around for years in the future, we know what to do about it. So, I just wanted the preface as the non-doctor. Now, you can hear from the doctors, starting with Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and yes, thanks for this important question. You know, the article that you were referring to specifically it has to do with a herd immunity, and it is true that particularly the new variants of the corona virus have changed the equation when it comes to herd immunity, making it, you know, significantly less likely that we will achieve the formal epidemiological definition of herd immunity. But I want to make sure that this is a very important point. We shouldn't let that terminology distract us from the big picture here, which is that higher levels of population immunity or what some people term, community immunity will still have major benefits, and in fact, we're seeing that in New York City even today, in terms of reducing infections and particularly with respect to decreasing severe disease that causes hospitalizations and deaths.

So, as the Mayor said, our overall approach will remain to focus on vaccinating as many New Yorkers as possible. The key to a joyful July and a safe summer is vaccination, and that's where we're going to keep our square aim for the near term and for the longer term.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz, you want to add?

President Katz: Yeah, so, I would just like to add sir, that if we don't have herd immunity, it really increases our individual responsibility to get vaccinated. What herd immunity really means is that so many people are vaccinated that those people who are not vaccinated get a kind of free ride. They're protected by the fact that everybody else is vaccinated and can't spread the disease. So, if we're not at herd immunity, that means that it's everybody's responsibility to get vaccinated. They cannot depend on other people to protect them. They need to protect themselves by getting vaccinated. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Very well said very much appreciated, Doctor. Go ahead, Steve.

Question: Thank you very much, and on a similar note, we have a lot of restrictions getting relaxed this week, as it relates to indoor dining, bar seating comes back today. Capacity goes up to 75 percent on Friday. Curfew is getting lifted over the coming month. Are we at the right stage in time for that kind of handful of restrictions, several restrictions coming up basically at once, are we at the right time for that, given that I know you have expressed caution over indoor dining over the past several months?

Mayor: Steve, thank you for the question, and the bottom line is we're going to keep watching. We make our decisions based on the data and the science right now, the data is telling us we're in good shape and we can keep proceeding. The vaccination numbers tell us something very positive. I mean, right now we've got 3.6 million people have at least one dose of that would get us assuming the vast, vast majority of going to follow through and get that second dose that puts us almost 73 percent of the way to our goal for the end of June. Things are clearly moving in the right direction. We definitely appreciate that gives people opportunity to come back with their livelihoods and with their lives and the things they love to do, but we're going to watch constantly, and if the data tells us something else, we can make adjustments.

But look, I think this wraps it all together and I appreciate very much what Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz had to say, if you like reopening, get vaccinated. If you want more freedom, get vaccinated. If you want life to go more back to normal, get vaccinated. It's really a simple, straightforward thing everyone can do to help move this along, and we've set a clear goal and I'm absolutely confident on July 1st, full reopening. I love what Dave just said, a joyful July. Everyone can be a part of ensuring we have a joyful July. It just takes a few minutes. Go get vaccinated. Thank you, everybody.

2021-05-05 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

Okay, let's go to what we talk about every day. Our vaccination effort continues to grow and the numbers keep mounting, and it's a lot of work, and we have to keep working even harder at it, but we keep moving forward every day. So, as of today, from the very beginning, 6,737,641 doses administered. The walk-in initiative, crucial. Want to remind everyone at the City-run sites, over 50 sites across the city, walk right in. If you’ve got an appointment, that's great. If you don't, just walk right in. Easiest it's ever been to get the vaccination. If you haven't gotten it, this is the day to get it. If you want to make an appointment or you need more information, go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder. Or, you can call 877-VAX-4NYC. And we want to have a great summer in this city. We want to have a lot of our freedom back and our joy back. To help us get there, you need to get vaccinated for everyone's sake – your own, your families, your whole city’s. Now, good news – a big milestone hit at Citi Field on Monday. Citi Field has been a great part of our vaccination effort. I want to thank the Mets, they've been outstanding partners. So, as of Monday, we hit 100,000 doses administered at Citi Field. It is easy to get a vaccination at Citi Field. Things are working. It is the right place to go. Everything's clicking. Go to Citi Field, get that shot. That's easy. What's not so easy, getting run support for Jacob deGrom – this continues to be a deeply troubling issue. We're going to come up with innovative new solutions, in addition to the previously announced Jacob deGrom Support Plan.  

All right, everyone, let's do what we do every day now and let's turn to our indicators, and again, we have had weeks of good indicators. Today is no exception. Let's keep going and I'll keep saying it, if you like these good indicators, if you like the fact that things are getting better, if you'd like fewer and fewer restrictions and you haven't yet gotten vaccinated, go get vaccinated. So here we go. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report: 121 patients. So obviously well below threshold confirmed positivity also has gotten a lot lower 37.19 percent. Hospitalization rate also well below threshold, 1.61 per 100,000. So that's good news all along. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average. Well, that graph speaks for itself – continued progress. Today's report: 1,083 cases. Number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19 today's report: 2.61 percent – again, way below threshold and declining. So, that's good news all around. A few words in Spanish, as we conclude, and this is about again, how we work together with the community to end gun violence.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi and by Dr. Katz. First question today goes to Marla from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mayor, and good morning, everyone on the call.

Mayor: How are you, Marla?

Question: Good, how you doing?

Mayor: I'm feeling okay. We're moving forward.

Question: Okay. Alright. Well, I have a middle-schooler that's sitting on the carpet with no synchronous education, but anyway, that's beside the point. Councilman Mark Levine tweeted today that we're not paying enough attention to the steep decline in vaccination with a 67 percent drop in first shots compared to peak, and 45 percent of New York City adults still haven't gotten their shots. What is the city going to do about that? You have talked about incentivizing people, but we haven't seen it thus far.

Mayor: Yeah, and you're right, exactly. Marla, and so I'd say two things. I think Council Member Levine is right to say, we've got to change our approach, given some of the new facts. I think you're right to say you haven't seen the new incentives yet, and we want to show them to you very quickly. We're nailing down the final details, but you're going to be seeing a lot more. We know there's a lot of places where we could create really exciting opportunities. I mean, the other day, what we did with the Museum of Natural History is that is the shape of things to come. You know, folks are coming there. Getting vaccinated under the blue whale and then getting four free admissions to the museum. We're going to be working across the spectrum, sports teams, entertainment venues, restaurants. We're going to be looking do incentives, just like that to give people great opportunities when they get vaccinated. So that's exciting. We're going to have that real soon.

I would say to you, Marla. Yeah, we we've seen the rate go down, but we still have to recognize a lot of people are getting vaccinated and I don't want that to be missed in this situation. I was looking at the national numbers the other day, and you still got millions of people getting vaccinated every single day. Once upon a time, we would have thought that to be a miracle. You know, we remember when we thought it was a big deal if we could get to 1 million vaccinations in a day in this country. We're well, well above that now. The same thing here, we now have places get vaccinated all over the city. It's easy, it's fast. You can walk in and lots of people are still taking advantage of it, but we're going to keep innovating. So, we can keep moving this forward. Every single, additional person who gets vaccinated helps us, and one more thing, we're going to be doing a lot of work with doctors, with pediatricians to encourage their patients that direct contact with trusted healthcare providers is going to make a huge difference.

Moderator: The next is Erin from Politico.

Question: Mr. Mayor, just wanted to get your reaction to Governor Cuomo announcing May 19th as the date that most restrictions will be lifted. Obviously, you had identified July 1st, so if you get the vaccine it's okay. Do you think it's too early? Do you have any concerns? And how do you think it's going to work under the model he's kind of put out of no capacity restrictions, but you still have to do social distancing.

Mayor: Erin, look I think what the City announced July 1st, full reopening makes all the sense in the world because it gives us some more time to keep an eye on the trends. It gives us more time to get people vaccinated, as we originally planned through the end of June. It's also a full reopening. That's what I'm talking about. A reopening with very, very few restrictions. What the Governor's put forward, we’ll work with is the bottom line. It's obviously different things in different phases. We'll work with it, but we'll keep an eye on it. We'll keep an eye to make sure that the data and the science tells us everything's okay. I mean, that's the bottom line. That's why we go over these indicators every day, and if we see something wrong, we'll talk about what needs to be done to make the adjustment. But, you know, hopefully all these plans lead us to the exact same place, a fully reopened New York City this summer, and I really do think we're poised for an extraordinary summer in this city of just a huge amount of activity, and the city coming back to life, and I'm very, very excited about that. Go ahead, Erin.

Question: Okay, thanks, and then I can probably guess the answer to this, but did he consult you on this decision at all?

Mayor: Erin, I know you'll be shocked, shocked and amazed. I hope you're sitting down. No, he didn't. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Odalys from Telemundo.

Question: Good morning, Mayor

Mayor: Hey, Odalys. How are you?

Question: Nice talking to you today, Mayor. Vaccination is going well, but the numbers are showing sort of like a slowdown of the people going to get the first shot. What more can the City do to encourage people to get vaccinated? Connecticut, in this case, is doing an amazing job, also the City, but we need to encourage more people, especially in those counties that are much needed.

Mayor: Yeah, Odalys. You're right. Look, I think we should be proud of where we are. You know, we've got a huge, huge number of vaccinations that have been done and very successfully. The process has worked, you know, the team has done a great job, all those wonderful vaccinators out there. I want to thank them again. It's been very safe. We've seen just a great, great track record, and if you talk about people who've gotten at least one dose, we're almost 74 percent on the way to our five-million-person goal and overwhelmingly people get one dose do come back to get a second dose. So, there are actually some very, very good facts here, but Odalys, you're right. We got to do more. I think this is going to be about focusing on the doctors and pediatricians, reaching out more consistently to their patients, you know, let's face it, no voice is more important to people than the doctor they trust for a parent, the pediatrician's voice is so important. I think more of that contact, getting that encouragement will make a difference, definitely more incentives, and we're going to say a lot more about that in the next few days, a lot of exciting incentives and I think continuing to educate people, and also, I think we're going to hear news in the next days, confirming that hundreds of thousands of more people are now going to be eligible, kids 12 to 15, I think are going to be eligible very, very soon. That's a whole other audience we need to reach. So, I think you could put all those pieces together, we really get somewhere.  

Moderator: The next is Abu from Bangla Patrika.   

Question: Hello, Mayor, how are you?   

Mayor: Good, Abu, how you been?   

Question: Good, thank you so much. Mayor, I would like to know the Pfizer is going to get the permission - hopefully – for two to 12-years-old kids. How is it preparing and what kind of program they have to motivate the kids as well to get the vaccine?  

Mayor: I'll start Abu, and I want to turn to Dr. Chokshi, this is going to be an important new development. Look, I'm speaking as a parent now, if my kids were in that age range, that 12 to 15 age range, and the news came through that they could get a Pfizer vaccine, the second it was approved I'd be at one of those vaccination centers with my child to get them protected. I think a lot of parents are going to react that way. But I do think there's also a lot of questions people. Have a lot we have to do. We have to work closely with pediatricians in particular. I think that's going to make the biggest difference. Dr. Chokshi, why don't you talk about that initiative?  

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Hi, yes, sir. Thank you. We have a three-pronged plan that is ready to go. As soon as we hear about the green light from the FDA and the CDC with respect to using Pfizer for 12- to 15-year-olds. The first part of it is leveraging our existing infrastructure, the clinics, the hospitals that already have Pfizer to make sure that they're prepared for some of the special considerations for that younger age group, particularly that consent requirements associated with it. The second part of the plan is to work very actively with pediatricians who may not be currently part of our vaccination efforts, but who will be critically important to have these conversations with parents and get adolescents vaccinated as well. And the third part is very importantly working with our colleagues in the Department of Education to ensure that we're communicating through schools with parents in the mechanisms and the avenues, you know, that they're already aware of. The final thing that I'll say, if I understood your question correctly, Abu, you were also asking about the two to 12 year age range, and Pfizer did indicate yesterday that they're planning to submit results from that later on in the summer and it could be authorized for use in children younger than 12 as soon as September of this year. So, we'll of course have to follow all of that out and see the data ourselves, but that's certainly a very promising development for later in 2021.  

Mayor: Thank you, Dave. Go ahead, Abu.  

Question: Second question is the same kind, is the – is this vaccine will be the same, like, you know, for the for the adult or it will be a different kind of vaccine for kids?   

Mayor: I'm going to turn back to Dr. Chokshi. My understanding is its exact same vaccine, same approach, but Dr. Chokshi you can explain.  

Commissioner Chokshi: That's exactly right. It's the same vaccine for adults and for children.  

Mayor: Excellent. Hey, as we conclude, everyone, look, this comes back to a crucial point. We all together innovated Open Streets. Innovated Open Restaurants. We now are putting the pieces in place for an extraordinary summer and the streets of New York City. It's going to be, I think, greater than anything we've ever seen before, because it's going to combine so many wonderful new outdoor activities, opportunities, but also people feeling that comradery, that sense of we're coming back together. We're creating a recovery for all of us together. Everyone is going to be a part of the comeback story of New York City. Again, you want to do something right now to make sure it's going to be an amazing summer, go out and get vaccinated because we all deserve the greatest summer ever in New York City and you can help to make it happen. Thank you, everybody.

2021-05-06 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. So, you know, I talk all the time about a recovery. I talk about a recovery for all of us and what it means. A recovery for all of us means in every part of New York City life is coming back. It means people feel safe and secure and they know we're moving forward as a city. So, when we think of recovery, of course it means jobs and economic activity. It has to mean social justice. It has to mean fairness. It has to mean opportunity, but it definitely also means public safety – a safe and secure New York City in all neighborhoods. 

Okay. Now, when we talk about a recovery, of course, we have to talk about vaccination. So, every day I gave you the numbers, and what I really appreciate is that every day they move substantially. We definitely have to do more and more to make it easier, to make more accessible for people to get vaccinated, to make it more fun. We’ve got a lot to do to reach out to people, but, all that notwithstanding, the numbers keep moving all the time, and that is very, very important for the future ahead, for our July 1st full reopening, for the Summer of New York City, which we are all going to experience together. So, as of today, 6,809,451 doses given from the beginning. And when you think in terms of first doses – first doses, where we know, overwhelmingly, about 95 percent of folks come back and get that second dose. This now puts us almost 75 percent of the way to our 5-million-person goal for the end of June. So, at this point, about – we have about 3.7 million New Yorkers have gotten at least a first dose, puts us, again, and about 75 percent to our goal in terms of first doses. This is really good progress. We need to consolidate this progress, keep it moving. 

Now, to do that, we need incredibly energetic people out there, helping everyone know about vaccination, answering their questions, letting them know it's easy, it's convenient. We need people to go above and beyond the call. And, a few days ago, we got a report from Juliet Papa of 1010 WINS, and she said in Times Square she saw this extraordinary woman out there promoting vaccines She said, I think I've found New York City's first vaccine hawker, and were all really immediately interested. Our team went out to find her. We found her, and I want to say in advance, you're going to see a video of her work. Tanika Price, she is amazing. She works at the 20 Times Square vaccine site. She goes out there, she makes a difference. She literally just goes on out there, connects with people, talks to them, brings them in. She's a nurse, doing extraordinary work to protect her fellow New Yorkers. And this is also a great moment to say Happy Nurse's Day, everybody. This is the day we celebrate nurses. They have been amongst the greatest heroes of the fight against COVID. Anybody in your life who's a nurse, thank them today. If you see a nurse today, anywhere you are, thank them, because they've done amazing, amazing work for all of us. So, Tanika Price represents the best of the best, making a difference for our fellow New Yorkers. I want you to see her live, in action on this video. 

[…] 

Mayor: How much do you love that? That is a true New Yorker. Tanika – I wish we were talking to her right now, but I am so proud of you, Tanika. That is what a New Yorker does, you go out, you make it happen. And it’s just a beautiful example of someone who cares, someone who's making a difference, and, listen, people just need to hear it's important, it's here, it's easy. And she certainly got some interesting people to come in and get vaccinated. So, well done, Tanika, and we want to see a lot more of that, going forward, in this city. And we also recognize, talking about Times Square – of course, we think about New Yorkers, but we also think about tourists. We want tourism back. We're doing a huge effort to bring tourism back. We talked it about a few days ago, big $30 million campaign to get the tourists back to New York City. This summer, you're going to see tourism come alive again in New York City, you’re going to see a lot of jobs come back because of it. We want to go the extra mile, make it easy for tourists. If they're here, get vaccinated while you're here. It makes sense to put mobile vaccination sites where the tourists are. That is good for all of us that they get vaccinated. It's good for them. It's another reason to be here and know you're going to be taken care of. So, we're going to be setting up these mobile vaccination sites where tourists go. We'll be using the J & J vaccine. We’ll be in Times Square, Brooklyn Bridge Park, Central Park, the High Line, a variety of locations. And we're going to be working with the State of New York. We need the State to alter the rule that will allow us to provide vaccination to folks from out of town. But we think this is a positive message to tourists – come here, it's safe, it's a great place to be, and we're going to take care of you. We're going to make sure you get vaccinated while you're here with us. So, this is going to start as soon as we get that approval. We're ready to go this weekend. We want to welcome more and more people into the vaccination effort. 

All right, everybody, now it's the time of our briefing that everyone looks forward to, our indicators, and the indicators today are worth the wait because they are very, very good. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 121 patients. Again, we are well below the threshold, and it continues to look great. Confirmed positivity level has gone lower, 34.71 percent. Hospitalization rate continues to go down. This is crucial, 1.5, one per 100,000, all excellent. And now number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, again, look at that excellent downward slope, 1030 cases, and keep seeing a decline there, that's fantastic. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 2.52 percent and going down. So, I always like to remind you, want to be a part of making those numbers keep going down, go out and get vaccinated. Nurse to Tanika and many other great folks are going to be out there to help you do it. This is the right day. If you haven't gotten vaccinated yet, this is the day to do it, make a reservation, or just walk on up to dozens of sites all over the city, including that great site in Times Square. Okay, few words in Spanish, and I'm going to go back to the City Artist Corps.  

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes, Cultural Affairs Commissioner Gonzalo Casals, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and President and CEO of Health + Hospitals Dr. Mitch Katz. First up, we have Jennifer Peltz from AP.  

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: Good, Jennifer, how you been?  

Question: Okay. I wanted to talk a little bit about vaccines and vaccinations. In light of the Biden administration's announcement this week that some doses will be reallocated from places that are not looking for them to places that are, is that effecting the City’s plans, is the city considering requesting less than its usual allocation when the next round goes in, I think as soon as today in orders? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but I'll say Jennifer – I'd say the basic answer is no. We're doing the things that we need to do to protect New Yorkers, and that means getting more and more vaccinations done in more and more creative ways. You just saw one earlier today and there's many more coming. So, I think the fact is, we want to have a steady supply. We need a certain amount in reserve to make sure we can always support our efforts, even if there's ever any slowdowns in supply. We're working on our goal and there's a lot more New Yorkers who are going to be able to reach. I thought what a nurse Tamika said was really powerful, but sometimes people just need a conversation, and that's one of the things that Dave's been talking about, about doctors, pediatricians reaching out to their patients and that that's going to move a lot of people. So, we need a healthy supply to ensure that we can reach everyone. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you very much, sir, and that's exactly right. You know, we do plan to continue maximizing our order from the federal government with respect to vaccine supply and that directly connects to the point that the mayor just made, which is it enables us to get more and more vaccine out into, you know, we can think about it as the spokes in our hub and spoke model. That means doctor's offices, including community-based independent providers, neighborhood pharmacies, you know, all of those smaller providers that people know and trust in their neighborhood. And if they're qualified to be able to store and handle vaccine, we want to get them a vaccine so that they can get their patients and their customers vaccinated. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Jennifer. 

Question: Sure. Thank you. A follow-up question on that. Since the numbers of people getting vaccinated have gone down compared to a few weeks ago, are there circumstances where doses are expiring because they're going unused or is that not happening? 

Mayor: I’ll turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi, they'll each talk about the different efforts at their vaccination sites. I think the big picture here, Jennifer, is that is a rarity, and we certainly want to keep it that way, and we're going to continue to use, again, all sorts of creative ways to get more and more people in. Remembering that even though we've seen some slow down, there's still a lot of people coming in to get vaccinated. And again, the fact that we are now at 3.7 million people have had at least one dose, pretty much all of them who have not yet gotten the second dose will, there's still lots and lots of demand. We've got a huge number of people coming in for their second doses alone. So, we got the demand to keep using our supply effectively, but just to give you the sense of on the ground, Dr. Katz filed by Dr. Chokshi. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes, Mr. Mayor, just as you said, the vaccine does not expire when it's kept in the freezer. So, we keep our vaccines in the freezer until the time that we need to give them, so we don't have any worries. The lifespan of the vaccines in the freezer is on the order of months. So, we're perfectly fine. That's not an issue for us. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi, you want to add?  

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Just to affirm that you know, in New York City, we are not in a situation where vaccines are expiring because, you know, we're unable to use them. We continue to vaccinate at a good clip, and we will continue to do that and store vaccine in freezers and refrigerators, you know, so that we can continue to use it for a weeks and months beyond today.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.  

Moderator: Next, we have Juliet from 1010 WINS.  

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor, all hail Nurse Price.  

Mayor: Yeah, Juliet, you get a special honorable mentioned for finding her. I really - you've done a great service to the public to know that we can all see her amazing work. So, thank you. 

Question: Oh [inaudible] thank you for [inaudible] I'm so glad you found her. She's doing a great job there and she's still doing it. It's fantastic. So, I did want to follow up with that too, do you think there will come a time when you're going to have, let's say a permanent, either vaccination or testing locations in the city in the event people need booster shots down the road for this. How would that work? 

Mayor: That's a great question. I'll turn to the doctors for their views. I think, look, first of all, in the future, my layman's view is it's going to resemble more how we handle flu shots because it's going, you know, COVID will be a part of the reality like the flu is, but it'll be a manageable part. But if it makes sense, sort of for a transitional period of time, to keep some of the centers open going forward, I think that makes a lot of sense. Dr. Katz then Dr. Chokshi.  

President Katz: Yes, sir. Certainly, all of the Health + Hospitals' facilities, both our inpatient and our outpatient, will always maintain the ability to do vaccinations. And I think you are right, sir, that they likely will be future boosters needed just as there is with flu, and we'll be prepared to do those, and I'm sure as the city, we will keep open whatever facilities are necessary at different times in order to be able to vaccinate everyone who needs it. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi.  

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, thank you, sir, and, Juliet, thanks for the important question. Just as Dr. Katz said, you know, we have been so many ways of permanent infrastructure already. It's our hospitals, but also our health centers, our pharmacies, all of the places where the everyday and miracle of routine vaccination happens even when we're not in a pandemic. But what we've demonstrated over the last few months is that we are able to rapidly stand up these mass vaccination sites as needed when we need to vaccinate more of the population quickly. We did this back in 2009 with H1N1, you know, obviously we're doing it now as well. And if the situation arises where we have to do it in the future, we'll be ready, but I think we'll be more reliant on that permanent infrastructure that we already have in place. 

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Next, we have Andrew Siff from WNY – NBC. 

Question. Like WNYC. They are a very good station as well. 

Mayor: Andrew, you are a quick with the quip. 

Question: You know, you have to be in this world. Mayor today is Nurses' Day, as you mentioned. I would like to go back to something you said at the start of the pandemic, which is that you'd like to throw the biggest parade in the history of New York City for nurses, first responders, and others who helped us survive the pandemic. You have about seven months left in office, do you think that credibly, the largest parade in the history of New York can happen in the next seven months? 

Mayor: I think you're going to see an amazing parade. You're going to see it in the next few months, and we're going to welcome and back the city, but at the same time, we're going to thank our heroes, our health care heroes, our first responders, our essential workers, it's going to be one of the great parades of all time for the spirit of it unquestionably. So, yeah, we're going to have a lot more to say on that soon because we're starting to open up back – you know, open up again and it's time to have that parade.

Moderator: Next, we have Sophia Chang from Gothamist.   

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.   

Mayor: Hey Sophia, how are you doing?  

Question: I'm good. So, about this plan to vaccinate tourists, the vaccines take two weeks to kick in, so how would that work with outbreaks or prevention of outbreaks, and separately, do you plan to track the vaccine status of tourists?  

Mayor: On the second part, Sophia, no such plan at this moment. We'll certainly continue to look consistently at changing dynamics and the data and the science, and as we've made every decision, our health care leadership will really lead the way in determining if we need to ever look at something like that. But I think the big reality in this country is more and more people getting vaccinated all the time. I saw the number the other day. It's something like two million vaccinations per day, nationally. Even with the slowdown, there's still a huge number of people getting vaccinated. That's what's changed this environment. It’s exactly what our doctor said all along – if enough people got vaccinated, it would change the reality of COVID and it's happening. So, that reality in terms of your first part of your question, look, the fact is the more people get vaccinated, the better for all of us. It's an interconnected country. It's an interconnected world. The more people get vaccinated, the better. If people are visiting us here and we have the ability to vaccinate them, it's a show of good will. It's a welcome. It will be helpful to us in the long run anyway, you slice it. Go ahead, Sophia.  

Question: Thank you, and there have been some recent reports that vaccination rates among NYPD in police stuff are lower than the rest of the city's rates, and just 39 percent of NYPD officers have received at least one dose. What's the reason for the low rate of vaccination and NYPD and what can the police leadership in the city do to encourage more vaccination within the department, given their exposure to the public?  

Mayor: Yeah, it's a great question. Sophia, look again, everything is done on a voluntary basis. Everyone's an individual. Every officer has a different view. Like many, many New Yorkers. I think there's some people that just wanted to wait a while. There's some people that still have unanswered questions. We got to keep reaching out and answering the concerns, and I think you'll see more and more people get vaccinated as a result, but certainly one of the things we'll do is keep reaching out through our whole city workforce, keep encouraging folks, making it easy, answering questions, and I think that'll have an impact over time.  

Moderator: Next, we have Henry Goldman from Bloomberg.  

Question: Hello Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today?  

Mayor: I am doing well, Henry. How you been?  

Moderator: I’m good. I'm good. On the vaccinations, the levels of vaccinations are going down precipitously, and in your presentation today, you talked about 3.75 million vaccinations, as seventy-five percent toward the goal of five million, but that 3.7 million is only first to go, it's not a full vaccination number, and so I'm wondering, given the precipitate drop in people getting vaccinated, whether the city is in a position to reach its goal of five million persons vaccinated by the end of June?  

Mayor: Yeah, Henry, it's a great question. Look, I don't agree on precipitous drop because we've seen it for a pretty brief period of time, and we're about to put a lot of new approaches into play that I think will help to compensate. From day one 6.8 million doses, so now we have, in terms of our 5 million goal, we're 55.6 percent of the way in terms of those already fully vaccinated, and obviously it's the first week of May. But if you look at the first dose, I want to make sure I articulated this clear. I'm glad you asked it. 74.3 percent of the goal has been reached in terms of first dose. The point I was making is, first dose is almost a guarantee of second dose. We're seeing about 95 percent of people who get a first dose in New York City follow through and get the second dose. We've seen that very, very consistently. So, this says to me that practically we can now account for 75 percent effectively of our goal. Now we got to go out and have secured a last 25 percent, and I feel good about it. I think it's harder than it was. It was harder than we started out because of the challenges around Johnson & Johnson. We absolutely believed when we kept talking about this number that Johnson & Johnson was going to play a crucial role. It hasn't been playing as big a role. That's an issue. That's a problem. But with enough creativity, I think we can still get there. 

Everyone, look – today, we're talking about so many things that prove this city is coming back. Our City Artists Corps is going to be so exciting. The amazing work being done in our vaccination effort, and you saw, Nurse Tanika. That's a true New Yorker, out there at the front line, making things happen, believing in this city. The incredible work of NYPD, and you're going to hear a lot more about that today, getting guns off the streets. This is how we come back. I believe in this city, 110 percent, I believe in the people of this city. I think New Yorkers were heroes in this crisis. Anyone who doesn't believe in New York City, you don't know what the hell you're talking about because this city is coming back. Why? Because we have a magic ingredient called New Yorkers. So, get ready for the greatest comeback ever. Thank you, everybody.

2021-05-07 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Good morning, again, everyone. And now, as every week on Friday, it's time for our weekly Ask the Mayor segment – my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio. 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, or tweet a question at Brian Lehrer and good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. And, Brian, I have some breaking news for you today. Today, according to our Health Department the positivity level for COVID in this city is at 2.41 percent. This is the lowest COVID rate in New York City in six months.

Lehrer: That is really good news. It was that three percent positivity threshold that you were at for closing public schools that you had to deal with in the fall. So, it's been many months and that is good news indeed.

Mayor: And it's going in the right direction, and really this is something to celebrate about how New Yorkers have handled this because folks have been heroic and strong and done the distancing and worn the masks, and also gone out there and gotten vaccinated in extraordinary numbers, and we got more work to do, but this is a story of New Yorkers really pitching in and making a difference. So, something to be real happy about.

Lehrer: Well, that might change your answer to what was going to be my first question, because I noticed that since you were on last Friday, the Governor did it again. He one-uped to you on something that you initiated, and last Friday here, you are touting your plan to fully reopen the city on July 1st, because by then there would be about five million vaccinated New Yorkers, you said, and it would be safe enough to do so. First, the Governor wouldn't even promise to allow you to do that, but then he announced a full reopening for May 19th, six weeks earlier than your July 1st date. So, my question was, and I guess still is, since you hung your timing on when enough New Yorkers would be vaccinated, do you think of May 19th full reopening is safe?

Mayor: Well, look, Brian, what he's put forward is actually a variety of steps. It's not quite the same as what I said. What I said is a full, full reopening, and like essentially things back to normal with, you know, obviously some exceptions, but basically getting back to normal where we go to things as we always did. The plan the state has is a series of steps over the weeks ahead, we're still with a variety of restrictions in place. We're going to watch – we're going to watch carefully. Our health leadership is constantly looking at the data. We think everything needs to be based on the data and the science. So, today I feel good. I see things moving in the right direction. Let's keep watching carefully and we'll make adjustments if we need to. The most important point is for people to get vaccinated. And what we're seeing is folks continue to get vaccinated. I want more and more folks to do it. This is the difference maker. Everyone now has perfect proof that vaccination was a difference maker, because we went from a situation where COVID was rampant to a situation where it's now on the run, decreasing all the time. The x-factor is the level of vaccination, even with the variance. So, a reminder to all your listeners, if you haven't yet gotten vaccinated, you can walk up at a variety of city sites, including the wonderful site in Times Square that we featured yesterday in our video, and the American Museum of Natural History. You can go to vaccinefinder.nyc.gov to find a site. If you want to make an appointment, you can call 8-7-7-VAX-4-NYC, if you prefer to go by phone. But it's time for everyone to contribute to this progress and consolidate it by going out there and getting vaccinated.

Lehrer: Marie in the Bronx, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Marie.

Question: Hey, yes. Good morning, Brian. Good morning, Mayor. Thank you very much for doing this every week, and thank you for the good news on the positivity rate. My question and my concern regarding an outdoor dining structure on my street in front of the laundromat, a use and in front of the street tree I mulch, I have been mulching for a few years. The bar/restaurant, in January, started its outdoor structure covering entirely not just its frontage, which is double at a corner, all the way across the laundromat, and they've just continued to you know, they're using everything for their own end. No one can pick up or drop off in the laundromat. They've broken branches of our street tree. They have started – the leveled their own street tree pit with asphalt, and because of their construction, the end into the laundromat is blocking the flow of water into the storm drain, which is at the other end of the structure, creating a backdraft, and they have been trying to use the street tree as a storm drain because it's closest to that end. So, I need help—

Lehrer: Where is this?

Question: Kingsbridge on 231st Street.

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Marie, thank you. Thank you for raising this. This is exactly one of the things I appreciate about this show, and I appreciate about you, Brian, but I especially appreciate about your callers, when they raise something that we need to fix and we need to address this is the voice of the people. So, Marie, thank you for caring so much for your community. Please give your information to WNYC, we'll have inspectors come out right away to address this. Look, I think outdoor dining has been amazing and it's going to be permanent and it's going to improve life in this city, and it's going to bring back our restaurant industry and hundreds of thousands of jobs and keep them, but it also has to be done in a smart way in terms of being good neighbors with everyone around. If folks can't get to their own laundromat, that doesn't make sense. Obviously, that's unacceptable. For years and years and years, I depended on the laundromat. I understand if you can't get to it, it really destroys your quality of life, and we need restaurants to be good neighbors. Our Nightlife Office often is able to go in and mediate situations like this and come up with positive resolutions. So, we'll get them involved. We'll get the Department of Transportation, which handles the sidewalks involved. I think we can find a resolution here quickly, and please let WNYC know how we can reach you today, Marie.

Lehrer: Maria in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Maria. 

Question: Good morning. Good morning, Brian. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for your successful contact tracer program. I worked for your COVID Tracer Initiative assigned to the DOE Situation Room, contacting phobic school staff and parents, my colleagues and I each talked more than 80 households daily. I hear about the financial impact on working mothers due to work absences caused by back-to-back quarantines because of their children's exposure to positive COVID cases, forcing moms to miss work and stay home with minors, you cannot be left alone. We hear about the students' mental and academic distress due to absence from the school environment, from their teachers and classmates. The solution, Mr. Mayor, I'm asking you to increase the current 20 percent COVID testing and scores to 80 percent to prevent daily exposures and the revolving quarantine, to identify more cases quickly, and prevent the spread from community to schools, and school to poor immigrant families and low wage jobs, and limited English proficiency who don't understand the messages sent from the schools regarding quarantines. Some households with multiple kids in the same schools have gone to four quarantines. I know you can't run again, but this is the worst time for you to be leaving us without seeing through the scope of the tracer program. We need your help. These families need your help, please. 

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor? 

Mayor: Thank you. Yes, Maria. Thank you. First of all, thank you for passionately advocating for these families, and I really appreciate what you're saying, including folks who really are trying to understand what's happening and it's hard to get the information they need or, you know, a language barrier or creating a challenge. Thank you for being there for them and thank you for being part of our Situation Room and, and our test and trace effort. This effort is going to continue. First thing I need to say is the test and trace effort is going to continue until COVID is done, and then as converting into our new Public Health Corps, which is very important because we're going to take a grassroots approach to public health, going out to communities, educating them in multiple languages, going forward post-COVID. Maria, please give your information to WNYC so we can follow up with you on some of the specifics you're hearing, but I do want to tell all your listeners, Brian, today in New York City, we have 1,632 schools open, literally every single school open. 1,632. We have a handful of classrooms quarantining, the total number of students right now in the school system quarantining is 955, out of the hundreds of thousands who are going to school today. So, what has changed profoundly? We got rid of the problematic two-case rule. Obviously, everyone together has been fighting back COVID. The testing programs have worked, tests and trace has worked, Situation Room has worked, vaccination drive has worked. Kids are in school now, and it's not being disrupted almost ever anymore because of COVID. So, that's the good news, but any place that we need to do additional testing, we automatically increase the testing of schools where we see a challenge, but the good news is we're seeing fewer and fewer challenges each day. The positivity level in schools as of yesterday, 0.27 percent. Almost no one, thank God, with COVID in our public schools right now. 

Lehrer: I have a COVID in schools' question too. One that's been coming up recently from a number of news organizations. I see a report on Chalkbeat, the education site, that says with 60 percent of families still choosing fully remote learning after the recent opt-in period, some of those families will want the option for next school year if they don't trust the Department of Education's protocols or have vulnerable sick, or elderly relatives at home, et cetera. But they say you won't so far give them a clear answer about whether a fully remote option will be an option for students for next year. Can you give them an answer now? 

Mayor: I'll give them a positive answer. Opening day of school in September is about four months away. And I just told you, we have the lowest COVID positivity of six months and it's plummeting downward. I think we're going to be an entirely different and better situation already in July. I said, July 1st for a reason, based on all the projections of our medical team, CDC, etcetera, we expect July to be substantially better than now and September to be an entirely different environment. So, the Chancellor and I've talked about this, we've talked about with the health care team, we are planning for every single child to be back in school. That is the plan, and we'll monitor, and we'll talk to parents, and we'll talk to health experts, and we've got a lot of time to make adjustments as we go along. But the plan is for every child to be back in school. 

Lehrer: So, people will react to this however they are reacting, but are you stating today there will be no full-time remote option in September? 

Mayor: No, I'm saying the plan is for every child to be back in school between –four months is a long time. So, I think – here's a question, the parents want to know if there's going to be a seat for their child in September, I guarantee you right now there's a seat for your child. We can accommodate every single child. We are moving full speed ahead with that plan. I think parents should want their kids back in school, honestly, because the entire situation is better now and it's going to be, I think, night and day between now and September, and we have a lot of catching up to do. So, we're planning for every child to be back. We will pay attention in the meantime to what happens with the health care situation, what our health care team says, we'll certainly be engaging parents, but it's plan A. Plan A is every single child back in school. 

Lehrer: Last caller and it's a teacher. In fact, while we're on education, excuse me, John Carlo in Brooklyn. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, John Carlo. 

Question: Good morning both, and yes, I am a teacher, and I am looking forward to a full return and full live instruction next year, but that will mean classrooms that are much more full with limited insulation, sometimes only one door. So briefly, right now students who do not have their measles, mumps, and rubella vaccinations are removed from school. Will you pledge and with the DOE to know that the vaccines will soon be approved for age 12, will you pledge that students not COVID vaccinated will face the same restrictions as those who do not have the MMR? 

Mayor: John Carlo, first and very importantly, thank you for the work you do because teachers have been heroic throughout this year. But no, honestly, I'm not going to pledge that at all. We have, right now we're seeing extraordinary success without yet being able to vaccinate younger kids. We are very, very hopeful, and Brian, I'm sure you're talking about this that very soon we'll be able to vaccinate even as early as next week, 12-year-olds to 15-year-olds with the Pfizer vaccine. We're going to act on that the second we get full sign off, and I think a lot of parents are going to come forward, and then we're hopeful we'll get to the point soon where we can go to even younger kids. But without the benefit of being able to vaccinate kids at that younger level, we're seeing the schools extraordinarily safe right now, and we're talking about what's going to be happening in September, fully four months from this day. So, I feel very good that we're going to be able to have a safe environment with a lot of people vaccinated, a lot more people vaccinated between now and then, but without a requirement. I think that's the right way to go, and we'll watch, and we'll pay attention to the science, and we might make adjustments. But at this moment, I think we can achieve it based on all the progress we're making. 

Lehrer: John Carlo, thank you for your call. And with that, we are out of time except to say that a little birdie told me that tomorrow might be your birthday, is that true? 

Mayor: The birdie is right, and it's a challenging birthday, but I'm moving forward with life, Brian. I'm enjoying this last day of this phase of life, and you know what? It's a beautiful sunny day, counting my blessings. 

Lehrer: Well, may the eighth be with you. Mr. Mayor – 

Mayor: Well done, well done. Thank you, Brian.  

Lehrer: Thanks as always, talk to you next week.

2021-05-10 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, first of all, I hope all the moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day. To the moms of New York City, thank you. Thank you for all you do for all of us. Thank you for seeing our families through this extraordinarily tough time in our history and onto a better day. So, what a difference Mother's Day a year ago versus Mother's Day yesterday. Thank God, we've come a long, long way and we're about to go a lot farther. But thanks to our moms for always being there for us.

All right. Talk about going farther, we have a big milestone today with our vaccination effort. We have now surpassed 7 million doses from the beginning of our vaccination effort. It's extraordinary to see this constant growth. Even with challenges, people keep coming out, getting vaccinated, and we're going to make it easier and easier, better and better all the time. So, the exact number – 7,048,270 doses since the beginning of our effort. Now, here's another really important milestone. As of today, we're at just about two percent for COVID positivity in New York City. That is really, really good news. We've seen tremendously – really helpful, really good results for weeks and weeks now with our indicators. We'll go over them again later on today. But now, right around two percent – the lowest we've been in over six months. You have to go back to November 2nd, 2020 was the last time the level was this low and it keeps going down. And this is because of the amazing work of all New Yorkers, helping us to move forward. But, right now, it's all about vaccination. Boy, if you ever needed an object lesson, look at how with every additional vaccination, the numbers keep going down and down for COVID. We're pushing COVID back all the time. That is the best evidence in the world to keep getting vaccinated.

Anyone who's not gotten vaccinated, now is the time. And we want to make it easier and we want to make it fun, and we want to give you some incentive. So, today, we announce incentives that I think are going to really encourage some of the folks who just haven't gotten around to it or have been waiting for the right moment. Here's the right moment – free tickets. Free tickets to some of New York City's most iconic attractions. You'll get them when you get vaccinated. We're talking about the New York Botanical Garden, the New York City Aquarium, the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, the Bronx Zoo, a membership to the Public Theater – the extraordinary Public Theater – events at Lincoln Center. All these things are free when you get vaccinated. Tickets to Brooklyn Cyclones games, tickets to NYCFC – professional soccer, New York City Football Club. We're going to be giving out the details in the next few days, but, from this point on, there'll be many, many opportunities to get great, great prizes when you get vaccinated. And we want people to know it's time and it's going to just make it so much better for everyone else too. Each additional person that gets vaccinated helps us move everything else forward. So, you're going to hear about these exciting incentives and more over the coming days.

There's lots of different pieces we have to bring together. So, when we think about a recovery for all of us, we think about the life of the city, we think about the streets of this city, we think about the energy, the vibrancy of this city. In the toughest moments of COVID, the people of the city came together and found a way to do something positive, even amidst the pain. And that was Open Streets, Open Restaurants, saving 100,000 jobs, bringing life and energy and vitality to the streets even when we were up against so much. That was a beautiful example of the New York City spirit and it continues to be. So, throughout this week, we're going to be talking about the streets of this city and the things we're going to do to make them safe and vibrant for the months and years ahead. And this is crucial to our recovery. Street's Week, this week – all week, Streets Week, we're going to talk about our streets and making them better all the time.

Okay. Now let's talk about the indicators. I mentioned them upfront. We do it every day, but today is a very special day for our indicators because we have now hit the six-month low. As I mentioned, this is really big news. And I like to see us keep setting some more records going forward. Let's go over what we have today. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today’s report, 88 patients, 88 patients. Look at that number. It looks really good, that graph there. Confirmed positive level 30.68 percent. Hospitalization rate continues to go down as well, 1.27 per 100,000. So, so far you're seeing really, really great numbers across the board. Now let's look at new reported cases on a seven-day average. Again, listen to this, today's report 799 cases. I mean, that is a perfect downward slope right there. And let's keep that going. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19. Here it is. Today's report, on a seven-day rolling average, 2.01 percent and continuing to go down. And what do we need to do? Everyone who hasn't gotten vaccinated gets vaccinated and we drive COVID right out of town. Few words in Spanish about the vaccination effort.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we are joined by Deputy Commissioner Eric Beaton from the Department of Transportation, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and the President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, Dr. Mitchell Katz. Our first question of the day goes to James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor and to everyone on the call.

Mayor: Good morning, James. How you doing?

Question: Doing great. Thank you. Thank you very much. First of all, you had said to me on Friday, to stay tuned for Monday to hear more about incentives for people to get vaccinated. You have delivered in part today with free tickets, et cetera. You'd also said though there'd be more information about efforts, like the one at which we saw you on Friday, with the mobile vaccination unit. Are we likely to see more efforts like that? Can you give us more details about how you have said you intend to be more into communities? How that's going to be going forward? If it's expanding at all?

Mayor: Yeah, no. James look we're constantly learning what works and then we lean into it. So, you saw with your own eyes on a Friday, in the Bronx with Congress Member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Assembly Member Karines Reyes. There was great energy, great energy in the community. We were talking to people up there about why they decided to come get vaccinated. People kept saying, because it was right here, it was easy. We talked to people who hadn't yet gotten vaccinated. They said they didn't know this happened, that this was happening. Now, they want to be a part of it. We're going to be doing these mobile units around the city. We're going to be doing pop-up sites and places we still haven't gone to. We're going to be doing a lot to draw attention to it. And the incentives. So, I think really James, it is the combination of the two that's going to help supercharge the effort going forward. We've given people proof, absolute proof, that vaccination works. Because you can see with your own eyes, how COVID is going down and it's allowing people more freedom and they want that freedom. We got to make it easier. We've got to make it more fun. We got to make it more local. That's what we're doing now. Go ahead, James.

Question: Thanks. We've talked some about the emergency use authorization of the Pfizer vaccine being extended to 12 to 15-year-olds. It does appear that that is going to happen by mid-week. Can you give us a clear idea of what efforts the City is making for when that designation is made? Will people be able to just take their kids in on a walk-in basis to vaccination centers? Will schools be offering vaccinations? Can you just give us more information regarding that please?

Mayor: Sure. I'll start James, and then I'll welcome Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz to add. We do expect authorization very soon. We want to immediately get to work vaccinating young people who now can get the vaccine. We'll use all the existing centers that have the right vaccine, for sure, including on a walk-in basis. We're going to constantly look for the right ways to do things. So, right now we do not have a vaccination effort directed to schools, but we might do something with that going forward. Right now it will be based on the vaccination centers. And very crucially on pediatricians and the role of pediatricians as well. So, I want Dr Chokshi to start and speak about that.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. And to recap, we have a three-pronged plan as soon as that emergency use authorization is extended to 12 to 15-year-olds for the Pfizer vaccine. The first is to use our existing sites that are already administering Pfizer. You can find what those are by going to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder. And you can just search for all of the sites that are currently administering Pfizer. As soon as the EUA is expanded, anyone with a teenager, anyone between the ages of 12 and 15 will be able to take their child to that site to get vaccinated as well. Second, we are working very closely with pediatricians. We've been planning and preparing for weeks with our colleagues in pediatrics to get them ready. Both to answer questions about the vaccine specific to children and also in many cases, being able to directly administer the vaccine in pediatrician's offices, because we know how important that is to parents. And then third to build a little bit on what the Mayor has said. We're working very closely with our Department of Education partners to communicate to parents, to communicate to adolescents as well. And to work with them, to both get the word out, but also actually ensure that people know how to access vaccination. And I'm sure that we'll be able to build upon those efforts as we get you know, more Pfizer vaccine and have a chance to expand upon those activities that I've described.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, you want to add?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Thank you, sir. Just to say that the 11 hospitals of Health + Hospitals all have Pfizer vaccine. And we look forward to welcoming the 12 to 15-year-olds as soon as that approval happens. We're ready. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next we have Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, everyone on the call. Happy Monday to you. I was hoping the Mayor, that your medical team can weigh in on this. Obviously, vaccines are having a tremendous impact on the reduction of the COVID rates, the hospitalizations, et cetera. But to what degree is seasonality a part of this? Because a year ago in May and June, we had a dramatic drop and the vaccines didn't even exist. So, to what degree might that be a factor and how concerning is it because we then would be facing return to colder weather this fall?

Mayor: As we turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz, Andrew, it's a really fair question. I would say big difference clearly with massive amounts of vaccinations and a lot of folks who have been exposed to COVID have the antibodies. I think there are a number of differences this point in 2021 versus the same point in 2020. But you're absolutely right. Seasonality has always been a issue of discussion and concern around the coronavirus. So, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, what do you think?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, I'm happy to start on this, sir. You know, it is a complex picture as we've alluded to in the past. It's the public health precautions that everyone has worked so hard at over the last few months that have worked to help drive the rates down. It's also the immunity as the Mayor has pointed out, both the immunity that people build up after they've been infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. As well as now, very importantly, the immunity from vaccination. And it's likely that seasonality plays some role which is you know, not completely well understood scientifically. We think that one component of it is certainly that as the weather warms, people are spending less time indoors. And we know that that does affect COVID-19 transmission. But looking ahead to the other part of your question, Andrew. The big difference between now and last year is the protective buffer that vaccination provides. And that's why we're going to work so hard even as the weather warms up to get as many people protected as possible, because we know that that immunity will extend for several months and certainly into the fall and winter of 2021.

Mayor: Thank you Dr. Katz, you want to add?

President Katz: I think Dr. Chokshi did a great job. I would just add that if you think about where we were last year in May, while it's true cases were dropping, the city was closed. I mean, we were completely closed down. And the fact that cases have been dropping despite the fact that we've been able to reopen much of the city, I think goes to the effectiveness of the vaccinations. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew. My second question has to do with the incentives. Not that there probably aren't New Yorkers out there who would appreciate a free ride New York City Ferry, I'm wondering whether or not you have a plan to move to cash incentives or something that really gets to the hesitant population? And, or whether there might be a stick component of this where you would recommend that employers penalize people who don't get vaccinated.

Mayor: Very important questions, really. I don't – I'm not yet seeing the stick component as the way to go. I think things will change month by month. And I also respect that each employer and each private space has to make the decisions that work for them. I think this is still about accenting the positive, the incentives, the convenience, and also answering the real questions that people have. So, one of the things that Dr. Katz and Dr Chokshi have talked a lot about is getting more and more conversations between doctors and their patients directly. I think that is going to bring a lot more people into the pool who will get vaccinated. I think the incentives will help and the convenience helps. I think they kind of go hand in hand. Folks, many, many folks I think have been ready, they just haven't found the right moment, or it wasn't easy enough. I think this gets everyone's attention, helps them move. But we just see Andrew, steadiness in the vaccination effort. I mean, we're still putting up really good numbers. It's not quite the land rush it was, you know, at certain points a month or two ago. But it's still very strong and steady. I mean, as of now, we've got three million New Yorkers, fully vaccinated. 3.8 million who've gotten at least one dose. We continue to move towards our goal. It's gotten tougher, obviously because of some of the curve balls we were thrown. But we continue to stay on it. I think these new elements will help focus people. I don't at this moment, see cash incentive. I won't take anything off the table, but at this moment, I think we want to try make it convenient, things like the mobile vaccinations, the incentives, more and more outreach. That's the way we're going to go for now.

Moderator: Next, we have Roger Stern from 1010 WINS.

Question: Good morning, Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: I'm doing well, Roger. How you been?

Question: I'm good. I'm good. Thank you. So, I have a couple of questions about the pandemic and COVID. First one is, are we at the State or near the State as some areas find themselves that we now have access to more vaccines than we have people willing to take them?

Mayor: Yeah, Roger, it's true that the supply has finally gotten to a point that it exceeds the demand. That is true. But I also want you to see that the demand continues to grow in a good way, meaning it is steady, it is constant. We have sites all over the city, a lot of them really busy. So, in the end, when we got to the point where we had enough vaccine that it wasn't a struggle, that was actually a really good thing in my view. When we went through weeks and weeks, where people had to struggle to get an appointment, had to wait a long time, they got very frustrated, they got very worried – the fact that now, you know you can get an appointment right away or you can walk up is actually what we would have loved to have had all along. And every day I give you the numbers. They keep climbing because people keep coming out. I do think the key piece here now is we have to do more and different outreach. We have to use the incentives. We have to get the doctors and the pediatricians into it more. I think that will keep demand constant. Go ahead, Roger.

Question: Yeah. My second question is, you know, when it comes to these incentives, there isn't really a great system for proving you have the vaccine. You get these large pieces of paper that are too large for a man's wallet. They're not terribly secure. Do we need better technology for people to document their vaccination status?

Mayor: That is a real interesting question. I'm going to turn to the doctors because I think, you know, as we think about that issue, Roger, there's definitely a value in that documentation. There's also obvious concerns about privacy, accuracy. There's a lot of different pieces to this. So, let me ask the experts what they're thinking. Dr. Katz and then Dr. Chokshi.

President Katz: I suspect that in time we will be documenting in a more secure way, more similar to how we do driver's licenses or passports. I think that will become part of life. As people want to travel on planes, want to go to busy places, people will require proof of vaccination status. But I agree very much with the Mayor that we are not yet at the point of mandatory. I still see every week in my clinic, I see patients who I say, have you gotten vaccinated? And they say, no. And I say, can I send you down for vaccination, we have it available right downstairs, we can do it right now? And they say yes. So, I very much believe that we will be able to continue to vaccinate people using incentives and making it easy as the Mayor says. And that the time for more, sort of, enforcement, more documentation is in the future, not now.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Just to add briefly, sir. I agree with Dr. Katz that, you know, we will have to continue evolving our approach to vaccine verification. We have the CDC vaccination cards. We have some technological tools, you know, that have been developed for verification purposes. And I think that, you know, there will be more conversation about exactly how that should happen, you know, using private systems but always making sure that the fundamental point, which is whether or not someone has received a vaccine, is connected to the City and State immunization systems of record. And so, these are things that we're actively working on. But our focus right now remains getting as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Mayor: Thank you. Thank you, everybody.

2021-05-11 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. It is a really beautiful day in New York City, and there's a lot to celebrate. It's Streets Week, all week – with an exclamation point, maybe two – all week here at City Hall as we focus on safe streets, streets for the people, all sorts of new approaches to our street scape. And it's national bike month, and I celebrated by getting on a Citi Bike this morning and riding to work from Gracie Mansion down to City Hall. And great experience, thanks to everyone who came along on the ride. And just beautiful, another way of seeing the city coming back to life, another way of seeing the incredible recovery – all the energy all along the route, and a lot more to come this amazing summer of New York City ahead. Today, we're going to talk about bikes. We're going to talk about buses. And we're going to talk about making this city move ahead and keeping our recovery rolling more and more every day. 

Now, first let's talk about vaccinations, as we always do. The vaccination effort keeps coming on strong. As of today, 7,152,660 doses have been given from the very beginning of our effort, more every day. And for comparison, that is more doses than there are people in the whole State of Arizona. I love those comparisons. So, we're going to continue to encourage vaccination in all sorts of new ways. We're going to make it easier. We're going to make it something that people find really convenient. And we're going to make it more fun and we're to be offering incentives. Here's another incentive today, we're announcing free two-week membership to Citi Bike – two-week membership for free when you get vaccinated. That is a really good deal. If you have not gotten vaccinated yet, what a great time to walk in or to make an appointment and take advantage of that opportunity. 

Now, that's something we're starting right away. And this coming Thursday, something new as well for folks who drive cars – a drive-through site at Citi Field. And this is an addition to the vaccination site in the stadium itself. We've already given 100,000 shots at Citi Field, it’s been amazing – absolutely amazing. And now, we're going to make it easy for folks to just come on over, get a shot, and keep moving. So, what a great place to get vaccinated and help protect yourself, your family, and your whole city.

So, the good news is, as we're talking about our comeback every day we talk about our indicators. And boy are our indicators speaking to us. We always are led by the data and the science. Well, the data is saying some really good things to us, and it's all about what all of you did to fight back COVID. So, let's look at the indicators today. Number one, daily number of people, excuse me – daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 83 patients. Look at that number. Look at that graph. 83 patients. Confirmed positivity level 28.92 percent. So, it keeps going down. Let's keep it that way. Now. hospitalization rate, 1.25 per 100,000. Well, well below the threshold and going down. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today's report is 774 cases. So, downward slope, well done, New York City. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 1.95 percent. So, we are under two percent and going south. This is fantastic. Let's keep pushing that number down for the good of all of us. Now, a few words in Spanish. I'm going back to the top. We got Streets Week and bikes and Vision Zero.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that. Let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we are joined by the Commissioner of the Department of Transportation Hank Gutman, Rachel Loeb, the President and CEO of EDC, Jee Mee Kim Chief Strategy Officer of the Department of Transportation, Health Commissioner Dr Chokshi, and President and CEO of the New York City Health + Hospitals Dr. Mitch Katz. First up, we have Juan Manuel from NY1.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Juan Manuel. How are you doing today?

Question: Very good, thank you.

Mayor: Where were you on our bike ride? We expected you, Juan Manuel.

Question: I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I couldn't make it. But I was surprised that it took you almost a year to get on a bike. Many New Yorkers started biking last year during the pandemic.

Mayor: Better late than never, brother.

Question: That's great. So, Mr. Mayor after all the city went through with a pandemic, what does it say about those who are still refusing to get the vaccine now? The City is offering free stuff to those people to encourage them to get the vaccine. But what does it say about those people and how – what's going to happen if New York City doesn't reach herd immunity, because you have a lot of New Yorkers who don't want to get the shot?

Mayor: It's a very, very important question Juan Manuel. So, just to put things in perspective, as of today, we've got 3.8 million people who've gotten at least one dose. And there's constant activity every day, tens of thousands of people getting vaccinated every day. I think the incentives are going to help. I think getting doctors and pediatricians into dialogue with their patients are going to help. I think there's more and more information getting around and answers to questions, that's going to help. I think you're going to see just consistent improvement in that number. But we've never had the assumption that every single person would get vaccinated. I think what we need is the functional reality, Juan Manuel of a city that gets safer all the time, healthier all the time, and can reopen fully. And that's what we're getting right now. I mean, you see it in the indicators. The amount of vaccination we've achieved already is having a profound impact. And there's many, many more people who are going to get vaccinated. So, I really believe, and my colleagues and I have talked about this a lot, that most people who have not gotten vaccinated are still people who would be willing to get vaccinated, but we need to make it easy. We need to make it convenient. We need to make it fun. And that's how we're going to move people.

Moderator: Next. We have Juliet Papa from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. How was your bike ride?

Mayor: The bike ride was great. Now, do we have your real true elegant voice Juliet because last week it didn't sound like you.

Question: I know it sounded underwater. I hope so.

Mayor: You sound better today.

Question: Okay, thank you. SUNY and CUNY, they're requiring vaccines for students returning to school this September. Will you be requiring that for New York City public school students as well? And if so, would you make vaccination sites available at the schools? And also, would you require teachers to be vaccinated?

Mayor: No. Across the board Juliet. We are seeing extraordinary success right now in our schools. And this is before we've been able to vaccinate our kids. We're really excited that now we'll be able to start doing that. But no, the schools have been incredibly safe because of all the health and safety measures, that gold standard of health and safety measures we put together. I'm really excited about the fall. I think we're going to be in much, much better shape then, than we even are now in terms of the overall COVID situation. So, we look forward to welcoming back every single student. There'll be lots of health and safety measures in place. I think you'll see a lot of students and a lot of staff vaccinated by then. But I think that's the right way to go about it.

Moderator: Next we have Henry Goldman from Bloomberg.

Question: Hell, Mr. Mayor. It's good to see you. How are you doing today?

Mayor: I am feeling invigorated, Henry. Nothing like a good bike ride in the morning. How are you?

Question: Absolutely. I wanted to follow up on Juliet's question because such a huge effort was made to vaccinate kids against measles. And the enforcement was pretty vigorous. [Inaudible] a similar compulsory policy toward COVID vaccinations?

Mayor: You know, talked about it with the health team, Henry. We just don't think it's the right way to go at this moment. I mean, we'll watch always, we'll always be led by the data and the science, but right now, again, we're seeing extraordinary success. And we expect that success to be sustained. And there's lots – there’s four months to get lots and lots more people vaccinated. I think we're on the right track. If anything changes, we will certainly be open to making adjustments. Go ahead, Henry.

Question: Okay. I mean it only takes a few fatal cases of COVID in a child to turn this into a crisis. But the other question I've got is a follow up on a question that Andrew Siff asked yesterday about these lower numbers and this downward slope mirroring the experience of almost exactly a year ago. Where we had a very steep, downward slope and we achieved numbers like this. And then all of a sudden they skyrocketed up. And the answer that Dr. Chokshi gave was twofold maybe, vaccines, and also that there was a lockdown, maybe it was Dr. Katz who said that. That the lockdown was the difference between then and now. But there is a recent study from the University of Chicago that says that the lockdown may in fact increased the rate and incidence of viral spread, the people in their households spreading the disease. And this University of Chicago study said really the workplaces in many ways were safer than keeping people locked down in their households. I'm wondering whether Dr. Chokshi has any thoughts about that whole policy of locking down, keeping people in homes was actually not as effective in stopping the spread as was previously believed?

Mayor: Henry, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz. I'll only say, and I think that's a really good and fair question that you asked and Andrew asked. But I would really point out, you know, again, in a city where we have 3.8 million people have received at least one dose, and we all know that even one dose has an impact, in terms of protecting people. We're in a really different situation than we were a year ago. For that reason alone, that is just a staggering number on its own. So, I appreciate the effort of comparison, but I think it's really apples and oranges. But with that, I will now turn to the experts. Dr. Chokshi followed by Dr. Katz.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. And thanks Henry, for the important question. I haven't read the University of Chicago study that you're referring to. But what I can tell you is that the preponderance of the evidence does indicate that measures that decreased mobility, that decreased you know, mixing have helped to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Not just in New York City's experience, but now born out across the country and around the world as well. But the Mayor made the most important point, which is that the key difference between 2021 and last year is that we now have an opportunity to create a more protective buffer against the virus. And that's through vaccination. And that's why we're going to remain laser focused on getting as many people vaccinated as possible, particularly while the numbers remain low to prevent any resurgence in the future.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I agree that vaccination has made a huge difference and not just here, but in other countries, such as Israel that have achieved high rates of vaccination, have found that you can then have much more activity. The way we see our beautiful New York bursting with energy again. And despite all the activity and the intermixing, the rates are going down. And I think that's the tremendous success of vaccination. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Next, we have Amanda from Politico. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Amanda, how you doing?

Question: I'm doing great. Thank you. I want to talk to you a little bit more about vaccines. So, I'm still hearing from health care workers and you know, other New Yorkers that they're still concerned about getting the vaccine because it's not FDA approved, and that's kind of where they're getting stuck on. And I was wondering with the potential for the FDA to actually approve the vaccine, not just have it as emergency use, are you expecting an increase in people who are going to come out and get vaccinated? Is that part of the strategy with getting five million New Yorkers vaccinated by next month? 

Mayor: Amanda, I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Katz and then Dr. Chokshi so they can talk about their experience with health care workers. I think that will help, but I think it's part of a continuum, if you will. With every passing month, we see more and more people who were at one point or another, either hesitant or had questions or just weren't ready to get around to it, who then, you know, decide it's time. Or someone makes it easy like when we were with the mobile vaccination bus up in the Bronx on Friday. And people like literally just – there's a moment where people are like, okay, now I'm ready. I think you're going to see more and more of that, but I do agree that any additional validation of the vaccine helps. Dr. Katz then Dr. Chokshi. 

President Katz: Thank you, sir. Every single day, we have people at all our hospitals who come forward for vaccination, who haven't been vaccinated before. And I think it's exactly what you say, sir, people are watching, they're seeing that people who've been vaccinated are not only protected, but they're not having serious side effects. And so, they're coming forth for vaccination. And I think that will continue into the future. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi about – and particularly about health care workers. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly, sir. And, and just to add to what Dr. Katz has said, that's been my experience as well, talking to my fellow clinicians and other health care workers is not so much about getting to FDA approval but just having a bit of time to have seen how the vaccine is experienced by other health care workers, you know, particularly hearing their stories about why they chose to get vaccinated, understanding that the vast majority of side effects are mild, and working through that process, you know, for themselves. With respect to the timeline for a full FDA approval, I did want to mention that, you know, I do expect that the vaccines that are currently under the emergency use authorization will subsequently get that full FDA approval. Pfizer submitted their application for a full approval on May 7th, last Friday. And so that's currently under review by the FDA, and we'll be hearing more about that in the coming months. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Amanda. 

Question: Okay. Thank you all. So, I'm looking at the city’s vaccine coverage by ZIP code. And I'm seeing that there are some neighborhoods in Brooklyn, particularly the Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods of like Midwood, Crown Heights, South Williamsburg that are around like 36 to 40 percent vaccination which is a little bit lower than a lot of parts of the city. And so, I've spoken to some Orthodox Jews who told me the reason why they were getting vaccinated was because they want to go to Israel and that's their main value and driver that's getting them vaccinated. And I was curious a little bit more the strategy on getting this particular population vaccinated considering it's pretty low versus the citywide average. 

Mayor: Yeah, Amanda, I would simply say we'll use any variety of approaches for any given neighborhood. Look, if that's a message that helps to encourage people, then that's a great message to use in those communities. We obviously want trusted community leaders joining in and certainly in the Orthodox community, we've had tremendous support from community organizations from rabbis, from elected officials, encouraging people originally get tested now to get vaccinated. So, I think that is a great message. And it's one that we’ll certainly join in spreading.

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. The next question goes to Felipe from TV Globo. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Good morning.

Mayor: Good morning, Felipe. How are you? 

Question: Fine. Thank you. Our network is from Brazil. And last week you announced the possibility of a vaccine for tourists. This caught our attention because Brazilians have always been among the international tourists that visit New York. The most I'd like to know how is the negotiation with the State to have this approval? Is there a real chance to make it happen? And if so, when? 

Mayor: Yes, the State has approved, Felipe. So, this is something we're doing already. We're setting up mobile vaccination opportunities for tourists in some of the best trafficked parts of New York City, the places that tourists love to go. And look, I think it's part of the welcome back to New York City. We want everyone to be safe and obviously my heart goes out to the people of Brazil. There's been so much pain, so much difficulty. I think anything we can do if anyone's visiting us to show a welcome and show the fact that we care about everyone who's here, even someone who's temporarily with us, we want to help out. So, I'm excited to say that vaccination for tourists is ready to go. Go ahead, Felipe. 

Question: Thank you. And aren't you afraid that people who live in this city will not be happy since the American taxpayers who are paying for the vaccines? 

Mayor: No, Felipe. I do not feel that. If people – and when we say tourists, we mean tourists from all over the United States of America and from other countries. We want tourists to come back. Part of the lifeblood of the New York City economy. We welcome them back. We had historic levels of tourism before the pandemic, as many as 67 million tourists in a single year. We want that to come back and I think rolling out the red carpet, welcoming people back, saying if you need to be vaccinated, we want to help you out, is just a smart thing to do. It's also a kind thing to do, a generous thing to do. That's who we are as New Yorkers. 

Moderator: Our last question of the day goes to Abu from Bangla Patrika. 

Question: Hello, Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Hey, Abu, how you been? 

Question: Good. Thank you so much. So, my first question is, you know, you are offering the incentives to the people who are going to get vaccinated right now, but people like you, me, and others who got the vaccine before, they're asking what is our incentive from New York? 

Mayor: I mean, I think the idea is that folks who wanted to get vaccinated, who were ready from the beginning, we made it available all over the city. It was for free. I mean, I think that was a very, very positive outcome. But for folks who need to be encouraged, I think the incentives make sense and it's – look, some people need a little extra encouragement, but it's in all of our interest for them to get vaccinated. So, I think if this is now the right time for incentives it feels like the smart thing to do. Go ahead, Abu. 

Question: Second question is, you know, the biggest celebration of the Muslim community is either tomorrow or day after tomorrow, Eid. Last year because of the lockdown and COVID, they don't celebrate in the open field, but this year they are preparing to celebrate Eid. So, do you have any because of COVID and the guidelines, CDC guideline, City guideline, do you have any message for them? 

Mayor: Yes. I first want to say Ramadan Mubarak to colleagues and friends and New Yorkers in the Muslim community. And let's all be safe. I mean, there's certainly gatherings happening the right way, outdoors and distanced and people are being really, really careful and that's great. But we also see that we can gather in ways we couldn't a year ago and that's great. So, we celebrate the community. We celebrate this very special time of year. We want people to have the opportunity to honor their faith, but let's still be smart. We're still fighting COVID. Let's do it the right way.

And everybody, as we conclude today, I think that's sort of the summary of everything that we are doing. New Yorkers are really being smart, really being smart. As I mentioned, 3.8 million people have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine already and tens of thousands of folks every day coming in and getting their first dose. This is the way forward. Get vaccinated, be smart about making sure that what we do is safe because that's what brings us back. And we all want this recovery. We can feel it. We can see it, help us get there. If you haven't been vaccinated yet, this is the best time to do it. It's easy. And we're adding these great new incentives. Come on down, get vaccinated. Thank you, everybody.

2021-05-12 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Hello, everyone. So, we continue to see folks coming in, ready to get vaccinated and coming into sites all over the city. Yep, there's been some changes over time, no doubt. But what's amazing is everyday tens of thousands of people show up to be vaccinated. Our number keeps growing and that is making us safer and safer as you will see what today's indicators in a few minutes.  

So, where are we at today? From the beginning of this extraordinary effort, biggest vaccination effort in history of New York City, 7,228,161 vaccinations given, and we're going to make it easier than ever and more convenient than ever more fun than ever. Incentives continue to be rolled out today. We're announcing gift cards. Everyone likes gift cards. So, if you love our New York City public markets, which had been such a huge hit in recent years you can get a gift card to the public markets when you get vaccinated. If you love the Chelsea Market, all the amazing stuff at the Chelsea Market, you can get a gift card to use at the Chelsea Market when you get vaccinated. I want to thank Google who helping us out and supporting that particular effort. 

We're going to be rolling out more and more incentives, all different kinds for every kind of New Yorker, because we want everyone to become part of this. We want everyone vaccinated to make all of us safe. So, look for updates all the time on new incentives, choose the one you like best and go get vaccinated. And now we have the ability to reach hundreds of thousands more New Yorkers amongst our youngest New Yorkers. They are the future of the city. We want them to be safe. So, we're really happy that the FDA has authorized Pfizer for 12-year-olds, 13-year-olds, 14-year-olds and 15-year-olds, and the CDC is meeting today. We are thoroughly convinced that they will support this effort and approve the ability to go ahead with Pfizer vaccines for young people. So, the Zoomers are going to be eligible, and we are now zooming into action. We have a full plan to reach young New Yorkers and get them vaccinated, and at our Zoomer Vaccination Desk to my right, with an update, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi.  

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. As a parent, there's nothing more important to me than protecting my child. I watch who she's with, what she's eating, and where she goes, and I know that same care and concern that all parents and guardians have carries over to the decision to vaccinate their child. Today, I want to share with you what we know about the science on the vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds and our next steps in the rollout.  

On Monday, the Mayor mentioned, the FDA expanded the emergency use authorization for the Pfizer vaccine to children ages 12 to 15, and later this afternoon, we do expect a CDC advisory committee to recommend its use, but we want parents and guardians to start preparing now. Based on the FDA report, the safety profile of the Pfizer vaccine for 12 to 15-year-olds is strong. It's the same vaccine that has already been administered safely to millions of adults. It will be at the same strength. That means at the same dose and no other safety signals have been detected in the younger age group. In the study of nearly 2,300 adolescents between 12 and 15, half received the two-shot vaccine regimen and half received a placebo. Researchers measured antibody levels triggered by the shots. They found more robust immune responses in the teens than in the young adults who have already been vaccinated in the original trial. There were 16 cases of COVID-19, but all of them were in adolescents who received the placebo indicating strong effectiveness of the vaccine. We'll learn more from today's discussions and starting tomorrow, if all goes according to plan, the City will offer the vaccine to New Yorkers ages 12 to 15 at multiple sites across New York City, another hopeful milestone in our battle against COVID-19. There are over 250 sites on the Vaccine Finder that administer the Pfizer vaccine. These include some of our most iconic locations like the American Museum of Natural History, Citi Field, and Empire Outlets along with other city hubs, Health + Hospitals facilities, mobile sites, community clinics, and dozens of pharmacies across the city. 

While vaccine sites throughout the city do accept walk-ups. I encourage everyone to make an appointment by visiting nyc.gov/vaccinefinder or calling 8-7-7-VAX-4-NYC. They can also help you get help with free round-trip transportation to a vaccine site. We will be making appointments available as soon as possible after the CDC decision. Children ages 12 to 15 will need consent from a parent or a guardian, either in person, over the phone or via a written form. We're also actively working with community pediatricians and the Department of Education who will be critical to both administering the vaccine as well as communicating with parents and guardians about its safety. Our work with community pediatricians as part of a broader strategy to shift more and more vaccination to the places and spaces that patients already trust, particularly family doctors, and primary care clinics. I'm pleased to report that as of this week, the Health Department has allocated COVID 19 vaccines to all qualified community providers who have requested an order. So, speak to your doctor about getting your child vaccinated or yourself.  

The vaccine allows us all to live our lives, to head to the beach, to go to summer camps or hang out with friends while staying safe. So, as a parent, and as the City's doctor, I urge you to make an appointment. The vaccine will protect your child, your family, and your community, and Mr. Mayor, it might help the Zoomers spend a little bit less time on Zoom. 

Mayor: Wow. Dave, you surprised me there combining the two zoom concepts into one. I didn't see that coming. Yes, we would like – definitely like the Zoomers to spend more time away from any kind of screen, and you can do that when you're vaccinated. So, parents, I'm going to speak as a parent, and I experienced the joys of having Zoomers in my life. So, the well, I guess one Zoomer out of two, but look, the bottom line here – this is how you keep your kids safe. You keep your whole family safe and it's such an important thing to do. It is working. Look at what we're showing you every day about how this city is coming back, but it's not just about the city as a whole. It’s about your own life. Vaccination protects you, protects your family. Think about the elders in your life. The ability for everyone to see each other and everyone knowing everyone's safe and how it helps us all get back to normal. So, parents, your younger kids now are going to be ages 12 to 15. Your younger kids are going to be able to be vaccinated. Let's get going. Let's get them vaccinated for the good of everyone, and thank you, Dr. Chokshi for you and all your colleagues making it an easy experience for our children, for our families.  

Now, I want to ask an important question of everyone. What week is it? Well, there's only one appropriate answer. It's Streets Week! Streets Week! Although I am looking at the graphic and my specific suggestion, there should be an additional exclamation point each day, has not been followed. I'm very let down, there'll be disciplinary action meted out against the team. It's Wednesday, so it should be “Streets Week!!!” On Monday we talked about safety and enforcement, on Monday, we talked about doubling down on Vision Zero so people can get around the city safely. On Tuesday, yesterday, we talked about busways. We talked about more bus lanes, bike lanes, bike boulevards. We talked about things that are going to greatly expand mass transit options and biking options and continue to make this a better city for everyone today. We're talking about re-imagining our streets further, and this is something we need to keep doing, because what we learned in COVID was there a lot of things we could do differently and successfully, and obviously Open Streets was such a crucial example of the kind of change we need. So, first of all, tomorrow we'll be signing legislation to make Open Streets permanent. This is really exciting because it's been a great experience for so many communities. It's, re-imagining how we use our streets. We're finding new possibilities all the time more communities are coming forward with ideas. We need this to be a permanent thing. That's step one. But now step two, let's go even further with Open Boulevards. Open Boulevards takes the concept of Open Streets and supercharges it – multiple blocks in a row, filled with restaurants, with performances, with community activities. Great for the neighborhood, great for tourists too. This is the kind of thing that people are going to love because all the life and vitality of New York City, all the diversity, all the energy will be on display in these Open Boulevards. So, this is going to be the summer of New York City and the Open Boulevards are going to be a great example of the reason people will flock here to experience what we have in a way no place else on earth has.

Now, we'll be opening 10 Open Boulevards to begin on a rolling basis in the next few weeks. There, you see on your screen the locations around the five boroughs. And it's going to come with a lot of things to identify it as a special place, special branding. It’ll be clear when you're walking into the Open Boulevard that you're coming into something special. There will be places for people to hang out, picnic tables, chairs, things that will make it a real space to just enjoy and gather with others in a safe, positive way. Department of Transportation, leading the way – thank you – partnering well with so many other partners, including NYC & Company. We want to thank them for the great work that they do all the time to encourage tourism. And it's starting, you can see it in a great way. This is a crucial piece of a recovery for all of us, doubling down on what's great for – about New York City, doubling down on the things that make us special, giving us hope and heart and energy as we recover, but also bringing so many visitors in. And everyone will benefit – neighborhoods will benefit, for sure. Restaurants will benefit, the people who work in restaurants who we care about deeply – the folks who started restaurants, built them through no matter what was thrown at them, kept building their restaurants – we want all of them to be strong in the year 2021. So, Open Boulevard is going to help us do that.

And I want you to hear from someone who has been really outstanding as an advocate for all the restaurants in New York City. He has helped us think through new and innovative approaches to bring communities and restaurant and nightlife communities together to resolve issues and move forward together. As Chair of the City's Office of Nightlife Advisory Board, strong voice for small businesses and for the people who, with their restaurants, make this city magical. My pleasure introduced the Executive Director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, Andrew Riggi.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Andrew. Andrew, appreciate your energy. You have been throughout this whole crisis just fighting with great energy. I liked your reference to Winston Churchill. You've been someone who kept fighting no matter what. But let me tell you, I thought about you the other day because I walked down the street and I went by restaurant after restaurant, filled – the outdoors seating, filled up – people happy, people back in their jobs. New Yorkers are loving Open Streets and Open Restaurants and it's something we have found that's going to be a great part of our future. So, you see the good news and you see the rebirth and thank you for being one of the people that helped make it happen.

Now, someone else who will help make it happen. And he started out in this crisis in the City Council, and he believed deeply that we could do new and better things with Open Streets and Open Restaurants. And now, he has ascended to a higher post and he will always make sure that we get the most opportunity for the borough of Queens. And I bet he's going to tell us that there are amazing restaurants in the borough Queens, and he would be right about that. And so, I welcomed for this good announcement, the Borough President of Queens, Donovan Richards.

[…]

Mayor: Nice try there, Borough President. I want to say, I like the way you promote multiple causes during your remarks. But the most important thing I could say to you is – I'm coming up on yet another wedding anniversary – is you better take Tamika to a really, really nice open restaurant for her birthday.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards: Absolutely.

Mayor: You have a plan? Are you ready?

Borough President Richards: I booked that a week ago, Mr. Mayor. I'm ahead of you.

Mayor: Okay.

[Laughter]

A week ago, a week ago. That is extraordinary foresight. I'm impressed. Okay. Say happy birthday to Tamika for me and have a great time.

Borough President Richards: Thank you. Good to see you.

Mayor: Take care. Okay. Now, we believe in activating our public spaces and making them part of our recovery. We also believe fundamentally in equity and addressing the disparities in this city. And so, in the State of the City, I talked about how we need to create new spaces in the communities most effected by COVID – the 33 communities identified by our Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity as the places we need to double down, invest in, help bring back strongly from this crisis. So, we already have projects underway in 20 of the 33 neighborhoods to activate new open spaces for the community. That can mean new public plazas. It can mean expanded pedestrian space. It can mean public markets or new community programming, artistic events, performances. We're going to continue to roll out new examples of each and every kind of this approach for the next weeks ahead. We're going to reach all 33 neighborhoods. The crucial point is to ensure that neighborhoods hit hardest by COVID benefit from the changes we're making, that they really get their fair share that they deserve, and bringing these wonderful activities to the streets is a part of that. So, we're looking forward to that in the weeks ahead.

All right. I told you earlier, our indicators look good. I could give positive indicator reports all day long. So, it's been a very nice stretch these last weeks. Let's keep it going. Here we go. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 90 – 90 patients. So, we continue to have great results. Confirmed positivity, 25.56 percent. Hospitalization rate down to 1.25 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 743 cases. Look at that just continued downward slope. We’ve got more work to do, but that looks really wonderful. And number three, percentage of people testing city-wide positive for COVID-19 – today's report, on a seven-day rolling average, 1.90 percent. Also, constant downward slope, let's keep that going.

Okay. A few words in Spanish, going back to the topic of the Open Boulevards.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined this morning by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Mitchell Katz, and by Department of Transportation Chief Strategy Officer Jee Mee Kim. First question today, it goes to James Ford from PIX11.

Question: Well, right off the top. Good morning.

Mayor: You're a good lead-off hitter, James.

Question: Thanks so much. And a happy Streets Week! from a person who rides his bike to work every day, even though there is no dedicated, separated bike lane in Manhattan between Second Avenue and Eighth Avenue below 110th Street. Just saying, don't mean to sound like Gersh from Streetsblog here –

[Laughter]

Mayor: You are a much more buoyant version of Gersh, but you have every right to raise concerns. Tell me again what you were – what you were saying?

Question: Yeah. There are dedicated bike lanes on Second Avenue, north-south, obviously, and Eighth Avenue north-south – none between those two avenues below 110th Street, so I'm riding on the street with the traffic, and so are plenty of other others of us – plenty.

Mayor: All right. You make a passionate case, and we continue to expand and do new things, so I'll be talking to the team. All right. You get your two questions now.

Question: Thanks for that. Okay, onto the questions. First, regarding the boulevards, what are the prospects for making it permanent? And, if so, how soon do you hope that happens? I know on my bike, actually, the Amsterdam Avenue stretch is usually closed off on weekends. How what are the prospects for making this permanent and how soon?

Mayor: So, let me put it in the context of everything we'd done. I'll start and I'm going to turn to Jee Mee Kim, who's the Chief Strategy Officer at Department of Transportation to add. James, look, what we're doing here is taking something that will be permanent, Open Streets, and something else that will be permanent, Open Restaurants, and we're taking a bigger approach with the Open Boulevards and creating these focal points where people can go on from multiple blocks and really experience the joy of this. I think it's just going to be a wonderful, festive atmosphere. So, the tools will be in place because both Open streets and Open restaurants as approaches will be permanent. I think, as with many things, we want to try it for a while and see how it goes and decide if we want to formalize it more. But we have the legal tools we need with those two actions as they are finalized to continue this approach. Jee Mee, do you want to speak to that?

Chief Strategy Officer Jee Mee Kim, Department of Transportation: Yes. And James, thank you for your comments on the protected bike lane gap in Manhattan. I will immediately raise that to the team after this call. But on Open Boulevards, you know, as the Mayor has said, you know, we are excited that we can, you know, start this program immediately. And it's really based on the success of the partners and the businesses and, you know, really the concerted efforts and enthusiasm of the residents and folks who live around there. So, really, I mean, I think the goal is, if this is a huge success – and I have a strong feeling that it will be this summer – you know, I don't see why we couldn't, you know, contemplate rolling it out on a permanent basis. I mean, so much of this sort of, you know, COVID-related experiments that we did last year, and huge credit to the Mayor for that, have really evolved and have gained traction and popularity. And so, I'm really excited to, you know, see how Open Boulevards, you know, how it rolls out this summer and potentially see where it goes from there.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News.

Mayor: Michael?

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: There you go, Michael. Come on. We didn't hear you there. How are you doing?

Question: Sorry. Couple of questions. First one, on, you know, administering vaccines to the younger segment, the 12 to 15. Does the City have any plans, you know, to kind of – separate from what it's already doing to kind of calm people's fears about vaccines. I mean, you know, having kids vaccinated is a little bit of a different proposition for parents. You know, does the City have anything else in store to kind of calm parents who might be afraid that, you know, that there are things that they need to be afraid about? I mean, what – do you have anything, I guess, else kind of in the hopper for that?

Mayor: Well, let me turn to Dr. Katz in a moment – excuse me Dr. Chokshi in a moment and Dr. Katz, he can join in as well. But, Michael, I would say this as a parent, I think the vast, vast majority of parents, their number one thought throughout each day is the safety and wellbeing of their kids. And the fact is that parents have had to worry about this disease and its impact. And that means seeing the evidence of vaccination has radically reduced this disease will mean a lot to parents. They're seeing evidence before their very eyes of what an impact vaccination has made for all of us. And it's a way to keep their kids safe. I also think most people believe in vaccination. I think there's been people who haven't gotten vaccinated because it wasn't convenient to them or whatever else, but not any opposition to it. Most people believe in it. Some people have questions they need answered. That's why pediatricians are so crucial. But I think what we're going to see is that the clear majority of parents will want their kids vaccinated and we'll be there to help them when they're ready. Dr. Chokshi you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I'll just add briefly to what you've already outlined. The starting point here is, of course, empathy. As parents, as doctors, understanding, of course, that you want to be absolutely sure when it comes to the safety of your own child. And so that's why our approach has to revolve, as it always has, on the science, the evidence-base for the vaccines, both in terms of safety, but also making sure that we communicate about how the benefits significantly outweigh the risks, which they do in this case. And so, that communication will occur along a number of different dimensions, but I'll just pull out two. One is, yes, we do plan to have, you know, dedicated efforts through our public service campaigns, you know, through working with media to reach both young people themselves as well as parents who, of course, have to be involved in this decision. And the second dimension is what the Mayor has mentioned which is enlisting pediatricians. The American Academy of Pediatrics, you know, community pediatricians, so many people have gotten behind the vaccination effort and we have to rely on that because we know that parents and kids trust pediatricians. So, it's about equipping them with the information that they need, as well as the vaccine to have those conversations and actually to get kids vaccinated.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, do you want to add?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I would just add as a parent that the days that my 17 and 19-year-old got vaccinated, I was so happy. I felt such a sense of relief, and I felt bad for my friends whose kids were below the age of 16, that they had to wait to experience that joy of knowing that your child is projected. Health + Hospitals is ready, sir, to – with our pediatricians to vaccinate all of the kids who come to Health + Hospitals and give them that vaccination and the parents that sense of protection. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Next is Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Yeah. Hi, Mr. Mayor. I have a question about your Open Boulevards. I'm very familiar with Ditmars Boulevard there, the area between 33rd and 36th, and this is a highly commercial area with two-way traffic. So, if you're closing those streets, what happens to the traffic that will go along or the delivery trucks? Because the side streets there are primarily residential. So, would there be a plan to divert traffic in a certain way? Otherwise you're just going to have backup around that whole area.

Mayor: Yeah. Juliet, it's a really fair question. I'm going to turn to Jee Mee Kim, again who is the Chief Strategy Officer at DOT, in just a second. But this is a really great question because it points out that whatever you do, there's going to be impact on either side of the equation. But Juliet, here's what I'd say, we're in a really extraordinary moment, coming out of such pain, but moving aggressively to recovery. We've got to do things that fuel recovery. We got to do things that bring back the life and vitality in New York City. And we found in the crisis new opportunities with the Open Streets and the Open Restaurants and now combining them into sort of these Super Open Streets, these boulevards, really offers us an opportunity to bring back lots of jobs, to give people a lot of hope, to bring back tourism. I think there's a lot of pluses here, but your question's fair. How do you compensate then and make sure that things work? So, Jee Mee, you do strategy for living, help us understand how you strike that balance.

Chief Strategy Officer Kim: Yeah. Juliet, that's a great question. And, you know, the way we identified these Open Boulevards were at locations that were already operating, that already demonstrated success, that had the commitment of the commercial businesses, the restaurants, the partners who are operating the facility, I mean the street. And I think this is really sort of an underlying tension, the competition for the streets. But on Ditmars, in particular, we did – we do have a plan. Vehicles can use parallel routes. They can use 21st Avenue, they can use 23rd Avenue, all the cross streets will remain open. And, you know, all of the improvements or, you know, the reason why the Open Boulevards and all the Open Streets are temporary, is that we're trying them out. And I think that, you know, based on how, you know, everything, how it balances out and hopefully it will be a rearing success and folks will get used to driving around these streets, I think at the end, we're going to see a net benefit for the community and the businesses.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Jee Mee. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: Okay, yeah. I mean, it is – I just see that as a quality of life issue for the people who live around there and, you know, what happens when their streets are jammed up –

Mayor: Yeah, Juliet –

Question: [Inaudible] direction –

Mayor: Juliet, I want to note before your second question, I want to note that this is why, to Jee Mee’s previous point, previous question, you know, we really think this is going to work and the extraordinary value add, but again, we try it. We try it, we see how it goes, and then we can build upon it, or we can make adjustments. So, that's the beauty of this approach.

Moderator: The next is Dave Evans from WABC.

Question: Hey, Mayor, with the vaccines becoming available for 12 to 15-year-olds. Maybe this is just clarification, but I seem to remember seeing on the news yesterday that a lot of places around the country started doing this already. And then the CDC is supposed to vote this afternoon. I don't know if somebody jumped the gun and started doing it in other parts of the country or what? But can you clarify what's going on, and the CDC, what exactly they need to do before you all can start tomorrow?

Mayor: Yeah, I guess there's some surplus enthusiasm out there in some parts of the country. I mean, look, it really is a great thing. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but it really is a great thing, Dave. Hundreds of thousands of young people can now be protected. And it is part of this miraculous effort with the vaccines. Really, we should stop and just recognize that, you know, a year ago at this time, everything we were going through and the question of would there ever be a vaccine. And the fact that the vaccine actually arrived before 2020 was over, it was a miracle. And now that we're being able to give it to young people is extraordinarily positive and helpful. So, in terms of the next immediate steps, Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And yes, it's a chance to offer the clarification. What happened on Monday, the FDA essentially paved the way by expanding the emergency use authorization. But as we've seen you know, throughout the last few months, that's only the first step. It then goes to the CDC, particularly the advisory committee on immunization practices, which issues a recommendation about whether or not to use the vaccine clinically. Which then goes to the CDC director for formal sign-off. That's the part of the process that we expect to happen later today. And it's an important one from the perspective of ensuring the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. It's an open discussion, you know, open to the public as well as to health care professionals, for people to ensure that we have full transparency with respect to the data and the science. But I think what you've seen is that there is a huge amount of enthusiasm, particularly among parents to get their kids vaccinated. And so, we'll be ready as a city, you know, starting tomorrow. And we do expect that many people will bring their kids to get vaccinated soon.

Mayor: Thank you very much. I'll conclude with this. We went through a global pandemic. We went through a disruption. There's literally no parallel in the history of New York City for the disruption we went through. There was no time previously in our history where so much of life, as we knew it, ground to a halt. And so much disruption occurred. And so much dysfunction occurred as a result. But now we see things coming back to life rapidly. And as the city comes back to life, it's going to play a crucial role in helping us address and reduce crime. And Steve, I'll tell you something. I know what works because I saw my own eyes for six straight years, same New York City, six straight years, heavy emphasis on neighborhood policing and precision policing. It made us the safest big city in America. Global pandemic disrupted that. We're now putting the pieces back together quickly, energetically. And that's the way forward. And it's absolutely crucial to our recovery to be safe, but our recovery will fuel our safety as well. The two will go hand in hand. And that's where I see us going in the months ahead. Thank you, everybody.

2021-05-13 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

Now, there are so many pieces that go into the recovery we are building every single day in this city. Public safety is crucial. Obviously, the thing we talk about every single day – vaccination. This is the gateway. This is the thing we have to get right so we can keep moving forward. And the good news is, every day, tens of thousands of people coming in to get vaccinated. The latest number, as of today, from the beginning of our vaccination effort, 7,277,505 vaccinations have been given, climbing every day. And now, that number will definitely increase because hundreds of thousands of more New Yorkers are eligible. We've gotten the formal authorization now that all providers who have the Pfizer vaccine can provide it to 12- to 15-year-olds. I think a lot – a lot of families are going to want to take advantage of this opportunity to protect their kids and protect their whole families. So, yesterday, Dr. Chokshi talked about our plan to reach our Zoomers. And I'm going to keep sounding this message to parents – parents, let's get our Zoomers off of Zoom and back to life as normal, and you can help by getting them vaccinated. Sites all over the city – as always, easy, fast, free, safe. And if you want to make an appointment for your 12- to 15-year-old, go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, or call 877-VAX-4NYC.

Okay. Now, we need everyone to get vaccinated, so we know we have to make it convenient. We know we have to make it easy. We know we need the opportunities for people to speak to their trusted community voices, doctors, etcetera – we're doing all that. But we also know that incentives help, they really do. And so, we've been announcing free tickets, gift cards, all sorts of incentives to encourage people. A lot of people are ready to get vaccinated, they just haven't gotten around to it. They need a little extra incentive. We're doing that now. And we are going to have a live correspondent this morning talk about this and from a site that means a lot to all of us as New Yorkers, because one thing I think that does unite New Yorkers is a love of Shake Shack. So, live from the original Shake Shack location in Madison Square Park, the CEO of Shake Shack, and he is generously joining into this incentive effort, and I welcome him. My pleasure to introduce CEO Randy Garutti. Welcome, Randy.

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Randy. Thank you to the whole Shake Shack team, this is really going to help us out. And did you say free fries when you get vaccinated?  

[Mayor de Blasio eats French fries]

I got vaccinated. You're saying I could get this? These delicious fries? Wait a minute – but there's also a burger element to this? Let me check with Bill Neidhardt, is too early in the day to eat a burger? No? 

Bill Neidhardt: You’re good to go.

Mayor: This could be breakfast? Okay. I want you to look at this and think about – again, some people love hamburgers, some don't, really want to respect all ways of life. But if this is appealing to you, just think of this when you think of vaccination.

[Mayor de Blasio eats hamburger] 

Mmm, vaccination. I'm getting a very good feeling about vaccination right this moment. Thank you to Randy Garutti and, of course, Danny Meyer, who is doing so much to help us with the recovery and the entire team.

I've got to finish chewing for a moment. I think that would be more dignified, don't you think? Yeah. So, everyone, we're going to keep rolling out incentives. We're going to keep making it easier. We're going to keep making it fun. We really, really need to get everyone vaccinated. So, keep watching, keep joining in. Choose the thing you love, choose the incentive that moves you and come on out and get vaccinated.

Okay. Now, this is pretty good that we will now go even higher up the vaccination scale here. I've said that one of the great reasons to go out and get vaccinated is to bring this city back, full reopening. And let's have something historic and amazing – the Summer of New York City, a summer of joy, a summer of culture, a summer of energy. We can do this. And one of the things you're going to see in New York City this summer is live music everywhere, it's going to be a big part of what gives us energy, what gives us hope. I am very proud to say the two of our biggest music festivals, outdoor festivals are making a major comeback this year in 2021, New York City. Global Citizen Live will be back and the Governors Ball at Citi Field will be back, and that is a very big deal. So, here's the latest incentive deal. If you get vaccinated, you will have an opportunity to win free tickets to these amazing music festivals. These are – literally, people wait all year for the opportunity to enjoy these festivals, and here's your chance. So, get vaccinated, get a ticket, get out there and enjoy something amazing.

Now, to hear about what this means, one of the artists who will be performing at the Governors Ball. I love all musicians, but I particularly love musicians who are true New Yorkers – in this case, a true Brooklynite. And she has done amazing work. I am particularly moved by one of her best-known songs, 1950, which is absolutely just enchanting and mesmerizing. And she is a great songwriter, singer, musician in every way. My great pleasure to introduce King Princess.

[…] 

Mayor: Alright, thank you. There is the message, everyone – couldn't be clearer. I want to note that I have been refraining from eating the hamburger further during this press conference, but I will address the situation immediately following the press conference.

All right, time for our indicators. And, again, we have a good day for indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 92 patients – 92. Confirmed positivity, 25.53 percent. Hospitalization rate keeps going down, 1.19 per 100,000. So, we're well below threshold. That's great to see. Now, number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 693 cases. This is just absolutely remarkable. Look at that change over these last few weeks. And it is because of vaccinations, period. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 1.81 percent, continues to go down. Let's keep it going down.  

All right. A few words in Spanish – and today's topic, one of my very favorite topics, the Summer of New York City.  

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, by DOT Commissioner Hank Gutman, and by DOT Deputy Commissioner for Transportation Planning and Management Eric Beaton. First question today goes to Erin from Politico. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor: I'm just wondering if you could talk a little bit more about the vaccinations of younger people. Is that happening right now? Has the City already begun to give those vaccinations? And, you know, what are you seeing just in the first hours and day of, you know, this new population being part of the effort?  

Mayor: Let us get a live-action update from our own Dr. Dave Chokshi. Dave? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thanks, Erin, for the question. We're very excited, of course, about this other hopeful milestone in our vaccination campaign. We've seen just overnight hundreds of appointments that have been made at City sites. And I expect that will get into the thousands over the course of today. And yes, people between the age of 12 and 15 have already been vaccinated as of this morning with the Pfizer vaccine. We're seeing lots of smiles, lots of happy parents. 

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you, Dave.

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX11. 

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and to everyone on the call. 

Mayor: Good morning, James, how you doing? 

Question: Doing great. Particularly, not only with the weather, but with this news about Shake Shack which actually is related to my question. Earlier in the week, as I recall, someone mentioned incentives for people who've already gotten vaccinated, as opposed to incentives to get people to get vaccinated. Can you talk a little bit more about that? My impression is, for instance, that this French fry initiative, when you show your vax card, is actually an incentive for people who've already been vaccinated. Am I right about that? And are there any plans to maybe have additional incentives for people who made the decision to get their vaccination? 

Mayor: James, I want you to look at these French fries and just think about how great it is to get vaccinated. Yeah, look, we love what Shake Shack is doing. You know we have seen other examples that, you know, really encourage people after the fact. That's great when we have incentives like that. Krispy Kreme did that. I personally participated. I found it very rewarding. So, I love those kinds of incentives, but we also think there's ones where, you know, you get the opportunity, you get vaccinated and then that activates the opportunity. Those are particularly powerful. Like the idea of you go, you get vaccinated, that qualifies you for the opportunity for free tickets to these concerts that so many people want to get into. So, both have value for sure. What I want to make sure is that we constantly send the message that it's important to get vaccinated. It's a positive experience. It's a fun experience and there's lots of different ways to get rewarded in the process.

Moderator: The next is Katie Honan from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you doing? 

Mayor: I am doing okay, Katie. I got my little assist here from Shake Shack. So, I am prepared for your question. 

Question: I heard you – you were going buy lunch for your whole staff today. That's so sweet of you. That’s very nice. 

Mayor: Katie. I want to deny those vicious rumors. You know, I think it's really – thank you Katie, for shedding truth on the fact that there is misinformation being spread and we're going to stop that from happening. I think what I heard was – I heard Bill Neidhardt is buying lunch for the whole staff and Bill Neidhardt is just an outstanding American. I want to thank him for that. 

Question: I got my Bills mixed up. I'm so sorry. 

Mayor: That's a perfectly natural mistake, Katie, fully understandable. 

Question: My question is something that I know has come up and been asked, when do you think senior centers will reopen in New York City? 

Mayor: I am very hopeful. I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi, who has been working very closely with our Commissioner for the Aging Lorraine Cortιs-Vαzquez. No one in New York City more than Lorraine wants to reopen senior centers. I definitely want to reopen senior centers. Now, as we've said from the beginning, the single most vulnerable group of people has been our seniors and putting people together in a small space, it has to be done very, very carefully, but it will happen because we're in the – well on our way to reopening everything. So, let's see if Dr. Chokshi has any more fine tuning on the decision timeline. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And that's exactly right. Commissioner Cortιs-Vαzquez and I, and our teams, have been in constant conversation about this. We have already announced that grab-and-go meals outdoors will be available for seniors and that's just the first step in the phased, methodical, reopening plans that we are working through. I expect we'll have something more formal to announce, you know, within the next few days but it will mirror what we do for all of the settings where we are most concerned about COVID risk. And that means starting with outdoor activities ramping up to indoor activities making sure that we have the public health precautions in place. Most importantly, making sure that as many of our seniors, as well as senior center staff are vaccinated. But with all of that taken together, I do expect that we'll have a timeline for that phased reopening over the coming week. 

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you. 

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland at the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: Good morning, Michael. How you doing?  

Question: I'm doing good. I was talking this morning to a [inaudible] hearted Red Sox fan about these COVID cases the Yankees are experiencing. And now, you know, he raised, I think a very real concern though. You know, rivalry aside, you know, several of these cases are breakthrough cases where, you know, folks got the vaccine, but are testing positive for COVID. And I was wondering if you, or Dr. Chokshi, could, you know, talk about the implications of that and what the city is – what that means, right, and what the City is doing to kind of figure that out, you know, to address that. Yeah. 

Mayor: Michael, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. I would say, you know, I would – I think it's always fair to ask about something that looks aberrant, but I'd also say at least to date when something is aberrant let's remember it's aberrant. So, overwhelmingly what we're seeing, and the numbers are screaming it, is vaccinations are working, they're greatly reducing COVID, they're working in people's individual lives. There's always exceptional situations, but, you know, we had such concern, for example, rightfully, about variants. We've had so many moments along the way where people really ask questions with tremendous concern and nervousness. And what we've seen with extraordinary consistency is the answer is vaccinations work and they changed the whole environment profoundly. But there's always exceptions and details to account for as well. So, Dr. Chokshi, why don't you speak to that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. You covered the most important point here, which is let's not lose perspective about the truly astonishing effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines that we have. They're particularly effective to protect against severe disease, but we now have growing evidence that they protect against both infections as well as transmission of infections as well. So, that is the big picture, which we have to always keep our eyes very clearly focused on. We do know both from our own investigation in New York City, as well as coordinating with the CDC that vaccine breakthrough cases will occur. This is an expected phenomenon because the vaccines are not 100 percent effective, even though they are nearly that. And so, what we do in those cases is we ensure that we have an understanding to detect any patterns that may underlie those vaccine breakthroughs in terms of epidemiological characteristics, associating it with different variants and thus far what we have found, again, both in New York City and nationally is that the rate of vaccine breakthroughs is very, very low. And I think that's the most important part that we have to remain focused on. 

Mayor: Thank you. As we conclude today, doing things differently, learning from incredible innovations, learning even from crisis and finding the good in it. That's what Streets Week!!!! has been all about. Bringing the streets in New York City alive, sparking the comeback, making New York City more vibrant than ever. I want to emphasize this. We've said from the beginning of recovery for all of us is not status quo comes back again. No, it's come back different, better, come back, more fair, more equal. But also do things we never dreamed to do before. And Streets Week!!!! And we're going to celebrate up in Inwood today is all about bringing our streets to life in a whole new way. This city is going to be even more vibrant after COVID than it was before. And that is what a recovery for all of us looks like. Thank you, everybody.

2021-05-14 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Brian Lehrer: It’s the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. And as we do every Friday at this time, it’s time for Ask the Mayor – my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280, or tweet a question @BrianLehrer. And good morning – just use the hashtag, I forgot about the hashtag. Use the hashtag, #AskTheMayor, and we’ll see it even quicker. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you very much, Brian. And I have two quick breaking news items for you, I think you will enjoy. One, very positive for all New Yorkers, today, positivity levels for COVID in New York City, 1.78 percent, the lowest in almost seven months. And second, as New York City always does, we’re a compassionate city, we’re going to help the people of India who have been going through hell with COVID. It’s been tragic and horrible and painful to watch. The City of New York is sending over four million test kits and almost 5,000 ventilators and BiPAP machines to help save lives in India, a country that is suffering, a country we feel a very strong tie to in the city, so many Indian-Americans here. So, New York City is going to step up and help the people of India through this crisis.

Lehrer: Is that something the city is doing on its own, or is it coordinated through the federal government?

Mayor: We're definitely working with the federal government, but what's clear is that the level of need is overwhelming and any way that any source of help can come is welcomed. We've been obviously working with the Indian government as well. But let me tell you, Brian, when we developed the ventilators in the height of COVID last spring, the City of New York developed its own ventilators because we literally could not get them from the federal government or the State government or on the open market. And at the time, when we came through the crisis, we said these ventilators will be able to help other people in the future. And these very same ventilators built here in New York City, in the midst of crisis, will now be there to help the people of India.

Lehrer: Did you watch the debate last night among those who would like to succeed you?

Mayor: There was a very, very erudite, thoughtful questioner I watched. I liked –

Lehrer: Oh, it was Errol –

Mayor: – your headset and everything there, Brian. Yes, of course, I watched it. It is an acquired taste, watching a Zoom debate though.

Lehrer: Yeah. Well, any comment on any of the content, either about, you know, what anybody said about you or the way any of them came off or characterized each other?

Mayor: I thought it was not an overly eventful debate. It felt sort of like a warm-up debate a bit. I assume the ones coming up might be a little more illuminating. Look, I am proud that a lot of the progressive initiatives we have created have found their way into people's verbiage. Many, many of the things candidates called for we're actually already doing in New York City. And I'm proud of that and we're going to keep doing that, but I think in terms of what we need to see from candidates, I think the people of the city need a hell of a lot more information before they can make an informed decision and do, you know, rankings under the new system.

Lehrer: I told a caller to our previous segment that I would ask for your reaction to one of the questions that I asked in the debate. It was a show of hands question on whether, once the vaccines are approved beyond emergency use authorization, when they're in full regular use for whatever age groups, whether the children in the New York City public schools of those ages should be required to get vaccinated. Five of the eight candidates said yes, but then when I followed up and asked, should the teachers be required to get vaccinated? Zero of the candidates said yes to that. What's your own position and your reaction to that?

Mayor: That was a little striking. My position is that no one should be required for our schools for the clearest of reasons, Brian. We created a gold standard of health and safety measures. We made our schools the safest places in New York City. The comeback of the New York City schools, biggest school system in the nation, the fact that we reopened our schools when so many other cities didn't even dare to try and that was before anyone was vaccinated, and now we've got a huge number of people vaccinated and young people will definitely be vaccinated. I mean, we're seeing a great response already. You know, literally yesterday was the first day we could vaccinate 12 to 15 year olds, just in the course of yesterday almost 2,500 kids were vaccinated. There's 6,000 appointments booked already. We're going to see a lot of young people vaccinated for sure. And we're really excited about that. But, no, clearly, we kept our schools safe without requiring vaccination. And I want everybody back in school in September, everybody. And even if that means there are some people not ready to get vaccinated. That's fine. I want everybody back.

Lehrer: Thanks as always, Mr. Mayor. Talk to you next week.

Mayor: Take care, Brian.

2021-05-17 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. So, what a beautiful weekend in this city, it was. It was just lovely. People were out everywhere. Families were out. You saw folks all over the city, restaurants filled, just amazing, and that is the shape of things to come. You can feel New York City coming back and you could see it all over the city this weekend, and we saw a lot of other good news, vaccinations continue to go up, COVID continues to go down. We're going to talk about it in the indicator’s section, more good news, COVID back on its heels. We're going to chase it out of New York City. So, good vibes all over the city this weekend, as we recover, as we move forward. Now, Chirlane and I had a great experience on Saturday morning with our new City Cleanup Corps, and this is a part of our recovery too, bringing back to the city, beautifying the city, making sure this city is ready for a full recovery. We were out there with a great team from the City Cleanup Corps, and seeing the amazing work they're doing already, and it's just begun, already 1,500 members of the 10,000 strong City Cleanup Corps have been hired. We want New Yorkers who are ready to come join us. Remember, this was based on the incredible, historic Civilian Conservation Corps of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. We took the idea, we updated it, using it for today's reality, employing New Yorkers who need work, who lost their jobs because of COVID, bringing back the city, cleaning it up, making it beautiful for the recovery. So, this is how we build a recovery for all of us, with these kinds of approaches, and it's really exciting. So, anyone who wants to join the City Cleanup Corps, you're going to be doing something great for your city and helping us move forward.   

Now, more good news on the vaccination front, we are almost to 7.5 million vaccinations. I mean, this is a staggering figure, by far the biggest vaccination effort in the history of New York City, 7.5 million, almost today's exact total from day one, 7,495,978 doses administered. That's amazing. Now for the vaccination have to keep growing, it's going to take a lot of community outreach, a lot of smart grassroots action. In a moment you're going to hear from Dr. Torian Easterling who's been doing amazing work out in communities all over the city as our First Deputy Health Commissioner. He has led a lot of the grassroots efforts, but what we know more and more is that we need to reach younger New Yorkers. We need to reach younger New Yorkers who need the vaccination but haven't yet really been brought into this effort. So, in addition to Dr. Easterling, we've got a new special correspondent for our morning briefing. They're up by the vaccine bus at Fordham University in the Bronx. Let me see if our special correspondent can hear me and we're looking forward to his report.  

Dante de Blasio: Thanks, dad. Coming to you live from Fordham Plaza in the Bronx with Dr. Torian Easterling, the Department of Health. We're here today to kick off a new initiative, designed to get new – young New Yorkers vaccinated. The vaccine is safe, effective, and easy to get, and the sooner we all get vaccinated, the sooner the city can get back to normal. That's why over the next couple of weeks, I'm going to be going around in one of these elegant vaccination buses going across the city, talking to young New Yorkers and encouraging them to get vaccinated. So, keep an eye out in New York, might be rolling up to a block near you. I'm going to turn things over to Dr. Easterling.  

First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thanks so much, Dante, really great to be out here at Fordham University today to make sure New Yorkers know that the vaccines are safe and effective. They can just walk up to one of our vaccine's buses. We know that in the Bronx, you know, COVID-19 has really impacted these communities really hard. So, we really want to make sure that New Yorkers know that not only the vaccines are safe and effective, that you can just walk up, but you can also schedule appointments. You can log on right now to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder or call 8-7-7-VAX4NYC. And we know that the voices of young folks are really important, talking about health issues, social justice, and equity. So, we need you to share your experiences, post on social media, talk to your friends, talk to your college peers, speak to your family members. We know that it's really important, but back to the matter of hand. Hey, Dante, I heard you -- I hear you're going to be DJing at one of your next stops? What songs are you playing?   

Dante de Blasio: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. All right. We're going to start off hype, right? And to play Body by Megan Thee Stallion. Alright, and then, you know, we're in the Bronx right now, let's keep it local, we’re going to play some Cardi B.   

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Nice.   

Dante de Blasio: Thank you. Thank you. All right. Back to you, dad.   

Mayor: Thank you, Dante. A new career I see in the offing here. So, you heard it, everyone. The idea is go out to the people, bring the word to the people, go to the grass roots, make it easy, make it fun. Dr. Easterling is doing amazing work. Dante is going to be out there all over the city, talking to young people, encouraging the come over. You know, the bus really makes a huge difference. I was up in the Bronx with Congress Member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Assembly Member Karines Reyes, and we were talking about the "vacuna bus" and everyone was excited at the idea of the bus being right there in the neighborhood, getting people involved, making it easy. So, we're going to be sending the bus all over. Everyone, it's time to get vaccine. If you haven't yet, we're going to make it easier than ever. Dante is going to be right there to show you how to do it, and we're going to get many, many younger New Yorkers vaccinated, and that's going to be good for this whole city.   

Okay, so we know, number one thing, getting people vaccinated. That's how we achieve our recovery. That is by far the single best thing we can do, and it is working. You're about to see it with the indicators, but we got to do a lot of different things to make this recovery work.
 
All right, now, Recovery for All of Us, I keep saying it, and you can see it, you can feel it wherever you go in this city. You can feel the recovery happening, and it takes on many forms. We just talked about vaccinations part of it. Public safety is part of it, but obviously jobs coming back, businesses coming back, and even tourists coming back. We're starting to see that now. I think people didn't predict it when it happened so early, but it is. We need people in this city and the whole metropolitan area to feel that hope, that spirit of New York City, because you can see it, but we want to show it to people in a vibrant, powerful fashion. So, we have a new ad campaign to send a message that we are back. We are coming back strong. We are going to be better than ever. The campaign is called No Stopping New York. It says it all, No Stopping New York. This is a message that any true New Yorker feels, you cannot hold New York City down, you cannot hold New Yorkers down. We're going to have this campaign and our $30 million advertising campaign to bring back tourism, we're going to combine these together. You're going to see it all over the city. It's going to encourage people. It's going to help move us forward. I want you to see this new ad.  

[…]  

I think it says it all. I feel it. I hope you feel it too because that's who we are. You can knock us down, but we get back up every single time and we get stronger. So, there is no stopping the Bronx, where Dante and Dr. Easterling were before. No stopping Manhattan. No stopping Queens. No stopping Staten Island. And Lord knows there's no stopping Brooklyn. This campaign is going to send a powerful message and give even more energy to this comeback, and I'm excited about it. And I'll tell you what I'm even more excited about, I'm about to do the daily indicators, and once again, it's amazing and credit to all New Yorkers, because this is your work. This is your achievement. So here we go. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today’s report, 89 patients confirmed positivity, 23.6 percent, and  check out the hospitalization rate continuing to go down: 1.01 per 100,000 – look at that line, go down, down, down. It's absolutely amazing. Now, let's go to cases and this is really striking as well. New reported cases on a seven-day average. So, right now here we are going below the ideal threshold in just days, it looks like – today's report: 570 cases. What an amazing decline has been in the course last few weeks. Let's keep it going, everyone. Let's get vaccinated. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average: 1.51 percent. Absolutely amazing, let's keep going.

Okay. A few words in Spanish, and I want to go back to the topic of the new initiative, the new campaign, no stopping New York.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know that name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We’ll now begin in our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor and everyone on the call. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yes, Andrew. How are you doing?

Question: Good hanging in there. Thank you. I wanted to ask a question about what some called breakthrough COVID cases. This is the folks who've been fully vaccinated, but they test positive for COVID after the fact, and maybe Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma can weigh in on this. The best of my understanding – New York City and New York State don't keep track who test and contract COVID after being fully vaccinated. Is that correct? And if so, why wouldn't the City want to keep better track of this?

Mayor: All right. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and then Dr. Varma.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Andrew, for the question. We are indeed keeping track of vaccine breakthroughs. These are the infections that happen very rarely after someone has been fully vaccinated. The investigations that we do they are a nuanced analysis in part because we have to ascertain that someone is indeed fully vaccinated and remember that's at least 14 days after your last dose of receiving one of the COVID-19 vaccines. In addition, we coordinate with our federal colleagues, particularly at the CDC so that we stay abreast of what they're seeing in their investigations as well. The major point that I want to emphasize is that all of the science to date indicates that such a breakthrough infections are very rare. We know now from the clinical trials, as well as real-world evidence that all of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines are not just safe, but astonishingly effective, particularly when it comes to preventing a severe disease but also asymptomatic infections and now growingly in terms of the evidence that the vaccines limit transmission of COVID-19 as well.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma?

Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma: Nothing else to add for me.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: The next to Sydney Pereira from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. As we get closer to Memorial Day, I know the beaches in the Rockaways they've suffered a lot of erosion over the winter. Especially in certain parts of the Rockaways, and I'm wondering is the city planning to add more sand to those beaches and is the entirety going to be able to open this summer as people still try to just stay, you know, gathered outdoors during the pandemic and such?

Mayor: It's a great question Sydney, given some of the history with challenges we face. Now a lot has been done to reinforce the Rockaways’ beaches. The City has done a lot. The Army Corps has done a lot. We'll get an update on any particular measures we have to take for this summer, but right now, you know, full speed ahead, beaches opening on time, but we'll get you an update on if there's any particular measures we're taking.

Moderator: The next is David Evans from WABC.

Question: Hey Mayor, can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah, Dave? How are you doing?

Question: Hey, I’m good. I wanted to ask you last week when the CDC came out with this new guidelines about masks, indoors and outdoors, and then the president talked about that back then you sounded as if, well, hold on a second. I'm not quite ready to go along with that recommendation for indoors in New York City. Now that you've had a few days to digest what the president and the CDC are recommending, have you changed, have you rethought it?

Mayor: I think you're – we go back a long way, Dave. I'm not sure I would agree with that particular characterization. I would say this: one, I like the guidance, I think it makes sense. It focuses on folks who are vaccinated are going to have more freedom. That's a tremendously positive, helpful message. It also focuses on outdoors where, clearly, we've said from the beginning, the situation outdoors is always better. But it's also clear about indoors – schools, hospitals, nursing homes, congregate care facilities, mass transit, any place you might be in close proximity to people that there has to be special care taken. So, I think it's balanced. Now, we're going to watch carefully, always – we're going to watch the data. If we think something needs to be adjusted, we'll say it and we'll work with the CDC and the State. But, right now, I think it's good guidance.

As we conclude today – everyone, look, the bottom line here for this city, look at today's indicators. Look at the amazing progress, again, ahead of any schedule we could have imagined. It’s because people went out and got vaccinated. I'm going to continue to appeal every single day, go out and get vaccinated. If you haven't, if someone in your life hasn't been vaccinated, take them by the hand, get them vaccinated. Incredible incentives we're offering now, more and more locations. The Vaccine Bus, going around the city – it’s literally the easiest it's ever been. And help us finish the mission and drive COVID out of this town. Thank you, everybody.

2021-05-18 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: …like the Nets. Amazing season – number-one rated on offense in the NBA. Kyrie Irving, historic season. But the biggest victory for the Nets is yet to come. The Nets are stepping up for Brooklyn, for the whole City of New York. The Nets are now going to be joining the battle against COVID with a mobile vaccination site right outside Barclays Center. This is going to be another extraordinary effort to get people vaccinated and make everyone safe. Now, here's the deal – go there, get vaccinated, enter a lottery for playoff tickets. So, go there as soon as it's up and running – we’re going to have the details later on today – go get vaccinated, entered the lottery, you have a chance to playoff tickets. And I'm going to tell you something, the Nets are going to be in the playoffs for a long time, all the way until the end. So, you're going to have multiple chances to win playoff tickets when you get vaccinated at that site. 

But wait, there's more. The Nets and the whole NBA to their great credit are focused on social justice, are focused on attacking the disparities that we learned during the COVID crisis. They're focused on equality. So, they're going to focus on people who live in the neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID – the 33 neighborhoods identified by our Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity. And if you've already been vaccinated and you live in one of those neighborhoods, you can enter a contest also to win playoff tickets. This is going to be amazing – an amazing opportunity to see one of the greatest teams in a long time, a team that's going to bring glory to Brooklyn and New York City. Here to tell you more about it, and I want to thank him for his leadership, and for caring so much to make this extraordinary opportunity available – the CEO of the Brooklyn Nets, John Abbamondi. 

[…] 

Mayor: Hey, John, thank you so much. This is really a wonderful offer you guys are putting forward. It shows a lot of concern for the people of Brooklyn and New York City. And this is exactly what we need. We need to excite people about fighting back COVID, about getting vaccinated. This is the kind of offer that's going to make all the difference. So, thank you, for joining with us and let's go Nets. Good things ahead. Let's go Nets. Thank you, brother.  

Now, this new vaccination effort with the Brooklyn Nets, it's going to bring a lot of people in. So many other things we're doing are going to bring a lot of other people in, but it's already happening. We're seeing some really extraordinary things. First of all, the 12- to 15-year-olds, that was just approved days ago. We have already in New York City had 20,000 12- to 15-year-olds vaccinated. The demand was there. The focus was there, parents, kids ready to get vaccinated – 20,000 already. That number is going to keep climbing regularly. Now, here's the overall number and it has jumped up too – as of today, 7,628,062 doses administered from day one. Well over 7.5 million vaccinations and climbing every hour. So, we're going to keep throwing out there great offers, great opportunities, great incentives. But this one is very special. So, if you're a Nets fan, this is your moment. Get vaccinated, get in the game.  

All right now let's go to indicators as promised. Good news again, and this is because New Yorkers worked so hard and went out and got vaccinated. So, number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 91 patients confirmed positivity level of 21.74 percent. Hospitalization rate, look at this, zero – 0.98 per 100,000. This has been really extraordinary. Look at that continued downward slope. That is fantastic. All right, number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 590 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing city-wide positive for COVID-19, another extraordinary number on a seven-day rolling average, 1.47 percent and going down. So, vaccination works, go on over, you'll soon have the opportunity right outside of the Barclays Center and you'll have a great opportunity to win tickets in the process. So, everyone please let's all go out there and get vaccinated. All right, a few words in Spanish, and I want to go back specifically on the topic of supporting women and people of color owned businesses.  

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Magalie Austin, Senior Advisor and Director of the Mayor's Office of MWBEs, Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Advisor for Public Health, and Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals. Our first question goes to James Ford of PIX-11 

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and to everyone on the call. Happy to be the first today.  

Mayor: You are leadoff hitter again, James. How are you feeling today? 

Question: Great. It's a beautiful day in New York. Every day I’m in New York is a beautiful day, but today is particularly beautiful. Thank you. Hope you're well.  

Mayor: Indeed.  

Question: All right. The question is this. As we all know, tomorrow the State ends up adopting the new CDC guidelines for masking that are – which includes no mask required indoors or outdoors, unless there are certain exceptions. One of those exceptions, according to the State, is wear required by local rules or regulations. My question is, is it possible that the city might end up having a mask mandate that's different than the State? In other words, the city could still require masks to be worn, say indoors. Might that be a possibility, sir? 

Mayor: So, James, let me do some overview and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. The – look, first of all, CDC guidance focuses on people who have been vaccinated. If you're vaccinated, you win freedom. It's as simple as that. And the CDC guidance basically says as more and more people become vaccinated, there's more and more opportunities for that freedom. But it still is very clear about the difference between the outdoor and indoor and certain types of facilities, for example, special care should be taken in health care facilities, schools, congregate settings, mass transit. And again, it also recognizes that if you're in a setting that combines vaccinated people and unvaccinated people, you've got to exercise caution. And I think that's what a lot of people are going to do. They're going to keep wearing masks any time that they feel it's appropriate. I think a lot of different institutions will make their own decisions on what makes sense. But ultimately, as I turned to Dr. Choksi, I will say what he always says, we're going to watch the data. We are seeing great information now, all directly correlated to the level of vaccination. We want people to keep getting vaccinated. We want to keep pushing those numbers down and that will say keep going and offering more freedom, and if we see something else though, we'll make adjustments. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, and I'll start just by reiterating some of the points that you've made. First, our starting point is that the CDC guidance is based on sound science for fully vaccinated people. But as the Mayor has said, the issue is in the real-world application of the guidance, because you will have mixing of vaccinated and unvaccinated people. If this happens outdoors, it is low risk and masking, and other precautions can be relaxed. But if it happens indoors, my worry is primarily about the spread of the virus among unvaccinated people, this includes children as well as people for whom immunity from vaccination has not fully kicked in. So, I do recommend continued mask use in many indoor settings until even more people are vaccinated. And personally, while I am fully vaccinated, I'll be keeping my mask on indoors in almost all settings. And when I put it on, I'll be thinking of the sense of community and the social norms, particularly around masking and distancing, that helped us get to this very hopeful stage of the pandemic. 

Mayor: Thank you, doctor. Go ahead, James. 

Question: Thanks very much. So, then just so we're clear, what is your advice to New Yorkers who might be confused as to whether or not they can wear masks, indoors or outdoors, even if they're vaccinated?  

Mayor: So, I'll start, again I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. Indoors in those settings I mentioned, schools, hospitals, nursing homes, congregate facilities, mass transit, keep wearing a mask.  Outdoors, much more ability to have the freedom to not wear a mask, but common sense, if you're in a very crowded circumstance, a mask makes sense. If you know you're around a lot of unvaccinated people, a mask makes sense. I think the one situation, if you're outdoors and you're around fully vaccinated people, or you've got a lot of space, of course, that's where you have maximum freedom, but people should exercise good judgment as they have throughout this crisis, and if they think they're in a situation where they're closer to people or there's unvaccinated people present, it's always smarter just to – out of abundance of caution – to wear a mask. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And just picking up where you left off, once again, you know, we should keep in mind that although this has been publicly discussed as mask guidance from the CDC, it's really guidance for people who are fully vaccinated. And the key point from it is that if you are fully vaccinated, remember that's at least 14 days after your final dose of one of the COVID-19 vaccines, it means just about every activity is safer. But what we're emphasizing is, you know, as we're still in a stage where more and more people need to get vaccinated in the areas where we are congregating together, particularly indoors, masking and distancing, those public health precautions that got us to where we are right now will remain important for just a bit longer. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.  

Moderator: Next, we have Steve Burns from WCBS 880.  

Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: Good, Steve, how you been? 

Question: I am doing well. Kind of similar to the, to the line of questioning James was getting at, it seems like tomorrow is maybe the biggest chapter yet in our reopening given that the mask rules will be changing drastically, capacity rules will be changing drastically, it seems from here on out, the ball is really in, you know, businesses court to make the rules and enforce the rules, how concerned are you that you may get, A, disputes or just different kinds of interpretations among businesses or businesses that may just not be interested in enforcing these rules at all, given the dangers that could come about if they do decide to make some kind of move and there may be some conflict. And how does this change things, the dynamic of rule enforcement going forward here? 

Mayor: Steve, it's a fair question, but respectfully, I think it's a very much a glass half empty question. I'm going to give you a glass half full response. We have reached a point where people can finally have more freedom and let's be clear, people can finally have more freedom because they earned it by going out and getting vaccinated to a remarkable extent, 7.6 million vaccinations in a matter of months. And that is why people now have the ability to live differently, live better, and the CDC has affirmed it. Every institution will set its own rules and anyone who participates will understand those rules. So, I think actually after everything we've been through in the city, I think people will be understanding that if a certain business or a cultural institution, whatever it may be, wants to act out of abundance of caution, that's their right and that's the rules of engagement. And again, remember the CDC rules talk about the power of being vaccinated and the freedom that comes with it. But if you're not yet vaccinated, or if you're in a group of people that is a mix of vaccinated unvaccinated, you still have to take precautions, and I think every day New Yorkers would understand that. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Andrew Siff from NBC New York.  

Question: Mayor, good morning. For a long time you talked about the goal of getting five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated, you recently said by the end of June, I'm pretty sure in the beginning you said by June, but regardless of when it's supposed to be, is that goal still as relevant given that herd immunity is not being discussed in the same terms by the CDC nationwide, and also given that we're reopening anyway, regardless of that goal. And sort of part of that, are you – you talked at the outset each day of the seven million plus vaccinations, but I haven't heard the update about the pace towards five million fully vaccinated.  

Mayor: Sure. So, I'll just try and pull that together simply. We're now almost two thirds to the five million goal in terms of fully vaccinated. We're about 80 percent to the five million goal if you're talking about people who got one shot already, but again, remembering in New York City, that's almost a guarantee of a second shot. 95 percent are coming back and getting that second shot. So, we're continuing to work on that goal. It got harder after all the ups and downs with Johnson & Johnson, obviously. But we're continuing to work on the goal and we're coming up with new and better and more creative ways to focus people on vaccination, and I mean, even just look at the last 24 hours, we had a real uptick in the numbers. People keep showing up. The vaccination for the 12 to 15-year-olds has opened up a whole new world of folks who are going to get vaccinated. So, the bottom line is we're just going to keep going, and every additional vaccinated New Yorker takes us closer to more freedom and just, you can see it, the vaccination numbers go up, the COVID numbers go down. We're just going to stick with it. 

Moderator: Next, we have Julia Marsh from the Post.  

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing? 

Mayor: Good, Julia, how are you doing? 

Question: Good. I have a couple of questions on this topic. The first is for Dr. Chokshi, who mentioned that he's going to continue wearing a mask indoors, even though he's fully vaccinated, and he said, I guess, indoors anywhere, not just in crowded settings. Dr. Chokshi, could you address some of the confusion that might create among people who, you know, are supposed to think that this gives them more freedom and they don't have to wear the masks if they're around fully vaccinated people, and you know, we've been told time and again, to listen to the scientists and the CDC scientists are telling us it's okay to go maskless indoors, you know, if we're fully vaccinated and not in a very crowded setting? 

Mayor: I'm just going to hand it to Dr. Chokshi with a comment. I really think, first of all, I believe in freedom, which means if an individual thinks it's a good idea to keep a mask on, they have that right, and I believe that there's – abundance of caution is really smart if you're going to constantly be in settings combining vaccinated and unvaccinated people. So, I think what Dr. Chokshi said made a lot of sense. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, that's right, and thank you, Julia, for the opportunity to clarify. Certainly, you know, when I'm indoors and as you can see right now, you know, not in a shared space or in my own household or with a small group of other individuals whom I know to be fully vaccinated I do feel comfortable to you know, to forego masking and distancing in those environments. But what we're talking about is really shared indoor spaces, particularly, you know, public indoor spaces, which characterize so much of how people in New York City interact with one another, and for those – you know, as a doctor, I have to keep in mind people who are the most vulnerable, people who remain unvaccinated in some cases, because they're not yet eligible for vaccination, such as children as well as people for whom immunity hasn't fully kicked in, and so what we're saying is until even more people get vaccinated across New York City, it does make sense for us to keep up some of the norms that we've established around masking in those shared indoor spaces. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Julia. 

Question: And I appreciate – so, I appreciate the update on the 20,000 12 to 15-year-olds who've now been vaccinated. That's great news, but I was also chatting with the Councilman Mark Levine who's the Chair of the Council's Health Committee, and he says that the rate is actually tilt still too slow for that group, and he's offered a solution, which is doing vaccinations in schools. So, I'd like a response to that, whether or not you're considering it, or think it's a good idea? 

Mayor:  I think it's worth a look for sure. You know, we just got the approval and obviously the fastest way, and the easiest way was to take advantage of the existing centers that were up and running and in a lot of different neighborhoods, but, you know, it's worth looking at any and all approaches that would be helpful. I think, you know, really respect the Council Member a lot. I'd say the first few days are, are too early, a sample size to talk about the overall trajectory. I'm very pleased with 20,000 kids in just a few days’ time with something brand new. So, I actually think that number is going to grow steadily but sure, we're going to look at, as always, different options of what's the best way to reach people. 

Moderator: Next, we have Bob Hennelly from Chief Leader.  

Question: Yes, Mr. Mayor. I was wondering, the City of New York of course is an employer, and so we know that we've been through this traumatic event. You often make mention of the hundreds of civil servants that have died. In question about this mask guidance. There's been some concern by unions that the CDC’s announced it really didn't take into effect some of the occupational concerns. And I'm thinking even among the Police Department, we see vaccination rates below 50 percent. It's slow throughout the civil service actually, and I'm now wondering if could you give us some guidance –will this be required mask wearing or city offices – where civil servants have to interface with the public and in back-office operations? Can you give us a sense of – because this, this is going to be confusing. You can imagine that you've spent all this time developing a certain kind of discipline and focus. How are you going to deal with these cross messages? 

Mayor: Look, I think it can be done, Bob. Compared to the problems we used to have. I would much rather have this problem, honestly. You know, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Varma, Dr. Katz, and I said for months, we expected folks to be wearing masks and taking the precautions through June. But the progress has come earlier than predicted, and that's a really good thing. 7.6 million vaccinations – that's huge and it's had a profound impact, but I think the abundance of caution point still holds here when it comes to that, exactly what you were pointing out. Any kind of interaction where it's a vaccinated person and a non-vaccinated person, or you don't know if the other person's vaccine or not – it's better to be cautious. So, in the city workplaces where city workers will come in contact with the public, of course, we're going to continue to use masks. That's different than when you have, as the CDC talks about fully vaccinated people in outdoor settings where there's space, where they’re around other fully vaccinated people. Those are all the good situations where there's more freedom, but if you're a public servant, you're coming in contact with people all day long, of course, some are going to be unvaccinated. It's better to wear the mask out of an abundance of caution. Go ahead, Bob.  

Question: Yep. When I visited City Hall, I guess it was on May 4th you had a welcome banner sign near there. Weren't a lot of people in the City Council side was dark. There were, I think there was one other reporter. I did encounter some from DCAS who showed me the things that the administration wants us to read when you reenter the workplace. The individual clicked like with a people counter after my orientation to City Hall, are you guys keeping numbers? And, and can you update us about how that's going, because I know you have many different settings that you're trying to get the workforce back into? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's gone very smoothly. I'll have the team follow up on any numbers or specifics, but it's gone very smoothly. What we found is that the health and safety precautions were put together very well by the agencies and a lot of good feedback of people, happy to be back in a workplace, happy to be back together, see their friends, see their colleagues, the energy, you know, I think it's gone very smoothly, and I look forward to just continued steps towards getting the city back to normal.  

Moderator: Next, we have Shant from the Daily News. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. I'm trying to make sense of the use of incentives such as Nets merchandise, and potentially tickets to get people to get vaccinated, and I guess I wanted to ask, have you had any reservations about the idea of offering rewards to people to do what they should arguably doing like on their own in the first place?  

Mayor: No, Shant –

Question: I mean, is there any –

Mayor: Go ahead. What were you saying? 

Question: Well, what makes you think that that tactic works? 

Mayor: I think it's humanity. It's – I don't have any hesitation about it. A lot of folks have been a little on the fence, give them a positive incentive. A lot of organizations, you know, the Nets have come forward. They want to help Yankees, Mets want to help, Shake Shack wants to help, lots of organizations, cultural institutions. I think it makes all the sense in the world, and that's what encourages people and helps everyone be safer. That's just a good thing.

Moderator: Next, we have Dana Rubinstein and that'll be two questions left for today.  

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: Hey Dana. How you been?  

Question: I'm okay. How are you doing? 

Mayor: Good. 

Question: Just to circle back, I was a little bit confused about – by your response to Andrew Siff regarding whether or not the City would meet the five million fully vaccinated New Yorkers by end of June goal. Your response seemed to suggest some doubt about whether you will meet that goal. Will you, do you think you'll meet it? 

Mayor: It is still – look, Dana, it’s a great question. What I've been trying to say is we continue to make progress. We're continuing to hold to that goal because that's how you make progress. We got a real curveball by the combined problems with Johnson & Johnson. Up until that point, I loved the momentum that we had and the whole country had. That threw everything off, but we're still in mathematical range to achieve it. I'm going to keep pushing and everyone's going to keep pushing. So, right now we've got, again, we're two thirds of the way to the goal almost in terms of fully vaccinated right now, and then almost 80 percent of the goal in terms of one dose, and basically if someone gets a first dose, they will get a second dose and they have time in the next six weeks to do that. That's obviously well within the timeframe that you're supposed to get your second dose. So, that makes me very hopeful that we still have a shot at this goal. We've got the 12 to 15-year-olds now who, I think you're going to see a lot of them, a lot of their families wanting them to get vaccinated, so it still can be done, but it got a lot tougher. You know, clearly after the Johnson & Johnson problems and we'll know more, you know, I think when we get to the end of May, we'll get a pretty good look at what we think the trajectory will be for the rest of June.

Moderator: Our last question of today goes to Abu from Bangla Patrika. 

Question: Hello, Mayor. How are you?  

Mayor: Good, Abu. How are you doing? 

Question: Good. I'm always last. That's the blessing. 

Mayor: It’s a special position of honor. You get to wrap everything up. 

Question: Yes. As you mentioned about the welcoming and the city is coming to normal and welcoming the visitors and the other people, what is the preparation that, you know, if it's – normally a lot of visitors and you know, people are coming from abroad and other places, what kind of preparation of New York City to welcome them? 

Mayor: Look, I think the whole opening up we're seeing now the cultural activities that are already happening, but they're going to be amazing the summer. There's going to be a huge amount of cultural activity. There's going to be outdoor activity in particular, the Open Restaurants, the Open Streets. I think it's a perfect time to come visit New York City, and I think a lot of people who might've visited other parts of the world or other parts of the country, are going to feel a lot more comfortable coming in New York City. We need to meet them and make the best of it, welcoming people in every way, and we want them back. We want them to keep coming back, and we're also going to provide vaccination for folks who come in from somewhere else need vaccination. That's another great positive benefit we'll offer here. 

So, look, I'll finish this answer and I'll wrap it all together. I think what you're seeing is extraordinary. This comeback is ahead of schedule. It's absolutely amazing. You know, again, the number of vaccinations, beyond anything we could have imagined by this point. The indicators better every single day the activity levels out there extraordinary, which means also a lot of jobs are coming back and you're already seeing tourism. I – if you'd said to me, would you see tourism coming back in May? I would have said, there's no way that was possible, but it's happening as we speak, we're all seeing it. We're all experiencing it. So, I feel very, very good about what this summer will bring and it's something that all New Yorkers should be proud of. You earned it by going out there and getting vaccinated. Now for the rest of you who haven't, help us take that next big step forward, go out and get vaccinated. Thank you, everyone.

2021-05-19 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Another beautiful day in New York City, and we have some beautiful news for you – some really great news. As of today, for the first time since October 13th, over seven months ago – for the first time, all of our health care indicators are below the thresholds that we set. All of the indicators have now gone entirely into the right direction and that is because of all of you. It’s because of what you have done, New Yorkers – going out there, getting vaccinated, seeing us through this crisis, kicking COVID out of town. So, this is a really important day, it proves vaccination works. And let’s talk about how much has happened. From the beginning of the vaccination effort, 7,682,972 vaccinations have been given in New York City – by far, the largest vaccination effort in the history of New York City, and it's working. So, all the indicators down and let's keep pushing them down.

Now, we all are going to get ready for a new world, a world of more freedom, because we've earned it by getting vaccinated. And, by the way, you want more freedom on top of that, go make sure everyone in your life is vaccinated. Or, if you yourself have not been vaccinated, get out there and do it. So, because of the success here and around the country, driving back COVID via vaccination, the CDC came up with new guidance related to masks. And there's been a lot of questions about it, which is fair, but I want to try and break it down, make it a little simple, because I think it is pretty straightforward. The bottom line is, if you're vaccinated, you have more freedom. If you're vaccinated, you can breathe easier and you are safer. If you're not vaccinated, it would be smart to go get vaccinated.

Now, some of the CDC guidance applies regardless of whether you are vaccinated or not. So, whether you're vaccinate or not vaccinated, we want you in certain settings keep the mask on – obvious settings, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, mass transit, people are all together in a small space. Settings like that, it's just common sense. The masks have helped us all to be healthier. We're still fighting off the last part of COVID here. Keep the mask on in those settings, whether you're vaccinate or not. But if you are vaccinated, you have a lot more freedom, and that's important to recognize. If you are vaccinated and you know you're around fully vaccinated people, you have more freedom. If you're vaccinated and you're outdoors, you have more freedom. When you're not sure, my personal advice is, wear a mask when you're not sure. If you just prefer to wear a mask, that's okay. Whatever you want to do in that case is fine. In our City offices, for example, we're going to keep the policy of wearing masks, because you’ve got vaccinated, unvaccinated people together in the workforce. You have vaccinated and unvaccinated New Yorkers coming into the offices, seeking help. You know it's going to be a mix of people, keep your mask on. But look, the bottom line is this – vaccination equals personal freedom and vaccination equals freedom from COVID for all of us. So, it still comes back to a simple thing – if you haven't done it yet, we need you to do it for everyone's good. And you can go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder.

Okay. I mentioned early on – good news in the indicators. It's that time, everyone. Here we go. Remember, this was the first time since the middle of October, over seven months, that the indicators have all been below threshold in New York City. This is a very big day. Number one daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report: 96 patients, confirmed positivity 23.96, hospitalization rate 0.92 per 100,000. Love that graph. We want to see more of that. Number two new report cases on a seven-day average. Here we go below threshold and let's keep going lower, lower, lower – today's report: 537 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average: 1.44 percent and declining. Go get vaccinated. Let's go farther.

Okay. Few words in Spanish, back on the topic of the Family Enrichment Centers.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by ACS Commissioner David Hansell, by the Executive Director of the Task Force on Racial Equity and Inclusion Sideya Sherman, by Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. Sydney from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask a question about kids getting vaccinated. Now that 12 to 15-year-olds are able to get the COVID vaccine, I'm wondering if you, or what is the City going to do to try to make sure as many kids as possible get the vaccine? You know, it, with the new announcement you just made today, are there going to be efforts to try to get kids at those centers vaccinated or any program with the Department of Education?

Mayor: Yeah, look, we're going to do all of the above, Sydney. We have now tremendous ability to reach families and kids. We're going to use all of it. One of the things Dr. Chokshi has talked about is pediatricians. I think this is a single biggest piece of the equation. Getting pediatricians to reach out proactively to families support and encourage vaccination to help make it happen for families, obviously at every pediatric appointment talking about vaccination, but yes, Family Enrichment Centers, schools, we're going to be promoting it in lots of different ways, and what we're seeing, you know, I said yesterday already, we had 20,000 kids in that 12 to 15-year-old range as of yesterday, parents are ready. We're going to make it easy for them. We're going to reach out to them, and I think we're going to get a very strong response.

Moderator: The next is Katie from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Katie, how’ve you been?

Question: Good. I have to say that you and the Nets hat and the jersey that yesterday, that seemed like, you know, maybe one of the more effective Knicks ads in years, you know, it goes back to maybe there was a mad rush for suddenly Knicks fans. Just kidding, of course.

Mayor: You know, I love both teams, Katie. If I brought joy to the hearts of Knicks fans too, that makes me very happy.

Question: That was like John Starks, dunking over Jordan level-marketing.

Mayor: I feel I'm in the pantheon there. All right.

Question: My question is actually it's about you know, with the shifting regulations from the CDC teachers, are still getting required to get mandatory testing in schools. Will you shift that? Especially if teachers are fully vaccinated, I guess it would free up some tests. I don't know that they're in as much demand now, but I don't know what the plan is for that?

Mayor: It’s a fair question, Katie. We're keeping the current approach in place. It's been highly effective. All our schools are open. Positivity is very low. I think what we've been doing is working. We're going to stick with it for now, obviously, you know, the fall when we expect to bring all our kids back a whole different discussion. We'll be speaking to that in the weeks ahead, but right now I think we have an approach that works. We're sticking with it.

Moderator: The next is Paul Liotta from the Staten Island Advance.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?

Mayor: Good, Paul, how’ve you been?

Question: I'm well, sir, thank you. For you and the health professionals on the line with a lot of, you know restrictions being reduced today and eliminated in some cases I'm hoping to get a sense of what you thought of the federal government's announcement of this last week, and if you saw it that the timing was appropriate?

Mayor: All right, let me get everyone in the mix. I'm going to speak and then follow up first, Dr. Varma then Dr. Katz, then Dr. Chokshi. I'll start, Paul, really important question. I think President Biden has done an absolutely outstanding job of fighting COVID and bringing this country back, and I think one of the most important things he did was to professionalize the CDC, to actually make it about the judgment of healthcare professionals again and not politics and not, you know, people being scared to offer an idea because of an arbitrary leader who didn't want to hear it. This President's asking the experts to do the talking and listening to them and acting, and so the experts believed it was time to start making these changes because people had embraced vaccination so much. I think vaccination was proven, right. Period, and in fact, when you say to people, Hey, it worked and you did the right thing, and now we're rewarding you with more freedom. It is an incentive for even more people to go out and get vaccinated and let's finish the job. That's my view of what the federal government has done. Let me turn to my colleagues, Dr. Varma.

Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much for the question, and I would concur exactly with what the Mayor has said, that this is a, a good sign that we see the CDC is taking the lead on following the science here. We feel very strongly based on our review of the evidence that people who are vaccinated are at very low risk of being infected and in the rare situations where they do get infected, very low risk of transmitting infection to other people. I think challenge that all of us are facing, and you hear that in the questions you see it about and the different guidance that's coming out from institutions is how do you manage this in the real world in a play in a world in which you know, that a certain percentage, lets t say a very high percentage, more than 50 percent of your customers or your employees are unvaccinated, you have to think carefully about what you make an assumption on. Do you make the assumption that everybody is essentially on their own? And then they can do whatever they want, or do you try to say, well, look until we get to lower disease rates or higher vaccination rates, people should wear a masks. So, I think that's the challenge, that all of us who are working at different levels of governments trying to work with the sciences, right. CDC got that right. now the question becomes, how do you apply that in real world settings to keep everybody as safe as possible?

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz.

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I very much support this direction because we needed to show people that we really believe in vaccination. I think before it was very much a mixed message. We're saying vaccination works, vaccination protects you, vaccination lowers the risk of transmission, but we want to wear a mask all the time. Well, that doesn't exactly make sense for that individual. So, I think what the CDC has done is made it clear to all Americans. The vaccine does work, as you always say every day. We want everyone to get vaccinated, and as Dr. Varma talked about, we do have work to do in settings where there are both vaccinated and unvaccinated people. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir, and I agree with you and my colleagues that the key to a joyful June and July and a safe summer is vaccination. But I also want to sound the note that if you're not yet fully vaccinated, that means you should continue taking the precautions that we've talked about. If you're not yet fully vaccinated, you should be wearing your mask any time you leave home, maintain physical distancing, and get tested regularly. But if you want to get vaccinated, there has never been an easier time to do so, and you can visit nyc.gov/vaccinefinder to get an appointment or figure out where to walk in today.

Mayor: I want to – thank you – I want to summarize what Dr. Chokshi said, vaccination equals freedom. Simple as that. Okay, go ahead.  

Moderator: The next is Erin from Politico.  

Question: Mr. Mayor, I want to ask, you know, Dr. Varma actually kind of asked the question I was going to ask and now I'm hoping someone can take a stab at answering it, which is, you know, these new rules for the masks I understand as an individual, if you're vaccinated, you don't have to, if you are not vaccinated, you do have to, but for anyone who's trying to implement this, you know, someone who runs a business or whether it's a museum or theater or whatever the case may be, how are they supposed to handle this? How are they supposed to distinguish who's vaccinated and not vaccinated? What is the best practice for them to follow under the regulations which take effect today? 

Mayor: Look, I think it is a choice and this is another element of freedom. Each business, each cultural institution, whatever it is, has a choice in how they want to do this, and if they say for now, we'd like to ask everyone to keep a mask on, that is their right. Or if they want to state the policy at the entrance, say, if you've been vaccinated, you can have your mask off, if you haven't been, keep your mask on and let people do that on an honor system, that's their choice. I really don't find this, personally, Erin, as much of a challenge as some of the questions might've suggest. I think people are working this out. New York has done an amazing job, absolutely amazing. We have to take stock of this. People listen to the guidance, they followed it, and a lot of people are going to keep their masks on now because they just want to be careful, and I think that will go on for a while. But I think most people respect each other, and if the rule is, if you want to come in here, we're asking you to keep your mask on, people will honor it. I think that's the simplest way to proceed. Go ahead, Erin. 

Question: Okay, thanks. And then I'm wondering, you know, with regard to the vaccination numbers, you've been throwing out all these incentives, we've thought about something – doing something more dramatic like Ohio, I think did a lottery for a million dollars if you get vaccinated. Have you thought about doing some kind of like big ticket thing that would really get the numbers up? 

Mayor: Yeah, we are talking about whether that kind of approach with add something. Look, I think Erin, right now, what we're seeing is a lot of people are every day, we're seeing continued progress on vaccination. I think the number one reason that's happening is because we've made it ever more convenient, more local, walk-in, mobile vaccination centers. I think all of this is just making it real easy for people. And I talk to people all the time who say, oh yeah, I'm just finally getting around to it, oh yeah, you know, there's someplace now near me, I'm going to go. I think that's the driver right now. I think the incentives are also helping and generating a lot of interest and focus. I mean, yes, they talk about it's an opportunity to get Nets playoff tickets if you get vaccinated, that's going to motivate people, a lot of the other incentives are going to motivate people, but yeah, we're looking at models around the country and a lottery type idea is real interesting. So, we'll be assessing that, and we'll have more to say on that soon.  

Moderator: The next is Juan Manuel from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: Buenos dνas. ΏCσmo estαs?  

Question: Muy bien, muchas gracias. You just said that the vaccination equals freedom and Dr. Katz also said that the CDC wanted to send a message, if you vaccinate, then you can resume some sort of a normal life, right? And take your mask off. So, I'm sure that you're thinking also about setting an example, how is your mask use going to change starting today? 

Mayor: I am in the camp that says you judge by the setting. I'm fully vaccinated and proud of that fact. If I'm some place where I'm a hundred percent certain, there aren't other people nearby outdoors, for example, or I know I'm around vaccinated people, there may be circumstances where I take the mask off, but there's other cases where I'm like, I'm just going to keep it on out of abundance of caution because maybe I'm going to be in and out of contact with people. Maybe some people around me are vaccinated, some people are not. When in doubt, for me, when in doubt wear the mask, simple as that, we've done it for God's sakes for a year, we can do it a little bit longer to finish the job. That's the approach I'm going to take.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Michael Garland from the Daily News.  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: Hey Michael, how you doing?  

Question: I'm good. So, I wanted to ask you again about, you know, the, the CDC guidance. You know, there seems to be like a lot of room to create confusion here, where, you know, you can have restaurants open at a 100 percent capacity, but you know, unless they have plexiglass – sorry for the dogs barking in the background. I don't know if you could hear that – 

Mayor: You're bringing personality to your question. It's all good. 

Question: The windows are open in the neighborhood. It's a beautiful day out. So yeah, I mean, you can have a 100 percent capacity, but unless you have plexi up, you know, if you have plexi up, you don't have to six-feet social distance, and if you have a vaccination, you don't have to social distance. There are a lot of kind of caveats within certain pieces of this and it just seems like, you know, from the business side, like that could create a lot of confusion. I'm wondering if you have any kind of guidance for business owners and how to navigate that? It seems like potentially really unwieldy and confusing and fraught. 

Mayor: I just don't feel that. I respect the question, Michael, I really do. And if anyone is feeling that I have empathy, but I don't feel that way. We have been through so much worse. We went through hell a year ago and the challenges that business owners are dealing with then, you know, we're so much greater. Everything we're dealing with now pales in comparison to what we went through. 7,682,972 doses of the vaccine given already and climbing every day. That is what we need to know. New Yorkers are doing the right thing. I think people are shown a lot of honor and respect for each other. I think you're going to see a lot of people continuing to be careful and cautious. A lot of people are going to continue to wear the mask even when they don't officially need to. But I think restaurant owners understand they have an obligation to keep people safe, they're in a business of thinking about the needs of their customers, and I think they've been very honorable overwhelmingly in this crisis, so they'll make the adjustments. And I think any restaurant owner wants to err on the side of caution, they have plenty of ways they can do that, and I respect that, you know, they will make good choices. I really believe that.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Gersh from Streetsblog. 

Question: Yeah, as you know, Mr. Mayor, I love going last because you and I can talk like gentlemen when everybody hangs up, but I'd like to disagree with Katie Honan right at the top – 

Mayor: Gersh, wait a minute, I see you as a classic number eight hitter. That's just how I feel. I've played softball with you. I just feel like that eight hole was meant for you. 

Question: I'm all glove, no bat. We know that. Anyway, I got to disagree with Katie Honan and say that seeing you in the Nets uniform yesterday made it possible for all of us aged New Yorkers to feel comfortable modeling basketball swag. So, I appreciate you for that – 

Mayor: I’m not going to comment, I'm going to say, thank you, Gersh. 

Question: Okay. That's all I that's all I need. Anyway, now to my question, so one of the legacies of your handling of the pandemic was your creation of Open Streets and Open Restaurants, which repurpose space that's typically used for car storage, into vibrant space for the public. And given that context, we've been asking around, and now I'm going to ask you what you think about the recent calls for the next mayor's debate to be held outdoors, preferably on one of your Open Streets to highlight how they have transformed that space, but also New Yorkers understanding that public roadways can be transformed into, if you will, the new public square where things like debates should happen. What do you think about that? 

Mayor: I kind of like it. I have the fondest memories as a proud Italian American of being in the piazza in my grandfather's hometown and many other places I've been in Italy and where there's a real public square and people gather, and here in this city, we know the long history, the street corner orators on 125th Street in Harlem, I think there is something there that's very real, and I think people are turning to outdoor spaces more and more. I would like to see, obviously an in-person debate and if outdoors was the way to do it, that's – I think that's a clever solution. Go ahead. 

Question: All right. We obviously appreciate being called clever and I'll pass that along to Dave – 

Mayor: A high point in our relationship that even you are a number eight hitter, I have had to call you clever objectives today. 

Question: Wow. That's awfully nice. Again, [inaudible] Dave Colon. But let me now talk to you about the thing I always talk to you about, which is the notion of this open space and the Open Streets program, and you've called it permanent, and we know that it, thanks to that Council Bill that you signed, is a permanent part of New York life, but let's talk about Barcelona because I don't know if you've ever been to Barcelona, but as you know, the singular architectural feature of that city is something called superblocks, which basically eliminate through traffic for cars inside residential blocks, and it turns it into like five-mile-an-hour plazas. Now, as you may or may not know, that singular feature of Barcelona started with just one superblock that became beloved, and when the city tried to expand it, drivers tended to fight back, but residents eventually won, and the rest is history. So, the reason I bring it up is because when you talk about permanent Open Streets in New York City, right now, the plan is to still have volunteers who, as you know, who've been beaten and harassed by car drivers in their advocates during this program, putting out the barricades and taking them out and [inaudible]. There is a possibility, however, as you know, to create ostensibly New York's first superblock by maybe closing off some of these streets permanently with design solutions. So, I'd want to ask you again about that, and I'd like to get Dr. Chokshi on that because as, you know, as Health Commissioner, he knows how much safer roadways are when cars are simply not on them. 

Mayor: I want to say, first of all, Open Streets clearly has been a huge victory. I appreciate that you're pointing out some of the issues that have arisen, but it's in very rare instances, overwhelmingly people have respected Open Streets and communities have embraced open streets, and again, I want to accent what I think is not just the positive but is the overwhelming majority of circumstances. So, just wanted to offer that correction, but look, we're finding new options all the time that work. I'm open to, you know, we talked about, for example, we've now had the concept of Open Boulevards which takes open streets, makes it multi-block long. We're going to do that this summer. I think it's going to be a big hit. We're going to learn from that. I think there are more and more opportunities to experiment and figure out what works. I don't think we're exactly like Barcelona on many levels, but I think these models are something worth looking at. I was very struck in, again, close to my ancestral hometown and Napoli, the way that they closed off waterfront roads in a really productive way. I think we have to keep looking at different models, some temporary, some permanent. I do think it's going to be a bigger part of our future. I really do. Dr. Chokshi, you get the last word today, what do you want to say about is how Open Streets connect with public health? 

Commissioner Chokshi: I will. Thank you so much, sir. First, Gersh, I understand it's your birthday. So, I wanted to wish you a very happy birthday, and with respect to your important question you know, I agree with what the Mayor has said, and I'll just add sort of my personal take on it. I've enjoyed both an Open Boulevard and the Open Streets in my neighborhood of Jackson Heights in Queens, and I do think that you're right to connect it to health. We have to think about all of the benefits that people get from congregating outside. There are social benefits. There are the benefits, of course, of promoting a more physical activity, getting people out and walking as well. And so, we have to take that very holistic approach in thinking about the links between our transportation infrastructure and health. 

Mayor: Thank you very much and Gersh. I was about to wish you happy birthday, Dave Chokshi beat me to it, but I want to say Gersh, next year, when you're 40, you're going to find that the 40’s are a great, great decade. So, enjoy this last year of your 30’s. And thank you for your question and everyone, it is a beautiful day in New York City. Go out – go outside. Yes, we all agree. Go outside and enjoy it. And while you're outside, if you have not yet been vaccinated, go and walk into one of those vaccination centers and get safe and healthy. It's easy. It's fast. It's free. Thank you. Have a great day, everyone.

2021-05-20 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well, we have some very promising news today. The vaccination effort has been historic, continue to grow. I want to thank everyone, all the vaccinators, everyone at Test and Trace Corps, everyone at Health + Hospitals, everyone at Department of Health, and all of our partners out there – the hospitals, the clinics, the community-based organizations, everyone who’s been a part of this. We have an important milestone today. We have now passed 4 million first doses – 4 million first doses. Why is that important? Because in New York City, the latest information is that over 95 percent of New Yorkers who get a first dose come back and get a second dose. Passing this 4-million mark means we continue to surge forward toward our goal. And you can see the results every single day. We’re going to go over the indicators again – it is the clearest story you’ve ever heard. More vaccination equals less COVID, equals more freedom. More vaccine – let me do it again, more vaccination, equals less COVID, equals more freedom. That's what we're seeing right now.  

Since day-one, 7,753,184 vaccinations in New York City and climbing every single hour. So that's fantastic. Now, the more we do the safer we'll be. We have proven, proven, proven that vaccinations work. Vaccinations are your ticket to freedom, that's what the CDC guidance tells us. Now, we need to get even freer with more and more vaccinations so that we can have the Summer of New York City. We could have an extraordinary summer of joy, but we all have to keep contributing, getting out there, getting vaccinated. What are we doing? Continuing the outreach. And we're encouraging whole families now to get vaccinated, because now five – excuse me, now 12- to 15-year-olds – 12- to 15-year-olds can be vaccinated. A whole family can go to a vaccination site together. We want to encourage that and we want to incentivize that. So today, vaccination site opens at the Brooklyn Children's Museum – amazing location. I was over there celebrating Holi. I love the Brooklyn Children's Museum, I used to take my kids there when they were young. As of today, you can go there, you can get vaccinated. You can get a free same-day admission to the museum right then and there, and a family pass – a family pass for your next visit. So, it combines a vaccination in a really encouraging, positive place – whole family can be there, but also incentivizes folks, because you get to enjoy the museum then and another opportunity after that. Tomorrow, Friday, Bronx Zoo we'll have a vaccination site. This is really exciting. You go there, you get vaccinated, and you get a free ticket for a future visit. 

And soon, we'll have the New York City Aquarium in Coney Island – same thing. You go there, you get vaccinated, you get a free ticket. This is the kind of approach that will really encourage families to come on out together.  

Now, here's another thing you can do. If you love the idea of getting your young person vaccinated, your 12- to 15-year-old, or even older, go to the American Museum of Natural History. You can get vaccinated right there below the blue whale. We've talked about it before, but now that we have this new age group, I think a lot of young people are going to love the idea of getting vaccinated there below the whale. It’s something they’ll be able to talk about for the rest of their lives, something positive, something fun. So, parents, whether you want to go to the natural history museum, Coney Island, Bronx Zoo, Brooklyn Children's Museum, and more coming, this is a great way to make vaccination even more fun, make it something for the whole family, make the whole family safe. We're really excited about this.  

Okay. I mentioned at the top, the indicators continue to show the power of vaccination. Here we go. We're going to go over them and proof is in the numbers. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 90 patients. 90 patients with a confirmed positivity level of only 16.67 percent. So, we've really seen that number go down, that's very telling. And the crucial figure, hospitalization rate per 100,000 – look at that, down, down, down, this is fantastic – 0.89 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on seven-day average – again, great news, constant downward pressure, this is fantastic. Today's report, 513 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today’s report on a seven-day rolling average – look at this one – 1.37 percent and going down because vaccinations are going up. So, good news today. Over 4 million New Yorkers – in fact, I have the exact number now – 4, 157,600 New Yorkers have gotten their first dose. And that means the vast, vast majority of them will get their second dose, be fully vaccinated, and that means a safer city for everybody.  

A few words in Spanish back on how we protect and support people who have been homeless and bring them home. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Commissioner for Social Services Steve Banks, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma, and Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals. Our first question for today goes to Andrew Siff from NBC New York. 

Question: Good morning, everyone. Mayor, I wanted to ask you this – yesterday, I spoke with some restaurant owners who said that they're sticking with 75 percent capacity, because in order to go to 100 percent capacity, they'd have to find the vaccination status of their customer to get around the six-foot rule, and they're finding it just easier to keep the spacing and keep it less crowded. Based on where your indicators are headed, do you think we're a few weeks away, maybe July 1st, from where COVID is so low, close to zero, that it's no longer relevant at that point, whether a customer has or hasn't been vaccinated? 

Mayor: Real important question, I appreciate it, Andrew. And I appreciate that you're out there listening to folks making sense of these rules and raising these questions so we can keep perfecting. Look, I put forward July 1st and I meant it and I believe in it. I think by July 1st – it may not be exactly zero, but I think we can really deepen this progress, and the number I just announced to you about first doses is very promising. What I'd argue is, after July 1st, unless the data tells us something very different than what we're seeing now, I do believe we can have a full reopening with very few restrictions. There might be some specific types of environments where there's restrictions, or, again, private entities might make their own choices, but I think the direction we're heading is fewer and fewer restrictions as we get more and more people vaccinated. So, I think I've rarely seen anything in life where, sort of, cause and effect are so clear. Every day, more and more vaccinations and everyday COVID goes lower and lower. So, let's keep doing that so we can get to that point where the rules get even simpler and things open up even more. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: Folks in Midtown today who were planning to burn a big pile of masks as a symbolic end to the pandemic, I'm wondering what you think of that. They're actually going to be doing one of your favorite songs, Disco Inferno, as they burn this pile of masks. What do you think of that? And whether you think it's worth reminding folks to hang on to some masks too? 

Mayor: There's a variety of lines I'd like to quote right now from Disco Inferno. But I get the feeling – Bill Neidhardt is glaring at me. He does not want me to say those lines. They would be taken out of context. So, I'm going to – I'm really restraining myself, Bill. This is troubling, because that was a very big song when I was in high school and I'm having a moment here. But let's just say that I appreciate that people are – you know, they went through so much. And New Yorker showed incredible discipline, they really did. I always say, this is a heroic city, what people did to fight back COVID. And folks are going to celebrate their freedom in a variety of ways, but the best way is to go make sure everyone in your life is vaccinated so we can ensure this freedom is lasting and reaches everyone. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS.  

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor, I'm on the phone.  

Mayor: Juliet, now you sound like yourself again? See, it's a beautiful thing.  

Question: Yes. It's the phone, the phone. 

Mayor: It's called a phone, Juliet. It’s called a phone. It was something that really worked for a long time.  

Question: All right, good. I'm glad this is better. So, I wanted to ask you, how do you plan on vaccinating homeless, or having them tested if you're returning them at some point to the congregate shelters? Is there a program for that or what do you need to do?  

Mayor: Absolutely. I'll have Commissioner Banks speak to it. There has been now, for quite a while, a vaccination effort. It’s made a lot of progress. We're going to keep that going. Whatever resources are needed to get people vaccinated and get them tested. The good news, Juliet, is we are able now to move resources around in a whole different way, because we're having so much success with vaccination and with reducing COVID. So, it'll be a priority to make sure that homeless folks get that support. Commissioner. 

Commissioner Banks: So, as to testing. When testing became more widely available in the city last May and last June in 2020, we implemented an outreach testing program to, on a rotating basis, bring testing directly to our single adult shelters, including the temporary commercial hotels, as well as in our specialized beds for people who have come in from the streets and the subways, and we've administered 67,980 tests, and we have a currently a 1.2 percent positivity rate, which is in line with the overall city rate. As to vaccinations, when the state determined that people experiencing homelessness or working in congregate shelters would be eligible for vaccines, we stood up a supplemental program at the Department of Homeless Services to supplement the overall city effort, and I can report to that through our direct effort – which also includes direct outreach into a single adult shelters and the commercial hotels where single adults are being temporarily sheltered – we've administered more than 18,000 vaccines to both clients and staff who work in congregate shelters, and we have nearly 12,000 fully vaccinated people through this program. This is of course supplements the overall city effort. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay, great. Thank you. So, there have been lower vaccination rates predominantly in the Bronx and Brooklyn. So, how are you addressing that? 

Mayor: Juliet, here's what we find is working in New York City and it's working all over the country, and again, you got now over four million people with a first dose, something's working. We want to just double down, reach all the other folks who are now going to be ready. It's more and more local outreach. It's knocking on doors. It's having vaccination sites and buses and vans that can be right in the middle of the neighborhood or outside a house of worship. It's NYCHA senior centers, community centers, all this stuff works. It's just more and more and more folks going out, knock on the door, iPad at the ready, setting up an appointment right away, bringing people who are ready that moment, right to a center or a bus outside. All of this. We know it works. We just got to do more and more and more. You saw – you're the person who discovered the Times Square vaccine hawker. I mean, that kind of approach really worked, and you saw the video yourself, Juliet, that proves you can get, it's amazing who you can get to come in for a vaccine, and the fact is the incentives also help because they create energy and focus, and some people of course, who are on the fence, like, wait a minute, I want that incentive. I want those Nets playoff tickets or whatever it may be. Also, the last point, the reality of the 12 to 15-year-olds changes the discussion because now it really can be a family thing to go and get vaccinated, and parents want to protect our kids. I think that's going to drive the numbers up too. So, it's all those approaches and just incessantly. We're not, we're not going to stop until we reach everyone who can and will be vaccinated.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Yoav from The City. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to check in on the question of whether there'll be a fully remote learning option in the fall. Earlier this week, New Jersey announced that it will not be doing so. How close are you and by when do you plan to make the decision? 

Mayor: We'll have an update in the next few weeks. We continue, you know, Chancellor and I have talked about this a lot, looking at all the facts, but the bottom line is the central goal is get all our kids back in school in September. But as to the specifics, you're going to certainly hear from us in the next couple of weeks.

As we conclude, everyone, look today we're talking about things that we said we could change and we have changed, and this is the New York City spirit. We're going to be putting out a lot more information about the real progress that's been made in addressing homelessness, new approaches that work, this is important to recovery, but everything we're doing is about a recovery for all of us, and it all starts with believing New York City can achieve great things. We keep seeing it, because we have New Yorkers, we have the persistence, we have the focus, we have the spirit, we have the ingenuity. More to come, but we are unquestionably building a real and lasting recovery and a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everyone.

2021-05-21 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: Now it’s time for our weekly Ask the Mayor segment, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280 – or you can tweet a question @BrianLehrer. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. How are you doing today? 

Lehrer: Good. Let me ask you first about full capacity schools for this fall, which you said is your goal. Gothamist has an article called "Social Distancing Requirements Will Be Pivotal In NYC Schools Reopening Next Fall," and it's about the CDC guidelines for three feet of distance between kids in the younger grades, still six feet at the middle and high school level. The City has adopted those standards, but you have principals and the teachers union who say most classrooms are too small for that much distancing. So, they need many more rooms that they than they have in each building, which would also mean many more teachers than they currently have to staff those rooms. Do you have a solution to that math problem? 

Mayor: Yeah. First of all, it's May. I don't mean this to be facetious. I mean, it's to be really straightforward. It's May 21st, and we're talking about when school opens, you know, after Labor Day in September. Right now, with the CDC guidance, as cases have plummeted in New York City thanks to vaccinations, right now, we could be at three feet in all our schools, including middle schools and high schools. That's a change that has occurred because of the improved health care situation and the amazing number of vaccinations. You're talking about four months from now. I think we're going to see a much, much improved situation. I think we'll have COVID greatly reduced and have more freedom and flexibility from the CDC. So, we'll be speaking to the specifics in the next week or two. But I'm quite confident that we'll be able to make this work. 

Lehrer: I understand that you also have a reaction to some pretty good news about jobs in New York City that are coming back after the pandemic, but the reports that I've seen say coming back, modestly, there's caution, but they're coming back. How do you see it? 

Mayor: Oh, they're definitely coming back. I mean, there's a lot of work to do, and for any New Yorkers unemployed, our job is to get them all back to work. But there's major, major progress. The information just released 375,000 jobs have come back since the beginning of the pandemic of the ones we lost. 375,000 back, the unemployment rate is falling nationally, but it's falling even faster in New York City. That's great news. Unemployment is going down in New York City, even faster than the nation. An example which is fantastic, in the last month alone, 15,000 restaurant jobs have come back, 5,000 entertainment jobs have come back because we went out there, we got the Broadway community and the arts and cultural community vaccinated. Some very good examples of how quickly these jobs to come back, and this summer Brian is going to be extraordinary because we're doing a national tourism campaign to get people to come to New York City. We're already starting to see tourists come back. I think you're going to see what all the outdoor performances, open restaurants, you know, street activities. You're going to see a huge influx of folks coming back to the city and the jobs are going to intensify as a result. So, these are good solid numbers, more to do, but really good direction we're in. 

Lehrer: Here's a restaurant owner calling in with a related question, I think. Daniel in Manhattan. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi Daniel. 

Question: Hi. Thank you for taking my call. Mr. Mayor, first thing I'd like to do is thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you did for our small business last April, by making sure we got a grant and that was a real lifesaver. So, I want to thank you for that. 

Mayor: I'm really, really happy to hear it helped and, and that you guys are going strong. God bless you. 

Question: Yeah, it really did, and bless you. But here's my next question: did you know every two years we didn't have a full beer, wine and liquor license, we have to re-up with the State Liquor Authority and that's about $4,500 even for our little, tiny restaurant. But you know, recently we just got a bill from the City taxing that part of our liquor license. So in other words, we have to pay a $600 tax this year, even though – my wife owns the business – even though our family business has deteriorated down to about 25 percent, and now on a good weekend, we're up to about 50 percent. So, what I'm asking is that why can't that tax it's about $600, which is about what we pay for our dishwasher, because we pay people well. So why can't we keep that money instead of giving it over to the city, and if I'm correct, hasn’t the city been made whole from the federal government? Could you please answer that, sir? 

Mayor: Yeah. Daniel, thank you very, very much for the question. We have gotten a lot of help from the federal government. We also have had tremendous challenges we've had to address and a lot of things that we didn't get support for, you know, for the whole first year of COVID that we're still paying for, but that's not the central concern here in terms of your question. I think your question is a really fair one that we need to try and be thoughtful about everything we can do to help restaurants and bars come back. Look what I loved about Open Restaurants, in addition to the direct grants and loans and things we did that you received, for example, the Open Restaurants, we gave free space to restaurants to be able to survive and that is now going to be permanent. Open Streets, Open Restaurants will be permanent. You're not going to pay for that space. That's going to be a place where you can thank God bring in more customers and keep going. But that being said, we should be looking at any other form of relief that makes sense. And this is a new one on me, I'm really glad you raised it, Daniel. I always say to journalists, I appreciate when they educate me on something, I didn't know about this one on, I'm happy to hear about it. I'm going to look at it to see if there's something else, we can do, especially in the short-term while folks are still suffering and trying to get back on their feet. So, consider me educated and will you give your information please to WNYC, and then I'll have my team follow up with you and let you know what we're going to do with this.   

Lehrer: Remote learning, 10:00 am to noon even for the Mayor. Seth in Brooklyn. You're on. WNYC –  

Mayor: Nice – nice turn of the phrase there, Brian.   

Lehrer: Seth in Brooklyn, you're on with the Mayor. Hi, Seth.  

Question: Hey, Brian. Hi, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking my call. I appreciate it. I am the owner of a small arts organization. We provide teaching artists and artists and residencies to public schools. We've been doing it for about 20 years. My, every five-year re-contracting with the city has been held up for 18 months in COVID –  

Mayor: COVID hell, COVID hell.   

Question: [Inaudible] bureaucracy. Now – yes, yes, hell. And now there are grants due this coming week for arts programs in the city, and I'm being made to go through, you know, ridiculous hoops in order for my schools who are interested in bringing our artists to their schools in order to do these grants without my new contract. So, I'm wondering how small businesses who have been held up due to COVID for well over a year, we've been approved for the number, yet, don't have the number, what can be done to sort of jump through these hoops quickly to get our people work?  

Mayor: This is really important, Seth. Thank you. We -- first of all, the work of artists and cultural folks in schools has been incredibly important throughout, obviously the pandemic, but even before it's one of the things that inspires young people to learn, and so we got to double down on this and we've increased arts spending in our schools over the years, and it's been really, really worthwhile. We got to – we got to move our young people, and nothing does that like arts, music, culture. So, thank you for what you're doing. I want to try and simplify your life, because we, in addition to that kind of funding, we have this new very powerful funding with our city Artists Corps, which is, Brian will appreciate, borrowed directly from the New Deal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The incredible work that happened with the Works Progress Administration and the federal programs to directly support artists in theater. We're doing a version of that direct grants to artists to do community performances and workshops, and that's starting right now. So, that's another thing you and your colleagues could key into. I'm going to have a very special person reach out to you, Seth, Gonzalo Casals who is our Cultural Affairs Commissioner. I'd like him to talk to you directly today. So, please give your information WNYC and let's see if we can cut through the bureaucracy and get you to support you need.  

Lehrer: Thanks, as always, Mr. Mayor. Talk to you next week.   

Mayor: Thank you, Brian. Take care.

2021-05-24 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We do not just have good news this morning, we have great news this morning. Really wonderful, powerful, clear indications of the fact that New York City is moving in the right direction. We are getting healthier all the time. We are opening up. We are recovering. We are definitely winning the battle against COVID. So, let's talk right now about the positivity level in the city. I'll do the full indicators later, but, right now, 1.13 percent – the lowest since September. This is really striking, COVID is being run out of New York City because everyone's going out and getting vaccinated, doing the right thing. This is an eight-month low and this is a great, great sign for where we're going.

Now, the vaccination effort continues to move forward. We're getting very close to 8 million vaccinations. Officially, as of today, 7,962,139 doses from day-one, climbing all the time.

Let me give you some facts about who has been vaccinated. Seniors – 70 percent of seniors in New York City have received at least one dose – 70 percent. 60 percent of all adults in New York City have received at least one dose. And 50 percent of adults are fully vaccinated. So, things are moving forward, moving forward aggressively. We’ve got more to do, unquestionably, but these are really, really great numbers that give me a lot of faith about the direction we're going in.

So, we know vaccination works. Vaccination equals freedom – simple as that. Vaccination equals freedom. More and more people getting vaccinated, they need us to reach them. They need us to make it accessible, convenient, fun. And that's what we're doing, so let me give you an update. More and more incentives available. Anyone who likes the incentives you've heard about already – if you like Nets playoff tickets, if you like free admission to the Bronx Zoo, or, if you're like me, and you like French fries from Shake Shack, all you’ve got to do is go to vaccinefinder.nyc.gov/benefits – vaccinefinder.nyc.gov/benefits to find out all the different prizes and incentives available.

Now, we have a new, exciting incentive now. It is the New York City vaccine contest. This is a new contest that's going to make really great prizes available. We're going to do it every week. So, every week we will announce a new contest and the prize will be announced – what it will be, will be announced the beginning of the week. And then, the following Monday, we will say exactly the winners of the prizes. And anyone – anyone that goes to a City-run vaccination site and gets newly vaccinated qualifies. Anyone who goes to one of those sites, gets newly vaccinated qualifies. You opt in when you go and get your reservation for your first dose appointment. Now, this will be going through now, the end of May, through June, into the beginning of July. What kind of prizes are we talking about? Staycation packages – think about that. Everyone's been at home a little too much, might be nice to go to a hotel – one of our great hotels here in the city – and enjoy some other great amenities and entertainment. So, there's going to be staycation packages, Broadway show tickets, something so many New Yorkers are yearning for. These great opportunities – obviously, free prizes for folks who get newly vaccinated. And let's talk about this week's prizes. So, first of all, there'll be 10 available prizes in this category. Free one-year passes to Crunch Fitness – all free, whole year, Crunch Fitness. Now, full disclosure, I'm a YMCA guy – I don't know if anyone's heard that – but Crunch is good too, and free for a year is very good. So, this contest starts right now this week for everyone who signs up to get vaccinated. And then – this one's fantastic – we talked a few days back about the Governor's Ball coming back – incredible acts – absolutely incredible acts. For all you Megan Thee Stallion fans, here's your opportunity. Three-day passes to the Governor's Ball. Are you saying only one is available? No, I'm saying 50 are available – 50 three-day passes to the Governor's Ball. So, amazing acts – get vaccinated, go to the Governor's Ball, couldn't be simpler than that. And anyone who wants to be a part of this, real simple rules, you just need to be 18 or older and you need to book your appointment this week.

So, this just continues to show there are so many ways to get people focused and excited about getting vaccinated so we can keep moving forward with a recovery for all of us. But there's also a lot of great news out there showing us the recovery is moving and we just got some great news about one of our favorite people – Stephen Colbert. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will be resuming with a live audience at the Ed Sullivan Theater on June 14th. Full audience – full audience of vaccinated folks enjoying one of the great comedians of our time. Everyone, this is – this is incredible news. This shows we’re moving forward, moving forward fast. And it's further proof – we say, there's no stop in New York. It's so clear, New Yorkers are making it happen in so many ways. There's no stop in New York. There's no stopping Stephen Colbert, he's coming back and so many others are going to be coming back soon. So, that's the way forward for the city.

Okay. Now, a lot of important news today, but this is a case of saving the biggest news for last, and it is a very, very big deal. I am so happy to tell you – and I was a New York City public school parent. Every single day my kids went to school, they went to a New York City public school. They got a great education. And this has been such a tough year, what parents have been through, what kids have been through. It's time for everyone to come back. It's time for us all to be together. It's time to do things the way they were meant to be done – all the kids in the classroom together, getting a great education from educators who care, staff members who care, the school community coming back fully. So, I'm very pleased to announce New York City public schools will fully reopen in September. Every single child will be back in the classroom. I have talked to so many parents who have been wanting to hear this confirmed and I am confirming it once and for all. We're going to have plenty of protections in place as we proved, even during the toughest months of COVID, that we could keep kids and staff safe with a gold standard of health and safety measures. We're going to do that again. We're going to keep our situation room running. Look, New York City proved – when other cities didn't even dare to reopen their schools, we reopened our schools and we proved they could be safe. We're going to do that again. We're going to support kids. We're going to support the whole family. We're going to show that we'll do new things to reach kids academically and to address their emotional issues. But it only works if everyone is back in person, the way education was meant to be.

So, this is going to be crucial for families. So many parents are relieved, I know. And it's also going to help us move this whole city forward. Now, I want you to get a little more sense of what this means. So, I'm going to turn to alive correspondent, live from the New Bridges Elementary School in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Our live correspondent, Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, are you there?

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I am live from Brooklyn at New Bridges Elementary School with Principal Bowles, and we are here today to announce the full reopening of schools for September. Can we get some noise?

[Cheers]

Today is a very, very special day, but you don't need to hear from me. I have some very special correspondents with me today who are going to tell you why this is a special day.

[…]

Mayor: Amazing.

Chancellor Ross Porter: I couldn't have said it better myself. We've been dancing and singing all morning here at New Bridges, because this day is for us. It's for all of us. It's for the parents, the educators, and the young people who've waited for the light at the end of the tunnel. This will be the return to our new normal, to learning, to friends, and everything else the school community has to offer our children. And, as the Mayor said on September 13th, 2021, New York City public schools will fully reopen for all students.

[Cheers]

For the first time – we will be back for the first time in 18 months. There will not be a remote option. Because of that, there will be no COVID-related accommodations. The last 14 months put a stark spotlight on how nothing can replace the importance of the in-person educator in class with his or her students. So, we will welcome all of our teachers and staff members back in the fall. At least half of fully vaccinated and even more will be by September. And now, most of our middle and high school students are eligible for vaccines as well.

We would not be doing this if our schools were not safe. I'm a mother. I'm a mother of a New York City high school student who was so excited. She was singing and dancing this morning. And so, we would never take any risks with our most important assets, and that's our children. We have invested in nurses, in ventilation, and in testing for our schools. And thanks to our gold standard health and safety policies. Our seven-day school positivity rate is incredibly low – 0.16 percent. As of now, in September, masks will be required. Look at how beautiful they look in their masks, right? Masks will be required and we will continue to follow the CDC social distancing guidelines at that point. But we know how to be nimble. We are New Yorkers and we are in Brooklyn today, and we will continue to monitor the CDC protocols for guidance in the fall.

This has been a challenging year in so many ways. We cannot return without acknowledging the enormous losses and the enormous learnings for our communities, meeting them – we will continue to meet them where they are and support them with whatever they need. Our new normal we'll include social-emotional supports in every school. Our new normal will include increased funding, no hiring restrictions for school pedagogues, and expanding our teacher pipeline to bring more educators into our system. Our new normal will include our school communities becoming completely whole again, finally, at long last. We know many families, many educators, many community members still have more questions and may have some concerns. And I say to you, I hear you. We are here. We will continue to listen and answer questions. I'm currently in the midst of the five-borough tour of family engagement forums to answer all of your questions. Please join us for those important conversations. This summer, our schools will open their doors for you, starting in June to host visits, we want to welcome our families, and we want you to see our schools, see how safe and ready they are, and a shout out to all of the principals, teachers, school food workers, school safety agents, all of the folks who have done so much – our crossing guards, our custodians, to keep our building safe, to keep them ready, and I personally, not only as the Chancellor and an educator, but as a mother, am so grateful to each and every one of them. It's your turn, DOE – get vaccinated. Every New Yorker who is vaccinated is another step towards the light at the end of the tunnel. Do it for yourself, do it for your community, do it for our babies, mark it on your calendars. Guys, ready? September 13th. We stepped back into the light, and welcome all of our young people back to school. This is the day for them. More importantly, this is the day for all of us. I'm passing it back to you, Mr. Mayor, you missed all the singing and dancing. The fun is right here at New Bridges Elementary School, right guys?

[Applause]

Mayor: Meisha Ross Porter found possibly the cutest kids in all of New York City, right there. I'm like blown away. What a beautiful performance, such great energy and passion for those kids. I also want to thank the teacher, Alice Sweet, for her amazing work. You could see her passion and intensity and love for our kids. Drawing out that beautiful, beautiful music from them. This is an example, you know, they say a picture's worth a thousand words. That song alone shows you why it's so important for our kids to be back. What a difference it makes the magic happens in the classroom, that just can't happen remotely, and that's why we're going to bring everyone back together, now. We're doing it for our kids because it's the best way to educate our kids, support them academically, support them emotionally. We're doing it for them. But let me also talk about parents. I’ve talked to so many parents who have done their best to be at home teachers. They've done their best to support their kids. They've done their best to juggle work and other obligations. They're ready for a break too, and I know one parent who I think definitely can speak for many parents in her district for the, that they are ready for a change and ready to move forward. Council Member, Majority Leader of the New York City Council, Laurie Cumbo of Brooklyn. Laurie?

[…]

Mayor: You look very happy, Laurie. You look happy. That's a big smile there.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much Majority Leader. You always make the show better and thank you for bringing your passion to everything you do, and this is a wonderful day. Thank you for your leadership as well.

All right, now you want more good news. We have more good news and it's our indicators. This is just wonderful, and again, you earned it, you earned it, everything you did, all New Yorkers, and you can make it even better by getting vaccinated. So, here we go. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID 19 today's report, 85, only 85 patients confirmed positivity level 18.82 percent. This is really, really good to see. And hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.81, continuing that downward slope. We want to keep driving it down. Now, new reported cases. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average daily report, 405 cases. Look at that go down and down and down, and number three, as I said earlier, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 today's report on seven day rolling average. It is not been this good since September last year, a 1.13 percent. Absolutely amazing. Okay. Few words in Spanish, and I’m going back to the reopening of our schools.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Senior Advisor on Public Health Dr. Jay Varma, and Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health and Hospitals. Our first question goes to James Ford from PIX 11.

Mayor: Hey James, can you hear me?

Question: Great yeah, I've been having some phone issues, so apologies there. Thanks very much for taking the call and happy new week.

Mayor: It's a good week, James. How’re you doing?

Question: So far, so great. Thank you very much. I appreciate you asking. We've been getting input from various New Yorkers regarding having alcohol served on the go and possibly keeping it as part of New York City life as the pandemic winds down. Can you talk about the prospects for that continuing?

Mayor: Look, I don't know, what's being thought about at the state level and obviously the State Liquor Authority has an important role here, but I'd say it worked as something to sustain restaurants and bars during the pandemic. I think we should keep it up for the foreseeable future. It was something that was important to people, important to keeping those jobs, important to keeping those businesses going. We are not out of this yet in terms of full economic recovery. So, I would say, keep it going for the foreseeable future and then reevaluate down the line.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Hope you're doing well.

Mayor: How are you doing today, Andrew?

Question: Good. I'm wondering if you can address – as excited as people are, and as parents are to hear the news about their kids going back in September, there are parents who are beside themselves, that here we are on May 24th and in particular high school parents, their kids, if they're lucky, go to school two days a week, and when they are in the classroom, they don't have a teacher in front of them on there watching a teacher on a zoom, and so there are parents out there who are not exactly ready to throw a parade about this news because they wonder, given the transmission level that exists right now, why you couldn't have delivered this reality sooner?

Mayor: Why Andrew, look, first of all, we just want to be very clear. A lot of our high school students obviously are getting in-person instruction. There are parts of the days in some high schools where it's otherwise, but let's be very clear, in-person instruction is the norm all over the city for kids who are in person and just being in a school building is positive unto itself. It's a safe environment with caring adults. There's an academic support. There's emotional support. There's a lot of reasons why it's good. We, every step along the way showed parents what was happening, created a gold standard of health and safety that worked. We offered the opt-in periods. Parents made a decision, I understand why many cases they'd gotten used to the norm with remote and they didn't want to disrupt late in the year, but September is a whole different ball game. A lot of parents said to me, let us know as soon as possible and let you know, as soon as possible, let's all come back, we're ready, and undoubtedly the news is going to continue to get better as more and more people get vaccinated, and there's plenty of time to get kids who are eligible vaccinated. So, I am looking forward. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: Do you have a scenario where, and correct me if I'm wrong, the current plan for the fall is the only time they'll be remote is if there's a snow day, right? Then everybody would be home learning remotely. Is that a model to ramp up to a larger remote option in the event that the hard to believe happens and that we have a variant or an uptick or seasonality ends, that kind of thing. Could you conceive of announcing in the fall, we're back to remote in some capacity.

Mayor: I can't conceive of it based on all the facts we know now. So, I want to be very clear, Andrew. We’ve been led by the data and the science throughout this whole challenge, data and the science couldn't be clearer. Vaccination works. Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz said from the very beginning, you get millions of millions of people vaccinated, it's going to be a whole new ball game. Well, guess what? It's a whole new ball game. So, no, I cannot conceive of that situation based on the facts we know. If some absolutely unexpected circumstance occurred, could we move quickly to remote? Of course, because we had to do it before under much worse circumstances, but I do not foresee that.

Moderator: Next, we have Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. I wanted to find out, you know, what do you say to families who are not ready to return in person? What options do they have if they still don't feel safe in September?

Mayor: Emma, I want to really say – and I'm a parent and you know, it's the thing I feel most deeply is my experience as a parent, we got to understand we're leaving COVID behind. We can't live in the grip of COVID the rest of our lives. It is going to be in our past as a crisis. It may be yet another disease out there, like the flu and other things, but it will be manageable. So, we got to put COVID behind ourselves mentally, too. And you know, there's four months between now and September. We're going to keep showing the data. We're going to keep showing people the health and safety measures. We're going to invite parents to come in, in June and throughout the summer, see your schools, ask your questions, get the information you need. But it's just time for everyone to come back. So, plenty of lead time, plenty of time to answer questions and concerns. But we got to start recognizing we can go back to the world that was before COVID. In fact, I want to make it better than it was before COVID. But it's time to start understanding that we can actually return to the things we knew.

Moderator: Next we have Alex Zimmerman from Chalkbeat.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Back in March, you said that your expectation is that the City would have to have a remote option in the fall. I'm wondering what changed your thinking?

Mayor: It's May. The data has been unbelievably clear. Vaccination worked ahead of schedule. It's had even more impact than we thought it would. CDC has been sending very clear signals about our ability to come back fully in so many senses. It's a whole new day. It's just a whole new reality and we're ready. Go ahead Alex.

Question: The UFT is also, I think, sounds largely on board with there being a dramatic expansion of in-person, at least required in the fall, but have suggested there should be a continued remote option for extreme medical challenges. Is that on the table at all here? Can you speak to that at all? And sort of related to that if there is no remote option, can you also just elaborate a little bit on the safety procedures here? Like if a student has COVID symptoms and they need to stay home, are they just out of luck for instruction on those days? Like how is this going to work?

Mayor: Look, Alex on the first point we will resume the rules that existed before the pandemic. So, there always were rules for providing accommodation for very particular and severe circumstances that existed before we ever heard a COVID. We're going to resume the pre COVID rules. And look, we're going to work to figure out the right way to handle a kid who is home sick for anything. We obviously have something new now with the digital opportunities. But that would be true for kids who have other diseases that might be home sick with something else as well. We got to figure out ways that we can provide them something. I think there are ways we could do that with digital learning packages and one thing or another. But what we will not be planning on at all is remote instruction as we've known it. We're planning on only one type of instruction in-classroom, in-person, teacher at the front of the room, kids in the classroom.

Moderator: Next we have Jillian Jorgenson from NY1.

Question: Hi, Mayor. Thanks for taking my question. I guess my first question is I know that you're saying that you're going to be doing some work to get these families to feel more comfortable sending their children back. As you know, 60 percent of families or more have kept their children home. But what if they don't get comfortable their children back? Is there any concern that the City could see a drop in enrollment, whether that's families looking to all remote charters or looking to homeschool, which is obviously a much bigger lift than remote learning had been? What happens if that you know, materializes?

Mayor: Look, I'll bring the Chancellor in on this one too. But let me offer my strong view. I think parents care first and foremost about their kids and the health and safety of their kids. But there's just overwhelming evidence now that things are changing rapidly for the better. I don't think parents want to live in the past. Everything that happened in previous circumstance was based on a set of facts that don't exist anymore. I think parents want to look forward. I think parents are really tired, having tried to juggle all of these roles and are going to be ready for a positive change. Chancellor, you want to jump in?

Chancellor Porter: Yes, sure. Good morning, Jill. You know, we've heard overwhelmingly from parents that is time to get back to school and time to get back to our new normal. And like how the young people said this morning, this is our day. And we know, and I've said to you over and over again, I know that we have to continue to be in conversation with parents. We have to continue to build trust with parents. That's why starting in June, we're going to be opening up our school buildings so parents can come in, see our buildings, take tours. And our principals are going to be sure to share, have conversations with their parents. Because the fact of the matter is who the parents want to hear from is directly from the principals about what their school is going to look like in September. And we are, you know, we've heard also overwhelmingly from principals how glad they are to get this news now so they can get prepared for September. And that I think is what's most important. Don't forget we have the five-borough tour going on right now. And so, looking forward to continue to be in conversation on a regular basis with our parents about what we know we will continue to do well. And that is to be in communication and get ready for in-person learning.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Jillian.

Question: Thanks. And then just on the social distancing aspect. And I know you've said that you believe the CDC may change their recommendations and go to even less distancing than three feet. But let's suppose we stay at three feet. That's where we are now. I assume that's what the planning will begin with. How exactly do you plan to have a full classroom? You know, some schools have 30 or more children, with three feet of distance and what are sometimes some pretty small classrooms in New York City schools? Can you give us some more specifics on what the space requirements here will be and how you think that you're going to be able to meet those?

Mayor: Jillian, first we've seen the CDC moving constantly with the data. So, again, it is, you know, May 24th, the first day of school is September 13th. I think the fact is clear to me that as more data comes in, more progress, they're going to make adjustments. But, right now, let's just take the current three feet rule. Right now, all New York City schools would qualify. That wasn't true a couple of months ago. It's true now. Every single school could go to three feet, according to that rule right now. If we had that kind of rule, we have a lot of classrooms that could handle it as they are. In other cases, we'd have to use alternative space and we would make that adjustment. If we had to use a space that was normally used for other things to make it work for a period of time, we would. But I don't see that. And even if you said, well, that might happen. I don't see it happening for long because COVID is being defeated. It's just visible. And again, we can't live in the past. We got to get ready for something very, very different. So, we'll have plan A, plan B as always. But I have no doubt we'll be able to accommodate all our kids.

Moderator: Next we have Jessica from WNYC.

Question: Hi everyone. Thanks so much. I was wondering, you say that more than 50 percent of school staff has been vaccinated at this point. But I'm sure that many parents and colleagues would want that number to be a lot higher, to feel safe. So, what can you do to encourage more staff to get vaccinated?

Mayor: Jessica, I think it is happening very organically, but we'll keep being systematic about making it easy for staff, for teachers, continuing to get out there in communities because that's, you know, that's one of the crucial pieces that works everywhere. Just more convenience, more answers to questions, incentives work for them too. And constant communication from the schools. The unions have been really important here too, constantly encouraging people. I think what we're seeing is more and more people willing to come forward. A lot of people are now saying, okay, it's time, I'm all right with it, or I'm getting around to it finally, or whatever it is. I think it's just about persistence. And I very much expect that number to go up. Go ahead, Jessica.

Question: Okay. And can you promise that there will no longer be Zoom in a room, where teachers are teaching remotely to students in class?

Mayor: Yeah, because everything's going to be in-person, period.

Moderator: The next question goes to Shant from the Daily News.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Lots of questions today. I think a lot of ground covered about the return to school. I guess one detail I was wondering if you could address, was the use of learning pods. Is that something you anticipate continuing next fall?

Mayor: No. Just, I think it's going to be a thing of the past.

And look everyone just to conclude today, I think this is part of New York City's ability to fight back through anything and everything. Here we are today, celebrating the fact that New Yorkers stood up to COVID, did all the right things to fight back this horrible disease. We're finally turning the tables. New Yorkers, we opened the nation's largest school system when other cities wouldn't dare. We’re a city that doesn't accept division. It doesn't accept hatred. We fight it back and we've proven time and time again that whenever there's some outburst of negativity and hatred, we can fight it back. And the good people of this city prevail. This is who we are as New Yorkers. So, when we say no stopping New York, we are saying that because we've lived it, we've experienced it, we know it. And this is what gives me so much hope going forward, especially as we celebrate the great news today about our schools. Thank you, everybody.

2021-05-25 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: What we talk about every day, a recovery for all of us. And a recovery for all of us means social justice too. A recovery for all of us means making right what was wrong. It does not mean bringing back the city or the country the way it was. It means addressing the disparities, the injustices. We can do that, but it starts with getting everyone safe and healthy. And so, as with every day, let's talk about this amazing grassroots effort to vaccinate our fellow New Yorkers. And, today, we are right on the edge of another milestone. It will undoubtedly occur today. We will pass 8 million vaccinations from day-one – an extraordinary effort, bringing together people in communities all over the city. Talk about the need for us all to heal and move forward. Here's an example of it in real-time. This vaccination effort involved tens of thousands of people helping their fellow New Yorkers from all over the city, all walks of life, all neighborhoods. Almost 8 million vaccinations to-date and more to come. And we're going to talk about the ways we're going to make it easier, better, even more convenient, even more appealing. We're on the verge of the summer. It's a summer we deserve after everything we've been through. It will be the Summer of New York City. It will be extraordinary. And it begins this Saturday with our beaches reopening, which will be a joyous time. And so, we're going to combine the joy of summer and the beaches reopening with the vaccination effort. And this weekend, mobile vaccination effort – mobile vaccination buses will be out there at beaches all over the city and other key spots where people are going to be congregating to enjoy the summer at Coney Island, Brighton Beach and the Rockaways, at Orchard Beach, at Governor's Island. You're going to see vaccination sites. You're going to see the buses, the vans. You're going to be able to go there and get your shot and then hit the beach, and that’s what we want for everyone. We want everyone to be safe. So, this is an example of bringing the vaccination to the people and making it easier than ever.  

Now, we also know we want to make it positive. We want to make it fun. We want to make it something that people want to be a part of. So, we've been launching incentives and the incentives are really exciting people. We're hearing a lot of interest and a lot of desire to get these incentives and get vaccinated. Anyone who wants to know about all the things that you can get when you get vaccinated or when you even make an appointment to get vaccinated, go to vaccinefinder.nyc.gov/benefits. Today, we have a new partner in this effort, which I'm really excited about. The New York Knicks are joining us to speed up the vaccinations in this city to reach more people, to keep them safe. Now, the Knicks took a tough loss on Sunday, but the Garden was rocking. There was incredible energy. There's incredible hope for this team. This is a vibrant, exciting team, and the Knicks are bringing the vaccination effort right there to the Garden. So, starting today – today, there'll be a site right in front of Madison Square Garden, Thursday as well. And here's the incentive – you go and get vaccinated today in front of Madison Square Garden, you get a chance to win playoff tickets to tomorrow's game. On Thursday, you go and get vaccinated in front of Madison Square Garden. You get a chance to win tickets to the next layoff game. This is positive, exciting, and I thank the Knicks for getting involved. By the way, some of the greats of Knick's history will be there – Clyde Frazier, John Starks, the Knicks City Dancers will be there. It's going to be a really wonderful, absolutely special opportunity. 

Now, if you want to visualize how important it is to get vaccinated – if you want to have in your mind a visualization, a positive reference of why vaccination is crucial. If you understand that when you get vaccinated, it's you showing up, making it happen in the clutch for the people of this city, for the people of your community, for the people who are part of your family. If you want to have that clutch shot in your mind, that clutch moment in your mind, I remind you of a great moment in Knick's history. We're going to show you a clip – the series-winning shot from the first round of the 1999 playoffs. Let's roll that clip. 

[…] 

Mayor: So, there it is. That's what I want you to have in your mind when you go get that shot. And now, we bring you the man who made that shot – Knick's legend, Allan Houston. 

[…] 

Mayor: Allan, thank you. You said it perfectly. And, listen, just seeing that shot again, that inspires all of us. I think the Knicks of today are channeling you. They're feeling your greatness. They're going to be just as clutch. And what they're doing today for the people of New York City, that's a victory right there. So, thank you so much for joining us today. 

Now, just staying on this topic for one second – this is about basketball. I have an important official announcement. This is very serious, I want to get this out. A message to Trae Young, on behalf of the people of New York City, and anyone who cares about actually playing basketball the right way, stop hunting for fouls, Trae. I want to quote Steve Nash, one of the great players, great coach. He says, “that's not basketball.” Trae – Trae, that Hawk's not going to fly in New York City. Come on, play the game the right way, see if you can win. I think the Knicks are going to teach you a lesson.

All right, let's do the indicators now. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report in 98 patients. Confirmed positivity, 16.67 percent. Very good. And hospitalization rate, 0.79 per 100,000, it keeps going down. Let's keep it that way. Get vaccinated. Okay. New reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 411 cases. Same thing, keeps going down. Keep getting vaccinated. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19. This is a really great number, 1.1 percent. Let's keep pushing it down. Let's get it below one. Let's keep moving forward. Okay. Few words in Spanish. And this is about helping our small businesses and shopping local. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Small Business Commissioner Jonnel Doris, by Dr. Chokshi, and Dr. Mitchell Katz. Nolan from the Post.   

Question: Hey, good morning, everybody. How are you?   

Mayor: Hey, Nolan, how you doing?  

Question: I'm well, Mr. Mayor. If I could get just a couple of clarifying questions in before the other one's about the Knicks contest, which everyone's very excited about. The raffle for the Thursday, you know, if you go get your shot on Thursday, this slide said, it's tickets are for next season, but you said that the tickets are for the subsequent playoff games. Do you know which is accurate?  

Mayor: Yeah, they're going to be in the playoffs for a while. So, it's for the subsequent playoff game. Go ahead, Nolan.  

Question: Under the topic of vaccinations, obviously the City has launched a series of contests as has State officials to try to encourage people to go get vaccinated, yet the number of people getting their first shot coming into the system remains at just short of a quarter of the rate of what it was at its high. And only about 25 percent of the city's African-American population has gotten a shot so far and the Hispanic numbers aren't much better at 34 percent. So, what is the City doing in these – doing to encourage folks in these communities that are showing a great deal of hesitancy towards getting their shots?   

Mayor: It's just more and more Nolan and it works. It's absolutely about persistence. The more information I get back, it keeps confirming what I've been thinking. The number one issue is convenience, answering questions, getting people at the right moment when they're ready to get the shot, it's lots of presence, making it positive, lots of incentives. This is working. It's got to be meticulous work. It's not surprising that the first weeks were folks who were ready right then and you had a rush. And then later on, you got to do more meticulous work. We're going to do that work. There's no question. Did you have a follow on, because I know your next question was a procedural. Do you have a quick follow on?  

Question: Yes, I do. And to the question of, you know, sort of that methodical work, what does success look like? What is the number where you're going to say, we hit this, what percentage in these various population groups that have been vaccine hesitant and we call that success? What is the goal?   

Mayor: It's a fair question. Nolan, look, the first thing I want to do is get to the five million goal. Right now, we're over 4.1 million with a first dose. Those folks overwhelmingly are going to come back and get the second. I want to keep moving on that goal. But I have to tell you, I think it's something that doesn't end. It's not like there's a formal last day for vaccination. We're going to just keep going. We'll keep deepening the efforts for equity. I think the more success we have, the more people are going to want to get vaccinated because they see that vaccination equals freedom.   

And I'll close on this today, everyone. I mean, look, people should be so proud of this city. You heard those indicators. They're breathtaking. That is because people went out and got vaccinated. You know, we can all talk about different policies, different approaches. In the end, it comes down to the everyday New Yorker who makes the decision. New Yorkers made a decision to go out and get vaccinated and really pushed back COVID. And people can see it, they can feel, they can feel more and more freedom. We need to finish that, that we'll keep going through May, through June, obviously into the summer. We're looking forward to school being back, full strength. It's not ever going to end until COVID is absolutely in the background, in our lives the same way, something like the flu is, but it comes down to everyday New Yorkers. And I can tell you, New Yorkers are responding to the outreach, the energy, seeing the vaccination bus, seeing the van, seeing the outreach workers, it's moving people and we're going to keep doing it and additional great opportunities and incentives as well. So, get out there and get vaccinated. Thank you, everybody.

2021-05-26 Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. More good news today in our fight against COVID. We keep passing milestones just constantly. This is really, really important – New York City, stepping up to beat back COVID. Another milestone today, we have passed 8 million vaccination doses in New York City – over 8 million from day-one and climbing as we speak, because of an extraordinary outreach effort all over the five boroughs. So, here's the official number – 8,062,074 vaccinations have been given since the beginning of our effort. What works? What works is taking it to the streets, going out into communities. The mobile vaccination sites, the buses, the vans, the pop-up sites in public housing and houses of worship – all of these things have worked. We're going to have regular updates on how each of these pieces is really encouraging people. And I keep hearing reports from the good folks out there doing the work of reaching New Yorkers that it really is for so many people about convenience. It's about just that right moment to get vaccinated. It's about the moment where someone really looks you in the eye and says it's time, we can help you, we can answer your questions. Obviously, the incentives – all of this is working. It's working and this is why COVID keeps being reduced, and reduced, and reduced in New York City. You're going to see it in the indicators in a few minutes. So, every time we got to talk about fighting back COVID, winning this final battle against COVID, we get to talk about recovery, and that means a recovery for all of us. That means doubling down on the vaccination effort, and bringing our economy back, and getting back to normal, and leaving COVID behind us. We have to get that into our minds now, it's time to leave COVID behind and make the adjustments back to the lives we knew, but make things better.

Okay. Now, talk about good luck ahead for all of us, our indicators keep showing that we are doing the right thing. We're making our own luck by doing the right thing in this city, by going out there getting vaccinated. You can see the impact. Here we go. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 59 patients. Just wonderfully low, let's keep driving it down. Confirmed positivity, 20.34 percent. Hospitalization rate – today's number, 0.79. Again, 0.79 per 100,000 – that's tremendous progress. Now – excuse me, number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 385 cases. So, continued progress, because of vaccination. Number three, percentage of people testing city-wide positive for COVID-19 – today's report, seven-day rolling average, 1.08 percent. Keep getting vaccinated, New York City. Let's get that below one percent. We obviously can do it, let's double down now and go even farther.

A few words in Spanish now, and on the topic of our new Corporation Council, the new head of our Law Department.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

So, good news for all of us. Now, let’s turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Georgia Pestana, Incoming Corporation Counsel; Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Advisor on Public Health; Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi; and Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals. Our first question of the day goes to Lisa Rosner from CBS New York.

Question: Hi, Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Lisa. How are you doing today?

Question: Good, good. It's Lisa, just for the record.

Mayor: I'm sorry, Lisa. Allow me to formerly correct the record, Lisa.

Question: Thank you, Mayor. The question is how are COVID vaccinations going with children? And what are the efforts that are being employed to mitigate hesitancy?

Mayor: Okay, I'm going to turn to our doctors. But to say that the initial effort – it's obviously very new, but very exciting to reach the 12 to 15-year-olds has gone really, really well. A lot of energy out there. A lot of parents are ready, willing, and able to bring their kids in to get vaccinated. I think what we're seeing so far with the youngest kids who can get vaccinated is the same thing we've seen overall. Majority of people clearly want to get vaccinated. Some have questions, some need answers, some just need convenience and, you know, some urging on. So, so far so good, but let me turn to Dr. Chokshi and then see if Dr. Varma or Dr. Katz want to add.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thanks for this important question. Yes, we are making good progress with respect to vaccinating children and adolescents. As of last week, we had surpassed 50,000 youngsters just between the ages of 12 and 15, who had been vaccinated. And we expect that to increase by tens of thousands over the coming days and weeks. So, that's great progress. But as the Mayor said you know, our commitment is to make sure that parents have all of their questions answered by the sources that they are used to turning to, particularly community pediatricians who we've been working with often on a practice by practice basis, to make sure they have not just the vaccine, but the information that they need to answer parents' questions. Along with our colleagues at the Department of Education who have really helped us in terms of the communication channels that they have for parents. So, we're seeing a good clip thus far and we'll keep pushing forward and making it as easy as possible for children to get vaccinated.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma, want to add anything?

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Nothing for me.

Mayor: Dr. Katz, anything to add? Oh, we lost Dr. Katz. Okay. I guess he has nothing to add then. Go ahead, Lisa.

Question: Okay. And are there any – thank you. And are there any specific campaigns in the schools? You talked about working with the DOE, is there anything you can elaborate on here? And what are the goals that you're trying to hit by say, August so you can really have a safe school year?

Mayor: Lisa, I will tell you that we're really, really happy that now we can reach these younger kids. We're going to be doing extensive efforts. I know a lot of schools are already doing them to encourage kids get vaccinated, to speak to parents, let them know how important it is. The fact is that we've got, thank God a lot of time. It's still May, we've got all of June, all of July, all of August. This is going to be very, very extensive efforts throughout communities. And I think we're going to see the same pattern. The more outreach we do, the more impact we're going to make. So, we'll have more to say soon on how that specific efforts going to go, but I'm very confident we're going to have a really high percentage of kids vaccinated before the new school year opens.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Henry Goldman from Bloomberg.

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: Good, Henry. How you been?

Question: I'm good. I'm good. I want to ask you a question about September. A lot of parents were taken by surprise. The DOE was going to have series of meetings with parents in the next week or so. Couldn't this decision have been reached after some consultation with parents’ groups and with parent forums? Because a lot of parents are raising the issue or making the point that the pandemic, with all of its misery, has also created an opportunity for schools to offer a kind of parallel alternative with kind of remote makeup, particularly for AP classes, which not every school has. It seems like you're kind of just tossing out stuff that's been learned of course in this past year plus and rejecting it?

Mayor: No, I disagree obviously with that. We're taking all the lessons, Henry that we've learned, and we're going to be applying them as we've talked about for months now, with more extensive digital education, keyed off of in-person instruction. So, getting the best of both worlds. But you need in-person instruction. There's been a huge amount of consultation with parents for months and months. We have a very clear sense of parents' needs and parents' concerns. I absolutely believe that we can come back, take the lessons we've learned, improve the education of our kids based on those lessons. I think it's the right time to make clear to parents how it's going to go. I think the changes with COVID are clearer and clearer. And September is thankfully a way off, and we have plenty of time to consolidate those gains. Go ahead, Henry.

Question: Well, I think you're going to find as you have more of these forums with parents in the next week or two, that there are several who are going to be disagreeing with you. That's the only question I had for today. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Michael Gartland from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning.

Mayor: Hey, Michael. How are you?

Question: I'm all right. How are you doing? I'm wondering if, you know, as far as COVID testing goes in the city are, you know, we're seeing the percentage of positive results go down. Are we seeing the number of people getting tested also decline? And if so, what are the implications of that? Could they possibly be playing a role in that? Do we want people to continue even post vaccination to get tested at the levels we were seeing you know, prior to such a high level of vaccinations?

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, then Dr. Varma.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks so much. And yes, this is an important question with respect to the role of testing going forward. We are seeing testing start to decline in New York City. But this is also expected given how many people are now fully vaccinated where testing just plays a much different role. Once you were fully vaccinated, the only time that testing for COVID is recommended is if you are symptomatic or if you're part of a workplace or other mandatory testing program. So, we do expect that that level of testing that we had sustained over the last few months to start to decrease. But I would emphasize for people who remain unvaccinated, testing remains a very important part of our layered approach to keeping people safe. And so, we do continue to recommend testing frequently, if you are unvaccinated. It's one more reason why getting vaccinated is so important.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma?

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. Thank you very much for the question. As you know last year we had set a target to achieve a very high level of testing in the city. And the main reason that we had done that is because the only major tool that we had from the public health approach was to have testing and tracing. Now as Dr. Chokshi has discussed, we have an incredibly powerful tool, vaccination. So, those people who are fully vaccinated don't need to participate in the routine testing that we have, unless it's already mandated by your employer. So, really we want to continue to have high levels of testing, but targeted primarily at those who are unvaccinated, or that small proportion of vaccinated people who become symptomatic. So, we are seeing a decrease, but that's very much expected with the high levels of vaccination that we have and the much lower levels of COVID that we have in the city.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our next question goes to David Rodriguez from Telemundo 47.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everyone. Mayor, I have another question about vaccination. As we know, at some point there was a lot of Hispanic people that was not going to get vaccinated. Do you have any idea, any numbers that give to us an idea how he's going, vaccination in those Hispanic communities?

Mayor: Yeah. I'll give you the overview and then I’m going to turn to Dr. Chokshi, who will tell you what he can tell you off the bat and get you additional facts and statistics after. Here's what I'd say, David, we have seen real progress. In the beginning, we saw a really – troubling is the right word for it – a troubling skew ethnically, racially that was not acceptable. Disparity in who was getting vaccination. We went to work addressing that. We went out into communities in multiple languages. We did a lot of advertising in Spanish. We had a lot of Spanish speakers out there doing outreach directly to the people of our communities. We put sites everywhere, houses of worship, public housing, you name it, just pop pop-up sites, mobile sites. I was up in the Bronx a couple of weeks ago with Congress Member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the vaccine bus in the Bronx, on a street corner, generating a lot of excitement, people coming over saying, now they were ready to get vaccinated. So, we're going to keep doing that. We've got more to finish because clearly, we got a – we still have a gap to address, but it's a lot better than what we experienced in the beginning. Dr. Chokshi, you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: You described it well, Mr. Mayor, I'll just add a couple of points. First, to emphasize how much outreach to the Latino community here in New York City has been central to our efforts. And it's revolved, as the Mayor has said, around convenience and conversation. Convenience, with respect to making sure that the places that we know people wanted to get vaccinated have enough supply of the vaccine, whether it's a family doctor or a hospital or one of our City sites but also equipping those very same practices with the information in Spanish language to have those conversations with their own patients. And that relates to the other aspect of it, which is those one-on-one conversations that really make the difference in terms of getting people more comfortable with vaccination. We've worked with community leaders and faith leaders particularly in the Latino community and also targeted many of our public awareness campaigns in Spanish to reach those populations. And what we're finding is that 45 percent of adults who identify as Hispanic or Latino have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, which is great progress. And I will say it's an area where we've seen a particular increase in recent weeks. But we do have more to do. And we're committed to these last miles of our vaccination campaign.

Mayor: Thank you, Dave. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our last question of the day goes to Yoav from The City.

Mayor: Yoav, we're not hearing anything here. Yoav? Are you on mute? Try unmuting, try again. Alright, [inaudible] one more or do we have another or not? Okay. We're going to stop with that. We're going to give Yoav one more chance going once, twice. Okay. We will conclude with another day where the evidence of the power of vaccination is clear. You see it in today's indicators. You see it in this great news, passing eight million vaccinations from day one. Help us everyone if you have not yet gotten vaccinated, this is the easiest time in the entire history of this vaccination drive to get vaccinated. And the incentives, the prizes we've been talking about all week are available. Go out and get them. 50 tickets to the Governors ball, three-day passes. Very exciting. Crunch Fitness, many other things. Go look at these incentives, go sign up, go get vaccinated. Thank you, everybody.

2021-05-27 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

Now, everything of course is framed by our vaccination effort – it continues to grow. And the vaccination effort – I’m going to tell you some new approaches today that I think are very exciting. We're going to be innovating constantly, because each additional New Yorker we get vaccinated is a away from the COVID era and to our future. So, here we are, as of today, from the very beginning, 8,130,889 doses. Just think about that for a moment. That is an astounding figure. By far, the biggest vaccination effort in the history of New York City, growing every day. Today, one of the things I want to update you on is our effort to reach homebound New Yorkers. This was an area of real concern as we started vaccination. We now have reached the homebound New Yorkers who asked for help in their homes, who could not leave their homes, needed vaccination teams to come to them. In some cases, they took, of course, two shots. But now, we have reached over 9,000 homebound New Yorkers. We've gone through the entire list of folks who qualified and asked for in-home support. We also are able to give over 3,000 family members and caregivers shots at the same time – amazing effort. I want to thank the Fire Department, they led the way, they organize this. Department for the Aging played a crucial role in working out the approach and helping reach the seniors. Amazing team effort between two City agencies that reached literally the most vulnerable New Yorkers in the midst of this crisis and gave their families peace of mind. It was so important. But we learned that this approach can work for a lot of people. And so, we're going to now offer it to more New Yorkers, specifically New Yorkers 75 years old or older, or disabled New Yorkers who would benefit. Folks in those two parts of our community who would appreciate the opportunity to have in-home vaccination, 
we'll send our teams directly out to you. So, if you're 75 or older and you haven't yet been vaccinated, or you happen to be disabled and you haven't yet been vaccinated, and you'd like the vaccination team to come straight to your home, straight to your apartment, we'll do that now. You can call 877-VAX-4NYC or go to VAX-4NYC.nyc.gov, and sign up for that very personal, very direct support.  

We are going to go the extra mile whatever it takes. And we're going to go wherever people are, so you've got to see our vaccine buses out all over New York City the next few days. And with so many amazing attractions coming back, beaches coming back – so you're going to see the vaccine buses at the beaches. Go get vaccinated, hit the beach. Real simple. You're going to see them at Governor's Island. A lot of places where people are going to be this weekend, they're going to have that opportunity fast, easy, safe, free opportunity to get vaccinated. So, everyone take advantage of that.  
  
All right, now, everyone. We are going into a very important weekend, of course, for so many of us, it's the unofficial start of summer. It is also Memorial Day weekend. And I always say to people, Memorial Day weekend should not just be barbecues, Memorial Day weekend should be a time to think about those who served us and those we lost. Because of the holiday we're not going to have a press conference Monday, but I will be at the Intrepid for the Memorial Day ceremony. And it's a time to reflect on people who struggled, who fought, who gave their lives so that we could live in democracy and freedom. Let's every one of us, take a moment on that day to really appreciate those who have served us. And to continue to appreciate those who do serve us now in our Armed Forces. 
  
Okay, let's go to indicators. And this is a good news report for sure, continuing a pattern. All because of vaccination. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 80 patients. Confirmed positivity, 26.25 percent. Hospitalization rate, 0.76 per 100,000. So, very good news on that front. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report going down again, 369 cases. This is absolutely outstanding. Number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19, the countdown continues. We got more work to do. Every single person who goes out there and gets vaccinated is going to help us achieve this next goal. We are at, on a seven-day rolling average, 1.03 percent COVID positivity in New York City. A little more push here, and we're going to get under one percent and then we keep driving downward from there. And we knock COVID out of New York City. So, this is great news today. I’m going to say a few words in Spanish, and I want to talk about the path forward here and the fight against hate crimes. 
  
[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 
  
With that let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 
  
Moderator: Will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Senior Advisor Jay Varma, and by Deborah Lauter, the Executive Director for the Office of the Prevention of Hate Crimes. Nolan from the Post.  

Question: Hey, good morning everybody.  

Mayor: Good morning, Nolan. How are you today?  

Question: I'm all right, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: I'm good. Are you highly caffeinated today, Nolan?  

Question: Four cups in so far.  

Mayor: It's a light day. Okay, go ahead.  

Question: Yeah, just the light day, and once again, mourning the loss of [inaudible]. But on questions of transparency when it comes to vaccinations, there were a lot of questions about sort of the, you know, how the shots were distributed and how access is in all the various neighborhoods across the city. We've done a bunch of stories looking at the racial breakdowns, the other demographic breakdowns. We've also done stories looking at sort of the accessibility by neighborhoods – where can people go to actually get their shots? We were told by your administration to file FOILs, when it came to wondering how the shots were actually being distributed across the city. The Health Department responded saying that those records are exempt from the FOIL law. I'm wondering what you make of that - how can we track how the shots moved about the city and how easy it was for people to actually get them if the Health Department won't release that information?  

Mayor: Yeah, Nolan, I appreciate you raising it because I certainly have not heard that before, and I want to make sure we are transparent. There may be some very specific things that are areas of confidentiality, and I certainly understand there's times when the FOIL laws are applicable, but you know, we've been putting out information on our vaccination with a lot of breakdown by neighborhood, by ZIP code. I want us to keep doing that. So, please follow up with our team. I'll certainly instruct them to see if we can do more to give you the information you need. Go ahead.  

Question: Let me just detail a little more of what we were asking. We were asking for by hospital, by hospital system, by distribution point, how many shots were being requested and how many of those shots were actually being provided. Every week, the various providers around the city file a plan with the Health Department who submits it to the state, and then the state sends back how many doses, and then there's an allocation set up across the city. We were trying to better understand how that works. We weren't asking for personal details, personal information, and yet – any sort of like patient information, personally, identifiable information – and yet the Health Department says that it should not and will not release this information. So, on those broad strokes, do you think this is information that should be released?  

Mayor: Again? Nolan, I want to know more, but if you said to me, let me put it in my own words. I think people need to see how this system has been working. I think they need to see how we're addressing the issues of disparity. I think they need to see how we're trying to ensure that the vaccination effort reaches more and more New Yorkers. Those are all things that I think are in the public interest. I don't know all the legal details, but I'm going to certainly push to make sure that we are being a maximally transparent because this is the number one issue of the day. I want to get as much information out as possible.   

Moderator: The next is Abu from Bangla Patrika  

Mayor: Abu you there. Hello, hello? Are you on mute, Abu? There you go.   

Question: Mayor, hi. How are you?   

Mayor: Good. How are you doing today?  

Question: Good, thank you so much, Mayor. Yesterday, I was in Jackson Heights, and people are talking about – it was very emotional, when it was time during the time of COVID and the way you handled it, especially when you stood up and said, no New Yorker will be hungry, everybody can get the food regardless of their status or immigration or anything, and everybody got the food and no one was hungry. Can you please tell us how much how you managed it and how much money the city spent for providing the food?  

Mayor: Abu, such an important question. Thank you. You know, we get a lot of topics, a lot of things that are sort of in the front of people's mind, but the effort to keep people fed, that effort to fight hunger is actually one of the single most important things. It doesn't get a lot of attention, but nothing's more important than stopping hunger in New York City, and I'm proud to say, we said from the beginning, we would not let any New Yorker go hungry. We've put a huge amount of resources in it, and you've heard the reports on hundreds of millions of that have been provided. Abu we will get you today, an update on the number of meals that have been given and how much it has cost. But I can tell you, we continue a hundred percent of the committed, no New Yorker will go hungry. We want to get out of this crisis, make sure everyone gets out of it safely, and we'll continue to provide food in neighborhoods all over New York City. Go ahead, Abu.  

Question: People also say when we didn't have anyone at that time, the Mayor stood up and said, no one is going to be hungry, and they feel like their [inaudible]. Anyway, the second question is that students, they are going to the school in September. So, it's been a long time. A lot of students, there were in the home, and they have different kinds of attitudes, different kinds of habits. What is your suggestion to be prepared for the next school year?  

Mayor: Yeah, really important, Abu. Look, here's why I'd say – at first of all, we know right away parents of hundreds of thousands of kids who are ready for them to come back to school in September, right this minute, no questions asked. They're just ready. I think a lot of parents are ready for a change. A lot of parents are ready to see their kids get the best possible education, which is in-person. Parents who have first of all, parents who want to get their kids vaccinated. We are ready, right now from 12 years old up, you can go to nyc.gov/vaccine finder find a location near you that has the vaccine for younger people. You can get vaccinated for free from this point all the way, of course, till September. Second, parents who want to talk to a doctor or a pediatrician, if they don't have their own pediatrician, we will connect them to a clinician to answer any and all concerns. They have third open houses. We're going to start that in June next week start to offer opportunities for parents who have their kids on remote right now to come in and see the schools, get acclimated, ask questions, see all the things have been done to protect health and safety, that gold standard we've been talking about. I think all of those efforts are going to help really answer parents' concerns, and we'll be ready to go in September for all our kids.  

Thank you, everyone.

2021-05-28 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It’s Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Time now for our Friday Ask The Mayor call-in. My questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio. Call-in with your questions at 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280, or a tweet a question. Just use the hashtag #AskTheMayor. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. I have some good news, breaking news for you this morning. Two quick things. First of all, New York City COVID positivity level, according to our Department of Health today, 0.93 percent. We are under one percent now. 0.93 percent, lowest since Labor Day last year. Absolutely amazing. So, it's been nine months since it's been this low. And related, something, I know you are an athlete yourself, Brian, you will appreciate this. Our high school basketball players, our PSAL teams are looking forward to a major, major tournament this weekend, five borough tournament. The Douglas Memorial Basketball Tournament was going to be rained out, because the situation COVID is so much better, we're going to allow that tournament to be played indoors, just the players, coaches, and refs, no crowds, with masks and other precautions. But we're going to save the tournament, bring it indoors because the people of this city went out and got vaccinated and have fought back COVID so successfully.

Lehrer: Certainly, characterizing me as an athlete is way overstating anything, I would call myself. I will say I have vast experience on the WNYC softball team. Not sure that counts me as an athlete though. But is this the return of high school sports at another level in general, this event that you just cited?

Mayor: Absolutely. First of all, as COVID was being fought back through vaccination, we brought back high school sports across the board. But originally out of abundance of caution, it was all going to be outdoors. Now because we made so much progress. We can bring basketball, volleyball, wrestling, indoors, which is going to make it a lot easier for everyone. There is still going to be a lot of precautions in place for sure. But it is another market progress. And look for our kids, especially for kids who this was an important part of our life. It was something taken away from them on top of everything else they lost to COVID. This is going to bring a lot of hope and energy back. This is part of showing them that we're all going to overcome this. And it means so much to the whole school community. So, this is a big deal.

Lehrer: Well, you're talking about students returning to sports. And funny enough, I think we have a caller about another demographic that wants to return to sports. Charles in Manhattan, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Charles.

Question: Hello, Mayor.

Mayor: Good morning, Charles. How are you?

Question: I'm very well, thank you. I represent a group of about 30 fully vaccinated seniors who want to play basketball at the Chelsea Recreation Center. We have been told that it wouldn't reopen until July and since you are a reopening the city in so many ways, maybe they can open up the rec center?

Mayor: That sounds pretty damn reasonable. And so, Charles, I'm going to have my team follow up with you today and see if we can get that done. Obviously, we got to check whatever the governing State rules are, if there's any other factor to know. But I think you know, I've said in general we've made even faster progress than we expected. I want to see New York City fully reopened by July 1st. We're well on our way. But in this case, if everyone's vaccinated, I want to see people getting their healthy exercise in and have a good time. And yes, Brian, you are an athlete if you play softball. So, Charles, let's see if we can resolve this today.

Lehrer: Charles, let's see. Leave your contact information, the Mayor’s Office will get back to you. But this is a policy question that we've talked about before in recent weeks, opening the senior centers. Obviously, it's not just his basketball group in Chelsea, it's reopening the senior centers, right?

Mayor: And we're getting closer – look, I want to separate the notion of when you have a verified, fully vaccinated group of people, which the CDC has made very clear, opens up a world of possibilities. Versus if you have a group of folks, some vaccinated, some not, we still have to be careful, particularly with seniors. But that said our Health Department, Dr. Dave Chokshi, our Department For The Aging Commissioner Lorraine Cortιs-Vαzquez are working constantly. I think an announcement is soon. We've got a few things still to work through. We'd like to get our seniors back to senior centers. We know it means a lot to them. It's a big part of their life. It's a big part of their day to be with their friends, a lot of good services they get. Obviously good food, but we also know seniors still are the single most vulnerable group. So, we have to be smart. By the way related, Brian, we just announced yesterday – anyone 75 years old and up, and also anyone who has disabilities, now can request in-home vaccination. We are at a point now, we've been really successful reaching homebound seniors, folks who did not have any other option, needed a shot home. We've reached everyone who made that request and was homebound. We're now taking this idea further and saying, if you're 75 years old or older, or you are disabled and it would be better for you to have the medical folks come right to your door, right to your home, and give you the vaccination in-person, we will now do that. And anyone who is interested in that can reach out through 8-7-7-VAX-4NYC and can go ahead and schedule that opportunity.

Lehrer: That sounds like a great program. And certainly the positivity rate that you started with is great news. But let me follow up and ask you about the holes in the system still? And how you're fighting access disparities by internet status or English language status, or other things within these programs? It sounds like what you just said, though, it's great that they'll bring a vaccine to anybody who's got a particular disability or who's over 75. But it seemed like you say they have to reach out? We did a segment on this last hour about some of the structural barriers that still exist unintentionally, but they still exist, for people who you know, could be reached who are not refusing vaccines, but have certain barriers? And the news organization, The City this morning has a story, Southern Brooklyn's ongoing COVID suffering shows toll of disinformation and disconnection. And they have a much higher positivity rate than a lot of the rest of the city. And there are pockets around the five boroughs. So, how are you going to get through those barriers?

Mayor: It's a very, very important question. The community outreach is absolutely, crucial. We're saying now I want to emphasize this, 75 years old and not over 75, just as a clarification. 75 years old and up can get that in-home service. But this is one of many, many approaches. It's really about deep, deep, deep community outreach. So, we have an initiative through Department of Health, where doctors, personal doctors are calling their patients. Pediatricians are calling moms and dads and you know, going over why vaccination is important, answering questions. We have canvasing operations going door to door in neighborhoods that don't have as high of vaccine level, vaccination level, particularly in public housing. We have very, very targeted efforts exactly as you're describing. Our Office or People with Disabilities here in the Mayor's Office has been reaching out through organizations that represent and advocate for the disabled to help make sure people get vaccination and it's supported and facilitated. I think the future is more. You know, we have the vaccine buses, the vaccine vans, they are going to be out all over the city this weekend. They are going to be at the beaches, wherever people are. They've been in the neighborhoods hardest hit. I was with Congress Member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Bronx in her district a few weeks ago with the vaccine bus. Incredible response, as you may have seen, my son is out there, Dante, you know, encouraging people to get vaccinated, particularly young people. Bringing them over to the vaccine bus. But it's more and more and more of the same. This is what works.

Lehrer: Raul in East Elmhurst, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Raul.

Question: Yes. Mr. Mayor, Brian. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thank you so much. Muchas gracias [inaudible]. My mom got vaccinated. The nurses were wonderful. They can right into the house. We got the Johnson & Johnson. Thank you for all that you have been doing with us with COVID.

Lehrer: And in our last minute or so, minute and a half or so, you made a decision I think since the last time you were on, no remote learning option for students next fall, even though some families say they want that. I know the schools are statistically very safe from COVID for most kids but tell those parents why you don't think they should have that choice as individuals. 

Mayor: Yeah. Let me, let me give you one additional factual update from this morning on the schools. So, here is the latest data based on 14,000 tests in our schools conducted in the prior 24 hours, there were nine cases, which is a 0.09 percent positivity level. You heard the City of New York is now at 0.93 percent today, which is stunning. The schools literally 10 times better. So, you know, the fact is our schools are the safest places to be in New York City. They will continue to be. We can do this properly and safely, but our kids will not be served if they're not in person. It's as simple as that. They cannot get the education they deserve. We have a lot of catching up to do. We have to close the COVID achievement gap. We have to give them mental health support. We cannot do that as well, remotely. To serve our children, they all need to be back in school and all our teachers are coming back, all our staff is coming back. 

Lehrer: Even if the parents' judgment is that for their individual kids, they'll be better served remote for a little while longer? 10 seconds. 

Mayor: This is what's right for our kids in our city. Parents always can have a dialogue with us and get answers, but this is the right thing for protecting the needs of our children. 

Lehrer: Thanks as always, Mr. Mayor, talk to you next week.  

Mayor: Thank you, Brian.

2021-06-01 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. It is a beautiful Tuesday morning in New York City. It's June. And we're going to remember this day, June 1st, 2021, because we have hit an extraordinary milestone today here in New York City. Listen to this, this is the level of COVID positivity today in New York City – 0.83 percent – 0.83 percent, the lowest we've seen ever since this pandemic began. Since we started testing and measuring, this is the lowest level that we've had. And it's absolutely amazing. This is a testament to the power of vaccination. This is a testament to the willpower of New Yorkers, fighting through this crisis, doing the right things to keep each other safe, going out and getting vaccinated in huge numbers. This is another clear fact, another clear piece of evidence that New York City's coming back strong. There's no stopping New York. It is clearer than ever. So, congratulations, New Yorkers. This is a crucial milestone today, and let's keep going. Let's keep going, because that's what we do. We get something done and then we go even farther. Let's drive COVID out of New York City once and for all.  

Okay. Now, Memorial Day, a somber day, but Memorial Day also means to all of us something else. It means the beginning of summer. And we didn't get the Memorial Day we were counting on – way too much rain, got a little nice towards the end the Monday – but it doesn't change. The fact that summer is here, this is something we've all been waiting for, to push back COVID, to regain our freedom, and then enjoy the Summer of New York City. And this is going to be an amazing summer. And I want you to see this beautiful backdrop. This is one example – you're going to be seeing banners like this around New York City. Here's one with a Brooklyn theme. You're going to see themes for each of the five boroughs. But it's going to be the Summer of New York City. You're going to experience things as summer that are absolutely amazing. The energy coming back, the events, the life in the streets, the outdoor dining – it's all going to be here in New York City. New Yorkers are going to enjoy it. Folks are going to come in from all over the tri-state area. But more and more, what we're seeing as people are coming from all over America to be part of this, to be part of the Summer of New York City – something memorable and further evidence of the comeback, the historic comeback we're going to make this year.  

All right. Now, how do we make sure we have a great summer? How do we make sure our comeback has strong? How do we make sure we have recovery for all of us? It's simple. Get vaccinated. If you get vaccinated, all other things are possible. It's really clear, if you want this amazing summer – one, get vaccinated; two, Summer of New York City. It's going to be amazing. And New Yorkers have done so much to get us to this point, let's double down. Vaccinations equal freedom, it's as simple as that. And people are heeding the call – so far, from the beginning of our effort, 8,289,469 doses – unbelievable. By far, the largest vaccination effort in New York City history. And what does it yield? You know, the famous phrase, what have you done for me lately? Well, I'll tell you what vaccinations have done for us lately. We have the lowest positivity rate we've ever had since this crisis began, because people got vaccinated. So, it couldn't be clear. Let's keep going.   

Now, one of the ways we attract people, particularly young people to get vaccinated – we need our young people get vaccinated, we need all New Yorkers to get vaccinated, so we have great contests going on. Last week, I announced a really amazing contest – three-day passes to the Governor's Ball. I know for so many New Yorkers that's a really big deal and that's going to be really attractive. We also announced one-year free membership to Crunch Fitness. We'll be announcing the winners of those contests this coming Thursday. And a reminder to everyone, we're going to have every week new prizes and what you can do is go get vaccinated. Just by signing up for your first dose, you qualify at any City-run site. Any City-run site, you can join this contest simply by signing up for that first dose. This will be going on this month and into July. And now, we have some more prizes. For this week, for everyone to sign up to get vaccinated or gets vaccinated this week, here we have 20 of these available, so the chances are pretty good – 20 of these available, two-night, two-night – not one-night, two-night staycations at hotels in New York City. Really great hotels that want to support this great effort, want to help New Yorkers get vaccinated, want to help people celebrate our own city. So, if you like the idea of a staycation, if you want a little break and you want to stay in a great hotel, go out there and get vaccinated. If you want to find out where and also what specific prizes you can win, go to vaccine finder.nyc.gov/benefits.   

Okay. Now, number-one thing, get people vaccinated – that's moving – that's really moving a pace. Now, let's talk about our elders. Let's talk about the people who got us here. Let's talk about our senior citizens who fought through so much to make New York City great, who gave us all everything we have. We know our seniors have deeply missed the opportunity to be together. And we also know seniors bore the brunt of the COVID crisis, they were the most vulnerable. And we all had to do everything in our power to protect our seniors. And we're so happy that now vaccination rates with seniors are so high. Our homebound vaccination effort reached thousands and thousands of seniors. It's time now to move forward. So, I've heard from so many seniors, they're ready to go back to senior centers, and I'm happy to announce our senior centers are coming back in New York City. For outdoor activities, they can resume immediately. For indoor activities at our senior centers, they can begin again in two weeks on June 14th. So, senior centers coming back – they mean so much to so many members of our families, a positive place, a nurturing place, a place where people get fellowship and great food and activities and healthcare support, physical and mental health care support. That's something we've really focused on through Thrive, realizing seniors have been through a lot too and they need mental health care support in their senior centers. So, senior centers are a place where so much happens for our seniors. They are coming back, another great part of a recovery for all of us happening right now in New York City. Now, what I can tell you is, we'll be careful. We'll be safe. We're going to make sure there’s smart distancing and all the right precautions to keep our senior centers safe, but the time is now. And there’s going to be a lot of excitement out there among our seniors, knowing they can get back together. And I wanted to bring you a very passionate voice on this topic. I literally don't know a stronger, louder, more passionate voice on behalf of seniors. She chairs the Committee on Aging in the New York City Council – back with us, Council Member Margaret Chin.   

[…]  

Mayor: I love the fact that even in a press conference, you take the occasion to do live lobbying. You are a picture of consistency. Council Member, thank you. So, there's no question in my mind, every day you are fighting for our seniors passionately. And thank you for acknowledging the great work of Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog, and our Commissioner for the Aging Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez, and our Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi, and their whole teams, who really worked hard to make sure we had everything right, everything ready for our seniors. So, congratulations – senior centers back, and we'll certainly be talking more throughout the budget process as well. So, thank you.   

Everybody, good news there. And now, more good news, because it's time for our indicators. So, number-one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 72 patients. Confirmed positivity level – this is amazing – 9.72 percent – under 10 percent confirmed positivity, that's fantastic. Hospitalization rate is now down to 0.59 per 100,000. So, these numbers really look strong. New reported cases on a seven-day average, 271. Again, we're seeing really steady progress, vaccinations making all the difference. And finally, I'm going to repeat it, percentage of people testing positive city-wide for COVID-19 on a seven-day rolling average, the lowest since we began keeping these figures, the lowest since the testing went in place, and we were able to measure our city, the lowest since the beginning of the pandemic – 0.83 percent and going down. Let's keep it that way.   

Okay. A few words in Spanish, I'm going to go back to the topic of childcare that means so much to so many of our families.   

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]  

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.  

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Mel Hartzog, ACS Commissioner David Hansell, Commissioner for the Aging Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Advisor on public health, and Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals. Our first question for today goes to Andrea Grimes from CBS New York.  

Question: Hi. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking my questions, I appreciate it. My first is about the senior centers. Do the seniors need to be vaccinated to participate again? And I'm curious why they do – if they are vaccinated, why they still need to physically distance if the CDC says they no longer need to distance or wear masks if you're vaccinated?  

Mayor: I am going to start and then let Deputy Mayor Hartzog, Commissioner Cortes-Vazquez, Commissioner Chokshi, whoever wants to answer on the specifics of how we're going to manage the centers and the standards. But what I want to start with is this, our seniors were the most vulnerable in this crisis. I want this to be really clear. We were really careful and cautious about coming to this moment where we can reopen the senior centers. We wanted to get right. We want to work out of an abundance of caution, because we understood our seniors were really bearing the brunt. So, that's been the ethic guiding everything. In terms of specifics, who wants to go first?  

Commissioner Lorraine Cortes-Vazquez, Department for the Aging: I can start if you don't mind. First of all, thank you, this is a great day. It's a great day for New York. And, as you said, the key point is vaccination. We will not give in the City's requirement not to discriminate and the Older Americans Act requirements that all older persons get served. We cannot distinguish between vaccinated and unvaccinated. So, the centers will be open for all, which is why the social distancing [inaudible] all of the guidance that has been developed between the Department of Health and the Department of Aging are extremely important to follow. I want to commend the team at the Department of Health, who has worked so closely with us to make sure that we have guidance. And, of course, as you know, this is an unpredictable pandemic, so it will change often. But Dr. Chokshi, you can take it from here if you want to add anything?   
   
Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Commissioner, and thanks Mr. Mayor. Not too much to add. I will emphasize that the rates of vaccination that we're seeing among seniors – with about 72 percent of New York City seniors haven't gotten at least one dose and about two thirds of seniors being fully vaccinated at this point – is what has allowed us to, you know, to take this remarkable step in the city's recovery that will benefit seniors across the city. At the same time, we do have to remain vigilant, particularly in indoor settings where both vaccinated and unvaccinated people may be congregating and mixing together, and the way that we'll continue to make progress is to drive the rates of vaccination even higher than they are right now.    
   
Mayor: Amen. Thank you. 
   
Moderator: Our next question goes to Andrew Siff from NBC New York.   

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Maybe you can give me a sense of where we are June 1st in terms of restrictions that are still in place. We just heard about social distancing will remain in senior centers, but you had talked, Mayor, about July 1st being the day when essentially everything was lifted, and it's as though we didn't have COVID, effectively speaking. So, what we know that restaurants right now still have to follow the CDC guidance, which means they have to have partitions if the tables aren't six feet apart. Are there other aspects of New York City life that will exist for the next 30 days or so before being lifted on July 1st?   
   
Mayor:  I’m going to let Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi speak to the specifics, Andrew, but again, framing the big picture. We said July 1st, I think in so many ways it's coming true. Step-by-step things are opening up more and more. Now, obviously we work within CDC guidelines. We work within state rules. We've always understood that, but what I wanted to be clear about was I could see how much success we were having with vaccination, how much we were driving down COVID how much it was time to bring back the life of our city and have the summer of New York City and July 1st brought together all those strands as the date, we'd be ready to end the vast majority of restrictions. We also said at the time, there may be some very individual situations with individual institutions, businesses, et cetera. Of course, we would honor that, but I actually think it's coming together pretty organically. In terms of what continues with restrictions from the different levels of government. Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, you want to speak to that?   
   
Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great, thank you very much, Andrew, for the question, and it is one that we continue to look at and evaluate. I want to highlight just a couple of important issues. First, is the point that the Mayor made about selected settings – we do have to remember that there are settings in which populations are either particularly vulnerable because they're in a congregate place or because they are not yet eligible for vaccination. So, that includes any facilities that primarily serve young children, and any facilities where people are highly vulnerable, such as hospitals, shelters, jails and prisons. So, we, in all of those settings, we're going to continue to need to have restrictions that are more similar to where we've been in the pandemic then where we hope to get to in the future. So, I think that's the one key, very important point.   
   
The second point is that regardless of the official legal requirements, that there are on places we do expect, you know, businesses any type of establishment to continue to follow good guidance about how they want to proceed. We know that many places are going to prefer that if it's an indoor setting where people are sharing indoor air for a prolonged period, they may want to require proof of vaccination, or proof of a negative test recently, as we've seen in various sports arenas. So, we're going to continue to provide guidance, to allow facilities to follow the best available evidence that matches the risk event in their situation.   
   
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.   
   
Commissioner Chokshi: Nothing to add to that, sir.    
   
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew.   
   
Question: So, the 4th of July Fireworks Spectacular. Are there any limitations on that this year, or will it be the full million people gathering for fireworks or have you not decided yet?   
   
Mayor: Well, I'll say this we're going to make a full announcement soon with the details. Obviously, things are moving in the right direction to be able to have something much more like we've had historically, but we still have to be smart about it and we have to structure it for this kind of transitional moment we’re in. So, definitely much more like what we've had before then what we experienced last year, but we'll have a full announcement on it soon.   
   
Moderator: Our next question goes to Henry Goldman from Bloomberg.    
   
Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today?   
   
Mayor: Good, Henry. How you been?   
   
Question: I am good. Nice long weekend. Very nice.    
   
Mayor: There you go.    
   
Question: So, we've talked about this before, but I still don't understand what the distinction is between requiring vaccinations of some communicable diseases like measles and having a very laissez-faire attitude towards vaccinating people against COVID. Can you explain to me why the city can't compel students, teachers, people who are entering senior centers that they'd be vaccinated?   
   
Mayor: Yeah. Henry, look, I do appreciate not only a sincere question, it is an important and honest question about the different historical moments. I think there was a long time where vaccination was regarded as a necessary, and there was a near universal understanding. I think we've had different realities in recent years. I'm not happy about that, honestly. I think there's been a lot of misinformation, a lot of rumor mill going on that has obscured the fact that vaccination is crucial, and it works. But we've got to pay attention to the fact that there is deep concern out there, and I think when we get in the business of mandating, we create conflict that we don't need in this better to solve the problem through education and patient work to convince people the power of vaccination and setting standards in place to keep people safe. I think we've got to keep doing that work, and I think it does work. You see more and more over time, people come forward willing to get vaccinated. So, it's an imperfect reality, but I think that is the balance we need to strike. Go ahead, Henry.   
   
Question: Well, I'm looking at the daily doses administered yesterday, and of course it was a holiday, but still that means a lot of people have time off, and there were 6,170 vaccinations administered yesterday against the peak back in April of 116,000 vaccinations. So, I'm just wondering, is there a limit to how much persuasion, and rationality, and all that other stuff can overcome hesitation if vaccination is freedom, doesn't that mean that you should be free to enter your senior center without wearing a mask, without being socially because you're vaccinated, and all the other reasons why freedom equals vaccination – if vaccination is freedom. Why can't people be vaccinated and then be free? I mean, there's still all these restrictions on vaccinated people.   
   
Mayor: Yeah. Again, I appreciate it. You know, it's a, it's a big question. I want to see if in a second of Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi want to add, but I'll say something else. I, first of all, do not think looking at a holiday is the best way to measure. I think what we've seen is, yeah, of course, we had a very, very intense period in the beginning when it was something brand new and available, people have been waiting for it for months and months. So, I don't think it makes a lot of sense to say at the very peak you know, we had one amount and we're going to keep that amount the whole time that, that, that wasn't ever going to happen. I think the question is, are we continuing to make progress? So, as of today, 4.3 million folks have had at least one dose that's now over half the population of the city. And we know that when people have at least one dose, they overwhelmingly come back and get the second. The combination of the fact that we're now at the point where we can say, we expect well over half the people in this city to be vaccinated in a very brief period of time in the scheme of things, plus we see the COVID rates plummeting, because each additional vaccination is depriving. COVID have someplace to go. I think you just keep at it. You just keep at it, and I think more and more people are going to come forward because we make it convenient. We make it accessible. We make it fun. They see people in their lives experiencing greater freedom and it makes people want to get vaccine and we just stay at it. This is this is all about persistence. Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, you want to add anything?   
   
Senior Advisor Varma: [Inaudible] I can start really briefly. I think Henry you're raising a very critical question and I do think there is going to be a time in the future where vaccination for COVID is similar to what we do for measles and many other infections, it's going to be required for certain types of work settings or school settings, and we're seeing that already, obviously with many colleges and universities, making that decision, as well as health care facilities. We also have to be realistic and recognize that it does take time for when a vaccine is first studied and made available for people to accept it as something that they want to use, and we want to give people the information and the incentive to make that choice willingly. So, there's that period, and then the period where you say, well, we really have done everything we possibly can, and the only way we're going to get to the high levels of vaccination, we need to drive cases as close to zero as possible, is to have them be mandated, and so we're in that transitional phase right now, and there are going to be some important steps to get us to that next phase. One is the full licensure of the vaccine for all age groups, and we know that those applications, at least for the adults are still pending with the FDA. So, we are in this transitional period where I do think, as the Mayor has said very clearly, there is an important pathway that we have to provide incentives to provide information, to provide outreach. But we are keeping our eye on the future about when that turn may change, and it may be required along with all the other vaccines that are normally required and to enter that same requirement list.    
   
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.   
   
Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks so much. I'll just add by saying that in this transitional period that we're in it's so important that we focus squarely on trust on ensuring that we answer the questions that people have, and we think, you know, not just about the messages, but also about the messengers and that's why we've enlisted so many partners in our vaccination efforts, whether it's community-based organizations, or faith leaders, or the family doctors and other clinicians that people turn to for advice, and as we get into these later stages of our vaccination campaign, that will remain central to our effort to getting more and more people vaccinated over the coming weeks.    
   
Mayor: Thank you.   
   
Moderator: Our next question goes to Steve Burns from WCBS 880.   
   
Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend.   
   
Mayor: Soggy, but wonderful, Steve. How about you?   
   
Question: Yeah, same here. Had a long drive through all the rain. It was all right. I wanted to first ask you and the health experts here kind of a future of COVID question. I mean, we're talking about vaccines, we're still kind of seeing a tale of two cities, if I could borrow a phrase when it comes to vaccines. We, as reported by Councilman Levine, 19 ZIP codes are at 70 percent or more vaccinated. That's mostly white, mostly wealthy neighborhoods, 27 ZIP codes at 40 percent or less. That's mostly low-income communities of color. So, even if we do start bringing some of those numbers up, I'm sure those disparities are going to continue to some extent as we get into the future. Should we still see those disparities come fall when seasonality might be less of a factor? What do COVID outbreaks look like at that point? Are they more localized? Are there enough vaccines to cut them off? And what would we see come fall? Should we still see these vaccine disparities?   
   
Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Varma in a second on what the future will look like, and I will say as a layman, I think we're going to, at some point, experience COVID the same way we do the flu. It's one of the diseases out there. We have to take it seriously, but it is something that we have a real ability to manage, and we're getting closer to that with the extraordinary success we're reporting today in driving COVID down. So, I think that's the future. I think the work against disparity is constant in all that we do. But what we're finding is the best way to close that gap is a lot of education, a lot of information, getting trusted messengers out, talking to people in their own community from their own community, doctors and pediatricians talking to their patients directly. The incentives also obviously help with just attracting people to focus on getting the vaccination, but it's persistent work because we all have known from the beginning, the greatest concerns about the vaccine existed in the places that were hardest hit by COVID. A horrible catch-22, but that's been the reality. But I absolutely believe persistence will matter here. We're going to stay at it, and that's, I think, ultimately going to win the day.    
   
Dr. Varma, you want to speak about what COVID looks like in the future?   
   
Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, no, of course. I'll start with the most important caveat, which is that you know, this is a virus that continues to surprise us and do things that we may not have thought were high likelihood. So, with that important caveat in mind, I think there's some important uncertainties that play into the different scenarios. The first uncertainty is will immunity from vaccination continue to be as strong as it is a year or two years out. So, if that immunity, you know, is weaker in some way, like it is for some vaccines, that you need boosters, that may change the dynamics. The second is we know that some people have declined or delayed vaccination right now because they were infected at some point. We also don't know how long and how broadly protective their immunity will be. And the third is we don't know for sure what the virus’ evolution will be. We've seen variants emerge that are more transmissible, that provide a little bit of escape possibly from the vaccines, but overall, we've seen how effective the vaccines are protecting against them. So, if you look at all those three things together, the most likely scenario, at least for this coming fall, is that, as you mentioned, there will be sort of localized clusters. I mean, any place where people share indoor air and large numbers of unvaccinated people are present.    
   
So, it's going to be very important that we continue to message to people that if you don't have symptoms, you should continue to get tested regularly for COVID, and we, as a city, are going to continue to provide those testing services for people so that you can continue to get tested and screened. The second is that if you have symptoms, even if you've been vaccinated, it's going to be important to get tested for COVID just as you might get tested for the flu or other things, and the sooner that we have that information, the more rapidly going to be able to respond. And then the next point is I think our response to these epidemics is going to be, to really try to push hard on vaccination in certain neighborhoods. You know, we have a template for that. We've had measles outbreaks in selected communities, you know, over the past 10 years, and our response to that is a very comprehensive one that tries to identify people, separate those who are potentially infected or infectious to others, and then vaccinate as many people at risk along with very intensive community engagement. So, I do think that we're going to be able to follow a template that we have used for many other diseases, but of course are open to things changing as we learn more about the virus and immunity.    
   
Mayor: Thank you. I'm looking forward to a New York City we create together. I'm convinced we are going to turn this city around and have recovery for all of us. I can feel it in my bones. That's where we're going. Thank you, everybody.

2021-06-02 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We're starting early this morning, because I'll be going soon to Medal Day for the FDNY.

Yesterday, I told you the amazing news, the lowest positivity level for COVID since the crisis began. We also, every single day, keep seeing more and more vaccinations. The single most important thing in our recovery is getting people vaccinated. So, as of today, 8,340,355 vaccinations. Now, all of these efforts, grassroots efforts, incentives, working with community-based organizations, it's all working. We have great incentives this week. As I said, we're giving away staycations here at great hotels in New York City. So, you're going to have an opportunity if you're getting newly vaccinated or you're making your first dose appointment to win those prizes. You're going to see the vaccine buses and vans all around the city, making it real convenient. Remember, vaccination equals freedom. This is how we move forward.

Now, we're going to create sites anywhere and everywhere that's going to draw people and get them involved. So, a new site is going to be opening at the New York Aquarium to encourage kids to come over, parents to bring their kids. We'll have the Pfizer vaccine there for kids 12 years old and up. You can walk in and get the vaccine at the New York Aquarium or you can schedule an appointment. And when you get your vaccination at the New York Aquarium, you get a ticket for a future visit, just like at the Bronx Zoo, just like at the American Museum of Natural History. Parents are really responding to this. It is a joy to bring your kids someplace they love, get them vaccinated, know they're healthy, know they'll get to enjoy that wonderful location again. So, this is a great, great opportunity. If you want to schedule an appointment or any site, whether it's New York Aquarium or any other site, 877-VAX-4NYC or visit vax4nyc.nyc.gov.

Now, we in New York City have used such a variety of approaches to vaccination. And this is why we've been able to put up really substantial numbers, including at the grassroots. But now, we have an incredible new opportunity, because so many young people are qualifying. Now, we've got hundreds of thousands more New Yorkers who can get vaccinated who couldn't just a month ago. So, we now are really doubling down on focusing on young people, focusing on their parents, focusing on their pediatricians. What's interesting and positive so far is New York City is outpacing the nation at vaccinating our youngest people, and this is exciting. From the moment we got the announcement that 12- to 15-year-olds could get vaccinated, we saw a surge of interest. We saw parents bringing their kids out right away. Here's what we now know – for 12 through 17-year-olds, 118,000 New York kids have already been vaccinated in that 12 to 17 age range – 118,000. That's 23 percent of all the kids in that age range. That surpasses the national average of 22 percent. So, we are doing something here that's working and we want to build on it and go farther, especially in the neighborhoods hardest hit by COVID. We care deeply about reaching our young people in every way. So, starting on Friday in certain schools, we're going to pilot something very exciting. We're going to start launching in school vaccination sites. This is something I think is going to open up a world of possibilities. We're working with our Health Department, our Department of Education, with the UFT. We want to make schools a place where kids can get vaccinated.

Now, for so many kids, of course, that is only been a recent possibility. So, we're going to start this in certain schools around the five boroughs. We're going to see how it goes. We're going to get the most done. We can between now and the end of the school later this month. But it's going to be a way to reach a lot of young people quickly and it's going to be a way to encourage parents to understand how incredible it is, what a great feeling it is to know your child is safe. So, we'll start schools on Friday, expanding more over the days ahead. We will be in all five boroughs in schools, vaccinating kids – select locations, not everywhere yet, but select locations. And we really think this is going to help reach more and more young people and continue to keep New York City ahead of the national average for youth vaccination.

I want you to hear about how important this is from someone who has been a leading voice throughout this crisis, talking about all the things we need to do to reach New Yorkers and do it with equity. I want to introduce the Chair of the City Council Committee on Health, Council Member Mark Levine.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Mark. And we are going to keep pressing on to reach farther and farther to the grassroots, more and more equity. Thank you for your efforts in your community and beyond to support that. And now, I want you to hear from someone who really understands this from a frontline perspective. He, for years, was a public school teacher, understands how important it is to communicate with parents, because he is a current public school parent himself on top of that. He – I've talked to him, he has a passion for education and reaching our young people and, obviously, for keeping them healthy and safe. He is also the newest member of the Bronx delegation in the City Council – Council Member Eric Dinowitz.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Council Member. Thank you for all you did for the city as a teacher and now for what you're doing, and I appreciate, I can tell how much it's in your heart to be there for our kids, and thank you for spreading the word. I agree with you – getting vaccination, wherever kids are, whether it's the New York Aquarium or the Bronx Zoo or in the classroom, we're going to reach kids everywhere and make everyone much, much safer. Thank you very much, Council Member.

All right, now, continuing on this theme, we are going to be doing a series of events all over New York City for New York City Youth Vaccination Week. So, all of these pieces are going to allow us to keep focusing on young people, because here's an area we can make such a difference. We're going to have youth vaccination block parties in all five boroughs. We're going to be working with local organizations, lots of fun activities, lots of direct outreach – Department of Youth and Committee Development is doing a great, great approach called the Barbershop Talk series, going out into communities, going into barbershops, having conversations, beauty salons, talking directly to New Yorkers, talking to kids, talking to their parents. This direct approach makes all the difference and no voice is more important to a parent, I can tell you this from my own experience, the voice who listened to the most, when it comes to protecting your kids, is your pediatrician. Here to talk about how important it is to get young people vaccinated, all the ways we're going about it. He is a pediatrician himself. He has served the city with tremendous energy during this crisis as Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Health, one of the people who has been at the frontline fighting COVID and particularly focusing on the needs of our young people, Dr. Danny Stevens.

Deputy Commissioner Danny Stephens, Family & Child Health, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, as you know the latest group to be authorized to receive the vaccine are among those who've missed and been missed the most – our children. We have a lot of hugs to catch up on. So as a pediatrician, I've had many conversations with patients, with families, with young people about vaccinations. We talk about their concerns. We talk about their questions, and I know this is an important decision because protecting our children is important. I want to assure young people, parents, and guardians that the Pfizer vaccine, the COVID-19 vaccine that's now authorized for use in youth ages 12 to 17 is safe, it's effective, and it saves lives. Tens of thousands. as you mentioned, hundreds of thousands of young New Yorkers have now received the Pfizer vaccine, and by getting vaccinated, they're keeping their families, their loved ones and their communities protected from the virus.

On the other side of vaccination, kids can be kids again. They can hang out with friends, they can go to summer camp, they can visit grandparents and other family members all safely. For Youth Vaccination Week, we're making it as easy as possible for the vaccine to be given, and because the priority of our young people is health and safety. We're also making it as easy as possible for youth, parents, and families to learn about why the vaccine is safe and effective. In all five boroughs, as you mentioned, the City is hosting block parties and resource fairs. At these events, doctors and public health professionals will be on hand to answer questions about the vaccines. There will also be family activities, food, music, and resources from city agencies and community-based organizations. We're also hosting two dozen virtual events with Health Department doctors and leaders from community-based organizations where adults and young people can learn more about the Pfizer vaccine and have their important questions answered, and we are promoting all of the sites throughout the city that carry and offer the Pfizer vaccine. These include new sites like the Brooklyn Museum, the Botanic Gardens, Rockaway Beach, Coney Island, Orchard Beach, and the Van Gogh Exhibit on the Lower East Side. To find a vaccine site near you go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, or you can call 8-7-7-VAX-4-NYC to find a City-run site and arrange free round-trip transportation to a vaccine site. You can also reach out to your family's pediatrician or healthcare provider to see if they have the fact that the Pfizer vaccine, and they can answer your questions about the vaccine for your child. Over the past year so many young New Yorkers have been impacted by COVID-19 – whether it's remote learning, or missing their friends, or their after-school activities, including sports. I urge parents and guardians to talk to your children about the COVID-19 vaccine and to discuss their questions and their concerns. And to young people, I urge you to learn about the COVID-19 vaccine and to share your story. Your voice is so powerful. We need your help to encourage your communities to get vaccinated too. Post your pictures, post your videos on social media and talk about the COVID-19 vaccine with family and friends. The more New Yorkers who get vaccinated and protect one another, the closer we will be to moving on from this pandemic and getting back to the people and the activities that we love. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Stephens, and thank you for all you do for the city and sending a clear message to parents and kids, and by the way, the fact that parents and kids are showing up now, as they've been qualified to get vaccinated, they're showing up in great numbers. This is part of why we see an unimportant uptick in the number of vaccinations in the season. So now we're 4.3 million New Yorkers have received at least one dose. That's more than half the population of the city who has now received at least one dose. We know that pretty much everyone who gets a first dose follows through and gets a second, and we expect a lot more kids coming forward. A lot more parents coming forward. This is going to be crucial to our effort.

Okay, let's go over today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report – 66 patients, continues to go down. That's fantastic. Confirmed positivity – 15.38 percent. Hospitalization rate – 0.56 per 100,000. Again, continues to go down. Absolutely outstanding. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – 240 cases today. Another really good number. Number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, same as yesterday, all-time low since testing began – 0.83 percent on a seven-day rolling average. So that's very good news.

Okay, quickly in Spanish, just a few words on importance of getting young people vaccinated.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Danny Stephens, the Deputy Commissioner for Family and Child Health at DOHMH, by Dr. Dave Chokshi, by Dr. Mitchell Katz, and by the Director of the Mayor's Office of Jeff Thamkittikasem. Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?

Mayor: Good Juliet. How are you doing?

Question: I'm fine, thank you. You know, there was a Memorial Day Parade on Staten Island this weekend. Are there plans to resume parades in New York City? And I'm thinking about, you know, some of the ethnic parades that are usually on in the summer and then there's the West Indian Parade on Labor Day weekend.

Mayor: Yeah, great question. We're looking at that right now. Obviously that parade in Staten Island is something people cherish honoring those who we've lost serving our country. But it's much smaller than the kind of parade you're talking about that are major, major citywide events. We're looking at that now. I said a while ago when we get to the point that we can bring parades back, it’s something New Yorkers appreciate it a lot, but the first parade will be one to honor our healthcare heroes, our first responders, our essential workers – all the people who saw us through the crisis. So, we're looking at that right now to figure out what makes sense to do when, but the good news is we're getting safer every day. So, it's reopening the possibility of having those kinds of events again. 

Moderator: The next is Odalys Molina from Telemundo. 

Question: Yes, good morning Mayor. Can you elaborate more on the incentives for young people, apart from the vaccination at school coming soon, for them to get vaccinated, and you were mentioning that before the press conference, but can you elaborate that on that?  

Mayor: How – when you say elaborate, you mean on why, how important it is? 

Question: No, the incentive – the incentives to get vaccinated and apart from the areas in the school coming soon. 

Mayor: Incentive, okay, yes. Look we have the incentives around places that parents and kids love, like the New York Aquarium, like the Bronx Zoo, like the American Museum of Natural History, so it's an opportunity for kids to go someplace positive, exciting, get vaccinated, get tickets, to go to those amazing places, you know, there are so many ways we're going to be reaching out to parents and kids in communities showing them the benefits of vaccination. I think parents – look, every parent thinks first and foremost about the health and safety of their kid. Parents may have some questions, but as Dr. Steven said, we're going to be out there in communities to answer those questions. And pediatricians, we're working with pediatricians, to reach every one of their patients and have the conversation. And the more of those conversations happen, the more parents choose to get their kids vaccinated. 

Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Mayor, later this morning, Congressman Lee Zeldin, who you know is running for Governor, is going to demand that Governor Cuomo remove the mask order for children in schools. I'm wondering what you think about that in terms of immediately doing that and where things stand as of right now for how likely it is that kids returning in September would still have to wear masks? 

Mayor: Right now, we're assuming kids will be wearing masks. That could change depending on the CDC guidance and obviously the fight against COVID, which so far is going really, really well in this city. But we're going to keep that fight going. And my belief is the farther we go, the more freedom we're going to have, the more people get vaccinated, the more freedom we're going to have. But for now, the plan is to keep masks on kids, an abundance of caution, and I think that's the right approach.

Moderator: The next is Paul Liotta from the Staten Island Advance.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?

Mayor: Good, Paul, how you been?

Question: Good, thank you. Regarding the school vaccine sites, the in-school vaccine sites, I'm hoping to get a better sense of where that's going to start and what the rollout is going to look like, if you have specific sites?

Mayor: On Friday we're starting in the Bronx and we're going to expand out across the five boroughs in the coming days, but specific sites, I want to emphasize, this is something we haven't done before, obviously, because kids didn't qualify. We're going to focus particularly on middle schools where I think you're going to see a lot of parents wanting to see their kids vaccinated, and we're going to move to a number of schools. We are going to see if it makes sense to stay multiple days or one day, we're going to work this through because we have a few weeks to work with now before school is over, and our goal is to reach a lot of kids, and then we're going to keep doing that going forward into the summer because we're going to have potentially hundreds of thousands of kids in our new summer initiative. So, this is a way of finding out the best approach and then applying it more broadly.

Look, we've all gone through so much with COVID, we’re coming out of it now because people have gone out and gotten vaccinated, New Yorkers have helped each other out. We want to move forward, a positive, peaceful summer. We want to move forward an extraordinary recovery in this city, and we got to do that with smart approaches that really listen to communities, and that's what we're trying to do there and all over the city. So, everyone look, today, some really impressive, good news, continuing to build our vaccination effort, continuing to drive down COVID, I will conclude with a simple message, if you haven't done it yet, particularly, if you haven't made sure your kids are vaccinated yet, go out there and make that appointment, get vaccinated, help us move forward. Thank you, everybody.

2021-06-03 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

First of all, the overall doses to date. We're New Yorkers, so we kind of hear things go in one ear and out the other sometimes because of the rush of life in this city. But let's dwell for a moment on this number because it's astounding.  8,373,820 doses given so far. That is in each and every case, a person, a vaccinator, someone who cares, a health care professional, taking the time to help their fellow New Yorker. That's a New Yorker coming there to be part of this extraordinary vaccination effort. That happened 8.3 million, almost 8.4 million times in just the last few months. Now more than half the population of this city has received the first dose and we know overwhelmingly, folks who get a first dose, come back and get the second. So, this is fantastic. Now, we see the other thing about numbers that is so powerful – we're seeing evidence of how much vaccination works. Today. We have set a new record. We'll go over indicators in a moment, but a new record for the lowest level of COVID since the pandemic began. Here in New York City, we have hit the lowest level of COVID today since the pandemic began, 0.81 percent and continuing to go down because people are getting vaccinated. It's stunning. It's stunning how much progress has been made.  

Now let me give you these facts because I think they'll really make you feel good about what we've all done together to bring back New York City. Since January 1st of this year, new COVID cases are down 95 percent from a high of 57 per 100,000 New Yorkers. Now down 95 percent. Positivity level down 91 percent. We were at 9.69 percent. Think about that. On January 1st, almost 10 percent positivity. Now 0.81 percent. Hospitalizations down 69 percent from that point 215 at that point. Hospitalization rate down 86 percent, from 3.99 per 100,000. Look, these are stunning figures. But again, it came down to New Yorkers making the decision to go out and get vaccinated and their fellow New Yorkers being there for them to help them. That's why it worked. And so, what are we going to do? We double down on vaccination. We go farther.  

So, lots of different approaches, but one of the things that people really have been excited about is all the incentives. So, last week we talked about our New York City vaccine contest, it continues to grow. The first set of prizes, pretty amazing. Three day passes to the Governor's Ball, one-year memberships to Crunch Fitness. And that is the set of prizes that we're announcing the winners for today. This week's prize, staycation packages at New York City hotels. Everyone deserves a staycation after everything we've been through. Now, some of the folks who were winners of the first round of the prizes, we asked them just to say what it meant to get vaccinated to them. And some of their testimonials are here. I'm just going to read a few. Philip in Manhattan, says getting vaccinated means I took a step toward helping New York City and my community get back to normal. Couldn't be a clearer, more powerful statement about how each person getting vaccinated helps everyone else. Menahem in Brooklyn says I'm doing the right thing. Simple as that. Mark from Queens, who is a proud member of one of the unions that works in the entertainment sector, says I can go back to work, working on concerts, shows, and live events, IATSE Local 1 strong, I like that pride, Mark. And you're right. So many things now can come back because people are getting vaccinated. So, great prizes again, available this week. And to everyone who won the first round of prizes, really happy for you. Congratulations, go out and enjoy them. And tell your friends, tell your family, get vaccinated.  

Now, I mentioned yesterday, we've seen a real powerful uptick in vaccination levels now that younger people can get vaccinated. In fact, New York City is ahead of the national average in youth vaccination. And we want to double down on that. So, we're really focused on our 12 to 17-year-olds. Starting tomorrow we're going to be bringing vaccines directly to some of our schools. It will be expanding to the schools across the five boroughs. We're going to see if this is the kind of approach that could really help us reach more and more young people. We're going to be doing more of it as we go into summer, opportunities for young people as well. And right now, we're also doing a lot of exciting, interesting things, positive things to help young people want to get vaccinated, attract them to vaccination. youth vaccination block parties – is going to be fun events out in communities for parents, for young people, giving them all the information, making it easy, making it fun, answering questions. We need to reach the youngest New Yorkers. And for the zillennial New Yorkers up to 25, we are going to meet them where they are. And a lot of times that means meeting them at a nightlife venue, a bar, someplace popular for people to gather. So, we're parking our vaccine buses at popular nightlight destinations, and they've been already in Bushwick, Astoria, and the Lower East Side, and Inwood and at the Bronx Night Market. Tonight and tomorrow they’ll be in Downtown Brooklyn. They'll be in the West Village. This'll keep happening. We're sending one of our best agents, Outreach Ambassador, Dante de Blasio, making a stop on his vaccine bus tour, out there with Dr. Torian Easterling. Who has been an outstanding leader in bringing the vaccine to the grassroots. So, we're going to go where young New Yorkers are. And we're going to promote this idea in so many ways. Some, some places are offering a shot for a shot. That's a good option, drink responsibly, of course. And Torian and Dante will be out there. Dante claims he's going to use his DJ skills to attract the zillennials to come over and get vaccinated. I want to see evidence. This kid has an amazing sense of music. I get to hear it every day, a lot range, use those DJ skills Dante, bring the people to the vaccine bus. 

Okay. Let's go to our indicators. And again, we like good news. We have good news. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report is 63 patients, a new dynamic graph there on the screen. It really emphasizes the incredible progress. Confirmed positivity level, 17.46 percent. And hospitalization rate, 0.52 per 100,000. So, this really shows you the amazing progress that we have made together. New reported cases on a seven-day average. Today's report, 221 cases. Again, you see these numbers keep going down because more and more people are getting vaccinated. Number three, here's our new record, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19. Today's report on a seven-day rolling average 0.81 percent. Let's keep driving that down further. Okay. A few words in Spanish about our vaccination effort   

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]   

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.    

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by incoming Chief Procurement Officer for MOCS Victor Olds, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and Dr. Ted Long Executive Director of New York City Test and Trace. 
   
Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Robert from AM New York.    
   
Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?   
   
Mayor: Good, Robert, how you been?   
   
Question: I'm very well, thank you. One of my colleagues is working on a story about remote learning and the new year coming up. So, how is the City going to incorporate some of what it learned from its experience of implementing remote learning this past year and during the pandemic to classes this fall?   
   
Mayor: Robert, this is an example of something that we had to do on an emergency basis that had never been tried before anywhere near this scale, and I really want to give our educators and the whole team of DOE credit. In a matter of weeks, they went from having used remote learning, very sparsely to having to do it for every child in the school system, in the middle of a pandemic, and they actually pulled it off, and now almost half a million devices have been distributed to kids who need it, which is one of the greatest acts of equity that we've seen in a long time in terms of closing the digital divide. So, in this painful, horrible crisis came great learning, honestly – great new innovations came out of it. It's sad that the crisis was the cause, but I appreciate that people found a way to do things. So, now we learned we can do a lot with digital learning. It doesn't come anywhere near the impact of in-person learning. We also learned that the hard way. We've got to have every child back in school in September, but we're going to use digital learning to individualize instruction so that kids on their own time can go a lot farther than they were able to go before we need to catch up. We need to close the COVID achievement gap and fundamentally believe the combination of new approaches to digital learning with the academic screening. We're going to provide to every single student to figure out exactly where they are and what they need. That's going to revolutionize our approach to education. So, you know, out of the ashes, a phoenix rises, and this is going to be an approach really helps New York City public schools move forward and bring our kids forward.

And, with that, everyone – listen, you heard at the beginning, amazing progress on vaccination and amazing progress knocking back COVID as a result. The punchline is clear if you haven't gotten vaccinated yet, go out and do it help move this city forward. You can also win some really great prizes. This is the time. Thank you, everybody.

2021-06-04 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. Now as usual in the 11 o'clock hour on Fridays, it's our weekly Ask the Mayor call-in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio. Our phones are open for your calls to the Mayor at 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280 or a tweet a question, just use the hashtag #AskTheMayor. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, Brian. Good morning to you. And I'm happy to have another quick breaking news, positive story for you. We have set a new record today for reducing and fighting back COVID in the City of New York. We now have the lowest COVID level since the pandemic began. It is, today, 0.78 percent. It is literally lowest recorded since we started testing in New York City at the beginning of the pandemic and continuing to go down, which is great, great news. 

Lehrer: And I see there was at least one day this week with zero COVID deaths in New York City. And I didn't look all the way back to March of last year, but I have a feeling that was the first such day since March of last year. 

Mayor: I'm going to confirm that, but whatever the comparison to the past right now, it says something really, really powerful that New Yorkers have done this. And I really want to emphasize this, you know, as of today, here's the number of vaccine doses. It's astounding. 8,408,000 doses of vaccine given in New York City. And that is New Yorkers making a decision to protect themselves, their family, their city. That's also a lot of great people, health care workers, outreach workers, you know, hospital workers who have been there to vaccinate people when they're ready. And what this means is because people made this decision, we are consistently squeezing COVID out of the city, and we're also seeing tremendous drops in the number of hospitalizations. And thank God that means we are losing fewer and fewer people all the time. And that is what we've been waiting for, that we could get to this moment we can actually see COVID being behind us. 

Lehrer: I see you're bringing vaccination clinics with the Pfizer vaccine to four schools in the Bronx. And that's great, but let me ask you how much that's scalable citywide. Because if the goal is to vaccinate kids all over the city and the percentage of vaccinated kids are still very low compared to adults, can you do this in every school that has kids at the age of eligibility? 

Mayor: Well, let's first do the big picture on this question. Young people 12 to 17, you know, is the youth age range that's eligible for the vaccine now. That's obviously only been true for a few weeks with the younger kids in that group. But here's the amazing fact, already as of a few days ago, 118,000 kids in that age group had been vaccinated in New York City. Many of them just in the last few weeks when they became eligible, ahead of the national average. New York City is ahead of the national average vaccinating those younger folks. There's tremendous energy among parents to get their kids vaccinated. Now the school initiative is brand new. It's something we're able to do now focused on middle schools because we finally got that authorization with the Pfizer vaccine to do it. And, look, the school year is coming to an end, but we intend to get into all five boroughs, reach a number of schools, see what kind of uptake we get. And then that's going to determine the next steps. We have the Summer Rising initiative. We expect several hundred thousand kids in various forms of summer school and summer programs sponsored by the City. That's going to be another place where we can vaccinate a lot of kids. And then we'll look to the fall to see how we want to use this as part of the strategy, but really what I think is going to happen, Brian, is with the levels of vaccination we're seeing now, I think between now and the second week in September, we will reach a very high percentage of young people because of all the grassroots outreach we're going to be doing throughout the months ahead., well before a child steps into the new school year. 

Lehrer: Let's take a phone call. We'll go right to Kiesha in the East Village. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Kiesha. 

Question: Hello, and thanks for taking my call. Hey, Mr. Mayor, this is for East Village residents around Tompkins Square Park. The outdoor dining’s been great, but what is the City doing to ensure that there's no noise after 10:00 PM? Because we live in low-rise [inaudible] near street level. And it's so loud with more alcohol being consumed outdoors, there's more shouting and screaming [inaudible]. And, you know, those rooftop parties have led to a death a few weeks ago. And when affordable housing tenants are forced to leave landlords are too happy to jack up rents for more short-term rentals. And also, this is a point about commercial encroachment into our green spaces. Tompkins Square Park, this park was an oasis for stay at home workers during the pandemic. We have red-tailed hawks nesting in the park. But now there's loud amplified music events, random DJ rave parties at all hours, and residents are calling 3-1-1, and community boards to no effect. The NYPD seems to close our service requests without investigating them. Why? And just to make the general point, since we talked about budget earlier, City policies seem to prioritize commercial enterprises. And being an underserved community, especially, we need to have our right to nature protected. The West Side gets a $250 million [inaudible] we have the East River Park closure and Tompkins Square Park doesn't even have money to water its lawn. Why –  

Lehrer: And let me get your response from the Mayor. You put a lot on the table, but starting with the noise from outdoor dining after 10:00 PM, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Really, thank you for the question and it's an important one. So, I'm going to have a few folks follow up in this case. One, we have our Nightlife Office that specifically was created to mediate and resolve conflicts where there's a restaurant, a bar, a club, whatever it may be. That is important. It employs people. It's part of our life as part of what attracts people in New York City, but also has to be a good neighbor. And so, this Office of Nightlife has really done a great job figuring out how to balance those realities and often mediate disputes productively. And so, I'll have the director of that office call you up and talk that through about your specific situation. Tompkins Square Park, of course, the resources are there for basic park maintenance. And I think we're going to be able to do some additional things to help parks in the budget now that we have a little more resources. But on the question of if there are the kinds of realities in the park that we need to address proactively, I'm also going to have, from the NYPD, folks reach out to you. I think in this case, the borough commander is the right person to reach out and talk to you about what you're seeing there and how we can proactively address it in a positive way. I think that what we're finding more and more is listening to community residents and coming up with a proactive plan is what works. So, you can expect a follow-up from our Nightlife Office and a follow-up from the NYPD. And please give your contact information WNYC so we can do that. 

Lehrer: Kesha, hang on, we'll take your contact off the air. I see there's a curfew in effect at another park near there. Tompkins Square Park is in the East Village. There's a curfew in effect at Washington Square Park. Why is that? And what would allow you to lift it? 

Mayor: This is based on some patterns we've seen in the last weeks trying, again, to be proactive not reactive. A lot of community residents have expressed concerns. And so, the idea is, you know, parks historically have had a closing time. This is an effort to make sure that there's real respect for community concerns about noise and activity. Set a clear bar that everyone understands in advance. It's the best way to do things in a way that, you know, ultimately gets something done for the community. And this is something we keep experimenting with and learning with. We're going to have our community affairs officers who have done really, really good work hearing communities and talking to folks, you know, including young people who might want to be in a park and explaining why things are being done the way they are. And I think that's the best approach here. 

Lehrer: Kelly in Midtown West you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Kelly. 

Question: Hello. I want to ask the Mayor what he is going to do about the mentally ill homeless and former prisoners who are living among us in the Midtown West area at all of these former five-star hotels. The second question, have these men received COVID inoculations as a condition of them receiving free housing? I just want to say, in closing, our neighborhood has now reverted to a reality which feels like we’re imprisoned. We see the drug deals, we see the overdoses, we see the defecation and urination out in the public. There's a lot more I see, but your screener advised me to not disclose this on the air and I'm going to be respectful. Mayor, my life and my neighbor's lives are ruined from this. You haven't given a definitive answer and we deserve it. We're still paying rent. Thank you. 

Mayor: Kelly, thank you for raising this. And I would like you to please give your information to WNYC so our team can follow up and get those specifics from you. That would help us a lot. There are some real issues. They have to be resolved. What you're experiencing is not acceptable, and a couple of things. You're going to be seeing a lot more various outreach efforts from the Department of Health to address some of the drug use and from the Department of Health + Hospitals. You're going to be seeing more NYPD presence. You're going to be seeing a variety of things to address these issues. I’ve heard from several other people and several elected officials. You're going to see a concentrated effort to address this. Second, the hotels that were necessary at the height of COVID to get homeless folks out of shelters, those hotels are becoming less and less necessary. I've said we're very soon going to start the process of moving people back to the shelters where we can provide the most support for them. It was never meant to be a long-term thing. It will not be a long-term thing. You will start to see those changes soon. As for vaccination, it's not a condition of shelter. The right to shelter is long established in the city. We are vaccinating large numbers of folks who are homeless, but like the general population, not everyone is ready yet. It's not a condition. It's something we constantly make available and more and more homeless folks are taking us up on it. And that's good, but I'm hearing you loud and clear about the problem, and I truly believe you're going to see changes quickly. 

Lehrer: What about the interests of those people who are experiencing homelessness themselves? The caller did not mention that. Do you see their interest as aligned or necessarily in conflict? 

Mayor: I don't think it's in conflict at all. I mean, Brian, something that I hope will get some attention is over 150,000 people – and this is a very, very big number – over 150,000 people who went into our shelters in my administration, we were able to get to permanent affordable housing, and we're going to continue that work. So, what we do consistently is get folks off the street. The level of street homelessness, the recent federal HOPE Count confirmed, has gone down, thank God. We're going to get people off the streets into shelter, from shelter to permanent affordable housing. But you have to be in a shelter setting where there are support services, people working with you. If there happens to be a mental health or substance abuse issue, people helping you align to the right kind of housing, including supportive housing with folks who have particular needs. That effort works when we get people into shelter and then start the process of getting them to a new life. And so, there's absolutely consistency here. Folks were never meant to be in temporary hotels. It was an emergency measure at the height of COVID. We are putting COVID behind us now, we can go back to the work of getting people onto a better life. 

Lehrer: And there was the court ruling yesterday that was in the news that will allow the city to move those folks from the Lucerne on the Upper West Side that had become so controversial a location, to another location. Do you have a specific plan for them? 

Mayor: Yes, and it's been publicized before. There's a plan to move to a shelter facility where there'll be much more extensive services available, health care options available. That was always the point – 

Lehrer: It’s another hotel, right? The Radisson? 

Mayor: But it's being converted into an ongoing shelter. And the point is, and this is what I announced four years ago, and I really think it was the right direction, it's been working. Get out of hotels altogether, not just because of COVID, historically the city used hotels, paid a lot of money, disrupted communities, didn't give the services to homeless people they needed. We said back in 2017, we’re going to a simpler approach, a set of purpose-built shelters, a focus, of course, on affordable housing and getting people to affordable housing, no more hotels, no more scatter site units. We're almost out of the scattered site units altogether. Those are those individual apartments that were not quality housing, that was for decades the norm in the city. We're getting away from that once and for all, we'll be out of that soon in the next couple of years, entirely out of hotels. And this is the way forward and – what's amazing is the shelter population right now is below 48,000. It's well below the number when I came into office and continue to go down, and that's in large measure because we have found better ways to get people to quality affordable housing and to prevent homelessness before it happens with things like legal assistance to stop evictions. Even before the anti-eviction efforts with COVID, you know, this city, to its great credit, that's something I really believe in, started providing free lawyers to folks threatening – you know, threatened with eviction, and helped them to stay in their apartments so they didn't become homeless. These kinds of structural, progressive changes are really starting to have an impact. 

Lehrer: Just one more thing on the hotels then, I think back in the 80’s or so the single room occupancy hotels for otherwise homeless people had a bad reputation for various conditions there, and other things, I think SROs are making a comeback in the eyes of advocates as, yeah, if you can have a little room for an individual who's a single homeless person, that's actually a good thing. So, is it not? 

Mayor: Done the right way? It could be, but I want to caution is a point I'm making about, the things we need to get out of. We need to get out of the kinds of facilities that were, you know, obviously private owners, often without the most altruistic focus and if the city didn't have any other choice, that was a scattered site housing, those were those SROs, those were the hotels too often. I want a world where if someone needs shelter and we do absolutely guarantee the right to shelter in this city, it’s something very powerful. This is why we're not like San Francisco or Los Angeles or places that you see just for rampant street homelessness, we provide right to shelter, but we're going to do it with actual shelters, it’s the much better way to do it. If you have an SRO model and it's run by a nonprofit, a community-based nonprofit, it's done compassionately with real careful checks and balances to make sure people are being served, that could work. The historic model did not work at all. 

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, thanks as always, talk to you next week.  

Mayor: Take care, Brian.

2021-06-07 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I always hope to start out the week with good news for everyone. The situation that we're seeing now is unacceptable. It's fueled by the proliferation of guns that got worse during the pandemic. We've all seen the shocking statistics about how many more people all over the country got guns during the pandemic.  

Okay. Let me go to what we talk about every day of course, while we're fighting the scourge of gun violence, we're fighting COVID every day and we're building a recovery for all of us. And even though we're dealing with the challenges related to violence, thank God we can see and feel the recovery around us. I was all over the city this weekend. So, many people out, so many people engaging again, feeling more freedom because we've been fighting back COVID. You can see the level of activity rising, more jobs coming back. This is what we need. And it's also going to help keep us safe because I guarantee you more recovery equals less violence. Obviously fighting back the violence helps the recovery as well. We're going to have to do all of that at once.

But let's talk about fighting COVID, which has always been the prerequisite for ending this crisis. And when it comes to that, it means vaccinations. Vaccinations equal freedom. And we've got more good news today on the vaccination front. We now have hit the lowest COVID level since the crisis began. Today's COVID positivity in New York City, 0.71 percent. So, we keep setting new and better records, pushing COVID down, down, down. Why? Because of vaccinations. As of today, 4.4 million New Yorkers have gotten at least their first dose, 4.4 million. And again, overwhelmingly folks would get their first dose come back and get their second dose. So, these are signs of something good happening. Overall doses administered from the beginning, we've now passed 8.5 million doses. So, more doses than people in the city now. This is wonderful. 8.5 million, specifically 8,520,047 doses from the beginning.

Now, what do we have to do next? We have to focus on young people. And we're having a lot of success going out to communities, reaching young people, parents more and more, want their kids vaccinated. They want this to be a summer full of joy and freedom. They want this to be the summer of New York City. So, we are connecting with parents. We're connecting with young people. This is going to be a big part of what we do from this point on. Now, we know on top of that, that some people just need a little extra encouragement, a little extra focus. So, the incentives are helping with that. We've offered tickets to the Governor's Ball, gym memberships, staycations. Thursday, we announced the first set of winners – more winners this coming Thursday. But now this week's prizes, so, if you're out there, haven't decided yet to get vaccinated, but you're interested? Here's a chance to really get a wonderful prize. I think a lot of New Yorkers will want to get vaccinated when they hear this. 10 people will win six packs of 30-day unlimited MetroCards. So, basically six months of unlimited MetroCards. This is something of tremendous value to so many New Yorkers. So, if you're out there, you've been meaning to get vaccinated, you're ready to get vaccinated, just haven't gotten around to get vaccinated? Go to one of the City-run sites, sign up to get vaccinated, qualify for these MetroCards, amazing opportunity. These contests and prizes will be going on for weeks ahead. We think it's going to make a big difference. If you're interested, go to vaccinefinder.nyc.gov/benefits.

Okay. Now, you can see the recovery growing all the time. You can see the comeback happening. But we want to amplify it. We want to make it bigger. And so, this morning we have a big announcement about a citywide celebration of New York City. A citywide moment to declare that New York City is back, a homecoming for New York City. Where New Yorkers come out together to celebrate and support our city. Where folks from all over the metropolitan region come back to their roots in the city, to support New York City's come back. This is going to be an amazing, memorable once in a lifetime week in New York City. It is the brainchild of Danny Meyer who has been serving, and I'm so appreciative, as the Chair of the New York City Economic Development Corporation Board, legendary for the work he has done in the hospitality industry and a great booster of New York City. When he came on board with our team, he said, let's do something to really pull all the pieces together. Let's have a homecoming week.

And then we said, what would be the focal point? What would be the highlight of this week? And we decided to do something classic, iconic, a massive concert in Central Park to celebrate the rebirth of New York City. Concert will be in August. It will celebrate the summer of New York City, the comeback, and it will emphatically make the point there is no stopping New York. It's going to be a great lineup. And I know it's going to be a great lineup because we turned to one of literally the greatest figures in music industry history, Clive Davis. Brooklyn's own, Brooklyn born and bred, never forgot the city he loves. I turned to Clive, I said, I need the biggest, most extraordinary all-star lineup you can put together, heavy on New York artists. He said, I'm on it. I'm going to make it happen. So, in August, get ready for an unforgettable week, a once in a lifetime concert and a moment that really says New York City’s back.

All right. As we do every day, let's do our indicators. And thank God again, the indicators give us good news. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today’s report, 59 patients. This is unbelievable. This number is so low. The confirmed positivity, 8.47 percent, 8.47 percent confirmed positivity among the folks in the hospitals. Hospitalization rate 0.46 per 100,000. See that line just go straight down. That's what we need more of. Now, number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today’s report, 204 cases. Another example of just constant progress. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19. Record setting figure today, on a seven-day rolling average, 0.71 percent. People said a couple of weeks ago, oh, this is as low as it can go. Nope. It can go lower. And we're going to fight to make it lower. Go out, get vaccinated. Okay. Few words in Spanish now. I’m going to go back to the topic of how we stop gun violence.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Marcos Soler, the Director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, by Dr. Chokshi, and by Senior Adviser Dr. Jay Varma. Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. My question is about the Central Park mega concert. How many people you would anticipate attending this event? When you expect to have the artists finalized? And whether there are any concerns, not about the outdoor gathering, but about people gathering indoors after the fact?

Mayor: On the concert, it's going to be amazing. I can tell you August. I can tell you all-star lineup. Specific dates being nailed down. Obviously, Central Park. We're going to have a huge crowd. We're going to keep it safe. I think given what you saw just this morning, on the COVID positivity on June 7th, and we're talking about a concert a couple of months away, I feel very good about our ability to keep people safe, outdoors and indoors.

Moderator: The next is Jenna DeAngelis from WCBS.

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio.

Mayor: Hi, Jenna. How are you doing?

Question: I'm good. Hope you're well, too. So. it's great to see the vaccination numbers – you shared the numbers going up. But when you take a close look at the numbers by demographic, vaccinations are significantly lower in Black and brown communities. There's 25 percent of the Black community fully vaccinated, Hispanic, Latino is at 31 percent. So, what's being done by the City specifically to make sure that these communities are protected from COVID and get vaccinated?

Mayor: Jenna, nonstop effort. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but I'll tell you the effort at the community level is extraordinary and growing. The outreach efforts overwhelmingly are focused in communities of color, particularly on young people, more and more. Because we think that's a tremendous area to reach a lot more New Yorkers. We think a lot of parents are going to be ready to have their kids vaccinated, particularly the youngest kids. It is about engaging houses of worship. It's about being ubiquitous in public housing. We're going to do all of the above. And the numbers keep moving. Dr. Chokshi can give you a flavor of what he's seeing, but we're seeing that gap start to close. Less and less hesitancy in communities of color, more people coming forward. But we've got to be there at the moment someone is ready. And look, I mean, we've got 4.4 million New Yorkers with at least one dose. We're just going to keep driving that. It's not going to stop. We're going to keep driving it and reach people at the right moment. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And as you said, equity has been a central pillar of the vaccination campaign from the beginning. But this phase of our vaccination campaign has revolved around convenience and conversations. Convenience in the sense of being ubiquitous as the Mayor has said, making sure that we are getting further  out into neighborhoods, including those neighborhoods that do have lower vaccination rates such as in the Bronx or in eastern Brooklyn or in parts of Queens, bringing our mobile vaccination efforts there and also partnering with those community-based clinics including federally qualified health centers who have been serving those communities for decades upon decades. And the second part is around conversations. It's really about having the questions that people have about the vaccines answered by people whom they trust. That's often faith leaders, it's community-based organizations, but it's also sometimes neighbors and family members. And so, we have worked in partnership with all of those groups to make sure that people are sharing their stories about why they chose to get vaccinated, answering questions, and having those one-on-one conversations that can change minds. And we are seeing that yield improved vaccination rates and we're going to continue focusing those efforts to get as many people vaccinated as possible in the coming weeks.  

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Jenna. 

Question: I mean, do you have a personal message to the people who still, despite, you know, people being in the houses of worship in all of these places still are just not taking it –  

Mayor: Yeah – 

Question: – To try to really close that gap. 

Mayor: Thank you. I'll offer my personal message, and I want Dr. Chokshi to offer his as well. Here's what I want to say. Look, I'm going to speak as a parent, protect your children, get them vaccinated. The vaccine is safe, it’s the Pfizer vaccine for kids 12 to 17. We want our kids safe. It is the number one thing we feel as parents. Here's the way to do it. It's proven, it's safe, it's free, it's effective. So, I'm appealing to parents. This is the time to protect our children with the vaccine. Dr. Chokshi, your appeal. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Well, I'll share what I've said to my own patients, which is that vaccines help us develop a community without disease. And that's the bottom line. We have safe, effective vaccines that have already saved lives both here in New York City, as well as around the world. And so, you know, for yourself, for your family members, for your neighbors, for our city, vaccination is the key to a safe summer, and to all of the joy particularly the things that you may have missed out on over the last few months.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Katie Honan from the Wall Street Journal. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you?  

Mayor: Hey, Katie, how are you been? 

Question: I'm good. What more can you tell us about this homecoming? It seems – so far seems a little Manhattan-centric. I know you usually have a little bit of love for the other boroughs, the outer boroughs. So, I call Manhattan an outer borough, but that's me. But what else can you tell us about what would be planned that week for the rest of the city?  

Mayor: I appreciate Manhattan deeply, but my heart is in the whole of New York City. My heart's in Brooklyn, my heart’s where I come from, and my heart’s in all the boroughs that make up seven million of us. So, this focal point is in Central Park because that is obviously an iconic location and a place where we can put together an amazing, huge concert to celebrate our rebirth. But there will be major activities in all five boroughs. So, I want to be clear – more details to come, but this is very much a five-borough vision of a homecoming week. We want people to come out, participate – all the people in New York City to participate, but we also want people to come back to New York City from the whole metropolitan area. Look, folks in the suburbs and the tri-state area appreciate and love New York City. And for most of them, New York City is where the roots are. Time to come home, time to help us move forward. This homecoming week is going to be something very, very special.  

Look, we've been through the greatest crisis in the history of New York City. We're coming out of it really fast. COVID, lowest rates since the beginning. Jobs coming back, activity coming back, schools coming back, but there's still work to do, particularly for the summer to assure public safety and to finish our comeback. Once we do that, I think we move forward really fast and deeply back to where we were before the pandemic. We had the most jobs in our history and so many things that were working right in this city. We were the safest big city in America. We will be again. We've got work to do. We need help from Albany this week, we need help from the federal government, and we're going to help ourselves. But there's no question in my mind, we turn the corner on all of this, and we move forward. Thank you, everybody.

2021-06-08 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. A lot going on today, we’ve got a lot to talk about, and so much of it is about New York City coming back, New York City recovering faster all the time – ahead of schedule, in fact. And here is some evidence – if there's one thing we love as New Yorkers – now, he's not from New York City, okay, I'll admit it, but a lot of songs are about New York City, and I know he loves this place so deeply. Bruce Springsteen is back, New York City – coming back to Broadway, and that means Broadway's back earlier than expected, ahead of schedule. This is amazing. He's reviving his show Springsteen on Broadway not September, not August, not July – June 26th the show opens on Broadway. This is amazing news. Broadway epitomizes New York City. Broadway coming back means New York City's coming back. Broadway coming back means our arts and culture are coming back, the life of the city coming back, jobs coming back, tourists coming back. Bruce Springsteen, June 26th on Broadway. This is an amazing sign to all of us. And, listen, New York City, you earned it. You earned it by going out there and getting vaccinated and all the other things that everyone did to get through this crisis. So, that's really good news.  

And I've been saying, this is going to be the summer of New York City. It's going to be absolutely amazing. The arts, the culture, the activity, so many things happening. I predict a Nets championship parade as well, among other things – lots going on. And one of the things that's going to make this summer great is our City Artist Corps. This is a new initiative, patterned on one of the great initiatives of the New Deal of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, New York’s own. We know that artists in the city went through so much. We know what a tough time it has been for artists. It always is, but especially during the pandemic. We want to help them, give them work, give them employment and opportunity, but also bring their incredible talents to bear all over the city to bring us back and to bring joy to the people of the city. So, City Artist Corps grants, now available to New York City artists. And if you are a New York City artist and you want to make an impact on this city, we need you. Calling all artists, apply today – musicians, performers, everyone – go to nyc.gov/cityartistcorps and apply today. And you're going to help bring New York City alive, the streets in New York City alive with arts and culture this summer.  

All right. Now, recovery – the foundation of recovery is vaccination. We give you an update all the time. It's amazing, the numbers keep growing, particularly among younger people. This is great news. So, first of all, since day-one, we're now past 8.5 million vaccinations. This is really, really good news. More vaccinations have been given in New York City than there are people in New York City – that's a great, great sign. So, as of today, the number of doses from day-one, 8,559,566. And we are doubling down, we're bringing vaccine to the people. Starting on Wednesday, we're going to bring mobile vaccination vans to libraries all across the city to reach families, to reach young people. There'll be there throughout June. Libraries have done such important work for this city. They have been at the frontline, helping us out with testing, with vaccination, really helping through people through the pandemic. I want to thank everyone in our library systems for everything you have done to help New York City. Those mobile sites are really going to help get more and more people vaccinated, particularly young people. We also, of course, have started vaccination sites in our schools, we’re going to keep building on that. We held block parties to encourage vaccination, barbershop listening sessions. We've had vans and buses with vaccination efforts at parks, places where people are, young people are, and here's the update. We had Youth Vaccination Week, it worked. During that week, e administered 34,000 doses to New Yorkers age 12 to 17 across the five boroughs. 34,000 doses for the youngest New Yorkers. We want to protect them now. Amazing number – 156,000 12- to 17-year-old New Yorkers have received at least one dose of the vaccine. And we know people get one dose, they come back for the second. 156,000 and growing, that's how we achieve a recovery for all of us. 

Okay. Every day we go over indicators, let me go over today. Again, we've had a lot of good news lately. Continues to be really solid, really strong, and people continue to get vaccinated. I gave you those numbers at the beginning. The way to keep driving down these numbers is more and more vaccinations. So, we need everyone to keep the pedal to the metal. We got to keep going. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 81 patients. Confirmed positivity, 16.05 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.44. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report 217 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19. Today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 0.71 percent. Excellent number. Okay. I'm going to say a few words in Spanish. And I want to go back to the collaboration with the ATF, the work of getting guns off our streets.  

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.  

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we are joined by John Miller, Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism, John DeVito, Special Agent in Charge of the ATF New York Field Division, Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Advisor on public health, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, DCLA Commissioner Gonzalo Casals, Fred Dixon, President and CEO of NYC & Company, and Geoff Brown, Chief Information Security Officer and Head of New York City Cyber Command. Bob Hennelly from Chief Leader. 

Question: Good morning. Thanks for taking the call. Yesterday, Governor Como identified the state’s poorest performing ZIP codes in terms of vaccination rates among the eligible residents. 11 of those ZIP codes were in New York City and places like Far Rockaway where the rate is just 31.2 percent. You have put a tremendous emphasis on engaging the general public on this effort. But last time we checked the NYPD itself is not quite at 40 percent. The vaccination rate at the FDNY is around 50 percent. Shouldn't you be featuring civil service employee vaccination rates on a daily basis because we know it gets measured, gets managed? 

Mayor: Bob, it's a fair question. I think we understand right now that there are, and this is what the research is showing. I mean, the research nationally, locally, our experiences out in the field, hundreds of thousands of interactions with New Yorkers. There are many, many people, right this minute, willing to get vaccinated, whether they're in public service or they're civilians. There are so many people ready to get vaccinated. Our job is to reach them, make it convenient, make it easy, give incentives, answer questions, whatever it takes. And clearly you can see the numbers keep growing substantially every day. So, you know, I think there's a bit of a coalition of the willing dynamic right now. We want to go to the folks who are ready or almost ready, or need it to be a little easier and keep building up progress there. Folks who are not yet ready. I appreciate and understand that it means we just have more work to do. So, I'm not against putting up numbers, but I also want to recognize that folks who are in uniformed service, they've been given a lot of encouragement, a lot of information. If they're not yet ready, they're not yet ready. It's our job to keep working. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: Yeah. Thank you. As you know, the pandemic was quite a traumatic event for the civil service, I guess, close to [inaudible] individuals died in thousands are dealing with some kind of long-term complications. There's been a lot of – there was initial optimism when there was discussion of early retirement for folks. That's kind of worn off a bit and we did get something forwarded to us by a UFT member, a flyer that would say, “we are disappointed to inform you that despite our efforts, City Hall has refused to offer an early retirement incentive for any DOE employee this year. Under legislation in Albany, in April, the City had until May 31st to finalize details of an early retirement incentive program with UFT and failed to do so.” Now, we have done our own investigation and spoken with Assemblyman Abbate, one of the sponsors of that legislation, and that may not be correct. But can you give us the status of what early retirement is going on. Is it based – we know that you have a lot of discretion here – is it part of the negotiating that goes back and forth through unions – just, where is the status of that? Because a lot of people have already been through a lot and are looking for some kind of resolution.  
  
Mayor: Yeah, Bob – and, look, I feel for anyone who's been through the pain of this crisis and their families. I feel for them, but we also have a job to do as New York City and we need our public servants. We are now deeply in the recovery phase. We have beaten back COVID effectively – very different environment than when the discussions began on early retirement. Now, we need all the good public servants we can get. We need all the great educators we can get. We're about to reopen our school's full strength, no remote, and with a massive need to close the COVID achievement gap. So, let's be clear, the situation has evolved rapidly and we need every good public servant front and center to bring this city back and serve our people. So, we're always going to work with our public servants to try and address their personal needs. But, right now, the folks who do so much for New York City, we need them more than ever.  

And with that, I'll conclude and say, look, this city's recovery, to me, what we're seeing now every day – I have the real privilege of reporting to you the facts, all of you, the people in New York City, what we're seeing happening. And just in the course of today's press conference, being able to show you the many, many areas where we're making great progress in this city, even things we never would have expected like tourism coming back this quickly. We should be proud as New Yorkers of the comeback we're making. We got a lot more to do. We all know that every single additional New Yorker gets vaccinated fuels that comeback. So, I'm going to be a good broken record and keep saying, if you like hearing about New York City's recovery and the Summer of New York City and all the possibilities ahead, help us out. If you haven't yet gotten vaccinated, if your child hasn't been vaccinated, today's the day to make that appointment. Thank you, everybody.

2021-06-09 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. 

Now, everyone, of course, to bring this city back strong, to make sure we have the summer we need to have, and then the recovery we need to have. It's about safety. It's also about health as always. It's about fighting back COVID. Today, just another reminder that people are coming in getting vaccinated. We announced yesterday really striking numbers from last week for youth vaccination, we continue to see New Yorkers come forward. Folks who get the first dose consistently coming for the second dose and every single day, more and more people showing up for that first dose.

So, today we're at almost 8.6 million vaccinations from day one. It keeps climbing every day. The formal number – 8,593,779 doses. What it proves once again is everyday New Yorkers are making the choice to come forward and get vaccinated, and there's still many, many hundreds of thousands of people who it's not about hesitancy. It's about just getting to that moment where things click and they see the right place and the right time and the right incentive or the convenience. This is why we're going to keep going deeper and deeper into communities, to spread the vaccination effort this month and all summer long, and to continue to make New York City safe.  

All right, now let's talk about Recovery For All of Us, because again, what we need is a strong, full recovery in New York City, but it needs to reach all New Yorkers, and that means building back better, differently, addressing the disparities of the past, creating more opportunity for more New Yorkers. Look, last September, I set a goal for this city. That we should be the public health capital of the world. Why? Because we were the epicenter of COVID here in this country and we fought back and overcame it with incredible participation of the people, with our Test and Trace Corps., with community-based solutions. Also, with incredible contributions from our universities, our entrepreneurs, our hospital systems. The talent in New York City, the ingenuity, creating our own machines if we needed to, the medical supplies, medical equipment, ventilators, PPE, whatever it took – things that had not been produced in New York City ever were suddenly produced on limited notice. People came together, said, we've got to do this for the good of New Yorkers, and they did. That ingenuity, that drive, that's what New York City is all about.

So, the reason we should be the public health capital the world, and can, and will be the public health capital world is we have the talent. We have the ingenuity. We have the perspective of having gone through this crisis. We understand the need to bring communities into solutions. And we have the ability to build a whole new element of the New York City economy. For a long time, people stereotyped New York City – many, many decades, oh, it's just about Wall Street, or, before that, it was manufacturing. Well, in recent decades, we've proven we can have the biggest, most diverse economy we've ever had. In fact, right before the pandemic, we had the most jobs in our history. Now, we have to go farther, beyond all of our traditional industries, beyond the tech community that has grown so successful in New York City. We need to build up life sciences. This is the future. This is what is going to make New York City great, going forward, because the future, as we just seen with this global crisis, will be so much about finding solutions to the health challenges that plague humanity. And that is what the folks who work in life sciences do – they create the cures; they create the solutions. But it takes a lot of brain power, it takes tremendous capacity, it takes entrepreneurship, it takes investment. We can combine all these things here in New York City like never before.

So. this is our future. If we want good paying jobs, if we want jobs that can reach every borough and provide new opportunity for New Yorkers, including those who've been left out, then we have to invest in life sciences. You know, there has been competition in this country for which part of the country would be able to be the center of this industry. And it parallels some of what we used to see with the technology sector. Once upon a time, if you said tech in America, you meant Silicon Valley. Well, we showed over the last decade or two more and more that meant New York City. Now, New York City is one of the global tech capitals. We're going to take that same history and double down on it with life sciences. If you say life sciences today, some people think about Boston, and Cambridge, and Route 128, maybe Seattle, maybe San Francisco. Soon, they're going to be thinking about New York City, because when you think about those other places, we have the talent base, we have the hospitals, we have the universities, we have the ability to do the research that could blow away the capacity of any other part of the country. So, for so long, New York City was counted out of the life sciences game. Now, New York City is going to surge and become a strong player and ultimately a dominant player in this space, because we have all the pieces all waiting to come together. We made a decision five years ago in 2016 to focus on life sciences. We put a half-billion-dollar investment to build up life sciences in New York City. Five years ago, you didn't hear a lot of people saying New York City and life sciences in the same sentence. Now, more and more companies are, more and more researchers are, more and more academic institutions are. We need to pull it together and prove how far we can go.

In COVID, in crisis, we showed with the Pandemic Response Institute what was possible – the lab that did so much to help us through and now is creating the solutions of the future. But this progress, this momentum won't happen on its own. So, today, I'm announcing another investment of a half-billion dollars in the development of the life sciences industry in New York City. It will bring our total investment to $1 billion to ensure that we cement our place in the global economy as the public health capital of the world. It can be done and it must be done for the future of New York City.

We know that with this investment we will be helping to create the space and the opportunity for some of the great innovations of the future that will save hundreds of thousands of lives, maybe millions of lives. Those inventions, those creations can be done right here. No one doubts the talent’s here. We need to bring it together so that we become the premier location. And you're going to hear in a moment from one of the leaders of this effort for the city, but I want to make it very, very clear – our message to everyone in the life sciences industry is, we need you here in New York City. We want you here in New York City. If you have a challenge or a need, come to us and we're going to help you solve it. A long time ago, people used to say, oh, I'd love to be here, there's not enough space. More and more, as you're about to hear, we're creating more and more lab space, more and more space to make these great innovations happen. If you want to be in New York City, we're going to make it work for you, because there's no stopping New York. There’s no stopping our effort to become the public health capital of the world.

With that, I want to turn to a leader in this effort. She heads our City's efforts at Economic Development and has been showing that we can come out of this pandemic strong – the President of the Economic Development Corporation of New York City, Rachel Loeb.

President & CEO Rachel Loeb, Economic Development Corporation: Thank you. Thank you so much, Mayor de Blasio. And I am so excited to be here today to talk about life science in New York City and your ongoing commitment to this growing and lifesaving industry and what it'll do for our city. As you said, life sciences is coming of age. 10 years ago, you could count the number of life sciences companies based in New York City on one hand. Today, there are hundreds. And now, we're going further. But we want to make sure that the science that starts here, stays here. So, whether you're at the beginning of your career, exploring a new research idea, taking that research to market, fundraising, expanding your company or planning the next phase of its growth, we want you to do it here in New York City. So, what have we accomplished in a few short years since we announced LifeSci NYC in 2016? We've unlocked 2 million square feet of new, innovative life science space with millions more on its way. We funded research labs at our major academic institutions. We’ve seen the growth of six incubators that have spurned hundreds of new companies. We've invested in paid internship programs to connect New Yorkers of all backgrounds to life science jobs. And those investments paid off when we needed it most. Our testing strategy was how we brought COVID under control until we had the vaccine. So, we built our own labs and we built our own test kits, all the while, continuing the momentum of translating science into medicines.

As we look to the future, life science is going to pay an integral role in the city's recovery for all, creating healthier communities and a stronger economy. So, thanks to the Mayor, we're doubling down that $500 million and creating a billion-dollar investment in this industry. Specifically, we're going to create a lot of space and invest in equipment to do research. We're going to invest in companies and we're going to invest in people. We're going to make sure that we have a complete ecosystem with talent, the diverse types of labs, the funders, and that we have developed hubs around the city so that we can capitalize on the competitive advantage that is New York City. And so, in addition to therapeutics and medicines, we're investing in new areas so that we become a global leader in health tech, biomedicine, and medical devices.

Scale and diversity is a strength of New York City and we need that in life sciences as well. So, whether you're an investor, an inventor, a researcher, this is where the opportunities are and will be because it will all be here. And talent knows that they have a career that they can grow and flourish in life science in New York City. Life sciences is here to stay in New York City and these efforts will support our local entrepreneurs and create 40,000 jobs for New Yorkers of all backgrounds while building a safer and healthier New York City. I want to thank Mayor de Blasio again for supporting the life science New York City initiative throughout all these years. I also want to thank our incredible life science team at EDC, and our esteemed advisory council who's been guiding us through the past several years, and the broader community who’s been working with us to bring this vision to life. We're so excited. Thank you so much.

Mayor: Thank you, Rachel. Thank you for leading the way. And, you know, Rachel made a point I want to amplify, we’re saying to people, come here, this is the place to be. We're saying it for a lot of reasons that we just laid out, but there's another reason – you know, after COVID, tens of billions of dollars of research grants are going to be available from the federal government, from private companies trying to do research to build their products. There's going to be so much in the way of resources flowing and it needs to go where the most impact will be. More and more, we want that to be New York City. The resources will be there, we need to capture them and build our economy, but also build the healthcare solutions of the future. So, this is why it's so exciting on so many levels. I want you to hear from two people who are right in the middle of this amazing moment and who, each in their own way, exemplify the possibilities here in New York City.

First, we're going to take you to a lab at NYU Langone. And I want you to hear from the director of the bio labs, NYU Langone wet lab incubator. It's a premier co-working space for life sciences startups to test new ideas, to develop them, to grow them, to create game-changing possibilities. All of this comes from atmospheres that encourage innovation. It's happening right now in New York City. I want you to hear about it from Dr. Glennis Mehra.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you. Hey, doctor, first of all, I love anyone who invokes New York-style grit. I commend you for that, and the fact that you guys stayed open 24/7, fighting the battle against COVID. Thank you, that means so much to all of us. And you made so many good points, but one of them I want to amplify – why I believe we're going to be the public health capital of the world is because the entire world is here already. Every nationality is represented. Every language is spoken here in New York City. As we create solutions not just for America, but for the whole world, the talent pool here is able to connect with and relate to the whole world. So, this is a place we have the talent and the diversity of talent to actually create global solutions. And thank you for your New York-style grit and for making things happen there at NYU Langone. This is a great example of, I think, something we're going to see a lot more of going forward in this city. Thank you.

Director Glennis Mehra, NYU Langone: Thank you for your continued support.

Mayor: Absolutely. And now, everyone, I want you to hear from another exemplary New Yorker, because he is just starting out. And we're talking about the jobs that this is going to create for New Yorkers. We're talking about a much bigger, richer possibility for the economic future of New York City, because life sciences will have a more important home here. This young man is pursuing his master's degree in biomedical engineering at Columbia – exactly what we want to see more and more young New Yorkers do to build our life sciences community for the future. My pleasure to introduce George Kenefati.

[…]

Mayor: George, thank you so much. I’ve got to tell you, you make me proud as a New Yorker. I love the fact that you were part of the response to COVID. I love the fact that you are gaining the skills to allow you to thrive here in New York City, and you have hope for what could be created here. That makes me very happy, but I also love your personal story. It's such a classic of New York City – Syrian descent, born in Venezuela, grew up in Staten Island, that's a true New Yorker. So, very happy to have you here with us and the best of luck to you. I think you have a pretty bright future ahead, my friend.

George Kenefati: Thank you so much for your support.

Mayor: Thank you. All right, before we go to our indicators, want to give you an indicator of good things happening in New York City and how we are coming back strong. Tonight, the Tribeca Film Festival kicks off – and it's back, it's back full strength – 20th anniversary tonight. I remember when the Tribeca Film Festival was just a nascent idea and a fledgling, but now it's something we value and cherish in this city. It's part of the life of the city and back fully, another great sign of New York City's comeback. In the Heights, such an anticipated movie, premiering at the festival. But, tomorrow, I want to say again, a community screening – I am so appreciative to Lin Manuel Miranda and his dad Luis Miranda for what they are doing, a community screening and bringing this extraordinary movie that's going to create such pride in Washington Heights to the people of the community. And I think it's fair to say, there is no better spot to watch In the Heights than in the Heights. And I look forward to tomorrow night.

Okay. Now, our regular indicators, here we go – and they're good today. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report 74 patients. Confirmed positivity, 10.96 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.44. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 224 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing city-wide positive for COVID-19 on a seven-day rolling average, 0.71 percent. So, we keep making because you keep getting vaccinated. And I thank you for that.

Okay. A few words in Spanish on our future as the public health capital of the world.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by EDC President, Rachel Loeb, by Sheriff Joe Fucito, by Dr. Dave Chokshi, by Dr. Mitchell Katz, and by Geoff Brown, the Chief Security Officer and the Head of New York City Cyber Command. Marla from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mayor. I'm wondering if you might talk a bit about where we are in terms of herd immunity in the city? I know that you've been touting the number of total vaccinations, the number of New Yorkers who've gotten one vaccination. But where are we in terms of a full immunity?

Mayor: I'll start. And then I know we have Dr. Katz – I actually didn't hear the full lineup today. Dr. Chokshi also, okay. We'll go to both of them. But Marla, I always like to be the layman before the doctors look, I think what's important to recognize here is the COVID numbers are going down consistently. Why? First and foremost, vaccination. And we're at a very high level of vaccination now. And growing literally every day. Clearly, also a lot of people were exposed to the disease previously, and that has an impact too. The point to me is to watch the numbers and we're clearly on the right track. And we expect to stay on that track. It does mean continuing to build our vaccination efforts. So, I think the notion of herd immunity as sort of a panacea, if you will, or a perfect answer? I think that's a little elusive, but I think the elements we need to achieve a full comeback are here and are coming together. Dr. Katz, Dr. Chokshi, why don't you jump in?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Well, I’d first give the Mayor an honorary medical degree for his explanation of herd immunity. In true herd immunity, it means that everybody is protected from infection because everybody else has been vaccinated. We're not at that stage. And that's why there continues to be infections. But we are at functional immunity, which the way I look at it is New York City keeps opening. There's more and more activity. We're hugging each other, we're shaking hands. And yet the number of cases is decreasing, just the opposite of what happened when New York City began to open last year. So, the high rates of vaccination are resulting in fewer infections, despite increased contact. And so that's why I think of it as a functional immunity. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Dr. Chokshi, you want to add?

