MAYOR DE BLASIO, SENATOR SCHUMER HOLD MEDIA AVAILABILITY ON COVID-19

Mayor Bill de Blasio: To hear of the death, the first New Yorker to die related to coronavirus. This is a very painful moment. This is a moment we all knew would come. That doesn’t make it any easier. I want to say at the outset our hearts go out to her family, our condolences to them, and we will do all we can to support this family in this really difficult moment. I’m going to speak to this situation and some other updates, but want to say at the outset how grateful I am. And we’ll talk about in a moment how grateful I am, how grateful all New Yorkers should be to Senator Schumer for the work he’s done on our behalf. You’ll hear from him in a moment. I’ll give some updates. Senator Schumer will offer his remarks. We want to ask questions, then of Senator Schumer while he’s here, he has to depart to some other things. And then I’ll continue with our Health Commissioner, Dr. Barbot with updates and a Q & A. Also want to thank our Deputy Mayor Raul Perea-Henze, and our CEO of Health + Hospitals, Dr. Mitch Katz. But back to this very painful situation. I think people know by now, 82-year-old woman, who on top of what she went through with coronavirus, previously had been diagnosed with emphysema. And I know way too much about emphysema. My own father suffered from it. And she had been hospitalized for emphysema previously, recently, before then being later hospitalized for coronavirus. She went in the hospital last week, one of our first cases and has been in critical – was in critical condition ever since. So again, our hearts are with our family and we also have to offer thanks to the people, the good people, the staff, the team, the doctors, nurses that Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, who did all they could do to support her and help her. Want to give the overview very quickly and obviously as we have been unfortunately having to predict the number of cases, continues to grow in New York City. As of 10:00 am today we are at 183 cases and that is 29 new since we gathered together late yesterday afternoon. So again, 183 cases now in New York City. We’re going to give you more information as we get it and we solidify numbers on hospitalization levels because obviously this is crucial to what’s going to happen going forward. The latest numbers we have, and this is now based on 6:00 pm last night, so this is a different number than the timeline on the 183, and I’ll always try and differentiate for you. But as of 6:00 pm last night we had 30 people in New York City hospitalized related to coronavirus, 30. And of those 30, within those 30, 19 as of 6:00 pm last night were in the ICU. And we can say so far based on our experience, about 80 percent of our total hospitalized cases, so of those hospitalized approximately 80 percent are over 50 and-or have preexisting medical conditions. That five conditions we’ve talked about previously and we’ll continue to get more information as we go along. But we are seeing and it’s a sad, sad reality and we saw it play out in the death of this woman today. Undeniably those who are in the greatest danger are those who are older and particularly those who are substantially older folks in their seventies, eighties and those with those serious preexisting medical conditions. That is the community we are most concerned about and keeps playing out time and time again. That’s where the most severe problem is.  Another update, I’m going to tell you what we have here and the actions being taken to address it. We have a — and I’m going to give you some information. We did not have every detail yet and we are still doing some notifications and actions so this is purposely partial information until we have further confirmation. We have a new confirmed case member of the FDNY, from a firehouse in Brooklyn. The member worked from Sunday through Tuesday, went home on Tuesday with symptoms and we’ll get you the exact details on that. Tested positive late yesterday. While on duty the firefighter did not respond, I’m going to say again, while on duty did not respond to any medical runs or treat any patients. As a matter of precaution, 31 members of that firehouse will be quarantined immediately. Those who had worked with the member directly and the member is now quarantined at home. Other members of the house who were not in direct contact will take over the operations of the house. It’s being cleaned right now. The firehouse will be fully operational and up and running at full capacity by 6:00 pm. There are other fire resources in the immediate area that obviously can cover any need in the intervening time. I spoke directly to Commissioner Nigro who’s confident of the coverage levels that are available. And you know, we’ve been very clear about the fact this is going to go on for months, this crisis. We are very clear who is most vulnerable, those older folks with preexisting conditions. I want to just say something I think