Mayor Bill de Blasio: We’ve got some important things to talk to you about today. And really what it comes to is understanding New York City, understanding who we are, understanding how we confront the challenges we face in normal times, but even more so in a time of crisis. There's something about the city that when the going gets tough, just the best comes out in people. And, you know, I've said before, but it bears saying again, this is a city where people make things happen. Folks don't shirk from a challenge, they meet it, and then they go farther than they ever thought they could. And it is part of who we are. It's in our blood as New Yorkers, there's a reason we are known as this great capital of entrepreneurship and creativity and ingenuity. It's been proven time and time again over generations and it's certainly been proven in the middle of this crisis. I've seen amazing things, and no one for a moment can underestimate how much pain there has been, how much loss there has been, but that has not stopped New Yorkers from doing things big and small to make a difference and to fight back and to prove that nothing and no one and no disease will ever stop us. New Yorkers, by our nature, we're resilient, we're tough, and we know how to take care of ourselves. Well, now, I think it's a time in our history where we're learning an important lesson about how self-sufficient we're going to have to be, going forward. We have watched in these last few weeks when we called for our federal government to help us, sometimes we got an answer, sometimes we didn't. When we went out on the open market, internationally even, trying to find the things we needed to protect our people – sometimes they were there, a lot of times they weren't. So, what we're seeing right now are the profound limits – limits to a globalized world. We were all told how many things would come from globalization that, in theory, are going to help us. We're starting to see the things that don't help us at all, in fact, have made our lives tougher, because so many of the things we need, the medical equipment, the medical supplies aren't even made here, not only in New York but in the United States anymore, and that's left us vulnerable. And we New Yorkers are learning that lesson and we're not going to be fooled again. We're going to be ready. We know we have to protect ourselves and we know we have to be ready for whatever comes next.
Now, I’ve got to tell you, even though it feels like this has been going on for months and months, it's only been six or seven weeks we've been in the thick of this, and what's happened in those six or seven weeks is absolutely remarkable. New Yorkers, creating products we didn't make here at all. New Yorkers, coming together to do things to protect our heroes, our health care workers, our first responders out of love, out of a deep, deep concern for those who protect all of us. And that compassion didn't just come out in words, it came out in deeds. So, we have seen amazing progress in just a few weeks, and I've taken you to some of those places to see the face shields being made in the Brooklyn Navy yard. I showed you the surgical gowns also being made in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, but now more and more parts of the city are coming into the game to help out, more and more companies are doing remarkable things. I talked to you a few days ago about the fact that when we found, despite every attempt, we found we couldn't get the test kits we needed from the federal government. We couldn't purchase them anywhere in the quantities we needed. We said we're going to make them right here, and you're going to be seeing the results of that in just days. So, it has been a remarkable journey against a very painful backdrop. But now, today, I want to tell you about another important step and it has a lot to say with how we will protect ourselves now, but it also says a lot about how we will protect ourselves in the future. And today I want to talk to you about ventilators. You see one here and we're going to get a little demonstration in a moment, but as you can see immediately this is not a simple piece of machinery. This is something complex. This is something challenging to make. Nothing like this was being made in New York City just two months ago, even one month ago. Nothing like this was being produced here, but extraordinary entrepreneurs came together for the good of all New Yorkers and said, we can do it, we can do something. Whether it's seems possible or not, we're going to find a way.
So, I want to take you back just to remind you, just a few short weeks ago – and I use that specific day, Sunday, April 5th was the day where we felt based on every projection, based on all the evidence that we were going to be at a point where we might run out of ventilators. The number of people who needed them was growing every day and it was a very fearful time. Supplies were running short. We needed answers. At that moment, it looked like we could get to a point where there might not be that ventilator needed for the next patient. Thank God, right around then was when things started to improve and it's all because of everything you have done, all of you, the social distancing, the shelter in place, all of the things that are making a difference. So, today, we can say that, thank God, we have the ventilators get through this week. We have the ventilators for the immediate future. But as recently as the first days of April, the numbers were staggering. Approximately 220 more New Yorkers each day – more each day needed a ventilator. That's what it looked like at the beginning of April and that's when this valiant effort was going full bore to make sure that ventilators would be available and would be ready if they needed to be pressed into emergency service, these homegrown ventilators. And this is the epitome of that kind of wartime production model, people coming up with an idea and making it happen. Because if it hadn't been for these ventilators being ready, we might've been in a situation where there would not have been one for someone. By April 10th, we were still seeing an increase in the number of people needed them each day, 75 day, but it was slowing, thank God. Now, today, it's actually leveled off and we hope to see a situation where it really declines consistently the need each day. But having gone through that terrifying moment, I can tell you, I am determined to make sure that New York City never ever is in a situation in the future where we need ventilators and we can't get them. We have to protect our people. And so, these bridge ventilators that have been created are part of what will protect us now and into the future. This is something we now have that can never be taken away from us. This is something we make here that no one else in the world can deprive us of. We are now increasingly self-sufficient. We've got a long way to go, but this is a remarkable achievement. You're going to hear from some of the people who made it happen. I want to tell you, these ventilators, right now, ready to go being moved into hospitals so they will all have a reserve that need them. FDA approved – and I want to thank the FDA. I want to take a moment. I always try and give credit where credit is due. Dr. Steven Hahn and his remarkable team at the FDA. I spoke to him several times, I know Dr. Mitch Katz did as well from Health + Hospitals. They moved this process in record time and I will really want to give them credit. FDA is not historically known for speed, but they have in this crisis really stepped up and they were tremendous partners in getting this ventilator approved and ready.
