Mayor Bill de Blasio: Everybody we are coming to the end of a week that has changed our lives profoundly. The week before that I think we would have said was a week that changed our lives profoundly. And next week will be even more. So, we're dealing with something we've never dealt with before, none of us has experienced. We are all together trying to figure out how to deal with a new reality and that will be something we grapple with together for weeks and months to come. So, I just want to start by saying for everyone, it's important to recognize the distance we've had to travel in very, very little time. We've had to get used to things that were literally unimaginable and we didn't get months to get ready. We only had days to change our habits and our lives profoundly. Anyone out there who's confused, you are absolutely in the vast majority with the rest of us. We're all trying to make sense of so much new information, so many new challenges and trying to figure out the right way to do this together. I'll be talking today about clearer specific ideas about how we will work together within the new pause order from the State of New York. I'll be talking about the ways we're going to work together to get through the weeks and months ahead.
I want to be very clear about challenges. I think my job is to tell you the things that we're going to confront, including some things that are difficult to hear, but to brace New Yorkers for the reality. To get you all informed honestly about what we're dealing with, what we will deal with. But also, to remind you of our strengths, of all the help that people are giving each other, all the help our City government can and will give our State government can and will give. All the people who are stepping forward not only in New York City but all over the country, all over the world who want to help New York City right now and God bless them all. I'll talk about all of that today and in the days ahead. But really it is important to recognize the sheer extent of change. And to understand how challenging that is for all of us as human beings to make sense of so quickly. If anyone is feeling anxious or fearful that is entirely normal at this moment. And what's so important is to talk it through with each other and seek, you know, good and real and accurate information, which we will provide constantly. To support each other, listen to each other's concerns, see how we can help, particularly how we can help those in greatest need. And that's what New Yorkers do so well. We've seen it time and time again, after 9/11 after Sandy, so many times. When seniors needed help, folks with disabilities, folks who didn't have medicine, folks who couldn't get out of their apartment, time and time again every day, New Yorkers answered the call. And we're going to need that again. And we're going to be at this again for weeks and months.
But I'll tell you something, I really believe that even though we are the epicenter of this crisis, and I want to be real, real honest about that. We are now in New York City, the epicenter of this crisis in the United States of America. I'm not happy to tell you that and you're not happy to hear it. But I'll tell you something else, there is no place in the United States of America, no place on Earth, where there are stronger, tougher, more resilient people, where there is more spirit and compassion. This is the place where people can handle anything thrown at them. That's who New Yorkers are. That's who all of you are. And that gives me a lot of hope. And I've been real honest about the fact that I'm not satisfied by our nation's response to this crisis. I don't feel that there's been anywhere near the response that any place in this nation deserves, especially our nation's largest city with 8.6 million people on the front line. But I, at the same time as I'm deeply concerned and troubled and angry and frustrated at the lack of federal response, I am inspired by the response right here in New York City from everyday New Yorkers, from our public servants, from all the people who protect us and keep us healthy. So many good people who are stepping up. And I'm inspired because I believe if there's one place on Earth that has the ingenuity and the creativity and the sense of entrepreneurship to find a way to overcome this crisis with our own resources, that's right here.
Now, I want to be 100 percent clear that doesn't let the federal government off the hook in the least. I couldn't be angrier at the lack of response. I've been very plain about that. But you know what? If we're going to be left to fend for ourselves in New York City, in New York State, all I can at least say there are no people on Earth who are more creative and more able to create something out of even the most tough circumstances. No one's better than New Yorkers. We're going to find a way to do things we've never done before. And I've likened this situation to war many times because it is, that's just the reality. And we've only begun down this very difficult path. But I already see New Yorkers doing extraordinary things. I already see people volunteering to find the supplies we need to build the equipment we need to make things happen. Even when previously we would've thought it impossible. Isn't that the history of New York City in a nutshell? People making things happen even though they were told it was impossible. That is the story of New York and New Yorkers. So, we will do it again in our time right here, right now.
