Transcript: Mayor Bill de Blasio on "Face the Nation," March 14, 2021
The following is a transcript of an interview with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio that aired Sunday, March 14, 2021, on "Face the Nation."
MARGARET BRENNAN: A year into the COVID-19 pandemic, New York City has the highest per capita death rate in the country, higher than any state in the US. Joining us now is Mayor Bill de Blasio. Good morning to you, Mr. Mayor.
NEW YORK CITY MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO: Good morning, MARGARET, how are you doing?
MARGARET BRENNAN: I'm doing well, and I want to ask you about what's happening in your city right now, because we had Dr. Fauci on this program last Sunday. And he said he's very concerned about this new variant that's circulating in New York because it has shown some resistance to antibody treatments and to the vaccine. What is your health department telling you about who's getting sick and where are they?
MAYOR DE BLASIO: MARGARET, our health team is really hopeful at this point. We're- we're vigilant about the variants. We don't take them lightly. But I got to tell you, we've now had 2.8 million vaccinations in New York City to date. That's more than the entire population of Chicago. The vaccination effort is moving very rapidly. We need a hell of a lot more supply, but it's moving. Hesitancy levels going down. So I'm really hopeful that we are going to stay one step ahead of the variance. So far, our health team says, in fact, the vaccine is effective against the variants we've seen. But I'll tell you, people should not let the guard down. Until this battle is over, keep wearing the mask, keep practicing the social distancing, and let's not get ahead of ourselves. We've got a pandemic to overcome here. We all have to do it together.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Are people who were infected last spring getting reinfected?
MAYOR DE BLASIO: We've not seen a lot of reinfection, MARGARET. It's something our health team has studied carefully. We know that the science regarding COVID is still imperfect. But I'll tell you the answer is just to maximize the pace of vaccination. In New York City today, we could be doing over half a million vaccinations a week if we had more supply. I think the key thing is to get us that supply--
MARGARET BRENNAN: The federal government directly provides you supplies. Is the Biden administration not giving you enough?
MAYOR DE BLASIO: I think the Biden administration is doing an amazing job. I think it has been one of the greatest weeks in presidential history, honestly, what Joe Biden has pulled off. No, part of our problem is the state of New York. We don't get our fair share of vaccine for this city. We're vaccinating people not just from the city, but also from the suburbs, surrounding states. We need our fair share, but we don't have enough control of our own destiny. In this city and in cities around the country this is something that has to be better going forward if we're really going to reach everyone who needs the vaccine.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you what you do have control of within your city. You detected the first COVID-19 case March 1st of last year. You waited until the 15th to shut down bars and restaurants, gyms and schools. And, in fact, you tweeted yourself on March 15th telling people to go out and get that one last drink at the bar. Why do you think you were so late in understanding the threat?
MAYOR DE BLASIO: MARGARET, I'll tell you something. This is the anniversary of our first death, March 14th. We're doing a memorial tonight to remember everyone we lost and to keep their memories close in this city. But I'll tell you something, I was one of the first in America to shut schools, and one of the first in America to shut bars and restaurants. And I called for shelter-in-place, one of the first, and unfortunately, my state government wouldn't agree to it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well,--
MAYOR DE BLASIO: In fact, Governor Cuomo said shelter-in-place--
MARGARET BRENNAN: That is- that is true--
MAYOR DE BLASIO: --would be imprisoning New Yorkers. And that's a lost opportunity.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That is true. You had that dispute very publicly with the governor. But, on the other coast, San Francisco's mayor back on February the 25th declared an emergency in her city before there was a single infection. We were looking at Italy, plenty of people sick there.
The writing was on the wall, at least for her. Why didn't you see it?
MAYOR DE BLASIO: MARGARET, as I said, we closed schools on the 15th. We closed bars and restaurants, tried to move shelter-in-place. But I'll tell you something, we were trying to make sure that we were working on the best health evidence while also protecting our children who needed to be in school. And this is something I've really focused on as things have gotten better,--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
MAYOR DE BLASIO: --keeping our schools open and bringing our schools back strong in September. This is the kind of thing we can now do with the stimulus money, thank God, --
MARGARET BRENNAN: But do you feel responsible for that?
