De Blasio and His Cronies Helped Start NYC's COVID Disaster with Horrifying Announcements
As we end the tumultuous month of March 2020, arguably the most impactful we’ve had as a nation since September 2001, it helps to remember where we are and where we’ve been.
There’s no better man to illustrate what went wrong than New York Mayor Bill de Blasio.
To end the month, de Blasio was threatening to shutter permanently any place of worship that continued to worship in spite of orders to the contrary.
“If you go to your synagogue, if you go to your church and attempt to hold services, after having been told so often not to, our enforcement agents will have no choice, but to shut down those services,” de Blasio said during a Friday news conference.
“If [compliance] does not happen, they will take additional action up to the point of fines and potentially closing the building permanently.”
So we know how the month ended. How did it begin for the mayor? Here’s March 3:
Since I’m encouraging New Yorkers to go on with your lives + get out on the town despite Coronavirus, I thought I would offer some suggestions. Here’s the first: thru Thurs 3/5 go see “The Traitor” @FilmLinc. If “The Wire” was a true story + set in Italy, it would be this film.
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) March 3, 2020
I’m bored, so part of my fun today is picking through the comments on that tweet and seeing how many people said “this didn’t age well.”
No public official is perfect when it comes to the coronavirus outbreak, of course, and we shouldn’t pillory someone because he made mistakes. However, if the media want to hit President Donald Trump for his response and suggest he has “blood on his hands,” they need to look at other figures — particularly the mayor of America’s largest city.
Until recently, de Blasio thought he was presidential material. Not many people agreed, which is why he dropped out of the primary process early. That said, if he believed he was presidential material, his record on coronavirus certainly isn’t a spotless one.
For instance, here’s what he had to say about the disease on Feb. 2: “People should be very clear about what this disease is and what it isn’t, and New Yorkers, I always say, are not intimidated easily. New Yorkers should go about our lives, continue doing what we do. …
“We understand some things about this disease. As I said, others are still unclear. But what is clear is the only way you get it is with substantial contact with someone who already has it. You don’t get it from a surface. You don’t get it from glancing or very temporary contact based on what we know now.”
The empty streets of New York City today are proof that this wasn’t exemplary advice.
On the same day, meanwhile, here’s what New York City Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot had to say:
“The risk to New Yorkers for coronavirus is low. … There is no reason not to take the subway, not to take the bus, not to go out to your favorite restaurant and certainly not to miss the [Lunar New Year] parade next Sunday.”
Barbot on Feb. 2nd: “There is no reason not to take the subway, not to take the bus, not to go out to your favorite restaurant, and certainly not to miss the parade next Sunday.” (via FNC) pic.twitter.com/qpg2aKCChV
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 27, 2020
She reiterated on her Twitter that the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration would be going on as planned.
As we gear up to celebrate the #LunarNewYear in NYC, I want to assure New Yorkers that there is no reason for anyone to change their holiday plans, avoid the subway, or certain parts of the city because of #coronavirus. pic.twitter.com/r4gNWklGPX
— Commissioner Oxiris Barbot (@NYCHealthCommr) February 2, 2020
More from the commissioner on Feb. 7:
NYC “Health Commissioner” Oxiris Barbot on Feb. 7th: “We’re telling New Yorkers, go about your lives, take the subway, go out, enjoy life” pic.twitter.com/28mhwdBCK4
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 27, 2020
Back to de Blasio, Feb. 10:
De Blasio on Feb 10th: “We want to encourage” NYers going out. “If you’re under 50 & you’re healthy, which is most NYers, there’s very little threat here. This disease, even if you were to get it, basically acts like a common cold or flu. And transmission is not that easy.” pic.twitter.com/CeGMKbnFtz
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 27, 2020
While he did warn people with pre-existing conditions over 50 that they needed to be careful, he said, “If you’re under 50 and you’re healthy, which is most New Yorkers, there’s very little threat here. This disease, even if you were to get it, basically acts like a common cold or flu. And transmission is not that easy.”
From what we know now, a lot of this is dead wrong — particularly in a city that is basically a petri dish for the outbreak.
De Blasio again, Feb. 14:
De Blasio on Feb. 14: The Coronavirus “should not stop you from going about your life, should not stop you from going to Chinatown and going out to eat. I’m going to do that today myself.” pic.twitter.com/OUaXyBUK06
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 27, 2020
The mayor one day prior to the movie-recommendation tweet:
De Blasio on March 2nd: “We have a lot of information now, information that is actually showing us things that should give us more reason to stay calm and go about our lives” normally pic.twitter.com/qPZnwXinuY
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) March 27, 2020
Then, on March 20, it came out that de Blasio’s City Hall didn’t order coronavirus protection supplies — masks, hand sanitizer, etc. — until March 6, according to the New York Poat.
Now, was Trump’s response perfect? No. However, at the same time that de Blasio was saying all of these things, here’s what the president was doing, as per the Trump War Room Twitter:
January 7: The CDC established a coronavirus incident management system to better share and respond to information about the virus
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) March 19, 2020
January 17: The CDC began implementing public health entry screening at the 3 U.S. airports that received the most travelers from Wuhan – San Francisco, New York JFK, and Los Angeles
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) March 19, 2020
January 21: The CDC activated its emergency operations center to provide ongoing support to the coronavirus response
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) March 19, 2020
February 3: The CDC had a team ready to travel to China to obtain critical information on the novel coronavirus, but were in the U.S. awaiting permission to enter by the Chinese government
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) March 19, 2020
February 6: The CDC began shipping CDC-Developed test kits for the 2019 Novel Coronavirus to U.S. and international labs
— Trump War Room – Text TRUMP to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) March 19, 2020
And so on. I’m not going to put the entire thing here, because it’s a pretty long thread — which is interesting, considering it never gets talked about in the media.
The president’s reaction was far from perfect, but it was also substantially better than that of de Blasio — who, again, thought he was White House material himself. Thank God most everyone didn’t agree.
Trump was the one who stopped travel from China at the same time that de Blasio was urging people to go out. As late as March 3, the mayor was urging people to congregate.
These are all horrifying announcements in retrospect — and again, de Blasio gets no flak for them while Trump’s words are routinely distorted to make it sound like he thought the virus was a hoax that he didn’t even consider.
De Blasio had the proverbial One Job: Stop the coronavirus. I’m not saying it’s not challenging, but he only had to do it in a single city.
He failed, and the consequences have been dire.
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