Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everyone. Well in our battle against the coronavirus, we have an important milestone we marked today, and this is another example of what New York City can do to fight back against COVID, the strength of New Yorkers, the ability of New Yorkers to get things done. As of today, we have surpassed two million vaccinations since the beginning of our effort, the exact number 2,024,601 doses have been administered since we began, and the very beginning we had very little supply, but we knew the vaccine would be the difference maker. It was a shot of hope and now it's two million shots of hope that have been given and so much more to come. Look, I said weeks ago, we could hit five million New Yorkers fully vaccinated by June. This is further proof we're on target, we can get it done, so long as we get that supply. Well, I've said from the beginning, we need the manufacturers, we need the federal government, we need the State government to help us get it done. Get us the supply, free us up, free us to vaccinate, cut the red tape, give us local control, this is the way forward.
Now, back in January, I think it was January 26th, I said, look, we need the federal government to use the Defense Production Act, we need to get all the pharmaceutical companies in America into this effort. Three companies only is not the way to defeat this virus, three companies only is not how we overcome COVID this year and into the future, nor how America leads the world and serve the rest of the world in fighting this virus. And talk about further proof that we're all interconnected, if this virus is raging at one part of the world, we know it will eventually reach us. So, actually getting everyone vaccinated everywhere is in America's interest, in New York City's interest. That's where I said, let's get all the companies who can participate involved, and at that point specifically, I said, look at Merck, giant pharmaceutical, they tried to make their own vaccine, couldn't, they were moving on to other things. At that point, weeks ago, I said, hey, let's get them to participate in creating the vaccine. Well today the White House is announcing that that is in fact what is happening, that Merck will cooperate and partner with Johnson & Johnson to greatly expand their production capacity so we can get more vaccines. We can get what we need, supply, supply, supply. This is an example of getting it right and as a result of this partnership, now, the projection is a 100 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine available nationwide by June. What a difference that would make, what a difference that will make here, but let's not stop there. I'm going to appeal again to the pharmaceutical industry, to the federal government, go farther, use the defense production act even more, bring more companies into this, we'll be at this all year into next year in this country, globally, let's defeat COVID as quickly as possible. We need every company to be a part of this effort.
Okay, now, the sheer numbers are crucial. Everything runs through the question of supply. Our ability to recover depends on supply, a recovery for all of us, a fair, equitable recovery depends on supply. Fighting disparity requires supply. We need to build momentum up in the communities that have suffered the most and then hit hardest by COVID. We've got to get supply of vaccine to these communities so more and more people get vaccinated, then tell their family, their friends, their neighbors, their coworkers, and that builds trust, and then more and more people come forward. That's what we need, and so the supply will allow us to do all these things. But even without the supply we fully need, we're focused on equity every day, and we're focused on getting the supply where it's needed most. Today we make a major announcement. A part of this city, a really wonderful part of this city, built by working people for working people, Co-Op City in the Bronx, some place that I feel is an example of the goodness in New York City, a place for every kind of person, a place where people work together, literally a co-op. That cooperative spirit is strong in Co-Op City and Co-Op City has not had its own vaccination site until now. Today we announce that a new site will be open on Thursday in Co-Op City and let's face it, the Bronx has been very hard hit by the COVID crisis. Hospitals in the Bronx were amongst the hardest hit in the entire city. Communities felt deep, deep losses from the coronavirus in the Bronx. The Bronx is too often overlooked. We can't let that happen. So, we're going to bring the vaccine to the people of the Bronx, to the people Co-Op City. This is going to be a key part of reaching that five-million-person goal by June.
I want to thank my colleagues in government who pushed hard for this to happen, and I want you to hear from a couple of them now, and first a man who's really made his voice heard during this crisis on this call for equity, and specifically reached out to me and said, Co-Op City needs our help and we're doing it because we'd heard his call for help and justice. Great pleasure to introduce Congress Member Jamaal Bowman.