Now, this story, again, it is about making something out of nothing, and that is a New York tradition, doing remarkable things against the odds. And there's three guys who deserve particular credit – Scott Cohen of New Lab; Marcel Botha of 10XBeta; and Charles Boyce, of Boyce Technologies. These individuals had a remarkable civic spirit, a remarkable desire to get something done. And I want to give special credit to Charles, because he also was one of the driving forces behind making those face shields that, right now, when you see them out there in our communities – in fact, just yesterday I was in Staten Island, deliveries of PPEs were being made to RUMC, to the in Staten Island, and there were those Brooklyn Navy Yard face shields being delivered. And that made me very, very proud to be there with those delivery workers, seeing the response from all the health care workers to that help coming. So, a special thanks to Charles for being a part of both these efforts. So, when we think of this city, we think about chutzpah, when we think about the incredible verve, the drive, the ability to do something no matter how brash or unlikely. So, literally, people who are part of this effort at to say to themselves, hey, we've never made a ventilator before, we're going to have to figure out how to do it, and then we're going to have to figure out how to produce thousands of them. You know, if you talked about a normal timeline to try and create a brand-new product like this, you'd think it would take a year. You know what they said? They said we have to do it in a month or less. And they went and did it. So, they put together a team, an extraordinary New York City team of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, physicians folks who knew the regulatory system, all sorts of folks who work together, nonstop work, literally alone, round the clock, 24-hour efforts over the past three weeks and they got it done.
So, what are these bridge ventilators do? Well, what they mean is, when someone needs that urgent help, that ability to breath without which they simply won't survive, these bridge ventilators are there to keep someone alive. They can play different kinds of roles. They can buy time to keep a patient alive who might need a more elaborate kind of help from a full-service ventilator. They can help to stretch out the capacity of a hospital so that as they're getting more of those full-service ventilators available at any given moment, they buy time to save lives. They also work with a number of different kinds of cases where there are less severe issues, but that people need that help breathing. So, there's many things they do. To make this possible, to save lives, to make sure we could be self-sufficient, we, the City of New York made the decision to work with these companies, to help coordinate their efforts, to work with the FDA on the approval, but also to make clear that we would fund the effort. And so, we placed an order for 3,000 of these ventilators – a $10 million order. And that raises of crucial point, that what these extraordinary New Yorkers did was not only create a great product and a necessary product, but a product that was affordable – $3,000 for each ventilator and that compares to $40,000 or $50,000 or more for a full-service ventilator. This means that we have already reserve in the event that this crisis continues, or, God forbid, this disease becomes stronger. It means we're in a position to protect ourselves and to help others who may need our help.
But it also is now the beginning of something much bigger that will help frame our future. Today, I'm announcing that we're going to create a New York City strategic reserve. We have learned the hard way that we cannot depend on the federal government in the future. I hate saying that, but I think it's quite evident. We certainly cannot depend on the global market. We can't depend on our nation to produce products that, tragically, are not being produced enough in this nation as we've seen in our hour of need. I hope that will change. I hope our country gets the message that we have to start producing these things all over the country again and be self-sufficient as a nation. But until that day comes, New York City, we will protect ourselves. With the leadership of the Economic Development Corporation and working with our health care leadership, we will create our own reserve. We will take the production that's now been created in those four areas, the facials, the surgical gowns, the test kits, and now the ventilators. We're going to create a ready supply of those so we'll always have enough in the future and we'll purchase what we need and create a stockpile so we will never be in a situation where we turn to those who are supposed to supply this and they say, sorry, we're all out. We, New Yorkers, will take care of ourselves. Now, I have to say this all was created from scratch. And I remember the day I first went to the Brooklyn Navy Yard and I saw those face shields being made by hand. There's no machinery. It was all by hand. It reminded me that people would do whatever it took. We've seen it now for whole different kinds of products being produced in large quantities, protecting our health care workers, saving lives. This is our future to be able to take care of ourselves. And now, that we figured out we can do these things, whatever we need in the future, we can use as a blueprint to build more and different supplies and equipment, whatever the occasion may be, whatever the challenge may be.
