Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Well, we start a new week. And as we start this week, it's a chance to really, think about something that's kind of different than what we normally think about. I want everyone to just take a minute, really take a minute to break out of whatever you're doing right now, whatever you normally would do this time of day, even the middle of this crisis, and put yourself in the shoes of the people who are saving lives right now. Think about our doctors, our nurses, our health care workers. For a moment, try to feel, try to imagine what their lives had been like for these last two months. You, every one of us has some kind of daily routine, and we're trying to make sense of our daily routines in the middle of this crisis, but think about the daily routine for a doctor, for a nurse, for anyone in one of our hospitals and how it really is anything but routine what they're going through right now. They wake up each morning and go directly into battle. That's the reality they face today and they have been for weeks and weeks. They all are in the places that are the epicenter of this epicenter that is New York City. And you think about this crisis affecting our whole nation, our city has been the epicenter, but our hospitals have been the place where this horrible, painful crisis has played out most deeply. And they, these heroes, have been the ones who just every single day walk through those doors to confront whatever is thrown at them. Now, they are fighting an enemy they've never seen before and they're fighting an enemy that the rest of us fear. But they go to face every single day. They do that thing we always talk about with first responders, then run toward the danger. Day after day, these heroes are saving lives, and it's even more powerful, more profound to think about the fact that they're fighting an enemy, they cannot see. They're fighting an enemy no one fully understands, but they have not for a moment run from that responsibility or shirk from that responsibility. They keep fighting.
Now, these are warriors fighting a different kind of war than we've ever seen. And we would never send our warriors into battle without armor, without ammunition. We would never do that. When you think about a soldier, when you think about our armed forces, we would never imagine sending someone to battle and saying, oh, you know what, we don't have a helmet for you, we don't have a gun for you. That would be literally unthinkable. So, we have to understand that for these heroes in our hospitals, the personal protective equipment is their armor, is their ammunition. All the things they need, the equipment, the supplies, are to keep them alive and protect them, protect their families so they can keep fighting this war. And we work every day to get them what they need. And yet, we see the profound challenge that every city, every state, every country on earth is trying to find the exact same things for their health care workers and there's simply not enough in this country, there's not enough in this world. And so, it's always a race against time. So, we're going to keep talking about these PPEs. But I don't want you to hear, you know, think of a product on a shelf somewhere, I want you to think about the armor for our heroes, the ammunition for our soldiers in this battle. I want you to recognize how hard they have been to come by and how we have to fight every single day to find everything we need. And that's why we're going to build more and more of these things and manufacturing and create them right here in New York City because it's the right thing to do. And we literally don't have a choice. We're going to keep demanding the federal government provide us what we need for these heroes, but we know those demands sometimes are met, sometimes they're not. We're going to scour the market all over the nation, all over the world, but we know how unreliable that has been. So, the point is to think of each of these. These items is exactly what we say, the personal protective equipment – think about protecting our heroes. And now, I'm going to talk to you about where we stand. I think it's yet another reminder of how every week, every day this is a fight to stay one step ahead of this crisis to make sure we protect people. But it's never been easy since the very beginning and it won't be easy going forward either until we get to a very much better place.
So, let me update you on where we stand with our supply of personal protective equipment and the other things we need, the equipment we need. And there is good news in the first instance, because, compared to a few weeks ago, we definitely have a better situation. I've talked to you a lot about Sunday, April 5th. That was a crucial day where it looked like the supplies and equipment were not going to be there when we needed them and the crisis was going to grow. And, thank God, the crisis to some extent has leveled off and more supplies and equipment have come in. But, again, we are far from out of the woods. We're just in better shape than we were at the worst point. And remember, I want to say this because our health care professionals deserve for all of us to understand this, what we're providing them is still have that crisis standard that the CDC has set – the Centers for Disease Control. It means in a wartime dynamic, in a crisis dynamic, this is a level of protection that will still help them. It's by no means the level of protection we want to achieve in better times. We want to give them so much more. So, by that crisis standard, we do have a sufficient supply for this week. We have begun, it'll get us through to Sunday and that means the N95 mass, the surgical masks, the face shields, the gloves. These things are constantly being delivered to hospitals more and more to nursing homes as well, and to first responders, to all of our agencies that protect us. Those supplies, by the crisis standard, we have enough for this week. We also, thank God, have enough ventilators. We’ll be saying more about ventilators this week. And that's an area where we came from behind and we've made a lot of progress and the situation is much better than what it was a few weeks ago.
