On this day, exactly five years ago, we lost the first New Yorker to COVID-19. In the days and weeks that followed, the city went into lockdown, as schools and all non-essential businesses closed for what we thought — at the time — would be a few days, possibly a few weeks.  We recall the eeril y silent streets, sirens wailing in the night, Zoom classrooms, and our health care heroes working tirelessly. At the worst of the pandemic, hundreds of New Yorkers died each day of COVID-19; ultimately, we lost 46,000 of our loved ones. Each one of those losses represents a family member, a friend, and a neighbor who we miss dearly. Despite all the devastation and heartbreak, what is clear is that New York is stronger, more resilient, and better prepared today than we were back then.  As New Yorkers always do, we banded together and fought back. When Elmhurst Hospital became the epicenter of a global pandemic, the city’s public health care system stood strong, tripling its ICU capacity in less than two months to save countless lives.  NYC Health + Hospitals and its Test & Trace Corps (Test & Trace) mobilized a historic public health campaign that made more than 165 million free COVID tests accessible. Our contact tracing effort reached more than 3 million New Yorkers who had been infected by, or were exposed to, the virus, creating millions of opportunities to break chains of transmission. We also provided 2.2 million free meals and more than 600,000 care packages so that New Yorkers could safely quarantine or isolate. Test & Trace additionally created a Hotel Isolation program that helped more than 33,000 people safely quarantine or recover from COVID-19. As soon as vaccines were developed, our Vaccine Command Center ensured that all New Yorkers — regardless of age, race, religion, sex, or physical ability — could safely and easily get this lifesaving care, including students at every city public school. More than 7.5 million New Yorkers received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.  While our city and nation faced unspeakable tragedy during the pandemic, we also saw the best of New York: our fellow New Yorkers stepped up to fight the virus, look out for one another, and keep life moving. New Yorkers masked up, maintained social distance, got tested, and were vaccinated. In an unprecedented move, our public schools handed out hundreds of thousands of devices to help more than 1 million students continue to safely learn online with their teachers and classmates. To support families of first responders and health care workers, New York set up child care centers to ensure their children were cared for in an enriching environment while they worked in their essential roles.  Today, we continue to protect New York families because we know that when New Yorkers are healthy, our city thrives. NYC Health + Hospitals’ Biosurveillance Program monitors wastewater to help detect the rates of COVID-19, flu, polio, smallpox, and other infectious diseases 10 to 14 days before those results are seen clinically in its hospitals.  We opened three NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health COVID-19 Centers of Excellence to offer comprehensive primary and specialty care to families in underserved communities and ensure that communities hit hardest by the pandemic have the resources for an equitable recovery. These centers also address the lasting complications of Long COVID. And we have been working across agencies to advance citywide plans for our infectious disease response, formalizing strategies like vaccine management, personal protective actions, public school closures, isolation and quarantine, and public engagement. Together, we safely brought the city back to life. We launched outdoor dining so New Yorkers could safely enjoy dining outside while supporting the restaurants that make New York a draw for people from around the world. This saved 100,000 jobs across the city and paved the way for Dining Out NYC, the city’s permanent outdoor dining program, one of the largest in the nation.  In the past four years, New York has regained all of the private-sector jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic and our city now has a record 183,000 small businesses — the highest ever in our history. And, one of the first actions of the Adams administration was to sign the “Small Business Forward” Executive Order, which has saved small businesses an estimated $8.9 million in reduced fines and focused on educating businesses rather than penalizing them.  Today, and every day, we remember those we lost, and we fight for a better future in their honor.  Adams is mayor of New York. De Blasio was mayor from 2014 to 2021. Katz has been president and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals since 2018. ...read more read less