Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability

August 17, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. It's Homecoming Week all week long in New York City. And you can feel the energy, it's amazing. In the Bronx last night, thank you to everyone in the Bronx. It was amazing. It was beautiful. The Boogie Down Bronx represented last night with an amazing concert with some of the all-time greats of hip-hop together on one stage – electric atmosphere, amazing hip-hop artists, some of the greatest all-time, including the new hip-hop artist Senator Chuck Schumer. Who knew, who knew he had that skill as well. But he was actually showed up by Borough President Ruben Diaz and State Senator Jamaal Bailey. Amazing, amazing performances by them. So, we are – everyone, we are so thankful for everyone who put together that concert to say the Bronx is back, New York City is back. We are going to come back together, and we can do this. And what I felt, the energy, jubilation, a joy that people were together in a safe, outdoor vaccinated environment, a sense of determination, a sense that we're going to come back no matter what. And the fact that we're focusing these concerts on hip-hop, which is about the voices of the people – it's about resiliency, it's about strength, it's about our humanity – it really came through last night. It was powerful.  

Now, Homecoming Week continues tonight, a coveted concert, something that I've been talking to so many people about this concert. They're so excited. Amazing talent coming together in Staten Island. And so much of the incredible – the incredible people of Staten Island who made an impact on music history, coming out to honor their city, honor their borough, honor the people, help the people come back. It is beautiful. It's starting tonight on Staten Island, Midland Beach at 4:00 PM. Amazing artists. A lot of people are talking about this lineup. A special thanks to Raekwon the Chef for his – he joined us last week or two weeks ago. We are so happy Raekwon is going to be a part of it, Ghostface Killah, but also a group that is beloved by so many, totally beloved. And I will tell you that Chirlane and I always cherished their song, Tender Love. It's one of our songs, every couple has their songs, right? So, yes, I'm talking about the Force MD’s and they are some of the greats to ever come out of this city. With us now, Kahlil, Stevie D, Zieme to tell us why it matters to them to participate in this Homecoming concert. And we are really, really blessed to have you be a part of it. And it means a lot. I want to say on behalf of everyone in New York City, that you guys are participating, God bless and welcome.  

[...] 

Listen, I am so appreciative to you guys because you're going to make tonight really, really special. And people – we turn to our artists in times of challenge, we turn to the people who make us feel better about our lives. And people have been through so much. Now we get to see that we can come back together, and you guys are leading the way. Thank you, God bless you. God bless you. Force MD’s, everybody. We are so lucky to have them be part of this incredible, incredible show tonight. So, everyone, the Bronx was amazing. Staten Island is going to be like interstellar. It's going to be unbelievable. 

[Laughter] 

It’s going to be talked about all over the universe. And then Homecoming Week continues Thursday at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, Friday at Forest Hills Stadium. Unbelievable lineups every night. If it was – if just one of these concerts was happening in a week people would be talking about it. Five concerts in a week. And, of course, the We Love NYC Concert, the Homecoming Concert itself, Great Lawn of Central Park, a lineup like no one's ever seen in their life. Unbelievable. So, these concerts, get there, be a part of it. Unbelievable. You can still be a part of Staten Island tonight. And if you want to be a part of the Central Park concert, the last batch of free tickets, did I say free? Free. The last batch of free tickets will drop at noon today. Go to nyc.gov/homecomingweek. So, here's the chance to be part of history. And remember, as the Force MD’s so eloquently sang, get vaccinated so you can be a part of the show. If you are already vaccinated, that's great. If not, you can get vaccinated right now and bring that proof with you. Even that first dose qualifies you to go to these amazing shows, go to vaccinefinder.nyc.gov to find out where you can get vaccinated. Thank you guys. God bless you. Thank you. 

Force MD’s: Shout out to Pebblee Poo. 

Mayor: That’s good, get those last shout-outs –  

[Laughter] 

All right, everybody. We know that vaccination has been the key. We know that vaccination has allowed us to move forward as a city. So, many jobs are back, people's livelihoods. So much of the energy, the excitement, the arts, the culture, all because of vaccination. So, now, today the Key to NYC begins. If you want to experience all the greatness in New York City, you can. All you have to do is be vaccinated. Even, again, just that first dose gets you in the game. Indoor dining, indoor fitness, indoor entertainment. This is a way we all keep moving forward together. This is the way we stay healthy. This is the way we bring back our city fully. Now, a lot of restaurants, a lot of entertainment establishments are there already. They believe in this. They are making it happen because they want their customers to be safe and their employees to be safe. So, they're already buying into this. And I know it's important for everyone, and they also know, particularly for their employees and customers from communities of color, it is even more important given some of the disparities we've seen to get people vaccinated. Here's a way to do it.  

Today, massive education and outreach blitz begins. 600 canvassers going to each and every business, reaching out, providing information, support. It will be a multimillion-dollar ad campaign to explain to people how important it is, how it works. And small businesses who need help can call our hotline, which has helped tens of thousands of small businesses, 888-SBS-4NYC. Now, that is going to make a difference, a huge difference, simply having this new approach in place, but we're going to go farther with more and more mobile vaccination efforts because we found they work, bringing vaccination to the people everywhere. So, there'll be pop-up vaccination sites outside businesses. We're talking to businesses, entertainment, venues, restaurants, all over the five boroughs who want to double down by having vaccination sites right there. We'll have them all over the five boroughs to vaccinate workers and customers alike. You name it, we'll get them out there so people can have the benefit of vaccination, keep moving forward with their lives. I want you to hear from a leader who represents small businesses that are part of the heart and soul of New York City who this – these businesses employ tens of thousands of New Yorkers, make life better for the people of the city. And he believes that these mobile vaccination sites matter. He believes that the Key to NYC matters. He is the owner of Mon Amour Coffee & Wine in the Bronx and the President of the New York State Latino Restaurant Bar and Lounge Association. My pleasure to introduce Jeff Garcia Fernandez.  

