Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability

August 24, 2021

Mayor Bill de Blasio: All right, good morning, everybody. Live again from Staten Island here from Borough Hall. Really, really happy to be here. Thank you to Borough President Jimmy Otto and his whole team who have been incredible hosts this week. We got a lot to happen this week, including today, really wonderful thing we do every City Hall in Your Borough week, open hours with leaders of the entire city government, Commissioners, Deputy Mayors, I'll be out their resource fair for folks to see all the ways that they can access what the city has to offer. We're here to help Staten Islanders, we're here to listen to Staten Islanders, this is going to be another good day working with the people of Staten Island. And we all know what the first mission is for all of us, Staten Island, the whole five boroughs, all across America, job one, fight the Delta variant, fight COVID, and the COVID era. That is what we need to focus on. That's where everything else comes together. You want kids back in school? Fight COVID. You want to make sure we bring jobs back? Fight COVID. You want to protect small businesses? Fight COVID. You want to stop restrictions from coming back, remember those restriction? I don't know anyone who liked those, you want to stop those from happening, fight COVID, fight the Delta variant, and it means vaccination.  

New York City's leading the way. Every step we take has had national impact, when we first put forward our employee mandate for our city employees, the original vaccinate or test, had a big impact across the country. When we said we're going to do a $100 incentive, had a big impact, President Biden picked up on it, promoted around the country. When we said we would do the Key to NYC pass to ensure indoor dining, entertainment, fitness would be safe for employees, for customers, encouraging vaccination, saying to everyone, especially our young people, you want to fully participate? You want to enjoy everything? Just go get vaccinated. One dose, get in the game, then go get it that second dose later. Again, President Biden endorsed it immediately. It's being picked up on by private sector organizations, businesses all over the country. We saw it yesterday, Brooklyn Nets, Barclays Center, leading the way. Thank you to them again, requiring vaccination for all their employees. It's growing and growing, and obviously the announcement yesterday, Department of Education employees, everyone's going to be vaccinated to protect our kids. Our kids deserve it. Our families deserve it. We're moving forward. And as I've said, we’re going to continue to use any and all options to keep the people of this city safe, to protect everyone, and bring this city back, because we need a recovery and we need a recovery for all of us, and that means vaccination.  

And here's the good news today, we're going to surpass 10.5 million doses. I mean, it's just an astounding figure, from day one, 10.5 million doses. Today, we can say the incentive has worked, over a 100,000 New Yorkers have already gotten the $100 incentive when they took their first dose of the vaccine. This is something we announced – it feels like it was yesterday - and already 100,000 people have taken advantage of it, more coming in every day. And mobile vaccination, this has been a really positive story. The mobile vaccination sites have been incredibly effective. Here's another milestone, we've now had over 200,000 vaccination doses at mobile sites. This is a game changer. You're going to see a lot more of them. And this week in Staten Island, we're going to put a heavy, heavy emphasis on the mobile sites, all over Staten Island to reach the people at Staten island, to keep them safe, to keep their families safe. On Thursday on August 26th, we're going to have our first Staten Island Vax Thursday, and it's a day of action for folks to come together, help promote vaccination, join us in Clifton at Tappen Park and in New Springfield, that’s Staten Island Mall. If you want to be part of this day action to promote vaccination, to get people involved, to help save lives, go to nyc.gov/vaxSI to sign up. We’re looking for volunteers. We're looking for people to get involved. There's so much good we can do here. And we're going to again, have those mobile vaccination sites all across the borough, And they're telling me on the screen, they're going to show you – are, you're showing it on the screen? The mobile vaccination sites. I got, I got to make sure that everyone's doing their jobs today. No, the other sites, the longer list of sites here at comms, there we go. This is the way to reach people, to have sites everywhere, to make it easy, make it simple. It's free, it's fast, it's safe, it's effective. Someone's going to tell you how important it is. And she has been out in her community, promoting vaccination with her whole hear, and I want to thank them for that. My pleasure to introduce Council Member, Debbie Rose. 

[…] 

Thank you so much Council Member, and love your quote, “we are not strangers to adversity, but is adversely strange if we don't work together.” That is powerful and accurate, and New Yorkers are at their best, we saw it, so many points in our history, after Hurricane Sandy, after 9-11, New Yorkers pulled together, no one asked which party are you, which borough you're from. People just helped each other. That's the spirit that wins and thank you, Council Member for helping to lead the way, keeping people safe here on Staten Island. 

