Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Holds Media Availability

September 13, 2021

Video available at: https://youtu.be/vrYhEzywFeY

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, everybody. What an amazing day this is. This is recovery day. This is the day we have been waiting for. You're going to remember in the history of this city, this day, September 13th, 2021, a day that was a game changer, a difference maker, a turnaround day. This is the day New York City's comeback in full force. This morning I saw it with my own eyes at P. S. 25 in the Bronx. Absolutely beautiful. So many kids back, their parents happy to see their kids back in school, the teachers and the whole school team ready for them. Incredible excitement. And we're seeing that all over the five boroughs today. So, this is a day we have been working towards for months and months, making progress, fighting back COVID, everyone together. New Yorkers really, really have a lot to be proud of today because the ability of New Yorkers to fight back and make a stunning comeback, we all know about it, we're seeing it today. Again, more and more evidence of what this city can do. First day of school, also first day that the Key to NYC will be implemented fully and enforced at indoor dining, entertainment, fitness, and we're seeing great, great pickup on that, adherence to it, people believing in it, making it happen. Fantastic. This week also, Broadway is coming back strong. Some of the biggest shows in Broadway will be back. The Metropolitan Opera is back – amazing things happening in our cultural world. And, of course, more and more of our workforce coming back to the offices. You can feel the life of the city, and the reason you can feel the life of the city is what we'll talk about in a little bit. Over 11 million vaccine doses administered from day one in this city, over 11 million, it's a staggering figure. And all the folks who did that work, thank you because it made all the difference. 

So, we're coming back full force. Full force this fall. There is the message, full force this fall. New York City is coming back in so many ways. And the epitome, the thing that moves us all the most is our kids. Seeing our kids back in school. Amazing. What a great place P. S. 25 is, the Bilingual School in the Bronx. It's a school with incredible commitment from the school community to helping the kids. It's a school where there's been an amazing effort to get people vaccinated. And we know, and I met some of the kids this morning, there are kids who have not been in a classroom in a year-and-a-half, and they deserve better. They should not have to wait another day. Thank God our kids are coming back today. We heard powerfully last week from the President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Lee Beers, why pediatricians believe foundationally kids need to be back in school for their mental health, their physical health, their ability to develop socially for so many reasons. We are making it happen here in New York City, leading the way, leading the nation, showing it can be done. I want you to hear from two extraordinary educators, what this day means to them, why it is so important. And they are live from P. S. 121 in the Bronx. What a pleasure to bring forward our Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter and what an honor to have with us, someone who we love in this city, and he really feels so much for the city and we feel so much for him, the Secretary of Education of the United States of America, Miguel Cardona. Meisha, Secretary, take it away. 

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter: Good morning. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. I'm so excited to be here with Secretary Cardona at P. S. 121 in the Bronx. What a great start this morning at P. S. 25. So many amazing families, so many amazing students, just starting the day off of in-person learning. New York City is back. We're so excited to be here, looking forward to having a great year together. 

United States Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona: Thank you, Chancellor. And listen, you do it right. You have been working closely with the Mayor and others to make sure all the preparation to get ready for today. Today is here. The kids are excited. The parents are excited to all the families that are watching. They've worked so hard. They prepared. They're doing everything to make sure your children and staff are safe. Enjoy the school year. They did it right. And I know this is going to be an awesome year for New York, for everyone. And we have a special guest that wants to say, hello, Mayor. Come on over, special guest. Tony, the Tiger’s ready to kick things off. We're excited for a great school year. We'll turn it back over to you, Mayor. 

Mayor: You know, what a combination, our Chancellor, the Secretary of Education for our entire nation, and Tony, the Tiger. I mean, you don't see that very often. Thank you, Secretary. Thank you, Chancellor. The Secretary said it powerfully. He is responsible for the education of every child in the United States of America. And he said it clearly New York City is doing it right. And that's why our kids are back. And it's going to be the safest place for our kids to be, the New York City public schools. Thank you again to everyone, our educators, our staff, the custodians, the crossing guards, the school safety, everyone, food service, you name it. Every single person that works in our schools who got us to this point. And thank you, of course, to the vaccinators, to Test and Trace, amazing commitment to our children and our families. That's what's brought us to this day. 

