Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Appears Live on the Brian Lehrer Show

August 20, 2021

Brian Lehrer: It's the Brian Lehrer Show on WNYC. Good morning, again, everyone. Time now for our weekly Ask The Mayor call-in – my questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio at 646-435-7280. You can also tweet a question, just use the hashtag, #askthemayor and we'll watch that Twitter feed go by. And good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC. 

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. And Brian, I have breaking news I'd like to break right here on WNYC. Two major updates. The first, we can now say for the last two weeks in a row, we have had more than a hundred thousand folks come in to be vaccinated for the first time in New York City. So, two weeks running, a hundred thousand plus each week, first dose. And so that's a really good sign about the various efforts to get people to get vaccinated for the first time. Also, of those, in the month of August 59 percent of those doses were Black and Latino New Yorkers. So, really good news in terms of fighting disparity. 

But here's the other breaking news. This is a new mandate we're going to put in place related to school sports. We're talking about the bigger school situation going forward, but for school sports for high-risk sports, that will include – and this is for public schools, specifically, PSAL sports football, volleyball, basketball, wrestling, lacrosse, and rugby, and because it is indoors only, and the kinds of locations, bowling as well – we will have a vaccine mandate for all athletes, for all coaches and athletic directors, all the adult personnel. First dose must be acquired by the first day of competitive play. So, any athlete, any coach has to have gotten their first dose of the vaccine by the first day of play or the first time that they practice with a team. So, this is really important for anyone who is an athlete or intends to be an athlete or be involved. You can go to a vaccine.schools.nyc for more information, but we want to make sure our athletes are safe, given the particular nature of these sports. And so, we're putting that mandate in place.  

Lehrer: I didn't know we had varsity bowling in New York City public schools. Definitely didn't have it – 

Mayor: It’s a world of wonders, Brian. 

Lehrer: Definitely didn't have it when I was in high school. It might've been the only sport I would have qualified for. The vaccination requirement that you just laid out for coaches though, are you considering applying it to all teachers and removing the negative COVID test option for teachers in particular, as some parents are calling for, because kids are so vulnerable? 

Mayor: Yeah. We're actively looking right now at different actions we could take in terms of the schools. So, right now, as you know, it is a vaccine or test. We're looking at additional options right now. We're talking to the stakeholders about it. There's a lot of energy out there for a larger mandate and that's something we're considering quickly. 

Lehrer: Question about schools here, I think, from Tazeen in South Brooklyn. Tazeen, you’re on WNYC with the Mayor. Thank you for calling in. 

Question: No, thank you. Hey, Mayor, calling from the land of the occupied Lenape people – I mean occupied land of Lenape people in Brooklyn South from a school district where every ZIP is exhibiting high community spread, lower vaccination rates, seven-day case average of a hundred plus, where most of the schools are over-utilized title one schools, and a case of a school spread [inaudible] been documented, and majority of the students are below the age of vaccination. What is the rationale [inaudible] behind not instating a remote option, despite thousands of parents’ demand across the city, and specifically in my district? I just want to preempt your – the part of your answer, where you say the school are safe by reminding you that the schools haven't been seeing the capacity – haven’t been seeing the capacity of students returning, like the way they were expected to and using mass transit, inadequate classroom [inaudible], and without a mask mandate, and of course, dubious quarantining and testing protocols. Would you explain to me what I should tell my parents who are asking and begging for a remote option?  

Mayor: Thank you for the question, Tazeen. And even though I respect – you know, obviously if you want to preempt, that's your right, but I don't agree with the way you preempted because it wasn't accurate. The fact is we have seen really consistently, including in Summer Rising, which is happening right now, we have seen real consistent results. We are not seeing the kind of spread that people are worried about. I don't blame anyone for worrying and we need to be constantly vigilant, but in fact, we have a mask mandate. So that's one of the areas I respectfully want different with you on, we have had a mask mandate all year last year. We have it now in Summer Rising, we will have it in the new school year. It has been a key part of what worked. We also have just a massive level of vaccination, which is the big difference maker, 5.2 million New Yorkers who have had at least one dose, high numbers in the school system among staff and growing, 300,000 12- to 17-year-olds have gotten at least one dose already. That number is growing rapidly as school is coming on. We have a different reality than so much of the rest of the country, because we have a high level of vaccination and we're using all the other health and safety measures simultaneously – the ventilation, the masking, everything simultaneously. And ultimately what our doctors say – and I'm going to listen to them – is it's really been damaging for so many kids to be away from a school setting, in some cases a year-and-a-half. We cannot continue that. We need our kids back in school. 