[...] 

Jeff, thank you. Listen, first of all, Quisqueya Plaza, what an amazing place. This is one of the jewels of the city that people need to discover in Washington Heights. And I want to thank amazingly active, engaged business leaders there who want to make sure everyone's safe, their employees, their customers, and they're doing great work there. And thank you for helping to make that happen. I really appreciate your leadership, bringing everyone together to make sure folks are safe, to make sure people are vaccinated. But, Jeff, you said something else I really want to highlight. We do not want to go back to restrictions. Our businesses, the way we live our life, the greatness in New York City – we do not want to go backwards. The key to continuing our progress, vaccination. So, Jeff, thank you. Thank you for your leadership. It makes a big difference. 

Jeff Garcia Fernandez: Thank you.  

Mayor: Everyone, again, heavy emphasis on outreach, education for the next three, four weeks then after that, enforcement. But I want to keep reminding people, I believe the vast majority of business owners are going to see this as something they can work with and do well with. And also remember, people are smart about the fact that the only way we came out of the worst of COVID was vaccination. Vaccination is a key. We've got to be focused. We got to be strategic. One of the voices who's been strong on the need for vaccination, the need to bend public policy to a focus on vaccination, Council Member Steve Levin. He has been uncompromising in pointing out that if we're going to beat the Delta variant, we need to focus on vaccination, we need to use the tools at hand. I want to thank him for his leadership. My pleasure to introduce, from Brooklyn – and the Chairman of the General Welfare Committee in the City Council, Council Member Steve Levin. 

[...] 

Thank you so much, Council Member. I love the passion and urgency in your voice when you remind people this is the way forward. And I think people are listening, and we're seeing a much, really improved situation, more and more people coming in and getting vaccinated. The incentives work, the mandates work, but also the voices of leaders and community members, whether it's Council Member Steve Levin or the Force MD’s, all saying to people get vaccinated. Thanks very much, Steve. Appreciate.  

Now, everyone, we talked yesterday about another situation affecting so many New Yorkers. You know, you think with everything we dealt with, with COVID, that would be everything we'd be dealt. But, no, for so many members of our communities, they are hurting right now, because of what's happening in the homeland their families come from in Haiti. So, many Haitian Americans are hurting right now in this city. A huge, important community in this city is going through a lot, as yet another horrible tragedy has befallen Haiti. So many people worry, they are not even able to locate their loved ones, worried that the destruction that has already been wrought is actually even going to be worse than we know at this point. We had a vigil yesterday in Brooklyn. I want to thank Council Member Farah Louis and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Congress Member Yvette Clarke, and so many other leaders of the community got together to say, we are here for Haiti, we will support Haiti and the people of Haiti through this crisis, but we're also here for the Haitian American community. We're providing support, mental health support for so many people going through so much that are having literally just horrible flashbacks of what they went through about a decade ago with the last earthquake. So, so much pain in Haiti. On top of that, a storm hit last night to make matters worse. It's a horrible situation, over 1,400 lives lost so far. So, we've got to be there for the people of Haiti and I'm urging all New Yorkers, please donate any way you can at nyc.gov/fund, nyc.gov/fund to support the people of Haiti. I also want to let you know, an amazing effort is being undertaken by members of the NYPD who are in communities, who feel directly what communities are going through, who are supporting our Haitian American brothers and sisters and the people of Haiti with an extraordinary effort to get humanitarian relief to Haiti. I want you to hear from the leader of that effort, I want to thank him for his commitment, not only what he's doing now in this crisis, but what he does every single day to keep all of us safe as a leader within the NYPD. He is the President of the Haitian American Law Enforcement Organization. My pleasure to introduce Lieutenant – excuse me, Lieutenant Claude Celestin. 

Lieutenant Claude Celestin, NYPD:  Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, everyone. My name is Lieutenant Claude Celestin and I'm the President of HALEFO. HALEFO is the Haitian American Law Enforcement Fraternal Organization. As the Mayor mentioned, and we all know by now, on Saturday, August 14th in Haiti was struck once again by a very powerful earthquake in addition to Tropical Storm Grace that hit us last night. Haitian authorities are now recording, so far, over 1,400 deaths, nearly 7,000 people injured, and destruction to many cities and towns. The numbers are expected to rise. At this present moment millions of Haitian people are in desperate need of help. Millions of my brothers and sisters are in dire need of help. That's including children and older adults. They are in desperate need of food, shelter, the basic necessities, the very basic necessities that human beings need to survive. The basic necessities that we here take for granted. We need your help. We are counting on the generosity and the humanity of the New Yorkers, of all New Yorkers for support.  

We're asking for donations for these millions of Haitian brothers and sisters. We are collecting food, tents, medical supplies, first aid kits, blankets, flashlights, personal hygiene products, feminine products, and more. All donations can be dropped off at any NYPD precinct. On behalf of HALEFO and the Haitian community, we'd like to thank Mayor de Blasio for the support and assistance he has provided so far. And special thank you to our Police Commissioner Shea for opening the doors of all NYPD precincts to be used as drop-off locations. A special thank you to Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, Council Member Farah Louis, Assembly Member Bichotte for embracing the calls of the Haitian people. Thank you to Senator Schumer, Senator Gillibrand, Congressman Gregory Meeks, and the federal government, and many other elected officials who have stepped up so far to help out. As Mayor de Blasio said yesterday, the strength of the Haitian people is legendary. If you allow me to add, Mr. Mayor, we are even stronger and more resilient with the help of our fellow New Yorkers, who time and time again have always been there for us. Thank you, New Yorkers. I'll leave you with this well-known Haitian saying, men anpil, chay pa lou, many hands made the load lighter. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: Thank you so much, Lieutenant. Really, thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for your leadership. And, the Lieutenant said something very important, folks in Haiti had been through so much, but they've always known there were people here in New York City with them.  