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Thank you so much, Congress Member, thank you for being such a strong voice for equity, not only in terms of the coronavirus but on so many other fronts as well, we're going to keep working with you because I keep saying a recovery for all of us means doing things differently, not repeating the status quo that existed before COVID, but doing something very different, and you've been such a powerful voice for that. And I look forward to seeing you in a few days up in Co-Op City as we celebrate this step forward, and I want to bring in another voice who's been fighting for equity for the Bronx, and to make sure that we're there for the people of the Bronx who have been so hard hit, and not only is he fighting for that in the Bronx, he also fights in Albany to protect the Bronx and New York City, and he's been right there with us in our efforts to make sure that the State provides us our fair share. And I'm going to keep talking about this, New York City is still not getting our fair share of the vaccine, we need it, and the Bronx in particular needs it. So, it's my great pleasure to introduce State Senator Jamaal Bailey.
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Mayor: Thank you very much, Senator. And, you know, you said an important point there at the end – when people see the vaccine site in their community, some place they know, some place they trust, it encourages people to come forward and encourages people to feel more comfortable, and they know they'll get answers from people they know in their own community. That's what we’ve got to do more and more of. My goal is to get this vaccination effort to the grassroots more and more all the time. That's how we're going to reach the incredible numbers that we're shooting for to make sure we can bring back the city strong. So, thank you, Senator. Also, special thanks to a new Council Member from the community, from Co-Op City and the surrounding area, Kevin – surrounding area, Kevin Riley, thank you. You've been working hard already to make sure the vaccine reaches the people of your district. So, thank you.
And, everyone, look, the good news is we see steady progress on the vaccine supply. We need a lot more, I want to see a lot more progress, but we definitely keep seeing improvement each week. That's really good news. The good news is we obviously see some progress in terms of the case numbers and the positivity. But we keep cautioning, we’ve got to know a lot more about the variance. The variants are the X-factor here. I don't want people to think of the variants as something bigger than they are. I don't want people to give them mythological powers, but I do want us be sober and clear about the variants. We need to know more. We need to constantly tell you what we learn. So, New York City continues to deepen our efforts to test and evaluate the variants. We are doing that more than any other city in the nation. We're going to intensify our capacity for doing that testing. In fact, we plan to quadruple our capacity in the month of March, because we need more and better data and the public needs more and better data. And we've said from the beginning, the coronavirus, unlike the vast majority of crises we deal with, this is literally ever-changing. I can't remember a single week where it was the same as the week before – everything changes all the time when you're battling the coronavirus, that's a particular challenge. But the answer is more research, more facts, more data, more science, more transparency, and that's what helps people to understand, and to feel comfortable, and to believe that we can move forward together.
So, now, we're going to hear from Dr. Varma. There'll be a more detailed technical briefing. So, for our colleagues in the media, if you have a lot of detailed questions, you'll certainly have that opportunity after this press availability to talk in greater detail with Dr. Varma. But I want the public as a whole to hear what he has to say, because he has an incredible ability to make things plain and clear for all of us, and it's something I value greatly, and he's done a great service to this city. So, to tell us about the latest on the variants, and sort of to frame the larger discussion about the variants, Dr. Jay Varma.
Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great. Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. There's been a lot of discussion in the media about the danger of variants and people are worried very naturally whether or not they should be doing something different. It's a very reasonable thing to worry about. There may be a day when we have to do something different because of this. But, right now, so far, the answer is clear, there's nothing different that we need people to do in New York. The single most important message is that don't change what you're doing right now, keep wearing a well-fitting mask, even consider wearing two masks, maintain distance, wash your hands, get tested, and when your turn comes ready, get vaccinated. This is the same message being delivered in the U.K., South Africa, and Brazil, the places where you've heard about variants being widespread. You know, when the news about new variants in New York City was reported last year, my college-aged daughter asked me is the vaccine still going to work, you know, when it's my turn to get vaccinated? I have a friend from college who's now a medical school professor who texted me and said, is it true that these variants are all over New York City and our vaccines don't work anymore? So, I want to be really clear – everything we know about the virus and our vaccines right now says getting vaccinated is the single best way to prevent getting severe illness and dying from this virus. And it's the single best path all of us have together to get back to doing the things we love.
Now, here in New York City, we're testing for these variants more than any other city in the country. And we're not just tracking the spread of the variants that we know about. We're also testing so that we can find new ones that might emerge in the future. Specifically, we have the capacity to sequence over 2,000 specimens a week at our pandemic response laboratory and our City Health Department laboratory. And we have the capacity that's being quadrupled of that just in those City laboratories alone. In addition to that, we have all of the tremendous academic partners who are now ramping up their testing as well. And we're really the only city or state in the country that's continuously reporting estimates about how common these are. And you'll hear more about that during the technical briefing afterwards.
