Office Of The Mayor Of New York City: Transcript: Mayor De Blasio Appears On Inside City Hall

Harlem NY

21 December, 2021

12:49 PM

Description

Press release from Office of the Mayor of New York City: December 20, 2021 Errol Louis: Welcome to Inside City Hall. As we reported before the break, the City will be opening nearly two dozen additional COVID testing sites this week in response to the rapid surge positive cases and the long lines at sites across the city. Mayor de Blasio joins me now from the Blue Room inside City Hall to talk about this and more. This is our final conversation on the show before he leaves office and so we're especially glad to speak with you, Mr. Mayor.  Mayor Bill de Blasio: Yeah, Errol and thank you. I am really appreciative. We've, it's been a good run together and, and with your audience and all the good questions that they've sent to you as well. And I'm looking forward to tonight, but I'm very, very grateful for all we've done together.   Louis: Okay. Like I feel the same way. Let me start with these long lines of people waiting for tests. I'm a little baffled by it to a certain extent and I wanted to get your take on this. My sense is that testing is for people who are either exhibiting symptoms or who have reason to think they might have been exposed to the virus. Other than that, I wouldn't be standing out in the cold for any reason. Do-is that what you sense is going on here?  Mayor: No, it's a great question, but I think what's happened – a couple other things. I think, first of all, a lot of people are preparing to travel and they want to make sure they're okay before they travel. A lot of people are just looking for reassurance. You know, we have had said, we've said to people for a long time getting tested with some kind of regularity makes sense even if you're not feeling any symptoms. But I think everything's coming together. I agree with you, most people get tested because they have a very particular worry. But I think this uptick is folks who are just seeing so much of it around that they're going to a lot of extra precaution too. They want the reassurance and they want be very careful up bringing something to their loved ones at the holidays.  Louis: We heard this afternoon that Governor Hochul says about 1.5 million test kits are going to come to New York city. Is there a plan in place on how to distribute that?  Mayor: Sure. We're really looking forward to those and I'm happy that the Governor's doing that. We need them to start showing up as soon as possible because the first thing we want to do is relieve pressure at those test sites. We've seen at our public test sites, you know, I think we're doing better in some of the private test sites in terms of lines, what we've certainly seen lines at some of our sites as well. We want to relieve that pressure as much as possible by offering people the at-home test as an alternative. So, that's an immediate need. There's a lot we want to do with them long term, we have a plan to distribute half a million through community organizations to get people to engage in testing who aren't going to the sites as much. Ultimately, they could play a very valuable role with our schools as well. So, I want to see not only this next supply coming in from the state, we've asked the White House to help us get a bigger supply. We're working on the private sector, you know, more and more at home test kits is part of the bigger strategy to overcome Omicron and then move us forward.  Louis: Okay. I wanted to ask you about classroom closures of-we've been hearing from a lot of teachers and parents who were saying that getting alerted of positive cases is-has been lagging. Meaning they're finding out too late. What about kids who are sick, but can't get tested?  Mayor: Well, any kid who's sick or showing the symptoms, the parents really should keep them at home. And we've said that from the beginning of the COVID crisis. Abundance of caution here absolutely necessary for the good of that child and that family and for all the other kids and adults in the school as well. So, really want to urge that with parents, we've got three more days of school left for the entire year. If your child's not feeling well tomorrow or Wednesday, Thursday, keep them home. But you know what we are seeing in the bigger scheme of things, you know, whereas the city right now has a positivity level for COVID over seven percent. You know, the, the schools are just around 1 percent overwhelmingly the schools are doing very, very, all those health and safety measures. The fact that all the adults are vaccinated. A lot of the kids now, especially older kids are vaccinated. The crucial point here is we are- the minute we see a problem, our situation room goes to work, but as of this morning, we only had four schools fully closed out of 1600. And you know, we had fewer than a thousand classrooms closed out of 48,000 classrooms. So, you know, up to now the schools have done remarkably well.  Louis: The new vaccine mandate for the non-public schools and the religious schools, the Yeshivas, the Catholic schools and so forth, the private schools that has taken effect now. When it was announced, one of the issues that was out there, floating out there was how compliance was going to be monitored. Do you have a method to track whether or not vaccinations are taking place at these locations?   