But, of course, it's not just our schools, Key to NYC today also – dining, entertainment, fitness. Big, big moment because this helps everyone feel safe. This gives every one of the customers the knowledge that they are safe, the employees know they're safe. It's everyone moving forward to bring our city back. We're seeing great, great response. In fact, I'm hearing a lot from restaurateurs and people who love to go to restaurants, how much safer they feel knowing everyone's vaccinated. So, look, you’re going to be safe wherever you go, movie theater, gym, restaurant, you're going to be safe. And this is what President Biden talked about a few days ago, bringing us all back, our recovery in every sense, jobs, our economy, people's lives, the life of our city, all coming back because people are getting vaccinated more and more. And for those unvaccinated, you've got to make the move now. We cannot let the fact that those who are unvaccinated are, unfortunately, creating the problem. We've got to work with everyone to get them vaccinated. And that's what we're going to keep doing over and over and over again using mandates, using incentives. Key to NYC helps us once and for all to fight off the Delta variant and defeat COVID and move forward as a city.  

Now this comeback, this is about working people. This is about the working people of the city who kept the city going no matter what. No matter what was thrown at them, the grit, the strength of New York City's workers, our essential workers. This is amazing how they fought through and to have workers coming back to our offices today, City offices, ready to serve the people, sh​owing that we are moving forward. Big, important day. We put strong health and safety measures in place. We put vaccine requirements and test requirements in place. Obviously, a lot of what we did here became the foundation for a lot of what you're seeing around the country and what President Biden put in his plan because we proved it worked. So, thank you to all the essential workers, thank you to our City workers. Thank you for all you do. Coming back strong, leading the recovery. Some of our City workers have done a lot of powerful work to help people address these issues. So many have – I want to give a special thank you to everyone at HPD, our Housing Department, the workers, inspectors, everyone who has been out there. The folks at NYCHA, public housing, the inspectors and the other workers. Thank you. You guys don't get enough attention and credit. Let me give you a moment to really recognize your work, which is crucial to the health and safety of the city. So, thank you to everyone at HPD, everyone at NYCHA. And you know what, we're all in this together. So, I thank our State workers. I thank our federal workers, everyone in public service, who does so much for us. I had a very moving conversation on Saturday. We were all on Saturday thinking about all the people who were there for us when we needed them on 9/11 and every day since and during COVID. And I talked to Chaplain Rosita Thompson, who really made a special plea. And I want to answer her plea that we also think about the folks – some of the most unsung are our letter carriers, our postal workers, our delivery folks who really, really never stopped, kept everything going. So, Chaplain, thank you for giving me that reminder so I could say thank you to everyone who brought us the mail, brought us the packages, allowed our lives to keep going even in the toughest moments.  

Now, we're coming back and we're coming back in so many ways and it's not just about work. It's about the ways that we have fun, the ways that we enjoy the city, the ways that we appreciate everything great. And one of the great things in this city is our recreation centers. Our Parks Department does a great job. Well, here's more good news as part of our comeback. As of today, all our recreation centers are open. 25 locations in all five boroughs and newsflash it's free. Recreation centers in all five boroughs run by the City – we’re providing a free one-year membership available to all New Yorkers and available through the end of this year. So, if you want an amazing opportunity to stay fit and have a lot of fun, here's another great way to do it. Now, of course, vaccination required. I want to be really clear, we want it to be a great environment for kids, for adults, for seniors, and we'll keep everyone safe. So, vaccination required. And vaccination is what's leading the way. And now, it's time for our indicators, and you're going to see something amazing – over 11 million vaccine doses. So, indicator number-one, doses administered to-date, 11,057,002, and growing all the time. These incentives and mandates are causing more and more people to come in. This number is going to keep growing in a really big way. That's exciting for the good of this city. Number two, daily number of people admitted to New York City hospitals for suspected COVID-19 – today's report, 105 patients. Confirmed positivity level of 28.57 percent. Hospitalization rate, 1.09 per 100,000 New Yorkers. And number three, new reported cases on a seven-day average – today’s report, 1,375 cases. Real movement in the right direction, because of more and more and more vaccination. A few words in Spanish about today, recovery day, a day that's going to make such a big difference for all of us.

[Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish]

With that, turn to our colleagues in the media and please let me know the name and outlet of each journalist.

Moderator: Good morning. We will now begin our Q-and-A. As a reminder, we are joined by Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter, Dr. Jay Varma, Senior Advisor for Public Health, Dr. Mitch Katz, President and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, and DCAS Commissioner Lisette Camilo. Our first question for today goes to James Ford from PIX-11.

Question: And good morning to you, Mr. Mayor, and everyone on the call. It's a lovely Monday morning.

Mayor: It's a beautiful morning and good things are happening, James. How are you doing today?

Question: Very, very well. Thank you for asking. Can we talk more about the Key to NYC Pass, now that it begins enforcement today? What do you expect to see as enforcement goes ahead? And, if you don't mind, remind me exactly how it will be enforced, which agency? And what – just to reiterate, what do you hope ends up being seen particularly by eateries that say they don't intend to check vaccination status?

Mayor: James let's – it's a great and important question, but let's put this in perspective. What we're hearing overwhelmingly is that restaurants, and fitness locations, entertainment locations are doing it – doing it – they're already – I've been to a bunch of places, I'm hearing from my team, I'm hearing from lots of people, they go in, their vaccination cards are being checked. It's straightforward. People are just doing it, they're making it work. Any place that needs help, we're going to help them do it. Any place then as concerns and questions, we're going to help work it through. But I do not expect – [inaudible] been true for a year-and-a-half, James – I don't expect to see hardly any instances of an attempt to defy something that's about the health and wellbeing of the customers, the employees, and the future of New York City. If we get them, we'll deal with it. Obviously, there are violations and there are penalties. But really what we're going to do is have our inspectors out from 13 civilian agencies and they're going to be checking, you know, is there a good protocol in place? You know, do they see the protocol working? Are the signs up? It's very simple stuff. And our goal, if there's anything that's a little off to help that business get it right. We don't want to fine people we don't have to. We want to just get it right and keep moving forward. But I think folks understand by now, we are resolute. And if anyone wants to not follow the rules that everyone else has to follow, then, of course, there'll be consequences. Go ahead, James.

Question: Thank you for that. Also, a variety of parents have said they intend to keep their students away from school at least for the time being. Can you and the Chancellor, if she’s still on the call, respond to these parents’ concerns?

Mayor: Look, I'm a parent and I'll start. And then, if – I think we may have the Chancellor, let's confirm – we're getting back. Even if we can do audio, that's great. I want to speak as a parent first – not a question in my mind, as a parent, I would send my kids to school right this minute, regardless of age. And that's what the vast, vast majority of New York City parents have done already this morning. For folks who have concern, I understand the fear that we all feel for our kids. If the fear is about adults in the household, then we have an easy solution – get everyone vaccinated. It's available everywhere. It's free. But if the fear is for kids, I share always that – that sense as a parent. But I’ve got to tell you, when our entire health care leadership here in the city, when our education leadership, when the head of the American Association of Pediatrics, everyone's saying, get your kids back to school. That's the best way to help your children. We have the most advanced health and safety measures in the entire country. We've proven it all last school year and through Summer Rising. I understand fear, let's not be governed by fear. All of the people who know all of the facts are saying to parents consistently, from the Present of the United States on down, get your kids back to school. And I'm appealing to all parents right now, work past the fear, help your kids move forward, help your kids be safe and healthy in the place that's one of the safest places in New York City, our public schools. Let's see if we have the Chancellor – we did not yet. Okay. We'll soon get her.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Marla from WCBS 880.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor. Great morning, getting the kids back to school.

Mayor: Indeed, Marla. How are you doing today?

Question: Great, except I have a seventh grader that's refusing to go because he's too nervous to go back to school. We're working on it.
Mayor: I wish you the best of luck. It's not easy to be a parent of a seventh grader.

Question: Yeah, right. You know, this morning we heard that there was a crash of the health screener site for students as so many were trying to log on. And I'm wondering what the status of that is? Can you tell us why that site crashed and if it's been fixed?