I also want you to know that in the process of these good people figuring out how to create this ventilator, they found out that there was a lot of interest in this ventilator from hospital systems and absolutely in other parts of the world as well. So, in fact, there will be a market for hospitals and for parts of America and other countries that need lower cost ventilators. This has started to open up a new possibility of getting people help who aren't getting it right now because the cost is so prohibitive. And any of our fellow cities and states that need help, our reserve will be there to help them, just the way they've helped us. So, we've been so appreciative to other states, other cities that have stepped up to help New York City. Any of them that need our help in this crisis, we will be there for them, because we will have a reserve that's available and that we can depend on.
You're going to hear a little more in a moment about these ventilators, but let me give you a couple of other updates first, because we know – and this is part of why we want these reserves – we know we're not out of the woods by any stretch of imagination. We've got a lot more to do. And we also know that the impact of this disease is being felt right now. Still, too many people dying, too many people going into the hospital right now, too many people going into the ICU right now because of COVID-19. This fight is raging, and it's raging, especially in the parts of the city that have been hardest hit, that have unfortunately had the worst disparities, the biggest burdens, the least health care available historically – and that means our communities of color and our immigrant communities, our lower income communities. We need to fight back and we've got to do that in a lot of ways. We've talked about all the community outreach we're going to do, the telehealth programs, everything we're going to do to reach people, but, obviously, it also will take more and more testing at the grassroots level.
Yesterday – we, as of yesterday, had five community-based sites open in some of our hardest hit neighborhoods. Those sites will be performing 3,600 tests this week. So they're all up and running. I'll go over them in a second, but they will do 3,600 tests this week. Next week, we'll add five more sites in hard hit areas and we will get that total up to over 7,000 tests per week and we're going to keep growing from there. If we can get the supply of testing we need, plus the PPEs and the personnel, we're going to keep going farther and farther with the grassroots testing where it's needed most. The five centers are now open in Brooklyn, and they're all Health + Hospitals, I should say – the Gotham Health Center in East New York; in the Bronx, the Gotham Health Center in Morrisania; in Staten Island, the Vanderbilt Health Centerl in Manhattan, the Sydenham Family Health Center in Harlem; in Queens, at Queens Hospital, the testing center there. All of these are walk-in sites. So, I want to emphasize, anyone from the community – and these are targeted to the immediate community – you can walk up. We are prioritizing people who are 65 years old or older and who have those preexisting conditions that we've talked about so much, those serious conditions that put people in danger. So, please, if you meet those criteria, if you are someone who is in, particularly – in a particularly vulnerable situation, we want to get you tested. Go to one of those centers, walk up. That testing is starting – is started, I should say – has started, is available today, and then more will be announced next week.
And now, I want to talk about what we do every day, looking at the indicators that tell us where we are. And I keep telling people, it's going to be a long battle. We want to see them all move in the right direction, it’s not always going to work that way, but it doesn't change anything about how we approach this. We keep fighting, we keep sticking to what's working, and we will see progress. And overall, we have – even though these indicators have not been everything we wanted to be, we definitely see some real movement, and that's really good news. So, first, the daily number of people admitted to hospitals for suspected COVID-19, well, that went down from 212 to 2-4 – that's good news. The number of people in ICU is across our Health + Hospitals facilities for suspected COVID-19, that went up, but by very little, from 853 to 857. The percentage of people who tested positive for COVID-19 also went up, but, again, by very little, from 34 percent to 35 percent. The number of people who tested positive through our public health lab test went down from 67 percent to 63 percent. So, again, you see some progress when some of the areas going up, they're only going up by a little. Overall, we are seeing definite progress. Not everything that we're looking for to get to the point where we can relax some of the restrictions but definite progress for sure. So, keep doing what you're doing, New Yorkers, it is working. Just let's keep with it, it'll take some time, but we can do it.