Mayor: Yeah, and that's something Department of Health is going to start implementing now. And two points, Errol. One, when we first announced that policy, I believed it was necessary, because Omicron was coming. I don't think any of us, including our healthcare leadership imagined Omicron, it would jump up and surge as quickly as it has. So, I'm sorry to say that policy was even more necessary than we realized. And I think folks in the non-public schools understand they're seeing what everyone else is seeing. This policy has much more impact now. We need people vaccinated. In terms of monitoring, we said, we're going to work with every school, Yeshiva you know, you name it private school. We're in touch with all them. We've offered, you know, the approach that we think makes sense. We're willing to work with them on what works for them, but there is going to be follow up with every single non-public school to make sure there is compliance.  Louis: The White House says that it has been in touch with the City about COVID relief. What conversations are you having with them?  Mayor: I've had a couple of conversations with the White House COVID coordinator, Jeff Zients, who's been fantastic to work with and always really responsive over many months now. And I particularly focused on the fact that we needed more at home test kits that that's the crying need and we're not getting enough supply from the private sector, from the private market. Very happy again with the State's announcement today. That's a great start. We're going to need a regular supply. We're going to need the federal government to help us. And they've been very responsive. I'm waiting to hear what the bigger plan is, but they've definitely been responsive.  Louis: So, a lot of tests are coming from the state government. You're hoping to get more from the federal government. Some are available on the private market. The ones that I've bought are like two in a box for about 18 bucks which is, you know, it's not great, but it's, it's also not going to break you necessarily. What's the long-term prospect here, what do you think is going to be happening in the months ahead? Will people be urged to do new tests every time we find a new variant do you think?  Mayor: I think as let's first, not assume that there's going be more, more and more variants. There could be, but I don't start with that assumption. I think you're right to say if there's a new variant in the future, are we going to have to do some different things potentially to address it? Yes, that could be true. But I think, right now, we should take a look at what we've got in front of us. Delta, obviously, still the dominant variant being replaced quickly by Omicron. Well, we know pretty damn well, what to do about Delta and we know how powerful vaccination is to address that. With Omicron same beginning, everyone get vaccinated, get the boosters, testing plays even more of a role because it's going to be a very sudden surge and then our prediction based on what our doctors are seeing right now is starts to decline by the end of January. And quickly we go back to something like what we were. So, I think this is a pretty temporary phenomenon based on what we're seeing right now. It'll be tough, I'm not belittling at all, but we'll need that surge of testing really for January, especially I think even February we might see a much lower-case level.  Louis: Okay. Standby, Mr. Mayor, we going to take a quick break. We've got more to talk about with the Mayor. We'll do that in just a minute. Stay with us.  Louis: We're back Inside City Hall and once again joined by Mayor de Blasio from the Blue Room. And, Mr. Mayor, just to round out that last conversation, to the extent that people cannot find test kits, home based test kits, at the local pharmacy and to the extent that they don't necessarily want to wait on a long line, what should they be doing as they wait for the million plus that we're expecting to be delivered by the State?   Mayor: Well, I would just say, you know, the publicly sponsored sites, and as you said, they're expanding rapidly, we're going to have 112 City-sponsored test sites up between the bricks and mortar locations and the mobile locations. They'll be by the end of this week 112 different sites, and they have much better turnaround time, bluntly, than some of the private providers in terms of getting your test scores back. So, we have a site and we have the ability to get someone a test in a reasonable timeframe and urge all New Yorkers, you know, to choose that option. Until the in-home test kits come into greater supply, hopefully in the next 10 days or so, there are going to be sites you can get to that don't have as long lines, and we're going to constantly keep people updated as to sites and what the wait times look like at those sites.    