Mayor de Blasio on COVID-19 April 6, 2020

  Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. So, 11 days ago – it seems like a long, long time ago, but 11 days ago we were here at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and we were here looking for solutions in the midst of this ever-changing, ever-growing crisis. But we are also here looking for hope, looking for answers, and the answers came from everyday New Yorkers who were stepping up, who are doing something amazing to create the products that will protect our frontline health care workers and our first responders. So, what we saw a few days ago with the face shields was moving. I was totally, totally moved to see these everyday people of all backgrounds, all together, creating something from scratch. Companies working together that never had previously built anything like a face shield, and they create it by hand, and that was part of the power of what we saw was everyday people piecing together these PPEs by hand to protect their fellow New Yorkers who are serving all of us.

Well, we're back 11 days later and what we're seeing today is equally inspiring. Two companies that got together here in the Brooklyn Navy Yard to create, again, a product they never created because our frontline workers needed it. And it is inspiring to see how quickly people figured out a way to do something that was needed and not just do it in a small way, but do it in a very big way. And to pull together the talent, the designs to pull together all the equipment they needed, all the fabric. I was just hearing how much it took to improvise this and create this as very, very moving. And it shows how much heart, how much soul people are putting into protecting our health care workers in our first responders. So, as I was touring and seeing what was happening, I felt this real surge of emotion that it was clearer than ever that New York City is fighting back. New York City is fighting back. We have an invisible enemy. We have a ferocious enemy, but this city is fighting back with everything we've got. And this is strong city and a resilient city and people are showing it in so many ways and we're seeing it today at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

It makes me very, very convinced that we're going to get through this when I see these kinds of amazing efforts. Now in the midst of a moment where we have to tell people constantly, it’s a strange thing to tell New Yorkers, we are a warm and emotional people. It's strange to have to tell people all the time, stay apart and break with all the traditions that we have had for our whole lives. But we keep telling people stay apart for your own protection, for the protection of the community, for the protection of those you love. But today we have an example of people coming together, coming together in common cause, doing it the right way, doing it the smart way, the healthy way, but coming together in common cause to help other people. And I really want to thank these two amazing companies and they're very, very different. Lafayette 148 is a high-end fashion brand and Crye Precision is a company that particularly focuses on making gear for the U.S. military. Two companies that started out with very different approaches, very different mission statements. They may not have seen that a lot in common, but they immediately found common ground and decided that together they could create something that would really help everyone else.

This creativity and this ingenuity are New York traits. Not surprising to us, as New Yorkers, to see this kind of thing happen, but it's very moving. It's very beautiful to see it go through all those rows upon rows of sewing machines and seeing the surgical grounds being sewn that very soon we'll be protecting our frontline health care workers. Want to thank of course, all the good people, all those on those sewing machines, on those assembly lines, all the working people who are making this possible. And extraordinary thanks to the leaders who had this vision and pulled it together in record time, to Gregg Thompson, Executive Director at Cry Precision, to Deirdre Quinn, the CEO at Lafayette 148, you'll hear from both of them. I want thank someone who's really been the matchmaker here, David Ehrenberg, the President CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, who keeps looking for ways to get all the amazing capacity of the Navy Yard to put it together to support this cause, and I want to thank you David. Excellent job.

Now, I want to say a number of companies here in Brooklyn Navy Yard are working with Crye Precision and Lafayette 148 to help them do their work. They're all joining in. Anyone who can pitch in is pitching in. So, there's a real community here that's working together to get this done. I also want to thank our colleagues at EDC, which plays a crucial role in all of these efforts to produce our own homegrown supplies to fight this war. Thank you to James Katz, Executive Vice President Chief of Staff at EDC. And, of course, we have with us here today as well. Two of the leaders in the fight from the health care side, our Health Commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot and the Vice President Chief Quality Officer at Health + Hospitals, Dr. Eric Wei, thank you to you and your teams always.

I mentioned the folks who are doing the work and I want to say something that needs to be said in this moment. There's been in the midst of this crisis, another crisis that we've all seen and we've all been disgusted by it, which is discrimination and hatred directed at our Asian-American communities, particularly our Chinese-American community. I think it's absolutely unacceptable and I know legally it is unacceptable by the laws in New York City and I keep saying to everyone, if you see a act of discrimination, if you see a hate crime, you see anything that is about bias, call 3-1-1 immediately or if it's an urgent situation, call 9-1-1. We want to find the perpetrators of these crimes. We want to find anyone who's discriminated and throw the full weight of the law at them. But today was a poignant message in the midst of this crisis, in the midst of this discrimination, to see so many of these workers who happen to be Chinese-American who are doing something for everyone, who despite the discrimination they have faced, they're standing up and they're joining this effort to save lives and support those who are protecting us. I want to thank all of these good working people for what they are doing.