is now a moral imperative for all New Yorkers, which is to protect those older New Yorkers who have those preexisting conditions. To really think about those who are most vulnerable among us and take actions accordingly. That means in your own life, even though you want to visit your older relatives and they really cherish those visits. If you’re sick, if anyone around you is sick, it’s not the time to visit. But that doesn’t mean don’t stay in touch with them. Call them, get on FaceTime, whatever else. There are older relatives who need support and we don’t want to leave them alone, but we have to be smart about never subjecting them to anyone who might be sick. And when you are visiting with someone older and or with preexisting conditions, all those basics, washing your hands, using the alcohol-based hand sanitizer, covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze, social distancing, even when you’re visiting, keeping some distance, we really need that. They need it. And even down to the point of everything that is available in our stores. Want people to remember, of course people are stocking up, but there’s older folks in your life, neighbors, folks you worship with, family members of course, who may be low on supplies, share with them. Because we can’t have those folks go without the things they need. So, everyone’s got to think of this. And I said to you all yesterday and other times we’re going into a full crisis footing. This is a wartime dynamic. We have to think about helping each other in different ways and it will take the people to solve this crisis, not just the government. So, we have to look out for each other. Okay. Just a quick few sentences in Spanish, and then I want to say something about the actions taken in Washington as a preface to introducing Senator Schumer  [Mayor de Blasio speaks in Spanish:] So, we’ve talked a lot about the problems we’re seeing at the federal level. And I will note again what we are waiting for from the administration in Washington. But I have to start by commending Senator Schumer for his actions, which had been crucial. He has been constantly available, supporting the needs of New York City in New York State. He has intervened on numerous occasions on our behalf and obviously worked closely with Speaker Pelosi on the stimulus bill, which is a major step forward. It is still astounding that the administration has not moved an aggressive program of testing. We are still waiting on FDA approvals for a number of companies. We are still waiting for direct support for testing. We are nowhere near where we need to be as a nation and I’m going to keep talking about the need to go on a wartime footing and nationalize or mobilize key industries. There is no reason on earth that the companies that produce ventilators are not on a urgent 24/7 production line right now to get ventilators produced on mass and distributed where they’re needed in this country. There’s no reason on Earth that there are not enough surgical masks in different parts of the United States or face guards or hand sanitizer. This all needs to be federalized in whatever way possible and production needs to be taken to maximum, immediately while we have a chance. And there’s no inkling of that from the federal level.  So, the Congress, the House is acting and Senator Schumer is acting and we’re waiting on the rest of the Senate. And I want to also note as astounding to me that the US Senate did not stay in session yesterday to be able to receive the action by the House and move immediately. I know Senator Schumer and I are united in that thought and that’s not to say the least his doing that is Leader McConnell, but it just makes no sense. I mean this is, I think we’ve directed a lot of ire at the President and the federal agencies. But let’s be fair, how on Earth did the US Senate go out of session in the middle of a national crisis and a global pandemic. That said the action the House took, and I know Senator Schumer was instrumental in, I believe the Senate will act on, parallels a lot of the things we’ve been calling for here and a lot of things we actually do here. Obviously, this is a city that now guarantees health care for all our people. I am heartened to see the legislation include free coronavirus testing, even for those who are uninsured. That is a major step forward. 