Lehrer: A lot of parents are frustrated by what looks like a lack of specific information that reminds them of their frustrations with that last year. Like since you're not planning a remote option or any hybrid teaching, what happens when certain kids or classes have to quarantine after an outbreak? Do you have a plan for that? 

Mayor: Yeah, it's a really fair point. And, Brian, let me just say I was a public school parent the whole way, through both my kids. I understand parents are concerned about their kids' safety first and foremost. That's the number one thing you feel as a parent. There definitely – we have given a lot of information, but we have to do it better. That's just the blunt reality. So, let's go over what we have said. It's everyone back in school, we're following the CDC and the State education guidance around distancing. We'll have a lot of ventilation in place. We're actually adding extra ventilation in a number of classrooms. Everyone will be masked, adults and students alike. So, on the quarantine dynamic, the quarantine dynamic has changed because of the high level of vaccination now. If you are vaccinated and you're an adult or a student, if you're vaccinated, and if there are cases, either in your classroom or in the school as a whole that cause action – if you are vaccinated and not symptomatic, you stay in school. School keeps going. If you're vaccinated and symptomatic, you go and get tested and then follow through, depending on the test results. If you're unvaccinated, you quarantine. We're going to lay all this out starting next week in very specific detail, sort of a how-to, you know, FAQ kind of thing, to show people exactly how it works. But the thing I want to emphasize is we are going to see a lot of kids stay in school, who last year might have had to go home and quarantine, because we have a different reality now with a high level of vaccination. And we're going to have programming, which will delineate what that's going to look like for the time when kids are in quarantine. We're not going to have a remote option writ large, but we will have programming for kids for those days when those who have to quarantine are in quarantine. 

Lehrer: What will that look like for the kids who are quarantining and what will that demand of their teachers? 

Mayor: So, that's what we'll be delineating starting next week. We’re going to lay everything out in the lead up to school. I'm not going to preempt now, but we're going to make it very clear, so parents and kids have an understanding. But I want to emphasize, I think, the difference, we feel very good about the impact of all these health and safety measures. One of the things our medical leadership, that's really studied this carefully and looked at what's happening around the world, they're saying is, if kids were not in school, then in many, many cases, they had a greater exposure to COVID. The school environment, like a medical environment, is so highly regulated and there's so many health and safety measures in place, that's actually a much safer place than for many kids where they would be otherwise. And, again, you're not going to see the kinds of disruptions we saw last year. We've changed the entire approach because unlike last year, we now have, you know, really striking levels of vaccination. Remember 75 percent of adults in New York City, 75 percent have gotten at least one dose. We didn't have anything like that last year. So, it's a very different reality, but it's our job to lay that out clearly starting next week and in all the weeks leading up to school. 

Lehrer: Of course, a hundred percent of kids under 12 are unvaccinated.  

Mayor: Well, for now, but I just – I don't mean to interrupt, but I want to emphasize, Brian, we think that's going to change in the next few months. We think the five- to 11-year-olds are going to be eligible, depending on who you listen to it could be as early as November. And I think what you're going to see then is a lot of parents just immediately coming and getting those vaccinations. 

Lehrer: You mentioned the filtration in classrooms. Here's a tweet about that. It says, “Ask the Mayor about the justification of the Intellipure filters he spent $40 million on, and his relationship with the CEO Paul Scialla,” if that's how you say his name. And I will add that I saw the article on the education news site, Chalkbeat, about how these are not HEPA filters, which are generally considered the industry standard. And they cited experts that rated this kind of filter, maybe the ninth best on the market and that they're more expensive than ones that were rated higher. Can you defend the choice of these filters? 

Mayor: Well, I can tell you, first of all, I am not a filter expert. And if you will say the name of the person they're saying I know, what's that name again? 