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Just to add briefly, I agree with what Dr. Katz has said. We have to think about this as community immunity that is driven by vaccination. And the numbers speak for themselves. 73 percent of our seniors have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine. 64 percent of New York City adults have gotten at least one dose. And 53 percent of the full population, that includes children, including those who are not yet eligible for vaccination, have also gotten one dose of the vaccine. So, the level of protection that we have gotten to is really driven by those achievements with respect to vaccination. But it's also an opportunity for us to emphasize that there remain people who are unvaccinated. And we want to reach every single New Yorker to extend that blanket of protection as widely as possible across the city.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call.

Mayor: How are you doing, James?

Question: I always appreciate your asking. Doing great. It's a beautiful day in New York City.

Mayor: I like the way you articulate beautiful. Well done.

Question: Thank you. I want to start with a shout out to my colleagues at Gothamist actually. And perhaps you saw their reporting that among Correction officers in the city, only about a third have gotten vaccinated for coronavirus. Can you respond to that low percentage? And talk about how the City is trying to counter challenges like that among people who are very resistant to, or very hesitant to getting vaccinated?

Mayor: James, such a good question. Thank you. I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz in a moment because Health + Hospitals runs Correctional Health and obviously serves the officers and staff as well as those who are incarcerated. This has been a challenge. The good news I should say first is a lot of effort has been made by Health + Hospitals, by the Department of Correction to contain COVID and keep the levels low on Rikers and in our Correction system. And that's been in the scheme of things a good story, especially in the year 2021. They really have done a very, very good job of keeping the rate of COVID in the jails, actually lower than in the general population. But it has been a challenge to get people vaccinated. There are a lot of officers who are not yet ready. There are inmates who are not ready. I think it tracks what we're seeing overall with hesitancy. And where we're seeing higher levels of hesitancy in different communities. And I think the answer is to keep talking to people, keep providing evidence, keep providing trusted messengers. I think it's patient work. We'll get a lot of people to buy in over time. But it's going to take more work. Dr. Katz, you want to add?

President Katz: Not much to add to what you said, sir other than that we keep seeing people come forward for vaccination who have had access for months. So, it does underline the truth of your statement, that people need different amounts of time. And we're not – it's not as if people have stopped coming for vaccination. The very same people who had access to vaccination in January are getting vaccinated now in June. So, I remain hopeful that as more people see the safety of this vaccine and the efficacy of it, that everybody will come and get vaccinated. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, James. James?

Question: Yep. Can you hear me okay?

Mayor: Yeah. There you go.

Question: You hear me now. Okay. Regarding this emphasis on life sciences, can you and members of the panel, particularly from the life sciences area, talk about how this push might focus on this pandemic? And maybe more important, preventing and identifying future pandemics that many experts say another one is simply just going to come? Others are simply going to come. Can you address how this push might be ahead of that curve?

Mayor: Yeah. James, you hit the nail on the head because that's so much of what we're focused on here. I'll start and I'll turn to Rachel Loeb. I don't know if Dr. Mehra online, I think not. But we will definitely connect you to her because you should hear from her as someone on the front line. When we decided to build our future around being the public health capital of the world, it was in large measure because it was clear that stopping the next pandemic was going to be a global mission. That literally governments, private sector, hospitals, academic institutions, all over the world were going to be working incessantly to avert the next pandemic. That was going to mean a lot of work had to be done for the good of all. But it was also going to mean a lot of investment, a lot of jobs and noble important work, finding solutions, stopping pandemics before they happen. Also finding better ways to address the beginning of a crisis to keep it contained better than what we saw here. And we unfortunately have very, very real experience dealing with these challenges. And learned from them better ways to work with our communities, better ways to get ahead of the challenge. So, the future is about stopping the next pandemic. And that work should be done first and foremost, here in New York City. That is the goal. Rachel Loeb, would you like to add?

President Loeb: I sure would. Thank you so much. And thank you for your question, because in fact, one of the things we learned very quickly is there is no economic health if we do not have public health. And so, one of the first recovery for all initiatives that the Mayor announced last late last year was the creation of the Pandemic Response Institute. What we saw was we had to spin up during war time to be able to answer the call, but we need to be prepared at all times for the next health emergency. So, we did a convening in the fall with some of the leading minds. We collaborated with Dr. Chokshi and his colleagues at the Department of Health. And then we, as a result of that convening, we issued an RFP to bring together academic, medical, community leaders so that we can be prepared. I'm thrilled to sort of share that those RFP responses are in. We're going through them now. They're amazing. We can't wait to share the winners with you. And we look forward to doing that in late summer.

Mayor: Thank you, Rachel. And just to wrap that together. James, this is so important because we have the ability here in this city to protect our own people, like never before, because of the lessons we've learned. And we've got to share those lessons with the whole globe. We also need to do this work here incessantly, to help avoid tragedies in the future. So, there's a real sense of mission in New York City right now. We learned to do things we didn't even know we could do. No one in this city was building ventilators. They literally had to do it from scratch and pulled it off in a matter of months. That kind of spirit is what defines us. And so we have to lead the global effort to stop the next pandemic before it happens. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Matt Chayes from Newsday.  

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing? 

Mayor: Good, Matt. How you been?  

Question: I've been all right. Thank you for asking. You've set a goal of five million fully vaccinated New Yorkers by the end of June. New Yorkers being New York City residents. Where are you towards that goal and how are you going to meet it? 

Mayor: So, let me do two points first to answer, on the numbers. Right now, in terms of fully vaccinated, we're about 76 percent to goal. In terms of folks who have had at least one dose, and this is crucial, we're at 88 percent to goal. Right now, over 4.4 million New Yorkers have had at least one dose. Essentially everyone who gets one dose comes back. We've been checking the figures. It's 95 percent, consistently. It's actually better than much of the nation. So, you know, look, we're waiting to see, because it actually really depends on the – if people got the three-week vaccine or the four-week vaccine. It's going to be very, very tough at this point to hit five million by the end of June, but we are going to be, certainly, well over four million. And then with hundreds of thousands of other people will be coming in for their second dose soon.  

But what matters – the second point, Matt, what matters most is, where are we on COVID? So, it's going to take us a little longer to get to our five million, but we are ahead of the game on COVID. We're at a point of COVID positivity, that's lower than we expected to be at this point and more consistently moving in the right direction. So, we got the result we wanted, coming in a little slower on the total number of vaccinations and, bluntly, that was clearly because of the crisis with Johnson & Johnson. I've talked to my colleagues about this a lot, our health care team, I really think it's unfortunate that the federal government put the hold on Johnson & Johnson, the way they did. I think it disrupted a lot of progress. I think if that hadn't happened, I believe we would have made the goal squarely. 

Moderator: The next is Yehudit from Boro Park 24 News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: I'm doing well. How are you?  

Question: Good. Thank you. Thanks for answering the question. On Monday, Governor Cuomo put up a chart of the 25 ZIP codes with the lowest vaccination rates in the state. Before he said that he was going to focus on those areas, a handful of which were Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods. However, at least for the Jewish ZIP codes, those vaccination rates were actually misleading because Cuomo did not separate out the 18 and under age group, which of course got recently vaccinated, but in Borough Park is actually 60 percent of the neighborhood's population as compared with the rest of New York City whose under 18 age group is 20 percent of the population. So, therefore, because of the lower average ages of Hasidic neighborhoods, Governor Cuomo's statistics do not reflect what is shown by City data, which is that actually 50 percent of adults 18 and over in Borough Park were vaccinated last month, which compares favorably to the 52 percent rate of adult whites and actually exceeded other minority groups. So, my question is, would the Mayor consider asking the Governor to, in the State's vaccination data, to also separate out the 14 to 18 group as the City does to show both that – to show a fair representation of the Jewish community’s vaccinations, which are being misrepresented, and sometimes falsely reported and thus opens up the community to many false accusations. But also, just for the State to redirect the vaccination efforts towards other neighborhoods that actually really need it now. 

Mayor: Very thoughtful question and detailed question. I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi on that because I think they'll understand the nuance you're raising better. Look, I think the important point is we have gotten a lot of cooperation and great teamwork in the Orthodox community from institutions, from community leaders. First, with testing, now with vaccination. We want to reach everyone, obviously. You're right that we're constantly looking for what adjustments we have to make to reach places where the rate is lower. But I also want to remind you what you heard earlier from Dr. Chokshi, the goal is to keep reaching every community until we've gotten literally every single person who's willing to be vaccinated. With that, in terms of the specifics you’re raising, Dr. Katz and then Dr. Chokshi. 

President Katz: Thank you, sir. I agree that doing vaccination as a percentage of the population is deceptive in any part of the city where the number of children is much larger. And we know that it's true about the Hasidic population. So, I think that the way that the City reports its data is better and more representative of what's going on in the Orthodox Hasidic community. And we can certainly give that feedback back to the State, that focusing on the group that are adults and then separately looking at the younger people for whom there was just a recent approval, makes sense to me. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Choksi, do you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Just to add briefly, exactly right. You know this is, Yehudit, why we do include both percentages for all ages and adults on our data as you noted. And it does help us to guide what we need to do with respect to outreach. And I wanted to touch a little bit on the ways in which we have engaged the Orthodox Jewish community in particular. We launched a dedicated vaccination campaign, you know, specific to the Orthodox Jewish community in May. We've also partnered with the same community-based organizations that were so vital, our testing effort, as the Mayor noted, last year and leveraged those trusted messengers and partners for our vaccination campaign as well. And we are now working with those same groups to do pop-up sites in those communities as well as at our static sites that already exist at places like the Ezra Medical Center, the Rambam Medical Center, and ODA of Williamsburg. So, these are some of the things that are already in flight. But one piece that I do want to emphasize is because eligibility has expanded to ages 12 and up now, this is an opportunity for us to ensure that more and more people do get vaccinated. And so, that's going to be our square focus for the month of June.  

Mayor: Thank you very much. Look today we've covered a lot of ground, but one thing that's clear throughout everything we're talking about is there's a very bright future for this city. There's a bright future in terms of our public spaces. There's a bright future in terms of becoming a safer city. And there's a very bright future in terms of the future of our economy because we can and will become the public health capital of the world. And that will be a game changer for this city and also allow us to help protect lives all over the globe. That's what New York City is all about. Thank you, everyone.

2021-06-10 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, I keep talking about the Summer of New York City – it’s going to be an extraordinary and memorable summer. So much is happening in this city, so much is coming back to life – restaurants, Open Streets, it’s amazing to [inaudible] tourists coming back, outdoor cultural activities – it’s going to be wonderful. The homecoming week, the homecoming concert in Central Park – but wait, there's more. I am happy to announce that America's biggest fireworks display is back – Macy's. Macy's 4th of July fireworks, back in New York City. And I am so appreciative to the folks at Macy's, they have been such good friends and partners to the City of New York. They are bringing back the full-scale firework show as we have loved it for decades and decades, back to New York City for all of us to enjoy. Now, this will be the biggest show yet. Literally, Macy's putting together the biggest fireworks display they ever have. And we know last year we had to do it in a very different way. It was great, but it wasn't that same extravaganza we're used to. This year, back, and literally better than ever. And because people have gotten vaccinated on such an extraordinary scale, it allows us to have many, many people in attendance. There's going to be dedicated areas for fully vaccinated folks, other areas for folks who are not vaccinated or want to join together with family who are not vaccinated. All will be managed by the NYPD to keep it safe. This is really great, a tremendous sign of the rebirth of New York City. And here to talk about it, the Executive Producer of this year's display. He's someone who loves this city and is going to give us a great show, my pleasure introduced from Macy’s, Will Coss. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Will. I really appreciate the fact that you really know – as someone who enjoyed it as a kid, you know the magic of this firework show, what it means to all New Yorkers. But it's going to take on added meaning this year as a symbol of our rebirth, so we're really excited about it. Thank you, Will. Thank you to everyone at Macy’s for making this happen. We really appreciate it.  

Now, I said, but wait, there's more – but wait, there's more again. Another fireworks display coming back this year – Coney Island, an amazing place to celebrate our nation's birthday. And nothing says summer in New York City like the fireworks show at Coney Island. It's an amazing event each year. It will be back. It will start immediately after the Macy’s show concludes, open to the public. You can watch from the boardwalk and have an authentic and wonderful New York City experience. So, this is part of the Summer of New York City, the rebirth of New York City. We are so excited about this. Why is it possible? Because you got vaccinated and the numbers keep coming in. This is just great. As of today, since the very beginning of the vaccination effort, biggest effort in the history of New York City – 8,645,785 doses so far, growing all the time. Please, everyone, if you like the rebirth of New York City and you have not gotten vaccinated yet, this is the time to do it. Super-charge our comeback. Everyone can be a part of it.  

Okay. And what we focus on every day are indicators. So, here we go. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 75 patients. Confirmed positivity level 9.33 percent. That is very good. Hospitalization rate 0.45 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today’s report 212 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19, on a seven-day rolling average, 0.71 percent. Good, good numbers today. Keep getting vaccinated. Now a few words in Spanish, I'm going back to the elections and the importance of ranked choice voting.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we are joined by Laura Wood, the Chief Democracy Officer of Democracy NYC. Dan Gross, the Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Citywide Events, Geoff Brown, the Chief Information Security Officer for NYC Cyber Command, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, and Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi. Katie Honan from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. I guess I know when you had announced the homecoming concert last week, you said that there would be more updates, particularly about what will be going on in the other boroughs. Do you have any updates to that?

Mayor; Look, that's going to be in August. We expect to have a lot to say in the coming weeks on it. Not yet. But it is definitely going to be a major, major series of activities, five-borough. And I'm excited about it. And I really want us to both celebrate all five boroughs and also celebrate the talent that has come out of this city. So, more to come on that.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Stacy from FOX-5.

Mayor: Stacy, Stacy? I'm not hearing Stacy. All right, we'll come back to Stacy.

Moderator: Our next question and goes to Mike Gartland from the Daily News.

Question: Okay. Can you guys hear me now?

Mayor: Oh, we got Stacy. Stacy's there.

Moderator: We’re back to Stacy.

Mayor: Stacy.

Question: Oh, I am here. Okay. Thank you so much. Sorry about that, spotty area. My first question is actually about the Summer Rising Program, Mr. Mayor. We know it's just a couple of weeks now until the end of school and Summer Rising will be starting. And we're hearing from the principals’ union that principals really are not getting information or details about what's going on. They don't know how many students are enrolled at each program at each school? More teachers need to be hired. When are more specific details going to come out about this program for both the principals, teachers, and parents, and students?

Mayor: Well for parents, thank you for the question, Stacy, For parents and students it's real clear. Every student will be accommodated, who wants to be a part of it. This is not summer school as we used to know it. Which was associated with kids who had had some challenges during the year and needed some extra time and catch up. This is for any kid, whatever their situation, different for different grade levels. Academics front and center, but also recreation opportunities, cultural opportunities. It's obviously free and it's available to all of our young people. So, that's so important because a lot of people were worried this summer, what would be a good option for their kids. And we wanted to give them something that would be really clear and straightforward. But in terms of any concerns that principals have, we'll follow up. We'll have the Chancellor and her team follow up and make sure that everyone knows the resources will be there. And we're going to accommodate all the kids who come forward. Go ahead, Stacy.

Question: Well, just one follow up to that would be, do you know how many kids have enrolled yet in the city? Do you have numbers on that? But my second question actually is about crime. There was another shooting last night, fatal shooting outside the Dream Hotel. 25-year-old shot dead. And I'm wondering, you know, as we hear about more and more of these high-profile shootings, of course, Justin Wallace, how concerned are you that maybe it's discouraging people from coming back to the city to go out? Or tourists to come back to the city because there's this perception that violence is raging here?

Mayor: I do not see that. I think we have a fundamental challenge, Stacy. I want to separate the two points. We have a challenge for our own people and for people visiting to keep everyone safe. All over this country, since COVID there's been an uptick in gun violence and gun ownership. This is a challenge we have to overcome and we will, but it is something that before I worry about tourism, I'm first and foremost worried about the safety of all New Yorkers. But I also know we're fighting back. NYPD’s doing more gun arrests than ever before. Communities are working more closely with NYPD again. We're going to turn this around. As for tourism, Stacy, you can see with your own eyes. Tourists are coming back and they're starting to come back in really big numbers. I talked about earlier in the week, this last weekend, we had 72 percent capacity in our hotels being filled. I did not expect in June to see our hotels at 72 percent full after what we had been through. I think you're going to see this grow rapidly. I keep talking about summer of New York city. I mean it. People want to be here. People are coming back energetically. And they know overwhelmingly it is a safe city and they know it is the best place on Earth to visit. So, they will be back.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Henry Goldman from Bloomberg.

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?

Mayor: I'm doing well. Henry, how are you?

Question: I'm good. I wanted to ask you about the City's vaccination program. The numbers continue to be pretty low compared to the excitement, et cetera, that started out. And when you look closely at the neighborhoods where vaccination participation is the lowest, they are all neighborhoods or most of them, that the city has been talking about since the beginning of the pandemic as disproportionately affected, disparately impacted. And there's been so much attention and resources put into these neighborhoods, and yet the participation rate is still disappointing? And what's the explanation for this? And what's the cure for this if anything?

Mayor: Henry, it's a very important question. But it is one we've talked about a lot, so I'm just going to summarize. There's hesitation in a number of parts of our city. And sadly, some of the strongest hesitations in some of the places hit hardest by COVID. The best way to answer it is with patient consistent work, constantly going out to communities, addressing concerns, bringing in voices that people trust – clergy, community leaders, doctors, pediatricians. This is how with time we overcome some of that hesitancy. We also have a lot of people who are not hesitant, but simply need it to be available, convenient, maybe an incentive to help them get interested. But these are also some of the people who are working very, very hard. These are a lot of New Yorkers with two jobs or, you know, a tough job and a family to deal with and everything else, for whom just finding the time to focus on it or get the last few questions answered is a big deal. This is about persistence. Look, we've got now 4.4 million people that received at least one dose that's really good. 4.4 million people received one dose, that means they're almost all going to get a second dose. Every day, new people coming in. We are achieving the most important goal, which is driving down COVID, but we're going to just stick with it. As long as it takes, we'll stick with it. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Well, I'm just going to follow up on this because it's just – the numbers are terrible. They're in the 30 percent range throughout all of these neighborhoods in South Queens, South Brooklyn, Harlem going into the Bronx, and to blame it on the residents as being hesitant or being nervous or being somehow unsophisticated about that –  

Mayor: Henry, Henry. Dear friend, don't put words in my mouth. That's a foul. I did not say any of those things. I said, people are hesitant. We're out there talking to them and they have valid concerns that we're trying to answer. Let me have Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz give you a little more of the flavor of the dialogue that we're having all the time with people to help them get the answers they need. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to jump in? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And you described well, the spectrum of efforts that we have done over the last several months. But the important point is that we will keep on – we will be persistent because we know from other vaccination campaigns that the last miles of the campaign are often some of the hardest. But that means that we're bringing to bear the tactics that have worked in previous months, particularly lowering access barriers, making sure that as many places are able to accept walk-ins as possible. But also, to bring an empathetic ear to the conversations that need to happen. And often these are conversations that are happening with people that residents already trust, whether it's a family doctor or a faith leader. And so, we're going to continue to be out there in those neighborhoods where we do see lower vaccination rates to ensure that we're equipping people with the information that they need, but also bringing that spirit of persistence. The last thing I'll say is just, you know, as a doctor myself this is common in the clinical setting where sometimes a patient, you know, needs questions answered, not just at the first visit, not just even at the second visit, but at the third and fourth and fifth visit as well before they get comfortable with a particular intervention, like a vaccine. We have to do that at the community level, at the city level, and we're committed to doing so. 

Mayor: Dr. Katz, you want to add? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I think you've done really well, both of you, that it's not surprising to me that given what these communities have undergone for the past decades of disenfranchisement, lack of investment, experiencing racism – it's not surprising that then when faced with a new intervention by the medical field, that people are wary. I take great pleasure in the fact that every day more people come and get vaccinated. People who could have gotten vaccinated five months ago are coming now. And what that says to me is that our approach is working. It may take a little bit longer, but we're going to get there. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Oh, that was my second question. Thank you very much.  

Mayor: All right. Thank you. Thank you, everybody.

2021-06-11 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Brian Lehrer: It’s the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again everyone, and now it’s time for our Weekly Ask the Mayor call-in – my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 646-435-7280 or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag #AskTheMayor. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian.

Lehrer: Tillis in Queens you're on WNYC with Mayor de Blasio. Hello, Tillis. 

Question: Hello? 

Lehrer: Hi, there, you’re on the air. 

Question: We would not think to ask children with special needs to enter a lottery to decide which children's needs should be met. However, for the upcoming school year exceptional students that require an accelerated education to meet their needs had to enter into a lottery to determine enrollment in the city's Gifted and Talented programs. As mayor, what will you do to meet the needs of all incoming children in need of accelerated education? 

Lehrer: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you. Great question. Very, very important question. And I'm going to say two things. One, the system we put in place just for this year's admissions will allow us to reach a lot more kids. Next year, we're going to reach more kids who have those abilities, who have, whether it's in one subject or multiple subjects, have the ability to do more advanced learning. We're going to be able to accommodate a lot more than the previous very narrow, Gifted and Talented program, which is now gone forever. In September, we will announce a new model, which will be the permanent model. And I intend it to be something that reaches many thousands more kids each year. Remember the Gifted and Talented model that we inherited and struggled to find an alternative to, honestly, that at least only a few thousand kids a year. We've come to the conclusion it was so broken, we needed to go in an entirely different direction that could reach thousands, even tens of thousands of kids. Because many, many kids have a particular talent and ability. And so, after a lot of consultation with stakeholders in the next few months, in September we’re going to announce an entirely different approach that will absolutely reach many, many more kids than ever before.

Lehrer: Dominic in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Dominic. 

Question: Hello, Mayor. Since January 2020, I've been involved in a holdover eviction with a veteran who was diagnosed with PTSD and because of his erratic behavior, I had to do this, but the problem is well - now I'm being held hostage and we have an apartment with a person that won't get vaccinated, he runs his air conditioner and electric heaters 24/7, my electric bill this month is $369, I'm not kidding, $369. And if– I won't drop the case, he wants an extortion of $25,000 and then he'll leave. And I had shingles last year, I was diagnosed with shingles, I actually slept in Prospect Park in a tent, then police came – 

Lehrer: Dominic, let me jump in and get clarification on why this is a question for the Mayor. Is there something about city policy that's preventing you from getting rid of this roommate you don't that you feel is a threat?

Question: Yes, so I went to social services, but everything's closed. My court case was March 23rd, 2020, and the court closed three days before. So, I've been stuck with this person and now I'm in Massachusetts, actually right now, I stay at my girlfriend's house and she's moving to Canada, and I can't go there. So, they – 

Lehrer: So, I get it. Dominic, I'm going to jump in again, Mr. Mayor, what can you do for somebody in a situation like that? 

Mayor: It's a very obviously complex and painful situation. Dominic, please give your information to WNYC. I'm going to have someone follow up from our Veterans Affairs Office and also our Social Services Department. Look, what I'd say here is, I feel for everyone involved. If we have a veteran who served our country and has PTSD and are dealing with mental health challenges, we got to support that individual. Everything Dominic is saying about his situation also sounds like he needs help and support, and we've got to find a way to mediate this. So, we will get our city agencies to work with Dominic individually to try and fix this, the bigger point, Brian, thank God the courts are coming back across the board. This has been something I've been calling for and pushing for, for months. It took way too long for the court system to come back, but at least it's back now and working off backlogs pretty quickly it seems. So, I do think a lot of issues beyond the one Dominic raises are going to start to get some resolution in the court system, but we'll reach out and see if we can help resolve this case directly.

Lehrer: Christine in Cobble Hill – and Dominic, hang on and give your contact information to us off the air if you would like to. Christine in cobble hill, you're on WNYC with the Mayor, hello? 

Question: Hello. Thank you. Thank you, Brian, and thank you, Mayor de Blasio for taking my question today. I'm calling in relation to extended use permit fees that are charged to outside organizations to provide after school programs in New York City Public School. This past year those fees went up exorbitantly, which we understand was due to increased cleaning costs due to COVID, and we certainly understand that actually schools need to be safe. However, we're trying to - our school just yesterday in Brooklyn, we're trying to set up an afterschool program for next year, and we're not able to get a lot of information about exactly the fees will be. We understand that it's still going to be exorbitantly high, there's one school in Brooklyn that received a bill just yesterday for the permit for an afterschool program and it was $259,000, and that is on top of the charges that the program has to charge on families. It's simply untenable that families can bear the cost of this exorbitantly – exorbitant permits. So, I wanted to ask when will we receive clarification, the fee structure for these permits in the coming school year? And we'd also ask that you direct the DOE to waive old fees for extended use permits for afterschool programs, whether they're run by external organizations or internal, I mean the internal programs that are funded by the DOE and the DYCB do not have to pay these challenges, but all families need either free or affordable after-school care. We – you know, we simply can't have parents being able to go back to work full-time in office buildings and getting to the city back to normal if we, you know, don't have childcare after school for our families.

Mayor: Well, thank you, Christine. That's a really thoughtful and important question. You – I think your addition of the history of what we all had to do this last year is good and important and there was a lot more requirements for cleaning, et cetera. Thank God that is going to be different going forward because we've found out a lot more about COVID and the issue of surfaces is much less of a concern than it was thought to be. So, we can approach that differently. There still has to be a substantial amount of cleaning, but not the same as before. So, to your point, I will have the Chief of Staff to the Chancellor, Gabrielle Ramos, call you and talk this through to see how we can help address your situation. So, please give your information to WNYC. On the larger question of waiving all fees, I'm going to look at that. I could see an argument for that. I could also see some problems from that. Let me take a look at that and see what we can do. So, I hear you loud and clear, and we will certainly consider that. 

Lehrer: Christine, hang on, we'll take your contact information off the air. Thanks as always Mr. Mayor, talk to you next week.

Mayor: Thank you, Brian, take care.

2021-06-14 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. I hope you had a great weekend. I had a great New York City weekend. And actually, the weekend started early for me, going to the In the Heights premiere on Thursday night. And I’ve got to tell you, this is an example to me of something really special about what's going to happen this summer. Here's a movie that's getting attention all over the country that celebrates Washington Heights especially, but it really celebrates all of New York City. It is a love letter to New York City. It makes you want to be here. And I know what's going to happen, people are going to watch this incredible movie all over the country and they’ll want to come here, and that's what this summer is going to be about. It's going to be a great summer for New Yorkers, but you're going to see people from all over the tri-state area coming back to the city, you're going to see people from all over the United States, coming back to the city, because this will be where it's at. So, this movie in a sense is the appetizer for this whole summer and the whole nation's watching, and it's filled with the life and the passion of New York city. You can see the resiliency – incredible story about a community and about working people, every-day New Yorkers and how they fight through whatever's thrown at them. It's a perfect answer to what we've been through with COVID and how we're going to come back. So, everyone, go see this movie. A tremendous thanks to the Miranda family for all they've done for New York City. But this is a particularly powerful moment.

So, I got to see that movie. That was great. On Saturday, I went to the Festival of Flowers in the Meatpacking District – amazing, absolutely beautiful, and an example, again, of New York City coming back, people creating something brand new, beautiful, energetic, creative. We've never had it before. You would think in the midst of COVID people would have not thought about brand new, exciting things to do. But, in fact, that's what New Yorkers do, we take a tough situation and we create something amazing out of it. That was great. On Sunday, we had a smaller version of the traditional Puerto Rican Parade – the national Puerto Rican Parade. It was a beautiful get together. We're looking forward to a much bigger one next year when everybody's back.

But we also see tourists coming back. It's not just New Yorkers who are coming to these amazing events, it's tourists as well. And this last week, an important indicator – 400,000 hotel rooms sold in New York City – 400,000 hotel rooms in one week. That, again, is a very clear sign that tourism is coming back, travel is coming back. I did not expect it to be this soon. It's happening, and it's amazing to see, and this is going to be another one of the things that fuels the Summer of New York City.

Okay. Now, why do we even get to have the Summer of New York City? Why do we get to open up and enjoy this place again and be together again? Because people got vaccinated. They got vaccinated in amazing numbers. It continues every day and it's making a huge impact. So, as of today, here's the number of doses from day-one – 8,769,536 doses. Every additional dose makes us safer. Everybody who gets fully vaccinated makes us safer. You want evidence? Here it is today – another record setting day. We have the lowest COVID positivity on record from the very beginning of this crisis. Today is the lowest positivity we've ever had – 0.59 percent. We are driving back COVID, because people continue to get vaccinated and it’s having more and more of an impact. So, we want to get everyone vaccinated, so what do we do? We continue to make it easier. We continue to reach deeper into communities. We continue to make it more and more fun. And we have our contests and they're just amazing. And people are starting to hear about these prizes and it's really getting exciting for folks. Last week’s prize, 10 six-month unlimited MetroCards – that's pretty amazing. Six months of free subway rides. That was last week. This week, the staycations, they're very popular. People love the idea of being a tourist in their own city, staying in a great hotel – 15 more staycation packages. I want to thank the hotels that have been part of this. They've been really generous, really supportive of this effort to get folks vaccinated. So, thanks to AKA Hotels, Carlisle, Conrad, Dream, Equinox, the Dominick and Sheraton – all of them participating energetically, knowing this is going to help us bring New York City back and get people vaccinated. Also, we want the hotel industry, the hospitality industry to come back strong, and these hotels are helping to lead the way. So, 15 staycation packages every week for the next five weeks when you sign up to get vaccinated for the first time – great, great incentive.

Now, that's one approach, but we've come up with another approach now – a new approach, which I think is going to make a big difference. And we're going to be working with organizations all over the city – community-based organizations, public housing resident associations, houses of worship. We're going to working with the grassroots on a great new thing. It's a referral bonus. It's the New York City Vaccine Referral Bonus Initiative. This is going to be amazing. We have these great organizations all over New York City who can reach people in their communities like no one else can. They have tremendous reach, tremendous faith that people have in them. We want to incentivize these great community-based organizations to bring in folks who just haven't gotten around to it now, maybe had some hesitancy, need some more answers, but the time is right to get them now. They've seen their friends and neighbors, family get vaccinated. The time is right to bring them in, so we're creating a bonus program. And any organization that wants to be a part of it can sign up at vax4nyc.nyc.gov, starting on Wednesday. Here's how it works – for every person the organization brings in to get vaccinated, the organization gets a donation of $100 per person, and that can go up as high as $20,000. So, for a lot of amazing grassroots organizations, this is going to be something very, very appealing to them. They're doing such important work on the ground, serving communities. They need all the help they can get. They're going to use their reach to bring people in. They're going to get rewarded for it in a way that will then put resources back in the community to help people.

So, these incentives alone that I talked about a moment ago, the staycations, the MetroCards, we have Citi Bike memberships, Statue of Liberty tickets, gym memberships, you name it. The incentives are great. The new Referral Bonus Program is going to supercharge it. And, by the way, the people who get referred and come in and get vaccinated, they qualify for the incentives individually as well. So, this is what we call a win-win. We're going to use these grassroots groups as partners in the areas with the lowest vaccination level. So, we're really going to focus on where the need is greatest. We're going to work closely with grassroots organizations, working with our Test and Trace team that's done an amazing job reaching the grassroots of the city. This is going to help us do things we haven't been able to do before right when we need to take vaccination up to the next level. I want you to hear from a partner we're going to be working with, and I'd known him a long time. He does great work in the community and knows how to reach out to the grassroots. He is the co-pastor of God Battalion Prayer Church and COO of God Battalion Prayer Ministries in Brooklyn. My pleasure to introduce Reverend Al Cockfield.

[…]

Mayor: Reverend, thank you. Thank you. I know what you do – every time it is energetic and makes an impact at the grassroots. I know you're going to use this new approach to reach lots of people, and I really want to thank you for that and for spreading the word. And, everyone, look talk about a win-win. Again, a Referral Bonus Program helps grassroots organizations, gets more people come and get vaccinated. And, again, whether you come in that way or any other way, you can get incentives when you get vaccinated at the time you book your first appointment. And if you want that list that's at any of the City-run vaccination sites, go to vaccinefinder.nyc.gov/benefits.

Okay? So, we said for months and months, go out, get vaccinated. Go out there, it will change things. It will make things different and better if everyone gets vaccinated. We kept telling people how transcendent it would be. And, look, it has happened. It has come to pass that, now, because so many people have gotten vaccinated, life in this city gets more and more energetic, more and more normal every day. This is what we've been waiting for, the chance for New York City to really take off. This is why we keep talking about the Summer of New York City, because once we get into July, it's a whole new ball game, and amazing things are going to happen.

Now, this year that we've been through, it has literally been the greatest crisis in the history of New York City. We were knocked down, but we got back up, and that's something to celebrate about this city. So, last year I got a question one day saying, hey, when are we going to bring back our big events, the things we love each year? When are we going to bring back the really big parades that people come to from all over the city? And I said, we will bring them back. And I felt very confident we’d bring them back this year, 2021. But I said the first parade back, the first true large parade in New York City will be one to celebrate the heroes of the fight against COVID, our health care heroes who were extraordinary and need to be remembered for the ages, our first responders, our essential workers, the people who kept us alive, that people who kept the city going no matter what. We are going to hold a parade to honor them, to thank them, to celebrate them. It's going to be an example of the great tradition of ticker tape parades – ticker tape parades up the Canyon of Heroes. They've happened for generations, but this one is going to have a special spirit to it, a special heart and soul, because it's about celebrating every-day New Yorkers who did something so heroic and need our thanks. It's time for the parade to celebrate our hometown heroes. So, I'm announcing today that parade will be on Wednesday, July 7th, and it's something you want to be a part of.

We're going to have essential workers celebrated, groups of essential workers, floats for health care workers, first responders, educators, municipal workers, transportation workers, grocery and bodega workers, delivery people, you name it – all the essential workers who made it happen, everyone who kept it together in New York City for all of us and brought us back. It's a day to celebrate and appreciate the heroes who often go unsung. We're going to sing about them this day. We're always going to remember the pain and the tragedy of COVID. No one is going to ever forget those we lost and what families are still going through. But we need a day to celebrate the heroism of every-day New Yorkers. Wednesday, July 7th, the Canyon of Heroes will be that moment – a parade you will remember for the rest of your life to celebrate people who we need to keep in our hearts, true New York City heroes who did something for the ages. I look forward – really look forward to being a part of that moment and thanking all of our heroes who saw us through.

Okay. Now, perfect time to go over indicators, because indicators today are good, and it's because of all those heroes who helped us fight through, and because you went out and got vaccinated. So, number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 50 patients – 5-0, 50 patients – with a confirmed positive level, again, low – 9.62 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 – 0.43. So, those are great. Now, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 193 cases. And number three – this is a great one – percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, seven-day rolling average is 0.59 percent – lowest we've ever been. Let's go even lower, go out and get vaccinated.

Okay. A few words in Spanish, and this is about our hometown heroes parade.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and Dan Gross, Executive Director of Citywide Events. Our first question for today goes to Derick Waller from ABC.

Question: Hi, good morning. We just spent the morning with Kathryn Garcia at this senior center reopening on the Upper East Side. And she has been critical of you and basically saying that these should have opened a long time ago. I'd love – I'd love to get your reaction, obviously, since she was critical of you and why it took so long for the senior centers to reopen.

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, Derick, in a moment, but I want to state the obvious – our seniors, our elders are precious to us. They bore the brunt of COVID. They were the most vulnerable. Those are the people we lost the most. And our Health Department was adamant that before we brought people back into small spaces together it had to be very, very safe. After everything we went through, we had to get it right, and they got to the point, working with the Department for the Aging in the last couple of weeks where it became clear it was time, and now people are coming back. But this was a safety-first decision, for sure. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And I appreciate the degree to which you have made it clear that health and safety have to drive decisions like this one. It's why we did proceed using a methodical approach, you know, starting with outdoor activities at senior centers in May. I'm really delighted that, that has now advanced to where it's extended to indoor activities with the right public health precautions in place, because we have just seen too much suffering, particularly borne by older New Yorkers. And so, we will continue to do everything in our power to keep them as safe as possible.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Derick.

Question: I ask, you know, obviously, last week, Governor Cuomo said that once we hit 70 percent of adults getting one shot, that he's going to lift virtually all the restrictions, and it looks like yesterday was 69.7. So, that seems eminent. What do you think about lifting virtually all COVID restrictions, obviously, except for, you know, mask-wearing in certain instances, like public transportation, hospitals, that sort of thing, but what do you think about that?

Mayor: Derick, you know, I said many weeks ago that July 1st was the goal. I thought we would be absolutely ready. I'm really pleased with the progress the city has made. I'm pleased with the fact that so many people got out and got vaccinated and drove down COVID so consistently so it's close to July 1st. I'm very comfortable that we're on the right track, but again, as you said, remembering, there will still be some individual restrictions in certain places and individual companies and institutions will also make their own choices about how to keep people safe. But overall, I mean, look, we have done a great job, New Yorkers have done a great job fighting back COVID and it's a good moment for reopening, and that's why I keep talking about the summer of New York City. We're ready for it.

Moderator: Our next question goes to James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, as your recording says, when we're waiting for you to get on the call. It's another rainy day in New York City.

Mayor: It's a rainy day, James, but our hearts are happy. Good things are happening. How are you doing today?

Question: So far, really great. Thank you. Why don't I start with a question that was given to me by my colleague, Nicole Johnson. The MTA has mentioned that issues involving emotionally-disturbed people is part of the reason we're seeing an increase in soiled trains and crime in the subway. I'm wondering what your take is on this, and what role the NYPD can play in decreasing both crime and, as my colleague says, grime?

Mayor: Yeah, James, first of all, look, we've had some incidents that are very troubling, and we take them real seriously, and that's why we have the most officers in the subway right now, the most NYPD officers in over 25 years in our subway, because it's really important to bring this city back, to give people confidence in our subway system again. Now, that said, overall crime in the subways has gone down. That's really good news, but we have more work to do. What works? The officers are out there doing their job, the homeless outreach workers who do amazing work are out there doing their job. They've gotten a lot of folks to come in who were homeless, and that's been more successful than ever before, truly, and we'll go over those numbers with you because it's really important to see this homeless outreach effort has now resulted in more and more people coming in and staying in shelter than ever we've seen before, and we have mental health teams out, and we're going to just keep doing that. It is persistent work, but it does work, and I also think last point that people coming back to the subways more and more, which is obviously happening. When I went up to In the Heights the other day on the A train, I mean, it's absolutely looked like a normal day in New York City. Plenty of people on the train, the more people come back, the safer we all get. Go ahead, James.

Question: Here also, can you talk more about the decision-making process that went into having this ticker tape parade in the Canyon of Heroes? I noticed by the way that the date of it, July 7th, is very close to the date that we had the World Cup winners, the Women's US National Team. Can you just talk more about how you all decided on the date, how you just came to a decision to have a tickertape for pandemic heroes in the first place?

Mayor: Yeah, absolutely. James, last year I said, you know, it would not be right to have the parades we love, the normal parades representing different communities. No, it wouldn't be right to have them come back, without first honoring our heroes, the people who saw us through COVID, and so for a long time, we've been thinking, okay, when we start to come back overall, that's exactly the right time to do the parade. I said many weeks ago, July 1st was when we were convinced we could come back fully. We started the planning then we've been working with a variety of organizations, labor unions, and others to get ready for this, and it's, it makes a lot of sense to me. If we get past July 1st of course, we're going to have an amazing July 4th, and July 4th we celebrate our country and celebrate our cities, come back and then a parade for the ages up the Canyon of Heroes. So, I think it's exactly the right time for it.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: I'm doing well, Juliet. How are you?

Question: I'm good, thank you. Just to follow up on the parade. Would you be having a ceremony at City Hall as you've done in the past for instance. Any particular people or groups that you would honor at the did the City Hall presentation?

Mayor: I am not going to give you a scoop right now. We are right now working on that, Juliet. We want to – we're going to honor overall again, the health care heroes, first responders, essential workers, and we're fine-tuning right now what kind of ceremony makes sense and who should be a part of that. But what I can tell you is the parade itself, I think, is going to be a joyous moment. I think it will be a moment of relief that we're coming back together in a great New York City tradition. But I also think it's going to be a moment of just pure appreciation for folks who did something heroic and who really deserved their moment to be praised by the whole city.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Andrew Siff from NBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call on the COVID front, I got a question for your health team. Have there been any breakthrough cases at all, people who have been vaccinated who have ended up on the stats, the small stats and the encouraging stats, who are hospitalized in other words, have there been any serious breakthrough cases in New York City or is everyone in the hospital someone who was not vaccinated?

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi very important question. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks Mr. Mayor, and thank you, Andrew, for this important question. We are monitoring those breakthrough infections, both in New York City, as well as following the national and the global trends. Let me start with the big picture, which is that the number of serious infections leading to either hospitalization or death among vaccinated people is very small. We're talking about a minuscule percentage of both, you know, the overall number of cases, as well as the number of people who are fully vaccinated. To get to your more specific question, you know, when we look at people who are hospitalized across New York City virtually all of them are not yet fully vaccinated, meaning they're unvaccinated. We will see some cases resulting in hospitalization or even death among fully vaccinated people, but these are very rare exceptions to the overall rule. So, let me just sum it up to say all of the authorized vaccines offers strong protection, particularly against severe illness, and that's why we need to get every single person who is currently eligible vaccinated.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Christina Fan from CBS.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for taking my question this morning. In regard to COVID numbers, wanted to know how many of those infected are people that are unvaccinated and how has the administration planning to manage the threat of the Delta variance, especially as key areas, namely schools, are set to open at full capacity this fall with vaccines being optional?

Mayor: Okay. So, I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi and I heard two things, how many of folks who have been affected are un-vaccinated Dr. Chokshi will speak to that, but on the Delta variant, obviously we're watching this very, very closely. This is the variant coming out of India. The bottom line, Christina, is as we've seen with other variants, greater transmissibility, we take that very seriously. But also, thank God, the vaccine is effective. This is what we always look for. Even at a variant, throws us some curve balls, does the vaccine work, and protect people? Is that the right way to go? The answer continues to be yes. So, for anyone concerned about the Delta variant, go out and get vaccinated, that is your best protection, it’s the best way to stop the growth of COVID and the numbers are speaking for themselves. We are continuing to limit COVID all the time through more and more vaccination. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. On the first part of your question, Christina, yes, the vast, vast majority of people who are currently being infected and particularly those with severe illness are people who are unvaccinated. So, what we're seeing now, not just in New York City, but around the United States is that the pandemic is primarily a pandemic among unvaccinated people. That's why the Mayor's message on the Delta variant is so important. If you haven't been vaccinated yet, now is the time. It is the single most important thing that we can do to keep one another safe and also to keep those safe who are not yet eligible to be vaccinated, including younger children. So, I do understand that some people have been waiting, they need to get their questions answered, but the Delta variant and you know, the fact that we do remain at some risk is the strongest motivation to get vaccinated now.

Mayor: Thank you very much, doctor.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Reuvain from Hamodia.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, Reuvain, how you doing?

Question: Good, good. Very well. So, I'd like to ask you about the Open Restaurants Program, specifically the seating that used to be parking spaces. There are neighborhoods where parking is a constant problem, and these restaurants are already allowed to seat at full capacity and have seating on the sidewalk, and I'm asking particularly because I've noticed that many of these outdoor structures are totally empty. Don't have any customers inside. I've even heard that some of them are being used just pretty much to store things, these sheds like really don't appear to be used in the hot summer or cold winter, maybe in the fall and spring. Should there be a like, a use it or lose it rule, or these things are going to be allowed to be around all year, whether they're used or not? 

Mayor: I think that's a really good point. Appreciate the question, Reuvain. Yeah, look, the goal is to create jobs, preserve jobs, preserve businesses. You obviously have to use the space for that purpose. If you're not using the space for that purpose, you’ve got to free up the space. So, we'll clarify to the restaurants that they do need to use the space appropriately in a period of time that makes sense, or else they should just free it up. But I do want to remind you how important it is, saving our restaurant industry, you know, we already know last year we saved about 100,000 jobs through Open Restaurants, but there's many more we want to bring back, and it's also going to be a part of this amazing summer to have the open dining everywhere around the city, and that's part of bringing back tourists, that's part of bringing back our economy. So, I really believe in the approach, but I also agree if someone's not using the space properly, free it up. Go ahead.

Question: Well, you mentioned about saving the restaurant industry, but if restaurants are allowed to be open at full capacity indoors and have seating on the sidewalk, is it really necessary to have seating in the streets as well to save the industry?

Mayor: Well, think about it this way. It's a fair question. But think about the fact that they're coming back from behind here. I mean, you're talking about an industry, in many cases people lost a huge amount in 2020, and even the beginning of this year, because they couldn't be opened indoors fully. There's some catching up to do, and this industry is crucial to our city. Again, tourism, economy, everything, think about individual jobs. Think about people who we want to keep those jobs for them. Keep those businesses alive. Many of which people built up families built up for decades. Of course, we got to make sure to come back. That's just more important than parking. I don't have a question in my mind. So, this is the right thing to do.

As we conclude – what we've been through and how people have seen their way through it. New Yorkers have done amazing work this year to somehow keep going, in all parts of the city, and all types of industries, everything that we do. And I think as we move forward, this is what we need to think about how to both celebrate – and that's why we're having this amazing parade on July 7th – and then how to restart everything deeply. I believe New York City is not only going to come back, it's going to surpass where we were pre-pandemic. Pre-pandemic, we had the most jobs in our history, strongest economy we ever had had. Now, we're going to go through a comeback time, but I think it would be a lot quicker than people realize, it's going to be something that really puts us where we were and then beyond. And that's exciting to me. So, I will end where I started summer of New York City, everybody, everyone gets to be a part of it. Thank you very much.

2021-06-15 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Beautiful day in New York City. 

So, now I want to talk about another vote, a vote of confidence in New York City. You know, last week we talked about New York City's future. We talked about the investments we're making to build the economy of New York City to bring us a whole new piece of the puzzle. I was going to say piece of the pie, but I can't overuse the joke. And that is life sciences and our goal of becoming the public health capital of the world. This is New York City's future. A new report has come out showing really striking growth in the life sciences field this year in New York City. A lot of investment coming in, a lot of private sector focus on New York City and life sciences in 2021. We've already set the record for life sciences space that has been leased in a single year. So, it's only, not even halfway through 2021. This has already been the strongest year for life sciences investments in New York City. And that means over 257,000 square feet of new lab space has been leased already this year. And we expect that to climb rapidly because all over the country, more and more people in life sciences are realizing New York City is the place to be. Some of the top names already involved in this new surge, Mount Sinai, c16 Biosciences, Black Diamond, and Volastra. This is a key element of how we make New York City the public health capital of the world. We've invested a billion dollars, what we announced last week, a billion dollars to build out space for life sciences, to foster this industry to make it a big part of New York City's economy of the future, and the market is speaking. The companies are speaking. The investors are speaking. Good news for New York City. 

And in the good news category as well, vaccine update. Numbers keep growing, as of today from day one, 8,789,865 doses. And we continue to add incentives. We continue to make it more and more exciting for people – the staycation vacation packages that we talked about are the contest prizes for this week, the referral bonus program partnering with local organizations. And we're going to focus on the neighborhoods that are not as strong in terms of the number of vaccinations. We're going to be investing in them further and in the organizations that people trust in those neighborhoods. But we're going to keep adding incentives to energize people. So, new incentives today from our friends at Coney Island and at Luna Park – 10,000 Family Fun Wristbands will be given away. As people sign up to get vaccinated, get the wristband, enjoy everything amazing at Luna Park. Also, free rides on the Cyclone, everybody. I rode the first Cyclone ride of the year. It was an amazing experience. If you haven't done it, you have to. If you have done it, go back and get vaccinated so you can go do that for free.  

And this one's exciting, a new one – a new vaccination location. We've had real energy from New Yorkers, especially examples like the Museum of Natural History, people wanting to get vaccinated under the blue whale. Here is an opportunity to have a truly memorable vaccination site, arguably the best selfie spot in New York City, the Empire State Building. If you go get vaccinated at the 80th floor of the Empire State Building, for free you get to go to the Observation Deck on the 86th floor, take in the views, take a selfie, have a story for the rest of your life. You got vaccinated at the Empire State Building. Pretty amazing. Doesn't get more New York City than that. I want to thank everyone at the Empire State Building, especially Tony Malkin, the CEO of the Empire State Realty Trust, who has been a great partner with us on sustainability and fighting climate change and just great, great efforts, the Empire State Building, to help New York City out of this crisis and lead us forward. Thank you, Tony, and to everyone over there.  

So, everyone, we have great news today also, record low positivity for New York City, 0.57 percent, and we are awaiting the formal announcement that New York State has hit the 70 percent mark. That's great news. We expect that today. That means we've got to open up even more. That means we've got to keep moving forward and that means the summer in New York City is even closer. So, that's good news is all around.  

Okay, now let's go to our indicators for the day and again, good news, number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 today's report – 68 patients. Confirmed positivity level – 11.11 percent. Hospitalization rate – 0.43 per 100,000, very strong numbers. New reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report – 200 cases, and number three, percentage of the people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, the seven-day rolling average, today’s report, lowest we've ever had – 0.57 percent. Let's keep driving that down. That line keeps going down. Let's keep driving it down by getting vaccinated.  

Okay a few words in Spanish on the crucial topic of the election coming up and ranked-choice voting. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that. Let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we are joined by Chief Democracy Officer Laura Wood, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals. Our first question for today goes to Derick from ABC. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to ask well, first of all, any idea where these fireworks are going to be happening tonight in the city, are there any plans for the city that you know of? 

Mayor: Derick, we're waiting for more information on that. We obviously want to make sure that the NYPD and everyone else relevant is coordinated with this effort. So, we haven't gotten the final details, but we expect to quite shortly and then we'll get to work on making sure it's safe for everyone. Go ahead, Derick. 

Question: You know, yesterday, Governor Cuomo kind of he had a list of all the ZIP codes that had kind of the worst rates of vaccination, and I'm curious if there's any new efforts or initiatives that the city is doing to kind of boost those numbers. It looked like you know, there's a ZIP code in Brooklyn, for example, that had – it was only in the thirties. The vaccination rate was only in the thirties, and I'm curious if you're doing anything new to kind of boost those numbers? 

Mayor: Derick, yes. What we talked about just yesterday, the effort to work with community organizations with the referral bonus. Look, we understand that in some communities has been particular hesitancy the way to address those, keep answering people's valid questions. Keep going out there, connecting with family doctors, pediatricians, talking to their patients, we're deepening that, but the referral bonus program is fantastic because it says to community-based organizations, resident associations in public housing, houses of worship – reach out to all of your constituents, to all the people that listen to you and trust you, get them coming and get vaccinated and we'll make resources available to your organization for everyone that you bring in. I think that's going to be a great incentive that also circulates money right back into the community. So, I think that's the kind of thing that's going to make a difference. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Paul Liotta from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?  

Mayor: Good, Paul, how are you doing? 

Question: I'm well, thank you. For you and the medical professionals on the call, the Governor is expected to lift most of the remaining restrictions today with some low vaccine rates in the city. I wanted to get a sense of, if you think that's appropriate and more broadly, what you think of it overall. 

Mayor: Paul, I just want to make sure I got that. Say that part again, what you said, which [inaudible] low vaccine rates? 

Question: With some areas in the city having low vaccine rates, I think the Governor's metric is 70 percent statewide and— 

Mayor: Yeah, I – look, I think we're ready. That's the bottom line, Paul. You see the decline in positivity in the city steadily, the decline in hospitalizations, more and more people vaccinated. As of now we've got 4.5 million New Yorkers who received at least one dose, and as we've discussed, when they get one, almost inevitably, they'll get a second. So, more than half of the total population of the city on their way to full vaccination. It's time, I'm very comfortable its time, but I also think we have more work to do in some neighborhoods, and that's why we're doing things like the referral bonus program and a host of other approaches to deepen. We're going to stay at it. We'll stay at it for weeks and months until we continue to drive up those numbers.

Moderator: Our next question goes to James from PIX11. 

Mayor: Hey, James?  

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor and everyone on the call. Can you hear me okay?  

Mayor: Yeah, James, how you doing today? 

Question: Okay. Yeah, I was having some issues with [inaudible] I hope you're well. 

Mayor: Good, good. What's going on? 

Question: Okay, first you talked about, and you do every day, and congratulations for reaching 8.755 million doses of vaccine, but we know that at least 20 percent of that number probably higher are just first doses. Can you respond two concerns that some medical experts have regarding coronavirus spread, particularly for the Delta variant which has shown itself to be really resilient against people with just one dose? We're about to reopen. We have this 70 percent threshold yet only about half of all New Yorkers are fully vaccinated. What concerns do you have regarding the fact that a lower percentage than what is being reported are actually fully protected against coronavirus and its variance?  

Mayor: Okay, very important question, James, I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz, but first just the numbers because I think they're important. Right now, 3.9 million fully vaccinated New Yorkers, and 4.5 million who've received at least one dose. So, the numbers actually are not as different as you might have suspected. The vast majority of folks in this pool of 4.5 million are fully vaccinated. We also know that folks who get the first shot overwhelmingly, 95 percent, come back for the second shot and that is within three or four weeks. So, it moves pretty quickly. So, we've seen steadiness on that front. I am quite convinced that soon we'll have a 4.5 million and rising fully vaccinated. But your point about the Delta variant is a good one. We're watching it very, very carefully. We take it seriously, but to date, we've fundamentally believed the best way to address it is for more people to get vaccinated and our overall progress has been so consistent that even with some new factors in the equation, I feel very confident in our position, and if we see a need to make some adjustments, of course we always will. But to date, it's been very, very steady progress as we've gotten into these really high numbers of vaccinated New Yorkers. Let me turn to Dr. Chokshi then Dr. Katz. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, you made the most important point, which is that first, it is very important for New Yorkers to get fully vaccinated. That means for the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines that they get both doses, but we are also seeing that the vast majority of people who get vaccinated with one of those shots are completing their vaccine series, and that's great news. The second point is that we are seeing with the Delta variant that that second shot is even more important than we had already known that it was, and so this is why all of the work that we and our health care partners are doing to ensure that people are coming back for that second shot becomes all the more important in the context of the Delta variant. But I do want to make sure that people are aware that the science indicates that when you are fully vaccinated, it does give you strong protection against all of the variants including the Delta variant. And so that leads to my last point, which is that my greatest concern remains for people who are unvaccinated, and we want to continue to do everything that we can, the community outreach, the canvassing, the partnering with clinicians that you've heard the Mayor mentioned, so that every single person who remains unvaccinated is reached out to, and we get as many of them protected as possible.  

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I would just add that the proof of the success of our efforts is that your indicators, sir, every day, they keep getting better despite the fact that the city is opening more and more. So, we know that what we're doing is working and as you have said and Dr. Chokshi has said the most important thing is people getting vaccinated and making sure they get that second shot as well so they're protected against all the variants. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Yehudit from Boro Park 24.  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: I'm doing well. How you been?  

Question: Great. Really great. So yesterday, I was dismayed to see that Governor Cuomo again put up the same chart that's misleading, and if I may I’d like for the other reporters to hear this, because Governor Cuomo said that he wanted to vaccinate 70 percent of adults, but the chart actually – the governor's chart combines the – all the ages with the 18 and under population. So, as I said last week this really skews the data because some neighborhoods like the Hasidic neighborhoods have much larger populations of 18 and under. And so, Dr. Katz said that – and then that puts us at, opens us up to criticism that we're vaccine hesitant and things like that when really the rates are the same as white communities, and that the data is just skewed because Cuomo is including the 18 and under which number one he himself said, just got – were made eligible and all throughout the pandemic, they were told that they were not among the most at risk, so they're going to be, you know, slower in getting vaccinated. So, last week Dr. Katz said that he would point out to the State that they were, you know, this – they were including this, the under 18 data that the city actually separates out. So, I was wondering, did Dr. Katz provide that input? And if he did, what was the response?  

Mayor: I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz, but Yehudit thank you for raising the issue and I always appreciate follow-up because it is really important, we portray the truth to people. And I want to say again, I have found people in the community, leaders in the community, institutions in the community very good partners in helping us to ensure testing and vaccination, and I want to make sure everyone hears that. There's been a great, great efforts in the community to keep everyone safe and to help keep the whole city safe. Dr. Katz, you want to speak to the follow-up on that? Dr. Katz, do we have Dr. Katz? He's muted? He's not muted? Okay. 

President Katz: Sorry, sir, I was muted. Yehudit, I will get back to you today on the State. I don't have an answer now.  

Mayor: Okay, we'll get that back to you. Go ahead, Yehudit.  

Question: Sorry, just in terms of yes or no, did he say anything to them yet? 

Mayor: Dr. Katz, just if – we're happy either way – 

President Katz: Yehudit, I’m sorry –  

Mayor: Can you hear us? All right. Yehudit, we will get you an answer on the status and if he's had that conversation or what the response was, but either way we will pursue it. It's a very good topic and thank you. 

And with that, everyone, just to say, look, these are the kinds of issues we're going to be working on going forward in the city, but today some of these questions to me actually are a positive sign because we're not talking as much about a pandemic as life after the pandemic, and that's a very good sign. That's a very good reality. We're now going to start to sort out our future, reminding everyone in the next week, crucial decisions about the future of New York City. Please, everyone, get out and vote, early vote this week, last day to get your absentee if you need that, and of course, primary date Tuesday the 22nd. And remember ranked choice voting, choose five people for each office. Make sure your vote has its maximum impact for the good in New York City. Thank you, everyone.

2021-06-16 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Yesterday, big day as the State announced that the remaining COVID restrictions lifted – really big deal, but people in New York City earned it. I really want to say – and all over the State, of course, people did the work, people went out there, helped each other, protect each other, got vaccinated. This is a victory for the people of this city and this state, and it is the perfect way to lead us into the summer. It's going to be the Summer of New York City. We know more than ever, this is going to be one of the most amazing summers we've ever had. And it's going to be the perfect beginning of the big comeback of New York City – and, again, all of that fueled by vaccination. And, as of today, the numbers keep speaking loudly. As of today, from the very beginning of the vaccination effort, 8,831,882 doses – it's breathtaking. It's almost 9 million doses now – 9 million individual doses that have helped us to be safe.

Now, we're going to keep building that. I want everyone to understand that we've made tremendous progress. We have record-low COVID positivity. The restrictions have been lifted. The City's coming back. But that's not a reason to stop, that's a reason to double down, do even more to get people vaccinated. That's why we announced the Referral Bonus Program, to work with community-based organizations, houses of worship, resident associations in NYCHA. And I want any organization out there that is listening and wants to be a part that wants to help get people vaccinated and bring funding into your organization at the same time, keep money in the community, go to nyc.gov/vaccinereferralbonus. It is all about going out to the grassroots, reaching people where they live, answering their questions and concerns, helping them to understand that this could be the beginning of something so much better if we can get more and more people vaccinated. We also are adding a tremendous new incentive, really great incentive when you sign up to get vaccinated. If you haven't been vaccinated and you sign up to get vaccinated, you can now win $2,500. Yes, $2,500 directly – debit cards, preloaded. 10 prizes will be given each week through July. This is a real opportunity to – after everything everyone's been through, I think the vast majority of New Yorkers could really use $2,500 right now. It will make a big difference in your lives. If you haven't been vaccinated, and you're ready, all you have to do is make the appointment to qualify – go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder. And if you get vaccinated at any City-run site, you get to enter for a chance to win this amazing prize.

Now, the whole idea here, incentives, working with community organizations, going to the grassroots, talking to people, getting doctors and pediatricians involved and talking to their patients – all of this is about reaching farther and farther into communities with vaccination. Listen, so many people just need to have a real conversation. And I want you to hear from a leader who understands how important it is to have that conversation. Sometimes all it takes to convince someone to get vaccinated is just a real thoughtful, honest conversation. And we are more and more making sure that's what happens all over the five boroughs, particularly in communities that haven't been vaccinated as high a level as others. She is a former social worker, a long-time community activist, and now a leader in our state, in our State Assembly. From the Bronx, Assembly Member Chantel Jackson.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Assembly Member. And I really thank you, I know you've been spreading the word. You fought early on – we were together originally up there in Bathgate, you fought early on to get more and more access for the people of the Bronx, more and more vaccination sites. And you're right, that piece has moved constantly. But now, it is about bringing the community organizations, the houses of worship, the NYCHA Resident Councils in, and it's about those incentives to really help people, to focus and want to do it. But it takes voices like yours to make a difference. I want to really thank you for your leadership.

All right. Now, everybody, that's still the number-one thing, bringing back this city is just vaccinating people more and more and more. So far, you've seen the amazing impact vaccination has had. We’re just going to keep going and deepening the effort all the time. But a recovery also absolutely depends on safety, public safety. I keep saying it, I think it's really important for people to hear – we need public safety for recovery, we need the recovery for public safety. The two go together. The more and more the life of this city comes back, the safer everyone is. As people are coming back to the subways, to the buses, to the streets, the safer we all become. So, these pieces go together and we're always looking for new approaches to intensify public safety in this city. We went through hell together last year, we all know it. We went through a perfect storm. We went through something unprecedented. We went through a global pandemic, and yet look how quickly this city is rebounding.

Okay, let's go to our indicators. And, again, continued good news, because people are getting vaccinated. So, thank you to everyone who has gotten vaccinated. And everyone who has not yet gotten vaccinated, I hope what we went through earlier in this presentation will encourage you further to step forward now. And now is the time. So, number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 69 patients. Confirmed positivity at 12.68 percent. Hospitalization rate – 0.45 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 188 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report, continuing the lowest we've ever seen since the pandemic began, on a seven-day rolling average, 0.57 percent. Really amazing, let's keep going in the right direction.

A few words in Spanish on the efforts that we are taking to keep this city safe and to make sure that public safety is a core part of our recovery.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues and media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning, we will now begin our Q-and-A, as a reminder, we are joined by Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, Chief of Department Rodney Harrison, Commissioner Steve Banks, Dr. Dave Chokshi, and Dr. Mitch Katz. Our first question for today goes to Dan from ABC.

Question: Hi there, good morning. Thank you so much for taking my question.  

Mayor: Good morning. How are you doing?  

Question: I'm doing well. Thank you, sir. Last night, we had a, quite a big celebration for the state hitting the 70 percent vaccination rate, but we take a closer look at ZIP codes, many of our areas have less than 30 percent vaccination rate. For example, Far Rockaway has a rate of only 27 percent of people vaccinated. That rate has been low since winter. What are you doing to get more people vaccinated in these areas? 

Mayor: Well, Dan, it's exactly what we were talking about earlier. It's going to take persistence and just intense, constant effort at the grassroots. The referral bonus program says to houses of worship, to NYCHA resident councils, to community-based organizations, go and literally find individuals who are willing to get vaccinated and we will reward your organization for it and make sure that money comes into the community to do good. That I think is going to inspire a lot of focus. The incentives, obviously incredible incentives. I don't know about you, but $2,500 got my full attention, I think for a lot of people, it will. And then, you know, the effort that Dr. Chokshi has talked about, getting doctors and pediatricians to talk to their patients, very systematically and tracking that effort. All of those pieces are going to add up. We've got to overcome hesitancy in some cases with dialogue, with information, and time has been on our side. A lot of people started out hesitant over time got more willing, but I still contend, and we see a lot of evidence of this, there's still hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people who hesitancy is not the issue. They just need to focus. They need it to be convenient. They need it to be in the community. They need some incentive. We're just going to keep going non-stop and keep building up those numbers. Go ahead, Dan. 

Question: I just spoke with a Council Member in Far Rockaway who said it's not so much a trust issue there, as an access issue in educating the public that these vaccination centers that are relatively new are open and available and is encouraging more marketing in communities that are the hardest hit. Is that something that you're considering moving forward? Or do you think that we've done enough marketing? 

Mayor: Oh, no. Constantly doing the marketing. I think the Council Member makes a good point, and part of what is so important about the marketing is to add new elements that really get people's positive attention, thus, the incentives, which unquestionably are getting attention and people appreciate, but also to bring it to the grassroots. We can put up advertising, you know, all day long, different types of posters, whatever that helps, but getting community-based organizations to make it a priority to go out and reach people that really, really helps. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Good morning, everybody. Okay, and this question, Mr. Mayor, is for you. Now that most restrictions have been lifted in New York, when will you be holding in-person briefings? 

Mayor: We're going to have to figure that out. I think we have had a really good experience with this approach because it's allowed so many journalists to participate and so many guests to participate in new ways. So, we want to keep some of what we've learned here, some very positive features, obviously looking forward to seeing people in person too. So. we're going to figure out what combination makes sense and how to implement it as we move forward, Juliet. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Reuvain from Hamodia.  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: Good morning, Reuvain. How you doing, man? 

Question: I'm good, I'm good. If I may, I'd like to add my vote for keeping at least some version of these Zoom things, they are very helpful for journalists, as you mentioned. So, my question is for Dr. Chokshi. There was – it was announced in the news a while ago that they said that vaccines work for – they know for sure for six months, but now they're saying – I haven't heard any follow up of how long it works for. I know they can’t speed up time in the lab, but I'm just thinking the first vaccines were given in December, and I don't want to be the Grinch that stole the summer of New York, but that six months - so what do we know now about, what's the latest that we know now about how vaccines work? 

Mayor: I'm going to give you real credit for terming the phrase, the Grinch who stole the summer of New York. That was agile. Okay, Dr. Choksi and Dr. Katz, I'm going to turn to you, obviously I will start by saying Reuvain, you know, there's a lot we know, and there's still things we don't know considering we're dealing with a disease that literally none of us had even heard of a few years ago and we're learning as we go. But I will say the actual results from the vaccines have been striking, unbelievably clear as expressed by the reduction of positivity, and reduction of hospitalization, reduction of death. So, we know it works. As to how long and when we'd have to think about things like boosters, Dr. Chokshi and followed by Dr. Katz.  

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for Reuvain for the important question. Let me start with the big picture, which is that the vaccines work and all of the evidence that we have thus far is that they work extremely well, particularly to prevent severe illness, but growingly we're finding that they also work to prevent infections in the first place and the transmission of those infections. So, that's all-good news and the reason that we are doing everything that we can to ensure that people get the protection that vaccines afford. With respect to the duration of immunity from vaccination, you are right that thus far the studies indicate that it is at least for six months. We're continuing to gather data on that because it just takes time for that data on the duration of immunity to actually accumulate over time. My expectation is that we will find that the vaccines last for longer than six months, but that does have to be born out in the science. The final point that I'll make is that there are still some unknowns with respect to how the variants and particularly newer variants will interact with the vaccines, and so that's one of the reasons that boosters may need to be administered at some point in the future. But the clear message, for now, again, is that vaccines work, and they work for a long time.  

Mayor: Thank you, Katz.  

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I think Dr. Chokshi did a great job answering the question. Health care workers were among the first people to get vaccinated, and we have not seen cases in any large number of people now that they're getting near that six-month mark. So, I feel very confident that the vaccines will go for longer than six months and we'll watch the data very carefully, and if it shows signs that they need to be boosters, we will be doing boosters, but I think we're all going to have a great summer. I know I'm looking forward to being on my roller blades and Hudson River Park. So, don't take the fun away from us, Ben.  

Mayor: Yeah, blade carefully, Mitch. Okay. Reuvain, go ahead. 

Question: Just a very brief follow-up. You mentioned earlier this week that you'd be putting out guidance for the restaurants as far as having to use the outdoor sheds there or having to give it up for parking space, and just wondering when that guidance is going to be put out? Thank you.  

Mayor: Thank you. Good question, and I need to get you a clear answer on that. Really do want to emphasize the commonsense point to all the folks in the restaurant community, if you want to use that space at the curb, and you're going to put up outdoor dining, we welcome it. We'll support you. We'll work with you. If you're not going to use the space, don't take it up, you know, and if you're not going to use it now, but you might use it later, you can activate it at any point. It just – all that matters is when cars move out, you can take the space and put up your seating and everything else. So, you said it really well, Reuvain, you know, we got to get clear with people, don't hold the space unless you intend to use it. When you do, we'll work with you and make it work, and we'll put out clear guidelines on that. 

So, everyone, as we conclude this morning, this is an example of the fact New York City always comes back. New York City always finds a way. We're going to overcome these challenges, and we can be very proud of the fact that the biggest challenge we've ever faced, COVID, is now on the run because the people in the city have done so much to turn the situation around. That's something to be proud of. Thank you everybody.

2021=06=17 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, continued good news in the fight against COVID. As of today, from the very beginning of our vaccination effort, 8,885,457 doses – almost 9 million doses given in New York City. And incentives are helping, more and more people are hearing about the incentives and getting inspired by them. The vaccine contest is helping us to drive up the numbers. Remember, this week, the prize is the staycation packages and we had 10 winners last week who are very enthusiastic about their prizes. One of them is Salvador from Elmhurst, who said – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

Beautifully said, Salvador. In English, it’s to be able to walk around the city and enjoy a safer summer and also protect other people. I think that says it all. Get vaccinated, fully enjoy the Summer of New York City. Protect your family, protect your city. Everything comes together when you get vaccinated. Remember, the big prizes we announced yesterday – $2,500 in the cash card for 10 winners every week through July. Spread the word about that. I think a lot of New Yorkers who are not yet vaccinated will want to be a part of that, for sure.  

Now I've got to go over the indicators and they're good today. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 68 patients, confirmed positivity 8.22 percent, hospitalization rate 0.42 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report 186 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing city-wide positive for COVID-19, today's report seven-day rolling average 0.57 percent, let's push that down further. A few words in Spanish on the things we're going to do to celebrate Juneteenth and to act on racial justice and economic empowerment.   

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]  

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.   

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson and Co-Chair of the Task Force for Racial Inclusion and Equity, Executive Director and Co-Chair of the Task Force Sideya Sherman, and the Department of Transportation Commissioner Hank Gutman. Nsikan from WNYC.  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: Hey, Nsikan how are you?  

Question: Good. How are you doing?  

Mayor: Good.   

Question: So, we've conducted an analysis of City Health Department data that shows the racial gaps in new coronavirus infections are widening as the vaccine rollout marches onward. I was wondering if you have any general thoughts or, you know, or do any of the health representatives or the task force have any general thoughts about this and what are the direct plans for addressing these widening gaps?  

Mayor: Yeah, Nsikan, the idea here is to just double down on constantly doing more outreach we've announced in the last days that we're going to be doing a direct effort with community-based organizations, house of worship, NYCHA resident councils, to specifically reward local organizations as they bring in individuals to get vaccinated and put money into the community. I think that's going to make a big difference. I think this has just gone take incessant persistent work to overcome some of the concerns and hesitation, and continually get people vaccinated. Go ahead.  

Question: Great, and then you and Governor Cuomo often bring up hesitancy as the reason for vaccine gaps. According to the CDC data, the five boroughs have among the lowest rates of vaccine hesitancy in the state and country. So, for example, the hesitancy rate in Manhattan is 6.5 percent, in Brooklyn, it's eight percent based on these federal surveys. That's a pretty small difference, but Manhattan's vaccine rate is nearly 20 percentage points higher than Brooklyn's. So, I'm wondering why you site hesitancy as a primary cause behind the city's vaccine disparities. Does this City have data to support your hesitancy connection, and will the city release more data on access to the vaccines such as how many doses have been delivered to individual providers around the city?  

Mayor: Yeah, we're going to continue to provide more data as we organize it. Happy to show people all the efforts and the amazing efforts of our vaccinators to reach deep into communities. I'll turn to Dr. Katz on the CDC analysis, just to see if he has a comment. But my quick comment is with all due respect to the CDC, that's not what we're experiencing. Our data comes from millions of encounters with New Yorkers, almost 9 million individual vaccinations, obviously, but all the encounters also, including right within the Health + Hospitals, where people are saying they're not yet ready, although a lot of people have changed over time and become ready. So, no, I'm sorry, that CDC survey doesn't ring true to me. Dr. Katz?  

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Sir, yesterday I was in clinic seeing my patients at [inaudible] and I had three patients who had not yet been vaccinated, and one of them said, yes, I promise I will do it but I want to do it in one month. One said, no, I'm just too frightened of it, and I feel like I'm already protected because, Dr. Katz, you told me that I had the antibody, and one of them said, you know, okay, I will do it next week, and the reason I mentioned this is because we have vaccines available just downstairs, so I know there's no accessibility –it's walk-in. All three of them could have gotten it. My other patients were all vaccinated. It was just these three, and so I'd say of the three, two clearly are hesitant. One just feels too afraid. I'll keep talking to her. I totally support your approach. It's just time. We have to keep talking to people and keep showing them that the vaccines are safe and effective. Thank you, sir.   

Mayor: Thank you.   

Moderator: Our next question goes to Gary from UNIVISION.  

Question: Good morning, Mayor. The city is looking forward to the upcoming parade of heroes and it is important to our essential workers, but we have heard criticism about the money spent on city or state level on fireworks, parades, concerts – when the social workers are waiting for a bonus instead, or a better salary, and our small businesses are still struggling. My question is why is the money not being spent on those things that I just mentioned and help our community?  

Mayor: There's a huge amount of money being spent on those things you mentioned. We've laid out tens of millions of dollars of small business relief on top of what the federal government and the state government has done all sorts of various specific efforts to help people directly in communities around the city that are far, far greater than the very small cost of a parade. But the parade is important to honor the people who saw us through and we're getting tremendous enthusiasm from the health care heroes, the first responders, the essential workers knowing that they're all going to be acknowledged and thanked. So, I think it's the right thing to do. Go ahead.   

Question: Thank you, that’s all, Mayor.  

Mayor: Thank you, everyone.

2021-06-18 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It’s the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone, and as usual at this time on Fridays, it's time for our weekly Ask the Mayor call in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280 or tweet your question, just use the hashtag, #AskTheMayor. You know, listeners, if our lines get full, we only have 10 lines, they do get full, our Twitter feed never gets full. So, tweet a question, use the hashtag, #AskTheMayor and good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you very much, Brian. And Brian, I have some quick, good news, breaking news here. We just got a Department of Labor report that makes clear something I think we're seeing already on the streets in New York City, we're seeing our comeback well in terms of jobs, it's now confirmed that jobs are coming back in New York City substantially faster than the national rate, and that is really good to see. We see so many small businesses reopening. We see so much more activity, but now we have hard facts that show that job growth in New York City is outpacing the national rate and that's good news for all of us.

Lehrer: That's good news, indeed. But since you started with that, I think I also saw in that report that we're still at higher unemployment than the national average. If that's your understanding, why is that? And how do you fight it?

Mayor: We took a huge hit because of the kinds of industries we have here and why we fight it by exactly by what we're doing. You know, very intensive comeback. The vaccination efforts been a huge success. We're going to keep building that, schools coming back fully in September, obviously everything is now formally reopened. I think the summer is going to attract a lot of activity, including a lot more tourism than we expected. It's just persistence, but I'm quite convinced that we are going to be turning the corner more in 2021 than what was expected. 

Lehrer: Does the arts and cultural space need more city help to get fully back or just does, you know, the demand and the fact that they're reopening do it sufficiently in your opinion, or are there any sectors of the economy that you feel the city as a government needs to pay attention to, to help them come back?

Mayor: I think it's a little bit of all of the above in the sense of, we need to watch sector by sector. We've done specific things to help the arts community, specific things to help the hospitality industry, obviously Open Restaurants and other support we provide for hotels, a lot for small business, and we'll be talking about that a lot more in the city budget, the kinds of direct support for small business to come back. I think the fact is the city government has a role to play, but I also truly believe that the organic reality of New Yorkers now, a lot of people unleashing their spending power here in this city, rather than going someplace else. I think that's going to be a big – a big reality. Folks not traveling the world as much as they might've, but staying here and appreciating this place more, spending here, investing here. So, we're going to be doing all of the above. One of the great things that we're doing, the City Artists Corp, we're literally going to be employing artists directly in the style of the WPA of Franklin Roosevelt in the course of the summer to be out in communities and create, you know, workshops, performances, murals. So, we're going to do a lot to directly support arts and culture, for example, but I also see, and you can see it with Broadway coming back, you know, the shows are starting now with Springsteen this month. Tickets being snapped up. Some of this, thank God, is going to happen because people just need to and want to be a part of what's happening in New York City.

Lehrer: An article by WNYC and Gothamist Health Editor, Nsikan Akpan, some of his colleagues today shows increasing COVID segregation in the city – used that term – and new cases in hospitalizations and deaths the way down overall, concentrating in largely black and brown communities. And my question is, is reopening so broadly based on overall averages, rather than the more vulnerable areas, a kind of marginalization of the very New Yorkers who are already the most disadvantaged as they remain more vulnerable?

Mayor: I would say it's the opposite. The reopening is going to provide the relief, the economic opportunity, you know, the jobs, the opportunity for small businesses to come back and communities of color. I go all over the city. I talk to leaders and people represent many communities. There's been a deep desire in communities of color for this reopening, but I think if you asked the question, how do we focus particularly on getting people vaccinated? Which obviously is the answer, it's been proven now, deeply what we announced this last week, bringing community-based organizations, houses of worship, NYCHA Resident Councils into this work, more squarely and literally rewarding them, putting money into the community for every single person they bring in to get vaccinated. These are new approaches that we're trying, but we're very hopeful about. Hesitancy is still a real issue, but it is reducing slowly but surely. And, you know, the sites are in communities of color. The outreach efforts are there. We believe it's going to take persistence, but we will continually reach more and more people.

Lehrer: Question from Hee Jin, via Twitter asks, “Can the Mayor provide an update on his 2017 promise to provide air conditioners for all public schools. Our school in Williamsburg still has broken ACs with children wearing masks indoors in stifling heat” writes this listener, “will he fulfill this promise before his term ends?”

Mayor: So, we're definitely as a city of New York on a fulfilled the promise. We got obviously profoundly dislocated by COVID including on this effort, but it will be done. I'd like that if your team could share that information with our folks here at city hall, so we can follow up with your caller on that particular school and see what we can do to help immediately. But the bigger promise, and it actually, Brian, you'll appreciate this because you have a kind of town hall meeting every day with New Yorkers. I was at a town hall meeting, I believe it was in Queens, and you know, an everyday New Yorker said, hey, this is a persistent problem. Can you make a commitment to do something about it? I went back to my team, I said, what's it going to take the air condition every classroom in New York City? And we came up with a plan and at that point it was going to take four or five years, but we put the money in place. It's been moving fast. It's gotten a little disrupted by COVID, but it will be completed. 

Lehrer: Thanks as always, Mr. Mayor, talk to you next week.

Mayor: Thank you, Brian.

2021-06-21 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. We are having an incredible comeback. Let's remember why – because people went out and got vaccinated. We said to New Yorkers, here's the way. They heard it. They acted on it. As of today, over 9 million vaccine doses have been given in New York City. This is just a staggering figure, over 9 million in this city – 9,000,171 to be exact. And happy to say, as of this morning, the lowest COVID positivity level since the beginning of the crisis, 0.53 percent. So, we're moving the right direction, but it all depends on more and more people getting vaccinated. And, therefore, we keep remind you of the amazing prizes available for folks who get newly vaccinated. And we see some real response to these incredible incentives. Right now, $2,500 prizes for 10 winners this week, staycation packages for 15 winners this week, and we'll keep offering these amazing incentives. So, if you haven't gotten vaccinated, this is the time to do it.

Okay, let's go over our indicators. Number one, today's – I'm sorry, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 68 patients, confirmed positively down to 5.8 percent. Hospitalization rate is down to 0.34 per 100,000. That's fantastic. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average again, great numbers, number’s down to 175 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, lowest number we have had since the beginning of the pandemic. Congratulations, New Yorkers, 0.53 percent. And you want to keep driving that number down? You want to stay safe? You want to open up 110 percent? Go get vaccinated.

Moderator: We're joined today by Chief of Department Rodney Harrison, by Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris, by Dr. Chokshi, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma.

Mayor: Thank you, everybody.

2021-06-22 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Now, a recovery for all of us, of course, depends on vaccination. We talk about it every day, vaccination effort going strong. We've now past 9 million. It's unbelievable. Officially, as of today, 9,012,233 vaccinations. We're going to keep going, going, going. This is how we build an amazing summer for this city and a recovery for all of us. And so, the incentives, the referral bonus, the grassroots efforts to bring in community organizations, they are all working, they're helping us deepen the vaccination drive. So, vaccination drive moving full speed ahead as a crucial part of our recovery.

Okay, let's go to indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report is 80 patients. Confirmed positivity of 14.29 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, that has continued to go down, that's fantastic – 0.32. Number two, new report cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 175 cases. That's great. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 on a seven-day rolling average – today’s report 0.53 percent. As we said yesterday, the lowest we've had since we started testing for COVID. So, that's great, great news. I’m going to say again, though, if you have not yet gotten vaccinated, no time better to do it than now. Incredible incentives, go take advantage of them and make us all safer in the process. Let me say a few words in Spanish about Election Day and how important it is for everyone to rank their votes. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning and happy Election Day. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Sheriff Joe Fucito, Department of Transportation Commissioner Hank Gutman, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals. Our first question for today goes to Kristin from the Staten Island Advance.  

Mayor: Kristin, can you hear us? Kristin? She's on mute. Kristin, you may be on mute.

Question: Can you hear me?

Mayor: There we go. The mute button is – you know, Kristin, you are the vast majority of people as we've found during endless zooms and conference calls, who struggle with the mute button. I am one of them as well. How are you?

Question: I'm good today. How are you?

Mayor: Good. What's on your mind?

Question: Obviously, great news about the Staten Island Ferry being restored overnight every 30 minutes. I wanted to ask a question about the City approaching Richmond University Medical Center about a public hospital deal? You know, as of right now, they've, you know, they've said that they're declining the offer. They're willing to negotiate. If the City isn't able to reach a deal with the hospital, would the City still provide resources if, and as necessary to RUMC going forward?

Mayor: Kristin, let me start and I'll turn to the Borough President who's been deeply involved in these discussions as well. What we’ve said very clearly to everyone at RUMC over months now is the way we can provide an extraordinary level of resources is to create an affiliation with Health + Hospitals. There are a variety of reasons, legal and otherwise, why that is the methodology that works and unleashes a huge amount of capital funding. Also allows RUMC to get tremendous benefits, a better malpractice insurance rate, medical record system that's already built out that they wouldn't have to pay for, so many pieces that count for tens of millions of dollars each. So, this would protect RUMC for the future, give it permanence, give it stability, and a lot more support to serve the people of Staten Island. That's what we've been trying to achieve. And that can only be achieved by creating this kind of affiliation. But again, the Borough President's been working on this issue for years and years, long before this idea. Let me have him speak to it as well.

Borough President Oddo: Yeah, thank you. Well, Mr. Mayor, you're such a so-and-so, offering half a billion dollars to Staten Island and complicating our lives. I want to thank you for these last few months and putting this idea forward. And the fight for equity from HHC, now H + H has been decades old. And the offer that you have put on the table is unprecedented. I want to thank Dr. Katz, as quick as I am to criticize City planning, I am as quick to compliment partners in government and Dr. Katz has been wonderful. I want to thank Lydon Sleeper from your team in allowing this conversation to happen. And I have my notes here from our working dinner at Gracie Mansion with the leadership at RUMC. And you called it an act of justice. And I believe you, and I believe your heart was in the right place. A half of a billion dollars in help for RUMC or half a billion dollars in general, coming from City government to Staten Island is unprecedented. It doesn't happen. I can't speak with certainty if RUMC’s decision to reject the offer is the right one or wrong one. I can speak with certainty it's a whole lot of money. I have tremendous amount of respect for Kate Rooney, who's the chair of the board. All of us involved in this want to do the right thing. I'm going to hold out hope that there's still a pathway to get RUMC some help from the City so that we have two hospital systems on Staten Island that are viable and sustainable. And it's been an amazing few months. Mr. Mayor, again, I appreciate your team for starting this. Let's see where this goes before the budget is adopted.

Mayor: Thank you, Borough President. I'm going to say one more thing about it and I think it'd be important to hear from Dr. Katz, who has been deeply involved in this discussions and cares deeply about making sure there's quality health care for New Yorkers all over the five boroughs. And I would remind you H + H started on our watch, the Vanderbilt Clinic as an important effort of Staten Island. But what we really wanted to do was make a bigger impact. And protect RUMC's future. And what became clear to me last year during the pandemic, where I had a lot more working opportunity to you know, see what was happening inside RUMC. The needs were profound during the pandemic. I spent time talking to the Borough President and the CEO Dan Messina, and it became clear to me just how tenuous the future of RUMC was. And as Health + Hospitals has gotten stronger and stronger, how there could be an opportunity to work together for the good of Staten Islanders and to ensure that RUMC is there for the future. Which is not certain now. So, that's what we endeavored to do. We're going to keep these conversations going. I believe a good idea is a good idea. And it's worth pursuing further. But Dr. Katz, I'd just like you to speak to why this has been something you focused on and the ways you think it would help RUMC and the people of Staten Island?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Borough President. It's been a pleasure to work with you on this. I think this is a great opportunity for RUMC, by being part of the Health + Hospitals umbrella. Immediately, they would get $20 million more a year in Medicaid billing from the federal government, simply because the rate of payment to public hospitals is appropriately higher than to private hospitals. We, as you mentioned, Mr. Mayor, we get better rates on malpractice insurance. I could extend my ethics electronic health record system to them, which would save them $50 million. And more importantly, provide a higher level of care to everybody who goes to RUMC. We've also been able to work out what I think would be a really unique arrangement affiliation, where the nonprofit RUMC would be able to continue to run the hospital, to employ the workers. So, really we're not talking about renaming the hospital. We're not talking about changing the employment. It will continue to be RUMC. But now it will have the support of a whole system. Very few hospitals anymore can make it alone. We saw that profoundly during the pandemic where systems were able to help each other, but hospitals that were by themselves were very precarious. And so, I can update you and say that even since the Borough President has spoken, the board has contacted me and said they want to have more discussions. So, the hopes of the Borough President seemed to be fulfilled. And we look forward to working out an arrangement that would be very positive for RUMC and all of Staten Island. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Katz.

Borough President Oddo: Mayor, can I say one other thing?

Mayor: Yes. I just wanted to say, Borough President. I was handed a note. It’s a note I could have been handed anytime in the last 20 years of knowing you. It says Jimmy Oddo wants to say one more thing. It's – the floor is yours.

Borough President Oddo: So let's – so since you opened the door, let's go down memory lane a bit. When you and I were in the City Council together, I was driving to City Hall for budget hearings. And I heard a commercial on the radio for HHC, then HHC. And it was about the advantages, the health advantages to moms for breastfeeding. And it talked about services that were provided and it listed four of the five boroughs. And of course, it didn't list Staten Island because there is no acute care facility on Staten Island. So, when I got to Borough Hall and Mitch Katz is, one of his predecessors, Dr. Aviles was testifying. I asked him a question, which took my colleagues, our colleagues by surprise. I said Dr. Aviles, do you support breastfeeding? And he looked at me as if I had lost my mind. And I went into a rant about the inequities of HHC in Staten Island. And they had a gavel the committee out of order because I was out of order. I use that example, because just one of many about this long-standing inequity and unfairness that we have felt on Staten Island. I have another problem. This is again -- Staten Island Advance article, it is from October 2009, and it says Island hospitals to get $10 million loan from the City. It was during your predecessor's term. And we thought it was this great victory. We got a loan for SIU H and lone RUMC for $10 million. And in this corner of the article, every elected official on Staten Island is quoted about how glorious this was to get a loan of $10 million. P.S. neither hospital was able to draw down a penny of that loan. I use this example again, to put into context, the scope and the breadth of the offer that has been put on the table. When you at that Gracie Mansion working dinner said $197 million in debt RUMC, the City will absorb it. I almost fell out of my chair. My job was to make sure that we aggressively vetted this. And I think that's what we've done. But the RUMC board and RUMC leadership has to come to peace with a deal that they could live with. I really hold out some hope that there is a path because this is an unprecedented amount of money. And again, I'm just grateful to you and Dr. Katz and your team for even allowing us to have this conversation late on these terms.

Mayor: Thank you, Borough President. I'm stunned to think you were ever gaveled out of order. I can't imagine such a thing ever having occurred. A man of your calm bearing. But thank you as always for the partnership to try and get something done for Staten Island. And we'll keep working on this. I think we have a real opportunity here.

And everyone, as we conclude today, you know, again, all of the things we've talked about today are a part of how we bring this city back. It is encouraging, in these last days we've noted that more and more questions are about something other than COVID, that's a good sign. We're coming back. We're addressing a lot of the things that COVID brought us, a lot of the horrible consequences and starting to turn the corner towards something better. And that's because everyone in the city participated in this comeback and it will be a comeback for the ages. Thank you, everybody.

2021-06-23 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. I want to thank all New Yorkers who went out and voted yesterday. I want to thank the poll site workers, the campaign volunteers, everyone who was part of Election Day yesterday. We marked a powerful moment, an election as we are coming out of COVID, an election in the aftermath of the greatest crisis New York City has ever faced. And talk about proof of the strength in New York City. I keep saying, there's no stopping New York, and yesterday was further proof of it. New Yorkers came out in strong numbers to vote, to make an imprint on the future of this city, and that makes me really happy. You know, given the fact that COVID was such a presence during this campaign – in fact, for so much the campaign, campaigns couldn't go out into communities the way we historically have, couldn't connect with people. And yet, we saw a very healthy turnout. That's really encouraging. So, thank you to everyone who was a part of it. The latest information we have – total turnout, 944,000 voters. That, again, especially against the backdrop of everything that happened in the course of last year and this year, that's encouraging.

Okay. Now, while we're waiting for the results of the primary, we keep moving forward with the number-one thing we have to do, which is get COVID out of our town once and for all. Vaccinations continue, and we will deepen them. As of this morning, a total number of doses from day-one, 9,046,573. We are going to keep innovating new ways to get people the vaccine, new ways to make it work for them. We are now embarking on the Summer of New York City. We know that the more people get vaccinated, the better we are, the more freedom we have. More vaccinations equals more freedom.

So, starting today, a brand-new approach – we're expanding, in-home vaccinations. In-home vaccinations for anyone who wants one – this is really important for folks who are ready, have not been vaccinated, but for whom it's been a challenge to get to a vaccination site or they haven't been sure. That vaccine, that lifesaving vaccine is now available right at your doorstep. So, we know from the effort we made to reach homebound New Yorkers how successful the approach was. We reached over 15,000 New Yorkers with the homebound campaign. And thanks again to the Department for the Aging, to the FDNY, to everyone who was a part of that very successful effort. We're going to take the same kind of approach and now apply it to a bigger in-home vaccine effort. Anyone who's sitting out there and thinking, wow, I'm ready, but I'd rather the vaccine be done right here in my home, go to nyc.gov/homevaccine, fill out the request, and we'll send the vaccinators to your door.

Now, crucial to our vaccination effort has been Health + Hospitals. The hospitals and clinics of Health + Hospitals have been stellar. That is the word for it – stellar in addressing this crisis. This has been Health + Hospitals’ finest hour, unquestionably, in their whole history. Amazing achievements in the fight against COVID. And today, a milestone – a wonderful milestone, Health + Hospitals will be given its 1 millionth dose of the COVID vaccine. This really shows the reach and the impact of Health + Hospitals. Thank you to everyone who works for Health + Hospitals for what you do for this city. It is making an extraordinary impact.

And, look, our public hospitals and clinics overwhelmingly are where the biggest COVID challenges were. They were at the frontline. They persevered. Their communities rallied around them. This is a heroic story. When people talk about the fight against COVID and where it was toughest, that's where Health + Hospitals was. When we talk about fighting disparity and the inequalities in our society, that's what Health + Hospitals has been doing for generations, and it became clearer than ever in the vaccination effort. Our efforts to bring more and more vaccination equity into play are led by Health + Hospitals. And they are vaccinating significantly more people of color than other hospitals, because of who they are, where they are, the approach they take to the community. So, this is a moment to celebrate the incredible impact of Health + Hospitals. I'm looking forward to honoring so many H + H employees during our Hometown Heroes parade next month.

But now, we have a little moment of history that we can all join in together – the 1 millionth dose. So, we're going to go live right now to Coney Island Hospital and to the CEO of Coney Island, Svetlana Lipyanskaya. And she is there with Kira McAvoy, who will be the recipient of the 1 millionth dose. Kira is 12 years old – [inaudible]. We had a little feedback there. Okay, Kira is 12 years old, the daughter of a Coney Island Hospital employee, excited to get the vaccine, and get her life back to normal. She's going into eighth grade in September and looking forward to going back to school. And among her favorite activities are drama and dance, and we want her to have a great school year, and that begins with getting vaccinated. So, I'm going to turn it over now to Svetlana, to tell us what's going on out there at Coney Island and to honor this big moment.

[…]

Mayor: Is Svetlana going to narrate? I will. We see now the Health + Hospitals workers starting to give the vaccines and some good history being made out there in Coney Island. And we're really happy. I want to thank everyone that works at Coney Island Hospital. It is great to see the 1 millionth dose given by Health + Hospitals. And to remember that not so long ago we were just hoping and praying we would have a vaccine, and now we have over 9 million doses given the city, 1 million given at Health + Hospitals alone. Absolutely amazing and an example of getting our youngest New Yorkers vaccinated to help them get back to school and live full lives. And finally, as we said, really being clear about the fact that this is how we fight disparity through our public hospitals and clinics that are doing more and more to reach communities with innovative approaches. This is really making a huge difference.

We're going to hear from Dr. Mitch Katz, who's going to talk to us about this overall effort. And I want to emphasize, Dr. Katz has really focused on the question of equity and how Health + Hospitals can be part of the solution. He's going to go over the facts that are quite striking about the role Health + Hospitals has played as an agent of equity in the vaccination effort. Dr. Katz?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. And I know that you love New York City and Brooklyn history. So, I have to tell you before we talk about the amazing history that my great, great grandmother – not my grandmother, but my great, great grandmother was treated at Coney Island Hospital when she broke her hip about 80 years ago. And the treatment at that time was immobilization, which they did by putting – I see the clapping, the 1,000,001 dose – that's great. So, the treatment at that time was sand baths on the leg to prevent movement so that the fracture would heal. And I always wondered if they got the sand from the beach itself at Coney Island. But talking about today's history that you just saw and made, Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for how you have led us throughout this crisis. Thank you to Svetlana and Coney Island for all their hard work. We are so proud not only that we're at a 1 million vaccinations, but, even more importantly, sir, you've talked throughout about our need to address in New York City the terrible disparities that we've seen under COVID. And I'm so proud that in the graph you put up there before, you can see that Health + Hospitals vaccinated 76 percent of the people that we vaccinated were people of color. That compares to the independent hospitals at 73 percent. They also did a great job. But compared to the hospital systems overall in New York City, they're at 56 percent. So, hugely, higher rates of vaccinating people of color for Health + Hospitals and the independent hospitals. And I think this proves what you've said all along that public systems are critical to achieving equity. And we're just so proud to be part of it. Thank you so much, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Mitch. Listen, Mitch, you have a lot to be proud of – 1 million doses just in Health + Hospitals’ hospitals and clinics, really amazing, but also leading the way on equity. This is another example to the people that city, Health + Hospitals went through tough times and now has made a stunning comeback, a comeback that really will be the model for the comeback in New York City. In so many ways, Health + Hospitals is literally stronger than it's ever been at a point in their history, doing amazing work, doing the work of equity, also guaranteeing health care to all New Yorkers. And this is something Mitch and I worked on a lot of years ago. NYC Care – I want to keep telling everyone, available to all New Yorkers, regardless of the ability to pay, regardless of documentation status. If you're a New Yorker who doesn't have health insurance, doesn't know what to do, or doesn't qualify for health insurance, call 3-1-1 – just call 3-1-1, and we'll sign you up right away for NYC Care through Health + Hospitals. You'll have a primary care doctor. You'll have all the specialty support you need. Only New York City is doing this in the entire United States of America. And that's because of the leadership of Dr. Katz and the whole team at Health + Hospitals. So, thank you very, very much.

Okay. Let's go over indicators, everyone. Again, continued progress. We’ve got to keep at it though, more and more vaccinations – that's the key. So, number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 74 patients, confirmed positivity level 15.58 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.31. That is good news. Now, number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 171 cases. And the percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 on a seven-day rolling average, today's report, 0.54 percent. 

A few words now in Spanish, and the topic is on Health + Hospitals, the impact it's making on the vaccination effort and why it is a good time for everyone to get vaccinated, who has not yet. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]  

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder we're joined today by Chief Democracy Officer Laura Wood, by Dr. Mitchell Katz, and by Dr. Dave Chokshi. Last question for today. It goes to Yoav from The City.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask you about vaccine tourism. My understanding is, and correct me if I'm wrong, that it currently only applies to residents of other states? Would you support expanding that to international tourists or does that bring concerns about potential variants into play?

Mayor: I would say it this way and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz who know a lot more than me. I believe if people come here for whatever reason, we should vaccinate anyone who needs to get vaccinated. That's just in our interest. That's in the City's interest, the country's interest, the globe's interest. I don't imagine a scenario and maybe I'm missing something where people travel all the way here from far away to get vaccinated. I believe people who have the resources to do that probably are able to get vaccinated in their home countries. But maybe that's a debatable point. I would start with, if people come here and need vaccine, we should give them vaccine. I think that's just good common sense. Dr. Chokshi then Dr. Katz, speak to this.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I agree with you. The key point is that vaccination is critically important to keeping New York City safe but also is critically important anytime anyone is embarking upon travel. Particularly because we know that travel is a risk factor for spread of the virus. So, if there are ways that New York City can further support, ensuring that people who are traveling are vaccinated, that means that all of us will be safer.

Mayor: And Dr. Katz, you want to add?

President Katz: I agree with what both of you have said. Thank you so much.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Yoav.

Question: Well, I guess I wanted to ask the doctors because you mentioned that you haven't heard of it. We do believe it's happening and just want to see if either doctor has an idea to what extent international folks are traveling here primarily to get the vaccine? And again, if you could just confirm, do you know whether the rules – I guess, do you need to be a U.S. resident currently to get the vaccine or not?

Mayor: So, I'm going to turn to the doctors. Though Yoav, I want to ask you a clarifying question. You said we believe it's happening, or we – I'm not hearing the why you believe it's happening. Do you have something specific we should know about?

Question: Just anecdotally.

Mayor: Anecdotally documented?

Question: Anecdotally speaking to folks primarily from South America who have done it. The vaccine is incredibly hard to get in some of those countries.

Mayor: Right, I’m just, I'm staying with you one more second. People who say they came here, they traveled all the way here just to get vaccinated? Is that what you're saying you've experienced?

Question: Correct.

Mayor: Okay. That's a new – I have not heard that report before. I don't want to miss the meaning of it. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz answer as best you can now. Have you seen evidence of this? And how do we handle someone who's not from the United States, but would like to get vaccinated here?

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly. So, what I will say is that we have heard about this more in cities like Miami, where there are more reports of people who are traveling to get vaccinated. We haven't, at least quantitatively, you know, heard about that happening at any scale for New York City. It is complicated by the fact that New York City, as we all know, is a global metropolis. We have many people living in New York City who spend some months of the year you know, sometime living between the city and other places, particularly in South and Central America. And for them, you know, the clear message is if you're a New Yorker, you know, we want you to get vaccinated. And we will do everything in our power to extend, you know, access to vaccination for you as well. For someone who is truly living outside of the United States, I think that is a different case. And our priority is for people who are U.S. residents.

Mayor: Dr. Katz, anything you would like to add?

President Katz: Nothing. You guys have covered it very well. Thank you.

Mayor: That's what we're here for. Okay, everyone. Thank you, everyone. Again, I'm going to close where I began, I really appreciate that despite all the challenges New Yorkers came out to vote. They came out to vote, came out to make their voices heard. Again, a little patience, not our strongest suit as New Yorkers. It's going to take a few weeks to get the final results of this election, but thank you to everyone who participated keeping democracy strong, no matter what's been thrown at us. And this is going to be a good beginning to a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everyone.

2021-06-24 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well, another day fighting back COVID in New York city, another day moving forward. And the vaccine effort continues to reach deeper and deeper into communities. We have so many new approaches and they continue to bear fruit. As of today, 9,075,382 doses – amazing. Just stop and think of that number, the sheer extraordinary size of this effort. And always be thankful – all the vaccinators out there, all the people who are helping to bring New York City back with everything they do. So, that's good news, but we have some other good news when it comes to COVID today. And, as of midnight tonight, the State of Emergency in New York State ends. And that means the restoration of democracy in New York State. That means local control resumes. This is something that I stood shoulder to shoulder with county executives and mayors all over the state, Democrat and Republican, upstate, downstate. We all said we needed local control back. The crisis, thank God, is passing. It's time to restore normal democracy. Finally, this is happening and it's going to allow us to do so much more to serve our people and move our city, and the same for cities and counties all over the state, move us forward. So, a thank you to all my colleagues in local government, all the county executives, all the mayors – again, Democrat and Republican, both – who stood shoulder to shoulder to make sure this day would come.

Now, vaccines and the vaccination effort are the pathway to recovery. The vaccination effort is the reason we get to have the recovery, but we also have other important work to do to ensure a recovery for all of us. I've said many times, recovery equals public safety, public safety equals recovery. They go together and we have to keep building on our efforts.

All right, the indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 78 patients, confirmed positivity of 16.25 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.31. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report is 175 cases. Number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 0.53 percent. Now a few words in Spanish, and I want to go back to NYPD Kids First, I'm going to make another plug check out this booklet. It's really powerful and really moving.  

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]   

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and the outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Hi guys. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. With us today is Rabbi Michael Miller, Police Commissioner Shea, Dr. Katz, Dr. Varma, and Kapil Longani, Counsel to the Mayor. Shant from the Daily News.  

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: Good, Shant, how you been? 

Question: Pretty good, pretty good. With the state of emergency ending, understand that carry out booze will also be a thing of the past. Any thoughts on that very popular program? Is there anything the city can do to allow people to - to have shops to perpetuate carry out booze? 

Mayor: It actually worked pretty well. I don't blame anyone who thought maybe that could be a little dicey, but it actually worked pretty well. And I am concerned, of course, about all the restaurants and bars that we want to survive as part of the life of the city, all the jobs they provide, the future of our tourism, you know, depends on as well. So, I think that should be looked at to see if there's some way to appropriately continue it, at least for the foreseeable future while we're trying to bring back the hospitality industry.  

Moderator: Next, we'll go to James from PIX 11.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. And congratulations to Rabbi Miller.

Mayor: And James, you forgot to say it is once again, objectively, and truly a beautiful day in New York City.

Question: That it is, that it is. And onto my question. You talked about the lifting of the State’s state of emergency, bringing back local control. The state of emergency included daily updates on COVID numbers from the State. The Governor said that will now end. Will it end on the city level? And by the way, I'm not encouraging that, especially if it involves ending these daily news conferences, which have boosted our access to government and to you. But please elaborate on the changes that local control will bring?

Mayor: Yeah, James. I think these briefings have been very important and they will certainly continue. We did a little analysis about the kind of briefings that have been given around the country by mayors, governors, in the context of COVID particularly in the year 2021. And I can safely say I'm taking the most questions, or one of the most – the largest groups of questions of any chief executive in the nation. And I think it's been very healthy for everyone. So, we'll continue these briefings. I would say as has been the case often, the City of New York takes a cautious approach. And so, we are going to keep a close eye on the data. We're going to keep updating people for the foreseeable future on the indicators. So far our experience dealing with the variants has been very successful. But this ball game ain't over. A lot to play out, to continue the vaccination effort, to guard against any new challenges with COVID, obviously getting ready for our schools to open fully in September. So, James, my answer is, I think we'll stick with this regular briefing approach for the foreseeable future. Go ahead.

Question: Good to hear. You’ve also had praise for essential workers and yesterday the Governor unveiled renderings of the Circle of Heroes monument to those we've lost into essential workers who helped New York get through the tragedy. Journalists are not mentioned specifically as essential workers in the Memorial, even though we were essential workers and still are. What might you do to single out journalists for our work and sacrifices during the state of emergency during the pandemic?

Mayor: It's a great, great point. And I really want to say I appreciate how many journalists went out there and put themselves in harm's way, got people information they needed. It was often very tough to do during COVID. But you, and so many of your colleagues did the work that was needed to help the people of the city. I want to thank you. And that needs to be recognized in our Hometown Heroes parade on July 7th. And we will do that in other ways as well. I think it's really important to understand – and, you know, we talked about this James along the way. I've tried to express thankfulness to journalists who have raised important issues that we need to address. Things we didn't necessarily see playing out that they heard from the grassroots, that I needed to know, my team needed to know. But also people were so hungry for information and they needed it during this crisis. And you and your colleagues were there. So, real appreciation for that. And we're certainly going to honor it, including on July 7th.

Moderator: We'll go to Yoav from The City.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Just in the context of the State emergency declaration ending, there was a component that the City had something similar, and forgive me if you've already addressed this, but is that ending at the same time, you know, the emergency contracting and those types of things?

Mayor: It’s a really good question, Yoav. We're in a different situation because we're where the rubber hits the road. So, we have to assess first what the State has done and then the ramifications for us and how we might make adjustments. I think we have made a lot of progress coming out of this crisis. As I said, there are still elements of this crisis that we're attending to, and that we have to be ready to deal with if we see any changes. So, we're going to assess that now and have more to say on that in the next few days. Go ahead, Yoav.

Question: Okay. Well, just to drill down, let's focus on emergency contracting, for example. Why would that still be necessary at this point?

Mayor: The question is always going to be what we need ready in the event of any resurgence. I don't predict a resurgence right now. I think we're doing really, really well. The level of vaccinations is outstanding. It continues to grow, but we do need to be mindful. There's still a challenge out there. We have to be able to address it. That's something we're going to look at to make sure God forbid, there's something else we have to do, that we are well positioned to do it. We obviously have a strategic reserve we've built up. All of these pieces have to be evaluated. Whatever happens, Yoav, I want to make sure we're ready for any change, any development thrown at us.

Thank you, everyone.

2021-06-25 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone. And we begin this morning with our Friday Ask The Mayor call in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio, at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. We've been doing this in the 11 o'clock hour recently, but today it's at 10 to accommodate some changes in the Mayor’s schedule. So, here we go. If you have a question for the Mayor, our lines are now open at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or you can tweet a question. You never get a busy signal on our Twitter feed. So. just use the hashtag, #AskTheMayor and we'll watch those go by and pick some good ones. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. Oh, he’s not here yet? Now he's here. Hi, Mr. Mayor, I think we have you now. You're there?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Yes, you do, Brian. How are you doing today?

Lehrer: I’m doing all right. Good morning to you. Well, there was an election this week –

Mayor: Good morning. And Brian, can I just give you a quick piece of breaking news I think you're going to like? Today's the last day of school and I just want to take one quick second to say thank you to the educators, to the parents, to the kids in New York City who made this school year work against the toughest odds. And, you know, we brought our schools back. A lot of places didn't. Kudos to everyone in our school system. We're coming back strong in September. But here's the news, we've done 1.5 million COVID tests as of yesterday, 1.5 million COVID tests in our schools. Here is the latest number COVID in the schools, 0.03 percent. So, this is a testament to the vaccination effort and to the work of our educators and school staff and parents. COVID is almost non-existent in New York City public schools right now. That's a good sign for the fall.

Lehrer: That's a wonderful sign for the fall. And I certainly second your congratulations or your thanks and appreciation to everybody. Parents, teachers, staff, kids themselves, who had to put up with everything in the remote learning era, which hopefully is over now. Hopefully we won't need it. But before we declare victory too firmly, and just go onto ticker ticker-tape parades and fireworks and celebration. You know about the new outbreaks of the Delta variant elsewhere in the country and elsewhere in the world. Israel, which did such a good job at vaccinating has now re-imposed indoor mask requirements because the Delta variant is dominant there now and is infecting even vaccinated people at higher rates than the other variants, although not with serious illness so far, very much among the vaccinated. But I'm curious if you have any contingency plans, if low vaccinated areas in New York City experience resurgences because of Delta?

Mayor: Well, I had this conversation with our health care leadership yesterday, and we looked very, very carefully at the Delta variant and the impact. It is obviously present here in the city and we've had a chance to see what it means. What we still see consistently is vaccination works. The more vaccinated people, the better. And we're at a very substantial rate now. We have 4.1 million fully vaccinated New Yorkers, 4.6 million who have received at least one dose. And that means overwhelmingly they will all come back for the second dose. And the effort continues and will deepen. And now we have a lot more people we can reach because kids are eligible, you know, from 12 and up. And we've actually been ahead of the national average in vaccinating kids between 12 and 17. So, I truly believe, and our health care leadership believes that the best answer to the variant is just keep deepening the vaccination effort. But Brian, we're going to watch it carefully. There's no evidence at this moment that it changes the trajectory, but if anything occurs where we have to make adjustments, we will make them quickly. And that's part of why I'm going to keep doing morning briefings, giving people the latest data on COVID in this city for the foreseeable future, because we're staying vigilant.

Lehrer: So, I hear you are saying, if cases rise above a certain cutoff, you would reinstate some kinds of restrictions?

Mayor: No – wait a minute, that's respectfully, you're reinterpreting. We don't see any evidence at this point of the variants having a major impact here. We just don't. And we don't have, at this moment, that kind of specific level we're looking at for any reversals. We believe right now that the high level of vaccination in the city, is the thing that's keeping COVID low and will continue to. There's no plan at this moment to do anything different than what we're doing now. If something changes, we'll assess it. But what we learned with COVID and the health care team has really educated me on this. And thanks to Dr. Varma, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz for everything they've done. It doesn't happen overnight. If there's a trend line, it happens over weeks or even months. There's plenty of time to make adjustments. But we do not see that right now. We see tremendous consistency. And the answer of course, for anyone concerned about this is make sure everyone in your life is vaccinated. That is the defense.

Lehrer: And one other thing on this. Would there be any plans under any circumstances to implement restrictions only in the hard-hit areas of the city while letting other areas stay more open because the vaccination rates are disparate by neighborhood?

Mayor: That's a theoretical in the sense of it would really depend. I can't say that now. Absolutely cannot say that now. Because we'd have to see all the facts and again, they would not be – it's not an on, off switch. If something was going on, we would see a trend line and we'd have plenty of time to figure out how to address it. I think the bottom line is we are starting to see better results in places where there has been more hesitancy. There's been amazing outreach efforts. Just one yesterday that we were celebrating, the actors Benicio Del Toro and Zoe Saldana did a really wonderful video series speaking to Latinx New Yorkers in English, in Spanish about the facts to help dispel the rumors, from voices that people care about and respect. We're going to be doing a lot more of that and a lot more focus on youth vaccination, which my son, Dante, has been playing a big role in. We're going to get out there and vaccinate a whole lot more people. A lot of parents are going to want their kids vaccinated ahead of school in September. So, that's the key. Stay on the offense. We're not focused on defense. We're focused on offense right now.

Lehrer: Clive in Manhattan, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Clive.

Question: Good morning. Thank you. I’m a hearing officer with OATH, Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. I and some colleagues want to go into the office to conduct remote hearings and we are locked out through the calendar year by the Commissioner. I wondered Mr. Mayor, if you knew about that. I know you want the city to be open. If you knew about that and if you knew the reason why?

Mayor: Clive, thank you for calling. This is exactly one of the reasons I love the Brian Lehrer Show because I hear things that I had not heard before. I will pursue that immediately. I do want to see the city fully reopened. Obviously, we brought back all of our City office workers and that went really well. And it's been a very healthy experience. Also, what I just said about the schools is the ultimate measure. Again, 0.03 percent COVID positivity in our huge school system right now. So, I want people back. I will find out if there's something particular at OATH that they're trying to navigate. But I guarantee you, we will get you a response quickly and please leave your information with WNYC.

Lehrer: All right, Clive. We'll take your information off the air. Question via Twitter, listener asks when can students not wear masks? I guess the answer is three o'clock today since school's out for summer.

Mayor: You beat me to it, Brian. Three o’clock today. That was going to be my great moment. How dare you? So, right now the working assumption, abundance of caution, is kids keep masks on, this is City and State rules both. Kids keep masks on at schools and there's other areas, obviously hospitals, health care facilities, mass transit, where we want to keep mask usage going. You've got vaccinated, unvaccinated people all in the same place. It's a smart thing to do. Now, I've said many times and firmly believe, we're going to see changes in the CDC guidance and most likely State rules as more information comes in. So, if a trajectory continues downward with COVID and we're at the lowest level we've been right now since the crisis began, I'm not going to be surprised at some point in the course of the summer, or right before school, the mask restriction comes off. But for now, out of abundance of caution, we're keeping it on.

Lehrer: Another listener asks on Twitter, I see – oops, that one flipped off. Sorry, sometimes Twitter goes by so quick. So, I'll ask this one instead. This is another good one. This says radio silence on the role of contact tracing, which typically plays a critical role as a pandemic slows down, see New Zealand and other successful countries and public health knowledge base. What has happened to contact tracing? And I will throw in another contact tracing question. We got this for you last week, but I didn't have time to get to that caller. A contact tracer for the City wanted to know why contact tracers aren't among those being celebrated efficiently and the ticker-tape parade?

Mayor: Oh, of course contract contact tracers are going to be celebrated. Yeah. This is an interesting thing, Brian. I've heard different groups, very rightfully say, what about us? And I don't know where the communication broke down. The parade’s going to be very inclusive. Test and Trace Corps, absolutely, our Vaccine For All Corps, absolutely. Everyone who has been out there with the vaccine effort with the testing effort. Of course, they're all going to be celebrated. So, let me just set that record straight. The parade is very, very inclusive of every form of health care hero, first responder, essential worker. We want them all celebrated. And we'll follow up to make sure that everyone in Test and Trace knows that. But as to your larger question, no, this is something we continue to be very proud of. The fact that New York City built the largest Test and Trace Corps in the country. And that it was very aggressive in its approach is one of the reasons we beat back COVID. And it's absolutely necessary to keep it. You will see in the budget that will be passed for next year, we're keeping Test and Trace Corps and our Vaccine For All Corps, 100 percent constant through the next fiscal year. Ultimately, they will convert into a larger public health corps for a variety of needs, which is something I announced last September. Right now, about 4,000 strong. So, that corps of fantastic public health workers, public outreach workers are going to be around and strong and ready to deal with anything. But they are one of the reasons that we beat back COVID. And talk to Dr. Varma, who's studied these efforts around the world. He consistently in internal and public conversation says, don't forget how important the Test and Trace Corps was in protecting the city and turning the COVID situation around.

Lehrer: By the way, you should include in the ticker-tape parade, our show’s most central essential worker, Juliana Fonda, who's been at the audio controls pretty much every day for the last year, going into the station while I, and the producers, did it from home. So, just shouting out our personal audio ticker tape parade here for Juliana Fonda.

Mayor: To Juliana, wait this is important. Hold on, this a fact here we need to share. Thank you, Juliana. And we have invited media, both the on-air personalities and the print journalists, but also the production folks. The folks behind the scenes. The media played a crucial role in educating people and getting people facts and information they needed during this crisis. So, we want to celebrate the famous people like you, Brian, but also the folks who make it possible for this work to happen. So, contact tracers welcome, all media personnel welcome. We want this to be an inclusive parade.

Lehrer: There you go. And hooray. Another question from Twitter and I will set this up with a little background for the listeners after I ask it. The listener writes, can you please explain why the decision to end to-go sales of wine and cocktails from restaurants, were given only 24-hour notice that the COVID program would be coming to an end? No lead time has many negative effects. So, let me just say to the listeners who don't know this story. That this really comes from the State, not the City, as I understand it. Which officially ended the pandemic state of emergency. And the part that's getting the most press is that it's the end of the very popular cocktails to-go. So, would you like to see takeout drinks made permanent? Or what would you say to that listener?

Mayor: I think it's a mistake to cut it off so soon. I think it would be smart to continue that opportunity for bars and restaurants to do more business, to stay alive and strong and come back. The State does control this 100 percent. This is not something the City can do. But what I would say to the State of New York is don't make it permanent, but do continue it at least for this calendar year, maybe into 2022. Because we need our restaurants and bars to be strong as part of the life and the economy of the city, hundreds of thousands of jobs. We need them as part of tourism coming back. And this is part of how they survive. So, why not give them a little more of a helping hand? It worked, it really did work.

Lehrer: And people can now smoke pot in public in most, or all places where cigarette smoking is allowed. But I don't think you can legally sit on a park bench and have a beer? Is that a disparity worth addressing?

Mayor: I think it is some apples and oranges there. I think we do need to be careful. I could speak long and hard about the challenges that come with alcohol. And, you know, unfortunately alcoholism and touched my family, so I have very, very strong views on this. I think we got to strike a balance. But I do think specifically allowing the bars and restaurants to do the take out for now again as part of their comeback, I think that does make sense.

Lehrer: I see we're almost out of time. Let's end on a little bit about tourism and the city's economy. I see the city is mounting its biggest advertising push in decades to get tourists to come to the city, now that the pandemic has eased, obviously that would help the economic recovery. How much is already happening or not happening on its own in terms of tourism? 

Mayor: It's quite amazing how much has already happening. I honestly, Brian, thought, you know, tourism we wouldn't see a lot in 2021. We'd have to wait when we were thinking back in the depths of the pandemic. What we've seen in these last few months is astounding. We're seeing tourism come back very aggressively. We had, I think last week or the week before, something like 430,000 hotel room bookings in the week. Very surprising and positive numbers. So, what we're seeing is it's kind of like concentric circles, a lot more regional tourism. People are coming back because there's so much happening this summer in New York City, concerts and obviously sports and so many outdoor activities and the open restaurants. Now, Broadway starting to come back earlier than expected. I think that that's going to happen. A lot of other theater coming back, that's going to help really move people. 

So we're really pleasantly surprised this effort to reach tourists around the country and around the world on that concentric circle concept suggests we think more and more people from outside the metropolitan area are going to start coming to New York because they're going to perceive it as a place where they can have a very, very rich experience ,rightfully, and a lot of folks are not so ready to travel overseas at this moment, now New York's going to be an even more appealing destination for folks who want to experience all the cultures of the world. And then we're starting to see even the foreign tourism is coming back, and I think that will grow intensely, especially as we get into next year. But I think this is going to be a very big year for American tourism to New York City and going to have a surprisingly positive impact on our economics comeback. 

Lehrer: And I do see that the city's unemployment rate as the economic comeback begins is still around 10 percent, much higher than the national average. What sectors do you see bouncing back strongly on their own in addition to tourism and which ones are struggling more than the nation as a whole that might need support from city government? 

Mayor: So, what we're seeing is our rate of job growth is actually faster than the nation now. And so that's very encouraging. We were laid very low, but the comeback is actually going faster now in New York City than in the nation as a whole. Clearly, the strength areas unquestionably tech. Tech is not only growing in New York City, but it's growing in terms of jobs and use of office space. That's fantastic. Life sciences is going to be big. It's starting to get big this year. It's going to be much bigger in the future because the whole world is going to be trying to do a lot more research to prevent the pandemics of the futures, New York City is going to be a big recipient of those research dollars. Those are strong areas, finance is actually quite strong at this point and bringing their office workers back. That's going to be crucial, because the finance community has been really clear, they want people back in the offices and they want them back soon, that's going to have a big impact on surrounding small businesses, you know, diners and newsstands and you name it. The fact is the area that we're going to have the biggest challenge in is hospitality, unquestionably, but what's been positive is so much of the previous reality we faced is turning quickly. Restaurants and bars are coming back. We just opened this new Quick Start Initiative, and by the way, we want to advertise that. Any restaurant, bar, small business of any kind trying to come back that's been closed or anyone who's starting a new business, you can call 3-1-1, you can get connected to Quick Start, which is small business services. Within 48 hours, you get a response to your concern. If you're trying to figure out how to open, you get a concierge, literally a concierge, a single person who will stay with you throughout your entire reopening process, we believe this is going to cut in half the time it takes to reopen or to open a new business. So, I think you're going to see hospitality coming back strong, particularly on the restaurant side, a little longer on the hotel side, that's the area we have more work do. 

Lehrer: Thanks as always, Mr. Mayor, talk to you next week. 

Mayor: Thank you, Brian. Take care.

2021-06-29 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Now, we know when we actually focus on science, we can do great things. We know the focus on science is what's going to move us forward in terms of fighting global warming and the climate crisis. We also know that in this city, we listened to science and data. We paid attention. We made decisions based on the facts and that led us to our approach to vaccination. And that effort is gathering more and more steam. And again, real good questions in the last few days about challenges we're seeing around the world in terms of COVID. What our health care team keeps saying is the answer is always the same – more vaccinations. And that's what we intend to do.

As of today, from the beginning of our vaccination effort, 9,251,412 doses given. And that effort is going to keep growing every single day. Now because vaccination has worked so well, we are able to now get more and more back to normal. Now in New York City, the City of New York, our City government led the way by bringing our City employees who work in offices back in May. A lot of people expressed skepticism. Guess what? The timing was just right. And people came back, it was done safely. It was done well, but it was also important so that we could serve the people of the city better so that our City workforce could be present and accounted for, building our recovery for all of us. It also sent a very powerful message to the rest of the New York City economy. And in fact, major businesses have now followed suit, coming back strong and telling their employees it's time to come back to the office for the good of everyone. And I'll tell you, it's so important. We know in City government, when people come back to the offices, we get a lot more done, but also so many small businesses – and I hear it from small business owners all the time. They are so thankful to see the office buildings starting to come back. It means so much for the small businesses and the people who work there.

So, we're going to keep raising the bar. We're going to keep going farther. And an announcement today that for vaccinated City workers, we're now going to be able to move forward and have a better approach because we have so many people who are vaccinated. Vaccinated workers now are going to be able to work without masks and they will not be limited by physical distancing. Unvaccinated workers who yet – people who are not yet vaccinated, people who interact regularly with the public will still be wearing masks and still be maintaining distance. Now, as of July 6th, we'll be implementing this in all City agencies. We want to do this because it's the right time to do it. People are ready. We want to do this to set the pace for everyone else. So, as of July 6th, if you're a vaccinated City worker, you'll be able to work without a mask and you will not have to practice the same distancing we needed during the height of the crisis. By September, we'd like to see everyone in our offices back to normal. Now that's going to be, of course, following CDC and State guidance. And we expect that to keep evolving, but we think we're on that track right now that people will be back to their offices basically as they were before the pandemic. And that's really, really good news for everyone.

Okay, let's go over daily indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 76 patients. Confirmed positivity, 13.75 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 – 0.30. Very, very good. Okay. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report 185 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average 0.57 percent.  

I'm going to do a few words in Spanish, and this is a preview of the budget that we will announce tomorrow.  

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]   

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, and by New York City Emergency Management Commissioner, John Scrivani. Rebecca Solomon from PIX-11  

Question: Hi Mayor, thanks for having me.  

Mayor: How are you doing, Rebecca?  

Question: I have a question – pretty good. Trying to stay cool. Hope everyone else is as well. So, you're talking about a lot of the indicators, things look great. We know the city workers are going to be getting back throughout the fall, which is wonderful. The numbers are down. Things are returning to normal. Broadway is coming back, but what happens with this Delta variant? There's still so little we know, but we know it could be catastrophic. Are there still plans that the city could lock down if this gets worse? Just kind of elaborate a little bit on that with the Delta.  

Mayor: Yeah, Rebecca, I'm going to start, and I'll turn to – we have a Dr. Katz and I think we have Dr. Chokshi as well. Yeah, they will both speak to it, and I want to start with Dr. Katz because he went through the whole process from beginning to end last time. Rebecca, we are watching the Delta variant very carefully in the city. Talked about that yesterday. We have a lot of information. We're obviously watching it around the world, but the difference here is a very high level of vaccination. Again, the latest information, we've got 4.2 million New Yorkers who are fully vaccinated, and we've got 4.6 million of you, talk about folks who have had at least one dose and overwhelmingly of those folks will finish out and get the second dose. So, practically we're going to be at 4.6 million very soon and it's going to keep growing. The bottom line is right now, we're winning the race against the Delta variant, but we got to keep winning. And we'll always be ready if we see things start to turn, but Rebecca, I think it's really important to remember, it doesn't turn like on a dime. It takes weeks and weeks. You'll see plenty of evidence if things are becoming challenging and we have to make some adjustments, but we do not see that likelihood at this moment. Right now, let's turn to the first Dr. Katz, then Dr. Chokshi. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The most encouraging news is that the vaccine works well against the Delta variant, and so the fact that people are vaccinated is the best way for us all to be protected. And concerns – we appreciate the media telling people about the variant because it's another reason why if people have delayed getting vaccination, this is the time to do it. It would make a huge difference and protect them against the Delta and all other variants. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.  

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Well first let me start with what we know about the Delta variant. We do know that it is more transmissible. That means it spreads more easily. It may cause more severe disease, although we don't have strong evidence on that point just yet. But the most important thing is what Dr. Katz has already mentioned, which is that we do know that the vaccines confer strong protection, particularly against severe disease, against the Delta variant and all of the other variants that are currently circulating in New York City. So, our message remains the same. If you've been waiting to get vaccinated, this is one more reason why you should run, not walk to get your vaccine. And we know that every single dose of the vaccination is another brick in the wall against not just the Delta variant, but all of the variants of the virus. 

Mayor: Amen. Thank you very much, doctor. Go ahead, Rebecca.  

Question: All right. Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm good.  

Mayor: Okay, go ahead.  

Moderator: The next is Andrea from WCBS. 

Question: Good morning. I've got a question also about the Delta variant. In places like Staten island, how concerned are you since COVID infection rates there are higher than other parts of the city?  

Mayor: I'm definitely concerned for Staten island for everyone, but I'm concerned in general about the Delta variant. We don't take it lightly, but what we do know is vaccination works against it. And you've seen with the intensity of our vaccination effort, you've seen that even with the presence of the Delta variant, the numbers continue to be very positive, the indicators, the health care reality of the city is much, much better. So, we are watching very carefully, but the answer is the same. Just keep encouraging vaccination, keep making it easier for people, keep building up those incentives, and every single, additional New Yorker who gets vaccinated makes us safer against the Delta variant. Go ahead, Andrea. 

Question: Are there other outreach efforts to places like Staten Island, where you're seeing that COVID infection rate, that's much higher? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and say, as I do, look, we just continue to refine the effort. To the credit of Dr. Choksi and Dr. Katz and everyone who's been a part of the vaccination effort, you know, now that they've got 4.6 million folks who have gotten at least one dose and, you know, well over nine million total doses given, which is by far the biggest vaccination effort in the history of New York City, we can safely say these guys know how to do this. It's just about reaching people and its very meticulous work at this point. We're really excited about working with community partners with the Referral Bonus Program, we're really excited about the work we're doing with young people, because that's the next great frontier. We have so much more to do with 20-somethings, with teenagers now that they qualify, and then soon – we think pretty soon at least – younger kids will be able. So, it's just about continually refining and deepening the effort. Dr. Chokshi, you want to speak about Staten Island in particular? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you very much. And meticulous, the word that you used, is exactly the right one to describe what we're doing in this phase of the vaccination campaign. This involves a lot of door to door outreach, canvassing style outreach, making sure that we are calling people whom we know may not yet be vaccinated, working with doctor's offices, not just the large hospital systems, but the community-based family doctors and pediatricians who we know people turn to for their routine health care needs, independent pharmacies, really going further and further into neighborhoods to make sure that as many people get vaccinated as possible. In terms of where we're targeting that, we use a combination of approaches, but as with everything, it is rooted in our data. In places like Staten Island, we are seeing slightly higher rates of test positivity as well as cases, and so that's been a reason for us to turn some attention there, particularly around youth vaccination, but in other parts of the city where there are lower vaccination rates, that's where we're redoubling our efforts so that we can actually prevent rises in cases from happening in those places as well. The common thread is that we will leave no stone unturned. We'll make sure that everyone has heard from us and knows how to get vaccinated, and that includes extending our in-home vaccination program as the mayor announced last week, which is now available for anyone to get vaccinated in the comfort of their own home. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Dana from the New York Times. 

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor, I wanted to ask you also about the Delta variant. I'm curious, what is, you know, what's the threshold by which you'll start advising folks to – vaccinate folks, to wear masks again inside? Because I'm looking at what's coming out of Los Angeles and I'm just a little bit confused. 

Mayor: Fair enough. I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz then Dr. Chokshi, and you mentioned Los Angeles, Dr. Katz used to run the public health system there as well. But look, I would say this, we're led by the data and the science, we're watching constantly. You saw the indicators today that continue to move in the right direction. I think that the intensity of the vaccination effort is the underlying reason why. The bottom line is we will make adjustments when we see real, consistent evidence, but so far, the data is telling us, in fact, things keep moving in the right direction. Dr. Katz and Dr. Choksi.  

President Katz: Yes, Mr. Mayor, I totally agree with your analysis. Overwhelmingly, the vaccine works against the Delta variant, and so people can keep their masks off if they've been fully vaccinated, and I have confidence that that will keep them protected. Thank you.  

Mayor: Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.  

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you. I'll just add two points. First is, we can't lose sight of the fact that our recommendation for unvaccinated people is to continue following all of the precautions that have worked for us over the course of the pandemic, and that does remain important. And I – you know, I have to make sure to say that the Delta variant poses a particular risk for people who are unvaccinated. So, in some ways it's even more important than it has been if you are not vaccinated to wear a mask, to continue physical distancing, to get tested routinely, et cetera. With respect to vaccinated people, it does confer strong protection, as we've already said. But there are some settings, particularly schools, congregate settings, health care settings, where we're recommending that everyone stay masked you know, regardless of their vaccination status. But these things can coexist and the fact that we're at the rates of vaccination, that we are gives us a level of population protection that is different from a few months ago.  

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Yoav from The City. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask you about a Queens veterans nursing home, that's run by the State Health Department, and for some reason they've been storing hundreds of boxes of PPE outdoors, where it's been exposed to the elements, and therefore to rot, and also has drawn the attention of vermin from a nearby vegetable garden, so that hundreds of the boxes have actually been damaged. Given, you know, the shortages that the city went through last year. I just wanted to ask you Mr. Mayor for your reaction to that. But also, I wanted to ask the doctors if either of them could say whether it's ever appropriate to store PPE in cardboard boxes outside for weeks and even months at a time? 

Mayor: I'll start, and I'll turn to the doctors, but Yoav that's really disturbing. I mean, we all fought our way through COVID, we needed all the PPE we could get. This begs the question again, you know, what is the State of New York doing with nursing homes? Why is their oversight so lax? What do we got to do to change the laws? You know, something's still wrong here and it goes beyond the horrifying reality of last year. There's something even bigger here about why the state does such a poor job of addressing the needs in nursing homes. So, a lot more to look at there, I think. Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz. 

President Katz: I can start, sir, since we run nursing homes. There is there is no acceptable reason for keeping PPE outdoors. You keep PPE, not just indoors, but you keep them in rooms, where there’s it's the right temperature and humidity to protect the viability of it, and I'll just remind people we needed PPE long before there was COVID, and we will need PPE long after COVID goes away, if we're so lucky, there are a variety of diseases, including tuberculosis, respiratory viruses, that require that people where health care providers have adequate protection, and there's no way you can guarantee that that PPE is still fully protective if it's been out in the elements. So, I fully agree with your analysis that it it's never appropriate. 

Mayor: Thank you anything to add, Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Nothing to add, Dr. Katz answered it well. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Yoav. 

Question: And just staying on the same topic, I'm wondering how the City is handling you know, basically its own stockpile? There are some requirements about keeping a certain amount of PPE on hand at each facility. Some of them might not have this space to store it. What is the City doing as far as its own stockpile? Is that being handled centrally out of OEM or how's that happening? 

Mayor: Yeah, I'll let – I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz and we have John Scrivani on, the Commissioner of Emergency Management. Anyone who wants to speak to it. But let me just say, storing PPE is absolutely crucial and yet it takes some space, but it doesn't necessarily take a huge amount of space. So, I would argue, this is one of the most essential things you do is have what you need to protect your personnel and your patients. We, in the midst of COVID, realized we needed a strategic reserve, which we've now set up to make sure the city had at least six months of the types of PPE and equipment that we saw we needed during COVID. So, we've built up that reserve. We'll keep adding to it. We will never be in the situation we were in in the beginning of this crisis, and we also have to recognize Yoav, we learned the hard way as a larger lesson for our country, that the United States couldn't produce enough in time and was dependent on other parts of the world. That can't happen in the future. We have to localize the production of all these things we need to protect us. But in terms of the City, I think our numbers are strong right now. Anyone want to speak to how it's being done? Who wants to jump in? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I can start. So, thank you for this important question, and I am grateful to the Mayor and to so many city leaders who stepped up in a time of great need last year to create the strategic reserve that the Mayor has mentioned. It has continued on, and it gives us the ability to draw upon stockpiles of PPE when they are needed, and that will continue on you know, even beyond the COVID emergency. We're in a good position with that. Right now, we have you know, several months of supply for key elements of personal protective equipment, and that's something that is a shared effort across multiple city agencies, including the Health Department, but also Commissioner Scrivani’s Emergency Management group and several other city agencies as well. 

The other thing that I'll mention is that that compliments two other sources that we're able to draw upon in times of emergency. The first is the requirements for, as Dr. Katz mentioned, all hospitals and health care organizations to maintain their own reserves of personal protective equipment, and both the City and the State have a role to play in ensuring that those reserves are sufficient, and then the second source is of course the strategic national stockpile which we are aware that the federal government is revisiting its policies around to ensure that those stocks are sufficient as well. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz or Commissioner Scrivani, anything to add? 

President Katz: Nothing to add, sir, thank you.  

Mayor: Okay, go ahead. 

Moderator: Last question for today goes to David Brand from City Limits. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?  

Mayor: Good, David, how’ve you been?  

Question: Good, thanks. So, I've been talking to several nonprofit shelter providers, front line staffers, homeless New Yorkers about returning to shelters from hotels, and they are very concerned because of the vaccination rate remains low among the homeless, and even among shelter staff compared to the general population. So, I'm wondering what will the testing regimen look like at shelters? And is there a specific threshold for moving people out of shelter and back into hotels? 

Mayor: I'll start and turn to Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz. David, look, we really want to do everything to ensure that people are vaccinated. Of course, people have to be willing to be vaccinated, but we're going to make it ubiquitous in shelters, the opportunity to get vaccinated for staff and for clients as well. We do see improvement as we go along, including the fact that so much of our shelter population is families, and a lot of parents do want their kids vaccinated. So, that's an area where we think we're going to have a lot more progress. We'll keep doing it constantly. But we can keep people safe. A lot of focus, a lot of medical attention, make sure people are safe and provide them the help they need better in a shelter setting on the way to a long-term affordable housing. Remember over 150,000 people in our last eight years who went into shelter, ended up getting affordable housing and leaving shelter to someplace better, and we intend to do that with everyone who's in our shelter system. With that, Dr. Chokshi. Dr. Katz, you want to speak about the specific approach at all? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I'll speak to both vaccination and testing with respect to vaccination. As we've said before, this is the key. It's the single most important thing that we can do to keep people safe whether in congregate shelter or in other settings, and our colleagues at the Department of Homeless Services have made vaccination widely available through things like pop-up clinics, working with shelter providers to ensure that vaccination is readily available from trusted providers and ensuring that other health care settings are providing options for vaccination as well. We have to continue those efforts and redouble them because it is the single most important thing to keep people safe. With that said, testing is another important part of our layered approach for health and safety, and with respect to that, the testing regimen that's in place right now, it occurs both at intake, and people are of course appropriately isolated if they test positive at intake, and there's also routine surveillance testing that's done in the shelters as well, which helps both in terms of keeping people safe, but also having a beat on the spread of the coronavirus in shelters. So, those are things that will continue, and we're very committed to safeguarding health throughout this process. 

Mayor: Thank you. Anything to add, Dr. Katz?  

President Katz: No, thank you, sir.  

Mayor: David, go ahead.  

Question: So, it doesn't sound like there's necessarily a threshold for moving people out of shelters just yet. But another question related to that, on a basic level, there is a belief among administrators, front line staff, and homeless New Yorkers that closing the hotels is grounded more in politics and public perception than in public health recommendations, and I wonder what you and some of the other panelists – how would you respond to that perception among providers, staff, and homeless New Yorkers? 

Mayor: It's just absolutely false. I'll start, Dr. Chokshi can add. We have been having this conversation for months about the right way to do this. We said from day one, moving homeless New Yorkers into hotels was a temporary measure in the height of the crisis. We are now, thank God, coming out of COVID. We said it was temporary – in fact, we said years ago. We want to get out of all hotels across the board anyway. Shelter settings are where we can provide people the most support on their way to a better life, and we just have to accept that if we're moving forward in every other way and putting COVID behind us, and we can do this safely and provide people support, it's time to do it. It just is the organic moment to do it and we can do it right, and obviously CDC guidance, state guidance, everything aligns here that this is the right thing to do. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I don't have much to add other than to emphasize that health and safety are paramount in this process, and you know, we work in close coordination with our colleagues in the Department of Homeless Services, but also with shelter providers, because we do know the elements that will keep people as safe as possible, and that's the layered approach that I mentioned – vaccination and testing but also the other ways that we can curb the spread of COVID. But we also have to take a wider lens, you know, to point out that you know, the health of people who are experiencing homelessness is something that requires us to confront a lot of things beyond COVID as well, and I'm hopeful that, you know, we'll be able to mark a new chapter where we can focus on those other causes of poor health as well. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Chokshi. Everyone, as we conclude today, look, a lot of important questions raised about how we keep moving forward fighting COVID. Bottom line is vaccination. We're going to keep saying it, and you know, we talked about being meticulous, being persistent. One of the things we're learning out there is you just keep coming back. You just keep talking to people sometimes, you know, the first five or 10 times someone's not ready, but the 11th time they are so we're going to keep reminding people today is the right day to get vaccinated. If you haven't already and amazing incentives and prizes, when you sign up to get vaccinated nowadays – I wish they had been around when I got vaccinated, but you know, these are the breaks. So, everyone, go get vaccinated, do it for yourself. Do it for your family, do it for your city. Thank you very much.

2021-07-01 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody and happy July. We are officially in the summer of New York City and it's going to be absolutely amazing. We have some great news to go over today about some of the great summer activities that are happening in the next few days and beyond in August.

All right, now I promised you that we would talk about some great events coming up. And first of all, our Homecoming Concert. We've announced that this will be in August, a lot of details to come, but it is going to be a great moment for the city, marking our rebirth, marking our comeback. And it's going to be one of the greatest Central Park concerts in history. This is something you do not want to miss. This is something for the ages. A lot more details to come, but I can confirm three pieces of information now that I think is going to be really exciting to New Yorkers. Three amazing artists have stepped forward and said they want to be part of the comeback of New York City. They want to help us do this. And we're just really appreciative to all three of them. First of all, proud son of Queens. He is an American legend. He gave extraordinary Central Park concerts in 1981 and 1991. Paul Simon will be one of the headliners of this amazing Homecoming Concert. Second, she is a great example of an artist who started at the grassroots, came to fame through American Idol, became a Grammy winner and an Oscar winner. Someone who captures the grit and determination that we're all feeling as we fight through this crisis. Jennifer Hudson will be another one of the headliners of this amazing concert. And he just did something amazing by bringing back his show on Broadway and starting the Broadway rebirth. He is beloved in New York City in an extraordinary way, even though he happens to come from Jersey. No one's perfect. He is amazing. And I've loved his music from the first moment I heard it. And I know so many others have as well. The Boss, Bruce Springsteen will also be performing and headlining our amazing Homecoming Concert. More to come, a lot more to come. We'll be announcing the full lineup and a lot more details soon. But get ready for a concert for the ages and a big part of the rebirth of New York City and the summer of New York City.

Okay. Now why is all this happening? Because you went out and got vaccinated. The only reason we're able to give you all this good news is because people got vaccinated. As of today, 9,303,347 doses administered. Absolutely amazing. We got to do more and more and more. The vaccine effort will continue to roll on, including over the weekend. The 4th of July weekend, the vaccination buses and vans will be out where people are. Locations all over New York City bringing vaccine to the people. Please, if you haven't gotten vaccinated yet, this is your chance. At places like Highland Park in Brooklyn, Orchard Beach in the Bronx, the Park of the Americas in Queens, and many more. When you see that bus or van, if you haven't gotten vaccinated, if a member of your family hasn't gotten vaccinated, let's do it now. As Dr. Chokshi said the other day, walk – don't, I'm sorry. Run, don't walk.  Run, don't – I can get the Dr. Chokshi quote right. I can do this. Run, don't walk. Get vaccinated. This is how we keep the city safe. This is how we build the summer of New York City.

Now this weekend, of course, we look forward to it every year. July Fourth was different last year. I really want to thank Macy's. They did something really special, nonetheless. It wasn't everything we were used to, but they did something great to mark Fourth of July and to give us hope. But this year, the Macy's fireworks show is back, full force. We're so excited about it. It's going to be amazing. It's going to be energizing. It's going to be another mark of our rebirth. We want to make sure it goes well. We want to make sure people are safe in every way. There will be dedicated viewing areas. There'll be street closures, lots of precautions being taken by the NYPD to make sure everyone is safe. And I want you to hear about these plans because there's no department in the world that does a better job planning to protect people at these major, major milestone events. No one does it better than NYPD. My pleasure to introduce Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes.

Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes, NYPD: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everyone. This time last year, our city was enduring one of the most challenging times in its entire history. Our Fourth of July celebration was unprecedented for being scaled back to basically a virtual event. Well, this year is different. Today, at long last, we are ready for a real celebration to come together with other fellow New Yorkers and have a good time. And this year is special, the Fourth of July celebration will be unprecedented once again, but this time for all the right reasons. For its size, its splendor, and hopefully its crowds. And rest assured, NYPD will be right there with you working to ensure that everything goes well.

To that end it is important for New Yorkers to know at this time, there are absolutely no credible threats regarding the Fourth of July fireworks celebration. Our Intelligence and Counterterrorism bureaus are working around the clock, constantly monitoring the threat stream in conjunction with our federal partners. Information sharing is seamless and always we remain nimble and stand ready to respond to any issue that may arise. We will have officers virtually everywhere throughout this event, but we will also rely on all of our fellow New Yorkers. You are our force multipliers. So, if you see anything, please just alert your nearest officer. Thank you.

Beyond our uniform officers, we will also have some plain clothes officers out there and other protective resources that will remain unseen. Additional support will come from our canine teams, the bomb squad, emergency service unit, the harbor patrol with our many vessels deployed throughout the waterways, as well as our aviation keeping a watchful eye from above. On top of all this, as always, we will remain – maintain our counterterrorism overlay. Viewing areas will be based on placement of the barges this year. Designated areas will include the FDR Drive from 14th Street to 51st Street. Access points will be 14th Street, 23rd Street, 34th Street, 48th Street, and 31st Street. What we're asking is that you be very mindful of what you bring to these sites. There will be detectors there, metal detectors. Everyone will be searched at these particular access points. You're not allowed to bring any backpacks, large blankets, seats, umbrellas, [inaudible] and no alcohol if you're going to enter these access points. Of course, we want you to stay hydrated, but please no alcohol.

To that end we encourage folks not to come out too early, the reason being is because we're going to start to shut down traffic at 2:00 PM, but closures will go into effect at 3:00 PM. Fireworks are scheduled to start at six – at 9:30. Therefore at 6:30 is when you'll be allowed access to these particular entry points. Please take public transportation. It's going to be very difficult to get around the city between 2:00 PM and 2:00 AM. Something different this year, we're actually stopping vehicular traffic on the Williamsburg Bridge as well as the 59th Street ed Koch Bridge. So, just so that you can be aware of that. And we just want everyone to come out and have a great time. NYPD will be there. And this event should be very special, with – especially with all that we've been through. So, please come on out, be safe, enjoy the events.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Chief. And thank you to you and all the men and women of the NYPD for the amazing preparations you've done and the work you're going to do to keep us safe this weekend. Thank you very, very much.

Now, everyone, just a programming note. This will be our last press conference before Tuesday because Monday of course is formally a holiday. So, we'll be back with you on Tuesday, but I want to – I want to wish everyone a really, really wonderful holiday weekend. And it is again, it's a holiday weekend. That's going to be great to begin with. It's the summer of New York City, that's great. But it's also a time, as Chief said to think about how far we've come. It's going to be beautiful to have this big celebration, to be back together to recognize that we every single day are overcoming COVID. So, congratulations to everyone for how far we came and are going to continue to go. And let's celebrate this weekend.

And what a perfect time to go over our indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 62 patients. Confirmed positivity, 10.45 percent. Hospitalization rate today, 0.28 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report 194 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19. Today's report on a seven-day rolling average 0.69 percent. Going to say a few words in Spanish on the topic of the July Fourth celebration.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we are joined by Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes, Executive Director of Citywide Events Dan Gross, Commissioner of Office of Emergency Management John Scrivani, and Dr. Mitch Katz President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals. Marla from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I lost my connection, so I'm not sure if you answered this yet, but this is with regards to the Macy's fireworks display. You had said a few weeks ago that there will be areas for vaccinated and non-vaccinated spectators. Is that still part of the plan? And if so, how will it be enforced?

Mayor: Yeah, the situation Marla has been evolving, obviously. I'm going to turn to Dan Gross who's our Executive Director for Citywide Events and is doing a great job with his team putting together these events. We literally have been week by week receiving more and more information. Our healthcare leadership has been analyzing it. The federal and state rules have been changing. So, it's been an evolving situation. The good news is things are more and more normal all the time. Dan, could you speak to how that's going to be handled?

Executive Director Dan Gross, Citywide Event Coordination and Management: Absolutely, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just a couple of quick updates. We've revised the executive order as it relates to outdoor events. That guidance is going to be announced relatively soon. For the purposes of the 4th of July fireworks viewing areas we are going to be opening that up to those individuals that are both vaccinated and unvaccinated with the only stipulation being, if you are un-vaccinated, it is strongly encouraged that you wear a mask.

Mayor: Thank you.

Director Gross: So, we're going to be reverting back to a posture of past 4th of July fireworks viewing areas.

Mayor: That's great. Thank you very much, Dan. Go ahead, Marla.

Question: And just in terms of enforcement, do you expect to have the NYPD you know, looking at who's masked, who's unmasked – dealing with any issues that may turn up because when, you know, you have a large crowd together, there may be some discomfort. You know, I don't know, is this something where you would have officers sort of policing the pens to avoid any conflict or problems?

Mayor: Yeah, I'll turn to Chief Holmes, but I’ll just say upfront, no, I think we're in a very different status right now, Marla, as Dan Gross just said. We obviously – people are adults. We're telling them if you're not vaccinated, it's wise to wear a mask to protect everyone around you. We're encouraging that, but we also, thank God, know that the number of people vaccinated in the city has grown every single day, and just to give you perspective, we now have 4.2 million fully vaccinated New Yorkers, 4.7 million who've gotten at least the first dose, and that obviously gives some real protection. So – and it keeps growing like tens of thousands each day. So, that's fantastic, but our message is clear to folks, come out and enjoy this. If you're not vaccinated, we're sending you a message to be smart about it, but we're not expecting to have a heavy hand here. Chief, do you want to add anything?

Chief Holmes: Yeah, so, there will be strong deployment, but not to enforce masks. Most people are fascinated and those that feel uncomfortable are welcome to wear masks if they like it, but that's not what we're going to be there for.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Henry from Bloomberg.

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today?

Mayor: I am doing well, Henry. How do you feel? Happy July to you.

Question: Happy July to you too. July 4th. Fantastic. Big party this weekend. I'm not divulging the location.

Mayor: Okay. Anyway, now I want the entire press corps to find the location of Henry's party. That's the challenge, everyone.

Question: It won't be too difficult. I wanted to ask you a little bit more about this concert, which sounds like a fantastic event, and I had several questions. I hope you'll indulge me with a few questions and maybe not even give me a second, but I need to ask a whole bunch and I'll just go through them. Is it definitely going to be on the Great Lawn? What kind of efforts are you going to make to control the crowd, how big a crowd do you expect? Is the city going to sell TV rights that maybe raise some revenue or use it to turn it into a charitable event of some sort, and how many other acts, and how long event do you anticipate this going?

Mayor: Alright I’ll take that as one big composite two questions, and what I'll say is on some of those we're going to come back – Dan Gross can answer some of those. I’ll give a quick frame. Definitely more acts coming. This is amazing what we have already, but definitely more to come. It's to be one of the greatest concerts ever in New York City. I'm not making that up. It's going to be very, very special. We do obviously want to see a big crowd experience this. We're going to do it in a safe manner. We're talking about August, so we intend to get a lot more people vaccinated between now and August and use every opportunity to continue to make people safe. But this is meant to be an event for a large crowd. We'll come back to you on the TV rights and things like that, but in terms of the physical location and approach, Dan Gross, why don't you pick it up from there?

Director Gross: Okay. Certainly, thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, at the Great Lawn the maximum capacity, there is 60,000 people, which is standard for any large-scale event that happens there. There's certainly a number of questions that you had Henry, which more details were to come. But it's going to be the same setup that you would see at your other standard events. So, for example, Global Citizens or anything in years past, so we're very excited and it's going to be a historic event to say the least.

Mayor: Well said. And with that, everyone, I want to wish you a wonderful 4th of July weekend. Everyone, have a great time, stay safe and enjoy the summer of New York City. Thank you.

2021-07-02 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. The time now as usual on Fridays for our weekly Ask the Mayor segment, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio. Our Ask the Mayor lines are open at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, or a tweet a question with the hashtag, #AskTheMayor. You never get a busy signal on Twitter. Again, just use the hashtag, #AskTheMayor, we’ll watch those Twitter questions go by and pick some good ones. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian, and just want to do some breaking news with you first. Just of course, a very happy Fourth of July to you and all your listeners and hope everyone's really going to enjoy the fireworks, the Macy's fireworks on the East River, and the Coney Island fireworks on Sunday night, but also have some breaking news about our Hometown Heroes Parade. Now this is coming up Wednesday. We're going to honor the health care heroes, the first responders, the essential workers, the members of the media, everyone who was there for us during COVID and saw us through, want to urge all New Yorkers, if you want to be a part of this absolutely historic parade up the Canyon of Heroes, all are welcome to come and enjoy and see the heroes that we'll be saluting. It'll start at 11:00 am on Wednesday, July 7th, and then there will be a ceremony at City Hall. We're going to honor as Grand Marshall, nurse Sandra Lindsay, who was the first person in the United States vaccinated, and the host of the ceremony will be the anchor of Good Morning America, Robin Roberts, and it's going to be a very, very special moment for the city.

Lehrer: Are there going to be rules and regulations for what you have to do to go in line the route? Are there going to be any limits on crowds or people? I certainly remember some of the ticker tape parades we've had in the past, in recent years for sports teams and other things, and you'd get like hundreds of thousands of people out along that route.

Mayor: Yeah, I mean, look, I think everything's a little different because people are still not used to going out to big events, but we want to really encourage people to come out and salute these amazing health care heroes and essential workers who really deserve all the thanks we can give them. So, look, if someone's vaccinated, this is very similar to what we're doing on Sunday with the fireworks. If you're vaccinated come as you are, if you're not vaccinated, feel free to come and join in, but you know, the advice from our health care team is to wear a mask to protect everyone around you and, obviously, be aware, keep distance as best you can. But the fact is this is outdoors and it's really a moment to celebrate folks who just, you know, without these folks New York City wouldn't have made it through. I mean, it's as simple as that. This was the biggest crisis in the history of New York City. These are the folks who were the heroes. They’re everyday working people. They often don't get the accolades they deserve. Here, we're treating them like, you know, the generals of wars and the astronauts and the champions in different sports. We're giving, working people the salute they deserve, and I urge all New Yorkers who can come and be a part of it and let's thank them.

Lehrer: Vision Zero was such a success. Now, I just read this morning that we're on pace to have the most deaths on the road, I want to characterize it accurately, of any year in your administration. What went wrong?

Mayor: Well, what went wrong is COVID. I mean, there's a strong parallel – look really important to say. When I came to office, there were so many traffic deaths that really weren't getting the attention they deserve, and when we looked at the actual numbers, the folks we were losing in crashes versus the folks who are losing to murder was shockingly similar numbers, but there was not a plan to address it. That's why I instituted Vision Zero from the very beginning, we saw it radically reduced crashes and injuries and deaths. Along comes COVID, and just like with our efforts to fight violence for six years, we drove down violence, drove down crime very successfully with neighborhood policing and changed the reality between police and community, COVID unglued everything. COVID was the perfect storm that led to a huge uptick in gun violence around the country. It also led to an uptick in car usage and speeding around the country and that we've seen a really horrible trends since COVID began with these crashes and deaths. We will reverse it. It is with more Vision Zero, it’s getting people out of their cars by bringing mass transit back, it's congestion pricing, which we need to now aggressively implement now that the Biden administration is here and willing to do it with us. We will go back – I don't doubt, and I think this is a statement about everything, New York City, Brian – anyone who thinks that New York City lost ground permanently doesn't understand New York City. We will go back to the place we were before the pandemic, and then we'll surpass it and make things better. I don't have a doubt in my mind, but we've got to get people out of their cars, and we know the tools to do that. We just need to bring our city back and have the recovery that will allow it to happen.

Lehrer: Thanks, as always, Mr. Mayor, Happy fourth. Talk to you next week.

Mayor: Happy fourth to you and all your listeners. Take care, everyone.

2021-07-06 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

All right. Now, talk about a recovery, the reason we've gotten this far, the reason we continue to move forward – vaccinations. And really happy to say New Yorkers continued to get vaccinated. The numbers continue to go up. We're almost to 9.5 million doses, really an unimaginable figure when you think about where we started. This has been an amazing effort. Thanks to all the folks out there, the vaccinators, the Test and Trace Corps., everyone who has been a part of this – hospitals, non-profit organizations, community clinics. As of today, 9,497,464 doses given in New York City, and we want that number to keep going up. So, we have incredible contests continuing. We've got $2,500 winners coming this week. We've got the new community-based referral effort for community organizations – the referral bonus, so they can bring money back and throw in communities while helping people get vaccinated. And in-home vaccination, anyone who needs vaccination, brought right to their doorstep. We're doing that now and it works. All of these steps are going to take us forward.   

Now, we've got a lot to appreciate, because we're well underway in our recovery. We've got a lot to celebrate and we've got a lot of people to celebrate. So, tomorrow major, major celebration of our hometown heroes. The health care heroes, who, a year ago, and more, saw us through this crisis in the toughest of times. They deserve all the praise we can give them. They deserve a march down the Canyon of Heroes, because it's something that is reserved for the greatest folks in history. Well, here are some of the folks who made history in New York City's toughest hour. Our health care heroes, our first responders, our essential workers, our educators – we're celebrating all of them. So many different types of New Yorkers who are there for us in that incredibly tough moment. They saw us through. Thousands will be marching and on the floats. We want to welcome all New Yorkers to come be a part of it and celebrate our heroes. Kickoff – 11:00 AM at Battery Park and coming right up Broadway through the Canyon of Heroes. Grand Marshal Sandra Lindsay will be there. We're honoring her as the first American vaccinated and someone who really helped to set a message for everyone else on the right thing to do.   

Now, we have a little bit of a challenge, because we do have some heat tomorrow in terms of the timing of this parade. Now, it's a heat advisory. We expect, thank God, again, less than what we had last week and less than what we'll have today. So, it's something we have to work with and we are going to make some changes to keep people safe. But it's heat that's less bad than some of what we've had the last few days. We'll be adding additional cooling stations and water stations along the route. We're going to change the plan – instead of having a big ceremony at the end of the parade, we'll have a much smaller stripped-down version of that. We'll be greeting the marchers in the parade, thanking them. Not a big ceremony, but the parade itself, of course, will be the central salute to our heroes. And, everyone, this is going to be memorable. This is going to be memorable. This is going to be a parade for everyday people, for working people who made a difference for this city. So, let's support them. Let's thank them, starting 11:00 AM tomorrow. For more information, go to nyc.gov/hometownheroesnyc.   

Okay. Now, let's go over our indicators. As I start, I want to remind everyone, we're seeing some interesting facts here. Continually, the best information is the low, low level of hospitalization and the decline in the hospitalization rate. But we are seeing some different percentages in large measure because the school testing has changed and that was one of the biggest elements of testing we had for months and months. And, obviously, incredibly low positivity in our schools. So, you will see a higher positivity number, but we feel based on all the information, all the data, all the science that we're still well within the range that we need to be in. And, again, particularly good news on the hospitalization side. So, here are today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 58 patients. Confirmed positivity, 13.56 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 – 0.31. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 191 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 0.89 percent.   

Okay. Now, I want to say a few words in Spanish, going back to the progress that's been made in fighting crime. Again, a lot more to do, but this is something to appreciate and celebrate.  

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]  

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.  

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, Dan Gross, Executive Director of Citywide Events, Valerie Mulligan, Deputy Commissioner of DYCD, Emergency Management Commissioner John Scrivani, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals. Our first question for today goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC.  

Question: [Inaudible] on the call. Hope you can hear me.   

Mayor: Can you hear me, Andrew?   

Question: Yes. Can you hear me?   

Mayor: Yeah. How are you doing, man?   

Question: Good. I wanted to ask with regard to the parade – and forgive me if I missed this – do you have a crowd estimate or expectation? I know that in some ticker-tape parades in the past, there've been upwards of a million people along the route. Is this a much more small-scale event in terms of public attendance?   

Mayor: Yeah, look, I think it's going to be a healthy attendance, but I don't think it's necessarily going to be those traditional huge attendance for a variety of reasons. Obviously, a lot of people are not yet back at work at those buildings along Broadway, but I think you're going to see a lot of folks come out to support their fellow New Yorkers. And the important thing was, we said this last year, you know, as soon as we could reopen the city, the first thing we had to do was honor the folks who got us here. And I think it's going to be a beautiful celebration.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Katie Honan from the Wall Street Journal.   

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you?    

Mayor: Good, Katie, how you doing?    

Question: I’m good. I have a question, and about tomorrow's parade, is there any specific reason why it was held July? You know, I know hot weather in July, it's not really a big surprise and this isn't tied to a championship or anything. So, considering the heat and how it will affect, you know, I think essential workers probably deserve a huge crowd and a long ceremony. Is there a specific reason why it was July enough later on in the year –   

Mayor: Absolutely. It was about us reopening and we said it was going to be one of the first things we did, happened to be July. But in the end, I think it is the right thing to do to honor these heroes, the first available opportunity. You know, look, yeah, its summer, it's hot, but as the Commissioner just said, you know, Yankees Stadium was full this weekend, et cetera, the people are coming out to events. We really need to honor the people that saw us through, and I think they're going to have a great reception and it's going to be a historic moment any way you slice it. 

Moderator: Dana from the New York Times.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Dana. How you been?

Question: I'm okay. Thank you. So, my first question is about coronavirus. As we watched the positivity rate tick up again toward one percent, I'm curious if you anticipate any new guidance about vaccinated people wearing masks inside again. And relatedly, I'm wondering if Dr. Katz can tell us what percentage of the new cases are breakthrough cases in vaccinated people.

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi, Dana. The bottom line is we think, based on the data and the science, we're in the right place right now. We'll constantly watch, but you know, we're pushing up now to 9.5 million vaccinations. That number continues to grow. We're seeing, you know, lower and lower hospitalization. That's fantastic. So, I think we're in the right place. If we see any adjustments, we'll make them, but we do not have a plan to make additional adjustments at this point. Go ahead, Dr. Katz then Dr. Chokshi. Do we hear Dr. Katz? He's on mute. You're on mute, Mitch. Come on. You're still on mute. This is the Zoom disease. Do we have him? Okay. We might – can you sub in Dr. Chokshi until we figure this out? Mitch –

President Katz: Mitch, can you hear me now?

Mayor: There we go.

President Katz: Okay. So sorry. The important thing to keep in mind is that there is less testing going on right now [inaudible] because people know that they are protected from the vaccine, by the vaccine. So, people are generally less concerned about going for testing. So, that's affecting the positivity rate. The rate of people who are hospitalized, which is really what we care about, remains very low. The vaccines are doing their work. Yes, there are breakthrough cases. I don't have data on what percent are breakthrough cases. But what we know is that when people are vaccinated, even if they are positive for the virus, they don't get seriously ill. And again, that's what we care about, keeping people alive, saving lives. And so, we want to keep pushing on the vaccination. The vaccinations work for the Delta variant. The Delta variant is just more contagious and so poses a greater risk for the unvaccinated. So, I don't see that we're going to make any recommendations to have vaccinated people wear masks. The problem is unvaccinated people. They're the ones who are generally getting infected. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi, you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Well, first as you, as a Mayor, and Dr. Katz have said, test positivity is becoming a little bit less valuable as a metric as testing patterns change, but that's why we do also follow the other important indicators, particularly cases and hospitalizations, and those remain steady at this moment. Although we are concerned about the Delta variant, particularly for unvaccinated people, as Dr. Katz has mentioned. With respect to what we're seeing with respect to cases and hospitalizations among unvaccinated versus vaccinated people, the pattern is very clear. For both cases and hospitalizations, the vast, vast majority of those are occurring in people who are not yet fully vaccinated. And that's why you've heard the emphasis from us both today, as well as in previous weeks, that the single most important thing that we can do to protect individuals as well as for the city as a whole is to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

We're seeing jobs come back in this city. We're seeing businesses come back more intensely. We have our new quick-start approach to help them come back more quickly. These are all things we need to do as part of our recovery. And just conclude today to say, you know, here's a day where we are talking about a lot of the issues that are necessary for our recovery and moving the city forward, whether it's addressing public safety, whether it's intensifying vaccination, or doing things like giving kids a safe place to be this summer with Summer Rising. A lot going on, but what it all adds up to is a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everybody.

2021-07-08 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Wasn't yesterday amazing? A beautiful salute to our hometown heroes. It was so emotional, so powerful. I talked to so many of the heroes who never expected to be honored in this fashion the same way as great figures in history have been and winning teams and everyone who's gone down the Canyon of Heroes. This was a day for working people. This was a day that we celebrated the people who saw us through COVID through thick and thin and honored them in a way working people deserve to be appreciated and honored. The eyes of the whole world were on the Canyon of Heroes. And I just want to express my thanks to every single person, every essential worker, every educator, first responder, health care hero, everyone. We tried to include all the folks who saw us through COVID and continue to. And I say, God bless them all. It was a beautiful day. And another sign that New York City is back and strong. A day of him by and for New Yorkers, and something to be really proud of.

Now, the reason we could have that parade goes back to the thing we talked about every day, vaccination. The vaccination effort, and the heroes who were part of that, the vaccinators, Test and Trace Corps, all the folks in the community clinics and the hospitals, all the folks who made vaccination happen, they made it possible. And the New Yorkers who stepped forward to get vaccinated made it possible. And all the labor unions we worked with who encouraged their members. So, many people did the work of getting New Yorkers vaccinated. It's made a huge difference. You can feel it out there in the streets. And today we've surpassed another milestone in the vaccination effort, 9.5 million vaccinations given from day one. The official figure, 9,539,004 doses to date, a vast effort. And it continues to grow every single day, thousands and thousands, more people getting vaccinated. We're going to keep doing this until COVID is once and for all gone. And it is another example, there's no stop in New York City. This is an example of the strength of New York City. This kind of effort, and the way New Yorkers responded to it has made all the difference.

Okay, indicators now. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's reports, 73 patients, and confirmed positivity rate of 12 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.29. That is a very good number. And you're going to see in these numbers today, some variability, because what we're seeing is fewer folks are getting tested, understandably, and we're not doing the school testing anymore, which was a tremendous success. And we all worked on it together on this side of the table, tremendous success. But also consistently showed incredibly low levels of positivity. So, that's not happening the same way as it was before. That's affecting the numbers. But what we're really focused on is this hospitalization number being very, very low. Case number now, new reported cases on a seven-day average, 203 cases, but the positivity number is higher, but again, based on fewer tests and we like what we see overall. So, the positivity number for, a citywide number – excuse me, percentage of people testing city-wide for COVID-19, 1.06 percent. Okay, a few words in Spanish. I'm going to go back to where we began with the Academic Recovery Plan.  

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter; Fred Dixon, President and CEO of NYC & Company; OEM Commissioner John Scrivani; Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi; and Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals. Andrew Siff from WNBC.  

Question: Mayor, good morning, and everyone on the call –  

Mayor: Andrew, I saw you covered in confetti yesterday.  

Question: Yes, I was covered in confetti, and I was among the crowds and walked the entire route.   

Mayor: Thank you. I hope you enjoyed it.   

Question: [Inaudible] we did. We very much did. It was [inaudible] I wanted to [inaudible] amid all of that at sort of [inaudible] celebration and the milestone, I wanted to get your health folks to weigh on this [inaudible] state of Missouri, they ran out of [inaudible] that the Delta cases are so significant in unvaccinated areas. There’s crisis team, federal crisis team, responding to parts of the US, not other parts of the world. While organizing for tourists here [inaudible] do you have any layer of concern [inaudible] unvaccinated folks [inaudible] whether or who is vaccinated [inaudible].   

Mayor: Andrew, we lost a fair amount of what you said. I think we have enough to answer, but if you can get to a better connection, that would be real helpful. But let me turn in a second to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz. This is why I say, the answer always is more vaccination of our people is the way to protect our people. 9.5 million doses now, 4.3 million New Yorkers fully vaccinated, 4.7 million have had at least one dose and we fully expect they’ll get a second dose soon. And we just got to keep going every single day. Typical day is tens of thousands more people, which is fantastic. This is the key. What we saw – what we're seeing in Missouri right now, it's very troubling. You're absolutely right. Clearly correlates to a gap in vaccination or an unwillingness on a large scale for folks get vaccinated. That's not what we're seeing here. We're seeing more and more people stepping forward all the time, and I think you're going to see that grow as we get closer to September and people are preparing to come back to work, come back to school. So, I think the way we handle every element of the equation is just deepening the vaccination effort. Dr. Chokshi followed by Dr. Katz.  

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and the bottom line is the one that you said, which is that vaccination is the key with respect to protecting us from not just the Delta variant, but all of the variants that are circulating in New York City and the United States right now. We do know that the Delta variant is here in the city and in fact comprises a significant number of the cases that we're seeing in the city right now, and the CDC released data earlier this week showing that the Delta variant is the predominant one across the United States. But what we know is that that variant is most risky for people who are not yet fully vaccinated. That's why we're seeing what we're seeing in places like Missouri and Nevada, because we know this virus is an opportunist. It will go to the places where people are the least protected, and that's something that we as a city have agency over. It's why you've seen us continue to lower barriers to vaccination day by day, week by week, which we'll continue to do so that everyone can get afforded the protection that vaccination offers. The final thing that I'll say is that, you know, we're getting more and more evidence about how effective the vaccines are against the Delta variant, particularly for severe illness. There is a slightly higher rate of vaccine breakthroughs that is apparent for the Delta variant, but the big picture is that it remains highly protective and particularly for the outcomes that we care the most about for ourselves and our loved ones.  

Mayor: Thank you. And Dr. Mitch Katz, I saw you proudly marching with your Health + Hospitals team yesterday. Congratulations to you. Anything you want to add?  

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Thank you, sir. I was so proud to be with the heroes and sheroes of Health + Hospitals who did such an amazing job during the pandemic. I just want to add that overwhelmingly what we're seeing at the hospitals and the clinics are that the people getting sick with COVID are un-vaccinated, and that's the major, major group, and that's why, as you say, sir, we have to keep working on vaccination. There are a few breakthrough cases that we've seen on people who are vaccinated, but they are mild. I mean, as Dr. Chokshi says, right, it's the vaccines are incredibly, incredibly effective at preventing serious disease, which is what we really care about. It's not so much what the swab is positive or negative, it's saving lives and keeping people healthy, and that's the guarantee that they get from the vaccination. Thank you, sir.   

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew. Andrew?  

Question: Better right now?   

Mayor: There you go. Let's hear it.   

Question: Mayor, can you – all right.  Mayor, as you know, tomorrow's the last day for the Javits Center as a vaccine hub, I'm wondering what you make of that milestone and where the city stands as far as closing whatever remaining city hubs you have and making vaccinations strictly pharmacy, mobile units, and doctor's offices?  

Mayor: It's a great question, Andrew. I appreciate it. I think for months we've been saying that a more decentralized approach is what works, especially in communities that we need to reach more deeply. So, I think you're right. It's the doctor's offices, pediatricians especially, it's the pharmacies, it's the mobile vans and buses that have been incredibly effective. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, you can talk about just how much you will rely on a fixed locations versus all those other options. But I think, Andrew, we do know that these – this mix of approaches is the thing that's working for us. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.  

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, but just as you said, our approach is to get further out into neighborhoods and communities. You've seen us do that over the last several weeks, particularly with our mobile vaccination options, as well as partnering with independent pharmacies and doctor's offices not just, you know, at large systems, which of course is important, but the smaller practices where we know that people already have trusted relationships with their family doctors and with their pediatricians, and so we're working with them, doctor by doctor, practice by practice, to ensure that they have what they need to vaccinate their patients, and that will continue. The other thing to highlight is that thousands of people have already gotten vaccinated through our in-home vaccination efforts, and the Mayor announced a couple of weeks ago that that is now open for anyone who is currently eligible for vaccination, and what it means is that we will pull out all the stops so, that access is not a barrier for vaccination. You can get it on your own terms when it's convenient for you because that's how serious we are about vaccination.  

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, you want to add?  

President Katz: No, thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.  

Moderator: Our next question goes to Jessica from WNYC. 

Question: I was wondering for the doctors; you were talking about the kinds of cases you're seeing in clinics and hospitals of unvaccinated people. I was wondering – I don't want an exact number, but I was curious what, how many of those proportionally are children who are unvaccinated? 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz. 

President Katz: I'm happy to start. Very, very few children. Right, this is something we saw from early on in the pandemic, that children do not seem to have the serious repercussions of COVID in the vast majority of cases. There have been a few serious cases of inflammatory reactions to COVID. There have been a few sick children, but remarkably few. I don't believe at the moment in all the Health + Hospitals facilities would have a single sick child. So, very, very few. I'd be interested what Dr. Chokshi thinks. 

Mayor: We love that statement from your Dr. Katz. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: I agree with you, Dr. Katz. when we look at our data, particularly with respect to hospitalizations due to COVID-19, the rate of children being hospitalized is significantly lower than for adults, and it remains older adults who are at greatest risk of hospitalization, even though we do have higher vaccination rates among older adults. But what I will say is that for some children we do now have the ability to confer even more protection because of course, hospitalization is not the only outcome that we are most concerned about. You know, we're also concerned about the longer-term effects from COVID-19. And so, I urge parents to very seriously consider getting their adolescents – anyone who is 12 or older – vaccinated as well, because that will help keep them protected.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Kristin from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you today?  

Mayor: I'm doing well, Kristin. How have you been? 

Question: I'm doing good, thanks. I wanted to talk about summer school. So, the updated guidance that the State released the other day says that unvaccinated children are strongly encouraged, but not required to wear face coverings indoors or outdoors. Does the DOE plan to update its guidance for summer school to reflect this change and also align with the City summer camps throughout the city? 

Mayor: I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Choksi and to the Chancellor. Look, we've taken a cautious approach in general and even when other standards are changing around us, we try to be smart and careful about the best way to handle the situation, and I think that's served us really well. So, to-date, you know, our approach has been a cautious one on the question of masks and I think it's helped us a lot. But as to how we're aligning to new guidance, Dr. Choksi, do you want to start? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I'm happy to start on this. And briefly, you know, our recommendation has been to keep the current guidance for DOE schools, which keeps the mask requirement in place for both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. As the Mayor has said, this has been a key part of our layered approach, which has kept schools safe and has made the transmission of COVID almost minimal in school environment. And so, that is that is the current recommendation. We will continue to evaluate this as we get more and more evidence about what is most effective in the school setting. And, of course, my team is in constant communication with the Chancellor and her team about this.  

Mayor: Thank you. Chancellor, you want to add? 

Chancellor Porter: We're going to continue to work with our medical experts. The guidance currently stands and we will stay in regular communication. 

Mayor: Well said, thank you.

Okay. With that, everybody, we are so happy today that we are able to keep talking about New York City coming back. We saw it yesterday with the parade. We see it today with the Academic Recovery Plan and the many, many tourists that Fred's going to help bring to New York City, who are going to help fill the coffers, and get people back to work, and bring even more life and energy. And remember, we'll finish today with important point, do not experience FOMO. If you don't want FOMO, you have to come to New York City. That'll solve it for you. Thank you, everybody.

2021-07-12 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, the Summer of New York City continues and last week, amazing things. We had the Macy's 4th of July fireworks. We had the incredible parade saluting our hometown heroes. And the Summer of New York City is amazing because it's big events and special things, but also spontaneous things happen. And look at what happened yesterday with the celebration for Italy in their amazing victory in the European Cup.

And the reason we are able to celebrate the Summer of New York City is because of vaccinations. The vaccination effort keeps growing, as of now 9,616,298 doses. Well on our way to 10 million doses soon, and we've used incentives as a crucial part of this. A lot of people have gotten great prizes because they chose to get vaccinated. We want to keep that going. The big prizes, some of them that have been very, very popular, we're going to continue to the end of July. So, if you're into some of these particular prizes, the $2,500 cash prize, I know that one's very popular, the staycation weekends, we're going to be running those for the next few weeks and this is your opportunity. If you have not yet gotten vaccinated, get into the game so you can get these amazing prizes. If you're 18 years old or older, you can enter the contest. Now, you have to get your first dose at a City-run site by 9:00 AM on August 1st to win one of those prizes. Then we're going to phase those out, but we're going to keep the other great prizes after August 1st. And those will continue at City-run sites – Citi Bike memberships, free NYC Ferry rides, NYCFC tickets, Coney Island tickets, great opportunities. And then beyond that, the referral initiative that we've been doing with grassroots organizations, with community organizations, houses of worship, very, very popular, that's going to be incredibly helpful because it brings money back into the community for everyone who gets vaccinated through those efforts. Anybody who wants to participate in that bonus referral effort, you can go to nyc.gov/vaccineincentives. 

Alright, let's go over our indicators for the day, and we're going to continue to analyze the indicators. Publicly, what we're seeing is, again, some greater number of cases and positivity, but we also see the thing we care about the most, thank God, hospitalizations staying very low and people not being put in dangerous results. So, let's go over the indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report is 78 patients, confirmed positivity level of 6.10 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.28. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 328 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing city-wide positive for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 1.27 percent. Let me say a few words in Spanish, and I'm going back to the Saturday Night Lights initiatives to help our young people. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi and Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Advisor on Public Health. Our first question for today goes to Andrew Siff from NBC. 

Question: Good morning. How's that connection today, Mayor? 

Mayor: Andrew, you sound mellifluous, poetic – 

Question: Excellent. 

Mayor: Elegant. 

Question: Good to hear. I did ask about this last week, but we continue to see the increasing COVID cases in non-vaccinated areas across the country. The city itself does have pockets that are far below the citywide average. And you've talked before about using the mobile unit and that it's available door to door. But do you reach a point where that's not enough? Do you have to take even more aggressive action? Is there any way to take a more – stricter measures in some of the communities before this really spreads to a more alarming level? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma. I'll start by saying, look, right now, the good news is, you know, 9.6 million doses given and growing all the time. So, we need to keep doing what's working and just keep building it out. Clearly one of the things that's necessary is that deepening of the grassroots efforts. Like you said, the mobile vans, the buses, working with community organizations. There's still a lot more we can get done that way. And I think what we are also seeing, really thankfully, is that all the effort that was put in before is the reason why the hospitalization rate has gone lower and lower. That's really the number one thing that, you know, all of this vaccination has worked, but we're watching the data really carefully and we'll certainly continue to look at different options of what we got to do to respond to the situation as it develops. Dr. Chokshi then Dr. Varma. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And, look, Andrew, as we've said before, the spread of the Delta variant means that it is perhaps the most dangerous time to be unvaccinated. And that's why we have ensured that our vaccination efforts are proceeding with as much urgency as possible to be able to extend the protection of vaccination to as many people as we can. We're seeing, for example, in Staten Island the percent positivity and the case numbers have increased in recent days and weeks. And that's because we have unvaccinated individuals, particularly younger people, who remain unvaccinated. And so, we have to take the steps that we've described, that the Mayor has talked about over the last few weeks. That's not just the mobile vaccination, working with our community partners, both community-based organizations, as well as primary care providers and pediatricians but lowering every single barrier to vaccination. For example, our in-home vaccination program is now available to anyone who is eligible for the vaccine, and you'll see an even more concerted push around ensuring that younger people get vaccinated over the course of the rest of the summer. But my message is to convey a clear sense of urgency that we have to make sure as many people are as protected as possible in the next few weeks. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah. Thank you very much, Andrew, for the question. And to really emphasize what the Mayor has said and Dr. Chokshi has said, we know that vaccines are incredibly effective, but we also know that this new strain of the virus is particularly contagious. And so, for that percentage of the population that remains unvaccinated, they are at very high risk of getting infected and potentially having these severe complications. So, everything that the Commissioner has talked about in terms of increasing access is going to be critically important. But we also need everybody out there, everybody who's listening, whether you're a part of the media, whether you have family members or everybody else, to really spread the message just as actively as you can, because you know, we at the City level have done absolutely everything possible at this point to try to make them accessible and make information. But there's not – it doesn't mean you can't continue to try harder and continue to do more. And part of that is going to be really the sort of one-to-one mobilization that people can do because we've seen what's happening in other parts of the world where this spreads very rapidly among unvaccinated people. And we really do need to do everything we can to increase our levels so that we are much more well-protected. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Allison from PIX11. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Hey, Allison, how you doing? 

Question: Pretty good. Thank you. So, I'm sure you're aware of the motion filed by the Legal Aid Society regarding the move of homeless New Yorkers from hotels back to shelters, arguing that their rights have been violated, especially if they have illness or disability. You know, there's not expected to be a ruling until tomorrow, but I want to ask a few questions and has every move been halted until Tuesday? And your thoughts on the argument, people who have respiratory issues, other sort of health issues, are really at risk when they go back to congregate shelters due to the Delta variant. So, your thoughts on that and where the City is right now in this moving process. 

Mayor: Allison, I'll be just very broad because obviously any matter litigation I have to speak very carefully about. Look, there's a temporary pause while we're waiting to get to tomorrow's procedure, court procedure. But the bottom line is that everything we've been doing has been done based on State and federal guidance, close constant consultation with our health care team about what makes sense to do, and obviously accommodations being granted to people in particular need. And that's been the approach all along. Go ahead, Allison. 

Question: Have there been – has there been outreach or will there be further outreach in vaccinating this population once they are moved to congregate shelters? Will you put that extra effort in there? 

Mayor: Absolutely. There has been, there continues to be, there will be. We want to get everyone vaccinated and ongoing vaccination efforts for folks who happen to be homeless in shelter or not in shelter is definitely a priority. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Emma from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. Over the weekend, Adams was on some of the big TV shows and he said he agreed with L. A. urging residents to wear masks indoors, and that it was better to err on the side of caution and that he still wears a mask indoors in crowded settings sometimes. So, what do you think of that? 

Mayor: We're going to be – I mean, I certainly respect to anyone who says they want to act out of an abundance of caution. I appreciate that, but right now we're basing everything we're doing on the data. We are watching the trends constantly, but from what we have heard from the CDC, from what we've seen in our own experience, the current guidance makes a lot of sense. And remember, that guidance comes with clear, specific instructions around, for example, being in a school setting, being in a hospital setting, on mass transit. So, there are definitely places indoors where we want to see people be careful. But overall, I think the current guidance makes sense.  

Moderator: Our next question goes to Michael Gartland from the Daily News.   

Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor.   

Mayor: Good morning, Michael, how you doing?  

Question: I'm doing great. I wanted to ask you about a story we ran in the paper today about the conditions in courts and, you know, DCAS and BOC, NYPD, and ACS have some responsibilities as far as keeping up conditions. And, you know, we found, you know, situations with ventilation systems that haven't been upgraded, situations where, you know, kids who are being held, you know, are packed in pretty tightly and I wanted to find out what is the city doing to alleviate these conditions as far as, you know, making it better?  

Mayor: Yeah, Michael, I want to make sure I heard you clearly. Did you say in courts?   

Question: Yes.   

Mayor: Yeah, I did not see your story. I apologize. Well, look obviously anything involving the courts, that's the Office of Court Administration and the State, we'll constantly work with them if there are issues to be addressed. I want to see what those issues are and how we can do that, but ultimately, we would need them to cooperate to make those kinds of changes. Go ahead, Michael.  

Question: Thanks. I – you know, I just want to push back on that a little bit. My understanding is that DCAS has some responsibility as far as maintenance with these buildings. So, you know, what – again, what is the city doing about that? I get that, you know, courts fonder OCA, but as far as maintenance and, you know, maybe I'm wrong here, but my understanding is DCAS maintains 55 court buildings in the city.  

Mayor: Yeah, it's a mix to the best of my understanding between some city owned properties, some state-owned properties, and again, I don't know the specifics. I'm sorry, I haven't read it, so I can't give you a better answer, but we will immediately look into this, and we'll get you an answer later on today.  

Moderator: Our next question goes to Henry from Bloomberg.  

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. It's good to talk to you again.  

Mayor: Hey, how you doing, Henry?  

Question: I’m good. I want to get back to the subject of the stubborn numbers on infection rates. In Staten Island, the positivity rate in some of these communities is five percent or so. The vaccination rates continue to be under 40 percent. I just heard Dr. Varma say that everything is being done. Everything possible is being done. Is that really the case? I mean, isn't there something else that can be done to increase the numbers of people who are getting vaccinated in light of the Delta variant? I mean this way.   

Mayor: We're always – I mean, I appreciate the spirit of your question, Henry. We're never going to stop looking for new approaches. We're trying a lot of different things, as you heard Dr. Chokshi say, in home vaccination for anyone now, which is extraordinary. I think that will help. I think the referral bonuses will help because we'll get a community-based organizations and houses of worship involved, that started, and I think that's promising. I do think greater focus on mobile vaccination efforts and less on the specific standing sites is going to help given what we're seeing. But the numbers, you know, look the overall numbers right now, 4.4 million New Yorkers fully vaccinated, 4.8 million have received at least one dose. And again, in New York City, that means almost all will get their second dose. So, it keeps growing and it manifests – the fact that so many people are vaccinated manifest, thank God, in this very low hospitalization rate, and that's a fact. That's what the data's telling us. But I do appreciate your point. We got to keep innovating. We got to keep looking for every opportunity. I think we're going to have a particular opportunity around younger folks in the lead up to school. I think a lot of parents are going to want to get their young people vaccinated, so that's going to be something we'll focus on a lot with pediatricians, but we got to keep looking for every new strategy that works. Go ahead, Henry.  

Question: That's all I've got, Mr. Mayor, have a good day.   

Mayor: All right, man, take care.   

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Chloe from Gothamist.   

Question: Hi, good morning. How are you?   

Mayor: Hey, Chloe, how are you doing today?   

Question: Hello. My question is regarding the new CDC guidance for schools, specifically masks not being necessary for un-vaccinated students and kids keeping three feet apart, but not if those recommendations keeps kids out of schools, and I wanted to know what is your response and the city's response to that?  

Mayor: Yeah, I will start, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. Look, we've been constantly working with the CDC, but we also, in this case have been very careful given everything the city has been through. So, I'm absolutely confident based on this guidance and everything else we've seen that we'll be able to get all our kids back into school in September, but for now sticking with the idea that, you know, wearing the masks is a smart thing to do in schools. We'll keep assessing as we go along. But I think for now it still makes sense. Dr. Chokshi?  

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Not much to add to what you've said. What I will say is that the CDC guidance mirrors the layered approach to prevention of COVID-19 that has worked in our schools thus far. And the key in that layered approach is to use all the tools that we have in our toolbox, and so we're going to be reviewing the new guidance carefully, discussing it with our colleagues at the Department of Education, and coming out with additional information for parents and students in the weeks ahead.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Chloe.  

Question: Yes, my follow up is just around when will guidance be released for parents and students? And what are conversations like right now?  

Mayor: Wait, say that again, Chloe, just speak up a little more. I couldn't hear that well.   

Question: Yeah, no worries. My question was just when will guidance be released for parents and students? And what are conversations like right now around this topic?  

Mayor: Well, as we get closer to school, we'll certainly update the families of this city, but, you know, I think the guidance that we've given to date has been very, very clear. Everyone's coming back in September. A lot of safety precautions being taken. Look, we had a gold standard of health and safety precautions that worked. You know, by the end of the school year positivity in the schools was almost non-existent, which is just beautiful. So, we're going to keep a lot of those same pieces in place, and we'll give people updated guidance when we get, you know, a few weeks out from school. But I think folks can anticipate right now is every child in school. There'll be a lot of communication before school and once it begins. For now, assume we're wearing masks, but that could change as we get closer. But we'll be driven by, you know, the data we see and, and the science as always. The good news is, and it's really something I hope will get its, you know, due attention over time, that our educators, our school staff, our health care folks, parents, kids, everyone participated this amazing effort to make schools safe and it worked. And there were a lot of Doubting Thomases in the beginning, but it really worked. Hundreds of thousands of kids went to school and stayed safe and I'm absolutely convinced we can do this really, really well in September and welcome everyone back, and that is going to be crucial to bring in the whole city back. And with that, thank you everyone.

2021-07-13 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. 

People are going back to Mets games because everyone went and got vaccinated, and that's allowed us to enjoy life again and have so many wonderful events and the things that we love in our lives, including going to a baseball game. It's back because of vaccination. So, we want to keep encouraging everyone to get vaccinated and every single day, thousands and thousands more New Yorkers get vaccinated. It's making a real difference. The vaccination totals as of today, amazing number, 9,628,278 doses from the very beginning of this effort. And we're going to keep it growing and continue to, every day, build up our efforts to protect all New Yorkers.

Now this is what's allowing us to recover. This is what's allowing us to create a recovery for all of us. This is what's allowing us to bring New York City back and every single day we see more good news of the city coming back to life, things opening again, all because of that amazing vaccination effort. 

Okay. Now let's do today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for a suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 64 patients. Confirmed positivity level of 11.76 percent. Hospitalization rate 0.29 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today’s report 363 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19. Today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 1.28 percent.

I'm going to say a few words in Spanish and going to focus on IDNYC.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by MOIA Commissioner Raquel Batista, by Dr. Mitch Katz and by Dr. Dave Chokshi.

First question today goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody out on the call today. So, I guess this is a good question for today's topic. This was from a listener to me the other day. They want to know if you need some sort of photo ID or a license to get vaccinated and or tested?

Mayor: Great question. This question has come up before, but I'm glad we're talking about [inaudible] and I’m going to turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi. Look, even though it is normal to ask for identity to keep track of things like second appointments, et cetera. My understanding is if for some reason, someone did not have an ID, of course, we still want to make sure that they get what they need. So, Dr. Katz, Dr. Chokshi, talk about how that works.

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes, Mr. Mayor. We often at Health + Hospitals have situations where people come to us without an identification at that moment. It's still our job to take care of them. And the same would be true of vaccination. We will do our best to help the person to establish their identity because we want it known for them in the future that they've been vaccinated. But we will go ahead and vaccinate someone, even if they do not have an identity card. But I think this NYC ID card is great and everybody should get one.

Mayor: I like that. Amen. Dr. Chokshi you want to add?

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes sir. Just to add briefly, I want to emphasize that in our city of immigrants and as the son of immigrants myself we do not ask for the immigration status of people who get the vaccine in any of our clinics or in Dr. Katz's public hospitals. We also never share anyone's information, such as where they reside with federal or immigration authorities. And the final point is a reminder that the vaccines are free and health insurance is also not required to get vaccinated.

Mayor: Very, very good points. Thank you.

Moderator: The next is Bob Hennelly from the Chief Leader.

Question: Thanks for taking the call. Considering the growing challenge with the Delta variant, shouldn't you and the City be highlighting on a daily basis – and I mean, in the dashboard that we hear every day – the data points from ZIP codes where vaccination rates continue to lag the city or the national average, isn't this a critical indicator?

Mayor: Bob, it's a fair question, but I'd say, you know, that information we put up regularly through the Health Department and we act on it by sending more of our mobile efforts into those communities, working with community leaders. We know, Bob, a lot of this has to be done very locally. That's why we have this bonus referral initiative where local committee-based organizations, houses of worship, and others can actually directly benefit financially for their community for every single person that they bring in to get vaccinated. So, we know there are areas that need more work and we put the information out publicly, and then we act on it. Go ahead, Bob.

Question: This is for you and that would be great to hear from your health experts. I just spoke with Dr. Prezant, of the FDNY's chief medical officer. He mentions that they're still dealing with vaccination [inaudible] among first responders and firefighters in EMT is at the 50 percent rate. In light of this Delta issue and of the fact that you do have a serious problem with ZIP codes that are lagging, isn't there a potential problem here if you have first responders – I understand even the Police Department still has an issue here – that are not getting vaccinated, operating as they must and do in areas that are so below the national average and even the City average for vaccination acceptance?

Mayor: I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi. Bob, look, we've got a lot of work to do. Now, 9.6 million vaccinations so far – clearly, a lot of people have responded and that's why overall the city is so safe. But I think your point is very well taken, we've got to reach more people and we’ve got to figure out what's going to move them. I do think time has helped for a lot of people. I think incentives have helped for some people. I think making it convenient is help for some people. But I think we’ve got to keep, especially within agencies, redoubling our efforts, because every single additional vaccination matters. So, in terms of everything we can do, particularly within our City agencies – first Dr. Katz, then Dr. Chokshi.

President Katz: Yes, Mr. Mayor, I think you've covered it very well. The key continues to be vaccination and that we hope that people listening understand that the increase in cases is all occurring among unvaccinated people and we have a city that's prepared to vaccinate people with a highly effective vaccine at no cost with great convenience. We understand that there are populations, including first responders, who continue to, you know, be wary of vaccination. We're doing our best to provide information, to provide peer support, testimonials of other people, community leaders, religious leaders, all to make people more comfortable with vaccination, and it is working. I mean, as you continue to say, sir, every day more and more New Yorkers are vaccinated. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you and thanks for this important question. Just to build a little bit on what Dr. Katz has said, our starting point is that the Delta variant does add one more reason why it is so urgent to get vaccinated. We have seen over the past 18 months how much the coronavirus is a formidable foe and how it will find the cracks in our armor. But we have the most powerful weapons to actually do something about it and protect ourselves in the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. With respect to the scale of outreach that we've described, much of it hinges on the one-on-one conversations, those individual discussions where people can share their values and preferences and find a listening ear to talk through any remaining concerns from them. But in that conversation, we have to be very clear that it is a dangerous time to remain unvaccinated, particularly because of the new that are circulating.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: The next is Yehudit from Borough Park 24 News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: I'm doing great. How are you today?

Question: Good. Thank God. Last week, Dr. Chokshi said that the vast majority of both new cases and hospitalizations are occurring for those who are not yet fully vaccinated. I'm wondering whether you have any data on whether anyone who has gotten the Delta variant or is hospitalized had, had antibodies from having previously had the original strain of COVID?

Mayor: Very good question and I'm going to turn it to Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you for this important question, which is if someone has had previous infection and particularly if they have antibodies after that prior infection, are they at risk of getting reinfected, particularly with the Delta variant? And the answer is that there is a small risk of reinfection, and it appears that the Delta variant does have some slightly greater properties to invade the immune system. But natural infection does provide good protection against all of the variants of the virus that are circulating in New York City, including the Delta variant. The final point, which is very important, is that the best way to augment that immunity is to get vaccinated. So, if you're someone like me who had COVID-19 in the past, my recommendation is for you to get vaccinated as well, because we do have evidence that strengthens immunity and it may extend the duration of immunity as well.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: The next is Steve Burns from WCBS 880.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How have you been?

Mayor: Good, Steve. How are you doing today?

Question: Doing all right. Wanted to ask another COVID-related question. In terms of, you know, how we deal with – if I could borrow a phrase from Governor Murphy in New Jersey, a pandemic among the unvaccinated – I know the vaccination effort continues a pace, but if we do see, you know, growing amounts of cases and hospitalizations that are almost solely among the unvaccinated, how do you tackle that from a regulatory or a policy perspective? I take it, we're not going to see too many wide-scale restrictions or closures anymore. But do we just resign ourselves to letting this, you know, spread among the unvaccinated? Or how do we – how do we kind of tackle that from a policy perspective?

Mayor: Well, huge, powerful question, Steve. Thank you. And I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi. We are talking about this constantly lately. Look, what's clear is, there's still a lot of running room here in terms of reaching people, because, every day, thousands and thousands more people get vaccinated. So, I want to start with that, but then address, I think, the other element of question. Just to give you the update, Steve, right now, again, 4.4 million fully vaccinated New York City residents – 4.8 million if include folks who have had at least one dose and, therefore, have some protection. And, overwhelmingly, folks who get one dose do come back and get the second. So, we're continuing to make progress. Every day we see new people coming in, because they are being reached through these grassroots efforts in particular. So, we know that sort of constantly working it is having an effect. And every single additional vaccination really helps us, it just keeps cutting off avenues for COVID. To your point, though, what are the other tools? We're continually exploring that. We've got to look at, you know, a variety of options as we go forward. I don't think right now we need a different tool, because we see the most important indicators – we go over them every day. Hospitalization is really the leading edge here, the thing that tells us the most about the ability of people to either not get COVID or survive COVID. That number remains very, very low. And, you know, as vaccinations every day go up and that hospitalization number remains low, we're in the right place. But we do need to think about what if that changes, what can we do differently? And that's something we're going to be continually exploring, you know, in the weeks ahead. Go ahead, Dr. Katz.

President Katz: Think you've said it all, sir. I find it very pleasing every day to review the number people who are still coming forward for vaccination. I know in my own clinical practice, I still get more people vaccinated when I talked to them about it. I think there were a large number of people for whom it still seems like this vaccine is very new, it's only been available for six or seven months, they want a little more time to feel that they know the side effects profile and that a lot of people I talk to don't say no, but say not now, I'm not quite ready yet. And I think especially as more information comes forward and people see that the unvaccinated are getting sick and the vaccinated are staying safe, we're going to see the rest of the population move forward for vaccination. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you. And just to answer your question, Steve, directly – no, we do not resign ourselves, because we have the chance to save more lives and prevent more suffering. The most important way to do that is what the Mayor and Dr. Katz had talked about, which is extending vaccination as broadly as we possibly can. We have particularly younger adults as well as youth adolescents who remain eligible for vaccination. And I do think we'll see more uptake among those groups in particular in the coming weeks and ahead of a return to school in the fall. The other thing that I have to mention is, to protect people who are unvaccinated, we have to continue emphasizing the precautions that have worked over the last 18 months. That means, if you are not yet fully vaccinated, you should continue wearing your face covering, continue practicing physical distancing, getting tested regularly, keeping your hands clean – all of these things help to curb the spread before there were vaccines. And if one remains unvaccinated, they remain important for you right now as well.

Mayor: Thank you. Thank you, everybody.

2021-07-14 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. You know, I want to take you on a little journey for a moment, back 15 months ago. In the scheme of things, that's not a long time ago. In our lives it feels like a very, very long distance. We've been through so much in the last 15 months. 15 months ago, this city was the epicenter of the COVID crisis in this entire country, one of the epicenters in the world. And I remember talking to people about their lives. I remember people talking about losing a mom or a dad or a grandparent, the shock of everything that happened so suddenly with COVID. The fact they couldn't even mourn. There was no way to gather. The one thing that might've given people a little peace, they couldn't do. The people we lost, the loved ones in a hospital room alone, family couldn't visit. Think about what our lives were like. We went from normal in January and February last year, to hell in March and April. Thank God, because people have worked so hard together, we've come a long, long way since then. It's a whole different reality and New Yorkers fought through it. I always say, thank you. Thank you to everyday New Yorkers who listened, who did the right thing, who helped each other, who got tested, who got vaccinated. What a difference it made. Now let's put this in perspective because there's new information that really shows the power of what this city did to fight COVID. 

Back 15 months ago – this is staggering to think about, we lived through it, but just recounting it is shocking – over 5,000 new cases a day of COVID, over 1,600 hospitalizations on any given day, over 700 deaths on some days. 700, a staggering figure. The human pain, inestimable. 15 months later, we still got a lot of work to do. But look at the difference. Hospitalizations have gone way down, thank God. We have cases, yes, but in the hundreds, not the thousands. There are days we lose our fellow New Yorkers and even a single life is one life too many to lose, but there are days when no one passes away in New York City from COVID. We've still got a lot more to do, but what a distance we've traveled. And it is exemplified by this number I'm going to give you. The number of doses – and I keep saying, this is an individual New Yorker who goes to get vaccinated, a vaccinator, a health care hero who gives them the vaccination. That has happened 9,649,865 times in just a matter of months. That's how many doses have been given this city. It's unbelievable. It's unprecedented. The largest vaccination effort by far in the history of New York City.  

Right now, today, this vaccination effort keeps growing. No matter what the challenges, and they are real, we keep building. There's over 75 pop-up sites, right this minute in New York City, giving vaccinations where the people are, where they're needed. There's over 800 public vaccination sites open today, 800 places where people can go get the help they need. And that is part of what we've done over time. We've moved these sites around where they're needed, public housing developments, senior citizen residences, you name it. Well over a thousand sites in the course of this whole vaccination effort, taking the vaccination to the people at the grassroots. We could feel the effect. You could see the effect in everyday life in the city. You could see it in the indicators we go through every day. But today we have new evidence from a powerful source of just how much impact this vaccination effort has made. And it is a tribute to the vaccinators. It's attributed to health care heroes.  

Yale University has just come out with a study and it shows that lives were saved, that thousands of cases were avoided, that history was altered by this massive vaccination effort. I want you to hear from one of the leaders who put together this study and can explain just how powerful the evidence is. She is the director of the Yale Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis. My honor to present to you, Dr. Alison Galvani. 

[...]  

Thank you so much, Dr. Galvani. I want to thank you and all your colleagues, such an important study. You know, we are, every day, telling people how crucial it is to get vaccinated, but this study is going to help us not just look at what happened and what it tells us for future challenges, it's going to help us right now because obviously Yale University, you and your colleagues, so highly respected, to hear you say, look, this changes the course of history, it is a clear affirmation to every New Yorker out there, wondering if they should get vaccinated, that this is exactly the right time to step forward. Get that vaccination, help us move the entire reality to a better place. So, Doctor, thank you to you and all your colleagues. 

Dr. Alison Galvani, Center for Infectious Disease Modeling and Analysis: Thank you. You're welcome.  

Mayor: So, everyone, those numbers tell a powerful, powerful story. You heard what Dr. Galvani said, over a quarter-million cases averted because of this extraordinary vaccination effort. Over 44,000 hospitalizations that did not happen because we reached people in time, got them vaccinated. And most importantly, over 8,000 lives saved because vaccination happened intensely swiftly at the grassroots because we mobilized everything, we had to reach people. Think of it in human terms. Think of it in terms of your own family. Think of it as a mom or dad who was still here, a grandparent, an aunt, an uncle who was still there at the family gathering because they got vaccinated in time. We've got a lot more to do. Thousands of people, thousands of new people show up every single day to be vaccinated. We got to keep driving that number with new and different approaches. And we know the challenge. We understand the challenge of the Delta variant. We understand that challenge is particularly clear and sharp for unvaccinated people. That's where the problem is. And so, we need to keep up with that with an approach that is sharp and clear, goes to the people where they are.  

We started, everyone knows, with the big centers, but now we have a very decentralized neighborhood-based grassroots approach. Let me go over the clear ideas behind this approach. One, vaccinate the unvaccinated to defeat the Delta variant. That's the ballgame. Now, five pillars to this approach. I want to make it really clear. One, mobile vaccination sites. This has been extremely effective. The vans and the buses, we're going to use those more and more. Two, door to door canvassing, literally going to folks who are not yet vaccinated, having the conversation, encouraging them, helping them, answering their questions. Three, in-home vaccination. This is unprecedented. We did it first for homebound folks, but now we're doing it for anyone who wants vaccination in their own home. We will bring vaccination to you. Four, referral bonus, engaging non-profits of houses of worship, community organizations, to go out, find people who are part of their trusted community, members of their community who listen to them, care about the voices of those local leaders and organizations, bringing them in, getting them vaccinated and getting rewarded financially so the money comes to the community, stays in the community. It's a double blessing. And then five, working with doctors, particularly pediatricians, to reach their patients systematically in a very organized fashion, reach them, convince them, get them vaccinated. Those five pillars are going to make all the difference. One of the architects of this plan, and one of the people who should be very proud of this Yale study because he and his team at the Department of Health were heroes in this effort. My pleasure to introduce our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. As the city's doctor, what keeps me up at night is thinking about those New Yorkers who are still unvaccinated. I think about how much suffering COVID-19 caused in our city over the past year-and-a-half. I think about the grief and the trauma, and the empty chairs around the dinner table. The good news is so much of that suffering is now avoidable because of the vaccines. We have evidence to prove it. As you heard, the city's vaccination campaign prevented a quarter-million COVID cases and saved over 8,000 lives. I want to take a moment to thank the nurses, pharmacists, doctors, volunteers, health department, staff, and other City workers who are responsible for this remarkable accomplishment. And new Health Department data show that between January and June 98.9 percent of cases, 98.4 percent of hospitalizations, and 98.9 percent of deaths related to COVID-19 were in those who were not fully vaccinated. So, now is a particularly dangerous time to be unvaccinated with the more contagious Delta variants spreading in our city. But the safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines offer protection against it and all of the other circulating strains of the virus currently in New York. So, the choice is clear. My message to everyone today if you have been waiting, if you have been on the fence, is to please sign up, to get that shot as soon as possible. 

As the Mayor said, our work continues, and our strategy is shifting to extend the benefit of vaccination even further into neighborhoods and communities. I think about this the same way I do when I'm speaking to one of my patients about vaccination. It starts with listening. That's why we've had over 5,300 community events, like town halls, to understand New Yorkers’ questions about the vaccine. It takes one-on-one conversations as with the over 280,000 New Yorkers reached by our door-to-door canvassers, and hundreds of thousands more phone calls from nurses now underway. And it means providing science-based information like the millions of mailers and flyers we've distributed thus far. In the coming weeks we'll continue these efforts with a focus on the areas of the city with the lowest vaccination rates. We will meet people where they are through our mobile vaccination vans and pop-ups, where we've administered over 100,000 doses already, and our in-home vaccination service, which has fully vaccinated 17,250 New Yorkers. We'll double down on our investment in community-based organizations. We've provided over $50 million to community and faith-based organizations throughout the response to support with education and outreach and connection to services. And we will make additional investments in coming months, including expanding our referral bonus program, offering $100 for each New Yorker vaccinated.  

As the Mayor said, we have been working with thousands of trusted health care providers and hundreds of health care leaders to promote the vaccine at pharmacies, hospitals, and community clinics. Our new Use Every Opportunity campaign helps ensure that vaccination is offered at each clinical encounter, whether for diabetes or depression. Our staff will be visiting primary care and women's health practices across the 76 ZIP codes with the lowest vaccination rates this summer to support them in offering the vaccine. We will also have a particular focus on youth and parents through our engagement with pediatric providers, particularly around back-to-school physicals. We have come so far, but the COVID-19 pandemic isn't over in New York City, our way out of this is with vaccination. It is our most powerful tool and with it, we can continue to save lives. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Chokshi. And everyone, this study tells us so much, and it tells us so much about the importance of focusing even more on vaccination going forward. I want you to hear from someone else who has really been one of the leading voices during this whole fight against COVID. He has often been one of the people who said we need to try new and different approaches, we need to bring these efforts to the grassroots. He's someone who knows a lot about working at the community level to organize people to better their community. And he's used those skills as a City Council member, he’s used those skills as Chairman of the Health Committee in the Council, and he has been a real voice of conscience to keep this city healthy. My pleasure to introduce Council Member – and by the way, soon to be Manhattan Borough President, congratulations – Council Member Mark Levine. 

[...] 

Thank you, Mark. Thank you so much. I want to give you the latest. I think you'll like this as the Health Committee Chair. As of today, 4.4 million New Yorkers fully vaccinated, 4.8 million New Yorkers who have now received at least one dose and we know overwhelmingly they will come back and get that second dose. So, every day we're making progress. Thanks again for your great help, making sure it's happening, including in your district, which is soon to be a whole borough. So, again, congratulations to you on your victory. 

Council Member Mark Levine: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. Thanks so much. 

Mayor: One more thing, everyone. When you look at this Yale study, I'm going to hold this up here. This is really powerful. It's a simple graph that shows what ended up happening because of the vaccination effort. Thank God we were able to fight back, deeply reduce the number of cases as you heard, over a quarter-million fewer cases. But there's a second part of this graph that shows what would have happened without the vaccination effort. And it's really striking and painful to look at how many more New Yorkers would have gotten COVID, how many more would have been in a hospital, how many more we would have lost, would have passed away. This vaccination effort saved thousands and thousands of lives. We need to take this information from one of the most respected institutions in the United States of America and say to people, look, look what we were able to do together. Now let's go and finish the job. Let's beat COVID once and for all and get even more New Yorkers vaccinated.  

And with that, let's turn to our indicators for the day. Number one daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report is 93 patients, confirmed positivity of 14.89 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.29. And again, that's the crucial number we're always watching. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 407 cases. Number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 1.33 percent. Want to say a few words in Spanish, focused again on the importance of getting vaccinated. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]  

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Dr. Dave Chokshi, Health Commissioner. Our first question goes to Amanda Eisenberg from Politico. 

Mayor: Amanda?  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: There you go. How are you, Amanda?  

Question: I'm good. I want to know what you're going to do about the humidity [inaudible] –  

Mayor: I've got a plan for that. We're setting up giant fans to make the humidity go away. We’ll announce that tomorrow –  

Question: I wanted to ask about the analysis and get a little wonky with you. So, this is a pre-print, which means it has not been peer-reviewed, and the peer review is needed for any sort of analysis to go into a journal and say, this is fact. Can you talk, and can you have your Health people talk a little bit more about, you know, what the timeline is for that? When do you know that is validated that this good news, you know, somebody else has looked at and confirmed? 

Mayor: Appreciate the question. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. I'll say this, this is a stunningly clear result, obviously from a highly respected institution. So, of course, as with everything, we welcome multiple levels of review, but I think this initial report is absolutely a verification to all New Yorkers how powerfully vaccination work. We've been talking for months now about look, the numbers of folks who've gotten vaccinated. We've shown the indicators daily, how much better things got, we were able to open things up. But we – this is really the first time we've been able to talk about what was avoided, what might have been if it weren't for this vaccination effort and this, I think, paints a very powerful picture, which I think will affect people's judgment. I agree with Mark Levine. I think it's going to make a certain number of people say, hey, wait a minute, it really makes a difference that I get vaccinated now. And that's why I particularly value this report. But as to your specific question, Dr. Chokshi.  

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and yes, we believe in the results. You know, these are based on a model that has been peer reviewed and is available for, you know, for vetting and understanding in the peer reviewed literature. The paper, you know, the analysis that we're discussing today will also undergo subsequent peer review. But the important point is the one that both Dr. Galvani and the Mayor have made, which is that we felt a great sense of urgency to convey what these findings are because the fight is not yet over. It's very important for us to describe what has been prevented over the last few months, so that we can continue those efforts at pace and prevent further suffering in New York City.  

Mayor: And I understand Dr. Galvani is still with us, which is great. Dr. Galvani would you like to speak to this as well? 

Dr. Galvani: Sure, absolutely. So, the model as you just mentioned is based on a publication that we published recently in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, which is one of the world's most highly respected infectious disease journals, medical journals. And we've taken that peer review framework and applied New York City parameters to conduct our analysis. And at this time, today actually, we're submitting the paper for peer review as well.  

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Amanda. 

Question: Great. Thank you all for that. And I want to get back to what Dr. Chokshi said, in terms of trying to, you know, show New Yorkers that we have some empirical data for them to look at. You started out with this vaccination effort trying to get incentives for people to get vaccinated. And now you're putting out a paper to say, hey, here's the science and here's the facts behind that. Do you feel like that this is going to be something that actually moves people? And can you talk a little bit more about the problems that you're facing in terms of getting these people who are not really budging to get vaccinated? 

Mayor: Yeah, I'll speak to it. And then I'll turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi. I really believe this based on, it seems like an endless number of conversations with our health care team, with the folks out in the field, talking to everyday New Yorkers, and my own conversations with New Yorkers of all kinds. I really feel that what is true right now, Amanda, hundreds of thousands, this hour of this day, hundreds of thousands of more people ready to be vaccinated right this minute, but we have the important work to do of reaching them. Sometimes it is a matter of just making it convenient. Sometimes it's an incentive. Sometimes it's just the right place, right time. You remember that wonderful video of the vaccinator in Times Square, just reaching out to people, getting them on the spot. We're finding that really works with the mobile units. But also, this effort with doctors and pediatricians, trusted voices, sometimes what people need is to ask a couple of medical questions and hear from a trusted voice. All of those pieces add up, and I'm not scared of the notion that we're going to have to do this person by person, because when you've done 9.6 million doses, obviously something's working. We just need to keep farther, farther. But I do believe time's on our side and this is the kind of evidence that for folks who have a little bit of doubt, this really is going to help them feel comfortable. Dr. Katz –  

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I totally agree with you, sir. All of the adults who are getting vaccinated now have been eligible for vaccination for months, and yet every day, you know, this week they're coming forward now, which shows that our efforts are working, that people are seeing that vaccination is the key to a healthy New York, a healthy family, a healthy them. And I certainly believe that the concerns about the Delta variants are going to result in even more people coming forward for vaccination. I think the efforts are working. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Nothing to add to that, sir. Thank you.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Chris from the Daily News.  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: Hey Chris, how are you? 

Question: I'm good. You said back in May that you wanted the City Marriage Bureau to reopen by July 1st. The City Marriage Bureau is still closed. We've spoken to a few couples. They're frustrated that they can't get their marriage experience. You know, especially as bars, restaurants, just about everything else in the city is open. Do you have an update on when the Marriage Bureau is expected to reopen? 

Mayor: Chris, I want to say, I'm glad you're raising the question. And I want to express real feeling for those couples who want to move forward, and we got to help them do it. So, I want to see if we can solve this this week. I don't have a final answer for you, but I want to solve this immediately. Obviously, this is the Clerk's Office, we're going to have to work with them, but we've got to open this up so folks can have the full marriage experience again. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Nolan from the New York Post.  

Question: Hey, good morning everybody. How are you?  

Mayor: Hey, how you doing, Nolan? 

Question: I'm well, Mr. Mayor and yourself? 

Mayor: We are making it happen, Nolan. 

Question: The – on the topic of vaccinations, there are parts of the city, and parts of the State, parts of the country where it's still lagging significantly. The French president told his country that it's time for them to get their vaccinations and if they don't have passes proving they've been vaccinated, they won't be able to do very French things like enjoy a cafe or go to a bar or restaurant, get on a train, or get on a plane. And in response, a million plus people in that country made their appointments to go get their shots. Is it time for this city or the State or the country to consider a similar shot mandate? Because the voluntary approach has left significant gaps in coverage. 

Mayor: It's a fair question, Nolan. I like your characterization. They don't get to do very French things. I'd say right now, today in New York City, based on the facts, based on the data, especially that hospitalization rate, I think we’re in the right place. I do think it's fair to say, do we have to look at other alternatives going forward depending on how things develop? I think that's fair. I think in one way, this is already happening. There are lots of venues where if you're vaccinated, you can go there or go there more easily than if you're not, but to take it to that next level, I don't think we're quite there yet, but I think it's the kind of thing that needs to be considered. Go ahead, Nolan.  

Question: And to follow up, the city's positivity rate has doubled from under a percent upwards towards a percent and a half, and the Delta variant is driving the bulk of those cases. At what point does an outbreak – at what point are we considering this an outbreak of the Delta variant? At what point do other measures need to be put in place [inaudible] – 

Mayor: Look, it's a really fair question, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz, but what I'd say is this the conversation we have essentially daily around here. I think the thing that is so striking is how low the hospitalization rate is. You've heard the doctors say constantly, what we are first and foremost focused on is saving lives and averting the really most serious impacts of COVID. All of that can be seen in the hospitalization rate. When it's this low it means that something is working in a very powerful way and obviously 9.6 million vaccine doses is the reason. We, right now, do not see that changing in a major way in the immediate term, but we want to watch the trend lines constantly. And if we see something that causes the need to make some changes, of course we would. We don't see that at this point, but we're carefully watching. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And yes, to the extent that this is an outbreak, we should consider it an outbreak among people who are unvaccinated. This virus we've seen is – is wily. It will find the cracks in our armor and right now the biggest cracks are those with respect to people and places, you know, communities that remain unvaccinated, and so that's why you're seeing our laser focus to try to extend the protection that vaccination affords as widely as possible.  

Mayor: Dr. Katz, you want to add.  

President Katz: Nothing to add, sir, thank you  

Mayor: Thank you.  

Moderator: Our next question goes to Emma from the New York Times.  

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor.  

Mayor: Hi, Emma. How you doing? 

Question: Good. Thanks for letting me ask three questions this week. I know you're talking about this as an outbreak among the unvaccinated, but you know, one of my colleagues had a breakthrough case after he was vaccinated. My kids are young and still unvaccinated. So, I'm curious for you and the Health Commissioner, you know, how worried should we be? And why not encourage mask indoors, if not mandating them? 

Mayor: So, first of all, masks indoors, of course, there's a number of sensitive locations where we do, schools, hospitals, congregate care settings, mass transit, we definitely want to see people keep masks on in those settings. And second, just on the point about young people before I turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz, look, I think we're going to have an opportunity to vaccinate a lot of young people in that 12 to 17-year-old range, particularly with school coming back. I think we're going to have an opportunity really, to focus a lot of parents on the importance of vaccination and move the dial there markedly, but you're right, for younger kids, we're still not there with the vaccine. I – our health team does believe that something that might be resolved in the next few months and the vaccine might be available for the younger kids, and the minute we see that, we're going to do a massive vaccination effort working with pediatricians, and I think you'll see hundreds of thousands of young people vaccinated within a matter of weeks in that case. And that's a day I'm looking forward to, but we're going to keep watching the situation. Right now, I think the mask rules are right for this situation, but we're going to watch the data. If we see something that needs adjustment, we'll be ready to do it. Dr. Chokshi then Dr. Katz.  

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Three points, first, if you are fully vaccinated, the science right now indicates that you have a strong level of protection and that's particularly true for the severe outcomes that we are most concerned about due to COVID-19. That means requiring oxygen or having to be hospitalized or requiring intensive care. So, that remains true even with the current variants that are circulating in New York City. The second point is with respect to breakthrough cases and breakthrough infections, while it is true that there is a slightly higher rate of breakthrough infections with the Delta variant, based on what we understand from the experience around the world, they remain quite rare. And the cases that do occur are generally mild, either they're asymptomatic or have few symptoms and don't result in those severe outcomes that I have described. And the third point is with respect to masks. So first, let me emphasize the most important thing is if you are un-vaccinated, you should keep your mask on particularly indoors. You have to keep doing the things that protected you over the last few months and that includes wearing masks. Of – for children, you know, that does remain important. It's part of the reason that we're keeping the mask rules as they are in our schools over the summer. The final point that I'll make on masks is that if you are fully vaccinated, remember there are certain settings where wearing masks continues to be important, public transit, whether it's subways or buses, health care settings, schools, other congregate settings, and if you feel more comfortable wearing a mask in other settings as well, particularly indoors, certainly that can help give you one more layer of protection against the virus. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz, you want to add.  

President Katz: I’d just to affirm that our experience at Health + Hospitals has been as Dr. Chokshi has said, that when somebody is vaccinated, if they are to become positive for COVID, they have a very mild case, much more like a minor flu incident and not at all like the horrible respiratory failure that we went through with so many people in the prior vaccination phase. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Paul from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing? 

Mayor: I’m good, Paul, how are you doing? 

Question: I'm well, sir, thank you. My first question was for you and Dr. Chokshi - excuse me, Dr. Katz. I was just hoping to get reaction on the fact that the RUMC deal wasn't done regarding, you know, affiliation status with H + H and the budget, and what do you see as the future of H+H on Staten Island? 

Mayor: I will start and then turn to Dr. Katz. I think we're having a real discussion now. We made very clear to everyone at RUMC and to the elected officials representing Staten Island that we have an unprecedented opportunity to address the health care needs of Staten Islanders. Borough President Oddo was extremely clear about this was something never before seen, literally never before seen in the City of New York, finding a way to invest on a massive level, hundreds of millions of dollars. It's the right thing to do. A real conversation is now happening with the RUMC board. So, we still see a path here and I'm excited at that prospect and we're going to work hard to find a way to make it happen. Dr. Katz? 

President Katz: Yes, I totally agree with you, Mr. Mayor. I am still hopeful the board sees the value, the opportunity here to guarantee the long-term viability RUMC as a hospital. I think it's a great, great opportunity and no matter what Health + Hospitals is committed to the residents of Staten Island. We have Vanderbilt Clinic, which is able to provide an extensive degree of primary care and outpatient specialty care, and we feel that that's a very important niche in addition to the two hospitals on Staten Island. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Paul.

Question: Thank you both for that, and for Dr. Galvani, I was hoping she could expand a bit on the counterfactual situations in this study. Specifically, if it would have been – scenarios where there would have been a lockdown continuing – like what severity of lockdown there would have been in those counterfactual scenarios?

Mayor: Dr. Galvani, could you hear the question?

Dr. Galvani: Yes, thank you. So in the counterfactual scenario, we applied to our dynamic model the transmission rate that we [inaudible] to the New York City data, and also including the emergence of new variants to the extent that non-pharmaceutical interventions are impacting the transmission rate that is incorporated in the model and that fitting process, but not explicitly modeled.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Reuvain from Hamodia.

Question: Good morning. My question is for the doctors, I believe Dr. Chokshi said that 98 percent of the cases in the last six months, cases, deaths, and hospitalizations were in those who are unvaccinated. I'm wondering if you have the numbers, as far as those who did not have a prior infection?

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz.

Commissioner Chokshi: You mean with respect to all of the cases, hospitalizations, and deaths in the last six months, how many had prior infection versus not?

Question: Correct.

Commissioner Chokshi: No, we don't have those specific numbers at hand. We would have to do that particular analysis. What I can tell you is based on the experience, you know, based on what we understand with respect to re-infection rates from the published literature around the world, natural infection is slightly less protective than a vaccine-induced immunity, and so we would expect the numbers to be slightly lower than what I cited for the proportions of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths that occurred among people who were not fully vaccinated, and to recap those, it was 98.9 percent of cases, 98.4 percent of hospitalizations, and 98.9 percent of deaths were among people who were not fully vaccinated.

Mayor: Pretty clear numbers. Okay. Dr. Katz, anything to add?

President Katz: Nothing to add, sir. Thank you.

Mayor: Okay, Reuvain, go ahead.

Question: Yeah, okay. Dr. Chokshi, I would appreciate it if you would indeed do the analysis, because again, when you say it's slightly lower, I mean, does that mean five percent lower? Does that mean a 0.5 percent lower? There are definitely a lot of people I speak to who just feel that the city and governments are pushing the vaccine without any discussion about the effect of having prior antibodies, and some people feel like why – either, why are you not revealing those numbers or not doing the studies? And many people do feel that if they've already had antibodies, they don't want to get the vaccine. So, I would just say that yes, if you can release those numbers, that'd be great. Thank you.

Mayor: Yeah, and let me thank you for raising it, Reuvain, and I want to see if Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz want to speak to that, because look, I understand on a human level, if people say, well, you know, the antibodies are enough to protect me. I understand why people might think that. But I think the science has been very clear and powerful. Obviously, we had people with antibodies previous to vaccination, and we were dealing with a hellish situation. Once vaccination was introduced broadly, we saw things turn around. I think there's a commonsense reality that vaccination inherently changes the overall situation. But let me let more eloquent people than me speak to that because I think you're saying, tell us why, if someone has had it already, they should still be vaccinated. Dr. Chokshi – take up the challenge, Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, thank you very much, and you covered the high points actually, but Reuvain, what I would say is that your, your points are very well taken, and you know, I think about this from the perspective of New Yorkers who have had COVID 19 in the past, who have struggled with the infection, often got sick, and I want to be very unequivocal about what we know and what it means for New Yorkers going forward. First, we do know that that infection confers some degree of immunity. So that's clear, but we also know that vaccination strengthens that immunity and may extend the duration of it as well. This is why we're recommending that even people who may have been infected with COVID-19 in the past, once they have recovered, it is important for you to get vaccinated as well. And finally, I'll just add on a personal note I'm someone who has both had COVID-19 in the past and I chose to get vaccinated as well, and that was for a simple reason – because it offers more protection for me and for my family and for the patients that I'm taking care of, and that's why I'm making the recommendation to other New Yorkers who may have had COVID-19 as well.

Mayor: Dr. Katz, you want to add?

President Katz: I agree with the high points, a prior infection does confer immunity, but the evidence suggests that vaccination is a better way to go and strengthens that immunity that people may have from natural infection. So, everyone should get vaccinated.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody.

2021-07-19 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Hear a sound? Do you hear a sound? Maybe it's like bells? Is that wedding bells ringing, perhaps? Yes, wedding bells are ringing. I made a vow. I made a vow that we will get the Marriage Bureau up and running again. We worked with the City Clerk's Office and we are bringing back the Marriage Bureau for New York City, opening again, as early as Monday. This coming Monday, you and your loved one can book an appointment to get married. And on Friday, the first marriage licenses will be given out. So, weddings are back. Wedding Bureau is back. We're coming back. And love is in the air. And what perfect timing? Just in time for Saturday, which is the 10th anniversary of Marriage Equality. And we are so happy that these events are all coming together to remind us how beautiful love and marriage are. I am someone now – let's see, 1994, that's 27 years ago, 27 years of marriage in my case. And it's the most beautiful institution there is and it's back. So, we have a lot to celebrate in the summer of New York City, having weddings back, having the Marriage Bureau back as one of them. And look, a lot of folks were waiting for this moment. A lot of folks have been waiting to get married. I can't tell you how many people I have talked to that said we were planning on being married, we can't wait to get married. Now it's time. New York City is coming back and weddings are coming back. Thanks, special thanks to City Clerk Michael McSweeney and to Speaker Corey Johnson's office. Everyone got together and said, we just got to get this done. And so starting next week, we're back. I want you to hear about this from someone who really appreciates the power of marriage and Marriage Equality, and he fought for it for years. And I know he's really happy about this good news as well, Council Member Danny Dromm.

[...]

Thank you so much, Council Member. And Danny, yes, hope does spring eternal, brother. Don't give up. Don't give up. Love is in the air. And you're right, people – look, New Yorkers who have been waiting a long time to get married, this is a beautiful moment. But we welcome everyone here. You're absolutely right. And it's the summer of New York City, a lot of people are coming here to experience the amazing things that are going to happen this summer, why not get married here while you're at it? Make it even better. Thank you so much, Council Member Danny Dromm.

All right. Now, how come the Marriage Bureau's opening up? Because people got vaccinated, because we did the biggest vaccination effort in history of New York City. Yesterday, you heard the extraordinary study from Yale University confirming the positive impact of this vaccination effort. The life-saving impact. All credit goes to the vaccinators, to the health care heroes, the folks who made it happen, Test and Trace Corps, everyone who was out there making it happen. Because of your efforts and because New Yorkers showed up, now weddings back and so many other wonderful things back. As of today, in the City of New York, 9,672,028 vaccinations have been given. We're closing in on 10 million doses, absolutely amazing. Every single day, thousands and thousands of more people step forward. And we're going to turn things around with the power of vaccination. This is the X-factor. It's working and want to keep bringing it to the people of this city.

Now let's talk about recovery. Recovery for all of us. A recovery for all of us means the City's working for everyone. Recovery for all of us means a focus on the things that we've been doing. Vaccination, of course, number one. Get everyone healthy. Get rid of COVID. Bring back jobs, bring back economic activity, bring back tourists, bring back our schools. We have Summer Rising right now for our kids. Bring back our schools in September full strength. All of these pieces are part of our recovery. But increasingly we see a missing link and that's our subways. A lot of problems right now. And we cannot have a full recovery without the MTA getting stronger. The MTA needs to get it together because right now we're seeing too many problems.

Okay, let's go to our indicators. And today, number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report is 64 patients. Confirmed positivity of 15.71 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 people – 0.30. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 409 cases. Number three, percentage of the people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report on a seven-day rolling average – 1.43 percent.

Okay. Now, a few words in Spanish, I'm going to go back to congestion pricing here.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Finance Commissioner Sherif Solomon; Emergency Management Commissioner John Scrivani; Office of Labor Relations Commissioner Renee Campion; by Tom Wright, President and CEO of the Regional Plan Association; by Eric Goldstein, the New York City Environment Director of the National Resources Defense Council; by Jaqi Cohen, Campaign Director for the New York Public Interest Research Group Straphangers Campaign; by Alex Matthiessen, the President of the Blue Marble Project; and by Dr. Andrew Wallach, Chief Medical Officer of Ambulatory Care at Test and Trace Corps. We're also joined by Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi. Last question for today, it goes to Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.  

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hi Elizabeth, how are you? 

Question: I'm good. I have another question about education. The citizens reporting 69 classroom closures due to COVID. Can you explain the policy regulating those closures and also give us a sense of the scale? How many total classrooms are there in the Summer Rising program? Or can you say how many of the 200,000 plus kids are being quarantined? 

Mayor: Okay. What I'll do, we have online with us Dr. Dave Chokshi and Dr. Andrew Wallach, who is Chief Medical Officer for Test and Trace at Health + Hospital. So, I'm going to give them both a chance to speak to this because I have not seen the latest numbers, but what we do know, Elizabeth, by the end of the school year, so the last days of June, the very extensive testing approach that we were taking was yielding almost no COVID cases in the schools. We had announced a different approach to testing for Summer Rising. It is not surprising there still be some positive cases. There always were some. There are always some classroom closures, but Summer Rising is occurring at about 800 sites, 800 school sites around the city. It's a huge program with around 200,000 kids in it. So if we have some classroom closures, that's not surprising to me, but in terms of how the process is working, let me see if Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Wallach can speak to that. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. We can speak to briefly, and then we'll be happy to follow up with our education colleagues on some more specifics. But what I can tell you is that, you know, just as you said, our classroom quarantine policy was a key part of our layered approach to preventing the spread of COVID-19 in schools. And we've had very low testing rates through the last few months, and that has continued through the summer as well. Looking ahead to the fall, we do think that, you know, based on the CDC guidance and our own local review of the science underpinning it, the testing as well as isolation and quarantine, when it's called for, will continue to be a key part of our approach going forward.  

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Wallach. You want to add anything?  

Chief Medical Officer Andrew Wallach, Test & Trace: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Nothing to add.  

Mayor: Okay, great. Go ahead, Elizabeth. 

Question: That is – my follow-up question to that is the kids who are where the classrooms have been closed. Are they receiving remote instruction then? 

Mayor: Elizabeth I'll check on that. There's a very small remote element to Summer Rising. I – that's a great question. If that's being connected to the classroom closures. Again, from what you're saying, I'll check the numbers today, it's a small number of kids, but we clearly want to support them too. We'll get you an update to make sure that we're current with you on what's happening, but look, thank you for the question.  

And as we conclude today, everyone, Summer Rising, a reminder to parents out there for the next few days, and I know DOE is putting out information on this today, for the next few days, there's still an opportunity to get your child into Summer Rising. We're hearing amazing feedback, truly amazing feedback, from parents about the experience our kids are having. It is 100 percent free. It is safe. It is full day culture, recreation, academics all together. Any parent who doesn't have something good for their kid to do this summer in the next few days, you still have a chance to sign up for Summer Rising. We want to accommodate your child. We want to give them a great summer. So, take advantage of this unprecedented program and sign up now. Thank you, everybody.

2021-07-16 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Time now for our weekly Ask The Mayor segment, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. Or tweet your question, just use the hashtag #AskTheMayor so we'll be sure to see it go by. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. How are you doing today?

Lehrer: I'm doing well, thank you. And as Michael was just reporting on the news, the Delta variant is now the dominant variant in New York City. More than two thirds of new cases, we just crossed that threshold. New cases per day, citywide have doubled in the last month from around 200 to 400. Positivity rate doubled from 0.6 to 1.3 percent. And in hotspots, as you know, like one of the Harlem ZIP codes, I read it's over four percent. Staten Island is another hotspot. Six New York Yankees, at least three vaccinated, tested positive yesterday. You know about that game postponement from last night. The good news is that for the moment an increase in hospitalizations and deaths have not followed, but they usually lag behind new cases. Here's my question – in Los Angeles, they just restored the indoor mask requirement, which they had lifted and this for everyone, including vaccinated people now. Any plans to do the same here?

Mayor: No, not at this point. Everything you laid out, Brian was helpful and accurate, but I want to make very clear, you came to that point about hospitalizations and most importantly deaths. Look, hospitalization is the indicator that tells us if folks are having serious experiences, negative experiences with COVID, like serious, serious symptoms, lasting impacts, obviously the danger of someone might pass away. Our health care team, which has really done extraordinary work through this crisis, they're watching this information constantly. And even though you're right, that hospitalizations typically lag by a few weeks, we're seeing something different here. We're not seeing any real movement in the hospitalizations and that's really important. 0.31 hospitalizations per 100,000 people is a very low rate. And it's stayed low in recent weeks. Now, we're going to watch, if something starts to change, it will manifest itself. If that does happen and manifests itself over weeks and we make adjustments. But that's not what we're seeing. And the reason is simple, vaccination. We're now at almost 9.7 million vaccination doses given. And this is what makes it different. The scenario you laid out and again, I credit your facts, but I want to say if you had laid out that scenario a year ago, I think you would have been inevitably right of where it was leading. The difference now is the high level of vaccination in the city. And the fact that we're adding to it every day. Yesterday, alone, about 20,000 more vaccinations. It keeps growing. And I think we're going to see more and more people willing and coming forward as the Delta variant creates this challenge. I also think you're going to see more and more parents getting their kids vaccinated, particularly in the lead up to school. So, this is the difference now, and we do not have a plan to change course at this point. But we're going to watch the data constantly to see if any adjustments are needed.

Lehrer: The well-known epidemiologist, Denis Nash from the CUNY School of Public Health was quoted in the Times yesterday saying it would have been prudent for our elected officials to have specified in advance, if, when, and under what circumstances they would walk back certain components of opening up, that's a quote. Do you have any thresholds or are developing anything like that as a matter of Delta variant preparedness for in the event?

Mayor: It's a fair question to say, is that productive or not productive? I'm not convinced it’s productive, first of all. Right now, we see people overwhelmingly, having done the right thing. The fact that so many people have gotten vaccinated and that in the places where we need to have precautions taken, where we still want masks worn like hospitals or schools, for example, we're seeing that. That's what is giving our health care leadership – our health care leadership is really rigorous on this stuff. If they thought there was something that needed to be addressed urgently, we'd be addressing it. But the fact is that people are doing what we've asked them to do. And we need to do it more and more deeply, unquestionably. So, I'm not sure projecting different scenarios is the healthy way to do things. I think what's working for us is to constantly report the facts as we're seeing them. And then if we see something that we need to change, we'll say it immediately. And we'll call people to arms as we've done many times. And I have no question that New Yorkers will respond to that.

Lehrer: Related question coming in from a listener on Twitter. Could you please ask the Mayor when he is planning on telling schools the guidelines for September? It's very difficult for us to plan without knowing the basics, including whether students will have to be three feet apart in the classroom and six feet apart when they eat? What can you tell that lesson and other parents?

Mayor: What I can tell them is first of all, we're going to follow whatever the CDC guidance is at that time. And I do think that guidance will continue to evolve. We've got some new guidance a couple of weeks ago. And I think it will continue to evolve as we get more information and particularly as we continue to build up vaccination. But what we've already said is this, every student is coming back to school. If we had to meet the three-foot measure we can do that. We will expect at this point that everyone will be wearing a mask. And then there's a variety of options for how to handle lunches, which we will determine as we get closer. So, I understand that people say, you know, we want to know more, but the bottom line is everyone's coming back to school. We saw in the last week of school, which was a couple of weeks ago, massive levels of testing and almost, literally almost no cases any longer in our New York City public schools.

Lehrer: And I remember when you announced that on this show, it was 0.3 percent positivity rate which is so close to zero. But now we do see in the summer school program a number of classes have been forced to go remote because of cases. So, is that a measure –

Mayor: No, a small number. It's a real issue. Again, Brian, every time you say, should we be concerned here? Should we be watching carefully? Absolutely. I'm not here to, in any way suggest that the Delta variant is something to take lightly. We need to watch it like a hawk. But no, we've got a handful of classrooms that had to quarantine compared to 200,000 kids who are in Summer Rising. So no, we're not seeing a difference. It's still a very, very rare thing in our public school settings. And we're two months away from the opening of school. So, we certainly have a lot of time to make adjustments. But I only am saying as a former public school parent myself, when folks say, Hey, we need to understand what it’s going to look like. I can tell you right now what it's going to look like. We're going to keep the cleaning protocols in place with a few adjustments because we obviously learned a lot more about COVID. All that work on ventilation, we'll keep that. The work that was done, which was amazing in terms of masks, we are going to keep that. And it worked, it worked when we didn't have anyone vaccinated. I mean, this is the amazing thing. When we had no one vaccinated we were able to keep the New York City public schools much safer than the surrounding city. We've now – we're getting close to 10 million vaccination doses. And that's going to keep growing all summer.

Lehrer: Another related question, I think. Taisha at a shelter on 52nd Street, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Taisha.

Question: Good morning to you both. I would like to ask the Mayor, he says that it would be better to women that are in these hotels to go back to the shelter because we are being better served. There are there women that are in the shelter system that already have vouchers, who already have looked at apartments, have signed leases that still have not moved out. With that being said, plus with the new strain of COVID, the homeless people are at best, you're most at risk. So, why send them back to conjugal shelters where they can spread it amongst themselves and then to the people?

Mayor: I appreciate the question, Taisha, honestly, it's a very, very important question. The bottom line is we are providing constant opportunities to get vaccinated in the shelters, in the hotels for free, obviously. Constantly saying to people here it is, let's do this now. And what our doctors have said, what Dr. Fauci has said, what the health care leadership in New York City has said is once people are vaccinated the risks are very, very low. And this is the answer whether you're in shelter or not in shelter, getting everyone vaccinated. The point you made about vouchers, really important. There are people on vouchers, we're going to work constantly to get them to permanent affordable housing. That happened for 160,000 people since this administration began. Were in shelter, we've been able to get them to permanent housing. And we're going to keep doing that constantly. But in the end, and every decision we have made is with our health care leadership and following CDC and State guidance. It's much better to get people to the shelters that are built to support them and provide services on that way to affordable housing then to keep people in hotels when the key issue is really getting everyone vaccinated and we're going to be doing that constantly in the shelters.

Lehrer: We talked last hour on the show – and Taisha, thank you for your call – about the court ruling this week to delay transfer of homeless people with disabilities out of hotels and back to congregate shelters. But it's just a short-term delay as of now. Considering the Delta variant, how can you put anyone back in shared air congregate shelters right now?

Mayor: Exactly what I just said. And the court ruled that it was appropriate, especially given that everything we're doing is based on the decisions of our health care leadership. And again, CDC guidance, State guidance, it's appropriate for folks to go back to shelter. All across the city, people are going back to their normal lives, with a crucial factor, getting vaccinated. This is the thing that works. The reason that Delta variant is having the strength it is having, particularly in some parts of the country, is among unvaccinated people. Our health care leaders, Dr. Katz, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Varma, they've talked about this literally hundreds of times in our press conferences. If you are vaccinated, you're in a very, very strong position. The problem we're having right now is among unvaccinated people. The thing we have to do is constantly make vaccination available and find any way possible to break through to people. And that's this focus on working with grassroots organizations, working with houses of worship, literally rewarding community organizations directly for every single person they bring in to get vaccinated. We're offering right now, Brian, any New Yorker who wants vaccination in their own home, we will come to them for free, give them vaccination. So, this is about showing people constantly that vaccination works and it's available. And that's ultimately how we make every piece of the equation safe.

Lehrer: Our guests from Coalition For The Homeless last hour were mentioning that people experiencing homelessness in New York City are a relatively high unvaccinated population. Does that change your thinking at all about congregate shelters in the face of Delta?

Mayor: People have to make the choice to get vaccinated. God forbid, anyone ends up in a shelter, I always say there before the grace of God go any of us. I've talked to so many homeless folks, who their life was going along, you know, relatively normally, and then one paycheck away from losing their apartment and they end up in a shelter. I feel for anyone who is homeless. But I also know that homeless people should be treated with respect and they are smart discerning people like everyone else. And if you say to the folks in the shelter, Hey, you need to get vaccinated to protect yourself and protect all of us. I believe a lot of people can hear that. And we're making it available constantly. But we're also for folks who have you know, fallen upon hard times, we're giving them everything they need, shelter, food support, and if they need health care, help them to get permanent affordable housing. And this is a compassionate city. We do all that. We do it for free. We don't ask a question about that. But if we say to people, but you do need to get vaccinated, that's fair.
  
Lehrer: Thanks, as always, Mr. Mayor. Talk to you next week.  

Mayor: Thank you, Brian. Take care.

2021-07-19 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. The Summer of New York City continues. It is going to be an unforgettable summer for a lot of reasons. There are so many things happening this summer that have never happened before, that are going to be once in a lifetime opportunities. Here's something that's never happened before. Restaurant Week is not just one week, it's five weeks now. It's extraordinary. The greatest restaurants in the world, an opportunity for you and me to go out there and experience them. Even if you don't got a lot of money, great, great deals for this Restaurant Week. And all those restaurants that we love that we're really fascinated by, that make this city so great, here's your chance to try some of the ones you haven't yet. Now we know the restaurant community went through so much during the pandemic, but people fought back. These restaurant owners, the employees, they fought back, they kept the businesses going, and now Restaurant Week is going to give them more customers, a whole lot more energy. This is going to be amazing. Over 500 restaurants that are participating across the five boroughs. And that includes takeout and delivery options in a lot of cases. Reservations open now. If you want to find out where these great restaurants are, that are participating, go to nycgo.com/restaurant-week. 

All right. Now, let’s do a few more things. We're going to do our indicators, but first the vaccine update, and again, every single day thousands and thousands of New Yorkers are getting vaccinated. We are closing in on 10 million doses. That's going to be a very, very important milestone for this city. So, as of today, from the very beginning of the vaccination effort, 9,742,526 vaccination doses given. And this is why, as we go into indicators, even though we're seeing a challenge with the Delta variant, this is why we're holding the line, particularly on hospitalization rate. We do have a challenge now. We're going to be talking about it throughout the week. We're going to be talking about the indicators and how we're interpreting them and some new information about the indicators ahead. But the bottom line is vaccination is the reason we're in a very, very different situation than other parts of the country that are suffering and I feel very bad for those places and those people, but New York City residents have stepped up. As of today, 4.5 million fully vaccinated New Yorkers, that is 53.5 percent of our total population. 4.8 million New Yorkers who have gotten at least one dose, and again, we know overwhelmingly they'll be coming back for their second dose. That's about 95 percent of all New Yorkers do come back for their second dose. But more importantly, immediately that first dose is giving some protection, that's 58.1 percent of all New Yorkers who now have gotten at least one dose, all residents, including kids and everyone. So, this is really, really important. We've got a lot of work to do, but this is the reason we have a strong foundation to work from. So, today's indicators, number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 92 patients, confirmed positivity 24.74 percent. Hospitalization rate again, thank God, continues to be in a good place, 0.35 per 100,000. Now, number two, cases, we definitely are seeing cases going up, again, we're going to talk about this throughout the week. The new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report 516 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19 on a seven-day rolling average, today's report 1.69 percent. Okay, let me just do a few words in Spanish and I'm going to go back to summarizing just for a moment.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

All parents, one last chance to get into all the good things in Summer Rising. With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A, as a reminder, we're also joined today by Health Commissioner Dr. Chokshi. The first question today goes to Kala from pics.

Question: Hi, Mayor, de Blasio, I hope you're doing well and enjoying your summer.

Mayor: Indeed, it’s the summer of New York City, Kala, how you doing?

Question: Good, thanks. The UFT confirmed to me this morning that they're actually offering teachers $25 an hour to go door-to-door to talk with parents and kids face-to-face and get them back to the classroom, especially those kids who chose remote learning through most of last year. They told me that the DOE has their own programs besides Summer Rising. Can you tell me what the DOE and the City is doing to outreach with these parents? Because, again, almost 60 percent of kids chose remote learning to end the year with last year.

Mayor: Yes, and very fair question, Kala, but remember, let's do the quick facts. Parents chose that early on, in a lot of cases they did not want to make a change. They got into a rhythm, they wanted to stick with it. But meanwhile, with every passing month, thankfully things got safer and safer, better, and better in our schools. You'll remember the last week of school we gave you the testing numbers, there are almost no cases of COVID in our public schools. So, parents saw that. They've seen all the other changes. They've seen that there's almost 10 million vaccination doses. But to your question, what we're going to do is keep bringing parents in. Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter has made very clear that we're going to have open houses for any parents who want to come in early, see the schools, talk to principals, talk to teachers, let them know that things are good, and things are ready. We are going to do a lot of outreach, and we want to answer their questions. We also, one more point, want to focus on vaccinating kids 12 to 18, have maximum vaccination of those kids in the lead up to school. Go ahead, Kala.

Question: I've also seen a letter from a principal saying if we stick to the three feet rule from the CDC, all students coming back to the classroom will not fit. So, what is the plan? And when will parents a hear a plan on what classrooms will look like?

Mayor: Again, you know, we've spoken to this. The – first of all, that three-foot rule is there now, we will make it work, period. We can make that work in our schools. I am not going to be surprised, as I've said many times, school's almost two months away if the CDC changes or relaxes that guidance between now and the opening of school. So, the bottom line to parents is to understand kids will be in classrooms that are safe with all those health and safety measures we've used previously. And again, Kala, it's good, it's right for people to ask a lot of questions, but sometimes it's also important to acknowledge the facts on the ground. We proved that our gold standard of health and safety measures worked. You saw it with your own eyes. We intensely limited COVID in our schools. We made our schools safe. We're going to be doing the exact same things again in an atmosphere where a huge number of people have now been vaccinated, a much, much better environment than what we had to deal with last year. So, it will work, if the three-foot rules in effect, we can make it work with the three-foot rule, but again, I would not be surprised if it's changed between now and then.

Moderator: The next is David Rodriguez from Telemundo.

Question: Good morning, Mayor. Buenos dνas.

Mayor: Buenos dνas

Question: Buenos dνas. My question today is due to the challenge with Delta variant, do you expect for any executive order to enforce mandatory wearing indoors and outdoors in New York City?

Mayor: No. Simple answer, no. I'll speak to it, and I'll have Dr. Dave Chokshi speak to as well, David. Right now, we've got, again, 4.8 million New Yorkers who have had at least one vaccine dose. That number grows thousands and thousands of people every day. That's the ballgame. That's where we make the impact. The thing that actually stops COVID. Not the thing that, you know, masks have value unquestionably, but masks are not going at the root of the problem, vaccination is, so we do not intend a mask mandate. We do intend to double down on vaccination. We'll be speaking about this throughout the week and beyond new approaches to vaccination because this is where we make the difference. Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for this important question. Look, the Delta variant is concerning as we've talked about, you know, in previous days and weeks. It now it makes up about 69 percent of the cases that we're sequencing. But our concern is primarily for people who remain unvaccinated, which is why the single most important thing that we can do to keep individuals as well as our communities, our city safe, is to get as many people vaccinated as possible. I do also want to clarify that there are some settings where the mask mandate, particularly indoors remains in effect. This includes public transit, it includes schools and other high-risk settings, like our congregate settings and in health care facilities, and in those places, we do want people to continue wearing their masks regardless of their vaccination status. But as the Mayor has said, the key to our – getting out of this pandemic is vaccination.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, David.

Question: Question – I know that everyone is enjoying the summer here in New York City. So many people are waiting for maybe more concert that should be happening in August. So, do you have any more information about participants, about artists are – will be joining these big concerts? Thank you. Gracias.

Mayor: De nada. David, what I can tell you is this, we're going to have more information shortly, very shortly, hopefully a matter of days about the lineup, the final lineup for the concert and how people can get to be a part of it and see this amazing concert. You've heard some of the initial acts. They're amazing. There's a lot more coming. That's all I can say. It's going to be one of the most memorable concerts in the history of New York City. I don't have any fear of contradiction. It is going to be one of the most amazing concerts ever, and it's because all these artists want to celebrate New York City and want to be part of the comeback. So, stay tuned, much more to come, not just about the big concert in Central Park, but a lot of other key activities around the five boroughs for Homecoming Week. A lot more to be announced very soon.

Moderator: The next is Chris Sommerfeldt from the Daily News.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how you doing?

Mayor: Hey, Chris, how are you doing?

Question: I'm good. I wanted to circle back a little bit to the last question you were just asked about mask mandates. Council Member Mark Levine, who was on your brief thing last week, says he's planning to ask the Department of Health to reinstate indoor mask mandates, even for non-vaccinated individuals, because of this spike in infection rates. I just – I understand you don't think it's inappropriate to reinstate a mask mandate, but what's your response to concerns from Council Member Levine and others who agree with that point of view?

Mayor: I think very highly of Council Member Levine, and we've worked very closely together. I think he would say the same thing I'm about to say, but the ultimate voice is Dr. Dave Chokshi who you're going to hear in just a moment. And so, look, mask mandates a certain point before we had vaccination made a lot of sense. They still make sense as Dr. Chokshi said in certain settings and any private entity of course still has the right to decide what works for them. But Chris, I honestly think we would be doing a disservice if instead of saying let's address the actual problem, and we do believe there's other ways we can do that, and we'll talk about let's address the problem by getting more people vaccinated and going right at it and knocking down this variant. You know, a mask doesn't arrest the progress of the variant, vaccination does. So, we're going to go where the real impact is. That's the bottom line. Dr. Chokshi you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you, and look, let me just start with the reality that the more that COVID circulates it is true that there was more risk for any given individual person, but as we've talked about before, that risk is highest for people who remain unvaccinated. This is why we need them in particular to continue following precautions, and it remains our strong advice for anyone who is unvaccinated to continue wearing masks, to continue physical distancing and to get tested regularly. That remains just as important because even though we were recommending that several months ago, it is actually a more dangerous time right now to be un-vaccinated given how contagious that Delta variant is. Beyond that, as I said earlier, the mask mandates that are in places that are shared, you know, indoor spaces like subways and buses and schools, particularly where there are a large number of unvaccinated people, that remains very important, you know, and is a cornerstone of our approach. The final thing that I will say is that it is certainly reasonable for some people who are fully vaccinated, if they choose to, to continue wearing masks. This is more important indoors compared to outdoors, and there are some specific reasons why it may be the case that someone who is fully vaccinated wants to continue wearing the mask and taking additional precautions. It could be that they're immunocompromised or otherwise, you know, at higher risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 illness. It may be that they're living with someone who is unvaccinated because they are not yet eligible to be vaccinated, and in those cases, we support the decision for individuals to continue wearing their mask. The bottom line is for us to get to the other side of the pandemic, what we have all been hoping for, the key to that remains vaccination.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: The next is Chloe Li from Gothamist.

Question: Hi, good morning. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Chloe, how you been?

Question: I'm good. One moment. So, the question I have is just in terms of related to Council Member Levine’s statements. New York now ranks in the top 10 amongst states in terms of the growth of COVID cases, specifically that the case rate is up to 167 percent in past two weeks. Do you just have any comments on that trend? And do you think that maybe Governor Cuomo could be doing more related to that? That's it.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Chloe. Look, and again I’ll turn to Dr. Chokshi. The bottom line is vaccination is the answer. I think we've got a very substantial number of people who are willing to be vaccinated, who we've got to reach in different ways. We also have people that just need to hear a very forceful message about how important it is. Why you are literally – you are making people safer, in your own family, your own community, you get vaccinated, and if you don't get vaccinated, you're actually running a risk for yourself and your family. And we've got to make that plainer than ever before. That is the solution. And it's – Chloe, it's a little eerie that we have a solution, you know, there's so many things in society where we have a problem, we don't know a solution for, we actually have solutions right here. It's available. It's free.Anywhere you turn, you can get vaccinated. We've got to use every tool in the tool case to get everyone vaccinated. To me, that is the ultimate solution here. Dr. Chokshi want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And thank you, Chloe for this question. To answer it, yes, I am concerned about the increase in cases that we're seeing in New York City that appears to be propelled by the Delta variant, as we've mentioned. But as the Mayor has said, so much of the suffering that is associated with COVID-19, particularly the severe outcomes, needing oxygen, having to visit the hospital, being in intensive care and requiring a breathing tube. And, of course, the worst outcome, the death of people, whom we are close to, whom we love – all of these are more avoidable than they have ever been during this pandemic, because of vaccination. And so, what we have to do is ensure that every single person who is eligible for the vaccine not just has the opportunity to get vaccinated, but it's strongly encouraged to take that step. That's how we are going to minimize the suffering that we have all been, you know, born witness to, too much over the last 18 months. And that's what we can do together as a city.

Mayor: Thank you. Chloe, did you have a follow-up?

Question: No, I’m okay. Thank you.

Mayor: Okay. Thank you.

Moderator: The next is Nolan from the Post.

Question: Hey. Good morning, everybody.

Mayor: Hey, Nolan. How have you been?

Question: I’m all right, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, good.

Question: You keep talking about the importance of getting people vaccinated and that you believe the more people who get vaccinated, the more familiar people become with it, the more willing everyone will be to do so. It's hard to think of a group of people who would be more familiar with the vaccination and the vaccination – and what it means than staffers at City hospitals, nearly one-third of whom remain unvaccinated. So, is it time for a vaccine mandate at the very least for hospital workers?

Mayor: Nolan, look, it's obviously a fair question. We're continuing in dialogue with hospital workers and their representatives. We're talking about the best way to get things done. I understand that some of the people – Dr. Katz has spoken to this – some of the folks who have been closest to the challenge feel, for variety of reasons, you know, they made it through, they don't need vaccination. I think it's obviously objectively true that people do need vaccination, even if they did make it through. We've got to find a way to get that done. So, those conversations are going on right now and, you know, I'm very hopeful we're going find a resolution. Go ahead, Nolan.

Question: So, what does that resolution look like to you? And if I just might sort of follow up on sort of the thread of this – if doctors remain hesitant, because they made it through it, and many of us have made it through it, whether or not we'd gotten shots or not get shots – gotten shots – what is the ceiling for vaccination in the city then?

Mayor: I'm sorry, when you say the ceiling, how do you mean?

Question: Yeah. So, the ceiling is like – like, do you guys have a best guess for what the best outcome looks like sans a mandate? What percentage of the population you expect to ultimately agree to get it without a mandate?

Mayor: All right. I'll give you my overview real quick and then Dr. Chokshi can give you something more erudite. But, look, I don't think that answer is available now for very simple reason – COVID has been an ever-changing story. And, right now – so, again, you've got 4.8 million people, as of today, who have come forward, gotten vaccinated – 4.8 million. That number grows daily. I think people are going to be thinking more, seeing the Delta variant, seeing the impact. You're going to see a lot of people who have been a little bit slow, a little bit hesitant, now feeling more urgency. You've heard Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz talk about their own patients. And they both see patients still who get to that moment – like, okay, now it's time. 150 million people have had the vaccination here in this country, I think that's a huge reassurance to a lot of people that wasn't there in the beginning. So, I don't think there's an – I mean, your question is an earnest and important question, but I don't think there's like an artificial ceiling. I think you're going to see a lot of people think, and then think again. A lot of people who may have been originally resistant, get more open. We've got to begin with, right this minute, hundreds of thousands more people we could vaccinate today who I think are ready. We've just got to make that connection. And then we go from there. I think the other big X-factors is our kids. First, the ones who are qualified, I think you're going to see a surge of vaccinations before school begins. And second, we've got kids from birth to 11 who are going to be able to be vaccinated at some point, possibly even this year. That's going to open up a whole new world for us, hundreds of thousands of more New Yorkers who can be vaccinated. So, I think we’ve got a lot to work with. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. And look, Nolan, here are the facts as I see them – over 96 percent of doctors across the United States have gotten vaccinated. We know this from good national data that's being tracked. On the other hand, over 98 percent of people who have been hospitalized or died as a result of COVID-19 this year in New York City are not fully vaccinated. So, the choice is clear. You know, particularly doctors, because we have studied the science, we've seen the suffering that COVID-19 can cause – that is the motivation with respect to getting vaccinated. And our job, all the efforts that you've heard about is to extend that protection to as many people as possible. So, I agree with the Mayor that, you know, our goal is to push the number as high as it possibly can go, because that means that more New Yorkers will be protected.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Samantha Liebman from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you this morning?

Mayor: Good, Samantha. How have you been?

Question: Good. Thank you. So, I actually have a friend who works for HHC and she is just not convinced about getting the vaccine. She listens to Tik Tok for her information. I mean, is there – you know, there's some people – she's not a frontline worker. So, is there an effort to maybe reach out to some of the workers who are not frontline workers to try to educate them and get them the right information?

Mayor: Yes, absolutely. And you know Dr. Katz isn’t here to speak about those specific efforts, but Dr. Chokshi, I'm sure, can speak about our ongoing efforts to reach folks who work in the health care field. Look, Samantha, you raise a really good point. There's folks getting information from all over and sometimes listen to a voice that might be very informed or might not be. We've got to – we just have to keep pounding away, getting the best information to people, having a conversation. A lot of people need a conversation, not just have information, like, sent at them, but to really sit in a room and talk to someone, which is what we're trying to do more and more – particularly someone they know and respect – and that really makes a difference. We are going to win the battle against COVID literally one New Yorker at time, but we're committed to doing that. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to speak about ways of educating folks who work in the health care field, including folks that work in the offices, and clinics, in the hospitals, etcetera.

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly, sir. Thank you. And just building off of what you described, the approach is very similar to the one that, you know, that I take, that many clinicians take in the exam room – it starts with listening to people, understanding their values, their preferences, their prior experiences with the health care system, which, in too many cases, has been a negative and, you know, colors there whether or not they want to accept an intervention, a treatment. But it goes from listening to those one-on-one conversations that the Mayor has described. And sometimes these have to occur over time. That's why we've spent the last several months really facilitating, you know, lifting up people who can serve as ambassadors, or I know at Health + Hospitals, they’re called vaccine champions – you know, people who can work through those [inaudible] conversations to get to, you know, people changing their minds with respect to vaccination. Ultimately, people have to find their own reasons, but there are so many reasons – to protect oneself, to protect your loved ones, particularly people who can't get vaccinated, because they're not eligible yet, like younger children. And, in the health care field, obviously, it's about protecting one's patients as well. So, we are seeing each day more and more people choosing to get vaccinated. As the Mayor has said, the Delta variant means that there is even greater motivation to do that. And health care workers in many ways have been at the vanguard of this, but we have more work to do there, and the methods that I described will help us continue to achieve progress with respect to health care workers.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Mayor, good morning. And everyone on the call, I hope you can hear me okay.

Mayor: Hey, Andrew. How are you doing today?

Question: Good. I was wondering what do you think of the American Association of Pediatrics strongly recommending masking for all students to [inaudible] this fall and whether that comes across to people who just watched the parade you threw for frontline workers and Summer of New York, and 4th of July, and everything's over, and now they hear masks this fall, they hear Councilman Levine saying we want to mask mandate. Are New Yorkers getting two sets of messages here?

Mayor: No, absolutely not. From day-one, we said kids will wear of masks in schools for the whole school year we just had. We said for months and months, kids will be wearing masks in the new school year. It's indoors. It's a lot of people together. Outdoors versus indoors – Andrew, you've been covering this story nonstop – night and day. As Dr Chokshi said, there is still going to be a focus on indoor settings where you need a mask, schools, hospitals, various settings, that just make sense and always have. So no, there's no contradiction there at all. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: On the issue of – we know that this has been characterized as a pandemic of the unvaccinated at this point, but I wonder the degree to which – and maybe Dr. Chokshi can address this – how closely are we watching the so-called breakthrough cases? And are we seeing an uptake in the number of fully vaccinated people who are testing positive?

Mayor: As I turn to Dr. Chokshi, because this question has been a very fair question, it's been asked a number of times, and Dr. Chokshi and other health care leaders have said consistently, no, we're not seeing a major problem there at all. We're seeing a humongous problem with unvaccinated people. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And that's right, the Delta variant, as we've said, presents the greatest risk for people who are unvaccinated. We do know from data around the world and in the United States, to some degree, that there is a slightly higher rate of breakthrough infections associated with the Delta variant as well. However, it's very important to distinguish breakthrough infections from breakthrough disease. The outcomes that we most care about, particularly hospitalization and death, the evidence thus far, the science indicates that all of the authorized vaccines that are currently in use in the United States continue to offer a strong protection not just against the Delta variant, but all of the variants that are currently circulating in New York City.

Mayor: Yeah. And that's the bottom line, Andrew. As we conclude today, the vaccine beyond our wildest dreams has had a profound impact saving lives, keeping people from the worst impacts. If you're vaccinated, you are safer, period. If you're not vaccinated, you are vulnerable. The breakthrough case has been few, but also, as Dr. Chokshi said, with minimal impact. This is as clear as it could be. Bottom line, anyone out there, if you're not yet vaccinated, or anyone in your life is not yet vaccinated, we need you to do this now. It is free. It is everywhere. Get vaccinated and help us move forward. Thank you, everybody.

2021-07-20 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone.

Now, everyone, of course, is focused, as we always are, on the fight against COVID. We're going to be talking about that a lot in the remainder of this week. Next few days, we'll have some new things to say on new approaches to fighting COVID in this city. Right now, I'll give you the update on the vaccines. Again, every day we're seeing progress. Right now, since the beginning, 9,757,653 vaccinations. Every single day, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 people are getting vaccinated. That's great. We got to build it up. We got to make it more consistent. Vaccination is the answer because if you look at the indicators, you see, we continue to do well in terms of keeping the hospitalization rate down. We're definitely watching the situation with the cases with concern, like is being seen all over the country. Thank God here we have a high level of vaccination. That's the difference maker. And we got to keep building that, but we're watching this carefully. So, here's the indicators today. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report is 90 patients, a confirmed positivity, 24.73 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.38. So, it remains low, but we're watching that very carefully. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, this has gone up consistently, this is an area of concern – 576 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19. Today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 1.72 percent.  

We're going to be talking about these indicators also this week, because this one in particular is not showing us the whole picture because fewer and fewer people are getting tested and we don't have the big testing efforts we used to have in places like the public schools. So, this one is we want to talk about what it means in this context. But what we definitely see – more cases, that's a concern, low hospitalization rate, thank God that's a very positive thing. And that's something that makes us feel very good about the overall situation. But the answer is, we've got to really push hard on vaccination in every conceivable way. Okay, a few words in Spanish, and I want to go back to the child tax credit. Again, so many families, hundreds of thousands of families who deserve this and might not get it unless they get the word –  

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Department of Finance Commissioner Sherif Soliman, Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, and Grace Louis, the Program Director of New York City Free Tax Prep at the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. Our first question for today goes to Kala Rama from PIX-11. 

Question: Hi, Mayor de Blasio. Thanks for taking my question this morning, honor to be the first, always –  

Mayor: You’re the lead-off batter, Kala. 

Question: Thanks. With cases of the Delta variant on the rise and kids under 12 not eligible for a vaccine, we've heard of Council Member Mark Treyger calling for a remote learning option. We know that you're not offering one, but why not prepare for a remote learning option, especially after last year’s staggering – or staggered opening, and then the scramble for technology. So, why not just prepare in case we have to go back to that in two more months.  

Mayor: Kala, look, very fair question. And, obviously, what we do all the time and what our health care leadership does all the time is watch the data, watch the trends, and get ready to respond if we need to. We're talking about an opening of school that's almost two months away now, so we have time. But here's the bottom line. We need our kids back in school. We need our kids back in school so they can get healing from everything they've been through, so they can get back on track educationally. We need our kids back in school, where there are trained professionals to help them with physical health, mental health, where there are social workers, counselors, where there's food, meals for them. We need all those things. Again, our health care leadership has been very, very clear. Our kids suffer when they're not in school. And we can do it safely because we proved even without vaccination that we could do it safely. So, Kala, that's the number one thing I want to say. We didn't have vaccination and we made our schools safe with a gold standard of health and safety measures. Now we have almost 10 million doses given, there'll be a lot more given by the time school starts, so we can create a safe and positive environment any way you slice it. We also have been giving out devices to kids throughout and as we announced in the budget there'll be even more. So, kids will have devices. There's always the ability in any instance, even just a single snow day, we can go remote if we need to, but that's not the goal. The goal is to have every single child back in school. Go ahead, Kala.  

Question: Right. And for my colleague, James Ford, he wants to know, what would it take to at least have an indoor mask recommendation, as opposed to a mandate like Las Vegas and San Francisco are doing now. 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz. Right now, they'll go through the details, but there are places where we're requiring masks and places, we're – and for people we're recommending it right now, but we also are, all of us, united strongly in not wanting people to think, “Oh, I have a mask, so I don't need to be vaccinated.” We do not want to obscure the fact that a mask doesn't solve the problem. Vaccination does. Dr. Katz then Dr. Chokshi. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Mr. Mayor, you have covered the most important points. We require masks in school settings, on transportation, in all our health care facilities. And we strongly believe that people who are not vaccinated should absolutely be wearing a mask. But as you say, the right answer overall for our city is achieving full vaccination and we're absolutely committed to achieving this standard. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, just to add briefly to it. I would reiterate that we do indeed have the strong recommendations for mask use as Dr. Katz has already described, particularly for people who are unvaccinated, as well as those settings where we do know it is higher risk. And so, where the mask mandate remains in effect – those are health care facilities, congregate settings, schools, public transit. And, look, I want to just make sure that we're as clear as possible, masks have been and are a vital part of our defense against the virus. And the vaccine is the closest thing that we have to a knockout punch. And so, we have to use all the tools in our armamentarium, but we have to be laser-focused on the benefits that vaccination affords both at the individual level and for our city as a whole. 

Mayor: A knockout punch. I like that, Dave. You said you set it all. Next. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Vanessa from CBS. 

Question: Good morning, everybody. Thank you for taking my question. This is a bit of a follow-up to Kala’s because it does relate to school and the virtual option. Yesterday you alluded to the fact that you're going to get more creative with trying to get vaccines out. So, my question regards 12 and over, and are you going to make an extra effort to get those 12 and over vaccinated prior to the school year? And if so, what do those efforts look like? 

Mayor: Yeah, Vanessa, we're building that up right now. It's a great question. I think, first of all, a lot of parents are going to take it upon themselves because they know vaccination is widely available and free, to go and make sure the kids are vaccinated in advance of school. You know, as a parent, I would tell you for so many of us, the vast majority of us, the notion of getting your kids vaccinated – before even COVID, getting your kids vaccinated at the right point in life to prevent certain diseases. Parents know that reality, the vast majority of parents think that way already. So, I think you're going to see a lot of parents whose kids were not in person in school who are coming back into school in September who are going to feel very natural about saying, ‘I want to get my kid vaccinated ahead of that.’ And it's available to all kids 12 and up and widely available. We're going to also be doing a major, major campaign to alert parents, educate them, bring them in, make it easy for them. We'll have a lot more to say on that, but that's coming soon for sure. Go ahead, Vanessa. Vanessa? 

Question: That's all for now. Thank you. 

Mayor: Okay, great. Thank you. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. I wanted to ask about your mask comments. They've received quite a bit of criticism yesterday. I mean, do you want to reiterate that masks are important to stop the spread? Do you ever wear a mask now? 

Mayor: Where we've talked about the requirements, Emma, if you're in a school, for example, and our kids in schools – you know, as you say, criticism comes with the territory, you know, I'm someone who believes it's absolutely right for our kids in schools to keep masks on right now. Am I going to go to a school? I'm going to wear a mask, obviously. So, any place that's one of the mandated places, any place where I feel it's a crowded situation that requires it indoor, I would. But the bottom line, and we’ll go back to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi, is we all believe there are lots of situations where masks are helpful, but I don't want to see, and I fear this, I don't want to see people say, “Oh, well we're doing masks, so we don't need to deal with vaccination.” A lot of people – I fear if they're saying ‘well, we're going to wear a mask so we're not going to get vaccinated,’ that's crazy. That evades the main point. Somehow, we're having a national dialogue that has become insane. We have the solution to the thing that is killing so many people and is now threatening once again our ability for people to make a living. Why is this hard? Just go get vaccinated. This is not difficult. And there's so much just horrible rumor and falsehood and lies out there that are affecting people deeply. That is a national disease that people are listening to lies versus the doctors who actually are trying to help them. So, we're not going to buy into that. We're going back to the central point. Get vaccinated, and we're going to be more and more sharp about that and use more and more tools to get people vaccinated. Dr. Katz or Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add? Dr. Katz, you may be on mute. You may be on mute or you may not be there at all. Dr. Katz, Dr. Choksi, can you hear us? 

Commissioner Chokshi: I can hear you, sir, allow me to start, in that case. Just to add to what you were saying and, you know, we can be unequivocal about the fact that masks have helped to stop the spread of the virus. And I would reiterate what we've already said. That's why masks remain a pillar of our strategy particularly in the settings that we have described and more so indoors compared to outdoors. With all of that said we – when I think back to where we were a year ago when we did not have this important tool in our arsenal that vaccination provides, we have to ensure that the focus in terms of being able to protect people from what is now avoidable suffering remains on vaccination as the key to do that. It also offers a more durable protection as we have seen, and as we've experienced over the last several months, so the Delta variant adds even more urgency to our messaging which remains that we have to stay vigilant against the coronavirus. And vaccination, particularly for, you know, people who are at higher risk is the most important part of that protection.  

Mayor: Okay, great –  

President Katz: And sir, I would fully agree with Dr. Chokshi and apologize for my mute button skills. But just to answer the reporter directly, I often wear a mask even though I'm fully vaccinated. There's – we fully support masks, but the – what we're all about saying though, is that we have, as Dr. Chokshi said, the knockout punch. We have the definitive answer and that's what's going to allow the full recovery to the extent that vaccinated people feel safer wearing a mask, as I do, in a crowded place. That's great. We're all – but the way out of this issue is through vaccination and that's what we're focused on.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Emma.  

Question: Can you hear me? So, I understand that you're saying masks are not a replacement for the vaccine, but are you also concerned about the economic repercussions of requiring masks indoors or not having that as an incentive for people who are vaccinated to let them know that they can have that freedom? 

Mayor: I'll offer my view, and again, as you can hear, you know, we work as an ensemble, Dr. Katz, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Varma and I, and the whole team, we constantly are working through these issues, and we have real strong feelings on this one. I do think you're making a good point or raising a good point that we urged people to get vaccinated. Let me give you the numbers. As of today, 4.5 million New Yorkers, fully vaccinated, that's now pushing 54 percent of the entire population of the city. 4.9 million have received at least one dose, that's over 58 percent of the population of the city. I do expect a surge with kids 12 and up as we get closer to school, and then I think we're going to get, obviously, hundreds of thousands more once younger kids qualify. This is the solution. I think we said to people – you know, I know we said to people, come forward, get vaccinated, it's the right thing to do, and then that became a really positive part of it that life could go back to something better, and you could take your mask off. And, you know, I think it is a problem to say to people you did the right thing, but now you got to put your mask back on. If it came to that, if it was one of the only things, of course, we would entertain it, but the solution – the solution is vaccination and anything that obscures that solution, anything that becomes a crutch instead of actually pushing people to make the decision they need to make, because this is really getting insane at this point. We've got to be blunt about it. If you're not getting vaccinated, you're actually causing harm to other people. Dr. Katz, Dr. Chokshi, you want to add? 

President Katz: I think you said it very well-served has to be vaccination. That is the only way that we can have a true enduring recovery for everyone. Thank you.  

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi.  

Commissioner Chokshi: I'll just add briefly that to support people who remain unvaccinated, we have lowered barriers to accessing the vaccine. It is now the easiest time that it has ever been to access a COVID-19 vaccination in New York City. We have hundreds of points of access, including neighborhood pharmacies, family doctor's offices, pediatricians, along with the city vaccination sites. But beyond that, we have our mobile options, which are constantly roving in different neighborhoods and particularly in places that have lower vaccination rates, and finally for anyone who wants to get vaccinated in the comfort of their own home, we provide that for all eligible New Yorkers as well. So, as you've heard from us now many times, you know, we should run, not walk, toward vaccination because it is the key to turning the corner on the pandemic 

Mayor: Amen, and the last point, I mean, just what Dave said, literally we will come to your door, any New Yorker, we will come to your door for free and vaccinate you in your home. I mean what more do we have to do here at this point? This is getting insane. I'm going to say it again. If you need it, we will have it for you, we'll make it so easy. But these are the doctors, the actual live doctors telling you the truth about what's going to keep you and your family safe. This is what people need to do. They need to start listening to these doctors and if they want the vaccine brought right to their doorstep, we'll do it for them. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Steve Burns from WCBS 880.  

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: Hey, Steve, how you doing man? 

Question: Doing all right. I wanted to kind of use the words you just spoke and ask you a variation of that question, what more can you do? I mean, I think a lot of the frustration now on vaccinations is stemming from, you know, we've made it as ultimately convenient as possible. We've done all kinds of different routes of persuasion. Yet, we still have 30 percent of adults unvaccinated in this city. So, where do we, you know, stop with the persuasion, and use some sharper tools than the words you used? 

Mayor: It's a fair point. Steve, look, right now, we're looking at a range of options. We're going to have more to say this week, for sure, because we've got to really lean into this situation. That said, I don't want to take away for a moment from, you know, 4.9 million people – I mean, sorry – yes, 4.9 million people who have come forward and gotten at least one dose. I want to give a lot of credit, the vast majority are doing the right thing. I really want to be clear about that, the vast majority New Yorkers – New Yorkers have voted with their feet. We're going to be soon at 60 percent of the population, the entire population that will have come forward and gotten vaccinated. That's really, really good, and that's why our hospitalization rate is so low. And I do believe, fundamentally, Steve, there are hundreds of thousands of people that we can reach with, you know, the outreach still, the work with the houses of worship we've been talking about and the community groups. I think there's a lot more room for that. I definitely think you're going to see a surge with kids before they go back to school and parents getting their kids vaccinated. the approach of being inviting and welcoming and incentivizing, there's still definitely room to go with that, but we're looking at everything because we got to get people vaccinated. It's as simple as that. Go ahead, Steve. 

Question: Thanks, and just to ask if you could expand on that, when you say you're looking at everything, I know another recommendation from Council Member Levine was talking about vaccination mandates in certain high-risk settings. Would that be on the table for you? 

Mayor: Again, I don't want to preempt an announcement of any specific thing that we're working on. I want to just say we will this week be making additional announcements and - it's not a great phrase, but I'll use it, we are deadly serious about getting people vaccinated. I guess there's an irony in that sentence. No, it's just, this is literally a matter of life and death. It can be done. We could fix this problem, with the ability we have now as a city to vaccinate people, you know, in a matter of months we could vaccinate everyone. The problem is that misinformation and the fact that people buying into it. You know, at a certain point, personal responsibility actually matters. So, we've been really nice, really communicative, really respectful, and come on people, it's time to step forward and we're going to make that real clear. 

Moderator: Our last question for today, it goes to Reuvain from Hamodia. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: How’ve you been? 

Question: Good, good, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, good.  

Question: I want to ask a Dr. Chokshi. We spoke a few days ago about the City releasing – you mentioned the numbers of how many people that have gotten the virus and haven't been vaccinated, but we discussed releasing similar numbers for how many people have gotten virus after previously having the virus. I know this sort of study, you know, can’t happen overnight. I'm just wondering, just wanted to confirm that you will indeed be releasing the study and if we can get this sort of sense of timewise, how long it – you know, when you might release it. Thank you.  

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, you want to speak to that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir, thank you, and thanks Reuvain for your important questions. This is about, you know, the analysis of reinfection. It is something that we continue to look at. I can't give you a specific timeline in terms of when we would be able to release anything, in part because it is challenging to differentiate repeat positives from true re-infection. Sometimes as, you know, people have repeat positive tests because they are, you know, just continue to have virus, even if it's not a true re-infection, and so it does involve some more detailed, often clinical, case review to be able to distinguish from those things. But I will emphasize, you know, what we know thus far, both from New York City and around the world is that re-infection remains quite uncommon, and the best way to protect oneself against re-infection is through vaccination. 

Mayor: Once again – what was your phrase earlier, Dave? You had a great phrase, go ahead. Knockout punch. Thank you. Thank you, Angeline. Knockout punch. Dave Chokshi, who I believe has now become a certified soundbite machine, will tell you vaccination is the knockout punch. So, everyone it's time. It's time. Go out there, get vaccinated, as Dave said earlier, easier than ever, and free, and the way to protect yourself, your family, your city. Go do it. Thank you, everyone.

2021-07-21 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Today, we're going to focus on the fight against COVID and the new things that we have to do in a new situation. The Delta variant continues to create more and more trouble, and we’ve got to fight back and we've got to fight back aggressively. As we talk about today's new actions, first let's just take stock of where we are. Vaccinations – this is something New Yorkers should feel proud of. Thank you to all New Yorkers who stepped forward to get vaccinated. Thank you to the vaccinators, Test and Trace, our health care heroes. As of today, 9,773,399 doses given in New York City. It grows every single day. 4.9 million New Yorkers have received at least one dose, 58 percent of our population. That is the strong foundation that we have. That's why we have fought back as well as we have and our recovery has moved as far as it has. 

This has been about the grassroots. It will continue to be. We're going to talk about a new approach today. It is not going to take away from the previous approach, we are going to keep building it. 100,000 doses already have been given at mobile sites, vans, buses. We're going to keep doing that. 280,000 doors have been knocked on by our canvassers, working to convince people it's time to get vaccinated. 20,000 vaccinations have been given in people's homes. And we're saying to all New Yorkers, if you need a vaccine and you want it brought to your home, literally you can make an appointment and someone will come to you and vaccinate you. And referral bonuses, helping nonprofits, community groups, houses of worship to get rewarded when they bring in individuals to be vaccinated. That program keeps growing and growing every day, $80,000 so far. It's going to grow a lot more in the coming weeks. 

This has worked and it's the reason we have a recovery, it is the reason the hospitalizations are low. But it doesn't take away from the fact that we see the Delta variant and we see the case numbers rising and it's time to act. So, today we announce something new, a COVID safety requirement for our health workers. The workers we depend on the most and the workers who are the most vulnerable. We need a strong, clear approach. Every single one of our workers gets vaccinated or gets tested weekly. This will begin on August 2nd. All of our Health + Hospitals staff, all of our clinical workers for the Department of Health. It's very clear and the Health Commissioner will explain the order he is issuing to put this into effect. Every single one of those employees has a choice, get vaccinated, the better choice, or get tested weekly. And at any point you can decide, Hey, I'm ready to get vaccinated. Then you don't need to get tested weekly anymore. This is about keeping people safe and stopping the Delta variant. If we want to beat COVID once and for all, we have to stop the Delta variant. Health + Hospitals led the way last year, heroic. We're going to protect our health workers and everyone they serve. I want you to hear about the Commissioner's order and then about what's being done within Health + Hospitals specifically. First, and I really want to thank our health care leaders. Every step of the way they have been willing to be bold. They have been willing to set the pace for the nation. They're doing it again today. What we're talking about today, I hope will be emulated by public and private health care systems all over America. My pleasure to introduce our Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Over the past several months, thousands of Health Department employees have returned to their workplaces carrying out tasks that range from tuberculosis testing to sexual health services, and of course, COVID response. To see these individuals who are so devoted to promoting the health of New Yorkers return to their roles is inspiring. It also illustrates how clearly the path to New York City's recovery runs through vaccination. This is why the Health Department is implementing the COVID safety requirement. As you heard this process entails showing proof of vaccination or a negative test each week. So, beginning August 2nd, proof of vaccination or a negative test will be requested from all of our clinic-based staff. That means nurses, doctors, social workers, custodians, and registrars. The simple fact is if you're vaccinated, virtually every activity is safer. Because of the Delta variant, increasingly the choice is between infection or vaccination. And that can mean the difference between life and death. Vaccination has been and continues to be the single most important precaution we can take to interact with the public and our colleagues. Our processes must reflect the mission and the responsibility to promote the health of our city, our staff, our colleagues, and the public we serve. We are planning to extend the COVID safety requirement to additional Health Department staff beyond our clinics in the weeks ahead. This mission, however, as you heard from the Mayor is not ours alone. All of us have a vital role to play, and we urge other institutions, particularly health care organizations, to consider similar steps to ensure their staff are also vaccinated. We all may feel like we're done with the virus, but the virus is not done with us. As we have so many times before, we'll have to band together as a city, as New Yorkers to keep one another safe. Thank you very much, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi. Thank you for this order that you are issuing that's going to make a huge difference and it's going to help protect New Yorkers. Now, I want you to hear from the man who runs our public health system, the largest public health system in America by far, and a place where heroic work was done to protect New Yorkers from COVID. My pleasure to introduce Dr. Mitch Katz. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Oh, thank you, Mr. Mayor. And most importantly, thank you from before my return to my hometown, you saved Health + Hospitals by providing a large influx of dollars when times were really tough. And I think COVID has shown how well an investment that was. And we saved lives at the height of the epidemic, Health + Hospitals tripled the size of our ICUs to accommodate ventilated patients. We pushed to our limit, but we never faltered. Indeed, we took patients in transport from private hospitals to save lives. Along with our sister department of public health, we led the largest Test and Trace initiative in the United States. Again, our tracers saved lives by enabling people to isolate safely, including in our four isolation hotels. We picked up patients at their homes. We got their medicines for them. We walked their dogs. We did whatever was necessary, so they would not infect others. And then most recently Health + Hospitals has played a critical role in vaccination. We vaccinated over a million – we did over a million vaccinations. And our data show that we were much more effective at vaccinating people of color than the private hospitals. And that's because we are the trusted provider for immigrants, for the Black and Brown communities, for the Asian and Pacific Islander communities. They know they're safe with us and that we provide quality care to all without regard to immigration status, ability to pay, race, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual preference. 

Now, sir, with your leadership, it's time for us to take additional steps to keep our patients safe and to keep each other safe. Although we all wear masks at Health + Hospital facilities, we know that the Delta variant is incredibly contagious. And we know that vaccinations work in preventing people from getting sick with the Delta variant. So, starting August 2nd, we will be asking all our staff to protect their patients and each other, by taking one of two steps that you've outlined, sir. All of my staff will need to get a COVID vaccination or if they are not vaccinated, to test weekly, to be sure that they do not transmit COVID to our patients or to each other. We know in health care facilities that there are patients at high risk for COVID due to underlying diseases. Some of these patients are immunosuppressed and cannot mount an adequate response to the vaccine. Some of our patients are young children who are not yet eligible for vaccination. We need to protect them and each other. We will work collaboratively with our labor partners to make it easy for our staff to be vaccinated or easy to be tested weekly. Testing will be at our facilities so that patient – so that our workers can be tested on their work shift. We hope that the example of our health care workers protecting their patients and protecting others will Mr. Mayor, as you said, inspire others in the private sector and other public sectors across the country to take the same actions, to make sure that we are protecting our patients and each other. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Katz. Thank you for what you and all your colleagues at Health + Hospitals do for all of us. Look, here's the key point. The folks who protect us, our health care heroes, 600,000 or so in New York City alone, 1.2 million New York State, 22 million in the United States of America. This is how this gets very serious, very quickly. What we're seeing from national studies is around 50 percent of health care workers are vaccinated nationwide, 22 million. That's 11 million people right there who should be the first, most important priority to get vaccinated. Here's a way to do it. So again, urging every public and private hospitals, starting in New York City, but everywhere else, this is the first step in fighting back. Everyone can do this now, and everyone should do this now to save lives. I want you to hear from some of the most respected health care voices in this nation who are watching what we're doing here in New York City and see what it could mean far beyond our boundaries. The first, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at NYU's Grossman School of Medicine, a national voice on COVID, someone who has advised the new administration and brought great clarity to the things we have to do to fight COVID, my pleasure to introduce Dr. Celine Gounder. 

[...] 

Thank you so much, Dr. Gounder. And thank you for pointing out that we've been working against this very painful politicized backdrop. And we're hoping here, to find a way to cut through that and get back to something really simple and clear. We've got to protect people. We've got to protect each other. Thank you very, very much for your clear, strong words on this issue. Now, everybody, as you heard from Dr. Gounder, equity is an issue cutting across everything that we're doing when it comes to fighting COVID. It's so important to hear the voices that are refocusing all of us on equity. And this new policy, I believe will have a profound impact in terms of reaching those who need the protection the most. And have been unfortunately, in so many cases fed disinformation and also have reason to have tough questions and reason for distrust. The way to cut through all that is with a policy that makes sense. Our next speaker has really led the way in focusing health care organizations on what they have to do to eradicate racism and address equity. She is a New York City based emergency room physician and founder of Advancing Health Equity. My pleasure to introduce Dr. Uchι Blackstock. 

[...] 

Thank you so much, Dr. Blackstock. Thank you for all you are doing. And you're right. There's a lot of conversations, a lot of education, a lot of dialogue that has to happen. But it can be done. And I think this will be a tool to help us further that discussion the right way. Thank you very, very much. One more voice I want you to hear everyone, a powerful national voice, a voice of clear and unquestioned reason when it comes to what we have to do to understand health care and act on it and dispel the myths and do the things that will actually keep us all safe as a nation. Very honored to have with us from the University of Pennsylvania's Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Dr Ezekiel Emanuel. 

[...] 

Thank you so much, Dr. Emanuel. Thank you for your really powerful voice on this issue and you were way ahead of the curve. And I thank you and thank you to the University of Pennsylvania as well, by leading by example. Listen, this can be done. Dr. Emanuel is right, it can be done. And like so many other things, where better to start a whole new reality, to start a whole new set of possibilities then here in New York City? We can prove it and make it work here and well beyond. I want you to hear from a leading voice in this city, she has been an advocate for communities in need. She has been an advocate for our hospitals, particularly our public hospitals, and recognizes how powerful it is to take new steps to protect people. My pleasure to introduce the Chair of the City Council committee on hospitals, Council Member Carlina Rivera. 

[...] 

Thank you so much Council Member. And I really appreciate your strong, clear voice on this issue and the way it's rooted in your experience in the community. I also really am happy mom agrees. Because we wanted that support. If mom’s with us, everything's going to be okay. Thank you so much, Council Member. 

City Council Member Carlina Rivera: Thank you. 

Mayor: All right. Let's go over today's indicators. And they obviously show us what we're concerned about. We see more and more cases. again because of almost 10 million vaccination doses, thank God, the impact has been truly moderated. But we've got to move faster to vaccinate. We used to talk about the race against COVID, vaccination versus COVID. For a long time, vaccination was clearly winning. It needs to win again. So, the indicators make that clear to all of us. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 108 patients. Confirmed positivity of 18.35 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.41. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 597 cases. Number three, percentage of the people testing positive citywide for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 1.86 percent. So, the numbers speak for themselves and it's time for new strategies like the one we're announcing today. Let me say a few words in Spanish about today's announcement. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Katz and by Dr. Chokshi. First question today goes to Jen Peltz from the AP.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Jen, how are you doing today?

Question: Good, thanks. I guess the first question that I would ask would be have you spoken to the unions about this new policy, namely the ones that represent work at H+H. What have you heard from them?

Mayor: I’ll turn to Dr. Katz who's had a lot of those conversations along with other members of our team. I won't ever speak for the unions, they'll speak for themselves, but I'll say, I think there's a level of recognition that we have a new and growing problem, and we've got to do something to address it quickly and aggressively. And this is an initial approach that balances different concerns effectively. I think there are some cognizance of that. I'm sure they'll have their concerns, but I think there's cognizance that one. We're in an urgent situation too. We're trying to strike a balance. Dr. Katz.

President Katz: Yes, sir. I too won't speak for the union, but I think there is appreciation that we are giving workers a choice, that they need to be vaccinated or to have weekly testing and that the testing will be available at our facilities so that people can access that testing without difficulty. And with that, I think that people – I know Health + Hospitals is an incredibly mission driven place where people come to work every day to save lives. And I believe my staff will want to get vaccinated or want to get tested so that they can be sure they're not transmitting the virus.

Mayor: Thank you doctor. Go ahead, Jen.

Question: I guess my second question, and apologies if this was covered before I was able to join, do you have any sense of what the vaccination rate is among the staff at the hospitals?

Mayor: I'll have Dr. Katz speak to that. What I want to say overall again, Jen, staggering numbers in terms of the sheer magnitude of the health care community, 600,000 or so health care workers in New York City, 1.2 million New York State, 22 million in the United States of America. And you look at national perspective, the best information we have is somewhere around 50 percent of health care workers are vaccinated nationally. So you're talking about millions and millions of people who, if this model was put into place, we would reach millions more people, and that would protect us greatly. In terms of the current rates in Health + Hospitals, Dr. Katz.

President Katz: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Among our staff at Health + Hospitals were somewhat higher than the national average. We're currently – about 60 percent of our employees are vaccinated.

Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Mayor, are you allowing those who have chosen not to get vaccinated, to continue that position by simply paying for them to get tested? Doesn't this make it easier to keep that 60 percent rate that Dr. Katz just talked about in place, because now you're just giving them an easy out?

Mayor: Not at all, Andrew. I'll start and Dr. Katz, I'm sure, has strong views on this matter too. He knows his employees better than anyone. We are going and upping the ante here. We're starting up the ladder. Up to now, things have been entirely voluntary. They're no longer voluntary. You have two choices. The better one is to get vaccinated. The easier one is get vaccinated.You get vaccinated once, you're done. Otherwise, you'll be doing weekly testing. I think some people may say immediately, okay, let's just get vaccinated. A lot of people have been pretty ready. This could be the moment that really moves them. Others may start with the weekly testing and come to the conclusion. It's a lot of energy they have to put into it. It's just easier to get vaccinated. Some may not, but this is a step. Again, we will keep looking step-by-step what it's going to take to beat this variant. I don't have a question in my mind that this is going to move a lot of people to vaccination.
Dr. Katz.

President Katz: Yes, I agree knowing my staff that this will increase our vaccination level. It also addresses the single most important thing, which is that we want to protect our patients and each other, and that by getting weekly testing or vaccinating, we're doing exactly that. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: And Mayor, there are – of course, people know that San Francisco has taken a much more aggressive step, requiring all municipal employees to be vaccinated. So why would New York not match that aggressive step? What's the upside of being so much more hesitant about it?

Mayor: Well, I wouldn't say it that way at all, Andrew. San Francisco, as I understand, put out an initial concept and now has altered it. The last I heard, you know, we're starting ours on August 2nd. They're starting their initiative, as I'm hearing now, in September. Similar construct, get vaccinated or else weekly testing, they are talking about reaching other municipal workers. We're going to be looking at that. But to the number one thing was to get to the health care workers first and get back going. So, I think these are similar approaches. I think you're going to see this kind of approach used more and more in different ways. And I commend San Francisco, I commend Mayor London Breed, who I think has been really one of the great local leaders during COVID in this country. She's been in many, many ways ahead of the curve, but we're going down the same kind of road and working it step-by-step.

Moderator: The next is Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. I had a similar question. Why not push harder to require all the workers to get vaccinated? And what about police officers and teachers, or at least for now require weekly testing for all city workers?

Mayor: Emma, we're going to look at all of those things. Right now, again, we have clear sense that we had to get started in the most important place. That's our health care workers, and we have to build out a model. And a lot of times when you're trying to move something, you know, for hundreds of thousands of people, or hopefully in the national context, millions and millions of people it makes sense to start, show how well it works, and keep going from there. We are definitely looking at other possibilities, but we're not there yet. This is the piece we're doing right away. Go ahead. Emma.

Question: Thank you. You're probably tired of me asking this, but I'm curious, what would it take for the city to move back toward an indoor mask mandate? Would it be a certain test positivity level of 5 percent or 10 percent? Or what like factors are you looking at there?

Mayor: I am not tired of you asking, I appreciate the question. It's a very important question. I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz, I made an analogy and an interview this morning and I said, look masks have value, unquestionably. They add a lot of value when we didn't have a vaccine, especially but if you're talking about fighting COVID and the Delta variant and winning this battle once, and for all a mask is like a pea shooter and the vaccine is like a cannon. The vaccine is what actually wins. The vaccine is what actually stops the Delta variant. If everyone was vaccinated, we would not be having the conversation we're having right now.

So, masks have value, but what I don't want is two things: I don't want people thinking, “oh, if I just – I'm unvaccinated, I wear a mask, I'm fine.” That's just not true. They are in danger and they're in danger of spreading the disease to other people. And two, you know, we've told people, go get vaccinated. And one of the rewards is that you can have more freedom, and people did it. Almost 10 million doses, 58 percent of our population has gotten at least one dose. And I don't want to say to all those people, well, that was in vain. I think if we push hard on vaccination, both these efforts with the public workforce, but also, I'd like to see the private hospitals do the same, and then we keep going from there, plus all the other vaccination efforts. I think that's the best way to get this done. Final point before the doctors – we don't have, I know you're interested, “is there an algorithm? Is there a particular formula?” No, because the whole situation has changed. It's no longer as much about the positivity levels, which are many ways misleading at this point because so many fewer people getting tested. It is about what's going on with vaccination. What's going on with our case numbers, what's going on with our hospitalization – we're going to look at all that. Vaccination, we've done pretty well, we’ve got to do more now. Hospitalization actually is quite good - case number is not as good. So we're going to keep looking at that. And if we ever think that we need to take steps beyond vaccination, of course we will. But I just want to really make clear when we're fixating – I'm not saying you're fixating, but when people are fixating on masks and not talking about vaccination, they're missing the main event, in my opinion, Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and thanks Emma, for the important question masking has been and remains a vital part of our defense against the virus. And as the Mayor has said, you know, masking has been particularly important in certain settings and for certain people we continue to strongly recommend wearing masks. If you are unvaccinated, we also continue to strongly recommend it in certain settings from public transit to schools, to congregate settings to health care facilities. But what is very clear is that the Delta variant requires even stronger medicine. So, this is this is a situation where we have to bring to bear the greatest tools that we have in our toolbox, and it's clear that vaccination is the best among them. And so, we have to bring that into the fight against the coronavirus and center our strategy around it.

Mayor: Go ahead, Dr. Katz.

President Katz: I would just add that we have mask mandates throughout the city that include transport, health care facilities, schools and that many people who are vaccinated may in fact choose to wear masks. And that's great, there's no problem with that. But to believe that we are going to get much more mileage out of intending to enforce indoor masks I think misses, again, the power of vaccination versus the, the pretty limited power of enforcing a mask mandate.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: The next is Mike Sacks from FOX 5.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. As you've said, today's measure isn't necessarily a vaccine mandate. It's an option to get the vaccine or take a weekly test. I understand there's some question about legality of direct government mandates prior to final FDA approval, but that approval by some estimates could come as soon as September for at least one vaccine. So, do you intend to mandate vaccination for Health + Hospitals staff once the vaccines do receive their final FDA approval? And that's the first question, I have another question after that.

Mayor: Of course, Mike, thank you for the question. Look, here's why I say. This is – I made the point climbing the ladder. Look, we're going to do more and more if the variant continues to spread. We don't like what we're seeing. Thank God, almost 10 million times in this city, a person got a vaccination and that is what is keeping the wolf at bay here. But the fact is the variant is very, very dangerous and we're going to have to keep doing more and more things to fight it. This is what makes sense right now because it does give people a choice, but it moves us aggressively in the right direction. And we know for a lot of people, that choice will be vaccination. We're going to look at a range of options going forward. If we don't see vaccination numbers continue to go up, we're going to push in every way. If we don't see them go up fast enough. And if we don't see progress against the variant, we're going to consider a range of options. So, I think it's premature to say what we would do in terms of the FDA approval or when it will come. What is very clear is we will do more and more and more if we see the Delta variant continue to present such a danger to us.

Moderator: The next is Chris Sommerfeldt from the Daily News.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Chris. How’ve you been?

Question: I'm good. As you know, the focus of this entire briefing has been, how large of a threat the Delta variant is posing. I was wondering with that as the backdrop, isn't it problematic for your administration to move ahead with moving homeless New Yorkers out of hotels and back into homeless shelters where the vaccination rate is as low as 14 percent.

Mayor: Chris, we're making vaccination available to everybody in shelter constantly and for free. We have the ability to help people with all the other challenges they have much better in shelter. This is the way forward. We, also, from shelter get people out of shelter into permanent affordable housing. So, we have to keep doing that work and we can do it safely. We're going to make vaccination available. We need to keep showing people how important it is to get vaccinated so we can protect them.

Moderator: The next is Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Elizabeth, how are you?

Question: I'm good. I wanted to ask about, in the outreach to neighborhoods that have low vaccination rates, what are health officials hearing from people who are still reluctant to get vaccinated? And has there been any kind of targeted messaging in multiple languages in those communities?

Mayor: Yes, yes, yes. I know Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz are both passionate on this topic. And that this is what they've done from the very beginning. And even though we're still trying to reach a lot of people and move a lot of people, I also do want to acknowledge how many people have been moved over time. The hesitancy levels and distrust levels at the very beginning of the vaccination effort were staggering. The fact that, you know, we've seen consistent progress to now being on the verge of 10 million vaccinations does attest to how powerful those efforts were to win people's trust, work with local leaders and trusted voices in multiple languages, but it's endless work, Elizabeth. It really is. And it's person by person work. I mean, every single day, our vaccinators, our Test and Trace folks are out right this minute on street corners and knocking on doors in public housing and you name it. And they're looking for the next individual who they can get to come on over and get vaccinated at a bus or a van or a local clinic. And we're winning this person by person. So, to give you a flavor of how much this has been a focus on how much we continue to try to find new and better approaches, Dr. Chokshi then Dr. Katz.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And yes, we are so passionate about this work because it is fundamental to our vaccination campaign overall. The Mayor went over some of the numbers, but a brief recap. We've had over 5,000 community events like town halls since the beginning of our campaign, we've knocked on over 280,000 doors. Those are our canvassers who are out in the hundreds each day particularly in the neighborhoods with lower vaccination rates. We have nurses who, every day, call thousands of patients who remain unvaccinated and answer their questions in detail including the clinical questions that they may have. But those numbers belie the fact that really this is about one-on-one conversations. And they often do happen in the first language that, you know, any patient or any community member speaks. We have employed bilingual staff members among our canvassers. We have access to interpreter lines, you know, for our outreach as well. And the final thing that I'll mention is that a huge concerted focus of ours, particularly over the last two months, has been partnering with the family doctors, the pediatricians, the community-based practices, the independent pharmacies, where people turn to for their routine health care. This is where the relationships have been built where people trust their clinicians because they've been taking care of them over the course of years. Our department has been working, again, in a very grassroots way through something called public health detailing to ensure that each of those points of access has the information that they need, and also is able to actually provide the vaccine at their pharmacy or at their clinic if they're able to. And we won't stop, this is something that we are firmly committed to because of the urgency that we feel around vaccination.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz.

President Katz: I would just add as an active clinician, that when I talk to my patients who have not been vaccinated yet, the number one issue comes down to fear. They've gotten misinformation and they're frightened of getting the vaccine. And part of my job is to explain why it is that the risks of getting COVID are so much greater than the vaccines, which have shown themselves to be very safe. And that I feel that as more and more people are vaccinated and people can look around and say, yes, yes, all of my friends have been vaccinated, everybody is fine, but the people who haven't been vaccinated, they're getting sick, that, that work will overcome that fear and misinformation. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Amen.

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to James Ford from PIX-11.

Question: Okay, great. I'm batting clean-up here. Thank you.

Mayor: We have faith in you. There's runners on base, James. We have faith in you.

Question: I do appreciate it. And again, thanks for taking the call. My first question would be this – one New Jersey hospital dismissed six supervisors who did not get vaccinated. Regarding your and the Health Commissioner’s new directive for health care workers in New York City public facilities, what would the consequences be if someone does not get vaccinated or get tested weekly?

Mayor: We're going to make the rules clear, starting August 2nd. We're going to provide a lot of information, happy to have a dialogue with people, but the rules are the rules. Get vaccinated or get tested weekly. Any employee at Health + Hospitals or the clinical Department of Health workers who refuse, have been given the option, get vaccinated or get tested weekly. They still refuse, they will be suspended without pay. That's the penalty. Go ahead, James.

Question: Okay. And can you talk more about what residual effect you hope that this order has? For instance, hope that – in fact the doctor from the University of Pennsylvania had mentioned that he hopes that this sets a broader precedent. How strongly do you want that to be the case? What kind of precedent do you hope it sets and is it possible it could backfire?

Mayor: Okay. Big questions. I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi after I speak. Let me deal with your last point first. We have to always watch for unintended consequences. We have to always watch for when we think something's a good idea, but maybe it turns out a different way. Now, that being said, up-to-date the approaches we've taken to getting people vaccinated, you know, if 58 percent of all New Yorkers have had at least one dose something is working. And I had a lot of confidence in the team that made a lot of the right choices under very tough situations. I think this one has a ring of truth to it, James. It's the shape of things to come. The Delta variant has thrown us a huge curve ball. We've got to deal with it. We are not going back. I'll tell you that much. We're not going back. I think this is something that could unify people with different beliefs, all parts of the country. We do not want to go back to the depths of COVID when our lives were destroyed, when people were in danger all the time. We cannot go back. So, we're going to do things differently, as much as it takes, but this is the shape of things to come. Clear and clear rules, and more ways of ensuring that people get vaccinated. This is a great first step. It gives people a choice and it focuses on the workers who need it the most. I do think it'll create momentum. I think you're going to see other public and private health care systems see this announcement and decide it is their time as well. I think you're going to see private businesses who have the right to put the rules together for the health and safety of their employees, making that choice. The more institutions in our society that make this choice, the faster we will beat the Delta variant. So, this is the future of how we win this war once and for all, I believe. Dr. Katz then Dr. Chokshi.

President Katz: Sir, you always tell us all of the science and that is very much what we're doing. At one time, our voluntary vaccination efforts were sufficient, and the virus was going down and things were looking good and we were opening up and that was all right. Now because of the Delta virus many more people are getting infected and we have to therefore take additional steps. And you've told us that if these additional steps do not work, then we need to take further steps. As you say, we're not going back. Too much was lost with our children not being in school, with our economy being hurt. We have to take whatever steps are necessary in order to protect New Yorkers. Thank you.

Mayor: Amen. Dr. Chokshi –

Commissioner Chokshi: Look, the COVID safety requirement is the right thing to do. As we've talked about, it's about protecting our patients and it's about safety and service. So, yes, today we are calling upon our colleagues, our peers, health care CEOs, leaders in the rest of health care, whether it's a clinic or a pharmacy, we are urging you to look at this seriously because it is one of the most important steps that we can take at this stage in our vaccination campaign. And particularly because of the threat of the Delta variant. So, we aim to lead by example, but we want the impact to be far broader.

Mayor: Thank you very much. And to finish, everyone, look, the message is clear. We are dealing with a problem here. We have got to deal with it aggressively. And in the end, there is also a thing called personal responsibility. So, I'm appealing to every single New Yorker who has not yet gotten vaccinated. Please help us defeat the Delta variant. You can play a role. You can be a hero stopping this danger to all of us, anybody listening who, you've been vaccinated yourself, but maybe a member of your family hasn't, get up in their face and tell them it's time, it's time for us to have a blunt-er conversation that we've got to do this or really a lot of people are going to be in danger and that's not acceptable. So, everyone, it's free, it's easy, it's safe. Go get vaccinated today. Thank you.

2021-07-22 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Let's do a wide shot here because look at this. Look at this incredible, incredible representation of the summer of New York City. And this is focused on the Bronx, the borough of the Bronx. Now look, I am literally a child of the 60’s so I can confirm to you, this is psychedelic. Okay. This is very groovy. There's going to be amazing things happening in the summer of New York City, particularly in the Bronx. That's one of the things we're going to be talking about today. But this says it all, summer of New York City getting better all the time.

Now, why? Why is it possible to have this amazing summer of New York City? Because of vaccination, vaccination has made all the difference. Let me give you the numbers to date, 9,795,576 doses. Astounding and growing every day by thousands and thousands. Here's some breaking news. We have hit a milestone, a really big milestone. Today 70 percent of New York City adults have received at least one shot of the vaccine. 70 percent of adults. That's a really big deal. And that explains why we're able to keep moving forward with our recovery, why the summer of New York City is happening. But it's also a reminder we've got to keep going deeper and deeper and deeper. Overall 50 percent – excuse me, 58 percent. 58 percent of New York City residents overall have received at least one dose. And again, when someone gets one dose, they do come back and get that second dose. It's growing all the time. This is what's going to keep us safe. Vaccination, vaccination, vaccination, nothing replaces vaccination.Now, we got more to do with younger New Yorkers. This is the key. And as we get ready for school, you're going to see a big push, a blitz to get younger New Yorkers, 12 years old and up vaccinated. I think it's going to make a huge difference. But if you love New York City, if you love the summer of New York City, if you love everything that's happening, help make it happen. Get vaccinated.

Now we have a lot to celebrate. We fought through the worst of COVID, this city, the people of this city did everything right. That's why we're closing in on ten million vaccination doses because people went and did it right. Because of our health care heroes, but because of the choices everyday New Yorkers. We've got to celebrate the distance we've covered. We got to celebrate our recovery. We need to celebrate in the best way New York knows how, gathering together with the arts and culture of this city, which is like no other on Earth. So, you already know there is an absolutely historic concert planned for Central Park next month. It is going to be one of the greatest concerts in the history of New York City. It's going to be iconic. It's going to be legendary. One amazing concert you say. Well, that sounds like a lot. And that's wonderful, but, no, it's New York City. We're not satisfied with one concert in one borough. Surely that is not enough. What we need is two major concerts, wait, three major, no, no four – five? Is it possible it could be five? Five boroughs, five amazing concerts? Who would do such a thing? New York City would do such a thing. So, all in Homecoming Week, five iconic, extraordinary concerts. One in each borough, the summer of New York City is going to be truly extraordinary. Unforgettable. Unlike anything you've seen, I am issuing a FOMO alert. Unless you want to spend the rest of your life saying, oh my God, I missed it. You should get to New York City in the month of August where amazing things will be happening during Homecoming Week.

And here's another indicator, Statue of Liberty, when it reopened, very big deal. Guess what? The visits are up big time. Passengers from Battery Park to Liberty Island last week, up 22 percent last week compared to the end of June. Just a few weeks ago, it's skyrocketing. So, something great is happening. And what it means? More activity, more jobs, more dollars in the pockets of New Yorkers, more recovery. That's what's happening, but we got to keep it moving. And the way we keep it moving is vaccination, which is my lead into the indicators. We're going to be talking next week about the indicators themselves. We're going to be making some revisions because we're in a new situation and got to show you new information that's pertinent. What we see is a kind of tale of two cities at this point. We see these case numbers going up and that's not good. Thank God we see hospitalization levels still remaining, surprisingly low, very positively low. When I say surprising, not surprising because of strategy, pleasing and very positive to see how low they are. Strategy has worked. The reason they're low is vaccination. As you heard, 70 percent of all adults in New York City have gotten at least one shot. That's why hospitalization has remained low. Particularly because so many of our seniors have gotten the shot. And any senior out there who has not yet gotten vaccinated, literally we will send vaccinators to your home. That's how advanced the effort is now.

So, here are the indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report is 98 patients. I can turn this page. 23.3 percent confirmed positivity. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.46. New reported cases on a seven-day average, 644. And percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 on a seven-day rolling average, 2.01 percent.

This is an area we're going to be talking about next week, where the positivity is not showing us what it used to because so few people are getting tested now. And we're getting a more of a skewed result here. What we're going to be focusing on going forward is going to be hospitalization rate, vaccination rate, cases. Those are the things we're going to be talking about more and more because that's what's telling us most truthfully and clearly what's going on. But we'll have more to say on that next week. A few words in Spanish, and I don't have the exact Spanish version of FOMO alert. Now, if you guys are really quick, you're going to get it from me. How to say FOMO alert properly in Spanish. I mean, really we should translate it into multiple languages because everyone needs to be warned that if they don't come here, they're going to regret it. So, I at least can tell you in Spanish a little bit about this amazing announcement, five homecoming concerts.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

Is like a long version of FOMO alert. Okay. We're going to keep working on it. Maybe we need a different language each day? Hey, FOMO alert each day. Different languages. Yes, right. Thank you, Angelene – very inclusive. We are the world. Okay. With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Andrew Wallach, Ambulatory Care Chief Medical Officer of New York City Health + Hospitals, and Dan Gross, Executive Director of Citywide Events. Our first question today goes to Andrew Siff from NBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, FOMO alert –

Mayor: Andrew, you've picked up on immediately. You are a trend-watcher, aren't you?

Question: Yes. The subliminal advertising of your placard made its way into the question base here. But turning to a serious topic, which is your new vaccine policy, which you announced yesterday. I'm wondering if your health team can weigh in on the weekly testing as an alternative there. Is there not a risk that it really, if it's really going to prevent the spread of Delta among the un-vaccinated, shouldn't the testing be every three or four days, shouldn't it be even more regular so you eliminate that possibility?

Mayor: Yeah. Fair question. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Wallach in a moment, but, Andrew, I want to say, I said other day we're climbing the ladder. This is a first step. And this is a step to begin, I think, what's going to be a bigger effort – public sector, private sector, not just New York, all over the country. This is the shape of things to come. We have got to get people vaccinated. We've got to be more aggressive. I think this is a good first step. That's a lot of testing – even just once a week is a lot of testing. But we're going to be looking to make whatever changes we need. A simple goal, we're going to stop the Delta variant. You know, again, 70 percent of adults have had at least one vaccine dose. That's why New York City is alive and vibrant right now. We're doubling down on vaccination. So, testing is going to play a role, but the real goal here is to show people how smart it would be to get vaccinated so you don't need to be tested all the time. Dr. Chokshi, then Dr. Wallach –

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. And yes, weekly testing is quite frequent. But we have to remember that for people who are unvaccinated, that's part of a suite of interventions to help keep themselves as well as others around them safe. And so, people who are undergoing that weekly testing will have to continue, of course, to wear masks, physically distance, and do the other things that we know up to protect themselves and others. But remember, the key point of this policy is to encourage as many people to get vaccinated as possible and that frequency of testing we think will have the effect of convincing some who have not yet gotten vaccinated to get vaccinated.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Wallach, do you want to add? Dr. Wallach?

Chief Andrew Wallach, Ambulatory Care, Health + Hospitals: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thank you.

Mayor: There you go. How are you doing?

Chief Wallach: Sorry for that. Good morning. Yes, I would just add that – remember, that the weekly testing does not exist in a vacuum. As Dr. Chokshi said, we are also continuing to use mask at our health care facilities. And, equally important, is that all of our health care workers will also be monitoring for signs and symptoms or evidence of COVID-19. So, it is a part of an overall strategy. Thank you.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: An MTA official told me the other day that the messaging from City Hall, perhaps unintentionally, is communicating to people that COVID is over – the parade, the concerts, Summer of New York, everybody get out, lose the masks. Well, at the same time, you're imposing the strictest yet policy with regard to vaccines. So, how do you reconcile what seems to be contradictory messaging to the people of New York?

Mayor: I appreciate your editorial comment, my brother, but I want to be very clear – it's really clear, consistent, positive messaging. You want freedom? Get vaccinated. Remember, we fought for the freedom to vaccinate. Well, I want to now flip the equation on its head. If you want freedom in your life, get vaccinated. If you want the Summer of New York City, get vaccinated. Thank God, we've gotten almost 10 million doses. Thank God, almost 70 percent of New York City adults have had at least one dose. That is why things are going as well as are going. That's why we're recovering. That's why we can celebrate. And obviously, a lot of these activities we're talking about are outdoor activities and we all know how much better things are outdoors. But the bottom line is, get vaccinated. As we climb that ladder and we get a stronger and stronger in our effort with vaccination, it is the thing that allows us to recover. So, the two go together. I want to thank New Yorkers and reward the good behavior of New Yorkers that got vaccinated by continuing to recover, open up, do more and more. But the message also is, if you want more of that, get vaccinated.

Moderator: Our next question goes to James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. I will say it, it is a beautiful day in New York.

Mayor: It is a beautiful day. And James, you're such a fine journalist. You know, the other day you were – have to use the baseball term – you were in the eighth hole. You now have been brought up to the coveted number-two spot, which is where – you know, he baseball theory, the single best hitter should be in the number-two spot, some belief. You know, so I just want to give you that compliment today.

Question: Thank you for the compliment. I hope my bosses are listening. I do appreciate it. But, seriously, let's ask this first question. You're probably aware that New Orleans Mayor has issued an indoor mask recommendation for that city, joining Las Vegas, San Francisco, and others. It's not a mandate, like the one implemented in Los Angeles County, but it's an advisory. What would it take to have something like that? Like an advisory, perhaps, issued here in New York City?