14 days of paid sick leave, absolutely crucial, up to three months of paid emergency family and medical leave. These things that are finally happening that we need desperately, food security actions for students and vulnerable populations. We need all of this. I’ll state the obvious for the future. These are policies we better put in place permanently, if we don’t have paid sick leave nationally, if we don’t have universal health care on a much more extensive level, good luck dealing with the epidemics and pandemics of the future and they are coming. So, I hope this is a wake-up call to our nation that we need to go a lot farther. With that, I have to express profound thanks to Senator Schumer. We in New York City, I hope all 8.6 million New Yorkers know this. If this man were not here and was not taking care of us and watching out for us, not just on this issue, but on so many others, we would be in so worse shape, but he is indispensable. And he is a guy in his — I’m going to say something, Senator, I think you should appreciate. His name originates from a word that is translated as guardian. And he has been our guardian in this crisis, he has stepped up in an extraordinary fashion. It’s my honor to present to you the Minority Leader of the US Senate, Senator Chuck Schumer. And I will bump you right. There you go. That’s right. Good. Senator Charles Schumer: Well, thank you, Mayor. And thank you for the good and long work that you are doing as well as the hundreds of thousands of city workers who work for you in health care and first responding in all the other places where we need the help. So, what we passed last night or what the House passed last night is a lifeline. I’ll get into the details in a minute. But we have a crisis in this country as seen by the unfortunate death last night. And I am really glad that Congress took action and our action was aimed at families, working people who were affected and need the help most desperately. And we passed the kinds of things that matter to them – free testing for the coronavirus. You do not want — these are the six things – we do not want people who are – who might have it, but say the doctor will charge me a couple of hundred dollars. I’m not going to go and then walk around with it. We strengthened food assistance to both the elderly and the kids who were not in school for whatever reason. And that’s their best meal and they can’t get it. They are safeguarding the medical benefits. That’s FMAP. I’ll get to that in a minute. That’s the real biggest benefit for New York directly. We enhance unemployment aid. If you’re unemployed, all those poor people, you read about Broadway and Barclay’s center, what are the people who collect the tickets or who clean the place up or who sell the food going to do? They don’t have jobs, paid family leave, sick leave won’t help them, but we’ve greatly expanded and made more flexible unemployment benefits so they can get them. And then there is paid leave, both family and sick leave. You get 14 days of sick leave, you get full pay and then you get another three months of family leave for yourself or if your kid’s home, if your spouse is sick or whatever else. So those are good things. Very good things. Now, despite President Trump’s downplaying the issue, pointing fingers of blame at all people like the press, calling it a hoax, tell the family of the woman who died that it’s a hoax. And basically, just not stating the facts correctly. He was forced to go along with what Congress wanted. First the original bill, which dealt with the vaccines and getting our own health care agencies up and going [inaudible] remember, called for $2 billion. I called for $8.5 billion. The package we passed was $8.3 billion. Last Thursday, sorry, last Tuesday, I said he should declare an emergency so he can use FEMA and the dollars that FEMA has. He just said that yesterday. And maybe most importantly, these six things are what Nancy and I called for, Speaker Pelosi and I called for Saturday, last Sunday. And these are the six things in the bill. No giveaways to oil companies or other things they were thinking of in the White House. So now, it was disgraceful that Leader McConnell left town last night. The Congress, the House was debating and voting. We could have had this done already, but he left. But now I am calling on Leader McConnell to move this package immediately when we return on Monday, as is. No new amendments to help some special interest. Nothing. Everyone’s going to have a lot of good ideas. There’s going to be a third package and a fourth package and a fifth package. But if we add things to this, has to go back to the House, back and forth. The people of New York and the people of America can’t wait. So, Leader McConnell, let’s get moving. Pass this package as is, ASAP. And I hope they’ll do that. Now, for New York. There are lots of benefits for New York, but none is bigger than what’s called FMAP. And I have over the years I’ve been in the Senate used FMAP to channel money at times of need into state and local governments. And New York does better than just about anybody else because we have the large — FMAP is Medicaid and we have the largest Medicaid population in the country. And traditionally the federal government pays 50 percent of Medicaid and the State government and the localities together pay 50 percent. In almost all states, it’s only the state government. In New York and North Carolina, the locals have to pay. We have raised that amount to 56.2 percent. That’s what the federal government will pay so the State and local share goes down concomitantly two 43.8 