Ask the Mayor: COVID In Jails, Vaccine Disparities And Federal Aid To The City

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Brian: It's the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC. Good morning again, everyone and we begin this Friday, eleven o'clock hour as usual with our weekly Ask-The-Mayor segment. My questions and yours for Mayor Bill de Blasio. Ask-The-Mayor lines are open at 646-435-7280, 646-435-7280, or you can tweet a question, just use the #Ask-The-Mayor, and good morning, Mr. Mayor. Welcome back to WNYC.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Good morning, Brian. How are you doing?

Brian: I'm doing okay. Thank you. Let me start with what looks like good news and bad news about opening day at Yankee Stadium today.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Different kind of opening day.

Brian: Absolutely, opening day for the COVID vaccine supersite, that is only for people who live in the Bronx. From what I'm seeing, the good news is that they have thousands of appointments available. The bad news is that means there are thousands of unclaimed appointments. How does it look to you?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: I think it's going to be extraordinary. I'll be at Yankee Stadium shortly. We're going to have a wonderful celebration of this site opening up and I'm going to be joined by one of the great Yankees of all-time, Marianna Rivera, who's going to really help us to get the message out to the people of the Bronx in multiple languages that it's so important to get vaccinated and we really want to make sure that this is for the people of the Bronx.

This is for folks who have been hit very hard by COVID. This is for folks who haven't mailed yet appointments previously. There are still appointments remaining. I want to emphasize that, I'm sure they'll go very fast, but anyone who wants one of those appointments, who is a Bronx resident only can go to somosvaccinations.com. That's S-O-M-O-S vaccinations.com or 1833 SOMOS NY.

This center will be opened every day at Yankee Stadium 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM. As we get more supply, we're going to expand those hours, go to 24/7 eventually, but there are appointments available. I'm sure they'll be snapped up quickly, but people should take advantage of opportunity for all Bronx sites to get vaccinated.

Brian: You've cited, of course, vaccine hesitancy as a reason for disparities in COVID-19 vaccine coverage, especially for people of color but we're wondering if a bigger issue might still be signing up for appointments, what's the city doing to help those with weak internet access or poor technology skills to work with the appointment websites?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Well, not only the points you raise about access to the internet and skills with the internet, but also there's language issues and for a lot of seniors, they're just not comfortable going online. Anyone who qualifies, so folks 55 and up and the folks who qualify and those essential worker and public service categories can call 877-VAX-4NYC, so it's 877 V-A-X number 4 NYC, and make an appointment on the phone in multiple languages.

We are improving the website, so the website experience now is better because it clarifies where there are open appointments available. It doesn't make people go through as much upfront, makes it simpler in that way. Again, our plan is 10 languages in which people can directly apply with the applications themselves for appointments in those languages. Of course, in other languages available through translation service all for free, of course, but we're going to make further improvements to the website to make it more user-friendly and we'll have definitely more to say on that in the next few days.

Brian: Amil in Fresh Meadows, you're on WNYC with the mayor. Hello, Amil.

Amil: Hi, I'm a 69-year-old male who's also a cancer survivor. I've been trying for over three weeks to get an appointment using your website and the phone. Website's crashing, the phone, an hour-and-a-half hold, and then they hang up. Finally getting an appointment with New York State at Jones Beach for tomorrow morning.

Why do I have to travel 30 miles each way to go get an appointment for a vaccine when I live in New York City? You mentioned that you opened up 17 pop-up centers throughout the city. None of them are in Northeast Queens. That includes Fresh Meadows and Bayside and White Stone and Little Neck and Douglaston.

We have people here that also need the vaccine, and we're not getting anything. The closest place to get a vaccine is Hillcrest High School, and they never have appointments. Why don't you consider Northeast Queens and try to get that improvement on the website, which is impossible, and the phone calls to get through on that phone number that you gave you have an hour-and-a-half wait until you finally get to speak to somebody if you get to speak to somebody at all.

Brian: Amil, thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you. Amil, thank you for everything you're saying, because we have to continue to do better. That's the bottom line. I do want to make sure that folks in Northeast Queens get served better. There are more sites coming. Amil, right now we would be doing three times as many vaccinations a week or more if we had enough supply.