Mayor: James, fair question. We're going to obviously keep all options on the table, going forward. I want to say a couple of things then turn to Dr. Chokshi. What a strange world, James. We would not be having this discussion at all, we would not even be saying anything about mask advisories if everyone just got vaccinated. This ball game would be over. So, there's some kind of strange mental gymnastics happening in America, where we justify somehow vast numbers of people being unvaccinated. And we go through all sorts of hoops trying to compensate for it, rather than just buckling down and dealing with the issue in front of us. People need to get vaccinated, period. Nothing will do what vaccination will do. And we're kidding ourselves. It's almost like, you know where we're in suspended animation here. Are we really going to let ourselves fall back to where we were? Do you really want to see the world shut down again? I mean, let's get serious. People have to get vaccinated. So, that's my central point. But we will look at any and all options, going forward. But if people went and got vaccinated, we wouldn't have to discuss any of these other things. The second point is, there's a lot of areas where people are mandated to wear masks, and that's good policy. Schools, mandated to wear masks indoors. Subways, hospitals – mandate required. And that's right. And then, for so many other New Yorkers, we're saying to anyone unvaccinated, you should have a mask on all the time. If you're un-vaccinated, you're unfortunately posing a risk to everyone around you, including the people you love, if you're on vaccinated. So, Dr. Chokshi will now remind everyone of all the existing mask mandates and guidance. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Okay. Thank you, sir. You’ve covered all the high points, so I'll just elaborate a bit. And the key point is that we do have strong recommendations for masking amidst all of the other tools that we have to beat back COVID, particularly with the Delta variant. The most important tool that we have is vaccination and we have to keep our square focus on increasing vaccination rates, even beyond the 70 percent milestone that the Mayor mentioned earlier. With respect to understanding, you know, where masks are important – look, our recommendation has been very clear, it's particularly important in shared indoor spaces, particularly when there are a significant number of unvaccinated individuals or where vaccination status is unknown. That's why we do have mask mandates in place on public transit, like subways and buses, in schools, in congregate settings, in health care facilities for everyone.

And beyond that, we also strongly, strongly recommend – if you are unvaccinated, this is perhaps the most dangerous time for you in terms of risk of COVID, so it is extremely important, if you're unvaccinated, to stay masked up and to make sure you're following all of the other guidance that we relied upon before there were vaccines – that means physical distancing, getting tested regularly, making sure you're in well-ventilated spaces, keeping your hands clean. That is particularly important for anyone who remains unvaccinated. And then, run, don't walk, to get your vaccine.

Mayor: Run, don't walk. I love when you say that, Dave. Go ahead, James.

Question: Thank you. Thank you. A related second question – Mayor, you've said that you don't see the need for a masks mandate, because hospitalization rates are low, which they are, but that low rate does continue to rise, including today. It is increasing. Can you talk about that increase and how decisions regarding masking and maybe any other related health decisions regarding COVID might be affected if that hospitalization rate – albeit low, but if that rate continues to rise even at these small incremental levels. How might that change administration recommendations?

Mayor: Very good question, James. Thank you. And I'm going to start and frame it, and I want to hear from Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Wallach. I think the way to think about it is this – when we have meetings with our health care team, the central focus is on saving lives and avoiding the worst harm to people. And we want to get rid of COVID entirely, that would be a beautiful thing one day. But we all believe that, eventually, COVID will be sort of in the backdrop, like the flu, for example. It still can have a very negative effect for a small number of people, but for most people it's not a major factor in their lives. That's where we want to. But, right now, the question is, can we save lives? Can we keep people from being hospitalized? Can we keep them from the most serious damage? And that's what we see, that because of the high, high level of adult vaccination – and the most vulnerable people are seniors, and they are particularly high level of vaccination – the outcomes from COVID have been very, very different in New York City. We got there just in time, reaching those high levels of vaccination, but we have to keep doubling down. So, this hospitalization rate right now, for example, is quite low. And, thank God, the situation is absolutely sustainable, but we're going to watch the hospitalization rate, watch the case rate, watch the vaccination rate. Those three things are going to determine our decisions, going forward. Any and all options are always kept on the table. We're led by the data and the science. But in terms of helping you understand how different things are when almost 10 million vaccination doses have been given – this is where I want the doctors to just speak as doctors, speak as clinicians here – what you see different in the people coming into the hospitals, or the number of people coming into the hospitals, or your experience with your own patients since we've achieved a very high level of vaccination. Dr. Chokshi, then Dr. Wallach.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And that's exactly the right frame that we have to keep in mind. With respect to hospitalizations, people who are in intensive care units and, of course, the most tragic outcome that we wish to avoid, people dying from COVID-19, which has happened too frequently in New York City among our, our neighbors, our family members over the last 18 months – those severe outcomes are now – almost all cases of preventable suffering because of the vaccines. What we're seeing in our hospitals – and Dr. Wallach should speak about this for Health + Hospitals specifically – but what we're seeing across all New York City hospitals is that the vast majority of people who are getting admitted are people who are unvaccinated at this time. So, that is why you see our focus on vaccination to try to curb and prevent as much of that avoidable suffering as possible. One note on the on the numbers, we are seeing cases increase and, as has been mentioned, the hospitalization rate is relatively low. But we have seen some increases in the in the recent days. If cases continue to go up, we will see hospitalizations go up as well, usually that lags by a few days to a couple of weeks. And so, this makes it very important for us to take the steps that we need to, to interrupt the spread of the virus, because we know of that link between cases and hospitalizations. And the number-one thing that can both interrupt the spread and prevent those most severe outcomes is vaccination.

Mayor: Thank you. And Dr. Wallach, from the perspective of Health + Hospitals, again, I think painting the picture for people what the high level of vaccination has achieved, because we’ve got to keep explaining to people why vaccination makes a difference. Can you give us a sense of what you guys are seeing now versus what you used to see?

Chief Wallach: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, indeed our overall hospitalization rate remain incredibly low around New York City Health + Hospitals. And the reason that these rates are low is because of vaccines clearly. This has been the game-changer for us. We now have beds available, should we need them. But the overall rates are low, because people are going out and getting vaccinated. When we do look at the individuals who are currently in our system, because of COVID, as Dr. Chokshi alluded to, is almost exclusively in those individuals who have not yet been vaccinated to-date. This is really becoming a disease of two separate populations, those have been vaccinated and those who have not. And so, we really encourage everybody to continue to get back to get vaccinated if you have not. The science and the real-world experience is incredibly clear. The vaccines are safe and they are highly effective. This has changed our experience unbelievably so at New York City Health + Hospitals. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Chris from the Daily News.

Mayor: Chris? Chris? We’ve got Chris, or not? Are you on mute?

Question: Can you hear me?

Mayor: There you go.

Question: Okay. All right. Perfect. Thanks for taking the question. I wanted to ask, I understand you're excited for Homecoming Week and, you know, sending the message of the FOMO alerts and whatnot, but isn't it a potentially dangerous message to urge people to swarm to New York City when, as Dr. Chokshi said this – we're having a Delta-driven up ticking infections. Isn't it dangerous to have the huge amounts of people come to the city amidst all of this?

Mayor: Not if they're vaccinated. And, in the end, we are – again, this is where – if people think the solution – I am honestly answering your question, Chris – if they think the solution is, everyone go home and not participate in recovery, and allow ourselves to slip backwards into the world we were in – yeah, if that's an option people want, I want to see that they have their head examined. I mean, this is crazy. Get vaccinated. It’s just – it's time for a very aggressive, assertive approach. People need to get vaccinated so we can keep building – thank God, save lives, protect people, build the recovery, bring back jobs, bring back people's lives. So, we're not going to cower. We're going to go address the problem and what we should do more and more is, you know, find every way to get people vaccinated, find ever way to reward people who get vaccinated and thank people who get vaccinated and keep moving forward, not run away and retreat.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Bob Hennelly from the Chief Leader. 

Question: Thanks for taking the call, Mr. Mayor. One of the things that I'm hearing over and over again is the idea that people that have been exposed in the uniform services to coronavirus, and as you know, thousands of them were sidelined in the Police, Fire, EMS, and firefighters – that they retain an immunity, and that these antibodies are sufficient that they indeed do not need to take whatever risks which we may consider [inaudible] taking the vaccine. Could your subject matter experts address that? 

Mayor: This is in the category of give me a bleeping break. When did everyone get a medical degree? Yeah, I'm sick of everyone armchair saying that they know more than the doctors. With all due respect, it's a free country. People have an entitlement to their opinion but give me a break. Listen to the doctors who have been protecting you and saving the lives of your family and your community. They're telling you with one voice, get vaccinated. So, could we stop the amateurishness, you know, like this is just got to end. It's got to end. It was fine for a while for people to hang back and they wanted more information and they wanted to see how it went. I think we have a pretty good sample size, 150 million people got vaccinated. What, do you need more to be convinced? So, Dr. Chokshi, I will restrain myself. Dr. Chokshi, someone says I have the antibodies, I don't need to be vaccinated. Dr. Chokshi. Let me ask you a question. Where did you go to medical school, Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I went to the University of Pennsylvania. 

Mayor: Right, and then where did you do your residency? 

Commissioner Chokshi: At Harvard, sir. 

Mayor: Okay, I think you know a little bit about medicine. Dr. Chokshi, are antibodies enough? 

Commissioner Chokshi: No. Our clear message is even if you have been previously infected with COVID, you should get vaccinated once you have recovered. The reason for this is that we know that vaccination strengthens the protection that you will receive, and it may further extend that duration of your immunity as well. This is particularly important with the Delta variant because we know that mounting a stronger immune response gives you more protection against the Delta variant and some of the other variants that are emerging. So, this actually adds emphasis to that message, which is if you've been previously infected, you should still get vaccinated. I'll just add on a personal note, sir. I'm someone who has add COVID-19 myself in the past. And it was an easy decision for me to get vaccinated. Once I had recovered, it keeps me more protected. It helps me keep my patients more protected and it keeps my family members, particularly those who are not eligible for vaccination yet, my young daughter, it helps to keep her protected as well. 

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: I think you were shooting with a messenger a little bit there, Mr. Mayor. We’ve known each other a long time – 

Mayor: Oh no. Bob, that wasn't directed at you that was directed at anyone – 

Question:Well, it was kind of – I guess – I'd be taking the seminar of “we want to meet people where they are.” That didn't feel like that. My second question – 

Mayor: No, Bob. Bob. One, not directed at you. Two, real respect for our public servants, you know, I feel that. But meeting people where they're were was great for seven months of nonstop information and incentive, and we'll come to your doorstep and everything else. Let's get real. People had every chance to do it the nice way. Now it's time to be more assertive, because anyone who doesn't get vaccinated is putting other people in danger. I'm not saying they're bad people. I'm just saying a fact – they're putting other people in danger. It's got to end. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: So, my second question according to NYCOSH, a respected non-profit worker safety labor-supported group, 250,000 essential workers experienced COVID and were sidelined by it. Another 150,000 asymptomatic exposures, which worker comp attorneys say means they should really file a claim because – and your experts would know better than I – there is a risk that's been identified that even an asymptomatic exposure down the line could have negative health consequences during your working life. Do your experts think more knowledge or more information needs to be put out there about the asymptomatic, which does not get much press? 

Mayor: Bob, you put that in the context of worker compensation, which is obviously an incredibly important value if you will, in this city and state that we need to protect working people. But I also want to be careful, I'm not going to comment on how something like that should affect people's decisions on worker compensation or how we should structure worker compensation around that. I don't want to do that on the fly. 

In terms of the concept of asymptomatic exposure and what it could mean again, very broadly. Dr. Chokshi, anything you want to say to that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, as you said, you know, I don't think we can comment on anything related to the workers' compensation angle of it. I'm a bit confused, I'll admit, in terms of the phrase “asymptomatic exposure” – is it about asymptomatic infection or exposures that do not result in infection? 

Mayor: So, to me, I think you're – respectfully, you're answering your own question, because something that does not result in infection – if it results in an infection, results in infection, then that is COVID. If it doesn't result in infection, the doctor, I'm just saying on a commonsense level, then it obviously is not the same impact. I think I'm on firm ground. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. Exactly, and so in terms of – if it's an asymptomatic infection, we are still understanding what the long-term effects of asymptomatic COVID-19 infection may be. But if it is an exposure that does not result in infection then that is, that would be a safe circumstance. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Mike Sacks from FOX 5. 

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor. You spoke about how hotel bookings and landmark visits keep climbing. Back in May you proposed making it easy for tourists to get vaccinated while they're here at sites like Times Square in the High Line as a way to boost tourism here in the city, and to do its part once doses did become abundant and widely available. Now, do we know how many people have come from outside the U S to get vaccinated here in New York City? Even what countries they've come from? Has the City been keeping stats on that? And either way, is there a specific protocol international visitors must follow to get vaccinated here in New York City? 

Mayor: That’s a great question, Mike, I appreciate it. What I was really referring to first and foremost was domestic tourism. So, I'm going to present what I understand to be the protocol. And then Dr. Chokshi can clarify further. If you're an American citizen, you come to New York City, of course we want to vaccinate you if you're not vaccinated, that's in everybody's interest – we’re one country. If someone's here as our visitor, we want to vaccinate them. We're happy to vaccinate them. From the moment they get vaccinated, there's some protection and it obviously helps us in the bigger fight against COVID. For people visiting from other countries. There are legal issues and protocols that are different if they're citizens of other countries, and we of course will follow any of those legal protocols. Dr. Chokshi you want to add anything to clarify that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: No, sir. That's exactly right. We do track on our Health Department website, the numbers of people who were vaccinated were New York City residents, and those who are non-New York City, but we don't, you know, further distinguish. But the vast majority of non-New York City people who've been vaccinated in our city are from the United States. The one other thing that I always have to mention when we talk about this, sir, is that it's very important to recognize that because we have some fellow New Yorkers who are undocumented that means we do not, you know, verify citizenship status as a matter of ensuring that undocumented immigrants are also vaccinated because they are our fellow New Yorkers. This is very important. This is part of our protocols and we have to get the message out that we will vaccinate all New Yorkers, regardless of immigration status, regardless of whether or not you have health insurance. 

Mayor: That's a very good point, Dave, and I appreciate it because I was trying to clarify, and I think you said it better. A New Yorker’s a New Yorker. I think we – the New York City government has been really, really clear, and the people of New York City have been really clear – a New Yorker is a New Yorker – someone who lives here regardless of documentation status, they're part of our community. Of course, we want them vaccinated. Go ahead, Mike. 

Question: Yeah, I just want to follow up, we have some reporting where international visitors have come specifically to get vaccinated here in the city. Do you have any thoughts on that and what to say about that? For people who are considering coming to the city? I mean, vaccines aren’t limited, and there's some reporting that federal government has been sending stories of vaccines abroad. I mean, is it a good thing for people to come here to the city to take advantage of what we have for global vaccination rates? 

Mayor: Yeah, Mike, I don't, I mean, from what I've seen, and this is just truly impressionistic, I have not seen or heard a lot of evidence of any appreciable number of people coming here. We just – that's not been something that's been presented to me. If someone, for example, and we know there are people around the world who have a relationship with New York City Hospitals, those tend to be people with substantial means, who come here for healthcare. If they go to one of the hospitals that they're connected to and they get vaccinated I'm assuming there's a legal, appropriate protocol for that. But in terms of something on a larger level, I'm not seeing it. I think where we should put our focus right now is ensuring that people in this city, in the metropolitan area get maximally vaccinated. And if someone comes from another part of our country to visit us, it's really in our interest to get them vaccinated. I think that's, that's where the vast majority of people – we aren't seeing obviously as much international travel, that's quite clear. The folks who are visiting overwhelmingly are from the United States and we really want to make sure they get vaccinated. 

Moderator: The question goes to Julia Marsh from the New York Post. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, a couple of questions. Actually, one that just came to me on Twitter from a local mom. She's wondering if any of those people who are hospitalized who are unvaccinated recently are under the age of 12? 

Mayor: I'll have Dr. Wallach and Dr. Chokshi speak to that. One update just for you, Julia, again, always thinking members of the media who point out specific things for us to follow up on. We had some very strong and effective enforcement on some of the vendor issues in Fordham Road yesterday, which will be ongoing. So, thank you very much for raising that. Dr. Wallach and Dr. Chokshi anything you want to say to Julia's question? 

Chief Wallach: Yep. Good morning. Thank you for the question. We are not seeing significant hospitalizations for those under the age of 12 at New York City Health + Hospitals to date. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi, you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Just to add, sir, we know that hospitalization rates for those under 12 are quite low but they're not zero. We have certainly seen hospitalizations of younger children as a result of COVID-19 over the last several months. What this highlights is that we all have an obligation and a responsibility to protect, especially those who are not yet eligible to get vaccinated. Kids do not have the ability to get vaccinated yet, and that means that everyone around them can take a very important step to protect them by getting vaccinated themselves. 

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. The next question goes to Rob at AM New York.

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?

Mayor: I’m good, Rob, how you been?

Question: I've been very well, thank you. So, I'm going back to COVID-19 vaccines in the mandates, it was reported through NBC, I think that the NYPD administered the COVID vaccines to 43 percent of its force, both uniform and civilian personnel. This is after the pandemic ravished the Department last year, some 11,000 of its members wound up being infected. The NYPD says it's working to educate its members on the vaccine and encourage them to get it, but in light of the city mandate now for city health care workers, do you think it's time for the NYPD to do the same with its employees?

Mayor: Rob, look, one NYPD put together a fantastic vaccination effort, and when we fought for the freedom to vaccinate, because you will remember insanely the State of New York would not allow us to vaccinate first responders, we won that right, working, thank God, with mayors and county executives around the whole State of New York, won that right. NYPD put together an amazing vaccination effort, very effective, very fast, I commend them for that. Now, I'd say NYPD and every other agency everyone's got to do better, everyone's got to do better. We got to go farther and we're going to look at a variety of ways to do that. So, yesterday was an important first step. We'll be talking about the next steps in the days ahead. Go ahead, Rob.

Question: Okay. Just one second. You know, and I don't want to like further, you know, get ire up about the situation, but just to follow up on what The Chief reporter had said, in the statementthe NYPD provided, and we have a copy of it, it notes that, “upwards of 11,000 members of the NYPD have been infected with COVID-19 and statistically have a far lower likelihood of re-contracting the disease", which seems to counter what you and the team and the Health Commissioner have said. Does that, that just seem to do with the disservice to the effort, no?

Mayor: It's a fair point. I haven't seen what you're referring to. I want to. Look, for a long time, we talked about antibodies and the reality that they brought in there is some truth that there's an impact, but pales in comparison to vaccination. I also want to remember things that were talked about a year ago or even six months ago are not particularly pertinent at this moment when vaccination is widely available for free, in fact, we'll come to your doorstep if you need. Before widespread vaccination, that's one thing, but when you have vaccination available to anybody, everybody, all the time, anywhere, it's time for people to get vaccinated. So, I'm glad you raised that. I'm going to ask Dr. Chokshi to follow up with the NYPD and look at those materials and make sure they're updated, because there has to be one message it's time for everyone to get vaccinated.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Henry Goldman from Bloomberg.

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?

Mayor: Hey, Henry, how are you doing today?

Question: I'm doing well, thank you. Well, I've got a bunch of questions I'm going to have to limit them to two, here's the first one, positivity increasing the two percent first time since May 8th. Is there any effort at contact tracing being done in the City of New York these days?

Mayor: Sure, and let me just say again, we increasingly believe the positively number is not telling us enough. It is skewed now. It is not –it's based on a lot fewer tests than it used to be. Most obviously, you know, massive testing was being done in the schools and we're not doing the same thing for Summer Rising. We're seeing fewer tests, more tests, definitionally by people who have a concern going to get tested rather than a cross section of the population. So, that number is less and less pertinent, we're going be talking about how we want to interpret going forward. Case numbers, perfectly pertinent, hospitalization is the single most important, vaccination is the solution, those are the three things we're going to be looking at. We'll talk about that in the coming days, how we want to interpret this more clearly to the public. So that's the sort of the big frame. Dr. Chokshi, you want to jump in here on Henry's question?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. I'll reiterate test positivity is particularly challenging to compare now to prior points in the pandemic for the reason that the Mayor has said because of changes in testing patterns, which do affect the denominator. However, we can look at case numbers and case numbers are increasing, and so that is an indication of greater spread of the coronavirus at this time, which as we've mentioned appears to primarily be driven by the Delta variant. We're seeing that in New York City and it's also being observed across the United States where the Delta variant constitutes about 83 percent of samples that are being sequenced around the country.

With respect to contact tracing, the short answer is, yes, absolutely. We continue to contact trace every single case that we are aware of. We have the largest test trace apparatus in the entire country, and so we're able to follow up on those very quickly upon receiving the test result. Our contact tracing data indicates that household transmission, smaller social gatherings, and particularly travel are some of the reasons that, you know, they're contributing to the greater spread of the coronavirus. The ultimate solutions are the same as what we've discussed earlier, and the key remains vaccination.

Mayor: And Dr. Wallach you've played a crucial role in building up Test and Trace Corps, and we know, and now we have evidence from studies and analyses, including the recent Yale study that the vaccination effort, the test and trace effort, all these things made a huge difference. Talk about the current work being done by Test and Trace.

Chief Wallach: Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, sir. Indeed. The New York City Test and Trace Corps remains incredibly active and working at full steam as Dr. Chokshi alluded to, any positive case here in New York City gets outreach and in fact we is intakes of those cases to understand who their contacts are. And in fact, we have recently expanded not only to trace the contacts, of now the contacts of the contacts. So, we're, taking it to a next level in order to really contain and make sure anybody that potentially is exposed gets into quarantine, gets tested, defer, or prevent any spread, especially with the Delta virus being the predominant strain here in New York City. So, we are very confident in our apparatus through New York Test and Trace trays that this is yet another tool to help further mitigate any further spread for folks who are testing positive. Thank you.

Mayor: Go ahead,

Question: I would just like to comment if you will, that positivity has never been a foolproof measure, and when the denominator was large, it tended to under-report the concentration of infection in the city. So, you know, it's always been one measure and it's perplexing to me to see that now it's just being scrapped, now almost two years into this - 

Mayor: Henry, I always welcome your editorialization, but I would say this, it's not being scrapped, but it isn't as important or as clear as it once was to us because we have a whole different ball game with vaccination, that is the single most important point. The world we used to know is when we didn't have vaccination, and thank God we still managed with, for example, the efforts in the schools to keep so many people safe. Vaccination changes the ball game. The hospitalization rate we truly believe is the most important indicator in terms of human impact. We're still going to, of course, put out information on positivity. We're simply saying it's not telling us as much as we felt it used to, and we think these other measures tell us more. And that's what we're going to focus on. Go ahead, Henry.

Question: Okay. I just those other measures have always told us more. Well, let me ask you this, the Black participation rate and vaccination in this city still is below 50 percent, it’s many places below 40 percent. This is how do you - how do you break through this? You know, these, a lot of these voters are your voting base, and yet the performance is still below the average citywide in terms of demography. Is there – how do you respond to this?

Mayor: That’s a huge and important question. I'll start, and then I'll welcome comments from Dr. Walloch and Dr. Chokshi. First it is not too glass half full to say, we've come a long, long way. When we talk about the numbers, these are just facts, 70 percent of New York City adults have had at least one dose, 58 percent of our total population, at least one dose. That's an indication that this extraordinary cross section of New Yorkers has participated. When we started out, we were nowhere near that level of acceptance, and we all know it when we started out, there was huge percentage of people across many different backgrounds who weren't willing to come forward and more and more people have, again, a typical day is 10, 15, 20,000, you know, vaccinations nowadays. That's a lot of vaccinations. So, we do see constant improvement. We do see more and more buy in from community leaders, community organizations, houses of worship, that I think are really going to help us continue to move forward.

But also, as we do these new approaches, which have, again, just begun, more to come, for example, with our health care workers, now, everyone knows there's a very, very strong presence in the health care community of people of African descent. So, as you create a new system where people even have to get vaccinated or tested weekly, which I think is going to legitimately cause a lot of people to ultimately make the choice to get vaccinated, that's going to have a big impact on the numbers in the community and a spillover effect, because it's going to say to family members and community members, now it's time. It’s going to create more urgency. Also, what we're doing now, I think is going to help the private sector, and obviously people of all backgrounds working in the private sector, but it's going to have a helpful impact as more and more specific decisions made, mandates are put in place by the private sector as well. All of this has got to add up, it's going to have to be intense patient work, but it's going to add up. Dr. Wallach then Dr. Choksi, you want to speak to that?

Chief Wallach: Yes, I thank you, sir. So, I would just say indeed we recognize that there is definitely hesitancy in particular groups of individuals here in New York City, and that just makes us need to work even harder to make sure we speak with these individuals, understand where their hesitancy is coming from, and be able to show them the evidence, the medicine, the science behind the efficacy and the importance of these vaccines. So, we have taken several approaches at New York City Health + Hospitals, we have been doing focus groups, we have done one-on-one encounters with patients and staff members who've not been vaccinate, we creatively call the Vaccine Ambassadors Program, and then literally every single encounter that I have with my patients, that's the first thing that we discussed during our visits. And again, trying to get to the reason or the rationale or the concern that the individual patient has, because again, we want to reassure individuals of the science and the safety and the importance of getting vaccines presented to protect themselves, their loved ones, and, of course, their community, the great City of New York.

Mayor: Amen, Dr. Chokshi, you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. Thank you, sir. And first, you know, let's acknowledge that the differences in the vaccination rates reflect historical and current effects of structural racism. That has to be a part of our understanding in order to move forward with the approaches that both the mayor and Dr. Wallach have described. We also have to acknowledge that in a City that is as richly diverse as a New York is, that the community of Black New Yorkers is not monolithic. This requires, you know, very grassroots on the ground efforts with different communities in different places. So, for example, we've had particularly intensive work that we've undertaken with Caribbean New Yorkers in Brooklyn, partnering with community-based organizations, partnering with faith leaders, to ensure that people are hearing about the vaccine, not just from us not just from government, but from a trusted sources within their own neighborhoods. The last thing that I'll say is that as you've heard, we've also really focused on working with community providers, that means family doctors, pediatricians, others who are already turned to for routine health care needs, and we've had a particular focus on those community providers who serve black indigenous and people of color. And so, we'll be continuing to ramp up those efforts and link them with the blitz that the Mayor has mentioned with respect to younger New Yorkers in the weeks ahead.

Mayor: Perfectly said, and the bottom line is, get vaccinated and get the people in your life vaccinated. Thank you, everybody.

2021-07-23 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Brian Lehrer: It’s the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Time now for our Friday Ask the Mayor call-in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, or tweet a question, just use the hashtag #AskTheMayor. And good morning, Mr. Mayor, welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. And I have some breaking news for you. 

Lehrer: All ears. 

Mayor: Very excellent. And the topic is COVID and our young people, and we are right now starting the first wave of the blitz leading up to the beginning of school. We want to reach as many young people as possible. So, we are going to have pop-up sites at Summer Rising schools, and there's going to 25 of them over the next few weeks. We are starting on Monday and we're going to be in all five boroughs. And we think this is going to really help us reach young people, particularly in that 12 to 17 range. Another piece of breaking news. We now, in that 12 to 17 range among kids here in New York City, we have reached 226,000 who have gotten at least one dose. It's about 43 percent of that part of our community, those young people, and that's for a group of people that have only been eligible for about nine or ten weeks. And we're already at 43 percent of 12 to 17 year olds who have gotten at least one dose. And again, reminder to all your listeners, when people get one dose, overwhelmingly, they come back and get a second dose. So, we're going to go really intensely into a focus on our young people. And you'll see more and more in the lead up to school starting in September. 

Lehrer: Gosh, I think that means that there's a higher percentage of 12 to 17 year olds vaccinated than workers in the public hospitals. 

Mayor: I think that's not accurate. I think the number of folks in the public hospitals has been increasing over time, but we need to do better. The last number I heard from Mitch Katz, the CEO of Health + Hospitals, I believe was pushing 60 percent, but that still means there's a lot more to do. And that's why we announced this week that we are mandating that everyone who works in our public hospitals either has to get vaccinated one time – you know, when you're fully vaccinated, you're done – or has to be tested every week for COVID. And I truly believe what's going to happen here, Brian, is this is going to be the moment that's going to convince a lot of our public health workers who are not yet vaccinated that now it's really time, especially because they're seeing the Delta variant and the challenges it poses. And I think for a lot of people – look, some people say, ‘no, I'd rather be tested,’ but I think over time it will become tiresome, honestly, and folks will say, ‘I just want to get it over with and I'll get vaccinated, you know, it’s the right thing to do now.’ Really important to remember, we need to get serious, more than ever, about vaccination. We're going to really respect our workforce, but we're also saying very clearly, you have to get – if you're a public health care worker, you have to get vaccinated or get tested once a week. If you don't agree to one of those things, we'll give you every chance, but if you don't agree to one of those things, then you're suspended without pay. 

Lehrer: And I stand corrected on that stat. I got it reversed. It’s 40 percent of public hospital workers unvaccinated, not 40 percent vaccinated. So, 60 percent-ish vaccinated. And many workers don't like the mandate obviously. But most of the questions that I've been getting about it this week, Mr. Mayor, are more like, why so timid? For example, San Francisco, always seemingly a step ahead of us on COVID, is requiring it for all city workers. So, why just this? 

Mayor: Well, I think the world of what's been done in San Francisco and I really want to particularly show my appreciation for Mayor London Breed, who I think has been one of the great national leaders on COVID. They're going to do it in September. We're doing this in August, and this is – I’ve been very explicit – this is a first step. We are looking to do more, and we'll have more to say on that soon. Our goal is to be very aggressive. We've obviously got a lot more people to deal with and some complexities that are different here, but this is the shape of things to come. And not only here, I believe with what we're doing, with what San Francisco is doing, I think you're going to see more and more mandates of different kinds because the key is vaccination. We have talked about any and all other tactics and they're important and strategies that are important, but vaccination is the difference maker. If everyone was vaccinated right now, we would not be having a conversation about the Delta variant. The problem is, as the President has said, the CDC director said, this is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. And we've got to reach people. So, you're going to see more of these kinds of mandates. And I think the private sector is going to follow suit. I think private hospital systems, I think private employers are going to follow suit. And this is the thing that I think could actually save us. 

Lehrer: Sounds like you're setting the public up and setting up your City workforce for more of these mandates though you're not announcing them now. Would that be fair? 

Mayor: Draw your own conclusions, Brian.  

Lehrer: Might you go agency by agency? I see that less than half the NYPD is vaccinated, but they routinely, of course, have to get up close to people in their work. Would you require it for the NYPD and some other agencies like that before others? 

Mayor: Your question is thoughtful and intelligent, but obviously what I'm saying in my previous response is, we're going to say things when we're ready to say them. But I've been very explicit about the fact, this is a beginning, and we are going to climb up the ladder of measures to address this situation. We're going to obviously be watching how each step works. So, some of this is wanting to see the impact of each step we take, different workforces have different realities. That is a very true statement. Obviously, nothing was more important than getting our public health workers covered. And I hope again, private hospitals will do the same immediately. We're going to be making announcements piece by piece. 

Lehrer: One other thing about the public hospital worker mandate that you did announce I'm also getting asked, why require only a weekly PCR test as an alternative. Why not a daily rapid test? Because we know people don't just get exposed once a week. 

Mayor: Our health care leadership believes weekly testing is very rigorous, tells us a lot about what's going on. Obviously, allows us to act in any individual case. You know, there are obviously also logistical realities of trying to reach lots and lots of people constantly. So, this is the right step now. I'm not ruling out going even farther, obviously, but this is the right step now. But one of the other things, and Mitch Katz spoke about this the other day, is, look, it's a message to our health care workers who we love, they are our heroes, they've done amazing work, but now it's time to get vaccinated. And I do think if people want to go through the particular steps to get tested every week, you know, okay, but that comes with its own, you know, responsibility. And I think, honestly believe, just a human reality, a lot of people are going to say, because I think a lot of people have kind of been on the fence or open to testing, they just haven't gotten there. I think for a lot of people, it will be okay, this is the time to get this done just to make it simple. 

Lehrer: So, on what you're considering or what you're urging others to do that might not even be a mandate, San Francisco, besides requiring city workers to get vaccinated or tested, is also urging private employers to require vaccines for their workers too. It's a big debate right now in the big Silicon Valley tech companies, should the companies require the workers to be vaccinated or show proof of test to come to work. We’re the second biggest tech sector in the country here in New York, are you encouraging anything similar for the private employers? 

Mayor: Oh, absolutely. Private employers have often told me that when the City acts, it's an important signal to the private sector as well. So, let me make the signal explicit. I'm calling upon all New York City employers, including our private hospitals, move immediately to some form of mandate whatever the maximum you feel you can do. Any form of mandate, including the type we're doing, you know, the either/or approach, any type of mandate helps. It will move the ball. It will get more people vaccinated. It will change consciousness, but we tried purely voluntary for, you know, over half a year. We tried every form of incentive. We really, really – this city went farther, I think, than any place in terms of grassroots outreach. I know we literally announced a week ago we would bring vaccine to your door, not just for homebound folks. We did that originally, but then we said any New Yorker could get vaccinated in their home. We've gone the extra mile. We're going to keep doing it. It still matters – all those pieces matter, but let's get real. We've tried purely voluntary. It got us almost, you know, 5 million now, New Yorkers, almost – 4.9 million have received at least one dose. That's fantastic. That's huge. That's the reason why hospitalizations are so low. That's the reason why you can walk out on the street and there's life going on in the city. But now we got to go farther. So, we have reached the limits of a purely voluntary system. It's time for more mandates, different kinds, different places, different approaches. Great. But it's time for more mandates.  

Lehrer: This is the first time I've heard you say – maybe you've said it elsewhere and I haven't heard it – that you're encouraging all employers to impose vaccine mandates in the private sector. Do you mean that in the sweeping way that it sounds – big employers, small employers, stores, restaurants, everything?

Mayor: I talked about this when we announced the new policy for our health care workers. I believe that every employer, and every employer is different, they all have to decide what they think works for them in their workforce – I want to respect the individuality, but if anyone's asking my advice, particularly the larger employers, move to mandates now. I certainly – a couple of the big hospital systems in the city, the private ones are doing that. I commend them. The more the better. I think every hospital system in America – listen to this staggering fact: New York City alone, 600,000 health care workers, New York State, 1.2 million. Here's the real kicker. The United States of America, 22 million health care workers, approximately half are vaccinated. If every health care system in America, public and private, put a vaccine mandate in place of any kind, millions more people will get vaccinated. So, it's time to evolve. It's time to change. And the Delta variant has to be taken really, really seriously. I think it’s a combination of – the Delta variant is like a freight train coming on. We got to take it real seriously, but also, we have tried everything else. We got results, but we need more. So yes, I urge every employer go to whatever form of mandate you are comfortable with because it will help us fight COVID. And if we do that, we could actually live again fully. This is where I can call the ideological debate and everything else needs to be thrown aside. If people want freedom, if want jobs, if people want to live again, we have got to get more people vaccinated and obviously it's time for whatever mandates we can achieve.

Lehrer: And last question from me in this sequence, as we think, sort of, going up the ladder on different kinds of potential requirements, what do you think of what Macron is doing in France as a possible model for New York – vaccine proof to even enter a restaurant or most other public indoor spaces mandated by the government?

Mayor: I'm not always the biggest Marcon fan, but in this case, I think that's a direction we need to seriously consider. I think there's a lot to be said for that. Again, we're watching the situation daily and we are being led by the data and the science and the Delta variant is changing this game rapidly. The good news is it is not last year. I mean this profoundly, I really want your listeners to get this – right now, hospitalization rate in New York City, 0.49 percent as of today. That is well, well below the range of where we would have a serious concern. Something is profoundly different this time, because 4.9 million New Yorkers have at least one dose because 70 percent of adults in New York City have at least one dose. And that is particularly among the most senior New Yorkers who are the most vulnerable. So, we're seeing the outcomes are profoundly different, much less hospitalizations, thank God, much less serious illness and death.

We're in a good position because we laid down that heavy foundation of vaccination and we can make it through and we can continue to recover if we, you know, rapidly address this situation, and that's where I want to see more aggressive and more creative approaches. And it's all about vaccination. We can talk about anything else I'm happy to, but the ball game is vaccination. So, I think we have to look at making it more appealing to get vaccinated because there are only things you can do when you're vaccinated.

Lehrer: What would trigger you to go full Macron?

Mayor: That's a new – it's like full Monte with a French twist. That's an ongoing conversation with our health care leadership of which steps to take. We think this is the right first step. You start down the road of the right kind of mandate right now. It means an either-or, we're going to look at all options. We're going to ways that the data comes in daily. We're looking at it every day and we're going to decide – one thing I know we will do is we will climb that ladder. Then it will be more calming, but how much, what it looks like exactly. That's what we're working on right now.

Lehrer: Sarah, in Washington Heights. You're on WNYC with the mayor. Hello Sarah.

Question: Hi. Good morning, Brian. Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hi, Sarah.

Question: I am a working parent of – oh hi – I'm a working parent of two New York City public school students who last year had only 68 days of pre-K and 83 days of first grade. In response to a question on this program last week about the plan for schools this fall, you responded, “we're going to follow whatever the CDC guidance is at that time.” Current CDC guidance says that masked contacts in indoor K to 12 settings are not considered close contacts and do not need to quarantine. If this is the CDC guidance, why are 153 classroom closures currently in effect? Why aren't you following this guidance? And will you in September?

Second, if I may, under the current quarantine policy, if rapid tests are accepted in many places around the U.S., such as entry into the U.S., and the rapid tests are available and freely provided by the City, why would you keep kids out of school for 10 days rather than use the city's own rapid test to bring them back to the classroom?

Mayor: Sarah, thank you for the questions and thoughtful questions. We are constantly evolving. The classrooms you mentioned – yes, there are some classrooms that are down, but that's against the base of 12,000 classrooms just to put it in perspective. So, overwhelmingly we're not seeing a problem, thankfully, and that was obviously true in the public schools throughout the year, especially in the latter part of the school year, we saw very, very little COVID in our schools. So, we liked the approach we're using. Your point about mask guidance. We'll – I'll have that conversation when I helped our team, but I do think we felt this approach worked really well in terms of the ultimate goal of protecting folks, keeping COVID levels down very, very low in schools, but I hear your point loud and clear. We want to keep kids in school as many days as possible, and we're not going to have, I truly believe in my heart. We're never going back to where we were because we're in an entirely different environment where almost 10 million vaccination doses have been given. And we're going to focus intensely on the 12 to 17-year-olds between now and the start of school. So, I hear your question to be even with kids masked, uniformly, even if there's exposure, shouldn't they stay in the classroom. I'll go back and have that conversation. But I would really say the answer for now, is the approach that worked previously was successful. We see very few classrooms closing now. I think we're in the right place, but I think it's absolutely fair to ask again and have a conversation again.

As to the question of rapid tests – rapid tests have value for sure. PCR tests are more pertinent in the bigger scheme of things. Again, I think a brief quarantine – it's a week – we have believed that as a smart approach to date, but that's – Summer Rising is a transitional moment. what we're going to do in the fall is a whole different reality, and it will be based on the overall situation and the data and the science. Right now, I feel very confident about bringing schools back fully, and we can have a very strong health and safety regime because we prove it, but we'll have a great advantage this time, a huge percentage of educators and staff are vaccinated and I really think a lot of parents are going to choose to get their 12 to 17-year-olds vaccinated. And then I think, before the year is out, unless the authorization for much younger kids as well. And I'm sure it will have hundreds of thousands of them who will, at that point, get vaccinated. And you know, I think the situation evolves, but we're going to keep changing with it is the bottom line.

Lehrer: Are you still planning that Central Park concert for next month for 60,000 people to celebrate the city's reopening under the Delta circumstances?

Mayor: Absolutely. Again, we've got to – Brian, it's a very fair question, a lot of members of media asking it, but we got to have a kind of a deeper discussion here in this city than we're having right now. Hospitalization rates today, 0.49 percent – excuse me, 0.49 per 100,000, 0.49 per 100,000 people. This is the number, our health care leaders and professionals care about the most. They said to me “there's three things that matter: hospitalization rate, vaccination levels and case numbers.” Hospitalization rate is well within the range we want it to be. And we're seeing very few truly dangerous cases of COVID. Vaccination, almost 10 million doses, growing every day, 10 to 20,000 doses per day and more to come, and I do think we're going to see an upsurge now. The case numbers we don't like, of course, and we're concerned, but we have got to keep our recovery going. We’ve got to show people that vaccination is the way and, very powerfully, outdoor activities – we proved it a thousand times over outdoor activities, in the scheme of things, very safe. And so, this is a crucial moment – we need to recover as a city. It's not just about COVID, it's about people's jobs and livelihoods. It's about getting people back on track and everything else in their life. And we think this is going to be a real special moment now, that Homecoming Week.

Lehrer: I saw a story that seemed to suggest you were considering a vaccine mandate for those concert goers. Is that right? And when, and how are you deciding? 

Mayor: We're going to have more information next week, because next week we intend to put out a lot of details around the concerts, and we'll talk about those rules. I'm not going to jump the gun here, but we're going to talk about those rules. I'd certainly say the commonsense approach, whatever rules we publish, the commonsense approaches is getting vaccinated is smart in general, and it's smart if you want to attend big events, it’s just smart. So, I'd say to everyone, if you want to keep going to these great things, go get vaccinated. 

I just wanted to one quick step back in the name of being factual and clear, Brian. You had to do a little correction earlier, I’m going to do a little correction too. That when Sarah called from Washington Heights, I forgot to add a very important point, kids in a classroom who are vaccinated do not need to quarantine. So, even if they're exposed, they do not need to quarantine. So, I just want to get that across really clear.  

Lehrer: Unless they show symptoms – 

Mayor: Well different matter, of course, if they show symptoms, absolutely different – that's determined individually. Absolutely.
Lehrer: Janet in Little Italy. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Janet. 

Question: Hello, Brian. Hello, Mr. Mayor. And I just want to thank both of you for the hometown feel at these regular Friday morning things deliver, and I hope the next mayor has the same guts to show up and face the public as Mayor de Blasio has. So now I'm going to complain. Okay? 

Mayor: That seems fair. I think that's nice. You’re giving your positive opening and then got a complaint. I can take that. That's a good deal. 

Question: I know you can. My complaint is about the indefinite extension of restaurants on the sidewalks and in the streets. I know that the hospitality industry has a lot of influence, but for residents of neighborhoods, especially those with narrow streets, like in the West Village and Little Italy, this is turns into, this is a nightmare in combination with the bicyclist and the scooters and stuff. It's like being part of, you know, one of those ping pong tables where you, you go out and you've got to dodge – you've got to dodge scooters and bicycles who are now riding on the sidewalk, they don't pay any attention to the traffic laws, any of them, the cars are very obedient. The cars are the least of our problems now. The problems are the bicyclists who go the wrong way on a one-way street, who ride on the sidewalks, and in combination with the restaurants - I think, I could, I will understand giving them a year to catch up after what our wonderful restaurants experienced during the because of COVID, but to extend it forever places in a terrible burden on the small neighborhoods that many of them are operating in. And also, our streetscapes have turned into something like a shanty town. It's like living in a favela. Now they're tagged constantly there, and the rats, the noise, the smells, it's like having the San Gennaro Feast 365 days a year.  

Lehrer: Janet, I'm going to leave it there cause we're running out of time in the segment, and I want to get you an answer from the Mayor. What do you say to Janet in Little Italy? 

Mayor: Janet, I liked what you said about the hometown feel of these conversations because it is true. We're sort of a really, really overgrown small town. I will say as a proud Italian American, the San Gennaro Festival to me is a beautiful joyous moment, and I do think outdoor dining has created something beautiful and joyous. And yeah, you know, there's things we have to address unquestionably, but I want to go to the positives, they outweigh the negatives greatly. We saved a 100,000 restaurant jobs, it's not just about the restaurant owners and I appreciate them, and I appreciate all they went through in COVID and keeping the business open, but also the 100,000 employees we saved because of Open Restaurants and the bringing back of this entire industry, which is the heart and soul of the city, it's our identity in so many ways. It's the reason people come here from all over the world, which we need, we need the tourists back. They can be a pain sometimes, but they also, you know, create part of the lifeblood of the city. So, I think the Open Restaurants approach is exactly right. I think it has to continue. Now, if you say, some of the things you said were in my view were not about Open Restaurants, they do need to be enforced. Any, you know, bicycle, electric bike, or motorcycle on the sidewalk or anything like that are going the wrong way, of course, that has to be enforced, and that is something we got to do more of. What I think is going to happen, truly, and Brian, this is sort of some projection to the future. I think we're going to increasingly in 2021 returned to normal, or something like normal, hopefully make some real improvements in the process, I think we can, but then we're going to be able to put more and more of our energy back in the quality of life. As the recovery deepens, the economy comes back, I know we're going to be able to address some of the issues we're dealing with, with guns and other real serious problems out there. I know they're going to reduce as more and more effort is applied and things return to something more normal, which is going to allow all of our agencies to go deeper into addressing quality of life issues. And I also don't like – I hate when a motorcycle, a motorbike, whatever, electric bike goes wrong way, or goes on a sidewalk. We got to do more about that. We can do more about that. And I think we're going to be able to do more about that as we get through the next few months.  

Lehrer: Let me end with a follow-up question from a listener on our previous discussion about vaccines, listener tweets, “how can the Mayor asked private employers to mandate vaccines, but not mandate them for the NYPD himself?” 

Mayor: Again, we're going to have more to say in the days ahead about city agencies, but the public sector is different from the private sector. Private sector, it's America, you know, private property rights, private enterprise rights are different than for a government entity. So, I would just say to everyone, go to the maximum that you feel is appropriate at this point, and we all need to start climbing this ladder together. And the more we do, the better, and, you know, whatever gets people vaccinated, but we will have a lot more to say in the coming days. Brian. 

Lehrer: Thank you, as always, Mr. Mayor, talk to you next week.  

Mayor: Take care now.

2021-07-26 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Live from Borough Hall in the Bronx, it's Bronx Week.

But now let's talk about the big picture for the whole city, for the Bronx, and all five boroughs in the fight against COVID. First, a good update vaccination doses in New York City since day one, from the beginning, more than 9.8 million vaccination doses and climbing every single day. Officially it is 9,871,371 doses since the very beginning. Here's more good news: 71 percent of all adults in New York City have had at least one dose. 71 percent, better than the national average. And let's talk about our youngest New Yorkers who are eligible for the vaccine. The 12 to 17-year-olds – already, at least 226,000 12 to 17-year-olds have gotten at least one dose. And we're going to be putting a big effort into play to reach many more of them before school begins. So, this is what makes the difference, vaccination, but we all know the Delta variant has thrown us a curveball, and we are really, really focused on fighting the Delta variant. So last week I announced for our frontline health care workers in the public sector, Health + Hospitals, DOH – the COVID safety requirement, simply show proof of vaccination or get tested every single week. And I said, last week, this was only the beginning and we would be climbing up the ladder, more mandates to come well, today is that day. 

On September 13th, the entire city workforce will be mandated under the COVID safety mandate to either get vaccinated, which is far preferable or get tested once a week. Let's be clear why this is so important. This is about our recovery. This is about what we need to do to bring back New York City. This is about keeping people safe, this is about making sure our families get through COVID okay, this is about bringing back jobs, you name it. In September, everything's going to come together. September is the pivot point of the recovery. September is when many employers are bringing back a lot of their employees. September is when school starts full strength. September is when people come back from the summer. September is when it will all happen. And so, on September 13th, which is the first full day of school, every single city employee will be expected to be either vaccinate or be tested weekly. This means everybody. This means obviously everyone who works in our schools, our educators and staff. It means the NYPD, the FDNY, it means all city agencies. It means people who work in offices and people work on the frontline. Everyone, because September is when the rubber hits the road, and this is when we have to make the difference. And so, this mandate will be in place. Two groups of city employees will be starting sooner. Of course, we announced already Health + Hospitals and the frontline Department of Health workers, clinical workers, that's next week, August 2nd. The second group, August 16th, 45,000 city employees in congregate and residential settings, in settings where people literally are there living together in close proximity on an ongoing basis. That will be August 16th. So, we're going to keep climbing this ladder and adding additional measures as needed mandates and strong measures, whenever needed to fight the Delta variant. Number one way to fight it is get vaccinated. We're proving it. This is the reason life is as good as it is in New York City right now, because we're above the national average vaccinations, but we need to do more. We're also going to reinforce for all city government workers starting on Monday, reinforcing clearly, if you are unvaccinated and you are a city employee, beginning on Monday, you must either wear a mask indoors at your work site at all times, or if you would prefer not to, you have to immediately go get vaccinated. This is very, very clear. We will have to unfortunately be very tough. If a city government employee does not wear a mask indoors and they are unvaccinated there, unfortunately will have to be consequences because we have to take it seriously. If someone's unvaccinated, unfortunately they pose a threat to themselves, but they also have a greater chance of spreading the disease. 

Now, my right message to the private sector is go, as far as you can go right now, do what you can do. Private entities have the right to make a lot of choices. They have a lot of freedom. They can set their own rules. Each private sector employer needs to do what they believe is right, but I would strongly urge a vaccination mandate whenever possible, or as close to it as possible, at minimum requiring all your employees to get vaccinated or to do weekly testing. 

Now to help make it easier for folks who have gotten vaccinated and want to be able to show that, or have gotten a negative test and want to be able to show that New York City is, at this point, offering a new tool to help make it easier for New Yorkers. On August 2nd, we will debut the NYC COVID SAFE app. This app is simple and easy to use, allows you to keep track of vaccination or test results and have them available to show any employer or anyone else you'd need to. This is another tool. The NYC COVID SAFE app will give New Yorkers another option. There's the state Excelsior pass. That's valuable too. And of course, there's something as simple as a paper vaccination card. All of these tools matter, everything that helps people to keep track and to be held accountable is a good thing. 

With that, I want to turn to our Health Commissioner who has been leading the way, who believes strongly in these aggressive measures. And we'll tell you why they're so important. Our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. It's been said that in a crisis, you must look to the helpers, those working on behalf of others, despite so much risk to their own wellbeing. In so many cases over the past 18 months, the helpers have been city staff, whether it's foster care workers, first responders or teachers. We need these individuals to continue to serve and to do so in the safest way possible, which is why we implemented the COVID safety requirement: proof of vaccination, or a weekly negative test starting with health care workers on August 2nd and today, as the Mayor said, we're expanding the requirement to all city staff beginning in September. And for those workers who are in more risky settings, such as foster care shelters or senior centers, this will begin even earlier on, August 16th. 

To ensure that our workplaces are as safe as possible we are also fortifying our requirement that unvaccinated city staff wear masks indoors. Only with documented proof of vaccination does one have the option to forego a face covering, except of course in places where they are required for all such as schools, health care facilities, or congregate settings. These new requirements reflect our commitment to each other and to the people whom we serve. To the city's heroic helpers. I would only say, don't wait. The virus is here now. And it's transmitting quickly due to the Delta variant, a particularly aggressive strain of the virus with cases rising rapidly, particularly among the unvaccinated who are at most at risk of severe outcomes. We need stronger medicine to deal with Delta, which is why we're taking these steps today, and we'll continue with robust responses if more steps are needed. In the tug of war between vaccines and the variants, we should continue to bet on vaccines, but now is the time for our whole city to pull together to defeat Delta. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Chokshi. And I want you to hear from a leading national voice, a truly leading national voice in the fight against COVID. We are depending constantly on the medical leaders who see the next steps we have to take. And one of them who has been consistently ahead of the curve, he is the professor of Bioethics at the Department of Population Health, and the founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine here in New York City, my pleasure to introduce Dr. Arthur L. Caplan. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Caplan. Thank you for all you are doing the sound, the alarm and help us move forward as a city and as a nation. And now I want to turn back to Dr. Mitch Katz. I skipped over him by accident, obviously leading the way with Health + Hospitals, which had been the frontline of this fight and are the first city workers who are engaging in this mandate. He understands how important it is to keep his workers safe and how that keeps everyone else safe. Dr. Mitch Katz. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Thank you, sir, and thank you for everything you're doing to keep us safe. Health + Hospitals, because we care for those people who are sick, especially the undocumented, the uninsured, the black and brown communities, people who are homeless, we want to be sure that we are providing care that is safe by making sure that everybody is vaccinated or tested weekly. We feel very strongly as health care providers it's our duty to be sure that we are not ourselves spreading the virus. Thank you so much, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz. And now as Dr. Caplan previewed, one of the most important health care voices in this state, because he has for years been one of the most crucial public leaders, setting progressive public policies for the entire state as Chair of Health Committee of the New York State Assembly. We have worked together often. I think very, very highly of what he has done for this city and this state. My pleasure to introduce Assemblymember Dick Gottfried. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Assembly Member and you, you know, your history and you're absolutely right. There's plenty of precedent for doing this and doing it the right way to save people's lives and protect our whole community. 

Now who's not protecting our community. Who's standing in the way – who is a core part of this problem? The people spreading disinformation, and I want to be blunt about this. There are people spreading disinformation purposely for their own profit, for their own fame, for their own political goals. Let's be clear. The folks who are out there lying about vaccinations, lying about COVID, are doing it for their own greedy reasons, not for your health and wellbeing, but for their own aspirations. That's what's going on. It's disgusting. And it has to end. And those who are enabling the disinformation have to stop. We know that the anti-vaccination disinformation has spread like wildfire, and it has cost many people their lives. Let's be clear – those who spread this information are literally killing people. I agree wholeheartedly with the point that President Joe Biden made about the dangers of spreading this information and the fact that anyone who does it is part of the problem. So, listen to this shocking statistic from a report that just came out from the Center for Countering Digital Hate: 65 percent of the disinformation about COVID is spread on social media. That's striking enough, but here's the most striking part, it links back to 12 prolific posters on social media, 12 individuals. They are called the Disinformation Dozen. They are dangerous people who have caused endless harm. Now, these individuals are still at large. They are out there on these platforms at this hour of this day, literally depriving people of their lives by lying to them. It is unacceptable and we have to stop it. So, today New York City is calling on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to de-platform. The Disinformation Dozen. Take away their bully pulpit that is killing people. Stop them now. Kick them off your sites right now completely, immediately. Also, the Department of Health in New York City is officially sending a letter to mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey. The doctors at the Department of Health are saying, stop the spread of the lies, stop the spread of COVID. If you don't stop the lies, then you are complicit in the spread of COVID. It has to end. You have no right to put people's lives in danger. It's just like Assemblyman Dick Gottfried said, we all understand the liberties and freedoms of this country, but we value life. And if someone is standing in the way of human life, if someone is causing people to die, it has to be stopped, and these platforms can do so much about it. We demand they do so immediately. 

All right, we're going to go to our indicators in a moment, as you see the indicators, you're going to see again the troubling increase in cases because the Delta variant and thank God, you're going to see some news that continues to be strong about hospitalization because of the high level of vaccination. But this is going to be a fight to keep the vaccinations moving more than the variant.

All right, everyone, the indicators, and we'll be talking throughout this week and the weeks ahead again, we're going to be making some changes with the indicators because of the information we're getting now. We're going to be focusing more and more on vaccination levels on case numbers and hospitalization rate. Those are the crucial, crucial areas. So, we'll be making those alterations, we'll talk about that in the days ahead, but let's give you today's report. First of all, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today’s report is 92 patients, confirmed positivity: 21.65 percent, hospitalization rate per 100,000: 0.55. So again, we've seen some movement there. It's still a very good rate, but we're watching that very carefully. Here's something we're obviously concerned about. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average today's report: 837 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing city-wide positive for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average: 2.35 percent. Let me say a few words quickly in Spanish, on the mandate to ensure that our employees get vaccinated or tested. 

With that. Let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Health Commissioner Dr. Chokshi, by Health + Hospitals CEO, Dr. Mitchell Katz, but DOITT Commissioner Jesse Tisch, and by Labor Relations Commissioner Renee Campion. First question today goes to Jenn Peltz from the AP. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Jenn, how you been? 

Question: Good, thank you. I wanted to ask, do you know the rate of vaccination among the city workforce as a whole or any components of it even, other than the workers we discussed last week? 

Mayor: Yeah, I will turn to Dr. Chokshi, but with a big asterix, that we have information, but I don't think we would call it complete because so many people have gone as individuals to get vaccinated, not just through the drives, sponsored for example, in their workplaces. So, we have some information but not as complete as what we would like to have, what we do know about the city as a whole, and that tells us a lot about our workforce as well. Right now, 4.9 million New Yorkers have had at least one dose. So, that's 59 percent of the entire city's population. We know that among adults it's 4.7 million. So, that's 71 percent of adults. These are good signs, obviously, overall, but we know we've got a lot more to do in terms of the City workforce. And I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, again. We'll give you what we can now, and then continue to put together more information as we go along.  

Commissioner Chokshi:  Thank you, sir. And yes, we can follow up with the specific numbers that we do have. In general, the City workforce has trended along with the patterns that we're seeing for New York City adults as a whole. And, as the Mayor has said, that rate of vaccination among all adults in New York City is 71 percent with at least one dose. But regardless of the current vaccination rate for the City workforce, we do have to acknowledge that there's variation, you know, for different agencies, for different settings, and part of the goal of the COVID safety requirement is to lift all boats by getting everyone to a higher standard and increasing vaccination rates, particularly where they may be lagging.   

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Jen.  

Question: Thanks. And, secondly, turning to the announcement you made about ensuring that unvaccinated City workers are masked in the workplace. How exactly do you foresee enforcing that? And what consequences will there be if people don't do that or get vaccinated?  

Mayor: I'm going to turn to our Labor Relations Commissioner Renee Campion, but, Jen, let me make real clear that we're just not going to tolerate unvaccinated City employees doing the wrong thing. So, let's be blunt – if you're a City employee and you're unvaccinated, you must wear a mask indoors at work. We will not tolerate any decision to do otherwise, because this is about protecting people's health and wellbeing. If someone is not wearing their mask, they will be removed from the workplace. So, let's get the details from our Commissioner of Labor Relations Renee Campion.   

Commissioner Renee Campion, Office of Labor Relations: Good morning, Mayor. You can hear me okay?   

Mayor: Yes, indeed.  

Commissioner Campion: Great. Thank you. So, simply it's the requirement that the Mayor has laid out is – it's actually – it will be a job requirement. We will expect employees to comply, as the Mayor has said. We will continue to have conversations with the unions. We've already started some of those conversations. If employees refuse to comply, they just can't be at work. And, in fact, they will not be paid. This is the general sense of the process and it will vary by agency.  

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.   

Moderator: The next is Emma from the New York Times.  

Question: Hi. Good morning, Mayor. I'm curious, what can you do about private employers? I spoke to Kathy Wylde, and she said it's hard for them to require a vaccine on their own and they really need a federal mandate. So, what specifically, you know, are you encouraging private employers to do?  

Mayor: Emma, we are climbing the ladder, as we've said, and we're going to be looking for each next step as appropriate. So far, the Delta variant is certainly giving us evidence that we’ve got to keep climbing that ladder. Right now, what we're saying is we're leading by example. And a lot of times, private sector employers say that's what they need – show us that the City is doing it first and that makes it easier for us to do it. And, clearly, there are employers who are and will set their own standards. But I think the better and clearer the federal guidelines and other guidelines become, the easier it will be. So, I think there are definitely employers right now ready to act and who will take heart from our announcement. Others may need to see more, but this is going to be, I think, a constant series of actions over the coming weeks to deal with this challenge. Go ahead, Emma.  

Question: And then, I was wondering, are you seeing any promising signs that vaccination rates are starting to go up or level off here? I know Council Member Mark Levine was saying that it looks like the vax rates have stabilized. What do you think so far in terms of the Delta variant?  

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but say what we're seeing for sure is continued vaccination. This is the good news – that people are coming in every single day. Again, a typical day is between 10,000 and 20,000 people. This is going to increase that number, I don't have any doubt. So, what I'd say, Emma, is, you're going to see an increase because of these mandates. You're going to see an increase, because of the intense vaccination drive we're going to start soon in the lead up to school. And I think as Delta clearly poses a threat, a lot of people are seeing that, and it's changing their mind. I think we're seeing that all around the country. So, I am hopeful that this will lead to some intensification. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to speak to where we stand now?   

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. And the data shows that some of the decrease in the vaccination rate that we had seen in recent weeks has stabilized. That means that more people are coming out to get vaccinated each day. And what we want to do is to keep that steady rate, but, as the Mayor said, we want to push that as high as possible. And there are a number of factors that are contributing to this. First is, there is reason for concern, as you know, with the Delta variant, and we think that that is affecting people's decision-making who have been waiting for the right time to get the vaccine. Our clear message is, that time is now. In addition, some of the steps that we're taking, starting with the City workforce, as we announced today, will also propel more people to get vaccinated in the coming days. We want to keep this impetus and this encouragement growing so that those numbers increase at a higher rate. And, as the Mayor has announced previously, we'll have a particular focus on vaccinating adolescents in the weeks ahead.   

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.   

Moderator: The next is Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.  

Question: Hi, Mayor.  

Mayor: Hey, Elizabeth. How are you doing?  

Question: I wanted to ask you if you could tell us a little bit more about the app and is it doing the same thing that the states Excelsior app is doing? Is it doing something different? Who would you like to see using this app other than City agencies and employees?  

Mayor: So, I'll start and I'll turn to our Information Technology Commissioner Jesse Tisch, and then, obviously, if Dr. Chokshi wants to add. Look, we want to see people use this – we believe will offer another option and allow for some other information to be available easily. We think it's easy to use, which will be something people really appreciate. And the goal is since now more and more you're going to see mandates, people are going to need to have the information available more easily. We think this'll be a great tool for those who need to show that information. Commissioner Tisch, do you want to add to that?  

Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications: Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Elizabeth, the New York City COVID Safe app allows you to upload and present your vaccination card, or, alternatively, your weekly test results for the unvaccinated. The test results expire in the app after seven days to meet the Mayor's weekly mandate for testing of unvaccinated City employees and the contracted staff. Importantly, Elizabeth, from a privacy perspective, all the data that is uploaded into the app lives on a person's device. So, it lives on their phone. It doesn't get sent anywhere. We built the app for both the iOS and Android phones, and the app will be available in the Google and the Apple app stores. We built the app in its first instance to help operationalize the COVID safety mandate for City employees and contracted staff, but because the app will be publicly available in the app stores and the local employer or business or venue that adopts the City's vaccination or weekly testing regimen can choose to use it for their employees or their patrons. In that way, I think you can really look at it as part of the Mayor's call to action. We're planning to have the apps available for download by the August 2nd deadline, when the first tranche of City employees become subject to the mandate. And we have chosen to go this route to manage the mandate for hundreds of thousands of City workers, because other options like Excelsior Pass, which you mentioned, do not specifically accommodate the Mayor's weekly testing mandate at this time, or, for example, people who are tested or vaccinated outside of New York.  

Mayor: Thank you very much, Commissioner. And, Elizabeth, I’m going to turn to Dr. Chokshi to add, but I want to say, look, there's more than one good way for people to keep track of information and provide information. The Excelsior Pass is great, it definitely offers an important service. If that's what people want to use or that's what works best for them, that's great. A paper card – a paper vaccination card, a lot of us have them in our wallets. Those are great too, they really work. So, we welcome any and all. We wanted to offer something that we thought would help add capacity, make it simple for people, but we're happy to see people keep tracking information whichever way makes best sense for them. Dr. Chokshi, you want to add?  

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. And just to build on that point, this really reflects that there are multiple paths, but a common destination. And that common destination is around safety. This is why it's called the COVID Safe App, which will certainly help us to implement the COVID safety requirement for the City workforce. But, as Commissioner Tisch has also mentioned, this is something that will help the private sector – anyone who wants to implement something similar, to do so. And we strongly urge other institutions, other organizations to consider it as well.   

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Elizabeth.  

Question: So, just as a follow-up, would you be in favor of restaurants, maybe concert, or theaters using this app as a way to screen people who are coming to their – you know, to indoor activities, for example?   

Mayor: Yeah, absolutely, Elizabeth. Whether they use the NYC App, whether they use Excelsior Pass, whether they use the paper vaccination card, I think this is the shape of things to come. People have to take responsibility at this moment. And, you know, again, remember the history here – for months and months, we made vaccination available to all for free, hundreds of locations. Then, we added incentives. We made it possible for anyone to get an answer to any concern they have. And what I said last week, I feel – the purely voluntary phase is ending. It's now time to add additional tools. We want to see that in the private sector as well. We want to be more and more clear about the fact that if folks want to fully participate in the life of this amazing city, they need to get vaccinated.   

Moderator: The next is Courtney Gross from NY1.   

Mayor: Courtney, we can't hear you try again.   

Question: [Inaudible]  

Mayor: Nope, Nope, not coming through. We'll go to the next person. We'll come back to you, Courtney.   

Moderator: We'll come back to Courtney. The next is – the next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News.   

Question: Good morning.  

Mayor: Hey, Michael. How are you doing today?  

Question: I'm doing all right. I was wondering if folks on the panel could talk about [inaudible] I think this is best directed at the legal underpinnings here. You know, what are the legal underpinnings that support this?  

Mayor: Michael, just clarify your question. I'm sorry.  

Question: The mandate. I mean, I'm sure there are legal underpinnings. I was just wondering if you could go into detail about, you know, what law supports this? What laws support this? You know, I'm not questioning the fact that there are laws supporting it, but I was wondering if there are specifics that you guys could point to kind of give us a little more detail.   

Mayor: I'll start and I'll turn to our Labor Relations Commissioner Renee Campion. This is our right as an employer. It is about protecting the workforce, their health and safety, and the people they serve. So, this falls within the rubric of employer's rights to manage their workplace in the vein of health and safety. Renee, would you like to add?  

Commissioner Campion: Yes, sir. Thank you, Mayor. So, as the Mayor said, it is a requirement. We do have the, the authority and the right to require employees to comply. We expect the employees to comply. As we said before, if they're not at work, if they can't be at work, because they refuse to comply, they will be on leave without pay. So, to the extent that – that it is our right to do it, we are giving people, obviously, the two options, which are the vaccination and-or the – with proof – and also the weekly testing. So, they do have a choice. The employees do have a choice.   

Mayor: Go ahead, Michael.  

Question: Thank you. My next question is about, you know, some comments your former Health Commissioner Dr. Barbot made about bringing folks back to homeless shelters. And I mean, she's basically saying this could threaten the health of thousands of homeless people. Could you respond to that? You know, what she's what she's saying.   

Mayor: Sure, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. Look, we've had this conversation over months, and the whole point was to make sure that we could protect people's health and safety, while also serving them, getting them the help they needed, because folks who are homeless have a number of challenges that have to be addressed, other physical health challenges, mental health challenges, in some cases, most importantly, the need to get to better housing. And we needed to do that in the right way, and, obviously, made that decision in careful consultation with our health care leadership. And we have been persistently making vaccination available to all people who are in any of our facilities and we will continue to do so. So, we're convinced that is the right approach. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add?   

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks for the question, Michael. And the Mayor has charged us with making every setting as safe as is possible. The key to that, as you've heard from us consistently, and as the Mayor just said, is vaccination. It is the single most important and effective intervention that we can bring to bear with respect to interrupting the spread of COVID and particularly preventing severe outcomes related to COVID-19. And that's why the Department of Homeless Services has labored over several months to ensure that vaccination is readily accessible and available. I'll just connect it to today's announcement as well. It's part of the reason that the COVID safety requirement applies to staff in shelters and other congregate settings, and part of the reason that that implementation is even sooner than the rest of the city workforce. Thank you, sir.   

Mayor: Thank you.   

Moderator: The next is Bob Hennelly from the Chief Leader.  

Question: Thanks for taking my call. President Biden has said we have a pandemic among the unvaccinated. But, on Sunday, Dr. Fauci pointed out, what's going on is, as long as we let the virus roam among the unvaccinated, we risked the proliferation of variants, something we have already seen. Could your subject matter experts expand on this?  

Mayor: I don't – did you get that? Okay, Dave Chokshi – I couldn't follow the full question, but Dave Chokshi can. So, that's all that matters. Dr. Chokshi.  

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And thanks for this important question, Bob. Just to restate it briefly, the fact that we have continued spread of COVID-19 contributes to new variants of the virus emerging over time as well. And it's one of the reasons that this is not just a pandemic for people who remain unvaccinated, but also may prolong the pandemic because additional variants will emerge. That is all true and epidemiologically sound. But when it comes to what we can actually do about it the answer remains simple and consistent. And that is getting as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible. This will help us to interrupt the spread in the here and now, but it will also over the long term, help us to mitigate the development of new and potentially even more dangerous variants.  

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Bob.  

Question: Yes. Also, if we could get a sense of what I've heard is that actually, even if you're vaccinated, it's conceivable that you could become a carrier of the virus and so spread it on? And if your subject matter experts could offer some background on that, because that that's been getting some play?  

Mayor: I'm going to start as the non-subject matter expert and then turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi. But I want to be really clear – what has been extraordinary, Bob is the impact of vaccination. Considering that two years ago, we never heard of COVID and then the vaccination had to be put together in record time, which is actually one of the greatest achievements in recent human history. What's amazing is how much good the vaccination does, how much it protects people who are vaccinated, how much it reduces the spread. So, this is actually a very good news story, even if there are some examples that people cite of imperfections overwhelmingly the vaccination – excuse me, the vaccine has performed at an extraordinarily high level. But to your specific question, Dr. Katz, then Dr. Chokshi.  

President Katz: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. It's very clear that vaccination decreases the chance that somebody can transmit. So, it is not an absolute. People who are vaccinated can still transmit if they get COVID, but it's markedly reduced. So, it's another reason why people need to get vaccinated. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi?  

Commissioner Chokshi: And I'll just add that anytime we talk about so-called breakthrough cases, we actually have to distinguish between breakthrough infections and breakthrough disease. The reason is the one that Dr. Katz mentioned. We do know that all of the authorized vaccines currently in use here in New York City offer strong protection against particularly the severe outcomes related to COVID-19. Another thing that is sometimes commonly misunderstood is that you know, one way that I've heard it described is vaccines are not bug zappers. They work by revving up your immunity. That means that even someone who is fully vaccinated, may you know, get infected with the virus, but the whole point of the vaccines is to enable that person to successfully fight it off, so that they can avoid those severe outcomes like requiring oxygen or requiring hospitalization, that we foremost want to avoid. Thank you.  

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.  

Moderator: We'll go back to Courtney Gross from NY1.  

Question: Hi, can you hear me now?  

Mayor: Yes, indeed. Courtney. How are you doing?  

Question: Okay. Good. Thank you. I'm glad you can hear me. So, I want to go back to the conversation or just get a little bit more detail on the conversations you may have had with unions so far. What have those conversations been like in response to this mandate and have any of them balked at the idea?  

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Katz and Commissioner Campion. But saying, look, we've had a number of conversations. I certainly am not going to speak for the unions and there's more unions we need to talk to. But we're doing this out of a sense of urgency. We're giving people lead time, so there's time to get ready. There's time to have more conversation. There's time for people to get vaccinated in advance if they want to avoid weekly testing. But I think more and more here and around the country, there's a recognition that we need to move to stronger measures. And I think a lot of folks in labor understand that in one form or another. Dr. Katz, then Commissioner Campion.  

President Katz: From the perspective of Health + Hospitals, our unions have been phenomenal partners. They understand that we have a moral responsibility to keep our patients safe. Their workers give their lives to keep people alive, to protect them. And they have fully endorsed our policy of requiring vaccination or weekly testing. And I'm very proud to work with them and to say that. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you. Commissioner Campion?  

Commissioner Campion: Yes. Yes. Mayor. I would just add – thank you, that we have started conversations with the unions. They are positive and we'll continue to have more conversations as the weeks go on. Thank you very much. Go ahead, Courtney.  

Question: And then sort of a follow up on that. Do we know which agencies have the lowest vaccination rate and which agencies have the highest vaccination rate? I know there's been some reporting that the NYPD has a pretty low vaccination rate.  

Mayor: I'll see if Commissioner Chokshi can do any chapter and verse for you? I will say, you know, on an area where we've been very pleased, for example, has been the Department of Education. That's been a strong suit. But there's definitely variations by agency. As Dr. Katz will attest, and I want him to attest. There's been movement over time too, even before the mandate. So, first I’d like Dr. Katz to talk about how much has changed within Health + Hospitals. Because I think it's indicative of the fact that more and more people will turn to vaccination. And then Dr. Chokshi can talk about any of the variations among agencies that he has details on. Dr. Katz? Dr. Katz? We have him or not? Great lead in, yes or no? Do not. Okay. Well, it would have been a great answer and a great story, but Dr. Chokshi’s going to do great too.  

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. We will follow up with the specific information that we have by agency. What I can tell you is for my own agency, the Health Department, I'm proud that we've been outpacing the City's average with respect to percent of our workforce with at least one dose, which is greater than the 71 percent that I mentioned earlier. But it also highlights that even for agencies that are at the upper end of the spectrum like ours, we are not going to stop. We actually have to push those numbers still higher because that's what it's going to take for the Delta variant. So, regardless of where an agency is along the spectrum, we are all going to move forward to get to even higher vaccination rates.  

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.  

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Henry from Bloomberg.  

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing today?  

Mayor: Good, Henry. How you been?  

Question: I'm good. I'm good. Thank you. I guess you are happy about the Red Sox miraculous comeback yesterday?  

Mayor: I think I'm in the wrong setting to comment. So, I'm going to show – I'm not going to smile broadly. I'm going to be very respectful.  

Question: All right. Well, that was a trick question. And you handled it quite deftly. Let me ask you this, Henry Garrido has said that before you mandate testing and the vaccinations, specifically mentions testing, you need to negotiate with the unions. Have you done any negotiation or talks with the unions before announcing this? And what do you think of his statement?  

Mayor: I think very, very highly of Henry Garrido. We have worked closely on, you know, literally dozens and dozens of issues. I think when it comes to the health and safety of our workers in the middle of a global pandemic, we have the right as employers to take urgent action to protect people's health, to protect their lives. Again, we've been talking to a number of unions. We'll be talking to more as we phase this in. But on this specific question of – subject of collective bargaining or not, I'll turn to Labor Relations Commissioner Renee Campion.  

Commissioner Campion: Thank you, Mayor. Thanks, Henry. The regarding – the answers regarding your question about having the right to negotiate. We have the right to negotiate with our unions. We will be speaking to our unions and talking to them. Under the New York City collective bargaining law, we do have to negotiate the safety and impact with unions of these policies. So, we will be doing that. But again, we, it is – we are making, it is a requirement of the employees and we do have the right to do that.  

Mayor: Thanks very much. Go ahead, Henry.  

Question: All right. Thank you. I have sort of a compound question here, but they're related. On this policy, why not go all the way and require vaccines 100 percent or ask people to work from home rather than testing once a week? And on this testing, how does it work? Is it instant or rapid testing? Are people going to have to wait for a negative test before they go into work? How is it going to work practically?  

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi in a moment who can give you some of the flavor of that. But the bottom line is we need to get people vaccinated. I respect the question. It's an important question, Henry. But I want to be clear. So much of the dialogue is about everything but getting people vaccinated. And this is a product I think of a lot of different trends, including the disinformation campaigns I talked about earlier. But also, I feel strongly that it was one thing to start with a heavy voluntary focus in the beginning and then incentive focus. But it's quite clear, the Delta variant has changed the game. So, now it's time to focus on one thing and one thing only. Vaccination. No more excuses, no more delays. Vaccination. We did not want to say to people, oh, you know, work from home so you don't have to get vaccinated. Well, that means they're just putting their families in danger and their surrounding community in danger. That's not a solution. Also working from home is not a solution per se. What we've learned in this entire experience is that our employees being in their workplaces means they're doing better work, they're serving the public better, they're working together better. We found that out in many, many instances. So, our goal here is simple. Make it maximally easy for people to get vaccinated and create an atmosphere where there's clearly consequences if you don't get vaccinated. Because vaccination is the only answer at this point. As to, again, some of the mechanics around testing, et cetera, Dr. Chokshi you want to add?  

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Yes. With respect to implementation of the COVID Safety Requirement, first, the Mayor made the most important point. Which is if you get vaccinated, you're done. That's all that's required to fulfill the COVID Safety Requirement. If you choose the weekly testing option, then of course it means that you do have to get tested each week. You have to demonstrate the negative result. Generally, this will be via molecular testing, whether rapid or otherwise. But the most important thing is that you provide that documentation of the negative result on a weekly basis. It doesn't have to be on a particular day each week. It can be any day of the week, as long as it is provided successively each week to fulfill the COVID Safety Requirement. Thank you.  

Mayor: Thank you. And as per usual, Dave Chokshi breaks it on down for you live from the Bronx, get vaccinated and you're done. One and done. It's simple. It's easy. It will make you safe. It will make your family safe. There are places to get vaccinated all over this city for free right now. Go get vaccinated. And to the people of the Bronx, looking forward to a great week with you. Thanks, everybody.

2021-07-27 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Another beautiful day in the Bronx. We’re here live at Bronx Borough Hall, and we've got a lot to cover today, and let me make really clear what today is about. Today is about recovery. We're going to talk about some very special events, some very special moments that are going to be thrilling, thrilling for all of us. But why are we having these incredible moments? Because of recovery. Everything's about recovery now. Everything is about showing people the rebirth of New York City, building upon it, building momentum for it. We will come back and come back strong as a city. The only thing we need is more vaccinations. Vaccination equals recovery. I want everyone get this into your minds. Vaccination equals recovery. The reason that you can go around New York City right now and see so much activity – see stores opening up, restaurants full, people going to the Yankees, the Mets – all of that is because of vaccination. The reason we got this far was because of vaccination. The way forward is more vaccination. So, we're going to keep recovering. We're not going to cower. We're not going to step backwards. We’re sure as hell not going to let ourselves go back to restrictions. So, if you want to avoid the restrictions and you want to move forward, go get vaccinated. If you like recovery and rebirth for New York City, go get vaccinated. That's what it's all about. 

Now, it is time to celebrate the impact of almost 10 million vaccination doses in New York City – the profound impact it's had, and because New Yorkers stepped up and because of our amazing health care heroes and vaccinators, we can move forward and to celebrate our rebirth. We've been talking about it for weeks. Now, our Homecoming Week is going to be absolutely historic, unforgettable. You do not want to miss this. Things are going to happen during a Homecoming Week that have never happened before and will never happen again in New York City, all in one week, it's going to be unforgettable, but everyone who wants to participate – do the right thing, get vaccinated so you can fully enjoy this amazing, amazing week. Today we unveil We Love NYC, the Homecoming Concert. We Love New York – this homecoming concert is going to be the signal of our rebirth. It's an amazing, amazing concert. And everyone who has participated in building it, I want to thank everyone in the city government and all our partners who have done this. It has been a labor of love. It has been exciting to watch folks putting this together with passion. Special thanks, right up front, couldn't have happened without Clive Davis, couldn't have happened without Danny Meyer, couldn't have happened without Live Nation. You're going to hear from them in a moment, which is a treat. But look at this logo. New York City is back. It says it all. New York City is back. You can see it. You can feel it. It's time to celebrate on the Great Lawn where so many great things happened before. This is going to go into the history books. Saturday, August 21st at 5:00 pm, it’s going to be a big, long, amazing concert. It will be aired live worldwide by CNN. That's how important it is. That's how amazing it is. If you've ever heard the word “blockbuster” and “blockbuster lineup” before, you're going to hear now about an amazing lineup and it's only happening because of Clive Davis. Clive is a proud son of Brooklyn. He is a New Yorker who loves New York City. He is a music industry legend. If you love music, then you have to say thank you to Clive Davis, because some of the greatest music in the history of this country is because of his work and the artists he brought forward and made possible. We owe so much to Clive Davis already, but this is a crowning achievement on an amazing career, as he leads the way in the comeback of New York City. I want him to tell you about the lineup because he's the guy who made it all happen. Ladies and gentlemen, New York City's own Clive Davis. 

[…] 

Mayor: Clive, absolutely stunning. There's no other word for it. I'm like listening – if you had stopped after the first like six or seven names, it would have been an amazing concert, but I have never heard of a concert with that kind of line-up, and again, some people were saying here last week, the only thing they could possibly compare it to in terms of the sheer star power, the amazing mix of musical styles, maybe you could compare it to Woodstock, but this is unprecedented. And it's all because of you, Clive. The fact that those folks are coming to support New York City is because you made the call. So I think it's beautiful that a New Yorker loved his city so much that he used all of his reach and all of his influence and all of his good will to make the concert of a lifetime happen for the good in New York City. Clive, I just can't thank you enough. 

Clive Davis: My pleasure, thank you. 

Mayor: All right, now – it's amazing. You just heard it. I mean, I was getting goosebumps as I heard Clive talk about all those acts. Unbelievable, all together. So, think about it. You want to be there? You think that would be an amazing experience? We want you to be there and we're going to be telling you about how you can get tickets. And by the way, 80 percent of the tickets will be free. We want this to be a concert for the people, but also want to be clear. It has to be a safe concert and it has to be a concert that helps us keep moving forward, our recovery, it's all about recovery. That's why we're having this concert. And so, if you want to go to this concert, you need to show proof of vaccination. As simple as that, this is a concert for the ages and its part of our recovery. Join in our recovery, get vaccinated. If you're already vaccinated, you're good to go. If you're not yet vaccinated, you've got weeks to go and get vaccinated so long as you've gotten that first dose and proof of it. You're good, but here's another great reason to get vaccinated. So, you can see this concert and the other amazing concerts and events that will be part of Homecoming Week. 

Now, Clive, amazing effort, but let's talk about Live Nation. They've been there every step of the way they are. The world leader in live music shows. It's also been a labor of love for them. I have to thank Live Nation. We couldn't have done it without them. And they threw in everything they had to make this happen. Let me bring forward from Live Nation, someone who has put a lot effort into this, and I thank you on behalf of New York City, the Regional President of Live Nation, Geoff Gordon. 

[…] 

Mayor: Geoff, thank you. And all your colleagues, all the folks who are making this show happen. Listen, you're right, a lot of people coming back to work now for this, that's wonderful. We're happy to see people coming back to work. We're happy to see everyone is part of putting on the show, everyone in front of the stage and behind the scenes. Thank you to everyone. Geoff, thank you to you and Live Nation. You have really pulled off something amazing here. So, everyone, Geoff gave you the news. You need, how you get the tickets. So set your alarms. He gave you all the details. Of course, all the tickets are going to go fast, the free tickets, especially. And so, if you want to be a part of this jump and remember it's not just one amazing concert in Central Park, that would be amazing enough, but our recovery, our rebirth is so powerful, it's five concerts, one in each borough. They're all amazing. As you see the lineups unveiled, you are going to wonder how it's possible that so much talent is all in one place at one time in one Homecoming Week. It's unbelievable. I'm stunned myself, honestly, from when this idea was first put forward by Danny Meyer. Just an idea that now has turned into this extraordinary outpouring of support for New York City and the artists have come forward. Everyone has come forward with absolute commitment to this city – it’s just unbelievable. 

So, let's now turn to the person who really gets credit for the idea. I talked to Danny in the course of this crisis and he has been stalwart in standing up for New York City. And he has been a leader more than once in helping New York City and the neighborhoods in New York City move forward, even through tough times. I said, “Danny, the city needs you.” And he said, “what can I do to help?” Well, I asked him to be the Chair of our Board for the New York City Economic Development Corporation. And he's doing a fantastic job there. He's legendary, of course, for his work with the Union Square Hospitality Group. But he's also someone who loves this city deeply and said, we need to do something that crystallizes our rebirth. And I said, “how about a Homecoming Week?” So, Danny, if you build it, they will come, someone once said. And you had the idea, and I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I want you to talk to the people in New York City about what this means to you and what it's going to mean for all of us as New York City comes back. Ladies and gentlemen, Danny Meyer.

[...]

Thank you so much, Danny. And Danny, you're right, homecoming – you know, when you first had the idea, it's such a great phrase because it evokes moments that people cherish, the whole idea of any kind of homecoming. But when we talked about it first, and I want to emphasize this everyone, it's, of course, for New Yorkers to come out and enjoy our own city like never before, because we're coming back, because we got vaccinated. It's for folks in the whole metropolitan area. We're all in this together. Whether you live in the city or the suburbs, the New York metropolitan area, we're all connected. It’s for folks to come back, who haven't been here for a while. It's for folks from around the country to come into Homecoming Week, to experience a stunning moment in New York City history, and to start bringing back our visitors, our tourists, who we need. And Danny's right, as people around the globe watch this concert, it is going to be the greatest way of communicating to them not only is New York City back, but you got to get here. And I think it's going to have a huge multiplier effect. So, Danny, thank you. Great idea, turned into something amazing. And it's all because of you. Thank you, brother.

All right, now, that's some big news. Let me also talk to you about the news we're making every day here in the Bronx, as part of City Hall in your Borough, in the Bronx. I am having an amazingly good time in the Bronx and there are so many treasures in the Bronx. And Bronxites know it, but I want to urge all New Yorkers, get to know the Bronx better because it's extraordinary. Yesterday, started out here at Borough Hall. Then we did a great ribbon cutting for a new affordable housing complex, 100 percent affordable in Melrose. This is going to be life-changing for hundreds and hundreds of families. I went to City Island, which is absolutely beautiful. Went to Johnny's Reef. If you want some beautiful, fresh seafood go to Johnny's Reef, everyone. Amazing Bronx spirit and atmosphere. I went to Van Cortlandt Park, went to the New York Botanical Garden. I mean, there's so much to see and do in the Bronx. And by the way, speaking of New York Botanical Garden, voucher. Anyone who goes and gets vaccinated as part of the special deal with the New York Botanical Garden, you get a free pass to the legendary Kusama exhibit. People are talking about this exhibit all over the world. If you want to see it, you get vaccinated, you get in for free. I want to thank everyone at the New York Botanical Garden for this amazing promotion you've put together so people can see the beauty of that place, the beauty of this exhibit, and make themselves safer in the bargain. So, thank you.

And at the end of the day, had a great gathering with the elected leaders of the Bronx, Speaker Carl Heastie, Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., District Attorney Darcel Clark, and so many other leaders from the Bronx who do so much for the Bronx. We went to Caridad restaurant in Kingsbridge, beautiful outdoor dining setup, amazing atmosphere, strongly recommended it. And we had a great, great conversation about how we can all work together for the good of the Bronx. So, we're doing a lot here during Bronx Week and more to come. To hear about how important it is for the City government to focus on the Bronx, I want you to hear from someone who unquestionably is a rising star, he is a member of the New York State Assembly. He is already making an impact fighting for the most vulnerable Bronxites and making sure the City does right by them. My pleasure to introduce Assembly Member Kenny Burgos.

[...]

Thank you so much, Assembly Member, looking forward to seeing you later on and seeing a lot of Bronxites come in and join with us, and we'll talk about what we can do to help make this an even greater borough. And a lot is happening in the Bronx. And the Bronx is also where we started one of the most important initiatives of the last eight years in terms of making sure people are healthy. Way before we ever heard of the word COVID we knew there was a health care crisis for folks who are uninsured. And years ago, I said we needed to do something very different. New York City did something that no other city or state in the country did. We guaranteed health care for all New Yorkers. We knew hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers didn't have insurance. Some couldn't afford even the cheapest plans available. Some were barred from having health insurance because of documentation status. That made no sense. That meant that there were lots and lots of people who were vulnerable, and it made all of us vulnerable. So, we announced guaranteed health care. And specifically, we announced NYC Care. NYC Care has been extraordinary. It means whoever you are, if you can't afford any other insurance plan or it's not available to you, you can sign up for NYC Care. You can get a primary physician assigned to you. You can get specialty physicians and services. You could get it for whatever you can afford, and if you can't afford anything, it's free. All done through our amazing Health + Hospitals system. We're now at the two-year anniversary of this initiative. It is working for so many New Yorkers, but we want to make sure it works for more. So, today in the Bronx, outside of BronxWorks, there'll be a membership drive to keep pushing. We want to get 100,000 people enrolled in NYC Care. We want to make sure it reaches people and their families, and it changes lives. So, between 10 AM and 1 PM today, you can go to BronxWorks, sign up. If you don't have health insurance and you live in the Bronx, get over there, sign up. Or if you can't get over there, call 3-1-1 for how you can sign up. Of course, while you're at it, great opportunity to get vaccinated. We want to make sure people are healthy. We want to make sure people have health care on an ongoing basis. Begins right now by getting vaccinated to protect yourself and your family.

And speaking of vaccinations, today's vaccination total to date, we're closing in every day, getting closer to 10 million total vaccinations. As of today, 9,880,931. And that will bring us to our indicators. And as usual, in the last few weeks, you're going to see some challenges in the indicators, but you're also going to see the fact that vaccination is the reason that we are able to keep going. And that manifests particularly in the hospitalization rate. So, indicator number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report is 84 patients, confirmed positivity, 19.10 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 people, 0.56. And again, it has gone up some, but it's still very low. And that is because of vaccination. And the more vaccination, the lower we'll keep that rate. The area of cases, as we've said, this is an area of concern. We see them going up. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 901 cases. And number three, percent of people testing citywide positive for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 2.37 percent. Again, we're going to be moving off this because we don't think it's as accurate as it used to be. And we think what's much more important is to talk about vaccination levels, hospitalization rate, and case numbers. We'll be talking about that transition to those indicators going forward. Now, finally, let's have a few words in Spanish and I want to go back to the Homecoming concert which again is going to be once in a lifetime.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals; Dan Gross, Executive Director of Citywide Events; and Marielle Kress, Executive Director of NYC Care. Our first question for today goes to James Ford from PIX-11

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Thanks for taking my call.

Mayor: Yes, good morning. We're just going to get your volume up a little James, so we can hear you better. Try again.

Question: How's that? Can you hear me now?

Mayor: There you go. There you go.

Question: Hello, hello?

Mayor: Yep. Yep.

Question: Okay. I was just saying, thanks for taking the call. You've probably heard that the CDC is going to later today recommend – in fact reverse their earlier recommendation that people not wear masks indoors. In other words, recommend that people no matter what their vaccination status is, wear masks indoors. How will this affect the City's policy regarding mask wearing, particularly noting that hospitalizations, they are low, but they keep rising. Can we hear from you and the doctors on this issue?

Mayor: Of course. Here's how I'll frame it. Then we'll turn to the doctors, James. First of all, we're just seeing this guidance. We need to see the exact wording. We need to understand exactly what the CDC is suggesting. So, I can’t give you a final determination until we see that, but I'll say this, there are masked mandates right now in certain places. And there's clear guidance for the unvaccinated. Dr. Chokshi will remind you about that in a moment, but whatever happens with masks, I want to be as clear as I can be, the number one tool, the number one weapon, the number one savior is vaccination. So, we can talk about masks and figure out what makes sense to make – to do about masks. But the thing that will save us is vaccination. The thing that will change the entire environment is vaccination. The one thing I want to make sure is that folks don't say, oh, you know, because there's new mask rules, we don't need to think about vaccination anymore. No, it's quite the opposite. If we're not dealing with vaccination, we're not dealing with the problem. If you want a recovery, we got to get more people vaccinated. So, we will assess, and we'll determine the next steps. But vaccination is really the whole ball game. With that, Dr. Chokshi first with an open, please, with a reminder of the existing mask mandates and guidance, and then you can respond to the question, then Dr. Katz.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Thank you very much. To recap what our current guidance says, anyone who is not yet fully vaccinated is recommended not just to mask, but to follow all of the other public health precautions – distancing, testing, washing your hands frequently. As the Mayor said, we also have mask mandates that are currently in place, regardless of vaccination status including in schools, health care facilities, congregate settings, and public transit like subways and buses. This has been particularly important because they are places where people who are unvaccinated and vaccinated are mixing. And so, it's a way to curb transmission in those settings. As the Mayor said, we will study the new guidance from the CDC carefully. As always, we look not just at the guidance, but the underlying science that may be driving any changes in the guidance. And we'll take a hard look at that science ourselves. Thus far, what it has indicated is that anytime fully vaccinated people are convening with other fully vaccinated people, that is a safe environment. And so, as the Mayor has said, part of our push that you have heard in recent days is to maximize the number of places and spaces where we have fully vaccinated individuals mixing with one another. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Yes. I want to add a couple of points. First hospitalizations are increasing, but it's – the hospitalizations are among unvaccinated people. It remains exceedingly rare for anybody who is vaccinated to get sick enough to need the hospital. And that's true in New York. It's true nationally, there are breakthrough cases in vaccinated persons, but people remain very healthy with minor symptoms in the vast majority of cases emphasizing how important it is to get vaccination. In terms of the CDC guidance, I totally agree with you and Dr. Chokshi that the issue is whether or not we in New York City can create effective systems to be sure who is vaccinated and who is not vaccinated. So, the guidance about everyone wearing masks is based on a frustration about being able to determine who is vaccinated and who is not. But sir, you've put us on a road that will help us to figure out who is vaccinated and who is not, which will enable us to be sure that we can create environments that are safe. And then finally, sir, I want to thank you both for mentioning NYC Care and for creating it. Whenever I'm in my clinic, I can see whether or not the person has insurance status. And now on my screen for the last couple of years, it shows up NYC Care. And whenever I see that, and I'm seeing my patient, I think, well, gee, if this program weren't here, would this patient be here in front of me for me to take care of them? And I'm so grateful whenever I see that label, because I know that they were able to seek our care because you created the program. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Well, listen as I turned back to James, thank you, Mitch. You were present at the creation and I remember vividly the sense of the possible in the room at Gracie Mansion, when we said there was a way to do this. And thank you for helping to make that happen. Thank you to Marielle Kress, who's here with us, the Executive Director of NYC Care and her whole team. Health + Hospitals has led the way on this. And it's historic, but now we got to build it up a lot more and we will do so. James, back to you. 

Question: Oh, thanks very much. My second question is about proof of vaccination, particularly for the concert? How will that be done? Especially since paper cards can be easily forged. Will the proof of vaccination be done online beforehand or only through apps at each venue? Just exactly how please? 

Mayor: I'll give you the broad answer and then more details will come forward. But first the most important part, if you want to go to this concert, get vaccinated. If you're already vaccinated, great. If not, just go get vaccinated and you can get to this concert. It's the simplest way to guarantee that you have the opportunity. We're going to be checking vaccinations as people enter. We'll go into the details on that. I want to emphasize that a vaccine card, a vaccination card is a public document. It cannot be forged. If someone forges it, that's a violation of law that comes with penalties. So, we'll be addressing that issue as well. But the smart thing to do, the easy thing to do, just go to one of hundreds of sites and just get vaccinated for free. It only takes a few minutes and then you're in. Thank you. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Melissa Russo from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call. I have – 

Mayor: Hey, Melissa. How are you doing today? 

Question: I'm doing great. Thanks so much. Quick on top of question first, which is just confirming that this Homecoming concert because of the vaccination requirement is for ages 12 and over only? 

Mayor: Yeah, we will get more details out. Right now, that's a fair assumption, but we'll get more details out on that in the next few days.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and all on the call. And that really is an impressive lineup for your concert. 

Mayor: Impressive is just the beginning of it, Juliet. Have you ever seen anything like that in your whole life? 

Question: No. No. It'll be something. So my, I guess my first question is about that. Would – is there a price for these tickets? I know there was some mention of free tickets. But is there a fee when you get them online? And also, would you be – would people be required to show vaccination when they are getting these tickets? 

Mayor: We'll get all the details out. So crucially Juliet, there will be a substantial number of free tickets. There will also be tickets that can be purchased. The details will be forthcoming again, the big date is Monday August 2nd, this coming Monday 10:00 am. And then there's batches of tickets made available for the next days after that, to try and maximize the chance to different people have an opportunity. So, we'll get the prices for the for-sale tickets out soon. Again, the vaccination verification, for sure, when you arrive at the concert venue. We'll also be looking at whether there's any kind of verification upfront as well. But those details will be coming up soon. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay. Thank you. Earlier today, Police Commissioner Shea was on NY1 and he was asked about the number of officers vaccinated. He attributes the 43 percent to the vaccines given through the department. So, I was wondering do you have totals for City agencies, you know for instance, who's getting vaccinated at agency locations and who's getting them on their own? 

Mayor: That is a great question. And honestly, here's an area where we got to get more information. Our employees have not been required to provide the information proactively if they've been vaccinated somewhere else. But obviously that's about to change because for a number of employees in the coming days, it's going to be a requirement to either be vaccinated or be tested weekly. And that's going to keep growing to the whole workforce over the next few weeks. So, I think that's going to help us solve some of this problem. We do need to get more information. We obviously know when we've vaccinated, when the City itself has vaccinated our own employees, but there are certainly a number of employees who went and got vaccinated on their own, including outside the five boroughs. So, that's an area where we definitely need more information. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Dana Rubinstein from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I have a question regarding the vaccine requirement for the concert. I'm curious why require vaccines for this outdoor concert, but allow City workers this sort of testing loophole? Especially since many of the City workers work indoors? 

Mayor: Look, we're doing a couple of very different things here. A concert is an opportunity to do something amazing. It's not the same as a workplace, obviously. We want to be really clear that folks who want this extraordinary experience, need to do something to make sure they're keeping everyone else safe and that's get vaccinated. In terms of workplace, Dana as I keep saying we're climbing the ladder. We're taking steps in an intentional way to keep creating more positive pressure for vaccination. I think it's smart to do this in some steps. It gives time for people to get acclimated. It gives time for us to work out some of the issues. And I think it's going to work. I think it's going to be the thing that causes a lot of people to get vaccinated. And then we're going to look at where we are and if we have to do even more beyond that. But it is purposefully moving steps aggressively one after another. Go ahead, Dana. 

Question: Thank you. And then on the same topic, the statements from union leaders yesterday, aside from the UFT, suggested significant resistance to the vaccine requirement. Do you expect that resistance to take any additional forms beyond angry statements? And can you talk about like, what internal union politics might be driving that resistance? 

Mayor: You are wise in the ways of the world, Dana. Look, first, you saw some unions come out yesterday, including one of our biggest, the UFT, and embrace the approach – that's pretty striking. Others have talked about some procedural issues, but we're quite clear that we're procedurally in a strong place. We have the right as an employer to guarantee the health and safety of our employees and everyone they serve. So, you'll hear complaints or concerns, but I think, overwhelmingly, the labor movement will recognize this as something appropriate and we'll all move forward. And there might be productive conversations, obviously, on how to do it best, but I strongly believe this will simply keep moving forward any way you slice it. Sometimes, I think, various leaders, union or otherwise, think they need to respond to some of the loudest voices. I would urge everyone, whether you're an elected official, a union official, anybody, to recognize that more and more people have gotten vaccinated. So, you know, right now in this city, 71 percent of adults have gotten at least one dose – that's a super majority. If you – if you're worried about which way the wind is blowing, guess what? In this city, people have chosen – they've voted with their feet, they're getting vaccinated more every single day. And as Delta is becoming more of an issue, people are really looking at it and saying, now it's time. We're seeing that all over the country, vaccination rates are starting to go up again. So, I don't think it is politically connected to where most people are to be in any way anti-vaccination. I think, more and more – Americans, more and more – New Yorkers are recognizing the only thing that's going to save us is vaccination. And I think leaders should get with that message right away.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Marla Diamond from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mayor. And thank you for taking my call. On the Central Park Concert, how many people can the Great Lawn hold? How many tickets will be available? And do you intend to keep concert goers socially distant?

Mayor: So, I'll turn to Dan Gross, who's Executive Director for our Citywide Events Office for the City. I want to thank Dan upfront for an amazing job he and his team have been doing, putting this concert of a lifetime, and all the other concerts – all five boroughs – together, and a lot of other events too. Really exceptional effort by Dan and his team. Dan, in terms of the numbers and in terms of the ground rules, why don't you update us on that which you know now, and anything else that we don't yet have an answer on, we will be providing publicly shortly. Go ahead, Dan.

Executive Director Dan Gross, Citywide Events Coordination and Management: Certainly. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. There are a total of 60,000 people that can fit on the Great Lawn – 

Mayor: Dan, say that again louder. I couldn't hear that myself.

Executive Director Gross: I'm sorry, sir. There are 60,000 people that can fit on the Great Lawn, of which there will be 80 percent of those tickets will be free and available to the general public. The remaining 20 percent will be available for [inaudible] purchase. As it relates to the mechanisms, if you are vaccinated, there are no social distancing restrictions. But for further details, we'll get back to you.

Mayor: Okay. Go ahead. Thanks, Dan. Go ahead, Marla.

Question: Okay. And about schools and getting the 12-to-17 contingent vaccinated, I know that you're doing the push in the summer school program, but what else will you be doing outside of those programs? Is there any plan to get the vaccine to pediatricians or urgent cares in the community? And I just wanted to know, there was a rally on Staten Island yesterday with parents who want you to reverse your decision to have everyone wear masks in school. So, this is part vaccination, part masking. Will you make a bigger effort in the communities to get kids ages 12 to 17 vaccinated before the start of school?

Mayor: Absolutely. So, let me say with absolute respect for anyone who's expressing their opinion. I always want to hear what people feel and what they are concerned about, but I'm listening to our health care leaders, and we're following the data and the science, and we're keeping masks on our kids in schools and our adults. That's the plan. That could change if the data tells us there's an opportunity to change it, but, right now, that's the plan. In terms of vaccination effort, I'll start, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi in terms of what we're doing. Pediatricians, that's a big piece of it. He'll talk about that. But we're going to be announcing in the coming days, Marla, a major vaccination drive focused on kids in that 12-to-17 age group as we get ready to go back to school. And I think a lot of parents are going to embrace this. I'm speaking as a parent. My kids are a little older now, but if it was – if they were in that age range, I would be running to the nearest vaccination site to make sure they were fully vaccinated ahead of school. I think a lot of parents are going to feel that. We already have good numbers in that 12- to 17-year-old group, 251,000 kids have already been vaccinated. And that – for the youngest kids, it’s only been available for something like 10 weeks. So, it's really been moving. But we will have a major drive and details on that coming up soon. Dr. Chokshi, in terms of the work with pediatricians –

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you so much. And we have made good strides over the summer with respect to getting kids vaccinated, as the Mayor has said. But we are planning to redouble our efforts in the weeks leading up to school, so you're going to see a major push. And a plank of that plan is working with pediatricians. Pediatricians are the offices where parents are used to going not just for COVID vaccines, but for all of their routine immunizations, as well as their back-to-school physicals, you know, whether they're needed for sports or otherwise. And so, we have been working with close – in close partnership with pediatricians over the last several weeks to get them prepared along a number of different dimensions. First, if they don't already have COVID-19 vaccines in their office, we're working to maximize the number of practices that can actually offer it physically on site. Second, if they have continued questions about the vaccine or they need some assistance with respect to having the conversation with parents and children, we're working with them often in a very intensive practice by practice basis, spending a few hours to make sure that they're comfortable and have all of the information that they need. And then, third, we're making sure that all of these pieces are connected – the work that we're doing with the Department of Education through Summer Rising, as well as with pediatricians and parents, all of this has to be connected so that the bottom line is that vaccination is the easy choice ahead of school.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. Our next question goes to Julia Marsh from the New York Post.

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor. Back to the concert, can you tell us a little bit more about why you decided to sell 20 percent of the tickets and where that revenue will go to?

Mayor: Yeah. Julia, I'll turn to Dan Gross again for that. Obviously, we are producing something that we think is going to have an extraordinary impact for New York City, for the folks who get to go in-person and for everyone who enjoys it watching on TV. But also, we think it's going to have a big, big impact in telling people New York City is open for business, come here and be a part of it, help us come back strong, bring back our economy. We think this is a smart move all along, but we have to obviously make sure it's paid for properly. So, with that, Dan Gross, you want to talk about that game plan?

Executive Director Gross: Certainly. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, dating back roughly seven or eight years with any concert that's on the Great Lawn, it's required that 80 percent of the tickets are available to the general public for free. And the 20 percent is typically used just to offset costs for the production of the Great Lawn. So that's – this is standard. It's been the case for pretty much every concert that's happened on the Great Lawn, especially within the last seven-and-a-half years.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Erin Durkin from Politico.

Question: Mr. Mayor, just a clarifying question on the vaccine requirement – is that for all five, the ones in the boroughs as well? And then also, I think you said it's one dose required – is that because you want to encourage people to get it now versus, you know, having the full vaccination required?

Mayor: Yeah. Look, one dose immediately provides some protection, and the vast, vast majority of people who get one dose come back and get the second. So, we want it to be very clear since we're announcing today for the first time that this – you know, these are truly once-in-a-lifetime concerts. But all five boroughs – when you hear the lineups in the other boroughs, it's going to truly blow you away – amazing acts. But it's for folks who are vaccinated. So, if someone says, oh my God, I really want to be there, but I'm not yet vaccinated, I’ve got a solution for you – go get vaccinated. Just going in and getting that first dose will qualify you. That's fair. And it'll give you protection, and then we know that the vast majority of people come back, and we want everyone to come back and get that second dose. So, you know, we want to give people that chance. There are still several weeks before the concerts. So, anyone who's hoping to get one of those tickets, do the smart thing, go out today. If you're not yet vaccinated, go get vaccinated, because there's no way you're getting in without it. And if you get vaccinated, it's a good thing to do no matter what.

And we'll conclude today on that point – for any part of your life, vaccination is the right thing to do. For your family, or your friends, your loved ones, people you work with, whatever it is, whatever you care about, vaccination is the smart thing to do and it's the thing that's going to make our recovery possible. So, you know what to do everyone. Thank you very much.

2021-08-02 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone.

@hy are we able to come back, one word, vaccination. That's the whole ball game. So, we've been talking about throughout the way New York City is holding firm, moving forward, it’s because of vaccination. Our entire strategy is focused on vaccination. The way forward is vaccination. We have hit a major milestone over the weekend. Very proud of all our colleagues at the Department of Health, and Health + Hospitals, and Test and Trace, and everyone out there who's been part of this amazing, amazing effort. Over the weekend, we passed the 10 million dose mark in New York City, 10 million and growing. As of today, 10,003,019 vaccinations given in this city doses given in this city. Look, this is a very powerful moment. At one point long ago, it looked like this might be an insurmountable possibility, this might not be reachable, but I want to thank the vaccinators. I want to thank the health care heroes. I want to thank the people who came forward to people in New York City have always made the difference. They came forward. They allowed us to hit this goal, 10 million vaccination doses. And now we're going to go a lot farther because we're going to use a lot of tools to push this even farther. We'll talk about that in a moment. I've said we're going to be climbing the ladder and we'll have regular announcements and updates. The actions we took already. The mandate we put on city workers already clearly helped to encourage action in other places, including states, cities, federal government, and the $100 incentive that New York City started was picked up immediately by the federal government. That's great. We want to see these ideas spread. We want to make sure we push people more and more in every good and positive way, every strong and forceful way to vaccination.  

So, we know the hundred-dollar incentive is already getting a lot of attention. We saw a pickup immediately at some of our city run sites where you can get that hundred-dollar incentive. We expect a lot more. We want to see the private sector. We've seen massive movement in the private sector in the last few days, talked about what Danny Meyer did with a Union Square Hospitality group. You're seeing major corporations all over the country acting and more and more small businesses acting as well. So, absolutely want to affirm and support all the businesses that are putting whatever type of vaccine mandate in place works for them, for their employees, for their customers, anything and everything they can do, we support.  

Now, today we're taking another step on the vaccine mandates for the City of New York, for our city workers. Effective immediately every single new person hired by the City of New York before they report to work, they must provide proof of vaccination. Every new employee must provide proof of vaccination, or they cannot start their new job period. As a pure vaccine mandate for new employees, we will have, as I said, continued updates, continued announcements, but this is another step as we intensify the vaccination effort. Also today, a very helpful tool. The NYC COVID Safe app launches today. You can find it in Apple and Google app stores. Another easy, straightforward way to show vaccine verification and test results. I urge everyone, get that app. It will make things simpler. In a world in which more and more there's going to be a reality where if you're vaccinated, a world of opportunity opens up to you. If you're not vaccinated, there's going to be more and more things you can't do. We say that. I say that to say, go get vaccinated. So, you can fully participate in the life, the city, because that's where things are going.  

Now, let's be clear. Vaccines are the number one most powerful weapon against COVID by far, but we also clearly believe there's a place for masks. Everything we do is vaccine centric. The entire strategy is around vaccines, but of course we want to make sure people are using masks in all the right ways. Over the last few days we've reviewed the data from the CDC, some of which came in on Friday, the background research we've been reviewing the recommendations, we're updating our mask guidance based on the latest data and science. So, confirming of course that already, before the CDC recommendations, masks were already required, mandated for all new Yorkers on subways, buses, mass transit of all kinds, in hospitals and health care settings, in schools and congregate settings. And already, it was a rule that unvaccinated people had to wear a mask in all public settings, outdoors and indoors. So, what was true before the CDC guidance was the separation between what vaccinated people and unvaccinated people could do was clear and the way that unvaccinated people had additional requirements on in terms of wearing masks was clear. What we'll be saying today, and you'll hear from Dr. Chokshi, is we want to strongly recommend that people wear masks in indoor settings, even if you're vaccinated. Now, this is particularly true, of course, if you might be around anyone unvaccinated, if you don't know the people you're around, if you're not sure if they're vaccinated or not, or if you know some are un-vaccinated, absolutely crucial to wear a mask even if you are vaccinated, the difference of course is if you're around fully vaccinated people, that's a better situation. So, vaccinated people around fully vaccinated people, that's where it's an easier situation, but if you're not sure, and that's going to be many cases, we want to strongly recommend that people wear those masks indoors, even if vaccinated. Here to give you an update, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Over the past year, staff from the Health Department, Health + Hospitals, and New York's entire health infrastructure worked shoulder to shoulder with agencies across the city, from Housing, to Parks, to Sanitation on our Vaccine for All campaign. Collectively, we rolled up our own and our fellow residents’ sleeves to get vaccinated so we can bring New York City back. And I'm so proud, Mr. Mayor, that we met that 10 million dose milestone, even though we're going to keep going. The responsibility that we shouldered is also a legacy for new employees that entails inspiration, but also obligation. We serve New Yorkers, and nothing is more important than their health. This is why new employees joining city service must now be vaccinated against COVID. As we've said, every activity is safer once you're vaccinated. While vaccination may be “for the win,” we need to keep putting points on the board against the virus, and that's where masks come in.  

Today, I'm making a strong recommendation that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear a mask in public indoor settings. This is based on our review of the latest scientific evidence showing that the Delta variant of the coronavirus can spread even more easily than was previously thought. Even though I have been fully vaccinated, I will be wearing a mask in public indoor settings in part because I'm the parent of a young child who is not yet eligible for vaccination. And I want to take care to protect her. Most vital, as the Mayor said is for people who are not yet fully vaccinated to wear face coverings, anytime they're outside of their own home and masks offer an important layer of protection for those who are immunocompromised or otherwise at higher risk, even if fully vaccinated, remember our guidance to wear a face covering that fits snugly against the sides of your face, and if you are at higher risk, particularly in the context of the Delta variant, it is reasonable to double mask or wear a higher grade mask like a KN-95 or a KF-94. At this stage in the pandemic, our public health actions boiled down to three categories in order of priority. First and foremost is to get as many unvaccinated people vaccinated as quickly as possible. Second is for unvaccinated people to take the precautions that we know help interrupt the spread of the virus. Masking yes, but also distancing and getting tested regularly. And the third is for vaccinated people to also take some precautions, particularly when community transmission is at higher levels. Our mask guidance will help with both the second and third actions described. They are and have been a vital part of our defense against the virus. And the vaccines are the closest thing that we have to a knockout punch. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Chokshi and everyone. We want to emphasize vaccination, vaccination, vaccination. That is the ballgame, and now I want to speak to parents about the fact that here's a chance, right now, if you want to get the maximum protection for your kids, it's a great time to go get them vaccinated. If they're in that 12-year-old or 17 or 18-year-old range. So, if you get your kids vaccinated this week, and then get the second vaccination on a timely basis, that gives you time ahead of school, starting to be a hundred percent sure your kids are fully vaccinated. Now, I want to emphasize to all parents, this is the best week. Go out there and get your vaccinated now, if they haven't already. We told you about the fact that somewhere well over 200,000 young people in the 12- to 17-year-old-range had been vaccinated already. We expect a big uptick in that as school comes on. This is the best time to go get vaccinated, to go get your kid vaccinated. But if you don't do it now, anytime is a good time to get vaccinated, because, from the very first dose, you're giving your child protection. So, we want to encourage people – start now. But we're going to keep pushing all the way up to the beginning of school and beyond to get kids vaccinated. We're launching a massive back-to-school vaccination campaign, starting with a $1.3 million ad campaign that will launch today on all forms of media. And we're going to have mobile vaccination sites where kids are, at school shopping sites – back-to-school shopping sites, at Summer Rising sites. We'll be adding many of them. We'll be adding sites, mobile vaccination sites, at Public School Athletic League pre-season practices, at Saturday Night Lights gyms, you name it. Here to tell you all about it, our Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter. 

Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Thank you, Mayor de Blasio. And I'm really excited to be here this morning to talk about this. You know, in a little over a month, we are welcoming all of our students and staff back to our public schools – an important moment after the last year-and-a-half of this pandemic. This moment is made possible by the effective and safe vaccines that are protecting our communities. Without a doubt, these vaccines are our passport out of this pandemic and towards the promise of our new normal. Before schools open on September 13th, we have some homework for all of our students who are eligible to get the vaccine – get vaccinated. Like all [inaudible] can't just give homework without providing all the information and support needed to complete the assignment, which is why we are partnering with the Department of Health for an all-out vaccination campaign, from Summer Rising sites, to shopping malls, to pre-season athletic conditioning, we are bringing easily accessible vaccines to our eligible young people.  

Speaking as a parent, nothing is more important to me than the health and safety of my children. And I know all New York City parents share this feeling, which is why we are partnering with parents to get our young people vaccinated. First, we will be calling every New York City family to make sure that they know their vaccination options, and to offer fast, easy at-home vaccination. That's right, no needs to schedule an entire outing. We will provide vaccines in the safety of your home. Secondly, our fantastic PTA’s are eligible through the City's vaccine referral program to earn $100 for every person they refer for their first shot. We want to work with our valued, trusted parent leaders to spread the word about getting vaccinated this fall and help them raise some money to support our schools. PTA leaders can go to nyc.gov/vaccinereferralbonus to sign up as a referral partner. Additionally, PTA’s putting on return-to-school events this fall can partner with the Department of Health to host a mobile vaccination site at their events this full. Vaccines add an incredible, effective layer of safety and security as we open schools this fall, but they are not our only safety measure. A vaccine sits alongside universal mask usage, fully operational ventilation, regular testing, and other measures to continue to keep our schools the safest places. So, now, you all have your homework – get vaccinated, if you are eligible. Your assignment’s due on September 13th, our first day of school, our homecoming back. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: Spoken like a true teacher. We all have our homework. Thank you, Chancellor. And everyone, everyone's looking forward to school coming back full strength. The best thing everyone could do, go out and get vaccinated. In advance that, we're going to make it really, really easy, even bring it to your home if you need. So, that's going to be the focus.  

Now, for this city to keep moving forward – we're really looking forward to next month – school coming back, so many people coming back to work, the city is going to recover strong – it's all about vaccination. But there's another area we're focused on greatly, and that is safety. We need to make sure – as I've always said, public safety helps support recovery, but recovery also depends on public safety. They all go together. Recovery equals public safety, safety equals a recovery. So, the fact is we, every single day, are watching the facts and making adjustments. NYPD precision policing, moving our assets around where they're needed most, doing the intense work to get to the folks, doing the violence and getting them off the streets and working more and more with communities. That work, you heard a lot about last week in the Bronx. You're going to hear about it more later this week. Commissioner Shea and I are going to present an update from the month of July, and we're going to see some real progress, but that doesn't mean we don't have huge challenges. We still do. So, this last Saturday light – excuse me, Saturday night – we saw a painful example of 10 people – 10 people shot in the 115th Precinct in Queens. Now, that is very troubling. Whether the detectives are telling us already is, it's gang-related. And we know so much of the problem is gangs. Last week, in the Bronx, we talked about gang takedowns – this is a crucial tool. You're going to be hearing a lot more about gang takedowns. We need to get many violent individuals off the streets simultaneously. We'll be saying more about that in the course this week, but this is going to be the focus going forward. We know we're making progress. We're going to need more gang takedowns, more gun arrests, more with community. Gangs are the problem and this is where the focus is going to be. Also, using community-based leaders and community-based activists to change the reality on the ground. So, we know that there's been a lot of pain in the 115th Precinct. We’re going to have mobile trauma units out there with translators to address the concerns and the feelings and the trauma that people have been through. These organizations will include Street Corner Resources, LIFE Camp, and Brownsville Think Tank Matters – all organizations that have done amazing work, addressing trauma, and working to stop retaliation, ending the cycle of violence. There'll be out there in a big way in that precinct to help move things forward.  

Okay. We're now going to go to our indicators, but, before we do, just an update on the indicators themselves. I've been saying now over these last days to expect changes in the approach on the indicators. Everything has changed because of vaccination, first and foremost. We're now at 10 million doses, an amazing number – that's changed the whole paradigm. So, what we're going to be looking at now is a different approach. The thresholds are no longer pertinent. They are not part of the strategic decision-making any longer, because of the high level of vaccination. So, we'll be removing thresholds from the daily reports. What we'll be focused on, the doses of vaccination given, the case numbers, and the hospitalization rate. What is also less valuable now is the positivity level for a variety of reasons. As I've talked about in the last few days, we will be phasing this out as part of our morning presentations. After this week, we won't be talking about it anymore, but it will be remaining on the Department of Health website. Everything's going to be based on the data and the science, and those facts – the focus on doses, cases, hospitalization, that's how we're going to be making decisions and that's what we want to focus everyone's attention on, going forward. Let's give you the update now on the indicators as they are now. Number one, daily number of people that moved to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 98 patients. Confirmed positively, 40.78 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 people, 0.71. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,190 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing city-wide positive for COVID-19 – today's report, seven-day rolling average, 3.05 percent. That's the item in the indicators that you won't see in these presentations after this week. A few words in Spanish – I want go back on vaccinations and masks and how important it is to address this crisis the right way. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, by Chancellor Porter, and by the Executive Director of Citywide Events Dan Gross. First question today, it goes to Derick Waller from WABC.  

Question: Hi. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?  

Mayor: Good, Derick. How have you been? 

Question: Doing great. I just wanted to ask, because, obviously, Governor Cuomo had a press conference just before you did and he said that local government should follow the CDC mask guidance. I know that you're strongly recommending that vaccinated people wear a mask indoors, but why not mandate it? 

Mayor: Derick, we focused on the research, first and foremost. We wanted to look at what the CDC had put together and determine what made sense based on that. Everything we're doing is based on data and science, but it's also based on strategy. The overwhelming strategic thrust is vaccination. So, we thought the right mix was to heavily focus on vaccination to continue to climb the ladder, put more and more vaccine requirements in place, and to give a very clear message to all New Yorkers strongly recommending mask usage, regardless of vaccination status. We thought that was the right balance. We still want to respect the fact that vaccination does – can give you different opportunities and rights than unvaccinated people. And that – setting that clear message, that clear separation is crucial to where we're going strategically. So, that's how we set the balance. Go ahead, Derick.  

Question: And this question may be for Dr. Chokshi, but I did want to ask this, this recommendation from the CDC that vaccinated people should wear masks indoors – can he explain why that's important? Because I feel like it's not to protect other vaccinated people, this is because the vaccinated people can spread the virus and that could mean really bad things for the unvaccinated, isn't that right? Basically, vaccinated people are being asked to mask up to protect the people who have not been vaccinated? Is that correct?  

Mayor: Derick, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but, just a reminder, if you look at the actual CDC guidance certainly raising the concern about the spread to vaccinate people, but also making very clear – night and day reality. If you're vaccinated, your chances of contracting the disease are much less and, obviously, tremendously better outcomes if, God forbid, you did contract COVID. So, looking at that guidance, it makes clear there still is a profound difference in trends, immiscibility, if you will, among vaccinated and unvaccinated. Go ahead, Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. Yes, this is an important question. We reviewed not just the CDC guidance, but the underlying science that drove the revisions to that guidance. It’s broke down into some clinical data, as well as some real-world data – you know, epidemiologic investigations that led to the updates. And what they showed – the headline is what they showed is that Delta spreads even more easily than we had thought. It is very important to keep in mind that the vast majority of transmission, both in New York City as well as across the United States is due to people who remain unvaccinated. But the data also did show that it is possible for vaccinated people to spread the virus. And so, that is what led to the recommendation for everyone to wear a mask in public indoor settings. But the important parts for us to seize onto is that, number one, the most important public health intervention that we have against the coronavirus is vaccination. And number two, particularly while we are seeing a community spread, it's important for all of us to take additional precautions. Thank you.  

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Can you hear me?  

Mayor: Yes, Andrew. How are you doing today?  

Question: Good, thanks for asking. I wanted to circle back as well to the question you faced about why mask mandates are only – or rather, why it's only a mask recommendation as opposed to a mandate? Is it a concern on your part that at this point there just simply wouldn't be the compliance? And that also it would require an enforcement that you really wouldn't necessarily have the resources to commit to? 

Mayor: Andrew, certainly, you know, playing out how enforcement work has to be a part of any discussion. But I think, first of all, recognize the CDC recommended and we are recommending. So, we're tracking the exact language from the CDC, just as New Jersey and Connecticut have done. I think that's exactly where we need to be right now. I think the biggest consideration was the interplay with vaccination. What we want to focus everyone's attention on is vaccination. We want to make clear mask-wearing is not a substitute for vaccination. And if you do get vaccinated, and you're around fully vaccinated people, you still have more freedom than folks who are not vaccinated. So, it's really strategic. It's about keeping the focus on vaccination. Go ahead, Andrew.  

Question: Okay. And my second question – and I apologize if this has been asked before, but I didn't think so – the Governor this morning recommended, or urged, or asked that the City mandate vaccines at the public hospitals just as he has done at the State hospitals. So, will you make it mandatory for all health care workers at the City hospitals to be vaccinated? And if not, why not?  

Mayor: Andrew, we are looking at every possible option. We've been, as I've said, over the last week or two, climbing the ladder, including today's announcement that for all City employees they must be vaccinated – any new City employee before they start work, must be fully vaccinated – or, excuse me, must be vaccinated – must be vaccinated, at least one dose, or they cannot start employment. We have a variety of options on the table. We’ll be making additional announcements. So, we're certainly going to look at all options at this point. 

Moderator: Next is Courtney Gross from NY1.  

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: ??Good, Courtney, how you been?  

Question: I'm good. Thank you. So, I want to swing back to the Cuomo recommendation because I'm curious if you had any conversations with him about this announcement this morning, before you made it. He seemed to preempt you by having his 9:30 press conference before you and putting out this recommendation that he wants cities to abide by the CDC recommendation. So, I'm curious if you've had conversations with him and what your general reaction is to him saying cities should abide by the CDC guide.  

Mayor: No conversation. You know, we're going to look at all the different inputs. We're going to listen to the different viewpoints, but most importantly, we're going to be led by the data and the science. Go ahead, Courtney. 

Question: And then on the phasing out of the percent positivity metric, why is that happening? I think we're all so used to using that number for – basically to show how much COVID cases we have. So, why is that no longer relevant? 

Mayor: I'll bring Dr. Katz in as well as Dr. Chokshi. Look, we've looked at this a lot. The fact is, first of all, many fewer people are getting tested. And it's creating some skew in the outcomes because fewer people are getting tested and more likely people who think that they may have a problem. So, we're not getting as clean a cross-section of the community. But second, it's just not going to be how we strategically make decisions. What the doctors have been absolutely unanimous on is the fact that this triad of cases, hospitalization, vaccination rate is really where the strategic information is that will govern decision. That's what we want to present to the people, so that as we're making decisions, we're tracking along with the people what we're doing, why we're doing it. Dr. Katz then Dr. Chokshi. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Sir, I think you've included all of the very important points on this. I think you've said it very well. Thank you. 

Mayor: That was pithy. Well done, Mitch. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, I agree. You know, the primary reason for this shift is that as testing patterns change in the context of vaccination that does change the denominator for the test positivity measure. However, although it's a little bit less valuable, we will continue tracking it and following it, that's why it will be updated regularly on the Health Department's website. But as the Mayor said, you know, we have to stay nimble and swift as we keep up with the coronavirus itself. And so, keeping our focus on cases, hospitalizations, and vaccination doses – those are the key measures that we want the entire city to be focused on.  

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: The next is Marla Diamond from WCBS 880.  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody else on the call. I had a question about schools since you do have the Chancellor present. Last week, two City Council members proposed a bill to reduce class size over the next three years. But what about this year? As students go back to school and you are preparing to have everybody back in school, what do you do about oversubscribed classrooms, and there are a lot of them in the city, where children must be spaced out by three feet? 

Mayor: Well, I think there's a couple of different things going on here, Marla. I'll speak really quickly and turn to the Chancellor. The addressing class size sometimes means fewer kids in a classroom sometimes means more teachers in the classroom. So, one of the things that's in the budget is a focus on putting additional teachers in classrooms at our youngest grades in schools that need it most particularly to help us intensify our literacy efforts. But in terms of physical space, the message to all schools is use space, use whatever space you need in different ways to make sure we can provide the right kind of spacing and safety. And we saw schools do a great job with that before last year. And I'm certain there'll be able to do it again. Chancellor. Is the Chancellor there?   

Chancellor Porter: Yes, I’m here.  

Mayor: There you go. 

Chancellor Porter: Chancellor here. So, first of all, we are continuing to follow the gold standard around health and safety and our classes are already capped based on the spacing requirements. And we continue to do that work. We continue to work with schools to develop strategic programs so that we can do what we know, which is most important at this moment, and that is to get all of our students back, get them in school, and get them in school safely. We're also excited about the Fair Student Funding, getting every school to 100 percent, which is part of our strategy around reducing class size. And like the Mayor said, part of it is about being intentional about numbers. And part of it is about providing additional resources to schools. And so, we're excited to have been able to do that this year. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Marla. 

Question: On the street homeless story that appeared today in the Times. I wanted to know why there's a push to move the street homeless to shelters. It goes against the CDC recommendations. They don't want to displace people unless they're being moved to individual housing. So, why this push? You know, I understand that you want to make the streets a little nicer for the people who are visiting, but if their health is at risk, why are you pushing these people into congregate shelters? 

Mayor: Yeah. Marla, I'm happy to look at documents with you, but that is not my read of anything we've seen from the CDC. We are focused on protecting homeless folks. First of all, the worst place for someone homeless to be is on the street. And as our doctors always like to remind us, we're looking at a variety of health challenges, physical and mental health. It's not just about COVID. So, we do not want a homeless person on the streets. That's is not a healthy environment. Second, we want to get everyone vaccinated and we're doing a tremendous outreach effort, both on the streets and in shelter. So, mobile actions on the streets, and then in shelter our health care teams are going to be in there constantly getting people vaccinated. So, the goal here clearly is, get people off the streets for a variety of reasons, for their own health and wellbeing for everyone's sake and get everyone vaccinated. 

Moderator: The next is Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. I understand you're saying this is the best option right now on masking, but would you consider a full mask mandate in the future and what would prompt that?  

Mayor: Yeah, Emma, all options are on the table. Right now, again, what I want to make sure we do is focus entirely on vaccination because the victory is staring us in the face. I mean, this is what's so frustrating. I know people are feeling this all around the country. We could put this problem to bed if everyone will get vaccinated, certainly in terms of the worst impacts. If everyone was vaccinated COVID would exist, but it would do very little harm in the scheme of things. We want to focus on vaccination, vaccination, vaccination. We want to make very clear the separation between all the good things, all the opportunity, all the positives that will be available to people who are vaccinated versus an increasingly more limited world for folks who are unvaccinated. So, that's the strategic thrust. In that context, the mask recommendation made a lot of sense. But we're not taking any tool off the table going forward, depending on what the data and science tells us.

Moderator: The next is Michael Garland from the Daily News.  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: Hey, Michael, how you doing?  

Question: I'm good. How are you? 

Mayor: Hanging in, brother. 

Question: I got a question about the requirement you have for new City employees coming in to get vaccinated. How many people do you anticipate that is in the coming months? I mean, you know, is it a significant amount, negligible amount of people were talking about? 

Mayor: I certainly would not say [inaudible]. I mean, we – our whole City government is almost 400,000 people and there's always turnover. So, it's – you know, we'll get you the exact numbers, but before long it's hundreds then thousands of people. But it's another, both tangible act and another statement about the fact that we are climbing the ladder of more and more mandates. Go ahead, Michael. 

Question: Thanks, Mr. Mayor, and with this $100 incentive you rolled out last week, has the City set goals on that. I mean, what kind of turnaround, what kind of numbers are you looking for on a daily, weekly basis? And I mean, how many people have taken advantage of that so far since you announced it? 

Mayor: So, we'll get you the updated numbers on how many people have taken advantage. We know there was a clear uptick over the last few days and think that that incentive is a part of it, but I also want to emphasize, Michael, it's incentive on the one hand and it's growing mandates on the other hand. The mandates that the City has created for our own workforce which are clearly helping to lead the way for the private sector. You see more and more private sector companies setting mandates for their employees or even their customers. This is the shape of things to come. So, I think the two pieces will go together. In terms of specific goals, we don't have anything to announce today, but we want to try and certainly model out the impact that all of these things together can have to really increase our vaccination levels. So, it's great to be at 10 million doses. We certainly want to go a lot farther, but I think it will be the incentive and the mandates working together. 

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: I'm doing great. Juliet. How are you today? 

Question: I'm good. Thank you. I wanted to go back to the indicators. Since you're changing them are there new, let's say, cutoff benchmarks where you would take a different kind of action at a certain level and what would they be?  

Mayor: Juliet, great minds think alike. We had a lengthy call on Saturday discussing this exact issue with our health care leadership and other key leadership of the administration. And the answer is that we don't have, if you will, a magical negative number that we're trying to stay below. What we are focused on is maximizing vaccination. That is the ballgame. And what we're seeing is as we keep pushing vaccination, it is having a profound impact. Even with the very powerful negative reality of the Delta variant, we still see a very low rate of hospitalization, we also see hospitals handling the cases they have very well, much better than in the past. They learned a lot. They've made a lot of adjustments. So, we're watching the human impact, Juliet. And what we see is vaccination is the difference maker. Our whole goal here is to keep moving the thing that we know will make an impact, and we think the tools we're using now are going to make a very big impact. So, we do not work from a threshold system anymore because we're in an entirely different strategic reality with 10 million doses under our belt and a lot more to come.

And with that, as we conclude today, everybody, look, we – again, our recovery moving forward, but a lot more to do. Real challenges to take on, but we're proving once again, New York City can take on those challenges, including the amazing news, 10 million vaccination doses. But the way to celebrate that news is to make sure that everyone in your life is vaccinated. If you're a parent, that your kids are vaccinated ahead of school, if they're 12 years and older. Let's get this right. This is a watershed moment. And we have the tools in our hand to make a difference. Go get vaccinated. Thank you, everyone.

2021-08-03 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Every day we focus on the recovery of New York City, a recovery for all of us, and that recovery is well underway. You can see the energy, the activity in the city again – the jobs coming back, the livelihoods coming back, businesses coming back, you can see it all. And there's a reason, there's one reason, and only one reason – vaccines. Vaccination has made the difference. This is the whole ballgame, everyone. So, what we've seen is the biggest vaccination effort in the history of New York City. And now, we've added this hundred-dollar incentive, which has proven to be very popular already. Just a few days into it, just started on Friday, and, by yesterday, over 11,000 New Yorkers had claimed a hundred-dollar incentive with their first vaccination – 11,000 people in just a few days. This is going to be a big deal and this is going to help us go a lot farther. As of today, in New York City, 10,015,459 total doses from the beginning of our effort. But here's another major milestone we have now reached, 5 million – 5 million New Yorkers have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine – 5 million New Yorkers. We're now at this point we dreamed of and now we're going to go farther. We're going to go farther with a smart mix of incentives and mandates, because it's all about vaccination. I've been saying now over the last few weeks, we're going to climb the ladder. We're going to use every tool we've got to fight the Delta variant and to end the COVID era once and for all in this city. That means more and more vaccinations, and we know that strong, clear mandates help.   

So, we started, of course, with a mandate for our frontline health workers – Health + Hospitals, Department of Health – requiring that they get tested or vaccinated, obviously with a strong, strong preference for vaccination. Then we said, new employees will be required to get vaccinated before they could start work for the City of New York. These kind of actions are making an impact far beyond the boundaries of New York City. We're seeing our state and other states like California following suit. We're seeing the federal government following suit. New York City’s starting every time the action. We're setting the pace. And we're going to do that again today with today's announcement.   

But let me also talk about the private sector. We've seen leaders in the private sector blaze the trail here. I want to thank a great New York City entrepreneur, Danny Meyer for the announcement he made regarding his restaurants. I want to thank Equinox and Soul Cycle for the decision they made about vaccine mandates. I want to thank everyone in the Broadway community for the decision they made related to indoor performances. So, examples right there – dining, fitness, performances – where you see leaders in the private sector already saying clearly vaccination is the answer, we need these strong, clear mandates. And we've proven that even with outdoor entertainment, it makes sense. Our Homecoming Concerts are going to be amazing, but, if you want to go to one of them, you have to be vaccinated. That's a requirement. Climbing this ladder is giving us more and more ability to fight back the Delta variant. By fighting the Delta variant, we will continue our recovery and we will ultimately beat COVID.   

So, today, I announce a new approach, which we're calling the Key to NYC Pass. The key to New York City – when you hear those words, I want you to imagine the notion that because someone's vaccinated, they can do all the amazing things that are available in this city. This is a miraculous place literally full of wonders. And, if you're vaccinated, all that's going to open up to you. You'll have the key. You can open the door. But, if you're un-vaccinated, unfortunately, you will not be able to participate in many things. That's the point we're trying to get across. It's time for people to see vaccination as literally necessary to living a good and full and healthy life. The Key to NYC Pass will be a first-in-the-nation approach. It will require vaccination for workers and customers in indoor dining, in indoor fitness facilities, indoor entertainment facilities. This is going to be a requirement. The only way to patronize these establishments indoors will be if you're vaccinated, at least one dose. The same for folks in terms of work, they'll need at least one dose. This is crucial because we know that this will encourage a lot more vaccination. We've seen it already. We've seen the impact of the mandate we put in place for City workers already starting to move people to vaccination. We've obviously seen the positive impact of incentive as well. The goal here is to convince everyone that this is the time. If we're going to stop the Delta variant, the time is now. And that means getting vaccinated right now.   

This new policy will be phased in over the coming weeks. So, we have been working with the business community, getting input. We're going to do more over the next few weeks. The final details of the policy will be announced and implemented in the week of August 16th. So, over the next couple of weeks, getting more feedback, finalizing the policy, publishing it, and beginning to implement it. We’ll then spend most of a month educating people, going out to businesses, receiving calls from businesses, answering questions and concerns, making sure everyone understands the new approach. And then, on September 13th, during that week, we'll begin inspections and enforcement. So, we want to give businesses big and small a chance to get acclimated. We want to make adjustments based on their input, but this will move forward, starting in the week of August 16th, and then full enforcement and inspection begins the week of September 13th, which is very pertinent, because that's the first full week after Labor Day when we really expect a lot more activity in this city.   

Now, I'll tell you, we know those conversations with the business community are crucial. We've had a lot of them already. What we're hearing from so many folks in the business community is, they understand this time, but they need government to lead. That's going to help them to do what they need to do. Not everyone's going to agree with this, I understand that. But, for so many people, this is going to be the lifesaving act – that we're putting a mandate in place, it's going to guarantee a much higher level of vaccination in this city, and that is the key to protecting people and the key to our recovery. That's why it's the Key to NYC. The Key to NYC pass opens a lot of doors and we need it. We'll be issuing a Mayoral Executive Order and a Health Commissioner's Order – those are the legal tools necessary to implement this approach. And we know that this is what's going to turn the tide. And we also know that people are going to get a really clear message – if you want to participate in our society fully, you’ve got to get vaccinated. You’ve got to get vaccinated. It's time. All the answers, all the information's out there. You've seen over 160 million Americans get vaccinated safely. You've seen it make the difference. The only reason we're having the recovery is vaccination. So, it's time. And this is going to send that message clearly. And the Key to NYC Pass, this is an easy approach, because to confirm vaccination all you need is your vaccination card or the NYC COVID SAFE app, or the Excelsior app from the State – any of those will do. So, it's simple. Just show it and you're in.  

Everyone, this summer already has been amazing in this city and a lot more to come. This approach has got to make clear – if you want to enjoy everything great in the Summer of New York City, go get vaccinated. It will do for you so many things. It will make your life better. It will make all our lives better. I want you to hear from folks who have been working so hard on the response to COVID and who care so deeply. I want you to hear what they think of this new, clear, strong approach, the Key to NYC Pass. First of all, the former Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, he was also a former Senior Advisor to the Biden White House COVID Response Team. He is a powerful voice for expanding access to health care in this country and I really want to thank him for joining us. My pleasure to introduce Andy Slavitt.  

[…]  

Mayor: Thank you so much, Andy. I really love what you just said there – the enemy is certainly not each other. We have an enemy is going after all of us and we’ve got to do something different if we're going to make an impact. And I really appreciate your point too – this will clarify things and it will just help us at a crucial, sensitive moment. So, thank you for joining us. And most especially, thank you for the extraordinary role you played over recent years and doing so much to make sure Americans had access to health care. Really, really appreciate you.   

Now, another voice I want you to hear. She has been one of the most prominent national voices about the fight against COVID, the way to go about it the right way. She advised the Biden transition and she has been a voice for really thinking about what we always need to do ahead, getting over the horizon to the next thing we have to do to fight COVID. My pleasure to introduce, she is the Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at NYU’s Grossman School of Medicine, Dr. Celine Gounder.  

[…]  

Mayor: Thank you, doctor. As always, thank you for breaking it down and making it clear to people we have a real different threat here, and it means using new measures like this to fight back. Thank you very, very much for joining us today. Everyone, I want you to hear from some other leaders who care deeply about this. And one of them was, yesterday, at City Hall and we were talking and he said, you know, it's really time to do something different. And I said, great minds think alike. And I want you to hear from a leader of this city, representing Manhattan and the Bronx, but also a leader nationally in the Congress, and has been a strong – a strong advocate, I should say, for health care equity. My pleasure to introduce Congress Member Adriano Espaillat.  

[…]  

Mayor: Thank you so much, Congress Member. And I loved your demonstration yesterday. We were at City Hall, just pulling out the card in your wallet, you had it ready at all times. And I think that's such a powerful message – it doesn't take much to meet this requirement and keep everyone safe. Thank you for your support for this initiative. And we're definitely going to work with you and leaders all over the city to get our businesses ready for it so we can do it right. Thank you very, very much.   

Now, everyone. Now, another really leading voice in this city on the fight against COVID and someone who believes in taking this kind of measure, because it's time to fight back hard and focus on vaccination even more. He's been a great voice for making sure that the people of this city get what they need to protect them from COVID. My pleasure to introduce the Chair of the Health Committee of the City Council, Council Member Mark Levine.  

[…]  

Mayor: Thank you very, very much Council Member. You always tell the truth, not without controversy. That is correct. But it is the right thing to do and your support will be tremendously helpful as we make this happen here in this city. And I think it's also going to be a model that will be picked up on a lot of other places as we prove that it can work right here. So, thank you so much Council Member. And now, I want to hear from someone who has been a leader in the areas of small business and economic development, who understands how crucial it is to bring back this city, who also represents communities hit hard by COVID and understands how important it is to maximize vaccination at this moment. My pleasure [inaudible] from Queens, State Senator James Sanders Jr.  

[…]  

Mayor: Thank you, Senator. And, as always, you tell it like it is. And we have to be real blunt about the fact that the danger is profound and we need strong, strong measures. So, thank you. Thank you for supporting this and your point about getting more and more of those mobile vaccination sites out, that's exactly what we believe in, and you'll be seeing them at more and more places people congregate, because we want people to right then have that moment inspiration, come get that first shot, and then they're on their way to a lot more safety and a lot more freedom. Thank you, Senator. Now, everyone, I want you to hear from two leaders of the business community and two folks who will be directly affected by this policy and believe in it, because they understand the frontline impact that COVID is having on their customers and their employees. First of all, a New York City legend – she and her family have created literally one of the greatest and most famous dining institutions in all the history of New York City, and that's saying a lot. We are arguably the greatest restaurant city in the world. I would argue with anyone on that anytime. I think we are. And to be one of the greatest of the greatest all time – well, that says a lot. I also want to thank her and her family and everyone at the restaurant, because they donated food to people in need during the pandemic. They are always there for the community and now taking a lead and helping to make sure more and more New Yorkers get vaccinated. From the legendary Sylvia's Restaurant in Harlem, my great pleasure introduced Tren’ness Woods-Black.  

Tren’ness, are you out there? Let’s check. Hold on – we’ll go to the next person and come back? Okay. We’re going to hold on Tren’ness for a moment – it was a good lead-up though.  

[Laughter]  

So, another great business leader and she has created one of the great – we all love our events in New York City, and we love the food and the way the events are put together, the specialists, one of the great catering businesses in this city known for its creativity, its quality, is Great Performances, a woman who founded Great Performances and who always gives back to the city, including as founder of the Sylvia Center to improve children's health. She is always there when the City of New York needs her, my pleasure to introduce Liz Neumark.   

[…]    

Mayor: I like that. That's a good combination, Liz, fighting the fight and having the party. That kind of gives you both sides of the equation, fight the fight now so we can have the party, and that's what the Key to NYC Pass is all about. And, Liz, you've been ahead of the curve, really want to thank you for helping to get the ball rolling and proving it could work, and yes, we believe when government comes into play, it's going to help so many other businesses to do the same thing you've done successfully. So, thank you as always for your leadership, Liz. All right, now let's see, I'm looking for a signal whether Tren’ness is back. That's a yes, we think. Okay. Tren’ness, can you hear me?   

[…]   

Mayor: Thank you so much, Tren’ness. Very, very powerful statement, and particularly the story you told from your own family, really is – you know, it makes me feel even more strongly this is the right thing to do. And your leadership counts for a lot here, I really, really want to thank you.    

[…]   

Mayor: All right, now, everyone, there you've heard it, a lot of very powerful voices who believe in this approach, we're going right away to get everyone ready for it. It's going to make a big difference and to understand once again, the challenge we're up against with the Delta variant.    

We'll do today's indicators, and again, the reason we are still able to keep this city moving forward is vaccination, but the only way to defeat the Delta variant, because it's coming on strong, is with more vaccination. Here are today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report is 75 patients, confirmed positivity of 29.87 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.74. Number, two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 1,288 cases. And number three, again, we're going to phase this out in the morning presentations after this week, but it will be available on the Department of Health website, percentage of people testing statewide positive for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 3.09 percent. I’m going to say a few words in Spanish about our new policy we're announcing today.    

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]    

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.   

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, and by Senior Advisor, Dr. Jay Varma. The first question today goes to Derick Waller from WABC.    

Question: Mr. Mayor, good morning.    

Mayor: Good morning, Derick. How are you doing?   

Question: Doing great. I hope you are.    

Mayor: Yes, indeed.    

Question: Well, I just obviously want to ask about The Key to New York City, and one question I had though, is how are you able to enforce this vaccine mandate when the vaccines have not yet gained FDA approval – full FDA approval?    

Mayor: Derik, a really fair question, but I'll tell you, we got a very clear message from the US Department of Justice that it was appropriate to move forward with these kinds of standards based on the existing approval. That was thorough unto itself, and obviously we've seen with our own eyes well over 160 million Americans successfully vaccinated. So, it is legally, absolutely appropriate to move forward with this mandate and it's necessary given the pace of the Delta variant right now. Go ahead, Derik   

Question: And I also wanted to ask we saw a report from our sister station actually in San Francisco reporting that San Francisco General Hospital is going to start giving booster shots, mRNA booster shots to people who took the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. I know that you took the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Have you heard anything about that? Is that something that you would do yourself? Would you take a booster shot?    

Mayor: Well, I’ll turn in a moment to my fellow Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Dr. Dave Chokshi, and obviously if Dr. Katz or Dr. Varma want to add. I'm ready to take a booster shot whenever the time is right and whenever the priority is right, because as with everything, if we're introducing any new piece to the equation, we want to make sure that those who need it most get it first. But if at any point it's determined that booster shots are advisable, I'm certainly ready when my turn comes. With that, Dr. Chokshi.   

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. We are following the science very closely on this, particularly in the context of the Delta variant. At this moment, we are not recommending booster shots for any individuals based on our scientific understanding right now. However, there is some evidence, and it is growing, that booster shots may be a recommended or required a little bit further down the road. If that happens, it's most likely to be prioritized for people who are immunocompromised, potentially older individuals as well, but this is an area where we need to ensure that we follow the science as well as the recommendations from the FDA on it. So, this is an area for us to stay tuned, but I want to give that clear message that at this moment, we are not recommending booster shots for anyone, including those who have received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. 

Mayor: Dr. Varma, anything you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Nothing more to add. 

Mayor: Great. Okay, go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Lisa Rozner from WCBS. 

Question: Hi, Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Lisa. How’ve you been? 

Question: I’ve been great. Thank you for asking. My first question is how is this pass going to work if you're not from New York City? Like you have a lot of people coming here from New Jersey and tourists, not from the area. Are they going to somehow get this pass, this card? 

Mayor: You know, great question, Lisa, obviously the vaccination card that so many of us have in our wallets is something you see from all over the country. So, that's a very straightforward way for anyone who's been vaccinated to prove it. We have the NYC app. We have Excelsior Pass. There's different options that anyone can use. The bottom line will be someone will have to have proof. They have to have proof of vaccination if they want to dine indoors or go to indoors entertainment, fitness, et cetera. So, long as that proof is accurate and real, wherever it comes from, that's what they'll need to show. Go ahead, Lisa. 

Question: And do you know what kind of penalties businesses might face if they don't enforce this? Like, it was very difficult for them to enforce masks. Now you're asking them to deny people business, essentially, and is there concern about how this might affect the workforce, like restaurants that are already short-staffed? 

Mayor: So, two important questions. I’m going to talk about the staffing for a second and then turn to Dr. Chokshi on the enforcement. Obviously, the Department of Health already, way before COVID, plays an important role in restaurant inspections. But first on the staffing, look, this is to protect everyone in the restaurant community, entertainment community, the employees, and the customers alike. What I really believe Lisa is that this will inspire people to get vaccinated. This is what we've heard from a lot of businesspeople. They believe that their employees need one more push. And certainly, since a lot of the folks we're talking about are younger, we know for a fact that younger New Yorkers want to live the full life of the city. An incentive to getting vaccinated would be if you can fully participate. Also, a disincentive would be if you're shut out of a lot of things, you want to do a lot of young people, including who work in restaurants and bars want to go to restaurants and bars themselves. So, I think you're going to see an incentive in reality, plus the literal hundred-dollar incentive. We believe, as this kind of approach grows and you're seeing it starting to happen now in the private sector and other areas, it's going to become more and more the norm. We want it to become the norm. I'm taking this action in part to inspire others to follow suit. 

On the question of the inspections. Again, we're going to take some time to get people ready, and we're not going to be issuing any fines before September, but it's pretty straightforward. You check someone's vaccination status at the door. I mean, people check in to go to a restaurant or a bar or anything. You check their vaccination status. If they have it, great. If they don't, turn around. Dr. Chokshi, you want to speak to that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I'll just add briefly. We consider this a matter of safety and health. And so that's what our enforcement paradigm will reflect in the same way that we take precautions ensure food safety and other health and hygiene standards. That's what we will be aiming for with respect to enforcement of the Key To NYC. This will be not just Health Department inspectors, but a multi-agency set of inspectors who will be able to enforce those rules. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is Juan Manuel from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Juan Manuel, how’ve you been? 

Question: Very good, thank you. So, positivity rate is already over three percent and the Delta variant has taught us that we still don't know a lot of things about the COVID-19 virus. We're still more than a month away from September 13th. So, given that infections are quickly going up every day in New York City. Why not mandating proof of vaccination sooner or also mandate masks indoors immediately, or proof of negative tests at public venues like Congressman Espaillat and Councilman Levine have asked the City to do, and a city like Paris just started doing this week? 

Mayor: Juan Manuel, we're looking at every option. Everything's on the table. As I said, we've been climbing the ladder more and more announcements, more and more new strategies all the time. Everything's on the table. But the most important piece is vaccination. I said, yes, I'm going to say it again: our strategy is vaccine centric. Anything and everything we do is to support vaccination. Anything less than vaccination isn't going to get us where we need to go. So, we're certainly ready to look at any additional options, but right now, what we want to nail is people getting vaccinated and, very bluntly, showing that life is much better when you're vaccinated, you can do so much more when you're vaccinated, you have more freedom when you're vaccinated and you have a lot less, you have fewer choices, fewer opportunities if you're not vaccinated. That's where we're strategically focused now. We can always make additions, but that's where we're focused now. Go ahead, Juan Manuel. 

Question: Most of the speakers today, they said that the time to act is now and that big elephant in the room is public schools. We could be way above 5 percent plus positivity rate by the time they reopen in September. So, are you going to mandate teachers to get the shot? And do you have a plan B for parents who might fear sending their children to school? 

Mayor: Juan Manuel, school will open September 13th, and it's imperative to the health and safety of our kids that they'd be in a place that provides them everything they need. And again, I'm talking about not just COVID as a consideration, but all other physical and mental health considerations. We have talked about this and I'll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi – our health care leaders adamantly believe in bringing back school. Now, Juan Manuel, let's get the facts. We had a gold standard of health and safety measures that worked extraordinarily well, even before we had any vaccinations. So, yes, of course Delta's a new ball game, but let's be clear with no vaccinations at all. We made New York City public schools safe with really intensive health and safety measures, including everyone wearing a mask in the school, which will continue. Well, now we have 10 million vaccination doses since that time and a high level of vaccination among our school employees. We're going to be augmenting that with an intensive drive to get kids 12 years old and up vaccinate in time for school. So, we have the tools to keep schools safe, and we need to get our kids back to school, as to any other measures we may take, stay tuned. We're looking at all options, but I want to put in perspective why, right now, we're in a very strong position, even compared to where we were when we had to start school in the context of COVID with no vaccinations available with that, first Dr. Varma, then Dr. Chokshi if there’s anything you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Great. Thank you very much, Juan Manuel, for the question, and we do understand why family members parents, children themselves, you know, may be concerned. We have talked repeatedly about how this new strain of COVID is something that we should be very worried about and taking action, but we should really emphasize what the Mayor has been talking about today and really for the past several weeks is that vaccination is the key. We know how effective vaccinations are, both at keeping yourself healthy, as well as reducing the likelihood that you will transmit infections to other people. And this particularly applies in the setting of schools. So, we know that the key is really going to be to continue to promote vaccination for everybody who is an adult and everybody who is 12 and above. On top of that, we will continue to use layered prevention measures, and we've talked about this a lot last year about how no one measure is a hundred percent perfect, so you layer them together. So, that includes the continuing use of masks and the extensive improvements in indoor ventilation that the DOE made last year and continues to work on this year. So, when you add all that together and you add in the strength of the Test and Trace Corps on top of that we do feel confident that it's important for kids to get the full benefit of school. And as the Mayor has again emphasized, health is not just about COVID. Schools provide enormous health benefits that need to be considered at all times. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi, anything to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. Last week, with you and with the Chancellor, I was at Lehman High School in the Bronx, and the Chancellor and I did a forum with some of the students there, and I was struck by a young man who asked the question, “how is it that we can best support the wellbeing of students as they come back to school?” And I very much appreciated his use of the word “wellbeing” because it reflects what we know about schools and education and their link to health, which is about much more than the absence of disease. It's about not just physical health, but also mental health as well. And bringing our kids back for in-person school is fundamental to the wellbeing of our young people. That's our starting point. And we will do everything that we have to to ensure safety as we accomplish that mission. As Dr. Varma has said, we have a powerful new tool in our arsenal, in the vaccine. We're approaching 250,000 12 to 17-year-olds who have already been vaccinated in New York City. And I want to make sure that parents know that August 9th is the last day that you can get your child vaccinated for them to be fully vaccinated by the time that school starts. So, we're going to be making even more of a push in the coming days and the coming weeks to get students as well as school staff vaccinated. Thank you. 

Mayor: And I'll just add before next question to Dave's point, I'm a parent. If my kids were school age, 12 years old and up, I would be running right now to the nearest vaccination site to get my kids vaccinated. Not a question in my mind. The ideal is get them vaccinated now. First of all, they'll be safe now and they'll be fully vaccinated in time for school. 

But that said, anyone who doesn't act in the next few days, it doesn't mean therefore don't get your kid vaccinated. Remember whenever you act, if it’s the day before school, it’s still going to help. The key is to go and get your child vaccinated at the quickest available opportunity, and the very best time to do it is this week. And you get that hundred-dollar incentive, which is a really, really wonderful thing. With that, go ahead. 

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX11.   

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call.    

Mayor: James, you're in the – you're in the coveted cleanup spot today.   

Question: I greatly appreciate it. Just trying to get a little more clarity on the Key to New York Pass. Is this just an overarching term for a program where businesses will check people's vaccination status in any variety of ways, or will the City actually issue some sort of app, some sort of paper documents, some specific pass regarding admission into businesses?   

Mayor: Yeah, James, this is a strategy and the way it comes alive is with – as Congressman Espaillat showed us with the vaccination card or the NYC app or the Excelsior Pass. So, we've got three great ways for people to prove that they are vaccinated. We need people to use one of those things if they want to go to indoor dining or entertainment or fitness facilities. And the idea is this one clear standard, you must be vaccinated to go to as a customer or to work in as an employee, any of those facilities, period.

Moderator: The next is Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.    

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.   

Mayor: Hey, good morning. How are you doing, Elizabeth?    

Question: Good. My first question is, how does this new policy apply to children under the age of 12 who cannot be vaccinated yet?   

Mayor: Look, I'll start, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. We're focusing on where we can have an impact and that's among those who can be vaccinated. And by the way, that's the vast majority of our population. We're not going to exclude those under 12. We want them to be safe. We want them to be careful, but really what we're trying to do here is focus on the folks who could be vaccinated. The whole purpose of doing this is to give people the ultimate incentive to get vaccinated if they're eligible. The other thing to say before the doctor is, we do expect in the next few months, kids in the five to 11 range will become eligible. And, you know, I think this is going to be yet another reason why you'll see parents move really quickly to get kids vaccinated once that eligibility occurs. Dr. Chokshi, please add.   

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I think you covered the high points. You know, what I would emphasize is that we do want to make as many of these settings as safe as possible. And that means having them be for people who are only fully vaccinated. That is the thrust of the policy. Many of them are settings where – you know, where there won't be children involved. For those that may involve children, this is something that we have to take into consideration. As with any policy of this type, there will have to be some reasonable accommodations made. And so that will be part of the discussion there. Thank you.   

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Elizabeth.   

Question: So, just to clarify on that, if I were to bring, like, my son or daughter, who's 10 years old into a restaurant, will my child be allowed to come with me? Is that at the discretion of the restaurant?    

Mayor: So, again, Elizabeth, we're going to work out those details. The policy is going to be finalized over the next two weeks in consultation with the business community and our health care leadership. We'll put out the policy and activate it during that week of August 16th. Again, there will not be the inspections and enforcement and penalties until after September 13th, but this is the kind of thing we will work through. Look, the goal, of course, is not to exclude anyone who can't be vaccinated, but we have to figure out how to do things in a safe manner. So, good question. We will get you an answer, but the much more powerful piece to me – respecting the question a hundred percent – is everyone in New York City, 12 and older, the vast majority of New Yorkers, will now have a very, very clear standard to meet. If they want to do any of these wonderful activities indoors, go get vaccinated, at least one dose. If you're not willing to get vaccinated, then you're not going to be participating in either the work or the enjoyment of all these places.   

Moderator: The next is Amanda Eisenberg from Politico.   

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?   

Mayor: I'm doing good, Amanda. But hearing your name, I’m having volleyball flashbacks and you are a keen competitor, Amanda.   

Question: We want a rematch. We think it was rigged. So, you know, we're willing to play you again. [Inaudible] one-on-one –   

Mayor: Definitely not rigged. And I'll take that rematch any day.    

Question: Okay, great. Thank you. I wanted to talk a little bit about funding these businesses who might need to be paying for additional labor to do this carding system. Representative Espaillat yesterday had suggested that there might be a funding model available to kind of give businesses, you know, some extra help financially to be able to deal with this. Is this something that's on the table or something you're considering?   

Mayor: We’re going to look at a variety of ways that we can help the businesses, Amanda. We want this to be a success. We want it to go smoothly. Look, I don't think, when you think about the fact that everything we're talking about essentially has some kind of way that people check in. When you go to a restaurant, you go to a, you know, gym or fitness club, you know, just think about the different venues we're talking about, a movie theater, there is always a place where someone takes the ticket, whatever it might be. So, adding a simple check to make sure that someone has valid vaccination, I don't think that's going to be overly cumbersome in the final analysis. But we do want to make sure it works and works well. So, we're going to look at a variety of options to support businesses in that.

Moderator: We'll have time for two more for today. The next is Lynda Baquero from NBC.    

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for your time.    

Mayor: How are you doing, Lynda?   

Question: I'm well, thank you. How are you doing?    

Mayor: All right.    

Question: Excellent. One of the events coming up where people will have to show proof of vaccination is the Homecoming Concert that you've been talking about in New York City. And this morning we checked Ticketmaster and the VIP tickets for the Central Park show are going for just under $5,000. Wanted to get your reaction to that first. And also, what advice would you have to people who are hoping to still get free tickets?   

Mayor: Lynda, this is a people's concert as are the ones in the other four boroughs. The vast majority of tickets are free. And that was something we were very, very adamant about. The VIP tickets are to pay for much of the cost. And for those who have the resources, you know, by buying those tickets, they're helping make it possible that everyone else can go for free. But there's more opportunities. We'll get the exact timing. I think it's today and tomorrow when tickets are going to be made available. So, urge New Yorkers, get ready for those moments and, you know, jump online and grab tickets because they're going to be absolutely amazing concerts. Go ahead, Lynda.  

Question: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor.    

Mayor: You're good? Okay.   

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Nolan Hicks from the New York Post.   

Mayor: Nolan –    

Question: Good morning, everybody. Is this on?   

Mayor: Yeah, Nolan. How are you doing today?   

Question: I'm doing well, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?   

Mayor: Good, I was about to say you need more coffee, but I doubt that's the case.    

Question: I always try to avoid that unfortunate outcome. On the policy announcement today regarding the vaccine mandates, how will this apply to other indoor activities like shopping malls, grocery stores, pharmacies, things that are more, I guess, potentially presenting lower profile risk.   

Mayor: It's a great question, Nolan. Look, we very purposely focused, to begin, on important parts of life in this city, but where people went for enjoyment that were not, you know, the most essential services and where we think there's a particular need because folks are in close proximity, eating, drinking, exercising, whatever it may be. This is a very, very important place to make this change. Just think about what it will mean for people's lives. Once upon a time, to use an analogy, very different reality, but I think it makes it vivid – once upon a time, you know, smoking was typical in restaurants and bars. A lot of us – I happen to have asthma, a lot of other people had respiratory problems, really suffered because of that. You never felt comfortable. You were always worried was someone going to light up a cigarette? Well, this is a much, much bigger problem. You know, a deadly disease that lurks in our city that has taken so many lives. To be able to go into a restaurant, a bar, a gym, a movie theater, and know the entire environment is folks who are vaccinated, which means much less chance of transmission. It also means even if God forbid someone contracted the disease, they are protected against the worst outcomes, that's really night and day. So, that's what we're achieving with this mandate, but we will now look at other areas as well, other types of businesses and absolutely consider whether it makes sense to do something similar, but this was the right place to begin, and a place where I think we're going to have a particularly profound impact.    

Look, this mandate is going to help us save lives. This mandate is going to help us bring our city back fully. And the bottom line is it's time for everyone to get vaccinated. And we're making it really clear, if you want the Key to NYC, if you want everything good about this city, all it takes is go out and get vaccinated. Just get that first dose and you're in the game. Of course, follow through, get the second dose too at the right time. But all you got to do is walk down the street, walk in, for free, get vaccinated. It takes a few minutes and you're in the game. You get to enjoy all the life in New York City. And if you don't get vaccinated, you're going to be left out of a lot of things. And I don't say that with any joy, but I think it’s what people need to hear to motivate a lot of people to take that next step, for their own protection. We are doing this for your protection, your family, your community. So, once again, the right thing to do, go get vaccinated. Thank you, everyone.

2021-08-04 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Let's talk about my very favorite subject, a recovery for all of us. And a recovery for all of us means our livelihoods coming back, businesses, jobs, the life of our city, everything we love – the joy, the energy, everything that makes New York City great. We're really moving along steadily. Every single day it’s getting better. Why? Because of vaccines. Because people went out and got vaccinated. That is the difference-maker. So, as always, we're going to focus today on vaccination and how it is the foundation of recovery. It’s the foundation of everything we need to move past the COVID era. We're going to also focus on public safety. Recovery equals public safety. Public safety equals recovery. And new efforts to address and improve public safety. We're going to focus also on building our future, improving our infrastructure, getting ready for a New York City ahead that's stronger than ever before. Those are the things that we need as part of our recovery.

Let's start with the main event, vaccines. Where we stand – first of all, we've crossed this amazing rubicon of 10 million vaccination doses – unbelievable number. Thanks to everyone who made it happen. As of today, 10,037,551 vaccination doses given in the City of New York. And over 5 million New Yorkers who have had at least one dose. Everyone, go back and get that second dose as quickly as possible. We know that's what New Yorkers are doing. We want to build on this rapidly and that's why we announced yesterday the Key to NYC pass. And this is the future of the fight against COVID. What we're doing here in New York City is already being emulated and will be emulated a lot more in the coming days by cities, and counties, and states, and private companies all over the country, because this is what we need to do. We had a really good voluntary phase with vaccination. We had great incentives. We had extraordinary efforts to reach people at the grassroots and bring in trusted partners. That was the right thing to do and it worked in in many, many ways. But now, we have the Delta variant. It's time to take a different strategic approach. And that means the right kind of mandates. And the Key to NYC pass to me is exactly the right kind of mandate – gives people an opportunity to live life fully the freedom to live life fully simply by getting vaccinated. Even the first dose gets you in the game. And, again, easy to show proof with a vaccination card, with the NYC app, or the Excelsior Pass – all of them work. We're going to be sketching out all the details. A lot of good questions about how exactly is it going to work. We'll be doing that over the next two weeks. Then, we start to implement. There'll be a period to educate and prepare our businesses, work with them really constructively to get everyone ready. Then, in the week of September 13th, we start to follow up with inspections, and, if necessary, enforcement. My sense is, and this has certainly been true in our previous experiences with restaurants and bars, and entertainment industries, there's been tremendous voluntary effort to match the rules – hasn't taken a lot of fines. People have been right there with it. And we saw this recently with the Broadway community, going the extra mile, saying we want to keep our customers and our workers safe. That's what we need to do across the board. And I think the action that New York City took yesterday is going to help us get there.

One of the most important questions is about kids. People have been asking, well, if they're under vaccination age, can they go to the restaurants, the movies? Of course. We want families to be together. Smart thing to do, keep masks on your kids, except for when they're eating and drinking, obviously. But if you're going out as a whole family and your kids are not yet vaccination age, of course they should come along. We’re also looking forward to the point where kids can get vaccinated at a younger age, that five to 11 group. That's not too far away. That should be this year, in the next couple of months. So, that's going to help as well. And, of course, there's still going to be opportunity to get takeout while wearing a mask. We're going to talk about all those details. But the bottom line is, this has been already a policy that is changing minds, that's helping us move forward in the fight against COVID. A lot of details to come. We're going to be talking to the business community regularly. And we want to be clear about listening to all the input and constantly improving on the policy, but we know it's going to make a difference.

Now, as to the fact that this should be picked up all over the country and emulated – what clear, clear support we got yesterday from President Joe Biden. I mean, it was just a few hours after announcing the policy, Joe Biden, 100 percent said, yes, cities and states and counties should do this. It's the right thing to do. And I want to thank President Biden for his support, and then I think that's going to be tremendously helpful in convincing a lot jurisdictions to follow this model, which will keep us all safer. And when we presented the hundred-dollar incentive, that also got a lot of pickup from the federal government and around the country. We know that's working too. So, every piece helps to get more people vaccinated and that's what we're going to keep doing. And we know the more we do, the more lives are saved, the more we protect our recovery, the more we protect against sliding backwards to those horrible times we went through in 2020.

I want to bring forward a voice who has so often spoken about the needs of New Yorkers. He thinks about it through an equity lens, but he also thinks about it from the lens of representing a local community in Brooklyn. And he has been someone always looking for the next strategies to help us fight COVID. And I appreciate his support at this crucial moment. My pleasure introduced the Chairman of the General Welfare Committee in the City Council, Council Member Steve Levin.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Council Member. I’ve got to tell you, one of the things you said just rang a bell for me. I've already been hearing directly and indirectly from a lot of business owners that appreciate this, because they want a safe environment for their employees. They want a safe environment for their customers. They don't want people to have to worry. And yes, these actions are bold, but they're actually going to create a lot of comfort and a lot of sense that people can go about their lives and enjoy things and not be looking over their shoulder. So, thank you for your support. Every bit helps as we build momentum for these kinds of bold approaches. Thank you very, very much.

All right, everyone, let's go to what we do every day, our indicators. And again, as I said several times, I'll keep saying it, we're going to continue to modify the indicators in the course of the week, so going into the future you'll see some different information but let's go over the format as we have it. Now, number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report is 103 patients, confirmed positivity level 33.64 percent, hospitalization rate 0.79 per 100,000. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report, 1,301 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing city-wide positive for COVID-19, today's report on a seven-day rolling average, 3.14 percent. Let's say a few words in Spanish, I'm going back to the topic of public safety, the gang take down that got announced and more gang takedowns to  
[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]   
With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Commissioner Gutman, by Dr. Choksi, by Dr. Katz, and by Department of Transportation Chief Strategy Officer Jee Mee Kim. First question today goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: I’m doing well, Juliet, how are you doing today?  

Question: I’m okay, thank you. So, you just mentioned in the indicators a positivity rate 3.14 percent, you know, that number has been climbing, but there are certain pockets of the city that are much higher, Ozone Park, eight percent positivity rate, [inaudible] Staten Island nearly eight percent, parts of Brooklyn, it's six percent. What are you doing to tackle those pockets of the city where that rate is high? 

Mayor: So, Juliet, we got to reach everyone. We got to get more and more people vaccinated all the time, and I want to say this, we believe everything that we're now putting on the table, the $100 incentive, the vaccine mandates for city workers, the Key to NYC Pass for restaurants, for indoor entertainment, gyms, all of these pieces are going to add up and they're going to have a particular impact in the places where fewer people are vaccinated. We're going to reach people in a variety of ways. We need to reach them. We need to keep people safe through vaccination. That's the whole ball game. I also want to say, as we've said, that the positivity level is something we're going to be paying less and less attention to because it is not showing us accurate enough information where you see a lot of changes in the way testing is happening in terms of the number of people, and who's going to get tested. What we're focused on is the case numbers, which are way too high, the hospitalization rate, which is actually still pretty good, and the vaccination numbers, which are strong, and we intend to make a lot stronger. So, Juliet, just to give you the update, right now – 60 percent – 60 percent of New York residents have received at least one dose, five million plus now and growing. Almost 72 percent of adults in New York City have received at least one dose, and then we've seen real progress with that youngest group, the 12 to 17-year-olds, now about 250,000 of them have gotten at least one dose, and we're going to making a big, big push for back to school. So, all of those pieces combined are going to get us where we need to go. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay, also wanted to ask you, what agency will enforce vaccination mandates [inaudible] Police Commissioner Shea was on this morning on TV saying he doesn't want, you know, NYPD involved with that. So, what agency will do that? How is that going to work?  

Mayor: Yeah, he’s right. This is a civilian approach. Department of Health in particular, and we're going to come forward over the next week or two with the specific rules. We're going to give people time to get acclimated to it during August, going into beginning of September. We believe – I believe – profoundly Juliet that the vast majority, restaurants, bars, movie theaters, gyms, people are going to accept this and act on it for the safety of everyone, and we've seen tremendous cooperation historically. You know, a few outliers get a lot of attention, but if you really look overall, you get a whole lot of cooperation in something like this. In fact, a lot of business owners have told us they welcome it because everyone's going to be safer and everyone's going to know the ground rules. So, civilian enforcement and we're going to get those details out in the coming days. 

Moderator: The next is Juan Manuel from NY1.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Juan Manuel, how are you doing?

Question: Very good, thank you. So, Mr. Mayor, how do you reconcile the fact that you're mandating restaurant and gym employees to get vaccinated but you're not doing the same kind of mandate for public employees like police officers and teachers. You're giving them the option of getting tested every week. They are public servants, they are city employees –shouldn't they be setting an example for all New Yorkers since they are interacting with New Yorkers every day at their jobs?

Mayor: Juan Manuel, I appreciate the question and my answer is the one I've been giving and acting on. Now over these last few weeks, we are climbing the ladder. Every day we're looking at new options and we're acting on a number of them. And when we think it's the right time for each option, we move. So, the mandate I put forward for first, hospital workers, then we expand it to all public employees: get vaccinated or get tested. The goal there was to maximize vaccination. Couldn't have been blunter about it. We want to make vaccination really easy, really appealing, obviously a hundred-dollar incentive on top of that. We want to make people feel they don't want to go through all that testing, just get vaccinated. That's best for everyone. We're going to watch how that goes, and then we're going to decide if we need to take additional action. Each of these situations is different, I truly believe, because what we're doing with entertainment, indoor dining, those are different matters than public service, but I assure you, we're going to look at any and all options and make decisions over the next few weeks of what's going to help us get more and more people vaccinated.

Moderator: The next is Paul Liotta from the Staten Island Advance.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for taking my question. I know you talked about this a bit on Morning Joe, but I was hoping to get some of the health professionals’ perspective with cases rising and the deadline for students to be fully vaccinated by the time school starts? Is there any plan in the city for more remote options for kids who aren't vaccinated?

Mayor: No. The plan is to have all our kids back. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, who is passionate on this topic and is a parent. And really, we've had this conversation now for months about how you balance all the needs of children, including all the many health care, physical, and mental health care needs of kids. And it keeps coming back to the same answer, get kids back into school. But do it safely. We're going to keep vaccinating young people right up to the beginning of school, even after the beginning of school. Whenever we can get someone to get vaccinated, it's going to help. But remember even without vaccination, the incredible success we had keeping schools safe, pre-vaccination, how much we were able to address this challenge. So, we're going to do it again. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And I am indeed passionate about the idea that we have to bring our kids back to school in-person, not just for their educational development, their social development but also for their health. Both their physical and mental health. This is so important for the short term, as well as for the long term for future generations of New Yorkers. That focus on health is completely consistent with our focus on safety in schools as well. And we have talked about our layered approach to COVID-19 prevention, masking, distancing, ventilation, testing. Those are all key components of how we will keep kids safe. But as the Mayor has said, the most important one is vaccination. Making sure that school staff are vaccinated as much as possible for those who are 12 and up ensuring that they get vaccinated before school. And I do want to urge and encourage all parents to make an appointment today, if you haven't already so that you – so that your child can be fully vaccinated by the time that school starts.

Mayor: Thank you. And everyone, as we conclude, look, it is a really good sign that we can talk about fixing the infrastructure of the city and moving forward. We're able to have that discussion because we've made as much progress as we have had against COVID. We've made progress because of vaccinations. The city's coming back. We got to double down on that progress with more and more and more vaccinations so we can keep doing the work of the recovery. And here's where the story gets good. At the exact moment in history, where we have a president and a Congress that actually want to focus on infrastructure and help us move to a whole different place. We haven't had that for years and years. It's finally here. In this sense, a good time to be alive and one that we need to take full advantage of in this city as we move forward. Thank you, everyone.

2021-08-05 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Let's talk about the recovery in New York City and let's talk about our priorities. We need to bring this city back 100 percent. We need to make it better than it was before the pandemic. We need a recovery for all of us. That is the overarching priority, a recovery for all of us. To achieve that, we’ve got to focus on public health, first and foremost, defeating COVID, defeating the Delta variant. We’ve got to focus on public safety, making sure New Yorkers are safe in this city. Public safety equals recovery, but also the recovery equals public safety. The more we get back to normal, the safer we'll be. So, we're going to focus today on those priorities, starting, of course, with COVID.

The Delta variant, I think everyone's gotten the memo now – this is dangerous. This is a whole new ball game. The impact across this country is really troubling. The human impact – what it’s doing to individual Americans, what is doing to New Yorkers, what it's doing to families, what it is posing as a threat. Is anyone out there that wants to go back to 2020? Does anyone want to go back to restrictions? Does anyone want to go back to seeing a huge loss of life? If you don't want those things, take the Delta variant seriously. And that's why New York City is doing some of the most aggressive actions in America. We are setting the pace on purpose. We are taking bold action for ourselves, but also to help everyone else take bold action. The Key to NYC Pass, this is what's going to be happening all over the country. Make no mistake. What we have put in place related to indoor dining, indoor entertainment, indoor fitness is the shape of things to come. You're going to see more and more companies do the same thing. You're going to see more cities, more counties, more states do the same thing, because it's time. And I want to thank President Joe Biden, who embraced this idea immediately, literally within hours. This needs to be done all over this country to stop the Delta variant. We can talk about any and all other issues, but the first thing we should always be talking about is stopping this Delta variant before it does more harm. And the way to do that as vaccination. And the way to get more people vaccinated is not just a voluntary approaches, which I applaud, the incentives, which we believe in and are working, but requires mandates as well.

We've been climbing the ladder. I keep using that phrase to say, we're going to use any and all tools. And we see that this approach – a strong, bold approach works. In fact, we know human nature. A lot of people hearing that there's a requirement or a requirement coming respond to that. It's normal. It's natural. The voluntary phase was great, went on for seven full months – lots of incentives, lots of dialogue, lots of communication, lots of opportunity to talk to your doctor or pediatrician. The voluntary is over. It's time to mix mandates into this approach everywhere to defeat this enemy. The Delta variant is a different enemy. It must be defeated.

So, here's what we've seen since we've climbed a ladder and put clear, sharper mandates in place and a very appealing hundred-dollar per person incentive. Over the past week, we've seen over 80,000 first doses of the vaccine in New York City – 80,000 New Yorkers came forward to get their first dose. Compare that to 57,000 for the first week in July – 41 percent increase in such a brief period of time. So, clearly something's working. The message is getting through. We know that health providers in this city have more than doubled the number of doses they have ordered this week. We know the health community is hearing more and more interest, more and more demand from their patients. The week before 40,000 doses were ordered this week, 90,000 doses ordered – this is how we make an impact. This is how we change things. So, the Key to NYC Pass, there’s no doubt in my mind it’s going to save lives. It's also going to save this city from slipping backwards. We can't let that happen.

So, everyone, this has got to be our focus every day, continuing to use the right strategies, increase vaccination. And on this issue, I'll come back to the simplest point – vaccination. The whole discussion is vaccination, the whole ballgame. If we're going to get it right, we’ve got to double-down on vaccination. That's what we will do every single day in this city. And I think, I've certainly heard this from business leaders, it's helping other people to do the same thing. When they see the nation's largest city act, it helps other people to do the same thing, and that benefits all of us.

So, Homecoming Week is going to be bigger than anyone ever, ever imagined. You look at the lineup, just for the concert in Central Park – I am a true music lover, I've never seen a lineup like this in my life. I've asked a lot of people, when have you seen this many extraordinary performers at one place? Folks say consistently, Woodstock's the only comparison they can think of. This is unbelievable. A single day, having all this talent in one place. And it's one of five concerts in the five boroughs. And as people are hearing about, the other five – excuse me, the other four concerts, there's extraordinary excitement. Well, guess what? We keep building these amazing events into even greater events. So, on August 21st, Central Park, a major new addition to the lineup, a global superstar from Columbia, Maluma. Maluma is the top concert selling Latin artists in the world. He is a 2018 Latin Grammy award winner. This is a big deal to so many people in the city to have a star of this caliber join an already star-studded lineup. This is going to make something that is amazing, even more amazing. But it's all about bringing us back together. Now, remember, there's still chances for free tickets and for the VIP packages for purchase. The next ticket releases are tomorrow 10:00 AM and Saturday at 9:00 PM. So, there's still opportunity to get those tickets. And, remember, to participate in any of the five concerts, you’ve got to be vaccinated, get at least that first dose. So, if you want to be a part of this and you're not yet vaccinated, I’ve got a solution for you – go to one of the hundreds of locations where you can get a free vaccination, it takes a few minutes. Get that vaccination, get that vaccination card so you can be a part of this amazing moment in our history.

Now, Homecoming Week is not just these amazing concerts. The concerts are beautiful, but there's a lot more that is going to go on. From August 14th to August 22nd, 100-plus arts and culture events – 100 plus events in this city, including something very exciting, something New Yorkers love more and more – free movie screenings outdoors. It is something so special to appreciate the beauty of summer in the city, being out there with people outdoors and also seeing an amazing movie. We're partnering with Rooftop Films, who have been innovators, who have done amazing work, bringing such joy to people. And they're going to be doing something great. They're presenting six award-winning films and TV screens, celebrating New York City. Everything has another element to it of celebrating New York City, showing the greatness of New York City. Free, outdoors, a great way to mark our comeback. And I want to honor and thank Rooftop Films, they have been a home for great independent films for over 25 years. They've helped promote great works of art that would not have gotten as much attention and appreciation otherwise. They've done amazing work and I want you to hear from the President of Rooftop Films, with my appreciation for everything that you and your colleagues are doing for New York City. My pleasure to introduce Dan Nuxoll.

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dan. And here's my statement – there's a whole lot of culture going on and this is really going to be amazing. I mean, everything you laid out there, each and every one is going to be exciting and a beautiful communal experience outdoors. But thank you, because you've chosen great works of art as you have for years and years, and you're helping bring them to everyday people for free. That's just a beautiful thing. That's the way we do things in New York City, we celebrate arts and culture. It's part of our lifeblood. It’s who we are. We also believe it's for everyone, supposed to be something for everyone, not just for those of great means. And what you're doing, everyone at Rooftop Films is doing, bringing art to the people. Thank you. Thank you very much. Everyone, if you want to be a part of these great events, they’re free, free, free – go to nyc.gov/homecomingweek – nyc.gov/homecomingweek for all the details. 

Okay. Now, we'll do our indicators. And, as usual, our indicators tell us the things we got to pay attention to, things we’ve got to watch out for, things we got to address. Also, some good, you see the impact of vaccination continuing to hold the line, particularly in terms of hospitalization rate. But we've got more to do on vaccination, to say the least. And a reminder, we're going to be coming in with new indicators, going forward, focused, again, on hospitalization, vaccination rate, cases. We're going to be taking the positivity rate out of the equation in terms of the daily briefings. It will still be visible on the department of wealth – excuse me, Department of Health, and wealth, website. Okay. Here we are with our indicators today. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 127 patients. Confirmed positivity, 32.33 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 – 0.82. Number two, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 1,365 cases. And number three, percentage of people testing positive citywide for COVID-19 – today's report on seven-day rolling average, 3.27 percent.

Let me talk in about the crime announcements in Spanish for a moment and particularly this focus on the gang takedowns, the impact that is making on safety in communities. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Hi everyone. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined by Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, Senior Advisor, Dr. Jay Varma, President and CEO of Health + Hospitals, Dr. Mitch Katz, Executive Director of City-Wide Events, Dan Gross. Our first question of today goes to James from PIX-11.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Thanks for taking my call.

Mayor: James, you know, you're such a dynamic player. We keep moving your lineup. You’re the lead off today, you can do it all.

Question: Pleasure to be in that position. Thank you. If we could, could we start by talking a little more about Governor Cuomo's situation, about what you've spoken quite a bit in the last few days, but I'm hoping that you can provide more information about the effect that the ongoing issues surrounding the Governor are having on important issues here for the city, like battling COVID, getting rent relief money out, advocating for federal resources. What effect is that situation having on issues like those for us?

Mayor: James it's hurting the people in New York State and New York City. There's no question. You know, a guy who spends 11 hours having to testify about his sexual harassment and assaults is not a guy who's focusing on fighting COVID or getting us federal aid or getting rent relief money to people who need it. The rent relief situation is a very telling example. You know, sometimes people say, oh, look at these other states, they don't do things the same way we do, but 48 other states managed to get their rent relief money out. So, for anyone who, you know, is saying, oh, look how great New York State is. New York State dropped the ball on rent relief and one of the reasons must've been a distracted Governor. We've got hundreds of thousands of people who need that money. The federal government sent it to us. It's still not in the hands of New Yorkers. It's crazy. Here's another example, on homelessness, we came to an agreement with the State Legislature to raise the value of the homeless vouchers so more and more people who are homeless could get an apartment. City Council passed legislation as well. Everybody was aligned. All it needs is a signature from the Governor to help people who are homeless get an apartment, Governor hasn't managed to sign that bill weeks and weeks after it got passed. So, you know, that – again, that was, that was the middle of June when that bill got passed. It's now at the beginning of August. No action whatsoever. So, it's time for him to leave. Let the Lieutenant Governor take over and let her get to work solving these problems with us, because people are hurting right now, and they need leaders who can focus and not be in the middle of defending themselves against endless charges against them. Go ahead, James.

Question: Thank you. Also, you've mentioned – actually today and yesterday, how other cities, other jurisdictions, maybe even other states want to emulate the Key to NYC Pass. Can you give us more details? Are there specific cities that have approached you or the administration or specific states that are interested in implementing a similar plane?
Mayor: Out of respect for each jurisdiction and how they have to do things, I'm not going to name locations, they'll speak for themselves, but there's definitely been a lot of interest from public and private sector. Remember, James, I announced the Key to NYC Pass and about five hours later the President of United States endorsed it, and I want to thank President Joe Biden. That was very important and very helpful. Folks in the private sector are embracing this kind of approach more and more. You're going to see a lot more. You are unquestionably going to see a lot more, but what we've heard from a lot of people, including in the restaurant community was, we know that we need to keep everyone safe, including our employees. We need government to tell us this is the right thing to do so we have a clear standard we can point to. And I think you're going to see a lot of people embrace it, you're going to see some opposition too, that's America, that's okay, but overwhelmingly, this is the shape of things to come and more and more people in public and private sector are going to use this approach to make sure folks are vaccinated.

Moderator: The next question goes to Matt from Newsday. 

Question: Hey, good morning, all. How are you? 

Mayor: Matt, how you doing man? 

Question: I'm doing all right. Thank you for asking. Since the – speaking of the vaccine mandate that James was just discussing, since it does not exclude previously infected people, what evidence do you have that a vaccine is necessary to supplant, to seem to supplement, natural immunity, particularly since your team doesn't know or won't say, despite being asked about this repeatedly since March, how many re-infection cases there have been among the unvaccinated in New York City? 

Mayor: So, Matt, I want to make sure I understood you, we will speak to the information about the re-infection, but tell me that first part of what you're saying again? 

Question: The question is what evidence is there that the vaccine is needed to supplement natural immunity? 

Mayor: Oh, wow. Okay. Buckle your seat belts, Matt. I’m going to unleash Dr. Jay Varma and Dr. Mitch Katz. Clearly the only reason we are talking about recovery, the only reason that so many jobs are back, the only reason that people are able to live their lives is the vaccinations. That's the whole ballgame. Natural immunity, they can talk to you about the value of natural immunity, it does not replace vaccination, not even close, and have there been some reinfections? Yes, and I would welcome Dr. Varma, Dr. Katz, if you have any new facts or figures, please offer it. But we know it's rare. CDC documented that in the advisory last week, and we also know that when people are reinfected, the results are much less than they would have been if someone wasn't vaccinated. So, I think that the evidence is overwhelming, but let them have it, Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great, thank you very much for the question. I first want to just focus on a terminology issue that may sound odd, but it's really important. I really don't like when people talk about this term, natural immunity, there's nothing natural about being infected with a virus and certainly no more natural than getting vaccinations. So, what we want to differentiate is virus induced immunity, so you got infected with the virus, versus vaccine induced immunity, which means that you developed immunity because you've been vaccinated. So, what we know is imperfect, as it is throughout this epidemic, but there have been a number of studies looking at the immune responses in people who had infection with the virus compared with those who got vaccinated and also looking at people who got both vaccinated on top of having a prior viral infection. And what we see consistently is that people who have been vaccinated or people who have been vaccinated on top of a prior infection, have both more immune response, so a larger number of antibodies and other correlative immunity, as well as broader protection against other strains. So, we know that vaccines are safe, we know that they're effective, and we also know that they provide added benefit to people who have been previously infected with the virus. 

Mayor: So, I'll turn to Dr. Katz, but again, to both of you, Matt is putting forward the notion that somehow there's information that isn't being handled transparently. I think we've been very transparent, but I want all the transparency in the world, the number of reinfections, if we have a particular number, we know it's rare, but we should still issue that information. So, starting again, just Dr. Varma, do you have a specific set of facts on that to share or else we'll follow-up with Matt later?

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, I think we'll need to follow-up with Matt. I don't have the latest numbers. The Health Department does track this very carefully and they track infections in people who have been previously infected with the virus, as well as of course infections, what we call breakthrough infections of people who have been previously vaccinated. So yes, we can have the Health Department team follow up with that.

Mayor: Yeah, and that's information we will share. Go ahead, Dr. Katz.

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Well, Dr. Varma did a great job on the science. I want to talk about the clinical work because many of my own patients have asked me this question. They've said, you know, Dr. Katz, I have antibodies, do I really need vaccination? And I say, yes. Yes, you really need vaccination. Why? Because as Dr. Varma says, the combination of vaccination plus having been infected will give you greater immunity, will protect you even more, and perhaps most important, in New York City, most of the people who have been infected were infected last February or March. They were infected with the virus that was circulating at that time. As Dr. Varma has said, the vaccine induces a broader set of immune responses that we think will work much better at protecting people against Delta variant and all the variants that may come. So yes, as you've said, well, Mr. Mayor prior infection is protective, but why wouldn't people want the very best protection from a disease that can kill you? Very safe to get vaccinated if you've had prior infection. Definitely the right thing to do. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you, doctor. Go ahead, Matt.

Question: I asked this last week for the number, still haven’t gotten it. You guys have been asked about this since March, so I'm looking forward, but regardless doesn't the city need this information on hand so that you can factor it into your decisions on whether to mandate a vaccine or is the city simply not accounting for the rates of reinfection among those who've already had COVID?

Mayor: We’re counting for everything as best we can, I'll turn to Dr. Varma, but I think, again, it's a factor, but it is not the main event by any stretch of imagination for all the reasons I think the two doctors just said. We are going at a virulent new strain and vaccination is our best way of stopping it. And the antibody, which again, people got exposed at different points and different strains, right there, that should tell you that vaccination is going to be more effective than relying on previous exposure. We'll put out information. We have been putting out a ton of information more than I think almost any place in the country. I want transparency, but as it comes to strategy, there's nothing I've heard about reinfection that changes the strategy one iota. Dr. Varma, you want to speak to that?

Senior Advisor Varma: Yes, absolutely. I mean, there is - this is a complicated topic, like everything, and again, I'll always emphasize that we're always going to change our recommendations when we see evidence that indicates we need to change, but everything that we have seen from the scientific literature and what we see both from the epidemiology in the United States and everywhere else is that the surest path to protecting individuals, protecting our community, is through vaccination. And that while being previously infected with the virus does give you protection, that protection is not nearly as strong. It doesn't cover as nearly as many strains as being vaccinated, and we know that vaccination is safe. So, the combination of vaccinations on top of a prior virus infection is going to protect people. And we – this is something that has been, you know, people will, will continue to study and reevaluate, but we're going with the best science right now. Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our next question for today goes to Nolan from The Post.

Question: Good morning, everybody. 

Mayor: Hey Nolan. How you doing? 

Question: I'm doing all right, Mr. Mayor. You've you know, gotten a lot of ink for the city's new vaccine mandate, and it's taken some criticism from the usual quarters, but also some criticism from unusual quarters, where the interim mayor of Boston, compared it to showing papers and offered several other analogies, including likening it to you know, birtherism and potentially a relic of slavery. So, the criticism from the right, I guess, is expected, but what do you make of this criticism from the left?

Mayor: I am hoping and praying she hasn't heard the details and has been improperly briefed because those statements are absolutely inappropriate. This is an idea of how to save lives. This is, this is a way to save lives. This is a way to stop the Delta variant, which is threatening the entire life of this country. The President of the United States endorsed my approach within hours. So I'm assuming the interim mayor has not heard the whole story because I can't believe she would say it's okay to leave so many people unvaccinated and in danger. We tried a purely voluntary approach for seven long months, tons of incentives, lots of tender, loving care, lots of communication, lots of respect, lots of dialogue with health care professionals. We've done that. It's time for something more muscular at this point to save lives and to stop us from falling backwards. And by the way, you're seeing the private sector embrace this all over the country. So, this is a time for people to support this kind of action and help us save lives.

Moderator: The next question goes to Courtney from FOX News.

Question: Hi Mayor. I just wanted to quickly talk to you about the Key To NYC. We've heard from a lot of tech people that this might not be super secure, and so I was just wondering what some of the ways are that you're doing to protect people's private information, and also how you're going to ensure that people's paper COVID vaccine form is valid and real?

Mayor: Courtney, a very fair question. First of all, it is a criminal offense to alter or create a fraudulent vaccination card. We'll get you the specific penalties, but they are substantial. I believe I'm on firm ground. It's up to seven years in prison for falsifying a government instrument. So, people should only present a truthful, valid vaccination card if they don't, they're running a very serious risk and they're doing a disservice to everyone else, but in terms of the different approaches, what we've created, the COVID SAFE app for New York City is not connected to the internet. Can't be hacked. It's just your own personal way of maintaining the information, excuse me, your vaccination card and a valid ID. Obviously, you want those two together, present a vaccination card. You want to confirm the person who was connected to. So that's a very simple way to avoid any problems that folks in the tech community might be concerned about, carrying the card itself is the simplest. A lot of people just have it in their wallet or wherever on them. So we want to continue to pay attention to those concerns. But I think this is one where, you know, we have a very simple, straightforward approach that's also secure. Go ahead, Courtney.

Question: And I'll just do a quick follow-up and that'll be my last question. Also, sort of, for the Police Commissioner, is there going to be any sort of joint, you know, backing of checking these vaccination cards for people or restaurants enforcing it? How's that going to work?

Mayor: Let me just jump in ahead of the Commissioner. This is a civilian approach. We again are going to be educating businesses over the weeks ahead, working with them, Small Business Services will be working with them. Health Department will be working with them. We'll want to make it work for everyone. Health Department has primary jurisdiction for inspections of restaurants. And again, our goal is to handle this on a civilian level separate from situations that would be exceptional, where any kind of law enforcement would be involved, but in terms of the day-to-day we expect it to be a civilian approach. Go ahead, Commissioner.

Commissioner Shea: [Inaudible]

Mayor: Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. Next we have Chris from the Daily News. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking my question. 

Mayor: How are you doing, Chris? 

Question: I'm good. Thanks for asking. On the indoor vaccine mandates, I was wondering how's enforcement going to work if a restaurant or bar is found to have unvaccinated customers present? Will the restaurant be fined or the customer or both? And also, how big do you think these fines are going to be? 

Mayor: Chris, fair questions. And that's what over the next few weeks we're going to be outlining all the kind of rules and regulations around this. It's a new thing. We want to talk to stakeholders, get their input as we formulate it. And as we've also said, there'll be about a month where people are aware, it will be in effect, but we're going to be working, educating people before the focused enforcement and penalties ever occur. But Chris, a good analogy is, you know, restaurants and bars are responsible for carding anyone who might be underage for drinking. And a lot of them, you know, rightfully do a broad approach to that to make sure they don't miss anyone. This is something as an example, I mean, obviously restaurants and bars are responsible for health and safety standards. They know they have an obligation to the public and they know it's first and foremost around health and following the laws. So, this will not be uncharted territory for them. But we're going to work with them to get it right. And we'll be very clear about what penalties are. But you know, I do not expect a lot of penalties. I expect the vast majority of establishments to want to do this the right way and follow through. That's what we saw throughout this whole crisis. Vast majority of indoor establishments have been very loyal about following the rules to protect people.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Erin from Politico. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. So, you reported this increase in vaccine numbers that you [inaudible]. I'm just wondering, you know, at the same time you still have cases going up. And obviously these are just first doses and they just happened. But do you have a sense of like, is there a threshold point you know, that you kind of need to get to? Like, where we need to get to with vaccines that will actually stop this? And you know, reverse it back to where we were to weeks and months ago, when everything looked a lot better? 

Mayor: It's a great question, Erin. And I want to tell you, first of all, again, we see very clear evidence already that the mandates are working, that the $100 incentive is working. Also, in terms of the specific mandate for City workers, important fact. Last week compared to the previous week, we've seen a 189 percent increase among Health + Hospital workers getting vaccinations. So, you know, we told people this was coming. People immediately started getting vaccination. It's making an impact with our workforce. We expect a lot more of that. But Erin, look, the reason that we are focused on vaccination incessantly is that there isn't a narrow, easy endpoint to get to. It is not that we can say, you know, Hey, you get to this exact number and you're done. It's something we're going to keep at. And we want to drive that number as high as humanly possible. We've passed the five million mark, which is great. We've got now over five million New Yorkers who have received at least one dose. 4.6 million fully vaccinated. So, that's over 60 percent of the entire population of the city has gotten at least one dose. Over 72 percent of adults have gotten at least one dose. 250,000 kids in the 12 to 17 range have gotten at least one dose. We really are at very high numbers in comparison to most of the country. But we got to go further. So, to me, this is just, it does doesn't end until we defeat COVID and we keep building vaccination. That's the whole ball game. We're going to watch, and I'll turn to Dr. Varma. He can elaborate a little bit or, and Dr. Katz wants to add on this. Three things, Erin. Vaccination levels, hospitalization rate, and cases. Right now, vaccination levels, very strong. We need to make them stronger. Hospitalization rate is still well within the levels that we need to be. And hospitals are handling cases well and getting much better outcomes. Cases, higher than we want for sure. But when you composite all that, New York City is still moving forward, still recovering. We got to keep it that way. Dr. Varma and Dr. Katz, you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Great. Thank you very much, Erin, for the question. And this is just another opportunity for us to emphasize that, you know, we have to always be humble in the face of this virus. It continues to evolve and challenge us in ways that we can't always know for sure. We, I think really the essence of what your question is, is there a level of vaccination in which we can say that we don't have to worry about COVID anymore, we're all done? And the answer of course, is that, of course, if we had 100 percent of the population vaccinated we can say with pretty high certainty, that that would end this epidemic and COVID would be in the back door for a while, you know, for a long time. The real challenge is okay, what level below 100 percent is what you need? And that's what people often refer to as a herd immunity or a community threshold. And the reality is we don't know the exact number for that right now. And so, the best approach that we can take is the one that the Mayor has basically said. We need to get everybody who is eligible to be vaccinated, to be vaccinated. And that if people choose not to be vaccinated, we need to make indoor spaces as safe as possible. And the best way to do that is to restrict those to people who have been vaccinated. So, we know that vaccines are highly effective. We know that there are some level of vaccination in the population that's going to really kind of end COVID for us. But we don't really have an exact number for that at this time. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz, you want to add? 

President Katz: I just want to add again, that I think in the future, our whole focus will be on who is sick with COVID. And not so much cases, but who is sick. And when you look across the country, 98 percent of the people who were in the hospital with COVID are unvaccinated. And so if all of those people had been vaccinated, they wouldn't be in the hospital. And we would be able to return to a world where yes, there might be some transmission of COVID, but nobody would get sick. And so that's why sir, you're so right. That the ballgame is vaccination. Thank you. 

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Erin. 

Question: Okay, thanks. And then secondly, I wanted to ask about the racial disparities in the vaccine rates. You know, early on when they were first reported you know Black and Latino New Yorkers collectively had lower rates. You know, which could be attributed to a number of access and socioeconomic issues. Currently, it looks like Latino and white New Yorkers are pretty much on par and Black New Yorkers in particular, have the lowest vaccine rate. Just wondering, you know, if you have a sense of why that is? And what has been done specifically to address that? 

Mayor: You know, I think you're right to – first of all, a very important issue. Second of all, you're right to say, a variety of factors at play. Folks have been through hell in all communities. And we know the Black community was hit very, very hard by COVID. There's a lot of pain. There's a lot of distrust. There's a lot of historical distrust. There's a lot of misinformation out there in all communities. But what we do see, you know, you made a really important point. We've seen consistent progress. We've seen the numbers come up consistently in the Black community. We've seen a Latino community where it used to be a very big gap. That gap has greatly reduced. Clearly, we're now at the numbers of vaccinations that say the whole city has bought into vaccination. I mean, you saw those numbers again. These are pure, pure, pure, pure majorities if ever I saw them. 72 percent of adults have already gotten vaccinated, at least one dose and more coming in now. We see the numbers going up. Again, over 60 percent of all New Yorkers have had at least one dose. Those are super majorities. But to reach more deeply, I think it's a combination of continued education, continued outreach, continued work with community organizations and leaders. I think the $100 incentive will work. And I absolutely believe that the mandates, the public service mandate for our public service workers, the indoor dining entertainment mandate are going to very deeply improve numbers in communities of color. There's a lot of those folks, are folks that work for the City or work in those industries. A lot of those folks will be very interested in the incentive. And the combination works together. So, I think this is got to be another way we turn that and reduce that disparity. And see if Dr. Varma or Dr. Katz have anything to add? 

President Katz: I would add, sir, just is I take care of a large number of African American patients in my practice. And so, I know it isn't any more an issue of access. It may have once been an issue of access. But now for each one, I can send them right downstairs where they see me and get the vaccine at that moment without waiting. And your incentives help as well. But systemic racism is a complicated issue. And it includes things like access, but it also includes things like prior experience with health care, prior experience with the government. And there remains because of our history in this country of racism, there remains a lot of fear in the African American community about the vaccine. And I think that your administration and its work with the reverends and the leaders in the African American community and physicians is all of the right thing. And that over time we are convincing people that they are safer with vaccination. And that, that will happen more and more. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma, want to add? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Nothing for me. 

Mayor: Thank you. Okay. Everyone, as we conclude today again, so many challenges, but so much good news too. And these vaccination numbers I just went over, those super majorities of New Yorkers who are buying into vaccination. The reason that we're having the really powerful recovery we're having. But we need to get more and more people to make us all safe. And we're going to continue to do that work every single day. 

Just want to give you a programming note as it were. I'm going to do what so many New Yorkers are doing right now and finally go see family that I've been missing deeply for the last year and a half. And haven't seen since the beginning of this pandemic. So, we're not going to be having our normal press briefings next week. We'll all take a week off. I'm really looking forward to reconnecting with people. A year and a half is a long time. I know everyone is feeling the same thing about family, loved ones you've missed. But then we will resume as normal the week after that. And we will keep fighting every day to bring this city back. Thank you, everybody.

2021-08-16 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. It is New York City Homecoming Week.  We have been looking forward to this for quite a while. Amazing, amazing events will be happening all over New York City this week for the people in New York City, to appreciate everything that we have done to fight through COVID, to appreciate each other, to appreciate the greatness of the city. And we're welcoming back all our friends from the tri-state area, from around the country – come experience everything great about New York City. So, Homecoming Week is a celebration of our strength and, what we're focused on, a recovery for all of us, a recovery that reaches every neighborhood, every New Yorker. That's what we're working on every day. To get there we've got to defeat the Delta variant. We all see the challenge. We have one mission now on our pathway to recovery, defeat Delta. It can be done through vaccination. The whole key is vaccination. We keep learning this over and over. We're seeing problems in other parts of the country where folks have not gotten vaccinated, but New Yorkers continue to come out in strong numbers to get vaccinated, and that's going to make all the difference. So, we have a real challenge here, but we know what we can do to fight back. So, we announced a week or two ago, the Key to NYC. And the Key to NYC is an approach that makes clear the power of vaccination. It is the ultimate encouragement to get people vaccinated, to say, there are so many amazing things in this city that you can participate in if you're vaccinated. We want people to enjoy the fullness of the city, but you got to be vaccinated to do it. Since we made that announcement, we see our approach being emulated around the country in New Orleans, San Francisco, other places. New York City, once again leading the way, showing that we can make a difference in fighting Delta through vaccination.  

Now, today I'll be signing an executive order, and this will make very clear the Key to NYC initiative begins tomorrow, Tuesday, August 17th. What we've said is we're going to do, to begin with, a lot of education, help people to understand how it's going to work, get everyone ready for it, and then the specific inspections and enforcement efforts will begin on Monday, September 13th. Look, I am absolutely certain this is going to motivate a lot of people to get vaccinated. It's going to be a reason for people to get vaccinated, particularly young people. And we know how important that is. We know one of the biggest areas of concern is reaching younger New Yorkers, our 20-somethings, 30-somethings who need to be convinced that it's so powerful to be vaccinated. This is going to be one of the ways we do it. We have been out there talking to business owners. We have planned, based on that feedback, a canvassing effort, going literally businesses in every ZIP code over the next three weeks, educating people, helping them understand how it's going to work. We're also providing support for businesses, launching nyc.gov/keytoNYC. You can get all sorts of information there. You can get information from 3-1-1, from our Small Business Services hotline. Small Business Services is going to be out there talking to businesses, meeting with business organizations, small businesses, BIDs to get them all engaged. We're also going to do a huge advertising campaign to make sure people know how this works and why it's so important. And it's easy. All you have to do is show proof of vaccination. That could be a CDC paper card, that could be an Excelsior Pass, an NYC COVID Safe app. Whatever works, all you got to do is show that proof and have ID as well. And it's straightforward.  

Now we're saying, get at least the first vaccination. Of course, the goal is to get everyone fully vaccinated, but get at least the first vaccination and you'll be able to work or enjoy indoor dining, indoor fitness, indoor entertainment, concerts, movie theaters, etcetera. We know this is going to reach hundreds of thousands of people, convince them it's time. Again, particularly young folks. And we know one of the biggest reasons this has been working is that New Yorkers, we love our arts, our culture, entertainment, restaurants. We love all these things. They're part of who we are. Knowing that the way you connect with these things is through vaccination is going to move people to get vaccinated. So, this is what we're doing now. We're going to use this tool to fight the Delta variant. We're going to watch literally every day, with our health care leadership, what other adjustments we need to make. A lot of other options on the table, but this is the one we're focused on now. We think it’s going to make a big, big impact, and we're going to get out there and educate people. And we're going to remind people that we really want people to take this seriously. Don't fool around with fake vaccination cards. By the way, it's against the law and there are serious penalties for that. Just buy into this because it's going to work for all of us. It's going to make us all safer. And a lot of businesses have said that to us already, that they believe this creates an environment that they can depend on for their customers, for their employees. This is actually going to work for them. I want you to hear from one of the greatest restaurateurs in New York City. He is famous in this city, but he's famous all over the country as well for what he's created, for what he's shown us on television as one of the great chefs of this country, for what he's created with restaurants. I'm very proud to say he's Brooklyn born, and he's done great work everywhere. But his greatest work has been right here in New York City. My pleasure to introduce, Chef David Burke. 

[...] 

Thank you. And David – first of all, I want to say to everyone, Restaurant Week, this is the longest, best Restaurant Week we've ever had in the history of New York City. Another week to go. David's exactly right. Take full advantage of these amazing deals. Get to some of the places you've always wanted to go. But David, thank you. You are – you're truly a leader in the hospitality sector. And what you're saying to people is, this makes sense for the safety of all and the security of all everyone, knowing what the ground rules are. And thank you, and we really appreciate everything you're doing, employing so many New Yorkers, and giving an amazing experience to so many New Yorkers. 

Chef David Burke: Thank you. It's great to be here.  

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you, David.  

Now, everyone hearing one of our great chefs believe in this, that's a powerful message for sure. I want you to also hear from our Health Commissioner because he understands how important it is to get everyone vaccinated, why this is a kind of approach that can make a huge difference. He understands that the Key to NYC is a difference maker as a strategy, but also, he's going to give us an update on new guidance from the CDC related to third vaccine doses. We all know with COVID, there's always new information, always new developments, our job is to keep New Yorkers informed, provide guidance, provide support. Here to give you an update, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. First, I'm so proud that under your leadership, New York City is leading the country once again in our COVID response with the Key to NYC. Vaccination is the key to ending the pandemic. And that's why the vaccine is now the Key to NYC. This will benefit, as you just heard, not just patrons, but also staff like the restaurant employees and the theater workers whom I've taken care of as patients. 

Now, a brief update on our vaccination guidance. Late last week, the FDA and CDC recommended that people with certain immunocompromising conditions get the third dose of COVID vaccine. This follows studies that showed a lower immune response after two doses of an mRNA vaccine, that's Pfizer or Moderna, in some people who are moderately to severely immunocompromised, such as someone who's received a kidney transplant. The good news is that some of these individuals were shown to have a robust response to a third dose. The types of conditions covered in the update include active treatment for cancer, organ transplant recipients who are taking immunosuppressive therapy, people who've received a stem cell transplant in the past two years, or people with advanced or untreated HIV. For other health conditions like diabetes or heart disease we do not recommend a third dose at this time.  

Other New Yorkers may also be asking, what about me, should I get a third dose, will I need one in the future? The simple answer is that right now you do not. But scientists are working around the clock to learn more about how vaccines can best protect us, particularly in the context of the Delta variant. The virus and our scientific understanding of how to beat it change quickly and so we must be ready to adapt as well. For New Yorkers who are immunocompromised, now that means keeping up with your course of vaccinations and getting a third dose as soon as possible. Go to nyc.gov/covidvaccine to learn more about which medical conditions qualify and how to make an appointment for your third dose. And of course, please speak with your doctor if you have any additional questions. Finally, one last reminder for all of us, mask up in public indoor settings, regardless of your vaccination status. Let's mask up and, most importantly, vax up to keep our city healthy. Thank you, sir.  

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dave. And everyone, we're going to keep fighting the Delta variant and we will prevail. There's no question in my mind. You just see New Yorkers responding to the challenge as we have throughout this crisis and coming out, getting vaccinated, making an impact. We're going to keep fighting back. And so that's why we also are focused on our recovery. We're focused on our comeback. We're focused on celebrating the strength of New Yorkers and the way we have fought through.  

I want to talk about Homecoming Week. We have a couple of special guests here I want you to hear from. First, let's talk about the concert, starting with the concert in the Bronx. This is going to be a big moment celebrating the culture of the Bronx, celebrating the amazing historic contribution of the Bronx when it comes to hip-hop. Remember the whole world was changed by the creativity that came out of the Bronx that led to hip-hop, that changed the face of music. This concert is going to be amazing. It's on Orchard Beach. So, as we know, bucket hats recommended. There I am modeling for you. And the first thousand attendees at each of our four It's Time for Hip-Hop in New York City concerts, get this t-shirt. And this t-shirt says it all – creativity, hope, unity, resilience. This is New York City – and subway-themed back of the shirt too. So, these are going to be amazing, amazing concerts. We want to celebrate – we were in the Bronx two weeks ago for a week of activities in the Bronx, it was a really special moment. And we're so honored that the first concert is going to be in the Bronx. And it's going to say so much to the people of the city about our comeback. I want to hear from one of the performers who's going to be part of this concert. He is a beloved favorite of our own Deputy Mayor Melanie Hartzog, and he is known for this phrase – sometimes he rhymes slow, sometimes he rhymes quick. A great honor to have with us, Greg Nice of Nice & Smooth. 

[...] 

Well, you guys have made such an impact and I'll tell you when we had our week in the Bronx, whenever I mentioned the lineup, and we talked about what you guys had done, people just – just this warm smile came over people's faces, and just a real appreciation. So, I didn't know your first video was Orchard Beach. So, this is really a homecoming for you. 

Greg Nice: Oh yeah, we were on Orchard Beach for two days and we went on Channel 31, WNYU with Ralph McDaniels, the early days of Video Music Box. When we announced that we were going to be on Orchard Beach this weekend, everybody come out – hundreds and hundreds of people came out all the way to today [inaudible] of the young ladies I've seen on the street, they go, we were in the video, I’d be like, you're a grandmother now.  

[Laughter] 

Mayor: Wait, what year was that, Greg?  

Nice: That was 1991. 

Mayor: Well, you're having your 30th anniversary reunion with Orchard Beach there. So, that's going to be an amazing moment. And listen, thank you. These concerts are going to say so much about New York City coming back. Thank you for being a part of it. All right –  

Nice: This is awesome. I appreciate you [inaudible] you're going down in history as the mayor with all the funk. 

Mayor: There you go – 

Nice: You’re going down [inaudible] all the funk, baby. 

Mayor: That is the highest honor I will ever receive. 

Nice: [Inaudible] Yes, I can't wait to see you. New York is going to be on fire this week, all week it’s on fire. The Bronx is going to be on fire, Staten Island on fire, Queens on fire, Brooklyn is on fire, and money-making Manhattan is on fire. 

[Laughter] 

Mayor: You covered it all. Greg, thank you. We'll see you tonight and thank you so much for being a part of this. 

Nice: All right. We’re getting ready to get on the highway and make it back to New York City. 

Mayor: Drive safe.  

Nice: Have a nice day everyone – 

Mayor: Take care. Homecoming Week, five amazing concerts. But there's also a huge film component to this week that's going to be extraordinary. Rooftop films, we talked about this a little few days ago, screening films in all five boroughs. But something very special is going to happen this week as well. One of the greatest – and I'm going to embarrass him a little bit here – one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, not just from New York city, but any place else. I talked to him some months ago and he told me that he was coming out with a work that really would define New York City's resiliency and heart and soul through crises. And he was looking at the parallel between 9/11 and COVID. And it's very striking to think about, this one place having been put through so much in just a few decades, but what we found out about New Yorkers, what we found out about our heart and soul – and I got to tell you, when people used to talk about New York City's days being numbered, I always said they just didn't understand New Yorkers. But someone who understands us and has chronicled our life like no one else has, he's chronicled the life in New York City love letter after love letter, tough, cold eye at the same time about our strengths and our weaknesses. And as my wife, Chirlane, likes to say, no one has captured African-American culture better than our guest today. And he will be premiering on Wednesday night at Rockefeller Center two chapters of New York City Epicenters 9/11 to 2021½. What a joy to have with us one of the greatest of all New Yorkers, ladies and gentlemen, Spike Lee. 

[...] 

Mayor: As a filmmaker, what does it mean to you to do something this sprawling as it just – what did this mean to you as part of your art? 

Spike Lee: This is a – you know, a lot of people forget, you know, I'm also a documentary filmmaker and so – and you're a sports fan. So, I mean like the 49er’s West Coast offense, like, I got ground game and I could throw, too. But it means a lot to me because this is – New Yorkers are my people, from Harlem to Howard Beach. My people. Bed-Stuy, do or die, Fort Greene, even got to include Staten Island.  

Mayor: Alright. One love –  

Lee: One love, one love. And then, so – I'm getting New Yorkers to tell their story, to tell the story, many eyewitness accounts of what happened to the towers, and even today where people lost loved ones because of this COVID. So, I hope people – it’s HBO and HBO Max, and it's about us. And I hope that America could learn – New Yorkers know what we're about, but I’m hopeful not just the United States, but the rest of the world understands what makes New York City the special place it is.  

One real quick thing. We have a lot of clips, movie clips in the film. And one of my favorite films is Casablanca. And there's a clip where they got the guy, he’s a Nazi, and he's telling Humphrey Bogart, you know, we're coming over, you know, we're taking over. And Humphrey Bogart says, there's some parts of America – no, look, he says, there's some parts of New York City, I don't think even the Nazis would go to –  

[Laughter] 

Mayor: I advise you to avoid – or something like that. 

[Laughter] 

Lee: So, it is an act of love. It's an act of love, Mayor. 

Mayor: I love it. I love it. Everybody. As Spike said, what he has created, absolutely unbelievable, and it's about us and it's a time to appreciate who we are. If you find anyone who says New York City is over, tell them, turn around and go the other way because this place, this place is a beacon to the world and we are as strong as ever, in some ways stronger than ever. And we understand ourselves and see ourselves – 

Lee: And let’s be honest there were some New Yorkers that were – former America’s mayor, I know, and then the former president so we cannot overlook the fact that they’re from here too. You know, you got to be honest.  

Mayor: You're an artist. You look at the whole truth. Everybody, totally an honor, for all of us to have you here, Spike. And, everyone, you got to see this because every New Yorker has to experience what Spike has created. For this screening and for all the amazing films this week go to nyc.gov/homecomingweek. But if you can't see it at the screening, go see this on HBO. 

Lee: [Inaudible] 

Mayor: Yes. Rockefeller Center. 

Lee: [Inaudible] 

Mayor: Oh, I'm sorry. Rockefeller – I got it wrong, my bad. Rockefeller Park. That's different., everyone. I read my cue here wrong. Rockefeller Park – 

Lee: Hey, I messed up at the Cannes Film Festivals so don't – 

[Laughter]  

Mayor: I'm just here at my little desk at City Hall, not the Cannes Film Festival.  

[Laughter] 

Again, all the facts, how to see all these screenings – nyc.gov/homecomingweek. But also check out the entire film on HBO. This is going to be a powerful moment. 

Lee: Can I just say – 

Mayor: You have to – 

Lee: It's going to be an honor for me to have the world debut outside in front of 2,000 New Yorkers. 

Mayor: That's the way it should be.  

Lee: Yes.  

Mayor: The people’s premiere.  

Lee: Yes.  

Mayor: Now, I want Spike to stay for one more thing so he can offer a comment. We talked about this in my office a few moments ago. So, at the end of last week we got some powerful new facts, not rumors, not people –  

Lee: Facts. 

Mayor: Facts. Thank you, Spike. Facts. Because we had a very, very exhaustive census count in this city, mind you in the middle of a pandemic. And I want to tell you, take a moment to appreciate all the folks from the census effort, all the grassroots community organizations who participated. They went out, literally door to door in the middle of all of this last year, because that's what the U. S. Constitution says – you have to take the census every ten years. No matter what, they went out because they knew getting New Yorkers counted meant we would have the representation we deserve, but we'd also get the resources we deserve from the federal government. If we weren't counted, we would lose the money that our people needed. So, these brave souls went out and took a count that astounded everyone in how complete it was despite the pandemic. And here now is what the United States Census Bureau said at the end of last week, that New York City's population is now at its all-time highest ever, 8.8 million. What do you think of that, Spike? 

Lee: When you told me that this morning I was surprised because – I’m not hearing this from New Yorkers, it was just there's this narrative like, people are fleeing New York City, they're fleeing, like, everybody’s leaving. And when you – and if you hear that enough, you know, I was kind of like maybe buying this false narrative, but now you got the facts. 

Mayor: Facts. 

Lee: And what do the facts say again? 

Mayor: Let's go over it again, shall we? 

Lee: One more time.  

Mayor: 8.8 million, largest population in the history of New York City. Don't believe the naysayers – 

Lee: Don't believe the hype. 

Mayor: Don't believe the hype. Don't believe the doubting Thomases. And by the way – 

Lee: [Inaudible]  

Mayor: Yes, got that in there too. Spike and I were also talking about making sure this is a city for everyone. And that is why creating and protecting affordable housing, giving people, kids, families, free pre-K, 3-K, giving people a living wage – these are the things we do to keep this a city for everyone because the only way New York City works is if every kind of person is here, and not a gilded city, not an exclusive city, but a city for everyone. And again –  

Lee: When we talked about it I said that if – because of the cost of living in New York City, Mayor, if Black and Brown people no longer can afford to live here that's not going to be New York City. 

Mayor: And that's why we make sure it is a city for everyone now and to the future. The magic formula, the secret sauce, is everyone together. 

Lee: New Yorkers.  

Mayor: And you have shown that better than anyone in history, in my humble opinion. 

Lee: Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you to everyone who made the census happen. Our Census Director, Julie Menin, and the whole team, outstanding. You've taught a lesson to the nation about the strength of New York City. And again, everyone, what a total honor to have with us one of the greatest New Yorkers. Thank you, Spike Lee.  

Lee: Thank you. Thank you.  

Mayor: We'll see you on HBO. We'll see you at the premiere.  

Lee: Oh, you're in it too.  

Mayor: Okay, I feel special.  

Lee: We have some fun in the documentary. 

Mayor: I'm sure you do. Thank you.  

Lee: There’s no [inaudible] it's just – 

Mayor: Straight up fun. 

Lee: Straight up fun.  

Mayor: All right, everyone, let's do what we do every day. It's time to go over our COVID indicators and let's start with vaccination. This is always the key. Vaccination is the way we fight back, and vaccination levels have been increasing. And this is proof that the incentives, the mandates, the strategies are having an impact. As of today, in New York City, 10,326,678 vaccination doses given from the very beginning of this effort. By far the biggest strongest vaccination effort in the history of New York City. Every hour, every day, reaching people and protecting them. 

Let's go over the indicators for the overall situation. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 126 patients. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 people is 1.34. And new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today’s report, 1,637. Let me just say a few words in Spanish, and I'm going to focus on the Key to NYC, again one of the key strategies for fighting back against COVID. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]  

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.  

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris, by DoITT Commissioner Jesse Tisch, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. First question today, it goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Mayor, I wondered your on this – as well-intentioned as the Homecoming concerts are, and the key to the city, if you will, the new rules with regard to the vaccine, do you have any concerns that by encouraging people to gather with one shot in them, not fully vaccinated, after they're at dinner or after they're at a concert, they're doing indoor gatherings with family members, some of whom were vaccinated, some of whom are not, that there isn't a stronger message about avoiding gatherings until Delta is better under control, that as much as you want to celebrate the city's return, how concerned are you that we're at a very precarious point on the Delta [inaudible]?  

Mayor: Well, it's a very important question, Andrew, and I thank you. And we're always looking for that balance. But I'll tell you something, this is absolutely strategic to say to people, to fully participate in the life of the city and to love and enjoy this city, go get vaccinated. We believe it's going to make a huge impact. We're obviously seeing a real uptick in vaccinations already. We made a decision weeks and weeks ago, the whole ball game is vaccination. And once you make that kind of profound strategic decision, you throw everything you got at it. We are not interested in half measures. We're interested in vaccination. So, making vaccination something that allows you to enjoy all that's good in life, and knowing that that first dose provides protection to begin with, but much more importantly, gets you on the road to the second dose – and that's what we see overwhelmingly that people go back and get that second dose – that's how we built this strategy. So, we're watching every day for any areas of concern, but the key is always to move vaccination as aggressively as possible. 

Moderator: The next is Erin Durkin from Politico. 

Question: Mr. Mayor. I, first of all, just want to know about a couple of details about the vaccination mandate. So, I think most of us were under the impression, as were some businesses, that it was taking effect today. So, did something change there? Can you just clarify that? And then also, can you just go into the details of locations? Are there any new ones being added compared to the original announcement or is everything the same? 

Mayor: So, Erin, yeah, we said the week of August 16th, and we needed to just get a few more of the fine tunings going there to address it. And so, we wanted to get this word out today, put everything out there, start it formally tomorrow. But, again, the first month is going to be very much about education, engaging businesses, making sure we answer questions, showing people how it works. As you can see on the screen now, we've been clear with people about the kinds of facilities, indoor dining, indoor entertainment, indoor fitness, those are the areas we're focused on now, and we're going to move this and then from there determine what else might be necessary, go ahead, Erin. 

Question: And then certainly Chicago and LA on Friday announced a requirement for teachers to be vaccinated. Are you getting closer to imposing such a requirement here with school starting? 

Mayor: Erin, we're looking at all options. You know, I've been really clear, all options on the table. And I have used the phrase from the beginning, we’re climbing the ladder. We're going to apply any tools that we need to, to keep people safe and to deal with Delta. So, I don't have an announcement for you today but stay tuned because we're going to keep looking at each and every tool we need to use when we need to use it.  

Moderator: The next is Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: Hi, Elizabeth. How you doing? 

Question: I’m good. My question is could you or the Health Commissioner tell us how many City workers have been vaccinated since you first announced the vax or test rule?  

Mayor: Since we first announced what? I'm sorry, Elizabeth – 

Question: The get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing rules – 

Mayor: So, you’re saying since the mandate was announced. Dave, do you have that roughly at your fingertips? Or do we need to get back?  

Commissioner Chokshi: We can follow up on this specific number, sir. What I can say is that, remember that the first tranche that was subject to the vax or test requirement was for clinical staff. And I do know that at least hundreds, likely thousands, of workers have been vaccinated since that announcement. The next phase of it goes into effect today. That's for other congregate and residential settings. And so, we expect the effect of those requirements to continue to drive additional vaccination in the days ahead.  

Mayor: And Elizabeth, we will get you specific numbers, but let me do some overall. This is not just City workers, this is the city as a whole. Combination of the incentive and the various mandates, which I think really do work together, we've seen a 30 percent increase in vaccination over the past week. And if you go back two weeks, it's been a 52 percent increase in vaccinations for the city on a weekly basis. And then last week for the first time since early June, we saw over 100,000 first doses in a week. So, there's no question that this is having an impact. I think it's going to have a lot more impact as it affects more and more City workers. But we'll get you the numbers as we have them today. Go ahead, Elizabeth. 

Question: And I know you said that you anticipate that this first month of the vaccine mandate for indoor dining and gyms will be about disseminating information, but I was wondering if you could be more specific about the penalties. The penalties for a restaurant or gym not complying, and also for the fake vaccination cards that some people might be tempted to try. 

Mayor: Yeah, really, really key questions. Elizabeth, so, first of all, I'll start and then Dr. Chokshi and then Commissioner Jesse Tisch can add. On the falsification of a vaccination card, that's actually a serious offense, falsifying an official document. That literally could result in prison time as much as seven years. So, I want people to understand that is not something to play around with. This is – we're in the middle of a pandemic. The vaccination card is a pretty sacred document to tell us who's vaccinated, who's not. Don't even think about falsifying because it could be very, very serious, serious consequences if you do. As to the penalties, so again, our goal here, Elizabeth, is not to penalize restaurants and indoor entertainment, fitness. To educate for a month, get everyone clear about what they need to do, and just make sure people do it. If we get non-compliance after that much education and that much of a grace period, you know, we won't hesitate to get penalties, but we certainly hope to not to do that often. And our experience last year showed us that we didn't actually have to do too many penalties luckily. Most people complied readily. But my understanding is that the typical situation, a first offense for example, is $1,000, a second offense is $2,000, I think a third is $5,000. We'll get you all the details, but it's an escalator approach to make clear that people have to conform with the law. Dr. Chokshi then Commissioner Tisch. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mayor. And that's exactly right. So, starting with the penalties for non-compliance. As a reminder these would go into effect as of September 13th of this year. Any establishment that is subject to the mayoral executive order that's found to be noncompliant would be subject to a fine of $1,000 on the first offense. And as the Mayor just said those fines can escalate with repeated offenses beyond that. In terms of the concern about fake vaccination cards, the most important point is that a fake vaccination card constitutes fraud and will be prosecuted as fraud by that individual. We will have recourse for people to report if they're encountering fake vaccination cards, both at the City level through 3-1-1 as well as at the State level through the State Attorney General's Office. The final thing that I'll say is that another part of the requirement is that any establishment that's subject to the executive order is required to post a sign that describes what patrons and staff should expect. That's now available online at nyc.gov/KeyToNYC. Thank you.  

Mayor: Thank you, and Commissioner Jesse Tisch has played a key role in putting together this initiative, anything you'd like to add? 

Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, I have nothing to add. That was very complete.  

Mayor: Good. And I also see we have Small Business Service Commissioner Jonnel Doris, anything you'd like to add? I think he’s out there.  

Commissioner Jonnel Doris, Small Business Services: Thank you, sir. Only that we have an extensive outreach plan for small businesses to make sure that they know all that is needed to comply, and we start that this week. We start that actually, tomorrow. We're in the streets speaking with small businesses and also partner with our bids, chambers of commerce, and other small businesses groups. So, folks are well aware of all the information and make sure that they have the requirements that are met, but also, we're there with them hand-in-hand, that's what we've been doing from the start of this pandemic. So, we'll be here for you. You can call our hotline if you're a small business. We want to make sure that you have everything that you need to comply. 

Mayor: And Commissioner, you and your team had done a great job working with small businesses from the very beginning. I want to thank you for that, you've been out there at the front, hands-on, but, you know, I like to always have you remind people of your hotline number for any small business that needs help.  

Commissioner Doris: Correct, sir. Yes. 8-8-8-SBS-4NYC. 

Mayor: Number four. 8-8-8-SBS – number four - NYC. Thank you very much, Commissioner.  

Moderator: Next is Emily from NY1. Okay.  

Mayor: Emily, are you there?  

Question: Good morning, everyone.  

Mayor: How are you doing Emily? 

Question: I'm well, thank you. I hope you're well, too.  

Mayor: Thank you.  

Question: [Inaudible] from business owners, from restaurateurs, from gym owners, for [inaudible] NYC, patrons are one thing, the actual business owners who will need to enforce the mandate is another thing. What are you hearing? 

Mayor: I'll start, and then my colleagues can weigh in. Emily, look, as you heard from David Burke, a lot of business owners are telling us they just wanted clear rules and they can work with these rules. They want their customers to be safe. They want their employees to be safe. This actually creates, you know, a really straightforward approach for them and they can say to people, hey, if you come here, it's a positive, safe environment. So, we've gotten a lot of good feedback. I know not everyone agrees, I'm clear, but we've gotten a lot of good feedback from the business community that this was clear and straightforward, they could work with it. Let me see if Commissioner Jonnel Doris or Commissioner Jesse Tisch want to add? 

Commissioner Doris: Sir, just to say, to echo your point, certainly we heard from multiple groups, multiple sources as it pertains to the advocates from the small business community, and the one thing I think we heard echoed throughout was consistency, knowledge, and understanding exactly what the rules are. That's our role here at SBS. We will continue to do that. And then of course making sure that whatever is being asked of them is outlined and easily assessable, and that's what we have as pertains to the rules, regulations, requirements. They are in various languages. Again, we're doing webinars, training, outreach to make sure that all businesses know what they need to comply. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Emily 

Question: Mr. Mayor, with respect, of course, speaking of clear and straight forward, the mandate we thought had begun today, but it's to begin tomorrow?  

Mayor: Yeah, again, it's – let's be clear, Emily. Fair question, but we said the week of the 16th and we were trying to be clear that we were working out some final details, but the bottom line is this is a period in which we are educating folks, we're answering questions, meaning we're going to businesses, we want them to start applying it, but we're not penalizing them. So, we're telling businesses, starting tomorrow, apply this rule, do you have any questions or concerns, reach out to the City, we'll work with you, but there are not going to be any penalties until the week of September 13th. And I also would say to you, Emily, a lot of businesses wanted to do this and started doing it even last week because they had that right as a business to make their own standards, and a lot of businesses are already complying because they see this as something that makes sense for them. Go ahead.  

Moderator: The next is Katie from The City.  

Mayor: Katie – 

Question: Hey, can you hear me?  

Mayor: There, now I want to now formally congratulate – 

Question: Can you hear me?  

Mayor: Yes, can you hear me?  

Question: Oh, thank you so much. Yeah, I can hear you.  

Mayor: All right. Welcome back.  

Question: Great, thank you. Thanks. I wanted to follow up with Emily's question, you know, there seems to be some confusion and business owners, or I guess they're concerned about –although this is very well intention – a lot of it sort of falls on them, already kind of a tax workforce enforcing these rules, are you concerned about any real blowback or any really strong negative reaction to this rule and how it would affect the small business owners and the sort of the people working as a hostess or a bartender and having to enforce it? And does the city have any other resources, any trainings or other kind of guidance to help people as they're getting used to this? 

Mayor: That's a really important question. In terms of training guidance, I'll turn to, in a moment, the Commissioner Doris and Commissioner Tisch if they want to give any sense of how that's being done. But let me emphasize, first of all, Katie, I think the notion that it is a government mandate to address a pandemic, there's a whole lot of people that can make sense of that, and they understand it's not the individual restaurant making that decision, but it's something being done for the good of people overall. Obviously, we're seeing various mandates now, all over, including the United States military. So, this is not a new idea. People are smart and getting the message that we really have to deal with the Delta variant, it's a whole new ballgame. But second, I'd say, remember that so many places already have a procedure for checking people, obviously restaurants and bars when checking IDs when people get alcohol, for example, or other check-in procedures, people showing ID at a fitness club, whatever it might be. So, it's not like an entirely different concept. I think it's going to go quickly and smoothly in the vast majority of cases and if they need support and they have questions, that's what this whole month is for, to really get people clear on how to make it work before any enforcement begins. With that, let me see if Commissioner Doris or Commissioner Tisch want to add on how we're preparing people? 

Commissioner Tisch: I could jump in here and Mr. Mayor, it's Jesse. Katie, the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings both is putting together de-escalation training, specifically for small and medium sized businesses who want tips on if they have to turn someone away, how they can de-escalate the situation. So, that training will be available at some point this week for any business who wants to review it, it's going to be an online webinar. The other thing we've done is we've put together a website that's largely geared towards businesses implementing the Key to New York City, and that website has FAQs for businesses, obviously it's going to have the links to the training, the policy, and general information in addition to calling the SBS hotline or 3-1-1. 

Mayor: Thank you. Commissioner Doris, do you want to add?  

Commissioner Doris: No, sir. I think we're covered.  

Mayor: Great. Okay, go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Thanks. And I apologize if this has been answered at some point, but when the enforcement begins in September, who will be doing the enforcement to make sure restaurants are checking for vaccines and especially for those fake vaccination cards? 

Mayor: So, what we're going to do is focus on civilian agencies, of course, Department of Health, which plays such a big role right now in regulating restaurants. But civilian agencies, variety of agencies will be mobilized, depending on the situation we also have the ability to bring in the Sheriff's Office if needed. But I think what we're going to see, again, is that people are going to realize that this is important and that it's important to do it right. If we get any indication of falsification of vaccination cards, again, that's exactly the kind of situation where you bring in the Sheriff for. 

Moderator: The next is – pardon me – the next is Nolan from The Post.  

Question: Hey, good morning, everybody.  

Mayor: Hey, Nolan, how you doing? 

Question: I’m well, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  

Mayor: Good, good.  

Question: Concerning the Delta variant, the City Health Department, and Yale did that massive study – I think it was a couple of months ago at this point – that looked at how effective the vaccines were at preventing infections, and it found that something like a quarter million infections were prevented, which in turn prevented about 40,000 hospitalizations and about 8,000 deaths. Since then, there's been another two months of new case data, and I'm wondering if the Delta variant has proved to have changed those numbers and those rates at all? 

Mayor: An important question. Let me turn to Dr. Chokshi and then Dr. Varma to comment on what we're seeing so far.  

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and thanks Nolan for this important question. To recap the study that that Yale put out showed that over a quarter million cases, 44,000 hospitalizations, and 8,300 deaths were prevented as a result of New York City's vaccination campaign. As you pointed out, that covered essentially the first six plus months of our vaccination campaign. Since then, because of Delta., we do know that the level of infection, as well as the number of hospitalizations and deaths, has increased, but that means that our vaccination campaign has prevented still more than those numbers that I cited with respect to cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. So, even though we are concerned of course about the numbers that we are seeing right now, we only have to look to other places in the United States and around the world with respect to what would happen if we did not have the levels of vaccination that we do have in New York City. So, it’s all to say that vaccination continues to save lives and that's why you've seen our concerted focus on it. Thank you, Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah, I would just – to emphasize, again, what Commissioner Chokshi has just mentioned that we know that in any time that a vaccinated person is surrounded by people with COVID, there is a greater risk of having a breakthrough infection, but at the same time, but what we've consistently seen, is that even if you are a vaccinated person who gets infected, your risk of being severely ill or dying is way, way lower. It is substantially lower than it would be if you were unvaccinated. So that's really the critical message to keep sending – is that vaccination does have an impact on reducing your risk of being infected. It does reduce the risk that you would transmit infection to other people and even more important, it is incredibly lifesaving, and I think we'll continue to see that. And I think we can, you know, as the analyses are able to be conducted, you'll be able to quantify that exact benefit as well.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Nolan.

Question: Yeah, so just to follow up on that point, you say, as the analyses are conducted, we'll be able to quantify that benefit. Does that mean the benefit has not been studied to the point where it can be quantified? So, for instance, if was effective at preventing 95 percent of – you know, reducing the rate of infection by 95 percent, which is an extraordinary number, do we know what that number is today for Pfizer versus the Delta variant?

Mayor: Dr. Varma, then Dr. Chokshi.

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah, I’ll answer quickly since this is a follow-up to what I was just mentioning. So I think that the reason I use that wording is because we know that the real world effectiveness of a vaccine, and this isn't just for COVID vaccines, this is for every vaccine ever developed, never matches exactly what you get in a clinical trial, because there are so many different variables that could impact how you might get infected, what your medical history is, et cetera. So, you know, quantifying that impact over time was referring specifically to that issue you were saying which is how many infections have we prevented over time? How many hospitalizations have we prevented over time? And that is something that you only get when you can look back in the real world and measure over time. And that's why, you know, the Health Department analysis with Yale, you know, took quite a long time to do, because do it properly requires you to have a substantial amount of data and to do a lot of analysis.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi, you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. Just to take a step back to emphasize a key point that Dr. Varma made previously, which is that the bottom line is that all of the authorized vaccines – Moderna, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson – continue to offer strong protection against severe illness, even in the context of the Delta variant. We know this from analyses that have been done around the world as well as here in the United States and in New York City. And that's why the most important public health message that we have is: please, if you're unvaccinated, the single most important thing you can do to keep yourself safe and your loved ones safe is to get vaccinated.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call.

Mayor: How are you doing, James?

Question: So far, so great. I do appreciate your asking. Could you provide just a little more detail regarding the Key to NYC pass? I understand this isn't just for indoor facilities. Could you see, especially in a city where plenty of outdoor seating at bars and restaurants notably is largely enclosed – could we see this expand? Do you see maybe some enforcement there and how much is that a part of the guidance and information that you all are providing between now and September 13th?

Mayor: Yeah, very good question, James. Look, first of all, outdoor is still outdoor. And obviously in the warm – outdoor tends to be more opened up, you know, people want the air and the light. And I think everybody I've seen at least a lot of places really have opened up their outdoor dining, but the point is, it's just always a different environment when you're outdoors. These rules are for indoors. Clearly, we were cognizant when we created these rules – again, very much trying to focus on strategy. It was a positive and a reward that folks who get vaccinated have more options and that indoor dining will be available, indoor entertainment, indoor fitness, go get vaccinated. That's the Key to New York City, unlock all those opportunities. But there still are other opportunities available for folks who are not yet vaccinated, and we thought that was a good balance. If we need to take additional steps, we will, for sure. But the crucial point now is, you know, we, we have said really clearly, we're climbing the ladder. We're going to keep taking steps as we need them, but the place where we still have the greatest sensitivity is indoors. And it was a great way for us to send a message. If you want to fully participate you’ve got to go get vaccinated. Go ahead, James.

Question: Thank you. Also, over the weekend, Senator Charles Schumer talked about the need for greater enforcement against forging vaccination cards. Can you talk about what assistance you'd like to see from the federal government, maybe even the state government, to crack down on forgery?

Mayor: Yeah, James, really, I appreciate this a lot. And I agree with Senator Schumer entirely. This is a major area of concern where we need cooperation from federal law enforcement and state law enforcement. I think so long as people get the message that enforcement is happening and that there are real penalties, I think that will overwhelmingly address the problem, but any anyone who, as a criminal enterprise, is producing fake vaccination cards, that's what we need all the levels of government to work together to crack down on that. We have good examples of that in lots of other areas. So, we definitely need that help and support. And Senator Schumer is absolutely on the right track there.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Robin Pogrebin from the New York Times.

Question: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I know you had already announced vaccination requirement for indoor concerts, but can you clarify that this policy now applies to museums and other cultural institutions, that it applies to staff members as well as visitors, what the penalties will be for noncompliance, if you're going to compensate arts organizations for the additional implementation expense, as well as lost revenue, and have you satisfied your concern that people of color will be adversely impacted at a time when cultural groups are emphasizing diversity?

Mayor: Well, Robin a lot there. That's a definitely – very meaningful set of questions. Let me see if I can do my best to remember them all and answer, but we'll give you a chance to follow up if I miss anything. Let's put up on the screen again, all of the institutions that are reached by this rule. So, Robin, in terms of making very, very clear to all New Yorkers as we start this new approach, there's the list including obviously a number of cultural institutions, cultural institutions clearly have a capacity right now for checking people in when they arrive. This is an additional step for sure, but it's one we think they can navigate and we're going to work with them on. We do not anticipate providing additional resources because again, we think this is something manageable that people can do as part of, you know, when folks arrive buying tickets or presenting tickets.

Look, when you take a look at the NYC app, I've got on my phone you know, you've got your ID and your vaccination card, you know, a photo of each on your phone, you just show two screens and you're done. It takes, you know, a matter of seconds. So, I think cultural institutions will be able to navigate this well, we'll provide support and training if anyone needs. To your question about equity, and Robin I know you've covered this. you know, very meaningfully that from the beginning with our cultural plan and a lot of other approaches, we've been trying to encourage our cultural institutions to diversify their audiences, diversify their boards, their staffs. This is something very important to me in this administration to keep doing. But this moment with the Delta variant is a very, very challenging moment, but it's also a temporary reality. I want to emphasize that we believe if we take these aggressive measures that, you know, over time, we're going to beat back the Delta variant. This is not a permanent reality. This is a temporary reality. And I also believe that in terms of communities of color, this is going to encourage a lot of people, audience members and staff alike, to get vaccinated, because what we've found is a lot of folks and the doctors talk about this all the time, a lot of folks who are open to vaccination, but just need that extra little, either incentive or reminder or convenience. And I think this is going to give a rationale for a lot of people to get vaccinated. Before we go to your follow-up. I want to get Dr Chokshi in because he still sees patients, and this point about, you know, most are not vaccinated – I don't think it's ideological. I think it's – they just need to get to that right moment that works for them, and Dr. Chokshi, if you could speak to that.

Commissioner Chokshi: Absolutely, sir. And that's really what was coming to mind as you were speaking, as well as the patients that I've taken care of restaurant employees theater workers for whom I have been very concerned about their safety over the last 18 months during this pandemic this is one more step that will help to assure their safety. And as we well know particularly in lower wage jobs too often people of color are overrepresented in those jobs. Often they're filled by undocumented immigrants as well. And so, this is one more thing that we can do to keep people protected. As the Mayor has said, you know, this is often an iterative conversation with people. For my own patients sometimes it's not the first conversation or even the second conversation, but sometimes the third or fourth and having things like our vaccine requirements, as well as the $100 incentive and lowering barriers to access for the vaccine, all of these things taken together are contributing to the increase in vaccination rates that we're seeing, but we have to push further because of our concern about the Delta variant. And that's what today's announcement represents.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dave. Go ahead, Robin.

Question: Thank you. I mean, I appreciate your being so responsive. But the one point I wanted to just return to is, you know, I have one cultural organization saying to me, they were that they were the first to shut down, they were the last to reopen, and that the whole field has not been given the measure of relief others have. That they do feel that this implementation is going to be insult to injury and the lost revenue they already have with reduced capacity. What would you say to that?

Mayor: Robin, first of all, I really value our cultural institutions, truly. And we saw during the pandemic that they went through a whole lot and they went through a lot of difficulty, a lot of challenges, but we also saw as they started to reopen, what a booster gave, what an energizing reality it was for New Yorkers. We are defined by our arts and culture in this city. So, having arts and culture come back, having performance come back meant a huge amount to New Yorkers and gave people hope. Now I would argue though, we have provided a lot of support, working with the City Council in the last budget, we increased cultural funding in a variety of ways. We also saw support from the federal government. So no, I don't think it is anything but trying to get us where we need to go, ultimately, so Robin to me, defeating the Delta variant is the best way to support cultural institutions because it brings us all back, and we cannot defeat the Delta variant without a focus on vaccination.

I know that when people see this mandate, we're seeing it already with city workers. Some folks just – it's not surprising as a human factor. You just need sometimes to hear, hey, you know what, for a long time, this was optional. It's not optional anymore. For a lot of people, it's like, okay, I'm just going to get this done. I want my job. You know, I'm just going to do this. And for a lot of the patrons who go to the cultural institutions, to know they're in a safer environment, because everyone's vaccinated, we've heard this from so many different organizations, businesses, cultural organizations – people prefer to know they're in that safer environment. So, I think that's a real positive. It's not them doing it to anyone. It's a decision by the City of New York applied to everyone equally. I think that helps a lot. And you know, the incentives that we've encouraged people to take advantage of so they can get vaccinated. I think all of these pieces move us forward to the day, not long from now when we won't need these rules. And then our cultural institutions can open up 110 percent in every way. So, I'm always listening to them, but I really think this is the right approach to get us where we need to get. And I think the cultural institutions will find it works and the folks who go and enjoy these institutions will appreciate it.

And with that, everybody again, so much happening, good things happening this week, recovery happening this week, homecoming events, a reminder of how strong we are and that ultimate confirmation with the census – New York City, literally biggest population we've ever had because people love to be here, and New Yorkers love to be here, people from other places love to come here, and we're going to keep this city moving to its recovery. Thank you everybody.

2021-08-17 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. It's Homecoming Week all week long in New York City. And you can feel the energy, it's amazing. In the Bronx last night, thank you to everyone in the Bronx. It was amazing. It was beautiful. The Boogie Down Bronx represented last night with an amazing concert with some of the all-time greats of hip-hop together on one stage – electric atmosphere, amazing hip-hop artists, some of the greatest all-time, including the new hip-hop artist Senator Chuck Schumer. Who knew, who knew he had that skill as well. But he was actually showed up by Borough President Ruben Diaz and State Senator Jamaal Bailey. Amazing, amazing performances by them. So, we are – everyone, we are so thankful for everyone who put together that concert to say the Bronx is back, New York City is back. We are going to come back together, and we can do this. And what I felt, the energy, jubilation, a joy that people were together in a safe, outdoor vaccinated environment, a sense of determination, a sense that we're going to come back no matter what. And the fact that we're focusing these concerts on hip-hop, which is about the voices of the people – it's about resiliency, it's about strength, it's about our humanity – it really came through last night. It was powerful.

Now, Homecoming Week continues tonight, a coveted concert, something that I've been talking to so many people about this concert. They're so excited. Amazing talent coming together in Staten Island. And so much of the incredible – the incredible people of Staten Island who made an impact on music history, coming out to honor their city, honor their borough, honor the people, help the people come back. It is beautiful. It's starting tonight on Staten Island, Midland Beach at 4:00 PM. Amazing artists. A lot of people are talking about this lineup. A special thanks to Raekwon the Chef for his – he joined us last week or two weeks ago. We are so happy Raekwon is going to be a part of it, Ghostface Killah, but also a group that is beloved by so many, totally beloved. And I will tell you that Chirlane and I always cherished their song, Tender Love. It's one of our songs, every couple has their songs, right? So, yes, I'm talking about the Force MD’s and they are some of the greats to ever come out of this city. With us now, Kahlil, Stevie D, Zieme to tell us why it matters to them to participate in this Homecoming concert. And we are really, really blessed to have you be a part of it. And it means a lot. I want to say on behalf of everyone in New York City, that you guys are participating, God bless and welcome.

[...] 

Listen, I am so appreciative to you guys because you're going to make tonight really, really special. And people – we turn to our artists in times of challenge, we turn to the people who make us feel better about our lives. And people have been through so much. Now we get to see that we can come back together, and you guys are leading the way. Thank you, God bless you. God bless you. Force MD’s, everybody. We are so lucky to have them be part of this incredible, incredible show tonight. So, everyone, the Bronx was amazing. Staten Island is going to be like interstellar. It's going to be unbelievable. 

[Laughter] 

It’s going to be talked about all over the universe. And then Homecoming Week continues Thursday at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, Friday at Forest Hills Stadium. Unbelievable lineups every night. If it was – if just one of these concerts was happening in a week people would be talking about it. Five concerts in a week. And, of course, the We Love NYC Concert, the Homecoming Concert itself, Great Lawn of Central Park, a lineup like no one's ever seen in their life. Unbelievable. So, these concerts, get there, be a part of it. Unbelievable. You can still be a part of Staten Island tonight. And if you want to be a part of the Central Park concert, the last batch of free tickets, did I say free? Free. The last batch of free tickets will drop at noon today. Go to nyc.gov/homecomingweek. So, here's the chance to be part of history. And remember, as the Force MD’s so eloquently sang, get vaccinated so you can be a part of the show. If you are already vaccinated, that's great. If not, you can get vaccinated right now and bring that proof with you. Even that first dose qualifies you to go to these amazing shows, go to vaccinefinder.nyc.gov to find out where you can get vaccinated. Thank you guys. God bless you. Thank you. 

Force MD’s: Shout out to Pebblee Poo. 

Mayor: That’s good, get those last shout-outs –

[Laughter] 

All right, everybody. We know that vaccination has been the key. We know that vaccination has allowed us to move forward as a city. So, many jobs are back, people's livelihoods. So much of the energy, the excitement, the arts, the culture, all because of vaccination. So, now, today the Key to NYC begins. If you want to experience all the greatness in New York City, you can. All you have to do is be vaccinated. Even, again, just that first dose gets you in the game. Indoor dining, indoor fitness, indoor entertainment. This is a way we all keep moving forward together. This is the way we stay healthy. This is the way we bring back our city fully. Now, a lot of restaurants, a lot of entertainment establishments are there already. They believe in this. They are making it happen because they want their customers to be safe and their employees to be safe. So, they're already buying into this. And I know it's important for everyone, and they also know, particularly for their employees and customers from communities of color, it is even more important given some of the disparities we've seen to get people vaccinated. Here's a way to do it.

Today, massive education and outreach blitz begins. 600 canvassers going to each and every business, reaching out, providing information, support. It will be a multimillion-dollar ad campaign to explain to people how important it is, how it works. And small businesses who need help can call our hotline, which has helped tens of thousands of small businesses, 888-SBS-4NYC. Now, that is going to make a difference, a huge difference, simply having this new approach in place, but we're going to go farther with more and more mobile vaccination efforts because we found they work, bringing vaccination to the people everywhere. So, there'll be pop-up vaccination sites outside businesses. We're talking to businesses, entertainment, venues, restaurants, all over the five boroughs who want to double down by having vaccination sites right there. We'll have them all over the five boroughs to vaccinate workers and customers alike. You name it, we'll get them out there so people can have the benefit of vaccination, keep moving forward with their lives. I want you to hear from a leader who represents small businesses that are part of the heart and soul of New York City who this – these businesses employ tens of thousands of New Yorkers, make life better for the people of the city. And he believes that these mobile vaccination sites matter. He believes that the Key to NYC matters. He is the owner of Mon Amour Coffee & Wine in the Bronx and the President of the New York State Latino Restaurant Bar and Lounge Association. My pleasure to introduce Jeff Garcia Fernandez.

[...] 

Jeff, thank you. Listen, first of all, Quisqueya Plaza, what an amazing place. This is one of the jewels of the city that people need to discover in Washington Heights. And I want to thank amazingly active, engaged business leaders there who want to make sure everyone's safe, their employees, their customers, and they're doing great work there. And thank you for helping to make that happen. I really appreciate your leadership, bringing everyone together to make sure folks are safe, to make sure people are vaccinated. But, Jeff, you said something else I really want to highlight. We do not want to go back to restrictions. Our businesses, the way we live our life, the greatness in New York City – we do not want to go backwards. The key to continuing our progress, vaccination. So, Jeff, thank you. Thank you for your leadership. It makes a big difference. 

Jeff Garcia Fernandez: Thank you.

Mayor: Everyone, again, heavy emphasis on outreach, education for the next three, four weeks then after that, enforcement. But I want to keep reminding people, I believe the vast majority of business owners are going to see this as something they can work with and do well with. And also remember, people are smart about the fact that the only way we came out of the worst of COVID was vaccination. Vaccination is a key. We've got to be focused. We got to be strategic. One of the voices who's been strong on the need for vaccination, the need to bend public policy to a focus on vaccination, Council Member Steve Levin. He has been uncompromising in pointing out that if we're going to beat the Delta variant, we need to focus on vaccination, we need to use the tools at hand. I want to thank him for his leadership. My pleasure to introduce, from Brooklyn – and the Chairman of the General Welfare Committee in the City Council, Council Member Steve Levin. 

[...] 

Thank you so much, Council Member. I love the passion and urgency in your voice when you remind people this is the way forward. And I think people are listening, and we're seeing a much, really improved situation, more and more people coming in and getting vaccinated. The incentives work, the mandates work, but also the voices of leaders and community members, whether it's Council Member Steve Levin or the Force MD’s, all saying to people get vaccinated. Thanks very much, Steve. Appreciate.

Mayor: Okay. We're going to turn to our indicators now as we do every day. But first a reminder, the key to defeating the Delta variant, of course, vaccination. So, let's look at the doses administered to date. We continue to see progress every day, 10,344,588 doses. Every one of these doses helps us defeat the Delta variant. So, we're going to keep building, building, building. Let's go over today's updates. First, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 139 patients, confirmed positivity level 39.04 percent. Hospitalization rate 1.36 per 100,000. And then new reported cases on a seven-day average, 1,669. Okay, a few words in Spanish. And I want to go back to where we began this morning with Homecoming Week and these extraordinary gatherings that are happening. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by a Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi and DoITT Commissioner Jesse Tisch. Our first question for today goes to Gloria Pazmino from NY1.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Gloria, how are you doing?

Question: I'm doing well. How are you?

Mayor: Good. 

Question: I wanted to ask you about – as you talk about vaccination and we are hearing that the Biden administration is expected to advise boosters for most Americans in the next couple of days, eight months after they'd been vaccinated. I wonder what the City has done so far to prepare for that. What are the logistics that, that will involve and how will that potential new directive look like so that people can have access to it? 

Mayor: Yeah. Thank you, Gloria. Really important question. We want people to start thinking about this because there will be more and more opportunities for folks to get boosters, and we're not only going to encourage it, we're going to make it easy and free as always. I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz, but we've been talking about this this week, how we use the apparatus that's been built now, which is absolutely extraordinary. All the health care sites that have been providing vaccination, our mobile efforts, even our efforts to go straight to people's homes. We have now such a head of steam in terms of being able to vaccinate. We can use the same exact approach for boosters as each type of New Yorker qualifies for boosters. Let me turn to Dr. Chokshi and then Dr. Katz to talk about how they'll do that. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And yes, we have been preparing for the possibility that booster doses will be recommended for either certain subpopulations or for, you know, a broader set of New Yorkers who have already gotten either the single dose or the two-dose mRNA vaccines. So, those preparations are underway. And as the Mayor has said, they will rely on the infrastructure that we have built up over the last several months and particularly the health care infrastructure. Those are the hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, as well as the additional City sites and mobile options and in-home vaccination that we've built up over the last few months. I do want to emphasize that, you know, the news reports that we are hearing are still preliminary. We do need the federal government to come out with its official guidance, particularly the FDA authorization. And that will likely require that all of the science be vetted, and it go through the official process before booster doses are formally recommended. So, our understanding is that the timeline that we should expect for New Yorkers to actually get administered booster doses is no earlier than sometime in September. But we will be ready for that eventuality. 

Mayor: Thank you. And I had said Dr. Katz, but I understand he had some technical difficulty. Dr. Ted Long is with us now. I don't know if you heard the question, Ted, do you want to add on the question of how we're preparing to give the booster shots through H + H? 

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps.: Yes, I did, sir. So, Dr. Chokshi covered all the main points. What I would add is that we have several tools in our tool belt that are assembled now and ready, including our home vaccine effort, which we are currently leveraging for the third dose as part of the primary series for Pfizer and Moderna. So, we'll be able to not only offer the booster as appropriate as recommended at our existing sites, at our 30-plus mobile units that go around the city every day, but also as part of our home vaccination effort, where you can go to nyc.gov/covid/homevaccine which you could also do today. And if it's your first dose we will even give you a hundred dollars when we go to your home. 

Mayor: Can't do better than that.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Andrew Siff from NBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Mayor, on your key pass initiative are some of the indoor entertainment locations new such as movie theaters. And if so, can you sort of talk about how – what the road they've been on, they were one of the last things to open, then they had to do it sort of with masking and spacing. And now they're going to have to sort of add the ability to check for vaccines at the door. What does this mean? And will your canvassers also be helping establish moments like these? 

Mayor: Yeah, absolutely. First of all, let me see if we can get the slide up. I don't know if you have the one from yesterday, or if you have it today, with the list of all the different venues that are covered. Try the magic of technology. Let's see if you guys can do it. I have faith that one way or another, you're going to find it. Andrew, no, actually movie theaters were from the beginning anticipated as one of these examples. We talked about indoor dining, restaurants, bars, obviously, indoor entertainment, which is a wide variety of different locations, and then indoor fitness. So, that's what we've been laying out from the beginning. Yes, we're going to do a lot of outreach. We want this to work for people. Now, I remind you, I really believe this is sort of a commonsense matter. Any place you go has some check-in when you get there. It's up there? Look at that. I knew you could do it. Turn it around, turn it around so I could see it. I had faith in – I had more faith in them than they had in themselves. So, Andrew, there is the list for you on the screen and yes, an intensive outreach effort going – you know, first going to any place that wants us to come over or have people come over in person and talk it through, canvassing effort. Obviously, people can call the hotline. Again, that's 888-SBS-4NYC. And the whole idea is to give a month basically for businesses to get used to it. But the commonsense point is you're going to be at a restaurant, bar, you know, people check in when they come in for their seating. You check IDs right now if people are drinking. If you go to a movie theater, you buy a ticket or you scan a ticket. You go to a fitness club, you show your ID. There's already an obvious point at which you can go ahead and check vaccination. And I really urge people to get the COVID Safe app, the NYC app, which is just so simple. You just take a photo on your phone of your regular ID and your COVID vaccination proof, and they’re right there. And it takes a second to show it and you're done. And I’ll remind people again, that's something that is not connected to the internet, it is just a tool for you to keep that information easily and show it easily. So, I think with, certainly, help from us, you know, these different establishments will be able to adapt to this pretty – adapt to this pretty easily. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: Yesterday, when we talked to some restaurant owners and customers, I did encounter some folks who have not been vaccinated. And I asked, does the idea that you won't be able to eat in this restaurant, does that compel you to get the vaccine? And this was a woman, she's a health care worker who's not vaccinated, she said, ‘nope, I'll just save my money and I won't dine out.’ I just wonder if that vignette illustrates the challenge of moving more of this population towards vaccination. 

Mayor: Andrew, you're going to find some people who are unwilling, but that's not most people. We've really looked at this carefully. So, first of all, let's talk about who's vaccinated already. In this city 5.2 million New Yorkers have at least one dose. So, they already instantly qualify for all the things we're talking about. The indoor dining, indoor entertainment. 5.2 million people are already, right this minute, qualified. And tens of thousands more become qualified regularly. We had last week for the first time since early June, we had over a hundred thousand first doses last week. First time that had happened in months. So, that hundred thousand people instantly qualified. As we said, with the concerts week, you can get vaccinated right there, outside the concert and then go in. So, I think we're going to find a lot of people who will say, ‘hey, I really want to participate in these things so I'm just going to go get vaccinated.’ We've also done a lot of polling. The polling shows that most people who are unvaccinated are open to being vaccinated. They're not philosophically against it. They need it to be convenient, or they need to get a few more answers or they need a little bit of motivation, like some of the mandates, but they're going to get there. And by the way, for our businesses in the city, we rely on tourists. Most tourists coming into New York City from everything we're seeing are vaccinated. Suburbs, the suburbs have a higher rate of vaccination than the city. So, people coming in from the suburbs are more likely to be vaccinated. So, there's not a huge audience of folks who right this moment can go to those businesses and enjoy them. And I do believe the mandates are going to inspire a lot of people, particularly younger New Yorkers to just go ahead and get vaccinated so they can participate fully. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to James Ford from PIX11. 

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. 

Mayor: James, you must be doing something right. You're the number three hitter today. I mean, that's power. Power. 

[Laughter] 

Question: I feel the power. I also feel the power of the Force MD’s. I want to thank you for having them. And could we maybe have them on more of these calls? 

Mayor: I want all major announcements to be done in three-part harmony. I just think that's the way of the future. Like, you know, the press conference, as we know it is done. Everything's going to be in song from now on. 

Question: You got my endorsement, bring them to an Inner Circle, please. Anyway, onto the questions. Look, this morning we spoke with the owner of a bakery and restaurant in Bay Ridge who said something that we've heard from a few other merchants that the vaccine mandate, the Key to NYC, is discriminatory. It discriminates against unvaccinated people, said the owner. I'd appreciate just hearing your response and the response of anyone else on the call who cares to answer.

Mayor: Yeah, look, I think I saw quotes on that same owner. I respect everyone's opinion obviously. But let me tell you why I disagree with that. Because – first of all, let's take the example of a bakery or any place else where people are going in to get something to-go in most cases. That is not what we're talking about here. If you are unvaccinated and you want to go in and get takeout somewhere, you can still do that. You want to go in and buy some cannoli and walk out, you can do that. So, that's not the issue here. The issue here is when people sit down for a long period of time, eat and drink in a restaurant or a bar, if they're in a movie theater, for example, or other entertainment venues close together indoors for a long period of time, fitness, we all know as the doctors have talked about. And I'll see if Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Long want to add in a second, but, you know, obviously, fitness, a lot, exertion, exhaling. You know, these are all places where there's particular concerns, but if you're just going into a bakery and getting something to go, you can be vaccinated, you can be unvaccinated. But the reason I also want to say it's not discrimination, this is about protecting people. In our society for generations, we've done all sorts of things to protect people. We have driver's licenses. As you heard from Steve Levin, we've had vaccinations of all kinds. There’s so many things we do to protect people. This is a way of protecting people. But for the many, many establishments, they still have a huge number of people they can serve right now who are vaccinated. And we know a lot of people now are going to be encouraged to get vaccinated because of these mandates. It's just the truth. It's going to be the decisive factor for a lot of people. So, this is about moving us out of a global crisis. That's what's motivating us. Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Long, do you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, thank you. I'll just add briefly, what we know is that the coronavirus does not discriminate. It has caused so much suffering and illness across our city. And so, these actions that we are taking, including the Key to NYC, are focused on protection and safety and health. And they do so both at the individual level, at the business level, but very importantly, as the Mayor just said, it's also about improving our overall vaccination rate for the city. And by doing so that extends protection not just to individuals who are vaccinated, but to neighborhoods, communities, and the city as a whole. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Long, do you want to add? 

Executive Director Long: Yeah, I would add, the way that we fight back against COVID and we fight back against this global crisis is by getting enough people vaccinated. Everything we're talking about here today is how we want to help New Yorkers to get more vaccinated, to keep our city safe. Part of it is when you go into do things like indoor dining or go to the gym we want to make sure we take that opportunity to help to encourage people to get vaccinated or with restaurants, like with Boca last week – we wanted to offer people the vaccine on their way in. So, everything we're doing here is about doing the single most important thing that we need to do to get coronavirus out of our city once and for all, and that's getting people vaccinated by meeting them where they are, where they live, where they play. And even if we go to your home, giving you $100 and we give you that home vaccine. 

Mayor: Ted, we're going to make you tell your story now that you, you held back from the public on Thursday. So, James, just bear with us a moment, because this is a true-life story, Ted, with one of his patients who was a little hesitant and how it turned into something very different, as Ted explained – all the ways that we help people and support vaccination. Take it away, Ted. 

Executive Director Long: Yeah. Thank you, sir. This is an experience that was personal to me. It really made an impression on me. I was in clinic, I'm a primary care doctor in the Bronx and I had a patient I was doing a telephone visit with. So, he wasn't actually in front of me in clinic. He hadn't gotten the vaccine yet. When I asked why, he said he wanted to talk to me about first, which is totally reasonable. And we started talking about how he could come in, but when I offered to come to his house, his first question was, “wait, you're going to come to my house. What about the other five family members I have that haven't been vaccinated either?” I said, “of course, we'll come to your house. We'll vaccinate all six of you and we'll give each of you $100.” And he said, “well, so you're going to come to my house, give all six of my – myself and my other five family members the vaccine for free, and give us $600 just to do that. Forget about it.” So, he was very excited to do this. I signed him up right there on the spot. And then I had another experience talking to somebody soon after that, who had a grandmother at home who was homebound, wasn't able to come into clinic. I said, “not only will I have my team come, the Test and Trace Corps will come to your home, do the home vaccine for you for free. We'll give grandma $100.” Grandma's going to get vaccinated now. 

Mayor: I love it. I love it, Ted, the more people hear about it. The more people decide it's the right thing for them and their families. Thank you. Go ahead, James. 

Question: By the way, if I'm just asking, if you can disclose the names of those people. We’d appreciate it. My guess is we have to do that offline. 

Mayor: Yes, James you're a discerning man, yes. We'll see offline of those folks would like to talk to you. I think they're pretty great stories that we'd love to let you follow up on.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Marcia Kramer from CBS.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you feeling today?

Mayor: I'm feeling good, Marcia. How are you? 

Question: Good. I'd like to follow up on the questions you've been getting about meeting with Kathy Hochul. I know that you have a lot of things that you need to talk about. You need to talk about COVID, and you need to talk about other things, but one of the things she's doing today is having a roundtable with teachers and parents to discuss the safe way to open schools. I wonder what your pitch is going to be about the safest way to open schools, whether masking is appropriate, whether you have to expand remote learning. I know you want to get people into the classroom and not have remote learning, but taking into consideration the concerns of teachers and parents, what will your pitch be as the best way to open school safely? 

Mayor: Thank you for the question, Marcia, it's an important question. I'm going to start, I want to get Dr. Chokshi into this too, because we feel both adamantly about why it's in the interest of children, including their health and safety, their mental health, their physical health to be back in school. So, I'm certainly going to talk to the Lieutenant Governor about why we have just strongly come to conclusion. all of us, our health care leadership, our education leadership, everyone here in the city that we need all our kids back for their good for everyone's good. And we can do it safely. We did it safely, you know, really, to the acclaim of the whole nation. We did it safely before there even were vaccines. We now have a high level of vaccination with both kids and adults in our school system. We know we can do this the right way, and in fact, the recent rules put out by the State Education Department absolutely affirm the approach we're taking. So, I'm going to let her know that history, let her know why we've found a way that works and why unfortunately, remote education just could not substitute for the real thing. It just couldn't in terms of why we're so adamant that it makes sense to get all our kids back. I want Dr. Chokshi to speak about this and he will speak as our City’s doctor. And he'll also speak as a parent because I know he feels passionately about this.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And I do, you know, my starting point in terms of why in-person learning is so important is that it's not just about education or about the social development of our children. Although of course those are tremendously important. But it's also about the health of our children, particularly over the long-term, both the physical health, as well as the mental health of children are tremendously benefited by in-person learning and the rich environment that New York City public schools provide for them. We have to do this in a way that is safe. And as the Mayor has said, we developed the gold standard for doing this around the country last year. A big part of that was ensuring that people are wearing masks face coverings in the school environment, but it's also about the other layers of protection including ventilation, regular testing, you know, making sure that we have appropriate distancing, and taking into account what we've learned about how to prevent in school transmission. The single most important thing of course, is that we now have an important new tool that we didn't have for the first day of school of 2020, and that's vaccination. I'm here at Truman High School in the Bronx where the Chancellor and I will be meeting with students in just a few minutes to talk to them and make sure that they have all of their questions answered so we can get as many students, as many school staff, as many families vaccinated before the first day of school. Thank you.

Mayor: Amen. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. I'm also curious what you're seeing in terms of vaccinations. I was looking at the stats this morning and there had been an uptick, but not a huge jump. So, when do you expect to see a huge jump in vaccination here as you're working on these mandates? 

Mayor: It's a very crucial question and this is what we talk about every day, Emma. We put these new approaches in place. Now. I want to say let's define huge jump for a moment. I think the numbers the last few weeks are powerful. We had a 30 percent increase in vaccinations in the last week. If you go back two weeks, it's a 52 percent increase. So, that's powerful. Again, as I mentioned earlier last week for the first time since early June 100,000-plus first doses. So, we're definitely seeing movement, and remember that the impact of everything we've done, the incentives we saw, even as of days ago, we had over 50,000 people who had taken the incentive. The worker mandates are coming into play more in waves, and the state's decision to go ahead and have a mandate for all health care workers. All of that's going to start increasing the numbers and obviously the Key to NYC. So, I think you're going to see a buildup, but we're asking ourselves all the time, is it enough? And do we need to use other tools? And that's something that, you know, that's a decision we're going to make, literally, as we see day by day, the playout. 

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. Our next question goes to Nolan from The Post.

Question: Hey, good morning, everybody.

Mayor: Hey, Nolan, how you doing?

Question: I’m doing well, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Okay. I got caffeinated, but I need more. That's my statement today. I need a new, stronger kind of caffeine - yeah, well, I know, Nolan, and I relate on this important topic.

Question: Well on this [inaudible] –

Mayor: Wait, we’re not hearing you, get back to the microphone there, Nolan.

Question: I'm here. Can you hear me now?

Mayor: There you go.

Question: All right. So, on the other topic of the vaccine mandate, there was – there've been a slew of articles published about the Delta variant outbreak in Provincetown, where you had a population that was extraordinarily, highly vaccinated, and you had a series of outbreaks from what appear to be – that appear to have occurred in establishments in the Cape Cod community. So, is the vaccine passport that we're introducing here, you view this as a way to cut down on outbreaks, or do you view this as a mechanism to encourage people to get vaccinated?

Mayor: Important question. I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long. Look, we know that as more people get vaccinated, we're saving lives, we're protecting people from the worst outcomes, obviously saving people from death, first and foremost, this is proven, proven, proven, and even from hospitalization and serious illness. We know that vaccination achieves that. We know that vaccination helps us recover. We also know that it helps inhibit the spread. So, there's so many levels on which vaccination – I know you sort did “either, or”, I would say there's many, many virtuous reasons for more and more vaccination and breakthrough cases are rare. So, now I'll turn to the experts to explain. Take it away, Dr Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and, Nolan, thanks for this important question. I would break down our public health interventions at this stage and the pandemic into three major categories. The first and most important one is getting as many unvaccinated people fully vaccinated as quickly as possible. The second is ensuring that unvaccinated people follow the precautions that we know have helped to slow the spread of COVID-19 over the last 18 months, masking, distancing, testing, washing your hands, et cetera. And then the third is for vaccinated people to follow some of those precautions as well. That's the order in which we have to focus our efforts, and the first one making sure as many people get vaccinated as quickly as possible, is far and away the most impactful, because it helps us not just to avert the serious illness, the hospitalizations, and deaths that we care so much about preventing, but it also does help us to cut down on overall community transmission, as well. So, that's why all of our strategies are aligned toward this core goal of getting as many people vaccinated as possible. Dr. Long, you want to add.

Executive Director Long:Yeah, I think Dr. Chokshi covered the key points there. I would emphasize two important data points, Nolan, that also underlined the importance of getting people vaccinated. Number one is that there's a several fold decrease in transmission from one person to another person if both – if you're vaccinated. And number two is, as Dr. Chokshi has said in the past, we've looked at hospitalizations among unvaccinated people previously, we found that 98 percent of people that are hospitalized are unvaccinated people. So, those two things together really clearly show the how strong the data is behind getting people vaccinated and everything we're doing now is to encourage people to get vaccinated now to keep our city safe.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Nolan.

Question: All right. Yeah, thanks for those answers. Dr. Long has said there's a many fold decreases in the odds of getting the virus, even with the Delta variant floating around provided you're vaccinated. There's a lot of nonsense floating around the internet questioning the efficacy of the vaccines when it comes to the Delta variant. So, I'm wondering if there's a number that can be put to it, are we talking about, you know, is it – reduce the odds by 90 percent or by 95 percent or by 80 percent or some way for folks to quantify exactly how much protection the current vaccinations, you know, give against the Delta variant, which would also perhaps explain why there's this new push for boosters?

Mayor: Very good question. Dr. Chokshi, can you put it into those terms cleanly?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I can try. You know, these are statistics, data that are continuing to be gathered, you know, both at the national level, as well as in New York City and other jurisdictions. Based on the most recent national data that the CDC has put out, it's estimated that the difference that vaccination affords is anywhere from about 2.5-fold to four-fold with respect to preventing infection. It's higher than that, about nine to tenfold for preventing hospitalization, and likely higher than that about 20-fold for preventing death. So, what does this all mean? Again, the bottom line is that all of the authorized vaccines offer strong protection against preventing severe illness, and even in the context of the Delta variant, we know that they do help to prevent infection as well as to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Mayor: I want to challenge you, Dr. Chokshi, in a good way. The tenfold, 20-fold terminology, I think is a little harder for folks to take in than what Nolan was talking about, sort of putting it into percentage and all. But what I heard you say is you are 20 times more likely to die from the coronavirus if you contract it, and you're un-vaccinated, than if you are vaccinated. Did I interpret that right?

Commissioner Chokshi: Those are based on what we know right now, sir, those are the approximate odds that we have for death as well as for hospitalization.

Mayor: Right, so to Nolan’s important question, and I think that's – certainly when I talk to people, the number one thing they're concerned about is serious illness and, of course, death. You're 20 times more likely to be vulnerable to a serious illness, even as much as death, if you are un-vaccinated than if you are vaccinated. I think that statistic speaks volumes and it's probably one we need to say a lot more often to help people understand.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Yehudit from Borough Park 24.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Yehudit, how you been?

Question: I'm great, thank you. So, many business owners in Brough Park are still reeling from the number of inspectors, sometimes explicably 12 in one day, that kind of descended on 13th Avenue back in October of 2020 when they were ticketing about the COVID protocols, the details of which many business owners have told me that they received no email, letter, or phone call about what they were and how they should best implement them. So, now that civilian agencies are enforcing the New York City pass on September 13th, I was wondering whether you can address that some neighborhoods felt more targeted with inspectors and enforcements than others, and whether you can guarantee that that won't happen again? And then also how education and outreach to small businesses, particularly in ethnic neighborhoods that maybe do not speak English as their first languages will be different this time with the Key to New York City Pass?

Mayor: Yeah, I really appreciate the question, Yehudit. And I'm going to see – I'm not sure – is Dr. – excuse me – is Commissioner Jonnel Doris on or not? Okay, I know Commissioner Jesse Tisch is on, maybe she'd like to speak to this as well in a moment. We absolutely want that outreach to be thorough, to be a helpful, educational, in whatever language is best for the store owner. We do have the hotline that people can call and speak to experts in multiple languages, please, Yehudit get this word out, 8-8-8-SBS4NYC to answer any and all concerns. I heard those complaints and concerns last year. I certainly was not happy with what happened. That was not the goal. As you remember, Yehudit, we had a very contentious situation with the State of New York at that point, mandating additional rules and approaches that weren't always helpful. Again, as we talked about earlier today, very hopeful we will not be having that problem again, and we obviously don't have the same State laws and rules forcing our hands. So, we'll be able to control our own destiny. We want to educate and help the small business owners. We don't want to penalize anyone if we can avoid it. And I think this approach will be straightforward, we can make it work, and I don't want to see those kinds of non-stop inspections, that's not our goal, obviously. We're in a very, very different environment now, thank God. Commissioner Jesse Tisch, you want to add anything to that?

Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications: Sure, I'll add one thing. All of the 600 canvassers who are doing education outreach, they've actually hit the pavement this morning. They are equipped with access to language line, so language line gives them access to 180 plus different languages just for the purposes of translation. So, every single one of those canvassers will have that. In addition, we are translating all those materials related to Key to NYC in the ten city languages, and all of those, the posters, the flyers, any materials will be available in all of those languages on the Key to NYC website.

Mayor: That's great. And Commissioner, will you please make sure that we, in addition to the translation effort, that we get some team members who are Yiddish speaking to join in that canvassing effort in Borough Park? I think that'd be real helpful.

Commissioner Tisch: That's the plan, sir.

Mayor: Okay, go ahead, Yehudit.

Question: Thank you so much. And then you've said many times that many business owners are on board and enthusiastic about the New York City Pass, but I was wondering whether you could address maybe the anxiety and fears of some business owners who are trying to come back and they might be afraid of potentially turning away, confused and angry customers, and maybe tourists who are from out of the country who have different types of vaccination proof, or maybe no vaccination proof? And then also I'm wondering whether you were thinking that business owners who are confronted with angry customers should somehow send them out to these vaccination sites that you're providing, the pop-up ones, before coming in?

Mayor: Okay, let me see if I can cover all that. The – first of all, we accept proof of vaccination of many kinds, including if it's from other states, obviously, or from other countries. So, I think it's fair to say a very high percentage of people who are traveling are vaccinated folks. They will have proof, we'll accept their proof. You know, again, I expect the vast majority of businesses to work well with these straightforward rules. I expect the vast majority of customers to do the same. This is for certain types of activity. We've talked about indoor dining, indoor entertainment, indoor fitness. It's not for outdoor activities. It's not for other types of businesses. Every one of those types of businesses, again, has some kind of procedure where you check in, if you will, at the beginning, that's the natural place to do this. You know, we believe that the civilian outreach is going to help people figure out how to manage this. If they have someone who's upset that they can't go in, yeah, go direct them to a vaccination site, which is all over the city, which is free. All you need is that first dose, you literally could go out, get vaccinated, turn right around, come back, show your card, and you can go into that establishment. And anyone who's been, Yehudit, as you know, anyone who's been vaccinated, it takes minutes. So, there's no reason, even the same day, for anyone to miss out on something. If they really want to be a part of something, they can get vaccinated, come right back. I don't expect a lot of conflicts. I think people understand this is a city decision in the context of a global crisis, but if there are conflicts, as always, people can turn for help, and the city is going to be there to help no matter what.

But really, in the end, what I'd say is New Yorkers are smart people. They understand, we cannot go backwards. Yehudit, I think everyone agrees, the worst of all worlds would be to go back to restrictions. The most devastating thing for our small businesses would be restrictions again. The way to ensure that never happens is to get more people vaccinated, and these are the tools that are going to work. These are the tools are going to ensure people are vaccinated and safe and we keep moving forward. Thank you, everyone.

2021-08-18 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. We are in the middle of recovery. New York City is coming back. It's a recovery that's strong. It's a recovery that has to reach every corner of the five boroughs. All New Yorkers have to be a part of this. That's why we say recovery for all of us. It cannot be just about the status quo. We have to get someplace better.

Now we focused, in particular, several of us talked about our kids. And they have been through so much. We need to support them in so many ways as we go into the new school year. We need to keep them safe. We need to keep them healthy. So, we know in addition to addressing mental health, biggest physical health challenges to overcome, COVID, to overcome the Delta variant. And that is why this moment is crucial. This is a moment each year, I can tell you as a parent, this is the kind of time of year where parents start to stir and focus, getting kids ready for school, going out, shopping. Everything starts to turn towards that moment when school comes back, it's the pivot of the year. So, now we want to take this moment and do an intensive effort over the next month to get our kids vaccinated.

So, back to school becomes vax to school. We want everyone to be thinking about the power of vaccinations to keep everyone in the school, community safe. Our 12-year-olds and up, we're going to reach thousands and thousands of kids and their parents. In fact, as you heard from Dr. Ted Long yesterday, we can have a moment where the entire family gets vaccinated and everyone benefits from our incentive program as well. So, we've launched an intensive back to school vaccination campaign. Already in the past week, over 250,000 calls to parents. Direct calls to have the conversation, to let them know that vaccination could be done in their community or even in their home, it's free. And you get the $100 incentive for every family member who gets vaccinated. We're going to do an ad campaign on top of this, huge ad campaign, eight languages. And we want people to feel this moment. This is the moment for kids to get vaccinated. This is the crucial moment. Right now, 12-year-old and up. Soon, we'll be able to reach younger kids. We believe that'll happen later on this calendar year. So, we need to focus this moment on getting kids vaccinated. You see on your screen, a really wonderful moment up in the Bronx, Dr. Chokshi and Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, and I, with some young people getting vaccinated. And young people get it. Young people a lot of times are saying to their parents, I want to be safe. I want to fully participate. I need to be vaccinated. So, I want you to see this outreach effort. You're going to feel it over the next month constantly. But I want you to see the ads that will be running in both English and Spanish examples here, getting the word out to all New Yorkers.

[Billy Madison clip plays:]

Okay. That's different.

[Laughter]

Okay. You're going to work on your English and your Spanish. Okay. That was just a teaser. Huh? I liked it. It set the stage very nicely. These guys are mischievous over here.

[Vax To School campaign ad plays:]

All right. Now you're going to be seeing those ads. You're going to be seeing all sorts of outreach in communities right down to the grassroots. We are making sure that we reach the kids of this city and that we get everyone ready for school, the right way, starting with vaccination. So, everyone, please spread the word because it's going to make a huge impact, getting our school year off to the right start.

Now, I want to switch to another part of our recovery. Come back of New York City. Amazing things are happening with our Homecoming Week. Absolutely stunning events all over the city. And people are feeling the energy. Last night, amazing, literally legendary night in Staten Island. Wu-Tang Clan back together. The Wu-Tang Clan, we officially declared it Wu-Tang Clan Day yesterday. Amazing energy, love, positive feelings there at that concert. Homecoming Week continues tonight, the premier of Spike Lee's new documentary NYC Epicenters: 9/11 to 2021. That's going to be at Rockefeller Park, Lower Manhattan. Gates open at 6:30. And Rooftop Films screening the New York City premier of Netflix and Marcus A. Clarke's Blood Brothers, Malcolm X and Mohammed Ali, Jackie Robinson Park in Harlem. Also 6:30 beginning. And you can get tickets to any of them, all of these events and information nyc.gov/homecomingweek.

Now tomorrow, Thursday, Brooklyn Army Terminal, major, major concert, incredible lineup. Old school and new school. A reminder that hip hop, it's entire history, it's about New York City. It's from New York City. It's of and by and for New York City, many greats shaped hip hop's history, but few had the impact of our next guest. He is one of the greatest MCs of all time. He is one of the people who built this history with his own creativity, his own brilliance. He is going to be in Brooklyn tomorrow night. And people are pumped up. My great pleasure to introduce him with this key message, ain't no half stepping, he's the Big Daddy Kane. Big Daddy Kane, all yours.

Big Daddy Kane: Hey, how you doing?

Mayor: Feeling good. How are you?

Big Daddy Kane: I'm great. I'm great. I'm great. I'm looking forward to, you know, putting on a great show tomorrow.

Mayor: Tell us what this means to you to have all these amazing people coming together to celebrate our city?

[...]

I think that was perfect. I think you said it beautifully. And I agree with you. And this – what we're doing this Homecoming Week, showing people the energy, the vibrancy, but also the creativity. I want to thank you because we are having artists from each borough performing in their own borough and reminding people, just the richness of talent. So, I want to say one more thing as your fellow Brooklynite, talk to me about what Brooklyn has contributed to hip hop and to music in our time?

[...]

Well, I think we can also agree. New York City, greatest city in the world. And Brooklyn, center of the universe. Would you agree with those statements?

Big Daddy Kane: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Mayor: I can't thank you enough. Listen, your presence, people are so excited that you're going to be there tomorrow night and you're doing something beautiful for Brooklyn. You're doing something beautiful for New York City. I want to thank you. And it's an honor. Thank you, Big Daddy Kane. This means so much to all of us.

Big Daddy Kane: Thank you so much for having me.

Mayor: We'll see you soon. All right, everybody. So, a lot going on. And I got to tell you, it's so impressive. The amount of love, the amount of passion that's being put into bringing this city back.

So, everybody, so much going on and challenges for sure, and every day we're talking about things we have to overcome, and there's a lot of things thrown at us like the Delta variant here and the horrible challenges people in Haiti are experiencing, but there's also a lot of examples of progress, a lot of examples of forward motion. Even the midst of the challenges and New Yorkers always deserve credit, find a way to move forward. I have big Daddy Kane's words ringing in my ear about the nature of New Yorkers and how we've overcome so much. Well, right now there's some good news. We've got a new report out and it talks about one of the most vital elements of New York City life and our economy, which is film and TV. This has been one of the things that has defined New York City to the world is that so many powerful works of art are created here and portray our life, and is part of what bonds, literally people all over the world, to New York City. It’s also a huge part of our economy. So many creative folks, so many people who work to make this industry what it is. For a long time, the industry suffered, and then we saw some great efforts over the last years to bring this industry to its fullest possibilities. And the report has pointed out that we are now at an all-time – right before COVID, we were an all-time high with the film and TV industry, $82 billion in total economic output, staggering figure, for one industry, $82 billion and over $18 billion in wages. So, the question a lot of people, of course, said, well, the pandemic threw everything off. What's going to happen? Will it come back?You want to know there's a recovery underway, you want some proof, here's some proof, 34 film projects right now filming in New York City this month. 34 happening right now and more coming all the time. It's unbelievable.

This comeback is making a world of difference and the beauty of these shows that are produced here, that portray our life, it makes me very proud as a New Yorker and one of my favorites, I happened to be over on the set watching, and I got to go there a few months back in April and saw the total determination of the cast and crew to bring back the show, which is now going into its second season tonight. And if you saw the first season, you are a devotee as I am, as Chirlane is, of course, you may have guessed by now, we are discussing Awkwafina is Nora from Queens. Amazing, amazing show captures, life of the city. It's a joyous show. It's a funny show. It's a pointed show. It's amazing. One of the stars is with us today. He has done amazing work in this show and on so many other great productions on screen and on the stage, famous for his work in Law and Order, which you can definitely see, anytime you turn on a television, you can find Law and Order. But won a Tony – legendarily won a Tony for his work in M. Butterfly, and he plays Nora's, I think wise, sometimes confused, but always honest and real and heartfelt dad in this amazing show. I'm a fan of his, I'm a fan of the whole cast, and I thank them for what they do for New York City. My pleasure to introduce BD Wong.

[…]

Thank you. I love your passion for this place. I really do, and your heartfelt – you know, it means a lot to all of us that you and all your colleagues said, we got to keep going.

BD Wong: Yes.

Mayor: And I know where I know where I'm going to be at 10:00 pm tonight. I’ll be watching. I’m like – Chirlane and I keep – we kept getting the day wrong. We're like, is it this week? Is it tomorrow? And like, it's finally here. I want to tell you, I love what you do. I love the whole cast, the episode about grandma's origins in China – is one of the greatest comedic works I have seen in years.

BD Wong: Oh, yes, it was very wonderful.

Mayor: Wasn’t it amazing?

BD Wong: One that I wasn't in. I was very jealous not to be in, and we have a little bit, a few of those tricks up our sleeve this season, and so I look forward to hearing your reaction to the stuff that we have going on. I actually directed one of the episodes this season –

Mayor: Oh wow.

BD Wong: And that was a really great opportunity for me as well –

Mayor: Congratulations.

BD Wong: Some of the stuff that we have there mirrors some of the stuff we did in the first season. So, we're looking forward to hearing what you guys think of it.

Mayor: Thank you, BD. And thank you, everyone, all your colleagues, and listen, everybody, I'm going to give you a tip. If you have not seen this show, go binge watch the first season and then start watching tonight the second season. Unbelievable. Thank you. Thank you, BD.

BD Wong: Thank you. Yes.

Mayor: All right. So, we covered a lot of ground today. And again, we've got challenges, but we've also got really powerful things that New Yorkers are doing. I love what BD said about the commitment of the actors, the crew, everyone to keep producing these amazing works of art for the people that city in this whole nation.

Well, we also, every single day are seeing extraordinary work to keep us all safe, and we got some breaking news from earlier this morning and real credit to the NYPD, to Manhattan North, to the DA's Office, Cy Vance, and all his colleagues in the Manhattan DA's Office, a major gang take down in Manhattan North. The Chico gang, which has been responsible for multiple shootings in East Harlem, months and months of patient, careful work went into taking a number of criminals off the streets and this is so important. You'll get all the details in the coming hours. This is so important because what we know, NYPD always makes clear, is a very small number of people who do the violence in the city, and every time we take down a gang would change the situation fundamentally for this city and particularly for the neighborhood, and we're going to keep doing this incessantly. We're getting some real cooperation from prosecutors. We're getting cooperation from courts. We want to keep seeing the court system open up more and more, but we've definitely seen improvement, but major gang take down and another step forward to making this city as it has been for years and years, continuing our role as the safest big city in America.

Okay, now I'm going to go to indicators, and first and most important, and we said the things we're going to be looking at vaccination, hospitalization cases. So, most important, we continue to make progress on vaccination, doses administered to date, 10,368,161, and that number is going to keep jumping up as we apply it more and more new tools to make sure that people get vaccinated. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 168 patients, confirmed positivity level 36.16 percent.Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 1.36. And then new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report, 1,647 cases. A few words in Spanish, going back to where we started on mental health, an issue that is of concern to every community in this city, and we're going to do a lot to get the word out to everyone.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Dr. Ted Long, the Executive Director of the Test and Trace Corps, and Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi. Our first question for today goes to James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: Right off the bat, and I appreciate that and speaking of bat –

Mayor: You're the spark plug – James, you’re the spark plug today.

Question: And, you know, we had a few of those with the Yankees in their double header against some other team yesterday –

Mayor: I don’t want to talk about that, next outlet, please.

[Laughter]

Question: Yes, but more relevant, serious stuff, if I may. You've mentioned yesterday 100,000 new vaccinations last week, and now that the Key to NYC pass is implemented, do we have any preliminary information on what effect it's having on vaccination numbers? I will say anecdotally, by the way, we were at a mobile vaccination site yesterday where demand for shots was nonstop, and literally all day they were giving shots. But what does the bigger picture look like?

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Long - Ted Long can tell you what he's seeing. We're definitely seeing what you just saw. People have been reporting at sites where previously it was sort of people were coming up in, you know, waves, but not nonstop. We're seeing lines again, and this is great. We – this is one occasion, New Yorkers don't love lines, but this is one case where I'm really happy to see lines, lines of people waiting to be vaccinated. That's fantastic. And we're moving them along quickly, and everyone knows that, you know, getting the shot is quick and easy. So, definitely we're seeing an impact. I think James, it’s fair to say that each of these measures is building on each other and it will take some time to get to the full impact, but the incentive is having an impact. The public employee mandates are having impact. And, you know, it's just the beginning of Key to NYC, but I think it's going to have more and more impact over the weeks to come. But with that, Dr. Ted Long, any initial readings you can give us on what you're seeing?

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps.: Yes. Thank you, sir. So, anecdotally, we're definitely seeing people coming out in droves, whether it's our mobile units at restaurants, whether it's our at home vax program, or other locations now. And I think, what I would say in terms of the statistics to show this, today for the first time, 75 percent of all adults in New York City have received at least one dose of the vaccine. It's obviously the highest number we've reached, but we just reached that number today, showing that we're already seeing an uptick in terms of the overall numbers across New York City.

Mayor: That's excellent.

Moderator: As a programming note, we are joined by Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Advisor on Public Health. Our next question goes to Jeff Mays from the New York times.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Jeff, how you been?

Question: Good, good, thank you. I have a couple of questions, the first one is a lawsuit that was filed by restaurant owners against your vaccine executive order. They are arguing that as unfair because certain businesses such as hair salons and other establishments where people spend long periods of time, such as churches, are not targeted. So, I'm wondering if you feel confident that the executive order will hold up in court? And what's your response to these restaurant owners that, you know, your executive order is unfairly targeting them and not other indoor locations?

Mayor: Jeff, the minute we talk about lawsuits, you're not going to be surprised if I say I'm going to keep my comments limited. I've had the conversation with the law department, tremendous confidence that we're in a very strong legal position. We're in a global pandemic still. The decisions that have been taken, have been taken with the leadership of our health officials who have been fighting this battle from the beginning. And we know we must get more people vaccinated and strategically focusing on the ways to get more people vaccinated – particularly focusing on young people where there's been a real gap – so we can stop the spread of the Delta variant is mission critical. It is about public health and safety. Absolutely certain, this is a way we will achieve those goals, do it in a smart way, a fair way – based on the data and the science. Go ahead, Jeff.

Question: Thank you. Today, Comptroller Scott Stringer released a report that said the City was basically unprepared for the pandemic. He said the City lacked an operational plan – you delayed operational planning for an outbreak. You didn't manage the PPE well – there were expired stockpiles of PPE and that, you know the City was not armed – was not prepared to protect residents against COVID-19. I know you probably haven't seen the report yet, but I'm wondering what you think about those criticisms from the Comptroller's Office about the City's response to the pandemic?

Mayor: Well, one, I have not seen the report – two, I want to express my respect for the people who did the work, our health care heroes, our first responders – the folks who got all those PPE from all over the world, the folks who created out of thin air, literally created production lines here in the city for PPE, for ventilators. The – you know, couple of things are clear to me: there's no way to fully understand a global pandemic until you're in it. And second of all, none of us anticipated anywhere, anything like this, and we needed federal leadership that wasn't there, but that the people in public service who made things happen and made sure that care was there for people and then put together, you know, Test and Trace Corps, put together the biggest vaccination effort in history of New York City. I think there's a lot that says this city responded very powerfully.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Marla Diamond from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call. Can you tell us if the city is negotiating mandatory vaccinations for teachers? Are you negotiating with the UFT on that? And is there a possibility that eligible students will need to show proof of vaccination to start school?

Mayor: Marla, we do not anticipate students having to show proof. We obviously want to know who is vaccinated. We want to encourage everyone who's not vaccinated to get vaccinated. We do not anticipate having to provide proof. We've had conversations – negotiation is not the right word. We've had conversations with the unions representing our school staff of all kinds on the different ways to keep schools safe. But there's nothing that's been decided beyond what we've announced publicly. And if we have anything new to say, obviously we're going to be talking about. Go ahead, Marla.

Question: Mayor, I know you spoke about the fact that having to show proof of vaccination at restaurants and other indoor venues has improved vaccination, but do you have a breakdown of how many New York City school children eligible for the vaccine have gotten vaccinated through your efforts on this last push before the start of school.

Mayor: We know right now, and I don't want to parse it. It's a very fair question, Marla – I just don't have it by public school kids versus kids in other schools, but I do have it by age for the city. So right now, we're over 56 percent of our 12 to 17-year-olds have gotten at least one dose. That's almost 300,000 kids. And as you saw yesterday with the Chancellor and our Health Commissioner, you know, literally every day, more and more kids, families, of course, coming forward a lot very enthusiastically wanting this. And as Ted Long pointed out, you know, we're literally making it a family thing, vaccinating whole families together, everyone enjoying the incentive, each family member getting that $100 incentive. But the good news in this number, over 56 percent, is remembering that this has been over a much briefer timeframe than vaccination was available for adults. And yet it's a strong number and it's growing regularly. So, I think you're going to see a real push – we're going to do it, but I think you're going to see parents just naturally keying into the fact that it's time to get their kids vaccinated. And I expect that number to go up very, very substantially.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.

Question: Hi, Mayor de Blasio.

Mayor: Hey Elizabeth, how’ve you been?

Question: I'm good. I wanted to follow up on Marla's question about making vaccinations mandatory for teachers. We know that Chicago and LA have done it, and I know you've just said that nothing has been decided with your discussions with the UFT, but can you say what your position is on it? Would you like to see vaccinations mandatory for teachers before the start of the school year?

Mayor: Elizabeth, I appreciate the question. It's certainly a very fair question. I don't tend to just opine. I work with people both in the government and partners outside to get to what I think is the right decision. Then I'll talk about the decision. What I know I want is the maximum number of people in our schools, kids and adults alike, vaccinated. Figuring the best way to get there is what we're working on right now. And obviously we'll have a lot more to say on that soon. But I will say a very encouraged by the level of parent focus on getting kids vaccinated. I'm very encouraged about what we're seeing amongst the staff, the educators, and all staff really healthy vaccination numbers and growing, and a lot of support from the unions involved, encouraging their members to get vaccinated. So good trajectory now, and we'll have more to say on, you know, whatever else we might do going forward. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

Question: So, you were asked about this yesterday, but US health officials officially recommended that all Americans get the COVID boosters. And I was wondering if you, or Dr. Chokshi could talk about whether that formal announcement has kind of changed any specific plans about the rollout and what the city is planning to do. Does the city have enough doses to start giving out booster shots and how soon would they do it?

Mayor: Yeah, excellent questions. And I don't think we have Dr. Chokshi right now. We have Dr. Long and Dr. Varma. So, I'll turn to them. We have been stockpiling vaccine knowing that this was likely that we'd have the announcement on booster shots. My understanding and the doctors will confirm it is that the authorization is to begin on September 20th. So, we have a lot of vaccine right now. We'll be getting a lot more between now and September 20th. Definitely we have the vaccine – both the vaccine and the ability to deliver it – we've done that on a high level. We'll be able to do that again to talk about how that will happen. And if you have any of the numbers handy on how much we have in a stock, first Dr. Long, then Dr. Varma.

Executive Director Long: Sure. Thank you, sir. So, let's talk right now, we have at least 750,000 doses of vaccine, and we have an ability to order more daily and weekly. So now that we have the guidance from the Biden administration and we're looking forward to learning more from them as well, we have the ability as we've done throughout to order more vaccines so that we can enable ourselves to have the capacity to deliver it to as many people as we can, starting when it becomes eligible on September 20th. I really do want to emphasize something the mayor said, which is really important though, which is that we learned a lot in terms of the vaccine effort. We have such a strong infrastructure now that we didn't have before. We have more than 30 mobile units going around the city every day, we have an at-home vaccination program. I don't think any other cities have that. So, our ability to really move really, really fast, we'll start ordering the vaccine now for sure, but our ability to deliver it fast to New Yorkers – we're in a very strong place to be able to do that. So, we're going to be ready for September 20th, for sure.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma.

Senior Advisor Varma: To add onto what Ted has said. I think, you know, New York City's performance and the ability to deliver vaccines is really unparalleled. And I know there’s sort of public discourse about is there a choice between having extra doses for you know, a third dose for people who've already been vaccinated, versus first doses people don't have them. And I think here in New York City, we have the privilege to say that that's not a choice. That's not going be a problem. You can give extra doses, you know, the third dose to people and you can get first doses into the arms that people have had had them before without any challenge. And so I think we're all ready and set to go as soon as we get the guidance and as soon as the date starts for us to go ahead.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Bob Hennelly from the Chief Leader.

Question: Thanks very much for taking the call. The issue of trust in the government is central to the challenge of convincing essential workers to get vaccinated. But trust, as I think you know, is a two-way street. Bureaucracies, even well-intentioned ones, make mistakes. You may remember at the start of the pandemic that workers in the subway were wearing masks because they read the Financial Times and were aware of the global pandemic at the time – managers threatened to write them up because a mask was not part of their uniform, and the concern that it might scare passengers. I asked you about that in the Blue Room, and you aligned yourself with the CDC guidance at the time, which is that masks should be rationed for those who were sick and clinical care staff. Nurses' unions warned that the CDC guidance to reuse any of the N-95 masks would lead to their death and the spread the virus. Both things happened. Scroll forward in May, the CDC unilaterally roll back the universal mask mandate for the vaccinated, the same frontline unions warned that was a major error because so many communities had fewer than 40 percent of the residents vaccinated. They warned the CDC guidance put essential workers at risk, and that it would help accelerate the spread of the virus. Both things happened. Shouldn't policy makers consult workers in unions before they make decisions of such gravity, like lifting the mask guidance? And didn't that move in May give us a false sense of progress?

Mayor: Well, Bob, big, sprawling, important question. Yeah, I would just note, first of all, there's just a constant dialogue going on with many of our unions. There's a respectful – just day to day, people are talking about a lot of different things, including what's going on, on the ground, hearing people's different views, their sense of what makes sense, what doesn't. This is just something we do constantly. I think with COVID, oftentimes the scientific community and the health care community struggled to understand what was the ultimate truth, because it was a new disease. So, we have to listen to the thoughts of working people, and we have to listen to – when it comes to business, the business community, we do, but the ultimate decisions have to be made on the data and the science, and what's going to get us where we need to go, which is obviously to have the maximum number of people vaccinated.

But I would – if what you're saying is it's been hard for people to trust because sometimes the situation has changed, I do appreciate that, but I also want to be fair to all the health care community and the scientific community. They've been grappling with an ever-changing situation and a lot of unknowns. They also deserve tremendous credit for having created a vaccine in a timeframe we've never seen before that has saved so many lives and turn the situation around. So I, you could be distrustful if you want to be, but you can also be trustful and say, well, that's a stunning achievement. That same scientific and medical community did that for all of us. Go ahead, Bob.

Question: Yeah. In terms of the question of coherence and guidance, we're into this for a long period of time now – the West Indian American Day parade put out a notice that they're going to postpone their parade, I guess, until 2022. In the same city of New York, you're doing the Homecoming concert. It seems to me that there is – again, your experts talked about this. This seems a little incoherent to a layperson. And would you suggest to people wear masks at the Homecoming concerts?

Mayor: I understand the question, obviously, Bob. First of all, every organization had to make its own choice. And we respect the choices. Some organizations have said they want to have their events again, some want to do a modified version, some are postponing it to 2022. There's not one way of doing things. When it comes to the concerts – they are outdoors, they are for vaccinated folks only. We are definitely encouraging mask use. But I really want to emphasize the whole key here is vaccination. The entire – if everyone were vaccinated right now, we would be having a very, very different discussion. So, our goal with everything is to support vaccination – this is the strategy – support, vaccination, encourage vaccination, reward vaccination, and show people we can keep moving forward. People move, in my opinion, based on, you know, the hope that something can move forward. And by showing people that we’re getting more and more people vaccinated and it's making us safer and safer, that's the way forward. 

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. Our next question goes to Jeff from City & State New York.

Mayor: Jeff? 

Question: Hey, Mayor, can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yes. How you doing? 

Question: I’m all right, thanks. Look, you made a big push to get white collar City workers back in their offices back in May, I think it was. Employees of the City Council never returned. And I'm hearing that members of some member’s staff aren't even allowed back in 250 Broadway at all. Does that feel like a slap in the face from the City Council and from Speaker Johnson? Have you talked to Speaker Johnson about bringing those employees back to the office? 

Mayor: Jeff, the honest truth, I saw some reporting the other day. This has not been one of the primary issues I've been focused on, is the truth. I don't think it makes sense. I think people should come back. You know, these work environments are very safe, and we need to do the best work we can do for the people. And this is the thing with public servants, our job is to help people through this and onto our recovery, and that's best done in person. Go ahead, Jeff. 

Moderator: I don't know if I've seen any updates lately. You know, we've seen a lot of private companies delaying returning to offices. Have you slowed the timeline for, like, a full return for white collar City workers or what's the status of City workers in the offices? 

Mayor: Everything, you know, has proceeded on pace. I mean, it – again, the key is vaccination. I'm not trying to be, you know, redundant for the sake of it. I'm trying to get to the essence of your question. Getting people vaccinated – and we clearly put a mandate on our City workers, you know, vaccination or test, which is helping to encourage more and more vaccination. The incentives are helping to encourage more and more vaccination, the indoor dining, entertainment, etcetera, Key to NYC is encouraging more vaccination. We've got workplaces where everyone is vaccinated. That's what we want to become more and more the norm. And that's what's going to keep everyone safe, but the best way for us to do that is for people to be at their work, doing their job and getting vaccinated. 

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Abu from Bangla Patrika.

Question: Hello, Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Abu. How you been? 

Question: Good, good. Thank you so much. I'd like to know, the parents who are not comfortable to send their kids in their school and they prefer to have the distance learning because of the Delta variant. What would be the decision of the City, if someone would not be comfortable to send their kids to the school? 

Mayor: You know, Abu, first of all, what we really want – any parents got the concern, we want them to come visit the school before school starts. Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter has talked about this. We want a very welcome environment where parents can come in, if their kids haven't been to school in a while, come see all the precautions, all the health and safety measures. That gold standard of health and safety measures is literally the strongest in the world, which is why you'll remember at the end of June, COVID was almost non-existent in our schools. It is no – there's no question our kids are safest in school. I'm going to have Dr. Varma speak to this because he speaks passionately about this. So, Abu, we want parents to see what's going on. We want them to have a dialogue with their principal, their teachers, if they have real concerns or questions. We want them to get their kids vaccinated. I think the more that those things happen, the more you're going to see parents decide it does make sense. And their kids need to be in school for so many reasons. So, that's the approach we're taking. If a parent chooses to not have their child in school, you know, they could do that, but that's not what we're doing. We're creating a system for everyone to come to school and be safe. Dr. Varma, would you speak to why we have confidence that the safest place for our kids to be is in school? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Great. Thank you very much, Abu. And thank you, Mr. Mayor, for the question. As the Mayor has said, you know, we – there were a couple of really important points to consider. First is the success that we had last year with in-person schooling. You know, clearly we know a lot of families chose last year, not to have their kids attend in person school. But for those who did we were able to keep rates of transmission among children and among staff at some of the lowest levels there are in the city. And we documented that through extensive analysis of testing data from the schools and testing data outside the schools. Of course, things are going to be different this year. The virus has changed. It has become a bit more dangerous in terms of being able to transmit more readily from one person to the other. At the same time, we have a very strong level of defense, which is vaccinations. And while vaccines aren't available to everybody who is in the school we know that they are available obviously to everybody 12 and above. And last year in our analysis we found that the majority of infections that were introduced into schools and resulted in transmission were first introduced by adults. So, I think that by really, you know, pushing as hard as we can on vaccination for those who are eligible we're going to be able to keep our schools safe for kids there. On top of that, of course, we have also added in additional measures. We had strong ventilation last year. We're doubling down on that as well, too. We had a strong testing program last year that will continue this year. And of course, as the Mayor has announced previously, there will be a universal mask mandate. It doesn't matter if you're vaccinated or not. So, we certainly understand and empathize with parents who worry about the risk associated with their kids. This is a risk we all worry about, myself as a parent. But we also know that the strongest way to get protected is to be vaccinated. And we also know that the health benefits that come from being in school, not just COVID, but mental health, emotional health – all kids benefit tremendously from all of those things. So, we would really want to make sure we get that message out and do everything we can to alleviate parents’ very appropriate concerns about this issue. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Jay. Go ahead. Abu. 

Question: As you mentioned yesterday about the public places where the vaccine is mandated, I'm the witness of many places like last week I went to a place in Queens called Planet Fitness, and I found that all the people that are getting in no one asked even mask or a vaccination card, nothing, you know, so what exactly is the City doing? Are you imposing some kind of rules or –

Mayor: So, Abu, you know, we only started this yesterday for the initial implementation. So, let's be clear. What we said is, as of yesterday the Key to NYC is in effect for a variety of indoor locations. And we're taken about a month to educate New Yorkers about it, educate business owners and their employees, support them, show them the way to do this. I think, you know, it's a straightforward approach. I really urge everyone to get the COVID Safe app, the NYC app, which you just put your ID and your vaccination proof there, and you can just show it anytime to folks. It's real, simple, and quick. And I think we're going to see over the weeks, the vast, vast majority of businesses are going to figure out how to do this. And we'll support them every step of the way. If there's any needs, we've said, we’ll send out folks from the city to go over the protocols, but you certainly would not have seen it before yesterday. I expect a lot of businesses are doing it right, right now. We know there were some businesses that really relished and supported this and wanted to do this, wanted the backup from the City to be able to create a safe environment for the employees and for their customers. Others, it may take a little time for them to get used to it, but they've got, you know, the month. And then the week of September 13th, we'll start inspections and enforcement. But if history tells us something from earlier in the pandemic, the vast, vast majority of these establishments are going to get it and implement it right the first time. And New Yorkers – I've talked, a lot of people who say, ‘hey, if I'm going to a restaurant or I'm going to a movie theater, I want to feel safe, I want the freedom of knowing that everyone there is vaccinated,’ and that's what we're achieving.

So, everyone, this is how we move forward. I'll say it again. If you haven't gotten vaccinated literally, we will come to your door, we'll come to your home, we'll vaccinate any members of the family who are ready to be vaccinated, and everyone gets $100 incentive each. It does not get better than that. Thank you, everyone.

2021-08-19 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We're going to have a very special guest in just a moment. But first we're going to talk about for a few minutes, a really important milestone that we have reached in this city. We're fighting COVID every day, we're fighting the Delta variant. The people in the city are responding, the people of this city are coming forward, getting vaccinated, making a difference. And as of today, 75 percent of the adults in New York City, we've at least one dose of the vaccine. This is a big, big deal. When you talk to our health care leaders, this is the kind of number they've been wanting to see. 75 percent of all adults, at least one dose, growing all the time. That's incredibly good news. Here's another milestone. Over 80,000 New Yorkers have now received the $100 incentive. This is working. This is important to people. And you heard Dr. Ted Long the other day, talk about a whole family that said, Hey, we want to get that incentive for the whole family. Lots of people need to be vaccinated. He said, we’ll even send someone to your home to do it. This $100 incentive has made a difference. In fact, so much so that President Biden endorsed it and suggested it for other parts of the country as well.

So, the vaccination effort is moving, thanks to New Yorkers who are stepping forward. Also, thanks to our vaccinators. Let's recognize, these are heroes. These are folks who are doing amazingly good work. The folks going door to door, folks going out in the communities, the folks giving the vaccinations. This is making a huge, huge difference. Now, if you're not yet vaccinated, listen, this is the best time ever. And I understand, there are a lot of people who originally -- they wanted to wait away a while. They wanted more information. I respect that. The people who still have the questions, we want to connect you to a doctor or a pediatrician for your child to get you the answers you need. We're happy to work with anyone. You want a vaccination in your home? We'll do that for you. So, we really want to meet people where they are, respond to their concerns. But I want to emphasize this is the best time ever, because there's a $100 incentive, because the vaccination is easier than ever, because you can get it so many places because it's fast and effective. It's simple to do. And because we got a new threat from the Delta variant, and it's not like what we saw in the beginning. This is a tougher challenge, but it's one we can find back with vaccination. So, to date in New York City, 10,394,533 doses. Unbelievable and growing all the time.

Now specifically, we're focused on the back to school effort. We're focused on our young people who are vaccine eligible, 12 years old and up. And running you out to them, reaching out to their parents saying just like you get ready for going back to school in so many other ways, going back to school this year means vax to school. Get ready, get vaccinated. And we're seeing really good signs of progress. 12 to 17-year-olds, that group of New Yorkers has the fastest growth rate of vaccination of any age group in New York City. So, more and more young people coming forward. 56 percent of 12 to 17-year-olds in New York City have already received one dose. And that is ahead of the national average. National average is only 48 percent. So, what we're seeing is something's happening here. Almost 300,000 kids in that range have gotten the vaccination. It's making a big difference and we've got almost a month until school begins. We're going to use every single hour to get more and more kids vaccinated.

Now we have a special opportunity that we're announcing today for PTAs, who do so much good. I want to thank all the members of PTAs involved in their schools. All the good you do. We are reaching out as of today to PTAs all over New York City, letting them know they can be part of our referral bonus program. Whenever a PTA gets a student or a family member to come in and get vaccinated, we will give them $100 for everyone they bring in. So, think of the virtuous circle here. People get vaccinated, the individuals get $100, the PTA gets $100 for each person they bring in and they recruit to get vaccinated. And I can tell you I've been involved with PTAs and my kids were public school kids. A lot of PTAs are going to like this because they need those resources. This is a great way to get it. We are letting every PTA know, sign up now, get people vaccinated, and have an opportunity to do a lot of good for your school community.

We have been reaching out all over the city and talking to leaders who really understand how to reach the grassroots and make an impact. And someone who I really admire. She's an elected official. And she is a nurse by training and when COVID hit, she went out and did that work, even though she could've said, Hey, I'm an elected official, you know, I got other things to do. She went out and did that work. And later introduced the HERO Act to protect all the people who were our heroes, who protected us, to make sure they were protected as well. I really admire her for the work she has been doing. And I want you to hear from her how important it is to do these grassroots vaccination efforts, to reach our young people, to reach our PTAs. All of this, what it means, my pleasure to bring to you Assembly Member Karines Reyes.

[...]

Well, listen, Assembly Member, amazing work you've done. Really amazing work. And thank you. You have a really clear, strong voice on this issue and the people of your district, the people of New York City need to hear it because there’s still hundreds of thousands of people out there who actually are open to being vaccinated. But we just got to get them in and let them know how easy it is, how positive it is. Thank you for being that strong voice. Thank you for the HERO Act. Thank you for being out there on the frontline when it was tough and we needed help. Really appreciate you.

Assembly Member Karines Reyes: Thank you, Mayor.

Mayor: All right, everybody. So, we keep making progress and I keep saying to everyone vaccination equals recovery, vaccination equals freedom. The more and more people get vaccinated, 75 percent of New York City adults, that means we get to do things again. We get to be together. We get to move forward. We get to recover. And we are celebrating our recovery. We're celebrating our progress. Homecoming Week has been amazing already, stunning concerts already, more to come. Tonight, Brooklyn Army Terminal. And let me tell you, amazing talent from Brooklyn performing. You heard yesterday from Big Daddy Kane. This is going to be a very exciting show tonight. Friday, we're going to talk about in a second in Queens, Saturday Central Park Great Lawn, unbelievable lineup put together by the legendary Clive Davis. So, so much happening to celebrate the city and help us move forward. All concerts are people who are vaccinated only. And that's the message, you want to fully participate? You want to get all the joy out of life? Just go get vaccinated. And the world opens up to you.

So, Friday, Queens, an amazing lineup, but one star that shines in a particular way that I have to speak about. We are saluting one of the most important musical figures of our time. I'm going to introduce him in a moment. But I just have to speak personally, first. The first time I heard One Nation Under a Groove, I just, literally one of those life changing songs. It was everywhere in my high school, we felt it. It was a message of unity and hope, but it was also a new kind of sound. And everyone sensed something in the air, something special, something amazing. A real innovator, a genius at bringing out something new. And if you love music and I love music, you got to recognize the people who made a lot of other things possible. So, you know, I love lots of groups. I love lots of musicians. I hope they feel the debt of gratitude that I feel to George Clinton for what he did for all of us. If you love OutKast. Well, thank George Clinton. If you love Talking Heads, thank George Clinton. If you love Janelle Monαe, thank George Clinton. All of them, great, great, great artists, did their own thing too. But if you think that they were not fundamentally influenced by George Clinton, I'll play you the tracks to prove it. Because George Clinton and everyone around him changed American music profoundly. And for the better. Opened up a world of possibilities and brought people together. Just, I don't have words, but for me personally, and for my family, an amazing moment to have a true legend with us. He's called the prime minister of funk for good reason. He is one of the great musical innovators of our time. There's almost, you know, you literally can talk about it all day long. No one has influenced modern music more and had a bigger impact. And he is headlining the Queens concert and helping to bring back New York City. Ladies and gentlemen, from the bottom of my heart, a tremendous honor to have you at City Hall, George Clinton.