Mayor: Yeah. My understanding is it has been fixed and it's back up and running, Marla. I don't have the details on the why. I certainly want to know. I know the Chancellor too. I think overload is the obvious answer, because you're talking about a million kids and all those families checking at once. But we have an easy fallback plan with the screening forms, with the school personnel, just checking in with kids, making sure they feel okay today. If there's any concern that kid may not be feeling okay, of course they go immediately to the school nurse's office. So, I think we've been able to handle that well, but my understanding is it's been up and running now since just about the time that I left the Bronx this morning. I think that was about 8:30. Go ahead, Marla.

Question: Okay. Sounds good. You are just getting so much pushback from public employees about this back to work – mandatory back to work order. And the City's largest public union DC 37 is going to have another protest today. They're calling on the City to develop some sort of hybrid schedule, saying that is the safe way to go while the Delta variant is still out there. Is that something you would consider if indeed there is a COVID-19 breakout in any one of these city agencies?

Mayor: Marla, right now, we have a lot of information we're working from and you just saw the same indicators I saw and where they've been going for weeks now. Clearly, the massive level of vaccination is driving back the Delta variant. We have a lot more work to do, but that's quite clear. We're getting more and more people vaccinated day, including our workforce. And the fact that the clear mandate is in place as of today for our workforce across the board, get vaccinated or been tested weekly – I think lot of people are going to choose to get vaccinated or provide proof of vaccination that we didn't have previously. I think it is time. We have all the facts behind us. It's time. The people need their public servants back at work fully. We need to maximize vaccination, the best way to do that is with people in-person. If there's any particular problem in any particular site, we'll address it as we always have. But I know there's concern. I know there's fear. I always try and bring people back to the facts. Look at Summer Rising, here was hundreds of thousands of kids all summer at the height of Delta. We had two school closures the whole summer – two. So, I would urge people, just solve the problem. Get vaccinated, come to work where you’re going to have a huge amount of health and safety measures in place and let's serve the people of this city.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Marcia from CBS.

Question: Mayor, how are you doing today?

Mayor: Good, Marcia. How’ve you been?

Question: I’m okay. Obviously, back-to-school is the number one issue of the day. And a lot of parents are talking about their concerns about the fact that you're only able to test students every other week and test the school staff every other week. Would you consider increasing the number of tests – do it every week – to make parents feel safer?

Mayor: Marcia, we've looked at this carefully. We have something that's the number one thing we can offer parents: that over two-thirds of our kids who are eligible right now, it's almost 68 percent of our kids, eligible, have already been vaccinated. Vaccination sites in 700 schools all week to pick up anybody else who needs it. We're going to have a full vaccine mandate in place for our schools, for all adults in the schools, on the 27th, and then the gold standard of health and safety measures on top of that. That is a far stronger situation than we were in last year, and last year, the New York City public schools proved to be incredibly safe. So, right now the regular testing plan, we feel very good about – if we ever need to increase it anywhere or in any way, we can do that very, very quickly, but we believe that the much more powerful tools are the ones that are going to have impact, first and foremost, vaccination. Go ahead, Marcia.

Question: So, obviously the second question that parents have is whether there'll be remote learning if their kids get sick, and if they have to quarantine for two weeks. I know that you feel it's important for kids to be in the classroom, I get that, but for the parents who are worried about “will my kid have to be out of school for two weeks,” which could be very detrimental, would you consider a remote option if it's necessary?

Mayor: So, let's go over this scenario and the Chancellor's going to join in right after I go. First of all, the standard is 10 days now. That's obviously calendar days, so that includes weekends, et cetera. So, the fact is we have a very different reality now. When there's any kind of exposure in a school, if someone's vaccinated, and even if they were in a room with someone who ends up having COVID, if you're vaccinated and you're not symptomatic, whether adult or student, you're staying in school. That is now the CDC standard, you're staying in school. That's going to change the situation a lot, but much more importantly, based on the high level of vaccination now in the city, and it's staggering. This is today's number, it's unbelievable: 79.4 percent of all adults in New York City have received at least one dose – we're on the verge of 80 percent of adults who will receive at least one dose. That is game-changing. So, the reason I say that is we do not expect anywhere near the kinds of closures or classroom disruption that we saw last year. But if a child has to go home, alternative learning opportunities will be provided for them for those very few days that they're not in school. Chancellor, do you want to speak to that more?

