Bill de Blasio Warns ‘Full Shutdown’ of New York City Could Happen Within Weeks

On the same day an ICU nurse became the first person in New York to receive the coronavirus vaccine, the city’s Mayor Bill de Blasio shared some upsetting news as well.

New York City could go into a “full shutdown” in a couple of weeks due to the state’s rising coronavirus cases.

“There’s the potential of having to do a full pause, a full shutdown, in the coming weeks, because we can’t let this kind of momentum go,” de Blasio told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota — backing Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (NY-D) prediction that a second lockdown could happen this winter.

Camerota first challenged the mayor, questioning why indoor dining was suspended last week despite the fact that restaurants account for less than 1.5 percent of the coronavirus spread in the state.

De blasio explained that positive cases increased at a shocking rate this past few weeks, also noting that hospitals are beginning to treat significantly more coronavirus patients.

“We’re seeing the kind of level of infection with the coronavirus we haven’t seen since May and we have got to stop that momentum — or else, our hospital system will be threatened,” de Blasio said.

“This kind of momentum that the disease has right now? We’ve got to stop it. We’ve got to stop it before it causes too much damage, too much pain,” he continued. “And we have to stop it to give time for the vaccine to really be properly distributed.”

Watch above, via CNN.