We've got to put this in perspective, Amil and Brian, that we are still being starved of supply. I've called upon the federal government to demand that the other pharmaceutical companies help Moderna and help Pfizer, but that's still an area where we could see a lot more progress.

I've called upon the federal government and state government to let us use second doses now and backfill the supply in the coming weeks. The things that would allow us to speed up, we need more help and we want to have more sites and we want to serve Northeast Queens better and other parts of the city.

We have focused the sites on where the sheer horrible impact of the coronavirus was the very worst, where the most people died, where we saw the most suffering and the most potential new suffering if we don't get people vaccinated, but we want to serve everyone.

Amil, waiting an-hour-and-a-half on the phone is certainly not acceptable at all. I've been monitoring what's going on with the phone line. Most people are having a much faster experience than that. I'm very sorry you had that experience and I'll follow-up to find out if we have to add more customer service reps or whatever it is, we will do that immediately, but we need to get everyone served and we have to keep just doing a better job, more sites, better customer service, et cetera.

Brian: There is the Citi Field. We mentioned Yankee Stadium, also Citi Field Supersite, which is near all those neighborhoods that he mentioned about to open. Do you have a date on that?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: We're getting an exact date on Citi Field and again, Citi Field would be up already if we had had the supply. This is what's so frustrating. New York City could be doing half a million vaccinations per week right now, we just don't get the supply. My goal is to see a lot of these sites go to 24 hours and then to go deeper into any community that doesn't have enough sites.

We could be doing so much on the ground right now, but we just are not getting all the help we need. Again, two things I think could really make a difference, getting the entire pharmaceutical industry to participate in the vaccination production. That's something that I think is an area of tremendous possibility, and getting that greater freedom to vaccinate with the second doses we need state and federal help to get that done.

Brian: One more follow-up on that. The city promised to release data this week outlining where vaccine recipients live by zip code. Is that data still coming?

Mayor Bill de Blasio: No, Lehrer, and I'll be very clear. I'm the person who made the promise. I said we will do zip code data, we did not say its ready this week. I got to find out the day it will be ready and we'll publicly announce when we'll have it by.

This data, there's a lot to be done to get it right on all this. That's why we wanted to make sure first to give the citywide data which I announced on Sunday. Obviously, very sobering. Points out, there are real disparities that we need to overcome. One of the ways we're going to overcome those disparities in vaccination is with targeted efforts like we're doing today at Yankee Stadium. That's just for Bronx residents.

That's a part of the way to bring greater equity, but we will be publishing zip code data so people can see exactly how vaccination is going. I'll get you a date for sure on when that's going to be.

Brian: We had a call-in this week for taxi and rideshare drivers. Now that they've been put on the vaccine eligible list about how they've protected themselves so far and acknowledging the context of the already devastating pre-pandemic finances for so many yellow cab medallion owners, because of all the competition from the app companies, et cetera, crashing their market value.

We got a call from a driver named Dorothy from Brooklyn who had a question for you that I couldn't answer. We invited Dorothy to call back today for Ask-The-Mayor and she did. Dorothy, hello again and here you go. You're on with the mayor.

Dorothy: Yes. Good morning, Brian. Good morning, Mr. Mayor. It's been a pleasure for me to talk to you today. My name is Dorothy, as Brian said, and I'm 64 years old. I have lost all my retirement and I cannot make more than a minimum wage as an owner-driver. The only thing I have is debt.

You promised to help Mr. Mayor, and in all these you said, if the White House and Congress change, you will work with our union for debt forgiveness. The controller said, it's only taking costs to 75 millions over the 20 years. For a city with an annual budget of $90 billion, the Democrat won like you said, we need, please don't tell us the city's giving us free bankruptcy advice, what is an insult. We want debt forgiveness, and you can help make it happen when you will keep your promise to us, not the PLC. We want and need city hall directly.

Mr. Mayor, I know you are in the end of your term. I'm asking you to make it as a legacy, please. Thousands of old people, older than me are suffering right now with no money, no food, no healthcare, no housing. Hours that we work for is about to collapse on us because the debt.

Brian Lehrer: Mr. Mayor, debt relief for taxi drivers. Let me get you an answer, Dorothy. Mr. Mayor.

