NYC Mayor: City Will 'Need A Shutdown' - 'The Sooner The Better'

De Blasio: NYC Will ‘Need a Shutdown,’ ‘The Sooner the Better’'

Ian Hanchett

On Tuesday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said the city is “going to need a shutdown, and I think the sooner the better.”

Host Wolf Blitzer asked, “The numbers are already going, as we all know, in the wrong direction, so why wait until after people gather to celebrate the holidays, Christmas, New Year’s, Kwanzaa, folks are celebrating Hanukkah right now, why not do it now?”

De Blasio responded, “Wolf, I think there’s certainly an argument for that. Look, the state of New York makes this decision. I’ve had this conversation several times with Gov. Cuomo, he’s going to make the ultimate decision. But what I would say is, we’ve seen the numbers go up, we are concerned about our hospitals, protecting the ability of hospitals to serve people. Clearly, we are going to need a pause. We’re going to need a shutdown, and I think the sooner the better. I suggested Christmas as sort of an obvious point. When the shopping’s over, and you know, a lot of things are closed down at that point anyway, it’s a very good time to stop activity. But, if it was something the state wanted to do even sooner, I would certainly support it as well.”

Blitzer then asked, “How long do you think a shutdown might be necessary?”

De Blasio answered, “What our health folks always say is it takes between two and four weeks to really see the effects of any kind of restrictions. So, the sooner we start, the sooner we will reap the benefit. But I think that’s the right way to think about it, somewhere between two weeks and a month is typically when you can have a real impact and knock down the infection rate substantially.”

De Blasio added that he wants schools in the city to stay open.