We have a Stringent Health and safety standard right now. We will have to raise that higher to be able to bring our schools back, and that is what we intend to do. We will have to focus more on testing. I want to emphasize testing is going to be crucial to the successful reopening of our schools. And everyone has to get engaged even more in testing. I guarantee you part of the plan will be an even heavier emphasis on testing, and therefore want to say to everybody in the stool School Communities we need to get the testing consent forms in this moment of pause. We need to get ready to come back and get the consent forms and so we can get into an even deeper testing regime. The state, the governor and i spoke. Some of the additional measures were laid out that the state will be taking quite soon in new york city. Across the board that will affect a number of different industries, different parts of life of this city, because we are dealing with a bigger problem all over new york city and stayed, all over the country and the region. We have to do more to fight back the second wave. Clear,te has made additional restrictions are coming soon. What we are focused on now is making sure we are working with all families to get them the Remote Learning they need in the interim, that we are putting more stringent measures to get schools back up and running soon , that we can protect new yorkers across the board working to take the right steps to make sure we address the kind of activities that might create a particular danger and keep people safe. It will come back every single time to the basics, the mask wearing, getting the tests. We will go deeper on that. Before a turn to the chancellor, i want to affirm that as much as we arent happy today this moment was reached, we are resolved to keep fighting. Thats what new yorkers do. We will overcome this moment. Thank god we are having the conversation with two vaccines on the horizon. And the fact we expect a lot of support from washington Going Forward on a variety of fronts. We will fight this back. It is a setback, but a setback we will overcome. Our chancellor and everyone at the doe is sad this moment has come, but now they are resolute about making sure we serve families and kids in the meantime, and getting back up and running with our schools as quickly as possible. Let me turn to our chancellor now. Thank you, mr. Mayor. You are right. This is not a happy day for us in the department. Its been a very challenging year in so many ways, to say the least. Our schools have opened and are remarkably safe with a. 19 Positivity Rate. Also safe havens for our children. Our students need that interaction. We feel a deep sense of commitment to making sure we can do in Person Learning. It is physically safe to do so. Just this morning, i was visiting ps 73 in the bronx, i want to give a shout out to the principal. The smiles and interaction of her teachers, from the students, the love and support they were showing for those students is something i cannot wait, and i know you cant wait to see again very soon. Uscarry the emergency with as we announce the temporary closure. I want to emphasize we are looking at it as a temporary closure. We will get students back in buildings as soon as we can safely. Its our number one priority and focus to get our students back in person as soon as possible. We are committed to making sure our students have what they need to be successful. Remindrind everyone listening that school is in session. We are pivoting to a remote instruction rather than the in Person Instruction some of our students have received. Session, still in students will still continue to learn and be supported by our teachers. To remind families we will communicate with families about advice, support, and tips for Remote Learning. In addition, free meals for all students will still be available. This is critically important. But suppose will work with staff to make sure there are windows of time to pick up materials over the next several days. And as needed through this time. We have focused on these challenges before, and we learned a great deal together. New yorkers have proven they are ready and willing to fight against this virus. We need to ask you that again. Its important we follow the safety protocols. The holidays with coming, but its important we follow the advice of our medical professionals so we can get back to in Person Learning as quickly as possible. Thats how we will get schools back open in Person Learning. Tirelessful for the efforts of our educators, staff, and i know our students and families, as well. Advice andw the guidance, lets take on this challenge as we have done all along, and together, we will get through this. We will all get back to in Person Learning as quickly as possible. Thank you so much. A put in perspective, we made decision to have the most stringent standards, in terms of the Gold Standard we put together to bring back schools, health and Safety Measures we put in place. Kids, educators, and staff safe. We said the 3 standard mattered. New york city is in the middle of a battle. We are at 3 . Is jersey, our neighbor, now at 8 . Chicago is at 16 . We are in the midst of a challenge, and we cannot let this challenge deepen. We also need to take heart from the fact we have held off on the second wave as we have so far. Theres more work to be done. Thats why we will need additional restrictions, and everyone to participate even more. Everyone get tested, pay attention, and act on the precautions we are asking everyone to be a part of. It will make a difference. We have a challenge, we will fight back the challenge. The daily number of people admitted, 200 patients. Today, 114. Thank god that number remains lower than the other indicators. We still see our Hospital System doing well. The confirmed Positivity Rate continues to go up. 43. 