Mayor Bill de Blasio: We have a lot of information to share with you. Obviously, things are moving very, very quickly when it comes to the coronavirus. I'm stating the obvious to everyone here. I don't think for most of us even who have been in public life a long time, we've seen a situation quite like this where we receive extraordinary new information on what now literally feels like an hourly basis. So, we are constantly making adjustments. We're also going to go over the numbers here, which are very sobering. We're seeing intense increases in the number of cases in the city. And I think we have to fully understand this as the shape of things to come.
So, we'll start with saying we're going to be giving regular updates, but expect major changes from day to day because we've now seen a pattern of such extraordinary information coming in. It's forcing very, very different decisions than we would've made typically not only here, obviously, all over the country. But the last 24 hours have been very, very sobering. Literally, yesterday, morning feels like a long time ago. We got a lot of information in the course of the day yesterday. A lot change then. Then, last night, it just seemed like the world turned upside down in the course of just a few hours. So, you know, I think what we are seeing is more and more of a consensus on how to act and everyone is moving as quickly as we can. That said, you're going to see differences, of course, between different parts of the country, what public sector and private sector does. And I'm going to try my best to explain the specific approach we're taking, but, again, it will be evolving literally daily and hourly, and we will update you constantly.
In light of several new developments – obviously the numbers that we now have seen over the last 24 hours here in New York City, what we're seeing nationally and internationally. The reality of community spread that's been with us over these last few days and the close working relationship between the city and state, the decisions that we are making together – and I spoke with Governor Cuomo at length earlier today about a specific set of decisions. And obviously, you heard his announcements earlier today, which he and I discussed in detail and which I agree with fully. In light of all those changing realities, it is time now to declare a state of emergency New York City. And I will explain what that means, the powers that are vested in me, what it will allow us to do going forward. I'll also emphasize that the declaration of state of emergency authorizes the use of the powers, but we will use them as needed. That doesn't mean everything will happen at once. And we're going to try and be very, very careful to give you accurate information about what the city is doing and why. There's already some very inaccurate information out there, which we'll speak to later on. But I want to ask all of you in the news media, if you're hearing things that are being attributed to the City of New York, please ask if it's true or not. We will confirm with you instantly. It's very important that the people of the city know what is really coming from the government and what is not.
Continuing on the conversation with the Governor, again, I fully support, we are in total agreement on his decision related to large gatherings. So, we will be working with the state to enforce that new rule that relates obviously to anything where over 500 people would gather – parades, rallies, concerts, sports events, professional conferences, etcetera. And all of our largest venues will now no longer have gatherings until such time in this crisis as it's acceptable to do so again. And again, I unfortunately suspect that will be a number of months. So, places like Barclays, Madison Square Garden, Radio City will obviously will not be operating. As you heard, for most venues that will begin in five o'clock Friday. For Broadway, as I understand, it begins five o'clock tonight. Also agree with the decision for gatherings of under 500 people – this essentially refers to non-essential, non-workplace related dynamics. And we're talking about events, we're talking about restaurants, we're talking about bars. Gathering places under 500 people will be mandated to have occupancy levels at 50 percent or less of their legal occupancy. That will allow for space between people. That will allow for some effective opening up of those spaces. We understand, obviously – thank you – that some businesses will choose to work with these rules because they can make it work economically or they want to stay open for the long haul. Other businesses, I won't be surprised if they believe that's a situation where they'd rather close temporarily. It will be up to each business, but those are the rules that we will enforce from this point on.
Now, I want to say, and I know the Governor feels same way, these decisions that we're making, and the state and the city working closely together to make these decisions, we don't do any of this lightly. This is difficult stuff because we know it'll have a serious, serious impact on a number of businesses. Just talking about the over 500 people gatherings – I mean, that's – in this city, especially, a huge number of events, concerts, etcetera, that's really, really painful for the many, many people who work in that field, let alone so many New Yorkers and people all over the country who really look forward to these events, these concerts, these sports events. And it's really going to be a kind of a hole in our lives and it's painful. It's not something we would ever want to do, but it's something we have to do.