Lieutenant Celestin: Yes, sir.  

Mayor: Supporting them, believing in them. Imagine what it would feel like – an earthquake a decade ago, another earthquake now, all the other challenges and problems – imagine if you felt totally alone. We can't let the Haitian people ever feel alone. New York City is going to be, and always will be there for them. So, everyone please, whether you can donate at a police precinct through this excellent effort that the Lieutenant and his colleagues put together – and thanks to you and Commissioner Shea, everyone who made that happen – or donate through the Mayor's Fund, whatever you can do to help the people of Haiti, it's a reminder to them that we will not ever let them feel alone. We will be there for them no matter what. Thank you, Lieutenant.  

Lieutenant Celestin: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Okay. We're going to turn to our indicators now as we do every day. But first a reminder, the key to defeating the Delta variant, of course, vaccination. So, let's look at the doses administered to date. We continue to see progress every day, 10,344,588 doses. Every one of these doses helps us defeat the Delta variant. So, we're going to keep building, building, building. Let's go over today's updates. First, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19, today's report, 139 patients, confirmed positivity level 39.04 percent. Hospitalization rate 1.36 per 100,000. And then new reported cases on a seven-day average, 1,669. Okay, a few words in Spanish. And I want to go back to where we began this morning with Homecoming Week and these extraordinary gatherings that are happening. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

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

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by a Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi and DoITT Commissioner Jesse Tisch. Our first question for today goes to Gloria Pazmino from NY1.  

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: Hey Gloria, how are you doing?  

Question: I'm doing well. How are you?  

Mayor: Good. 

Question: I wanted to ask you about – as you talk about vaccination and we are hearing that the Biden administration is expected to advise boosters for most Americans in the next couple of days, eight months after they'd been vaccinated. I wonder what the City has done so far to prepare for that. What are the logistics that, that will involve and how will that potential new directive look like so that people can have access to it? 

Mayor: Yeah. Thank you, Gloria. Really important question. We want people to start thinking about this because there will be more and more opportunities for folks to get boosters, and we're not only going to encourage it, we're going to make it easy and free as always. I'm going to turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Katz, but we've been talking about this this week, how we use the apparatus that's been built now, which is absolutely extraordinary. All the health care sites that have been providing vaccination, our mobile efforts, even our efforts to go straight to people's homes. We have now such a head of steam in terms of being able to vaccinate. We can use the same exact approach for boosters as each type of New Yorker qualifies for boosters. Let me turn to Dr. Chokshi and then Dr. Katz to talk about how they'll do that. 

Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. And yes, we have been preparing for the possibility that booster doses will be recommended for either certain subpopulations or for, you know, a broader set of New Yorkers who have already gotten either the single dose or the two-dose mRNA vaccines. So, those preparations are underway. And as the Mayor has said, they will rely on the infrastructure that we have built up over the last several months and particularly the health care infrastructure. Those are the hospitals, clinics, pharmacies, as well as the additional City sites and mobile options and in-home vaccination that we've built up over the last few months. I do want to emphasize that, you know, the news reports that we are hearing are still preliminary. We do need the federal government to come out with its official guidance, particularly the FDA authorization. And that will likely require that all of the science be vetted, and it go through the official process before booster doses are formally recommended. So, our understanding is that the timeline that we should expect for New Yorkers to actually get administered booster doses is no earlier than sometime in September. But we will be ready for that eventuality. 

Mayor: Thank you. And I had said Dr. Katz, but I understand he had some technical difficulty. Dr. Ted Long is with us now. I don't know if you heard the question, Ted, do you want to add on the question of how we're preparing to give the booster shots through H + H? 

Executive Director Ted Long, NYC Test and Trace Corps.: Yes, I did, sir. So, Dr. Chokshi covered all the main points. What I would add is that we have several tools in our tool belt that are assembled now and ready, including our home vaccine effort, which we are currently leveraging for the third dose as part of the primary series for Pfizer and Moderna. So, we'll be able to not only offer the booster as appropriate as recommended at our existing sites, at our 30-plus mobile units that go around the city every day, but also as part of our home vaccination effort, where you can go to nyc.gov/covid/homevaccine which you could also do today. And if it's your first dose we will even give you a hundred dollars when we go to your home. 

Mayor: Can't do better than that. Okay, Gloria, go ahead. 

Question: Okay. Thank you for that. And, Mr. Mayor, if I could ask you a little bit of a politics question, I understand that you're supposed to be meeting with the Lieutenant Governor, Kathy Hochul today. I wonder if you could just talk a little bit about what you are hoping to discuss with her, what some of the priorities might be, and what you're looking forward to on that meeting. 

Mayor: Yeah, and Gloria, I would say it's really a government discussion because we have a lot to do. I'm really looking forward to meeting with Lieutenant Governor Hochul. Look, I think we'll be able to work well together. We've already spoken. This meeting's going to be about how we fight COVID, how we fight the Delta variant, how we move this recovery forward and the ways we can coordinate together, you know, in a positive manner. I think we're going to be able to do a lot of good work. So, I'm really – really looking forward to setting the groundwork today. And then I'm very much looking forward to when she takes over, so we can roll up our sleeves and do good work together. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to Andrew Siff from NBC. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. Mayor, on your key pass initiative are some of the indoor entertainment locations new such as movie theaters. And if so, can you sort of talk about how – what the road they've been on, they were one of the last things to open, then they had to do it sort of with masking and spacing. And now they're going to have to sort of add the ability to check for vaccines at the door. What does this mean? And will your canvassers also be helping establish moments like these? 

