New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling for residents to report their neighbors to law enforcement for violations of social distancing protocols.
In a Saturday post on Twitter, de Blasio announced a new city effort whereby residents can report neighbors by sending a photograph to local authorities. “How do you report places that aren’t enforcing social distancing? It’s simple: just snap a photo and text it to 311-692,” de Blasio wrote in a caption.
“We still know there’s some people who need to get the message. And that means sometimes making sure the enforcement is there to educate people and make clear we’ve got to have social distancing,” the mayor said in a video announcing his new initiative.
“Sending that photo in is going to help make sure that people are kept apart, and that’s going to stop the disease from spreading. And that’s going to save lives,” he said.
How do you report places that aren’t enforcing social distancing? It’s simple: just snap a photo and text it to 311-692. #AskMyMayor pic.twitter.com/WQdCcVf1Rl
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 18, 2020
De Blasio’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was the subject of media scrutiny in early March. He was criticized then for visiting a YMCA gym after announcing that restaurants, bars, gyms, and other businesses in the city would need to close. The mayor defended his decision to work out a day before the order went into effect, saying, “There was almost no one there.”
De Blasio’s tweets have also been criticized as the city takes further steps to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus. In early March, he encouraged residents of New York to “go on with your lives” and “get out on the town” despite a confirmed case of the virus in the city.
In recent weeks, however, de Blasio has advocated for extreme measures to combat the coronavirus’s spread, including the nationalization of certain industries and permanently closing places of worship that violate public health orders.
According to the New York Department of Health, over 229,600 state residents have tested positive for COVID-19, representing a large percentage of all cases in the United States. More than 2.27 million have tested positive for the coronavirus globally. Of those, at least 156,000 have died from it, and more than 579,000 have recovered. The U.S. has seen at least 706,000 confirmed cases, with nearly 60,500 reported recoveries.