Chancellor Porter: Yeah. So, I would just add, we're excited about this moment and what we're able to do if we have to quarantine a class, but our goal is to continue to get those vaccinations up, get those numbers up, so that we just build that bubble of protection around our students.

Mayor: Okay, thank you.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Emily from NY1.

Mayor: You need to turn off that sound for a moment.

Moderator: Now we're going to Emily from NY1.

Mayor: Emily, can you hear us?

Question: Yes, I can hear you. Good morning, everyone.

Mayor: Good morning. How are you doing?

Question: I'm well, thank you. My question is about Rikers Island. You know, of course that lawmakers from several levels of government are visiting today. What is the update on what can be done about the crisis? Does the buck stop with you?

Mayor: Of course, but we, for years and years, have been working to change the situation in a place that's just profoundly broken, that should have been closed a long time ago, and we are closing it. But we have invested a huge amount to try to fix that situation, even in a place, bluntly, we shouldn't be anymore. We've closed a number of the buildings. We've worked to get more correction officers. There's more coming, but also to address the situations that we're seeing with officers who have not been showing up for work, even though they should, even though they're not sick. That's being addressed aggressively. We get more officers back. That's going to help everyone. We got to do a lot of things to continue to improve this situation. I know Commissioner Schiraldi is working on it every day, but it's a very, very tough situation, but we're not going to stop doing everything we know how to improve the situation. And again, the ultimate change we need is an entirely new correction system with community-based jails, and those are on the way. Go ahead, Emily.

Question: Would you detail how you're addressing the issue with the corrections officers? What sorts of discussions you're having with the union? How you're getting these much-needed guards back to work?

Mayor: Well, the conversations have been constant. Our First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan has been deeply involved. Of course, Commissioner Schiraldi, constantly trying to address real issues, but also being clear about the fact that people have to come to work or there's consequences if they don't and putting much stronger controls in place because having the proper staffing level is necessary. But look, we are talking to the union all the time and looking for ways to be constructive. I wish it was more of a two-way street, but that never stops us. We're going to keep trying to keep the officers safe, the folks who are incarcerated safe, everyone safe, and move the system forward. No matter how tough the dynamic or the place is, our job is to keep finding any progress we can and keep moving it forward.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Henry from Bloomberg.

Mayor: Henry, you there?

Moderator: All right, we're going to go to Elizabeth from Gothamist.

Question: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor: Hey Elizabeth, how you doing?

Question: I'm good. I have a question from our education reporter. She noticed on the City's website, there are dozens of classrooms that appear to be closed for COVID investigations. And we wanted to know why this was the case given that school hasn't started yet, or it started just today?

Mayor: Elizabeth, I don't know exactly what you're referring to, but I'll just speak broadly. You know, I believe the number – I’ve got to check this, I want to say – I should be careful, it's obviously huge number of classrooms. But what we've said last year we said this year – if any classroom at any moment needs some additional work, for whatever reason, it will be held back until the work is completed. Sometimes that only takes days. But the notion is we're only going to use classrooms we feel are a hundred percent ready and that's a day-by-day changing reality, but we'll show people if there's any classrooms that are being held back for any reason. Go ahead, Elizabeth.

Question: Can you hear me?

Mayor: Yeah, go ahead.

Question: Okay. My second question is, you know, last week we saw that the vaccination rates for city workers were trailing the general population, which today you said for adults, it's like almost 80 percent. And I was wondering, how long are you going to wait to allow that, basically, that trend to continue before going to a full vaccine mandate?

Mayor: Well, it's a very important question, Elizabeth. We – right now, we've gone to this phase today, vaccine or test. We do it, knowing that for a lot of people, it's going to be the moment they choose to get vaccinated, or they choose to present vaccination evidence that we didn't have previously because a number of our city workers, of course, live outside the city, and we didn't necessarily have their vaccination information. So, we're going to get a much better take in the course of this week on where we exactly stand, how many are deciding this is finally the moment to get vaccinated. And when we see that that's going to tell us what else we might want to do. I'm always ready to climb the ladder. I've said that a lot of times, but this is the first step, and then we'll decide from there.