[…] 

All right, everyone. Look, we have a lot of work to do, but New Yorkers, in addition to being no strangers to adversity, we're no strangers to hard work. This is why New York City is the greatest city in the world. We work hard, we stay at it, and we have built a tremendous capacity to vaccinate New Yorkers effectively, safely, quickly for free. Yesterday, crucial day for this nation, for the city, the Pfizer vaccine getting its full formal approval from the FDA and President Biden said it, so simply, so clearly, “ those who have been waiting for full approval should go get your shot now.” And like now, it's the time. What this means is this is a crossing the Rubicon moment. So, I want to say to the private sector, please, we saw a great example with the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center yesterday, just cross the Rubicon, go to all vaccination. It is the simplest, safest way to get things done. It's just going to move the ball. It's going to help us move forward. Those mandates save lives and speed the recovery and stop us from falling back to an age of restrictions. I want you to hear how important it is for every part of our society to participate here, going to turn to our Health Commissioner with great gratitude, Dr. Dave Chokshi 
. 
Commissioner Dave Chokshi, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, and yes, we took an important step forward yesterday with that full FDA approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for people 16 years or older. I know the news has come as a relief to many New Yorkers who needed that further vote of confidence in the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. It should also come as a relief to employers who are eager to safely bring people back to work because every activity is safer with vaccination, and that includes the work in industries like retail, manufacturing, hospitality, and so much more. To protect these workers, their colleagues, and their patrons, I join you in calling on all private sector employers to require their staff be vaccinated. Our city, our recovery, and our health depend on a vaccinated workforce. Each dose of the vaccine is another brick in the wall against the Delta variant and lifting vaccination rates as high as we possibly can, will help protect the most vulnerable among us, such as younger children who can't yet get vaccinated by reducing communities spread. Yesterday, as you alluded to Mr. Mayor, federal and state leaders also called for this commonsense approach. We're all pushing in the same direction because the stakes are so high. I strongly urge CEOs and all private sector leaders to do your part in our pandemic response by adopting vaccine requirements. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you very much, Dr. Chokshi and thanks for everything you're doing to spread the message and everyone, look, I think anyone looks at the City of New York will say City of New York has thrown in everything we've got in the fight against COVID and our singular, singular focus on vaccination as the strategy that matters. And I have a lot of respect for what the Biden administration has achieved. We've got more to do though. So, I want to be really, really clear. We've got to keep this moving. We need momentum. I'm glad the FDA acted on Pfizer. They need to act immediately on Moderna, that full authorization for adults, J & J, all of these need to be fully authorized quickly because everyone will feel much more comfortable, much more ready if they hear that. But here's the thing I care about the most and the thing we need the most, we need an accelerated focused effort at the federal level to get the vaccination ready for five to 11-year-olds. This is the game changer we really need. And I'm speaking as a parent, federal government needs to move heaven and earth, this should be the number one federal priority right now, get the vaccine ready for five to 11-year-olds. We need our kids back in schools. We need every school community to be safe. The only thing holding us back from getting to exactly where we need to go is the inability to reach those youngest kids. Now, thank God, we know COVID has had much less impact on younger people than older people, but still, this should be that relentless focus of the federal government, because I know parents are going to feel such tremendous relief when they can get their youngest kids vaccinated. That day that that's allowed, I am guaranteeing you, you're going to see long lines at all our vaccination centers because parents care first and foremost about protecting their kids. There are hundreds of thousands of kids in the city who would benefit from the vaccine. So, my plea to the federal government, give us a timeline, announce a timeline, set a goal, show the path because that's, what's going to animate action. People, if they know it's coming, if they know the vaccine for five to 11-year-olds is coming, it's going to instill more confidence. It's going to help us move forward.  

Now, again, you see the momentum being built. I want to give a special thank you because we saw a really important announcement yesterday. When we said we're moving forward with our schools with the vaccine mandate, our state court system also made a major announcement yesterday, tremendously helpful, their own mandate. I want to thank Chief Judge DiFiore. This is really, really important because it's going to protect people. It's going to save lives, but it's also going to help us defeat the challenges we've faced with crime and violence. We need the court system to be as active as possible, full strength as possible. Vaccination is the way we keep the courts moving, and this is a really important step. So, thank you, Chief Judge DiFiore, and everyone at the office of court administration really think this is a major, major step, both for fighting COVID and for fighting crime.  

Okay, now let me give you some other updates real quick. We are seeing despite the challenges New Yorkers always keep building. What's amazing is in the middle of all this, we saw it yesterday, we inaugurated the first ever NYC Ferry route from Staten Island to the west side of Manhattan, and someone said to me, you know, what's amazing, in the middle of COVID new things keep happening, new things keep getting built, new things keep getting announced, groundbreakings, ribbon cuttings because New Yorkers don't stop. We fight through everything. Well, here's another great example, the crossroads of the world, Time Square place that is synonymous with the energy and the joy and the intensity, everything people love about New York City, and we have exciting news because Times Square is buzzing again, and it's about to buzz a whole lot more with Broadway coming back in a matter of days. We are seeing in addition to all the energy and time square all ready, by the way, Times Square has also been – 20 Times Square as a site for vaccination –it's been one of our most popular vaccination sites in all of New York City. So, it is the crossroads of the world in every way, including fighting COVID, but here's something great that will add to our recovery. Right in the middle of Times Square starting tomorrow, the unveiling of the Time Square Wheel, a giant ferris wheel in the middle of Times Square. This is really exciting. This is going to add even more energy and excitement to a place that's already synonymous with energy and excitement. And it's going to be a symbol of recovery. I want you to hear from someone who all day long puts his heart and soul into making the Crossroads of the World the greatest place it could possibly be. I’ve known him a long time and I appreciate his good work. My pleasure to introduce the President of the Times Square Alliance Tom Harris. 