[...]

George Clinton: Wow. Thank you, your honor. Wow. I don't even know what to say after that. I need you for my publicist.

Mayor: I'm ready. I'm ready. I need a job.

[...]

Mayor: Now, beautiful. By the way, backup singers, you did good. You did good. Now, I want you to do one more thing for us. Just you, George –

[...]

“Here's our chance to dance our way out of our constriction,” that – you wrote that decades ago. But doesn't that sound like this exactly moment –

George Clinton: You need to be able to dance. Any problem you have, any situation, there's a rhythm that can get you up out of it. You can dance on the water and not get wet even.

[Laughter]

Mayor: You said it all, you said it all. Now, everyone, we got a special guest who's remote who wants to speak about George Clinton. Because for a lot of us, this is very, very special – and he is a super Funkadelic fan. The Borough President of Queens, Donovan Richards. Are you out there?

[...]

Okay. Strong words, strong words. I understand we lost by a dragon's nose. So, we'll be back next year –

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards: It was more than a dragon’s nose.

Mayor: We’re going to watch the tape, but we're going to be back next year to set it right. Borough President, thank you. I appreciate your strong, strong message. I think you'll agree with me, if you want evidence that it's time to get vaccinated here – I'm sitting next to one of the greatest figures in American musical history. George Clinton is vaccinated –

Clinton: Two times –

Mayor: Okay –

Borough President Richards: Get your $100.

Mayor: And you get $100. You could be like George Clinton –

Borough President Richards: Queens, get the money, go get vaccinated.

Mayor: Go get vaccinated. But I'm saying you could be like George Clinton and get $100. I mean, c’mon –

Borough President Richards: Well, [inaudible]–

Mayor: Okay. Thank you, Borough President.

Borough President Richards: See you tomorrow.

Mayor: George, God bless you, brother.

Clinton: Thank you, your honor. It’s good to be here.

Mayor: What an honor. It means so much –

Clinton: And this party tomorrow. We’re going to tear the roof off.

Mayor: I think that sounds right. We're going to –

Clinton: We want the funk, give up that funk. Y’all say it. We want the funk, gotta have that funk. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Beautiful. Beautiful. Thank you. God bless you.

All right. I'm going back to my official position over here. Hey, you never know what's going to happen at City Hall.

[Laughter]

So, in addition to the amazing Homecoming concerts you've heard about already there is more to come. Homecoming week, we're building it out, we're doing even more. And good news, one of the most iconic cultural locations, one of the places that when you think of culture, when you think of music in New York City – and George Clinton just talked about it – you think about the Apollo Theater and the Apollo Theater is back. The Apollo Theater is back, shows beginning again, this is another great sign of our rebirth. And I'll tell you people feel a reverence for the Apollo Theater. And it's going to be very important that people can go back and be part of this history again.

So, we're going to celebrate that the Apollo is back with a special event, the Uptown Saturday Night Extravaganza. It will be on Saturday, August 28th doors open at 6:30 and as always proof of vaccination required. Information on the show will be available on the Apollo website tomorrow. Free tickets available starting Monday. Go to Apollotheaters.org. And this show's going to be amazing. A 50th anniversary musical salute to the legendary Summer Soul Music Festival in Harlem that people are giving so much respect to now. And it's a – this whole show will be a salute to that. There'll be also attributed to R&B Hall of Famer Lloyd Price led by Ray Chew and the Harlem Music Festival All-Stars. So, since it is the Apollo, there will be R&B. There will be jazz. There will be dance. There'll be gospel. There will be Latin and a taste of Broadway.

So, here's what we got – Forces of Nature Dance Company, the Nat Adderley Jr. Jazz Quintet. We have Nona Hendryx – for all of you who know the history of music, Nona Hendryx crucial, crucial figure. The amazing Bishop Hezekiah Walker will be there. Baba Don and the East Harlem Latin All-Stars, the IMPACT Repertory Theater from Broadway, performers from Lackawanna Blues and Ain't Too Proud. And the MCs, Imhotep Gary Byrd, and Debbie Jackson. Amazing, amazing lineup – the 28th. And we have with us now, one of the performers, and as I said, she has done extraordinary things in her career. She is a musical innovator. She is one of the people – again, there are so many musical acts that owe their inspiration to the work that she did throughout her career. She is an art rock legend. She is a founding member with Patti LaBelle and Bluebells, an amazing, amazing artist and an honor to have with us, Nona Hendryx.

[...]

Yeah, it worked, it worked. I – you know, I'm sure your high school was good too. I'm really glad you had another high school and college in the Apollo, and it helped make you the great, amazing performer and visionary you are. And I want to thank you and we cannot wait to see you perform. Chirlane and I'll be there. Really excited to see it.

Nona Hendryx: [Inaudible] great to see you again. I want to also thank Voza Rivers and Lloyd Williams, who – the Harlem Week godfathers. And just wanted to say that because they were instrumental in my being here.

Mayor: They do amazing work. They do amazing work. They –

Hendryx: Yes, they do, absolutely.

Mayor: And Harlem Week is such an important part of this city and part of our comeback too. And listen, just, thank you. Thank you for being another one of the people stepping forward to help bring New York City back.

Hendryx: Absolutely. It's my home.

Mayor: God bless, thank you. Now, everyone, the Apollo, it means so much to us. You heard Nona, in a beautiful testimony to the meaning of the Apollo. I want to hear from someone who's done so much to protect and preserve and build on the legacy of the Apollo. She's really a hero for her efforts because it – can't imagine New York City without the Apollo and it is now stronger than ever. She is the President and CEO of the Apollo Theater, Jonelle Procope. Welcome.

[...]

Jonelle, thank you. I can tell you're excited and you're ready. And the Apollo being back means New York City is back. And, again, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for your stewardship of that amazing institution and really looking forward to this beautiful show. Thank you so much, Jonelle.

Jonelle Procope: Thank you.

Mayor: So everyone, we’re going to – just amazing stuff happening. Comeback, coming strong. We've got lots of work to do. We got to keep building the vaccination effort. We have a lot of things to do to make this recovery work, but boy, are there a lot of people putting their shoulder into it and giving their heart and soul to it. It's really beautiful.

Now let's do indicators. Number one, we're doing doses. So, again, big number, growing number, particularly with the youngest New Yorkers. And this is so much of the game plan, reach those 12 to 17 year olds, but also particularly with the mandates for restaurants, indoor entertainment. We're going to reach a lot of folks in their 20s, in their 30s who need to get vaccinated. So to date, 10,394,533 vaccinations. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 155 patients, 35.88 percent confirmed positivity, hospitalization rate 1.43 per 100,000. And new reported cases on a seven-day average today's report, 1,683 cases. I want to do a few words in Spanish on the vaccination effort, the fact that we've reached now 75 percent of New York City adults with at least one dose.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Dave Chokshi, Commissioner of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and Dr. Ted Long, the Executive Director of the New York City Test and Trace Corps. First we have Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? It sounds like you have a great musical time there today.

Mayor: Yeah, Juliet, I'm exploring new musical vistas over here, you know, anything's possible. So I had George Clinton coaching me. I mean, it was amazing before the press conference, George Clinton coaching me on which notes to hit, it’s kind of like my mind has been blown many times over here. How are you doing today?

Question: Great. So, I want to tell you about my experience yesterday and asking if you're not planning to roll out perhaps specific protocols for businesses to check back vaccination IDs. I went to a restaurant last night, nothing was checked. So, is it better for people to all be on the same page with a specific protocol or are you just leaving it up to individual businesses to do what they have to do?

Mayor: So, Juliet, first of all, this is obviously brand new, started on Tuesday. We expect it's going to take a little time for some places to get used to it or to figure out the best way. We can certainly – and I think it's a great suggestion, you know, put a specific template out there for folks to use if that's helpful to them. But I think a lot of business owners are going to have their own approach. You know, I talked to people about just my own experience using the NYC COVID Safe app. You take a picture of your driver's license, you take a picture of your vaccine card, you just pull up the app, and when you go in any place, just show them one after another, it takes a few seconds. And you know, that's really easy just like in a restaurant or in a bar, they check ID for someone getting a drink. But if it would be helpful to offer very specific models, I think that's a great idea. And we'll have our Small Business Services folks do that. But in general, you know, of course, we know everyone's got different experiences, but the feedback we're generally getting is that a lot of folks, particularly, in the restaurant industry are saying, ‘this makes it straightforward, we want everyone to feel safe, we can say to our customers now, everyone's vaccinated, people can breathe a little easier, we can say to our employees, everyone's vaccinated, it's a safe environment.’ There's a lot of enthusiasm for that, but we will work with them to figure out the best way to make it work. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: Okay. Yeah, maybe give that a shot. Because it was a little disturbing, quite frankly, yesterday I'm walking into a very busy restaurant and, you know, not checked. Anyway –

Mayor: And Juliet, I’m sorry to interrupt. It'd be great if you, or any of your colleagues, if you have that experience, share it with our team here at City Hall. We, obviously, will not name names, but it's knowing the specific locations that allows our team just to reach out to them and say, ‘Hey, let's work with you on this.’ Remember there's no penalties until the week of September 13th. So, knowing if a place isn't doing it yet allows us to say, hey, we got to reach out and have a conversation with them just to make sure it's working. Go ahead.

Question: Okay. Sure. I was wondering what other efforts you're making to get City employees vaccinated. Gothamist has a report that says as of Monday 58 percent of City workers have received at least one dose. Is that satisfactory to you? And what else are you doing to encourage people to get that vaccine? Because that's now a requirement to return to work.

Mayor: Yeah, look, the – one, no, I'm not going to be satisfied until we reach a much higher level, but I do see constant progress. City workers, definitely, like everyone else, a lot of them are turning to this $100 incentive. And, again, it's there for them and every one of their family members too – each one, a hundred dollars. The mandates we put in place, which we're phasing in for vaccination for City employees, are definitely having an impact. And then City employees are like everyone else, are out in communities and they want to participate. They want to go to restaurants. They want to go to movies. And that is also going to have an impact that there's a vaccine mandate. So, I do believe this is going to move the needle substantially, but we're also saying to agencies, you've got to keep working at it – we’re holding every agency head responsible for figuring out new approaches to reaching their employees and getting that number up. So, there'll be a lot more on that. We intend to get that number up for sure.

Moderator: Next we have Andrew from NBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. For you and for your medical team, I'm wondering if there's any consistent guidance on the types of masks that younger children should be wearing going back to school – we're talking about under 12 kids that can't get vaccinated. Is there any thought to the Department of Education distributing KN95s or something that's more protective given how contagious Delta is and how unprotected the youngest kids are?

Mayor: Very good question. Appreciate that question, Andrew. I'll turn in a second to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long. I'll just say what we found last year – I'm very, very pleased with this. You know, there are a lot of doubting Thomases about bringing school back. We brought school back. We had a very successful experience, very safe experience. But one of the most interesting parts was, many people said, ‘oh, kids have gone to be able to handle being masked.’ I felt, just in my gut as a parent, they would deal with it. Kids are incredibly adaptable. And I think one of the great success stories of the last school year was kids wearing their masks very consistently right down to 3-K and pre-K successfully. Your question obviously is, what mask makes the most sense in this new environment with Delta. So I'm just – as I passed to the doctor – saying the good news is kids wear masks really well. They're really comfortable with that. It's been a real good thing. Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long, what do you advise to parents as the right mask for this moment?

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. And thanks, Andrew, for this important question. Our mask guidance in general also does apply to younger children in that the most important things are to have a snug fit of the mask as well as to use layers where possible. Some masks have layers themselves, otherwise using multiple masks. You know, two masks can also provide some layering too. Both Dr. Long and I are fathers of younger children so what I would add to that is that comfort is particularly important for younger children. Having a mask that a child will wear consistently and properly is also important. And so sometimes it takes trying a few different options to figure out what's best, you know, for your particular child. With respect to the higher grade masks, these are the KN95 or KF94 masks, I do advise that parents look at them because they do offer additional protection. But there may be a trade off between comfort and, you know, the protection that a mask like that can offer. So, I think in some cases that will work for a particular child, but again, we have to focus on the big picture, which is we want people to wear masks that work for them, that are snug and that have layers.

Mayor: So, just picking up on that, before Dr. Long. Dave, I'm picking up from one of your great quotes about the best vaccine is the one you can get now. I hear you saying to parents, the best mask for your child is the one your child will wear consistently and comfortably. Would you agree with that?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Yes, that's well summarized. And that's the most important thing because we want them to wear masks consistently throughout the school day.

Mayor: Perfect. Go ahead, Dr. Long.

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps.: Yes, sir. Actually, you stole my quote. I was going to give that exact quote, attributed to Dr. Chokshi, the best mask is the one your child will wear. What I would add on that is that our real world experience in New York City, which includes how our students have worn masks in the period that we studied this, which was the first half of last year, we published this in the Journal of Pediatrics. We basically found that if you're a student or a teacher in remote learning, you’re at the same risk, if not higher risk, of contracting COVID than if you were a student or teacher in the school setting, because of all the precautions, including to your point, Andrew, how our children were consistently wearing masks in our schools. It made them safe and potentially safer than even if they weren't remote learning. So, we have a strong real world basis to show how safe our schools have been. 

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: Also given that you were successful at using your pulpit, your national TV appearances, your daily briefings to give the city the freedom to vaccinate months ago, back when it was limited to category 1-A and category 1-B, and you were very successful at moving the ball there. Why have you not been more emphatic in trying to get national attention to making the vaccine available to kids ages five to 11, isn't that, some scientists would argue, even more critical than what we now have, which is a booster shot available to people who've gotten two shots already? 

Mayor: Well, I appreciate the way you invoked history. And I say it, you know, with humility, I do think a lot of the things we've done here in New York City have help really move things, and whether it was the freedom to vaccinate effort, or more recently what we've done with our vaccine mandates and indoor dining and public employees and the $100 incentive. So, I do feel we should always be looking for the next place to push. To the question, it's a very good one, what can we do to get those five to 11-year-olds vaccinated? I think the Biden administration has been very focused on continuing to move things rapidly. I don't sense any delay or anything that they're missing, but I think you're making a great point. We need it and we need it quickly, and I'm going to take that point and go check again on what's happening to see if we need to do some very special push there. We need to reach everyone with vaccination and we have found the vaccination effort amazingly successful for this nation. So, let's get to those five to 11-year-olds. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Long, do you have any update you can offer on what that timeline looks like right now?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. Thank you, sir. What we know is that the studies are underway. Both of the major mRNA vaccine manufacturers, that's Pfizer and Moderna, are studying their vaccines in five to 11-year-olds. It is important, of course, to allow those studies to proceed so that we do ensure that when we administer the vaccines, they are just as safe and effective in that age group, as they are for all other ages that have already been authorized. Our understanding is that Pfizer is likely to be the first to submit to the FDA for five to 11-year-olds, and that is likely to happen sometime in September. And then I agree with the Mayor's point, which is, we need an expeditious review and vetting of that data to get to authorization so that we can actually administer the vaccines. But the bottom line is that we have to let the science proceed. We think that the first checkpoint will be sometime in September to understand what the data shows, and then it's likely to be later in this year here, you know, if I had to estimate, perhaps sometime in November or December before the FDA were to authorize the vaccines for use.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next we have Henry from Bloomberg.

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: Doing good, Henry, how you been? 

Question: I'm very good. Thank you. You've been asked this question before, but as the school approaches, a question becomes more acute and more and more parents are asking for a remote option, not just for immunocompromised kids, but for kids who inevitably will be quarantined as case numbers go up. And then there's just this general feeling among parents that their schools may be too overcrowded to conduct a social distancing the way it was practiced when there were very few kids attending school. So, in light of this, and in light of the fact that several people in the school bureaucracy, if you will, parents groups are calling for a remote option. Don’t you think it may be time to plan a centralized plan for a remote curriculum? 

Mayor: Thank you for the question. I know it's an honest question. No, we've had this conversation constantly. Look, again, my kids pre-K to 12th grade were in New York City public schools. I have spent my whole career working with New York City public schools. I feel very, very deeply the life of our public schools. I've talked to thousands and thousands and thousands of parents over the years, and I understand health and safety is the number one concern to parents. I want you to remember what Ted Long said a moment ago, we found that our kids were safest in school. We have the gold standard of health and safety measures. It worked unbelievably well. It is proven. It is documented. Dr. Varma and Dr. Long put out a paper, Dr. Long can speak about on this, to show just how extraordinary the effort was. Our kids are going to come back. We're going to follow the CDC guidance, the State Education Department guidance, we’re going to keep kids safe. And I am absolutely convinced that with all the health and safety measures put in place, and a lot more vaccination that is going to happen between now and the opening day of school, with kids and with adults in the school system, this is going to be the place that the kids need to be. It's also the place they need to be for a whole lot of other reasons, including other health, physical health, and mental health reasons. So, we have one plan. Dr. Long, could you speak to, again, I think I'm remembering my facts, right, the study that you participated in and what it told us.

Executive Director Long: Yes. So, this study, Henry, I'd be happy to send it to you. It was published in the Journal of Pediatrics, which is one of the leading pediatrics journals, by its name, of course. And this was a study where we looked at transmission, either in our schools for students and teachers, and outside of our schools, among students and teachers in remote learning. What we found is that students and teachers in remote learning had the same risk of contracting COVID, if not a higher risk, than students and teachers that were in our schools. For us, the conclusion there is that – and this was all pre-vaccine – so, we did not have the benefit of the vaccine coverage when we did this study. So, the measures that we had at that time, like mask usage, like Dr. Chokshi said, and like all the other ventilation changes that we had made, confirmed strong protection against transmission of COVID in our schools. The result we've found has been replicated since, in fact, as similarly found in other studies. One other one I'll quickly highlight is it is published in one of the CDC – it's called the MMR – found that cases that were thought to be linked in a school when they were genotyped actually were different genotypes of the virus, meaning cases than we even thought to be transmitted in those schools at that time, were actually contract from the community because there were different strains of the virus. All to say that we believe our schools are safe and that we have the evidence in this article and other articles, which I'd be happy to send you as well as support. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Thanks. I'm familiar with Dr. Long’s excellent review there, his work there. But today it's a different story. That was pre-vaccine, it was also pre-Delta, and my question really is what are you going to do when kids are quarantined? What are they going to do? How are they going to continue their studies? 

Mayor: Good question, and what I'd say is you're right to say the study was pre-vaccine, pre-Delta. I just want to offer one key point before answering your other question. You know, the number of people vaccinated in this city changes the situation, even with the challenge of Delta. I mean, you can just see it out there. I mean, when we got 5.2 million people with at least one dose, that changes the playing field entirely in the city. So, Delta is a real challenge, but the reason you see the life of New York City moving so effectively right now is because of vaccination. Vaccination still overcomes Delta, and the worst impacts of Delta. So, I do say you're right to say it's a different playing field, but I'd say – I think that's very clear that the positive difference that so many people are vaccinated, more getting vaccinated every day, outweighs the negative.

So vis-a-vis a kid who is quarantined, remember, first of all, if you, and I'll start, and then Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Long can add, or clarify, if you're a child who is vaccinated in that 12-year-old and up group, or an adult in the school system vaccinated, and there is some evidence of COVID in the school, unless you are symptomatic, you're continuing to be in school. You're vaccinated. You are safe. If you're not symptomatic, you're in school. So, you're going to see a lot fewer people going home for those quarantines, among those who do go home for a quarantine, it's now seven days, not a long time in the context of the whole school year. And we want everyone to be safe. We want everyone to have the information they need, but that quarantine period is very brief. We will be talking in the coming days about exactly how there'll be education for those kids during that time. But it is a very temporary kind of – it's like, you know, when we're helping kids for a very temporary period of time to keep continuity, but overwhelmingly, we're going to see kids in school getting educated the way that actually works in-person. Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Long, just speaking about, again, the difference this time if kids or adults are vaccinated, that they will not be leaving school, if they're not symptomatic, could you just amplify that?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and you captured it well. What I would just add is that this shows not just the individual benefits of vaccination, but also some of the ripple effects that vaccination has for the school community, meaning that vaccination affords protection for the student or the staff member who gets it, but also helps to prevent some of the cascading effects, whether it's avoiding unnecessary quarantines and being able to stay for in-person learning, or creating a protective shell, really, by high levels of vaccination in the school community, particularly for the younger children who cannot yet get vaccinated as we spoke about earlier. So, it's all to say that vaccination works both at the individual level, as well as at the population level, to help keep our schools safer. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Long, anything to add? 

Executive Director Long: Just a quick point, Dr. Chokshi, hit all the main points, but I, you know, per CDC, if you're vaccinated, you don't need to quarantine even if you get tested on between days three and five. So, if you're a student and you're a close contact or in a classroom and you're vaccinated, you can stay in school still. The schools will now stay open because of the vaccine, which has a huge benefit to both the individuals that stay in school, but also to keeping our schools open into our city as Dr. Chokshi said. 

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Next. We have Kristin from the Staten Island Advance.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you today? 

Mayor: I am doing well, Kristin. I'm looking forward to seeing you next week. 

Question: Yes, I also was at the concert on Tuesday night. Really great time.

Mayor:You know, a lot for Staten Island to be proud of that night, the amazing talent that came out of Staten Island on display, all in one place. That was pretty cool. 

Question: It was. Did you ever get your official Wu Tang name? Are they still working that out? 

Mayor: Breaking news, breaking news – 

Bill Neidhardt: King Blasi.

Mayor: Breaking news, breaking news – is it Z? 

Bill Neidhardt: Raekwon has just confirmed –

Mayor: Raekwon – we have breaking news, Bill Neidhardt is confirming now, wait a minute, wait a minute, Kristin, breaking news. King – how are we spelling it?

Bill Neidhardt: B-L-A-S-I. That’s according to Raekwon. 

Mayor: B-L-A-S-I, really? Okay, Raekwon – no one argues would Raekwon, we respect his greatness – 

Question: We do. 

Mayor: King Blasi. B-L-A-S-I. Fascinating. 

Question: Okay. 

Mayor: Okay, there it is. It's formal. 

Question: All right. I appreciate that very important update, thank you.

Mayor: Yes, it’s literally breaking. I didn't know it until now, Kristin, and so you have achieved the ultimate in breaking news, I didn't know it either. Okay.

Question: So, I spoke with a lot of Staten Islanders who's told me that they wished to use the State's Excelsior Pass Plus, because it requires that two-factor authentication, verifies the person's vaccination status with the immunization databases which is something that the, you know, the City's app does not do. There have been, from what I'm hearing, widespread issues with people who are vaccinated at City-run sites and some other sites getting their information verified on the State's app for, you know, whatever reason. Is there any plan to update the City's app that would use the two-factor authentication to verify somebody's vaccination status with official records, instead of, you know, how it is now, which is just a photo really?

Mayor: Well, look, we made a decision to do something different, and with absolute respect for the Excelsior Pass, that that was a great tool. We want a different kind of tool. We wanted something very simple. We wanted something that, for those concerned about anything that connected to the internet, this is not that. This is something self-contained, if you will. So, the goal here was to say, well, that's there if you prefer that approach, the State approach, that's great. That works with restaurants, bars, everyone honored that. Ours is very simple. And again, reminding people I'm going to believe the vast majority of human beings do things the right way, and, you know, if anyone is tempted to use a fraudulent vaccination card, that's a real problem because that's actually a major crime that can literally lead to prison time. So, I think people are going to increasingly understand don't mess around with that. But if you have to show some kind of proof of vaccination and have an ID that matches it, we feel good that that's a good, strong standard, and our app allows people to show that. But look again, if someone prefers the Excelsior approach, we don't need to reinvent the wheel. It's there, you know, it's there for folks to use.

Moderator: Next, we have Steve from WCBS 880.

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor. Good morning. I’m sure I speak for a lot of people when I say we're looking forward to what's next in your a capella career. 

Mayor: Yeah, Steve thank you for noticing. Offers are pouring in major labels, but I'm not authorized to make any specific announcements at this point in time. 

Question: I understand there's a lot that still needs to happen here. I wanted to circle back on schools real quick. I think the one kind of variable that hasn't been talked about as much that, parents are especially worried about, when we talk about the track record of success that we had last year in New York City schools, but that was with a much smaller fraction of students than what we'd see with everyone back in person this year. So where do we get that level of confidence this year, that when we have 100 percent of students back instead of 15, 20 percent of what it was last year, that we will still see that same level of success and not have too many health hazards here. 

Mayor: Excellent question. Very big question. I’m going to take a moment to frame it then Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Long – I’d really appreciate it because you’re kind of getting to the heart of the matter here. Really want to emphasize, even though you could say, oh, there's more kids this year, fewer kids last year, we did not have vaccination. So, Delta – I take Delta really, really seriously, but let me tell you, old fashioned COVID versus no vaccination was really daunting, but we believe based on a lot of research of what was happening around the world, that if we layered all the health and safety approaches, if we had a gold standard, it would work, even without vaccination, and it did. And 200,000 kids is a lot of kids by any measure. Remember that as we kept learning more and more about COVID there were a lot of factors. So, there's definitely a consideration about distance, but ventilation, masks, but now the game's gotten entirely changed by vaccination. So, the doctors can speak to this and give you the best perspective. But what I would say is if you have vaccination on this high level that transcends all other considerations, I am obsessed with vaccination and proud to be. It is the X factor – 5.2 million New Yorkers have gotten at least one dose. We're about a month out from school. 300,000 kids in that 12-to-17 range already have gotten at least one dose. And we have a huge push on over these next weeks to get kids vaccinated. I know parents will respond.

I think the bottom line is this, having this high a level of vaccination in our schools, and all the other elements of the gold standard of health and safety, we know we can keep our kids safe and we know it is going to be safer for many of them than being out other places, as Dr. Long said. It is based on a lot of research, a lot of history – it’s also based on the federal guidance. Our federal government has said resoundingly clearly our kids need to be back in school for many reasons. And they've issued the guidance and we're following that guidance. Dr. Chokshi, then Dr. Long. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I agree with your bottom line; I'll just add three points briefly. The first is to pick up on the emphasis on vaccination. This is why we are so strongly urging parents, family, students to get vaccinated ahead of the first day of school. This is our backs to school campaign, which is boots-on-the-ground engagement, making sure that all access barriers are lowered as much as possible, using incentives as the Mayor announced today, with respect to partnering with PTA's as well. And that's all focused around, the goal of ensuring maximum levels of vaccination ahead of the first day of school.

I'll also add that the COVID Safe requirement that the Mayor has announced, applies to school staff, and that's an important part of ensuring maximum protection through vaccination. The second point is what we have learned from our experience last year is that layered approach to prevention that the Mayor has spoken about. Ventilation, masks, distancing, vaccination, testing – all of them work together, and they have a compound effect when we partner them in that way. Particularly with testing, it gives us visibility into what's happening with respect to the spread of COVID in our communities and our schools. And that will be the way that we can know that our schools are remaining safe over the coming months.

And then the final point is just to emphasize again, as a doctor this is about keeping schools safe so that we can bring children back for in-person learning, which is fundamental, not just to their social development, their educational development, but for their long-term health, by which I mean both their physical and mental health. So, this charge that the Mayor has given us to keep schools safe is in pursuit of that very worthy mission. Thank you.

Mayor: Amen. Dr. Long, anything to add? 

Executive Director Long: Yeah, I just want to quickly emphasize the first point that Dr. Chokshi said, which is that we know from this last year that our layered approach for health and safety can and did work. What's different now is that we have the opportunity now to get more and more people vaccinated to keep our schools in our city, more and more safe. For example, we're having mobile vaccine units go to malls for back-to-school sales, multiple malls in every single borough. We're going to pre-conditioning training, bringing vaccines there, right to you, if you're a student that's going to be going through pre-conditioning training. And of course, we have our at-home vaccination program, nyc.gov/homevaccine. The most we can do right now is to get as many students and teachers vaccinated as possible. It’s the most powerful tool we didn't have before. We have it now, let’s use it. 

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Steve. 

Question: I appreciate that very much. I wanted to switch topics here. I have a question on behalf of my colleague Marla Diamond. She's working on a story about the Washington Heights Armory, which of course would classify as an indoor fitness facility under the Key to NYC, and everyone going in there would have to show proof of vaccination, but it also hosts high school athletics. And it's telling a student track and field athletes they'll have to be vaccinated if they want to compete, once the season starts in October, I know yesterday, you said there wouldn't be any kind of mandate for students. So, it kind of sits at this intersection of two conflicting policies here. So, what's your – what could be the outcome here, if students want to compete at the Washington Heights Armory, but they won't be let in if they aren't vaccinated? 

Mayor: Yeah Steve, really fair question. Important question. First of all, as we say in baseball, tie goes to the runner. These rules related to facilities stand for everyone, all ages. We're keeping consistent with that. So, the Armory is right to say, regardless that folks are going to go there and have to be vaccinated. Also, the question I got yesterday was about schools, was about education. And I said, I don't anticipate a vaccination requirement for kids to go to school. We're looking at obviously other types of activities, athletics, and other types of activities. That's its own world. It always has been in the eyes of the health care leadership locally and nationally. So we'll be speaking more to school athletics separately. But yes, I think the Armory is doing that the right way. 

Moderator: Next, we have Erin from Politico. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hello, Erin, how are you?

Question: I'm good. How are you?

Mayor: I'm good. 

Question: I was wondering the state and the CDC yesterday put out kind of the first data on breakthrough infections and the effectiveness of the vaccine since Delta essentially showing that it's down to about 80 percent for preventing infections – still, still much higher, I think around 95 for hospitalizations. Just wondering, does the city of any – do you have any city-specific data on the number of breakthrough infections, the effectiveness rate current for the vaccine, and does any of this information change the guidance, the advice you're giving people on sort of how they should be conducting themselves in general when they're vaccinated? 

Mayor: Yeah. I appreciate the question a lot because we are constantly watching any new development. That's the history of COVID now for a year and a half – things constantly evolving, having to watch new data and new science. As I turned to the doctors, I'd say, what rings through to me is – I'm a very practical guy, I want people to be alive. I want them to avoid the worst impacts of COVID. God forbid anyone even contracts COVID. The number one concern is making sure they come through it. Okay. If you're vaccinated overwhelmingly, you're going to come through it. If you're not vaccinated, you could be in danger. That rings true. Even with any new developments we're seeing with breakthrough cases, but in terms of specific numbers, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Long, do we have any specific numbers we can share? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. I mean, Erin, the study that you cited that came out from the New York State Department of Health yesterday, that did include New York City data from our citywide immunization registry. So, about half of all of the data points that were encompassed in that study are from New York City. The major takeaway from that as well as other studies released by the CDC yesterday in their announcement all point to what the Mayor just said. And it's important for us not to miss the forest for the trees on this – overwhelmingly, the vaccines will keep you alive and out of the hospital. Data from that New York State study showed that the vaccines remained over 90 percent effective at preventing hospitalization. That's why we remain laser focused on vaccination. We'll continue to track breakthrough cases, but very importantly, we have to distinguish breakthrough infections. Many of which are mild or asymptomatic from breakthrough disease, which are the outcomes that we really aim to prevent.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Long, anything to add?

Executive Director Long: Nothing to add. Dr. Chokshi, as always, covered everything. 

Mayor: Covered it all. Thank you.

Moderator: Next. We have Alice from CBS TV.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good. How are you doing?

Question: I'm doing well, thank you. Okay. So, there are lots of homecoming events celebrating progress being announced for those who are vaccinated to attend, but several parades were just canceled. New Jersey canceled its marathon this fall. Are there any other major events, like for example, the New York City Marathon thinking of cancelling that you're aware of?

Mayor: What I'm hearing is that most of the big events had previously modified their approach, either cancelling or going to a much smaller format. I'll get you the latest update. Our team will get you an update on the marathon, but what I'm seeing is actually – because again, all the history we went through here, I think the vast majority of organizations had already made major adjustments for 2021. And were looking forward to coming back full strength in 2022. Obviously, there's some big events at the end of the year that are iconic and crucial, that we really hope will be in a good position for, but that's going to be based on the data and the science and having lots and lots more vaccinations. So, these next months are crucial. We have a real opportunity to overcome and push back Delta if we can really maximize vaccination in these next months. Go ahead.

Question: And my other question was really a follow-up to Juliet's earlier question about the vaccine cards. Will there be any training for businesses on how to spot a fake vaccine card? We were talking with businesses on the Upper West Side the other night and kind of like what you were saying – they're saying it's basically just an honor system right now. They're not even sure how to spot a fake amongst people showing cards. 

Mayor: We definitely will provide training. And again, I appreciate questions like this because they are really helpful to say, okay, let's make it really clear, let's show a template. Let's show it to you guys as well. So, everyone sees the ways to do it, but definitely a lot of dialogue with restaurants, bars, theaters, et cetera. What I'd say is I really believe the vast majority of people are on the level, and we're also getting the word out really clearly. There can be major penalties for a fraudulent vaccination card. And remember if you have, you're showing it to someone, they are a witness, right? So, if you think, oh, I'm going to be cute and take a vaccination card and alter it, and then you go and you get in someplace, you've just shown that you did it in a legal act with serious penalties. So, my message to everyone is don't even think about that. Just go get vaccinated. It takes a few minutes. You get the card for the first dose, and you are legal, you are safe and move forward. So, I think the vast majority of people are going to do this the right way, but we absolutely owe it to all of these businesses to show them just basic ways to make sure that they're confirming an actual card. And by the way, if they don't feel comfortable in any situation, they can always say to someone that doesn't look like proof to us. We will train them in those situations. But I think the vast majority of people going to do this the right way. 

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Dana from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. About vaccinations given that only 58 percent of city workers have gotten at least one dose, what's preventing you from outright mandating the vaccine, given that you're not running for reelection, like why not just go there – and relatedly, what percentage of New Yorkers are fully vaccinated, not just partially? 

Mayor: Yeah. Dana on the second part, 4.7 million fully vaccinated, 5.2 million at least one dose. Again, we overwhelmingly are seeing that folks who get the first dose, get the second dose. About 95 percent do that. So we're quite confident these numbers will keep growing apace. And as I said through almost 300,000 in just the 12-to-17 group. We're looking at all options – is the answer, Dana. I mean, it's, I know you are a student of politics, and I don't mind you framing it from the political perspective, but to say the least what I'm trying to do, what our health leadership is trying to do is make decisions, urgent decisions Now we know they're not always popular with everyone. We're doing what it takes to protect people. Some people don't like the vaccine mandate for public employees that we have now, some people don't like the mandate to make sure that our restaurants and bars and indoor entertainment, fitness are safe, the Key to NYC. I am making those decisions because I think that's what's going to keep people safe. And I believe that’s I would turn this city around, recover, and move forward. So all options are on the table. I hear your question. I say, we're looking at every approach we believe right now we have the right set of approaches for this moment, but I've used the analogy of climbing the ladder. I won't hesitate to take another step, if and when I believe it's the right time to do it. 

So, with that, I'll say to everyone, that's the mission for all of us, keep bringing the city back. Vaccination is the key. And today you heard it. PTA members, that means you go get folks vaccinated, and the PTA will benefit as well. Everyone will benefit. Thank you everybody.

2021-08-20 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, again, everyone. Time now for our weekly Ask The Mayor call-in – my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 646-435-7280. You can also tweet a question, just use the hashtag, #askthemayor and we'll watch that Twitter feed go by. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. And Brian, I have breaking news I'd like to break right here on WNYC. Two major updates. The first, we can now say for the last two weeks in a row, we have had more than a hundred thousand folks come in to be vaccinated for the first time in New York City. So, two weeks running, a hundred thousand plus each week, first dose. And so that's a really good sign about the various efforts to get people to get vaccinated for the first time. Also, of those, in the month of August 59 percent of those doses were Black and Latino New Yorkers. So, really good news in terms of fighting disparity. 

But here's the other breaking news. This is a new mandate we're going to put in place related to school sports. We're talking about the bigger school situation going forward, but for school sports for high-risk sports, that will include – and this is for public schools, specifically, PSAL sports football, volleyball, basketball, wrestling, lacrosse, and rugby, and because it is indoors only, and the kinds of locations, bowling as well – we will have a vaccine mandate for all athletes, for all coaches and athletic directors, all the adult personnel. First dose must be acquired by the first day of competitive play. So, any athlete, any coach has to have gotten their first dose of the vaccine by the first day of play or the first time that they practice with a team. So, this is really important for anyone who is an athlete or intends to be an athlete or be involved. You can go to a vaccine.schools.nyc for more information, but we want to make sure our athletes are safe, given the particular nature of these sports. And so, we're putting that mandate in place.

Lehrer: I didn't know we had varsity bowling in New York City public schools. Definitely didn't have it – 

Mayor: It’s a world of wonders, Brian. 

Lehrer: Definitely didn't have it when I was in high school. It might've been the only sport I would have qualified for. The vaccination requirement that you just laid out for coaches though, are you considering applying it to all teachers and removing the negative COVID test option for teachers in particular, as some parents are calling for, because kids are so vulnerable? 

Mayor: Yeah. We're actively looking right now at different actions we could take in terms of the schools. So, right now, as you know, it is a vaccine or test. We're looking at additional options right now. We're talking to the stakeholders about it. There's a lot of energy out there for a larger mandate and that's something we're considering quickly. 

Lehrer: Question about schools here, I think, from Tazeen in South Brooklyn. Tazeen, you’re on WNYC with the Mayor. Thank you for calling in. 

Question: No, thank you. Hey, Mayor, calling from the land of the occupied Lenape people – I mean occupied land of Lenape people in Brooklyn South from a school district where every ZIP is exhibiting high community spread, lower vaccination rates, seven-day case average of a hundred plus, where most of the schools are over-utilized title one schools, and a case of a school spread [inaudible] been documented, and majority of the students are below the age of vaccination. What is the rationale [inaudible] behind not instating a remote option, despite thousands of parents’ demand across the city, and specifically in my district? I just want to preempt your – the part of your answer, where you say the school are safe by reminding you that the schools haven't been seeing the capacity – haven’t been seeing the capacity of students returning, like the way they were expected to and using mass transit, inadequate classroom [inaudible], and without a mask mandate, and of course, dubious quarantining and testing protocols. Would you explain to me what I should tell my parents who are asking and begging for a remote option?

Mayor: Thank you for the question, Tazeen. And even though I respect – you know, obviously if you want to preempt, that's your right, but I don't agree with the way you preempted because it wasn't accurate. The fact is we have seen really consistently, including in Summer Rising, which is happening right now, we have seen real consistent results. We are not seeing the kind of spread that people are worried about. I don't blame anyone for worrying and we need to be constantly vigilant, but in fact, we have a mask mandate. So that's one of the areas I respectfully want different with you on, we have had a mask mandate all year last year. We have it now in Summer Rising, we will have it in the new school year. It has been a key part of what worked. We also have just a massive level of vaccination, which is the big difference maker, 5.2 million New Yorkers who have had at least one dose, high numbers in the school system among staff and growing, 300,000 12- to 17-year-olds have gotten at least one dose already. That number is growing rapidly as school is coming on. We have a different reality than so much of the rest of the country, because we have a high level of vaccination and we're using all the other health and safety measures simultaneously – the ventilation, the masking, everything simultaneously. And ultimately what our doctors say – and I'm going to listen to them – is it's really been damaging for so many kids to be away from a school setting, in some cases a year-and-a-half. We cannot continue that. We need our kids back in school. 

Lehrer: A lot of parents are frustrated by what looks like a lack of specific information that reminds them of their frustrations with that last year. Like since you're not planning a remote option or any hybrid teaching, what happens when certain kids or classes have to quarantine after an outbreak? Do you have a plan for that? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's a really fair point. And, Brian, let me just say I was a public school parent the whole way, through both my kids. I understand parents are concerned about their kids' safety first and foremost. That's the number one thing you feel as a parent. There definitely – we have given a lot of information, but we have to do it better. That's just the blunt reality. So, let's go over what we have said. It's everyone back in school, we're following the CDC and the State education guidance around distancing. We'll have a lot of ventilation in place. We're actually adding extra ventilation in a number of classrooms. Everyone will be masked, adults and students alike. So, on the quarantine dynamic, the quarantine dynamic has changed because of the high level of vaccination now. If you are vaccinated and you're an adult or a student, if you're vaccinated, and if there are cases, either in your classroom or in the school as a whole that cause action – if you are vaccinated and not symptomatic, you stay in school. School keeps going. If you're vaccinated and symptomatic, you go and get tested and then follow through, depending on the test results. If you're unvaccinated, you quarantine. We're going to lay all this out starting next week in very specific detail, sort of a how-to, you know, FAQ kind of thing, to show people exactly how it works. But the thing I want to emphasize is we are going to see a lot of kids stay in school, who last year might have had to go home and quarantine, because we have a different reality now with a high level of vaccination. And we're going to have programming, which will delineate what that's going to look like for the time when kids are in quarantine. We're not going to have a remote option writ large, but we will have programming for kids for those days when those who have to quarantine are in quarantine. 

Lehrer: What will that look like for the kids who are quarantining and what will that demand of their teachers? 

Mayor: So, that's what we'll be delineating starting next week. We’re going to lay everything out in the lead up to school. I'm not going to preempt now, but we're going to make it very clear, so parents and kids have an understanding. But I want to emphasize, I think, the difference, we feel very good about the impact of all these health and safety measures. One of the things our medical leadership, that's really studied this carefully and looked at what's happening around the world, they're saying is, if kids were not in school, then in many, many cases, they had a greater exposure to COVID. The school environment, like a medical environment, is so highly regulated and there's so many health and safety measures in place, that's actually a much safer place than for many kids where they would be otherwise. And, again, you're not going to see the kinds of disruptions we saw last year. We've changed the entire approach because unlike last year, we now have, you know, really striking levels of vaccination. Remember 75 percent of adults in New York City, 75 percent have gotten at least one dose. We didn't have anything like that last year. So, it's a very different reality, but it's our job to lay that out clearly starting next week and in all the weeks leading up to school. 

Lehrer: Of course, a hundred percent of kids under 12 are unvaccinated.

Mayor: Well, for now, but I just – I don't mean to interrupt, but I want to emphasize, Brian, we think that's going to change in the next few months. We think the five- to 11-year-olds are going to be eligible, depending on who you listen to it could be as early as November. And I think what you're going to see then is a lot of parents just immediately coming and getting those vaccinations. 

Lehrer: You mentioned the filtration in classrooms. Here's a tweet about that. It says, “Ask the Mayor about the justification of the Intellipure filters he spent $40 million on, and his relationship with the CEO Paul Scialla,” if that's how you say his name. And I will add that I saw the article on the education news site, Chalkbeat, about how these are not HEPA filters, which are generally considered the industry standard. And they cited experts that rated this kind of filter, maybe the ninth best on the market and that they're more expensive than ones that were rated higher. Can you defend the choice of these filters? 

Mayor: Well, I can tell you, first of all, I am not a filter expert. And if you will say the name of the person they're saying I know, what's that name again? 

Lehrer: Is it Paul Scialla – 

Mayor: You tell me, spell it – 

Lehrer: S-C-I-A-L-L-A? S-C-I-A-L-L-A. The CEO –

Mayor: I don’t know that name. Paul Scialla, I don’t –

Lehrer: The CEO of a company that you –

Mayor: I don't know – I mean if you’re spelling it right, I don’t know someone what that name. I certainly don't remember. Maybe I've met him, but I don't know who it is.

Lehrer: Do you know the CEO of Intellipure? 

Mayor: I don't know what Intellipure is, except what you're telling me now. So, I don't do purchasing of filters. And, respectfully, I really don't know what this is about. So, what we will do is our team will happily do the research of what the DOE thinks of those filters and the people who did make those choices or procurement, why they made them, what they think of them, how they've been working, but let's also go to the outcome was. The outcome was the New York City public schools were extraordinarily safe last year. By the end of the school year, the percentage – I think on the last day of school, it was 0.01 was the positivity level in the schools. We got to be clear that what the DOE folks did – and give them credit, the facilities folks, the custodians, everyone really deserves a shout out. They did an amazing job on ventilation, on cleaning. All the adults did a great job on making sure kids wore masks. And the outcomes were stunning. And that's part of what gives me real faith about going forward. But on this one, I really don't know what they are talking about, but our team will certainly follow up with you. 

Lehrer: All right. One more schools thing, Gothamist reports on concerns over a two-tier system of social distancing. Many schools are so overcrowded that three feet of distancing, which is the CDC recommendation, in a mandatory 100 percent in-person setting, therefore the safety standards are going to vary from school to school, depending on levels of overcrowding. Do you have a non-hybrid, actually safe solution for that? 

Mayor: Yeah. I mean, again, I – Brian, for you and for any parent who is concerned, we need tough questions and it's right to do, but I also really want people to look at the level of focus, the way our medical leadership determined what was safe in our schools, the amount of expenditure – you know no expenditure was held back, anything and everything that was necessary to protect our kids and adults. And we're doing it all again. In fact, we're adding features and we're following the CDC guidance and the State education department guidance. So, in fact, because we're reconfiguring classrooms, using other spaces, we feel very good that we can follow that guidance effectively. And distance – remember distance is one of a number of factors. If you have the cleaning, the ventilation, the mask wearing the distance and a high level of vaccination for adults, and then a high level of vaccination, which we are at right now, we're way ahead of the national average in terms of youth vaccination, our numbers, we talked about on this week, the 300,000 kids 12 to 17 years old who have been vaccinated. We're already way ahead of the national average. And I know there's going to be a surge of vaccination. We're doing a huge campaign to get kids vaccinated. So, you have to add together all those things. That's the gold standard we've talked about in the past, but now adding to it a lot more vaccination and even more ventilation capacity. We feel really confident. Our doctors feel confident that we can create a safe environment again, bluntly, a safer environment than a lot of kids would experience in their own neighborhoods where there aren't all those controls and supports in place. 

Lehrer: I have an NYPD question, which is about the vaccination rate, still under 50 percent as it's being reported, and Gothamist has a story called, “NYPD Orders Unvaccinated Cops to Wear Masks. History Suggests They May Decline.” And the angle is largely that many supervisors at the precinct level are refusing to wear masks themselves, setting an example for the officers who work under them to not have to follow that directive. So, what kind of inspection, enforcement, or discipline are you planning for cops and supervisors who basically thumbed their noses at COVID safety practices?

Mayor: Yeah, it's a real issue, and it was a real issue, particularly in the beginning of this crisis with COVID. I think it's much better now, bluntly. I don't – I'm never surprised if Gothamist takes a jaded view, but I will say that I've seen – just being all over the city – definitely an improved situation. Still, I want to see every single person who's unvaccinated wearing a mask. And so, we are – you know, the directive that went out to officers was really clear. There will be discipline if folks don't do it, there will be discipline for superiors if they don't do it. But I think we have to do a better job of showing that to the public.

Lehrer: Is that a jaded view or does history simply suggest that they may decline to follow that directive, and especially a 50 percent or less are still unvaccinated?

Mayor: I think it is jaded view, because one, we've seen a very profound change in the habits – that I've seen it with my own eyes. I spend time going all over the city. I've seen it clearly with PD officers, a different reality than it used to be, but I also think we should be careful. There's – I often find that the public discourse when it comes to policing and police really misses the diversity of our police force. There's to – I think to a lot of people sort of stereotype of exactly who police officers are. I just want to remind everyone, you know, this is a majority people of color police force, this is a police force with almost as many New York City residents in terms of our uniformed officers, as folks who live outside New York City. Wide range of political ideological views. It's not one thing. So, you know, we need to get those vaccination levels up, for sure, but the reason that some people are not vaccinated, for some, it may be philosophical, for some, it may be what we're seeing, for example, still in a number of communities of color, hesitancy about medical establishment and the history of structural racism. There's a lot of different things going on, but what we know is vaccinations continue to rise and the mandate that will be affecting all City agencies soon, we're seeing it agency by agency as it's being phased in. We're seeing it having a real impact. So, I expect those numbers to keep going up.

Lehrer: As you were giving that answer, one of my colleagues here at the station – not from Gothamist by the way – sent me a note that said the police who were searching bags at Canal Street on Wednesday as they went through at the subway station, were not wearing masks. So, what would you do in that situation? And does it –

Mayor: That needs to be fixed –

Lehrer: Contradict –

Mayor: That's real.

Lehrer: The message you were just giving.

Mayor: No, Brian, respectfully, we're talking about 35,000 officers. I would argue, again, that many are doing the right thing and some are not, and we have to fix it. We have to deal with the ones who are not. But what I find interesting is, okay, so some officers at Canal Street were doing the right thing, does is that mean all 35,000 are doing the wrong thing? No. Let's deal with those so, first of all, I would love it if your folks would share those exact details so we can go have the supervisors deal with those officers. But to me, it's really clear, our officers who are unvaccinated need to wear masks. Officers are, have more freedom because they're vaccinated. So, I – and I want to see follow through and I want to see clear discipline, and that's what we'll be doing.

Lehrer: Bob in Bed-Stuy, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi Bob.

Question: Hi, thank you so much for taking my call. Mr. Mayor, it is a great honor to speak with you. So, thank you again for being on the airwaves with all of New York. I just have two –

Mayor: Thank you very much, Bob. I appreciate that.

Question: Yeah, and congratulations on an amazing run as Mayor, all your achievements. Two points, first is actually an invitation. I would like to invite you to come down to Bed-Stuy this Saturday from 11 to midnight, to work the door with me at my bar and turn away unvaccinated customers who have been supporting me through every phase of the COVID pandemic, who have supported my business for six years, who are my friends and neighbors, and I would like you to explain to them your policy and why they can no longer patronize my establishment. Secondly, I think that this policy regarding restaurants and the Key to New York is really misguided because there's no test out option for my customers, but you have it for your own employees in the city. There's also no exemption for religious objections to the vaccine, which I respect, and I would hope that you would respect as well. So first of all – I'll stay on the line –I hope you'll join me, 11:00 pm in Bed-Stuy, me and you going to work the door. It's going to be a lot of fun. And secondly, how is there no exemptions possible? And do you expect me to fire my unvaccinated staff and turn away my friends and peers?

Mayor: Bob, I know your questions are heartfelt and I appreciate it. And while we want people to do over the next weeks is get used to this approach. I think what you're going to, first of all, this is an approach that I don't know if you have outdoor, but I just want to be sure to all the other listeners that this is for indoor. If you have outdoor seating, anyone can go to the outdoor seating, but for the indoor, we believe this is absolutely essential. It's not the same as public service. We really, really appreciate the how important restaurants, bars, movie theaters, indoor entertainment, fitness, all these are really important parts of our city. They're not the same thing as what people do in public service. The fact is, we've seen around the world and we're already seeing here, that this kind of mandate makes an impact. It gets more people vaccinated. So, Bob, I'm sure you might have some individuals who right now are not comfortable, but I'd like to put this in perspective, there's 5.2 million New Yorkers right now who could walk right into your bar, on Saturday, 5.2 million who qualify this minute, more are going to qualify in the course of the day, and then everyone from the suburbs, or even the higher level of vaccination of the suburbs, and the tourists are higher level of vaccination for everything we've seen. So you are right –

Lehrer: They're not going to Bob's neighborhood bar in Bed-Stuy though, right?

Mayor: I don't know it was going to Bob's neighborhood. Bob, I hope a lot of people are –but my point is, let me just finish real quick to –

Question: Mr. Mayor, when you were answering the last question, you said that your vaccinated officers have more freedom. That's the quote you from your last question, you said they have more freedom. So, you're talking about restricting people's freedom. If you want to do it, put a cop on every corner, checking vaccine cards, and see how Brooklyn takes it, see how the people of New York City take it, if you want to restrict their freedoms. Don't put it on to my business to do it. It's coercive. I don't operate a coercive business. I operate a place that's a safe, positive, and a place where people come together, and I do it safely with every rule until now, but this is a step too far.

Lehrer: Or it’s not safe. But, Mr. Mayor, go ahead.

Mayor: And Bob, again, I appreciate – I can tell you're speaking from the heart and you're doing something for your neighborhood with your business, which I appreciate, but you do card to people when they buy liquor. So, you know, and, and every business has some version or another of how they regulate their workplace, and we want everyone to be safe and we're in a global pandemic. So, I appreciate your righteousness. Let me give you some righteousness back. We're in a global pandemic. What you do is something important for the city, but it's something people do to enjoy themselves. We want those who want to enjoy themselves to be vaccinated. We need more people to be vaccinated. That’s is the bottom line for defeating COVID and defeating developed to variant. This is mission critical. We know, we've seen this happen around the world, that these kinds of mandates explicitly cause a much greater number of people to get vaccinated. We did not say people needed two shots and wait two weeks. We said, even if you've gotten your first shot that day, you can walk in to encourage people to feel that this was the key to more freedom and more opportunity. But this is one of the ways we defeat COVID. I'm not going to – I will listen to anyone who wants to tell me the problem, and I'm going to work with anyone, but I don't have the single – a single bit of hesitation on this one. We have to defeat the Delta variant. We don't defeat the Delta variant then a lot of businesses will be shut down by restrictions, which Bob, I think you would like even less. So trust me, this is the way we're going to turn the corner here,

Lehrer: Bob, thank you for your call. We've got a few minutes left. I want to ask you about the so-called Homecoming Week Concerts that have been going on around the city with the big one, of course coming tomorrow, in Central Park, Bruce Springsteen, LL Cool J, Santana, Barry Manilow – for some reason - so many others –

Mayor: It's a city for everyone. Come on, Brian. Everyone, we got represent all tastes.

Lehrer: Now the audience members have to be vaxxed, with at least one dose. I understand. Do the vaccination requirements apply to the performers and the crew?

Mayor: We'll get the exact standards. A lot of people obviously are just coming in for this performance and leaving. So, it's a very temporary reality. But for the New Yorkers involved, obviously, for, you know, the folks who are coming, it's a very clear rule. It's vaccination only. And again, Brian, that's been part of the whole point to say to people, you can do amazing things if you're vaccinated, that's what Broadway is saying. You know, if you want to go to Broadway, you have to be vaccinated. So many – we have a great concert coming up at the Apollo, you have to be vaccinated. This is the standard that is going to be the city standard going forward for so many things and that's what's going to motivate people.

Lehrer How about the choice of artists for this? I know there are other concerts around the city this week, but one of our folks wrote that, “it's an affront to the city's young people who sacrifice prime years of their lives for the common good only to be invited to a show that features more aging, soft rock luminaries and cable news personalities than actual contemporary artists”, was the quote.

Mayor: Oh, I – look, first of all, it's one of the most amazing lineups I think anyone's ever seen, and there's the performers from all different generations, all different genres who all love New York City and want to help us come back. We did two things here this week, for the concerts in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx, we had the Universal Hip Hop Museum curate those concerts, and they did a focus on, you know, the history of hip hop and some of the great luminaries, particularly notable, I was thrilled to be with the Wu Tang Clan – the Wu Tang Clan in Staten Island – which was an amazing experience. So, that was curated by them. This concert , and Saturday, tomorrow, in Central Park was curated by Clive Davis, who's a legendary figure in the music industry, who really put out the call and he's a native of Brooklyn. He loves the city. He – this was his idea along with Danny Meyer, who – Danny Meyer had the idea of a Homecoming Week to really tell people in New York City was back, to tell the whole world. And Clive Davis said he would personally make this concert work and bring together the talent. CNN is going to broadcast this worldwide, and it's going to be a huge, huge thing, and it's going to help tell people that New York City is opening, and coming back, and strong, and we need that for a lot of reasons. And so, I would just say to anyone, you know, these are the best, you know, some of the greatest artists of all time. I think a lot of folks, certainly I know the young people in my life honor a lot of the artists in this lineup. I think it's going to be something extraordinary.

Lehrer: Can people just show up –just to stop them, if that's not the policy, how do they gain admission?

Mayor: Yeah, over the last weeks we've made, sort of, day after day batches of tickets available, the vast majority are free, and they've all been, I assure you, snapped up. So, certainly –

Lehrer: So this is sold out now?

Mayor: Yeah Central Park is sold out. I don't know if the Queen's concert tonight, which has a really amazing hip hop lineup and has George Clinton and his band, which has going be amazing. I don't know if that's entirely sold out, but I do know Central Park is. And look, I think it's going to be one of those signature moments that just tells everyone we are back and we're going to fight through this no matter what.

Lehrer: Final, final thing, are their preparations in the event of heavy rains from being on the outskirts of Hurricane Henri, and also for the Five Boro Bike Tour on Sunday in that respect?

Mayor: Yeah, a great question - and Henri, such an elegant name, has totally bad timing, but what we're actually seeing so far is it appears to not be hitting us too directly. The last report I got, we think the concert will go, you know, consistently, we think we can get the whole thing in. I think the bike tour is going to have a bigger challenge potentially. But, we are working on those plans right now. Oh, I've been handed a note. Queens is also sold out. So, I'm sorry, I might have raised some expectation of anyone was interested, but Queens is sold out too tonight. But yes, we feel good about the weather in terms of the concert Saturday, bigger question for the bike tour Sunday, our Emergency Management team will be speaking to that after we get some more weather reports today, they'll be putting out updates on how we're going to navigate Sunday.

Lehrer: All right, well, good luck this weekend. I have a front row seat on my couch via CNN, and thanks as always, Mr. Mayor, talk to you next week.

Mayor: Thank you, Brian. Take care.

2021-08-23 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Live from Staten Island here at Borough Hall, it's City Hall In Your Borough. This is going to be a great week in Staten Island, talking about issues important to the people of Staten Island. Making sure that City government is responding to the people of this borough. And there's no better way to do that than being out here for the whole week. It's going to be exciting. We've done it before. It is great. I'm looking forward to this week.

Unfortunately, Henri took quite a toll on our Central Park concert. And it was really sad to see such an amazing, amazing moment cut short. But I got to tell you, I mean, you know, this is a classic – literally, it was almost the exact halfway mark when the rain came. And this is the definition of glass half full, glass half empty. It was really sad to see that show have to end, profoundly sad, because it was getting better and better, stronger and stronger. But the first half alone, is one of the best shows I've ever seen. I mean, absolutely stunning talent, Earth, Wind and Fire, and from Earth, Wind and Fire to the New York Philharmonic, and Andrea Bocelli. I mean, it was a stunning combination. LL Cool J brought some of the greatest figures in hip-hop out on stage. I mean, it was unbelievable at that point. And everyone there really talked about how magical it was. And then even in the hours after, you know, amazing – the artists going live on CNN. Barry Manilow singing for Anderson Cooper, Gayle King live streaming The Killers from backstage. I mean, amazing, amazing stuff. The artists believe in New York City, they wanted to give back to New York City. Everyone felt New York City's come back. And it was projected to the whole world, and I want to thank CNN for that. For hours and hours, people saw how strong and great this city is and were reminded of it. So, that's beautiful. And it was another great example of the power of a vaccination requirement because everyone at that concert, all those people who came and loved it, were vaccinated. What a difference that makes.

And now, speaking of vaccination requirements, I want to say, there are leaders in business, in government, nonprofits, you name it – there are leaders who step forward, there are organizations that step forward, and make a big difference, and show the path for everyone else. And I want to commend everyone out there who's making clear how important it is to get everyone vaccinated. Today, we're going to talk about the Barclays Center, which is walking distance from my home in Brooklyn, which has been an incredible success for Brooklyn and New York City. Home, of course, of the Nets and the Liberty, an early adopter of the Key to NYC approach in terms of making sure employees and customers are vaccinated. Now, a really powerful effort being put together by the parent company, BSE Global, the company that is behind the Barclays Center, and they're doing everything – and they're showing companies how to do it, in my opinion, doing everything to make sure all their employees get vaccinated, including amazing prizes and incentives being offered to their employees. This is a great model for so many other companies. And I want you to hear about it from the CEO of the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center. And I want to tell you what great work he and his team have done. Obviously, the team they gave us this year with the Brooklyn Nets – extraordinary, but for injuries would have been world champions, and the amazing work that happens all the time at the Barclays Center. My pleasure to introduced the CEO of the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center, John Abbamondi. 

[…] 

Mayor: I really appreciate that. I appreciate the leadership you're showing, the Nets are showing, Barclays Center is showing. I predict – it's breaking news, I want you to hear it here – everyone's going to be healthy this year, that's my prediction. And when everyone is healthy, the Nets are going all the way, and this is going to be your championship year. There is my prediction. I feel in my heart and I'm looking forward to an amazing celebration of the Nets this year. The Nets are an amazing team. They did extraordinary stuff and they will be healthy and we will have a great parade, starting at the Barclays Center. That is my prediction for the Brooklyn Nets. Now, I also want to say, people in this city who step up, it's amazing. John Abbamondi, thank you for stepping up. And you mentioned Clive Davis, Doug Davis, what they did for this city with the concert – a labor of love, for sure. There are so many leaders in business and entertainment in so many parts of this city who want to do right by New York City and go the extra mile. And Clive and Doug did it this weekend with so many other great pieces – great people who were part of it. John, you're doing it today. Thank you so much. Thank you very much.

Alright, everyone, now, we've talked about amazing efforts that are being made to get folks vaccinated, and lots of ways that we reward and appreciate folks who are vaccinated, and vaccinations making all the difference. You know, I was on CNN on Saturday afternoon before the concert, and when I said to Anderson Cooper 75 percent of all New York City adults have gotten at least one dose, he was blown away by that – 75 percent of all New York City adults have gotten at least one dose. That's what we should be proud of already and that's why New York City continues moving forward, but we've got to go farther. We've got to make sure that more and more people get vaccinated.

We’ve got to make sure our schools are safe and healthy, in particular, for our kids. The next big thing happening in this town, September 13th, opening day of school. Schools, last year, despite everything thrown at us where the safest places in New York City. It was unbelievable, the great effort, everyone who worked together. We had extraordinarily low levels of COVID in our schools and we want to build on that success. We want our schools to be extraordinarily safe all year long. So, today a major announcement to ensure the safety of our schools, of our kids, of all the adults in our schools as well. Today, the New York City Department of Health will be issuing an order requiring all staff in the New York City public schools to be vaccinated. This will require that all staff of every kind, principals, teachers, custodians, food service, you name it, needs to have at least one dose by September 27th – the entire staff by September 27th, at least one dose. And we know this is going to help ensure that everyone is safe. Now, we're going to start immediately working with labor unions. I spoke to the leaders of the key unions over the last few days, and we're going to start bargaining with them immediately on the impact of this decision and how to ensure we can implement it properly and fairly. We're going to work together. They'll all speak to this decision and offer their own views, but what there is clearly a willingness to do by all parties is sit at the bargaining table and figure out what this means and what the ramifications are, and work together to see if we can resolve the outstanding issues. That's our goal. And what a perfect moment for this, given the big news today, and we're so thrilled. The FDA has announced today the full approval of the Pfizer vaccine. This is a game-changing moment. We've been waiting for this for a long time, to have the full approval of vaccine. We now have it. This helps us move forward and we're moving forward with our schools with this new vaccine mandate. I want you to hear about it from our Chancellor first and then our Health Commissioner. First, our Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter. 

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You know, today, I'm here to speak to you as a parent. And nothing means more to me than the health and safety of my 11th grade daughter. And I know parents across New York City feel the exact same way about their own children. This is why a vaccine mandate for all of DOE employees is so important to me. Our schools must be safe spaces for all children. And by mandating a first dose by September 27th, the first month of school, we are adding yet another layer of protection for our kids. No matter who it is in the school, your child's teacher, who they work closely with every day; your child's principal, who leads the whole school community; your child's school food workers, who keep everyone healthy and fed; your child's school safety agents who keep them and the entire building safe. Everyone in our buildings will have their first dose completed in September. 

Currently, at least 63 percent of DOE employees are vaccinated. By September 27th, 100 percent will be well on their way to be fully vaccinated. This vaccine mandate is on top of the multi-layered measures we already have in place, which have made our schools some of the safest places to be during COVID. Universal mask usage, physical distancing, health screenings, testing, and improved ventilation, increased hygiene and oversight by the Situation Room – they all work together to provide comprehensive protection for our children. Today's vaccine mandate will apply to all 148,000 of our employees, including those who work in our central offices and contractors who work in school-based settings. It aligns with the guidance from the CDC, which has recommended that school teachers and staff be vaccinated as soon as possible. This has because vaccination is the most critical strategy to help schools safely resume fully in the fall. 

Over the course of the summer, I've been visiting vaccination sites across the city, having productive dialogues and reminding our students, our student athletes, and members of the community that getting vaccinated is our passport out of the pandemic. A few weeks ago, I gave every student ages 12 and up a very important homework assignment to get vaccinated. And today, I have the same message to all DOE employees. We all do a lot to get ready for the first day of school, to welcome back 1 million children to our buildings. Well, now, there's one more thing to add to our list, and it's an important one that will go a long way and protecting our students. Get your first dose by September 27th and upload proof to the new DOE vaccination portal. 40,000 of our employees have already uploaded their proof of vaccination to our portal, and I know more will, and continue to do so every day. I want to thank you all so much for your commitment to our students and our families by taking this very important step. And with that, I'll turn it back to you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Chancellor. And now, everyone, I want you to hear from our Health Commissioner, who is obviously a true, true believer in vaccination, and he's going to tell you why it's so important that we will have a vaccination mandate for all the adults who work in our public schools. He also happens to be a parent. I know he's always speaking from that perspective as well. Dr. Dave Chokshi – 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. If there's a cornerstone of our recovery, it is returning our children to learning in-person safely alongside their friends and among supportive educators. This matters not just for their education, but also for their social and emotional development and their physical and mental health, especially over the long-term. Last year, we saw that schools could be kept safe with a layered approach to COVID, as you just heard from the Chancellor. Masking, distancing, ventilation, hand-washing and other measures kept transmission in schools remarkably low. And this year, we have a powerful new layer of safety in vaccination. COVID-19 vaccination among teachers and other staff, as well as all eligible students, is a critical strategy to get us back to school. And today's announcement that the FDA has granted full approval to the Pfizer vaccine adds to the crescendo of evidence that COVID-19 vaccines are both safe and effective.

The vaccine is a defense, both a personal defense against disease and a community defense against spread. And the data shows, even with Delta, vaccinated people are significantly less likely to be infected, which makes them less likely to pass it on to family members, to colleagues, to unvaccinated children. And when it comes to our younger children, our defenses are their defenses, which is why I'll be issuing this Commissioner's Order that mandates all school staff be vaccinated. This is the right policy where it matters most in our schools. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Commissioner. And, everyone, now, I want you to hear from some really important voices, doctors who have nationally important voices in the ongoing debate about the best ways to fight COVID. Their voices have stood out, helping us to understand the best strategies. First, Professor of Epidemiology and Medicine at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Director of ICAP at Columbia University and the Columbia World Projects. My pleasure to introduce Dr. Wafa El-Sadr. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, doctor. And I appreciate your strong voice on this issue and the importance of getting our kids back to school safely. Thank you. And now, I want you to hear from a leader both in the academic realm – the academic realm and frontline medicine. Associate Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine, Dr. Dara Kass. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you. And doctor, listen, first of all, I give you credit as your fellow parent, parent to parent, what a wonderful child you've raised who goes up and says thank you to the security guard for being vaccinated. That's beautiful. But I love the story also because you're making a real important point – our kids have been through a year-and-a-half of unprecedented challenges, physically, emotionally, everything. And we’ve got to remember that they need to see adults doing the right thing for them. So, doctor, thank you for all you do, but your story is powerful, because it reminds us adults can bring some peace, some calm to our kids, some security to our kids by showing them that we're doing the right thing, getting vaccinated, so we are protecting them at the same time. So, really, really appreciate that, doctor.

Alright, everyone, I want you to hear now from one of the leading voices throughout the pandemic here in the city. He has been a really powerful voice for the right strategies to address COVID and to address the disparities within it. And have always appreciated his partnership, ensuring the City of New York leads the way on these issues. He is the chair of the City Council Health Committee. My pleasure to introduce Council Member Mark Levine. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you very, very much Council Member. And I want you to hear from another Council Member now, everyone, who is a parent and feels very strongly about this policy as a parent. He's a Council Member who has led the way on issues of justice for all communities and addressing disparities, and he's about to be the next Borough President of Brooklyn. My pleasure to introduce Council Member Antonio Reynoso. 

[…] 

Mayor: I liked your Brooklyn attitude. A little bit tough love is part of the mix here. And you're right, we're going to use everything it takes. Thank you, Council Member. Thank you for your passionate, passionate statement, especially as a parent. But yeah, he's right, we're going to do whatever it takes to make sure that everyone is safe and that we push back Delta. It's really time to say goodbye to Delta and we have the power to do it. That's why today's announcement is so important.

Let me go over the indicators for the day. And first, the number of doses administered to-date, it's really striking, people keep coming out now, we're seeing a real nice uptick. We're closing in on 10.5 million doses from day-one, an astounding figure. As of today, 10,486,041 doses – more every hour, which is good, good news. Number two, current hospital admissions – daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 131 patients. Confirmed positivity, 38.78 percent. And the hospitalization rate is 1.36 per 100,000. And then, finally, number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 1,688 cases.

Going to say a few words quickly in Spanish about this vaccination mandate for the Department of Education.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, by DoITT Commissioner Jesse Tisch, by Citywide Events Executive Director Dan Gross, and by Emergency Management Commissioner John Scrivani. Juan Manuel from NY1.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Juan Manuel, how are you doing? 

Question: Very good, thank you. You're talking about a mandate for all the New York City schools' staff, but also about negotiating with unions. Can you explain what this is? Is this like a mandate that you have to negotiate with the unions, how long that's going to take, and can you really assure parents that their kids are going to be safe if many people working in schools are not going to be vaccinated by September 13th? 

Mayor: Yes, I can certainly assure parents. Their kids are going to be safe because a variety of things. One, we have a huge drive going on right now to vaccinate a 12-year-old and up, kids over 300,000 kids between 12 and 17-years-old, already vaccinated higher than national average. You're going to see a lot more in the next few weeks. Two, we have a strong rate of vaccination in the school system right now among the adults. We're going to be pumping that up even before this mandate takes effect. So you're going to have kids coming into environment where there's a lot of vaccination that's already been done, but on top of that, a huge set of health and safety measures that worked in the past. And we're adding even more. But Juan Manuel to your original point, yes, this is a mandate and it will take effect on September 27. What we are doing starting this week is what's called impact bargaining. It means we're bargaining with the unions over the specific impacts of this policy and working with them to determine some of the elements of implementation. And we hope to come to agreement with them on that. Either way you slice it though, this policy is moving forward and this mandate will be in place. That's the bottom line. Go ahead, Juan Manuel. 

Question: And Mr. Mayor, knowing the impact of Delta right now, there are a lot of companies in New York City that are now delaying the return to the office. Not only by a month, many of those companies coming back in October, but also by a few months. Some companies saying that they won't be back in the office till January or even later. So what's the impact that this is going to have on New York City's economy and the recovery that you're pushing so hard for? 

Mayor: It's a great question. Juan Manuel. Look, first of all, every company has to make sense of its own reality, and I really do respect the choices each company makes, but I want to strongly urge folks in the private sector to follow the lead of the New York City government. We've had folks back in our offices safely and effectively. We believe fundamentally that strong actions on vaccination are the way forward. That's what we're doing today with a vaccine mandate for our public schools. That's what we did with the other mandates we put in place for employees with the approach we're taking – Key to NYC for food – dining I should say indoor entertainment, fitness, all of this is moving us in the right direction. So, I urge companies, follow the example of the Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets come up with a schema to get your folks vaccinated. Let's get everyone back. Let's do the best work we can do, which is the work we do together in person by making everyone safe with really strong initiatives, to get everyone vaccinated. And we're going to have to overcome Delta and overcome the coronavirus. This is a good time to stand and fight, and this is a moment to just push right through and beat this thing once since we're all through vaccination. 

But the larger point, our recovery is happening. Juan Manuel, whether businesses have some people stay in the office or work remotely, either way they're working, the income's being is being generated. The revenue is being generated, the activity, and you can see it out in the streets of the city. The recovery is happening. It is strong. It will become stronger as we get even more people vaccinated. And remember, here's a city that can say now, 75 percent of all adults have received at least one dose. We're going to benefit from being one of the more vaccinated places in the country. That's going to allow us to recover more strongly and more quickly than a lot of other places.

Moderator: The next is Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. I was wondering if you have any concerns or if UFT or the other unions have concerns that the new vaccine mandate could lead to a significant number of teacher resignations? 

Mayor: I won't speak for the unions, but I feel confident, Emma, and I'll certainly have the Chancellor speak to that now as well. I feel confident that this is going to work. We're going to see a lot of our teachers and other school staff get vaccinated as result of this mandate. I think people who do this work, cherish the work, I really think and especially the opportunity in New York City public schools Emma, you've looked at education. I know and a lot of teachers and other professionals yearn to work in the New York City public school system for a lot of reasons, including the way we compensate folks. So, I feel confident that this will work, and we'll get a high level of compliance. And we've given ourselves time here to really work with people, to get this done the right way. Chancellor, do you want to add? 

Chancellor Porter: Absolutely. I agree with you, Mr. Mayor. You know, I do not expect a staffing shortage. I expect our staff members to get vaccinated. Our teachers have been our greatest heroes throughout this pandemic and showed up in so many amazing ways, and this is the next way to get our babies back in class and to keep them protected and safe.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Emma.

Question: And then I saw this video of you at the Central Park concert where you came on stage and said, we're going to try to get the show running again. And of course, you know, there was this lightning strike and it ended up being this huge downpour at the park. So, do you regret coming on stage and what was your thinking? 

Mayor: Well, my thinking was I think the same as everyone involved with the show, Clive Davis, and Doug Davis, and the performers – everyone wanted the show to go on. And the initial information we got from our Emergency Management Department and from the weather analysts was that there was going to be an end to the thunderstorms. I mean, a summer thunderstorm is a pretty common thing. And a lot of times as brief, we understood they would pass and then we'd have a good long stretch where things would be clear. And we were hoping to be able to bring the show back in that instance. Unfortunately, you know [inaudible] we had one of the greatest concerts in New York City history. We also had the kind of weather that shut it down, but, you know, we – anyone who was a part of it is going to remember that for the rest of their lives. It was an amazing, amazing concert and really sent the message to the whole world that New York City is back.

Moderator: As a programming note. We're also joined by Dr. Katz. We'll go back to Jenn Peltz from the AP.

Mayor: Well, we thought we were. Jenn, are you out there? Jen, Jen, Jen, maybe not.

Moderator: We'll go to Alex Zimmerman from Chalkbeat.

Mayor: Who is that again? I'm sorry.

Moderator: Alex Zimmerman from Chalkbeat.

Mayor: Alex, are you there? 

Question: Yep. Hi, Mr. Mayor. Thanks so much for taking my question. I wanted to – can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah. How are you doing today?

Question: I'm good. I'm good. How are you?

Mayor: Good. Thank you. 

Question: So, I just wanted to ask whether given that you're now mandating vaccines for all Education Department employees, and also mandating vaccines for many student athletes, whether you're now considering mandating them for a wider group of students, you know, who are currently eligible for them? 

Mayor: No, right now that is not on the table, Alex. We very much are going to – we're going to move heaven and earth over these next weeks to get our students 12 years old and up vaccinated. We're seeing a great response from our young people and our parents. But we're going to make sure that we do that with every tool we've got, but not through a mandate. We're also really looking forward to as early, as you know, just a few months from now being able to have the authorization to vaccinate five to 11-year-olds. We see that coming soon and I guarantee you, there's going to be a huge demand for that. So, we think that's the best way forward. Go ahead, Alex. 

Question: Got it. I'm just wondering if you can say anything about why that's not on the table at the moment, and also whether you can elaborate at all on like what testing requirements will exist this coming school year. You know, we know some districts are requiring folks to be tested before they return. Is New York City considering anything like that? Can you elaborate on what the testing policies will be? 

Mayor: Testing is going to be something we do regularly. And especially when there's a particular need, I'll have a Dr. Chokshi talk to it. But look to your previous question. I think the bottom line is we want to make sure our schools are safe. That's why we have the ventilation, the masking requirement, the following the CDC rules on distancing the cleaning – but also now a vaccine mandate for all the adults in the building. But we also want to make sure that every child comes back to the classroom right away for the beginning of school, especially those kids who have been out for a year and a half and have missed a crucial time in their education, in their social development. So, we want no impediments. We want to make sure everyone comes back, but we're really, really going to strongly encourage. And I think effectively encourage vaccination in the process. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to speak to the – just broad strokes – the testing approach we'll be taking? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly sir. As you said, you know, testing when it's needed is one of the important layers of protection and safety that we have to offer in the school setting. And so, it will be brought to bear in circumstances where it helps to interrupt the spread. And, of course, for diagnostic purposes as well, testing will be made available. We will have, in many instances, at-home testing kits available for parents and their families too, and all of this will be described in further detail by the Department of Education, and our colleagues, in coming days. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Yeah. And thank you for that last point. We are going to be putting out, Alex, in the course of this week, a very detailed kind of handbook for parents to understand a lot of how we're setting up for the school year and the different measures that will be in place and the kind of, you know, everyday information that parents are looking for about how things are going to be working. We'll be getting that out over the next few days.

Moderator: The next is Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey Elizabeth, how you been? 

Question: I'm good. My question is why not extend the mandate to all City workers at this point, given the fact that the FDA is going to approve the Pfizer vaccine today, full approval that is? 

Mayor: The full approval is crucial, Elizabeth. I agree with you. And, Elizabeth, you've heard me use the phrase, climbing the ladder, before. Every option is on the table, and we keep implementing additional steps at the point we believe it makes sense to do that. So, in terms of the rest of our employees, we're looking at that right now. We wanted to get this piece done. Knowing that our health care workers were covered by the previous State mandate, the most immediate sense of [inaudible] was to address the schools with schools coming up. And then in the days ahead, we'll be looking at the rest of the workforce. So, stay tuned on that. Go ahead, Elizabeth. 

Question: And you also said that the City was going to start bargaining immediately with the union leaders, but I'm wondering what were the conversations with them like prior to you making this decision, I assume, over the weekend? And why didn't Michael Mulgrew appear at the press conference with you today?

Mayor: Well, you’ll have to – I know Michael's out of town, but you'll have to speak to him about what he feels and his other labor colleagues, because I'm not going to characterize their view, but I can say that we've been having these conversations over days in some cases, with some labor unions over weeks. I think everyone understands that we're in a crisis and vaccination is the answer, but I also understand that their job is to represent their members. And that's why bargaining is so important to make sure that this is done in a way that the unions believe is equitable. Again, I emphasize while bargaining is going on, or if bargaining does not succeed, this mandate will be in place for September 27th, but we look forward to bargaining. We look forward to finding the most common ground possible. And I think the bottom line is certainly – look, I've been working with labor unions for a long, long time. There's not an assumption we're going to agree on everything, but there is an assumption we're going to talk about everything and we're going to look for common ground where we can find it, and certainly an understanding that this is, you know, as exceptional a time as any of us has ever experienced. And we, the City government, we have to defend the interests of the people as a whole, particularly our kids in this case. And we have to create a safe work environment. And that's what this mandate will achieve.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Bob Hennelly from the Chief Leader. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, thanks for taking the call. August 19th, Harry Nespoli, chair of the Municipal Labor Committee, spoke with my colleague Crystal Lewis. And he said that the MLC had sent three letters over a two-week period, and they'd been ignored. I'm just trying to understand and reconcile your comments about collaboration when it appears that if Mr. Nespoli is speaking truthfully there was, kind of, radio silence. Doesn't that kind of amp up the adversarial kind of atmosphere that could actually be counterproductive in terms of producing the results we all want? 

Mayor: Listen, Bob, I've been working with Harry very closely for eight years, tremendously strong working relationship. A lot of the times, in terms of talking about day-by-day issues and developments, our First Deputy Mayor, Dean Fuleihan, or our Labor Relations Commissioner, Renee Campion, speak with Harry. I don't know about those specific letters to be honest with you and I'll get you an update on that, but I do know we stay in dialogue with him and with a variety of union leaders constantly and very respectfully, very respectfully. Even when there's differences, I have tremendous respect for Harry Nespoli, and we talk as two people trying to find a way to solve problems on behalf of the people in New York City. But I understand, he has interests he has to defend for his members. So, I will follow up with you on the letters, but absolutely the spirit has been a positive one. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: But I guess my – I guess I was speaking with Sarah Nelson who leads the CWAs, flight attendants, and she mentioned it has some 50,000 flight attendants with 17 carriers. Compliance ranges from 70 to 90 percent. And Ms. Nelson told us that the 90 percent higher level was among carriers that had worked out prior, in a non-adversarial setting, a conversation had been detailed with the union so that when the plan was announced, it was one that was done with the collaboration of unions. It appears to me just from reading the [inaudible] here, that's not where you're headed now because you did lose this two weeks if Mr. Nespoli is speaking truthfully. 

Mayor: Bob, I will just, without going into a lot of private conversations, I'll say every dynamic is different. I respect, greatly, what the flight attendants did. Every union's different. Every environment is different. This is New York City with a particular environment here. There has been a lot of dialogue and we've made the decisions based on the health and safety of our people and fighting COVID. Wherever there's a high level of agreement, that's ideal. But we also understand – and I have sympathy for union leaders that have big diverse memberships with lots of different viewpoints. We want to work with them. When we can get to an agreement upfront, that's always the ideal. Where that's not available, we're still going to work with them in a respectful fashion. And, certainly, the labor leaders I spoke to in the last few days appreciated that we were immediately going to impact bargaining, but Bob respectfully, and again, your focus, of course, is on the interests and needs of labor. My focus right now is the health and safety of 8.8 million New Yorkers and stopping the Delta variant and stopping the coronavirus. That's what I'm focused on, but we're going to do it in a way that's respectful to working people.

Moderator: Now we have time for two more questions. The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing good? 

Mayor: Michael, how you doing today? 

Question: I'm all right. UFT put out a statement that, you know, on this mandate, if you know, the implementation details aren't sorted out to their liking, that this could be resolved – they push for it to be resolved by arbitration. You know, as far as your timeline for this order going into effect September 27, it would seem that that could create problems for doing it on time. Does that give you pause in any way? Have you talked to Mulgrew about that? What can you tell us about that? 

Mayor: Michael, we're very confident that we will implement on September 27th. Negotiations, we really do hope will yield a constructive, positive outcome quickly. If they don't, yeah, things like arbitration are an available avenue and those actions are taken in light of context. It's – one, we have a decision here. This is a decision that is a Commissioner's Order from the Health Department. This is not your garden variety situation and in the middle of a global pandemic. Arbitrators understand urgency too. So, I'd love it if we don't need to use arbitration. If we do, we're going to do it in a tight timeframe, but either way you slice it, this action will be implemented on September 27. Go ahead, Michael. 

Question: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. On the Central Park concert Saturday are you – is the City planning a part two, you know, given the rain out – the partial rain out? Any plans for that in the future?

Mayor: Really important question. I appreciate it, Michael. Anyone who saw it, anyone who was there, is feeling a great sense of loss because we were watching something magical and an unbelievable statement about New York City and there's unfinished business there. We've got a look at options now. I had a good conversation yesterday with Clive Davis and Doug Davis. We are going to be meeting in the next few days to consider options. But all I can say is what they did in putting together that concert was one of the greatest acts of love and support for New York City I've ever seen. And there's still more out there and we'll have updates on that as we go along. 

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Julia Marsh from the New York Post. 

Question: Last but not least, right Mr. Mayor? 

Mayor: That's right, Julia. We would never suggest anything but. 

Question: Okay. Following up on a question that Juan asked about, you know, returning to the office full-time – your Corporation Counsel, Georgia Pestana, sent out an email to her 2,000-person workforce on Wednesday saying, “At this time, in the absence of any official announcement from City Hall, everyone should plan for the likelihood that employees will return to the office on a full-time basis, starting September 13.” When are you going to put out an official directive of when your workforce needs to be at their desk five days a week?

Mayor: Look, bottom line is we want everyone doing what's best to serve the people of the city. And, overwhelmingly, that means being at their work site. There have obviously been some exceptional circumstances, we understand that, and some flexibility and decisions we've made around it. But we long since created a situation where our office workforce came back. In terms of moving out of any kind of flexible schedules, that's something we're looking at right now. We'll have an update on that soon, but the bottom line is we know we can keep our employees safe, and we want them where they can serve the people of this city best.

And with that, everyone, look, two points where we're going to have little close-out music in a moment. I'll speak to that. But we, today, with this action, once again, New York City is sending a powerful we're going to do whatever it takes to fight the Delta variant, to fight COVID, to bring this city back a hundred percent. Today's announcement, a big piece, and it's a way to reassure our parents, keep our kids safe, keep our employees safe, move the city forward. More to come as we go forward. In the meantime, Borough President Oddo requested close-out music. So, let's hit it. And for all of you who don't know, this is from Dire Straits. I love Dire Straits, loved them ever since Sultans of Swing. Sultans of Swing [inaudible]. This one is Brothers in Arms. Come on, let’s get past the lead-in to the actual music. You guys, I need a better DJ. I've been to concerts all week with much better DJs. There you go. No, that's good. See, there's a hook we know if you're a Dire Straits fan, as I am. I think it's a great selection. I want to see when the song actually gathers some steam here, though. Mark Knopfler, wake up. There we go. 

Thank you, everyone.

2021-08-24 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: All right, good morning, everybody. Live again from Staten Island here from Borough Hall. Really, really happy to be here. Thank you to Borough President Jimmy Otto and his whole team who have been incredible hosts this week. We got a lot to happen this week, including today, really wonderful thing we do every City Hall in Your Borough week, open hours with leaders of the entire city government, Commissioners, Deputy Mayors, I'll be out their resource fair for folks to see all the ways that they can access what the city has to offer. We're here to help Staten Islanders, we're here to listen to Staten Islanders, this is going to be another good day working with the people of Staten Island. And we all know what the first mission is for all of us, Staten Island, the whole five boroughs, all across America, job one, fight the Delta variant, fight COVID, and the COVID era. That is what we need to focus on. That's where everything else comes together. You want kids back in school? Fight COVID. You want to make sure we bring jobs back? Fight COVID. You want to protect small businesses? Fight COVID. You want to stop restrictions from coming back, remember those restriction? I don't know anyone who liked those, you want to stop those from happening, fight COVID, fight the Delta variant, and it means vaccination.  

New York City's leading the way. Every step we take has had national impact, when we first put forward our employee mandate for our city employees, the original vaccinate or test, had a big impact across the country. When we said we're going to do a $100 incentive, had a big impact, President Biden picked up on it, promoted around the country. When we said we would do the Key to NYC pass to ensure indoor dining, entertainment, fitness would be safe for employees, for customers, encouraging vaccination, saying to everyone, especially our young people, you want to fully participate? You want to enjoy everything? Just go get vaccinated. One dose, get in the game, then go get it that second dose later. Again, President Biden endorsed it immediately. It's being picked up on by private sector organizations, businesses all over the country. We saw it yesterday, Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center, leading the way. Thank you to them again, requiring vaccination for all their employees. It's growing and growing, and obviously the announcement yesterday, Department of Education employees, everyone's going to be vaccinated to protect our kids. Our kids deserve it. Our families deserve it. We're moving forward. And as I've said, we’re going to continue to use any and all options to keep the people of this city safe, to protect everyone, and bring this city back, because we need a recovery and we need a recovery for all of us, and that means vaccination.  

And here's the good news today, we're going to surpass 10.5 million doses. I mean, it's just an astounding figure, from day one, 10.5 million doses. Today, we can say the incentive has worked, over a 100,000 New Yorkers have already gotten the $100 incentive when they took their first dose of the vaccine. This is something we announced – it feels like it was yesterday - and already 100,000 people have taken advantage of it, more coming in every day. And mobile vaccination, this has been a really positive story. The mobile vaccination sites have been incredibly effective. Here's another milestone, we've now had over 200,000 vaccination doses at mobile sites. This is a game changer. You're going to see a lot more of them. And this week in Staten Island, we're going to put a heavy, heavy emphasis on the mobile sites, all over Staten Island to reach the people at Staten island, to keep them safe, to keep their families safe. On Thursday on August 26th, we're going to have our first Staten Island Vax Thursday, and it's a day of action for folks to come together, help promote vaccination, join us in Clifton at Tappen Park and in New Springfield, that’s Staten Island Mall. If you want to be part of this day action to promote vaccination, to get people involved, to help save lives, go to nyc.gov/vaxSI to sign up. We’re looking for volunteers. We're looking for people to get involved. There's so much good we can do here. And we're going to again, have those mobile vaccination sites all across the borough, And they're telling me on the screen, they're going to show you – are, you're showing it on the screen? The mobile vaccination sites. I got, I got to make sure that everyone's doing their jobs today. No, the other sites, the longer list of sites here at comms, there we go. This is the way to reach people, to have sites everywhere, to make it easy, make it simple. It's free, it's fast, it's safe, it's effective. Someone's going to tell you how important it is. And she has been out in her community, promoting vaccination with her whole hear, and I want to thank them for that. My pleasure to introduce Council Member, Debbie Rose. 

[…] 

Thank you so much Council Member, and love your quote, “we are not strangers to adversity, but is adversely strange if we don't work together.” That is powerful and accurate, and New Yorkers are at their best, we saw it, so many points in our history, after Hurricane Sandy, after 9-11, New Yorkers pulled together, no one asked which party are you, which borough you're from. People just helped each other. That's the spirit that wins and thank you, Council Member for helping to lead the way, keeping people safe here on Staten Island. 

[…] 

All right, everyone. Look, we have a lot of work to do, but New Yorkers, in addition to being no strangers to adversity, we're no strangers to hard work. This is why New York City is the greatest city in the world. We work hard, we stay at it, and we have built a tremendous capacity to vaccinate New Yorkers effectively, safely, quickly for free. Yesterday, crucial day for this nation, for the city, the Pfizer vaccine getting its full formal approval from the FDA and President Biden said it, so simply, so clearly, “ those who have been waiting for full approval should go get your shot now.” And like now, it's the time. What this means is this is a crossing the Rubicon moment. So, I want to say to the private sector, please, we saw a great example with the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center yesterday, just cross the Rubicon, go to all vaccination. It is the simplest, safest way to get things done. It's just going to move the ball. It's going to help us move forward. Those mandates save lives and speed the recovery and stop us from falling back to an age of restrictions. I want you to hear how important it is for every part of our society to participate here, going to turn to our Health Commissioner with great gratitude, Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, and yes, we took an important step forward yesterday with that full FDA approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for people 16 years or older. I know the news has come as a relief to many New Yorkers who needed that further vote of confidence in the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. It should also come as a relief to employers who are eager to safely bring people back to work because every activity is safer with vaccination, and that includes the work in industries like retail, manufacturing, hospitality, and so much more. To protect these workers, their colleagues, and their patrons, I join you in calling on all private sector employers to require their staff be vaccinated. Our city, our recovery, and our health depend on a vaccinated workforce. Each dose of the vaccine is another brick in the wall against the Delta variant and lifting vaccination rates as high as we possibly can, will help protect the most vulnerable among us, such as younger children who can't yet get vaccinated by reducing communities spread. Yesterday, as you alluded to Mr. Mayor, federal and state leaders also called for this commonsense approach. We're all pushing in the same direction because the stakes are so high. I strongly urge CEOs and all private sector leaders to do your part in our pandemic response by adopting vaccine requirements. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Chokshi and thanks for everything you're doing to spread the message and everyone, look, I think anyone looks at the City of New York will say City of New York has thrown in everything we've got in the fight against COVID and our singular, singular focus on vaccination as the strategy that matters. And I have a lot of respect for what the Biden administration has achieved. We've got more to do though. So, I want to be really, really clear. We've got to keep this moving. We need momentum. I'm glad the FDA acted on Pfizer. They need to act immediately on Moderna, that full authorization for adults, J & J, all of these need to be fully authorized quickly because everyone will feel much more comfortable, much more ready if they hear that. But here's the thing I care about the most and the thing we need the most, we need an accelerated focused effort at the federal level to get the vaccination ready for five to 11-year-olds. This is the game changer we really need. And I'm speaking as a parent, federal government needs to move heaven and earth, this should be the number one federal priority right now, get the vaccine ready for five to 11-year-olds. We need our kids back in schools. We need every school community to be safe. The only thing holding us back from getting to exactly where we need to go is the inability to reach those youngest kids. Now, thank God, we know COVID has had much less impact on younger people than older people, but still, this should be that relentless focus of the federal government, because I know parents are going to feel such tremendous relief when they can get their youngest kids vaccinated. That day that that's allowed, I am guaranteeing you, you're going to see long lines at all our vaccination centers because parents care first and foremost about protecting their kids. There are hundreds of thousands of kids in the city who would benefit from the vaccine. So, my plea to the federal government, give us a timeline, announce a timeline, set a goal, show the path because that's, what's going to animate action. People, if they know it's coming, if they know the vaccine for five to 11-year-olds is coming, it's going to instill more confidence. It's going to help us move forward.  

Now, again, you see the momentum being built. I want to give a special thank you because we saw a really important announcement yesterday. When we said we're moving forward with our schools with the vaccine mandate, our state court system also made a major announcement yesterday, tremendously helpful, their own mandate. I want to thank Chief Judge DiFiore. This is really, really important because it's going to protect people. It's going to save lives, but it's also going to help us defeat the challenges we've faced with crime and violence. We need the court system to be as active as possible, full strength as possible. Vaccination is the way we keep the courts moving, and this is a really important step. So, thank you, Chief Judge DiFiore, and everyone at the office of court administration really think this is a major, major step, both for fighting COVID and for fighting crime.  

Okay, now let me give you some other updates real quick. We are seeing despite the challenges New Yorkers always keep building. What's amazing is in the middle of all this, we saw it yesterday, we inaugurated the first ever NYC Ferry route from Staten Island to the west side of Manhattan, and someone said to me, you know, what's amazing, in the middle of COVID new things keep happening, new things keep getting built, new things keep getting announced, groundbreakings, ribbon cuttings because New Yorkers don't stop. We fight through everything. Well, here's another great example, the crossroads of the world, Time Square place that is synonymous with the energy and the joy and the intensity, everything people love about New York City, and we have exciting news because Times Square is buzzing again, and it's about to buzz a whole lot more with Broadway coming back in a matter of days. We are seeing in addition to all the energy and time square all ready, by the way, Times Square has also been – 20 Times Square as a site for vaccination –it's been one of our most popular vaccination sites in all of New York City. So, it is the crossroads of the world in every way, including fighting COVID, but here's something great that will add to our recovery. Right in the middle of Times Square starting tomorrow, the unveiling of the Time Square Wheel, a giant ferris wheel in the middle of Times Square. This is really exciting. This is going to add even more energy and excitement to a place that's already synonymous with energy and excitement. And it's going to be a symbol of recovery. I want you to hear from someone who all day long puts his heart and soul into making the Crossroads of the World the greatest place it could possibly be. I’ve known him a long time and I appreciate his good work. My pleasure to introduce the President of the Times Square Alliance Tom Harris. 

[…] 

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you, Tom. I look forward to that, too. Congratulations, you made a great place even greater. We're all going to work together to keep it that way, and very exciting that Broadway is coming back. And I'm going to combine, now, themes, because now a Staten Islander is looking forward to going to one of those Broadway shows coming back, can get on NYC Ferry and go to the west side of Manhattan directly, and then over to a Broadway theater. Did you like that, Jimmy? See how I brought that together?  

Now, we have a Staten Island announcement that's a really big deal. And I want to set this up with a thanks, because, if you know Jimmy Oddo, you know he's all heart. And he listens to the people of Staten Island. He tries to adjust very, very intensely, earnestly address what they need. And, Staten Island, like so much of New York City, like so much of this country, has a huge challenge when it comes to diabetes. And this has touched so many families, and a lot of people don't have a place to go to get help, or don't know where to turn to get help, or the help isn't available the way they need it. And so, this curse – because diabetes does so much harm in so many families – this curse just grows when we need to be addressing it right at its root. Jimmy Oddo made this a personal crusade and he said that this borough needed to have world-class diabetes services, a world-class approach to protecting Staten Islanders from the scourge of diabetes, to addressing the problem. And he said, we need it centered right here. We all got together, Health + Hospitals, the amazing work that's being done at Gotham Health, at Vanderbilt, how, we said, can we bring all these pieces together to save lives, to change lives, to make it work for Staten Islanders? And I’ve got to give credit where credit is due – we found a solution, and we're all leaning in, and we're all investing, and we're all going to make it work, but it never would have happened if it wasn't for the constant focus and the belief that we could get it done that came from Borough President Jimmy Oddo – and here he is. 

Staten Island Borough President James S. Oddo: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for those kind words. And good morning from the rock to the rest of New York. Mayor, I want to start by reading a very difficult paragraph – a very difficult paragraph to hear somewhat graphic, but speaks to the ground truth that's playing out across this country. So, bear with me for one second. Small and large diabetic foot wounds rarely heal. They can look as though someone has taken an apple core to the balls of both feet. The body doesn't have enough blood flow and cell regeneration capacity and bacteria thrive in this meaty moist environment. Right now, 40 million people bedridden and waiting for death are living this nightmare. There's almost nothing that can be done for them except to cut back the dead and dying tissue, then cut some more, and then some more. From there, robbed of upright mobility, misery is your bedfellow, and thankfully death is near. In the United States alone, 82,000 elderly people have a limb amputated. That's 10 every hour. All this pain, all this cost comes from relatively minor initial injuries – foot wounds. And that's a powerful paragraph from a book called Lifespan by David Sinclair that I read a few years ago. Every time I read that, Mayor, I think of an article from 2009 New York Times, Sam Roberts article, about one of your predecessors Ed Koch, an 84 year old – then 84-year-old Ed Koch was looking back on his life and looking ahead to the pending reality. And he had this line that stayed with me. He said, I had a conversation with God, take me totally, but don't take me. No salami tactics. And that stayed with me, Mayor, because, as you know, of all of the ailments my dad had, it was losing his right leg below the knee, ironically, not from diabetes, that was the most devastating to him, way beyond the triple bypass and the chronic pulmonary disease.  

Pre-COVID, diabetes was the largest and most expensive epidemic in our lifetime. 30 million people in this country suffered from diabetes. There’s tens of millions more who are “pre-diabetic,” which is a fancy way of saying they're on the path to becoming diabetic. We spend $51 billion on health coverage for type two diabetes. And it comes at an economic cost to this country of $404 billion. Last week, Reuters did a long story quoting the CDC and confirming that research shows that 40 percent or more of the people who died from COVID had diabetes. Last year, you know the phrase underlying conditions was bandied about. It seemed finally there was going to be some sense of urgency in this country, we were about to confront the reality that four or five generations into the standard American diet, we were going to do something about it. We have set up people as bowling pins and the bowling ball was this virus. And it seemed as if there was a sense of urgency and we were going to attack the underlying causes of chronic disease and attack chronic disease. Sadly, Mayor, I tweeted this out the other day, the most recognizable voice talking about underlying conditions is a comedian who has a weekly cable show on HBO. Half the country hates his politics, the other half hate how he's framing the issue, but he is the leading and loudest voice on it.  

Mayor, it wouldn't be one of our press conferences without a board. This what might seem as gibberish to the uninitiated, it explains our journey and our start on this diabetes center. You know, about the Kroc Center. We know about it's unfortunate demise. You said publicly what you said to me privately, you did a mea culpa on part of the administration, and you made a commitment for an indoor pool. That price tag ballooned to $100 million. We would have never built it for less than a quarter of a billion. And you and I made the decision to call [inaudible] and we said there was a higher purpose for this money. And we laid out how we were going to spend it. One of the higher purposes of that original $100 million dollars is the diabetes center. We had been working with the good folks at Northwell SIUH, we've been working with New York City EDC. We identified a building on the grounds of Seaview, which is an H + H campus. We were making great progress. And then, at the end, the numbers just did not work for SIUH. They were willing to lose money on it, but they couldn't lose that much money on it. And a great guy, you might've heard his name before – a guy by the name of Mitch Katz said, Jimmy, I think we have an alternative. And he's the one who said, we have this beautiful brand-new building, essentially, at the Vanderbilt site. We can be up and running at that site before the end of your term, before the end of the Mayor's term, and we're hoping to have services up and running by September, let's say October. Evidence shows that we can alter the costs of with folks with diabetes, with exercise, a better diet – if they're overweight, losing weight, and medication. We can prevent Staten Islanders, New Yorkers, Americans from living the fate that David Sinclair wrote about. And last but not least, and I will close with this, the beautiful thing is the $24 million we had allocated to renovating the building on the Seaview campus is now freed up. And our friend Mitch Katz, and some really good folks who work with him simultaneously had this other project in mind. And so, we will have a great announcement at another time, but on that Seaview campus, as we are moving diabetes center to Vanderbilt – on that Seaview campus, we will have a pediatric hospital run by H + H that will give care to 80-to-100 children a year who otherwise would have to go to Yonkers or outside of New York.  

So, this week is a story of perseverance and better outcomes in time. I was angry and frustrated with all the fits and starts, but we are closing actually with the best outcomes available where I think we're going to impact the most lives. And, obviously, Mr. Mayor, I'm grateful to you. I'm grateful to Mitch. You know, I've come to respect Mitch Katz a tremendous amount. He is everything that we want in public servants. He cares and they're creative, and his folks are creative, and we're going to have some wonderful institutions in this borough that are going to help Staten Islanders in their most critical time of need. 

Mayor: Beautifully, beautifully laid out, Jimmy, as always, and from the heart. And I think you just told people why it is so important to take this disease seriously. And yeah, the interconnection with diabetes and COVID is a huge part of what's going on this last year-and-a-half. We got to address this. This new center will do it. And I think Jimmy gave Mitch Katz about as good an introduction as I could possibly do, ever. I will only say this – he is a proud son of Brooklyn, and I think he is Sheepshead Bay’s greatest contribution to New York City, ever. The President and CEO of Health + Hospitals, Dr. Mitch Katz. 

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: Well, thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, and Mr. President. It's really an honor to talk with the two of you and to make this happen for people with diabetes in Staten Island. We know that this is, as Jimmy has explained, this is a disease where if you provide good preventive care, you can prevent the serious outcomes. And at Vanderbilt, we're going to have a center of excellence where we are working with RUMC and other hospitals and providers make sure that everybody in Staten Island has the best treatments, and so they have the best outcomes. I'm very grateful to both of you and looking forward to seeing the two of you at our ribbon cutting, which we think will be probably the third week of September, so we can welcome all Staten Islanders to the very best of diabetic care. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you, Mitch. And thank you to you and your team, I know this has really been a labor of love for you as well, making a Vanderbilt a center of excellence so all Staten Islanders know that help is there, and comprehensive care, all the elements necessary to fight diabetes under one roof. That's very, very powerful. So, thank you.  

All right. We're going to conclude the remarks today with the indicators, as always. So, first, the extraordinary news that we now have surpassed in terms of doses of vaccine 10.5 million – literally, 10,500,300 doses and growing all the time. So, that's great news for this city. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 138 patients. Confirmed positivity, 39.47 percent. Hospitalization rate, 1.38 per 100,000. And then, number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,700 cases. Let me do a few words in Spanish, and the message today is about the mobile vaccination sites, particularly the ones we're focused on right here in Staten Island. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Mitch Katz, by Dr. Dave Chokshi, and by DoITT Commissioner Jesse Tisch. The first question today, it goes to Juan Manuel from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: Good morning, Juan Manuel. How are you doing? 

Question: Very good. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, do you think that Governor Hochul has the power to mandate private employers in the state – to mandate all their employees to get vaccinated? 

Mayor: Juan Manuel, I'm not a lawyer. I would only say I think governors have tremendous powers to protect public health and safety. I think she should use those powers as she sees fit. But obviously use them to the maximum extent, feasible that she believes will work. It's an urgent moment. It's an urgent moment. We cannot slide backwards. So, we in the city are going to do everything in our power, we are really pushing hard on the private sector, please go as far as you can go. But the more the State can do the better, obviously. 

Moderator: The next is Kala from PIX 11. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking my question.  

Mayor: How are you doing, Kala? 

Question: I know that you were – I’m well, thank you. I know that you're saying that we're going to hear a lot more about schools and the reopening plan in coming days, including a handbook for parents. But can you please clarify that there is no remote option offered to immunocompromised students as well as quarantined students? Because I was under the impression that immunocompromised would still have a remote option? But I’m hearing from the DOE that instructors may be brought home? And if that's the case, what are the requirements? 

Mayor: Okay, I'll start. I'll see if Dr. Chokshi has something he wants to add. This is one of the issues. It's a great question, Kala, and we're going to address this in the handbook for parents. Before the pandemic, I want to emphasize this, before the pandemic there were specifically provisions for medically frail kids to get in home instruction. A very small group, very small number, I want to be very clear. A very small number of kids who really had profound challenges. And there were specific ways of helping them. That was before the pandemic that continues to exist, that will exist after the pandemic. We are making that really clear. Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter talks about this a lot. We want parents of those kids to understand help will definitely be there for them. That is the specific group we will make specific provisions for. What we're saying across the board is we're bringing back school and we're bringing it back with the strongest health and safety measures in the nation. And now with a vaccine mandate for all the adults and obviously a huge vaccine effort for kids 12 and up, that's been very, very successful so far. That's what our focus is. Dr. Chokshi – and again, Kala in the next few days, there'll be this week for sure, we're going to lay out all the details. But Dr. Chokshi, you want to add anything to that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, the only thing I would add if I understood the question correctly, it was also about when children have to quarantine or isolate? And in those instances, the Department of Education will be providing instructional programming as well to keep kids as up to date with their instruction as possible.  

Mayor: Go ahead, Kala. 

Question: Instruction will not – so to be clear, that instruction will not be remote learning? There will be take-home packets, one? And then also, can you elaborate on what that includes or shed some light for unvaccinated kids being tested and how often?  

Mayor: Okay. So, the instruction – quarantine situation is 10 days. And obviously it's 10 days continuous, so it includes weekends, not all of those are school days. We're working through, we certainly have a lot of instructional materials that we can make available instantly anytime a child needs to quarantine. We're working through exactly what that's going to be. But unquestionably, if a child's quarantined there'll be instructional options for them. But a reminder, we expect a lot less of that this time, because of all the vaccination, all the health and safety measures. Because remember vaccinated kids don't have to go home, even if they come in contact with someone who was positive unless they are symptomatic. Same with adults. If they're vaccinated they stay in school. So, we're going to be doing that. And then testing is going to be done as needed, school-by-school. Dr. Chokshi can speak to that as well. We have a huge testing apparatus available to us. But again, the number one focus now is deepening vaccination. That's what's going to be the difference maker. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I think you covered all that high points on it. Yes, testing will be made available. It is something of course that will be particularly important for students who are unvaccinated. And as we described briefly yesterday it will be a range of options, including both in school testing as we had throughout the last school year, as well as providing some at-home testing kits to allow parents and families to do their testing at home as well. Thank you.  

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: The next is Jake Offenhartz from Gothamist.  

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey Jake, how you been? 

Question: I’m okay. You began this press conference talking about the need to lead nationally in terms of vaccinations. So, you announced this mandate with teachers, but the NYPD, which obviously has a lot of contact with the public, is still less than 50 percent vaccinated. So, my question is, what steps do you think need to be taken to increase that rate? Have you considered withholding overtime from unvaccinated cops? And going forward, why not implement a vaccine mandate here? 

Mayor: Well, Jake, you have heard me use a phrase and then make that phrase come to life. I keep saying we're climbing the ladder. And we have been very consistently in this town, climbing the ladder in terms of more and more ways of getting people vaccinated. Incentives and mandates. And we're going to keep doing that. But I'm also someone who believes in sequencing and what we needed to do first of course, was health care workers. And then the State came in with that mandate, which was tremendously helpful. Our next focus was on schools for obvious reasons of both the sensitivities of supporting our kids and families, but also the calendar. School starting so soon. We're going to be looking to the next steps soon. But the bottom line is we're going to look at a variety of options. I do know to the great credit of Commissioner Shea, he has made very passionate, personal appeals to all officers. And Dermot Shea is someone who joined the force in 1991 and came – went from patrol officer all the way up to commissioner. And he’s saying very personally to officers, you need to get vaccinated. He went through hell with COVID himself. He can testify personally. So, he's working very hard to increase that number. And I remind everyone, it's not just getting an officer vaccinated or a public employee vaccinated. It has an impact on their whole family and makes their whole family safer. But Jake, we are looking at all alternatives. And we will keep updating people as soon as each one is ready. Go ahead, Jake.  

Question: Sure. And then a question from my colleague about schools, which is that I know we won't know enrollment numbers until later this fall, but we are hearing from individual schools that their enrollments are down, in some cases significantly. So, are you willing to release figures at this point showing how many schools are facing enrollment declines? 

Mayor: It's from everything I understand Jake and I've listened to the Chancellor and others. This is, it would be absolutely premature and inaccurate. We're not going to know school enrollments until the end of September, beginning of October in practical ways. Because parents, whether they are people who were away from the city coming back, whether there are people, a lot of kids spend their summers in the homelands of their families, a lot of, you know, families who are new immigrants. There's a lot of reasons why we don't get a clean picture of school enrollment until well into September, even into October. When we really have it all sorted out, we'll certainly provide the updates. But I want to caution, I'm – I've heard so many of these stories predicting one demise or another. I've found absolutely powerful that after the stunning census effort that this team undertook and working with community groups and all, you know, the city's population is now 8.8 million. That's the formal federal number. That's based on the science and the census, 8.8 million. And you're going to see lots and lots of people coming back to our schools. Very, very confident about that. But as for numbers, we can truly believe in? That’s still many weeks away.  

Moderator: The next is Joe Anuta from Politico. 

Mayor: Joe? 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey man, how are you doing? 

Question: Not too bad. How about you?  

Mayor: Good. It's always sunny – it's always sunny in Staten Island, Joe. 

Question: That's what I hear. 

Mayor: That's got to be a series, you know, Jimmy and I need new jobs. So, we're going to come up with a wacky group of characters and a whole lot of hijinks on Staten Island. What do you think, Jimmy? 

Borough President Oddo: That's like the odd couple on steroids? No? 

Mayor: I think we could do amazing things with that. I'm sorry, Joe, we just had a creative moment over here. 

Question: Listen, I don't want to interrupt that. It sounds like – it sounds very promising. I wanted to ask you about the mandate for school staff. One of the unions DC 37, said that they want to – that they're going to file an unfair labor practices claim. So, I'm curious if you could tell us about sort of the thought process? Like if this claim takes a long time to play out, whether it's, I don't know exactly how they're decided through arbitration or what? Theoretically it could extend past the time you want this to be enacted in late September. So, why not hash this out with a union beforehand and avoid some of this legal process rather than I think you've said, you know, you want to move forward with this, whether it's negotiated or not? 

Mayor: Yeah, Joe, very, very fair question. And to – you've been around, I'm going to say to you, the level of complexity here should not be underestimated. And I do appreciate the pressures that union leaders are experiencing, the different views within their memberships. There's a lot going on here. Here's the bottom line, we're in the middle of a global pandemic. We have a massive problem with the Delta variant. Our Health Commissioner has issued a Commissioner's Order. This is not business as usual. This is about protecting our employees, keeping everyone in the school community safe, protecting kids, giving kids and parents confidence that they're going to be in a safe environment. We are absolutely within our rights as an employer. And the Health Commissioner is absolutely within his rights as the person whose job is to protect the health of all New Yorkers. And we said from moment one, literally in private conversations before the announcement and the moment I made the announcement, we will go to impact bargaining immediately. And that is starting in the next 24 hours. So, I don't understand the basis for a claim. I don't believe a court is going to see a basis for a claim, given all those facts, including that we are bargaining immediately. Go ahead, Joe. 

Question: And just to quickly follow up, you know, DC 37, for example, they represent workers in the school and also across City government. And it seems like some other unions, like PDA for example, have said that they would not support a mandate. So, do you see this being an issue as you try to expand this out to other corners of City government?  

Mayor: Well, again, we're going to take each step at a time on purpose. There's reasons why we sequence. We're going to keep sequencing and it's been working. It's been creating the momentum we need and reaching more and more people. But we're doing it each piece at a time to get it right. But I think the basic logic holds across all of the workforce. Everyone needs to be safe. The city needs to be safe. Our obligation as an employer is to create a safe work environment. I think this makes sense across the board. But how, and when we do it could vary of course, depending on circumstance. But we feel, you know, again, very strong legal basis for the actions we're taking as an employer.  

Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor.  How are you doing today?  

Mayor: I am doing well, Henry. How you been? 

Question: I'm good. I want to say to Borough President Oddo. Good to see him there, always enjoy a conversation with him. 

Mayor: He is quite the conversationalist. 

Borough President Oddo: One of the genuinely good human beings that I've come across in 30 years, is the gentleman asking you a question right now. 

Mayor: Oh, that's very that's very kind of you.  

Borough President: Oh, that's nicely played. No, that's Henry. Yeah.  

Mayor: Henry, look at that. Look at that. You got more than you bargained for.  

Question: Yeah. Right. Listen I'm ready to hang up now. I mean, I just can't top that. That's really quite an honor. Thank you, James. Appreciate it. On remote instruction, I hate to kind of bring this up again, but parents are concerned about it. And I guess the question I have is, are you concerned that if you offer remote instruction, that it will have an impact on how many kids are going to school, that a lot of parents will keep kids out of school? 

Mayor: Henry, very fair question. Look, one thing I’ll just say, and I'm a parent first. Literally, this is how I see the world. Most important thing I ever did in life was to have the two beautiful children that Chirlane and I have. Health and safety of kids is paramount to me. We have got to help our children. They have been put in harm's way, not just by COVID, but by isolation, by trauma, by disconnecting from their social development. We cannot let this continue. We're going to literally be damning a whole generation if we don't stop. We need our kids back in school. We are adamant. I'm adamant, Chancellor's adamant, Health Commissioner’s adamant this is what has to happen. And we also have to resolve all together – we're going to fight and defeat COVID as opposed to continually falling back and somehow determining that we would rather be ravaged rather than doing the thing that will allow us peace and freedom, which is to fight and defeat COVID. So, we're going to use all the tools we have, including the vaccine mandates, and we're going to do what's right for our kids. They need to be in school just like they would need to be in school without a pandemic, but the pandemic has made it even more urgent because you've got kids now pushing a year-and-a-half since they’ve ever sat in a classroom. A year-and-a-half disconnected from the kind of education and social development they need. That is very dangerous. So, we are focused, we have a clear strategy, and we're sticking to it. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Okay. But it's not really responsive to my question, which is, are you worried that if you did offer a remote option, that some parents would keep their kids out of school, particularly kids who are not eligible for vaccination, particularly kids in schools that are extremely crowded in a time when, you know – previously schools were at 30 percent capacity, some of these schools that are at 100 percent capacity, you can't socially distance kids from. It's a different situation. 

Mayor: Yeah, Henry, we can – 

Question: Is the concern that if you – if you have remote instruction that some parents will, or a significant percentage of parents will be too concerned or too worried to send their kids to school? 

Mayor: First to respectfully correct you, we can and will achieve the CDC guidance, the State Education Department guidance on distancing. And, again, respect you a lot like Jimmy does. But when you say that you did not portray the whole reality. There's distancing, there's cleaning, there's ventilation, there's mask wearing, and then there's massive levels of vaccination. We have all of those. We have something almost no place else in the country has in combining all of those. And now on top of it, a straight up vaccination mandate for all the adults in our school system. If we're talking about science, I'll turn to Dave and Mitch, because I get a little agitated on this topic. Are we actually going to talk about science together? Are we actually got to talk about the data and the facts? Or are we going to talk about all the misinformation out there? Henry, to respond to your question, I do think that there's a massive amount of misinformation and somehow a lot of people in New York City, a lot of people in America are listening more to the voices who are deceiving them than to the doctors who have spent a lifetime protecting them. That's dangerous and I'm not going to be party to that. So, we are absolutely certain, this is the best way to protect kids and serve kids. By the way, one of the doctors can talk about when kids are home in many cases, it can be even more dangerous than being in a highly controlled, positive environment where there's health care measures taken nonstop. So, it's just not – the stereotype here just isn't accurate. The safest best things for kids are to be in school. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, jump in. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I agree we have to root in the science here and the science tells us two major things. The first is what you've already covered, which is when we use this layered approach to prevention that helps to very significantly reduce the risk of the spread of COVID. This is something that we started doing during the last school year. And as we have pointed out, we now have the most powerful layer of protection in vaccination, and we have to bring that to bear in the greatest degree possible, which is what our school mandate is doing, and our very aggressive youth vaccination outreach campaign is also doing, the Vax to School campaign. So, that's the first part of it, but the second part of it and the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, you know, community pediatricians are all very clear on this point as well, which is that in-person learning is such a priority, not just for education, not just for social and emotional development, but for the physical and mental health of our children as well. And that's why we're taking on this very worthy mission and doing it in a way that will be as safe as possible for our kids. 

Mayor: Dr. Katz, do you want to add? 

President Katz: I just want further endorse that children belong in schools. That's where they get the help that they need, and it's absolutely necessary for their social, emotional, mental, and physical health. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Jeremy from Fox News. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, thank you for taking the call. 

Mayor: How are you doing, Jeremy? 

Question: Oh, I'm good. I'm good. Thank you for taking my call, my question. My first question is on the mandates in school, obviously you decided to make that call yesterday because the FDA approval. Is your office planning to do this if and when they approve it for 12 and older, let's say for high school? 

Mayor: I'm sorry. I didn't understand, if they approve it for 12 and what – I'm not clear what you're asking. Try that again. 

Question: Well, yesterday, the mandate for staff members, teachers and staff in schools, was connected with the FDA full approval. If the FDA fully approved 12 and over, is there any plans to mandate it for students 12 and older? Let's say in high school. 

Mayor: No, thank you for the question, Jeremy. I was asked this yesterday. No, right now we're really clear the focus is on mandates for adults. We do not have a plan for mandates for kids.

Thank you, everyone.

2021-08-25 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We've got a really important update today. And let me start by saying the people of this city should be very proud of the fact that New York City is showing the entire nation what it looks like to get people vaccinated. 75 percent of all adults have had at least one dose. Our kids getting more and more vaccinated every day, 12 years old and up. We are driving vaccination in every conceivable way. It is our number one strategy. It is the way forward. It is the thing that makes a difference and we're driving it all the time. And the bottom line is nothing, nothing is as effective in defeating the coronavirus, stopping the Delta variant – nothing compares to vaccination. So, that's our singular focus, vaccination. But we're also really sober about the fact that the Delta variant is a tough, tough enemy spreading, and there's a lot of concern, a lot of concern out there about the Delta variant. And there's been a particular concern about breakthrough cases – when in fact someone is vaccinated, but still ends up contracting COVID. But we have new data today that's really helpful, and it helps you to recognize just how powerful vaccination is.

This is from the New York City Department of Health, and it's really important news because it makes clear that vaccines continue to be extremely effective – not just effective, extremely effective. Yes, there are some breakthrough cases, that's true, but the bottom line is vaccine overwhelmingly works at the things we care about the most, which is stopping people from being hospitalized, stopping people from ending up with the most severe illnesses. And certainly, most importantly, protecting lives, stopping people from losing their lives to COVID. What the data proves is that breakthrough cases are incredibly rare. Here's the top line data, 0.33 percent – I'm going to say it again, 0.33 percent of fully vaccinated New Yorkers have been diagnosed with COVID. One-third of one percent.96.9 percent, basically 97 percent, of COVID hospitalizations are unvaccinated. The folks who are hospitalized, 96 percent un-vaccinated.

Now, I've just been handed a note. We're supposed to hear from our Health Commissioner with this update. And if he can't get to an elaborate Zoom structure, why doesn't he get on his iPhone and Zoom in with that spontaneous feeling? Let's see if we can get him back. I'm going to continue on to other things, but again, low production values are okay, guys. Let's just get Dave Chokshi.

But again, one-third of one percent of fully vaccinated New Yorkers have been diagnosed with COVID. 97 percent of the hospitalizations, 97 percent, are with folks who are unvaccinated. These are staggering facts. They're New York City facts, they’re based on New York City research from our Department of Health. So, there's a lot of understandable questions out there. There's rumors that spread and misinformation, but we want you to hear directly what the facts are. We will get them to you in a moment. And I want everyone understand the vaccination efforts have developed so intensely, the mobile vaccination we talked about yesterday, the $100 incentive, which has been extremely popular over, a hundred thousand New Yorkers have gotten that incentive. It's only been around for a few weeks. It's all making an impact.

So, we'll get Dr. Chokshi back in a moment, but I'm going to go onto the next issue, which is also about COVID. And we've been talking about the back-to-school effort, getting kids vaccinated, and we have a simple way to talk about back-to-school is “Vax to School.” So, it's come to my attention that younger New Yorkers do not watch my morning briefings. I was shocked by this information. Demographic research proved at Jimmy. I thought it was incredibly popular with teens and preteens. I just don't know what to think. So, we decided we better get some help. We reached out to Marvel. Marvel does very well with that demographic for sure, and they're teaming up with the doctors at SOMOS. I'm really thankful to Marvel. I'm really thankful to SOMOS. This is really fun. Starting this week, kids could get an exclusive, exclusive issue of the Avengers when they get vaccinated. So, again, constant incentive kids, 12 and up. That's a really cool incentive. So, you can go to the SOMOS vaccination sites, 20 Times Square, legendary site, amazing things happening there. There’s also a site at Maria Hernandez Park in Brooklyn, and a site at 368 East 149th street in the Bronx. You get vaccinated, you protect yourself, your family, your classmates, and get a limited edition, exclusive comic book.

Now for all of you, we want to remember why this is so important – Captain America. Captain America started out as a skinny kid from Brooklyn, okay? So skinny kid from Brooklyn becomes a superhero. You to all my young viewers, you too can become a superhero, if you get vaccinated, it makes you strong. It makes you invincible. Well, maybe not invincible. It makes you strong. It makes you able to fight back against evil. It makes you able to take on COVID. COVID is like Thanos. Let's give this a really important metaphor here. COVID is like Thanos, out to hurt millions of people around the globe. You need to team up with the Avengers to fight and win. And with more now and how we get the vendors to assemble, SOMOS Community Care co-founder, been a great, great partner in our vaccination efforts. My pleasure to introduce Henry R. Munoz III.

SOMOS Co-Founder Henry R. Munoz III: Morning, Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good. How are you doing, Henry?

Munoz: I'm doing pretty good. I'm standing here in the middle of Times Square where the Avengers will arrive this morning to announce this great partnership between the City and SOMOS to help young people, and particularly people who have not yet gotten the message that vaccinations are the way to help keep our city strong and moving forward and protect our families in the neighborhood. So, we're super excited to be unveiling this new initiative for Vax to School today.

Mayor: Well, Henry, you guys have been just absolutely amazing partners. SOMOS has done such good work during this fight against COVID, and I really want to thank you. We were together many different times during the struggle against COVID. I am so appreciative of what SOMOS did at Yankee Stadium – it became such an important site and really had a huge impact on the people of the Bronx, but so many other things you've done as well with all your community doctors. Thank you for this and bringing the Avengers in. I mean, that's pretty cool. So, thank you to Henry. Thank you to everyone at SOMOS. Thank you to Marvel. This is going to make a huge, huge difference.

All right. We're now going to take a step back and get Dr. Dave Chokshi. Again, this is New York City research that Dr. Chokshi is going to go over to explain the truth. The truth about breakthrough cases and to show how vividly it is that clear that vaccination is the key to moving forward. Dr. Chokshi are you with us?

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Are you able to hear me?

Mayor: I can hear you. I knew you'd be there.

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Apologies for the delay. I'm also headed to the Avengers myself. But I'm really pleased to have the chance to talk about this important, new research, as you mentioned you know, in the past I've likened vaccination to a wall, and every new person vaccinated is like putting another brick between us and the virus. But in recent months, the virus has mounted a new offensive, and many people have asked how effective this vaccine is against the Delta variant. And just to cut to the chase, our new Health Department analysis shows that the vaccines continue to be highly effective against COVID illness, including the Delta variant, our data compiles the number of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths over time, comparing vaccinated to unvaccinated people. And we have two major takeaways to share this morning. First, the vaccines continue to prevent the outcomes we most want to avoid: hospitalizations and deaths. Unvaccinated people are at least 13 times more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19 compared to fully vaccinated people. Second, COVID-19 cases in vaccinated, people remain uncommon, but have increased in recent weeks. This is likely due to the more contagious Delta variant, as well as higher levels of community transmission overall. Although you may have heard anecdotes about breakthrough cases, let's keep in mind that the plural of anecdote is not data. Our data shows that among fully vaccinated New Yorkers, only 0.33 percent were infected, 0.02 percent were hospitalized, and only 0.003 percent died. These findings, taken together with the most current scientific understanding from around the world, reinforce our core public health guidance around the importance of vaccination. The most effective way that unvaccinated people can protect themselves and their loved ones is to get vaccinated. And the highly contagious nature of the Delta variant is why we strongly recommend that even fully vaccinated people take some precautions such as wearing a mask in public, indoor settings.

One of the reasons that I personally mask up, even though I am vaccinated, is to protect my young daughter at home who is not yet eligible for the vaccine. The data that we're presenting today is real-world and rigorous, but beyond the facts and figures, here's the common sense, bottom-line: vaccines keep you alive and out of the hospital. We've made enormous progress in New York. City's historic vaccination campaign, Mr. Mayor, and it has saved lives. Now, is the time to keep going and extend the protection of vaccination as far as we possibly can. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you so much. Appreciate it very much, Dave, and thank you for addressing us while in transit, with such important information. Let's do that again, Jimmy. “The plural of anecdote is not data.” That was good.

Okay, let's do our indicators for today. Back on COVID, today's indicators, number one, the doses administered to-date – again, very strong number – 10,528,908. And more evidence every day that vaccination makes the difference. This is a great number. We’re going to keep building it every single hour, every day. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 148 patients. Confirmed positivity, 30.82 percent. Hospitalization rate, 1.39 per 100,000 New Yorkers. And number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,645 cases. Let me do a few words in Spanish. I want to go back where we were. We had the update from Dr. Chokshi, live from his car on the breakthrough cases. I want to just say a few words in Spanish on it.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Borough President Oddo, by Dr. Mitch Katz, by a Dr. David Chokshi, and by Emergency Management Commissioner John Scrivani. First question today, it goes to Jeff Mays from the New York Times.

Mayor: Jeff, are you there?

Question: Good morning. 

Mayor: Hey, there you go.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Good morning.

Question: How's it going?

Mayor: Good. How are you doing?

Question: Good. I'm good. I'm hanging in there. I had a couple of questions on this data. I don't know if Dr. Chokshi is still on the call, but I'm wondering – 

Mayor: Yes, he is.

Question: Okay. Maybe he can tell me if when the data was collected, I believe. I mean, that would be helpful to know – did the data collection come after the start of the Delta variant? And also, I'm wondering if the data – does it represent whether people tested positive for the virus before they had symptoms or after they had symptoms? Does the data distinguished any of those things? 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, did you hear those questions okay? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I did. Thanks Jeff, for these important questions. And we'll follow up with the full details of the analysis and happy to walk through it. But briefly in response to your questions, we've been analyzing this data since the inception of the vaccination campaign and the analysis that we're putting out today goes from January through early August with respect to cases, hospitalizations, and deaths that have been tracked. And it's broken down between unvaccinated people and fully vaccinated people. So, that's the timeframe that is covered. And it's also broken out week by week so we can see precisely what the changes are in the more recent period when the Delta variant has predominated. With respect to symptomatic versus asymptomatic illness, the way that cases are cataloged, it is independent of, you know, whether or not someone is symptomatic. So, if there's a positive test, it counts as a case. But that's why it's incredibly important for us to focus on severe illness as indicated by the hospitalization and death numbers. I hope that clarifies.

Mayor: Go ahead, Jeff. 

Question: Yeah. Thank you for that clarification. I appreciate that. And so, Mayor, I'm wondering – I mean, you may have responded to this yesterday, but, you know, there's some concerns from DC 37 about the sort of mandates that you've been putting out. I'm just wondering how you respond to those? Are you worried about those? Do you think the sort of finalizing of the vaccines by the FDA will cover you in the case of these mandates? So, I'm just hoping you can talk about how you're thinking about those mandates [inaudible] – 

Mayor: Yeah. Jeff, appreciate the question. The FDA action, the full approval is very important. The fact that, as employers, we have to keep our employees safe – very important. The fact that we announced from the very beginning, we're going to bargaining immediately. We've begun bargaining with unions in the Department of Education. All these things are part of why we're absolutely convinced that we're on the right path. The most important thing here is our kids. I want to just, again, respect – care about adults, but kids are where my heart is. We’ve got to protect our kids and we’ve got to give parents reassurance everyone's going to be safe. We're hearing a lot of great feedback from parents, real appreciation that we've taken another step to keep school safe. And I think it's going to work in the end. I think it's going to go smoothly and we're going to get this done.

Moderator: Next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and the folks on the call. I want to follow up on Jeff's question real quick. Given that Dr. Chokshi just said the timeframe of your data was January to August, and that the Delta variant didn't really become a significant factor in New York City until somewhere around June, isn't this isn't this data heavily weighted towards original COVID when the vaccines were about as high as possible at preventing a breakthrough infection, isn't it misleading to assert with such confidence that the numbers would be that low?

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and certainly welcome any comments from Dr. Katz. I respect the question, Andrew. I think it's leading. I think it's the opposite of what you suggest. I think it's extraordinarily important and there's – I always say it, there's a lot of misunderstanding. There's a lot of misinformation. It's our job to make things clear. It is abundantly clear that unvaccinated people are in real danger and vaccinated people are protected. We’ve got to keep showing people those facts. So, first Dr. Chokshi then Dr. Katz responding to Andrew's question. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And you covered the bottom line with respect to the implications of the data. What I would say in response to Andrew's question is that the data show what the data show. We do look at totals which is where some of our proportions with respect to hospitalizations, cases, and deaths are calculated. But as I mentioned, we also look at it week by week, including in this more recent period when Delta has predominated. And what it shows is that, you know, in the most recent weeks people who are unvaccinated are 13 times more likely to be hospitalized compared to people who are fully vaccinated. And they are at least three times more likely to be infected compared to people who are fully vaccinated. That's not spanning the entire time frame. That's just looking at the most recent weeks. And so, it accounts for the situation that we're in with the Delta variant. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, do you want to add? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: I would strongly endorse the data that Dr. Chokshi has said because I watched every day, the numbers at Health + Hospitals and while we have a lot of positive swabs among people who are vaccinated, all of the sick patients that we have, practically everyone is somebody who is unvaccinated. So, the vaccines are working at doing what vaccines are supposed to do, which is prevent serious disease, prevent hospitalization, prevent death. And that's the bottom line. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Mitch. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: Today, Governor Hochul told me that one of the things she liked about your conversation last week is that you both sort of agreed there'll be no more blindsiding. And she was appreciative that you called her and said, look, we're going to mandate vaccines for teachers here in New York City, I want you to hear it from me. Despite the obvious improvement in warmth and information sharing there, do you have any concerns that the Governor's current approach is to not go that far in other school districts around the state to continue to offer the vaccinate or COVID test choice, which doesn't line up with your current policy in New York City – do you have any concerns that two different standards across the state might not be the best approach? 

Mayor: Look, I’ll only say it this way. I respect the Governor. I'm pleased that she talked yesterday about the mask mandate. We've got to make progress on all fronts. So, I don't want to, in any way, speak about what other places need at this moment. I want to speak about what we're doing here in New York City. We believe that a full mandate for all of the adults who work with our kids is the right thing to do here in New York City. But I don't want to judge for anyone else. I want to respect each and every part of the state and the decisions they make. I'm just happy that we have a governor we can work with. 

Moderator: The next is Roger Stern from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Yes. How are you, Mayor? Good morning. 

Mayor: How are you doing, Roger? 

Question: I'm doing good. I'd like to sort of drill down a little bit on the two headline numbers you had started with, the 0.33 percent of people fully vaccinated diagnosed with COVID, and then the hospitalization figure of 97 percent. First of all, does that include the data going back to January – following up on Andrew's question – or is that just in recent weeks? And then the more – the bigger question about that is, when it comes to 0.33 percent [inaudible] fully vaccinated maybe more likely to have symptom-free COVID, doesn't that make them less likely to get a test so that you really don't know how many people who've been vaccinated [inaudible] diagnosed COVID? 

Mayor: Roger, I'm not sure I understood that last part of the question. Could you repeat that? 

Question: Sure. I'm sorry. [Inaudible] a third of a percent of the fully vaccinated people have COVID, but I'm wondering how you would know about the people who may have asymptomatic COVID and therefore wouldn't be getting tests. 

Mayor: Oh, okay. I'll turn to the doctors. I mean, you're raising a good point. This has been true throughout the history of dealing with COVID over the last year-and-a-half. There's what we know from testing and there's obviously cases we don't know about. But the testing tells us a lot and we're testing at a very high level, one of the highest in the country. And the consistent results tell us a lot. So, it's really important to acknowledge, do we have perfect information? No, but do we have incredibly consistent information based on a really big sample? Absolutely. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to speak to it? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I agree with that. We are continuing to test at rates that are significantly higher than most places around the rest of the country. It is true that people who are asymptomatic, whether they're vaccinated or unvaccinated may not know to get a test, but because our analyses compare outcomes among vaccinated and unvaccinated people, you know, that is one way in which it is factored into the data that we're presenting. With respect to the other part of the question. Those cumulative totals that I mentioned, the 0.33 percent of fully vaccinated people have had an infection, 0.02 percent of fully vaccinated people who have been hospitalized, and 0.003 percent of fully vaccinated people have died – that's from the timeframe January 17th through August 7th. But as mentioned, there are breakdowns for more recent weeks, which will be shared as well. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Roger. 

Question: Yeah, the other question is, are people going to be confused by a contradiction in tone? [Inaudible] you're saying [inaudible] you really don't have to worry, you're almost not – it’s almost definite except in rare cases that you'll get sick but then on the other hand you say, ‘well, don't forget to wear a mask indoors.’ Is that sending a mixed message? 

Mayor: Oh God, I don't think so. I mean I respect the question, but I don't think so. I'll let the doctors at this one too. I think the bottom line here throughout – I mean, Roger, we could not be clearer, vaccination is the key. Masks are a worthy topic. They are by far secondary. It's about vaccination. And it's quite clear if you are vaccinated, you have a lot more freedom in every way. We're making that clear all the time with the different mandates that we're putting into place. But if you're not vaccinated, you're supposed to wear a mask all the time. If you are vaccinated, there are times when you don't need to wear a mask. I mean, that's really, really clear. And there are some places that are just sensitive where we're saying everyone needs to wear a mask like schools, for example. I don't see a contradiction there at all. I think people are smart. I think they're getting the message. By the way, they're voting with their feet. 75 percent of New Yorkers have had at least one dose of the vaccine. So, the vast majority – if I showed you 75 percent of New Yorkers agreed on anything you'd be shocked. 75 percent of New Yorkers agree on the vaccine because I went and got it. Doctors, either one of you want to add? 

President Katz: I'd like to add, sir, that imagine a world where everyone is vaccinated, and we can't get there right now yet because the vaccines are not approved for the young children. But in such a world where we will be at some point when those vaccines are approved for the young children, if everybody is vaccinated, then the only thing we would worry about is whether or not people got sick. The reason we still worry about people who have a positive swab is we don't want them to expose somebody who is unvaccinated, a young child or somebody else who is unvaccinated. So, it is very important to distinguish between how well the vaccines work at preventing disease which is extremely well as Dr. Chokshi has said. And yes, there is still transmission, but the transmission does not harm the vast, vast majority of vaccinated people. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: I want to just wrap that together to finish Roger's point. We are saying – look, I was talking to us about ending the COVID era. I really want to come back to this. We have to end the COVID era. No one's saying COVID is going to disappear from the earth, but end the COVID era, get us away from this madness of having our lives determined and shaped by COVID, put it in the rear-view mirror, put it in the background. To do that we got to get more and more people vaccinated. You're still going to see people who get sick, but if they get minimally sick, if they don't need hospitalization, if they don't have the greatest illnesses and with God's help, if they don't pass away, the bottom line is you could have COVID as one of many, many diseases that are out there in the world, but don't have much impact, thank God. So, the idea is to get to a level of vaccination where COVID is marginalized. No one's saying no one ever gets sick, but it's marginalized because it doesn't kill people and it doesn't cause the most grave illness. That is as sharp a red line as I’ve ever seen in the world. Vaccination is that difference maker, period. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Katie Honan from The City. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio and everyone. How are you doing? 

Mayor: Good, Katie. How you been? 

Question: I'm good. I'm good. I wanted to ask, you know, obviously there's been some controversy around the vaccine mandate for DOE employees. And you mentioned that you might expand it to other City agencies. I was wondering if you could speak about, do you think doing that, especially in agencies like the Department of Corrections and the Police Department, which have the lowest vaccination rates amongst the City agencies, at least from the data that I most recently saw, I think it was in the Post. Do you think that would encourage – if it would boost those numbers. I know it's been frustrating for the Commissioner, he’s been trying to get people vaccinated, but that they're not. So, do you think that could help or would it just create more controversy on – or at least pushback? 

Mayor: Katie, we’ll obviously speak to each step we're going to take when we take it. I want to commend Commissioner Dermot Shea, he's been a powerful, passionate voice for vaccination. He has spoken to the men and women in the NYPD very personally. He went through a horrible bout of COVID himself and he's told them how important it is to get vaccinated. I think a lot of officers are going to hear that. Everything we do is with the goal of getting more and more people vaccinated, getting everyone in the city to be safe, getting to that point where we put COVID in the rear-view mirror. So, that's what we'll think about as we make decisions. And we're only going to make a decision if we think it's going to be a net gain for vaccination, obviously. Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Thanks. Thank you. So, looking ahead too, and I know you don't like hypothetical questions, but if there are a significant amount of teachers – because I have seen pushback from teachers who speak about medical freedom and their rights and their bodies or whatever they say – if they are not vaccinated and they are still employed by the DOE, whether it's a teacher or someone working elsewhere in the school, if they are not vaccinated by that deadline what is the City's plan? What comes in, I mean, do they start testing, do you start letting people go? Is there a plan or have you not thought that far ahead yet? 

Mayor: Well, we certainly thought about it, Katie. That's part of what we're bargaining with the unions over. I mean, that's what impact bargaining is all about. That's what we started already with the unions in the schools. We want to sort out those details. We're quite confident we can one way or another. And, of course, we ran lots of scenarios and did a lot of preparation before the announcement. I'm certain there's people who have concerns. We want to work with them, but I'll tell you something again, as the Chancellor told me yesterday, what we're hearing overwhelmingly is a lot of relief among parents and, in fact, a lot of folks that work at DOE who appreciate this announcement because they want the safest possible workplace and they know that everyone being vaccinated is the way to achieve that.

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Good morning, Michael. How you doing? 

Question: I'm good. I wanted to talk about the situation over at Rikers now. You know, there have been a number of stories about it in recent days. Talk of, you know, how there's kind of a brewing crisis there. And I wanted to ask you, I mean, do you feel it's at a crisis level? Or is all this talk about the crisis there an effort to undermine the plan to close Rikers? I mean, if it is a crisis, how do you plan to address it? 

Mayor: Thanks for the question, Michael. First of all, we are going to close Rikers Island. Let's be clear. There may be folks out there who want us to go back in time. This is an 80 plus year old facility that does not make sense anymore. It is based on a punitive negative dynamic, when what we need is a dynamic focused on how we redeem people, turn their lives around, make them positive members of society again. We need to get out of Rikers and have a whole new approach and we're going to. Second, there are real problems. I remember though, Michael, and I don't mean to minimize it. These are serious problems that need to be addressed. But I remember in the months before I took office in 2014 reporting on horrendous problems that had to be addressed at Rikers. It's a tough environment. Again, it's outmoded, the whole culture of the Department of Correction needs a lot of change. I spoke to Commissioner Schiraldi last week about this. And certainly it's something that First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan and I talk about a lot. We're making a series of changes to keep addressing the needs. COVID clearly had a really, really big impact on this situation and created a whole host of challenges. But we're going to work our way through it. We're going to make constant changes and improve the situation. But the bottom line is all of us, everyone involved, our officers, those who are incarcerated, everyone is feeling the effects of both COVID and that we're in the wrong environment. Rikers is a place we got to get out of.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Julia from the New York Post. 

Question: Hi. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody else on the briefing. First I'm wondering – Shea, Commissioner Shea and other top police department officials have been photographed flouting their own mask rules. Wondering why rank and file officers follow the rules or heed advice to get vaccinated if the leaders can't. The photograph was yesterday at police headquarters, that was even tweeted out by a DCPI. 

Mayor: I haven't seen the photograph but I remind you if someone is vaccinated it's a different reality. Someone vaccinated has the ability to do things that someone unvaccinated doesn't. And the Commissioner, I think, has been extremely sincere on this point. And said unvaccinated officers need to wear masks. Vaccinated folks, it depends on the setting, obviously. I haven't seen the photo, but I've found him to be very consistent on this. Go ahead, Julia. 

Question: And then just to kind of wrap up the questions on the new COVID data? Are you and the Health Commissioner able to now, or following this phone call, provide the similar numbers in terms of the breakthrough cases and the hospitalizations from June through now, to when Delta has been in play? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, what can we provide? Go ahead. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And thanks, Julia. Yes, this data is now up on the Health Department's website. It includes the period that you just described. That's encompassed in what is being shared, and we'll be happy to follow up with you for any more detailed questions. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you for such an important update today where we started this once again, showing the massive, massive difference between what happens when you get vaccinated, the protection you have, versus what happens when someone is not vaccinated. Listen, I just want to protect people. I want to make sure people are safe in the city. Please, no better time than this week to get vaccinated. The FDA has acted. The incentives are there. It's easier than ever, go get vaccinated, everyone. Thanks so much.

2021-08-26 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Oh, I'm sorry. I got so caught up in this Marvel comic book, I just didn't realize the press conference had begun. This is amazing. It's limited edition. It's exclusive. It's really special. It's amazing. But you can't just get it anywhere. You can only get it at a vaccination site, a SOMOS vaccination site. And this is where we're going to help make kids safe, and like the Avengers, fight back against evil – in this case, evil is COVID. I think you figured that out. So, here is a great example of an effort to reach our young people with something they care about a lot, reach our families, get people safe, get people vaccinated. Here's one great example, but tomorrow another great example. The official NBA 2K tournament begins at 11:00 am, grand prize: Xbox Series X. A raffle every eight hours Xboxes, Game Pass memberships, amazing stuff. Here are the ground rules: to play, you have to have at least one dose of the vaccine. The vaccination bus will be on site to provide that first dose right then and there. This is another great effort to reach young people and keep them safe. I want to thank the Boys and Girls Club, thank Microsoft, and anyone who wants to be part of it, sign up at smash.gg/nycnba2k.

So, we're going to do all sorts of positive, creative things to reach young people, to reach families, because we got to get young people vaccinated, particularly with school coming on soon, and here's the good news. We have an aggressive, creative vaccination strategy and it's working. New CDC data shows that New York City is leading the nation when it comes to youth vaccination. The vaccination rate for New Yorkers 12 to 17 years old is up 22 percent since July 4th – 22 percent just in a matter of weeks, the biggest jump for any big city in America. Our vaccination rate for these young people is nine percent higher than the national average. 60 percent of New Yorkers over 12 have received at least one dose 60 percent, and we're not going to stop there.

We have a big push this weekend and we've got these superheroes involved, but also another group of superheroes, our clergy, are stepping forward. Houses of worship all over the city, weekend of faith, youth vaccination days. This is going to make a huge difference. Houses of worship working together with our Vax to School campaign, reaching young people in their congregation, giving kids and families good trustworthy information, not the rumors and the misinformation out there, but actually the most trusted voices in so many people's lives, helping them to find the truth. We're going to have mobile vaccination sites at over 50 houses of worship around New York City, all five boroughs. That's first – mobile vaccination sites at houses of worship, as congregants are there, kids getting vaccinated. It's going to be really, really helpful. Second, 5,000 backpacks being given out with school supplies, but also information about how to get kids vaccinated. Third, more and more houses of worship are becoming part of our referral bonus program. Here's a great way to reach our young people, make sure they're healthy and safe. Reassure our families. The families benefit because everyone gets that $100 incentive. The houses of worship benefit too, from a direct incentive. Everyone's a winner.

Our faith leaders, we turn to them in times, good and bad. But particularly in crisis, they mean so much to us and faith leaders speaking up to get our young people vaccinated is going to be a difference maker. I want you to hear from someone I have just immense respect for. We have worked together over the last eight years. I consider him one of the most essential voices in the city. I consider him one of the great leaders who has brought calm and peace in times of trouble. He has been someone I consider personally a friend as well. He is a great faith leader, but he's someone the city depends on as well. And he has done so much for all of us, people of all faiths, and he's helped to bring together people of all faiths in common cause. And he's leading the way in the fight against the coronavirus. My great honor to produce and present to you, the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Dolan.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you, Cardinal. Again, can't thank you enough. And you know, I appreciate that you think in terms of both the spiritual and the temporal, so yes, a little incentive never hurt, right? And we're happy to provide it but thank you for your leadership. And this weekend is going to be amazing. I really appreciate your participation.

All right, everybody. Now, the Cardinal mentioned CORL, the gathering of religious leaders that has made such a difference. People of all faiths, leaders, some of the great leaders of this city who meet together regularly to discuss the issues facing our city and how people of faith can work together in them. One of the leading voices, and he's been a voice for social justice, he’s been a voice for economic empowerment. He works on many, many fronts beyond just the spiritual, and the spiritual is supreme, but he works on all these fronts simultaneously. One the leading voices, also happens to have the single largest congregation of any house of worship in New York City. And it is a stunning place to visit. I've been honored to worship with everyone at Christian Cultural Center, and it is an irreplaceable part of the city, and he is an irreplaceable leader. My honor to produce and present Reverend A.R. Bernard.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Pastor. I appreciate it. And I have to say you have done so much good for the city, and that you also have another great reality that distinguishes you, your radio presence. So, we've heard from the Rev. Now, we need to hear from the Rabbi, his partner. I don't think there's a more witty and thoughtful duo anywhere in radio in this city or this whole country. And when you think about the work of Rabbi Joe Potasnik, you may know him as Rabbi Emeritus at the congregation at Mount Sinai Brooklyn Heights. You may know him as Executive Vice President of New York Board of Rabbis. You may know him as an FDNY Chaplain. You may know him as a great voice of wisdom. Either way you slice it, my pleasure to introduce Rabbi Joseph Potasnik.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Rabbi. and thank you again. You're one of the people that brings New Yorkers of all faiths together all the time. And that makes such a difference. You know, you and I have talked about this, how this city, the most diverse place on Earth – we have every faith represented, and we have an extraordinary level of harmony between the faiths and among the faiths. And that's because of leaders like Rabbi Potasnik and Pastor Bernard, Cardinal Dolan, who make it a point to show all of their followers that we're all in this together. So, this weekend of faith is going to make a huge difference. And I want to encourage faith communities get involved. There's still time. Any houses of worship that wants to sign up, we'll get you a mobile vaccination as much as possible. We'll connect you to nearby vaccination sites. We'll get that incentive going for your congregants, individually. We'll get the incentive going, the bonus referral for your house of worship as well. We need the maximum number of New Yorkers vaccinated, particularly our kids, as we get ready to go back to school and houses of worship are going to play a very crucial role and we need you all right.

Now, back to school. Back to school means making sure kids are safe. We know that vaccination’s a way. We know that vaccination saves lives, keeps people healthy, keeps our schools safe. And that's why we made the crucial decision to mandate that all the adults in the school community have to be vaccinated. Now, we also know our kids, absolutely, desperately, must be back in school for their emotional wellbeing, for their physical wellbeing, for their ability to continue to develop socially, for their educational wellbeing. There are so many reasons – it's time. Last year, we did what very few cities did in this country – we reopened our schools and we did it with a gold standard of health and safety measures. By the end of the school year – this is amazing – by the last week of the school year, COVID in the New York City public schools was down to 0.03 percent positivity – almost nonexistent. It was literally one of the safest places to be in New York City. We intend to do that again, with an extraordinary set of health and safety measures, but with a tool we didn't have for most of last year, vaccination, and vaccination on a massive, massive scale. I want you to think about, as we prepare for the school year, think about what families have been through. Think about the pain, think about the disruption, but particularly think about a child who has not seen inside of a classroom in a year and a half. That's not supposed to happen. We can't let that happen anymore. That takes away from every single child has been deprived of that opportunity. I'm telling you as a parent, we cannot let that anymore. That's why we are so devoted to bringing our school back, 100 percent.

Now, today we're publishing a guide which is going to help parents, going to help families all over the city, kids, everyone know how this new school year is going to go. There's a lot of material in here, and there's a lot of references to other more detailed material online, and there will be updates over the next few weeks as additional information comes in. But this gives you the template, and it makes clear our commitment to health and safety. We are talking about how to maximize vaccination before the school year begins. And you heard that 60 percent figure for kids. That's great. And we want to keep building on that. We have a universal mask mandate, daily health screening, ventilation, air filtration extensively, every night disinfection, regular COVID testing in schools. The situation room, which did such great work last year, back monitoring every single school, special options for immunocompromised students and medically frail students to get alternative instruction. And of course, what we announced a few days ago, in addition to the mandate for adults to be vaccinated, for young people participating in high-risk PSAL sports, a vaccine mandate as well. All of these things together, layer, upon layer, upon layer are going to keep the school community safe, keep our kids safe.

Now, it's really important as we talk about this today to understand what the latest information is, the latest research, the latest data about COVID and our kids, because that's the base from which we work. And I want you to hear this update, that he is the Executive Director of our New York City Test and Trace Corps. And he's done extraordinary work, been one of the great leaders fighting COVID, during this crisis. He's also a parent and he thinks about children and their needs all day long. My pleasure to introduce Dr. Ted Long.

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps: Thank you, sir. As you said, as a father of two small children, myself, Dave and Zoe, nothing is more important to me than the safety of my children. I'm proud that we were the only big city in the country last fall to open our schools up for in-person learning. We proved in New York City that the layers of protections that we had in our schools kept our students safe. In fact, when we studied this in New York City, we found that students and teachers who were in remote learning had the same, if not a greater risk, of contracting COVID than our students and teachers who were in-person in our schools last year. Now, there's two data points I want to highlight going into this new school year now. First, hospitalization rates among children in New York City are well below average hospitalizations for all ages. And we have only had a very modest increase during the Delta wave.

First, hospitalization rates among children in New York City are well below average hospitalizations for all ages. And we have only had a very modest increase during the Delta wave. Among children ages five to 12, in our last full week of data, only 1.2 per 100,000 were hospitalized. This is more than 80 percent lower than the hospitalization rate for all ages in New York City. Second, throughout Summer Rising and the Delta wave, our percent positivity in our schools was only 0.3 percent, much lower than our other city-wide numbers. Now, our schools have proven to be safe. Our children deserve an in-person education, and I am so proud of the City can offer this to them. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you so much. And Ted, it's so important to recognize that our kids, who we cherish, thank God, have not had the experience with COVID that particularly older adults have had. And yet we are putting every conceivable health and safety measure in place. And we proved last year it can work. And, this year, we're going even farther. I want you to hear from the Chancellor she has been adamant about ensuring the very best health and safety standards are in place. And she knows that the efforts of our school communities focus on kids make such a difference. And she's been giving the message to everyone, health and safety first. We saw it last year. We're going to see it again this year even more. My pleasure to introduce Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter.

Chancellor, are you there?

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Can you hear me?

Mayor: There you go.

Chancellor Ross Porter: All right. Perfect. Good morning. It's so good to be here, and so good to be here with this amazing panel. You know, as an educator and a New York City public school parent, there is no more important day than September 13th. And I want to take a moment to reflect on what bringing all of our students back means. It means the return of math lessons and comfort [inaudible] of sports and reading and of school plays in school friends. Simply, it is the return of New York City public schools. Over the past several months, we have met with school leaders across the city to understand what worked last year. We worked with public health officials to understand the science of safely bringing all our children back to school. It has not been easy, but nothing worth doing is easy, and opening our schools is worth doing. This school year, we have something we did not have last year – vaccinations. These incredible vaccines keep our school community safe. To that end, everyone who works in our schools will receive their first dose by September 27th. Currently, every student over the age of 12 is eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine and 66 percent of New Yorkers are already vaccinated.

Prevention begins at the school door with required health screenings for anyone entering a DOE building. We are asking families to fill out these screenings and perform temperature checks at homes. We will equip all schools with thermometers so that if any family needs one, they can get one. More importantly, if you are feeling ill, please stay home. There is no penalty for keeping your school community safe. Communicate with your school and come back when you were feeling better. As we announced in May, masks will be required for all people inside and outside of DOE buildings, regardless of vaccination status. Wearing a mask is a simple, effective way to keep everyone safe. Following CDC and State guidance, schools will provide three of physical distancing where possible. This can be done in the vast majority of our classrooms. And we have been working hand in hand with our amazing principals to ensure that distancing is maximized to the fullest extent possible. It is important to note, physical distancing is one part of our multi-layered strategy and additional safety is provided by vaccinations, masks, improved ventilation, a focus on hygiene, testing, and surveillance by the situation room.

Last year, our amazing, professional engineers surveyed every room and building across the city to identify any repairs that needed to be made. Our incredible facilities team made those repairs and continues to maintain that high level of ventilation. This year, every classroom will have two air purifiers that meet and exceed HEPA standards, providing an added level of protection. Additionally, we are purchasing extra-large purifiers and window exhaust fans for high school cafeterias. Similarly, we are continuing our enhanced cleaning techniques put in place last year and we'll continue to make sure every building always has a full 30 days of PPE available.

Since the early days of the pandemic, our custodial engineers and facility staff have been hard at work, making sure our buildings are safe. With a year-and-a-half of experience under their belts, they will continue that hard work this year. Random surveillance testing provides public health experts with an important stream of information to understand the prevalence of COVID-19 in our schools. This year, every single school will have 10 percent of their school population tested twice a month. The information from those tests and all other reports of positive COVID-19 tests will be called into the situation room, which will continue to perform contact tracing and provide health and safety guidance to school leaders in a timely and efficient manner.

Our health and safety strategies are built on providing multiple layers of scientifically proven prevention strategies. Last year proved to us public schools were some of the safest places to be during the pandemic. And with the vaccination rates continuing to rise every day, we expect far fewer disruptions to learning. This year, we are continuing the successful policies that kept our schools safe during Summer Rising. We will move to close a classroom and quarantine close contacts for 10 days with confirmation of a positive test. Fully vaccinated individuals will not have to quarantine as long as they are asymptomatic. And out of an abundance of caution, these vaccinated students are encouraged to take a COVID-19 tests three to five days after potential exposure. Unvaccinated middle and high school students may test back into their classrooms out of quarantine after the seventh day if they provide proof of a negative COVID-19 tests, which could be uploaded to the DOE vaccination portal. A school will close if there is evidence of widespread in-school transmission as determined by the situation room and the Department of Health. This summer, we only had two buildings closed out of over 800 open. We want our babies in school and we want them there every day. And these measures have proven to keep them safe.

While quarantining, learning will not stop. Our educators have over a year of experience teaching both online and in-person during a pandemic. The elementary school students quarantining, live online instruction will be provided full-time. Middle and high school students will have access to remote learning while quarantining. Providing a high-quality learning environment for medically fragile students has always been a focus at the DOE. I know this from firsthand experience from my over 20 years here. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our preexisting home instruction program is being expanded to include more students who need medically necessary home instruction. It can include individual in-person instruction by a certified teacher or individual and small group instruction by certified teachers through digital platforms. We are taking what we learned during the pandemic and leveraging that to accommodate our students. I know families are concerned about the safety of their babies this year, and we are intent on making this process easy and accessible.

Today's announcement does not mark the beginning of our work or the end of it. Our entire school system is hard at work, preparing our schools for safe opening and a joyous homecoming for every student. I want to personally think every educator, every administrator, paraprofessional, custodian, food, service employees, social worker, guidance counselor, every member of our district and central staff, all were working around the clock to make this year a success. And I want to thank our parents, our families, and students for being with us in this moment. I look forward to seeing you all in school September 13th. Thank you so much.

Mayor: Thank you, Chancellor. And, Chancellor, I want to emphasize key point you made. During Summer Rising, which ended very recently, we had only two building closures. We had relatively few classroom closures. We saw that the health and safety measures work. We've seen a lot more vaccination since then of adults and young people. We, obviously, are going to have the new vaccination mandate in place for our schools. Here's the bottom line – we do not expect a lot of building closures. We will have some classroom quarantines, that's true. But we're also going to see a lot of people able to stay when others have to quarantine. This is crucial to remember – anyone vaccinated who is not symptomatic, adult or child, even if there's been contact, they're going to stay in school. So, I don't want people thinking of last year's model and assuming everything's the same now. It's not the same. Why? Because of vaccination. The sheer magnitude of the vaccination effort in this city has changed the entire reality. As you heard before, 5.3 million New Yorkers who have had at least one dose – entirely different ballgame, even with the challenges of Delta. So, our commitment to parents is to minimize disruption this year, keep as much continuity as possible, and make sure that all those health and safety measures are in place. I want you to hear from a parent now, because it's all about our kids and our parents and serving them. And we have a parent from P.S. 71, mother of two, one child who was in in-person instruction, one child who was in remote instruction. So, she has great perspective on both of the realities. And she has reviewed the various announcements today of how we're going to guarantee health and safety, and it's going to give you a parent's perspective on this approach to keeping our kids safe. My pleasure to introduce Michelle Perez.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Michelle. Thank you for being with us and thank you for doing some of the most important work anyone can do, which is to be a parent and to be there for your kids through everything. And I know it's been real hard but thank you for your positive spirit. We're going to make this work together and we're going to work closely with parents. And we're also going to work closely with our elected leaders in every community who care so deeply about our schools who do so much to help our schools. And so many elected officials are very personally connected to the schools in their district to help get additional funding and support, work on these issues all the time. And the next person I want you to hear from is also herself a New York City public school parent, so it's real personal for her. And she's making sure that all the right health and safety measures are in place. My pleasure to introduce New York State Assembly Member Carmen De La Rosa.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you, Assembly Member. I can tell this is a happy parent, that kids will be back in school. By the way, the most important thing is it's the right thing for our kids. There's a lot of parents who could use a break too, and it's time that everyone get back to something good, which is every child being in school together. And so, now we're going to go from the community the Assembly Member represents in Washington Heights, we're going to go a little farther south down to Harlem, to someone who epitomizes Harlem and the greatness of that community. And she fights for the community and she knows very well how much parents in the Harlem community want to see their kids back in school the right way. And that's what we're doing. I want you to hear from Assembly Member Inez Dickens.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much Assembly Member. Let me tell you, thank you for what you said, because we do believe getting the community engaged in the conversation is a difference maker, and we've seen that in Harlem and all over the city. That conversation has grown. More and more people have bought into vaccination, more and more people getting the answers they need, more and more community leaders coming forward. Thank you for being one of those leaders who's made a big difference, but also thank you for raising a young woman who is giving back to our city as a teacher. So, you're a public servant in many, many ways and I really want to thank you for being a part of this today.

All right, everybody, this is Staten Island Week – City Hall In Your Borough for Staten Island. It's been an amazing week already and a lot more will happen. And this is our last press conference of the week, so I want to make sure we get some important matters in. But, first, just talking about yesterday – what a great moment. Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter and I went to join the Curtis High School football team, the Warriors. The Warriors are a hell of a team. They have had great success in recent years, great spirit, great coaches, but also great vaccination effort. And we were there as one of the players got vaccinated. We were there as one of the team captains spoke about why they believe in vaccination. They want to keep everyone safe. So, let's go Warriors. Very, very impressive group of young men and a great, great school. And we're going to be celebrating later in another sport. We're going to be celebrating later on, baseball – professional baseball, returning to Staten Island. I won't scoop us on that, Borough President. We're going to have a lot to say about that later on and very, very exciting.

Yesterday, also a very important moment – a victory for the rights of working people and, particularly, working women – signed a major piece of legislation to protect domestic workers Staten Island’s own, Council Member, Debbie Rose sponsored. And the legislation made it illegal to discriminate against domestic workers under our New York City human rights law. Such an important step forward. Domestic workers, so often ignored, so often not given the respect and the legal protection they deserve, but, like all working people, they deserve their rights and this new law does it. And I want to turn now at someone who championed this fight for years, not only here but around the country. Co-founder and Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Ai-jen Poo,

[…]

Mayor: [Inaudible] we thought you'd like this message. So, let's make sure this gets around. This is the way to understand it – our domestic workers do so much for us. They should be respected, valued, and the legislation really makes a difference. So, congratulations to you and all your colleagues.

Okay. Here we go to indicators, and begins with my favorite, which is the number of doses administered to-date. And this keeps growing and we're seeing real good movement, real good momentum. As of today, from the beginning 10,555,002 vaccination doses given. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 135 patients. Confirmed positivity, 35.17 percent. Hospitalization rate, 1.37 per 100,000. And then, number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 100 – excuse me, 1,644 cases. Finally, going to do a few words in Spanish about vax to school – the vaccination effort to reach our young people.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Mitch Katz, by Dr. Ted Long, by doing Commissioner Jesse Tisch, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. The first question today, it goes to Paul Liotta from the Staten Island Advance.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: Good, Paul. How have you been?

Question: I’m well, sir. So, regarding the school document as it relates to the COVID procedures this year with building closures – can be determined by the Department of Health. Is there any kind of metric that the City can share what that – you know, how that determination will be made?

Mayor: It's going to be based on the specifics of each situation, Paul. What we saw last year in a very different environment, there were a lot of closures. We looked at the facts, we looked at the approach, and we said there's a way to focus on health and safety but also minimize disruption. So, it's going to be case by case, but with a very different environment now because of the high level of vaccination. And that has changed the playing field from the point of view of the doctors. But the situation room will be constantly monitoring. We'll have the regular testing and we can do additional testing anytime we needed in any given school. But it's going to be done on a case by case basis.

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Michael, how you been, man?

Question: I'm good. I'll say on the new guidelines, you said that middle and high school students in quarantine will have access to remote learning. What does that mean exactly? Who's going to be teaching if the regular teachers, you know, in school and with the kids that aren't, who aren't quarantining?

Mayor: Yeah. I'll start and I'll turn to the Chancellor. So, Michael, bottom line is, again, we expect a very different reality than last year. We do not expect a lot of building closures based on everything we're seeing now. We do expect some quarantine classrooms, but it certainly will not be like last year because a lot of both adults and kids will be able to stay in school if there has been a case in their classroom if they're not symptomatic and they are vaccinated. So, I just want to emphasize it is going to be a very different environment. But we of course need to be ready to provide help for anyone who is quarantining. So, we have a variety of materials ready, different approaches depending on the grade level. We laid out some of it in the booklet. The Chancellor will summarize. But we're going to be adding updates in the coming weeks. This is the baseline that we're announcing today, but there's some ongoing conversations, both within the DOE and with our labor partners. And we're going to have more to say in the next few days with some additional updates. But to start, go ahead, Chancellor.

Chancellor Porter: Yes, definitely. You got it, Mr. Mayor. You know, we have spent the last really year and a half building out remote learning muscle. And so, we look forward to the ways that we now know as a system, how to pivot should we need to. But we also have additional health and safety measures that we didn't have a year ago that will allow us to be in school as opposed to having to leave our school buildings. But we have materials both online, our children, we have over 500,000 devices, wifi enabled, LTE enabled devices in the hands of our children. And so, you know, we spent the last year and a half getting ready, but we are going to build on what we learned last year. But we had to have the added measure of vaccines in arms, and the added measure of an entire workforce that's vaccinated, to provide a protective bubble around our students so that we can keep them in school.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: The next is Jillian Jorgensen from NY1.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, and I hope you're having a nice time on beautiful Staten Island, my beloved native borough.

Mayor: Jillian, where are you? We expected to see you for our celebration of the Rock?

Question: We should all go get some pizza at Deninos or Lee’s. I think I know which one the Borough President would pick. But to a more serious subject, the school reopening. Who's going to be doing the teaching for the remote learning when students are quarantined? Is, you know, if only part of a class might be quarantined and the teacher might still be in the building, if they're vaccinated, how is that going to work logistically? Who's going to be doing the remote learning particularly for elementary school students during a quarantine?

Mayor: Okay. So, let me start again. I'm going to go back to the Chancellor again. I really think this is a crucial area of concern, I really do. And what we're trying to make clear today is we can tell you some pieces today, and we're going to be filling in a few more blanks in the next few days, because there's still a couple of issues being worked out. We're still a few weeks out from getting a school and we have time to resolve these issues and then give people a fuller picture. But the most important thing to say is, from what we're seeing right now, we expect a lot more continuity than what we had in the last school year. So, I think you'll see many cases where kids don't experience school building closures and quarantining. Remember there are kids who, since we do not expect a lot of building closures, if they're vaccinated, even if they're exposed to someone else positive, they're still going to stay in school unless they themselves are symptomatic. That's a really, really different situation than what we had last year. So, point one, I expect a lot less disruption, a lot more kids just staying in school throughout. When a child does need a temporary instruction, because they're quarantining we have a variety of tools available to keep the continuity. Obviously, goal one is just keep those disruptions to a minimum, keep kids in the classroom. So, the Chancellor, again, will summarize what we can tell you now and what's in the handbook that we announced today. But this is definitely, Jillian, a stay tuned. This'll be updated online regularly as new developments occur. And I think we'll have some additional points on this in just the next few days. But Chancellor, why don't you summarize where we are now?

Chancellor Porter: Sure. And good to hear from you, Jill. I feel – we met in Staten Island, so it's good to be back there virtually today. So, elementary school is easy. In the event of a quarantine there, the classroom teacher would quarantine with the class and they will have continued instruction from the regular classroom teacher. We're still working with our labor partners on high school and middle school, where you may have partial closures because of vaccinated students. But like the Mayor said, we're also continuing our Vax To School campaign, increasing the numbers every day of students and faculty members that are vaccinated so that they are less interruptions to instruction and more days in school, very different environment than we were in a year ago today.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Jillian.

Question: Thank you. That's helpful. And on the testing, this is less testing than was being done last year. Obviously, the vaccine is a factor now, but it's not available to children under 12, that's all elementary school students pretty much in the city. Why the decision to test with less frequency than last year?

Mayor: Because we have an entirely different reality. So again, I want people to remember that what happens in the schools reflects the larger reality of the city. As of this hour, 5.3 million New Yorkers. I mean, this is just a staggering number, 5.3 million New Yorkers have had at least one dose. School is still a few weeks away. You're going to see a lot more New Yorkers vaccinated. Then remember all the incentives, the mandates for public employees, the plan around indoor dining, all of these things are contributing to an uptick rapidly in vaccination levels. And the Vax To School campaign, we know we're going to reach a lot more 12 to 17-year-olds in the next few weeks. In fact, parent focus on getting their kids vaccinated is going to intensify as school comes near. So, when you have an environment with that kind of level of vaccination, even for the kids, not able to be vaccinated yet, they are affected by everything around them. If every adult in the building is vaccinated, that has a lot to say with the safety of those kids who are younger than 12. On top of that, the health and safety measures that worked. They didn't just work Jillian, during the school year, where again, by the end of the school year, 0.03 percent positivity, unbelievably low. But they worked during Summer Rising. We saw very little disruption during Summer Rising, and that just ended. So, we're really confident here about the ability to keep kids safe. The bi-weekly testing, constant, every school. And if we see in any school a need to do more, we can easily send more testing in literally the same day, if we want to in any case. We always have that option.

Moderator: The next is Dana from the New York Times.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Just a bit of a follow up question. I'm curious if you could explain how the City spent the federal funding it received to ease the reopening of schools? And why more of that isn't being spent on testing?

Mayor: That's a big question. Good question. But we'll have to really get you a breakout Dana, a lot of different elements to it. Obviously, everything we're doing on vaccination, which is the strategy, everything we've been doing to support kids with Summer Rising to get them ready to come back. And there's many, many answers to that question. We'll get you a breakout, but it's been intense. And remember when our kids come back, we're doing a mental health screening for every child. We're doing academic screening. We're bringing in 500 more social workers. There's a lot of big pieces moving here to support the comeback of our schools. But the testing, again, this is a high level of testing. This is every single school, every two weeks, with the ability to add any time anywhere we need to. Go ahead, Dana.

Question: Thank you. That's all I've got.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: The next is Alex Zimmerman from Chalkbeat.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Thanks so much for taking my question.

Mayor: How are you doing Alex?

Question: I'm doing well. So, I wanted to ask about one aspect of the safety plan for schools, where there's a pretty significant discrepancy between what the City is planning and what the CDC recommends? So, the CDC, the current CDC guidance says that unvaccinated students should not have to quarantine if they were properly masked, even if they were exposed to a student who tested positive? You know, given that both students in that case were properly masked, were in a classroom, and were at least three feet apart from each other. But according to the plan the City released today, you're planning to quarantine entire elementary school classrooms, even if only one student tests positive. So, I'm wondering if you could explain why the City's plan here deviates so much from what the CDC recommends?

Mayor: Well, I appreciate the question. I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma, but I want to caution, we're always trying to strike a balance. We, absolutely, positively, it's an imperative to have every child back in school and the maximum time in school. Obviously at the same time, health and safety first. So, those are the balance – that's the balance we try and strike. I also want to make sure that you're, I respect you a lot, but that your interpretation of the CDC guidance is the same as our doctors. So, let's start with that. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Varma, could you speak to whether you see it the same way as Alex and talk about your reasoning on this?

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly sir, I'm happy to start. And as you said, you know, there's a balance to be struck here between keeping kids in school but of course, when cases are identified ensuring that kids are kept safe. And particularly in settings where there is lower vaccination, not of the staff because of course all staff will have to be vaccinated. But when children are not yet eligible for vaccination, that does tip the balance more strongly toward ensuring that we aggressively try to break any chains of transmission within classrooms and schools. And so that is how we have decided to enact the isolation and quarantine policies that we have. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma, anything to add?

Question: Well, just to clarify that, the reporter is correct, that we have chosen an approach that is more conservative than what the CDC guidance says, specifically about that issue. We all know that New York City is different and we chose a layering of different protections so that we can ensure that, you know, health and safety is at the forefront as it's been since the beginning of the pandemic. So, that is really the reason and really fundamentally one of the big issues that concerned us to be very specific was the emergence of the Delta variant and the differences that we don't know about in terms of how it may or may not affect transmission in a school setting. So again, we've put health and safety at the forefront, and in this situation we chose a practice that is a bit more conservative than CDC, but I think aligns with our concerns about the situation here in New York City.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Alex.

Question: I'm also curious there's some, it looks like to me, there's some mention in the plan about there could be certain circumstances where a school building would be shut down if there was some kind of uncontrolled spread? And I'm just wondering if there is like, a specific benchmark for that? Like, if there's a specific number of cases, I know there was a specific number for that over the summer, and I'm just wondering if that still exists now?

Mayor: I’m going to turn to Dr. Ted Long, but with just a quick preface – again, Alex, we had to learn by doing last year to say the least and we tried different approaches and clearly took a very cautious approach and a very good one in the sense of we got great outcomes in terms of health and safety, but we also saw a lot of disruption and it was before we had a high level of vaccination. We now have an extraordinarily high level of vaccination and is growing all the time, and we need to balance all the factors, but we want less disruption this year while maintaining health and safety. So, it, again, it's going to be much more case by case based on the facts, any school, and Test and Trace is going to take the lead determining that Dr. Long, you want to give an update on that. 

Executive Director Long: Yeah, I'd love to, sir. So, I appreciate the question because keeping our students and our teachers safe is our highest priority along with keeping our students and teachers in school, which is so critical as we've talked about to the social, emotional, and educational developments of our future generation in New York City. We have an opportunity and we've been a leader so far, we need to continue to be a leader. So, what we're doing is we're doing an evaluation that's comprehensive to look for widespread transmission at any given school. That's triggered by if there are cases in that school, we then look for evidence of multiple sources of infection, in multiple spaces or cohorts within a school, based on that investigation if there's a reasonably high likelihood that ongoing transmission is occurring within the school, that's where we make the decision together, DOE, Test and Trace, the Department of Health about potentially closing that school if all of those criteria are met. And I hope that helps. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Elizabeth, how you been? 

Question: I'm good. I have some questions on schools too, regarding vaccinated middle and high school students, will they be required to show proof of their vaccination, or will it be some kind of honor system that they indicate on their health screening? 

Mayor: Again, I'll turn to the Chancellor to update how the DOE portal is working. I was asked this several times, just want to emphasize, the mandate is for all adults who work in schools. There's not a mandate for kids, but it's going to be a very, very strong effort to get kids vaccinated, and we want the information, of course, on vaccinated kids. We're going to push real hard these next few weeks, even into the beginning of school to maximize vaccination for 12 and up. I also want to emphasize, we're going to keep pushing the Biden administration to move the vaccinations for the five to 11-year-olds. This is the big missing link, and this should be what literally one of the number one priorities of the federal government right now, get that vaccination ready for five to 11-year-olds, and we can then secure the entire school community, ideally. But as to the portal and how we're going to make sure that kids provide their information, Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter. 

Chancellor Porter: Yep, so families can go to vaccines at @schools.nyc and upload their vaccination status right now. That's what we are going to be asking families to do. And on September 9th, they can start to upload negative tests. So, we are ready to start collecting that information from families. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Elizabeth. 

Question: My second question is about kids who may be seeking accommodations because of medical conditions. Do you - does the city have an estimate on how large that pool is going to be and who is going to be staffing that alternative instruction? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's a very important question. Thank you. I'm going to start, and I want to get the Chancellor into this as well. Just to emphasize, Elizabeth, page nine of this guide lays out the kinds of health situations where we expect to see medically necessary instruction. Kids with these challenges, kids who are immunocompromised, this is an area – by the way, this predates the pandemic, obviously, DOE has provided this kind of support for thousands of kids each year as needed, sometimes only for part of the year, if it's only a temporary need. But this is something we intend to do. Department of Health will work and look at each case to confirm the situation, make sure it's appropriate. In terms of the instruction will be provided, the Chancellor will tell you where we stand right now, but this is another area like we've talked about before, where we're going to tell you what the situation is now, and then some additional work is being done in the next few weeks before school begins, and we'll keep updating this guide with further information. Chancellor? 

Chancellor Porter: So, we've been working with our partners at DOH and H+H to anticipate what numbers could potentially be, and we estimate 3,000 to 5,000 students might need the support. What's important to note is that this structure has been in place prior to this moment. It was formerly known as Home Instruction, leaning into our lessons from the pandemic, we have transitioned it to medically necessary instruction and are expanding it to include the use of our in-person teachers going to students' homes, but also leveraging virtual class platforms to provide online learning. And so, we are still building this out, but really excited that we already have certified teachers that already connected to home instruction, and we're looking forward to leveraging those certified teachers to provide this level of instruction that is required at this moment. 

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Julia Marsh from The Post. 

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor can you talk a little bit more, you said, you know, this is kind of a stay tuned situation on many of these details about the reopening. Can you talk about, you know, what details are left to be ironed out? And is it an issue with the unions? Is it an issue with staffing? What's going on here? 

Mayor: No, I appreciate it very helpful. First of all, Julia, you'll look through – there's a lot in here, again, what's in this handbook for parents itself and then there's a lot of references to other resources available. So, I think this is going to answer a lot of the concerns, very valid concerns parents have had. There are a few areas where the issue still is some conversations with union partners, some final details to work through, but I want to note, it's really important, and again, your question is both fair and important, we're in a very different atmosphere, honestly than last year. There's a high level of agreement on what needs to happen. There are some specifics that need to be worked out. This is normal, unions, of course, are going to have some concerns and we have to finalize a few of the details, but I do think that's literally a few days away and we'll be able to update. It is not about staffing level. Staffing, we're very, very secure right now about our staffing levels. Go ahead. 

Question: Okay, and then just to follow-up to a question I asked yesterday, this is from my colleague Craig McCarthy who covers NYPD. When I mentioned Commissioner Shea and some other brass going unmasked, you said, you know, as long as they're vaccinating – that's vaccinated, that's okay, but the NYPD actually put out a memo to everyone at the department saying that all members, regardless of COVID vaccine status, must wear a face covering in elevators and when interacting with members of the public. We had Commissioner Shea, again, yesterday, interacting with members of the public without a mask on. So, you know, what's your comment given that, and isn't it important for these leaders to lead by example? 

Mayor: Yeah, I think he does. Yeah, I really do believe this. I haven't seen the picture and, you know, we're all going to do our best always, and sometimes we just have a moment where we miss something, but if you talk about what he's done overall, I mean, he made a very powerful plea to the men and women of the NYPD to get vaccinated. I think it was heard and respected by many members of service. I think it's having an impact. He's been out there working hard to get people vaccinated, making sure that people wearing their masks, cares deeply about the health and safety of his members. Whenever we lose a member to this disease, I've talked to Commissioner Shea, he feels it very, very personally. So, I think he has set the right tone and the right approach, and we all have to work every day to keep reminding people and doing the best to set a good example.

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Bobby Calvan from the Associated Press. 

Question: Yeah, hi, Mr. Mayor on a mandatory vaccination at schools - and I hope you can elaborate on staffing levels a little bit. So, some teachers have said they would quit, or risk being fired the city followed through with the requiring mandatory vaccinations. How many teachers do you expect to lose? And what are your contingency plans for any loss of teachers, and how do you kind of address any potential chaos or disruption? 

Mayor: Yeah, Bobby, respect the question, but we do not expect – again, I understand people like to use colorful terms, “we do not expect” the two words that you just used. We expect the vast, vast majority of the adults who take care of kids to be there for our kids. It's as simple as that. This is to keep everyone safe. This is to ensure that the children we all cherish are safe, that their families are reassured, it's the right thing to do for the health of our employees. I think the vast, vast majority are going to act on this guidance, by the way, we have a high level of vaccination already in the Department of Education. So, we don't see – they'll always be some loud voices – but we don't see any evidence of a major change in the staffing reality. Go ahead, Bobby. 

Question: Well, you've got about 72 percent of your teachers vaccinated, which means that, you know, if my math is correct, 28 percent aren’t vaccinated. So, is the school district prepared to possibly lose a quarter of its teaching staff?

Mayor: Again, that's just not going to happen. I'll have the Chancellor weigh in because she's been talking to the people she leads, and she's been an educator for decades. There's just that math doesn't reflect the reality. We are a full month away from the mandate taking effect. More and more of the adults who work with our kids are getting vaccinated all the time, in general, let alone because of the mandate. We are quite confident that we're going to have a very good response, and we also have a lot of additional support ready. We’re looked at this carefully. We looked at it very carefully before we made the decision, and we feel very good about where we stand. Chancellor, you want to add. 

Chancellor Porter: Yeah, sure. I agree with the Mayor. We expect our staff to comply. They've always shown up to take care of our babies and they continue to. The 72 percent number is – we got their pre, you know, having a mandate in place, and so we are looking forward to the rest of our workforce complying. We're also excited about, we built a really strong sub pool throughout the pandemic that supported us through that, and they're getting vaccinated as well. And so, we are ready to serve our children. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Chancellor, and everyone as we wrap up today, it's first of all, the answer to all things, it keeps coming back to vaccination. We want to put the COVID era behind us. We want to do right by our kids and our families. We need everyone to go get vaccinated. This is what's going to make New York City stand out in this nation and avoid ever having to go back to those restrictions we all hated, but I also want to say last press conference of Staten Island week, we're going to be doing some really wonderful events the next day or two to continue to celebrate major investments in Staten Island. Great things happening in Staten Island. Staten Island is going to be a crucial part of what we like to call a Recovery For All of Us. Thank you, everybody.

2021-08-30 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone.

Okay, I want to accent the positive here because a lot of good was going on this weekend in New York City, and it was really striking. First of all, no matter what's thrown at us, New York City keeps coming back and we had great evidence of that on a Saturday night, the Apollo open full with people, thrilled to be there, celebrating the incredible history of the Apollo theater, celebrating the comeback in New York City. Extraordinary musicians, just about every genre represented, it was beautiful, there was jazz, there's RB, there was Latin, you name it. Amazing concert and a joyful moment. You could feel the relief, fully vaccinated crowd enjoying this moment together in safety, the freedom that comes with being fully vaccinated, but also a New York City icon, the Apollo, back in action. The message to New Yorkers and the people all over the country, all over the world, that New York City is back. So, that was really amazing, and also in Harlem on Saturday, a great a moment part of our Weekend of Faith in which houses of worship all over New York City participated vaccination drives, focused in particular on kids going back to school, tremendously successful weekend. People of all faiths working together. I joined with an amazing group of people from First Corinthian Baptist Church in Harlem. They put together a huge community fair, outdoors, giving people health care information, making sure people are vaccinated, a lot of other great work going on there. Really, really wonderful to see the faith community doing so much to help make sure that people are vaccinated. A few days ago, we had Cardinal Dolan and Pastor A.R. Bernard on this program, and they talked about the vaccine from their perspective, and they said it was an important message they wanted all of their parishioners to hear, that the vaccine is a gift from God. Everyone wonders, how do we get through a crisis like this? Look at this vaccine that was created in record time, that has had so much of a positive impact, that has saved so many lives. Our faith community is doing an amazing job spreading the word and helping to get us back, get people vaccinated, and that's really, really helping.

Now, we can see the impact of vaccination of the city. We can see how different reality is in New York City because so many people are vaccinated compared to, unfortunately, other places where there's a much lower number of people vaccinated. We can see the impact it's having on recovery, but we also know that the pandemic is still with us and we have to put everything we've got into putting the COVID era behind us, but it's going to take more people getting vaccinated, more work, and so in the meantime, a number of wonderful community organizations are making decisions how to handle the big events that they would have put on this year, and many great organizations that we honor and love in this city have made the decision to postpone one more time until next year, their events. We're going to talk about that today. The J'ouvert celebration happens the early morning hours going into Labor Day every year, an amazing, powerful celebration of heritage, one that is so important to so many New Yorkers, but that this year cannot happen the way it did pre-pandemic, has been postponed again until 2022. But the J'ouvert celebration will be back in 2022, full strength, like so many other things in this city. Never easy to decide that such a cherished event needs to be postponed again, it's never easy, but I want to thank all the community leaders and the elected officials, the clergy, everyone came together and decided this was the right thing to do, to focus on the health and safety of the community, to make sure one more time when we take that extra step to get through COVID together and then get ready for better times ahead. I want you to hear from someone who has kept the J'ouvert tradition alive, so powerfully so effectively, it’s made such an impact for this city, and she's going to tell you why this decision is made, but also give you a flavor of what this means to people that J'ouvert be preserved, how important it is, it comes back strong next year. My pleasure to introduce the President of J'ouvert City International. Yvette Rennie. 

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Yvette, and that's a beautiful message. Of course, the J'ouvert celebration will come back in 2022 and we're going to all work together to make it wonderful, but this year, the focus on health and safety, the focus on moving New York City out of the COVID era once and for all. Now, this is, of course, not the only major celebration effected by the pandemic, and I want to talk now about one of the most beloved events and the biggest event every year in this city, West Indian American Day, the beautiful parade on Eastern Parkway. The Carnival Association, which has done such extraordinary work for years to make it a memorable, amazing event, an event that literally people come from all over the world to. They have made the decision again, that this is not the year for a big event, so they've come up with a new approach, and the theme this year is the Rebirth of New York Carnival 2021, and what has been created is a three-day festival, a virtual and smaller in-person events, beginning this Thursday. It is a smart approach. It is a healthy approach. I really want to thank everyone involved, again, with the close cooperation of elected officials, clergy, community leaders. This is never easy for people to postpone a cherished tradition, but it's the right thing to do, and the great alternative has been put together that will link us from this year to next year when we can bring everything back. I want you to hear more about this decision from someone who's done such important work, both to celebrate culture and to keep people safe, from the West Indian American Day Carnival Association, my pleasure to introduce Michelle Gibbs.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you. And, Michelle, again, I know this wasn't easy. I really want to emphasize that to everyone watching. These are amazing, beautiful events that take a whole year of planning. It's just like what they say with the Macy's Parade, they start the planning for the next one the next day – the same – the beautiful parade we see on Eastern Parkway every Labor Day. A lot to have to postpone, but the right thing to do. So, Michelle, to you and your whole team and all your colleagues, thank you. You did the right thing. You did the smart thing and the safe thing for the people of Brooklyn and all New York City. Thank you.

Now, I want you hear from two of the elected officials who have played a key role in determining the right way to proceed. And both of them are leaders, strong leaders who focus on the wellbeing of the people and understood how important it was to get this right. First of all, a leader of both in Albany and New York City, and the democratic leader of the borough of Brooklyn, and, also, she celebrated her wedding reception last night, which was – yesterday afternoon, which was beautiful at the fabulous River Cafe. My pleasure to introduce Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you. Thank you very much Assembly Member. And, again, I know you and all the other elected officials really worked closely with the event organizers to determine the right course of action. And it was important for the folks who do the work to get the support of the elected officials, to know the whole community was behind these important decisions. I want you, everyone, now to hear from another elected official who has a strong, clear voice, is very, very proud of her heritage and stands up for it, and has been a leading advocate for promoting a culture of the African diaspora. She is also the majority leader of the New York City Council, Council Member Laurie Cumbo. 

[…] 

Mayor: I like what you're saying, Laurie. And Laurie, I really think your message perfect today, and your message is powerful, and I appreciate it. But I wanted you to start with – oh, hello, there, I just threw on something for this moment. I love your outfit. And, you're right, people can celebrate, but also keep it safe. If we keep it safe this year, we can have a big, beautiful celebration next year. So, thank you for your powerful, positive message. Council Member Laurie Cumbo, thank you.

All right, everyone. So, it's all about safety, it is about making sure we fight COVID, that's what gets us to a recovery.

Safety – we're talking about safety in every way. We're talking about safety from gun violence. We're talking about safety from COVID. And what is remarkable is the way New Yorkers stand up for each other and do the right thing time and time again, we always hear the stories when someone has done something bad, but let's talk about the people who've done something good. The many, many New Yorkers who have gone out there and gotten vaccinated. These numbers are staggering. Here is the latest in terms of vaccination levels in New York City. The doses from day-one – 10,657,351 doses from day-one. And just to give you some of the other facts, because they're so striking – 5.4 million New Yorkers who've received at least one dose. That is 65 percent of the total population. 5.1 million adults – almost 77 percent now of all New York City adults have received at least one dose – that's a beautiful figure. Young people, the 12-to 17-year-olds, the newest group that could be vaccinated, over 318,000, 61 percent-plus of that group of young people now having gotten at least one dose. New Yorkers are voting with their feet. New Yorkers are making the decision to stay safe and keep each other safe. And this amazing figure over 10.6 million doses – again, thank you to all the vaccinators, to Test and Trace, to all the good people out there. I saw you this weekend. I saw you on Friday in Staten Island. I saw you Saturday, in Harlem. You guys are doing amazing, amazing work. Second indicator, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 108 patients with a 32.79 percent confirmed positivity level. Hospitalization rate, 1.34 per 100,000. And number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,585 cases. 

Going to say a few words in Spanish, and I want to go back to public safety and the importance of getting our courts fully open.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Emergency Management Commissioner John Scrivani, DoITT Commissioner Jesse Tisch, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and Dr. Varma, Senior Advisor for Public Health. Our first question for today goes to Andrea from CBS New York. 

Question: Good morning to everyone on the call. Can you hear me okay?

Mayor: Yeah, Andrea. How are you doing today?

Question: Okay. Great, thank you. Mr. Mayor, I wanted to talk about the postponement of the West Indian Day Parade and J’ouvert. How do you explain that decision when you have events like the U.S. Open that until just a few days ago after public pressure was being organized as a maskless event without proof of a negative COVID test or vaccinations. [Inaudible] the demographics of the participants in relation to vaccine uptake taken into consideration. 

Mayor: Andrea, thank you for the question. I think every event is its own reality. Big events out in communities are one thing. Events that we're talking about could attract hundreds of thousands of people at a given moment, that's one thing. A controlled event in the stadium is another thing. But the bottom line is the same, we need people to be safe. With events indoors, period, people have to be vaccinated, period. There's no gray in that. With outdoor events, you have other options, but still each event organizer, each organization has to decide what they think is safe. So, this is a decision these organizations made. I commend them for it, but they made the decision, this was what was safe and healthy for their communities.

Moderator: Our next question goes to James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: Hey. Good morning, everyone. Happy new week.

Mayor: Happy new week? James, I've never heard that one before. Happy new week. [Inaudible]

Question: I encourage it. I encourage it highly. I do it every week. Well, onto our questions. I think this is really for you and for any of the medical professionals on the call. New York City's hospitalization, infection, and death rates remain low certainly relative to the rest of the country, which continues to see a spike of – a significant rise in these areas. That having been said though, we are seeing in certain parts of the city, still elevated levels of infection, apparently in areas that have lower rates of vaccination and mask use. Can you elaborate more on that situation and what the City's trying to do to change it?

Mayor: James, such an important question. I thank you for it. From day one, we have been fighting the disparities that have come up from COVID. They've always been there in a lot of ways. COVID made it so vivid and there were new disparities in the context of COVID we had to fight. And it's painful that the history bears down on us so intensely. And that it's been hard to get people, in many cases, to feel comfortable with the thing that would help them the most, which is vaccination. So, what we determined to do was to bring the vaccination effort to the grassroots. And we've seen a big impact. Getting houses of worship involved as we did with the Weekend of Faith. Getting community organizations involved. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi in a moment because this is a matter he is passionate on and he has been one of the leaders in making sure this effort was taken to the people. But just look at what's happened with the Test and Trace Corps, hired largely from the communities most affected by COVID. All of these pieces have led to big changes on the ground. One of the statistics I gave you last week was, we saw two weeks in a row in the beginning of August, where we had over 100,000 new vaccinations each week. And we hadn't seen that since beginning of June. And 60 percent of those vaccinations were for people of African descent and Latinos. And that was a crucial sign that all of these new approaches, the grassroots and the incentives, and the mandates are having an impact. I think you're going to see a lot more of that. I think you're going to see a lot more impact in the communities that need vaccination the most. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, sir. I want to start by thanking you for your leadership and commitment to equity as a core pillar of our vaccination effort. I think it was highlighted in events like those from the Weekend of Faith, as well as everything that we did around City Hall In Your Borough in Staten Island last week. And James, you're exactly right. When we look at the data in almost all cases, the parts of New York City that continue to have the greatest burden of COVID-19 disease are the places where we see lower vaccination rates. But we obviously have a solution. We have an approach that can work for that. The key principle, as the Mayor said, is to meet people where they are. That involves a lot of what the City is doing in terms of bringing the vaccine to the places where people are already frequenting whether it's at events or are bringing the vaccine into people's homes. Our in-home vaccination program continues to operate strongly, as well as partnering with community-based organizations. The trusted messengers who have been living in and serving the very neighborhoods that we need to reach for decades. And the City empowering those places by giving them funding, by making sure that they have access to the vaccine, giving them the science-based information that we need to combat misinformation. And so those are all of the strategies that we're bringing to bear. And we have to continue to think about this as an all-hands-on deck moment in the places where vaccination rates are lagging, because we can prevent further suffering and save more lives. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio.

Mayor: Hey Elizabeth, how you been?

Question: I'm good. I have a question about testing capacity for you and your health officials. Is the City concerned that there might be a shortage with either PCR tests, but also those self-administered rapid tests that I think – might seem like they might be the future in testing?

Mayor: Well, it's a great question, Elizabeth, and I’ll turn to Dr. Chokshi. I will only say to you, the way we've set up testing so far, the different areas we need testing, we feel good about what we have in place. Testing is always an important part of the strategy. But the most important part of the strategy is vaccination. Vaccination is what's going to change everything. That's the leading edge of this strategy. And in that area, we have tremendous capacity and tremendous reserves of vaccine. So, that's where our focus has really been. But as to testing capacity, Dr. Chokshi, do want to speak to that?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Briefly we aren't seeing any evidence of shortages with respect to testing either in terms of molecular – those are PCR tests – or for antigen tests. We are monitoring this. We know that the demand for testing across the country has surged as many places are seeing a surge in cases due to the Delta variant. So, this is something that we closely monitor but New York City is not dealing with that at this moment. I will also add New York City, the overall testing capacity for our city, thanks to the Test and Trace Corps as well as our many partners across the health care infrastructure, remains among the most robust in the entire world. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you.

And listen, everybody, as we conclude today, again what it comes down to, we see in communities all over this city people standing up doing the right thing, doing right by each other, protecting each other. You heard it today with the leaders of the Caribbean community, doing the right thing to protect members of their community, even at a time they’d love to be celebrating, but putting safety first. You've heard about Natasha's amazing work, protecting people, helping people go through the biggest challenges, but there for them. That's who New Yorkers are. And I keep coming back to the thing that New Yorkers should be proud of is how many New Yorkers made the decision to go get vaccinated to protect each other. That's a beautiful act. Anyone who goes and gets vaccinated, you're helping everybody else, your family, your neighbors, everyone. So, please, if you haven’t done it yet, no better time than today. Go out and get vaccinated. Thank you.

2021-08-31 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. When we started out on our vaccination effort, we called it Vaccine for All, literally said we're going to make this something that works for every New Yorker, everywhere, every neighborhood, easy, fast, free, all the things that New Yorkers care about, making sure they can get in and out fast, of course, knowing it's there for everyone for free. We've seen amazing things happen, by far the biggest vaccination effort in the entire history of New York City that keeps growing every day and the numbers are impressive and we keep using new approaches. And this weekend, the weekend of faith, a key example, let's bring all the houses of worship into this effort, a trusted community, voices connecting with their congregants, saying here's vaccination for you. Here's a way to make it work that's easy. Here's a way to do the right thing for yourself, your family, your community, the houses of worship did an amazing job. This weekend, 2,000 vaccinations at the houses of worship as part of our referral program, 2,000 more people got vaccinated, that means every single one of those folks were able to get a bonus themselves, the $100 incentive, but it also means that every house of worship got a $100 for each person that they convinced to come in and get vaccinated. This is a powerful approach and it's going to grow and the referral bonus approach, I want to be clear, the beauty of it is the individual is rewarded for coming forward, but whatever the organization is a house of worship, a community group, a business they get a boost too, and a thanks from the city for doing the right thing and helping to get people vaccinated. Lots of great examples around the city, non-profit organizations, houses of worship, businesses, small businesses, community businesses, restaurants that are already participating in the referral bonus program. 

One great example, East Flatbush Village, an amazing community group does great, great work, they have really focused on getting the community vaccinated in the place where we need extra help reaching people, and they've already referred over 450 people in the East Flatbush area to get vaccinated. 450 more people are going to be safe, helping to move the city forward, but also thousands of dollars in referral bonus support for East Flatbush Village. Everyone wins in this equation. East Flatbush village does afterschool tutoring for kids, they do really important anti-Violence work in the community, they do youth sports, great work to make the community better, leading the way on vaccination as well. I want you to hear from the Executive Director of East Flatbush Village, who's done so much to help the community, my pleasure to introduce Eric Waterman. 

[…]

Eric, thank you so much. I really want to thank you. You've given a great example of what a community group can do. I mean, one community group bringing in well over 400 folks, I'm so happy that's benefiting the good work you do in general, but I'm particularly happy that we got over 400 more New Yorkers who are vaccinated, and then that means more people hear the story that it worked, that it was easy, there's going to be a huge multiplier effect here. So, I really want to thank you for what you're doing for these Flatbush community and for giving a great example to everyone that so many community organizations and other organizations can be a part of this and make a huge impact. Thank you so much for everything you're doing. 

Now, again, I mentioned it's not just community-based organizations or how's the worship. We welcome small businesses. We welcome barbershops and beauty salons. We welcome restaurants. We welcome bodegas. Anyone who wants to be a part of this, encouraging community members to come in and get vaccinated, we want those small businesses to benefit. We want to make sure that the individuals from the community come in and get back safe first and foremost, we want them to benefit from it, but we want the small businesses to benefit as well. Here's an example, a restaurant in Harlem, Safari, great restaurant serves up wonderful Somali food, and they recognize after everything they've been through, the restaurant is hit hard, like so many others by the pandemic. They recognized that they could not only the restaurant back but do something great for the community. In a second, you're going to hear from Shakib Farah, who with his wife, Mona, doing great work, educating the community about the power of vaccination. So, here's a community-based business. Customers love it. Community loves it. And here's another place where people are hearing how important it is to get vaccinated and an opportunity for the restaurant to benefit from the referral bonus program. Everybody wins in this scenario. I want you to hear this great example from the wonderful Safari restaurant in Harlem, Shakib Farrah. Welcome. 

[…]

Thank you so much. Shakib and I want to tell you, first of all, give you credit for wearing the t-shirt. You got to always promote a small business, a local restaurant, so I'm glad you're getting the name out there. I've heard great things about the restaurant, I look forward to visiting, but I really want to thank you for giving people a great example of how every community business can help to keep people safe, and I wish you great success going forward.

All right, now, the referral bonus, great opportunity for our restaurants as part of how we bring them back. But most important thing for restaurants for all of us is to make this city healthy, make this city safe, make sure we defeat COVID once and for all. I've been talking a lot lately about the fact that we need to get our focus on ending the COVID era once and for all we can do that, we can do that if enough of us get vaccinated and we can therefore avoid ever having to go back to restrictions, right? Remember when all those restaurants got closed, those businesses got closed. Remember the devastating impact. We can never let that happen again. We first and foremost have to protect people because of their health and wellbeing. We have to save lives, but we also can't see our businesses destroyed because we didn't do everything in our power to fight COVID. So that's why the mandates we put in place are so important. And a Key to NYC is here, is being implemented all over the city. Customers know they'll be safe when they're in a restaurant or any indoor entertainment. The folks who work there know they're safe as well. It's not easy. There's real work to be done. That's why we spent weeks on outreach and education, and that's why enforcement doesn't begin until September 13th, but we want to make it as clear as possible. We want to answer questions. We want to work with restaurant owners and other business owners to get it right. One of the things we heard from restaurant owners, as they wanted a simple message that they could put up at the entrance to a restaurant, so everyone understands the rules and they understand that it's a city rule. It's not, something made up by each restaurant, it's universal now. This is the poster that we’re going to have available, and in multiple languages for restaurants in a variety of communities to make clear, dear, this is something everyone has to do for the wellbeing of all of us to keep us moving forward to defeat COVID once and for all.

Now I want everyone to know, we may clear on this poster, by the way, someone – let's say someone goes to a restaurant and they didn't know about the rule, they really want to go to the restaurant and they’re ready to get vaccinated. We've done a lot of research. We know the vast majority of unvaccinated people are actually willing to get vaccinated. They just haven't done it yet. Really want to go to that restaurant? Do you really want to go to that concert? Whatever it may be, here there's a way you can access the information, the nearest vaccination site. You can literally go to that vaccination site, get your first shot, get your card, come right back, go to that restaurant, go to that movie theater, go to that concert. That's how flexible this rule is. We just want people to get going on vaccination. We know people get the first shot end up getting the second shot as well. So, the information is there and anybody who wants these posters or wants to get them in other languages, and we'll be reaching out to small businesses, but also small businesses of course, can go to nyc.gov/keytonyc, as can all New Yorkers to get the facts about this new approach. Remember it's for indoor dining, indoor entertainment, it's for indoor fitness, and we in – the guides we're providing, the information we're providing today are showing the best practices. We're showing how to go about if you're a business, or you know, a gym, whatever it is, the best way to simply check a vaccination card. Now, remember restaurants and bars have planning experience checking IDs. You check in when you go to a fitness center or a gym, there's lots of history here that we can draw on, but we're showing real templates so it's clear how a business can manage this and make it work, and also how to know when there's a fake vaccination card and what to do about it. And by the way, when there's a fake vaccination card, that means someone has committed a very serious crime, literally that could lead to prison time for anyone who fraudulently creates a fake vaccination card, that is a major offense. So, we make that clear to business owners and what to do about it. I want you to hear about this new guide and what it's going to mean helping New York City businesses to protect their customers, their employers, and the entire city, and move us all forward. Someone who's been fighting all the way through COVID to help small business, our Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris.

Commissioner Jonnel Doris, Small Business Services: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You know, everywhere I go around the city visiting our small businesses, our restaurants, our mom-and-pop shops. You can just feel the city coming alive again this summer, I can see our small businesses coming back. We want that to continue. We need that to continue. And the way to make sure this continues is by safely getting people vaccinated through the Key to NYC Program. The first day, the Key to NYC launched, I visited Ricardo Steak House in East Harlem, one of the 11,800 plus restaurants in our Open Restaurants Program, the atmosphere was full of life and energy. And most importantly customers, they have already had the flyer up. They already began to process and ask and customers if they're vaccinated or not. And they said something to me, I think that was so important. The manager said to me that this took away the ambiguity of what it is and who's coming in and what to do, and that need to make their customers and their workers understand the processes that were implemented. They said that it was consistent. They said that it was clear, and everybody understood what was expected. And that is what we've done here at SBS, which is walking the corridor or speaking to small businesses, East Harlem, Coney Island, all around the city to hear from them about what we need to do to make sure they fully understand and grasp what is being implemented here. The key to NYC is protecting our workers, our customers, and also our small businesses across the city.

Our job here at SBS is to keep training them and educated them to make sure that whatever is needed is possible and that we give them the resources to do it. Already we've hosted various online trainings. We have 600 plus canvassers out in the field speaking to small businesses now. And I thank our BIDs, our Business Improvement Districts, our chambers [inaudible] Small Business Council, all who are doing this significant outreach and support this mandate that is out there now. And, today, we're putting in our brand-new industry specific guidance that will further help business owners with the mandate. If you are a restaurant, you'll be able to look and see exactly what you need to do. If you are a gym, you'll have specific help on how to put your plan in action. If you’re a movie theater, you'll find out on how to keep the line moving. Or any business for that matter, we have specific guidance for you. They are free weekly online trainings as well every Wednesday, and trainings also come in in Mandarin and in Spanish. And to help you create your business implementation plan, we've created a template that you can quickly and easily fill in, how to put your plan into action, know what to check, how to keep things moving quickly when verifying vaccination cards, all of that and more. Go to nyc.gov/KeytoNYC to find out all the information you need there. These resources will be available in 13 languages.

To our small business owners, we are with you every step of the way, providing the necessary resources, and education, incentives for vaccine referrals. We will make this easy as possible. If you have any questions, as we've done throughout the pandemic, our team is here to help you with a personal one-on-one support. Just give us a call at 888-SBS-4NYC – 888-SBS-4NYC. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you, Commissioner. I love when you remember to give that phone number, thank you very much. So, everyone, throughout the pandemic, we've been focusing on the needs of all New Yorkers. But we all, as New Yorkers, we love – we love our restaurants. We love all the parts of the city that make us so special. You know, the restaurants in New York City are part of our personality, part of our heart and soul, part of our energy, part of why people come here from all around the world, but also our restaurants represent all of us. They represent all of our cultures. They represent the dreams of people who thought, maybe I could create something great, and then they do it. So, from the very beginning, I've been listening to the voices of restaurant owners, as they've talked about what they need to survive. And we've tried, every step of the way, starting with outdoor dining and so many other steps to help them through. And, thank God, so many have made it. One of the people who has been there with us every step of the way, literally, every step of the way, and he is offered ideas, critiques – when he likes something, he says it; if he doesn't like something, he says it. He has been a great advocate for his industry, but he's been someone who's worked with us to always find the next step that we could take to keep people safe and protect the employees and the patrons of the restaurant industry and everyone who loves it. He's been with us every step of the way and I want to say thank you for that. The Executive Director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, Andrew Rigie.

[…] 

Mayor: Amen. And you're at the table right now. I just want to say, we need to see a table – you're at the table. See, it works. Andrew, thank you. You've been a stalwart. And to you and your colleagues, everyone who's been with us, we appreciate it as we work this through. And look at these guides – I just want to make sure everyone sees – this is the kind of thing you'll see online for indoor dining, for indoor entertainment, for fitness facilities, specific, detailed plans on how people can make this work effectively and where to go for more information. And that's crucial – we want to – we, obviously, want to put forward proactively the information that business owners need. We want to make it as easy as possible, but we know there's going to be a lot of questions. So, we welcome those calls from business owners to work it through. And the team at SBS is ready, willing, and able, including going out to businesses and working with them on the scene to show them the best way to approach this new effort for the good of all.

Now, I want you hear from a City Council member who has been a strong advocate for small business and a strong advocate for ending the COVID era. And he has supported the Key to the New York City approach and the understanding that we need the right kind of mandates to make sure we never slip backwards. He's worked with small businesses in the community to make sure this plan comes to fruition for the good of all and he really understands what it's going to mean when we get this right for the future of New York City. My pleasure to introduce from Manhattan, Council Member Keith Powers. 

[…] 

Mayor: Yeah. It's Keith Power's diet plan. You heard it here first. Thank you, Council Member. All right. So, now, listen, we've talked about small businesses. We've talked about restaurants, what's crucial to our recovery, saving our businesses, saving jobs, bringing back the life of this city. And we know that's going to be a crucial part of our economic recovery, but we also know our recovery is deeper than that. And we have to keep focusing not only on people's health, fighting COVID, but on public safety as well. All of these pieces go together in a recovery for all of us. So, yesterday, we talked about a profound problem, the fact that our court system is not fully functioning. I want to say it again really clearly, specifically – not fully functioning when so many other parts of our society are fully functioning. Again, for the first six months of this year, when you compare 2019, the first six months of 2019, 405 trial verdicts in New York City. The first six months of 2021, only 18 in New York City. There should not be excuses for that. You know, I would like to hear from the folks who run the courts not their excuses or pointing fingers elsewhere, but just say what they're going to do to fix it right now. We all, in every party that you're hearing – private sector, restaurants – open, making it work. We’re bringing back schools, City offices, you name it. There's so many places where people are back, but our court system is just not functioning and it’s moving at a snail's pace compared to the rest of the state. So, for that same six-month period, here's another comparison. In all the rest of New York State, 40 trials per month on average. In New York City courts, only seven trials per month. It makes no sense, considering that so much of the activity is – obviously should be here in the courts in New York City. So much that has to be addressed should be happening here in New York City, but it's not. So, how do you stop crime if criminals think there will be no consequences? If criminals know there's not going to be trials, it's not helpful in the least. And just – you'll hear later on this week from our NYPD Commissioner what he's seeing in this situation, but I don't even think you need an expert to see the common sense of this, that if there's no trials, there's no consequences, that doesn't help us stop crime. That's a whole reason we have a criminal justice system to begin with. And there’s supposed to be speedy justice, that goes back to the founding of the Republic. And, instead, we see snail's pace justice and it's hurting our efforts to keep the city safe.

I want you to hear from a truly respected national expert. You know, in the last eight years, I've been working on issues of public safety with incredible professionals at the NYPD, and mayors around the country, and there's one name I hear over and over – and it's real interesting, I hope he appreciates this fact that when folks want to talk about one of the ultimate wise men, one of the people really understands public safety and how to bring police and community together in common cause, they talk about Chuck Wexler. I've heard his name, dozens and dozens and dozens of times all around the country. And he understands there is an interconnectedness here. What happens at the community level, what happens with policing, what happens with courts – it all needs to move together. And if one piece of the equation is not working, everything else is affected. I want you to hear from him directly about why it's so important to get our court system up and running 100 percent, so all crimes are addressed. He is Executive Director of the Police Executive Research Forum, one of the most trusted voices related to public safety in the United States of America. My pleasure to introduce Chuck Wexler. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Chuck. And beautifully, beautifully explained. And, look, I agree with you, this is about everyone chipping in, and it can be done, but it's not going to work without the court system. And I think you just put it in powerful perspective. This is a crisis in plain sight and we've got to be clear about it. Right now, there should be a lot of energy focused from elected officials, from the media, from everyone to say, how do we fix this? We all need to fix it together, but there's no way we get back to the levels of safety that we need if we don't have a functioning court system, it just stands to reason. Chuck, thank you. And I agree with your optimism. We are going to get there. There's no question. We've proven before and you've been a big part of it around the country that we can come up with better and better ways to keep people safe. So, thank you. Thank you for the great work you're doing. 

Okay. Everyone, let's go to our indicators today. And, again, we start with the doses administered to-date. And I’ve got to tell you, I'm seeing great things out there. We talked about Weekend of Faith, the referral bonus program, the mandates are having an impact, incentives are having an impact. From day-one, 10,678,226 doses and growing all the time. Number-two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 126 patients. Confirmed positivity levels, 16.91 percent and a hospitalization rate of 1.31 per 100,000. And number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – 1,677.

A few words in Spanish – and I want to go back to making sure that our restaurants come back, that the employees are safe, the customers are safe, everyone together works with the Key to NYC. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we’re joined today by Commissioner Doris, by DCAS Commissioner Lisette Camilo, by Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Director Marcos Soler, by Dr. Dave Chokshi from Health Department, and by Dr. Mitchell Katz. The first question today, it goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, Juliet. How have you been? 

Question: I’m okay, thank you. So, given that you're looking at these protocols and you're going to use these protocols for business, I was wondering would you do something similar for City employees as they return to work this September? 

Mayor: Juliet, I want to make sure I understand your question so I want you to restate. I mean, obviously, we have a wide variety of health and safety protocols in place for City employees. So, I want to make sure I understand what you're asking. 

Question: Yeah. I was wondering if these are going to be sort of mandated protocols for people when they come back to work in City jobs. Will there be protocols to look at or check for vaccination? Check for masks? For testing? 

Mayor: Yeah. Different pieces there, Juliet. Right now, as you know, we have for health care workers a State vaccination mandate. For Department of Education employees, we have a City mandate. First, on the 13th it's vaccination or tests, but then, on the 27th, it goes to vaccination only. We're going to also on the 13th implement for all City workers, the vaccination or test standard. In addition, of course, depending on the work site, but indoors schools, hospitals, masks all the time in places where people are coming in contact with the public; indoors, masks. Variety of protocols, cleaning, you name it. But that's something we're doing across all City agencies, of course.

Moderator: Next is Dana from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Quick question. Why – you know, has the City given any consideration to requiring childcare workers who work with kids under two to get vaccinated? 

Mayor: Yeah. We are looking at a wide variety of employees of different types, different parts of the City workforce in general, meaning private and public. We've been moving the mandates so far that we thought were absolutely essential, but we continue to look at that. And, as I've said, we've been climbing the ladder. So, we're looking and we'll have more to say soon. Go ahead, Dana. 

Question: Thanks. Yeah. I mean, I ask for, I guess, the obvious reason, which is that children under two can't wear masks. I mean, is there a reason why public school teachers are being required, but not daycare workers? 

Mayor: Well, again, very different settings. Obviously, very different size settings. A lot of daycare settings are much smaller. But, again, I will just say it this way, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, because his agency has a lot to do with regulating childcare facilities. We, again, are looking systematically sector by sector. We take it seriously, of course. We need everyone to be safe and we want to figure out the right approach for each one. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. That's exactly right. We are looking at this systematically. We're particularly looking at settings where we want to protect people, particularly younger people who are not eligible to get vaccinated yet. That's why as the Mayor said, you know, we've started with schools. But we do have a range of other settings where additional requirements may come into play in the future. Thank you.

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning.

Mayor: Hey Michael, how you been?

Question: Good. How are you doing?

Mayor: Hanging in, brother.

Question: I see you taking a page out of Jimmy Oddo’s handbook with your poster today.

Mayor: Yeah. But look, Michael, hold on. My poster is very clean, neat. You can read it. Jimmy's poster was the, you know, the scribblings of a mad genius. Okay. I didn't know – I was looking at that thing for a while. I was like, what is he trying to tell us here? Continue.

Question: I've got a couple of questions. You know, you talked about vaccine incentives, both for individuals and restaurants, houses of worship. As I'm sure, you're probably aware we had a story that ran Saturday about how the Reverend Kevin McCall basically putting out there that he's giving vaccination exemptions as an enticement for people outside of his church. And as well as, you know, exemptions to people in his congregation. And I was wondering, you know, how prevalent is this? Is the City witnessing a lot of this sort of thing and you know, what should you do? What should the City be doing to push back on this? What are you doing to push back on it?

Mayor: Yeah, we are not – I'll turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi for their insights, but I'll tell you from what I've seen, now a year and a half watching this crisis and acting on this crisis. I have not seen that. I know Reverend McCall, I respect him. I appreciate him. I was very saddened to see that. I think that's a mistake. I think it should stop. Those, quote unquote, exemptions are not going to be honored. They're just, that's not the way to do things. And so I think people should recognize so important to get vaccinated leaders of veritably, every faith tradition have stepped forward, encouraged vaccination. You heard on Thursday, we had the Cardinal here and Reverend A.R. Bernard and Rabbi Potasnik. And so many faith leaders across the whole spectrum have been hosting vaccination events. So, we just got to focus on getting people vaccinated and you know, making sure people understand that's the only way to be safe. In terms of if we've seen much of this, Dr. Katz or Dr. Chokshi, you want to add?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes, Mr. Mayor, I think you've covered the important points. We haven't seen people bringing letters, but I just want to make sure everyone understands that no one can grant you a religious exemption. Religious exemptions are based on someone's personal, sincerely held beliefs. They're not based – no one can give you an exemption. But we have not seen these letters. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. You want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: The only thing that I'll add, sir, is that we have seen countless examples of faith leaders stepping up to support our vaccination efforts. They do it out of care and concern for you know, people who have been a part of their community for years and decades. And that's been vitally important. We've seen it not just in the Weekend of Faith as the Mayor mentioned this past weekend, but over the last several months. It helps people to worship more safely. And as we've been saying, vaccination makes every activity safer. So, we've been very pleased with that partnership with faith leaders and we'll continue to deepen it in the weeks ahead.

Question: Thank you. Go ahead, Michael. Thank you guys. On courts, I'm wondering if you think, should OCA be calling in New Yorkers for jury duty given, you know, spikes in wherever related Delta cases? And you know, you mentioned helping out with facilities yesterday and I believe last night, I mean, how exactly would the City address that the court issue facilities wise? I mean, do you have kind of specifics you can give us on that?

Mayor: Yep. I'll start. And I want to on the facilities question, turn to our Commissioner for Citywide Administrative Services, Lisette Camilo in just a moment. And then on the question of how important it is to have courts functioning and the impact, I'll turn to our Director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, Marcos Soler, also in a moment, but let me frame it. We got to address safety and health across the board. If criminals suffer no consequences, then there's a safety problem. So, we have to have a functioning court system. If I said to you, well, why don't you know, why don’t the police stay home or firefighters stay home or EMS stay home, or, you know, go on, go on with all the parts of our society. Why doesn’t everyone stay home because of COVID? Well, no, the answer is not that. The answer is to fight back. The answer is to get people vaccinated. The answer is depending on the setting, to wear masks, to do the proper ventilation and cleaning. It's not to give up. It is to figure out how to make it work. And juries come together just like all other people in workplaces come together. We need juries for a functioning system. So, there's something strange. There's almost like a suspension of belief going on here that somehow the court system has created this fiction that they could be allowed not to function while everyone else has to function. And I don't buy it. They need to function too. They should do it safely and we'll help them. And we've been making that offer for over a year now. In terms of the facilities themselves, I want you to hear from Lisette Camilo and I want to summarize. We provide vaccination assistance, free masks, air purifiers, plexiglass barriers, deep cleaning, you name it, for the buildings that are our buildings and Lisette that can speak to you about that ongoing effort to make sure courts are safe. And the fact that we welcome any additional requests that we can address. The State has responsibility for the courts, obviously. But we'll work with them in every way possible to address concerns. The only thing we won't accept is not having trials. Failure's not an option here. That's my message to the court system. Commissioner Lisette, Camilo, talk about the efforts that have been made to help keep everyone safe.

Commissioner Lisette Camilo, Department of Citywide Administrative Services: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, happy to. And like you said, we work very closely and we talk to OCA every day, our teams, in order to fulfill any requests that they may have regarding their facilities. But since the beginning of the pandemic, CAS assessed every single HVAC system in every single building. We've upgraded the outdoor air intake and installed the highest rated filters that the HVAC systems could withstand. We routinely replaced the filters to ensure that we have really a good clean filter to address any air quality issues. But we really rely on OCA to tell us what additional things they need for us to do. We are happy to assist them. We work with them on the purchase of portable air filtrations, and we routinely work with them to install plexiglass barriers wherever they dictate they are there. They have to tell us what their operations need and we will wherever we can, go in and meet those needs particularly on the facility, maintenance wise.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Commissioner. And I want to turn again to Director Marcos Soler to talk about, again, why it's so important. Why is just not having jury trials is not an option if we're going to fight crime and keep people safe. Marcos Soler.

Director Marcos Soler, Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think what is important is for [inaudible] and can deter and incapacitate those individuals, those small number of individuals who are drivers of gun violence. And right now we don't have that because we don't have – we don't have enough appearances. We don't have enough pre-trial hearings. We don't have enough motions. We don't have enough pleas as you have indicated. All those numbers are down by 40, 50 percent. And as a result of that, we don't have trials. And it's absolutely important to have a system that can deter and incapacitate those individuals who pose the highest risk to our communities.

Mayor: Thank you, Marcos. And look, I want to just broaden the point. We also – it's not just the worst crimes. Of course, that's our first concern. We don't want any criminality or lawlessness to go unaddressed. So, the point is what worked so well from 2014 through 2019 was neighborhood policing, working with a functioning court system. And we proved for six years, we could drive down crime consistently and deepen the cooperation between NYPD and community. But that required a court system that created consequences for a range of crimes. We needed anyone considering making, doing something illegal that, to know that there would be consequences. When there were functioning consequences, it helped us keep everyone safe and stop crimes of all kinds. We've got to recreate that now. We're recreating all the other parts of our society. We've got to do that right now with our court system. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Matt Chayes from Newsday.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Matt. How you been?

Question: Been all right. Thank you for asking. This question is for Dr. Chokshi. A study released six days ago out of Israel shows that immunity from virus induced infection is far superior to that of vaccines. What would you need to learn before those previously infected and those whose tests show high levels of antibodies be able to enjoy the same privileges as those who are vaccinated? Is there anything you can learn?

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi? And if Dr. Katz wants to join in as well, go ahead.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And thanks Matt, for this question. I am familiar with this study that you're mentioning. The study was released as a pre-print and is not yet peer reviewed. But it is an important contribution to the scientific literature. It does not, however, change our strong recommendation that even people who have been previously infected get vaccinated. And that's because the science is very clear that getting vaccinated affords stronger protection, gives you stronger levels of immunity against the coronavirus, which is particularly important in the context of the Delta variant. Thank you.

Mayor: Dr. Katz, want to add anything?

President Katz: Yeah. I just want to support Dr. Chokshi’s view that yes, we recognize people have had infection with COVID and that likely affords them some immunity. But why not strengthen that immunity through vaccination? We think that that's a much more successful strategy. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Matt.

Question: Okay. Pre-prints and non-peer reviewed studies have been cited by you guys at these news conferences before. And the question was, what would you need to learn, not what your current recommendations are. But I have another question, which is why won't you release data about reinfections in a manner just as forthcoming and comprehensive and transparent as you were releasing vaccine effectiveness data? I've asked you this a bunch of times and the questions have been not responded to.

Mayor: Yeah, Matt. I'm confused by the question, honestly, because we had a whole discussion, I think it was last week, about what we're seeing with re-infection and we gave live numbers. I'll turn to the doctors again. We want that information to be out there. We know it's a reality. It still pales in comparison to what's happening with unvaccinated folks. But I feel your angst over this, but I really think we are trying to be transparent. If there's anything more we can be doing, I'm happy for us to do it. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, you want to speak to this?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And yes, I believe Matt is asking you know, specifically about people who are getting reinfected who have not been vaccinated and essentially, you know, what the rates of that are? There is some data about this from around the world. It is something that we are tracking in New York City as well. And Matt, I believe my team has shared some of that data with you, but we'll be happy to follow up for any more detailed information. These are things that are nuanced to study and that we have to make sure we bring the right analytic approaches to. In part because the fact that someone has a repeat positive test, does not always mean that they have been reinfected given some of the subtleties with respect to testing. So, this is something that we're happy to follow up with you on if you want further information. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: Great. Thanks for taking my question.

Mayor: How are you today, James?

Question: Very well. Thank you for asking. I hope you're well as well.

Mayor: Thank you. Yes. What's going on?

Question: All right. City Council Education Committee Chair Mark Treyger has now said that both Health Commissioner Chokshi and Schools Chancellor Porter will testify tomorrow at his committee hearing on the schools opening plan. He also said there are still many lingering questions about reopening that he wants answered in the hearing, including how to know which students need to quarantine, what remote options, if any, there are for students generally, and for those who have to quarantine. Will you and Commissioner Chokshi provide us with some answers to these questions? And what do you anticipate will come out of the hearing, please?

Mayor: Thank you for the question, James. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but I'll tell you this. I listened carefully to what you just laid out. I believe all of that was covered in our discussion last week when we laid out the guidebook for parents. We talked about what were the exceptions, for example, medically frail students, students who are immunocompromised, where there can be instruction provided a different way. We talked about the standard for quarantining but remember that's a different standard at this time because any adult or student who is vaccinated will not have to quarantine unless they're symptomatic. So, we went over all that it's been printed, it's out there, parents have it. Happy to see Dr. Chokshi and Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter go over that again at the hearing, but we really feel we've answered a very, very broad range of questions. We all said there was a few things we're still working on, particularly with our labor partners. But I expect the hearing to be, you know, a lot of strong questions that are coming from parents and communities, and we're ready to answer them. I think it'll help get more information out there. Dr. Chokshi, you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. No, nothing to add in terms of that question. I'm also looking forward to the hearing. I know that there are several questions. We'll go over the information that we have released and answer any other questions that are forthcoming. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Henry from Bloomberg.

Mayor: Henry, you out there? Henry? Henry?

Moderator: We'll move on from Henry. The next is Amanda from Politico.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Hey, Amanda, how you been?

Question: Good. Thanks.

Mayor: Are you – have you gotten over your volleyball injuries?

Question: I have a new softball injury, but you know how it goes [inaudible] –

Mayor: Yeah, it's one or the other for me.

[Laughter]

Question: Well, thank you for asking. I wanted to talk to you a little bit more about these vaccine mandates for health care workers, particularly for Health + Hospitals. So, there's been a little confusion among health care workers in terms of meeting either their system’s deadline or the State deadline. And I've talked to nurses who said, they're concerned about what happens if, you know, let's say five percent of the workforce is asked to leave because they're not getting vaccinated, what does that look like with staff shortages that exist already? And so, I was hoping for you to kind of give me your thoughts on those concerns and whether or not you're hoping to mitigate that with additional hiring and then also I'd love to hear from Dr. Katz as well.

Mayor: Yeah. And I'll start, I'll turn to Dr. Katz for sure. Amanda, we talked about this as we were preparing our own mandate, which of course was vaccine or test. And then the State made a decision, which I certainly support, to do an across-the-board vaccine mandate for frontline health workers. That was very important. It was the right thing to do in part because it created universality. So, folks who want to work in the field – and now it's not a matter of, you know, leaving one employer going to another, it's expected everywhere. We also find that a lot of people, when really at that moment of choice, do decide it's the practical and smart thing to do to get vaccinated. So, the actual incidents of people threatening to leave has been much less than I think some of the initial projections. We don't take it lightly and we're certainly preparing if there are some departures. But I feel that the vast majority of our health care workers who are not yet vaccinated are going to get vaccinated, are going to stay, you know, at their post, helping people. They're there for a cause that they believe in. And I think we're going to find that this is going to be something we can navigate well. Dr. Katz.

President Katz: Yes, sir. I totally agree with your assessment. My staff are incredibly dedicated people who choose a mission every day to take care of other people. And I think that they will want to get vaccinated, as you say. Because it's a statewide mandate people would literally have to leave the health care field. It's not a question that they would leave Health + Hospitals and join another health care system. They would have to completely leave the field. And we've found even with our current vaccine or testing strategy that when people understand they may be initially reluctant, but they ultimately go forward and get vaccinated or testing. We've seen a major increase in our vaccination rates since we instituted the Vax-or-Test mandate. And then finally, we've already instituted this requirement for new employees thanks to you, sir. You remember when you announced for all new employees of Health + Hospitals as well as for our contractors. That's already in place and we have not seen any inability to bring in new staff or contractors despite having a vaccine mandate in those cases. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Amanda.

Question: Thank you. And Dr. Katz, I'd love to follow up. Do you have initial projections of how many health care workers in your system you would expect to leave considering the new mandate? And if so, is hiring a priority to make sure that staffing levels are, you know, I guess at the level that they are right now?

Mayor: As we turn to Dr. Katz, what I'd say, Amanda, just to frame it is, we went through extraordinary challenges last year and we saw tremendous agility at Health + Hospitals finding additional staffing when the question was just the need to intensely increase the amount of staffing because of the cases that were growing and growing. This is a much – from everything I can see a much lesser challenge, thank God. And certainly, I know H+H has the capacity to find additional staff when needed in normal times. But Dr. Katz, to the extent you want to offer any framing here of what you're expecting and your ability to fill in any of the roles you need to, how do you want to – how do you want to frame that for Amanda?

President Katz: Thank you, sir. And as you say, last year in March when we were under such dire conditions due to the explosion of COVID cases, Health + Hospitals added 7,000 new employees who worked at least one day. So, we know that if we have to, we will. We are a system that is always creating contingency plans because we recognize there are natural disasters, there are man-made disasters. Sometimes we have to bulk up staffing. Sometimes we have to ask people to do different jobs and be flexible in order to take care of people. I believe when all is said and done, there will be a small number of people who will not wish to get vaccinated but that we will be able to compensate for that small number of employees leaving us. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Reuvain from Hamodia.

Question: Good morning. I just wanted to follow up on the question earlier about reinfection. So, the doctors said that the recommendation is still to get the vaccine, even if you've had a prior infection because the vaccine gives you additional immunity. Well, first of all, it's not a recommendation, it's a mandate, but the fact is that even if the vaccine gives you additional immunity, if there are certain rights that are being given to New Yorkers who have the vaccine, that the vaccine alone is enough to give you these rights, like going to concerts with the Mayor in Central Park, then if the immunity from reinfection is even greater than that, why should that alone not be enough?

Mayor: Alright, I'll turn to the doctors. But here's what I think is the commonsense answer. It's a very fair question, Reuvain, and I appreciate the question, but I think the commonsense answer is this, we're fighting an extraordinarily dangerous foe, and we found the vaccine is the difference maker, and it was based on a lot of research all over the world. And we've seen it with our own eyes. If we had not had a huge number of vaccinations in this country, Lord knows where we'd be right now and how horrible the situation is. So, we've seen with our own eyes the impact it makes. It doesn't mean you can't have more than one strategy, but we're absolutely convinced that vaccination is a necessary part of any strategy. It's been proven on the ground all over the country. With that, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I would just add that, you know, that there's just a basic choice here if someone has had prior infection with COVID and that's whether or not to get vaccinated. And if you just boil it down into that choice, it is very clear that getting vaccinated does confer additional protection. It strengthens your immunity. There is a study from the CDC that showed that people who are unvaccinated, who have had prior infection are twice as likely to get reinfected compared to people who had prior infection but got vaccinated. So, this is the basis of our recommendation. It's really both to protect the individual as well as for the broad population benefits that we know that widespread vaccination can confer. And I'll just add on a personal note. I faced this choice myself with respect to having been infected previously and I made the decision to get vaccinated, to protect myself and to protect my loved ones. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, do you want to add? Dr. Katz –

President Katz: Nothing to add, sir –

Mayor: All right, go ahead, Reuvain.

President Katz: Nothing to add, sir. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Reuvain.

Question: Yeah. So, Dr. Chokshi, no one's doubting that getting the vaccine in addition to a prior infection is better than just the prior infection. I, myself, made the same choice you did. I was infected previously, and I got vaccinated. But again, I'm sorry, my question was not answered. If the vaccine immunity – if the City has decided that vaccine immunity alone is enough to be granted these rights like eating at restaurants or going to concerts, and if immunity from re-infection alone is better than vaccine immunity, as an Israel study has shown, then why should the prior infection alone not be enough to get these rights?

Mayor: Well, again, I'm going to just challenge this on a common sense level and then let Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi speak to it. You've got a study and we value each study, but I've learned enough in the last year-and-a-half to say it takes more than a single study to determine all the policies we're going to make. We have global evidence of the impact of vaccination. It's not conjecture. It's not a single study. It's not a new development. It's proven on the ground. We're not moving off that. We're doing the thing that we know works. And again, I really do respect the question, but I also want to go back to why we're doing what we're doing. We have to save lives. We know the vaccine has saved countless lives. We have to avoid letting the Delta variant gain more steam. We know the vaccine is helping us do that, and we need to avoid falling back to restrictions. And clearly you see the life of the city right now, that's because of vaccination. Any natural immunity, that's great, but we didn't have vaccination before. And we saw the ability of COVID to come back. Once we instituted massive vaccination, we've seen our ability to hold the line and bring our city back. I think we've seen it with our own eyes. It's more powerful, bluntly, than any single study. Dr. Katz and then Dr. Chokshi.

President Katz: I agree. And I would again say, I don't see what the argument is for not getting vaccinated if you have prior infection. Both you have gotten it and Dr. Chokshi has gotten it. And I – that's what I recommend for my patients who've previously had COVID. We should all want maximum immunity from this awful virus. Thank you.

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi –

Commissioner Chokshi: Nothing to add, sir. Thank you.

Mayor: As we conclude, I just want to put a point on it. It's not just – I do appreciate the question again. The question is framed almost from a personal level. I'm going back to the needs of all New Yorkers, 8.8 million people. We can't simply say, oh, let's do either-or and let's make it something where we don't do everything possible when it comes to the number one tool, which is vaccination. It is proven to be the number one way to fight back. So, to me, it would be a massive mistake to pull our punch. Just when we are gaining ground, we're fighting back the Delta variant. Why would we step back from that? We're making stunning progress. The city is showing when you have a high level of vaccination, everything else is possible. And we're seeing the horrible tragedies in other parts of the country. And I'm sure there are people that are good people saying, hey, we can go without vaccination. Well, guess what? Look at the parts of the country, where there are low levels of vaccination, look up the horrible things happening to people there. And those are places where lives are being lost and they are running the risk of falling back into all those restrictions. We can't let that happen here. So, as per usual, the answer is, everyone, if you're not yet vaccinated, no better day than today. Thank you.

2021-09-01 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We all know that this city – I always say a heroic city, the people of the city were heroic. We were the epicenter. We fought back, we made extraordinary progress. Then along came the Delta variant, and now we're fighting that back again because New Yorkers had done the right thing. And so many people have stepped up to help their fellow New Yorkers. I got to tell you there's some good news today and there's really beautiful numbers, amazing numbers, and a special thank you to everyone at Citi Field, everyone in the New York Mets organization, everyone at Health + Hospitals, that's been working at that site. Everyone who came together to create a vaccination site at Citi Field, it started modestly, well, guess what, there's been over 200,000 vaccinations at Citi Field, since the efforts started. I mean, that's an astounding number, 200,000. This – we just passed the 200,000-mark yesterday and Camila Ocampo was the 200,000th recipient. She was featured on the jumbotron. Great, great jersey there, expressing this triumphant moment. Here's what's amazing: this site has been the most popular city run site of all of them, all five boroughs. Average of 1,200 vaccinations a day, every single one of them saving lives, protecting a whole family and amazing the impact on Queens in particular, 94 percent of vaccine recipients from Queens at Citi Field, 27 percent of the first dose recipients walk-in. So, this is the place that we were able to show the power of just letting people walk in and what an impact that has made.

There's also been – I again want to thank everyone who's been involved. I want to thank the Mets organization; they've been real believers in the focus on equity. Of the first dose recipients at this site. 41 percent have been Latino, 36 percent Asian. And of course, we know some of the most enthusiastic New York workers going to Citi Field to get a vaccination have been young people. And you can understand the excitement of being able to go someplace they love. Since May 10th, 25 percent of the doses have gone to 12 to 17-year-olds at Citi Field. And that is powerful. So, it means that that what they feel about the Mets, what they feel about Citi Field, encouraged kids and families to show up and to be safe. And that's getting kids ready for school. Fantastic effort.

I want to turn to someone who gets a lot of credit in this, the entire Mets organization stepped up. I want to thank of course, Steve Cohen. He and I were there at Citi Field when we kicked this off, a real commitment to the city by him and this organization, and I want you to hear from the President of the New York Mets, who's really believed in this. The Mets have – every time we said, hey, we've got to do more, we've got to do more, the answer's always been, yes. I want to emphasize this. We've been at this since before the season began and even during the season, every time we've said we have to stick with it, the Mets always say, yes, we'll find a way we need to reach more people, we are your partners in keeping New York City safe. And I'm so appreciative for that. I want to introduce someone who is a baseball legend. He's been around for a while to say the least. He's made a great impact on the game of baseball. He's considered one of the great minds in – amongst the executives of baseball. And I'm really, really appreciative for his presence, the President of the New York Mets Sandy Alderson.

[…]

Mayor: Sandy, thank you. Again, you guys have been amazing partners. 200,000 vaccine doses, that's a staggering figure. I think if you talk to your colleagues around baseball, and some other stadiums have been used as well, but I think you could compete with anyone and beat most of them for sure. 200,000 doses, two thumbs up to you and the Mets organization and Citi Field for making that happen. And also, special thank you to Mr. And Mrs. Met, who have been there many times. They're very, very positive people, Mr. And Mrs. Met. I want you to know that.

Sandy Alderson: They are positive. They do it mostly with body language, but it's undeniable, they are great representatives of the Mets and we're happy that they as well have been vaccinated.

Mayor: There you go, leading by example. Thank you, my friend. Thank you for everything. Everybody, you talk about Queens and the huge impact that the Citi Field site has had on Queens. Well, I know someone who wants to talk about this, because he advocates for Queens every single day, and he understands what an impact it means that 200,000 folks have been reached. My pleasure to introduce, the Borough President of Queens Donovan Richards.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Borough President. You are a speaker of truth. And congratulations to you. I know you put a lot of effort into making sure JetBlue stayed right here in New York City in Queens, and also the Bartlett Dairy, and we were happy to work with you on both of those. Those are great victories for Queens, and, you know, you should – that's two feathers in your cap, because that's a lot of jobs you're keeping in the Queens community. Congratulations to you.

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Take care. We're only just getting started.

Mayor: There you go. All right. So, we've talked about the Mets, but they are not the only New York City team stepping up to help in the effort to get more and more New Yorkers vaccinated. Let's talk about the Nets – the Brooklyn Nets. And they are leading the NBA in so many ways, including in promoting the vaccine. Today, we're debuting a new public service announcement for the fans and for the Barclays Center workers. For everyone who cares about the Nets, it's a message from the Nets of how important it is to get vaccinated, starring Blake Griffin, Bruce Brown, Coach Steve Nash, General Manager Sean Marks. This is a great and powerful statement. And look, people look up to athletes and to the folks who run the teams. When they speak up, it makes a real impact. So, I want to thank the Brooklyn Nets for really going the extra mile. Once again, let's show you this video so you can see for yourself.

[…]

Mayor: Really says it all. Although we need a like Australian-to-English translation there for Sean Marks, but a great, great message. Blake Griffin says it all, your health is worth a shot and he is a gamer. So, when you hear someone like him saying it, it means a lot. The Nets have been great. They're doing great things to get their employees vaccinated. They were right there from the very beginning, saying our customers need to be vaccinated. The players are getting involved. Tremendous thanks to the Brooklyn Nets. Every bit helps. Every bit helps. And every time someone sees someone from the Nets, and they care about the Nets, it's going to help us get more and more people vaccinated.

Okay. Now, back to school means vax to school, and this effort is going full steam right now. We're seeing a lot of success. We're at about 325,000 kids in that 12- to 17-year-old group who have now been vaccinated. That's amazing – a really, really healthy number. And we’ve still got a few more weeks until school begins, and we want to see more, and more, and more young people get vaccinated in time. We know if we make vaccination available in communities and we spread the word more and more, people will get vaccinated. We also know it's important for everyone who works in our schools. So, we've put that mandate in place. We want to make it easy. So, we're launching new sites for school staff – excuse me, new sites for school staff to get vaccinated in every borough, locations that school staff go to and that will be available to them, opening this week. And it'll make it easier for them to get vaccinated. We just want to keep saying to everyone, we're going to be everywhere, getting people vaccinated, even able to send people to your home to vaccinate you if that's what works for you best. But whatever it takes, we want to get as many kids vaccinated in that 12- to 17-range as possible by opening day of school. And, of course, really facilitate our school staff getting ready, and everyone is responding. That's the big news here. Everyone's responding, more and more people getting vaccinated every day. This is what's going to keep us safe.

Okay everyone, let's go to indicators. Number one, again, we've seen incredible efforts by our vaccination team and New Yorkers responding. So as of today, 10,711,011 doses. This number has been climbing really steadily. The incentives are working. The mandates are working. Vax To School is working. You're going to see that number keep climbing. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 142 patients, confirmed positivity, 30.72 percent. Hospitalization rate, 1.26 per 100,000. And the number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today’s report 1,589 cases. I’m going to say a few words in Spanish. And this is going to the topic of Vax To School.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that. Let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we are joined by Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, Dr. Andrew Wallach Ambulatory Care Chief Medical Officer for New York City Health + Hospitals, OEM Commissioner John Scrivani, and Chief of Department Rodney Harrison. Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Yes. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Mr. Mayor, how are you mobilizing for booster shots? Where would people go for that? You don't have a Javits Center open anymore, or some of the larger, you know, venues that were maybe State operated. So, what's happening with that?

Mayor: So, we'll certainly be coordinating with the State. And I think it's safe to say the coordination will be smoother this time. But the fact is the City's own capacity Juliet, as you know, is vast and very, very decentralized throughout the whole five boroughs. And that's where we've seen the real impact. The central sites have value, but what really drove vaccination was neighborhood sites, being able to go where people are, being able to work with community organizations, houses of worship, public housing resident associations, you name it. So that's, we're going to repeat all that. And we have the capacity obviously to go to homes of people who need it. So, we're building that out right now. We are still a few weeks away from being authorized by the federal government to act. But we know from experience over the last year and a half, that we have tremendous ability to get out there and vaccinate people quickly. And we have a really vast supply of vaccines in reserve and ready. So, starting next week, we'll give some updates to the public so they can get ready. But I can tell you we really, we have all the pieces we need right now to make this work.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio.

Mayor: Hey Elizabeth, how you been?

Question: I'm good. Our health team, they've looked at the ventilation assessments in public school classrooms and they found that for about 4,000 classrooms passing that, you know, assessment meant that they just had a functioning – one functioning window, which experts say don't provide a reliable source of ventilation. Will the City publish more informative assessments that include CO2 and airflow measurements? 

Mayor: Well, that’s exactly what the DOE does, Elizabeth. Those are the things they measure. With all due respect to the folks who put together that story, we think there were inaccuracies in that story. The fact is that we've said, and we said it last year and we acted on it, any classroom that doesn't have proper ventilation is held out. It's not utilized until proper ventilation is achieved. Windows do have an impact. That's a fact, our leaders have made that very clear. We also have air purifiers. We have multiple tools and when we need to use more than one tool at once we do. So, I'm very confident. And look, again, I always appreciate questions. I always think that examination is good, keep everyone focused, make sure there's accountability, but we have a track record from last year that was really, really clear. We layered the ventilation on top of cleaning on top of mask usage, you name it. All those health and safety measures, what I call a gold standard, and it really was. And they worked, we saw it work. And then this year on top of that, we have, citywide, 5.4 million people who have had at least one dose of the vaccine. We have 325,000 12- to 17-year-olds already. Several weeks until school opens. We have a vaccine mandate for all adults in school buildings. All of this is going to add up to keep kids safe. 

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Abu from Bangla Patrika.

Question: Hello, Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Abu. How you been? 

Question: Good. Thank you so much. My question is still, the school is going to be open and still there is an anxiety and uncertainty, you know, going on among some parents and they're thinking whether the school is safe fully. Is there any options the City have with the remote option, or if someone don't send their kids [inaudible] the decision of the City, what's the consequence they have to face? 

Mayor: Well, Abu, I want you to hear from Dr. Mitch Katz in a moment about everything we've done, and Mitch has been part of this process from the very beginning to keep schools safe, because I really think when you hear the fullness of it, and I want all parents to hear it, it will reassure you. But I want to be clear in answering your question, what Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter has said, what I've said, our kids need to be back in school. They have suffered. Too many of them have suffered a year-and-a-half without being in school. It is harming them physically, mentally in terms of social development, in terms of academic growth. We have to stop this now and we can do it safely. All our kids are coming back to school with extraordinary safety measures in place. So, again, to just amplify how much is being done to keep kids safe and why it's so important for them to be back in school. I'll turn to Dr. Katz. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. And in line with what you've said, the American Academy of Pediatrics has said unequivocally, that children belong in school, that that is the best way to protect their social, physical, emotional health. We also saw last year that because of all the safety measures in place, school was the safest place for children to be. So, this year, in addition to all the other measures that we are taking, which include ventilation, sanitation, keeping people apart where there is sufficient room, mask wearing, which is universal, we have added vaccination for all of those adults who will be in the school. And together I'm quite positive that that will keep our kids safe. We will have open the war room for making sure that if there is a case of a child or an adult who has COVID, that we're able to quickly respond, that we're able to provide additional testing resources. That situation room we'll take care of everything that is needed. And I feel very confident that our children are going to have a great school year. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Amen. Thank you, doctor. And everyone, look, we're committed to our kids. We're committed to our families, the best thing everyone can do right now, every single person who's concerned, and they’re right to be concerned to make sure we get it right, help us. Go make sure every kid 12 years old and up is vaccinated. Go make sure their family members are vaccinated. Look, remember, if you want a vaccinator to come to your home and provide vaccinations for the whole family, we'll do that for free. And people can also gain the incentive, $100 per person. We will go the extra mile to make sure everyone's ready, everyone's safe. And parents are responding, kids are responding, staff is responding. Every single additional vaccination helps keep us safe. So, today's the day. Thank you, everybody.

2021-09-03 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC and here's a little behind the scenes story about our weekly Ask the Mayor segment. There wasn't supposed to be one this week because the Mayor was taking a long Labor Day weekend. Fair enough. Until we got hit as hard as we did by Hurricane Ida, and the Mayor came back to work. So, guess what? Now, it's time as usual on Fridays in the 11 o'clock hour for our weekly Ask the Mayor call-in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280, or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag, #askthemayor. And we usually take some of our questions from Twitter. Just use the hashtag, #askthemayor. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for adding us back to your calendar once you realized you had to work. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Of course, Brian, and thank you. And we've all been through a lot the last few days, but you know, New Yorkers once again, really, really showed extraordinary strength and resiliency dealing with yet another challenge on top of COVID. It's almost unbelievable how many things have been thrown at us, but people keep fighting through. And I hope everyone's going to get a break this weekend because all New Yorkers deserve it.

Lehrer: Liz in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Liz. 

Question: Hi, thanks for taking my call. My thoughts are with everyone who is suffering right now due to the flood damage, but I'm going to change the topic a little bit to talk about schools. So, Mr. Mayor, 5,000-plus parents have signed a petition asking for a remote option for any family who wants it, which is what LA offers families. Why do we need this? Many kids can't get vaccinated. And there are other reasons too. Schools weren't prioritized in the decision to relax the mask mandate and restrictions on capacity. And rather than increase mitigation layers because of Delta and 700,000 more bodies being funneled back into school, you're not doing weekly testing as so many districts are, and studies tell us that this action alone might cut cases in half. The plan to only quarantine close contacts in middle school and high school was very risky because COVID is like smoke. It floats to all parts of the room. The whole classroom needs to close. Other districts have CO2 monitors in every room to make sure their air is safe. Again, we are failing to provide the best we can. Parents are very concerned, and we shouldn't have to choose between our children's health and their education. Michelle Goldberg of the New York Times looked at the science in New York City plan and concluded my family's chance of getting through this fall without either of our kids coming down with COVID is almost a coin flip. 85 percent of – 

Lehrer: And Liz, I’m going to leave it there. I know you're reading a long statement and I’ve let you go for a while and you’ve got a lot of important points in there. But let’s have a conversation. So, Mr. Mayor, you hear that she’s asking for a remote option.

Mayor: And I respect the request and I respect the concerns that were raised. I listened to them and I again, will say it’s never abstract for me. My kids went to New York City public schools from pre-K all the way to 12th grade, both of them. And I would not hesitate for a second to send my kids to school if they were that age right now. Why? Because we proved last year that we could have the most stringent health and safety standards in the country and get COVID down to almost nothing in our schools. Then we proved it again during Summer Rising. So, anyone who wants to say, oh wait, that was June, that was before Delta was as prevalent. We proceeded to do the same thing again with Summer Rising, with hundreds of thousands of kids. We had a grand total of two school closures over the course of the summer. Why was that possible? Because of the level of vaccination. So, I want to keep bringing it back to facts and science and what our health care leaders say. And this is crucial, I respect Liz, and every other parent’s voice. But our health care leadership adamantly believes, and they spent a year and a half fighting this pandemic, adamantly believes that our kids need to be back in school for 1,000 reasons, including all health, mental health, physical health, educational, social development, all of these reasons. And as a city, right now, 5.5 million people have gotten at least one dose. Almost 78 percent of adults have gotten at least one dose. We are close to two thirds of kids, 12 to 17-year-olds who have gotten at least one dose. This is why we can do it safely. All the health and safety standards we’ve put in place before that worked. And now a much higher level of vaccination then we’ve ever had before and on top of that, requiring all adults in the building to be vaccinated. That is by far the best way to protect kids here. And we do not believe in remote education. It didn’t work as well as in-person by any estimation. So, we know we can keep kids safe. And look, we are seeing that massive vaccination is fighting back the Delta variant. You can see it here. And you can see where there isn’t massive vaccination what happens. But in this city, it is actually working.

Lehrer: So, you are placing a bet on a much lower infection rate in the schools then some other people, I guess as reflected by Michelle Goldberg’s column quote there from the caller, think are likely to happen?

Mayor: I respect Michelle Goldberg, who I think is a very smart commentator, but I respect our health care leadership in particular, who have been fighting this battle. Any commentator, any citizen, anybody with a viewpoint I’m going to listen to. But the health leadership of this city have been fighting this battle for a year and a half. And they are saying all our kids need to be in school. Our top educators are saying all of our kids need to be in school. There’s not even a hint of disagreement. Of all the leadership have looked at this and fought this battle say we need our kids back. And we can keep them safe in a way that goes far beyond what most parts of this country can do because we have vaccination at extraordinarily high level and all the other health and safety measures. We keep adding health and safety measures. And every adult in the building vaccinated. And Brian, we are going to keep getting kids vaccinated over these next weeks. That number that we are at now with the 12 to 17-year-olds, almost two thirds already, that’s going to keep going up. And then we expect the five to 11 vaccine as early as November.

Lehrer: Follow up, listener on Twitter writes, could you ask the Mayor if he’s looked into the HEPA purifier situation, he last stated – last time you were on the show, that he didn’t know anything about this topic, that’s the air purifiers that were purchased by the City for the public schools that are not HEPA, which is generally considered the highest standard, and where not the highest rated. So, he’s asking that. And I’ll add that Gothamist has an article on several thousand classrooms not having much in the way of ventilation other than openable windows. So, on either of those things?

Mayor: Yeah, sure. In fairness, I know plenty about ventilation writ large, I don’t want you to suggest to your listeners otherwise because I have been working with the whole team of people for a year and a half on this. But on the specific thing you raised Brian, I want you to be accurate my friend. You raised a specific company and a specific product which I hadn’t heard of. Went back with our team and said where does that stand compared to HEPA, they said this product is actually regarded as more rigorous then HEPA. So, we will get you all the facts on why that was chosen and the impact it has. But the other Gothamist article, and I would really urge people to be careful about their facts, was also inaccurate. The standard that’s been held and has been proven effective, because we had a year in the nation’s largest school system to prove it, is the one we continue to use. An open window is a very big deal for fighting COVID and the ventilation units we are using have worked and we are doing, in many cases, both at once and we are even adding additional units now. The problem with the critique is it ignores a year of evidence of what worked. And you saw the COVID levels in schools. And you saw how low they got, particularly toward the end when Delta was already present. The kind of ventilation in our schools in real life conditions, like battlefield conditions worked. And we are repeating the same formula again this year. 

Lehrer: Let’s end on a politics question. I’ve seen the reports in the Times and Politico that you hired a pollster and contacted unions to gauge an interest in a potential run for governor. We have a listener on Twitter, now I’ve lost it, let’s see if I can find it. Oh, there it is. Please ask Mayor de Blasio why he is running for governor in 2022? I got a call from a pollster a couple of days ago. Please give Kathy Hochul a chance and don’t primary her. What do you say to that caller or those reports in the press?

Mayor: Look, as you can hear from the passion in my voice on your previous questions, honestly, what I focus on every single day, fighting COVID and bringing the city back. And I’ve got four more months to do that in this office and then I’m going to handoff this office to Eric Adams, and I’m quite convinced he will do great work going forward. That’s my focus. Now, I want to keep serving. I’ve done public service my whole life. I care deeply about education, I care deeply about health care. I want to keep serving. I’m going to look at the best way to do that. And that’s a decision I will make in the future. And I can hear your music coming so I also want to say to all your listeners, have a very safe, safe and I hope restful Labor Day weekend. And in advance for folks, shanah tovah for the new year. And we will all keep fighting COVID together.

Lehrer: And same to you about Labor Day and we will all keep fighting COVID and the aftermath of the floods together. But you are keeping the door open to primarying Kathy Hochul, it sounds like from that answer? Fair?

Mayor: I want to figure out the best way to serve going forward. I don’t know what that is yet. But when I know, I’m certainly going to let people know. But right now, again, I’ve got a mission I’m working on every day for the people right here.

2021-09-03 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. 

Everybody, I want to just give you another update. Got a clarification here — I had said alternate side parking through the weekend, but, in fact, because of Labor Day and because of Rosh Hashanah, it's all the way through Wednesday suspended. So, the first day there's alternate side parking again is Thursday, September 9th, almost a full week. So, again, you did not need to move your car until Thursday, September 9th. And speaking of Rosh Hashanah, coming up, of course, Monday evening, we saw something really powerful in the last few days, a group of rabbis who want to send a message to the community at this important time of year, a time of celebration as the new year begins, but also a time for reflection on how we can protect the community, save lives, help each other. A group of trusted and respected rabbis from Far Rockaway and from the Five Towns put together a striking video to get the message across about how we need to fight COVID together, how we need to get people vaccinated. I think it makes the message really clear. I want to show it to you now.

[…]

Mayor: You know, it's been a year-and-a-half we've been fighting this battle and I've seen many appeals to people to really understand how important it is to protect each other. This is one of the most powerful and moving to me. It says it all. And I want to thank all the rabbis who participated. They're doing such a great service and particularly at this crucial time of year. So, everybody, you heard the message and it's a way to celebrate the new year together in safety and peace. Everyone, get vaccinated for the good of all. And I want to say to all the members of the Jewish community at this special time of year, Shana Tovah. 

And with that, we are going to turn to our indicators as always. And first, how appropriate the number of doses administered to-date. This has really been consistently rising. This is such good news, 10,779,690 doses administered to-date. Also importantly, we are now approaching in that group of young people, that 12- to 17- year olds, we’re getting close to the two-thirds mark already. School's still a couple of weeks away and almost two-thirds of 12- to 17-year-olds have gotten at least one dose. A lot is happening in the right direction on vaccination, but we've got a lot more to do. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 — today's report, 112 patients, 37.61 percent positivity rate. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 — and then, again, we see some, some good trend line here on — today's number, 1.26 per 100,000. And then, new reported cases on a seven-day average, 1,526 cases. I’m going to finish with a few words in Spanish and go back to the response to the horrible rain and flooding we saw on Wednesday. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Commissioner Scrivani, by Commissioner Grayson, by Small Business Services Commissioner Doris, by Dr. Mitch Katz, and by Dr. Andrew Wallach, Chief Medical Officer for Ambulatory Care. 

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Arthur Chi’en from FOX-5.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning to everybody on the call. Honored to be last.

Mayor: Good morning, Arthur. How are you today?

Question: Doing great, sir. Thank you, dry. My question is for you and maybe Dr. Katz. Some private preschools say they're taking their direction on masks from the Department of Health, the City's DOH, which they say is telling them that it's encouraged, not required. Given that you've spoken, so clearly and Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi, everybody's spoken so clearly on why there's a universal mask mandate for public schools. I just wanted to verify, is that the message the City's DOE is sending out? That it's not universally required? And if that's the case, [inaudible] that on this particular policy?

Mayor: I'm going to start and turn to Dr. Katz and I – we're going to follow up with you Arthur, because this is a really important issue. When you say preschool, look, if it's the kids who are part of our pre-K and 3-K of course, they wear masks. And that's been very successful. A lot of parents weren't sure, would kids be able handle it? They handle it beautifully. We're going to keep that going. Some preschools obviously have much younger kids where maybe a kid can wear a mask, or maybe they can't because they're just too young and it doesn't work. So, I want to be careful about the definition. But in terms of our message to preschools that are not the City sponsored ones or the City-run ones through DOE, Dr. Katz, can you speak to that? All I know Dr. Chokshi would normally be the expert here, but can you offer anything on that?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes, sir. Thank you so much. So yes, our strong guidance and is – and requirements is that all children over the age of two years old be masked. As the Mayor has alluded, less than two and masks are not recommended because of fear of choking risks for very young children. But all children over the age of two should be wearing masks. And we will clarify and make sure that the guidance people are getting makes it clear that that's a requirement. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Arthur, does that hit the note there?

Question: So, even for private pre-K programs that are two, three years old, the City's guidance should be clear that masks aren't mandatory, should be mandatory?

Mayor: That's – I want to be careful. That is my understanding, but I want to make sure we get this right. And we'll get Dr. Chokshi to answer this, and we'll put it out publicly today as well, Arthur. Because what I want to see is to be clear to Dr. Katz's point, the youngest kids, I understand why it may not work. But for children over two, we want all of them wearing masks. And we'll make sure we're very, very clear about our ability to legally require that or what exact wording we're using. I want that to get out there really, really clearly to all of these sites so parents know. And thank you for raising the question, it’s very helpful.

Mayor: Everyone as we conclude today, again, this city's been through so much with COVID. A year and a half, on top of it dealing with a storm like the other night. The amazing resiliency and strength of New Yorkers. The compassion of New Yorkers comes through every single time, literally every single time without fail. So, thank you to everyone who has been out there helping each other over these last couple of days and throughout the whole larger crisis of this year and a half. And everyone, this is one of the weekends in the year where people look forward to getting a little bit of a break. I want to wish everyone a safe, safe Labor Day weekend in every sense. Safety from COVID, safety in every way, a healthy and happy Labor Day weekend to all. Thank you.

2021-09-07 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. 

Now we're going to go to what we do every day, our indicators, because again, we're dealing with a lot of things simultaneously, but with our indicators, we start every day with something that has increasingly good news. And that's the number of vaccine doses administered to date. I love this number – 10,883,042 doses. And this is rising steadily. More and more people coming in. This is helping us immensely. You can see it in the other indicators. Number two, the daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 109 patients. Confirmed positivity, 24.35 percent. Hospitalization rate of 1.23 per 100,000. And then number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 1,403 cases. I want to say a few words in Spanish and go back to the fight against crime and violence, and the work that's been done in these last months to turn the tide. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, Chief of Department Rodney Harrison, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Mitch Katz President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, Emergency Management Commissioner John Scrivani, SBS Commissioner Jonnel Doris, Environmental Protection Commissioner Vinny Sapienza, Sanitation Commissioner Ed Grayson, and Marcos Soler, Director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice. Jessica from WNYC.

Question: This is a school's question, I know that the Chancellor isn't there either today, but I was wondering, my understanding from the state guidance that came out is that the state is calling for weekly COVID testing in schools in high transmission areas. That's different than the city's plan right now. I was wondering if there's a conflict between the two, if there's a change coming to the city's testing plan based on the state guidance? 

Mayor: I'll start, and Dr. Chokshi can speak to this as well. He's obviously been deeply involved in all the discussions around our schools. And I want to emphasize to frame it, Jessica, that across the State of New York, you have very different realities in schools. We, starting last year, literally set the gold standard for the entire nation in terms of the extent of health and safety measures that have been taken. Never was a question to us about having masks on our kids and adults, we did that all last year, we did that in Summer Rising, we're doing it this year. I'm happy the Governor did a mask mandate, but that's something obviously we did long ago, and we're absolutely committed to. The vaccination levels in the city are profoundly different than some other places, right now, 5.5 million New Yorkers with at least one dose, and unlike, again, many other places, mandatory vaccination for all the adults will be working in the schools. We feel very, very good about where we are. In terms of testing, the approach we're now taking, which is biweekly, but with the option at any point to bring more testing into any school that needs it very rapidly. We feel good about that approach. We're going to be able to make adjustments if we feel the need to, but we think when you combine it with all these other factors, we're in a very, very strong place. As to the latest state guidance and how we're juxtaposing with it, Dr. Chokshi, you want to speak to that? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Thank you. Not much to add, and I would just reinforce that in many ways the health and safety protocols that the Department of Education is putting into place already go beyond the state guidance, perhaps most importantly with respect to vaccination and ensuring that all school staff are vaccinated, which is stronger than what's elaborated in the state guidance. With respect to testing, as the Mayor has said, we have the biweekly testing approach to start. We should consider that as a floor rather than a ceiling given that we will have other ways to bring to bear testing in the setting of seeing increases in infection or for specific circumstances at the school level. So, we are reviewing the latest versions of the state guidance carefully just to ensure that everything is aligned between our approach and what the state has elaborated, and we will keep you posted if there are any differences based on that.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Michael Gartland from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning to everybody on the call.

Mayor: How are you doing Michael? 

Question: I'm good. I want to ask you and Dr. Chokshi about, and excuse me if I'm pronouncing it wrong, I think it's the Mu variant. You know, this is, what I've read about it, quite alarming. And I was wondering if he could talk about what we know about it on city level, what's being done to prepare for it, what's already been done to prepare for it. What can you tell us about that? 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, then Dr. Katz – give us a sense of what you're seeing. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly, thanks for the question, Michael. We have been following the Mu variant. I'll just give you the brief summary of it. Mu is also known as B-1621. It was first identified in the country of Colombia in January of this year but has attracted some interest recently because the World Health Organization added it to its list of “variants of interest” about a week ago, last Monday. There are, you know, some concerns about this being more resistant to the immune system, both in terms of vaccines as well as natural immunity, than other variants. And so that is why the WHO added it to its “variants of interest” list. 

With respect to what we're seeing in New York City. The news is more positive. And briefly what we've seen is that the percentage of Mu that is identified in the specimens that we're sequencing has steadily decreased. It was in about 20 percent of our specimens in early June, in July that decreased to seven percent of specimens, and most recently it's making up less than one percent of the cases in New York City because that the Delta variant is the variant that's making up almost all of the cases in New York City. So just to put it altogether: we're aware of this variant, we have been tracking it in New York City. The prevalence has actually decreased significantly. And so, our public health guidance remains the same, particularly emphasizing the importance of vaccination against the Delta variant and for all of the other variants as well. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, anything to add? 

President Katz: Dr. Chokshi did a great job. I'll just point out to people that what drives variants is transmissibility, not how harmful they are. Viruses are not actually trying to harm us. They're just trying to replicate. And part of why Delta is so dominant is not because of its harmfulness, but because of its wild contagiousness, it's just so contagious. And I think the same is not showing to be true about Mu. It's not turning into the dominant virus because it's not as transmissible. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you.

These next few weeks are going to be crucial. September is going to be the time when you're going to start to see more and more come back in this city. And today's news is a big part of it. Thank you, everybody.

2021-09-08 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone.

Now, it's just a few days till something very, very important – one of the most important days of the year, every year – first day of school is a powerful moment for kids, for families. It's something parents look forward to, kids don't always look forward to, but it's an amazingly important day any year. But this year, the first day of school in New York City is going to be one of the most powerful moments since COVID began. This is going to be a moment where we come back, because every single school child is coming back to school on Monday, September 13th. This is going to be one of those game-changer days, one of these days that we'll remember when we turn the corner on COVID. So, right now, we're seeing incredible work and I want to thank our Chancellor and everyone at the DOE for the work they've done. I want to remind everyone, by the end of last year, last school year in June, we saw almost non-existent levels of COVID in our schools, because the health and safety measures were so extraordinary. Literally, the last days of school, 0.03 percent positivity in our schools. We took every conceivable health and safety measure from around the world, used them all, created that gold standard – the masks, the ventilation, the cleaning, you name it – and it worked. And we saw that with Summer Rising as well. Summer Riding, hundreds of thousands of kids. Even with the Delta variant out there, Summer Rising was extraordinarily successful and very, very little disruption, which is a real credit to everyone in our schools and what they do every day right down to the individual school, the staff, the custodians, the principals, the teachers, everyone, and, of course, the leadership of our school system, looking at the whole picture, working with our health colleagues. But now, we have even more, because not only do we have 5.5 million New Yorkers who have had at least one dose of the vaccine, almost two-thirds of our kids 12- to 17-year-old has had at least one dose of the vaccine, but every single adult in the schools will be required to be vaccinated. That's going to make an extraordinary impact. And we're continuing this big push with our Vax to School campaign, and more and more parents, more and more kids come in all the time.

We want you to see how much is being done to prepare our schools again to be the safest place to be in New York City. I want you to see a video that really exemplifies this. 

[…] 

Mayor: So, that video gives you a flavor – just, extraordinary effort being made. And I want to turn to the person who is leading the way. Our Chancellor from the beginning was clear, we're bringing back all our kids, our kids need it, particularly those who have not seen the inside of the classroom for a year-and-a-half, which is absolutely something that has to end, but we have to do it safely. She's been demanding the most rigorous standards for the entire school system, and they're being achieved. I want you to hear directly from our Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter. 

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Good morning. And thank you, Mayor de Blasio. We are six days away from the first day of school, and I am so proud to be here alongside my colleagues Kevin Moran, and Rob Williams to talk to what is being done to ensure every building is the gold standard of health and safety this year. Last week, 234 schools across the city took major damage from Hurricane Ida. That damage ranged from a small amount of basement flooding to entire boiler rooms filled to the ceiling with flood water. Without missing a beat, our amazing facilities team were in buildings in partnership with the School Construction Authority and the Office of Emergency Management, assessing damage and immediately beginning the hard work of bringing buildings back online. These dedicated professionals worked around the clock as they have throughout the pandemic and through their Labor Day weekend to ensure that every building is ready to go by the first day of school. As of last night, 228 of the 234 buildings are fully operational and we expect work to be completed on the remaining buildings by Monday. That same energy has been directed at preparing buildings for the return of students since the spring of last year. In every building, in every neighborhood across the city, devoted members of our facilities team are checking every space to ensure it has the ability to bring in fresh air and get rid of old air. They are ensuring that schools are stocked with PPE and signage is available to help direct students. I'm going to let Kevin get into the details, but I want to emphasize that we are ready for this school year. And a team of facilities experts are laser focused at ensuring our schools open with the gold standard of health and safety measures on Monday. 

Mayor: With that, Kevin Moran. Kevin Moran is the head of school operations. He's done an absolutely amazing job with his team, really one of the heroes of this effort with an extraordinarily devoted team. He's going to make this very visual to you, all of the different tools that are being brought to bear to keep our kids safe and our whole school team safe as we go into this new school year together. Kevin Moran, take it away. 

Chief Schools Operations Officer Kevin Moran, Department of Education: Thank you, Mayor de Blasio. And thank you, Chancellor Meisha Porter. My name is Kevin Moran. I am the Chief Schools Operation Officer for the Department of Education, and I oversee over 1,400 school buildings that comprise our city system. Every day, I visit schools across the city and I meet with parents, I meet with educators, and I meet with school staff, and they all have one question – is my building safe? I'm here to tell you today that, yes, our buildings are safe and for all staff and we're ready for opening. And we have a plan for this fall for each school within our system. In a moment, you'll hear from Robert Williams, our maintenance planner from the Bronx, to talk a little bit more about what this work specifically means to him as he goes to work every day in the communities in which he serves.

I'm going to walk you through our multi-layered approach to prevent the spread of COVID-19, all following in a full alignment with the CDC guidance. Every layer works together. And if one layer is not possible, like masking during lunch, then other layers pick up the slack to keep people safe. Each layer is very much important, but no layer carries the entire burden of keeping our kids safe. First, we know that ventilation, the ability to bring in fresh air and exhaust old air, is one of our best tools to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Last year, we had all of our buildings citywide inspected by independent third-party engineers and those results were then posted online, as you heard in the video.

We work daily with all of our independent professionals and our facilities teams and labor partners to be sure that we're prepared for the first day of school. We make needed repairs to our buildings to keep them safe and we continue to maintain those buildings at the highest of standards. Ventilation is provided through natural causes, through natural means through windows, machines, or combination of both methods. If a building was designed to provide fresh air through windows, we are ensuring those windows are open and provide the necessary amount of airflow. The buildings in this category are mostly our older buildings that were specifically built in response to previous pandemics and have large windows meant to bring in large amounts of air. If a building was designed to provide fresh air through machines, our teams are making sure those are running at the highest level. We installed MERV 13’s, much like you'll see here, and MERV 14 filters in our HVAC units. And the majority of our air conditioners actually have these items installed most recently that fit in all the air conditioners. And I'd like to thank the Mayor for his unprecedent investment in air conditioning in our instructional spaces, to which all will be completed by the end of this year.

Making sure windows and machines create the right ventilation at the beginning of school year is a major part of a multi-layered approach to health and safety. We need to also to rigorously inspect these classrooms to make sure they continue to function throughout the school year. We arm every custodian with advices to check. And you can see the CO2 reader is one that every custodian citywide has to, one, test temperatures in their spaces, but also the CO2 to make sure that the air is being exhausted as students occupy this space. Custodians are also provided with anemometers. This is something that our custodians use to actually monitor and assess cubic feet per minute air exchanges. They actually give custodians a read on the air exchanges in every classroom citywide. So, we work in partnership with our custodians and our principals to ensure – and our teachers, to make sure every class has proper ventilation. And if there's a reason that it is not functioning properly, we take the room offline and we make sure that we investigate and make repairs to that system. 

Our facility staff has nearly two years of experience now keeping our buildings safe during the pandemic. They are maintaining deep cleaning techniques that put in place last year and utilize electrostatic sprayers, much that you see here. We have a large backpack electrostatic sprayer. This is commonly used in our large spaces, hallways, all the corridors, stairwells, cafeteria spaces, etcetera, the smaller handheld electrostatic sprayers is popular for smaller spaces and actually on our school buses, because there's tighter areas in our school buses. They continue to make sure all high touch surfaces are cleaned and every room is disinfected on a nightly basis. No school leader will have to go without worrying about providing PPE for their students and staff, much of which you see here. Every school will have a full 30-day supply on hand at all times. This includes masks for our smallest learners, much like we have here, and extra protective equipment for educators who are in close contact with students who cannot tolerate a mask at this time. And so, that would include additional face shields that you'll see here, KN-95 masks that you'll see there, vinyl gloves if necessary. And we make sure that our incredible nurses are staffed and they have a complete assortment, including N-95 masks.

Last year, when the supplies were in huge demand nationwide, we made sure every school was prepared for every student and we'll continue to provide that level of supplies to every school this year. I want to take a moment to thank our facility staff. When you think back to April 2020, we were not sure if our schools would reopen in a matter of weeks, months, or even later. While the city was hunkering down, our facilities teams continued to report to schools to prepare them to welcome back every student at a moment's notice. Last August, they moved mountains to prepare every building for the return of every single student and staff member – all 1 million. They never gave up. They never stopped working. And they're at work right now, making sure our schools are ready to bring back students safely on September 13th. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Kevin – amazing report. And you can see, everyone, everything is being done to protect our kids and our school staffs, no expenses being spared, whatever it takes. I want you to hear from one more person who's on the frontline of this. He's been a real hero in this effort and his story is powerful. Robert Williams had COVID himself back in March 2020. He went through so much. He fought through it, thank God, but he knows the impact of COVID. He felt it. He experienced it. And he wants to make sure that we protect every child, every staff member. He manages maintenance for all of the Bronx schools. It is a personal mission for him to keep everyone safe. I want you to hear now from Robert Williams. 

Borough Maintenance Planner Robert Williams, Department of Education: Thank you, Mayor de Blasio, and Chancellor Meisha Porter, and Kevin. My name is Robert Williams. I'm a maintenance planner with the division of school facilities serving in the Bronx. And my care is every single Department of Education building in the Bronx. I want to briefly talk about the work that my team has done in the Bronx, work that I know is being done citywide, and in every borough. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit our city last year, we never left these buildings. The only thing that changed for us – the only thing that changed for us was that the city had less cars on the road, so we got to work a little quicker.

[Laughter] 

This was a scary time. I, myself, got COVID-19 and so did a lot of my staff. We were all operating in a world without information, but the one thing I knew was that we needed to make sure our buildings were ready for the return of the young people at any given moment. As soon as the CDC started providing guidance regarding ventilation and safety measures, my team started inspecting buildings and making enhancements. My team took small, but powerful actions, like opening windows that have been still sealed for years for various reasons. They also looked at schools like Lehman High School and identified major building wide repairs that needed to be made to make it fully operational. We also spent over $5 million in enhancing Lehman High School not only just in the ventilation, but just in the construction of the school. Whether the ventilation is being provided through windows or machines, we made sure rooms were safe for all young people. My commitment is what drove me. It was a focus on making every building in the Bronx safe enough that I would feel comfortable even enough for my own children to go there.

The work we did was confirmed by independent inspections and [inaudible]. We all know that things break, so our teams are laser focused on maintaining that high standard no matter what it takes. After all those inspections, and adults, and experts, the thing that truly validated our work was the sight of young people and their smiling faces, being able to return and into our buildings. A school with our children is just another random building. We do this work solely from our heart and for the children. This was a team effort. Every member of the Bronx team came to work every day. We looked over every inch of every building and prepared to welcome back every single student. All of this work and measures mentioned by Kevin, by the Chancellor, and by the Mayor, in addition to the great work [inaudible] we do this every single day of every school year to keep the building safe and create quality spaces for the city's young people to receive an excellent education.

Mayor de Blasio, it's my pleasure. I'm here today to tell you that every building in the Bronx is ready to welcome every student back on September 13th. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Robert. Robert, I really appreciate – I can hear the passion in your voice and your commitment. And thank you. Thank you to all the folks who work under your leadership. Every adult is doing everything to support our kids. That's what we see happening in our schools. And so, I want to say, I'm so proud of everyone at Department of Education. I'm proud of their commitment to our kids. And we're ready for opening day of school on Monday, but we do need help from the federal government. I want to talk about this now. This is the area where – one last piece that would make a world of difference. I told you when it comes to the 12-year-olds to 17-year-olds, almost two-thirds have been vaccinated already and school has not yet begun. And we're going to get a lot more kids in the coming days, but we need help with those younger kids – the five- to 11-year-olds. Look, the federal government – I know this is a priority, but it needs to be the highest priority. I'm calling upon the FDA, set a timeline, set a goal that we all can hear. Parents need to hear this. And we need to hold everyone accountable to getting this vaccine ready. Of course, doing it safely, doing it the right way, but it needs to be a matter of supreme priority, because this is the last piece – we get our five- to 11-year-olds vaccinated and we have everything that we need. I want you to hear about why this is so important and from someone who distinguished herself during the COVID crisis. I really appreciate this about her, she did not need to go back out and help people on the frontline as a medical professional. She's a member of the State Assembly. She had plenty to do in that job, but she chose to go out and serve people directly on the front line, and then went right back, and made sure that legislation was passed to protect working people in the midst of the COVID crisis – really, really admirable work. And she's going to tell you how important it is to speed this vaccination for our youngest New Yorkers. My pleasure introduce Assembly Member Karines Reyes. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much. And I think you're going to have a lot of company on that line the first day that the new vaccine for the five- to 11-year-olds is out. I think you're going to see parents all over the city immediately bringing their kids to get it, but we need it to come here as quickly as possible. Thank you for your advocacy, Assembly Member. Very much appreciate it.

All right, let's do what we do every day and talk about the indicators. And the first item I go over always is the doses administered. We're coming up now on 11 million doses. It's extraordinary – 10,901,787 doses administered of the vaccine to-date. The numbers have been very strong in recent days and we expect a continued uptick as mandates come into play as kids are coming back to school. So, that number is going to keep growing and keep us safe. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today’s report is 98 patients. Confirmed positivity level, 15.45 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is 1.25. Finally, number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 1,327 cases. I’m going to say a few words in Spanish, I want to go back to schools opening up Monday and all safety measures in place for our kids and our staff.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Chancellor Porter, by Kevin Moran, the Head of School Operations for the Department of Education, by Martine Materasso, the Chief of Counterterrorism, by John Miller, Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence Counterterrorism, by Commissioner Grayson, Commissioner Scrivani, Commissioner Doris, Commissioner Sapienza, by Dr. Dave Chokshi, and by Dr. Mitchell Katz. First question today goes to Marla from WCBS 880. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Good morning, Marla. How are you doing? 

Question: Good, how are you?

Mayor: I'm all right. We've got a lot going on as you can see. 

Question: Yes, very busy press conference, but you didn't mention anything about the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and I hear that it's going to take place this year? 

Mayor: Well, obviously, we had a lot of other more immediate things, but we're very hopeful. We're working with Macy's that we can do this the full way, the right way, which I think will be a great moment for the comeback of this city. So, we'll get more and more details out as it gets closer, but that's looking like a good news situation. Go ahead, Marla.

Question: Okay, and more urgently, as you said, school begins in six days for 1.1 million students. Can you speak – I know you spoke a lot about, we learned a lot about what's being done to keep the schools clean and disinfected, but can you speak about COVID testing in the public schools? Will it be as rigorous as it was last year and what should parents and students expect? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's going to be a consistent approach across the entire school system, every school on a biweekly basis. We can increase that anywhere we need to at any time, but we also have to pay attention to what's different from last year. The level of vaccination is night and day. We went into last school year, there was no vaccine, and then for much of the school year very few people had gotten it. We're now at a situation 5.5 million New Yorkers have gotten at least one dose, two thirds of the kids in the eligible range. It is night and day from where we were. So, we have the situation room up and running, we have regular testing every school, we can increase testing anytime we need, and in combination with the most important thing, which is vaccination, we're confident this is the way to keep our kids and our staff safe. Would you like to – well, would one of you’d like to add? 

Chief Schools Operations Officer Moran: Well, I'd just like to add further some of the items that will keep kids safe and staff safe, and the buildings are inclusive of this electrostatic sprayer, custodians will walk through the building and definitely sanitize every space. They have the handhelds that I referenced before, we have these air purifiers, not only one, but two. The difference last year is you know, we had one purifier, we doubled down an additional air purifier in our classrooms, and we also have them for the larger spaces. In addition to our cafeteria is we'll have these purifiers in spaces make the kids are safe – make sure kids are safe and staff, but also exhaust there's improving ventilation. So, we're taking every step necessary to make sure we improve that indoor environment. 

Mayor: Kevin has now learned how to visualize and make her make visuals situation. Let's hold up the monitors to and explain again – hold over here, the handhelds, of what our staff uses to monitor the air quality. Explain that one more time. 

Chief Schools Operations Officer Moran: So, this year what's critical – 

Mayor: Hold them up high. Come on, we're going to get you used to TV here, Kevin. There you go. Look at it, he’s getting it next to his face, that's good. Meisha, takeover. Takeover Meisha.

Chief Schools Operations Officer Moran: So, the CO2 readers is brought into a space to assess how many particles per million of CO2 is present in the room, and so we want to actively monitor that. If we see a rising over a thousand particles per million, we realize that we should actually check the systems and make sure they're exhausting the air that students exhale. So, this is a real good reader, custodians use it daily, and when we see it change seasons, want to make sure the temperature of our spaces stay at room temperature. So, we want to use that. The anemometer, while not included in the CDC guidance, we went a step further. The CDC guidance says make sure you have the presence of functional ventilation, so we use these tools to assess. The anemometer is probably our most critical tool and actually putting it towards an exhaust fan or an intake and measures the actual CFM coming into a space. It's critical then to then put into a formula, and I'm not a generation X-er, but there's an app for that. 

Mayor: There you go.

Chief Schools Operations Officer Moran: There's the length, there’s the width, there's the height, and then it's a CFM and you put it in your app, and it actually tells you, you have five air exchanges per hour, you have 10 air exchanges. We went to a local high school nearby at Seward Park and we're getting 20 air exchanges an hour. So, that is well an exceedance of any standard [inaudible] put out there as well as we did Murry Bergtraum recently, we saw them kicking over 19 in our stairwells. We saw them, you know, up very high in one instance, pulling open a door, it was a hundred air exchanges in an hour, which is really, really, really high. So, in those spaces too we’re factoring in, but all of these tools, all these – this is probably one of the ones we're most excited about because this was new product that was created just for our air conditioners to make sure we have an extra layer in the summer months while running our air conditioners, this [inaudible], this is a MERV 13 filter, just like the MERV 13 filters that we sourced early in the pandemic for our larger HVAC systems. So, we definitely have a multi-layered approach. One to make sure we have everything sourced and the city has been wonderful making sure we have supply chain uninterrupted, and my thanks go out to SCA, the School Construction Authority, and the DCAS team to make sure we have what we needed but getting these level of details is real important too, to provide parents with a level of transparency and trust that we're doing things. 

Mayor: Yeah. And can everyone hear him okay? Is he mic’d? Okay, go ahead, Kevin. There you go. Kevin, you're getting better at this as you go along.

Chief Schools Operations Officer Moran: Yeah, I appreciate that. 

Mayor: Learn by doing 

Chief Schools Operations Officer Moran: Is this on? All right. So, this actually is a response to our larger areas, and we looked at the state guidance and we looked at the CDC guidance and it talked about relying on the layered approach to health and safety. And so, when a student demasks to break for lunch and to eat, we make sure that we bring in additional layers. This air purifier is – it's able to purify 3,000 square feet, which is a very large space. In some instances, we'll bring in two. And we also in a window environment, we put in the upper sash exhausters that also increase our air exchanges per hour, and the CFM off those are very much notable in the change in the increase and how we turn the air over. We use that exclusively in some of our schools that were having issues potentially getting to three feet, but we wanted to make sure that they had all those layered approaches in environments where they're actually taking their masks off. 

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you, Kevin. Thank you, Chancellor. Okay, let's continue. 

Moderator: The next is Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Elizabeth, how you been? 

Question: I’m good. My question is could you give us the latest update on the City's negotiations with the teacher's union over the medical accommodations – medical and religious exemptions that some staffers say they want? 

Mayor: Yes, absolutely, Elizabeth. Those negotiations continue. We recognize there are definitely, in a few cases and it's pretty rare where someone medically cannot be vaccinated, but where that is confirmed by a process to make sure that, you know, all the information is accurate, if someone cannot be vaccinated, of course there's grounds for a valid, medical exemption. Equally, and in very few cases we expect, but there are narrow and specific grounds for religious exemption. Those will be honored. There'll be a process to confirm them, but they will be honored. Those folks will continue to work for us in some capacity, in some location, we got to work that through, but those cases will be honored, but again, expect them to be very rare. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

Question: Secondly, our education reporter, she's hearing from families who say they're just not ready to send their children to school because they're afraid of the Delta variant. What's going to happen to parents who decide just to keep their kids at home without signing-up for, you know, home instruction, will they be disenrolled? Is there any risk of ACS contacting them about absenteeism? 

Mayor: Really important question. I'm going to start, and I'll turn to the Chancellor. We've talked about this in detail. But Elizabeth, look, again, I understand there's a lot of fear still, a lot of very honest concern, there's also, sadly, a lot of misinformation out there. The message that I want to give and I'm going to get Dr. Chokshi into this as well, is how important it is to have our children back in school, particularly the kids who have not been back for a year and a half.It's just not acceptable for them to be out. So, we're saying to all parents, bring your kids back, look at everything that's being done to keep them safe. This is going to be the safest place for them to be literally, and we know this, Dr. Chokshi will speak to this, I'm actually going to have him go ahead of the Chancellor, and then she'll speak to your very specific question. We know that being out in the community during the day is much less safe than being in a school with all these protections, all this cleaning, all this ventilation. So, I say to all parents, as someone, myself, was a public school parent, best place for your kids to be as in school. If in the beginning of the school year, a parent's not ready, we're going to keep talking to them, we're going to keep trying to convince them. If that goes on for a while, then that's a different scenario the Chancellor will speak to. But I do think you'll see a small number of parents who would take a little bit of wait and see at first, and then we'll bring in their kid pretty quickly after the beginning of this school year. But I think the vast majority are going to show up on day one and are ready. Again, why it matters so much from a health perspective to get kids back to school, Dr. Chokshi, please let people hear what you think on that topic. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Thank you so much. And thanks Elizabeth for this crucially important question. Where I stand is in lockstep with the American Academy of Pediatrics, which has said in its guidance on school reopening that all considerations for school COVID-19 plans should start with a goal of keeping students safe and physically present in school. So, let's just take both halves of that. The first part of it, the goal of keeping students safe. As the Mayor has said, and as the Chancellor and Mr. Moran went through, the Department of Education has put in place this layered approach to mitigating the effects of COVID-19 in schools to make them the safest place that the children can be in because of the fact that we have widespread vaccination protecting people, because we have all of the interventions related to ventilation, universal mask use, testing as appropriate, as well as the simpler things that sometimes we don't emphasize, but making sure that kids are staying home, if they're feeling ill and doing all of these things in concert because we know that each individually is important, but together they are the foundation of our approach to safety.And then the second half is about the importance of in-person learning, of actually being physically present in school. And you've heard about this for me before, as a doctor, this is important to me not just for educational reasons, but because we know it's so important for the long-term physical and mental health of our kids not just for next week, not even for the entire school year, but over their life course. We know that that is going to be crucially important to their development and their health. Thank you. 

Mayor: Amen. Chancellor, about what happens after a few weeks in if a parent hasn't gotten their kid to school. 

Chancellor Porter: So, what we've never disagreed on is that in-person learning is the best learning for all of our students. And so, we're looking forward to having our principals and our school communities and the social workers that we've added to our communities to work very closely with families to get our children back in school. And ACS is our partner, and ACS is very clear that their goal is the same as ours, and that is to help get our babies into school. The only time the ACS will intervene is if there is a clear intent to keep a child from being educated, period, which is a very different thing to deprive a child of an education, but we want to work with our families because we recognize what families have been through. And so, with all of the supports and the multi-layers of protection that we have in place, we believe that we can work together with families to get babies back in school.

Mayor: Amen. 

Moderator: The next is Christina Veiga from Chalkbeat. 

Question: Hi, thanks for taking my question. I want to go back to testing. I was hoping you could explain why the city has designed the program the way it has? CDC recommends weekly testing and when students head back to school, teachers actually won't need to be vaccinated until September 27th and that's just one dose. So, can you explain why biweekly and how quickly is this going to start? The other thing that we've heard concerns about is that it's not mandatory for students, so how can you be sure you're going to have the participation you need? 

Mayor: Yeah, we're quite convinced, Christina, from what we saw last year, that we'll have an ample sample at any given point that we need for any school community. We've looked at this, we've looked at the numbers. We really feel very confident about that. The reason we feel good about the level of testing, it's going to be absolutely consistent, it's going to be every school, it's going to be regularly. We can add more whenever we need, but again, unlike so much of the rest of the country, I can't say this strongly enough, 5.5 million New Yorkers have already had one dose of this vaccine. Two thirds of the 12 to seven-year-olds, almost two-thirds already. We’re in a night and day situation with so much of the rest of the country, and we did the highest standard of health and safety in our schools that any place in America has done, and it worked, again, before there was even vaccine. So, we've made adjustments, we've added new elements, again, additional air purifiers, a huge amount more vaccination, and the mandates that will be coming in very quickly and having a big effect. But we believe the right amount of testing is what we've put forward. But if we see any place where we think we need to do more, we can do that literally on a few hours’ notice. Go ahead, Christina. 

Question: Okay, my other question is regarding the negotiations with UFT, is there an agreement for what will happen to teachers who don't have an exemption and aren't vaccinated by the 27th? 

Mayor: Look, we're still in those negotiations, they've been intense. We're obviously hoping to resolve things. We're in a process right now, an arbitration process. I don't want to in any way, get ahead of that. Our goal is to settle these issues and move forward. But not every single one has been settled yet, and we obviously have to do that very, very quickly. 

Moderator: The next is Paul from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing? 

Mayor: Good, Paul. How’ve you been? 

Question: I’m well, sir. Thank you. Regarding the vaccine mandate for DOE staff, what percentage of DOE staff remain unvaccinated and what sort of challenges is the DOE expecting regarding staffing? 

Mayor: I'm going to turn to the Chancellor, and I don't know if Dr. Chokshi has additional information. I do want to say, Paul, we're getting more and more information in all the time. As more and more employees are reporting their vaccination status, and obviously a lot of people are getting vaccinated right now. So, it's an ever-changing situation, but in terms of the latest information we have, Chancellor. 

Chancellor Porter: Sure. So, 72 percent of our teachers have been vaccinated, 61 percent of students 12 to 17 have been vaccinated with at least one dose, and so we're confident that our faculty members, our staff members are going to get that first dose. Even before the 27th, we've seen our numbers continue to increase, and we know that it's important for us to build a bubble of protection around our students. 

Mayor: Okay, go ahead, Paul. 

Question: Thank you so much for that, and we got a complaint from someone who is trying to get a marriage license about challenges at the bureau. I just wanted to – I saw they closed the walk-in visits August 23rd. So, I just wanted to get a sense of you know, where the City stands right now and what your knowledge of the situation is regarding the Marriage Bureau. 

Mayor: Okay. We will get back on this. The City Clerk Office runs the Marriage Bureau. I'm a little frustrated hearing that because they should be at full strength. It's not something run directly by the Mayor's Office, but we're going to go engage them immediately. It's really important, and as we bring this city back fully that people have the access, they need to the Marriage Bureau. So, Paul, thank you for raising that, and this one's been a nagging problem – I want to say to my friends at the Clerk's Office and the Marriage Bureau, come on, guys, everyone else is coming back full strength. We got to do this, but we will follow up and get you an update, Paul, immediately. 

Moderator: Next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey, Michael, how are you doing? 

Question: I’m good. How are you? 

Mayor: Fighting the fight, brother. 

Question: Oh, okay. Good, good. I've got a couple of questions from our education reporter, Michael Elsen-Rooney. First one is you've talked about how New York City has a gold standard of safety measures in school, but the City is proposing to do 20 times less school COVID testing than LA’s school system, which is testing all students and staff each week regardless of vaccination status. So, why not increase the level of school COVID testing, if you want to do everything possible to keep kids safe and build trust? 

Mayor: Michael, I respect our colleagues in LA. We've had a radically different vision of them from day one. They were not open last year, we were. They are continuing to remote education. We believe that's a huge mistake for our kids. So, respect them. Everyone's got to make their own choices. New York City has the most rigorous health and safety model in the country. We proved it last year with schools, we proved it with Summer Rising. We're sticking with what has worked. We're going to have plenty of testing. Again, testing pales in comparison to vaccination and all the other measures that we've put in place, which are now amplified intensely from even where they were in June. So, this is what we're going to do, and we'd see any reason that we need to make adjustments. We can make them very, very quickly. Go ahead, Michael. 

Question: Thanks for that, Mr. Mayor. The other question we have here is about how, you know, some other countries are giving kids rapid tests after they were exposed to a COVID case in school, and if they test negative, they can avoid quarantines. Is that an approach the city's considering?
 
Mayor: I'll have Dr. Chokshi go over the approach we're taking now. I want to emphasize again, for adults and students who are vaccinated, they are not going to be quarantining unless they're symptomatic. It's a very different reality. That's a lot of people in our school system, thank God, who are not going to have to deal with quarantine in the vast majority of cases, even when we have quarantines, and again, we are pushing hard to get that last group of kids vaccinated. I'm really hopeful. That's going to be starting in the next – just in the next couple of months, and I guarantee you, when that starts, there's going to be a huge number of parents who get their kids vaccinated quickly. But in terms of how we're dealing with the standards now, and what role rapid tests would play, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you very much, sir. Yes, we are. Using testing to shorten the duration of quarantine in some cases, particularly when you have an unvaccinated child who has an exposure, meaning they meet the definition of being a close contact – they can test on day five and then if the test is negative, then it shortens the duration of their quarantine from 10 days to seven days. So, that's one way in which we are ensuring that we're using testing to minimize disruption with respect to in-person learning which is one of our key goals as has been mentioned. In terms of the rapid testing that you're mentioning. You know, we are following the evidence on this. There are some other places around the world around the country that are testing these approaches we have to understand precisely how they will work in balancing the considerations of interrupting the spread of COVID while maximizing in-person learning. So, we'll continue to follow that and as always adjust our approaches as warranted by scientific updates. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: Good Henry. How are you doing? 

Question: I'm doing pretty well. Thank you. The 72 percent rate of teachers being vaccinated. Are you satisfied with that number? 

Mayor: No, we're going to get that number, by definition, to a hundred percent with the mandate. I also think, again, we are continuing to get information in Henry. I think that number is likely higher and we're going to get more and more information each day, and as teachers are preparing to come back, a lot of them are moving quickly to get vaccinated now, but everyone knows the mandates coming, and that's going to resolve it fully. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Now, on the students who are vaccinated, I think I heard two different numbers. I think the Chancellor said 61 percent, and you said 65 percent of the kids are vaccinated— 

Mayor: I’m going to go to arbitration. 

Chancellor Porter: The Mayor’s right. 

Mayor: Well, that's a good start, but well, I want to be careful because there's so many numbers floating around. Let's turn to the Health Commissioner. The number I have, Commissioner Chokshi you're going to confirm: 12 to 17-year-olds, at least one dose 339,244 people, young people, and the percentage 65.2 percent. Commissioner, is that right or wrong? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. That's correct. We're at 65 percent. 

Mayor: Amen. Right on the boundary of two-thirds. Henry, go ahead. 

Question: Isn’t it problematic that kids – that you don't know who is vaccinated in these schools and who isn't. There's, you know, there's no registry, so wouldn't it be important to know who is vaccinated? 

Mayor: I'll turn to the Chancellor. I think in the school community for a variety of reasons, that information will be available, including remember that if there is a situation, wherever, even in a single classroom, quarantine is needed, it will be determined differently according to whether someone is vaccinated or not. But Chancellor in terms of how we're using the portal and other approaches and the communication with parents about their kids' situation. Why don't you speak to that? 

Chancellor Porter: So, we are collecting information in our DOE portal from both our faculty members and our students on their vaccination rates, and so that is open now. We've had students, and families, and teachers already uploading their vaccination status, which is why, you know, we actually do believe our numbers are higher than those listed, because we're getting information every single day. 

Mayor: Well said. So, as we conclude today, everybody, a lot of material today, a lot going on. I want to thank everybody who has been a part of this press conference, because it's really an attribute to New York City and the people who devote their lives to New York City, whether it's fighting terrorism, fighting crime, educating our kids, keeping them safe, everything that's being done out in communities to help people directly. It's a lot, there's a lot going on, but I always, as a New Yorker, take pride in the people who work on our behalf, and what they do every day and the way they go the extra mile, and I think a lot of that is on display in this last hour or so, and it's something New Yorkers should be very, very proud of. Thank you, everybody.

2021-09-09 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. This city – this city always moves me, because people are so strong, people fight back. No matter what we go through, New Yorkers fight back.

So, everyone, we continue to work with communities, but we also have a lot ahead in these coming days on so many fronts in this city. It’s a very important time for New York City, very important time in our recovery from COVID, very important time as we fight back. So, Monday, of course, first day of school, a crucial moment for families, for parents, for kids, a crucial moment in New York City's come back – all our kids coming back together. Also, on Monday, the Key to NYC goes into full effect, our effort to protect people who go to indoor dining, fitness, entertainment, protect the employees, protect the patrons. Our vaccination campaign continues full-Speed. There's a lot going on.

Let's talk about vaccination first, because vaccination is the way to get so much done, to protect us, and move us forward. So, we've been talking about our VAX to School campaign all summer long, and it's pretty amazing. Over 65 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds vaccinated. We expect that number to go up a lot in the coming days. And we want to help make it as convenient as possible for families – if they have not gotten their children vaccinated yet, if you still haven't had that opportunity, of course, there are vaccination sites all over the city available for you for free. We'll even have vaccinators come to your home in these next days. But we also want to make vaccination available in our schools the first week of school. So, announcing now, every school that has kids 12 years old and up – that's over 700 school buildings – will have in-school vaccination sites next week, every single one. And there'll be open all week long. Any student who is not yet vaccinated can get their first dose if they're 12 years old or up. Any student who's ready for their second dose who's had one, but now the time has come for the second, can get their second dose. We're going to have that up all week next week, 700 buildings. And then, we're going to bring it back during the week of October 4th, to those same buildings to make sure that kids have got that first dose next week get the second dose then. Again, thankfully, almost two-thirds of kids in this age range have already had that first dose. That's great, but we want to keep it going, keep it moving, make sure kids get fully vaccinated. We're going to use every tool we can, because we believe in bringing back our kids to school, every single one.

And I want to talk about this and then bring in really one of the greatest experts in this whole nation. My simple point, as a parent, who had my kids go to New York City public schools the whole way through – pre-K to 12th grade – our kids need to be in school and it's unbelievable that some kids haven't seen the inside of a classroom for a year and a half. There are massive consequences to that, including health care consequences. The healthiest, best place for kids to be is in school. And we have really outstanding health and safety measures in place to make sure our kids will have a positive and safe school year. But I want you to hear from a leading expert why it's so important, and why her organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the ultimate voice on the health and wellbeing of our kids, why this extraordinary organization believes that every child needs to be back in school. I want to thank her for her great leadership. It has my pleasure to introduce Dr. Lee Beers, the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, doctor. Thank you for your leadership. You and your colleagues have been such strong voices for getting our kids back into school and doing it the right way. And also, the pediatricians – you're right, I can tell you as a parent also, there's no one you listened to more than your pediatrician. And when our pediatricians are saying, get vaccinated, get back to school, it is so helpful, so reassuring to parents. So, thank you to you and all your colleagues for everything you're doing to help us overcome COVID.

All right, everyone. Now, we're very excited about the opening of school. It’s one of the greatest moments of the year. Each year, first day of school – amazing, positive, hopeful. And, of course, we have a powerful set of tools we're using, including a mandate for all the adults in our school buildings to be vaccinated. We're going to keep adding additional elements to our approach to vaccination, particularly when it comes to those who serve our young people. So, I've said we’ll climb the ladder. And today, we're climbing the ladder again. We're going to announce an additional vaccine requirement not just for those who work in our Department of Education buildings, but also expanding to all City contracted childcare and afterschool staff. These are folks who do incredibly important work, who families depend on, kids depend on. We need them to be safe. So, for all City contracted childcare and afterschool staff and all the organizations that are our partners in this work, we are putting a mandate in place starting today. We'll announce it and it'll be active on September 27th. By September 27th, employees must show proof of at least one dose of vaccination, same date as for a Department of Education teachers and staff. Now, this will include staff at City contractor sites. Again, there are others that are not City contracted, that's different. We're talking about City contracted pre-K, 3-K, early-learn programs, home-based childcare, afterschool programs, beacon programs, cornerstone programs – all of these are so important to supporting our young people and we want them to be very safe environments. I want you to hear from someone who's been a powerful voice in the fight against COVID throughout, but he also is a father of a young child in childcare, so he knows how important this is. My pleasure to introduce Council Member Steve Levin.

[…]

Mayor: Councilman, nothing to apologize about. We're talking about childcare and you have your child there. But let's listen, that is a bold move, bringing a two-year-old with you onto live television. I admire that. That is that shows faith. But thank you – thank you for your leadership. And I'm glad that you can attest everyone how important it is to have safe environments for our kids in childcare and afterschool. Thank you, Councilman.

I want you to hear, now, everyone, from someone who plays an absolutely crucial role in ensuring that childcare is available to the people of New York City, that we have exceptional childcare facilities, safe childcare facilities for kids and parents and the staff alike. And she does really important work, advocating for the childcare community and making sure government is always working in partnership with all the people who do this beautiful work. My pleasure introduced the Executive Director of the Day Care Council, Tara Gardner.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Tara. We are going to work together. We want to make sure that we are all working through the details. But thank you for affirming how important the goal is to keep our kids safe, give our families confidence, that's why we need everyone vaccinated. We're going to work closely with you to make it work. Thank you so much, Tara.

All right, now, all of the tools that we've used – the educational efforts, outreach efforts, the mobile vaccination, in-home vaccination, incentives, mandates – everything is having an impact. We are closing in on 11 million doses of the vaccine from the beginning, but we know we can go farther, and that means working even more closely with doctors. Nothing is more important to a new than hearing the voice of their own doctor. We've created something new and powerful, the Physician Referral Bonus incentive. This is an idea that we were hoping might come from the federal or State level, but we're doing our own version now, because we think it's so important, particularly for doctors who serve a lot of patients on Medicaid or Medicare, many of them being the patients at greatest risk. So, we're doing a $35 million investment to drive up vaccination rates, to get these doctors to systematically work through their patients, talk to them, answer their questions, recommend the vaccine, talk about why it's safe and effective, make the appointment, or get them referred to a nearby site for an appointment. This is going to make a huge impact. I want you to hear from our doctor, the City's doctor, Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Well, my fellow health care providers are a major part of why we've reached over 71 percent of adult New Yorkers were now fully vaccinated and why we've reached so many children via their pediatricians, as you heard from Dr. Beers earlier. Together, they were critical and administering over 462,000 first or single doses in August, which represented a 53 percent increase over our July total. About 60 percent of those first or single doses were administered to Black and Latino New Yorkers, patients for whom a conversation with a trusted clinician is often particularly important to help surmount skepticism born of historical discrimination and marginalization. But we all have more to do to get to the finish line. And so, today, as the Mayor said, we are announcing a new $35 million program for clinicians to support them in having these crucial vaccine conversations. We're working with Medicaid and Medicare advantage plans who serve some of the most vulnerable New Yorkers to identify unvaccinated patients in their networks and to reimburse their health care providers for engaging with them. To be eligible to receive the payment, in each conversation, providers must discuss the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines, recommend the authorized vaccines, and arrange vaccination for that patient. The Physician Referral Program builds off of our Use Every Opportunity campaign, which embedded vaccine conversations in all types of routine clinical encounters, whether the patient is visiting for a diabetes check or for a physical exam. And for clinicians who are out there listening, we've gathered all of those resources at nyc.gov/vaccinetalks.

Today, as part of this campaign, I'm also issuing a Commissioner's Advisory to all health care providers emphasizing the urgency of these vaccine conversations. We're taking these steps because a providers strong recommendation can make all the difference when it comes to getting a COVID-19 vaccine. So, I thank my fellow health care providers for all they have already done and urge you to continue reaching out to your patients, help them understand the science behind the vaccine, and reassure them. You have all already saved lives and this program is an investment in you and your care. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi. I want everyone to hear from another leading health care provider and someone who was part of the leadership of SOMS. SOMOS has done amazing work getting New Yorkers vaccinated. We are so appreciative, because, also, SOMOS has led grassroots efforts, community doctors reaching out to their patients – absolutely crucial. One of the leaders of SOMOS, Board Member Dr. Francisco Rosario joins us now. Doctor, welcome.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you. Doctor, thank you so much. Thank you for everything you're doing and everyone at SOMOS is doing it. It's been tremendously helpful. And you're one of the reasons why New York City is coming back. Thank you very much. Muchisimas gracias. 

Okay. Everybody, vaccination unlocks our recovery – it’s as simple as that. Vaccination equals recovery, and that's why we focused on vaccination wherever it's going to make an impact. And that's why we're doing the Key to NYC – indoor dining, fitness, entertainment, etcetera. Let's talk about what this means for the big picture in New York City. Look, restaurants – restaurants are the heart and soul of New York City in so many ways. It's such a crucial part of our culture, part of what New York City's most famous for, part of what expresses all of the communities that come from the city. But they're also – restaurants are part of our lives. For so many people, it's a neighborhood restaurant or bar, or someplace that they have gone to throughout their life, generations have gone to that is just part of what gives them a bond to their neighborhood and their city. I want to use an example I think a lot of Brooklynites will appreciate. I was just there a few days ago, a Southern Brooklyn legend, an institution in Brooklyn that people love, Brennan and Carr – amazing place. Family-owned, it's been there since 1938. Generations after generations have celebrated great moments in their lives there. In that picture there with Mike Sullivan, one of the owners who's done an amazing job, keeping this beautiful institution alive. And Jackie Hunter, who has done a lot of great things for New York City. I want to thank them both. It's a beautiful story of a family restaurant that endures. And they've had to fight through COVID. They've had to deal with all the challenges. To their great credit, they went and got all of their staff vaccinated. They went the extra mile, particularly the young people on their staff to get them vaccinated. I want to thank Mike and everyone there for making that happen. But this is the kind of place that people cherish. If you love roast beef, it's an amazing place for roast beef, but even more than the food, it's some that just makes you feel good about Brooklyn and New York City, that it's still there, and those memories are strong and new memories are being made all the time.

So, again, when we think about restaurants, it’s a lot more than just where you go for a roast beef sandwich. It's part of our life. It’s part of our culture. And that's why we need our restaurants be open and strong. We need everyone to goes to eat in a restaurant to know they're safe. We need the employees to be safe. That's what Key to NYC is all about. Next week, after about a month of education and supporting restaurants, helping them get ready and all the others – indoor entertainment, fitness – we're going to start implementing the law more fully and enforcement will begin on Monday. But let me make clear, we want to help people succeed. We want the restaurants and all the other businesses to succeed. No one is starting this out with the intention of fining. We don't want to fine. We just want people to be safe. We want to make sure people are doing things the right way. And I think the vast, vast majority of businesses are committed to doing it the right way. We're going to have inspectors out. It will be civilian inspectors from 13 agencies. We're going to have that poster that we've put forward out to help educate people. What we're going to do, inspectors will come out, make sure the check-in procedures are going right with the ID and the vaccination proof, making sure the business has posters up or other notices up that they have a plan for how to approach it – indoor dining, entertainment, fitness – making sure it's working. And we're going to make sure everyone's safe, that's the key, because it's what will give people confidence. It'll give them confidence in each business they go to, confidence in the comeback of New York City, it's going to help us overcome COVID once and for all. I want you to hear from someone who's really done amazing work. First of all, her restaurant is just extraordinary. Chirlane and I went there months ago and can't recommend it enough. Melba’s in Harlem – amazing food. But also, she has gone the extra mile to help get people in the Harlem community vaccinated. She's opened up the doors of a restaurant to incentivize, to make it positive. She's worked with community to spread the word about how powerful vaccination is. And she's also been a voice for all restaurant owners, making sure we did things like outdoor dining, which has proven to be such an amazing success. She's one of the voices. She's one of the leaders that helped us to get to that. So, not only does she own and run a great restaurant, but she's also President of the New York City Hospitality Alliance. My pleasure to introduce Melba Wilson.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you, Melba. Wow, beautiful, beautiful message, and thank you for your passion – your love for your community is coming through, your can-do attitude. I feel like we're in the huddle and the coach has given us, you know, when a quarterback's telling us what to do. It's great. But thank you, thank you for believing that we can all do this together and for what you're doing to keep people safe in the Harlem community. You're an example, literally an example, to all New Yorkers. Thank you so much, Melba.

[…]

Mayor: Everyone, so, you can hear the focus on vaccination in everything we do, and if you need some proof that it's working, here's today's indicators. Number one, doses administered to date: 10,932,616. We're going to be hitting 11 million doses very soon, absolutely astounding, growing all the time. Number two daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report: 121 patients. Confirmed positivity of 26.72 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 1.17. And then new reported cases on a seven-day average: 1,315 cases.

I want to say a few words in Spanish, and you guessed it, the topic is vaccination.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we are joined by Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Choksi, Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Advisor on public health, Dr. Ted Long, Executive Director of the Test and Trace Corps, Emergency Management Commissioner John Scrivani, Small Business Commissioner Jonnel Doris, Environmental Protection Commissioner Vinnie Sapienza, Sanitation Commissioner Ed Grayson, and DOITT Commissioner Jessie Tisch. Our first question for today goes to Andrew Siff from NBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor and everyone on the call. Mayor, with regard to vaccinations in schools, why not mandate it for kids 12 and up? Los Angeles is doing that. You've talked before about a step ladder approach and keeping options on the table, but why not mandate it right now?

Mayor: We just don't think that's the right thing to do, Andrew. We are seeing, first of all, among the kids who are eligible, we're at almost two-thirds, and we're going to be moving constantly to increase that number. But the most important thing right now is getting kids back in school. If there's a family that's not yet ready, I don't want that family kept out of school. I want them in school where we can help their kid, especially for the kids who have been out for the last year and a half. So, that's where we are today. We can always – with any option, we can keep any option on the table, but right now, no, we want every kid in school and we want to reach them the ways we're reaching them. Go ahead.

Question: [Inaudible] variations of the remote option, no remote option question, but I wanted to get clarity now that families are paying attention, and there are only days to go until Monday, there's still CDC guidance and guidance from your own Health Department, that if a child has cold like symptoms to keep them home in the age of COVID. So, the question is if your child stays home because they don't feel well, what does that family do that day? There's no way for them to log into some kind of online learning that day – they lose a day of school for doing that?

Mayor: Again, Andrew, we – obviously, if someone's sick, we want them to stay home. Let's be really clear about that. That's the most important thing. We have for kids who are going to be in quarantine, a process to provide them with learning. If a child’s sick for one day, we'll certainly have DOE update you on how we're going to handle that. But I think that simple differentiation I'd make is if a child's going to be sick for a more substantial amount of time, we can provide the same support we provide to kids in quarantine, but it really begins with making sure if a child might be sick, keep them home, keep everyone safe.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Marla from WCBS 880.

Question: Mayor, we are hearing reports this morning that the NYPD is mandating vaccines for all employees, or they will not be able to be paid. Have you viewed the memo that NY1 obtained? And are you concerned that some of the force will just not show up to work?

Mayor: Yeah, Marla, I want to make sure there's clarity. I haven't seen what document or report you're talking about. For any new employees, brand new, showing up for the first-time new hires, NYPD or any other city agency, there is a vaccine requirement. That is true. But as you know, because you've been following the details, we have not yet applied a full requirement to all agencies. We have, as of the 13th, coming up, vaccinate or test requirement for a number of agencies. Now, if someone, again, does not follow that mandate, that's true, eventually, they're not going to be paid, obviously. That's been clear for quite a while. But we feel confident that we're going to have adherence and that we can make adjustments if there's any issues, go ahead, Marla.

Question: And then regarding the schools, children are the fastest growing group of those getting the virus, and there is concern about distancing with so many kids returning, especially in cafeterias or other common areas where students will be taking off their masks. With so many kids returning so many more for in-person learning than last year. How can you ensure there will be distancing that that kids will be safe, and that we won't have large outbreaks, especially among the kids who are not eligible for the vaccine?

Mayor: Well, Marla, we've looked at all these factors. Obviously, we care deeply about keeping our kids safe, and we proved it last school year. When we didn't even have vaccination as a tool, we kept our kids safe. Summer Rising, hundreds of thousands of kids in school, Delta variant raging, we kept our kids safe. We know how to do it, and Marla, what I'd emphasize is if you're an environment with the right ventilation, with everyone, wearing a mask with a high level of vaccination, with regular cleaning going on and on all that gold standard, we talked about health and safety measures. You're going to be a lot safer than out in the rest of the community by definition. That's what our schools have proven over and over again. We feel very good about the distancing. We're absolutely able to follow the CDC guidance. We feel very good, as you saw yesterday, about the cleaning, the ventilation, the high level of vaccination, even among the young people who do qualify. So, we're absolutely convinced we can bring our kids back, bring them back safely, limit the number of times when anyone's exposed or there's any disruption in our schools. That's what we've been working on for months and months, and we're ready.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Emma from the New York Times.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. So, enforcement begins on Monday for the vaccine mandate for restaurants in gyms. How many city workers will be doing inspections? Are you targeting certain neighborhoods or boroughs? Are you starting with restaurants or other types of businesses? What is this going to look like in terms of enforcement?

Mayor: Yeah, Emma, we're going to be, as I said, using inspectors from 13 city agencies – all civilian, all boroughs, all neighborhoods. So, there's not targeting, it will be across the board with restaurants, indoor entertainment, indoor fitness, and again, our goal here is to confirm compliance and what we saw, and we have a real control model, if you will, Emma. You know, when we went through the worst last year and we asked so much of restaurants and bars and asked people to close and, and restrict their operations we saw overwhelming compliance, really overwhelming. I think in this case, there's been a lot of buy-in, not everywhere, but the vast majority, a lot of chance to get ready. We are happy to work with any restaurant, any indoor entertainment facility that has questions at this point. Happy to work them through, but I'll tell you just from my own experience, Emma – I've been out there when I've gone – I went to a movie theater, I’ve gone to different restaurants. What I see is pretty fluid right now, people are asking for you to check-in the same way they do when in a restaurant or bar they check your ID before serving a drink. I think a lot of places are handling it well, and if anyone needs help, they can just call 3-1-1, and we'll get them help, and how to prepare for Monday.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Christina from Chalkbeat.

Question: Hi Mayor, thanks for taking my question. Can you please talk about what changed in terms of the vaccination mandate for early childhood workers? They were initially excluded, and now obviously they'll have to go get vaccinated, and can you also say, and I know Ms. Gardner is on this call, have the details been negotiated with labor in terms of what happens to those who refuse and will there be exceptions?