86 , among those patients. Number two, new reported case on a seven day average. 1200, much higher than we want it to be. The percentage of people testing citywide, positive for covid19, 5 . Today is 2. 75. The number we looked at consistently is the seven day rolling average. That is exactly 3. 00 . I will say a few words in spanish. Spanish] with that, lets turn to our colleagues. Let me know the name and outlet of each journalist. We are joined today by the chancellor, the doctor, and the senior advisor. First question goes to jen peltz. Do we have you . We will try one more time. Can you hear us . Thank you very much, sorry about that. I am going to withdraw my question to one of my colleagues. Turn to emme fitzsimmons from the new york times. Good afternoon. We have been waiting for this announcement. Can you explain the delay, do you want to apologize to parents waiting anxiously for an answer . Were you trying to find a way to keep schools open . I think parents know, and they have watched me and the chancellor, we have always tried to find a way to keep schools open throughout. This morning, getting the data exactly on the nose of 3. 00 , we wanted to make sure it was 100 accurate. We spent time confirming that, working with the state, what the next steps would be. We also got a larger discussion with the Governors Team about what we will do overall, in terms of restrictions for new york city, and what it would take to bring back schools. We will have an update in the next couple of days on the plan to bring back the schools, the additional standards needed, certainly involving more testing. We warned parents this moment might come. We have to be 100 sure we were accurate. We had to have that conversation with the state they have the ultimate authority. We had to get that conversation to get everyone on the same page. We were also wondering about devices. How many kids still dont have devices, and what will you be doing in the next few weeks to make sure Remote Learning is better . I think the chancellor said this system needed 77,000 devices like ipads. Continue to be delivered. And we got the update from the chancellor. Work student by student if there is a problem with service. A lot of concerns about kids in shelter. We have technicians going out to the shelters working family to make sure the service is working. It doesnt end. That continues through the school year. Never a kid needs a new device, or there is a problem, that service will be provided. Anyone having a problem should call 311. Talk about the numbers and effort to make sure kids in need of devices stop them from going home. Thehe issue continues to be supplyside issue. New york city, along with every School System in the world is ordering devices from every manufacturer. In many cases, we have been at the top of the lists. Approximately 40,000 devices that have either arrived or will by the end of the week. We have lists prioritized that schools have provided to us, given the information families have provided to schools. We are getting those devices out as soon as we get them. We get them set up, we have cards installed. Thats closer to about 60,000 devices in the orbit of students that need a device. Overve ordered a little 100,000 devices to meet that need. Hadhe interim, schools have time to prepare, prepared paper packets of assignments and different kinds of things students have to complete. To bridge that time gap between students that meet need the device and actually get the device. Important incredibly families stay close to their schools. They can also go to the department of education website, schools. Nyc. G ovi. There is a link where they can connect with any support they on, orr either logging their email account, or any conductivity issues. Continuouse a process of getting devices in the hands of students. We know schools have assigned their own in School Devices for students to take home during this time. All of that is happening as we speak. And as we receive the devices, we continue getting them in the hands of students. The next is rich lam. Good afternoon. Appears you and the governor are using two different sets of numbers, how is that possible at this point . Can you get on the same page . Does it make sense . The state and city throughout have had a different system. Its not news, it has been reported before. It is not surprising the Different Levels of government might have different approaches. They lead up in the same direction consistently. State and city strategies