[…] 

Mayor: Excellent. Thank you, Tom. I look forward to that, too. Congratulations, you made a great place even greater. We're all going to work together to keep it that way, and very exciting that Broadway is coming back. And I'm going to combine, now, themes, because now a Staten Islander is looking forward to going to one of those Broadway shows coming back, can get on NYC Ferry and go to the west side of Manhattan directly, and then over to a Broadway theater. Did you like that, Jimmy? See how I brought that together?  

Now, we have a Staten Island announcement that's a really big deal. And I want to set this up with a thanks, because, if you know Jimmy Oddo, you know he's all heart. And he listens to the people of Staten Island. He tries to adjust very, very intensely, earnestly address what they need. And, Staten Island, like so much of New York City, like so much of this country, has a huge challenge when it comes to diabetes. And this has touched so many families, and a lot of people don't have a place to go to get help, or don't know where to turn to get help, or the help isn't available the way they need it. And so, this curse – because diabetes does so much harm in so many families – this curse just grows when we need to be addressing it right at its root. Jimmy Oddo made this a personal crusade and he said that this borough needed to have world-class diabetes services, a world-class approach to protecting Staten Islanders from the scourge of diabetes, to addressing the problem. And he said, we need it centered right here. We all got together, Health + Hospitals, the amazing work that's being done at Gotham Health, at Vanderbilt, how, we said, can we bring all these pieces together to save lives, to change lives, to make it work for Staten Islanders? And I’ve got to give credit where credit is due – we found a solution, and we're all leaning in, and we're all investing, and we're all going to make it work, but it never would have happened if it wasn't for the constant focus and the belief that we could get it done that came from Borough President Jimmy Oddo – and here he is. 

Staten Island Borough President James S. Oddo: Thank you, Mayor. Thank you for those kind words. And good morning from the rock to the rest of New York. Mayor, I want to start by reading a very difficult paragraph – a very difficult paragraph to hear somewhat graphic, but speaks to the ground truth that's playing out across this country. So, bear with me for one second. Small and large diabetic foot wounds rarely heal. They can look as though someone has taken an apple core to the balls of both feet. The body doesn't have enough blood flow and cell regeneration capacity and bacteria thrive in this meaty moist environment. Right now, 40 million people bedridden and waiting for death are living this nightmare. There's almost nothing that can be done for them except to cut back the dead and dying tissue, then cut some more, and then some more. From there, robbed of upright mobility, misery is your bedfellow, and thankfully death is near. In the United States alone, 82,000 elderly people have a limb amputated. That's 10 every hour. All this pain, all this cost comes from relatively minor initial injuries – foot wounds. And that's a powerful paragraph from a book called Lifespan by David Sinclair that I read a few years ago. Every time I read that, Mayor, I think of an article from 2009 New York Times, Sam Roberts article, about one of your predecessors Ed Kotch, an 84 year old – then 84-year-old Ed Koch was looking back on his life and looking ahead to the pending reality. And he had this line that stayed with me. He said, I had a conversation with God, take me totally, but don't take me. No salami tactics. And that stayed with me, Mayor, because, as you know, of all of the ailments my dad had, it was losing his right leg below the knee, ironically, not from diabetes, that was the most devastating to him, way beyond the triple bypass and the chronic pulmonary disease.  

Pre-COVID, diabetes was the largest and most expensive epidemic in our lifetime. 30 million people in this country suffered from diabetes. There’s tens of millions more who are “pre-diabetic,” which is a fancy way of saying they're on the path to becoming diabetic. We spend $51 billion on health coverage for type two diabetes. And it comes at an economic cost to this country of $404 billion. Last week, Reuters did a long story quoting the CDC and confirming that research shows that 40 percent or more of the people who died from COVID had diabetes. Last year, you know the phrase underlying conditions was bandied about. It seemed finally there was going to be some sense of urgency in this country, we were about to confront the reality that four or five generations into the standard American diet, we were going to do something about it. We have set up people as bowling pins and the bowling ball was this virus. And it seemed as if there was a sense of urgency and we were going to attack the underlying causes of chronic disease and attack chronic disease. Sadly, Mayor, I tweeted this out the other day, the most recognizable voice talking about underlying conditions is a comedian who has a weekly cable show on HBO. Half the country hates his politics, the other half hate how he's framing the issue, but he is the leading and loudest voice on it.  

