NEW from this week’s @newyorker, ⁦ @cduhigg⁩: Seattle’s leaders moved fast to persuade people to stay home and follow the scientists’ advice; New York’s leaders...moved more slowly, offered more muddied messages, and let politicians’ voices dominate. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/04/seattles-leaders-let-scientists-take-the-lead-new-yorks-did-not

“The city’s epidemiologists were horrified by the comforting messages that de Blasio and Cuomo kept giving.”

As New York City schools, bars, and restaurants remained open, relations between the Department of Health and City Hall devolved. Health supervisors were “very, very angry,” one official told @cduhigg.

In particular, health officials were furious that de Blasio kept telling New Yorkers to go out and get a test if they suspected they were infected.

This was the opposite of what city health supervisors were advising: people needed to stay inside and call their doctor if they felt sick.

Eventually, threeof the top leaders of the city’s Department of Health met with de Blasio and demanded that he quickly instate social-distancing rules and begin sending clear messages to the public to stay indoors.

Layton and a deputy health commissioner, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, indicated to de Blasio’s staff that if the Mayor didn’t act promptly they would resign.

Another former NYC health commish told @cduhigg that “de Blasio was just horrible,” adding, “Maybe it was unintentional, maybe it was his arrogance. But, if you tell people to stay home and then you go to the gym, you can’t really be surprised when people keep going outside.”