I am going to use every power that I have, everything we can find to support people, businesses and working people are going through this, obviously. The state and even more so the federal government have the greatest powers to provide that kind of relief and support. We're going to urge them to do that. But, you know, we understand that this is going to be a huge dislocation for so many people and it's painful. And it's obviously, as we've grappled with this crisis, our greatest concern has been how to balance all these factors and ensure that we could keep a functioning society and protect the elements of our society that are most crucial – our hospital system, our schools, our mass transit, all of this interconnects. And I can certainly say none of us wanted to take this action unless it was 100 percent necessary because the impact it'll have on the whole overall picture and clearly the human impact, which is going to be really extensive. And we talked in recent days about a projection that this crisis could easily be a six-month crisis. We all know it could be longer, but then the recovery from it could take a really extensive amount of time. So, going to this level is not done lightly, but it is the point where it's necessary.
I'm going to give you some other updates. Let me start with the overall numbers and I'll just double back to some other things. And again, these overall numbers are striking and troubling. We now, and even compared to this morning, we've seen a big jump. We now have 95 confirmed cases – that is 42 new since yesterday, so you can see the progression now. We do have just a small important procedural point. We are now going to define our cases as only New York City residents. So, we had some questioning that, rightfully so, the other day, we said we were including one person, the original Westchester lawyer and account. We've taken them out of the count from this point on. This will only be New York City residents. As of noon, and again, this is changing constantly – as of noon, the breakout we had, and I don't think this breakout correlates to the 95, so, forgive me, that this is not fully aligned. But as of noon, by residency, it was 25 people from Manhattan, 24 people from Brooklyn, 17 people from Queens, 10 people from the Bronx, and five people from Staten Island. And we'll try and keep you updated regularly on those borough breakdowns.
We have 29 people now in mandatory quarantine. That number continues to rise. We have 1,784 people in voluntary quarantine. It's a lot of bad news today. There's a lot of troubling news. There is one small piece of good news that we talked about the other day, and I'm not going to be specific to which individual, because we are getting some clearance on that, but we can say at least broadly that the first – we have the first case of someone coming out of mandatory quarantine and able to go back to their normal lives. So, even in the midst of the growth of this, we will see this. We met with employers here in the Blue Room earlier today. I'll talk about that in a moment. We talked about the deep fears about losing members of their workforce and the and the health dangers people face, but also the reminder that people will come through and we'll get back into the workforce and get back to being healthy. We'll talk about that in a moment.
So, a couple of pieces here. I keep giving you some agency updates as they arise. We're very concerned about people's loss of livelihood in the kind of situation we've just described, especially where a number of businesses will be cutting back or shutting down. We're worried about folks having trouble paying the rent. We want to emphasize, if anyone is facing eviction, we want to help them to avoid eviction. If it is a sheer legal matter, we will get them free legal help and people can call 3-1-1 if they need it. For folks who are now in a situation of distress, it will depend of course upon levels and other factors. But if someone is faced with eviction or unable to pay the rent, in some cases we can provide some short-term support through our human resources administration. We'll get you more details on that, but anyone who thinks that they need that help, they can go to nyc.gov/accesshra. And we'll get you more details on that.
We are concerned about people again who have less money because their employment has been compromised, running low on food for their families. Our Department of Social Services is activating emergency food contracts, working with nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations, and increase the amount of available food. We'll have more details on that in the next day or two.
And again, there's nothing that would be more important in terms of providing support and relief for people than federal action. We all understand in a national crisis, the federal government can provide a level of relief that state and local government simply can't. We need the federal government to move immediately with a huge stimulus program and a program of relief for working people – paid sick days, any number of measures that would help people through what could easily be a half year or more. The House of Representatives has put forward a stimulus plan that is very helpful and a very positive step. We need to see action by the House, Senate and the President as quickly as possible.
I want to give updates about our school system. And I'll talk about the school in the Bronx in just a moment. But first, overall, and this is absolutely essential to our strategy and something we are working very, very hard to continue to keep continuity on, I know the state feels the same way, we want our schools to remain open. We intend for our schools to remain open. That said, there are non-essential and non-instructional activities that we will alter. They'll either be moved online if they can be or they will be canceled, depends on each activity. So, that includes PSAL activities, athletic activities, games and practices, assemblies, parent teacher conferences, PTA meetings, and school plays and recitals.
