MAYOR DE BLASIO ON COVID-19 - April 2, 2020

  Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, there’s a lot to report on and a lot to tell you about today. But the first thing I want to talk to you about is something we all need to focus on this crisis – and that is hope. And I'm going to be talking about it a lot, because there's a lot of reason to hope. No matter how tough it's going to get, there are so many reasons to be thankful for all of the people who are helping our city, all the good people around the city, all the good people around this nation who are helping us. We are not alone in the least. And I got an incredible, incredible experience today this morning in Queens. It was two parts, really. The first part was visiting our EMS Station 50, meeting some of our extraordinary EMT’s and paramedics. They have literally in the last few days gone through the biggest surge in 9-1-1 calls in the history of New York City. And I’ve got to tell you, these brave individuals, they were so strong in the way they were dealing with this crisis. They were confident. They believe that their training and their partnership, their comradery, were going to serve them in this crisis no matter what. They let me know they were up for any challenge and they were also very grateful that help was arriving.

And that's the second part of what I experienced this morning at Fort Totten in Queens. It's a FEMA staging area now. And I met EMT’s and paramedics, came from all over the nation to help us in our hour of need – folks from states all over. You know, at one point, I was talking to these EMT’s and paramedics. I was thanking them on behalf of all 8.6 million New Yorkers. I was telling them what it meant to us that they had driven from all over the country in their ambulances and how powerful that was to us and how that gave us such a good feeling in this city – what it meant to our brave EMT’s and paramedics that this help was coming. And at one point I said to them, please call out the states you're from. And I just had – a shiver went up my spine. I felt this sense, this really profound sense of appreciation and faith as I heard this roll call of States. You know, Kentucky, and Alabama, and Indiana, and Illinois, and California, and Michigan, one after another, people called out the names of their states with pride, and they were so proud to be here in New York City, and they knew that New York City had often been there for them. The FDNY have been out many times around the country helping other parts of this country during natural disasters and that is appreciated, and people wanted to return the favor.

So, it was really something stirring about our nation at this moment that people are rising to the call in such a powerful way. And that helped, those hundreds of EMT’s and paramedics, and the 250 ambulances that are coming or here already. And I got to watch so many of them roll out of Fort Totten. That's amazing what that's doing immediately to help us to deal with all the emergencies we're facing around this city. Want to give a special shout out to two guys from Kalamazoo, Michigan. I had a good talk with them, Andrew and Jeff, and they literally gotten their rig and had gotten their ambulance in Kalamazoo and drove all the way to New York City, and they were just ready to go to help us out. And so special thank you to our friends from Kalamazoo for being a part of this.

I spoke earlier today with the President and a group of key members of his administration that he had gathered. They were having a strategy session and they called to ask me what was going on in New York City and how the federal government could continue to help. So, it was the President, Vice President Pence, the FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor, Dr. Deborah Birx, the Coronavirus Response Director, Admiral Giroir, who's the head of the Public Health Service, the equipment czar, Peter Navarro, the President's senior advisor, Jared Kushner, who's obviously a New Yorker, and knows a lot about the city and cares about this city. So, we got into a very detailed conversation about where we stand. First of all, I thank them deeply for what they did for the NYPD and they called it operation blue bloods. I think that's a great name. Helping the NYPD to have the protective gear they need at this moment. Deeply appreciate that special effort the White House made. But the real difficult part of the conversation was talking about the days ahead.

We went into great detail about a number of New Yorkers in ICU’s. The number we projected coming up this Sunday and Monday. The facts that were so powerful and challenging about what we're going to face next week. I talked to the president about the need for ventilators. I talked to them about the need for N95 masks and other PPE’s. I talked to them in detail about the personnel reality, and the whole group of leaders assembled, the fact that even with the equipment, you always need the personnel all these doctors and nurses and extraordinary healthcare workers, we need more and more help. I talked to the president about the expansion of beds, and I will say the president knows something about real estate in New York City. And I talked to him about the fact that we had 20,000 hospital beds just a month ago, and we're going to be adding up to 65,000 more to handle this crisis. And that's going to happen all in the course of about four weeks. And I think he understood that that will be a herculean effort. But I said to him, we believe we can do that, taking a huge number of public spaces, converting them, hotels by the dozen, that we can actually build out that capacity, but it won't save us unless the personnel is there.

So, we had a very good conversation. I was thankful for the help we’ve received, and I immediately told them just how much more we're going to need. And I told them we will fight every minute of this crisis to get through it, and then we will turn around and give everything we have and send our heroes to other parts of the country to help. And I really appreciate the conversation because it was detailed, and it was sober about the facts. But I was also clear with them that I believe at this point we have to come to a recognition that anything short of a full mobilization of our military will not serve this nation sufficiently. Just going over the situation in New York City and pointing out, imagine for a moment we had 20,000 hospital beds, we're talking about needing three times more that, just to get through the next four weeks or so. Imagine that pattern in other parts of our nation. What that's going to mean for the ability to build out our healthcare system and protect our people in many places simultaneously. The only way that can be achieved is with the leadership of the United States military. They have the talent, the logistical capacity, the professionals that can play a crucial role. There's no other way it will happen.

So, I had a good and respectful conversation with the President, but I also had an urgent conversation with him. I told him, I just think this is the only way we're all going to be able to get through this and save as many lives as possible is to use the military much more deeply. I reiterated to the President what I talked to him about several times last week. The fact that we need personnel right now, and we need military medical personnel right now. And that I had asked repeatedly, and in writing many times for help by this Sunday. We had asked for military medical personnel, 1,000 nurses, 300 respiratory therapists, 150 doctors. These numbers, I've been over with the President, with the Secretary of Defense, and with General Milley numerous times. They are quite familiar with request. I had a follow-up conversation with Secretary Esper, and General Milley again this afternoon. I'm going to be talking to the FEMA administrator again to reiterate that this is crucial, and he will have the ultimate say over whatever military medical personnel are made available.