Lehrer: Is it Paul Scialla – 

Mayor: You tell me, spell it – 

Lehrer: S-C-I-A-L-L-A? S-C-I-A-L-L-A. The CEO –  

Mayor: I don’t know that name. Paul Scialla, I don’t –  

Lehrer: The CEO of a company that you –  

Mayor: I don't know – I mean if you’re spelling it right, I don’t know someone what that name. I certainly don't remember. Maybe I've met him, but I don't know who it is.  

Lehrer: Do you know the CEO of Intellipure? 

Mayor: I don't know what Intellipure is, except what you're telling me now. So, I don't do purchasing of filters. And, respectfully, I really don't know what this is about. So, what we will do is our team will happily do the research of what the DOE thinks of those filters and the people who did make those choices or procurement, why they made them, what they think of them, how they've been working, but let's also go to the outcome was. The outcome was the New York City public schools were extraordinarily safe last year. By the end of the school year, the percentage – I think on the last day of school, it was 0.01 was the positivity level in the schools. We got to be clear that what the DOE folks did – and give them credit, the facilities folks, the custodians, everyone really deserves a shout out. They did an amazing job on ventilation, on cleaning. All the adults did a great job on making sure kids wore masks. And the outcomes were stunning. And that's part of what gives me real faith about going forward. But on this one, I really don't know what they are talking about, but our team will certainly follow up with you. 

Lehrer: All right. One more schools thing, Gothamist reports on concerns over a two-tier system of social distancing. Many schools are so overcrowded that three feet of distancing, which is the CDC recommendation, in a mandatory 100 percent in-person setting, therefore the safety standards are going to vary from school to school, depending on levels of overcrowding. Do you have a non-hybrid, actually safe solution for that? 

Mayor: Yeah. I mean, again, I – Brian, for you and for any parent who is concerned, we need tough questions and it's right to do, but I also really want people to look at the level of focus, the way our medical leadership determined what was safe in our schools, the amount of expenditure – you know no expenditure was held back, anything and everything that was necessary to protect our kids and adults. And we're doing it all again. In fact, we're adding features and we're following the CDC guidance and the State education department guidance. So, in fact, because we're reconfiguring classrooms, using other spaces, we feel very good that we can follow that guidance effectively. And distance – remember distance is one of a number of factors. If you have the cleaning, the ventilation, the mask wearing the distance and a high level of vaccination for adults, and then a high level of vaccination, which we are at right now, we're way ahead of the national average in terms of youth vaccination, our numbers, we talked about on this week, the 300,000 kids 12 to 17 years old who have been vaccinated. We're already way ahead of the national average. And I know there's going to be a surge of vaccination. We're doing a huge campaign to get kids vaccinated. So, you have to add together all those things. That's the gold standard we've talked about in the past, but now adding to it a lot more vaccination and even more ventilation capacity. We feel really confident. Our doctors feel confident that we can create a safe environment again, bluntly, a safer environment than a lot of kids would experience in their own neighborhoods where there aren't all those controls and supports in place. 

Lehrer: Dan, on the Lower East Side, you're on WNYC with Mayor de Blasio. Hi, Dan. 

Question: Good morning. Thank you, Brian. I'm a long-time listener. First time caller. Mr. Mayor, good morning. I very much appreciate that you make yourself available for this. There were massive demonstrations back in June, 2020 after George Floyd was killed in Minneapolis across the nation. People, police mobilize to deal with all kinds of demonstrations. Here in New York City, the police set up steel barricades on the corners, wherever there are police stations and every time there's even a hint of protest, those barricades come up so that pedestrians can’t cross cars, can't cross, cars can't park, and so on. Even though they're like steel bike barricades, and they look temporary, they're very much permanent. And I – from my point of view, they are embodying a militarization and takeover of the public space. It is dividing our neighborhoods. And every time I hear news about police wanting to engage with community, I don't get it because this is physically dividing and separating ourselves from the police. Is this something that can be changed? 

