Bill de Blasio says NYC should shutdown after Christmas

Mayor Bill de Blasio says New York City should shutdown after Christmas like it did back in April to get COVID-19 under control – just one day after Gov Andrew Cuomo ruled that out unless hospitals reach 90 per cent capacity. 

He made the comments during his daily press briefing on Tuesday as hundreds took to the street in Times Square to protest the recent indoor dining ban on NYC restaurants. 

It is estimated that about 250 restaurant workers were involved in the protest. 

When asked when the city would go into lockdown to curb the spread given the latest figures, de Blasio predicted a shutdown of non-essential work after Christmas.  

‘Something that resembles the pause we were in the spring. I think it will be overwhelmingly what we saw then, there may be some adjustments. Essential work only,’ he said.  

‘If we implement that, my nomination would be right after Christmas. 

‘If we implement that with some good luck and hard work and with the vaccine starting to help us we could be out of that in a few weeks. That’s an example of what I could think could help us a lot.’ 

De Blasio does not have the power to enforce any restrictions aside from closing public schools. Any shutdowns across the city would have to be ordered by the state. 

The number of COVID-19 cases in the city rose by 2,813 yesterday based on the seven-day rolling average. 

There were 160 patients hospitalized yesterday and the hospitalizations rate is now 2.89 per 100,000, according to the latest data.   

The citywide positivity rate for COVID-19 is now at 5.51 percent.  

The mayor said he had been speaking to Cuomo about the COVID-19 response. 

‘I don’t say it with anything but sorrow, but I do think it’s needed – we’re going to need to some form of shut down in the weeks ahead,’ de Blasio said. 

‘These numbers are going in the wrong direction. We’re just on the verge of a breakthrough with the vaccine but we’re also dealing with a second wave. We’ve got to beat it back. We’ve got to protect lives, we’ve got to protect our hospitals.’

His comments come after Cuomo on Monday ruled out any shutdowns unless hospitalizations reached 90 percent. 

At present, NYC’s hospitals are 81 percent full. In total, there are some 23,000 hospital beds in the city. Every day, roughly between 150 and 200 new COVID patients are being hospitalized. 

Those hospitalizations make up only a tenth of the total patients and they are spending less time in the hospital than they were in the spring. 

It makes it difficult to know then how long it’ll take for the system to become overwhelmed, especially while hospitals are adding more beds and staff now to avoid a total collapse like what was seen in March and April.

Cuomo, who closed indoor dining in NYC on Monday, said a widespread shutdown was a last resort and was what he was ‘trying to avoid’. 

There are currently 5,400 people in the hospital with COVID-19 across the state as a whole which is less than a third than in April when 18,000 were hospitalized with the virus. 

The vast majority of new cases – 74 percent – are coming from private gatherings. 

Indoor dining ended in NYC on Monday even though it only accounts for less than 1.34 percent of all new cases. 

Cuomo put the restrictions in place despite objections from those who said the move would put countless bars and restaurants out of business.