Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani: Good afternoon. I want to thank Commissioner Farrell and other leaders of our administration for joining me as we prepare for the extreme heat wave that we are expecting this week. Beginning tomorrow, New York City will enter a heat emergency that will last through the 4 of July weekend. Temperatures will climb into the high 90s and triple digits. With humidity, it will feel even hotter, with a heat index that could peak around 112 degrees. If the forecast holds, this could be the hottest 4 of July since 2010. These are extremely dangerous conditions, and they will affect every part of our city.
To prepare, I have activated the City's Heat Emergency Plan. Since last week, our city agencies have been proactively coordinating to keep New Yorkers and tourists safe. We will also issue targeted alerts through our city's advanced warning system to protect our most vulnerable neighbors, like older New Yorkers and those with chronic illnesses. Beginning tomorrow, the city will open hundreds of cooling centers across the five boroughs, including locations at the Javits Center, our schools, a number of library branches and right here at NYCEM headquarters. Visit nyc.gov/beattheheat for a map of cooling center, including accessible and pet-friendly options and for more information on how to stay safe.
Our plan also includes several first-of-their-kind measures. To protect our most vulnerable New Yorkers, we are activating more than 2,200 link NYC kiosks to display real-time directions to the nearest NYC cooling center within a 10-minute walk. We are also launching a fleet of 15 never-before-used Cooling Outreach On-location Vans. These vehicles, known as COOL vans, are operated by New York City Health + Hospitals and will be open to any New Yorker who needs medical care; resources like water and electrolytes; meals including vegetarian, kosher and halal options; and transport to cooling centers. They will be staffed by medical providers who will also be checking in on older adults in their homes to provide them with relief from the heat.
As we activate a Code Red tomorrow, we are intensifying our street canvas and outreach efforts from noon up until 8 p.m. A total of 600 outreach workers will reach out to New Yorkers in need. Shelters are available system-wide for anyone who is homeless. Walk-ins are welcome. And with conditions this dangerous, I am asking every New Yorker to make a heat plan before the worst of it arrives. The single most important thing you can do in these temperatures is to stay indoors with air conditioning. If you can avoid going outside during the hottest hours of the day, please do so. Start figuring out your work and childcare arrangements and know where you will go to stay cool. A few minutes of planning now could help your family stay safe later. Once you have your heat plan, check in on your neighbors, especially seniors, to make sure that they have one too. And if you see someone outside and vulnerable to this heat, call 311 and an outreach team will be sent to help.
I'm also asking every employer to plan ahead with their teams, build in flexibility and make sure no one is put at risk during their jobs this week. City government will contact 75,000 licensees to encourage heat illness plans, reiterate labor laws and remind workers that they are entitled to protected time off for heat-related health issues. Our Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is also partnering with community-based organizations to expand pop-up cooling stations for outdoor workers, including street vendors, delivery workers and day laborers.
Last week, I signed an executive order focused on protecting workers from the hazards of heat. Our administration is hard at work developing guidelines that will keep workers safe. While we finalize these guidelines, I want to urge all employers in New York City to develop those plans to protect your employees. It is not enough to say that they can take breaks when their paycheck is on the line. Workers cannot cool down when they have quotas to meet; they cannot go into a cooling center when they are on the clock. Please make a point of ensuring that your employees know their rights and that they will not face consequences for staying safe. And to every business owner, please set your thermostats to 78 degrees to alleviate the stress on our power grid. Every worker in New York City has the right to a safe workplace and that includes safety in extreme heat.
For New Yorkers looking for other ways to stay cool, our Parks Department offers hundreds of spray showers and thousands of drinking fountains across the five boroughs. They also maintain about 50 free outdoor swimming pools with general hours of operation between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. And during the heat emergency, Olympic and intermediate-sized pools will be open until 8 p.m. To find one near you, go to nycgovparks.org/facilities. Our 14 miles of public beaches will also remain open during this heat wave, with lifeguards on duty between 10 a.m. and 6p.m. And for those who want to keep cool with a fire hydrant, anyone 18 or older can obtain a free, city-approved fire hydrants spray cap from their local firehouse. However you plan to spend these next few days, the best way to stay up to date is by signing up for Notify NYC. All you have to do is to text NOTIFYNYC to 692-692.
Finally, we know that these temperatures are arriving during what should be a week of celebration, gathering and outdoor fun. New York City is welcoming the world this week with World Cup matches, 4 of July events and Sail4th 250 commemorations. City agencies are currently coordinating here today at the Emergency Operations Center for the World Cup match, and no one is better prepared to handle complicated events and dangerous weather. Together, we will continue managing the heat, this month's celebrations and whatever comes our way.
