December 7, 2021Hazel Sanchez: With less than a month to go before leaving office, Mayor de Blasio taking bold steps to stop COVID from surging.Dan Mannarino: Yeah. He""s putting in place in new mandates, stricter enforcement that he says are necessary for the city to move forward and move forward safely. We have the pleasure of having Mayor de Blasio in our studio live with us this morning. So good to see you, Mr. Mayor.Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good to be you here.Mannarino: So, for and foremost, Mr. Mayor, let""s talk about the mandates right now for that private sector. Big, big headline, but little slim on the details for the private employees who are saying what exactly are we enforcing? So, what happens come January 27th if someone does not have two doses?Mayor: December 27th. Look, we""re going to work with the private sector right now to figure out the rules, but let""s remember why we""re doing this. We know something already about the Omicron variant. This variant moves fast. We have to move faster. We have to protect the lives of New Yorkers. We have to make sure we never go back to shutdowns and restrictions. I mean, this is – look at what""s happening in Germany, right this minute, a really advanced nation. They""re starting to shut stuff down. We can""t let that happen in New York City. So, we""re taking a strong action. We""re going to work with the employers. On December 15th, we""ll come up with the protocols and the guidelines, make them public. December 27th, it takes effect. But we have a model already with the restaurants and the theaters. I mean, look, Broadway""s booming. Restaurants are booming. Everything""s great because everyone knows they""re safe. Those exact same type of requirements right now exist for months and months in this city. And they""ve been working.Sanchez: Let""s talk about the difference between the mandate that you put on City workers compared to the private sector. City workers, you don""t get vaccinated, you don""t get paid. But what about private sector workers who choose not to get vaccinated? What happens to them exactly? And what if a company says workers who choose not to get vaccinated, well, you can work remotely?Mayor: Look, first of all, we – it""s not just what we did in the public sector. It""s very important what you""re saying. The public sector example is a great one because it""s worked. Our City workforce now, basically 95 percent vaccinated. I mean, it was a great success. But you talk about private sector, again, we know from indoor entertainment, from fitness, from dining, we have a model that""s worked overwhelmingly, people got vaccinated. The employers were really great about implementing it, making it work. Now, if someone absolutely positively won""t, well, there are a couple of different ways to approach that, depending on the circumstance. For example, if it""s a medical reason, there is a process for getting a medical exemption. But honestly, what we find is when that moment of truth comes, it""s actually a requirement. People make the decision to get vaccinated overwhelmingly. And it""s universal. This is real important. A lot of employers said to us, whatever you do, if you make it universal, it means people can""t kind of go say, well, I""ll go to this job or that job. It""s universal. And also employers appreciate a lot of them said to me, it""s tough for us to require it of our employees, but if the government does it, then we can say to everyone, Hey, this is something for everyone.Mannarino: Yes, but you are the boss of the public workers, right? So, you can say, we""re not going to pay you moving forward. And we""re going to withhold your pay. You get your job back once you get vaccinated. But in the private sector, it""s a little different. There is a different boss to answer to, right? So, does that – are you, who is enforcing the actual mandate themselves? And is the employer saying, Hey, we""re not going to pay you.Mayor: Look, first of all, these are exactly the questions we""re going to answer with the rules and guidelines by December 15th. Second of all, Department of Health is always the lead here. It""s a Commissioner""s Order from the Commissioner of Health saying that the health and welfare in New York City is threatened by this variant, by the winter months where COVID spreads more intensely, it""s threatened by, you know, the fact that we""re all going to be gathering for the holidays. People are going to be close. You put these pieces together. We needed a preemptive strike here. We needed to get ahead of this. But for the average employer, everyone is already vaccinated. They""re done. That""s fine. Anyone who now says, okay, I""ll get that first shot. I""m ready. They""re done. Right. Anyone who has a pure medical exemption that""s proven, they""re done. So, you""re really talking a relatively few people who you""ll have an issue with, but mostly what we find is it convinces people to get across the finish line. Most unvaccinated folks, it is not a hard and fast ideology. They need a little more clarity, a little more incentives to get