Mayor de Blasio: Dorothy, thank you so much. Brian, very, very appreciative that you got Dorothy on so I could hear from her directly and I feel immediately for Dorothy because she's going through so much. It's just horrible.

The story of how all this happened is a very painful one. I think the bottom line is we've got to find some way to help. We haven't been able to up to now because of everything else, because of the fact that we've been in horrible financial straits as a city, but I think the possibility now is much better.

Dorothy's point is really well taken. We have a much better situation in Washington that very well might give us the resources to do something better and help these drivers. Look, we fought to get these drivers minimum wage. They didn't have it before. We fought against the for-hire vehicle companies, the Uber's and Lyft's who I think were acting oppressively towards working people. There's now a lot of things we try to do to get people relief, but I hear Dorothy loud and clear.

If we get money from the Congress, I want to find a way to help these drivers. I don't have the specific proposal yet, I want to be very clear. There's different options out there, but if I'm going to embrace one, I have to be absolutely convinced it will work, but it hinges on getting the relief we need and I do think that the real possibility now for the first time.

The election in Georgia opened the door to the kind of stimulus that could finally give us the ability to help these drivers the way they deserve. That is something I hope to have more news on once we see what really happens in Washington if we're going to get a true stimulus that helps us back on our feet so we can help deserving working people like these TLC drivers.

Brian Lehrer: This question was in play before the pandemic caused the fiscal crisis. Why didn't you do it then rather than now wait for help that may or may not be coming from Washington?

Mayor de Blasio: Brian, there were proposals over time, proposals that would have cost hundreds of millions of dollars or more. Some proposals were in the billions. The original sin here really is because of lack of regulation of the lending. That's what got these drivers in this horrible situation.

The lending was regulated by the federal government and the state government. We only found out too late how bad the situation was, but we were not in a position to afford that kind of relief. It just was always true. I appealed to the federal government for relief for these drivers. State government, we could not get that and now, look, again, if we get the kind of stimulus that gives us real resources, I want to do whatever I can to help these drivers, but this is a very painful, complex history.

It's not as simple as we could just write a check and make it go away. We need much more in terms of help to be able to address this, but I want to, I feel for them, I want to find a way to help them.

Brian Lehrer: Jacqueline in Bed-Stuy, you're on WNYC with the Mayor. Hello, Jacqueline.

Jacqueline: Hi, there. I am currently working as both a contact tracer and a case investigator. First I want to share two things I have learned from this job, which I do largely with immigrant populations and not in English, and then ask what you can do.

The two things that I have learned are that a huge number of people who have tested positive in poorer communities actually don't know that they shouldn't be walking around. They'll tell me, "I'm fine", and don't realize that they have a communicable disease. They are not watching cable TV, listening to the show, anything like that.

Secondly, a lot of people simply can't skip work if they're feeling fine, they don't have the means. I doubt that the programs we have in place are replacing their salary. What can be done, I think in a lot of the immigrant communities we're dealing with the undocumented. That's not a question we ask them, [inaudible 00:14:58] lack of information and sometimes I think flyers throughout those neighborhoods saying, "Did you know if you test positive you actually can communicate COVID?"

I'm concerned with these poorest immigrant communities. I think there just must be some kind of informational thing that could be done and how could salary be replaced if you are working off the books?

Mayor de Blasio: Okay. That last piece was very, very important to clarify. Jacqueline, please leave your information with WNYC because I want our test and trace leadership to follow up with you and hear about these experiences so we can do everything we can to reach people better. Jacqueline, are you part of our test and trace program? Are you saying that's where you're working in the contact tracer?

Jacqueline: Yes, essentially, I'm working for a health company under the auspices of New York City Health and Hospitals as a temporary pandemic job, basically.

Mayor de Blasio: Thank you for doing that work. It's very, very important. I hear the frustration, but I know every time you're talking people, it's giving a much greater chance that people will get educated, will get the support they need.

Look, first of all, paid sick leave is a crucial point here. For folks who do have a kind of job who's on the books, paid sick leave will cover them between what the city has done, what the state's done for just a period of quarantine, which is now per the CDC 10 days. It used to be 14, it's now 10 days. Paid sick leave covers that timeframe.

People should not have any loss of income. They should be very comfortable taking the time they need to quarantine. If someone's working off the books, I agree with you that's a challenging situation, and we got to see if we can find better solutions.