Mayor: Yeah, I don't know if Ms. Gardner is still on the call or not, but I'll just say Christina always with labor we're going to instantly go and negotiate for those who are represented by labor unions. I don't think that's everyone in this group, but the why to your central question, we continue to look at the overall situation, continue to see where we think we can add to our strategy effectively, and that's the whole idea of climbing the ladder. But also, it's based on ongoing dialogue. We've talked to a lot of leaders in the childcare field. We've talked to them about what's going on in their facilities, what they need. I think what you heard from Tara Gardner about childcare is what you heard from Melba Wilson about restaurants, more and more of the people who run the facilities, recognize the mandates, are going to give confidence to everyone. To the parents of the kids making sure the kids are safe to the employees knowing they're safe among each other, and it's a single clear standard. So, we worked with them, and we got to the point of deciding it was time to move this. Go ahead, Christina. 

Question: So, it sounds like the details might still need to be negotiated if I'm hearing correctly, but also, I wanted to ask about bus drivers, are they going to be required to be vaccinated? State guidance calls for them to either be vaccinated or tested weekly, I believe, so what's going on there? 

Mayor: I have to get you an answer on that, Christina, because, again, today's announcement is about the folks who provide the direct service in the childcare facilities, but we'll get you an update on that. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Chris from the Daily News. 

Question: Hi, Mayor, how are you doing? 

Mayor: I'm doing good, Chris. How are you? 

Question: I'm good. Kind of following up on the last question there with the new expansion of the DOE vaccine mandate, how many workers are we talking about that are going to be covered on under that? 

Mayor: I don't have the exact number in front of me, Chris. It's a substantial number of workers, obviously. You're talking about a variety of childcare and afterschool facilities. Now, again, my hope is a lot of folks are vaccinated already. But obviously many thousands, we’ll get you the exact number.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Erin from Politico. 

Mayor: Erin? Erin?

Question: Hello?

Mayor: Yeah, Erin, you there?

Question: I'm not sure what's going on. I can hear you just fine. 

Mayor: Okay, Erin, can you hear me? I can hear you. 

Question: Yes, I can hear you.

Mayor: There you go. You're good to go.

Question: Okay, great, great. I just wanted to ask with respect to – Andrew asked something similar to what I was going to ask, but specifically in the context of Governor Hochul said yesterday that it was certainly an option to mandate vaccines for students 12 and up in schools. So, you know, you seem to –you said you don't think that's the right thing to do, are you – if the State moves towards that, you know, are you going to reconsider that position? Yeah. 

Mayor: Yeah, Erin, if the State mandates something that we're legally required to follow, of course we'll follow it. I'm saying what the city's position is and so far, the State over the last year and a half has generally deferred to the city on matters of schools. We want to make sure every kid is in school, that's our imperative, and we want to make sure every kid is vaccinated who can be, and we find the current approach is really working, again, we're almost at two-thirds of kids and school was not yet begun. We expect a real bump up in that in the coming days, but the imperative is make sure our kids in school where they can be safe and served in every way. So, that's where I believe we are in the right place. We'll always watch if things change and we'll always respect any decision that the State makes that's binding on us, but from the New York City point of view we’re where we need to be right now. Go ahead, Erin. 

Question: Okay, thanks. And then, you know, I've asked this question before, but I'm wondering if there's any more clarity at this point, you know, you're doing all these additional measures on vaccine requirements and the vaccine rate is in fact going up, at what point do you think we see that actually translate into, you know, the cases going down substantially and, you know, this latest wave kind of really receding. 

Mayor: Erin, I would say I've talked to our doctors about this quite a bit. I'm just going to summarize, I think we all are duly noting and are pleased to see that a high level of vaccination is making a big impact, over 5.5 million New Yorkers have had at least one dose, clearly helping us push back the Delta variant, but the ball game is not over by any stretch of the imagination. And, you know, once upon a time there wasn't a Delta variant or aware that there's always the potential of others. We've got to finish the mission. So, progress, we're definitely making progress. We know there's a lot more people who are ready and willing and able to be vaccinated. Some will be moved by mandates, some by incentives, but we can reach many hundreds of thousands more people, so we're going to go do that, but I – it's too early to say what a timeline would be. I think what we can say with assurance is heavy levels of vaccination are working, that this vaccination effort is working or starting to turn the corner, but let's come back in a few more weeks and see if we have a stronger conclusion than that. 

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. The next question goes to Elizabeth from Gothamist. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Good morning, Elizabeth, how you been? 

Question: I'm good. We were looking at the vaccination rates across the city's workforce, and since you have some of these Commissioners on with you today, I just wanted to maybe just read out some of them. DEP we see a 54 percent vaccination rate, EMS 54 percent, and Sanitation came in at the lowest at 44 percent. I'd be interested to know from you and these Commissioners why it's so low at these particular agencies? What are the conversations that they're having with their staff who are reluctant to get the vaccine? 

Mayor: Okay, I'll say this – it’s a great question, Elizabeth – we're all dealing with the fact that unfortunately in a crisis, in an era where we should be all pulling together, a lot of our employees are being treated to a lot of misinformation. I know that's a big part of the problem, and our job is to keep working through that meticulously and using a variety of tools to move people. I think you're going to see the incentives and the mandates having more and more impact. I'll turn to Commissioner Sapienza, Commissioner Grayson, I want you just to really be brief, because it's true, I'm supposed to be leaving for the Bronx right now. But just in terms of how you're trying to break through to your employees who are not yet vaccinated, Commissioners Sapienza and then Commissioner Grayson. 

Commissioner Vincent Sapienza, Department of Environmental Protection: Thanks, Mayor. I'll just start briefly by saying that, you know, we do have some issues with how the numbers calculated. The number that's being reported are the number of employees who received the vaccine in the city through the vaccine Command Center divided by the number of total employees in the agency. For DEP that doesn't account for, you know, the thousand employees that we have who work in our upstate reservoirs and who probably got vaccinated in the seven counties upstate that they work in. So, we think we're actually at a little over 60 percent. 

Mayor: Okay, good. Commissioner Grayson – 

Commissioner Edward Grayson, Department of Sanitation: Yes, sir. We are messaging, we are doing all we can to provide opportunity and information to our employees. We encourage vaccination heavily and we are moving ahead with the implementations to try to keep all workforce safe as directed, but our main goal is to make sure our workforce is informed, has every opportunity to know what benefits there are to the vaccine, and keep moving towards getting more and more of our employees vaccinated. 

Mayor: Thank you, go ahead Elizabeth. 

Question: My second question is about schools. When you first outlined some of the precautions and testing protocol, you said that there might be an at home testing option for families. I'm wondering if, if you or the Health Commissioner can provide the public with more details on that particular option. 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi will speak to it, Elizabeth, and it's supplementary, it's not, obviously, the same thing as our regular testing in every school, but it's an additional tool. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I'll start briefly and Dr. Long may have more to add, but the Test and Trace Corp does use at home testing, particularly with respect to close contacts, ensuring that people have the at-home test kits to be able to take with them. We are also looking at other use cases for at-home testing, and those, you know, depend a little bit on the operations as well as the scientific basis for using them in specific situations. 

Mayor: Dr. Long, you have 30 seconds if you have anything to add. 

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps: Yes, so I want to make the important point, we want to do testing with the same methods, same test in every school so that we can detect the same signal across the board. We do offer at home testing for close contacts because these are students, teachers, parents, that we don't want to leave their homes, but in schools, we want to do the same method so that we can detect any signal at any school. So, in school testing is our main method.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Yehudit from Borough Park 24.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Shana Tova, Yehudit. 

Question: Shana Tova, everyone. I want to wish you and everyone on the call a sweet, happy and healthy new year.

Mayor: Absolutely. How are you doing today? 

Question: Great. Excellent. After 18 months of landlords having been barred from evicting tenants who could not or would not pay their rent, on the night on which the Supreme Court said that the CDC did not have the legal authority to continue the ban, you severely criticized the Supreme Court majority who made the ruling which Governor HOCAL and the New York Legislature just extended to January 15th. So, I'm wondering as the country's unemployment rate currently stands at 5.4 percent and it has been reported that there are more jobs available now than people who are applying, and unemployment claims have really dropped by 35,000, I'm wondering whether you are worried about the livings and properties – the wellbeing of property owners who have not received rent from some tenants now in a year and a half? And I'm also wondering what motivation they have to continue making repairs and safety upkeep in buildings for which they are receiving no rents?

Mayor: Yehudit, I’m very worried and we have to strike a balance. I think the power and the common sense of the eviction moratorium is that we've got a huge number of people who are not back on their feet, who do not have work. Yeah, there are some jobs out there, that's true, but there's a huge number of people who can't get those jobs or who have lost jobs that paid them a lot more than the jobs that might be available now. There's a lot of people who are still suffering the effects of COVID. There are so many reasons why the danger of putting people out on the street en masse, horrendous, morally in every way. So, it was right to say, especially since Delta came back into our lives, we needed to continue the moratorium, but I am very worried for building owners too. I know the vast majority of building owners try and do the right thing. They try and keep up their buildings properly. They often have thin margins. That's why the rent relief has to be achieved by the state of New York. That's a huge amount of money that could then reach tenants and ultimately the building owners as well. There's thankfully a lot of support out there, but we have to actually get it to the building owners. And I understand the building owners have a lot of tough choices now. My hope and my dream is we get people vaccinated, we end the COVID era, we restore our community and our economy, and then people have the money again to pay the rent, and we go back to a much stronger situation. But again, for every building owner out there who is dealing with a very tough time, I do feel for them, but the answer to all of this is get people vaccinated so we can turn the bigger corner, and I have absolute confidence we're going to do that. Again, 78 percent plus of all adults in New York City have had at least one dose, that's what's going to move us forward. Thank you, everybody.

2021-09-10 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. And now our weekly Ask the Mayor call, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, or tweet your question using the hashtag, #AskTheMayor. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian, and Brian, I'd like to break some news here. I think WNYC is a fine place to break important news for the people of this city. So, for our young people in schools, 12 years old and up, we're adding an additional requirement here for extracurricular activities that are considered high risk. We've already done this for high-risk sports, and this is consistent with CDC and state guidance – for young people who are involved in extracurricular activities, such as chorus, musical theater, dance, band and marching band, cheerleading, we're going to have a vaccination mandate for them. So, any young person who wants to participate in those activities will have to be vaccinated to be able to do so.

Lehrer: So, this is the performing arts mandate, chorus, musical theater, dance team, and dance in general, band and orchestra, with all those woodwinds – that was me in high school, this would have applied to me for playing the flute – cheerleading, step teams, flag team. So, this is really a performing arts requirement.

Mayor: It is for particularly – look, we're talking about performing arts, where folks are close together, close contact, lots of exhaling, obviously, as you said, with the woodwinds, lots of heavy exertion with some of these dance, cheerleading, et cetera. This is according, to the CDC and state guidance, where we need to focus, and I agree fully. We want to protect our young people. We want them to enjoy these activities. I mean, I can tell you, you know, my kids, the things they got involved in was a really important part of their school experience. I want young people to enjoy these activities, but I want to do it safely.

So, for every child, 12 and up, go get vaccinated. Good news, right now, Brian we're at 66.28 percent. So, basically two-thirds of all kids in the city, not just public school kids, all kids in the 12 to 17 range have now already gotten at least one dose, and this is a one dose or more requirement. And so, we're well along – you know, the vast majority of kids right now can go participate in these activities, which is great. But for the other third who have not yet gotten vaccinated - to their parents, I want to say, do us all a tremendous favor, do the right thing and get your child vaccinated. It's free. It's easy. It's everywhere. It's going to be in schools next week - 700 schools will have vaccination in school all week long, next week, so your child can participate in everything they love to do.

Lehrer: Alright, LaGuardia High School, you hear that? You're all required to get vaccinated now. What about close contact athletics, sports?

Mayor: At the high risk – the same concept, the high-risk sports we mandated that weeks ago and we've seen a tremendous response. And I think we have to be honest here that one of the things we're doing with mandates, and I absolutely applaud President Biden for what he put forward yesterday, and honestly, a lot of that was following through on what New York City had done over the last few months. So, I'm very proud that New York City led the way in terms of strong mandates. We understand the mandates encourage folks to understand what they can do, and the freedom they can have, and the security they can have. It's very much about changing mindsets. And so, with the sports we saw young people, they were not going to give up their opportunity to play those high risk or high contact sports. And there was a lot of times, Brian, the young people went to their parents and said, “I'm going to go get vaccinated. I need to get vaccinated. This is important to me.” And the parents finally saw the importance of vaccination and agreed to it.

Lehrer: But no – well, you're not going to go as far as Los Angeles, which announced yesterday a vaccine requirement for all students 12 and up?

Mayor: Yeah, my understanding is they said that would start in January. And I – you know, we will look at things as we go along, but I don't see that. It's not on the table now. I think we're making tremendous progress with the 12 to 17 group. Remember, this is the most recent group to be allowed to be vaccinated. They're already at two-thirds, even though adults have been vaccinated from months and months earlier, this group has already at two-thirds and it's growing rapidly. I think you're going to see a big increase in the next few days. So, I don't want to take the chance of a kid or a family who is not quite there yet of being excluded from being in school. I believe, Chancellor believes – Meisha Ross Porter – our Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi – we need our kids in school, and I think we keep using all these tools, you're going to see the percentage of kids in that 12 to 17 group really, really high over the next few weeks. And then Brian, we are really hoping and praying, as early as November even, the five to 11-year-olds will have an authorized vaccine. And that will be a very fast process, I am absolutely certain parents will come forward for that.

Lehrer: And for parents of kids in the categories that you just laid out, what's the deadline?

Mayor: Well, the deadline is to be able to participate. So, this is immediately, obviously. School is starting on Monday – these extracurricular activities will be starting very soon. So, again, luckily now two-thirds of kids probably already ready to go, but we want to make sure if there's any parent out there and your child would want us to be in one of these extracurricular activities, just go get them that first dose, of course get the second dose at the appropriate time. But all you have to do, anytime in the next days, is get them that first dose, get the card to prove it, and they can fully participate.

Lehrer: You know, this is the kind of thing that drove parents crazy last school year, not necessarily for the rule itself, but for the fact that you're announcing it three days before the start of school and the requirement take effect.

Mayor: Brian, I understand that – again, I was a public school parent the whole way through with my kids. I know there's lots of things that are frustrating parents. It's hard to be a parent in New York City, but I got to tell you we have been moving with the information, with what's coming down from the CDC and the state, as we're understanding where are the best places to put the focus and mandates. And also, there is a sequential reality that building these things properly takes some time and effort. But look, I don't think – I understand the frustration, but I want to emphasize the vast majority of kids it's a non-issue because they're already vaccinated. For other kids, it's going to be a really clear message: it's time to get vaccinated, and for their families. It's extracurricular by nature. If a family doesn't think it's important enough to get their child vaccinated for this, the child won't participate, but they can at any point get vaccinated and then become a part of it. And we've got to be clear that this is the kind of thing we're going to do. These mandates are necessary. I agree with President Biden, we've all been very patient, and we’ve provided incentives and encouragement and information. But now at this point, anyone unvaccinated, they have to come forward because it's making the whole community less safe.

Lehrer: What about some of those performing arts-oriented schools where things like musical theater are part of the curriculum, not extracurricular?

Mayor: Well, exactly. This is about extracurriculars, not required subjects. This is about extracurriculars only.

Lehrer: Even though they would have the same risk?

Mayor: That's something we're obviously looking at how to address that issue, and the best way to address that issue is to use every tool we have to get kids vaccinated, which is why the push we've been making for weeks on the Vax To School effort, and why in 700 schools that will be free vaccination in school all week, next week in all the schools would 12-year-old and up kids. But look, the good news is I actually think this population, our young people, are seeing the light sometimes better than our elders. And I guarantee you, there's going to be a lot of conversations today where young people say to their parents, “I need to get vaccinated, I want to participate. This is something I need to do.” And the parent's going to agree to it.

Lehrer: Stephanie, in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Stephanie.

Question: Hi, thank you very much for taking my call. I am absolutely beside myself with fear of sending my six-year-old into school. And I'm wondering why and how there's no option for remote or blended or staggered classes when the class size is double the size of last year, my son is going to have 25 unvaccinated children returning from summer vacation, all over the world and maybe Texas, Florida, and one teacher who may or may not be vaccinated until September 27th. If a vaccine is going to be available as soon as possibly October, November, or January, why don't I have an option because I'm terrified to send my son in?

Mayor: Stephanie, I – look again, as a parent, I understand loud and clear – I spent years and years being concerned about so many challenges, so many things that made me fearful for my kids when there wasn't even a pandemic. So, I totally imagine if you're a parent today, the pandemic is on your mind every minute – I don't belittle that, but I am also listening to the doctors. What the doctors are saying, intensely, is that our kids being out of school has now become its own crisis. It's not healthy. It's creating a huge number of problems for our kids, emotional health, physical health, across the board, let alone educational dynamics. We believe that a child being in a place that's literally the most highly regulated setting in the city. And it's been proven all last year and during Summer Rising, very, very low levels of COVID. Adults overwhelmingly vaccinated now, and every adult, as of September 27th, in the building, no one in the building will be unvaccinated as of September 27th. We believe this is an extraordinarily safe environment. We've proven it and the most important thing is our kids have to come back. So, that's the way we're approaching it – by throwing every conceivable health and safety measure at it. And we have very, very capable medical leadership in this city that have seen us through COVID, and they believe this is the right thing to do. I think parents should see that this has worked and engage it because our kids just need to be back together.

Lehrer: As a follow-up, I've seen some stats that indicate that enrollment in kindergarten, in particular, is down compared to previous years. And the speculation is that that's parents who want the remote option, who are declining to enroll their kids in the system. And there's fear that some of those families may not have other good options. Some can afford private school, some have moved out of the city, things like that. But there's a fear that I've read about at least that some kids will actually disappear from the system because there's no remote option. Have you acknowledged that, or can you account for that in any way if it happens?

Mayor: Yeah, I respect that you're raising a fear and a projection. That's not what we're seeing is the honest truth. What we're seeing is after a global pandemic and a lot of disruption, that we definitely think some parents are sorting out what they want to do. That's normal. We normally don't have a full take on what attendance in the school is going to be, what enrollment is going to be until the end of September, beginning of October in a normal year. So, I do think there's some sorting out going on. That notion of people left is way overstated and bluntly, in certain demographics, folks who happen to have more means. But when you look at the overall situation, as the census just affirmed, the city is actually bigger than it's ever been 8.8 million. So, some people left, a lot of them came back, but a lot of new people have come in. It's not about lack of people. What we're seeing – parents overwhelmingly want the kids back in school and are acting accordingly. I think there'll be a small number that watch and wait for a bit, that want to see how the very beginning goes. I wouldn't urge that. I would say any parents should just get their kid to school on Monday. That's what the vast, vast majority are going to do. But we are not seeing a big trend line here. And I think there's been some very loud voices on the remote issue, but they are by no means anywhere close to the majority, overwhelming majority want their kids back in school. And we're hearing that from the schools, parents are engaging and saying very clearly, they're bringing their kids back.

Lehrer: Here's a question via Twitter. It says, Mr. Mayor, we're still waiting for guidance on field trips. We have the trips booked, but we don't know if we can take the trips. We need a policy announcement. So, that's schools related too.

Mayor: That is a good question, Brian, and I'll make sure we get that out either today or Monday, obviously field trips will take a little while before they happen, but we'll get the guidance out on that. It may have gone out and I just don't know about it, but we will get that immediately.

Lehrer: All right. You will have closures, no doubt. There will be outbreaks. LA so far has had three of what they call school-wide outbreaks. So, almost certainly there will be some in New York, what will happen then?

Mayor: Well, just offering an important fact – I'm not belittling LA, they have a different reality on a lot of levels. Our level of strictness, in terms of health and safety measures, is the highest in the nation, and that has been proven and what's happening in our community with, you know, 5.6 million New Yorkers have had at least one dose. I think we're different than almost anywhere in terms of the rigor that's been brought to the equation. But that said in Summer Rising, Brian, the whole summer, a big program, well over 200,000 kids – we had two school closures the whole summer. So yes, we may have some, and in that case, the entire school would go remote and continue on for that quarantine period. I think that's going to be a rarity based on what we're seeing now. We definitely are seeing some progress on the overall situation with COVID and the Delta variant based on the high level of vaccination. That number is about to go up meaningfully because of all the mandates hitting right now. But I'd say what is more likely is some classroom quarantines for sure, but remember any adult or kid vaccinated does not quarantine unless they're symptomatic. That's the CDC rule. That's the City rule. If you're in a school and a classroom, there's a case in the classroom, but you're not symptomatic and you are vaccinated, you're staying in school to continue learning, or continue to teach and support the kids.

Lehrer: All right, one more question on this. The teachers union is more or less supportive of the vaccine mandates. I know some of the details are still being arbitrated and negotiated. But the City has, what, like 80,000 teachers and more than 100,000 teachers plus other school staff. How many do you anticipate having to fire for refusing to get vaccinated without a medical or religious exemption? And how will you have enough replacement teachers to fill all the classrooms – I'm guessing that the need will be something in the thousands, even if it's just two or three percent who have declined the vaccine?

Mayor: It's a great question. I appreciate it, Brian. Let me first tell you, there was an arbitration process going on and I want to just be very careful about what I say given that fact, but I'd say broadly to you, no one wants to fire anyone. Let's state the obvious. We want all our teachers just get vaccinated, live up to this mandate. Look, New York City set a very strong path when we did public employee mandates, the indoor dining and indoor entertainment mandate, the $100 incentive. Joe Biden has taken a lot of these ideas, and to his great credit, is making it a strong national push. This is the way things are going to go from now on in this country, more and more of these mandates so we can get people vaccinated and move forward. The reason I say that is we want to just convince those teachers to be a part of this. We don't them to leave. We want them to be a part of this. If someone is adamant that it's not because of a medical or religious exemption, they just absolutely positively will never get vaccinated, no matter what proof we show them, no matter how important it is to come and serve our kids, there'll be a process for handling them. That's what's being arbitrated. But to your question of how many, we do not expect that to be a large number, and we've been researching this carefully. What we have now in reserve is the biggest corps of very capable and experienced substitute teachers that we've ever had, because that's a lot of what we had to do last year. We have a very, very different dynamic. All of us who had substitute teachers back in the day, it was an occasional thing, this is different. We had a core of folks who came in the midst of the pandemic and served a lot of young people coming out of schools of education, a really capable group that we can bring into action, many thousands, very quickly. So, we're confident about having the staffing we need to keep going, and I don't think many of the UFT members are going to choose to leave especially at a moment where kids need them.

Lehrer: Monique in Manhattan, you’re NYC with the Mayor. Hi, Monique.

Question: Hello.

Lehrer: Hi there. You're on the air.

Question: Yes, with the return to happening in full force and parents who are City employees now, being required to return to the office, I just don't understand why remote options or flexible options of that nature can be given to those parents who are now completely overwhelmed by all the processes and all of the mandates. Why is the quality of life going back to the old norm and pushing for a new norm for your City employees who are non-public facing?

Mayor: Monique, I appreciate the question. It's important for people to understand why this is so important. We have not had a particularly stellar experience with remote employment, I've been very open about this. Different sectors have reported different things. From a government perspective, our folks not being in their offices, not being able to coordinate and work together, learn together on how to address issues, create solutions together, it's made a huge impact, unfortunately, in the wrong direction. It's imperative to get our workforce back. Unlike private companies, our workforce serves the people, and the people have a lot of needs right now. So, we need our folks back where they can be most effective, again in highly controlled environments, with huge amounts of health and safety measures. And most importantly, we have offered - and the President said that with passion last night, and I commend him – we have offered vaccination for free in more ways than we can count. Now, it's time for adults to be adults and get vaccinated and protect their kids, their family, their community. So, anyone who comes back to our workplace can do the right thing, be vaccinated, and make everyone safe. And our kids are going to be back in school, and what were you very much expect based on real experience with last year and with Summer Rising, which remember happened at the height of Delta, Delta seems to be reducing a bit now. During the height of Delta, we had two school closures the entire Summer Rising period. We believe the overwhelming majority of kids are going to be able to be in school very consistently. So, it's the right time to do these things together. It's also the right time to put every tool in play to say to people, you've got to get vaccinated. The mandate that starts Monday for a lot of city employees, vaccinated or test, it's not overly convenient. It's supposed to be a message to people. If you just get vaccinated, you're done. If you really want to go through testing each week, you can, but if you don't do it right, there's going to be consequences. We’re really trying to send a firm message, it's time for people to get this done.

Lehrer: So, many of the major private employers that had mandatory back to office dates have now postponed them because of the Delta variant, the State also put its back to work date back I think into October for the moment and may be postponed further. So, why be the odd employer out forcing this return against what seems to be a lot of employees who don't want it?

Mayor: Brian, I respect our employees greatly, but what employees want at any given moment, you know, if it's in the public interest, that's great. Employees are human beings. We're all human beings. What they want may not be what's right for all the people or even for themselves sometimes. The bottom line is New York City has to lead. We proved that you could have strong mandates and it helped lead the nation. We proved you could open schools and it helped lead the nation. We have to do this for our own good and for everyone else. The only way to defeat COVID is get people vaccinated. The only way to get people vaccinated at this point is to use both incentives and strong mandates. And you're saying, we're going to delay, delay, delay is a formula for telling people they don't need to be vaccinated and that we're not going to fight back and serve people the way we need to. I'm not doing that. We can actually fix this problem. The President's right, what Joe Biden said last night, every single person who is unvaccinated is hurting the rest of us now. It just has to be addressed. So, our workforce has gone to come back, coming back with a very clear standard, get vaccinated, or you may test it weekly, or else there's consequences. We're not playing around here, but this notion of putting off and putting off and we should be trying to kill COVID once and for all really end the COVID era. No, we're going to show it can be defeated and we'll lead the way here in New York City.

Lehrer: Is that a back of your hand to the many major companies in the finance sector, in the tech sector elsewhere who are delaying their return to mandatory office work?

Mayor: I respect each company's choice. I wouldn't make that choice. I wouldn't make that choice. I would - I think the President has said a very clear message last night that private companies need to step up too, and they need to use their power. Look, a lot of folks in the private sector said to me last year New York City, the city government has to lead the way so we can bring back the entire economy of the city, and jobs for everyone, and people's livelihoods, and I agree. I wanted to bring back everything because I thought it was right to bring it back onto itself, but I also believe fundamentally that New York City could send a message to the entire private sector. And there are parts of the private sector, look at the private universities, they've been exemplary. They've said, if you want to go here, you're, you know, you're all adults, the kids, the students are all adults. You got to be vaccinated. That's been great, some companies that lead the way, it's time for every company to step up, require vaccination, call your employees back, we need to be aggressive here.

Lehrer: Brianna in Manhattan. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Brianna.

Question: Hi. Hello. Thank you very much, Brian, for taking my call. Hello, Mr. Mayor. I'm a city employee. I am one of the people who is required to go back to the office on Monday, and I have very many concerns about that. I also just want to refer to something you said earlier that we have not been very effective remotely, I really have to object to that, and I don't think I'm an outlier. I think many of us we've done our being working remotely since March of last year have actually done very good job and have not in any way, you know, failed, you know, the city or our clients. So, my concern is that yes, absolutely, we want this to be over, we want to go back to normal, but you talk about vaccination, but you haven't mandated the vaccination and the testing, the once a weekly testing, we hear everywhere, it's actually inadequate. It's insufficient for Delta. Delta needs way less time. Not to mention that checking the status of the employees, logistically, for every agency is probably going to be a nightmare once we start streaming in on Monday and you know, at the entrance, how is someone going to check all that? I don't think the logistics have been worked out. I'm not going to blame any particular agency because this is not their decision. This is your decision. So, I think that this is actually a gamble and I honestly feel like a Guinea pig, and I don't appreciate that because it's not necessary. And again, you know, the schools, if they are likely to close what happens with the parents then who have to be at work when their kids are at school. So, these are, these are the points – I think this is premature. I mean the State employees are not asked to go back until mid-October. Why are we pushed already without the vaccination mandate? And without it really clearly set up, how is this? Because only 60 percent of city employees are fully vaccinated. So, there are 50 people in my office, 50 percent of people who are, you know, no social distancing necessary. How am I safe? How is this helping anybody? And Delta isn't going anywhere. Thank you very much.

Lehrer: Thank you very much.

Mayor: Brianna, respect you, a lot of what you said, just wasn't accurate with all due respect. First of all, I'm sure you and others did your damnedest to provide a fine service remotely. My comment was not about the individual effort of our city workers. Anyone who wants to say that and take it out of context, have fun with that. But that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying what employers all over the country have experienced, that we have lost a lot of what we are able to achieve when people are in-person. This is well understood in many, many workplaces, it’s particularly crucial in public service, we're not getting the same product that we get when people can work together in person and deal with the public directly. So no, our job is to serve people. We will serve them better by resuming the work we did the way we did it. Second of all, to me, I think you're honestly forgetting the 80 percent – 80 percent of city workforce who is at their post, at the frontline, in the middle of COVID, in harm's way while office workers often didn't have to be. So respectfully as someone myself who was here the whole time, I don't buy people saying a year and a half into the crisis, oh we want more and more exemptions for ourselves. No, everyone needs to serve, and we are making these workplaces extremely safe. We're not going to have lines of people waiting to go in, the process is if you show your vaccination to your supervisor, then you're done. If you haven't been vaccinated, you have to prove every week that you've gotten the test that will be handled by the supervisory process, not people standing outside the door. So, this can be done. We don't follow other people's leads. We do what we think is right from New York City.

Lehrer: Let me get you to answer two specific things that she raised. One – and the previous caller raised it too – about parents who are going to need to scramble for childcare and school quarantine situations. And also, the fact that the vaccinations are not mandatory. Only the testing is mandatory. So, since we know testing doesn't protect people as much as vaccinations because of the lag time that – that they're put – they're being put in a risky situation without enough protection, because it's not a full vaccine mandate.

Mayor: So, Brian, we are working with a lot of information, everything's based on the data and the science. The reality that we see right now, as we expect, our schools to be open very consistently, just based on everything we're seeing, we expect them to be open very consistently. It is not last year. I don't blame anyone who was living in last year in their mind, but it's just not last year, almost 5.6 million people vaccinated in the city. It's an entirely different reality, and the schools where we had ridiculous success, I mean, at the end of the school year, you realize the last days of school, 0.03 percent positivity in New York City public schools. So, I just need people to hear the facts. What I think you're going to see is a lot more continuity this year than last. We'll see some quarantines of some classrooms, true, but a lot of those kids and adults will be able to stay in if they are vaccinated. So now you say, okay, what about there's a quarantine and a student has to go home? Obviously for members of our city workforce, I'm going to encourage flexibility supervisors working with people if they have that situation, that's a week. It's not forever, it's a week, but we want to work with our employees always, of course, but I don't think – the way people are doing this, Brian, is okay, I'm a parent, I'm a city employee, I shouldn't have to come to work like everyone else because maybe my child might be sent home at some point in the school year. I don't accept that. I don't accept that. 80 percent of the workforce has been at the frontline fighting their way through –

Lehrer: Promising –

Mayor: And it’s time for everyone to be a part of it.

Lehrer: You're promising and accommodation in those instances?

Mayor: No, I'm not promising anything. I'm saying they should talk to their supervisors in that situation, and we'll be – we'll send a message to everyone to try and work out arrangements whenever possible, but I'm not – Brian, there's a thing that I understand people do, which is to take the exception within the exception and then act like that's how we make policy. No, we're making policy based on one, how do we serve the people in the city who are coming out of a horrible crisis? And two, how do we get the maximum number of people vaccinated? Our vaccine mandate and people coming back to work is going to get a lot more people vaccinated. That is how we end the crisis. We're not doing piecemeal. We're actually trying to end the crisis once and for all.

Lehrer: Let me – I know we're over time. Let me throw in one more category of children in the city who are not protected by the vaccine mandate for public school teachers. As I understand it, it's the kids in daycare and non-city preschools, like for two-year-olds, who fall under the Department of Health guidance rather than the Department of Education guidelines. How does the Health Department not have a stringent mandate for people who take care of babies and really small toddlers as the city does for those who work with older kids? Are you familiar with this discrepancy?

Mayor: Yeah, sure. It's a real issue, and I think what – I don't blame anyone who looked at the situation and says, why couldn't you guys have figured out everything upfront in perfect calibration and just announced everything months ago? Well, it's just not the way the world works. We have constantly evolving information. We have to make sure that each one of these mandates will work in every way. We have to make sure it will be sustainable. We've been announcing them as they are ready, and we've – I’ve been using the phrase, climbing the ladder, and I think I've shown it through action. We have been adding more and more mandates once it's the right time to do it. But we're looking to that next. We've covered thousands and thousands of kids, tens of thousands of kids with a mandate, this week on childcare continued mandates are being worked on as we speak.

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, complicated week, so much going on that feels urgent at the same time. Thank you for all your time today, thanks as always, talk to you next week.

Mayor: And thank you, Brian, and everyone had not, withstanding all the challenges, Monday morning, a million kids go back to school. It's going to be a very, very good day for the city and the step forward for all of us.

Lehrer: Thanks again.

Mayor: Thank you, Brian.

2021-08-13 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. What an amazing day this is. This is recovery day. This is the day we have been waiting for. You're going to remember in the history of this city, this day, September 13th, 2021, a day that was a game changer, a difference maker, a turnaround day. This is the day New York City's comeback in full force. This morning I saw it with my own eyes at P. S. 25 in the Bronx. Absolutely beautiful. So many kids back, their parents happy to see their kids back in school, the teachers and the whole school team ready for them. Incredible excitement. And we're seeing that all over the five boroughs today. So, this is a day we have been working towards for months and months, making progress, fighting back COVID, everyone together. New Yorkers really, really have a lot to be proud of today because the ability of New Yorkers to fight back and make a stunning comeback, we all know about it, we're seeing it today. Again, more and more evidence of what this city can do. First day of school, also first day that the Key to NYC will be implemented fully and enforced at indoor dining, entertainment, fitness, and we're seeing great, great pickup on that, adherence to it, people believing in it, making it happen. Fantastic. This week also, Broadway is coming back strong. Some of the biggest shows in Broadway will be back. The Metropolitan Opera is back – amazing things happening in our cultural world. And, of course, more and more of our workforce coming back to the offices. You can feel the life of the city, and the reason you can feel the life of the city is what we'll talk about in a little bit. Over 11 million vaccine doses administered from day one in this city, over 11 million, it's a staggering figure. And all the folks who did that work, thank you because it made all the difference. 

So, we're coming back full force. Full force this fall. There is the message, full force this fall. New York City is coming back in so many ways. And the epitome, the thing that moves us all the most is our kids. Seeing our kids back in school. Amazing. What a great place P. S. 25 is, the Bilingual School in the Bronx. It's a school with incredible commitment from the school community to helping the kids. It's a school where there's been an amazing effort to get people vaccinated. And we know, and I met some of the kids this morning, there are kids who have not been in a classroom in a year-and-a-half, and they deserve better. They should not have to wait another day. Thank God our kids are coming back today. We heard powerfully last week from the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Lee Beers, why pediatricians believe foundationally kids need to be back in school for their mental health, their physical health, their ability to develop socially for so many reasons. We are making it happen here in New York City, leading the way, leading the nation, showing it can be done. I want you to hear from two extraordinary educators, what this day means to them, why it is so important. And they are live from P. S. 121 in the Bronx. What a pleasure to bring forward our Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter and what an honor to have with us, someone who we love in this city, and he really feels so much for the city and we feel so much for him, the Secretary of Education of the United States of America, Miguel Cardona. Meisha, Secretary, take it away. 

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I'm so excited to be here with Secretary Cardona at P. S. 121 in the Bronx. What a great start this morning at P. S. 25. So many amazing families, so many amazing students, just starting the day off of in-person learning. New York City is back. We're so excited to be here, looking forward to having a great year together. 

United States Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona: Thank you, Chancellor. And listen, you do it right. You have been working closely with the Mayor and others to make sure all the preparation to get ready for today. Today is here. The kids are excited. The parents are excited to all the families that are watching. They've worked so hard. They prepared. They're doing everything to make sure your children and staff are safe. Enjoy the school year. They did it right. And I know this is going to be an awesome year for New York, for everyone. And we have a special guest that wants to say, hello, Mayor. Come on over, special guest. Tony, the Tiger’s ready to kick things off. We're excited for a great school year. We'll turn it back over to you, Mayor. 

Mayor: You know, what a combination, our Chancellor, the Secretary of Education for our entire nation, and Tony, the Tiger. I mean, you don't see that very often. Thank you, Secretary. Thank you, Chancellor. The Secretary said it powerfully. He is responsible for the education of every child in the United States of America. And he said it clearly New York City is doing it right. And that's why our kids are back. And it's going to be the safest place for our kids to be, the New York City public schools. Thank you again to everyone, our educators, our staff, the custodians, the crossing guards, the school safety, everyone, food service, you name it. Every single person that works in our schools who got us to this point. And thank you, of course, to the vaccinators, to Test and Trace, amazing commitment to our children and our families. That's what's brought us to this day. 

But, of course, it's not just our schools, Key to NYC today also – dining, entertainment, fitness. Big, big moment because this helps everyone feel safe. This gives every one of the customers the knowledge that they are safe, the employees know they're safe. It's everyone moving forward to bring our city back. We're seeing great, great response. In fact, I'm hearing a lot from restaurateurs and people who love to go to restaurants, how much safer they feel knowing everyone's vaccinated. So, look, you’re going to be safe wherever you go, movie theater, gym, restaurant, you're going to be safe. And this is what President Biden talked about a few days ago, bringing us all back, our recovery in every sense, jobs, our economy, people's lives, the life of our city, all coming back because people are getting vaccinated more and more. And for those unvaccinated, you've got to make the move now. We cannot let the fact that those who are unvaccinated are, unfortunately, creating the problem. We've got to work with everyone to get them vaccinated. And that's what we're going to keep doing over and over and over again using mandates, using incentives. Key to NYC helps us once and for all to fight off the Delta variant and defeat COVID and move forward as a city.

Now this comeback, this is about working people. This is about the working people of the city who kept the city going no matter what. No matter what was thrown at them, the grit, the strength of New York City's workers, our essential workers. This is amazing how they fought through and to have workers coming back to our offices today, City offices, ready to serve the people, sh?owing that we are moving forward. Big, important day. We put strong health and safety measures in place. We put vaccine requirements and test requirements in place. Obviously, a lot of what we did here became the foundation for a lot of what you're seeing around the country and what President Biden put in his plan because we proved it worked. So, thank you to all the essential workers, thank you to our City workers. Thank you for all you do. Coming back strong, leading the recovery. Some of our City workers have done a lot of powerful work to help people address these issues. So many have – I want to give a special thank you to everyone at HPD, our Housing Department, the workers, inspectors, everyone who has been out there. The folks at NYCHA, public housing, the inspectors and the other workers. Thank you. You guys don't get enough attention and credit. Let me give you a moment to really recognize your work, which is crucial to the health and safety of the city. So, thank you to everyone at HPD, everyone at NYCHA. And you know what, we're all in this together. So, I thank our State workers. I thank our federal workers, everyone in public service, who does so much for us. I had a very moving conversation on Saturday. We were all on Saturday thinking about all the people who were there for us when we needed them on 9/11 and every day since and during COVID. And I talked to Chaplain Rosita Thompson, who really made a special plea. And I want to answer her plea that we also think about the folks – some of the most unsung are our letter carriers, our postal workers, our delivery folks who really, really never stopped, kept everything going. So, Chaplain, thank you for giving me that reminder so I could say thank you to everyone who brought us the mail, brought us the packages, allowed our lives to keep going even in the toughest moments.

Now, we're coming back and we're coming back in so many ways and it's not just about work. It's about the ways that we have fun, the ways that we enjoy the city, the ways that we appreciate everything great. And one of the great things in this city is our recreation centers. Our Parks Department does a great job. Well, here's more good news as part of our comeback. As of today, all our recreation centers are open. 25 locations in all five boroughs and newsflash it's free. Recreation centers in all five boroughs run by the City – we’re providing a free one-year membership available to all New Yorkers and available through the end of this year. So, if you want an amazing opportunity to stay fit and have a lot of fun, here's another great way to do it. Now, of course, vaccination required. I want to be really clear, we want it to be a great environment for kids, for adults, for seniors, and we'll keep everyone safe. So, vaccination required. And vaccination is what's leading the way. And now, it's time for our indicators, and you're going to see something amazing – over 11 million vaccine doses. So, indicator number-one, doses administered to-date, 11,057,002, and growing all the time. These incentives and mandates are causing more and more people to come in. This number is going to keep growing in a really big way. That's exciting for the good of this city. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 105 patients. Confirmed positivity level of 28.57 percent. Hospitalization rate, 1.09 per 100,000 New Yorkers. And number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,375 cases. Real movement in the right direction, because of more and more and more vaccination. A few words in Spanish about today, recovery day, a day that's going to make such a big difference for all of us.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Advisor for Public Health, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, and DCAS Commissioner Lisette Camilo. Our first question for today goes to James Ford from PIX-11.

Question: And good morning to you, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. It's a lovely Monday morning.

Mayor: It's a beautiful morning and good things are happening, James. How are you doing today?

Question: Very, very well. Thank you for asking. Can we talk more about the Key to NYC Pass, now that it begins enforcement today? What do you expect to see as enforcement goes ahead? And, if you don't mind, remind me exactly how it will be enforced, which agency? And what – just to reiterate, what do you hope ends up being seen particularly by eateries that say they don't intend to check vaccination status?

Mayor: James let's – it's a great and important question, but let's put this in perspective. What we're hearing overwhelmingly is that restaurants, and fitness locations, entertainment locations are doing it – doing it – they're already – I've been to a bunch of places, I'm hearing from my team, I'm hearing from lots of people, they go in, their vaccination cards are being checked. It's straightforward. People are just doing it, they're making it work. Any place that needs help, we're going to help them do it. Any place then as concerns and questions, we're going to help work it through. But I do not expect – [inaudible] been true for a year-and-a-half, James – I don't expect to see hardly any instances of an attempt to defy something that's about the health and wellbeing of the customers, the employees, and the future of New York City. If we get them, we'll deal with it. Obviously, there are violations and there are penalties. But really what we're going to do is have our inspectors out from 13 civilian agencies and they're going to be checking, you know, is there a good protocol in place? You know, do they see the protocol working? Are the signs up? It's very simple stuff. And our goal, if there's anything that's a little off to help that business get it right. We don't want to fine people we don't have to. We want to just get it right and keep moving forward. But I think folks understand by now, we are resolute. And if anyone wants to not follow the rules that everyone else has to follow, then, of course, there'll be consequences. Go ahead, James.

Question: Thank you for that. Also, a variety of parents have said they intend to keep their students away from school at least for the time being. Can you and the Chancellor, if she’s still on the call, respond to these parents’ concerns?

Mayor: Look, I'm a parent and I'll start. And then, if – I think we may have the Chancellor, let's confirm – we're getting back. Even if we can do audio, that's great. I want to speak as a parent first – not a question in my mind, as a parent, I would send my kids to school right this minute, regardless of age. And that's what the vast, vast majority of New York City parents have done already this morning. For folks who have concern, I understand the fear that we all feel for our kids. If the fear is about adults in the household, then we have an easy solution – get everyone vaccinated. It's available everywhere. It's free. But if the fear is for kids, I share always that – that sense as a parent. But I’ve got to tell you, when our entire health care leadership here in the city, when our education leadership, when the head of the American Association of Pediatrics, everyone's saying, get your kids back to school. That's the best way to help your children. We have the most advanced health and safety measures in the entire country. We've proven it all last school year and through Summer Rising. I understand fear, let's not be governed by fear. All of the people who know all of the facts are saying to parents consistently, from the Present of the United States on down, get your kids back to school. And I'm appealing to all parents right now, work past the fear, help your kids move forward, help your kids be safe and healthy in the place that's one of the safest places in New York City, our public schools. Let's see if we have the Chancellor – we did not yet. Okay. We'll soon get her.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Marla from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Great morning, getting the kids back to school.

Mayor: Indeed, Marla. How are you doing today?

Question: Great, except I have a seventh grader that's refusing to go because he's too nervous to go back to school. We're working on it.

Mayor: I wish you the best of luck. It's not easy to be a parent of a seventh grader.

Question: Yeah, right. You know, this morning we heard that there was a crash of the health screener site for students as so many were trying to log on. And I'm wondering what the status of that is? Can you tell us why that site crashed and if it's been fixed?

Mayor: Yeah. My understanding is it has been fixed and it's back up and running, Marla. I don't have the details on the why. I certainly want to know. I know the Chancellor too. I think overload is the obvious answer, because you're talking about a million kids and all those families checking at once. But we have an easy fallback plan with the screening forms, with the school personnel, just checking in with kids, making sure they feel okay today. If there's any concern that kid may not be feeling okay, of course they go immediately to the school nurse's office. So, I think we've been able to handle that well, but my understanding is it's been up and running now since just about the time that I left the Bronx this morning. I think that was about 8:30. Go ahead, Marla.

Question: Okay. Sounds good. You are just getting so much pushback from public employees about this back to work – mandatory back to work order. And the City's largest public union DC 37 is going to have another protest today. They're calling on the City to develop some sort of hybrid schedule, saying that is the safe way to go while the Delta variant is still out there. Is that something you would consider if indeed there is a COVID-19 breakout in any one of these city agencies?

Mayor: Marla, right now, we have a lot of information we're working from and you just saw the same indicators I saw and where they've been going for weeks now. Clearly, the massive level of vaccination is driving back the Delta variant. We have a lot more work to do, but that's quite clear. We're getting more and more people vaccinated day, including our workforce. And the fact that the clear mandate is in place as of today for our workforce across the board, get vaccinated or been tested weekly – I think lot of people are going to choose to get vaccinated or provide proof of vaccination that we didn't have previously. I think it is time. We have all the facts behind us. It's time. The people need their public servants back at work fully. We need to maximize vaccination, the best way to do that is with people in-person. If there's any particular problem in any particular site, we'll address it as we always have. But I know there's concern. I know there's fear. I always try and bring people back to the facts. Look at Summer Rising, here was hundreds of thousands of kids all summer at the height of Delta. We had two school closures the whole summer – two. So, I would urge people, just solve the problem. Get vaccinated, come to work where you’re going to have a huge amount of health and safety measures in place and let's serve the people of this city.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Marcia from CBS.

Question: Mayor, how are you doing today?

Mayor: Good, Marcia. How’ve you been?

Question: I’m okay. Obviously, back-to-school is the number one issue of the day. And a lot of parents are talking about their concerns about the fact that you're only able to test students every other week and test the school staff every other week. Would you consider increasing the number of tests – do it every week – to make parents feel safer?

Mayor: Marcia, we've looked at this carefully. We have something that's the number one thing we can offer parents: that over two-thirds of our kids who are eligible right now, it's almost 68 percent of our kids, eligible, have already been vaccinated. Vaccination sites in 700 schools all week to pick up anybody else who needs it. We're going to have a full vaccine mandate in place for our schools, for all adults in the schools, on the 27th, and then the gold standard of health and safety measures on top of that. That is a far stronger situation than we were in last year, and last year, the New York City public schools proved to be incredibly safe. So, right now the regular testing plan, we feel very good about – if we ever need to increase it anywhere or in any way, we can do that very, very quickly, but we believe that the much more powerful tools are the ones that are going to have impact, first and foremost, vaccination. Go ahead, Marcia.

Question: So, obviously the second question that parents have is whether there'll be remote learning if their kids get sick, and if they have to quarantine for two weeks. I know that you feel it's important for kids to be in the classroom, I get that, but for the parents who are worried about “will my kid have to be out of school for two weeks,” which could be very detrimental, would you consider a remote option if it's necessary?

Mayor: So, let's go over this scenario and the Chancellor's going to join in right after I go. First of all, the standard is 10 days now. That's obviously calendar days, so that includes weekends, et cetera. So, the fact is we have a very different reality now. When there's any kind of exposure in a school, if someone's vaccinated, and even if they were in a room with someone who ends up having COVID, if you're vaccinated and you're not symptomatic, whether adult or student, you're staying in school. That is now the CDC standard, you're staying in school. That's going to change the situation a lot, but much more importantly, based on the high level of vaccination now in the city, and it's staggering. This is today's number, it's unbelievable: 79.4 percent of all adults in New York City have received at least one dose – we're on the verge of 80 percent of adults who will receive at least one dose. That is game-changing. So, the reason I say that is we do not expect anywhere near the kinds of closures or classroom disruption that we saw last year. But if a child has to go home, alternative learning opportunities will be provided for them for those very few days that they're not in school. Chancellor, do you want to speak to that more?

Chancellor Porter: Yeah. So, I would just add, we're excited about this moment and what we're able to do if we have to quarantine a class, but our goal is to continue to get those vaccinations up, get those numbers up, so that we just build that bubble of protection around our students.

Mayor: Okay, thank you.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Emily from NY1.

Mayor: You need to turn off that sound for a moment.

Moderator: Now we're going to Emily from NY1.

Mayor: Emily, can you hear us?

Question: Yes, I can hear you. Good morning, everyone.

Mayor: Good morning. How are you doing?

Question: I'm well, thank you. My question is about Rikers Island. You know, of course that lawmakers from several levels of government are visiting today. What is the update on what can be done about the crisis? Does the buck stop with you?

Mayor: Of course, but we, for years and years, have been working to change the situation in a place that's just profoundly broken, that should have been closed a long time ago, and we are closing it. But we have invested a huge amount to try to fix that situation, even in a place, bluntly, we shouldn't be anymore. We've closed a number of the buildings. We've worked to get more correction officers. There's more coming, but also to address the situations that we're seeing with officers who have not been showing up for work, even though they should, even though they're not sick. That's being addressed aggressively. We get more officers back. That's going to help everyone. We got to do a lot of things to continue to improve this situation. I know Commissioner Schiraldi is working on it every day, but it's a very, very tough situation, but we're not going to stop doing everything we know how to improve the situation. And again, the ultimate change we need is an entirely new correction system with community-based jails, and those are on the way. Go ahead, Emily.

Question: Would you detail how you're addressing the issue with the corrections officers? What sorts of discussions you're having with the union? How you're getting these much-needed guards back to work?

Mayor: Well, the conversations have been constant. Our First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan has been deeply involved. Of course, Commissioner Schiraldi, constantly trying to address real issues, but also being clear about the fact that people have to come to work or there's consequences if they don't and putting much stronger controls in place because having the proper staffing level is necessary. But look, we are talking to the union all the time and looking for ways to be constructive. I wish it was more of a two-way street, but that never stops us. We're going to keep trying to keep the officers safe, the folks who are incarcerated safe, everyone safe, and move the system forward. No matter how tough the dynamic or the place is, our job is to keep finding any progress we can and keep moving it forward.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Henry from Bloomberg.

Mayor: Henry, you there?

Moderator: All right, we're going to go to Elizabeth from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Elizabeth, how you doing?

Question: I'm good. I have a question from our education reporter. She noticed on the City's website, there are dozens of classrooms that appear to be closed for COVID investigations. And we wanted to know why this was the case given that school hasn't started yet, or it started just today?

Mayor: Elizabeth, I don't know exactly what you're referring to, but I'll just speak broadly. You know, I believe the number – I’ve got to check this, I want to say – I should be careful, it's obviously huge number of classrooms. But what we've said last year we said this year – if any classroom at any moment needs some additional work, for whatever reason, it will be held back until the work is completed. Sometimes that only takes days. But the notion is we're only going to use classrooms we feel are a hundred percent ready and that's a day-by-day changing reality, but we'll show people if there's any classrooms that are being held back for any reason. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

Question: Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah, go ahead.

Question: Okay. My second question is, you know, last week we saw that the vaccination rates for city workers were trailing the general population, which today you said for adults, it's like almost 80 percent. And I was wondering, how long are you going to wait to allow that, basically, that trend to continue before going to a full vaccine mandate?

Mayor: Well, it's a very important question, Elizabeth. We – right now, we've gone to this phase today, vaccine or test. We do it, knowing that for a lot of people, it's going to be the moment they choose to get vaccinated, or they choose to present vaccination evidence that we didn't have previously because a number of our city workers, of course, live outside the city, and we didn't necessarily have their vaccination information. So, we're going to get a much better take in the course of this week on where we exactly stand, how many are deciding this is finally the moment to get vaccinated. And when we see that that's going to tell us what else we might want to do. I'm always ready to climb the ladder. I've said that a lot of times, but this is the first step, and then we'll decide from there.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: I am pumped up, Juliet, because I was with those kids in the Bronx, and it was beautiful.

Question: That's fantastic. Looked like a good day. So, my question does relate to this. My understanding is that those who are vaccinated and asymptomatic in school won't have to quarantine if there's a positive COVID case in the classroom, but so will all those students or everyone in that classroom be tested once they find that there was a positive case? How is that going to work? 

Mayor: I'm going to have Dr. Varma go over this with you, again, crucial difference now, it's a really important question, Juliet, but I want to frame it this way, when we started school year, last year, no vaccine available to us, and for most of the school year, obviously, we were pumping up the vaccine numbers in the course of the year. Whole new ball game this year. Massive amounts of vaccination had been achieved, two-thirds of those 12 to 17-year-olds, and soon as, you know, every single adult who's in the building. So, this is a whole different reality and the possibility that a lot of people, adults, and kids, will be able to stay in school even if there was a case in their classroom because they're vaccinated and asymptomatic. But in terms of what testing will take place, if there's a case in the classroom, Dr. Varma, take it away. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great, thank you very much for this important question. So, the first most important point is as you have noted, that anybody who has been vaccinated and is determined to be a close contact is no longer required to remain at home. They can actually physically attend school, but that doesn't mean that they're completely out of the woods. We know that there are risks of being infected, even if you have been vaccinated, even though they are substantially lower than somebody unvaccinated. So, what happens if you're vaccinated, and you've been exposed? The first is you're going to be notified that you were exposed and that if you develop any symptoms at all that could be COVID, it's first critically important that you not return to school, and second that you get tested immediately. The second thing is you will also be advised to consider getting tested about five days after your exposure. Again, this is not a requirement because the risk of developing an infection and transmitting an infection to other people is substantially lower in people who are vaccinated, but you will be given a guidance about where you can get tested if you seek to do that. 

Mayor: Okay, thank you very much, doctor.

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. Our next question goes to Julia from The Post. 

Question: Hey, I'm in room nine here with Henry and he was wondering, could he ask his question because he had the tech problems and then I'll ask mine? 

Mayor: Sure, why not? 

Question: Okay. I'm turning over my computer to him. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today?

Mayor: Good, Henry. How you been? 

Question: I'm good. I've got some technical issues here. My mic doesn't seem to be working – 

Mayor: Well, we hear you good.

Question: Let me ask you this – good - there are varying percentages of how many teachers and staff have been vaccinated. The Department says about 72 percent, the union says more than 80, where do you get the number 72 percent? How do you – where's the source of that data? 

Mayor: I'll turn to the Chancellor, but just emphasizing, we have more information coming in all the time. Now, again, a lot of respect for the union, what we need is just to see people's vaccination proof. They have a portal and actually a lot of information is coming in as often happens in human life, right up at the deadline, school is beginning, so now people are coming forward with their information. I am very hopeful that as we get more information, we'll have proof of a much higher rate, but we need to see it. Chancellor, you want to speak to that. Chancellor out there? I guess not again, okay, we're having technical difficulties all around today, but that's okay. But Henry that's the overall point. We do expect, I think, by the end of the week, we're going to have a much clearer picture.

Moderator: Last question goes to Julia Marsh from The Post.

Mayor: Okay, Go ahead. 

Question: Just lent – I just lent a Henry my laptop, so I'm back on it now. 

Mayor: Noble of you, Julia, you're a good colleague. 

Question: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You talked about the vast, vast majority of kids being back in class. When will we see school attendance records for today? 

Mayor: We’ll put out information later in the day, based on what we're seeing initially. It's a vast system, so information takes a while to come in, but we will get out what we have, and then over the coming weeks, we'll get a picture of enrollment, but as is true every year, we're not going to be able to give you a final sense of that until end of September, beginning of October. But in terms of today, we'll give you an answer later on today on what we're seeing.

And with that everybody, look, it's an amazing, amazing day and you all earned it. I want to emphasize it one more time, the reason we got to this day is so many New Yorkers stepped forward. This number is staggering, 79.4 percent of all adults have received at least one dose, we're on the verge of 80 percent. Overall, over 5.6 million New Yorkers, so that's two-thirds of all New Yorkers have received at least one dose. This is amazing, a lot of other places sadly cannot cite figures like this. What this means is every single time someone stepped forward, made the decision to do the right thing, to protect themselves, their family, their community, and we need more and more people would do that starting today. So, let's keep moving forward and let's enjoy this recovery day as we celebrate our schools coming back, and so many of the good things in New York City. Thank you, everybody.

2021-09-14 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We talk about it all the time, a recovery for all of us. And the reason that we can achieve a recovery for all of us in New York City is because of the amazing vaccination effort. You're going to see in the indicators, these numbers just keep growing all the time. It's making a huge difference. It is the reason why so much of the life of New York City is coming back. And those vaccination numbers are going to go up a lot more because of the mandates and incentives we put in place that are really going to be fully felt in these coming weeks. So, September, crucial turnaround time for New York City, crucial comeback time. And we keep seeing the signs of New York City’s comeback loud and clear, and tonight is going to be a very important night because, look, when you think of New York City, there's so many great things about this place, but one of the things that the world feels about New York City is it's the capital of arts and culture and people love, in particular, Broadway. 

When Broadway is up and running, it says so much about New York City. And tonight, a lot of Broadway is coming back. Some of the very biggest shows in Broadway are coming back tonight, shows including Hamilton and Wicked and Lion King and Chicago all coming back tonight. You can feel the life of the city coming back all the time. You know this is happening because of vaccination, because of really smart health and safety measures that are making it work for everyone, the folks who work there and the folks who come to see these amazing shows. A lot of jobs coming back, too, in the process. So, this is really, really exciting. This is about who we are as New Yorkers. We are the arts and culture capital. Broadway, and all of the arts and culture of the city, express the life, the energy, the diversity, the spirit of New York City. It's in our heart and soul. It's also so much of what people do to make a living in this town. And that makes us great. So, this is a big night for New York City's comeback, and I want you to hear from someone very special. I know she loves this city, and she has done amazing work and also given back to the city, which I appreciate deeply. And she has the distinction of being the star of one of the first shows to come back that was already up and running. And I really want to thank her for that because every artist, performer, everyone, the musicians, everyone who works behind the curtain, everyone who brought back each show did something great for New York City. So, she's the star of Waitress, the Musical. She wrote all the music for it, and she's making her grand return to Broadway, Grammy winner and Tony and Emmy nominated. We welcome Sara Bareilles. 

[...] 

Sara, I love what you said. And I really appreciate your point that the folks wearing masks are doing something for everyone else. That's a powerful point about we're all in this together and it is an act of generosity, but I also want to say what you're doing is an act of generosity because by being in the first wave of performers to come back, you proved it could be done. And that was seen all over the world. So, I want to thank you for that. And I have a question for you because you've mentioned the kind of more than electric moment. So, which moment in the show, which song, when you sang it, was like the most special moment to you that first night? 

Sara Bareilles: It's interesting because normally I would probably say there's a song in the show called,” She Used to be Mine,” which is a favorite of a lot of our audience members. It comes sort of later in the show, but I mean our very first audience, I dropped a prop full of – it's orange juice, but it's meant to be butter. I dropped a prop all over the stage. My hands were shaking. I was so moved and overwhelmed. My voice was shaking. It was the very first song in the show. And then our very first opening number that includes the entire cast is a song called, “Opening Up.” So, it had this kind of secondary meaning and the – I mean the audience just went absolutely wild. It was incredible. 

Mayor: I kind of think that's amazing you were the first show back and you had a song called, “Opening Up” in the beginning of this year. Okay. This is like – this is almost cosmic. Don't you think? 

[Laughter] 

Sara, thank you. Thank you. I can feel the love you have for New York City, and we love you and appreciate you. What you're doing is helping us all move forward. So, thank you so much, Sara. 

Bareilles: Thank you so much. 

Mayor: So, you heard it from a great performer. Now, I want you to hear from someone who, every day, looks out for this city's comeback, and he and his family have contributed for three generations to – this family, to the good of everyone. But he is focused particularly on our economic comeback, and Broadway means so much to us. It's also a crucial part of bringing back the jobs, bringing back the economy. I want you to hear from the Chair of the Economic Development Committee in the City Council, Council Member Paul Vallone. 

[...] 

Well, thank you so much, Council Member. Thank you for everything you've done, and that legislation was so important. Thank you for being one of the people who made that happen. Times Square has been coming alive more and more each week. I was just there a few days back with the Ferris wheel, which is wonderful, but we all were saying that day, that this was the day we were looking forward to when the big shows started to come back and folks really thronged to the area, that's going to be great for the energy and life of the city, great for the jobs. So, thank you so much for your support. And I got to tell you, I am excited because what I'm hearing from a lot of folks in the business community is they're very pleasantly surprised by the number of tourists already, obviously overwhelmingly domestic, but we're going to see a huge surge when international travel intensifies. Folks have been yearning to get back to New York City. And we have a massive advertising campaign all over the country, all over the world that's going to help encourage them to come back. But one of the things people want to see the most is Broadway. So, Broadway is back, coming back more every single week.

And if you want another example of New York City – yeah, we're the center of the universe. It's true. Everyone wants to be here. This is the place to be. And last night that was quite clear at the Met Gala. Amazing, amazing group of performers and leaders gathered together who love New York City, who were really doing this in large measure to send the message that the city is coming back strong. There was a great sense of energy and also a focus on the whole of this city. The diversity of the incredible talent, the designers, the folks who are up and coming in this city. I really want to thank the Met, and everyone involved because they focused on the next generation coming up and they focused on encouraging new young talent and diverse talent that will be the future of the fashion industry in the city, and part of what makes this city great going forward. I want to make a personal thank you to three designers, Dreu Beckemberg, who created the clothes that Dante and I wore, and Fe Noel, who created the beautiful dress for Chirlane, and Pamela Love, who did Chirlane’s jewelry. All Brooklynites, three independent designers from Brooklyn. There you see them, amazing stories, up-and-comers. Folks who lived, in the case of Dreu and Fe, the immigrant story from the Caribbean, came here with little, made something amazing happen. And last night was an affirmation of New York City and everything great. And that we have a very bright future. 

And speaking of our bright future, yesterday morning one of the most important things that's going to happen in all of 2021, our kids coming back to school. This – you cannot overstate how important it is that our kids are back, that the opening day of school went beautifully. I want to thank all the educators, the staff, the parents, the kids, everyone – a beautiful, wonderful opening day of school, which is a big deal when you think about the fact that most kids haven't been in a classroom for a year-and-a-half, and yet the entire engine went on instantly. I was at P. S. 25 in the Bronx, great energy, just excitement. Everyone was ready. Chirlane was up at P.S. 121 in the Bronx. There was just a palpable sense of something historic and crucial happening, bringing our kids back. Now, getting our kids back is the first step, but we've said we're going to do things this school year that we've never done before. We're going to focus not only on the academic needs of our kids, but the emotional needs as well. So, you'll be seeing the mental health screening to make sure we help all the kids who have been through so much. But also, the academic screening, never done before. This has never been done before on this level, all our kids will get an academic screening. And now, this fits into something we'll be talking about a lot more in the coming weeks, Literacy for All. We have a major new effort to build upon the success of 3-K and pre-K, and continue it on through kindergarten, first grade, second grade. A massive push to improve literacy, get our kids reading on third-grade level by third grade. The Chancellor, already out there this morning at the Marsh Avenue Expeditionary Learning School, working with kids on writing exercises. We're going to have a focus like never before on that most essential measure, getting kids able to read early in their lives, which opens up all the other doors. You're going to be hearing a lot about this. It's very, very exciting. And the reason we're able to do it is because our schools are safe. The reason we're able to do it is because of all the work that went into that gold standard of health and safety measures, incredible commitment of everyone who works in the school community.

We have in place – obviously, coming up in the next couple of weeks – a vaccine mandate for all the adults who work in our traditional public schools. We're climbing the ladder again today. And, as of today, we will be mandating for that same date, September 27th, for the kids – excuse me, for the adults – let me get it right, for the adults – the adults who work in our charter schools that are not in public school buildings. The ones that are already in public school buildings were covered by the previous vaccination mandate. And that's about 191 charter schools are in DOE buildings. For the adults in those schools, the teachers, the staff, they have the vaccine mandate already active on September 27th. Now, we're going to reach the 203 charter schools that are not in Department of Education buildings. So, for all staff and teachers in those 203 charter schools not in the DOE buildings will have the full vaccination mandate in place for September 27th. Just, the exact same approaches were taken with the DOE staff and teachers. We know that when all the adults in the building are vaccinated, it keeps everyone safe and it helps move us forward and allows us to do the amazing things that we're going to be doing to reach our kids this year in a whole different way.

We went through a lot, but, in the process, we also learned a lot. We're going to be doing these screenings, that as a result of coming out of this crisis and realizing we could universally screen our kids in a new way. We have digital learning in ways we never had before. A lot of innovation has occurred, even in the midst of crisis, that now is going to allow us to do new things, particularly the area of literacy. So, we'll be talking a lot about this in the weeks ahead. We're going to turn this into something very big for the kids in New York City.

Okay. With that, let's go over today's indicators. And the first one, again, so powerful, the number of folks vaccinated. This is why everything else we've talked about earlier in today's presentation was possible. The level of vaccination in the city continues to deepen. We are, as of today, at 11,073,978 doses – absolutely wonderful. Number two, current – excuse me, number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 117 patients. Confirmed positivity level of 15 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 people. Again, this is a very important indicator, we are seeing some progress here – 1.08. And, finally, number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,433 cases.

Okay. Now, let me say a few words in Spanish, and I'm going to go back to the beginning of school and the effort today to further the vaccine mandates for the adults who work, the staff and teachers who work in the charter schools outside of DOE buildings.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan, Marcos Soler, Director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, Department of Corrections Commissioner Vinnie Schiraldi, And MOME Commissioner Anne Del Castillo. Our first question for today goes to Andrew Siff from NBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call, Mayor, I wanted to ask you about school attendance. The DOE initial number is 82.4 percent, which is clearly better than some people feared or thought might happen, but not as high as the last time we had a first day of school before the pandemic, when it was about 90 percent. And if that number holds and our math is right, that would be about 80,000 kids who weren't there. And I'm wondering how you're tracking that and how concerned you are that there might be tens of thousands of kids who are staying home right now?

Mayor: Andrew, let me go over – thank you for the question. And it was an informed question, I thank you, but let me give you the facts so you can see the perspective I am taking of this. 82.4 percent is the initial information, but we know we don't have full reports from all our schools. So, there's still several hundred schools where we need to clarify the information, but a 82.4 percent is our working number right now. When you compare to the same time last year, 2020, combining in-person and remote, that first day was 80.3 percent. So, again, we understand there's a disruptive reality to all the changes we've been through. I see this as a very strong number compared – you're right, when you look at 2018, 2019 – 2019 was just about 90 percent, 2018 89.5 percent. We've got some ground to make up. I'm very confident we will. I think what you're going to see in the next few days is more and more kids coming in. So, what we now know is the vast, vast majority of kids showed up ready, enthusiastic. I think you're going to see more and more kids come in, in the next few days. Schools are going to be reaching out, having conversations, making sure parents have all the information they need. This is a really good number for the first day and it's going to grow rapidly in the coming days. Also, really important to note – and this is good news, because we have the vaccination sites up in all the schools that have kids at 12 years old and over – yesterday alone, 1,359, new vaccinations administered in the school buildings. Again, you're going to see that number continue to grow. And for our 12- to 17-year olds, we're now over 68 percent vaccinated, at least one dose, and that number keeps climbing. So, very strong start, more to do in the coming days, but very strong start.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Kala Rama from PIX-11.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Thanks for taking my question. Similar to Andrew, who was talking about the attendance rate, I want to know what's the plan for outreach for the kids who did not show up? I know that you hired new social workers. I want to know more specifics on how long you plan to wait until you do reach out and what the outreach will be like.

I'll turn to the Chancellor, Kala, but I'll say, it's immediate. This is what schools do every year. They want to make sure that every child comes in. If there's any concern or issue, reach out to the family, make sure to get the kids in. This happens not only in the first days, it happens for the first few weeks every year. So, in terms of how that happens, the Chancellor is not only Chancellor, she's a former principal, she's a former teacher, she can tell you from the ground level how it works. Chancellor, congratulations on a great day yesterday.

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Yes. Thank you. And I'm excited, I'm here in Staten Island today. And, you know, like the Mayor said, this is what we do every year, this – the follow-up on students who haven't reported. Our teachers will be reaching out. Our principals will be reaching out. Our attendance team members, our counselors, our social workers – every student every day, we’ll be reaching out to get them back in school.

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead, Kala.

Question: All right. And then, I wanted to know about teachers and their medical accommodations. How many have applied for medical accommodations and how many were approved?

Mayor: I'll turn to the Chancellor again, and just say, you know, we went through a very rigorous process and arbitration where the rules were very different this year than last year. And the dynamics were rare in the way it's structured. It will be a rarity for someone to need a medical accommodation, because what we have is vaccination, which almost everyone can receive medically. So, I'd like to do two things. I'd like the Chancellor to speak to that. And then, Dr. Chokshi just on a fact level to remind the public of how the vast, vast majority of people can be vaccinated and do not have a medical reason why they can't. So, to the numbers first, Chancellor?

Chancellor Porter: Yeah. So, we're not seeing high numbers. We don't have final numbers yet with monitoring the system. And, you know, as the Mayor says, we don't expect the numbers to be expansive because of the limited number of folks that aren't eligible for the vaccination. So, we're looking forward to continuing to review the data as it comes in and work with our teachers to resolve the escalations and the requests.

Mayor: Thank you. And Dr. Chokshi, how rare is it – give us your informed opinion – how rare is it that someone is medically unable to be vaccinated?

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. And exactly as you said, true medical exemptions are extremely rare. The CDC lays out the specific medical contraindications to vaccination and they involve having a severe allergy to one of the vaccines or one of the components of the vaccine. But, importantly, such that someone cannot receive any of the three authorized COVID-19 vaccines, and that situation, we know, is extremely rare. There's one other thing that I'll say, which is that one of the things that we do hear frequently is that people are concerned about vaccination in the context of underlying health conditions. And, as a doctor, it's very clear in terms of our guidance that people with underlying health conditions often have the greatest benefit from vaccination and they're precisely the ones that we want to get vaccinated to have the protection against COVID-19.

Mayor: Thank you, doctor.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Jillian from NY1. 

Question: Hi, Mayor, thanks for taking my question. I wanted to go back to the attendance numbers, sorry to belabor the point, but you know, Andrew asked a question about how, you know, kind of extrapolating how many students weren't in class, and I guess I'm asking if we can get more information that would make sure we can be accurate about that. You know, you've given us a rate, which is generally reached by having a numerator and denominator, the numerator being the amount of kids who showed up and the denominator being the amount of kids who were expected to show up, not necessarily total enrollment, which I know isn't done yet. So, is there any way that we can have the DOE show their work and tell us how many students they expected yesterday and how many showed up? 

Mayor: Yeah, and I want to, I really appreciate the very knowledgeable question, Jillian. I know you've covered this beat for a while, and you know your stuff. The notion of what's expected in the first day or the first week versus during the month of September, and we know historically that attendance grows over the first few weeks and also families sort out which school they're going to go to in some cases, not always resolved by the first day of school. So, yes, we'll release the information we have, as you said, show our work, but Chancellor, if you could speak to that point of what your historical experience has been of the difference between what you think the first day is going to be like versus what sorts out over the next few weeks. Chancellor, can you hear me? I know she's out there.

Chancellor Porter: Can you hear me? Can you hear me?

Mayor: There you go. 

Chancellor Porter: Okay, perfect. Yeah, so, you know, to your point, right? Like the first day is different. We had a ton of students showing up registering at schools yesterday, and so we don't have a number because the number is rolling every single day, more students are registering, more students are showing up at schools, but as the Mayor said, as soon as we get to the point where we have full attendance taken across our system, we'll share those numbers. But, you know, folks should recognize that those numbers are going to keep changing and growing because we have students, you know, I'm in Staten Island today, there are students showing up at schools registering today. And so, it will be a rolling number for some time. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Jillian. 

Question: I thank you. I appreciate that. Thanks to New York City public schools for teaching me fractions, I guess. And I'd like to also ask about some busing issues that we've heard of at NY1. Yesterday my colleague, Dan Rivoli did a story about a family where the child was taken to the wrong school on the bus and the parent only found out because she had an Apple Air Tile tracking her student, hidden in the student's shoe, which showed her that she had been dropped off at the wrong school, and the parent went to go pick her up. We also heard from a family on the Upper East Side with a special needs student who's supposed to be bused. The bus didn't show up yesterday, when the parent called, the bus company said they didn't have the staff and didn't offer her any solution. Bus also didn't come today, so that parent's been driving their child to school. There're always some busing issues at the first day of school, but why are these still happening? And is there a staffing issue in regards to yellow school buses? 

Mayor: From everything I know the answer is no, but I'm going to turn to, we have our First Deputy Mayor with us, Dean Fuleihan has worked intensely on these issues, and obviously the Chancellor as well, but let me just frame it real quick, Jillian. We put a lot of energy into improving our busing system, including creating a nonprofit, which is really important to have more independence in the way we provide bus and services for schools, more ability to ensure that the buses are working effectively. I always get worried when a parent, an anxious parent calls and someone tries to blow them off or say, you know, we don't have enough staff. That's not an acceptable answer. Anyone who says something like that, that's just unacceptable, and kids not being picked up when they're supposed to be picked up is unacceptable. That creates real fear and concern for parents, and especially if the wrong bus picks up a kid, all those things are nerve-wracking for parents. So, we've got to fix each and every one of them. I've seen some real improvement in the school bus system, but obviously each of these situations has to be resolved. So, as to do we have enough staffing for our school bus? The First Deputy Mayor, and then the Chancellor. 

First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan: Yes, we do have enough staffing and we will reach out to every single bus company to make sure that they're addressing any parental complaint, any concern. We have a hotline. We make sure that we address those. The issue with the one family did happen, we apologized to that family, and everything has been taken care of today, but we made sure that that would not happen again. We'll work through every single issue we have, the Mayor is correct, we've made great [inaudible] in our busing. There are always a few problems in the very beginning, but we're so far, we're hearing very good things in general, but we will reach out to every single bus company. Everyone has enough staff. 

Mayor: Go ahead – great, thank you. And Chancellor, anything to add? Chancellor? Chancellor? 

Chancellor Porter: Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Jill, great math, that you have done a great job in your math work over the years. And just agreeing with the Mayor and the First Deputy Mayor, it is not okay, it is unacceptable for students to not have appropriate transportation. We do not have a staffing issue. We are continuing to work with the companies and are going to make sure that the, you know, busing situation is resolved, and we can get our families to schools where they belong. 

Mayor: Thank you, Chancellor. And I do want to say to Jillian's very good question, you know, one problem is one problem too many, but I also want to say in the overall start of school, again, turning on that whole engine after a year and a half, I was very struck by how smoothly it went. I want to thank all our educators, all our staff, thank the Chancellor and her team. It was a lot to put on – any, in the normal years, the first day of school is a massive logistical operation but coming back after the worst of COVID even more so, and really, really strong start yesterday. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next, we have Henry from Bloomberg. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how’re you doing? Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yes, I can, Henry, how are you today? 

Question: I am very good. I want to return to this question of school attendance and get as precise numbers as we can. As I understand it, the initial back to school attendance is 82.04 percent. My colleague, Mr. Sift, said that that's about 80,000 students, but in a school enrollment of one million, that would mean that there's almost 200,000 students who were absent by my math. Can you – I understand it's a rolling figure and it's going to change, but as of now, what do we know about the attendance yesterday, the percentage, and the number of absentees? 

Mayor: Okay. Henry very profoundly, helpful, clear question. I'm going to get to it with the First Deputy Mayor, with the Chancellor. They have, I'm sure some of this at their fingertips, I'm also going to frame this for a moment. So, if they want to pull up any more information, they'll have a moment to do that too, but Henry you and I often talk about precise definitions. I want to really be careful that you do apples to apples here. The question is not against a base of a 100 percent. That would be a misnomer. That would be an inaccurate way of thinking of things for the very reason the Chancellor described. The Chancellor spent decades in our public schools and understands the rhythms of what happens in the nation's largest public school system. Take the last three years before this one, two of which were not COVID years, 2018, first day of school, 89.5 percent. 2019 first day of school, 90.1 percent. 2020, combining in-person and remote, 80.3 and this year 82.4. We have a gap there that we have to address, but the gap has not between 82.04 and a 100 on the first day. That's something we work on more over time. The question is the gap that we've seen on the first day, how do we close that quickly? And what we see right now, and I think Chancellor spoke to it is, that is very fluid. This is a preliminary number. I'm giving you the final numbers that from those previous years, because we always had time to analyze them and lock them down. This is a preliminary number. We think that number is going to grow as it gets fully assessed. We've said there's still several hundred schools we're getting more information on, but much more importantly, I think you're going to see these next few days as the dialogue happens, principals, guidance counselors, parent coordinators, talking to families, you're going to see more and more families come in. So, we are very satisfied with this as our initial preliminary number. We think that number is going to change in the next few days and then change even more in the course of September, which is the historic pattern. With that, to your pure question of giving the best numbers we can on what base we're working from, that becomes a sort of, like Jillian's math question too, that becomes the basis for getting to the 82.4 percent. Chancellor, First Deputy Mayor, anyone got some base number there, and again, knowing that hundreds of schools are not yet fully in this calculation?

Chancellor Porter: We don't have a base number because the number that we gave is based on preliminary attendance data based on a total number of the register for yesterday. In addition, we have 350 of the 1,600 schools who haven't reported attendance rates to date yet. We expect to have that by the end of the day and be able to give a more precise number.

Mayor: Okay. First Deputy Mayor want to add anything?

First Deputy Mayor Fuleihan:No, I think that that accurately covers exactly where we are today.

Mayor: Great. Go ahead, Henry.

Question: Okay. I under, I understand that there are still 350 schools yet to report, but what can you tell us, with good hard numbers of how many students showed up yesterday?

Mayor: Well, it's a little bit of a circular question respectfully because until we get those last schools, we can't tell you fully. What we can tell you, and I'm going to turn to the Chancellor again. I think there's nothing more powerful than an educated estimate when we don't have final information, and this is part of what we deal with all the time. I'm almost feeling like we're talking about election results, which we know take much, much longer to come in than this school attendance data. Chancellor, you were around the city yesterday. You've been talking to superintendents – you've been talking to principals. I think giving us your impression of where attendance is versus what you thought you were going to see is very valuable. And then soon, to Henry's fair point, we'll be able to give very hard numbers when all schools are reporting in and we have a final accounting, but what did you see, Chancellor?

Chancellor Porter: So, we saw our students excited about being in school. We also saw, on Staten Island, a number of students returning from private schools, registering into the public school system. And so again, you know, we are looking forward to getting the number, but I think it's just important to note we, one, expect that day one number to increase based on the schools that haven't reported, and two, will also increase based on the rolling registration that was happening, not only yesterday, but continues to happen throughout the week.

Mayor: And several more weeks to come, bluntly.

Chancellor Porter: Yeah.

Mayor: Okay. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Alex from Chalkbeat.

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Alex, how’ve you been?

Question: I've been doing all right. Thanks for asking. So, I wanted to ask a question about the classroom closures that we've seen so far. The DOE reported yesterday that 50 or so have, you know, initiated the process of closing after positive cases have come up. Obviously, that for now is a fairly small number of the overall number of classrooms that the city operates. But we do know that in the charter sector, there have been, you know, hundreds of classroom closures, so far. Success Academy, which is the city's largest charter network, has already shut down about 22 percent of its classrooms, at least temporarily. And so, it doesn't seem like a pure hypothetical to say that, you know, we're likely to see, you know, a fair number of classroom closures in the coming weeks and months. And part of that is because the City's rules right now for closing classrooms are fairly conservative, especially for our elementary school classrooms where one case can shut down the classroom. So, I'm wondering how the City is preparing for those likely closures and whether you know, there's a possibility that you'll reconsider that one-case closure trigger.

Mayor: Excellent question. I want to – this is a complex and important question and I'll get the First Deputy Mayor in to talk about this, but I want to start at the end of your question. We are constantly assessing the situation. You're right. The standard we're holding right now is conservative. It's something that we have said explicitly we would reconsider depending on how things go over the first few weeks. So, most important answer to that: yes, that is going to be reassessed, but we're starting with it.

Second, I think the numbers are getting kind of mushed together here a little bit. And I think that the number put up regarding the DOE classrooms was not clear. It combined situations where there was a potential classroom closure with situations where there was something different than a classroom closure and called it all classroom closure. That's not helpful. That is being fixed right now. You're going to have new data very shortly. I believe, and Dean or the Chancellor could help me, I believe the base to work from is 48,000 classrooms. I think that's our system-wide number. Someone confirm – Dean, Chancellor is that right?

First Deputy Mayor Fuleihan:Correct.

Mayor: 48,000 classrooms. So, as we look at the situation, we'll judge accordingly. Alex, I want to go back and check on the charter experience. I had heard numbers somewhat different than what you reported. I want to respect your report, but I want to assess that closely. I want to go by what we know. What we saw, as recently as June, in our public schools – normal school year, and then what we saw in July and August in Summer Rising. All of Summer Rising, 200,000 plus kids. We had two school closures and relatively few classroom closures and Delta was stronger then than it is now. And we obviously have much more vaccination now. So I, again, believe this will be a limited reality but we're going to assess it closely and we're going to certainly assess the policy as we see things play out. First Deputy Mayor in terms of the numbers, or of course Chancellor, in terms of the true numbers of what's going on in the DOE and the comparison to what we've seen from the charter so far. Do you want to comment on that?

First Deputy Mayor Fuleihan:Yes, you're absolutely correct. We are redoing the numbers today. The numbers add actually to the number of classroom closures. So, we're going back over them, both at the charter sector and at DOE—

Mayor: Stop you – I'm jumping in on you for a second, when you say the numbers add – I'm clarifying for Alex's sake, the numbers add artificially is what I would say, it doesn't present you a clean picture. What we're going to do, Alex, and for everyone is breakout actual class from closures where a child has to go home, if not vaccinated, versus things that were other realities in school that didn't involve a classroom closure. Go ahead, Dean.

First Deputy Mayor Fuleihan:In addition, we will also be listing partial classroom closures because as you know, in middle school and high school it won't be necessarily full classroom closure. In most cases it will not. So, we are separating that data as we speak today. And later in the day, we’ll give you a more accurate reflection of exactly what's happening at our schools and at the charter schools. And the numbers will be lower.

Mayor: Very good. Go ahead, Alex.

Question: So, I just also wanted to flag the DOE said yesterday, there are about 65,000 classrooms. So, if someone could just clarify whether it's 65,000 or 48,000, that would be really helpful.

Mayor: That would be really helpful. Go ahead.

Question: And just following up on the Situation Room you know, last year the Situation Room was typically open until about 7:30 in the evening. This year, it appears to be closing around 3:30. Just wondering why the hours for the Situation Room, which are coordinating positive cases in schools are more limited this year. Especially given there are just way more kids in school buildings.

Mayor: Yeah, I'll start, and I'll turn again to the First Deputy Mayor. We had very good experience with the Situation Room. Again, this is something this City did that most other places didn't do. And it was absolutely crucial to have a central location where all pertinent agencies gathered together to assess each and every case and the actions that needed to be taken. A tremendous credit to Commissioner Melanie La Rocca and her team at Department of Buildings who coordinated the whole thing, of course the Test and Trace Corps, DOE, SCA, so many different folks were a part of making it work. It's back, it's up and running, full strength. My first answer, then to Dean, is we found that we could achieve the same work in a more concentrated schedule because now people are very, very familiar with how to go about this work. We have a lot more tools than we had when we started it from scratch. So, we can get it done in this schedule effectively. First Deputy Mayor, you want to add?

First Deputy Mayor Fuleihan:Yes, correct. Correct. We are fully staffed, and the Situation Room is handling it and we have no complaints. And by the way, while the complaints received are they end at 3:30, they continue to work with schools throughout the remainder of the day. So, we're saying no and no issues. And we're prepared if we need to expand the hours or expand staff, we're prepared to do that. And clarification on the number of classrooms. Mayor, you're correct are 48,000 full classrooms. There are 65,000 spaces that can be other spaces that are the total number of spaces that can be used for instruction.

Mayor: Okay. That's a, that's an interesting split decision. And obviously we need to figure out given that we've made modifications this year, how many spaces we're using so that we are constantly counting against the true universe. Okay, go ahead.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Erin Durkin from Politico.

Question: Do you have any data on how many fines or violations were given out yesterday under the vaccine mandate for the businesses?

Mayor: I'm going to see if Commissioner Chokshi has any of those details available? I will say to you, Erin, that we're seeing a lot of compliance. This is a general feedback I'm getting. A lot of compliance. I heard from a lot of people in the last few days from the restaurant community that they believe in this approach. We also, again, particularly in the beginning of the enforcement period, our goal is not to fine, our goal is just fix a problem. If one of our inspectors finds a problem and the owner of the business says, or the manager, like, oh, let me go fix that right now, and they fix it. We don't want to fine them. So, hopefully fines will remain a rarity, but let me just see if Commissioner Chokshi has any specific information from what happened yesterday.

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I don't have that specific information, but we can certainly follow up with a multi-agency group that is doing those inspections. I would just reinforce the points that you made, which is first we're seeing, and even before yesterday, we had seen a great compliance across the range of businesses and settings under Key to NYC. And then second as we have begun enforcement the first step is providing warnings before we then escalate into fines and violations. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you and look the bottom line here and I really want to commend our restaurant community, I want to commend Broadway, everyone involved in the Broadway community. Everything we're talking about today is about businesses, it's about nonprofits, government, everyone working together to bring New York City back and to do it safely. And, you know, you can see in the indicators that it's really, really having an impact. We're getting more and more recovery and less and less COVID and that's the way forward. So, I want to thank everyone who's a part of it. Yesterday really important day, first day of school today, really important day Broadway coming back a lot more ahead. Thank you, everyone.

2021-08-15 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. So, this is such an important week for the recovery in New York City. Schools open full strength, that's extraordinary right there. Broadway back, we talked about that yesterday. New York City coming back, fighting back on so many levels. And there's a lot of energy, a lot of purpose, a lot of focus. But one of the other things that New York City always does is we create, we innovate, we find new solutions even the midst of crisis. We know that to keep this recovery moving forward, it's all about safety. It's about safety from COVID. It's about public safety. And we continue to innovate new ways to keep our community safe.

So, as we started, as I mentioned, you know, this is such a crucial week for the city. School coming back, the biggest school system in the country, and amazingly strong lift-off of the school year. Credit to Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, and her whole team, and all the educators, all the staff out in the schools. Really smooth first days of school. We see great things happening and a lot of excitement. People just excited to be back – the adults, the parents, the staff, the teachers, but also the kids. Everyone's excited to be back. And people are getting vaccinated. So, here's an update. We now have almost 3,000 students and staff who got vaccinated in the school buildings in the first two days, and that number keeps growing because we have vaccination sites in every single building with kids 12-years-old and up throughout the week. We're going to keep emphasizing this. This number is going to keep growing and every time someone gets vaccinated, everyone else is safer. Before I go to the indicators, tonight, obviously a very special and holy night for Jewish New Yorkers. I want to wish everyone after all we have been through, as you prepare tonight, I wish everyone an easy fast, and a meaningful Yom Kippur, a time of reflection after one of the toughest times we've all lived through, but then we prepare for better times ahead. So, I offer my wishes to all Jewish New Yorkers at this special time. 

Let's do our indicators, and the first one again is a good one. Number of doses administered to date, 11,106,486. Great number, growing strong, you're going to see this number continue to go up again in these next days, especially because of both the incentives and the mandates having full effect over the next few weeks. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 150 patients, confirmed positivity 31.88 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, today's number is 1.12. And number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report 1,536 cases. A few words in Spanish, and I want to go back to this very innovative effort to protect communities, turn young people to the right path, this anti-violence employment initiative.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Marcos Soler, the Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, by Chancellor Porter, by Small Business Services Commissioner Doris, and by Sideya Sherman, the Executive Director of the Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity, and also by Dr. Ted Long. The first question is today goes to Emily from NY1.

Mayor: Emily? 

Question: Good morning. Good morning.

Mayor: How’re you doing?

Question: I'm well, thank you. This is a question for you, Mr. Mayor, for Commissioner Chokshi potentially. I'm interested to know the updated data on breakthrough infections on the effectiveness of the vaccine. The city side doesn't appear to have been updated since August 17th. I know there's a lag in numbers, but what's it looking like more recently?

Mayor: Go ahead, Dr. Choksi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, sir. Our site was updated just on Monday, two days ago with the latest information on our breakthrough analysis, we show this in terms of comparative rates between unvaccinated people and vaccinated people, and what it shows is consistent with what has been shared in the past, which is particularly for severe outcomes the risk for unvaccinated people is significantly higher than for vaccinated people on the order of 10 to 12 times as high for unvaccinated people compared to vaccinated people. And for cases that is, you know, the risk of infection, the risk is also significantly higher for unvaccinated people anywhere from 2.5 to 3.5 times as high. I'll be happy to follow up if you want some additional details and we will be updating that data regularly on the site going forward.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing?

Mayor: Good, Michael, how are you doing today? 

Question: I’m doing all right. I wanted to ask you about this temporary restraining order that was issued regarding your September 27th vaccine mandate can you tell us, you know, what that means mechanically? You know, the restraining order I believe lasts until the 22nd, what does this mean for the city moving forward on these vaccine mandates? How are you guys going to proceed? 

Mayor: Yeah, it doesn't change our approach. It's a very temporary action to get to the court date where the actual case will be heard. We're very, very confident in our legal position. So, we're just continuing to build the framework for full implementation on the 27th.

Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Hi Mayor, This is a follow-up to the question about the restraining order, why are you so confident in your legal position? 

Mayor: Look, Andrew, we believe when you're talking about a Commissioner's order in the middle of a global and a space like schools, and you're looking at everything that's been done, from the President of the United States, the CDC, et cetera, and we're employers. We have a right to keep our workforce safe and healthy. We feel all those factors make very clear the correctness of our position. Go ahead. 

Question: On the issue of school attendance, do we have better clarity on how many people, how many kids are showing up? Is that percentage changing, and have you isolated or sort of identified who the children are who are not coming to class?

Mayor: I want to tell you the number from Tuesday, 84.1 percent. So that's a noticeable and important increase from Monday, and we expect that number to keep growing. Andrew, again, I understand and appreciate everyone wants instant results and hard facts, and I do appreciate that, but I really want to emphasize, because I've been around schools issues a long time: it will be weeks until we get the full picture because parents, as the Chancellor said, are literally showing up with their kids for the first time. That happens this week, that happens next week. Parents are moving to different places for a variety of reasons. It just isn't going to be entirely clear for several weeks. What the final reality is, what we care about is what do we see as our initial start – being at 84 percent yesterday? I know the Chancellor's very satisfied with that. I'm very satisfied and we know that's going to grow quite a bit.

Moderator: The next is Jessica Gould from WNYC

Question: Hi, thanks for taking my question. I wanted to talk about the petition that DC 37 filed with the Office of Collective Bargaining. They're acting on the concerns of their members who say conditions in the offices aren't safe. Why was it so important for them – for the city's workforce to return to the office on September 13th? Especially if state workers aren't expected to return until at least October and why not take a more gradual approach?

Mayor: Well, I've spoken to this before, Jessica. We respect the State of New York, but we don't make our decisions based on the state. We make decisions based on what's right for New York City. Our schools are back, so much of the life of the city is back. Our public servants do the best work when they're in person at their offices, we are putting the, as of this week, the vaccine or test mandate in place for every single employee. We can do that best when people are in person. It's time, it's time for people to be back at their offices, doing the jobs they were hired to do. Go ahead.

Question: And then a follow-up to that. Where should employees go if they need to report problems like the windows won't open or HVAC issues?

Mayor: Always to their supervisor. I mean, a lot of work has been done by a Citywide Administrative Services, by Health Department to prepare workplaces. When we brought back the workforce in may we heard a lot of concern initially before people arrived, but once people arrived, we were able to show how well organized the effort was just like in the schools, we took the same concept, that gold standard of health and safety measures. We applied it in public buildings. It worked once people were back you didn't hear much because it was working and we're very confident, but if there's a specific problem, we want to know about it right away, let their supervisor know.

Moderator: The next is Bob Hennelly from the Chief Leader.

Question: Yes, Mr. Mayor, thanks for taking the call. Just to follow up, Henry Garrido from DC 37, penned an op-ed in the Daily News where he said there was too much work left to be done. Office conditions at city agencies have not been thoroughly checked to ensure that they're safe by today's standards. And then he mentioned that “so desperate as a city to implement this policy, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services removed the social distancing requirements still recommended by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Is that accurate?

Mayor: We are following all appropriate health and safety standards. This has been done thoughtfully, working with our health leadership, and the whole concept, Bob – that's why I just dispute that – the whole concept here has been to create healthy, safe workplaces, but also get people back where they can do the best work and we could maximize vaccination, which is ultimately the way we end this crisis. Go ahead.

Question: When I first visited my office at City Hall back in May, there was a representative from DCAS present who oriented me to the situation. City Hall City Council-side was entirely dark. I had not seen them return except for in person public hearings. Is there data being collected that could give us an actual sense of how many remote workers are actually coming back? Because it's been my direct reporting experience from going in that there has not been people coming back to the desk. Is this something that you're tracking and is this a notable number that you can produce for the public and for the media?

Mayor: We're certainly tracking it because people are expected to come to work. I'll get you an update. What I'm hearing overwhelmingly is people are accepting that this is a specific instruction to report to their workplaces and do their jobs and people are honoring it. But I'll get you an update for sure.

Moderator: The next is Yoav from The City.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, I wanted to ask you about the lack of provision of school busing for kids who attend special education schools that started before September 13th. Do you have an explanation for why they weren't provided busing?

Mayor: You're saying that started before the 13th.

Question: Yeah.

Mayor: Let's turn to the Chancellor. Can you hear me okay?

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Yes, I can hear you.

Mayor: Could you hear that question? Go ahead.

Chancellor Porter: Yes, I heard the question. So, our busing services weren't ready to turn around for the early start this year after Summer Rising, but what we did do was ensure that every family – we contacted every family and provided them access to private transportation, prepaid, both to and from school, and many, many families took us up on that offer.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Yoav.

Question: We heard differently about the rate of families that that's – you know, many of these kids can't just hop in an Uber and go to school. We heard of one school that has 100 students and only 15 we're able to use that service. The DOE cited some kind of contractual and operational issues for the reason. You know, this is something that has to happen every year. This wasn't a surprise that these kids needed the service. School started later than usual this year. So, I'm wondering if you can detail what those contractual and operational issues were that prevented the service from being provided.

Mayor: Yeah, Yoav, I'm not familiar with those nuances. We can get someone back to you. Chancellor is there anything you'd like to add. Otherwise we'll get the details to you after.

Chancellor Porter: Yeah, we can get details from Kevin Moran so we can be specific.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor and everyone on the call. It is a beautiful morning indeed.

Mayor: James, you always put things in their proper perspective.

Question: I do appreciate that, we agree. Onto the questions. You talked about Vax to School, and that 2,900 people had been vaccinated through that program, but with it being – with the number of schools – I believe I'm getting these numbers right, 700 schools. That only averages four people per site getting vaccinated. Can you respond to those numbers and say what might need to be done to increase them?

Mayor: Yeah, it's a good question, James, but I want to put it in perspective. We are using every tool we've got. So, another 3,000 people is a big deal to us because – okay, let's talk about the 12 to 17-year-olds, they are now almost at 69 percent vaccinated – at least one dose. So, that's a constituency that's gotten a high level of vaccination already. Every single one matters. Obviously in schools, we're getting ready for the full mandate. We want to lock down each and every opportunity to reach anyone who's ready to get vaccinated. So, to me, this is with a high level of students, high level of staff, and teachers already vaccinated now we're just trying to add that up, and what we want is people to see it everywhere. Know it's easy, know it's free. Get people at the right moment. I like the overall trajectory a lot, and this is just another piece that helps us get there. Go ahead, James.

Question: Yeah, and follow up to the, I guess, the previous question regarding DC 37’s petition with the Office of Collective Bargaining. Mr. Garrido said today that the return to work is endangering employees of the city with the Delta variant rising. Can you just give a response? I get that this is all under litigation and you might be limited in some ways, but can you respond directly to his and DC 37’s concerns that their members are being put in danger?

Mayor: Absolutely. First of all, I care about the public workforce. I believe in them. Public workers, public employees have done so much during this crisis, but I remind you, James, about 80 percent have been at frontline jobs the whole way through. So, on a question of fairness and equality, if for a year and a half 80 percent of our workers have been out where the public needed them most, it’s time for everyone to be back where they can do the best work, which is definitely in the office. We are now consolidating our vaccination effort for public employees, making sure that goes to full strength is absolutely crucial for this city. So, it's really the right time and we've done the things to keep people safe. That's what matters in the end, and we've done the things to keep people safe. I'm quite confident of it. So, you know, I understand unions will take whatever actions. We feel confident, both in our legal position, but also in our moral position that this is the right thing to do for the people of New York City.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Ben Brachfeld from the Brooklyn Paper.

Question: Hi, can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah, Ben. How are you doing?

Question: I’m reasonable. Thanks for taking my question. I was hoping to ask, does the City have a way for people to track which businesses have been subject to enforcement in relation to the vaccine mandate, like for example, an online portal or a map or something, and also how many businesses have been subject to enforcement already?

Mayor: I’m going to turn to Dr. Chokshi with a preface. I have not heard of such a portal and not sure that's something we would be publicly doing that way because the goal of course is to address the issue. Just, we're not trying to do anything, but get people compliant. And what we're hearing overwhelmingly is positive compliance, or sometimes there's something that has to be adjusted and addressed. But Dr. Chokshi tell me what you're hearing and if you have any other answers to that question.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Sir, that's right. I don't have anything to add with respect to the portal. We do encourage, you know, if people are finding that there's something that they're concerned about, you're welcome to report it via 3-1-1. But as the Mayor has said in previous days, you know, our focus in terms of enforcement around Key to NYC is first to support the vast, vast majority of businesses who have embraced this requirement as part of you know, keeping their staff and their clientele safe. And then for the places where there may be remaining issues, to support them in enacting the requirement going forward.

Mayor: Thank you.

And everyone, as we conclude today, again, a lot of happening this week, big comeback week for New York City, schools, Broadway, the kinds of new initiatives we're announcing today and more and more people getting vaccinated: the hinge to all of it. So, very important moment. We are beating back the Delta variant. That's what we're seeing more and more. A lot more to do, but we are beating it back with more and more vaccinations all the time. That's the name of the game. Thank you, everybody.

2021-09-16 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We see extraordinary progress with our recovery here in the city. And we know why – vaccination. Vaccination has made all the difference. Largest vaccination effort by far in the city's history. Well over 11 million doses, climbing all the time. Here are some facts a lot of people don't know, but you need to. 60 percent, 60 percent of all the residents of New York City are fully vaccinated now. 60 percent fully vaccinated – amongst adults, 80 percent have had at least one dose. And, again, we see, consistently, folks who get the first dose come back overwhelmingly, almost everyone comes back and gets that second dose. 80 percent of adults in New York City now have had at least one dose. So, we know now the question is, where do we go from here? We are going to keep building our vaccination effort constantly. We're going to keep reaching new people every day, but there's also the crucial question of boosters. Already for folks who are significantly immunocompromised boosters are available. But we are clear about the fact that the federal government is considering authorizing boosters on a larger scale, and we need to be ready to move on that immediately. The initial report was that it could be authorized for as soon as this coming Monday, September 20th, we have not gotten a clear formal indication from the federal government yet, but we're preparing on the assumption it could be as soon as next week because we have to. And we're going to go over today how we approach that because it's going to be a really important moment to get additional protection, to as many New Yorkers as possible. So again, we don't know the exact date, but we're going to be ready either way.

So, today we detail the NYC Booster Shot Plan. And the foundation of the plan is the extraordinary number of decentralized vaccination sites we have all over the city, over 1,900 vaccination sites, unbelievable reach all over the five boroughs, and 25 City-sponsored sites that have been particularly high impact. We're keeping those open to prepare for a surge of demand when the booster shots are authorized for a larger population. So, we are going to prepare not only to have those fixed sites, but to have a variety of special outreach events to reach people who need those boosters. There'll be weekend booster shot events. We believe we can reach tens of thousands of people with outreach of all kinds. Obviously, walk-in will be available in lots and lots of places. What we're going to be doing the second we get the information – emails, texts sent out proactively to folks who are eligible, letting people know as soon as the detailed guidance comes exactly what it says. We need to be ready to move immediately. And we have proven we can do vaccination on a vast scale here in the city. Credit to all the vaccinators, credit to the Test and Trace team, everyone who has been a part of it, our healthcare leadership. We're ready to do this again with boosters. To give you an update based on what we know at this moment, and we are anxiously awaiting further detailed information from the federal government, but to give you the update based on what we know now, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. The COVID-19 vaccines have already saved lives and prevented so much suffering. Booster doses are likely to help extend that protection, at least for some people, based on our current scientific understanding. So, let me try to break down what will happen in the next few weeks. Of the three authorized vaccines, currently Pfizer is being vetted by the FDA, which means it is likely to be the earliest to be approved for a booster. We still await further data related to Moderna and J&J but expect it to be forthcoming soon. As always, vaccines will be evaluated to ensure both safety and effectiveness. The next steps are for independent scientific committees of the FDA and the CDC to review the evidence and offer recommendations. The FDA committee is slated to meet tomorrow, and the CDC committee is slated to meet on September 22nd and 23rd. That's next week. Depending on their review, a booster for certain New Yorkers who received the Pfizer vaccine could get the green light as soon as next week.

There is some scientific debate about precisely who would benefit from a booster dose, whether older adults or a broader population. That's why it is important to let the expert process play out as I have described, but it is highly likely that boosters will be authorized for some New Yorkers by next week. And New York City will be ready as the Mayor has described. One thing we should note, you should expect there to be some minimum interval of several months between your last dose and your booster. Not everyone will be eligible immediately. And remember that additional doses of both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are already authorized for people who are significantly immunocompromised, such as patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy, some patients who received an organ transplant, and people with advanced HIV. You can find a full list of those conditions at nyc.gov/covidvaccine.

Finally, I echo the Mayor's thanks to the people who helped us get to over 5.1 million New Yorkers fully vaccinated, namely the volunteers, City workers, and everyday people who won hearts and minds over the proverbial dinner table. Back to you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: The proverbial dinner table. I like that, Dave. Very colorful, but yeah, that is exactly right. It is everyday New Yorkers who did this, who convinced their loved ones, their family, their friends, their neighbors, but also everyday New Yorkers who came forward to get vaccinated. That is a reason the city is coming back and it's astounding how many people made that choice. We're almost up to 5.7 million New Yorkers who have received at least one dose. And that's an amazing, amazing act of solidarity, of communal commitment, so many people coming forward. So, we're going to keep going every single day, more and more with vaccination, and we're going to work with every part of our community. And one thing that's really exciting is to see the positive impact that vaccination is having on the comeback of the city. And part of the city we love so much, we love particularly, it means so much to New Yorkers is our restaurant community and the hundreds of thousands of people who work in our restaurant community. Restaurants have been up and participating actively in our vaccination efforts. They're referring customers to vaccination sites. They're checking vaccination cards, Key to NYC, great cooperation we're getting out there. Restaurateurs understand that they can help everyone to move forward together.

Today is an important day, it's Restaurant Vaccination Day of Action. So, today is a day where the restaurant community is working with the City to maximize vaccination. We're going to have mobile units outside restaurants around the city that are participating and it's – we’ll put up on the screen the different locations, because it's great to see so many restaurants that are part of this effort, that believe in involving their restaurant, their – excuse me, their customers, and reaching their customers and letting them know they can get vaccinated right now. I want you to hear about this effort and I want you to hear from someone who is part of an amazing, amazing New York City institution. It's one of my personal favorites, the Oyster Bar – the Oyster Bar and Restaurant at Grand Central Terminal. I'm going to hold up this menu because it's an amazing menu. I have spent many a day at the Oyster Bar and you can get essentially everything. If it comes from the sea, you can get it at the Oyster Bar, but you also get a big dose of history. The Oyster Bar has been there for over a hundred years. As long as Grand Central Station has been there, the Oyster Bar has been there. It's a beautiful location. I often, when I have guests coming in from out of town, including some of my relatives who came from Italy, I brought them to the Oyster Bar as one of the authentic New York City places to experience great food, great atmosphere, great history. And now the Oyster Bar is helping us get more and more New Yorkers vaccinated. I want you to hear from the executive chef and one of the partners in this amazing institution, he is also known affectionately as the Bishop of Bivalves. My great pleasure to introduce Sandy Ingber.

[...]

Thank you so much, Sandy. I’m so glad – I'm really glad you guys are coming back strong. Again, one of the great, great New York places. And thank you for your commitment to keeping the customer safe and thank you for bringing great food to New Yorkers for over 100 years. We'll see you soon at the oyster bar.

Okay, let's go to our indicators. So, number-one, again, this vaccination effort, just growing constantly. As of today, 11,135,051 doses administered to-date, and you're going to see those mobile vans out at restaurants. It's going to be great today. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 104 patients, 36.6, 1 percent confirmed positivity. Hospitalization rate 1.15 per 100,000. And number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,543 cases. I want to say a few words in Spanish on the very important topic we started with, the booster shop plan. And again, emphasizing, we are ready. We’re waiting for the federal government to tell us how and when, but we are ready. We want all New Yorkers to know that. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Mitch Katz, and Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris. Our first question today goes to James Ford from PIX-11. 

Question: Well, I'm excited to be first. Thank you so much. 

Mayor: You know, James, since it's a sports day here, it takes a spunky, energetic, party-starter to go first. So, you're the one. 

Question: I do appreciate that. Let's dive in. About the booster shots, my question would be why unveiled the booster plan now when the White House and federal health authorities can't yet confirm the use and administration of boosters? I mean, I think I get that. You want to show that you all are ready, but why now when the federal government doesn't fully have its act together? 

Mayor: Well, one of the things we've learned along the way – there's the famous phrase, God bless the child that's got their own. We have to be ready, because, originally, in fact, we heard it from the President of the United States, September 20th. And if suddenly that were to be the active date, we have to be ready, because people will rightfully demand immediate action. But we don't know if it's that date or a different date, James. And, look, of course, it's a little frustrating that it's gray right now, but we are ready. We want new Yorkers to know, a lot of people are asking us about it, so we want people to know there's a huge amount of vaccine sites. We have a lot of vaccine in reserve. It's on our minds, it's on the front of our minds. We're ready. The moment we get the date to start and the ground rules, we'll announce those, and then start serving people immediately. Go ahead, James. 

Question: And a question for my colleague, Kala Rama, could we get your response to several videos and pictures of overcrowded schools across the city, images that show no social distancing? 

Mayor: I haven't seen those images. I want to. So, James, if you and Kala will share them with my team, I'll make sure they show me. But what we have seen, overwhelmingly, is a set of rules that everyone's very committed to. And, of course, it's the very beginning of school. So, people are working out in new conditions how to get things right. But I want to go by the year-and-a-half evidence we have, the way our educators handled last school year, the way they handled Summer Rising, tremendous devotion to applying our approach effectively. The first few days of school, it takes time to sort things out, unquestionably. But I'm quite convinced that everyone's committed to doing this the right way and doing it safely. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call. I also have a question about boosters. Will this be an addition to walk-ins? Will there be signups for this? Where do people go for that? And what do you do if you start seeing, you know, long lines form for the walk-ins? 

Mayor: Great question, Juliet, I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz to talk about how they're going to manage the process. Remember, we have the great benefit of having given over 11 million doses already and determined different approaches that work, and also managing things like lines when we've had them. I think there will be a lot of demand, but again, we've got 1,900 sites. Most people will be working from the appointment basis. That's what we've seen throughout, but what's most important is we have capacity. So, I want you to hear from Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz about how they're going to manage the process and particularly your question about lines at walk-in sites. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and you covered all of the high points, a major one is that, you know, we have the health care infrastructure that we've built up over the last several months for COVID-19 vaccination. Those are not just the city sites, which have very significant through put, but also pharmacies, hospitals, clinics, all of the places that we've been able to bring online during the period of our vaccination campaign to handle both appointments and walk-ins, as the Mayor said. With respect to lines, you know, we do anticipate that there will be more demand in the initial days and what we're going to do is message as we have the broad network where people can go to distribute that demand across that decentralized set of over 1,900 sites. And then at specific sites, you know, when there are lines, we'll use the same techniques that we did earlier in the campaign offering people a slightly later appointment, if they don't want to wait online, and of course prioritizing people who are particularly elderly or have problems walking to get them to the front of the line to maximize their comfort. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, you want to add. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals:I would just add that Health + Hospitals through our 11 hospitals and all of our outpatient clinics are prepared to provide the booster shots in both appointments slots and in walk-ins, we're well experienced on how to socially distance people when we have lines and how to work down the lines and how to find the people who may be elderly and cannot stand on lines. And I feel confident that we'll be able to do well in the boosters whenever they are approved. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay. Thank you, also what more can you or Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz tell us about the COVID cluster stemming from the Electric Zoo event? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi to give you an update on the best we know about that. Go ahead, doctor – and maybe Dr. Katz as well, because of Test and Trace, which obviously is doing follow ups. So, who wants to start? I'll give a free choice, which of you wants to start? 

Commissioner Chokshi: I'm happy to start, sir, and, and thank you, yes. So, the Health Department is investigating this cluster of COVID-19 cases. It was linked to the Electric Zoo. It's a music festival that occurred over Labor Day weekend. Thus far we've identified 16 people as part of the cluster, and at least some of them appear to have been potentially contagious during the time that they were at the festival. And so that is what has led to our most important recommendation, which is if you were someone who was at the festival, even if only for one day or one event during the three days of the festival, we do encourage you to get tested and that recommendation stands regardless of your vaccination status, but it's particularly important if you've had symptoms recently, we encourage you to get tested. You can find a testing location at nyc.gov/covidtest in order to do that. The last thing that I'll say is that our investigation is multi-jurisdictional, that means that we're communicating with other state and local health departments to identify cases among residents of other jurisdictions. This helps us develop the full picture of what has happened related to this particular cluster of cases. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz, anything you want to add. 

President Katz: The Test and Trace operation has worked hard on these cases and interviewing the people who are from New York City and figuring out what their contacts are. This is one of our most effective ways of preventing further transmission of COVID. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Steve Burns from WCBS 880. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you today? 

Mayor: Good, Steve, how are you doing? 

Question: Doing all right. First question, I wanted to go back to booster shots. The Governor –current Governor – seems to be operating this a little bit differently from the previous governor. I believe she said last week that the big vax sites like Javits Center, Aqueduct, would be available again, those mass vax sites would be available if localities asked for them essentially. So, I wanted to see if you have any plans to ask the State for reinforcements, essentially, because it seems like the ball would be in your court to ask this as opposed to last time when it was kind of dropped in in your jurisdiction. 

Mayor: Steve, thank you, really important question. I thank the Governor because, you know, she was a local official and she talks about a lot and she has respect for county executives and town supervisors and mayors, and understands the role that we play and, and actually wants to communicate and figure out what will work, which is very, very helpful. In terms of our experience, and I would love to have Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz weigh in, we found the decentralized sites to be far more effective than the mass sites as it were, and we found them to do a much better job of reaching the whole of our population and the diversity of population. We want to be able to handle the demand with the boosters. I think we have a lot of capacity that will be able to match it, including, of course, all our colleagues in the in the voluntary hospitals, et cetera. But if we ever needed more help from the State, we wouldn't hesitate to ask for it. So, we'll get direct response from the two people who have the best perspective on whether they see a need for those mass sites in the short term on boosters, starting with Dr. Choksi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. I think you laid out the stepped approach that we have planned very well, which is we have a tremendous amount of capacity in the sites that are already running today. These are the pharmacies, the hospitals, the clinics that continue to administer first and second doses, and it's an opportunity for me to emphasize that that remains the most important thing we can do with respect to turning the corner on the pandemic, is getting as many people who are unvaccinated to get their first dose as possible. But then, as you said, we have our city sites and we have the ability to expand capacity at those sites if needed including the weekend events that that the Mayor described, and we've appreciated the culture of collaboration with the State, including the State Health Department and certainly can step up the approach further if we're finding that that demand is greater than that very significant capacity that I've described. So, we'll take all appropriate steps and monitor it particularly in the initial day and days of the rollout. Thank you. 

Mayor: Dr. Katz. 

President Katz: Yes, I agree. I think local sites work best and that we have enough sites, and we have enough vaccine and enough personnel, but as you and Dr. Chokshi has said, we wouldn't hesitate if we needed additional help to ask the State to open up additional sites. I just don't think that that will turn out to be necessary or make it more efficient. I think the local sites seem to bring out people best. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Michelle from the Associated Press. 

Mayor: Michelle. Michelle, can you hear us?

Question: Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Wait, wait, there she is. You’re faint, Michelle. Try turning up your volume or – there we go.

Question: Is that better?

Mayor: Much better. 

Question: Okay, great. Thanks, Mayor. I wanted to ask about the vaccination requirement as it applies to the UN General Assembly meeting next week. The Russian ambassador has criticized the city's notice to the UN. He said, this is a discriminatory infringement on the nation's rights at the UN. He also said that it was it did not take into account people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons or who might've received a vaccine that did not have World Health Organization approval such as Russia's Sputnik-5vaccine. I'm wondering if you could respond to him? 

Mayor: My simple statement to begin is if the Russian ambassador is against it, I'm for it. This is – you know, I have no words for Vladimir Putin and everything else that’s come out of Russia, but they have invalidated themselves in so many ways it's including trying to disrupt our elections. So, if their vaccine isn't good enough, then they should go and use one of the other vaccines. And that's what we're making available. I spoke to Secretary General Guterres two weeks ago, and we had a very good conversation. He's been outstanding in trying to push the highest health standards for the General Assembly. We'll have vaccination sites available. Anyone who is not yet vaccinated can get vaccinated. Anyone who's had a non-approved vaccine can get one of the ones that we're using here that are effective. And I think to the credit of the leadership of the United Nations, they've put stringent rules in place, for the General Assembly. And that's really important for this city, but for the whole world as well. Go ahead, Michelle. 

Question: I just wanted to follow up on that a little bit. You mentioned the conversation you had a couple of weeks ago. Can you talk about the decision-making that went into this process? Did this originate with the City, did the State Department or the UN ambassador discussed this with the City? Where did this this originate? 

Mayor: I had a built a relationship with the Secretary General when he first came into that office and think very, very highly of him. So, I reached out to him proactively to say, “hey, here are our standards in the city.” And we understand the United nations is a particular organization, has its own rules and its own jurisdiction. But we – you know, I expressed to him how important it was to have continuity with what we're doing in the city, just for the health and welfare of everyone. And to his credit, he was very receptive, and I know it's tremendously complex, you know, hundreds of nations and everyone has different approaches. I do feel for everyone in the UN leadership that they've got a really complex task, but I appealed directly on behalf of New York City, and to help us protect the progress we've made. I don't know what else was happening with the federal government, for example, but I do want to give the Secretary General credit. I think he very much was trying to find every way to work cooperatively with his member states, to maximize vaccination, and to create the most protected environment for the General Assembly. 

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. The next question goes to Katie Honan from The City. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Katie, how have you been? 

Question: Good. I have a question. I know when you were announcing the vaccine mandate, you said that the City would have people go door-to-door to every single business to do outreach. Do you have the stats on that? Did you reach every single business [inaudible] how many businesses there are, and do you have that information? 

Mayor: I don't have the stats. I'll turn to our Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris to go over what he knows. I know there was a very, very extensive outreach effort over the course of a month, including, obviously, anyone who asked for a visit or wanted to go through things over the phone, online, whatever it was, but in terms of the reach and what we found I'll turn to the Commissioner. I also want to say before we do, Katie, of all the great journalists in the city, I expect to see you out there during Queens Week, okay? Just putting down that marker. And now, Commissioner Doris. 

Commissioner Jonnel Doris, Department of Small Business Services: Thank you, Katie. Thank you, Mr. Mayor for that question. So, as you know, we had over 600 canvassers canvassing the city, got to about 37,000 businesses. Department of Small Business Services already has webinars every Wednesday. We’ve already helped about 750 businesses who attended and [inaudible] about 2,600 calls to our hotline. And so again, it's basically walking through the process with these businesses, making sure that they understand what the requirements are, but also, you know, [inaudible] them aware of our services as well – you know, making sure that they know if they need any additional assistance, we can provide for them. 

Mayor: Excellent.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Christina from Chalkbeat. 

Question: Hi, Mayor. Thanks for taking my question. I want to ask about school transportation. We're hearing, quite frankly, horror stories from parents – they say that buses are not showing up that their children, often children with special needs are spending hours and hours on buses and some are being taken to the wrong schools. Additionally, we've heard that students are still missing MetroCards. So, while other cities and states are considering calling the National Guard to try to get as school buses running efficiently, I'm wondering what you're doing to address the school bus issue. And additionally, what's holding up the MetroCards. 

Mayor: Christina, I'm going to tell you, first of all, I'm very, very much appreciate anytime a journalist helps us identify a problem that we're not seeing the specifics of. If you have specific cases, we need to know about them, we’ll absolutely be respectful of the families involved, but we need to know each and every one of these reports. I've spoken to the First Deputy Mayor a number of times this week, of course, the Chancellor, elected officials. I'm not hearing a bigger trend here. I care about each and every one of these situations, I want to address them, but I'm not hearing what you just reported. And I want to know if there's something bigger going on, or isolated instances that we need to fix specifically. So, I'll follow up right now on all of that.

MetroCard distribution, again, not hearing a specific problem. Let me find out what's going on. We'll get you an update in the course of the day, but any specifics you can give us, or all of your colleagues listening, we welcome reports on where there are problems. The first week or two of school, there's always adjustments to be made, but if there's something we can fix it, we're going to fix it right away. Go ahead, Christina. 

Question: Additionally, I wanted to ask about youth vaccination rates. You provide breakdowns by zip code for adults. But the most granular breakdown I've seen for youth is by borough. I've asked DOH and DOE for more granular youth vaccination data. I'm wondering if you can provide that or if you have any plans to? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. I want to do the overview right now, that today's report: 356,257 kids in the 12 to 17-year-old range have gotten at least one dose, that is 68.5 percent. That's a really great number. And that's going to keep growing, I think, a lot in the next few weeks. In terms of breaking it out, the more we can break out the better the sometimes there's limits on how much we can produce consistently and accurately, but I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. What can we do to provide Christina with a better picture of it? What's going on with youth vaccination? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thanks Mr. Mayor, and thank you, Christina, for the question. We'll certainly be happy to follow up on the inquiry depending on the numbers particularly at the ZIP code level. There may not be sufficient numbers with respect to being able to calculate vaccination rates, which of course is, you know, the most important part of the data for us to be able to share. But as the Mayor said, we have been making good progress and those numbers have grown to over 356,000 young New Yorkers now. So, there may be ways for us to share that going forward. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dave and everyone. As we conclude today, let's look at our young people. They are leading the way. Remember this is the category of New Yorkers who as most recently been able to get vaccinated months and months later than most adults and yet a stunning level of vaccination among youngest New Yorkers. A lot of times, it is the young people helping their parents and grandparents to understand how important it is to get vaccinated. So, I want to give a shout out and a thanks to the young people in New York City. And I want to say to all parents, as a parent myself, please – you have a lot of opportunity to get your kids vaccinated, today, tomorrow, every single one of the public schools that your kids go to, if they're not vaccinated, they can get vaccinated right there in the school for free. Let's get this done so we can keep moving forward as a city. Thank you, everyone.

2021-09-17 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, again, everyone. And if Mayor Bill de Blasio thought that his last four months in office might offer a comfortable enough glide path to saying goodbye to City Hall, well, no, things are intense as ever right now with what many people are calling a true humanitarian crisis on Rikers Island, city workers taking him to court over vaccine privileges and protesting back to the office requirements, school reopenings in the complicated face of the Delta COVID variant and more. So, with that as prelude it's time now for our Friday Ask the Mayor call in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, or tweet your question using the hashtag, #AskTheMayor, #AskTheMayor. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, good morning, Brian, and despite your cheery opening, and that we have real problems and real challenges, but I also want to really – I want to break some news with you right now, and I want to put it in the context of what you just said about schools as well. Yeah, we have a huge challenge bringing the nation's largest school system online after a year-and-a-half, but it's happened. It has happened this week really with extraordinary success thanks to all the folks who work in our schools, but here's the breaking news, as of today, we have now passed a major, major milestone, adults in New York City. Now we have passed the 80 percent level, this is a level that a lot of folks in the medical community say is crucial. 80 percent of all adults in New York City have now received at least one dose of the vaccine. This is a big deal and I hope New Yorkers appreciate that this is because New Yorkers came forward because we mounted the biggest vaccination effort in the city's history. Everything else that we have to deal with, all the challenges you mentioned, are COVID based in many ways. This is how we end the COVID era. So over 80 percent as of today in New York City. 

Lehrer: Absolutely good news to be able to state that number. I guess the epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists debate what herd immunity actually is, which would mean the virus would actually more or less disappear from the community, from the city in this case, and unfortunately those estimates seem to keep going up and up and up, and now I think they say it's over 90 percent. 

Mayor: Look, I think you're right to say that's an ongoing debate because COVID is still very, very new. We have to always keep in mind that think about vaccination as the most powerful way to inhibit COVID, obviously exposure also has an impact in terms of COVID’s ability to spread to new people. But overall, what we're seeing here is, the reason for now a month and more the COVID numbers have plateaued or gone down, the reason the hospitalization rate in particular has gone down markedly is because of a massive level of vaccination. And I think what's important to recognize is there's a surge happening right now. The mandates whether it's indoor dining and entertainment, fitness, or whether it's for public employees are causing a lot more people to get vaccinated. Clearly the incentives have had an impact. So, we expect a lot more vaccinations in the coming next few weeks, particularly among younger people. Also, really important to note on that age range, 12 to 17, we're almost up to 70 percent now, and that has happened in really, really fast time because that's the most recent group that's been allowed to be vaccinated, and further we expect the five to 11-year-olds to be ready to be vaccinated as early as November. So, big challenges, but I think it's important for New Yorkers to recognize we could literally end the COVID era and make COVID in effect the equivalent of what we deal with each year with the flu. We could do that as early as next year if we continue this success with vaccination. 

Lehrer: And there are also differences by neighborhood, which is probably worth mentioning uptown – 

Mayor: Although it's changing – changing rapidly –I'm sorry, one quick interruption you will want to hear –

Lehrer: Go ahead, sorry. Go ahead. 

Mayor: Right now, according to the Department of Health, the level of vaccination among Latino New Yorkers has surpassed the level of vaccination among Caucasian New Yorkers – 

Lehrer: I saw that, it’s good news.

Mayor: That is a huge turnaround and really good news. We have more to do in the African American community for sure, but we also know these mandates are reaching a lot of African American New Yorkers, many of whom are in public service or work in the sectors where the mandates are in place, and we see people coming in, in much higher numbers now. So, a lot to do, but if we succeed at ending the COVID era, then all the other challenges that you started with immediately get mitigated in a very big way. 

Lehrer: Upper Manhattan ZIP codes, 10034, 10040, according to Patch today, still nearing four percent positivity rates despite them being heavily Latino and white neighborhoods and getting higher vaccination rates. So, work in progress, but absolutely hear you on the milestone at 80 percent and the milestone of Latino vaccination rates equally and surpassing white vaccination rates if that's a true stat. Here's how the New York Times article – 

Mayor: It’s from Department of Health. I don't think people are questioning their stats. 

Lehrer: Yes, no, no, I don't mean to question. Thank you.

Lehrer: Ernesto in the Bronx, you're on WNYC with Mayor de Blasio. Hello, Ernesto.

Question: Good morning, good morning. Thanks for having me on the show. Mr. Mayor, [inaudible] to say that I'm an employee with the Administration for Children's Services, have been working over a decade, and I want to discuss your comments last week, that many city employees, including myself, found disrespectful regarding remote work and not being very stellar. We worked our tails off for the last 18 months. We continued to work at all times and we never stopped without a beat. And we want to say to you how hurt we are by your comments and how upset we are because remote work has been something that can work – the federal government has done it on that level. There are many studies that show that remote work can be done. Many city workers are pragmatic and knew that we were going to have to return to the office at one point. But the most pragmatic approach would have been a hybrid model to have staff. We can work in the office when we have to do those things and come out, because right now people were in the office having meetings on their computers. Right now, folks could be doing this from home. They can be working productively. We can be spending money in our communities because I know it's a big thing for spending money in our communities, jumpstart the economy, folks are already doing that already. We've been doing that for 18 months and this attitude, and this energy that’s coming off from you regarding remote work and working from home – we are a progressive city. We're the most progressive city in the nation and we're looking at our archaic ways of operating. Many private companies and many public companies, also, that work with the public have a hybrid model. And we're asking you to look over that decision, to please – because it's affecting many people had to take a short notice child care leave because of this thing, to look at this so that we can move forward as a city, we can support our services on a high level. I would also suggest that you follow a great organization called City Workers for NYC, City Workers for NYC, and hear the testimonials of staff across many agencies that you are a supervisor of.

Lehrer: And Ernesto, let me get you an answer from the Mayor. Mr. Mayor, you hear his plea.

Mayor: Yes, I do, Brian, and Ernesto, look, I tried, I thought, obviously I didn't succeed, and I want to correct it. If people heard this than I didn't speak clearly enough and that's on me. I believe I said last week, very clearly a lot of people have been doing very good work and hard work. That was never my question. My question is was it the best work that we could get done for this city in a moment of crisis? And my experience has been absolutely consistent. We have had much more ability to get things done with people in person. People like to talk about what's been found in the tech community or other places. Those are profit-making entities. We are a public service entity. My experience, uniformly, over a year and a half is that has been much harder for people to communicate, to come to decisions, to act effectively when they are remote. I think human beings actually are meant to have direct ability to communicate. So, I'm not belittling the hard work people have done. People have worked very, very hard and I've praised your agency and you and all other public employees repeatedly for the work that people have done last year and a half. But my responsibility is to the people and I know we will get better work done if people are together. I also know it's a way to ensure the vaccination is maximized. We have a new standard in place that, as of the 13th, vaccinate or test. The best way to make sure that it's done properly and accurately is for people to be back in person. I'm absolutely convinced this is the way to move forward. And we've done it at a time where in fact, we've been able to reduce the COVID dynamics in this city intensely, and you can see it in the Health Department reports every day through massive vaccination. So, I do believe this is the right time.

Lehrer: So, there are the two reasons: it's incentive for vaccination, but also you say as a blanket statement, it's better when people work together in person. I'm sure Ernesto and many others would say that's too much of a one-size-fits-all answer and different supervisors would know whether that really is necessary in their department or not.

Mayor: Well, I understand that point, but I'd say if we weren't in a crisis dynamic where the public needs us deeply – people are hurting in this city. I really respect our public employees. Although I hasten to add that 80 percent of them never had the luxury of working from home and have been at the frontline the whole way through, but I respect to all of our public employees and the contribution they make. But remember the people we're serving, the 8 million plus, that we're serving are going through hell. We're talking about communities that have lost people. We're talking about a lot of folks who still don't have a job and regular livelihood, a lot of health needs, I mean – food needs – we need the city government to function at peak performance in the middle of crisis. And I saw my own eyes repeatedly, the reality of remote – at times, it did inhibit communication, it inhibited efficiency, effectiveness, collaboration. I saw it constantly. And we certainly saw in a very different vein with remote learning, the vast difference between remote learning and in-person learning – it's night and day – for this moment in history, we need everyone back and working hard. It is a bigger discussion going forward, Brian, just to finish, a bigger discussion of whether to do a hybrid in different ways going forward. I think that's a great discussion for when we're out of the crisis, but for right now, this is the best way to move the city forward.

Lehrer: Question from or via Twitter from [inaudible] on Staten Island. “My child is in kindergarten and Staten Island and their teacher is not wearing their mask. We complained to the principal and assistant principal, but our child told us their teacher is still not masking. How can the city enforce masks mandates in schools?”

Mayor: That's – first of all, I'm very glad someone's telling us so we can fix the problem. We need that individual – if you could make sure, Brian, your team gives the information to our team at City Hall so we can track back who that teacher is. Look, if true, that's absolutely unacceptable and there would be serious consequences. We've had a mask mandate in school and in Summer Rising the whole way through. We've had veritably no incidents where either staff or kids didn't wear a mask. If a teacher is doing the wrong thing, there will be consequences for that teacher. But I want to see the proof of that before I assume.

Lehrer: All right, and that came from Twitter. But we can DM that person and see if they were –

Mayor: Anyone who – yes, please. If anyone has that, give it to WNYC, who'll get it to us. We need to know things like that.

Lehrer: And let's talk about COVID in the first week of school. I'm looking at – I mean, that was also about COVID in the first week of school – but another aspect. I'm looking at Department of Education data as aggregated on Gothamist. Am I seeing this right? 109 classroom closures this week?

Mayor: I’ve got a card in front of me, and everything was done on different days, so it depends on what you’re looking at. What I can say overall is that we’ve seen very few, thank God. Remember we have 65,000 spaces that we’re using as classrooms right now. 48,000 are what we normally do. But we’re using a lot of other spaces for classrooms to spread people out. And what we’re seeing is a couple hundred closures, as you said, and remember some are full closures, meaning the whole class, and some are partial. Because now, anyone who is vaccinated, child or adult, unless they are symptomatic, they stay in school. So, this is the very beginning, but what I think the Chancellor feels, I know I feel, the Health Commissioner feels that this is, thank God, relatively few against the comparison of 65,000 classrooms. And we're seeing low positivity in the testing we're doing so far. It's a strong start.

Lehrer: The closure policy in elementary school, if I have it right, includes a 10-day quarantine and classroom closure after one positive case in the class. And I want to play you a clip of a recent guest, maybe you know of him, who is proposing a way to avoid keeping so many kids home. It's Harvard Public Health professor, Michael Mina, a proponent of using at-home rapid tests to help kids who are not sick and not contagious get back to school faster than 10 days. Here's a 45 second clip of Dr. Mina explaining his proposal on the shelf.

Dr. Michael Mina: Instead of quarantining a child or a whole classroom of children because somebody else turns up positive in the class, we can do what I call “test to stay.” And that's instead of having everyone quarantine, you just have them use a simple rapid test at home before school. And you do that each day that they would otherwise be quarantining. So, you say you've been exposed, potentially. We don't know if you're infected. So, on Monday, use a rapid test in the morning. And if negative go to school. Tuesday, use a rapid test in the morning – you do that for the week. And most people don't actually turn positive who ended up being quarantined. So, this is a critical tool that we haven't really utilized very well at all in this pandemic.

Lehrer: Dr. Michael Mina from Harvard here a couple of weeks ago, has Dr. Mina or anyone been in touch with you about that system or have you considered it?

Mayor: I haven't talked to Dr. Mina, although our team, including Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, Dr. Varma are talking to leading national experts constantly, but that's a really interesting idea. And one, I'm going to – in fact, we're having a meeting today to assess these issues, and I'm going to put that on the table today. So, your timing's impeccable, Brian. I think there's a lot to be said for that.

Look, our goal is to minimize disruption and you know, what we've seen to begin with is promising – and we saw it in Summer Rising. We had one school closure, all of Summer Rising. And again, the Delta variant is beginning to be pushed back. We know this is a massive school system, so there'll be times when we deal with challenges, but anything that makes it simpler and reduces the number of closures in healthy manner, I want to hear about. So, this is a very interesting idea.

Lehrer: Thanks, as always, Mr. Mayor. Congratulations to you and really everybody in New York City, or at least 80 percent of the people in New York City, on the 80 percent at least one-shot vaccination rate that you announced at the beginning of the segment. Talk to you next week.

Mayor: Thank you, Brian. Take care.

2021-09-20 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody, and welcome to Queens.

Let's see, this is a – I think, okay, it bobbles pretty well. I want to make sure Mr. Met’s doing well. Mr. Met, as you know, has been participating – and Mrs. Met – in many of our vaccination events and our Hometown Heroes' Parade and so many other wonderful things. So, thank you to The Mets. Thank you to you. Borough President, we’re going to have a great week together. A lot of food for sure, looking forward to that.

All right, now let's turn to an issue on everyone's mind, last week, the opening of schools, an amazing success. Congratulations to our Chancellor, to all our educators, all our school staff, our parents, our kids, very strong, smooth opening to schools. I saw the joy, the just unbelievable joy, in the faces of kids who hadn't been in a classroom in a year-and-a-half. I saw the relief of parents, I saw teachers who couldn't wait to get back to what they love, being with their kids. First week is under our belt. Really, really pleased with it overall, but we also looked at the week, we asked ourselves, what are things that we can improve upon? What are new approaches that we want to take? The goal is always two crucial things. First and foremost, the health and safety of our kids and our whole school community. Second, maximizing the number of kids in school every day, making sure there's continuity, avoiding disruption, giving our kids a chance to make that comeback that we know we're going to do this year. So, we put together those two goals. We analyze the data from the first week and with our health care team analyze the overall situation with COVID, and we're making some changes now on both testing and quarantine protocols, and these will take effect next week, starting on the 27th. 

First of all, we will now go to weekly testing. We'll be testing in elementary, middle, and high school, each school, every week. And then we will change the quarantine approach, and we'll align to the CDC guidance on that. When there is a positive test in a school - excuse me - in a classroom, a positive test in a classroom, the unvaccinated students in that classroom will not have to quarantine if they are masked and three feet distant. That will allow more kids to safely remain in the classroom. So, we've been looking at these two issues over the last few weeks, we looked at it in light of the data from the first week of school, we decided to make both of these changes simultaneously and they do complement each other. Starting the week of the 27th, I want you to hear more about this from our Chancellor who is doing an amazing job leading the school system back, Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter. Chancellor?

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: [Inaudible] good morning, I’m here - 

Mayor: There you are, all right. We knew you were out there.

Chancellor Porter: Yes. Good morning. Good morning. But before I begin, I want to thank everyone who made the opening of schools last week an amazing success, and I was in the borough of Queens last Monday visiting schools. It was a wonderful week. I visited over a dozen schools in every borough, and it felt so good to be back. Everywhere I went, I saw happy kids back in caring, welcoming schools. I saw reading, writing, I saw outdoor classrooms and homecoming celebrations. I also saw kids wearing their masks, and students of all ages following social distancing protocols. As an educator, there's nothing more powerful that seeing your students take their, and other students' wellbeing seriously. And as a parent myself, it was reassuring to see the health and safety protocols being followed. As the Mayor said, these are health and safety policies that are thoughtfully been crafted with the help of our medical experts.

And as we've done throughout the pandemic, we'll make changes along the way as needed. Now, that the first week is behind us, we need to look at - we looked at the initial results and we're making important updates that add an additional layer of security and surveillance to our testing policy. While also aligning to the CDC standards for quarantines, which will help keep students safely in their classrooms. On testing, we will begin testing weekly at all, elementary, middle, and high schools. This isn't an increase from our biweekly policy currently in place. 

On quarantines, unvaccinated students who wear masks and three feet distance, will not have to quarantine if there are close contact to positive students. These measures will begin on September 27th, the date that the DOE vaccine mandate goes into effect, which will be an additional layer of protection for our babies, which reminds me if you haven't got your shot, do it. I was at Flushing International High School last week and was so impressed by the seven students I saw getting vaccinated. I also got a chance to meet their student vaccine ambassadors on the campus who’ve been working hard to encourage their classmates to get vaccinated, and about 90 percent of the high school is already vaccinated. And while I'm giving out homework, another reminder to submit your testing consent for your child, you can do it right online using your NYCSA account or hand a paper copy to your school. Thank you, and back to you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Thank you, Chancellor. Once a teacher, always a teacher, still giving out homework to all of us. Thank you very much. And some good news today now that schools are fully reopened, we're going to reopen something else that's so important to the families of this city, the afterschool programs all over the city run by the City of New York. This is something we brought into being early in the administration to make afterschool much more widely available, particularly for middle school families who need it so importantly. I'm really happy to say that we're bringing back after school in a safe, smart way that's going to help kids to continue to learn and grow even after-school hours. And this is on a big, big scale – 1,081, the City-funded afterschool programs reopening, all of them provided free to the kids in New York City. They are at schools and community centers around the five boroughs – elementary, middle, and high school – Beacon and Cornerstone programs, and so many more. The goal is to reach 150,000 kids this school year with those extended hours. Our afterschool programs are amazing because they involve academic enrichment in addition to arts, culture, recreation, you name it. And in Queens alone, the Borough President will be happy to know, over 200 programs in Queens reopening now, serving well over 25,000 Queens kids. Anyone who wants to sign up your child for afterschool, please go to nyc.gov/DYCD, or call 800-246-4646.

Okay. Now, let's talk about what we talk about every single time – how we fight back COVID, how we foster the recovery of this borough, this city, and Queens has been leading the way. I have to say, a lot to be proud of, Borough Present. The borough with the most fully vaccinated people, what do you guess it is, Borough President?

Borough President Richards: 80 percent?

Mayor: No – what do you guess what the borough is? 

Borough President Richards: Oh – oh my bad – 

Mayor: Which borough do you guess it is?

Borough President Richards: Of course, Queens. There's no better place on earth.

Mayor: Where is the most popular City-run vaccination site?

Borough President Richards: Queens – 

Mayor: Queens, Citi Field is correct. Queens has over 1.5 million – 1,551,921 fully vaccinated people – amazing. Citi Field – amazing. Thank you again to the Mets. Now, boosters are coming. We're still waiting for the final word. FDA committee voted last week, recommending them for people over 65, in addition to immunocompromised individuals. We are ready. As we talked about last week, New York City is ready to start providing the booster shots the moment we get the clear authorization from the federal government and the ground rules. We've got over 1,900 sites ready. We have a detailed plan to reach seniors in particular, let them know as soon as we know the details. This is a big deal. I think it's going to help us move forward in a big way. Once we know, we're going to hit the ground running. And on the topic of the vaccine, we got some great news this morning, and this is about our youngest kids, this is the piece of so many of us have been waiting for to see progress on – the vaccine for the five- to 11-year-olds. This is the last piece remaining and it will be a big deal. I am guaranteeing you, as soon as it's available, you'll see huge numbers of parents want to get their kids vaccinated.

So, Pfizer shared data – very hopeful, very impressive data about their vaccine’s support for five- to 11-year-olds in terms of protecting them from COVID. FDA is looking at the data. We want to see this vaccine in New York City as quickly as possible. So, what I'm calling on the FDA to do is speed your process. We need these by the end of October. Let's give a wonderful Halloween gift, a treat for all kids. Let's do something wonderful, get the vaccine for five- to 11- year-olds authorized by Halloween, so we can start providing the vaccine to kids who need it. This has happening in real-time and it's going to make a huge difference for our families. So, federal government, this is a moment to step up, speed this process for the good of families all over New York City, all over America.

Now, vaccination is leading the way. Vaccination is helping in Queens, in all five boroughs, everywhere in the city. And we're using our vaccination capacity to reach the whole world this week, because it's United Nations General Assembly Week back in New York City. And you know, we all don't love the traffic, for sure, but what we do love is the fact that people can get back together in-person. It's a very hopeful sign. It's a great moment for New York City. It's one of the things that makes New York City stand out in the entire world, the United Nations. I'll be welcoming President Biden later today, when he arrives. He is doing extraordinary work to move this nation forward. Work that's going to mean so much for New York City, obviously, particularly in the fight against the pandemic and the fight against the climate crisis, but, also, what he's doing on infrastructure, which we're going to benefit from so much – a really important moment on so many levels.

I mentioned that we're going to be reaching the whole world with vaccinations. Well, I want to start by applauding Secretary General Gutierrez, for leading the way by calling upon everyone who participates in the general assembly to be vaccinated, putting strong protocols in place. We need to send a message to all the world leaders, including most notably Bolsonaro, from Brazil, that if you intend to come here, you need to be vaccinated. If you don't want to be vaccinated, don't bother coming, because everyone should be safe together. That means everyone needs to be vaccinated. The vast majority of the folks at the United Nations, the vast majority of the member states are doing the right thing. The city is helping. We have a vaccine bus outside the U.N. today. We're happy to vaccinate anybody and everyone to keep this city safe, to keep everybody involved safe. And I want to give a special thank you to the United States Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who has been leading the way. She's really been a powerful voice for vaccination and for making sure the General Assembly is done the right way. She is going to be visiting our vaccine workers this morning, which they're going to really appreciate. And I want to thank the Ambassador for all she does to work with New York City. So, big week ahead, and we're looking forward to a safe week.

Okay. Let me turn now, as we do every day, to our indicators, starting with a very good number. We've seen really good numbers on vaccination in recent days, high numbers, clearly connected to both the incentives and the mandates. As of today, 11,243,542 doses in New York City have been administered. The big-picture reality – amazing. We're now almost to 81 percent of adults in New York City who have had a first dose. We're almost to 62 percent of New York City residents fully vaccinated, all residents fully vaccinated. Almost at 71 percent with our 12- to 17- year-olds, at least one dose. And, as I mentioned, we could see as early as next month five- to 11-year-olds eligible, and that would be a game-changer. So, a lot happening that's going to help us beat back COVID. So, number-one, that's the doses. Number-two, daily of number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 133 patients. Confirmed positivity level, 26.9 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 – 1.12. And that is a number we watch very closely that's a good number today. And, finally, number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,512 cases.

Finally, few words in Spanish, and it's on my favorite topic, vaccination, and one of my other favorite topics, the Borough of Queens. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder at we're joined today by Borough President Richards, by Chancellor Porter, by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, by Susan Haskell, the Deputy Commissioner for Youth Services at DYCD, by DOC Commissioner Vinnie Schiraldi, and by MOCJ Director at Marcos Soler. The first question today goes to Katie Honan from the City. Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Mayor, you talked about the goal to get kids five to 11 vaccinated by Halloween. I was wondering if we could get your health team to weigh in on how realistic that may be? From what I understand, Pfizer would present their results to the FDA by the end of this month. And how ambitious would that be for the FDA to make a ruling in time for Halloween to essentially be effective? And connected with that, you wouldn't have fully vaccinated kids until late into November or December. If your Health team could sort of weigh in on what a realistic timeline might be?

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz, but a reminder, Andrew, obviously even a first shot provides some real protection. But secondly, this is a global pandemic. So, calling upon the federal government to prioritize providing the shots for our youngest kids and really move heaven and Earth – there is not just one way to do things. The review process needs to be thorough. But what we're saying is throw everything you got at it because we need these shots now. And I do think getting them ready for Halloween is now a realistic goal. But I want you to hear from Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. And thanks Andrew, for this question. What we heard this morning is certainly good news. It's very promising that Pfizer does have the data to be able to submit an official application to the federal government, to the FDA. We're hearing by the end of September, as you mentioned. At that point I do believe that the FDA has to deal with this with a tremendous sense of urgency both because of what the Mayor said, this is an important step in continuing to combat the pandemic. And also in a more, you know human way, this is the question that I get so commonly from parents who are worried, from people who want to make sure that the benefits of vaccination extend to their kids. So, I do hope that that the FDA brings to bear all of the resources to do of course, a comprehensive, you know, thorough view on safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, so that we can actually begin to administer it as soon as possible. At that point the Pfizer vaccine even for this age group, it would be two doses. It's a smaller dose compared to what's being administered to 12 years old and older, but it would be two doses, spaced three weeks apart. And then one would be considered fully vaccinated two weeks after the second dose. Thank you.

Mayor: Dr. Katz, you want to add?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I would add that, remember that this, the vaccine itself has already been approved for older ages. And millions and millions of people, including teenagers have received it already. And that we're not talking about a different species, we're just talking about humans, somewhat younger for which they've adjusted the dose. So, you would expect an approval to be much faster than if this were a new drug and had not already been tried. I also wouldn't be surprised if it turns out the children develop immunity faster. Just in general, the body is well set up when you're young for developing immunity more so than for the older people. So, I'm hopeful that we can have it by Halloween. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: You mentioned, and your Chancellor mentioned the new policy with regard to children not having to quarantine if there is a confirmed case in their classroom. That starts next week. But as of right now, if I understand your schools website correctly, there are 77 classroom closures. Is it correct to assume that the children in those classrooms are now quarantining? So, there may be hundreds or a little more than a thousand kids who are currently quarantining as we speak?

Mayor: There's definitely – no. Absolutely right to assume we're working under the current policy. And we want to make sure going forward that we, again focus health and safety first, but also match that with a desire to keep the maximum number of kids in school. So, we looked at what we were seeing initially. We looked at the data again, talked through different scenarios. Both these ideas, as I mentioned, have been on the table, to go to the CDC guidance on quarantine and to go to the weekly testing. We're doing them in combination. But yes, there's a number of kids out of school right now. And again, our goal is to avoid that whenever possible so as long as we can do it safely.

Moderator: The next is Ari Feldman from NY1.

Question: Good morning. How's it going? Can everyone hear me?

Mayor: Yeah, Ari. How are you today?

Question: I'm doing well. How are you?

Mayor: I'm in Queens so I'm cool.

Question: Great. That's where my mom's from. A question on schools for these new policies. Is the City going to start this policy with the assumption that all students are keeping three feet of distance? Because we've seen plenty of footage from students, much closer in hallways and even in the art classroom that Chancellor Porter visited on Friday, students were sitting right next to each other at shared tables. It's not a three feet distance. Will students in those kinds of seating arrangements have to quarantine?

Mayor: So, I'll turn to the doctors, but I want to emphasize, passing in a hallway, remember people are masked. This has been one of the things that's been really positive and impressive about the kids and the adults in our school system, that masking, which was originally considered a huge challenge, people have taken to and stuck to. And it's really been a difference maker. It's part of why the New York City public schools have been one of the safest places to be in the city. So, if you're masked and you're moving by someone in a hallway that does not constitute close contact. In terms of classrooms, you make an important point and I'll let the doctors speak to it, that we obviously intend to keep to the maximum extent possible, to that three feet standard. The bottom line here though, is we've seen from the CDC guidance, the value of masking and distance, both play a role, and the is to not send a child home who is not symptomatic, unless there's a very specific reason. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, you want to speak to that?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I'll just contextualize briefly. As the Mayor and the Chancellor have both mentioned, we have the twin goal, first keeping kids safe. Second, keeping kids in school, learning in-person as much as possible. And the changes that we announced this morning have to be taken into context of the overall approach which is the layers of safety that you've heard us talk about before. Two of those layers will be strengthened as of next week. The first is with respect to vaccination because our vaccine mandate will go into effect as of next Monday. And then the second, is the fact that we're moving to weekly testing. This is what allows us to bring a scalpel to our quarantine policy, aligning it with CDC guidance. And making sure that it is truly only those children who are at highest risk of exposure to someone who is identified as a confirmed case in the classroom. And those are kids who are either within three feet or unmasked. And that has to happen for a sufficient duration of time for that to be considered a close contact and for that child to quarantine. So, taken together, this allows us to strike the balance of both keeping kids safe while ensuring that kids remain in school when it is safe for them to do so. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz.

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: I would just add these will all be individualized decisions made in the context of cases, but just because one group of children are together and closer than three feet doesn't mean that they are exposed to the case. So, we would look at where the case was and determine who were the other children who were at risk. But in every case, it will be an individualized decision made in the best interest of the child.

Mayor: And I want to say, Dr. Katz, thank you for your leadership and Ted Long, everyone at Test and Trace because Test and Trace, working with Situation Room, play a crucial role in keeping our kids, and the adults in our schools as well, safe. And as you pointed out, there's very specific standards, very specific investigations. That worked very powerfully last school year and over summer with Summer Rising. And we're doing the same thing again this year.

Moderator: The next is Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. I'm wondering with the good news about the Pfizer vaccines for kids, are you reconsidering requiring vaccines this school year?

Mayor: You mean in terms of kids?

Question: Yeah, for students. Yeah.

Mayor: Not at this time. No. We still believe – I believe fundamentally the goal is to get our kids in school for the foreseeable future. The best way to do that is to welcome all kids while constantly working to improve the levels of vaccination. Now we're over 70 percent of first dose with the 12- to 17-year-olds. So, that's really, really promising. And I think you're going to see a huge uptick in the five- to 11-year-olds when the vaccine is authorized. But I do not want to see kids excluded. I want to invite kids in and then constantly work to get them vaccinated.

Moderator: The next is Marla Diamond from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mayor, and everyone else on the call. Also, with regard to the schools, can you give us more details on the entire closure of P.S. 79 in East Harlem? How many cases were identified there? Were they all staff members or were some of them students? And do you know if those staff members were vaccinated?

Mayor: I'm going to see what Dr. Katz knows from Test and Trace and what the Chancellor knows, and then I might add on top of that. But Dr. Katz, do you have the facts on that school in particular? Or else we'll go to the Chancellor.

President Katz: Sorry, sir. I don't have the facts on that particular case.

Mayor: Okay. Chancellor, do you want to speak to it?

Chancellor Porter: Yeah, we don't have the specific numbers of teachers and students, but just want to make clear that we're making health and safety our top priority. And we worked really closely with the Situation Room to shift the school to remote learning. Luckily our educators have already set up our Google Classrooms and our students have devices, so we were already ready to go.

Mayor: Yeah. And Marla, look, we're going to – we'll get you fuller details. I think it's fair to say – and I don't know if Dave has anything to add as well – that typically when it's among adults, we're seeing cases in those who are still not yet vaccinated, but we'll get you the facts on this particular case. Go ahead, Marla.

Question: Okay. And, just saying that I asked that because your policy now is vaccination or proof of a negative test, and the full vaccine mandate doesn't go into effect until the 27th, I believe. But I'm also wondering if you're still standing steadfast on no remote option – we spoke to a lot of parents outside P. S. 79, who say, you know, to avoid disruption, especially in the schools, the grade schools where kids can't get vaccinated, there should be some sort of remote option at least until those kids can get vaccinated or until the Delta variant is not such a threat.

Mayor: Marla, I really appreciate the question. I'm going to turn to the Chancellor, but just with this framing. The Chancellor and I fundamentally believe that our kids need to be in school. That's why there is not a broad remote option in place, but when an entire school is closed for those 10 days, we can reach those kids differently because the entire school staff is home as well. So, Chancellor, speak about how that is handled with a full school closure, how you create continuity and instruction.

Chancellor Porter: Sure, definitely. You know, we learned a lot in the pandemic. You know, we shifted immediately, the system, and learned a lot over the time. And so, before we even started the school year, we had our classrooms and our teachers set up Google Classroom, because we knew that this was part of our story that getting back to in-person learning also meant that, you know, there would be remote days. Our snow days are going to be remote. So, we made sure that every school was set up and ready to shift immediately. And remember we got over 500,000 devices into the hands of our students. And so, we were ready to shift. And as the Mayor said, you know – and I think you know, the doctors will agree – what we know is that the best learning that happens is in-person between students and teachers. And we also know that a greater health issue that we are concerned about is ensuring that our students get back into the classrooms and back socialized that way. And so, we were ready to shift. P. S. 79 did a great job shifting. We look forward to making adjustments to decrease the number of times that we have to shift, but we also know that we're ready.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Christina Veiga from Chalkbeat.

Question: Hi, Mayor, thanks for taking my question. I was hoping that you and Chancellor Porter and perhaps the public health officials on the call can speak a little more specifically about why you're making the changes to testing and quarantine. What information or experiences did you see throughout the first week that did this?

Mayor: Yeah, Christina, this is a conversation that's been going on for several weeks. But we wanted to see what happened in the first week of school, came to the conclusion that to achieve both our goals – health and safety first, and then keeping the maximum number of kids in school the right way – that these two actions together would actually improve our overall situation. We saw very good attendance the first week. We saw relatively few disruptions. But we saw enough quarantining that we thought this is something we want to get ahead of and make sure that only those who really need the quarantine are quarantining. Chancellor or Dr. Katz, Dr. Chokshi – anyone want to add? That means I covered it. Go ahead, Christina.

Question: The new policy also raises a number of new questions for us. First of all, what's going to happen at lunch when students are unmasked? The CDC policy says that students can stay in class as long as they've been properly masked. And it also raises the question of what kind of instruction are elementary school students, who are quarantining, going to get. It seems like it might be more difficult if, you know, only part of a class is quarantining and the rest are allowed to stay in person. Who is going to teach those students in each setting?

Mayor: Okay. Two very different questions. On the lunch issue, I don't think this changes that fundamentally. We can have the Chancellor and the doctors speak to that. But on the question of instruction, I certainly understand your point, but I would flip it around. What we have at the middle and high school level, because so many kids are vaccinated and we see those numbers going up all the time, is when there is a case in a classroom, the vaccinated kids who are not symptomatic, will stay in school. And that is the optimal situation. And for the kids who do have to go home, hopefully they are very few, we will provide alternative instruction. I think this helps us mirror the same reality at the elementary school level – minimize the unnecessary quarantining, keep those kids in school where they're being taught the best and most effective way, and we'll continue to provide alternative instruction for any kids who need to go home. So, speaking to that and the lunch issue, I'll mix and match starting with the Chancellor and then the doctors can weigh in.

Chancellor Porter: Here I am. So, first of all, you know, to your point, it is so important that our school communities remain whole when possible. And I think to your point of, you know, allowing vaccinated students to stay in school allows for the continuity of in-person and in-person instruction. On lunch we remain to be in accordance with the CDC guidelines. And our school and staff are working very closely with Test and Trace. The Situation Room is working closely on cases in classrooms. And so, we're confident that this will allow us to keep more students in classrooms and ensure the continuity of instruction for all students.

Mayor: Thank you. Doctors, do you want to add – particularly on the lunch issue? Go ahead –

Commissioner Chokshi: Yeah, just add briefly on the lunch question. As the Chancellor said, you know, there are additional safeguards that are being put into place, particularly when children are unmasked, including at lunchtime. And because of that, you know, the ways in which exposures are categorized by our contact tracers will depend on both the proximity and the duration of contact. So, they're often very specific circumstances that have to be discerned but, you know, based on our guidance and the CDC guidance people will be appropriately quarantined when there is that risk of exposure.

Mayor: Dr. Katz, anything you want to add?

President Katz: I just want to summarize again, that all decisions are made in the best interest of the child, taking into account all of the circumstances. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Okay, go ahead.

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to the Julia Marsh from the Post.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yes, Julia, how are you doing today?

Question: Good. I'm wondering if the unvaccinated teacher rate has changed much beyond the 74 percent, and if you know how many people have sought medical and religious exemptions. The reason this is important because that's potentially 15,000 teachers, and if the number hasn't moved much, how will you absorb the absences?

Mayor: Seeing – I'll turn to the Chancellor, after I speak. But Julia, we're seeing very few – in the scheme of things, very few applications for those exemptions so far. I think the numbers on overall vaccination are growing constantly, both because we're getting reports in of people vaccinated, we didn't have previously, and people are going and getting vaccinated. We are not seeing something that would have a profound impact on the teaching core numbers for next Monday. That's what I'm seeing so far, but go ahead, Chancellor. Why don't you add?

Chancellor Porter: Yeah?, we currently have over 78 percent of our employees vaccinated. We gave out over 3,000 vaccines to students and staff on campus over the first few days of school. So, we're excited about that. And we think we're moving in the right direction. You know, we hired 5,200 new teachers, larger than we've hired in past years. And so, we feel confident we will be staffed.

Mayor: Thank you very much. And, everybody, look as we begin this week in Queens, which is going to be wonderful, again, kudos to the people of Queens. Literally Queens has led the way on the vaccination effort. The most vaccinated borough, amazing effort on the ground. Thank you to all the vaccinators, thank you to everyone who went out there and helped make sure that people got vaccinated. And again, you're going to see these numbers go up in the coming days in Queens and everywhere, because a lot of the mandates that will take effect next Monday, the 27th. So, this is how we recover – vaccination, vaccination, vaccination. And it's working, and we're particularly excited by the possibility that our youngest New Yorkers could be ready to get vaccinated as early as next month. Let's all hope and pray that happens as quick as that for the good of all. Thank you, everybody.

2021-09-21 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody, we are back in the beautiful borough of Queens here at Queens Borough Hall. I want you to see this banner behind me, absolutely beautiful, a new banner in our series of banners celebrating New York City, the joy, the beauty, the energy, the excitement here in the borough Queens. It's a celebration of our recovery and our comeback and it's happening big time here in Queens, and a lot of why we are coming back so strong is because of the help we have gotten from the White House, from the federal government.

In the meantime, we're addressing every issue. As we find an issue, we find a solution. We apply the resources rapidly. That's what we have to do right now. And I want to talk about the health situation. We, obviously, have a year-and-a-half of experience at Rikers, addressing COVID. Correctional Health really look at the facts, has done an outstanding job addressing COVID. When you look at Rikers and our City jail system compared to prison systems around this country, Correctional Health did outstanding work in ensuring that COVID was limited in our City jails and they're doing that work still. It's made harder by not having enough staffing from Correction Officers. It's made harder by a court system that's not hearing cases. And, therefore, people waiting in Rikers, inmates waiting for a year or more for their trial. We need to move on all these fronts. But, in the meantime, Correctional Health continues to do everything – and I've said to Dr. Mitch Katz, as the head of Health + Hospitals, which includes Correctional Health, whatever resources he needs, whatever additional security, he will have it so his health care professionals can attend to the situation, keep people safe. I want you to hear directly from Dr. Katz, the latest on the situation on Rikers and what's being done to address it by the folks that we really depend on in Correctional Health. Dr. Katz?

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: Yes. Thank you, sir. And thank you for taking such dramatic action to improve conditions at Rikers. I can tell you that right now at our clinics, there are a large number of Correction officers to ensure that we can take care of all the inmates and meet all of their health needs in a safe way for my staff, as well as for the inmates themselves. As you said, sir, while so many jail and prison systems across the country had major outbreaks with COVID last year, we did not. And that's because the brave Correctional Health service people who work for Health + Hospitals did their job. Even when we didn't have sufficient PPE, even when we had no testing, they courageously cared for people. They did the testing when we did have testing. They were able to cohort the different inmates who came in at different times and were able to keep the level of COVID at the jail actually lower than the community levels of COVID here in New York.

We have had a setback over the last few weeks, as you've been very frank about discussing, because without enough staff, enough Correction officers, people then stay too long in intake. When they stay long in intake, it provides an environment where COVID can be transmitted. But thanks to your actions and the incredible new Commissioner at the Department of Corrections, we've been able to open up a new intake area, which is larger, it's safer, it allows appropriate social distancing and we are able now to take care of people and to keep them safe. And you will see, sir, that the numbers the percent of people with COVID will go down again, as it used to be now that we've been able, thanks to your efforts, to achieve a safer Rikers. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. And, obviously, Dr. Katz, we have a lot more to do and this is not going to all change overnight. But I want you to know and I want all New Yorkers to know, we are going to put every effort, every resource into fixing this situation. As tough a hand as everyone's been dealt, it can be fixed, it will be fixed, period. So, thank you, Dr. Katz to you and your whole team for everything you're doing.

Now, everyone, let's talk about what we do every day – our indicators. And the first one, again, always makes me happy – the doses administered to-date. Great number, growing steadily, especially because of our mandates and incentives – 11,258,785 doses from day-one – extraordinary number, and more to come, as we're about to, hopefully, very, very soon be able to reach five- to 11-year-old kids and do boosters for older New Yorkers and others in need. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 112 patients. Confirmed positivity, 25.41 percent. Hospitalization rate – today's number is 1.1 per 100,000. So, that's really good news. And then, new report cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 1,551 cases.

A few words in Spanish, and it's obviously Climate Week, such an important week for this city, for the nation, for the world. And we're celebrating some really big victories for New York City.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder today, we're joined by Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Mitch Katz, Chancellor Meisha Porter, Ben Furnace, Mayor's Office of Climate and Sustainability Director, Vincent Schiraldi, DOC commissioner, and Marco Soler, the Director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice.

Moderator: Next, we have Peter from CBS Radio. 

Mayor: Peter, are you there? 

Question: Yes, sir. Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Peter, how are you doing today? 

Question: Good, thanks. Teachers union that has concerns about the school quarantine plan. You've got young kids not vaccinated, maybe not great at wearing masks. The weather gets colder, they spend more time inside. Is this a recipe for a potential surge in the schools? 

Mayor: Well, our health leadership doesn't think that, and I'll turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi who are a part of this discussion. I know Dr. Katz is on, I don't know if Dr. Chokshi is on. Yes, he is, okay. We've had this discussion now over days and weeks trying to figure out the right balance, Peter. And we came to the conclusion that, you know, we have to combine two imperatives, health and safety, of course first, but maximum attendance by kids in school, which is also a health matter. And this is something we have heard from medical leadership all over the nation. Getting our kids back in school is about their health and wellbeing. Keeping them in school unless there is a specific reason to have them out. So, that's how we struck the balance. Dr. Katz and then Dr. Chokshi, do you want to speak to that? 

President Katz: Yes, sir. The American Academy of Pediatrics has been very clear that children belong in school. And I feel very comfortable with the protocols we have with both the testing and contact tracing when necessary for keeping kids safe throughout our schools. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, I agree. We do have this dual mission, keeping kids safe and also keeping kids in school learning in-person as much as is possible. And that's the root, you know, of the health and safety protocols that we've described, which do use a layered approach to prevention, not just testing but also the isolation and quarantine policies, but also masking, distancing, ventilation, and also the most important layer of safety which is vaccination. And it's no coincidence that the changes that we're putting into place occur [inaudible] with the mandate for all adults in school buildings to be vaccinated, because that is such an important part of keeping our kids safe.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next, we have Dana from the New York Times. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Will you be releasing any numbers on the success of the return to office plan? Like is there an absentee rate you're keeping track of, or are you keeping track of the number of folks who have offered their resignations in response?

Mayor: We'll happily update with anything we're hearing. I've got to say, I get updated, as you see, with the various cards in front of me. We have so many dashboards and updates going all the time. I'm not hearing, Dana, a problem. Certainly, you know, we've heard of a couple of resignations, but nothing substantial. I'm not hearing any problems with absenteeism, but we'll certainly double check. And if there's anything notable, be happy to share with you. What I'm hearing is that the offices – you know, the vast majority of people understand their work is crucial to the people in New York City, especially at a comeback moment like this. And going back to what they were doing before is natural, obviously, to people and it's helping us do the work. But any other details we'll definitely share with you. 

Moderator: We have time for two more today. The next question goes to Elizabeth from Gothamist WNYC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. My question is about the closure of P.S. 79. I know you and your Health officials were asked about the details yesterday. I'm wondering if you can give the public some more details today about what – how the decision to close that school came about? I know in the past you've said that school closures would be done on a case by case basis. But since that one was the first, you know, I'm wondering if, you know, you can kind of give the public some understanding of how you plan to approach school closures? Like what was the number involved? Number of cases involved in that particular school that led you to decide that the school needs to be closed?

Mayor: So, let me give a quick frame on this. I will affirm the information I have right now, it's the only one of our 1,600 schools that has had a full closure. And that is, thank God, a good thing. I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz, Dr. Chokshi, Chancellor Porter, to see whoever wants to join in. But my frame for this Elizabeth, which I think is important is Test and Trace Corps and situation room are looking at each situation individually. There's not a perfect algorithm or chart. It really depends on the individual circumstances. Remember those twin imperatives that I feel strongly, President Biden has enunciated, the CDC has enunciated, health and safety first and maximum school attendance. So, we're always trying to figure out where that balance point is, and it has to be done looking at all the facts. Whether there's a way to keep a certain number of people in school while keeping them safe or whether a fuller closure is needed. In terms of how to think about that, sort of the rules of the road, if you will, Dr. Katz, Dr. Chokshi, Chancellor, anyone jump in, in that order.

President Katz: Yes, sir. I think you've covered it. We are you making individual decisions, always with the best interest of the children in mind. We look at the number of cases. We look at what the circumstances were in terms of whether or not there was mask wearing, whether or not the children were able to stay apart. And based on that, we make a decision as to what to do with the school. Thank you.

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes sir. Just to elaborate, the criteria that we use to determine what we call widespread transmission in a school, is what determines when that high threshold is met for school closure. And that's evidence of multiple sources of infection, in multiple spaces or cohorts within a school. When we're finding preliminary evidence of this, an investigation occurs by our disease detectives. And based on their determination, if there is a reasonably high likelihood that ongoing transmission is occurring within the school, as opposed to you know, in a home setting or the community setting, that's what warrants the school closure. So, it is a combination of quantitative criteria, where we look at of course the number of cases, but also compare that to the overall size of the school population. But also some shoe-leather epidemiology to figure out where the actual sources of infection are. And it's bringing those things together into an assessment to determine when that high threshold for school closure is met.

Mayor: Today's phrase is shoe-leather epidemiology. Very, very clever. Chancellor, anything you want to add? Chancellor?

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Yes.

Mayor: There you go.

Chancellor Porter: Can you hear me? Yeah. So, I'll just add really briefly that I think one of the things that's important is to get our folks vaccinated. That's why we're doing this. The case started from an unvaccinated adult and spread across several adults in the building. The great thing is that our schools had already done the work of setting up dual classrooms, being prepared to pivot to remote. And so learning is still happening, but it also really encourages this moment to continue our vaccine work across our system.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Jillian from WBAI.

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor, last as usual.

Mayor: Oh, but Jillian, welcome back. How have you been?

Question: Thank you. Thank you. I've been well, thank you. I tried unsuccessfully to take some time off.

Mayor: Well, I know the feeling.

Question: I bet you do. So, my first question is that I received an email from a listener of our show living in the city who reported while she was riding an uptown A train in Inwood, and I could get more specific with, you know, the time, place, all that stuff, that there were three people sitting on the train across from her, either not wearing masks or wearing them improperly. There were two police officers who were on the train as well, but they just kind of stood there. Eventually, she went up to the cops whose own masks weren't fitted properly. And they readjusted when they, when she came to talk with them. And she said that the officers actually told her they were instructed from Downtown not to approach maskless people unless they are interacting with others. So, what exactly are the mask rules for the police regarding enforcement? And also, for interacting with the public, especially following the August mask directive?

Mayor: Well, thank you for the question. I’m going to tell you what I know. And then if there's any area we need a follow up, we'll get it for you. Clearly officers who are in indoor spaces or in any mandated space, should be wearing masks. A mandated space like mass transit. An officer is fully vaccinated and is outdoors, obviously it depends on the context like for all of us. But no, the instruction is very clear to officers to have masks on in transit. Equally if a member of the community raises a concern, neighborhood policing says respond to the concern. So, letting someone know it's important to have a mask on and providing a mask whenever possible is always the optimal situation. We are not obviously trying to get the NYPD into any kind of detailed mask enforcement. That's not something we focus on. But educating people, reminding people, giving them a mask, those are the right things to do. I will follow up with the NYPD to make sure that those instructions are clear, or if there's anything else that they want to add about the approach they're taking. We'll get that to you.

Mayor: Well, with that, everyone, look, it's a reminder that we're coming out of COVID. We really are. And the numbers are so extraordinary in this city. And they bear reminding that we've now gotten almost 81 percent, almost 81 percent of adults in the city have received at least one dose of the vaccine. That is breathtaking. And that's something New Yorkers should be proud of. We're going to keep that effort going forward. Every single New Yorker who gets vaccinated helps us leave the COVID era behind. So, everyone's a part of the solution. We need you so we can turn the page once and for all. Thank you, everybody.

2021-09-22 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

Now, we set a very bold course over the summer. We said, we're going to push the spectrum. We're going to do things that are being done – that haven't been done any place else. We're going to lead the United States of America in new strategies to achieve more vaccination. Obviously, we did incentives – the $100 bonus. That was a huge boost. President Biden picked up on that immediately and encouraged that all over the country. The workforce mandates that we put in place for our public workforce were replicated all over the country. And the Key to NYC – look, the Key to NYC has been a great example of us doing something here, proving it could work, proving it can be done – indoor dining entertainment, fitness. What we did here, started the ball rolling for so many other places.

I want you to see a chart that really epitomizes the progress we're making. And we like when that line goes up, up, up, and that means more and more vaccinations. But they correlate – the increased correlates to the strategies. So, in the beginning, you see there's definitely an increase, but then it picks up at the time of the $100 incentive. That was really a boost. People connected with that. They wanted that. It got more and more people vaccinated. Then we did the vaccinate or test mandate for City workers. You see the numbers go up more then. Then, we did the Key to NYC. When we did the Key to NYC, it was after we had done the 5 million dose mark, but then we hit nearly 5.5 million as a result of these additional strategies. So, hundreds of thousands more doses that happened because of incentives and mandates at the right time, the right way, they keep driving vaccination numbers up, and they will even more now. Stronger mandates come into place. Obviously, starting on Monday, the important mandate for everyone that works in our schools. You're going to see his numbers continue to climb. So, this combination works, but we're going to keep pressing and keep making vaccination available everywhere.

And tomorrow is Vaccine Day of Action in Queens and we're using another great tool that we intensified over the summer and into the fall now – mobile vaccine buses. The mobile units have been incredibly successful. We're doing more and more of that. There's going to be one right here at Borough Hall tomorrow, Thursday. So, anyone's not yet vaccinated or needs that second dose, come on over. And if you need more information, go to nyc.gov/VaxThursdayQueens.

Okay. Now, we were able to create extraordinary progress on vaccination, which has lowered the impact of COVID in this city, which has sped up our recovery. We did that by being creative. We did that by doing things we had never done before and weren't done any place else. We said, we're going to do it the New York City way – bold, fast, intense, make things happen. And we're going to think outside the box, we were going to be creative. And that is what has sustained us during the COVID crisis, always creating new approaches, new solutions, engaging the people of this city.

All right, as we do every day, we're turning to indicators. And again, you heard, or you saw, I should, say the chart earlier, really good progress on vaccinations. That number is going to climb a lot as these additional mandates are coming into play in the coming days. The number today, absolutely outstanding, 11,287,130 doses from day one. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 117 patients. Confirmed positivity of 27.13 percent. Hospitalization rate, this is really important, this is the number we watch particularly – today's rate per 100,000, 1.04. That is really important and really good news. It proves that vaccination is working. And new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 1,505 cases. A few words in Spanish, my favorite topic vaccination and the fact that it's vaccination – a huge vaccination push in Queens. Vaccination day of action tomorrow, all over Queens.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We’ll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Borough President Richards, by Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes, by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, by DOC Commissioner Vinny Schiraldi, by MOCJ Director at Marcos Soler, and by Deputy Commissioner for DCAS Keith Kerman. Amanda from Politico. 

Question: Hello from Room Nine. I wanted to ask, since we're talking about, you know, being in person and at work today, the City Council has a policy for its central staff, which is about 300 people, where they're only asked to come in at least one day a week, starting October 14th. This policy seems pretty at odds with the policy that you've been pushing and have faced lawsuits over. So, I was hoping that you could weigh in on your thoughts about, you know, 300 municipal workers, not under the same policy that you're offering, or you're asking your employees to participate in. 

Mayor: Look, Amanda, it's – you said something important. There's 300 workers out of almost 400,000. So, you know, I respect the City Council. It's its own branch of government. I don't agree with them. But what we're finding with the overall effort is we're seeing really good results. People are doing their work, they're connecting with their colleagues and the public while keeping people safe. I would urge the Council to join in.

Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg.

Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: I'm doing great, Henry. How about you?

Question: I'm doing very well. Thanks. I see you've got Mr. Met there at your elbow.

Mayor: Mr. Met is like – the problem with this Mr. Met, even though I appreciate the gift from the Borough President, is he's ready to fall over all the time. I think he needs a little more body to go with this head.

Question: Well, you're very happy because the Red Sox have survived and appear to be headed for the postseason. So, you can afford to tap Mr. Met on the head and keep smiling. But let me ask you a couple of questions. My first question is about vaccination of teachers. What is the percentage of teachers who were vaccinated as of today and what are you going to do about the remainder who need to at least have one shot by Monday?

Mayor: So, I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz, whoever has the statistics handy in just a moment. Henry, what we have seen literally day by day is the numbers going up. I don't have a doubt in my mind. When you look at the numbers we're receiving the fact that we're seeing relatively few requests for any kind of religious or medical exemption. I think the unions involved have been very clear in supporting vaccination for their members and pushing people to do it and trying to support it and make it easier. I'm certain we're going to hit the mark we have to hit. Because it's quite clear. Everyone understands how important it is. And this is how we keep our schools right for our kids. In terms of the exact number today, Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz, do you have something else? We'll get it to Henry later on.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Sir, I don't have the precise number on hand. I know the Department of Education is following it very closely. And we have seen increases just over the last week including because of our onsite vaccine clinics at so many school buildings last week. So, Henry we will be happy to coordinate with the Chancellor and our colleagues to get you the precise number.

Mayor: And I'm handed a note just now. And I believe this is for all types of DOE staff saying that we're around the 80 percent mark at this point. But I want us to confirm that formally. Dr. Katz, did you have anything to add on that?

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: No, sir. Thank you.

Mayor: Okay. Go ahead, Henry.

Question: If it's 80 percent that means the 20 percent of about 80,000 teachers at least aren't vaccinated. So, that's about 16,000 teachers in classrooms who are not vaccinated.

Mayor: Yeah. Henry, go ahead. I'm sorry.

Question: What do you intend to do when Monday comes around and there are all of these un-vaccinated teachers are at the head of these classrooms?

Mayor: I don't believe you're going to see that. And I think there's a lot of time on the clock. Everyone knows what time it is. Everyone knows what we're dealing with. I've been handed another note. Specifically, for teachers and the percentage now is 87 percent. So, that 80 percent or so number was all staff. Obviously, the teachers is the single biggest component. So, 87 percent there. Henry, it is moving rapidly. Because everyone knows there's a deadline coming up. And again, I think, very important question you're asking, but I think the really interesting pertinent point is how many requests for exemption, religious or medical? Very, very few. There is a broad understanding among teachers, among staff. It's time to get vaccinated if you haven't. And if you're not going to, there was an arbitration for God's sakes. Everyone understands what happens if you're not vaccinated in time, what the penalties are. I don't expect a lot of people want to experience those penalties. I think the vast, vast majority want to be in the classroom supporting their kids. If there are folks who on Monday are non-compliant, deciding not to do this, we have a huge core of vaccinated substitutes rate to move in. So, we're really confident that we can make this equation work.

Mayor: The next is Yoav from The City.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to revisit the issue I asked about last week regarding special education students who attend private schools at the DOE’s expense because the public schools are unable to serve them. There are a group of the neediest students who are mandated to get yellow bus service, but who didn't get it because the DOE essentially said, sorry, we can't provide bus service prior to September 13th. And that means these kids went a week or more without a legitimate means to get to school. And this was after more than a year of remote learning, where many of their essential supports weren't provided. So, I just wanted to get a better understanding of what you know about the situation? And how you justify the DOE thinking it's okay, simply not to provide such an essential and required service?

Mayor: I appreciate the question, Yoav. And obviously, you know, I've focused a lot over the years on trying to improve support for special ed kids and their families. It was deeply, deeply lacking when I came into office. I can guarantee you, we've made a series of changes to try and make it easier for kids to get the special ed support they need and families to get the reimbursement they deserve and a number of other things. But I don't have the final facts on why this happened. Obviously, if it happened, it wasn't supposed to happen. I'm not happy about it. But the people online today are not the people that can answer that. I'll have the Department of Education and I'm sure our First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan and his team can also provide information because they've worked to secure bus service each time. If the bus service should have been there for the kids, then it's not acceptable it wasn't. We'll get you an update and we'll make sure it doesn't happen again is the bottom line. Go ahead, Yoav.

Question: For that I'm still waiting. Chancellor Porter indicated I would get a more detailed response last week. I'm still waiting on that. On another issue, I just wanted to ask your public schedule online hasn't been updated since April 2020. What's happening with that? When can we expect an update?

Mayor: I don't know the answer to that. That's the first I've heard that. We'll make sure that our scheduling team and our Legal team figure out what's going on with that and get the appropriate updates out.

So, as we conclude today, everyone, just like all the other things we're doing to address the pandemic, this city is always as best when we're innovating, when we're pushing the spectrum, when we're being bold. That's what's going to get us out of this pandemic and move us forward and give us a recovery for all of us. Thank you.

2021-09-23 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Queens Week continues, 

Okay, we're going to do indicators now. And, again, the first one is always about the vaccination doses, real progress. We're seeing very healthy numbers day by day. And some of the most powerful mandates are only going to start taking effect next week. So, you're going to see those numbers keep going up. Doses administered to date, 11,314,675. And right now, we are now well over 81 percent of adults having received at least one dose. I really want people to dwell on that number. Over 81 percent of adults in the city have received at least one dose. We're almost to the point now, 70 percent of the total population having received at least one dose. So, really, really important. Number two, daily number people admitted to hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 132 patients. Confirmed positivity, only 9.29 percent. That's good. And here's the one that's most important in this category. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 1.03. Very important, very much in the right direction. Finally, number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 1,434 cases. Finally, a few words in Spanish and the focus is where we began on public safety and the way public safety is the foundation of a strong recovery of this city. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Chief of Department Rodney Harrison, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, Dr. Jay Varma, Dr. Mitch Katz, Director of MOCJ Marcos Soler, Department of Corrections, Commissioner Vinnie Schiraldi, and Emergency Management Commissioner John Scrivani. Our first question today goes to Andrea from CBS.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for taking my questions. I just wanted to ask about the DOE vaccine mandate and the decision from last night. Councilman Treyger tweeted today that DOE central staffing, he's hearing, is going to be redeployed to schools next week to deal with a staffing shortage, but it's unclear if there'll be required to teach. Can you just – is that true? And what is the plan for next week in terms of potential staffing shortages?

Mayor: Thank you for the question, Andrea. First of all, let's focus on what the judge decided. The judge said that the city's vaccine mandate for educators and staff in our schools is absolutely appropriate. It is legal, it is fair, and we're moving forward with it on Monday. Second, we've had relatively few requests for medical or religious exemption. Again, each of those gets reviewed individually. Some of those will be approved some won't by definition. So, we do not see a noncompliance. In fact, we see very high levels of compliance growing every day, but to the point about being ready to re deploy resources, as we've said, we have thousands and thousands of vaccinated experienced substitute teachers ready to go. That's the obvious first go-to, but it's also true that central staff has thousands of educators, certified educators, who could step into different roles if needed. So, they’ll be ready, but the reality we're seeing right now is we think the overwhelming majority of our educators and staff are going to be there on Monday having gotten that first dose and moving forward, go ahead, Andrea.

Question: So, what does that mean for those who don't? Because it's still – from what we're hearing – it's still, even though there is overwhelming compliance, there's still thousands of staffers who right now haven't gotten the vaccine. So, what does that mean for them? Are they going to get a letter Monday morning? What’s the message for parents?

Mayor: Well, the message for parents is that you're going to have buildings that only have vaccinated adults in them, period. The process is still continuing, and I understand the sense of urgency in your voice, I respect it, but I want to tell you from the position of the work we're doing, we got all the Thursday, all of Friday, all of Saturday, all of Sunday, and people are out there getting vaccinated. I have no question we're going to close the gap intensely and look someone who decides between now and Monday that they don't want to come to work with that to get vaccinated. Well, the consequences are made really clear by the arbitration. In short order, they're not going to be getting a paycheck. I think the vast majority of educators and staff want to serve kids, want to keep getting paid, and the trend lines very, very good. We'll put out –you know, a lot of people follow up and go over to exact protocols with you, but any situation where additional staffing is needed, we have staff that can be deployed very quickly to wherever they're needed in the city.

Moderator: The next question goes to Giovanni from the Staten Island Advance.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for taking my question. How are you today?

Mayor: I'm doing well. How are you?

Question: Pretty good. So, my first question actually addressed when you were talking about deploying, you know, moving substitute teachers if you need to for potential shortages on Monday. But in terms of the religious and medical exemptions, do you have an exact number? The percentage of teachers who have asked for the exemptions?

Mayor: I don't have it in front of me, but I'll make sure the DOE gets you that update. What we saw was the rules were, you know, through the arbitration process, very, very clear about what constituted the types of criteria for those exemptions. And what the consequences are if someone doesn't have an exemption and chooses not to work. So, I think what's different in these last few days compared to weeks ago is the ground rules were 100 percent set through an arbitration process that involved the city and the union. I have been struck at how few people have applied for those exemptions. We'll get you the final numbers. And the process of determining who gets them and who doesn't is playing out over these next few days. But again, we saw, you know, even yesterday, I think as we were talking through the vaccination numbers. You see they're jumping up intensely among educators and staff. I think the truth is a hell of a lot of people are getting ready for Monday. They hadn't gotten vaccinated yet. They're planning to do it the next few days. Go ahead.

Question: Could you maybe go into some of that criteria so I know like with religious exemptions, for example, there have been leaders such as the Pope that have said it's okay you know, to get – for Catholics to get the vaccine. So, are there any religious exemptions that you know of?

Mayor: Yeah, it's a great question. Thank you. Yes. And very powerfully Pope Francis has been abundantly clear that there's nothing in scripture that suggests people shouldn't get vaccinated. Obviously, so many people of all faiths have been getting vaccinated for years and decades. There are, I believe it's two well-established religions, Christian Science and Jehovah's Witnesses that have a history on this, of a religious opposition. But overwhelmingly the faiths all around the world have been supportive of vaccination. So, we are saying very clearly, it's not something someone can make up individually. It has to be, you're a standing member of a faith that has a very, very specific long-standing objection. Go ahead.

Mayor: Everybody want to bring it all together here in saying, you know, we've covered a lot of ground today, but it is all about our recovery. It's all about bringing New York City back. What's been really impressive in Queens Week is the spirit, the energy of Queens. I'm going to say goodbye to Mr. Met here. And remind everyone that the single largest vaccination site the City sponsored anywhere in New York City, Citi Field, thank you to the Mets. But look, Queens has been really leading the way in our recovery, highest level of vaccination in any part of the city. That's a challenge to the other four boroughs, get with it. Come on, try and keep up with Queens.

Borough President Richards: Let’s go.

Mayor: And this is how we move forward. So, we've got a lot more we're going to be doing today and tomorrow. It's been a great week, Mr. Borough President. I thank you.

Borough President Richards: Thank you.

Mayor: And everybody, let's keep moving forward. Thanks a lot.

Borough President Richards: Thank you.

2021-09-24 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, again, everyone. And now it's time for our Friday Ask the Mayor call-in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 646-435-7280 or tweet a question, and it will jump right out at us if you use the hashtag, #AsktheMayor, #AsktheMayor. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. And boy, do I have breaking news for you. It's five minutes ago. I think that's as breaking as it gets. As of now, as of this exact moment, New Yorkers in a number of different categories are eligible for the third booster shot, Pfizer only, for the COVID vaccine. This is for Pfizer only. For anyone who has had at least six months since their second shot. Here are the categories, it is really important for people to hear this – if you are 65 or older, if you're in a long-term care facility or nursing home, if you are between 18 and 64 years old with an underlying medical condition, or between 18 and 64 years old and you're a frontline worker or health care worker doing direct work with the public. In all those categories, people are now eligible, literally now. So, you can go online VAX4NYC – that's V-A-X, number four, N-Y-C – .nyc.gov. Either make an appointment right now for the coming days or you can get a list of all the City-run sites, and you can walk-in today to any City-run site if you're in those categories. And you – again, if it's been more than six months since your second shot, and you can get that Pfizer booster shot starting literally right now today. 

Lehrer: That is good news for many people. Now about those first shots, the vaccine mandate for teachers takes effect on Monday, as, of course, you know. And their union, the UFT, is warning of staffing shortages because of some meaningful number of teachers who won't comply. And I guess they'll be fired. Do you have an estimate and a plan for maybe thousands of substitute or replacement teachers beginning Monday? 

Mayor: I want to frame this real quick. This is something we worked on, obviously, for weeks and weeks. There's been plenty of time for teachers, staff to get vaccinated. In fact, what we see is people getting vaccinated at a very, very high level. There's all of today, there's all of tomorrow. There's all of Sunday, even into Monday to get vaccinated. So, one, the vast, vast majority of teachers and staff are making the decision to get vaccinated, be part of the solution, continue with their work. What we're seeing so far is a very small number of requests for medical or religious exemption. Only in the hundreds have been approved so far. And again, there's well over 100,000 teachers and staff, and we're going to work with anyone who needs to get vaccinated between now and the deadline. If they don't get vaccinated, they consciously make the choice not to get vaccinated, they will be suspended without pay, but there is a process. It's all been delineated by the arbitrator of how to address that. If someone wants to come back, there's a way to do that. If they don't, then there are consequences. But the fact is we've been planning all along. We have a lot of substitutes ready, but I think the big story here is going to be that the vast majority, overwhelming majority of teachers and staff are going to come in vaccinated to serve our kids next week. 

Lehrer: But if you have a 97 percent vaccination rate, you're still going to need thousands of replacement teachers. 

Mayor: And we have them. We've talked about this all since last year, we had an extraordinary recruitment effort for last year when we had – obviously last year we had about 25 percent of our teachers home on medical accommodation. We had to recruit a huge number of new teachers. We did that. They're overwhelmingly vaccinated themselves. They're available, they're ready. We have a number of people in the school system who obviously are certified teachers playing different roles right now, but who can go back into classrooms to help. I think the bottom line here is a lot's going to happen between now and Monday, but beyond that, we're ready even to the tune of, if we need thousands, we have thousands. 

Lehrer: “If we need thousands, we have thousands.” Now my colleagues in the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom have a story out today that details how one high school in Brooklyn dealt with a COVID-19 incident at a professional development meeting the week before school started this month. Apparently, some staff were unmasked at this event and one of them later tested positive. There were 59 close contacts identified, 21 staff members had to quarantine going into the first day of classes. Parents and teachers were notified about the case, but not about the scale of how many staff were affected. And what the teachers in public health experts, my colleagues talked with for that story, told them was that the incident really highlights how these gaps in the City's protocols can leave a lot of people in the dark about what's really happening at their schools. So, how would you comment on that? 

Mayor: Well, I don't want to see that and that wasn't our experience all of last year and all during summer with Summer Rising. Anytime – first of all, people, all our staff, all our teachers have to follow protocols. This is why we want a totally vaccinated system, first of all, for everyone’s safety. Second, when you're in a situation where you need to wear masks, you have to wear a mask. And that's been overwhelmingly the case. If there is a contact and it leads to a bigger situation in the school, that's what Test and Trace does, they analyze that, then, of course, have to immediately alert the school community. And that's what happened in the vast, vast majority of instances. If it doesn't happen in any case, we have to fix that, and it's not acceptable. I was a public school parent. Parents need to know, the whole school community needs to know immediately when something like that is confirmed. 

Lehrer: What the public health experts in that story said, is that parents and staff would be much more informed if the City posted the vaccination rates for each school and that you could do that without violating any employee confidentiality laws, if you aggregated it so that no single individual teacher or staff member was identifiable. Sound like a good idea to you? 

Mayor: Well, I'm confused by the question. I want to make sure I'm understanding it. I mean, as of – you know, Monday is the day where everything's going to be sorted out. As of Tuesday, the only adults who are going to be in a school building are people vaccinated. So, that's where I'm a little confused by your question. 

Lehrer: Right. And I see, I understand that maybe your answer does address that concern because the vaccination rates would automatically be a hundred percent. So, fair enough. 

Mayor: Right – 

Lehrer: All right.

Lehrer: Jan in Manhattan, who says her daughter is a teacher in Brooklyn. Jan, you are WNYC with the Mayor. Hello.

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, you just said several times that there are plenty of people in the substitute teachers. I'm actually the substitute caller for my daughter who's teaching right now. I would like to say that there are just no teachers. She said they're already short-staffed in her school. She's a special ed teacher in Brooklyn. And so when, you know, someone calls in sick, they redistribute the kids rather than to have a substitute teacher come in. It happens all the time. And she hears about this similar situation in all the other schools around her.

Mayor: Well, Jan, I appreciate the question. Look, this is – I'm sure there's individual situations where something has to be done better. But then there are just pure facts from what we experienced last year. We went through a whole school year with 25 percent of the teachers at home. And we had to bring in thousands and thousands of new teachers and substitute teachers who had worked with us before, doing a lot more work with us. And it happened, it happened. Everyone saw it, it happened, you know, many, many thousands who are ready to go again. So, I'm sure we'll have to make adjustments along the way, but there's no lack of people who want to teach. And again, what we're seeing and I want to emphasize, you know, even when there's differences that we may have with the unions involved, every union has pushed hard for people to get vaccinated to their credit. And the vast, vast majority of teachers and staff have gotten vaccinated and a lot more are getting vaccinated right now. So yes, we'll have to use some substitutes. There's no question. But we don't lack for substitute teachers. And we'll make the adjustments. And if we have to bring even more, we'll get even more.

Lehrer: Also, on the vaccination requirement for teachers beginning Monday, a listener on Twitter asks, can you ask the Mayor what religious slash medical exemptions will mean? And will they be allowed to report to schools? And I think we, you know, people generally know some of the medical exemptions. What are the religious exemptions? Do you have specific religions that don't allow vaccinations?

Mayor: Yeah. The best example is Christian Scientists religion, which is, you know, has been known for decades and decades to oppose vaccination. Someone is proven to be a member of that religion, that's something that predates the pandemic, is not someone claiming something a new. You know, someone's a member of that religion, that's the kind of thing that would lead to a valid exemption. Now my understanding is there've been very few, if any cases, that have met the standard that the arbitrator set for the religious side. There have definitely been, as I said, hundreds on the medical exemption side. But only hundreds out of a staff and teaching core of well over a hundred thousand. So, if someone does -- this all came out of the arbitration decision during the arbitration process with the union. If someone meets the religious or medical standard, they continue to work, but not in a school setting because the school settings have to be 100 percent all vaccinated adults. But what we're seeing so far is it's quite a small number of people in the scheme of things. And quite a few, quite a small number of applicants. I think that's really important, Brian. Everyone projects in advance, everyone worries. I don't blame – and the media puts out all sorts of scenarios. Here we are. It's Friday, you know, the mandate takes effect next week. We've had relatively few applications even, for medical or religious exemptions.

Lehrer: Thanks, as always Mr. Mayor, talk to you next week. 

Mayor: Take care, Brian.

2021-09-27 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Happy Monday. Let's begin with what's possibly my favorite topic, vaccination. So, we are seeing an amazing recovery in this city. We’ve got a long way to go, but we're seeing recovery. You go around the city, you can feel it. I was around this weekend, different parts of the city, incredible energy. Why? Because people got vaccinated. New Yorkers proved that they were going to do everything to fight back. And the best way to fight back was to get vaccinated, get your family vaccinated. People went and did it. The numbers are astounding and I want everyone to be proud of the fact that, as of today, more than 82 percent of New York City adults have had at least one dose of the vaccine. More than 82 percent, that's an astounding figure, that's something every one of you should be proud of. And thank you to everyone who's participated.

Now, we have a chance to double down and protect more New Yorkers because of boosters. We're very, very happy that the booster shots are here. I want to make it clear from the beginning, we're going to get different authorizations at different times. Right now, it's Pfizer recipients – folks who got Pfizer shots before can get Pfizer boosters now. Moderna will come along later – Johnson & Johnson. But, right now, it's folks who originally got Pfizer shots can get the Pfizer booster. We do expect those other approvals very soon for boosters. And the one I'm particularly excited about, as early as next month, the approval for vaccine for the five- to 11-year-olds – that is crucial and that's going to be so important for this city.

But, right now, for Pfizer recipients, here are the ground rules, and it covers a lot of New Yorkers. If you're 65 or older, you can get a booster. Adults with underlying serious conditions, you can get a booster. If you work in a high-risk setting, you can get a booster. If you're ready, you can get them right now. Go to vax4nyc.nyc.gov. Again, vax – number four – nyc.nyc.gov. Now, if you don't qualify, or you got the Moderna or the Johnson & Johnson – again, the original vaccination has a lot of impact, is providing a lot of protection. And we do believe those authorizations are coming soon for boosters. So, right now, we want to get boosters to everyone to qualifies, all the folks who had Pfizer previously and qualify. But we're, obviously, every single day, continuing the effort to get folks vaccinated for the very first time who have not yet, getting second shots to people that need second shots. But again, let's be proud of New York City – over 82 percent of adults have had at least one dose. That's a big, big deal.

Now, want to update everyone on the school vaccination mandate. There was a court action late Friday, temporary hold, but not a full trial. There is going to be a full procedure in the course of this week. And we are very, very confident that the City, the Department of Education is going to prevail, because we're trying to protect kids, we're trying to protect families, we're trying to protect working people in our schools. We've been in court with this very same set of information, very same argument at both the State and the federal level. We've won previously. We expect to win again and quickly this week. In the meantime, for the next few days, the previous vaccinate or test mandate remains in effect. That went into effect September 13th, that continues. So, everyone who works at the Department of Education, right now you either have to be vaccinated or you have to be getting that weekly test. We expect as early as the end of this week that we'll be going to the full vaccine mandate. But, of course, we will go through the whole court process.

But here's what's very good news in the meantime, because we had that vaccine mandate coming. People responded. In fact, even on Friday, even on Saturday, we saw the number of vaccinations in the Department of Education shoot upward – 7,000 more vaccinations just on those days. So, here's where we stand right now. Based on the information we have – and there's always a bit of a lag, getting the most updated vaccination information, and sometimes it's also employees showing us vaccination information if they got it in another jurisdiction, if they got vaccinated in New Jersey, for example. But, right now, here's our numbers – 87 percent of all Department of Education employees have had at least one dose – 87 percent, great number. 90 percent of teachers, 97 percent of principals, leading the way. Thank you to everyone who got vaccinated. A particular thanks to the principals for their leadership. And we've gotten information from the United Federation of Teachers. They're doing their own tracking. They believe that for their members, teachers, paras, other members – that number is actually higher. They believe that number is closer to 97 percent for their members. So, we would be thrilled as more information comes in to get that number up organically. But we're continuing every single day to tell folks, come get vaccinated. We're making it easy. It's available everywhere. Let's get ready for this vaccine mandate to take full effect as soon as we get through this court process. But look at these numbers already – for everyone, especially for parents and kids, this should be a real sense of relief to see the numbers are already so high. And that says great things about our ability to have a safe school system and keep everything moving really, really well for our kids.

Everybody, we're coming up on our indicators as we do every day, but I want to give you some breaking news I want to share with you about the Key to NYC vaccine mandate. There was a legal challenge to the Key to NYC – again, the mandate for indoor dining, entertainment, fitness. Legal challenge in the Eastern District, federal court, an attempt to get a temporary restraining order on the Key to NYC. The Eastern District court has denied that restraining order and the Key to NYC, once again, has prevailed in court. So, this is further evidence, and other reason we're confident about the mandate that we have for the schools – every time there is a full court decision, we find that these mandates are affirmed, because they keep people safe, and they help us stop a global pandemic and turn a corner once and for all on COVID.

And speaking of which, here are our indicators. First of all, doses administered to-date, amazing figure today – 11,416,837. Every day, I've been watching the figures every day. They remain strong. You're going to see another uptick this week, because of mandates coming into play. Also, of course, now we're going to start to see the boosters. So, this is a very, very good number. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 120 patients. Confirmed positivity level 26.32 percent. And then, our hospitalization rate. And this is, again, one of the most important numbers, and a good one today – 1.07 per 100,000. Finally, number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,320 cases.

I’m going to say a few words in Spanish, particularly on the storm response and the support we're going to provide for immigrant families, including undocumented immigrants.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

Mayor: With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning, we will now begin the Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Mitch Katz, Emergency Management Commissioner John Scrivani, Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Vincent Sapienza, Director for Mayor's Office of Climate Resiliency Jainey Bavishi, MOCJ Director Marcos Soler, and Chancellor Meisha Porter. Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Happy Monday to you. 

Mayor: Happy Monday, Andrew, how you feel? 

Question: I'm doing pretty well, thanks. With regard to the now paused vaccine mandate for school employees, the UFT is saying that this morning teachers who were not vaccinated or staff were not vaccinated, got an internal message saying they're not allowed to report to the building and that they notified you guys or the DOE about this at 6:15 in the morning, and it wasn't fixed until 8:00 in the morning. What they're saying is, this is further proof that you're not ready for this mandate to go into place, and that if there is a staffing shortage, you are not ready to meet that. What is your response? 

Mayor: Well, I will first say that that alert was a mistake. And, you know, there is human error out there, which is a very different question than level of readiness. It shouldn't have happened. It was a mistake. It was caught, it was corrected, and it had very little negative impact. So, I'm not happy about it, but I'm glad it got fixed. And we just put some additional safeguards in place to make sure that no such alerts go without additional sign off to make sure they’re the right thing. But to the readiness point, let's go over the numbers again. Right now, 87 percent of all DOE employees – this is what we know of this moment, we know this number is higher. Again, 90 percent of all teachers, 97 percent of all principals. In fact, the UFT themselves says amongst their members who are a huge part of the school system, the number is closer to 97 percent of members vaccinated. I think the facts speak for themselves, Andrew. We’re going to have the staffing we need, and the mandate has already worked because it's encouraged so many people that get vaccinated to protect each other and our kids. So, we're confident we're going to win in court. We're confident we're going to be able to implement this as early as the end of the week. And we're confident we're going to have the personnel we need. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: Second question, zeroing in on Staten Island as an area of concern, we're hearing from folks like Joe Borelli and others that their staffing concern is specifically schools out there where they've been told anywhere from 13 to 50 people at one building might not be there. And separately, you may have heard about an anti-vaccine protest over the weekend at the Staten Island Mall, where people in the food court were shouted down. It was, sort of, a strong show from an anti-vax movement. What are you planning to do, if anything, about a culture of opposition to the vaccine on Staten Island and at schools there? 

Mayor: Well, I don't think there is a culture of opposition in the end. I think there's some people opposed, but it has not manifested as some bigger reality. They went, they had a protest, they left. That's that. It's, again, we're seeing that – this number doesn't lie. Over 82 percent of adults in New York City have received at least one dose and more will be, I guarantee it, this week. So, I think this, sort of, question of where is New York City going, where are the people going? It's already settled. The vast, vast majority have already made the decision that vaccinations are the right thing to do. I mean, 82 percent. I like to say it this way, Andrew. When else have you ever seen 82 percent of New Yorkers agree on anything? So, this is a staggering figure in Staten Island and all five boroughs. And in terms of the schools, I've been asking the exact same question, great minds think alike. We are not hearing, so far, any instance of a school where the numbers of folks who will be out are more than we can address. And I think some people say that they are going to leave when this finally comes into place they're going to leave, but they have to make a really big decision. Do they really want to give up on their kids and the school community? Do they want to give up a paycheck? I think a lot of people when they really think about it are going to realize that getting vaccinated is the right thing to do. And you're going to see those numbers a lot lower than some of the projections. 

Moderator: The next question goes to Marla Diamond from WCBS 880. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. This is a question for you and Mitchell Katz. Are you aware of any staff shortages at City hospitals, public and private, because of the State vaccination mandate that goes into effect today? 

Mayor: I'll speak to the publics and say – and I want to give Dr. Katz credit. I think he's managed the situation very well. I feel good about, very good about our ability to have the staffing we need in the public hospitals. I'll let Dr. Katz start, and then he and Dr. Chokshi can speak to anything about the private hospitals that we're hearing as well. Go ahead, Dr. Katz. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Thank you so much, sir. And I'm very happy to report that over 95 percent of my nurses are vaccinated today. So, you were talking about 82 percent of New Yorkers agreeing. Well, 95 percent of my nurses have agreed. Close to 98, 99 percent of my doctors have agreed. All our facilities are open and fully functional. I have not heard of any negative reports from the private hospital system, but I confess I spent today making sure that Health + Hospitals is running well. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi, want to add? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: No, sir. Nothing to add. Thank you.

Mayor: Okay.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor. I was curious, are you concerned about shortages at private hospitals in light of this new vaccine mandate and what are you doing to monitor that or respond to that? 

Mayor: I will start, Emma, and, obviously, turn to Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz to comment as well. Am I concerned? Yes. But am I seeing evidence of any substantial shortage in New York City private hospitals? No, I am not seeing that at this moment. I think there are big challenges around the rest of the state for sure. But I think really good work – I mean, obviously, you've seen some of the hospitals that got out first with vaccine mandates have had extraordinary success getting their folks vaccinated. Health + Hospitals, you just heard it from Dr. Katz, putting that mandate in had a big impact. So, we're going to be watching and be ready to work with the private hospitals if there is any problem, but I am not perceiving a major problem at this point. I think anything that we see is something that we'll be able to make adjustments to help address. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, do you want to speak to? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. That's exactly right. And we are in touch with our colleagues at the private hospitals, non-profit hospitals, to make sure that they have plans in place, you know, with respect to adequate staffing. But as you said, what we've seen thus far, for example, in New York-Presbyterian had implementation of its vaccine requirement last week and saw minimal to no impact in terms of patient care. And you just heard from Dr. Katz in terms of what's happening in Health + Hospitals. I do expect that some places where more health care workers remain to be vaccinated may have to make some operational adjustments, particularly to ensure that, you know, the places that staffing is most important, that's intensive care units or the operating rooms, are adequately staffed. But, you know, I do believe that that hospitals will be prepared to get through this, again without a major impact to patient care.

I'll just add on a personal note, you know, I was in my own clinic last Friday, everyone that I was seeing patients with, this was at Bellevue Hospital, part of the Health + Hospital System was already vaccinated, and I think that there are so many people who have been taking care of patients over the last two years who want to feel safe in the environments that they're in and who are very supportive of these vaccine requirements moving forward, because it's the right thing to do for not just their colleagues, but also the people that we’re taking care of. 

Mayor: Thanks doctor, and Dr. Katz, you want to add anything.

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: No, sir. I totally agree with Dr. Chokshi. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Emma. 

Question: And then in terms of H + H, you know, Dr. Katz said that not everyone is vaccinated, there are high rates in nurses and doctors, but my understanding is that less well-paid workers are vaccinated at lower rates. So, how many health care workers do you expect to put on leave today if they're not vaccinated? 

Mayor: And let me just offer before turning to Dr. Katz, Emma, one, again, this comes to the hours, really, as people have to make a choice. I really feel strongly that many people, whatever previous hesitations or concerns, when it comes down to choice of are you really ready to give up a job, that you've been a part of serving people, a community of people, that you're really ready to give that up, and you're really ready to give up your paycheck, a lot of people at that point say, okay, wait, I'll go get vaccinated. I think that's a powerful reality we're seeing here, but go ahead, Dr. Katz. 

President Katz: Yes, sir. I totally agree with your analogy and when I did a town hall last week, I got a lot of positive feedback about reminding people that smallpox vaccination was also mandated, and because of that, I have the scar of taking Vaccinia, which was a very dangerous vaccination that people actually died of, but happily my children do not – they did not have to get vaccinated because we eradicated the disease. We do things sometimes in all for purposes that are greater than ourselves. I'm – in terms of Health + Hospitals were over 90 percent now across all employees, and even today we are not putting people on leave. If people are not vaccinated, they're not going to get paid for today, but we're keeping lines of communication open, and we're hoping that if not today, then by tomorrow people will go and get vaccinated and resume their posts. So, I don't yet have any final numbers, but today's actions will be for people who are not vaccinated, they cannot come into our facilities, and they will not be paid for their work. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Erin Durkin from Politico. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, actually, I'm going to ask something similar, but I don't think I heard an answer to part of it, which is how many public hospital employees are – I guess this category that you're saying are just not getting paid starting with today and not allowed to show up starting with today. Is that correct? And what is the number? 

Mayor: Good question, thank you, Erin. And Mitch, with a qualifier that numbers are still being tabulated and a lot of people are making those last-minute decisions to get vaccinated, as we indicated, if you could give us sort of any kind of universe of numbers of folks that still are not resolved. I think – so Erin, I'm modifying the question in a friendly amendment because I don't think we can say here's the exact number of this hour because it's changing literally as people are making decisions, but we can give you a little sense of universe, Mitch, what would you say? 

President Katz: So, there are 43,000 employees for Health + Hospitals. We're over percent, which means there are about 5,000 people who are not yet vaccinated, as of the best information we had last night going into this morning. But as you say, sir, I won't have better information until the end of the day, because if someone comes in for their shift today, we will send them to the vaccination clinic, and if they get vaccinated, they can then go to work. So, I won't know until the end of the day. Also, for people to keep in mind, because we're a 24 hour, seven-day-a-week service, not everybody is due for working today this morning. So, some people will get vaccinated today so that they can come in for an afternoon shift or an evening shift. But going into today, I had about 5,000 people who were not yet vaccinated. 

Mayor: Right, and Erin, to put in perspective, so you're now seeing at Department of Education and at Health + Hospitals, the number we have this hour is so high, and we again know that more people have gotten vaccinated, we'd still haven't gotten the report on or more people will choose to, that these are numbers that we can sustain. The point is when you're around 90 percent, clearly, we can work with all the tools we have to keep everything moving. So, there'll be challenges, unquestionably, but I want to affirm when you're at that level of vaccination, good organizations, good leaders like Dr. Katz can work unquestionably with the personnel they have to keep everything moving, and I would remind you, they were all these leaders were lacking a huge amount of personnel at the height of COVID because so many people are out with COVID, and they still kept extraordinary operations going in the face of crisis. This is a situation much more manageable, and we're going to have the people we need.

Moderator: Our final question today goes to Robert Hennelly from the Chief Leader. 

Question: Thanks for taking the call. Reducing the economy's carbon footprint is a top priority of policy makers concerned about climate change and reducing use of fossil fuels to move the workforce is on their list. For years, even the federal government has had successful pilot programs to promote remote work for back-office functions like the Social Security Administration, the offices they have. In the last few months, you seem to have repeatedly said that New York City’s use of remote work was just a point during the pandemic. Do you think that there's any municipal jobs that could be done via remote work or hybrid? 

Mayor: Look, Bob, I want to emphasize – it's a fair question. And I want to remind you, of course, when people are getting around using mass transit, the impact on the carbon footprint is obviously minimal because that mass transit's running anyway and that's what most of our public workers use. But the fact is, I think there's a really valid discussion about the future of remote work in public service, but this isn't the moment to have it in my very strong opinion. We saw a lot of hard work. I want to emphasize, some people said, oh, are you saying that people who were remote weren't working hard? No, they were working hard. I'm sure the vast, vast majority we're working really hard and trying their best. What I saw just absolutely consistently was that the quality of work, the quality of teamwork, the quality of communication was being undermined by the remote reality, and that the best we could do for people, the best we could do for the people we serve was to get our workforce back, get them coordinated, get them focused on the people they got to serve, get them vaccinated. But post-pandemic, whole different discussion. I think for the new administration, it's a chance to look at this and decide what the future looks like. And there may well be some examples where remote work or hybrid work makes sense. It's just this is not the moment for that conversation from my point of view, we have the immediate crisis we got to address.

And everyone, look, as we conclude today, we have big challenges. We're still fighting back COVID. We've got this huge new challenge from the climate, but I urge everyone to look at this report because this is an example of what New York City does. We get hit with something, we get right back up, we find new solutions, we move quickly. We are bold. That's who we are as New Yorkers. We do not take no for an answer. So, whatever is thrown at us, we're going to find a solution. People are doing that right now with COVID by getting vaccinated. Thank you to the 82 percent. Let's go get the 18 percent now and finish the job and beat COVID once and for all. Thank you, everybody.

2021-09-28 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. I use a simple formula that I like to remind people, vaccination equals recovery, recovery equals vaccination. We have seen just amazing, amazing progress when it comes to vaccination in the city. It’s fueling recovery, you go around the city, you feel the energy, you see the jobs coming back, why? Because of vaccination and what worked was a combination of incentives and mandates. The $100 incentive, huge impact, the workforce mandates for public employees, the Key to NYC, dining, entertainment, fitness, all of them helped get more people vaccinated that increased health and safety and recovery. We can see it day by day. It's working. There's a new analysis out by Patch based on city data that really puts an exclamation point on it. They looked at what has happened with vaccinations since the first mandates were announced on July 21st. So, just about two months ago. Average vaccinations per day have gone up 45 percent, 45 percent since the mandates were put in place, and that has meant over 1.3 million more doses of the vaccine, huge impact, life-saving impact. And it's amazing what we're seeing overall. We now have over 70 percent of all New Yorkers, all New Yorkers, over 70 percent have had at least one dose, over 82 percent of adults, at least one dose. These are staggering numbers.

So, many parts of the country wish they had the numbers we have because we've been just incessantly focused on vaccination, pushing it, pushing it, pushing it. We've gotten help from public sector, private sector, community organizations, the faith community. One example from the faith community, and I want to correct something I said inaccurately before, because I've been given some information, turned out to be wrong, but I want to take responsibility here, I had the wrong information about the Jehovah's Witnesses community, and in fact we're really happy to say the Jehovah's Witness leadership has been very, very adamant supporting vaccination. In fact, here's a figure from the about 5,000 people who work in the offices of Jehovah's Witnesses houses of worship around the state, 99 percent are vaccinated.

So, thank you for the leadership, that's tremendously helpful, and we see this across the whole city people stepping up. And the vaccine mandates, they not only work, they are winning in court, time after time, there's been court challenges, state court, federal court, Key to NYC was challenged, the challenge against the education vaccination mandate, every single time the City of New York wins because we have a simple, simple argument. We're protecting the health and wellbeing of our employees, of our kids, of people who go to all these institutions as clients, as customers, and once again, yesterday, a federal – a panel of federal judges' court of appeals judges immediately confirmed that the New York City Department of Education vaccine mandate is absolutely legal and justifiable. That means that all the court challenges are now exhausted, and the Department of Education vaccine mandate will go into effect.

So, what we've done now is readjusted the timing because we had the delay in court, we’re giving all of our employees up until Friday at five o'clock. If you're a Department of Education employee, you have until Friday at 5:00 pm to at least get that first dose, the vast, vast of majority have done it already, and we thank them. But for anyone who has not gotten a dose by Friday at 5:00 pm, after all the encouragement, all the support, all the incentives, we're going to then assume you're not coming to work Monday morning as a vaccinated employee, and we will immediately find a substitute. And then those folks will go on leave without pay, who chose not to get vaccinated. So, by Monday morning, 100 percent of the staff of the adults in our public schools will be vaccinated, at least one dose. And that's going to make a much healthier environment for everyone, particularly for our kids. Also, the health care worker vaccine mandate began yesterday, very happy to report we're seeing great results, particularly in our public health system, which has been heroic throughout this whole struggle against COVID and so far, pretty good also with our voluntary and private hospitals. I want you to hear an update from someone who's been leading the way throughout the COVID crisis, our own Dr. Mitch Katz of Health + Hospitals. 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Thank you so much, sir. You're absolutely right that we've had a tremendous success at Health - Hospitals. All our hospitals are fully operational at this time. We have among our nurses, we're over 95 percent of our nurses are fully vaccinated, and I have talked as well today, both personally, with several of the hospitals and the private sector, as well as greater New York, and happy to tell you that all of the hospitals in New York City are fully operational and doing well. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you so much. Really, really appreciate everything you've done, Mitch and your team has done to keep things moving forward, and also your employees answered the call and have gotten vaccinated in huge numbers. That's fantastic. Now I want you to hear from someone who has been a leader throughout the COVID crisis, but even beyond that has been a leader for health care equity, for ensuring that all New Yorkers get the access to health care they deserve, and he's someone who understands how powerful these mandates have been in terms of getting people the vaccinations and making sure we're all healthier. Great pleasure to bring to you the chair of the State Assembly Health Committee, Assembly Member Richard N. Gottfried 

[…] 

Assembly member, I want to thank you, and I think you'll appreciate, and I would love you just for a moment to reflect on the conversations you've had with your constituents in your district. I've heard from so many people, you know, we expected a lot of criticism, a lot of folks saying they wouldn't abide by the mandates, but I got to tell you so many people have come up to me and said, thank you, and they believe in them, and they want to see them for everyone's health and safety. What are you hearing on the ground?’ 

[...]

Mayor: Amen. Well, I’ve got to tell you, one of the things I like to say – and you you've been in public office a substantial number of years, my friend. One of the things I think you'll agree with, that we have 82 percent of New York's adults now – over 82 percent have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine. And I like to say, when else have you seen 82 percent of New Yorkers agree on anything? So, here's the one time it happened. Here's the one time it happened. Thank you so much for all you're doing to help keep us safe and your great work in Albany. Thank you.

So, the fight against COVID, it caused us, of course, to have to innovate in so many ways. The vaccine mandates, we innovated that. The incentives, we innovated that. The Test and Trace Corps., all of the door-to-door efforts to get people vaccinated, the mobile and buses – innovation was required to fight this crisis. We also had to innovate in other ways. Some things that we never would imagine before became important to try and then they worked in the context of COVID. Obviously, Open Streets – great example. Open Restaurants, having the restaurants outdoors – outdoor dining has been a huge positive for New York City. It wasn't something we did the same way before COVID, but we needed to save over 100,000 jobs, we needed to give people hope it worked. It's now permanent. Open Streets, permanent. These are things that wouldn't have done – been done in the past, but they really, really work and we're go and do new things, going forward, and that's part of what our recovery for all of us looks like – something that takes us forward.

All right, as we do every day – indicators. And the first one is a great one, the doses administered to-date. We are closing in on 11.5 million, that just keeps growing all the time. It's quite impressive – 11,434,222 doses from the beginning. Number two, the daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report – and this is a good one – 115 patients, but confirmed positivity of only 15 percent. So, that is a very good sign. And the very best sign in this category, the hospitalization rate, it’s now down to 1.06 per 100,000. And then, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 1,323 cases. Nice downward slant there on that graph. Let's keep that going. Vaccination is the key.

And so, let's do a few words in Spanish on vaccination and particularly the vaccination mandate that will take effect in our schools. And, on Monday, the fact that every adult who works in our schools will have had at least one dose of the vaccine.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, today we're joined by Dave Chokshi, Health Commissioner, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, Claire Newman, President and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island; James Wong, the Executive Director of NYC Ferry; Marcos Soler, the MOCJ Commissioner; and Vincent Schiraldi, Commissioner of the Department of Correction. And, with that, our first question for today goes to Matt from Patch.

Question: Oh, I didn't actually raise my hand.

Mayor: Okay. Well, you know, I think they thought you wanted to say a question about your own analysis and we appreciate your analysis. It was very important. If you have a question, great. If not, we'll move on.

Question: Okay. Well, you caught me off guard here. Thanks for highlighting the analysis. Maybe a little bit later. Thank you, though.

Mayor: Alright, fine enough. Let’s go.

Moderator: All right, maybe we'll come back to Matt. Next we have James from PIX 11.

Mayor: James, you there?

Question: Good morning to everyone on – yeah, can you hear me?

Mayor: Yes, you're the replacement lead-off hitter, James.

Question: Wow, this is exciting. And I’ve got to also confess, I didn't have my hand up. I am perfectly happy to ask questions.

Mayor: Go ahead.

Question: The first regards hospitals. Can we get – I heard the vaccination figures for nurses and doctors, but do we have more information about other hospital workers? And any reports of short of – personnel shortages at New York City hospitals? I mean, even with those high rates of vaccination, that still translates into maybe a few thousand people not able to work today. Could we get more information from you and maybe from Dr. Katz?

Mayor: I'll start, I'll turn to Dr. Katz. James, very fair question, but I want to emphasize, because this is what we're seeing on the ground – first of all, evolving hour by hour, because a lot of employees, when push came to shove, and it was really about to happen – like so much of human life, people respond to deadlines – at the last minute they're getting vaccinated. And even someone who missed the immediate moment, if they come back and say, okay, okay, I'm ready to get vaccinated – of course, we're going to welcome them back. So, literally, we have evolving information hour by hour. But, again, we got to a point where it's such a high level of vaccination that we had the ability to make adjustments. Even if you're missing a few thousand employees in a system as big as Health + Hospitals, you can compensate for that in a lot of ways. So, very pleased with where we got with both Health + Hospitals and schools, even before we hit the actual moment of the mandate. But, with that, over to Dr. Katz.

President Katz: Yes. Thank you so much, sir. Well, a few additions – remember, not everybody starts work on Monday morning. So, some of the people who haven't yet gotten vaccinated haven't yet started a shift. We have alternative work weeks where people work, say, only on the weekends. So, we're still expecting additional people. And, as you’ve said, Mr. Mayor, people are still streaming in and getting vaccinated. So, vax mandates clearly work. Just to also help our listeners understand, I did bring 500 nurses to Health + Hospitals to deal with the fact that I have about 500 nurses who are not currently at work. So, we anticipated that there would be some loss of staff. We knew that no matter what our efforts, some people were not going to get vaccinated, and we planned appropriately. And talking with my colleagues in the private sector, they did as well. People knew that they would have to come up with additional staff. People are having emergency provision of services by having somebody perform a job that is similar to theirs, but perhaps a little different to fill a need. But it's all working and, certainly, nothing like the horror that we went through in March 2020. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Mitch. Go ahead, James.

Question: And again, I appreciate being called on today. That's really great.

Mayor: We're obviously having a little crossed wires today. We're going to fix that, but I'm glad you were the beneficiary. Go ahead.

Question: All right, again, all good. And then for my colleague, Kala Rama, the UFT says one-third of their leadership is worried about school safety and there not being enough safety agents. Now, Kala learned that at New York City schools last week, there were about 1,500 not vaccinated safety agents. What is the plan for school safety, particularly as we look ahead to next Monday?

Mayor: Yeah, James, a similar point to what Mitch said. So, think about the whole week. People come in at different points in the week, different shifts. So, for example, if you've got someone who's not going to be vaccinated and we need to replace their time, you can do that in one way with overtime, someone's willing to do extra time and most people are. Second, we're going to see again, a surge of vaccination. We've seen it every time these deadlines are coming up. The numbers with school safety agents are higher than was reported publicly. So, the vast majority have been vaccinated and that number continues to grow. And then we'll have some backup plans ready if there's any place that needs it. But really, I think between getting more people vaccinated up to the last moment, using some overtime, shifting some agents around to make sure schools have enough, we feel good that we'll be able to cover.

Moderator: Next, we have Derick from ABC.

Question: Hi, good morning. I actually had a similar question. But I guess I'll continue on with that vein. And basically, continuing on with that vein, Commissioner Shea was on NY1 this morning, and he basically said that you know, we can't replace what we don't have. I mean, so isn't it true that you will be short-staffed in some way or another on Monday –as far as schools go?

Mayor: I don't know the quote you're referring to. I can tell you, again, go ahead.

Question: He was talking about the school safety agents saying that 74 percent are vaccinated, and the question was, will they be reassigned to other shifts? And he says, no, if they're not vaccinated, they, you know, won't be getting paid. And so, he said, we won't be able to replace what we don't have. So, if we don't have the people to replace, then they, you know, they're going to go without.

Mayor: Again, respect the quote. I haven't seen the whole context but let's go where you started – 74 percent, let's call that three quarters of all safety agents already vaccinated. There's days more for people to get vaccinated. We guarantee you a substantial number more will get vaccinated in that time. There is overtime which can help us to fill some of those shifts. There's places where if you had a certain number of school safety agents and you have one less, it doesn't stop you from still getting the work done. There's a variety of things that we're going to do. And I think what you're going to find, Derick, is most people, the vast majority of people, even those who say I didn't want to get vaccinated make a different decision when it becomes very, very practical. So, now someone is literally looking at the possibility they won't have a paycheck for a prolonged period of time. They may even lose their job, ultimately. A lot of people are going to look at that and say, “hold up, okay, I'll get vaccinated.” Because the number of people who are philosophically, rabidly antivax are actually quite small. We're just seeing the how – 82 percent of New York City adults already have one dose because the vast, vast majority of folks believe in vaccines, and even a lot of folks who are hesitant, ultimately get there. So, that number is going to go up and we're going to make the adjustment. But then I think you're going to see people start to come back, when they actually experienced not having a paycheck, a lot of people are going to make a different decision. Go ahead, Derick.

Question: And my next question just has to do with the lawsuit and the appeals court ruling yesterday. First, are you concerned about a possible petition to the Supreme Court? And also, how do you feel about the fact that the court didn't even bother to have a hearing on Wednesday, instead just ruling on the written arguments?

Mayor: I think that is a tremendous show of confidence in what the Department of Education is doing. Here's a federal court of appeals. I mean, this is one of the most prestigious courts anywhere in the country. If they thought there was anything to debate here, they would have had a proceeding to hear both sides. They literally said there is nothing to discuss here. It's obvious that the district court ruling was correct. And the state court ruling before that it's shows how strong our cases the plaintiffs can attempt to go to the full Supreme Court, but I strongly suggest to you after that process involves as I understand going to a single justice and that justice looks at the previous record and decides whether to recommend it to the court. And then the court has to decide to put it on their docket. There's a lot of steps, but when a federal district court and the appeals court have both very quickly said, “no, the New York City Department of Education mandate is legal and appropriate.” I think there's a very, very strong likelihood that we are done here with the court process. And that's why we're definitely moving forward.

Moderator: Next, we have Andrew from NBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. My question is on the vaccine mandate related to schools. I apologize if another questioner ask this, because the feed cut out briefly, but some of the teachers are saying, for example, paraprofessionals or food service workers who might have slightly lower vaccination rates, if they're not there next week, then the teachers need to cover for those jobs. And that's especially arduous for them because they're all really overburdened. I'm just wondering specifically with regard to special needs [inaudible] and food service workers, with nutrition such a critical component of public education, how you're planning to tackle that?

Mayor: Thank you, Andrew. So, the whole team and I, the DOE team, and First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan and I went literally job title by job title back on a Friday, and we analyzed where the numbers were and what adjustments we'd have to make. I want to emphasize, you know, the 91 percent right now as the formal number on teachers who have been vaccinated at least one dose. And we had almost a thousand more vaccinations in the last 24 hours for DOE in general, but 91 percent for teachers, 87 percent for all DOE staff. So, it's, there's not a lot of gap there. It's closing constantly. A lot of the people who are getting vaccinated now, are folks in those other job titles, but to your specific question about the paraprofessionals, we looked at that we got to move that number up. That's true, but there's also a lot of substitute paraprofessionals who are vaccinated, who are available, who are ready and willing. So, hopefully, and I believe, you know, for paraprofessionals, they do such important work. And I think a lot of those are folks who really want to keep those jobs. I believe the vast majority who are not yet vaccinated will come in and get vaccinated, but if we need to get substitutes over, we have thousands ready to go. Go ahead, next person.

Moderator: Next, we have Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor. Just to continue on this vein, I was wondering if you're going to set a limit that if the Department of Education or a hospital employee doesn't get vaccinated by a particular period of time, or by a certain date, they lose their job.

Mayor: I'll start in our turn, and I'll turn to Dr. Katz. Juliet, look, our goal is to get people vaccinated by the point that they come in for work. So, for all of our DOE employees, we want everyone to come in Monday morning, vaccinate. We're giving them until 5:00 pm on Friday. If they're not, we'll make those substitutions because we need some time to do that. For the folks in the health care system, as Mitch said, some are coming in, you know, some came in yesterday, some are coming in today tomorrow. He'll align it to that. But look, there is definitely a chance to correct for people who think better of the situation, you know, miss their paycheck, miss their opportunity to serve people, miss their colleagues, whatever it is, they can correct. If someone didn't, over a very prolonged period of time, respond, yes, they do run the risk of losing their job. But that's not what we hope to see in the first instance, obviously. Mitch, would you like to speak to that?

President Katz: I completely agree with you, sir. I'm not in any rush to terminate people. I understand that people find this a difficult decision to make in some cases. The fact is people are not getting paid. And I'm not quite sure – you know, New York City is not a cheap place to live – the value of a job where you do not get paid doesn't seem to me very high. So, but as the question implies, at some point, people will need to move on because they're going to need to get a job that pays. But, right now, I'm not interested in terminating people. I'm interested in welcoming them back for vaccination. Thank you.

Mayor: Great quote from Mitch Katz, I want everyone to write it down. “The value of a job for which you don't get paid doesn't seem very high.” That's one for the ages.

Moderator: Next we have Chris from the Daily News.

Mayor: Chris, you there? Chris. Chris.

Moderator: Next we have Marla from CBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Marla, how are you doing?

Question: All right. Something with schools, with the schools – something that was brought up yesterday by the teachers union leadership was their frustration that there's no guarantee that schools will be fully staffed once the vaccine mandate goes into effect. Michael Mulgrew cited an example where a substitute may get five calls from five different schools and then, you know, chooses the school where they want to go in the end. So, I have a question about that? I mean, how can you guarantee that there will be substitutes? And obviously substitutes are not a substitute for a teacher in the classroom. So, is there a certain point at which you would say, okay, you're terminated if only to create, you know, bring continuity to the students in that classroom to have, you know, a new teacher in that classroom that is vaccinated?

Mayor: So great question, Marla. The arbitrator in the case involving the UFT, did delineate the scenarios where either a teacher could leave the school system if that's their choice, or where there is a process for termination. So look, I would say, yeah, you're going to have some of that sorting out. We don't wish it for anyone, but if someone really is not willing to live by this approach, then it's time for us to find new people. And there's a huge amount of demand. A lot of those substitutes are people who are absolutely ready, willing, and able to become permanent teachers. Who are very experienced, who are high quality. They're ready. So, the point here is we are going to give folks a chance in the short term but in the long term, anyone who's not ready to be vaccinated, you know, on an ongoing basis, of course they're ultimately going to get replaced. And there's thousands and thousands of great educators who want those jobs. They are incredibly good jobs. A New York City teacher job is totally coveted all over the country. So, we're going to be good in the long term. And you're also talking at this point, you know, a few thousand people that we need to replace. So, we know we've got plenty of substitutes. And yeah, if a substitute ends up choosing one school over another, we put another substitute in a school that needs the person. So, I really think we went through much, much worse, Marla, last time around trying to figure out, under much more adverse circumstances, how to cover classrooms. And we did. We feel very confident here.

Moderator: We have time for one more today. Our last question for today goes to Julia from the New York Post.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good morning, Julia. How are you doing?

Question: Good. I'm wondering why you pushed back your own mandate for vaccinations for DOE employees a week after winning in court? Was the Education Department not ready to implement this?

Mayor: Totally ready. We wanted to align it to the weekend. We got some good feedback that we would be better served getting the point of decision at the end of the week, so that we had the time between Friday 5:00 pm and Monday morning to get all the substitutes in place, any other personnel that we needed to. And that makes a lot of sense. That's just a cleaner way to do it, managerially. Originally, you know, we went with a Monday because it was the beginning of the week, but now we understand that there was a better way to do it, aligning the deadline to a Friday, so that for the Monday we could have all the substitutes in place. So, we just took the moment to do that. But the bottom line, now everyone is, look, these vaccination mandates work, these deadlines work, they get people to move. We talked about this last Friday into Saturday, we saw 7,000 more vaccinations in the Department of Education. People who are on the fence, benefit from these mandates bluntly as a way to make this decision. The proof's in the pudding. Right now, Department of Education, right now, Health + Hospitals, we have the numbers we need to run things well. We're going to actually get thousands of more vaccinations in the days ahead. And it will make it even stronger. So, thank you to everyone who got vaccinated. Thank you for doing the right thing for your family, for your neighborhood, for New York City. And everyone is not yet vaccinated, please, this is the time. Help us move forward, help us end the COVID era once and for all. Thank you, everyone.

2021-09-30 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Big announcements today on the issue we're all focused on, our health, our wellbeing, fighting back COVID, building a healthier future. We've learned a lot from the COVID crisis, it's been a tough, painful time, but we've also learned a lot about what we have to do differently, what we have to do to prepare for the future. And if one thing this pandemic has taught us is the profound value of public health, of a strategy that reaches to the grassroots, that gives people access to health care in ways we have just not done enough of in the past, as a city or a nation. This is a moment to do things very, very differently, and there is no place better to innovate than New York City. There's no place better to create a new paradigm than New York City. There's no place that has more experience dealing with this crisis, but also innovating approaches to engaging people, reaching them, protecting them, no place has done more than New York City. My goal is to make New York City the public health capital of the world, and I don't say that lightly, and I don't just say that because we're New Yorkers and we're proud and we believe we're special. We are special, and we went through hell with this pandemic. We were the epicenter for a long time in this nation. We learned the lessons to know how to fight back in the future, but we've also done amazing things historically in New York City when it comes to public health. A lot of the greatest approaches, a lot of the greatest leadership in the whole country's history on public health came from New York City.

So, we are ready to do new and different things. Two major new pieces today, two major new thrusts that are going to change the future of New York City, make us healthier, help make the whole world healthier. First, our Public Health Corps, taking the incredible lessons we've learned from the Test and Trace Corps, making them permanent, having a permanent ability to reach people at the grassroots, encourage health, support people, educate people, get them to the health care they need, and the Pandemic Response Institute. The Pandemic Response Institute takes everything we've learned, helps us make sure there will never be the next pandemic, creating the solutions, creating the approaches to stop pandemics from ever happening to begin with, or if, God forbid, there is one of being able to deal with them in new and better ways. Okay, the Public Health Corps first, look, we understood after the first weeks of the COVID crisis, that so much of what we were dealing with was a question of public education, reaching people, answering their concerns and questions, getting them to the help they needed. And that only works when you're connecting directly with the people at the grassroots and ideally with community members leading the way with people from that same community, talking to their neighbors, that takes something that requires a permanent feature, something allows us to reach people constantly, not just when the crisis has already begun. Look, we had to create the Test and Trace Corps – out of thin air, out of scratch. We had to create something it's become the biggest and most effective in the country. I want to thank everyone at Health + Hospitals that led the way on this effort, working with the Department of Health. Thousands of lives saved by the Test and Trace Corps, and amazingly Test and Trace just hit its millionth – one million – tracing contacts. Well, we learned a lot from Test and Trace Corps, we learned a lot from our Vaccine For All Corps, the amazing work the vaccinators did again, that was put together from scratch, look at what they've done. You're going to see the vaccination numbers today. There are outstanding. They're unbelievable.

We're going to take the people who worked on Tests and Trace, the people worked on Vaccine for All, we're going to create a new permanent New York City public health corps. This is truly revolutionary, but it's something you're going to be seeing more and more of and love this logo. You'll be seeing people wearing these shirts are part of this Public Health Corps, going out in the neighborhoods, going door to door, going to community meetings, educating people, preparing them for the world after COVID because we need to do everything, we can get out of the COVID era. It's coming soon. We have the chance to get out of the COVID era, but then we have a lot of other public health challenges that we need to address. So Public Health Corps, particularly in connection with the amazing work we've done with NYC Care. Again, thanks to everyone at health and hospitals, NYC Care, guaranteed health care for all New Yorkers. This is something there's still a lot more ability to reach people with to get people health insurance, who don't have it, to get people connected to primary care medicine who don't have it. We guaranteed all New Yorkers health care, the Public Health Corps is going to be leading the way to get people connected who haven't been before. And that's going to make us resilient, one of the things we learned in this crisis is folks who had not had access to health care were very vulnerable. People who went years or decades without the health care they deserved were often the folks who were the victims of COVID the most. Getting people health care, getting it to them regularly, making sure everyone has it when they need it, that's how you turn things around. We're going to be employing thousands of New Yorkers with this effort from the communities most effected by the challenges of COVID, and it's going to say something very clearly, in New York City we believe health care is a human right. It's as simple as that. Health care is a human, right, but we're not just talking about it, we're doing it, guaranteed health care for all, a Public Health Corps leading the way with the ability to reach people like never before.

I want you to hear from two of the visionaries who have created this idea and are helping it come to life, and both of them have spent their life in protecting New Yorkers, keeping people healthy, but this is the kind of thing they dream of doing, getting health care proactively to the people. First, of course, I want you to hear from the city's doctor and he has the great distinction of being the Commissioner of the Department of Health, he also worked at Health + Hospitals before that. So, he sees how we can bring all these strands together. He has helped to lead us, and he is helping to lead us out of the COVID era once and for all, Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, sir. And you have said many times that we can't just bring things back to normal. Ours must be a just recovery and bringing New York City back better means bringing our city back healthier. We have a once in a generation opportunity to re-imagine what public health can look like in New York City. The Public Health Corps will seize upon this moment, building on the hard work already being done in our communities to fight this pandemic and preparing against future emergencies as well. As COVID continues to shed light on health inequity, particularly inequity linked to structural racism, it is clear that the solution lies in the strength of our communities. We have seen this time and again during the pandemic, from Soundview to Sunset Park and from Port Richmond to Richmond Hill. The future of public health in our city must be led by the people who are most effected and who know the communities that they serve, often because they are from them. These community health workers numbering over 500 by December will be the backbone of the Public Health Corps, linking residents to clinical and social services. They will help more people get vaccinated, counsel neighbors about diabetes and depression, and address hunger and food insecurity. Also, under the Public Health Corp umbrella will be about 100 community-based organizations, many of whom the city has worked with during COVID response, who will serve as the connective tissue for the core within neighborhoods. Additional work will happen at multiple levels, which can be summarized as care, confidence, and capacity. With respect to care, Corps resources will go to funding culturally and linguistically responsive care at federally qualified health centers, as well as H + H as Dr. Long will outline. Building confidence starts by listening and acknowledging historically rooted distrust. It is also where one-on-one conversations can be the most meaningful as we have seen in our vaccination campaign. The Corps will extend this work to other issues like flu health screenings and chronic diseases.

Finally, in terms of capacity, the work that has been done through this pandemic offers us a veteran workforce with experience that should not be lost. We will build on this experience by working with CUNY, the Department of Small Business Services, and multiple community organizations to train community members, many already serving New Yorkers through the Vaccine for all Corps, to become community health workers. And the Health Department was recently awarded a $35 million grant from the CDC for such capacity building through the Public Health Corps. To conclude, Mr. Mayor, for most of the patients or community members that I've had the honor of knowing, they don't care so much about the distinction between epidemiology and care delivery, what they care about is staying healthy. Working across public health and health care. It is our job to make that happen. And its why New York City with the Health Department and H + H working side-by-side is well equipped to integrate this important workforce. We're so excited to collaborate and create the foundation for a stronger, healthier, and more equitable city. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Commissioner Choskhi. And now I want you to hear from someone who, with his amazing team, thank you to everyone at Test and Trace. You've done an absolutely outstanding job. And remember everyone has had to be created from scratch, what an amazing effort, but they've had a dynamic leader, always energetic, and I know he is pumped up at the notion of taking what we learned and making it something permanent in this city. My great pleasure to introduce the director of the Test + Trace Corps, Dr. Ted long.

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps.: Thank you, sir. Since June of 2020, our contact tracers have been fighting to keep our city safe against COVID. Our contact tracers are all New Yorkers that saw what COVID did to their communities, they heard the call to help, and they responded. Our contact tracers have been able to reach nearly 90 percent of all new COVID cases across New York City. Since they started in June of 2020. Furthermore, they've been able to identify more than one million close contacts or New Yorkers with a known direct exposure to somebody with COVID, and they've been able to engage 72 percent of those New Yorkers that have been exposed. Now identifying one million close contacts, is one million opportunities that they have had, they've created and used to connect New Yorkers to critical resources like our free hotel program, where you can come to definitively isolate or quarantine to keep your family or your community safe. Like our direct cash assistance program, which is unique to New York City, to support families that don't qualify for paid sick leave, but the right thing to do is to stay home, to keep their communities safe. Our tracers have also been able to connect New Yorkers to life-saving therapies like monoclonal antibodies and to at-home testing and at home vaccinations. Our tracers have succeeded and keeping our cities safe because they understand our communities because they're from our communities. I'm excited to be here today to help to launch the new Public Health Corps, which will be an incredible way that we can leverage all of the skills and experiences that our contact tracers have built over the last year to become effective community health workers. Now, I'm a primary care doctor myself. I've seen my patients in the Bronx throughout COVID. What I want is to be able to care for my patients beyond the four walls of my office ,with the new Public Health Corps, I will have community health workers on my primary care team by my side, that can go to my patients' homes, to help them to get food, to help them to get their medications, to help them navigate our health care system, and to help them to live a healthier life. Launching the Public Health Corps today truly makes New York City the public health capital in the country, if not the world. The Public Health Corps will build on everything that we've created through Test and Trace with our community health workers being a backbone of this new program that will make New York City stronger and healthier than ever before. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Ted. And your enthusiasm is infectious. Thank you. Now I want to – you heard from the folks who are the architects here of this new Public Health Corps and what is going to be, I want you to get some perspective, and this is truly global perspective, that next person has joined us has done amazing work. So, first of all her academic work alone speaks for itself. She's an Associate Professor in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, but even more importantly she's taken these ideas and put them into action, working with the organization, Partners in Health, literally taking the concept of going out into communities to some of the toughest places in the world. She was one of the lead strategists in an effort to fight Ebola and strengthen health care systems in Sierra Leone and Liberia. So, talk about a tough proving ground for these ideas. She's seen it. She's done it. It's my great pleasure to introduce the Chief Medical Officer of Partners in Health. Dr. Joia Mukherjee.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you so much, doctor. I appreciate your energy too. You've done amazing work all over the world and the examples you gave really bring home the point, this can be a strategy that works everywhere and anywhere, but we’ve got to focus on and we’ve got to invest in it. So, thank you for helping to lead the way. And New York City is going to, I hope, provide an example to the whole nation that this is the future of health care. Thank you very much.

Now, everyone, I want you to hear from the grassroots. You've heard, like, one of the great global experts give you the big picture. Now, let's take it right down to the neighborhood level. I want to hear from someone who worked with Test and Trace, did that work at the community level, engaging community folks, getting them to do what they needed to do to be safe. She's now working at Health + Hospitals, at Elmhurst Hospital, obviously, someplace that was the center of the center of the epicenter, and someplace where the work continues every day to reach people on a variety of health care needs. Here from the frontline, I want you to hear from Maisa Alam.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you. Thank you, Maisa. Thank you for the great work you've been doing. It is literally lifesaving and it's people like you that are helping to get us out of the COVID era and get to a better and healthier place. Thank you so much.

All right, everyone. Now, I mentioned at the top another major new announcement today, and it's really exciting, because, again, this is about the future. We never want to see another pandemic, but it's going to take a lot of work to protect New York City and protect the whole earth in the future. So, today, we're announcing something wonderful. Our Pandemic Response Institute we've been talking about for a long time, I'm happy to announce that we have selected Columbia University to operate the Pandemic Response Institute. This is a big step forward and we've got the right people for this big responsibility. The City's going to invest initially $20 million in the Pandemic Response Institute to supercharge this effort. Columbia University, renowned all over the globe, is exactly the right place for it to be housed. And this will prepare us, protect us against the potential pandemics in the future, help us to stop the pandemic of the future, or, worst-case scenario, handle them in a way we've never been able to before, while, at the same time, recognizing the real issues of inequity that have come up during COVID that need to be addressed. Columbia Mailman School of Public Health is renowned as one of the great public health schools in the entire country, a place that really focuses on the issues of equity and effectiveness simultaneously. They're going to be partnering with another great institution of this city, CUNY – the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy will be right there with them as this institute is built into something powerful.

We had a pandemic response lab, we put it together also from scratch to have the test results we needed to – that’s one of many, many things we did in response to COVID. We created PPE, we created ventilators, we did things we never had to do before in New York City. But the initiative in the private sector, academic sector, hospitals, government, everyone got together and here is the next big step, leading the global fight against pandemics that threaten us all. This is really powerful and it's going to have national and global ramifications. And I want to hear from someone who has been one of the great voices in this nation in how we fight infectious disease. Her career has spanned, literally, the nation, from her work in the University of California system, to her leadership as the Chief of Infectious Diseases department at the University of Kentucky. She is now the President of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, one of the leading national voices on how we work together to address these challenges. My pleasure to introduce, Dr. Claire Pomeroy.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, doctor. I really appreciate the way you're bringing all the strands together and why this matters so much. And thank you for your leadership. It's people like you that have helped us to be able to create this model and very, very much appreciate it. And since you referenced your colleague, it's time for us to hear from her. She is the university professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University, Director of ICAP at Columbia as well, and the Columbia World Projects. And, really, has been one of the great national voices throughout the COVID epidemic on how we – the pandemic, I should say – on how we challenge this disease, how we do things differently, how we address this ever-changing situation. We've been so proud to hear her voice so often and learn from her and now she will be leading the way by leading the Pandemic Response Institute. My pleasure to introduce Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, doctor. I appreciate deeply that commitment is coming through and your leadership is going to make this come to life, and that means so much for the city and beyond. Thank you so much.

I want to hear from one more person, everyone. He’s been, really, one of the voices of conscience in this city throughout the pandemic. He has been someone who's looked at the next innovations and where we need to go, always looking ahead, and we appreciate that. He is the Chair of the Health Committee in the City Council, Council Member Mark Levine.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you very much, Council Member. And thank you for your leadership. And I'm going to segue off of that to something else important. And Mark Levine has been one of the great voices out there also supporting something that's working right now, the Key to NYC, our mandate for indoor dining, and fitness, and entertainment. And entertainment, of course, includes sports. So, I was on CNN this morning, I was asked about Kyrie Irving. I want to talk about this, because it's really important for everyone to understand. Our home teams here that'll be playing, the Knicks, the Nets – obviously, they do fall under the Key to NYC requirement. And, obviously, the vast majority of players are going out and getting vaccinated. We want all players vaccinated. So, I'm a Brooklynite. I'm a Nets fan. I really want to see Kyrie get vaccinated. I want to see the whole team stay healthy and safe the whole season. We have a chance to win the championship for Brooklyn. It's staring us in the face. Let's go get it. It’s an amazing, amazing team – want everyone safe and healthy. It'll be a great moment for Brooklyn when they do win that championship. But let me just offer inspiration to any players who are still wondering, because some of the greatest players in the game today and in the history of the game are speaking up. So, first of all, the MVP himself, Giannis, he said, and this is a quote, “I did what was best for me and my family to stay protected.” That's why he got vaccinated. Amazing player, clutch player Damian Lillard said, “I've had people in my family actually die and people actually lose their lives to it. And if there's a way for me to protect myself and the people I love, I'm going to do it.” That's why he got vaccinated. And, literally, one of the greatest of all time, New York City’s own and a graduate of Power Memorial, went onto one of the most amazing NBA careers in history, and an incredible voice of social conscience as well, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. This is what he said, “this is a war that we're involved in. And masks and vaccines, they are the weapons that we use to fight this war.” As always, Kareem pulls it all together. He's right. It is a war. It's a war we're going to win. We're going to win it, because of vaccination.

I also wanted to say, we have a little breaking news related to this. And this is not about the NBA, but it's about the work to make sure everyone gets vaccinated. We just heard that YouTube is banning all vaccine misinformation videos, and I really want to thank them for that. We've seen horrible, cynical efforts at misinformation often for people's own personal or political gain. Youtube is doing something really important here to make sure that they are not inadvertently agents of spreading misinformation and making people less healthy. That's the kind of gutsy move we need. We need people to step up, say the truth about vaccination, and help us move it forward.

Also, on the vaccination front – this is exciting. One of the things I'm most excited about, one of the things I'm most hopeful about is the vaccine for the five- to 11-year-olds. So, now, Pfizer has formally submitted its data and the FDA now has the opportunity to act. President Biden's been abundantly clear, whatever the FDA needs, they will have every resource at their demand. I want to keep saying, we need them to move quickly. We've said this a few days back, the goal should be have the vaccine ready by Halloween so we can start getting into kids in the month of November. This can be done. We have so much evidence now. I know there has to be a thorough review, but we're pleading with the FDA, expedite this review so we can reach our youngest kids, keep them safe, have the whole school system able to get the vaccine for the safety of our kids and our families. Also, great news, that we're seeing the FDA's reviewing now the Moderna booster. So, hopefully that Moderna booster will be here very, very soon. And a reminder that, right now, folks who can get the booster are those who received Pfizer shots originally. So, if you got Pfizer shots and you are one of the eligible folks, you can go and get that booster, go to vax4nyc.nyc.gov.

Okay, let's go to our indicators. And the first one, again, shows the power of vaccination and the amazing work of our vaccine for all corps. Number one, doses administered to-date – 11,455,785 doses – climbing, climbing climbing. That is incredibly helpful. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 123 patients. Confirmed positivity level, 24.06 percent. Hospitalization rate, this is the one, again, that's the most crucial statistic. We like what we see today – that number is 1.05 per 100,000. And then, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,221 cases. We’d like that number to continue to go down. The key is vaccination.

A few words in Spanish, and this is about our Public Health Corps. and what it's going to mean for the future in New York City.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined today by Dr. Mitch Katz, Dr. Dave Chokshi, First Deputy Health Commissioner and Chief Equity Officer Dr. Torian Easterling, Director of MOCJ Marcos Soler, EDC President and CEO Rachel Loeb. Our first question today goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Hi, everyone. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: Good, Juliet. How have you been?

Question: I’m okay. Thank you. Regarding the new public health programs, to what extent are they working on preventive medicine, such as educating to prevent diabetes, or heart disease, or people eating better, and, in general, taking better care of themselves?

Mayor: Well, you hit the nail on the head. I'm going to turn to Dr. Long and Dr. Chokshi, because the power of this kind of model, Juliet, is exactly that, educating people, moving them proactively. You know, so much of the American health care system is, you know, you only get seen when it's almost too late or, tragically, the first time someone sees a doctor is the emergency room. We're trying to change that. That's why you have guaranteed health care for all in this city. We want everyone to have insurance or have a primary doctor that they can afford through Health + Hospitals, NYC Care. But the Public Health Corps. goes to the people and demystifies and gets people to understand the things that really help them. So, that's my intro. Quick illustrations from Dr. Long then Dr. Chokshi.

Executive Director Long: Yeah. Thanks for the question. I really appreciate that again, as a primary care doctor myself, preventive care is the backbone of primary care. The way it'll work is, there'll be community health workers on my team and we'll take care of my patients together. I might make a plan with my patients about how to change their eating or to take certain medications to prevent them from developing diabetes. The community health worker will then go into their home, help them to execute on that plan to eat healthier, take their medications, and see what other barriers they have that the community health worker can help them withthat they would only know by spending time with them in their home, because they're going to also be with somebody from their community that understands them, because they live where they do as well. So, we're excited about this, but I just want to underline the point, preventive care is really the reason we are doing this.

Mayor: Amen. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And I agree with Dr. Long, prevention is at the heart of all of our public health programs and it's the common thread between the announcements that we've made today. You heard about the Public Health Corps. and the ways in which prevention will be baked into that from Dr. Long. I'll just connect it to a core concept that underlies the Pandemic Response Institute as well, which is we can do so much in taking the learning from our response to COVID and help to prevent and mitigate suffering for future health disasters as well, whether it's another pandemic caused by a respiratory virus or any of the slower moving health disasters related to chronic diseases, or mental illness, and substance use. So, it's at the heart of what we're trying to do.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Michael Gartland from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. You guys hear me okay?

Mayor: We can hear you loud and clear, Michael. How are you doing today?

Question: I’m good. Great. So, on the Public Health Corps, I wanted to get a better sense and excuse me if I missed this during the presentation earlier. What is the scope of this program? How many people are we kind of talking about that this will encompass the City reaching out to, keeping in contact with? And, you know, getting better outcomes from on health care?

Mayor: I'll start and I'm going to welcome Dr. Long, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Easterling, anyone who wants to join in after my preface. A great question, Michael. My bottom line was this. We built up this extraordinary Test and Trace apparatus. The notion we would build it up for a crisis, and then just when the crisis was over, shut it down, made no sense to me. So, I said to people last year, we're building something that needs to become permanent. And the reason it needs to be permanent is because it can help us avoid the challenges of the future preemptively. But also, because there's so much more we could do to make people healthy, if we just had this ability to reach out. So, my bottom line is all the folks who are now in Test and Trace and Vaccine For All, I want to convert that whole team to the Public Health Corps. So, that's my preface. Dr. Long. And then we'll open up to see if Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Easterling want to add anything?

Executive Director Long: Thank you, sir. And I really appreciate this question too. Look, for me as a primary care doctor again, as the Mayor said, I've always dreamed of the day where I can help my patients after they leave my office. And we're going to have, as Dr Chokshi said, 500 plus new community health workers that are going to constitute this new Public Health Corps. Many are going to be in clinic, literally working with me in the Bronx. Many will be working with our community partners in the communities to find people that we can help and to bring them into primary care. But we're going to be able to help tens of thousands of New Yorkers. Some of those that have been the most profoundly impacted by COVID, through this new Public Health Corps and we're very excited about that.

Mayor: Amen. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And Dr. Long laid out the scope of the program well. Let me be very clear. This is a city-wide program. The Public Health Corps is for all of New York City. As always, we will have the focus in certain parts of the city. You've seen that in our work on COVID both with our testing, as well as our vaccination efforts. Where we had a particular focus on certain neighborhoods identified by the Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity. And that focus on addressing health equity, using what we call a place-based approach, will continue forward with the Public Health Corps. The reason is that we know when historical patterns of injustice intersect with disease, that can generate catastrophic outcomes. The Public Health Corps gives us a chance to address that, to prevent suffering going forward, and to improve the health of the entire city.

Mayor: Amen. Dr. Easterling, you'd like to add?

First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. And I totally agree with Dr. Long and the Commissioner. Only thing that I would add in addition to the place-based approach, is really making sure that we're leveraging all of our community-based organizations as we have done throughout this pandemic. We know that a lot of the expertise and a lot of the trusted messages are already in the communities that we want to serve. We want to close the gap on the health outcomes that we want to address. And so, leveraging our community-based organizations and the federally qualified health centers that have really been serving New Yorkers in the way that we need them to, is also part of the scope of this work. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. And Dr. Easterling, want to give you credit where credit is due. You've been really one of the great leaders in this crisis, connecting with communities, helping get community leaders and organizations into the forefront of the fight against COVID. And I've heard tremendous feedback from leaders all over the city, just thankful for your voice and the way you've engaged them. So, thank you so much for that.

First Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Thank you, sir.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Henry Goldman from Bloomberg.

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yes. Good morning, Henry. How are you?

Question: I'm good. How are you doing?

Mayor: It's a beautiful sunny day in New York City, Henry.

Question: It’s a beautiful sunny day. The Red Sox are hanging in.

Mayor: By a thread, but go ahead.

Question: I want to just – there's a nuts and bolts question about the vaccination or [inaudible] the mandate, which is that even though there's a deadline for Friday, it's very possible that some people will be vaccinated on Saturday and Sunday. Will they be allowed to enter the school buildings if they show proof of vaccination?

Mayor: It's a good question. Henry. Look, the bottom line is what we're saying is, Friday five o'clock and this is not exactly like there wasn't prior notice. This is something that's been built up to for weeks and weeks and weeks after months and months and months of the voluntary efforts, then came the mandates. We've had the mandates now announced two months ago. If people are ready to get vaccinated and to continue their work, do it by Friday at 5:00 pm. After 5:00 pm Friday, anybody who's not vaccinated, we're arranging for a substitute to come over, take over that work Monday morning. And we'll be putting that person on unpaid leave, who didn't get vaccinated. You're right if you say, well, can they correct? Yeah, they can correct. And we would love to get them back. But if they haven't done it by Friday at 5:00 pm, we'll immediately go with the substitute and putting them on unpaid leave. And any day they're not vaccinated, they're not getting paid for. But hopefully if someone sees the light on Saturday or Sunday, they get vaccinated, they call in, then we'll make that adjustment right away.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Erin Durkin from Politico. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, we just reported the news that Mary Bassett, your former Health Commissioner, is the pick for the State Health Commissioner. Just wondering what you think of choice and, you know, given some of your criticisms of the way the State Health Department operated, you know, under Cuomo, are you – what are you hoping to see differently? 

Mayor: I'm really happy to see a new State Health Commissioner. Let's start with that, Erin. It was definitely time for a change. We did not get the support we needed. We did not get the cooperation we needed from certain elements, at least, of the State Health Department under the previous governor. That needed all to be changed. We needed new leadership for the people of New York City and for the whole state. Dr. Bassett is an excellent leader. Had her as my first Health Commissioner. She's someone who clearly knows and understands the issues in New York City and will be, I’m certain, respectful of the good work being done at the Department of Health and Health + Hospitals. So, if she is the choice, that's a fine choice. And I'm just really happy there'll be new leadership there.

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. The next question goes to Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist. 

Mayor: Elizabeth? 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor – 

Mayor: There you go. How are you? 

Question: Good. I know this morning, you said that 92 percent of the city's public health care workers have been vaccinated, but I was wondering if you or Dr. Katz could give us a more precise number on how many H+H employees are still not vaccinated. And, you know, since it's day three, we're into the third day of the mandate, how many of those can we really expect to come back to work at this point? 

Mayor: Well, I'll preface and then turn to Dr. Katz. Elizabeth, again, I am really appreciative of the fact that Dr. Katz’s leadership, his whole team, and all the people who made the decision to do the right thing, all the folks that work at Health + Hospitals who, when it really came down to it, did the right thing and got vaccinated. This kind of level of vaccination means we will be able to run our public health system well and protect the people in New York City. And Dr. Katz is really good at making whatever adjustments he needs to. I also want to emphasize, you still have people who – it hasn't been their day to come to work yet so they still have a chance to get vaccinated. You have people who are, I think, going to think twice after they potentially are not going to have a paycheck and are going to come back. There's plenty of time to still get more people vaccinated. So, that's my preface. Forgive the long preface, Dr. Katz – over to you. 

President Katz: No, sir. That was great. So, there are about 3,000 Health + Hospital employees who are not yet vaccinated – 

Mayor: Out of how many? How many, Doctor? 

President Katz: 43,000, sir. 43,000. We’re at 92 percent of people vaccinated right now. So, a little over 3,000 are not yet vaccinated, but as you say, sir, not everybody has had a shift yet to work. We’re still having – I was at our vaccine center yesterday at Bellevue. People were still flowing in, people are getting vaccinated. And we also expect that as people realize that this is going to persist – you've had, sir, some great legal victories – I think there are some people who believed at some point something would come in, there would be a court decision, something would block it and it wouldn't be necessary. But I think as people see, no, the courts recognized the traditional role of vaccination in preventing public health illnesses dating back to smallpox. And so, I think you're going to see still more people coming in. We do have temporary staffing of about 500 nurses who are filling in for those nurses who have not yet gotten vaccinated or have chosen for retirement. We haven't discharged anyone yet. And we do not intend to. We still have an open invitation to all of the people who are not yet vaccinated to please get vaccinated and join back to the health system with the best mission in the world. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Elizabeth. 

Question: My second question is about, how is the City tracking COVID cases for municipal employees that have returned to the office? Are they – and what's the protocol for communicating that to, you know, workers in an office who might – you know, who might've been in contact with someone who was infected? 

Mayor: So, I'll start, I'll turn to Dr. Long in terms of Test and Trace, because obviously what you just indicated is a Test and Trace mission. And Dr. Chokshi in terms of, as Health Commissioner, what he's seeing and hearing back from different agencies. But, Elizabeth, I'd start with this. Look, we got a great example last year with our public schools. Again, we use that gold standard of health and safety measures. We saw things get safer, safer, safer by the end of school last year. Almost no cases in our school system. That was part of what inspired us to realize, you put enough of these measures in place – even before vaccination it was true, but with vaccination on a high level, with vaccination mandates in place you're going to have a safe workplace. And if there are individual cases, we'll be able to make adjustments around them. So, so far, it's been a very successful experience as we knew it would be because we've got so many layers of protection in place, much more than people would experience in other parts of life. So, with that, in terms of how we would address an individual case in a workplace, Dr. Long. And then Dr. Chokshi on what you're hearing about all of the agencies. 

Executive Director Long: Yeah. So, the way it'll work is if there is an individual, you mentioned a municipal employee, or any individual that has a positive test, we will get that result in Test and Trace. We'll make an outbound call to that person. And we know that process works because we're reaching, currently, nearly 90 percent of all new cases across New York City. And we've been doing that really since June of 2020. Then we're going to talk to that case, and we're going to ask them who they could have exposed when they were infectious at the workplace or at home or in their community. We're then going to call all of those people – we know that piece works as well, because we've done it a million times over where we've identified now more than one million close contacts or people that have been shared with us that they're New Yorkers that have been exposed to somebody when they were infectious. We will then call those close contacts, and if they're vaccinated, talking about what that means. If they're not vaccinated, talking to them about what quarantine means for them and their families. Then on the backend as well, we also collect source-of-infection data so we have a comprehensive way of knowing where infections are in the city and where infectious may be going up or down. And that includes things like the workplace, but also different types of gatherings, travelers, things like that. So, we review that data very regularly to see if there's any indication that there's an uptake in any specific setting. Beyond that, I’ll turn to Dave. 

Mayor: I just want to say, as you turn to Dave, that you just used a great phrase, ‘we've done that a million times over,’ which is kind of a popular phrase, but you actually, literally mean it. You've done it a million times over. Okay, Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I'll just add that there are specific protocols in place that all municipal agencies are aware of through communication with DCAS, the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, about what to do with respect to testing, tracing, isolation, and quarantine, as Dr. Long went through. But also, the other layers of protection that we have particularly health screening that is done in many workplaces as well. As well as access to testing and vaccination. An important part of this is when a case is identified, and of course, particularly if that person is symptomatic, they have to stay home and not actually come into the workplace in order to expose others. The final thing that I'll say is that although we are monitoring in collaboration with Test and Trace for any larger outbreaks, we are not yet seeing any large clusters in our municipal workplaces. We'll stay abreast of that and, of course, take appropriate action as that – if that changes. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Morgan Mullings from PoliticsNY. 

Mayor: Morgan? 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, can you hear me? 

Mayor: There you go, how you doing? 

Question: I’m going well, how are you? 

Mayor:Good, thank you. 

Question: So, yesterday we went out to Coney Island to meet with Assembly Member Frontus to talk about a remote learning option for students. We know that you've been, you know, pretty set in your opinion on this, but at the end of the day, there are a lot of students who are missing upwards of ten days of school because someone in their class has COVID. Will you be considering any options at all for remote learning? Is it worse for them to have kind of substandard learning from being remote or missing ten days of school and being behind all of their classmates? 

Mayor: Well, that's a fair question, Morgan, but I would just disagree with the assumption that they have to be behind all their classmates. Again, if we've got – when we have a full class closure, the work continues online with the same teacher teaching remote. When you have a partial closure you have a set of materials that's – you know, kids get, they continue to get support from their teacher for ten days. But remember when you include the weekends, that's not all school days. And the number of classrooms that are closed remains very, very low. So, I think with the new standards we put in place this week in terms of how we're approaching classroom closures, and even more fundamentally as more and more of the school system is fully vaccinated, I don't think you're going to see a lot of classroom closures and you will have methodologies for making sure kids stay current. Remote just doesn't allow us to serve kids properly. So, unless a child is in those very particular medical categories that need a different type of support we're just not going to a remote option. We believe what we're seeing right now, over the first few weeks of school, is working. And we want to stick with it.

And everyone, as we finish up today, I just want to thank our medical leadership, our health care leadership in this city. They've done an absolutely amazing job in the fight against COVID now, more than a year-and-a-half. But these announcements today are so exciting because they're about the future. I'm going to keep saying it, we're going to end the COVID era. We're going to end the COVID era. We're going to put COVID in the background. But then we have to build something new, and we have to have a much bigger recovery and whole new approaches. It's really exciting to think that this is a place where some of the great innovations that are going to happen, and particularly our Public Health Corps, is going to be something we've needed for a long time. And out of this pain, out of this crisis, we're going to create something that is very positive and lasting for the city. Thank you, everybody.

2021-09-30 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Every single day we talk about the comeback in New York City, we talk about the recovery, and you can see it. It's happening more all the time thanks to all of you. Thanks to New Yorkers who are doing the right thing, getting vaccinated, bringing the city back, bringing the jobs back, it's happening all the time. Now we know that recovery has a lot of different elements to it. It all begins with vaccination, but there's so many other pieces.

And now, let's go to our indicators. Number one, very good number today, because we keep seeing the mandates are having their impact. The vaccine doses keep climbing, 11,481,147 doses from day one. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 117 patients. Confirmed positivity, 23.81 percent. Hospitalization rate, this is – again, we keep coming back to this one, going down again. Every little tick downward helps us. Today's number, 1.03 per 100,000. Why? Because of vaccination, that's what's driving that reduction in the hospitalization rate. And number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 1,170 cases. Again, look at that downward slope. Vaccination is working. Mandates are working. Let's stick with it.

Now, I'm going to a few words in Spanish and we'll go back to the flu shots, because, again, we want everyone go out and get these now, help protect this whole city, protect your family.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we’re joined today by Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes, by Test and Trace Director Dr. Ted Long, by the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice Director Marcos Soler, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. Katie from The City.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you doing?

Mayor: Good, Katie. How you been?

Question: Good. Good. I want to ask you about an announcement you made yesterday about the pandemic response? And you said it would be housed at Columbia with, I guess, some involvement with CUNY. But why not just house it at CUNY altogether? Give that money to the City University, which as you know, has been really a backbone for the city, especially working class? Why give it to, you know, an Ivy League university and just have like that?

Mayor: Well, I think it's about the work really, Katie. Fair question, but it's about the work. Columbia School of Public Health is pretty legendary for what they have achieved and the leadership they have there. And we're talking about an Institute with the focus of stopping the next pandemic from happening. Globally, important work. CUNY is going to play a big role, but Columbia is just really well positioned to lead the effort. And we want the very best team we can put together. Go ahead, Katie.

Question: All right. CUNY Graduate Center has a great school of public health too, but I'll move on. I wanted to ask you about an upcoming event at Madison Square Garden this weekend. So, Joe Rogan, he has a podcast. He has been very vocal about his thoughts and opinions about vaccine mandates. It's unclear if he's vaccinated. He will be performing at MSG. But because of the rules, and I guess there's some sort of loophole in it where visiting people do not have the same requirements as someone like Kyrie Irving, who I know you've been outspoken about. Are there any concerns? It's no masks, it’s fully vaxxed. But are, you know, are there concerns about if this will be checked properly and MSG will know who's who, and just wanted to get your take on that?

Mayor: Look, everyone should get vaccinated. Just general principle. Everyone should get vaccinated. I think MSG, very professional operation. They're going to follow the City rules. I don't consider it a loophole. There is a recognition that if someone comes through briefly, it's a different reality than someone who works regularly in a location. But no, I think Madison Square Garden will handle it the right way. Vaccine only, that's the most important issue in terms of all the people coming. And I think it can be kept safe for that reason. 

One of the things we do as New Yorkers is we do new things. We're never afraid to go and try the thing that's going to work, the thing that's different. Again, this is a part of shifting this paradigm for the long-term safety of New Yorkers. And that is how we create a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everyone.

2021-10-01 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It’s the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Good morning, again, everyone. Time now for a weekly Ask the Mayor call in my questions in yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0, or you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag, #AskTheMayor. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian, and I have up to date information on something I know you're going to ask me about, so I'm just going to jump in and tell you. As of our latest information from yesterday, 90 percent of all Department Education employees now have met the vaccination mandate. That number's going to certainly grow a lot as we get additional reports in. 93 percent of teachers already, 98 percent of principals, and these are very strong numbers. We already have what we need to run the school system well and serve our kids in a safe way, but I know these numbers are going to go up in the next 24 hours, for sure.

Lehrer: So, you know, I'm going to ask you, 93 percent of teachers translates into how many thousands unvaccinated, who wouldn't be able to report to work on Monday?

Mayor: Well, the problem - I'm going to answer your question, but with a really honest qualifier, that would be wrong to say a number when we know, in fact, a lot of people are going to get vaccinated today. Let's say it's several thousand in the end who don't get vaccinated in the first instance, if they are not vaccinated by five o'clock today, we'll move substitutes into place – who are vaccinated obviously – and are ready and willing, and really excited to take on these roles and people who want to become teachers in our school system permanently. So, that will be in place for Monday morning. I think what you're going to see is a lot of vaccinations today, and then I think you'll see some people who go into that unpaid leave status and experienced that for a while, and don't like what they're experiencing, and come back and get vaccinated. I think those are going to be the two big thrusts here.

Lehrer: And then there's the requirement that kicked in for health care workers in many settings this week, and I know the response has also been a pretty good rate, but we do have this report from the Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn now that there are some surgeries and other procedures that are being delayed because they're short-staffed. Want to comment on that?

Mayor: Well, sure. I think we should separate our public health care system from private, voluntary hospitals and Downstate is not part of the city system, obviously. The city hospitals, Health + Hospitals, 11 hospitals, 70 clinics, we're doing really, really well. Last figure I saw 92 percent of all staff vaccinated. I think that number has gone up since I last saw it. Absolutely all of our hospitals and clinics are running well. We expected in the other side of the equation, the non-city hospitals to have some challenges, but we also think that that will change even over the next few days, because again, mandates are here for a reason. We tried the voluntary approach for many, many months, incentives, everything. Mandates get people to move in a good and honest way. If you got to do something, if there's a deadline, people move. So, I think you're going to see more people in those private hospitals getting vaccinated real quick. I also think some people, again, they stand back for some days and they're not getting a paycheck, and the entire health care system, everyone's under a vaccine mandate. So, it's not like you can go someplace else and be unvaccinated. I think people going to think better of it, come back, get their paycheck, get their vaccination, get their job back.

Lehrer: Tyrus in Harlem has a question for you about your breaking news, about the school system and vaccines. Tyrus you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor. I have two questions. The first question is if you've been notified that you will be terminated or have been terminated for failure to take the COVID-19 shot, will you – after you take the shot will the termination be rescinded?

Mayor: So, Tyrus, a very important question. I'll talk about the schools. We had a whole labor negotiation process, and an arbitrator came in and the rule is this, that if someone by five o'clock today, any of our school employees of any kind is not vaccinated, at least one shot, we will move to put them on leave without pay starting Monday. Again, we'll fill their role immediately with a vaccinated person. They will be in that leave without pay status going forward, and at some point, of course, if it's never resolved that does lead to termination, but it doesn't happen immediately. What happens is people don't get a paycheck, and if at any point they want to correct that, get vaccinated then can come back in, we would welcome that. But we're not assuming that, if they don't get vaccinated by five o'clock today, after all these reminders and warnings and incentives and everything else, we're assuming they're not coming back and we're putting them on a pay without – I mean leave without pay status starting from Monday morning.

Lehrer: And you are still forecasting that you will have zero uncovered classes on Monday because you have enough substitute teachers to cover those who are not yet vaccinated?

Mayor: Yeah, we have many more vaccinated ready, willing, able substitutes. Then the number of people that we expect to be out. And by the way, that's across different categories, teachers, paraprofessionals, folks who do general education, special education. We have a lot of folks in reserve. We have about a thousand certified teachers in the Department of Education administrative work that can be brought over into schools for a period of time if needed. This has been something we've been planning for a long time, but we had a real example last year where we had to move thousands of substitutes into place. And again, a lot of these are our young folks coming out of schools of education, who never thought they could get into the New York City public schools as a career in the short term and would love to do that. And they're going to bring their energy and we're going to give them a really amazing opportunity now to get into the teaching profession long-term. And that's what we want, we want people who are ready, willing, and able and going to be vaccinated. We're confident about those numbers.

Lehrer: Thanks as always, Mr. Mayor. Talk to you next week. 

Mayor: Take care, Brian.

2021-10-04 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We're going to talk today about the biggest challenge we have ever faced, which is COVID. We are going to talk about how we bring back New York City, stronger than ever. We're going to talk about how we restore public health, restore public safety, bring our schools back. All roads lead to the same place: vaccination. Everything that we need to do for each other, everything we need to do for our city depends on increasing the number of vaccinations all the time. And that's what we've been focused on ow this whole time, over almost a year now.Getting ready for the vaccinations, then making sure that they were reaching as many New Yorkers as possible, as quickly as possible. That work continues every single day. 

Now, New York City – people should be proud. You should be proud that we've really doubled down on vaccination, but it's against the backdrop that's really troubling. We saw just in the last three days, few days, a really horrible milestone for our country – 700,000 COVID deaths. It's painful, it's awful, and so many of them were avoidable with vaccination. As of today, 99 percent of the deaths in this country have been from among those who are unvaccinated. 99 percent of those who we've lost were unvaccinated. It's horrible. And you look at the map on the screen that's from the New York Times, and it shows where we're losing thousands and thousands of Americans in the places where people are less vaccinated. I keep saying we have got to end the COVID era and I believe it. We can end the COVID era. We can make COVID, like so many other diseases that we deal with, don't dominate our lives. We can do that. But we can only do that through vaccination. New York City has been one of the great national leaders in the vaccination effort. 

I want to give credit to all New Yorkers who have participated. To the vaccinators, to our health care team, everyone out there. Our Test and Trace Corps., everyone who has been a part of that. The bottom line is if you are vaccinated, your chance of getting through this is overwhelmingly good. If you're unvaccinated, you're 10 times more likely to be hospitalized. And we've seen every day our vaccination levels increase. We've seen our hospitalization rate go down and it's really gone down in a big way in the last days. We're going to talk about that. It's very exciting to see the impact of all these vaccinations.

Now, we said months ago we're going to use the strategy of mandates and incentives. We needed both. Incentives play a role. Mandates play a role. We've had three key elements. We've been doing this since July. The hundred-dollar incentive, the workforce vaccine mandates for our public workforce, and the Key to NYC requirement for indoor dining and entertainment and fitness. These three strategies together have had a profound impact. As of today, in New York City, from the beginning of our effort, we're past 11.5 million doses of vaccine given. And a lot of that is because of what we did in recent months with incentives and mandates. Since we announced the incentives and the mandate starting in July, over 1.7 million doses. This is from late July to now. So, just over two months, over 1.7 million more doses – a 45 percent increase in the daily rate for vaccination in this city since we announced these new approaches.

Look, here's my message to all the mayors of America. Here's my message to all the governors of America. Put these mandates in place, put these incentives in place. They work. Do it now, save lives and ultimately save this country from a longer crisis that could hold us down for months or even years. If we don't stop COVID, we could have a prolonged problem. As opposed to really ending the COVID era by next year, which we could do with enough vaccination. We're going into the winter. We know the winter is a really challenging time with COVID. Across this country, from last December to February, 200,000 deaths. We can't let that happen again. It can be stopped. People can be saved with vaccination. There are 70 million people in this country who remain unvaccinated. That is a staggering figure, but it can be overcome. But cities and states need to step up, put that a hundred-dollar incentive in place. It clearly works. We've proven it. Put the mandates in place for public workforces. Put the mandates in place for indoor dining. Do the things that people will respond to.

Now, one of the most important actions we took was the mandate for our schools. Our parents needed to know their kids would be safe. They in trust us with their children. It's one of the most sacred things that happens when a parent says to a school community, I'm letting you have my child for the school day. Please help them to grow. Please help them to learn, but you've got to keep them safe. That is what this mandate is all about. Every adult in our schools is now vaccinated and that's going to be the rule going forward. And that's the way to keep kids safe. And the whole school community safe. This has been now looked at by the court system over and over and over again. New York City vaccination mandate for our schools has been upheld over and over in State Court, Federal Court. There was an appeal to the Supreme Court on Friday, the Supreme Court made clear the previous court decisions stand. And so consistently what courts have said is New York City has a right to put this mandate in place for our schools, for the adults in our schools. It’s the right thing today. It's the right thing to do. And as of today, all the employees in our 1600 schools are vaccinated and that is unprecedented. And that's on top of all of the layers of protection, all the health and safety measures that make up that gold standard that we put in place last year. That's continued to deepen this year.

Here are the facts as of this morning. And I think everyone's going to be pleased to hear this report. As of now, 95 percent of all full-time DOE employees are vaccinated; 96 percent of all teachers; 99 percent of all principals – an amazing effort. And I want everyone to know, since the mandate was announced for our schools, August 23rd, over 43,000 doses given to employees of our public schools. So much has been done. Thank you to everyone who participated, but I really want to thank the leader of the effort because she believed from the beginning, this was the way to go. And she made clear to everyone we had to get there together and she achieved it. My great pleasure to introduce our Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter. 

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Thank you, Mayor de Blasio. And as you've said, we've been climbing the ladder to this moment for months, and now 95 percent of all full-time DOE employees are vaccinated. This morning, I visited P.S. 5 in Bed-Stuy. A true, hidden gem in District 16, where Principal Gates shared that 100 percent of her staff got vaccinated, no staffing losses at all. It was just like a regular day for them. Parents dropping off their babies, educators, welcoming their students into class and every single staff member in the building vaccinated. It was wonderful. 

What does 95 percent vaccinated mean? It means our employees and staff members, as we've said, are doing their part to keep their community safe. It means there is an actual bubble of safety around our children in their school buildings. Beginning today and every day, going forward, with 100% of adults in buildings, vaccinated, New York City schools are the safest places to be. And our incredible vaccination mandate made this possible. Every employee from pre-K to adult education, from the Bronx to Far Rockway cares deeply about our students. And that's how we got to this moment. Now, this used to mean staying at the class with the student or bringing in school supplies for those in need. But in the age of COVID-19, it also means getting vaccinated. And I want to personally think everyone. Every educator, every food service worker, every school safety agent, every principal, assistant principal, every substitute teacher, every custodial worker and every single employee in our system who stepped up and took this vital step to keep our children safe.

18,000 new shots were given out since last Friday – that's an incredible surge. To those who have not yet gotten vaccinated, it's never too late to get the life-saving vaccine. Get your first dose today. You are more than welcome to come back to work. Our students need you. Our city needs you. To parents who are worried about disruption and our babies’ schools this week, we are prepared for this moment. We've been working so hard to get to this moment. We have thousands of vaccinated substitutes on-hand and we are working hand in hand to support and ensure the continuity of instruction in every school, every day. A benefit of being the largest district in the nation is that we have the largest village of dedicated adults prepared to step up for our young people. This week, vaccination sites will continue to be in every single school with students, ages 12 and over. They are there to provide both first and second doses. And we're happy to announce it today that we're starting our first round of second doses in our schools for our students. If you are a mom or dad who's been sitting on the fence, now is the time to have your baby get vaccinated and be protected from COVID-19. Vaccination means more time in school, access to sports and extracurriculars, and more importantly, a faster return to our normal. 

Once again, thank you to every staff member who got vaccinated. Every single one of you is such an important piece in the armor, protecting us from this pandemic. And thank you, Mayor de Blasio, for making sure school staff are vaccinated and reassuring parents citywide. Together, we are making sure our kids can stay in school safely and get the excellent public school education they deserve in each and every one of our New York City public schools. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Chancellor. Chancellor, I know that a huge amount of work went in with you and your team to get ready for today. I'm hearing really good reports from around our school system, our 1,600 schools, that the right steps were taken to keep everything moving forward. But it all begins with that amazing fact, 95 percent of full-time DOE employees have now received at least one dose of the vaccine. That's amazing. 

I want you to now hear what this means to families. What it means to parents. What means to kids. Want you to hear from a parent from the Bronx. And she went through like all of us, all the challenges of COVID in the last year and a half. But parents went through particularly tough challenges, trying to make sure that our kids could keep learning and growing even with all the problems surrounding them. And parents want to make sure that that environment is safe going forward because they want their kids in school. Paula Ellis has a 7 old and a 13-year-old at P.S./M.S. 5 in the Bronx. I want you to hear her story welcome, Paula Ellis. 

[…] 

Mayor: Well, we've lost her sound. Hey Paula, can you hear us? We lost your sound there. I don't know if something got muted? It’s the video connection. Okay, well, Paula, thank you. I'm sorry we lost the end of what you said. But I want to amplify your thanks to all of our educators and all of our staff who did the right thing and got vaccinated. Because hearing your voice, Paula, I can hear the reassurance that you now feel as a parent. So, thank you for speaking up for your fellow parents and thank you to everyone at DOE who did the right thing and got vaccinated. And I got to tell you, having a mandate, having some clear rules, having a deadline really makes a difference. Powerful tweet this morning from the White House Chief of Staff, Ron Klain, and he was responding to the news of the success of the New York City Department of Education with 95 percent of employees now vaccinated. He said, this simply this morning, we all know it. There are people who just wait until the deadline. It's a reality. And it's why vaccine requirements are needed and effective. Exactly right. And this is why all over the country, schools should do it. Cities should do it. Mayors should step up. Governors should step up for their states. These mandates work. It's what's going to save this country. And I want you now to hear from someone who is absolutely an expert, because he has the wellbeing of all the children of America, is his responsibility. He is leading this country's efforts to educate our children, but he has an additional job now to lead the way in keeping them safe. And he was here with us on the first day of school. He's back with us on this very important day. And he’s supported us every step of the way as Secretary of Education of the United States of America. My pleasure to introduce Dr. Miguel Cardona. 

[…] 

Mr. Secretary, thank you so much. I got to tell you, it has helped us every step of the way to have your support, to have President Biden's support for these mandates, for these strong measures. It's made a world of difference to have leadership in Washington, backing us up every step along the way. So, all I can say to you is muchisimas gracias, it has been tremendously helpful. And we look forward to hosting you again soon in New York City. 

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona: Thank you, [inaudible]. 

Mayor: Everybody, I want you now to hear from a leader who is an elected official, but for years and years, he was a public school teacher. He understands how important it is to protect our kids. He can give the perspective as a teacher, but also as someone serving a whole district in the Bronx. And he's stood by us every step of the way as we put these crucial mandates in place to get everyone vaccinated, get everyone safe. My pleasure to introduce Council Member Eric Dinowitz. 

[…] 

Thank you so much, Council Member. That was really powerful. First of all, I'm glad that you know how to still give homework. But second – 

City Council Member Eric Dinowitz: I can’t check the assignment, but I can still assign it. 

Mayor: But you can still assign it, that's right. But it says something powerful. People trust the educators in their life, the school staff, the crossing guards, you name it. And of course, the principals, administrators, when those folks who make up our school community get vaccinated, they send a message of respect to parents and kids. They also can help ensure that more parents, more kids get vaccinated. It's a virtuous circle. But today we're so happy to be able to say that 95 percent number. I'm going to keep saying it. You're right. That is a grade – congratulations. Chancellor, that’s a great grade and more to come. Because we still welcome everyone who's not vaccinated, get vaccinated, move forward with us. Thank you, Council Member. Thank you for your strong voice. 

Council Member Dinowitz: Thank you. 

Mayor: Okay. So, now we've talked about the impact of the workforce mandates, huge, clear. It's really, really made a difference. Key To NYC, we know that's made a difference. And the $100 incentive. So, many people have focused on getting vaccinated the minute they heard that. And we have a milestone today, a really big milestone. Since we started the $100 incentive, a quarter million New Yorkers have taken advantage of it. 250,000 New Yorkers who got their first coronavirus dose, excuse me, coronavirus vaccine dose. 250,000 New Yorkers got vaccinated for the first time because of that $100 incentive. That's a staggering number. You know, around here, we're used to big numbers. 250,000 is even a big number for New York City. And we know when we put out the idea of the $100 incentive it just caught like wildfire. You could tell people heard it. It made sense to them. It gave them an incentive. Literally the same day, President Biden grabbed onto it and said, this is something we need to do all over the country. Listen to what we've achieved because we wanted to reach people. And we wanted to close disparities every step of the way. Since then, since the $100 incentive, 45 percent of the recipients of that incentive had been Latino. That is one of the reasons why the Latino community is now the second most vaccinated demographic in New York City. It went from a community that was very much under vaccinated to now a surge in the number of vaccinations. A community that's well vaccinated. And that's continuing. 

Another key goal was to reach younger New Yorkers. That was the incentive. But also of course, the Key to NYC. We knew a lot of the younger New Yorkers valued getting into restaurants, indoor entertainment, fitness. Well, listen to this. 40 percent of the recipients of that $100 bonus have been in the 18-year-old to 35-year-old range. So, the whole idea was to reach people who weren't getting reached and it worked like a charm, massive amount of uptake, making people safer. 

We also have the referral bonus initiative, a different kind of bonus. Working with community organizations, houses of worship, community businesses, restaurants, you name it, even barbershops. The idea has been, go where the people are. And if a community business like a barbershop wants to encourage people and get people to sign up to be vaccinated. If that barbershop is going to help get more New Yorkers safe and all of us safe? We want to reward them with a $100 referral bonus for each person they bring in. Well, there's someone who heard the message loud and clear and acted on it. He is the owner of the Barber Factory in the Bronx. I want to tell you, I'm proud of him, 100 percent of his staff, fully vaccinated. He believed he could make a difference. And because of him, 157 more New Yorkers are now vaccinated. What a great story. And it's my pleasure to introduce an entrepreneur who has done right for his community, Nestor Lebron. 

[…] 

Mayor: Nestor, I am so proud of you. I got to tell you, I'm proud of you, you've done something great for the Bronx, something great for New York City. You and your stylish group of guys there, you know, you've done, you obviously know how to give a good haircut, but you also really made an impact on the community. And I want to tell everyone, this is a kind of business that we should thank. Nestor, tell everyone where you're located. 

[…] 

Mayor: Well, that's the place to be in the Bronx obviously. And listen, you did something great. It's making an impact. There's a lot of people who are going to be safer because of what you did and the word's going to spread. And also, the small businesses listening right now. You could be like the Barber Factory. You could sign up and make a huge impact for yourself and your community. So, Nestor you're – I'm going to give you a, a big applause to tell you're a role model by what you're doing, and we got to spread the word. We need more community leaders like you to step up. Really want to thank you. 

[…] 

Mayor: Amen. Good job guys, good job. All right, now everybody, this referral approach is making a big difference. I want to encourage if you're a community organization, house of worship, a community business, sign up and go to nyc.gov/VaccineReferralBonus, nyc.gov/VaccineReferralBonus. This is a win-win. It's a good news story. Everyone jump in because it could really make a difference for this whole city. Now, I want to give you the indicators for the day and this – they are very, very powerful information as indicators, and it is going to prove the power of vaccination once again. First of all, on the doses administered, we're actually pushing up now towards almost 11.6 million, 11,578,200 – excuse me - 522. Amazing number. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 131 patients with a confirmed positivity level of 16.45 percent. But here is the number that we are all – all of us at City Hall, Health Department, Health + Hospitals, everyone is very, very struck by this number today, the hospitalization rate per 100,000 keeps going down, and what we're seeing today is 0.88 per 100,000. That is getting lower all the time. That's a really important to get under one per 100,000 New Yorkers is a very, very big deal and proves the impact of vaccination. And then, number three, new reported case on a seven-day-average, today's report, 1,073 cases. Look at that downward drop. Vaccination making a difference. Okay, few words in Spanish, on the Department of Education vaccine mandate. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, we are going to turn to our colleagues in the media.

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder today, we're joined by Chancellor Meisha Porter, Dr. Dave Chokshi, Health Commissioner, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of Health + Hospitals, Steve Banks, DSS Commissioner, Marcos Soler MOCJ Director, and with that, we're going to, to our first question from Andrew from NBC. 

Question: Good morning. My question is about staffing at schools today. We understand all the good news that you've reported in terms of the vaccination rates, but I am wondering if there are any specific schools where there are staffing challenges today, in particular we've heard that at New Dorp High School on Staten Island, there was a gap of about 20 teachers going into today, 20 unvaccinated teachers, and that doesn't include food service workers and security officers. So, if you or the Chancellor can update what the situation is at that school and whether or not there are any other trouble spots across the city. 

Mayor: I’ll give you the opening and then turn to the Chancellor. Andrew, look, we're looking forward the day where anyone who is not yet vaccinated decides to change their mind, get vaccinated and rejoin us. But in the meantime, we were ready with thousands and thousands of substitute teachers and other personnel ready to go in, obviously, some of our central staff. The bottom line is that's a number in that school we can handle, that's a big school, but in terms of the overall picture today and how it's being managed, I'll turn to the Chancellor. 

Chancellor Porter: Yeah, so like the Mayor said, you know, we've been first of all, monitoring every school throughout the last week, you know, since our last decision, the last decision in our favor to monitor vaccination locations that were sites that were low. And while New Dorp, you know, 20 staff members in the school of that size, while not insignificant, was fully covered by the work of the superintendent, by the work of the central staff, and by subs. And what we want to continue to do is encourage our staff members. We want them in our buildings. We want them in our schools. We want them when our students. We want to continue to encourage them to be vaccinated, and we're going to continue to work with every single school to make sure we're covered. 

Mayor: Amen.

Moderator: Next, we have Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Given the success of the mandate in schools, will you be applying the mandate now to all city agencies and government employees? 

Mayor: Juliet, we've been – throughout this whole process over months and months said, we're looking at any and all options. We've been climbing the ladder, as I like to say, very, very steadily. This one was particularly important to get it right. We also had obviously a number of court challenges, but what's come through very, very clearly is we've won every single one of those court challenges. So, these mandates work, we're going to consider in the days ahead what else makes sense to do? Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Yeah, just to follow up on that. So, are there any particular agencies that you feel would have priorities or given that there are lower skewing numbers, let's say with the NYPD, that you would mandate that? 

Mayor: Again, Juliet, we’re going to look at the whole picture. We really – this became very clear, both in terms of showing we could make the logistics work, making sure we could serve people properly, serve our kids, serve our families, and also deal with all the court challenges. This has been where our focus has been. We're going to look at everything else now, and as we make decisions, we'll certainly give updates. 

Moderator: Next, we have James from PIX-11. 

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and to everyone on the call. UFT President Mulgrew criticized you for not implementing the vaccine mandate sooner in a statement he made about an hour and a half ago. I'd welcome getting your and Ms. Ross Porter's reaction to that, please? 

Mayor: I haven't seen the quote. I'll start, I'll turn the chancellor. I – you know what, God bless is what I want to say. 95 percent of full-time staff vaccinated. We pulled this off in the way we believe would work for our kids, for our families, for our school communities. We've got this success now, you know, you can always do hypotheticals and be Monday morning quarterback, but we've got the success now, I think it speaks for itself, James.Chancellor, what would you like to say? 

Chancellor Porter: I would just add – having not seen the quote either –I am elated at what we were able to accomplish today with the help of our entire DOE family stepping up and getting vaccinated. And so, this was the moment we were supposed to get to, this was the day this was supposed to happen, and you know, I just will say thank you to the 95 percent of our workforce that's vaccinated and protecting our children. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, James. 

Question: Thank you both, also for both of you somewhat related, the numbers that we're seeing, it's about 20 percent of school safety agents remain unvaccinated. What assurances can you give that there's enough school safety coverage with the number of agents available now? And how do you intend to increase their presence?

Mayor: Yeah, James, the number that I have right now is that the level of vaccination has reached at least 84 percent with school safety agents. And we expect that number to climb. We've seen this here and around the country. A lot of people get vaccinated. Most people get vaccinated by the deadline, and then you do see some others get vaccinated in the days immediately after. So, we're at least, at 84 percent now. I think that number will go up. We had a long discussion yesterday about the deployments that were being made prioritizing certain schools, making sure that the school safety agents we had were in the right places. And I think the DOE working with NYPD did that effectively, but I'll let the Chancellor give any other update on that.

Chancellor Porter: Yeah. No, we’ve been again, working really closely with school safety and making sure that our buildings are covered. We pulled staff members who were not working in school buildings into school buildings. And again, we've seen jumps every single day. And so, we're going to continue to encourage our staff to get vaccinated. We're going to continue to work together and expect to watch those numbers continue to go up.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Next, we have Michael from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, guys. 

Mayor: Hey, Michael. How are you doing? 

Question: I'm good. I wanted to ask about the Department of Education staffing situation. How many people at this point have been suspended without pay? Just the actual number of personnel. 

Mayor: I don't have the exact number in front of me. I'll see if the Chancellor does, and, if she does not, we will get it to you certainly today. But, again, it's – I want to use the right term of art – they're put on unpaid leave – different reality. Unpaid leave. Go ahead, Chancellor. 

Chancellor Porter: I don't have the exact number right now, because we also – folks are showing up this morning with vaccine cards. So, we're – again, we remain proud of the 95 percent of our workforce that's vaccinated. We're going to continue to encourage folks to be, like the Mayor said, people – folks are put on unpaid leave and will be welcomed back in our system, should they decide to comply with the mandate. But we'll get more specific numbers later. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Michael. 

Question: Second question on, you know, the $100 incentives the City's been using. And I'm not necessarily questioning the merits of that and the – what you've achieved on it. But, you know, do you find it like a bit – does it bother you at all that the City has had to pay $25 million to, kind of, get people to do something that's – I think that you would agree, is a commonsense move is to get vaccinated. I'm just wondering kind of what you – what you think about that? I mean, it's $25 million. I think you could argue it's money well spent, but, at the same time, still, it's $25 million. 

Mayor: Look, it's money well-spent unquestionably. Picking up another quarter-million vaccinated people, that's incredibly helpful to the city. And you can see it in the reduction in COVID in this city. You can see it in the hospitalization rate going down. You can see it in our recovery speeding up. It was absolutely worth it. I understand your point, I really wish people had heard all of the science, all of the facts, all the information that was being offered to them and done, you know, the right thing before the incentive. But I do want to say with some sympathy, people have been fed a nonstop diet of misinformation very much coming out of the reality of the rise of Donald Trump and all the forces unleashed by it. And, beyond that, there's a lot of distrust out there. There's a lot of this trust of authority that has grown and grown and grown in my lifetime. I'm kind of shocked, honestly, that we went from too – too little questioning of authority to the point where now, even when the authorities are right, they are not believed by lots of people just for showing up. You know, there's just literally an inability to hear even our health care leaders when they're telling the truth. And that's sad to me. So, I think, Michael, it's a reflection of the times we're living in. I don't think it has to be this way forever. I think people will get it at some point and start to give a little more respect to the folks out there who really are offering them the truth. But a lot has happened to cause distrust and misunderstanding and we've had to fight against that. This has been one of the tools that's worked. 

Moderator: We have time for two more today. Next, we have Elizabeth from WNYC. 

Mayor: Elizabeth? 

Question: Hello? There I am. Our education reporter, Jessica Gould, is hearing from principals who say that substitutes are not applying for or filling in for teachers. Can you and-or the Chancellor confirm and clarify what's going on there?

Mayor: Well, look, let's, again, not dumb it down. Some of the principals who are talking are those who might have ideological reasons to oppose the vaccine mandate, that's just the blunt truth. But, overall, what we're seeing all over the system is, since the vast majority of employees, including 96 percent of teachers got vaccinated, there's relatively few substitutions necessary. They were worked on and ready in place on Friday, they’ve been applied. If, at any point – you don't have to name any names – you have a school that's saying they don't have a substitute, please let our team know and we'll confirm to either if they've gotten a substitute or if they're on the way. But I'm not hearing that problem in any substantial way. I think a lot of work was done to make sure that the help that was needed would be where it needed to be. Go ahead, Chancellor. 

Chancellor Porter: I agree with you, Mr. Mayor. We were creating sub jobs as early as last Monday, because schools had information about who was vaccinated and unvaccinated. They knew where the gaps were. Our superintendents, our central office teams have covered – we've sent folks out to – we redeployed people, had subs in place, and we have an escalation process in place right now as we speak. I haven't heard of any place that has a significant sub gap that can't be covered. And so, again, we're going to continue to encourage folks and we're going to continue to work to make sure we are supporting every single school in New York City throughout this process.

Mayor: Amen. 

Moderator: Our final question for today goes to Alex from Chalkbeat. 

Question: Hey, everyone. Thanks so much for taking my question. I sort of a broader question about the places where there are, you know, teachers or school safety agents who have not been vaccinated and are now on leave – sort of, what the long-term plan is for filling those roles? You know, will there, sort of, be a rotating cadre of subs who rotate into those classrooms? Can families expect there to be like long-term coverage? What's the City's plan for that? 

Mayor: Yeah, I'll start and I'll turn to the Chancellor. It’s a great question, Alex. Look, the bottom line is, we’ve got a couple of different moving parts here. Again, what we've seen around the country as mandates are applied, you get that huge wave of people who do get vaccinated by the deadline. And then, in the days after, some additional folks who decide they need to give it a second look, and they come back, and they get vaccinated. So, I do expect you're going to see some more movement in that direction. Second of all, you might have some folks who, you know, go a month, two months and say, wait a minute, this is not having a paycheck thing isn't so good, and I miss my kids, I miss my school, they come back. But when it comes to the longer term, we’ve got lot of talented young people who are ready to take those jobs and they're getting more experience now. And some of those subs, undoubtedly, are going to get hired as permanent teachers as part of our school system. There's plenty of people. This is an amazingly good job, working for the New York City public schools. So, there's – there are, literally, people lined up, waiting to grab those opportunities. Chancellor? 

Chancellor Porter: Again, I agree. And I would also say, no one expected us to get to this place, but we did, because we knew that our staff members would show up for all of our children. And just like last year, we built an amazing sub pool to support us through the pandemic. And those folks got a lot of experience last year. And we look forward to making them permanent teachers in our system. Our principals also – you know, we have received an enormous amount of resources from both the federal government and the State. And so, principals have been interviewing where teachers have made clear their intentions to not come back and working on, you know, finding permanent teachers, as well as long-term sub. So, we're confident that we're going to be able to fill the gaps and continue and make sure our students get the education they deserve. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Alex. 

Question: Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah. Go ahead, Alex. 

Question: Okay, great. I just wanted to follow up on the WNYC question that was formulated by Jessica, and just ask – so, are you all saying that you're not aware of any instances of like schools having trouble finding subs to fill today? 

Mayor: All I can say is that we went through this in great detail last night and checked in again this morning. I'm not hearing anything that hasn't either been covered or as being addressed as we speak. So, you know, the specific instances we've heard so far, none of them are, if you will, hard to address. They're all being addressed, but Chancellor – 

Chancellor Porter: I would just add that if there was a school that had a gap due to a sub – first of all, there are thousands of sub jobs that go out every day that go unfilled. It's a part of the sub process. But we worked really hard to make sure we identified subs, we solidified positions, and, where we could not, we also redeployed central staff. But getting to 95 percent of our system vaccinated really changed the game this morning and we expect it to continue to change every day.

Mayor: Yeah. And that's the point I want to close on today, just, everyone, that 95 percent number. I love what Council Member Dinowitz said – that's a grade for all of New York City. That's a grade for our schools, our educators, our staff – 95 percent. Unbelievably strong effort, thank you to everyone who's a part of it. Our kids are going to get what they deserve – a positive, safe environment. Our families are going to rest easier, and this is what's going to allow us to achieve a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everybody.

2021-10-05 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, yesterday was a great, great day for New York City. Our kids in school, every one of our 1,600 New York City public schools open and doing great. All our kids back, all our kids, including kids who hadn't seen a classroom for a year-and-a-half, back where they need to be and safer than ever. We already had that gold standard of health and safety measures in place from last year. We built upon it for this year. And for the first time, every adult, everybody who works in our schools, vaccinated – an amazing achievement. Kudos to everyone in our school system, our Chancellor, to all the vaccinators, to everyone who made it happen. This is a big deal, because now more than ever parents know their kids are safe. Kids can learn in a positive environment. This is what we've been working toward. Here it is and it's working. We got great support yesterday when I announced that 95 percent of all full-time DOE employees were vaccinated, and we expect that number to rise. We got support from the White House, from Chief of Staff Ron Klain, from Secretary of Education Cardona, supporting us, saying other districts around the country should follow New York City's example. And, as Council Member Dinowitz, so eloquently said, former teacher, 95 percent grade on a test is a damn good grade. And that's what the New York City public schools pulled off.

Now, the mandates have worked. We need to use them more and more all over the country. Let's give you the facts. 43,000 DOE employees got vaccinated since the mandate was first announced. 18,000 in a 10-day span, leading up to the deadline. Numbers now are growing again. We saw in the last 24 hours, 600 more vaccinations. Folks who were not vaccinated – 600 more DOE employees got vaccinated in the last 24 hours. We expect more to come. Now at 85 percent of our school safety agents, that number is going to climb. And we had, in fact, 15,000 substitute teachers – both substitute teachers, substitute paraprofessionals, ready and ready to go into play yesterday. We didn't need all of them, I'm happy to say. We had 7,000 substitute teachers. We brought in 1,000 members of our central staff. Schools ran smoothly, because we're prepared, but most especially because 95 percent of school employees got vaccinated. Again, that number is going to go up.

I want you to hear from someone now who has been leading the charge for the whole nation. He has been one of the key people turning this situation around and protecting us. And I’ve got to tell you, we have often looked to Washington for support, for guidance since President Biden came in. We're going to hear from a member of his team in just a moment. I just got a note, he needs a few more minutes. I’ll go ahead to another person I want you to hear from. And she is a national voice, a national health care leader, one of the big voices in the fight against COVID. But looking at it from the perspective of families, looking at what we've got to do to keep kids safe, to make our schools function – we've needed folks to say that there was an aggressive approach that works. And she is one of those who have said it most clearly. She is a Brooklyn native, that's a very special person in my book. She is the Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at Columbia and founder of FemInEM, which promotes advancement of women in medicine. My great pleasure to introduce Dr. Dara Kass.

[...]

Mayor: Hey, Dr. Kass, I want to ask you one question and thank you for everything you laid out, but you've been watching the national picture, how people are responding to mandates. And I think the assumption early on was both public sector and private sector that they would be difficult to apply. We're having a very different experience so far with our health care workers, with our employees at Department of Education. But if you give a little bit more of the national picture, including what the private sector has experienced, the level of success these mandates are having.

Dr. Dara Kass: Yeah, I think that that's exactly right. These, these mandates have been remarkably successful. You've seen airlines like United Airlines, you know, see that they had just a fraction, less than one percent of the two percent of people even ask for more time to consider vaccination. But really across the board at the federal level, the private industry level, and it's a state and local government level. It is the last mile to get people vaccinated, to keep our children and our citizens safe. So, it's critical that both private and public entities do this. Because yes, we are seeing very little hesitation and a lot of adoption to these mandates because people just need to remember, it's not just about them, but really about the students and the people who [inaudible].

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Kass, look, I think we are learning as we go along, but there's no question that when you give people a clear direction, it causes a lot of people moving. By the way, when one person moves and then they see their coworker moving, it, it creates momentum. And I think that's what we needed all along.

Dr. Kass: It’s peer pressure.

Mayor: It's the peer pressure. It's a good word. It may not be good when you're a teenager, but this case is good. Thank you so much, Doctor. Appreciate it. Okay, now again, I want you to hear from one of the leaders of the national effort to fight COVID. And the Biden Administration has been extraordinary. President Biden came in with clear, sharp vision and message on COVID. He helped lead us to a better place. He said, we need people vaccinated. We need to get our schools open. We've been following to the letter, the vision that President Biden has put forward. And it has always been so powerful to be able to turn to the White House, to the Administration for direction and support. It's helped us get done everything we've done. I want you to hear now from someone who has helped lead the way in the effort to get hundreds of millions of Americans vaccinated and with tremendous speed and success. He is the White House COVID Response Coordinator and Counselor to the President. My pleasure to introduce Jeff Zients

White House COVID Response Coordinator, Jeff Zients: Did I get the volume on?

Mayor: Jeff, can you hear us?

COVID Response Coordinator Zients: Yeah, I can. Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Good morning. How are you doing?

COVID Response Coordinator Zients: I’m thrilled to be here. Thank you for inviting me.

Mayor: Well, Jeff, I don't know if you could hear, I said to folks that we really want to thank you and the whole Biden team for the support you've given us. And most importantly, the vision you've given the whole country. That's helped to get huge numbers of people vaccinated, helped to get our schools open. It has been tremendously helpful and powerful to have the leadership of you and all your colleagues. I want to thank you for that.

COVID Response Coordinator Zients: Well, I want to thank you. And that you're on the frontline along with, you know, your colleagues, mayors, governors, local health officials around the country, doing the hard work on the front lines, and you've been at it for a long time. And our job is to help facilitate that work and provide resources and make it easier to do a very hard thing. And I just want to thank you for your strong and ongoing partnership with the Biden administration.

Mayor: Well, Jeff, thank you. And look, what we're seeing is that mandates are having a profoundly helpful effect. Again, 95 percent of all our Department of Education employees now vaccinated. We saw great success in our healthcare sector too, in this city. Tell us your perspective on the impact that mandates are having both in public and private sector.

[...]

Mayor: Jeff, thank you. We couldn't literally could not have done any of what you just said without your leadership and the President's leadership, the resources you've provided us. The message and vision that you provide the whole country. I'm very proud of what New Yorkers have done and what our whole team has done. We could not have done it alone. You guys were there for us every step, along the way. 185 million Americans, that's unbelievable how many people you've reached. And I just want to give you guys credit for the momentum that you have created, which is going to help us bring the whole country back. But I want to amplify, here's my message. Picking up on your point – to every mayor in America, to every governor in America, to every CEO in America. Go to a vaccine mandate, and that's what's going to turn the corner for all of us. It works. It's not always easy at first, but what's striking is the level of ultimate buy-in has been stunning. The numbers, you just went over, Jeff, from the health care systems, unbelievable buy-in levels in the final analysis. And that's what we should judge by.

COVID Response Coordinator Zients: United Airlines was one of the first to move, as you know, Mr. Mayor. And I think they're now at 99 percent. So, right back at you. I mean, I think we're sort of the support team here. You're the front line. There's still clearly work to be done. So, we look forward to our continued partnership and driving vaccination rates up to the – to an even higher level. So, thank you, Mr. Mayor, for your leadership and this opportunity.

Mayor: Thank you, Jeff. See you soon.

COVID Response Coordinator Zients: Thank you. Bye bye.

Mayor: All right. So, we talk about our recovery all the time. We talk about our recovery for all of us. Recovery for all of us depends on getting more and more people vaccinated. We're going to go over to indicators at the end. You're going to see once again hard evidence that vaccination is working. You'll see it particularly with the hospitalization rate that keeps going down. We got to press the advantage now and end the COVID era once and for all. And when we think about recovery, we think about getting our lives more back to normal. We think about New York City go into full speed. We've come a long, long way. You can feel the energy, you can see the jobs coming back. We've got some more steps to go, but that means being able to get New Yorkers around.

Okay. As promised indicators. Again, the story is always led with vaccination as it should be. So, the first indicator is the number of doses administered to date, a stunning number, 11,593,431. Climbing all the time because of the incentives, because of the mandates. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 136 patients. Confirmed positivity level, 14.58 percent. Here's the number I want you to hear about, hospitalization rate. This has gone down so markedly. At this moment in New York City, 0.86 per 100,000. That's a really good number, and we want to keep driving it down with more vaccination. Finally, number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today’s report, 1,091 cases. A few words in Spanish on the success of the Department of Education vaccine mandate.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, we will turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by a Dr. Katz and by Lauren Siciliano the Chief Administration Officer for the Department of Education. Michael Gartland from the Daily News. 

Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing? 

Mayor: Hi, Michael, how are you today? 

Question: I'm doing okay. So, the last couple of days, and you've done this over the past couple of weeks too, you've touted the effectiveness of vaccine mandates. And I know you've got a question on this yesterday, but I feel like it begs it again, I mean, when - when is this going to be expanded? It would seem that, you know, this sort of mandate that you've applied to the schools would make sense in Rikers for, you know, corrections officers. There's, you know, a captive population there. You know, what about the NYPD, FDNY, you know, you talk about climbing the ladder, Juliet asked yesterday what the next rungs are. I mean, what are – when are we going to going to see a plan here and which agencies are next? 

Mayor: Well, Michael, I appreciate the question and you're doing your job, and you obviously know if I had an announcement for your you'd have already heard it. We're looking at all the different pieces of the equation. Our focus in the last few weeks has been to solidify the reality with Department of Education, by far our biggest agency, to make sure we got appropriately through the legal challenges, which has been obviously great success so far, and then start figuring out what other steps that made sense. So, we're looking at that right now in the coming days, but don't have a specific deadline for you, but this is a discussion we'll be having over the next few days.

Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Mayor, good morning. I wanted to ask about the use of substitute teachers yesterday. If I understand your math correctly, you said you had about 14,000 available and you used about 7,000. How many subs are used on a typical non-pandemic day? And what does the - sort of, what do the numbers tell you about where you can get in terms of vaccinated personnel? 

Mayor: Great, great question, Andrew. I'm going to start, and then I want you to hear from someone who's done wonderful work with her team, Lauren Siciliano, she'll be coming up in a moment. She's the Chief Administrative Officer for DOE, but look, Andrew, I think we got to put this in perspective. For the last weeks there's been a lot of naysayers saying, you know, we were going to hit some wall and there wouldn't be enough teachers, there wouldn't be enough staff, then the smoke cleared yesterday at that 95 percent level for our staff overall, 96 percent for teachers specifically. And we said, stay tuned, because the situation will evolve. One of the things I've learned working with Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, working with Lauren Siciliano and others, is that the school environment, even when there's never – no pandemic, is fluid day to day, especially in the beginning weeks of school. So, they make huge adjustments over a vast school system, 1,600 schools, a million kids, 147,000 employees. It's a giant, giant operation and adjustments are made all the time. The big point for you to hear is just since yesterday 600 more vaccinations, that just changed the math again. 600 more vaccinations means we need fewer substitutes than we originally thought we need adjustments can be made. So, in terms of what a typical day is like, and where we think we're going, we think we're going someplace better in the next few days, but I'll have Lauren Siciliano give you an update and answer to your question.

Chief Administrative Officer Lauren Siciliano, Department of Education:Absolutely. Thank you, sir, and good morning. We are just very pleased to see that 95 percent of our staff has gotten the first dose of the vaccine. On a typical day, we would use around 3,000 sub teachers for absence coverage and other needs. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Andrew. Andrew?

Question: DC37. Yes. Yes, can you hear me?

Mayor: Yep. 

Question: Okay. So, DC37 said yesterday that the city has essentially invited unvaccinated employees that includes lunch aides, crossing guards, et cetera, to resign by the end of October and keep their benefits for a year. Is the purpose of that offer really aimed at the folks who are never going to get vaccinated. Are you making a separation where you still believe you can get hundreds a day or dozens a day, but there is a subset that is simply not going to get vaccinated? Is that why you're essentially promising folks they can keep their benefits, but they need to leave. 

Mayor: Well, again, there was an arbitration process, Andrew, and we said from the beginning we were going to bargain with our labor unions. We did in good faith and ended up in the arbitration process. That's what the arbitrator decided, but I think the bottom line is we very much believe that some people, we said, people got to make the decision quickly after getting that letter saying you're on unpaid leave. It's nice to have benefits. It's a lot nicer to have pay. So, when folks got that letter over the weekend saying, you're now on unpaid leave, I told you some people are going to react to that letter. Already, in the first 24 hours, 600 people reacted to that letter, came in and got their first vaccination. You're going to see more of that. Second, some people are going to go a month, two months, and then the absence of pay in their life is going to really make an impact on their thinking. So, this is a situation where there's more than one chance for redemption, but we're working with the rules that came out of labor negotiation, came out of arbitration, and so far, obviously, with those rules in place, we're seeing overwhelming success.

Moderator: The next is Erin from Politico. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. First off, I just wanted to clarify a point about the substitute teachers [inaudible]- 

Mayor: Wait a second, we’re just - hold on one second, Erin, you're coming in a little cut up, and again, I don't know if something was wrong on our side today or – the folks here are saying it's okay. Try again, Erin. Let's see if we can hear you better. 

Question: Okay, yeah, just with a few of the questions I think today. Can you just clarify how many teachers were out? How many substitutes were used? Because I thought you said 7,000 and then I thought I heard only 3,000 were out. So, what accounts for that discrepancy? And then if you can just sort of speak a little more broadly about, you know, were there particular schools where it was a bigger issue than others, where there were more vacancies? Were there others where it was, you know, not really an issue, just sort of how, what were the differences in how it played out around the system? 

Mayor: I'll start and we'll bring back Lauren Siciliano to talk about some of the specifics, if there was anything notable from certain schools and also the overall numbers. The import of what I was saying in my opening remarks, Erin, one we had more substitutes ready to go than we needed. And that's good, that's a good problem to have. Two, that we've already seen the picture change after 24 hours because 600 people that we thought we need a replacement for are now back in the game. So, that's just changed the math immediately. That's a lot of people. That's just one day. So, we're trying to just give the picture of an ever-emerging situation, but it's emerging in the right direction. In terms of how many substitutes you actually needed and put in play yesterday, Lauren, and again, if there's any particular notable school situations, why don't you give that update, Lauren? 

Chief Administrative Officer Siciliano: Absolutely. Thank you, sir. So, in terms of the number of unvaccinated teachers, we are at just around 3,000 unvaccinated teachers. And as the Mayor said, we do have many more times that in our substitute pool. And I would say in terms of trends, generally speaking, the schools that had higher numbers of staff, higher ratios of staff to students, tended to have not surprisingly the larger numbers of staff out. 

Mayor: In terms of overall number of substitutes, you use, could you just clarify that, Lauren? 

Chief Administrative Officer Siciliano: Sure, so the 7,000 was the total number of subs used across the system yesterday. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Erin. 

Question: Okay. So, so the 7,000 includes people who are out for just regular, normal reasons. That's not my question, but if I'm wrong, tell me.

Moderator: The next is Matt Chayes from Newsday.

Question: Hey, good morning. Can you hear me okay?

Mayor: Yeah, Matt. How are you doing today?

Question: I'm doing all right. How are you?

Mayor: Good. Thank you.

Question: My question is for Dr. Chokshi. You told the conference call of reporters last month that the City's choosing to disclose data about the coronavirus infections only when – and this is a quote – when it's connected to a public health purpose. Does that mean that the City will release data only that support its public health goals?

Mayor: I'm not sure I understand the question. Dr. Chokshi, do you feel you understand it?

Commissioner Chokshi: I believe so, sir. And the answer, Matthew, is no. We, in New York City – is one of the most transparent jurisdictions in the entire world with respect to the public health data that we're sharing. It spans surveillance data on COVID-19 as well as some more specific analyses to get at key questions that, of course, do have public health purposes. The latter, I believe, is what you're referring to and that's always in service to the health of New Yorkers.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Matt.