So, like I said, when I was here last, this is a wartime factory. If you look at it, it immediately is clear. This is something that was put together from scratch with a sense of urgency created for a common cause, not for a profit but for something higher. Nine days ago. It was just nine days ago that this started to come together. By the end of the day, 9,200 surgical gowns will have been created. By the end of the week, almost 19,000. By the end of the month 320,000, amazing contribution to this effort and it protects our health care workers. These gowns and Dr. Wei can explain to you in detail, they are absolutely crucial to protection of our health care workers and these are reusable, which is crucially important and a point where we're on a crisis footing and we have to conserve every item we have.

Now it comes at a critical time, this new supply, because as I said to you yesterday, this is one of the areas where we're seeing a real problem, surgical gowns. Our public hospital has enough for this week, but some of the private hospitals and nursing homes are running low and this is an area we're very, very concerned about. Last week, all hospitals combined used approximately 1.8 million surgical gowns in New York City. This week they are projected to use 2.5 million as the crisis grows. So, we have to find more surgical gowns urgently. There are orders out, we believe that there's a good chance these orders will come in time, but we're also working intensely with the federal government to see if we can get additional supply in time. So, this is an area of real concern as we start this week.

And again, we will leave no stone unturned. We'll be as creative as we need to be to create new surgical gowns or use anything else that may be appropriate as a surgical gown to get us through this crisis. Now the other thing I talked about yesterday is the N95 masks. This is the other area of real concern for this week. We got – at the time I spoke to you all yesterday afternoon, there was still an outstanding need for N95s to get us through the week. Very appreciative that we got a major supply from the federal government. My thanks to President Trump and to Jared Kushner for the role that he played as well. 600,000 N95 masks coming today for our independent hospitals. Those are some of our hospitals that have the greatest need and serve communities in greatest need. That's on top of the 200,000 arrived for our public hospitals on Friday. So now we can say that our supply of N95s for the week is sufficiently secure. Again, it's going to be a tough week. People are going to have to be careful and conserve on the crisis standards we're working on, but this has definitely changed the dynamic for us for this week and that's a very good thing. So, we continue to focus this week on finding more surgical gowns and of course on ventilators to get us through.

Now, more and more the challenge is going to be personnel and we need these supplies, but we also need to heroes to wear them and more and more personnel than we needed from every source. Remember, our overall need is 45,000 – from where we started, the additional need is 45,000 clinical personnel over this month, an ever-increasing number to get us through this crisis. I've been pushing particularly for more and more military medical personnel to come in. My requests for our public hospitals again is 1,450 clinical staff from what's – that's what I've requested from the federal government, 291 arrived yesterday – that's a good start, but we need more. I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff yesterday. I will be speaking to more federal officials and the President today to let them know how much our public hospitals have really borne the brunt of this crisis. We'll need more of those medical personnel from the military. Those I greeted yesterday upon arrival. It was very inspiring that came from states from all over the country. They were ready to immediately go to where the need was greatest in our ICUs, in emergency rooms, in our public hospitals. I'm so grateful to all of them. It was very, very moving to greet them as they arrived in New York City.

Again, this is just the beginning for this city and for many cities and states all over the country. I'll continue to say we need to have an enlistment structure to find medical personnel from all over the country, civilians who would come forward as volunteers, be compensated for sure, and then be mobilized by our military and sent where they're needed most. I remind you again, over a million doctors in America, almost 4 million nurses in America – thank God we have many, many medical personnel, many ready to serve where the need is greatest but no mechanism right now to get them where they need to be. And I will keep pushing the federal government to achieve that.

So, I want to finish before a few words in Spanish and then we'll hear from our colleagues here at the Brooklyn Navy Yard who've done this amazing work. But I want to finish with a point about the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Those of you who have looked at the history – so this place is heroic by its nature. In World War II, it was one of the single most important places in the United States of America fighting the war effort. This was a place that so many of our troops left on their way to battle. This is a place where so many of the ships were built and repaired. This was a crucial, crucial place in the war effort. And it comes with an incredible tradition of service in a time of crisis. And you know, when the Navy Yard became a civilian facility and became a place synonymous with jobs and economic development. People might've thought, well, it's years of service are over. But now we're seeing once again, the Brooklyn Navy Yard as a symbol to this city and this whole nation of extraordinary and selfless service leading the fight against the coronavirus. So history has come around in a very, very powerful way. And I remind everyone, a lot of us heard stories maybe from parents, maybe from grandparents of the epic times of the past, World War II, the Great Depression, what people had to fight through as a full community. Now it is our time. We are living that reality now. It's our generation that has to make that imprint on history and fight that fight now. I don't think when we heard a lot of those stories, we ever thought it would be us one day, but now it is us and it's time for all of us to show what we can do in this moment of crisis and that's what folks are doing here at the Navy Yard.