But there's been a growing problem, and this problem we have not found a solution to yet – that is the surgical gowns. And these are crucial because they protect our health care workers when they're doing some of the most sensitive work and some of the work that really makes them most vulnerable. Now, it got to the point where it's very clear that we were not going to be able to buy enough on the open market no matter what we did. It got to the point where it was clear. Sometimes the federal government has gotten us supplies or the state has, but those have been very uneven. And we always appreciate it, but we can't say it's reliable or an abundant supply. So, we made the decision to manufacture our own here in New York City, and that is now starting to become a major part of the equation, because it's the one thing we can depend on. But even with that, we do not have a secure supply. We're using fallback items like coveralls that certainly provide protection, but, even with the fallbacks, we are not sure we're going to have enough to get to Sunday of this week. We're fighting every way we can to find more, but that's how tight this situation is. This is an area I'm really concerned about and we're going to work every way we can. So, I want to immediately say, I'm making an appeal to the federal government, because if there's any place that might be able to find a supply that is not yet been tapped, it is the federal government. We need more surgical gowns in New York City and we need them now. And I have reiterated this request over the weeks. I will go today and reiterate it again, but we're trying our best to create our own in the numbers we need, and those numbers are very, very large – that's the truth – but we need the federal government immediately to try and help us find solutions even just to get to the end of this week.
Now, I want to give credit. When the federal government does something right, I'll also say that. And here's an example of them doing something right. They did not have a substantial supply. We asked over a week ago, knew that this was a growing crisis, and I do want to say what they did come up with is deeply appreciated – 265,000 Tyvek suits to help our public hospitals. And that is helpful for sure. And I want to thank everyone who was involved in that effort. I particularly worked with Peter Navarro in the White House, who has been very responsive. I want to thank Peter and everyone who worked to get us those Tyvek suits. That helps a lot. But again, we need a much, much greater number to move forward. So, the other thing that we asked for, we said, if you can't get us actual surgical gowns – and imagine, the greatest country in the world, you know, the richest, most powerful country in the world, and we can't get surgical gowns for our largest city to even get through a week. It says so much about what we're learning from this crisis about the madness of so many of the supplies we need for health care and for protection of our people are not even made in this country and not even available or can't even be moved quickly. It certainly speaks to the lack of use of the Defense Production Act to build these kinds of supplies on a much greater level. There's a lot of things wrong here. But I will say, that when we couldn't get the surgical gowns, I said to Peter Navarro, can you get us fabric, because at least we have fabric, waterproof fabric, we can start to manufacture more and more of our own gowns here. And he did come through, and a group of other folks from the industry – the textile industry came through. I want to thank everyone who's a part of that effort and we'll list them out soon so we give all the thanks that are due. But we've got enough fabric in now to make 400,000 gowns. That's substantial, but, again, nowhere near the need we have. But I'll still say, if we can make 400,000 gowns, that's 400,000 times that our health care workers are protected. And I certainly am very appreciative for that. 40,000 will be made now. That full 400,000 will be made by May 23rd. We're going to try and speed that up, but we're literally building a new industry right away in this city and my goal is to see it expand rapidly. This is not a product that was made here in New York City. We want to see it become a major, major part of what we do as we fight this battle. But we're going to need a lot more than that to get through.