Mayor: Yeah, absolutely. First of all, let me see if we can get the slide up. I don't know if you have the one from yesterday, or if you have it today, with the list of all the different venues that are covered. Try the magic of technology. Let's see if you guys can do it. I have faith that one way or another, you're going to find it. Andrew, no, actually movie theaters were from the beginning anticipated as one of these examples. We talked about indoor dining, restaurants, bars, obviously, indoor entertainment, which is a wide variety of different locations, and then indoor fitness. So, that's what we've been laying out from the beginning. Yes, we're going to do a lot of outreach. We want this to work for people. Now, I remind you, I really believe this is sort of a commonsense matter. Any place you go has some check-in when you get there. It's up there? Look at that. I knew you could do it. Turn it around, turn it around so I could see it. I had faith in – I had more faith in them than they had in themselves. So, Andrew, there is the list for you on the screen and yes, an intensive outreach effort going – you know, first going to any place that wants us to come over or have people come over in person and talk it through, canvassing effort. Obviously, people can call the hotline. Again, that's 888-SBS-4NYC. And the whole idea is to give a month basically for businesses to get used to it. But the commonsense point is you're going to be at a restaurant, bar, you know, people check in when they come in for their seating. You check IDs right now if people are drinking. If you go to a movie theater, you buy a ticket or you scan a ticket. You go to a fitness club, you show your ID. There's already an obvious point at which you can go ahead and check vaccination. And I really urge people to get the COVID Safe app, the NYC app, which is just so simple. You just take a photo on your phone of your regular ID and your COVID vaccination proof, and they’re right there. And it takes a second to show it and you're done. And I’ll remind people again, that's something that is not connected to the internet, it is just a tool for you to keep that information easily and show it easily. So, I think with, certainly, help from us, you know, these different establishments will be able to adapt to this pretty – adapt to this pretty easily. Go ahead, Andrew. 

Question: Yesterday, when we talked to some restaurant owners and customers, I did encounter some folks who have not been vaccinated. And I asked, does the idea that you won't be able to eat in this restaurant, does that compel you to get the vaccine? And this was a woman, she's a health care worker who's not vaccinated, she said, ‘nope, I'll just save my money and I won't dine out.’ I just wonder if that vignette illustrates the challenge of moving more of this population towards vaccination. 

Mayor: Andrew, you're going to find some people who are unwilling, but that's not most people. We've really looked at this carefully. So, first of all, let's talk about who's vaccinated already. In this city 5.2 million New Yorkers have at least one dose. So, they already instantly qualify for all the things we're talking about. The indoor dining, indoor entertainment. 5.2 million people are already, right this minute, qualified. And tens of thousands more become qualified regularly. We had last week for the first time since early June, we had over a hundred thousand first doses last week. First time that had happened in months. So, that hundred thousand people instantly qualified. As we said, with the concerts week, you can get vaccinated right there, outside the concert and then go in. So, I think we're going to find a lot of people who will say, ‘hey, I really want to participate in these things so I'm just going to go get vaccinated.’ We've also done a lot of polling. The polling shows that most people who are unvaccinated are open to being vaccinated. They're not philosophically against it. They need it to be convenient, or they need to get a few more answers or they need a little bit of motivation, like some of the mandates, but they're going to get there. And by the way, for our businesses in the city, we rely on tourists. Most tourists coming into New York City from everything we're seeing are vaccinated. Suburbs, the suburbs have a higher rate of vaccination than the city. So, people coming in from the suburbs are more likely to be vaccinated. So, there's not a huge audience of folks who right this moment can go to those businesses and enjoy them. And I do believe the mandates are going to inspire a lot of people, particularly younger New Yorkers to just go ahead and get vaccinated so they can participate fully. 

Moderator: Our next question goes to James Ford from PIX11. 

Question: And good morning, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. 

Mayor: James, you must be doing something right. You're the number three hitter today. I mean, that's power. Power. 

[Laughter] 

Question: I feel the power. I also feel the power of the Force MD’s. I want to thank you for having them. And could we maybe have them on more of these calls? 

Mayor: I want all major announcements to be done in three- part harmony. I just think that's the way of the future. Like, you know, the press conference, as we know it is done. Everything's going to be in song from now on. 

Question: You got my endorsement, bring them to an Inner Circle, please. Anyway, onto the questions. Look, this morning we spoke with the owner of a bakery and restaurant in Bay Ridge who said something that we've heard from a few other merchants that the vaccine mandate, the Key to NYC, is discriminatory. It discriminates against unvaccinated people, said the owner. I'd appreciate just hearing your response and the response of anyone else on the call who cares to answer.  

Mayor: Yeah, look, I think I saw quotes on that same owner. I respect everyone's opinion obviously. But let me tell you why I disagree with that. Because – first of all, let's take the example of a bakery or any place else where people are going in to get something to-go in most cases. That is not what we're talking about here. If you are unvaccinated and you want to go in and get takeout somewhere, you can still do that. You want to go in and buy some cannoli and walk out, you can do that. So, that's not the issue here. The issue here is when people sit down for a long period of time, eat and drink in a restaurant or a bar, if they're in a movie theater, for example, or other entertainment venues close together indoors for a long period of time, fitness, we all know as the doctors have talked about. And I'll see if Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Long want to add in a second, but, you know, obviously, fitness, a lot, exertion, exhaling. You know, these are all places where there's particular concerns, but if you're just going into a bakery and getting something to go, you can be vaccinated, you can be unvaccinated. But the reason I also want to say it's not discrimination, this is about protecting people. In our society for generations, we've done all sorts of things to protect people. We have driver's licenses. As you heard from Steve Levin, we've had vaccinations of all kinds. There’s so many things we do to protect people. This is a way of protecting people. But for the many, many establishments, they still have a huge number of people they can serve right now who are vaccinated. And we know a lot of people now are going to be encouraged to get vaccinated because of these mandates. It's just the truth. It's going to be the decisive factor for a lot of people. So, this is about moving us out of a global crisis. That's what's motivating us. Dr. Chokshi or Dr. Long, do you want to add? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, thank you. I'll just add briefly, what we know is that the coronavirus does not discriminate. It has caused so much suffering and illness across our city. And so, these actions that we are taking, including the Key to NYC, are focused on protection and safety and health. And they do so both at the individual level, at the business level, but very importantly, as the Mayor just said, it's also about improving our overall vaccination rate for the city. And by doing so that extends protection not just to individuals who are vaccinated, but to neighborhoods, communities, and the city as a whole. Thank you.  