Let me turn to some specific updates and information I want to share with everyone. And I want to take a moment to really commend the people who are doing exceptional work right now, helping us all. Of course, our health care workers, God bless them. They have such a tough job at this moment. But they are showing up with energy and passion, protecting the lives of so many people. Our first responders, who we call – we need them every day, every year, and we need them even more now. And they are at their post doing their job brilliantly. Our transit workers we're depending on them to make sure that everyone else we need gets where they need to go. And thank you to all the transit workers for what you're doing. And then there's a lot of even more unsung heroes who really deserve notice at this moment. You know what? Maybe in the normal course of life, you don't stop to think about the man or woman that works in the grocery store or the pharmacy. The postal worker who brings you every day, things you depend on and you're going to depend on even more now. All the delivery workers, whether they're in the public sector or the private sector – the men and women who deliver food and are now working at so many food establishments, they're going through a tough time, but a lot of them are continuing to operate so they can help all of us. All those folks are answering the call in their own way. I want to thank all of you. We need all of you and you don't get the praise you deserve normally and you should get a whole lot of praise now because you, all of you are helping to keep this city running, keep it together and ensuring the people who need help the most are getting it. So thank you. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
I want to note and I want to ask everyone if you see, you know, this is a time I say it a lot, that you know, remember to thank people who do so much for us. You know, this coming week we're going to be dealing with a whole different reality. We've never been under this kind of order to pause our lives, change our ways. It's going to take getting used to. It's going to take adjustments. There'll be some trial and error for sure. But let's thank the people who are helping us, helping to make it work. If you see a first responder, a police officer, a firefighter, a EMT, thank them. Thank the transit workers, thank the health care workers, thank those educators who are going to be at those enrichment centers taking care of the children of those essential workers. And like I said, the postal worker on your block, the person that delivers a pizza to you, anybody you come across who's out there making it happen, please give them some extra gratitude because they deserve it.
Each day, I have a very unfortunate obligation to tell you the overall situation in terms of the number of cases. I remind you every case is a human being and a family. And the numbers, again, continue to be staggering. Confirmed New York City cases at this moment, this is based on information from 10:00 am today, 9,654 cases, an unbelievable number. We couldn't even imagine such a number just a week ago. We are on the verge right now of 10,000 cases in this city. We essentially at this point, and this has been a trend over recent days, we represent shockingly about a third of the cases in the entire United States of America. And about two thirds of the cases in the State of New York or even more. We'll constantly keep you updated, but I want people to just for a moment reflect on that fact. This is a crisis affecting our whole state, our whole nation. But it's a crisis affecting New York City far more than any place else just by the numbers. One third of the cases in the entire nation right here. We have lost 63 people to coronavirus in just a matter of weeks.
We're going to constantly update you, what we see within these facts to help people understand this disease better. And I remind you, it’s a disease that literally no expert on earth fully understands but we're trying to constantly confirm our understanding and update people. But here is a fact that's important. As of this moment in New York City and this information will be published in more detail shortly. There have been in the age group from birth to 44 years old, so New Yorkers from the first moments or life up to 44 years old. Within that group, there have been no deaths. And that is a very important fact confirming a lot of what we understood previously about this virus. The breakdown by borough – Brooklyn is 2,857 cases, Queens 2,715, Manhattan 2,072, the Bronx 1,411, and Staten Island 593. Another very important point. And again, information will be updated constantly and made public when we can. But we've talked a lot and I reflected a few days ago about a conversation I had with Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the leading national expert in this crisis and who we all are turning to for important information. He's also a proud son of Brooklyn, proud son of New York City.
He, days ago, said to me, we really need to educate people to the particular danger to those over 70 years old. Well, here's what we know in New York City. So far, 35 percent of our hospitalizations related to coronavirus have been for New Yorkers who are over 70, 35 percent, over a third. But you should also know that people over 70 constitute only about 10 percent of the population of New York City. So, what we're seeing is the over 70-year-olds represented among those hospitalized, over three times more than their proportion of the population. That really reminds us that that's the particular thing we need to focus on. Folks who are much older and particularly they have those preexisting conditions we've talked about so much. These are the folks in the greatest danger who we have to really move heaven and Earth to protect. Keeping them isolated and out of contact with other people to the maximum amount possible, supporting them, still giving them a lot of love and support -- phone calls, FaceTime, everything you can do to support your older loved ones, getting them the things they need. But keeping them out of contact with others to the maximum step possible to protect them. That's crucial.