Now, let me talk to you about another piece of this reality we've been facing. A few weeks ago, we went through something that was a huge challenge. We saw a major, major uptick in the number of calls to EMS – 9-1-1 calls on a level we had never seen literally in our history. The kind of records that were set were the kind of records you never want a set of the most calls to 9-1-1 ever. Our EMTs, our paramedics fought back. I want to thank Commissioner Dan Nigro and everyone at FDNY for the really powerful, smart, you know, calm, steady way they handled this crisis in a way they fought back. And now, I am really pleased to say we've seen a rebound. We've seen really big improvement, Still, a lot to do, but FDNY held the line, EMS held the line. Our EMTs and paramedics worked long hours. They saved a lot of lives. They fought back. There's no question that we are not out of the woods yet. So, I'm saying there's been a rebound, but there's still a lot more to this game. But the numbers are coming down substantially and getting much closer to normal. So, I want to give you an update on that and just a sense of how extraordinary the surge we saw was, going back to March 30 – a number that's just astounding – we got 6,527 medical emergencies in one day. Never seen anything like that. By this last Saturday, April 13 – excuse me, April 18th – this last Saturday, April 18th, the number was down to 3,485. So, not quite half, but getting close to half the number of calls that came in just about three weeks earlier. So, Saturday was 3,485. When you compare that to the average for last year – the average day last year, it was actually below the average. The average last year was 4,196 on a typical day. So, thank God, that number has come way down. There’s still a lot to do, but that's giving us real relief. We also, of course, had a huge challenge, ensuring that we could respond in this crisis with so many more calls. And, obviously, the most urgent, the most life and death calls got prioritized, but if you take the average across the board, in March, that average was just over 10 minutes on the response time. In the last two weeks, it's gone down to – up until Friday of this last week, it went down to eight minutes, 46 seconds. Now, on Saturday, April 18th, that went down to six minutes, 43 seconds. So, something’s, again, profoundly changed. Many fewer calls, much faster response time, thank God for that. Also, the number of FDNY personnel who had been on leave – a sick leave continues to go down. So, again, 1,446 and returned to service – a much lower sick leave level now than we saw at the peak. The same with for fire and for EMS – the same thing. So, EMS has now almost a thousand members who have returned from dealing with COVID-19 and we see the number of folks on sick leave going down. Long way to go, but real progress for sure.
Now, one of the things that tied us over, I want to give a lot of thanks to FEMA. And so, this is the federal government doing something really good, and I want to give credit where credit is due. And I've talked to Pete Gaynor, who's the administrator for FEMA nationally – a really, really good guy who's really been th
ere for New York City many may times. Tom Von Essen, our former fire commissioner from the days of 9/11, who now is the FEMA regional administrator. They've both been absolutely fantastic. When they saw that FDNY, EMS were struggling so much, they reached out immediately and got ambulances, and EMTs, and paramedics from all over the country. And I had that real amazing experience going to meet a lot of these good, good people who came from around the country to help us and to thank them on behalf of all New Yorkers. And folks came from California and Alabama and Florida, all over the country. And particularly met ambulance crew from Kalamazoo, Michigan – two really good guys that drove all night to get to New York City because they just wanted to help out. And that has made a huge difference. That's really been one of the X factors and giving relief to EMS and helping them through. I'm happy to report the FEMA has helped us again, and just in the last week we've added another hundred ambulances from around the country. So, now, from FEMA, we have 350 ambulances active with 790 EMTs and paramedics that come from 19 states of the union. This is truly America's stepping up to help New York City, just like New York city has so many times sent our heroes and our first responders out to help folks all over the country in the middle of their challenges and disasters, and folks are really coming to bat for us. So, we expect this group now to take us through basically the month of April and continue to provide a lot of relief and support for our EMTs and paramedics, help them through – I'm sorry, I should have say past April, another 30 days, my apology – into May – to the end of May – and to give a lot of relief to our EMTs and paramedics who, again, they've done so much in these last weeks. They continue to need that support and that teamwork and it's continuing to come thanks to FEMA. So, very good news.
