Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on CNN's State of the Union

March 15, 2020

Brianna Keilar: Welcome back to State of the Union. I'm Brianna Keilar in for Jake Tapper. A week ago, it was a request that seemed impossible, avoid crowds in the Big Apple. But New York City has taken some major steps to slow the spread of coronavirus as more people test positive there, including a guest at the city's Ronald McDonald House and a New York City firefighter. Joining me now is New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us this Sunday.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you, Brianna.

Keilar: So, New York, obviously, is one of the most densely populated cities in America, so, I wonder, given how prevalent the virus is in New York, do you think it's likely that everyone in your city has actually come into contact with this virus?

Mayor: I don't think we can say that, Brianna. But we can say because of community's spread, it is clearly widespread already in New York City and will continue to grow. I mean, the numbers – we had 25 confirmed cases on Monday. We have 269 this morning and that number is going to grow today. We're going to clearly have a thousand cases at some point next week, probably not even too far into next week. There is community spread in New York City, but that doesn't mean that people should be overwhelmed. It means people have to be smart about listening to all that guidance from the health care professionals doing their best to have some distance, to basic fundamental precautions – the hand washing, the hand sanitizer, the covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze. And Brianna, most, especially, if you're sick, if you feel sick, don't go to work, don't send your kid to school. If they feel sick, don't go near older folks with those serious preexisting medical conditions. There's such concern. That's who we're losing in this crisis that's what we're seeing all over the world – over 50, especially over 70, over 80 with those serious, serious heart, lung and other preexisting conditions. Keep them away from anyone who's sick or might be sick.

Keilar: Let's talk about something that Dr. Fauci just said, which is he'd like to see this dramatic drop in the number of people in public places like restaurants, like bars. In New York, I mean, you just have a number of these on each city block, right? But many people are going to restaurants and bars – they're chock full, still. Are you considering putting in place a lockdown in New York City? Or, are you considering having restaurants and bars shut down in New York City?

Mayor: Brianna, every option is on the table in a crisis. There’s one – we've never seen anything like this. Let's be clear, this is a crisis that will be with us, first of all, I believe, at least six months. It's unlike anything we've dealt with in our memory. It's changing every hour. So, we're going to constantly make new decisions. Now, the City of New York and the State of New York are working very closely, and Governor Cuomo and I agreed that the first step was to end the events and gatherings of over 500 people, cancel all of them. Any space that handles any kind of event, space, entertainment, gathering over 500 – canceled; under 500, cut in half to create some of that social distance. That's where we are today. That could change literally daily, depending on the information we're receiving.

Keilar: You say you're going to fight tooth and nail to keep New York City schools open so that kids who rely on free and reduced lunches and meals will not go hungry and so the parents won't have to miss work to watch their kids. Attendance, as you know, is down significantly. Some teachers are actually calling for a mass sick-out. More schools are closing by the day nationwide. It seems likely that you may not be able to well to do this for much longer. Is that what you believe at this point in time?

Mayor: Brianna, it is literally a day-by-day reality. I listened carefully to Governor DeWine, and I think what he said is one of the truths – that if our school system does shut down at any point, even though we would try to keep that – if it happened, we'd try and keep it brief – my blunt fear is, if the school shut down, they will be done for the year, done for the school year, maybe even for the calendar year. So, I'm very reticent to shut down schools for a variety of reasons, not just that that's where a lot of kids get their only good meals, where they get adult supervision, especially teenagers who otherwise would be out on the streets – there's health and safety ramifications to that. Those first responders, those health care workers who depend on the schools so they can get to work, and we need those workers desperately – a lot of factors here. But, Brianna, it is literally a day-by-day reality. If we can keep our schools going, we will. If at any point we feel it doesn't make sense, we'll make a move.

Keilar: Are you ready to shut them down, though? Including alternative plans for getting those meals to people who need them?

Mayor: As we have been dealing with this the last few days, a variety of contingencies are being set up. They are far from perfect. Let's be clear, this is just – I think people deserve real talk, Brianna – the difference between a functioning school system for over a million kids versus creating alternative centers for feeding or for the kids of health care workers, that kind of thing – we’ll, in every way we can – if we got to that point, we would improvise anything and everything, but it will not be by any means as good, by definition, as what we do every day when we have a functioning school system. But those contingencies are being built as we speak.

Keilar: The President made several claims on Friday that the White House later had to clarify. So, are you getting clear information from the White House, from the Trump administration?

Mayor: No. Brianna, we haven't for so long. On January 24th, I held a press conference at our Emergency Management Office, calling for the federal government to support us with localized testing. We didn't get the ability to do localized testing until just about two weeks ago. We're playing a huge game of catch up in this country. Let me say it very bluntly, the federal government, at least the last few days, has started to come alive and do something. But we are so far behind. We need massive testing capacity all over the country, particularly in the most affected areas. We need the federal government to take over the supply chain right now. Right now, we have to make sure that the places in this country that need more ventilators, that need surgical masks, that need hand sanitizer, that, that is a federalized dynamic, where those factories that produce those goods are put on 24/7 shifts and those goods are distributed where they're needed most as we would in wartime. That is where we are right now. And by the way, Brianna, right behind that is the question of food and basic supplies. If the federal government doesn't realize this is the equivalent of a war already, there is no way that states and localities can make all the adjustments we need to. I agree with Governor DeWine, I'll reach across the aisle. We are all on our own in so many ways and I think mayors and governors are doing their best to quickly improvise, mobilize our cities, you know, cancel those elective surgeries, all sorts of things we can do, but we cannot control the supply chain. We cannot control the foundation of where our medical supplies and equipment come from. The only hope is that the federal government actually wakes up and realizes we're in a war and takes over the situation and determines how we can actually get through this.

Keilar: Mayor de Blasio, thank you so much for joining us on State of the Union.

Mayor: Thank you very much, Brianna.