NYC Mayor-Elect Adams Plans New Steps in Covid Response
NYC Mayor-Elect Adams Plans New Steps in Covid Response
(Bloomberg) -- Eric Adams isn’t mayor yet. But New York City’s mayor-elect plans to make changes to the city’s Covid-19 response when he takes over City Hall on Jan. 1.
In reaction to the rapid rise in Covid cases and hospitalizations in the city this week, the mayor-in-waiting pledged to create a new color-coded warning system to alert New Yorkers to the Covid threat level. He said the introduction of the omicron variant and the fast spike in Covid around the holidays would require some changes once he came to office.
“We are going to put in place a color-coded system, that brings a level of clarity based on where we are, something similar to the terrorist alert,” Adams said Thursday at a press conference in Brooklyn. “If we hear ‘green,’ or ‘yellow’ or ‘red,’ New Yorkers should know automatically that this is a moment when we should be taking extra precautions.
‘Clear Language’
Adams said the city had to be more clear with residents about the threat of Covid.
“We have to speak in one language, and a clear language on how we’re going to push back on these increases,” Adams said.
He also said he would consider implementing vaccination requirements for the city’s 1 million public schoolchildren if his health advisers recommend the move and that he’s open to requiring booster shots for New Yorkers to be considered fully-vaccinated and enter into bars, restaurants and cultural venues.
“We are going to continue to have this soft touch, to tell parents we need for you to vaccinate your children, but if we reach the tipping point that the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene is saying ‘Eric, we need to put a mandate in place for our schools,’ then I’m going to follow their advice,” he said. “If my Department of Health and Mental Hygiene says ‘Eric we need to be mandating booster shots,’ I’m going to mandate booster shots.”
Health Leadership
Adams, who takes over in two weeks, has yet to announce his pick for who will lead the city’s Health Department amid the latest wave of cases. He recently named the heads of the city’s police force, schools and department of corrections.
On Thursday he said he is still weighing whether to reappoint the city’s current health commissioner, Dave Chokshi.
“I like him,” Adams said of Dr. Chokshi. “He is one of the names we are considering.”
Paramount among Adams’s goals in managing the rise in Covid cases is avoiding a complete shutdown like the one the city faced in Spring 2020.
“I don’t want my city closed down again, and it’s going to take a lot for me to close down the city again,” Adams said.
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