Now, a couple of days ago we talked about the fact that as we evaluate where we're going, going forward, we keep recognizing the power of what people are doing, what every-day New Yorkers are doing. Again, I'm going to say thank you a lot of times because you've been amazing at social distancing. You've been amazing at shelter in place. It's not easy, but you've been doing it really, really well. I want to be very clear, we're going to be smart about how we come back. We're going to be smart about how we turn a corner. We're not going to let our foot off the gas prematurely. We're not going to run the risk of this disease reasserting itself. So, we're going to be going in stages as we work that slow, steady road back to normal. And we already miss so much of what was part of our everyday lives. A lot of us are missing sports, both playing sports, watching sports. We're missing all sorts of community gatherings, family gatherings. There’s so much we miss right now and it's almost like it's impossible to count all the things that are gone that we love and we miss. And this is the time of year where you start to have more and more big public events, the street fairs, the festivals, parades, outdoor concerts, outdoor plays, things that are really a beautiful part of the year in New York City. That's all true, but we also know compared to all the basics we're focused on right now, compared to people's health and safety and food, shelter, all the things we're trying to guarantee for New Yorkers, and especially compared to the big question – how do we come back safely, smartly? These kinds of community events, we love them, but they're not what we need right now, they're not the most essential things, and we have to be smart about it. And we have to also recognize when thousands and thousands of people gather in one place, of course that goes against everything we're trying to do with social distance in a shelter in place and everything we're trying to do to bring ourselves back.
So, a few days ago I said that a city permits for events scheduled for the month of May have been canceled. I told you we were going to talk to the organizers of events in June, which includes some really big important annual events. We have had those conversations and this probably will not surprise you, but I'm now reporting today that we will cancel city permits for June events as well. It's not a happy announcement but it's one we have to make. And look, a lot of these events will be postponed. I want to be clear, the permits are being canceled for June, but the event organizers, a lot of them are looking at doing something later in the year, and we're going to work with them on that. And, again, I think the fact that they're postponing now is actually going to help us get to that point later in the year where things can open up and be better. And then, we're going to work closely with them to find the right time and place to do what they do each year. The bottom line, of course, is to think about safety, to think about saving lives, protecting people's health, speeding us to that day when we get more normal. So, this is the right thing to do and this is what we are doing. But I will say, obviously, I will note three events in particular that are just highlights of the whole year – the Salute to Israel Parade, the Puerto Rican Day Parade, and the Pride Parade. And this was – you know, this year is the 50th anniversary of the Pride Parade, and it's a very, very big deal. That march is such an important part of the life of this city, but this year in particular was going to be something that was a historic moment. Look, we're going to miss all three of them in June, but they will be back, and we will find the right way to do it, working with all the event organizers. And that joy and that pride that all of these events bring, that celebration, will be back. We're going to do it when it's the right time.
Now, to the question that we turn to every day, how are we doing overall? And we have these three indicators we keep coming back to tell us so much. And it’s a high bar, but we wanted to set a high bar to make sure we get it right. So, what I would say, what we are seeing day after day is progress in many of the categories. We still haven't hit that perfect note we want to hit, which is getting all three of categories to go down together for a long period of time. But we see consistently most of the categories going in the right direction. And so, something is moving positively because of everything people are doing and it says, just keep doing it. First of all, the first indicator, daily number of people admitted to hospitals for suspected COVID-19, that is down – good news – down from 317 to 212. That's a really good drop. The daily number of people in ICU across our public hospitals for suspected COVID-19, that is up, although it's up by just a little bit – 849 to 853. So, not the right direction, but notable that it's a very, very small increase. The percent of people who tested positive for COVID-19 citywide, down from 38 percent to 34 percent. Public health lab, down 84 percent to 67 percent. So, this is not a perfect daily report, but it's getting better and it's damn close to what we're looking for. Let's see if we can keep pushing. Everyone, keep doing what you're doing so we can get this tracking to start moving consistently in the right direction and that's going to give us the chance to really start to make the moves towards a more normal life.