vaccinated. And when you say, Hey, come on, everyone else is doing it, it""s for everyone""s safety. This is how you keep your job. A lot of people will make that decision.Sanchez: Yes. Some are applauding you for making this decision, but then there are business owners that say they were completely blindsided by this. So, what conversations did you have with some of these businesses prior to making that decision?Mayor: For months, we""ve been having conversations with the business community about what to do in general. They said consistently, avoid shutdowns, avoid restrictions, whatever you do don""t let us go back to what we had in 2020. So, that""s job one a second. They said when the government leads, it helps us. We did that with our own public employees. Third, they said when the government sets a rule that we have to implement, it""s better than us having to set our own rule. Because it – we don""t have the tension than with our employees. If you do it, we""ll say, okay, they did it, it""s for everyone. Come on, guys. Let""s go. We followed all those ideas. We did not say we""re going to go over every single specific with you because we knew we would have a plan to do that by December 15th in consultation with business. But the main strokes here are consistent with everything we""ve talked with the business community about for months.Mannarino: So, the businesses, the restaurants, they are talking about right now, the rules for children and teenagers. Because those all vary from state to state in terms of who""s getting vaccinated. This is a very, very busy time. Of course, you know this in New York City for tourists.Mayor: It""s a beautiful time. It""s a wonderful time of year.Mannarino: Right, so for a family who is coming here right now, and their children may not be vaccinated, but they want to enjoy the benefits of what New York City has to offer, what are you telling them right now?Mayor: We got you covered. First of all, for kids 12 and up, it""s already the standard if you want to go to the theater, if you want to go to a movie theater, if you want to go to a restaurant, have at least that first dose. That""s already the standard. For the younger kids now, we""re saying as of December 14th, get at least that first dose. And we""ll make it available to anyone who needs it. And you know, one of the things that really worked this Key to NYC approach, including the dining, the entertainment. Someone who wasn""t vaccinated, they had to go -- if they wanted to go to that next movie performance, you go down the street, you get vaccinated, you get your card, you walk out and you can go to the movie. It was not hard to do. It was obviously provided for free. It""s accessible. The vaccination""s accessible all over the city. And the first dose got you in. So, this is the same idea with the kids. You want to take your kid to a restaurant, they""re not yet vaccinated? Hey, this is a great message to parents. And I look to the parents, get your kid vaccinated. This is exactly the time we need to keep them safe.Mannarino: But for those parents who were saying, I""m just not there yet for my youngest. And I wanted to go to New York City. Are you worried for those businesses that it""s actually going to deter tourists from coming?Mayor: I am not. Because first of all, we are seeing overwhelmingly that folks who are traveling are vaccinated, point one. Second point, if this is an incentive for anyone to get their child vaccinated, where they do it, where they come from or they do it here. God bless. That""s great. But one thing we""re hearing absolutely from the restaurants, for example, they""re doing great business now. And we gave them more space with outdoor dining, which I""m very proud of. We helped them survive and thrive. But what I keep hearing from customers and restaurant owners alike. Everyone knows they""re safe. It""s an incentive to come to the restaurant because everyone knows they""re safe.Sanchez: Let""s talk about the rising number of COVID cases in the city. That""s going up, we""re talking about Omicron and community spread. So, with that concern, does it make you maybe have second thoughts about having New Year""s Eve in Times Square?Mayor: We""re looking at that, of course, always, we""re going to look at the data and the science. We""re going to make decisions that way. At this moment, our health care leadership feels good about what we""re doing in Times Square. It is outdoors, everyone must be vaccinated. And of course, we""re going to encourage mask use as well. So, we feel good at this moment. But we""re going to keep watching this situation as we get closer. What we know about Omicron right now is it looks like it""s very transmissible. That does cause me concern about everything. That""s part of why we did this new approach, this new mandate. But what we don""t yet know about Omicron, is the impact. How dangerous, how severe? How it responds to the vaccine? We""re pretty certain vaccines work. How much is what we don""t know enough about. So, we""re going to know more, our doctors say the next week or two is crucial. And then we""ll make a