New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) is not too optimistic the required resources to combat the coronavirus are going to last long enough.
“Unfortunately, we think this crisis is going to grow through April into May, that’s the truth,” de Blasio said during an interview on “Good Morning America.”
He went on to explain that the number of cases is only rising and that is something the nation cannot ignore. He transitioned into discussing the need for more medical supplies and Trump’s response to requests for more ventilators.
“When the president says the state of New York doesn’t need 30,000 ventilators, with all due respect to him, he’s not looking at the facts of this astronomical growth,” de Blasio said, adding, “And a ventilator… means someone lives or dies.”
De Blasio reported New York City to have received 2,500 ventilators in the last week while the state needs 30,000 and the city needs 15,000.
Watch the interview below:
FULL INTERVIEW: New York City Mayor @billdeblasio speaks with @GStephanopoulos on the coronavirus emergency in NYC, the race to supply hospitals with equipment and expectations heading into April and May. https://t.co/Y7dKQRF9le pic.twitter.com/T2dYF39Qfr
— Good Morning America (@GMA) March 27, 2020
De Blasio responded to George Stephanopoulos’ point that hospitals in New York are experiencing shortages.
“We have, again, the supplies for this week and next. We got to make sure every hospital is getting them to their extraordinary, heroic medical personnel,” de Blasio said.
New York is reported to have at least 23,000 cases and 365 deaths, as of Friday.
De Blasio is hesitant to give Americans “false hope” as projections show this is going to get worse before it gets better, especially in the city. He projects over half of Americans in the city will contract the coronavirus.
Closing the interview, Stephanopoulos asked for de Blasio’s opinion on President Donald Trump’s hope to have the country open by Easter and if the city will be opened by then.
“This idea of Easter is, unfortunately, a false hope,” de Blasio said, continuing, “It would be better for the president to be blunt with people that we’ve got a really tough battle ahead.”
He finished by calling on Trump to meet the demand for resources.