We also want to ask New Yorkers to look out for tourists who may not be used to this heat. Help someone looking for a water fountain, bring someone you may see struggling into the shade and, yes, share your sunscreen. And if you or someone you know has hot, dry skin, trouble breathing, rapid heartbeat, confusion, disorientation, dizziness, nausea or are vomiting, do not hesitate, call 911 immediately. Our city has faced heat like this before and each time we have gotten through it by looking out for one another. This weekend will be no different. Make a plan, stay hydrated and check on your neighbors. Thank you. I will now pass it over to our NYCEM Commissioner, Christina Farrell.
Commissioner Christina Farrell, New York City Emergency Management: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. This week, New York City is facing a serious and dangerous stretch of extreme heat, some of the most intense our city has seen in years. The mayor laid out the forecast — what I want New Yorkers to understand is why an event like this is so dangerous. An Extreme Heat Watch is in effect Wednesday through Saturday, with the worst conditions forecast Wednesday through Friday. And just as dangerous as the daytime highs, there will sadly be little relief overnight. That means the heat builds on itself day after day, and the body never really gets a real chance to recover. That's what makes a multi-day event like this so risky.
The cooling centers opening Wednesday are not just one kind of place. They are in libraries, senior centers and community spaces in every neighborhood, so that every New Yorker who needs somewhere cool and safe has one close by. Find the location nearest to you at nyc.gov/beattheheat or by calling 311. Our cooling centers will be open, but there is a full universe of places with air conditioning, like a friend or a family member's home or a local mall or movie theater. Our agencies are coordinated and ready, and our outreach teams are on the streets, meeting our, reaching our most vulnerable neighbors, including New Yorkers experiencing homelessness.
This is where every one of you can help. If you see someone who appears homeless and in need of coming out of the heat, call 311. An outreach team will respond. And that one phone call can save someone's life. I also want to ask New Yorkers to take this heat seriously. If you have not already figured out where you will go to stay cool, do it today before the worst of it arrives. Drink water before you feel thirsty. Stay out of the sun during the hottest hours and never leave a child, a vulnerable adult or a pet in a parked car — not even for one minute. A car can heat up fast enough to be deadly in a matter of minutes. I want to speak directly to the people who keep this city running in the heat. To our outdoor and indoor workers and to the delivery workers and couriers moving through these streets all day: protection from extreme heat is a part of a safe workplace and it applies to you. Drink water often, take your breaks in the shade or in air conditioning and stop and tell someone the moment you start to feel sick. The cooling centers are open to you, too.
And to employers: Please build flexibility into this week and look out for your people. No job is worth someone's health or their life. And please check on the people around you: older neighbors, young children [and] anyone living alone or without working air conditioning. We know from experience here and around the world that heat takes lives quietly at home among the isolated. The most powerful tool we have this week is not a forecast or a cooling center; it is a New Yorker knocking on a neighbor's door to make sure that they are okay. Stay cool, stay informed and check on the people who may not check on themselves. Our teams will be working through every hour of this, and we will keep you updated. Now I'd like to introduce Health Commissioner Martin.
Commissioner Alister Martin, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you, Commissioner Farrell, and thank you all for joining us this afternoon. It's a beautiful day outside, but it's going to get a whole lot hotter. And we are here to give New Yorkers the tools they need to beat the heat in an unprecedented way under Mayor Mamdani's leadership. As temperatures start to rise, here's what every New Yorker needs to know. High temperatures are not just uncomfortable, they're dangerous. Our data shows that every summer, approximately 500 New Yorkers die of heat-related causes. And look, as an emergency physician, I've seen this show up in my ER time and time again. It doesn't just cause heat stroke; it worsens heart conditions, lung disease [and] kidney problems. By the time somebody reaches me in the emergency room, we're often already behind. That's why we are here today to intervene long before that happened.
The first thing you can do is to learn the warning signs. You've heard some of them today. I'll repeat them: hot and dry skin, confusion, unresponsiveness, loss of consciousness, nausea or vomiting, trouble breathing [and] dizziness. If you feel any of these symptoms, stop what you're doing and call 911 immediately or go to your nearest emergency room. Your health is our priority always, but especially now as summer temperatures rise. We're committed to providing safe places to get out of the heat well before heat stroke sets in. There are more than 500 cooling centers across our city. This summer for the first time, the New York City Health Department is opening its own doors in its facilities to New Yorkers to serve as cooling centers. These are cooling centers across places like Brownsville, East Harlem [and] Tremont. All summer long, New Yorkers will be able to find reprieve from extreme heat and get connected to services at the same place. The Javits Center will also be open as a cooling center from July 3 through the 5, as you've heard the mayor say, as will the lobby of the place we're in right now, NYCEM’s headquarters. To find a cooling Center near you, visit nyc.gov/beattheheat, or call 911-311.