have been highly aligned throughout. Each entity, and it is true with any part of the federal government, has its own approach. What we know is we put forward a standard related to the schools based on the citys way of counting testing. Thats on the day the test was taken. Not when the test result arrives, the day it was taken. The beste its approach, thats the standard we use for our indicators, thats related to our schools. The state understands that. We have all communicated and we understand thats the approach we are taking. Our commitment is always to provide the most accurate and valid data we possibly can. We know what momentous decisions are made based on the accuracy of that data. One of the major differences in the way that we count test positivity, the percentage positivity, is by ensuring we test based on the date a is taken, rather than the date we learned about the results from the test. This becomes important when we see an increase in cases, as we are now. It allows us to see the trends over time. Thats one of the key things we have to discern to make good decisions based on the accuracy of the data. I think its important what he said, the state of new york and city of new york both squarely fall in the health care conservative philosophy. There is no doubt about it. When you look at the history of coronavirus in the country, new york city and new york state have been amongst the most cautious datadriven, science driven entities, jurisdictions in the whole country. Both of our standards are interpreted with a very focused approach to protecting Peoples Health and safety. Hours are particularly conservative, as the commissioner pointed out. State and city have followed the same path, and a lot of other places have not. Go ahead. If you are talking about more stringent standards, you did say more testing in the schools. Rollthat mean you would back the rolling number would have to be lower than 3 for you to bring the schools back, is that what you are saying . Thats not what im saying. I appreciate the question. A biggertand there is in this problem bigger problem in this country affecting us. Our schools have been extraordinarily safe. To protect School Communities, we will have to put different measures in place. We are talking with the state on what those should be. One thing i can tell you would be an emphasis on testing. One thing i will be adamant about is when we reopen, everyone who comes into that school building, all the kids have to have a testing consent on file so we can test them whenever we need to. Testing will become more of the norm. It has been crucial to protecting everyone. Point which we were having conversations with the state in detail about what the reopening standard will be, i expect the announcement some point this week of what the reopening standard will be, and we will apply it as quickly as we can put the pieces together. Its so we can get to that reopening. Those details will be worked on. The one thing i can say for sure is a lot of testing will be necessary. Moderator the next is Christina Viega from chalkbeat. Reporter hi, mayor. Thanks for taking my question. I would love to hear a little bit more about how long this might last. We keep hearing that this is temporary, but were also hearing that the requirements to reopen are still being developed. Can you give us a sense of how long this might last . Mayor de blasio absolutely. I think speaking to my fellow parents about how to prepare you know, i said last friday get ready for this and get ready to have alternative arrangements. I know thats not easy. Its very tough for parents and for some parents, Single Parents in particular, really, really tough. I dont say it with anything but sorrow, but we gave people a warning to think about it for the remainder of this month. So, certainly, through thanksgiving school will be closed. Were going to see with the state how quickly we can finalize those standards and then what well have to do to meet those standards. That week after thanksgiving is the earliest, but were not yet able to say that will be then or a point thereafter, but we have real work to do, which i think we can do quickly to finish those standards and then put together the action plan to make them come to pass. Again, heavy emphasis on testing, and were going to be deploying a lot of our Testing Capacity towards the schools under this new model, even much more than weve done previously, but certainly parents should assume, obviously were closed for the rest of this week and the days leading up to thanksgiving. In the meantime, well fill in that blank, christina and make very clear what the plan is to come back. Go ahead. Reporter my next question the last time we had a citywide school shutdown, there was the School Emergency rec centers. You said learning bridges will remain open. Can you talk about how enrollment will work, how much space you have, and whether they will be able to attend fulltime . Correct, its a different model, but it will help us achieve some of the thing some of the same things. So, ill get the specifics in front of me. I know there was some city testimony earlier to give some of the details on what attendance has