Louis: Okay, let me move on you just released a campaign style video about fighting for funding for 3-K and pre-K all around the state by taxing the rich, very familiar theme. I believe you also managed to attack West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin in the process. I guess the question is when did you make this and is this the time to be doing this when we're trying to sort of get a consistent message about fighting the coronavirus variant?    Mayor: You know, Errol, I think I've had more briefings and more consistent message about what to do over these last months – or two years really – than pretty much any public leader out there. I called a press conference on Sunday explicitly because I wanted to give people extra information. That video was from earlier today in response to Senator Manchin's action. I mean, it's a rather difficult moment for this country and painful moment that the Senator is now maybe, finally, decided and, you know, for good, which I hope is not the case, but he may have decided once and for all to stand in the way of a hugely important piece of legislation. And if he does, well, that's the death knell for a Pre-K for All and 3-K for All around the country and even around the rest of New York State. So, I was responding to that moment and talking about the fact that we're going to have to do things like this on our own. We've done it here in the city. We're going to have to do it in Albany as well.   Louis: Were the progressive legislators in Washington right all along? Should they have insisted on tying this to the larger bipartisan infrastructure bill and even sunk that if they needed to, to make sure that just this outcome would not have happened?   Mayor: Well, you know, first of all, I'm hoping and praying the ball game's not over. Even though I'm disappointed by what Senator Manchin said, I didn't hear him close the door entirely, so I think the, you know, the jury's still out. I think the progressives have had a point all along that there needed to be some guarantees that both these things would happen. So, what I'm hoping in the end is that, you know, as we now stare into the abyss, there's a different dialogue and people acknowledge we got to find a way to put this back together again, because there's so much riding on it, but I also am realistic to say, it's far from guaranteed that there's going to be that next opportunity.   Louis: Okay. We shall see. Here are some viewer questions. Somebody wanted to know, are you keeping your promise to give up car ownership starting January 1st? I don't think you ever give a date, but you said after you leave as Mayor, you're going to give up your car. And I guess, let me enhance the question by asking, you know, are there any loopholes involved? Like, are, you know, going to lease it instead of own it, or, you know, have a family member own the car, or anything like that –   Mayor: I'm not owning a car, personally. I am not going to own a car. I'm not going to lease a car, personally. That's a part of the past.   Louis: Okay, another question, and of course this is bookends to your administration. You wanted to ban the use of horse carriages in the first week when you came in in 2014, you made a last run at it in the last few weeks that doesn't seem to have worked out, what did the horse carriage saga teach you?   Mayor: Well, that's a great question. I'm mean, look, I did not in the beginning of this anticipate some of the folks who would come forward with the position they took. So, I think one thing to think about in all these matters is, you know, account for all the different feelings out there, all the different parts of the equation. But I still think in the beginning it was the right thing to say, this is just not humane. This doesn't make sense in the 21st century to have horse carriages anymore. And I think it, you know, I've used the example of circuses. There's been a really healthy dialogue around circuses and some of the things that animals used to be put through for people's entertainment that people now reject and circuses have made a lot of changes. Here's another example. This just needs to change. But we didn't – I think our approach in the beginning was too complex and I think we should have just tried to get this done simply and quickly in the beginning, but it still needs to happen, and I believe it will be – you know, cities all over the world are saying no to horse carriage at this point. I think it's just a matter of time here.   Louis: In 2013, you ran on reversing the – what the viewer calls the gilded excesses of the Bloomberg era and making the city fairer. Did you succeed in doing that, do you think?    Mayor: Yeah, look, you know, even the Independent Budget Office in response to a request from Gothamist in the last week or two, pointed out that all of the policies together really did reduce in income in equality. I mean, we have proof positive that incoming inequality was reduced pre-K, 3-K, after school, paid sick leave, affordable housing, $15 minimum wage, which I strongly supported, a lot of different pieces. We also know from Juan Gonzalez, from the very powerful analysis he did a few years ago that we had a massive wealth transfer in this city to working people, and a lot of that is what I said already, and things like the labor contracts we do to really support our municipal workforce. And so I'm proud of the fact at the end of the day, we did take a bite out inequality. We did start things in a better direction. And things like pre-K, Errol, I mean, pre-K is going to have an impact on inequality years into the future when you have kids who got a better education and it allows them to go farther in life. So there's no question in my mind. Now we got to do a hell of a lot more on the state level, on the federal level, you know, there's much more to be done. But did we get something done here? Is it real? Absolutely.   