Veteran Hamodia reporter Reuvain Borchardt received a shocking response from the failing NYC Mayor Deblasio. QUESTION: While you’ve recommended that protestors stay home, for others in the city, you’ve enforced gathering bans, not recommendations. The retail store owner who has been closed for two months and is experiencing financial ruin has been banned from opening his store. People for whom attending houses of worship are a regular part of life been have banned from doing so with more than 10 people. Now, you’ve expressed solidarity with this particular protest cause. Is that why it’s been given dispensation to disregard all pandemic guidelines? I know you were asked about this yesterday. And you said there’s such pain and anger, and [banning protests may be construed as] not hearing their concerns. What about the retail store owner facing imminent financial ruin, or the religious person who can’t attend a house of worship – what about their pain and anger? So, Mr. Mayor are we in a pandemic or not? And do we have one set of rules of protesters and another for everyone else? Thank you.   ANSWER: Thank you. You’re a smart guy asking a smart question but I’m going to tell you that anyone who thinks there’s different rules for different people, again, is not trying very hard to see the reality. And I’m just not going to hold back. If you guys want to really work hard to miss the reality, be my guest. But every day New Yorkers can see what’s going on. We’re in the middle of a national crisis, a deep-seated national crisis. There’s no comparison. I’m sorry, I do feel for the store owners, I really do. I know a lot of the store owners, and I’m so happy that on Monday, we’re going to start to open up – the minute we thought we could give relief. I want to tell you in the middle of all this, we’re talking about the pandemic. I haven’t been the last days talking about our thresholds because there’s been so much else going on. Let me take a moment to answer your question in part with this: Three indicator thresholds we do every day – the daily number of people admitted to hospitals for suspected COVID-19, all of New York City, the latest report, 40 patients. 40 out of well over 8 million people. Forty. Below our threshold of 200. The daily number of people in our public hospital ICU’s, that threshold is 375; today it’s 354 people. The percentage of people who tested positive for COVID-19. As more and more testing is being expanded literally every day in this city: 4%, lowest we’ve ever seen. 4%. So, Reuvain, I want to make clear: Before Thursday, which was not that long ago, my friend, we were doing one thing, one thing only: fighting back this disease, for everyone’s benefit. And I want to say: state and city, governor and I, have been totally united, that we had to have a strict, strong approach to get to these numbers. Didn’t happen by accident. So you could say, Oh, couldn’t we have done stores, and I appreciate how painful it’s been for people to be missing religious observance, but I’ll tell you the religious leaders of this city have […]
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