New York City has "been through hell" because of the coronavirus pandemic and is now making a strong comeback, but it will need federal dollars to keep moving ahead, and President Donald Trump "hasn't said a word about trying to help America's cities and states back on their feet," Mayor Bill de Blasio said Friday.
"If the president wants America to restart and recover, he has to help New York City and all cities and states that are suffering," de Blasio said on CNN's "New Day." "If we don't get the federal stimulus by Oct. 1, we have to lay off 22,000 teachers, educators, firefighters, EMTs, healthcare workers, the people who are the heroes in the fight against the coronavirus."
But if Trump "was doing his job he would have gotten the Senate to do the stimulus already so everyone can move forward," said de Blasio. "He doesn't seem to care."
But as far as dealing with the virus itself, New York City is bouncing back, but there is concern that other states are having more trouble and higher numbers of cases every day.
"We're seeing the percentage of people testing positive has been at 2% consistently," and there are "relatively few" people in the hospital, he said. "We are watching this national situation because I'm worried about a resurgence."
Meanwhile, tourism numbers are drastically down in the city, but people coming in from states with growing numbers must quarantine, he said.
The virus is also causing some drastic changes to traditional activities in New York. For example, the annual July 4 celebration won't have the huge, Macy's-sponsored show, but will be split up into "sort of minishows" around the five boroughs to avoid mass gatherings.
He also said he holds out hope that Broadway will reopen this year, but he doesn't think it will reopen until fall.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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