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

Executive Director Long: Yeah, I would add, the way that we fight back against COVID and we fight back against this global crisis is by getting enough people vaccinated. Everything we're talking about here today is how we want to help New Yorkers to get more vaccinated, to keep our city safe. Part of it is when you go into do things like indoor dining or go to the gym we want to make sure we take that opportunity to help to encourage people to get vaccinated or with restaurants, like with Boca last week – we wanted to offer people the vaccine on their way in. So, everything we're doing here is about doing the single most important thing that we need to do to get coronavirus out of our city once and for all, and that's getting people vaccinated by meeting them where they are, where they live, where they play. And even if we go to your home, giving you $100 and we give you that home vaccine. 
  
Mayor: Ted, we're going to make you tell your story now that you, you held back from the public on Thursday. So, James, just bear with us a moment, because this is a true-life story, Ted, with one of his patients who was a little hesitant and how it turned into something very different, as Ted explained – all the ways that we help people and support vaccination. Take it away, Ted. 
  
Executive Director Long: Yeah. Thank you, sir. This is an experience that was personal to me. It really made an impression on me. I was in clinic, I'm a primary care doctor in the Bronx and I had a patient I was doing a telephone visit with. So, he wasn't actually in front of me in clinic. He hadn't gotten the vaccine yet. When I asked why, he said he wanted to talk to me about first, which is totally reasonable. And we started talking about how he could come in, but when I offered to come to his house, his first question was, “wait, you're going to come to my house. What about the other five family members I have that haven't been vaccinated either?” I said, “of course, we'll come to your house. We'll vaccinate all six of you and we'll give each of you $100.” And he said, “well, so you're going to come to my house, give all six of my – myself and my other five family members the vaccine for free, and give us $600 just to do that. Forget about it.” So, he was very excited to do this. I signed him up right there on the spot. And then I had another experience talking to somebody soon after that, who had a grandmother at home who was homebound, wasn't able to come into clinic. I said, “not only will I have my team come, the Test and Trace Corps will come to your home, do the home vaccine for you for free. We'll give grandma $100.” Grandma's going to get vaccinated now. 
  
Mayor: I love it. I love it, Ted, the more people hear about it. The more people decide it's the right thing for them and their families. Thank you. Go ahead, James. 
  
Question: By the way, if I'm just asking, if you can disclose the names of those people. We’d appreciate it. My guess is we have to do that offline. 
  
Mayor: Yes, James you're a discerning man, yes. We'll see offline of those folks would like to talk to you. I think they're pretty great stories that we'd love to let you follow up on. Go ahead. 
  
Question: All right. So, on behalf of my colleague, Ayana Harry, this is really a follow-up on one of Gloria's questions. You had spoken about meeting with Lieutenant Governor Hochul. Could you elaborate a little more – particularly talk about the contrast between her leadership style and Governor Cuomo's, and how you feel about that, and how you think that might be played out in your encounter with her? 
  
Mayor: Yeah, and look, James, I am hopeful. I have had, you know, a good relationship with the Lieutenant Governor. I've not spent a lot of time with her. I haven't worked with her on a lot of substantive issues, but I've always found her to be an open person, you know, a decent person, thoughtful person. I'm very hopeful that she can help to really change the environment. We have seen so many bad things in Albany, so many troubling things, and it's going to take a huge amount of change. So, I'm really hopeful that she can help to set a new tone. But look again, I have every reason to believe we'll work well together. I think most people – again, I keep saying to people, Andrew Cuomo was really aberrant, but people have gotten too used to it. He was not normal. He is not normal. That's not how most people do things. That's not how professional people do things, to bully and harass people all day long and to spend endless hours on the phone attacking reporters or elected officials or whatever it is let's go back to something approximating normalcy and just have elected officials work together and address the issues. I think it can be done, and I'm looking forward to the meeting. 
  
Moderator: Our next question goes to Marcia Kramer from CBS.  
  
Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you feeling today?  
  
Mayor: I'm feeling good, Marcia. How are you? 
  
Question: Good. I'd like to follow up on the questions you've been getting about meeting with Kathy Hochul. One of the things that she said is that she plans on picking a Lieutenant Governor from New York City and has indicated it might be a person of color. I wonder how you – if you have any recommendations for her and if you read anything into the fact that she's meeting with Jumaane Williams today as well. 
  
Mayor: No, I don't read anything into that, per-se. I think it is smart for her to meet with leaders all over the state, because again, a lot of folks like me have had a little bit of relationship with her, but we don't know her well, and it's good to start obviously to get to know her. But I was asked this last night as well. I certainly think having a Lieutenant Governor from New York City makes sense, given that she's from Buffalo and that's where she's had most of her experience. I think it will be a good balance to have that. Go ahead, Marcia. 
  
Question: I just wonder also when you meet her, I know that you have a lot of things that you need to talk about. You need to talk about COVID, and you need to talk about other things, but one of the things she's doing today is having a roundtable with teachers and parents to discuss the safe way to open schools. I wonder what your pitch is going to be about the safest way to open schools, whether masking is appropriate, whether you have to expand remote learning. I know you want to get people into the classroom and not have remote learning, but taking into consideration the concerns of teachers and parents, what will your pitch be as the best way to open school safely? 