And I will stay on the topic of schools and then double back. This morning, we have a potential – and please, everyone accurately note this, we do not have independent confirmation – we have a potential case of a student at a school contracting this disease, but it is self-confirmed. We do not have a medical provider or a testing agency that has independently verified that. That is not in any way doubting what the individuals are saying, it’s saying that we have to make a series of decisions and we need medical confirmation. We don't have it right now. We hope to have that confirmation in the next hour or two. Two schools – and the Chancellor’s here, and obviously we'll add in the Q & A – and Chancellor, make sure I described properly, if there's anything you need to correct me on, feel free. Two schools in the same building, the Laboratory School of Finance and Technology and South Bronx Prep. This is in the Mott Haven neighborhood in the Bronx. The school is at – or, the two schools are on the building at 360 East 145th Street. Again, this was a decision we made this morning a little after 7:00 am based on decisions – excuse me, based on information that had just come in and it was a tough decision because we did not have that confirmation, but out an abundance of caution determined that it was the right thing to do to close the school to work, to work to get that confirmation. If we were so lucky as to get a negative confirmation, that would be ideal. If we get a positive, it's quite clear the follow through. In the meantime, the full disinfection and cleanliness regimen is placed in the school today. The disease detectives from the Department of Health have been deployed to figure out any close contacts, as we said would be the case in any potential temporary school closure. We have checked the school and we'll keep double checking, but, as of now, there are no children in the school who reach what we call a tier one level of preexisting medical conditions – so, children who would be particularly vulnerable. We're double checking that. But as of this point, we do not have an indication of any children in the school having those particular preexisting conditions.
I want to talk for a moment about two things. The City workforce and then the private sector workforce on the city. We now intend to authorize 10 percent of the city workforce to work from home. The specific details are being determined. So, this is telecommuting. We believe that's a number we can hit in the short term, but it will take some real work. It's not the norm, obviously, for city employment. There's, as is obvious, a huge number of our employees who cannot telecommute, who we need at their posts, but we believe in short order we can have 10 percent telecommute. I am – want to confirm that number. I believe that is 34,000 but I want to check that –
Unknown: 35,000 –
Mayor: 35,000 – thank you, Commissioner. And then of the remaining 90 percent of the workforce, there are 20 percent we intend to put on staggered schedules. Again, understanding a lot of our folks not only play a crucial role but cannot be on staggered schedules, but others can. So, we in short order hope to put 20 percent on staggered work schedules even as they report to their normal work locations. And I wanted that – so, that's 20 percent of the remaining 90 percent – I want that number too – do you know –
Unknown: 70,000 –
Mayor: 70,000 – thank you, Commissioner. So, between those two categories, that's about a 100,000 City workers will either be in telecommuting or on a staggered schedule and getting them as much as possible away from the rush hour.
And again, our message to New York City businesses, as much as humanly possible, please authorize maximum telecommuting and or staggered schedules for your employees. I want to say, it's our impression so far from the information we're getting that business community is really honoring that, a lot of them are acting on that. The meeting we had here which was organized with the help of the New York City partnership and CEOs and business leaders of some of the most prominent businesses in New York City. Just going around the room and going [inaudible] each of them going through, with each of them what they are doing, we saw a very, very high level of adherence to the guidance to institute telecommuting. In fact, in the case of some of the companies, which had the ability, obviously, if it's a technology company, for example, more capacity to do that. We had companies that were literally at 100 percent telecommuting now. Other companies are going to have a much harder time and strike a balance. A great example, one of the great New York City iconic companies, Macy's, the CEO was here. Macy's is in a different situation where a lot of their workers obviously work in physical locations, but they are working with us to maximize any kind of adjustments they can make. So, I want to say I appreciate the high level of cooperation from the business community. I also want to note every business is different. Some can do a lot of – have a lot of flexibility. Others do not. They are all taking it seriously. They're all working with us. We do want to keep reminding any business that's not yet instituted maximum telecommuting and, or staggering or work hours that we need them to. But we, again, are sensitive to the fact that not every business can do that and that we are simultaneously extremely concerned to keep people employed, keep people from running out of their livelihood because that has a huge number of other ramifications. So, we're trying to strike that balance, but very, very pleased with the cooperation we're getting. And we're going to try and work with these businesses on any help they need as they proceed.