But again, it comes down to this. This is a wartime dynamic, and everyone in Washington has to understand that right now, too much of what's happening is on a peacetime basis. There's a disconnect, and I want to just be blunt about that. We're in the middle of a war. We can feel it here in New York City. I could feel it this morning when I stood with those good men and women, those EMT’s and paramedics went all over the nation. It didn't feel like business as usual. It felt like we were in a war and people were coming to save us. We need a lot more of that, and other parts of the country will need the same. It's not going to happen unless we get on a war footing. So, it's the mobilization of the military for sure, but I also think we have to remember in the wars of the past when we were really fighting for the survival of our nation and our ideals, we called upon all Americans to serve, and I think it's time for that in a different way now. I think it's time for our nation to enlist our medical personnel on a national basis. We don't have the same kind of draft we used to have, but we're going to have to create something new right now at this moment in history to enlist all available medical personnel around the country, and I mean civilians. Anyone with medical training anywhere in the country who can be spared by their city, their town, their state to come to the front. And right now, it's New York City, and we see it starting in some other cities as well. But I guarantee you, all 50 States will have their own battle. The only way we're going to get through this truly, if we're going to save every life we can save, it means taking health professionals of every kind with every skill, every training, no matter where they are in their career, and enlisting them in a national service, creating something we just don't have right now, but we could have, and we need to have.

So, that's what I talked to the President about it, the secretary of defense, General Milley, going to a place we've never been before, because we are actually dealing with a crisis we've never experienced before, and we have to innovate. We have to see possibilities that we just didn't see before, if we're going to really protect and serve the American people. So, I hope these conversations will lead us to another place, because right now I've been really honest about the numbers. I do want to give the president credit. I told him the numbers, and I could tell there were some real silences during the conversation, and some real acknowledgement of just how tough it's going to be in the weeks ahead in New York City. But we know there's other places about to face this same reality. If we're all starting to fully, deeply recognize the extent of the crisis, then let's act like one nation. Fight this crisis together, enlisting everyone possible into this cause whether they be the men and women of our military and our reserves, or whether it be civilians who could bring their extraordinary skills to bear where needed most, it's time for that in this country.

I did talk to the President about the ventilator situation, as I mentioned, and the 400 ventilators that we found out late yesterday would be coming in time and be in place by Sunday morning. That was the number I mentioned yesterday that we absolutely have to have to ensure we could protect everyone in need. Those ventilators came out of the federal allotment that went to New York State, I want to thank both the federal government and FEMA and New York State for quickly making those 400 ventilators available. So, the good news is we will get through Sunday, but the tough news is what I told you yesterday is still true, we will need 2,500 to 3,000 more ventilators next week, during next week to get through next week. I explained this to the President and his entire leadership and everyone heard it and everyone took it seriously and I said, I'm not going to sugar coat this, it's a very tough number to reach. I know everyone's fighting to get more ventilators, create more ventilators, and manufacture them. But for all those folks who are about to arrive in hospitals around the City whose lives we must save their simple need is not for us to talk about it, but to find those ventilators somewhere, somehow. And I put that clearly on the table and said to the leadership of our Nation that it is, I think a National priority to find those 2,500 to 3,000 ventilators and get them to New York City over the next seven days. So, we talked to also here in New York City about other tools we're going to use the BiPAP machines, which are something that could be really helpful ensuring that for some patients they can be kept off the ventilators or at least for a period of time. We're getting some of those in, we're training staff and how to use them – that will be a part of the equation that will help as well. The fact is people want to help us, as I said, from all over the country. If you can help anyone out there, if you can help please go to our website, nyc.gov/helpnow or call 833-NYC-0040. Folks all over the nation that want to help, we're particularly – if there's anybody anywhere who has a ventilator they can get to us that is particularly important to anyone who's a medical professional wants to come here and help us, we have the accommodations, we will immediately plug you in, we need your help right now.

