We are going to put our Editorial Comment at the beginning today..
No Mayor de Blasio - what the Coronavirus taught us was that in six and a half years of the de Blasio administration all you did was continue with the status quo that existed from the previous mayor who bought his elections.
Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. Yesterday was a very important day in this city, as hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers came back to work. And we have been through such a fight against the coronavirus it has been such a difficult time in this city, but we saw yesterday the beginning of the comeback of New York City. Now, we have to be clear, we are not just trying to get people back to work. We are not just trying to return to the status quo that existed before the coronavirus. The corona virus taught us extraordinarily painful, powerful lessons about disparity, about the lack of equality in this city. So, our clear mission is to not just restart, not just recover, but renew this city. We must build a different New York City as we move forward. And that is where the taskforce for racial inclusion and equity comes in. This task force was named, specifically people who are leaders in city government right now. People of color who are leading city agencies, playing a crucial role so that we could do work right now to address disparity. I named the task force 45 days ago, it was with the got.al of doing work that would have a tangible and immediate impac Already, the work of this taskforce has led to the decision to shift resources from the NYPD to youth services and social services. It has led to the decision to move the enforcement of street vending away from the NYPD. It has led to a decision to address health care issues, such as the creation of mobile testing in the hardest hit communities all around the city. But now there's more to do immediately, particularly on the disparities in health care, which are so sharp and so real. And were the foundation of why the coronavirus did such horrific damage in communities of color.
We have to address the underlying reality of health care being a human right. And that is why we are guaranteeing health care for every New York citizen, every New York person, regardless of documentation status. How many people never got physical health care, and lord knows, never got mental health care. How many people just didn't even have a doctor they could turn to what we made clear with a decision a year and a half ago to move to guaranteed health care for all New Yorkers that we had to lead the way, we had to show that everyone will get health care, regardless of income, regardless of whether they have insurance or not, regardless of documentation status, if you are a New Yorker, you deserve health care.
And so, New York City created NYC Care and it began in August, 2019 in the Bronx, continued January of this year in Brooklyn and Staten Island. Tens of thousands of people now have their own doctor for the first time. For many in the first time in their lives, a doctor, a primary care doctor, they could turn to. Pay only what they could afford. If they could afford nothing, that doctor was still there for them. But the task force looked at the situation and said, even though that was a powerful start, we need to go farther. The task force called for NYC Care to be expanded rapidly in Queens and Manhattan, four months ahead of schedule so we could reach 55,000 more New Yorkers. It means surgery, dental care, eye care, women's health, affordable medications. Again, no one charged more than they could pay. That is a foundation, but where we need to go much farther is in the area of mental health, because we have seen what happens in a society that does not provide mental health care. I was painfully reminded of it as I joined members of the cure violence movement a week ago at Queensbridge Houses, largest public housing development in New York City. I talked to residents one after another, about the pain that they had experienced in the coronavirus crisis. And for so many, it was the pain of losing a loved one. It was the pain of not being able to mourn. It was the sense of injustice, and that all added up for so many people to create anxiety and depression, to bear down on them, to create a mental health crisis within the crisis. We need to help make sure that people get the mental health care they need. And the task force on racial inclusion and equity is focused on what we can do right now.
We talked about the culture of policing that has to change. We talked about how pervasive the problems were, but it was not a hopeless conversation, in the end a hopeful conversation, because the leaders and activists who gathered believe the change could happen, and had specific ideas for change. Tucker – Mike Tucker lost his own son to police violence, and became one of the city's real true, authentic leaders against gun violence, founded lay down – excuse me, Lay the Guns Down. The organization Lay the Guns Down has done extraordinary work to try and create progress and healing and a different reality in our streets. Anthony Bedford, President and cofounder of Brooklyn Chapter of Black Lives Matter, served in the United States Marine Corps, came back to his community, devoted to change has emerged as a powerful voice of justice, a leader organizing the peaceful protest for change, that have made such an impact on this City. Iesha Sekou, who will speak for the group of activists gathered, Iesha is the CEO of Street Corner Resources, a leading cure violence organization does extraordinary work engaging young people, helping them to reach their amazing potential, helping to protect them. And I've had many opportunities to talk to Iesha and see her work over the years, I have tremendous admiration for her. And one of the things I said during our State of the City address really was based on the work of Iesha and her colleagues who have done amazing, amazing, just beautiful work to nurture our young people. I said, in that speech, our kids don't need to be policed, they need to be reached. And Iesha, and so many other good people in cure violence and community-based organizations are reaching our young people in a positive way. Gwen Carr was at our meeting at Gracie Mansion, mother of Eric Garner, one of the most prominent voices for justice in the city and in this nation – a conscience who has turned pain in the purpose of ever that phrase has been made real and human that's in the person of Gwen Carr, someone I admire someone I feel shows the best in all of us. Gwen is in Houston today as part of one of the recognitions of the life of George Floyd here representing her is Bishop Evans, cousin of Eric Garner. And Bishop, we thank you for joining us in this important moment.