Question: So, in the interest of that transparency, by what date can we expect you to release data showing that vaccines are superior to [inaudible] conferred immunity. And before you say you've provided the data, you haven’t. So, why don't you tell us the topline percentage results here, right now, comparing infection conferred immunity to vaccine conferred immunity, rather than telling me to follow up with your team later who then don't give what what's promised on the call.

Mayor: Well, Matt, look, you're doing your job. I'm just going to defend Dr. Chokshi. I think he's been incredibly transparent throughout this crisis. So, I'm not going to accept if you just say, oh, he hasn't done what he said he was going to do, let him speak for himself rather than preempting his answer. Dr. Chokshi, what do you say?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. And yes, Matt, we have gone back and forth a few times on this question. I know, unfortunately, it sounds like not to your full satisfaction. But here are the facts. We are looking at the question of reinfection in people who are previously infected. We've shared data both from a national study that the CDC has published as well as data from New York City residents themselves, and this is what it shows. For people who have had prior infection with COVID-19, once someone becomes fully vaccinated, that means they have less than two times the risk of re-infection compared to someone who remains unvaccinated. The real-world choice that people who have had prior infection with COVID-19 face is whether or not to get vaccinated and, based on that data, the choice is very clear. The risk is far lower once you get vaccinated and that's why we have this strong and clear recommendation for New Yorkers. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you.

And, again, we conclude today, coming right off that answer – best thing we can do for our kids, best thing we can do for our families, best thing we can do to keep our schools open and thriving is to get vaccinated. And just continue to remind people – there are still people I meet – even this weekend. I met a young man who did not know about the hundred-dollar incentive and was immediately interested in it. Please, everyone, if you're not yet vaccinated, go get that hundred-dollar incentive. If someone in your family, someone in your life hasn't gotten vaccinated, tell them about it. Every additional vaccination helps to move us forward. Thank you, everyone.

2021-10-06 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. The recovery of New York City continues. It's deepening every day. It's going to be a recovery for all of us.

Let's go over today's indicators. And the first one again, shows why we're coming back. Doses administered to date, 11,613,686. These are staggering numbers, by far the biggest vaccination effort in New York City history, growing every day. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 207 patients. Confirmed positivity level of 11.34 percent. Hospitalization rate. Here's the big number, of hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.85 percent. This is such a positive trend we're seeing here, such a good thing we're seeing. It's all about vaccination. And number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today’s report 1,122 cases. I’ll say a few words in Spanish, and of course the topic is public safety.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and0A. As a reminder, we are joined by Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, Dr. Mitch Katz, Dr. Andrew Wallach, and Director of MOCJ Marcus Soler. Our first question today goes to Marcia from WCBS.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wonder how you're doing today?

Mayor: I am doing well. How you been, Marcia?

Question: I’m okay. So, my question today, since you've been talking for days now about vaccine and vaccine mandates and how successful it is in protecting the city, I wonder if you're going to extend the vaccine mandate to police, firefighters, and Department of Correction personnel, because that would also help to make the public more safe?

Mayor: Marcia, great question. And this is what we're going to be discussing in the days ahead. Obviously, our attention very much in the last couple of weeks was on winning those court cases, which were necessary to protect all the mandates we already have. Making sure that our single biggest agency by far, Department of Education, applied those mandates effectively. We're really happy with that. 95 percent of department education employees who are now vaccinated, huge deal. Making our schools safe, making our kids safe. Now we're going to turn our attention to all the other pieces of the puzzle. That's what we're talking about over the coming days and stay tuned for updates. Go ahead, Marcia.

Question: The question would be directed towards you and towards the Police Commissioner in terms of also vaccine mandates, whether he thinks it's a good idea for a vaccine mandate for the Police Department? And whether the police union contracts and the union contracts of all the other City employees like firefighters, et cetera, allow you to impose a mandate?

Mayor: I'll start and I'll turn to the Commissioner. The courts have been abundantly clear. State level, federal level, multiple courts, and multiple levels that as employers, we have a right to keep everyone safe. And we made very clear we're going to work with every union on the details. We had an extensive process with a number of unions. We had an arbitration process. But the broad point, without deciding yet what our next steps are going to be, the broad point, the courts have said it is our right as employers to do this in the context of a global pandemic. Commissioner, over to you.

Commissioner Shea: Yeah, Marcia. I've been on the record for a long time on this. I think, you know, my personal opinion would be when you look at the Police Department as part of an overall City workforce, I think it was cleaner to do one, from 30,000 feet, one broad affecting all. One thing I didn't want to do is put one policy for the Police Department and then that's counter to other agencies. So, I would be supportive of a vaccine mandate. I've said that from day one. I think that the science, to health, the emergency situation that we're in, it makes sense. Currently we're at 68 percent of our workforce. So, our current mandate is either be vaccinated or you submit to the testing and prove that you tested once within seven days. So, we're complying with that.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our next question goes to James from PIX 11.

Mayor: James, you there? James?

Question: Okay.

Mayor: Can you hear me? Wait, we heard your voice for a moment. James? James?

Question: I've been having some audio issues in the last few minutes.

Mayor: Well, we can hear you great.

Question: Can you hear me alright?

Mayor: I can hear you great. Can you hear me?

Question: Oh, great. Okay. Now I hear you. Yes. Okay, great. So, I'll just jump into the questions. Good morning. We've gotten a variety of complaints from non-teaching DOE employees like social workers and guidance counselors who've been reassigned to classrooms to replace unvaccinated teachers and other classroom personnel who are now on leave due to the mandate. Even though the reassigned people aren't trained to be in classrooms. Can you respond to their concerns that the students are being shortchanged with this situation? As well as their concerns that the situation may be long-term not temporary?

Mayor: No, it's not long-term. Yeah. I mean, it depends on every individual case. Ultimately, obviously every student's going to have an appropriate teacher. Schools sometimes make very temporary moves if they have a particular need they have to cover. But no, we've been really clear. We have plenty of substitute teachers, but more importantly, the teachers that were there to begin with, 96 percent as of this moment. 96 percent of all teachers got vaccinated. As you've heard, some are now making the decision, even if they didn't originally, to get vaccinated, come back. We've got a huge number of vaccinated substitutes. So, if there's any situation you want to share with our team, we'll follow up. But no, we're going to have educators where they need to be. And we've got plenty of people to work with.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Chris from the Daily News. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today?

Mayor: I'm doing well, Chris, how about you? 

Question: I am good. I wanted to ask you about vaccine mandates, again, like you were saying, you're looking at the possibility and saying that you will have news over the next few days as it relates to a mandate for FDNY, NYPD, and DOC, I'm wondering, what's holding you back from implementing such mandates immediately, especially given that you prevailed in court on this? 

Mayor: Chris look, I think everyone out there as mature adults, I'd like to respect people's intelligence. We have, I think pretty meticulously in the course of the pandemic, tried to figure out what made sense to do when and made sure we had all the pieces in place. I do believe you sequence things in different ways and there's still issues that we have to understand better and resolve. So, it's not always a matter of, you know, just push a button. You have to get things right. So, we're looking at it right now, we're looking at different options, other types of things we can do, and we'll have more to say in the coming days.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, Elizabeth. How have you been?

Question: Good. At the risk of sort of repeating some of the other reporters, I do want to press you on the mandates. You have your police commissioner here, who has said – has been very clear and vocal that he supports a mandate. Given the size of the NYPD workforce, their presence in communities, why not do – start with an NYPD vaccine mandate?

Mayor: Hey, Elizabeth, I'm – you have every right to press, that's your job. But I have every right to tell you that we make these decisions very carefully with a lot of factors in mind. And look, I like our batting average so far. We very carefully structured the vaccinate or test mandate, then sequenced that to the mandate for our public schools, which has obviously gone very, very well. Everything is about doing things in a particular manner, if you want to get the best outcomes. So, that's what we're examining right now. And again, when we're ready to say it, when we believe we have something, whatever the approach is, we will. But it's just not as simple as, again, push a button and everything moves the way you want. We’ve got to set up any approach we take meticulously.

So, everyone, as we conclude today, we’ve got a lot to do, but we also do want to say there's been some really profound progress on public safety – New Yorkers, working with the NYPD. New Yorkers also doing the most important thing, getting vaccinated. This is how we come back and this is how we achieve a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everyone.

2021-10-07 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

Now, of course, the foundation of our recovery, vaccination, the fight against COVID, ending the COVID era once and for all. We've seen now in the case of our Department of Education, the largest department in the City government, the biggest school system in America, 1 million kids and all their families, everyone needing to know it would be safe. We put the mandates in place, and they are working, but here's what's even more striking. This is news that we now have, since Monday, since the first day where everyone was required who was an adult working in the schools to be vaccinated. Since Monday, 2,000 more vaccinations, new vaccinations, first time vaccinations have happened among employees of our public schools. So, not only did we go into Monday with 95 percent of full-time employees vaccinated, now since Monday, 2,000 more employees get vaccinated. That number is going to grow. And we saw in the last two weeks, this is a staggering figure, as the deadline was coming up, 20,000 vaccinations in the last two weeks. This tells us that this model works. We set a gold standard last year for health and safety. We're now going platinum with the highest standard anywhere in the country. And as a result, we're seeing very few cases of COVID in our public schools. We have no schools closed right now, all 1,600 open. This strategy is working. There's one last step though. And we need the federal government – that's to get the help our five- to 11-year-olds and their families need with vaccination. 

So, right now, crucial moment, Pfizer has now formalized and activated their application for authorization by the FDA. That is now a new fact. They have formally requested, they provided all the information to the FDA. It's now all in the hands of the FDA, tens of millions of kids who would benefit, all of their families would benefit, safety for their schools, for their communities, for this nation. President Biden has said to the FDA, you can have whatever you need. I reiterate what our health care leaders believe, the FDA can and should make this decision by Halloween so we can be vaccinating kids in November, those five- to 11-year-olds. We can vaccinate them quickly. We can do this immediately. Once we get the authorization, we can go right out. And I guarantee you, there's going to be huge numbers of parents who want their young children vaccinated. Right now, 75 percent, already, of our 12- to 17-year-olds are vaccinated. That's the newest group that was eligible. 75 percent already had received at least one dose. We're going to have huge demand in that younger group, but the FDA needs to act, and they need to act by the end of this month so we can get vaccinating these kids in November. But I want you to hear about the success that's been achieved this week not only in getting more and more of our DOE employees vaccinated, but also making our schools run smoothly as we made this transition. And the person who deserves the credit, she has been a strong, resolute leader, she knew this was the right thing to do, and she made it work in the biggest school system in the country, our Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter.

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Good morning. Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. And thank you so much. I want to really thank the amazing staff of our New York City public schools across all five boroughs who stepped up, got vaccinated, and added a powerful layer of safety and protection for our schools. This week, we saw that bubble of protection around our school communities in action. Every single staff member in schools was vaccinated. And I know that has gone so far and making families more comfortable and confident and assured we're keeping their baby safe. As a parent myself, I can vouch for this sigh of relief that so many moms, dads, aunts, and uncles and grandparents are expressing to me – thanks for our vaccination policies. I know that every staff member at my daughter's school is protected and that her education will be interrupted less and, most importantly, to me, she is protected. As an educator, I know all my colleagues are protected from this horrible virus. Our communities lost too much to this pandemic and we've been waiting for this moment since March of last year. It's finally here.

So much has been asked of our schools over the last few years. Every New Yorker owes a deep debt of gratitude to the adults who have gone above and beyond what is expected of them to serve our young people. After the past 19 months, I'm so grateful that we're in a position where vaccination is a critical part of preparing to go back to school. And now, here we are, and our staff have yet again met this moment. The good news just keeps rolling in. Since Monday, 2,000 more staff members have gotten vaccinated. That means another 2,000 dedicated, caring adults are back in buildings, doing what they love to do – safely serving the young people of New York City.

I want to repeat what I said earlier this week. To our staff members who have not received their first dose yet, there is still time. Your dedication to our students is valued and we want you back safely in our buildings. I'm so excited for what the rest of the school year has in store for our school communities and our young people. In front of us are football games. I'm looking forward – I made a commitment to Staten Island, I'll be there. Field trips, school plays, debate tournaments, art shows, and so many other joys. We can do all of these safely today because of our staff who stepped up, got vaccinated, and made this possible. Thank you so much. And with that, I'll turn it back to you, Mayor.

Mayor: Thank you. And congratulations, Chancellor. We’ve got a lot more to do, but you are doing a great, great job seeing us through this crucial moment. And thank you to your whole team, everyone at the DOE for making this work. And what a good segue into our indicators. And we always start with the doses of the vaccine that have been administered to-date. We've seen regular constant growth. This is really exciting to me. People are coming out more and more, getting vaccinated. Number one, doses administered to-date, 11,640,484 – staggering number. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 181 patients with a confirmed positivity level of 15.21 percent. And then, the hospitalization rate – and this again, the key statistic, the key factor we're always looking at has continued to go down – 0.83 per 100,000 New Yorkers. And then, number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, 1,148 cases. Let me say a few words in Spanish, back on the topic of public safety and how important it is to our recovery.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

We’re going to go to questions from the media now, as we always do.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined by Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller; by Dr. Torian Easterling, the Chief Equity Officer for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene; by the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice Director Marcos Soler; by Dr. Mitchell Katz; and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma.

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX-11. 

Question: And good morning, thanks for taking my call. I'm working a separate story here, to switch gears to an earlier topic that you mentioned, the request by Pfizer for emergency use authorization of its vaccine for five to 11-year-olds. Can you, and maybe officials on the call from the DOE and your health advisors, just talk about what the protocol would be assuming this authorization happens? And after the authorization happens, should it do so, how soon after that might we be talking having five to 11-year-olds getting jabs in arms? 

Mayor: We are so anxious to do that, James, to get our five to 11-year-olds vaccinated. I think that demand levels will exceed anything we've seen with any other age group. I truly believe it. Because as a parent myself, I can tell you, if I were out there right now, knowing I could protect my child from COVID, I would be there the first hour of the first day to get that shot for my child. We're going to go all out. Obviously, the DOE will carefully coordinate with our health team. I'll let my senior advisor, Dr. Jay Varma and our First Deputy Health Commissioner Dr. Torian Easterling, speak to what they expect next in the process and also how we'll implement, but we have plenty of vaccine in reserve. Doctors, I think it'd be helpful to James' question to explain what you expect the dose will be for the five to 11-year-olds and any protocol differences, but James, my bottom-line answer will be, the minute we are authorized, we will start vaccination literally same day. Dr. Varma, Dr. Easterling, please speak to that. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you, Mr. Mayor and thank you James for the question. I think the first thing to keep in mind is that there is a lot of information that we as health officials still need to understand. You know, Pfizer has just submitted its application, but we need to review the data in detail, specifically the data that's going to be issued regarding the dosing for the vaccine. As some of you may know it is anticipated that there will be a lower dosage of the vaccine, and so there's a number of operational considerations related to that, you know, whether you draw less in the vial or whether or not the packaging occurs differently. There may also be different counseling issues that occur as well. So, you know, we're very eager for the FDA to review this both thoroughly, as well as expeditiously, and as long as that process goes on as well, for us to get much more accurate information about what the specific operational issues will be. But I'll just echo again, you know, kind of what the Mayor has really emphasized, which is that this is going to be an incredible turning point for vaccination. You know, we've seen amazing uptake with Key to NYC, with the mandates, and with just the willingness of adult New Yorkers and adolescent New Yorkers to get vaccinated. But really, I think where the epidemic control is weakest right now is in those who remain unvaccinated, and that largest population, of course, is our young children who can benefit so much from this important innovation. 

Mayor: Dr. Easterling, if you could speak to the efforts that the Department of Health is taking to get ready, and obviously you've done outstanding work, working with communities, we want to get this out all over the city, and really reach people, get them in. We just showed people with boosters how quickly we could turn on the apparatus, give us a sense of how you guys are going to get into gear when the authorization comes from five to 11-year-olds? 

First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir, and certainly. We are certainly ready to roll out of vaccines for five to 11-year-olds, once we do have approval, as Dr. Varma has already mentioned, we're certainly waiting for update from the Food and Drug Administration, certainly when the review of the data which we expect to happen the end of this month. And then the next step would be for CDC advisory Committee on Immunization Practice to also review and make sure that they are in agreement with the recommendation. And so, the two-step process still needs to happen, and once, and we all expect that to happen early November, but we're certainly prepared for the recommendation, you know, building on the work that you've already done for 12 to 17-year-olds, really working with our providers across the city. As you can see, we really have expanded our messaging across the city to really communicate that the vaccines are effective not only for adults, but also for our young folks, and we will continue to work with our community partners, to be in the communities that we know that have been hardest hit by this pandemic, making sure that they have the messaging and the resources to get the word out. And we will still use all of our infrastructure across the city, all of our sites, the pharmacies, and our health care systems to make sure that the vaccines are available. 

Mayor: Thank you, doctor. So, the simple answer, James, is we are ready, willing, and able to provide those vaccinations to our youngest New Yorkers the second we get their authorization. 

Moderator: We've time for two more for today. The next is Amanda Eisenberg from Politico.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Amanda. How you been?

Question: I'm doing well. Thank you. I want to switch over to kids getting the COVID-19 vaccine. If and when Pfizer's request gets approved and kids will start to get vaccinated, do you see any additional wrinkles with treating, you know, a younger age range besides the point that was made earlier about just dose sizes in terms of getting any sort of permissions from teachers, I'm sorry, permissions from parents, and to do it in the schools? Can you give me a little bit about what you're expecting that to look like from this fall?

Mayor: It's a real issue. I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Easterling, Amanda. This is an area where we have to be very, very communicative. Obviously, for five to 11-year-olds, the only way a child is getting the vaccination is with their parents' approval. And I think in the vast majority of cases, that means the parent is going to be present, or a family member is going to present, with that formal written approval. We want to be very careful and thoughtful about that. We want to be very communicative. I do believe in my heart that if you look at the reality we've seen with the 12 to 17-year-olds, now about 75 percent have received at least one dose. You're going to see an even greater uptick with the younger kids. You're going to see their parents, particularly concerned, because as a parent myself, I can tell you in the early years of a child's life, parents are hypervigilant about their health and wellbeing. As kids get a little older, parents loosen up a little bit and kids become more self-sufficient. But I think we're going to have huge numbers of parents who want that vaccination for their child. But we're going to communicate very clearly, it will only happen if there's formal authorization from that parent. And I'll turn to Dr. Easterling and say, I think he's going to be one of the people having a lot of conversations with parents who have concerns, because I do believe we'll have a lot of parents who will want questions answered. Dr. Easterling?

First Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Thank you, sir. And we're already receiving those questions and we are on the ground already speaking to parents. As I've mentioned earlier, you know, parents of 12 to 17-year-olds answering their questions, but certainly finding parents of those who have five to 11-year-olds, letting them know what to expect. And certainly, a consent form is going to be required. Let me just emphasize that we are certainly ready. We're going to be building on the work that we've already done to vaccinate and get to 75 percent of our 12 to 17-year-olds, but we're also building on an existing infrastructure. Our routine pediatric immunizations through our school system, as well as through our pediatric providers, who work tirelessly to make sure that all of our children are vaccinated against preventable infectious disease. So, this is the work that we do, and we're going to continue to be prepared.

Mayor: Thank you, doctor.

And look, everyone, as we conclude today, the bottom line is this. We've gone through, I can say in my eight years, so many profound challenges as a city. When I took office, we were still trying to recover, in fact, for years, trying to recover from the Great Recession, from Hurricane Sandy, we dealt with many, many challenges long before COVID came along. And the City because of the people of the city, kept fighting, kept moving forward. And I'm proud that as Mayor working with an extraordinary group of people at City Hall and all our agencies, we were able to make the city safer. We were able to improve our schools. We were able to improve the health care of New Yorkers, physical and mental health. That was the mission. That's what we worked on every single day. And then came COVID. And for the last year and a half, it has been about protecting New Yorkers, trying to bring this city back, put the COVID era behind us. This is what I focus on. And so, I'm always going to be here, answering questions every day. More questions than almost any major elected official in America, I answer every week and I'm proud of that fact. But I can tell you my focus every single day is going to be on what I hear from New Yorkers, which is they want us to defeat COVID, get people vaccinated, bring the city back strong. And that's what I'm here to do. Thank you, everybody.

2010-10-08 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It’s the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Now it's time for our Friday Ask the Mayor call in, my questions and yours for a Mayor Bill de Blasio. And as I said before the news, something different for the first half of Ask the Mayor today, as we are also joined by a very special guest, the New York City Schools Chancellor Meisha Porter.

Lehrer: Chancellor Porter, there's a staffing crisis in schools, I think it's fair to say, it's been made more acute by the vaccine mandate, but there are kids without their legally required paraprofessionals, teachers with no special ed training being asked to manage special ed classes though they don't have correct licensing. As I understand the G and T plans, they include hiring more teachers to train, and in some cases to teach accelerated material. Question is that really the best use of how the money could be used to hire more teachers or social workers at this time?  - That question.

Chancellor: So – go ahead, I’m sorry.

Lehrer: No, you go.

Chancellor Porter: So, you know, we are really proud of having gotten to over 95 percent of our staff vaccinated, and we're not seeing a significant staffing problem out of, you know, 23,000 para’s across the city, a fraction of them are un-vaccinated. And so, yes, I think that this is a moment of investing in our system, investing in more teachers, you know, and social workers, because we noticed this is an important part of moving our system forward. You know, I would also say if you have listeners who feel like they have a service that's not being supported right now, would love for new opportunities to get information, and we would absolutely have our team follow up with them.

Mayor: Yeah, and Brian, two quick points, 2,000 more school employees have gotten vaccinated since the Monday deadline. So, it is a continuity here, more and more people actually thinking better of it, and coming in, getting vaccinated, that's beefing up the staff, we're getting the teachers where we need them and the substitutes where we need them. But in terms of investment, we have to make those investments. But this investment makes so much sense because we're going to reach in terms of the accelerated learning for tens of thousands of kids. Think about it for a moment, Brian, if you are a kid and you were really good at math and really good at science, whatever it was, and you didn't get into a Gifted and Talented program right now, and that means the tens of thousands of kids who are left out every year don't get that opportunity, then there's nothing for you. We are saying we’re going to train teachers and prepare schools to actually reach you as a child and bring out your gifts and abilities that would have been ignored if you were not accepted into one of those very small, very exclusive, Gifted and Talented programs previously.

Lehrer: And now listeners we're going to clear some lines so we don't only have G and T calls for the rest of the Mayor's time. And our Ask The Mayor lines open again at 6-4-6-4-3-5-7-2-8-0. We apologize to some of you who we are going to bump now. And since the open lines will still be a little scarcer than usual, also do use Twitter to submit a question as an alternative. Use the hashtag, #AskTheMayor.

Lehrer: I know you’ve got to go, let me sneak in one last one. It's kind of a yes or no question, because multiple sources are telling us that the City is planning to implement a full vaccine mandate for the NYPD. In other words, you're thinking about eliminating the option to submit to weekly testing. Are these plans happening?

Mayor: Well, Brian, I appreciate your audacity, because I've been asked the question all week and I'm certainly not going to do a yes or no. I'm going to answer it very simply. We're looking at all options. We've put a number of mandates in place and other tools. In the coming days, I'll speak about additional steps for different parts of the city [inaudible] work our workforce and beyond. Different things we're going to be looking at. Different things we're going to be doing. But that's still several days away, because we're doing a very meticulous analysis of what is the next step that makes sense.

Lehrer: So, you're not ruling out this for the NYPD? You're still considering it?

Mayor: I'm not ruling it out for any City agency. I'm not ruling out additional mandates beyond. So, we're looking at a variety of tools. So far, I like a lot how the mandates are going. They're driving up vaccination. They're driving down COVID. There's a lot of other tools we have and we'll be talking about them in the next few days.

Lehrer: Thanks, as always, Mr. Mayor. Talk to you next week.

Mayor: Thank you, Brian.

2021-10-12 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

Let's go to our indicators and begin with number one, the doses administered to date, and you see this number continue to soar, 11,729,221. This number is going to jump up a lot in a few weeks because now we are increasingly confident that the five- to 11-year-old vaccine will be approved for November. That's going to – you're going to see hundreds of thousands of folks come out, young New Yorkers getting vaccinated, their parents anxiously awaiting that moment. So, this is a great number that's about to grow a lot. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 182 patients. But look at this confirmed positivity level, 6.45 percent, extremely low, and that's a great sign. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers, 0.75. That's our most important indicator. That's hugely important. We see something good there. Number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report 1,072 cases. So, progress there as well, a lot more to do, but it's always about getting people vaccinated and it's happening. Now, a few words in Spanish, and I want to go back to accelerated learning and Brilliant NYC and the efforts we're going to make to reach more and more kids. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Chancellor Porter, by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, and by Francesco Brindisi, Senior Deputy Director for City Revenues, Economics, and Policy at OMB.

Moderator: The next is Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Yes. Hi, good morning. On the business interests, the economic interests of the city. I was wondering, given that so many workers have still not returned to their offices, is the City taking a hit on commercial real estate taxes? And also, are you polling like private business to see how many are back? Or, you know, what the readiness level is for people to come back and when?

Mayor: Yeah, let me start. And then I'll turn to Francesco Brindisi, who is our leading voice at Office of Management and Budget on economics and trends, including our revenue picture. So, he can speak to your question, but before he does. Yes Juliet, we're constantly talking to business leaders in different sectors. And what we're seeing is that connection between vaccination levels and the willingness to come back. So, a lot of businesses are planning to bring a number of their workers back starting this month, next month. I've talked to a lot of business leaders. I got to tell you across the board, literally across the board, they want more of their workforce back. They believe it's much more productive. They were waiting to see that the Delta variant was being contained. The trend now is very, very clear in this city and the high vaccination levels have been really, really encouraging to business leaders. So, I am very hopeful based on the information we're getting that we're going to see a number of workers back in just the next few months. In terms of revenue, commercial tax, et cetera, Francesco, what would you like to say?

Senior Deputy Director Francesco Brindisi, Office of Management and Budget: Sindaco, thank you. Can you hear me okay?

Mayor: Yes. And Juliet you'll appreciate, he always calls me sindaco because he's from Rome originally. So, he's carrying the Italian word for mayor. Go ahead, Francesco.

Senior Deputy Director Brindisi: Yeah, so we have adjusted our property tax forecast based on the Department of Finance assessments last year. So far, we don't see anything that out of the ordinary. Vacancy rates are back to where they were on average before the pandemic in Fiscal Year 20. So, we don't see anything out of the ordinary. And the Department of Finance will conduct its annual assessments and publish the new evaluations in January. And so, we will see what the data show.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Okay, everybody, as we conclude today, just to say this, just going right back to where we started today, lots moving forward in this city, and we're going to be able to reach our children better than ever with the new approach, Brilliant NYC. We're going to be able to bring back our economy in stronger ways and jobs. And it all comes back to the fact that, you, all of you went out and got vaccinated and have given us the opportunity to now really move forward. But we still got some more work to do. We're going to be out there every day, encouraging anyone who's not yet vaccinated to get vaccinated. And again, a very special moment coming up, just in a matter of weeks, when our five to 11-year-olds can get vaccinated. We're getting ready for that right now. I know the Chancellor's excited about that. We're going to reach our youngest New Yorkers and keep them safe as well. Thank you, everyone.

2021-10-13 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We're seeing some real progress here in our city. We're working so hard to defeat COVID. We’ve still got more work to do. It's not gone yet, to say the least. And the effects of COVID on families all over the city are going to linger for quite a while, but we're making really extraordinary progress fighting back COVID. And what we find today is that the policies that go right at COVID work. Today is the one-month anniversary of the Key to NYC policy going into full effect. And the Key to NYC is based on a simple concept, vaccines are the answer. Vaccination unlocks our recovery, makes everything else possible. We're seeing it before our very eyes as more and more comes back in our city. So, Key to NYC allowed us to move forward. Now, we knew that New Yorkers – we love everything of the city that makes it great, our restaurants. We love all the parts of our community that are so exciting to be a part of, entertainment – all the kinds of entertainment this city is famous for. People wanted to be a part of that, and so they went out and got vaccinated. And we knew that to do this right we had to work with the businesses, the small businesses, the mom-and-pop restaurants, all the folks out there who were going to be a part of this. We want it to work for them, so we sent out teams of City officials and experts to go out and talk to people, work it through at the grassroots. They canvassed over 50,000 businesses, talking through how to do this the right way. 

Our Small Business Services department has done an outstanding job throughout this pandemic, helping small businesses, answering questions, getting them the help they need. They assisted thousands and thousands of businesses that had questions, had concerns, that needed a place to turn. The City was there for them. And because that work was done to get things ready right to begin with, we've seen the launch of Key to NYC go very, very smoothly. So, so far there's been over 31,000 inspections all across New York City to make sure the Key to NYC approach was working. And, so far, after a full month, all the preparation, all the communication, all the education, there's only been 15 violations necessary in that whole time. This is exactly what we hope to see and what we believed we’d see – the vast majority of businesses working to keep everyone safe, their employees, their customers. They had questions, they needed help, we gave it to them and they made it work – very, very few problems. And since that mandate was announced, the Key to NYC mandate, the city vaccination rate has increased nine percent overall. That's huge in terms of saving lives, in terms of protecting people, in terms of bringing New York City back. We've also seen a particular increase among our younger New Yorkers. And this was part of what we knew was the goal of Key to NYC. What do we think of young people – of course, they want to go out to restaurants, and bars, and entertainment. It makes sense. In the 18- to 34-year-old group of New Yorkers, we've seen vaccination go up 13 percent since the Key to NYC was put into effect. So, this really shows us the approach.

Now, look, thank you to all the businesses that have worked with us. Thank you to everyone who has done the right thing to keep people safe. It has made an amazing impact. And we've got to remember we're all in this together. So, we put forward a bold policy, but it depended on lots and lots of people on the ground, making it work. And you have, sort of – all the small business owners and all the employees who have made this work, thank you. You are such a big part of the reason why the city is now coming back, because we got it right with the Key to NYC.

So, we know vaccination works. We know outreach works. We know all the tools, the incentives, the mandates – all the tools together work. And we've got something great now that goes back to how much we love going out in this city, how much we love enjoying everything this city has to offer. Well, one of the things that we have to offer some of the greatest movie theaters of any place in the country and the most amazing variety of movies you could ever hope for. This is part of what makes New York City great. We want to encourage people to go back to the theaters. Great movies coming out now, experienced the movies in-person again. Get vaccinated. So, we are announcing our Vax to the Movies program. This is a new initiative, launching this weekend. I got to tell you, it's so important that we make it easy. So, we're going to have – these posters are going be around all over the city. You're going to see vaccination sites all around where you can get vaccinated right outside a movie theater, go in, and enjoy the movie. We have found these mobile sites, these pop-up sites are some of the most successful things we've done in the vaccination effort. So, great movies coming out. I know a lot of us are excited that James Bond is back and we can go see him in the movie theater. You can get vaccinated. You can get the hundred-dollar incentive and you can go to the movies. A hundred dollars, that'll buy a lot of popcorn. So, it's a great moment to get back out there and enjoy. 

I want you to hear from someone who epitomizes love of the movies. He started out at the age of 11 as a projectionist at summer camp, and he has been involved with the movie industry ever since. A board member for the film board, for the Library of Congress. He is involved nationally in building up and bringing back the movie industry and having people go to the theater once again where we all love to be. Chief Operating Officer of Bow Tie Cinemas and the President of the National Association of Theatre Owners, my pleasure to introduce Joe Masher. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Joe. Joe, listen, it's very important what you said – not all these movies are going to be streaming. You want to see some movies, you’ve got to go to the movie theater to see them. And also, streaming is cool, but there is nothing as exciting, there's nothing as wonderful as being with a crowd and seeing the big screen. I think you'd agree with that, Joe. It is an unparalleled experience to see a great movie in a movie theater. 

Joe Masher: Especially in New York City, absolutely. 

Mayor: Amen. Amen. So, everyone, get on out there. This is the best time to go back to the movies. Get vaccinated, get the incentive – good for everyone. I want you to hear from someone who has been such a crucial ally and partner in our efforts to keep people safe and to make sure that vaccination was available all over. And we needed help from the State level to do it, and sometimes we got help, sometimes we didn't, but someone who was always on the side of New York City, always fighting for us, the Chair of the New York Assembly Health Committee, Assembly Member Dick Gottfried. 

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Assembly Member. And, listen, thank you, you have been there every step of the way, really pushing the effort to get people vaccinated. And you're right, we’ve got to think about keeping everyone safe. And you're someone who's been a great defender of people's civil liberties, but we’ve also got to think about the whole community. And this has been a time when we need everyone to step up for everyone's safety. Thank you very much for your leadership.

Mayor: So, everyone, a lot of good things happening as part of our recovery. And one more good thing I want to note, and I'm really proud of our team here because last night they got recognition that they really deserved, the folks in our Vaccine Command Center who have been heroes in the fight against COVID. But they don't get a lot of attention. They work every day, they're in the nerve center making sure that vaccination was happening all over the city. You've seen it now happening on an extraordinary level. These are the folks who put together everything to make it work well. Last night, there was a virtual gala for the Citizens Budget Commission, and they gave their annual Public Service Award, and it went to the men and women of the Vaccine Command Center who really stepped up. These are folks who were doing other work for the City – along came this horrible, unforeseen unbelievable crisis. And they stepped up. They created something from scratch. They are the folks who get so much credit for the high vaccination rates in the city, for the Key to NYC, the mobile vaccination sites, what's happened with the schools. A lot of it was there. So, to everyone at the Vaccine Command Center, well done and congratulations for this very, very well-deserved honor.

Okay, let's go to indicators. First of all, my favorite indicator, number one, doses administered to date, and this number is just amazing, 11,753,287, and a lot more to come. We're really looking forward to the five- to 11-year-olds soon. That number is going to jump up a lot. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 196 patients – confirmed positivity, 12.61 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.71 – very good number. And then number three, new reported cases on the seven-day average, today’s report, 1,014 cases. I’ll say a few words in Spanish, going back to the Key to NYC initiative.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let’s turn to our colleagues in the media, please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined by Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of the New York City School Construction Authority Nina Kubota, and SBS Commissioner Jonnel Doris. Our first question today goes to James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Can you hear me okay?

Mayor: Yeah, James, how you doing today?

Question: Great. Thank you. Thank you very much. Listen, are your feelings [inaudible] of a COVID vaccine mandate for school children evolving? Could you support a mandate, especially with the New York Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics recommending and equivocally supporting a vaccination for children?

Mayor: You know, James, it's a very fair question and I certainly can't support it at this point. I do understand the reasoning, obviously, but I got to tell you, it is very much in my mind a question of what's going to help our kids the most. Our kids need to be in school. We can't, in my opinion, hold against our kids the decisions of adults because the kids can't get vaccinated without the adult consent. And there's still, unfortunately, in my mind, too many adults who are not ready to give that consent. I want those kids in school no matter what. And the schools are extraordinarily safe because we have that mandate for the adults and so many other health and safety measures. So, certainly not something I would consider at this point. Go ahead, James.

Question: And at what point might you support it? I guess – I don't want to put words in your mouth, but once the CDC and FDA give full approval is that what it would take? What would it take, sir?

Mayor: I want to thank you because anyone who doesn't want to put words in my mouth and is asking a sincere question is deeply, deeply appreciated. And I appreciate the integrity of that. James, I don't see it, don't see it now, don't see it over the horizon. Again, I'll always look at new facts, but for the foreseeable future, job one is to get the kids into school, obviously, safely. And we're doing that right now. So, we'll always evaluate new information, but what I like right now is the extraordinary safety we're seeing in our schools. The gold standard of health and safety measures is working. The vaccine mandate for adults has worked really, really well. The schools are safe. I want every kid in the classroom. The best way to do that now is the approach we're taking now. Again, as we see new information in the future, we'll evaluate, but that's the direction we're going to keep for now.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Steve Burns from WCBS 880. 

Question: Good Morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Hey, Steve. How are you doing? 

Question: Doing all right. Wanted to circle back on this being the one-month anniversary of the Key To NYC and the enforcement that's been going on. I guess in one sense, it's admirable that only 15 businesses have ended up with violations. But I'm sure you can understand there might be skeptics out there that say, how can there only be 15 businesses? So, I wanted to see, you know, what kind of enforcement action is going on? To the ones that get fined, are they only, I guess, the most egregious violators? And in a general sense, what have you been seeing from businesses that might've been skeptical about this? 

Mayor: I'm going to start, and I'll turn to our Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris, who's been at the frontline of this. But Steve, I'd say it this way, we said from the beginning, we are going to educate and work with the businesses, hear their concerns, answer their questions. And then we go out and enforce and inspect. But the goal was if we saw a problem, say, Hey, can you fix that problem? This is true with not just Key To NYC, but other things we do as a city as well. Can you fix the problem? If you fix the problem, we don't have a problem here. Let's move on. There doesn't need to be a fine, there doesn't need to be a violation. If you refuse to, that's where we have a problem. And I think what this says is the vast, vast, vast majority of restaurants and all the other businesses are saying, yes, we're going to work with this. We're going to make it work for our employees, for our customers, keep everyone safe. Very few are standing apart. And that's the good news. And that's the big news. And that's what we saw in the beginning of the pandemic too. Very few outliers. So, in terms of how we're making it work, let's turn to Commissioner Jonnel Doris. 

Commissioner Jonnel Doris, Small Business Services: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yeah, certainly, we have had an education first policy throughout the pandemic and this was no different. 50,000 or so businesses contacted, trained. Our SBS team as well. Webinars and different partnerships with our chambers and other groups, making sure that the community knows the requirements. And also instituting a warning which I think is a key here. Where we were able to have a warning to those businesses and in the process showed them what they needed to do to correct. And that's why I believe we are seeing the low numbers that we are seeing when it comes to the actual violations that are being issued. And you know, as always, we ask our businesses and now 73,000 of them call our hotline. We want to keep saying, please reach out to us at our hotline. We want to make sure that you're able to connect with us at SBS, 8-8-8-S-B-S-4-NYC. If you have any concerns or issues with this particular mandate, we're happy to help. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Steve. 

Question: I appreciate that answer. On a separate topic, I know we talked about real estate and New York starting to bounce back yesterday. I wanted to kind of jump off of that and ask another type of recovery question as it relates to traffic. If you, I know you're listening to my station, you hear traffic reports that talk about, you know, hour, hour and a half waits at the bridges and tunnels now. MTA Bridges and Tunnels has said traffic is now exceeding pre pandemic levels, when we still have a fraction of the office workers back at this point. I know you've gotten the question before, but I wanted to see if your thinking has changed? Especially since we know congestion pricing is still going to be a while away? What will it take to see harsher traffic restrictions coming into Manhattan, say HOV restrictions on bridges? You know, we're seeing this get far worse before it might get any better? Is your thinking changing at all on short-term traffic relief measures?

Mayor: That's something we're going to look at for sure, Steve. I think we've all been watching the trajectory here. Now, let's be fair, subways, buses are coming back really clearly. I think we're about 55 percent with the subways compared to pre pandemic levels. That's been steady, steady increases, bus ridership, even more. Clearly people are – things are normalizing. Obviously, people see the city getting healthier. There's more and more activity. So, people are starting to transfer over to mass transit more and more. But it's going to take a while. I agree with you. It's also, you're right. Congestion pricing, it should be expedited by the federal government and the State government, MTA. I don't see that. I don't know why they're not doing it. I think there needs to be pressure on them to do it. We can go a lot faster with congestion pricing that would help. But there's clearly a problem of too many people in cars. We're going to look at that option. We're going to look at other options of how to address it. In the meantime, I think the big picture is keep fueling the recovery in every way, the vaccinations, everything we're doing to fuel the recovery, because that's also going to help people feel more comfortable going back to mass transit.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey Elizabeth, how you been? 

Question: Good. I wanted to ask you and Dr. Chokshi to tell us a little bit about booster shots? The demand? And also, if you can share that data, start sharing that data with the public, the number of booster shots that are being, you know, given every day? 

Mayor: Well, we certainly like to share data. So, Dr. Chokshi, if you could give us the latest on how that's going and how you are sharing that data, that'd be great? 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Certainly, I'll be happy to, sir. And thank you so much, Elizabeth, for the question. We are following the uptake of booster shots in New York City. As you know, currently Pfizer recipients who are at least six months after their second dose, are the population that's eligible for booster shots at this moment. Thus far we've administered a little bit over 128,000 doses across New York City. We expect that number to continue growing, both for Pfizer recipients as well as for those who received Moderna or J&J once the FDA authorization for those two vaccine types advances, which we expect to be in the coming days as well. With respect to sharing that data more generally. We are working on that. And we plan to post it publicly as we do for the rest of our data. There are some nuances in terms of how we collect it. And we're just working out that methodology. But we will certainly share that in the coming weeks. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Elizabeth. 

Question: And as a follow-up, do you anticipate as we head into the winter months, more people spending time indoors, more time since people got their first shots, do you – will the City begin to do more messaging, urging people that get that third shot? 

Mayor: Great question. And I would say this, I think it's really smart to say, Hey, we're going into a new season. What do we got to do? I think the good news compared to anything else we've dealt with, with COVID is the very, very high levels of vaccination in the city right now. The fact that it's growing all the time. Again, we expect a big boost in vaccination levels overall when the five to 11-year-olds can be reached and that's good for everyone. But in terms of promoting boosters and the right way to do it, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, jump in? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. And I agree with you. The first and most important point is to remember that first doses are even more important than third doses. And so, we will be focused on reaching everyone who is unvaccinated and continuing our messaging encouraging them to get vaccinated. Whether you're an adult that's currently eligible or as the Mayor has pointed out, as we expand eligibility to younger children, five to 11 in the coming weeks as well. That will remain a primary focus. With respect to boosters, yes, you will see more messaging from us on all of the different platforms that we use, as well as our partnerships with community-based organizations and community physicians. A lot of that will be focused on the populations for whom we know boosters will make the biggest difference. For example, our seniors, those who are 65 years and older, as well as younger adults with underlying health conditions that put them at highest risk for severe outcomes. So, you'll be hearing more about that in the coming months. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, you want to add? 

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: I agree with Dr. Chokshi. In my clinical practice, I'm particularly focused on having my older patients and those who have an underlying health condition, get that booster. I think those are the most important populations to do it. Other people feel safer when they get a booster. And as long as it fits the eligibility requirements, I think that's great. But especially the older people and those with underlying health conditions. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Erin from Politico. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I have a question also about the vaccine mandate, the Key To NYC enforcement? First of all, I think I heard one of my colleagues say 15 and I apologize if I missed it. But I didn't think I heard that from you? So, can you folks just confirm, is it in fact 15 fines that have been given? And then also, do you have any data since you're doing this warning first approach, do you have any data on how many violations you've actually observed and how many warnings have been given without a fine? 

Mayor: Yeah, I’ll start and I’ll turn to Commissioner Doris. Erin, 15 is the accurate number. And again, remember that the things we look for are the proper signage and the right protocols, checking people in. Some of that just needs adjustments and conversation with people to get it right. And what we're seeing overwhelmingly, is that business owners want to get it right. I think the violations really connect with a situation where there's not a willingness to follow the instructions, follow the guidance. But in terms of the overall picture, Commissioner Doris, what would you like to add? 

Commissioner Doris: Yes, sir. I believe we did about over 6,000 warnings in the 31,000 inspections. So again, overall vast compliance. And again, once folks learn what they're doing wrong or make the adjustments, that's how we ended up with just 15 or so actual violations. 

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. The next question goes to Reuvain from Hamodia.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, Reuvain. How have you been?

Question: Good, how are you? So, last week you signed the bill mandating severance pay for hotel workers laid off during the pandemic surrounded by members of the Hotel Trades Council. The times has reported in the past that that was the only union to endorse your presidential bid and donated $440,000 to the cause. This is not the first bill that was helpful to the union that you've supported, and presumably its endorsement would be helpful when your potential gubernatorial run. So, my question is, was this payback to the union? And if not, why should hotel workers, specifically, more than any other industries workers affected by the pandemic be entitled to this special look?

Mayor: So, you asked two questions. The first one, of course not. That's farthest thing from the truth. The second one, because this industry was one of the hardest hit in all the city. Anyone with eyes to see can see what happened to the hospitality industry as a result of COVID and shutting down travel across the board, and now it's still international travel. Hotel industry was hit very, very hard. That's why we took actions to support the hotel industry earlier in the year. But we also have to support the hotel workers who have been going without their jobs for a long, long time. That's why we did what we did. Go ahead, Reuvain.

Question: There are many industries that were affected by the pandemic, but I have to move onto the next question. Do you think that the hotels that closed did so because they have tons of extra cash lying around so they can afford to pay $15,000 to each worker?

Mayor: I don't know each hotels finances or approach. I do know that the working people of this city and the working people, that industry made them what they were and allowed them to prosper for years and years. We got to a point we had 67 million tourists a few years ago, and it was the working people in that industry that allowed everyone else to prosper. So, they've been hurting for a long time. I would argue at you very clearly, this is one industry's hardest hit of any industry. That's just factual. But we got to support working people, first and foremost, I believe a lot of those companies are going to come back strong. We're seeing a number of hotels now starting to reopen. We're seeing international travel coming back, but we got to make sure that working people get their share as well.

Moderator: Our last question for today, it goes to Yehudit from Borough Park 24.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, how are you doing today?

Question: I’m great. A week ago Community Board 12 in Brooklyn voted not to approve the text amendment that would allow zoning changes to make Open Restaurants permanent because the majority of board members felt that the outside spaces, some of which are very beautiful and which were very beneficial during the pandemic, many Brooklyn residents felt that the structures take up precious parking and narrow sidewalk space that pedestrians need to walk and push strollers. So, some also sometimes the structures attract people that camp in them, or kind of otherwise cause trouble in them, bad actors. So, I'm wondering if the new zoning law goes through that would make Open Restaurants permanent. I'm wondering whether communities will be able to opt out of the change if they don't think that the outdoor dining structures are good for their particular neighborhoods?

Mayor: Well, Yehudit, we obviously – it's a fair question, but I want to be straightforward with you – when we create a law for the whole city, it's for everyone, and we will treat every community equally. But what we can do, and it's important to do, is to listen to community concerns and make adjustments. And we were doing that before the pandemic with our Nightlife Office, done great work, when there were concerns about a specific restaurant, bar, whatever it might be, figuring out how to adjust and make it right with the community. So, for example, you know, the sidewalk space is a great point, there's really clear rules, and if a restaurant isn't smart about that and they take up too much space, we have to fix that. We have to hold them accountable. We've got some restaurants that stopped using their outdoor space. I've been very clear with our team, if a restaurant is not going to revive that space and use it, they should give it up, and we got to be very good about enforcing that. It's one thing if they're briefly shut down and they're holding it to start up again soon, but if they're not intending to use it, they got to liberate it so other people can use it.

But I would bring it all together, Yehudit, and say the outdoor dining has had a miraculous impact on this city. It's saved 100,000 jobs to begin with and it's helping to save many more since. It has been part of the comeback of the city. It's creating life and energy. We need to keep it long-term, but let's make the adjustments case by case to make it work best for communities. That's the way to approach it. And I'll conclude by saying, you know, another example, so many of the things we've talked about today, examples of this city creating, fighting back, people being resourceful, being resilient. That's what New Yorkers have shown in this crisis. That's why we're going to come out of the COVID era. We got more work to do, but we're going to get there. Thank you, everyone.

2021-10-14 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. You know, this week we've been talking about New York City's recovery. You can feel it. You can see it. Amazing things are happening around this city. The facts we've laid out, jobs coming back, real estate market's coming back, so many things are coming back. We’ve got a lot of work to do, but you can feel every day we're getting closer and closer. And the key, of course, has been vaccinations. This is where New York City – every New Yorker should be so proud of what we've done together, of the total commitment people have shown to bringing the city back.

So, today, is going to be a very special day. Today is going to be one of those milestone days in the fight against COVID. Today will be the day when we hit an amazing number – 6 million New Yorkers who have received at least one dose of the vaccine – 6 million vaccinations, as of today. This is unbelievable, 6 million people – think about it for a moment, 6 million people who have gone, done the right thing for themselves, their families, their community, gotten at least the first dose. A lot of those people, of course, the vast majority have gotten the second dose by now as well. But, as of today, 6 million New Yorkers who have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, this is a staggering figure. This is how we're coming back. When you look around the country and you see other places that are struggling, and I feel horrible for them, but, in a lot of cases, it's because their leaders didn't do the right thing and didn't focus on vaccination. Here, together, we did. Now, 6 million of us doing the right thing, moving us forward.

And what has it meant? As vaccinations have gone up, hospitalizations have gone down. Every day, we go over the indicators, and it's so encouraging to see this trend, to see how consistent it is. Every single day, we're seeing more and more vaccination and that really powerful movement downward with hospitalizations. That means fewer and fewer New Yorkers who are feeling the worst effects of disease are ending up in the hospital. Fewer and fewer people who are going to have the fear in their family of what could happen. Think about it – if because of vaccination we are limiting this disease and, slowly but surely, putting it behind us, ending the COVID era once and for all, that's what we have to do, and not have the fear that so many families have had of a loved one, particularly a senior, ending up in the hospital and then never coming back. That's what vaccination is doing.

So, we're now one of the safest places in the entire country when it comes to COVID. And we are moving on so many other fronts, continuing to be the safest big city in America in many, many ways. But I'll tell you something, I hear it all over – I hear it from the business community, I hear it from people from other parts of the country – they're looking at New York City, they see how safe it is, they see how well the vaccination has gone. This is the place to be. This is the place to invest, because people can have confidence in the future of the city, seeing how New Yorkers handled this crisis. Other astounding numbers, as of now, over 84 percent of all New York City adults have had at least one dose of the vaccine. Over 84 percent – that's a super, super majority. And I like to say, when have you ever seen 84 percent of New Yorkers agree on anything else? So, young people, teenagers – 75 percent already vaccinate. And we're going to see a huge number of new vaccinations when the youngest kids, the five- to 11-year-olds are authorized next month.

At this point, there's only about a million adults left to be vaccinated and they keep coming in. The incentives, the mandates, everything's working. We're going to keep moving on that number and we're going to pick up those young people. So, this is going to make a huge difference. Listen, we're so close to where we need to get. We’ve got more work to do. COVID is not leaving us immediately. We've got real work to do to finish this mission. Everyone could be a part of it, but we can get there.

So, here's my request – my humble request. Every single New Yorker out there, if you have a family member, a loved one, a neighbor, a friend who still isn't vaccinated, talk to them, let them know how important it is. Let them know how important it is to you. Those conversations make a huge difference. Anyone who isn't vaccinated and needs to be, we can give them a hundred-dollar incentive. We can even send vaccinators to their home to vaccinate them and their family. All you’ve got to do is call 877-VAX-4NYC – 877-VAX-4NYC. Let's get it done and make a world of difference for all of us in this city.

Now, so much coming back and it's exciting. You can feel it. We talked yesterday about the movie theaters, great movies coming out, people going back to the theaters, vaccination sites, right at the theaters, great things happening that people want to be a part of. But now, let's talk about one of the single greatest things that happens in New York City. This is – I would argue with anyone, this is the food capital of the world. And we love – we love our restaurants. We love the fact that, literally, you can get every cuisine on the earth right here. There's very few places you can say that. No place compares with New York City in that way. The greatest wines from all over the world – well, if you want to experience it, guess what's back? The New York City Wine and Food Festival, another great example of great things coming back as we fight back COVID. Returning to celebrate its 14th year, between October 14th and 17th. Now, this festival is amazing. Over 65 events – there's tastings, there's intimate dinners, peer parties, brunches. There's so much going on. There's something for everyone. But here's what I love most about this festival, the people involved who made this happen care about their fellow New Yorkers. And they're not just giving back, they're giving back 100 percent. Literally, 100 percent of the proceeds will benefit God's Love We Deliver and the Food Bank for New York City to help New Yorkers in need. So, if you want to do something that's going to be a lot of fun and celebrate our comeback and help your fellow New Yorkers, go to this beautiful festival. You can buy tickets at nycwff.org. And, of course, I want to note, proof of vaccination is required to be part of this great festival. Last year – or, most recently, the festival has raised – over the years, I should say, $14 million – $14 million to help New Yorkers in need. I think this year is going to be amazing.

But don't take it from me. I want to present to you someone I'm just so happy to have with us. And I – you know, I am not a leading foodie, but I'm an amateur foodie. I love the restaurants in this city. I read about them all the time. I know about all the great chefs. And when you actually get to meet one of these superstars, it's something pretty special. So, I want to present you, someone who is a veteran of this wonderful festival. You name it, he's done it. He is a James Beard Award-winning chef. He is a New York City – excuse me, New York Times number-one bestselling author. He has led legendary kitchens. Wherever he goes, something good happens. And I have to say, as an Italian-American, I'm particularly proud of him. His name immediately advertises who he is, where he comes from, and he makes us very proud. My pleasure to introduce Rocco Dispirito.

[…]

Mayor: You are what we call saggio. You're a wise man. Okay. Rocco Dispirito, what an honor to have you here. Thank you.

All right, everyone. So, the festival is going a big, big part of our comeback and there's so many other things that we have to do to bring this city back. And what we found is that we could create whole new things. Outdoor dining, brand new, created from this, kind of, whole-city approach –came out of the crisis. Open Streets came out of the crisis. But two other things came out of the crisis that really have been powerful, the City Cleanup Corps and the City Artist Corps. I'm very open about the fact these are not new ideas. We borrowed them directly from Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal, but we adapted them to today and create something new for our circumstance. For the Cleanup Corps., thousands of New Yorkers who need a good job out there helping to bring us back, make the city shine and clean again. For the artists corps., our cultural committee was hit so hard by this pandemic and folks needed an opportunity to work again, to contribute. And we want to keep those artists here. We need them. We need our restaurants. We need our artists. That's who we are.

Let me tell you the impact it’s made. The Cleanup Corps., thousands of members since April. This is amazing. They have hands swept 50,000 blocks in New York City, removed 600,000 bags of trash, repainted almost 1,000 properties that had graffiti on them. This is amazing stuff and it's helping to bring the city forward. You know, people are coming back, businesses coming back, jobs coming back, tourists coming back domestically. But soon, international tourists coming back as well. The Cleanup Corps. has helped us to get ready and to give people a great opportunity in the meantime. And the Cleanup Corps. is really focused on hiring people from the neighborhoods hardest hit by the pandemic. So, there's virtue in so many ways. By the way, people can still be a part of the Cleanup Corps., you can go to nyc.gov/ccc to join it.

Now, I want you to hear from a Council Member who believes in this initiative and wanted to make sure it benefited her community, both in terms of people getting hired and in terms of providing the impact to the small businesses, to the residents of the neighborhood, to make sure that the neighborhood was better as we came back. I want you to hear from someone who really believes in this approach. From the east side – lower east side of Manhattan, Council Member Carlina Rivera.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Council Member. You will be my skelly's instructor. I am looking forward to that, keeping a great, old New York tradition alive. Thank you for all you're doing. I can tell the passion that you have for making sure our neighborhood folks get opportunity and for also making sure that the neighborhood is beautiful and clean. And I know our Parks Commissioner Gabrielle Fialkoff was happy to be with you there. And for her and everyone at the Parks Department, this is a labor of love what the Cleanup Corps. is doing. So, thank you for being a really vibrant supporter of this idea and we're going to get a lot done these next few months as part of our comeback. Thank you so much.

And the other great idea we talked about, which is really, really had an impact – our City Artist Corps. I want to thank our Cultural Affairs Commissioner Gonzalo Casals, and his whole team. They have been – this has been a labor of love for them as well, $25 million investment in local artists. They've been out around the city, doing performances, public art shows, workshops for children, for communities, for seniors at public spaces. It's been amazing. And the beautiful part is, it's allowed our artists to keep working, and keep contributing, and keep giving us hope. That's what our artists do, especially in the worst of the pandemic – they gave us hope. And it's amazing what the Artist Corps. has achieved in just a few months. So, there's going to be showcases now for the rest of this month all over the city of the work of the City Artists Corps., you can find out where hundreds of events will be at nyc.gov/cityartistcorps. There are free events for everyone. I want you to hear why this is so important at the community level from someone who really believes in this, believes in supporting arts and culture in every way we can – State Senator Brian Kavanagh.

[...] 

Thank you so much, Senator. It's – you know, I want you to know there's a strong physical resemblance between recent mayors, so it's okay. 

[Laughter] 

Senator Brian Kavanagh: When they’re sitting down –

Mayor: That's right. I want to thank you. Just having fun here. I want to thank you. I know this is something you care about deeply and your community has been deeply involved with the City Artists Corps. Thank you. This is the kind of thing that makes a big impact. Thank you for your support.

Now, everyone. I want you to hear what this means, even on a bigger level, not just in New York City, national level, what it means to provide this kind of support to artists. And I want you to hear from someone who really has the big picture perspective, he was appointed by President Obama to the National Council on the Arts back in 2012. He serves as Program Director for Arts and Culture for the Andrew Mellon Foundation, which is the nation's largest funder of arts and culture and humanities. My great pleasure to introduce Emil Kang. 

[...] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Emil. And I love when someone remembers where they came from. So, proud son of Queens. You've done good. And thank you for highlighting this kind of approach. And I know you're championing ideas like this all over. We've got to have this direct support for artists. This is part of how we come out of the pandemic. So, thank you for helping to lead the way on that. 

Everyone, the City Artist Corps, City Cleanup Corps making a big difference. This is the kind of thing we're going to do to bring the city back. And now this brings us to our indicators. And here's the number one way we bring our city back, which is vaccination. So, again, as of today, six million New Yorkers with at least one dose, that's amazing. Total doses, overall, stunning, 11,772,387, growing all the time. Number two indicator, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 214 patients with confirmed positivity level of 10.79 percent. And the all-important hospitalization rate, today's number – again, we're very happy with this – 0.69 per 100,000. Finally, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 957 cases. So, more to do, still a battle ahead, but vaccinations working. A few words in Spanish and the topic is the six million New Yorkers now vaccinated –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Jay Varma, Dr. Mitch Katz, Chris Neale the City Cleanup Corps Program Lead, and Gonzalo Casals Commissioner of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Our first question goes to David at WABC. 

Question: Hi, Mayor. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah. How you doing Dave? 

Question: I'm fine. As the FDA moves forward on, you know, approving vaccines for younger people, five to 11 children, does that motivate you to then push forward on a mandate for children in schools, all children? 

Mayor: It's a great and fair question, Dave. No, not at this point because having the vaccine and parents allowing their kids to get it are two different matters. I've been real clear about it, Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter has been very clear about it. Our priority is having kids in school. So, for the foreseeable future, the best solution is that gold standard of health and safety approach that we’ve used so effectively. Plus, all adults being vaccinated. required. Plus, maximizing vaccination with young people, particularly the young people who will now be eligible next month. But we're not going to exclude a child because our kids, a lot of them went a year-and-a-half without being in a classroom. We're not excluding them because of decisions their parents make. We need them in school. That's where I am. That's where the Chancellor is. We'll deal with the future in the future, but that's where we are. And the focus is on getting our kids what they need. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Andrew with WNBC. 

Question: Mayor, good morning. Since you're talking about vaccine milestones today and all the progress and the numerics looking good on the data, have you now backed off your plan to mandate vaccines for other municipal workers? Last week, you talked about having details in the coming days and we haven't gotten any details this week. Are you now no longer planning to expand municipal mandates? 

Mayor: A fair question, but I will repeat what I said. We will have a lot more to say in the coming days, there's some work we've had to do. And I think I was clear about whenever we do something, Andrew, we are very meticulous about preparing it properly. We're looking at a variety of different options, new approaches to fight back COVID because the war against COVID-19 isn’t over and we got to finish it once and for all to bring the city back fully. So, a variety of options are on the table. We will be speaking to it in the coming days. Nothing's off the table. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: I'm wondering if I can get your and Dr. Varma's assessment of where we are on Delta right now beyond the numbers. There seems to be this idea – and Governor Hochul has talked about it too – that we're either at a plateau, a downward turn, and yet the weather has been good, so we really haven't returned to sort of indoor gatherings in large numbers. So, is this a false sense of security or have we truly turned the corner on Delta here? 

Mayor: Profoundly important question. I appreciate that one a lot, Andrew. And I'll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Katz in a second. Here's what I’d say, we've had this conversation internally many times and Dr. Varma is – because he has studied the different challenges all over the world, not just with COVID, but other epidemics, he will be a good voice of caution here. Here's what I think we can say for sure. When you vaccinate at this high level, 6 million people have gotten at least one dose, that changes the entire dynamic. We've never been here before, since the pandemic began, we've never had this kind of massive consolidation of vaccination and there's more to come. There's a lot more to come. So, that changes the dynamic profoundly. That is, to me, the big, big story here. But you're right, cold weather is a factor, and we need to be smart about that. We need to keep getting people vaccinated and we need to keep taking smart measures to protect ourselves going forward. You can't declare a mission completed until it's really completed, or mission accomplished. We can't say that until we know we're out of the woods. So, there is good news, but we've got more to do to consolidate our gains for sure. Dr. Varma then Dr. Katz.

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much, Andrew, for the question. And I, you know, I wish I had a perfectly satisfying answer. I think that the real lesson of COVID for many of us is to be very humble in our predictions because there are so many factors from human behavior, to the way the virus evolves and obviously, vaccines that can determine what our COVID rates are. So, let's focus on a couple of things that we definitely know. The first is that in the past month, our hospitalization rate has dropped in half. And really the best explanation for that is the impact of vaccinations. And I think you also see that in the fact that we did have a surge in our cases in July, but it plateaued at a level that was very manageable for our health system. That was far below what we saw in other places in the country. And that is almost certainly again due to immunity from vaccinations. So, we definitely know that vaccines are having a very important impact on what happens with COVID right now. As you and the Mayor have very rightly pointed out, we also have some favorable trends that we don't have control over. With the weather being temperate, people are more likely to spend time outdoors, less likely to gather indoors. And there's some aspects related to the, you know, the atmosphere that increase the transmission of certain viruses. So, we have to see what happens. And that's why really keeping the full court press on getting vaccinations is going to provide us that cushion that will hopefully let us be able to continue to have favorable trends. We always need to be prepared for the possibility that there could be more influenza transmission. And so also put stress on our hospitals. But I do think the vaccines are having an impact. What will happen in the winter is still an unknown. And that's why the, you know, building our reserve of immunity is so important with vaccinations.

Mayor: Amen, Dr. Katz?

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: Yes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I review every week, our admissions due to COVID at Health + Hospitals, and every week for the last several weeks, the number of admissions has decreased. And I think that's objective evidence of what Dr. Varma is saying. That the most profound impacts of the vaccine are in preventing people from getting sick. We will – COVID I do not believe is going to go away. I believe the virus will continue to circulate. But if we're all vaccinated, then we're going to all stay healthy. And I would add, yesterday, I called one of my patients because I saw in the lab record that she had tested positive for COVID. I knew she was vaccinated. I called her out of concern, how you feeling? And she said, I feel just great. I have a slightly stuffy nose and otherwise she felt great. And I think that that's likely to be the future of a fully vaccinated city. Is that there will still be some circulating COVID. It will circulate more in the winter. But if we're all vaccinated, then we will stay healthy. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Amen. Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Debralee with the Manhattan Times and Bronx Free Press.

Question: Hey, good morning everyone. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah, Debralee. How are you doing?

Question: I’m well, thank you. Good morning again to all. I want to just shift the conversation Mr. Mayor, to an industry that we haven't had discussed in the briefings for some time. And I wondered if you could speak to this. To what degree are the members of the independent liberty cab and medallion cab industries being specifically incentivized to be vaccinated if they aren't already? And are there any plans to consider more serious measures, including the possibility of mandates or some semblance thereof? Given their role, particularly their outsized role in communities not as readily serviced by public transportation? What are the – what is the thinking there to really get them to be more on board? And how are you tracking that?

Mayor: Really good question. Debralee. Look, we don't have – I'll be very straightforward. We don't have a specific plan at this moment. But what we are doing now, which I think speaks to your question, is we're looking at the different parts of our city, different parts of our society and saying, where do we need to do more on vaccination? And what tools can we bring to bear? So, we're going to be looking at a number of different options. Because we needed to, first of all, put the basics in place. The different types of public employee mandates, the indoor dining, entertainment, fitness, we – those were areas that we thought we could make a very big impact. We needed to see how they worked. We needed to see what we needed to do to adjust. Obviously, we had quite a bit of activity in courts we had to get through. Now we're in a position to think about a variety of additional options. So, this is something we'll certainly look at, as one of the areas that's important.

Moderator: Our next question goes to James with PIX 11.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call.

Mayor: Good morning, James. How are you?

Question: Great. Thank you for asking.

Mayor: You know, it is, today is a particularly beautiful day in New York City. As you and I are often keenly aware of when we have a special day. This is one of those days.

Question: Agreed, agreed. Very, very true. Thank you. That the City already has a protocol for booster doses of Pfizer, the Pfizer vaccine. While an FDA panel meets today and tomorrow regarding Moderna and Johnson & Johnson boosters, I'm just trying to get more information about what preparations are being made for administering those boosters? And for that matter to get people to get a first shot?

Mayor: Well, I'll start, I'll turn to Dr. Katz then Dr. Varma. Obviously, Dr. Katz in Health + Hospitals have been profoundly important to operationalizing what we need to do to reach people. They've had an incredibly positive experience with that. I'm going to say to begin with the first shot is still the strategically most important part of the equation. We all agree on that. 6 million New Yorkers who have had at least one dose, that's stunning. Now we're going for more and more and more. We, you know, we are going to keep going after every single adult, there's still a lot of young people we can reach. And then we're going to be able to reach hundreds of thousands of young people when the new authorization comes. So, first dose is the strategic priority still. In terms of preparations for Moderna boosters, let's start with Dr. Katz.

President Katz: Thank you, sir. I’ll give us the example that when we got approval for Pfizer vaccine boosters, we didn't know exactly what groups would be approved. And it was in fact, a lot of debate between the CDC and the FDA, as to what would be approved. When we finally got the approval, we were ready the next day. We had all of the computer systems set up so that people would get the appropriate booster. So that people who came for a booster, but had previously had Moderna would be told to, that they needed to wait until there was a Moderna. So, we will see the same thing here. As soon as there is guidance that is clear, we will be ready the next day. If there does need to be shipments, if the Moderna vaccine is approved, that a smaller dose, which is one of the issues. Then as soon as the new booster doses are received, we will be ready. There – very unlike the beginning of the vaccine effort, we have so many providers in the hospitals, at the pharmacies, at community-based organizations. We have a huge network. And thanks to you, Mr. Mayor, for first vaccines, we're able to give people a hundred dollars. So, for those people who have not yet gotten vaccinated there's that great incentive right in front of them. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Varma, you want to add. 

Senior Advisor Varma: No, nothing else for me. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, James. 

Question: [Inaudible] much. Also, this hospitalization rate of 0.69 per 100,000, I'd say by any measure is low. Can you or anyone on the call, give us some sense of context there. When has it been that low here in New York City? And what does it say about the overall trend of COVID in the city? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Varma. I mean, I'll just frame it and say it really says that vaccination works, and it says we're moving in the right direction, and notwithstanding the challenges of cooler weather and other factors we got to take seriously, it says just keep going deeper with vaccination. But in terms of when we were last at this low level, Dr. Katz or Dr. Varma, do you know? 

President Katz: Yes, sir. We haven't been this low since the beginning of the pandemic, and just to give people some sense for the 11 Health + Hospitals, which represent about a fifth of all hospitalizations in New York City, we currently have about 70 patients with COVID in the hospital and about 16 of them are in the Intensive Care Unit. At the peak, we had 3,700 patients in the hospital with COVID and we had 960 in the ICU. So, 960 down to 16, 17. 3,700 down to a much lower number now very manageable around 70, so huge progress, sir, and the best numbers we've seen since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Mayor: Amen. Thank you. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Juliet with 1010 WINS. 

Question: Yes. Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and good morning, everyone. So, in that strain here do you think you'd be able to declare the end of the COVID era as your term comes to a close and what would it take to declare that? 

Mayor: That's a powerful question, Juliet. I – first I don't start with that assumption because I think we have to be – to pick up on what Dr. Varma said – you know, one thing we've learned from COVID is expect the unexpected. So, the first thing we should do is be cautious and careful and say, it will be over when we get even more people vaccinated and we drive the rates down even more and we prove we can sustain them even in the colder weather. But I do think by the end of my term we can be in a very, very strong position. My goal is get a lot more people vaccinated before my term ends, consolidate our gains, get our recovery into be in a very, very strong, consistent place. But let's – again, let's be careful on mission accomplished until we are a 100 percent sure. What is true, Juliet, is the COVID era can and will end, and I think it's going to be during the year 2022 that we can turn the page as a city, put COVID in the background the same way as influenza, where it's a real issue, it's a real threat, and we got to deal with it, but it's something we deal with on a manageable way, not something that dominates our life the way COVID has. So, I want to consolidate those gains in 2021, handoff to my successor, and then I think 2022 becomes a year that we can finally put COVID in our past.

And with that, everyone, look today we went over a number of things, but the, the biggest news is the thing to focus on, six million New Yorkers have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine. That's just staggering. That is beautiful. And that's something everyone should be proud of. This has been the ultimate team effort. So, thank you to every New Yorker who made that decision. Thank you to every family member who let their family loved ones know how important it was to get vaccinated. Thank you to the vaccinators, Test and Trace Corps, everyone who was out there promoting vaccination, it's working. Thank you, everyone.

2021-10-15 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC, and time now for our weekly Ask the Mayor call-in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 6-4-6-4-3-5-72-80, 6-4-6-4-3-5-72-80, or tweet a question. You never get a busy signal on Twitter. Just use the hashtag, #AsktheMayor. It'll be a little shorter than usual today because our membership drive schedule dictates that. So, go get your calls and tweets in right away. Hashtag #AsktheMayor or 6-4-6-4-3-5-72-80. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you so much, Brian. And Brian, some quick, very good news for you. Official news, breaking news – citywide hospitalization rates as of today are half of the levels they were as recently as August. And specifically at our public clinics, our public hospitals, the places hardest hit by COVID this whole time, the hospitalization rates are now – this is amazing – hospitalization in public hospitals, lowest since the beginning of the pandemic. From the very beginning to now, we are now at the lowest point in our public hospitals.

Lehrer: That is great. And I presume you credit vaccination for that largely?

Mayor: Unquestionably, and Dr. Mitch Katz spoke about this reality that we're now at six million New Yorkers who have had at least one dose of the vaccine and climbing. Dr. Katz has done an amazing job running the public hospitals. He said, this has been the difference maker. And as you've asked about many times, are we reaching deeper into the communities most affected, deeper into immigrant communities, communities of color, now the vaccination rate among Latinos higher than among the white population, and the vaccination rate for African-Americans is growing steadily now because of the incentives and mandates. So, something very powerful is happening and we're seeing it profoundly at our public hospital.

Lehrer: Let me ask you about one case on the downside of that and not to say this represents what's going on overall, but according to City Health Department data, our news department saw that the COVID death toll for New York City children rose this week by one child. Now, pediatric COVID deaths in the city are rare, for context, and this is the 30th recorded, however, by the City, since the pandemic began. I'm curious what you know, if anything, about this incident that a child died this week, or is it an earlier pediatric death that wasn't confirmed until now?

Mayor: Well, you'll understand, Brian, regarding a specific case it's very, very important to respect confidentiality for that family. So, I'm not going to go into any detail. I want to say we – every situation we look at very closely. What our health care leadership says is that vaccination overall is changing the entire environment for all families, all ages. Thank God our youngest kids have been the least affected by COVID throughout. And the big news, the extraordinary news will be, we really believe in just a few weeks, we'll be able to reach five- to 11-year-olds with the vaccine, and we'll be ready to do that the second we get authorization from Washington. So, I think that's the bigger reality.

Lehrer: Now, I believe you said you're against a mandate for the kids in that age group, is that because it would be difficult to implement because some parents hearing a statistic like 30 – if I saw that number right – child deaths in the city since the pandemic began, might want a vaccine mandate for kids.

Mayor: Well, the issue that's been raised so many times is, should there be a mandate for a child to be able to go to our schools. And I feel very strongly, our health care team feels strongly, our Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter feels very strongly our kids need to be in school. It is absolutely crucial for all elements of health, physical health, mental health, educationally. Our kids need to be in school and school has been incredibly safe. So, I've said I'm not ready, nor is the Chancellor to exclude children who are unvaccinated because their parent won't let them be vaccinated. That's the reality. The child doesn't get to decide, the parents have to give consent. Now, 75 percent of the teenagers already are vaccinated. That's a really promising sign. I think the younger children will be even a higher percentage ultimately. But I'm not going to – certainly not at this point – I'm not going to say a child can't come to school if they're unvaccinated because they've been excluded from education for too long.

Lehrer: And that is all the time we have for today, Mayor. Mr. Mayor, thank you as always. Talk to you next week.

Mayor: Thank you, Brian, take care.

2021-10-18 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. We've got a lot of important news today, and some very good news today also. Obviously, the most important news is on the most important issue, which is the battle against COVID. And the news is about vaccines and boosters. So, last week, we had great news, 6 million New Yorkers have been vaccinated now – 6 million New Yorkers have gotten at least one dose – seismic, huge number, and it's the reason why you see COVID decreasing in the city. But this is battle is far from over, so we’ve got more to do. The boosters are a big piece of it. Last week, the FDA committee took a big step and voted to approve the Moderna and J&J boosters, but that's still not the formal authorization. We're waiting for that to come later this week, we think. We're waiting for all the final details. We're getting ready in anticipation of that approval. And one of the things we're focusing on is making sure in the days ahead that all of our vaccination sites are ready, that our people are ready, our supplies are ready, and that New Yorkers are informed. So, we're going to be talking about this several times over the course of the week as we got more and more information. We don't have all the final information yet, but we will have it soon, and we're going to provide it to all New Yorkers right away. And one of the voices you're going to hear the most on this topic, of course, is the City's doctor, our Health Commissioner, Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. And I wanted to share what we know now about boosters for people who received the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. As you said, we are still waiting for additional clarification and recommendations from the federal government before we can begin administering the Moderna and J&J boosters, but there are still some things everyone should note now. First, New Yorkers can get a Pfizer booster today, as long as they're at least six months after their second Pfizer dose. Those eligible must be in one of the following groups – if you're 65 and older; if you're 18 to 64 with underlying conditions, like diabetes; or if you're 18 to 64, but you're at high risk of exposure because of your occupation, like health care workers, or certain institutional settings, like nursing homes. If you are one of those New Yorkers who is eligible for Pfizer, you can make an appointment immediately at vaccinefinder.nyc.gov. On the site, you can sort by vaccine type. Click to Pfizer and then you can find that location nearest to you. Thus far, over 168,000 New Yorkers have received a booster dose.

Second, an FDA advisory committee recommended the Madonna booster for authorization last Thursday. While this could change, depending on the deliberations this week, we anticipate the eligible populations to include the same categories as those currently eligible for the Pfizer booster. That's those 65 and older, as well as those 18 to 64 and at higher risk. Eligible New Yorkers will be able to receive a Moderna booster at least six months after their second Moderna dose.

Finally, we have the Johnson& Johnson booster. The FDA recommended authorization of the J&J booster last Friday. Again, final guidance could change, but we anticipate that all New Yorkers 18 and older who received a single dose of J&J to be eligible to receive the booster dose as long as it's been at least two months after the primary dose. We're still waiting on the formal authorization from FDA and the CDC and their advisory committee, but we anticipate that sometime after the CDC’s committee meets this Thursday. Once the CDC issues its formal clinical guidance around administration, the City will be ready to administer, and we're working around the clock to prepare for this.

I also want New Yorkers to be aware that the FDA committee so far has only recommended a booster of the same brand that you've already received. The FDA and CDC will further discuss what's called mix and match, or getting vaccine doses of different brands, and we'll share more information with you in the coming weeks, as always. Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dave. And, Dave, want to thank you and all your colleagues at the Department of Health who've done so much to keep people informed. It’s an ever-changing situation, has been for over a year-and-a-half, but, thank God, now we're getting better and better news all the time, more and more options to support people. And our job is to always be ready. New York City has really been leading this country in terms of vaccine mandates, incentives, vaccination efforts, grassroots efforts, going out in the communities, addressing inequities in vaccination. We're going to be doing that all again with boosters and then, later, with our outreach to make sure that the youngest New Yorkers get vaccinated. So, we’ve got a lot to do, but we've shown time and time again this city leads the way. And I want to emphasize, we want to keep reaching all those adults, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who still haven't gotten their first dose – we're continuing to reach you. We want to have you join this group of over 6 million New Yorkers now who have gotten vaccinated. We want you to get that hundred-dollar incentive. We want you and your family to be safe. I predict to you we're going to reach a lot more people in that group in the days ahead. So, the work continues.

Now, we're doing all this to protect people, to protect families. We're also doing this so we can bring this city back strong. We need a recovery for all of us. We need a recovery that reaches every corner of the city and we continue to invest in that recovery. As we're coming out of the COVID era, important thing is to jumpstart a new reality for the city and a reality that is more fair, more just for the people of this city. So, we're making investments in some of the communities hardest hit by COVID.

All right, everyone. Let's go to what we go to every day, our indicators. I always loved the first indicator, number of vaccine doses administered to-date – 11,841,565. These numbers are just stunning and more every day. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report is 153 patients. Confirmed positivity level, 14.37 percent. Hospitalization rate – this is what we watch so carefully – today's number is 0.70 per 100,000 New Yorkers. And then, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 832 cases. Let me say a few words in Spanish, going back to what we talked about earlier, the news coming soon on the booster shots.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, and NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO Dr. Mitch Katz. Our first question today goes to Juliet at 1010 WINS.

Question: Yes. Good morning, everyone. Mr. Mayor, given General Powell’s passing, can your medical team discuss breakthrough cases? Why some people can still get very sick even after they are vaccinated?

Mayor: Yeah. Thank you for the question Juliet. And I think it's a really important one. So, I’m going to turn to Dr. Katz and then Dr. Chokshi to talk about that.

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you for the question. And I think the appropriate way to start is by remembering the General, a son of New York, a son of immigrants, who went to our schools, who went to City College, and who was a phenomenal leader for our country. And so really deserves so much admiration from all of us. We don't know all of the details at this moment about his health. We don't know what his other comorbidities were. He was a man of 84 years old, which is someone with a 99-year-old father, seems young. But with each decade the immune response to COVID is not as good. The body does not rally as well. So, that is certainly one factor, his age. We know that boosters are important in part because older people do not have as strong a response to the initial set of vaccinations. Beyond age, and again, we don't know his comorbidity, certainly no treatment is perfect. When you look at the data, what you see is that overwhelmingly the deaths that occur with COVID are in unvaccinated people, overwhelmingly. But there is still, all of the time, been a small number of deaths in vaccinated people. And I think this just reflects that no treatment is perfect. No vaccine is perfect. But that overwhelmingly, the vaccines are effective. I only wish they could have been more effective in his case. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And first I also want to extend my condolences to Secretary Powell’s family. And building on what Dr. Katz said, what we know is this. Being vaccinated very significantly decreases your chances of severe illness and death. No vaccine is 100 percent effective. And while the vaccines available currently are highly effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths, we do know that there will be some infrequent occasions that do result in these severe outcomes. I have no knowledge of the specific circumstances in this case. But as Dr. Katz also mentioned, sometimes this occurs when people have significantly compromised immune systems. And that's one more reason why everyone needs to get vaccinated, even if they are healthy. Because it helps protect not just them, but also those who are more vulnerable. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: Yes. Okay. Thank you. And regarding vaccines for children. I was wondering, is it the same dose as the vaccine for adults, or is that getting adjusted? I'm talking about the five to 11-year-old vaccine?

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, go ahead.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Juliet for the question. The answer is no, it's not the same dose. It's a third of the dose that is currently being used in those 12 and up. So, that will be adjusted. Once the final authorization comes through which hasn't occurred yet, but we expect in the coming weeks.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Reuvain with Hamodia.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor,

Mayor: Good morning. How are you doing today?

Question: Not so happy that the summer's over. It’s getting fall.

Mayor: I agree with you on that one. I think that's a general feeling this morning in New York City.

Question: Yeah. So, I wanted to ask you about the outdoor dining. So, I know several community boards have voted against it. A lot of residents I've spoken to in different communities, they say they think it's outlived its usefulness. There's a lot of these outdoor sheds now, that are just being used either as free storage by the stores or just going empty. And especially if the snow is going to come and they may really not be useful. I'm wondering if the City would consider either instead of, you know, granting rights to everyone, maybe, you know, following recommendations of either community boards or the local Council members or at least having some mechanism to enforce that they're actually being used, rather than just lying around taking a parking spots for no reason?

Mayor: Yeah. It's a great question, Reuvain. And I appreciate it. I'm someone who believes in outdoor dining fully. I absolutely believe it's the right thing to do. And the permanent approach is the right way to do it. So, the restaurant owners know they can invest in doing it in a way that's really appealing, more jobs, more activity. It's just good for the city. But you're right. If someone's not using a space for outdoor dining, they are using it for any other need, or they're not filling the space, they're just trying to hold it. That's not acceptable. So, I've given this instruction to Department of Transportation, I'm going to give it again. Go through all of the outdoor dining sites. The last I checked, it was around 10,000 plus. Go and review each one. Go and talk to the owners of any place where they're not using it for outdoor dining. And tell them they have a matter of days to get it right or the site should be pulled back and opened up again for parking. So, that's the kind of thing I've instructed. I'll follow up and make sure that is happening quickly. Because it's only fair. Go ahead.

Question: Yeah. I just wanted to ask, particularly during the winter months when it seems that that those sheds won't be useful. And the only ones that wouldn't be at the ones that are fully enclosed and heated, which sort of defeats the purpose of having them in the first place, which is to have outdoor dining? I'm wondering, you know, what's the justification for having them at all during the winter?

Mayor: No, I disagree with that. First of all, whether we like it or not winter is very different than it used to be, Reuvain. And there's plenty of times in winter where you can have outdoor dining and with proper ventilation. And it works for people. It is a different reality than being indoors. Second of all, again, very consciously, we're happy to see restaurants that went through hell for the last year and a half, have additional seating, have additional revenue, have a location people like. People like outdoor dining, and we want to see the restaurant community thrive and survive in this city. So, no, I think keeping it, keeping it year round is the right way to go. But making sure that only sites that are actually being fully used are kept for outdoor dining. If they're not, we need to free them up.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth with Gothamist. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey, Elizabeth, how have you been? How have you been?

Question: Good. 

Mayor: Go ahead. 

Question: Okay, sorry, I wasn’t sure if you could hear me. Since we're about three weeks out, I think, since the mandate for city hospital or hospital workers in general, I was wondering if you could have Dr. Katz give us an update on how many H + H employees have been put on unpaid leave, and whether at this point the expectation is that, you know, those employees probably won't return? 

Mayor: As I turn to Dr. Katz, I'll say, I think it's fair to say in the first weeks, Elizabeth, you're going to see some people feel the jolt of, wait a minute, my paycheck is not there anymore. I got to deal with this, and we've seen now, in the case of DOE for example, it’s I think about 3,000 employees got vaccinated after the deadline. So, I think there's a short-term impact, but I also want to leave open the very real possibility that some people may take a little longer, but I think you're going to constantly see employees coming back. I really do, but now to Dr. Katz on the specifics. 

President Katz: You're absolutely right, Mr. Mayor, people are still coming back, and we don't even call it putting anyone on unpaid leave, because that implies a specific duration. We are simply for the day that they are set to work. They are coded as having not been at work and they do not get paid for that day. But we are still continuing to get people into vaccination. We passed 94 percent now of our staff fully vaccinated. We've had relatively few people retire or say that they will not get vaccinated. So, you know, I'm hopeful that by the time we are at the end of this month, the numbers are going to be very small, and all our hospitals are functioning fully now. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you, go ahead, Elizbeth. 

Question: As a follow-up, could Dr. Katz say how many people have retired or said that they do not plan to come back because of the vaccine mandate? 

Mayor: Yes, Dr. Katz, you have that information. 

President Katz: I don't have an exact number. I mean, when – obviously – when somebody retires, we don't interrogate them for whether they're retiring because of the vaccine mandate or they're retiring because they have [inaudible] service and have just been through a hellish 18 months providing care during COVID. But we can certainly figure out the number of people who have retired and report that number. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Erin with Politico. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, I wanted to ask your reaction to Eric Adams says that he does intend to put a mandate in place for school children to have the vaccine. Obviously, that's something you have opposed doing, so what kind of impact do you think it's going to have if he goes and does that if and when he becomes Mayor?

Mayor: It's his right. I mean, I believe in democracy, Erin. Eric Adams has said very clearly, he understands that my job is to govern up to the last day on December 31st, and I want to say his job will be the govern from January 1st on, and I respect him greatly. We talk a lot. We're going to really make sure that we work closely together for the interests of the people. Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter and I believe at this moment, especially, the key is to get kids in school, and we still see too much misinformation out there about the vaccine, which means parents who might not let their kid get vaccinated, even if it's in the kid's interest, and the kid couldn't go to school, I don't want to see that. I want to see every kid in school, and I want to see us keep moving our efforts to get more and more kids vaccinated on the 12 to 17-year-olds, it's now 76 percent. That's a great number. I want to see that go up, really hopeful about the five to 11-year-olds, but I don't want a child excluded. But January is a long way away, and Eric Adams as a new mayor has a full right to decide whatever he thinks is best for our schools, and I'm sure he will do what his conscience tells him.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Abu with Bangla Patrika. 

Mayor: Abu, you out there? I don't know if we hear him, Abu? Try him again. Guys, do you got him or not? You got another person or not? Are we going to have a – I think we've got technical difficulties, so unless you guys have someone ready? No. Okay. We'll owe Abu for tomorrow. And everyone, look, as we conclude today, just want to emphasize where we started earlier today about the boosters and all the news we're going to be getting you in the course of this week. There’s a lot of important information, this week, next week, the week after, all crucial in terms of boosters, and we're really looking forward to that announcement regarding kids five to 11-years-old. So very, very important time for the vaccination effort and that's what's going to move us forward and get to a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everyone.

2021-10-19 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Every day we talk about our recovery as a city, a recovery for all of us. 

Now, when it comes to recovery, we know vaccination has been the fuel. Vaccination has been the foundation, vaccinations, making everything possible. Every day, we get a little bit better and some big news up ahead when it comes to vaccination, because soon we'll be able to reach our youngest New Yorkers. But, in the meantime, we're using every creative approach to get more and more people vaccinated and a lot of these approaches are working. Last week, we talked about Vax to the Movies, a wonderful approach. Vaccination sites right outside movie theaters. New Yorkers are flocking back to movie theaters. That's great. And they're all vaccinated going in there. While a lot of people want to go to the movies, you need to get vaccinated. We'll make it as easy as this – there's a vaccination site right outside the theater. You get to go to the movies. You get $100 incentive. You can have a great time. It's something wonderful for everyone. So, last weekend, was the first weekend and I'm happy to say over 670 New Yorkers got vaccinated outside the movie theaters. It had a great, great start. So, we're going to double down. We're going to be at seven more theaters this weekend and we're going to keep building from there. This is a fun, easy, positive way. Go out and get vaccinated. You're going to feel great about it and you're going to feel great about the movie you go to see. There's a lot of great movies out there now.

I want you to hear from someone who understands how important this is, because we want people to come back to our theaters the right way, the safe way, by being vaccinated. We're seeing great, great results all over the city of folks getting vaccinated. Oh, wait, I'm sorry – I jumped ahead, hold on. They've just given me a note that I made a mistake here in the program. I'll come right back to Vax to the Movies, my apology. I forgot to turn to someone who I want us all to hear from on the Sanitation Department. And we just talked about how important it is to bring on those new Sanitation workers. Someone who has been fighting for a long time to expand Sanitation services, who has been leading the effort in the City Council to make sure the city is clean and make sure we innovate new approaches. He has been a very energetic activist member of the City Council and focused on the issues of Sanitation in particular. He's also about to be the next Borough President of Brooklyn. My pleasure to introduce Council Member Antonio Reynoso.

[…]

Mayor: Well, thank you, Council Member. You did a good job with your remote feed there. We heard you great. And thank you, I know you've advocated for a long time for the men and women in the Sanitation Department. And I know this is a day that you've been pushing for. I'm glad we have finally made it. And I think – I also like your approach there encouraging Kyrie Irving by telling him he could also go to the movies. That's a novel approach. I like that. Thank you very much.  

So, where I was a moment ago – forgive me for getting out of order there – the Vax to the Movies effort, again, we're seeing great success. We're going to keep building on it. And I want you to hear from someone who understands how important the theaters are, the movie theaters, to New York City, how exciting the movie experience is in a big screen setting. There's nothing like it. He has been advocating for theaters all over the country for their comeback, to bring back the movie industry, and has been partnering with us on Vax to the Movies. He is the chief operating officer of one of the largest and most geographically diverse movie theater companies in the United States of America. My pleasure introduced the COO of Regal Cinemas, Matt Eyre. 

[…]

There you go. And, listen, I want to thank you for advocating for movie theaters nationwide and here in New York City. But I also have to tell you, you know, the new James Bond role is up for grabs. So, I mean, you have the accent, you have the accent, you're halfway there. 

Matt Eyre: I wish. 

[Laughter] 

Mayor: You know, Daniel Craig's done, they're looking for someone new – job opportunity. You're already in the industry. So, listen, thank you. Thank you for supporting Vax to the Movies. And amen to what you said and that, yes, our movie theaters have been safe. Get out there and enjoy them, everyone. Thank you so much, Matt. 

Eyre: Thank you. 

Mayor: All right, everyone. We're going to do what we do every day, go to our indicators. And the first one is always the best one, doses administered to date, 11,853,924. We are closing in on 12 million doses soon. It's unbelievable. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 87 patients. Confirmed positivity level, 27.17 percent. And the most importantly, hospitalization rate per 100,000 people, 0.68. That is such good news. Number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 940 cases. So, vaccination is working, but we got to double down on it. We got to go farther. We got to defeat COVID once and for all, and a few words in Spanish also on this wonderful Vax to the Movies initiative – 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]  

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined today by Commissioner Ed Grayson from DSNY, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals; Dr. Ted Long, Executive Director of Test and Trace; and by Megan Keenan-Berryman, the Assistant Commissioner at DYCD. Michael from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everybody on the call.

Mayor: Hey, Michael. How you been?

Question: I’m doing all right. I wanted to ask you about a report Scott Stringer put out this morning, that says based on the Comptroller's Office, that they're projecting a $111 million dip in annual sales tax revenue. And they're basically attributing this to the shift, the trend towards a work at home, people working from home and staying in their neighborhoods. And to shift away from people being in more commercial neighborhoods. So, the question for you is what is the City doing about this? What should the City be doing about this? And do you see, you know, this trend is fixed? I, you know, I'm sure over the years we'll see changes up and down, but you know, what do you project as far as this work from home trend goes, you know, in the years ahead?

Mayor: Yeah, Michael, haven't seen the report. Our overall revenue picture for the city is stable right now, when you take all forms of revenue. So, that's the big picture. In terms of your question, I think you're seeing more and more people coming back to their workplaces. A lot of businesses have pegged down November 1st as the day to come back with large numbers of the workforce. A lot of them are going to reduce the amount of remote. So, even if people do some remote, it's going to be a lot less. I think that's going to help address this. I think the long-term trend line here is going to be that you're going to see a rebalancing over the next year or so. Many, many businesses found what we found, that a lot of work has done best in-person. There'll be, you know, some sense of how to handle the amount of remote that makes sense in the future. But it's going to be less, I believe, than what we saw at the height of the pandemic, for sure. So, I think this will be addressed in some ways organically by the changes that you're going to see. And also what are we doing? Getting everyone vaccinated, getting everyone vaccinated, bringing the city back strong, bringing back to life of the city. That's going to also encourage people to want to come in.

Moderator: Next we have Julia from the New York Post.

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor. I actually want to talk about schools at first. Given that that kids went back to school over a month ago, what is the date that you will release full attendance numbers? And related, there was a report out by Advocates For Children that found a quarter of homeless students were absent from schools in the last several weeks. Can you address that as well?

Mayor: Sure. We'll be getting the enrollment data really, I think this is the thing we're most, all of us, interested in. Is where are we overall with enrollment and where are we with our trend lines on attendance each day? We'll get that out by the end of the month, for sure. Which is the typical reality any year, even pre pandemic. On the homeless students, we definitely have more work to do. I think from what I'm hearing that report underestimated attendance and attendance is actually somewhat higher. But still there's more to do unquestionably. We know with the challenges homeless kids have, their attendance is often lower than for you know, our broader population of kids. We got to do extra work in the shelters, direct work with the families to make sure we get kids in. So, definitely work to do, but I think we'll be able to get that number up soon. Go ahead, Julia.

Question: Great. Thanks. I'm sorry, Dr. Chokshi isn't here. So, hopefully you can field this one. 1,000 Department of Health employees, of course workers who've led so much of the City's response to the pandemic, say the agency's return to work policy is unsafe. In an October 1st letter they wrote to the Commissioner, they say, there's no social distancing at their Queens headquarters, not enough soap or hand sanitizer, information about internal cases is not transparent, and there's no evidence or science-based data behind the decision to bring everyone back. Three employees told me how demoralized and anxious they are about the situation. And they wonder how the public can trust the City's health officials when their own work policies are putting them at risk? So, I'm looking for your response?

Mayor: Yeah. Look, any specific issue where we have to address a problem, if there's a need for more soap or something like that, of course we want to get that right. But I am questioning of anything that suggests that our Health Department and our Health Department leadership is doing anything, but looking out for the needs of the people in New York City, I just don't buy. Dr. Chokshi has done an outstanding job. The leadership of the Department of Health have helped to see us through this crisis. They have been focused on how we serve people best. So, with all due respect to the – if any concern here is valid and needs to be addressed, we'll address it. But I want to get to the heart of the matter. We need our employees back, where they can serve people best to fight our way out of this pandemic. It is about public service. It is about serving others. I think Dr. Katz could give us some perspective here. Because it's not his agency, but his agency has been at the frontline of this crisis from the very beginning, everyone in-person, everyone fighting through. He's been incredibly devoted to his workforce. But the big question here is what will serve the people in New York City best? And that work is done when people are working together to give us the very best outcomes for the public. So, Dr. Katz, you want to speak to that?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Yes. Thank you, sir. I think you've covered the key points, which is that we're public servants. We're here to serve others. And that in any setting I know in Health + Hospitals and I'm sure in the Department of Health, when people cannot achieve sufficient social distancing, what they do is they're sure that they're wearing masks. And that's how we function in settings where our focus is taking care of the public, and the needs of the public, and then to protect each other. We wear our masks. So, I understand that in any work population, there are people who feel safer if they can work from home. But as you've said, sir, overwhelmingly the public's work gets done best when we're in the office. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you.

Everybody, look, as we continue to move the city forward, I just want to say, today, the things we're talking about are all signs that we're moving forward, especially the continued progress on vaccination. And later this week we're going to have hopefully another big moment when we're going to get to talk about the boosters coming for J&J and Moderna. So, get ready for that. And then hopefully very soon thereafter the opportunity to vaccinate our youngest New Yorkers. So, vaccination is helping us move forward and some big news is on the horizon. Let's keep moving forward, everyone. Thank you.

2021-10-20 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Let's talk about why this city is coming back, why we are making progress against COVID. The battle is far from over, but we're making real progress. You can feel the life of the city coming back. Why? Because of vaccination. Vaccination has been the difference-maker and we’ve got to go farther and farther until we defeat COVID once and for all. My job – my job as your mayor is to keep this city safe, keep this city healthy, and vaccination is the way. We've proven it time and time again, it works. We have to keep going farther, because COVID’s not gone yet. We're not back to normal. Not everyone is safe. We need to make this whole city safe. We need to save lives and we do it with vaccinations. My goal is to end the COVID era once and for all. It can be done, but only if we keep pressing on.

Now, we've asked our public employees previously to help lead the way. And they've done such amazing work during this crisis. I want to express tremendous appreciation to everyone who works for the City of New York, everything they've done in the last year-and-a-half. We also said, we need you do lead the way on vaccination. We said it to our health care workers. We said it to the employees of our schools. And they did it – they did it overwhelmingly – 95 percent, 96 percent getting vaccinated, serving the people of this city, protecting them, serving our kids. It worked – our kids are in school, full strength, safe. It worked – our restaurants, indoor entertainment, open, thriving, jobs coming back, people safe. It worked – Broadway's back, so much of the life of the city's back, because of vaccination. So, we have set the bar high with a series of mandates. A lot of people said, oh, they're not going to work, people aren't going to do it, it's not going to work the way you planned it. Guess what? It did work. It did work. We built it and people came. People got vaccinated. People did the right thing. And now, the city is turning the corner as a result. But we're not done yet, so we have to go farther. We've seen success. As we climb the ladder, we saw more and more success. So, it's time to climb the ladder again. It's time for us to keep that success going. Climb the ladder, do more.

Today, our Health Commissioner, issuing an order, requiring all City workers to be vaccinated. This will apply to all the agencies that are not covered yet. And we want to move quickly. Obviously, we've given people a lot of time – first, in the voluntary phase, then in the vaccinate or test phase. It's time to keep moving. So, for the vast majority of the workforce not yet vaccinated, the deadline is 5:00 PM on Friday, October 29th. There is a small group of uniformed Correction officers who will have a different deadline. And, in that case, it will be for December 1st. And that's because of particular issues we're facing on Rikers island. But every single City employee not yet vaccinated will be held to the same standard, ultimately. If you're a City worker, you need to be vaccinated. We are here to keep you safe so you can keep everyone else safe. We need you to keep everyone around you in the workplace safe. We need you to make sure that people who you encounter, the people of this city, the residents of the city are safe. Everyone needs to be vaccinated. And let's be clear, our public employees, our public servants have really felt the impact of COVID horribly. Our first responders were out there for us and yet they've suffered losses. Nationwide, among law enforcement officers, horrible, tragic reality – 460 law enforcement officers have been lost to COVID nationwide, the single biggest killer of those who protect us. We've got to fight that killer. We've got to fight COVID with everything we've got.

So, I want to emphasize, over recent weeks, of course, we've had many, many conversations with labor leaders, representing the City workforce. We've heard a lot of opinions, a lot of concerns. We've taken that into account in making this decision. But the key has always been the safety and the health of our workers and our people. As we did with previous mandates, we will start impact bargaining immediately with all affected unions. And we saw that, that led us to very good outcomes previously with plans that our workers understood and could make sense of. And I think they were fair. We said, we're not firing people on the spot. We're saying in the plans that we came up with other unions – we said, please get vaccinated by the deadline. If you do, you continue on your work. If you don't, you're on leave without pay. We want you to correct – we want you to come back. We want you to get vaccinated. 3,500 schools employees who did miss the original deadline, went and got vaccinated in the last couple of weeks and have now come back. We want that. We want people to make the deadline. But, anyone who hesitates, come back.

So, we've created incentives for everyone in the city – the hundred-dollar incentive – but we're now going to offer a particular incentive for the City employees who are not yet vaccinated – an additional $500 incentive. This is out of respect for the people who've done so much for us. We think this is a smart, additional action to encourage people. Here's the bottom line – the vaccination sites, of course, will be available, as always. It will be easy to get vaccinated right up until the afternoon, October 29th. Get that card and you're good to go. If not, as we saw with health care with education, you get letter that says on November 1st, you're going to go on without pay. We don't want that for anyone. We just wanted to get people vaccinated, get them working, doing all that they do so well for this city.

I would urge everyone out there in the private sector – come on, government's been leading the way. The Biden administration, to their great credit, leading the way. The City of New York, leading the way. We're showing it works. Vaccine mandates work. Folks in the private sector, every time you put a vaccine mandate into effect it helps all of us. We've given a great example that it can work, that it's the right thing to do. Please join us. It will help us end the COVID era.

And now, I want you to hear from the man who will be issuing this order and has been done – has done so much for the city to help us end the COVID era. Our Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Our world has changed so much over the last 20 months. We've seen immense suffering, much of it now preventable with vaccination. That suffering will be forever seared in our memories, but it has also strengthened our resolve to end this pandemic. And that is also possible with vaccination. We, New Yorkers, have made remarkable progress in getting vaccinated and I thank each and every one of the over 6 million New Yorkers who've shown up for our city. We have also shown that vaccine requirements work, particularly when they're joined with efforts to build vaccine confidence, lower access barriers, and provide incentives. Because of those mandates and other efforts, our schools and hospitals, and our restaurants and recreation are all safer. I am grateful to Mayor de Blasio for his leadership and conviction as we continue to climb the ladder.

And today marks another historic milestone. I am issuing a Commissioner's Order, mandating vaccination for City workers. Allow me to pay homage for a moment for all my fellow public servants have done to keep our city safe and running – firefighters, Sanitation workers, police, officers, and inspectors. This is a necessary step to further ensure their safety and to help protect those whom we serve. As the Mayor said, City workers will have to submit proof of vaccination by 5:00 PM on Friday, October 29th. You can provide proof of full vaccination or your first dose. Once you've submitted proof of your first dose, if you've received Moderna or Pfizer, you'll have to provide proof of a second dose within 45 days.

To be [inaudible] 71 percent of City workers who fall under this mandate and are already vaccinated, you have my heartfelt appreciation. For those who have yet to get vaccinated, know that we are here to answer your questions and support you in making this important decision. Vaccination is restoring our most essential functions – school, work, care – by safeguarding individuals and communities. Today, we take another hopeful step forward. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Chokshi. And now, everyone, I want you to hear from someone, one of the preeminent national leaders in the effort to get Americans vaccinated. And what an amazing effort it has been. Thank you to the Biden Administration, to President Biden, and everyone on his team. I checked this morning, I believe the number is 189 million Americans have been vaccinated. That's what's going to save this nation. And one of the leaders who has put together this absolutely awesome effort, we're so appreciative. The Vaccinations Coordinator for the White House, Dr. Bechara Choucair.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, doctor. And, doctor, I really want to thank you personally for your extraordinary leadership. The amazing surge of vaccinations, you're one of the people who made it happen. And thank you, it's changing everyone's lives for the better, saving tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands of lives. But I also want to accent the point you made that we saw this with our schools. When parents knew that all the adults in the schools were going to be vaccinated, I heard lots and lots of feedback from parents, it made them feel safe and secure. It made them comfortable sending their kids back to school. So, we need to recognize, it's not only the right thing to do from a health and safety point of view. It's the right thing to do if we want to bring our whole society back. When people know it's a safe environment – yup, they'll go back to work, they’ll go back to shopping. Everything will come back when we have that safety. Thank you for making such a profound contribution to this effort.

Everyone, I want you to hear from another expert who's built the policies to provide health care, but also done health care at the front line. She led a number of key policy initiatives in the Obama White House. She's a fellow at the Brookings Institution, working on the issues related to the response to COVID, but also a primary care physician in Washington D.C. So, covering a lot of range there. It's my pleasure to use Dr. Kavita Patel.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, doctor. I appreciate really the passion and the sharp clarity of your message to everyone. And thank you for all you do. And, I’ve got to tell you, just like – I felt a real pain when you said you have to talk to kids who don't have a parent anymore. And I feel a real respect for the work you do and that's a very, very tough moment, I'm sure. But it's also a reminder, you should never have to do that. And the answer is vaccination. Just, thank you. Thank you for everything you've shared with us today.

Everyone, I want you to hear now from one of the leading voices in this city on the whole idea of fighting back COVID aggressively using mandates, using our all tools from the very beginning of this crisis. The Chair of the Health Committee of the City Council has stood up and believed New York City could do exceptional things to fight this exceptional crisis. He's been a strong and consistent voice. My pleasure to introduce Council Member Mark Levine.

[…]

Thank you so much, Council Member. Thank you for working with us every step of the way and helping to make all this happen. 

Okay, everyone, every day we go to indicators, and we start with the best one, which is the doses administered today. So, literally as we're having these press conferences every day, more and more people are getting vaccinated. As of today, 11,872,679 doses given, amazing, amazing number. And I know that this mandate will mean even more. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 128 patients, confirmed 15.22 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 people, 0.70. And number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report, 958 cases. A few words in Spanish, of course, about the vaccine mandate for our public employees.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi and by Dr. Mitch Katz. First question today goes to Dave Evans from WABC. 

Question: Mayor, can you hear me – 

Mayor: Yeah, Dave, how you doing today? 

Question: Fine. Hey, I just wanted to check just a clerical question for just a second. I've seen somewhere, the figure of 160,000 City employees are going to be covered by this mandate, fire police, sanitation, and eventually in December, Corrections folks. So, who are the folks – because I think we have around 300,000, 310,000 City employees – so who does this not pertain to? 

Mayor: It's across the board between what we've done previously and what we're doing now. The total I have, Dave, is 160,500 workers covered by it. But in terms of unvaccinated among them, it's about 46,000. So, this is all City agencies, including in the first round, folks who work for Corrections. There's a separate group that'll go a month later. But this is, literally, all City agencies are affected by this Commissioner order. Go ahead, Dave. 

Question: Okay. My other question gets down to the nitty gritty a little bit. What if fire and police officers are not like teachers and health care workers and we still have, I think it's around 30 percent or so of firefighters and police officers, are not vaccinated. What if they refuse? And we find ourselves in the middle of November, late November let's say, and we're dealing with thousands and thousands of, basically, vacancies in those two essential departments? 

Mayor: All right. First of all, I want to say these are folks who serve with extraordinary distinction. They're members of organizations with very proud traditions of protecting people. They came here to do that work. And I think in the end that tradition, that commitment – there are very strong chains of command that people pay attention to and respect – I think it's really important to remember that that's going to be a big part of this. Second, we've seen other examples where these mandates went into effect, and they were honored. The City of San Francisco is one of the bigger examples. They put a mandate into effect. They're now at 96 percent of all their employees, high numbers, very high numbers with their fire and police departments. What I think is obvious, after a lot of conversation with the leadership of all of our uniformed agencies, is people are there to do a job and they believe in the work. Also, they're there for a paycheck, of course. It's a noble profession, but people want to get paid, and they want to accrue time towards that very, very important pension that they get later on, and folks are not going to give that up by and large. So, our message is simple – get vaccinated, keep with us, keep us moving forward. Anyone who isn't, will go off payroll onto unpaid leave. We, obviously, have contingencies in place for any gaps that we experience, but our uniformed agency leadership feel very strongly that they will be able to handle any scenario. 

Moderator: The next is Gloria from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, this is a very interesting announcement and I hear that you want workers back to work and the city to open up, but you're still not letting us come in there and talk to you in person, which is really troubling. This exception for Correction officers, why are they getting the longer timeline, especially given the nature of their job. They get to go out and be in contact with the world, unlike the people who are inside Rikers Island. And the rate of COVID is increasing at the City's jail. So, why do they get more time? You know, you just had a COVID death just a couple of days ago. 

Mayor: Yeah. And Gloria, I want to say and that's very – it's extremely sad when we lose anyone. We really, really try with everyone in Corrections, whether they are an employee or an inmate, to convince them to get vaccinated, to convince them, if, God forbid, they contract COVID, to receive treatment. But there are people who refuse vaccination, refuse treatment. This is a bigger challenge we face. But to your core question, we have a particular situation at Rikers. So, what we said is, okay, if you work in the health care elements at Rikers or in the hospitals related to Corrections, we need you vaccinated right away. If you're a civilian employee, we need you vaccinated right away. We're giving a few more weeks for the uniforms because we're in the process right now of bringing back a number of uniformed officers who weren't present and we're in the process of intensely lowering the population. So, we need to finish that out. We can do that by December 1st. But the overall reality of addressing COVID in Rikers, I think has been clear. And I want to turn to Dr. Katz because he and his team lead this effort, they've taken tremendous precautions to protect people. As, particularly, the population has been going down, they can do that even better. So, I think ensuring that we have enough personnel is the key to all of it, including the key to making sure people get prompt medical treatment. So, we got a couple of different challenges at once, but with that few weeks, we think it will make a big difference to get us where we need to go. Dr. Katz, do you want to add? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes, thank you, sir. Thank you for this announcement and for ensuring that our inmates in our health care areas will right away have Correction officers who are fully vaccinated. Staffing of Corrections is key to good health for the inmates. We need for there to be a sufficient number of Correction officers to bring patients who – inmates who are ill to our clinics. And so, I fully support the idea that in the next month, making sure we have a full workforce is key to the health of all of our inmates. And again, I think by requiring that the Correction officers in the health areas are fully vaccinated right away, we've handled the most critical portion. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Gloria. 

Question: Okay. Well, I can assure you, the press corps is definitely vaccinated. I want to ask you about the women transfers from Rikers Island. There's a petition that is going around, it has been signed by 70 women and transgender detainees, asking for the transfer not to happen. It's my understanding this transfer is going to free up about 400 Correction officers from Rosie's to work at other facilities. So, is that really what's behind the transfer because this is a facility that wasn't really seeing many issues as part of the overall crisis. And it's being seen as you just shuffling people around to get a handle on the officer situation. Now, these people may potentially be away from their families and their lawyers in order to help you get a hold of the staffing crisis there. 

Mayor: Gloria, look, we absolutely want to make sure that all these individuals have the best possible situation. The State facility the Governor made available is a quality facility where we can actually provide more support than what we could do in the space we have at Rikers. And we're going to absolutely accommodate families, lawyers, everyone. And we have a bigger mission that we have to achieve. And we've been working closely with the State on this, reduce population, bringing more of the officers back, find ways to have other functions handled by other people so the officers are freed up. We're doing all these things simultaneously to improve health, safety, the overall environment, as we make bigger changes. So, I think this is a fair and smart way to do this. I'm going to be very, very respectful of these individuals and their families. But it's also temporary while we solve an immediate reality.

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX 11

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor and to everyone on the call.

Mayor: Good morning, James. How are you today?

Question: I appreciate your asking very well. I hope you're well as well.

Mayor: Thank you indeed.

Question: On behalf of my colleague, Henry Rosoff, another question to Correction officers. I mean, you described their situation relative to the vaccine mandate as being a situation. And that the situation in which they are, is a problem right now. But can't it also be said that crime fighting can be a problem or fighting fires can be a problem? Why should their situation be different from say firefighters or police? And what legal issues do you anticipate related to this mandate?

Mayor: I don't anticipate legal issues. I've had this conversation with our Corporation Counsel, Georgia Pestana many times. We have seen uniformly courts agree and support vaccine mandates by governments, certainly by this government, state courts, federal courts, multiple reviews. Every time, came back the same way. The mandates were an appropriate way to protect employees and the people they serve. In terms of Correction, for months now, we've been dealing with a very particular issue. Everyone knows it. But they still are under a vaccine mandate. They have to get vaccinated. We're staggering it a little bit to achieve a very particular goal in a very particular setting. There's no place quite the same conditions, obviously as a jail system. But I believe the larger truth that we talked about earlier is true, James. We have given all of our public servants ample time. First, the voluntary approach, then the vaccine or test approach. The numbers are still not high enough. It's time for a mandate. We're offering another incentive. We're offering time for people to go and get the vaccine. And then everyone can move forward. I think a lot of people are going to take us up on it. And for those who don't, I think some of them will come back pretty quickly. And we will be able to handle these scenarios. We prepared for them. It's time for this now. It is just time.

Moderator: The next is Michael Gartland from the Daily News.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: Good, Michael. How you been?

Question: I'm doing all right. So, I want to go back to something you said before during this press conference. You said that, you know, this incentive, this $500 incentive will be offered out of respect for people who have done so much for the city. I want to ask you, you know, this incentive wasn't offered to school workers. So, how is it fair to award it to cops, firefighters, and other employees when you didn’t offer it to school workers? I mean, shouldn’t they have received the same respect? Can you explain the logic applied here?

Mayor: Michael, over time, we've tried different approaches to figure out what will work. It's really about what works and what keeps people safe, what keeps the whole city safe. Once upon a time we had no incentives, then we added a variety of different incentives. Then we added a $100 incentive. In this particular instance, we think the $500 incentive will help get something done for everyone. So, that's really, that's the whole idea, is what's going to get the job done?

Moderator: The next is Amanda from Politico.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Amanda. How you doing today?

Question: I'm doing well. Thank you. So, I wanted to get your feedback on the Department of Health letter that was sent to Dr. Chokshi, I believe on October 1st. I spoke to two Health Department workers yesterday, and they expressed frustration with your response to that letter. They had said that we're reminding you that they're also the people of New York City and they don't feel like you and the Commissioner are looking out for them. And they specifically wanted to ask why the City wasn't releasing information around safety at certain work sites within the Health Department? How many outbreaks there have been? How many people had COVID? And so, they wanted to specifically why data was not being released rather than the focus on making sure [inaudible]? I wanted you to comment on that?

Mayor: Let me start. And then I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. He can speak for himself. First of all, I'm just going to stand up for Dr. Chokshi. Because I think he's an extraordinary public servant, who has given his heart and soul to helping others. And has been one of the great leaders here and around the country in fighting COVID. I think – I haven't read the letter. I want to be honest about it. I've only gotten a summary. But I think it is disrespectful of his efforts, for employees in his agency to suggest that he would think about anything but everyone's health and wellbeing, including his own employees. The second, I think folks who swore an oath to serve the public should be thinking about the public. So, many of our City employees have been at the frontline. Were – and we're talking here about folks who came back to the office, many of whom were working remote. Well, again, I respect everyone's contribution. But we needed people to come back and do the best work possible. There were hundreds of thousands of folks who were at the frontline the whole time. So, I think there should be more respect shown to the City workers who serve through the toughest of this situation. And folks who have had the opportunity to work remotely, they should be, in my opinion, a little more respectful. If there's a specific issue, I heard, and I don't disrespect this. If they said there was a lack of soap or something needed to be handled differently, in social distancing or anything, I think you would go to Dr. Chokshi and his team and say, Hey, let's fix this together. And they would, of course. But it's the Health Department. They should have the ability to follow the rules, we've set out for everyone, rather than putting out a public letter, fix the problem. So, I just want to say logic says to me that Dr. Chokshi and his team would have been very responsive to any concerns. And I think that would have been the better way to handle this. Dr. Chokshi over to you.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you very much, sir. I'll just add that, of course I care deeply about the health and safety of my own staff, of my team. And everything that we've done to serve New Yorkers over the course of the pandemic is in service of that for the entire city. But also, for what we're doing here at the Health Department. With respect to the letter itself, Amanda, as you may know, I and my team responded to that letter. There were some specific points that were raised that did need to be addressed. And we have followed up on that. But I’ll also just take the opportunity to say that the vast majority of the Health Department, including people who have been working throughout the entire pandemic, are extraordinarily dedicated public servants, who we continue to prioritize with respect to their health and safety. So, if there are other steps that need to be taken along the way, certainly I'm receptive to that and we're committed to dealing with them in a transparent way.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Amanda.

Question: Thank you. And then my second question is there's been a couple of viral videos on Twitter recently of officers responding to people asking them to wear masks, particularly the ones I've seen have been on the subway. And so, with the NYPD’s vaccination rate of around 70 percent, how do you, I guess, address the issues around – and again, this is coming from the videos of New Yorkers feeling like the police are not following mask mandates, are not getting vaccinated? And then, you know, the PBA statement today around your announcement. So, I'm curious, kind of like, how do you weigh these two things and try to focus on gaining trust of the public, especially with the police and how they handled the pandemic so far? 

Mayor: Well, thank you, Amanda. I look – I think when everyone's vaccinated, it's going to make everything easier for everyone. First of all, I just think we saw this in the schools. We saw this in the hospitals, when everyone's vaccinated it creates a sense of equality, fairness, safety, that just benefits everyone, benefits the whole atmosphere. We've all been through a lot the last year and a half. We need to sort of start the process of healing. I think everyone being vaccinated actually is part of that. So, I feel good about that. 

On the video, I saw one of the videos of a couple of officers removing someone from the subway. I was troubled by that video. I didn't like what I saw one bit. I did not see everything, except for the clip at the time when the person's being removed, but I saw the officers not wearing their masks in the subway. That's evident, that's unacceptable. We've given this instruction a thousand times and if you're going to be in law enforcement, you actually have to participate in following the law. So, I would say, we know in this case, the video, most recent video, there's an investigation underway. I expect that there will be discipline in that case because it's obvious that they were not wearing their masks. The Commissioner said many times, publicly, given the instructions, it's up to supervisors to step up now. Just tell people – if you're in the subway, we're telling everyone in the subway, you got to wear a mask. That includes police officers, period. 

Moderator: The next is Katie Honan from The City. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio – 

Mayor: Good morning, Katie. 

Question: [Inaudible] from just down the hall. But you know, can't get everything you want, I guess. My question is a follow-up. I've heard from a bunch of city employees this morning who are very upset, I guess, you know, they say, we've been vaccinated for months, I've been sharing office space now with unvaccinated colleagues, and now they're going to get a monetary incentive. I understand the psychological reason and that's the sort of effectiveness of an incentive, a financial incentive like this, but do you understand, I guess, and I mean, what is your message to city employees who already to them did the right thing, had been – they say endangering themselves by going into office with unvaccinated colleagues and now they're not going to get $500 like some of their colleagues will? 

Mayor: Yeah, Katie, you sometimes ask me do I understand how people feel? I absolutely understand how people feel. I'm someone who, you know, I didn't get an incentive and I totally appreciate that - you look at someone else got an incentive, you're like, hey, I wish I got that incentive. I get it. But I'm coming from a very practical place. I'm trying to get us to a goal. And I think this is a smart incentive to help get us there. In the end, look, we know we're dealing with a backdrop where there's been a huge amount of misinformation, unlike anything we've ever seen in history. People used to get vaccinated all the time, appropriately, were made safe by those vaccinations, those vaccinations wiped out major diseases that plagued our society. Only in this instance has there been the kind of massive misinformation and cynical effort to create misinformation, that unfortunately has affected a lot of people. Against that backdrop, we have to use different tools in different ways. Right now, this mandate, it's time. The extra incentive I think just helps us get where we need to go. Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Thanks, and I'm not sure if this was asked before, but do we have a financial, like an estimate, of how much money the city intends to pay? I guess we can do the math easily. We could see how many employees are not vaccinated and then times that by 500. I'm sure you've got people who are better at math than me on this. 

Mayor: It's the maximum number, as I understand, it would be 46,000 employees. $500 incentive per person. Our goal is to get all 46,000. Obviously, we may not get all of them, but we're going to do our best to get everyone encouraged to do that. I am handed the note where the excellent math was done, $23 million is the maximum it could be, and again, that's real money, but against the backdrop of you know massive multi-billion-dollar effort to fight COVID over these last years, I think it's a good investment. 

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. The next is Jeff Mays from the New York Times. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. My question is about the mandate. I'm wondering –you just mentioned how difficult it's been to get police officers to do something as simple as wear masks in the subway. I'm wondering, you know, how much difficult it might be to get them to get a vaccine. You've talked about the contingency plans that they are in place, but you have not discussed what those contingency plans are. Can you give a little detail about what exactly you're going to do if thousands of police officers and sanitation workers do not show up for work because they choose to remain unvaccinated?

Mayor: Sure, Jeff, look, first of all, we have a lot of evidence here of how people respond. We had many, many people had real valid concerns about schools, about hospitals for a period of days, in each case, there was tremendous concern, whether it be, you know, thousands upon thousands of people not showing up. And in both cases, we saw overwhelming compliance. Now you can say, well, this is a different workforce. Yeah, but in the end, people go to work out of a combination of believing in what they're doing and also wanting to get paid. It's not like whether you wear a mask on a subway, this is an entirely different reality. Do you want to get paid or not? Well, the vast, vast majority of people in public service need that paycheck. They're not going to go without it. And in the end, we gave people lots of time. There's no question about our strength in court. Everyone sees it. So, I think we're going to see a lot of people, maybe grudgingly, but a lot of people go and just get vaccinated and continue working. In terms of contingencies, we have, and we've been through this in great detail with the different agency leaders, obviously we'll use overtime when we need to use overtime. We'll do redeployments when we need to do redeployments. We have a variety of ways we can adjust the use of the workforce. We feel confident that even if there's some temporary dynamic of some people not being ready right away, that we're going to find our way through it.

Moderator: The last question for today goes to Julia Marsh from The Post. 

Question: Thanks for the honor. I would just second Gloria's request for return to in-person briefings. Mr. Mayor, I wholeheartedly agree with what you said yesterday, and that's some essential jobs are just better performed in-person. Journalism is clearly one of those jobs. 

This morning when you were on television, you mentioned that Eric Adams supports the mandates, but Adam says he would approach them differently. He says he’d partner with labor to make sure they're on board before announcing requirements like the one today and getting dragged into litigation and other disputes. So why not use that more collaborative approach? 

Mayor: Well, Julia, first of all what I said this morning was quoting, I said, very clearly – Eric Adams obviously is going to speak for himself - but I was quoting from what he had said previously. The approach we've taken has been in constant communication with a very wide range of our public employee unions for months. We understood after many, many conversations where the different leaders of the unions were at, what they were thinking, and it was clear that we needed to move forward, whether that was going to be warmly embraced or not, we needed to move forward for the health and wellbeing of our employees and the people they serve. We also believe we are on a very firm legal set ground, and we were, and it’s been proven in court many, many times. So, look Eric is going to do whatever he sees fit going forward. He'll have his own approach, of course, but I assured there was a lot of consultation, a lot of communication, and it became clear that this was the way to actually get something done.

Well, everyone look as we finish today, this is a historic moment for New York City. Again, this city, we were the epicenter of COVID. We have been leading the charge out of the COVID era. We've been fighting back with the strongest mandates, the incentives, the best approaches to lead us out of COVID. But we've also been showing the private sector. We've been showing the whole nation how to get it done and New Yorkers should be proud. You've gone out and gotten vaccinated, you've bought into these approaches, and this is what's going to help us win the war against COVID once and for all. Thank you.

2021-10-21 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. 

Now to our indicators, as always, first and foremost, and one that I feel great about, the doses administered to date 11,890,187 doses. We're getting on the verge to 12 million doses, unbelievable. Number two, daily number – excuse me – daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 110 patients – confirmed positivity level of 13.04 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.70. And then number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 906 cases. A few words in Spanish. I want to go back to the topic of the day, the number one topic facing the world, the climate crisis and how we fight it.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Dr. Ted Long, Dr. Jay Varma, Chief Democracy Officer Laura Wood, Director of the Mayor's Office of Climate and Sustainability Ben Furnas, and Director of the Mayor's Office of Pensions and Investments John Adler. Our first question today goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Mayor, not sure if you watched the mayoral debate live or recorded it and then binged it when you got home, but one moment from the debate that I wanted to point your attention to, when Eric Adams said, while he agrees with the mandate for vaccines for municipal workers, he would have renegotiated with the labor unions so you had more of a buy-in and less of a combative tone as you approach the deadline. So, did you catch that moment in the debate and how do you anticipate dealing with, particularly, the police and fire unions over this next week? 

Mayor: Didn't watch the debate, and we've had lots of conversations with the labor movement over not just weeks, months about these issues. I understand the realities in the unions, the political realities, each labor leader has to make their own choice how to handle things. We've had very open, honest conversations. This was the way to actually get things done and fight COVID and save lives and help the city recover. So, I'm confident we did the right thing and I do appreciate – I have great, great faith in Eric Adams. I appreciate that he is supporting the plan here, the goal, and that's what matters. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: The $500 incentive, if it's a mandate, if it's a deadline, and these folks waited so many months to get the vaccine, why should they be entitled to a reward, which is greater than either the no reward that the first responders who got it early got, or the lesser incentives like a single baseball ticket from months ago? Why should you be rewarding folks who held out this long and not just require them to get the vaccine? 

Mayor: Well, we are requiring them to get vaccine, and we're saying get vaccinated or you go on leave without pay. And I hope no one ends up on leave without pay, but I think that's a pretty clear line in the sand. Look, it's just about what will work to move us forward. We've changed incentives over time. In the beginning, there weren't incentives then we tried different types of incentives. This is just about getting the job done and I really want to focus on how we keep the city safe, how we save lives, how we move forward. I think this helps us do it. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Yes. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call. I actually want to follow up on Andrew's question. Yesterday, 1010 WINS spoke with Oren Barzilay, he's the head of the union for EMTs. And he was saying, let me just get to his question, hold on, give me one – 

Mayor: Tread water for a moment, Juliet. It's cool. 

Question: Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I had to scroll back up. So, in the conversation with him, he claimed that two of his members died after getting vaccinated. He says his membership is 50 percent vaccinated. He believes many of his members have natural immunity because many were already sick. And he says, why should they be forced now to get the vaccine? So, how do you respond to that mindset? 

Mayor: Well, first of all, 189 million Americans have gotten vaccinated. And that's the reason we have a chance to finally put COVID behind us, but we're not done yet. But if you talk about what the vast majority of Americans have seen and concluded, and they've listened to the science, they've listened to their health care leaders, and this is the reason why we're able to move forward. I respect all labor leaders, but I also appreciate when people who are not doctors actually listen to the doctors. And there's been a massive consensus around this country in the health care community and the scientific community about vaccination. So, let's listen to some doctors. Dr. Long and then Dr. Varma, what would you say, just help – let's educate people. If someone says, ‘oh, you know, one, if someone had the disease, therefore they have natural immunity, why should they get vaccinated?’ I know, very strongly, the answer, but I want you to say it to the public. And then two, if in fact, God forbid, someone had gotten vaccinated, got the disease and died, well, that's really a rarity, but if it happened, what does it say about vaccination? So, Dr. Long first then Dr. Varma.

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps.: Sure. Juliet, I appreciate your question. This is something that I talk with my patients about where I practice in the Bronx every week, all the time. What I tell my patients is the bottom line is that 98 percent of the people that have been in the hospital have been unvaccinated compared to only two percent having been vaccinated. And we know from the CDC that if you get vaccinated you now have an 11-fold protection from dying from COVID. And in terms of your risk of potentially dying from anything too many New Yorkers have died of COVID. The vaccine is the answer. 98 percent of the people in the hospitals now [inaudible] we looked at, had been unvaccinated. This is what we need to do to keep our city safe. No question about it. And if everybody does get vaccinated, we can put this dark period behind this once and for all. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah. Thank you very much for the question. This issue about whether prior infection keeps you protected as well as vaccination is one that continues to be hotly debated. So, we absolutely understand why some people would like to say that well, because I already had the virus before I don't need to get vaccinated. Everything we know right now indicates that vaccinations benefit people who haven't been infected and benefit those who have been infected. What we know, based on all of the scientific data that we have right now, is that you can increase the strength and length of your protection against this virus by getting vaccinated. This has now been studied very carefully in a number of different – with a number of different vaccines and a number of different populations. There are certainly some people who retained long-standing protective immunity after prior infection, but the reality is we don't know how to differentiate those people who get that long-term protection and those who don't. And that is why the overwhelming scientific consensus is that regardless of whether you've been infected in the past, the safest thing for you and for your family and colleagues is for you to be vaccinated. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Doctor. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay. Thank you. So, given that only 50 percent of his membership is vaccinated, and people might not want to get vaccinated, or if they do resist, are you concerned about shortages in ambulance calls and responses if it's some of the membership there or EMTs just aren't going vaccinated [inaudible] –

Mayor: Yeah, Juliet, we've looked at this very carefully, worked with the leaders of each of those agencies who are in every case career members of their agencies. Look at Commissioner Shea, Commissioner Nigro, Commissioner Grayson, for example, other agencies as well. We have people who've been at it their entire life, know their members, know the reality. We've also looked at examples around the country. I talked the other day about the experience San Francisco had. We've looked at the experience the private sector has had, United Airlines and others. We've looked at, of course, what we experienced with the Department of Education and with Health + Hospitals. It comes all to the same conclusion. When you say resolutely, we care about you, we care about your health, we care about your family's health, and we care about the health of the people you serve, it's time to get vaccinated. We gave you every opportunity on a voluntary basis. We gave you an opportunity during the vaccinate-or-test period. It's time now. If you don't want to get vaccinated, you'll be put on unpaid leave. Well, the vast majority of human beings go to work to get paid. And, also, I think for a lot of our first responders, there's a calling. They believe in the work, they care about the work. Those two factors I think are going to cause the vast majority to get vaccinated. If there's any number who don't initially – well, again, some of them I think will get vaccinated after the fact and come back like the 3,500 school employees who have gotten vaccinated since the deadline and now come back – but we have contingency plans in place using overtime and using other capacity to make sure we can keep the service going. And that's what we prepared for, and we feel confident in those plans. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Bob Hennelly from the Chief Leader. 

Question: Yes. Thanks for taking the call, Mr. Mayor. Will the impact bargaining you referenced yesterday be the process by which civil liberty protections that are existing law, like religious exemption as well as a medical exemption, because they're on the CDC website. There are rare instances where this [inaudible] for taking the vaccine. Is that the process by which you'll address that impact bargaining? 

Mayor: Yeah. Well, first of all, we've said from the beginning in the Commissioner's orders we respect there are valid religious exemptions and medical exemptions. They are rare, Bob. They are rare in the scheme of things. When we saw, you know – obviously our biggest agency is the Department of Education. We saw very few religious exemptions that were valid and approved. We saw more on the medical, but still rare in the scheme of things. Of course, we want to give people an opportunity to put forward those applications if they want to. But we're starting impact bargaining immediately with all unions affected. We had a very successful effort previously, impact bargaining in the previous mandates. We got to a good plan with the UFT that became the pattern for many other models – many other unions. So, that process starts immediately. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: You referenced yesterday, the tragic national number of police officers that have died from COVID. We know that close to 400 New York City civil servants have died from the virus. We also know there is a growing body of medical research that shows a significant percentage of people that survive a bout with COVID have long term consequences of varying severity. As an employer of conscience, which I assume the City is, are you doing anything to track these long term cases to look at the occupational issues they pose because I've spoken with many union members and they say, what they're concerned about is that this disease is – we're still learning so much about it and it is very much like the 9/11 World Trade Center issue in that the symptoms and diseases could be, we still don't really know. Are you tracking this? 

Mayor: We're absolutely paying attention to this, and I'm going to have Dr. Long talk about the Centers of Excellence that Health + Hospitals has established for long COVID. And Dr. Varma can talk about this as well. We really want to make sure that if any New Yorker, one of our employees or any New Yorker is suffering long term impact that we're getting them help. We are – you're right, everyone's got to understand more about this disease and what it means. We know differently than what we went through in that horrible moment 20 years ago. We obviously know people who have COVID, we knew it from the beginning, and we're now tracking from the beginning and working with people from the beginning. And hopefully that's going to allow us to make sure people get the care they need. So, we care a lot about that issue. Dr. Long, why don't you talk about what Health + Hospitals is doing and then Dr. Varma, anything else about the latest science on how we address long COVID? 

Executive Director Long: Yeah. Bob, I just want to start by saying, I really appreciate your question. Again, thinking about my patients, I've seen my patients suffer through continued difficulty breathing, hair loss, and a lot of mental health consequences from having COVID. That's what long COVID it is. And it is critical that we pay special attention to this, because this is going to be a very, very important part of our recovery from COVID. So, what we're doing through Test and Trace is we have a whole component of our program now called Aftercare, where we've now reached out to hundreds of thousands of prior cases, because we have all of their information in Test and Trace to see if they're still having symptoms. And if they are, we're connecting them, even by a phone call, to whatever services they need, including things like NYC Well which we've talked about before, or our new COVID Centers of Excellence. Which are new primary care oriented centers that have all of the care that we need to be able to deliver to people as part of their long COVID recovery. We screen you for all of the evidence-based symptoms, and then we could even do things like evaluate your breathing through pulmonary function tests, or your heart through an echocardiogram right then and there in that same clinic. So, we're taking this very seriously. And in New York City, we're doing something that others have not been able to do, which is actually proactively reach out to all of our former cases, to see if they're suffering from long COVID so that we can help. And I'm really proud that we're doing that.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Varma?

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. The only thing I would probably add to what Ted had to say, this is just more about the science issues, is emphasizing that we know that vaccination does not 100 percent protect you against getting reinfected. It is incredibly effective, of course, in severe illness, preventing hospitalizations and deaths. But one other benefit of vaccination that we're starting to learn is that if you are vaccinated and get a breakthrough infection, you appear to be much less likely to get these severe long COVID symptoms that we know many people are suffering from. So, there's many reasons to get vaccinated. But in particular, if you're concerned about the potential long-term effects of this virus, getting vaccinated is yet another reason why it's important.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Steve Burns from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you today?

Mayor: Good, Steve. How you doing?

Question: Doing all right. I wanted to bring up a different topic here first and talk about restaurants. I understand yesterday the administration made a ruling on propane heaters for outdoor dining and said they will not be able to be used. Also saw the news about the grants available for natural gas or electric power heaters. But we've heard from a lot of restaurants that say, those just don't provide the same heating power without propane heaters. It could be a very difficult winter for them given that, you know, we didn't see too many high profile issues with them last winter. Why was this decision made to disallow propane heaters?

Mayor: Yeah, Steve. Fair question. Look, I really listened to the Fire Department. They're the experts on health and safety when it comes to propane, they believed even though we did, you're right, we had a good experience last winter. That was also in the context where everything was on an emergency footing. And we were trying to find our way through the worst of the crisis still. Now that we're talking about a long-term approach – outdoor dining has been an amazing success. I want it to be part of the future New York City for years to come, but we now have to make sure it is sustainable. It is safe. It's done the right way. Fire Department feels strongly, and I agree with them, propane needs to be phased out. So, we're giving the restaurants the next month to do that. We are giving financial support. They know that the investment they make for a new solution is going to be a permanent investment because we've said that it will be permanent outdoor dining. So, it's an investment they can rely on. So, it's about safety and it's about sustainability.

Everyone, as we conclude today, just finishing where we started. We've all been fighting this battle against COVID the last year and a half. Thank you to all New Yorkers who have been vaccinated and everyone who will get vaccinated. We're turning the corner. It's not over, but we're turning the corner. Thank you, everybody.

2021-10-25 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

When we think about health and safety together, our kids have been through a lot. They've been through a lot in COVID. That's why we hired 500 more social workers for our schools. That's why we're doing social-emotional screening for all our kids. These pieces all interrelate, obviously. But the key is that we continue to make changes and refinements to address what's going on in schools. And the key is to always give kids and their parents, of course, the knowledge you're going to have a safe and positive environment.

Okay. Now, let's talk about the thing we focus on all the time, the thing that's bringing us back, which is vaccinations. New York City – I'm so proud of all New Yorkers. We have been leading the nation. The number of people gotten vaccinated, the approaches we put into effect, and the way people have embraced them – it's been absolutely outstanding. It's why you can see the life of the city coming back more and more all the time. Right now, almost 12 million doses administered, which is literally almost impossible to imagine. 12 million separate times a New Yorker put out their arm and one of the great members or a vaccination team was there to help them.

So, I’m going to keep reminding anyone who hasn't gotten that first dose – and that's fewer and fewer people now – we’re well over 6 million New Yorkers who have gotten the first dose, at least. But there's still people out there who need it. Obviously, we're looking really looking forward to the next month with our youngest kids getting vaccinated. But there’s still adults who need that vaccination. We're going to be there for you, making it easier, making it free, obviously, always convenient. But now, let's talk about boosters. Job-one is always get folks who have not even had a single dose – that's always going to be our first strategic imperative. But the boosters are really important. And, obviously, on Thursday night, we got what we we're waiting for – the formal approval from the CDC. And, starting Friday morning, the City was ready and already administering boosters in our City-run sites. So far, since the booster effort began with the previous announcements that we received from the CDC, there have been almost 227,000 booster doses given in New York City. So, people have embraced this. And what they found is it's very easy to get that booster. It's easy to schedule an appointment. There's always a lot of places you can walk in as well. If you want to find sites, go to vaccine finder.nyc.gov.

So, here's my message to all New Yorkers – get that booster. It's good for you. It keeps you safe, keeps your family safe. It's ready. It's here. It's now. Go get it. Now, let's hear from our doctor, who's going to tell us the latest – Dr. Dave Choksi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Throughout the pandemic, we've been here to give New Yorkers the latest scientific developments regarding COVID-19 so that we can work together as a city to fight the coronavirus. Last week's vaccine news means that even more of the most at-risk New Yorkers can get an added layer of protection. But figuring out if you're eligible for a booster dose and which one to get, it can be a little confusing. So, let me try to break it down for New Yorkers.

First, the science continues to show that all three of the authorized COVID-19 vaccines are safe and highly effective at saving lives and preventing suffering. That's why getting more New Yorkers fully vaccinated remains our top priority. Second, booster doses are now available across all three vaccine types – Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson. And mixing and matching of vaccines is permitted. Third, anyone who received the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine at least two months ago, like the Mayor and I did, should get a booster shot. It can be any of the three vaccine types. And while the science is not settled about which booster is best, some evidence suggests that a Moderna or Pfizer booster could produce higher antibody levels than a second dose of J&J. Fourth, you are also eligible for a booster if you received Moderna or Pfizer at least six months ago and are in one of these categories – if you're a senior that's 65 years and older; if you're an adult with underlying medical conditions, for example, diabetes; or, an adult at higher risk of COVID-19 exposure, like a health care worker, a first responder, or a nursing home resident. If you received two shots of the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, the science that we have suggests getting the same vaccine for your booster. But you have the choice to switch to any of the other vaccine types.

Finally, if you're not sure which booster is right for you, you can consult with your doctor, clinical staff at one of the cities hundreds of vaccination sites, or visit us at nyc.gov/covidvaccine to learn more. And remember, while boosters are good news for individuals and for our city, first doses remain even more important than third doses. If you know someone who remains unvaccinated, please reach out to them, share your story, and encourage them to join the over 6 million New Yorkers who are moving our city forward. Thank you so much, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Chokshi. Thank you to you and all your colleagues for getting us ready. And everyone, look, Dr. Chokshi is making it really clear to everyone. New Yorkers, if you’re eligible, go out and get that booster. And you can mix and match. So, I'm an example – like, Dave, I got Johnson & Johnson. And now, I will lead by example. It's time for a booster. And the advice I've received is, in this case, as a Johnson & Johnson recipient, the best alternative for the booster is Moderna. That's based on the latest research. I’m pulling the sleeve up as Dave has told me to – very, very high. I’m going to hold it up, Dave. Give me a boost, Dave.

[Laughter]

Commissioner Chokshi: You know the drill. We have some practice with this.

Mayor: We have done this very successfully before. I’m putting my shoulder where my mouth is – wait a minute, that doesn't make sense. I'm always trying to come up with something unscripted here.

Commissioner Chokshi: Well, this does give me a chance to say that everyone can also get the vaccine in the comfort of their own home.

Mayor: That’s right.

Commissioner Chokshi: Nyc.gov/homevaccine.

Mayor: That is a damn good point – amazing, amazing service this city provides.

Commissioner Chokshi: Alright, sir – 3, 2, 1 –

[Commissioner Chokshi administers Moderna booster]

Mayor: At some point, Dave will administer the Moderna booster. I know it's live TV and, you know, these precious seconds are passing by. Dave, when are we going to do this?

Commissioner Chokshi: We are all done, sir.

Mayor: What? I'm shocked.

[Laughter]

Commissioner Chokshi: I’ll just give you your band-aid.

Mayor: Well done. This guy really, really – very subtle shot-giver. Thank you, Dave. You are a man of many, many skills.

Commissioner Chokshi: You got it, sir.

Mayor: Well done. All right. Now, watch you to hear from a great expert – really one of the most powerful voices during this whole, almost, two years we've been through together. She's spoken about how we have to address COVID and also address it in a way that reaches everyone in this city, in this nation. Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at New York University's Grossman School of Medicine and a member of the Biden-Harris Transition Team with the COVID advisory board. She's been a leader on this issue throughout. My pleasure to introduce Dr. Celine Gounder.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, doctor. And thank you for giving us a real reminder that if we do the right thing, there's something better ahead. And this year is going a lot better than last year. So, thank you for your leadership and thank you for reminding people how important it is to get that extra protection against COVID, very much appreciate it.

All right. It's time for our indicators. And our indicators, again, begin with a striking number – number of doses administered to-date. We're getting damn close to 12 million. Right now, 11,952,306 doses from the beginning. Again, by far, overwhelmingly, the largest vaccination effort in the history of New York City. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 86 patients. Confirmed positively level of 23.33 percent. Hospitalization rate, everyone knows this is what we watch particularly carefully. This is a good number now – 0.51 per 100,000. Finally, new reported case on a seven-day average – today's report is 743 cases. So, we're making real progress, but we never, ever take our eye off the ball when it comes to COVID. We’ve got to keep making progress.

A few words in Spanish about the booster shots –

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison, by Chancellor Meisha Porter – 

Mayor: Department – what have you just done?

Moderator: Chief of Department [inaudible] –

Mayor: That’s his previous role – 

Moderator: Monday morning. Chief of Department Rodney Harrison, Chancellor Meisha Porter, Dr. Mitchell Katz, and by Acting Commissioner of New York City Emergency Management Andy D'Amora. First question today, it goes to Jillian from NY1. 

Question: Hi, Mayor. Happy Monday. I know that there was some concern about staffing levels for school safety agents due to the vaccine mandate. I was wondering if you had an update on the percentage of school safety agents who have since been vaccinated and whether or not you're concerned that there might be some staffing issues at play here, or, you know, what you – if you've got people working longer shifts. I know that sometimes scanning can slow down the entry to a building resulting in long lines. So, just kind of trying to get a sense of whether or not you have enough staff at school safety right now to accommodate this increase. 

Mayor: Yeah. I do feel confident right now and I'll speak to it – and obviously if the Chief or Chancellor want to add. Right now, very important question you're asking Jillian, and the news is good – 92 percent of school safety agents have been vaccinated. So, that's a really outstanding number. That number puts us at a point where obviously we have the ability, if we need to move some folks around or do some overtime, we can compensate for any needs. But the other thing is adding the random scanning in certain places, adding the presence of NYPD at arrival and dismissal outside the building. All of this allows us to make a lot of impact. And again, I want to add the thanks to Chief Harrison. He's been very, very responsive to the DOE and really been thoughtful about these deployments of the officers outside to help support the efforts inside. I think it's having a big impact. So, the overall situation, I think we feel good about the people we have and where we're putting them. Chief or Chancellor, do you want to add? 

Chief Harrison: Yeah, Mr. Mayor, you know, we have 3,200 agents at the 1,400 sites throughout the city. We've identified multiple locations where we do scanning. Once again, that's very fluid, but at the same time important in order for us to seize some of these weapons that are unfortunately, or potentially I should say, getting into some of our schools. So, I'm content where we stand with our school safety agents right now. Mr. Mayor, you stated this early in the press conference, we do have a backup of our YCOs, our youth coordination officers, and our neighborhood coordination officers backfilling some of the schools where we don't have the maximum amount of coverage of school safety agents. So, I'm optimistic that we're doing all we can do to protect the students traveling back and forth to school. 

Mayor: Thank you. Chancellor, do you want to add anything? 

Chancellor Porter: I really, briefly again, you know, I think one of the great things is that our school safety agents knew how important they were, and they are to our school communities. And so, I'm really proud of that 92 percent vax rate, and just want to continue to thank the NYPD for their continued partnership, to add those additional supports to our schools. 

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Steve Burns from WCBS880. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Steve, how are you doing? 

Question: Doing all right. I wanted to continue on the same topic here regarding schools. We've heard from a lot of advocates who are looking for less of a police presence in schools, and that metal detectors specifically somewhat play a role of antagonizing students, demeaning students. Are you at all worried that these – that more screenings could possibly exacerbate tensions between youth and the police at a really sensitive time like this? 

Mayor: That's a fair question, Steve. I would say this, we know – and we've seen this unfortunately all over the country, we know that in the COVID era, there was a proliferation of guns. First job is to keep everyone safe. The random scanning means it happens sometimes. It happens just to remind everyone that there will be that accountability. I think that's a smart measure that doesn't cause some of the concerns that some of the advocates are raising the same way. But I also think it's about how we do it – and I'd like the Chief and the Chancellor to speak to this, either one – that you can do scanning in a way that is respectful and communicative. That's what we want to see. There's been a lot of work done with the coordination of the DOE and the NYPD to train school safety agents towards a particular approach that's very, very communicative with young people and tries to bring them closer. And I think you can achieve both goals, making sure there’s safety and accountability, but also having the right kind of dialogue. Chancellor, do you want to start on that? Chancellor? Can you hear me? 

Chancellor Porter: Yes, absolutely. Yep. I can hear you. So, first of all, you know, I just want to, again, you know, acknowledge that I know Chief Harrison shares my commitment to ensuring that we're approaching this moment [inaudible] this temporary measure with empathy and care for our students. We talked about it just yesterday. And so, I know he's committed to doing that and to having his team members who will be joining and supporting their efforts. I also just want to acknowledge that this is one part of a series of commitments we have to supporting the safety and wellbeing of our students. I'm here today at the Urban Assembly School for Future Leaders led by Principal Gates, where we are looking at the social-emotional learning practices and talking to students about how they’re regulating emotions, how they're learning to make good decisions. That is a huge part of our efforts to keep our schools and our community safe. And so, there's temporary measures about this moment. The NYPD's commitment to approaching this with us with empathy and care for our students is another critical factor, but the longer-term work of investing in the mental health and social-emotional needs of our students is a priority. And I also want to thank the First Lady who led this effort and who was here with us today. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. She's really excited about the social-emotional learning is – you're absolutely right. It's not only about kids’ ability to have positive productive lives, it's going to help them academically, it's going to help them in their family lives or human lives, but also it does have a huge ramification for safety. It reduces conflict and it helps to keep kids on a good path. Chief, do you want to add anything? 

Chief Harrison: Yeah. Mr. Mayor, just real quickly. I see some positive training that goes into this whole process of scanning with the school safety agents, but it's also about relationship building. I think that's an important component that's being left off the table regarding the dialogue and discussion regarding having the school safety agents, making sure that the students are safe, but also making sure that there's a conversation to explain what we're doing and why we're doing it. So, there's professionalism there, there's a training mechanism, and I want to believe we're doing it correct. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Steve. 

Question: Appreciate all of those answers. Wanted to switch topics here and discuss the safe streets, Open Streets. I know you're going to be speaking at the event in a couple of hours, but in general, there's always been this kind of tension between what the local community might want and what might be useful for the city at large. And we're still seeing a lot of those kinds of battles play out about safe streets. I know here in Sunset Park, there's a debate around 7th and 8th Avenues. The democratic nominee for City Council has said DOT hasn't been entirely responsive, hasn't been consciously diverse in its outreach, and recently tweeted that 7th and 8th Avenues don't need to bear the burden of changes to make our streets safer. So, I mean, I don't need you to speak specifically to that project, but more in general, how do you balance what might be better for the city at large in terms of safe streets versus, you know, a lot of that local on-the-ground type opposition that seems to crop up for a lot of these projects? 

Mayor: Yeah, that's a great question, Steve, and it's very important. I have spoken to Commissioner Gutman on this issue, and he is going to go and have deeper engagement with the community because I do not think it's mutually exclusive to have safe streets and also address community concerns. I felt that's from the beginning. I believe foundationally in Vision Zero. I'm the person who brought Vision Zero to the city in force, and it's had a profoundly good impact and it will have a lot bigger impact in the future as we get out of COVID and people get out of their cars again, go back to mass transit. But I also don't think any approach should be seen dogmatically. So, for example, you could want to ensure safety. There's more than one way to do that. Sometimes that's a bike lane. Sometimes that's other safety measures. Sometimes it's a combination. And you do need to look at the other factors in the community. You do need to look at, for example – I've always felt this – you got to look at what's happening with jobs and small business and keeping neighborhood businesses alive. So, safety first always, and we are going to aggressively put safety measures in all over the city constantly. But if there are certain measures that work better and others that work less well for a community, we can be flexible about that or a location difference. It can all be adjusted when we listen to that community impact, excuse me, community input, we can find out if there's unintended consequences and make adjustments. Safety first, but listen to communities, make valid adjustments when there are valid concerns. That's the approach we'll take.

Moderator: The next is Emma from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. The city worker mandate is due by the end of this week. I'm curious, are you all preparing any arrangements for staffing shortages at NYPD, FDNY, or the Sanitation Department? 

Mayor: Yeah. That's an important question, Emma, we've talked about this when we made the announcement. Definitely, the answer is always yes. That when you saw with our hospitals, with our schools, a lot of contingency work was done, the same with all of the rest of our city agencies. Every commissioner and their team has talked through different options. Obviously, use of overtime is an example, changing deployments, changing some priorities. We've got a of tools here that we can use. But I'll tell you, Emma, I talked to all the relevant commissioners in the lead up, especially the most crucial operational agencies. and every one of them said they were confident that it was the right thing to do, and obviously, you know, consistent majorities of their members of their departments have gotten vaccinated, but we've seen the mandates move a lot more people to get vaccinated. So, we know that, and we also know these agencies are ready and they're very good at dealing with different situations and having a plan B ready. 

Moderator: James Ford from PIX-11. 

Question: Thanks very much for taking my call. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Happy Monday, 

Mayor: Happy Monday, James, how you feeling? 

Question: Very well. Thank you. I appreciate your asking. I hope you're well also. 

Mayor: Thank you.

Question: This is something of a follow-up to the previous question. Look I'm going to be covering yet another protest against the vaccine mandate for municipal workers. And this one is centered around FDNY employees, Many of whom are saying they intend to be at work on Monday, even if they're not vaccinated and force you to send them home. Can you respond to that specific form of protest and respond generally to push back against the mandate by municipal workers? 

Mayor: Look, James, I appreciate always the people do the work. And as I've said, it's also been a very strange moment in history where there's so much misinformation out there and people have been told things that just aren't true about the vaccine, but thank God, the vast, vast majority of New Yorkers. I mean right now, amazing, as of today about 85 percent of all adults in New York City have gotten at least one dose and it's a super, super majority. So, the vast majority of people have decided this is the right thing to do. And the vast majority New Yorkers have supported these mandates. But there's still a lot of misinformation. Some people are being swayed by it. We’re going to be really clear and consistent, just like we did with health workers, just like we did with education employees, you have until Friday at five o'clock. If you choose not to get vaccinated, you go on leave without pay. We move forward from there. But I also remind you that very powerful example of Department of Education that, you know, it was couple of weeks ago we had that deadline, and then since then 3,500 DOE employees have gone and gotten vaccinated who missed that original deadline. I think you're going to see some of that. So, folks who don't get vaccinated, sorry to say, they won't get paid. They want to get paid, we need them to be vaccinated.

And with that, everyone, just to say, going back to where we started today, we are moving forward as a city on so many fronts and New Yorkers should be proud of it, but the thing we need to all do to make sure we move forward is get vaccinated. Anyone who's not, it's time. Anyone who eligible for that booster, do like I did, go out and get it. Get that extra protection, move us forward, keep us safe. Holidays are coming. We want families to be safe. Let's do this.

2021-10-26 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

Okay. It's time for our indicators. And our first indicator today, reaching close to another milestone. We're going to get there very soon. We're almost at 12 million doses of the vaccine administered to date. As of today, 11,964,753. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report is 93 patients, confirmed positivity level of 19.79 percent. Hospitalization rate continuing, we're seeing great success here, 0.49 per 100,000 New Yorkers. And then number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 759 cases. Let me say a few words in Spanish. I want to go back to the weather we're experiencing today and what we're doing to address it.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that let's turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Dr. Mitch Katz, Dr. Dave Chokshi, Parks Commissioner Gabrielle Fialkoff, Acting Emergency Management Commissioner Andy D’Amora, Director of the Mayor's Office of Climate Resiliency Jainey Bavishi, and President of the Economic Development Corporation Rachel Loeb. Our first question today goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Children getting the vaccine. The best timing we've seen is that when the FDA likely offers its committee authorization today, and then the CDC authorizes a week from today, the vaccine could actually be shipped for children so that the first shots are by the end of next week. I don't know if Dr. Chokshi could maybe lay out when he anticipates potentially the very first day might be that children are getting shots. And do you anticipate having those shots available at elementary schools across New York City?

Mayor: So, Andrew, let me start. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz. First of all, we're really excited about this. This is fantastic news that our youngest New Yorkers are going to be eligible for the vaccine. As you're going to hear from the doctors, we're looking at late next week or the week after, and that's fantastic. We're getting ready and excited, and I think there's going to be a whole lot of energy among parents to bring their younger kids in. We have a lot of sites ready as always, and we're certainly going to consider what we need to do in our schools as well. But we may be starting this on a weekend, depending on the details. And we're going to rely on all the sites and all the centers we've had so far that have worked so well as we begin the effort. Dr. Chokshi then Dr. Katz.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. I want to start by just echoing your enthusiasm. We know how much this matters to parents of a five to 11-year-olds who have been waiting for this. There are several steps to the sequence, which is particularly important when we're talking about pediatric vaccination because we want to make sure that the most rigorous process is followed to ensure that the vaccine is safe and effective as we have seen before. So today, as you mentioned, Andrew, the FDA advisory committee is meeting and deliberating on it. Assuming that that all goes well, it will go formally to the FDA for authorization. And then subsequently next week the CDC will take it up as well. So, with respect to a timeline, the very end of next week, I think is the absolute earliest. But I think it's more likely that it will be the week after that. But regardless of the precise date we have been and will continue to prepare between now and then to make sure that as the Mayor said, all of our sites will be ready. And people have the information that they need for this to be a safe and effective addition to our vaccination campaign. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, you want to add? Dr. Katz? May be on mute. This is something we always have to warn people of. We don't have Dr. Katz, I guess. Okay. We'll bring him back for the next one. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Chris from the New York Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor. Yesterday there was a very large anti-vaccine mandate protest that took place on Brooklyn Bridge. I was there speaking to a lot of the workers who were there. And one thing I noticed was that, you know, you had protesters scaling the medians on the Brooklyn Bridge. You had the protestors blocking traffic, but police officers were by and large standing by, not arresting anyone. And at the same time, on the other side of City Hall, you had taxi workers being arrested for blocking traffic. So, I'm just wondering what you think of that disparity there, where at one protest you had police arresting people and at the other, it seemed like there was no enforcement whatsoever? 

Mayor: Yeah. I need to get a review from the NYPD of what happened at each. I need to understand if one – if there was planned civil disobedience, obviously in a case where there's a planned civil disobedience, people intend to get arrested and want that to happen. And that's one thing. With the march, my understanding is the bridge was closed off. But I want to get the full rundown on that. I appreciate the question, Chris. So, let me get more information. I'll have my team get back to you today. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, a few weeks ago Eric Adams was at a community health clinic in the Bronx, and he called on the city to scale up its $100 vax incentive program to these kinds of smaller community-based providers. Can you comment on that and explain why the city can't find some way to allow these community-based clinics to offer their patients the $100 vax incentive, as opposed to, you know, redirecting them to a city clinic?

Mayor: It's a great question, Elizabeth, and I'm glad that Eric Adams has raised this because when we started this, we really wanted to move it quickly, and it had a profound impact, a $100 incentive really had a profound impact in terms of getting more people vaccinated, and the way we could do it effectively and quickly was through the central run sites. I would like to get the community-based sites into this. I think it would be ideal. So, I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, I'm putting you on the spot, but in a good way, I think this would be the next logical step. Could either of you tell us if there's any work being done now to see how we do that, and if not, we will start doing that work. Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir, thank you. And thanks, Elizabeth, for this important question. This is actually something that we have been actively thinking about, particularly for federally qualified health centers which are the community-based clinics that particularly serve low-income populations and, you know, have a particular focus in the neighborhoods that we most want to reach. So, I'm grateful actually, Rachel Loeb, who's also on the call this morning and EDC have been tremendous partners in this. And so, we are actively working to expand the $100 incentive, which as the Mayor said has been quite successful.

Mayor: Great. Thank you.

Moderator: The next question goes to Bob Hennelly from The Chief Leader.

Question: Yes. Thanks for taking the call, Mr. Mayor. On NY1 you referenced that several hundred DOE employees had successfully applied for and received a medical exemption from the vaccine mandate. Can your medical experts describe what kind of conditions might merit that kind of exemption?

Mayor: Sure. I think, Dave, I believe you're pretty current on that list of the kinds of things that apply for an exemption. Give us the rundown.

Commissioner Chokshi: Yeah, certainly. And you know, the first thing to say is that medical exemptions are quite rare because there are very few medical situations that warrant an exemption. One piece of misinformation that I'll just take the opportunity to clear up is that people with underlying health conditions are those that will benefit the most from vaccination, and so we strongly encourage anyone with a chronic condition to get vaccinated, and that is not grounds for a medical exemption. What is grounds is generally, you know, followed by what's laid out in the CDC’s guidance on this topic. If someone has a severe allergy to a vaccine or one of its components, such that they cannot receive any of the three vaccines, then that is grounds for medical exemption. We expect that circumstance to be exceedingly rare. But that is one case. And there are sometimes temporary medical exemptions as well. For example, someone who was recently diagnosed with COVID-19 and still in their isolation window or someone who received monoclonal antibody treatment for recent COVID-19 for up to three months after receiving that treatment. So, in sum it's a narrow set of conditions that that warrant medical exemption.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Bob.

Question: So, Mr. Mayor, are you concerned about the potential public health patchwork effect in a city where you have mandated all city employees be vaccinated as a term and condition of employment, but the MTA, which has tens of thousands of workers responsible for moving millions of New Yorkers still has the vaccine or submitting to weekly testing as an option?

Mayor: Look, I'm believer in vaccine mandates. I've said this for public sector, private sector. I think every mayor in America, every governor in America should adopt vaccine mandates. I think every CEO in America should adopt vaccine mandates. They work, they work, look at the huge impact since we announced the mandates, including the Key to NYC. Vaccination levels greatly increased in this city and COVID levels have gone down, period. So, I have a simple view, Bob, every place that we can put the mandate in, we should, because it works and it's going to save lives. So, that's my view. In terms of what it means that there's different standards and different places, we have to do what's right here in New York City, we have to do what's right to protect our employees and the people they serve, and I urge everyone else follow this path because it's the thing that will end the COVID era. I really want us to remind us what the ultimate goal is, is to put COVID in our past and allow us to come back to life fully, and this is what lets it – this is what really allows it to happen.

Everyone as we conclude today, I just want to say we, as per usual, this city deals with lot of challenges, we've had the weather in the last 24 hours. Thank God it appears to be passing. We deal with the reality of COVID every day, but what is so striking as the resiliency of New Yorkers and people have fought back through every one of these challenges. We just talked about the Sandy anniversary. I saw such extraordinary acts of compassion and kindness, New Yorkers helping their fellow neighbors in the worst of Sandy. This is who we are. Let's now do that for each other with COVID, let's get vaccinated, let's finish this mission, let's help each over COVID once and for all. You heard the numbers today approaching 12 million doses and our children, were going to be to reach our youngest children soon. That's going to be extraordinary. Let's finish the job. Thank you, everybody.

2021-10-27 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We talk all the time about a Recovery For All of Us.

Now, I said yesterday, if you believe in our neighborhood stores, if you believe in the places that make New York City great, you got to go and spend your money there. So, we're going to be talking about this a lot between now and the end of the holidays. Shop Your City. This was a big initiative we did last year that really helped. Last year was so tough for small businesses, neighborhood businesses. We kept telling people, you know, we understand people are going to have lots of choices, how you spend your money, particularly around the holidays, but please as much as possible shop local, put that money into small businesses, help them survive. It makes a huge difference. So, yesterday we saw, live in action, the beauty of a small business, what it means for our community. And Lin-Manuel said something very powerful about the way New Yorkers are fighting back against COVID. And he has been someone who has kept boosting the city throughout, saying that Broadway could and will come back. He's been one of the people that told people, believe we can make it happen. I want you to just hear a brief message of what he said yesterday that really moved me.

Lin-Manuel Miranda: Everyone knows the price we have to pay, and that's a vaccine card and your mask. And that's a small price to pay to sit in the dark and hear people tell world-class stories at the highest level. And I'm so grateful it's back. So, please get vaccinated so you can appreciate live theaters, so you can come into this store and enjoy the drama bookshop. I'm incredibly grateful for this proclamation. 

Mayor: We gave him a proclamation, you heard at the end there, to say – we named the day yesterday after the Drama Book Shop in a part of New York City, a part of what makes New York City great for over a hundred years and keeping arts and culture alive in our city. But as Lin-Manuel said, it's all working, everything's coming back because people are getting vaccinated. So, his appeal – and he was with us when we opened the vaccination center in Times Square for the theater community. He has been such a great booster, no pun intended, of vaccination, and we're so deeply appreciative. So, that was a beautiful moment yesterday. I also had a great gathering last night with elected officials from Manhattan in Washington Heights at Havana Heights, an incredible restaurant up in Washington Heights. Cuban food in Washington Heights. Doesn't get better than that. I strongly recommend it. And talking to the elected officials in Manhattan about what we need to do, going for what we need to do right now, and how we bring this city back. A very, very energizing gathering.

And now, we're going to go to our indicators. And number-one, doses administered to-date. We're getting damn close to 12 million. We're at 11,985,203. So, that's pretty amazing. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 114 patients. 14.53 percent confirmed positivity level. And, of course, the all-important hospitalization rate, 0.47 per 100,000 – that's great news. Number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, 704 cases. So, vaccination is working. We’ve got more to do but moving in the right direction.

I want to do a few words of Spanish on the Field of Dreams, on these amazing investments in communities for our kids and families.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Mitch Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals President and CEO; by Dr. Andrew Wallach, NYC Health + Hospitals Ambulatory Care Chief; Andrew Kaplan, NYCHA Acting Chief of Staff; and Andy D’Amora, Acting Commissioner of the Office of Emergency Management. Elizabeth with WNYC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask about –

Mayor: Hey, how are you doing?

Question: I'm good. I wanted to ask you about the vaccination mandate and what your agencies are seeing in terms of an uptick in the number of City employees getting vaccinated?

Mayor: Yeah. We're seeing – Elizabeth, we're seeing movement, but I think it's too early to tell, honestly, because the numbers we have now are only through yesterday. What I expect is a surge of activity, particularly on Friday. And then, what we saw before – look, we had this pattern with the health care workers. We had this pattern with everyone who works for Department of Education, which is, by far, our biggest agency – a surge of vaccination right up on the deadline. And then, some people who didn't get vaccinated by the deadline, but recognize that they're about to be put on unpaid leave, who would then go out and get vaccinated immediately, and then even others who get vaccinated in the days after. So, I don't think we're at that point yet. I think we're going to see a lot more in the next few days. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

Question: And I know you've been asked this question before about the City's contingency plans, but, I'm just wondering, is it more challenging to find substitutes for first responders?

Mayor: Well, I don't think it's so much, Elizabeth, about substitutes. I mean, obviously, when we we’re talking about teachers, we have a history of substitute teachers. It's a different reality. It is about – over time, it is about shifting assignments to where there's particular need. Our – remember, our first responder agencies, our uniformed agencies went through so much last year where they had huge numbers of members out because of COVID and they had to keep making constant adjustments to provide the services we need to keep people safe – and they did it and they did it very well. So, these are very agile organizations used to dealing with crisis, used to dealing with natural disasters. They'd know plenty about how to make the right moves to keep everything going.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Mike with the Daily News.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: I'm doing good, Michael. How are you?

Question: I'm doing good. So, just following up on the last question, could you give us some more specifics on how the City is going to handle potential NYPD staffing shortages? I mean, for instance, what are projected overtime costs associated with officers who be out for not complying? And I mean, has the City gamed out projections on what those costs might be? Could there be savings?

Mayor: Yeah. Look, it's a fair question, Michael. I want to just note – first of all, we're not looking at this from the budgetary perspective, we're looking at this in terms of how we keep people safe, how we end the COVID era, how we turn a corner on the biggest crisis in our history. That's our focus. Now, obviously – look, I'd like everyone who's not yet vaccinated to get vaccinated by the end of Friday. If they don't, they're going off payroll. I don't want that savings, but that does create a savings. And if we have to give more overtime and make other adjustments, there obviously will be resources to account for that. But again, these are agencies that have been preparing for months. Every one of the commissioners has been absolutely confident that they can make the adjustments and every one of the commissioners has adamantly wanted us to move forward with a vaccine mandate. So, I feel ready.

And everyone, as we conclude today, this is what inspires me every day about the city. The people, the buildings are beautiful, the famous sites and attractions, but it is the people in New York City that make us great. A reminder to everyone we're all in this together. So, every day when I say, please go out and get vaccinated. That's a great way to help your fellow New Yorker. Help a young person, participate in these amazing efforts to support and uplift our young people. We are the greatest city in the world, but we're going to be even greater every time a New Yorker contributes to us moving forward. It makes a huge, huge difference. Thank you, everyone.

2021-10-28 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. We're going to be talking today about a lot of the ways we recover and move forward after COVID, a recovery for all of us. But to fight COVID, end the COVID era, and move forward even more aggressively with our recovery, it's all about vaccinations. And good news – every day, we're seeing more and more good news about vaccinations for our youngest New Yorkers for kids five to 11 years old. I'm very excited about this because this is what's going to be another game-changer for us, making families safer, of course, our children's safer, our whole community safer. And it's coming real, real soon. We're going to talk about that today.

But first, another milestone. And I love when we hit these milestones, because it just says how extraordinary New Yorkers have been in fighting back against COVID, doing the right thing, helping everyone move forward. And again, God bless our health care heroes. As of today, we have hit 12 million doses administered in New York City since this began. This is an unbelievable number, 12 million individual times someone put their arm out and a vaccinator was there to help them. That says so much about why this city is coming back and coming back strong. So, great milestone today.

And another milestone in Washington – on Tuesday, an FDA committee recommended the Pfizer vaccine for authorization for our young people of five to 11. We anticipate CDC guidance at some point next week, probably toward the end of the week. This is a moment parents have been waiting for, to know their kids will be safe. Now, New York City will be ready. We are so ready, so happy that this moment is coming. Our health care teams are ready. Within 24 hours of the CDC guidance, vaccination for the youngest New Yorkers, five to 11, will be available at the City-run sites within 24 hours of the announcement. And then, within 48 hours, the vaccinations will be available at pediatricians’ offices, pharmacies, and other types of vaccination sites. We're going to be doing a huge outreach effort, media effort, community outreach, to get parents updated, to get them to bring their kids in, get them vaccinated, get them safe. We have a special hotline for parents so they can speak directly to medical professionals with any concerns. This is a big deal. And, of course, we know a lot of parents who are going to want to talk to their own doctor, which they should do. In fact, they should start doing that right now, because it's coming. But I want you to hear how important this is from the City's doctor. All of us have a doctor and he is our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. And today, like you, I'm grateful to announce further details about our plans to vaccinate five- to 11-year-olds. To start, I wanted to acknowledge, as a father myself, that parenting during the pandemic has been tough. Every parent has sleepless nights, worrying about their children, but the last 20 months have seen more than their fair share. That's why this pandemic milestone, moving forward with vaccinating more of our children has been so eagerly anticipated. And I know it's one that's emotional for so many New York City parents and caregivers. For many, the prevailing feeling is excitement, particularly after hearing about the scientific evidence presented to the FDA earlier this week. Pfizer shared results of a study of over 2,200 children, showing that the vaccine was safe, well tolerated and over 90 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19, even with the Delta variant circulating. Children had robust immune responses to the two doses of vaccine, which are one-third the dose currently being administered to adults and adolescents. This is to reduce side effects. And there's still – the two doses are still administered three weeks apart.

In sum, the FDA Advisory Committee recommended authorization of the vaccine because its benefits significantly outweigh any small risks. For other parents, despite this reassuring data, I know there may be a more complicated set of emotions at play, but it usually boils down to how you feel about your child's safety. So, let me try to speak to that. First, remember how closely the COVID-19 vaccines have been scrutinized and studied. They've been given to over half the entire world's population and over 15 million kids, 12 to 17, across the U.S. have already been given the Pfizer vaccine safely, including over 400,000 right here in New York City. Second, while COVID-19 is thankfully sickening fewer children than adults, it remains a risk. Across the country, more than 6 million children have been infected, some with long-term effects. More than 23,500 or hospitalized from it. And sadly, it is the nation's eighth leading cause of death for children five to 11, according to the FDA committee. And third, the leading pediatricians and family doctors across New York City and the country are endorsing vaccination. The President of the American Academy of Pediatrics stated that their recommendation was “for the same reason pediatricians recommend seatbelts and car seats, because it's about protection and security.”

So, let's talk a little bit about next steps, building on what the Mayor has already laid out. The formal FDA authorization is expected as soon as tomorrow. And the CDC Advisory Committee is slated to further discuss the science next Tuesday and Wednesday. After that, the CDC will make a final decision and subsequently issue clinical guidance. This may sound like a technical step, I know, but it's important for doctors and pharmacists to have the detailed information they need to administer this formulation of the vaccine. This could all occur by next weekend, at the earliest. In parallel, the Health Department is working intensively with nearly 1,500 community pediatricians and family doctors, as well as pharmacies across the city to help them engage their patients and families, and to forward-plan on the logistics of vaccination. I loved hearing from one pediatrician who is sharing tips about vaccinating kids like having crayons and coloring books at the ready. He said, his go-to line before giving the shot was it's okay to feel a little scared, that's just the first step to feeling brave.

We have also already ordered 231,000 doses of pediatric vaccine, which will begin to arrive in the city next week. And we will launch a public information campaign, addressing parents' questions, working closely with our Department of Education partners, as always. The latest news about the COVID vaccine for young children should give us all hope. The vaccine will protect children, it will reduce the spread of COVID, and keep our community safe. And one last thing, Mr. Mayor, as we await these final steps – remember, that we have another safe and effective vaccine for kids in the flu shot. It's available now and recommend for everyone six months and older. Visit nyc.gov/flu to make an appointment. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Chokshi. We are really, really excited about this. We're going to be updating people early next week on the latest. And again, we're ready, potentially even late next week for these vaccinations for our youngest New Yorkers to begin. The moment we get that final word from Washington, 24 hours later, we'll be up and running at our City sites. And thank you to you, Dr. Chokshi, your team, everyone at H+H as well, everyone who’s getting ready to do this. There's a lot of excitement. It's going to be a very, very important moment for this city.

And now, I'm switching to another important topic, everyone. Halloween is almost here and it's time to choose your costume. I've chosen mine. I'm – this is my homage to Captain Kirk. But, everyone, we want people to have a great, great Halloween. It is going to be so much fun. It's going to be a great moment. The kids are going to be out there again enjoying Halloween. And everyone, I'm going to give you some quick tips about how to do it the right way. So, in the end, Halloween is one of the most magical times of the year. I'm talking – I'll tell you, as a parent, I have such beautiful memories of my kids on Halloween. What they were so excited about, their costumes, they are so excited about getting up there. So, the – to me, this is a chance for some joy again, for some happiness again. We know the city's getting safer every day, so we can do Halloween right this year. But there are some smart tips to having a good Halloween. First of all, stay outside. If you’re trick-or-treater or you're taking your trick-or-treaters around, keep them outside. It's safest outside. That's where everyone's going to have the best time. Second of all, if you're giving out treats yourself, wear a mask like we do to protect everyone against COVID. If you're going to be talking to a lot of kids, families just wear a mask, it's easy. And for kids and anyone else out there, who's wearing a costume mask, that doesn't do the same thing as the kind of masks we're used to, to help us prevent COVID. So, use one of the regular masks as well as your costume masks. So, everybody, this is going to be a joyous moment for our city. The Halloween Parade is back in Greenwich Village. It's going to be an amazing time. And I want to remind everyone of the prime directive, live long and prosper with candy. All right, now, beam me up. I'm supposed to change costumes immediately, right? It's supposed to just – okay, I'm going to have to put this back on.

All right. Now, let me go to – let me go to our indicators. And I'll put on my regular suit. Who can I – as I said at the beginning, amazing, amazing news that we have now passed the 12-million-mark in doses administered to-date. 12,005,472 doses. Absolutely outstanding. Number two, daily number of people moved to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 79 patients, confirmed positivity level of 21.95 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 people, 0.63. And new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report, 711 cases. And now a few words in Spanish, and we're going back to the vaccinations that will be available for the five- to 11-year-olds. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

Okay, everyone, get ready because we're going to be vaccinating our kids. And now we're going to turn to our colleagues in the media. I'm going to get a little more official, I guess this is in – you know, in terms of the Federation, this would be official. But in terms of New York City government, I'm going to put this back on. 

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder today, we're joined by John Paul Farmer, Chief Technology Officer; Sideya Sherman, Executive Vice President for Community Engagement and Partnerships at NYCHA and Executive Director of the Task Force for Racial Inclusion and Equity; Dr. Dave Chokshi, Health Commissioner; Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Advisor; and Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of Health + Hospitals. With that, we'll go to our first question today, Andrew from NBC. 

Question: Mayor, good morning. Hope you can hear me. I'm actually outside of Gracie Mansion right now, where there are a couple of hundred members of the Fire Department and other agencies who are not happy about the mandate. And one of the things that they're saying is that 70 percent of the Fire Department had COVID and that they should have an exemption for what they refer to as natural immunity. So, I'm wondering if your health team can respond to that. And, in particular, members who've had it very recently, should they be allowed to wait before they're getting vaccinated? 

Mayor: Andrew, I appreciate the question. I want to say, I really feel like our health team has done an extraordinary job answering these questions really for months, trying to help people understand why decisions are made to protect everyone. By the way, I give President Biden, Dr. Fauci, everyone in the Biden administration credit. They've been explaining this for months now to help people understand why vaccinations are necessary. But it's worth repeating. It's worth continuing to answer. And certainly, the specific question you asked about if someone had COVID recently, what's the right protocol. So, but to this bigger point about what natural immunity can and cannot do and why vaccination matters and why it is the difference maker in avoiding hospitalization and, God forbid, death – first Dr. Chokshi then Dr. Varma. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. And I'll speak to the smaller point first, and then the larger point. With respect to what our policy is – for someone who has very recently had COVID-19, they should take the time to recover and, of course, should be isolating during usually the ten-day period after they've been diagnosed with COVID-19. After that is when we do have our strong recommendation that people should get vaccinated. And that gets to the bigger point here, which is when it comes to prior infection, we do know that it affords some degree of protection. That's not a contentious point. That's not what is being debated. What we have to talk about is that the strength and the duration of that immunity remains unknown. But what is known is that vaccination in that scenario lowers your risk further. We have good evidence, both from a national study, as well as a study here in New York City, that shows that the risk of reinfection is about 2.3 times lower when people are vaccinated after they've been infected compared to people who remain unvaccinated. So, the bottom line is that we know vaccination is safe, we know that it works, and we know that it helps to protect communities regardless of whether someone has been previously infected or not.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: I think Commissioner Chokshi has really touched on all of the really critical issues. I would just – since this question comes up a lot, I'll take just a brief moment to explain what the future might be. For some other infectious diseases, we have laboratory tests that are very reliable and widely available to help you determine if you're immune. We don't have that yet for COVID. All of the studies that show your protective ability really right now have to be done in research facilities. The standard antibody tests do not perform at the level of telling you whether you're fully protected. So, there may be some point in the future where we can use a prior infection as equivalent to receiving vaccines, to determine whether you are fully protected or not. But we really don't have that available to us at this time. And that is why the overwhelming scientific consensus is that because vaccines are highly effective, highly safe, that even people who have been infected in the past should continue to receive them, and that should be our standard for assessing whether or not you meet our vaccine verification standards or not. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Varma. And I want to emphasize, Andrew, and to all our colleagues in the media, Dr. Varma has literally traveled the world, studied these realities deeply. He is a national and international voice of great renown on this topic. I urge anybody in the media who wants further clarity on this issue, talk to him directly. But I really want to emphasize what he said, overwhelming scientific consensus. We have to note how the scientific and medical community has been almost entirely unified on this topic. And that's got to mean something. I understand there's a lot of distrust in institutions, but I really urge everyone to pay attention to the folks who have devoted their lives to saving other lives and protecting people's health are saying across the board why vaccination is necessary, even if people think they have some natural immunity. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: Mayor, the Fire union is encouraging even its unvaccinated members to show up at work on Monday to each of their firehouses. So, what is your plan? Will you have police at firehouses checking vaccination? Are you going to have Fire commanders doing it? And do you agree with their assessment that there is a risk that dozens of firehouses will have to close down due to lack of personnel? 

Mayor: No, we've been, obviously, working to prepare. The department, Commissioner Nigro, and his whole team, I think, are very able to put contingencies in place as needed. They've already talked about the fact that they have a variety of tools available, mandatory overtime, scheduling changes. There's other options they can turn to, to address the situation. So, I am certain, and I'm listening to Commissioner Nigro, who's been – literally given his entire life to the people of New York City, that we will be ready. If folks show up who are not vaccinated, their supervisors will address that as with every agency. And that means, of course, they're not getting paid at that point. The solution is just go get vaccinated, but that will be handled on a managerial level. 

Moderator: Next, we have Dave from ABC7. 

Question: Hey, Mayor. Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yeah, Dave. How are you doing today? 

Question: I’m fine. I wanted to ask about the vaccine mandate also, but first of all, before I forget, I just wanted to see – I'm sure you heard the news yesterday about Leticia James running for governor. I just wanted to see your thoughts about it, and whether that pushes you one way or the other on your future. 

Mayor: I respect her a lot, and I've known her a long time and we've worked together many times over the years. But my decisions are based on my desire to serve the people of this city, this state in every way I can. I'm going to be moving on my own timeline in my own way. It has nothing to do with what anyone else decides to do. Go ahead, Dave. 

Question: My other thing, about the vaccine mandates. If we do get to Monday, not just the Fire Department and EMS, but also police, if there are fewer police on Monday, what can you tell New Yorkers who are concerned about that, worried about that? Will they be safe or not? 

Mayor: No, they will be safe. And this – again, this has been something under discussion, not just for weeks, for months. And the reason we made this decision was, how do we keep people safe? That was the entire question here. How do we keep the people in New York City safe? My job is to keep people safe, my employees, and 8.8 million people. And until we defeat COVID, people are not safe. If we don't stop COVID, New Yorkers will die. We must, must stop COVID and the way to do that is vaccination. And that must include our public employees. In fact, they need to lead the way. So, that's the overarching reality. And in the discussions over weeks and even months with the leaders of all of our agencies, there's been a commitment to get this done and to be ready to make sure the work will continue. And they have many tools. I spoke with Commissioner Shea yesterday. He's confident about the tools he has. He also has devoted his entire life to this city and the NYPD. He has a lot of tools to make sure that what needs to be covered will be covered. Right now, NYPD, for example, is at almost 75 percent vaccination level. We have all of the typical tools of how you use staff, move them around, how you use overtime. We had a lot of times, in 2020, where we had huge shortages of personnel because people were out sick with COVID, and the NYPD kept things moving and they will again. So, I'm quite confident in their ability to do that. 

Moderator: Next, we have Dana from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I was wondering first, if you could give us updates on the vaccination levels? I know you just mentioned the NYPD, but at Fire and Sanitation as well, where are we now?

Mayor: At this moment, Dana and I want to emphasize, this is a very dynamic moment. And I mean it. We saw this with the health care workers. We saw this with Department of Education employees. Today and tomorrow, you're going to see a lot of movement. And then I'm not going to be shocked if you see movement even over the weekend when people get the formal notifications about their job status. We saw thousands upon thousands of vaccinations in the last days. So, this is I think, a time where you're going to see some real changes. Right now, NYPD is at 74 percent, almost 75. EMS within Fire is at 74 percent. Sanitation is at 67 percent and Fire is at 64 percent at this moment. But again, I think we've seen in the last few days since the announcement, substantial increases for all of them. And I think you're about to see a whole lot more. Go ahead, Dana.

Question: Thank you. Just a follow up and I think you've addressed this a little bit already, but given the likelihood of at least some police, Fire, and Sanitation shortages come Monday, are you having any second thoughts?

Mayor: It's a great question, Dana, because I think one of the things that people have to be honest about when you make major decisions on behalf of 8.8 million people is you have to watch to see how it's going and to constantly assess. But no, I am not having second thoughts. We expected that a lot of the vaccinations would happen toward the end of the deadline. We also know a lot of people make the decision once they really realize that they're not going to get paid. That's just the human reality. And the contingency planning has been exceptional. These agencies have talked with all the commissioners in detail. They really have been working at it. They feel very confident. I've listened to them to understand their level of confidence, it's high. And they're smart agile leaders. We're going to make this work. And it's going to make everyone safer, ultimately. And again, look at the pattern, look at what happened with the health care workers. Everyone said, oh God, there's going to be horrible dislocation. There was not. And we ended up with 95 percent of them vaccinated. Department of Education, tremendous worry what would happen. It is almost as if there was no transition whatsoever. We went right into the new reality. Ultimately ended up with 96 percent of school employees vaccinated. And since the deadline, 3,500 more employees have come back and gotten vaccinated. So, we have a lot to work from, and we like what we see.

Moderator: Next we have Julia from the New York Post.

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor, sorry, I'm just finishing notes on Dana's question.You got to slow down when you're talking there.

Mayor: I, you know, we New Yorkers talk fast.

Question: I know I got to keep up. So, you said, you know, no second thoughts to Dana, but have there been discussions about pushing back the deadline? Have any of your commissioners [inaudible] preparing to close 20 percent of fire companies?

Mayor: Your line cut up a little bit there, Julia, but I think I got the basics. No, there's no discussion of changing the deadline. The bottom line is can we do the things we need to do first of all, to keep this city safe for the long run? Well, that means getting people vaccinated. Yes, we can do that. Yes, we have a plan to do that. And then can we keep all the other services moving in a way that protects New Yorkers? Yes. I've asked this question, exhaustively, of the commissioners, people have tremendous respect for. The answer is yes, yes, yes. There's confidence. We can make it work and we're moving forward. Go ahead, Julia. Julia, can you hear us? Okay. If you can get her back, she gets a credit line. Who's next?

Moderator: We'll come back to Julia. Next, we have Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Mayor: Juliet?

Unknown: Sorry, the technical difficulties [inaudible].

Mayor: From in the room. Okay. Let's see. Do you think you can resolve it or are we out of room here?

Unknown: Let me – I'm going to have to also call WebEx.

Mayor: Okay. Well, we've got a – I don't have a – I could go back to my Captain Kirk outfit and talk about the latest developments for the Federation, but I think we should probably stop there unless we think we can restore it right away. That's a yes or a no? It's going to take a while. Okay. We're going to stop it there, everyone. I know our colleagues in the media if they have other questions, they'll bring them to our press office and we'll get them answers. But look, the bottom line again, everything runs through vaccination. Everything that has made us safe, runs through vaccination. Amazing news today, 12 million New Yorkers, vaccinated. Excuse me, 12 million doses since day one. That's amazing. 12 million doses since day one. Absolutely amazing. This is what's making everything else possible. And starting as early as next week, five to 11-year-olds –

[Inaudible]

Wait, are you back? We're back. Okay. Is that Juliet? Juliet? You're like a divine presence. They said it wasn't going to work, but then we hear your voice.

Question: Yeah. Always stayed plugged in, right?

Mayor: That's right.

Question: That is the lesson here. Great. So, let me ask my question. Regarding tomorrow, the mandate deadline, how concerned are you that, you know, Fire and ambulance, maybe having to take people off of desk duty and administrative jobs and put them in firehouses and ambulances? Do you think they're not experienced to do the day-to-day emergency duties?

Mayor: Oh, I'm quite certain Commissioner Nigro would never have someone take on a duty they weren't trained for. No. Remember what people do, is they rise up to the ranks and they have done all the work. And then if they end up on administrative duty that's well after they've been trained on how to do the things we need. Any need will be filled with people who are properly trained and people who are ready to do the job. And these are big agencies, Juliet. Let's remember, there's a whole lot of people. You know, in the summer, for example, the NYPD, we do Summer All Out and send hundreds of cops who are doing other types of desk duty and other types of assignments. We send them out to neighborhoods where the need is greatest. Every agency has people trained to do who can shift back onto those kind of roles. So, there's a deep bench and a lot of capacity. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: All right. So, then what's the next step? If people don't get vaccinated, if these employees don't get vaccinated, they don't get paid. Does there come a point where they get fired?

Mayor: Look, what we've said from the beginning is our goal is not to fire people. I mean, this is something we made so clear, with the original actions we took with health care workers, with Department of Education employees, we did impact bargaining from the beginning. We ended up with, I think, very fair plans that a lot of our labor colleagues acknowledged as being very different from some things you've seen in other places. We say, we're asking you to get vaccinated. We are giving you a deadline. It's the right thing to do. We've given incentives. We've given time, we've given voluntary opportunities. Now we need this. We have a right as an employer to do it. Every court has shown that we are right. We have that right. Get vaccinated by the deadline, everything continues. If you don't get vaccinated by the deadline, you go on leave without pay. You still have an opportunity to correct. If for, you know, an endless period of time, you refuse to get vaccinated that can eventually lead to leaving us. But what we're trying to do is get people vaccinated now. Or if after not having a paycheck for a while, people think better of it and that's what we've seen in Department of Education, come back, let's move forward. So look, the consequence, which is profound, is not getting a paycheck. But the goal here is certainly not to see anyone leave City service, but get to a resolution and move forward.

Moderator: Next we have Reuvain from Hamodia.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Reuvain. How are you?

Question: Good, good. Glad we have you back on now. So, I wanted to ask you about the garbage bags that are piling up in many neighborhoods in the city? This is even before the vaccine mandate goes into effect. There were reports that the Sanitation workers are doing this purposely to protest the vaccine mandate. I'm wondering, you know, what you can tell us about this? Is there any repercussions for the garbage purposely not being picked up? On some blocks it was picked up on one side, not the other. So, it clearly seems to be sending a message.

Mayor: Yeah. Thank you for the question. It's an important question. Yeah. We're definitely seeing that problem in some parts of the city and it's unacceptable. I just want to make it really, really clear. It's unacceptable. People may not agree with a decision, but this decision is about the health and safety of all New Yorkers. We gave people lots and lots of time to come along voluntarily. Now we're saying we have a right as the City of New York to ensure the safety of our employees and the safety of our people. And every court, State and federal has affirmed that right. So, that's the law. There's one way to do things, which is to abide by the law. If you're a City worker, you have to abide by the law. So, the bottom line is the Sanitation Department has been very clear that it's not acceptable, that there will be consequences. In the meantime, to create additional capacity, Sanitation Department has canceled days off for Sanitation workers. As needed, will be requiring Sunday shifts and is moving to a 12-hour schedule for its workers. So, the Sanitation Department, Commissioner Grayson's has been doing a great job, is aggressively responding with a series of actions. And anyone who is not doing their job, you're harming your fellow Sanitation workers, and you're harming your neighbors and you're harming the people of New York City. And it's time to stop. Go ahead, Reuvain.

Question: Okay. My next question is for the doctors, and it's a follow-up to what Andrew asked earlier, about the natural immunity. It's a simple question. Why is New York City not releasing its data? The UK Office of National Statistics released a study last week showing that natural immunity was just as effective as vaccines are against Delta. It follows an Israeli study that showed natural immunity was about six times more effective against Delta than the vaccines. Now, every time we ask this question, the response is well, even if you have natural immunity, if you get the vaccine, that's even better. That's not the question we're asking. Just like we're not asking about well, is, you know, is the duration and strength of immunity, not that well known? Why don't we just release the data and then we'll see it? New York City has to have this data comparing those who were vaccinated only versus those that have prior infection only? 

Mayor: Okay, I'll turn to Dr. Varma and Dr. Chokshi, and I think it is good and natural that members of media want more and more data, more and more information, and we should put out everything that we have available that is confirmed. But I am still going to editorialize just for a second, as we turn to the doctors, we despite every other piece of data we've received continue to see overwhelming evidence of the power and the meaning of vaccination. So, I just want to say, yeah, let's get out as much data and let's look at data from around the world, but it doesn't change the fact that everything we have and everything we've seen tells us this is the best way move forward. And the evidence in this nation is unbelievably clear, folks who are vaccinated are rarely hospitalized with serious outcomes and rarely die, and folks who are unvaccinated or too often lost. It's just clear as a bell. Dr. Varma, and then Dr. Chokshi. 

Senior Advisor Varma: Great. Thank you very much, and I'm going to actually pass this primarily back to Dr. Chokshi because there have been analyses that the Health Department has published specifically addressing this question, what is your benefit of vaccination if you compare people who've been priorly vaccinated – priorly and previously infected and unvaccinated versus those who have been previously infected and then get vaccinated. And we see the same finding that we see in other studies that CDC has published on this topic demonstrating what we know before. People with prior infection have a reduced risk of getting infected in the future, but they benefit much greater from being vaccinated as well. Let me turn it over to Dave who could discuss the Health Department’s data that it's released. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, Dr. Varma. And Reuvain, you know, I want to reassure you first, we are deeply committed to transparency and also committed to scientific validity. For both of these reasons, we do want New Yorkers to have data at their fingertips to help drive their own decision-making as well as to understand ours, and as you know, throughout the pandemic, we've worked to put as much data as possible on our website, so everyone has access to it. On this specific question that you have asked, which is about breakthroughs versus re-infection, scientifically this is a bit of an apples to oranges comparison because there are significant differences in the comparison groups that can't be controlled for retrospectively. But we have, as Dr. Varma mentioned, done an analysis, and released data on how people who are unvaccinated are 2.3 times as likely to be reinfected as those who are fully vaccinated. We released those preliminary findings and we'll be publishing that manuscript soon and we'll be happy to talk it through with you. So, ultimately, you know, I know there is some confusion and some misinformation about natural immunity, it's up to all of us to clarify the science, but again, the bottom line is that vaccines protect you and your community from COVID-19, regardless of whether you have been previously infected.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more today. Next, we have Erin from Politico. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, going back to the vaccine mandate for the city workers. You gave us data for some agencies, which is very helpful. Can you just give us the overall picture in terms of the workforce, the total number of un-vaccinated workers at this point and what percentage of the total workforce is vaccinated? 

Mayor: Again, I want to emphasize, Erin, I'll give you what I have, but the big issue here is what we expect to see today and tomorrow, and then I think another wave that just being honest and real happens when we see people who really realize that they are now dealing with the reality that their pay is about to end, and then suddenly it becomes really clear what they have to do. So, at this moment, when you composite all elements of the city workforce, we're at 76 percent, and again, we expect plenty more in the coming and all of those categories that I talked about. When you include some of the agencies from the previous, including Department of Education and Health + Hospitals from the previous mandates, it goes up to 86 percent, so I want to be clear about that. Total city workforce, including previously mandated, 86 percent. The group that's outstanding now, 76 percent. We are very confident those numbers are going to go up a lot, and we're also very confident of the contingency plans, and we've been down this road before, and as I mentioned, some other parts of the country have been down this road and have seen every time that we find a way through that works. Go ahead, Erin. 

Question: Okay, thank you. And then as far as the contingency plans, now as I understand it was Commissioner Nigro, not just a union, who said, you know, you may have 20 percent of fire and ambulance offline. So, looking at that and looking at some of the issues – other issues you're having, I mean, I know with DOE you were able to fill in, but you had a lower number of unvaccinated workers there and you also had sort of substitute teachers as an existing convention of a thing that's always done. So, I'm wondering, are you looking at anything as far as hiring people or getting any kind of replacements in place? I know you don't want to fire people right off the bat, but just as far as filling these pools, you know, is there any way you're looking at bringing other people in? 

Mayor: It’s a great question, Erin, I appreciate it. And I'll tell you this, I'm glad you asked the question because every type of work is different. So, when you have a school, for example, I'm just going to state the obvious, and I think it'll illustrate, you know, kids go to school 8:30 to 3:00 pm, whatever it is, and the teachers have to be there to teach them in that time, and if someone's not there, you need a substitute per se because that's the only time it happens, and those teachers are all engaged at the same time. But with public safety, you're talking about people who cover shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so there are lots and lots of police officers, firefighters, EMT, paramedics, you name it, all city uniform services who are not on duty at any given day and any given hour, pick up a different part a week. While a lot of them, of course, will be assigned with overtime to pick up some of the times that need additional coverage. This is done in many, many situations, it was done when we, you know, really went through the painful reality last year of huge numbers of our uniform workers being out with COVID. It's done in times of challenging crisis. It's something these agencies know how to do. We also have, in some cases, additional personnel we can bring in. As you heard, for example, there are other ambulance companies we can turn to for help. But the bottom is when you're dealing with uniform service, you have a whole set of tools that you wouldn't have, for example, with Department of Education. 

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Chris from the Daily News. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor just wanted to, before I get to the question, point out that you might have some of your Star Trek knowledge wrong there. You're wearing blue, that's not the uniform color of Captain Kirk. 

Mayor: Oh my God, there's faux pas, and good catch Chris because now you're making me think, that was more of a, I don't know, kind of a burnt yellow, right? 

Question: Yeah. That, that sounds, that sounds more correct. So now that we have that out of the way – 

Mayor: Well, Chris, I want to – I always say I'm going to give credit where credit is due to the media, that's a good catch. I like to blue a lot, but you're right, it's historically inaccurate, but I'm still going to wear it because now we bought it. So, thank you, Chris. 

Question: You got it, happy to be of service. So, going back to garbage collection and the Sanitation Department, you said yesterday that you were going to speak to the Sanitation Department union about the slowdown in garbage collection in Brooklyn and Staten island. First of all, how did that talk go? And secondly, were you able to determine that the slowdown is in fact a protest against your vaccine mandate? 

Mayor: Chris, obviously want to respect private conversations, I'll say we've had a number of conversations with the sanitation union leadership over the last days, including yesterday. I think there's at least a clear understanding of what we're doing and why we're doing it, and we're also making clear that this has to be addressed and we're going to use any and all tools to address it. There's always been a real dialogue with the union leadership, and I appreciate that. I'm not going to get into details, but I'm saying there was an honest dialogue going on. I think, as I said earlier, Chris, we see a problem in certain parts of the city. I'm assuming it is related to people expressing their views on this new mandate. And I'm saying, again, that's not fair to your fellow workers, that's not fair to your neighbors, that's not fair to your fellow New Yorkers, you're getting paid, you have to do a job. If you don't want to do the job anymore, you know, someone else really will want to do that job, I assure you. All of these uniformed service jobs are deeply coveted. They are crucial jobs. We depend on them. They're important jobs, they're fulfilling jobs, but they also come with some of the best benefits anywhere in the United States of America. People want these jobs, anyone that doesn't want to do the job anymore, I know someone else will step up and fill it. So, I'm hoping people get the message loud and clear. You want a protest, go protest, but when you're on the clock, you have to do your job, and your fellow New Yorkers really, really are depending on you. And they get up every morning and do their job. They need you to do your job.

Everyone, as we conclude today, look, I'll again, finish with the fact that this city keeps moving and vaccination has been the key, New Yorkers have done an amazing job that 12 – that 12 million dose mark is something everyone should be very, very proud of. And we're going to keep moving, and in a few days, literally just in a matter of days, we'll be able to reach our five to 11-year-olds with vaccination, making them safe, making family safe, that's something to celebrate. So, in the meantime, everyone, the great holiday of Halloween is upon us. I want everyone to go out and have a great time and be safe. This is a beautiful time of year. It's going to be another mark of our recovery. Go out there and have a very happy Halloween, everyone. Thank you.

2021-11-01 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Listen, we've said it so clearly – vaccination is the key to our recovery. Bringing back New York City, a recovery for all of us depends vaccination. From the very beginning, I've said it's up to you, New York. It's up to New Yorkers to get it right and New Yorkers have answered the call time and time again. New Yorkers have done the right thing. And now, our City employees are doing the right thing. We said we would climb the ladder of vaccination mandates to help us move forward, to keep our employees safe, to keep all the people they serve safe, to keep their families safe, our neighborhoods safe, our city safe. Time and time again, we put the mandates in place and they've worked with Health + Hospitals – largest public health system in America, 95 percent-plus vaccination level. Now, with Department of Education – largest public school system in America – 96 percent-plus, now, continuing to grow. But we needed to go farther, to go where a very few cities or states have done in this country. Very few have gone to this place of a full vaccination mandate for all employees, but it's time. I'm going to say upfront to every mayor in America, every Governor in America, to every CEO of a company in America, go to a full vaccination mandate because it will allow us to end the COVID era once and for all. We’ve got to end it. This is how we do it.

So, now, we know we have real results from this mandate. And, as of today, 91 percent of our City workforce is vaccinated – 91 percent and growing. And that's important – and growing. We want everyone to do the right thing, get vaccinated. Anyone who hasn't so far, there's still a chance to fix it. Come in, get vaccinated. Come back to work, because we need everyone to do their job and we need everyone to be safe.

Since we announced the mandate just days ago, 22,472 new vaccinations among our City employees. Just over the weekend, after the 5:00 PM, Friday deadline – what we know of so far, 3,564 new vaccinations and continuing. We know more people will get vaccinated. Let me give you the update now on some of our agencies. NYPD, now at 84 percent vaccinated workforce, up from 70 percent at the time we announced the mandate, October 20. Department of Sanitation at 83 percent of workers vaccinated now, up from 62 percent when we announced the mandate just 10 days ago. And then, the Fire Department – on the fire-fighting side of the Fire Department, as of this moment, that’s 77 percent vaccinated up from 58 percent at the time of the announcement of the mandate. And then, this is very striking – emergency management side of the Fire Department at 88 percent vaccinated at this moment, up from 61 percent at the time the mandate was announced just 10 days ago. That's almost 30 percent more in 10 days. And again, that continues growing. City workers are doing the right thing.

I want to thank everyone who got vaccinated. I know people had a lot of questions and concerns. Thank you for getting vaccinated. Thank you for doing the right thing. Thank you for moving us forward. More will, I know it. We saw it before with Department of Education. We saw it before with Health + Hospitals – more will. We need you to come back, get vaccinated, move forward. In the meantime, clear contingency plans have been in place. But, as you can see from the numbers vaccinated, different reality than some feared. We have very strong numbers among our work force. Contingency plans are there, but the good news is all the folks who have shown up for work today, doing their job. And we know things keep moving forward. We're not seeing disruptions to any City services. We've got now approximately 9,000 City employees on leave without pay today. So, let's do it again – 9,000 City employees in leave-without-pay status at this moment out of a workforce of almost 400,000. So, that's less than six percent of the entire workforce. Now, again, every one of those 9,000 is welcome to come back, get vaccinated. We've got about 12,000 who have applied for a religious or medical exemption, that will be worked on over the coming days, and they'll get their answer if they get the exemption or they don't. And then, they should act accordingly. If they don't get the exemption, come back to work. If they do, then they do.

But let's be clear, our agencies – and I want to thank Commissioner Nigro, Commissioner Shea, Commissioner Grayson, and all the agency heads of all the agencies that were part of this mandate. They've done a great job, continuing to move things forward, working with their teams – really smart, excellent planning and execution. We know right now firehouses are open, no firehouse closed. Response times, normal with Fire, EMS, NYPD. Department of Sanitation did a great job. They don't normally pick up trash on Sundays, but they did this Sunday, and they did a great job catching up. A big effort yesterday, crews out in full force. This has made a big, big impact.

Listen, this mandate was the right thing to do and the proof is in the pudding. We now see it worked. I want you to hear from someone who can talk about the impact this kind of mandate has on this entire country, because we're all connected and we have to get out of the COVID era together and these mandates are the way forward. I want you to hear from someone who's played a crucial role, advising the Biden White House on COVID response. He was the former administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services. He's been a leading voice on how to get health care to people in need in this country. My pleasure to introduce Andy Slavitt.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Andy. That was truly eloquent. I mean it. You're defining freedom exactly right – the freedom of people to live their lives without fear, knowing they're safe. And it does take all of us. We're all in this together. And I agree with you, you know, the vast, vast majority of spoken, Andy, you'll appreciate this. Right now, New York City, 5.72 million adults have received at least one dose. Now, about 86 percent of all adults. That's astounding super majority that have said, yes, this is the right thing to do. And the mandates have helped to get us there. So, thank you for the way you defined the freedom we need, which is the freedom to go on with our lives. And thank you for all you're doing to help move us out of this crisis. Very much appreciated.

Alright. Now, everyone, I want you to hear from someone who from the beginning believed in these mandates. And he knows a lot about the work that our City workers do, because he's Chair of the City Council Sanitation Committee. He was out talking to Sanitation workers in recent days about how important it was to get vaccinated. Really appreciate his leadership and his voice. He's a Council Member today, he's about to be formally elected the Borough President of Brooklyn. My pleasure to introduce Council Member Antonio Reynoso.

[…]

Mayor: Amen. Well, I’ve got to tell you, you caught the – you caught the vibe from Andy Slavitt and you did your own thing there, Antonio. That was beautiful. A beautiful statement, passionate statement about the city and what we need to do for each other. And you also said something very touching. We remember those sirens in the night. We remember what that pain was. We can never go back to that. And this is why these mandates matter, because we've got to never let down our guard. We’ve got to finish the mission of ending the COVID era. So, thank you. Thank you for your leadership.

Council Member Antonio Reynoso: Thank you, Bill. I can't tell you how grateful I am [inaudible] to be doing this. Thank you so much.

Mayor: All right, brother. So, I want you to hear from one more City leader who has also been a believer that this is the approach that works. He stood by it every step of the way. He's fought for it, been a leading voice in the City Council. But now, about to be formally elected as the next Comptroller of the City of New York. My pleasure to introduce from my own council district, Council Member Brad Lander.

[…]

Mayor: Amen. Amen. Thank you so much, Council Member. And, look, you're going to be one of the people that's going to make a big impact on making sure that we do have a city that not just builds back better in those broad sense, but becomes a more fair and just city. I know that's a passion for you and me both. We can do it. We can do it. We can really have a recovery for all of us. And I know you're going to be one of the people that makes it happen. So, thank you for that. Thank you, brother.

So, everyone, we've talked about how important it is to bring the city back and the crucial role of vaccination. And again, profound, thanks to all our City employees who did the right thing and to everyone who will do the right thing, going forward.

Okay, let's go to indicators as we do every day and with the good news, number one doses administered to date, we hit the 12 million mark and we kept going – 12,740,742 doses administered to date, more to come. And as early as the end of this week, we'll start to reach the five- to 11-year-olds which is really exciting. That's going to be so good for the families of this city. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 91 patients – confirmed positivity, 17.17 percent. Hospitalization rate – this is striking – hospitalization rate per 100,000 people, 0.57. That is amazing. And, again, we needed to keep going down that we need more vaccination. This is how we keep protecting ourselves. And, finally, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report, 698 cases. A few words in Spanish about the vaccine mandate and our public employees stepping up and getting vaccinated. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder today, we're joined by Dr. Dave Chokshi, Health Commissioner; Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals; Laura Wood, Chief Democracy Officer; Dermot Shea, NYPD Commissioner; Dan Nigro, FDNY Commissioner; and Ed Grayson, DSNY Commissioner. And with that, we'll go to our first question from James from PIX11.

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Happy new month.

Mayor: Happy new month is that, is that – we have a new phrase. Happy new month. Happy November, James. Congratulations, to the coveted lead-off spot. 

Question: Okay, I'll take it. Thanks very much. The firefighters’ unions are saying that a big part of a problem for them and their members is that they were only given nine days to comply with the vaccination mandate as opposed to the 30 or more days that, for instance, DOE and Department of Correction employees have been given. Can you, and maybe Commissioner Nigro as well, please respond to this complaint and how these members are also saying for them, this could be a life changing decision because they may decide whether or not to retire based on this decision, and they only had nine days in which to do it. 

Mayor: Well, James, I appreciate the question. I'll start and I'll turn to Commissioner Nigro after. I mean, right now, again, among firefighters, 77 percent have gotten vaccinated, among EMS, 88 percent. I think that is extremely clear evidence that there was enough time to make a decision and people made the right decision, overwhelmingly, and others will come in now and get vaccinated. Remember, first we asked our public health workers to go get vaccinated under a mandate. Then we asked everyone who worked at the Department of Education, our biggest agency. And we kept saying, we're climbing the ladder, there's more to come. There was lots of time for people to think about this. We had the phase of vaccinate-or-test. There was lots of time. There were lots of incentives, but it's been quite clear this was the direction we're going in and it's the right thing to do. So, I would argue, in fact, people had plenty of evidence to make a decision on and we welcome them now to make the right decision, if they're not yet vaccinated, protect their careers doing incredible work in the most amazing agencies in the world, really. And it's time for people to come in and get vaccinated. Commissioner Nigro. Maybe on mute. Dan Nigro.

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro: Okay –

Mayor: There you go.

Commissioner Nigro: Thank you. Here I am. You know, as far as the time goes, back in December of last year, we [inaudible] very hard to get to the front of the line, as we should be, and offer the vaccine. We opened our own sites to vaccinate people. So, for more than 10 months, every member of this department has had every opportunity to be vaccinated as they should have been. So, the nine – this nine-day issue is somewhat incorrect. Members have had 10 months to be vaccinated, I think that's plenty of time and they can still be vaccinated now and come off – those who are on leave without pay would then come off leave without pay. So, we implore them to take advantage. Come here, get vaccinated, and move on. 

Mayor: Amen. Amen.

Moderator: Next, we have Courtney from NY1. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Courtney, how you been? 

Question: I’m good, thank you. I wanted to follow up on the vaccine mandates specifically on the issue of sick leave at the FDNY. We, obviously, heard over the weekend that 2,000 firefighters, or more than 2,000 firefighters, have been calling out sick and it's, I guess, related to the mandate. Can you weigh in on that? And can you also let us know if we're seeing any other trends like this at any of the other agencies? 

Mayor: I'll start, and I'll turn to Commissioner Nigro. Courtney, to your last point, no, we're not seeing that trend elsewhere to the best of my knowledge. Second, I want to say it is imperative that everyone come to work and do their job. The people of this city, the taxpayers of this city rely upon all our public servants, particularly our first responders. And we have a lot of respect and a lot of love for our first responders. But I'll tell you, the people are troubled. I've heard this plenty of times over the years. People get really troubled really quick, when people don't show up to do their job, if they're not really sick. And we have every reason to believe there's a lot of people out there claiming to be sick, who are not. It's not acceptable. So, the thing to do is to do the right thing, come to work, protect people as you took an oath to do. And look, this is something that we don't tolerate. In the end when people do this kind of thing, there are consequences. I think the smart thing for everyone to do is to recognize this decision was made for the health and welfare of all New Yorkers. It was affirmed in the courts many, many times. The democratic process worked here. There were appeals, there were opportunities for reconsideration, and the court spoke. It's time to recognize that this is the law. Get back to work protecting the people of this city. Commissioner Nigro. Commissioner Nigro, you may be on mute – 

Commissioner Nigro: Here I am. Yes, thank you very much. Since the mandate was issued, our medical leave spiked up and we know that's related to protests against the mandate. It's obvious. Generally, 200 people come into our medical office every day. In this past week, it's been 700 a day. Most – the majority of them are unvaccinated. This is completely unacceptable. Thanks to those who are stepping up to fill those spots, the department is functioning quite well. And I would say to our officers’ union, our fire officers’ union is not participating in this medical leave and issued a statement as such. And our EMS unions are not either. But our firefighters most definitely are. I asked them to rethink this, to remember their oath of office. It's not only affecting the people they serve. It's affecting their brothers and sisters in the department who are forced to fill their spots day-in and day-out. And thank goodness for them. 

Mayor: Thank goodness for them, indeed. Go ahead, Courtney. 

Question: I guess continuing on this line of questioning, I'm curious if there's some fear, if you have 2,000 – more than 2,000 firefighters not coming into work, how this will affect companies and how will it affect response times as well? The same goes for PD. I realize that, you know, that vaccination rate ticked up a lot, which is great, but you still have 16 percent unvaccinated. So, what's that going to do for NYPD response times as well? 

Mayor: I'll start, and I'll turn to Commissioner Shea. Courtney, I want to commend Commissioner Dan Nigro and his whole team. I want to commend the union leaders who are doing the right thing. A very powerful statement by one of the EMS union leaders about the need for people to get vaccinated. As Commissioner Nigro said, the fire officers sending a powerful statement, it's time for people to come to work, do what's right for the people of this city, do what's right for each other. We are seeing in the Fire Department continued strong, good normal response times. And firehouses open across the city. So, in fact, the people who have shown up, the vast majority of the people got vaccinated, the vast majority are doing the work, and they're shouldering the burden for the others who are not participating. It's not fair, but they're doing the job. And I commend everyone who's doing the job and protecting their fellow New Yorkers. And that is what's going to see us through this. We're quite confident. In terms of the status of NYPD, Commissioner Shea?

Commissioner Shea: Hey Courtney. So, I mean the most recent numbers, I know we said 84, it's up to 85 now. So, it's gone up another percent. I think you know, with that remaining 15 percent it's very important to remember that there is a process where people can request reasonable accommodations for religious or medical reasons. And that's the vast majority of that 15 percent. So, those will be looked at, determinations will be made. We think we're in really, really strong shape here. I mean, members of the Police Department you know, responded to this, they came to work as they always do. And there was literally no effect on service at this point.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next, we have Andrew from NBC.

Question: I want to try to clarify here about whether there's no impact on City services today or a manageable impact? You had indicated last week that the observations that there's some kind of Sanitation slowdown, delay in trash pickup is an impact. And with folks who are on the Fire Department covering other shifts, you're not saying there's absolutely no impact, are you?

Mayor: Well, let me say it this way. I'll turn in a second, I'll turn to Commissioner Grayson for the Sanitation situation. But I've been monitoring literally hour by hour, Andrew. NYPD functioning fully, normally. Fire Department in terms of fighting fires and emergency services functioning normally. Response times normal. People are picking up the slack. Remember in the worst of COVID last year, you had 20 percent of the workforce out with COVID. This is a situation that people have dealt with before and they made it work and they're making it work even better now, thank God because we're in a much better situation overall. Sanitation, we did have several days with a real problem, but Commissioner Grayson and his team did incredible work to push hard to get people to catch up, including requiring Sunday service yesterday, which isn't normal. A lot of catch-up occurred. He'll go into the details. I also want to say this Sanitation workers union has stepped up and sent a message that people need to get vaccinated, need to get back to work. So, what we're seeing with the exception, unfortunately, of just a few elements of labor. We're seeing a lot of labor leaders come forward and say, okay, it's time, we've got to protect people. We've got to do the right thing. We've got to serve the people in the city. It's having a big impact in addition to the strength of the mandate and the vast numbers of people who are choosing to get vaccinated is encouraging everyone else to get vaccinated. It's just human reality. So, I feel very good about where we stand. There's some catch-up going on with Sanitation, but I feel good about the track we're on for sure. Commissioner Grayson, give us an update?

Commissioner Edward Grayson, Department of Sanitation: Good morning, sir. Yes. So, our vax numbers have continued to go up as you mentioned. And yes, we did experience a delay in service, you know, that a gap that we were making up throughout the week. Ours is a very visible service to all New Yorkers, as we well know. So, with 12,000 tons coming out every single day in the residential areas, once you get a little bit behind, it's going to take a little while to right the ship. We have full staffing in place throughout the weekend. We did work the extra service day on Sunday to do the best we can to catch up. And as we push forward into this week, we've had a huge increase from the time the mandate was issued into now. Up to, you know, a little over 20 percent, where we are from when the mandate was issued. And that number grows by the day. So, the mandates have put us back into a very healthy position, as far as available manpower. We're continuing to make up the backlog service. We believe we will be day on day, meaning Monday material only, at some point today. And we're going to continue that throughout. We have people in place to be working into tomorrow. Tomorrow is Election Day. We will have crews out working, to address situations and continue the trend and then continue to service litter baskets and do good things for the people in New York. And I too would like to commend my workforce who worked through the weekend, took on the extra tours, away from their family to help us get back into position. And I do want to humbly say to all those who experienced the delay up until now, my sincerest, thank you for your compassion. Definitely a polarizing time. I'm happy where my workforce is, where they are going towards vaccination. And we're looking forward to the rest of the week.

Mayor: Amen. Thanks for your great work, Commissioner. And all the commissioners here, I just want to say to Commissioner Grayson, to Commissioner Shea, Commissioner Nigro and their whole teams. Everyone's been working very hard for days and days to get this right. And you can see it in what's happening today in this city. Things are moving forward. Great examples of leadership out there. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: Mayor, if on balance City services are continuing relatively uninterrupted, are you not saying to New Yorkers that maybe we don't need 11,000 firefighters or the number of police officers we have right now? If you're missing six percent of the workforce and City services are relatively uninterrupted, isn't that an indication that you have too many?

Mayor: Look, Andrew, I want to, first of all, express my respect for our City workers, who have done extraordinary things over the last two years, especially, but even well before that, obviously I had a lot of respect for our City workforce. And I'm someone who has supported having a strong City workforce, having an ample City workforce because it makes such a difference. They've been there for us time and time again. Look, future leaders are going to determine what makes sense, how we handle things in the future, what our means are and what we can afford. But I do think when City workers do the right thing, the public believes in them even more and wants to support them and wants to keep their agency strong. And when City workers such as those who are choosing not to show up to work, even though they're not sick, when they do that, they start to lose public support. They start to get the public, in fact, angry that people are paying taxes, but not getting the service they deserve. So, if anybody out there is faking being sick, you're doing the wrong thing for yourself. You're doing the wrong thing for your department. And you're sending a message to people of this city, and they're receiving that message and they don't like it. So, everyone needs to get back to work.

Moderator: Next we have Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Yes. Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. We are hearing about reports of vandalism at least 30, on 30 Sanitation trucks. The cooling hoses were cut and there were tires slashed in other garages. I was wondering if Commissioner Grayson can fill us in on that, if that is in fact, the case? And if there is an investigation?

Mayor: Juliet, before turning to the Commissioner, I'll just say this. And I appreciate the question, anything that's going on, we're going to respond to immediately. And tell the public what's going on. In the last 48 hours, there's been a lot of misinformation out there. A lot of reports of firehouses closed when they weren't closed. A lot of hearsay, honestly. The official answer, the factual answer is going to come from each of the departments and of course from City Hall. We're going to keep people posted. If there's any issue as we talked about with Sanitation a few days ago, we acknowledge there was an issue and we talked about how we're going to fix it. And Commissioner Grayson and his team are fixing it as we speak. But there's a lot of rumor mill. And in fact, it's being done particularly by certain unions to try and make people worried. We're going to be really clear about what the facts are. With that Commissioner Grayson, how do you answer that question?

Commissioner Grayson: Good morning, sir. Yes. We had one isolated incident where we had a lot of – place with a large number of trucks. Some of them parked outside where we had some vandalism to the vehicles. We filled out a police report. It was over a week ago. We do not have any recent acts of vandalism that are impeding our fleet operations. And we treat the matter very seriously. The matter is under investigation and should anybody – we find out who it is, we're certainly going to be working with authorities to do all we can. But again, it was over a week ago. Some of those vehicles were parked out on the street. And we took every necessary step to make sure that we had enough fleet availability and we've been in very good shape and our fleet throughout the entire week.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: So, what exactly happened? How many trucks were affected and were they inoperable? What was the vandalism specifically?

Mayor: Go ahead, Commissioner.

Commissioner Grayson: Actually Juliet, you had great intel. It was cooling lines. And the trucks were able to be repaired. And we were able to complete service in that community board. It was in Queens. And we completed service in that community board on time.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Next we have Nolan from the New York Post.

Mayor: Nolan? Nolan? You got him or not? Are you muted? Nolan, you may be muted. All right. If he's not there. We can come back to him if you can't hear him.

Moderator: We'll come back to Nolan. Next, we have Steve from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning. Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Steve. How you been?

Question: I’m all right. I wanted to first ask a somewhat direct question. I know there's been some folks maybe playing around with semantics here on fire companies versus firehouses. I know you said no firehouses are closed. But I wanted to ask if they're, at what the kind of impact number is on fire companies, if any fire companies are closed or short-staffed this morning?

Mayor: Yeah. I'll turn to Commissioner Nigro, but first say this, Steve. And I'm speaking as a Brooklynite, who knows exactly where the nearest firehouse is. It's nearby. We care about it. We really appreciate the men and women who serve us. The people of this city want to know the firehouses are open. There's different staffing levels at different times in firehouses. The important thing is the ability to make a quick response. Response time is strong and consistent. So yeah, there's some people out for sure. And that has affected some companies. But remember, it's a huge department with very ample resources. In fact, there's redundancy built in. And that's the bottom line. That's what we want to emphasize to people. The service is there. The firefighters are there and nearby. That situation is being handled really well by the FD. In terms of specific numbers, Commissioner Nigro, if you have an update now, or we can get them to Steve as you get more.

Commissioner Nigro: Sure. As we sit here now, there are 18 units out of service. There are no firehouses closed. The Fire Department has 350 units. So, let's take that in perspective. And if we went back a month on any given day, we might find 18 units out of service for training, for maintenance, for repair of apparatus and such. But in our contingency plans, we ended all of that, so that we would have more availability. There are understaffed units and that under-staffing could end immediately if members stopped going sick when they weren't sick. And we hope that ends very soon. And we will go back to staffing our units as they should be.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Steve.

Question: I do appreciate that. I wanted to ask second, about the exemptions here. What kind of criteria is going to be looked at for these exemption requests? And why offer them in the first place? We know that health care workers on the State mandate don't have a religious exemption. The CDC has offered very, very limited medical reasons why someone shouldn't get the vaccine. So, why offer exemptions and what will be looked at on these requests?

Mayor: Steve, I think it was the right thing to do. I really do. We did this you know, the State started the process with the health care workers. The City with everyone who works at the Department of Education. We took the position that there was a valid type of medical exemption, but it was narrow. It was rare. And there was a valid type of religious exemption, but also narrow and rare. And we laid out those criteria. And anyone, any worker has a right to put in a request and say, Hey, I fit those criteria. And then they'll get a judgment. And then as is true in our democracy, if the judgment goes against them, they have a right to appeal and offer more information. But then there's an ultimate decision and they have to live by that decision. I think that's fair. I think that says to people that we really are listening, we're really going to take into account whatever information they put forward, but then there's going to be a final decision. 

For the vast majority of people, of course the decision is, no, they do not get an exemption. They have to get vaccinated, get to work. But we'll play that process out over the coming days. In the meantime, those folks do continue to work. But I just think that proves – that's further proof, Steve, that this was a fair process. We didn't seek to fire people arbitrarily. We didn't seek to withhold the opportunity for appropriate exemptions. We've tried to create a fair process. That's why 91 percent of the workforce said, yes, it was a fair process. They knew it was a fair process. They did the right thing, and we welcome back anyone who's not yet vaccinated. There's still time to make it right. 

Moderator: Going back to Nolan from the New York Post. 

Question: Hey, everybody, can hear me this time?

Mayor: Yeah. Nolan, how are you doing? 

Question: I'm well, Mr. Mayor, really wish we could do these in person, so they weren't constantly beset by technical glitches. First of all, I have a question for Commissioner Nigro. Exactly how many units are understaffed in addition to the 18 units that aren't currently in service because of staffing issues? 

Mayor: I’ll turn to Commissioner Nigro, and again, with whatever details he has now and any that they're still being collected, we'll get to you certainly in the course of the coming hours, Nolan. But, go ahead, Commissioner Nigro. 

Commissioner Nigro: Sure. I think the number of units understaffed changes by the minute, I would just go with many units are understaffed and I'll go back to the reason for that, the fact that just this morning alone, hundreds of people called in sick added to that number, which should be [inaudible] thousand [inaudible] 2,300. So, once the members come to their senses and stop using medical leave improperly, they can help out not only the citizens of the city, but their brothers and sisters who were staffing these units.

Mayor: Stating the obvious that people who are inappropriately using sick leave in the fire department or any other department are facing very serious consequences. We don't – look, we have sick leave for a reason. We have sick leave for people who are actually sick, but when a city employee fakes it and puts other people's lives in danger, that's a serious thing, and there's going to be consequences that. Go ahead, Nolan. 

Question: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. I guess I have a follow-up question to that and a request for clarification as to the statistics, if you'll indulge me. First of all, how many members of the police department and of the fire department are currently out on unpaid leave, separate from the requests for exemptions. And secondly, are you alleging that the fire department – that the union representing fire fighters is engaging in a Taylor Act violation? 

Mayor: Very good question. Nolan. Let me tell you, we'll get you the exact details. The number of total city workers at this moment, total for a workforce of almost 400,000, who are on leave without pay is approximately 9,000. So, I really want – I'm saying the facts really clearly for everyone out there to hear, and I would urge everyone to get this and express this accurately, 9,000 at this hour have chosen leave without pay. They are not vaccinated. They did not validly apply for one of the exemptions. 9,000. Now, remember at any hour, any of those 9,000 can say, wait a minute, I'm willing to get vaccinated and come back, and we saw over the weekend, a lot of that happening, thousands of people changing their mind coming back. To your second point - and we'll get you the breakout by agency, Nolan, I don't have that in front of me.

To your second point, Nolan, let's be clear, we're watching very carefully. We're watching for any potential Taylor Law violation. I want to make clear to the union leaderships. Now I want to emphasize a number of union leaders in the agencies that were affected by this new mandate, in fact, have stepped up and said whether they agree with it or not, it is the law, and it's time for people to follow law. A number of labor leaders have actually been strong and noble and saying it's time to get vaccinated. And that has been very important. In a few unions we're seeing the opposite, where the union leaders are not being at all helpful, whether it rises to a violation of the Taylor Law, whether these union leaders have now crossed a line, we are watching every single thing they say and do, every email, every tweet, we are watching everything. If we see a violation of the Taylor Law, we will be in court immediately. We all know that that happened a few weeks back. We took the corrections officers union, COBA, to court for very clear Taylor Law violations. They backed down quickly when we did that. If we see a Taylor Law violation, we're going to act on it. 

Moderator: We have time for two more today. Next, we have Bob from The Chief Leader. 

Question: Thanks for taking the call. We got some call from some NYCHA employees that said that their understanding where they had to complete the entire course, that's the first and second vaccination, to be able to come back to work. I know it's an independent agency, but could you tell us what's required across civil service titles? Is it the one test or are you required to do both and – 

Mayor: One – not test not – Bob, not test one. One dose of vaccine, of course, people should then go get the second dose on time. That is also going to be tracked by the agencies to make sure people finish it. But to come back to work, to get your payback, to be in good standing, you need to get that first dose. People could do that in a matter of minutes. So, anyone who right now is on leave without pay, who wants to correct, could go down to any number of sites, get the dose, get the card, and get back to work and get their payback. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: And then the other thing, this is a little granular, but a Local 1549, Eddie Rodriguez, DC37, they represent the 9-1-1 call takers and dispatchers have been so slammed for the pandemic. He'd mentioned to me last week, 500 of the 1,400 critical central workers had not been vaccinated. Would the Commissioner Shea have an update, or would you know? 

Mayor: I'll see if one of the commissioners has an update on that number. Again, we saw an immense amount – I don't know when you talk to him, Bob, but I want to remind you in the course of just days, we saw thousands upon thousands of vaccinations. We saw a huge uptick. So, unless that information is very recent, it might be very different than you think, but does any of our commissioners have an update on that? Okay, we'll get that for you, Bob, but go ahead. Commissioner Shea, is that you?

Commissioner Shea: The recent numbers - it is – the numbers I have from this morning were on the uniformed side of the police department, we had 34 people placed on the no pay status, as of this morning. I would remind people that's 34 out of roughly 35,000 workforce. On the civilian side, it is slightly higher rate. It's 40 members were placed on no pay out of roughly 17,000 employees. That's very fluid, that could go up as the day goes on, it could also go down as people get their vaccinations status. Regarding the 9-1-1 operators, we’re in good shape, we’re monitoring that closely, and again, I just remind people that you're – what you're forgetting is the reasonable accommodation component of this. And then we expect as those cases are reviewed and people are either granted or denied, certainly in the case of denied people, will choose to get the back vaccines. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Commissioner. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Last, we have Erin from Politico. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. A couple of my questions were asked, but I do want to follow up. So, with regards to these exemption requests, you know, that number is pretty high, higher than the number actually being placed on unpaid leave. Is there a deadline, a specific time, at which you'll have these decisions made and then, you know, those who are denied or put on unpaid leave? And are you expecting – when you've talked about the exemptions being very narrow – so, are you expecting any substantial portion of these people to get the exemptions, or do you think most of them are going to end up in the same situation as these [inaudible] 9,000? 

Mayor: Really important question, Erin, thank you. One, you know, there's a number of requests. They have to be reviewed, individually. There's an initial determination. If the employee wants to provide more information, wants to appeal, I mean, there are several steps in the process, so it will take days to play out for sure. And then as Commissioner Shea said, someone - if they're denied – has the opportunity right then and there to decide, okay, now I'm going to get vaccinated. So, there's a bunch of steps, substantial numbers, we have to work through. We have to do it carefully and meticulously. It will play out over days. I don't want to prejudge except to say what we know from previous experience, is that it was – certainly looking at Department of Education, we got a lot of requests for exemption, relatively few were granted. The religious exemptions are pretty narrow criteria that we believe are very accurate, very fair. So, I think you'll see a number of people ultimately find that the exemption is not approved and then they still have that chance to correct. Get vaccinated. Come back. Go ahead, Erin. 

Question: Okay, thanks. And then with regards to the firefighters calling in sick, first of all, just one point of clarification because Commissioner Nigro was breaking up for a moment. Did you say 2,300 called in sick? And when you said they'll face serious consequences, what are those consequences?  
Mayor: Well, think about this, Erin, it's – there's disciplinary measures that can be taken in any agency, and if someone is faking sick leave and that's – that means they are, at that moment, they're AWOL, effectively. They're not where they're supposed to be, and there has to be a consequence for that. So, that's something every agency has their own approach to. But I want to be clear. This is serious stuff. If someone – first of all, if someone is out sick, when they're not really sick, they are literally potentially harming their fellow New Yorkers because we need them where they should be. Their fellow members of service need them where they should be. If they are doing something that violates the standards of their own department, that violates their oath of office, if they're doing something dangerous, other lives, the biggest thing they should be worried about is the moral question, why were you not when people needed you and the danger of not being there? But on top of that, as employees, if they lied to the department, there are real consequences. There's a normal disciplinary process around that and there's real consequences. Commissioner Nigro, just to clarify the numbers at this moment of folks who are out sick, could you do that again, please? 

Commissioner Nigro: Sure. As of this morning, the total number was 2,300, which is a phenomenal number, which I say should be under a thousand, and this all happened from the day the mandate began to now, as continued day in and day out. And as you said, this is the biggest consequence here for each individual is their moral consequence. But the department is not without tools to look into discipline for these members. So, I would implore them for both reasons. You're sick, you're sick, it's a dangerous job, I get it. If you're not sick, I want to see you back at work. 

Mayor: Amen, and I want to say to all New Yorkers, Dan Nigro has literally devoted his entire life, his entire adult life, and this is a striking example. His whole adult life has been in service of the people of this city, protecting the people. His father before him, a firefighter his whole adult life, his family has done so much for New York City. He's saying – if there's anyone who can speak with authority about life in the FDNY and how important it is for members to be there for each other, it's Dan Nigro. He's sending a message to his members, his employees, very clearly. If you're not sick, you have got to come to work for the good of all New Yorkers.

And we're going to make sure to keep the city safe. I want again, commend Commissioner Nigro, Commissioner, Shea, Commissioner Grayson, all the commissioners, all the people in city agencies who are making sure the city is running well today, and it is, and I want to thank every city employee who did the right thing and got vaccinated. I want to say to anyone who is not yet vaccinated, come back, get vaccinated, join us. We want you to be safe. We want your family to be safe. We want this whole community to be safe, and we want to move New York City forward. Thank you, everybody.

2021-11-02 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. First, some really good news – update for all New Yorkers. Our City workforce now at 92 percent vaccinated. We've seen continued movement in the right direction. In the last 24 hours, 2,000 more City workers who had been unvaccinated came forward, got vaccinated, did the right thing, did the right thing for all New Yorkers, as well as for everyone they work with, everyone they serve. So, this is really good news – 92 percent of our workforce vaccinated. That number is going to keep going up. It's proof that vaccine mandates work and this is how we move the city forward. This is the key to our recovery – vaccination.

All right, let's go to our indicators as we do every day. And number one, doses administered to date, continues to grow, 12,083,793 doses. And in just a few days, you're going to see a big uptick with our youngest New Yorkers being eligible. We'll have more to say on that later in the week, we're really looking forward to that. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 73 patients – confirmed positivity level, 20.0 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is 0.55. And then number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report is 714 cases. So, we're seeing good trends because people are getting vaccinated. A few words in Spanish. And of course, today being Election Day, let's talk about the election.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We'll now begin our Q-and-A as a reminder, we're joined today by Kim Royster, our Chief of Transportation; Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals; Dr. Torian Easterling, Chief Equity Officer; Laura Wood, Chief Democracy Officer of DemocracyNYC; Hank Gutman, DOT Commissioner; Dermot Shea, NYPD Commissioner; Ed Grayson, DSNY Commissioner; Dan Nigro, FDNY Commissioner; and Sideya Sherman, our Executive Vice President for Community Engagement at NYCHA and our Executive Director of TRIEE. Our first question today goes to Andrew from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. On the mandate and the 12,000 people that applied for an accommodation, how quickly do you anticipate whittling that number down and did that number of people, in a sense, do you a favor because it kept the workforce higher on day one of the mandate? Might you see an uptick pretty quickly if you whittle that number down and suddenly you have thousands more on unpaid leave?

Mayor: Well, Andrew, it's a great question. I mean, I think the big story is clear. 92 percent of the workforce is now vaccinated. Folks, when they get to that moment of decision, overwhelmingly, are choosing to get vaccinated. So, going through those accommodation requests, you know, people putting in the requests, they have to be reviewed. There's an opportunity then given for any additional information to be offered. There's an appeal process. It'll play out over days, even several weeks. But what we do know is for those who get that accommodation, okay. For those who don't, it's a decision point. And in the past with Health + Hospitals, with the Department of Education, the vast majority of people who were told no, actually your application isn't approved, they then chose to get vaccinated. And I expect that to happen again here. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: On the children, five to 11, it's possible that it will be approved by the CDC as soon as tomorrow afternoon, possibly even I've heard some scenarios where they could jump it and do it tonight. But let's assume that it's tomorrow, the City now we understand has some supply in place already. Is it possible that some children start getting vaccinated as soon as tomorrow afternoon or evening? And if so, where do they go? Are they supposed to go to their neighborhood pharmacy? Are they supposed to go to their neighborhood school? What's your advice to the first batch of parents?

Mayor: I think there's going to be a lot of energy and enthusiasm among parents to get our youngest New Yorkers vaccinated. I really do. And what I'll tell you is the basic game plan we laid out that once we get full and final approval, within 24 hours of that we'll be able to have vaccination at City sites. And then 48 hours after that full and final approval at a number of other sites. To give you more details, I'll turn to Dr. Katz first and then Dr. Easterling. Dr. Katz, can you hear us?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes. Can you hear me? Sir, we hope very much that tomorrow we have full approval on November 3rd. And if we do on November 4th, we are looking forward to at Health + Hospitals, at all our pediatric practices to be vaccinating our youngest New Yorkers. This is incredibly exciting. We've been preparing for it, and we are ready to do it as soon as we have full approval. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Easterling, tell us about also the other types of sites in that timeline.

First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and totally agree with the remarks from Dr. Katz. We are certainly prepared. We have received some doses and we will continue to message out to our providers. I think it's important to just remember how robust our infrastructure is. In addition to our City sites we continue to engage [inaudible] our pediatricians and our family physicians. I'm a family doc, and I know how important it is that our providers are resourced well, so that they can engage their own patients, as well as any patients that do show up for our vaccine. In addition, we're going to be engaging our independent pharmacies as well to make sure that they're ready to also dole out our vaccines. But it's going to be [inaudible]. We continue to communicate through all our means. In addition to all of the messaging we continue to provide all of this information on our vaccine finder page. So, I will say to any parent that is looking for any information, in addition to our website to call 3-1-1 or vaccine finder, and they can identify a site, both our COVID vaccines and our booster vaccines are listed on the vaccine finder site.

Mayor: Yeah. And Andrew, just to follow up on Dr. Easterling, we have 231,000 doses for kids that either have arrived or are coming in quickly. So, I really want to encourage parents that we will tell you the moment it's fully approved and that's going to start that 24-hour clock to be able to be vaccinated the next day at our City sites, the day after at other sites. So, the second we have that information, we'll put it out, but we're really, really excited to start reaching the youngest New Yorkers.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth with WNYC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, having just gotten my two kids the flu shot, it was quite a traumatic experience. I was wondering whether the doctors could talk a little bit about, is there a different kind of protocol that's going to be at these City vaccination sites for kids who are afraid of needles? What do they recommend? Do they recommend maybe not going to a City site and waiting on line, and maybe just waiting for, you know, trying to see a pediatrician?

Mayor: It's a great question. Elizabeth, I'll turn to Dr. Easterling first, and if Dr. Katz has anything to add. But I'll say this, as a parent, I know what you're talking about. And I think it really obviously depends on the parent and the child. Some kids, it might be something more sensitive than for others, but it's every parent's choice. I would argue, get to the first best available site, most importantly, because it's so important to get our kids vaccinated, but certainly if a parent prefers to work with their own pediatrician, that's going to be online real quickly and parents should actually start reaching out right now and arranging for that. Dr. Easterling first.

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: Sure. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, this is a really good question. We want to make sure that, again, our pediatricians and our providers are prepared. And so, I would encourage any parent to reach out to their provider to confirm if they're going to have vaccines available. But we're going to have our City sites that are going to be ready for administering the vaccine, COVID vaccine, for five- to 11-year-olds. We're really excited to be able to do this because we know that vaccines are safe and effective. And we're going to continue to create different ways. And you saw this over the summer, offering music, offering different resources, and we're going to continue to engage and make the site more conducive, even more for our young folks. And I think this is the way that we continue to push back on the [inaudible] spread of the disease. But also, just making it accessible. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz, do you want to add?

President Katz: Yeah. All our Health + Hospital sites are going to have little goody bags that are age appropriate for our children. And let's remember that childhood vaccination is a common experience. All of us as parents, you know, have gone through it. And it's – sometimes I think it's a little bit more traumatic for us than it is for our children. But we know how to do this. We give many vaccinations. That's why there's been a tremendous decrease in childhood illnesses, childhood deaths because of the success of our vaccinations. And so, I think going to sites that are familiar to your child is a good step. And I think that we will be able to get all our kids vaccinated and after perhaps a few tears, there'll be many more smiles. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Well said, Doctor, thank you. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

Question: Follow up, as a follow-up, are you planning to provide resources for doctors’ offices that lack ultra-cold storage? I'm thinking in particular of, like, smaller community clinics that serve, you know, a lot of low-income families.

Mayor: It's a great question. Dr. Easterling, how are we handling that?

Deputy Commissioner Easterling: A really great question. This has been part of our work from day one. And I think you heard the Mayor say this, and certainly many of our health leaders, that equity has been front and center from the beginning of our mass vaccination campaign. And so, you know, sort of thinking about the universe of providers, our federally qualified health centers we continue to resource them. As we know, the Pfizer vaccine was the first vaccine to receive the emergency use authorization. And so, providing cold storage to ensure proper storage and handling of the vaccine was paramount to making sure that the vaccines were available specifically in the neighborhoods that were hardest hit. And so, now that we have continued to resource many of the centers and our providers, now we are engaging them, going out, talking to them about how to do [inaudible], ensuring that they're providing the right messaging for their patient, for their patient and any additional resources that they may need. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Bob with Chief Leader.

Question: Yes. Mr. Mayor, I just have a question for you, but also Commissioner Nigro, we want to make sure that it was worth his time to be on the call. We know that on Friday, six firefighters, I guess from engine - Ladder 13, went over to State Senator Myrie Zellnor’s office, and then said some things that were, I guess, to the effect that there would be blood on the hands of the State Senator to if the mandate went through. And so I’m just wondering if you could [inaudible] discipline process for the police department since the George Floyd protest, if you could give us a sense of what happens? Now we do know that there was an immediate, I guess, a penalty, but is there a trial room? I know it's a paramilitary organization, how does that work?

Mayor: Yeah, and let me just say at the outset, as we turn to Commissioner Nigro, Bob, that that just disgusted me. These were members of the fire department in uniform who accosted fellow public servants who worked for the State Senator. They mistreated them, from everything we've heard, in uniform, on duty, acting on their own political beliefs. That's unacceptable on so many levels, it's almost impossible to cover all the ground. It's so bad. I want to thank Commissioner Nigro for very aggressively acting with those suspensions. And I – look, that's a major, major offense in my book, a major crossing the line. I think, you know, further discipline absolutely is called for. But what is most important was the message was sent literally instantly by the Commissioner and the department that that was unacceptable. I think a lot of people who are deeply troubled by that appreciated the swiftness of the Commissioner's action. Go ahead, Commissioner.

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro: Thank you. And I'm always happy to be on the call, Bob, thanks for the question. As Mayor said, we immediately suspended these members for the maximum allowed to us under the city rules, 28 days. This case is then – we have a very robust investigative group here at the fire department. It'll be investigated as all of our cases of our people will have a chance to tell their side of the story and we'll move on from there, and of course the penalties can be anywhere from what they've already received up to and including termination, but I wouldn't try to speculate on where this will lead them until we investigate the whole thing. But initially, as the Mayor said, we were very, very troubled by this and took very swift action.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Bob.

Question: So, as a practical matter, are there occasions where behavior is so outrageous that it crosses over and requires an independent review by a law enforcement agency? Because behavior is beyond just an internal, you know, the way that people are doing their job.

Mayor: Well, I'll start and I'll turn to the Commissioner. I mean, look, Bob, to me, we're constantly working with each agency to make sure that all city employees treat the public properly, and anytime we see someone cross the line, I want to see real, clear discipline. This was a rarity for sure. I don't remember a specific incident like this for quite a while, but – excuse me – but it's really unacceptable and we're never going to let something like that grow in any way. So, what I'd say is, if it's isolated incidents handle them as individual disciplinary matters, if we saw any kind of pattern developing, then I think it's a fair question, what are the bigger structural things we need to do if we ever need to bring in independent eyes on it, that's something I'd certainly be open to doing. But I think this case, thank God, appears to be from my knowledge a rarity. Commissioner, you want to add?

Commissioner Nigro: Sure. I think the most common cases that are maybe extreme go to DOI, the City's Department of Investigation for their investigation, and in some cases, if criminal behavior is involved, of course, it's reported to law enforcement as a criminal act. So, we'll see where this investigation leads, but it will certainly be thoroughly investigated.

Mayor: Thank you.

And as we conclude today, I think it wraps together a lot of what we've been talking about. Safety on our streets, safety in our public housing developments, safety from COVID. This is how we move forward. And again, I want to thank all the New Yorkers who have gone out and gotten vaccinated. I want to thank the 92 percent of our workforce that has done the right thing, gone out and gotten vaccinated. I want to thank the 2,000 City workers who got vaccinated in the last 24 hours. Every single New Yorker gets vaccinated. It makes us safer, moves us forward, and this is how we create a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everyone.

2021-11-03 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

So, now, getting back to our recovery. The key to recovery is vaccination. We got great news from Washington. Now, we're seeing the approvals of the vaccine for the five- to 11-year-olds. There's one more piece we’re waiting for from the CDC, but it looks quite certain. And so, we're preparing. As soon as we get that final authorization that tomorrow – tomorrow, City-run vaccination sites in New York City will be providing the Pfizer vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds. Tomorrow's going to be a historic day for the city in our fight against COVID as we reach our youngest New Yorkers. So, City-run sites will be ready, up and running, ready to go. Assuming we get that final approval today, they'll be up tomorrow. And then, right behind them will come the other sites around the city.

Also, want to make a major announcement. We're going to have in each of our schools that has kids in that five- to 11-year-old range, we're going to have a day for each school when vaccination is provided at the school building itself. That will start next week and we'll carry it over into the following Monday. So, starting on Monday, November 8th, vaccination in schools, one day per school. We're going to have lots of notice to parents. Of course, the school community's going to reach out to parents to let them know that there will be an opportunity to get their child vaccinated in their own local school. Of course, a lot of parents are going to go faster than that and go to our City-run sites as early as tomorrow. Of course, there are a lot of parents would rather go to their own pediatrician. All choices are good choices, but we want to make it available and easy for parents who prefer just to go to their local school building. So, every school will have one day that's their vaccination day – easy, convenient, free, as always.

Now, reminding everyone a child in that five- to 11-year-old range who's going to be vaccinated either has to have a parent and guardian with them, or we need consent either written or verbal consent from that parent. So, there's going to be a great effort to reach out. Every school community has lots of ways of reaching parents, letting them know this is going to be available. And look, I know – and I've been saying as a parent, I know parents of the city are going to be so energized to get their kids this vaccination, keep them safe. But it's important we do every single thing we can to reach parents, answer their questions, make it easy, make it convenient. Someone who has been fighting for vaccination to be as convenient as possible, grassroots as possible, someone who really understands the concerns of parents, and he has been a big supporter of vaccination efforts in our schools. He is a former teacher himself and he is the Chair of the Education Committee in the City Council. My pleasure to welcome City Council Member Mark Treyger.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you, Council Member. And you've really been a strong voice and you've helped us get a lot done for our kids in so many ways. I want to thank you for that. And I know you're going to spread the word and school communities are going to spread the word. This is going to be a great opportunity. You know, every child that gets vaccinated quickly in these next days, that's going to be that much more protection for families and for our city. So, thank you for your leadership.

City Councilman Mark Treyger: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: All right. Now, let's continue talking about our recovery and how we move forward. And I always say, recovery equals safety, safety equals recovery – they go together. We know that the vaccinations have had a huge impact. We know that our vaccination mandate has had a huge impact. 92 percent of our City workforce now vaccinated. We know that these are the things that keep us strong, help us move forward. We also know that for years and years, New York City has been the safest big city in America. And we can say it in two ways now. In terms of COVID, we are one of the safest places in America, because we have one of the highest levels of vaccination. As of today, 86 percent of adults in New York City have had at least one dose of the vaccine. Talk about young people, in that 12- to 17-year-old group, 78 percent-plus already, and that's going to keep growing. So, that's one of the ways we're safe. We're also safe, because we have the finest police force in the United States of America and growing efforts at the community level to keep neighborhoods safe, community-based solutions to violence. They're having a big impact. We’ve got more work to do, always, but we saw progress in the month of October. We want to go over that today.

Okay. Let's go to our indicators. And we see continued progress on number-one, doses administered to-date. And I think we're going to see a big jump in the next few days now that we can reach our youngest New Yorkers. We are, literally, almost at 12, 100,000 doses, and that's about to go right up. Number-two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today’s report, 91 patients. Confirmed positivity, 18.28 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 people, 0.52. And then, new reported cases on a seven-day average, further evidence vaccination’s working – today's report, 680 cases. A few words in Spanish on the amazing efforts of the NYPD and folks at the community level to make this city safer.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. And please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Chief of Department Rodney Harrison; Dr. Mitch Katz; Dr. Dave Chokshi; Chief Democracy Officer Laura Wood, NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea; DSNY Commissioner Ed Grayson; and FDNY Commissioner Dan Nigro. Our first question today goes to James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call.

Mayor: Good morning, James. It's a beautiful day in New York City. How are you feeling?

Question: I do enjoy when you say that and when I say that, and it is true. And I feel great. How are you, sir?

Mayor: I'm feeling good. It’s the power of positive thinking, my friend.

Question: All right. I like that. We'll dive in. Regarding vaccinations for children five- to 11. When you talk about City vaccination centers being available for the vaccinations, are we talking about Health + Hospital and Gotham Health locations? And the city – by having City locations be available, what does it say about pediatricians’ offices ability to administer vaccines?

Mayor: Yeah. We’re going to – these are great questions. These are questions on the mind of every parent and I really appreciate them, James. Let's let me turn to two very, very happy people right now, because they've been waiting for this moment. First, Dr. Mitch Katz is going to tell you about what's going to happen at our Health + Hospitals facilities. Then, Dr. Chokshi will tell you about Health Department centers, and also what's going to be going on with the pediatricians writ large. Dr. Katz?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes, you're right, sir. We're very excited at the idea that we're going to be able to vaccinate our youngest New Yorkers. All of the Health + Hospital facilities, starting tomorrow, will be doing vaccination for this group. We're busy training today and preparing all our materials and centers so that children starting tomorrow can get vaccinated. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Excellent. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. And I agree today is a really happy day for so many of us who have been caring deeply about extending the benefit of vaccination to some of our youngest New Yorkers. I know there are a number of parents and pediatricians who are breathing a huge sigh of relief. And so, with respect to the rollout as has been described, we'll be working across City sites, so that includes Health + Hospitals sites, as Dr. Katz mentioned, Health Department sites, and some of our other vaccination clinics. Those will all be ready to vaccinate starting tomorrow. But James, your question is a good one because we know that many parents will want to go to their pediatrician's office to actually get their child vaccinated. And that's what we've been working with, almost 1,500 providers across the city both pediatricians and family doctors, to get them ready, to vaccinate safely, to have these conversations with parents. And we expect that those will start coming online through the end of this week and really ramp up over the next few days. So, that's all terrific news. And the final piece, as the Mayor mentioned, is that we have our school vaccination sites and those will be ready to go next week. So, there's no wrong door here. We just want to get as many kids vaccinated as quickly as we can. 

Mayor: Amen.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Juliet from 1010 Wins. 

Question: Yes. Hi, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everybody. The vaccination for the five- to 11-year-olds at school, will this take place during school hours and does the parent have to be with them at school at that time? And also, for your health experts there, what are the effects on vaccinations on children? You know, we know some adults have flu-like symptoms or they're very tired or have headaches. So, what do we know about that? 

Mayor: Well, two very different questions. And I'll tell you tomorrow, Juliet, we're going to go into detail on the school's plan, which will start on Monday the 8th. Yes, during school hours. As I said earlier, you got to have either the parent or guardian present, or we need written or phone confirmation of their consent. But we'll go over all those details tomorrow. It won't start until Monday the 8th. In terms of impact on kids and how to think about vaccination and obviously how to think about the safety it provides kids first and foremost, Dr. Chokshi followed by Dr. Katz. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, and you put it in the right context for the question. I'll start with the bottom line. COVID-19 vaccination for five- to 11-year-olds was strongly recommended by our nation's leading scientists. And this was based on data showing that the Pfizer vaccine is both safe and effective. And that's why beyond the data, you know, we should all listen to whom we consider the foremost experts on this topic – pediatricians, who are parents themselves, who are overwhelmingly urging vaccination. So, the most important effects to focus on are the fact that this brings very significant benefits to our children. If we were to vaccinate every New Yorker aged five to 11, it's estimated that we would prevent over 38,000 cases of COVID-19 just in New York City. And remember that some of these infections also result in hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and long-term effects from COVID-19. So, those are the effects that are most important for us to consider. But with respect to the side effects, of course, I know that this is a concern for parents as well. The most common side effects that were seen in the studies done among children were mild. So, the vaccines were quite well-tolerated – arm pain, some fatigue, some headaches, and body aches, very similar to what we have seen with vaccination in adults. Although the side effects appear to be more mild in children compared to in older age groups. So, those are the things that are most important, but again the bottom line is for us to focus on the fact that the benefits of vaccination are so strong and significantly outweigh any small risks or side effects. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, do you want to add? 

President Katz: I fully agree with Dr. Chokshi. In general, children bounce back much faster than adults do from vaccination. And I think the side effects that we will see will be very minimal and probably, for most kids, just be a little bit of pain in the arm and a few tears during the time of getting the shot. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Mayor, can you and your health team clarify what it is that you're waiting for from the CDC? Our best understanding is that once Rochelle Walensky, last night, signed off on the vaccine, and the State's COVID Task Force met last night and approved it, it is now legal today for providers in New York City and New York State to administer the vaccine right now, as long as they have it, and it's also our understanding that because Dr. Chokshi ordered so much of it in advance, there are providers who have it right now. So, can you explain what it is you're still waiting for? 

Mayor: Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi. You have the latest information. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. And thanks, Andrew. So, yes, when Dr. Walensky signed off on the CDC authorization that does mean that providers are able to vaccinate. But remember that we have a range of providers, some of whom are more or less familiar with vaccination, particularly in the pediatric context. And that's where the final piece that the Mayor mentioned which is the CDC’s clinical guidance, it's called their Clinical Considerations, is very important because that includes a number of the safety checklists and detailed considerations that many providers will be looking for to make sure that they take every single step that's necessary to ensure safe vaccination of children. We do expect that the CDC will release that expeditiously. We're expecting that sometime today. And once that final piece is released then we'll have all of the information that we need for the full range of providers to get started vaccinating. We've been, of course, working to prepare providers for weeks now. So, these are just the final steps in the interest of making this as safe a process as possible. And as you mentioned, we do have a supply of vaccine. Some of it has already arrived in New York City. And we expect more of it to arrive in the next day or two which will be sufficient to get us through the initial couple of weeks of the vaccination campaign.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: For municipal workers, what is the status of the 12,000 who have applied for accommodations? Has that list number been changed? And have you seen any ongoing impact to City services with those placed on unpaid leave combined with the other list who are seeking accommodations?

Mayor: Very important question. Thank you. No, we're not seeing any noticeable impact on response times. For first responders, continue to be strong and where we need them to be. We're seeing no disruption of service, firehouses open, everything's moving forward. Sanitation has caught up a lot on what they needed to do. Right now, importantly, Andrew, we've gotten now over 25,000 City workers have gotten vaccinated since the October 20 announcement. So, that's well over a half of the folks that we needed to reach. We originally said was about 45,000 were unvaccinated. Now 25,000 of them, done. We've gotten of that group of people who have asked for accommodations, they're continuing to work while that process goes forward. But as I've said, that's a multi-stage process. They have an initial application, it’s screened, there's an opportunity for people to provide more information. There's an appeals process. That will play out over a number of days, but those folks keep working in the meantime. But what we do know is there's continuing to be people who come forward to get vaccinated. So, since the beginning of the workday on Monday, when everything was in effect, 2,600 City employees have come forward to get vaccinated. So, they're obviously coming out of that group that would have been on leave without pay, maybe even some of them coming out of folks who asked for accommodation. We'll get those facts as we go along. Clearly there's consistent movement towards more and more vaccinations. Whole City workforce, again at 92 percent. That's going to go up.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Courtney from NY1.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Courtney. How you been?

Question: I’m good. Thank you. So, sticking on the vaccine issue, do kids starting tomorrow, will they need an appointment or can they just walk right in? And I know you've spoken about this probably last month when you were asked about whether or not you think there should be some sort of mandate for children to attend school? Now that there's the approval for five to 11-year-olds, do you want to reconsider that? Do you think that's something you would do before you leave office?

Mayor: No, I have no plans. I've talked to the Chancellor, I've talked to our health care team. We have no plans to change our approach. We've got to respect the fact that our kids need to be in school. And the school environment is incredibly safe. Look, I'm very, very proud and everyone out there who's been a part of this should be proud. We're over 78 percent vaccination level for our 12 to 17-year-olds. But for the kids who are not vaccinated, you know, we know in many, many cases, that's their parent deciding not to give them consent to be vaccinated. I don't want that child penalized. I want that child to have an opportunity to get an education in-person and all the other support in the school community, same with the five to 11-year-olds. I don't see anything changing that. Obviously, the new administration will take that up and decide where they want to go. But I don't see anything changing it over the next two months. To your question about walk-ins, Dr. Chokshi. You want to speak to that? And Dr. Katz?

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly sir. I'm happy to start. And the brief answer is that as with our other vaccinations, both appointments and walk-ins will be honored. I do strongly recommend particularly in the initial days, that parents book an appointment because we do expect that some sites will be particularly busy as people come in to get their child vaccinated in the early days. And we want to make that as smooth a process as possible.

Mayor: Dr. Katz?

President Katz: Same for Health + Hospitals. We'll honor walk-ins but because walk-ins can be an unpredictable volume without appointments, people might get stuck waiting. And having a small child with you while you're waiting is not a fun thing. So better to go with an appointment, but we will not turn people away.

Mayor: Dr. Katz as always, your wisdom is abundant. That is not a fun thing. I've been there.

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. Our next question goes to Paul from the Staten Island Advance. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: Good, Paul, how have you been?

Question: I’m well, sir, thank you. Regarding the city worker vaccination numbers, you've been saying about 91, 92 percent of workers are vaccinated, but six percent are un-vaccinated. I'm trying to get a sense of how those members square? 

Mayor: So 92 percent are vaccinated, and then we have a group of people, and it's about, let me get the exact number in front of me. I think it is 9,000. Yes, 9,000 are on leave without pay. And remember the total workforce is about 380,000. So, 9,000 right now on leave without pay. Those folks always have the opportunity to correct. They always have the opportunity to say, you know what, on second thought, I'd rather get vaccinated and come back to work. We saw a lot of that, obviously, at the Department of Education for example. We saw, as I mentioned, just since Monday morning, it's, you know, it's Wednesday morning now, since Monday morning, 2,600 more vaccinations from that group that was supposed to go into leave without pay. So, it continues to evolve, but obviously, overwhelmingly, our city workforce has made the decision better to get vaccinated, and so we're moving forward. Go ahead, Paul. 

Question: Thank you for that, sir. And for you and Commissioner Nigro, we're hoping to get a better sense of how the [inaudible] staffing needs are going on at day and how they compare to a normal service in more common times?

Mayor: Yeah, I'll start and turn to Commissioner. I want to give Commissioner Nigro and his whole team a lot of credit, and there's a reason I chose a guy who has been a lifelong member of the fire department because he really understands the way to make things work even with this challenge, firehouses open, response times, as I said, response times good. And I want to thank all the men and women at the fire department who have shown up who have done the work. It's a challenging dynamic, but they've done it. They've done it well. And we're going to keep moving forward. Commissioner Nigro? 

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro: Sure, I'll start, you know, the fire department of course has EMS and fire. So starting with EMS, they're doing an unbelievable job. They're almost 90 percent vaccinated. I think today's morning report, I saw, we actually had a few more ambulances out than we might've normally had out, our response times are equal to any other time of the year, and we're providing the service that people expect. Our fire officers have over an 85 percent vaccination rate. They're not participating in any sickout, that's actually going on with the firefighters, and we're having no trouble staffing our units with fire officers.

Currently as we speak, now, we have 12 units out of service. Now, there are two third alarms in Brooklyn this morning, and a fifth alarm in Manhattan. This would not be unusual on any other day in any of the year. We have some units understaffed, and I would say the combination of the number of people on leave without pay, who have decided to not comply with the vaccine mandate, and an excessive sick leave rate amongst firefighters has forced us to have some understaffed units a day in and day out. That being said, the members that are working, those members don't have – staffed, our fire units are doing a tremendous job. Our response times are fine, and that fifth alarm was put out expeditiously as was the first third alarm, and members are working hard on the third alarm right now. 

Mayor: Yeah, and Paul remember, we have an unusually large fire department. There's a lot of redundancy. We have standards that provide a lot more manpower per each situation than is true in much of the country. We have great leadership making sure that the resources are where they need to be. So, Commissioner mentioned I think it was 17 units out at a 350, as he said, that's actually fewer units out typically than what we saw even before the pandemic, where on a given day you would have units and training or getting maintenance, and one thing or another. Commissioners team have managed this really well, and people are being served and people being protected in this city. 

Moderator: Our last question for today, it goes to Yehudit from Boro Park 24 News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: I'm doing well. How are you doing today, Yehudit?

Question: I'm great. I was wondering if the Commissioner Nigro can please explain to us why the Uniform Firefighters Association is denying that there's a sick out and that they're calling in sick, and how many are calling in – have called in sick, yesterday and today? 

Mayor: A very important question, Yehudit, and I'll start only by saying, you know, it's – you can see some things before your very eyes. The Commissioner obviously knows what typical days look like in terms of sick leave, and suddenly we see this increase at the exact moment when the mandate takes effect. It's not mysterious to me obviously, but Commissioner give the facts that will help all New Yorkers understand why it's a very unfair situation that people are staying out sick when they're not really sick, and really being unfair to their fellow firefighters and to all New Yorkers. 

Commissioner Nigro: Sure. You know, the – yeah, the union keeps saying there's no sick out, but I do like math, I always liked math because two and two always equals four, and that's the way things are. So, if on any given day, the fire department has a thousand people out sick, lo and behold today there are 2,200 people out sick. There's no listeria outbreak. There's no outbreak of some mysterious disease. And the numbers started going up nine days ago when the Mandate was announced. So, we had two days ago, 900 people visit the medical office, when an average day is 200. If that's not a sick out, tell me what it is. Of course, the numbers went down a little yesterday. They went down further today. So, we're hoping that members are doing what I said, and that is serving the public and serving their fellow firefighters that are coming to work and stopping this. 

Mayor: Commissioner Nigro your statement is eloquent in its clarity. I thank you. And we like math around here. I agree with you.

Hey, as we conclude today, everyone, big day – big day today, but really historic day tomorrow as we get ready to vaccinate our five to 11-year-olds. We're really excited about this. Please, everyone, all the parents out there, all the family members, there's going to be a lot of people ready, willing, and able to safely and carefully vaccinate your child. Make sure they're safe. Make sure your whole family is safe. I want to just commend everyone, our health care heroes, our vaccinators, everyone who has done an amazing job keeping the city safe. Parents they've earned your trust by the way they've turned this whole COVID crisis around in the city and made us all safer. Our children are precious to us. Let's get them vaccinated. Let's keep everyone safe. Let's move out of the COVID era once and for all. Thank you, everyone.

2021-11-04 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

We are sticking with it when it comes to fighting COVID and overcoming COVID once and for all. And sticking with it when it comes to vaccination. Vaccination is the key to our recovery. And now, the day is here. We've been waiting for this day. This is a double good news day. Our five- to 11-year-olds get vaccinated, starting today with the Pfizer vaccine. This is just wonderful. It's going to mean a lot of kids will be even safer, families safer ahead of the holidays. Today, our City sites are open right now, open for business. Five- to 11-year-olds can get vaccinated. Any parent hearing me right now who wants to go get your child vaccinated, go right now – go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder. Make an appointment. Appointments are always the best, because it guarantees you're not going to be waiting. But if you want to walk in, you can walk in at those City sites right now as well, whatever works best for you. Good news, kids are eligible for the $100 vaccine incentive. So, we really want kids to take advantage, families take advantage of that. Everyone could use a little more money around the holidays. But, most importantly, we want our kids and our families to be safe.

We have done a lot of outreach already. We're going to be doing a lot more in the next few weeks. And just to give you an example, you'll see here the kind of outreach New York City has done over the last weeks of the vaccine effort in general – millions of emails, texts, calls that have made a big, big difference, reaching people, helping them know what's going on, helping connect them to sites. This is one of the reasons the vaccine effort in New York City has been so strong, constant outreach. We're going to keep doing that with parents, with families so we can get all our youngest New Yorkers vaccinated.

Now, parents or guardians who want to talk about this, want to ask questions, want to talk to a medical provider – you can call 212-COVID-19 – 212-COVID-19. That line is operated by our Test and Trace Corps. Thank you to everyone at Test and Trace, you've been heroes of fighting back COVID. Any parent can get questions there. Or, if you need to, talk to a health care professional, they'll connect you to one. So, this is moving now, now, now. This is going to have a big impact right now. And starting Monday, school vaccine sites. Every school with kids in the five- to 11-year-old range will have a site at least one day in the next days from Monday the 8th, on. We want to give this other alternative, because, for some parents, that's going to make it a lot easier. If you want to find out when your school's going to have an in-school vaccination site, go to schools.nyc.gov/COVID-19. And that will be going on from Monday, November 8th to November – Monday, November 15th. Each school, again, will have at least one day – one day per school, a great alternative for lot of families.

I want you to hear from two people who are leading this effort and they are really happy about this day. First, of course, our doctor, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. Well, today is a great day. I know parents and caregivers at the playground, on the sidelines of soccer games, and after dance recitals are talking about the COVID-19 vaccine for their five- to 11-year-olds. Many have been anxiously awaiting the moment they can take their children to get vaccinated. So, today, is a good day, because their wait is finally over. And I really love to see that kids are excited too. They've endured so much during the pandemic, and now it's their turn to have the same protection as grownups and teens, albeit in a kid-sized dose.

So, you can go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, or call 877-VAX-4NYC to find those five- to 11-year-old vaccination locations in all five boroughs. This includes City sites, pharmacies, and clinics. The Health Department has been working with about a 1,500 pediatricians and family doctors to prepare for this phase of our historic vaccination campaign. Citywide, we expect to receive our full initial order, that's over 330,000 doses over the next few days. And, starting next week, every public school with students ages five to 11 will host those one-day vaccination clinics.

I've heard from a lot of eager parents, but also from parents who do still have questions. And I know this comes from their instinct to always protect our children. To them, I want to say, the vaccine for five- to 11-year-olds is safe and effective. It's strongly recommended by our nation's leading scientists based on data showing that the Pfizer vaccine is over 90 percent effective against symptomatic COVID-19. This was at a time when the Delta variant was circulating. But still, if you do have any concerns, talk to someone that you trust – a pharmacist, a nurse, or a doctor. And, as the Mayor mentioned, you can also call our parent hotline via 212-COVID-19 to speak to a health care professional about specific questions you may have.

So, here's the bottom line – I strongly encourage parents and caregivers to get your children vaccinated as soon as possible. Based on the CDC presentation this week, if we were to vaccinate every New Yorker aged five to 11, we would prevent an estimated 38,000 cases of COVID-19. And remember, that some of these infections also result in hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and long-term effects from COVID-19, like shortness of breath and brain fog. With the vaccine, we have a chance to make COVID-19 largely a vaccine preventable disease among kids, similar to chicken pox, rubella, and rotavirus – all diseases for which childhood immunization is now routine. So, let's do the same for COVID-19.

Mr. Mayor, I'll end by saying Happy Diwali to all those celebrating. It is a festival of lights, as you know, and I can't think of a better way to eliminate our future than by kicking off vaccination for our city's kids. Thank you.

Mayor: Amen. Well said, as always, Dave. Thank you. Now, I want you to hear from our Schools Chancellor, and I know she is really, really excited about this day. She's a mom herself with a child in our public schools, but she also is always looking out for the health and welfare of a million kids. So, she's done an extraordinary job, keeping our schools safe and this is the last piece we've been waiting for to make them even safer. My great pleasure to introduce our Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter.

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Thank you, Mayor de Blasio. And I want to start off where Dr. Chokshi left off. I want to wish everyone a happy and safe Diwali to everyone celebrating. And what a gift today is. You know, all I can think of is, at last – at last, nearly every member of our school communities has access to this lifesaving vaccine. At last, parents can be confident that when their babies leave the house each morning, they have this powerful layer of protection against this disease. At last, we can take the final step in our mission of reopening our schools as strong and safe as possible. Nothing is more important than the safety about children, which is why our school staff has been putting in hours day-in and day-out to make our school some of the safest places to be in this pandemic. Their work, keeping students and staff safe is evidenced by our school's extremely low and continually decreasing positivity rates. Still, our safety measures have come with some necessary policies to keep all of our students healthy, such as unvaccinated students who come into close contact with positive cases needing to quarantine out of an abundance of caution. Vaccinations for our teens, however, has meant uninterrupted, continuous instruction this year. It has meant safe extracurriculars and sports. And now, with access to vaccines for five- to 11-year-olds, an added layer – has added a layer of safety that they ensure our youngest students too will have access to uninterrupted education and time in school, which they absolutely need.

If you have questions about the vaccine, seek out a trusted health professional to get your questions answered. As a parent, I've had deeply meaningful discussions with my children and my other family members about the importance of these vaccines. We've talked about how important they are to bring our family back together and all of our families together. If you don't have time to speak with your doctor at your school, when they are hosting a vaccine clinic in the coming days, and a health professional will be on the end to answer questions and provide this lifesaving vaccine. No one wants you to baby safely in school more than our schools and educators. Anything we can do to ensure our students have more time reading, playing, doing math and exploring the world is well worth this lifesaving extra step. So, I urge you to get your child vaccinated as soon as possible. Do it for their health, for their education, for their peers, and, more importantly, for the restoration of all of our communities. Thank you, so much.

Mayor: Thank you very, very much Chancellor. I can hear the enthusiasm in your voice and this day has finally come. And now, I want you to hear from some experts who really, really have been working on this issue and waiting for this moment, but they’re also voices we need to hear to help parents understand why this is the smart thing, the right thing to do for your kids. First of all, a leader among the people that parents listened to the most, pediatricians. He's the President of the New York State Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. My pleasure to introduce Dr. Jesse Hackell.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, doctor. A very powerful message and exactly what we need parents to hear. And now everyone, I want you to hear from another voice, a doctor who really of all the people I've heard talk about, is one of the people who speaks most clearly both from the big picture perspective and that's from the work she did on key policy issues at the White House under President Obama, it’s the work she is doing now as a fellow at the Brookings Institution, particularly focusing on COVID and how we overcome it. But she's also a primary care physician. So, she speaks from an extraordinary perspective. My great pleasure to introduce Dr. Kavita Patel.

[…]

Thank you so much, doctor. I appreciate – you have the extraordinary ability to communicate from the perspective of, you know, everyday life that people are living in, really helping people to understand. And I really appreciate the last point. You know, yes, knowledge triumphs, science triumphs, we move forward. So, thank you for the great work you're doing. And I appreciate your enthusiasm because something special is happening here. Thank you so much. Everyone. I want to hear from one more person that – he's also got really great perspective on this because he was for years and years, a teacher. And he is also a parent of young kids and understands what a watershed moment this is, historic day this is for our city, that our youngest New Yorkers can now get vaccinated. I want you to hear from the Bronx, Council Member Eric Dinowitz.

[…]

Thank you so much, Council Member. I love what you said, and you always speak from the heart and that last point about let's imagine that day – that's a beautiful thought – some of the diseases that caused so much pain in past generations, they're essentially gone. Let's fight that fight again. Let's get to that place. Let's defeat COVID. Thank you so much for being a part of this effort.

Council Member Eric Dinowitz: Thank you.

Mayor: All right, let's go to our indicators and this shows how we're defeating COVID. Doses administered to date 12,113,400 – amazing number. And then number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report is 103 patients, confirmed positivity is 15.74 percent. Hospitalization rate is 0.53 per 100,000. It's still really good there because everyone's getting vaccinated. Number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 579 cases. Let me do a few words in Spanish, of course, about reaching our youngest children with the vaccine.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Chancellor Porter, by Budget Director Jacques Jiha, by FDNY Commissioner Dan Nigro, by Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson, and by Senior Advisor Dr. Jay Varma. The first question today goes to Dave Evans from WABC. 

Question: Hey, Mayor. Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yeah, Dave. How are you doing? 

Question: I’m okay. Hey, I wanted to ask you, and also Commissioner Nigro, I was just handed a map yesterday and it talked about the area of Park Slope, East Flatbush, Flatbush, and it talked about Engine 249 and Engine 310 closed, Engine, I think, 248, maybe understaffed. And there was a four-alarm fire there. So, I'm just looking for a lay of the land, not just in that area, but across the city. Are we seeing fires grow to multiple fires because we are seeing some of these engine companies closed and a lack of manpower? 

Mayor: So, Dave, first of all, I don't know where you got the map. I think a lot of information is being put out, much of it is misinformation by folks who have a particular axe to grind. That's just the truth. There's been efforts to say, look, this is closed and here's the impact. When, in fact, every time you go to the Fire Department, as we're about to hear directly from the Commissioner, you hear the truth. The truth, firehouses open across the board. The truth, response time, normal. The members of the FDNY who are showing up at work, doing their job, I want to thank them for the great job they're doing. And really what they deserve is for everyone else to come to work and help them do that work. But what we have seen is very, very consistent, effective response to fires throughout. So, now, to Commissioner Nigro about the specifics – you speak about the general picture, but also the specifics of what Dave just raised. 

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro: Sure. And, Dave, is thinking about the same things we're thinking about, how is staffing affecting our performance? So, we're very, very careful looking at our response time. How has the response time been this past week as opposed to any other time in our history? And it's been fine. Our staffing, thanks to our contingency plan, and as the Mayor said, folks that are coming to work has been great. Right now, as I'm talking to you, there are four units out of service. I dare say that's fewer than on most days of any given year. We have had some understaffed units, but we've looked very carefully at these multiple alarms that occur each and every year when the weather gets cold. And the performance of our members has been fantastic. There had been no loss of life, fires go to multiple alarms for various reasons. Three of these we know, got up into the [inaudible] of buildings that are electrical in origin. But so far, we've been holding the line very well. We can thank our members for working very hard. 

Mayor: And I want to give context. Dan, you said four units out of service, right?

Commissioner Nigro: That's correct.

Mayor: And a typical – just to help everyone understand – a typical year between maintenance, training, other types of needs, just on an average day, how many units would you say would be out of service typically? 

Commissioner Nigro: Oh, we can have, generally, 20 units out of service training, et cetera. And that's fairly normal. And, again, I mention it every day, the New York City Fire Department has 350 units – engines, ladders, rescue squads. We're out there in force. So, even with 20 units out of service this department can manage a multiple number of multiple-alarm fires. 

Mayor: And as we turn back to Dave to say, in fact, the point is with only four units out of service, that's much less actually than in normal times, if you will. Firehouses open, firefighters doing their jobs. I want to commend everyone at the Fire Department, starting with the Commissioner for the extraordinary work he's done. But also, Dave, some facts today – now the level of vaccination among firefighters has gone up. It is now at 79 percent. It has gone up another percent in the last 24 hours. EMS has also gone up another percent within the Fire Department Emergency Services. EMS is now at 90 percent vaccinated. So, even as people are continuing to have this discussion, the actual folks who do the work are making the decision to get vaccinated. That's powerful. Go ahead, Dave. 

Question: My other question, it's kind of related, but a little bit different about Eric Adams. I don't know if you saw the video yesterday, but he was confronted outside Borough Hall by a lot of anti-vaxxers and anti-mandate folks. And he – it was kind of surprising because he was so able to diffuse, which was a very tense situation. He took five or six of the protesters inside, talked with them. They came outside afterwards and said they were pleased with what he had to say. I just wanted to ask you, in your years of knowing Eric Adams, is this the kind of thing that we can expect moving forward, that he can diffuse these, you know, these kinds of situations pretty quickly? 

Mayor: Yeah, I think Eric's an extraordinary person and he – and I’ll call him Mayor-elect now. Our Mayor-elect is someone who has spent time on the front lines as a police officer. I think he does have an extraordinary ability to connect and communicate. I'm glad that that dialogue went well. But I also want to remind you, that group of folks, that group doesn't represent the vast, vast, vast majority of New Yorkers. And here's the latest number today. It's staggering. 86.5 percent of New York City adults, 86.5 percent, have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine. So, I want to bring it back to the point that the vast majority of people in the city have made their decision and they support these mandates, and they want to see everyone vaccinated. And that's amazing. 

Moderator: The next is Andrew Siff from WNBC. 

Question: Hey, Mayor, good morning, and everyone on the call. Hope you're doing well. 

Mayor: Andrew, how are you doing? 

Question: Good. I wanted to ask about the kids' vaccines. Is there a threshold in your mind of what percentage of five to 11 get vaccinated that would bring you to recommend dropping the masks in school? 

Mayor: That's a real interesting question, Andrew. Let me say this, I'm going to turn, of course, to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma. They've been looking at this and, obviously, the CDC guidance. Now, Andrew, really important point, as we're pushing back COVID in this city and getting more and more people vaccinated, we're seeing better numbers around the boroughs. That's really good news. We do have the colder weather coming. That's a concern. So, you know, we cannot get ahead of ourselves here, but it's a great question, is there that point anytime soon? I would say my general view is, out of an abundance of caution, I would keep the masks in place at least in the short term, because they really worked and because the kids have adapted to them well, the adults have adapted to them well. But I’ll also say as an everyday person, you know, I look forward to the day when we don't need them. We just need to make sure we're absolutely certain that that's the right moment. Dr. Chokshi and then Dr. Varma. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And I agree with you. You know, I would just underline the point that our precautions have worked. We've been able to keep schools safe with the layered approach to prevention that you've heard us talk about so many times now, not just masking but very importantly, vaccination and bringing to bear testing and distancing and ventilation as well. So, we have to, you know, resist the temptation to throw caution to the wind too quickly. We are bringing on board a very, very important additional layer of protection in vaccination for five- to 11-year-olds. But remember, it will take us some time for people to get to a fully vaccinated stage and to get a sufficient number of kids vaccinated. So, that will be our focus in the near term. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Varma, do you want to add? 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Just to emphasize really what the Mayor has said. I mean, the reality is we all want, as public health professionals, to also go back to the day when we and our children don't have to wear masks and feel the way they did before the pandemic. But also, as Dr. Chokshi has noted, we're also very thankful that our measures to keep transmission controlled in schools has been working. And so, we do feel an obligation, I think, especially given the fact that there is a lot of uncertainty about what level of vaccination will make us all feel like we're back to normal. So, I think we're all ready to look forward to that day, but we're really not at a point right now to say that at any given percentage of vaccinations and then all of our current mitigation measures could be removed. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: Mayor, the reason I ask that is, we hear you almost every day say “once and for all,” but is there really that endgame where COVID becomes endemic, where it's like the flu and people will need shots every year. And possibly the masks stay a lot longer than they've been led to believe with words like “once and for all.” 

Mayor: No, I do – I really buy into “once and for all,” and I'll tell you why. I think what you heard from Council Member Dinowitz is the kind of ideal that it's defeated so thoroughly that it becomes an afterthought. But I want to take the example of the flu because I think that's the realistic goal for next year. And this is something talked through with the health team. Look, the flu is a real part of life, and it comes with dangers, but thank God for the vast majority of people, it does not affect them. And the simple thing to do is get that flu shot and you're done. So, I believe it's quite possible to get COVID, by next year, to the place that the flu is now in our lives, where, yeah, you got to take a simple precaution, but it's an easy precaution and you don't need a mask. I think that's possible. That's what we need to fight for. If we want that, if people want that, if you like, what I just said, COVID effectively is the same reality as what we experienced with the flu year-in and year-out, go get vaccinated, get everyone in your life vaccinated because if we do that, we can get to that place. And that to me would be ending the COVID era because it wouldn't be dominating our lives. It wouldn't be dominating how we have to decide everything. We'd be able to go back to the freedom we had. Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Varma, do you want to add to that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I'll just briefly add to say that the key point is the last one that you made, which is the importance of vaccination and having it be as broad-based as possible. That's why, you know, beyond the individual benefits that being able to vaccinate our kids five to 11 brings for, of course, those children and their families, there is also a community benefit. We will, you know, hopefully by the spring of next year, see that even children under the age of five will also be able to get vaccinated and then we'll have a chance to say that we have true population-wide vaccination, which I do think will make a material and substantive difference in, you know, how we are seeing and dealing with COVID-19. At the same time, we have to acknowledge that, you know, this pandemic and this virus has humbled us time and again. And so, we have to, you know, follow the trajectory, understand what the situation is with new variants and adjust our approaches accordingly.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Varma, you want to add?

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Yeah. And Andrew, you're hitting on a topic that you can see there's a lot of discourse on, in the media, online about, you know, what is the pandemic end game? What is the number that we need to focus on? And I think what Dr. Chokshi and I, and what the Mayor are all echoing is that, you know, we would love to be able to give a number. But what we've seen over time is that our ability to predict the course of the epidemic is just not nearly as good as we would like it to be. Some of that is due to changes in the virus. Some of that is due to behavior. Some of that is due to the natural process of us understanding and learning how the body's immune system has reacted to previous infection, to different vaccination regimens. I think we can say very safely that if we can get very high levels of vaccination coverage across the entire New York City population. So, that's from birth to the elderly, that we would be at a very different stage and very much in a situation very similar to the flu or other respiratory viruses. The real challenge remains what level below that is at a level where we, as a society can accept and tolerate it? And we just really are not at that level, either from science or I think from a public perception. And I think this huge advance that we have today of getting kids vaccinated is part of that discussion that's going to be both scientific as well as part of our popular discourse.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Bob Henley from the Chief Leader.

Question: Yes. Mr. Mayor, I just, as a concurrent point just to update you, I'm sitting outside your office by the checkpoint. Council, I guess the Council side where I sit in the regular, where Rich Lamb used to sit, the signal degrades so much that we're like, I had to move over here to be able to ask you a question. And just also as a, I'm fortunate to be doing this long enough that my questions get taken but behalf of young people that might be in my business and my profession, I would ask you to consider returning to in-person so that young folks who you may not know have a chance to be involved in this very important process.

Mayor: Thanks, Bob. Go ahead.

Question: My question, for Commissioner Nigro, UFA President Andy Ansbro sent out what I could say was an impassioned address on video to his members, asking them to return to work and basically saying that it's very important. Did you see that message? And do you have anything to say to him after he put that message out?

Mayor: Commissioner Nigro, go ahead.

Commissioner Nigro: Yeah, I did see it. He said a lot of things in the message about what we're not doing. He said to his members that they should come back to work on overtime. I wish he would have added to that message, that those who are using medical leave, that he claimed wasn't happening, but also cease. The part about coming in on overtime, I thought was encouraging. We're seeing some drop in the medical leave. And we're seeing some folks coming in for overtime. So, it is helpful. But he certainly could join me in saying if you're sick, please be out sick. If you're not, please be at work. That's what we do.

Mayor: Amen.

Moderator: The next is Jillian Jorgensen from NY1.

Question: Hey Mayor. Thanks for taking my questions. So, I wanted to ask about the school vaccine clinics that'll be rolling out next week? I think there was a little back and forth yesterday on what kind of consent would be required. So, I'm hoping that you can walk us through what level of parental consent is required? And if a parent or someone has to be there with the child, when this is happening? Are you concerned that that could make these sites a little bit less convenient for parents who maybe work during the school day? Can you just kind of walk us through that?

Mayor: Jillian, it's a great question. And I will tell you we're trying to confirm a little more with the State and our own Law Department to make sure everyone's on the same page here. Clearly for look. for a pediatrician – excuse me, for a parent or guardian who can go with their child. If a parent or guardian or family member can go with the child to the school for the vaccination, that's idea. Because it's 100 percent clear they're giving consent. But also just in terms of supporting the child, that's ideal. But you're right, some parents and guardians just can't do that. Written consent has been used historically. Verbal consent was an option. Clearly if we have to do both simultaneously, that's also an option, send in a written consent and we'll get the parent on the phone to confirm it. So, either way we'll make it work and we'll put out some more specific guidance later on today. But what I'd say is the best of all worlds is when a family member can come with the child. If not, we'll certainly have an alternative. Go ahead, Jillian.

Question: Thanks for that. And you know, just more broadly on the vaccines for children. I spoke to plenty of parents yesterday who were very eager about this, who were, you know, crashing their pediatricians’ websites to try to book their appointments, trying to snag a spot at Walgreens or whatever. And to that end, I'm just wondering how you feel about the amount of doses you have on hand? And the demand that there might be? Do you anticipate, I heard you say that walk-ins are welcome, are you anticipating having enough supply of the child size doses to meet that demand? Especially now that kids can get a hundred bucks, which buys a lot of candy?

Mayor: It buys a whole lot of candy. That's right. It's a great question. Let me say this, as a parent, I mean, I remember so vividly when my kids were younger and how we were just laser focused on their health. And, you know, over time you get a little more used to kids as they grow, taking a little more care of themselves. But when they're younger, parents are super, super focused on every little thing. And I've felt for a long time that the moment this was announced that parents would come rushing to get these vaccinations. I think we will see that. We've got so many sites. We're ready to go and we're ready to go in terms of supply. So, I'll let Dr Chokshi speak to the specifics. But we've got a whole lot of capacity ready. I do think we'll see a lot of parents. We may see some lines, but again, that could be a very good thing because it shows how many people want to get this vaccination for their children. Dr. Chokshi about the supply levels, what can you tell us?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And the short answer is yes. We have a sufficient supply. We have enough doses in New York City of the pediatric vaccine to meet the anticipated demand. As you said, the first couple of days will be busy. And so, we encourage parents to seek out, you know, the various places where you can make an appointment. Whether it's your own pediatrician's office or a pharmacy or one of our City-sites. And the best way to do that is to go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, or 8-7-7-VAX-4-NYC. And we can help with some of that navigation. But we'll have over 300,000 doses, an estimated 330,000 doses that are either already in the city or will be arriving in the next few days. And so, we'll have enough vaccine to meet the demand.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor and everyone on the call.

Mayor: Good morning, James. How you doing?

Question: Great. Thanks for asking. Hope you're well.

Mayor: Indeed, good news. It's a good news day, James.

Question: Well, let's see if that continues once I ask the question. Let's start with one, please. The federal government has now set January 4th is the date on which companies with 100 or more employees have to ensure that all employees are vaccinated or get tested weekly. Here in this city with so many corporations of 100 or more, what is the City doing to help promote this being implemented? And how do you see the vaccination mandate that you adopted for City workers, perhaps having influenced this national mandate?

Mayor: James, it is so important that everyone move to vaccine mandates because they work. City workforce, now at 92 percent. I'm so proud of our City employees for stepping up and making the city safer. Again, adults in this city, 86.5 percent, at least one dose. I mean, these are amazing numbers. They’re, obviously, we've reached this level in large measure because we used these mandates the right way and decisively. I'm very proud of that. I do think it's helped to move the entire national discussion and help to show people that mandates work. And they can keep us safe and help us move forward to freedom, freedom beyond COVID. So, I think it is working and it is having an impact. It is having an influence. With the companies we're going to do everything we can to support them. But I would say what federal government did, that's what they believed was a good baseline. I would ask companies to go forward. My message to every CEO, full vaccine mandate. Go for the gold here. It works. It makes a profound impact. The more people who do it, the more people buy in. So, the CEOs of the city and this country could play a crucial role in ending COVID once and for all, go with a mandate and go as quickly as you can with a mandate for the good of all of us.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Reema from Chalkbeat. 

Question: Mr. Mayor and happy Diwali to everyone who celebrates. So, my first question is about – I noticed, you know, yesterday when the press release was actually released about the vaccine clinics, I know that there were those clinics that you guys did for kids who are ages 12 and older, the first week of school, and they could get their second dose at school if they got their first dose at school. But this time for the younger kids, I know staff is supposed to help families set up that second dose, but it says it's going to be at non-school locations, and I imagine if the families choosing the school to go to, that's probably the easiest place for them to go. So, can you explain why the second dose is won't be at the school? 

Mayor: Yeah, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi who has been deeply involved in this and is a parent and is married to an assistant principal. I think he brings a great perspective. I think, Reema, my layman's answer is we actually found parents preferred everything from a pediatrician office to a local clinic, to a local site that was set up by the city. Those seem to be a lot more popular, and so, you know, we want to make sure there is the option of school for this crucial moment, but I think it's fair to say the parents often chose other options. Dr. Chokshi, you want to fill out that answer? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Well, that's exactly right, Mr. Mayor. And what we wanted to do particularly for this coming week is, we know there is so much demand for vaccination for five to 11-year-olds. We want to make sure that we broaden out our network as much as possible for people to get their first doses, you know, as quickly as they possibly can, and schools are a great site for us to be able to do that. But with that said, we do have a very robust network, pediatricians, pharmacies, our own city sites. And so we'll help people to navigate to get their second dose at a place that will remain convenient for them, and we can say that with confidence because of the breadth of network that we have for vaccination across New York City. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Reema. 

Question: Yeah, just to follow up on that a little bit, I'm still a little unclear. So, are you saying that with the other clinics that you held that first week of school for older kids, ages 12 and up, did you like – did you find that people didn't come back for their second dose, or you know, what sort of happened that is informing what you're doing now? 

Mayor: No, great question. I'll start, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. What we found was, although some parents liked it, it wasn't their go-to location, first dose or second dose. And so we're doing it this time because we want to certainly make it just as clear and easy for everyone to get this dose for their child. It's going to help create momentum around getting our five to 11-year-olds vaccinated. It sends a great message of, you know, giving people lots of different doors they can go through. But I think what we're going to see is the vast majority of parents where this first dose or a second does prefer a different location. If we see something different, we see people really indicating they prefer the school setting, we can always shift more opportunities, more resources that way. Dr. Chokshi, you want to finish that out? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I'll just add that, we do find that some families like this option, but particularly for younger children, you know, we're expecting even more than what we saw for 12 to 17-year-olds that parents will want to go to places that they're already familiar with. You know, pediatricians, their pharmacies where they get their routine childhood immunizations. So, we want to have this no wrong door approach, you know, particularly for the early days to have multiple avenues for people to get vaccinated, but then ultimately, you know, we will rely on that infrastructure. I'll just give one other, you know, sort of piece of information, which is if you want specific information about a vaccine pop-up clinics in schools, visit schools.nyc.gov/COVID19. I'm really grateful to the Chancellor and our Department of Education partners for always helping us to reach as many kids as possible. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, doctor, and everyone look, a good, good day. A good day because now we're going to reach our kids and there are going to be even safer because they're vaccinated. So, I want to encourage all the parents, all the guardians, all the family members out there, right now, make that appointment today, or go walk in, get your child vaccinated, will be great for your child, your family, your community, let's move forward. This is how we build a recovery for all of us. Thank you, everyone.

2021-11-05 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Good morning, again, everyone. Now, it's time for our Friday Ask the Mayor call-in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 212-4-3-3-WNYC. Or, you can tweet a question, just use the hashtag #AsktheMayor. You'll never get a busy signal on Twitter – hashtag #AsktheMayor. He joins us today from Puerto Rico where he's attending the annual SOMOS conference, held to draw attention to issues on the island and for Puerto Rican's living in New York. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. And, Brian, I have some good breaking news for you now. Just spoke earlier with our Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro, and I want to let you know that the Fire Department, as of today, all fire units, fully operational, there are none out of service. And the level of vaccination in the fire department has gone up. It is now 80 percent among the firefighters, 90 percent among the EMS workers. We've also seen the numbers in the Sanitation Department and NYPD go up again in the last 24 hours. So, really good progress on the vaccine mandate and on making sure that New Yorkers are being served and protected. Also, very important, 15 unions – 15 new school unions signed an agreement yesterday on how to implement the vaccine mandate. So, we're seeing a high level of working together and moving things forward from the vast majority of our unions, and that's really good news.

Lehrer: And that all sounds like good news. And I think we can say that the mandate is no doubt a success in terms of driving the overall vaccination rate to over 90 percent of City workers. Can you say though, when you say no Fire Department units are out of service as of today. I think there had been some confusion earlier in the week when there was reporting that some fire companies were out of service. Some people understood that to mean the firehouses were closed, physical firehouses in some neighborhoods, but that was never the case. It was some fire companies, which are groups of firefighters within those houses. Are you saying now, when you say no units out of service, that there are no fire companies that are not together? 

Mayor: Correct. As just you said, exactly right, Brian. Throughout, the firehouses have been open. And you're right, within firehouses there are multiple different kinds of units. Now, what I'm saying, in addition to all the firehouses being open, all units are operational. That's actually a stronger position than we are in normal times when, typically, some units are out of service for either training or maintenance. All of our 350 Fire Department units are operational, working. We've had great response times in addressing different challenges. It's really striking. And I want to tell you, if you want evidence that mandates work – since the mandate was announced – it was just on October 20 – since then, well over 26,000 City workers have been vaccinated. And interestingly, since Monday, which is when it had already gone into effect, 4,000 more have come forward who originally didn't meet the deadline, but then decided to, after the fact. So, 4,000 more. We expect a lot more of that. So, this is really, really a good news story for the whole city, because New Yorkers – right now, New Yorkers have voted with their feet if ever there was a case for that. 86 percent of New York City adults have now had at least one dose of the vaccine. And this is – that's a kind of majority and agreement that we almost never see in the city on anything. It's an unbelievable ratification that people do believe in the vaccine, they believe in the science, and they believe in the mandates as a way to make sure we all get there together. 

Lehrer: On EMS, you said the response times are normal. But our news department is reporting, I believe, that they have acknowledged that they've had to send fewer crews out to each emergency that would ordinarily require multiple crews. Is that your understanding? And has that put people in danger this week? 

Mayor: No, people are safe, because the response time has been very, very good and the outcomes have been very good, meaning, as we've looked at both fire and EMS, the impact of the response has been very, very effective. We had, on the fire side, we had a five-alarm fire, I think it was yesterday, was handled exactly right. Look, there's a huge amount of redundancy, let's be clear. And it’s a pretty known fact, in our Fire Department, there's a lot of redundancy. And so, in this instance, what Commissioner Nigro and his team has done is they very smartly moved people around as needed and used the resources they have to get the impact and protect people. And we did see a very, very inappropriate action by a number of individuals to call in sick when they weren't really sick from the firefighters. Now, let's be clear, most firefighters, most EMS folks absolutely did the right thing. It is a few who called in sick wrongly, falsely and endangered everyone else in the process. But what the Fire Department has done is really made great adjustments to keep the service levels high. And now, we're seeing the sick time going down the last couple of days and people coming back. And I, honestly –

Lehrer: Is there a lesson in a couple of stories that we've talked about already, for how quickly you or any other mayor involves unions in certain kinds of conversations? So for example, you've gotten criticized on the vaccine mandate for issuing the mandate before you've started talking to the unions. I think even Eric Adams has set a version of that.

Mayor: With the vaccine mandate, very different scenario because we've been talking throughout with labor. We've been talking before the mandate, since the mandate. And the fact as you heard, we had unions sign on in large numbers. 15 major unions, signed an agreement yesterday with us after a lot of dialogue. And all the previous unions in the earlier elements of the mandate, did as well. So, I don't think there's a lack of dialogue at all. And I think most unions we've come to agreement with. I think we're having one union in particular, the UFA, the firefighters, different from the other unions in their own department. I don't know if you saw it, Brian, but Vincent Variale, of one of the EMS unions, put out a powerful appeal to his members to get vaccinated. They said we don't necessarily have to agree on a mandate, but it's time to get vaccinated. We've seen other union leaders actually step up and say to people, this is now the law. It was challenged in court. The City won consistently. The City is the employer. The City has this right to protect people, get vaccinated. One union right now is standing apart. There's no lack of dialogue. They just don't want to follow the law. And we're telling them they have to. And in fact, they're members now, 80 percent of the Fire Department, on the firefighting side, is now vaccinated. I think that speaks for itself. 

Lehrer: Here's a call from a vaccinated City worker, Terrell in Manhattan, you are on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello. 

Question: Hi, good morning, Brian. Good morning to the Mayor. I am a City employee. I got vaccinated July 30th. During that time, you were given out the incentive for the $100. So, I decided to get my shot at Metropolitan Hospital, which is a City, you know, hospital is run by the City. So, when I did get my first shot, I had asked about the $100. They told me that they weren't included in the incentives. So, I made a couple of phone calls, eventually found out that hospitals were never included in the vaccine sites, which doesn't really make any sense since it's a City-operated site run by the City. So, my question is, how can I still get my $100 even though I did get my shot when you know, that incentives first rolled out? 

Lehrer: Where is my $100 Mr. Mayor? And, you know, we've had some teachers call and ask, where's my $500 because they got $100, but now you offered $500 in the last couple of weeks to the new City employees covered by the mandate. So, what do you, what do you say to Terrell and by extension others as well? 

Mayor: I think there's two – I think Terrell's question is one and I'll answer the other piece. Terrell, first for you, your story makes total sense to me, and I don't understand why you wouldn't have gotten it because it's city runs sites we were providing. So, I'm going to have a member of my team call you and fix that. Please give your information to WNYC. From everything you just told me, you deserve that $100, we should give it to you, and thank you for going and getting back vaccinated way back in July. 

To the bigger question, Brian, look, the people of this city employ me to keep them healthy and keep them safe, and we have now lowered COVID levels in the city to the point where one of the safest places in America, and we have one of the highest rates of vaccination anywhere in this country and we're getting better all the time. Originally where there was no incentive, a huge number of people got vaccinated because they just wanted to get vaccinated and be safe. At a certain point, we saw it was lagging, we put an incentive in place, the $100, it had a huge impact. President Biden actually picked up on it and told people around the country do the same. This last piece we thought we needed a supercharge, we needed to get this last piece done, we decided to do a short time $500 incentive. It helped because now you see these numbers in these agencies, and you know, you do things like this if you think there's a way to get something done for people and finish the mission in terms of fighting COVID. That incentive lapsed now, but it worked, it helped us get to 92 percent of our workforce vaccinated, and that's what the people ultimately care about, how we're going to be safe.

Lehrer: So, let's talk about COVID vaccines for school kids now that they'd begun for ages five through 11. I see they're going to be at schools, at least on one day per school and maybe more. My question for you is, is there any plan to offer the second doses at schools when they're ripe in a few weeks when the children are ready for them according to the timeline? I know there's concern about drop-off from completing the set without that. 

Mayor: It's an excellent question, Brian, and here's what we've found. You know we did school vaccination for the 12 to 17-year-olds and we had a good experience with that, but we didn't have a huge response from parents, mainly we saw people going and, you know, pediatricians to local centers. We saw typically parents choosing to go to other places they get health care rather than do it in the school. So, we're now doing one day per school for the five to 11-year-olds. If we get a really big pickup on that, we certainly can do more and we certainly can come back on the second dose. But if it tracks where we were previously, I think then we're likely to, you know, just direct parents to all the other places for that second dose, and they really have been picking it up. I got to tell you now with the, with the 12 to 17-year-olds, we're at 78 percent vaccinated, which is an amazing figure considering every single one of them needs a parental consent. So, they're not necessarily getting to make their own decision. The fact that we have gotten parents now to agree to that level, 78 percent for the 12 to 17-year-olds is great. I think we even have a higher number, ultimately with five to 11, but if we need to do more in schools, if it's working, of course we will. 

Lehrer: Here's a related question from a listener via Twitter. The question is when are masks coming off kids in school. The writer says it is affecting their education, communication, socialization, and overall mental health, parents deserve to know. So, I guess that the question in this context is, is there a critical mass percentage of vaccinated kids at which point you say the masks can come off? 

Mayor: It's a great question. In fact, Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Varma were asked this yesterday at my press conference and talked about it. The – there is not a hard and fast at this point, now because, first of all, we're going into the colder months and we know that is an important factor vis-a-vis COVID. And second of all we just have learned a lot from COVID that, you know, until we're really sure, we have to expect the unexpected. What is good now, which gives me hope about getting masks off, is just the overall level of vaccination in this city, it's huge, it's incredible, and it's growing. That gives me a lot of hope. I want those masks off one day, but we cannot tell you yet here's the exact day or here's the exact standard we're holding because we still need more information. I also want to say kids have done an amazing job keeping the masks on as well as the adults in school. None of us likes it, but it has made the schools literally the safest place to be in New York City, and we want to keep it that way until we're really all clear with COVID. 

Lehrer: Well, Mr. Mayor, as we head toward our final few Fridays of Ask the Mayor, before you leave office, now that the election has been held, I'd like to give you some time to talk to our listeners off the news of the week more than we usually are on some of the coming Fridays to reflect on your eight years of doing one of the most complicated jobs in the world. So, give some thought to what you might leave people with about things that you expected or didn't expect, advice for Eric Adams or future mayors, a sense of perspective for different kinds of New Yorkers, things like that. And we'll work out some specific themes in the coming weeks if you're interested. So give that some thought, all right. 

Mayor: Absolutely, Brian, I would be very happy to, you know, this has been the ultimate learning curve. I have a lot I'd like to share with people and anything that I can share I hope will be helpful to Mayor-elect Adams and this city going forward. But I want to thank you also, Brian. Now, I'll certainly thank you when are our time together ends. This has been a very, very moving and rewarding experience to have a way to speak to everyday New Yorkers, you know, all out in the open in a way where people really are hearing each other, thinking together, and having a dialogue. You do something with this show that doesn't happen enough in our society. I want to thank you for that, and yeah, I'd like to do a little reflective dialogue before this is over. That would be very good. 

Lehrer: Well, it's very nice what you said, and thanks as always Mr. Mayor, talk to you next week.

Mayor: Take care now.

Lehrer: Mayor de Blasio from the SOMOS conference in Puerto Rico today.

2021-11-08 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, we continue to see the power of vaccination keeping the city safe, bringing the city back. We hit a great milestone over the weekend. 93 percent – 93 percent of our City workforce now vaccinated. Here's more proof that mandates work, that it’s helping us to protect the people who serve all of you and protect all of you in the process. This is a really good thing. I want to give you some specifics because I think they speak volumes. The Sanitation Department now at 86 percent vaccinated workforce, NYPD at 86 percent as well. The Fire Department – on the Fire side, Fire operations, we have an 82 percent level of vaccination. That continues to go up. And the same at Emergency Services, 91 percent now. The important thing is we have seen, even in the last few days, those numbers continue to go up at the Fire Department. So, this is proof that the mandates are having a real impact. Since we announced the mandates on October 20th, 27,000 City employees have gotten vaccinated. And just since the Monday deadline a week ago, we've seen almost 4,500. Since the deadline passed, almost 4,500 more, and people keep coming back. I spoke to Commissioner Dan Nigro this morning, the Fire Department's doing an outstanding job. I want to thank Commissioner Nigro and his whole team. They have done an amazing job. All units, operational. All firehouses, open. Response times, good. Sick leave has gone way down now, back to regular levels, even below. So, that's fantastic. And that proves the power of the mandate and also the great work that our team at the Fire Department did implementing it. 

Now, the labor unions have continued to come forward and reach agreement with us on the implementation of the mandate. We've now got 20 labor unions, all of whom had members of the workforce for that October 20th announcement. 20 labor unions that have come to an agreement. 
They represent almost 100,000 employees. So, people are moving forward together, and our door remains open, always. Any other unions that want to have that discussion on how to come to an agreement, we're ready. We've proven we can do it with some of the unions already. And for the good of New York City, look, in the end, this is what matters, every day more and more people getting vaccinated, including folks who we depend on to do such important work. I want to thank everyone who chose to get vaccinated. Even if you had concerns, hesitation, even if you waited awhile, I just want to thank everyone who chose to get vaccinated. These numbers speak for themselves. Now let's go and get everyone else vaccinated. We're ready to have that conversation at any time to get the job done.

Now, another important fact is for the first time, since this entire pandemic began just in the last few days, we finally had a vaccine for our youngest New Yorkers. We have been waiting for this for a long time. This is really good news. This is really exciting. Our five- to 11-year-olds, we want to get them all vaccinated. We want to keep them all safe. Just in the first few days now almost 17,000 kids have been vaccinated. I mean, that's amazing. It just started on Thursday and now almost 17,000 kids vaccinated. A lot of activity this morning at our public school sites and other sites. We're going to be reminding parents, starting today every public school that serves kids in that five- to 11-year-old range will have a vaccination site for at least one day between now and next Monday. And I want to remind everyone, if we see a lot of demand, we're ready to add to that schedule, but every school starts with at least one day. And to find a schedule for your school for your child, go to schools.nyc.gov/covid19.So, the bottom line is we know that our schools are safe because of vaccination. The mandate we put on all the adults, the incredible success we have had with the 12- to 17-year-olds. Now about 78 percent of them vaccinated. We're going to keep going on with that. But we want to make it really easy for parents in this youngest group, the five- to 11-year-olds. We want to make it really, really easy for them to get their kids vaccinated.

So, we are starting today with a plan that all City employees and contractors will have an additional four hours of paid sick leave per child per vaccination. So, we want to make it easy. We want to make it conducive. We want to say to parents, whatever it takes, we're going to help you do it. So, also City employees and contractors will have an additional four hours of paid sick leave to get each child vaccinated. This is something parents deserve. You shouldn't have to choose between the paycheck and a healthier family. We're applying that belief here. That's what – the whole idea that led us to do paid sick leave on an unprecedented level in this city years ago and build it out for people. Here's another example. We want to make this work. And so, we also know that that's for our City employees, but we want to go farther. We want to reach all working people in New York City. We want to make sure everyone has this right for the time they need to get the kids vaccinated. I want you to hear about this effort from someone who has devoted his energies to protecting working people and making sure that workers and consumers get the rights they deserve, and those rights are enforced and protected at all times. He's our Commissioner for the Department of Consumer Affairs and Worker Protection, Peter Hatch. 

Commissioner Peter Hatch, Department of Consumer Affairs and Worker Protection: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We've all seen how important sick leave is to keeping our city healthy during this pandemic. So, we here at DCWP are really happy to work with the Council to once again expand it further to get the same sick leave you've just added for City workers, extend that to New Yorkers who work in the private sector. The proposed bill, which we're working to pass with the Council as soon as possible, would add the same four hours you just mentioned – four more hours of sick leave per child up to 18 years old and per injection. And caregivers can use this time to take their child to get vaccinated, or if the child – to care for the child that they're experiencing side effects. And this new law would apply to the same families that are covered by the City's Paid Safe and Paid Sick Law today. And everyone will get this additional four hours per child. It will be, once passed, once it becomes a law, it will be retroactive to November 2nd. That's the date the CDC officially authorized vaccines for children five to 11, and I'll be taking my daughter later this week to get her vaccination. And I encourage every parent and caregiver to do the same. The City's really here to help make sure you have the time and the leave you need to do just that. For more information about sick leave in general and this new leave, as soon as it's effective, you can go to our website at nyc.gov/workers, or by calling 3-1-1 and saying, “Sick Leave.”

Mayor: Peter, I want to thank you. Thank you for all the work you're doing to make sure that parents get their rights, and their kids get vaccinated. Also, congratulations to you. Just ran the marathon. How'd it go? 

Commissioner Hatch: Yes. Thank you. First marathon. Let me extend your congratulations to all the participants. What an amazing day in New York City, what an amazing symbol of our recovery. So, grateful for New York Road Runners, all our agencies, Parks, Transportation, Sanitation, Police, Fire. Thank you, Commissioner Nigro. I was fortunate enough to be able to run with FD Run Club and, of course, to all of the amazing volunteers who made it possible and the New Yorkers who cheered us along the way. It was just a fantastic day. 

Mayor: Well, it's another great sign of this city coming back and congratulations to you and everyone who ran the marathon. I'm impressed. First timer in the middle of all this. Well done, my friend.

Commissioner Hatch: Thank you. 

Mayor: All right, now, everyone, I want to hear from another leader who really understands how important this vaccination effort is to reach our youngest New Yorkers and how we have to really do creative things, to make sure that every child gets vaccinated. This is absolutely crucial to bring the city back strong, keeping our kids and families safe, the full recovery of the city. She understands this because she's the Associate Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center, but she's also a mother of three. And so, she can speak from both perspectives about why we got to do this the right way and make it work for our families. My pleasure to introduce, Dr. Dara Kass. 

[...] 

Thank you so much, Doctor. And I love that – I love that idea. Get a cake when you get vaccinated. That'll work, right? Whatever, whatever –

Dr. Dara Kass: There’s always a good reason to get vaccinated. 

Mayor: Yeah. There's always a reason. Exactly. Thank you. Thank you for all you're doing to help encourage our kids to get vaccinated and help our families to move forward. Really, really appreciate it.

All right, everybody. And now let's go to our indicators because it tells us so much about why we keep moving forward as a city. Number one, doses administered to date, 12,156,504 – just a fantastic number and it keeps growing. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 84 patients – confirmed positivity levels, 17.78 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is now down to 0.49. We're going to keep that going down through more vaccination. And number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report, 782 cases. Going to now give a few words in Spanish and focusing on making sure that parents know that we're going to get people paid time off to get their children vaccinated. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder today, we're joined by Peter Hatch, Commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection; Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of Health + Hospitals, Dr. Dave Chokshi, Health Commissioner; and Dan Nigro, FDNY Commissioner. With that, we'll go to our first question from Dave, from ABC7. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Hey, Dave, how you been? 

Question: Okay, I’m fine. I just wanted to ask, I know you talked about this on Thursday, but over the weekend, there was the development with the Mayor-elect talking in [inaudible] about that he wants to have the masks, you know, kids in schools, that they can go away fairly soon. But I just wanted to see your concern, you mentioned this on Thursday, but your concern about that and if we might be talking about this a little too early, 

Mayor: Yeah. I appreciate the question very much, Dave. I think we all aspire to it. Let me be clear. I wear these a lot and I'm like every other New Yorker looking forward to the day when I don't have to anymore. And I'd love to free our kids and educators and staff from it. But right now, it's too soon for that action in my view – and I'll let our health care leadership speak to it as well – because we are going into the colder weather months, because we are still learning about COVID all the time, and because we still have a lot more people get vaccinated. So, the day will come, and I think it will come relatively soon, but we're not there yet. Let me turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz to hear their assessment. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. You know, like you I think we all look forward to the day when our kids can take their masks off. But that is not today. Masks have been an important component of our layered approach to prevention, along with vaccination, improving ventilation, distancing where possible and other measures. And those protocols are why our schools are as safe as they are. So, we'll continue working toward getting our kids fully vaccinated, particularly as five- to 11-year-olds have just become eligible. And as always, we'll follow the science and the data to make adjustments to our approach over time. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz, do you want to add? Or we don't have him right now, I guess he's not going to add. Okay, go ahead, Dave. Dave –

Question: And just, can you clarify –

Mayor: Go ahead. 

Question: You can hear me?

Mayor: Yes.

Question: And just to clarify, on the four hours of sick leave, are we talking – I'm sorry I didn’t pay attention to what Peter was saying, and he could, maybe he can clarify – but we're talking City employees and everybody else? Just regular parents? And how will it work? I mean, you filed that with whom, you – how do you do it, how does it work? 

Mayor: No, great question, Dave. For the City employees we're acting right now with the power I have to ensure that City employees get that opportunity. For the rest of New Yorkers, we're moving quickly with the City Council to pass legislation and apply it retroactively. How it's going to work – Peter Hatch, why don't you talk about how it works now and what we're trying to get done with the City Council? 

Commissioner Hatch: Thank you, Mayor. Today, families that have a sick leave can use that already – the leave they have – to go and take their children to get vaccinated or to care for them if they have any side effects. Because it's relatively late in the year, we had a concern that some families might have exhausted the leave they had available, so we wanted to add an additional increment. That incremental four hours per child per shot will become available when this proposed legislation becomes law. And then it will be retroactive. So, if a family is seeking to get their child vaccinated this week, and we encourage folks to do it as early as they can for all of their eligible children, they can use their existing leave pools that they have under the City law and there's also some State leave available. If they have exhausted their leave already, they can take time off and apply when the law becomes effective and get paid retroactively. 

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you very much, Peter. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next, we have Marla from WCBS880. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor. I just wanted to [inaudible] on the vaccines in schools, just to clarify a few things. Does a parent or an adult with the parent's consent need to be present with that child? And will the schools offer the second Pfizer shot or do parents have to find that elsewhere? 

Mayor: So, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi in a second about the second shot. We talked about this the other day that we're assuming parents are going to more typically want that elsewhere from the previous experience we had with the 12- to 17-year-olds. But if we find that there is a lot of demand, we certainly can do that in schools as well. So, that's something we're working on. That's something we'll have an update on. I've gotten handed a couple of notes here, so I got distracted. Marla, the first part of your question again. 

Question: I wanted to find out about parents having to be with their child or, you know, a parent can provide written consent, but do they have to do they have to do that with another adult that brings the child into the clinic? 

Mayor: No, parents – it’s great when they can come in in- person. When a parent, guardian, family member could come with a child, that's great. That's ideal. But you can do written consent. You can even do verbal consent. To give you the details on that, Dr. Chokshi, do you want to speak to that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sure, sir. So, the way that it works at our school vaccination sites, as the Mayor said if a parent or a guardian cannot be there in-person, we do accept written consent. There's a specific consent form from the State or a phone call from the parent or guardian. But I do want to clarify that they do have to be accompanied by an adult caregiver. Either of course, the parent or guardian themselves, or if not then someone who is another caregiver for the child who comes either with that written consent or is able to call the parent or guardian to receive phone consent. I hope that clarifies, sir. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next we have Jeff from the New York Times.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. I have a couple of questions about the vaccine rollout for children. We've been hearing from some parents that there seems to be more demand than supply at some schools. And that some schools only have between 50 and 100 shots. I'm wondering is that the case? And do you have a sense if there is enough supplies, are you seeing lines with the rollout this morning? What exactly is happening in terms of supply for the rollout?

Mayor: Thank you, Jeff. Very good important questions. So first of all, what I have at this moment, we had four sites that had delay in getting their supply. That's being fixed right now. We have seen some lines I'm told at 12 schools in Districts One and Two in Manhattan, District 15 in Brooklyn. It is great to see that kind of demand. We got to match it now. We laid in supply and staffing for the amount of demand we expected. If we're seeing more demand, well, that's a good thing, but we got to catch up with it quickly. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, you want to speak about how we're going to get supply around where it's needed quickly and adjust?

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly, sir. Well, first of all, I'll just reiterate it's terrific news that we're seeing the demand for vaccination, that we are seeing at some of those school sites. And of course, it's our task, as the Mayor said, to ensure that the vaccine is matched up where we're seeing that demand. So, we've already made some shifts yesterday, as well as this morning, to ensure that we have adequate supply at those sites that are seeing greater demand. I also want to emphasize that, you know, if for whatever reason people are, parents are unable to get an appointment at their child's school. There is vaccine available at our City-run sites as well as at pharmacies around the five boroughs as well. So, this first day we're going to make sure that we smooth out any issues that we're seeing with respect to the uptick in demand at certain sites. And we'll also make sure to direct parents where we know there is supply because there’s adequate vaccine across the city. Thank you.

Mayor: Great. Dr. Katz, you want to add?

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: Just that we are at so many – one thousand schools. It's just great to see the demand. And then remembering that this is just day one. And we will get the vaccine to all of the kids whose parents are supporting it. So, I'm really pleased at the high demand.

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead, Jeff.

Question: Yeah, just a follow up question on that. If a child goes to a school that does not have enough shots available this morning, will there be another day for the clinic schedule? Will there be additional days added so that those children who miss the shots today or in the next couple of days can then get it?