been so far, but i can tell you, the bottom line is essential workers will have a preference for the learning bridges seats for their kids, and theres other folks who are prioritized. Families in shelters, for example, and families that have particular challenges. So, were going to make those seats available. We have seen surprisingly little uptake on the learning bridges seats so far. Obviously this moment will mean more people will want them, but we dont know how many. But we certainly feel confidence based on the experience we had with the Regional Enrichment Centers that well have the seats for essential workers who need them, and then if we need to keep adding, we can quickly ramp up toward the number we originally projected. But so far, christina, its actually been very low enrollment in the scheme of things. So, theres certainly a Space Available right now for the families who are going to need it right away. Moderator the next is katie frm the wall street journal. Reporter hey, good morning. Mayor de blasio. My question, i guess, following up from christinas question is why wasnt there a reopening first created or came up or agreed upon by the city at other entities . I know that we had a [inaudible] decided, but shouldnt every possibility have been explored, but [inaudible] . Mayor yeah, katie perfectly far question. I think we set a stringent standard with the 3 , extremely conservative standard. We have now seen changing conditions, things that have been much better than people projected, in terms of the safety of the schools, the low positivity level, but we have seen this resurgence around the country, which has added additional challenges. As we were going about the work for our schools, this day seemed far off, thankfully, as it has come closer, there have been a lot of moving parts and changes. Under any scenario, to turn to a new system takes transition time. We know it has to be a more stringent system. Isse next days, none of us happy about it, but it will be the retooling time to figure out how to most quickly get school back, and with whatever standards we need, and work with the state to make it come to life. But there are some cases when dealing with changing situations, you need the best information, the most recent information, and now we know what we are up against and what it will take to our schools. Reporter question my second reporter my second question is about the threshold date when it comes in, looking at the updated number mayor de blasio yeah, katie, can i just stop you for a second . Your voice is skipping a lot, so im not getting your whole sentence. Could you try again . Reporter sure. So, my point is about the citys data. It gets backfilled with we [inaudible] city two percent or 3 last week. How can the 3 threshold when you are updating the numbers we actually hit it last week coming in, but does it again give the most accurate measure to do this thing that affects so many people when the numbers fluctuate and it, iould hear most of thing we got enough, let us all acknowledge that none of these measures is perfect by any stretch. You are exactly right, even when we provide morning updates, information comes in after. We try and create the standard that whatever the number was this morning, thats what we were going to be governed by. In the end, they are still choices. Not perfect, but directional choices. We wanted to take a cautious approach to protect the health and safety of kids, educators, and staff. From the beginning, we said more times than we could count, we would be prioritizing health and safety in the reopening of schools. Thats what we did by setting the 3 threshold. The standard we set is the day we hit that based on the indicators we had that morning. We did not expect it to come down to 3. 00 , but we did. Important point to say is the question is direction, the basic approach you are trying to take. Clearly, we have seen an uptick for the last few weeks. Saw this kind of level was being reached. Thats why we were warning people late last week. Its not perfect, but it does tell us where we are and what we need to know. Commissioner . Commissioner chokshi the mayor covered the high points. Were always striving to find the right balance between providing the most recent data as well as the most accurate data. If we were purely going on having, you know, the utmost accuracy, then that would mean that we would be reflecting the reality from several days ago. So the balance that we strike is making sure that were providing a picture of the most recent and most accurate data together, but i just want to underline another thing that the mayor said, which is lets not miss the forest for the trees here and really focus on what are the concerning signals in what were seeing with test positivity and with cases as well, which really demands all of us to redouble our efforts so that we can focus on whats most important over the coming weeks, doing the things that we need to do to try to get schools back open as quickly as possible, as well as protecting our fellow new yorkers. Mayor de blasio thank you. Reporter moderator the next is narmeen from pix 11. Reporter good morning, good afternoon, sorry