Mayor, it wouldn't be one of our press conferences without a board. This what might seem as gibberish to the uninitiated, it explains our journey and our start on this diabetes center. You know, about the Kroc Center. We know about it's unfortunate demise. You said publicly what you said to me privately, you did a mea culpa on part of the administration, and you made a commitment for an indoor pool. That price tag ballooned to $100 million. We would have never built it for less than a quarter of a billion. And you and I made the decision to call [inaudible] and we said there was a higher purpose for this money. And we laid out how we were going to spend it. One of the higher purposes of that original $100 million dollars is the diabetes center. We had been working with the good folks at Northwell SIUH, we've been working with New York City EDC. We identified a building on the grounds of Seaview, which is an H + H campus. We were making great progress. And then, at the end, the numbers just did not work for SIUH. They were willing to lose money on it, but they couldn't lose that much money on it. And a great guy, you might've heard his name before – a guy by the name of Mitch Katz said, Jimmy, I think we have an alternative. And he's the one who said, we have this beautiful brand-new building, essentially, at the Vanderbilt site. We can be up and running at that site before the end of your term, before the end of the Mayor's term, and we're hoping to have services up and running by September, let's say October. Evidence shows that we can alter the costs of with folks with diabetes, with exercise, a better diet – if they're overweight, losing weight, and medication. We can prevent Staten Islanders, New Yorkers, Americans from living the fate that David Sinclair wrote about. And last but not least, and I will close with this, the beautiful thing is the $24 million we had allocated to renovating the building on the Seaview campus is now freed up. And our friend Mitch Katz, and some really good folks who work with him simultaneously had this other project in mind. And so, we will have a great announcement at another time, but on that Seaview campus, as we are moving diabetes center to Vanderbilt – on that Seaview campus, we will have a pediatric hospital run by H + H that will give care to 80-to-100 children a year who otherwise would have to go to Yonkers or outside of New York.  

So, this week is a story of perseverance and better outcomes in time. I was angry and frustrated with all the fits and starts, but we are closing actually with the best outcomes available where I think we're going to impact the most lives. And, obviously, Mr. Mayor, I'm grateful to you. I'm grateful to Mitch. You know, I've come to respect Mitch Katz a tremendous amount. He is everything that we want in public servants. He cares and they're creative, and his folks are creative, and we're going to have some wonderful institutions in this borough that are going to help Staten Islanders in their most critical time of need. 

Mayor: Beautifully, beautifully laid out, Jimmy, as always, and from the heart. And I think you just told people why it is so important to take this disease seriously. And yeah, the interconnection with diabetes and COVID is a huge part of what's going on this last year-and-a-half. We got to address this. This new center will do it. And I think Jimmy gave Mitch Katz about as good an introduction as I could possibly do, ever. I will only say this – he is a proud son of Brooklyn, and I think he is Sheepshead Bay’s greatest contribution to New York City, ever. The President and CEO of Health + Hospitals, Dr. Mitch Katz. 

President and CEO Mitch Katz, Health + Hospitals: Well, thank you so much, Mr. Mayor, and Mr. President. It's really an honor to talk with the two of you and to make this happen for people with diabetes in Staten Island. We know that this is, as Jimmy has explained, this is a disease where if you provide good preventive care, you can prevent the serious outcomes. And at Vanderbilt, we're going to have a center of excellence where we are working with RUMC and other hospitals and providers make sure that everybody in Staten Island has the best treatments, and so they have the best outcomes. I'm very grateful to both of you and looking forward to seeing the two of you at our ribbon cutting, which we think will be probably the third week of September, so we can welcome all Staten Islanders to the very best of diabetic care. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you, Mitch. And thank you to you and your team, I know this has really been a labor of love for you as well, making a Vanderbilt a center of excellence so all Staten Islanders know that help is there, and comprehensive care, all the elements necessary to fight diabetes under one roof. That's very, very powerful. So, thank you.  

All right. We're going to conclude the remarks today with the indicators, as always. So, first, the extraordinary news that we now have surpassed in terms of doses of vaccine 10.5 million – literally, 10,500,300 doses and growing all the time. So, that's great news for this city. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 138 patients. Confirmed positivity, 39.47 percent. Hospitalization rate, 1.38 per 100,000. And then, number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,700 cases. Let me do a few words in Spanish, and the message today is about the mobile vaccination sites, particularly the ones we're focused on right here in Staten Island. 

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish] 

With that, let's turn to our colleagues in the media. Please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. We'll now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we're joined today by Dr. Mitch Katz, by Dr. Dave Chokshi, and by DoITT Commissioner Jesse Tisch. The first question today, it goes to Juan Manuel from NY1. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.  

Mayor: Good morning, Juan Manuel. How are you doing? 

Question: Very good. Thank you. So, I'm guessing because you started your press conference a little later, I'm guessing that you watched the swearing in ceremony of Governor Hochul? I don't know if you have an initial reaction to her first words as Governor of New York State? 

Mayor: Juan Manuel, I'm happy that we have a new governor. We needed one. She – again, she's a good person who I look forward to working with. It's just a good day to be turning the page. And as she mentioned in her press conference, she and I have already started speaking regularly and we're going to keep it that way, and do a lot of good work for the people of this city and this state. Go ahead, Juan Manuel.  

Question: Mr. Mayor, do you think that Governor Hochul has the power to mandate private employers in the state – to mandate all their employees to get vaccinated? 