I want the leadership at test and trace to talk to you about that and see how we can address that for the folks who don't know that it's a danger to be out there if they are infected. This is a real challenge because there is misinformation. There's lack of information.

You're right. Some people watch cable news all day. Some people never see cable news, but this is why test and trace is so important because trusted voices, including a lot of neighborhood voices and people speaking to people in their own language is part of educating people as to the dangers and letting them know if they live in a multi-generational home, we'll get them. They can stay in a hotel for the 10 days for free, or they need to stay in their home. We'll get them food, we'll get the medicine.

This is what test and trace and particularly the take care initiative within test and trace is all about, is helping people understand how they can navigate and be safe. We know constantly we have to educate people better. This is helpful and, Jacqueline, let's follow up with you and see what we can learn from your experiences.

Brian Lehrer: She mentioned people who don't have the ability to take a day off from work even when they're sick or if they're feeling well, but they may be contagious. I think that also plays in to the disparity in who's getting vaccines. I wonder if there's a way for the city to help those who might have jobs that are not flexible enough, mostly low-income people, to take a number of hours off and make an appointment to go to Yankee stadium or somewhere to get a vaccine?

Mayor de Blasio: Well, it's a real interesting question, Brian. Is there a different kind of approach or different kind of incentive? We've talked about this, but haven't found really the right way to do it yet. Again, the paid sick leave I know is tremendously helpful for a lot of folks and because we have more and more places, flexible hours that would be outside of the work hours. That helps.

To be very clear blunt, the lack of supply is screwing up all of this, because if we had supply of the vaccine, we'd be 24 hours all over the place. We would be deep, deep, deep into a variety of communities. Right now, 60% of our vaccination sites are in the communities hardest hit by COVID, primarily African-American Latino and Asian communities that really bore the brunt.

We can't run them on the hours we need to, that would help so many working people. I will definitely go back to our team, our health leadership and see if there is something particularly for folks who might be undocumented or might be working off the books that we can do to incentivize vaccination.

Brian Lehrer: Later today, public advocate Jumaane Williams and as I understand it, all of the leading mayoral candidates will be coming together for a joint news conference calling on you to drastically reduce or altogether suspend ballot petitioning. For people who don't know, that's the process of collecting thousands of signatures from eligible, in this case, Democratic voters in order to secure a spot on the mayoral Democratic primary ballot.

The governor signed a law last week that reduced the number of signatures required and the amount of time people would need to be out collecting them. That change still means thousands of volunteers will still need to be out trying to engage in non-socially distance interactions just to obtain signatures so their candidates can get on the ballot.

They want you to take emergency action to drastically reduce or eliminate the signature-gathering process while the pandemic is going on in the primary season. Will you do that?

Mayor de Blasio: First of all, the whole approach here should be based on health and safety. The point you raised about the governor signing the law, the best to my understanding, I'll go double-check, Brian, but the only way we could cancel that in-person petitioning is with state law.

What I want to see is a different approach to the maximum extent possible, again, focus on health and safety. You got to have something to determine who gets on the ballot. There has to be some measure of grassroots' support for a candidate to get on the ballot, I think that's fair, but there's lots of ways that could be done potentially including online.

I very much would like to see a change here because we're in the middle of pandemic, but I am not certain that's something I can do alone. I'll get you a better clear answer, but I think that requires state law.

Brian: Anna in Manhattan, I think, you're on WNYC. Hi, Anna.

Anna: Good morning. Thank you for taking my call, Brian. First-time caller.

Brian: I'm glad you're on.

Anna: Good morning, Mr. Mayor.

Mayor de Blasio: Good morning, Anna. How are you?

Anna: Oh, I would be better, but I'm blessed. I'm 82 years old, but I'm calling about the heat and hot water in grant development in Harlem.

Brian: What about it?

Mayor de Blasio: Okay. What's going on, Anna?

Anna: Well, sometime we have it and sometime we don't. Yesterday it went off almost five o'clock, no heat and then when I went to get some water, the water was cold as well, so I had to go to bed early because it got too cold in here.

The workers, it's not the workers' fault because the workers came upstairs to see what my problem is and they said they'd been having a lot of problems with the boiler. Now they need some help.