Now, I want to talk about some new guidance. And I want to emphasize that I start and— we'll talk more about it with the questions with the media, with our Health Commissioner, Dr. Barbot – but I want to emphasize that we, throughout these last few months, this city, this state, this nation, the global community of nations, the global medical community, everyone has been trying to learn as rapidly as possible everything they can about the coronavirus. And we still know there's a lot we don't know, and that's a really challenging reality one of our heroes at this moment, our Nation, someone I'm very, very proud of as a New Yorker is Dr. Anthony Fauci. And even with that wonderful, reassuring voice and that knowledge and that wisdom, he’s first to say there's a lot we don't know, but we are learning every day and every week more. We're trying to act rapidly on what we learn, sometimes you reach that point when there's just enough confirmation, enough new information to say, okay, it's time to do something different. So, there've been studies recently on people who are asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic and whether they could transmit the coronavirus to others. One particularly important study coming out of Singapore yesterday, our Health Department, our health care leadership have looked at these studies. There's been several in the last week or so, and I've come to a conclusion that it's time to advise New Yorkers to do something different. I want to emphasize what I'm about to tell you is very, very important, but it does not in any way change the basic guidance that you've received now over many weeks. The most important things are still the basic hygiene covering your mouth when you cough and sneeze, wash your hands a lot, use hand sanitizer still that's the frontline way to protect yourself. The social distancing that’s the way to protect yourself and everyone around you and that must be observed no matter what. And we've obviously put shelter in place here in place in New York, and we have strong enforcement through the NYPD and other agencies and we're even now at the point of finding people who do not abide by social distancing. So, all of that is just as important as it was before, but now we're adding a new important point we're advising New Yorkers to wear a face covering when you go outside and will be near other people. So, let's be clear, this is a face covering, and again, we'll talk about the details in a moment, but it could be a scarf it could be something you create yourself at home, it could be a bandana, it does not, not need to be a professional surgical mask. In fact, we don't want you to use the kinds of masks that our first responders need that our health care workers need. Don't use those can't be clearer, leave those alone, leave those to the people who need them the most who are saving lives. But you can create a face covering with anything you have at home right now any piece of cloth— and that will give the protection to others. And I want to emphasize this I think there's been, you know, a certain amount of misunderstanding and we're all dealing with so much information and so many things that are kind of tough to understand and confusing. The reason for this guidance is because the studies are showing that some asymptomatic people, some pre-symptomatic people appear to actually be transmitting this disease. We don't have perfect evidence it doesn't conform with what the initial showed us weeks ago, but it does seem to be more and more evident. What that means is when you put on that face covering you're protecting everyone else. You're making sure that, you know, you don't inadvertently, if you happen to have this disease and you may not even know it, you don't end up giving it to someone else. Now, remember, with community spread with the projections, we've told you over half New Yorkers will contract this disease for everything we know. It means that a lot of people are out there right this minute don't even know they have it, we want to make sure that anyone who doesn't have to get it doesn't get it. So, face covering is just a simple way to protect other people and to reduce the speed of that community spread, and hopefully keep a number of people from being affected who don't have to be affected. Again, you can create your own version you can be creative and put whatever decoration you want on it. It can be as homemade as you want, but that's what we want you to do something homemade, not something professional, not something from the supplies we need for our heroes and that's going to help protect everyone.

And a few other updates, we've talked a lot about the fact that there are more and more people need food because let's face it, even though thank God there is some federal help coming now through the stimulus bill, there's still so many who people lost their jobs, lost their income, don't yet have that help, are struggling to pay for food. We can't have that in New York City we have to help people more and more, I named a few weeks ago our foods [inaudible] Kathryn Garcia who's done an amazing job for the city on many other crucial missions. And her job is to make sure that food is available to everyone who needs it and to build out a bigger plan for the weeks ahead. She's working, especially now with Department of Education that had feeding sites up for our students, even though there weren't schools the way they've normally been, they were turned into sites to provide meals to kids in need of them.

So, we've got about 435 sites around the five boroughs where young people can go and get meals for free. They can get breakfast, lunch, and dinner all to go, grab and go, and they can bring them home and eat them when they're ready. If other people at home need food, they can get it for them as well. So what we're doing starting tomorrow is we're welcoming adults, anyone who needs food, anyone who's hungry can come to these 435 sites— you can get all three meals for yourself and your family for free. No one will be turned away, I want to really emphasize that there's no charge and no one will be turned away. You can go online nyc.gov and get the sites you can call 311, 24 hours a day and get the sites. But we know people are hurting, we don't want anyone to go hungry in the City, so there's 435 places starting tomorrow, not just for kids, but for adults as well everyone, everyone who’s hungry, has a place to go to get food. Just to tell you for kids and for families with kids, we're going to do the, the early morning hours for pickups at 7:30 to 11:30 AM and then from 11:30 to 1:30 for any adults who don't have kids with them you can go in that timeframe. So again, 7:30 to 11:30 AM for children and families with children, 11:30 AM to 1:30 PM each day for adults. And if you want to find a school in your area, you can text the word FOOD or if you speak Spanish, the word COMIDA to 877-877 and they'll get you to location.

Okay, couple of quick things. Small businesses this is a heads up to all the small business owners that starting tomorrow, the Federal Paycheck Protection Program opens up is a key part of the stimulus $350 billion loan program. It's for businesses and for nonprofit organizations that have employees up to a number of 500 people. So, it's a lot of businesses will qualify and we know how hard hit our small businesses and our nonprofits have been these last weeks – it’s been horrible. You deserve this opportunity to get these loans to keep afloat - build for the future. But here's the punchline; this is a first come first serve basis. So, first come, first served. Therefore, you need to apply as early in the morning tomorrow as possible. So, New Yorkers, the early bird gets the worm here – go to sba.gov – sba.gov. And these are loans on very good terms and they are forgivable loans and there's specific categories that you can get going online. They’ll talk to you about all the ways that these loans had been made flexible and forgivable, and they cover a lot of different things, not just costs related to your payroll, but also interest on mortgages, your rent, your utility payments, a very flexible program to help people through this crisis – so please sign up immediately.

I'm going to close now and I talked to you about a lot of reasons to hope, but I also always owe it to you to tell you when we've lost a friend and, and to mourn with. Particularly all of us in public service, when we lose one of our own, it hits home, especially. Our Department of Citywide Administrative Services, they've been doing so much work these last few weeks to help everyone else to get the help they need. Well, now, they've lost a dear colleague and a leader in that agency, Lenin Fierro, Director of Safety and the Vision Zero Director for Fleet Management at DCAS. This is an amazing story – he immigrated from Ecuador, a total New York story and American success story – immigrated from Ecuador, served 10 years in the United States Navy joined our team five years ago, helped get Vision Zero off the ground in its beginning to protect people and save lives; personally trained thousands of city drivers on how to drive safely – amazing contribution. To his wife, Brenda and his two daughters – we grieve with you and we have truly lost a great man.

