New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced at his press briefing Friday that all nonessential permitted events throughout the city in the month of May will officially be canceled, including parades, concerts and large gatherings, even the Brooklyn Half Marathon. 

“We love those events, but what do we know about those events? It inherently means large numbers of people crowded together in a pretty small space,” said Democratic Mayor de Blasio. “That’s New York City. That’s who we are, but, guess what? That goes against everything that we need to do to fight back the coronavirus.”

“Hizzoner” continued by saying that these events will return in the future.

“We have to be smart. We love those things. We’ll miss them when we don’t have them, but they will be back. They will be back, and by knowing when it’s time to temporarily let them go so we can get to a greater goal, we’re going to actually look back and say that was the smart thing to do,” the mayor told reporters.

Mayor de Blasio said essential permitted locations, which include medical sites, hygiene stations, food stores and meal services, will remain open.

While de Blasio is keeping most of the city shuttered, he has also complained about the financial despair that this crisis has invited.

“Right now I’ve accounted for, and I’m very sorry to say this, $7.5 billion in lost revenue that we now know is going to hit this city,” de Blasio told host Fox News host Bill Hemmer on Thursday. “We are one of the capitals of this country in terms of economic power and economic impact, and you know all that we do to help the American economy be strong, but we are not going to be able provide basic services in this city because we’ve got nowhere else to turn to get that kind of money.”

De Blasio also told Fox News that July and August are the months where “we have to begin to get back to normal.”

In the meantime, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) has extended the state’s coronavirus shutdown of nonessential businesses until May 15.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1251181566740619265

President Donald Trump, a New York native, slammed the Governor in a tweet Friday afternoon.

“We have given New York far more money, help and equipment than any other state, by far & these great men & women who did the job never hear you say thanks,” the President wrote. “Your numbers are not good. Less talk and more action!”

Since the coronavirus epidemic began in the United States, Gov. Cuomo has been a fixture on cable television, particularly CNN where his brother is one of the network’s primary anchors.

As of Friday morning, there are over 222,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in New York state with at least 12,192 deaths.