Now, I always want to offer my thanks to anyone and everyone who stands up from New York City. And, today, we're talking about great stories of New Yorkers doing things for their fellow New Yorkers, but also a lot of the time people have come to our aid so we could help ourselves. And I talked to you about surgical gowns yesterday – this is our toughest situation right now with PPEs and it got to the point where we couldn't get – it was just quite clear that the global market isn't functioning right no matter what you try, you can't get the kind of supply that we need. But we said, okay, if we can't get the gowns ready-made, can we get the fabric? I mentioned yesterday, we worked with the White House, particularly with Peter Navarro and his team who have been fantastic, and they put us in touch with leaders in the textile and garment industry who have been really helpful. A special thank you to Kim Glass, who's one of the leaders in the industry who has been giving us great help. They connected us to a health care supply company, Owens & Minor in North Carolina, and they went to bat for us. A special thank you to Chris Lowery and everyone at Owens & Minor. I was on the phone with them several times. They have already delivered – in a matter of days, they produced and delivered to New York City, 1 million square yards of American-made fabric. And I want to emphasize what a refreshing reality this is, that we're not searching for something in another country that may or may not let us have it. This is American-made fabric, waterproof fabric that we can turn into surgical gowns. So, 1 million square yards already here that will create enough for 400,000 more surgical gowns. And I have an update on the day by which they will be produced – they will all be ready and done by May 10th. And that production is going to be expanding constantly as we create more and more of these gowns in New York City. Special thank you to folks at UPS, Laura Lane and everybody at UPS, they jumped in immediately to make sure that the delivery from North Carolina – 570 miles away – and it happened a second, that the fabric came off the assembly line. It came to New York City in record time. So, incredible team effort to help us help ourselves. And we're very, very appreciative.
I want to say one more thing before I close. We gathered today and, you know, normally if our society was functioning as normal, there would be a very solemn remembrances today because it's Holocaust Remembrance Day. There'd be solemn ceremonies, moments to reflect, and not just for the Jewish community and our Jewish brothers and sisters, but for everyone to learn the lessons of the Holocaust, to think about what it means and to always gain strength from the incredible examples of people who fought their way through. You know, one of the most painful realities of these last weeks is some of the people we lost to the coronavirus were Holocaust survivors. Think about that. They lived through one of the greatest atrocities in human history and then succumb to the coronavirus. We have to learn a lesson from all of them, even those we've lost and certainly from those who still survive. And I have met so many of them, particularly in Brooklyn, in areas I used to represent in the City Council, where I constantly would meet people who would tell me their stories of fighting through and surviving the Holocaust. And it was extraordinarily inspirational. We’ve got to realize that there are people right now in our city who stared down unspeakable evil, who dealt with unthinkable pain and terror and overcame it and fought through it and decided that they would not only survive, but they would create a new life with new families, new hope, they would sustain their people, their beliefs, their faith, and they did it. And some of those stories, when you're talking to some of these individuals, you are humbled. I am humbled, I know it, because it reminds you of the greatness that's possible in each of us and what those who have gone before have done, and it inspires us. So, we need to endure right now. We need to overcome and we need to learn from all of those who went before, but particularly those extraordinary, noble Holocaust survivors. They're teaching us a lesson right now that we should take to heart in this moment.
Lastly, you know, the last days I've made it a point to be very straightforward, very honest with all New Yorkers, with all of you, about what we face, the fact we have a long battle, the things we can do and the things that we can't yet do. You know, it was no fun to have to tell you that May events had to be canceled and then June events had to be canceled, including some of the events we love the most each year, we cherish, we look forward to. It's no fun to tell you, you have to keep social distancing and staying home, but it's the right thing to do and you're doing it, again, with extraordinary ability. We had to say that those things couldn't happen, those parades, those concerts, those street fairs, we had to. I had to say it just isn't time for them yet, there's still too many unknowns, there's still too many threats. There's a lot we don't know, but there's one thing we do know for sure – the day is coming when this city will fight our way back, when this city will get back to normal. The day is coming when we will overcome this disease. The day is coming when I'm going to be able to tell you we can gather again. The day is coming when I'll be able to tell you, in fact, we will be having the concerts and the street fairs and the parades again.
But I want to guarantee you one thing, that when that day comes that we can restart the vibrant, beautiful life of this city again, the first thing we will do is we will have a ticker tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes for our health care workers and our first responders. We will honor those who saved us. The first thing we will do before we think about anything else is we will take a time, as only New York City can do, to throw the biggest, best parade to honor these heroes. And many, many great heroes have gone down that canyon to be appreciated and loved by millions of New Yorkers, but I think this will be the greatest of all the parades because this one will speak to the rebirth of New York City. This one will speak to a kind of heroism that is intrinsic to who we are as New Yorkers, to our values, to our compassion, to our strength, our resiliency. This parade will remark – well, mark, I should say – this parade will mark the beginning of our renaissance, but it will also be, most importantly, a chance to say thank you to so many good and noble people, so many tough, strong people. They're fighting right now, and they have to keep fighting and we have to keep supporting them and showing them our love and appreciation. But one day, we will be able to start back on the road and we will honor them as they deserve, and that will be a beautiful and joyous day in the city.