Mayor: Yeah, that's exactly what we want to do, Jeff. I want to make sure there's any – first of all, the first thing to do is fix it right now so that if a parent brought their child this morning, there wasn't enough supply, get the supply over there quickly, give them an opportunity even later in the day to get vaccinated. But yeah, I'm perfectly ready to add days to any school where there's that kind of demand. And we'll make that assessment in the course of today. And if our team sees any place that needs an additional day added this week or next week, we'll do it right away. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next, we have Chris from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mayor. I wanted to follow up on a question earlier about vaccine supply at the pop-up sites at schools. Last week you were saying that the City had plenty of vaccine supply in stock and that there shouldn't be, you know, a supply issue at pop-up sites like this. So, given that, I guess I'm wondering why are we seeing such long lines today and parents being turned away with their kids, if the preparations were in place? I mean, clearly they were not. So, I guess why aren't you better prepared for this type of demand?

Mayor: Yeah, Chris, my understanding is at 12 schools and I want to make sure we fix it, at those 12 schools. And on day one there's something we obviously need to do a little better at those places. But I think overall what we're seeing is a lot of demand and a lot of kids getting vaccinated in our schools. And that's good news. Dr. Chokshi just, again, clarify the steps you're taking right away to increase the supply at the schools that need it.

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly, sir. What we're doing is we're ensuring that all of the sites have their vaccine supply, not just for today, but in certain cases for other days later this week as well. This morning, where we do need to shift around supply because we're just seeing higher demand at a small number of sites. We are shifting that vaccine supply. And then the final thing that I'll just reiterate is that you know, we have hundreds of access points across the city in addition to our school clinics where we also have a supply of vaccine so that if parents prefer to get it at their pediatrician or at one of our City-run sites or at a pharmacy that we've covered those bases as well.

Mayor: Good. Thank you.

Moderator: Next we have Bob from the Chief Leader.

Question: Yes. Thank you for taking the call. I was hoping that Commissioner Nigro could update us on, I guess there's some, maybe 2,000 folks who applied for either a medical waiver or religious exemption? And I guess it's on the Fire side. So, while you mentioned that DC 37, many of the unions signed an agreement. So, there's a framework, right? So, people can understand how to apply for these exemptions and I guess there's a schedule. What's the status for the Fire officers and UFA members who were in this cohort of folks that have applied for these medical exemptions and waivers? And I guess have been permitted in the interim to test as a prior arrangement?

Mayor: I'll just start and I'll turn to the Commissioner. Bob, we've said before, that group of people have put in for any kind of accommodation, that's going to be processed. But it's a several step process. There's appeal, you know, there's different elements to it. But in the meantime, you're right, people keep working. But if someone has given the accommodation that will be respected. If they ultimately don't get an accommodation, they'll be expected to come back to work. Or else if they choose not to, it's leave without pay. But in terms of how things are going on the ground at this point, Commissioner Nigro, you want to give an update? I think you may be muted, Dan? There you go. There you go.

Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro: Initially we have not quite 2,000 folks who put in for this accommodation. It is somewhat of a process as the Mayor described in which we will review it. And see if there's any basis in fact, for this accommodation, whether it's medical or religious. In the meantime, all of the people that put in before the – at the time that they had to put it in, are working and being tested. And while these are being reviewed and they will continue working, continue being tested for COVID. We'll see how that works out. Anyone that put in past the deadline, there is no agreement yet to include those with the initial group that made the deadline.

Mayor: Okay, thank you. Go ahead, Bob.

Question: So, throughout this tribulation of the pandemic, the patchwork response across the country have been problematic. But you're seeing now that – Bruce Blakeman, I guess whose looks to be the Nassau County Executive-elect says he's not going to impose the vaccine mandate on police. We have Governor Ron DeSantis in Florida offering actually a $5,000 bonus to unvaccinated police officers. And can you and maybe your experts also speak to this. That it is point of fact police officers and firefighters are as Dr.[inaudible] instructed me, actually medical care providers. And can we make that linkage that this question about vaccination it's – these are not folks that are paper pushers. These are people that encounter people that are in medical need often.

Mayor: Oh, absolutely. And I will certainly let Commissioner Nigro and Commissioner Chokshi speak to this. But let me reiterate the numbers because I thought what you where you were going to say was that in fact, despite all the hype, look at the choices that our first responders have made. Again, reiterating for the firefighting element of the Fire Department, 82 percent now vaccinated, NYPD 86 percent, EMS 91 percent. Those numbers compare very favorably to adults in the general population in this city. So, clearly the mandates have worked and the work is being done now out there in the streets of the city, people are being kept safe by first responders who are safer themselves. So, I really think we have proof that this is the right way to do things. I would urge other mayors, count executives, governors go down this path because it works and it keeps everyone safe. Dan and Dave, just speaking about Bob's point that these first responders obviously play a crucial role in terms of the health and safety of New Yorkers? Go ahead, Dan.

Commissioner Nigro: Sure. You know, you go back to late 2020, and we were able to make a convincing argument that our, of course, our EMTs and paramedics, and also our firefighters respond each and every day to thousands of medical calls and treat patients. And for that reason, the vaccine was afforded to us very, very early. And we could make the same argument, why our members need to be vaccinated for the good of the public we serve and for their own good and their family. And we reiterate that over and over that we are medical care providers at the very tip of the spear and therefore vaccination is very important for our members.

Mayor: And Dr. Chokshi you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. As Commissioner Nigro said you know, my colleagues, who are first responders are public servants that are responsible for public safety and that's why they're instrumental to public health. And so, you know, I'm grateful that so many of them have stepped up to get vaccinated not just to protect themselves and their families, but also their communities and our city as a whole. And also just mention to the first part of your question, you know, I'm sincerely grateful to the Mayor for the for the leadership that he has demonstrated which was in contrast to many other elected officials, as you pointed out. And this was not an easy decision with respect to ensuring that our city workforce, including first responders, are all vaccinated, but it was certainly the right one. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: We have time for two more today. Our next question goes to Elizabeth from WNYC 
. 
Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I also wanted to ask about the school vaccine rollout. We had our education reporter Jessica Gould at P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights this morning, and she was told that the school got 50 shots, but they had actually asked for 200. So, my question is, is how did the city and the DOE decide how many doses each school would receive this morning? 

Mayor: Yeah, that's a great question, Elizabeth. I want Dr. Chokshi to respond, but I want to note that we may be seeing, again, something we need to address and we will fix very, very quickly, but we may be seeing the contrast between what we experienced with the 12 to 17-year-olds and what we're experiencing now with the five to 11-year-olds, because we had sites in the schools the whole week, the first week of school, trying to reach those 12 to 17-year-olds, and we had some good numbers, but not a huge amount of demand. We're seeing a lot of demand now. So, I think we based our numbers on what we saw before in part, I'm very glad to see the demand is higher and we'll make those adjustments immediately. But to the point you raise, if a school asks for a certain amount, got less than they asked for, why did that happen? How do we fix that? Dr. Chokshi, want to speak to that. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. We are looking into that and ensuring that, you know, our DOE colleagues are fully briefed on exactly how much vaccine is allocated and then ensuring that those decisions flow down to the site level. But the major point is the one that you made, which is that what we're seeing is unprecedented demand at certain school sites, that in those, you know, small number of sites is exceeding the amount of vaccine that is currently there, but we're taking steps to readdress that by shifting additional supply to those sites, and if necessary, setting up additional vaccination days. So, I want that big message to be one of reassurance for parents and their families that we will take every step that we need to ensure that anyone who wants a vaccination will be able to get it for their child at the site of their choosing. Thank you.

Mayor: Yeah, and Elizabeth, to emphasize that any school that had too much demand, more demand than the amount of supply, we're going to give them another day as quickly as possible. So, I want to emphasize that. If we have a school where there's parents who really wants to get their kids vaccinated, right? That school, we honor that, we love that, we will get not only more supply there immediately today, but we'll add another day in the coming days ahead and announce that to the school community so they know they can come back and get the vaccination done. Go ahead, Elizabeth. 

Question: My second question is at what point will you ask restaurants, gyms, all of those organizations and institutions that are requiring vaccinations for adults and teenagers, at what point will you ask them to also start checking for vax cards for five to 11-year-olds? 

Mayor: That’s a very good question, and honestly one we need to focus on now. We want to get to the day where we actually could vaccinate the youngest New Yorkers and get that rolling. We know it'll take a while. I mean, right now, to use the example of the 12 to 17-year-olds, very good news, we're almost at 79 percent of them. That's fantastic, but it did take a while. So, it's a great question, Elizabeth, it’s one I don't think we're going to settle immediately because it will naturally take a number of weeks for that age group to get vaccinated. But it's a question we need to answer for the weeks ahead and we'll come back on that. 

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Katie from The City. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor de Blasio. I have a question that is related to schools but is a little different than what everyone else has been asking. I know that the extra help that the DOE will provide to students who may have fallen behind during the pandemic on when schools were remote, I've heard from some parents whose children have IEPs and usually require paras to help them in during the school day. Their schools have told them that that won't be available to them. So, it seems sort of unfair that these are students who potentially could need – obviously need help – but they may not be able to access this after-school programming because the schools don't have that. I'm curious if, you know, A, is this required? And, B, I mean, is it something that schools should know that they should have available to students, even if it's not their usual para, but there will be a para available to them so they can get those additional help as well. 

Mayor: Well, we certainly want those kids to get the additional help and that's the whole idea of this school year is to bring kids back and help them catch up, and we're providing a lot of different forms of support. So, I'm glad you're raising it. I don't know the exact way that that's being handled, but I want to make sure it is handled. We'll get you an answer from the Department of Education today. I agree with you that if a child needs that additional help, it could come from the same para they normally have or a different para, but they've got to get help. If you have specific instances, Katie, that we should know about, that we should follow up on, please share that with our team as well. Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Great. Thank you. Oh, can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah, go ahead Katie. 

Question: I'm just curious - hold on – I'm getting my second getting my second question sent to me. I did not [inaudible]. Oh yeah, do you have any of a goal for how many kids will get vaccinated, and by when? I don’t know if you have like a benchmark that you’re looking for?

Mayor: We don't have a specific number or a specific date. We certainly, you know, look with –I'm thrilled with the percentage now on the 12 to 17-year-olds. It did take a while, but now they're at almost 79 percent compared to adults in the city almost at 87 percent. I mean, that's considering adults had a lot more time, you know, that's a really, really strong number. I want to see us get to really great numbers with the youngest New Yorkers, but I think it will take time. I think a lot of parents will want to talk to their pediatricians or have the shot provided by their pediatrician because of the relationship with the child. So, we'll be talking about the kinds of goals we hope to hit over time, but we're not ready to assess that yet. We need to see this get going for a while. I am confident that, you know, we now have two specific pieces of information, what we saw with adults, what we saw with 12 to 17-year-olds, that gives me hope that we can get to a very high level, but I think it will take some time. It will take months obviously to get to that point.

Everyone, as we conclude today, just again, really great to see that parents are coming forward to get our youngest New Yorkers vaccinated, and we want to encourage that, and that's why we're making that time available, paid time available, for parents to get their kids vaccinated. That's what a compassionate city does. That's what a city does that really cares about our people. We want New Yorkers to take advantage of this. Get out there. There's going to be so many sites available to you, as we said, school sites that will be happening this week and Monday, and we'll be adding days as needed in schools that are showing high demand. Bottom line is here's an incredible opportunity to make your family safe, your child safe, your community safe, and New Yorkers are proving – and we've seen evidence now more and more – we are literally leading the nation, not just in our policies, but in terms of what you are doing and that's making all the difference. Thank you, everybody.

2021-11-09 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well, we see really, really good news out there when it comes to vaccinations and we know vaccinations keep us safe, vaccination is what's allowing us to move forward. New York City is now the safest place to be in the United States of America because you went out and got vaccinated, and because more people are getting vaccinated every day, because the mandates are working, because now we can finally reach our five- to 11-year-olds. This is really great news for the kids in New York City, for the families in New York City. And we have been seeing great response at our vaccination site. Here's some breaking news, yesterday at our school sites alone, over 4,500 kids got vaccinated. Now, remember we had sites at some of our schools. Throughout the week and into next week we're going to have sites at all of our schools that serve five- to 11-year-olds. But already 4,500 kids got vaccinated at our schools yesterday. Grand total, since vaccination began for the five- to 11-year-olds, almost 25,000 kids. It's amazing. So, we see that parents are coming out, getting their kids vaccinated. We expect this to grow a lot in the coming days. This is another way we keep our city safe, and we move forward. And I want to hear – I want you to hear, I should say, I want you to hear from two of the heroes of this effort. When the history is written about how New York City overcame COVID and came back strong, these are two of the people who are going to get a lot of praise for what they did. Our Schools Chancellor, Meisha Ross Porter, and our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi. And they're on location at Central Park East School in East Harlem. Dave, Meisha, are you there? 

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Good morning. I'm so excited to be here this morning with Dr. Chokshi here at Central Park East II in Harlem. Thank you, Principal Smith, for hosting this day. Today, we are doing vaccinations, day two. And I'm so excited to be here with our families, with our students who have so many reasons why this day is important. So, Dr. Chokshi and I'm going to go talk to some of our friends who are here today, who are ready to do a lot of things, including getting vaccinated this morning. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Here we go. Let's meet – who's getting vaccinated this morning? What are your names? 

Carter: Carter. 

Lila: My name is Lila. I already got vaccinated actually.

Chancellor Porter: How'd it go for you?

Lila: [Inaudible] 

Chancellor Porter: Yeah. Good. Very good. And so, we're going to – you're going to be the brave one and show all the world how we're ready to get vaccinated, right, Carter? All right. Wonderful. We’re so excited. And what's super special today is we have two sets of twins getting vaccinated at the same time, but I know we've heard so much from our parents about their why. And so, Dad, you want to tell us a little bit about why this is important for you today? 

Unknown: You know, we've just been doing what we can to keep our families safe, keep our community safe. And when the adults – when it was our turn, we did it. When our 12-year-old turn – you know, when it was his turn, and now for these guys. We just, you know, we're ready to do what we can. 

Chancellor Porter: Yeah. And that's been so important. You know, Dr. Chokshi and I have talked to so many families, who've just talked about keeping healthy and keeping the community safe and you know that’s super important. 

Commissioner Chokshi: That's absolutely right. As we're getting set up here, you know, the Chancellor and I were at a school yesterday as well. Over 4,400 students got vaccinated yesterday across our schools. And just as you were saying, Chancellor, the best part is hearing the whys. Some of the whys that we heard yesterday were about gathering more safely over the holidays with kids’ grandparents, with playing sports more safely, or to protect an even younger sibling, you know, that people have at home. But maybe my favorite one from yesterday was, ‘everyone else in my family has already gotten vaccinated, I'm the only one left.’ And so, it's really wonderful to be able to get everyone protected in the way the vaccination brings. So, without further ado, let's get some more folks vaccinated. Lila, do you have any advice for Carter?

Lila: No.

[Laughter] 

Commissioner Chokshi: You're on your own Carter.

[Carter receives COVID-19 vaccine]

[Applause] 

Chancellor Porter: [Inaudible] because they’re ready. They’re excited.

Commissioner Chokshi: All right. Please introduce yourselves to start. What's your name? 

Taylor: My name is Taylor.

Tiana: And I’m Tiana.

Commissioner Chokshi: And how do you guys feel this morning? 

Taylor: I feel pretty excited. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Pretty excited.

Tiana: I'm really scared.

Chancellor Porter: So, we have a mix of feelings. So, Mom, tell us why this was important for you this morning.

Unknown: This is extremely important, you know, for us, for our family. I personally lost six family members to COVID and I'm just happy for us to just get protected and stay healthy and safe. 

Chancellor Porter: Well, you heard it here. What's your name again, honey?

Taylor: My name is Taylor. 

Chancellor Porter: Taylor is going to go be the brave one. And she's going to show her sister how it's done. But what you hear over and over again from so many families, ‘we've had loss, we want to travel, we want to get back to what is our new normal for our city, for our system, we want to protect our community.’ But most of all, the young people across this city have said, Mayor, I don't know if you've heard this, that they are going to be brave and they're going to step forward because they want to be healthy. So, I'm going to let Dr. Chokshi lead us to our next vaccine. 

Commissioner Chokshi: All right. So, the thing that I'll say, first of all, is to give a shout out to all of the vaccinators, like Sabrina, our nurse here – 

[Applause] 

People have been working so hard to get New York City vaccinated and we are truly grateful to all of the nurses, pharmacists, doctors, everyone. But it takes everyone rolling up their sleeves. So, thank you, Taylor. And here we go.

[Taylor receives COVID-19 vaccine] 

[Applause] 

Nicely done. 

Chancellor Porter: So, Tiana, what do you think? You watched Taylor.

Tiana: It doesn't seem that hard.

[Laughter] 

Commissioner Chokshi: What do you say, Taylor?

Taylor: I beat COVID. 

[Applause] 

Chancellor Porter: You heard it from Taylor [inaudible] beating COVID one vaccine at a time.

Commissioner Chokshi: You can’t beat that.

Chancellor Porter: Thank you so much. We'll pass it back [inaudible]-- 

Commissioner Chokshi: Back over to you.

[Applause] 

Mayor: I love it.

[Applause] 

Talk about a happy scene. 

Commissioner Chokshi: That was amazing.

Chancellor Porter: That was amazing. 

Mayor: Absolutely amazing. That was beautiful. Let me tell you, that is an amazing scene. To see all those kids ready to go, parents there excited to make sure the kids are safe. And, of course, Dr. Chokshi and Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, amazing, amazing enthusiasm they bring to it. Listen to what the kids said. It didn't seem that hard. That's the truth. It's easy to get vaccinated. It isn't hard. And then I love what the other child said. “I beat COVID.” “I beat COVID.” This is how we all beat COVID. Getting vaccinated is how we beat COVID once and for all. Look at the kids, the kids often see things even more clearly than the adults. They get it. So, what a beautiful scene there at Central Park East. Look, that kind of scene was playing out yesterday, all over the city at schools and will be again today, throughout the week, into next week.

We saw a lot of energy. We saw a lot of schools where there was great demand. Now that's a wonderful thing. There were some places where we had to do better, and we had to get supply to them and get additional help. And we did that. There's about a dozen sites where there were lines. We sent mobile vans, vaccination vans, to those sites to make sure that people could be accommodated, but it's also been a good signal to us that there's more demand at those school sites than we anticipated. So, today we're going to have 24 mobile vaccination units out at schools around the city where we think demand will be high. We've added additional vaccinators, additional staff to make sure we can accommodate any parents and kids who show up to get their kids vaccinated. This is really promising that parents are embracing this the way they are.

Now, you saw there, the kids’ different reactions, some a little bit more scared, some a little bit more eager. But what's clear is, kids really perceive a lot. I can say, as a parent, I was always amazed even in the youngest years, what my kids were able to see. And I want to tell you about a note I got from little five-year-old Indiana Chang at P. S. 19 who sent a note, it’s a beautiful note you see there. And she said she was going to be brave. She knew it was important to get vaccinated. She was going to be brave. She was. She was fearless. She got vaccinated. She’s safe now. Congratulations, Indiana. Congratulations to all the kids, all the parents whose kids got vaccinated. This is moving us forward.

Now, I want you to hear from someone who really understands how important this moment is and how important it is for families to get the answers they need and get their kids vaccinated. She has led the way on the national effort to get kids vaccinated. She has been a voice helping parents understand the science, the medical facts that they need. She's been out-front encouraging vaccination for young kids and is literally the top pediatrician in the nation as the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics. My pleasure to introduce Dr. Lee Beers.

[...] 

Thank you, doctor. Doctor, we were all able to see an absolutely precious moment there. And I feel like, you know, I loved your reaction to it. I feel like this is what it's all about. Just going out to the people, giving them the chance to be safe and, look, the kids are leading the way, Doctor. 

Dr. Lee Beers: They always do. They always do.

Mayor: Amen. Thank you. And listen, everyone, I want you to hear from someone else who has been such a powerful voice on the importance of folks getting vaccinated, the importance of having vaccine equity, reaching people in communities, and he's also a parent and he has a four-year-old who will soon be reaching five and be ready to be vaccinated as well. So, he has a lot of different perspectives on how important this moment is. My pleasure to introduce the Chairman of the General Welfare Committee in the City Council, Council Member Steve Levin. 

[...]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Council Member. And congratulations that your child will soon be one to get vaccinated, and that's just good for everyone. Thank you very, very much for your support for this initiative. And now, everyone, I want you to hear from a member of the State Assembly. No one has done more over the years to increase access to health care for people all over the city, all over this state. And this vaccination effort, which has now reached an astounding level, where everyone is reached for free, where the vaccine is brought to the grassroots, and now the youngest New Yorkers, really epitomizes the kind of things he's been fighting for, for years. He is the Chair of the Health Committee in the New York State Assembly. My pleasure to introduce Assembly Member Richard Gottfried.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Assembly Member. You're right, the kids are showing us something. They have definitely gotten the point of how important it is to be safe from this disease. So, it was beautiful to watch. And thank you as always for all you do for us in Albany.

All right, everyone. So, that's good news, but let's talk about some other good news in terms of bringing this city back and the recovery in New York City. We have been waiting now for a long, long time, 18 months, in fact, for the restrictions to be lifted so travelers from other countries could come back to New York City. We know how many people love this place. We know how many people have been waiting to come back here. It's finally here. International travel opened up yesterday, thousands and thousands of travelers arriving already, fully vaccinated, I'm happy to say. People are reuniting with loved ones. They're coming back to the city they love. And one of the missing links in our economic recovery, finally, we're seeing it happen. What are we seeing already? Hotel bookings are going up intensely. We're seeing more and more foot traffic in key parts of the city. Fifth Avenue, Times Square. We're seeing tourists come out. They're ready to spend their money in this city. We are so happy about that. Broadway has helped lead the way over these last months. Broadway just welcomed back it's 1,000,000th customer. One million people have been to Broadway shows already in just the last few months. It's unbelievable. Something very big is happening, and I want to give credit to everyone who's been preparing for this day. I'm so excited to see what this will mean. So, many people will get their jobs back now. So much more activity for the good of this city. Someone who has been leading the way with everyone at NYC & Company, they do great work promoting this city to the region, to the country, to the world. And we've invested intensely in that effort to make sure the tourists come back and now it is happening. My pleasure to introduce the President and CEO of NYC & Company, Fred Dixon. 

[...] 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Fred. Thank you to you and your team who are doing outstanding work, promoting the city, and getting people to come back. 253 flights arriving yesterday. That's beautiful. That's music to my ears. And people are coming here because it's a great place to be, and it's a safe place to be because we're vaccinated. This is the safest place to be in the United States of America, and the travelers are voting with their feet. They're coming here. We welcome travelers from all around the world. We're particularly anxious to see those travelers come back from the UK, a great bond we share with the people of the UK. We want to see them come here and we have this great partnership going with British Airways, British Airways Holidays. This is really exciting to see this partnership and it's already yielding a great impact for the city. I want you to hear more from one of our top international tourism partners who's doing great work. My pleasure to introduce the Managing Director of British Airways Holidays, Claire Bentley. 

[...] 

Mayor: You have a way with words, Claire. We're really excited to hear that. And, yeah, we had the weather right for you and everything. We are so happy to have travelers coming back from the UK. Thank you for the great, great partnership, and thank you for your enthusiasm and your love for New York City. It's really, really shining through. All right, everyone, look, what you heard from Claire, we're seeing the proof of it. This is something New Yorkers should be so proud of. We're now the number one destination for bookings – any place in the country for American travelers, they are coming here between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. Number one destination for international travelers, too. People want to be here. They've missed New York City, and everyone knows the most magical time of the year is between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. And everything's happening. The dining is there. The Broadway's there. Everything's available. People are coming back, and this is going to help supercharge our recovery. So, a really good day for this city.

Alright, let's go to our indicators. And it all begins with vaccination, this is why we're able to celebrate good news today. And number one, doses administered to-date – 12,163,191. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report is 99 patients. Confirmed positivity level of 14.02 percent. Hospitalization rate today, 0.49 per 100,000. And then, number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 851 cases.

Let me say a few words in Spanish on the vaccine effort for our youngest New Yorkers, particularly at our schools.

[Mayor e Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Dr. Dave Chokshi; Dr. Mitch Katz; Chancellor Meisha Porter; and Fred Dickson, President and CEO of NYC & Company. Our first question today goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. If you keep up the pace that you announced today of about 4,000 to 5,000 to 11-year-olds in the schools per day and you get to about 20,000 to 25,000 for the week, where does that leave you percentage-wise? And what do you think the challenge will be after that, reaching the rest of that population?

Mayor: You know, the schools – it's a great question, Andrew, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi a moment. The schools are one piece of a much bigger puzzle. We wanted to make sure that parents who were ready in the very beginning could go to one of the easiest places, the place they know and love – their local school. But what we also know is a huge percentage of parents are really going to focus on their pediatrician and that's the place they're going to be more comfortable, that – going to the pediatrician's office, connecting the child with the doctor they know. We want to move this effort energetically. So, I'd say it will take a while, because so many of these vaccinations will be given at pediatrician's offices. But we like what we see. We like this as a start. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And I very much agree, you know, we want it to be swift in setting up as many access points as possible, particularly for this first week of eligibility. And I'm so heartened to the demand that we have at our school sites, in particular. But, at the same time, as the Mayor mentioned, we're focused on the long game as well and we know that many parents will be most comfortable getting their kids vaccinated at a pediatrician whom they trust, or at their neighborhood pharmacy, or at another site. And so, we're going to open up all of those access points. So, we're in this both for the swift access over the next few days, but also over the long-term to get as many kids who are five to 11, of which we estimate they're about 660,000 across New York City to try to get as many of them vaccinated as possible. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: Mayor, I'm wondering, the City Council continues to hold remote hearings. This news conference that we're doing right now is essentially remote. Doesn't that sort of contradict the same message that you're saying, the tourists are back, Broadway's back, the hotels are back, everybody's vaccinated. Why are all these events still remote? Is it a PTSD thing? Is it that people are not confident enough to sort of go back to normal in that setting? What is your take?

Mayor: No, I don't feel – that's a good question, Andrew. I don't feel that at all. I think different places are figuring out what they want to do, going forward. It there's certainly advantages to remote in terms of legislative bodies, where people are all over the city, or, in the case of the state, the same all over the state. Even the federal government, allowing people to vote from different places – there's value in it. What we need to focus on is, what's the best way to do things? I think what we've been doing lately really works, because we're able to bring in voices from all over the city, all over the nation, and allow journalists to participate where they are. I think it just works. I don't think it's anything but that. It works. It's a good way of doing things over time. People will make whatever adjustments they feel makes sense. But, clearly, we're all living life in-person again in so many ways, and that's fantastic. It really depends on what works for each setting.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Violeta from Univision.

Question: Hi. Good morning. My question is, yesterday, in New York City, there were few issues with the vaccine. Parents were complaining about – oh, I'm here with my kids, they don't have the vaccine, or somebody told me to come here and we don't find anything. It was like, shortage of vaccine, long lines, overwhelming demands. What is the City is going to do about that?

Mayor: Thank you, Violeta. It's a really important question. And we saw that demand, it was actually greater than we expected, which is a very good thing. So, what we've immediately is shifted supply to the schools where there was a high-level demand. We've sent those mobile vaccination vans to schools where we expect high-level demand. We were able to make some of those shifts yesterday when we saw the lines, actually get more vaccine, or get the mobile vans to the sites immediately. In other cases, we're going to come back to sites to give people additional time. But what we learned yesterday is, there is high demand in some places. We do have the capacity to meet it. We just have to match it and that's what we're doing this morning. I think it's going well so far today. Go ahead, Violeta.

Question: Oh, okay. Was my question – so, the City, for example, today, you're going to send more mobile units [inaudible] places?

Mayor: Yes. Violeta, yesterday, for example, P.S. 40, there was a long line. The solution was to send a mobile vaccine van to that school immediately. And that was able to – you know, that van was able to help address the demand there. We had other schools, like P.S. 33, where there was a lack of doses. Doses were moved immediately over there. So, those adjustments were made. But there's still some to be fixed from yesterday, for sure. So, what we're saying is, any school that was part of yesterday's vaccination effort that has more demand, we'll open up a site again there in the next few days. We want to match the amount of activity at each school to the demand levels. So, we're hearing from the school community that a lot more parents want to come in and get vaccinated, we'll set up an additional day or even multiple days if needed – whatever's going to get the job done.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Andrea from CBS New York.

Question: Good morning, everyone. I've got a different question about the vaccine effort. There are still communities that have very low uptake of the vaccine for adults with percentages in the 40’s. What are the implications for those neighborhoods?

Mayor: Well, I think it means we've got more work to do. And I want to bring Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi into this, but, I mean, overall – look, the latest today, Andrea, for adults, we're at – in terms of adults in New York City who have gotten at least one dose, we’re just about 87 percent now. That's a staggering figure. That means we've reached all communities, obviously, in a big way. But you're right, there's still some places where we need to do more. I think the grassroots efforts have worked and we're going to continue to emphasize. We have the hundred-dollar incentive available. We're going to continue to do the outreach, working with community groups, houses of worship. Also, we expect more New Yorkers to get vaccinated as part of the public employee mandate. So, there's a lot of pieces still moving. I also think parents coming and seeing their kids getting vaccinated and seeing how important that is, it's going to encourage more family members to join in. Let me bring Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi into this as well. Dr. Katz?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The one thing I would add to what you said is that I think the mandates are making a difference and not just for people who are subject to the mandates. But I think what's happened with the mandates is all of a sudden a group of people who were unsure, who were reluctant, who didn't know if they wanted to get vaccinated, who were worried about vaccination, got vaccinated. And I think that shows something to their social networks, to their friends, their family. It's a different message than when an enthusiastic person got vaccinated. So, here, we've had people who were reluctant, they got vaccinated, and we're finding that through their social networks, that's increasing the number of people around them who were also reluctant. And I really believe that with all of the success, you're going to see those numbers in the reluctant areas really grow. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: I agree with that 100 percent, doctor. It's amazing what the momentum does to help other people feel good about getting vaccinated. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. And I very much agree as well. And let us be clear, the neighborhoods with the highest vaccination rates will be the most protected from COVID-19. That's why we are taking this as seriously and addressing it as energetically as we are, particularly with vaccine requirements, as Dr. Katz has laid out, but joining those with all of our efforts around further lowering barriers to access, for example, through our in-home vaccination program, providing incentives, as the Mayor has described, as well as building vaccine confidence. We do this by working with faith leaders, with community-based organizations. My team goes out and sits down with community physicians and other providers to make sure they have the information they need, the vaccine supply they need, so that they're able to discuss this extraordinarily important medical decision with all of their patients. So, this is an all-hands-on-deck effort and we're not done yet. You're going to see us continue to be committed to increasing those rates as high as we possibly can. Thank you.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Andrea.

Question: The second question, I think, just to piggyback on what Andrew was saying, Mr. Mayor, do you think that these pressers will be in-person for us in the media? I think that's what his question was [inaudible] –

Mayor: Look, I've been really clear. I think this current approach is working. We've got, you know, only a few weeks left in this administration. I think this approach works for what we're trying to do. We want to bring in as many voices as possible from around the city, sometimes even around the country, we want to make it as easy as possible for journalists to participate from wherever they are and a variety of journalists. This is what we're doing now. A new administration will have whatever approach they think makes sense, but this has been just a very good approach for getting the message out about what's happening as we fight back COVID. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Erin from Politico. 

Question: How many children five to 11 are in New York City with the universe we're talking about here? 

Mayor: The universe that Dr. Chokshi mentioned a moment ago. I want to make sure I got it right, and Dr. Chokshi you can confirm? So five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11-year-olds, that universe is 660,000, is that right, Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. That's correct. 

Mayor: Okay, 660,000, and again, Erin, we're very excited to reach that young group of New Yorkers, and we've got to do it in a lot of different ways, but I do think some of the greatest impact is going to come from those direct conversations between pediatricians and family members. That's what's going to give comfort in moving forward. And I also think a lot of parents are going to want to bring their child to the pediatrician office for the vaccination. 

Moderator: The next question goes to Elizabeth from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask you about – we're still getting a few scattered reports from schools that they're seeing limited number of doses at their sites. Like for example, P.S. 321 yesterday, the principal sent an email to parents saying that we will have a pop-up vaccination site on Wednesday from seven to 11. We are excited about this, but we were just told that most likely we'll only be sent 50 doses of the vaccine. I am trying to get more, but I was told that is unlikely. This seems to be the exact message that the City should not be sending to parents, am I right?

Mayor: Elizabeth, when you're right. You're right. I think there was an assumption and I want to be plain about this. It's a real reminder to, you know, the famous phrase, never fight yesterday's war. I think we had an experienced with the 12 to 17-year-olds that understandably caused our health care officials to think that it would be valuable to be at schools, but there would be a limited a number of parents and kids who would want to take up the opportunity at schools, in large measure, because of what you've heard us say many times, not only did we see only some uptake at the schools with the 12 to 17-year-olds. We also know where the younger kids, a lot of parents want to focus on going to the pediatrician office. We have been pleasantly surprised at how big the response has been at the school level. Most of the vaccinations given yesterday were given at schools. So, we've adjusted immediately. Any school that believes they need more, we're going to give them more doses, period. And that can happen right now. If P.S. 321 is up for tomorrow, we can get them more doses today, get ready for tomorrow. We can have the mobile units available. So, absolutely we did not mean to send a message, but total ability to reach every parent who's interested, every kid who's interested. And we're correcting that right now. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

Question: My second question is about the Daily News wrote an editorial praising your effort with vaccination mandate. But they also pointed out that the MTA, which is controlled by the State and the Governor, MTA employees are not subject to the vaccine mandate. I wanted to know if you were coming to call on the Governor to issue a mandate for those workers?

Mayor: You know, Elizabeth, I have been saying from this table, but also I've been on national television appearances for weeks saying I call on everybody out there, this is a great approach. It's working. My advice to mayors, governors, CEOs of private companies, I have said it over and over again, is move to vaccine mandates. I think it's working. So, I encourage it across the board. I think it would be a great thing to do for the MTA for sure.

With that everyone look, congratulations to all New Yorkers. The success we're celebrating today in terms of our young people getting vaccinated, the success we're celebrating in terms of tourists coming now from all over the world, back to New York City. The hotels are starting to fill up. People coming out in the streets, participating in the life of the city. That's because you all went out and got vaccinated. We can go farther now, that extra mile. We're going to keep pushing vaccination. We're going to get it done and bring New York City back strong. Thank you, everyone.

2021-11-10 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We see continued good news when it comes to vaccination, and I’ll go over some really great information today. It's all about how we bring back this city. It's all about how we save lives, keep everyone safe. And you're going to see very clearly the mandates we put in place are working. We get more and more evidence of that all the time. We're really excited about the fact that 93 percent of our City workforce is now vaccinated. That number continues to go up. Since the announcement of the mandate there have been nearly 28,000 new vaccinations among our City workforce. And since the time the deadline officially passed for people to be vaccinated in the workforce over 8,000 more City employees have gotten vaccinated since then. And we've said, anyone who understands it's the right thing to do, even if it's a little late, we welcome them, come back, let's get back to work, let's keep everyone safe. So, that's great news.

Let's go over where we stand now with some of the key agencies covered by the October 20th announcement. The NYPD, as of today, 86 percent of employees vaccinated. That is up from 70 percent at the announcement. So, that is a really big jump. And the Department of Sanitation at 87 percent now, up from 62 percent at the time of the announcement. The Fire Department, the firefighting side of the Fire Department is at 84 percent now, up from 58 percent at the time of the announcement. And within EMS, 91 percent vaccinated up from 61 percent of the time announcement – 30 percent jump in the course of a few weeks because we had a mandate. I want to thank again, all our public servants who made the decision to get vaccinated. I want to welcome those who have not yet made that decision to do so. We need you. Let's move forward together.

We also have an update on the number of employees placed on leave without pay. Back on November 1st, that number was 9,000 employees on leave without pay. As of this morning, only 2,600 employees are on leave without pay at this point. So, obviously a lot of employees, upon recognizing the opportunity to keep serving the public, keep getting paid and be safe, keep their family safe, keep their colleagues safe, keep the people they serve safe, they made the decision to come in and get vaccinated. So, 2,600 employees on leave without pay from this current mandate, a very, very small piece of our public workforce. We do have 12,400 reasonable accommodation requests pending. Those are going to be worked through. Those are going to be looked at individually. There is an appeals process. Look, what we know from past practice, with other agencies, some of those will be approved, a good number will not be. Then people will have the choice, of course, get vaccinated, come back to work, and I do expect most people are going to take that choice based on everything we're seeing here. Most people will ultimately make the decision to get vaccinated, and we welcome that.

This is further proof of why this city is the safest place to be in America right now. We are so happy this week the international tourists are coming back. You can feel it already, the impact, on the streets of this city, on the restaurants, hotels, Broadway, everything. The international tourists are back. And people are coming here, including from all across America, because it's the safest place to be, because we have the highest level of vaccination, including in our public workforce. The mandates have made everyone safe and they're encouraging people to come visit. They're encouraging office workers to go back to their offices. A lot of progress because of the mandates.

Now let's talk about the other really exciting news, our five- to 11-year-olds, reaching the youngest New Yorkers. This is so exciting. You know what, we are seeing something great with the vaccination effort in our schools. We honestly thought this would be a helpful piece to – you know, a helpful component to have vaccinations in schools. But as I've said, when we judge from the older kids, we didn't see a lot of parents coming to school to get their kids vaccinated at the school building. Well, we're seeing the exact opposite with the younger kids. Yesterday over 5,800 vaccinations given in our school buildings. And that's astounding. In just two days, over 10,000 vaccinations at sites in New York City public schools. This is really wonderful. I want to thank everyone in our school communities and, of course, our heroic vaccinators. We're reaching so many kids, making families safe. So, this school effort is amazing. We're going to continue to have 200 sites available today at public school buildings that have five- to 11-year-olds in them. We're going to pick up again on Friday. Tomorrow, of course, is Veterans Day holiday. We're going to pick up again on Monday, and then we're going to keep adding if we see places that need more. We also have 24 of our vaccination mobile units out supporting these sites. And we're going to keep shifting personnel, vaccinate – vaccines, whatever we need to the sites where there's a lot of demand. We really want to encourage parents to come in. If this is the way that works best for them, that's great. We will accommodate them in our schools.

Here's the facts so far. Since the vaccination effort began – and it's been really five days now that we are counting, six days – we have had 31,337 young New Yorkers vaccinated. 31,337 of our five- to 11-year-olds vaccinated already. This is just a few days into the effort. You're going to see a lot more. And I want you to hear from someone who has done much to promote vaccination, he's done so much to fight for vaccine equity, and he has a child himself and can talk about what it means for parents to know their kids are safe. He always has something interesting to say. My pleasure to introduce the Borough President of Queens, Donovan Richards. 

[...] 

Mayor: Thank you, Borough President. Thank you for the very innovative ice cream incentive program that you've established in your own family. DIII –

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards: Maybe you could think about this, too. Like, you know, you should maybe roll out a citywide, you know, ice cream incentive as well [inaudible] get a jab. 

Mayor: You know, you're an innovator. I want you to know that. And I also notice it always comes back to food with you. This has been a running theme –

Borough President Richards: Get your shot and get an icy pop. There you go, there's your thing. 

Mayor: And it rhymes. Thank you, you're doing the branding, too. I really appreciate that. Well, please – I send my salute to DIII. He's leading the way, showing the kids of this city that it makes sense to get vaccinated. Send out a photo when you do that, Donovan. The world wants to see that.

All right, everyone, listen, thinking about our families and thinking about everything we've got to do to keep everyone safe – the holidays are coming up. We're really – all of us are looking forward to holidays with our loved ones, including a lot of folks we haven't seen in a long time. We're finally going to be able to see the people we love, generations upon generations, safely. And the best way to do that, of course, is to make sure everyone who gathers for the holidays is fully vaccinated. So, I want to give people an update to think about the timelines here. So many New Yorkers are vaccinated. That's fantastic. If you got that first shot already, remember if it's Pfizer or Moderna, come back for that second shot on time. But we want to let people know, because a lot of people are planning ahead, what you need to do is you want to be fully vaccinated, fully vaccinated in time for the holidays.

Well, Thanksgiving's coming up soon, but you can still get fully vaccinated. If you get the Johnson & Johnson shot by tomorrow, November 11th, you will be fully vaccinated by Thanksgiving Day. If you want to be fully vaccinated by Hanukkah – and again, this is, if you haven't already gotten at least one shot, or, of course, two shots – if you're starting from scratch, you want to be fully vaccinated by Hanukkah, you can do it. You can get a Johnson & Johnson shot by November 14th, and you'll be ready for Hanukkah. If you want to be fully vaccinated by Kwanzaa, you must get the Moderna shot by November 14th, the Pfizer shot by November 21st, or Johnson & Johnson by December 12th. And if you want to be fully vaccinated for Christmas, you have to get your first dose of Pfizer by November 20 or get a Johnson & Johnson by December 11. So, there's time to make sure you are fully vaccinated. If you want to plan ahead, this is a great reason. Anyone who is still not vaccinated, this is a great reason to get it done. Go to nyc.gov/vaccinefinder. It's all free. It's all easy. I want you to hear from someone who has been an extraordinary voice in the South Bronx, helping families to get what they deserve, to get the support they deserve, the services they need – has been a voice for making sure that people who need quality health care, get it. She is the co-pastor of New Life Outreach International in the Bronx. My pleasure to introduce Pastor Elvia Cabrera. 

[...] 

Mayor: Pastor, thank you so much. I know your family has been through so much and I find it particularly noble that despite that pain you've been out there doing so much to reach people, to help them not go through the pain that your family experienced. And I want to thank you and everyone in the faith community who has led the way in getting people vaccinated. This is a story that's not being told enough. We have turned to the faith community. So many houses of worship have held their own vaccination drives repeatedly, have participated in our federal bonus program, have used all of their ability to gain trust, to convince people that vaccination works. It's been a crucial reason why we have seen such progress on vaccination. And, I want to say, extraordinary results in the Latino community in terms of level of vaccination. So, thank you to you and everyone in the church who has led this effort. It's made a huge difference.

Okay, our indicators. And, as you'll hear, really good news on the vaccination front, the mandates, the incentives now reaching the youngest New Yorkers. These numbers are growing rapidly. It's wonderful. As of today, 12,178,451 doses administered. This is why we are now the safest place in the country. This is why people are coming back in droves to New York City – that number. And that number is going to grow. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 102 patients. Confirmed positively level 15.74 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000, 0.51. And then, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 848 cases.

A few words in Spanish, and the topic is getting vaccinated ahead of the holidays so families can get together safely.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, we turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals; Dr. Torian Easterling, Chief Equity Officer; and Meisha Porter, Schools Chancellor. Juliet with 1010 WINS.

Question: Yes. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on this call. I was wondering, the people who are requesting the medical and religious accommodations, how long is that process actually taking? I think you said there were still about 12,000 of them. I know you said a couple of days, but is that really realistic?

Mayor: No, I didn't say a couple of days. I said it will continue over the coming days. The City workforce, obviously, as a total, Juliet, is almost 400,000. So, put in perspective, we know that over the days and weeks ahead, because each agency has different numbers they have to cover in terms of accommodation requests, they do take some time. They all have to processed individually. There is an appeal process for anyone who chooses that. So, it won't be days. It'll take more than that, but everyone keeps working in the meantime. And then, what we saw with our health care workers, what we saw with our education employees, and what we're seeing already in the agencies covered by the October 20 mandate is, most people when they get told if they – if they don't get the accommodation, they get told that, they then get vaccinated. So, this'll play out over the coming days and weeks. But what I can tell you with assurance is, if someone gets an accommodation, then they keep working in the right way. If someone doesn't get an accommodation, the overwhelming likelihood is then they get vaccinated. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: Okay. Thank you. And I'm following up on Borough President Richard’s suggestion. Will you be reaching out to an ice cream company for an incentive for the five- and 11-year-olds, or, I guess, for anybody for that matter?

Mayor: I kind of like this ice cream plan. Now, I will remind you that kids qualify for the hundred-dollar incentive, which is even better than ice cream. So, Juliet, we really should probably be saying it a lot more to our parents. Look, you're going to get your kids vaccinated for their safety and wellbeing, first and foremost, but a hundred-dollar incentive doesn't hurt per child. So, that's available right now. But I like the ice cream idea. So, we're going to see if we can come up with an extra added ice cream incentive on top of that. We'll name it after [inaudible], the son of Donovan Richards. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth with Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask about the decision yesterday to close P.S. 166 in Queens. Can you and Dr. Chokshi talk about when that school crossed the threshold into widespread transmission. And why was the decision made yesterday and not the day before? The UFT President, Michael Mulgrew, has said that the school would have been closed two weeks ago under last year's criteria.

Mayor: Well, Elizabeth, I'll start. And then we have Dr. Torian Easterling, the First Deputy Commissioner at the Health Department. And of course, the Chancellor's with us as well, let them both speak to it. But Elizabeth, the standards are entirely different this year because the situation in this city is entirely different. We have a vast, vast number of New Yorkers vaccinated. We have all adults in our school communities vaccinated. And we have an incredibly low level of COVID in our schools. So, we changed the rules. We followed CDC guidance, and we changed the rules of how we handle these cases. I believe this is now the second time we've had a full school closure. I think the fact that we've been up with schools, September, October, November, and it's only been a couple of times is pretty amazing. And speaks volumes to all the precautions that were taken to create a safe environment. Dr. Easterling, you want to start and then we'll turn to the Chancellor?

First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, sir. This is a really good question. And as the Mayor mentioned, you know, we really have a gold standard as far as keeping our staff and our students safe. And we have all of our safety precautions in place. And not only that, you know, we really are looking at all of the guidance that have already been put out, not only by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but also other professional organizations that have been clear that, you know, having vaccinated individuals really have changed the rules. And we do want to follow the science and data here. And so, we've been really making sure that we get all of the information and Commissioner Chokshi has been clear that we work with our teachers, our staff, to underpin all of the information as best as possible to make a sound decision. And we obviously work with our colleagues at the Department of Education. And so, we certainly follow the rules there. And I think this is the ways in which we want to reiterate to our parents that we are keeping our kids and our staff safe.

Mayor: Thank you. Chancellor, you want to add?

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Yeah, I'll just add that this is an example of our gold standard approach to health and safety. You know, we started the investigation immediately. I'm super proud of how the school leadership and P.S. 166 and the situation room, you know, I'm so proud of them for acting so quickly. As you said, this is our second closure. It is November 10th. And so that means we're doing something right.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead Elizabeth.

Question: Secondly, on the accommodation requests. We've made requests to your office to have those requests broken down by agency. Would it be possible for us to finally get that today?

Mayor: Yeah, we'll get that to you. I assume that's something that's quickly available today or tomorrow, whatever the quickest we can do. But we want to make sure it's accurate, but of course. And the good news is that again, we see those requests being acted on. There've been 400 that have been approved so far. Obviously, for folks not approved, we're seeing folks right away choosing to get vaccinated. That's why you're seeing that leave without pay number go down. That's one of the reasons it's gone down so much. So, we'll get you an update about how that breaks out.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Erin with Politico.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I'll go back to the vaccine mandate. So, you said 400 of the accommodations have been granted. So, have any of them been denied at this point? And then when folks are granted the accommodations, I believe if I remember correctly for teachers, if they've got an accommodation they weren't put in the classroom. They were put in some other assignments. So, are folks going to be able to continue to do their regular jobs unvaccinated if they get the accommodation? Or are you going to have to move them to some other status?

Mayor: It obviously depends on the specific situation, Erin. The schools were very different because we were so insistently trying to make sure because of the many, many concerns of parents, that we had a very, very consistent approach to schools. And that's why we handled that the way we did, we had to show parents that everyone could come back safely. In other lines of work, there's different situations, different realities. So, some people will be able to continue the exact work they're doing. Some people will have a different kind of work. We'll get you details on that. But I want to emphasize the accommodation process, it does take some time. The ones that are obviously 100 percent qualify, you know, those are some of the ones we'll get done first. The ones where it does not necessarily look like someone qualifies, again, people have an opportunity, employees can give more information, they can go through an appeal. Those will take longer. But we'll keep moving on this. And I think what you're going to see is most of the time, if there's not a justification for accommodation, I think the vast majority of those folks will then turn around and get vaccinated.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Bob with Chief Leader. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, this has to do with the timeline for employees that are still on an unpaid leave from the city payroll. In the November 4th agreement between the city and DC37 and its labor committee, this express language that says that a as of December 1st, 2021, those who have not, you know, they're in this category will unilaterally be separated by the city. I'm just wondering what about workers in unions like the firefighters union, law enforcement, the police department, that have not signed on to any kind of agreement? What is the drop dead deadline in terms of being severed from city employment? 

Mayor: Bob, look, we still have an open door to unions that want to come in and do that impact bargaining and come to an agreement. We had 23 unions since the October 20th announcement that have come to agreement with us. That's a striking number representing over a 100,000 employees. My hope is that anybody who still has not – in a union – that still has not come to the table, we can work things out. Let's see how that goes first, and then we can give you a better answer after that. Go ahead, Bob. 

Question: But it's fair to say that it's an infinite period of time. If you could characterize, like, what do you think is in terms of people [inaudible] their lives? The fire unit that I spoke with had been in communication to members that if they're expecting some last minute reprieve, it's not going to come, and so I guess one of the things you've been looking for – is this correct that in the DC37 agreement, they had to give up litigation, is that the kind of universal settlement you're asking for? That – some kind of, not concessions, but an agreement, but it would require the unions to drop a litigation on this matter? 

Mayor: Look, I mean, you've seen the pattern bargaining from the very beginning, what we did with the Department of Education, health care straight on through the mandate now, it's been very, very consistent. Best of my understanding, unions across the board have pretty much agreed to the original concept, put together in the pattern bargaining with the UFT. So, that model, you know, sometimes with minor variations, has been very, very successful for everyone involved and it stipulates how to handle a situation for each kind of employee and the choices they make. So, again, I think that's what's found to be sort of – that's been the consensus with so many unions of the way to handle it. 

With that, everyone, let's just go back to where we started today. I think we have an incredible moment in this city. Here we are coming up on the holiday season, everyone, so many people are doing the right thing, getting vaccinated. Now, parents getting their kids vaccinated. We talked about what you can do to get vaccinated ahead of the holidays. The city's getting safer all the time. Meanwhile, people are coming to the city now are international travelers. People are going to come here to see family and friends for the holidays. Magical time of year. This city is moving forward rapidly and everyone wants to help it move forward, get vaccinated if you're not already, make sure that people in your life are vaccinated. So, that's something everyone can do.

Thank you, everyone.

2021-11-12 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone. Now our Friday Ask The Mayor call in, my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 2-1-2-4-3-3-WNYC or tweet a question using the hashtag #AskTheMayor. And good morning, Mr. Mayor, welcome back to WNYC. And I know you want to start with some COVID news, so let's start there, whatever you got for us.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, I've got some good news, Brian, I'm happy to say. Good morning to you. And first of all, we have had extraordinary success reaching the youngest New Yorkers with the vaccine. And this is really an effort that's basically a week old. But first let me tell you the schools, the sites in the public schools have been incredibly popular. More than we imagined, honestly. So as of yesterday, of course yesterday with school was off, so it was only three days of the week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday – 17,000 vaccinations administered at our elementary schools. And the grand total for New Yorkers in the age group five to 11 is now over 51,000, 51,000 vaccinations already after just a week. So, I'm really encouraged. And I just want to emphasize to all your listeners, getting our youngest New Yorkers vaccinated is absolutely key, especially as we go into the colder months. And it's working and you can get vaccinated at your local school or other sites in the community, obviously for free. It's really time to make sure our kids and families are safe.

Lehrer: Now, 51,000 sounds good. That's still by my calculation, less than ten percent of all the five- to 11-year-olds in the city. So, do you think there needs to be something more? Governor Hochul has said a vaccine mandate to go to school is on the table as far as she's concerned statewide. She hasn't imposed it. I know you opposed that for the city. Would you advise against?

Mayor: Look, right now I still think the priority needs to be getting kids to be able to recover from what they’ve lost for a year and a half. Most kids were not in a classroom for a year and a half. They suffered greatly, not just academically – emotionally, socially, a lot of the other things kids get in school, physical health support, mental support, nutrition. I think kids have to be in school. And they don't get to make the decision whether they get vaccinated. The parent does. So, I still think the best plan is to allow all kids into school regardless. And of course, to energetically get kids vaccinated. And with the group right ahead, the 12- to 17-year-olds that have been vaccinated over the last few months, we're almost at 80 percent there. So – and we continue to make progress every day. So, that to me is let's focus on getting kids vaccinated, make sure every kid is in school. If down the line we see a particular challenge, you know, we can discuss any and all options. But that's how I'd handle it right now.

Lehrer: You know that other parts of the country and parts of Europe are seeing steep increases in COVID-19 cases and their emergency rooms are filling up. In the international case, this comes just as the U.S. reopened international travel. And New York City from what I see is starting a big tourists come here, advertising campaign. To look out west, Colorado's governor just expanded booster shots to everyone older than 18, rather than just for over 65 or vulnerable populations, because they're having such a spike. Cases are starting to rise again here as well, even though thank goodness hospitalizations and death remain low. So, from a policy standpoint, is it right to encourage European tourism right now? And do you think Governor Hochul should recommend boosters for everybody or make them available as a matter of policy to all adults right away?

Mayor: Look, I think boosters are a great tool. And there's a lot of people eligible right now. All adult recipients of the Johnson & Johnson original shot, I'm one of them, are eligible. And all Pfizer and Moderna recipients six months after the original, if they are 65 and older and some even younger in some cases. So, a lot of people are eligible right now. I think the first thing to do is get everyone who is eligible for a booster to get that booster. But I am totally open to the notion of expanding the eligibility because I want everyone to get a booster. I think there's a lot we can do if we have expanded eligibility. As for folks coming in from other countries, remember it's with some really strict requirements. Vaccination and proof of having a recent negative test. We do need international travelers to come back. We need it for the livelihoods of New Yorkers. We need it for the recovery of New York City. But we're doing it. And then the federal government is doing it in a way that's safe, requiring vaccinations. So, I don't see that as the challenge for us. I think the challenge for us is getting our own people vaccinated. I think New Yorkers should be very proud, Brian. Let me give you the latest figures today. I mean, it's 5.78 million New Yorkers have received at least one dose. And that pretty much always means that people come back for that second dose. We have literally one of the highest levels of vaccination of any place in the country, but there's still more to do. We got to keep using the mandates to reach people. We're doing that with the public employees. We got to keep encouraging parents to get the young people vaccinated. And we have to maximize on boosters. One more fact, you'll find very interesting, Brian. If anyone wonders do mandates work? Well right now, as of today, the New York City Fire Department, where there was a certain amount of controversy obviously. On the firefighting side of the Fire Department, the vaccination level is now 80 percent, excuse me, 86 percent. 86 percent and rising. Has now met the same level of the NYPD has reached, 86 percent. That’s a huge amount of distance covered in just a few weeks. So, clearly these mandates are working.

Lehrer: I see, and my newsroom asks about an agency by agency breakdown? That despite the vaccine mandate, you've said 12,400 City workers are seeking exemptions. And our reporters have been asking for a breakdown of which agencies have the most exemptions apparently with no response from your office yet. So, can you give us anything more specific about how many NYPD officers, for example, you just gave us something on FDNY, and also Sanitation are seeking exemptions?

Mayor: Let me see if I can get that while we're on the air. I think I can, or at least we'll get it back to you later in the day. What I can tell you overall right now, those who have a reasonable accommodation request in, and that's from the group of employees covered from the October 20 announcement. That's 12,400 employees out of a total workforce of about almost 400,000. Okay. The number on leave without pay has gone down markedly. It's now down to 2,600. And I can tell you right now, a number of those folks on leave without pay are going to come back and get vaccinated. A number of the folks who requested accommodation, if they don't get it, if they exhaust the appeals, don't get it. A lot of them were going to get vaccinated. So, this number is going to move. But if you want the breakout by police, Fire, Sanitation, let's see if we can get that for you right now.

Lehrer: Thank you, Jenny in Nolita, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Jenny.

Question: Hello. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, Brian. Can you hear me?

Lehrer: Sure can.

Question: Hello? Okay. I'm calling about the making the eats in the streets, the policy permanent? Our CB 2 voted no for this. And it doesn't seem that any thought was going into the differences among various communities. In Nolita, we have narrow streets, narrow sidewalks. In some places they are barely passable for a car, no less a fire engine. Our police department hates it. Sixth Precinct hates it. The Sanitation hates it. We have so many rats, the trash can't be cleaned up because of these constructions that have taken place, that are in the street. They're hideous, they're being graffitied. They just have destroyed the streetscape, totally. And I don't understand how – I understood it as a temporary measure for struggling restaurants, but it seems that the influence of the hospitality industry has just destroyed any consideration of what it has made life like for actual residents?

Lehrer: Jenny, I'm going to leave it there so we can fit a lot of calls in with the Mayor today. Mr. Mayor, you know, we've been having a few debates on the show about permanent outdoor dining or not, getting calls like that. On the one side, there are definitely calls on the other side. But you hear those concerns from Nolita, which for those of you who don't know means the Neighborhood North of Little Italy and elsewhere around the city.

Mayor: Entirely valid concerns. I mean, I hear them. I see – I go all over the city, obviously. I see what people are talking about. Now, I come to a different conclusion, honestly. Well, let me put it this way. We did this – the initial impulse for outdoor dining was to save 100,000 jobs immediately, which we did. And save a number of cherished neighborhood institutions, restaurants, bars, that are really part of the fabric of the city. I'm absolutely glad we did it. We continued it now because a lot of these restaurants, bars, community institutions are struggling to survive. And we've been able to really help them. We gave them space for free. They were able to expand the amount of customers that could have. I've heard so many good stories of really beloved places that were saved because of this and hundreds of thousands of jobs overall that are going to be saved in the process. You could argue, Hey, should we reassess it for the future? I don't – that's not my view. If people want to do that in the next administration, they can. But I don't share that view that – I respect the caller, but I would say, I think what we have here is something that has greatly enhanced the life of the city. It has created and preserved a lot of jobs. It has brought back energy and life as we're still fighting back COVID and we will be into next year. I think it's opened up an amazing set of possibilities. If there's some particular tweaks that are needed, that makes sense. If there's, you know, places where more Sanitation services are needed, or whatever, of course we can do that. But I really think it's been pretty magical for a lot of the city and I would support continuing it.

Lehrer: Have you looked at – and this is based on a caller that we got when we were discussing it in a previous segment, requiring some kind of structural code, I guess you’d call it, that keeps rats at bay more than other kinds of structures that apparently enables them.

Mayor: I think that's the great example of the kinds of things that we can keep working on and improving. The fact is the – for example, if we can do something to improve Sanitation the way things are structured, I want to do that. I also very much want to make sure – and I've given this order very clearly – that if a restaurant is not using that space and holding it [inaudible] that should not be allowed. Either use it or give it up. There's absolutely things we can do to tweak it. And we all – we all have eyes to see. Some places have done an amazing job, creating really beautiful spaces and some are rather perfunctory, shall we say, and could use some improvement. But I would not want to throw the baby out with the bath water. It's a great idea that's working. If we have to tweak it and we have to make improvements, of course, that's something we can do.

Lehrer: Tyrus, in Harlem. You’re on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Tyrus.

Question: Hi, how you doing? Good morning. My first question to the Mayor is, are you concerned that many officers will leave the NYPD and go to Suffolk County Police Department due to the fact there is no vaccine mandate and currently they're hiring 700 officers. And then my second question is, there's a video on YouTube called, “Mayor de Blasio [inaudible],” where he showed you that your administration in bad faith illegally reported him as terminated when he had already resigned. Did you investigate and will you let Brian Lehrer know the outcome of the investigation? 

Mayor: Well, on the second point, I don't actually know what you're specifically talking about, but I'd be happy to look into it and we'll get you a real specific answer. If you'd please give your information to WNYC, we'll follow up with you today. On the bigger question that you raise, no, I think what's happening right now is that folks who joined the NYPD overwhelmingly want to serve in the NYPD. It's the most renowned police force in the country, even the world, tremendous profession, tremendous benefit. People who come to the NYPD make that choice. 86 percent now vaccinated. And that number is going to go up substantially because as these reasonable accommodation requests get adjudicated, I'm absolutely certain a lot of people are going to end up deciding to get vaccinated. Some folks may go elsewhere. So, I think a few may – you know, a small number may retire. Some may go elsewhere, but overwhelmingly, we already see the trajectory, the vast majority of folks vaccinated and staying.

Lehrer: Well, Commissioner Shea has said 6,000 officers are seeking vaccine mandate exemptions. So, are you concerned that there could be a staffing shortage if a lot of these officers get denied? 

Mayor: In the scheme of things, no. And I'll tell you why. First of all, we have a lot of history from what we've done up to now with our health care workers, with our Department of Education employees. Clearly most people who put in the request don't meet the criteria. The health care exemption is a very specific criteria. The religious exemption clearly have to have a really clearly defined belief structure that, you know, has a lot of history to it and not something that just popped into your mind recently. Most people who've asked for accommodation don't meet those standards historically. Anyone who does, they'll keep working. 

Lehrer: Right, but I think the – 

Mayor: Go ahead – 

Lehrer: Yeah. I think the concern is if a lot of them do get denied that then they would leave the department because they couldn't go back to work with their exemption. 

Mayor: No, I want to clarify. This is different than what we experienced with the schools, because the schools was its own very particular setting because of kids and everything else we were dealing with in the school buildings. You can receive an exemption, not end up having to be vaccinated, validly, and continue to work in uniform service in the appropriate setting. So, I think for those who do get the exemption, they'll continue to be serving in our first responder agencies. For folks who don't, I think the vast majority will then get vaccinated. That's my point. We've seen this pattern constantly. When folks come to the realization that they have exhausted their appeals and options, overwhelmingly they choose to get vaccinated. In the end, will a small number of people, either resign or retire? Probably, but a small number. And anyone we lose will be replaced quickly because there are more police and fire academy classes coming regularly. So, I really don't think it changes the fundamental reality. I hope everyone gets vaccinated, I hope they'll stay. But I think in the end, it's going to be a very small number that leaves. 

Lehrer: Question from a listener via Twitter, who posts with a picture of himself holding a small child and says, “If vaccine distribution at public schools has been so successful, why can't we get second doses there too?” What would you say to that listener? 

Mayor: I think that's a great point. And so, to the listener, what I'd say is, we are seeing a totally different reality with the younger kids than we saw with the older kids. We had, for the first whole week of school, vaccination sites in every school building that served the 12- to 17-year-olds. And very few people came. They preferred to get their vaccinations elsewhere. We've seen the exact opposite with the younger kids. Parents are coming in droves to their elementary schools to get vaccinated. That's great. So, we're going to keep adding. Any school where there's demand, we'll have a vaccine site, we'll keep adding. And if it makes sense to do it for the second doses, that's great. I mean, wherever we're going to get people is where we're going to be, is the bottom line. If that's where parents want to be, we'll have vaccinators there for them. 

Lehrer: Thanks, as always, Mr. Mayor. We'll pick it up next week. 

Mayor: All right, Brian. Take care.

2021-11-15 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone.

We're seeing tremendous demand when it comes to the youngest New Yorkers, and this is really exciting. We want to protect our kids, protect our families. The vaccination for the youngest New Yorkers, it's only been around for a very brief period of time, but we're seeing a really great response. And, specifically, the focus on our school sites has been really, really promising. Parents are coming out in big numbers to get their kids vaccinated at the schools. So, overall, as you see, 62,000 doses already administered in a little over a week. 62,000 doses administered to our 5- to 11-year-olds. In our schools alone, our public school sites alone – 22,500 doses. As of today, we will have had a vaccination site at every school that serves 5- to 11-year olds. We're seeing great success. We'll be announcing some additional steps in our school-based vaccination effort this week.

We love the fact that parents have decided this is a great place to get their kids vaccinated. So, we'll be doing more with our schools. And look, everyone, this is a time to focus even more intensely on vaccination, of course, for the youngest New Yorkers, because it's new. Let's make sure every single child gets vaccinated, but let's go back on all the rest of us and make sure that anyone who's not yet vaccinated gets vaccinated. The colder months are coming, and we know with COVID that means more people indoors, more exposure to the challenge of getting infected. We want more people vaccinated. Good news is, let's talk about the different age groups – for the 12- to 17-year-olds, that next older group, we're now at 80 percent – 80 percent vaccinated, at least one dose. For adults, 87 percent in New York City. This is an amazing number. Congratulations to all of you – 87 percent of adults in New York City vaccinated, at least one dose. That number keeps climbing because of mandates, incentives, all the approaches we're taking.

Listen, we got more to do, but it's clearly working. And I want you to hear from someone – I'm literally sitting in what's going to be his office on January 1st. He has been a strong proponent of the measures that we've taken to help contain COVID and turn this city around, but he's particularly focused on the needs of our families and kids in terms of reaching them with vaccination. And he knows, because he's a father of two young children himself. My pleasure to introduce the next Borough President of Brooklyn, Council Member Antonio Reynoso.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Council Member. I love the hat. It says it all. And you're rightm when you're in Brooklyn, you're replenishing your soul. I agree. I agree. It's the place be. So, listen, thank you for all the great work you've done and all the partnership and wishing you tremendous good luck ahead when you're in this beautiful building. What an amazing place to work from, and you're serving all the people of Brooklyn.

Everybody, we focused, of course, now on our youngest New Yorkers, reaching them. And that is absolutely crucial. But let's also keep our attention on another piece of how we fight COVID again, particularly with the colder months coming on. We’ve got to stay ahead of COVID. So, we have a tool, and it works, and that's booster shots. We’ve got to lean into it more. Anyone who has not yet gotten a booster and can, this is the time to do it. Don't hesitate. Go out there and get it done. It's part of protecting yourself and your family. Now, the good news is, a lot of New Yorkers have heard the call. 620,000 New Yorkers have already gotten the booster. That's great, but many, many more can. I want you to hear from our Health Commissioner, a reminder to everyone how important it is. All the people qualify, there's plenty of folks right now who qualify – how important it is to go out and get that booster. Let's hear from our doctor, Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to pick up where you left off with an update on our COVID situation. Although hospitalizations remained low right now, we are seeing an uptick in cases in recent days. We have anticipated that this might occur as the weather gets cooler and people spend more time indoors. But compared to this time last year, we have many more tools to fight COVID-19 and work to keep a winter wave at bay, but we should use all of those tools, starting with vaccination, particularly with more kids now eligible and boosters broadly available, using masks, particularly indoors, testing and staying home when ill, ventilation, hand hygiene, and monoclonal antibody treatment for people who are infected. But today, as the Mayor said, I want to emphasize the protection of booster doses of COVID-19 vaccines.

Mr. Mayor, as of this morning, it's actually over 630,000 New Yorkers now who have already received an additional dose. But as you said, even more can benefit from a booster ahead of winter and the holidays, so we're making a renewed push now. That's why today I'm issuing a Commissioner's Advisory to all health care providers, emphasizing our guidance and ensuring that there are no access barriers. First, clinicians should allow adult patients to determine their own risk of exposure based on their individual circumstances. In practice, this means that providers should not turn a patient away if they request a booster, so as long as they're 18 and older, and it has been at least six months since the Moderna or Pfizer dose, or at least two months since a Johnson & Johnson dose. Second, I'm advising that health care providers proactively reach out to their eligible patients, particularly those 65 and older, those with medical conditions, and those who received a Johnson & Johnson dose. Booster doses are available at sites across the city, or you can have someone come directly to your home. Remember that booster doses of all three vaccine types, Pfizer, Moderna, or J&J are now available. Please visit nyc.gov/covidvaccine for more information or call 212-COVID-19 to speak with a health care professional.

In my own conversations with patients and family members I know that booster doses can provide one more layer of reassurance, allowing us to breathe a bit easier either for ourselves or our loved ones, particularly as we gather and travel around the holidays. So, let's use every means at our disposal to make this a safe and healthy winter season. Thank you so much, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very, very much, Doctor. Clear, strong message. Everyone, boosters work. Go out and get them. And for anyone who has not even been vaccinated the first time, this is the time to do it. Now, let's talk about what's helped to get so many people vaccinated. That's our mandates. So, mandates work. I'm going to say it again. Mandates work. They should be used everywhere they can be because they work. Our City workforce, as of today, 93 percent vaccinated. That number is going to go up. That's fantastic. Let's talk about some of the progress we've seen at the City agencies. The fire side of the Fire Department, for example, it was 58 percent when we announced the mandate. It is 86 percent now. The same as the NYPD. Great number, 86 percent. EMS leading the way among so many City agencies, at 92 percent, up from 61 percent originally. Sanitation was 62 percent originally, up to 87 percent. These are great numbers.

I want to thank all of our public servants who made the choice to get vaccinated. Even if you had tough questions, even if you had concerns, you ultimately made the choice. I want to thank you. It's helping to keep everyone safer. So, we find that this has been an incredibly effective approach. There's one last piece when it comes to our public employees and that's the Department of Correction officers who have a December 1st date by which they have to report to duty vaccinated. So, the good news is at the Department of Corrections right now, 92 percent of the non-uniformed staff are vaccinated. That's a great number. And that's up 20 points since the announcement October 20th. For the uniformed staff, we're at 57 percent. We need to move that, obviously. That is up 10 percent since the original announcement, but we got a lot more to do. We wanted to make sure all the uniformed staff know that the deadline is coming up. We want to encourage everyone to get vaccinated in time.

Now the good news is as more and more people are being vaccinated, we're seeing less occurrence of COVID in our jails to keep everyone safe. So, COVID going down in the jails, as vaccination goes up. So, a reminder to all the Department of Correction uniformed staff who are not yet vaccinated, that we will be providing as we did with all the other workers, since the October 20 announcement, the $500 incentive will be available. And that window starts today and goes through five o'clock on November 30. So, go out there, get vaccinated, get that $500 incentive. Also, for anyone who wants to apply for a reasonable accommodation, you have until Tuesday, November 23rd, to do that.

Okay. I want you to hear from this very strong effort that's being made to drive down COVID in our jail system, particularly at Rikers Island. Our Commissioner has really focused on keeping people safe and making a series of improvements and reforms. I want to thank him for his hard work. My pleasure to introduce Department of Correction Commissioner Vinnie Schiraldi.

Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi, Department of Correction: Thank you Mayor. I really appreciate the efforts that the whole city is really made to help us out here at Rikers Island and the State as a matter of fact, as well. The virus hit our department really hard as you know, but vaccination is really our best way to hit back as far as I'm concerned. We're really grateful for the $500 incentive. It is the City's way of telling staff who get vaccinated, that we appreciate them for literally rolling up their sleeves. But we know that it isn't incentives alone that drive members of our department. Since joining DOC a few months ago, I've seen officers go above and beyond to serve the city. I met men and women who work extra shifts to keep the DOC facilities safe. And officers who volunteered at a time to support people in custody with programs, countless members who are pillars in their own communities, volunteering their time and labor for causes they believe in. We need that spirit of service more than ever in the coming days. As a department, we're here to do a part to boost vaccination rates. We've already had town halls and robocalls, spoken to members, distributed posters, and video messages. We set up a vaccination site on Rikers Island with a shuttle bus running from every jail to that vaccination site. We held family days on the island. So, officers’ entire households could get the shot. And there's going to be more to come. Thank you, first of all, to the officers who already have been vaccinated and to the civilian employees. And to all those who supported us, including Dr. Fauci, who taped specific messages for the department, author Piper Kerman, to everyone's favorite Met, Mookie Wilson, who tapped us a message after he stood with us at the 9/11 ceremony at Citi Field, DOHMH First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling, who did robocalls for us. We appreciate you for speaking to our DOC team.

In addition to some of this favorable vax data, we have fewer triple shifts, fewer unstaffed posts, less violence, and less use of force than we had in the previous months. Also, more help is on the way as two classes of new recruits will be graduating over the next two months. And another class of new recruits will start training in December. At the end of the day, we have a duty to each other and to those in our care. It's an obligation I know so many Correction officers consider their core mission. And I believe it will inspire them to do the right thing by December 1st. So, we thank the administration and the Mayor for helping us in these efforts to get DOC vaccinated. It was a great relief to us. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Commissioner. Thanks for your great efforts and thank you for the progress that you're leading. Okay. We've talked about vaccination a lot today and how we move forward. I want to talk about something else that's going to move us forward. And finally, after a long, long wait, we're seeing real results from Washington D.C. One of the areas New York City needs help the most and that's infrastructure. Today is a very important day for this nation. And certainly, for this city, as President Biden will be signing the infrastructure bill. I've had the honor of being invited to that moment. I'm going to be down there in Washington with the President and everyone else celebrating the importance of this moment. Look, we have been waiting literally for decades for this kind of investment in infrastructure in this city. And there's lots of parts of America that need help. But when you talk about our older cities, our bigger cities like New York City, we especially, we could not move forward into our future without a federal partner helping us with infrastructure. Now, we finally have it thanks to President Biden, thanks to Senator Schumer and the entire Congressional delegation. The money we need for mass transit, the backbone of our city, to make our roads and bridges safer and better, to improve all of the things that are going to take us into a greener future. Make sure there's more bike lanes, more busways, to make sure that Vision Zero and safety come first. And then things like more broadband to provide access to the economy of tomorrow. There is so much in this infrastructure bill that will help New York City, a major moment today. And an example of things, really getting done. Thank you to all. And we'll be celebrating as the support comes to us in the months and years ahead.

Okay, let's go to our indicators. And again, that all begins with vaccination. This number just keeps growing aggressively and that's great news. First doses administered today, 12,243,951. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 92 patients. Confirmed positivity level 11.58 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers, 0.53. And then new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today's report, 972 cases. I’m going to say a few words in Spanish, back on the vaccination effort for our youngest New Yorkers.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Fire Commissioner Dan Nigro, by Correction Commissioner Vinnie Schiraldi, and by Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson. First question today, it goes to Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Mayor and everyone on the call, good morning. On Friday late, your team put out numbers showing the stats by agency, seeking accommodation. And one thing that jumped out is more than 6,000 members of the NYPD have been seeking that accommodation. That makes up more than half of the total of municipal agencies. Is your plan at this point, to let those 6,000 stay working with the test and vax protocol? And let Eric Adams decide whether or not to enforce it? Or do you anticipate making a decision soon on the bulk of those 6,000 members of the NYPD?

Mayor: Oh yeah. Those decisions are going to be made on a rolling basis. It's a lot to get through, but as I've said previously, Andrew, there's a thorough process. There's an appeal, but it's going to keep moving. So, I expect all of those to be adjudicated in the next weeks. And then as we've seen with everybody else in City service, someone gets an accommodation, great. They can keep doing the work. Someone doesn't, they'll have a choice to make. We can safely predict the vast majority will choose to get vaccinated at that point. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: With regard to requirements that indoor businesses like restaurants check vaccination, does that currently extend to children five to 11, or not yet? Because we know at this point it's only a little less than 10 percent of that age group who's vaccinated. So, let's say a family goes to a restaurant at this point, their child of that age does not have to be vaccinated, correct? Do you have – do you anticipate that at some point that will be required as well? Or do you anticipate that that guideline will be loosened?

Mayor: First of all – I mean, the overall effort, Key to NYC, has clearly worked. It has kept customers safe, employees safe. It’s the right way to go. At this moment, it's obviously just brand new for youngest kids to get vaccinated, so we're not going to be applying that requirement. They have to be vaccinated, for example, to go to a restaurant – we're not doing that now. At some point in the future, when the vaccination levels are high, that will be a discussion we have, but that's not something we're doing now.

Moderator: The next is Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I was wondering if you and Dr. Chokshi could clarify the announcement that Dr. Chokshi just made about boosters. So, is the City going farther than the State guidance on boosters, which currently says that people who are 65 and older should get it and then those with underlying conditions may receive it? Is this going farther? Are you saying that basically anyone over the age of 18 who wants to get it can get it and should?

Mayor: You know, Elizabeth, I'll let Dr. Chokshi speak to the specifics. I'll just make the broad point. I think the more people get booster shots, the better, and we should take the broadest interpretation, the most inclusive interpretation of who qualifies to ensure that people who want it, get it, and are not turned away. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to explain?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you. And thanks, Elizabeth, for this important question. Our guidance is consistent with the FDA authorization as well as the CDC guidance that has been laid out. You mentioned some of the criteria, but a particularly important one is risk of exposure to COVID-19 – excuse me. This is often a very individual assessment of risk, depending on where people work, where they live, what their occupation is. And so, what we're trying to clarify today is that there should be no barriers to accessing a booster shot, provided that someone is an adult, meaning 18 or older, and at least six months out from a Moderna or Pfizer second dose, or two months out from the J&J dose. So, the bottom line is that, as the Mayor said, we don't want anyone turned away from a booster dose and we want to prioritize those whom we know will most benefit from it. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Next is Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I know you're in Brooklyn today, but this is a Manhattan question. I'm told that the public will be able to celebrate New Year's Eve in Times Square this year. What can you tell us about that?

Mayor: I can give you something broad at this moment, Juliet. But more details are going to be announced tomorrow on the specifics. But look, we want to have a great New Year's Eve celebration in this city. This city has been through so much, but this has been a heroic city, fighting through COVID. We're turning the corner. We’ve got a lot to celebrate. So, it's going to be a big moment in Times Square on New Year's Eve. How it's going to work, we're going to announce the details tomorrow. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: Yeah, can you give us a little bit more on that? You know, are you limiting the number of people that would be there necessarily? Or, you know, what else was going to be required?

Mayor: You're a good and persistent journalist, Juliet. Look, let me say it this way, we expect a large, wonderful celebration. We're going to have some clear smart rules to keep everyone safe. And again, a little patience – by tomorrow, we'll unveil all the specifics. Working out some final details with all the stakeholders involved, but expect a great moment in Times Square on New Year's Eve.

Moderator: The next is on Abu from Bangla Patrika. 

Question: Hello, Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good morning, Abu, how are you doing? 

Question: Good. Thank you so much. The, you know, the [inaudible] Europe and [inaudible] for the United States as well, so what kind of preparation is taking by the city? If anything, you know, [inaudible] –

Mayor: Abu, I lost – there's a little bit of transmission problem, I lost a little bit of that question. Just repeat it, please? 

Question: Okay. The COVID is increasing in [inaudible] especially in Britain and it could, you know, increase the US as well. So what kind of precautions is taken by city? – 

Mayor: Yes.

Question: If anything happens. 

Mayor:I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz. Look, we are watching the situation in Europe very carefully. We're concerned. We actually have had a series of calls about this over the last few days, but we also have to note the differences. The focus on vaccination and the mandates and rules around vaccination and other health care actions have been in many ways more stringent in New York City than in many parts of Europe, and that's a big difference maker right there. But we are concerned about what we see there. We are concerned about the colder weather. We really want to focus on a few things. More focus on reaching the youngest New Yorker, so speeding up the vaccination process to five to 11-year-olds and finishing the process with the 12 to 17-year-olds, and then getting as many people a booster as possible quickly. Those are the key strategic elements. Dr. Chokshi then Dr. Katz, anything you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I'll just build on the points that you made. And, Abu, yes, we are watching the situation in Western Europe and other parts of the world closely as we always do. New York City is in a good position for the reasons that the Mayor has mentioned, but, of course, we won't rest on our laurels and our strategy ahead of the winter really boils down to three points. The first, is continuing our focus on getting people who are unvaccinated vaccinated, that includes our pediatric vaccination push but also reaching out to all of the other New Yorkers who still haven't gotten their first dose and making sure that we do everything that we can to extend that protection to them. The second, is for people who are already fully vaccinated, ensuring that they know that booster doses are available for them because that's an important layer of protection as we've talked about. And the third is for all of us, regardless of our vaccination status, to take the common sense public health precautions that have worked throughout the pandemic, wearing a mask particularly indoors, using testing, staying home when you're sick, ventilation and hygiene all of this is simple, but remains very important ahead of the cooler months. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz. You want to add? 

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: I would just want to underline that I fully support Dr. Chokshi order on boosters. Living in New York City in this very dense metropolis where we live, to my mind, puts people at higher risk of COVID, which is one of the criteria for the vaccination, for qualifying for a booster, if you're over 18. One of the specific criteria is being at higher risk, and I view all New Yorkers because of the density of our city, of being at higher risk. And I think by this order, this advisory explaining to physicians that everybody should get a booster. If they want a booster – It will get us a further and help us to prevent a similar situation as what is occurring in Germany. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: : Thank you very much.

Everyone, look, as we conclude today, what I want to say is in terms of moving forward big day for New York City today. The infrastructure bill being signed in Washington, it's something we've been waiting for, I'm telling you, for decades so we can get the mass transit we need, so we can get the bike lanes we need, so we can get the ability to move around, better in this city. Really important day and then let's remember always we are creating our own recovery in this city through the amazing efforts of New Yorkers, but it begins with vaccination. So, everyone out there get the young people in your life vaccinated. And everyone out there hasn't gotten a booster yet, go out there and get that booster. Let's keep each other safe. Thank you, everybody.

2021-11-16 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

We have a lot to look forward to, but we're still fighting the battle right now against COVID and we're winning. New York City is winning. New York City is the safest place in the nation when it comes to fighting, COVID holding it back, but we got more work to do. And yesterday I spoke with doc, with all of you and with Dr. Chokshi’s participation about the things we need to do to double down. Now I want to go back to the vaccinations, our youngest New Yorkers. Here's an opportunity to get it right to protect our children, protect our families. So, the five- to 11-year-olds, we're seeing a great response. I want to give you an update.72,000 vaccinations. It's just been a week plus now, 72,000 vaccinations, five- to 11-year-olds citywide. At the school sites alone, 26,300 vaccinations already. So, that's amazing. That's over a third of the vaccinations that happen, happen at our school sites in just a few days. So, we're going to be going back to some of the highest-demand school sites. We're going back to a number of schools on Wednesday this week, a number of other schools on Thursday, where we had high demand. Any places high demand, we're going to keep sending our mobile vaccination units, keep making sure that we can reach parents and kids who want to get vaccinated.

Now, that's part one, but part two – on November 30th, we'll be going back to schools over a 10-day period, all the elementary schools that serve our youngest New Yorkers. We’ll be providing second doses to any kids who got that first dose in the beginning of this effort. And for any kids who have still not been vaccinated, we'll provide a first dose for them. So, we're going to do a full second pass – all elementary schools, every school in New York City that serves kids five- to 11, we're going to be coming back to. This is the only city in the country offering in-school vaccination on a totally comprehensive scale, because we go to where the people are. We go to where the children are. We go to where the families are. This has been the magic of the New York City vaccination effort, going to the people. So, we're going back to the schools again. I want to thank everyone at Department of Education, Department of Health, Test and Trace Corps., Vaccine Command Center. This has been a labor of love, reaching out to our kids and families. We're going to keep doing it till we reach every single child.

And now, another piece of this fantastic outreach effort. We're going to take it to the next level, starting on Friday, and into next week – a charter school blitz. We're going to be out at charter schools, doing vaccination efforts – same thing, right in the school, reaching all our children. I want you to hear about this very exciting effort. It's going to really yield a lot and it's going to protect New Yorkers. I want you to hear from our Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter.

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. So exciting to be here and so excited about what's happening in our schools. Thank you so much, Mayor de Blasio. I could tell you, last week was one of my favorite weeks as Chancellor. It was a demonstration of why it was so important to reopen our schools. I had the great pleasure of visiting schools across the city from Staten island to East Harlem, hosting vaccine clinics. And I also had the opportunity to talk to young students, and their families, and their educators as they received this life saving vaccine. I saw zero tears and lots of joy. At P.S. 19 [inaudible] gave a thumbs up to let everyone know that she got her jab to not only keep herself safe, but also to keep her entire class safe at. P.S. 65, Ethan [inaudible] stepping up for vaccination and being a role model for his little brother as a part of a negotiating tactic to get out of some homework. I was impressed with his tactics. At Central Park East II, Taylor said it simply – I beat COVID.

We got over 26,000 young people their first dose last week, but we cannot stop there. Another – this was another great demonstration of the importance of how our schools are such a critical part of our communities and a part of our building our city back. That's why I'm so happy we get to continue offering vaccine clinics at sites across the city with high demand and bring vaccines to our partners in the charter sector. Additionally, because of the incredible hard work by our health partners, we are going to provide second doses at schools beginning the week of November 29th. And we continue to get the word out through PTA referrals, school leadership, social workers, robocalls, and the many other ways we connect with our communities. Truly this would not be possible without the leadership of the Department of Health, Health + Hospitals, the Vaccine Command Center, and the Test and Trace Corps. Together, we are bringing New York City back one vaccine at a time. Thank you so much.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Chancellor. And Chancellor, you're right, we have not seen a lot of tears but we have seen a lot of joy out there. And I'm always amazed, you know, when the parents are all nervous, but the kids are like, what's the big deal here? You know? I didn't even know – I didn't even feel it. It’s like, it was great. So, thank you. You've set the tone right, encouraging our kids and families, and we’re to keep reaching out and get more and more kids vaccinated, keep this city safe.

Alright, everyone, everything we're doing is to keep New Yorkers safe. Everything we’re doing is to bring back New York City, our recovery. And part of what's great about our recovery is when we bring back great New York City traditions. Well, we have an important announcement to make about one of our most beloved traditions, which happens every New Year's Eve. I’ve got some folks who are going to celebrate with me here, because here's the message – we love New Year's Eve in Times Square. We want it to be big. We want it to be full of life. We want it to be a great New York celebration. Guess what, everyone? A big, strong, full-strength celebration – it's coming back. This New Year's Eve, Time Square, everyone come on down. We're celebrating.

[Celebratory party horns]

Excellent. Excellent harmony, everyone. You guys did great. You all have bright careers ahead in music.

[Laughter]

Yes, we are proud to announce the Time Square – wonderful celebration Times Square the ball drop, everything coming back full strength, the way we love it. Hundreds of thousands of people there to celebrate. We can finally get back together again. It's going to be amazing. It's going to be a joy for this city. Now, let's do it the right way and let's do it the safe way. So, we've been working with our great partners in Times Square. We've been working with Department of Health and NYPD to get this right. So, here's how we're going to do it. We want to welcome all those hundreds of thousands of folks, but everyone needs to be vaccinated. All you need to do is have that proof of vaccination and a valid photo ID, and you are in. Join the crowd. Join the joy. Join a historic moment as New York City provides further evidence to the world that we are 100 percent back. I want you to hear from someone who's done great work, making Times Square come back to life. And he's going to tell us, I'm sure – he keeps track of how many pedestrians come through Times Square each day. He he's telling me regularly how it's coming back stronger, stronger, stronger – tourists coming back. He's been a great partner in bringing back this city, the President of the Times Square Alliance Tom Harris.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Tom. And it's a great opportunity, you’re right, to thank all the people that don't get enough thanks. Dan Gross, the whole team that puts on these great events for the city. I want to thank that team, everyone at our Community Affairs Unit as well does, that does great work, as you said, the street permits and all – everyone is helping to bring New York City back strong. But Tom, thanks to you, thanks to everyone at Time Square Alliance. It's great to see the energy and the excitement in Times Square. Every time I've gone through lately, just so much activity and a lot more to come. And then, New Year's Eve is going to be something beautiful and amazing as part of the comeback of this city.

And we're going into our indicators. And this is inspiring too, because this is what New York City has done in the face of the greatest crisis in our history. People went out and got vaccinated and our heroes came out to make sure that people got the help they needed – our health care heroes. So, as of today, doses administered to-date in New York City, 12, 256,499 and growing all the time. Amazing. Number-two indicator, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report is 84 patients. Confirmed positivity, 20.22 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers – 0.53. And new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,032 cases.

I’m going to say a few words in Spanish on the continued school vaccination effort.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, today, we're joined by Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals; Dr. Dave Chokshi, Health Commissioner; Chancellor Meisha Porter; and Tom Harris, President of the Time Square Alliance. With that, we'll go to Andrew from NBC New York.

Question: Hey. Good morning, guys. Good morning to everyone on the call. Could you and Tom clarify once more of the requirements for New Year's Eve? And also, Mayor, what's the medical rationale for requiring a vaccination for an outdoor event when, for example, right now you can be unvaccinated and sit outdoors at a New York City restaurant. Why can't you be outdoors at a Time Square celebration?

Mayor: Andrew, when you're outdoors with a few hundred thousand people packed close together for hours on end, it's a different reality. Let's be clear. There's a beautiful celebration every year and people come from all over the world to be a part of it, but you're talking about a lot of people really close for long periods of time. It makes sense to protect everyone. So, full vaccination is required in this case. Now, I want to remind everyone, it's November 16th, we're talking about December 31st. So, we're giving people lots of lead time. Full vaccination is required. So, two doses with Moderna, Pfizer, one dose with Johnson & Johnson. And then, if someone is unable to be vaccinated for medical reasons, for example, there's an alternative approach. As Tom said, all those details will be published soon. But the simplest message to anyone wants to participate in the beautiful Times Square celebration, just go get vaccinated.

Moderator: Next we have Dana from the New York Times.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Just a couple more questions about the Times Square ball drop. Under what circumstances can a person not be vaccinated and still attend the event? And also are you requiring PCR tests for children under five who can't be vaccinated?

Mayor: So I'll have a Tom Harris add in a moment. Dana, I'll just say this. All the detailed rules will be put out very quickly. The point is we understand some people have a valid medical exemption. For example, it's fairly rare, but some people do have it. Can't be vaccinated. So, there's an alternative for folks who literally cannot be vaccinated. We want to make sure that we know if they're attending that they're safe, everyone else's safe. So, we'll get those rules out quickly. For the overwhelming number of people coming – and obviously young kids don't tend to be at this event for a lot of reasons, including the time of night and the temperature. For the vast majority of people who will be attending, overwhelming majority, the simplest best way to make sure you can participate is just to go get vaccinated. Make sure you're fully vaccinated in time. Tom, you want to add?

President Tom Harris, Times Square Alliance: Thank you, Mayor. Yes. If someone can show us proof of tests to a medical disability, they can test out for the PCR test within 72 hours. And no, as of this time, if someone is under five, they just need to be with a fully vaccinated person and wear a mask if they're able to.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Dana. Okay, go ahead, Tom.

President Harris: Okay. If that changes, we will update you and let you know on our website.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Dana.

Question: Got it, thank you. And then is the idea that you're sort of like the Homecoming Concert, trying to signal the rebirth of New York City? And if so, when do you think the message will stick and we'll be able to stop signaling New York City's rebirth?

Mayor: I think it's really coming along. I mean, you heard what Clive said about his perspective on the city being back. I think we have established it in the eyes of the world in many, many ways. I do think it's important to continue to deepen it. We just had the international tourists start to come back. That's fantastic. We want to encourage as many of them to come in of course, to get on a plane, they have to be vaccinated. So, that's great. I think we have some more work to do certainly for the remainder of this year. But I think we're going into 2022 in really strong shape. We got to stay focused on vaccination. That's the one strategic piece. The boosters, which we talked about yesterday. We got to get all New Yorkers out there, get that booster. We got to reach our young people with vaccination. But Dana, I think the simple answer is New York. City's back. We want to show the world we're back. We got a little more work to do to make sure everyone really sees it, feels it. And I think 2022 is looking very bright right now.

Moderator: Next we have Chris from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask you about vaccination rates for the Department of Correction. The vaccination rate among uniformed staff there has been effectively stagnant now for more than two weeks at 57 percent. Meantime, as you know, the mandate for that agency takes effect in just two weeks. So, if there remain – if the rates remain that low, is it even possible for you to enforce the mandate come December 1st? Or would the staff shortage just be too steep?

Mayor: No, that's a really good question. But Chris, I think we have such a body of evidence right now that when a mandate goes into effect overwhelmingly members of the workforce honor it. Overwhelmingly. So, it's going to be the same exact process that we've seen previously. Folks who are ready to get vaccinated, want to take advantage of that incentive, that $500 incentive. That's going to be one group of folks as the deadline nears. There's going to be a group of folks who put in for an accommodation. They get the accommodation, fine. If they don't, the vast majority of them are going to get vaccinated. There's going to be a group of folks who stand apart in the beginning, but then when there's not a paycheck, decide they need that paycheck, come back. We've been down this road from the health care workers and the DOE employees. Until now, it's almost essentially the same pattern every single time. By the way, just another update related. The Fire Department has now the number and among firefighters, the firefighting side of the Fire Department has now gone up again to 87 percent. So, we see constant movement and improvement. That's what I think is quite clear will be the trajectory with the Department of Correction as well. Go ahead, Chris.

Question: So, following up on that, why in that case, did you delay the implementation of the DOC mandate until December 1st? If you're saying that, you know, things only start moving once the deadline hits? Then why did you wait more than a month for the DOC mandate to take effect compared to the other agencies?

Mayor: Because unlike any other agency, Department of Correction had gone through a particular set of challenges that needed to be addressed unto themselves. It made sense to deal with that first and then apply. It was a very particular situation. And thank God a lot of progress has been made at the Department of Corrections. And this is a very good time now to follow through on this piece. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next, we have Elizabeth from WNYC.

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio.

Mayor: Good morning, Elizabeth.

Question: Good morning. I wanted to revisit the order regarding boosters yesterday. It seems as if the City is sending the message that if you're over 18 and you've already received your last dose more than six months ago, that you – if you want a booster, you can get one. My question is at what point does the City sort of cross this threshold and say, we really would like you to get a booster if you can now before the holidays?

Mayor: I think we crossed it yesterday. I'll emphasize it. We want you to get a booster now. No question, we want everyone to get a booster. And the City is making clear, we're prepared to serve everyone. It is important. It's timely. You're right. Elizabeth, holidays are coming, gatherings are coming, cold weather coming. This is the time to get a booster. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, I want to give you an opportunity to weigh in because you are boosters of the booster. So, tell people that it's time. Dr. Chokshi first.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes, sir. Thank you. And I do agree this is the time, we do want everyone to strongly consider this. And beyond that, what I would add to what the Mayor has said is that we're also encouraging particularly our health care partners to proactively reach out to the people whom we know will most benefit from a booster dose. To go over those categories, it's anyone over the age of 65, anyone who has an underlying medical condition, as well as people who received the J&J vaccine. So, that's where we want to be particularly proactive. But the clear message is we encourage boosters as long as your past the timeframes for Pfizer and Moderna, which is six months and J&J which is two months.

Mayor: I want to say for everyone on record, I got my booster from Dr. Dave Chokshi and I'm feeling great. So, I incurred it. Dr. Katz, you want to add?

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: Just to say, I advise all of my patients over 18 to get a booster. And I do the same with family and friends. I think this is the time to get one, if you haven't gotten one already. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz. And I want to say for Clive Davis’s benefit. Maybe you heard that Sheepshead Bay accent right there from Dr. Mitch Katz, who is leading our public health system brilliantly. A lot of Brooklynites contributing to New York City. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

Question: So, with that said, would you say it's a mistake that Governor Hochul is not opening up the eligibility as some states like California have done?

Mayor: Look, I think it's simple. I urge the Governor to open the eligibility to all. We are now going into a really important phase. We got to stop COVID once and for all. We got to end the COVID era. COVID is going to be part of our lives, but we need to put it in the background of our lives, not the foreground. And to end the COVID era, we need maximum vaccination. So, I urge strongly, make boosters available to all immediately.

Moderator: Next, we have Julia from the New York Post.

Question: I just want to follow up on Andrew's question because he asked, you know, for medical reasoning as to why people need to be vaxxed outdoors during New Years. So, I'd just love to hear from one of the two doctors on the call what the medical rationale is?

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi. And if Dr. Katz wants to add?I'm going to state it and then turn to them. Large numbers of people in very close proximity for long periods of time. I think it's really clear why vaccination is called for. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, I think that's clearly stated. You know, for this particular event the fact that we'll have such a large crowd and people will be in close quarters. Anyone who spent New Year's Eve in Times square knows that you know, it's very difficult to maintain distance. So, that the rationale for being fully vaccinated in that setting is to markedly reduce the risk of transmission, which we know can occur outdoors, even though the risk is lower. But because the risk is greater with larger numbers of people in close proximity, this is the right decision.

Mayor: Dr. Katz, you want to add?

President Katz: Just to emphasize that when we think outdoors, we don't usually think of being face to face with somebody. But that is very much, you know, the reality of that beautiful Times Square celebration. And that's why vaccination matters.

Mayor: Well said.

Moderator: Next we have Erin from Politico.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I have a question for yourself and hoping to hear from the doctors as well about the booster announcement. So, I'm just wondering, you know, prior to the announcement you made yesterday, was part of the motivation for that like, were you seeing that people who technically may have been eligible were not getting the shot because perhaps of confusion related to the guidelines? The fact that there's been a lot of back and forth? Were you finding that even people who formerly were eligible were holding off or were confused and was that part of the motivation for expanding it in this way that's more clear?

Mayor: Yes, Erin. Really, really well explained. I appreciate what you're saying. Yes. The rules weren't clear enough and the numbers weren't big enough. That's the bottom line. We see what's happening in Germany. We see what's happening in the United Kingdom. We are better positioned than they are at this moment, but we got to stay in a strong position to fight back COVID. So, it's much easier and clearer to say everyone come and get a booster. If you are able to get a booster, if you've met the basic requirements, come get a booster because this is part of what's going to keep us safe. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add anything?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and I agree. You know, the short answer to your question, Erin, is yes, we were seeing that the eligibility guidance was confusing to some people and we wanted to cut through that with a clear and simple message around boosters. And the other thing that I will say is that we're already seeing that it's working, about 20,000 New Yorkers got their booster dose yesterday. We're also seeing, you know, good demand and appointments pick up, and so that's really heartening to see. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Erin. 

Question: Thanks. I also want to ask about this issue of the investigation into city workers who have potentially faked vaccination cards. Wondering if you can just tell us where that stands, you know, who – how many people have been disciplined and do you think this is potentially a widespread thing or – 

Mayor: No, it's an important question, Erin. I appreciate it. We believe it's a few dozen people out of a workforce of almost 400,000. So, no, we understand is it's a couple of agencies. We are very much intensely investigating through the Department of Investigation. Anyone who is involved will be held accountable. Some employees have been suspended without pay already. It's a very serious thing. I've said to people, remember way back when we were talking about vaccination cards, originally I reminded people that a fraudulent act is a very serious crime. Creating a fake vaccination card is a major crime. It comes with jail time as a potential penalty. This is not a joke. So, any employee who violated the law and attempted to circumvent the rules that we put forward to keep people safe, they are going to pay a very harsh price.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Yehudit from Boro Park 24. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, welcome back to Brooklyn. 

Mayor: It's the place to be, Yehudit. How are you doing today? 

Question: I think so. So, as the thousands of city workers, religious accommodations are being processed and assessed, I'm wondering how they're being judged, for instance, what kinds of specific things would show in the lives of police officers and other city workers that they have true religious objections to vaccination? 

Mayor: You know, I'll let the experts and folks at the Law Department and labor relations who have been working on this get you more of the details. I'll give you just a big overview point. It's about a consistent and long-term, long held belief. Of course, there are some religions that are very explicit about vaccinations in a negative way, but the vast majority of religions and the vast majority of religions that New Yorkers adhere to and their leaders have in fact called for people to get vaccinated. So, there's a very small swath of the religious community where there is that longstanding tradition, and there may be other circumstances where someone can prove a deeply held long-term belief. That's the basic concept.

Everyone as we conclude today, a lot to be proud of as New Yorkers, we are really excited looking forward to New Year's Eve celebration coming back full strength. We are honored to be in the presence of Clive Davis, who has done so much for the city, a great example of the greatness of this city and someone who had epitomizes our strength and resiliency. There are so many good things to celebrate in this city. And again, the whole way forward is vaccination. Let's reach our youngest New Yorkers. Let's get those booster shots done. Let's turn the corner on COVID and get ready for a great 2022. Thank you, everybody.

2021-11-17 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody.

So, now, we're going to focus on what we talk about every single day, bringing the City back strong, our recovery. And our recovery, of course, is based on vaccinations and New Yorkers are doing great. And New Yorkers are hearing our clear message about boosters. New Yorkers are answering the call and coming out and getting those boosters. It's time to get boosted everybody. So, to get out there and make that happen for yourself, for your family, it is such an important way to protect your health. Let me tell you, Dr. Chokshi and I talked about boosters on Monday morning and the people of the city heard and responded. By the end of the day, Monday, almost 20,000 New Yorkers had gotten a booster shot on Monday alone. Then, on Tuesday, over 22,000 New Yorkers got a booster shot. So, let's keep going. Let's make today a great day for booster shots. Go out there and do it. Whoever you are get a booster shot, it'll keep you safe. It'll keep your family safe. New Yorkers are hearing the message. As of today, almost 674,000 New Yorkers have gotten a booster shot.

Let's get that number up a lot more, particularly as we're getting ready for the colder months. Remember, that's a challenge with COVID, the colder months. The answer is vaccination, either new vaccinations, first and foremost, most important, but also boosters, really important. That's how we fight back COVID in the colder months and that's how we get ready for something wonderful. The holidays people want to be together. We all want to gather with our family. We haven't seen a lot of our loved ones in a long time. The way to be safe and gathered together is to get the booster.

Okay, everyone. Now, let's talk about new vaccinations for the youngest New Yorkers. We really want to keep them safe so far. We're seeing great, great progress. Almost 75,000 five- to 11-year-olds have now been vaccinated in New York City. That number is going up constantly. That's a great start. We're now just coming up on the, almost a two-week mark tomorrow on that effort. We want to see those numbers continue to grow rapidly, but 75,000 very strong start.  But let's talk about the group right before that, that 12- to 17-year-olds. We're now at 414,000 12- to 17-year-olds. That's an amazing, amazing step forward. That group again, 80 percent now vaccinated. That's fantastic. And we want to see them continue. So, we're having a lot of demand and school sites. We brought back school sites. Again, we're going to have more coming up, but I want to remind everyone out there. Kids also qualify for the hundred-dollar incentive. It's so important. We want to get every child vaccinated, but for that child, for that family, another a $100 per child is a really good thing. And how much do New Yorkers love the hundred-dollar incentive? So much so that 400,000 New Yorkers have gotten that hundred-dollar incentive already. And I think a lot more are going to take advantage of it before the holidays. Amongst those 400,000, 87,000 have been kids under 18. So, it's really benefiting families and it's making families safe. Everyone, get vaccinated. That's the main message. But also, don't leave that money on the table. Go get it. You deserve it ahead of the holidays. If anyone in the family is not yet vaccinated, whether a child or an adult, go get vaccinated, get that incentive.

Okay. Now, we're going to keep fighting COVID in every way. That, of course, means new vaccinations. It means boosters, but also means testing. We want to emphasize testing is very, very important to this next phase. So, we try and put the COVID era behind us. So, we've had from the beginning the strongest testing infrastructure in the country, Test & Trace Corps, amazing job. They've done making testing available, going out there, following up on cases. We've had sites all over the City and that's been great, but we also found it was really, really important to go out to communities. So, the mobile units and the community-based events made a huge impact, and we focus so much of that outreach effort on the communities that were hardest hit by COVID. We're going to go farther and farther. Now, right now, our mobile vaccination sites and our mobile testing sites have been all over the City. With mobile testing there's been 9,000 events put together, pop-ups and events put together almost a third of those with public housing attendant groups. So, that's how important to reach people in public housing. We've done a lot with houses of worship. 15,000 events with houses of worship going where the people are bringing them in. It's really exciting.

So, here's some important news. We are doubling the size of our mobile testing fleet. We're going to 70 vans. Now, that's going to allow us to get all over the City all the time, getting people tested. It's absolutely crucial and want to give people some really good guidance for this holiday season. Obviously, this is a time when people gather often gather in large numbers, people travel. So, here's new guidance for the holiday season and about testing. How important is getting tested? Testing is one of the ways we win this battle. So, two main messages – one, get tested before you attend major gatherings or family gatherings. Get tested, because you'll know you're safe. You'll know what's going on. Or, God forbid, if you get a positive test, you know what to do about it. Getting tested ahead of events makes a lot of sense this time of year, whether it's a Thanksgiving event, a Friendsgiving, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, you name it. It's a smart step. Now, two, get tested before you travel. This is really smart. We see a lot more travel coming back, that's great. Being vaccinated is the number one thing, but also getting a test and knowing you're negative for COVID before your travel is such a smart thing to do. It's smart for you. It's smart for the people you're going to visit. Consider it. One of the basics when you travel, keep everyone safe. Everyone wins in that equation. I want you to hear more about why this is so important from one of the, one of the real heroes of this effort fighting back COVID in this City. He led the Test & Trace Corps from the beginning and created the strongest Test & Trace Corps in America. My pleasure to introduce Dr. Ted Long.

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test & Trace Corps: Thank you, sir. This has been a long and hard year for everybody in New York City. What keeps me going is that I'm proud to be a New Yorker. I'm proud because every step with COVID we've had the courage and they've been willing to make the sacrifices needed to keep our city safe. Right now, one of the keyways that we've been doing that throughout is by getting tested. today, we're doing as much testing day by day, as we were at the peak of our second wave in New York City. On many days, we're doing more than 100,000 tests in a given day. Now, going into the holidays, we want you to see your families and your friends and your loved ones. It's been a long year and you deserve that, but we need you to get tested before you see your families and friends. So, that you don't risk getting a family member sick that could get very sick from COVID this year for the holidays.

Give your family the gift of protecting them, like getting tested and knowing if you have COVID before you see them. So, for this holiday season, I want to tell you three things today. First, before you gathered together with friends and family members get tested, especially if you're going to see family members that could get very sick from COVID. Second, before you travel, get tested. And then before you come back home, get tested again because you wouldn't want to bring COVID back to your family from wherever you are visiting better. If you're feeling sick and you have your scheduled to go to a gathering, get tested first. That's the way to know if you have COVID because you wouldn't want to go to a gathering to see friends and family members that you might not have seen for a long time If you have COVID and you could risk getting them sick.

So, to help you to do all of this, Test & Trace Corps has been there with you by your side at every step of the fight against COVID. And now, we're going to be able to help you by doing more testing than ever before. Our mobile fleet, which where I'm announcing today, we are doubling the size of. Started back in August of 2020, we had two mobile units at that time, and I remember they were so popular and successful, because, at that time, being able to move testing around guided by you, our communities, was, far and away, the most effective way to do it, you know, where we need to bring testing. And we've always delivered on the promise of bringing testing to where you tell us where needed the most. By February of 2021, we had 40 mobile units.

Today, I'm announcing that we are doubling the size of our mobile fleet. We've already been able to be at more than 1,400 locations across New York City guided by you, by your communities, and your community leaders who know your communities the best and are able to tell us where we're needed the most. And that's where we are. By working together, we've been able to, with our mobile fleet alone, do nearly 1 million COVID tests in New York City since August of 2020. So, finally moving forward, Test and Trace will be there with you throughout COVID. We'll be there with you to help you, if you could track to COVID, we'll be there with you to help you if you've been exposed to COVID. Now we're making testing faster, easier, more accessible, and it is always free with Test and Trace Corps than ever before. As long as COVID is a threat to our city, you can count on Test and Trace Corps being there with you by your side, helping you until we're through this safely together. And we will do it together as we have throughout. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Ted. Great job to you and all the wonderful folks at Test and Trace core. Thank you. Excellent work. And what a clear, strong message from Dr. Ted Long about the importance of getting tested as another way to defend ourselves against COVID and move forward. Now, I want you to hear from a great community leader, because one of the great stories of the fight against COVID has been what community organizations have done to reach people. In this case, Hatzalah, which is an amazing ambulance corps out there saving lives all the time. The work they have done year in and year out is amazing. But during COVID the good people who serve in Hatzalah have been out encouraging people to get tested, encouraging people to get vaccinated, helping to make it happen. They’ve played a crucial role in the community level. I want to thank everyone at Hatzalah. And I want to introduce to you all the CEO of this great organization, Rabbi Yehiel Kalish.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Rabbi. And Rabbi, what a great testimony on a very human family level about why it's so important to get vaccinated, why it's so important to get the booster. And I want to thank you. You've really helped to reach people in the community and keep people safe. Thank you to you and all the good people who you lead in Hatzalah.

Rabbi Yehiel Kalish, Chevra Hatzalah: Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Now, everyone, as we fight our way through, and I'm really happy to say we are winning this battle, New York City coming back stronger all the way. But we know a lot of New Yorkers have struggled during this pandemic. And one of the biggest issues for people has been just trying to keep their lives together with all these challenges. And that starts with keeping a roof over their heads, making sure that their families knew they would have housing, despite all the disruptions, all the challenges we've gone through. Well, this is something thank God, we were working on before the pandemic. Well, before the pandemic. Great work done, I want to thank the City Council for the wonderful role they played. And a labor of love for so many people in my administration to help make sure that no one is ever illegally evicted in this city.

No one ever loses their home when there's any way to keep them in it appropriately and protect what a family has. And we decided a long time ago to provide legal counsel to New Yorkers in need to make sure that their rights were protected, to make sure tenants were not unfairly treated particularly when they went to court. Someone unrepresented in court is in a very vulnerable situation. We wanted people to be represented, wanted people to be safe. We wanted people to stay in their homes if there was the right way to do that. We were doing that for years and years and then we passed the Right to Counsel law and really supercharged the effort. And now we know that we've seen really amazing positive outcomes. When you give someone counsel and you give someone a lawyer who wouldn't have it otherwise to defend their rights, good things happen.

So, here's what we now know from the research that's been done. Providing those free legal services has made a huge difference. 84 percent of the time, the New Yorkers who are represented by lawyers under the Right to Counsel program were able to stay in their homes. 84 percent of the time. That meant so many families that have the safety and security of knowing they could go home at night. Now the scale has been huge. We've now provided legal services to over 100,000 New Yorkers in need over these last years. And particularly in the context of the pandemic, it's been life-changing. I want to give you context. The year before I took office, only one percent, only one percent of tenants in housing court had full representation. Think about it, greatest city in the world and we are, but think about the thousands and thousands of New Yorkers who were threatened with eviction, many times unfairly, would go to housing court alone. Only one percent had representation. We changed that. We added a lot of free legal services to stop evictions. We built up the Right to Counsel initiative. Before the pandemic we had reached 38 percent of tenants represented when they went to court. Now, as the program has grown and expanded, 71 percent of tenants who go to court now have legal representation. We've got more work to do, but it's been a huge step forward.

A lot of people to thank because this has become a model really being emulated all over the country, making sure there's fairness and justice for all, regardless of means to pay. I want to now bring forward someone who's really been not only a leader of this effort and one of the architects of this effort, but long before was showing the city how important it was to stop the evictions that were plaguing families, give people the legal support they deserve. He's done amazing work before he came into government, amazing work in our administration, our Commissioner of Social Services, Steve Banks.

Commissioner Steven Banks, Department of Social Services: Thank you very much, Mayor for your kind words. But more, we thank you very much for your support for this work in this program. I can remember when you were a Council member talking to you about the importance of having there be a Right to Counsel. When you became mayor you at the beginning of the administration gave us the funding and the direction to pilot providing more legal representation. And then that culminated in the 2017, first in the nation Right to Counsel law. I see that Council Member Gibson, soon to be Borough President Gibson is about – is joining us. And I know that she, along with Council Member Levine and soon to be Borough President Levine were incredibly important partners along with the whole Council in making this happen. But in a sort of really a basic level, Mayor, I can remember being a Legal Aid lawyer and you'd walk into the courtroom. And everybody was represented who was a landlord. And we were representing very few people. And when you say one out of 100, one percent of before the administration imagine what that would be like to be a tenant coming into a courtroom in that situation. And what this Right To Counsel law has really done is level the playing field, essentially giving David an opportunity to be on an equal terms with Goliath in terms of keeping a roof over your head.

And the numbers are the numbers. Before the pandemic evictions were down in New York City by City Marshals, 41 percent from the beginning of the administration while evictions were up all across the country. Even during the pandemic with the eviction moratorium, there have been gaps in coverage. There have been cases filed. And that is I think the story of the pandemic, that legal services lawyers through and legal services workers through the Right To Counsel law have been representing people, helping them file the hardship declarations, keeping people in their homes. You're so right to point to the 100,000 tenants that got help during the pandemic. That is part of an overall half a million people who have gotten help since the beginning of the administration.

I want to also highlight how important it is as you have said, when the eviction moratorium expired at the beginning of January, this is a program that will be in place to help people keep a roof over their heads and to continue that track record of making a real difference in people's lives. Again, I want to thank you for your support. I want to thank our whole agency for the work that we have done. Council Member Gibson, Council Member Levine, but most importantly, the providers, the legal services providers on the front lines every day making a difference in people's lives.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Steve. And this is something you should be very proud of and everyone who fought for this, it really is making a difference. So, congratulations to you. And your right to give a lot of credit to both the Council members you mentioned, obviously want to thank Council Member Mark Levine for his great efforts. But I want to focus now on the great efforts of Council Member Vanessa Gibson, who was one of the passionate leaders of this effort. She has an incredible ability to hear the needs of the people and turn it into action. She's been doing that in her Council district in the Bronx. But now she will be doing it for all of the Bronx as the next borough president of that great borough. My pleasure to introduce Council Member Vanessa Gibson.

[...]

All right, let's see if we can – can we do anything? We're having a little technical difficulty. Let's see if we can get her back in just a second. What I'll do is I'm going to go to our indicators in the meantime and see if we can get her back and confirmed. But again, you got the gist of the most important part. Council Member Vanessa Gibson and her colleagues working with this administration, did something absolutely historic. It has been working and it has become a model for the nation. So, we are really, really proud of that.

Let me do our indicators for today. Number one, great number, doses administered to date, 12,268,734. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report is 107 patients. Confirmed positivity level of 20.69 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is 0.54. And then new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report, 1,020 cases. Do a few words in Spanish and want to go back to the original topic. The testing, how important testing is, urging all New Yorkers to make testing part of how we all fight back against COVID together.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that let's see if we got the Council member. Okay. We're going to give it one more chance here. Her audio is still off? Okay.

Council Member Vanessa Gibson: Hello, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Whoa, can you hear us?

Council Member Gibson: Yes, I can hear you.

Mayor: Okay. We lost you. We lost you after your first few paragraphs. And you had said it was a first in the nation effort and then pick it up from there.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Council Member. Job well done. You have a lot to be proud of. And I love hearing that list of other cities that have picked up this idea. Now, people getting helped all over and you're one of the reasons why. You should be very proud of this. Thank you so much.

Alright. Now, we're turning to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We'll now begin the Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Dave Chokshi, Health Commissioner; Ted Long, head of Test and Trace; and Steve Banks, HRA and DSS Commissioner. Our first question today goes to Elizabeth with Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I was wondering if you and Dr. Chokshi could clarify the guidance on testing. Does that apply to even vaccinated individuals who are planning to be at events with other vaccinated individuals?

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long will give you the clarification, Elizabeth. I think the important point to make is that testing is another powerful tool to keep people safe. And again, we're winning this battle against COVID, but we’ve got to keep at it. Vaccinations for those not yet vaccinated, boosters for those who are vaccinated, testing on a regular basis. Dr. Chokshi, then Dr. Long.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I'll start with the big picture and I know Dr. Long will fill in. The brief version is that when fully vaccinated people are gathering with other fully vaccinated people, that does mean that the risk is significantly lower, and that's why we've taken all of the steps that we have to encourage vaccination. And those are the safest types of gatherings that people can have over the holidays. With respect to the testing guidance that was announced today, it does apply to everyone regardless of vaccination. And the reason for that is that it's one more layer of safety, you know, one more precaution, particularly when you have groups of people coming together due to gatherings or travel. But I'll turn to Dr. Long, who's really been leading the charge on this.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Long?

Executive Director Long: Thank you. And Dr. Chokshi said all of the important points. I will just emphasize that what's enabled us to be successful as a city in keeping our city safe with respect to COVID has been our layered approach and our ability to do all of this together. So, yes, the guidance does apply to vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. And, today, on several – on many days, more than 100,000 people are getting tested on a given day, that includes vaccinated and unvaccinated people. So, New Yorkers are willing to still be courageous and make these sacrifices. And going into the holidays, we just want to make sure that we're continuing to not let our guard down and keep our city safe the same way that we have throughout. It's particularly relevant for unvaccinated people, but, for everyone, we want to control this virus to keep our city safe.

Mayor: Amen. Go, ahead, Elizabeth. Elizabeth? Maybe you're muted. I don't know. Elizabeth, are you there? Well, we can go – we can go on and we'll give her a second question after.

Moderator: We can go to Juliet with 1010 WINS.

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor. Good morning. Good morning, everybody. What are your concerns about rising infection rates? Governor Hochul has been indicating that she would impose restrictions if the numbers spike. Are you and your health experts also considering that?

Mayor: No. We will always watch for the facts. Obviously, everything's led by the data and the science. That's why New York City has done so well. And our comeback and our recovery from COVID will always be focused on the data and science. But we just went over the data with you and, thank God, the situation is still very good here in New York City. I know there's some real challenges around the state, but it's very good here, because of the high level of vaccination and because we're continuing to expand vaccination every single day. I mean, right away, you see in, literally, about 10 days’ time a very successful youth vaccination effort that's reached almost 75,000 5- to 11-year-olds. We see constant efforts, because of our mandates, reaching more and more of our public employees, more and more New Yorkers. The incentives and, obviously, now, the heavy focus on the boosters – it's all working. So, we need to keep doing this and do the testing as well. That's how we make sure we never have to go to those kind of restrictions.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Steve with WCBS 880.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Steve. How you been?

Question: Doing all right. Another testing question for you. Just wanted to see – I guess Dr. Long could also weigh in on this – what the average turnaround time is right now so if we tell folks to get tested before they travel or get a large gathering, how far in advance should they be doing that?

Mayor: Excellent question. This is truly news you can use, because people need to know this as they're making their plan. So, Dr. Long, what's the real-world reality of how long it's taken people to get their results back?

Executive Director Long: Thank you, Steve. Great question. So, the median turnaround time, the last I saw, which we’ll send you later today, the absolute [inaudible] version was one day. So, that's one day median turnaround time across all of our testing in New York City. I also want to make the point, Steve, though, that we do want to encourage people to get tested in whatever format makes sense for them. So, we have rapid tests. We have antigen tests where you can get your result back within 15 minutes. All of our newly [inaudible] to be over the next month, doubled mobile fleet through Test and Trace will always offer the PCR test with the median turnaround time of one day, rapid tests with a turnaround time of 15 minutes, and also saliva tests if that's the way that you want to get tested for you and your family. We want to try to meet you where you are. I think one day is very good for turnaround time and good going to make everybody aware of that. So, I appreciate your question. But our goal is really to meet you where you are, whatever way you want to get tested.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Steve.

Question: Thank you very much. Kind of a bigger picture question on where we are on COVID – what metrics should we be looking at, at this point, to see where we are? I've seen some opinions that say case numbers are getting less relevant now, because of vaccines. So, you know, among the health experts here, what should we be looking at to see if we're in good shape or deteriorating shape, getting into the colder months here?

Mayor: I'll start before the health experts and say, because I want to speak to my fellow New Yorkers. Bottom line, the number of vaccinated New Yorkers is the single most important fact. That's the number-one metric, and that includes number of folks who've gotten the booster. And then, number-two, hospitalization rate. Those are the two things we watch most intently. Dr. Chokshi, then Dr. Long.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And, yes, the Mayor is absolutely right. Those are the key indicators, which the Mayor goes over every day, as you know, and which we share through these conferences as well as on our website each day. We always look at everything to create the full picture. And the vaccination rate gives us the best picture about who is protected across New York City. And then, we look at cases, and hospitalizations, and deaths as well. What we are seeing is that we've had an uptick in cases in recent days. But what we're following is whether or not that translates into a significant increase in the severe outcomes, particularly hospitalizations and deaths. We're not seeing that as yet, but we have to keep a close eye on it. But the important thing is, even as we follow all of the data, we have a lot of agency. We have a lot of control over what this season will look like. We have more tools at our disposal than we did at the same time last year, particularly vaccination with the pediatric vaccination drive, as well as our boosters. But we also have tools that help us to avert the most severe outcomes. For example, access to monoclonal antibody treatment. And we have oral antivirals coming on the horizon as well. So, let me wrap it all up to say, we'll look at all of the data as we always do. We want to make sure that we prevent the most severe outcomes from COVID, and we have the tools to do that.

Mayor: Amen. Dr. Long, do you want to add?

Executive Director Long: Yeah. I'd love to add. Steve, I really appreciate that question. As Dr. Chokshi said, concretely, we look at cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, and that guides how we deploy our resources and what we do across New York City. But I want you to know – and I really meant when I said this – and I am proud to be a New Yorker, because of everything New Yorkers do every day. People are wearing their masks. People are getting tested. And then, what Dr. Chokshi and I do to make sure we're providing all the protection we can for our city is make tests available, make monoclonal antibodies available, continue things like contact tracing, where we're currently reaching 89 percent of all new cases. We've identified 1.2 million close contacts, which is 1.2 million opportunities to break chains of transmission. And that's something special to New York City. We're going to continue doing all of these things, some behind the scenes, some are right out in front, which is us talking about testing today to keep our cities safe. And I think that makes a definable difference compared to other cities. But it all comes down to, I think, the courage and New Yorkers have had throughout of getting tested, getting vaccinated at higher rates than other places. And everything else – we're going to continue to do everything else to protect our city to follow that.

Mayor: Thank you so much. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Katie with The City.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Katie? How have you been?

Question: I’m good. So, you mentioned getting long-term affordable housing. I mean, what is – the homeowners I spoke to – or, not the homeowners, the tenants and the residents I spoke to, they said they don't have – they haven't heard anything about any, kind of, long-term affordable housing option. They want to stay in the neighborhoods because their children go to school there or grandchildren. So, do you have more details? Because I think these people would love to hear what the City's plan is to ensure that they get long-term affordable housing or whatever kind of housing they need. And then, in addition, what's the latest update on the City's work in terms of creating like a database of basement apartments for, God forbid, the next time a storm happens. What is the latest on that?

Mayor: That will be done. We said at the very beginning, when we put out the report after Hurricane Ida, that work has to be done ahead of the next hurricane season. It is moving forward. It is funded. It is going to happen on schedule. Before that, it takes a lot of work, it's never been done before in the history of the city. It will get done. I'm quite confident. And I checked in on this recently. To the families – look, Katie, we've had this situation after other tragedies. Any family that can go back to their home, that's, by far, the ideal. And any way we can support them, and there's a lot of different City tools, federal tools, State tools to help them get back to their home, stay in their home. That is by far the ideal. We've had some situations, you remember the fire some months ago in Queens, where there was no way to go back to the home. In that case, we moved to get people affordable housing as close to the home neighborhood as possible. But the truth is, there are limits on where affordable housing is and we can't always find the ideal of getting someone back right where they were and in affordable housing. Sometimes we have to say, hey, if you want the affordable housing, it's in another part of the borough, this is what we have available now, we'll do our best to make the match. But, again, I think in the case of Ida, the vast majority of families can get back to their homes. We'll support them in doing that. Anyone who – literally, the home is no longer livable, we'll work with them to find the closest location possible and as quickly as possible some affordable option. And I'll have our team follow up. And any family that hasn't heard, then we'll make sure that folks from HPD are talking to them directly.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Reuvain with Hamodia.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing today?

Mayor: Good, Reuvain. How are you?

Question: Not liking the cold –

Mayor: I agree. We are in total unity today, Reuvain.

Question: So, my question is for you and the doctors. A State Health Department official, who was interviewed as part of the Cuomo investigation whose transcripts were released last week, expressed her unhappiness to investigators with what she described as the executive chamber controlling State DOH actions during COVID and not allowing them to work together with the City. Now, I want to specifically ask you about how a few weeks after Cuomo enacted the Cluster Action Initiative, some elected officials and red zones were calling on the city to, once again, release the seven-day COVID infection rates by ZIP code. They said that the numbers would show that the rates in their communities had gone down and the red zones are no longer justified. But the City did not release those numbers, despite many requests from the electeds and the media officials. The City said, you wanted to align with the State's approach, which was no longer ZIP code based. So, now, that presumably there's no more fear of crossing Cuomo, I'd like to ask, while at this time City officials presented the refusal to release the numbers as a spirit of collaboration with the State, did you, in fact, want to release them all along while the pressured by the executive chamber not to do so?

Mayor: Reuvain, I would say it differently, honestly, we thought the approach that we were taking was the clearest approach. I was confused and confounded by the zones the State created. They were somehow, you know, self-created geographical units when we were working from well-recognized geography and we thought it just made so much more sense to just take what we knew and work from that. And you hit the nail on the head that unfortunately at that point with that Governor, the State – if the city did something, no matter how good or how effective, the State had to do it some different way. So, a lot of good work was done down here that got ignored and the State came up with its own system and we wanted to avoid even further confusion so that's why we did what we did. But I'll let the doctors comment on the bigger situation as doctors. I would say this, we knew that people were being told not to talk to us because we couldn't get answers from them, that's how we knew, and that's just wrong. It was a global pandemic, it was wrong that the professionals were not really allowed to talk to the professionals and get the kind of answers that would protect people's health. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Long, you want to add anything? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Not much to add, you know, just on the question of why we went with ZIP codes, the brief note that I'll add is that, you know, we always use science and data, but we match it up to the human experience. You know, the guidance that we give has to be couched in the context of how people actually live their lives, and so people know their ZIP code, you know, people know the geography that they're associated with based on their ZIP code, and so that's why, you know, we put forward that approach. And as you know, Reuvain, we continue to report our test positivity by ZIP code on our website as well. The only other thing I'll say is that, you know, it's, it's been a wonderful collaboration with the State Health Department over the last few weeks and months, and we're all in this fight against the virus together, and that's how that's how we should all be doing our jobs as professionals.  

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead, Reuvain. 

Question: So, yeah, this official who was interviewed, she also said there were metrics our staff would work on, but they would only be announced that people met the metrics if they came from the executive chamber. Some areas met the metrics and will be called the zone, and others met the metrics that would not be called the zone. Did you have any discussions or try to have any discussions arguing about the different color coded zones? Or were there any other specific issues you could point to of difficulties you had with the State where they forced you or didn't allow you to do something you want it to, and in hindsight, do you feel you maybe should've stood up more forcefully and publicly against the Governor? 

Mayor: Reuvain, I feel I stood up forcefully and publicly against the Governor many times starting with the really foundational point about shelter in place, and I called for it, he attacked that very readily. I only wish he had acted quicker, we could have saved a lot more lives. There's plenty of times when I stood up to him. I stood up to him on freedom to vaccinate, that's the only reason we were able to vaccinate seniors and first responders as quickly as we did. Yeah, we fought over a lot of these things and it was sad. It shouldn't have been that way. It just shouldn't have been that way. 

Moderator: We're going to go back to Elizabeth for her second question. 

Question: Thank you so much. I wanted to ask about the Governor's comments yesterday, that if we get through the holidays without a surge, that she would direct the State Health Department to look at ways to relax measures that includes masks in schools. And I wanted you, Mr. Mayor, and also possibly Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long to comment on that. 

Mayor: Look, I haven't seen the Governor's specific comments. I'll only say what position we're taking here in New York City, I'd say don't count your chickens before they're hatched. You know, we feel really good about where we are in the fight against COVID because we have such a high level of vaccination, and we believe people are hearing the call to get vaccinated. You know, young people getting vaccinated in high numbers, folks are coming out for the booster. We need to keep that going and now add this testing approach intensely on top of it. So, I feel very good about where we stand, but before we take away the things that have worked, we have to be really, really certain. Our schools have been an amazing example of a strategy that worked. We created a gold standard of health and safety measures. They worked, they kept the school safe, our schools are open, our kids are all in school, this is a great, great thing for the city, but we have to protect it. So, at some point we would love to take away the mask restriction, but that has to be based on the data and the science. We have to be really, really sure it's the right time to do it. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, you said it all. I would just add by saying that we have to be more relentless than the virus. We've been at this for almost two years and, you know, time and again this virus has humbled us and so we need to bring to bear every possible intervention that we can to continue saving lives and preventing suffering, and we have to do it with a lot of humility. Thank you. 

Mayor: Dave Chokshi once again, breaks it on down, we have to be more relentless than the virus. Dave, you said it all there. That's a really great way of thinking about it and that's how we win in the end. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Mike with the Daily News. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning to everybody on the call, how are you doing? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, except I always think of you as Michael. Your byline says Michael, but the team here from City Hall always says Mike. What do you prefer? 

Question: I – it doesn't matter. I, you know, and when I put my name in it, I put in Mike or Michael depending on how rushed I am I guess. 

Mayor: It depends on the day.  

Question: I appreciate you asking. I appreciate you asking. Thank you.  

Mayor: You're all right, man.  

Question: So, I want to go back to something you said earlier in the news briefing. You said something to the effect, I'm not going to quote exactly, but that this $100 that's being offered as an incentive that, you know, we deserve this, right? And I'm taking my kids and to get their vaccinations today, I'm trying to teach them both critical thinking skills, and so when I ask about this, you know, what – why do we deserve this? And couldn't that money be better spent, you know, as opposed to, you know, each – I don't know if they're going to – my kids are going each get a $100 bill today or what – when I take them to get vaccinations, I'm not sure what to expect, but you know, why do they deserve it as opposed to, you know, one of the many public school kids in the city who are, you know, unfortunately homeless, right? I mean, can you, I guess, talk about that a bit? 

Mayor: Yeah, listen, Michael I know the question is from the heart, but let me put it in perspective. We – 400,000 New Yorkers have gotten that incentive. That means 400,000 people who got vaccinated, which is keeping the entire city safe and is why we are one of the safest places in the country, which is why jobs are coming back, tourists are coming back. This is what we need for our city. For a lot of people that incentive meant a lot, and it depends on the family, obviously some families maybe $100 doesn't mean a lot, there's a hell of a lot of families for whom $100 is a very, very big deal. When they hear the kids can each get $100, it encourages them to come forward, get over some of the concerns they have. I mean, I'm not saying they're not valid concerns or real concerns, but a lot of people just need that extra little incentive to get there and it's helped. So, we thought, of course, about what's the best use of public money. This is the best use of public money, if it gets more people vaccinated. By getting people vaccinated, we bring the city back. There's other things we have to attend to, but job one is to bring this city back. 

Moderator: We have time for two more questions for today. Our next question goes to Erin with Politico. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I want to ask, do you have any data with regards to the booster shots on how much they are preventing breakthrough cases or how much they are boosting effectiveness? Like for instance, I think we saw there was a study out of the UK yesterday that the booster bumped it back up to 94 percent. Do we have anything from that [inaudible] the city on how effective they are? 

Mayor: Excellent, excellent question. On that, I’m going to turn to the doctors to give you the latest from their research, Dr. Chokshi then Dr. Long. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir, and thanks Erin for this important question. The short answer is that no, we don't have city specific data as yet, although we are tracking this in terms of booster shot uptake, as well as effectiveness. But it will take us, you know, a bit longer to have to have any results that we're able to share. But what we do know is there is a strong scientific evidence-based not just from the clinical trials that was done on the boosters, which the FDA and the CDC reviewed, which showed both an increase in protection upwards of 90 percent, as you mentioned against symptomatic disease once one gets a booster shot. But perhaps even more importantly, for people who are particularly vulnerable, the protection against the most severe outcomes like hospitalization and death is even greater than that, and it's that evidence-based that has led us to encourage the uptake of booster shots broadly, but particularly for people who are more vulnerable, including those older than 65, people with underlying medical conditions, and particularly those who received the J & J vaccine. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Long. You want to add? 

Executive Director Long: Yeah, just Erin, on a personal note, I appreciate your question. We're looking forward to understanding its effect across New York City. I've gotten my booster because I believe in the evidence that Dr. Chokshi just said and as I tell my patients, this is what the evidence means. I believe in it enough that I've gotten the booster myself and I offered to give the booster to my patients myself, and that offers on the table for you to wear, Erin. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Erin. 

Question: You know I already got mine, but thank you for the offer. I also wanted to ask, we were talking about holiday gatherings, getting tested, but also, you know, Dr. Chokshi mentioned vaccinated – all vaccinated gatherings being the safest. Just wondering if you have any guidance for, you know, holidays can be a source of tension for families. I think there are some situations where, you know, there's an unvaccinated relative and that maybe is causing a source of conflict. How do you think people should handle that for their gatherings? Are you probably going to say encourage them to get vaccinated, but assuming that hasn't worked, you know, should you not invite unvaccinated people or uninvite them, and try to have a vaccinated only gathering, or is there some other mitigation you can take? 

Mayor: It's a great question. Erin has a tough question and look someday we'll look back at this time in our history, and I hope we'll look back at it as a time in the past that isn't repeated in terms of this conflict over something as basic as how we keep people healthy. I hope this is a passing moment. I really do. And I think in the end when we come out of COVID and it is proven that vaccination is what saved us, that people are going to reevaluate, sort of get away from the political tensions and see things differently over time. So, I'm hopeful for the future, but for the here and now it's a real concern. I think there is a strength, truly, in setting your own ground rule. You know, you think about what we've done with schools. When we said all the adults in schools had to be vaccinated, with restaurants, we said, you have to be vaccinated to go to the restaurant. What the Broadway community did, they said, you want to see the most amazing theater in the world, you have to be vaccinated. It really encouraged people, and it said, this is just a clear ground rule. And basically we saw a lot of people meet that ground rule. Even if it wasn't the original intention, they did meet the ground rule. So, I would say, for families, to encourage the many, many people out there who – it's not a dogmatic thing, it's something where they just haven't made up their mind, or they're feeling pulled in different directions. But I think if families say, look for the good – especially the oldest relatives – let's all get vaccinated. I think a lot of other family members will hear that, they'll respect it, and that's going to be encouragement for people to get vaccinated. And even a situation where you just have some unmovable people, you got to figure out if you can create a safe environment. If you can, maybe that's the compromise you make certain, you know, steps you take to keep everyone safe. Maybe it's one more set of holidays where there's a lot of zoom, which is not fun for anyone, but maybe that's necessary particularly, again, to protect older people. But I –, my advice to folks is if you believe in vaccination, set that rule for your home, not in a negative way, but in a positive way, encouraging others to get vaccinated for the good of all. 

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Abu with Bangla Patrika. 

Mayor: Can you hear us? If you don't have him, you can go to one other, if you have? That's all we have? All right. So, I'll wrap up and I'm just going to repeat because I love this so much with what Dave Chokshi said. I’m going to do a book of Dave Chokshi sayings. We have to be more relentless than the virus that says it all everyone. New Yorkers have been more relentless than the virus. That's why we're doing as well as we're doing. Let's keep showing the world what New York City's capable of and come back strong. Thank you, everybody.

2021-11-18 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Topic on everybody's mind is how we keep fighting back COVID, especially as we're going into the colder months. How we win this battle against COVID once and for all. The answer is always vaccinations. And here's some great news today. Breaking news, our City workforce, the mandate we put in place, it is working. It's working more than ever. As of this morning, 94 percent, 94 percent of City employees are vaccinated. So, thank you to all the men and women who serve us for stepping up, getting vaccinated, helping everyone be safe.

Here are some facts. The NYPD, amazing progress in each of these agencies. Since the mandate was announced October 20th, NYPD has gone from 70 percent up to 87 percent now. The Fire Department, the firefighting side of Fire Department from 58 percent to 88 percent. EMS from 61 percent to 92 percent. And Sanitation from 62 percent to 87 percent. Mandates work, they get people vaccinated. They keep everyone healthy. I'm calling upon all governors, mayors, CEOs in New York City, around the country, please, everyone get those mandates in place to help us defeat COVID once and for all. It's the right thing to do. And it works. We have proof positive right here. Since the deadline at 5:00 pm on October 29th, that deadline, since the deadline, there have been 10,000 more vaccinations. So, the deadlines work, but even after the deadlines, mandates have a powerful effect. People keep coming in to get vaccinated. This is good news for this city.

Now, today, we want to focus on another really innovative approach that has helped to keep New Yorkers safe. That has helped to fight COVID. Helped to reach people in a whole new way. You know, a great comment Dr. Chokshi made yesterday. He said we have to be more relentless than the virus. Well, New York City has been relentless. Every conceivable approach to getting people vaccinated, we'll do it. This week, last week, school vaccination sites, we have pop-up vaccine events all over the five boroughs, mobile vaccine units, testing units. You name it. Today we're focused on one of the most powerful innovations that's been created in this whole effort, at home vaccination. It started for folks who are homebound. It's now grown into something that anyone has access to. If it works for you and your family, vaccinators will come to your home. Now, listen, vaccinators can provide you with a first dose, second dose, a booster for as many family members as needed. And remember folks getting that first dose, get that $100 incentive regardless of age. So far 30,000 New Yorkers have gotten vaccinated through the at home initiative. And that's 46,000 doses that have been given. Obviously, some folks got their second dose at home as well. We get hundreds of people every day coming forward who want at-home vaccination. We could handle a lot more. So, today I'm here to promote this idea and say, if this is what works best for you and your family, all you got to do is ask for it. You can sign up at nyc.gov/homevaccine nyc.gov/homevaccine. Or you can call 8-7-7-VAX-4NYC, number 4. 8-7- 7-VAX-4NYC. Once you sign up, you'll get – a provider will call you, make an appointment, send a vaccinator to your home. Any family members can get vaccinated right there in the comfort of your home. It's a great way to stay safe. Please, everyone, if you haven't done it yet, this is a great way to protect your family. I want you to hear from someone who is really, really understands over a years and years, how important it is to bring health care to the people. He’s been a strong supporter of aggressive efforts to vaccinate our communities. My pleasure to introduce the Chair of the Health Committee in the State Assembly, Assembly Member Richard Gottfried.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you so much Assembly Member. And we want to really let people know this is something that's there for them. It's there for them for free. I probably need to say that more often. All of these services are for free. Thank you so much for supporting them and promoting them in your district and beyond. And we have a lot more people we can reach and especially important to do ahead of the holidays and the colder weather. So, thank you, Assembly Member. And I want you to hear everyone, from another member of the Assembly. She's the Chair of the Subcommittee on Workplace Safety. She's also a member of the Health Committee. She's also a health care professional herself. She’s really been a powerful voice out in communities telling people despite fears, despite all the misinformation, helping people understand the facts and get them vaccinated. My pleasure to introduce Assembly Member Karines Reyes.

[...]

Mayor: Thank you so much Assembly Member. I know you do an amazing job of communicating to your district. So, spread the word about in-home vaccination and thank you for everything you're doing to keep people safe.

Okay. Our indicators for today. Number one, this number keeps growing, growing, growing – doses administered to-date 12,283,368 doses. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 107 patients. Confirmed positivity, 16.38 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers, 0.55. And then, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report is 1,057 cases.

Now, a few words in Spanish. Going back to where we began, the importance of the vaccination effort and the fact that you can get vaccinated in your own home. You just have to ask for it. It's free. It's available to all.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Chief Juanita Holmes; Deputy Chief Jason Savino; Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Advisor on Public Health; Dr. Ted Long, Executive Director of Test & Trace; and Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter. Our first question for today goes to Andrew Siff from NBC.

Question: Hey. Good morning, everybody. First question on the booster eligibility. We're getting reports that at the chain pharmacies, CVS, Walgreens, etcetera, despite Commissioner Chokshi’s advisory earlier this week, people are being asked, are they 65? Are they an essential worker? And there are barriers to that booster. Is there anything you'll be able to do about that? Or do pharmacies simply have to wait until they get official federal guidance?

Mayor: Very helpful question, Andrew. I appreciate it. First of all, we’ve got to get the message out to the pharmacies better. And if there's any examples, by the way, Andrew, that you're hearing specifically, if you could share them with our teams so we can follow up – our health team can follow up with them directly, that's great. I'll turn to Dr. Varma, Dr. Long. I think that the bottom line here is, the Health Department of New York City is the organization that has to interpret the guidance. And the Health Department of New York City has sent a formal advisory out, saying we want to see everyone get a booster. We're in a high-need area. Everyone qualifies, go get the booster. We have to make sure every provider understands that. That's our responsibility to make sure that's clear. Dr. Varma, Dr. Long, you want to add?

Senior Advisor Varma: Yeah. Thank you very much for the question, Andrew. And this is an ongoing challenge that we faced every time that we've had to issue guidance. And we're in partnership with private centers – you know, the same issues, you know, regarding testing and for other issues as well. So, really what this is going to depend upon is engaging with all of these institutions to basically make sure that their processes are aligned with ours. As you know, we didn't directly contradict the federal guidelines. Essentially what we're saying is, you know, don't require people to attest to their medical condition, just simply accept that they're interested in getting a booster as appropriate. You know, we wanted to make sure that we were in line with the federal guidance as well. And, of course, this may all change very soon. As we know, CDC’s ACIP is meeting very soon. And so, these issues may get resolved that way as well.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Long, do you want to add?

Executive Director Long: Sir, you covered everything. Nothing to add.

Mayor: Thank you so much.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I have a question from our health team. They've been working on a story about schools that primarily rely on windows and air purifiers for ventilation. They’ve found that those schools are recording higher COVID case rates compared to schools with better ventilation. They've also found that the company that's sold the air purifiers to the city launched a lobbying campaign targeting city officials. Was there a competitive bidding process undertaken in purchasing those air purifiers? 

Mayor: Elizabeth, I'll have the team follow up on the procurement process. I don't know the details of that. I don't know the companies involved. Obviously during COVID we moved quickly to get what we needed to keep kids safe, but I want to turn to the underlying concern you're raising. The history that we've seen over this school year, especially, but even last school year and the worst of COVID, New York City public schools have been incredibly safe, real tribute to everyone involved, our health care leaders, our school leaders, it's been a stunning achievement and it came from layering on all those health and safety measures. I'm going to turn to Dr. Varma because he was one of the architects of this. We literally said, let's look at every country in the world and we've had conference calls and meetings where we went over every country's protocols, every city has protocols, we said, how can we take from each of them and create kind of super protocol gold standard to keep kids safe. It has worked in an astounding way. So, Dr. Varma, to the concern being raised by Elizabeth about ventilation and health outcomes, could you speak to that? 

Senior Advisor Varma: Yes, no, absolutely. Thank you very much for the question. You know, we've been looking very actively at our data throughout this period to make sure that all of the health and safety measures that we put in place are in fact working the way they should. And everything we see in monitoring the most important epidemiologic indicators we can find, indicates that our schools are doing a highly effective job at preventing transmission in them. As we all know, there are many ways that adults or children can get infected outside of the school system. So, what we have control over is what goes on actually in those buildings. And so to the point that you’re raising, you know, we did see this inquiry you know, in the past 24 hours, and unfortunately we have only seen a summary of the analysis that was done, and we have a number of methodologic concerns with how it was done. You know, trying to assess the ability of ventilation to have a direct real-world impact in COVID-19 is actually an incredibly difficult scientific question to answer. It's one of the reasons you actually see very few studies about this topic. So, what we are relying right now is really on a real-world experience in the real world data which indicates that our transmission prevention measures are working very effectively in the school system. 

Mayor: Thank you.

Thank you, everybody.

2021-11-19 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, again, everyone. Now, our Friday Ask the Mayor segment. We've just got a few of these left with Mayor Bill de Blasio, and we will spend most of our remaining time with him taking the longer view on a few different topics, after he's been dealing with them for eight years now. Beginning today with education, and this will mostly not be about education during the pandemic, but again, the longer view, what he inherited and changed from Mayor Bloomberg, how the generations long work of trying to make education in the City's vast system work more equally for every child.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: And just a quick, good school-related breaking news for you, Brian, that our amazing effort, and so many folks have been doing this out in our schools, to vaccinate our kids at school buildings has been really, really successful. We're out in school buildings last two weeks, at charter schools today, as well, going back to more schools, DOE schools starting on Monday and Tuesday, but here's the good news. We are now at 82,000 vaccinations for our city, for five- to 11-year-olds. That gives us a percentage of 12 percent of that entire group of kids right now and growing all the time, compared to 10 percent nationally.

So, we're off to a very strong start with vaccinating our youngest New Yorkers. And a lot of it is this in-school vaccination drive, and it's going to continue.

2021-11-22 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Happy Monday. You know, we've been talking about all the ways that New York City is coming back. And we know what leads the way is vaccination. Vaccination leads the way to our recovery. But New York City's also helping to lead the way for this nation when it comes to big changes that are helping us fight COVID and come back. And a great example is when it comes to boosters. We believed strongly boosters should be for everyone. And we said it clearly, our health care leaders said it clearly, we're just going to go out and make sure everyone who wants a booster gets a booster. We need clear, sharp, inclusive approaches. We shouldn't be saying, Hey, some people get it, some people don't. Anyone who wants a booster should get a booster. That's what New York City said.

Well, on Friday, that's what the FDA said as well. Pfizer and Moderna boosters approved for everyone. Anyone 18 years old and older can get a Pfizer or Moderna booster. And this is the time everyone, to go out there and protect yourself, protect your family. Get that booster. Listen, we spread the word. We expanded eligibility last Monday. What an impact it's had. Now, suddenly a lot of New Yorkers are coming forward and it's great. It's great to see so many people getting the booster. As of this moment, today 811,460 New Yorkers have gotten a booster shot already. And that number is going to grow a lot in the coming days. Go out, get your booster shot now. Now I want you to hear from someone who has been at the grassroots, spreading the message, leading vaccination efforts locally to make sure people are informed to make sure people get vaccinated, to make sure they get the booster. She's been a great partner in our efforts, in her own district and around the city as Chair of the City Council Committee on Hospitals. My pleasure to introduce Council Member Carlina Rivera.

[…]

Thank you so much, Council Member. And Council Member, I admire you. You're getting the powerful double shot. You're getting the booster and the flu shot. So, Council Member Rivera is making a great point, everyone. If you haven't gotten the flu shot, this is a great time to get that done. And yep, you can get them both done at once. Thank you very much Council Member. And everyone, New York City leading the way on vaccinations, safest place to be in the whole country now because of the high level of vaccination. And you should be proud of that. All of you, because you made it happen. Listen to this, as of today, 88 percent of New York City adults have had at least one dose of the vaccine, 88 percent. Staggering figure. You did that. As of today, 75 percent of all residents, all ages have had at least one shot. That's amazing. And as of today, over a hundred thousand of our five- to 11-year-olds are already vaccinated. They've gotten their first shot. Over a hundred thousand already. This is something that's just been available for the last couple of weeks. But parents are showing up. Kids are showing up. It's working. We got a lot more to do. But it's a great strong start. That's 15 percent of the eligible group already. That's well ahead of where the national average is. And New York City is going to double down to reach our youngest New Yorkers and keep everyone safe.

Now we're going to go farther, farther, farther. But one of the things we have to do, we have to constantly do is educate people and dispel a lot of misconceptions. There's still a lot of misinformation. The best way to fight misinformation is with the truth, the facts, the real thing. So, we have put together a very powerful campaign to get the message out. There'll be TV ads, radio, digital print, subway ads, you name it, multiple languages to tell people the truth about why the vaccine makes sense and why it's safe and effective and available to all. Let me show you one of these ads right now.

[COVID-19 vaccine ad plays]

So, we're going to be getting that message out everywhere. But today we want you to hear from the ultimate myth busters. We want you to hear from some of the powerful, informed, wonderful voices who have seen us through this crisis. Our own Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, Dr. Long. And each of them is going to speak to one of the myths. And I'm going to ask them in true or false fashion to really lay out the facts. Dr. Chokshi you are up first. You are the first myth buster. Dr. Chokshi, I hear it from a lot of people around this city. They say, if I get vaccinated, I could be infertile. Dr. Chokshi, true or false?

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Sir, the answer is false. Vaccines do not cause infertility. There is no evidence that the vaccines affect a person's fertility. And in fact, thousands of people have safely become pregnant after getting their COVID-19 vaccines. Sir, as you know, I'm the father of a young child myself and I don't take anything for granted when it comes to New Yorkers who are aiming to grow their families. But we can unequivocally state because the science is clear that the COVID vaccines do not impact a person's ability to become pregnant. We also know the risks COVID-19 can pose to pregnant women and that's why the nation's leading OB/GYNs strongly recommend the vaccine for their patients. So, here's the bottom line, sir, based on the data on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines during pregnancy and the risk related to COVID-19 itself, we strongly recommend vaccination for all people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, or trying to get pregnant now or in the future.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Doctor. You are an effective myth buster. Now I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz. Again, Dr. Katz, I've had this conversation with people multiple times. And what I hear is, oh, I had COVID already so I have total natural immunity. Dr. Katz, true or false?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: False, sir. And I hear it also from my patients as well as other people. But the best way, to be fully protected is to get vaccination. The studies have been quite clear that people who get vaccinated following a infection with COVID have more immunity than people who have only had COVID. And that's why we want everybody, whether they've had COVID or not in the past to get fully vaccinated. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Katz, another myth busted. Here's the third, Dr. Long. I hear this a lot. I hear it, particularly from younger folks. Hey, I'm healthy. I don't need the vaccine, true or false, Dr. Long?

Executive Director Ted Long, Test & Trace Corps: That’s absolutely false. The vaccine is how you stay healthy. Young people can get very sick from COVID and what's been devastating for me, as a primary care doctor, is seeing some of my patients that are young people that were healthy, suffer from long COVID, meaning, having difficulty breathing, even mental health issues that, could have been prevented, if they would have received the vaccine earlier on, but don't just do it for yourself. This holiday season, do it for your mom, do for your dad, do it for your family. You can protect them by getting vaccinated. And look, if enough people get vaccinated, we can end the pandemic as we know it for New York City, but we have to do it together with all the healthy people that could get vaccinated, as well. We can do this together if we get vaccinated. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Long. To all our doctors, you have been amazing powerful voices throughout this crisis and voices of truth.

So, everyone there it is, broken down as clearly as you could possibly imagine, I'm going to ask all New Yorkers help spread the truth, help break those lies and bust those myths, so we can get everyone safe, especially with the holidays and the colder weather coming on. Let's get everyone to be safe. Let's get everyone vaccinated. And you saw from those numbers before, New York City leading the way. Now, we have led the way so often, this city should be so proud. We've led the way so often, the things we've called for have often become the approach around the country, even become federal policy, as you just saw with the boosters.

Now, everyone, we're going to go to our indicators now. And I am so happy about the first indicator today, because I told you earlier about the numbers coming up strong on the youth vaccinations. On the boosters, this number overall keeps growing very impressively. We are well on our way now to 12.5 million vaccination doses administered date. 12,437,097 to-date, growing rapidly. That is the most important thing. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 86 patients confirmed positivity. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 86 patients, confirmed positivity 24.18 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is 0.64 and then a new reported cases on a seven-day average, today’s report 1,200 cases. Okay, a few words in Spanish and going back to the myths we want to bust about vaccination.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by a Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Ted Long, Executive Director of the New York City Test and Trace Corps, and Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals. Matt from Newsday. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you? 

Mayor: Good, Matt. How have you been? 

Question: I've been all right, all right. The Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex in Staten Island is hosting the state high school indoor track championships. About two weeks ago it notified the state that it no longer was requiring competing athletes to have proof of at least one vaccination shot. When the state girls team tennis championships were held at the complex in Queens on November 5th, athletes had to be vaccinated per the city's policy and mandate. What changed to allow Ocean Breeze to send out this new guidance? 

Mayor: I'm hearing this for the first time is the truth, Matt. I’m going to see if Dr. Chokshi knows something about it. Look, the goal here is to keep everyone safe, and so we obviously want clear rules that do that. We've had clear rules with our high school athletes in our public schools, and I think that's been really helpful, but this is the first time hearing of this. Dr. Chokshi, are you aware of this or any comment you want to make? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I don't have any other detailed information about it, but we'll certainly look into it and follow up. 

Mayor: Okay, so Matt, give us – we're going to, obviously, both of us need to find out what's going on and how we want to handle this, but I appreciate you bringing it to our attention. Go ahead, Matt.

Question: On another matter, I'm wondering among public employees who are subject to the vaccine mandate who are seeking exceptions whether for religious or medical reasons, among those who've already been adjudicated, what percent have been granted the exceptions and how many are left in the pipeline to be adjudicated? So, two questions. 

Mayor: Yeah, no, that's an important question. So, I'm going to – let me start, and then Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz may have additional information overall, or certainly from the cases of there, you know, the examples of their agencies. Okay, first of all, the vaccination rate among city employees now is 94 percent. We're really happy about that. And by the way, we've seen an increase in the last few days in the fire department, the firefighting side is an 89 percent, the EMS side at 93 percent, fire department overall, 91 percent. So, that's a great, great number. We have very few folks now on leave without pay, and this gets into your question, Matt, I think now we're about 2,600 overall employees from the current mandate on leave without pay, so out of the workforce about 400,000. So, most people who are still waiting to get to a final resolution are in that category of they've asked for a reasonable accommodation, that's about 12,000 employees. In terms of the process, as it moves forward, remember there's the original decision. then they have an appeal if they want to use it. So that does take a little time, but our previous experience was overwhelmingly folks who did not get the accommodation, then the option of course, was either get vaccinated or go on leave it out pay overwhelmingly chose to get vaccinated. We saw that consistently. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, you want to add anything either on the overall numbers or from your own agency's experience? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. I'll just add briefly to say that the overall numbers of exemptions that are being submitted is quite small for the reasons that the Mayor has laid out. And each agency is working through their specific process to adjudicate those exemptions, and what we're finding is that it's a small percentage of a small percentage that ended up being granted, and the reason for this is that there are very few clinical contract indications to vaccination that allow one to qualify for a medical exemption. And then for religious exemptions, it has to be evidence of a sincerely held religious belief. So, the overall sense is, that as the Mayor has said that people are choosing to get vaccinated and we're working through this process, but it's a very small percentage at the end of the day of granted medical or religious exemptions.

Mayor: Dr. Katz, you want to add.

President Katz: I would just add that every person that anyone will meet at Health + Hospitals facilities at our clinics, at our hospital, every person you will meet is fully vaccinated. We feel very strongly about that to keep our patients and each other safe. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Amen. And that we will, we'll get you the specifics on what the if you will, the batting average has been up to date on the previous round, so you can get that frame of reference.

Moderator: As a programming note, we are now joined by Police Commissioner Dermot Shea. Our last question for today goes to Abu from Bangla Patrika.

Question: Hello, Mayor. How are you? Good morning.

Mayor: Good morning, Abu. How are you?

Question: Good. Good. Thank you so much for asking. My question is, last night, AP has a report about the uptick of COVID-19 in New York City. And you are talking about how the city is coming back and, you know, how people can have a normal life. But, you know, COVID is coming. A lot of people have a vaccinated, but they are also infected. What about New York City? What is the exact plan? How you are preparing the city and what is your plan?

Mayor: Yeah. Abu, a crucial, crucial question. Thank you. Very powerful question. Bottom line, we've watched very carefully with what's happening in parts of Europe. We've watched very carefully what's happening around the country. We've had this conversation, you know, the whole team, obviously with our health care leaders. Bottom line, heavy, heavy focus on vaccination – heavy focus on youth vaccination, heavy focus on boosters. If we keep doing that, we can protect the people of this city. We can make sure that we save lives. We can make sure that our hospitals are going to be okay. So, to me, we have the basic approach. We’ve got to double down on it. We’ve got to create urgency around it. This number I talked to you about today, 100,000-plus vaccinations for the five- to 11-year-olds, that's very encouraging to me, because that's the big opportunity areas to reach those young people and protect the families. So, I think we've got the right game plan. It's about really intensively implementing it in these coming weeks.

And with that, everyone, as we conclude today, again, thank you to everyone who has gotten vaccinated. We have these amazing numbers now. A lot more of you have chosen to get the booster. A lot of kids and families have come forward for the youngest New Yorkers. Let's keep going. It's getting colder out there. The holiday’s coming. You can do yourself a favor, do your whole city of favor, go out there, get the young people in your life vaccinated. And now, everyone can get the booster. Go get that booster. The time is now. Do it today. Thank you, everybody.

2021-11-23 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. 

All right, everybody. So, that's just amazing example of what a recovery for all of us looks like fair, inclusive. Moving us forward. A lot of energy, a lot of focus on the future in New York City. I love talking about recovery for all of us. And as you may know, I also love talking about something else and that's vaccination. And that is the thing that moves us forward. And New York City is leading the way. The amazing fact, as of today, 88 percent now, even going up a little above that, 88 percent of adults in New York City had received at least one dose of the vaccine, that is stunning and that is going to grow. And that's, what's going to help us continue to be the safest place in this country. We're beating back COVID with all the challenges we're still beating it back.

Now, the way to do this has always been to go out to the people, to focus on the grassroots, to have an equitable, fair distribution of vaccine, to go to the people. And it has been working. And part of why it's been working is we found community-based partners, who were passionate about the work, who had incredible networks, who reached people who spoke their language, who had their trust. And one of the best examples is the organization SOMOS. Community-based health providers, who have been leading the way they've played an absolutely crucial role in informing the public dispelling, this information, encouraging vaccination, encouraging testing. They ran the incredible vaccination site at Yankee Stadium, which was a huge success. SOMOS is a group of health care providers of and by and for the community. And they have been really extraordinary allies in this effort. And we want to keep empowering that work. So, we've now tapped into this great network of healthcare providers, and we're creating the ability for them to vaccinate people in their offices with the $100 incentive. This is a new way of using the$100 incentive to reach everyday New Yorkers. When folks go into a SOMOS facility to get vaccinated, to get the truth, to be encouraged to get vaccinated, they can get everyone who comes get vaccinated can get that. $100 incentive. And this is going to keep moving us forward. Including of course, the kids who come in, we want the families to benefit. We want the kids to benefit. They get that $100 incentive, as well. I want you to hear from two leaders of SOMOS, who have done absolutely amazing work during the pandemic. First of all, Chairman and Founder of SOMOS Community Care, Dr. Ramon Tallaji.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Tallaji, and to Henry Muρoz. Thank you. Appreciate the heart and passion of what you said. And I know, you're taking this grassroots approach to healthcare all over the city, in fact, all over the country with SOMOS USA. So, to both of you, extraordinary effort you've made during this pandemic, and we've got a lot more to do, and we're really excited about this new effort. Thank you both so much.

All right, now, the incentives, the outreach, all of this has had a huge impact. It's part of why we are the safest place to be, when it comes to fighting COVID. But let's also talk about mandates. Mandates work. Mandates work. You've heard me say it. I've said it for weeks and months, mandates work, and it's the way of the future. Let me give you the evidence, the mandate we put on our public workforce. Yeah, there was noise. There was controversy, but, in the end, it was the right thing to do. It kept people safe. It kept New Yorkers safe. It kept the whole city safe. Here's the proof, overall 94 percent of City workers vaccinated. Now, that's amazing. That's a stunning number. That's the kind of number that, allows us to move out of the COVID era. Let's go over the numbers in the agencies and you'll see the kind of growth that's occurred since the mandate was in place.

For the NYPD, as of now 87 percent vaccinated. That is up 17 percent since the October 20th announcement. FDNY EMS is at 93 percent. That's up fully 32 percent since the October 20 announcement. FDNY firefighting – 89 percent, up 31 percent. These are really amazing numbers. Sanitation, 88 percent, up 25 percent since the announcement. Folks asked yesterday about Department of Correction, we've seen a surge in vaccinations amongst the uniformed members of the Department of Correction. And just the last few days, we've seen a nine percent jump. That number is now 67 percent. We expect that number to go up a lot. We know mandates work and we've got to double down. I've said all leaders across the country, public sector, private sector need to lean in. And we got another great example just yesterday. The TSA that protects all our airports, they put in place a mandate for their employees. Good for keeping the employees safe, good for protecting holiday travelers. This was the right thing to do.

So, federal government's done an amazing job. The City of New York's led the way, shown what's possible. We've been seen as an inspiration all around the country for strong mandates that work. Let's take the next step. I'm calling on our Governor. Governor Hochul, here's an opportunity to do something that will really help New York City, put a mandate in place for MTA employees. It's time to do it. MTA – listen, we depend on all the good men and women who worked for the MTA. We thank them. They've been heroes during the COVID crisis, but we’ve got to get out of the COVID era. We need them to be vaccinated for the safety of each other and their families, their communities, for the safety of the passengers. It's worked with the New York City workforce. It can work with the MTA as well. Here are folks right here in the same city, serving the same New Yorkers, how about we use the same strategy, everyone required to be vaccinated, and that helps move us forward.

Okay, everybody, let's talk about today's indicators and they continue to show that people are getting vaccinated more and more. We're almost at 12.5 million, 12,448,395 doses from day one, a stunning figure, and again, great credit to all the folks out there who made this happen, all the vaccinators, all the health care heroes, the good folks at SOMOS, so many others who have been building this number of vaccinations day after day after day. Number two, daily, number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report is 91 patients, confirmed positivity 20.21 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is 0.65. And new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 1,289 cases. So we're obviously seeing that number go up. This is all the more reason for people to get vaccinated who are not yet vaccinated, and for folks who are ready for that booster, go get that booster. Now open to anyone at 18 and up. Let's get everyone out there, get that booster, protect us during the holiday season. Okay, a few words in Spanish, and this is about the incentive we just announced through SOMOS in the community-based health care offices.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist 

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development, Vicki Been, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, Dr. Torian Easterling, First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Equity Officer of the city's Health Department, and Anita Laremont, the Director of the Department of City Planning. Our first question for today goes to Andrew Siff from NBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, since you were just talking about urging the Governor to do something about the MTA and mandates, I'm wondering, were you invited to today's event on the Second Avenue Subway phase two, or are we back to the Governor and the Mayor not necessarily being on the same page? And sort of related to that do you have any regrets about what you've been able to accomplish on the mass transit front? At one point you proposed a Utica Avenue subway in Brooklyn in a State of the City, it of course never got built, and you never really mentioned it again. So I'm wondering your take on it.

Mayor: Andrew, very different questions, so I'll do my best here. Look, I'm very, very happy with what we've been able to do on mass transit. We created NYC Ferry, which I think has tremendous potential to grow over the years and decades ahead. We have created the bus ways that never existed before, and now they're part of New York City, that's going to be a great part of our future select bus service has greatly expanded, that's going to be a big part of our future. Of course, Citi Bike, huge expansion, all of these pieces matter. There's going to be opportunity in the future to look at more subway lines, but I think the fact is that because of COVID and because of lack of federal investment until now, it really wasn't possible. Now we have a whole new discussion because the infrastructure bill and we can go back and look at options we didn't have before, and that's exciting.

In terms of the Governor, I've had lots of conversations with the Governor on many topics. It is night and day compared to what I experienced previously. We don't keep the same schedule. You know, we have different priorities. That's perfectly understandable. But I respect the Governor, we communicate well, we work well together, and what I'm calling for here is, you know, with an atmosphere and a feeling of respect and collegiality. We went out there first. We proved that mandates could work. I think the Governor does care deeply about us getting out of the COVID era. I'm saying, look, here's a way to get something done that will really help the city turn the page and we'll work together on it, for sure.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Marla Diamond from WCBS 880. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Talking a little bit about the schools, we're going into the Thanksgiving break, and, I'm just hearing anecdotally that many, many classrooms are either closed or partially closed because of active COVID cases. Can you give us a sense of what's going on with the number of cases, and testing, is there increased testing in the schools? I mean, have you gotten more, you know, authorization from parents, if you got more of those slips. Did you – more testing, especially in schools where you have a high number of COVID cases? 

Mayor: Yeah. Marla, these are all really good questions, but I want to just frame it for you. The facts actually say something very different. I want to lay it out to you. We are doing a huge amount of testing. We have a lot of testing consent in, we certainly have the numbers we need to do very consistent testing in schools, but the numbers overall, the COVID positivity levels are very low. I'll turn to doctor – in a second to Dr. Easterling or Dr. Katz, if they have that information available on the positivity level of schools right now, they'll tell you, otherwise we'll get it to you, but it's very, very low. And they remain – New York City's the safest place to be in the country in terms of COVID, the schools are the safest place to be in New York City, extremely low COVID levels. In terms of closures, Marla I'm happy to tell you, we have no school closures at this moment out of 1,600 schools. And in terms of a full classroom closures, the number I have as of late yesterday, 227 classroom closures, that's against 48,000 classrooms and 65,000 spaces, many of which are being used as classrooms because of distancing. So, whichever you want to say, 48,000 or 65,000, either way you slice it, only 227 classrooms closed out of that. That's an incredibly low number and we intend to keep it that way, and the key is vaccination. Getting the youngest New Yorkers vaccinated is the best way to keep our schools safe. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Erin Durkin from Politico. 

Question: With regards to, you know, you’re calling on the Governor to Institute a vaccine mandate. Have you spoken to her about a vaccine mandate or this MTA issue? Do you have any sense of why, you know, that has not taken place?

Mayor: Look, I've talked to the Governor over time about everything we're doing with the mandates. Our teams have been talking specifically. We've talked about the MTA issue. They will speak for themselves, obviously. And again, I look at this from an atmosphere of goodwill. I think everyone's trying to balance things, but I think it was fair for someone to say, well, okay, let's see what happens in New York City first, let's see what happens with our public employees. And what I'm saying is, now we have absolute proof that this effort worked and it had a tremendously helpful impact on fighting back COVID. So, I think it's a great time for the State to act, for the MTA to act, and I think will help us get out of the COVID era.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to know if you could clarify the hundred-dollar vaccine incentive expansion, is that only for SOMOS clinics? Or will that be for all community clinics that receive federal funding?

Mayor: Elizabeth, I'll turn to Dr. Easterling about where we stand, because we have been working more and more with federally supported clinics as well. The SOMOS network has obviously been crucial partners in our whole vaccination and testing effort. So, organizationally, it was quite clear that we could provide the incentive through their doctors. And the farther we can go with the incentive, the better. We want people to have it. It's hard to do if there isn't a truly organized context to work in. But wherever we can effectively extend the incentive, we want to do it, because we want people to get the incentives, and we want people to get vaccinated. It's really straightforward. Dr. Easterling, could you speak about the federally supported clinics and how we're approaching them with the incentive? Where we are now, where we might be going with that?

First Deputy Commissioner Torian Easterling, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes. Mr. Mayor. A really great question. Thank you so much for the question. This is really important. And as you've heard us talk about a time and time again, equity is really important in our response and really making sure that we are really getting our resources out in the neighborhoods that have been hardest hit. And so, as you've already heard, our federally qualified health centers have been really crucial in our response, first in getting testing out, and now getting our vaccines both to our adults and to our children. And so, the partnership with SOMOS is not unique. We are working with several federally qualified health centers, because many of these FQAC’s – or, federally qualified health centers – have networks throughout the city. And so, really to be working with our health centers and Brooklyn and Queens, also in Manhattan and Staten Island to make sure that we really get our vaccines out. It’s not just limited to adults, as I've mentioned. We already know that we are offering these incentives to children and adolescents as well.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Yehudit from Borough Park 24.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: I am great, Yehudit. How are you?

Question: Thank you. I'm really great also. So, Attorney General James is blaming Governor Hochul for the recent COVID surge in New York. So, as your mandates and incentives have been quite successful in vaccinating 88 percent of the city and promoting – also promoting boosters, I was wondering, besides the MTA mandate, what other kinds of things do you think the Governor can do to increase vaccinations and booster rates? And also, I was wondering, what do you think of how Governor Hochul is doing to manage COVID in New York?

Mayor: Look, I'm going to keep it simple and positive. I respect the Governor. I just call upon her to use mandates in a way that will save lives and help us get out of the COVID era. And the obvious first place to do that is the MTA. If you’re talking about – it's a big workforce, it's 70,000 people, and they come in close contact with all New Yorkers. That's a great place to start. I would say, if there's any other elements of the workforce that the Governor can reach, the mandates make sense. And I say it to private sector leaders as well. I think every company should move to it. Look at United Airlines. We’ve seen some great examples in the private sector that have had a huge, positive impact. So, it's time for more mandates. Go ahead, Yehudit.

Question: And then, also, given the joblessness has now returned to pre-pandemic levels, I’m wondering why, at this point, nonpayment of rent could result in what you seem to be calling illegal evictions. Also, last week, Steven Banks, the Commissioner of Social Services, it seemed like he kind of mocked the idea of landlords who are providing spaces to live and other services to tenants – and the landlords who depend on their rent for their income. He kind of seems to mock that they would get legal representation. So, I was wondering also, do you think landlords who lost billions of dollars in their income over the pandemic, whether they also deserve representation and payment?

Mayor: Landlords – the vast majority of landlords do the right thing. Let's start with that. I've always said it. And then, there are some who do the wrong thing. The ones who do the wrong thing, the ones who try to illegally evict people or not provide heat and services to drive people out of the building so they can raise the rent, those folks need to be dealt with very aggressively. But the vast majority of landlords are just trying to provide housing to people. And, of course, a tenant should pay the rent. It's as simple as that. I've said this throughout the pandemic, if you can afford to pay the rent, pay the rent, because the buildings need to keep going. The heat needs to stay on. The repairs need to be made. But there are a lot of people just couldn't. You're right, that finally the economy is coming back, but that's really recent, Yehudit. There were a lot of people that just couldn't pay the rent. We're finally seeing some of the aid reaching them. It's now a time where a lot more people should catch up on the rent, and pay what they can, and get the landlords up to [inaudible]. In terms of representation, historically, landlords did have representation, tenants did not, and that was the imbalance that had to be addressed. And representation on both sides helps everyone, because it creates a dialogue towards a solution. Generally, obviously, private enterprise, private sector, it's their responsibility for their own representation. Low-Income folks, the City made a choice to do that, which I think is good for everyone.

And so, I'll just finish on this, saying the Right to Counsel legislation was historic. I'm very proud of it. It's been emulated around the country. It's helping to keep people in their homes who have a legal right to be there. But also, representation does help to resolve cases for everyone. And that's something that's really in the City's interest.

Everyone, as we conclude today, a lot of good things happening today. Today that we are celebrating consistent success on vaccination and building the effort out more. This is what's going to give us safety in this holiday season. This is what's going to move this city forward and out of the COVID era once and for all. Thank you, everybody.

2021-11-24 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. 

So, we're getting ready for Thanksgiving tomorrow. First night of Hanukkah is Sunday. Happy Hanukkah to all. That's a joyous, joyous occasion. And it's a time to really think about the way forward and something positive. May the light of the menorah continue to shine on our beloved city and on the communities of this city. There's a lot this time of year that gives us inspiration and hope. So, to the whole Jewish community, happy Hanukkah in advance, to everyone. As you getting ready for the holidays, we want to emphasize all the greatness of this time of year, particularly in the city. And we've got a video we want to show you from our friends at New York City & Company. They've done an outstanding job by the way, promoting the city all around the country, all around the world. That's part of why you're seeing people coming back to visit us and coming along to spend a little bit of money in our establishments, which we appreciate. But the magic of New York City at the holidays is celebrated in this video. I want you to see it

[Holidays in New York City video plays]

Mayor: Well, that says it all. So, it's New York City. We are back. We are strong. It's going to be joyous holidays, but we also are very, very aware. We're going to put safety first, health first as always. That's what got us out of being the epicenter of the crisis, to now the safest place in the country. So, we're going to keep a focus on vaccination. We're going to keep a focus on everyone being safe and healthy. So, the holidays, if you have not yet been vaccinated, the holidays, should be a motivation to get vaccinated. If you're thinking about the beauty of family gatherings, that should be a motivation to get the kids in your family vaccinated. If you're thinking about your loved ones, older loved ones, the people we cherish in our family, our seniors, it's a great time to make sure they got their booster. Let's think about all the ways we can keep people safe, and we're going to keep going out there to communities, bringing vaccination to you. It has worked going out to the grassroots, all the mobile vaccination efforts. They've been amazing. Thank you to everyone, who's been a part of them. I always thank them. Stop and tell them, how special they are because they've done great work, the vans and the buses and the pop-ups. And you've seen the tents around and the efforts in the schools, it's all made a huge difference. In fact, such a huge difference. Our mobile vaccination efforts, it's amazing. The mobile vaccination efforts alone, have now provided half a million doses of the vaccine to New Yorkers, half a million through the mobile efforts. It's amazing.

Now, we know vaccination is the key, and there's a lot of smart things you can do to stay safe and we have safe holidays, joyous holidays. That's going to help us all move forward. Let's make the holidays a time, that really are great for everyone. Not a time of worry, a time of joy here to tell you how to do that the right way, our doctor, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. And I also want to start just by wishing everyone a joyful holiday season. On Thanksgiving Eve, I'm feeling grateful for so much, a chance to reconnect with loved ones and the opportunity to do it more safely and healthfully compared to this time last year. We've made progress against COVID-19 with over 76 percent of all New Yorkers, having received at least one vaccine dose. This is great progress. And it's because so many New Yorkers have stepped up to do the right thing. Let's keep that up over the holidays.

So, here's what I recommend. First, every activity is safer, if you're fully vaccinated and people can feel comfortable coming together in small gatherings, when everyone is vaccinated. Testing before and after gatherings or travel, adds, one more layer of safety and testing is widely available across New York City. About 70 percent of test results across the city, come back within a day and you can find rapid testing locations via nyc.gov/covidtest, if you need results back even faster.
 
Second, testing and other precautions become more important, if you're with a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated friends or family. My practical tip is to plan around the most vulnerable member of your group, whether it's a senior or someone with a weakened immune system. Gathering virtually or using masks and distancing can help protect them. My own family is planning to hold one of our get togethers, outdoors this weekend because we'll have family members spanning three generations, including some kids, who are unvaccinated because they're under five.

Third, it's not too late to take some simple steps. I've been asked if vaccination helps for an occasion just a few days away. My answer is every day is a good day to get vaccinated. I'll repeat every day is a good day to get vaccinated, whether for your first dose or your booster, because you'll start to build your immunity though, it is gradual. I recommend everyone 18 and older, get a booster, when it's time for one. And our team is ready to serve you, today. Just visit nyc.gov/vaccinefinder.

Finally, remember to stay home, if you're feeling ill. Don't gather or travel, even if you'd made plans. If you're feeling okay and do plan to travel, keep your face covering on and wash your hands frequently. Make sure you know what COVID transmission looks like at your destination and plan accordingly. Mr. Mayor, it's been another challenging year and New Yorkers deserve a festive holiday season. I wish everyone a Thanksgiving and Hanukkah filled with reflection, celebration, good cheer and good health. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Chokshi and I love what you said, every day is a good day to get vaccinated and you get vaccinated, it helps you enjoy all the joys of the holiday season.

And speaking of the holiday season. And, of course, it’s Thanksgiving I've been joined by some special friends, because we are ready for the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Now, everybody, the parade is amazing tomorrow, but I also love what happens tonight with the inflation of the balloons. It's another great New York City Tradition. It's really joyous.Commissioner Shea and I are going to be out there with folks from Macy's at four o'clock this afternoon, to talk about the parade, to help New Yorkers know that everything's going to be safe. And a lot of preparation has been made by Macy's of course, by the NYPD, by all the agencies and City Government, to keep everyone safe. The parade is one of the greatest events each year.

But, tonight is going to be great too, with the balloons being blown up and just seeing that just the sheer magnitude of this incredible event, kids especially have a great time later on this afternoon tonight. So, everyone, if you want to be a part of that, you'll get to see Baby Yoda, Pikachu, and Chase from Paw Patrol, among other greats. And the balloons display will be, actually it's 12 to 6:00 p.m. today, it's even earlier. 12 to 6:00 p.m. today. People can be a part of that. You do need proof of vaccination and a matching photo ID, if you're an adult. Look, everyone, this is a great sign of our resiliency and our strength. This is going to be the 95th year of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, 95 years, no matter what's been thrown at us, the parade has come through strong and it's going to be a great sign of our rebirth. What you see happening tomorrow in New York City is going to be a joyous moment.

Now, as we get ready for Thanksgiving and all the holidays ahead, first of all, a very happy Thanksgiving to all New Yorkers. You've been through a lot, but you should be really, really proud of how you've handled these last couple of years and what it means for our future. So, it's a time to reflect and enjoy a very happy Thanksgiving to all.

And one thing for our scheduling ahead, we are obviously getting into the very last few weeks of our administration, and there is a lot to do. We are sprinting to the finish line. There's a huge amount to finish up. It's a pretty electric atmosphere here at City Hall, a lot of work going on to finish strong, and also a lot of work going on to make sure to hand off to the new administration is strong and smooth. We've been working really closely. I've been working closely with Mayor-elect Eric Adams. Our teams are constantly talking every hour, every day, a great working relationship, but there's a lot to do. So, as a result, we're going to be changing our schedule. These morning briefings will happen two times a week on Monday and Wednesday. So, we'll do this same format on Monday and Wednesday. I'll also still be giving interviews on NY1 every Monday evening and on WNYC every Friday. And we will keep people posted and, obviously, anytime there are special moments, we'll also gather to address those. But, right now we have a lot to do to finish strong and a lot to make sure that starting on January 1st, the next administration has everything they need to succeed. And I think it's going to be a very good New Year for New York City on so many levels.

Okay, let me go to indicators. First of all, doses administered to date, and this is again, you heard the mobile vaccination efforts have been incredibly strong. We have a great number today, but I want to keep urging people think about the holidays. Think about the gatherings. Think about the colder weather, get vaccinated. So, today doses administered to date 12,465,181. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report is 97 patients, confirm positivity 22.22 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers, 0.67. And then, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 1,278 cases. We did a few words in Spanish, and this is about the blood center, but also the future of this city as the public health capital of the world.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

Mayor: With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Dr. Dave Chokshi; Dr. Mitch Katz; Deputy Mayor Vicky Been; and Dan Gross, Executive Director of Citywide Events, Coordination, and Management. Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Elizabeth –

Question: Hi, I wanted to ask about testing today. It seems like, you know, testing is going to play a very large role going forward in the battle against COVID. Does the city plan to give New Yorkers some guidance on rapid tests?

Mayor: Yes, a great question, Elizabeth, and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. We think rapid tests are an important part of the equation and, you know, I think Dr. Chokshi has been such a great protagonist of the notion of use what's available to you and works best for you. And you're right, we want to make sure people lean into testing more as we're seeing the colder weather come on. So Dr. Chokshi you want to speak to that.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and thanks Elizabeth for the question. Yes, we do continue to believe that testing is a linchpin for our COVID response. You know, we have a testing guidance that's available on our website but also importantly, we have the locations where people can access testing. That's all at nyc.gov/covidtest. And specifically with rapid testing, remember there are different types of rapid tests. There are rapid PCR tests, as well as rapid antigen tests, both serve slightly different purposes, but the most important thing is to go to a place that's convenient for you and to get a result back in the timeframe that you need. So, we have a range of options that are available for people as well as the guidance that I mentioned, go to nyc.gov/covidtest.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

Question: My second question is on the religious and medical exemption requests with respect to the vaccine mandate. Our understanding was that the agencies were given a timeline to dole out these decisions and handle all appeals by tomorrow. So, we were wondering if you could give us an update on where each of the individual agencies are with these requests, do you think there'll be able to meet that deadline?

Mayor: Elizabeth, I’m not sure what you're referring to in terms of the deadline. There were different ideas at different points, but what became clear is we have a large number of accommodation requests, there's an initial evaluation, there's an opportunity for an employee to provide more information, there's an appeal process. I don't – again, if you know something specific I don't know, please clarify. But this is an ongoing process and what matters is, as decisions are made the decision, ultimately, if someone gets accommodation to get the accommodation, but if someone gets told, well, after all the appeals, everything else, that you do not get an accommodation, then they have a choice to make. And again, we've seen really consistently at that point, employees choose to get vaccinated. So, again, I think we're dealing with today's numbers, I don't know if previously there was some kind of timeline, but with these kind of numbers, we know it's going to take weeks and weeks to sort out, obviously. Elizabeth, did you want to clarify, do you know some specific deadline you're referring to?

Question: That was the Department of Citywide Administrative Services put out guidance telling the agencies, you know, you have seven days to get through all of your exemption requests, and then by the 25th you should have dealt with all of the appeals. But I guess what you're saying is that it’s –they're not going to meet that deadline.

Mayor: No, and I don't – I haven't seen that guidance. And maybe that was early on before the number of appeals was seen or the number of requests was seen, it's obviously way too big a number to get through on that timeline. So, that may have been initial guidance, but I can speak formerly and say, each agency is purposely working through them. They'll get the job done by definition. Anyone in the meantime who's seeking the accommodation keeps working, and if they get an accommodation, great, they’ll be able to keep working with the accommodation. If they don't get the accommodation, they have that moment of decision and I'm quite confident, the numbers have been absolutely consistent across agencies, the vast majority of those folks who get a no will turn around and get vaccinated.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Erin Durkin from Politico.

Question: Mr. Mayor, happy Thanksgiving.

Mayor: Happy Thanksgiving, Erin, are you going back to our ancestral homeland in New England?

Question: You know, I'm not, I have to have to split the holidays with my husband now. So I'm actually going to Florida, which will be interesting.

Mayor: That's not a Thanksgiving place, Erin.

Question: I know, I know. I don't know. It's weird. But I'll be in Boston for Christmas, so that'll be nice. I wanted to ask about – actually, I'll just follow up on that question about the, about the medical and religious accommodations. So there have been 12,000 requests. Can you just tell us, I understand there's an appeals process, but in the initial determinations, how many of those 12,000 have had a decision made? How many have been granted? And how many had been initially denied.

Mayor: I have not – I don't have the numbers in front of me. We'll be happy to get you an update. Again, to be fair, it's the initial request, then there's an initial determination, there's an opportunity to provide more data if the employee wants to, more information, more documentation, then if they get to note, they still have an appeal. So, my impression is relatively few have gone through that whole process. We can show you what happened previously with the numbers with the other agencies where we did get through the backlog of folks with accommodations. But my impression, at this moment, Erin, is there's still a lot of folks to go through it, but it will happen over the weeks ahead, and again, I feel very clear about the outcomes. For the folks who get the accommodation, they're still able to keep working, it's a different scenario than what we had with the school buildings and the DOE where there are very particular situations because of kids. They'll still be able to keep working. So, while you're waiting for accommodation, you're working. If you get accommodation, you're working. If you don't get an accommodation, you got a decision to make, vast majority are going to choose vaccination and keep working. It will just take some weeks to sort out.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Julia Marsh from The Post.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, happy Thanksgiving eve and balloon blowing up day.

Mayor: Happy Thanksgiving, and you too, Julia, come from the joyous Thanksgiving –

Question: Massachusetts, yes.

Mayor: Yeah. I mean you got admit and Thanksgiving should be in New England, right? I mean, it's a great place to be.

Question: Well I’m going to Connecticut, so I've got that covered.

Mayor: All right.

Question: What are you doing, Mr. Mayor?

Mayor: We are gathering the immediate family at Gracie Mansion. We used to go to New England with extended family, but that got thrown off by COVID. So, I'm keeping it very local, very mellow, but it'll be just a joy to be with my kids and my wife and you know, mellow's good too.

Question: Okay, so happy holiday to you and your family. Onto your announcement about the MTA yesterday saying that the workforce should get vaccinated. I just wanted to read you Governor Hochul’s response, which was, “you know, what our infection rate is here at the MTA? It's 0.6 percent, half of what it is for the City of New York.” She said, “well, I appreciate the advice, but if we have a problem, I’ll address it.” What's your response to that, and do you see that as the kind of collegial relationship you described?

Mayor: Yeah. Look, we talk and – guess what? People can sometimes have disagreements and still be respectful, still be communicative. I do respect the Governor. I've worked well with her. I appreciate her team, our teams talk all the time and work well together. It's night and day compared to what we used to see with the previous Governor, I think that is the understatement of the century. But we disagree on this. I believe vaccine mandates are necessary. I have been calling on every governor, every mayor, every CEO in America to use vaccine mandates. And by the way, when they've done it, it's worked. And I used the example United Airlines, there's a lot of other great examples in the private sector. It takes – it's a bold act, yes, it will come with some opposition, but it helps move us all forward. So, I think the MTA can do better with a vaccination mandate than what they're doing now. Look at our city workforce, 94 percent. And I heard – I believe the Governor has been good efforts made. I think I heard the MTA workforce is at 70 percent that's incredible, but 94 percent would be a lot better, be a lot better for everyone, and so it's time for vaccine mandates and all leaders need to embrace them to get us out of the COVID era.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Bob Hennelly from the Chief Leader.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking the call. I was just texting to Sarah Nelson, who is – leads the flight attendants union for the CWA, and I do believe that your – with all due respect – you're mis-characterizing, at least according to Nelson, I think also Scott Kirby was on, the CEO of United, complicates it was not a mandate, but a collaboration where they work behind the scenes together and then rolled it out together. So, I just think it's important to roll back and look at – my report indicates that this past summer [inaudible] someone widely respected [inaudible] committee, they wrote you twice to sit down and come up with a universal across-the-board resolution. To this matter, what you did was you ticked off one union and one department at a time and created an adversarial setting. And so, I guess, Mr. Lieber mentioned – Janno mentioned the acting head of the MTA that he wasn't interested in mano a mano. I mean, I know that, you know, it does raise your profile as being someone standing up to unions, but wouldn't have been better to work behind the scenes collaboratively rather than to create the situation where people, a workforce that had already experienced 400 people dying from COVID, didn't have this thing hanging over their head where if they didn't comply, they would be put off payroll. Wasn't that really more an adversarial model that you were doing?

Mayor: Bob, listen, I’ve known you forever, and I can hear the passion in your voice, and you believe what you're saying. But I'm going to just tell you, I lived it and that's not what happened. We had endless conversations. I will be very respectful of private conversations with labor leaders. I had a lot of them myself, our team had a lot of them. It was quite clear they felt they could not embrace a mandate, even if they believed it had value, even if they believed everyone should get vaccinated. This is the real dynamic we faced. There was not a pathway to the kind of universal outcome we needed here. And so, after lots of dialogue, we chose a mandate. And then we said immediately we’d do impact bargaining. And that impact bargaining has been very successful. But, in the end, I have a long history of supporting the labor movement. I believe in it. But my job is to protect the health and safety of all New Yorkers and not to get caught up in the internal politics of unions or those other dynamics, it's to focus on the health and safety of New Yorkers. We now have a city workforce that's 94 percent vaccinated. I rest my case. It worked. Go ahead, Bob.

Question: So, I understand. So, you're more protecting the public interest than the unions understood. I'm sure that’ll work when you run for governor. I guess then, I am concerned, or just interested, how is it that the NYPD had 6,000 reasonable accommodations filed in a timely fashion, which is a big chunk of the [inaudible] force. I mean, one story says every lieutenant except one, one source told me, has a reasonable termination application. And the Fire Department, for whatever reason, didn't see what – was the end – have act together better? I mean, it does seem to have a disparate impact here 6,000 officers had their act together enough to get the forms in, which meant that ostensibly they could continue to work under the protocol of being tested, which, by the way, it's what the Biden administration has been working towards for an OSHA standard across the country of private employers, which is something where you get tested or you get vaccinated. And, I guess, I'm sorry to get two questions here, but do you oppose that idea too? Is President Biden wrong in that approach to the private sector?

Mayor: President Biden is right to create forward motion for vaccination. And he's dealing with the limits of federal power in the context. I mean, it's very different when you're taking an action for your own workforce than when you're taking a federal action to reach into the private sector. Look at the military – the President called for a mandate. What I saw, the first branch to report was the Air Force. I think they were at 96 percent. I mean, that's stunning. So, with his direct employees, he's done exactly what I've done. The NYPD, right now, 87 percent vaccinated – that's fantastic. That number is going to go up. So, in the end, each agency had different approaches. Each union had different approaches. I'm not going to parse who did what and why. It was well publicized that the option was there if people wanted to apply for the accommodation. But, in the end, it's also been well-publicized at the accommodation is something you have to prove with very specific facts. And if you don't have those facts, then you have to go and get vaccinated. And, ultimately, that's what the vast majority of people have done. They have not gotten an accommodation. They did get vaccinated. But we gave people a right to put forward that request and they will be viewed really objectively and decisions will be made. But all of your questions are not unfair at all, Bob, but I come back to the bottom line, the job was protecting people and moving us out of the COVID era. And I'm thrilled. I mean, Fire Department, right now, when you combine EMS and firefighting is at 91 percent – that's amazing. NYPD, 87 percent. Those are both going to go up. I feel really good about it.

Everyone, as we conclude today, a very, very happy Thanksgiving to all. Take a break. Hang out with your family and friends. Get a rest. You deserve it. New Yorkers had done just amazing things in the last two years. I honor you. I thank you for it. And let's keep everyone safe as we move ahead to a much better year ahead. Thank you, everybody.

2021-11-29 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving and a chance to relax and get ready for everything ahead with the holidays and the New Year. And New York City continues to move forward. But as everyone knows, we have a new challenge we're going to talk about today and that's the Omicron variant. We are very, very carefully watching this situation. Our Health leadership has been in constant touch with federal authorities and State authorities, everyone sharing information, closely coordinated. We have obviously a new situation here that we need to get all the facts on and make sure we inform the public as we get more information. But a high level of coordination underway right now. I spoke this morning with Governor Hochul to coordinate City and State efforts. Spoke yesterday at length with our Mayor-elect Eric Adams, who you'll hear from in just a moment. Everyone focused together on getting all the facts about Omicron and making decisions based on the data and the science. 

Now, everyone knows there's still a lot of information we need, and that will take days or even a few weeks to come in. But we're going to be in a very vigilant state in the meantime, and taking any and all actions as we get facts to support them. I can tell everyone at this moment, based on the latest research done by our New York City Department of Health, there are no Omicron cases here in New York City at this moment. It is very likely there will be, but there are no cases at this moment. But nonetheless, we are preparing to take action. And our entire focus, once again is going to be on vaccination. You'll hear from the doctors in a moment, but based on everything we know vaccination is crucial to any strategy for addressing omicron. And we're going to double down on our vaccination efforts. We're going to keep climbing the ladder as we've talked about before, variety of tools we're using to get more and more people vaccinated.

Let's go over where we stand right now, 88 percent of New York City adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine. That's fantastic. But we want to go farther. 81 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds have received at least one dose. We want to go farther. We've just started with the five to 11-year-olds who are at 16 percent there. This is an area where we got to do a lot more quickly. I'm going to urge all parents now, this is serious. Get out there, get your child vaccinated now. If you have a child in that five to 11-year-old age group, it's time. Also boosters, absolutely crucial. If we're going to fight back Omicron and most immediately continue fighting the Delta variant. That's actually the challenge we're dealing with here and now. And it is the number one challenge still. Get that booster. 943,000 New Yorkers have gotten the booster. We need a lot more people to do that. It's available to all, it's free. That is crucial. So, we've got a lot to do and a lot we're going to focus on when it comes to vaccination. That is job one, vaccination. We're going to, of course, be talking about other tools as well. In a moment you'll hear from Dr. Chokshi. We're going to issue an updated mask advisory for wearing masks in key locations. You'll hear from Dr. Chokshi on that. And we know that's an important part of the strategy, but number one is vaccination. And that's where we're going to put all of our energy into getting more and more New Yorkers first doses if they haven't had it, second doses if it’s time, and that booster dose for everyone who has not yet gotten it and qualifies. As I said, high level of coordination, federal, State, and locally here with our Mayor-elect who is preparing as we speak to take over the helm here. A lot of work being done to make sure this transition goes smoothly. I appreciate the effort he and his team are making to get ready. Want to now give you an opportunity to hear from him. Our Mayor-elect Eric Adams. 

Mayor-elect Eric Adams: Thank you. Thank you so much Mayor for not only having me on today with you, for taking a substantial amount of time last night, in the afternoon speaking with me as we talk about this extremely serious moment for us. And as you stated, we are still watching this very closely. But this could prove to be a critical moment in our war with COVID-19. And we must treat it that way. I think it's so important what you're doing now and what you're doing with the incoming administration and the coordination with the Governor. I believe that we’re sending a clear message, being sent to New Yorkers that the vaccine is our most potent weapon, but our coordination is a close second to that. And we're going to have that coordination. And how we choose to respond as a city, we show our resolve against this virus, to each other and to the rest of the globe. I think the globe is watching New York. And we want to thank the South African scientists, something that many of us have not acknowledged. Who, they detected this new variant and immediately alerted the international community. Something we did not see previously. And we want to thank them for that.

The variant has now been detected in at least several dozen – or a dozen countries. And we need to take this seriously. This means following the guidance of public health officials and listening to the science. And most important we want to reemphasize the urgency of getting your shot. I got my booster the other day. We must get people to take the booster shot and those who are not vaccinated, we have to do that. And I want to send a clear message. Anyone that believes we're going to play off a different playbook under the next administration of not pursuing vaccines. They need to believe that it's not true. We are going to be on the same playbook. We must get vaccinated in a real way. And I'm going to continue to advocate that and amplify it like you have done as the mayor. And I say that it's time for us to come together around this and look at the new initiative that you're going to encourage such as wearing a mask. We're going to push that here and Borough Hall at our events, indoor indoors as well. Not only did it help us during the flu season but it could be the assistance we need during this Delta variant to sort of get this under control.

So, let's acknowledge the fact, we've done an amazing job as a city, and I'm proud of what New Yorkers have done under this pandemic. It hit us in the gut in the beginning, but we adjusted and we're doing the right things. And we need to encourage each other to continue to do that. Deaths, hospitalizations, and new cases are at an all time low because we're doing the right things on the frontline and everyday New Yorkers. And so Mayor again, I want to thank you. And I look forward to continue to coordinate with you and your team as we move into the next administration, to ensure that we fight back against this virus and get our city up and operating again. Thank you very much. 

Mayor: Thank you, Mayor-elect. I appreciate very much a clear message to all New Yorkers that your administration is going to focus as ours has on vaccination. We have a lot to do in these weeks ahead, a lot more New Yorkers to reach. Your strong message is going to help us do that. So, thank you very much.

Mayor-elect Adams: Thank you. 

Mayor: Everyone, I want you to hear now from our Health Commissioner, who's been leading the way in the fight against COVID throughout. And he as always, is going to talk about the importance of vaccination, but also a mask advisory, reminding people how important it is to use masks in certain key settings. And we really are going to make a point and Dr. Chokshi will lead the way of keeping the public informed with each and every new development. But what we are saying clear as a bell today is, what has worked up to now continues to be the key. Vaccination and obviously masks play a very important role as well. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. As you said, there are currently no confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in New York City or in the United States. Delta remains the dominant strain in NYC with about 98 percent of specimens sequenced being the Delta variant. New York City has one of the strongest variant surveillance systems in the country, sequencing hundreds of cases a week. And we do anticipate detecting Omicron in New York in the coming days, based on what we know about its global spread. A lot is still unknown about Omicron because it's so early, but studies are underway and we will know more about the variant in the coming weeks. We should all give our thanks to the scientists and researchers in South Africa for their speed in discovering the variant as well as their transparency.

Allow me to break down what is currently known now in terms of transmissibility, severity, and immunity. First, transmissibility, we don't have reliable evidence yet about Omicron’s speed of spread compared to Delta. But it does have similar mutations to other transmissible variants. And there are some reports from South Africa indicating potentially rapid spread. Second, severity. We have even less evidence about whether Omicron contributes to more severe or as is possible less severe disease. You may have heard some reports of milder illness in South Africa, but take them with a grain of salt. Rigorous investigations are still underway since hospitalizations and deaths lag cases. We do know that some of the treatments for COVID-19 disease, including new oral antivirals anticipated to be available soon, are still likely to work. Third, immunity. This is perhaps the most important scientific question as to whether Omicron pierces immunity from vaccination or from prior infection. Preliminary evidence suggests that those who've had COVID-19 in the past, maybe more easily reinfected with Omicron. This underscores our strong recommendation to get vaccinated regardless of whether you have already had COVID-19. The World Health Organization and vaccine manufacturers are working to further understand how the vaccines hold up against Omicron. Based on what we have seen with other variants, we do expect the vaccines to retain some degree of effectiveness, but precisely how much will take a few weeks to clarify.

But remember that the vaccines are proven to be effective against Delta in the here and now. And for the most recent week of data unvaccinated New Yorkers were nearly seven times more likely to be infected than vaccinated residents. To summarize, we still have a lot to learn about the Omicron variant, but its emergence lends urgency to the importance of the precautions we've all become familiar with, particularly vaccination, masking, and testing. For vaccination as you heard from both the Mayor and the Mayor-elect get your first dose, second dose or booster today. And parents please get your child vaccinated as soon as possible. Cases have been rising, including among our youngest new Yorkers in recent weeks.

Today, as the Mayor mentioned, I'm also issuing a Commissioner's Advisory, strongly recommending that all New Yorkers wear a mask at all times when indoors and in a public setting like at your grocery or in building lobbies, offices, and retail stores. This includes those that are vaccinated and those who've had COVID-19. Higher quality masks like KN95s or KF94s can offer an additional layer of protection. And masks are still required for everyone in public transit, health care settings, schools, and congregate settings.

Finally testing. Coming out of the holiday weekend, it's very important that those who traveled or gathered get tested if you haven't already. With our colleagues at Test and Trace, we'll be working to make rapid testing even more readily available in the communities that need it most. To wrap up Mr. Mayor, it's natural to feel some anxiety about the new variant and I'm certainly feeling humility given all that we've been through. But the Marie Curie quote, nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood, comes to mind. Our understanding of Omicron will advance and we'll be able to adjust our public health strategies accordingly. Until then let's bring to bear our tried and true tools that are already helping us keep COVID-19 at bay. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you very, very much Commissioner. Thank you as always for your leadership. And everyone, as we move forward in this fight against COVID, I'm going to use the phrase I've used many times before, we are going to be climbing the ladder. We're going to be using a variety of tools and continuing to focus on the tools that allow us to get people vaccinated and stop COVID. You heard from the Commissioner. Our information to date is that any of the variants we've seen are affected helpfully by the vaccine. The vaccine works against every variant we've seen up to now. And we are working with that assumption again. So, we need to keep doubling down on vaccination. And this city has been leading the way and leading the nation in vaccination. It's something New Yorkers should be proud of, but we got more work to do now. So, my message has been consistent now, literally for months. Everywhere, we need vaccine mandates. I've said it to mayors all over the country. And my message has been to mayors, governors, CEOs, everyone, public sector, private sector, implement vaccine mandates now. They work, they protect us. They will be crucial to the strategy against Omicron as well.

Today, we're announcing an additional vaccine mandate related to child care programs. Now this is for childcare and early intervention programs city-wide. A total impact reaching 102,000 employees of these programs. These are all over the five boroughs. There are 90,000 employees who are in childcare programs, 12,000 in early intervention programs. So again, 102,000 total. We're putting this mandate in place with a deadline of December 20, for all those employees to get vaccinated. And encouraging people, obviously in light of all the information we have, the quicker you get vaccinated, the better off you'll be, your family will be. This is going to be important for the employees and their own health, obviously, but it's also important for protecting the health of the kids who are in these childcare programs, and we know these employee mandates work and they help protect kids. We've seen it in our public schools. We have incredibly low positivity from COVID in our public schools, that continues and the high rate of vaccination in our students, but much more the fact that we made sure that every adult in our school buildings had to be vaccinated. That had a huge impact. It's going to have an impact with childcare as well. I want you to hear from someone who can speak about this as a leader, but also as a father, and in fact, the information I have here says it's his son's birthday today, six-years-old, D3.Is that true Borough President Donovan Richards, is it D3 day today?

[…]

Mayor: I’ve got to give you a credit Borough President, Queens has been exemplary, you're right. Leads the city and vaccination, and the city leads the nation in vaccination. So, Queens is the tip of the spear and I commend you for all the efforts you've done. I know you've been out there personally, really encouraging vaccination all over the borough, thank you for that and send a message to D3, on behalf of the people in New York City, we say happy D3 day.

[…]

Mayor: I remember it vividly and great things are ahead for D3. That's all I can say. Great things ahead.

[…]

Mayor: You too, thank you. All right, now, everyone, again, vaccination, key to fighting back the Delta variant, which is our challenge right now. We're preparing for Omicron vaccination, still the answer any way you slice it, vaccination key to our recovery. So, the mandates have worked and we're continuing to climb that ladder, but let's talk about incentives. Incentives have also been crucial. We have put incentives in place, they’ve had a big impact here in this city and have been emulated around the country as well. One of the things that has really been promising and continues to grow is our vaccine bonus referral program. This is when we work with community-based organizations, small businesses, houses of worship, you name it. Local organizations, local gathering places, places where there's trust from the community, places where people go and they're comfortable exactly where we want people to get encouraged to get vaccinated, or even have vaccinations happen right there. But we've used that $100 incentive in two ways. One ,of course, for the individual getting the vaccination, crucial. It's been very important to people, it's going to be really important to some people now as the holidays are coming on, but also the referral bonuses have helped a lot of local organizations. Now the number is pretty impressive. So far 53,000 New Yorkers have gotten vaccinated through one of these referral initiatives, and that involves over a thousand organizations and small businesses and houses the worship have been part of it, which means about $4 million has flown – gone back into the community, through the referral program. Now, we're seeing incredible results in one of the places that's really impressive is in the world of PTAs, we have a bunch of PTAs participating, and they have referred over 11,000 students, parents, and community members. PTA is such an important part of the life of our schools, our communities, and a place that parents trust, what a perfect place for this program to be working. We are going to expand the referral bonus program, we're adding another $3 million to it to take us through January of 2020. Anybody out there. Again, small business, PTA, house of worship, community based organization, anyone who wants to get involved, go to nyc.gov/vaccinereferralbonus, and please get involved and help keep your community safe. I want you to hear from someone who has been leading the way and she's done with her colleagues and amazing job, she's the president of the PTA at P.S. 166 in Queens. Listen to this, they have done over 130 referrals, over 130 in New Yorkers got vaccinated because of this PTA, which means over $13,000 – I'm sorry, $1,300 for their school. This is incredible and this is exactly what we need to see more of, so I commend Jennifer Tuttle and everyone at that school. Jennifer, tell us how it's been?

[...]

Mayor: Hey Jennifer, thank you. I really, really appreciate what you're doing. You're just – you and all of the other parents there, you're an example to this whole city of how to keep each other safe. I really appreciate you. Now, you are right, Jennifer, I need to go and take a math class at P.S. 166 and brush up a little $13,000, $13,000, that's a big deal for a PTA and what an accomplishment. And, you know, Jennifer, I would love it, if you could just tell people how easy has this been to do because I want to encourage PTAs and all other types of community groups, small businesses, to get involved, talk about how you've done this. That's a lot of people. How easy has it been for you?

[…]

Mayor: Jennifer, amazing what you guys have done. I want to say to all the parents there and the kids, and especially to you, thank you for your leadership. We're all going to applaud you here in the room. We want to thank you. That's amazing.

[Applause]

I hope you can hear our applause all the way from City Hall, you guys have done an amazing job, really amazing job. Thank you. All right. Way to go way to go. P.S. 166, and that's a great example to everyone, whether you are a community organization, whether you're a barbershop or a hair salon, a PTA, you can do the same thing and keep people safe, what a great example.

Everyone, as we now move to our indicators for the day, just want to say in the midst of all the challenges, something very positive and very beautiful last night, of course, the first night of Hanukkah, and what a powerful message and one we need at this point with everything we've been through, light and joy and hope overcoming the challenges, overcoming the negativity, that's the message of this beautiful holiday. Wishing our Jewish brothers and sisters, a very, very happy Hanukkah.

Now let's talk about our indicators and vaccination leads the way, and now we have surpassed from day one, we have surpassed 12.5 million doses, just staggering effort, and it is going to grow a lot. Right now, doses administered today, 12,527,715. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 99 patients, confirmed positivity level of 22.43 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is 0.79. And then new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 1,216 cases. Say a few words in Spanish, and this is about the vaccine mandate for childcare employees.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning, we will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, and Dr. Ted Long, head of New York City Test and Trace Corps. Our first question for today goes to David Evans from ABC.

Question: Hey, Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: I'm doing good, Dave. I don't know why they always call you David when they introduce you. I've always known you as Dave. I hope you – I hope you're cool with that. 

Question: My mother appreciates them calling me David. I wanted to ask, first of all, and I heard Dr. Dave talk about take it with a grain of salt what we're hearing out of South Africa, but over the weekend with reports that this could be more transmissible, that it could evade vaccines, I think there was great alarm over the Thanksgiving holiday, especially on Saturday and Sunday, and it sounded like we were back to perhaps, you know, the summer 2020. Then today we get up and we hear about these reports from South Africa, patients who did come down with the Omicron variant, that they had very mild illnesses, like the bad flu, that it wasn't deadly. So, my question is, did we overreact over the weekend?

Mayor: Well, Dave, I appreciate you asking that question, and all the folks in the media, the folks in public service, we all need to ask these questions as we get information because there's tremendous fear and concern, and there's not always enough fact to go with it, we have to make sense of it. I don't think it's an overreaction for anyone to say, let's be vigilant. Let's be ready. Let's take smart steps because simply the fact that we have another factor now in the equation makes me want to be very aggressive and proactive, but I think you're right to say we don't have all the facts yet, and we're going to hone our strategies as we get more and more information. Let me turn to the doctors to respond to your point. First, Dr. Chokshi, then Dr. Katz.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and I agree. South African scientists and the global community did the right thing in sounding the alarm and that's what's given us this runway to be able to prepare and ensure that we have as much time as possible, you know, to bring to bear the right strategies. But we are in this period right now where we're counseling, you know, a bit of patients as the science sorts itself out, you know, for us to understand these key questions around transmissibility, severity, and immunity. And as always, you know, we have to keep our eyes on what we can do in the here and now, and that's where our guidance around vaccination, masking, and testing comes in. So, we're in a good place with respect to having the runway and the time that we need, and that, that gives us a chance to take some action. Thank you.

Mayor: Dr. Katz, you want to add?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, Health + Hospitals: Just that I think it's right that we should be focusing on whether or not people get very sick or need to be in the hospital. That COVID is going to be with us for the rest of our lives. It's not going anywhere, and it's all about how we learn to live with this virus. And so far the data do not suggest that this variant is more harmful in terms of hospitalizations or in terms of serious illness, and that's certainly what I'm going to be focusing on. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Go ahead, Dave. Dave can hear us, right?

Question: Yeah. Can you hear me now?

Mayor: Yeah.

Question: Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yup.

Question: Okay. Hey my other question is to Dr. Chokshi about the recommendation that he's making. I don't know if you all have noticed, but there are a lot of stores that have signs up that say, you must wear a mask if you're not vaccinated. So, I'm just wondering if his recommendation today is saying those signs should probably go away, and if you're inside wear a mask, please.

Mayor: Yeah. And I want it to - as we turn to Dr. Chokshi, I want to make another point real quick, Dave, you're right. A lot of stores, some say – if your vaccinated – a lot of stores just say, please wear a mask. So, I want to remind all New Yorkers that there's a lot of places that have that right to say if you’re coming into our establishment, you got to wear a mask, and we've always respected that. And I think New Yorkers overwhelmingly follow that guidance. And again, we have a current mandate in effect for mass transit, for hospitals and health care settings, for schools. So a lot of mass usage going on right now. Dr. Chokshi, to the specific question from Dave.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you very much for the question, Dave. And yes, this strengthens our recommendation around masking particularly indoors. And to clarify that is for everyone, regardless of vaccination status. Of course it is most important for people who are unvaccinated to wear masks in all settings, but what we're saying today is delivering a clear message that when you're indoors, regardless of whether you're fully vaccinated or not, everyone should be wearing a mask.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Andrew Siff from NBC.

Question: Mayor, good morning. I just want to pick up on the Commissioner's advisory and ask it this way. In the UK, it's a flat-out mandate right now, indoor spaces you have to wear a mask. I'm wondering, given that there is still uncertainty about what we'll learn about Omicron in two to three weeks of study, why wouldn't you err on the safe side and make it a mask mandate instead of an advisory that's essentially already in place?

Mayor: We’ve looked at that question, Andrew, it’s a really important question and we're - two points. One, we still need more data to determine that that is the right way to go. But the biggest point really is, we want to keep the focus on vaccination. This is the much more important part of the equation. We respect the role masks play, always have, but our team is united and we're united with the Mayor-elect as well on this crucial point, vaccination is the crucial strategy. There's a lot more that needs to play out on vaccination. I never want to give people the impression that wearing a mask is a substitute for being vaccinated. So, we’ve got a lot more to do with our youngest kids, we’ve got a lot more to do in terms of boosters, we're keeping the focus on vaccination. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: But just as a follow-up to that, one of the lessons we learned from March of 2020, and you've made this point yourself, you were calling for shelter in place days before Governor Cuomo finally agreed to it. So, wouldn't you want an even stronger measure now, even if you learn two or three weeks from now, yup the vaccines still work, nothing to be alarmed about because if you learn the opposite that there is immune evasion, wouldn't you have wanted to take the more stringent measure?

Mayor: Really - a very, very powerful question. Seriously. That's exactly the conversation that I have with our health care leadership yesterday, and it's something that at this moment we think the advisory sends the message loud and clear, and a lot of people are going to make that choice. But, again, what we do not want to do is mix messages about what's the thing that actually has the most profound impact. So, picking up on your point, Andrew, the thing that we need to do with urgency is get people vaccinated. I'm really thrilled at 16 percent-plus of our five- to 11-year-olds are vaccinated. But if we're going to battle this new variant and especially the one we have right now, Delta, we’ve got to get that number up a lot more. We’ve got to get a lot more people their booster. That is the key strategy. And if we think a mask mandate is going to play a crucial role, we'll move on it quickly. We do not feel that yet today, but we do know that we've got to put everything we've got into more and more vaccination. And that's why I climbed the ladder today with the child care employee mandate for vaccination. And we're looking at other options as well. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to James Ford from PIX 11. 

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. How are you doing?

Mayor: Good, James? How was your Thanksgiving? 

Question: I appreciate your asking. It was excellent. Thank you. Speaking of holidays, can you and the medical professionals on the call talk further about preparations that you're making, where Omicron could affect the holidays? Affect shopping, particularly with this mask directive. And perhaps even affect New Year's Eve plans in Times Square. 

Mayor: Great question, James. So, what I'll say is, right now, again, the crucial strategy will be vaccination right now. As we get more information, we'll make any other adjustments. Right now, for Times Square, really importantly, the only way you can attend as if you're vaccinated. And that was something we decided a few weeks ago and I'm very glad we did. We continue to, you know, focus everything we've got on vaccination. Those plans continue as they are for now. We'll monitor that situation. If there's any updates, we're certainly going to give them. But the key thing I want to key on also on is how we're handling travelers. And I'm going to turn to Dr. Ted Long in a second. One of the crucial things here with holiday travel, making sure that folks are getting tested and anyone who needs to quarantine is quarantining. So, we're ramping up that effort again and we've added a lot to it since we last focused on it publicly. So, Dr. Long, why don't you give a sense of what's being done by Test and Trace in terms of monitoring and supporting travelers. 

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace: Yeah. Thank you, sir. And James, thanks for your question. Testing has given us the line of sight that's been one of the most important layers of protection we've had in New York City, really from the beginning of COVID. What we're doing now is we're seeing Omicron pop up in other countries. We're going to be offering to anybody traveling from those countries to New York City an at-home test, and even an at-home vaccine. But knowing, that as the holidays are approaching, and knowing as we see more and more now that Omicron going into other countries, for example, other European countries from the eight countries in South Africa, which it was first identified, is we are proactively now reaching out to all international travelers with three live phone calls, coming from 190 countries across the world, which includes all of CDC level three, level four, and [inaudible] this level four in addition to any country where there's been a known case of Omicron. We're going to adapt. We're going to add countries that list over time. But our goal in New York City has always been to do as much testing as we can to give us that line of sight, which has kept our city safe. And, as part of that same phone call we're going to be giving you, we're going to be offering resources as well. So, again, as we go into the holidays, testing is going to be a very, very critical resource, as Dr. Chokshi said. And I encourage New Yorkers to continue to get tested as well. 

Mayor: Go ahead, James. 

Question: I appreciate that. And I just want to clarify regarding the protocol the City is taking, that Dr. Long was talking about. So, you're – the City is calling people before they leave their country to come into the U.S. through New York? And what specifically are they – is the City saying and or asking these incoming passengers? 

Mayor: Dr. Long, why don't you play out how you guys do this work? I think James is asking a question and a lot of people would like to understand better. 

Question: Yeah, absolutely. I'll leave do my best, James. If you have more questions, always happy to talk later too. So, when an international traveler from – as CDC level three, four, or unknown CDC level country, or country with known Omicron cases, comes back into the U.S., we collaborate with the CDC and with the Department of Homeland Security to get their phone numbers so that we can call them. We actually [inaudible] go into the details here. For any people coming from those 190 countries now, they get three live phone calls, in addition to text messages, and emails. We take whatever information the Department of Homeland Security and CDC has on file. And our message to them is, vaccinated or unvaccinated, we want you to get tested when you come back to our city and that's the best way to keep our city safe. We're clear that if you're vaccinated, we recommend getting tested between these three and five. So, again, we also offer all the resources that we built out through Tests and Trace through our 212-COVID-19 hotline. So, the main messages are, we want to bring in a free at-home test to your doorstep. We'll offer to bring your free at-home vaccination to your doorstep. And we give you another resource, our 212-COVID-19 number for anything else that you need in order to keep your family safe if you've been to one of these countries.

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Dana Rubinstein from the New York Times. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Forgive me if this question is redundant, but just so I'm clear, before Omicron, it was the City's recommendation that people mask indoors in public spaces. Now, it is the City's recommendation – it is the City’s strong recommendation? I mean, is that the distinction? 

Mayor: Yeah. And I'll let Dr. Chokshi clarify it to you. We're doubling down on it, basically. We have given that advice a long time ago. Obviously, things had gotten a lot better and it's not surprising if people have started to change their habits. It's time to re-up that advisory and make it very, very clear this is a smart thing to do at this point. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And yes, that's exactly right. Dana, this strengthens our recommendation and it helps to clear up some of the confusion that we know has existed around guidance related to face covering. So, we want to deliver a very clear and unequivocal message that everyone should be masking indoors regardless of their vaccination status. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Dana. 

Question: Thanks. And then, this child care worker vaccine mandate – is this coming in response to the new variant? And does it apply to all child care sites in New York City or just those that receive City funding? How does that work? 

Mayor: We’ll get you the exact definitions of the sites. Maybe Dr. Chokshi can help to perfect that definition for us right here and now. But to your first question, Dana, this is something we've been working on for a while. When we talk about climbing the ladder, that's something that's been an active concept, looking for what the next thing to do is, depending on what we were seeing with COVID. Certainly, seeing this additional variant emerge encourages us to keep climbing that ladder steadily. But this is something we've been working on for a while. This is the right time to now put it into effect. Dr. Chokshi, in terms of the definition, if you have it – so, again, 102,000 employees, are you able to parse the groups a little more for Dana? Or else we'll get her follow up information. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. We were happy to follow up on the details, but the big picture is that we had previously issued a vaccine requirement for City-contracted child care settings. This extends it to essentially all child care settings in New York City. So, that means the vaccine requirement covers all child care broadly. And it also covers providers for a program known as Early Intervention. So, that is now all under a Commissioner's Order. And the previous one, as well as this one, have been unanimously ratified by the Board of Health. We can follow up with the precise language in those orders. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Marcia Kramer from CBS. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing today? 

Mayor: I'm doing well, Marcia. How was your Thanksgiving? 

Question: It was great. Thank you for asking. I hope yours was too. The question I have, it has to do with COVID fatigue. Are you at all worried that because so many people are very tired of all the alerts and the COVID – and wearing masks, and the fact that now the city is coming back to some sense of normalcy, that there's going to be a resistance to taking the new Omicron variant as seriously as you think it should be? 

Mayor: That's a great question, Marcia. I do think there's a lot of fatigue. Now, that said, when you hear these reports, I think it's natural for people to say, wait a minute, if this is something new, it might affect our lives. And, obviously, everyone thinks about their health and safety and the health and safety of their family. So, there's a lot of fatigue, but I don't think there's so much fatigue that people are not paying attention to these new developments. I think the simplest way to answer the fatigue is with a clear message around vaccination, because it's the single most effective thing you can do. People can debate all the other measures that they could take, but the one that is the most important is vaccination. And I do think this news is going to encourage some people who are on the fence to now come forward and get vaccinated. Go ahead, Marcia. 

Question: So, my second question is, this seems like a new day for how the City and the State coordinate in terms of how they handle COVID and their response to the new development. You're coordinating not only with Mayor-elect Adams, but also with Governor Hochul. I wonder what you think that means for you personally in terms of how you're able to do things well. But also, what does it mean for New Yorkers that there's now what seems to be a unified message, a unified response, and a unified plan? 

Mayor: It's so much better, Marcia. Look, the truth is, in the worst moments of COVID in the spring of 2020, it was a constant struggle. The lack of federal leadership is well-known. The constant struggle with Albany just to get anything done was such a burden. And, on top of that, the things that none of us were told that we should have been told, for example, about the nursing homes. For this city, and for everyone in this city struggling against COVID, we also had to struggle against Albany and struggle against Washington. That was the reality of 2020. Now, we have a unified front. We're working with our federal partners. We're working with our State partners. Everyone is having open, thoughtful conversations. This is so much better for the people of New York City. And I have a lot of respect for President Biden, and the way he's approaching COVID. I have a lot of respect for Governor Hochul, and we're communicating regularly. This is the right way to do things and I do think it's going to help keep everyone safer. 

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. Our next question goes to Erin Durkin from Politico. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. You know, Dana asked both of my questions. So, we were very much on the same wavelength today. But I still – I just want to really clarify on this mask thing. I know this has been asked a couple of times, but it's a little confusing. Is there anything different in this advisory than the advisory that you issued in the beginning of August? Or is it purely just emphasizing the guidance that was already in place? 

Mayor: I think, again, Erin, it's – an I'll have Dr. Chokshi speak to it again. And it's a fair question. I want people to understand August was a long time ago. We have some new challenges now. It's getting colder out. We know that means more people inside. That means COVID spreads more easily. Holiday gatherings, obviously the potential challenges with Omicron. It's time to remind people and double down and say, even if you started to move away from masks before, we're telling you, get those masks back on now. It's smart to do. The number-one thing is to get vaccinated, but we're reminding people of the important role that masks can play as well. Dr. Chokshi? 

Mayor: Thank you, sir. You described it well. I'll just reiterate, you know, this strengthens our recommendation. And what we always keep in mind is that our guidance is only as good as what happens in the real world. And what we want people to do is to is to take the changes that the Mayor has described seriously. The fact that we are seeing an increase in cases with colder weather, as well as the persistence of Delta, and the fact that Omicron is over the horizon. So, for all of those reasons taken together, we wanted to send a clear message to our fellow New Yorkers about how to protect themselves and how to protect our city. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Erin. 

Question: Okay, thanks. And then, with regards to the child care mandate, do you have any data on what percentage of that workforce is currently vaccinated? 

Mayor: I don't have it in front of me, honestly. Let's see if Dr. Chokshi or any of his colleagues happens to have it. Otherwise, we'll get it to you right away. I mean, we know across the board in areas where there are not mandates, we typically see lower vaccination rates than we want and the mandates help move the rates substantially. But, in terms of the specifics, Dr. Chokshi, do you have that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I don't have a number at my fingertips either. What I can tell you is that we do know that there was a range in terms of vaccination rates among different child care providers. And so, in addition to what you described in terms of the mandate encouraging vaccination across the board, this helps bring everyone up to the same level, which is so important to protecting all of our children across New York City. 

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead. 

Moderator: My apologies, now we have two more questions left for today. Our next question goes to Julia Marsh from the Post. 

Question: Hey, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for the news on the child care of center mandates. I was just able to provide some breaking news to my mom groups. So, that's very exciting. 

Mayor: You're covering a lot of fronts, Julia. 

Question: I’ve got to multitask as a working mom. So, back to this, this variant. Mr. Mayor, you know, you said that it's not here yet, but it likely will be soon. So, I'd love to hear from the doctors, you know, how soon they think that will be? I mean, is it really already here and we just don't know yet? Is it a matter of days before we detect it? And do you think there should be a requirement to test and-or quarantine for people coming in to the city from those CDC countries? I don't know whether, you know, the City can impose that or if it has to be the federal government. 

Mayor: Yeah. Very important question, Julia. So, I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. We definitely believe we will see this variant soon. Just the amount of spread we’re seeing already reported in Africa and in Europe suggests it will be here and soon. But at the same time, it's good that we don't have any cases reported so far from a lot of research that is giving us time to get information and prepare. In terms of travel, the thing we need is a vaccination mandate for all travel. This is something, obviously, has to be done first and foremost on the federal level. But this is, to me, the missing link that really would improve the health and safety of all Americans, if that was in place clearly and strongly. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to speak to what your assumptions are about how and when we're going to see this? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Yes, we believe it will be a matter of days before Omicron is detected in the United States, and very likely in New York City as well. You know, the positive news is that we have such a strong surveillance system for variants in New York City. We built it up over the last several months and we are now sequencing about 15 percent of all cases in the city, which means that when it is here it will be discovered quite rapidly and that will allow us to, you know, to continue to make adjustments to our approach. With respect to the travel question, I'll just say that I strongly support the Mayor's call for a vaccine requirement for travel. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Julia. 

Question: I'm just confirming that the Mayor-elect is no longer on the call, correct?

Mayor: That's right.

Question: Okay. I know he had planned to travel abroad this week, and I'm not sure if you discussed it with him yesterday, Mr. Mayor, but I'm wondering, you know, what your and the doctor's advice would be? You know, both to the Mayor-elect and others who are considering international travel right now. 

Mayor: My advice is get vaccinated. It's as simple as that. And I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but I think the bottom line is, if people are vaccinated, that's the way that they protect themselves and protect everyone else. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Just to elaborate briefly on that, sir, it sounds like the Mayor-elect got his booster recently. That's very important. You know, even if you are fully vaccinated, the booster gives you a very important additional layer of protection and that's helpful for people who are traveling. We also do recommend testing before and after travel. And, of course, people should continue to wear their face coverings in transit. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Abu from Bangla Patrika. 

Mayor: Abu, can you hear me? We got him out there? If you have someone else, you can go to someone.

Moderator: We're going to go ahead and go to Michael Gartland from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey, Michael. How have you been? How was your Thanksgiving? 

Question: I’m good. It was great. Thanks for asking. I wanted to go back to something Dr. Long said before about the tests that are being offered to people coming into the city. Are those tests required? And does the City at this point have the power to require, you know, incoming travelers to be tested? 

Mayor: Dr. Long, why don't you give Michael an update on that? 

Executive Director Long: Yeah, sure. Thanks, Michael. So, these tests are not currently required. What we do is when we get the information from the Department of Homeland Security and from of the CDC, we call it the [inaudible] traveling from any of the countries that I was referencing. We call, talking about public health guidance and encourage them to get tested. And one of the best ways that we've learned in New York City do encourage people to get tested is by bringing it to your doorstep, through your doorstep, always free of charge. So, that's what we are – what we built out now and that will take us into the holidays as well. With our clear guidance being, again, if you're coming back from one of these countries, the best gift to give your family this this year for the holidays is the gift of protection. Especially, if you're a traveler coming from one of these countries, get tested to know if you have COVID to keep your family safe, and we're going to do everything in our power to help you do it, including bringing you a PCR test to your home so that we'll know as soon as possible when Omicron comes into our city. 

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead, Michael. 

Question: Thanks, Dr. Long. I also want to ask about – Mr. Mayor, you talked about, you know, this – you use this metaphor again of climbing the ladder and, you know, the possibility of additional options in the future as far as that goes. Can you tell us what some of those options may be and is – are restrictions on indoor dining one of them? I mean, what do you have in mind as far as that goes? 

Mayor: Michael, I'm not going to go through a theoretical list on purpose. I appreciate the question, but I'm saying this is something we're looking at very carefully right now. I think it makes sense to let us process a little through – a little more and get it through that. The indoor dining, right now, I think we've got the right approach with the Key to NYC. So, that will continue, obviously. The overall reality is to focus on vaccination in every way and really make sure we don't need the other kinds of restrictions we used to have that were so difficult. So, we're looking for any other area where we can do more with vaccination, that's the bottom line. It has worked. The mandates have worked. Really, really powerful evidence – we've seen the success in the schools, the success with the public workforce, the success that we've seen with Key to NYC. So, we'll keep you posted. If there's any other areas that we think we can make an impact, that's what we're going to do.

And, everyone, as we conclude today, look, we we've got some challenges here and obviously some big unknowns, but what we will do is keep the people of this city constantly updated. And the one thing we know – and I say this particularly to parents right now – getting your child vaccinated makes so much sense. Even before we heard about Omicron, it made sense. It especially makes sense now. Go out and do it today. We need to get our kids vaccinated. We need everyone to get those boosters. That's the best way to protect each other and protect our city, going forward. Thank you, everybody.

2021-12-01 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, we continue, as with every day, to move this city forward while we're working to end the COVID era. Now, of course, we have a new challenge with Omicron and we are watching very closely, being very vigilant, studying what's happening all over the world, our health care team in touch with federal authorities and authorities around the world, watching carefully to understand the facts, the data, the science that will determine our next steps in addressing this challenge. Now we do know there are more confirmed cases in Western European countries. That's a real concern and that it appears Omicron’s been present there for a number of days. So far, no reported cases, no confirmed cases in the United States, obviously none in New York City. But we are continuing to take steps to prepare and we're taking steps to make sure the city is safe, not just Omicron, but from the challenge we have right now, which is the Delta variant. That's why we put in place the new mandate for childcare employees, and we'll be talking about additional measures in the days ahead. We'll keep climbing that ladder, using all the tools we have to protect the people of this city. We put out a very clear mask advisory from the Department of Health, reminding all New Yorkers using masks makes a lot of sense as we're going into the colder weather, going into the holidays. We also, of course, are always focused on the number one tool, the thing that makes all the difference, vaccination, and this is where this city should be proud because we are literally one of the safest places in the United States of America because of the high level of vaccination. 

This week our schools, once again, are providing vaccination sites for our youngest New Yorkers, the five to 11-year-olds. We're providing first doses for those who don't have them yet, second doses for those who got them weeks ago. But listen, parents, it's time to get your young children vaccinated. It's time to protect yourself, your family, we all love our kids, we want to watch out for our kids, and we have to watch out for our whole city. So, we need the youngest New Yorkers vaccinated, that's happening in schools this week, and so many other locations, always and always fast, and free, and effective. But here's the good news, when it comes to adults, 89 percent now, 89 percent of New Yorkers have received at least one dose. That's a stunning figure. That's something all New Yorkers should be proud of. And thank you to everyone who made that decision to get vaccinated, thank you to all the people who do the work of protecting us and providing the vaccines. Then with the next group of New Yorkers, the 12 to 17-year-olds, we're at 81 percent now, that's a great number, and that continues to grow. So, New Yorkers are doing the right thing, focusing on vaccination, that's really the key to fighting, not just on Omicron, but the Delta variant we have now.

Now let's talk about boosters. On Monday, the CDC recommended that everyone 18-years-old and older, get the booster shot, that’s six months after your initial Pfizer or Moderna shot or two months after your initial Johnson & Johnson shot. I got the booster. I recommend it strongly for everyone. It is really the time. The booster makes a big impact and it's the time to do it, especially with new challenges on the horizon. Here's the breaking news. Here's the good news, as of today, over a million New Yorkers have gotten their booster. Over a million New Yorkers already have gotten that booster shot, a lot more are coming forward every day. Listen, this is the time, get that booster before the holiday season, before any gatherings. This is the time.

Okay. Let's do our indicators as we do every day. And the first one again, is the one I love to focus on and it reflects the fact that New Yorkers are listening. They're listening to Dr. Dave Chokshi, they're hearing the call. They're coming forward again, over a million boosters now. Everyone keep coming and get those boosters. Let's get our youngest New Yorkers vaccinated as well for the first or second time. That's crucial. As of today, 12,561,367 doses from day one, a staggering number. And that will keep growing a lot. Number two daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report is 129 patients. Confirmed positivity, 24.24 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is 0.82. And then finally new reported cases on a seven-day average. Today's report, 1,021 cases. Let me say a few words in Spanish, and then go back to the topic of so much concern in communities all over the city, stopping the overdoses and the creation of these new overdose prevention centers.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, by Dr. Ted Long, by Budget Director Jacques Jiha, and by DOC Commissioner Vinnie Schiraldi. The first question today goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Yes. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everybody. Mr. Mayor, what's your concern regarding the hospitals here in New York City with limited capacity? I believe it's Long Island, LIJ Forest Hills, Queens Hospital Center. Are you looking at any measures to either curtail that or restrict anything in relation to these hospitals and their capacity?

Mayor: I'll start Juliet and I'll turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi. Look, we obviously are watching very carefully and want to be of support to any hospitals in this city, not just our own public hospitals run by the City, but any of the hospitals. We are concerned because, clearly, we are going into the colder months. We are seeing an uptick in cases of COVID now with the Delta variant before we even talk about Omicron. So, the fact is this is an area of real concern. Now overwhelmingly our hospitals are doing very well but we have a history of supporting them during very tough times in 2020. So, we know how to do that. I'll let the doctors speak to it. Dr. Katz then Dr. Chokshi. Dr. Katz, are you out there? Oh, we may not be seeing Dr. Katz. Okay, Dr. Chokshi, step in.

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly, sir. And thanks Juliet, for the question. We are watching this very carefully with respect to staffing capacity to ensure that we do have hospital beds when people need them. Overall, the picture across New York City is solid. It's very good, including at Health + Hospitals you know, with respect to staffing capacity. Meaning right now we have enough of a margin to be able to absorb additional hospitalizations. With respect to the specific hospitals that you've called out. You know, there is some variability in terms of those staffing capacities. What I know is that each hospital, including in response to the Governor's recent executive order, is revisiting their surge and flex plans. And making sure that they have the ability to staff up to add hospital beds as needed. So, we don't anticipate at this moment that any hospitals will have to, for example, cancel elective procedures, but we're monitoring it very carefully. And I have to just say you know, one way that we can all help health care workers who have been heroic over the last two years is to make sure that people are getting vaccinated, that we are getting tested and accessing treatment so that we keep people out of hospitals in the first place.

Mayor: Thank you. And I know we have Dr. Long on – Is Dr. Katz on, or Dr. Long?

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: Yes, sir. Sorry.

Mayor: There you go. Okay.

President Katz: We had a bit of technical problems with panelists, but I'm here. And yes, Health + Hospitals is quite prepared. And as you recall, sir in those tough times, we took transfers from other hospitals when necessary. We're committed not only to our own patients, but to all patients throughout New York City. And we will make sure that we fill in any holes so that people get the care they need. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you, Juliet.

Question: Great. Thank you. Yeah. And the other thing I wanted to ask you about was are you revisiting plans for New Year’s Eve in Times Square? And who exactly will be checking vaccination cards at the checkpoints and how will that work?

Mayor: Okay. On the first point, we're continuing with the plans. Vaccination only, that's the way to participate in the Times Square celebration, New Year's Eve. Now it's literally a month away as of today. So, we're basing that on the information we have now. We are going to have it be vaccination only, and we anticipate being able to have a really important celebration as we move the city forward. Now we're watching Omicron too. And we're watching the whole picture with Delta and everything else. If something changes Juliet, that makes us want to modify the approach, we're going to alert people right away. But at this moment, it's the approach we've outlined. The specific check-in, we'll get that to you. Obviously, we're working closely with the Times Square Alliance, NYPD, creating a protocol for everything around Times Square. So, we'll get you the details of how it works. But the simple message to all New Yorkers, if you want to participate, bring your ID, bring your vaccination card, or the apps that have your information. And that's how you can be part of this very historic moment.

Moderator: The next is Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. I wanted to ask about the mandate, the deadline today for Correction officers. We're thinking that there's going to be a large number of people who are placed on unpaid leave? How is this going to impact the Department of Correction’s ability to staff critical posts and ensure smooth jail operations?

Mayor: So, great question, Elizabeth. Let's go over the basic facts. We've got a right now in the Correction Department, among the uniform staff, we are at 77 percent. So, that's gone up about 30 percent as a result of the mandate. So, we're at 77 percent now vaccinated. We've got another group of workers who have applied for the reasonable accommodation. I'm going to get you the exact percentage. I believe it's 700 total. We'll get you the exact percentage. But that group of course, continues to work while that process unfolds. And then we have a group of people who are neither category. But we also know, and we've seen this now time again, with health care workers, Department of Education employees, with the other uniformed services, that a lot of people choose to get vaccinated after the deadline. The most striking example is the Fire Department. It too was at 77 percent the day of the deadline. It is now up to 92 percent plus. So, I fully believe that you're going to see a lot more people get vaccinated either because of their reasonable accommodation decision, leading them to have to make a choice. And they choose to get vaccinated, or they just, even if they're on leave without pay, saying, wait a minute, I need to get paid. I want to be a part of this. I'm coming back. I expect those numbers to go up in a very substantial way in the days ahead. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

Question: And I wanted to ask you whether you were planning to have restaurants, gyms, and cultural venues extend the vaccine mandate to those five and up before you leave office?

Mayor: We're talking about that right now, Elizabeth. Not there yet, but it's something we're talking about. Obviously, right now, as of this morning for the five to 11-year-olds. We're over 17 percent. That's a good start. It's only been a few weeks. But we need to get that number up a lot. So, we're trying to determine what's the best way to handle that. At some point, obviously they will be included as is true for the 12 to 17-year-olds. But exactly when and how we're talking about, we will certainly have more to say on that in the days ahead.

Moderator: The next is Chris Sommerfeld from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to circle back on the previous question about DOC. Does this mean the 77 percent vaccination rate, does that mean that vaccinated Correction officers are now going to be put on 12-hour shifts? And secondly, we spoke to some vaccinated Correction officers yesterday who felt betrayed for, you know, complying with the mandate and still being what they see as punished for having to go on 12-hour shifts. I guess I'm wondering what your message is to them?

Mayor: My message is to them, that we value them and we appreciate them. We appreciate every Correction officer, every employee who has done the right thing and gotten vaccinated. Everyone who's kept showing up in the middle of this crisis. We are going to work this through. We've seen it with every agency. There's a certain number of days where things need to sort out and they do sort out. And it's going to happen again here. I'll turn to Commissioner Schiraldi in a moment. But I think the central point is this. We have a level of vaccination that allows us to move forward. We know that number is going to go up. It has gone up with every single agency markedly, both because of the resolution of the reasonable accommodation and because people ultimately make the decision to come back. I want to give you an example, which is striking. The leave without pay number for the previous workforce. Remember that number looked very high at one point, it's now down under 2,000 people, for an entire workforce of over almost 400,000. So, we see that folks initially who choose to leave without pay pretty quickly in many, many cases, come back, get vaccinated. As we get more and more people vaccinated we're going to be able to have the different shifts, different strategies. But for the immediate term, we're taking precautions to make sure the work gets done. Commissioner Schiraldi?

Commissioner Vincent Schiraldi, Department of Correction: Thanks, Mayor de Blasio. Yeah, it was really heartening to see how much the vax rates increased, 31 percent since before your October 19th announcement. That was incredible. Also, the number of people who are non-uniform, we don't talk about that much. But we have a 93 percent vax rate amongst the non-uniform staff at DOC. But that was all really impressive. The percentage of people you had mentioned this, that have gotten a recent or have asked for reasonable accommodations is nine percent. So, when you add that up with 77, it's 86 percent. And now with the 12-hour shifts, that'll essentially bump up the number of staff we have available to us. And we hope to keep that temporary until we get enough people vaccinated and enough people come back to work. I think that in some respects -- remember a lot of people have already been working overtime here and pretty hefty overtime. In some respects, it's kind of evened that out. And some people who haven't worked quite as much on that would be working 12 hours. And again, we want to get rid of that as soon as we possibly can. That's not something we view as long term. Our hope is that it'll go the same way it did with other departments, where in the next few days people are telling us they got vaccinated more frequently and people will actually be getting vaccinated more frequently. So that will gradually get rid of those 12-hour shifts.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Commissioner. I want to do that math again for everyone. Again, 77 percent of the uniform force has met the vaccination requirement. Another nine percent has requested reasonable accommodation. They will continue to work in the meantime while that gets worked through. So, 86 percent is the functional figure. And again, we're going to see that number go up in the days and weeks ahead as it has with other agencies. And that's going to allow us to make adjustments and make sure that workers get that additional support. Go ahead, Chris.

Question: Thank you. On a different topic you know, just from firsthand experience, I went to a grocery store yesterday. I saw maybe a half dozen people walking around without masks. I guess I'm wondering if the pandemic has taught us anything over the past two years, it seems to be that public health precautions should be implemented sooner rather than later, and to act, you know, as cautiously as we possibly can. So, I guess I'm wondering why wait with mandating masks inside as opposed to just recommending it, which you are currently doing?

Mayor: No, it's a good question. We talked about this yesterday. I'm happy to get the question again, because it's worth talking through. It is a question of what we think will work, Chris. We believe vaccination is the central strategy, and we've got to keep all the focus on vaccination. I never want people confused, to think that a mask takes the place of vaccination. It does not. It's night and day. I've said this many, many times. Vaccination is the way to stop COVID. We've still got a lot of young people who are not vaccinated. We've got a lot of adults who can still be vaccinated. We certainly have millions of people going to get in that booster. That's where the energy and focus is. We got a mask mandate as an option if we get more specific data that tells us is needed. But we believe right now, the thing that's going to truly make a difference right this minute is doubling down on vaccination.

Moderator: The next is Marla from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mayor. Getting back to the Correction officers and the vaccine mandate. The union, obviously unhappy about the emergency order and the switch to 12-hour shifts, and warning that you know, that could be dangerous and create an even more dangerous situation at Rikers. And wondering if you could respond to that? And then can you tell us about bringing on the new guards? How many new guards are actually on duty? And when would the bulk of them come online? And, you know, could it do anything to help you know, alleviate those 12-hour shifts?

Mayor: Thank you for the question, Marla. I'm going to turn to Commissioner Schiraldi in a moment. First of all, to say, as he said, the goal is to have that be a very limited period of time while we're using those shifts. It's a precaution right now. We've got very effective Correction officers who I know can do the job. My point is, regardless of what the union is saying, I know these folks are committed and they're going to do the job as they have through this whole crisis. The fact is, we know that things are working better at Rikers, because the population has gone down. And the Commissioner will go over the details, but it's not just are you bringing in more officers, which we are doing. He'll talk to you about what's going on with the classes going through and getting ready to join, but it's also reducing the population. The population has gone down markedly and that has really helped to improve the situation. Obviously, the lower, the population of inmates, the fewer officers you need, thank God. So, that's a big piece of the puzzle here as well. Commissioner, why don't you talk about the population situation and then, as well, the process of bringing in new officers.

Mayor: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You're absolutely right. We’re over 6,000 in September. And the Mayor really leaned into trying to get the population down in a variety of ways, one of which was heavily supporting Less is More and working with the State to take technical – people with technical violations away. So, that went from a little over 6,000. Now, we're a little over 5,200. So, about an 800-person decline in our inmate population. Then, we also remember in September, started really pushing with the Mayor's help on getting people back to work who were out sick, reducing AWOL’s – which means people who don't come to work and don't call in – reducing triple shifts and reducing unstaffed posts. So, just a few data on that, is that the number of people out on triple shifts has declined by 93 percent since September. The number of people AWOL’ing, or the number of times AWOL’s have occurred has declined by 82 percent. And number of unstaffed posts has declined by 78 percent. We're just beginning now to see the impact of that on what matters to us, which is violence and use of force. So, just a few data now. If you look at the last five months versus the five months before that, you had an 11 percent decline in use of force by Correctional staff, 19 percent decline in fights – these are all rates, by the way – and a 12 percent decline in assaults against staff. So, our thought is that, as we suspected, when we have more staff, and you're less tired, and posts are staffed, we're going to have less violence, less use of force, less assaults. So far – I mean, it's early, I’m not popping a champagne cork. We’re in the first quarter of, you know, a seven-game series right now. So, nothing to celebrate yet. But, so far, some early indicators are that the violence data, use of force data is bending in the right direction as the population declines, as we have fewer unstaffed posts and fewer triples.

Mayor: Yeah. And Commissioner, finish out the point about when additional staffing is coming from the recruitment process?

Commissioner Schiraldi: Sorry. I forgot that, Mr. Mayor. So, we have we – the first academy we launched was based on the list that I had when I got here, which was a 2019 list from DCAS, and, you know, we have to higher off that list. So, we did two things simultaneously. DCAS helped us by issuing another test. Meanwhile, we pull up the old tests for the first class. So, for that first class, we're going to have around 50. And I can get you the exact number, I don't want to give you a wrong number, because people sometimes drop out – around 50, starting in mid-December. Then, around another 20 – 20-something, starting in mid-January. The new DCAS test had over 1,600 people pass it. And so, we're screening them now for a December class. That December class will take four months, so it will start those people, however many are left – some of them will fall out for a variety of reasons – that 1,600 people will start – reduced number of 1,600 people will start in March. [Inaudible] all these data. You can contact our office and we'll give you the exact numbers on all of this.

Mayor: Thanks so much, Commissioner.

Moderator: Next is Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times.

Question: Hi. Good morning, Mayor. One of the news stories today said there were 1,000 Correction officers. You were talking percentages, but is it true that 1,000 officers are still unvaccinated? And do you have any indication from members or from, you know, from the union itself that they will go the way of FDNY? Like, what happens if that rate doesn't come up?

Mayor: Emma, we're always ready for contingencies. And, you know, we've literally been through this cycle now over and over again. You remember there was a lot of concern about hospitals, initially. A lot of contingency planning, in the end. Now, with Health + Hospitals, we're around 95 percent vaccination. There was a lot of concern about schools. You remember those days and days and days of questions, you know, would there be enough teachers? Was it going to work? Department of Education is at 96 percent now. I dare say there was tremendous concern and controversy around the Fire Department. A lot of contingency planning. You saw it. We talked about it every day. Commissioner Nigro talked about it. Again, Fire Department, now over 92 percent. Every one of those agencies has kept functioning well. The same reality here, we know when you combine already the uniformed personnel who are vaccinated with the folks requesting the reasonable accommodation, functionally, that puts you at 86 percent right there.

And we know that number's going to go up. We just know it from all this experience. And, certainly, the jump that we've seen, an almost 30-percent jump because of this mandate, is evidence right there. So, we feel very confident in the contingency measures and very confident that you’re going to see a lot more people vaccinated in the Department of Correction. In terms of how many are on leave without pay at this hour, Commissioner, do you have that number in front of you? I think it's – I don't have it here. Do you have that exact number, Commissioner?

Commissioner Schiraldi: I don't, Mr. Mayor. I’m hesitant to give it without having to nail it down with my staff, because the numbers keep changing every 10 minutes. We’ll get it to you.

Mayor: Okay. Emma, we'll follow up. And the Commissioner makes a good point when he says the numbers change every few minutes. One of the things we saw, Emma, literally the day after the deadline last time is the number of people got vaccinated that next day and then the day after that. So, these numbers will keep evolving, but we'll get you the latest number in just a short while.

Moderator: Next is Andrew Siff from WNBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. On the Omicron variant, I was wondering if your health team has seen the reports that two Israeli doctors who were fully vaccinated, including boosters, tested positive for Omicron? And, with that in mind, what are the city's current numbers with regard to breakthrough infections regarding the Delta variant, so we have sort of something to compare it to when inevitably that variant is here? To examine whether it's even better at evading the immune system.

Mayor: Very important question. I appreciate it. We have Dr. Chokshi, and Dr. Katz, and I think we have Dr. Long as well. So, let me see which doctor is most familiar with that information coming out of Israel. Who would like to speak to that?

President Katz: I’ll start, sir, as a clinical issue, just to say that what the reports are – what matters is, are people getting seriously ill? I mean that – there's no question about the fact that the COVID virus continues to circulate. It will continue to mutate as well. What I'm focused on and what we all need to look at is, are people getting sick? Are they getting hospitalized? Are we losing lives as we did in the beginning of this pandemic before we had vaccination? And so, it's not at all surprising that people who are vaccinated may still have a positive nasal swab. As long as they stay healthy or have minimal symptoms, I think we have to view that as a major victory. And all the data so far suggests that this is – the Omicron is a manageable infection in the sense that vaccinated people are not getting highly sick. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Any of the other doctors want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. I'm happy to add. And Dr. Katz is exactly right. What I would add, Andrew, is that we do have to be careful in these early days as we're building our understanding of the Omicron variant to extrapolate too much from, you know, the preliminary reports that we're hearing. The plural of anecdote is not data and it will take more time for us to have a rigorous understanding of the key questions that I've laid out about Omicron, which are transmissibility, severity of disease, and how it affects immunity. So, we will, of course, keep New Yorkers posted as the science is elucidated. But, right now, it's too early to draw very many conclusions on any of those three dimensions. Andrew, you also asked about breakthrough infections. All of that data is on the Health Department's website with respect to risk of breakthrough infections. The one salient data point that I'll highlight is that unvaccinated New Yorkers remain at significantly higher risk for infection, hospitalization, and death compared to vaccinated New Yorkers. When it comes to cases, unvaccinated New Yorkers are seven times more likely to be infected in this era of when Delta is dominant compared to vaccinated New Yorkers. So, our message remains very clear, get vaccinated and get your booster.

Mayor: And Dr. Long, anything you want to add?

Executive Director Long: Yeah, one thing. Andrew, I appreciate your point around breakthrough infections. And I think one important point, which is what Dr. Chokshi was just saying, is what can we do now to fight? There was a study that came out this week in JAMA Internal Medicine that found if you get your booster – and this is actually was done in Israel – you have an 86 percent reduction in the odds of having a positive test for COVID. So, that's a profound effect of the booster. And now, the CDC has recommended that all people that meet the eligibility in terms of the time window should get the booster. This is something that's very important for New Yorkers to do to continue to keep our cities safe. An 86 percent reduction and the odds of testing positive is a very powerful statistic that shows that.

Mayor: And Dave Chokshi gets, once again, quote of the day award for the plural of anecdote is not data. Very powerful point. Andrew, go ahead.

Question: Thank you very much for all of that. And following up on what Juliet asked about the capacity issues in two hospitals in the city on the new State list, I'm wondering what is it that's impacting the capacity at, for example, Queens Hospital Center at all, since, Mayor, you've said before that the mandates haven't had an impact on service. On Monday, Governor Hochul acknowledged that the health care mandates have affected hospital capacity upstate. So, I'm just wondering, is there a, sort of, a small, incremental impact on the number of available beds and that's why those hospitals are now on the list?

Mayor: Andrew, I'm going to ask for your clarification, because I'm not familiar with the remarks from the Governor you're referring to about the mandates. Clarify what you mean about the interplay of the mandates and the hospital capacity.

Question: What Governor Hochul said was, the small number of health care workers who have refused to get vaccinated and therefore are not coming to work, she said that is impacting the ability of certain hospitals to staff at the normal number of available beds. And so, I'm asking if that is the case as well for the City hospitals that are now on the list.

Mayor: Okay. I'll turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi, but I want to emphasize, look, very important to recognize the reason so many people are vaccinated is because of the mandates. The reason so many health care workers are at their posts, and they are safe, and their patients are safe is because of the mandates. And very few people in the scheme of things did not follow those mandates. Certainly, look at our public health system – 95-percent plus, right now vaccinated. So, the mandates were absolutely necessary. In fact, we need more mandates in this city, in this state to keep people safe. In terms of capacity, we always know there are tools that any hospital can use to address a need, including other ways of getting additional help or working with other hospitals to lighten the burden. But the thing that was 100 percent necessary is the mandates. In fact, we’ve got to keep expanding them. In terms of what it's meant for your staffing levels and what's happening in these two hospitals here in the city, Dr. Katz, and then Dr. Chokshi.

President Katz: Thank you, sir. And I think you've done a good job of explaining it. Upstate and several areas, especially in Western New York, where vaccination rates are quite low, they have had difficulty maintaining sufficient number of vaccinated staff. That has not been true in New York City. We're both at Health + Hospitals and at the other systems, overwhelmingly, New Yorkers doing health care work have agreed to be vaccinated. And we've had very few people we lost due to unwillingness to be vaccinated. All hospitals have ups and downs in their census, and I have to move staff as well as patients – it's an every-day activity. But my system, overall, we have more than 10 percent of staff beds that are currently vacant. So, I can't always predict at every single hospital what the day will bring. Sometimes one hospital has a particularly large number of patients. We have seen a large number of people without COVID who've had illnesses that, during COVID, they were not able to take care of and are now having repercussions of untreated diabetes, untreated hypertension. So, we have had a lot more volume of patients not with COVID. And with the upswing, we've had more patients with COVID. But we're in an excellent position to deploy resources at all our hospitals. It's an every-day activity. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add anything?

Commissioner Chokshi: Nothing to add, sir. Thank you.

Mayor: Okay, great. Thank you.

Moderator: The last question for today goes to Julia Marsh from the Post.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Can I check my math on Department of Correction without it being counted as a question?

Mayor: Yeah, sure. Do your math first.

Question: Okay. So, I was joking to my colleagues that we need Andrew Yang here, but then you did some math for us, so we were all set for a minute.

Mayor: I'm glad I could show you math skills.

Question: So, we've been told by the Department of Correction that there are 800 – I'm sorry, 8,800 uniformed staff. You said that 77 percent are vaccinated. That would be 6,776 vaccinated. Nine percent exemptions would be 792 exemptions. Then, there's the remaining 14 percent, which I assume are on unpaid leave, that would be 1,232. Is that the accurate?

Mayor: Well, I'm impressed by your math skills. I'm going to turn to Commissioner Schiraldi, and I want to emphasize, as I turn to the Commissioner, Julia, that, again, the numbers, literally, are changing as we speak. And that's a good thing, because more people are coming in and getting vaccinated. I want to stay top-line and then the Commissioner will jump in. And we're talking uniform staff – the civilian staff has even higher levels of vaccination, but uniformed staff, 77 percent have met the vaccination requirement as of yesterday. We've got nine percent that have requested reasonable accommodation. That process will play out. So, that's 86 percent. The remainder in leave without pay, officially. But, again, with a clear recognition that, that number is going to reduce. And I remind you that overall leave without pay number has gone down markedly for all the other agencies really, really sharply. So, in terms of Julia's math, Commissioner, does that sound right to you or anything you want to modify?

Commissioner Schiraldi: There's a whole bunch that doesn't work there, Julia. And I, honestly, can get you this once we’re offline, but I'll give you some top lines right now, as the Mayor said. First of all, just to start with, we have 7,814 uniformed employees – not the 8,800 number that you used, that's an old number. Total uniformed staff vaccinated, 6,016 – 77 percent. And then, we've got another group that have made reasonable accommodation requests – 708. That's another nine percent that have made reasonable accommodation requests. I know the next thing you're going to want to do is do all the subtraction and say, oh, all the rest are going to be on ALWP. There’s just a little problem with that, which is, as you know, we have a pretty substantial number of people out on long-term sick, family medical leave. You know, we've been talking about this to the media for quite a while. So, if you're not on long-term sick, you're not really considered ALWP. So, if you want – and that's just a level of math that I think is going to get everybody on this a headache. So, if you want, I can walk you through all of that so you know what group of people is likely to get ALWP. We are not ALWP’ing somebody on long-term sick, on family medical leave, on vacation, or on military. We're not ALWP’ing those. So, we have to do a little subtraction. It just doesn't work well for, sort of, [inaudible] at this time.

Mayor: Thank you, Commissioner.

Think about all the New Yorkers every day who are working to protect people from COVID, our health care heroes, our Test and Trace Corps, all of our colleagues at Health + Hospitals, Health Department. I salute all of them because every day they're looking out for every one of you. Thank you, everybody.

2021-12-03 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Good morning, everyone, and we're down to three more weekly Ask the Mayor segments with Mayor Bill de Blasio, and we'll do three more big [inaudible] on some of the biggest issues facing New York City that he has had to deal with over the last eight years. Last week, 2-1-2-4-3-3-9-6-9-2, and good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. I'm really looking forward to this conversation, but I just want to jump in with one thing on COVID just to say, obviously we now have evidence of the Omicron variant here in New York City, five cases so far, and related to that, but also related to the intense challenge at Delta variant, we announced late yesterday our second major vaccine mandate of the week. First it was childcare employees, 102,000 employees, now 56,000 employees from non-public schools, private and religious schools, they'll have to be vaccinated. That mandate goes into effect on December 20. So we are, as I like to say, climbing the ladder, going to use more and more aggressive tools to handle, you know, what's happening now with COVID, the colder weather, the holidays, the dangers posed by all Omicron. We're going to be very aggressive in addressing these with new approaches. 

Lehrer: I'll ask you one follow-up policy question on that, that came up earlier in the show, when we were talking about the case of the person who got diagnosed in Minnesota, but who had been at the Javits Center with tens of thousands of people for an anime convention and only had one of the two vaccination series of doses. The question came up, is the policy for getting into restaurants and concerts and other venues strict enough? It's currently one shot and you can go in right away. You don't have to wait. You don’t have to get your second shot. I know that was to encourage people onto the vaccination track, but the question came up, is that enough now? Do you have any thoughts on toughening that requirement?

Mayor: Well, that's a good question. I think you're exactly right, it was created the way it was created to maximize a vaccination because we know overwhelmingly people get the first shot, go on to get that second shot. So it did serve that purpose very, very well, in some ways I think it continues to, but I think it's a fair question that we're going to analyze now – with all of our approaches to COVID, we're going to update them, because we're dealing with some new challenges at this moment. So, that will be looked at along with a series of other actions, because it's really dynamic right now. Not just because of Omicron. Look what's happening in much of Europe, a very troubling reality, and that's not Omicron, that's Delta. So, we're going to keep updating policies regularly to meet this challenge. 

Lehrer: Janet, in Manhattan, your own WNYC with the Mayor. Hi, Janet. 

Question: Hi. My question has to do with those of us who are lucky enough to be in rent stabilized apartments. I'm a senior citizen and during COVID I took shelter outside the city. I'm assuming that the residency requirement would be waived for then, but I wonder if it will be going forward? 

Mayor: I want to make sure and Brian, you can help me, or we can ask Janet. I'm not sure when you say the residency requirement being waived? I'm not sure what that means in this case? 

Question: Well, I don't actually know that it is. I'm hoping that it is. That my understanding is that in order to keep your rent stabilized apartment, you have to be in the city more than six months a year? 

Lehrer: It has to be your primary residence. Right. And I know that landlords will sometimes challenge that to get people out of rent stabilized apartments, if they have a secondary home somewhere. So I think you get it, Mr. Mayor. Janet is saying in the case of COVID where people went out for a number of months, are they at risk of losing their rent stabilized apartments? 

Mayor; Janet, you're the first – I mean, I take the question very seriously and I appreciate the question. But you're literally the first person in the last two years to ask that question, which is a hopeful sign to me that landlords are treating this respectfully. Obviously, if a senior citizen chose to leave the city for a period of time in the height of COVID, everyone understands that. I have not heard of anyone trying to negatively use that fact against a tenant. But if anybody out there is experiencing that, please call 3-1-1. We have an Office of Tenant Protection that can work on this immediately. We would obviously, we would provide free legal help. This is something we've done with our Right to Counsel law, making sure, especially for low income New Yorkers, they can have free legal help if they're ever faced with an illegal eviction. I think that would be fully illegal to say that if someone left temporarily because of COVID, they were going to be evicted. I think we would be able to protect that tenant with the City's resources and with the legal help we can provide. 

Lehrer: Alright. Two more Ask the Mayors to go. Next Friday, and the Friday after that we'll continue to do big-picture conversations. So, thanks for these and I'll talk to you then. 

Mayor: Thanks so much, Brian.

2021-12-06 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, we are very, very carefully monitoring the latest news about the Omicron variant and, meanwhile, we're still fighting the central battle, which is against the Delta variant. So, a lot going on. Then, I have some updates for you today because we need to take very bold action, aggressive action to address these new threats. It's Omicron, it's cold weather, which we know presents a real challenge with COVID in every form. It's the holiday gatherings coming up. There's a lot going on and what we're seeing now in other parts of the world, and this is really an area of tremendous concern. We're seeing restrictions starting to come back. We're seeing shutdowns. Look at Germany right now, such a strong nation in so many ways, but the situation there has got to a really troubling place. So, now they're reinstating a lot of restrictions that we all hoped were part of the past. We cannot let those restrictions come back. We cannot have shutdowns here in New York City. We got to keep moving forward. And the answer is always is to use the things that work, vaccination works and vaccine mandates work. That's the bottom line.

So, look, we're working closely with the State government, with the federal government, we're all united, common front to fight COVID and that cooperation is tremendously important, but we also know Omicron is here. No debate about it anymore. It doesn't matter if we're only getting a few cases in different states. We know it's here. We know it's going to spread. It appears to be at this moment, very transmissible. We're waiting for more facts and more evidence, but that's what we're seeing so far.

What does that mean? You can expect – and I'm sorry to say this, you can expect community spread. We have to assume it's going to be widespread. We have to assume it's going to give us a real challenge. We'd been to this movie before, we've been down this road before, we know what happens when we get a new variant, in particularly one that's highly transmissible. It's not something we can't handle. We have the tools, but we have to use those tools aggressively and we have to move quickly. And that's why I described the actions we're taking today as a preemptive strike, get ahead of this problem before it deepens and use the thing that works, vaccination. We can talk about all the other tools and we will, but vaccination is the central weapon in this war against COVID. It's the one thing that has worked every single time across the board on a strategic level. It's the reason New York City is back in so many ways. And it's the reason we can avoid shutdowns and restrictions, it’s more use of vaccination. So, that's why we are taking aggressive action today. We are not going back to what happened in 2020. We cannot allow that to happen. We're not going to allow to happen in New York City with what's happening in Germany right now. We cannot let that happen.

So, look, bottom line. I've said we have been climbing the ladder as we have climbed the ladder, good things have happened more and more people have got vaccinated. The city got safer. We were able to bring back people's livelihoods and jobs and the life of the city. We need to keep that going. So, today, we're going to be announcing some additional measures to keep New Yorkers safe. And I'm going to remind everyone job, number one, any mayor, keep people safe. This is the biggest crisis not only of our time, but of the history of New York City. We cannot let COVID back in the door again. So, these measures today will make a big difference. First of all, with the Key to NYC, extremely effective program has been respected and emulated around the country. It needs to be more honestly, it's something that should be used in more and more places. Well, right now we require all employees and patrons, everyone, 12 and up to be vaccinated, at least one dose, that’s indoor dining, fitness, entertainment. That's worked brilliantly. It's been a tremendous success or a lot of concern about the beginning. In fact, it has been an across the board success with very few problems. You know, there's been a few challenges, but not many. So, we now are going to deepen that effort by requiring all employees and patrons to have from 12 years old and up, two doses. And that will take effect on December 27th, because the idea is everyone by that point, who has got their first dose, if you've got your first dose by now, you're going to be able to get your second dose by then. We got to up the ante here. We want to also encourage folks to get that second dose, vast majority of New Yorkers do. And that's good news, but we've got to encourage people even more, get that second dose because that's what gives you so much more protection. So, two doses for all the Key to NYC businesses starting December 27th, employees and customers, and that's going to keep people safe and we want to see people go out and get those second doses right now, if they qualify. 

Remember with the holidays, with the cold weather, you haven't got your second dose and you qualify, this is exactly the time to get it. You should feel urgency because the challenge of COVID is about to get greater. Now, another point on Key to NYC thinking the youngest New Yorkers, the vaccination for the five to 11-year-olds has just begun the last few weeks already. We've got over 127,000 New York City kids in that age range vaccinated. That's great. It's a little over 19 percent of all the kids in that group, considering as brand new. That's good and it's better than the national rate, but it's not enough. Obviously, we need to see a lot more. We need to see kids getting vaccinated in that age group. Parents, we need you to step up for the good of your children, your family, all of us go get your child vaccinated. So, we're going to include them in the Key to NYC. The guidelines are Key to NYC starting on December 14th. So, this is again one dose now because it's a new vaccination, that gives parents plenty of time. We've been having vaccination drives in schools. We're in the middle of our second round, in every single elementary school in New York City, every school with five to 11-year-olds, this'll be the second time around started last week continuing this week. If you're a parent, you want to get your kid vaccinated. it's so simple. It could be at your own school, or it could be in many, many locations nearby your home. This is something that's going to keep kids safe and families safe. Go get your child vaccinated so long as they've got that first dose by December 14th, they can continue to participate indoor dining entertainment, all of these great things.

Now, another point for our youngest kids, previously, for the kids 12 years old and up the rule has been in place for high risk extracurricular activities, sports, band, chorus, orchestra, dance, things where there's a lot of close contact,things where kids are, you know, singing or anything where they're really the letting a lot of air out that could have an impact on everyone around them, that has applied to kids 12 and up, We're going to now apply that to kids in the five to 11 year old range, as well. That's also December 14th, again, only one dose required. There's time for parents get that done. Most kids don't necessarily participate in those activities. That's fine, but for those who do we want to make sure they have that protection, it's real important.

Okay, now another really big, important step in this is going to be a first in the nation step. You're going to hear from our Health Commissioner in a moment, and he will be issuing a Commissioner's Order for all private sector employers in New York City. It is time. Look, this is how we put health and safety first by ensuring that there is a vaccine mandate that reaches everyone universally in the private sector. A lot of folks in the private sector have said to me, they believe in vaccination, but they're not quite sure how they can do it themselves. Well, we're going to do it. We're going to do this so that, every employer is on a level playing field. One universal standard starting December 27th. We're going to be working with businesses all over the city. And that's almost 200,000 businesses that are not already covered by the Key to NYC guidelines right now. We're going to be working with the business community. We're going to be talking to them in the next days on how to put together the right plan to implement this. The specific guidance, the specific rules will come out in December 15th. We want to have a collaborative process. We want to make this work and let's be clear, we have a great example with the Key to NYC, all those restaurants, all those fitness clubs, all those entertainment facilities and movie theaters, all sorts of places they've been working with us. They gave us good advice up front. We came up with rules that work the vast, vast majority of implement those rules really effectively. And I constantly hear from people that they know that go into a place under Key to NYC they're safe and they feel comfortable. They're going to enjoy themselves. They feel comfortable in those settings because they know everyone's vaccinated and there was a lot of concern up front. Would it work? Would it be difficult? You know what businesses have adapted and handled it really, really well. And we know will happen again. We're going to set up a call center to handle concerns from businesses. We'll have a strong outreach effort as we've done previously, to answer questions, provide the support they need. This is going to make a huge difference to make sure New Yorkers are safe going forward. I want you to hear from the person who will be issuing the order in the course of the day, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. When we were thinking through these major new policies announced today, we had a few groups of New Yorkers in mind. I thought about my patients. So many of them essential workers who have been at risk throughout the pandemic and who are at greater risk when they are in close quarters with unvaccinated colleagues. I thought about our nurses and other healthcare workers, the trauma they've experienced and the post-traumatic stress they feel right now with cases increasing again and Omicron on the horizon. I thought about the patients, those same health care workers look after, especially the unvaccinated patients expressing regret for their decision in terrifying moments of remorse, like just before they have to be placed on a breathing tube. And I thought about how we can better protect people who remain vulnerable despite widespread access to vaccination, like children who are still too young to get the vaccine and New Yorkers with weakened immune systems, such as those with cancer on chemotherapy. For all of those groups, risk rises as community transmission increases, even before Omicron becomes more common, we've seen case numbers grow in recent weeks due to Delta, the devil we know. They have more than doubled since of recent low point in early November, increasing in every borough and every age group. That's why the bold steps the Mayor announced today are necessary and vital, starting with the private sector vaccine mandate. Vaccines work and vaccine mandates work, particularly when joined with efforts to build vaccine confidence, provide incentives and improve access as we have in New York City. We've seen this with our healthcare workers, school staff and public employees, now it's time for the private sector to step up and follow suit.

Turning to our younger New Yorkers, case rates are currently highest among our five to 11-year-olds, but we can change this. And indeed, parents have already vaccinated over 130,000 kids since five to 11-year-olds became eligible. Extending the Key to NYC to those five and up and expanding our vaccine requirement for high-risk extracurricular activities to that same age range will help further. These are proven tools in our fight against COVID-19 and a logical step to protect our kids. New York City has led the nation when it comes to decisive action on COVID-19. We have to be even more relentless than the virus. And I'm so proud of all the ways New Yorkers have shown our characteristic toughness, particularly when it's most needed. For instance, in the last two days, over 108,000 vaccinations were reported as administered, including about 63,000 booster doses. Those boosters may turn out to be particularly important for Omicron. So, you'll see us work to further increase the almost 1.2 million additional or booster doses already administered in NYC. And beyond vaccination, I'm grateful to everyone for their commitment to common sense precautions, particularly masking, testing, improving ventilation and staying home when you are ill. My Commissioner's Advisory on masking from last week, emphasized mask use indoors, including for those who are vaccinated and also, call the attention into higher quality masks like KN95s and KF94s for those at higher risk.

Mr. Mayor, thank you for the swift and resolute leadership demonstrated by today's announcements. I know it will save lives and help us prevent unnecessary suffering. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Chokshi. Thank you for everything you're doing and your colleagues to keep us safe and for this order you're issuing today, it's going to make a huge, huge difference. I want you to hear from someone now, one of the great national voices during this crisis we've all been trying to navigate an extremely complex reality, and it's so powerful when there are people who are those voices of wisdom and knowledge and help us make sense of COVID. He is an oncologist. He is a former Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and Vice Provost for Global Initiatives at the University of Pennsylvania. My pleasure to introduce Dr. Zeke Emanuel.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Emanuel. I just want to thank you for your clear, sharp message to everyone about why this matters, but also again, thank you over these last 20 months, you've been one of the great voices of reason and science and clarity in this nation as we've been making our way through this incredibly difficult crisis. So, thank you for your leadership. We need your voice and I thank you for it.

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'm sure my mother appreciates it.

Mayor: There we go. All right, well, so you heard from one of the great national voices on why this is so important. I want you to now, let's take it local. Let's go to the streets of New York City. Let's go to our neighborhoods and hear from someone who really understands what this means at a neighborhood level, but also for a small business. You know, a lot of businesses have said that they would actually like this kind of support of having a clear mandate that will help them clarify to all their employees why it's so important to be vaccinated. And that a single universal rule actually is better for everyone. Well, I want to hear from someone who really made it a priority himself to get his employees vaccinated, he understood that was important for their safety, but for the whole community, and for the customer. So, amazing story. He is the owner of the Barber Factory in the Bronx. He's been with us before. And I want to give him a shout out. He has achieved something amazing. As of today, 100 percent of his staff are fully vaccinated. That's an amazing accomplishment. And I tip my cap, Nestor Lebron, you have done something great. And we welcome you.

Nestor Lebron: Thank you, Mayor de Blasio. Just want to say – can you hear me?

Mayor: Yes, we can. Absolutely. We can see your whole team too.

[...]

Mayor: Hey, Nestor, what do you say to your customers when they talk to you about what they're looking for? They want to go get a haircut, they're worried about COVID. What do you tell them about what it means to come into an environment where everyone is vaccinated?

Lebron: Well, I mean, they know our customers know what we went through in the shutdown. So, to let them know and let the community know that we're back and we're taking all steps necessary to make sure that that doesn't happen again. You know, it means everything to us. That’s our livelihood. That's what was put at risk before, and we're doing everything so that, that doesn't happen again.

Mayor: Amen. And when you got your employees, I see a lot of the guys there, what's the conversation like? If someone has a hesitation or concern, what's been the conversation that's helped everyone get to the point now that everyone's 100 percent vaccinated?

Lebron: I mean, it's mandatory for us. We're trying to do the right thing. You know, that's, it stands behind our name, the Barber Factory to make sure that we do the right thing. So, you know, we spoke to the guys. Guys, you know, this is something that we have to do to ensure safety, you know, and especially now with the new variant, you know, we feel better. We don't – before when this all started, we didn't know what was going on. But now, knowing that we're all vaccinated and that the City has [inaudible] it's an amazing feeling.

Mayor: And Nestor, I am very, very impressed by what you've done. And as a New Yorker, I am proud of you. You're sending a message to this whole city, and you're showing the whole country what New York City is made of and our strength, our resilience. I've got some people here in the room with me who put together these press conferences. We're all going to applaud you now. Thank you, Nestor.

[Applause]

Lebron: Thank you very much.

Mayor: Good job.

Lebron: Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: All right, everyone. Well, if that's not a true, clear voice, I don't know what is. And Nestor is showing an example to everyone. And what he said, we all went through shutdowns. We do not want to go through it again. It had a horrible dislocating impact on the lives of our families, our kids who couldn't be in school, businesses shut down. People lost their livelihood. We cannot let that happen again. So, that's why we're doing this. A preemptive strike. This major new initiative to keep people safe.

And now we'll go to the indicators and they, once again, show us both what's working, vaccination and the challenge, more and more cases of COVID. So, on vaccination, you heard from Dr. Chokshi, there's been a surge of vaccinations. That's great. Particularly the booster, that's really great, but we want to see a surge now of those first doses for people who haven't had them, particularly our youngest New Yorkers. We want to see a surge of second doses for anyone who was delaying their second dose. As of today, we're at 12,682,136 doses. An astounding figure but we need that to jump up again, to keep us safe from Omicron and Delta, both. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19. Today's report, 109 patients. Confirmed positivity of 37.27 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is 1.01. And again, it's the first time we've been over one, and that is something we're watching very carefully. The first time in a while, I should say we've been over one. And then new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 1,879 cases. Going to say a few words in Spanish, on the mandate for private sector employers.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: Good morning. We'll now begin the Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Dave Chokshi, Health Commissioner, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals, Dr. Ted Long, Head of NYC Test and Trace, Georgia Pestana, Corporation Counsel for NYC Law Department, Rachel Loeb, President and CEO of NYC Economic Development Corporation, Vicki Been, Deputy Mayor of Housing and Economic Development, and Jonnel Doris, Small Business Services Commissioner. Our first question for today goes to Marcia with WCBS. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you today? 

Mayor: Good Marcia, how’ve you been?

Question: Good, good. I wonder if you're coordinating this with the Governor of New York State and we can expect to see her adopt the steps that you're taking today as well? 

Mayor: You know, Marcia, I spoke with Governor Hochul this morning and gave her an update on what we were doing, and I said, look, based on all of our experience, including with the Key to NYC, with the restaurants, with the indoor dining and entertainment, that we really were confident this was the right next step, and that private sector employers would work with us to get this done. So, I told her why it was the right thing to do for us now. We had good conversation. I'll certainly let her speak for her own, you know, approach here. And let me emphasize, I respect the Governor, we work well together, we talk regularly, there's a lot of coordination and communication, and I appreciate that. That's been really, really helpful in our efforts to keep people safe. Go ahead, Marcia. 

Question: Second question is this, Mr. Mayor, I know that there's been some concern about private sector people coming back to work in January. And I know that there's been some concern expressed by the business community about their, you know, the number of people who want to come back because they like telecommuting, et cetera. Are you afraid that these new mandates, especially in the finance sector and in the tech sector, which have been the fastest growing parts of New York City, are you afraid that this is going to slow down their return to the offices, which could affect, you know, other small businesses, et cetera, in the city? 

Mayor: It's an important question, Marcia, and I'll tell you, I actually feel very good about what the impact will be. I'll tell you why, because I've heard from so many business leaders, including in those sectors like finance and tech, that the best thing for them is for the government to lead the way. What we did lead the way with the approach to our own employees has been incredibly successful. We led the way with the Key to NYC reaching with the indoor dining, with the indoor entertainment, showing the larger private sector that in those parts of our economy, could really work for everyone, and it has, and a lot of them recognize that, but it's always better for the private sector if the government sets a single universal standard. So, they don't have to have the reality with their employees of saying, hey, this is something we're going to do on our own. This is what a lot have actually asked for in the private sector. One standard that applies to everyone, I think you're going to see a lot of people embrace it, you're going to see a lot of people make the decision that it's time to get vaccinated. There's also, obviously, many, many people are vaccinated. So, for them, you know, they're coming back to the office, they are already vaccinated, that's done. So, I really think we're going to see this actually help, ultimately, just like you heard when it comes to any other business environment, if people know where they go is going to be safe, it actually encourages them to come back to the office. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Juliet with 1010 WINS. 

Question: Yeah. Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everybody on the call. So, I guess my question is, how do you plan on enforcing this with private business? Will there be reports that they have to submit or will inspectors go to the office? How does that work? 

Mayor: So, Juliet, we're going to work with the different business communities between now and December 15th to put together those protocols. We'll publish them on December 15th, so it's still well before the mandate takes effect December 27th. And look, we have a really impressive body of knowledge now from the Key to NYC. There was a lot of dialogue with the business community in advance. We figured out ways to improve the approach to educating, providing support. We're going to have that call center for any concerns. You know, we're going to work with people – the goal, of course, is just get them there in a way that works for them. And really we found with Key to NYC, overwhelmingly it's gone smoothly. So, we'll work that through. We'll put that on December 15th, but I feel it got a lot of evidence now that this approach will work. Go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay. Thank you. And would there be penalties for non-compliance? 

Mayor: Juliet, look, it is part of life that there have to be some consequences, but I want to emphasize, one we'll figure out what makes sense by December 15th when we put out the guidelines, but I want to remind you – and we'll get you the latest facts on this – it's been amazing with the Key to NYC, very few times we actually had to penalize people. We focused on educating. We focused on warnings and helping people figure out how to do it well. There's been very few instances where it got to the point where there had to be any penalty. So, it's always a tool we have, but I think the fact is we've already proven that there's a good cooperative way to get this done. We've done it with a big swath of our business community already, and I think this next step is going to be something really the vast majority of businesses are going to embrace and work with us to get done. I mean you just heard from Nestor, he didn't have to do what he did, he did it because it made sense for his customers and his employees. I think this is going to help a lot of businesses to get it done because it's one standard for everyone. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to James with PIX-11. 

Question: Hey good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Happy new week. 

Mayor: Happy new week, James, how are you feeling? 

Question: Not bad, thank you, not bad at all. Hope you're well. 

Mayor: Feeling good, man. 

Question: Okay. So, onto the questions, and maybe this is sort of a follow to Marcia’s question, I'm curious to know how much conversation you've had about the private sector mandate with the Mayor-elect. I mean, I get that December 15th, you're planning on coming up with certain standards by which businesses have to comply, but it doesn't go into effect, as I understand it, from what you've said, until the 27th of December which is less than a week before you leave office and someone else does. What is the role of the next administration in enforcing what this plan that you've come up with? 

Mayor: Look first of all, everyone knows, I have tremendous respect for our Mayor-elect Eric Adams, and we talk all the time. We met at Gracie Mansion right before he went on his to Ghana. We talked through a variety of pending issues. I gave him the initial thinking on this. We had another conversation late this Friday while he was over there, I gave him the full update on what we're doing. Look, he has always said, he understands right now there are urgent threats facing our city, and the Mayor's job is to protect New Yorkers, and that's my responsibility up until the very last minute. He understands the urgency of the situation. I'll let him speak for himself about what he thinks about each approach, but he has been tremendously clear that he respects the health care professionals and their guidance. He respects the science and what it tells us. And I can tell you, James, our health care leadership absolutely believe this was a necessary act because of Omicron, and that likely very high-level transmissibility, because of the colder weather, and because of the holiday gatherings, that's a triple threat and we need to be aggressive. So, I think the merit of this will become very, very clear. Go ahead, James. 

Question: Thank you. And yeah, following up on your last point and I'd love to hear from you and maybe one of the medical professionals on the call, can you talk about –you've said this is a preemptive strike against Omicron, but certainly Delta is overwhelmingly the predominant problem at this point, as far as we know. Can you talk about how much these new measures that you're announcing are preemptive and how much they are reactive, particularly noting that the indicators are rising, you did also point out that hospitalizations, for instance, went above the number one for the first time in quite a long time. [Inaudible].

Mayor: Yeah. The reason I say preemptive is it's time to do something even bigger before Omicron asserts itself here, before we get into the holiday gatherings, before it gets to the really colder weather, it's actually been surprisingly nice weather the last few weeks, but that won't go for too much longer. We know that. So, it's preemptive because we needed to do something bold quickly and get ahead of all of this. These are major threats looming, and we see it with the numbers rising because of Delta. We see it with the nature of Omicron as we understand it right now. That's a lot all happening at once. So, to give you the medical thinking, I'm going to turn first to Dr. Katz and then to Dr. Chokshi, and we have had really just conversation after conversation, trying to figure out the right tools and what I've heard from the medical team loud and clear is vaccination, vaccination, vaccination, and anything that gets more people vaccinated, that's what we need to do. That's what we have to do right now. Dr. Katz first. 

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: Yes, sir. I think you have it absolutely correct. One of the things that I find so interesting about this particular COVID virus is how good it is at finding the unvaccinated. Despite the fact that we are at such a high level in New York, this virus is amazing at finding those people who are unvaccinated and making them sick, and so everything that we can do to get everyone vaccinated will make a huge difference. While there are still cases among people who are vaccinated, they are overwhelmingly mild, people having some symptoms, sometimes testing positive without any symptoms, but for people who were are unvaccinated, we continue to see in our hospital, very serious disease, people on ventilators, people dying. We desperately want everybody vaccinated so that we do not have to have any more death in New York City, we have gone through enough. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Amen. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, I agree. This is an all of the above approach because it's an all hands on deck moment for New York City. We're seeing enough about Omicron that is concerning, that warrants the bold steps that the Mayor announced today, and we have a chance to blunt the effect of Delta in the here and now as well. What we do know is the common thread is that vaccination saves lives and it helps us to prevent suffering. So, that's the very clear public health rationale for the steps that we're taking today. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Erin with Politico. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, just a couple detailed logistical things about this private employer mandate. So, are you talking about all employers? Is that regardless of their size? And is it regardless of whether the employee is in-person or remote, or is it applying only to in-person employees? 

Mayor: Erin, we're going to put out the detailed standards on December 15th. The broad stroke is it's in-person employment, and so remote is obviously different and essentially that means people working from their home. We're talking about in-person employment and we're talking about whenever it's, you know, more than one person. If someone, you know, has a place of employment, they're the only employee, that's a different matter, but if it's more than one person, that's what we're focused on. Go ahead, Erin. 

Question: Okay, great, thanks. And then I'm wondering, you know, so the City's approach to this was to put the employees who are unvaccinated on unpaid leave. That seems just at first like the kind of thing that not every small business, you know, unpaid – like those types of leave policies don't necessarily exist. So, I'm just wondering, are you giving - are people going to get fired? Are people going to be on unpaid leave? Like what is going to happen to the unvaccinated employees at these private businesses? 

Mayor: We're going to work with the business community and working out these guidelines by December 15th. Obviously, there's going to be the kind of thing we've seen throughout all of the mandates, some kind of process made available if folks want to request a reasonable accommodation. That's been a consistent and effective tool. Vast majority of people don't do that, or don't end up getting it, obviously, but that's something that will be available. And really different companies will have different approaches, different businesses. Look, I think, first of all, so many people, thank God, are vaccinated, let's remember that they will already be covered. Second of all, a lot more people will get vaccinated because of this, has been true with every single mandate. So, the bottom line is I don't think there's going to be too many situations where you're talking about someone potentially having to take leave. Bigger companies might do a leave policy. Others might do something else. But we've got time to work it through between now and December 15th.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth with Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to follow up on James’ question about your conversations with Mayor-elect Adams. Can you say when you arrived at this decision and when you had a conversation with Mayor-elect Adams? And why isn't he on this call with you this morning?

Mayor: Well, Elizabeth, obviously, I can't speak for his schedule, and he's overseas right now, but I can say – as I said, I had two conversations with him as we were starting to formulate this. Right before – it was the day he actually was leaving for Ghana we had a detailed conversation and a more detailed conversation on Friday night as we were perfecting this and working on the final details. So, again, I'm sure he'll be speaking to it. But he – and every conversation we've had about fighting COVID, he has been really consistent on the point that he is feeling urgency about these new threats and he understands that my job is to keep New Yorkers safe until December 31st, and then hand the baton to him. So, I feel very, very good about the conversations we've had and the close coordination that he and I are constantly involved in. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

Question: So, this is the season or time of year where a lot of companies are having holiday parties. What would you and your health officials say to these companies who may have unvaccinated workers about holding these kinds of gatherings?

Mayor: Well, I'll start as a layman and then I'll let the health care professionals weigh in. I start with, get everyone vaccinated and wear masks in gatherings. I mean, I think that's two really essential points that cover the core of what we need to do. I think people can still gather but gathered the smart way. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, Dr. Long, who wants to go first?

Commissioner Chokshi: I'm happy to start, sir. But you're exactly right. You know, the safest holiday gatherings are the ones where everyone is fully vaccinated. And we are encouraging that, you know, particularly as we see cases increase. That is one very concrete way to make them even safer. If there is a mix of unvaccinated and vaccinated people, the precautions that the Mayor has mentioned are extremely important – masking, distancing, making sure that people get tested both before and after a gathering. And the final thing is to keep it as small as possible. If we bring all of these things to bear together, but particularly starting with the foundation of vaccination, everyone can be kept safer. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Kats or Dr. Long, do you want to add?

President Katz: I'll just add, I'm a big believer in open windows and outdoor parties. So, in addition to all of the things that Dr. Chokshi said, I think that's a nice way of adding a layer of protection. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Amen. Dr. Long?

Executive Director Long: Yeah. I would just add that, I think, as we think about holiday gatherings, this is the success of our Key to NYC policy that we've been a national leader in setting up. You know, we require people to be vaccinated, going to certain types of gatherings, like at restaurants. And, I think, for holiday parties, I would strongly encourage employers to think about the success in terms of how Key to NYC has kept our city safe and use the same standards. And again, regardless of vaccination status, I want to go back to one thing that Dr. Chokshi said, get tested before you go to gatherings, especially if they’re among people that you don't ordinarily see. And then get tested after the gathering as well. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Nolan with the Post.

Question: Hey. Good morning, everybody. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah, Nolan. How are you doing today?

Question: I'm doing well, Mr. Mayor. I would just like to start by saying that in a time when the city is facing a new coronavirus variant, and there are concerns about access to testing, and the rollout of a new mandate policy, and everyone's trying to figure out just how we get on with life amid all this, it is urgent and essential that City Hall take questions from reporters and make you available at every opportunity, and that the dramatic restrictions placed on the press corps and its ability to access you regularly are not helping that cause. And I just want to lead off with that. And I would like to follow that by asking what exactly is the legal advice that you got in terms of how this is legal? How can the City compel these sorts of conditions upon employment and participating in in-office activities?

Mayor: Let me just say very simply, as I turn to Georgia Pestana, our Corporation Counsel, one of the things I'm proud of over the course of this crisis – and it's been a horrible crisis – is that our health care leaders have been so constantly answering the concerns and questions not only of the media, but of every-day New Yorkers, community leaders, elected officials constantly in these morning press conferences, in endless Zooms, and community meetings, that I have regular press conferences and have throughout, obviously, in addition to what I do with WNYC and NY1 – we have made it a point to constantly communicate and we will right up to the last day. And I'm proud of that. And I know a lot of New Yorkers have expressed their appreciation to me. But the question of why this makes sense legally and otherwise – the universality is key, Nolan. We believe the right way to approach this is a clear, strong standard for everyone. And the Commissioner of Health has to act when there is a health crisis and we have seen it deeply over the last two years. But now, we have these three factors bearing down on us – a new variant, which appears to be very transmissible; cold weather, which we know unfortunately facilitates the spread of COVID, because people are indoors; and the many, many holiday gatherings that will be happening, including family gatherings. Those three together, as I say, that's a triple threat. That's a real cause for concern. Our Health Commissioner does have the legal right to say, here's something necessary to protect the health of all New Yorkers. But from a purely legal standard, I want you to hear from our Corporation Counsel Georgia Pestana.

Corporation Counsel Georgia Pestana: Thank you, Mayor. You're absolutely right, the Health Commissioner has an obligation and a responsibility to protect the public health. Here, he is issuing an order that is intended to do just that in a public health emergency. So, he has the authority and it is across the board so it's not picking one industry over another and treating them differently. So, we're confident that this will survive any challenges.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead, Nolan.

Question: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. And just to rebut what you said, your administration has done away with technical briefings, it's done away with the ability of the press to ask more than one follow-up question in any round questioning, and it has done away with the daily briefings, taking them to just two a week. So, I just challenged, to borrow your phrase, your premise. Secondly, how are parents supposed to get their kids into restaurants with the expansion of the Key to NYC? Are they supposed to carry their kids’ vax cards with them? Or, what mechanisms are putting in place to help parents do this?

Mayor: It's the exact same approach as we've seen with the rest of Key to NYC, including for kids 12 to 17, and it's been working perfectly well. Yeah, you've got the apps. You can carry that physical vax card, whatever it takes. But look, this is going to help make sure a lot more kids are vaccinated. But also, it's a fair standard that parents will certainly be able to meet.

Moderator: We have time for two more questions for today. Our next question goes to Emma with the New York Times.

Question: Hi. Good morning, Mayor. I'm curious also about the legality here. Can you say what precisely is your legal authority to do this? And, you know, the Biden administration tried to do this for private employers with more than 100 employees and that is currently stalled in court. So, what makes you think yours will be successful when his was not?

Mayor: A really important question, Emma. And, of course, I'll turn to Georgia Pestana in a second, but I just want to say, look, the Biden administration has been exemplary. What they have done with a variety of mandates and policies has really helped save this nation. And, obviously, you know, very, very extensive vaccination effort. What they've done with the military getting vaccinated is astounding – the high, high percentage now in our military of vaccinated people. They've done so many things that worked and have been in the right direction. And I agree with them on their approach to private sector employers around the country. But we have here an immediate set of circumstances and we have the legal right of the Health Commissioner to keep the people of this city safe. That is something that's been proven time and time again. We've been in court many times on a variety of issues – State court, federal court. We have, every single time, been validated by the courts. When the Health Commissioner believes there is a pressing public health threat, he has the ability to act in that situation. That's the broad strokes now. For a more erudite answer, our Corporation Counsel Georgia Pestana.

Corporation Counsel Pestana: Thank you. The Commissioner of Health, as I said, has the authority to issue a mandate like this to protect the public health. And his authority to do that has been upheld time and again. The trouble that the Biden administration has run into in court doesn't really apply here. Those injunctions were issued because there are questions about the authority of OSHA in one case and CMS, which is the agency that regulates Medicare and Medicaid providers authority to issue the mandates that they did. Here, I don't believe there is any question that Dr. Chokshi has the authority to issue this mandate. And it's the across-the-board nature of it that is also – I think makes it defensible.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Emma.

Question: A few more questions on specifics. So, to be clear, there will not be a testing option as an alternative? And folks would need one dose by December 27th?

Mayor: That's right. There's not a testing option as an alternative and anyone who is unvaccinated would need one dose by December 27th. As I said, on December 15th, we'll issue much more detailed guidelines. But we want to reach everyone who is not yet vaccinated and this is a clear, strong standard that allows us to do that.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Katie with The City.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. I'm going to ask about two agencies that are not private necessarily, but also not under your purview. It's about CUNY and the MTA. There's currently not a mandate for CUNY employees. I know there's one for students. I think they have an option to get tested. And the same for the MTA, there's no mandate. So, have you spoken with the Governor's Office about this? And do you – does this extend to them, this new mandate?

Mayor: The mandate is for private sector employers. We'll get the all the details out, again, by December 15th, but it does not apply, obviously, to the State government or State-related entities like CUNY and the MTA. And look, Katie, I've said it, for now, probably a couple of months, I believe across this country, private sector and public sector mandates are necessary. I think they're helpful. They've been proven to work. We now have a really, you know, extensive experience with our schools, with our health care system, what we did with the rest of our City workforce, most recently the Key to NYC – every single time it's worked. And the fears that originally existed were proven wrong, thank God. And there’s been just extraordinary growth in the number of people vaccinated. You know, each mandate has just caused a lot more people to get vaccinated, it’s as simple as that. So, I really hope all levels of government will use them more and more, going forward. Go ahead, Katie.

Question: Have you happened – well, I don't want this to count as second question. I know you're a really strict about that and we have limited time. I guess you'll continue conversations with the State on CUNY and MTA. But my other question is, it just seems that this – I want to know, I guess, more details about how you discussed this with private sector companies. Some people have announced today they were very surprised by this mandate. Business leaders around the city seem to be very surprised by this. There seems to be a limited amount of time between now and the 13th – that's about nine days, getting this together. And then, the enforcement really happens under the next administration. So, just if you want to talk a little bit more about how many conversations you had with the relevant stakeholders before making this announcement this morning on – I will say, on cable television, when you could have been on local TV, or you could have announced it here, but that's just me splitting hairs.

Mayor: Thank you for everything you said. The conversations with private sector go back months and months about the different approaches. We based our thinking on a lot of factors, the most important is the health and safety of all New Yorkers. So, even though of course we want input, the most important thing is what's going to keep people safe and our health care leadership was adamant that this was a step that we could and must take. We know from extensive conversations over months with private sector employers what their concerns are. And we also know that many of them had said that when mandates are in place it actually helps them. When the government leads, it is helpful. We're going to have time to work with the private sector on what the exact standards would be, that's between now and the 15th. Given everything we've worked on together before, that's enough time to solidify these standards. And then, from the 15th of 27th, time to get ready. And remember, thank God, such a high percentage of employees are already vaccinated. That helps a lot. But I'll tell you, the number-one thing I've heard from the private sector now over many months is that we must avert shutdowns. We must avert the huge restrictions we had last year. We’ve got to get continuity and move forward. And when the government acts and sets the example, it helps the private sector. So, of course, we did this for our employees first before we're asking others to do it for theirs. And that's been such a powerful example and it's worked. So, I feel very good about the fact that the input we've gotten over months and months about the general direction has been clear. And this is borrowing from that input. But much more importantly, it’s based on the single most important factor – what's going to keep New Yorkers safe as we now face a new threat? And this will do that. This mandate will make a huge difference. It will be in effect quickly and it's going to help protect people then for months and months to come, because everyone who gets even that first dose starts on the pathway to being protected and that helps protect all of us.

So, with that, everyone, again, I thank every New Yorker who has gotten vaccinated. I thank Nestor, and so many good people like him who have made that decision to turn to their employees and say, it's time everyone. This is going to help everyone take that next big step. And if you have not gotten vaccinated, today's the day to do it. If you're looking for that booster, it's out there. Go get it today. Keep us all safe. Thank you.

2021-12-08 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, when you think about all we've been through in this city over these last two years, we keep learning the same lesson over and over again. The key to saving lives, the key to moving forward, the key to our recovery is vaccination. This is what has allowed us in this city to start coming back as strong as we have. We got a lot more to do, but we made a lot of progress and New Yorkers should be very, very proud of that. We've got some information I put- I think it puts into perspective very clearly what's going on.The CDC announced yesterday for the entire United States of America, 60 percent of Americans are fully vaccinated. Now, that's important and that's good, but let's compare now with New York City's reality, what we have all achieved together. Here's some breaking news, as of today, 70 percent of New Yorkers, every single one of us, all ages combined, 70 percent of all New York City residents are fully vaccinated. That's a very big deal. Look, we know we've got more to do, and that's why we're taking strong measures to keep moving forward. But this is the kind of fact that to tells you something about New York City, why we are as safe as we are, why we are strong as we are in the face of COVID.

Now, I've said in recent dates, we're dealing with a triple threat now The new Omicron variant, the winter months coming on, when people are going to be indoors a lot more and,of course, something beautiful holiday gathering, but also meaning a lot of people are going to be close together. Those three pieces together mean we're going to be dealing with new challenges with COVID. The answer to that is stronger and stronger measures to fight back. But so far, what we have done has allowed us to get to 70 percent of all New York City residents vaccinated compared to 60 percent of all Americans.

We've got more to do. We've got more to do, but let's look at some of the things that have worked for sure. The incentives,the mandates have worked when it comes to adults where 89 percent of all adults have had at least one dose when it comes to our 12 to 17-year-old New Yorkers, 82 percent now have had at least one dose. The area we need to focus on a lot is our youngest New Yorkers, of course, they've only qualified for the vaccine for a few weeks now, but we're at 20 percent, now that's a good start, but we got to go a lot farther, a lot faster.

And so, the announcement I made on Monday, the Key to NYC expansion, the focus on private sector employees, the focus on second doses, all of these are measures to help us move forward rapidly in the face of these new threats. And we can do it. New York City is already proven how much we can do. Let's go take the next step. Now, let's keep safe. And I always say whatever we do, avoid shutdowns, avoid restrictions at all costs. We do not want to go back to what we went through in 2020. So, these new measures are going to help us keep moving forward.

Now, parents, we want to make sure you get your children vaccinated, particularly youngest kids, and we've updated our NYC COVID Safe app to make it easier. I want to give a shout out to Errol Lewis at NY1, who asked me the great question. He is a parent himself. And he said, Hey, parents have to be able to store their children's vaccination information on the same app. We're now – we've updated the app to allow that to happen. So, parents, you can have your information and your kids' information on that same NYC app. The good news over a million New Yorkers have already downloaded the NYC app to date. This update, it'll make it even easier to use for families. So, go get it and use it to make sure everyone is safe.

Now, why don't you hear from a couple voices, powerful voices, that are going to put in context, why our new actions matter. The decision to ensure that private sector employers are making sure their employees are vaccinated, what that means for the safety of all of us and the future of all of us. I want you to hear first from someone who's really been a leading voice during COVID nationally. She served on the Biden-Harris Transition Committee on COVID Issues and is also Clinical Assistant Professor of Meta and Infectious Diseases at NYU's Grossman School of Medicine. My pleasure to introduce, Dr. Celine Gounder.

[…]

Mayor: Doctor, you couldn't have said it more clearly and sharply, and I really appreciate, I've always appreciated your voice over these last couple years, and I think you lay it out powerfully. We all want to move forward. This is the way we do it. Thank you so much, doctor. I want to hear from another New Yorker, who's been a powerful voice throughout this whole crisis and has so often been saying, let's take the next step to keep people safe. He's been ahead of the curve many times. He will soon be the next Manhattan Borough President, but now he is still the Chair of the Health Committee in the New York City Council, Council Member Mark Levine.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Council Member, and you've been a big piece of helping us to figure out the right path forward. Really appreciate your help all along the way.

All right, everyone. So, again, keeping New Yorkers safe, bringing the city back that's the mission.Recovery for all of us. Now, we are one of the safest places in America right now when it comes to COVID.

All right, everyone, as we do every day, let's go over our indicators, and you see an interesting combination of facts here. The first indicator, very good news. The number of vaccinations in the city keeps growing constantly and in big jumps, I'm happy to say, because of all the new realities, the new mandates, the availability of boosters. We're at today, doses of administered today, 12,719,737, absolutely astounding number, but here's where we should be concerned. We starting to see more and more the effect of more and more cases of COVID, so the daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today’s report 157 patients, confirmed positivity level 35.19 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers, 1.06, and then new reported cases on a seven-day average, 1,990 cases, almost 2000 cases. So, this is painting the picture of both the problem and the solution. Problem, again, that triple threat, colder weather, a lot of gatherings, Omicron. Solution, more and more vaccination, stronger and stronger efforts to get more people vaccinated. A few words in Spanish now, and I want to go to what we just talked about, which is the effort to continue to deepen public safety in this city.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media, and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We'll now begin the Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller, Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals Dr. Mitch Katz, Head of New York City Test and Trace Dr. Ted Long,Georgia Pestana Corporation Council of the New York City Law Department, and Director of the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice Marcus Soler. Our first question today goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS.

Question: Yes, good morning, Mr. Mayor and everybody on the call. Mr. Mayor, how many more Omicron cases have you identified in New York City? And are you concerned about clusters neighborhoods that have lower vaccination rates?

Mayor: Definitely concerned, Juliet, because this is a real challenge. We need a lot more information on Omicron, but we do believe it's more transmissible even than Delta and that's a real concern. Again, we also believe there's community spread at this point. So, we'll keep track of individual cases, but we believe there's community spread. As to clusters, I’ll turn to. Dr. Chokshi, I think it's too early to say we've seen any clusters, but I think we are going to see more and more cases very quickly over the coming week. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. And yes, the Mayor's absolutely right. We have eight cases total, thus far in New York City, but far more important than the number of individual cases is the fact that we expect that there is community transmission of Omicron already happening. We are not seeing any significant clusters at this moment, and what that means is that known Omicron cases are not linked to any one individual or event, but consistent with community transmission. Moving forward, we do have strong surveil systems in place, both in terms of our sequencing, as well as for COVID 19, overall we'll rely on those to continue characterizing the variant as it emerges, but our public health advice is clear and consistent, which is get vaccinated, get boosted, get tested, continue to wear your mask and stay home if you are sick. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: Okay. Thank you. And, and this is for you and Commissioner Shea and John Miller. New Year’s Eve in Times Square, who and how will proof of vaccination be checked?

Mayor: So, Juliet, as I said, the other day Times Square, we continue at this point, have it moving forward with a fully vaccinated crowd gathered. We're going to continue to watch the situation with Omicron and any new developments and update people as needed. We're working with the Times Square Alliance as well as NYPD to make sure there is a system in place. So, we'll have the details on that. We'll update the public shortly, but the bottom line is if you want to participate in that amazing gathering, bring proof ID and bring your proof of vaccination.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Ari Feldman from NY1.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: Good, Ari. How you been?

Question: I'm doing all right. On the expansion for children, for parents to put their children on the New York City's vaccination app. Is there a limit on how many kids you can have on there? And are children also required to show identification? How do parents prove that the children whose vax cards they have, have you know, it's the right kids on the cards on the app?

Mayor: Ari, we'll get you all the details, but the bottom line is there's no limit on how many kids you can have on your app as a parent. Again, thank you to you and your colleague Errol Lewis for helping us realize we had to fix that. It's been fixed quickly. Thank you, Commissioner Jessie Tisch and everyone at DoITT, for making that fix so quickly. As for ID, look, it's always better to have a child's ID if a parent has one. But if they don't happen to have a photo ID for that child, just having the vaccine card on it alone obviously is very, very important.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Julia Marsh from the Post.

Question: Hi. On the vaccine mandate for the private sector, I spoke to some folks in Mayor-elect Eric Adams ‘orbit, as well as some, you know, business leaders who are allied with him. And, you know, they said that, that you are handing him you know, a lot of uncertainty and confusion by enacting this, you know, four days before you leave office. I talked to a City health official who says it's nearly unenforceable. You know, there's a lot of uncertainty and confusion. So, can you address that? That you're, kind of, jumping this half-baked plan in Mayor-elect Adam's lap?

Mayor: It's fully baked, it's fully baked. I'm always a fan of the unnamed sources. I think the fact is, you know, you said you've been talking to people who are allies of the Mayor-Elect, well, I'm an ally of the Mayor-elect. I believe in him. I've been working with him closely. Our teams have been working closely together. I want to make sure that, I am doing everything right now to keep the city's safe and to hand off this city to him best possible way. And I'm absolutely convinced this mandate is necessary and it's going to work. On December 15th, we will lay out the guidelines. There are many ways to make this work. We have tremendous evidence from the Key to NYC, of a way of educating and helping businesses to achieve the goal of getting everyone vaccinated and doing it in a way where there's rarely a need for any penalty. It is proven. We've seen it with our own eyes indoor dining entertainment, fitness. We're going to do it again here and it's going to be the reason we avoid the restrictions and the shutdowns that we're starting to see another their places. So, it's the right thing to do and it's the right thing to do for the city. It's the right thing to do for the next administration. And I look forward to the handoff coming up and giving the Mayor-elect the best possible opportunity to move forward based on what we've done. Let me just thank all New Yorkers. I mean, what we're talking about today, 70 percent of all vaccinated, unbelievable. And people should be so proud of that. United States of America, 60 percent, New York City had 70 percent because you did the right thing, everyone. Thank you very, very much.

2021-12-10 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, again, everyone. Now, our second-to-last Ask the Mayor call in with Mayor Bill de Blasio, who, of course, completes his eight years in office at the end of the month. We've been using these last few not to talk much about the news of the week, but mostly hear some of the Mayor's bigger-picture takes on the major issues he has had to deal with and that face New Yorkers. So far, we've done these on education and housing. Today, it's crime in the criminal justice system.

Lehrer: Well, one more Ask the Mayor to go with Bill de Blasio, next Friday, the 17th of December.  I am off on Friday the 24th and Friday the 31st. Those are the official national holidays for Christmas and New Year’s. So, the 17th is going to be the last Friday Ask the Mayor with Mayor de Blasio, when we will do one more big-picture deep dive into governing during the pandemic. The last thing that anyone thought two years ago that the job of Mayor would be about. So, thanks as always, Mr. Mayor will talk to you about that next week.

Mayor: And Brian, I'm going to – I'll save my final salute to next week, but I want to tell you something you'll like. I can't tell you – it's amazing how many times each month people come up to me and talk about listening to this show and how important it is to their weekly routine and how important it's to their understanding of their own city. So, just want to thank you for that, because a lot of people see this as the place where they really key into the life of this city and you deserve a lot of credit for that.

Lehrer: That's very kind, thank you very much.

2021-12-13 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. So, as we prepare to conclude this administration, we're focusing on finishing strong, fighting COVID every day, getting this city strong for its recovery. But we're also looking at all the things that have been done over the last eight years and providing a final summary to New Yorkers of what's been achieved, particularly how we acted on a vision. The vision from the beginning was clear in every way we could stop the tail of two cities. We knew it was a longstanding reality. The inequality gripping our society was intense eight years ago. It continues, of course, to be a challenge here and all across this country. And it's something we have to keep addressing deeply. We're going to be able to move forward and if we're going to be able to heal. And obviously COVID just made it tougher and, and exacerbated some of the inequalities, but I'm happy to tell you that some of the things we've put into place over these last eight years have had a real impact and I'm also really happy to tell you that we've actually gotten some of the real help we needed from the federal government and more is coming. And even in the weeks ahead, we may see extraordinary progress hoping and praying that President Biden's vision is fully realized by the Congress.

So, after eight years, I can tell you it actually can work. You can make an impact. We can uplift working people. We can fight inequality at its core and make a real change. There's more to be done but what I can tell you and we have evidence, I'm going to present today is, it works. It works, it can be done, and we got to do it a lot more.

All right. Everyone look, so we're talking about as always, a recovery for all of us, and really today we're being very explicit. It has to be for all of us. And the way to get there, the foundation in this moment, as we're still fighting COVID is a course vaccination. And it's very powerful to recognize tomorrow is the one-year anniversary of vaccines being available for the people of this city and this country. It’s extraordinary. One year ago, as of tomorrow, Sandra Lindsay, that famous moment, nurse from Long Island, got the first dose in this country. And then proceeded to make very powerful and moving comments as a health care provider. of why everyone needed to recognize it was time to get vaccinated.

We've come a long, long way. It's been a year and we've come a long way since then. Now to give you perspective at this moment, a year ago, zero, zero percent of New Yorkers were vaccinated. Literally, we were waiting every day, every hour for the vaccine to arrive. Zero percent as of this day, a year ago. By mid-August 2021, 60 percent of New York City adults had had at least one dose. So, in a very brief time span we saw a lot of progress, but we knew we had to go much farther. And we saw things were lagging. We had to supercharge our efforts. So, we added incentives and we added mandates. And if you need further proof that mandates work as we've shown you in the schools, health care system, our public employees in general, Key To NYC, restaurants, fitness, indoor entertainment, time and time again, the mandates have worked and now we're going to go farther with all the mandates we've announced in recent days. The mandates have worked and here's evidence. 60 percent of adults in mid-August this year had received at least one dose. As of today, breaking news – as of today in New York City, 90 percent of New York City adults have received at least one dose. 90 percent. Now that is an amazing figure. And I got to tell you, our health care team, all through the COVID crisis dreamed of that level of vaccination and said, that's when things change profoundly. When you can reach that thorough and extensive a part of your community, you can change everything and really put the COVID era behind. So, as of today, 90 percent of adults, at least one dose. We're going to keep pushing now to get everyone their second dose, their boosters, to get that 90 percent to go even up higher, to reach our youngest New Yorkers. And the mandates are going to help us pull all these pieces together and do something transcendent. But this is a good moment and we have more coming of course, on our private sector mandate taking effect December 27th. We'll be sharing more details about that on Wednesday at our press conference on the specifics of that implementation. But the bottom line is these strategies are working. I want you to hear from someone who has been a leader throughout the COVID crisis. She has been a leader in the City Council as the Chair of the Committee on Hospitals. And she's spoken up time and time again for the importance of strong efforts to get people vaccinated. My pleasure to introduce Council Member Carlina Rivera.

[…]

Mayor: Amen, Council Member. Let's look forward to putting COVID behind us, the COVID era behind us. It can be done. Thank you for your leadership and thank you for your strong voice.

Now, everyone, I want you to hear from folks who represent key elements of the business community. And who recognize because they've been seeing the results of mandates, how important it is to use strong tools to get everyone vaccinated so we can put the COVID era behind us. First of all, she's an extraordinary public servant who now serves the downtown Brooklyn community, thriving community, both in terms of business and residential community. She was the former President of Brooklyn Bridge Park. Did great work there. And understands what it takes to keep a community moving forward as we overcome this crisis. She is now the President of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. My pleasure to introduce Regina Myer.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you, Regina. Thank you for the great work you're doing in downtown Brooklyn and encouraging and supporting all the businesses as they get their employees vaccinated so we can keep moving forward. I think you have the quote of the day, COVID is bad for business. It's bad for all of us, but that's a great, great point. It's simple as that.

President Regina Myer, Downtown Brooklyn Partnership: It's bad for all of us, that’s for sure.

Mayor: It is. And the thing we got to avoid at all costs is making sure there's never any more shutdowns or those horrible restrictions we had in 2020. And that's one of the things that most motivated our new mandates. Thank you very, very much for your leadership.

President Myer: Thank you.

Mayor: Now, everyone, I want you to hear from another leader of the business community here in this city and nationally. And we're going to talk about this particularly in the context of tomorrow, when we extend the Key to NYC approach for indoor dining, entertainment, fitness, to our youngest New Yorkers. And we're doing that very consciously. We want to protect everyone, we want to protect our youngest New Yorkers. We know Omicron has had a lot of impact on younger folks. We know that we need a whole family to be safe. And if the youngest kids are safe, that also helps protect our seniors. And we know that when people have an incentive in effect, if they know if they want to enjoy all the great stuff happening around the holidays, they need to get that vaccine dose and they can do it real quickly. Get the card and you're in. You can go and then enjoy all these wonderful, wonderful, wonderful places our city has to offer. So, we did this consciously. And we did it understanding that so many people in the business community have told us that the vaccine mandates worked for them. The folks in entertainment, indoor dining, fitness, said in fact, it created a safe atmosphere for customers and employees alike. I want you to hear from someone who has implemented a companywide vaccine policy for all employees. He has two theaters here in New York City, 20 in other parts of the country. He is the founder and Executive Chairman of Alamo Drafthouse, which has become very, very popular, really innovative approach to entertainment and dining together and people love it. It is my great pleasure to introduce Tim League.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you so much, Tim. And Tim, congratulations on what you've created. I got to tell you, I have heard from many, many happy customers who just love the environment you've created. And it's something special and it's something I think is going to grow. But thank you, especially for sending this powerful message. And I know your fellow business leaders are going to hear your voice. So, thank you for all you're doing.

[…]

Mayor: All right.
 
All right now I will go back to my traditional look as we go to our indicators, and the indicators always begin with my favorite part which is how many doses have been administered to date, and this number is growing intensely, and it's going to grow again as these mandates take effect. You're going to see these numbers jump up more and that's what we need. So, number one, doses administered to date, 12,831,351. And then number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID 19, today's report, 131 patients. Confirmed positivity level of 37.41 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 people, and this number clearly going up, 1.30. And again, our hospitals are doing well because of the high level vaccination in this town, but that number clearly shows something is going on with Omicron and Delta both, and we got to take it seriously. And the same with number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, today's report, 2,408 cases. Okay, few words in Spanish. I'm going to go back to where we started, the effort to fight income inequality, and to lift people out of poverty.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A, as a reminder, we're joined today by Corporation Council Georgia Pestana, by Dr. Dave Chokshi, by Dr. Mitchell Katz, by Dr. Ted Long, by Small Business Services Commissioner Jonnel Doris, by EDC President Rachel Loeb, and by the Executive Director of the Mayor's Office for Economic Opportunity Matthew Klein. The first question today goes to James Ford from PIX-11.

Question: Look, a quick backstory. My daughter goes to school on the Upper East Side and needs to get a PCR COVID test in that neighborhood once a week for activities she does outside of school. It's never a problem finding a testing site that can provide with results within 36 hours, usually within 12, also on some stretches of Fifth Avenue in Midtown, there are COVID testing vans on every block that provide the same services as those on the Upper East Side. I got sick last week and needed a COVID test. I live in Hamilton Heights, Harlem, and in order to find a testing site that could give me a PCR test under similar circumstances, as the others I've mentioned, I had to go 24 blocks downtown and six blocks across town while I was sick. One of the places I tried to go was the Health + Hospitals’ Sydenham Clinic which only does testing one day a week, and it wasn't one of the days in which I was sick. And Harlem's not the only neighborhood that's a testing desert. So, will you, Mayor, and Dr. Katz, maybe Dr. Chokshi as we'll address the problem of COVID testing deserts and say what needs to be done going forward to address it. 

Mayor: Yeah, very important question. Thank you for raising it, James, because this is – as the strategies continue to evolve, obviously testing is really essential going forward. We got to make sure people can get to well. Before I turn to Dr. Katz to beginning, I just want to say, James, are you okay? You gave us this very powerful lead in. I want to know if you're feeling okay. 

Question: I greatly appreciate your asking. I was, again, after going that far, I was able to find a clinic that does testing within 36 hours and it was negative and I've recovered as you probably tell I am back, you know – 

Mayor:You sound very lively. That's good. Okay. Specific of the Sydenham Clinic and to the broader point about testing availability. Let me turn to – actually Dr. Kat's followed by Dr. Long to start answering here. 