I spoke to a Speaker, Carl Heastie and Majority Leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins over the weekend. The package of— reformed the reforms that they put together in Albany are profoundly important for the future of this City, this state, this nation, particularly the reforms of the 58 law that have held back transparency that the law that has for years stood in the way of transparency, the reforms that are needed to fix it. For so many years, including as recently as February, when I testified in Albany, I have been calling for this law to be either changed or repealed, replaced, whatever way you look at it to get rid of a broken law that was standing in the way of transparency and harming the relationship between police and community, that is finally happening after years and years and years, that is finally happening. That means we're going to be able to restore trust by showing very transparency, what’s happening in the discipline process in the NYPD and the actions that we have taken this city based on the work of the task force on racial inclusion and equity, shifting funding from the NYPD to use services that will be formalized in the next few weeks in the city budget, the move to take away vendor enforcement, street vendor enforcement from NYPD, that will be acted on immediately. And we'll look at other ways to put civilians forward, wherever possible, the way that improves the level of peace and understanding of this community while keeping people safe at the same time. And then the community ambassadors we discussed just a few days ago, we hired within the NYPD to bring the voices of communities forward, to create more of a flow of both information and insight and a better way of doing things that need to be heard deeply within the NYPD. Those are just beginnings, there is so much more to do, and our city council is doing some very, very important work now. I have had a discussion with the Black, Latino, Asian Caucus of the City Council, I want to thank them for their leadership over these last weeks.
Today, the City Council is hearing four bills, a chokehold band for the NYPD a bill that will affirm every individual's right to record their interactions with police officers, a bill, to ensure that all police shield numbers and rank designations are visible to members of the public and a bill to ensure there will be early intervention on any officers who need more training, more monitoring, anything that will adjust the course of their career to make sure that it reflects the values of this City. I want to affirm that I broadly support all of these bills, there are some specific details being worked through, but I'm confident that we will work them through, and we'll be able to move forward together with the City Council on all four of these bills.
Finally, everything that we're dealing with is against the backdrop of this battle against the coronavirus. The pain that people are feeling is not only about the injustices that have been pervading relationship between police and community. The reality of structural racism in this country, the reality of an economy that was fundamentally based on income inequality; all of that existed before the coronavirus and then the coronavirus took such a horrible toll on communities of color, one injustice piled upon the next and the frustration is so deep. We have so much to do, but remember we have to do it while fighting back the coronavirus to save lives in all communities, but also to take away that which has created so much additional injustice and start the framework for that fair recovery that we must have in this city. So, fighting the coronavirus in every way possible is essential to doing the work of justice. Right now, we saw an extraordinary moment restarting yesterday and the emergence of our Test and Trace Corps on a scale never before seen in the United States of America; now, thousands of tracers out there, right this moment, talking to the people in New York City. Making sure that anyone who tests positive - it's followed up on - their contacts are traced. Those people get the support they need; those people get the testing they need. If they need to safely separate from others, all the support is there. This is going to change the trajectory of the coronavirus in New York City, but every single day, we're going to watch what happens with this disease. We're going to see if our efforts are working, we're going to need every New Yorker to be a part of it if we're going to fight it back.
So, let's talk about the indicators and thresholds today. Number one, the daily number of people admitted to hospitals for suspected COVID-19, that threshold is 200 and today we are well within that threshold at 52 patients. Second, daily number of people in Health + Hospitals ICUs - that threshold is 375, we're well within that threshold again today at 337. And this last one is unbelievably good news and it doesn't mean it's always going to be like this and it doesn't mean we don't need to keep fighting because we do, but I'm so proud of New Yorkers, you have earned this one; the percentage of people tested citywide who are positive for COVID-19 as more and more and more testing - well, over 30,000 tests a day now happening in New York City – that threshold is 15 percent, for the first time since the beginning of this crisis. Today's report only one percent, only one percent of those tested, tested positive for COVID-19. That is an amazing statement on what all of you have achieved; all of you have done. Let's keep clinging to that progress. Let's build upon it. Let's beat back this disease. Everybody, work together, work with the Test and Trace Corp, work with your neighbors. Every time you keep that face mask on, every time you stay home when you can, every time you practice social distancing, you're beating back this disease. But look at that one percent only, an extraordinary day from New York City.
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