This summer, the Health Department is taking another unprecedented step under Mayor Mamdani, and that is with trusted community-based organizations, we are standing up seven brand new pop-up cooling stations across all five boroughs. These air-misted, open-air spaces where outdoor workers, deliveristas [and] people who cannot get out of the heat can enjoy relief, cool off, hydrate and get out of the sun. Just last week, the mayor announced a new executive order mandating increased workplace protections during extreme heat, because no one should have to risk their health to put food on the table or make next month's rent. This administration is taking unprecedented action to protect New Yorkers and ensure that heat is taken seriously as a hazard on the job. No matter where New Yorkers are, it's imperative that everyone has options to beat the heat.
The bottom line is this: Mayor Mamdani and our colleagues across City government are working to make sure New Yorkers can celebrate all the events of this summer safely. But we can't do that without your help. And as the city's doctor, I want to ask one more favor of you: Don't just watch for signs of distress in yourself; watch for them in your neighbors, in your parents, your grandparents, the elderly person that lives alone down the hallway. Because the people who are most at risk from heat are often the people who were least likely to ask for help. And so, one of the most effective things we can do is ask that person next to us: “Are you okay? Do you need water? Can I help get you inside”? If the summer of 2026 here in New York has taught us anything, it's that we show up for our city and we show up for each other. Thank you. And with that, I'm gonna hand it over to Commissioner Scott McKenzie.
Commissioner Lisa Scott-McKenzie, Department for the Aging: Older adults, let's keep in mind what we've heard here today. Extreme heat is not just uncomfortable; it is dangerous, and it can even be life threatening. Let's keep it in mind that especially for older adults and people living with chronic health conditions, as we age, our bodies become less able to regulate temperature, which means that heat-related illnesses can develop quickly and often without warning. The good news is that we can prevent the effects of heat-related illness, particularly for those that are older adults. Make use of air conditioning during the hottest part of the day and take advantage of the city's cooling centers. New York City Aging over this holiday weekend will operate 280 cooling centers during the week and 210 over the weekend. Stay hydrated. Drink more water than you think you need.
And lastly, I want to ask every New Yorker to do one simple but important thing: Check on an older adult. Call an older family member or friend. Knock on a neighbor's door. Ask if they need your assistance. These small acts of kindness could save a life. Protecting older New Yorkers is a shared responsibility. I’m so happy that this administration is working hard to keep you safe. And by preparing, looking out for one another and using the resources the city has made available, we can help every New Yorker to stay safe during this period of extreme heat. Thank you. I'd like to introduce Commissioner Dalton.
Commissioner Erin Dalton, Department of Social Services: Thank you. It's obviously going to be very hot, right? You've heard that. And that is dangerous for New Yorkers, but particularly those served by the Department of Social Services. At DSS HRA, we are checking on Adult Protective Services and other vulnerable clients to make sure they have what they need to stay cool over the next few days. We are also working with the shelters and hospitals to ensure that people are welcome to stay and people have a place to go at discharge.
I want to focus the rest of my comments though on unsheltered homelessness. Using years of data from outreach from 311 and from the Hope Count, we have broken the city into zones that are walkable or drivable in a shift. We will deploy more than 200 teams of DHS staff, contracted staff, street outreach providers, state SOS teams and trained city volunteers to walk or drive these zones. Along the prescribed route, teams will visit places we know to be encampments or places where homeless individuals are known to be frequenting. We will offer heat education and cooling supplies. We will connect people to cooling centers, to shelters, to drop-in centers, to safe havens or back to family and offer assistance with transportation as necessary. We will do whatever it takes to support someone to come inside during this heat. Our teams will also get support from the 15 H+H COOL vans that you heard about and the 18 DHS nurses to provide medical evaluation and assess competency as needed. We will be visible, and I think that's also different. Everyone will be wearing fluorescent yellow vest with Code Red branding. I want to echo what the mayor and other commissioners have said about calling 311. This is a very large city, and we need the public's help to notify us about New Yorkers who might need our help and be very vulnerable at that time. By using 311 to identify and respond to New Yorkers in need and using our homeless street outreach teams to support people the public may never see, we will hope to keep everyone safe during these very difficult days. Thank you.
Question: Two questions. The first is, what protections do people have? I know you signed an executive order a few weeks ago, Mayor Mamdani, for UPS drivers, Amazon drivers. What recourse do they have if they don't have air-conditioned trucks or are not provided water? And during this heat wave, will evictions be halted? And then another question is — I ask this for every heat wave and I understand there's staffing issues and there's worker protection issues — what can be done to extend lifeguard hours on City beaches because people still go in the water and swim, but there are no lifeguards there at their chairs to protect people. So, is there anything, whether it's shift or anything, that can be done?
