Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live On Pix11's Morning News

March 17, 2020

Dan Mannarino: The coronavirus, swiftly making its way through New York City. And this morning we are getting the very latest information from Mayor Bill de Blasio himself. And good morning to you, Mr. Mayor. A lot has changed since last Wednesday when you were sitting in the studio with me. Now we're talking via phone because of social distancing reasons. Good morning to you, Sir.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Dan.

Mannarino: So let's talk about the numbers first. Last we checked it was 463 cases in New York City. Are you expecting that number to go up and what are you expecting it to go up into?

Mayor: Dan, I'm very sorry to say this to my fellow New Yorkers. Unfortunately I am expecting that number to go up and to continue to go up. I said last week we will, unfortunately, likely hit 1,000 cases this week. We're certainly on pace for that and it gives me no joy to say it. You know, we've had seven deaths in the city. We are going to be fighting this battle for a long time. And the actions that, you know, they were not fun to take, I assure you, they were tough to take. And I know a lot of people are feeling the impact right now, but closing the schools, closing the bars and restaurants except for delivery and takeout. We have to do these things in light of what is clearly a growing crisis and one that will be with us for months.

Mannarino: So when you say you can see cases go to 1,000 by the end of the week here, we're looking at the Bay area in San Francisco, right? Seven million people there quarantined. We're seeing a lot of people commuting into New York right now. Is it time to actually follow what the Bay area is doing? And is that a plan that you're looking at?

Mayor: Dan, that's absolutely on the table. The balance we have to strike here – and it's a very tricky one and that we're all in uncharted territory together – we're concerned about all the basics of human life. We have to make sure that people have some kind of livelihood or if not work, they have some kind of direct support. They still have to pay for food and rent and medicine and all the basics. We have to make sure people can get to the basics they need. There's a lot to take into account in any scenario, Dan. And we are absolutely, absolutely looking at those tougher scenarios. I've been very open about that. There's, you know, under the emergency powers I can do curfews, road restrictions, all sorts of shutdowns. All of that is on the table right now. It's being assessed daily and hourly. And if I get to the point where I feel we have to take that step, we will. We'll make those decisions rapidly over the coming days. But the challenge in this is, as we move each piece, we have to account for what it means for people, what it means for families, what it means for children, what it means for seniors. If we take those more draconian measures, we have to do our damnedest to compensate for the human impact.

Mannarino: And we're also – you know, this may sound like something that's just out there, but there's been a lot of concern about alternate side parking, right, and the fact that it hasn't been suspended fully telling people to go outside to move their cars. What's your plan for alternate side parking and what's taking so long in actually saying, okay, we're going to suspend it right now during this crisis?

Mayor: Yeah. Simple question of keeping the city clean. I think, Dan, none of us – you know, I, for a long, long time in my neighborhood in Brooklyn and had to deal with alternate side, it's a pain in the butt. We all understand that, but it's there for a reason. It's because that is what allows the street sweepers to keep our neighborhoods clean. I am worried about a city in the middle of an epidemic that gets less and less clean. That's not good public health practice. Now we may say, nonetheless, all things considered, we may well decide to cancel it. That's what we're trying to factor in right now. Look, there's not a lot of social contact in going out and moving your car across the street in the scheme of things. But, Dan, the question is really going to be when you consider all that we're up against here versus the real honest health and cleanliness concerns, we have to balance those two and make a final decision. We're going to be re-evaluating that today and we might make a change as early as today.

Mannarino: And then their concern is if you have some people that are quarantined, obviously they would have to go outside and move their car, but they would be – if they have a doctor's note that they wouldn't receive a ticket. I want to talk about this curfew and the businesses that are impacted here, bars and restaurants, right now. I understand that the NYPD says if they see a place that is open, they will go in, and ticket those people and usher people out of those restaurants. Where are we at with that? Did you see anybody not abide by the rules last night?

Mayor: Dan, the best of my understanding at the point where the ban began, there obviously was some people taking their time and lingering. And we had a number of our agencies out – Fire, Sheriff, Police, Buildings – saying to folks, no, this is serious, you know, it's time to clear out. And generally speaking, folks went along with it. It's a big adjustment. I understand that. Today we're going to have all of the agencies out, making sure people are only doing delivery and takeout. But I feel for my fellow New Yorker, I mean this is the ultimate city of, you know, diners and –

Mannarino: Absolutely.

Mayor: – Restaurants and we're all used to going places and hanging out. It's our social life, it’s where we connect with everyone. It's going to be a massive adjustment to not have that anymore.

Mannarino: So for those workers, right, who really depend on those paychecks to pay their rent and pay their bills, what can they do right now if they don't have that emergency savings fund and their rent is due on April 1st?

Mayor: So the two parts of that, Dan, I mean, and we first of all very much want to see as many people at this moment, you know, unless we go into one of those deeper states of emergency, that right now I mean like a full quarantine or something like that. Right now the goal is we want to see people employed, preferably, if they can tell the community, etcetera. But they should. But when it comes to folks who provide food, there still will be jobs with takeout, with delivery, etcetera as we go through each stage here. But there's going to be a lot of people who are going to lose their job. There's no question. I feel horrible about that. But it's true – for those people, we've got to see the federal government step in with, you know, I think, direct income replacement at the highest possible level because you're just going to have not just New Yorkers, millions and millions of Americas, tens of millions, who are not going to be able to pay the rent or get food if there's not some kind of income replacement system.