I'm going to talk for a moment about a situation with the other levels of government, and it is if there were ever a tale of two cities, this is at -- the State of New York is doing so many wonderful things, so many of the right things to help people all over the state and certainly to help New York City. I commend Governor Cuomo and our legislative leaders in Albany, Speaker Heastie and Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and so many people across the state government who are doing so much to help New York City right now. And on the federal side, it's almost exactly the opposite where we're seeing so little. That is not to say there are not good people in the federal government trying to help us. And Dr. Fauci is a great example and so many of the good men and women of FEMA are a great example, it's not one way or another. But when it comes to the decisions of government and the actions of government, really doing something tangible, we're seeing a lot of help from the State of New York and very little and in the way of evidence that the federal government understands that our nation's largest city is in the crosshairs and that the federal government's going to actually do something about it. I won't dwell. I've been perfectly clear. We need our armed forces and we need them now. And I'm very happy that we're getting the ship, the Comfort coming to New York soon. That's very, very helpful. That's a great example of what our armed forces could do, but they could do so much more if they were fully mobilized and we need them.
We need supplies on a vast scale for the city. We are very happy that FEMA is here. That could make a difference. But so far, we have no specifics on what supplies we will get when and we need them now. I have, again, to compare -- great appreciation for the announcement that Governor Cuomo made yesterday, a million more N95 masks coming to New York City soon. That's crucial. That's wonderful. But I have no such announcement from the President of the United States. In fact, he still has not fully utilized the Defense Production Act. He has not given orders to specific companies, to not only produce those items that are needed most starting with ventilators, but to ensure that they will be distributed to where the need is greatest here in New York and other key parts of the country. I believe that can't be done and won't be done unless and until our military is mobilized. And I don't know why on Earth the President hesitates at this point. I think you're seeing a human cry all over the country for our armed forces to be activated. The time is now.
Very quickly, and this has been put out publicly yesterday. I'll just give a brief overview, a number of personnel announcements. We are continuing to build out our team to deal with what is a wartime type of crisis. I want to thank for her extraordinary leadership, my Chief of Staff, Emma Wolfe and I announced yesterday that I will add to her title the designation of Deputy Mayor for Administration and that will put her second in the line of succession after our First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan, both of them have been the paramount outstanding leaders of the day to day operations that are being run out of our Office of Emergency Management and other locations, coordinating all the work of all city agencies. We, all of us, even though we're working remotely from each other in many cases, we are talking constantly throughout the day. I am being given every hour, literally, it seems new decision to make and I'm determining the direction of the City's response. But I have extraordinary leaders to depend on to implement those decisions and to coordinate the work of all of our agencies. So, a tremendous thank you to First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan, and now Deputy Mayor for Administration and Chief of Staff, Emma Wolfe.
I announced that we will have one of our most extraordinary public servants, our Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia will take on an additional title as our COVID-19 Food Czar. This is a brand-new concept and it reflects the reality of what we're dealing with today. We hope to get good news from Washington of some kind of true stimulus package that will actually reach the people of this city and this country with substantial direct support. Not token support, not one-time support, but deep ongoing support so folks can afford everything in their lives. We don't have that yet, however. I'm desperately concerned that a lot of New Yorkers are running out of money and that's the money they use to buy food among other crucial necessities. Commissioner Garcia and her new role will create a citywide network to ensure that food is available to those who cannot afford it. Food is available to seniors and vulnerable folks. Food is available to people who are working just a few weeks ago and no longer have any means of support. It's going to take a mobilization such as we've never seen before. She'll work with all of those agencies that currently do food relief, the Human Resources Administration, the Mayor's Office of Food Policy, obviously state agencies, Food Bank, soup kitchens, so many amazing nonprofit organizations. She'll work with all of them, but she's going to build something bigger and more comprehensive than we've ever seen in New York City. On the assumption that food will become much more of an issue going forward and that many people will have a strain that they have not experienced previously because of huge disruptions in their own income. So I want to thank Commissioner Garcia for taking on that role.