Mayor de Blasio: Okay, Anna. I want you to give your information to WNYC, please. Last week, Anna and also Brian, we got a call for someone calling on behalf of a friend in Nitra, with a heating issue. I had the general manager for all of public housing, Vito Mustaciuolo, reach out to your call from last week. That issue got resolved. The apartment was made warm again. That situation got a good outcome.

I want to make sure we get a good outcome for everyone in grant houses as well. I'm going to have Vito call you later today, Anna, and see what's going on and get help. There's no, we just-- I never want to see anyone, particularly an 82-year-old, who has worked so hard your whole life, I never want to see you go without what you deserve, so we got to get the heat and hot water back for you.

I will have the guy literally who's in charge of all the operations of Nitra citywide call you directly and figure out how we can get this back for you and your neighbors.

Brian: Anna, we'll take your phone number off the air for that. If you want to give it, hang on. Atase in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC with the mayor. Hello, Atase?

Atase: Hello, Good morning. I'm the parent of a child who ACS took October 13, 2015 and [unintelligible 00:23:23] of my son, they sent him to Pennsylvania. Now he's in Nassau County and HRA is paying $237, 000 to hold my son hostage in the back of an old building in Nassau County called SCO.

He's very human. His twin sister is in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. She haven't seen him in five years and I don't know why they're doing this to my son and I want him to look into it, into the board of education and to ACS in 150 Williams Street to find out why they're taking our children from school, because they are a little slow. They say, he's for OT. My son is a strong, healthy boy.

[inaudible 00:24:04] I'm sleeping without my son. I went to see him in Nassau County in Securus, where he lived there. In the back of an old cobweb house, they put him and nobody's looking. I called ACS a thousand times and nobody's looking to why they put my son there.

I go to court 3:30 street, district in Brooklyn family court. I'm paying the lawyer $500 every two months and she's doing nothing. The judge is doing nothing. I don't know it's because they make friends or maybe choice, I don't know what it is.

Brian: Very complicated situation, obviously, Atase, and it sounds like a tragedy. Mr. Mayor, how can you help her?

Mayor de Blasio: It does sound a very painful situation, Atase. I'm so sorry you're going through all that and that your son is. These are very complex issues. All I can say is, please give your information to WNYC. We'll have a senior person from the administration call you today and see if we can find a way to fix the situation or improve the situation for you and your son and I think that's all I can say, given the complexities of these kinds of issues.

Brian: Another question about schooling in Brooklyn, but of a more general nature via Twitter. This question says school opening issue is a practical and moral emergency. You need to ask the mayor about the teachers at my Brooklyn middle school and high school were on a plan, got vaccines, want to teach in person. The mayor and the chancellor needs to step up, give a plan, undo unique and unreasonable two case rule. I guess that means two cases and a school temporarily closes. Is that it?

Mayor de Blasio: Yes. Well, it's not as simple as that because there are a variety of conditions. There are certain circumstances, not all, but there are certain circumstances where two cases can lead to a closure for 10 days, because again, remember the standard is now 10 days.

What happens first is if those cases are identified by test and trace court as a temporary closure, to determine what the full facts are and sometimes two cases do not lead to a longer closure, sometimes they do.

I hear loud and clear that policy is being re-evaluated obviously because we need to improve our ability to get it exactly right. I've said a few days back, we're going to have an announcement this month about the next steps with reopening schools for this school year. Our first focus of course will be on middle school and, as soon as we have that plan ready, we will be announcing it.

Brian: In the news today Mr. Mayor, there are now two lawsuits on behalf of incarcerated New Yorkers, some at Rikers, suing the state for allowing residents of nursing homes and shelters to get vaccinated while denying similar eligibility to incarcerated people who they say should be treated like other folks who are in congregate living situations based on the risk. Will you satisfy that demand for city jail inmates without a day in court?

Mayor de Blasio: Again, Brian, forgive me for being a broken record, we got to be honest and clear about what the state of New York decides here. The state of New York has taken upon itself extraordinary powers. A lot of people are asking the question right now in Albany, if it's time for that to change as we start to come out of this crisis.

I do think restoring local control so we can make our own decisions, would really help here, but on this example, the state decides that. There's a small number of folks in our correction system. Folks who are incarcerated, who have particular high risk, I think it's about 500 who were authorized to be vaccinated.