Mayor: Thank you for the question, Marcia, it's an important question. I'm going to start, I want to get Dr. Chokshi into this too, because we feel both adamantly about why it's in the interest of children, including their health and safety, their mental health, their physical health to be back in school. So, I'm certainly going to talk to the Lieutenant Governor about why we have just strongly come to conclusion. all of us, our health care leadership, our education leadership, everyone here in the city that we need all our kids back for their good for everyone's good. And we can do it safely. We did it safely, you know, really, to the acclaim of the whole nation. We did it safely before there even were vaccines. We now have a high level of vaccination with both kids and adults in our school system. We know we can do this the right way, and in fact, the recent rules put out by the State Education Department absolutely affirm the approach we're taking. So, I'm going to let her know that history, let her know why we've found a way that works and why unfortunately, remote education just could not substitute for the real thing. It just couldn't in terms of why we're so adamant that it makes sense to get all our kids back. I want Dr. Chokshi to speak about this and he will speak as our City’s doctor. And he'll also speak as a parent because I know he feels passionately about this. 
Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir. And I do, you know, my starting point in terms of why in-person learning is so important is that it's not just about education or about the social development of our children. Although of course those are tremendously important. But it's also about the health of our children, particularly over the long-term, both the physical health, as well as the mental health of children are tremendously benefited by in-person learning and the rich environment that New York City public schools provide for them. We have to do this in a way that is safe. And as the Mayor has said, we developed the gold standard for doing this around the country last year. A big part of that was ensuring that people are wearing masks face coverings in the school environment, but it's also about the other layers of protection including ventilation, regular testing, you know, making sure that we have appropriate distancing, and taking into account what we've learned about how to prevent in school transmission. The single most important thing of course, is that we now have an important new tool that we didn't have for the first day of school of 2020, and that's vaccination. I'm here at Truman High School in the Bronx where the Chancellor and I will be meeting with students in just a few minutes to talk to them and make sure that they have all of their questions answered so we can get as many students, as many school staff, as many families vaccinated before the first day of school. Thank you.  
  
Mayor: Amen. 
  
Moderator: Our next question goes to Emma Fitzsimmons from the New York Times. 
  
Question: Hi, good morning, Mayor. Another question about this meeting today with Hochul – will you mention congestion pricing? She appears to be sort of lukewarm on it. 
  
Mayor: Yeah, I definitely want to talk to her about it, Emma. We need it. We now – what we saw a few weeks back with the flooding in the subways, all the service disruptions we've been seeing, we need a long-term solution. If our subways and our buses aren't working not only is New York City, not working the entire metropolitan region is not working. So, I'm always thinking about our comeback, our recovery. We have got to get congestion pricing in place to do that. And guess what, as a result of COVID, we have an even greater congestion problem on top of that, and we've got to improve subway and bus service to keep getting people to make the choice to come back to mass transit. So, congestion pricing crucial on so many levels and definitely want to talk that through with her. Go ahead, Emma. 
  
Question: I'm also curious what you're seeing in terms of vaccinations. I was looking at the stats this morning and there had been an uptick, but not a huge jump. So, when do you expect to see a huge jump in vaccination here as you're working on these mandates? 
  
Mayor: It's a very crucial question and this is what we talk about every day, Emma. We put these new approaches in place. Now. I want to say let's define huge jump for a moment. I think the numbers the last few weeks are powerful. We had a 30 percent increase in vaccinations in the last week. If you go back two weeks, it's a 52 percent increase. So, that's powerful. Again, as I mentioned earlier last week for the first time since early June 100,000-plus first doses. So, we're definitely seeing movement, and remember that the impact of everything we've done, the incentives we saw, even as of days ago, we had over 50,000 people who had taken the incentive. The worker mandates are coming into play more in waves, and the state's decision to go ahead and have a mandate for all health care workers. All of that's going to start increasing the numbers and obviously the Key to NYC. So, I think you're going to see a buildup, but we're asking ourselves all the time, is it enough? And do we need to use other tools? And that's something that, you know, that's a decision we're going to make, literally, as we see day by day, the playout. 
  
Moderator: Our next question goes to Steve Burns from WCBS 880.  
  
Question: Mr. Mayor, how are you today?  
  
Mayor: Good, Steve. How you been? 
  
Question: Doing all right. I wanted to ask a follow-up on Emma's question about congestion pricing. I understand you obviously want to bring that up with the Lieutenant Governor. We also heard from the MTA yesterday, their new estimates seems to be about 16 months to finish up what had been called the expedited review process that the federal government had granted. So, judging by your facial expression there, that kind of answers my question. Wanted to see if you buy that timeline and, you know, what your words of advice to the MTA are here? 
  
Mayor: Do I buy that timeline? No. I’d like to meet the person who thinks 16 months is expedited. That's ridiculous. I will say, some part of this is an issue with the state and the MTA. I also want to see what's going on, on the federal side. Everyone's got to go faster. I mean, this is crazy. This decision was made now years ago. We need it. The impact – come on. We're talking about a way proven now around the world of reducing congestion. So, if they want to know the environmental impact, I'll tell them it will reduce congestion, reduce pollution. It will help address climate change, get more people to go on to mass transit. I mean, I just think this is getting a little ridiculous. So, we got to find a way to speed this up and move forward. And in the meantime, do all the work and the decisions around it. I named my Finance Commissioner to the panel that's supposed to be figuring out all the policies. No, the state still hasn't acted. They, they just got to get in gear here. Go ahead, Steve. 
  