I've named Peter Hatch as our COVID- 19 Public Private Partnership Czar. He will work with private sector entities and philanthropic partners to create a brand-new network of support. There are so many wonderful offers of help coming in. We have to build that into a truly organized forceful effort to ensure that the maximum private and philanthropic help reaches those in greatest need and augments everything we're trying to do as a city. Peter Hatch has served previously as deputy, excuse me, as Chief of Staff to Deputy Mayor Raul Perea-Henze. He will take on this new role as the public private partnership czar. Also coming back into city service my senior advisor for years, Gabrielle Fialkoff who played a crucial role activating many forms of support for the people of the city. She did an outstanding job over five years serving the people of this city and she's returning as a senior advisor. She will ensure that many of the organizations that previously she worked with to help in normal times will help even more now in these tough, tough times. And replacing Peter Hatch, in his role as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor Raul Perea-Henze, Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services will be Julie Bero who has worked in our Intergovernmental Affairs operation and thank her for taking on that new role.
Lastly, we're going to be doing something and I’m announcing this now, something we have not had to do in our recent memory in this city, which is to organize production here in New York City for vitally needed supplies and equipment. The notion of this city being left in so many ways on its own to deal with this crisis is deeply painful, but we don't take it lying down. We're going to fight for all the resources and support we deserve and need. But in the meantime, I've named Carl Rodriguez, who is currently Chief of Staff to Deputy Mayor Vicki Been, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development. Carl will additionally take on a role running our production capacity group. This will be leaders from different city agencies working with the private sector to determine the maximum extent possible quickly, tangibly, how we will produce ventilators right here in New York City. Surgical masks, hospital surgical gowns, anything and everything that we need. This is a no way letting the federal government off the hook. But it does say that if we can effectively produce something in New York City, even if it is not exactly the ideal we would want, but it's still usable, we will produce it here. I want to thank Carl for taking on this role in all those who will be working with him.
Quickly I'll talk about some other items and then turn to our Police Commissioner who will give you an update. On the question of parks, I spoke earlier with Governor Cuomo. We are fully aligned. We understand that we have a big and different and new challenge on our hands. Folks who are going to be home in a way that literally, it doesn't happen any time of the year, not even in summer, to have so many people home at once. So many families and so many children looking for some opportunity to get out of their homes, at least for a small portion of the day. Here's how we're going to do it. And I'm going to describe what we're going to do in the first week, starting Monday and throughout this coming week. And then we're going to judge the results accordingly. And we might then make some very different plans. And again, one of the things I want to emphasize, every single day instructions can change based on new circumstances because we are dealing with something that we've never dealt with before. We'll always try and give you clear and consistent information. But I'm also warning people it can change. If it changes, it changes for a reason and we'll certainly explain why.
So, on the parks -- we understand that under the Governor's pause order, which I entirely agree with, we need to ensure that if people want a little exercise in their day that they can do that the right way. It is absolutely normal and human to want to get outside, get a little bit of exercise. But I remind you, the pause is all about social distancing. It is all about protecting ourselves and our families and each other. When we say you can go out for some exercise, we are not saying you can linger. We're not saying you can make a day of it. We're saying, go out, get a minimum amount of exercise, get what you need, and then get back in the doors. Same with grocery shopping. Go get what you need. Get back inside. You got to go to the pharmacy, get what you need, get back inside. We will be enforcing this, but with an understanding for the challenges that people are facing for how new this is. And I'll talk about it. And then Commissioner Shea will talk about it. We'll enforce through education. We'll enforce through warnings. We'll enforce with having real conversations with people to help them understand what's going on. We're not going to be draconian. We're going to give people a chance to get used to this, but I guarantee you we will enforce this new reality. And I think the vast majority of New Yorkers will understand quickly and will act accordingly. So, folks will go to their parks. That's normal. You want to get outside for a little bit. You want to get some exercise, you want to go for a run, whatever it is, that's normal. You got a socially distance. You can't do it the way you're used to. You can't play team sports at this point. It's going to be unfortunately quite a while before that's possible again. There's no more gatherings. There's no more events. There's no more big barbecues. All that is gone for now. It's not gone forever. It's gone certainly for weeks, probably for months. At some point we'll be able to resume a more normal life, but for now, when you go to the park, you're going for your own exercise. Now, you might say, well, wait a minute, what if it's a parent going with their child and they live under the same roof? Of course, you're already living with someone under the same roof or a couple that lives together. Let's be clear, that's a different reality. People who live under the same roof and are already exposed to each other all day long and this is something that Governor and I explicitly discussed, they already have a different reality and they don't need to distance from each other because they're already in constant contact with each other. So, if a mom goes to the playground with her child, obviously she's already in constant contact with that child. That's different than if that child came in contact with a child from another family or that mom came in contact with a mom from a different family. That's the problem. Let's be clear, within the family, under one roof, that's one thing, but families mixing, people connecting who are not under the same roof, that's where we're going to see a spread of this disease that we can't have. That's where the social distancing rules come into effect, six feet apart, and we all want to be social, but we just can't the way we were. So you can go to the park, but only for a limited period of time. Families can stay together but don't mix with other families. If you're going on your own, stay on your own, keep six feet apart from everyone else. Go get your exercise. Get home.