And every New Yorker right now, we all have a story. We all know someone who we've lost or someone who's sick. Pretty much everyone could say that right now. We are doing all we can to help those who are sick and we are grieving for those we've lost and, and mourning with their families. But, as much pain as we're going through and, and even though the worst weeks are ahead, we, we just don't give in in this city; it's not who we are. I have to tell you with those EMTs and paramedics today I saw a resolve, I saw a toughness, I saw a belief that we were going to get through it and the same is true with our frontline heroes, our healthcare workers, same is true with the folks who work in the grocery stores and the pharmacies to make sure their communities are safe and have what they need. So many New Yorkers – by the way, the vast, vast majority of New Yorkers who are practicing social distancing, who are doing it right, who are looking out for each other – everyone has shown an incredible spirit of perseverance. I'm very, very proud of all you. I have no question we will see this through together. I have no question, in the end, New Yorkers will watch out for each other and every time that someone comes to our aid from around the country it’s going to give us that boost we need to fight our way through this crisis and come out together.

MAYOR DE BLASIO CALLS FOR DRAFT OF ESSENTIAL MEDICAL PERSONNEL

 As New York City works to quickly quadruple the number of hospital beds throughout the city, today, Mayor de Blasio today called on the federal government to institute an essential draft of all private medical personnel to help in the fight against COVID-19. The United States must mobilize a national response to meet the rapidly growing demand for medical personnel – first in New York and then other localities throughout the country.

“Our City faces unprecedented challenges in the weeks ahead,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Every ventilator and doctor can save life, which is why we are marshalling every possible resource to our City in record time. But the facts remain the same: the federal government must step up and provide the reinforcements we need. The battle will be long, and we cannot fight it alone.”

Citywide as of 6:00 PM on April 2, there are 49,707 positive cases of COVID-19 and 1,562 fatalities. There are 9,343 confirmed cases in the Bronx, 13, 290 in Brooklyn, 7,398 in Manhattan, 16,819 in Queens, and 2,822 in Staten Island.

As of 6:00 PM on April 2, there were at least 9,680 people hospitalized. Of those individuals, at least 2,240 were in the ICU.

New Recommendations for Face Covering

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is advising all New Yorkers to cover their noses and mouths using a scarf, bandana, or piece of clothing when in public to reduce the risk of transmission. This recommendation is modeled off a new study from the CDC published April 1^st, which outlines the possibility of pre-symptomatic COVID-19 transmission in Singapore.

New Yorkers should not use surgical or N95 masks as face covers. Masks must be preserved for health care workers and first responders.

New Yorkers should continue to practice social distancing measures.

Critical Supplies

The City is currently working to dispatch 400 ventilators from the federal stockpile that were distributed by the State. While these ventilators will sustain the City for a short, interim period, a minimum of 2,500-3,000 ventilators must be procured by Sunday to carry the City through the next week. The City still needs a total of 15,000 ventilators. The City has made a formal request of the federal government, which can be read here.

To preserve the City’s supply of ventilators, City hospitals are training staff on how to use BiPap machines, which can keep some patients from requiring a ventilator. If you are willing to donate or sell a ventilator to New York City, please call 833-NYC-0040 or visit NYC.gov/HelpNow.

Health + Hospitals also needs 1,000 nurses, 300 respiratory therapists, and 150 physicians by Sunday, April 5^th to adequately treat every COVID-19 patient.

Expanding DOE Meal Hubs to all New Yorkers

To ensure every New York City resident can access nutritious meals, the Department of Education’s Meal Hubs will expand service to include all children and adults across the five boroughs starting on Friday, April 3. Sites will begin grab-and-go adult meal service, serving three meals a day, Monday through Friday. Adults and children can pick up three meals at a time and no adult will be turned away. There is no registration or identification required. 

Meal hubs will operate from 7:30 AM- 11:30 AM for children and families and 11:30 AM- 1:30 PM for adults. Since March 16, the Department of Education’s free meals programs have served approximately 1.2 million meals to families and students at over 440 Meal Hubs sites across the city. Meal Hub locations can be found at here or text NYC FOOD to 877-877.  

Relief for Small Businesses

The Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) opens up Friday, April 3^rd. The $350 billion federal loan program is open to small businesses or nonprofits with fewer than 500 employee. The program is open on a first come, first serve basis. Those who are interested should apply here.

Stay Informed

Over 800,000 New Yorkers have signed up for the City’s COVID text notification system to get regular updates on the latest developments with coronavirus in New York City text COVID to 692-692.  New Yorkers can text COVIDESP to 692-692 for updates in Spanish. You will receive regular SMS texts with the latest news and developments. If you have any questions on finding medical care call 311.

A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR IMMIGRANTS WITH MEDICAL LICENSES FROM OTHER COUNTRIES

What You Should Know

By Councilman Rev. Ruben Diaz

District 18, Bronx County

  You should know that there are about 65,000 certified doctors with licenses from other countries who cannot practice their professions due to not having the requirements that this nation demands.

 

These medical workers, for the most part have vast experience in their countries where they have practiced medicine in their hospitals and clinics.  Upon moving to the United States, these doctors are required to have a year of clinicals/ residency study and then must pass an examination to obtain a license that will legally authorize them to practice medicine in the United States.

 

It is important that you also know that with the "Corona Virus Pandemic", the Nation's hospitals are going through a crisis as a result of shortages in doctors, nurses, and medical personnel that are crucial given the increase of people affected by the "CoVid- 19”

 

The solution to these shortages in medical personnel is right in front of us.  Sadly, and unfortunately those in charge of our medical care don't want to see it.