percent. That will mean $6.2 billion for New York on an annual basis. It’s done quarterly. If you went to the quarter and still have the virus, you get it for the whole quarter so you can prorate it by one quarter. If you know, luckily enough, there is no coronavirus by the fourth quarter of next year, it’ll be three quarters of the amount I give. And we divide the money between the State and the localities. New York City will get over $1 billion and that will be — it will enable them, since it will help pay their Medicaid to use other dollars that might’ve had to go to Medicaid, to go to all the needs that you were talking about. Mayor: [Inaudible]? Senator Schumer: Well, I am a Brooklynite. We say next, when other people say this. 2020, fourth quarter of 2020. I always confuse that with my staff – this year, next year, this week, next week. I forgot who’s right, which one is right and which one is wrong. Okay, so it’s fourth quarter of this year, 2020. The City gets a billion. The other counties and localities in the state get $400 million, the State gets $5.2 billion. There’s a lot of money there. And it will be used to help our states and localities that are on the front line with all of their other expenses. It’ll probably help the State review, solve some of their Medicaid problems that we’ve talked about previously as well. We used FMAP in 2003 when the fiscal, when there was a downturn and most notably, we used it very significantly and very successfully in 2008. And each time I wrote a provision into the law that localities could not be, they had to get a good share, a decent share of the money. And that’s back in the law. And this time there’s over $1 billion of employment benefits that go to the State. As I said, we loosened up unemployment, how quickly you can apply and under what conditions.  And then there’s money in many other things. There’s about $15 million from meals to seniors. There was money for all kinds of other things. And then there are all the things that we mentioned that go to New Yorkers, not to the city or state governments, that I mentioned before in terms of sick leave and in terms of paid leave, in terms of free testing, things like that. So this is really a lifesaver for New York during a difficult time, and that’s what the federal government should do. So, I hope the — I believe and hope the Senate will pass this quickly and then we will have to move on because there are other issues that we’re going to have to deal with as well. This will not be the last coronavirus relief bill at all. Okay. I’ll take questions on this subject if you have them. Yes.  Question: Me or Kate? Senator Schumer: You. Question: Okay. Not that you’re describing is in the Senate bill you [inaudible] Monday or is it separate? Senator Schumer: It’s in the house bill and that’s what sending – being sent to the Senate. Same bill. Question: How much would Long Island get? Senator Schumer: Long Island would get in the hundreds of millions I would think. Or the high tens of millions each county. They’re the next two biggest counties in terms of Medicaid. I’ll get you those numbers. Question: My question is, I guess it’s more for the Mayor or it’s about coronavirus – Senator Schumer: We’ll do questions for me first because I’m – Question: [Inaudible] some discrepancy on the number [inaudible] – Mayor: Yeah. The Senator has to go onto other things – Senator Schumer: Okay. Yes, ma’am? Question: The free testing and hand soap [inaudible] is that already in [inaudible] – Senator Schumer: That will take effect once this law is signed into law, but the president has said he will sign it. Question: Have you been tested for coronavirus? Senator Schumer: No, I have not been exposed. Question: The family leave, can you just talk a little bit more about what that means and is it only if he gets sick with the coronavirus? Senator Schumer: Yes. Yes. Question: Okay. Senator Schumer: We would have liked to have permanent family leave. That’s a goal of mine. I know the Mayor agrees with that, but this was – and we originally, actually put seven days of paid sick leave as a requirement. Not family leave but sick leave. But the Republicans wouldn’t go along with that but – Question: [Inaudible] to get a confirmed. Like does it have to be a confirmed case of coronavirus since we’re still at this period [inaudible]? Senator Schumer: It doesn’t have to be a confirmed – you have to show on family leave that you – if your child is home, if your loved one is home, if your parent is very sick, it would apply to all of them. And unlike most family leave where you get off but they can’t fire you, here you get two-thirds pay. And by the way, one of the other advantages of this is it helps the economy because all these people who are out of work or not working might not have gotten paid and that would be a real crimp on the economy for all of us. They’re going to have money in their pockets. Question: What should be done to help the businesses that putting [inaudible] – Senator Schumer: In this package is money for small business lending. We would like to get grants to small business. We couldn’t get that through the Republican side, but we’re going to try to get that in the next package. Question: Dollar amount? Senator Schumer: I think it’s – I’ll get you the number, I think it’s in the tens of billions. It’s either 30 or 50, I can’t remember which one they ended up with. Okay. Yes? Question: Is there any provision for part time workers or – Senator Schumer: Yes, the part time workers would get paid their part-time salaries under both the sick leave and the paid family leave. Okay. Thank you, everybody and thank you, Mayor. Nice to see you all. Mayor: Thank you. Senator Schumer: [Inaudible] elbow bump. Mayor: There you go. See? New habits. And Senator, thank you. You are allowed to do it, elbow bump, everyone is. Senator thank you, and thank you to Speaker Pelosi. Thank you to all the members of the house delegation. Senator Schumer: Nancy Pelosi did a great job. Mayor: She sure did. Senator Schumer: [Inaudible] really proud. Mayor: Amen. Thank you. Senator Schumer: Used to [inaudible] 10 – 15 times a day the last week – Mayor: God bless you. Thank you to Senator and again, Speaker Pelosi, an outstanding job. The members of our house delegation from New York really stepped up and you know, we have not been used to a lot functioning on the federal level in recent weeks. This is something that actually is progress and is moving, but we have to see the Senate move on it on Monday and the president sign it immediately. With that, I want to just turn to Dr. Barbot for a moment because she has some guidance to give New Yorkers because again, we have to constantly get the message out about how people should handle this situation. Commissioner Oxiris Barbot, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: Thank you. So, as the Mayor said, today we are announcing our first death related to COVID-19 and it’s a difficult moment for the City and especially for the individual’s family and our hearts go out to this family. And we are committed to providing them ongoing support during this painful time. I think it’s an opportunity for us to be clear that with this outbreak we should not be surprised if we see additional deaths. I think it’s a reality that we have to be clear with New Yorkers about that all of our efforts clearly are directed at ensuring that we minimize harm to New Yorkers, especially those that have these chronic underlying illnesses, but that we can’t predict the behavior of the virus in all individuals. And so that’s why it’s incumbent on all New Yorkers to change our behavior so that when we say, don’t go to work if you’re sick, don’t send your kids to school if they’re sick, it has implications beyond the individual, beyond the individual’s family, beyond the individual’s community. It has implications for all of us. So, we need to make sure that New Yorkers are clear that if they are having symptoms, they should stay home. They should contact their providers if they’re not getting better and that in this situation it’s important for us to be testing those that really need to be testing. The social isolation that we are putting in place is really only going to work if New Yorkers change their behavior. And I think the last thing that I want to say because I can’t say it enough, is the importance of frequent, thorough, consistent hand-washing, as well as covering your hands – excuse me –covering your mouth and your nose when you cough or your sneeze. Ensuring that you’ve got alcohol-based hand sanitizer when you are not close to a water source, ensuring that you don’t shake hands, and I think it’s okay for us to remind one another to say, uh huh, not shaking hands, glad to do the elbow bump. People are getting creative. But the point is, now more than ever, it’s important for us to change our behavior and I don’t want that message to be lost because, you know, as I’ve said in the past, we’re in this for the long haul. I think our best estimate is sometime in September. We are always hoping for it to be shorter. We can’t predict if it’s going to be longer. So, these are things that we need to put into place on a regular, ongoing basis. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Mayor: Okay. Let us take some questions. Go ahead. Katie? Question: I just wanted to ask, you said the number in New York City is 183 cases, but the state has it at 213, can you explain the discrepancy? Mayor: Sure, if that – I have not seen the latest State – the State is getting results in obviously from a variety of labs and they have oftentimes information ahead of us and they share it with us and we update our numbers. So, at this point it’s going to be a rolling basis. There’s a lot of different sources of testing out there. We’re going to update our numbers every time we confirm them. But honestly this is what we had at 10:00 am, it’s not 10:00 am anymore. Question: With all due respect before the press conference – I mean because we have put this out, this is being broadcast live on television in some cases, shouldn’t that have been checked by [inaudible] or some of your team [inaudible] – Mayor: Katie, again, with all due respect back, we’re going to give the numbers that we have that we have confirmed as the latest. It’s sometimes the State will have something that we have not yet confirmed, but let’s be clear, if we update an hour later or two hours later, it’s actually not changing anybody’s lives. We’re going to give the best information we have once we’ve confirmed it, but it’s equal, bluntly, that we know we are in a crisis and I want you guys to have accurate information. We’re not going to give you something until we’re sure. This is the number as of 10:00 am. We’re going to update it constantly. Question: When did the woman pass away? What borough did she live in? Dr. Barbot? Mayor: Yeah. I don’t have the exact – do you have that? We don’t we don’t have that. We’ll get you that as much as we can. Go ahead. Question: What advice for New Yorkers who are HIV positive, are they in the category where – Mayor: Oh, absolutely compromised immune system. Doctor or either one, whoever wants to jump in? Commissioner Barbot: To the extent that individuals have the five underlying chronic illnesses that we have laid out and have additional diagnoses, they are certainly at risk. But HIV in and of itself with a well-controlled viral load – they don’t have a standalone category. What we now know is that most individuals who are surviving with HIV are actually more likely to die from the leading causes of death that we all die from, which include heart disease, which is one of the major categories that we’re concerned about. As one of the chronic illnesses that puts people at risk for COVID-19 bad outcomes. And let me just say again, to reemphasize, we’ve been saying that those that are at greatest risk are those with those five underlying illnesses and who may be above 50. But I also don’t want us to lose sight of the fact that they’re not the only ones that are at risk. This is a situation where every day we’re learning more information and we’re going to adjust our guidance as we learn more about what’s happening here in New York City. But for now, that piece of information hasn’t changed. Mayor: [Inaudible] all get it right [inaudible] HIV/AIDs [inaudible] can we clarify the difference, sort of the spectrum, because I’m assuming – compromised immune disease [inaudible]. Commissioner Barbot: Nowadays, having HIV in and of itself doesn’t necessarily mean that your system is immunocompromised. If you are well controlled, you’re on the appropriate medications, you’re controlling your viral load. Mayor: But If not – Commissioner Barbot: If not, then certainly. Yes. Mayor: So that’s what we have to be clear. It’s a qualitative reality – Commissioner Barbot: Correct. Question: [Inaudible] press conference that you mentioned setting up drive-through testing centers. I know that’s happening in New Rochelle. Can you talk about what sort of streamline testing? Mayor: Sure. Question: Are there going to be fever screening [inaudible] the way China is set up [inaudible] – Mayor: So, we are discussing that literally today. The – look we saw in South Korea for example – every place is different. Let me be the first to say, and every scenario is different, but in South Korea, you know, very powerful results from an aggressive testing approach, that said that requires having the testing capacity. So, here’s been the conundrum from day one and I think this is what the history is going to show at the end of this. If it – you know, I keep coming back to if our press conference was – first one was January 24th and we were calling for testing capacity then, you know, what a different world this would have been if the federal government in the first half of February had moved testing into as aggressive a stance as it could have been all over the country. I think we’d be having a very different reality because it would have allowed early on to do the testing, do the follow-up, isolate people, you know, do the tracing, all the things we needed to do. There’s a really fair argument that now we’re in such an advanced place that testing can’t play the same role it used to. But this – I would argue as a layman, the South Korea example proves that there is a strategic value that can be done, it can be achieved, if you have mass testing ability. So, we’d love to get to that point and we’re on every possible source. I like the idea of the drive-throughs, if it’s done – and I think the State is doing this – on a prioritized basis. It’s just a way of streamlining getting to the people who need it most. I would love even more to have the massive capacity to go deeper and deeper into the population, still prioritize, but much deeper into the population. So, if we can get the capacity levels up higher, I’d love to see the drive-throughs