We can't do what they did in the New Deal, during the Great Depression. They created new jobs for people. We got to do the opposite here. We can't have more and more people congregating at work. We just have to put money in their hands. This federal government that bailed out the auto-industry, that bailed out the banks, can actually bail out the American people directly for crisis that should be, let us pray, you know, for only a few months. But the other thing is we're trying to stop evictions across the board. We've gotten some agreements from certainly the real estate board, some from the court system run by the state. We're canceling all evictions in anything that's public – public housing, affordable housing. Dan, I think right now all landlords have to understand that we cannot do evictions. A lot of people are not going to be able to pay the rent.

Mannarino: I hope these landlords understand that.

Mayor: [Inaudible] and if at least they know they're not going to be evicted. Look, we can settle everything up when the crisis is over and figure out how people can catch up on the rent, but we need an understanding in the city that no landlords don't evict anyone in the middle of a pandemic.

Mannarino: Yeah, and on the education front – a lot to get to here. I know we're talking at length here, but on the education front, we're understanding that training teachers to be prepared for e-learning is no easy task. Right. What is the plan though for the children in low-income families who cannot afford a tablet or can't afford a laptop or high speed internet in their apartment, to have them be part of this e-learning experience? Because you're talking about schools not only being shut down by April 20th but through the rest of the year.

Mayor: Yeah. April 20th is our first goal to see if we can come back. I'm very dubious and I've been very honest about it and open about it that with the trajectory of this epidemic, I'm not sure that's going to be possible. So, Dan, the problem is, and this is part of why I truly did not want to shut the schools, we're kidding ourselves if we think that a huge number of kids who, you know, their homes don't have internet connectivity right now and they're not going to have other places they normally could have gone like youth programs or community centers. I mean, we're not going to be able to reach every child unless there's some extreme improvisation about figuring out, you know, where a friend or a relative has internet and getting the child there every day, that kind of thing. But that's complex.

We are – the school system’s giving out a very substantial number of devices to help kids who don't have them. But the connectivity is a real issue. So we have to be honest that distance learning is nowhere near as good as in-person learning. It's never been attempted on this scale in New York City before. It will not be a perfect substitute by any means, but it will be up and running Monday. We'll make it work for as many kids as we can and try to reach kids who are not reached in the beginning we'll try and, you know, bring them in over time but it's going to be – this is battlefield conditions and we have to be very clear. It's going to be far from perfect.

Mannarino: Yeah. And you're mentioning battlefield conditions and it brings me right to health care right now. Obviously you've talked about identifying more than 8,200 additional beds at various situations calling in the National Guard. Is that something you're looking to do to build sort of triage tents in certain areas because you are talking about seeing an increase in numbers?

Mayor: Even before the National Guard we, working with FEMA – and thank God FEMA is now part of the action simply because the President signed the state of emergency on Friday. With FEMA, we are already moving into place a number of medical tents. We've got 11 already. We've got between 10 and 20 more coming soon. What we're going to do is a combination of, you know, I've done an executive order canceling elective surgery over the next few days, which means that's going to free up a huge number of beds right there. Obviously, anything that emerges that's, you know, life and death, that's different. But the purely elective surgery has to go in this crisis. We're going to be discharging patients at hospitals who no longer need to be there, you know, obviously, again, with the first question being their safety, but if they can safely leave, we need them to. We're going to be building additional emergency capacity in hospitals, whether it is putting a tent in the parking lot, outfitting it properly, turning a cafeteria into an ICU, whatever it may be, we're going to be doing that. And then we also have found an additional 1,200 or 1,300 new beds. We're turning – we're taking a facility that had been shut down on Roosevelt Island, bringing it back. We're finding beds in other hospitals in the public system that were not being utilized. We're taking a nursing home in Brooklyn that had not yet opened and the owner has agreed to turn it over for City use, that’s 600 beds.

Mannarino: All important measures here.

Mayor: [Inaudible] facility. So we're going to – right now, we've got accounted for about 8,200 beds, we believe, between public and private hospitals that we can put into this fight and we're going to need a lot more right behind that.

Mannarino: All important measures. And my last question for you is about communication between you and your team and the Governor of New York State. We've heard a lot from the Governor right now in terms of also talking about additional beds throughout the state, but have you – do you talk to the governor daily to get advice on what exactly you're doing via New York City and what he's doing in Albany since you're in two different locations?

Mayor: Yeah, it's a combination. Sometimes he and I talked directly, and constantly our senior staff are talking. The two health commissioners, city and state, are talking. There's a very high level of coordination. I think the State has handled this really well. I agree with the direction that the Governor has taken. We're constantly comparing notes and many, many times before you see these announcements, there has been an agreement in principle about how to approach each thing. We're also – all of us are dealing with an ever-changing situation, but there's been a high level of agreement and coordination between the City and State.

Mannarino: Alright, Mayor de Blasio, I appreciate your time. I know you're very busy and I do appreciate you updating New Yorkers on the situation here in New York City.

Mayor: And listen, I want to thank New Yorkers, Dan, because there is no place in the world I'd rather be right now when it comes to how people deal with a challenge in a crisis. And I just ask of all my fellow New Yorkers, first of all, you know, thank God that you're the toughest, most resilient people in the country. We saw it after 9/11. We thought after Sandy. Just look out for people. Particularly look out for your neighbors, of course, your family, your friends, the folks who cannot get out, the folks who are over 50 with those serious pre-existing medical conditions, the folks who are over 70 even if they're healthy, but are obviously more vulnerable. You know, do the shopping for them if you can, share some of the stuff you bought, if you can. If they need prescriptions and you can get them for them instead of them having to go out. Everyone stepping up, showing some responsibility will really help us deal with this crisis. And New Yorkers are 100 percent up to the challenge.

Mannarino: I'm not just saying this. I've been here my whole life and this is what I see time and time again. We can be feisty at times, but in times of need, we come together. Mayor de Blasio, thank you very much.

Mayor: That’s exactly right. Thank you, Dan.