In terms of playgrounds, this is a thorny issue, and I'm saying this as a parent, I used to take my kids to playgrounds around Prospect Park in Brooklyn constantly. I understand a lot about the culture of our playgrounds and the challenges that we deal with in normal times with all the kids who want to be on the playground. Here's what we're going to do for this next week, and I'm only saying this for this next week because we want to try it out. We're going to say to parents, look, here's the reality, if you're going to go on a playground, you have to take full responsibility for the situation. Full personal responsibility. Here are some of the realities. We cannot have overcrowding on a playground. If there are some people already on the playground and it’s starting to get to you can't keep six feet away from people who are not part of your family, don’t go on the playground. If our police, our parks enforcement officers or other enforcement agency see a playground that's starting to fill up, they're going to clear it out. If you go the playground, you need to keep your children away from children who are not part of your family. That's your responsibility. We will always do our best with city enforcement, but we can't be everywhere, obviously, you have to take responsibility. If you don't feel you can do it, don't go to the playground.
Some parents have said, will the playgrounds be cleaned and sanitized? The answer, just a real blunt, New York City answer is no. They never have been. They can't be in this situation. It would take a Herculean effort every five minutes, literally, that we simply can't do. If your kids go to a playground, you might want them to not be on certain types of equipment or any type of equipment. You might say, I don't want to go to a playground. I just want my kids to run around in an open area. You parents have to make that decision. Well what we're going to do is have playgrounds open to the maximum extent possible, monitored and enforced, but parents have to make their own choices for this next week as to what they feel is appropriate. I'm trying to give you real honest warnings. We'll put up signage, we'll constantly reiterate these rules and we'll see how it goes for a week.
If people are responsible about use of the playgrounds, and we believe it's a good outlet for kids who are only going to get in a short period of exercise each day, we'll keep them open. If we feel that they are not being handled properly. If we feel that people are taking advantage in the wrong way of the situation or not paying attention to the rules, or it's creating something that's just not supportable, we'll have to at that point strongly consider shutting them down. It's not something I want to do. I really don't want to do that. I'm saying that as a parent. So, we're going to see how this week goes and we have agreement with the State of New York that that is the approach we'll take. Tomorrow, I'm going to provide the State with a written plan delineating what I've just told you in broad stroke, and we'll work with the State each step of the way going forward to determine how best to handle a real sense of reality of our parks and playgrounds.
But again, a NYPD is going to be out there. If they see anything that looks like even the beginning of a gathering, they're going to say, break it up. They're going to say, you got to get your quick exercise individually and get home. The message couldn't be clearer. And Commissioner Shea will give you a sense of what he's experienced in recent days. But I can summarize it. New Yorkers are listening. They are following the guidance they're getting. And when police officer or other enforcement officer tells him to do something, overwhelmingly they are doing it. They all understand what time it is. So, I think we're going to see that we're going to find a way to make this work. Okay, very quickly, let me just note, hold on one second - oh, this is consistent with this point, to confirm just how much New Yorkers are adhering to rules. I want to give you an example. It's a very striking example for anyone who knows this town and has been here for any amount of your life, especially if you've been here a long time. I think you might find this striking. Yesterday in New York City, we sent out four agencies, NYPD, FDNY, Department of Buildings, and Sheriff’s Office to continue doing enforcement at bars, restaurants, movie theaters, gyms, any place that we needed to ensure people were not congregating. There were 13,000 inspections yesterday by those agencies. 13,000 inspections of which in only 11 instances was a violation given. One in a thousand – less than one in a thousand cases, was it even necessary to give a violation. I think that speaks volumes about what we are dealing with now.