about that. You know, the governor said that if new york city gets to three percent, then we go to the orange. Now, i now understand how that the city and that the state determine their numbers differently, but whose are we going by at this point to determine when we will go to orange, that point seems to be a bit confusing. And also, should we get on the same page when it comes to determining some big changes for the city . Mayor de blasio no. I totally understand why it feels confusing, and we have tried intensely to put information forward to help people understand. Again, it is always true. I have never seen a situation where federal governments are always perfectly on the same page. It is not the reality, they are built differently and have different missions. Legalisticn is not a are we saying the same thing, it is if we are moving in the same direction. That has unquestionably been the case. I give the governor and state credit. They have been cautious, conservative, datadriven, science driven through the process. Thats what we have tried to do, as well. Its also understandable that our job is to protect new york city, we will collect the data in the way that makes the most sense, take the measures we think are important, and we have done that consistently. We said heres what we want to do. We told the state in the initial submissions about our schools, our safety plan, plan for cleaning, testing, ventilation, social distancing, mask wearing. We said we have the 3 standard based on our data. Board, the state has deferred to local jurisdictions on a lot of the decisionmaking about School Systems, which are consistent with how School Systems are handled in general. They are not run to any state or localities. On the question of the zones, and the phases before that that we talked about. Those have always been the states domain to make the ultimate decisions on. Stateposed an idea to the where we saw brooklyn and queens happening, the focus on zip code. They came back with a variation on that, and it proved to be very effective. They came out with the red, the orange, the yellow zones. It worked. Brooklyn and queens were surging in the wrong direction, those neighborhoods. I put forward my proposal, the state turned it into something that they thought was going to be particularly effective. They applied it, we worked with them, and we pushed down the positivity in brooklyn, queens in those neighborhoods very clearly. And, really, there was a sea change. The same history applies to the phases. Phases one through four. The state determined when we moved from phase to phase. We worked to make that happen. It worked, every phase was done on time, two weeks between each one, and we went through them. Though there is so theres been a lot of coordination. But now, the numbers the state will used to determine if we can go to the orange or red zone, thats their number, and we expect that. We respect that. Get ready for that, because it is likely to happen, at least orange zone, based on their numbers and the timeline. Go ahead. Reporter we have been talking about children and testing in schools. I do have a question in terms of children that have been remote. While you are urging all new yorkers to continue to get tested, what do we do with our children in remote . They are not locked up in their house, they have mayor de blasio get tested. Ill turn to dr. Chokshi, who is a dad and happens to be married to an assistant principal, so you can do it better than me. But ill start everyone got tested. Whether youre doing Remote Learning or inperson, everyone gets tested. Go ahead. Commissioner chokshi i dont have much to add to that, sir. I agree with that recommendation. If children are getting Remote Learning, they should also get tested. And the reason is, the one that you mentioned, narmeen, you know, people are interacting out in the community. And we also know that there is transmission that occurs within households, you know, among family members. So, were encouraging everyone to get tested. This has been our consistent message over months now, but its particularly urgent as we see a spread continue to increase. Mayor de blasio mayor go go ahead. Blasio the next is michael garland from the daily news. Good afternoon, mr. Mayor. Mayor de blasio hey, michael. How are you . Im good. So, a couple of questions on the school closure. Wed heard that for a long time some of your top Health Advisors had been questioning the threshold, you know, given the fact that the three percent citywide threshold is is where were seeing Something Different than what were seeing is for transmission in schools. And i was wondering if, you know, dr. Chokshi and dr. Varma could address that, if you could address that. What has been going on behind the scenes as far as the discussion on the use of that three percent threshold and whether its you know, i mean, clearly, were closing schools now, so its applicable, but, you know, i mean, can you tell us about that . You know, were hearing theres been some debate within your administration about the use of that. Mayor de blasio yeah, michael, theres definitely been some debate, but healthy debate. You know, everyone so