Everybody out there who can help, try to emulate the amazing work of the folks here at the Navy Yard. Not everyone happens to have a clothing line of their own or a company that makes military gear, but if you have a company that can help us, we need you. If you have access to surgical supplies, we need you. If you're a health care professional who can volunteer, we need you. Anything you can donate that will help us to continue this fight. We need you. If you want to donate food to our frontline hospital workers. If you want to donate money to pay for the kind of support they need, whatever it is we need you and anyone who wants to help can go to nyc.gov/helpnow or call 8-3-3-NYC-0-0-4-0.

MAYOR DE BLASIO ANNOUNCES NEW PRODUCTION LINE MAKING SURGICAL GOWNS FOR NYC HEALTHCARE WORKERS

  Mayor Bill de Blasio visited the Brooklyn Navy Yard where manufacturers are making surgical gowns to keep our healthcare workers safe. The City is working with manufactures to create production lines for protective equipment critical in the fight against COVID-19. Public hospitals have at least a week’s worth of gowns to protect their workers, but private hospitals and nursing homes are running low. Every piece of equipment counts in the fight to save the lives of New Yorkers. 

“New Yorkers band together in a crisis - and this production line is exactly the kind of solidarity that will get us through this. Day by day, we are assessing what we need to keep our frontline workers safe– and the ability to produce protective equipment here in New York City is critical,” said Mayor de Blasio.

SUPPLY PRODUCTION

Mayor de Blasio visited a production line run by Crye Precision, a design and manufacturing company based in the Brooklyn Navy Yard that is producing gowns with the help of women’s wear brand Lafayette 148 and other sewing shops at the Yard. The Administration projects over 300,000 gowns will be produced by the end of April by factories across the City.

Last week, Adafruit, a Manhattan-based company that makes machine components; Makerspace NYC, a community workspace for industrial manufacturing at Brooklyn Army Terminal; Bednark Studios, a custom fabrication company at the Brooklyn Navy Yard; and Duggal Digital Solutions, a custom printing company, produced and distributed 127,000 face shields to the Department of Health. Over the next three months, local industrial firms will manufacture up to 1.5 million face shields.

In March, the New York City Economic Development Corporation began coordinating with local businesses to manufacture needed medical supplies at scale as part of the COVID-19 emergency response. The Administration facilitates coordination with the Department of Health to ensure products meet the City’s safety standards and protocols. The City has received over 2,000 responses so far to its call for local production.

SAFE STREETS PILOT UPDATE

The Administration reached a decision to suspend the safe streets pilot. This is a part of our ongoing effort to use City resources wisely to promote social distancing. Over the past two weeks, overcrowding was not an issue, but we did not observe enough people utilizing the open space to justify the presence of the over 80 members of the NYPD across the four sites. We are still open to reviewing other innovative ways to open public space to New Yorkers and may adjust course as this situation evolves.

DOG RUNS

NYC Parks is closing dog runs as a part of ongoing efforts to maintain social distancing in public spaces. The City has been monitoring parks closely, and has observed overcrowding at dog runs and received numerous complaints. This week, NYC Parks will also remove any remaining basketball rims and tennis nets and lock up all courts with a gate, including handball courts. On Friday, the City closed all playgrounds. Our parks remain open for the people, and dogs, to enjoy. 

Bronx Fashion Newsletter

Greetings,

I hope you are all safe during this pandemic. I want to say thank you for your support and love for Bronx Fashion Week. We appreciate every one of you, and while we may have paused for the moment, we want you to know that we will be back stronger together and while we are living in trying times, this to shall pass, and we will come back united.

Don't stop doing the things you love to do. Stay healthy and let your emotions go through the steps needed to heal. Turn off the TV and spend less time watching social media as not everything is accurate. Finish that project, start living in the moment and reach out to loved ones. And while many have passed, more have survived, and we need to hang on hoping and living in faith. Thank you.

With lots of love

Eternally grateful

Flora Montes

Founder Bronx Fashion Week

Finding Love

The art of finding love can be one filled with extreme highs and lows. At times it can be draining and exhausting, yet in the end, fulfilling when we find that one through many dates, meet-ups, or online secret encounters through different forms of social media or blind dates. Most friendships and relationships now begin online, without really knowing the true essence of another’s personality, lifestyle, or background. One too many times, we enter blindly into the possibility of investing our time, hoping to find a long-lasting partner that will culminate in a fairytale ending. Of course, this has been force-fed to most when we started reading our first fairytale story at the age of five. Who doesn’t remember watching the dreaded long-running Spanish soap opera or dreaded chic flicks? I remember my mom on occasions sitting me down to watch Spanish soap operas. As she too was waiting for her own version of Prince Charming. Not aware her expectations would be the ones I would set my own standards for future relationships. All Spanish soaps had the same plot twist, the suffering miserable maid longing for her rich prince. Through a series of pitfalls, the prince rescues his maid, turning her into a queen. It’s the same concept as a princess finding her frog and giving him the preverbal kiss turning him into her prince charming, regardless of warts.

