Governor Hochul: "I want to commend, first of all, New Yorkers for heeding our warning about staying off the roads. That allowed our crews to be out there salting before the snow fell, as well as doing the plowing that was necessary to get the streets dry."
Earlier this morning, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on NY1 with Shannan Ferry and Rocco Vertuccio to update New Yorkers on the winter storm.
AUDIO of the interview is available here.
A rush transcript of the interview is available below:
Shannan Ferry: Joining us now to talk about the response, is Governor Hochul. Governor, thanks so much for being here. So, the next day I know we were joking earlier that for us in the City, this might feel like a lot, but for you not so much, how is the cleanup going?
Governor Hochul: Well, cleanup is going great. And I want to commend, first of all, New Yorkers for heeding our warning about staying off the roads. That allowed our crews to be out there salting before the snow fell, as well as doing the plowing that was necessary to get the streets dry. So they've done an extraordinary job and I would say most areas are doing well.
We've been adding additional support to any of the counties who needed it, I know Islip was hard hit with 24 and a half inches. So we've been plowing their roads for them, but overall, it has been incredible to see how fast we've been able to come back and restore our roads and our subways. And the LIRR is back to full service this morning, with a little bit of an exception on the far Eastern end, but, but given what we had faced and had to deal with, this is an amazing recovery and everybody gets a lot of credit.
Rocco Vertuccio: And let's talk about the travel issue here in this City. Because that's one of the things people are so concerned about here. Really the MTA got by pretty much unscathed. How did it go specifically yesterday for the MTA?
Governor Hochul: We had no service disruptions based on weather from the MTA, the LIRR, the Metro North line. It was really quite incredible. I just got off a zoom call with the head of the MTA, Janno Lieber, as well as the head of the DOT, and our emergency response team. Our State Police have been in constant communication with them, and everyone just because they were prepared, they knew what to do. We were ready for the worst case scenario, you prepare for the worst and hope for the best. And yes, it was a disruption. But again, luckily we didn't need these lines, they were not as heavily used because it was a weekend as opposed to a regular commuting days. So that was a real blessing as well, to get the big storm to hit on a weekend. Can't always count on that.
But you can't control the weather, but you can control your preparation and your response. And that's where I give our team high marks, as well as like I said, if New Yorkers hadn't listened to us, and they were all over the roads and driving around, there would've been a lot more stranded people and cars off the road. I've lived through this, through major, major storms in Buffalo, managing emergency response efforts up there. So, this was very well handled and it looks like the sun is out there shining now and shining on everyone.
Shannan Ferry: Yeah. And Governor, we were also reporting about there were pretty wide-scale cancellations for airports, any advice for people, that's still going on today. So what's your message to people with that?
Governor Hochul: Right, check in with your airport, and again, I don't know if there'll be any, and again, I don't know, it wasn't that this area here couldn't handle it today. There's still a lot of cancellations. That is a result of the fact that a lot of planes couldn't come in over the weekend. They couldn't come in from their original place of origin. So that's what disrupted, not that they wouldn't be able to fly out today if they were here, they're just not here on the ground. So absolutely, keep checking in and I'm sure that service be restored as soon as possible.
Rocco Vertuccio: Hey Governor, just quickly I wanted to talk to you real briefly about COVID yesterday. You were again, reporting another drop in cases, another drop in hospitalizations. Is it safe to say, you know, sometimes you don't want to celebrate too early, have we announced sort of rounded the corner with Omicron?
Governor Hochul: We have in terms of how high it had been, just literally earlier this month, we had a 23 percent statewide infection rate. And now, that infection rate is down to about 6.9%. Extraordinary drops, still much higher than we were in early December or November before Omicron hit. So we're watching in comparison to what we've been in the fall. During most of the fall, New York City was at about a one or two percent infection rates. So we're getting there, and this, is people needed just need to hang on. We are absolutely turning the corner. Tremendous progress has been made. The more people get vaccinated, especially our children, I'm so looking forward to the day when we don't have to have masks on anybody, and our kids don't have to deal with this, but one way that we can help get to that day sooner is keeping the infections down, and the other one is getting more people vaccinated, and especially our kids.