So, I really just want to emphasize to everybody that, you know, we're studying these actively. We're all hoping and wishing together that we don't want to find anything too alarming, but we assure you that we're going to tell you what we know, what we don't know, what we're working to do to find out, and whether anything should change in what you're doing, even if it's difficult. Thank you.
Mayor: Thank you so much, Dr. Varma. And, everyone, look, we're going to constantly report what we learn. We believe that is the single best thing we can do. Dr. Varma is going to constantly give updates – Dr. Chokshi, Dr. Katz – you're going to hear exactly what's going on. But what we can tell you right now, all those basics work, and getting vaccinated works, and getting tested works. And so, we remind everyone, I'm going to say it again – it’s Get Tested Tuesday. It's a great reminder, every Tuesday, if you haven't been tested in the last month, get tested. It is one of the ways we protect New Yorkers. Why? Because it gives us a lot of information. But for you, it tells you, if you test positive that you can turn to our test and taste – Test and Trace Corps. The Test and Trace Corps. is there for you, can help you safely separate, if you need, from your household, can get you the support you need, the guidance you need, connect you with medical support, whatever it is. We’ve got to keep testing, because that is a key part of how we know the next steps to take person-by-person and as a city. So, please, everyone, just make it a point – if you haven't been tested once a month, it's free, it's easy, let's keep doing that.
Okay. Now, when we talk about the way forward, it's always, first and foremost, vaccines and a central question always with vaccine is supply, supply, supply. But we do see improvement, as we see improvement on the supply front, it's a reminder, we've got to reach all the folks we really need to be reaching and for very strategic reasons. Look, there are so many people who support us, take care of us, make things happen for all of us. They need to be protected. Not all of them have been made eligible. So, I'm calling upon the State of New York to update the eligibility once again. There are folks who need to be included – our Sanitation workers, who have been heroes, just did amazing jobs during the snowstorms. We depend on them. We need them to be healthy. We need to protect them. They should be included. Also, looking at the folks who go out there and protect our health and wellbeing all the time – City inspectors from variety of departments, go out and protect us, make sure things work, make sure things are safe – they need to be protected. The folks that literally protect our lives – by the way, not so long from now, it's going to be warm weather again, we're going to need our lifeguards back. We need to start training them now. They need to be protected. All of these types of New Yorkers, all these categories should be on the State list of those eligible for vaccination.
Further, we need to do more to make the city safe to turn the page from 2020. That means getting our court system back. Our court system is still not functioning, that is holding back the entire justice system. What should we do? Vaccinate. Vaccinate everyone who works in the courtrooms. Vaccinate the court officers. Vaccinate the district attorney’s staff. Vaccinate everyone who serves on a jury. If you're willing to serve on a jury, thank you, God bless you, but you should know you'll be safe. The best way to do that, if you're coming into work on a jury, you get vaccinated and you know you're going to be safe. This will allow us all to be safe, because our justice system can come back strong. But the State of New York is not keeping up with the need to update this category, to update these eligibility categories. So, calling on the State, do the right thing, give these folks the ability to vaccinate and to be vaccinated. Give us the freedom to vaccinate. Give us the freedom to vaccinate sanitation workers. Give us the freedom to vaccinate the folks who work in our court system and those who serve on juries. Give us that freedom and we can move this city forward.
All right, everybody, let's go over today's indicators. Number one, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 211 patients. And I'm going to just stop there and note, despite the qualifiers we're talking about today, and our focus constantly on the data and the science, well here's data – this number is actually getting close to that 200 threshold that we say is the key indicator we're looking for. Actually, this number is finally getting back down there, that's a good sign. But on the other fronts with hospital admissions, 65 percent confirmed positive, that's still high. Hospitalization rate, 4.3 per 100,000, that's still high. So, we're watching all that carefully. New reported cases on a seven-day average – today's report, 3,558 cases. And percent of people positive tested citywide for COVID-19 – today's report, seven-day rolling average, 6.09 percent. Also good to see that number, but a long way to go for sure.