Mayor: Juan Manuel, I'm not a lawyer. I would only say I think governors have tremendous powers to protect public health and safety. I think she should use those powers as she sees fit. But obviously use them to the maximum extent, feasible that she believes will work. It's an urgent moment. It's an urgent moment. We cannot slide backwards. So, we in the city are going to do everything in our power, we are really pushing hard on the private sector, please go as far as you can go. But the more the State can do the better, obviously. 

Moderator: The next is Kala from PIX 11. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Thanks for taking my question.  

Mayor: How are you doing, Kala? 

Question: I know that you were – I’m well, thank you. I know that you're saying that we're going to hear a lot more about schools and the reopening plan in coming days, including a handbook for parents. But can you please clarify that there is no remote option offered to immunocompromised students as well as quarantined students? Because I was under the impression that immunocompromised would still have a remote option? But I’m hearing from the DOE that instructors may be brought home? And if that's the case, what are the requirements? 

Mayor: Okay, I'll start. I'll see if Dr. Chokshi has something he wants to add. This is one of the issues. It's a great question, Kala, and we're going to address this in the handbook for parents. Before the pandemic, I want to emphasize this, before the pandemic there were specifically provisions for medically frail kids to get in home instruction. A very small group, very small number, I want to be very clear. A very small number of kids who really had profound challenges. And there were specific ways of helping them. That was before the pandemic that continues to exist, that will exist after the pandemic. We are making that really clear. Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter talks about this a lot. We want parents of those kids to understand help will definitely be there for them. That is the specific group we will make specific provisions for. What we're saying across the board is we're bringing back school and we're bringing it back with the strongest health and safety measures in the nation. And now with a vaccine mandate for all the adults and obviously a huge vaccine effort for kids 12 and up, that's been very, very successful so far. That's what our focus is. Dr. Chokshi – and again, Kala in the next few days, there'll be this week for sure, we're going to lay out all the details. But Dr. Chokshi, you want to add anything to that? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, the only thing I would add if I understood the question correctly, it was also about when children have to quarantine or isolate? And in those instances, the Department of Education will be providing instructional programming as well to keep kids as up to date with their instruction as possible.  

Mayor: Go ahead, Kala. 

Question: Instruction will not – so to be clear, that instruction will not be remote learning? There will be take-home packets, one? And then also, can you elaborate on what that includes or shed some light for unvaccinated kids being tested and how often?  

Mayor: Okay. So, the instruction – quarantine situation is 10 days. And obviously it's 10 days continuous, so it includes weekends, not all of those are school days. We're working through, we certainly have a lot of instructional materials that we can make available instantly anytime a child needs to quarantine. We're working through exactly what that's going to be. But unquestionably, if a child's quarantined there'll be instructional options for them. But a reminder, we expect a lot less of that this time, because of all the vaccination, all the health and safety measures. Because remember vaccinated kids don't have to go home, even if they come in contact with someone who was positive unless they are symptomatic. Same with adults. If they're vaccinated they stay in school. So, we're going to be doing that. And then testing is going to be done as needed, school-by-school. Dr. Chokshi can speak to that as well. We have a huge testing apparatus available to us. But again, the number one focus now is deepening vaccination. That's what's going to be the difference maker. Dr. Chokshi? 

Commissioner Chokshi: Sir, I think you covered all that high points on it. Yes, testing will be made available. It is something of course that will be particularly important for students who are unvaccinated. And as we described briefly yesterday it will be a range of options, including both in school testing as we had throughout the last school year, as well as providing some at-home testing kits to allow parents and families to do their testing at home as well. Thank you.  

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: The next is Jake Offenhartz from Gothamist.  

Question: Hey. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey Jake, how you been? 

Question: I’m okay. You began this press conference talking about the need to lead nationally in terms of vaccinations. So, you announced this mandate with teachers, but the NYPD, which obviously has a lot of contact with the public, is still less than 50 percent vaccinated. So, my question is, what steps do you think need to be taken to increase that rate? Have you considered withholding overtime from unvaccinated cops? And going forward, why not implement a vaccine mandate here? 

Mayor: Well, Jake, you have heard me use a phrase and then make that phrase come to life. I keep saying we're climbing the ladder. And we have been very consistently in this town, climbing the ladder in terms of more and more ways of getting people vaccinated. Incentives and mandates. And we're going to keep doing that. But I'm also someone who believes in sequencing and what we needed to do first of course, was health care workers. And then the State came in with that mandate, which was tremendously helpful. Our next focus was on schools for obvious reasons of both the sensitivities of supporting our kids and families, but also the calendar. School starting so soon. We're going to be looking to the next steps soon. But the bottom line is we're going to look at a variety of options. I do know to the great credit of Commissioner Shea, he has made very passionate, personal appeals to all officers. And Dermot Shea is someone who joined the force in 1991 and came – went from patrol officer all the way up to commissioner. And he’s saying very personally to officers, you need to get vaccinated. He went through hell with COVID himself. He can testify personally. So, he's working very hard to increase that number. And I remind everyone, it's not just getting an officer vaccinated or a public employee vaccinated. It has an impact on their whole family and makes their whole family safer. But Jake, we are looking at all alternatives. And we will keep updating people as soon as each one is ready. Go ahead, Jake.  