here as well.Question: Okay. Just to clarify, is it still as a I think it was March 10th, the Health Department’s protocol was each and every test had to be approved by the Department of Health. Like a health care provider has to call – call the hotline and say, can I do this test? Is that still the case now that [inaudible] labs come online? Commissioner Barbot: So, I want to build on what the Mayor said with regards to testing. Now that the commercial labs are doing the testing, we are sending guidance to health care providers to really focus testing on those who need it. You know, at this point in time, having increasing testing capacity is really important for folks who are significantly sick and not getting better. There may be other jurisdictions where they’re still not sure if they’ve got community-wide transmission and there is a different purpose for that. But in our situation, we know we’ve got widespread community transmission and so we need to focus, as the Mayor says, on testing people who are sick and not getting better. Mayor: But the question was approval – Commissioner Barbot: Oh you – they don’t need our approval. Mayor: [Inaudible] Commissioner Barbot: They used to. Yes, they used to. Question: When did that change? Commissioner Barbot: We can get back to you. But the reason why they needed our approval was because CDC was very strict on limiting who it was that was able to be tested and so CDC gave us very strict guidelines about who was eligible for testing. But now that’s been lifted. Mayor: Yeah, that’s really, this is a strangest thing I think for all of us to recognize. It feels like we’re going through months or years of history, but it’s actually only days. I mean, so we’re talking about it’s less than two weeks that we had the ability to do any testing of our own here. And yeah, it was really tight in the beginning. I mean, that’s the irony. You know, the need was so great and we needed flexibility and speed and creativity for the federal government. We had a super tight regimen restricting. That’s obviously gone out the window and now there’s finally movement. The FDA approval for Roche was a very good example that there’s finally a recognition of the need to expand. But there’s so much more to do. There’s a bunch of laboratories that still need that FDA approval. There still should be many more tests made available directly from the federal government. There’s so much more to do to put this on a really strategic footing, and you know, I’d like to see the whole federal government involved. You know, I think FEMA is starting to get involved because of the state of emergency. That’s good. It should have happened already. VA, we talked about yesterday, one of the points that Dr. Henze made, you know, the Veteran’s Administration could be a part of this too with their capacity, the military, there’s a lot of pieces to the equation that need to be advanced if we’re really going to do the kind of testing we need and get the kind of supplies and medical capacity we need. We need an actual full federal response and we’re still not even close. Question: What would it take for you to consider closing the schools? Mayor: It’s going to be a day by day examination of all the facts. The –I talked about the CDC guidance sound, don’t know if you were here yesterday, but I urge you to take a look at that.It expresses the sheer complexity that attends to this, particularly when you’re talking about such a vast number of kids in such a densely packed city. The – and we’re going to have further conversations internally today. The pure public health strategic consideration is straight forward about closing the maximum things you can close. On the other hand, there are very, very pertinent health and safety dynamics. When you close, you create a series of additional new problems in terms of health and safety. When you close, you potentially compromise the hospital system and the health care system by the impact it has on health care providers who would hold back and not go to work, stay with their families, stay with their kids. Let alone, of course, the impact on children’s education, but I think a very sobering fact is hundreds of thousands of teenagers without adult supervision. I think that’s not just about health. It is. It’s about all the other impact that has on their life. It is about the impact on safety. You know, we just have to look at a whole picture. So, we’re going to be doing that constantly. But I think we have a lot to balance. And I’m holding where we are right now. Question: [Inaudible] policies in the state of emergency that you’ve enacted or considering – Mayor: The first policy is what we ended up in an absolute agreement. And I heard that there might be some misunderstanding of this. I want to clarify. I can’t even, someone’s going to have to help me on which day was which because they’re all blurring together. But when I was on a New Day on CNN – was that Thursday morning? You know, Press Release.