Coronavirus Cancellations: New York City Nixes Parades, Concerts And Rallies Through May
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Parades, concerts and rallies will have to wait at least another month.
New York City has canceled all large gatherings through May.
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"We love those events. But what do we know about those events? [They] inherently mean large numbers of people crowded together in a pretty small space," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday. "That's New York City, that's who we are. But guess what? That goes against everything that we need to do to fight back the coronavirus. So we have to be smart.
"We'll miss them when we don't have them, but they will be back," he added.
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The mayor said his office is speaking with organizers behind June events – like Pride – to determine their fate, as well.
"I don't see it for June, but we're going to have the conversation carefully and then have an announcement real soon," he said.
On Thursday, de Blasio presented his budget proposal, which didn't include funding to open the city's pools this summer. He said it's also unclear if the beaches will fully open.
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CBS2's political reporter Marcia Kramer asked the mayor Friday whether he would be willing to open the pools if a private donor provided the money.
"The pools didn't make sense for a variety of reasons. It's not just if a donor came along – we would be very grateful for anyone who wanted to help us out," he replied. "But the pools, until we are in a much better situation health and safety-wise with this disease, the pools present immediate challenges."
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Kramer also asked about staying cool during the summer months with potential heat waves.
"While we're dealing with one problem, we can't take our eye off of other problems," he said. "Today we're not dealing with heat waves, but we sure did last summer. So we should be ready."
He said his team will start working on a plan, which may include social distancing guidelines for the city's cooling centers.