A very important topic. There's been a lot of concern about our jail system. I'm going to be giving you constant updates. This is an area of tremendous concern, obviously. Talked about an initial group of inmates who were being reviewed for release. This will be an ongoing situation and a rapid one. I have been working closely with the Police Commissioner and other officials and obviously our correction leadership to determine the proper approach that is a humane and responsive to this crisis, but also constantly takes into effect – into account, I should say – public safety and obviously legal requirements. 23 inmates are being released today from our jail system. Those individuals are over 50 years old and low risk to re-offend. Some others we're awaiting a response from the State before they can be released. We are now starting immediate work on a group of 200 additional inmates who are being reviewed for release. We will have the update on what number within those 200 will be released. That update will be tomorrow. These are primarily individuals who have limited time remaining on their sentences on Rikers Island.
For all those who are concerned about this issue. I'm concerned. The Police Commissioner is concerned. The Health Commissioner is concerned. The Correction Commissioner's concerned. We're all trying to make sense of a very challenging situation in an appropriate way. We are looking at each individual case and some of the portrayal of the situation I think has left out some of the complexity. There are individuals who I think are obvious candidates for appropriate release. There are some other individuals with complex histories that raise other questions. We're going to strike that balance, but we will continually update, continually look at tranche after tranche of inmates for potential release in this crisis. This next group of 200, we will have an answer on by tomorrow. There is a very rigorous effort being made right now in our jail system to keep everyone healthy and safe. There's a lot of resources being applied for the safety of our officers and inmates alike. That effort will continue to intensify.
We have updates, I know some of them I believe have been announced about changes in testing locations. You can hear later on details from the Health Commissioner and from our Health + Hospitals CEO. There's been a closure of the site at Jacobi. We'll explain that, when we get to Q & A. Everything is being done specifically related to prioritization. That means ensuring that we get to those individual patients in greatest need, and we do everything we can to use our testing capacity, ease the burden on emergency rooms. Testing has been fully focused on priority needs. Structural needs to keep our health system going to reach those in greatest danger. It will be tightly organized according to that principle, and we can get into detail in the Q & A. Few other points quickly. For our health care workers, these are the people are, there are so many heroes in this city, and so many people are depending on, I think we can all agree there is no group of New Yorkers we are depending on more right now than our doctors, our nurses, our lab techs, every human being who works in our health care system is precious right now. These folks are doing heroic work. They're working exceedingly long hours. They are putting themselves at risk. We must support them in every way we can. A small but helpful thing we can do right now in light of the profound changes in this city, the fact that so much of the city is not operating the way it normally does, and the idea of commuting has been fundamentally changed and so many parts of our city are not seeing the kind of traffic, etc., that we're used to. We're going to do something temporarily in this crisis and grant parking permits to health care workers who we need to serve this city in this crisis. So, there'll be a process to determine who qualifies and we will begin with 10,000 permits for these heroic workers that we will start to distribute as early as tomorrow.
Related to how people get around. There's an excellent question in the last day or two on what is essential in terms of how people deal with this crisis? And the question that was asked to me is if car repair mechanic shops, automotive shops are being kept open, shouldn't bike repair shops be kept open? I thought it was a very good question. We in the city have compared notes with the State and we have agreement that yes, bike repair shops are essential at this time of crisis because more and more people are depend on their bicycles. So yes, we will instruct that bike repair shops will be treated as essential and if they are open all of our enforcement agents will know to respect that and allow them to keep doing their work that we all need.