The one common denominator which connects us all is, we are all looking for that one of a kind perfect love. The love that is meant to withstand a lifetime. However, the one thing I have learned is to find that kind of love or that perfect match; we need to first and before all love ourselves. May sound cliché, but it stands true. We must completely love ourselves on every level, and while sometimes it is not always an easy task. Understand life is far from perfect. But, if we go deep within our own inner selves, we can find perfection in the imperfect and learn to embrace our flaws. You see, love may not be an emotion, after all, I once overheard Sarah Jakes Roberts say that love is something we radiate. Maybe there is some truth to that. Is it not true that the law of attraction says we attract our destiny by our actions? Then we can do the same by loving ourselves? I’m not pretending it is an easy fix. However, I have woken up given myself the proverbial pep talk and noticed with a smile and a gleam in my eye, I have attracted positive things throughout the day. Whether it be a kind gesture, a smile, or wanton attention of a handsome gentleman. I mean, hey, maybe our fairy tale ending is not so far off into the future.

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Bronx Zoo Parking Lots Taken Over For COVID-19 Resources

The East entrance to the Bronx Zoo at Boston Road off the Bronx River Parkway is set up for Drive-through testing 

   The Boston Road and Southern Boulevard parking lots of the Bronx Zoo have been taken over to fight COVID-19. Since the Bronx Zoo is closed the Boston Road parking lot was being used as a staging area for out of state ambulances. As of Sunday April 5th the Boston Road parking lot is now a drive through COVID-19 testing area for Montefiore Hospital. Two rows of tents were set up for this testing area.

The ambulances have been moved to the larger Southern Boulevard parking lot, along with a restocking area for the ambulances, a rest area for the ambulance crews, and a management operation headquarters for Recovery Logistics. Under a FEMA contract Recovery Logistics has brought to the New York City area about 250 ambulances and trained personal to deal with COVID-19. 

In speaking with Mr. Chris Chaplin of Recovery Logistics he said the company is from North Carolina, is a national and worldwide response team that helps communities recover from a natural disaster.  The company been given a FEMA contract to assist in the Bronx and other parts of the city, which Mr. Chaplin would not go into. I also asked if Recovery Logistics was involved in the cremation of the dead bodies that are beginning to pile up outside hospital makeshift morgues, and was told no that Recovery Logistics was not. 

In speaking to Castle Hill/Parkchester District Leader and State Senate Candidate John Perez, his worries are with the residents in the NYCHA buildings in the Bronx where maintenance problems have continued for years without resolution. He adds that with the outbreak of COBIV-19 our people in the Bronx have the least resources, and will probably be the last to get the needed medical attention and ventilators.

 

Above - At the Southern Boulevard entrance an armed guards are posted at the entrance to the parking lot where Ambulances from North Carolina wait for calls and are restocked.

Below - Another photo showing the two different staging areas of the Parking lot. Ambulances to one side, and all other vehicles to the other side where another tent has been set up.

Recovery Logistics has set up a command post on this part of the parking lot.

Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces 1,000 Ventilators Donated to New York State

  Let's go through some numbers. The increase continues. We're up to 10,482 cases. 23,000 people were tested yesterday, that's the highest number of testing we've ever done. That's good news. 283,000 total tested. Number of new cases, 10,841. New high. Total hospitalizations, 15,000 people currently hospitalized, 4,000 ICU patients. 10,000 patients discharged, right. That's the good news. Number of deaths, all-time increase up to 3,500, 6,500. Most impacted states, you see New York at the top again. New Jersey has a serious problem in New Jersey and a growing problem. Then Michigan, then California, then Massachusetts. Total number of hospitalized is down a blip, but we believe that's not statistically meaningful. You have the number of ICU cases are up. The number of intubations are up.

The number of discharges are also up. And this is interesting, two thirds of the people who have been hospitalized have been discharged. Okay? Two thirds of the people who have been hospitalized have been discharged. That's what we've been saying all along. Most people won't be hospitalized. People who are hospitalized will come in, be treated, and leave. That's two thirds. One third of that number has a serious condition which will require continued hospitalization. We're tracking the growth of the number of infections by hospital, and we can see just where the numbers are increasing.

We've been talking about hitting the apex. The apex is the point where the number of infections on a daily basis is at the high point, and that is the ultimate challenge for the healthcare system. Can we handle that number of cases at the high point of the curve? I call it the battle of the mountaintop because that's what it's going to be. That's going to be the number one point of engagement of the enemy. By the numbers we're not at the apex. We're getting closer, depending on whose model you'll look at. They'll say four, five, six, seven days. Some people go out 14 days. But our reading of the projections is we're somewhere in the seven-day range, four, five, six seven, eight day range. Nobody can give you a specific number, which makes it very frustrating to plan when they can't give you a specific number or a specific date, but we're in that range. So we're not yet at the apex. Part of me would like to be at the apex and just let's do it, but there's part of me says it's good that we're not at the apex, because we're not yet ready for the apex, either. We're not yet ready for the high point. We're still working on the capacity of the system. The more time we have to improve the capacity of the system is better, and the capacity of the health care system, beds, staff, equipment. We'll be doing a conference call with all the hospitals today to coordinate deployment of the equipment.