many i shouldnt say everyone, but so many of the folks in this discussion are parents themselves, or aunts, or uncles, or grandparents or whatever it may be and cherish public education. Also, our Health Care Team is a very cautious, conservative team, and theyre built that way. And so, the whole conversation has been filled with that natural tension that weve followed a cautious, conservative strategy. It has served us well in terms of the focus on data and science, leading us to decisions that brought the city back from being the epicenter, that allowed us to open our schools, that allowed us to keep the schools safe. But you, sort of you know, you live by a standard, and sometimes, you know, it feels better and sometimes it feels worse, but its still a clear standard. And so, that three percent was a really conservative standard. And, of course, weve all felt some pain that the last thing we wanted to see is the schools close, but theres been resolve about the fact that the game plan so often has worked of sticking to those tough standards. And thats why im resolved about the fact that to bring schools back, we can do it weve done it before, well do it again but we have to come up with even tougher standards. Dr. Chokshi . Commissioner chokshi thank you, mr. Mayor. Well, look, as the mayor and the chancellor have said, this is a tough day from the education perspective. But i would just say, as a doctor, its also a tough day from the health perspective, because we know how important education is to a younger new yorkers, not just for their development but, frankly, for their health as well. And so, you know, as the mayor has pointed out, i think we have to be forwardlooking in this moment. One of the things that i love about being a doctor is not just being rooted in science, but also, you know, having the humility to say we have to learn from experiences, we have to learn from evidence as it emerges so that we can make the best decisions on behalf of the people that were trying to serve. And i think our focus, Going Forward, will be on ensuring that we bring to bear the rigorous safeguards, but also standards that help us to maximize the health of the children of new york. Mayor dr. Varma . Senior advisor jay varma mayor de blasio dr. Varma . Mr. Varma great. Thank you. And i think what the commissioner and the mayor have said is really spot on. And ill go ahead up front with my own biases you know, my three children attended new york city Public Schools for seven years, so i have a deep and strong connection to them. And ive also said, my life, working around the world, trying to prevent infectious diseases. So, this is a very difficult decision, and we made it with, as the mayor has said, intense debate about how do we ensure that we have the most rigorous health and safety precautions possible, and how do we make sure that were also delivering the education that we can to the kids, and establishing the trust thats needed from parents, from, from the staff from the whole community about this. And so, we did intensely debate and have continued to debate this. And i think the value of that debate is that were going to look at ways at which we can strengthen and revise our protocols so that we can get the schools back to inPerson Learning as quickly as we can. Mayor de blasio amen. Go ahead, michael. The other thing i want to ask you about is just, kind of the a little bit of the ticktock on what happened from 10 a. M. This morning to 3 today. Wed heard that, you know, earlier this morning, that the schools chancellor had reached out to, you know, the unions, or the administrators and said, you know, schools are going to shut down. And then, soon after that, basically pulled it back and said, well, no, hold on, were in a holding pattern. So, you know, i mean, given the delay weve seen, like with this briefing today, you know, what was going on as far as the discussion . It seems like, you know, there was discussion right up to kind of, you know, when it became public as to what, you know, your administration is going to do on this. Can you kind of fill us in on that . Mayor de blasio michael, i think the two key elements one, as i said, the data came in right on the razors edge, that caused some understandable pause. We wanted to be 100 certain. You know, coming in at 3. 00, we wanted to make sure 100 that, that was accurate. I wanted that checked again before coming to a final conclusion. And also, i wanted to have a thorough conversation with the state, including several conversations i had with the governor, because it was about what happens immediately as a result, what does it mean for getting schools back, and how are we going to get schools back quickly . I was important to talk that through before either he or i addressed the public. And we had several good conversations and we agreed on the kinds of things were going to have to do. And now, we have to codify that and make that a formal announcement. But thats what we really wanted to think through, because its the natural next question. Are school is going to come back . We believe we can get them back and get them back soon. Whats it going to take . Its going to take some