Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on 1010 WINS

May 19, 2020

Brigitte Quinn: Joining us live on the 1010 WINS News Line, Mayor de Blasio. Mr. Mayor, great to have you here, so much to talk about including all that good news about testing but I got to ask you first about the NYPD shutting down that yeshiva in Brooklyn. We've heard from a Jewish leader who said that while there were no excuses for a yeshiva to violate a stay-at-home order, the school administrator said no formal classes were being held, that there were masks being used, social distancing was in place. What do you say to that?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Look, I respect their desire to continue the work they do, but when other people aren't doing it, they can't do it either. It's just the reality. We don't have school in session in the public schools, we're not allowing any non-essential businesses to open up. So, it's one standard for everyone and, by the way, throughout the communities of this city, Brigitte, there's been incredible compliance with this standard. I love this city, you love this city, but let's face it, there's a lot of people in New York City who like to create their own rules. But in this case, it's been amazing, the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers have really followed these rules very, very carefully. So, when you see something like this you're like, come on, we can't have that. It creates too much of a danger and we've got to be consistent across the whole city.

Quinn: Is that to say, Mr. Mayor, that the NYPD will be looking for other schools possibly operating and disobeying the rules?

Mayor: We have been because there's been reports for weeks now of "underground schools." And if we find them, we'll shut them down, and they won't come back, I assure you. Because if we have to shut down the building itself, we will. But I have heard a lot of reports but there's been very few instances where there was actually evidence. I keep saying to your colleagues in the media, anyone who knows of something like that in any community, we want to know about it, so NYPD can shut it down.

Quinn: About the beaches, Mr. Mayor, I know you talked with the Nassau Executive yesterday, Long Island officials worry that city residents are going to flood the Long Island beaches. What is your message to city residents who are looking for a place to cool off?

Mayor: Well, I had a great talk with the Nassau County Executive, Laura Curran, and she understands how important the city and the people of New York City are to the suburbs and the suburbs are to New York City. We're working together. We can't open our beaches. We cannot take the chance of a huge number of people congregating together. I mean, look at Coney Island on a typical beach weekend, hundreds of thousands of people in one place. That goes against everything we're trying to achieve to keep New Yorkers safe. But it's a different reality in Long Island. It's a different reality in New Jersey. And I think the concern there is to follow the state rules and keep beach attendance limited. And I'm sure they'll be able to do it. So, I think New Yorkers need to be smart about keeping ourselves and our families safe which means we don't want to be anywhere that's too crowded. 

Whether it's a beach or a subway or any place else, you don't want to be any place that's too crowded. And there's lots of other great things happening outdoors. I don't want people outdoors too much because that's again a part of the problem too, if people hang out too much and crowd together. But New Yorkers – look, Brigitte, people are doing an amazing job adapting and finding a way to stay safe. And everyone's – you know, I see a lot of people social distancing, a lot of people wearing face coverings, I want to see more but I do think people are on the right track. 

Quinn: Right, back to the water for a second. Some people including the City Council Speaker have expressed concerns about maybe New Yorkers – because the city beaches are closed officially – going to unauthorized dangerous places for swimming. Is anything being done to monitor those potential swimming areas?

Mayor: Sure, Brigitte. I mean that's a concern by the way – most of the year the beaches aren't open obviously and that's a concern we have even when there isn't something as horrible as this pandemic. So, there is a regular presence on the beaches to guard against people trying to swim but there's going to be much more now. You're going to see a lot of Parks Department patrols, NYPD, you know, making sure people know it's just not appropriate to go in the water and it's dangerous. There will not be lifeguards on duty. The beaches are not open for swimming. Maybe later in the summer we'll be able to, and I'd love nothing more but for now, people need to recognize, you can walk on the beach, you can sit on the beach, but you can't swim, you can't do sports, you can't do gatherings. And we'll have plenty of folks out there enforcing it.

Quinn: Let's talk about testing. New sites opening – the latest in Washington Heights, Midwood, Brooklyn. If testing increases do the number of positives go up and could that potentially be a setback for the city meeting the criteria to reopen?

Mayor: It's a great question, Brigitte. Look, we don't make our decision about the future based on the number of cases. It's on the percentage of people testing positive. And we put up those three daily indicators that all New Yorkers can see that are telling us what our pathway is to taking the steps towards reopening. So, the more you test, the more truth you get, right. You're going to figure out really a much deeper understanding of what's going on in the rest of our city with this disease. But what we're interested in is the percentage. We already know there's a lot of people that's been exposed to the coronavirus who didn't even know it. We know there's a lot of people who got it much earlier on but what we want to know is how active is it right now, and that you can tell from the percentage. In fact, if you test – like, right now, we're talking about the ability to test 20,000 people a day right this minute. And that number is going to grow to 50,000 a day or more. So, we're going to have a better and better picture of what's happening. In fact, I think there's a good likelihood the more people you test, the numbers go down even more because remember a lot of people have already been exposed and we want the truth. When that percentage keeps getting lower and lower, that's when you can start to relax some of these restrictions.

Quinn: I know I'm supposed to let you go right now, Mayor de Blasio, I have to ask you very quickly, I know you used to like to go to the gym a lot. What are you planning on doing for exercise and fun for the holiday weekend?

Mayor: Brigitte, let me tell you, I think there's a lot of us who are missing our exercise. I'd like to – I'd like it to be like it normally was but for now, I'm doing like so many other people are. When I can get a walk in, I get a walk in, or do some exercise at home. But it's not the same as being able to get a full workout. But look, the weather's been beautiful the last few days. I mean even getting outside, spending some time – Chirlane and I like to go for walks together. And this too shall pass. This won't go on too much longer, I really believe that. And the day's going to come when we can all get back to enjoying what's great about this place. 

Quinn: In the meantime, we'll be wearing our masks and taking some nice walks, keeping our distance from people, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Exactly.

Quinn: Thanks so very much and enjoy your holiday weekend.

Mayor: Thank you, Brigitte, you too.