‘We have to open up,’ Mayor Eric Adams says of business-related COVID closures in New York City

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — New York City Mayor Eric Adams pushed back on companies starting to delay their planned reopenings to most of their employees in response to the omicron variant.

Some have already pushed back previously set start dates for at-home employees to resume returning to their desks.

Over the weekend, Goldman Sachs joined a growing list of Wall Street firms advising employees already back at work to stay at home until January 18.

“We have to open up!” Adams said, in the face of increasing cases during an interview Tuesday morning on CNN.

“What we must understand is the resiliency of returning back to a normal life. If we don’t open our cities, there are almost a million people that are behind in their rents right here in this city. We have low-skilled employees who cant do remote employment from home or telecommuting. That’s not a reality in a city like New York and America. I need my cities to open,” Adams said.

The mayor suggested that “doubling down” on vaccinations and booster shots was the way to manage the virus while still being able to reopen.

“We have to reshape our thinking of, how do we live with COVID?” Adams said. “We spent $11 trillion on COVID. We don’t have another $11 trillion. Every variant can’t be another $11 trillion. It’s time to open up and feed our ecosystem, our financial ecosystems. That’s what I am telling my employees.”

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