(Bloomberg) -- New York City Mayor Eric Adams used the Steinway & Sons factory in Astoria, Queens, as the backdrop for a press conference urging businesses to bring workers back and parents to send their kids to school.
The mayor, who spoke on a podium in the middle of the piano factory as employees worked, continued his bid to will the city back to regular activity despite a daily average of more than 25,000 Covid-19 cases due to the surging omicron variant.
“We cannot run a city as complex as New York remotely,” Adams said at the press conference, where he was flanked by his Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Anne Williams-Isom, who also spoke.
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Both Adams and Williams-Isom urged vaccinations and booster shots at the press conference, which had the feel of a public service announcement, and outlined resources for New Yorkers to take care of their mental and physical health.
Adams also used the press conference to fire back at criticism for hiring his brother for a role in the administration as well as his decision to hire Phil Banks as a deputy mayor. Banks, a former police chief, resigned eight years ago amid federal probes into corruption and money laundering.
“I'm going to hire the best people for the job that I've known throughout the years in government,” Adams said at the press conference. “I can do that because I am the mayor.”
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