A number of them wanted to be, a number of them did not choose to be vaccinated. Correction officers are being vaccinated, but like every other New Yorker, there are some who want to be, there are some who do not want to be. We do need to start reaching the larger population, but that's something that the state has to decide. Then once we get that authorization, we'll go to the effort of reaching those who are incarcerated but do not be surprised once again, if a number of those individuals choose not to take the vaccine. We're seeing this across the whole city.

Even in our public health system and the employees of our public health system and the original vaccination drives, it went on for weeks, about 50% chose not to get vaccinated, even though it was free, it was available at their work site, they were encouraged. I think there is a hesitancy issue that is another part of this puzzle. It will take time to overcome, but I am convinced with each passing week and month more and more people will choose to as they see others around them getting vaccinated.

Brian: In the meantime, do you want to lend your voice as a matter of politics to those calling on the states, since you said it's up to the state to offer the vaccines to people who are incarcerated? Do you want to make that call right here?

Mayor de Blasio: I would make that call with one important note. It should be according to need. There are folks who are vulnerable, because of pre-existing conditions, age, et cetera. Those folks who are incarcerated, I absolutely want to prioritize. Folks who are not as vulnerable, I'm right now concerned about our seniors who are very vulnerable. I would say on that one, I think it should be according to need not simply across the board.

Brian: The congregate living itself does impose enough of a risk like it does in other congregate living situations in your opinion?

Mayor de Blasio: Of course there's risks, but the question here, I care deeply for all people, really, and if someone happens to be incarcerated, they're still a human being. We want to protect them, but I want to emphasize what the healthcare professionals are saying. The greatest risks right now in New York City still are for those 65 and over, particularly 75 and over.

Those are the folks who are in the greatest danger and while we have this kind of supply problem, I do have to keep everyone focused on getting to the maximum extent possible to the folks in greatest danger.

Brian: Do you want to stay two minutes over to hear some good news and with some good news that shows that the Ask-The-Mayor call in and what you tell people can be effective. Leslie--

Mayor De Blasio: Anytime there is good news, I'll stick around. [laughs]

Brian: Leslie in the Bronx, you'll be our last caller today with the mayor, hi.

Leslie: Yes, I have good news. While I was listening to this program, I went on to the website for the Yankee Stadium vaccine and I went through the whole website and I scheduled myself for an appointment for a vaccine on February 10th so it works. You just have to make sure that you have your--

Mayor de Blasio: Leslie, what neighborhood are you in?

Leslie: I'm in the Bronx in Riverdale.

Mayor de Blasio: I love it. Give people advice, what do you need? You said you have to measure what?

Leslie: You have your insurance card with you because the website requires that you put down the number on your insurance card, what insurance you have and it only gives you like four minutes to fill out the form. Have your insurance information with you before you start filling out the form.

Brian: Leslie, thank you, but that opens up a can of worms. What if you're not insured, Mr. Mayor?

Mayor de Blasio: Well, I don't have the website up in front of me, but obviously there are people not insured and I will say, Brian, really important for all your listeners to remember, we guarantee health care here in New York City.

Anyone who cannot get insurance on the exchange can get an NYC care card, can get health care for free or very reduced costs through our health and hospital system. No one should be without health care.

Brian: Right.

Mayor de Blasio: We're actually letting people know, and anyone can call 311.

Brian: Do you really need health insurance information to sign up for vaccine?

Mayor de Blasio: No, you do not. Clearly, you do not need health insurance to get vaccinated. It is for free even if people do not have health insurance. I have not seen the portion of the application Leslie's talking about. What I'd say to everyone is go online, make your appointment. If you do not have health insurance card, you're still going to get an appointment.

If there's any question, call the phone line and that you can get additional help that way because we want to make sure that anyone who has any problem if you can't resolve your problems online again from the Bronx site, that Yankee Stadium, that's 833-SOMOS-NY.

For other sites is 877-VAX-4NYC. So you can always get questions answered there, but no, we are going to vaccinate people regardless they have insurance unquestionably.

Brian: Thanks as always, Mr. Mayor. Talk to you next week.

Mayor de Blasio: Thanks, Brian.

 

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