 

The United States, given the seriousness of loss of life due to this pandemic, must temporarily suspend said requirements and recruit doctors, nurses, and other crucial medical personnel authorizing those immigrants with medical licenses from other countries, to be hired to serve and practice medicine in all American hospitals. This would go a long way in helping us resolve some of the medical needs which are confronting medical shortages in so many of our hospitals.

 

New York State has already taken this initiative.  Therefore, if you are a medical professional, an immigrant with a medical license from another country, and are a resident of New York State, please go and offer your medical services in one of our local hospitals.

 

 

This is Councilman Rev. Ruben Diaz, Sr. and this is what you should know.

You Never Know What May Happen Next in Politics

The headline is true of many situations in politics where slates of candidates are made up, and then others come in and convince people to change the original slate of candidates. 

That was true of this years opposition slate to the current 80th Assembly District members slate. The best chance for candidates was not to challenge the strong incumbent Assemblywoman, but go after a first time incumbent Male District Leader and an open Female District Leader seat. Along with them would be a slate of Judicial Delegates, a Judge candidate, Congressional candidate, and some County Committee members, but no candidate for member of Assembly for the 80th A.D.

  Everything was going as planned, The slate was in place and signatures were being collected on the first day allowable February 25th. Then on March 3rd a deed was found for 2500 Williamsbridge Road sold to CHI LLC. Carnegie Hill Institute a drug rehab center looking for a site in the East Bronx, which the community was told that a proposed deal for Carnegie Hill Institute to buy 2500 Wlliamsbridge Road in October was dead at a Town Hall meeting in November. 

  A rally was called for on March 7th to be held at 2500 Williamsbridge Road against the sale of the building to Carnegie Hill Institute. Two days before the rally a petition (to be known as BX 2000245) appeared in the 80th A.D. with the same candidates, plus the Female District Leader candidate in the position of member of Assembly 80th A.D. There was a different petition for the 82nd A.D. with candidates for Assembly and District Leaders, and the same judge and congressional candidates as the 80th A.D. petition. There was a separate petition for member of the 34th State Senate district which had to be filed in Albany because the state senate district covers Bronx and Westchester Counties.

  Covid-19 was spreading after the rally, and one week later Governor Cuomo made an announcement that he was ending the petition process March 17th at 5 PM. He also said that he was cutting the number of signatures to thirty percent. 

  It should be noted that this reporter was on the original slate of candidates against the current assemblywoman' slate as a Judicial Delegate, and not on Petition BX 2000245 that has a candidate against the current assemblywoman. There are two challenges to petition BX 2000245, including one by this reporter who is not on that petition. 

Above - The last day to collect signatures was March 17, 2020, so why is the date 3/20/2020 under the date 3/16/2020 ?

Below - Lines one and two are the same signature. 

MAYOR DE BLASIO ANNOUNCES JAMES O’NEILL AS COVID-19 SENIOR ADVISOR

Part of City’s ongoing efforts to combat COVID-19 and ensure supplies continue to be managed and distributed effectively within hospitals

  Mayor de Blasio today announced that former Police Commissioner James O’Neill will be returning to the City to serve as COVID-19 Senior Advisor. In this role, O’Neill will oversee the supply and distribution of personal protective and medical equipment within New York City hospitals as demand continues to surge due to the COVID-19 crisis. O’Neill will create, operationalize and manage a supply inspection regime within the hospitals to ensure the rapid turnaround of new supplies and verify each hospital is pushing needed equipment to frontline health care workers.  O’Neill will take on this volunteer role while continuing to serve as Senior Vice President and Head of Global Security at Visa Inc.

“Jimmy is one of the finest public servants our City has ever known,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Jimmy will leverage his extensive management experience and knowledge of the City to ensure that our healthcare workers on the front lines have the supplies they need to save New Yorker’s lives. I’d also like to thank Visa CEO Al Kelly for allowing Jimmy to help his beloved hometown in our hour of need.”

“I want to thank Mayor de Blasio and Visa CEO Al Kelly for this opportunity to help serve this great city once again and support the heroes on the front lines of this pandemic,” said James O’Neill. “While the toughest days of this crisis lie ahead, New Yorkers are resilient and will get through this by coming together.”

To date, the City has distributed a total of 8,282,200 face masks, 2,077,980 N95 masks, 105,880 gowns, and 1,956,940 surgical gloves to hospitals across the City. The City has now received and is dispatching all 2,500 ventilators received by the federal government.  The City has also put out a call to oral surgeons, plastic surgeons, and veterinarians across the City to donate ventilators that are currently not in use. More information on how to donate is available here.

About James O’Neill:

James O’Neill will voluntarily serve as COVID-19 Senior Advisor while continuing his current role as Senior Vice President and Head of Global Security at Visa. O’Neill is a 36-year veteran of the New York City Police Department, where he served in over half of the City’s precincts and was the architect of neighborhood policing. He began his law enforcement career with the New York Transit Police, then served as a lieutenant in the NYPD. He was commanding officer of three successive precincts before working as commanding officer of the Vice, Narcotics and the Fugitive Enforcement divisions. As Chief of Department from 2014-2016, he played a key role in the department's reengineering process, concentrating on operational reforms. O’Neill was appointed as the 43^rd Police Commissioner of New York City by Mayor de Blasio in 2016.

Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces New Hospital Network Central Coordinating Team

  Let me go through where we are today on the numbers. Give these people an update. The number of cases still going up. We're all in search of the apex and the other side of the mountain. But we are still headed up the mountain. Number of people tested last night was a near record amount. We tested over 18,000 people. We're testing more people than any state in the country and I'm very proud of that. More per capita than China and South Korea.

Total number of people tested, 200,000. Population of 19 million, is not going to give you a random sample, but it's been helping us track down on the positive cases. Number of positive cases, 9,298. Total cases 75,000 cases. You see the predominance in New York City, then Westchester, then Nassau, then Suffolk, then Rockland. So you can see it's that area of density. It spreads out from that area of density. The march of coronavirus across the State of New York continues. We're down to just two counties that don't have a case. The overall numbers, 75,000 have tested positive. Ten thousand people in our hospitals, 2,700 ICU patients. Good news, 4,900 - almost 5,000 - discharged. That's up 771. So people come in, they get treated, they go home.

New York is at 75,000 cases. Next state is 16,000. California is at 7,000. So you can see New York, there's a magnitude of difference more than any other state. Fifteen-hundred fifty deaths. That's up from 1,218 yesterday. Again, we're studying the charts. We're trying to study the data, follow the data. The data is uneven. It bounces. Numbers often bounce in any model. There are variables in this model. The hospitals are reporting it, so what every hospital reported, were they busy, are they combining a couple of days in one? It's an imperfect reporting mechanism.

You see the basic line is still up. What the statisticians will tell you is you basically draw the straight line that columns indicate and you see that we're still going up which is what we see on the overall trajectory, that we're still going up. Number of intubations was down, not much, but it was down and that's a good sign. You also see the number of discharges going up and that's consistent. The longer people are in, they either get treated and leave or they get put on a ventilator and the longer you're on a ventilator, the less likelihood you will come off the ventilator. That is the blunt truth of this situation.

We have two missions overall that we are pursuing. One is the front line of this battle is our hospital system. That's where this is going to come down to. The second is social responsibility. Stay at home. Don't get infected in the first place. Don't get infected in the first place because it goes back to you're creating a burden on our health care system that our health care system cannot handle. We're talking about exceeding the capacity of our hospital system by some estimates, 2 times. So what does this come down to besides all the other issues? It comes down to not overwhelming the hospital system because those people who need acute care may not be able to get the acute care. So it's all about the hospital system. That is the front line.

What we're doing is we are following the mathematical projections of the experts. We're speaking to all the health care professionals, all the health care providers. World Health Organization, National Institute of Health, Dr. Fauci, CDC, FDA - the whole alphabet soup of health care experts and the mathematicians who then have different models. We talk about five different models and compared the models and tried to find the median through the models. That's how we plan everything. Follow the data, follow the science. People ask me, "What do you think, what do you think?" I don't think about this. What do I know? I'm not an expert. I'm not opining. I talk to experts and I follow people who know.

But for the hospitals procure equipment, identify the beds, support the staff, that's what it's been all about. Of those priorities number one is support the staff. They are the front line and they need relief. They are physically exhausted even more they are more emotionally exhausted. This is unlike any other disasters. Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods - they happen, they are fast, they're over, you start rebuilding. This is different. This is ongoing and the duration itself is debilitating and exhausting and depressing. I'm speaking to healthcare professionals who say, "Look, more than physically tired I'm emotionally tired seeing the pain and death that they are dealing with every day."

In general, I am tired of being behind this virus. We've been behind this virus from day one. The virus was in China. We knew it was in China. Unless we assume there's some immune system variation with Asian people, it was coming here and we have been behind it from day one since it got here and we've been playing catch-up. You don't win playing catch-up. We have to get ahead of it. The second rule is never underestimate your opponent, and we underestimated this virus. It's more powerful, it's more dangerous than we expected, and the third point is plan forward. Get ahead of it. Get ahead of it, fight the fight today, yes, but anticipate the next battle and plan for the next battle.

And the main battle is at the apex. We're still going up the mountain. The main battle is on the top of the mountain. That's where the main battle is going to be. The apex of the curve and then we come down the other side of the mountain. We are planning now for the battle at the top of the mountain. That's what we are doing. Get a staffing plan ready now for the battle at the top of the mountain. Equipment stockpile now - we're gathering equipment that we don't need today because today is not the day of the battle. The battle is when we hit the apex, depending on who you believe, 14 days to 30 days from today.

And also we need a social acceptance of the time expectation. We're all anxious. We're all tired, we're all fatigued. It's been all bad news for a long time. Our whole lifestyle has been disrupted. Everybody knows wants to know one thing, when is it over, nobody knows. Well, President said by Easter; this one said by this - nobody knows. You can have a hypothesis, you can have a projection, you can have an opinion but nobody knows, but I can say this, it is not going to be soon. If our apex is 14 to 21 days, that's our apex. You then have to come down the other side of the mountain once you hit the apex, so calibrate yourself and your expectations so you're not disappointed every morning you get up.

Yesterday we met with the entire state hospital system, Dr. Zucker and our team - first time they were all in one place. And we said to the hospital system, "Look," what I just said to you, "We are dealing with a war, we are dealing with war we've never dealt with before. We need a totally different mindset. We can't do business the way we have always done business - we need unprecedented sense of cooperation, flexibility, communication and speed." And that's what we talked through yesterday, and we have to do it now. The healthcare system is one of those balkanized systems - it's like our state education system, it's like our criminal justice system. It's in place. It's fragmented. They have their own identities, their own associations, it's regionally organized. That all has to change.