Moderator: Our next question goes to Juliet from 1010 WINS. 

Question: Hey, good morning, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today? 

Mayor: I am pumped up, Juliet, because I was with those kids in the Bronx, and it was beautiful.  

Question: That's fantastic. Looked like a good day. So, my question does relate to this. My understanding is that those who are vaccinated and asymptomatic in school won't have to quarantine if there's a positive COVID case in the classroom, but so will all those students or everyone in that classroom be tested once they find that there was a positive case? How is that going to work? 

Mayor: I'm going to have Dr. Varma go over this with you, again, crucial difference now, it's a really important question, Juliet, but I want to frame it this way, when we started school year, last year, no vaccine available to us, and for most of the school year, obviously, we were pumping up the vaccine numbers in the course of the year. Whole new ball game this year. Massive amounts of vaccination had been achieved, two-thirds of those 12 to 17-year-olds, and soon as, you know, every single adult who's in the building. So, this is a whole different reality and the possibility that a lot of people, adults, and kids, will be able to stay in school even if there was a case in their classroom because they're vaccinated and asymptomatic. But in terms of what testing will take place, if there's a case in the classroom, Dr. Varma, take it away. 

Senior Advisor Jay Varma: Great, thank you very much for this important question. So, the first most important point is as you have noted, that anybody who has been vaccinated and is determined to be a close contact is no longer required to remain at home. They can actually physically attend school, but that doesn't mean that they're completely out of the woods. We know that there are risks of being infected, even if you have been vaccinated, even though they are substantially lower than somebody unvaccinated. So, what happens if you're vaccinated, and you've been exposed? The first is you're going to be notified that you were exposed and that if you develop any symptoms at all that could be COVID, it's first critically important that you not return to school, and second that you get tested immediately. The second thing is you will also be advised to consider getting tested about five days after your exposure. Again, this is not a requirement because the risk of developing an infection and transmitting an infection to other people is substantially lower in people who are vaccinated, but you will be given a guidance about where you can get tested if you seek to do that. 

Mayor: Okay, thank you very much, doctor, go ahead, Juliet. 

Question: Okay, thank you. A different topic, the fatal crash that took the life of this three-year-old child over the weekend, the driver of that car has 160 traffic violations and 42 of them are this year alone, most of them for speeding. Why hasn't that car been confiscated? 

Mayor: Juliet, such an important question. First of all, our laws in this state are still too lax when it comes to reckless drivers, and there's a chance to fix that now. We need help in Albany. The piece of legislation that would be absolutely different and would be a game changer is the Crash Victim Rights and Safety Act. It's passed one house legislature, we need to get it passed by both, we need the Governor to sign it, we need it to happen as quickly as possible to really beef up the penalties and the consequences. We also need to be authorized to do as much as possible with speed cameras, particularly around schools, where young people are. This has always been a challenge for us that we have to fight in Albany to get authorization over and over again. We need the ability to have those speed cameras, have them on 24/7, protect lives, change behavior. We also are beginning now because of some very good legislation the process that could lead to vehicles being seized, reckless drivers’ vehicles being seized before they can do more harm, that is just starting to be implemented now, finally. We need all of that and more, there is something broken in the law because, you know, if you hurt someone with a car, it should be considered no different than if you hurt someone with a weapon. There should be very stringent penalties, particularly for a pattern of repetition, but we've got to fix our laws and we got to do it quickly and we need help from Albany. 

Moderator: We have time for two more questions today. Our next question goes to Julia from The Post. 

Question: Hey, I'm in room nine here with Henry and he was wondering, could he ask his question because he had the tech problems and then I'll ask mine? 

Mayor: Sure, why not? 

Question: Okay. I'm turning over my computer to him. 

Question: Hello, Mr. Mayor, how are you doing today?  

Mayor: Good, Henry. How you been? 

Question: I'm good. I've got some technical issues here. My mic doesn't seem to be working – 

Mayor: Well, we hear you good.  

