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Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday called for Gov. Kathy Hochul to require that MTA workers be vaccinated against COVID-19, as he declared New York City’s inoculation mandates have provided “absolute proof” they’re effective.
“Gov. Hochul, here is an opportunity to do something that will really help New York City: Put a mandate in place for MTA employees. It’s time to do it,” he said during a virtual press briefing. “We need them to be vaccinated, for the safety of each other and their families, their communities, for the safety of their passengers.”
“It’s worked with a New York City workforce, it can work for the MTA as well,” he added. “We have absolute proof that this effort worked, and it had a tremendously helpful impact on fighting back COVID.”
De Blasio’s vaccine mandate for nearly all municipal employees went into effect at the beginning of November, prompting significant numbers of city workers to get their shot as well as the temporary shuttering of some fire companies due to FDNY members taking sick leave and not getting their shots.
Currently, 94 percent of Big Apple employees are vaccinated, following a 17 percent jump in the NYPD’s vaccination rate and a 32 percent increase among FDNY medics since the Oct. 20 announcement of the policy, according to the mayor. Ninety-one percent of the FDNY has received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine.
The MTA’s roughly 70,000 workers, 80 percent of whom are inoculated, are currently subject to a weekly-test-or-vaccine rule, which took effect in October, though the state-run agency is not checking each worker’s test results.
Asked by a reporter whether he was on the “same page” as Hochul given his combative relationship with former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, de Blasio insisted the request for a vaccine requirement was consistent with “collegiality” between him and the state’s new chief executive.
“It is night and day compared to what I experienced previously. I respect the governor, we communicate well, we work well together, and what I’m calling for here is with an atmosphere and feeling of respect and collegiality,” he said.
“We proved the mandate could work. I think the governor does care deeply about getting us out of the COVID era,” he went on. “I’m saying, ‘Look, here’s a way to get something done that will really help the city turn the page, and we’ll work together, for sure.”
In response, Hochul touted the MTA workforce’s low COVID-19 positivity rate and virus precautions as well as her “good relationship” with de Blasio — but signaled she wouldn’t go along with his vaccine requirement push.
“I want everyone to know that I am proud of the workers of the MTA, four out of five workers are vaccinated and those who are not are required to test every week. And you know what our infection rate is here at the MTA? [It’s] .6 percent — half of what it is for the city of New York,” she told reporters after a tour of the Second Avenue Subway Phase 2 tunnels. “They wear their masks, they socially distance, they’re doing good so far.
“So I appreciate the advice that’s coming our way. That’s fine,” the governor continued. “We have a good relationship. But if we have a problem, I’ll address it, but we’re doing an outstanding job.”
Earlier, MTA acting Chairman Janno Lieber brushed aside the mayor’s proposal, lamenting comments he viewed as “poking at” Hochul, while insisting the agency is “confident” in its prevailing pandemic-related policies.
“We are taking an approach that is going to maximize our ability to put on service — not to chase away employees and to get into ideological debates,” he told reporters. “I had the misapprehension we had moved into an era where the city and the state were collaborating and weren’t necessarily poking at each other about vaccination and ideological issues.”
“But whatever anybody says, our job is to put on transit, provide maximum services, get our customers back, to keep our workforce safe,” Lieber added. “We have achieved what I think is a very safe system, and [a] very high level of rider confidence without doing that, and we’re putting on service and we’re growing our services. So that’s the choice we made, and we’re confident about it.”
The head of the transportation workers union took a shot at de Blasio, whose tenure in City Hall concludes at the end of the year.
“The MTA’s unionized workforce and millions of transit riders are grateful this Thanksgiving that Mayor de Blasio does not run the subway and bus system — and is finally heading out the door,” said TWU President Tony Utano. “The current system in which transit workers have a choice to be vaccinated or be regularly tested is working while we continue to educate and urge members to get the shot.”
De Blasio’s nudge comes as he has recently taken steps toward launching a longshot bid to beat out Hochul in the 2022 Democratic primary. State Attorney General Letitia James, who last month announced her entry into the gubernatorial race, ripped the “state government” over the weekend for its handling of high levels of coronavirus cases in pockets of the Empire State.
“State government is failing to act to address the COVID crisis in some of the most vulnerable communities in New York,” read the statement, issued Saturday, which notably omitted Hochul’s name. “Anything short of bold action is unacceptable.”
Asked Tuesday morning about James’ statement, de Blasio stuck to talking up his own proposal.
“I respect the governor. I just call upon her to use mandates in a way that will save lives and help us get out of the COVID era and the obvious first place to do that is the MTA. It’s a big workforce, it’s 70,000 people that come in close contact with all New Yorkers,” he said. “That’s a great place to start. I would say if there’s any other elements of the workforce that the governor can reach, the mandates make sense.”
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