So, to everybody who's been anxious, everyone I know is anxious to feel some sense of normal, we are going to have to continue to be vigilant. This is not over. But in the meantime people should be proud of the accomplishments we have. We are far better off than many other states right now. So those numbers are trending in a great direction, also watching very closely our hospitalization rates. Those are down, down another you know, down 2,700, just from last week alone. We are now at a much lower number than we were. We had 12,000 people in the hospital, literally two weeks ago. So we are doing much better and I liked the way the numbers are looking. And we're going to get there.
Rocco Vertuccio: Governor real quickly, just a quick followup on vaccinations. Is there concern that those vaccination rates have sort of plateaued? I mean, at this point, those who want to get vaccinated, you would think, would have gotten vaccinated by now. What's the issue there, do you think?
Governor Hochul: I believe that is true. You know, it has seemed to have slowed down. We have plenty of vaccinations available. We have plenty of sites, and you can get them anywhere, as well as test sites, test kits at most places you go, there is a lot of availability. I don't know what the hesitation is, because we're not through this yet. It is not over. Again, we are very happy to see the numbers in comparison to our very worst dark days, two or three weeks ago. But we're still much higher than we had been in just two months ago.
So let's just put it in perspective: Positive trend, not out of it yet. And the more people get vaccinated, and the booster to protect themselves so they end up with symptoms that are just, you know, they're still going to get sick, but it's just more like a cold or a flu. And you can resolve in about five days, get back to your lives, which is great. For people who are in the hospitals, by and large, high statistically, high numbers showing that those people are unvaccinated and that was so preventable. These numbers should be down to nothing if everyone had gotten vaccinated. So that's what we're trying to manage. And for parents who have been anxious about their kids getting vaccinated, just talk to your pediatrician. Talk to them about how important it is. You need to listen to someone you trust. I understand that, I'm a mother. I understand the anxiety about anything with your child, but you do not want to have to visit your child in a hospital either, because they got sick. Not that a high number of kids are being hospitalized, but you do not want that. Those handful of kids who would we one of your own, I cannot imagine how that would feel. So let's prevent that. No reason to have that be the case. And let's continue that over the next couple weeks, we are going to keep looking better and I'd love to see the vaccination rates up a little bit higher. And again, we're one of the highest in the nation, so I don't want to criticize the great people who stepped up and got their vaccines, but there was still a little more room for improvement.
Shannan Ferry: And Governor, just one last question for you. The snow being a good example of that, a lot of people tend to hunker down and they stay inside. They don't go out. That also means they're not spending money in the City. I don't know if there are enough, I mean, actually we did a piece on tourism recently, it seems like people are not really out and about in the City as much. And people, I guess, feel a little bit confused because we have this surge, and we're told to be careful on the one hand, but also told to support the businesses on the other. So, as we kind of get out of this, hopefully this Omicron surge, what is your message to New York City residents about that?
Governor Hochul: Well, people are doing the smart things. Everywhere people go, they're wearing the masks. I'm seeing a lot more in N95s on people, which are a little higher level of protection. The restaurants and establishment where you have to be vaccinated to go into, or wear a mask, I mean, this is why, one of the reasons why we have a low infection rate. So continue. I was out for dinner and, you know, as we shoveled a little bit and got out, we were out at a restaurant last night, I just wanted to show support.
Please continue to support our restaurants and Broadway, and all of our cultural attractions, because there is a smart way to do it. You have any symptoms, stay home. Do you have any concerns? Get a test kit. Otherwise, if you're a vaccinated and boosted and masked up, there's no reason not to get out there. Our businesses really need the help. I'm going to be continuing to be out there supporting all the institutions that make the City in this region so fantastic, letting people know, I believe it's safe, because we're all taking the right precautions. We cannot stop living our lives. They can not let our businesses be hurt.
And as I said, from the very beginning, My job is to protect the health of New Yorkers, but also the health of the business community. And we all have a part to play to help them get back on their feet.
Rocco Vertuccio: Governor Hochul, good to talk to you. Thank you so much for making some time for us this morning. Be safe out there.
Shannan Ferry: Be safe, thank you!
Governor Hochul: Alright, thanks for all your great storm coverage.