MAYOR DE BLASIO: --and actually take care of our kids and families.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Because the former CDC director, Tom Frieden, has said that if you had acted a week earlier, you could have saved 50 to 80% of people.
MAYOR DE BLASIO: That's just not accurate. The fact is, the thing that would have been great, the thing that would have been powerful is shelter-in-place.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
MAYOR DE BLASIO: When I called for it, Governor Cuomo wouldn't do it. Again, he said it would be, quote unquote, "imprisoning New Yorkers." I mean, that's just outrageous. We had an opportunity. That was the missed opportunity. If I had had local control, we would have done shelter-in-place.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And I know you want more of that local control as the governor is politically embattled right now. You were one of the first Democrats in New York to call for Andrew Cuomo to resign. Do you actually think he will do that?
MAYOR DE BLASIO: I think he'll try to hold out, MARGARET. I think he is used to getting things his way, and- and it's been almost an imperial governorship. But I got to tell you, the folks in this state and the political leadership don't believe him anymore. He doesn't have any credibility. So I think an impeachment proceeding will begin, and I think he will be impeached and perhaps right before that he'll decide to resign. That's probably the most likely outcome right now. But I've got to tell you something. He should resign right now because he's holding up our effort to fight COVID. He's literally in the way of us saving lives right now.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you believe that he and his administration deliberately tried to cover up the scale of nursing home deaths?
MAYOR DE BLASIO: I don't have a doubt in my mind. Everything was about his public image. Everything was about his political future. It was not about what people needed. And by the way, it was about campaign contributions. The nursing home industry, the- the big hospital systems, they gave him millions and millions of dollars and he went easy on them. And he tried to cover up for everyone. Not just him, but his donors. And I think the investigations are going to prove this, MARGARET. This was a thoroughly corrupt situation and he just needs to resign so we can actually turn the page. And- and look, it's an optimistic time as you started out this morning. It's an optimistic time. We got to put the past behind us.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well--
MAYOR DE BLASIO: And Andrew Cuomo can't lead us into the future.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well--
MAYOR DE BLASIO: We've- we've got the people of the state ready to reopen, but we need to get him out of the way to do it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to know about your future. Are you going to run for governor in 2022?
MAYOR DE BLASIO: I'm- I'm focused right now on fighting COVID and reopening our schools and bringing this city back. That's my focus.
MARGARET BRENNAN: That's not a no, sir.
MAYOR DE BLASIO: Look, I'm- I'm not worried about the future right now. We're in the middle of a war right here and we're winning that war. Let me tell you, New York City is going to come back. It's going to be a recovery for all of us, a recovery that really includes every neighborhood, people everywhere. We had the most folks ride our subway last Thursday--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
MAYOR DE BLASIO: --than we had since the pandemic began. The city is coming back strong, but I'm going to make sure that everyone is brought along in this recovery.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Before I let you go, I have to ask you about this really troubling spike in hate crimes in New York City. It's the city with the most significant spike in crimes against Asian Americans. You have a hate crimes unit. How is this happening? Why weren't you better prepared for this?
MAYOR DE BLASIO: Well, we created a hate crimes unit that is very strong in the NYPD and we've been doing education outreach and actually in most areas thank God, MARGARET--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you need to do more?
MAYOR DE BLASIO: --hate crimes did go down, except with Asian-Americans, it's been horrendous and disgusting. So what we're doing, we have a- a task force made up of Asian-American police officers out in communities, finding the people who did it, making sure there's consequences and holding the community close. I'd say this to all--
MARGARET BRENNNAN: Yeah.
MAYOR DE BLASIO: --Americans. Stand up for Asian-Americans.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Ok.
MAYOR DE BLASIO: Stop Asian hate. We've got to do this together.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Mayor, thank you for your time. And FACE THE NATION will be back in a minute with Arkansas's Governor Asa Hutchinson. Stay with us.