Question: Thank you, and on a more philosophical question about the Lieutenant Governor. I know a lot of the focus has been on the historical nature of her being the first woman to lead New York State and rightfully so. But there's another historical aspect of this. That's kind of fascinated me that she is going to be the first Governor of New York State to not come from New York City or its immediate surroundings in about a hundred years. So, I wanted to ask you, you know, do you think that is a good thing, maybe a fresh set of eyes? Is it a bad thing that there might be more of a learning curve to New York City's unique set of issues? How do you approach that aspect of the Lieutenant Governor's coming governorship here? 
  
Mayor: Look, I think the – what I'd say of all, I'm just glad she is coming in and putting what we've all been through behind us. I think anyone going that role will have to learn a lot of new things by definition. We do need to see ourselves as one interdependent state, I mean, that's just the truth. We're all connected. And, you know, what happens in the rest of the State affects New York City, what happens in New York City affects the rest of the State. There's no question about it. Our recovery is going to help move the recovery for the rest of the State. I'm sure Lieutenant Governor understands that and feels that too. So, I think, you know, not to be too cheesy here, but I think we're all in this together, and what we need is like really clear, coherent approaches to fight back the Delta variant and speed the recovery for the whole State, and that's what I'm going to work with her on.  
  
Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. Our next question goes to Nolan from The Post.   
  
Question: Hey, good morning, everybody.   
  
Mayor: Hey, Nolan, how you doing?  
  
Question: I’m doing well, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  
  
Mayor: Okay. I got caffeinated, but I need more. That's my statement today. I need a new, stronger kind of caffeine - yeah, well, I know, Nolan, and I relate on this important topic.  
  
Question: Well on this [inaudible] –  
  
Mayor: Wait, we’re not hearing you, get back to the microphone there, Nolan.   
  
Question: I'm here. Can you hear me now?   
  
Mayor: There you go.  
  
Question: All right. So, on the other topic of the vaccine mandate, there was – there've been a slew of articles published about the Delta variant outbreak in Provincetown, where you had a population that was extraordinarily, highly vaccinated, and you had a series of outbreaks from what appear to be – that appear to have occurred in establishments in the Cape Cod community. So, is the vaccine passport that we're introducing here, you view this as a way to cut down on outbreaks, or do you view this as a mechanism to encourage people to get vaccinated?  
  
Mayor: Important question. I'll start and I'll turn to Dr. Chokshi and Dr. Long. Look, we know that as more people get vaccinated, we're saving lives, we're protecting people from the worst outcomes, obviously saving people from death, first and foremost, this is proven, proven, proven, and even from hospitalization and serious illness. We know that vaccination achieves that. We know that vaccination helps us recover. We also know that it helps inhibit the spread. So, there's so many levels on which vaccination – I know you sort did “either, or”, I would say there's many, many virtuous reasons for more and more vaccination and breakthrough cases are rare. So, now I'll turn to the experts to explain. Take it away, Dr Chokshi.  
  
Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, sir, and, Nolan, thanks for this important question. I would break down our public health interventions at this stage and the pandemic into three major categories. The first and most important one is getting as many unvaccinated people fully vaccinated as quickly as possible. The second is ensuring that unvaccinated people follow the precautions that we know have helped to slow the spread of COVID-19 over the last 18 months, masking, distancing, testing, washing your hands, et cetera. And then the third is for vaccinated people to follow some of those precautions as well. That's the order in which we have to focus our efforts, and the first one making sure as many people get vaccinated as quickly as possible, is far and away the most impactful, because it helps us not just to avert the serious illness, the hospitalizations, and deaths that we care so much about preventing, but it also does help us to cut down on overall community transmission, as well. So, that's why all of our strategies are aligned toward this core goal of getting as many people vaccinated as possible. Dr. Long, you want to add.  
  
Executive Director Long:  Yeah, I think Dr. Chokshi covered the key points there. I would emphasize two important data points, Nolan, that also underlined the importance of getting people vaccinated. Number one is that there's a several fold decrease in transmission from one person to another person if both – if you're vaccinated. And number two is, as Dr. Chokshi has said in the past, we've looked at hospitalizations among unvaccinated people previously, we found that 98 percent of people that are hospitalized are unvaccinated people. So, those two things together really clearly show the how strong the data is behind getting people vaccinated and everything we're doing now is to encourage people to get vaccinated now to keep our city safe.   
  
Mayor: Thank you. Go ahead, Nolan.  
  
Question: All right. Yeah, thanks for those answers. Dr. Long has said there's a many fold decreases in the odds of getting the virus, even with the Delta variant floating around provided you're vaccinated. There's a lot of nonsense floating around the internet questioning the efficacy of the vaccines when it comes to the Delta variant. So, I'm wondering if there's a number that can be put to it, are we talking about, you know, is it – reduce the odds by 90 percent or by 95 percent or by 80 percent or some way for folks to quantify exactly how much protection the current vaccinations, you know, give against the Delta variant, which would also perhaps explain why there's this new push for boosters?   
  
Mayor: Very good question. Dr. Chokshi, can you put it into those terms cleanly?  
  
Commissioner Chokshi: Yes, sir. I can try. You know, these are statistics, data that are continuing to be gathered, you know, both at the national level, as well as in New York City and other jurisdictions. Based on the most recent national data that the CDC has put out, it's estimated that the difference that vaccination affords is anywhere from about 2.5-fold to four-fold with respect to preventing infection. It's higher than that, about nine to tenfold for preventing hospitalization, and likely higher than that about 20-fold for preventing death. So, what does this all mean? Again, the bottom line is that all of the authorized vaccines offer strong protection against preventing severe illness, and even in the context of the Delta variant, we know that they do help to prevent infection as well as to stop the spread of the coronavirus.  
  