We don't have the ability to meet the capacity of our healthcare system as an entirety. That assumes the healthcare system is working as an entirety. That's not how the healthcare system is organized now. We have New York City hospitals, and then we have Long Island hospitals, and then we have Westchester hospitals, and then we have upstate hospitals -- that has to go. Even in New York City you have two basic hospital systems in New York City: you have the private hospitals, voluntary hospitals, about 160 of them, which are some of the finest healthcare institutions in the United States of America. You know, this is Mount Sinai, Columbia Presbyterian, et cetera. Some of their members are also upstate, but they're the large, private institutions. Greater New York Hospital Association, Ken Raske runs that association of 160. 

You then have in New York City the public hospitals, the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation. They are eleven public hospitals. They are a universe, and then you have the private hospitals as a separate universe. The eleven public hospitals are the hospitals that in many ways have always been under greater stress and greater need. We have to get those two systems, the private system and the public system in New York City, working together in a way they never did before. The distinction of private-public, that has to go out the window. We are one healthcare system. On top of that, it can't be the downstate hospitals, and the upstate hospitals, and the Long Island hospitals. When we talk about capacity of beds, when I say we now have 75,000 beds, that's a statewide number. That means those beds have to be available to the people in New York City or Nassau even if those beds are up in Albany.

So, combining that whole system, and you're no longer just the Western New York hospitals, or the Central New York hospitals; it's one coordinate system. It's much easier said than done, but we have to do it. On top of that, you have to overlay the new federal beds that came in that are an entirely new component. We have Javits Center -- 2,500 beds. We have the USNS Comfort -- 1,000 beds. We're planning other federal facilities. These all have to be coordinated on top of the existing hospital network. So, you see the organizational situation that we're dealing with. And let's be honest and let's learn from the past, we know where we have to focus. We know where we're going to have problems in the next hospitals because the hospitals that have the least capacity that have already been stressed are the hospitals that are not going to be able to handle the additional load. That is a fact. You know which hospitals are struggling. We do reports all the time about the financial capacity of hospitals and what hospital are in stronger versus weaker position.

The hospitals that are in a weaker position are the hospitals that are going to suffer when they then carry an added burden. That was Elmhurst hospital. It happened to be a public hospital. It happened to be a public hospital in a place of density. It happened to get overwhelmed and that's what then you saw the burden on the staff. You saw the emotion. You saw the stress. That can't happen, and that's what we talked about yesterday. And people said, "Well, Elmhurst isn't my responsibility. Elmhurst is a public hospital; the City runs it. I don't run it. It's New York City, its' not a private hospital." I don't care which link breaks in the chain. The chain is still broken. It doesn't matter which hospital, which link. Any link breaks, the chain breaks. The healthcare system is a chain; it breaks anywhere, it breaks everywhere.

That has to be our mentality. We laid out a full plan on how to do facility development, how to move people among hospitals so nobody gets overloaded, shifting patients, shifting staff, shifting supplies. None of us have enough supplies. Okay, then let's pool our supplies and let's put them out for the people who need them. Just because one hospital happened to have found a vendor from China who delivered 5 million masks, let's share those masks. And we talked about that yesterday.

We also talked again at length about ventilators which everybody knows is a key piece of equipment, identifying all the ventilators in the state, who has them, who has them in a stockpile, who ordered them, who expects them to come in and we'll have one stockpile of ventilators that we can distribute for everyone who needs them. We also talked about splitting of ventilators because that's a technology that does exist. It's been used before. It's not ideal. You take one ventilator and it's used for two patients.

The federal government is a partner in this obviously. I spoke to the President again yesterday about this situation. I spoke to the Vice President. I spoke to Jared Kushner. The White House has been very helpful. We have to get the federal agencies on the ground to understand how this operates, especially FEMA, because we have to be coordinated and people have to know what they're doing and this is no time for anyone to be learning on the job. And we're going to be working through that today. PPE, same thing. We want to know what everybody has. One stockpile, we'll distribute it fairly.

Testing, how do we get, when does this end? This ends when we get a fast track test, an at home test, 15-minute test, and people can find out when they can go back to work because they're negative. We're working on additional testing. As I said, the department of health has a new test, but that's when this ends.

We're also working on the new medications. We're leading the country in many of these developments. We have saliva testing. We're working on the antibody testing and plasma testing at the same time.

We put together an essential coordinating team. It's going to be led by the Department of Health. Westchester is on it and Greater New York, New York City is on it, Long Island is on it. If the federal government is going to participate they have to be part of this team because we have to know what we're doing and I don't want FEMA coming in and blowing the coordination of what everyone is trying to do.

The coordinating team is going to organize upstate-downstate transfers, set patient loads for hospitals, so if one hospital gets up near an overload capacity, let's call it, those hospitals start to send patients to other hospitals before they get up to their max. Within the New York City public hospital system, within the Greater New York private system, and then among the different systems. Different mentality. But we have to do it.

We set two missions. One was hospitals. Second was individual responsibility. The individual responsibility is about discipline. It's about selflessness and being informed. The basic point is stay at home. Stay at home. I know it's hard to stay at home and I know everyone thinks, you know, I can go out, I can be smart, and I won't get infected because it's me. I'm a superhero. It's not going to be me. That is not true.

And it's not just about you. It's not just about your health and your life that you're playing with here, my friend. You can infect other people. So I've been trying to communicate this many different ways for many days. We still see people coming out who don't need to be out. Even for essential workers, people have to be careful. And again, I've been trying to communicate that. Everyone, everyone is subject to this virus. It is the great equalizer. I don't care how smart, how rich, how powerful you think you are. I don't care how young, how old. This virus is the great equalizer.