Mayor Mamdani: So, I appreciate the question, and I also appreciate the focus. We have been in conversations with our partners in labor. I think one of the key things I do want to highlight is that our lifeguards are out there for hours in this intense heat, and they are doing so while providing what are oftentimes life-saving services to New Yorkers. And so, we are also looking to negotiate their safety as well as that of New Yorkers at large. At this time, as I shared earlier, it is still the standard hours. However, we have made an extension at our city pools, and some of that also comes as a reflection of the unique challenges when it comes to our beaches.
And then the first question that you asked, we are doing something which city government has not done before, which is that we are reaching out to more than 70,000 licensees of both DCWP and DOHMH, reminding them of their obligations under labor law and also encouraging them to put forward plans to deal with heat-related illness as well as guidance for their employees. The executive order that I signed a few days ago or a week ago — to be honest with you, I'm not sure what time is at this moment. That is one that spoke about us promulgating rules over a period of time. That is obviously continuing, but the heat is not waiting for anyone. I'm going to just call up our DCWP Commissioner Levine to add some additional details.
Commissioner Sam Levine, Department of Consumer and Worker Protection: Thanks very much, mayor. As the mayor alluded to, we will be sending notices to all of our 45,000 licensees. DOHMH is also sending notices to its licensees reminding them, in addition to the obligations the mayor referenced, that New York City's employees are entitled to protected time off. If you feel that your health is at risk, if you feel that your family's health is a risk, you have a right to take off time in New York City, stay home to take care of yourself, take care of your family and, as my colleagues alluded to, take care of your neighbors as well.
Question: Could you confirm if your administration is planning to release data if there are any heat-related deaths in real time, like you did during the cold snap?
Mayor Mamdani: We will always look to be direct with New Yorkers about the dangers that they will face from this level of heat. As I've said, we know that on an annual basis we lose about 500 New Yorkers due to heat-related illness. However, we are speaking about conditions that go beyond that of an annual basis. We are speaking about what could be the hottest day in more than a decade. And we will continue to communicate with New Yorkers over the course of these next few days.
Question: Can you talk about the libraries as cooling centers? Brooklyn Library, for example, [is] closed on Friday and Saturday and Sunday, and yet they're promoted as primary cooling centers. So, what should folks know? Is there a push to get them open on those holidays?
Mayor Mamdani: As you have mentioned, we are speaking about not just the next few days, but also a federal holiday coming up with July 4. And we have worked with a number of libraries [that] will be open throughout the entirety of this period of heat. As was said earlier, the most intensive period of the heat is tomorrow, Thursday and Friday. It continues to be hot, but slightly less over the weekend. For New Yorkers who want to have the most up-to-date information of where each and every cooling center will be available, go to nyc.gov/beattheheat. Whether it's tomorrow or it's Saturday or it’s Sunday, there will be more than 200 cooling centers available. And for the first time, we are going to have not only these cooling centers in fixed physical locations, but also busses that will serve as cooling centers as well as vans that will transport people to cooling centers and also, most importantly, checking in on older adults that anyone has called with concerns about.
Question: Two questions for you. The first one being, obviously, this is an extremely busy time in New York City with the World Cup and Fourth of July. How much of that emphasis is being put on this safety plan? And then sort of jumping off of this — it's slightly off topic — multiple outlets are confirming that Taylor Swift's wedding is happening at MSG this Thursday and Friday. Anything you can share on that? And to that point, should New Yorkers be aware of street closures that we saw during the Knicks games and watch parties and those types of things?
Mayor Mamdani: My recommendation to all New Yorkers is to stay inside and stay cool, and if you happen to be getting married at Madison Square Garden, you will be staying inside and you will be staying cool. And I think it's a good example to set for the city at large. These temperatures are extraordinary temperatures. Yes, we are proud to be hosting World Cup matches. I think France and Sweden is kicking off shortly. And we are proud to have Sail4th 250 as well as [celebrating] the 250th anniversary of our nation. And we also know that even if this were just any other year — to be breaking into triple digits over the course of these many next days, it is of immense concern given that too often the heat is something that is underestimated.
You know, we have heard from commissioners across a wide variety of city agencies [and] departments. We cannot emphasize enough how important it is to stay safe, how important it is to take this heat seriously. Many of us grew up watching commercials where they would tell us to “stay thirsty, my friends.” I think the recommendation for this weekend is to stay quenched. Drink as much water as you can [and] put on as much sunscreen as you can find. This is a time to try and stay indoors as much as you can. And for those who want to be outside, we always want to do whatever we can to make sure that's safe, whether it's extending the hours at New York City swimming pools, or it's ensuring that we are providing as much guidance as possible to get to a place with air conditioning.
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