Question: Let me ask you this – good - there are varying percentages of how many teachers and staff have been vaccinated. The Department says about 72 percent, the union says more than 80, where do you get the number 72 percent? How do you – where's the source of that data? 

Mayor: I'll turn to the Chancellor, but just emphasizing, we have more information coming in all the time. Now, again, a lot of respect for the union, what we need is just to see people's vaccination proof. They have a portal and actually a lot of information is coming in as often happens in human life, right up at the deadline, school is beginning, so now people are coming forward with their information. I am very hopeful that as we get more information, we'll have proof of a much higher rate, but we need to see it. Chancellor, you want to speak to that. Chancellor out there? I guess not again, okay, we're having technical difficulties all around today, but that's okay. But Henry that's the overall point. We do expect, I think, by the end of the week, we're going to have a much clearer picture. Go ahead. 

Question: Eric Adams addressed a conference of people in the financial industry today at the SALT Conference in Javits. And he said, the following, he said, “New York will no longer be antibusiness. This is going to be a place where we welcome business and not turn into the dysfunctional city that we have been for so many years.” He said, “government must do its job to create an environment for growth.” You've been very supportive of Mr. Adams, how do you feel about what he is telling these financial professionals? 

Mayor: Henry, I learned a long time ago, even though I know you're doing your job and I appreciate your good work, but I'm not going to take a couple of lines out of context. Obviously, this is a city that has done so much to work with our business community, to bring businesses back, bring jobs back, extraordinary levels of support, constantly working with businesses big and small. So, I'm very confident that what we've done in New York city is supported businesses while also supporting working people and striking that balance, and particularly during the COVID era, bending over backwards to help the business community come back strong. That's all I'll say and, you know, again, I'll respond to comments when I have a full sense. Then now, who's - I'm confused, who's last year here?  

Moderator: Last question goes to Julia Marsh from The Post.  

Mayor: Okay, Go ahead. 

Question: Just lent – I just lent a Henry my laptop, so I'm back on it now. 

Mayor: Noble of you, Julia, you're a good colleague. 

Question: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. You talked about the vast, vast majority of kids being back in class. When will we see school attendance records for today? 

Mayor: We’ll put out information later in the day, based on what we're seeing initially. It's a vast system, so information takes a while to come in, but we will get out what we have, and then over the coming weeks, we'll get a picture of enrollment, but as is true every year, we're not going to be able to give you a final sense of that until end of September, beginning of October. But in terms of today, we'll give you an answer later on today on what we're seeing. Go ahead. 

Question: Great, and then – great, Juliet had asked you about the hit-and-run in Brooklyn, and you did reference this new law that, you know, allows a car to be impounded if someone has a history of reckless driving, where is that at in terms of being implemented? And what, if anything, does the city need to do to make that happen? 

Mayor: So, the way it works, and I'm working from memory here, I think I have it right. The first step is that the penalty is to have to go and take classes, and then if there's continued problem, there is seizure of the vehicle. So, the classes are beginning now. We're going to use this as a brand-new tool. It's a very powerful tool. I think when people start to see that you could lose your vehicle, period, if you are reckless, it's going to make a very big impact. But we need all of these tools, I can't say it strongly enough. We need the speed cameras, particularly for the school zones, we need them to be 24/7. We need the Crash Victim Rights and Safety Act. We have been fighting this scourge without the support we need from Albany, I know there's a lot of people in Albany who care, it's time for them to step up and give us laws that actually help us protect the lives of our kids, our seniors, that help us take Vision Zero to the next level. 

And with that everybody, look, it's an amazing, amazing day and you all earned it. I want to emphasize it one more time, the reason we got to this day is so many New Yorkers stepped forward. This number is staggering, 79.4 percent of all adults have received at least one dose, we're on the verge of 80 percent. Overall, over 5.6 million New Yorkers, so that's two-thirds of all New Yorkers have received at least one dose. This is amazing, a lot of other places sadly cannot cite figures like this. What this means is every single time someone stepped forward, made the decision to do the right thing, to protect themselves, their family, their community, and we need more and more people would do that starting today. So, let's keep moving forward and let's enjoy this recovery day as we celebrate our schools coming back, and so many of the good things in New York City. Thank you, everybody.