WATCH: Bill De Blasio Sparks Alarm, Criticism After MSNBC Interview About NYC’s Coronavirus Response
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio revealed numerous alarming details about the coronavirus outbreak’s impact on his city and several of his comments sparked renewed criticism of his response to the pandemic.
In his interview with MSNBC anchors Brian Williams and Rachel Maddow on Tuesday evening, the mayor raised eyebrows with his very first words, dropping the news that the number of confirmed cases in the five boroughs had increased significantly.
“I’m really sorry to tell you this,” de Blasio said, “because the number has gone up, literally, over 100 cases in the day. We’re at 923 cases at this hour tonight, with 10 people who passed away.”
“It’s unbelievable how rapidly this crisis is growing right now,” de Blasio added.
His comments quickly sparked a flurry of both concern and criticism online.
Earlier in the day, de Blasio made headlines for saying that New York City might issue a shelter-in-place order, similar to the one enacted in San Francisco on Monday. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo initially contradicted the mayor, saying such a drastic move was not under consideration, but then later said that it was being discussed. (In the interview with de Blasio, Williams frankly described the relationship between the mayor and the governor as “horrendous, and I’m being kind,” which de Blasio denied, but only slightly: “I wouldn’t go that far.”)
“We should all be concerned how we find a way to slow down the trajectory of this virus,” de Blasio warned. “The idea of shelter-in-place has to be considered now.”
“What I was trying to say to New Yorkers is this is the reality we’re facing. Get ready for the possibility, because it’s not so distant an idea at this point,” the mayor added. “Even a week ago I would have said, ‘No, that’s impossible.’ But not any more.”
Imposing a shelter-in-place order will undoubtedly have serious economic impacts, and de Blasio predicted “not just soup kitchens, but mass feeding operations” would be necessary to keep families from going hungry.
“I don’t say that to be apocalyptic,” said de Blasio, “I say it to be practical.”
De Blasio also discussed the city’s hospital capacity and shared serious concerns about whether there would be enough ICU beds for patients and critical safety equipment to protect health care workers. On Tuesday, the mayor also signed an executive order ending all elective surgeries by the end of the week in order to allow those resources to be redirected to coronavirus patients.
“[We need to] not only to free up the equipment, we need the beds, we need the medical personnel to be 100 percent focused on what will be a torrent of coronavirus cases,” said de Blasio.
Watch the video above, via MSNBC.