Finally, before I give you a few words in Spanish just to say I don't think anyone will be surprised to know that since we're in a crisis, we really have to be careful for everything we need. Everything that's a basic need and know nothing is more basic when it comes to protecting people's health care than ensuring that there is a blood supply to serve all New Yorkers. Right now, our blood supply is sufficient, but a lot of the blood drives that happen throughout the year, particularly based in companies that we appreciate deeply, a lot of those have been canceled because the companies have had to shut down. Giving blood is essential. So we need New Yorkers to step forward. Go to any New York blood center site in the city. If you are going to give blood, everyone will know that that is an essential activity. Again, you go, you participate. Every one of us says thank you and then get back home, as with everything else. If you are ready and willing and able to give blood, please call (800) 933-2566, again, (800) 933-2566, or go to www.nybc.org, nybc.org. Everyone I've heard from so many New Yorkers who want to do something, who are looking to be helpful and you know, are frustrated by this crisis and want to help, here is a way that anyone who qualifies can help. So, we really, really appreciate that.
With that, I want to turn to our Police Commissioner. I want to thank you, Commissioner, and all the men and women of the NYPD for absolutely outstanding work in this crisis. And I know together we're going to be figuring out how to do some new things. But I know you are up to the task as are the men and women who serve under your command. Commissioner Dermot Shea.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea: Thank you Mr. Mayor. As the Mayor said, it's been an interesting couple of weeks here, but I can tell you definitively that the men and women in the New York City Police Department, as well as all the other city agencies, certainly the health care workers across the board are rising to the challenge. And it's at a time like this when quite frankly, you see the best in people come out and we're seeing it day in and day out. The traditional crime that we put on the shoulders of the men and women in the New York City Police Department has not been forgotten, but there was so much more that they've picked up in the last couple of weeks. Just most recently in the last couple of days, we've begun surveying over 500 large supermarkets in New York City. Just yesterday in the last 24 hours between pharmacies and supermarkets, over 1600 visits by the men and women in the New York City Police Department and literally no issues. A couple of couple of discussions about overcrowding, but, overall, very well.
In the last 24 hours, over 5,500 bars and restaurants. And that's the story that you're continuing to see, cooperation by New Yorkers. Two arrests and out of 5,500, and that I believe is one incident in Queens. So by and large, we are seeing cooperation. We're seeing New Yorkers rise to the challenge throughout the city and all five boroughs. You're seeing tasks picked up by the men and women of the police department in reaching out to elderly people that may not be serviced by traditional means and working with elected officials, working with community partners, getting them food. So, I can tell you that I couldn't be more proud of what I've seen. To the parks, the Mayor mentioned the parks and in the last couple of days. It's an interesting dynamic now as we get through this time where we've been all stressed I think and all pent up inside and we are like no other city in the world, in a city of over 8 million people – a vertical city – and you saw yesterday people getting out exercising, which is a good thing. I can tell you that I hit the – in the last 48 hours, the East River Park, the West Side Highway, I personally saw a Riverside Park, Central Park, over 99 percent of what I saw is what you hope to see, New Yorkers coming out, parents with kids, responsibly getting the exercise that the Mayor have talked about. No, I did not see organized sports. The biggest thing I saw was a two on two pickup game. And I can tell you that the men and women now of the New York City Police Department are getting more and more involved in this as the Mayor said. Made calls yesterday with some of the borough and bureau commanders of the NYPD to just reinforce that messaging piece of this. We're all in this together, reinforce that positive message. As much as you want to get out, there's a responsible way to do it. And that's what we all need to hear and take part in.
So you'll expect to see police officers throughout the five boroughs, whether it's on a bicycle, probably on some scooters and some marked police cars, driving slowly through the parks and just broadcasting and speaking to people about that message. Enjoy, how you doing, get your exercise, and then the politely, get out of here. And I say that tongue in cheek. We are all in this together and, and it was really, it was heartwarming, I'm sure to see, Mr. Mayor you touched on it, people that are people that are behind closed doors all day, every day. That's not really what we're worried about when they're walking. A husband and wife holding hands in the park, taking a walk with their dog. That's not really what we're worried about, they’re together in the apartment anyway, but it's the large groups. I heard from some elected officials yesterday and throughout the city working on this. We got to we got to think, think long distance here. This is a long game. So those backyard parties, those DJs, I'm sorry DJs, I know how everyone is hurting here, but we can't be having parties with the large gatherings whether it's in backyards or anywhere else in New York City at this time right now. It's just too dangerous. So thank you. I'm sure we'll have some questions. But again, on behalf of all the men and women in the police department, thank you for all the kind words we are there for you and we're going to continue to be there for you.