Watching the spread of the rate of infections is interesting. This chart is what we've been talking about, but you can see it here. The upstate number is the top bar. The rest of New York has been fairly constant, 4%, 5%, 4%, 5%, Westchester, Rockland 8%, 6%, 6%, 7%, 7, 7. Long Island is the area that is growing. You see Long Island goes from 16% to 17% to 18%, to 19 to 20 to 22%. New York City is actually dropping as the number of cases in Long Island increases, as a percentage of cases within the state. For us, this is about tracking the virus, tracking the spread of the virus, and then deploying as the numbers suggest.

In terms of beds, the 2,500-ed facility at Javits is going to make a major difference. That has to work. The White House agreed to make that a COVID-positive facility. Remember, originally the Javits Center, which is a state convention center, we worked with the federal government, they constructed a 2500-bed facility, it was supposed to be non-COVID. I spoke to the president, transferred that with his intervention to a COVID facility. The federal government will staff that and the federal government with equip that. That is a big deal because that 2,500-bed facility will relieve a lot of pressure on the downstate system as a significant number of beds and that facility has to make that transition quickly and that's what we're focused on. It's going to be very staff intensive, very equipment intensive but the theory there is the best we can to relieve the entire hospital system downstate by bringing those COVID patients to Javits and from the intake to the treatment and it's going to be very difficult to run that large a facility. But if that works and that works well that changes the numbers dramatically so that's a top focus for us. I spoke to the White House today on planning the logistical operation to get that up and get that running asap, and that's the top operational priority.

In terms of staffing, we have 85,000 volunteers, 22,000 out-of-state volunteers. How amazing is that? 85,000 volunteers. I'm also signing an executive order to allow medical students who are slated to graduate to begin practicing. We need doctors, we need nurses, so we're going to expedite that.

On ventilators, remember, we ordered 17,000 ventilators. To give you an idea of how many 17,000 is, the federal stockpile was about 10,000 ventilators for the nation. We ordered 17,000 just for the state of New York. When we ordered the ventilators we were paying for the ventilators. So, trust me, you know the financial situation of the state. We were not looking to spend a penny that we didn't have to spend. We placed that order for the ventilators and we were paying for that order. That order never came through. This goes back to the China situation. We had signed documents, we placed the order,Governor Baker talks about this in Massachusetts. But then you get a call that says we can't fill that order because you had all that demand going in. So, what do we do? We find what equipment we have, we use it the best we can. If you ask hospitals today what ventilators do you have that are unused and available that they don't need in the short term and take 20% of that number of available ventilators, that's 500 ventilators. 500 ventilators is a significant number now. China is remarkably the repository for all of these orders. Ventilators, PPE, it all goes back to China. Long term, we have to figure out why we wound up in this situation where we don't have the manufacturing capacity in this country. I understand supply chain issues, I understand the cost of manufacturing, but there's a public health reason, as we've all learned the hard way, why we need the capacity in this country to do this.

Anyway, it all comes back to China. New York has been shopping in China. We're not really China experts, here. International relations is not what we do on a daily basis. I've been to China before when I was HUD secretary, I did a trade mission with China. So, I have a basic understanding, but we went to the Asia Society to help us navigate China. I asked the White House to help us navigate China. I spoke to the ambassador and we got really good news today. That the Chinese government is going to facilitate a donation of 1,000 ventilators that will come in to JFK today. I want to thank Joe Tsai and Clara Tsai and Jack Ma from Alibaba, and the Nets, but I'm not stating a preference, for their donation. That's going to be very helpful and I want to thank Ambassador Huang very much for his help in making all of this happen because this is a big deal. It's going to make a significant difference for us.

Also, the state of Oregon contacted us and is going to send 140 ventilators, which is, I tell you, just astonishing and unexpected. I want to thank Governor Brown, I want to thank all of the people in the state of Oregon for their thoughtfulness. Again, this was unsolicited. But the 140 ventilators will make a difference. I was thinking about it, on behalf of New York and what it means for our - first it was a kind gesture. I know Governor Brown and she is a kind person, but it's also smart from the point of view of Oregon. Why? Because we're all in the same battle and the battle is stopping the spread of the virus, right? Look at what they did in China. It was in the Wuhan province. First order of business was contain the virus in Wuhan. Why? Because you want to contain the enemy. That's always the first step. Oregon, we're dealing with it now, we don't stop the spread in New York, it continues. And if you look at the projections, Oregon could have a significant problem towards May. Our problem is now. So it's also smart from Oregon's self-interest. They see the fire spreading. Stop the fire where it is before it gets to my home. That was the Wuhan province.

