NYC’s Adams Vows to Keep City Open in Latest Virus Wave

(Bloomberg) -- New York City’s Mayor-elect Eric Adams promised Thursday to keep schools and businesses open amid record coronavirus infections by encouraging more vaccinations, boosters and testing.

Adams outlined a six-point Covid-19 plan during a news briefing that includes keeping outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s mandate for all private sector employees to be vaccinated. His approach to the mandate will be “cooperative, not punitive,” with the city’s focus on “vaccine and testing, vaccine and testing,” said Adams, who takes office on Saturday.

What the city won’t do is force another round of closings. “We can’t shut down our city again,” Adams said. “We’re going to get through this with facts and not fear.”

Adams said the city will study whether to require people receive booster shots in order to be considered “fully vaccinated.” The city currently requires people be fully vaccinated to enter many indoor public spaces, including restaurants and theaters. 

School Attendance 

The city will also make a recommendation sometime this spring whether to require students be vaccinated to attend school, a decision that must be approved at the state level. 

Adams said he’s in constant communication about Covid-19 policy in schools with United Federation of Teachers President Mike Mulgrew and New York Governor Kathy Hochul. Previous efforts were marked by clashes among teachers, de Blasio and former governor Andrew Cuomo.

Even with mitigation measures, which will include distributing 2 million high-quality N95, KN95 and KF94 face masks, the city faces a difficult January as new case numbers continue to rise, City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said Thursday.

Adams planned on Thursday to walk through the city’s Theater District to show support for the city’s Broadway shows, some of which have closed temporarily because of infections among the cast and crew. 

The city’s economy can’t manage another wave of shutdowns, Adams reiterated. “We have to be honest with ourselves. We spent 11 trillion dollars fighting Covid. We don’t have another 11 trillion dollars.”

“We’re at the point where we must learn to live safely with Covid,” Adams said. 

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