Question: Sure. And then a question from my colleague about schools, which is that I know we won't know enrollment numbers until later this fall, but we are hearing from individual schools that their enrollments are down, in some cases significantly. So, are you willing to release figures at this point showing how many schools are facing enrollment declines? 

Mayor: It's from everything I understand Jake and I've listened to the Chancellor and others. This is, it would be absolutely premature and inaccurate. We're not going to know school enrollments until the end of September, beginning of October in practical ways. Because parents, whether they are people who were away from the city coming back, whether there are people, a lot of kids spend their summers in the homelands of their families, a lot of, you know, families who are new immigrants. There's a lot of reasons why we don't get a clean picture of school enrollment until well into September, even into October. When we really have it all sorted out, we'll certainly provide the updates. But I want to caution, I'm – I've heard so many of these stories predicting one demise or another. I've found absolutely powerful that after the stunning census effort that this team undertook and working with community groups and all, you know, the city's population is now 8.8 million. That's the formal federal number. That's based on the science and the census, 8.8 million. And you're going to see lots and lots of people coming back to our schools. Very, very confident about that. But as for numbers, we can truly believe in? That’s still many weeks away.  

Moderator: The next is Joe Anuta from Politico. 

Mayor: Joe? 

Question: Hi, Mr. Mayor. 

Mayor: Hey man, how are you doing? 

Question: Not too bad. How about you?  

Mayor: Good. It's always sunny – it's always sunny in Staten Island, Joe. 

Question: That's what I hear. 

Mayor: That's got to be a series, you know, Jimmy and I need new jobs. So, we're going to come up with a wacky group of characters and a whole lot of hijinks on Staten Island. What do you think, Jimmy? 

Borough President Oddo: That's like the odd couple on steroids? No? 

Mayor: I think we could do amazing things with that. I'm sorry, Joe, we just had a creative moment over here. 

Question: Listen, I don't want to interrupt that. It sounds like – it sounds very promising. I wanted to ask you about the mandate for school staff. One of the unions DC 37, said that they want to – that they're going to file an unfair labor practices claim. So, I'm curious if you could tell us about sort of the thought process? Like if this claim takes a long time to play out, whether it's, I don't know exactly how they're decided through arbitration or what? Theoretically it could extend past the time you want this to be enacted in late September. So, why not hash this out with a union beforehand and avoid some of this legal process rather than I think you've said, you know, you want to move forward with this, whether it's negotiated or not? 

Mayor: Yeah, Joe, very, very fair question. And to – you've been around, I'm going to say to you, the level of complexity here should not be underestimated. And I do appreciate the pressures that union leaders are experiencing, the different views within their memberships. There's a lot going on here. Here's the bottom line, we're in the middle of a global pandemic. We have a massive problem with the Delta variant. Our Health Commissioner has issued a Commissioner's Order. This is not business as usual. This is about protecting our employees, keeping everyone in the school community safe, protecting kids, giving kids and parents confidence that they're going to be in a safe environment. We are absolutely within our rights as an employer. And the Health Commissioner is absolutely within his rights as the person whose job is to protect the health of all New Yorkers. And we said from moment one, literally in private conversations before the announcement and the moment I made the announcement, we will go to impact bargaining immediately. And that is starting in the next 24 hours. So, I don't understand the basis for a claim. I don't believe a court is going to see a basis for a claim, given all those facts, including that we are bargaining immediately. Go ahead, Joe. 

Question: And just to quickly follow up, you know, DC 37, for example, they represent workers in the school and also across City government. And it seems like some other unions, like PDA for example, have said that they would not support a mandate. So, do you see this being an issue as you try to expand this out to other corners of City government?  

Mayor: Well, again, we're going to take each step at a time on purpose. There's reasons why we sequence. We're going to keep sequencing and it's been working. It's been creating the momentum we need and reaching more and more people. But we're doing it each piece at a time to get it right. But I think the basic logic holds across all of the workforce. Everyone needs to be safe. The city needs to be safe. Our obligation as an employer is to create a safe work environment. I think this makes sense across the board. But how, and when we do it could vary of course, depending on circumstance. But we feel, you know, again, very strong legal basis for the actions we're taking as an employer.  

Moderator: The next is Henry from Bloomberg. 

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

Mayor: I am doing well, Henry. How you been? 

Question: I'm good. I want to say to Borough President Oddo. Good to see him there, always enjoy a conversation with him. 

Mayor: He is quite the conversationalist. 

Borough President Oddo: One of the genuinely good human beings that I've come across in 30 years, is the gentleman asking you a question right now. 

Mayor: Oh, that's very that's very kind of you.  

Borough President: Oh, that's nicely played. No, that's Henry. Yeah.  

Mayor: Henry, look at that. Look at that. You got more than you bargained for.  