Somebody sent me a great quote from FDR, who had such a beautiful way of taking complicated issues and communicating it in common-sense language. FDR was dealing with trying to get the lend-lease program approved and accepted by the public. Why would this country help another country fight its war? That was the lend-lease program. His point was it's a common enemy. We want to contain the enemy. That other country's fight is actually our fight. If we don't stop the spread then it's going to burn down our own country. But this is how he does it, right? The concept is right, but how does he explain that? Suppose my neighbor's home catches fired and I have a length of fire hose 400, 500 feet away. If he can take my garden hose and connect it with his hydrant, I may help him put out his fire. Now what do I do? I don't say before that operation, neighbor, my garden hose cost me $15, you have to pay me $15 for it. What is the transaction that goes on? I don't want the $15. I want my garden hose back after the fire is over. All right, if it goes through the fire all right, intact without any damage to it, he gives it back to me, and thanks me very much for the use of it. But suppose it gets smashed up? Holes in it during the fire. We don't have to do too much formality about it. But I say to him, I was glad to lend you that hose. I see I can't use it anymore. It's all smashed up. He says how many feet of it were there? I tell him 150 feet of it. He says, alright, I will replace. Now, if I get a nice garden hose back I am in pretty good shape.

The State of Oregon has lent us 140 ventilators. It was kind, it was smart, stop the virus here. It's better for the state of Oregon, it's better for the nation. Their curve comes after ours. We'll return their 140 ventilators, and there's never been a discussion, but frankly I know New Yorkers and I know New Yorkers' generosity. We will turn it double fold, because that's who we are and that's what we believe. So, stop the fire in New York, kind, generous, also smart.

Personal opinion, look I want this to be all over. It's only gone on for 30 days since our first case. It feels like an entire lifetime. I think we all feel the same. This stresses this country, this state, in a way that nothing else has frankly, in my lifetime. It stresses us on every level. The economy is stressed, the social fabric is stressed, the social systems are stressed, transportation is stressed. It's right across the board, but the most difficult level is the human level. It is for me, anyway. It's every day, and it's everywhere. My brother catches the virus. That's stressful. My mother is worried about my brother, and she's concerned. We have a birthday party yesterday for Stephanie, was standing around a cake. 

Everybody's six feet from each other in this bizarre supposed to be just a fun usual celebration of a birthday. My daughter's cousin has a tragedy and that's just emotionally very painful. They can't hug each other and hold each other. They can't even grieve together. The cyberchats, I mean, this is so emotionally taxing that you can't even begin to -- you can't quantify the effect on society and the effect on individuals. And the burden that we're dealing with.

So, yes, I want it over. If there was anything I could do to accelerate getting it over, I would. In some ways I want to get to that apex, I want to get on the other side of the apex and let's just slide down that mountain. On the other hand, we have to be ready for the fight and we have to handle that fight. That's where we are. So, what do we do? You have to get through it. You have to get through it. There is no simple answer here. You're not going to wish this away. You have to get through it. You have to get through it intelligently, saving as many lives as you can. That's hard work, and that's perseverance, and that's mutuality and that's community, and that's finding your better self, and that's finding inner strength and dealing with a situation that is almost unmanageable on every level. Because you are out of control. This is a painful, disorienting experience, but we find our best self, our strongest self. This day will end and we will get through it and we will get to the other side of the mountain. And we will be the better for it. But we have to do what we have to do between now and then. That's just what we're doing here.

NYPD Expanding Successful Non-Injury Collision Pilot to Save NYPD Resources

  The NYPD is expanding the Non-Injury Collision Pilot citywide, beginning Monday April 6, to save time for NYPD patrol officers as well as New Yorkers without sacrificing safety. This means that vehicle collisions resulting only in property damage are not required to be reported to the police.

"These are unprecedented times and this citywide expansion will enable officers to respond to critical safety related calls faster, while also saving New Yorkers time," said NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea. "In life or death situations, a matter of seconds can make all the difference. This expansion is also contact limiting which will help to keep the men and women of the NYPD -- and the New Yorkers they serve -- safe."

It is important New Yorkers know that if they feel unsafe for any reason, if there are injuries, or if the owner of one of the vehicles cannot be located, individuals should call 911 immediately and officers will respond.

The NYPD piloted this initiative starting in March of 2019 on Staten Island, and conducted an evaluation from March 18, 2019 through September 15, 2019. Following its success, the Department has been planning to expand the program citywide. In light of the coronavirus pandemic and the new challenges the NYPD faces, the Department determined now is the right time to expand for several reasons. From March 12 when the State of Emergency was first declared in New York City, New Yorkers have dramatically limited their driving. However, from March 12 - March 29, there have been 4708 non-injury vehicle collisions where NYPD has been called to the scene. In addition, this expansion assists with limiting contact and exposure between officers and New Yorkers and enables officers to continue to provide critical safety related services faster.

