New York City MayorEric Adams delivered a mini pandemic pep talk on Monday.- When asked why COVID-19 was an "off-topic" subject for an event, Adams went into a lengthy response.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Monday urged constituents to shift their pandemic mindset to "winning" instead of "getting the L."
With the US still averaging well over 2,000 coronavirus deaths per day, Adams was speaking about figurative losses, not literal ones, when using the slang term more commonly known as "taking the L."
"You know, you can be so used to getting the Ls that you just wake up everyday and hope you're getting the L," Adams said at the tail end of his Monday press conference. "No, New York — Eric is your mayor. We're getting Ws now. We're gonna win!"
Right before his monologue about "winning" at an event centered around climate change and the mayor's new Office of Climate and Environmental Justice — which will fold four city agencies into one — a reporter asked Adams why the pandemic was considered an "off-topic" question.
Adams has mirrored a practice from his predecessor, former Mayor Bill de Blasio (and to some extent, Mike Bloomberg) on demarcating "on-topic" questions during press availabilities. At his availability on Monday, Adams took "on-topic" questions first, and then addressed other subjects reporters brought up.
"Well, yesterday — not when I was young, but when I was at Jacobi Hospital — that was the only topic, that was our headline topic," Adams told NBC New York reporter Andrew Siff. "You know, some of us work weekends."
Before getting into "Ls" and "W's," Adams touted COVID-19 cases declining across the five boroughs since their peak in early January, as well as the Big Apple's fully vaccination rate hitting 75% among all New Yorkers.
"You did your job, New Yorkers, and, I mean, we should be applauding each other for that," Adams said. "Now, what we're not going to do is stay in this state of terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror all the time. We're doing the right things, we're moving in the right direction."
Daily hospitalizations in New York City are down to 196 on a seven day moving average, a major decrease from the 28-day moving average of 607, according to the city's latest numbers on Monday. The city's daily deaths from the pandemic are down to a seven day average of 56.
New York City has seen more than 38,000 COVID-19 deaths, averaging 566 per day at the pandemic's peak in early April 2020.
"This is a long way from where we were," Adams later continued. "And because we came together as a city with the right mission, with the right message and clarity, our schools are open, they get safer and safer every day. This is a real W for us."
Adams then described his framework of "getting the Ls" earlier in the pandemic, which the mayor's office noted was not in reference to the de Blasio administration.
"So that's why we're talking about the climate stuff," Adams said after laughter dissipated from the room. "Because we've still got to deal with the climate if COVID hit or not. So we are consistent with our message and moving our city forward."
Another reporter tried to ask a question about the NYPD before Adams cut them off, pointed to an aide off to his side and said he didn't "recall" the reporter being called upon, and promptly ended the press conference.