additional measures and we believe we can achieve them, but weve got to codify them and make them real. And we also talked about the restrictions that are coming, and, again, no one is happy about the notion of any other restrictions to our economy or to our lives, but the numbers are speaking loudly and additional restrictions are coming. We talked about what the state is thinking about, how the city could implement it. And so, all of these pieces interconnected, but, clearly, a lot of folks have asked, you know talked about schools, talked about other parts of our economy and Different Things happening, different activities. All of those things about to be affected, obviously, by this growing challenge and were working through with the state exactly how much and when, and thats what those conversations were about. We have time for two more for today. And the next is Jenna Deangelis from cbs. Good afternoon, mr. Mayor. Can you hear me . Mayor de blasio yeah. How are you doing . Good . How are you . Mayor de blasio good. Were faced with the second wave and more people getting tested, but are running into incredibly long lines, especially at urgent cares. So, whats your recommendation to those who are facing this issue, especially if they have symptoms and may be worried about being in line or taking Public Transportation to get there . Mayor ive got some simple advice and ill have dr. Chokshi amplify it and turn to our health and hospital sites. You know, just by calling 311 you can find a site near you. Overwhelmingly, our health we have the hospitals, we have the clinics, we have the popup sites. They generally have not had longer lines. Theyve had very fast turnaround with results. So, its right there for people as a great option. Commissioner chokshi thats right, mr. Mayor. Ill just add to it by saying that were working every day through the test and trace corps, through health hospitals, as well as the Health Department to expand our capacity for testing for new yorkers. But we already do have many options that are available. You can find them by going to nyc. Gov covidtest, or calling 212covid19 to find the most convenient testing site close to you. Mayor de blasio go ahead. So, for those who dont live near a health and hospitals site, and they think theyve been exposed and have symptoms, are they supposed to stay home and order an athome test, stay local and wait in the lines, or take the train to another location . Because thats an issue that some people have expressed to us. Mayor de blasio very good questions. Go ahead, doctor. Commissioner chokshi thank you. These are very important questions. You know, particularly, youre talking about people who are experiencing symptoms. Those are absolutely the most important people that we want to get tested, to get tested quickly so that we can take steps to make sure that they isolate, that helps us break the chains of transmission, understand who their close contacts were so that they can also quarantine. So, to your specific question itself, they should find the closest site to them from any of those resources that ive mentioned. If they do have to take Public Transportation to get there, they should, of course, you know, make sure that they are wearing a Face Covering to and from that. But the most important thing is to get tested very soon once youre experiencing symptoms. Mayor de blasio thank you. Go ahead. Last question for today goes to Jake Offenhartz from gothamist. Hey. Good afternoon, mr. Mayor. Mayor de blasio hey, jake. How are you doing . Im okay, just trying to get a clear picture of what happened today really. Did you make clear to the governor that you planned to close schools, because he seemed pretty surprised by this during the presser when your tweet went out. Mayor de blasio i spoke him before. I didnt see his presser, but we had, you know, a number of conversations in the course of the day. Weve been talking over the last several days about this possibility, obviously. And this specific exact moment that the press release was going out, he might not have known about because we had to get information out to schools before they left, but he understood it was coming, for sure. Go ahead, jake. Okay. And, i mean, on the testing discrepancies between the city and the state, youre saying that, you know, the city and the state are really closely aligned. I think for a lot of parents and people in new york, it doesnt really seem that way. Its been a pretty head spinning day. We heard from parents this rumorg that there was a schools were closing. And there were delays in your briefing repeatedly, several hours in which we heard nothing from city hall. Then, cuomo held his own briefing. He said the city Positivity Rate was 2. 