variety of decisions based on that.Mannarino: All right. So, New Year""s Eves still on the table being looked at.Mayor: Yes, it is. But right now, but going full speed ahead at this moment, again, vaccination only if you want to go to Times Square and be part of it.Mannarino: Understood. Now I know you spoke to Mayor-elect Eric Adams.Mayor: Yes.Mannarino: About the decision for this mandate. And you also spoke to Governor Kathy Hochul. But when you talk about this in New York City, in the early stages of the pandemic, we sat right here and we talked about coordinated efforts with the State and New Jersey. And would you like the Governor to take this action statewide in terms of a vaccine mandate for everybody?Mayor: First, let me say it has been so refreshing to work with a governor you can have a real conversation with. And I respect her. Every conversation -- we don""t have to agree on everything to still work together. And so that""s the most important point, that the people of New York City are better served when everyone""s talking. Second, I""d say, I believe these mandates work everywhere. I would say to every mayor, every governor, every CEO in America, do them now. Because we are being given a warning right now. Again, this situation in Germany. Looking at shutdowns, looking at restrictions. If we act now, we can avoid all that.Mannarino: So, and the reason I ask that is because pretty much everybody in New York City, private and public, will then be vaccinated if the plan moves forward right? But the MTA workers who are run by the State will not be. So, there is still a section of people in New York City then who will not be vaccinated.Mayor: That""s right. Anybody who is a State employee and related to State employment, like the MTA, like CUNY, they are not covered by the mandate I just announced. I certainly would urge the State government, require your employees, all kinds of your employees to get vaccinated because it makes us all safer. And by the way, a lot of the State employees of course come in contact with everyday New Yorkers all the time. So, we""ve proven that mandates work. Look at the fact today in New York City, we are one of the most vaccinated places in America. We""re one of the safest places in America for that reason. And our economy and the life of the city, you can see it. You can see it with your own eyes. It came back because we were vaccinated. The places that are struggling in this country and around the world are the ones that didn""t get vaccinated.Sanchez: I""m sure you""re anticipating legal battles?Mayor: Yes. And we""ve won everyone so far. Look, we had legal battles when we said for the teachers, for the health care workers, for the firefighters. Every time there was a legal battle and every single state and federal court decision went our way. They said if the Health Commissioner says there""s a health crisis, of course he has a right to do it.Mannarino: Do you worry that if it gets into the legality, that it might delay it a few days and then comes January one and you""re out of office and there""s a new mayor.Mayor: Well, so far every time there""s been an effort to delay any of these mandates for public safety and public health, the courts have said, no, it is the right of the Health Commissioner. I do not expect delays because the courts have been absolutely consistent. The Health Commissioner""s trying to save lives. That is what takes the precedence.Mannarino: Understood. We are out of time here, but I cannot have you here and not talk about what comes after January one.Mayor: January two.Mannarino: Right? Exactly. There""s been a lot of your day. No, I understand. No, I understand. But you know, there""s a lot of talk. Why not just say, Hey, I""m running for governor?Mayor: You mean right here? Yeah, it""s good. I like that. Look, I – it""s real simple. I""ve said to people, job one, and we just talked about it, I hope you can hear the urgency in my voice. Job one is protecting the people of this city from COVID and getting us through and moving our recovery. I""m going to speak about the future in the weeks ahead. But one thing I know, I""m a public servant. This is what I do. I want to serve people in this city and in this state. I""m going to be going around the state, talking to people about what I think is important for our future. I""ve talked already about a plan to really educate our kids better and serve our parents, have school go until six in the afternoon so parents actually can get their kids after work. Have summers covered for free so parents know kids have a place to be where they keep learning and they have a great summer. This is the kind of thing I""m going to go around the state talking about.Sanchez: And then you""re going to run.Mayor: You can draw your own conclusions.Mannarino: Should there be an announcement you could do it –Mayor: Right here, right here. This is the place.Mannarino: You""re welcome back.Mayor: It""s very generous of you, thank you.Mannarino: And you""re welcome back anytime. Mayor de Blasio, good to see you. Thank you for being here.Mayor: And a very happy holidays, everyone.