Mayor: Yeah, Dan, thank you for the question. It's a really, really helpful question because the – I get – I really feel I get what you're saying, that this creates an atmosphere and it's better to have less. There may be specific situations where the protests come back to a particular precinct, consistently I have seen some of that, other places really we haven't. So, what I'll do is I'll follow up with our team here at City Hall and with the NYPD about where we can just reduce that. I agree with you, the ideal should be to keep reducing. I think there are some places where it won't make sense if they are a place where there's continued protest, but I do hear your point. Let me see if we can identify – if you give your information to WNYC about the specific locations that you're concerned about, that'd be helpful, and I'll have Roberto Perez, who is our Commissioner for Community Affairs, follow up with you as well.  

Lehrer: Dan, if you want to do that, hang on, we'll get your information off the air. I have an NYPD question, which is about the vaccination rate, still under 50 percent as it's being reported, and Gothamist has a story called, “NYPD Orders Unvaccinated Cops to Wear Masks. History Suggests They May Decline.” And the angle is largely that many supervisors at the precinct level are refusing to wear masks themselves, setting an example for the officers who work under them to not have to follow that directive. So, what kind of inspection, enforcement, or discipline are you planning for cops and supervisors who basically thumbed their noses at COVID safety practices?  

Mayor: Yeah, it's a real issue, and it was a real issue, particularly in the beginning of this crisis with COVID. I think it's much better now, bluntly. I don't – I'm never surprised if Gothamist takes a jaded view, but I will say that I've seen – just being all over the city – definitely an improved situation. Still, I want to see every single person who's unvaccinated wearing a mask. And so, we are – you know, the directive that went out to officers was really clear. There will be discipline if folks don't do it, there will be discipline for superiors if they don't do it. But I think we have to do a better job of showing that to the public.  

Lehrer: Is that a jaded view or does history simply suggest that they may decline to follow that directive, and especially a 50 percent or less are still unvaccinated?  

Mayor: I think it is jaded view, because one, we've seen a very profound change in the habits –   
that I've seen it with my own eyes. I spend time going all over the city. I've seen it clearly with PD officers, a different reality than it used to be, but I also think we should be careful. There's – I often find that the public discourse when it comes to policing and police really misses the diversity of our police force. There's to – I think to a lot of people sort of stereotype of exactly who police officers are. I just want to remind everyone, you know, this is a majority people of color police force, this is a police force with almost as many New York City residents in terms of our uniformed officers, as folks who live outside New York City. Wide range of political ideological views. It's not one thing. So, you know, we need to get those vaccination levels up, for sure, but the reason that some people are not vaccinated, for some, it may be philosophical, for some, it may be what we're seeing, for example, still in a number of communities of color, hesitancy about medical establishment and the history of structural racism. There's a lot of different things going on, but what we know is vaccinations continue to rise and the mandate that will be affecting all City agencies soon, we're seeing it agency by agency as it's being phased in. We're seeing it having a real impact. So, I expect those numbers to keep going up.  

Lehrer: As you were giving that answer, one of my colleagues here at the station – not from Gothamist by the way – sent me a note that said the police who were searching bags at Canal Street on Wednesday as they went through at the subway station, were not wearing masks. So, what would you do in that situation? And does it –  

Mayor: That needs to be fixed –  

Lehrer: Contradict –  

Mayor: That's real.   

Lehrer: The message you were just giving.  

Mayor: No, Brian, respectfully, we're talking about 35,000 officers. I would argue, again, that many are doing the right thing and some are not, and we have to fix it. We have to deal with the ones who are not. But what I find interesting is, okay, so some officers at Canal Street were doing the right thing, does is that mean all 35,000 are doing the wrong thing? No. Let's deal with those so, first of all, I would love it if your folks would share those exact details so we can go have the supervisors deal with those officers. But to me, it's really clear, our officers who are unvaccinated need to wear masks. Officers are, have more freedom because they're vaccinated. So, I – and I want to see follow through and I want to see clear discipline, and that's what we'll be doing.   

Lehrer: Bob in Bed-Stuy, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hi Bob.  

Question: Hi, thank you so much for taking my call. Mr. Mayor, it is a great honor to speak with you. So, thank you again for being on the airwaves with all of New York. I just have two –  

Mayor: Thank you very much, Bob. I appreciate that.   

