He’s getting killed for this on social media today although that’s less a function of what he said than the fact that no major politician in America is more widely disliked by both sides. I find myself straining to find fault with him even when what he’s going on about is basically innocuous and well intended, as it is here.
I think he got a bad rap from the way local news reported his remarks in the widely circulated tweet below. The first thing New York City’s going to do after it “reopens” is … throw a massive pox party on the street to infect everyone who didn’t get sick in the first wave?
BREAKING: Mayor de Blasio announces when #NYC finally reopens … there will be a ticker tape parade down the Canyon of Heroes for Health Care Workers and First Responders #nbc4ny pic.twitter.com/T8rtq0i5JY
— Steven Bognar (@Bogs4NY) April 21, 2020
“This sounds like a nice idea when we’re absolutely certain that a large crowd gathering won’t spread the virus,” replied Jim Geraghty. “Like, are we _100 percent_ sure Mayor de Blasio isn’t a double agent working for the virus?”
It’s a fair question. He has sounded at times like a high-level operative for COVID:
Since I’m encouraging New Yorkers to go on with your lives + get out on the town despite Coronavirus, I thought I would offer some suggestions. Here’s the first: thru Thurs 3/5 go see “The Traitor” @FilmLinc. If “The Wire” was a true story + set in Italy, it would be this film.
— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) March 3, 2020
“If you love your neighborhood bar, go there now.” @NYCMayor – adding that you should do so “briefly” and with “social distancing” but his implication is ALL nyc bars could be shut down. “Everything is on the table.” #nbc4ny pic.twitter.com/PtLsE0eZ29
— Andrew Siff (@andrewsiff4NY) March 15, 2020
Does he not understand in the most basic way how viruses are transmitted?
I think he does, although he may have figured it out only very recently. His tweet this morning didn’t say that the parade would be held when New York “reopens,” which will happen in a matter of months, long before we have a vaccine. He’s talking about a moment in a more distant future:
I can’t tell you when we’ll be able to host cultural events and parades again. But I can tell you WHO our first parade will be for:
When the time is right, New York City will honor our health care workers and first responders with a ticker tape parade up the Canyon of Heroes.
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 21, 2020
Watch the clip below. He never says the parade will be held near-term, after the city reopens. He wants to do it when New York “gets back to normal” and “overcomes this disease.” Although that raises a question: What makes this guy think he’ll still be mayor when that parade is held? His term ends on December 31, 2021. If it’s true that the vaccine is 18 months away and that production, distribution, and administration will take several months beyond that, de Blasio’s highly likely to be watching from the crowd, as a failed ex-mayor, when it finally comes off.
Mayor Andrew Yang will emcee the event instead.
On the other hand, if there’s any city in America that’s likely to reach herd immunity the hard way before a vaccine arrives, it’s New York. As the infection spreads locally over the next year and as pharmaceutical companies develop treatments to reduce the disease’s lethality, maybe New York’s epidemic will have largely ended by next summer, in time for de Blasio to have his parade. Between the death toll and the fact that tourism to NYC is destined to be nonexistent until the crisis has definitively passed, he’ll need something like a parade to cheer up the locals.
Daily deaths in New York State were below 500 today, the second day in a row that that’s been true. Progress is being made. Long, long, long way to go.
Mayor de Blasio’s remarks on #NYC parade for health care workers and first responders pic.twitter.com/uqZFbH7ihg
— Steven Bognar (@Bogs4NY) April 21, 2020