So, let me close with this. We said from the beginning of this crisis, it's like nothing we've ever seen. We're fighting an invisible enemy, an enemy no one understands, and there's no timeline here, there's no ground rules, there's no playbook. No one knows exactly how this will go. Anyone who tells you they know exactly how this is going to go is lying to you. What we can say though, one thing we have heard universally is this is a crisis that has an end point. Everything we know about the nature of this disease is that there is a point where we turn a corner. That doesn't mean it won't be back in the future. It doesn't mean there won't be challenges. We obviously all want to see that day where there's a vaccine and a cure, but this crisis will end at some point. The question is, are we strong enough? Are we tough enough? Are we resilient enough as New Yorkers to fight our way through to that point? The answer is a resounding yes. You have proven it already in so many ways. The heroic health care workers, first responders, they've proven it over and over again. But everyone in this city who's contributing in so many ways to this fight has proven it. So, I've no doubt we're going to get there. I know it's going to be a tough road. I know it's not going to be simple. I know it's going to be a long road. Now, how do we get there? We'll keep coming back to the testing we need to allow us to make that transition to when we have a low level of transmission of this disease and we can really start to get to normal. Can't do it without the testing. But the other thing is, we cannot do it if we don't get help from Washington DC, it's as simple as this. Think about it for a moment, this city, this heroic city that has been fighting this battle, epicenter of the crisis for the United States of America, fighting so often alone without help from the federal government from the very beginning when the tests weren't there, to the many may times we've asked for help and it hasn't come. I will always give credit for when the help did come. I'll always say thank you for that. But we still don't have a clear picture on testing. And the one thing that I've asked the President for lately that should be the easiest part of the equation is to help New York City through this crisis, give us the financial support to make us whole, to actually balance our budget, pay our first responders and our public servants who are doing this work, because, you know what – and I'll address this to the President again – you know, Mr. President, you know what we're doing right now? We are saving lives here in New York City. We are spending hundreds of millions of dollars now, it's going to be billions of dollars to save lives. We are not hesitating. We're not for a moment doing anything but what is right to protect New Yorkers and to protect all Americans by beating back this disease. We estimate by the end of this calendar year the City of New York will have spent $3.5 billion to save lives and protect people in this city. The federal government is not stepping up. You, Mr. President, are not saying, I see your burden, I see the fight you're waging, let me offer a helping hand, let me save the day by taking that burden off of New York City. In fact, Mr. President, you know, it was quite clear when the airline industry was in trouble you were quick to act. You gave them $58 billion. But when New York City, and cities all over the country, states all over the country had been pleading in the middle of a huge budget crisis where we can't provide the services that our people need going forward, we're not going to be able to have a recovery, you are absolutely silent. I'm challenging you to open your mouth. I think I may be the first person in history to challenge Donald Trump to speak up. He's not shy. But it's amazing, he was asked yesterday at his press conference and he barely could say a word about the need for a stimulus program that would actually help America’s cities and states.
So, everyone's watching. Mr. President, you say the word and Mitch McConnell will act, the Senate will act, we can be made whole and we can actually help restart the nation's economy and move a recovery. But if you don't act, we're just not going to have what we need to move this city forward to help our people, to protect our people, to help our nation. We're not going to have it. So, I don't know what more I have to say but that is the truth. And there's still time to act right now in Washington. That stimulus bill is being discussed right this minute. You know what? There's even some bipartisanship. I'm hearing it from mayors all over the country, Republican and Democrat. You're seeing it from governors, Republican and Democrats saying the federal government has to provide this help. Even yesterday, two senators – Republican Senator Cassidy from Louisiana, Democrat Senator Menendez from New Jersey put forward a $500 billion plan to help cities and states recover. Even in Washington, there are people trying to act in a bipartisan fashion to move us forward. Mr. President, you're the only one who's missing an action right now. Why don't you step up and say this is the right thing to do? And you would be doing something for this whole country in our time of need.
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