As the COVID-19 delta variant continues to push positivity rates up across the five boroughs (link to vic’s article), Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday night remained steadfast on not reimposing restrictions.
To that point, the mayor said his administration does not currently have an internal case count threshold where they would consider reimplementing restrictions, arguing instead that vaccinating New Yorkers remains the most important and effective way to beat back the pandemic.
“There’s not a specific number at this moment because what matters the most is the toughest impact that COVID has, when COVID has a really profound impact on someone’s health, obviously when we lose our fellow New Yorkers, what we’re seeing is, thank God, very few people are suffering the worst impacts of COVID,” de Blasio told NY1 political anchor Errol Louis on his weekly “Mondays with the Mayor” segment on “Inside City Hall.” “It’s not time to be talking about those theoreticals. It’s time to be talking about vaccination.”
When asked whether or not the city would consider mandating city workers get vaccinated against COVID-19, de Blasio said more and more employees are choosing to get the vaccine, though he admitted he’s watching the situation “with urgency.”
Responding to a viewer’s question on why his administration is moving forward with moving homeless New Yorkers out of hotels and back into shelters while the delta variant spreads across the city, de Blasio said nearly 10 million vaccine doses have been distributed, and added that vaccines are available to every single individual in shelter for free.