Louis: Another viewer question, do you have any regrets about how the city handles school closures during COVID, and have you discussed a remote learning option with the incoming mayor?   Mayor: Well, Eric Adams and I have talked about a lot of things, including different approaches to the schools and what we've learned over the whole time. He and I have had a lot of unity on the broader point that we should avoid shutdowns in our society, that we need to focus on vaccination, that we do not want to fight yesterday's water. This is not March of 2020. This isn't even last winter. This is an entirely different situation and a much better one, because so many people are vaccinated, because we have better treatments in our hospitals, because Omicron, so far, at least appears to be milder. So, no, I think we got to resist that urge to shut things down and add restrictions. I think we should use vaccination even more intensely to stop shutdowns and restrictions and give people more freedom. So, I feel very strongly that what our schools have proven is if you do things right, in terms of health and safety measures, do things right, in terms of vaccination, you can keep going, and that's absolutely what's for kids.    Louis: I got a sort of a big picture question. I've asked you this off camera in some ways, as well. You are somebody, I've seen a lot of politicians, I've reported on a lot of them, talked to a lot of them, studied a lot of them, and you are one of the very few, you might be the only one, actually at your level of government, who is less popular than your policies. Meaning, you ask people about 3-K, pre-K, polls off the charts. You ask people, hey, do you like Bill de Blasio, the guy who brought you this great policy, and it is much lower. And I've always been amazed at that, because the normal thing that you see is people might hate the policy, but they say, well, I like the politician. He's a nice enough guy, you know? What's going on there?   Mayor: That's a great question. But look, I would make it a little simpler. If people liked the policies and believe they helped them, that's what I came here to do. And maybe I – you know, my own imperfections are many, and maybe they came through clearly and people, you know, couldn't connect with everything. I was saying. But if they think that the things I did help them, that's the – you know, look, I could have been like someone people wanted to have a beer with, but I didn't do anything to make their lives better. I'd much rather be the person who made their lives better and maybe my own, you know, ability to communicate wasn't everything that it should have been, and maybe there are some lessons that I needed to learn. I'm certain there were some things I needed to learn I didn't know when I started out. I feel like I understand things very differently eight years later than when I started out. And, you know, that's a growth I had to go through and I take that on myself. But if I made people's lives better, if I help families with pre-K and 3-K, if I took some financial burden off them, help kids have a better future or got people affordable housing, or, you know, I hope in some real ways improve the relationship between police and community, whatever it is – or, of course, mental health, which I feel strongly, you know, we've changed the reality for a lot of families that have a loved one with mental health challenge, and made it easier for them to get help and care - well, that's what I came here to do, that was my mission. And so, if the mission succeeded but my own personal popularity wasn't everything it could have been or should have been, well, that's on me. But I sure as hell would rather have the mission succeed than anything else.    Louis: Okay. It's a fitting note on which to end. We'll be saying, I guess, farewell for now, since we expect to see you in the near future back in the fray in some other kind of public battle. But, for now, I want to say thank you for the five years of these conversations. And happy holidays.    Mayor: And, Errol, thank you. You're a tough interviewer, but, you know, it's always been a great dialogue. I know how much you love this city. And also, the way you brought your viewers in with their questions, I think when people see this kind of thing, you know, it gives them some faith there's a real conversation going on, but also the folks who watch NY1 care about the city, love this city. So, it's been my honor to do this, this good dialogue with you over the last five years.   Louis: All right. Thanks very much. And Merry Christmas.   Mayor: Merry Christmas.   ### This press release was produced by Office of the Mayor of New York City. The views expressed here are the author's own.