The pilot evaluation found that response times in Staten Island decreased 9% for all 911 calls, which means people in serious danger received help faster. In addition, 61% of 911 calls were deferred, saving an average of 45 minutes of wait time for New Yorkers. This also reduced traffic, as individuals did not have to wait on the road with their vehicles for police. As part of the pilot evaluation, the Department conducted a survey with Staten Island residents to evaluate the efficacy of the program, and from the results, clarified the automated message to ensure New Yorkers had clear instructions and next steps in advance of this expansion.

The NYPD consulted with other police departments such as the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), which has utilized a non-injury collision policy since 1998.

Additional information about collisions:

• Drivers are responsible for exchanging driver's license information, insurance, and vehicle registration with all other motorists involved and filing a Report of Motor Vehicle Accident (MV104) with DMV if property damage is more than $1000 to any one of the vehicles involved.
• 911 call takers that continue to receive calls about property-only vehicle collisions will divert callers to an automated message that will explain the new policy and explain how to exchange information.
• Leaving the scene of a collision before exchanging your information with other motorists is illegal under the New York State Vehicle and Traffic Law. Furthermore, drivers are required to remain on the scene and contact the police immediately after a vehicle collision when: Any person is injured or killed; a domestic animal is injured or killed; or, a parked vehicle, or any other property is damaged, and the owner cannot be located.
• For insurance purposes, a Report of Motor Vehicle Accident should be filed with the Department of Motor Vehicles. This form can be found online at dmv.ny.gov/forms/mv104.pdf, or at your local precinct or police service area.


For more information, go to nyc.gov/collision.

Attorney General James Demands New York Sports Club Stops Ripping Off Members by Charging Dues During Coronavirus Closures

AG James Leads Multistate Coalition in Letter to NYSC Fighting for Membership Freezes, Refunds, Credits, and Cancellations for NY Consumers

  New York Attorney General Letitia James today led a multistate coalition of attorneys general in sending a letter to the parent company of New York Sports Club (NYSC), demanding immediate changes to the unlawful manner in which NYSC has responded to the mandatory closing of gyms and health clubs in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health crisis. 

“As the COVID-19 pandemic has plunged our country into an unprecedented public health crisis, businesses have shuttered their doors, leaving millions without a paycheck and scraping to get by,” said Attorney General James. “While the closure of all New York Sports Club facilities may have also placed a strain on the company, its financial straits do not relieve NYSC of its obligation to follow the law. New Yorkers have enough to worry about and should not be forced to pay for services NYSC is no longer providing. If NYSC refuses to do the right thing voluntarily, I will not hesitate to take every legal step necessary to protect New Yorkers from NYSC’s unlawful conduct and get their money back.” 

On March 16, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo ordered all health clubs to close in an effort to stop the further spread of COVID-19. The vast majority of gyms and health clubs in New York responded by committing to freezing memberships at no cost until the clubs reopened, some going even further by promising to automatically credit consumers for days the clubs were closed. NYSC has refused to do the same, and has instead continued to charge membership dues and refused to honor cancellation requests — imposing fees and conditions on cancellation and freeze requests even though all clubs are closed.

The letter sent by Attorney General James and a coalition including the attorneys general of Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia to Town Sports International Holdings — the parent company of NYSC, Philadelphia Sports Club, and Washington Sports Club, among other health and fitness subsidiaries — demands that the clubs immediately implement a membership freeze at no cost to members and honor cancellation requests without charging any fees or imposing any conditions (such as advance notice requirements). The letter further demands that the clubs clearly and unambiguously communicate these policies to members. As described in the letter, NYSC’s conduct violates New York’s Health Club Services law, as well as New York’s consumer protection statutes. 

The Office of the Attorney General urges all NYSC members who have been unlawfully charged dues or fees by NYSC to file a complaint with the office's Consumer Frauds and Protection Bureau.

Additionally, NYSC members whose dues are automatically deducted from a bank account or credit card are encouraged to contact their financial institution to stop such automatic payments. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has published guidance on how consumers can do this on its website.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Settlement Of Fraudulent Billing And Kickback Lawsuit Against Compounding Pharmacies And Owners

  Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Lt. Gen. Ronald J. Place, Director of the Defense Health Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense (“DoD”), Scott J. Lampert, Special Agent in Charge of the New York Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (“HHS-OIG”), Michael Mikulka, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Office of Investigations, Labor Racketeering and Fraud, of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General (“DOL-OIG”), and Thomas W. South, Deputy Assistant Inspector General for Investigations of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Office of Inspector General (“OPM-OIG”), announced today that the United States has filed a lawsuit and simultaneously settled civil healthcare fraud claims against FPR SPECIALTY PHARMACY LLC and MEAD SQUARE PHARMACY, INC. (“MEAD SQUARE” and together, the “Pharmacies”), and their owners, CHRISTOPHER K. CASEY and WILLIAM RUE (collectively, “Defendants”), for their submission of fraudulent claims for reimbursement to federal healthcare programs for compounded prescription drugs in violation of the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Statute.  Specifically, as alleged in the Government’s complaint, the Pharmacies sold prescription drugs to federal healthcare program beneficiaries in states in which the Pharmacies were not licensed, improperly induced patients to purchase expensive custom compounded medications by waiving all or part of the substantial co-payments required under the federal healthcare programs, and paid sales representatives per-prescription commissions to illegally induce more prescriptions to be written.  In connection with the settlement agreements, which were approved today by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Engelmayer, Defendants agreed to pay a total of $426,000, and admitted to and accepted responsibility for the conduct alleged in the complaint.  The amounts paid by Defendants under the settlements are based on the Office’s assessment of their ability to pay based on the financial information they provided.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said:  “Pharmacies, like other participants in the healthcare industry, must follow the rules.  The defendants here brazenly flouted basic rules on licensing and kickbacks to line their pockets with dollars from federal healthcare programs.  That is a prescription for intervention by my Office and our partners.”

According to the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court:

During the relevant period, from 2011 through 2015, the Pharmacies dispensed a compounded prescription analgesic cream known as Focused Pain Relief from their facility in Victor, New York, to patients around the country.  Many of the Pharmacies’ patients were beneficiaries of federal healthcare programs such as TRICARE, Medicare, federal employee workers’ compensation programs overseen by DOL, and the Federal Employee Health Benefit Program.  CASEY and RUE co-owned and managed FPR SPECIALTY PHARMACY, while CASEY owned and managed MEAD SQUARE, for which RUE also worked for a time. 

The rules governing federal healthcare programs require pharmacies dispensing prescriptions to their members to be licensed with the appropriate state authorities in order to request reimbursement for the cost of the medications.  The Pharmacies violated the False Claims Act by dispensing and requesting reimbursement for hundreds of prescriptions of Focused Pain Relief dispensed to federal healthcare program beneficiaries located in states where the Pharmacies were not licensed to operate by the appropriate state authorities, and by failing to disclose that they were not licensed.  The Pharmacies also violated the False Claims Act by billing federal healthcare programs for prescriptions dispensed in states in which they had obtained their state licenses under false pretenses, including by failing to inform state authorities that they had previously dispensed drugs in the states without a license and by failing to disclose CASEY’s criminal history on pharmacy license applications.

In addition, the Pharmacies violated the Anti-Kickback Statute by engaging in two separate illegal practices.  First, the Pharmacies regularly charged federal healthcare program beneficiaries co-payments substantially below program requirements (which often exceeded $100) in order to induce them to purchase expensive prescriptions of Focused Pain Relief, for which the federal healthcare programs paid hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars each.  And second, the Pharmacies often paid illegal kickbacks to their sales representatives in the form of sales commissions tied to the number of Focused Pain Relief prescriptions written by the physicians to whom each representative marketed. 

As part of the settlement agreements, Defendants agreed and accepted responsibility for the following:

• The Pharmacies sold prescriptions to customers covered by federal healthcare programs who were located in several states in which they were not licensed or no longer licensed by the relevant state pharmacy boards to operate as out-of-state mail-order pharmacies or otherwise sell prescription drugs to residents of those states.
   
• The Pharmacies did not disclose, in connection with their applications to state pharmacy boards, which were usually signed by CASEY, when they had previously sold mail-order prescription drugs to residents of those states where the Pharmacies either were not licensed or had license applications pending but were not yet licensed.

• The Pharmacies often did not charge customers who were covered by federal healthcare programs the required co-pays or coinsurance payments mandated by those programs for prescription drugs, in connection with their sales of Focused Pain Relief to those customers.

• The Pharmacies entered into agreements with independent sales agents and distributors to solicit physicians to prescribe Focused Pain Relief.  These agreements, which were often signed by RUE, generally provided that the Pharmacies would pay the sales agents and distributors specific sums as sales commissions for each prescription of Focused Pain Relief prescribed by a physician assigned to the particular agent or distributor.  The Pharmacies actually paid their sales agents and distributors sales commissions on a per-prescription basis, in accordance with these agreements.

As part of today’s settlement, MEAD SQUARE also entered into a corporate integrity agreement with HHS-OIG, through which it agreed to implement compliance measures and submit to monitoring.  FPR SPECIALTY PHARMACY dissolved in 2016.

In connection with the filing of the lawsuit and settlement, the Government intervened in a private whistleblower lawsuit that had been filed under seal pursuant to the False Claims Act. 

Mr. Berman thanked DoD, HHS-OIG, DOL-OIG, and OPM-OIG for their assistance with the case.