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: Thank you so much and hey, I'm really sorry that you got sick and I'm sorry that it was hard to find a test. We've been working hard to make sure that we had testing everywhere and the Sydenham Clinic will be back on a daily basis tomorrow. We're using those resources in order to take care of the vaccination efforts at our schools, as well as the testing efforts at our schools. So we're constantly trying to balance the needs of the city and get all the testing done, but starting tomorrow, it will be back as a daily site. Also, of course, Harlem Hospital has COVID testing as well as vaccination available every day. So with that, Mr. Mayor, I think Ted may have an update as well. 

Mayor: Go ahead, Ted. 

Executive Director Ted Long, Test & Trace Corps: Hey, James, I’m sorry to hear about your experience. We temporarily had moved that unit to support our schools, but tomorrow it'll be back there on a daily basis as Mitch said at Sydenham. If you want to look for other sites, you can go to NYC.gov/COVIDtest, and it's important to look at that site moving forward now too, because starting tomorrow as well, we'll be at the point where we will have doubled our mobile fleets. So, we're going to be at a lot more locations than we've ever been able to be at the past. So, please do take a look at that site. And if you can, if there's anything more we can do to help you, just let us know.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, James. 

Question: : Just to follow up. So, you're saying that the COVID testing at Sydenham was among clinics that were used to do increased testing at schools –

Mayor: Can I interrupt – can I interrupt, James, just to clarify?

Question:Yes. 

Mayor: The personnel who do testing obviously can also do vaccination in many cases and there was a big effort the last two weeks to get to every school again. We had had an important experience with the five to 11-year-old's vaccination in school. We went back to every school that served five to 11-year-olds, either to give first dose or, in some cases, second dose. And we – that took a lot of personnel, I believe it was about 800 hundred schools we had to be in. So we had to draw off some of our existing personnel, but what Dr. Katz and Dr. Long are saying is now Sydenham is back to its normal operating reality which is having testing available every day, but continue. 

Question: Okay. Thank you. So, I just want to ensure that going forward it's clear that there will be adequate testing capability at city sites, as well as at schools. I mean, isn't that really the need going forward to ensure that wherever anyone needs to be tested, whether it's at a clinic or a school, wherever, that they actually can get tested. what assurances do we have going forward for that especially as we move deeper into the winter months?

Mayor: So, I'll start. I'm going to go back through Dr. Katz and Dr. Long, and then, of course, we'll bring in Dr. Chokshi as well. So, bottom line schools, we have an ongoing plan we've had from the very beginning of school year, that will continue. Every school gets testing regularly. That is accounted for. You're, I think, raising a really powerful point, making sure testing is available in a wide variety of communities in an easy manner. That's something we've augmented with the mobile approach, but we're going to keep making those adjustments. So, with that, Dr. Katz, you start, and then Dr. Long and Dr. Chokshi. 

President Katz: Thank you, sir. And yes, James, the vaccination efforts for those five to 11-year-olds was just so important to us. We found that that was the preferred method for parents to get their children vaccinated. It was easy. It was fast. We got a whole lot of five to 11-year-olds vaccinated, and yes, as the Mayor says, it's the same people who run testing have the same capability, it’s registration people and nurses, and they can do either testing or vaccination. But that huge effort to hit every school, which I don't think any other city in the US did, is now done. And so now it's just a matter of maintaining the ability to test, and as you say, James, it needs to be available at schools, it needs to be available in the community, and so we are committed to that. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you, Ted Long. 

Executive Director Long: And James, the best piece of evidence I have for you to make the statement I'm about to make which is that we have the strongest testing infrastructure in the whole country. People vote with their feet and can they actually get tested. At H +H and T2, we've now done more than seven million tests, more than seven million. That's your city working for you there. We're doubling the size of our mobile fleet now, and even a matter of a week or two ago, we hit the same level that we’ve - has been the highest level of testing in a given day that we've ever hit before, more than 120,000 tests in a given day. As we've been doing that meaning as people have been coming out, making that sacrifice that New Yorkers have been willing to make all the way through, we've been there for New Yorkers, seven million times to date, but 120,000 times in that one day recently, and the median lab turnaround time due to our hard work, building our own lab in New York City, to make sure you, as you said, James, can always get your test results back has been unwavering through all of that at a median lab turnaround time of one day. So, between doing 120,000 tests in a day, your city doing more than seven million overall for you, doubling our mobile fleet, and having one of the fastest lab turn of times probably in the world, we're ready for this wave. And all we need is for you and New Yorkers to continue to come out and get tested. But I know that you will, because you've done it all the way through and New York stands together. 

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi, do you want add?

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Yes sir, just briefly. First I want to say I'm really grateful to my colleagues at Test and Trace for the massive testing infrastructure that they have built up for our city as Dr. Long just went through. I wanted to briefly highlight one option, particularly for New Yorkers who are immunocompromised or those age 65 and older, which is at home testing. If you go to that same website, nyc.gov/covidtest, you'll see the information to request that at home testing which is available seven days a week for all New Yorkers. Similarly we have in-home vaccination for anyone who would like it, and you can just request an appointment for that by going to nyc.gov/homevaccine. The bottom line is that we will do everything that we need to make testing, vaccination, and other COVID safety measures as accessible as possible for New Yorkers. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead. 

Moderator: Next is Steve Burns from WCBS 880. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, looking to talk a little bit about the Governor's mandate that starts getting enforced today. So, I wanted to see what enforcement is going to look like within the five boroughs on that? I know the Key to NYC already kind of applies to a lot of what she's looking to accomplish here, but now that we have to look like - look at places like grocery stores, houses of worship, other shops, especially given all the other enforcement that's happening right now in New York City, what more enforcement is going to be happening as a result of the Governor's move today?

Mayor: Well, thank you, Steve. Important question. So first of all, as I've emphasized, I respect the Governor and the decision that she has made and we've been working cooperatively. Obviously the strategy of this city has been first and foremost vaccination, that will continue to be the case. We believe the central strategic thing we have to do is vaccination. But we're going to work with the state to implement this mask mandate. What we found is when we communicate with businesses, treat them with respect and a spirit of cooperation, we get a very good result. So, we're going be doing a lot to educate the businesses on this new rule, hear their concerns, answer their questions, and what we want, of course, is a high level of compliance, but we want to do it in a very cooperative way. Go ahead, Steve. 

Question: Thank you very much. And I wanted to see if there's any update on the city employee mandate and accommodation requests, especially I know there was a lot of discuss about the NYPD and the number of religious accommodation requests there. Last we heard was I believe late November, the next few weeks you'll be going through those accommodation requests. So I wanted to see if there's any resolution there, foreseeing any dismissal within the NYPD and associated staffing challenges?

Mayor: Steve, thank you for the question. We are not seeing staffing challenges at all. We have started to see – I don't have the exact numbers and we'll get them to you – we have started to see those reasonable accommodation requests work through. For folks who have been told after the whole process that they don't get the accommodation, I think so far, we're seeing what we've seen before, people then typically choose to get vaccinated. So they, you know, exhaust their options, and if it doesn't go their way, most people choose to get vaccinated. We have seen some increases in the last week or so, and I think part of that is that process beginning to play out. So, right now, NYPD is at 88 percent vaccinated. Fire to department overall at 94 percent now. So, you know, those are very, very healthy numbers, and the folks who are going through the reasonable accommodations will continue to work in the meantime, but we're really confident now that the process is working smoothly, and as these get resolved, if someone gets the accommodation, they keep working. If they don't, vast majority are going to get vaccinated. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Erin Durkin from Politico. 

Question: [Inaudible] …and I'm just wondering, you know, the neighborhood he mentioned I know has had a few sites that have – used to be operating by the City and have shut down. I know you've also shut down the site in Queens, on Northern Boulevard, there used to be a very big site there. I would also – I believe – I do believe that's also been the case for a couple of NYCHA sites, and there have been others that have scaled back their hours, and I would flag that they're not necessarily updated on the website. So, some of those are wrong and say they're open, for instance, on the weekend and they're not. So, my question is just, kind of, you know, although the city still does have a very robust public testing infrastructure, why would you be shutting down sites, you know, at the time when you're just encouraging people to get tested more? And kind of connected to that, you know, there are all these little kind of pop up tent sites. And then, some neighborhoods you see on pretty much almost every corner – you know, privately run, I believe. I'm just wondering if you can kind of offer any guidance on, you know, are those sites generally reliable or what should people look for when they're looking for something to get tested?

Mayor: Yeah. And I'll start with Ted long. And then, if either the other doctors want to jump in. But here's the big frame. I'd say, Erin, first of all, yes, there are privately-operated sites that are not under the City's direction. And, of course, that's just value-add, we welcome that. But they tend to group where, you know, their strategies dictate. But one of the things we've talked about over the last few months is, we saw some sites where there wasn't a lot of activity and it did not make sense to put a lot of medical personnel and support personnel in a place unless there was a lot of activity. It made sense to move to where the need was and also to move to the more mobile approach, because we found that to be very high impact. But we’ll keep making adjustments. Where there's a need for more testing, we’ll keep moving resources, you know, any place it's needed. And I say, testing is crucial, but the number-one focus is vaccination. So, you know, we have a very big, strong apparatus here. It’s not limitless, but it's very strong. But the first focus will always be on getting more people vaccinated, because that's how we end the COVID era. So, with that, to Erin's questions – Ted, you begin.

Executive Director Long: Yeah. Erin, thanks for your question. I mean, if your overall question is have we strengthened or began to decrease our testing infrastructure that's publicly run, it’s definitively we’re strengthening it every day now. Like I said, we're doubling the size of our mobile fleet this week for the reason that we want to continue to be guided by our community organizations and our community leaders. If you have to ask me what I think our secret ingredient to success in terms of getting testing numbers where they have been, it's because we have a grassroots effort. We listen to our communities and we're able to bring testing literally to their doorsteps. Or, as Dr. Chokshi said before, oftentimes through their doorsteps if you're immunocompromised, above 65, an international traveler, or a close contact. So, the reason we're doubling our mobile fleet is wherever we hear that there's a need for more testing, we can now bring our mobile units to that site. And a couple more points to what James said about the – our site [inaudible] – again, that was a, a temporary couple-of-days type thing, because we wanted to support our schools. But there are actually microsites and other mobile units in Harlem as well today. And we could point you in the direction of where those are that are not 24 blocks away. On Northern Boulevard – thank you for pointing out that site – it's one of the rare occurrences – it's a rarity where we've transitioned to leave mobile units there. There is a school being built there and the school really wanted to continue to be built there, and we felt like it was reasonable to continue to offer the same testing presence that we've always offered through our mobile units, but also to allow the school to be built there, to sort of, you know, be a double win there to enable the school to be built but also to continue testing. But moving forward, what you expect from us is more and more testing, especially as we have Omicron here and especially as we're continuing to go into the fourth wave with Delta. Getting tested is one of the most important things New Yorkers can do, which is why we're doubling the size of our mobile fleet, keeping the lab turnaround times where they are. And if there's any areas of New York City, Erin, where you or others feel we need to bring more testing, that's the reason we have our mobile fleet and our microsites. We'd love to deliver our promise to be wherever you think it's most important for us to be. So, let us know.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Katz, anything to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: I'll just add briefly to underline the point that the testing infrastructure has moved from being more bricks and mortar to getting further into neighborhoods and into people's homes. So, as Dr. Long has pointed out, you know, the doubling of the mobile fleet means that there are many more opportunities to bring those mobile testing sites closer to where people are actually living and working. So, for example, in my home borough of Queens, you'll see 22 mobile testing sites listed on nyc.gov/covidtest. We also want to make this as easy as possible, because we understand, you know, from James’ to this question, when someone is sick they just need to know where they can go as soon as possible. So, you can also text 85548. If you text “COVID Test” to that number, it'll give you a list of options that are close to you. Finally, I'll say the Health Department and Test & Trace, continue to collaborate on ways to bring rapid home testing even further into people's communities and their neighborhoods. And so, you'll be hearing more about that from us in the coming weeks as well. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Chris from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I want, wanted to circle back on the indoor mask mandates since enforcement is set to begin today. I guess I'm just wondering, is the City sending out enforcement teams today to make sure businesses are abiding by this? And as a follow up, you know, should business owners expect to face $1,000 fines as laid out by Governor Hochul, if they do have patrons in their establishments without masks on?

Mayor: Chris, thank you for the questions. We are working with the State. This is obviously brand new, and it's taking effect very quickly. We're working cooperatively with the State to figure out the best approach. What we've done historically has worked, which is a heavy focus on education and on problem solving. We don't want to penalize people unless there is overt resistance and unwillingness to cooperate, and that's very, very rare. So, the focus will be educating the business owners, making sure they're complying, if there's a problem, addressing it with them, getting to solution. And that's what has worked for us.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Changing topics to schools. Our health team has been looking at the opt-in rate for in-school testing and they see that only about a quarter of public school students have opted in for testing. And, as a result of that, there's – they're hearing that the same handful of kids are getting tested over and over while the vast majority, you know, aren't able to participate, because their families haven't opted in. Can you or the DOE release the testing opt-in rate for each district school so we can see how this – you know, we can see basically what the disparity is in each district?

Mayor: We'll follow up with you certainly to release, you know, anything that we have full, accurate information on we obviously want to release. Now, this is a situation that's changing all the time, because the effort to get more and more parents to sign up continues. So, it's not a fixed situation. But the bottom line is, we're doing testing regularly. The results have been very, very consistent across 1,600 schools and that tells us a lot. But I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long, just to see if there's anything that they want to add about the ability to get the consistent, accurate results we're looking for with the current approach. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Yes. I'm happy to start. We are able to do the surveillance testing that requires, you know, that opt-in that Elizabeth is describing. And that has given us the sample that we need, you know, to assess the spread of COVID in our communities and how that affects our schools as well. The one point that I do want to highlight is that vaccination is also related to what we're seeing with respect to COVID, as well as how that affects COVID testing in our schools. And particularly with five- to 11-year-olds, having recently become eligible, we have emphasized how important it is for kids to get vaccinated so that they are not subject to unnecessary quarantine once they become fully vaccinated. So, that's another area of focus for us. As you heard earlier, there have been a number of in-school vaccination events that have helped with that. We've also collaborated with our DOE colleagues on a backpack letter and other parent engagement to ensure that parent are aware of this really important intervention that we have to protect children and keep them safely in school.

Mayor: Thank you. And Dr. Long, just honing a little more on Elizabeth's question about, you know, what I would phrase as, are we able to get accurate results, able to get the right sample we need each time to really give us a picture of what's going on? What would you say Dr. Long?

Executive Director Long: Yeah. I would say that we definitely are. So, we're getting a 10 percent random sample, to your point, Elizabeth, among those that have consented for our unvaccinated students. The CDC calls for a 10 percent random sample as well, which we actually developed the methodology for last year. We were the first big city in the country to reopen our schools. The way that we do surveillance testing is now how the CDC recommends to do it. We proved last year when we studied it, that actually among students and teachers that were in remote learning, they were at – they were as likely if not more likely to get COVID than students and teachers in our schools. And the surveillance testing that we did helped to prove that point, but also in our ability to identify cases helped to keep our schools safe throughout. So, we're going to continue to do this testing program that we've done for now millions of tests to keep our schools safe. But I do appreciate your question, Elizabeth. Thank you.

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Reuvain from Hamodia.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing today?

Mayor: I'm doing well, Reuvain. How about you?

Question: Good, good. So, I'd like to ask about the justification for the vaccine mandate, specifically as they relate to children, whether it's the mandate on school staff getting vaccinated to protect kids or the mandate on kids getting vaccinated to go to restaurants and entertainment venues. Firstly, the early reports are that Omicron actually has relatively mild symptom. But generally, throughout the pandemic, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, of all state's reporting data, between 0.1 percent and 1.9 percent of child COVID cases result in hospitalization. And between zero percent and 0.03 percent of child COVID cases resulted in death. What is the justification for mandating vaccines as it relates to children?

Mayor: Now, a fair and important question, Reuvain. And sometimes you and I don't see entirely eye to eye, but you always ask very thoughtful and well-informed questions. And I appreciate that. Look, first of all, it is not just Omicron plus cold weather, and we've got plenty of evidence of what happens with cold weather and people coming indoors, the impact on the spread of COVID. And then, the gatherings we know have been and will be happening around the holidays. You're seeing the trend lines with cases going up, hospitalizations going up. So, we need to attack on all fronts. We're doing a preemptive strike, putting extremely strong measures in place to stop us from ending up where we did in 2020, with shutdowns and restrictions, because we can see the handwriting on the wall, Reuvain. There's a lot moving here. Look at Germany, look at Austria, look at the United Kingdom. There's too many places that are shutting down, because I didn't put the strongest possible measures in place. There's too many places that didn't do a pure vaccination mandate. They did vaccine or test or show proof of a recent case. We made a decision early on to actually go farther than some of the standards set in Western Europe and do pure vaccination mandates. And they have worked and it’s the reason, the life of the city is as normal, relatively speaking, as it is now. So, it all goes together. By putting that mandate on for the youngest New Yorkers for indoor entertainment, etcetera, we know a lot more kids are going to get vaccinated and that affects the whole household. When you have a multi-generational household, if one person brings COVID in the door, it puts everyone else in harm's way, including particularly our seniors and folks with preexisting conditions. So, that's how all the pieces connect. Dr. Chokshi, I should have given you a heads up I was going to turn to you. So, I'll give you a second here. But in terms of – again, Reuvain’s question is fair and well documented. But to me, the issue is where we see COVID going and how we have to get there ahead of it. That dictates what we're doing. Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, you're exactly right, Mr. Mayor. And allow me to just start with the bottom line, which is that COVID-19 vaccination for five- to 11-year-olds is strongly recommended by the nation's leading scientists, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, which Reuvain cited. And this is based on robust data. But beyond the evidence, beyond this science we should listen to whom I consider the foremost experts on this topic, which are pediatricians who are parents themselves. They are urging vaccination and they also strongly support the vaccine requirements that we have elaborated. And you ask for the reason – the reason is rooted in health and safety. If we were to vaccinate every New Yorker aged five-to-11, we would prevent tens of thousands of cases of COVID-19. And remember that, although it is true that COVID-19 is generally somewhat milder in children, some of those tens of thousands of infections would result in hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and long-term effects from COVID-19. I have to also put into context that COVID-19 can largely become a vaccine-preventable disease among kids, just like chicken pox, rotavirus, measles, all diseases for which childhood immunization is now routine, and for which there are vaccine requirements as well. But there's one key difference between COVID-19 and those other diseases, which is that unfortunately COVID-19 is more deadly among children than any of those diseases, which lends vaccination even greater urgency. The final point is what the Mayor said, which is that there is a very tangible benefit for children, but if there's one thing we've learned during COVID-19 it's that we are all connected. You know, our children, of course, are part of our families, are part of our communities. And so, there is a strong community benefit as well. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Reuvain.

Question: Mr. Mayor, you’ve long spoken about wanting to help the poor and historically oppressed minorities. 63 percent of black adults in New York City are vaccinated. How does a champion of oppressed minorities declare that in two weeks, 37 percent of black adults in New York City will be unemployable?

Mayor: I don't see it – I respect the question, but that's not what I see at all. I see the mandates moving people to get vaccinated. We heard this very fair concern when we first had the mandate for health care workers. Obviously, a lot of our health care workers are people of color. And as Dr. Katz has said very powerfully from the beginning, he had a lot of hesitancy in his workforce. That changed with the mandates. His workforce is now over 95 percent vaccinate. We saw it with the rest of our City workforce. We saw it with the Key to NYC. When we said we're going to reach restaurants, indoor entertainment, fitness – obviously, many, many people of color, many African Americans, many Latinos work in those industries. There was tremendous fear, would people not get vaccinated. Consistently, we saw the mandate sort of things that got people vaccinated. So, I understand the question – and it's a fair question, except the results have been so consistent, that when there is hesitancy and you've gone through all the incentives – we're talking about now a year, as we indicated – a year of vaccination efforts, every form of education, we'll answer to any question any time, outreach to all communities, incentives, the hundred-dollar incentive and a whole range of other incentives. We did everything possible to make it amenable, and open, and available. If someone still hasn't chosen after all that, it’s time for a mandate in terms of their employment, because that will keep them safe, their family safe, their community safe, their workplace safe, and the entire city safe. So, to me, when people experience the mandates, all about the most ideological people – and that's a very small sliver of our society – the mandate is the thing that gets people across the finish line, the thing that gets them vaccinated, the thing that keeps us safe. And that's why we did it, because we need more people vaccinated to be safe.

And with that, everyone, I'll say very simply – if you're not vaccinated yet, or if your child's not vaccinated yet, or you haven't gotten your booster yet, no better day than today. Do that for yourself, your family, and your city. Thank you, everyone.

2021-12-16 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good afternoon, everyone. I just had an event here in Prospect Park, and I wanted to gather folks to give you an update because we have seen a very substantial increase in COVID cases in the last few days. And it is clear that the Omicron variant is here in New York City in full force. And we are announcing a series of measures to address this situation. Obviously, we knew Omicron was here and we knew it was going to be more of a presence in our city. It's now quite clear that it is. And we need to be very aggressive. What has worked for us as New Yorkers in the entire fight against COVID is being aggressive, being assertive, taking bold measures. We have been doing that, and we're going to do that a lot more because we need to stop this variant. This variant moves fast. We need to move faster.

And so today on top of all, all the other vaccine mandates that we have put in place and the other actions we've taken to maximize vaccination, we're going to talk about other steps that we're implementing immediately. Now, I want to emphasize at the beginning and you'll hear from our health care leaders. The key is vaccination. It has always been, it will always be. We need to work every day to get more New Yorkers vaccinated, especially our youngest New Yorkers. We need to work every day to get people, to make sure to get those booster shots as quickly as possible. I've talked to some people lately who talked about, well, they're waiting to go get their booster shot, even though they qualify. Don't wait, get your booster shot right now. I mean, right now. Ahead of the holiday gatherings, while Omicron has just begun to assert itself, get the booster now. It's one of the best ways to fight back.

But let me go over the plans that we are putting in place now to magnify our efforts and to keep the city moving forward. We are the safest place in America when comes to COVID. We got to stay that way. We got to continue our recovery. We can do it. We will do it. So, I'm going to talk about now, a six-pronged approach. First, the Commissioner will issue a health advisory and the Commissioner will speak to that in a moment. He's going to provide very clear guidance on how to keep yourself safe and loved ones safe, particularly as we go into the holiday season. And it's crucial for everyone to stay updated about the latest information and make whatever adjustments necessary. We are going to follow the data, follow the science as we go into these next days. We want keep people very, very informed. But following these Health Commissioner advisories will be crucial to making sure we keep everyone safe.

Second, we're going to be increasing testing capacity. And that means the mobile sites we've talked about. You'll see more of those in all the five boroughs. But we will also be doubling down on our brick-and-mortar sites. We are creating new sites, new fixed sites for testing. And we will be expanding hours and capacity at many of our existing sites. Dr. Ted Long, head of Test and Trace will talk about that. And we'll also be getting out a lot more information in the hours and days ahead on that. Getting tested is absolutely crucial. When you get tested, you know what's going on. When you get tested, if God forbid, you have a case of COVID, you quarantine, it helps keep everyone else safe. The Test and Trace Corps is doing absolutely amazing work to support people in quarantine. And Dr. Long when he speaks – I want you to amplify that. The number to call and the kind of support you can provide. If you need to be in quarantine, you will have a real helping hand from the Test and Trace Corps to make it go well. But it is one of the ways of course, to stop the spread of COVID.

Third, we will be distributing for free, one million KN95 masks immediately through the Test and Trace Corps, community-based organizations, and community-based clinics. Fourth, and working with, again, our community-based organizations, we will be distributing rapid at-home tests. Half a million rapid at-home tests will be distributed for free through community organizations directly to the grassroots. We want to use at home testing a lot more. We want to make it more and more available to New Yorkers. We'll do it through the folks that New Yorkers know and trust at the community level. Fifth, we're going to double down on boosters. The good news is 1.5 million New Yorkers have already gotten a booster shot. We want to see a lot more people get it. Starting today we will begin an aggressive paid media campaign to encourage all New Yorkers who qualify to go out and get that booster now.

Finally, we will be doubling down on inspections. Here's the bottom line. We got to stop this variant. We got to stop COVID. We got to continue our recovery. I've talked to a lot of people in the business community and they say something very clear, very simple. COVID is bad for business. Shutdowns are bad for business. Restrictions are bad for business. We can't let that happen again. And so, the mandates that we put in place are the way forward. We're going to double down on those and make sure they're being followed. We will be out to businesses all over the city, obviously those that are part of the Key To NYC, indoor dining, entertainment, fitness making sure they're applying our new instruction to ensure five to 11-year-olds are vaccinated. We will be following up with businesses on our private sector vaccine mandate that's taking effect on the 27th. We will be following up with businesses to make sure they're honoring the State's mask mandates. So, we'll have inspectors going out full force starting as early as tomorrow to make sure there's a high level of compliance with each of those mandates. So, we've been through a lot.

We have been through a lot. We have been through a lot, but New Yorkers keep rising to the occasion. And that is why we are the safest place to be in this country when it comes to COVID. Right at this moment, the life of the city continues because so many people got vaccinated. So, many people are doing the right thing to keep each other safe. We got to keep doing it. And I have a lot of faith in the people of this city. I also have a lot of faith in our health care leadership. They've made the right calls throughout this whole pandemic. And they right now are putting together these plans I've talked about to aggressively take new steps to fight back. And we are going to keep people updated with each new development. Because by staying in a strong, aggressive stance, that’s what's kept this city going. That's what we're going to keep doing. So, now I want you to hear from these two leaders. First to speak about his new advisory to the people of New York City, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. We've said since the beginning of the COVID pandemic that data is the lifeblood of our response whether for testing, tracing, treating or vaccinating. We watch where the virus moves and then we respond to curb its spread. Now, the data that we monitor so closely is showing an alarming trend. Omicron is here in New York City, and it is spreading quickly. We're seeing a surge ahead of the holidays. The seven-day average for new cases has tripled in the last month. And all boroughs remain in high transmission. I do expect cases will continue to increase in the coming days. And this is based on the trajectories that we're following from other countries like South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Denmark, as well as other places.

But, and I want to send a very clear message to my fellow New Yorkers. We have ways to protect ourselves, particularly from the serious illness that's associated with COVID-19. The emerging science indicates that vaccination will remain fundamentally important in our response to the Omicron variant. And it's important to break down infection from more serious disease. The early studies do suggest that vaccines remain effective in reducing your chances of severe disease. This means needing oxygen or needing a hospital bed. And that's despite the fact that vaccine effectiveness in preventing infection may be reduced. We have seen this pattern before with Delta. And it's likely to be a somewhat similar story with Omicron. But early data also show promising signals about the effectiveness of booster doses. So, I want to underline what the Mayor said. I encourage all adult New Yorkers to get a booster as soon as it's your time. And right now, if you're already eligible.

So, in response to the increase in COVID cases, I'm updating my November Commissioner's Advisory to call on New Yorkers to take additional steps to protect yourself and each other. First, all eligible New Yorkers should get vaccinated as soon as possible. And those 16 and older who are fully vaccinated should receive a booster shot as I mentioned. Second, New Yorkers are still advised to wear face masks in all indoor public settings. And higher quality masks, that means KN95s, KF94s, or N95s offer better protection than cloth face masks. Third, COVID-19 testing remains important. It can detect infection due to Omicron. Everyone should get tested for COVID-19 immediately if they have symptoms, three to five days after they've been exposed or traveled, and before and after attending a gathering. Dr. Long will share more about our plans to expand testing. Older adults and people who have a health condition that increases their risk of COVID-19 should avoid crowded settings, particularly indoors. This is especially true for gatherings with people who may not be vaccinated or consistently wear masks or where ventilation is poor. And this holiday season in particular outdoor gathering should be considered where possible.

Finally let me acknowledge the pandemic fatigue that is being experienced by so many. I get it. But unfortunately, this virus is not yet tired of us. Like the Mayor said, I have faith in my fellow New Yorkers. We can shape our destiny and keep our city as protected as possible by taking these steps that I've outlined. Thank you so much. And I believe I'm turning it over to Dr. Long.

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test & Trace Corps: One of the things I love most about New York City, it's one of the diverse cities in the world. But what was seeing during the pandemic make is the New Yorkers, no matter where we come from, no matter what borough we're from, we stand in solidarity like no other city I've seen in the country or the world. Right now, we're doing that and with New Yorkers are making the small sacrifice that we've made throughout to get tested. We're taking the time to get tested. We're bringing our families to get tested. And now every day we're doing more testing than we've ever done before or in the pandemic. Your New York City Test & Trace Corps, we exist to support you. You're voting with your feet to get tested now because you want to make that small sacrifice to keep your family and your community safe and we will be there by your side. And I want to tell you today, the changes that we're going to make to do everything in our power to continue to support you.

So, first off, at our New York City Health + Hospital, hospital sites and Gotham Community Health Centers, we're now going to be open seven days a week. At all of our Test & Trace Corps sites we're going to be open seven days a week. If you come to one of our Test & Trace Corps brick and mortar sites, and there's a line we're going to arm that site with home tests. So, you can have the option of taking the test at home, if that's more convenient for you, or if you need to get at going. We want to remove all barriers so that every New Yorker that's made that sacrifice to come out to one of our sites, does not leave empty handed and gets tested in a way that makes sense for them. There’s no wrong door.

I also want to talk today about something that we're doing that's new and exciting working with our community-based organizations. So, I believe in New York City, we've done more or per capita testing than almost any other country in the world. I believe the backbone of how we've been able to do that is by working with our communities and being led by our community-based organizations. So, today we take a step forward to continue to strengthen that relationship and actually give our community-based organizations at home test kits and masks that they can distribute to the people in their communitiesthat they know better than anybody in this world. We're gone distribute half a million through our community-based organizations at home tests, 1 million masks. Orientation started today and distribution will start Monday. So, we don't want to miss a beat and we want to make sure that we can do this in time for the holidays, so that we can make sure that every community in New York City is supported. We're going to be working with 150 community-based organizations and every single task force on racial inclusion in equity neighborhood in New York city We're going to be in all five boroughs.

Finally, a couple of other things, people voting with their feet have prioritized as the Mayor said, our brick and mortar testing sites. So, next week we're going to open up five more brick and mortar testing sites in New York City to again, make it as easy as possible to get tested. As reminder too, in New York City, we do something already that no other city does. If you're a close contact, if you're an international traveler, if you're 65 years or above, or if you're immunocompromised, I'll send a team into your home so that you can get tested for free from the comfort of your home. I want to do everything I can to help you to get tested if you're ready to make the decision to keep your community safe today.

Finally, I want to conclude by saying with the Mayor I shared our 212-COVID-19 phone number, and this is really important. So if you use one of our home tests, or if you are somebody with COVID or you've been exposed, you can always call 212-COVID19 24/7 and it's your one stop shop for how we can help you. In New York City, we've identified more than 1.3 million close contacts or people that have had a direct and known exposure and are at the highest risk contracting COVID themselves. Those 1.3 million people, we don't just say you've been exposed and we wanted to tell you, we say you've been exposed and this is hard and we want to do everything in our power to help. We will deliver food to you for free. I'll pick you up in a free taxi, bring you to our free hotel program. You can stay there for free. We'll deliver meals to your room for free. We even, and this is not a joke, we'll walk your dog for free. And if there's more that we could do to support you, let us know, we will literally do it. So again, we're expanding testing to make it as accessible as possible for all New Yorkers moving forward, but I am encouraged and inspired to see my fellow New Yorkers coming out to get tested now. They don't have to they're doing it because they want to keep their communities safe and Test & Trace will be there by your side the whole time through. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. All right. Hold on a second. Okay. Let's go to some questions. Yes?

Question: Given what we know right now about Omicron, will you be require requiring boosters for municipal workers and particularly teachers?

Mayor: We are looking at that right now. You know, I've talked about climbing the ladder and I obviously we have continued to climb the ladder. So, I won't make a declaration today. I'm saying that's something we are looking at on the front burner, and we'll have more to say on that soon. You want to follow up?

Question: Thank you. And then we're hearing from lots of educators and parents that the situation room is overwhelmed. Given this increase that we're experiencing, how will you be staffing up to meet that need?

Mayor: Well, first of all, I'm happy to say, even though we're dealing with a real challenge now, you know, we have about 1600 schools, only one is closed right now. And we do have classroom closures, but they constitute 1.4 percent of our classrooms. So, there is more activity. But I think the situation room has handled it very well. And the fact is COVID positivity., this is as of yesterday, COVID positivity in schools is 0.87 percent. So, clearly, we're seeing a divergence, where the schools are markedly in better shape by far than the rest of the city. They're much safer than any other place in the city right now. But if the situation room needs any additional personnel, we ramped it up in the past very quickly. We have a lot of people already trained to be a part of it. So, we can definitely ramp up the personnel, the hours, whatever we need. I'll follow up on that today with the team and we'll update you, but that's something we can do quickly.

Question: Two questions. First of all, what now would you use to describe this emergency? Crisis? Put it in your words.

Mayor: I don't think it's so much the-I appreciate the question. I don't think it's the perfect choice of word that matters as much as what people should do. People need to get vaccinated or not vaccinated right now. Get that booster right now. They're not feeling well, get tested right now. It's an urgent situation. I would say that it's an urgent situation because what we know so far is imperfect about Omicron. But it sure is clear that it spreads fast. You heard Dr. Chokshi, we are quite confident vaccines make a big impact and we're happy to say so far it does not seem to be more dangerous than a Delta, for example, based on what we know so far, but it spreads fast. It spreads fast, no question. So that creates urgency and there's something people can do about it.

Question: Next question. Is it true that the positivity rate doubled in the course of three days? And are we seeing a similar uptick in hospitalizations and deaths? Or are we seeing more positivity of what may be a milder strain?

Mayor: I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. We've seen a marked increase. He'll speak to the specifics. We are not seeing a major change in hospitalizations. You've been seeing my morning reports, hospitalizations gone up steadily, but not radically. And thank God, we are not seeing a major uptick in deaths. Now, we know there's a lag between cases going up and hospitalizations going up, but what we're seeing here that's different from the past – first of all, again, so far, not getting evidence that this is more dangerous than Delta. But the jury's still out. But second, the ability of how hospitals to handle the cases is improving literally all the time. The treatments are improving and becoming more available. And the level of vaccination figures deeply into this. The level of vaccination, the amount of booster shots are all helping us to have less severe outcomes. Dr. Chokshi?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. You actually covered all the high points, so I'm just going to fill in some of the details. We always follow cases, hospitalizations, deaths, test positivity. We are seeing, as I mentioned, a significant increase in cases and test positivity. Cases have tripled over the last month and we've seen a concomitant increase in test positivity over that period as well. We are doing better from the perspective of serious illness, primarily due to vaccination. But we are seeing an increase particularly in hospitalizations in recent days. And this is where the action really comes into play, because we know what can help a us avert more severe disease is vaccination and the booster doses. So, Health Department updated our weekly data earlier today, which showed that between vaccinated New Yorkers and unvaccinated New Yorkers, the difference in terms of case rates is eight times as much, meaning unvaccinated New Yorkers are eight times more likely to have a COVID-19 infection and they're 13 times more likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19. So, again, this is something where we have agency. If we do the things that are being recommended through the Commissioner's Advisory, and that the Mayor has said, we can avert the most serious outcomes.

Question: You mentioned that the increase in recent days is driven by Omicron. Do you have data on how many Omicron cases have been detected in the city and what type of share of infections are attributed to Omicron?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, certainly. We're following this very closely, although it's evolving quickly at the same time. It is less important at this point to focus on the absolute number of cases, because Omicron is moving so quickly. The estimate from earlier this week was that Omicron is responsible for about 13 percent of the cases that we're seeing in New York City. We expect that number to grow. And, again, based on the international experience with Omicron, it is likely to grow rapidly and more rapidly than we have seen with Delta in the past. So, putting it all together, what this means is that we're still contending with Delta, but Omicron is likely to outcompete Delta in the coming weeks and become the dominant strain, which is why we're taking this rapid action today.

Question: Just to follow up on the – on the advisory, am I misunderstanding it? It just sounds like you're reiterating what has already been said, right? Just the same recommendation.

Commissioner Chokshi: Some of these recommendations do certainly underline our guidance from prior weeks. But the most important thing that I can convey about the advisory is that this is a set of actions that we have to have New Yorkers take right now, banding together, because of what we're seeing with respect to the significant increase in cases. On the one hand, what we need to do is not rocket science, and that's a good thing. We have the interventions that we know have worked between the common-sense public health precautions, like masking, and testing, and distancing, and the most important tool in our toolbox, vaccination, including booster doses.

Question: [Inaudible]

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly, the number for today, I believe, is 5.07 percent. We'll follow up if I'm off by a decimal or two there. And that number has grown significantly over particularly the past two weeks and has risen just in the last few days. And we believe that that is attributable primarily to the spread of Omicron.

Mayor: Let me jump in, because I want to remind people, we do – we, obviously, are paying close attention to positivity levels. But we said a long time ago when we changed our indicator reports, our central concern is hospitalization rate, and the ability of the hospitals to protect people, and the kind of outcomes we're seeing. So, the hospitals are doing a remarkable job handling cases, thank God. Again, even though there's a higher level of cases, we are not seeing the worst outcomes. We got a lot to do here, but that's what we're watching very carefully. That's what we've oriented our efforts. And that's what we're watching carefully.

Question: [Inaudible] have you been in touch with your successor to make sure this [inaudible] transition?

Mayor: I met with him last night. We're talking constantly. I'm going to be talking to him again right after this. And there's been a high level of unity. And what he has said every single time emphatically is he will follow the science and the data. He will follow the lead of the health professionals. Okay. Yes?

Question: Assuming an unvaccinated employee cannot work from home, must an employer fire him? And what's the timeline on that?

Mayor: So, first of all, there's a couple of pieces to the equation. One, is there a legitimate, reasonable accommodation request? Okay. Assuming, no – I think what an employer can do at that point is make clear to the employee that they need to come in and get vaccinated. Let's say the employee is hesitant, as we saw with many of our own employees. An employer clearly has an opportunity to say, I'm going to put you on leave without pay for a period of time and let you think about it. You saw what happened to a lot of people on leave without pay. And I don't say this with any disrespect to them. I think a lot of people when they really came down to the choice of losing a paycheck and where they were in their career versus the simple act to getting vaccinated, the vast majority got vaccinated. So, there's more than one option. There's reasonable accommodation. There's leave without pay. Employers have many options.

Question: Regarding the measures you're announcing, is there a sunset on any of this stuff? Are you doing this for years?

Mayor: No, I don't think we will. I'll let the doctors speak to it. We've had this conversation a bunch of times. Look, I'm going to say something challenging. If this country would do right now what we know how to do, we could end the COVID era in 2022, period. We are way too unvaccinated as a country. And we hold the key in our hand, especially now we have the boosters. So, I think we need to just radically focus on vaccine mandates. They have worked consistently here. I know they're not popular in a lot of places, but the more universal they become, the more they work. You know, early on, there was some legitimate concern if the vaccine mandates were only for one part of society, might people, you know, who didn't like them move to a different kind of job. Well, that is a great argument for making them as universal as possible. But if we don't do that, we will – and I'm saying as an American, if we don't move to more and more vaccine mandates, we're going to prolong the COVID era. So, right now, and the doctors will speak to it. We have had the explicit conversation over these last months, what's the first off-ramp moment where you can make COVID something like the flu? It's there, you know, it's part of life, but you can maintain it with an annual vaccination. It's not in the foreground. It's not dominating our life. We have said up until now, that could be 2022, if people do the right thing. Whether that can continue to be the case really depends on how people handle these next weeks ahead. Let me let them speak to it.

Question: [Inaudible] –

Mayor: Let the experts speak to it –

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. And I think you're right. Look, we all feel a great deal of humility when we're talking about COVID-19, because it has proven to be such a formidable foe. It's a wily virus. It has – it's proven itself a challenge for us. But as the Mayor has said, New York City has risen to that challenge time and again. And particularly over the course of this year with the vaccination campaign, we have made such significant strides. And that's why we were able to weather the Delta surge much better than many other places around the country. Over 70 percent of the entire population of New York City is now fully vaccinated. We've made great strides in terms of pediatric vaccination, over 80 percent of youth 12 to 17 have at least one dose. And over 90 percent of adults have at least one dose now. So, I do believe that if we use the tools that we have, we will be able to turn the corner on the pandemic. Booster doses are a near-term focus for us. And we'll continue to use every single tool in our toolbox, which grows month by month, including better treatments, which lie ahead.

Question: Mayor, you mentioned inspection – doubling down on that in the coming days is important. We have seen some high-profile venues sort of openly defying the child vaccine mandate. Radio City Music Hall told us this week they're not going to enforce that child vaccine mandate until after Christmas. Is that acceptable?

Mayor: No, it’s not. And look, I don't want to – I respect the question. I got one yesterday about it too. We'll talk directly to Radio City Music Hall, with great respect. They're an amazing New York City institution. I don't want to have a secondhand conversation. I'm saying, I believe you believe what you're saying, but we will talk to them. In fact, Dr. Chokshi will speak directly today to the head of Radio City and confirm. Everyone's got to follow this mandate. It's a serious moment. And it's a very simple mandate. If, let's say, a family is planning to go to the show tonight, and one of the members of the family, one of the kids is not vaccinated, they have hours get that kid vaccinated. Show up with a card. That's all we're asking. Let's get everyone and vaccinated. But no, it's not acceptable to ignore that mandate and that's why we will be sending inspectors out now. Look, this is an evolving situation. We've all been together these last two years. We've seen a lot of evolving situations with COVID. We're going to respond to it by being very clear, these mandates have to be followed. Do you have a follow up?

Question: The only follow up I would add is, you mentioned pandemic fatigue. And my question, as a messenger, it seems like a tricky message –

[Inaudible]

Mayor: Go ahead.

Question: It seems like a tricky message that the vaccine is less effective against Omicron, but get that booster, you need more vaccine. How do you manage that? That's a tricky message to give.

Mayor: It's a great question, but I want the doctors to nail this point. First of all, the studies so far are preliminary and few. Based on everything we've seen with every other variant, we believe vaccines are sufficiently effective. And, you know, each one has a different impact on each variant, but it's enough to make an impact and help save lives. And you get – here's the counterfactual, it's a hell of a lot better than not being vaccinated. You know, think about as simply as this. Does it make an impact? Sure, it does. Is it better to be unvaccinated? No way, that's dangerous. And with boosters now, you gain impact as you go up that ladder. So, I want to dispel this myth of, like, because there's some concern out there about level of efficacy that maybe it doesn't matter – it sure as hell does matter. Doctors, you’ve got to hit this note hard.

Commissioner Chokshi: With pleasure, sir, because the facts are very clear. Each new variant makes it more important to get vaccinated rather than less important. So, to put it another way, as simply as I can, Omicron means the stakes are even higher for each individual to get vaccinated and for us to get as many New Yorkers vaccinated as possible – that's the bottom line. And what the Mayor has said is very true. Growingly, people face a choice to get their immunity via infection or vaccination. As a doctor, I would much prefer that people get their immunity through vaccination, because it will protect them and, most important, keep people out of the hospitals, keep our fellow New Yorkers here around the table for the holidays.

Mayor: Could you also – just one second, could you speak to the – studies are out there, but I think people are seeing random studies, and draft studies, and giving it full validity. I think you have to give us some scientific perspective.

Mayor: Yes, sir. I'm happy to. So, what the Mayor said is absolutely true that we are still in a very early stage in understanding the science of Omicron. Most of the studies that have been published thus far are preliminary and, importantly, are based on laboratory findings. That means people are looking under a microscope. They're doing, you know, tests using sometimes pseudo virus, not the actual virus itself, and looking at antibody responses to them. The human immune system is a marvel and has many other components beyond antibodies, including, for example, our T-cell response, which is particularly important for prevent severe disease. So, it's all to say, we have to follow up what you're seeing reported in the headlines with more rigorous science, real-world clinical data, you know, that people are actually experiencing. And we will get that, including from places like South Africa and the U.K. that are experiencing their Omicron increases earlier than we are and we'll ha have to follow it carefully. But, again, I don't want to get lost in the details of the science. All of the emerging science indicates that vaccination remains fundamentally important to protect ourselves from Omicron.

Mayor: Ted, do you want to add?

Executive Director Long: If I may, because I appreciate your question. It's also important to note that – Dr. Chokshi covered all the high points for Omicron, but Delta still is here and still is the dominant variant. JAMA Internal Medicine, November 30th of this year, data from Israel, 86 percent reduction in getting COVID after you got the booster. In medicine, we never seen 86 percent reduction of anything. That's historic in of itself. My mom came to visit for Thanksgiving. I asked if she got the booster. My dad's coming for Christmas. I'm not going to let him through the door unless he's been boosted himself and it's for his safety as much as my children. So, I really believe in the booster and an 86 percent reduction of the dominant variant right now. That's pretty much, I think, as good as you can possibly get. And I want our city to have that.

Question: Mr. Mayor, given everything today, are you at all reconsidering having a full-fledged New Year’s Eve party in Times Square? I know Dr. Katz has said, it's not your typical outdoor event. People are packed very closely together.

Mayor: We're looking at it. But look – and Julia, we're going to make that decision based on the data and the science. At the time we declared it, absolutely, the information said it was the right thing to do. We're going to keep looking at it as it gets closer. The great advantage is, outdoors and fully vaccinated. That is a game-changer right there. The minute you have anything that is all outdoors and all fully vaccinated people, you're having an entirely different and better discussion. But we're going to watch very carefully. It's still, you know, more than two weeks away. And if at any point we need to alter the plan, we will.

Question: Is there a threshold? A case threshold?

Mayor: There's not a specific case threshold, but it's just – we'll take all the data we have and the health leadership's going to make the decision, in the end. If we have to alter it, we will. I'm very comfortable that if the data and the science tell us to do something different, we can do that, and we should do that. But I'm also comfortable at this hour of this day that, because it is an event where people are fully vaccinated and all outdoors, right now, that's something we're going forward with.

Question: I have a science numbers question, which, of course, you could answer, but I'd love to hear from the Commissioner as well. You know, you said we're the safest place to be. When I look at the number, cases, hospitalizations, death at major American cities, we're more actually in the middle. So, what's the numbers to prove that? And then Dr. Chokshi, Mayor-elect Adams said today that you are being considered at the next Health Commissioner. You guys are going to sit down and talk. Would you very much like to stay on?

Mayor: Okay. That's – different question with all due respect. And I'm going to let the doctor decide if he even wants to speak to that or not. But let's stay on the first question. Why do I say we're the safest place to be? Well, again, right now, I gave you another fact, because when you look at – you can pull out any one number, but I want to look at the whole picture. I just mentioned our schools, 0.87 percent positivity as of yesterday. Put that up against any schools in America, and we have the largest school system. I would also say how our health care community is handling this is the strongest response anywhere in America. How our Test and Trace Corps. is handling this is the strongest response in America. We have the most comprehensive plan in America, unquestionably, the most robust free testing, by far. We do not require insurance to get tested. We do not require documentation. You are not required to be a citizen to get tested. In fact, we don't even require identification of any kind. If someone doesn't have any identification, you still can get tested. You still can get vaccinated. And everything is open now seven days a week for free. So, I believe we're the safest place in America, not just because of the numbers we've achieved, but because of the offense we're putting on the field to fight COVID, including, by far, the strongest vaccine mandates in America. Dr. Chokshi, you can speak to that topic. If you want to speak to others, it's up to you.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And I really agree with you in terms of the question of safety. I'll just provide a little bit more evidence to back up the points that you made. First of all, we have to recognize that New York City and, you know, the greater New York region is likely earlier in experiencing what Omicron will do around the rest of the country. That’s why we're taking this swift action that we have over the last few weeks, but particularly the steps that we announced today. And I can also tell you, I get phone calls every day from my fellow health commissioners around the country who are asking about our vaccine requirements and the other policies that we've put in place as they contend with their Delta surges to try to mitigate the effects of that. So, I'm proud that New York City has been a leader, and particularly grateful to the Mayor's leadership in making that the case. With respect to the other part of your question, I'll just say, you know, I'm a public servant. I'm committed to our city's COVID response as I have for the past two years. And New York City can count on me for the here and now and to get us through the next few weeks in this wave. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you, everybody. Appreciate it.

2021-12-17 NYC Mayor de Blasio Ask the Mayor

Brian Lehrer: It’s Brian Lehrer on WNYC. And now, our final Ask the Mayor segment. At least, our final one with Mayor Bill de Blasio, as he, of course, is term limited out 15 days from today. Our topic for this final edition, being Mayor during a pandemic. You know, he ran for office on the core New York concern about inequality – inequality in the workplace, in education, in housing, in the criminal justice system. You all remember that. He probably never expected that he would soon have to get into a big debate about out quarantines and travel restrictions over a virus that came from a faraway continent. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: We want to state at the outset, there is no reason for New Yorkers to be alarmed. Ebola is an extremely hard disease to contract. It is transmitted only through contact with an infected person's blood or other bodily fluids, not through casual contact. 

Lehrer: So, that was Mayor de Blasio during his first year in office, 2014, when the Ebola virus had broken out in parts of West Africa, a few people had it here, and an early rift had broken out between the Mayor and Governor Andrew Cuomo over how to respond. So, listeners, I know that's not the virus you thought I was setting up, but let's take that as a prelude to the conversation we're about to have, the unexpected job of being mayor during an actual pandemic. And, good morning, Mr. Mayor, welcome back for your last Ask the Mayor segment. 

Mayor: Well, it is very good to be here, Brian. And I'm going to talk about what this whole experience with you has been like at the end and with real thankfulness. But boy, that was – it was a real flashback to remember those days, and what a shock that was at the time. And it came and then suddenly it was gone, and so different than what we've gone through now for two full years. 

Lehrer: How did you as mayor in your first year when that came upon us gauge the threat to the city and were there lessons that you learned from that for gauging the threat at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic? 

Mayor: Well, I'll say two things that really strike me. The first is that, what I experienced during the Ebola crisis was extremely clear, consistent federal leadership. I remember I went to Bellevue Hospital where the one case – Bellevue was handling it. And it took a tremendous effort by the team of doctors, and nurses, and support staff at Bellevue to handle an incredibly sensitive situation. They did it beautifully. And I had been there multiple days during the crisis. And I was leaving one night, I get a call on my cell phone, and it’s President Obama. And he was calling to check in to see if there’s anything we needed, to talk about the latest information, you know, how the federal government wanted to coordinate. And it was the exemplary moment in terms of the federal government leading. We talked to the CDC all the time. We got clear, sharp instructions from the CDC. Here was an international challenge, it was being handled by our national government. And we had the ability to follow good, clear guidance from Washington. That was the first thing. And I think, in some ways, that was the – the reality later was so starkly opposite that, that caught me and everyone off guard, when there was so little federal leadership with COVID. The second lesson was the importance of communicating to people early, often, and really trying to separate, sort of, myth from reality. And COVID, it's been really tough, because COVID – you know, the scientific community only knew so much and it kept changing all the time. But there were some moments along the way where I certainly thought back about that experience with Ebola, about how important – remember, Brian, at one point people thought the subways were all infected because the individual who had Ebola – the doctor who had Ebola, who had come back from West Africa, had been on the subways. And some people were fear mongering and saying, well, if you go on the subways, you're going to get Ebola. That was absolutely outrageous and ridiculous. And that clip was part of me trying to say to people, hey, wait a minute, this is a very specific disease, very specific way it transmits. And I think learning to try to clear the air as often as possible was one of the things that came out of Ebola, for me. 

Lehrer: By clear the air, talk to people and just keep putting out – 

Mayor: Yes, that was not a statement on ventilation.

[Laughter] 

Which I believe in. I also believe in ventilation. No, it was about constantly communicating and trying to separate myth from truth, because this has been – you know, although it's been an ever-changing dynamic, there were always some essential truths that we had to get across. And, for the last year, the most essential truth has been the power of vaccination. And it was literally a year ago at this time – I will remember another powerful moment where I was fighting with then-Governor Cuomo for the freedom to vaccinate the first responders and the health care – not just the health care workers, the senior citizens of this city, trying constantly to educate people how crucial vaccination was and how we needed the right to be able to do it our way so we could reach more people. So, you know, this is the communications challenge here, the strategic challenge of, with our health care leadership, figuring out how we could break through to people with a clear set of information and how we could fight all the misinformation. That, again, has been something I started to understand with Ebola and I've had to, you know, work on every day during these two years of COVID. 

Lehrer: And when this started March of last year, once again, you had to decide how much to calm people's fears and much to say, hey, let's do things really different right away. And, you know, you basically said, and I think Governor Cuomo also basically said, be careful, but go about your business. And you both got criticized by those who saw San Francisco shutting down schools and issuing stay-at-home orders more quickly and having fewer cases. So, how did you even know how to decide in those earliest days of March 2020, sort of, for the historical record, how much action was right? 

Mayor: Well, I think the first point is, the decisions have to be made on data and science and we didn't have any data. This is what's so painful. We now know, in retrospect, because the studies have proven it, that COVID was here in February of 2020. We didn't know that. We had no evidence until March 1st that it was even here. We didn't have our first death till March 14th, and I shut down the schools on March 15th. And I called for shelter in place. And this is, I think, one of the things that most saddens me looking back. I spoke to the Mayor of San Francisco, and shelter in place is a radical, radical step. I mean, you're really shutting down an entire city of over 8 million people. But after I talked to Mayor London Breed, who I think did an absolutely outstanding job during this crisis, you know, and I talked to others about how it was working for them. You know, the next day, I called for shelter in place for New York City. And you will remember very vividly the then-Governor likened it to “imprisoning New Yorkers.” And, you know, I'm very, very troubled that he didn't take that idea seriously for days. And if he had acted quicker, I think we would've all been in better shape. But, you know, Brian, the decision to go from a normal functioning society to a total shutdown is not an easy one. And it was made much harder by the lack of consistent data to tell us what was really going on. 

Lehrer: So, how is your experience from back then informing any final COVID decisions that you're having to make just when we thought things were easing again, here comes Omicron in your final days. And we've had conversations and other segments the last two days on the show from people really not knowing what to do in their personal lives, how many additional things to cancel in their personal lives. And we're already getting competing tweet – we talked about this last hour – from people saying shut down the schools now, shut down some other kinds of businesses now, again, because Omicron is so spreadable, and other people saying that's crazy.

Did we lose the Mayor? Mr. Mayor, are you there? I think we have his line connected, but I can't hear him. Can other people hear him? Is this a problem with the feed to me? No. Nobody can hear the mayor. Okay. So, we will get that fixed. And, in the meantime, I guess we'll put our first caller on the line and at least set up that question. Even though, let's see – do we have him back? No, I guess we're reconnecting the Mayor's line. I apologize folks. 212-433-WNYC. I think we have the line back. Are you there, Mr. Mayor?

Mayor: Yeah. And I heard most of your question. I heard the part about schools and then I lost you. 

Lehrer: Yeah. So, people are already saying, well, what do we do now? Do we shut down schools? Do we shut down businesses again, because Omicron is so spreadable? 

Mayor: No, no, no. What did I learn? Don't do that. That's what I learned. First of all, there's this there's this truism – never fight yesterday's war. This is not March of 2020. We are one of the most highly vaccinated places in the United States in America. As of this week, 90 percent of adults in this city have had at least one dose. We've got 1.5 million people with boosters already. We need to get a lot more, of course. But, you know, we are in such a better situation than much of the country, but the key is more and more and more vaccinations. So, we're going to implement these mandates aggressively. We're sending out inspectors. We need people to do this. We need all of these mandates to be followed. The more we vaccinate, the more we can get through this. And the great danger here is shutdowns and restrictions, because that would really destroy in so many ways people's livelihoods. And it would, I think, after everything people have been through, it would be traumatizing. We need to focus on vaccination radically, you know, use the mandates to the fullest. That's not just here, that's all over the country. Now, to the schools – the positivity level in schools as of this morning is 1.02 percent compared to over five percent for the city. The schools are actually one of the safest places to be in the city. We need to keep our kids in school. It is the safest place for them to be. They also need to be in school after all the disruption. So, no, the key here is to vaccinate. If parents are concerned about their kids, go out and get your younger kids vaccinated. That's an area where this city needs to do better. By comparison, Brian, 81 – almost 82 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds are vaccinated. Only 20 percent of five- to 11-year-olds. Parents have got to really focus here on the health and safety of not just their own child and family, but the whole community, and get their kids vaccinated quickly.

Lehrer: One follow up on schools. Our news department is reporting that principals are saying they're having trouble staff classes, because so many educators either have COVID, or have the cold, or flu, or because their kids are in quarantine. Some principals have said they may have to close individual schools simply because of staffing shortages. Some private schools we hear are closing early for Christmas break. So, what is the range of possible policy is that you might be forced into by Monday? 

Mayor: Well, I'm not hearing that at all. I mean, I want put aside private schools, religious schools. Whatever their reality, I care about them, but I don't get the same information flow, obviously, from them as from our public schools. We are not hearing that in a systematic way from our public schools at all. Our schools, obviously, are open at this point. Only four out of 1,600 are closed because of contact tracing. We've got today. And then, we've got four more days next week. And then, of course, there's a break. There's a winter break until the beginning of January. So, I feel very confident about our ability to support our school, support our kids. We have a lot of substitute teachers. We developed a very strong corps. of them, vaccinated substitute teachers. So, no, we're going to get through next week for sure. And then, I'll certainly be working with the Mayor-elect to prepare him and his team on any decisions they have to make for the beginning of January. 

Lehrer: Tracy in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Tracy. Tracy, are you there? We may have – we may be having – 

Mayor: No Tracy – 

Lehrer: No Tracy, but we may be having a problem with the audio on our phone bank. Let's see if Kevin in Sunnyside is hearable. Kevin, you there? No. Okay. We are having – we are having a phones problem. So, listeners, tweet, you're Ask the Mayor questions at Brian Lehrer. Use the hashtag #AsktheMayor and we'll get to your questions via Twitter. And, in the meantime, maybe we'll fix the phones too in just a minute or two. But, in the meantime, with 2020 hindsight, Mr. Mayor, why did New York City get hit so hard at the start of the pandemic? Why were we the epicenter? And what lessons can future mayors and public health officials take from that? 

Mayor: The answer is one word, globalization. We are now one of the great global capitals. We have a huge amount of travel through here, more than almost any place else in the country. We know COVID reached us from Europe. We are densely populated. We have lots of multigenerational housing. We have, as with so much of this country, way too much poverty. And we've done a lot, I can say honestly, to reverse some of that in this city, but there's still way too much poverty, and way too many people haven't gotten enough health care in their life lives, because healthcare is based on who has money in this country. You know, we're trying to change that here, but there's a lot of reasons and they all unfortunately collide in why this place got hit so hard. But I want to emphasize, you know, out of those ashes, you know the phoenix, is that we need to be the public health capital of the world going forward. We can now protect ourselves in entirely different ways because of what we've learned. We need to be the life sciences capital to this country and the place where a lot of the cures are created. We need to learn the lesson of COVID both locally and nationally to build up our own supplies of PPE, ventilators, all the things we need, not be dependent on a global supply chain that doesn't work anymore and didn't work during COVID. We need to use the Defense Production Act, federally, to if necessary take over production lines of different types of industries to create the medicines and the supplies we need. We need a strategic reserve, and we've set one up locally, but we need it nationally. There's so much that's come out of this crisis that actually arms us to never have to go through something like this again. But we were right in the crosshairs from the very beginning. But also New Yorkers responded, they listened to the instructions of the doctors, they got vaccinated, they did all the tough shelter in place, the masking, the distancing and the response to New Yorkers is actually a textbook on how cities and countries need to respond in the future.

Lehrer: Listener pushes back on you saying the great danger would be shut down saying restrictions, listener tweets, not hospital system collapse?

Mayor: Well to the listener, with all due respect to them, so of course, I talk to our health care leadership daily and what we're seeing, again, this is do not fight yesterday's war. The hospital system in New York City, I want differentiate that from the rest of New York State or the rest of the United States of America, the hospital system in New York City is very strong and stable right now. The hospitalization level, which we talk about daily, has not increased in a way that can't be handled and that's important to recognize, that we have also much better ability to handle COVID than at the beginning of this crisis. The hospitals have much more in the way of treatment and protocols to support patients. So, right now we're at 1.47 – hospitalization rate of 1.47 per 100,000 New Yorkers. Higher than we want it to be, but a number that indicates that we can continue to maintain our hospital system well, and most of our hospitals have not had to think about stopping elective surgery or anything like that because the good news is so many people are vaccinated. And that's – it all comes back to this. The more people vaccinated, the more people get boosters, the fewer people who have a serious bout of COVID, the fewer people go into the hospital, the fewer people who die. So, our high level of vaccination is the differentiation between us and say upstate or many other cities in the country that have struggled. We need to double down on vaccination. That's why these next round of mandates to start on December 27th are so important. The private sector mandate has to be implemented aggressively as way to blunt the impact of Omicron and limit it so we do not need to go to shut down or restriction.

Lehrer: Now my screeners tell me that weirdly one of our 10 phone lines seems to be working and the person who is lucky enough to be on that line, and let's see if it really works is calling as Dr. Dan in Manhattan. Dr. Dan you're on WNYC with the Mayor, hello.

Question: Hello, can you hear me?

Lehrer: Yeah. We got you.

Question: Hi there, I'm a medical doctor. I'm not a television person. I don't have one at home, but I happen to be in front of a TV a couple of nights ago when there was a celebration on the steps of City Hall of a championship soccer team. I saw about 60 men standing shoulder to shoulder without masks on. I thank you for having the Atlantic writer on in the last hour, everybody, including the Mayor needs to listen very carefully and read his article because he is 100 percent correct. It is well known that COVID germs spread exactly in the same manner as cigarette smoke. The rule that people should follow is that no matter whether they're inside or outside, if they are close enough to others to smell smoke, if the others were smoking, then they are too close, and –

Lehrer: And so let me get a response for you from the Mayor. His point is clear, shouldn't have been allowed like that even outdoors on the steps of City Hall, what do you say to Dr. Dan?

Mayor: Well, I respect the doctor's point, but I'm obviously everything we did was at the – with the guidance of the medical leadership of the city. They fundamentally believe there's a difference, a profound difference between outdoor and indoor. We're talking about people who are required to be vaccinated, all around, everyone there was required to be vaccinated. So, I would differentiate the point, if you have an all vaccinated group of people and your outdoors, and many, many people were wearing masks, in fact, I think, you know, and based on what we knew at that moment, that was acceptable thing to do. I think it's something we're going look at every single day from this point on and follow the guidance of the medical leadership on how we handle things. But one thing that was even clear last year has become more clear this year, the decisive factors in both limiting spread and limiting the negative impact to COVID are vaccination first and foremost, and the difference between outdoor and indoor, which is profound. So, I would say it a little differently, get vaccinated, and when you're doing anything, - when you have a choice of where you can do it, if you can do it outdoors, it's always better. Those are real world guideposts, and if people were following those, we would have even less of a problem than we're having now, and we're doing a lot, lot better than most places in this country because we are so vaccinated.

Lehrer: I still can't put Kevin in Sunnyside on the air, but I know from our screener, he was asking, COVID crisis at Rikers, what is the solution? Because that's not over yet. People are still dying there, I know not just of COVID, not even primarily of COVID, but there's pushback on moving a number of women who are incarcerated there to further away and hire security state prisons. People don't like that they're being further separated from their families, but I think that was technically a COVID move. So what can you say to people still dissatisfied with conditions on Rikers?

Mayor: We're literally every day – and remember our Health + Hospitals run the healthcare at Rikers. Every day the healthcare leadership are deciding if any additional adjustments need to be made, we'll do ever is needed. The number one thing was to reduce the population, which we were able to do substantially over the last few months. In fact, getting some of the inmates over to that state facility was crucial to reducing population, getting people to a facility that was in better shape to handle additional people and is. We provide the transportation, the support for families to get there for free, obviously. So, no, I think the thing to focus on is the medical leadership telling us what is needed to stay ahead of COVID, and most importantly, keep reducing incarceration the right way, and there are many ways to do that. And remember, incarceration levels are well under half of what they are today than the day I took office, and we want to continue to do that in a responsible way, especially during the COVID era.

Lehrer: And here's another Rikers related COVID call from somebody who got through on our one line that's working, and it's Tracy in Brooklyn. You're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello Tracy.

Question: Hello, Mayor de Blasio. First of all, I would like to say that I think you did a, a fantastic job dealing with this coronavirus. And I also would like to say that on the day that they opened up a hospital at the Billie Jean King Center, you mentioned my son's name. My son was 34-years-old. He worked for the Department of Corrections. He was an IT, and you mentioned his name, and I so appreciate that. But what I want to ask you is, as Hunter worked for the Department of Corrections, as an IT he's not eligible according to the city for line of duty pay. And you had stated that the people who worked for the Department of Corrections and have died from COVID 19 should be eligible for line of duty pay, and I agree with you. My son was 34-years old. He left work on March the 19th of 2020 and he died March 29th, 2020, and he was 34 years old and he worked for DOC as an IT, and he was loved.

Lehrer: Tracy, thank you.

Mayor: Tracy I’m –

Lehrer: Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: And Tracy, I'm so sorry. It’s just I can hear the deep pain in your voice and as a father, you know, the thing we all fear the most is losing the child before we're gone, and I'm very, very sorry for everything you've been through. I want you please to give your information to WNYC, let me immediately see we can do to help you and your family. I'm going to actually ask our First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan to speak to you directly to see what we can do, because I want to make sure everyone gets every form of help we can provide. So very, very sorry, and you've – you’ve brought me back right there to just how horrible those for first days were and the good people we lost. And I got to tell you, I want to make sure every family lost someone that we're doing everything we can for, but I also think we got to remember, all of us, we can't go back to anything like that, and I don't think we ever will, but if we don't get people vaccinated more, we will lose lives we didn't need to lose. And I think this is the point where the whole debate over vaccination, we got to now recognize that even if folks have had qualms or concerns, this is a responsibility to everyone else to get vaccinated, to get everyone in your family vaccinated, to get the booster, because that is literally going to save lives in this city. These are live as it can be saved.

Lehrer: Let me jump into make sure Tracy knows you can leave your contact information, a producer will pick up and get that from you. And as we have just a minute left in the show, Mr. Mayor, you got that one last opportunity to say, leave your contact information with WNYC and we'll get back to you, and we appreciate that you did get back to a lot of the people you told that. And I want to thank you one last time for being so accessible to my questions, but even more for the listeners questions since Ask the Mayor began during your first term, everyone knows you may be back sooner rather than later for a candidate interview for Governor. We've already had Tom Suozzi and Jumaane Williams. We'll see what your decision is. But after eight years of this intense job, that ends on January 1st, what are you going to do on January 2nd? And we have 30 seconds.

Mayor: Only to say I'm going to take a little break for sure, and then get back to public service, but Brian, thank you, thank you. This dialogue with the people of the city has been inspiring, and I just want to tell you in the end, even the tough questions, even the passionate questions, even the people who didn't agree, it has given me just real faith in how much people love this place and care and want find solutions. And this has been a painful time the last couple years, but has also been a heroic time for the city. New Yorkers showed the world incredible strength and compassion for each other, and thank you, Brian. This show is a true public service and thank you for what you do and, and all your colleagues. Thank you for what you do for this city by making this dialogue possible.

Lehrer: Thank you again, Mr. Mayor. Talk to you next time.

2021-12-19 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good afternoon, everybody. I wanted to give a special update today to all New Yorkers, because, obviously, we’re facing a major challenge with the Omicron variant. This is an urgent situation and we need to act urgently. We are seeing a very substantial rise in the member of cases in a way we haven’t seen previously. Now, I’m going to hasten to add – thank God, what helps us, what protects us, as always, is vaccination. So, I’m going to talk immediately about the things that can make a real impact in addressing Omicron. We take Omicron very seriously. We expect a substantial number of cases and a quickly growing number of cases. But we also know Omicron is different from previous variants in a variety of ways, and that vaccination is key to keeping people safe. There’s a lot more we need to learn about Omicron, we don’t have all the research back yet. So far, it does appear to have a milder impact, and that’s good. And certainly, I want to emphasize, that the vaccinations we use here in this city, in this country – these vaccinations work to lessen the impact of Omicron, to make sure that the outcomes for each New Yorker are better because they are vaccinated. So, clearly a challenge, a new challenge, but one we can meet.

And what’s crucial for all New Yorkers to understand is, New York City is ready. We are ready to fight Omicron. We have extraordinary tools and weapons available to us because, for the last two years, we’ve been fighting COVID. We have better treatments than we’ve ever had. We have one of the highest levels of vaccination anywhere in the country. And we have the ability to get a lot more people vaccinated or to get them boosted very, very quickly. And that’s so crucial to what we need to do in the days ahead. And that’s where every New Yorker that comes in, you can do your part. New York City is ready. We need you to be ready too. We need you to do what you can do to keep yourself and your family and your neighborhood safe. So, it's also important to understand that we expect Omicron to be a fast and temporary phenomenon. We expect these next weeks to see a very, very big surge in a number of cases, more than we've seen previously. And then we expect after a period of time that it will dissipate. That's been so far the pattern we've seen in other places, notably South Africa, where we first saw Omicron’s presence. So, there's a lot more to learn as I said, but right now, based on what we know, we're expecting a fast uptick and then going the other way, the case is starting to come down and we move past Omicron. 

We can weather that storm if more and more people get vaccinated, more and more people go get those boosters. This temporary reality demands an urgent immediate step, which is to maximize vaccination. And that's what we're going to focus on today. So, everyone understanding that vaccination makes such a profound impact in this situation, that it is the way that we stay safe. It is the way people talk about how do we make sure our hospitals come through this okay? Get vaccinated. It's the same answer. If you want to make sure our health care system is strong? Get vaccinated that minimizes the chance you'll ever end up in a hospital. Or God forbid you require hospitalization, if you're vaccinated your chance of coming through more quickly and with better outcomes greatly increases. And that puts much less stress on the hospital. And most importantly helps you to get through well. Because of the high level of vaccination, even though we expect a lot of cases, we do not expect to see some of the very painful reality we saw certainly in the spring of 2020, or even last winter. We think the outcomes, what happens to people is going to be very much better this time. But it will be even more true, if we keep intensifying our vaccination effort. 

So, the mandates we put in place are absolutely necessary. They will be enforced. We're going to double down on those because they are necessary to fight Omicron and to make sure this is a brief period of time and one that does not leave too many scars on the people of this city. The vaccination mandates are more important than ever given from what we're seeing, given what we're seeing from Omicron on the ground. On Thursday, we also announced a six-point plan to increase testing intensely. Testing is crucial here. We're going to be making more and more testing available all over the five boroughs. We're going to be distributing high quality masks for free all over the five boroughs. We're going to be doing a number of things to encourage people to get those booster shots. You'll be seeing new testing sites. You'll be seeing more at-home test kits made available through community-based organizations. All of these efforts will help to reduce the lines that we're seeing at testing sites, and help to make testing more available to folks who want to make sure they're okay. Or God forbid they have COVID, are ready to do the right thing and quarantine and help stop the spread. 

Now, in terms of boosters. This is key. Literally millions of New Yorkers can get booster shots now or will be eligible soon. Everyone who qualifies for boosters should get it immediately. We're doubling down on that effort with a $10 million paid media campaign. And we're going to spread the message. You've seen our doctors. You've seen the City's doctors speaking about this. You're going to see a lot more of them. Because they're going to let people know how important the booster is. It makes a world of difference in fighting Omicron and making sure people get through safely. 

We're also going to focus on nursing homes. Our Health Department is coordinating rapid access to booster doses for nursing home residents and employees all over the five boroughs. We're going to focus on kids as well, the five to 11-year-olds. We got to see a lot more vaccination there. Parents, grandparents, guardians, please get your five to 11-year-olds vaccinated. It’s time. We need you to. And to our pediatricians who we all depend on so much, we listen to, I can say, as a parent, we listen to our pediatricians deeply. We want to support you in making sure all your patients get vaccinated. And we're working, an idea we started, the State has now picked up. We're going to double down on it, making sure Medicaid reimburses you whenever you encourage your patients to get vaccinated, encourage parents to get those five to 11-year-olds vaccinated. We want to support our pediatricians in that effort. And that information will be put out starting today. 

Also, on the federal front, federal government has done so much to help New York City. I want to thank President Biden, his whole team. They've been very aggressive in supporting the kinds of efforts that we've done here. We need help now, because it's not just about vaccination. Treatment matters, of course. And we need a surge of support in terms of monoclonal antibody treatments. We need more made available from New York City. We need the authorization of the Pfizer antiviral pill to be accelerated. We need, given the amount that's needed in terms of test kits and vaccine, again would urge that the President invoke the defense production act and use every tool that the private sector has and the public sector has to continue to provide supplies here and around the country. We are feeling the Omicron wave, especially hard right now, but we know it's going to be all over the country. This whole country needs to go on a war footing to fight back. It can be defeated. It will be defeated, but having enough vaccine when we need it, having enough test kits when we need it, having enough treatment when we need it is key. And that's what we need the federal government's help with. So, I've outlined the basic approach we'll be taking and some of the immediate steps. I am absolutely confident in this city's ability to fight back with Omicron, overcome it. I'm absolutely confident in the ability of our health system to sustain this new surge. But we're all going to have to work together. And we're all going to have to focus on getting the maximum New Yorkers vaccinated and boosted as quickly as possible. 

I want you here now from the man who will be taking over the leadership of this city. And Mayor-elect Eric Adams and I have been talking constantly. We talked yesterday, we talked earlier today. We are working together. Our teams are working together. I want to thank him for every moment, looking for solutions with us, looking for the next thing we need to do, talking about how we can maximally prepare for the right steps that he will then continue once he takes office January 1st. It's been a very powerful transition and one that shows what teamwork and cooperation means. And the Mayor-elect is joining us today to amplify to all New Yorkers what we need to do to get through this. My pleasure to welcome Mayor-elect Eric Adams. 

Mayor-elect Eric Adams: Good afternoon. Good afternoon, New Yorkers. And really Mayor, I want to thank you just personally, how you have consistently reached out, communicated and coordinated so that we can get through this virus and this pandemic. And I just want to really thank you for just staying focused on COVID and the City's response. These investments and initiatives will save lives and keep New York City safe and reverse the COVID crisis. And make sure that we're able to get our economy up and operating and protect New Yorkers. The Mayor and I are in 100 percent agreement that government must be doing all that it can to stop the COVID surge so that we can protect New Yorkers. And ensure that New York opens again in a prosperous way. And our message to New Yorkers is the same. We are in this together. We must look out for each other. That means getting vaccinated, getting boosted, and getting tested to stop the spread. I took both my shots and I'm encouraging New Yorkers to do the same. We have been through this before. And we beat COVID back and now we must do it again. I know many of you are tired. You really want to return to normalcy. You want the city you love back. And so do I. But the only way we get our city back is to find our resolve once again and face this crisis head on. And we know one thing about New Yorkers. They don't avoid crisis, they conquer it. Again, and again, throughout our history, we have pulled together to pull ourselves out of crisis. And we are going to do it again. This is yet another pivotal moment for us. The personal decisions we make over the next two weeks could determine the success of our city over the next two years. 

So, the Mayor and I are here today to tell you that we do everything needed to bring our city back from this crisis. And we will ensure that everything in our power, as the heads of the current administration and the next administration, to give New Yorkers the resources they need to stay healthy and protect each other. And let us be clear about something else. There's no daylight between the Mayor and I on that commitment. He and I, and our teams are speaking every day, going over reports and data, assessing the threat and making plans for action. It has been an unprecedented coordination to have a seamless transition and handoff to make sure we fight this crisis together. There will also be continuity between his administration and mine when the new year begins so that is no confusion or gap in our COVID response when I take office January 1st. The Mayor and I are together on this, just like all of us as New Yorkers are in this together. So, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay educated about the COVID threat. If you're not vaccinated, we cannot say it enough. The data is clear, if you're not vaccinated, get vaccinated. If you're not boosted, get boosted. Get tested regularly. And if we all make this commitment to each other, our city will get through this and continue to thrive. And that is what every New Yorker wants and needs. I believe in the City. I believe in the agencies. And I believe in our ability to come together and resolve this crisis that we are facing. But we are going to get through this together. Again, Mayor, thank you so much for what you have done and what you are continually doing to make sure New Yorkers are safe. Take care. 

Mayor: Thank you so much. Thank you, Mayor-elect. Thank you for your leadership. Thank you for the extraordinary coordination. Thank you for the fact that you and I share a common belief. Something that – it may be a little quaint, but we believe in things called data and science. And that makes all the difference. And thank you as always for your friendship as well. We're going to get through this together. 

Mayor-elect Adams: Thank you. 

Mayor: All right, everybody. We have been blessed even with these challenges, even with the new curve balls that COVID throws us, we've been blessed to have extraordinary health care leadership. And New Yorkers have really come to trust the voices of our health care leaders, because they've seen us through so much and are going to see us through this again. So, I want you to hear an update on the latest on Omicron from the city's doctor, our Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Look, with any respiratory virus we think about exposure, infection, and disease. And the links between them. When it comes to exposure turning into an infection, Omicron has proven to be the fastest, fittest, and most formidable variant of the virus thus far. This is in part due to its ability to evade the immune system, meaning that those who've already had COVID and those who have vaccinated are more likely to be infected with Omicron compared to past variants. But there are steps that we can take to weaken the link between exposure and infection. Wear a high-quality mask, like a KN95, a KF94 or N95, improve ventilation or gather outdoors, and stay home if you feel sick, no matter how mild your symptoms, even just to a scratchy throat or a runny nose. 

We can also weaken the link between infection and disease. Many of the steps that the Mayor mentioned are focused on weakening this link and will help protect people from more serious illness. Vaccination remains vital, even against Omicron. I'm going to repeat that. Vaccination remains vital even against Omicron because it can protect you from severe disease. Our level of vaccination built up our seawall ahead of this Omicron wave. Boosters shore up that protection. If you're at least six months out from your Pfizer or Moderna second dose, or two months out from your J&J dose, get your booster right now. The Health Department has also been coordinating rapid access to booster doses for all New York City nursing homes. We're making sure that all long-term care facilities have pharmacy partners to deliver boosters to both residents and staff. If not, we will deploy vaccination teams as we have done in the past. Monoclonal antibody treatments, particularly one known as Sotrovimab, which is already authorized for use, and the antiviral pill Paxlovid, which is under review by the FDA, would also help us to weaken the link between infection and disease. But as the Mayor said, we need our federal partner’s help to get these treatments to New Yorkers now. 

On top of all of this, we all must think about what we can do to protect our family, friends, and neighbors who are most vulnerable to serious illness. Remember that even if you are healthy, you can still pass the virus along to someone for whom it could have serious consequences. My Commissioner's Advisory from last week emphasized that older adults and others at higher risk should skip optional activities for at least for the next few weeks. My practical advice is to plan your holidays around your most vulnerable family member, whether it's someone with a weekend immune system or a child too young to be vaccinated.

And speaking of our younger New Yorkers, we are doubling down on our efforts to help pediatricians speak with their patients and their families about vaccinate for five to 11-year-olds. Medicaid will reimburse pediatricians for having consultations with parents and children about getting them vaccinated. This expands a City program that paid doctors to have these important conversations with patients and parents about our lifesaving and effective vaccines. And while over 600,000 children under 18 have received at least one dose, we know there is more work to be done. That's why tomorrow I will be convening local doctors with the American Academy of Pediatrics to emphasize the urgency of our efforts.

So, to briefly summarize the steps that you can take now, get vaccinated and get your booster, wear a quality mask at all times in public, stay home if you're feeling the slightest bit sick and get tested. Finally, I know everyone is feeling some traumatic echoes of our first wave but let me be very clear. We have so many more tools than we did in March 2020. It will undoubtedly be a challenging few weeks, but we will get through this. As a city will bring all of our tools to bear and I'm asking each New Yorker to do so as well. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dave. Appreciate very clear, powerful presentation so people can understand what we're going on. And, as you just said, it'll be a challenging few weeks. We're not here to minimize the extent of the challenge. It will be very challenging, but it is something that we can meet, it’s something we can overcome. We have the tools, but we need everyone to get in the game. Everyone to get vaccinated and boosted. It will make a world of difference for us to get by this and get as quickly.

Now, let me give you the indicators as they are today. And they really point out both what we have going for us and the strength of our defense, but also the challenge we're up against. Administered - excuse me, doses administered to date, we're almost at 13 million, a staggering figure and people are showing up more and more to get those vaccinations and the mandates are having more and more impact and will again in the days ahead as additional mandates come online. So, as of today, 12,960,673 doses. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report is 162 patients. Confirmed positively, 44.97 percent. Hospitalization rate now has gone up. Although, interestingly, we still see that number not growing as much as might have been expected. That's a good sign, but it will undoubtedly grow quite a bit. That number right now, 1.69 per 100,000 New Yorkers. And then, here the cases – new reported cases on a seven-day average – astounding growth, this is the area obviously of tremendous concern. But again, we have tools to fight back. We have weapons to fight back. Today's report, 5,731 cases. So, a really, really shocking figure and one that will keep growing undoubtedly. But again, let's use what we have to fight back. Let me give you a few words in Spanish, obviously on the Omicron variant. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

Mayor: With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. Please, today, keep questions related to on topic only. We're also joined by Dr. Dave Chokshi and by Dr. Ted Long. The first question today goes to Sonia Rincσn from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good afternoon. Test positivity and new case numbers seem to be higher in more affluent neighborhoods. Is that because of better access to testing more nightlife, more flexibility of the people there to get tested because presumably cases are being recorded with people's home addresses that they provide and not the locations of the testing centers. 

Mayor: Well, that's a very thoughtful question. I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi because you you've threw out a lot of specific analysis there and he's better positioned to, to answer it. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir and thanks for the thoughtful question. First, yes, just to confirm the way that we report cases and test results is based on home address. So, it accurately depicts what's happening in specific geographies. We are seeing, for example, test positivity and cases higher in Manhattan than in other boroughs. And this reflects a combination of you know, of actual activities of COVID-19, particularly of Omicron. As well as the fact that there are more people seeking and getting testing in those geographies. This is part of the reason that with the leadership of Dr. Long and Test & Trace, we have done a lot to emphasize access to testing in other places, particularly our Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity Neighborhoods and partnering with community-based organizations to distribute the rapid self-test kits as well. So, we want to continue broad access to testing, but yes, part of what we're seeing right now is based on who is seeking testing.

Mayor: Thank You. Go ahead, Sonia. 

Question: So, I know more test sites are opening up and more access to testing is opening up in the next few days, but the State used to have some really efficient testing centers with PCR tests with the one- or two-day turnaround. Some of those were drive through centers, which is nice when it's cold out. The New York National Guard members were there to staff them. And today I just called the New York State hotline that used to help you find and book those tests. And that's just not an option anymore. I don't know if they are all closed, but certainly many of them are. Should the State be bringing back those test centers in the city? And do you have any indication that it might? 

Mayor: Appreciate the question. I'm going to turn to Dr. Long, but just to preface this way. I absolutely respect that the State of New York is trying to deal with tremendous challenges outside New York City much, much higher positivity levels and profound hospital problems in much of the state. So, I want to be clear that, you know, we're all in this together in this state and some parts of our state are hurting very, very bad right now. We welcome, of course, any help we can get from the state. We welcome help from the federal government in terms of additional testing capacity, whether it's fixed sites or, at home tests. But right now, our central focus is on what we can do with what we have, and then very happy to add additional pieces from the state and federal government as they can be made available. Ted long, you want to add? 

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test & Trace Corps: Yes, sir. Actually, I think you covered all the important points. What we want to do first and foremost here is do everything that we can in New York City to expand testing fast, which is why we're opening new sites and every single borough, we're adding 17 mobile units this week, we're expanding hours. We have our wait time tracker we're hand out home test kits and working with community-based organizations. That's the core of everything we're doing and we've been in regular conversations with the State and they've asked how they can support. So, for example, they're going to be giving us more home tests, which is, again, part of the mainstay as Dr. Chokshi said about how we want to get testing to every community across New York City. So, we're going to continue those regular conversations and move full steam ahead with everything the Mayor said.

Mayor: Thank you, go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Katie from the City. 

Question: Hey, good morning, or whatever afternoon, can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yes, Katie, how you doing? 

Question: Thanks. My question is really just about why it seems to be understanding that there's a backlog and there's a rush, but it seems that these PCR tests that people are getting are taking days to get back, which is creating this sort of, you know, chaos at a lot of these places, long lines, long wait times. Can you explain what's being done by the City to a shorten these lines, get more tests and then increase the speed in which these results are coming back?

Mayor: Yeah, absolutely. I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Long and Dr. Chokshi. Katie, first of all, what we're doing to relieve some of this pressure is opening up more test sites, new test sites, adding longer hours, existing test sites. We've added to our mobile fleet. So, people can do testing at those buses. We're going to just keep adding and then what we're trying to do is bring in a lot more at home test capacity as well. Again, working closely with the federal government and state government on that. So, it's just more and more and more is part of how you reduce the need for people to go to some of existing sites and spread out the demand. In terms of the time it takes to get the results back. Obviously, there's been a surge in folks wanting to get tested because of Omicron, and that's always going to create some challenges, but let's have the experts speak to that. What we can do to make sure the test results get back quicker. Dr. Long then Dr. Chokshi 

Executive Director Long: Yeah, Katie, I really appreciate your question because at the end of the day, New Yorkers are coming out to get tested now to protect their families and protect their communities. And as you know, we want to do everything in our power to help New Yorkers to continue to make that decision so they can have the fast information to protect their families. To get a little perspective to back up for a second. This past week, we did well over 130,000 PCR plus antigen tests on given days. If you look at that in perspective, we've been doing and are continuing to do more per capita testing than almost any other country in the whole world. I think there are only about six that are doing more per capita testing than we are. And we're doing more per capita testing this week than other big cities like Chicago, like Houston, like Phoenix, we're doing almost twice as much per capita testing as Phoenix, but the credit here goes to New Yorkers. They're coming out. So, our goal and our commitment here is to do everything we can to keep this - to build the capacity we need to continue to give fast turnaround times and, and good access to New Yorkers. So, our median lab turnaround time is to remain one day across New York City. But there are some vendors or some entities that do testing that send their tests to different labs. So, one piece of advice I'd have for you, Katie, if you want a fast turnaround time, come to one of my sites come to one of our City run sites. Many of our sites tour will turn a result around for you within 12 to 18 hours and most of them have rapid testing. All 70 of my mobile units have rapid testing, PCR testing and saliva testing. So, you can check nyc.gov/COVIDtest to find one of our current sites. And then this week you're going to be finding even more when we add new fixed sites per borough, all with rapid tests and 17 more mobile units to our arsenal. Thanks, Katie.

Mayor: I want to just say Ted, everything you said was clear and helpful. I think just to put a point on it, when you're doing that per capita testing comparison, you're comparing other countries in the world, not against the United States of America, but against the level we have in New York City, which obviously, leads the nation. So, I just want to say for clarification, Ted's comparison is New York City versus the countries in the world that have the highest per capita testing levels. And we favorably compare. Am I getting that right, Ted? 

Executive Director Long: That's right, sir. 

Mayor: Great. And Dr. Chokshi, you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Just briefly, Dr. Long covered it really well. There are two points that I wanted to underline. The first is just the emphasis on the rapid self-test or rapid home kits, which you'll see, continue to grow over the course of this week and it's for the reason that you're pointing out your question, Katie, which, is it really matters to be able to get one's result as quickly as possible. And then the second thing to emphasize is that, particularly if you are still waiting for your result, but you have symptoms, it is very important to isolate because you should assume in that case that you are infectious that you may, you know, be contagious to others. And so, in those circumstances we strongly advise that people isolate to help us break chains of transmission, particularly given how transmissible Omicron is. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Katie. 

Question: Thanks. And my second question I'm not sure, if Mayor-elect Adams is on the call, but I'd like him to chime in here as well.

Mayor: He is not Katie, just so you know, he's not.

Question: Oh, Okay. Okay, sorry. So, as you know, there's no remote work policy for City employees and I've heard from City employees, they didn't use it all across the city. There have been outbreaks in their offices. They haven't been notified. They don't know what to do if they've been exposed, because they actually have to save vacation time for it. What do you say to these workers? And, and what is the, I guess plan, if there are these rapid number of cases, these cases arise saying you have hundreds of thousands of City employees who have been told to go back to their offices and there are concerns about that. What is your message to them? Because I know you've said previously that remote work is not the best, it's best to be in the office, but clearly this is a health issue, if there are cases spreading within, even within the Mayor's Office. So, what would you say to that and what's going to happen, and will they be allowed to take time off that doesn't get penalized as vacation time, if they are exposed in the office to COVID? 

Mayor: Well, there's a lot there, Katie. Let me try my best to pull the pieces out. First of all, this is a workforce that's 94 percent vaccinated, and that makes a huge difference here. And we encourage all our City workers, anyone who's eligible to get that booster, get that booster right away. But 94 percent vaccinated to begin with makes the city workforce different than almost any place else in America in terms of its ability to handle this situation well. But, clearly, if there's any situation in an office, we're going to deal with it. And I would just respectfully say, I think there's been a lot of information provided and I'll have Dave talk to this. A lot of information provided constantly to city workers about how to protect themselves and how offices should use all the health and safety measures we put in from the beginning, which have worked very, very well. 

We've had – the model we used, the gold standard, was our schools that still have an extraordinarily level low level of COVID in them. We apply those same standards in our City offices. So, if there is any place where there's a problem, of course, there will be measures taken to address it. There'll be contact tracing as always, but I would emphasize while we make decisions about each and everything we need to do because of Omicron, we also really depend on our city workers to serve people at this moment more than ever. And they're doing a great job. We will protect them, but we also need them to protect everyone else. So, Dave, in terms of how we have instructed City agencies and city employees to keep everyone safe and you know, the time off, if someone's sick, obviously we have a paid sick leave policy. So, Dave, you want to speak to the approach we've taken here? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly sir, I'll recap the high point. So, in addition to the high levels of vaccination and the ready booster access that the mayor mentioned here are the other most important ones about making all of our city settings as safe as possible. And yes, it is all about layers of safety and you know, multiple types of precautions. We do have a universal mask mandate regardless of vaccination status for all indoor settings. And, of course, that is very helpful. Second is, everything that we do in terms of testing, tracing isolation and quarantine of course, applies to these settings as well. When there are exposures test and trace does the same thing that it does in other settings, which is to make sure that close contacts are notified so that they can appropriately quarantine. And very importantly, anyone who is sick or experiencing symptoms should stay home. And yes, they do have paid leave that facilitates that as well. The final thing is, you know, we're emphasizing and have made upgrades through the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to ventilation in various settings as well. And we know that that helps to curve the spread. So, those are the things that we're doing to try to ensure that these are as safe settings as possible. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you 

Moderator: The next is Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist. 

Question: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey, Elizabeth. How have you been? 

Question: I'm good. So, I just want to clarify something because I believe last week or a few days ago, you said that the City would add five new brick and mortar testing sites as well as more mobile units. I'm wondering, is this announcement today about more testing? Is that on top of what you announced a few days ago? And could we get a firm number on how many more testing sites New Yorkers can anticipate?

Mayor: Yeah. Thank you for the question, Elizabeth. And it is kind of a rolling thunder situation right now. We are adding as we go along and we're, as we get additional capacity, we're going to keep putting it up in different places. So, but thank you for the immediate question. The announcement we made a few days ago on Thursday versus where we are now and where we are overall, Dr. Ted Long, this is all your bailiwick. Can you give us the update? 

Executive Director Long: Yeah. Thanks, Elizabeth. So, this is building, this includes what we announced last week that there will be – we said five sites last week. The answer is actually eight. So, by the end of the day, by Tuesday, we're going to eight new fixed testing sites open. It's going to be sites in every borough and we're going to, we said we were going to increase mobile testing and the number I'll put on that increase is going to be at 17 mobile units this week. Past Tuesday, we we're planning to open more new fixed testing sites, but we want to lock them in before I make a commitment before, you know, telling you where they're going to be, but it'll be eight by Tuesday. 

Mayor: Thank you. And, Dave, excuse me – Ted, can you give the overall, I don't know if you have this at your fingertips, but now the overall number of fixed sites that the City sponsors and also the overall number of mobile vehicles you have for testing? 

Executive Director Long: Yeah. So, when we add these eight by Tuesday, the city will have over 30 fixed sites and it'll have the 87, actually it'll be 93 mobile units because we also have six special units we're going to build, they'll bring in here. So yeah, above 30 fixed sites and 93 mobile units. 

Mayor: Right. And then just clarifying beyond which there is the Health and Hospitals facilities. 

Executive Director Long: Yeah. The above 30 includes the Health and Hospitals facilities. But when we add more later this week, it'll probably, Elizabeth, we'll get back to you. I don't want to make an over commitment to you right now. But we're going to add as much as we can this week, but it'll be eight new ones by Tuesday.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Elizabeth. 

Question: My second question is about Dr. Chokshi’s advice to older adults and those who are immunocompromised to skip optional events. I'm wondering about younger children who can't get vaccinated, those under five who go to preschool or daycare, would you advise those parents to keep those children out of school as we're heading to the holidays? And also, the same goes for maybe optional holiday parties at offices? 

Mayor: Well, for two very different questions or good questions, but let me start. And then the doctors go in. On the first on childcare, no, I would not tell parents to change what they're doing. Just like with schools. There's been very extensive efforts to keep childcare safe. And in fact, when you're in an organized setting with immense health and safety measures in place, it is actually the safest place for a child to be. So no, we, we believe it's also very important, obviously for everything else, a child needs and we got to remember, and we went through this so many times when we brought back school last September, when we brought it back the September before that, kids being in school is very important for their health and wellbeing, their physical health, their mental health, their nutrition, they get their development. And we brought school back the last two Septembers while dealing with in many ways, much greater challenges than what we're seeing here. This is going to be, as we said, a tough and challenging few weeks Elizabeth, but the impact in many ways is going to be less. And so, we can't forget the lessons that we learned in the previous situations where sticking to making sure kids got to these positive places, these safe places was exactly the right thing to do. It's still exactly the right thing to do in terms of just one other point that what Dr. Chokshi said, for folks who are most vulnerable for the oldest New Yorkers, for folks with preexisting serious conditions, you know, to, to recognize that it is an optional event, and they don't need to be at it, you know, be careful if it's optional, it's probably smart to skip it for a period of some weeks. This is going to be a pretty temporary reality based on everything we're seeing now. But if you're not in those two categories, it's obviously a very different situation. Dr. Chokshi you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. Thank you, sir. And I agree on both counts. On the first Elizabeth, I will answer not just as a Health Commissioner, but as the father of a child who's under five. And the answer is, you know, I will not keep her out of daycare, meaning she will continue you going to daycare. And I advise all parents you know, to continue sending their, their children to school, including pre-K and 3-K, for the reasons that the Mayor has mentioned. We have layers of safety. We have precautions in place that do help us to curb the spread and not just from the educational perspective, but from the health perspective, we know that those environments are fundamentally important for children to be in. So that's on the first question on the second question, you know, with to the activities that we're advising older adults and others who are at higher risk to be more cautious about these are optional activities. And there are a range of ways that one can reduce their risk. Certainly, if you were planning to go to something where, you know, there was a crowded setting and you're someone with a weakened immune system, the level of risk in our community has changed. And so that's what we're advising people to make sure that they take that into account as they make their individual decisions.

There are also a number of things that we can do to help mitigate risk. Whether it's moving gatherings outdoors or having them virtually or just making sure that people are following precautions, like wearing masks distancing where possible improving ventilation, you know, in certain cases. And so that's what my commissioner's advisory from last week said. And that's what we're reiterating today.

Mayor: Yes. And, and Dave, some of that's sometime as easy as opening a door, a window and letting, letting outside air in. actually one of many things, but something that actually helps quite a bit go ahead.

Moderator: Next is Jimmy Vielkind from the Wall Street Journal. 

Mayor: Jimmy, can you hear us? 

Question: Yes. Can you hear me? 

Mayor: There you go. How are you doing? 

Question: Every day's a blessing. Thank you. You just said that you know, if it's an optional event, it's smart to skip it for a period of two weeks. I know that lots of entities, including your own office are canceling parties. I'm wondering what are your plans for the New Year's Eve celebration, which gathers lots and lots of people, granted a in an outdoor space, given all that you've just said about this variance ability to infect people who are vaccinated? 

Mayor: Yeah. And Jimmy, I want to be, going to answer the question. It's an important question, but just really emphasizing what we said was for folks who are 65 and older, or folks who have serious preexisting conditions to be my mindful about those optional events and think carefully about them. That was a very important qualifier there. I want to put front and center to your question about New Year's Eve. So, we've been in touch with Times Square Alliance. We're going to make a decision before Christmas. We're certainly looking at the new challenge we're facing, but again this an all-vaccination event and it is outdoors. And those are two very, very important favorable factors. We're, we're also considering that there's other ways we could approach it, even with the current the current rules that could help to make it even stronger. So, there's a discussion going on. We will have a final decision on what we can do ahead of Christmas, for sure. And, and we're working very, very closely with the folks who sponsor to event to figure out what's the right way to proceed. Go ahead, Jimmy. 

Question: Just as a follow up, I know there's been a focus of your Administration, as well as the State to revive the economy, to get people back to the office. Many employers are sort of telling people, go remote, stay remote. What is your response to that? And, and to sort of businesses that are, are choosing that option at this point, again, given what you've just articulated about the ability of Omicron to spread through vaccination? 

Mayor: Look, first of all, Jimmy, I want to respect each business's own choice. Some believe that it is absolutely crucial to be in person, some have decided to go remote or have stayed remote. I want to respect them all. What I recognize fully is this is going to be a temporary reality. I've been over this with our Healthcare leadership, you know, in great detail. We expect this to be a matter of weeks, and then we're going to see it start to dissipate. That's based on what we know now, but it will be a tough, you know, a tough few weeks for sure, a challenging few weeks. So, I think whatever an employer decides, I respect it. But to your underlying question about recovery. We will get through this and then our recovery will resume full force. And the way to facilitate that recovery is vaccination. Which is why I now only believe in I'm doubling down on the vaccine mandates. We need them more than ever, and they are the way we're going to bring those jobs back. We're going to create a dynamic where people can come back to the office, and we can really revive our economy. We need them more than ever. They have proven to work every single time. 

Moderator: The next day is Mara Gay from the New York Times. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Mara. How have you been? 

Question: Fine, doing well. Thanks. so many of the city test sites appear to be run at this point by private contractors. Many of the sites I can say from firsthand experience and from others, do not appear to be sufficiently staffed. Many have also opened late, closed significantly early, or even at times, shut down without warning for lunch. Folks online have been told, lengthening these wait times across the city, what is being done to supervise these sites, expand their capacity and improve them?

Mayor: Well, I appreciate that question a lot. And, and Mara, one of the things I've said, you know, as we've done briefings throughout the COVID era is that you and your colleagues in the media have often raised to us things that need to be addressed. Things that haven't been as clear to the command structure as we're dealing with this challenge. And anytime someone says, look, there's a, there's a gap in something we're doing, I say, thank you for raising it so we can fix it. I certainly don't understand any site that closes for lunch. That makes no sense to me. I found that, you know, a little shocking right there. now, how many it is that are having these problems. I want to get a clear answer from Dr. Long as best he knows, but more importantly any place that's not opening on time, any place that's closing early, any place that's closing for lunch, that's not acceptable. And if they are working under a contract, they've got to do better. Or we got to replace them with another contractor. Because people need to get this testing. We are expanding the sites because we need, we need more and more testing. So, if some of the sites we have now are not doing their job, we have to hold them accountable. So, Dr. Long, what do you say to the specific examples that Mara raised? 

Executive Director Long: Yeah. Well, first though, sir, I totally agree with everything you said. Mara, at the end of the day, I really appreciate the feedback. If there are any of our sites where there's been a delay in opening or whether there's been a lack of clarity about people going to lunch and what that means for testing, it's really helpful to let us know. I mean, at my sites, my T2 sites, we operate them through health and hospitals, same thing for our hospitals, same thing for our Goth Community Health centers. So, for those sites we're in charge. We set the hours and we post our wait times on the test and trace websites. You can always see, you know, if there's two different places you're looking to go, there might be a 30-minute wait at another, an hour wait at another, and you can make a decision based on that. Then, for lines at all of our sites, again, that I operate as well, we're going to be, this week, handing out home test kits at any line where there's more than a 30-minute wait just to make – because people are busy and people are making the sacrifice to come out in their busy schedules, to come and get tested. And I don't want anybody to ever leave at the handed. In my mind, testing – there's no wrong door. New Yorkers are making the decision to get tested. I want to help them. So, that's something that you can count on this week, between the home test gets being handed out to help with lines and the wait-time tracker. If there are any of our – there are a lot of vendors in New York City, not all of them fall under Test and Trace. But if there are any under us – and there were a couple, to acknowledge your point, of late starts this morning. I was aware of that and we’re going to correct that, moving forward. There was some staff members then unfortunately fell ill, with is something that we're seeing with Omicron. And, therefore, we have to quickly adapt and react. And we were able to open those sites as soon as we were able this morning. But if you have any other feedback for us, moving forward, we want to get this right for New Yorkers, or if there's anything we need to differently, always let us know. We exist to serve. And that's why we're going to be building our capacity this week through more mobile units, more fixed sites. If there’s anything you think we can do differently or any feedback you have, always passed it along. And thank you.

Mayor: Ted, let's make some policy on the fly here before Mara's follow up. We, obviously, given – we've seen this challenge before – we've been through it before where the very people we depend on themselves might get sick. We should establish, if you don't have it already, Ted, a reserve squad of personnel who could be deployed early in the morning to any sites that don't have all their full complemented personnel, because, obviously, this is something – again, it will only be a matter of weeks, it looks like, but this is something we're going to experience a lot. We should have a reserve ready to put into play very quickly and systematically. So, Ted, I know you know how to do that. Let's do that now. 

Executive Director Long: And actually what we do now is – Mara, you're welcome to join us for any of these visits if you want, Mara – but we save some of our mobile units and deploy them based on needs. So, we do have – that's how we were able to solve for any last-minute unforeseen changes too. So, we will keep doing that. But, you know, as the Mayor said, keep the feedback coming. We are here to get it right for New Yorkers. We're testing at higher levels than we have ever in the past, more than most other countries per capita, more than most other big cities. But we want to meet New Yorkers where they are. So, thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Mara. 

Question: Thanks. I mean, one quick suggestion on that is, just like we have supervisors who roam around for crossing guards – that would probably be helpful here, because there is absolutely no City presence at many of these sites that are HHC sites being run by private contractors. My other question is, what is being done to communicate to high-risk New Yorkers, or New Yorkers who feel like they may be becoming seriously ill with COVID, what options are available for treatment that didn't exist in spring of 2020? I'm aware that we have monoclonal antibody treatments, Regeneron, other options, and yet it seems concerning to me that that is not always obvious how to access those things and when to access them, despite the very large population of New Yorkers who may be at risk. 

Mayor: No, that's an important point. And I think the health care community has, obviously, a very keen sense and is all already – you're seeing the huge difference in the hospitals of the ability to handle COVID cases – a much more agile response than we were able to mount originally, because there's much better sense of treatments, more treatments available, much better outcomes. So, the health care community clearly has brought all these tools to bear. But helping New Yorkers to understand the treatments that are available and certainly making sure if someone is starting to have more serious – you know, serious impact from the disease that they get quickly to where the care is needed. So, Dr. Chokshi, why don't you speak to, sort of, what our tools are right now and we are working with people who feel that their situation is getting more serious, what we are doing to make sure they get to the care they need promptly. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. And, Mara, I really appreciate the question, which is a very intense focus of ours right now. What I heard was two parts to what you're interested in. Number one, our communication. And then, number two, the treatment itself. So, the first part of it, we communicate on at least three levels. First, is with the general public not just through briefings like this one and, of course, working with media and journalists, but also sending out messages through, you know, text messages as well as our public service announcements. That's all on the public side. With respect to providers, particularly health care providers, my department is in constant touch and particularly over the last several days has held a number of informational meetings, as well as blasted out quite a bit of information about how things are shifting and changing with Omicron. And then, the third level is with community-based organizations. I'm really proud to say that we have a very robust network of over 100 CBO’s that we work with that help us to get the word out and that are also important distribution channels for things like higher-quality masks, as well as the rapid at-home test kits that we announced just a few days ago. With respect to treatment as a focus within that – yes, we do want to make sure that everyone is aware that there are treatments available. I will acknowledge there are some open scientific questions about how well some of the treatments work against Omicron, but there is one monoclonal antibody treatment in particular known as Sotrovimab, which is what the Mayor and I mentioned, which we need additional supply from the federal government so that we can utilize our robust distribution channels to get them to New Yorkers. 
If anyone has a question specifically on monoclonal antibody treatment, we encourage you to call 212-COVID-19, so that you can gain access both the clinical advice as well as the therapy itself. And Test and Trace, also as part of its script when it's reaching out to people, will mention the availability of monoclonal antibody treatment and help people get linked up to that care. The final thing that I'll say is that we are anticipating and planning for the oral antiviral that I mentioned, particularly Paxlovid, which we think will also make a big difference in terms of preventing severe disease. We need the FDA to move with [inaudible] on that and actually have it supplied and delivered to New York City, so that we can get it to help prevent the severe outcomes that we care the most about. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you, Dave. 

Moderator: The next is Kevin Duggan from AM New York. 

Question: Hey, Mayor. How are you today? 

Mayor: Good, Kevin. How have you been? 

Question: Doing well. Thanks for taking my question. I'm piggybacking a little bit off of what's been said already about the fixed sites. There was report last week that the City had closed down 20 since around mid-November. And with these new ones, you won't be it back up to the number of around 54, I think it was, of fixed sites, especially City-run sites as opposed to contracted out sites. Do you plan to open any more City-run sites? And I don't mean like, you know, with some private partner, but just like a rec center or whatever. Do you plan to open any more of those in the coming weeks? And if not, why not? 

Mayor: Kevin, we're going to just be building constantly here on both vaccination and testing. So, I'll let Dr. Long speak to a few of the specifics, but the bottom line is, for a period of time, we saw much less demand – much, much less demand before Omicron. And we moved to more of a mobile approach, because that seemed to be reaching a more people. Obviously, we're in a different reality. This has been – the two years of COVID have just been, you know, a constant set of changes. So, in a different reality, we adjust. We're going to get a lot of centers back up and running or certainly choose where we think the most impact will be. It might be a different location than one of the places previously. We're going to use mobile a lot as well. We do need to keep, you know, two core functions going – more and more vaccination and more and more testing simultaneously. So, it's not static in the least. It's something that will keep growing to meet the demand. Dr. Long, you want to speak to that? 

Executive Director Long: Yeah, no, I appreciate the question. So, in terms of whether we've close sites and removed access to testing for people across New York City in those areas, I have to say, I don't think that's true. What we've done in some situations, like Brooklyn Army Terminal or Bathgate, is we've taken what was formerly testing sites and we've made them into vaccine sites. And we had mobile testing units outside of those sites for as long as people wanted to come and get to tested there. Or, at another example, we had a site where it was important to build a school there. So, we felt like it was the right thing to let SCA go ahead and continue to build that school and we have multiple mobile units there still there today, right outside. So, for you as a person in that community, you have uninterrupted testing access that's never changed. Some of the other sites, we shift the location. So, it's not a fair comparison to say we've closed 20 sites. In fact, we're doing more testing at our sites in totality than we ever have before now. And that includes our mobile fleet as well. So, as the Mayor said, you know, looking big picture in New York City, we're doing a lot of testing, more per capita in almost any other country in the world. More than the big cities like Chicago, Phoenix, and Houston. [Inaudible] much per capita as Phoenix. But we want to do more. And I think one of the ways that we do testing beyond just the numbers and beyond just an individual fixed building is we want to bring testing equitably into our communities. And that's why we want to think about things like arming our community-based organizations, the trusted messengers of our communities with home tests. So, it's not just that we want to all look at the number of overall tests being done, but are they being done equitably. And in New York City, I can confidently say, yes, we have ways to ensure that tests are done equitably that many of the places across the world don't have. And that's why I'm proud of what we're doing with testing in New York City, but we're going to build more and more. And if there's any feedback, you're hearing about an area that needs more testing, as I said, pass it along to us. We exist to serve. And we always welcome that feedback. So, thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Kevin. 

Question: Thanks for that. I guess just to kind of drill down on the specifics, I imagine this one is for Ted Long – you know, are there any sites planned currently to open that are City-run sites, as opposed to contractors? You know, any more fixed sites [inaudible] those coming down the line, especially with these upcoming five or eight sites? 

Mayor: Yeah. And let me just say, prefacing, Kevin – fair and important question. Ted, I want to keep you brief here, because any details we can get afterwards, but I think that the central point about clarifying which are going to be new City-run sites versus run by contractors. But also, I'm saying to you, Kevin, that should not be a distinction that causes any qualitative difference. So, if we're having a problem with any contractors, that's – we have to hold them accountable. We have to make sure the service is just as good. But so, the narrow question, Ted, how many new city – specifically, City-run sites versus contractor-run sites? 

Executive Director Long: Yeah. So, the sites that we're planning to open that I said on Monday and Tuesday, are vendor-run sites. And we we'll get back as we open new sites to break it down, if it's helpful, Kevin, about how they're being run, city versus contractor. But I think the Mayor said the important point, which is that we want to provide testing equitably in all of our neighborhoods, and a lot of that is through vendors that we oversee. And it's our responsibility then to make sure that our vendors are always delivering. At the end of the day, what matters is the people in New York City get good quality care in every community with no exception across the city. And that's what we're going to continue to focus on. So, thank you.

Mayor: And, Kevin, we'll get you that list. Our team will get you the specific list, so you have it. Go ahead.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Gloria, from NY1. 

Question: Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor. Can you hear me? 

Mayor: Yeah, Gloria. How are you doing? 

Question: Good. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, we're live on NY1 and I'm sensing there's a lot of confusion about what is taking the city so long in order to scale up the testing sites in a way that the City had been clearly able to fix you're out in the past. We're seeing a lot of reported wait times, not just at Urgent Cares, but also at the City sites – over two-and-a-half hours people are waiting at the City sites. And also, the mobile vans that you guys are talking about, those are obviously – the capacity is not as much as you would find at a City site. So, is this a budget problem? Is this – what is taking so long to scale up? And if you could also talk out home testing, that hasn't been really discussed. Pharmacies are all sold out. Many of them are very expensive. What is the City doing to make sure that New Yorkers can have more access to these home tests? 

Mayor: Yeah, Gloria, so we are going to be getting a lot more home tests and making them available. One of the things we announced on Thursday was an intense effort to get home tests out through non-profit organizations in communities across the city. That's a half million home tests right there. We're working right now with the federal government on a major resupply of home tests. Obviously, everything has kicked up in the last few days in an absolutely extraordinary manner. So, your question is a sincere one, but I want to give you a sincere answer. The world changed in a very unexpected way in just a matter of days and the city's making the adjustments, getting more supplies, we have a demand for testing, unlike anything we've seen before, because we have a surge in cases, unlike anything we've seen before. But we will quickly be able to make adjustments. It is not a budget question. So, glad you asked that. No, it's not a budget question. It's just about getting the testing capacity, getting the testing kits, getting the personnel what they need, setting up sites. This is a brand-new reality, but the good news is the city has been through so many versions of COVID challenges before that we can adjust rapidly, and what we'll do starting tomorrow is give a clearer picture of what we anticipate over the next week and more in terms of additional testing coming online. Go ahead, Gloria.

Question: Okay. Thank you. I guess my next question is more, if you could speak to New Yorkers and if the health officials could speak to them, I think people are feeling a lot of confusion and a lot of whiplash, the holidays are around the corner. People are trying to decide, do I still travel for the holidays? Do I still have my family over while also balancing this feeling of, you know, feeling like this is just a reality, and this is how we're going to have to live. What should people be doing to make those decisions? Should they only go to a party if they test beforehand? Should they only hang out with vaccinated people? Should they only do it outdoors? What is your advice to New Yorkers, especially so many that are trying to figure out whether or not they should travel, whether or not they should gather over the next couple of days?

Mayor: Well, I appreciate that question a lot and I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi in a second. Look, Gloria. I want to start by saying, from everything that I've heard from our health care leadership, again, this is a very temporary phenomenon. It's going to be a challenging one, but a temporary one. And there's a big difference if you're someone who is vulnerable versus someone who is less vulnerable, and that's really important to put a point on, if you're over 65, if you are someone with serious preexisting conditions, we're certainly urging you to take extra precautions for what will be probably only a matter of weeks. It makes sense, take those precautions, but if you're not in those categories, you obviously have some more options. The bottom line though is vaccination what is the center of this discussion. If you are vaccinated, and particularly if you've been able to get the booster shot, your level of protection is much higher than what we've seen at any point in the entire COVID reality. So, you're right about the whiplash. It's a good word to use, Gloria, people have been through so much, but it's also important to not fight yesterday as war. It's important to not think we are back in the spring of 2020, or even the winter of 2020 going into 2021. We're an entirely different reality because this is a very highly vaccinated city where people have much more protection than ever before. So, Omicron’s very transmissible, but Omicron appears so far at least to be more mild. The answer is get vaccinated, get that booster, that's the core of it. In terms of travel decisions and everything else, I think and Dr. Chokshi will I think join in here, it begins with the vulnerability level of the person involved. If you're a more vulnerable person, be more cautious, especially because we're talking about limited period of time. We certainly want people to see loved ones. It's been a long time in many cases, but think about who's most vulnerable and work from there. If you happen to be in one of the less vulnerable categories, more options, but the people have the most options, the people who have the most freedom are the people who are the most vaccinated and that's what we want to keep emphasizing. Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. And Gloria, first, I just want to acknowledge that people are feeling so much pandemic fatigue right now. I get it, and particularly around the holidays after what has already been a tough year, you know, people are looking forward to getting together with their loved ones, celebrating, experiencing the joy of the season, and just having a chance to, you know, to be with the people that you love. So, I understand that. But as a doctor, I have to say, you know, even though we're all experiencing pandemic fatigue, this virus is not tired of us, and so we do have to take that into account. The single most important piece of advice I can give, and the Mayor said it already, is plan around the most vulnerable member of your family in terms of how you're thinking about these next few weeks. So, an older adult, someone who has an underlying health condition, a child who's not yet eligible to be vaccinated. We have to keep them in mind when we think about activities over the next few weeks, and particularly if you are vulnerable, you know, we should avoid crowded settings, particularly indoors, especially with people who may not be vaccinated or consistently wear masks or wear ventilation, maybe poor. We do want people to take that into account because with Omicron, the overall level of risk has changed in a matter of the last few days. With all of that said, look, there are things that we can do to shape our destiny, to protect people, and it boils down to this, get vaccinated, get your booster dose, if you haven't already take the precautions that we know work, wear a mask, move any activities outdoors that you can or crack open a window or a door to help with ventilation and distance where possible. If we bring all of this together, then I do think that we can now navigate these next few weeks as safely as possible. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Sam Raskin from The Post.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. Moments ago, Mayor-elect Eric Adams said that there is, “no daylight between the Mayor and I”, when it comes to COVID-19 policies. Do you take that to mean that he will enforce your private employer vaccine mandate given that he has not taken a clear position or definitive position on whether he will enforce it? [Inaudible] concerns from business leaders over it, and you have not said if the Mayor – the Mayor-elect has committed to you to enforce the vaccine mandate. So, has he committed to you to enforce that, given that he's saying there's no daylight?

Mayor: Thank you for the question, Sam. I'll always let him speak for himself. I think his words say a lot and his devotion to following the data, following the science, listening to health care leadership, which he has said repeatedly, and he has lived out those words. I think that says a lot too. Again, I'll let him speak to it. I will speak to it myself in my view that when we announced this set of mandates, including the one that will start on the 27th for the private sector, we knew Omicron would be a factor. But I said at the time it's beyond Omicron, it's also Delta, it's the winter months, it's the gatherings. There's a lot of reasons why we put that in place. We have now seen that – unfortunately that prediction has come true even more than expected in terms of Omicron, and the mandates are more important than ever. Go ahead, Sam.

Question: Next question is from a colleague Nolan Hicks, why did it take the city through three weeks to bring back more hours for testing after Omicron was discovered?

Mayor: Well, Sam, because we had seen a huge decline in testing demand, and even though Omicron initially appeared to be a new piece of the equation, we did not know how it would affect us. We only had experience from other places, we didn't know what the timeline would be. We did not know what the impact would be. So, as soon as we started to see what really would be the result, we have been ramping up testing, and we'll be ramping up a whole lot more. There is a lot – you heard Ted say it – a lot of testing happening here in New York City, more than almost any place else, there'll be a whole lot more behind it. But I think everyone has been surprised by the sheer intensity of Omicron, I mean our health care leaders as well. We saw a slow beginning and now a sudden upturn, we're going to meet it and we're going to find all the tools we need to address it.

And everyone, as we conclude, that's the key point. This city, every time we've been thrown new challenges, we find a way to fight back and we find a way to overcome the challenges. We will again, but I'm going to keep saying to you, we need you. We need all New Yorkers to be a part of it. If you haven't gotten vaccinated, get vaccinated yourself. If your youngest children haven't gotten vaccinated, we need them to now. If you haven't gotten a booster and you qualify, go get it today, right now. That's how we defeat Omicron, put these next challenging weeks behind us, and move forward with the recovery for all of us. Thank you, everybody.

2021-12-20 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. I want to start this morning with the big picture. We talked yesterday about the challenges we're facing with Omicron, and I want to just review the basics again, because it's so important. Omicron is a real challenge. It's going to be a very challenging few weeks, but the good news is based on what our health care leadership understands at this moment, we are talking about a matter of weeks. We're going to see a really fast upsurge in cases. We're going to see a lot of New Yorkers affected by Omicron. So far, thank God, based on everything we've seen so far, the cases are more mild than what we've experienced previously. But again, a lot of research we're still waiting for, a lot of evidence we're still waiting for. What we do know is that Omicron moves very fast. It's very transmissible. It moves fast. We have to move faster.

That's why we're focusing even more on vaccination. And we do know that vaccination helps address Omicron. So bottom line, fast spreading variant. We're going to see surge cases for a few weeks. Then we think we're going to see it start to trail off. The answer is vaccination. Getting folks vaccinated who are not yet vaccinated, getting folks to get those boosters makes a huge difference in terms of how people will do, working their way through this next few weeks, protecting themselves. Also has a lot to say with what our hospitals will experience. The more people who are vaccinated, the more people get the boosters. The better off our hospitals will be as well. And our health care heroes who have seen us through these last two years now. A lot of the same people every single day, fighting this fight. Do yourself a favor, do them a favor, get that vaccination, get your child that vaccination, get that booster. That is the key to fighting Omicron.

So, with that, I want to go into the fact that we will get past Omicron. We will continue our recovery in this city. Vaccination will be the key to all of this. And New York city continues to lead the way in this country in terms of huge numbers of people vaccinated and aggressive approaches to getting even more folks vaccinated. As of today, New York City has hit a couple of important milestones. We now have 6 million New York City adults with at least one dose of the vaccine. 6 million adults in this city have had at least one dose. And that number is climbing every single day. We're now over 600,000 of our kids who have had at least one dose and we're doing great, really great with the group of kids in that 12 to 17-year-old range. We got to get more progress though with the five to 11-year-olds. This is one of the areas where we need to move faster. I'm urging all family members, get your youngest kids vaccinated. So, it's great that 600,000 New York City kids have already been vaccinated, but we need to get to literally hundreds of thousands more.

And of course, the overall amount of doses in the city, outstanding, unprecedented, historic. More are coming. And that includes what's happening today with the mandate going in effect for childcare and early intervention programs. That vaccine mandate, going into effect for those employees. That's over 102,000 employees who work with our kids. And we got the question yesterday from the media. Is it important for kids to keep going to childcare? Absolutely. Dr. Chokshi was very, very clear about this. Yes, it's really important for kids who are in childcare programs to keep going for all the great reasons that parents put their kids in those programs to begin with. But also, because they're safe places for kids to be. All the health and safety precautions that are being taken in childcare programs in schools make them particularly safe places for kids to be. And obviously, the fact that we have put mandates on all the adults who work with kids, making sure those adults are vaccinated That is crucial. So, the bottom line is we need to keep our focus on vaccination. We need to realize that we have an amazing tool to fight back against Omicron. And most people, the vast majority of people are taking full advantage, but there's still more who could. And if we act urgently, it will make a huge difference right now, as we're in the middle of this challenge. Now I want you to hear from someone who understands as we start this mandate for childcare facilities, she understands how important it is to protect the people who do this crucial work and the children and families they serve. She has been a leader on issues of concern to families. She is focused on making sure we get resources where they are needed to support our families. She was the Chair of the Womens’ Caucus in the City Council and has done so much to help make sure people in her district get vaccinated. My pleasure to introduce Council Member Helen Rosenthal.

[…]

Thank you so much, Council Member. Thank you. As always, you do everything with passion. I know you've been passionately supporting the vaccination efforts in your district and around the city and it helps. And I want to just emphasize thank you, Council Member, and thank you to everyone who's out there doing the work, vaccinating New Yorkers. Our health care heroes are out there. The vaccinators who are out there, Test and Trace Corps, all these folks who are giving their all to get more and more people vaccinated, to get people their boosters. It makes a huge impact. And speaking of boosters, now over 1.7 million New Yorkers have gotten their booster shot. 1.7 million already. That's fantastic, but there's a lot more people who can get that shot and help protect themselves and everyone else. So, go get boosted today. If you qualify, get boosted today, it makes a huge impact.

And another reminder, as we continue using every tool we have, a week from today, the mandate goes in effect for the whole private sector in New York City. The vaccine mandate that we knew we needed in part because of Omicron. We had no idea Omicron would move this fast. Well, that mandate is even more pertinent now. We needed to keep us safe and we're getting a lot of cooperation from the private sector, understanding we've got to defeat Omicron. We got to avoid shutdowns. We got to avoid restrictions. We got to keep moving forward. Vaccination is the key.

Okay. Now, knowing that the challenges of Omicron, knowing that vaccination is the most important tool, let's also talk about another crucial piece of the equation, which is testing. Testing helps us on so many levels. It helps to make sure that each person knows where they stand. On the very personal level, when you get tested, you know what's going on, you know what to do. If you test positive, there's so much support there for you through our Test and Trace Corps. We'll get whatever you need, whether it is a hotel room to isolate in, whether it is food, medical support. Amazing array of supports all for free. So, if you test positive, there's a lot of help available for you. If you test negative, great. You know, you don't have COVID. But getting tested is absolutely crucial and making sure we have enough sites, enough resources, enough test kits. We're working on all these fronts. And not a surprise, we're finding the supplies are becoming a challenge because all over the country testing is going up suddenly. And we're seeing a supply problem that needs to be addressed. And we're working on that, working with the White House working with the private sector to get more supplies. But what we do know is we want to maximize the number of places that New Yorkers can get tested. So as of now, we have sponsored by the City of New York, 89 testing sites in all five boroughs. Those are both the brick-and-mortar sites and the mobile sites. 23 more sites are coming online this week. Three more mobile sites and 20 more brick and mortar sites. So, by the end of this week, we're going to have 112, 112 City-run sites in health care facilities, but also in other community settings, schools, libraries, community centers, you name it. So, there'll be 112 test sites up by the end of this week. To find a site near you, you can go to nyc.gov/covid test. And we're going to keep expanding test capacity constantly as we fight Omicron. And as we get more and more supply including in-home testing, which is going to be a really key piece of this puzzle, but another area where we got to get a lot more supply to meet the demand we are experiencing now. We are now testing in fact, more people than ever. 130,000 plus daily in the City sites. That is double the number of tests just three weeks ago. That's how fast things are ramping up. This intense effort will keep growing as long as we need it to grow, to address the demand.

And what we're trying to do as much as possible is get those in-home test kits in play, particularly where we're seeing long lines. Wherever possible, we're trying to, particularly at our City-run sites, if there's a long line, offer people the alternative of giving them an in-home test, that they can take home with them. Again, we need to get that supply up quickly to allow that to be an option for more and more people. But another reminder that testing's really important, particularly around the holiday season, to make sure you're in good shape to go visit everyone else and to make sure your loved ones are going to be safe. And obviously as per usual, if anyone is not feeling well, don't come in contact with other folks. You know, stay away from them while you get tested, while you find out what's going on. If you test positive, you need to quarantine, we'll be there for you. If you test negative, great. But testing becomes even more important in terms of protecting each of other and those we love and our families. I want you to hear more from our city's doctor on how to stay safe, particularly in this holiday season. My pleasure to introduce our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much as always, Mr. Mayor. And well, look, I know how much people have been looking forward to the holidays. But Omicron has changed the landscape and led to anxiety and confusion. So, here's my best advice about navigating the coming days and weeks. First plan your holidays around your most vulnerable family member. That may mean hosting a virtual gathering or moving activities outdoors or using masks, same day tests and distancing. I do advise older adults and others at higher risk to skip optional activities, particularly in crowded settings, at least for the next few weeks. For my own family, we've made some adjustments to holiday plans around my young daughter who isn't yet eligible for vaccination. We decided to postpone some out-of-town travel until sometime in the new year. Though, we will still find ways to spend time with family both locally and virtually.

Second, common sense precautions can help us lower risk and still enjoy holiday festivities more safely. Beyond meeting up outdoors, you can improve ventilation by opening up windows and doors. And you can limit gatherings only to those who are fully vaccinated to help reduce risk. Tests, high quality masks, and distancing, add more layers of safety as do booster doses. And I wanted to make sure to highlight the preliminary evidence announced by Moderna today that booster doses likely offer significant additional protection against the Omicron variant.

Third, the people that I am most worried about with omicron are those that remain unvaccinated. Please take extra precautions for yourself and for the safety of others, like avoiding travel. And remember that it's never too late to get vaccinated. Regular testing is particularly important for those who aren't yet fully vaccinated. Since demand for testing is high consider taking regular home self-tests since supplies will increase. And if you test positive after taking a home self-test, you should call your provider or call us at 2-1-2-COVID-19 in order to be linked to care. This holiday may not be the one that we envisioned, but we can still make it a safe one and a healthy one, and of course an enjoyable one. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Thanks as always for helping the people of the city know how to handle these challenging situations and ever-changing situations. But I will emphasize what Dr. Chokshi said, this is something we expect to be a matter of weeks, and we're going to overcome this as we have overcome every other challenge along the way. And I want to say one more thing about testing. It's our obligation, all of us who work for the City of New York, to make sure we get testing right. And yesterday I got some very good questions from members of the new media on concerns about test sites and things we have to do better. We've been working since yesterday afternoon to make some immediate improvements. And I want to say thank you to the members of the media who raised those questions and concerns, because it helps us to serve the public better. Special thank you to Mara Gay of the New York Times who had some very specific suggestions about how we could improve the oversight of some of the sites, which in fact we are going to implement right away.

So, starting today we're sending out supervisors from Test and Trace Corps to all of our private vendor test sites to make sure we have another measure of accountability. Again, we overall have had very good results from our test sites, including those run by vendors. But we want to make sure we have our eyes on them every day to make sure there's high quality and consistency. And that the hours are as stated. We also know there have been particular challenges because as Omicron is spreading, some of the people who actually work at the test sites have been sick and have been out. We are establishing a corps of reserve professionals that we can put into play quickly to keep each site to its stated hours. So, we're going to be doing more to make sure there's continuity, consistency, quality at the test sites. But we welcome the feedback from the media and we welcome the feedback from all New Yorkers to know how we can do better. And we're going to keep making adjustments and improvements every step along the way as we fight through this challenge, like we fought through all of them before.

Mayor: All right, good news in the world even as we deal with our challenges. Let's talk about our indicators. First one, always my favorite, a great number today, 12,974,734 doses to date administered. And we expect a lot more, again, people getting out there, getting those boosters mandates, coming into effect that number we want to keep pushing up, pushing up, but here are the challenges. Number two daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 today's report, 193 patients. Confirmed positivity, 35.05 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is now 1.80. And then new reported cases on a seven-day average, this increase we've talked about very sudden, we expect that to continue for a period of weeks, today's report 6,989 cases. Now a few words in Spanish about the importance of getting vaccinated to address Omicron.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

Mayor: With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning, we will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we are joined by Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals and Dr. Ted long, Director of New York City's Test & Trace. Our first question for today goes to Andrew Siff from NBC.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yes, Andrew, how are you doing today?

Question: Doing well, thanks for asking. I want to drill down on the problems in terms of the long lines for testing and the lack of availability in many neighborhoods across the city. Did your Office or the Health Department make a conscious decision last month to scale down testing by 20 sites? And if so, why was that decision made, given that even without Omicron, there was going to be a surge in testing demand ahead of the holidays?

Mayor: You know, Andrew let me start and I'll turn to Dr. Mitch Katz in a moment. We saw a very decreased demand at some of the sites. We moved to a focus on mobile sites where we're getting really good results and, obviously, Omicron then and change the whole picture. And we started to ramp everything up again, and we are quickly ramping up. So, we were responding to the experiences we were having, and we did not, and I've been very clear about this in what I said, we did not expect Omicron to move quite this quickly. And so, we are moving quickly to adjust, but we will. Dr. Katz. Can we hear him? Dr?

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: Yes, sir. Thank you so much. Well, I'm as cranky and demanding as any born in New York City person. But you know, I have to say the Test & Trace Corps doubled in the last three weeks its testing capacity. And I acknowledge that in-and that was just in three weeks, sir, that we did twice as many tests. So, yes, I'm sorry that demand was so enormous over the last few days, we did not anticipate so much news was about Omicron. We did not anticipate that the supply chain would run out of the home tests. In my own pharmacies last week, there were shelves and shelves of home tests to take care of the demand. When I went by yesterday, there were none. So, yes, we had a lot of people online and we appreciate that. We appreciate that New Yorkers wanted to get tested that they're following your guidance. I'm very pleased to say we're going to be opening new testing sites all of this week so that we have more than a hundred testing sites going. We have moved more to mobile testing sites and we do constantly close testing sites and move them to places where the demand is. that's part of our model. So, when someone says, well, we closed X site, that's only because our own Community Advisory Board said, you're going to reach more people if you move from here to there. So, we constantly are moving them to try to reach New Yorkers in the greatest of need. We're going to keep expanding to meet that need. And I feel really confident that New Yorkers this week will have a different experience than they did this weekend. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: When it comes to your assessment that Omicron is mild, and it's still based on preliminary data. Is this primarily looking at the hospitalization rates in South Africa and other countries right now? Is this from lab analysis of how it's interacting with people who are contracting it? How concerned are you that that conclusion might be premature?

Mayor: That's a great question, Andrew. I'm going to go back to Dr. Katz in a moment but let me say this. We have looked at all the things you mentioned. We've looked at the, the research as has been done. We looked at the experience in South Africa. We've looked at our own experience already here in the city, on the ground. And that's what we're seeing so far. I think it's absolutely right to say that's preliminary, absolutely right. To say, we're going to constantly need to learn more because that's the whole story of COVID for two years. But we are seeing certainly right now in our hospitals much better outcomes than what we would've feared and certainly than what we experienced, not only in the spring of 2020, but even last winter. We're seeing a much, much better experience. So that's what we know so far. But we are going to be vigilant and always looking for more evidence. Dr. Katz.

President Katz: Yes, sir, as you say COVID if it teaches nothing, it teaches humility. So we are, you know, constantly looking at data. We could be wrong, but at this moment it certainly looks like Omicron does not cause as severe disease as we've seen with Delta. One of the things that's positive is in general, it seems that when people are in the hospital, they have shorter stays. They do not need as intensive treatment as what we've seen before that part of that is that our own treatments are better. Part of it is that more of the people who get hospitalized now have been vaccinated. And so, they have immunity, or they have prior exposure to the virus, and they do not get as sick. So that has made a, it a major difference when people don't need to stay in the hospital as long, it prevents the hospitals from being overwhelmed. I think we'll know the answer in a week or two of exactly what proportion of New Yorkers who get COVID wind up sick enough to be in the hospital. But I can assure you, sir, that all of our hospitals have plans for how we will expand. We worked on it all weekends. We're doing fine right now, but if we do have to expand, I’ll remind New Yorkers, that when Health + Hospitals had to triple our ICUs in six weeks, we tripled our ICUs in three weeks, we're prepared. We know how to do this. If we have to do it, we will, but at least so far, sir, it looks like it will not be necessary to have that level of expansion. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Our next question goes to James Ford from PIX 11.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, everyone on the call. Can you hear me okay?

Mayor: Yes, James, you sound like you're on site somewhere.

Question: That is actually true. And by the way, my regrets for not being able to see you this evening with the appropriately canceled holiday reception for the press corps.

Mayor: We shall meet again.

Question: I look forward. Onto the questions, can you elaborate further about this supervision by the City of private testing sites beyond just making sure that they are, where they say they're going to be in keep their hours? Is there more that can be done between the City, regarding the sites, including letting people know where letting citizens of New York City know where those sites are and when they're supposed to be operating and ensuring that those sites return results in a timely manner?

Mayor: Really important question. So, I'm going to call upon, first, Mitch Katz, then Ted Long. And I want to do this. You asked two pieces that both matter a lot. One, how do we make sure things are functioning well and that the public knows if they're going to a site at the assigned hours, they're going to get a quality experience on time, et cetera. And then, of course, getting the results back. And I think the results question, James, is very different if you go to a public sector site than if you go to say an urgent care, we're seeing a radically different timeline, we're getting much faster results out of our City-sponsored sites than some of the private sites. So, I want both Mitch and Ted to speak to it with, but I want to start with Mitch because on the question of how you supervise and maintain quality control, I want to remind you that Dr.
Mitch Katz runs by far the largest public health system in America. And making sure all the pieces of this far-flung enterprise are working and working well is what he does for a living. And, obviously, he and his team and Ted running Test & Trace have applied those same principles to make sure these private vendors are doing their job. So, Mitch, if you could speak to how you make sure all the sites, including the private sites are running well and Ted, if you could particularly talk about the response time and the turnaround time on the tests.

President Katz: Yes, sir. Thank you so much. So, just to give a little bit of background Health + Hospitals runs some very large testing sites like Bellevue, and when somebody is out sick, it's very easy for me to replace that person. So, a large site, lots of nurses, lots of registration people, huge ability to move people around, but we also want to have some small sites because we can't have a Bellevue Hospital on every block. And so, part of our strategy of making testing as available as possible is having many of these markedly smaller sites. And what we experienced yesterday was that sites that might have say two people doing nasal swabs, one of the persons is sick because of COVID, not their fault, not anybody's fault. It's Sunday morning, they're sick. They call in, they can't come in. Those settings are more difficult, of course, for us to be able to immediately respond because they're not part of a large hospital where you can divert people from one function to another.

So, what you you've announced Mayor and we want to be clear is what we are going to do is we're going to send supervisors all around to the other sites, the smaller sites, so that we can constantly recalibrate staff and we can move people from one place to another. And also keep the public informed. Sometimes we've experienced moments where one site is very busy, but if people went to another site, they would experience a markedly shorter line. So, we want to make sure that people constantly have the correct information and know where they can go for testing. And I know Ted is going to talk about the response rates, but I'll just say how proud we are every time we hear someone say, wow, I got my results in one day at Health + Hospitals, but my friend went to a private site and they're still waiting three days later for results. Our response times are doing great. Thank you, sir. Thank you.

Mayor: Go ahead, Dr. Ted long.

Executive Director Ted Long, Test & Trace Corps: Yeah, thank you, sir. Just emphasize what Mitch is saying. When our staff call out, we're going to be holding back staff and deploying them based on our, our structure here and that's why we were bringing more mobile. Our staff are heroes. They take risks coming to work every day, cause they're testing people with COVID. So, I just wanted to say that, you know, I'm proud of our staff and if they call out it's because they themselves got COVID, but they're doing so much for our city and I'm very thankful that we have them. Now, in terms of our turnaround times, the fastest turnaround times in New York City are at our public sites. If I was to give you one piece of advice, I would say, go to nyc.gov/ COVIDtest. Find one of my sites, come here. We built our own lab to keep to control turnaround times, which are now around 24, sometimes up to 36 hours, but that's some of the fastest turnaround times for PCR across the city. So, come see us.

Mayor: All right. Thank you. Go ahead, James.

Question: Thank you. And then a related question on behalf of my colleague Henry Rossoff, what are the specific criteria for more drastic actions, including capacity limits and lockdowns? And are you hesitant at all to go there in your final days in office? Because it seems as if most leaders at this point are not really willing to cross that line.

Mayor: Yeah, it's be-I want to be very clear, James. I appreciate the question a lot. It's not about final days in office. It's not about what leaders are willing to do. It's about what's the right thing to do, and what's the right strategy to both save lives and also protect livelihoods. We should avoid lockdowns. We should avoid shutdowns. We should avoid restrictions. I've said this now for weeks and weeks, we can avoid all those things by getting more people vaccinated. So, I think there's a really sharp juxtaposition, James. I've been saying for a long-time, vaccination equals freedom. You get vaccinated, you have more personal opportunities, you get vaccinated, your whole neighborhood, your whole city can do more, can come back more, can recover, more, can maintain our life, and that's why we've been so focused on getting more and more people vaccinated. That's why we've used strong measures, incentives, mandates, everything we've got. So, in fact, we're going to double down now on vaccination to avoid shutdowns, to avoid restrictions. I do not see a scenario for any kind of shutdown because we are so vaccinated as a city, and because we have the ability to get a lot more vaccinated, that's where our energy should go. Another shutdown would have horrible, horrible impacts on the people of this city, but more importantly, it's not necessary if we keep getting more and more people vaccinated, we keep ensuring that people get tested, we keep reinforcing our hospital system, which is doing very, very well. We don't want to shut down. We want to vaccinate, simple as that.

Moderator: Our next question goes Jenna DeAngelis from CBS.

Question: Hi, Mayor de Blasio, wanted to know your thoughts on having the Billy Joel concert proceed at MSG tonight, a big event, obviously with people singing and drinking and taking masks off. Just your thoughts.

Mayor: Jenna, I think the first thing I'd say is that you've got a vaccine mandate for all indoor entertainment, and when you're talking about all vaccinated people, you're having a very different discussion right there. The challenge right now is for the unvaccinated and the challenge is when unvaccinated people are together with vaccinated people, but in that kind of setting, it is all vaccinated people, and that is absolutely crucial. Now I would urge everyone keep their masks on, obviously except for when they're eating or drinking something. Make sure if anyone's not feeling well, don't go to that concert, you know, all the basics. But right now, again, we want to keep this city moving forward, but in a safe manner, that means the focus on vaccination. Go ahead, Jenna.

Question: And also wondering if a plan is in place yet for new year's Eve, obviously that's on a lot of people minds heading into the holidays.

Mayor: Yeah. Jenna, again, New Year's Eve, right now, the starting point is we have the original plan that we announced with the crucial good elements, all vaccination, vaccinated folks only and outdoors. But we are looking at that again now in light of Omicron. I've said we'll make a final decision. We'll announce it certainly before Christmas, we're working closely with Times Square Alliance. So, folks who are planning on being there, be ready to, but if we have to modify those plans in a way, we're certainly going to let people know that in just the next few days.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Christina Veiga from Chalkbeat.

Question: Hi Mayor, thanks for taking my question. You opened this press conference saying to expect a rapid increase in cases, and that seems to be happening in schools right now. We're also hearing from lots of school leaders that the situation room is taking a long time to respond to positive cases, and I understand on from the UFT that staffing for the situation room won't be fully ramped up until the new year. So my question to you is what can be done this week, students are in school until Thursday, what can be done this week to make sure that schools are equipped to handle this increase in cases?

Mayor: Yeah, thank you, Christina. I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi in a second. First of all, let's start with the most important fact, that gold standard of health and safety measures in place in all our schools and the fact that all adults in our schools are vaccinated. That is why at this moment positively levels in the school lowered and anywhere else in the city. We have, as of this morning, four schools closed out of 1,600 and a positivity level just over one percent, obviously compared to a much higher level for the city. The situation room has been beefed up immediately. We saw just literally between, you know, Monday and Friday last week, a big sudden uptick in cases. We immediately beefed up the situation room and more help is coming quickly. So, we can certainly manage these next few days. And then there is a natural break, obviously, between the end of Thursday and when school comes back in January. So, we'll have time to beef it up further, but I'd really want to emphasize how safe the schools are and really give credit to everyone in the school communities. When we brought back school September 2020, herculean task and our school communities did an amazing job keep and kids safe and making something happen under really difficult circumstances. They did the extraordinary, this last September 2021, bringing back schools full strength while we were still dealing with COVID and making them incredibly safe. So, kudos to all the folks in the school communities of this city who did that? Dr. Chokshi, why don't you add to what I said.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. I just want to pick up where you left off though, which is to recognize the heroic efforts of our school staff who are delivering absolutely necessary, essential services for the kids of New York City. They've dealt with so many challenges is over the past two years and handle them with such [inaudible], and that extends to the staff that are supporting them in the situation room. We have doubled the overall number of staff in the situation room and will continue to expand that as needed in order to be able to support principals and other school leadership with the increase in cases that we're seeing citywide. There are a couple of things that I want to emphasize, which are important, not just for the short term, but also for the longer term. The first is to reiterate our guidance that for anyone who is feeling ill, meaning parents, if your child is feeling ill, please keep them home even if it's relatively mild symptoms because that makes a big difference for the entire school community. The second is to underline our push for vaccinating even more kids across New York City. As the Mayor mentioned, 600,000 New York City children are vaccinated with at least one dose already, but we're going to make even more concerted efforts, particularly for five-to-11-year-olds. So, the bottom line is that our schools are some of the safest places for our students, as well as our staff to be. It's because of those strict, layered protocols that we have, and we're going to continue to do what we need to meet the moment with Omicron. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you, very much. Okay. Go ahead – oh, I’m sorry, Christina, you have another.

Question: Thanks. So, we just heard the health commissioner encouraging folks to keep their kids home if they're not feeling well, on that note, we're hearing that schools are all responding to this increase in cases in their own way. Some are offering excused absences and remote work for those who are staying home out of health concerns and others are not. Obviously, it's not great if kids are home without any instruction, so can schools expect or can parents expect any policy guidance to ensure that kids have even access to instruction during this time?

Mayor: Yeah, I mean, look Christina, clearly our school communities had to – beginning with the absolute shock of March, 2020 – come up with a variety of tools to support kids and continue to improve upon those tools. So, right now we're talking about a four day week this week, because New Year's Eve is off. And again, overwhelmingly, we started this morning all of our schools open except for four out of 1,600. We had a meaningful number of classroom closures, but overwhelmingly the vast, vast, vast majority of our classrooms open. So, there will be some kids in this week that need to do things remotely and each school has come up with their own ways of doing that. But I think we should see this week as a time where all the tools we have in place can serve us well. What we need to do is of course prepare for when kids come back in January, and that's going to overlap with several weeks of Omicron being at a very high level, but then based on everything we're seeing now, by the end of January, Omicron should be dissipating and we should be seeing things get more back to normal. Now, again, that's based on the information we have now. So I want to emphasize that we're dealing with a temporary phenomenon. We have tremendous tools to deal with it because school communities have been so safe. When a school closes, obviously everything goes remote. When a whole classroom closes, that goes remote, we have those tools in place. But the final thing I want to say, Christina, and I really think this is a lot of the heart of the matter right now, every adult in our school vaccinated, and we want to get boosted if they qualify. Today's number on the 12-to-17-year-olds, 83 percent, amazing, want to go up and that's a great number. The area where we need more help is from parents of five-to-11-year-olds. We're at this point, just over 27 percent of that group vaccinated. We need those parents to get their kids vaccinated, get them vaccinated now or get them vaccinated once school ends, but when we go back in January, we want to see that number way, way up because that's, what's going to help keep school communities safe and keep schools moving forward.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Juliet Papa from 1010 WINS.

Question: Oh, hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everybody on the call. I wanted to follow up on James Ford’s question. So how are you checking on the accuracy of these private testing companies? Are they reliable? And what’s the criteria for that?

Mayor: In terms of the companies that we do our vendor relationships with, I'll start with Mitch Katz and go to Ted Long as well, because I think this begs again, the bigger question what Health + Hospitals does every day in their huge network that they have to protect the health and welfare of New Yorkers starting with Mitch, how you work with vendors to make sure they're doing their job? Ted specifically about the test sites. Go ahead, Mitch.

President Katz: Thank you, sir, and maybe I'll actually start for Juliet to just remind people that at there are other private testers in New York City that are not affiliated with Health + Hospitals and we’re happy for that. We're happy for anyone to come and fill the need. We know New Yorkers need tests but we don't have the capability for guaranteeing those sites or those tests. What we can tell you is that if you go to any city run site, whether it's Health + Hospitals or our sister department, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Test and Trace Corps, at those places. First the test is done at a very high functioning lab and I have great confidence in the results, and that we will be going out to all of the sites as Dr. Long explains, so that if there is somebody who is out sick, we can replace that person. That was really the issue yesterday is that we unexpectedly had people out sick and we need now to always have a reserve of people to replace them to our vendor site. So, we'll be going out, Juliet, we'll be checking on them, we always appreciate when the media or people tweet online, that always helps us. We are constantly moving resources around. We can’t always accurately predict demand. We do our best, but sometimes a particular community feels at risk and they go for testing and that's great, but it makes the line longer. So, I'm going to turn to Dr. Long for more information about our process. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr Long.

Executive Director Long: Yeah, Juliet, thank you for the question. So, we work closely with our vendors and from my perspective, they've been doing a great job. Again, the staff that go test New Yorkers every day really are heroes. They're the ones testing in front of everybody with COVID. Now in terms of how we work with our vendors, we even have a GPS system of tracking where the mobile units are, so we have a very good line sense knowing what's going on across our city. And now with one of the challenges as Dr. Katz said, is that unfortunately some of our staff, again, they are the heroes, are getting Omicron or COVID themselves. So, going to be deploying mobile units and additional staff to where they're needed the most working with our vendors, with a close supervision structure, but I'm confident this week is going to get better and better as we have a tighter and tighter structure in place, but I just really wanted to make the point, Juliet, our staff really are doing incredible work.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: Okay. Thank you. And Mr. Mayor, I know you just talked about – your, in discussions about New Year's Eve. Would you consider a hybrid New Year's Eve? You know, you would allow the outdoor activity, but no indoor activity?

Mayor: Well, again, we were talking about New Year's Eve, the formal event in Times Square. So, I want to make sure, Juliet, there's no misunderstanding here. The – I'm very, very clear about the city as a whole, the city's going to keep moving forward. I am against shutdowns, against restrictions, in favor of vaccination and thank God we have the high level vaccination we have, and thank God we have put in place strong mandates to guarantee even more vaccination. So, many, many things will be happening during the holiday season. The key is for people to be vaccinated, for people to get tested, again, if someone's not feeling well to stay home and to be really careful around folks who are particularly vulnerable, but for the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square, the outdoor celebration that the eyes of the world are on, we have what we've done historically for years and years, we have the kind of model that we used last year. We're looking at anything that will make this work best, but right now it is on, fully vaccinated, outdoors, of course, that's the plan, but we're talking to Times Square Alliance, and if we need to make any other modifications, obviously, working very closely with our health care leaders, we'll decide that in the course this week, we'll announce it before Christmas.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Steve Burns from WCBS 880.

Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Steve, how are you doing?

Question: Doing all right. Wanted to circle back on schools. You may have seen that a few city Council Members held a press conference this morning saying basically we don't know what the picture is in schools right now in terms of COVID because there's not nearly enough testing happening right now, and the sampling that we get from students isn't nearly wide enough to be, you know, a representative picture. So, I wanted to see if you could respond to that and, you know, what your level of confidence is that the amount of testing right now in school is adequate?

Mayor: I really respect the elected officials who raise the concern, but I think the people can answer that best are our doctors, and this question's been asked in recent days and we've answered it squarely, we're testing in every school, every week, the results are extraordinarily consistent and show very low levels of COVID. So, you know, if we were not in every school every week and we are seeing wild variations in the numbers, I mean that we maybe have a different discussion, but I think scientifically there's something that's been extraordinarily clear here, and it's for a reason. You have all those health and safety measures in place, you have every adult vaccinated, this is one of the safest places in the city by definition. It just – the facts. explain it, but it – lets Dr. Chokshi speak to the scientific question, do we have a good sample size? Do we have a good picture of what's going on the schools? Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And the short answer is that we do because of the testing that you've described, but let me back up for just one moment and explain that, you know, anytime there are cases associated with a school community, we do have to differentiate what's happening because of community and household transmission from what's happening with respect to school transmission. And the former, as we've been talking about now for days, we are seeing a surge in cases across New York City. We mentioned from the very beginning of identifying Omicron cases, that based on what we knew about this variant, that we were going to see community spread very rapidly and that is indeed what we are seeing. But when it comes to school transmission, I'll give you a few data points that help us to understand this. First, our in school testing positivity rate is at 1.18 percent. This is higher than what we've seen in previous weeks, but it remains relatively low. And another data point is that the number of full classroom closures that we have is 0.94 percent of classrooms. So, although it is a significant number and we would want to keep as many open as possible, when you put it in that broader perspective, what the, that tells us is that hundreds of thousands of students are benefiting from in-person learning and doing so in a safe way because of the protocols that we have put in place. Our goal is to make schools as safe as possible so that our kids can benefit from those educational and instructional times that are so important for them. So, the bottom line is this, our schools remain among the safest places to be in New York City, because of those layered precautions. We're dealing with Omicron as a city, you know, and in our communities. And we've got to take both of those things in concert together. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Steve.

Question: Thank you very much. And going back to the test vendors that we're working with here. I can also speak from firsthand experience, I waited here in Sunset Park outside for two-and-a-half hours, staff took a 45-minute lunch break. This was Saturday afternoon.

Mayor: Steve, tell us – Steve, I'm sorry to interrupt. Tell us exactly the site, if it was City-run, if it was private, because that's going to help us as we follow up. Then, continue with your question.

Question: It was, I believe, an ambulance – mobile van parked right outside Sunset Park, the park itself, which I believe is a City-run contracted site, if that helps you at all.

Mayor: Thank you. Continue.

Question: So, I know you said options are limited as far as supply goes. So, if these supervisors do go out and find problems, you know, what are your options from there in terms of consequences, finding a new provider? You know, is option kind of limited from here on out? Or, how do you kind of rectify the situation when you do find bad situations?

Mayor: That's a really great question. I'm going to turn to Mitch Katz, but let me talk about this first. I want to emphasize very humanly, a few weeks ago we had a lot of sites where very few people were coming to get tested. And it's understandable, if there's very little demand, if people need a lunch break during a day or something like that under normal situations. But now, we're seeing an extraordinary uptick in demand. We’ve got to go on a war footing. I think my colleagues and I would all say, you know, if this sudden surge caught us by surprise in terms of sheer ferocity, then that's on us to quickly rebound, make the adjustments, get the personnel where they need to be. We do have the ability to move a lot of personnel. And that's why I want Mitch to talk about this. He has a huge, huge workforce. He can make adjustments with that workforce to cover more places. In terms of the vendors and their sites, they've got to create consistency. So, whereas maybe before a lunch break might have been acceptable, it's not acceptable if there's a long line of people and they just need more staffing. And we need to demand that of them. That's on us to fix. You know, literally, Monday, last week, we didn't have this particular problem. We do have it this Monday. We’ve got to fix it. That's on us. But yes, there are – there is staffing to be found and to be put in play and we're doing that very quickly. Dr. Katz?

President Katz: Yes, sir. I can say, in three weeks, we doubled our testing capacity to deal with yesterday. I wish we could have quadrupled our testing capacity, but we are definitely on it. And, as you say, sir, it is up to us. Let me reiterate that the people who do the testing, whether it's at one of our hospitals or through a vendor, these are in fact heroes. They are coming very close to people with COVID without their masks on, because while the swabber has their mask on, the patient cannot, because you're swabbing their nose. So, it's not surprising that people got sick. None of what we found yesterday was malfeasance. Everybody was trying to do their best, they just couldn't do it with the number of people. So, we've now created an extra pool of people who we can send to replace people at lunch. People do have to take a lunch break, but it is – as you say, sir, it's on us to replace that person so that they can go and have their lunch. But that the testing line keeps moving. And with today, you'll see the sites will run better. Once we have enough home kits – that was a huge way we would make lines better, by offering people home kits. They work quite well. And as soon as the supply improves on that, that will be another tool to make the lines go fast, sir. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. The next question goes to Amanda Eisenberg from Politico.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good, Amanda. How have you been?

Question: I'm good, thanks. I won't be partying tonight, but, you know, in the sake of public health, we’ve got to do what we got to do.

Mayor: We’ve got to do what we got to do, but, but we'll always have volleyball, Amanda. That will be our memory.

Question: That is true. That is true. Mr. Mayor, I wanted to go back to the questions around lockdowns. Eric Adams earlier today had mentioned we can’t have a lockdown every time there's a variant. However, what I'm hearing from one emergency room doctor at New York Presbyterian had said, it's not really an issue of beds anymore, right? Like, [inaudible] just open Javits again, it's a staffing issue. And he's concerned that if we see a surge of even mild cases coming into the hospitals, it could flatten the hospitals just based on solely staffing shortages. And so, you know, that's a harder challenge than just reopening ICU beds. So, I was hoping you could comment on, you know, what does that look like in the case that we really are just seeing this massive volume rather than acuity of illness?

Mayor: Fantastic question. I appreciate it, because this is a conversation that we have had ever since the spring of 2020. In those really, really tough days, Amanda, when it looked like we were going to have to massively increase our capacity, everyone was thinking at first it was literally physical space. It was beds. It was, you know, ventilators. That was all true, but what became clear and clear was actually the toughest challenge was staffing. So, whenever we talk about how we're doing and where we're going, we actually make staffing the first consideration. You heard Dr. Katz earlier. It was quite possible for him to increase ICU capacity. He and his team at Health + Hospitals did that very, very agilely. We have much better supply than we used to have, obviously. And, thank God, hospitals are able to handle the cases a lot better. The treatments are a lot better. You don't have as many people on ventilators. But staffing's a real issue. And you're going to have a lot of people out sick for brief periods of time with Omicron. So, we've run this scenario a lot lately, talking about what it looks like. We still think – and I'll turn to Dr. Katz to elaborate, but we still think we're in strong shape because of the very high levels of vaccination, which do blunt the impact of COVID in general and Omicron specifically. Because the hospital is so much better at how they handle these cases, therefore the amount of staffing – Dr. Katz will talk about people who are intubated, how much staffing it takes when someone is versus when they're not. If you're able to deal with the cases better, faster, it frees up staffing. So, we do feel confident that we can sustain this hit for what we believe is only a period of weeks, because of all those other facts, especially the high level of vaccination. Dr. Katz?

President Katz: Yes, sir. You've explained it very well. It's all about staffing. In March 2020, it was not about physical space. It was all about staffing. And I am concerned about loss of staff due to Omicron. So, I'm not – at the moment, we are not seeing large, no of hospitalized patients overwhelming us. But I am concerned that our own staff will get Omicron and then will need to be isolated. And that will result in our having fewer staff. But we have run the scenarios, as you say. Starting this week, Health + Hospitals will be moving to almost all virtual visits in the ambulatory care area so that we can redeploy nurses and staff assistants into the hospitals, as well as to our testing sites. We’ll be able to maintain our appointments, because doctors like myself, and Dr. Long, and Dr. Chokshi – we’ll keep seeing our patients virtually. But we won't need the same support staff. We'll maintain skeleton crews in our clinics so that when people do need to come in, they can be seen. That will provide us additional staffing. We are currently increasing the number of registry staff and anticipation that we may have losses of our health care heroes due to the illness. So, we're preparing that with additional staff. And it is making a huge difference that the people who are being admitted generally are not requiring ventilation. When people are on a ventilator, you generally need one nurse at most taking care of two patients. When somebody is just needing oxygen, then one nurse can often take care of five, six patients well. So, we are going to focus on making sure that we deploy the correct staff, that we are moving – we will move patients around as necessary to our different facilities. We are very agile. We know how to do this. We are prepared. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Amanda.

Question: Great. Thank you so much. And this is, kind of, a follow up. I've been personally fielding a lot of questions from New Yorkers about reinfections and breakthrough cases. And I would love the medical professionals on this call to get better context than maybe I can as a lay person. I was hoping that you might be able to explain, like, why Omicron infections are expected to trail off in the coming weeks? And also, this, to me, seems like a flare-up situation. And with COVID becoming endemic, my understanding is we will just continue seeing flare ups as we kind of, you know, move past this main period of pandemic. So, I was hoping to get a better understanding from the medical professionals, just to explain, like, what kind of phase we are in the pandemic? What should New Yorkers expect in terms of – should they expect to be like flu season where they get vaccinated every year, and people are going to get reinfected? And understanding the science is still evolving on this, but I would really love just like a better explanation, a more succinct explanation about, you know, where we're at now and what New Yorker should expect, moving forward.

Mayor: Thank you. Very, very helpful, big picture question. I'm going to start as the layman and then Dr. Katz, and Dr. Chokshi. Because I've asked this question, Amanda – great minds think alike. I've been asking this question over months now, trying to hone, sort of, where are we going? My summary is this – Omicron, challenging few weeks, then starts to come down toward the end of January. The cold weather lets up, starting in March, and opens up more possibilities for us in terms of starting to move away from COVID and deep into recovery. The level of vaccination continues to rise markedly during this time, because of folks hearing, you know, the advice of doctors and also the strong vaccine mandates. So, you put those pieces together, you're in position to start 2022, go into the spring 2022 in a very different reality. Our hope, based on all the conversations I've had with the doctors, is, that in the course of 2022, you transfer to a reality where COVID is much more like the flu, as you described, where people need that annual shot or maybe a couple of shots a year as a maintenance. But it's much less central to our lives, much more in the backdrop. But that really will depend obviously on what happens also around the country, around the world. We’ve got to get vaccination levels up everywhere. But it's certainly possible that 2022 can be a transcendent year if there is a real push to deepen vaccination across the board. So, that's my layman's analysis. Now, Dr. Katz, followed by Dr. Chokshi.

President Katz: Well, sir, I think your layman's analysis deserves a medical degree just from the last two years that you've been going through this. I wish I could grant it to you, sir. I think you deserve it at this point.

Mayor: Thank you, brother.

President Katz: In terms of short-term, for reasons that no one really understands, COVID does seem to come in waves. You know, we saw this dramatically in India where very, very high – high rates of infection, hospitals running out of oxygen, horrible scenes, so distressing to watch – and then less, and then less, and then less. Nobody really understands exactly why you get the cycles. People raise issues of weather, and travel patterns, and life patterns. But it's not really understood. It is clear though that COVID comes in waves. And that is – South Africa is already – which had the earliest, some of the earliest and best data, because of the quality of their scientists there – have already noticed that the wave is diminishing. So, that's why we believe that Omicron is going to be quite severe in the sense of infections, not as severe in terms of hospitalizations. It will probably get worse before it gets better in terms of number of infections, but then we believe within mid-January, we'll start to see cases leveling off and things return to our new normal. In terms of long-term picture, humans are very adaptable. We will learn how to coexist with the COVID virus, just as we've learned to coexist with the virus that caused the 1918 Spanish flu. It's still circulates. Humans have learned how to deal with it. Whether that means that we're going to need yearly immunizations, that, I think, is a likely possibility, that the immunizations may need to change just as we change the flu vaccine formulations. I think that's a likely possibility. We have a lot of hope for some of the new medications, which are likely to be approved by the FDA by the end of the year, that with these medications we will be able, when someone tests positive, to be able to offer them a pill that they can take, which will markedly decrease the chance of serious illness. I think all of these things will eventually result in us being able to live with COVID. Thank you, sir. I turn to my colleague Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you very much, Dr. Katz. And, you know, I agree with the summary that you provided. I'll just briefly make a couple of additional points to your thoughtful question, Amanda, and focus on Omicron, because that is, you know, the threat that is before us right now. Yesterday, what I said was that we have to think about exposures, infection, and disease. And when it comes to exposures, turning into infections, what we're seeing is that Omicron is the fastest, fittest, and most formidable version of the virus that we've seen thus far. That doesn't mean that we're powerless against it. And that's where the precautions that we've talked about can really help us to slow the spread. But particularly when it comes to infections, turning into disease, that's where I want to rest a moment, because it is crucially important for us to understand how important vaccination is as well as hopefully additional treatments within the next few days to weeks. For vaccination, what we do see is that people who are fully vaccinated do appear to have a significant protection against severe disease – that means needing oxygen, or a hospital bed, or a ventilator – and that makes a very significant difference. The other thing that I want to emphasize is that we are not taking this passively, meaning we, as your public health leadership, but also we as a city. And the thing that will help the most is for people who are fully vaccinated to go and get your booster dose, because that will also help us to weaken the link between infection turning into disease. And as I mentioned earlier, for people who remain unvaccinated, that's where I get the most worried about those severe outcomes. And so, today is the day – you heard it from me before – to run, don't walk, to start getting the protection that vaccination affords. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Michael Garland from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayer. Good morning, everybody on the call. Thanks for taking my question. I was talking to a City worker today who is furious – if there are any plans in place for members of the City workforce to go back to remote? I mean, what I heard from this person was that many people are questioning why this isn't happening. And if there are plans in place or something you're talking about, how would that work?

Mayor: Bottom line, Michael, we've got a City workforce that's 94 percent vaccinated – 94 percent. And we've got a City workforce that works in locations where there's a real focus on health and safety measures. And we also need people, at this moment especially, to serve their fellow New Yorkers, to do everything that New Yorkers need to get through this challenge. So, that's our core – those are our core principles here. We'll look at different options, but there's no change to the approach right now. Obviously, anyone who's not individually feeling well should stay home. And supervisors will address their own situations in their own units. But the overall approach continues as is. Go ahead, Michael.

Question: And I wanted to ask you also about Mayor-elect Adams’ inauguration plans. Last I checked, he's planning to do his inauguration indoors at the Kings Theatre, you know, as opposed to doing an outside City Hall, as has been, you know, done in the past. Is this a good idea, given, you know, how quickly Omicron is spreading? Do you think, you know, perhaps he should look at changing his plans?

Mayor: Look, first of all, I'll say, the Mayor-elect has been constant working with our team and with, particularly, our health care leadership to determine the best way to go about things. And so, whatever final decision he makes, I know it will be based on the advice of the health care leaders. So, you know, let's let that play out. Obviously, there's some time to sort it out. But he has made very, very clear that that's how he makes his decisions and I commend him for that.

So, with that, I also want to say to everyone, given everything that's going on with Omicron, we are going to have another press conference tomorrow. We had a reduced number of press conferences as we were closing out our administration, but, given this immediate challenge, we're going to have another one tomorrow just to make sure we're providing some extra high-level information to people. And, everyone, look, New Yorkers should be so proud of what you have done this last two years to fight through this challenge. I think that last dialogue we heard in response to Amanda's question about where we're going with COVID was really important to remind us, this is not forever. This is a period of time. Omicron's going to be, looks like, a very brief period of time. But the key is to help each other, support each other, and, most importantly, get vaccinated, get that booster shot, get your child that vaccination. That's what makes a difference. And that's how we're going to make it through once again. Thank you, everybody.

2021-12-21 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. I want to talk about the news of the day from Washington and, also an important new announcement we'll be making here in New York City right now, but first I want to give you the big picture. Once again, we got to really focus on where we're at it, this exact moment, what Omicron means, what it means now, where it's going, what it means for New York City, what it means for all of us.

So, here's the bottom line, as Dr. Chokshi said yesterday, it's going be a challenging few weeks. There is no question about it. We're seeing a big upsurge in cases. Thankfully in general, they seem more mild. And thankfully our healthcare system is well positioned in this city to deal with it. But it will be a tough few weeks and we need to understand that, and we need to do everything possible to address that. But look, this is going to be a temporary reality and I want to emphasize that. What we're seeing so far from Omicron is a very fast upsurge and then goes back down again. It's based on what we've seen in other parts of the world, we are preparing for that kind of very fast scenario. And that means we got to keep focused on the big picture, which is to keep this city moving forward. To remember, we got to keep building our recovery. We got to keep everyone safe and the way to do that is vaccination. What unites all the strategies is vaccination. Vaccination is the way to protect ourselves against Omicron. Vaccination is the way to continue our recovery. Vaccination is the way for people to live their lives. Again, vaccination equals freedom. So, that's going to be our focus in all of our strategies. When it comes to vaccination, New York City is ready, and we need you to be ready too. We need you to do your part. Everyone who has not yet gotten vaccinated it's time, everyone who can get that booster, it's time, everyone who has a young child, not yet vaccinated, it's time. So, this City is ready to make sure that everyone gets vaccinated. Everyone gets that booster, and that's the way we move through these challenging few weeks.

And the other important point is, adamantly I feel this, no more shutdowns. We’ve been through them. They were devastating. We can't go through it again. In this case, we weather the storm because we were prepared with a high level of vaccination already. We are prepared with a strong healthcare system. We're prepared to get through. We need to all work together now to get through these weeks to come out the other side, continue our recovery, but no shutdowns, because that would devastate the lives of so many New Yorkers.

Okay, with that overview, here's the news today. First from Washington, good news, and very thankful to President Biden, who continues to come up with approaches to help address COVID continues to respond whenever New York City needs help. And I want to thank him for that. We've gotten word, there will be additional federal testing sites in New York City. That's going to help. There's obviously a huge demand for testing. We're increasing the City sites to 112 sites, fixed sites and mobile sites. By the end of this week, federal governments coming in to help they're going to be up and running in the next few days. That's extremely helpful and important. I've been talking to the President’s COVID Czar, Jeff Zients, who has been always responsive with his team, always responsive to New York City. We're trying to get a major new shipment of at home test as well. So, we're going to hear from the President this afternoon with more details. What we're hearing so far is going to be really helpful to get us through these next few weeks.

Now, when it comes to what we're going to do here, well, let's again, frame this, which we said start of this week, we now have over 6 million adult New Yorkers, who have had already one dose, at least over 6 million adults in this city have had one dose. That's amazing. Over 600,000 young people. That's fantastic, we need that number to go up more, but New York City has been leading the way with high, high levels of vaccination. It's made all the difference. It's made us strong and resilient compared to so many other places, but we got to double down. And one of the ways to double down is with boosters. Boosters are absolutely key at this moment. We need everyone to focus on boosters. If you're eligible, it's time, it will make all the difference. Now, we heard great news yesterday from Moderna, that their booster increases the antibody levels that are necessary to fight Omicron. And that is crucial. We have more and more evidence of the impact boosters can have in fighting off Omicron. This is a crucial piece of equation.

So, if you're vaccinated, that's great, but if you want that extra protection, go get that booster now. We want everyone, right now, as quickly as possible, to get those boosters. And we're going to make it even better for you with a new incentive and an incentive that is here just in time for the holidays, because every one of us knows we're out there shopping for our families. It would be nice to have a little extra cash. So, as of today, we're announcing a $100 incentive for everyone who goes out and gets a booster here in New York City, between now and the end of the year. So, it's a limited-time opportunity. Over these next days, get your booster shot, get a $100 incentive. It's going to make you feel a lot safer, a lot better that you got the booster, and you'll have some more cash in your pocket at the same time. That's going to be a good feeling, particularly this time of year. You can go to any of the City-run sites that, that provide vaccination, or you can go to our partner, SOMOS clinics and practices, as well. So, that $100 incentive you'll get that quickly. That is now, today, if you go and get your booster today through December 31st. So again, limited time opportunity, but exactly the time we need New Yorkers to go out and get their booster. This will be by far the biggest booster incentive program in the United States of America. And I want to see New Yorkers respond. This is the moment, come out and real big numbers, get those booster shots and help make your family safer and help make this whole city safer.

With more about why boosters matter and why they're so effective. I bring you the City's doctor, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi.

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor. More than a month ago, I issued a Commissioner's Advisory calling on everyone to get a booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine when it was their time and urging that providers not to turn anyone away due to eligibility considerations. That was because even then the science was clear about the benefits of booster doses. Since then, Omicron has made booster doses even more important and urgent. Yesterday, the CDC estimated that Omicron is now responsible for an approximate 93 percent of cases in the New York City region. But while the evidence is still emerging, thus far, it indicates that an additional dose of Pfizer or Moderna provides enhanced protection against both infection as well as disease related to Omicron. Pfizer released preliminary laboratory data showing a 25-fold increase in protective antibodies after a third dose. And yesterday, as the Mayor mentioned, Moderna release similar data showing a 37-fold increase. The way that we should think about this is that an additional dose helps keep your immunity up to date. Over 1.7 million booster doses have already been administered in New York City and I thank each and every New Yorker who has stepped up to increase their own protection and reinforce our vaccination wall against this new wave, but we have more work to do, and we must do it quickly. That's why I'm grateful that the Mayor announced the $100 incentive for booster shots across City sites. In total, over 1,000 sites are offering booster in New York City, just visit nyc.gov/vaccinefinder, or call 877-VAX-4NYC to get linked to one. Or we'll come to you, just visit nyc.gov/homevaccine to schedule a booster dose at home. We can all play our part in this booster sprint. I know many New Yorkers will be spending time with their loved ones over the next few days, even if only virtually. Please urge them to get their booster dose, particularly if they're older or otherwise at higher risk. And a special note for those who received the J & J vaccine, I recommend a booster dose of either Moderna or Pfizer for anyone vaccinated with J & J at least two months ago. That means time before October 21st. So, simply put, if you haven't yet gotten your booster dose, there is no better time than right now. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Chokshi. What a clear and powerful message. And listen, 1.7 million New Yorkers have gotten a booster already. That's amazing. That's going to help everyone to stay safe, but there's a lot more of New Yorkers who can get that booster and starting today, you get that $100 incentive with it. A great additional reason to come out, but really the most important reason is what Dr. Chokshi just said the impact of the boosters. So crucial.

Now, I want you to hear from one of the national voices on the whole challenge of the COVID era, and he has been speaking about the different strategies and approach of that are needed. And particularly recognizing this moment with Omicron. I want you to hear from him about what it means to focus on boosters, to have incentives like this, the kind of mandates we put in place on top of that. He is a Professor of Molecular Medicine and a cardiologist. He is the Founder and Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute. Someone who has really, really studied what we're going through and understands what we need to do to keep moving forward. My pleasure to introduce, Dr. Eric Topol.

[…]

Mayor: Well, doctor, thank you so much and, and you really laid it out beautifully, how important it is for everyone to get that booster. Look, as we've seen throughout, vaccination is the key but continuing to deepen the vaccination makes all the difference. And there's so many more people who would benefit from the booster. We hope this incentive inspires them further. And doctor thank you for your leadership, your strong voice, as we find the strategies that work to fight our way through the COVID era. Thank you very, very much.

Now, everyone, remember to get that incentive, you can go to any of the City run vaccination sites, and again, the sites run by our partner, SOMOS at their clinics and practices. So, all of those sites available where you can get the booster and get the $100 incentive. But I also want you to know there's another great option, which is at home vaccination. This is something we've made available for months and months. It's reached hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers really, really effectively. And any city resident who wants at home vaccination, it could be scheduled. A vaccination team comes to you, by the way, they can provide vaccination for the whole family, many people as want it, whether people need a first dose, a second dose or a booster, or if different people in the family are different points in their vaccine trajectory. The teams that come to your home, have the ability to provide whatever help you need. And the $100 incentive is available for every family member. That's crucial to remember too. So, if that's a better option for you, you can get at home vaccination and get the incentive for everyone who needs a vaccination. You can go to nyc.gov/homevaccine, nyc.gov/homevaccine to take advantage of that opportunity. And everyone, look, I'll just finish with this point. It's the holidays we want to protect each other, we want to get together with our loved ones, do it in a safe way. We all know the smart things to do because we've been through this now for two years. But the number one way to keep everyone safe is to get vaccinated. So, if you haven't gotten that booster shot, go out right now and do it, makes a big difference. Go get it right away. Get that $100 incentive.

Okay. Every day we go over our indicators. Let's do it again today. And again, number one, this is the key, vaccination. And this number keeps climbing. We need to climb more. So, doses administered to date, 12,988,773. That number's going to hit 13 million very soon and then keep going. But now we start to see the numbers that tell us just how fast moving Omicron is and what an impact it's making. Number two daily, number of people admitted to New York City hospitals, for a suspected COVID-19. Today 200 patients as of today, confirmed positivity, 50.24 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is now 1.93. So, these numbers have moved a lot. Again, our hospitals are doing very, very well addressing it, but this is going to be an intense few weeks. We got to get ready for that. And then number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average, and this is really striking, the case numbers have jumped up obviously, 9,297 cases. And that will continue to rise over the next few weeks. Where you are going to have to get ready for that in a lot of ways. But the most important thing, the reason New York City is ready is the high level of vaccination already. We got to double down on that. Okay, going to do a few words in Spanish and this on the incentives for the booster.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish:]

With that. Let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q and A. As a reminder, we are joined by Health Commissioner, Dr. Dave Chokshi, Dr. Ted Long, Executive Director of the New York City Test and Trace Corps, and Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals. Our first question for today goes to Aundrea Cline-Thomas from CBS.

Question: Good morning, everybody. And happy holidays.

Mayor: Happy holidays. How are you doing, Aundrea?

Question: I'm great. Thank you. Mr. Mayor, your vaccine mandate for City employees in October required proof of at least one dose of the shot. Has your administration followed up to ensure that City workers are now fully vaccinated? And will you issue a booster mandate or urge Mayor-elect Adams to do so in light of the Omicron variant?

Mayor: Yeah. Aundrea, thank you very much for the question. And I'll turn to Dr. Katz, so he can speak about the experience with his agency, with Health + Hospitals in terms of that follow up to make sure people get that second dose, the answer there is decidedly, yes. The idea was get that first dose immediately if you hadn't gotten it. But then there is a stipulated timeline to make sure you get your second dose when you're under one of those mandates. And to the other part of your question, we're certainly looking at the question of adding boosters, we are in discussion on that. We will be in discussion certainly as well with the Mayor-elect and his team. We don't have a decision on that yet, but we'll have more to say in the days ahead. But as to how we make sure that on the current mandate people get, not just the first, but the second dose, Dr. Katz, why don't you describe the experience you've had?

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes, sir. We track with everyone, when they get their first dose, when their second dose is due. We remind them and just as people were required to get the first dose, they are required to get the second dose. And if people do not get that second dose, we do require that they stop coming to work until they get that second dose. So, we are very tight on that. We feel very strongly that once people are due for the second dose, they have to get it. I will say, sir, that it's much easier, we have not had much issue with people getting the second dose. People have needed reminders, but we have not had any experiences of people who absolutely felt they couldn't get a second dose once they had already gotten a first dose. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Aundrea.

Question: What about this $100 booster incentive? How much money do you have to spend for this initiative and where is it coming from? Does it affect any other programs?

Mayor: No, Aundrea. It does not affect other programs. Obviously, everything when it comes to fighting COVID is a budget reality and a budget necessity. We make it a priority in terms of where we spend the people's money to fight COVID first, because that opens up the door to recovery and everything else. So, it will not affect any other initiative. This is a limited time, but we hope a lot of people take it up because it will be money well spent. So, we're talking about from today through December 31st, and we will simply make it a priority to spend whatever it takes. We need to get the folks to get these boosters. That will be the difference maker.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Andrew Siff from NBC.

Question: Hi, good morning. Can you guys hear me?

Mayor: Yes, Andrew, how are you doing today?

Question: Good. I wanted to start with a question about schools. We are hearing from principals, parents, and others that they're not getting clear answers from the situation room about a growing number of COVID positives in the schools. And many describe it as a confusing reality. They don't know if schools, if any individual schools close anymore? If there's a hesitancy on the part of the City to close the school, even if there are dozens of positives there? Can you clarify what's happening with the situation room and what's happening with schools right now?

Mayor: Absolutely. We have doubled the staffing of the situation room. We're applying the rules we've had over the last few months consistently. We have four schools that are closed out of 1,600. We have hundreds of classrooms closed, but that's out of 48,000 classrooms. So, we definitely see an uptick in terms of cases, but again, against a backdrop of a school system that has, you know, the highest conceivable level of vaccination in terms of the adults, and a huge number of health and safety measures. So the school system, the amount of COVID in the schools is about, you know, one fifth, the amount you're seeing in the rest of the city. We've got today, tomorrow, Thursday, and then of course there's the winter break. So things are moving, I’m going to turn to Dr. Chokshi who spent a lot of time working on the connection to schools and making sure that the policies we have used really keep schools safe and he can speak to what we're seeing overall in the schools right now. Go ahead, Dr. Chokshi.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you very much, and sir, I would just add briefly, you know, we are seeing cases increase across the city, as you know. We're seeing community spread and that does affect what we're seeing in our schools as well. But remember, this is why we put all of those layers of safety precautions in place in our schools, the levels of vaccination, masking, distancing where it's possible, testing, all of these things work in concert to make schools among the safest places where kids and staff can be. We do bring to bear our tools around quarantine when necessary school closures when we are seeing evidence of transmission occurring in schools, and because cases are higher we have seen an increase in using those mechanisms as well, although as the Mayor has pointed out, the vast majority of classrooms and the vast, vast majority of schools remain open so that our kids can benefit from the in-person learning that that provides. The last thing that I'll say is just to reemphasize, there's one really important thing that parents can do, particularly if you have a child who's five-to-11-years-old and that's to get them vaccinated. We do need to get those vaccination rates up because that will help both for the near term as well as the longer term. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you, and Andrew, just before your second question, just an update. I had the number at the end of yesterday, as of this morning, it's actually seven schools close out of the 1,600, seven schools just to clarify by that. Go ahead, Andrew.

Question: Yes. The question on the federal testing site, and you indicated we're going to be getting details on this later today, wherever it is, the Javits Center, whatever mass site, I wonder, what do you envision as to how effective that can be given that people have developed a pattern of going to get tested in their own neighborhood or near where they work, and do you think it's too late in terms of Christmas being just days away?

Mayor: Oh, it's not too late at all, because it's not just about Christmas, obviously. It's about these next few weeks, and as best as possible getting ahead of it. The no –it's value add for sure. We want as many sites as we can get. I agree with you that with testing, like with vaccination, the best efforts are done at the neighborhood level, at the grassroots, that's how we reoriented everything to decentralize. You know, originally you'll remember the State had a lot of mega sites. We found people were not using those enough. We went to a different approach, really grassroots and decentralized, but given the high demand for testing, unprecedented because Omicron, more sites are better. And if folks are finding lines somewhere and they see another site where there aren't lines, they'll gravitate to the new site. So I'm very happy the federal government is doing this because more is more in this case.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Emma Graves Fitzsimmons from the New York Times.

Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. I wanted to ask about holiday travel. So Dr. Chokshi said that he canceled his holiday travel plans. Dr. Varma said on Twitter that he was canceling his trip to the west coast. I unfortunately canceled my trip to Texas with my family. We all have young children who cannot be vaccinated or high risk relatives. Are you advising people not to travel out of town for Christmas?

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, and first thing, I'm sorry for you and your family, Emma, that you couldn't take the trip and especially painful because so many people been waiting for so long to see their loved ones. What, well, first thing I want to say, I'm the layman, and Dr. Chokshi will be the expert, but I want to speak to my fellow New Yorkers about think about those who are most vulnerable in your family. I think that's the best way to think about it. If you've got folks you're going to see, or folks who are traveling, who are in those particularly vulnerable categories, oldest New Yorkers or folks with serious preexisting conditions, obviously the most important thing is to keep them safe. If you have – if you're traveling with folks who are less vulnerable, that's a different reality, and as you said, if folks who can get vaccinated versus can't get vaccinated, whether people have gotten that booster, there's a lot of factors. So, I don't think it's one size fits all. I do think it's, you know, proceed with caution and think about the people I'm most vulnerable in your life, and Dr. Chokshi, now you can be the real expert.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and I agree as well. And first Emma, I'm also sorry to hear about it. I know many people have had plans upended, I hope you and your family still enjoy wonderful holiday season locally. Well look, these are my recommendations. I have a very clear and strong recommendation if you are unvaccinated, you should not travel. That's for your safety as well as the safety of others whom you'll be in contact with, on the other end of the spectrum, if you are fully vaccinated and you have your booster dose and you are not in one of the high risk categories then it is safe to travel if you take precautions, meaning wearing a mask at all times during your travel, you know, you can consider using a higher quality mask as you're doing so and of course the common sense precautions like washing your hands and taking other steps to protect yourself. It's the in between category where as the Mayor said, people do have to calibrate their individual risk and the most important consideration is the vulnerability either of yourself or the family members that you're traveling with. And I do advise caution if there's a borderline case, if you have any question and it is optional, then I would consider avoiding it at least for the next few weeks. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Elizabeth Kim from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to go back to something Dr. Katz said about how H + H is following up with its employees on whether they're getting that second dose and that if those employees don't get the second dose, they're asked not to report to work. I'm wondering if the same level of due diligence is be being done by the DOE?

Mayor: Yeah, Elizabeth, this is something that's been across – thank you for the question – it's been across all our agencies, that the mandate was clearly from the beginning to get everyone fully vaccinated, and that started would get in that first dose. And obviously in terms of getting people to the first dose, it was wildly successful because 94 percent of the city workforce is now vaccinated. But we knew from the beginning that overwhelmingly anyone who got a first dose came back for a second dose, anyway, even if they didn't have a mandate. When it's a mandate, we obviously have a further tool to ensure they do. So, systematically across all our agencies, the instruction has been when someone gets to that point where they can get a second dose, it's time to remind them, put a timeframe to it in which they have to get it. If they don't get it, then remind them that there is the risk of a sanction and we're seeing people getting those second doses. That's the bottom line. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

Question: My second question is about at home or self-administered tests. If my memory is correct, I remember that, you know, at the beginning of the school year around September, you and your health officials had kind of teased some potential news on at-home testing. And then later on I asked, you know, whatever happened to that news on at-home testing, and if I remember correctly, Dr. Chokshi said that they had been thinking about it, but they were uncomfortable with the fact that the city was using PCR testing in the schools, and then to introduce this other different antigen test, it would be apples to oranges. I'm wondering, given the fact that, you know, it seems like we're moving toward self-administer tests, whether the thinking on that is going to change after the holidays? And I'm wondering if the at-home tests also get around the low opt-in rates at some schools for testing?

Mayor: Well really interesting question, Elizabeth, and thank you. And, you know, I will say the reality over time has been, one, trying to make sure that the testing we had was available, first and foremost, and trying to have a consistent approach. And so, you know, clearly at times we've had supply issues around at home tests among other challenges, but I think where you're going with your question is important. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, that, you know, we want to provide the options that are going to work and that people want to use, obviously. And when there's lines, the most obvious example in the world, when there's a line that's discouraging to people, if you can give them an at-home test, that's encouraging to get them to do it. If an at-home test empowers parents to get more information about how that kid is doing, that's good for everyone. So, I think over time we've seen this can be a great tool to use, but the challenge still is having reliable supply, and that's been obviously an issue in these last days that we don't have yet the kind of supply we ideally want to have. Dr. Chokshi, you want speak to the overall picture with at home tests?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. Thank you so much, and the most important point is the one that you made, which is that with an increase in supply there are more avenues available for us to use those rapid at home antigen tests, and we want to bring those to bear immediately given the unprecedented demand that we're seeing for testing. With respect to your thoughtful questions, Elizabeth, I did want to distinguish between two parts of at home testing. The first is have at home PCR testing, which thanks to Test and Trace and Dr. Long, we do already offer to close contacts and that includes students who are close contacts. So that has already happened over the last several months. But the other part of it is what we were talking about, which is a at home or sometimes called rapid antigen tests, which we also do want to expand the use of, but there are many different categories of that expanded use of which schools will be an important one, which again, when the supply increases, we expect to deploy more and more. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Steve Burns from WCBS 880.

Question: Morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you today?

Mayor: Good, Steve, how you doing?

Question: Doing well. First, I wanted to go back to the news from Washington, any indication at this point where those federal testing sites might be and what kind of scale they might be like, are we talking a tent on a street corner? Are we talking something like the Javits Center?

Mayor: I know Dr. Long's been talking to Jeff Zients’ team and we'll see if he has any update on that. We are waiting for more details, obviously, but I will say to you, Steve, every bit helps and we welcome the help both in terms of the fixed testing sites, and we need a lot more of the at home test kits, so we need and we welcome any kind of federal help. Ted, you have an update on anything on the details of where and how big the sites will be.

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test & Trace Corps: Thanks, Steve. We're in great conversations with the White House. They're sharing details with us every minute that goes by. As soon as we know, you will know.

Mayor: There's an answer. Go ahead, Steve.

Question: Thanks very much. And back to testing, I mentioned Sunset Park yesterday, the line today is probably about three hours again, you know, people desperate for a test freezing their butts off because there's no better option at this point. So, I mean to the layman, it just seems like this is a problem crying out for a much larger solution than just a, a few more sites here or there. Seeing some experts suggesting maybe we prioritize in-person testing for health care or essential workers and drastically ramp up home tests for everyone else. I mean, are there any more kind of expansive game changing solutions we can look at here? We just kind of stuck with this for the foreseeable future.

Mayor: It's a really important question. I think we got to help people understand what's going on here and I'm going to turn to Dr. Katz in a second first and then Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Long, anything they want to add. Steve, I think there's sort of a – because this came up so fast and this was not what our health care team projected, we obviously expected Omicron to make a big impact, but not with this shocking speed. We have had to make adjustments very, very quickly, but the problem is when it comes to testing, there are just supply constraints, it's a reality because this level – we've never seen anything like this before. And remember testing's crucial, but job one is still vaccination. So our first and best efforts are placed on vaccination, and I want people to understand this because it is crucial, testing it really helps us, but vaccination is the real weapon to defeat COVID, and right now we're seeing more and more people coming forward for a first dose or second dose or a booster, and we need to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible. So, that's where our first energies and our first resources are going to go. But with testing, even though we're going to have 112 city sites up this week, and obviously a huge number of private sites, the demand is just unlike anything we've seen before and what would relieve it would be a large supply of at-home test kits, and we cannot get that at this moment from either the private market or federal or state government. We expect a big shipment to come in soon, but we don't have it at this moment. So, that's just a pure supply problem we're banging into. Last thing I'll say before I turn to Dr. Katz, there are test sites that don't have those lines, and I really want to urge people, if they're able, to track, you know, online, the places that don't have lines and if possible, get to sites, because there are still plenty of places where we're not experiencing what you're seeing in Sunset Park. Dr. Katz, you start.

President Katz: Yes, sir. You're absolutely right. We're not having long lines at all of our sites. I'm sorry, we're going – to hear the Sunset Park is still having a long line and we're going to dispatch as soon as possible to Sunset Park to see if we can help. But other sites do not have long lines, and I would also tell people that due to the great efforts of the Test and Trace Corps, we've done double the number of tests that we were doing three weeks ago. Yesterday, I was talking with the head of Elmhurst Hospital and they did more tests yesterday than they've ever done. We have since, by going to virtual visits for our ambulatory areas, we've sent staff to all of our testing sites that all of the hospitals. I would encourage people if they can get to an H + H hospital because of the large size, they're much more likely to have a short wait and get that test done. But as you say, sir, so the ultimate solution is having the home test kits that work for us well, when we had long line. We would send someone to offer tests to people starting at the back of the line. We found that people accepted those tests, and ultimately, as soon as we get those tests, we feel the situation will get markedly better. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: And Dr. Katz, thank you. And I want to, for the sake of Steve's point – and thank you, Steve, for telling us about the Sunset Park problem, we really appreciate when our colleagues in the media alert us to a problem. I want to amplify, Mitch, the importance of getting additional mobile units or additional personnel to that site to leave some of that pressure. So, I know you're focused on it. But I just want to say publicly to Steve, that's our game plan right now to try and improve things at that site quickly.

President Katz: We're on it, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very much. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: I will just add very briefly to say that as soon as the supply of rapid self-tests arrives in New York City, we have an assembly line to get it to all of the sites, all of the City sites to be able to help with those lines that we're seeing. So, we have a plan in place for that as soon as there is a resupply. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Paul from the Staten Island Advance.

Mayor: Paul, can you hear us? Paul?

Moderator: We lost Paul.

Mayor: Well, we’ll come back to Paul.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Reuvain from Hamodia.

Mayor: We'll come back to Paul soon as we can get him. Go ahead.

Question: Good morning.

Mayor: Hey, Reuvain.

Question: Hi. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I would like to ask, for years, social justice activists have pointed to the issue of disparate impact when determining whether a certain policy was racist. So, regardless of the intent, the question was whether it impacted minorities disproportionately. Right now, 64 percent of black adults are vaccinated, that's an increase of one percent from last week. That means in one week from now, 36 percent of black adults will be unemployable in this city. Doesn't that make this a racist policy?

Mayor: No. Thank you for the question. And you raised this, I think, last week. Again, people respond to mandates. Look at our City workforce. Many, many of the people who are part of our workforce, as you said, Black adults – well, obviously, that's a lot of the folks who work at Health + Hospitals and many other City agencies who, when the mandate came effect, overwhelmingly, went and got vaccinated. You're talking about the overall workforce at 94 percent, Health + Hospitals at 95 percent. So, the jury has come back, Reuvain. People respond to mandates and they do get vaccinated. So, this is how we help make sure it happens for everyone. Go ahead.

Question: Mr. Mayor, as I mentioned in my question – I know, I did ask it last week and you said that you thought people would go get vaccinated, because of this mandate. But there was – in more than a week, the rate of Black adults getting vaccinated has gone up one percent, from 63 to 64. So, I'm not sure how you could say that there's going to be a big increase. But I do have to move on to my second question and it's for Dr. Chokshi. You've mentioned, Dr. Chokshi, that even if people are vaccinated, even if they do get – that once people are vaccinated, even if they do get infected, it'll likely to be a relatively mild case. I'd like to ask Dr. Chokshi, do you have similar data for natural immunity? That if people get infected after having a prior infection, will their case be more mild than a first-time infection? Do you have that data? And if no, why not?

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, go ahead.

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes. Thank you, sir. Thanks, Reuvain. You've also asked this question previously, and the short answer is this – we do know that prior infection confers some degree of immunity and protection, you know, not just from data that that we have in the United States, but from around the world, that seemed to be more true before Omicron came about, meaning that because of Omicron's greater ability to evade the immune system, someone who has only had prior infection and is not vaccinated is at much higher risk for a reinfection and potentially a severe reinfection, although we do not have rigorous data on that from around the world just yet. And so, the upshot is that my public health recommendation remains the same. For anyone who was previously infected, I recommend that you get vaccinated, and Omicron has underlined the urgency of doing so. Thank you.

Mayor: Amen. And I hear are we, unfortunately, have lost Paul from Staten Island Advance. I think we have two more left. Go ahead.

Moderator: That's right. Our next question goes to Nolan Hicks from the Post.

Question: Hey. Good morning, everybody. Is this thing on?

Mayor: Hey.

Question: Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah. How are you doing, man?

Question: I'm all right, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: Good.

Question: I just – I have a couple of clarifying questions and I’d just like to just run through them real fast. The hundreds of school classrooms are closed, is there a hard figure for that?

Mayor: Yeah. The one I have here, 359.

Question: All right. Thanks Mr. Mayor. I, like so many New Yorkers, have depended on Health + Hospitals for testing – coronavirus testing throughout the pandemic. And I'd just like to take a couple of seconds to, sort of, go over, sort of, my experience yesterday, trying to get a test, if you'll indulge me. So, I went to the old Cumberland Hospital in Fort Green. The line was, give or take, an hour long. There weren't any of the rapid tests available for folks who needed to come or go. At Cumberland, it's open for testing from nine till 3:30 PM. So, anyone who needs to come in before work doesn't really have an option. Anyone who wants to come in after work doesn't really have an option. And you have to, sort of, schedule your test in the midst of the school day and in the midst of the work day, which is hugely inconvenient for a lot of folks. Additionally, the Cumberland testing site is the only publicly run walk-in testing facility for Fort Greene, for Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Dumbo, Prospect Heights, and a whole slew of other parts of, sort of, the waterfront and, sort of, the western sections of Brooklyn. And you know, you guys keep talking about how it's important that folks who need a test go to the publicly-run sites, but for this vast swath in Brooklyn, just to use it as an example, it's hugely inconvenient. So, I guess the question is, we're two years into the pandemic. You are treating the City-run sites as, sort of, the option that folks should opt for and yet it seems like they're hugely unavailable. Is this the best we can do?

Mayor: Well, thank you for sharing the experience, because this is exactly what we need to keep hearing and adjusting to. And, obviously, look, we have people out all over observing what's going on, making adjustments, but hearing from the media helps as well. So, by this week, we're going to have 112 sites between the fixed sites and the mobile sites. We can keep working every day to increase that number, but the other thing we've said that will make a huge difference is the – having more and more available the test kits, because that gives people another option. We just haven't had that supply. As I've said, we've tried to get from the private market. We tried to get it from government. Hasn't been here yet. We really, really need it, and we need it quickly. But as I turn to Dr. Katz, who can answer in greater depth about what adjustments will be made, going forward, including things like hours and all, I want to remind you, Nolan, that, in the end, as much as testing is crucial, the first thing we need to do with our resources is focus on vaccination. I keep coming back to this. There are still a lot of people getting vaccinated and, in particular, a whole lot of people coming in for those boosters and hopefully the incentive will get even more. That is the strategic impact. We want people to get tests. We want it to be as convenient as possible. We want it to be as fast as possible. But the number-one thing we’ve got to do is get more people vaccinated. That's what's going to make the bigger difference to get us through these next weeks and beyond. Dr. Katz, why don't you respond to some of the details of what Nolan said?

President Katz: Yes. Nolan, I'm sorry that it wasn't a better experience at our facility yesterday. I will say that many of the private facilities are reporting three-hour waits, not one-hour waits. And that part of why the Mayor always urges people to go to public sites is that we have the fastest turnaround for results, that we get results to people on average in 24 hours. Obviously, no matter how short the wait time is, if you're not getting your results for three days, it really impairs the ability of the test to change behavior and to enable people to seek the right treatments and isolation if necessary. What we are doing – and it will be seen as early as today – is we are at sites like Cumberland, where we normally have in-person visits. We are switching all of the visits to virtual visits so that the doctors will continue to see the patients virtually, but then we will have the registration staff and the nursing staff all working the testing sites at places like Cumberland. And that's going to allow us to both extend the hours and shorten the wait time. So, starting today, that's in place. Again, as the Mayor has said, having home kits makes a huge difference, because we can then go through the line and offer people those home kits, shorten the line. People can then use us for when they really need to get that PCR. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Nolan.

Question: Thanks, Mr. Mayor. If I could just [inaudible] sort of, other observations about this, if you'll just indulge me. And then, I have a second question. If you were to go to the City's testing website, nyc.gov/covidvaccine, which you suggested folks visit on a fairly regular basis, there is an active map of locations that are in theory available in the city. But that interactive map frequently does not include the mobile sites that are either contracted out by the Health Department or Health + Hospitals, does not include the by-appointment rapid testing sites also run by the Health Department, nor does it provide any way to sort out what is a privately run testing site and a publicly run testing site. And, to me, it's just sort of remarkable that, again, two years into the pandemic, we don't have a, you know, sort of, coherent hub for all the City-run testing facilities online. But to the emergence – and if that could be addressed or fixed, I think that that would help a lot of folks, especially if you're trying to push them towards getting testing through the City-run labs. But, sort of, additionally for everybody who's getting sick now, I was wondering, is there any update to the guidance on what folks should do when they do get sick? Is the quarantine still expected to be 10 days? Should folks, even if they're, you know, testing positive, but asymptomatic stay at home? How has the new variant changed the guidance in terms of what folks do, should they test positive?

Mayor: Yeah. And I would say – I'll turn to the doctors on the first piece. I think on the second piece, the guidance is the same. It's just very, very clear, that 10-day quarantine. But let's focus – and, obviously, if any of the doctors want to add on the guidance, that's great. But let's focus on your first question, which is very important about the clarity of the information we're putting out to the public and whether it is inclusive of the sites, including the mobile sites. So, I'll start with Dr. Katz, and then Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Long join in. In terms of how much and how clear the information we're putting out is, and any adjustments we need to make, starting with Dr. Katz.

President Katz: Thank you, sir. And I'll go right after I presser and look again at the site. I've been to it, but I'm going to look again given these questions. It is a true statement, we do not have the mobile units on the website, because we keep them in movement. They don't stay in the same place in any given day. And so – I mean, I don't know that that's a fixable issue. We deliberately move them, especially when we hear of another site that is overwhelmed. One of our first actions is to look to see if there's a mobile site nearby that we can move to that other site. The website does show that it's a Health + Hospital site, or that it is a T2 site, or a DOHMH site. So, I'll go back and see if there's a way to make that clearer, but that information is on the website. And, again, my apologies to everyone that – we don't have more capacity right now, but we have a lot more than we had three weeks ago, and we're going to keep growing it until we fully meet New Yorker's needs. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Long, you want to add?

Executive Director Long: Yes, sir. Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah. Dr. Long, go ahead.

Executive Director Long: Yes, thank you. So, Nolan, I appreciate the question. Right now, just to the backdrop is, the interactive map includes all sites, because we want people to know what sites are nearest to them, but it's clearly demarcated, as you know, which are the T2 or H+H sites on the interactive map. And then, underneath it, we list all of our mobile units. They move around, so, therefore, the interactive map doesn't have them as fixed sites. If there's a better way to do it, all of the sites are on the website right there. So, that that's your source of truth 100 percent of the time, along with the correct hours. If there's a better way, we welcome more feedback. In addition, we also have our tracker for the wait times on our Test and Trace Corps. Sites, so you can see among our sites what makes the most sense in terms of wait so you can make your decision.

Mayor: Thank you. And Dr. Chokshi, anything you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Just briefly to say, remember, you can also text COVID test to 85548 for people who may not, you know, be as ready and navigating the website. And you can also call 212-COVID-19 to help speak with someone who can navigate you as well. So, these are all different channels to be able to help access testing, because we know when someone is feeling sick, you know, they just need a little bit of help to figure out how to get to the right place. I'll also just briefly comment on the guidance. First, remember, it's isolation that applies to cases. And then, quarantine is for close contact. As the Mayor said, the guidance remains the same at this moment with respect to, if you are a case, meaning either you're symptomatic or you have been diagnosed with a positive COVID test, but are asymptomatic, the guidance is to isolate for 10 days. There is some scientific evidence that is emerging that may consider us to reevaluate that for people who are fully vaccinated and asymptomatic, but we're are not quite there yet. And we'll, of course, continue to follow the science in making any updates. So, for now it's a 10-day isolation period.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Juliet Papa from 1010 WINS.

Question: Good morning, everybody. And I have a question actually for Dr. Chokshi. You mentioned that you do have this assembly line plan in the works to distribute the at-home test. So, how would that work? Would people online get the test or would you have to actually enter the facility to pick up the kit? How do you want to distribute that?

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly. Well, I'll start, sir, and Dr. Long may have something to add here as well. But briefly, by assembly line, I was I was speaking more to the fact that as soon as the tests arrive in New York City we'll be able to get them rapidly disseminated across our City sites so that they're available to distribute to people particularly when there are longer lines. And when that happens, yes, it would be for people who come to a City site, particularly where we're seeing that, you know, the demand is greater and staff would be able to work down the line and distribute those rapid test kits for anyone who wants one.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Long, you want to add?

Executive Director Long: Yeah, just to draw out the point, because it's an important question, Juliet. If you come to one of our sites and there is a line, you can choose to wait in the line or you'll be able to walk away with a home test kit. Whatever makes the most sense for you, we'll serve everybody.

Mayor: Excellent. Go ahead, Juliet.

Question: Great. Thank you. And again, this is for your health experts. Being that this variant keeps evolving into something different and more transmissible or whatever, what are your concerns down the road? Do we see another variant coming down the pike and what could that mean or how – how would that – how would it operate or how would it affect people?

Mayor: Okay. This is – you are asking a big, big question there, Juliet. And I'll start and then turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi. Look, I think, one, that you’re right to say, one of the things we've learned in the COVID era is expect the unexpected. So, no one can say with assurance whether there's going to be more variants or how they're going to act. But, at the same time, I want to emphasize what the eternal truths are here, and we've seen this for the whole two years. The basics really matter, everything from washing your hands, and using hand sanitizer, to using masks, social distancing, all the fundamental things have had a huge positive impact. And then, the number-one reality is vaccination. So, whatever we've seen, every single time, the answer has been vaccination and going deeper and deeper into vaccination. That's why we're doing the booster incentive over these next days, because we need to get people maximally vaccinated. That's what makes the difference. So, I think it's right to say, you know, could there be more up ahead? Yeah, and we always have to be ready for it. But I think the strategy is essentially the same over the course of the whole two years. And once we got vaccination, that was the game changer. We still need to maximize vaccination. That would be my summary of how to approach things. Dr. Chokshi, then Dr. Kaz.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. And I agree. First, I would just say, you know, as you've heard from us before, we feel a lot of humility in the face of the coronavirus. We – this team, together has now faced four waves. And the virus has proven wily and formidable, you know, and has shifted course. But what I'll say is that we have met the challenge at every turn and we've done so with the notion that we have to be even more relentless than the virus is. So, that's why we've taken all of the steps that we have in recent days. That's why we had such an aggressive focus on vaccination, which helped us get to that remarkable level of over 71 percent of all New Yorkers fully vaccinated and over 90 percent of all adults with at least one dose. So, we have to remain prepared and see what else is around the corner. But we are positioning ourselves to be in the best possible place to do so. The last thing that I'll say just from in the scientific perspective is that the best way to keep more variants from emerging is, once again, vaccination. That's why we're emphasizing it for New York City. And we have to think about that across the country and across the world as well. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Katz?

President Katz: I want to do a quick update. There will be an additional unit at Sunset within 60 minutes. It's already dispatched. So, we apologize to the people who are at that site and hope that with the additional unit the line goes down quickly. To just add to what both of you have said, I fully agree with all of what the two of you have said. But I'll talk a little bit about the virus itself. The virus will always make errors as it reproduces. That's part of what viruses do. It reproduces itself and a certain number of errors occur. Those errors in replication are what are called mutations. Most mutations offer no advantage to the virus, and some of them make the virus nonviable, and those disappear. The mutations that are the most likely to stick around are those mutations that offer an advantage in transmission, that make the virus more likely to be able to transmit, and therefore to reproduce, because the virus doesn't really want to hurt us. The virus just wants to reproduce, wants to reproduce as much as possible. That's what it's code is telling it to do. So, yes, there's certainly can be more mutations. The mutations don't have to be more lethal despite what you see in science fiction films. The world survived the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic. That same virus is still circulating. And now, it is not a harmful virus in the vast majority of cases. So, part of life is the mutation of viruses. And we stand ready to be defensive and protect New Yorkers, whatever this virus sends us. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Well explained, doctor. Thank you. And thank you for the quick action on Sunset Park as well. And, everyone, as we conclude I just want to express my thankfulness to our whole health care team, our health care leadership, and all the folks out at the front line, the vaccinators, the Test and Trace Corps., everyone – our health care heroes in our hospitals and clinics. These are folks working every day to protect us. And it's been a long, long mission, two straight years for a lot of them. But they keep coming back to do more for us. We can do something for them. Go get vaccinated, go get that booster. And, starting today, what a perfect time to get that booster, and you also get $100 dollars with it. So, everyone, let's help each other. Let's move this city forward out of the COVID era, get vaccinated, get boosted, move forward. Thank you, everyone.

2021-12-22 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. We're getting ready for the holidays. And we all are focused on making sure we can spend time with our loved ones and do it safely. And so, every day the City is working hard to support the people. 8.8 million New Yorkers, as we fight our way through Omicron. Our health care heroes are out there. Test and Trace Corps is out there. Our vaccinators are out there. A lot going on to keep you safe. And yesterday we announced the largest booster incentive program in the United States of America. It's going to reach so many New Yorkers at a really pivotal moment where we need people to get that booster. And a lot of people could use a little more cash in their pocket. So, $100 incentive for anyone who gets a booster at a City-run site or at one of the partner sites with SOMOS, their clinics and practices. And that goes through this December 31st only. So go out, get that booster, get that incentive. We know vaccination is the key and we know boosters are particularly effective against Omicron. Our health care leaders have been abundantly clear about that. So that's the key, get vaccinated, get your kids vaccinated, get that booster.

But of course, testing is another part of the strategy that matters a lot. We're doubling down on testing. We're working hard to meet the real demand that's out there. We thank, and I thank President Biden who announced half a billion at-home tests that were sent around the country. We're going to get a lot of those. That's going to help a lot. But in the meantime, we're focused on what we can do right here with what we have. And so, announcement today, we're adding seven additional City-run testing sites. As of today, that will bring us up to 119 City-run locations, fixed sites and mobile, all around the five boroughs. To find a test location near you go to nyc.gov/covidtest. Those locations, a lot of them do not have big lines, thankfully. And they're very good at getting you a quick turnaround time. So, let's focus on that.

Also starting tomorrow, we will have five City mobile distribution sites handing out at-home rapid tests. And this is really important because we want to make sure, you know, of course for those who can go to one of the testing sites, get the PCR test. That's great. But we want to make sure more and more of the at-home tests are available as an alternative. We're starting to get a little more supply. We need a whole lot more. But we will have starting tomorrow, five City mobile distribution sites solely for the purpose of handing out at-home tests for those who need them. Those locations will be around the city. They'll be posted shortly. We want to make sure testing goes well. There will be some lines. There's no doubt about it, particularly at the private sites. But our job is to minimize the lines at the City-run sites and at our partner sites. Get you the best possible experience. Get you the quickest possible results. A little bit later, we're going to hear from Dr. Katz. I think he's coming on in a few minutes. So, we'll get him back to talk about some of the specifics of that.

But so, we focus obviously every day on the COVID crisis, on the challenge of Omicron and how we overcome it. And I'm very confident this city will overcome it. In fact, it looks like it's going to be a very brief period, intense and challenging, but very brief. And we have a lot of tools to fight back. So, right now COVID is in the front of our lives, in the front of our faces. It's what we're focused on. But we know the COVID era will end. And hopefully as early as 2022, if we do the right thing, if we get vaccinated, we know the COVID era will end. We have powerful tools we're using to get everyone vaccinated, like our private sector vaccine mandates starting on Monday. But as we think ahead to the COVID era ending, we're going to have to redouble our efforts in fighting an even bigger challenge in many ways. And that's the climate crisis. That is going to be a huge challenge for our future. It already is. And up ahead, so we want to speak about that. But I'm getting a signal? Is that a Dr. Katz signal? Dr. Katz is with us. Okay. So, I'm going to hold – I want to talk about the climate situation in just a second. But let's go back on the point about ensuring with COVID, with Omicron with testing, making sure that everyone who goes to a City-site has a better experience, faster experience, good turnaround time on their tests. Dr. Mitch Katz, head of Health + Hospitals, has been working hard over the last few days to add reinforcement to improve the process. Let's hear from Dr. Kaz with an update.

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Yes. Thank you so much, sir. And we so much appreciate that New Yorkers are going out and getting tested. That proves that New Yorkers want to be able to get through this pandemic without infecting family members and friends. That they're very considerate and want to make sure that they're safe and others are safe. We have over the last few days, had some challenges in meeting the demand. So many people have come out for testing. And for a period of time, we did not have home test kits. Which are a great way of making testing happen more quickly. But today we are expanding hours on all our Health + Hospital sites from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. We've been able to do that by going virtual for our ambulatory care visits, so that I can then have nurses and other staff who work in our clinics be available in the testing areas to make the testing go much faster. We've also now acquired a sufficient number of testing kits so that we will be able to hand them out to people who feel comfortable going home and doing a test. And that will also keep our lines short. So, we have plenty of testing capacity now in terms of our labs. And I think people will have a very different experience.

So, I want to add one other update about Health + Hospitals. For a temporary period, we are going to be tighter about restricting visitors. We've never gone back to our usual open visitation policy. In general, I'm a big believer that people should have visitors when they're in the hospital and that those visitors should stay as long as they're able to. But we've had a recent outbreak in one of our hospitals that we think is related to visitors, not of course their fault. There's so much transmission going on right now in New York City because of Omicron. And so, for a short while, while we get the situation under control we're going to have limited visitation. We'll always make exceptions in extreme cases. Certainly, every woman who is in labor will be able to bring someone with her. If it's an end of life, hospice situation, of course, family members will be allowed to come. If there is a sick child, of course, parents will be allowed to stay with the child. But for a short time in order to make sure that we don't cause more disease, we need to limit the number of visitors. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Katz. Thank you for the update. Thank you for what you're doing to manage this situation. And what you said was absolutely crucial for everyone to understand. We're going to make some adjustments, to make sure that we can take care of people, to make sure that we get people the help they need. But this is going to be a brief period of time, a brief and intense period of time. But Health + Hospitals will make sure that they make the right adjustments. They've been through, if I could be blunt, they've been through a hell of a lot worse than this, and managed to come through it very, very well. So, that's an update in terms of making sure people can get quality testing and also the other adjustments for making sure that care is there for anyone who needs it when they need it.

Majority Leader Schumer: Oh, I have one more thing.

Mayor: You must.

Majority Leader Schumer: Yes. Now, we always try to help New York.

Mayor: Please.

Majority Leader Schumer: You know about this. So, I'm sending a letter to FEMA today. I got the letter here somewhere. Here it is. Asking them for a hundred new mobile testing locations. We need these locations across the city. Now, today, they said, they're sending six, that is not close to enough, given the magnitude of the crisis and what we need. I asked the federal government, two, three weeks ago in one of my little Sunday press conferences to do this now COVID is raging. The variant is raging. We need these mobile testing sites. You see people lined up all over in every part of the city waiting to be tested. We need testing. Testing is one of the best ways to beat this virus. So, I hope that FEMA, I know you've joined me in for this, Mayor, asking for this.

Mayor: Yes.

Majority Leader Schumer: But I hope that FEMA will send us this. This is the key, testing and it can be done at mobile sites. It can be done. We need more self-tests sent to people's homes. They shouldn't charge them for it. We can beat this crisis if we're smart and right on the ground with all, you know, right, with all the help we need right on the ground. We need these, we need these hundred mobile sites and we need FEMA to do with ASAP. And that's what I'm going to be fighting for in the next day.

Mayor: Well, you remember the old EF Hutton ads?

Majority Leader Schumer: Yes.

Mayor: You know, if EF Hutton talked, I think when you tell FEMA you need a hundred testing sites, our chances of getting those testing sites just jumped up a bit.

Majority Leader Schumer: Let's hope. 

Mayor: You know, they just jumped up. But listen Senator, I think people going through so much, and I want to tell you, knowing you were there was one of the things that kept us all going.

Senator Schumer: Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you Senator. All right, everyone, as we continue, every time we gather, we go over the indicators and these both show us the good and the challenge like never before. The good, we've now passed 13 million vaccine doses from day one. 13 million times a New Yorker rolled up their sleeve and got a vaccination, and that number is growing rapidly, and remember that $100 incentive to get the booster, want people to take full advantage of that quickly. 13,011,904 doses to date. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report 220 patients, confirmed positively 53.46 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers is 2.21, and we're going to talk more obviously in the question and answer about this, but the good news is our hospitals are doing well and we are seeing a very different reality than we saw in 2020, many fewer people in ICUs, thank God. So, even though we're seeing these higher numbers, we're able to sustain. The last number is staggering, new reported cases on a seven-day average, this is a number, of course, we've never seen, 10,991 cases, and that number probably continues to go up. But again we don't take that lightly. It's very, very, very big challenge, but it looks like it'll be a very concentrated challenge for a few weeks, so far continue to see some evidence that these are more mild cases, hospitals holding, but the key and the thing we can do about it, the thing that will make all the difference is vaccination. So, it's going out getting that booster, getting your child vaccinated, the private sector vaccine mandate coming into effect Monday, all these things are going to help us fight back and limit the impact of Omicron for the - what looks to be the brief time it will be very, very much in our lives. Okay. A few words in Spanish and the topic is on testing for COVID

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish:] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, by Dr. Ted long, head of the Test and Trace Corps, by Ben Furnas, the Director of the Mayor's Office of Climate Sustainability, and by Clare Newman, the President and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island. First question today goes to Juan Manuel from NY1.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Juan. Manuel. How are you doing?

Question: I'm very good. Thank you. The least questions.

Mayor: Feliz Navidad.

Question: Thank you very much. This might be the last questions I'm asking you while you are Mayor of the City. On COVID, we know that the number are going up when it comes to infections in congregate shelters among the homeless population, also – among our jail population. Are you thinking of taking any measures like you did last year when it came to shelters and Rikers Island?

Mayor: Well, look, we're always looking at the situation we're facing and, and always listening to the health care leaders and following what the information is telling us, but I want to emphasize it is a different scenario than what we faced in the past. Again, with what we're seeing so far in Omicron intense surge, but less impact, and we also believe it'll be for a brief period of time. So that does not suggest doing things the way we did last year, it suggests a different game plan. We also have a hell of a lot more people vaccinated than we did when we went through the challenges last year, and that's the foundation of all things. The vaccination efforts continue in any kind of congregate setting and obviously as well in our jails, in terms of our staffing in the jails, uniform staff 85 percent of uniform staff now vaccinated that number's going to go up. Constantly providing vaccination folks who are incarcerated, obviously in a very different way with homeless shelters, we're constantly providing vaccination as well. Employees are vaccinated now across the board. We're always offering to residents as well. So, vaccination is the game changer and makes the difference. What I can say is the good news in terms of even with the massive challenges, and I'll turn to Dr. Katz on this, that in our correction system, some immediate steps have been taken to help ease some of the impact here of this COVID surge. We have, of course, most importantly reduced our jail population, its down 700 people over the last few months. That's a big deal in the context of the overall population, and we're going to keep driving that down. And as of the information we got just in the last few hours, even though there has been a number of cases that have not been hospitalizations, and that's what we're seeing in general that this, this more mild impact, thank God so far more cases, but not resulting in the worst outcomes, in many cases, of course not resulting in hospitalization. So, that's what we're seeing. Dr. Katz, you want to talk about some of the measures you're taking in terms of the correction system.

President Katz: Yes. Thank you, sir. We have opened up another unit for inmates who are infected so that we can keep them isolated and try to limit the number of infections that occur. We are, of course constantly increasing the vaccination rate among both the inmates and the staff who work at the jails. And as you said, sir, I've checked as of this morning despite a major increase in infections, we have no hospitalizations, and when it comes to the jail population, we move people very quickly from the jail to the hospital if there are even a question because we recognize that jails can be difficult places to monitor people. So it gives me great pleasure in this really awful time that at least so far we have we have no hospitalization. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. The next is James Ford from PIX-11.

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call and congratulations to Senator Schumer for getting the key to the city.

Mayor: Amen. No one more worthy, James.

Question: You said it, and I will ask the question. You and your health care team have said that at city run COVID testing sites, the turnaround time for getting testing results is typically 36 hours or in many cases less. I'm just trying to figure out what hard evidence we have for that statement? How is it monitored? How does that get reported?

Mayor: Okay, I'll turn to Dr. Long and say obviously, stating the obvious James, it does vary with time and demand. But clearly when we say it it's based on actual experience and it also varies by location depending on demand, but what I think we can say safely is a lot of the biggest lines we've seen have been at private providers. They of course have to turn around and go to a lab and get the results, Health + Hospitals has much more ability to move staff around, to get results more quickly because of the way it's all structured, and now 119 sites this week between the fixed sites and the mobile sites. So strongly urge people to go to the nearest Heath + Hospital site to get that test. Dr. Long in terms of how you track and how you can confirm and what the latest turnaround times are, what do you got?

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test & Trace Corps: Yeah. Thanks, James. It's a great question. So, what we're doing now, citywide is we are doing unprecedented levels of testing. We're doing nearly 170,000 tests in one day. Our previous record gains had been 120,000 tests in one day. And over the last several days, we have noticed, because we track very closely the wait times that the wait times have been getting longer for the turnaround at our city run lab. It is still much faster than other labs, but what we're doing today is by the end of the day today, making substantial operational changes to get us back to our constant goal of 24 hours. Thanks James.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, James.

Question: Appreciate that, and then on behalf of my colleague, Alison Kaden, this question – can you and the health leaders [inaudible] quarantine for vaccinated people, is it wise perhaps to require a full quarantine now that Omicron is spreading among the vaccinated New Yorkers and what is Test and Trace specifically telling people about this?

Mayor: A great question. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, and then anything that Dr. Katz or Dr. Long want to add. Let's state the obvious to, as the layman here, James, that we have an evolving dynamic. We haven't seen anything quite like Omicron before. We also have a, a reconsideration happening in Washington of what the period of quarantine or isolation should be. So there's a lot of different things moving right now, and we will keep updating our approach accordingly, but I can tell you if the basic, you know, if it begins with something as simple as if your sick stay home, if test positive, separate from other folks, those basics don't change. But how we approach it operationally, what the standard should be that can change over time. Dr. Chokshi, why don't you start with the latest?

Question: Yes, sir. Thank you so much. And I appreciate your emphasizing the most important point, which is that anyone who tests positive does need to isolate. That is very important to help us break chains of transmission so that other people are not exposed during the period of an infectious period for a case. Now our current isolation period is 10 days, and that includes whether you're fully vaccinated or unvaccinated. That's based on what we know about the duration with which someone is infectious. We are following the science carefully here and speaking with scientists around the world to figure out if it may be possible, at least for certain groups, to shorten the duration of that isolation period. For example, in some other countries particularly to help with the health care workforce, they have modified the isolation period only for people who are fully vaccinated. We are not quite ready to take that step, but it is something that we're considering and deliberating on. So, again, I just want to give a very clear message to the public, which is if you're feeling sick, very important to stay home, if you test positive, very important to isolate, and the current recommendation is to do so for 10 days.

Mayor: Thank you, Dr. Kat, anything to add?

President Katz: I think Dr. Chokshi has, has covered it very well. In the health care setting, there are some health care providers who are looking at shortening the duration for people who are positive because in health care settings people are wearing N95 masks, which offer a much stronger protection. So, I think everyone is trying to find the right balance between keeping people isolated, which prevents them from going to work, and potentially exposing others by having people believe too soon, and well, the science is still unclear on these issues. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you, sir. Dr. Long you have anything to add?

Executive Director Long: Yeah. One note, the vaccine does work against every variant, including Omicron, it does provide protection. Therefore if you're vaccinated and you're not symptomatic, where a mask for 14 days, get tested at day five to know if you have COVID, that's clear guidance. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: The next is Michael Garland from the Daily News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking my questions.

Mayor: Good morning, Michael. How are you doing?

Question: I'm okay. I'm doing okay. Thanks for asking. So, I wanted ask you about these testing sites that the federal government is launching. Senator Schumer said it would be six. When and where do you expect those sites to go up?

Mayor: We're getting the final word literally in these next hours of exactly both locations and hours and the amount of personnel they'll have. We're certainly working with the federal government to target them to some places where we have particular need. So that's definitely going to help. I'm very excited these additional sites are coming. I want a hell of a lot more, obviously both in terms of new sites, agree with Senator Schumer, more federal sites and a hell of a lot more of that in-home testing with those kits coming. But in the meantime, of course, again, our, our mainstay is our now 119 city sponsored sites. But we're going to - we'll have much more detail that we'll put out with the federal government in the next few hours.

Moderator: Next is Katie Honan in from The City.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. Can you hear me? How are you?

Mayor: Good morning, Katie. You sound energized today. How are you?

Question: I'm just trying, brother. I'm trying to stay up. I'm trying to stay positive. It's not – it's certainly difficult. My question, you know, is about where, sort of, the testing sites are coming. You know, the joke is can you give a key to the city to opened some of these testing sites? I drove by a long line on Northern Boulevard today, because the City shut down a site that had the capacity for hundreds. So, what is the strategic plan on that? And, additionally, you know, I know that there are some CBO’s who'll be giving out rapid tests and handing them out. Which centers – will there be list of that? Because elected officials yesterday in Queens, particularly – in particular, said they had no idea where some of these at-home and the K95’s are going to be handed out. So, will that be distributed so people know where to go?

Mayor: Yeah, let me – thank you for the question. And look, Queens is clearly a place where we need a lot more testing capacity and we’ll be focus on that, as will the federal government. But you had a couple of things there. I'm going to turn to Dr. Kaz and Dr. Long – you know, one, making sure everyone knows about our testing sites, the 119. I want them to explain how we make that information available. Two, the initiative to hand out the test kits through the community-based organizations that we announced on Sunday. And then, of course, we're waiting on a big resupply. This is what we need to make everything work better both from the private market and from the federal government. We want to get those kits in our hands, because then we can turn around and get them to people in much faster manner. So, in terms of how we're building out on these fronts, particular emphasis on Queens, Dr. Katz, then Dr. Long.

President Katz: Thank you, sir. Thanks for the question. I think the most important thing for listeners to know is that to go to our website – so we just went to look just this minute and we have multiple testing sites where you can get a test within 30 minutes. The vast majority are currently running times under one hour. So, we are going to keep expanding even in those places where you might – the wait might be an hour. You'll find that people can be – will be handed a home test kit if they wish to not have to stand on that line. So, we urge people to go to Health + Hospitals’ website and look at – under Test and Trace – and you'll see in real time how long the is at all of our sites and be able to choose one that does not require waiting. And then, on our side, we are watching the wait times and we are constantly moving people and moving vans. We can't always, of course, know which sites people are going to go to on a particular day. So, we do the same thing we ask people to do. We watch the site. We watch the length of time people have to wait. And if we see that a large number of people have gone to one site and have lengthened the line, we send additional resources. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Dr. Long?

Executive Director Long: Yes. Thanks for the question, Katie. So, to find where our 119 locations are today, go to nyc.gov/covidtest. On the interactive map, look for Health + Hospitals’ facilities, but you can also see what private facilities might be more convenient for you. Also, underneath that is where all of our mobile locations are situated for that day, including for the next couple of days. Go to our Test and Trace Corps. website, part of the Health + Hospitals website, to see the wait times for our brick-and-mortar sites. As Dr. Katz said, we just counted seven in less than an hour. And, actually, the wait times are coming down at several of our sites, probably due to the fact we bolstered the staff at our hospitals and Gotham Community Health Center sites. We also will be releasing information about the new distribution centers. There'll be one per borough. Each will give out 2,000 home tests tomorrow just as an additional way to let everybody in every borough have access to home tests to meet them where they are, if that's how you want to be tested. Then, finally, our community-based organization are the best at knowing where the home tests need to go. So, we're giving them the home tests and then we're going to work with them and they're going to be the ones making the distribution. So, we aren't announcing it as formally as the rest because it's up to them to be active in their communities and they're the experts in doing that. Thanks, Katie.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Katie.

Question: Thanks. And I know it asked this the other or day, but I keep hearing from City employees who are very concerned with the lack of flexibility in the City's lack of a telework program or whatever telework policy. [Inaudible] in their words and they've sent me the policy. You know, it seems like it's very difficult to take paid vacation leave or even sick leave if they're not exhibiting symptoms, but believe they've been exposed. They've also concerned – expressed concern because Commissioners of certain agencies and supervisors have not been at work, but they have to be. So, it feels a little bit of a double standard within that. So, do you want to address that? I know you have hundreds of thousands of City employees who, at least, according to what I'm hearing from them, very disappointed and, frankly, afraid of the working conditions that they have to work under without any flexibility on the part of the city and you.

Mayor: Well, Katie, respectfully, I don't see it that way. I don't think those are the facts. I think we’ve got a workforce that's 94 percent vaccinated, that is the single most important piece of the equation. We got very extensive health and safety measures in our workplaces. They've been working. I remember when we brought back the workforce in May, people said the sky would fall. And we brought back people full time and they said the sky would fall, and the sky didn't fall, and it's not going to fall this time either. We care about our workforce a lot, that's why we provided a healthy environment and that's why we mandated vaccination. And I don't agree that supervisors are not communicating and working with people. I think my experience is they are and Commissioners, of course, are doing everything they do. As fact, a lot of Commissioners are working extra hard to get to the end of this year and finish out a lot of work. So, we have the tools. If someone gets a positive test, then they qualify, of course, for very generous sick leave. If they get a negative, they're negative. It's straightforward in that sense. But we need to keep this city running and that is our responsibility as public servants. We need to keep this city running and that's what we intend to do.

Moderator: Next is Paul Liotta from the Staten Island Advance.

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: Good, Paul. How are you doing?

Question: I'm well, sir. Thank you. So, regarding outages at for City workers, are there any departments that are currently of major concern and what is being done to address staffing?

Mayor: No, we have – obviously, we've got some people out sick because of Omicron, but everything’s functioning. I mean, this is – this is a reality we're going to face for a few weeks. We're going to see a high number of people out sick for a brief period of time. And people will go through their 10 days or, as you heard, that that number may even come down soon. But, right now, if it's a 10-day period, when people are out of commission, everyone comes off their 10 days, comes online, and if others are getting sick, you know, we just keep moving. But everything is functioning. I mean, this is the beauty of this very strong, proud City government we have. Our agencies are doing a great job. Everything is functioning and moving forward. And we're going to get through this. We're going to get through this. It'll be a tough few weeks, but we're going to get through it. Go ahead, Paul.

Question: Thank you for that, sir. And regarding our reporting at the NYCHA Stapleton development, we received some information that looks like stovetop gas could return as early as May, that would make it for a year's worth of outages for the residents at one of the buildings there. Just wondering if you're aware of this and what can be done to expedite the situation.

Mayor: Well, we will, today, my team will double back with the leadership at NYCHA. They have been dealing with this and some other very difficult circumstances, because some of the buildings by nature of their age or the fact that they never were [inaudible] it's amazing how this kind of problem is structural throughout a building and takes immense work to resolve. We all would think, oh, you know, flip a switch, put it back on. It's the exact opposite. These are very, very involved, complex projects to get things restored. But we want it to go as fast as possible. Every resource is going to be made available. If there's anything NYCHA needs they don't have, we'll make it available to them. And, obviously, the coordination with utilities as well. So, I'll have the team double back today with the NYCHA leadership and get you an update today. But I feel bad for the residents who are going through it. And the answer – the bigger answer, Paul, is we’ve got to fix up all of our public housing buildings. We have a plan to do that, particularly with the RAD initiative, which started in the Obama administration. And that's working, but it's going to take real time to get more and more done. The thing we need the most is Build Back Better, because Build Back Better would include a huge amount of funding for New York City public housing so we could actually go to the root of these problems and fix these buildings on a vast scale. That's what we need the most to help folks in Staten Island and all over the city.

Moderator: The next is Jimmy from the Wall Street Journal.

Question: Guten morgen, burgermeister [inaudible] –

[Laughter]

Mayor: Jimmy, you’ve got range there, brother. Buenos dias to you.

Question: So, my question is for the doctors. First question, what percentage of the COVID infections that have been confirmed in the past, say three or five days, have been among vaccinated people?

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, I know you're an expert on this topic. What would you like to say?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. Jimmy, I don't have a specific percentage that I can give you, because it takes us time to do the match with the vaccination status. But here's what I can tell you in terms of what we do know. Certainly, before Omicron, the risk of both infection, but then particularly for severe disease was significantly higher for unvaccinated people compared to vaccinated people. For cases, it was on the order of seven times as high for unvaccinated people. For hospitalizations, on the order of 13 times as high. With Omicron, we do know and we do expect that there will be more infections among vaccinated people because of its greater ability to evade the immune system. However, what we're keeping the closest eye on is how that translates into disease and particularly severe disease among vaccinated individuals. And, as of now, we have not seen a major signal of that. Although, we continue to monitor it day by day. What that means is that the people who remain hospitalized, a significant majority of them are unvaccinated. And that proportion increases when you look at patients who are in the intensive care unit. So, these are things that we will be following in the coming days and weeks, but that's what I can tell you about what we know right now.

Mayor: Thank you.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. The next is Joe Anuta from Politico.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. How are you doing?

Mayor: Good, Joe. How have you been?

Question: Not too bad. I was wondering if you could just provide some context on the announcements you made today. What is the current daily to testing capacity in terms of number of tests for the current number of City-sites. And then, with the addition of the seven new ones you plan to open, and, if you know, the six federal ones that are on their way, what will the new daily testing capacity be?

Mayor: Really important question. I'm going to turn to Ted Long, or, obviously, if Mitch Katz wants to add as well. And I would also say to you, Joe, at the outset, this is evolving, because, as we talked about, like a month ago, testing – we were getting less and less business and moving to more and more of a mobile approach. And, obviously, emphasis was, first and foremost, vaccination. We've got to keep that focus on vaccination first, especially with our new booster incentive. That's where the most important impact will be. But now, we're in just constant growth pattern with testing. We're going to build out as much as we possibly can for this intensive few weeks with Omicron. The big X-factor for us will be the home test kits. If we get those in really big numbers, really soon, that's going to relieve a huge amount of pressure on the test sites. But we're still not 100 percent sure how much we're going to get, when. And that's the X-factor here. But to your question, how much capacity per day can we do now? And what kind of build out can we see in the short-term – Ted, what do you got?

Executive Director Long: All right. Thank you, sir. So, Joe, first question is, what's our overall citywide capacity? Instead of projecting a number for you, I'll give you what we've actually done as a city. So, on December 15th, we did 168,490 PCR plus antigen tests. That's a new record for us. That's actually still counting. So, it'll probably be north of 170,000 soon. That's above our previous record of 120,000. For 119 sites, more than 30 of them are new sites. Among the more than 30 new sites that we've added since we've started to build, that's going to give us an additional capacity of 24,600 under tests per day. And that's on top of doing about that with our current doubled mobile fleet and our current brick-and-mortar sites that we've had. So, we've been building substantially. We've already been doing double what we were doing three weeks ago, and we're going to have the capacity to double that again. I hope that answers your question.

Mayor: So, Ted, well, I want to – I'm going to ask it for clarity. We're obviously dealing with what we think will be a challenging few weeks, but where do you see our maximum going in the short-term per day for these City sites? Daily maximum total, what are you seeing?

Executive Director Long: For our City sites, I would see our daily maximum total as being probably on the order of 40,000 tests per day. And I would say, citywide, we’re probably – we've already reached around 170,000, I think we're going to reach around 180,000 if we haven't already. So, City sites will be doing an important piece of that. But I do want to – you're bringing up a good point – just to say, across the city, our private hospitals, our private practices, our community health centers are doing really important work. We as city want to make sure that we're offering testing equitably to every neighborhood. We have big numbers here, but more important than just the numbers, is our approach to being guided by our communities. If it wasn't for that, we wouldn't be able to bring the equity in testing –

Mayor: Okay. I'm pulling you back to numbers – 180,000 a day, all elements combined, and that's without including the home test kits that people could take with. Correct?

Executive Director Long: Correct.

Mayor: Okay. And so, I think to Joe's question, if we think city and others, 180,000 a day, obviously we would like to see those home test kits cover, you know, thousands in the short-term – ultimately, tens of thousands of people a day on top of that. So, I'm, I'm talking out loud with you, Ted, doing our math live. I would assume when we get a really ample supply of home test kits, we could easily be up above 200,000 when you add them into the equation each day. Would you agree with that?

Executive Director Long: Absolutely.

Mayor: Okay. Go ahead, Joe.

Question: Thanks for the several follow up questions on my behalf, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: I want adjunct status today. I want an ID card from Politico.

Moderator: Last question for today goes to Yehudit from Borough Park 24 News.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. How are you?

Mayor: I'm doing well, Yehudit. How are you?

Question: Great, fantastic. So, on Omicron, I feel like we're getting some mixed messages and I'm wondering whether the physicians could please provide some clarity. On the one hand, everyone is, you know, that you're saying, and the doctors are saying, this is not like what we went through in March 2020, because we have better tools, a high level of vaccination. And also, that Omicron creates more mild and mild cold symptoms. But yet I feel like there's a certain level of hysteria that the Omicron variant accounts for 73% of all cases and Dr. Katz said the other day, he's preparing the hospitals for what could be a deluge of patients. But I'm wondering of the 73 cases nationwide, how many are really sick or hospitalized for how many just have mild symptoms. And I know that there's a lag time between infection and hospitalization and that vaccination prevents against severe disease. But I'm wondering, based on what the doctors have seen in South Africa and other countries, I'm wondering whether doctors Katz, Chokshi & Long can provide clarity on whether the cases of Omicron in New York City, whether the cases are considered mild, even among the unvaccinated and how many people hospitalized worldwide in the surge right now were vaccinated?

Mayor: All right, now Yehudit that was long and multi-part question. So, we're going to try and boil that down a little. The first part I want to pull out of that is what's happening in our hospitals. You use the word sort of the, the hype or whatever that's going on here. I want to emphasize, I think if we look at the facts, we look at the fact that this is profoundly different than 2020. This is, this is really, really important. In 2020, we had a brand new, shocking reality of COVID. Now after almost two years, our hospitals really do know how to handle COVID in so many ways, better than before. We have vaccination on a vast level and growing It is an entirely different reality. And Omicron is very different, and its impact based on a lot of what we've seen so far. So, we’ve got to just keep reassuring people. You, I heard you say, you know, you feel there's some mixed message. Well, I do think there, there's some whipping up of fear out there, but we're not doing that. We're doing the opposite. We're reassuring people because of the facts. And I'm going to start with Dr. Kat and I think the most powerful facts is what's happening in his hospitals. Is he preparing for more cases? Sure. And there's going to be a brief and challenging time, and we're going to have a lot more cases, but I think what's happening in is ICUs and how it compares to 2020 is the most pertinent story here. So, Dr. Katz, could you speak to that?

President Katz: Thank you, sir. And I think you've gotten it very well. I think that what, what Yehuda you're seeing as a mixed message is how people respond to the transparency of the data. What the data show are that cases are astronomically increasing. No question. Cases themselves we've never seen as high levels. However, as the mayor has said very sick people, no. That the 11 hospitals of Health and Hospital currently have 54 patients in our ICUs due to COVID. That's compared to the peak in March 2020, where we had 970 and the 54 is compared to the lowest, we got to, which was around 20, a few weeks ago. So very, very slight increases in the sickest of patients. We are seeing mild increases in people who need to come in for a few days of oxygen therapy. They generally don't need to be intubated. They don't need to be in the ICU. So, cases huge increase. ICU, tiny increase. People in the middle needing hospitalization, mild increase. A lot of the preparation that I'm working on is not because I'm worried about a deluge of sick patients. What I'm worried about is a large number of my own staff exposed to Omicron, and therefore on 10-day isolations. That's already been happening and to the extent that I lose these people and we have to lose them in order for everybody's protection. That's the staffing problem that I'm worried about, but we continue to see mild disease. I think the, the implicit question you asked is Omicron milder in the unvaccinated. I think that's an open question. I don't think that's yet known. There's just not enough data at least that I feel comfortable being able to tell you. What I am comfortable saying is that among people who are vaccinated which is most of New York City the disease seems to be very mild. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Hey – and Ted, I'm going to just do a quick follow up my own. You did a great job yesterday explaining the virus and the nature of the virus. People, a lot of people said to me that was very, very helpful to hear. I want you just take a piece of what you said about what's happened in the hospital. You, you mentioned to me other day when you don't have to intubate people, of course, what that means for their health and wellbeing, but also what it means for your staffing, because you're yeah, you're going to have people out for 10-day periods and then they'll come back. But the other question is how much staff you need to handle the people you have and how the qualitative reality has changed. So, could you talk about what it means how many people you're intubating and, and what it means that you're doing less, what it means for your staffing?
 
President Katz: Yeah. So, thank you. So, if someone is on a ventilator at most a highly trained intensive care nurse can take care of two patients on a ventilator. If patients are on a regular medical floor because they need oxygen, but don't need a ventilator, the, then a nurse can take care of about five patients. And so, it doesn't, it's the intubation people on ventilators who really drive the level of staffing. And so right now, again, I'm doing okay. We have enough staffing at all our hospitals. We are using overtime. We are bringing in registry staff as we're as we need to, but not a crisis we are doing well. And as long as we are still in a place where most people's diseases mild will, we will not see anything like what we saw in March of 2020.

Mayor: I think 2022 is going to be a better year and we're going to come out of the COVID era and that's going to help us a lot. Finishing, Dr. Katz , back to you, hammer this nail, brother. If you're unvaccinated the difference, if you're unvaccinated versus vaccinated in confronting Omicron.

President Katz: Sir, huge difference. And thank you for giving me another opportunity to review with New Yorkers that overwhelmingly the patients who are in our ICU, who are on ventilators with COVID, are the unvaccinated. And just to sort of help to block a misinformation. Yes. many people know someone who is vaccinated and boosted who still got very sick. that's because some people are on immunosuppressive drugs or have an underlying immunodeficiency, which means that they do not develop the same level of antibodies when they get vaccinated. So, it's incumbent on all of the rest of us to help protect them by getting vaccinated so that we are not exposing them. And it's also why you and Dr. Chokshi put out a commissioner's note that people who are elderly, people who are immunosuppressed should skip optional activities right now, because we know that they do not mount as robust a response. But even they are much safer with vaccination. It's not about cases, it's about keeping people out of the hospital, keeping people off ventilators, not allowing fellow New Yorkers to die. That's what we most care about. And vaccination is how we do that. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Beautifully said, Dr. Katz, and thank you to you and all of our healthcare leaders who have been so much powerful voices and so helpful to your fellow New Yorkers. I'm thankful for all of you Dr. Katz, Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Long, and all your colleagues who have helped people through. And right now, this is our last scheduled press conference before Christmas, that obviously might change depending on current events, but I wanted to this opportunity to just wish all New Yorkers very Merry Christmas, very happy holidays whatever your faith, whatever your background, we all belong here. We're all in this together and whatever you're doing to celebrate or gather with family and friends I just want to wish you, you a time of peace and joy. It, it's sad. It's really sad that we have this new worry with Omicron right when we are hoping to take a break from all this and, and just be with our loved ones. It's another stress on top of all the stresses we've been through. It's tough. It's very tough. But I'm just even with that, I'm so appreciative. I'm so appreciative for all the people out there working every day to keep everyone safe. Thanks to our health care heroes and our first responders. Everyone is vaccinating people, testing people, all these people care and, and they, they are there for you. And even though we're going through that stress and, and it, it just is such a weight. I am so grateful for the people who are helping each other and showing that love for their fellow New Yorkers. And I think that's something we should be inspired by. I think even, even as we wish we had a different dynamic here in our holidays, we're being reminded of the meaning of the holidays. We're being reminded of what all our traditions tell us, which is to love thy neighbor. And that's what New Yorkers are doing every single day to keep each other safe. So, very Merry Christmas, very happy holidays to all. And we will see you again soon.

2021-12-27 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, first of all, I hope everyone had great Christmas, great holidays, had a chance to be with loved ones and friends and just have some time to reflect and enjoy. I hope everyone had a great time. And another holiday upon us, Kwanzaa started yesterday. Yesterday's principle was Umoja, unity, something we need so much of at this moment in our city, and our country, and everyone can be a part of creating. Today, we honor the principle of Kujichagulia, which means self-determination. And this is very pertinent to everything we're trying is we build the future of this city in terms of the importance of not just coming back after COVID, but coming back better, fairer, more just, more inclusive. That's why we create our Task Force on Racial Inclusion and Equity. Leaders of color in the city government who brought forward powerful ideas that have been put into action to create more equity. And that's going to continue. Our Racial Justice Commission about to put out its report powerful changes that will make an impact for this city for years to come. We honor this principle in action, and I wish everyone a very, very happy Kwanzaa and happy holidays to all. And get ready for a very, very happy new year.

Now, to get to a happy new year, obviously we’ve got to keep fighting COVID. We talk about every day. We've seen a huge uptick. We all see it, the Omicron variant as advertised and more, the speed and intensity of it. Now, thank God, so far, we're seeing cases are generally speaking mild, but we are not letting down our guard one bit. And the key is always vaccination. We want to keep promoting vaccination, deepening, vaccination, every way We announced the booster incentive, back on Tuesday, I'm very happy to say New Yorkers are responding almost 180,000 New Yorkers have gotten that booster just since Tuesday – 180,000 more. And you've got till the end of this week, Friday to get that hundred-dollar incentive. It is a wonderful thing. It's working. Go take advantage of it. We're almost up to 2 million New Yorkers who've got the booster, want to see a lot more today. Also, we make history in New York City and we lead the nation with the strongest vaccine mandate anywhere. Private Sector vaccine mandate, reaching hundreds of thousands of businesses. And we put this mandate into action as Omicron was coming, but we had no idea it would be quite this intense. But we knew with Omicron coming, with cold weather, it was time to do more. Well, thank God we did, because these mandates have been absolutely necessary to keep the city going. The reason the city keeps going, the reason we are open when some of their places are shut down is because of our focus on vaccination, because we use mandates and incentives. We have got to double down because one thing we can all agree, and I've talked to a lot of business leaders about this, COVID is bad for humans. It's bad for our health, but it's also bad for business. And if we want to avoid shutdowns and I believe we must, we need more and more people vaccinated.

So, today, the mandate goes in effect for the entire private sector of New York City, all employers. This is how we get people vaccinated and we've engaging business leaders, a lot of questions and concerns, which we're working with them on, but also a lot of recognition that this works and it's better that it's something universal for all. And we need to keep doubling down on vaccination to get out of the COVID era once and for all. I want you to hear from someone who has been an extraordinary voice during this crisis. He has been an advisor to me in my administration helping us navigate COVID and many challenges before. He's a national a leader runs the, the founding director, in fact, a National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Director of the Pandemic Resource and Response Initiative. He advises President Biden and has advised leaders over the decades in this country. And I want you to hear from now my pleasure, introduce Dr. Irwin Redlener.

[…]

Mayor: Thank you, Irwin. And Irwin, you have been extraordinarily helpful in guiding our policies and approaches over the last few years, and I know your voice is heard all over the nation. So, I, I know you will sound the message far and wide that these mandates work, and we can use them to end this COVID era we've been living through and just thank you for being so committed to the people in New York City and giving of yourself to help us through this crisis. Thank you, brother.

Dr. Redlener: Of course.

Mayor: And everyone, a reminder, in addition to the private sector of vaccine mandate taking effect today, also today with the Key to NYC, our extraordinarily effective initiative to make sure that everyone is vaccinated in indoor dining entertainment, fitness we're now going to a two-dose requirement, as of today, for everyone 12 years old and up so you know that people are well protected when you go to the movie theater, when you go out to dine, whatever it is. Everyone’s well protected, everyone keeps each other's safe.

Well, back to a little bit more mundane matters, but very much in the same spirit. We talk about indicators. I always start with the first one, the doses administered to-date. And I always remind people, talk about the way Patti just described about those small achievements, those acts of hope, the way they ripple outward. Well, over 13 million times a New Yorker has come forward to get vaccinated and someone was there to give them that vaccination, and someone who cared, someone who helped them. Talk about those ripples of hope. It's happening every hour, every day here in the city, and what an impact. So, to-date, 13,101,389 doses – staggering figure and the reason this city keeps going. But now, for the challenge – number-two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 296 patients. So, it's just gone up intensely. Confirmed positivity level, this one's 7.69, which I think is either a typo or [inaudible] but we'll get an update there. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 New Yorkers, 3.70. Now, that said, our hospitals are doing remarkably well. We have real challenges, but what's striking is how different – thank God, how different the Omicron experience is than even last winter, let alone the spring of 2020. So, definitely some pressure on our hospitals, definitely a challenge, but much different than what we experienced in the past in terms of the impact it's having on people. Our hospitals are holding it together here in the city, and God bless everyone, all our health care heroes, who are doing that work. And then, the new reported cases, staggering to figure. And again, we believe this is going to peak very soon, but today's report's, 17,334 cases. So, once again, a powerful, powerful reminder of how important it's to get everyone vaccinated, everyone boosted as quickly as possible.

Okay, a few words in Spanish. And is about the historic moment today, when we implement the vaccine mandate for the private sector to keep everyone safe.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

Mayor: The booster incentive, until the end of this week, Friday. Okay. With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Chokshi, by Dr. Katz, by Dr. Long, and by Corporation Counsel Georgia Pestana,. First question today goes to Steve Burns from WCBSs 880.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?

Mayor: Good, Steve, how are you doing?

Question: I'm good. That was a very neat way to start the Monday morning with Patti Smith. That was fantastic.

Mayor: That – see that - it gave me a real charge. I hope you felt it too.

Question: Yes, absolutely. Wanted to start with the private sector mandate going into effect today. I'm sure you've seen what Mayor-elect Adams has had to say about it. He's basically gone out of his way to say he will be making changes to this. He wants to make sure small businesses are able to survive through this. He says small businesses face a very different reality than large corporations. So, given that these are your final few days in office, do you see any merit to changing the approach here based on the size of the business and if not, why not?

Mayor: I appreciate the question, Steve, and obviously the Mayor-elect and I have talked constantly. We spoke at length yesterday. We’ve been keeping up to date on a whole host of issues and we're having a very, very good transition. I obviously care deeply about the small businesses, they've been through a lot, but I'm also convinced that the most important thing to do for a small business is to end the COVID era, get us out of this, and obviously protect everyone, protect the people who work in the small businesses, own them, the customers, and my job is to protect people. So, I am 110 percent convinced this was the right thing to do, remains the right thing to do, particularly with the ferocity of Omicron, and I don't know if there's going to be another variant behind it, but I do know our best defense is to get everyone vaccinated and mandates have worked. So, I'm very comfortable what we're doing. I totally respect whatever the Mayor-elect wants to do when he takes office, but this is the right thing to do now to protect all New Yorkers. Go ahead, Steve.

Question: And just to follow up on that, and maybe your council wants to weigh in as well. Does it make it all at all more legally complicated to specify the size of businesses on a mandate like this? Does it have to be basically all encompassing, one size fits all because it makes it more legally challenging to carve out different sizes of businesses here?

Mayor: You are a perceptive person. I'm going to let Georgia Pestana who is deeply involved in shaping this mandate. I’ll let her speak to the legal thinking, the strategy that went into it. But I think the simple answer is yes, I think the more universal the better, not just legally, but it also then creates parity among all the different industries, all different size businesses. So, it encourages people get vaccinated and not think if they're hesitant, well, maybe I'll go and work at a different company or a different field. A lot of business people said that to us early on, that if we’re going to do something, make it as universal as possible so people would know it's time to get that vaccine. Georgia, why don't you talk about the legal strategy there?

Corporate Counsel Georgia Pestana: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The – as always we've been guided by the health professionals and there is no difference in employees who work for a large employer as an employee that works for a small employer. They're all at risk and there is no public health reason to distinguish the two. The stronger the public health reasoning, the stronger we are able in defending any challenges, we have not gotten any challenges thus far. [Inaudible] I think that we would – will prevail should those challenges come because the mandate is grounded in solid public health advice and reasoning, and that reasoning goes across all sizes of businesses. I will also add that we have through Small Business Services, had a number of conversations with groups of small business owners to help them understand and get compliant. And they have been appreciative and we will continue to help people and businesses come into compliance with the mandate because it's important for the health of the city. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very, very much. Go ahead.

Moderator: The next is Dana from in the New York Times.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. If you –

Mayor: Hey –

Question: Hey, I'm not sure if you'll answer this, I think you're kind of dancing around this particular question a little bit, but if you had to put odds on how likely you think Eric Adams is to continue the mandate, what would those odds be?

Mayor: I, well - I admire both the question and the fact that you gave me the space, I wouldn't call it dancing. I would call it this simply, I'm not going to predict, and he will obviously make his own decisions and speak for himself, but I believe, Dana, truly that the universality is a strength in every sense. So, I – again, I feel as he does a sympathy that small businesses have been through a lot of challenges, but I also believe ultimately it benefits a small business, not only on a health level, but again, if everyone's under the same approach, then for a small business it does not leave that possibility of someone say, oh, I'm going to leave here and go to this other place because I don't feel yet ready to get vaccinated. No, everyone has to get vaccinated. And what we found is, except for an extremely small number of people who are just, you know, ideologically, absolutely set in their opinions, the vast, vast majority of people are moved by both the science, but also the practicality of something like a mandate. That's why we have 91 percent of adults in this city have had at least one dose, 94 percent of the city workforce. I mean, if that isn't a recommender for mandates, I don't know what is. Go ahead, Dana.

Question: Thank you. And then on a related note, can you just walk us through what enforcement will look like?

Mayor: Yeah, very much like we have had with Key to NYC, and I want remind people when we made this decision to do a more universal mandate, it was based on actual experience with the private sector in the Key to NYC indoor dining, entertainment, fitness. There's a lot of prediction in the beginning, oh, this is going to be such a, you know, a disruption and businesses wouldn't be able to deal with it. And you know, I hope people have experienced that businesses have adapted very, very smoothly to it. We did a lot of education. We did a policy of an inspector shows up, there's a problem, talk to the business, say, hey, here's the problem. Let's correct this, please confirm you can do that, and overwhelmingly the businesses have done that. So, in fact, the Key to NYC now over months, we had very few times we had to give a penalty. We will give a penalty if someone flatly refuses, but that's very rare. So, our inspectors will be out there, energetically, but with the goal, you know, educate and correct, ideally avoid penalties.

Moderator: The next is Courtney from NY1.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I hope you had a good holiday.

Mayor: And you as well, Courtney.

Question: Thank you. So, given the number of cases over the last couple of weeks, I wanted to check in to see if you're experiencing staff shortages at any first responder agencies or really any agencies. I know there's been some reporting on a shortage potentially of EMS personnel over the Christmas holiday. Can we get an update on those first responder agencies, NYPD, EMS and FDNY, et cetera?

Mayor: Courtney, thank you for the question, and I'll tell you first of all, of course we know in every part of the city that we've seen people out with COVID thankfully again, more mild cases and therefore for 10 days, but it has not affected the operations of the city, that's the bottom line. Our agencies are very, very agile and very good at what they do and they have tremendous resources, but they also went through, you know, the crucible of the spring of 2020 when you were talking about massive numbers of people out simultaneously, and they kept serving New Yorkers to their great credit. So, nothing we've experienced in the last few days has fundamentally affected the ability of our agencies to get the job done. Go ahead, Courtney.

Question: And also, to piggyback on Dana's question on the enforcement element of this, what agency exactly is responsible for making sure all of these businesses are complying and are there random spot checks, is that what employers should be prepared for? Should inspectors show up at small businesses and say, show me your paperwork, et cetera?

Mayor: Yeah. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, because obviously Department of Health plays a particularly crucial role, but a lot of sister agencies have gotten involved in this effort as we've done previously during COVID. But yes, of course businesses should expect inspections as per usual for so many reasons. But again, with an attitude of let's make sure things are working for everyone's health and safety. Not – we're not trying to do gotcha. We're trying to just make sure we keep moving forward. So, in terms of Health Department, how they're approaching it, and obviously leading other agencies in the effort, Dr. Chokshi, why don't you jump in?

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, sir. And yes, as you say, it is a multi-agency inspection force which is very similar to the way that we conducted engagement then enforcement related to Key to NYC as well. It's a combination of dedicated inspections specific to the private sector mandate as well as incorporating checks related to the rules under the mandate in other routine inspections as well. But the most important point is the one that the Mayor's already made, which is that we seek to work with businesses and business owners so that everyone can come into compliance, for the simple reason that vaccination is good for business, it helps us to keep our economy open and running and it helps to keep employees and All new Yorkers healthy and out of the hospital. Thank you, sir.

Moderator: Thank you. The next is Julia from The Post.

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Julia, how was your Christmas?

Question: Oh, my daughter was very sick, so there was not a lot of sleep and a lot –

Mayor: I'm sorry to hear that.

Question: You know, that’s how it goes.

Mayor: It will get better as they get older.

Question: Yeah, I hope you and your family had a good holiday as well.

Mayor: Thank you. Yes.

Question: So, continuing with the same theme here, do you expect the city to issue fines before you leave office in the next few days here? And if not, are you really leaving the difficult part of this mandate, the enforcement part, to Eric Adams?

Mayor: No, I don't see it that way at all. Appreciate the question, but I'll tell you why I don't see it that way, because we, again, we have a body of evidence. When you think of all indoor dining, fitness, entertainment in New York City, that's a huge number of businesses. We've done this work already and found that we did not need to fine. Now if we ever do, and again, a few cases we did and we will, and if that – if a business today, if the inspectors go and the business says, I absolutely, positively refuse, of course they're going to get a fine, but that's not what we typically find. Overwhelmingly we find businesses that are ready to comply, sometimes they're not sure about some of the details, sometimes they need some help correcting a situation, but no, if someone refuses, of course there's penalties, but very, very few people do is our experience with the really substantial body of work we already have. Go ahead, Julia.

Question: At the top, you said that you've gotten a lot of questions and concerns from private businesses about the mandate. What are those?

Mayor: I think that first of all they have wanted to know how inspections would work, exactly what we're talking about here, and we've reassured that the goal is to, you know, get to a positive outcome. There's been concern about making sure that they understood what was required, how to go about it. Obviously, that if there was going to be, if they wanted to provide a reasonable combination process, how it worked. So, it's been a good dialogue and we've reached out to, you know, many different business organizations, and what we're finding is broadly an understanding that the universality helps everyone, that the city government leading the way takes a burden off business, and especially that COVID is bad for business. That the one thing that would be most devastating is shutdowns. And so an aggressive action to make sure we do not go back to shutdowns and restrictions actually is very friendly to the needs of business and keeping people employed.

Moderator: The next is Maya Kaufman from Crain’s.

Question: Hi, Mayor, I want to revisit the question of a remote work policy for city employees. I especially since I've been told that at an internal health department town hall, Health Commissioner Dr. Chokshi had told employees that he and other agency leaders have raised the issue of a teleworking policy with you and City Hall. So, why do you continue to resist allowing telework for those workers who wish to do so?

Mayor: Well, I think – thank you for the question – I think that what is most important to begin the conversation with is we have a highly vaccinated workforce and we all know there's a profound difference when you're in an environment where people are overwhelmingly, if not totally vaccinated, everyone. There's a huge difference there. Second, we have workplaces that have been meticulously supported in terms of health and safety measures. So, when you're in a public sector workplace, it is to me from those facts is a much safer environment than many others, but it's also because the work people do is crucial to keeping the city moving, and that work has being done best if people are in their workplaces. So, that's what I believe. That's what we've been doing. It has been working. The city government has been performing at a very high level and helping this city to move through COVID and recover. And that's what I think makes sense. Obviously new administration will evaluate, but I think we've proven time and again, that this is what works best here and now. Go ahead, Maya.

Question: Yeah, I want to follow up on that and ask, what is the downside of allowing more flexibility for municipal workers, especially given that a lot of workers have children at home who are too young to be vaccinated, who might be around vulnerable people, might be immunocompromised and really, well told me, they want have that option?

Mayor: Maya there's – first of all, as has always been true. If there's an exceptional situation anyone can raise that to a supervisor and supervisors obviously have some latitude to deal with situations. But on the bigger point it's because we need the very best work done right now. I mean, people who, again – I have a very strong feeling about public service and people who are in public service take on a particular set of responsibilities. And, right now, we're still very much in a crisis. We've got to fight our way out of this. We've got to put the COVID era behind us. Our public workers. I've seen this many times over, the best work happens in the workplace, the most collaboration, the most productivity, the most ability for there to be communication. We need that now. So if there's exceptional situations, of course supervisors entertain it, but for what's good for the people - and we're public servants, our obligations to the people – what we're doing now I believe is what's best for the people.

Moderator: The next is [inaudible] from News 12 Brooklyn.

Question: Hi, can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah. How are you doing today?

Question: Good. How are you?

Mayor: Good, but pronounce your first name so I get it right.

Question: Oh, it's pronounced [inaudible].

Mayor: [Inaudible]. Okay.

Question: Yes. Thank you so much. So, I'm sure you know about the, you know, really long lines at city testing sites across the city. Some people are telling us that it's taking them as long as, you know, maybe four days to get their testing results, and we're also hearing that some of the city websites systems to make appointments are crashing because the volumes are just so high. So, my question is, you know, are you aware of this issue? And if so, what are you guys doing to expedite the process of people getting the results in just a faster time?

Mayor: Yeah, thank you for the question, Zhanι. I will turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi. I think we've got a couple different things going on. First of all, I don't blame anyone if they don't, if they look at a site and they look at a line, doesn't matter to New Yorkers, whether it's a City-sponsored site or a private site, they just see, you know, testing wheel line. We've had a very different experience at the City sponsored sites in terms of the turnaround time test results. I'll let Dr. Katz speak to that. And obviously the goal here is to make sure the information we put out there is accurate and people can get appointments. I know there's been a huge you know, huge, intense demand. So first on the test result time, Dr. Katz and then Dr. Katz and Dr. Chokshi on what's going on with the websites and keep them up to date and whether they are performing even with this high demand. Dr. Katz. 

President Katz: Okay. Thank you so much, sir. And it has been a challenge to keep up with New Yorkers who are going for testing, and we applaud them for that. They want to keep themselves and others safe. Happy to say that any test done now at a City sponsored Health + Hospital site is having a 24-hour turnaround. I just reviewed the data this morning. We are aware that many of the private sites are running longer turnaround times. So, we are very proud that we've been able because the City built its own lab. We are able to get 24-hour turnaround times. In terms of testing resources, we have redeployed workers to our testing sites to keep lines as short as possible. We recommend people check out the website to look at length of the line before choosing one because we do note variability, depending upon we can't always control how many people go to a particular site at a particular moment. So New Yorkers on our website can always find a, a shorter time. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. And Dr. Chokshi on certainly update people on the website situation as you're seeing as well. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I'll provide three brief updates. First, on the websites as Dr. Katz mentioned, we are seeing unprecedented demand but for the City websites, we are able to keep up with the appointments that are being made. So, I encourage anyone who's looking for a testing site, go to nyc.gov/covid test, or you can also call 212-COVID19 or text 8554. If you text COVID Test to that number, you'll find a site that is close to you in the zip code of your choice. The second thing that I wanted to mention is as Dr. Katz has said for City sites turnaround time for test results is within 24 hours for the city as a whole. The majority the significant majority of tests are coming back within 48 hours. But if you do need that accelerated turnaround again, the City sites are your best option. And the third thing that I'll say is that thanks to Dr. Long and his team, additional capacity is coming up online every day, this week there are seven new brick and mortar sites that the Test & Trace Corps has stood up for this week. And so, for both PCR tests, as well as the at home rapid test kits that capacity will ramp up through this week and into the New Year. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. And Dr. Ted Long has joined us. Dr. Long, any tips you want to give to people or trying to figure out how to navigate all this? 

Executive Director Long: Yes. The simple tip has come to one of our sites. As of Friday, our turnaround time is now back down to 24 hours, median at our lab, which services all of our sites. The lines we're controlling by handing out home kits and opening seven sites near noon today and 40 sites throughout this week. So simply put our sites are walk in, come to see us. We have the fastest turnaround times in New York City. 

Mayor: I like it. All right, Jene, go ahead. 

Question: That's all I had for you. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you very much.

Moderator: Last question for today, goes to Chris from the Daily News. 

Question: Good morning, Mayor. Thanks for hosting Patty Smith on today's briefing. That was a great start to the Monday like someone else said at the top of the briefing. 

Mayor: Chris, I have to say I'm like-there's something mesmerizing about her work, but also, I didn't know what the effect would be here in this room, but it was absolutely beautiful. Thank you for saying it. 

Question: Of course. So, back on the private sector vaccine mandate, I was wondering, do you or any of the health experts on the call have any data yet on how many reasonable accommodation requests have been received and any timeline on how long those take to process? And then lastly, if there is actually a deadline by which workers have to submit those requests? 

Mayor: So, I'll let Georgia Pestana, our Corporation Counsel, speak to the process there and Dave Chokshi, as well. We look again, we had a great experience with the Key to NYC with businesses, figuring out the right way to implement things and address employee concerns. I'm-I predict the same exact thing here but we are willing to work with any business, with any concerns they have to make sure that if they want to put a process in place that it, it is a good process. It's one that can be done quickly and be fair. Let's start with Georgia Pestana. 

Corporation Counsel Georgia Pestana: Thank you. Reasonable accommodation requests by private sector workers go to their employers. They do not come to the City. We're not collecting them. We're not deciding them. It's the employer of the workers that receive the requests and make determinations. As to a deadline, we had suggested that December 27th, today, would be the deadline for employees who request reasonable accommodations from their employers to get them in. And those workers can continue to work under some kind of accommodation, while the employer considers the reasonable accommodation request. But those are all going to their employer, not to the City. 

Mayor: Excellent and Dave Chokshi, you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, there is nothing to add to that. Thank you. 

Mayor: All right great. Go ahead, Chris. 

Question: Thank you. And I guess this is-it's kind of on the same topic, but you know, as businesses and individuals across the city are being required to take various pro health precautions because of the pandemic. I guess I'm wondering, we haven't heard in a while, what precautions you are taking. You know, how often are you getting tested, right now? Are you taking any other precautions in addition to testing as Omicron continues to surge? Like, what are you doing to make sure you don't get the virus? 

Mayor: Well, thanks for asking Chris. And I'm doing what the doctors tell us all to do. First of all, I got the booster live on TV and thank you again, Dr. Chokshi. I-the-again, Chris, I can't emphasize enough that that's, like number one, two and three thing, to do is get vaccinated to the maximum level you are eligible for right now. We still have, even though 91 percent of adults are vaccinated, at least one dose. We still have a lot of people who could get vaccinated and a lot of younger New Yorkers. So that's overwhelming thing, but it's also, you know, use a mask regularly you know, just be mindful. We-as you know, we were looking forward to gatherings, including with our colleagues from the media and we with agreement from a lot of folks in the media decided we wouldn't have some of the gatherings we might have. So, it's a lot of just basic precautions, but I'm going to let Dr. Chokshi weigh in and have the final word here because he has done a great job as the City's doctor of reminding us of the simple, smart ways to protect ourselves, particularly those who are most vulnerable. So, Dr. Chokshi, tell us again.

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. And I really appreciate the ways in which you have emphasized precautions during, you know, this uncertain time with Omicron and our key message has been that there are a number of things that we can all do to protect ourselves, protect our communities and to protect our city. First and foremost, as the Mayor has mentioned is getting vaccinated and for everyone who is eligible for a booster dose, get one, when it's your time. That means any adult who is at least six months after their Pfizer and Moderna, second dose or two months after their J & J dose. You were eligible right now and you should go ahead and get your booster and take advantage of the $100 incentive before the end of the week. The second thing is the importance of masking particularly masking indoors. And we have made a recommendation to consider higher grade masks like KN95, KF94s or N95s for people who are particularly vulnerable and at higher risk. The third piece is getting tested. We recommend people to get tested. Of course, anytime they're experiencing symptoms and sooner is better, if that's the case, as well as before and after travel or gatherings. And that's why we've done all of the work that we have to ramp up testing capacity, to be able to support that. The final piece is for people who are at higher risk, if you're an older adult, if you have a weakened immune system or if it's a child, who's not yet eligible for vaccination, this is a time to take more care. Avoid some optional activities, particularly anything that is indoors and crowded and allow for the overall level of community risk to come back down as we navigate through the Omicron surge. So those are our key precautions. And if we take them, we will get through this. Thank you. 

Mayor: Amen. Beautifully said as always Dr. Chokshi. So, everyone just quickly a programming note that we are going to have another press conference tomorrow. There's a lot going on a lot. We want to talk about, and then final press conference of the year will be on Thursday, the 30th. And again, just, I'm going to be expressing a lot of gratitude throughout the week. My gratitude to all New Yorkers who have been part of keeping each other safe, everyone went and got vaccinated, thank you. Makes such a difference. And please, please, please, if you haven't gotten that booster, please get it by December 31st for your sake and your family's sake and everyone's sake, but also get that incentive. Everyone could use a little more money in their pocket right now. And if you've gotten the booster, tell everyone in your life how important it is, because it really is pivotal to protecting everybody and reducing the impact of Omicron and tell them there's a $100 incentive that goes with that. And you're definitely going to get some people's attention with that. So, everyone, thank you. And we'll see you tomorrow.

2021-12-28 NYC Mayor de Blasio

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning. Good morning, everybody. Everyone, look, we've been fighting now this whole year to bring our city back. New Yorkers have done an amazing, amazing job. And we know key to our recovery is vaccination. We have been talking about nonstop because it’s the thing that makes a difference. Vaccination is what has allowed the city to keep going. And vaccination is what made, in particular, our schools so strong and so safe. Parents right now want to know what's going to be happening next when schools come back January 3rd, we're going to talk about that today. We start with a reminder that our schools have been extra early safe – bluntly, the safest places to be in New York City, very low levels of COVID. Why? Because it started with making sure every single adult in our schools, everyone was vaccinated. Right now, 96 percent-plus of Department of Education employees, vaccinated. That has been one of the big difference-makers, the gold standard of health and safety measures we put in place. Schools have been safe and schools are where kids need to be. President Biden has been so clear and strong on his message. I agree with him 100 percent. The science is clear, schools need to be open. Everyone that talks about the needs of our kids, their health needs, physical health, mental health, nutrition needs, their social development needs, their academic needs. Schools need to be open. And so, we are moving every day to make sure our schools remain safe. We have been working very closely with the Mayor-elect and his team to make sure everything is in place for January 3rd.

And parents, look, thank you for everything you've done to protect your kids. And thank you to every parent who's gone out and gotten your child vaccinated. But I want to urge the parents, particularly of younger kids, there's still too many kids who are not vaccinated. This is the time to do it. Any parent who's ready, any parent who chooses to, we are making it easier than ever to get vaccinated. And if you want get your child tested, we're making that choice available to you as well, adding more than 40 City-run test sites – 40 City-run test sites more to bring the total to over 160. So, there's plenty of places you can get your child vaccinated. And if you want a test, more and more places you can get a test. Parents, we need you. That's the part you can do. But what we are going to do also – and this is an important announcement today – we're going to double the amount of testing we do every day in our schools. So, right now, we do PCR testing in every school, every week. We're going to double the amount of testing we do in school. Greater sample size in each school, so we get even more accurate, clear results. We're going to include both vaccinated and unvaccinated students. So, two times the tests and including vaccinated and unvaccinated, and, of course, teachers and staff, as well. We're going to do a big push to get more consent form so we can get a bigger and bigger sample of the school. These are the things we're going to do to keep everyone safe. And we know the most important thing is vaccination. We know it works. And, everyone, double down on it. And if you're eligible for that booster, remember, up to Friday, you can get that hundred-dollar incentive.

So, those are some of the things we're going to be doing immediately. But we're also going to be using at-home test kits more and more. And I'm going to talk about that in just a moment, but I want to give a thanks upfront to Governor Hochul, because she announced a major infusion of test kits for our schools. That's going to really help us as we announce a new approach that's going to keep kids safe, but also keep schools open. So, I wanted the Governor to join us, because I wanted to express the appreciation of the people of New York City and my appreciation. These test kits are going to help us fight back this yet another wave COVID. We're going to fight through it, and keep everyone safe, and move forward as a city. My pleasure to bring to you Governor Kathy Hochul. 

Governor Kathy Hochul: Thank you, Mayor de Blasio for your partnership and your collaboration from the very beginning to fight this surge. I remember, we sat together, it was that evening, we’d just heard about the very case of Omicron that appeared in New York State and New York City. And that afternoon, we sat together and pledged full cooperation together to let people know that we would be united in our attack on this virus and do everything we can to keep New Yorkers, as well as every New York State resident safe. And to continue that pledge of collaboration, I'm very pleased that we were able to – literally, just a couple days ago – send over 600,000 rapid tests to your Department of Health last week. And we now have five State-run testing sites that'll be launched tomorrow to help amplify your efforts already. And also, hitting people where they go – I mean, the MTA is a great place for us to launch testing sites and we'll be opening five more soon. We have two now. So, those are all coming online and continuing to ramp up, as well as continuing our 37-popup sites and 17 more planned. So, State and City working together, we're going to make sure that there's no shortage of supply, as well as making sure in the case we need ambulances – we just sent 10 more ambulances to New York City as well.

But, as you mentioned, Mayor, it is so important that we get our kids back to school as soon as this winter break is over. We all have such a strong public interest. We saw the failed experiment, despite the very best efforts of incredibly hardworking, passionate teachers who did their very best with remote teaching, and the parents who were just pulling their hair out at kitchen tables, trying to make sure that it worked successfully. Everybody did their part, but we also understand, as you mentioned, schools are safe as a result of our joint mandates. And I have a statewide mask mandate for children in school to make sure they're safe. Our teachers are vaccinated. So, we all have to do our part to continue though to make sure that parents feel comfortable when they send their children back to school on January 3rd. So, from our standpoint, what the State of New York can do to help best is to make sure that there are sufficient testing kits available to be used by the school district. And that is why I've directed our Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services to provide 2 million tests – 2 million tests to New York City to allow children to stay in school. And I want thank our Department of Homeland Security, and the Port Authority, and DOT, and commissioners of all sorts of agencies. General services [inaudible] they are all being deployed in a statewide effort, but also sending the, first, 2 million tests kits to make sure that they're available to help New York City schools, because of the dense concentration of individuals in the city, the high population, and where we're seeing the rates go right now. So, we are working around the clock to offer our best efforts to work with you. The many calls we've had with your departments, I love the collaboration that's going on between our Departments of Health, something that's been – was missing, but is now in full gear. And all the teacher unions leaders, they've been on calls with us, and the parents, and everyone who are really working closely together to make this happen. I have a call just in a couple of hours with our statewide school superintendents, because they're such critical partners in this effort as well.

And I also appreciate what the administration has been doing. The collaboration you've extended to us, but also to the incoming Mayor-elect Eric Adams. That is what the public wants to see. They don't want any battling – no turf battles here, because we have one common battle to fight, and that is against this variant. And I also want to commend the teachers and the school leaders. They know we're all in this together. They've been asked to do so much, such extraordinary work, and we are forever grateful to them for what they've done in the past and what they're going to do now in this shortened time to make sure we can launch to the next semester with a safe environment for them and the students. So, we're all in this together. I thank them.

But lastly, as you mentioned, Mayor – parents, we could avert all this if every child were vaccinated. We still have time. We literally have hundreds of thousands of kids who have been safely vaccinated already. So, you're not the first – you need to join the ranks of parents who've done the right thing for their children to make sure they're protected. This new variant is affecting children more than the past variants. Before, we always said, don't worry so much, it's not really affecting children. That was a different variant. It is affecting children more, but the ones who are getting severely sick are, so far, only the unvaccinated children. So, that should be the message you need to know right now, that children can be exposed to this, contracted in rare cases, get sick, but only those who are unvaccinated. So, that's why I so look forward to continuing to work with Mayor de Blasio, yourself, for your leadership. Also, incoming Mayor-elect Eric Adams, we've had many conversations. We'll continue getting our – keeping our schools open, continuing our economic recovery for all New Yorkers, as well as our paramount goal of protecting public health. So, I want to thank you for inviting me to participate here. Collective New Year's resolution, let's beat this together. Get vaxxed. Get boosted. Wear a mask. Get tested. And we will get through this together, New Yorkers. 

Mayor: Amen. That's a long New Year's resolution, but it's a good one. It's a good one. Governor, thank you. And look, I really want to amplify the point you made. Our kids need to be in school remote learning, I agree with you – noble efforts by educators, school staff, but it's not the same thing. A lot of kids spent a year-and-a-half without ever seeing a classroom. We know as parents how incredibly upsetting that was to their lives, to their development. Let's keep our kids in school. Let's all work together and make work for our kids and our families. We can do it. Governor, thank you for the great collaboration between our teams. And we will beat this together 100 percent. And very Happy New Year to you. 

Governor Hochul: Thank you, Mayor. 

Mayor: Now, everyone, as we said, we know how important our schools are in every sense to our kids and families. We know how important our schools are to the lives of working families. So, many people, right now, working harder than ever to make ends meet because of everything they've been through with COVID. Parents need their kids in school. And as we've learned more and more during the COVID era, we've found new way is to do things. And our health care team has thought very carefully about how to approach this new reality where so many more people are vaccinated, thank God, and we're getting more people vaccinated every day. Also, Omicron is different. It comes with certain challenges, but we also know that it's different from other variants in ways that, in some ways, make it more manageable. We take all the information we've learned, all the experience we've had, listened to the data and the science, listened to the health care leaders. And now, we've come up with a new approach. And those at-home tests are going to be absolutely crucial. We have been working on this approach. What we needed was the supply. Really appreciate the supply we're getting from the State. We're going to get a supply from the federal government as well. This gives us a new approach. And that approach is called, Stay Safe and Stay Open. This is how we are going to look at schools from this point on, keep them safe and keep them open. So, when I say stay safe and stay open, it literally is in a very, very different way of making sure everyone's safe, adding this on top of everything that worked previously.

So, first of all, it comes with wide distribution of at-home test kits to every classroom. And when there's a positive case in a classroom, every child takes home at-home test kits. Every child who tests negative comes back to school. It's as simple as that. So long as they're asymptomatic and so long as they continue to test negative, they keep coming to school. We make sure that every kid has a test kit. Two will be taken in the course of seven days. And this guarantees more consistency in their education. It guarantees fewer disruptions, which parents have rightfully said have been a tremendous challenge for them. And it works, because here's the fact we now know based on really extensive experience – 98 percent of close contacts – when someone has come in contact with some of the tested positive 98 percent of close contacts don't turn into positive cases themselves. So, the jury has come back. We have a lot of evidence now, it's told us this is the approach that's going to work for the future. I have been working very closely with the Mayor-elect as we've been planning together for January 3rd – for Monday, January 3rd, when schools come back. There has been, I have to say, a seamless transition. I want to thank the Mayor-elect and his extraordinary team. I want to thank my team that have been working night and day closely with them. This is – I hope New Yorkers will get to see this. This has been one of the smoothest and most collaborative and most positive transitions I've ever seen in anywhere, at any level of government. And the credit goes to our Mayor-elect for the spirit he's brought to this. And I'd like to have you hear from him now about how important it is to protect our kids and keep our schools open. My pleasure to introduce Mayor-elect Eric Adams. 

Mayor-elect Eric Adams: Thank you so much, Mayor. And know, Mayor, the credit goes to you. Far too many people are not aware of what has been taking place behind the scene of these last few months on how we have moved seamlessly to transition government. That's what makes America great and that's what made America's greatest city great, our ability to have a smooth transition of power and authority. And you have done that. Throughout the holiday weekend, you and I have communicated throughout the night, throughout the mornings, making sure that we were on-page, because COVID is [inaudible] opponent, and it is organized on how it has infected and impacted our city. And if we are not organized, if we are not together and unified, not pulling up ourselves apart by trying to dispute [inaudible] that will send the wrong message to New Yorkers. And you have of your way [inaudible] that we will send right [inaudible] to New Yorkers that we are unified against this formidable threat to our economy and to the people of this city. And so, I thank you. And I thank you for that important model, Stay Safe and Stay Open – not only our schools, but our businesses and our entire city. We spent $11 trillion fighting COVID. It is time for us to realize that this is a resilient city and a resilient country. We must reopen our city and we can do that. And so, you, and the Governor, and I are sending a clear message to New Yorkers and to this entire country that we are together to fight this real battle we have.

Two clear messages we're saying loud and clear, your children are safer in school, the numbers speak for themselves. And we are united to make sure that they will continue to be safe. And I'm a parent. I know what it is. And I think about Jordan and how much I want him to be safe. That's the investment I made in a lifetime. Back in school would ensure our children are in a safe place and in real way. So, let me repeat the facts that the Mayor laid out. The virus positivity rate in City schools is low. That is a fact. Because of precautionary measures in schools, such as masking, and staff vaccinations, fewer than one percent of those exposed to COVID in schools contract the virus. That is such a safe thought to have, our children are going to be safe. And, as he just stated, 98 percent of close contacts in school don't turn into positive cases. 

We fight fear [inaudible] what this Mayor has done, and we will continue. Does that mean we should let down our guard? Absolutely not. Cases continue to increase, following the holiday, and we must remain as vigilant as ever. So, we will also [inaudible] in the school – smart decision. This way we could identify those who are impacted by COVID and distribute, as the Governor mentioned, millions of tests to staff and parents to test at-home. This is a new way of thinking. Let's get those test kits at home, so parents can start taking precautionary steps and testing of their family members. At the same time, we will also increase testing capacity citywide to make it easier for young people to get checked and provide free vaccination at sites around this city. We're meeting a surge in the virus with a surge and resources, because testing and vaccinations are how we beat COVID. There is no other greater way of winning this battle and opening our city by testing and vaccination. We saw it with Delta and the now we are seeing it with Omicron, you are most likely to get sick or hospitalized from any COVID variant, including this variant, if you are not that vaccinated. Vaccination prevents serious illness and it prevents hospitalization. Those are the winners that we are looking for. And so, we cannot say it enough – testing and vaccination. And when it comes to school, our young people, it is critical that education is part of their overall development, their mental health, their social skills, and, in some cases, even personal safety. And they are able to learn better when they are in an in-person environment. So, it's a City's job, our job to keep schools safe, and open, and to provide as much testing and vaccine capacity as we can so that we can go do our jobs, live our lives, and make sure our children continue to thrive.

And so, to the Mayor of the City of New York and to the Governor of this State, I cannot tell you enough how I appreciate the collaboration that we have shown during these difficult times. This is what makes us great as a city. We witnessed this during the 9/11 attacks and terrorism and we're seeing it once again, how New York is showing the country how to deal with the crises. COVID is not terrorism, but it has brought terror. And the only way we can come back from this and get our city back open and thriving is for us to unite once again. And I'm ready to do so. And Mayor, again, I cannot thank you enough for the leadership you have shown. Thank you very much. 

Mayor: Thank you, my dear friend. And Mayor-elect, I’ve got to tell you, your message is so clear, so sharp to all New Yorkers, and I thank you for that. People are hearing the kind of leadership you're going to provide in the months and years ahead, and we need it. And I want to also us say to you, every single conversation we've had, you always invoke what the data and the science tell us, what the health care leadership tells us. Those are your north stars and I want to thank you for that, because we're in a country right now where there's a whole debate over the value of science, but I know you value it, and it guides your decisions. And I want to thank you for that, and the partnership, and everything we've done today to make sure our kids will be safe. Thank you so much. 

Mayor-elect Adams: Thank you.

Mayor: Everyone, I want you to hear from a real powerful voice who has been throughout the COVID pandemic, talking about the things we need to do to fight back and looking at it from a global perspective. Again, talk about how we need to be led by the data and the science. Particularly when it comes to our schools and our kids. She is a Chair of Global Health at the University of Edinburgh is my great pleasure to present to you, Dr. Devi Sridhar. 

[…] 

Mayor: Doctor, thank you. It's so important for parents to hear voices like yours leading experts who really have studied this so carefully and the reassurance is so much more powerful when it comes from a voice of expertise like yours. And Doctor, I think just one more thing, you, we all understand parents' hesitation, but the fact that children benefit so much from being in school in so many ways. And, and that we have to factor that into equation. I just wanted to offer if you had any thoughts on that, because you know, sometimes the conversation gets a little one dimensional and what we've tried to think about is keeping kids safe in general, but also everything about their development and their needs. I just wanted to hear if there's anything you'd like to add on that.

[…] 

Mayor: Doctor, that's, so powerfully said and so clear, and we need clarity in this moment in history. So, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for all you're doing to help people understand the right way forward and your clear voice I think is going to be very, very reassuring to a lot of parents in this city. So, to everyone thank you, to you and everyone at Edinburgh for sharing with us today, a little reassurance for our parents, very much appreciated, Doctor. 

Dr Sridhar: Thank you. 

Mayor: And I want you to hear from the city's doctor, and I will note as I turn to Dr. Dave, Chokshi that not only is he a parent, he also happens to be married to an educator. So, he, when he thinks about schools, he thinks about it very, very personally, very humanly and he's led by the data and the science, but he always thinks about the human angle as well. My pleasure to introduce our doctor, Dr. Dave Chokshi. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you as always, Mr. Mayor. Since September, we've described a dual mission for New York City's children to keep schools safe and to prioritize in person learning for kids. This is perhaps best articulated by the American Academy of Pediatrics, which has said policy considerations for school COVID-19 plans should start with the goal of keeping students safe and physically present. Today's Stay Safe, Stay Open Plan reaffirms that dual mission. As we return to school in the new year, even as we do make some adjustments due to Omicron and as a father myself, let me say that I know parents are concerned about their kids' safety, especially during this Omicron wave. There's simply nothing more important than that. So, to describe the plan further let me start with the science. What we know from our data over the school year is that schools remain among the safest settings in our communities. 

An epidemiologic measure known as the secondary attack rate helps us look at how likely it is that a person with COVID-19 in school transmits it to other students or staff. For any case identified in a New York City public school between October to December only one in 120 close contacts developed. COVID-19. That's 0.83 percent. When we compare that to the rate outside of schools, it's about one in seven contacts in a household who developed COVID-19 or over 14 percent. This market reduction in risk makes sense. As Mayor-elect Adams said, it is the result of the layered prevention measures we put in place like vaccination testing, ventilation, distancing, and kids staying home if they're feeling ill. And even if the rates were to become somewhat higher due to Omicron becoming dominant, we estimate that in schools about 98 percent of close contacts do not end developing COVID -19. 

So, the Stay Safe, Stay Open plan revolves around more quickly, identifying those cases, the two percent and ensuring that they are isolating while keeping the other 98 percent of kids in school. We will do this by significantly scaling up our testing while adjusting our classroom quarantine policies. As a mayor has said, we will double our surveillance testing overall and include vaccinated individuals in that testing. We will distribute rapid test kits at a mass scale. Both around cases identified in classrooms as well as to staff. And we will encourage wide testing of students and staff ahead of the first day of school through our community sites. Meanwhile, the situation room will shift from its current contact tracing protocols to supporting school leaders with these ramped up testing efforts. Our disease detectives will continue to investigate when there's evidence of widespread in school transmission, like when there is an unusually high number of cases within a classroom or with a sports team. 

And we will continue to strengthen our prevention measures at every opportunity. From distributing high quality masks to further improving ventilation with a particular emphasis on vaccination, especially for five- to 11-year-olds, as well as boosters for anyone 16 and older. The bottom line is that schools are not just among the safest places for our kids to be. They're also health promoting environments as Professor Sridhar pointed out. And remote learning is not just detrimental, educationally. It also exacerbates health inequities and has worsened youth mental health. Schools nourish our children's brains and their bodies. That's why we're so committed to keeping them safe and keeping them. Okay. Thank you, Sir. 

Mayor: Thank you so much doctor. And now everyone, I want you to hear from a public-school parent because all the healthcare leaders have so much that's important to say, obviously all the public officials, but I want you to hear from a parent what it feels to him about the importance of this action to keep a us safe, keep our kids safe. He's a father of a fourth grader and a fifth grader go to P.S. 304 in the Bronx. He's a soccer coach for his kids. Committed to the community and the school. My pleasure to welcome Fabian Wander.

[…] 

Mayor: Thank you, Fabian, really powerfully said, and thank you for all you do for the school community, for our kids. And thank you for speaking up on how important it is to keep them in school. Really appreciate you. All right. Now, everyone we've talked obviously about how crucial our schools are for our kids, for our families. Also, crucial to bringing this city back fully and putting the COVID era behind us.

Mayor: All right. We'll finish up our work at hand here, but I always find after we have the chance to honor someone it's so moving and kind of feels funny to go back to things like our indicators, but let's go back to our indicators anyway. They still tell us so much about where we're at and what's going on. So, first of all, doses administered to-date – again, people keep coming up, get those boosters everyone. You have until Friday to get that hundred-dollar incentive. People are showing up, 13,127,187 doses to-date. Second, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 332 patients. Confirmed positively levels, 61.41 percent. Hospitalization rate per 100,000 people, 4.76 – very high and, yet, thank God, because of all the actions have been taken, all the vaccination, our hospitals are handling the situation well. And new reported cases, seven-day average, a figure we could never have imagined – we’re getting through it, because people took the right precautions, 20,200 cases, just a staggering number, but one that hopefully will be very, very brief.

A few words in Spanish, and this is about keeping our schools safe and the new measures we announced today. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. 

Moderator: We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, today, we're joined by Deputy Mayor Phil Thompson; Marcos Soler, MOCJ Director; Chancellor Meisha Porter; Dr. Dave Chokshi, Health Commissioner; Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals; and Dr. Ted Long, Executive Director of New York City Test and Trace. With that, we will go to our first question from Andrew from NBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey, Andrew. How are you doing, brother? 

Question: Good. Thanks. You must be feeling something with only four days on the job. So, I'd like to ask about the school testing. And our understanding is that no children will be tested by the City or the schools before they come back, which is something that Brad Lander and Jumaane Williams have called for. You said that that was a noble idea, but it just wasn't possible. So, you're saying there was no consideration or effort to try and set up some kind of mass testing this weekend so kids can get tested before they come back to school? 

Mayor: Our health care leadership, our education leadership, everyone looked at this, Andrew. We really came to the conclusion the approach we're taking that we announced today is the right way to go. Schools have been incredibly safe. We want a smooth return to school. We want our kids in school. We want to make sure they're safe. We think this approach is the right way to do it. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: Have you discussed and are you concerned that by limiting capacity in Times Square and by essentially saying mandatory masks, mandatory vax, only 15,000 – limit, limit, limit – that perhaps, unwittingly, you're driving people to celebrate indoors, which is the most fertile for Omicron to spread in the first place. How concerned are you that by scaling back Times Square, you're leading to bigger indoor gatherings? 

Mayor: Andrew, it's a fair question. And look, I think we have a couple of different things we are taking to account here. We're doing something that the eyes of the world are on and that is so important to this city that symbolizes us. We want to do it the very best way, and this is the right way to do it. We've had a lot of consultation with our health care leadership, with the Times Square Alliance, figuring out what's that right balance point. This is a way of doing it that we're absolutely certain is safe and secure. We obviously want anyone who's not attending to remember the basics. Dr. Chokshi has spoken about them so many times – that, you know, if you're going to celebrate, celebrate outdoors if you can; social distancing; masks; but also, especially vaccination. And those who are vaccinated, particularly those who get those boosters have a very high level of protection. So, I think this is the right way to do this event, but it's – we know lots of people are going to be celebrating in other places, but the right way to do it, I think, we've made really clear to folks. And again, anyone who hasn't gotten that booster, go get it now. Take advantage of the incentive up through the end of Friday. 

Moderator: Next we have Dave from ABC. 

Question: Hi, Mayor. How are you? 

Mayor: Good, Dave. How do you feel? 

Question: Hey. I'm fine. I just wanted to ask – and I hope this doesn't as one of my two questions, but the Mayor-elect, he is not there now – 

Mayor: No, he is not on at this point. So, does not count as a question. 

Question: Okay. We'll hear from him at 1:30. Okay. So, my question is about, you know, we don't see Michael Mulgrew there, and it kind of begs the question as to where the schools really are the safest place for children to be. When you look at a couple of weeks ago, when he had the grave concern about tests not coming back in an expedient manner, and also that there were dozen and dozens of schools that had not been tested, he said, in a couple of weeks. So, while it's good to go from, you know, 40,000 to 80,000 kids that are going to be tested each week, it, kind of, begs the question, is this really going to happen? 

Mayor: Oh, absolutely. And there's been incredible consistency in testing. I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long, because I want to just be really clear about this. The testing has happened constantly. The results have been incredibly consistent. We made sure that the schools were literally the safest place in this city. And we believe these additional measures are going to help us continue that and deepen that. So, yes, of course, it's going to happen. And I want to give credit to our health care leadership and our education leadership and the folks in the situation room. Folks said it couldn't be done. A lot of people said it couldn't be done, but it was. They brought back school. September, 2020, brought back school – September 2021, full strength, made it safe, made it incredibly safe. Let's look at that history. These folks really produce for all of us. Dr. Chokshi, then Dr. Long. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you very much, sir. And Dr. Long will speak to the Herculean efforts of Test and Trace in schools. But I'll just say briefly, to start, Dave, remember that there are three layers of testing that we provide to help keep our school communities safer. The first is what you're referring to, which is the PCR testing that is done for surveillance purposes. And the announced today is that that will be doubled in the new school year. The second is all of the community testing sites that we do as a city. Overall, our capacity is about 150,000 tests per day, and we've – I've spoken about, we will continue to ramp that up over the coming days. That's very important to keep in mind, because our staff and students, everyone who's part of a school community also has access to that community testing as well. And the third piece is what we are really adding – a massive scale with the beginning of this new school year, which is rapid at-home testing. The supply for that, as you know, has been constrained in prior weeks, but we're moving heaven and earth and working with State partners and federal partners to get that supply to be able to bring them to bear, particularly to support schools. With that, I'll hand it over to Dr. Long.

Mayor: Dr. Long? 

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace: Thank you, Dr. Chokshi. Yeah. And Dave, I appreciate the question, because our surveillance program in our schools has been one of the critical layers of protection. We've proven that our schools are one of the safest places to be, and actually are safer than being in our communities. We're opening up 40 new testing sites across New York City this week, bringing our total City-run sites to more than 160 sites to make it as easy and accessible as ever for New Yorkers to get tested. And yes, we will be doubling the number of tests we're doing every week in our school surveillance program. And, on top of that, bringing in millions of at-home tests to make sure our schools stay as safe as possible. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Dave.

Question: So, my second question about the at-home test kits and how this will work when there is a child who tests positive in a classroom, then all of the kids in that classroom will get an at-home kit. I love kids, but they do have a tendency to lose things when they go home. So, is it incumbent upon the children to take these kids back? Trusting that they're going do that and that the parents will see to it also?

Mayor: That's a fair question, Dave. I mean, obviously, you know, we want to make sure every parent gets what they need. And, you know, I will say as someone who was a New York City public school parent, I do think kids are pretty good about bringing home in their backpack, whatever is given to them by the school, but we'll make them available to parents. They want to come to the school. And obviously we can do that in other ways as well. I think the good news is we're going to have a supply now that's going to give us that freedom to do this in various ways. So, we're going to work with every school community, and I'll turn to the Chancellor because she can weigh in on this. We want to make sure every school community is communicating with parents that when they need those kits and for any reason there's a problem, we're going to work with them to get it. Remember, I think one of the things, Dave, that's gotten a little left out here in the whole dialogue is school communities are very, very engaged places. Principals, assistant principals parent coordinators, teachers, they're talking to parents all the time and there's anything that needs to be clarified or resolved, there's lots of ways to engage parents to get that done. Chancellor, you want to weigh in on that?

Schools Chancellor Porter: Sure. I agree with you, 100 percent. School communities are going to make sure families know that a test kit is coming home. If it's going home in a backpack. But we'll also make them available. Those lines are communication a way open. And I say, don't underestimate our young people. They know how important this moment is. They know how important testing is. And even our youngest learners, our three-year-olds, our four-year-olds, our five-year-olds, our second graders, third greatest our youngest learners know how important this moment is. And so, I'm confident those test kits will get home will be used appropriately. And if we need to work more directly with parents, we will.

Mayor: Amen. Go ahead.

Moderator: Next, we have Steve from WCBS 88.

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor. How are you today?

Mayor: Good, Steve, how have you been?

Question: I am well. Wanted to ask first about consent forms. I know you mentioned towards the time that you're-there's an effort to try and get more of them in here. So, I wanted to see what that effort's going to look like. What is going to be tried now that didn't work the first time and, and if there's any thought to asking parents to opt out of testing, instead of opting in as incoming Comptroller Lander is suggesting.

Mayor: Well, two very different questions. I think first of all, on the consent forms, we've actually seen, you know, a very substantial number of parents agree to the testing. And I think now that we're going to include the vaccinated kids, I think that number's going to jump up. A lot of those parents I think are going to be absolutely willing to have their kids tested. So, I think we're going to have plenty of consent forms given what we need. But I think this approach -I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi. I think this approach that we've created here is it's straightforward. It's clear, it's a way to maximize keeping kids in school and doing it safely. I mean, there's lots of, lots of ideas out there. I appreciate all the elected officials who are putting forward ideas, but I want to give credit to both the educators on our team, the Chancellor and all the educators and the healthcare leadership. So many of whom are with us today. They put their minds together and they say, what's going to work both from a data and science perspective, a health perspective, a education, you know, perspective. What's going to bring all these things together in a clear, straightforward plan. They came up with this and I think it is the best way to proceed. Dr. Chokshi do you want to weigh in?

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. Just briefly to say that you know, this change to be able to incorporate vaccinated students in our surveillance testing was a marriage of what you talked about essentially the-you know, the evolving science as we're seeing Omicron and how transmissible it is along with what our colleagues at DOE, the Chancellor and all of her staff were hearing from parents in terms of wanting to ensure that there was a broader group of kids who were able to get tested. And so that's why, you know, we have made this adjustment in how the PCR testing in schools will occur going forward. It is I think a very reasonable point that we need to maximize consents. And I know our colleagues at the Department of Education have worked very hard on that over the last several months. And we have a chance to redouble those efforts and get as many consents back as possible ahead of bringing kids back to school. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Steve.

Question: Thanks very much. And I was also struck by something Dr. Chokshi said earlier about the changing focus of the Situation Room here going from contact tracing to only looking at widespread outbreaks here. Is that an indication that some amount of cases and maybe limited spread inevitable here and that things got somewhat overwhelmed in the Situation Room over the past couple weeks?

Mayor: Well, no, I actually think it is a recognition of what we're experiencing with Omicron. Because we did not know what its nature would be fully in New York City. The experience we've had till we actually in the middle of it. And what we're finding is something that has been fast and intense, but obviously thank God to date more mild than we feared. And we're very happy about that. And also, you see everything changing, I'll bring Dr. Chokshi again, I-the- Steve, look at the CDC the way they've re-estimated now the isolation period, the quarantine period. I think the science is evolving and the strategies are evolving with the science, with the data. And that's what has happened here. Dr. Chokshi, do you want to add?

Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, that's exactly right, sir. And Steve, I would say that the-of the characterization of the changes to the Situation Room is not correct in the way that you described. The situation Room will continue to play a number of important functions beyond that role of monitoring for widespread transmission. It will continue to answer questions from school leaders, for example, will support school communication. For example, the letters to families that the Department of Education and school leaders have to send out, it will also keep track of all of our summary data, including the surveillance testing results that we do and track citywide statistics. So, New York City was the first jurisdiction in the entire country to come up with the idea of a situation room. It's part of how we brought back schools last year, last fall.

And so, it remains a core of our approach, but as the Mayor has said, what we are trying to do is actually to be even more swift with respect to identifying cases, that's what bringing to bear more testing and the rapid test kits allows us to do. And to actually get kids who are in the same classroom, as other cases tested more quickly because from a public health perspective, identifying cases and getting them to isolate as soon as possible is even more important in the era Omicron. So, to sum up the Situation Room is evolving because the virus has evolved, and these changes allow us to move even more quickly and curbing the spread of COVID in our schools.

Mayor: Amen.

Moderator: Next, we have Julia from the New York Post.

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor, we confirmed that Mayor-elect Adams and Governor Hochul are gone, right?

Mayor: Yes, we did.

Question: Okay. Just a housekeeping thing. I'm sure everybody on the briefing would appreciate if either you have it now or could send us where that 98 percent statistic comes from, it's quite compelling.

Mayor: Yeah, we will have the Department of Health get that to you, Julia.

Question: Thanks so much. And then for yourself and for the Chancellor, how much is this driven the new school quarantine policy driven by the long-term impact of larger systemwide shutdowns and what would that be on the city and parents maybe pulling their kids out once and for all given the disruptions that you talked about?

Mayor: Well, it's an important question, Julia, but I'm happy to tell you, that's not a factor we have, have not seen parents turning away because of the different challenges. In fact, what we've seen in my experience, and I'll turn to the chancellor as well, is that parents came to appreciate their schools more than ever. They're always demographic changes. There's always different evolutions in how many kids are enrolled in school in any given year. But now that the striking thing to me has been people are probably more bonded with their local school than ever at this point, but the continuity of the kids' education, that's a factor for sure. That's something we cared about a lot, making sure that we - our kids could be in school, particularly as we continue to overcome what happened in the last two years and the growing recognition of ways, we could do it safely, as we keep learning more. And again, this was led by our healthcare leaders who said, this is a way we can do things now that matches what we now know, not what we knew a year or two ago, but what we know now. As to keeping the schools consistent and how important that is for the kids’ experience and the parents’ experience, Chancellor, you want to add?

Schools Chancellor Porter: Absolutely. I mean, we've said, and we've known all along that the best learning happens in person between students and teachers. Having great partners like Dr. Chokshi, who understands that from the health side and the academic side because of his life is also equally important. Then and you heard from Fabian, you heard from a parent, who talked about how important it was for him and what he saw when he got his children back in school. And so, while folks were initially worried about what it would mean, we all knew it was best. And every day that we work, we work to make sure that we can keep our students in school and in classrooms. And that's what remains important.

Mayor: Amen. Julia, go ahead.

Question: Switching topics a bit still on COVID with you know, the Key to NYC, the new rules for kids starting yesterday, we spoke to several foreign tourists who were denied entry to eateries because their kids hadn't been vaccinated, including a family from Costa Rico, where it's not available for that age group. You know, they said when they booked their trips months ago, they, you know, this policy wasn't in effect and several restaurants who turned away, you know, dozens of customers and were unhappy about the economic impact. So can you just speak to those frustrations and, and what, if anything, did the City do to reach out to, you know, foreign travelers and, and let them know about this?

Mayor: You know, our team at NYC & Company that does the tourism promotion, you know, and our Health Department folks, who are working with them we can get you more information on that. But what I'd say is, even though I always appreciate any concern, if folks from the restaurant community have a concern, if some of our visitors have a concern, I obviously appreciate that deeply, that we want to be responsive in every way. But in the end, the number one job is to protect people. And we have had this vaccine mandate for our indoor dining entertainment and fitness now for months and months. So for anyone to be able to meet that mandate, they had to be vaccinated. That's been very, very well publicized by saying that now it's time to make sure people have gotten that second dose. Obviously the vast, vast majority of people in this city who have been vaccinated have had the second dose, a lot of people are able to get it right now. So, we expect for the people we serve, city residents and including folks in the metropolitan area, where overwhelmingly folks have gotten their second dose. It does not disrupt their ability to take advantage of everything covered by Key NYC. For our foreign visitors, we've, you know, made very, very clear that vaccination is part of being able to experience the Broadway community, part of being able to experience indoor dining and for anyone who wants to get vaccinated, we will do happily what we can to help them. But the big picture here is it's about the safety of all New Yorkers and about our recovery. And this was the right thing to do for that.

Moderator: Next we have Gwynne from WNYC. 

Question: Hey, can you hear me, Mr. Mayor?

Mayor: Yeah. Gwynne, how you doing? 

Question: I'm doing good. Thanks for taking my question. I just wanted to clarify is this – does this testing and at-home test kits include 3-K and pre-K students and staff, this increase? And we're trying to understand in terms of the opt-in test rate, we haven't received any new data from your office for several months, we had it at less than 25 percent students and staff opting in. We know that you were required to release more data on this, so can you give us an update on what those opt-in numbers look like? If you've said that the numbers are going to be very good. Thank you. 

Mayor: Yeah, and I – Gwynne, thank you for the question, and if we have it – if Dr. Chokshi or – excuse me - Chancellor Porter have it available right now, we'll give you the latest, if not, our team will get to you later on today. We've never had a problem getting the number of kids and adults tested we needed too, we just haven't, and again, what so striking is that the consistency of the results over months and months and months, and when we are thinking about testing every week as it's been done in so many schools in a vast school system, and the results are almost entirely consistent week after week after week, that tells you something , that’s just science. So, we feel very good about what we've done before. I have been handed a note, this is what's in, so approximately 330,000 consent forms are in, but remember those – there was not a request made to parents of vaccinated kids. So, now, we will ask them, and again, I expect that community of parents to be very responsive and we'll see those numbers go up a lot. Pre-K, 3-K, I'll ask Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Long. I had not heard of any difference in the approaches or anything different with pre-K or 3-K. Dr. Chokshi? Dr. Long?

Executive Director Long: No difference, sir.

Mayor: No difference.

Executive Director: We're doubling our current surveillance program.

Mayor: Same approach across all grade levels. Thank you. Go ahead, Gwynne 
. 
Question: Oh, sorry. So, I'm sorry, you said 330 consent forms – 333,000, excuse me. Are those all opt-in or those do those include the negative opt-out test forms as well?

Mayor: My understanding those are 330,000 that are willing to have their kids tested. Again, that's before we've now turned to the parents of the vaccinated kids, which I think is going to lead that number to go up quite a bit. 

Moderator: Okay, next we have Katie from The City. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mayor - good afternoon yet? I'm sorry. I've lost track of time. Good morning, Mayor de Blasio. How are you?

Mayor: Good, how are you doing Katie? 

Question: I’m, you know, I'm good. I'm good. My question is actually for Dr. Chokshi, I see him pacing over there, yesterday my colleague Maya Kaufman at Crain’s specifically asked about remarks he made to Department of Health staffers about his efforts to get a teleworking policy. I guess he spoke with people, either you at City Hall or other people. So I wanted to get his take on what he said, and I guess what he feels could be an effective telework policy, especially as there are reported cluster cases and other issues in in City Agency offices.

Mayor: Well, again, I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi, but I want to just frame this again. When we say reported cluster cases, I'd just be a little careful with that. Test and Trace has been looking very carefully where there's something generated in a site versus the widespread existence Omicron that we know is happening all over the city, so I want to be careful with that term. But in terms of remote work, I've said different discussion when you're talking about workforce that's 94 percent vaccinated, and different discussion when you're talking about folks who serve all of us and we need serving all of us in the highest, best way while we're still fighting off COVID. So I, sometimes I think a comparison is made sort of private sector, public sector. I don't think that's a fair comparison. Public sector, folks, public employees are here to serve everyone, we need them. We've also made sure that their level of vaccinations far beyond what we see almost anywhere else, and that has framed our thinking on all this. Dr. Chokshi. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you so much, sir. And yes, just to underline the point that you may, which is that we are seeing significant levels of community transmission, of course, and that's what is the primary driver of the increase in cases in recent weeks with the advent of the Omicron variant. And Katie with respect to your question, you know, the, the policies about work, including remote work or hybrid work, are set by the Mayor and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services. Certainly, you know, as always, I provide my best public health guidance in formulating those policies. And that is why we have been able to make places as safe as possible with our vaccine requirement, with universal masking in place across city agencies, with emphasizing the importance of ventilation and distancing when possible, so those are all layers of mitigation that do help to make in-person, you know, office work as safe as possible. The last thing that I'll say, which, you know, I've shared with my team as well, is that we are public servants. The city is relying upon us, and I think about all of the school staff who are going in person each day, I think about all of the health care workers who are showing up at hospitals each day, and we do as public servants have a responsibility to continue serving the city to the best of our ability. Thank you.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Katie.

Question: Thanks. I don't think Dr. Chokshi answered my question. I asked specifically about what he told Department of Health staffers at a town hall as reported by Maya Kaufman at Crain’s, but I'll move on. I don't know he'll answer that.

Moderator: We have time for two more for today. Next we have Paul from the Staten island Advance. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how you are doing?

Mayor: Good, Paul, how are you doing? 

Question: I'm well, sir, thank you. For you and the health professionals on the call regarding take home tests, how concerned are you with the variables these tests present, human error or people trying to game the test? 

Mayor: That's a powerful question, Paul, I appreciate it. And I'll turn to my colleagues in a second. I'll – want to get Dr. Katz into the discussion too because we haven't heard his voice, yet and he is a voice of wisdom. Look, I think that we should see the tests as one of many tools. The fact is the overall reality is that our kids are better off in school for – you heard all the doctors talk about that today and other days and the Chancellor, our kids are better off in school in general and the school environment is incredibly safe. So, these are two huge, huge foundational facts. Then when you talk out the way of making sure things are being handled, you have the in-school PCR testing, and then you have whatever parents do in terms of their own additional PCR testing, which a lot of parents are doing with their kids, and then you have the test kits, which I think the vast more majority of parents are going to use effectively. So I do think it has to be put into context, but in terms of your very fair points, you know, what if someone doesn't use them properly, doesn't understand them, or has other, you know, approaches, Dr. Katz, what would you say that? 

President and CEO Mitchell Katz, NYC Health + Hospitals: Well thank you very much, sir, for asking, and I do think it's a good question. The test kits, I've certainly done them myself, they're not, you know, super easy, but with the instructions, they are entirely doable. You have to read the instructions but if you read the instructions, you will get it right, and New Yorkers are a smart and savvy group and I believe in them. Beyond that, in terms of gaming the test, that seems very improbable to me because whether you are an adult or you are a parent, the test has meaning if you are kid, you know, tests positive, I don't think you want to send that kid to school. I can't imagine parents wanting to send their positive kid to school knowing that their kid could infect others and the same with adults getting the test kits. So, our experience has been very positive. New Yorkers have been using their tests very responsibly and we think that it's a very important part of our layers of protection. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Paul. 

Question: Thank you very much for that. And regarding city run testing sites, I understand we're adding more, but review yesterday found only three out of 10 were open to children under four. So, specifically, what's being done to ensure testing availability for those youngest New Yorkers who are still unable to be vaccinated? 

Mayor: I'll turn to Dr. Katz and Dr. Long. It's very important, very important point that, obviously, parents of the youngest kids are concerned and need the option to test the kids if they want to. But let's frame it, first of all, from the advice perspective. Dr. Katz, if a parent of a younger, you know, when the youngest kids wants to get that kid tested, what do you advise in general? 

President Katz: Come to a Health and Hospital site. I understand the issue. Many of these test sites, you know, are not used to handling little children. They're not used to squirming toddlers, but we are at Health + Hospitals, and we will turn no child away and frankly we have the fastest turnaround time for getting that result. So, I think if you're an adult, there are a variety of settings that you can go to and you should choose the one nearest to you, and with the shortest line. I think if you have a young child under five, bring them to a Health + Hospitals facilities, we're used to taking care of little children. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. And Dr. Long, in terms of the range of options for parents, anything you want to say about that? 

Executive Director Long: I want to double down on what Dr. Katz said. We would love to see your children. I brought my son who was less than two years old when I got him tested the first time to a Health + Hospital site. We do an amazing job. Please come to see us. We'd love to take care of your children. And with respect to pre-K and 3-K, just wanted to clarify my comment from a minute ago. This is actually a good time. We want to see your kids in pre-K and 3-K at our hospital sites too to give them the best experience. Our surveillance program currently is for elementary and high schools and that we're going to be doubling effective January 3rd. So, for pre-K and 3-K students, definitely bring them to us. We would like to see them. 

Mayor: Clarifying with you Dr. Long, elementary, middle, high school that’s – those are all the levels. So, basically from K to 12 is where we will be doing the doubling of the amount of tests. I'm saying it right? 

Executive Director Long: Right, sir.

Mayor: Okay, great. Thank you. 

Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Erin from Politico. 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask about some of the details of this school testing coming back after a negative test. Can you just clarify – so they're given the at home test, do they have to submit some kind of proof? Do you physically bring in your little card with the negative line on it? Or do you just take people's word for it if they say that tested negative? How does that aspect work? 

Mayor: Dr. Chokshi, do you want to cover that one? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Certainly, sir. And the brief answer is that it will be an attestation, you know, either by the child if they're old enough or by the parent, and we will fold that into the health screening process that already exists. You know, each day when a child is coming to school. So, basically if a child is given a rapid test kit, they have to use it as is described, have the two negative tests within seven days and of course remain asymptomatic and all of that will be ascertained based on the health screening process. 

Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Erin. 

Question: Okay, thanks. And then I wanted to ask both you and the doctors, the CDC cut down the recommended isolation period to five days. I'm wondering, you know, there's been some controversy about this among public health experts. Some saying it's not enough, or that a negative test should be required, wanted to get your thoughts on the policy, as well as, you know, what New Yorkers should be doing and whether this will affect – how this will affect, you know, policies for city workforce and so on? 

Mayor: Well, thank you, it’s a really important, Erin. Thank you for it. I'll start and turn to Dr. Katz first. I think the CDC, and first of all, under President Biden, the CDC has been tremendously helpful to New York City. We had a very rocky experience previously, but in the previous administration, but with President Biden, the CDC has been clear, strong voice guiding us with the latest data, latest science, tremendously helpful. I think the decision it made makes sense, and it responsive to everything we've learned about COVID, to the nature of Omicron, to the fact that we have to keep our recovery moving forward, all of these things. And so I think it, it was very much the right decision and we'll work with it. But now for a doctor's perspective, Dr. Katz. 

President Katz: Thank you, sir, and I too support what the CDC has done. What they're focused on is the question of when is a person infectious, that's the most important issue in terms of deciding isolation, and what the data show is the persons are most infectious right before they become symptomatic, and for a few you days after they become symptomatic. And then by later on in the course they are not anymore highly transmissible. There are still possibilities of transmission beyond the five days, and that's why the guidance is paired with a strict have to wear a high quality mask because it's not a zero proposition, but I feel very comfortable if people isolate for five days, are completely asymptomatic, which is another thing that people have to realize. The guidance is not that you have a running nose and you're coughing, but it's five days, so you are free to go out. The guidance is that if you are completely asymptomatic and that's because we know that when people are asymptomatic, they are less likely to be shedding virus. So, it's five days, you're asymptomatic, and you are still wearing a high quality mask to protect others. And with, with those provisions, I feel very comfortable with the CDC guidance. Thank you, sir.

Mayor: Thank you, and thanks to all our doctors for always helping the people of this city to understand how we make it through together. And I'll just finish by saying, New Yorkers, you've done an amazing job. You have listened to the doctors, you've acted in a way that's really made the city proud. Let's do it again. Get out there, get that vaccine if you haven't already, get your young person vaccinated, but especially take advantage of that booster incentive. We have an incredible opportunity through Friday – through the end of Friday, get that booster. It is proven to be incredibly effective against Omicron and this is part of how we move New York City forward and achieve the recovery for all of us. Thank you, everybody.