Mayor: I want to challenge you, Dr. Chokshi, in a good way. The tenfold, 20-fold terminology, I think is a little harder for folks to take in than what Nolan was talking about, sort of putting it into percentage and all. But what I heard you say is you are 20 times more likely to die from the coronavirus if you contract it, and you're un-vaccinated, than if you are vaccinated. Did I interpret that right?   
  
Commissioner Chokshi: Those are based on what we know right now, sir, those are the approximate odds that we have for death as well as for hospitalization.  
  
Mayor: Right, so to Nolan’s important question, and I think that's – certainly when I talk to people, the number one thing they're concerned about is serious illness and, of course, death. You're 20 times more likely to be vulnerable to a serious illness, even as much as death, if you are un-vaccinated than if you are vaccinated. I think that statistic speaks volumes and it's probably one we need to say a lot more often to help people understand.  
  
Moderator: Our last question for today goes to Yehudit from Borough Park 24.   
  
Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you?  
  
Mayor: Good, Yehudit, how you been?  
  
Question: I'm great, thank you. So, many business owners in Brough Park are still reeling from the number of inspectors, sometimes explicably 12 in one day, that kind of descended on 13th Avenue back in October of 2020 when they were ticketing about the COVID protocols, the details of which many business owners have told me that they received no email, letter, or phone call about what they were and how they should best implement them. So, now that civilian agencies are enforcing the New York City pass on September 13th, I was wondering whether you can address that some neighborhoods felt more targeted with inspectors and enforcements than others, and whether you can guarantee that that won't happen again? And then also how education and outreach to small businesses, particularly in ethnic neighborhoods that maybe do not speak English as their first languages will be different this time with the Key to New York City Pass?  
  
Mayor: Yeah, I really appreciate the question, Yehudit. And I'm going to see – I'm not sure – is Dr. – excuse me – is Commissioner Jonnel Doris on or not? Okay, I know Commissioner Jesse Tisch is on, maybe she'd like to speak to this as well in a moment. We absolutely want that outreach to be thorough, to be a helpful, educational, in whatever language is best for the store owner. We do have the hotline that people can call and speak to experts in multiple languages, please, Yehudit get this word out, 8-8-8-SBS4NYC to answer any and all concerns. I heard those complaints and concerns last year. I certainly was not happy with what happened. That was not the goal. As you remember, Yehudit, we had a very contentious situation with the State of New York at that point, mandating additional rules and approaches that weren't always helpful. Again, as we talked about earlier today, very hopeful we will not be having that problem again, and we obviously don't have the same State laws and rules forcing our hands. So, we'll be able to control our own destiny. We want to educate and help the small business owners. We don't want to penalize anyone if we can avoid it. And I think this approach will be straightforward, we can make it work, and I don't want to see those kinds of non-stop inspections, that's not our goal, obviously. We're in a very, very different environment now, thank God. Commissioner Jesse Tisch, you want to add anything to that?  
  
Commissioner Jessica Tisch, Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications: Sure, I'll add one thing. All of the 600 canvassers who are doing education outreach, they've actually hit the pavement this morning. They are equipped with access to language line, so language line gives them access to 180 plus different languages just for the purposes of translation. So, every single one of those canvassers will have that. In addition, we are translating all those materials related to Key to NYC in the ten city languages, and all of those, the posters, the flyers, any materials will be available in all of those languages on the Key to NYC website.  
  
Mayor: That's great. And Commissioner, will you please make sure that we, in addition to the translation effort, that we get some team members who are Yiddish speaking to join in that canvassing effort in Borough Park? I think that'd be real helpful.   
  
Commissioner Tisch: That's the plan, sir.   
  
Mayor: Okay, go ahead, Yehudit.  
  
Question: Thank you so much. And then you've said many times that many business owners are on board and enthusiastic about the New York City Pass, but I was wondering whether you could address maybe the anxiety and fears of some business owners who are trying to come back and they might be afraid of potentially turning away, confused and angry customers, and maybe tourists who are from out of the country who have different types of vaccination proof, or maybe no vaccination proof? And then also I'm wondering whether you were thinking that business owners who are confronted with angry customers should somehow send them out to these vaccination sites that you're providing, the pop-up ones, before coming in?  
  
Mayor: Okay, let me see if I can cover all that. The – first of all, we accept proof of vaccination of many kinds, including if it's from other states, obviously, or from other countries. So, I think it's fair to say a very high percentage of people who are traveling are vaccinated folks. They will have proof, we'll accept their proof. You know, again, I expect the vast majority of businesses to work well with these straightforward rules. I expect the vast majority of customers to do the same. This is for certain types of activity. We've talked about indoor dining, indoor entertainment, indoor fitness. It's not for outdoor activities. It's not for other types of businesses. Every one of those types of businesses, again, has some kind of procedure where you check in, if you will, at the beginning, that's the natural place to do this. You know, we believe that the civilian outreach is going to help people figure out how to manage this. If they have someone who's upset that they can't go in, yeah, go direct them to a vaccination site, which is all over the city, which is free. All you need is that first dose, you literally could go out, get vaccinated, turn right around, come back, show your card, and you can go into that establishment. And anyone who's been, Yehudit, as you know, anyone who's been vaccinated, it takes minutes. So, there's no reason, even the same day, for anyone to miss out on something. If they really want to be a part of something, they can get vaccinated, come right back. I don't expect a lot of conflicts. I think people understand this is a city decision in the context of a global crisis, but if there are conflicts, as always, people can turn for help, and the city is going to be there to help no matter what.   
  
But really, in the end, what I'd say is New Yorkers are smart people. They understand, we cannot go backwards. Yehudit, I think everyone agrees, the worst of all worlds would be to go back to restrictions. The most devastating thing for our small businesses would be restrictions again. The way to ensure that never happens is to get more people vaccinated, and these are the tools that are going to work. These are the tools are going to ensure people are vaccinated and safe and we keep moving forward. Thank you, everyone.