Coronavirus: New York to hold ticker tape parade to honour healthcare workers, says de Blasio

‘One day we will be able to start back on the road and we will honour them as they deserve and that will be a beautiful and joyous day in the city’

New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio, has announced that the city will throw first responders and healthcare workers a ticker tape parade - when it is reopened.

During his daily coronavirus briefing on Tuesday, the mayor promised New Yorkers that public gatherings, such as parades and concerts will continue once the city is out of lockdown.

“The day is coming when this city will fight our way back, when the city will get back to normal. The day is coming when we will overcome this disease,” he said.

“The day is coming when I’m going be able to tell you we can gather again and the day is coming when we will be having the concerts and the streets fairs and the parades again,” the mayor added.

Mr de Blasio said that the first parade in the city will be in celebration of healthcare workers and first responders, who have been on the frontline, tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

“I want to guarantee you one thing: when that day comes, when we can restart the vibrant, beautiful life of this city again, the first thing we will do is we will have a ticker tape parade down the canyon of heroes for our healthcare workers and first responders,” he said.

“We will honour those who saved us. The first thing we will do before we think about anything else is we will take time as only NYC can do to throw the biggest best parade to honour these heroes,” Mr de Blasio told reporters on Tuesday morning.

The mayor added that “this parade will mark the beginning of our renaissance, but it will also be a chance to say ‘thank you’ to so many good and noble people.”

During his briefing on Monday, Mr de Blasio confirmed that parades and events, such as the Gay Pride parade, will be cancelled as the city deals with the effects of the pandemic.

“These kind of community events, we love them, but they’re not what we need right now, they’re not the most essential things,” he said. “We have to recognise when thousands and thousands of people gather in one place, of course that goes against everything we’re trying to do.”

Mr de Blasio’s tone on Tuesday followed governor Andrew Cuomo’s comments on Monday, where he told reporters that when the state reopens, “we’ll be better than we were before.”

New York City is the worst hit area in the state, but Mr Cuomo made it clear that everywhere will stay shut until all areas are ready to reopen.

“It affects everyone else,” he said. “That is the reality. Everything is closed unless we say otherwise.”

Google’s dedicated coronavirus page shows that New York City has upwards of 136,806 confirmed cases and at least 10,334 deaths.

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, nationally there are upwards of 788,920 people who have tested positive for coronavirus. The death toll has reached at least 42,458.