Question: Yeah. Right. Listen I'm ready to hang up now. I mean, I just can't top that. That's really quite an honor. Thank you, James. Appreciate it. On remote instruction, I hate to kind of bring this up again, but parents are concerned about it. And I guess the question I have is, are you concerned that if you offer remote instruction, that it will have an impact on how many kids are going to school, that a lot of parents will keep kids out of school? 

Mayor: Henry, very fair question. Look, one thing I’ll just say, and I'm a parent first. Literally, this is how I see the world. Most important thing I ever did in life was to have the two beautiful children that Chirlane and I have. Health and safety of kids is paramount to me. We have got to help our children. They have been put in harm's way, not just by COVID, but by isolation, by trauma, by disconnecting from their social development. We cannot let this continue. We're going to literally be damning a whole generation if we don't stop. We need our kids back in school. We are adamant. I'm adamant, Chancellor's adamant, Health Commissioner’s adamant this is what has to happen. And we also have to resolve all together – we're going to fight and defeat COVID as opposed to continually falling back and somehow determining that we would rather be ravaged rather than doing the thing that will allow us peace and freedom, which is to fight and defeat COVID. So, we're going to use all the tools we have, including the vaccine mandates, and we're going to do what's right for our kids. They need to be in school just like they would need to be in school without a pandemic, but the pandemic has made it even more urgent because you've got kids now pushing a year-and-a-half since they’ve ever sat in a classroom. A year-and-a-half disconnected from the kind of education and social development they need. That is very dangerous. So, we are focused, we have a clear strategy, and we're sticking to it. Go ahead, Henry. 

Question: Okay. But it's not really responsive to my question, which is, are you worried that if you did offer a remote option, that some parents would keep their kids out of school, particularly kids who are not eligible for vaccination, particularly kids in schools that are extremely crowded in a time when, you know – previously schools were at 30 percent capacity, some of these schools that are at 100 percent capacity, you can't socially distance kids from. It's a different situation. 

Mayor: Yeah, Henry, we can – 

Question: Is the concern that if you – if you have remote instruction that some parents will, or a significant percentage of parents will be too concerned or too worried to send their kids to school? 

Mayor: First to respectfully correct you, we can and will achieve the CDC guidance, the State Education Department guidance on distancing. And, again, respect you a lot like Jimmy does. But when you say that you did not portray the whole reality. There's distancing, there's cleaning, there's ventilation, there's mask wearing, and then there's massive levels of vaccination. We have all of those. We have something almost no place else in the country has in combining all of those. And now on top of it, a straight up vaccination mandate for all the adults in our school system. If we're talking about science, I'll turn to Dave and Mitch, because I get a little agitated on this topic. Are we actually going to talk about science together? Are we actually got to talk about the data and the facts? Or are we going to talk about all the misinformation out there? Henry, to respond to your question, I do think that there's a massive amount of misinformation and somehow a lot of people in New York City, a lot of people in America are listening more to the voices who are deceiving them than to the doctors who have spent a lifetime protecting them. That's dangerous and I'm not going to be party to that. So, we are absolutely certain, this is the best way to protect kids and serve kids. By the way, one of the doctors can talk about when kids are home in many cases, it can be even more dangerous than being in a highly controlled, positive environment where there's health care measures taken nonstop. So, it's just not – the stereotype here just isn't accurate. The safest best things for kids are to be in school. Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz, jump in. 

Commissioner Chokshi: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I agree we have to root in the science here and the science tells us two major things. The first is what you've already covered, which is when we use this layered approach to prevention that helps to very significantly reduce the risk of the spread of COVID. This is something that we started doing during the last school year. And as we have pointed out, we now have the most powerful layer of protection in vaccination, and we have to bring that to bear in the greatest degree possible, which is what our school mandate is doing, and our very aggressive youth vaccination outreach campaign is also doing, the Vax to School campaign. So, that's the first part of it, but the second part of it and the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, you know, community pediatricians are all very clear on this point as well, which is that in-person learning is such a priority, not just for education, not just for social and emotional development, but for the physical and mental health of our children as well. And that's why we're taking on this very worthy mission and doing it in a way that will be as safe as possible for our kids. 

Mayor: Dr. Katz, do you want to add? 

President Katz: I just want further endorse that children belong in schools. That's where they get the help that they need, and it's absolutely necessary for their social, emotional, mental, and physical health. Thank you, sir. 

Mayor: Thank you. 

Moderator: The next is Reuvain from Hamodia. 

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I just wanted to know if you'd like to comment on why you felt the need at 12:01 AM to make the tweet that you did. 

Mayor: Well, I was warned I might get a question about a tweet I had nothing to do with and I knew nothing about. So, the fact is, Reuvain, I have a social media team that obviously has the license to put stuff out and that was their doing, and it's a tweet, I don't know anything about it. Go ahead. 

Question: That's all for today. Thank you. 

