Office Of The Mayor Of New York City: Transcript: Mayor De Blasio Delivers Remarks At The Dreamforce New York 2021 Conference

Harlem NY

10 December, 2021

12:51 PM

Description

Press release from Office of the Mayor of New York City: December 9, 2021 Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, brother. Thank you everyone. First of all, welcome to New York City, everybody.  [Applause] Mayor: Marc and the team created a typical New York City streetscape for you. [Laughter] Mayor: I want to just say really quickly – first of all, Marc, thank you. I was listening to what you said before and you talked about trust. I'm going to talk about that for a second too, but I got to say, I have such faith and trust in you because of what we went through together. Finding a way to fight back against COVID. Thank you for all you've done. Thank you for living your values and to this whole company, everyone, thank you for living your values. We need that and I thank you for it. [Applause] Mayor: I'm going to tell you a very quick story. And ironically, a lot of it happened right here, because this is beautiful and we're gathered in the joyous moment. But in March, in April of 2020, this was a field hospital. This was one of places that reflected that New York City was the epicenter of crisis. Everything was being thrown at COVID and we were dealing with a great unknown, and we did not have a lot of help from the federal government. We did not have the testing we needed. It was the great unknown. We needed help. We needed partners. We needed people who could see a way-out. Marc Benioff called me and said, we believe we can help you now and we will do whatever it takes. And this is an example, anyone who doubts that public sector and private sector can find a way together, this is an example that should be remembered because together we create the largest contract, excuse me, contact tracing system in the United States of America, the largest contact tracing system in America, millions of COVID contacts traced and people protected and lives saved. We created the biggest vaccination effort of any city of America with Salesforce, we could create the systems to make that work. And this is the most vaccinated place in America, and I am proud of that fact. [Applause] United States of America right now, per CDC, 60 percent of all Americans fully vaccinated. That is good. But with your help, in New York City, today, 70 percent of New Yorkers fully vaccinated. [Applause] Mayor: But a very quick story to put this in perspective. In 1947 in this city, we were gripped by another crisis, smallpox, and legendarily, the health officials in New York City asked everyone to come out and immediately get vaccinated. People lined up all over the city. They listened to their doctors and their leaders. They trusted, they lined up and 5 million vaccinations were given, and it was considered a time of great victory and it worked.  Fast forward to today, we understand the mistrust in our society today, the misinformation, we understand the problems we face today that make it harder. But you know, what actually helps break through is when something works.  When a promise is kept with your help, Marc, we kept a promise to New Yorkers. We said, if you come in contact with someone with COVID, we're going to follow up and keep you safe. If you want to be vaccinated, it will be there for you. It will be quick. It will be easy. It will be free when you make that appointment and the appointment will be kept. And that sure effectiveness, that efficiency, that believability inferred a new kind of trust up against a world where people are being told all the time, what not to believe in. And the corrosive impact that's had are being told, not listen to the doctors, not listen to the government. Well guess what? When the government and the private sector work together and we get it right, we actually help people. People start to believe. They start to trust a little bit more and they start to come forward and they start to participate. So, I'll wrap it together and say this, I want to thank everyone here. You may not have known what a crucial role you were playing in this fight against COVID., but I want to tell you we could not have done it without you. We could not have done it without you. And because you were there, we have been able to fight this disease back and to give people a little bit of faith again. We said something could happen to make their lives better. It's happening. And that's the way we will get out of the COVID era once and for all. So, you lived your values, you made something big happen, and there are people alive today because of what all of you did. Thank you and God bless you all. [Applause]   ### This press release was produced by Office of the Mayor of New York City. The views expressed here are the author's own.