5 percent, acted surprise, as i mentioned. Im not really hearing anything in your presser today that suggests this was mishandled or perhaps not fair to parents. Were you going to disagree with the premise . I mean, i suppose, is it fair to say that nearly nine months into the pandemic there are still issues with the way that the city and state are not on the same page . And do you think thats hurting new yorkers . Mayor de blasio no, is the simple answer. And, again, i dont you do know me well, jake, and there are times where im going to question the premise. And i think when i question the premise, its to try and help truly answer the point. This is a very big decision. We had to make sure it was right. But, again, you know what, when a decision happens, you guys rightfully are going to say, well now, okay, whats next . And whats the plan to bring it back, and all those. And we had to get clear and make sure city and state really had talked all that through. It doesnt always happen on, you know, the exact timeline that we normally keep to, because its complex stuff. Very good, very productive conversations. We have warned people. I mean, new yorkers are smart. Theyve been watching these indicators for days and days unfortunately go up. I gave a very explicit warning on friday, that people have to get ready with alternative options for their kids. The vast majority of everyday people are smart and they understand when theyre given a warning like that, that they have to get ready. But, again, today, the information coming in right on the razors edge, really important to confirm that, really important to talk through with the state the exact next steps. I found the conversations very productive, very consistent. And i would say, if you just take the eight months, i will put the whole thing up again, there sure, there are a few times where disagreements, absolutely. If there were never any disagreements, that would be very surprising to me. But if you go directionally, have the city and state both been data and science driven . Yes. Compared to a lot of the places in the country, extremely data and science driven. Have we consistently got to the same directions . Yes. Have we worked together, in a sense that a lot of times the state will come up with a concept, we have to implement it, we found a way. Theres got to be tensions, but the jobs been getting done. And we came back from the worst of this disease, overcame that, became one of the safest places in the country, opened up the nations largest School System, made it extraordinarily safe, but we also are living by those cautious conservative standards, and we hit this day, and were following through. But now, we turn to the exact focused strategy for how to bring them back. And ill conclude on that to everyone. Look, theres going to be obviously, so many parents right now are saddened, are frustrated that their kids cant go to school tomorrow. So many kids want to be in school. So many Educators Want to be there to greet them. But now, we put ourselves to the work of overcoming this challenge and we apply ourselves with everything weve got. And thats what new york city has done time and time again. I know our schools are going to come back. Why do i know it . Because they come back from a lot worse than this. We were told a thousand times we couldnt reopen in the summer. Richard and i, wherever we went, were told we were crazy to talk about reopening schools. We did it. We will do it again. If it takes tougher standards, we will live by those tougher standards. But this is how we will deal with the immediate term. I want to turn peoples attention to what comes thereafter, because there are fully seven months ahead. After this month, there are seven more months ahead in the school year. And during that time, we will get the vaccine, and we will distribute the vaccine, and we will make the city safer and safer and more and more kids will be able to come back. We are going to be able to do a lot more in this school year. So, todays a tough day, but this is a temporary situation. Our schools will be back and our school year will get better and better as we go along and this disease will be beaten in the course of this school year, i have absolute faith. And we will make this a year that works for the parents and kids of this city. Thats what were committed to. And to, everyone, keep fighting, because if youre hearing this news today and youre feeling at all let down, that the thing to do is to fight even harder. Make sure everyones getting tested. Make sure everyones wearing the mask. Everyones practicing social distancing. Be smart about the holidays. This is whats going to allow us to overcome this moment, bring our kids back to school, bring our city back. Thank you, everyone. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] with increasing across the country, use our website, cspan. Org coronavirus to follow the trends and watch updates on demand at a time that cspan. Org coronavirus. On cspan,hursday the house makes more general speeches at 10 00 a. M. , followed opportunitieship in 2025. On cspan at 9 00 a. M. , former obama chief of staff Dennis Mcdonough talks about the incoming of incoming biden administration. A subcommittee talks about an insurance program. At 5 00 p. M. , cdc director Robert Redfield about the state of the pandemic. A. M. , experts9 00 on covid19 at a hearing. Hogannd governor larry talked about the state of the economy this week. Governor hogan, was serving his second term as a republican governor in a democratic state, spoke about how his party reach out to a moderate electorate. Roger good morning and welcome