Hang on one second. Okay, a couple of other matters. There's been concerned about the special election scheduled for March 24th for borough president of Queens. We are analyzing those concerns but I want to be very, very clear that election will continue as scheduled. We are dealing with an unprecedented challenge, but I think it is a signature of a stable democracy that elections happened when scheduled. So, we very much want that election to happen on time so long as we believe it can happen effectively. However, want to urge all candidates and campaigns to alter their activity. Right now, we're reaching out to each campaign specifically – believe that door to door canvasing should be stopped immediately. And I want to note, and knowing a lot about campaigns over the years, campaigns have many, many ways to still be effective without door to door canvassing or rallies. Clearly, phone banking social media, email updates, digital ads, TV ads, radio ads – there are many, many ways, including some of the most effective ways to get the message out. So, I think it's fair to say, and that campaign that's been going on for a while, that the democratic process can continue here effectively and the campaigns do have other options for getting their message out. We do not need people going door to door canvassing and taking those risks. So, we will move forward. We have a lot to sort out of course about making the voting process as safe and effective as possible. But I do want to say, particularly with early voting, the voting process is being spread out. So, it's almost its own version of social distancing. I can say from the first day early voting I saw this – fewer people are congregating to vote. The voting process and early voting is very fast. And again, preserving our democracy is crucial. We'll talk about it in the Q & A, but we are more comfortable getting this done now than waiting. We have a related challenge, which is a huge challenge and something we really have to think through, which is the Census – was raised in the Q & A the other day. This is going to be a very, very complex matter and we have to see on the federal level there'll be any consideration of altering the Census, delaying it, extending it. But my fear right now is that there will not be any change from Washington and we’ll be put – in many places, we’ll be put in a really, really difficult spot. We're going to have to figure out if that is the case, some way to communicate with people to the maximum. It's almost impossible to engage the Census without some kind of in-person activity, but we can alter the nature of the in-person activity. We've got a lot of important work to do on that. So, that's an area of tremendous concern, going forward.
Last few points and I'll be the only speaker and we will go to Q & A right after my remarks. My colleagues obviously will jump in on the Q & A. There have been questions previously about the homeless. I've said we would come back with a specific update. We have now trained 550 outreach workers through HOMESTAT and the protocol for discussing coronavirus with homeless folks, giving them information, checking on their condition, making sure they get the help if they need it. As of today, and we'll get the exact timeline on this, but we have 764 homeless individuals on the street who had been engaged so far. At this moment, we have no known referrals, so no one that was exhibiting the symptoms or the specific dynamics that led to follow up health care activity. But we'll get more on that day by day.
Want to just say something simple about the President's remarks last night. And I think at this point, it's not worth wasting breath on everything that has happened over the last few weeks and all the missed opportunities. I think we can at least say that last night's remarks indicated that the President is now finally taking the situation seriously. The steps he outlined showed much more connection to reality than a lot of what we heard previously. But he was essentially silent on the single most important action that the federal government could take, certainly from the perspective of New York City, which is to get immediate approval for a huge expansion of our automated testing. This is a tool that would be immensely helpful in addressing all the concern you're hearing from New Yorkers. So many people who want to get tested that we cannot prioritize right now. Businesses that would like to test employees that can't right now because we have to focus on the folks who have the clearer symptoms and the folks who are in the greatest danger and the folks who have a nexus to travel or an existing positive case. We want to do wide-scale testing. We cannot do it without the federal government coming in. There has been talk of localities taking matters into their own hands. I believe that that is what's going to happen if we don't get this federal approval. And I think this is bluntly the last chance. I think if the President United States and the FDA do not give us approval, I don't blame any locality, any company, anyone who just decides to do whatever kind of testing they can at this point. And we will work with all of them.
Finally, I want to say, all of us have been talking to so many New Yorkers over the last days and we've been watching how people are responding to quarantines, how their businesses are following up on guidance, how our public servants are reacting to the crisis. And I'm very, very proud of New Yorkers right now. It's been extraordinary. We're dealing with the absolutely not only unforeseen, something on a level we have never seen in our lives. There is no precedent for this in U.S. history or New York City history. New Yorkers are handling this with tremendous strength and resiliency. People are stepping up, people are looking out for each other and their neighbors. We're going to need a whole lot more of that. It's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. And I want to be clear about that, we will be at this for months and months. This is – I said earlier today, this is a battle we are going into – a long battle. It is the opposite of when you're told don't worry, it'll all be over soon. This will not be over soon. This is going to be a long, long battle. It's going to be a tough battle. We're going to lose some of our fellow New Yorkers – that, unfortunately it is inevitable, but we can fight back. There's a lot we can do to help each other, to support each other, to protect people. We will unquestionably overcome this. It will take time, but we will. The City will prevail in the end and the vast majority of people who are afflicted, thank God, will survive and will fully recover, but it is going to be a long, painful episode. The more that people are informed, the more they follow through on the guidance that we are trying to give them constantly, the more people support each other, the better off we will be. Anyone who needs information can go to nyc.gov/coronavirus or text the word COVID – C-O-V-I-D – to 692-692, or call 3-1-1. Any of those approaches will get you information.