Question: Yeah, and congratulations on an amazing run as Mayor, all your achievements. Two points, first is actually an invitation. I would like to invite you to come down to Bed-Stuy this Saturday from 11 to midnight, to work the door with me at my bar and turn away unvaccinated customers who have been supporting me through every phase of the COVID pandemic, who have supported my business for six years, who are my friends and neighbors, and I would like you to explain to them your policy and why they can no longer patronize my establishment. Secondly, I think that this policy regarding restaurants and the Key to New York is really misguided because there's no test out option for my customers, but you have it for your own employees in the city. There's also no exemption for religious objections to the vaccine, which I respect, and I would hope that you would respect as well. So first of all – I'll stay on the line –I hope you'll join me, 11:00 pm in Bed-Stuy, me and you going to work the door. It's going to be a lot of fun. And secondly, how is there no exemptions possible? And do you expect me to fire my unvaccinated staff and turn away my friends and peers?   

Mayor: Bob, I know your questions are heartfelt and I appreciate it. And while we want people to do over the next weeks is get used to this approach. I think what you're going to, first of all, this is an approach that I don't know if you have outdoor, but I just want to be sure to all the other listeners that this is for indoor. If you have outdoor seating, anyone can go to the outdoor seating, but for the indoor, we believe this is absolutely essential. It's not the same as public service. We really, really appreciate the how important restaurants, bars, movie theaters, indoor entertainment, fitness, all these are really important parts of our city. They're not the same thing as what people do in public service. The fact is, we've seen around the world and we're already seeing here, that this kind of mandate makes an impact. It gets more people vaccinated. So, Bob, I'm sure you might have some individuals who right now are not comfortable, but I'd like to put this in perspective, there's 5.2 million New Yorkers right now who could walk right into your bar, on Saturday, 5.2 million who qualify this minute, more are going to qualify in the course of the day, and then everyone from the suburbs, or even the higher level of vaccination of the suburbs, and the tourists are higher level of vaccination for everything we've seen. So you are right –  

Lehrer: They're not going to Bob's neighborhood bar in Bed-Stuy though, right?   

Mayor: I don't know it was going to Bob's neighborhood. Bob, I hope a lot of people are –but my point is, let me just finish real quick to –   

Question: Mr. Mayor, when you were answering the last question, you said that your vaccinated officers have more freedom. That's the quote you from your last question, you said they have more freedom. So, you're talking about restricting people's freedom. If you want to do it, put a cop on every corner, checking vaccine cards, and see how Brooklyn takes it, see how the people of New York City take it, if you want to restrict their freedoms. Don't put it on to my business to do it. It's coercive. I don't operate a coercive business. I operate a place that's a safe, positive, and a place where people come together, and I do it safely with every rule until now, but this is a step too far.  

Lehrer: Or it’s not safe. But, Mr. Mayor, go ahead.   

Mayor: And Bob, again, I appreciate – I can tell you're speaking from the heart and you're doing something for your neighborhood with your business, which I appreciate, but you do card to people when they buy liquor. So, you know, and, and every business has some version or another of how they regulate their workplace, and we want everyone to be safe and we're in a global pandemic. So, I appreciate your righteousness. Let me give you some righteousness back. We're in a global pandemic. What you do is something important for the city, but it's something people do to enjoy themselves. We want those who want to enjoy themselves to be vaccinated. We need more people to be vaccinated. That’s is the bottom line for defeating COVID and defeating developed to variant. This is mission critical. We know, we've seen this happen around the world, that these kinds of mandates explicitly cause a much greater number of people to get vaccinated. We did not say people needed two shots and wait two weeks. We said, even if you've gotten your first shot that day, you can walk in to encourage people to feel that this was the key to more freedom and more opportunity. But this is one of the ways we defeat COVID. I'm not going to – I will listen to anyone who wants to tell me the problem, and I'm going to work with anyone, but I don't have the single – a single bit of hesitation on this one. We have to defeat the Delta variant. We don't defeat the Delta variant then a lot of businesses will be shut down by restrictions, which Bob, I think you would like even less. So trust me, this is the way we're going to turn the corner here,  

Lehrer: Bob, thank you for your call. We've got a few minutes left. I want to ask you about the so-called Homecoming Week Concerts that have been going on around the city with the big one, of course coming tomorrow, in Central Park, Bruce Springsteen, LL Cool J, Santana, Barry Manilow – for some reason - so many others –  

Mayor: It's a city for everyone. Come on, Brian. Everyone, we got represent all tastes.  