My brother Chris is positive for coronavirus - found out this morning. Now, he is going to be fine. He's young, in good shape, strong, not as strong as he thinks, but he will be fine. But there's a lesson in this. He's an essential worker. Member of the press. So, he has been out there. The chance you get infected is very high. I spoke to him this morning and he's going to be quarantined in his basement at home. He's just worried about his daughter and his kids. He hopes he didn't get them infected.

You don't really know Chris. You see Chris. He has a show at nine o'clock on CNN. But you just see one dimension, right? You see a person in his job and in his job he's combative and argumentative and pushing people - but that's his job. That's really not who he is. He is a really sweet, beautiful guy and he's my best friend. My father was always working, so it was always just me and Chris. He's a lawyer, also, Chris. He is a lawyer because growing up the decision point came to what do you want to do after college? And my father was very strong personality, and my father basically suggested forcefully to Chris that he should be a lawyer. It was a different time and a different place, you know? Now, my daughters, Cara, who's here, they all follow their individual stars. This is their destiny, which is right. If you had said to my father, I want to follow my individual star, he would say, you're going to follow your individual star right out that door, you know? That's what he would have said.

So, Chris went to law school but he never really had a desire to practice law. He calls me when he is about 26, he is at a law firm and he said, you know, I don't want to be a lawyer. I said I know but you are now a lawyer. You are. He said, but I don't want to be a lawyer. He said I want to be a journalist. I said you want to be a journalist? I said, too late. You're a lawyer. You have to pay law school bills. You didn't go to journalism school. It is too late. No, no, I think I can do it. God bless him. He quit the law firm, went to work for Fox TV, which is a whole separate conversation in the house, and then worked his way up. He's at CNN. He does a beautiful job, but a sweet guy and now he is quarantined in the basement but he's funny as heck. He said to me even the dogs won't come down stairs, he says. But he is concerned about his wife and his kids.

But the reason I raise this is he's smart. He's social distancing, yes. But you wind up exposing yourself. People wind up exposing you and then they find out they're positive a couple of days later. And I had a situation with Christopher two weeks ago that I even mentioned my mother was at his house. And I said, that is a mistake. Now, my mother is in a different situation. She is older and she's healthy, but I said you can't have Mom at the house. And he said, no, no, no, Mom is lonely. She wants to be at the house. I feel bad. She is cooped up in the apartment. I said, yeah, I feel bad she is cooped up in the apartment too. But you expose her to a lot of things. You have the kids there, your wife there. You're coming and going. Your wife is coming and going and you could expose mom to the virus. And love is sometimes a little - needs to be a little smarter than just reactive. And we had a whole discussion. And truth, now, he is informed. I'm informed. Was that dangerous? Was that not dangerous? I went back to Dr. Zucker and I said look, we have to tell people, what are the rules? How does this work? That's when I came up with Matilda's Law, and I said I named it for my mother. And it was very clear about people who are older and what they should be exposed to. My brother, it was two weeks ago, if my brother still had my mother at his house, again out of love and comfort, and my mother wanted to be at eth house anyway, by the way, she didn't want to be sitting at home in an apartment. So she would have been doing what she wanted to do, he would have been doing what he wanted to do. It would have seemed great and harmless, but now we'd have a much different situation. Because if he was exposed, chances are, she may very well have been exposed, and then we would be looking at a different situation than just my brother sitting in his basement for two weeks. So think about that, right. My brother's smart. He was acting out of love. Luckily we caught it early enough.

But it's my family, it's your family, it's all of our families. And this virus is that insidious. And we have to keep that in mind. Keep in mind Matilda's Law. Remember who is vulnerable here. And protect them. You want to go out and act stupid for yourself, that's one thing. But your stupid actions don't just affect you. You come home, you can infect someone else, and you can cause a serious illness or even death for them, by your actions. And people have to really get this, and internalize it, because it can happen to anyone. Two weeks with my mother and Christopher, today is a very different situation.

Last point, there is nothing that I have said different since I started these briefings. And there's nothing we have learned that is different since I started these briefings. We know what to do. We just have to do it. It is individual discipline to stay at home. That's what it is, it's discipline. No social distancing. It's discipline. Well, I'm bored. I know. I'm bored. It's discipline. Making this healthcare system work, that's government skill, that's government performance. That's saying to that healthcare system, I don't care how it worked yesterday, I don't care whose turf this is, I don't care whose ego is involved, I'm sorry, we have to find a way to work, a better way. Time to say to that federal government and to FEMA and HHS, you have to learn how to do your job, and you have to learn how to do it quickly. Because time is not our friend. It's about a social stamina. This is not one week, two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, five weeks, six weeks, okay? This is not going to be an Easter surprise. Understand that and have the stamina to deal with it. And it's unity.

Let's help one another. New York needs help now. Yesterday I asked for healthcare workers from across the country to come here because we need help. We will pay you, and more importantly, we will return the favor. This is going to be a rolling wave across the country. New York, then it'll be Detroit, then it'll be New Orleans, then it will be California. If we were smart as a nation, come help us in New York. Get the equipment. Get the training. Get the experience. And then let's all go help the next place, and then the next place, and then the next place. That would be a smart national way of doing this. And showing that unity. And, unity meaning, we're not, I know this is a political year, and everything is a political backdrop, and Democrats want to criticize Republicans, Republicans want to criticize Democrats. Not now. Not now. There are no red states, there are no blue states. The virus doesn't attack and kill red Americans or blue Americans. It attacks all Americans. And keep that in mind, because there is, there is a unifying wisdom in that.