Mayor: Thank you. We have time for two more for today. The next is Yoav from The City. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, and Borough President Oddo. Mr. Mayor, I wanted to ask you about the NYPD’s Department Advocate Office and basically the shortage of attorneys that's been documented there a few years ago by the independent panel. It's essentially the log jam that's preventing disciplinary cases from going faster. I asked you after the budget was approved, whether there would be money going to hire attorneys in that office. You thought there would be, but you weren't sure. It turns out that there was not money allocated. Your administration says what the NYPD is doing instead is moving money around in order to hire attorneys. I asked your administration one month ago how many attorneys have been hired and I'm still waiting for the answer. I guess I'm just wondering, given your emphasis on speeding up the disciplinary process, why wasn't money allocated, and can you – do you know how many attorneys were hired? And if not, can someone please let me know? 

Mayor: Yeah, Yoav, I appreciate this question. And honestly, I'm frustrated. I think when I get around Jimmy Oddo, I start to – the Jimmy Oddo in me starts to come out. I get very frustrated with bureaucracies. We need the attorneys to be there. I had this conversation repeatedly with OMB, with City Hall officials, with the NYPD. Do you happen to know a number, Yoav, that is the number that is suggested to be the shortage? I have not focused on the details of this, but I've certainly given the instruction. So, I want to ask you out loud, what number are you seeing as the desired number? 

Question: Off the top of my head, I think they recommend hiring ten attorneys. 

Mayor: I will guarantee you live on TV, that we will hire a God-forsaken ten attorneys. This is getting stupid. Okay, I've given the instruction. The fact it's not in the budget, because it's ten attorneys, the NYPD could certainly find the money elsewhere in the budget for ten attorneys. A line in the budget per se, doesn't bother me one way or another. We need those attorneys hired immediately so the work can be sped up, period. I'm going to hope there's just a misunderstanding here and that today, today saying this to my entire administration today, we can give Yoav an answer clarifying the ten attorneys either have been or are being hired. But I'm sick of this. It's just what we need to do. Let's do it. Go ahead, Yoav. 

Question: Thank you for that. And I guess just given, like I said, that you have made an emphasis on speeding the process up. Other than the hiring of the attorneys, how was that designed to happen? 

Mayor: All of the improvements in terms of both staffing and purview at the Civilian Complaint Review Board are meant to speed the process. There's been a dedicated effort to determine quickly if there's immediate discipline needed in any case. And we pray that is not often at all, it's very rare. And then to ensure after that initial decision that the steps taken to determine larger discipline are improved. There's a lot going on and we can certainly get you a briefing on that, but it has been an adamant priority. Everyone needs speedy justice. It has not been a strong suit, historically, in the NYPD. This is something though, I've seen some real improvement in the last couple of years and I want it to continue. And this is exactly the kind of thing – and I'm glad you're raising it, making sure the right personnel, in the right places. That's the easy part. So, again, we're going to get your answer today. All my colleagues listening, this is a today thing. So, this is – if this is one of the missing links in the process, we're going to fix it. 

Moderator: Last question for today, it goes to Jeremy from Fox News. 

Question: Mr. Mayor, thank you for taking the call. 

Mayor: How are you doing, Jeremy? 

Question: Oh, I'm good. I'm good. Thank you for taking my call, my question. My first question is on the mandates in school, obviously you decided to make that call yesterday because the FDA approval. Is your office planning to do this if and when they approve it for 12 and older, let's say for high school? 

Mayor: I'm sorry. I didn't understand, if they approve it for 12 and what – I'm not clear what you're asking. Try that again. 

Question: Well, yesterday, the mandate for staff members, teachers and staff in schools, was connected with the FDA full approval. If the FDA fully approved 12 and over, is there any plans to mandate it for students 12 and older? Let's say in high school. 

Mayor: No, thank you for the question, Jeremy. I was asked this yesterday. No, right now we're really clear the focus is on mandates for adults. We do not have a plan for mandates for kids. Go ahead, Jeremy. 

Question: My second question is can you talk a little bit about the new Governor of New York? You mentioned earlier today on a different news station your – the departing words of Governor Cuomo. So, can you just elaborate on that a little bit? 

Mayor: Well, again, I'm glad we are ending that chapter and it's a very sad chapter and, you know, there could have been so much good and instead we see the corrupting influence of power, too much power corrupts. And this is a case of too much unchecked power. And I would've really appreciated if, in his final words, he acknowledged the pain he caused to so many women, if he acknowledged the pain he caused to so many families in terms of nursing homes, I think that would have been gracious and appreciated. We saw the exact opposite. I think that's sad, honestly. But for Governor Hochul, I'm very hopeful you know that she's going to be able to help us turn the page, all of us. And I do think as a human being, she's a good human being, an open person, a person who cares, a person that listens, a person who wants to work with people. And that's exactly what we need for some healing in this state and the ability to move forward. So, I'm appreciating what she's going to be doing. And I'm looking forward to working with her and we've had very good conversations. And I think if there's one positive to the kind of speed with which life is lived nowadays, and information flows and news cycles and everything else, it's that we can quickly put Andrew Cuomo behind us and start having a more respectful, collegial, you know, thoughtful approach to governing this state and all of us working together. I think that's what we need right now. Thank you, everyone. 

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