Lehrer: Now the audience members have to be vaxxed, with at least one dose. I understand. Do the vaccination requirements apply to the performers and the crew?  

Mayor: We'll get the exact standards. A lot of people obviously are just coming in for this performance and leaving. So, it's a very temporary reality. But for the New Yorkers involved, obviously, for, you know, the folks who are coming, it's a very clear rule. It's vaccination only. And again, Brian, that's been part of the whole point to say to people, you can do amazing things if you're vaccinated, that's what Broadway is saying. You know, if you want to go to Broadway, you have to be vaccinated. So many – we have a great concert coming up at the Apollo, you have to be vaccinated. This is the standard that is going to be the city standard going forward for so many things and that's what's going to motivate people.  

Lehrer How about the choice of artists for this? I know there are other concerts around the city this week, but one of our folks wrote that, “it's an affront to the city's young people who sacrifice prime years of their lives for the common good only to be invited to a show that features more aging, soft rock luminaries and cable news personalities than actual contemporary artists”, was the quote.  

Mayor: Oh, I – look, first of all, it's one of the most amazing lineups I think anyone's ever seen, and there's the performers from all different generations, all different genres who all love New York City and want to help us come back. We did two things here this week, for the concerts in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and the Bronx, we had the Universal Hip Hop Museum curate those concerts, and they did a focus on, you know, the history of hip hop and some of the great luminaries, particularly notable, I was thrilled to be with the Wu Tang Clan – the Wu Tang Clan in Staten Island – which was an amazing experience. So, that was curated by them. This concert , and Saturday, tomorrow, in Central Park was curated by Clive Davis, who's a legendary figure in the music industry, who really put out the call and he's a native of Brooklyn. He loves the city. He – this was his idea along with Danny Meyer, who – Danny Meyer had the idea of a Homecoming Week to really tell people in New York City was back, to tell the whole world. And Clive Davis said he would personally make this concert work and bring together the talent. CNN is going to broadcast this worldwide, and it's going to be a huge, huge thing, and it's going to help tell people that New York City is opening, and coming back, and strong, and we need that for a lot of reasons. And so, I would just say to anyone, you know, these are the best, you know, some of the greatest artists of all time. I think a lot of folks, certainly I know the young people in my life honor a lot of the artists in this lineup. I think it's going to be something extraordinary.   

Lehrer: Can people just show up –just to stop them, if that's not the policy, how do they gain admission?  

Mayor: Yeah, over the last weeks we've made, sort of, day after day batches of tickets available, the vast majority are free, and they've all been, I assure you, snapped up. So, certainly –   

Lehrer: So this is sold out now?   

Mayor: Yeah Central Park is sold out. I don't know if the Queen's concert tonight, which has a really amazing hip hop lineup and has George Clinton and his band, which has going be amazing. I don't know if that's entirely sold out, but I do know Central Park is. And look, I think it's going to be one of those signature moments that just tells everyone we are back and we're going to fight through this no matter what.  

Lehrer: Final, final thing, are their preparations in the event of heavy rains from being on the outskirts of Hurricane Henri, and also for the Five Boro Bike Tour on Sunday in that respect?   

Mayor: Yeah, a great question - and Henri, such an elegant name, has totally bad timing, but what we're actually seeing so far is it appears to not be hitting us too directly. The last report I got, we think the concert will go, you know, consistently, we think we can get the whole thing in. I think the bike tour is going to have a bigger challenge potentially. But, we are working on those plans right now. Oh, I've been handed a note. Queens is also sold out. So, I'm sorry, I might have raised some expectation of anyone was interested, but Queens is sold out too tonight. But yes, we feel good about the weather in terms of the concert Saturday, bigger question for the bike tour Sunday, our Emergency Management team will be speaking to that after we get some more weather reports today, they'll be putting out updates on how we're going to navigate Sunday.   

Lehrer: All right, well, good luck this weekend. I have a front row seat on my couch via CNN, and thanks as always, Mr. Mayor, talk to you next week.   

Mayor: Thank you, Brian. Take care.