Mayor Bill de Blasio, (D) New York: “So last week, I announced for our frontline health care workers in the public sector, (NYC) Health + Hospitals, DOH (referring to Department of Health), the COVID safety requirement: Simply show proof of vaccination or get tested every single week. And I said last week this was only the beginning and we would be climbing up the ladder, more mandates to come. Well, today is that day. On September 13th, the entire city workforce will be mandated under the COVID safety mandate to either get vaccinated, which is far preferable, or get tested once a week. This is about our recovery. This is about what we need to do to bring back New York City. This is about keeping people safe. This is about making sure our families get through COVID OK. This is about bringing back jobs, you name it. In September, everything is going to come together. September is the pivot point of the recovery. September is when many employers are bringing back a lot of their employees. September is when school starts full strength. September is when people come back from the summer. September is when it will all happen. This means everybody. This means, obviously, everyone who works in our schools, our educators and staff, it means the NYPD (referring to New York Police Department), the FDNY (referring to New York City Fire Department), it means all city agencies. It means people who work in offices and people work on the frontline. Everyone. Because September is when the rubber hits the road, and this is when we have to make the difference. And so, this mandate will be in place. We’re also going to reinforce for all city government workers starting on Monday, reinforcing very clearly: If you are unvaccinated and you are a city employee, beginning on Monday, you must either wear a mask indoors at your work site at all times. Or, if you would prefer not to, you have to immediately go get vaccinated. This is very, very clear. We will have to, unfortunately, be very tough. If a city government employee does not wear a mask indoors and they are unvaccinated, there unfortunately will have to be consequences because we have to take seriously, if someone’s unvaccinated, unfortunately, they pose a threat to themselves, but they also have a greater chance of spreading the disease.”